Sleeping With The Vampire (Immortal Vampire #2)

Chapter 23

Izzy

Loughlin’s Vale is a ski resort further west of Castle Grey.

I’d heard of it but never been there. It was five-star luxury and to reach it, you had to come by private plane or helicopter, but we couldn’t use these as we needed the element of surprise. We flew to a few miles of the destination and from afar, I could see the lights in the mountains, from the hotel and the chalets. There wouldn’t be much skiing happening now, as it was autumn and the season wasn’t officially open yet.

We landed at a clearing in the woods, two helicopters for our men.

Ragnar and another guy went off to get the lay of the land.

We waited for them to report back and I noticed, somewhat amused, that most of the group kept a very wide distance between me and them. The necklace clearly worked.

Within the hour, Ragnar was back.

“They’re there,” he said, slightly out of breath. “There are only a few people there, no guests as far as I can tell, only hotel employees. They’re drinking up a storm.”

“Did you recognize anyone?” Lucca asked.

He was tense, I could see it in the way he stood upright, his shoulders pulled together.

“Apart from Layrr, I saw Vin and Morris,” he said. “As well as the Poccano Twins, and the Eagen clan.”

“Dawn Eagen too?” I didn’t know who these people were, but Lucca did. Before we left for the resort, there was a quick meeting.

“We want to avoid a bloodbath, if possible, I want to bring Layrr before the Council so he can face justice there. So that is our aim.”

Jock handed out reinforced cables to tie up any vampires and our group took off for the resort. Ragnar took me as Lucca was still too weak and we needed to move fast. It was a bit of a blur for me, the ride through the trees but it was exhilarating.

“Can you take off…whatever it is that stinks like that?” Ragnar begged me.

“No,” I said.

“I can barely see where I’m going!” he complained.

“I don’t trust you,” I said, sourly, even though it wasn’t really true. I had come to like Ragnar and keeping up the pretense of dislike was a bit of a game for me as well as him. I had a feeling we could become friends one day.

We regrouped at the helipad behind the main hotel building and moved down towards the lights. Lucca and Ragnar were in front with Jock and the strongest fighters. I hung back with some of the younger men. As soon as we were inside, we slowly spread through the building. I could hear fighting in the main lobby, but I avoided that area.

I could feel the vampire energy emanate from a lower floor, where I suspected there would be a lounge area and bar. I made my way there, followed by two others. My senses were heightened and I felt the vampires approach before I could see them. There was a flapping sound and I crouched down, rolling away as a body hit the floor. I threw daggers at it, stunning a woman who looked at me in shock. I pulled my knives out, wiped them quickly and snapped the cables around her wrists and ankles and checked that the rest of my group were ready to proceed.

My abdomen was still tender and I didn’t want to risk opening the wound again. We moved down the corridor as we heard running feet coming towards us. We took up position on each side of the corridor and as the men came running past us, we took them down. Other men had reinforced short swords, designed to inflict the maximum damage. We struggled to force the wounded vampires into submission. They were angry, and one of them clawed at a young guy in our group, managing to pull him in. Before I knew it, he had his fangs in him and it was over.

He grinned at me, blood dripping from his mouth and I plunged a knife into his heart, slipping it up under the sternum, ending that life quickly once and for all.

My surviving team-mate pulled me away, “Come,” he said, “There are more coming.” He was right, they were flying towards us and I closed my eyes, to better hear them approaching. I was ready with my daggers, but one of them managed to grab hold of me in passing, throwing me across the hotel lobby. I landed with a thud against the wall, feeling the impact reverberate throughout my body. Instinctively, my hand flew to my middle. I turned my head and saw a group of vampires approaching. I had enough time to pull out a few grenades, remove a pin and throw them at the group, causing a huge explosion that was on target.

We made our way back to the hotel lobby, stepping over bodies.

I found Ragnar and Jock, who told me that Layrr was not there, they suspected him of being in one of the hotel rooms.

A woman, tied up and sitting in a chair looked at me and said, “Ah, you must be the infamous Izzy.”

Ragnar told me this was Dawn Eagan, one of the leaders of the rebels. “I’m taking her in,” he said to me, pointedly. “Is there a bounty on her?” I asked with a smile, competitive to the end, and he grinned, “I’m sure it will be a good one.”

“I’m going to look for Lucca,” I said.

“Be careful,” Ragnar said.

I got a hotel master key to gain access to the bedrooms, which were located upstairs. I went up the stairs. It was quiet in the empty corridors. I opened the door and listened for sounds of movement, but there were none. I opened the rooms and scanned for movement, but they were empty, ready for guests who might never come. From one of the room balconies, I saw a pool area below, with a patio, where I saw someone who looked like Layrr.

I ran out, down the stairs and to the pool area.

When I opened the door, there was no one there but I sensed I was not alone. Lucca came towards me from the door. He was limping slightly.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

He nodded impatiently, “Fine, fine.”

He told me he had followed Layrr here, but he’d escaped.

“He’s very fast, faster than before. I think he’s high.”

Lucca stepped outside to look for Layrr but I stayed in the pool area, walking to the other side. I wanted to look in the cloakrooms and before I knew what was happening, Layrr slammed into me from the bathroom. He attacked me with such force that I flew back, into the pool, which was steaming hot. The impact of the blow hit me full frontal and I went under the water, holding my breath. I was aware of the fact that he’d hit me in the stomach, but the main thrust of his blow had been slightly off target to the left. Still, I was bleeding, and I could see the blood spread through the water.

When I looked up, I could see him standing at the edge of the pool, looking in. I held my breath a little longer, feeling for the spear gun that I had taken from the gym in passing. I had lost my last dagger in the last attack but the spear gun had seemed like a good idea. It was probably used for ice fishing or some other sport. I was glad I had it now.

I pulled it out, armed it and shot an arrow from under the water and saw Layrr fall back. I surfaced and pulled myself out of the water. Layrr was lying on the ground, stunned, the arrow piercing his shoulder and pinning him to the ground.

“You got him!” Lucca came running towards us as Layrr raised a gun, aimed it at me.

“Stop right there” Layrr commanded him. “Or she gets it.”

Both of us stopped moving, I lifted my hands in the air.

Behind Layrr, Sunil emerged from the bathroom, rushing towards his injured brother.

“Sunil! You’re here too?!” Lucca sounded shocked.

“I’m sorry, Father,” he whimpered.

He pulled the arrow from Layrr’s shoulder and his brother cried out in pain.

“The bitch spear gunned me, can you believe it,” Layrr shouted, crazy with pain.

“For that, you’ve gotta die, bitch!” he fired the gun at me but I saw it coming and moved out the way before his finger pulled the trigger. When I looked up, I saw that Lucca had fired his own weapon at Layrr, who was lying against the wall, stunned.

“No!” Lucca snarled at him, his face contorted with anger.

“It’s over, Layrr.”

He snapped cables on him and I went after Sunil, finding him cowering in the bathroom.

“I never wanted anything like this to happen!” he cried. “It was all going to be so glorious. An age of vampires, like never before!”

“Music and parties and mortals on platters for your enjoyment?” I asked sarcastically, pulling the cables extra tight.

I stood up and felt dizzy for a moment, when I looked down, I saw my entire stomach was drenched in blood. I stumbled back onto a bench and sat down.

“Vampire blood can heal you, you know,” Sunil said, a cunning look on his face.

“But you have to be careful, too much and you become one of us.”

I heard the others arriving, ready to take Layrr and the captured vampires out to the helicopters. Lucca came to check on me, “That looks bad.” His face was worried.

I nodded. “I think my wound opened up again,” I said.

He waited until we were alone, then he said in a low voice. “I’m going to give you some of my blood, Izzy.”

“I don’t know,” I said.

“Just enough to help you heal. Otherwise… you might not make it. There has been a lot of blood loss.”

I smiled sadly at him, “Maybe this is my time.”

“No!” Lucca cried out. “I couldn’t bear it!”

“We couldn’t be together anyway,” I said, sadly.

“Why not?!” Lucca cried out. “Who said that?! Why do you think the witch tried to kill you? She saw you in the castle, taking her place in my life. She couldn’t handle it. But that is what I want, more than anything!”

“Just a bit then,” I gave in, moved by his feelings for me.

I leaned back, feeling him coming closer. He cut himself and held his arm to my mouth. I tasted the warm, strange fluid and felt my lips close around the cut, sucking from its own accord. I wanted this, my body wanted this.

“You should stop,” I heard Lucca’s voice from far away. “That’s enough.”

But to my own surprise, I didn’t want to stop.