Freak Show (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #7)(48)

Every anguished sound that came from him was like a knife in my gut. Sure, I’d seen Arys take a few hits but nothing like this. Perhaps part of me hadn’t believed it was possible for him to be anything other than the dominant force. Seeing him so close to death had awakened a new kind of terror in me.

I could feel the rising sun chasing us to the car. I urged Arys along, caring more about his overall safety than his current level of injury. He could survive being impaled through the stomach. No vampire could survive the sun.

A horrible memory flashed through my mind. I’d watched one of the blood ring vamps die by sunlight, and I’d never witnessed a nastier vampire death. The thought spurred me on, giving me the extra strength I needed.

We reached the limo as the warm glow broke fully over the horizon. The UV rays hurt my eyes, so I wasn’t surprised when both vampires cried out. I flung the back door open and shoved Arys inside, stepping back to allow Jenner through. Jez slammed the door shut, and I sank to the ground, leaning against the back tire.

“Thank you, God,” I whispered. Panting and repeating my prayer of gratitude, I realized that tears rolled down my face.

“Should we go inside? Might be something worth swiping in there.” Jez extended a hand, which I gratefully accepted.

“If we make it home, I’m going to stay in bed for a week,” I declared.

“If? No, you mean when. When we get home. Which we will.”

The house was just as derelict inside as out. Nobody had lived there for a very long time. There was little evidence of the vampires who had claimed it, so they weren’t total idiots. We picked up a crossbow, half a dozen bolts and a gun with wooden bullets.

I had no use for guns. Jez inspected it, shrugged and said, “Why not? It’s not like customs let us bring our own weapons through.”

I got into the back of the limousine with the guys while Jez took us back to Caesars. They splayed out in the roomy backseat across from one another. I knelt on the floor in front of Arys, afraid to touch him for fear of hurting him.

“Why did you shut me out?” I hadn’t meant for those to be my first words to him after such an ordeal, but his isolation had hurt me. He tried to touch me, and even though the wounds in his hands had already begun to heal, he was simply too weak. I leaned in closer and carefully held his hand to my face.

“I had to,” he said, wincing with each word. “Didn’t want you to feel it. I was afraid I’d take you with me.” What it felt like to feel him die, that’s what he meant. Like he had felt Harley die when I killed him.

Guilt slithered in among my many emotions. Our bond was deep enough that, as a mortal, his death could take me down too. Then I’d be here as a vampire without him. The thought was horrifying.

“Don’t ever do that again.” My voice broke, and I rested my forehead against his. I didn’t want to ask, but I needed to know. “Where’s Shaz?”

Arys shook his head, defeated and ashamed. “They have him. He’ll go to the highest bidder. Eventually.”

“What?” I sat back on the floor in shock. The blood ring had Shaz. If they knew he was one of Harley’s killers, then there’s no telling what kind of hell he would go through before they killed him. “Do they know who he is?”

“Oh yeah,” Jenner chimed in with a groan. “They know. And they’re looking for you.”

Chapter Twelve

“Do they know we’re here?” Jez asked through a mouthful of chicken. “Is it safe to sleep?”

“They don’t know you’re at this hotel. And I doubt they’d waste time and resources tracking you by day. As far as I know, they don’t have a lot of daywalkers in their employ.” Jenner watched Jez eat with blatant disgust. He lay sprawled on the couch, shirtless and ghostly white.

Returning to Caesars had been simple enough. Pulling the limo up to the entry just beneath the Augustus Tower elevator had given us enough shade to get the wounded vampires safely inside. Now we tackled the task of healing them by nightfall and somehow resting up. Fatigue teased me, making my eyelids heavy. My mind refused to give in. How could I sleep when Shaz was out there?

I nibbled on a chicken wing. I should have been ravenous after the night I’d just had, but the constant turning of my stomach made it hard to swallow.

Jenner watched us eat; his face twisted into a grimace. “That’s just about the ugliest thing I’ve seen in ages. When do I get to eat?”

Jez had wasted no time ordering room service and digging in to the meat dishes on the cart. She shot Jenner a dirty look and flung a chicken bone at him. “Stop f**king watching us then.”

“Should be any time now,” Arys said. His blue gaze strayed to the door. He too lay haphazardly along the opposite end of the couch. Dark circles lined his eyes though most of the bruises and gashes had faded. The gaping hole in his sternum had closed. It was covered with a thick, pink scar.

The healing time of a vampire far exceeded that of a wolf. An injury that would take a human weeks to heal would take me a few days, though for Arys, it could be just minutes or hours. However, without blood, healing would take longer, especially as far as his metaphysical abilities went. To help replace the energy that the vamps had expended, we were expecting four escorts to arrive at any moment.

I shifted in my chair, uncomfortable and sore. Feeling stiff and tired, I shoved my plate back onto the room service cart, opting for water instead.