Once Bitten, Twice Burned

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Bran’s Castle didn’t look nearly as . . . exciting during the day. There were no glasses filled with blood. No vamps lurking in the corner.

There wasn’t much of anything happening there. The place could have been any human bar.

“Ryder.”

Okay, so maybe there was one vampire lurking around. Sabine turned and saw Grayson heading out of the back room. The scent of blood followed him.

“We’ve got a big problem,” Grayson snapped. He shot her a quick glance.

She tried to look cool and in control.

“Where are they?” Ryder demanded. He sounded cool and in control. She wanted to be like that.

“Julia’s getting—shit, forget about them a minute, okay?” Grayson ran a shaking hand through his hair. The mussed look suggested he’d been yanking a hand through his hair for a while now. “A human came by, looking for you. He said that he had what you wanted.”

“Keith,” Sabine whispered. But how could he have what they wanted? Rhett was gone. Safe.

“The guy asked that you meet him, at midnight tonight, in some place on Chartres.”

“Screw him,” Ryder said as he headed toward the bar. “I don’t need—”

“Malcolm.”

Ryder froze. Then he turned, his movements tight, and stared back at Grayson. “Why the hell did you just say his name?”

“Because your human friend told me that Malcolm sends his regards.” The vampire was sweating. His hands shoved through his hair again. Fear. “But that’s total bullshit, right? I heard the stories. Your brother is dead.”

“Dead and buried,” Ryder agreed. His jaw had locked.

“So why did the guy say that?”

“Because he’s trying to rattle us.” Ryder rolled his shoulders as if pushing away tension. “Keith knows that he doesn’t have what we really wanted, and he’s trying to draw me out for a fight.”

“Who the hell is he?” Grayson wanted to know.

“He’s just a human who thinks he can manipulate me. But that’s not going to happen.” Ryder shrugged. “Now where’s Julia?”

Grayson opened his mouth to speak.

Sabine beat him to the punch. “You’re just going to ignore this? What if—what if Malcolm is somehow alive?” Malcolm. The guy scared her. Scared her more than Genesis, and that was saying a whole lot.

“He isn’t alive.”

“How would Keith even know—”

“Because we all use spies to get our dirty work done.” Ryder cast a quick look at Grayson. “Keith said he had a person at Genesis. That person could have talked to some vamps there. Could have heard about my brother. His existence wasn’t exactly a secret.”

“More like a legend,” Grayson mumbled.

Ryder frowned at him. “Malcolm isn’t a threat that we need to worry about. The vampires after me—”

“The ones who are planning to cut off your head,” Grayson supplied, rather helpfully, Sabine thought.

“They’re the threat that we eliminate first.” Ryder crossed his arms and studied Grayson. “So what did you find out?”

“There are six . . . here in New Orleans. They’re all young, fairly new changes, and they—”

The bar’s front door flew open and slammed into the wall. “And they’re not as stupid as you think,” Julia snarled as she rushed inside. “I knew all along you were still sided with this bastard!”

Sabine eased back, taking a few fast steps closer to Ryder.

She wasn’t fast enough.

Because Julia wasn’t the only vampire to come rushing in that door. Three others followed her and two burst in from the bar’s back door.

Ryder just stared at them all. The vamps were armed, some with guns, some with stakes. They looked pissed and scared and determined.

Ryder laughed at them and said, “You’re exactly as stupid as I thought. I just needed Grayson to get you all together, to pull you out into the open.”

He glanced at the vampire with the stake. Ryder’s eyes narrowed.

Sabine knew exactly what he was doing. Telling him to kill himself.

The vampire raised the stake. Started screaming, “Stop it! Stop it!” His hand curled toward his own chest.

Ryder glanced away from him. Stared at a redhead with scruffy hair. The man lifted the gun he held to his head.

She didn’t want to see this. Ryder had been right when he’d tried to get her to stay away.

“What are you doing?” Julia screamed. Her scream wasn’t directed at Ryder. It was directed at the vampires—her men—who were turning to flee.

But those men suddenly froze in place.

Ryder.

“All vampires have blood that links to me,” he said simply. And his control, his power, it was terrifying.

Terror was exactly the emotion reflected on Julia’s face. “That’s why we have to kill you,” she whispered, licking her lips. “If we’re ever going to be free, you have to die. He was right.”

He?

But Sabine didn’t get to question her. More glass exploded because more vampires were attacking, only these vampires were different.

Too many teeth.

Too many claws.

Primals. And not just the other two that had escaped from Genesis. At least seven primals had just leapt through the broken glass of the windows and rushed into the bar.

“We brought some backup,” Julia said. She smiled, flashing her fangs. “I bet you didn’t see that coming.”

No, they hadn’t.

The primals ran forward, attacking, but they weren’t going for Ryder.

All of those black claws, those sharp teeth—

They’re coming for me.

They closed in as Sabine screamed.

Keith paced around the small apartment. Midnight would be coming all too soon. They had to be ready. He glanced to the left, at the woman who stood so still and silent near the window. “You’re sure you can do this?”

She turned toward him. Small, with golden skin and wide, almond-shaped eyes, she didn’t look particularly strong.

But sometimes, strength wasn’t physical.

For her, it was all mental.

“If you bring me the phoenix, I should be able to save your son.”

Yes, he noticed her very careful should be. Because Cassandra Armstrong wasn’t going to make a promise she couldn’t keep. She was already nervous, already so scared he’d caught her hand shaking when she’d injected Vaughn with a sedative.

But Cassandra wasn’t going to break and run. She’d dealt with plenty of supernaturals before.

And she was his only hope. “She’s coming.” Little Sabine Acadia. Who would have known that she’d be the key to saving so many people?

“Is she coming . . . willingly?” Cassandra asked carefully.

Not exactly. But he nodded anyway. When it came to his son, willingness didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but saving Vaughn. Stopping him from being a monster.

But he didn’t tell Cassandra that part. She wouldn’t understand. She hated what Wyatt had done. She was on some quest to help the supernaturals, to make up for all the wrongs that Genesis had done to them.

Good fucking luck to her.

He just wanted his son back.

And he’d do anything, use anyone, if it meant that Vaughn could be more than just a killing machine.

When those bastards closed in on Sabine, something broke inside of Ryder. He didn’t care about control or caution. He had only one thought.

Kill them.

So the vampire with a stake at his own heart and the vampire with the gun at his head—they both turned instantly . . . and attacked the primals.

Julia screamed, even as she, too, lifted the weapon she’d tucked in her jeans and fired on the primals.

All those vampires who’d thought to take him out, Ryder turned them on the primals.

Take them out. Get their attention. Stop them. Kill them.

“Fucking bloodbath,” Grayson muttered. He tried to run forward and attack the primals, too.

Ryder grabbed his arm. Grayson was his oldest friend. That meant something. Even in the roar of his fury. “Stay back or you’ll die, too.”

“Staying the hell back,” Grayson agreed as he jumped behind the bar’s counter.

A primal sank his teeth into Julia’s throat. She screamed and fired her gun right into his heart.

One primal was already on the ground, a stake in his heart. Another primal had just ripped a gun away from his attackers.

But there were still others. Still too many vampires . . .

Get them away from Sabine.

Because he couldn’t hear her screams anymore. She had to be okay. Too many bodies were in his way. He couldn’t even see her.

Ryder tried to reach her mind. Sabine.

A wall of flames flickered in his mind’s eye.

Still flames. With her, he was starting to realize that would always be the case.

Then a vampire—a primal—flew back through the air. A stake was embedded in his heart.

“I’m not”—Sabine shoved her hair back over her shoulder and wiped away the blood that dripped down her chin—“helpless anymore. Not human . . . So back away!”

But they weren’t backing away.

The primals were slicing right through the other vampires, the other fools who’d been stupid enough to think they could control these predators.

But Ryder could attack. He could kill. Now that he knew Sabine was alive, he could actually think again.

He shoved his claws into the chest of one primal. Had his heart before the man could scream.

There were so many screams around him.

Ryder sliced the throat of another.

Sabine had a chair in her arms. When a primal vamp came at her, she shoved it at him. The chair leg sank into his chest.

The vamp fell to the floor.

The primals were dying. Those still living should have tried to run, but they just kept trying to get to Sabine.

Ryder grabbed the next bastard who was attempting to bite his woman.

“Need . . . her . . .”—the primal’s eyes looked blind—“her . . . blood . . .”

“You’re not getting it.” Ryder sliced his throat. Took his head. Dropped his body. Moved on to the next target. “None of you are getting to her.”

But the primals were so close to the one thing they wanted most—Sabine’s blood. And they were fighting with a wild ferocity as they realized that death was stalking them.

Because he sure as hell was.

Then one primal made the mistake of driving his fist into Sabine’s jaw. He yanked the makeshift weapon from her hands and shoved his fangs into her throat.

The world became a sea of red rage for Ryder.

He tore through everyone in his path. His claws sliced. His teeth bit. Flesh tore. Screams surrounded him.

Get to her.

Sabine’s arms came up. “Get away!”

The faintest tendril of smoke appeared between her and the primal.

Ryder reached out and grabbed the bastard—even as the primal started to howl in pain.

The primal’s chest was burning.

From the inside?

Ryder swung him around. The guy sliced out with his claws, digging deep.

And Ryder just laughed. Then he picked up the still-smoking bastard and tossed him across the room. The man slammed into the bar.

Grayson lunged up and staked him.

Ryder stood there, chest heaving, fury boiling his blood. His head turned, and he met Sabine’s wide-eyed stare. She had her hands at her throat. Her lips were trembling.

As she stared at him, there was no missing the fear in her gaze.

His racing heartbeat began to slow. Ryder shook his head and glanced around. Bodies littered the floor. Blood. So much blood.

All of the primals were dead. Their eyes stared sightlessly ahead. Some of them . . . His chin lifted. He didn’t remember even making the brutal attacks, but he knew the kills were his.

I lost it. When they went for her . . .

And the vampires that had thought to attack him? All but one of them had already died. The only one left was Julia. She lay sprawled on the floor, a giant chunk of wood in her chest. Her gasping breaths seemed to echo in the room.

Ryder didn’t want to touch Sabine. Not yet. Not with so much blood on his hands. And there was still one more piece of business to finish.

He turned away from her. Walked toward Julia’s desperate form. His shoes slid in the blood that surrounded her.

Then he was bending over her. Her gaze met his. A faint smile lifted her lips. “You think . . . won?”

Yes, he fucking did. His hands closed around the stake.

“Did you . . . give her a . . . choice?”

Ryder’s eyes narrowed. He heard the faint rustle of steps behind him. Felt Sabine standing at his back.

Julia’s gaze wasn’t on him. It was on Sabine. “Did you . . . ask to be . . . like this?”

Grayson had come from his position behind the bar. He stood on Julia’s right side. Not touching her. Just staring at her with a mix of pity and fury in his eyes.

“Did . . . you?” Julia pressed as her chest heaved.

“I asked to live,” Sabine said, her voice soft.

“But you didn’t know . . .” Julia’s lips curved in a faint smile. “The price he’d . . . make you pay.”

Ryder stiffened.

“I . . . didn’t . . . know . . . I didn’t . . . ask . . .”

“Is that why you sent me to Genesis? Because you and the others hadn’t asked to be vampires?” Ryder asked, voice rough. “I didn’t turn you, I didn’t—”

“You . . . started it. You turned . . . him. Made us all.”

Him. Malcolm.

“Some things . . . shouldn’t be made.”

His fingers were curled around the chunk of wood in her chest. One twist of his hand, and she would be dead. “And here I thought it was all about you wanting to be free of me. Because I controlled you all.”

“They wanted . . . said you couldn’t control them.”

They? Would that be the dead vamps on the floor?

“I wanted . . . free . . . in different way.”

“She didn’t want to be a vampire,” Sabine said, sadness tingeing her words. “She just wanted to be normal.”

“Normal’s overrated,” Grayson muttered.

“There’s no going back,” Ryder said. Surely Julia realized that. “You can’t be human once you’ve changed.”

“I know . . .”

Ryder stared at the wood in her chest. She’d been in on the plan to take him out. Not the leader, he sensed that, so maybe one of the broken vamps behind him had planned everything. But Julia . . . she’d known.

And she wasn’t fighting death.

It would be so easy to take her out.

But Sabine was touching the back of his shoulder. Gentle fingertips. Sabine . . . who also hadn’t known exactly what she was getting into when she became a vampire.

Ryder hadn’t been given a choice.

He’d just woken to bloodlust. A new life.

Julia . . . he remembered her story. She’d been attacked by a vampire. Raped. Bled nearly dry. But then that vamp had transformed her.

That vamp . . .

“I killed him,” Ryder said as his fingers slid away from the wood. “I killed the vampire who made you.” And she’d still come after him?

Julia laughed. The wood shifted deeper. Blood trickled from her lips. “Judge . . . jury . . . executioner. You’re the vampire . . . l-law.”

He tried to be. They needed law. They needed—

“Why didn’t you . . . stop him . . . sooner? Why didn’t . . . you . . . save me?”

And that was it. That was fucking it. She blamed him for not killing Moses, the vamp who’d attacked her and four other coeds in Mississippi.

Shame hit him then. Yes, he could see what she meant. Every vampire . . . they all come back to me. If he’d never bit Malcolm, never learned to spread this fucking curse, then monsters like Moses wouldn’t have preyed on the humans.

Julia would still be human.

Ryder rocked back, stood, and stepped away from her.

Hundreds, thousands of others would still be alive.

If I’d just died.

“I’m . . . gonna be free . . .” Julia whispered. Her gaze came back to Ryder. “You . . . won’t be . . . Retribution . . . coming.”

Then her fingers lifted.

Too late, Ryder realized what she was doing.

He reached for her.

But Julia had already shoved the wood deep into her heart.

She died with a smile on her face.

Ryder’s fingers were around hers. He yanked the wood free from her chest. Tossed it aside.

Then his fist slammed into the floor near her body. Again and again and again, he beat the floor.

All because of me. Everything. All the death and pain. “My fucking fault,” he snarled, and Ryder leapt back to his feet.

He grabbed the nearest table. Smashed it. Hurled chairs. Threw glasses.

So many deaths. On him.

Every fucking one. It all went back to him.

“Someone needs some chill time.” Grayson’s tense voice.

He’d made Grayson into a monster. Found him on a battlefield. Moments away from death. A hero’s death.

He’d turned the guy into a killer instead.

Ryder whirled and grabbed Grayson by the throat. “You didn’t want this life.”

Grayson’s eyes widened. “You . . . don’t see me . . . complaining, do you?” He gasped out the words.

“Ryder, stop!” Sabine.

Sounding more furious than he’d ever heard her before.

He dropped Grayson.

“Definite chill time,” the guy muttered as he began to edge toward the back door.

Ryder turned away from him. Faced Sabine. She had her hand at her throat. Over the damn bite the bastard had given her.

Ryder took a step toward her. Almost slipped and fell in the blood. So much blood.

And she saw me do this? No wonder she’s afraid. She’ll always be afraid of me.

And he’d always need her. Would never be able to let her go.

He laughed. Wasn’t that just a bitch? He really was the monster. Sabine had been right about him from the beginning. He’d always thought Malcolm was the one with no control. The one who’d brought hell, but all along . . .

It was me.

“She was wrong,” Sabine whispered. Her hand dropped. The wounds were still on her throat. Seeing them just made his fury deepen.

His hands clenched into fists. He wanted to rip this whole fucking place down. “Get out.” He backed away from her.

She blinked. “Ryder?”

“I don’t want . . . to . . . hurt you.” Because he was too wild. Too uncontrolled.

Too much of a killer.

The evidence was all around him.

But Sabine didn’t walk away. She walked toward him. Grabbed his arms and shook him. “Look at me.”

He didn’t want to see the fear in her eyes.

“She was wrong, Ryder. Do you hear me? Wrong. Yes, she was pissed and hurt, and she got a terrible, terrible hand dealt to her in this life . . . but what happened to her, the change, it wasn’t your fault.”

“I started it all. I made—”

“That is such a load of crap,” Sabine’s annoyed voice snapped. “No matter what you might like to think, you aren’t God.”

He blinked. His gaze met hers.

“You can’t control everyone or everything.”

He could actually control a pretty good number—

“If the guy who attacked Julia hadn’t been a vamp, did you ever think that maybe he’d just be a straight-up killer? That he was screwed to begin with? Humans have plenty of freak tendencies, that’s why there are so many serial killers out there. If that guy hadn’t been a vamp, he could still have killed her. Could still have tortured and raped because the sad fact is . . . evil is real. It comes in all kinds of forms.”

The form of a vampire. The form of a human.

Her hand lifted. Her fingers touched his cheek. “You aren’t responsible for every evil that walks the earth. We all have choices.”

The room reeked of death because of the choices he’d made. She’d seen all that he could do. And she still touched him. Looked at him like there was someone good inside of him.

He turned his head and pressed a quick kiss to her fingertips. He’d thought she was his weakness.

Maybe . . . maybe she was his strength.

The fury began to fade. His lashes lowered as he sucked in a deep breath. He needed to get her out of there. Had to wash the blood from her skin. Get her clean and safe. “Sabine—” His lashes lifted. He stared right at her.

There was so much fear in her eyes that he lost his breath. She touched him, comforted him, calmed him, but Sabine was so afraid of him that she was shaking.

“He . . . bit me,” she whispered. Her hand pulled from his. She touched the wound at her throat again. “Ryder, I’m sorry.”

He shook his head, not understanding.

“Julia . . . she didn’t want to live the way she was . . . II understand. I don’t want to be like them. I don’t want—”

He stiffened as understanding dawned. The fuck no.

“I don’t want to be like them. Please, help me now.” She straightened her shoulders. “Kill me.”