Cherry Stem Read online

  “We’re here to save you,” I said, trying to figure out how to convince them they needed saving.

  “Are you a missionary?” the blonde sitting cross-legged on one of the beds asked. “I’ve dealt with your kind before. I have to tell you Willoughby says our souls are in no danger from our turning.” She was clutching at the lapels of her robe, keeping them closed over her breasts and paying no mind to how much of the rest of her body was on display.

  “Where is Willoughby?” The third girl sat at a vanity, braiding her dark chocolate brown hair in a fashion similar to the one in which Ádísa had often worn hers. “He was supposed to feed us today.” Done with her hair, she tossed her braid back and turned toward me.

  “Yeah,” said the blonde. “Did he send you instead?” I had no clue why she’d think I was there to feed her, but I was thankful she was referring only to me. That and what Liza had said about not feeding from a human indicated Willoughby had been keeping the girls on vampire blood. Mostly his. It sort of made sense, since vampire blood was more nutritional, but I didn’t get why he hadn’t even told them humans equaled food.

  Willoughby had obviously been trying to gain their loyalty, cultivate some sort of actual maker-childe bond. I wouldn’t be resentful just because he had obviously been taking far better care of them than of me. I wouldn’t.

  Then again, anything would be better care than dumping someone in an alley after their turning.

  Now all three of them were looking at me like baby birds looking at their momma. A momma about to tap a vein for them. This so wasn’t happening.

  I had to tell them the truth, and I doubted they’d like it.

  “Willoughby is gone,” I said. “And Ádísa is dead.”

  “Oh my God, what happened to her?” Liza seemed about to cry. “Where did Willoughby go? Is Johnny okay?”

  I wanted to bang my head on a wall. Instead I shook it. “Dead too,” I whispered.

  “We’ll tell you all about it,” Alex said before I could say anything else—like how I’d been the one responsible for Johnny’s new status. “But first we have to get you somewhere safe.”

  “Are we in danger?” Liza was the most vocal one. The other two girls approached us, and I didn’t like how they seemed to be measuring Alex. Whether they meant to bite him or not, they most definitely seemed to be hungry for him.

  Constantine appeared at the doorway just as I took Alex’s hand in mine. “He got away,” he said, his gaze roaming the fledglings. “Are they all you found?”

  “Just told these girls their maker disappeared and the other two who were…taking care of them are dead.” I spared him a glance that I hoped said he shouldn’t disagree with me. He seemed to have gotten my meaning, because he just nodded. “Can you fly them to your place?” I asked. “We’ll look for the rest and Dotty and then come find you.”

  “To my place?” He scrunched his nose in dismay. “Cherry—”

  The young vampires hissed in unison. The blonde took a step back. “You’re Cherry?” Her fangs were out, but she didn’t sound very menacing. “We’ve heard about you.”

  Well, that was odd.

  “You want to stake us, don’t you?” The brunette stood in front of the blonde. “Don’t worry, Sally. I won’t let her get to you.”

  I turned to Liza, whom I’d deemed the brainiest of the three. “Listen, I don’t know what Willoughby and the others have told you, but I have nothing against you. They were the ones who took your lives from you. They did the same to me. I’m on your side. I’m here to rescue you.”

  “From what? Luxury?” The blonde one, Sally, wrapped her fingers around the brunette’s bicep, stopping her from nearing me. “Don’t, Carrie. She’s dangerous.”

  I was about to throw a fit. “I’m not dangerous,” I said. “I’m not the one who turned you so you could fuck and kill men for their estates!”

  Blank looks all around. Awesome.

  Constantine held his hands up. “I will explain everything when we get to my mansion. You ladies seem to need to feed. I will take care of that too. If you’ll get dressed and follow me.” With a small bow, he stepped outside.

  I was waiting for some protest, but none came. Not taking their eyes off me, the girls hurried to the closet. Alex turned away, and I was left to watch bouncy boobs being squeezed into revealing tops and perfectly shaped tummies being sucked in for skintight jeans to be zipped up.

  I remembered the plastic surgery I never had and stood there sulking as the girls exited the room, still mindful not to come too close to me.

  “Come find us when you’re through looking around,” Constantine called out over his shoulder, wrapping an arm around Carrie’s waist and the other around Liza’s shoulders. Sally seemed at a loss for a second, but then she grabbed his waistband and the four of them were soon out of sight.

  Alex grinned at me. “Do you think he’ll take care of all three of them?”

  I scowled. “We have to find the rest of them and Dotty.” There was no doubt in my mind that Constantine could take care of all three young ladies. Also, I could gag. Sheena would probably be her annoying self long enough to keep any sexing from happening before we met up with them. It surprised me how little I actually cared now.

  I led Alex to the next room.

  That door wasn’t locked from the inside, and it took three kicks at the handle and a shoulder wedge for me to open it.

  My previous fears came to life when I saw Dotty chained to the far wall, her jeans and frilly blouse torn in several places. She was thinner than she had been when I’d last seen her. Her nose had bled at some point. Rust-colored stains covered her front, and a crust of blood now blocked her right nostril.

  Her nose wasn’t the only part of her that she’d lost blood from, though. Even from across the room, I could make out the bite marks on the insides of her elbows and her wrists, raw and angry. I bet there were more on her neck, but I couldn’t see them the way her head hung down.

  At least her jeans were still on, I noted with a sigh of relief. Whatever had happened to her, she had at least not been violated that way. Nobody would have bothered dressing her again.

  Fury fought with nausea inside me. They didn’t have to have her chained up, hanging from the wall like a side of beef; they could have just thralled her into submission. They could have licked her wounds closed, for fuck’s sake. I wanted to weep for her, for what had happened to her because she was unlucky enough to know me.

  I wished Constantine hadn’t lost Willoughby. I wished he’d caught the sadistic creep and brought him to me, so I could mete out some justice.

  “Dotty?” I whispered. “Can you hear me, honey?” Her heart was beating, thank God, and her chest rose and fell, albeit slowly. She was alive, and that was all that mattered.

  The shackles looked sturdy. I could probably break them, but I was afraid I’d injure Dotty more. I felt luck smile at us when I noticed a small key lying on the bench to my right. “Help me,” I said to Alex, who ran to her side and propped her up while I undid her bindings.

  She slumped against him, and he maneuvered her so he was cradling her body in his arms. “I’ll wait here while you search the other rooms.”

  With a grateful, if shaky, smile, I left him and his precious cargo and went to tear down the rest of the doors in the basement.

  I found nobody else. There was another preppy room, just like the one we’d found the newbs in, but it was empty. So was, predictably, Ádísa’s bedroom.

  I returned to Alex and carefully took Dotty from him.

  “You better fly her to Constantine’s,” he said. “She needs to be looked after as soon as possible.”

  I wasn’t sure I could take Alex with; Dotty was still out for the count, and I would have to hold her with both arms.

  He shook his head as if reading my mind. “I’ll bring the car.”

  That was a good idea. I thanked him, and we made our way outside the manor.

  He kissed me when we got to th
e front gate. It was awkward with Dotty between us, but he managed a lingering kiss, full of promises. I reciprocated just as fervently. With the bad guys out of our way, we could have a future, and I was keen on starting on that as soon as things were wrapped up and I had Dotty restored to her healthy, vibrant self and returned to her son.

  I gazed at Alex one last time before I took off. He stood there, looking at me and smiling a secret smile that made his eyes twinkle. My chest swelled with love that warmed me up inside. I wouldn’t let another opportunity pass me by. When I saw Alex later that night, I’d tell him I loved him.

  I tucked Dotty’s head under my chin, smiled back at him, and launched into the night sky.

  Chapter Seventeen

  I waited at Constantine’s for three hours. Three hours.

  I shouldn’t have waited that long. I should have known something was wrong when Alex hadn’t shown within the first thirty minutes. I should have felt it.

  I didn’t.

  I was too preoccupied with worrying over Dotty not waking up, even after Constantine and I had closed her wounds. Sheena helped me clean and change her into warm pajamas and didn’t freak out once during the whole thing. That she wasn’t drunk or even tipsy spoke volumes about the truth of her resolution to be strong and finally deal with things she’d been avoiding for a while.

  I was too busy helping Constantine feed the three girls, then trying to explain to them why we’d killed two of the vampires who’d been treating them as royalty. His patience with them was surprising, as was the firm yet kind way he dealt with all the drama our revelation caused. They still were wary of me but eventually seemed at least open to the possibility they’d been lied to by their maker and his friends. That was more than I could have hoped for.

  By the time I realized Alex had taken far too long to show up, it was almost two in the morning.

  I tried his cell phone, but it kept ringing and ringing until my call was forwarded to his voice mail. “I can’t pick up right now,” his recorded voice informed me, “but if you leave your name and number, I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.”

  That was when the pit of my stomach gave way and the world tilted. I wanted him to get back to me now.

  Where was he? Had he had an accident while speeding to get to me?

  “Don’t be silly.” Sheena stopped my pacing with a hand on my shoulder. “Have some of this.” She offered me my cup of the tea Wesley had made for us all. The poor man had been feeling useless among all the drama until Constantine had set him on tea duty.

  I didn’t take it; the stupid stuff wasn’t going to fix anything.

  “He probably went by his place to shower and left his phone in his car. Maybe he’s set it on silent.” Her efforts to reassure me were valiant but ineffective.

  “He would have called me.” He wasn’t taking a shower. No shower took that long. “He wouldn’t make me wait like that.” I should call his place or his mother’s, but I didn’t have either number.

  I shoved my phone in my pocket and made sure Dotty was tucked in where she lay on the couch. “I’ll go find him.”

  “You’ll do no such thing. You haven’t got a clue where he could be.” Ignoring that and Constantine’s protests that I couldn’t leave him with three pissed-off women and a crazy one, I ran out the door and was in the air in seconds.

  * * * *

  I could have gone to his mother’s first. Hell, I should have gone to his mother’s first, but I didn’t want to waste time doing things in what might have been the wrong order. Determined to start at the beginning, I flew back to Ádísa’s, landed in front of her manor’s gate, and let my nostrils flare—in what I knew was a most unflattering manner—until I caught his scent.

  Nose in the air, I followed Alex’s trail around the corner from which I’d seen him appear earlier that night and into a well-lit street lined with two-story houses, their gardens trimmed to perfection. There, under a streetlight, I saw a car I knew well enough.

  My feet almost kicked up sparks as I covered the distance to the car at full speed, hoping against hope that Alex was just taking a nap behind the wheel, the exhaustion and excitement of the night having finally caught up with him.

  He wasn’t behind the wheel or in the backseat. I punched through the lock of the trunk in order to pop the lid open. Not there either.

  The unmistakable scent of his blood wafted to my nostrils. It didn’t come from the car but the gravel. A closer look revealed a couple of dark droplets. Alex had been there, by the car, and he’d been bleeding.

  Something had happened to him just as he’d been about to get in his car. I tried telling myself that it could be something as small as a nosebleed, but I knew better than to let the lack of more blood appease me. I couldn’t have been too far when he’d been hurt; I should have heard him call for help. No—I should have been there with him. I should have saved him from whatever had harmed him.

  Willoughby.

  It had to have been Willoughby.

  The thought made me panic. Every hint of rational thought I might have been capable of was getting choked out. I took an unneeded breath and tried to think of other possibilities. Alex could have been hit by a car—no, there would be more blood. He could have been mugged, although the sight of his gun should have been enough of a deterrent for any aspiring mugger, who wouldn’t have known it was empty. He was a cop; he’d manage to at least pull his gun on his attacker.

  If his attacker had been human.

  I could no longer hide from what I knew was the truth. Willoughby had gotten to him. My maker had come back after he’d escaped Constantine and had gotten Alex alone. In my mind’s eye, I saw him pinning Alex to the car and closing his jaws over my lover’s jugular.

  Had he killed him? I shook my head. Alex had to be alive. He had to be alive for many, many years; we had to make each other happy.

  My vision blurred, and I realized I’d teared up. Wiping my eyes and cheeks furiously, I let my sense of smell overtake my other senses, not really hoping for much. If Willoughby had flown Alex out of there, it would take forever for me to find him.

  The scent hit me again, and I frowned. Willoughby had carried him away on foot? What for?

  The streetlamps seemed too bright. A cat howled from atop a nearby trash can.

  He’d done it for me to follow them. It was a trap for me.

  * * * *

  I stood at the entrance of Alex’s mother’s house, trying to work up the courage to make my way inside. I didn’t know what I’d find and, for the millionth time, considered calling Constantine. He would be more than useful an ally in a confrontation like the one I was about to have with my maker. Maybe I should call him and wait for him to get there before barging in?

  That would have been the wise thing to do, but not knowing in exactly what condition I’d find Alex made the delay potentially too dangerous.

  I squared my shoulders and tried the door. It wasn’t latched, which added to my unease as I stepped into the living room.

  Empty.

  The entire house smelled like Alex, so I could no longer trust my nose to lead me to him. The ground floor was empty. I threw caution to the wind and rushed to the basement, only to find that in exactly the same state I remembered it: bed unmade and Alex-less.

  That left the upper floor. That had to be where Willoughby was holding him.

  Climbing up the stairs would be too slow. I flew instead.

  The stench of blood slammed into me like a sledgehammer. It was no longer a hint or a trail; it smelled like a bucketful or two, and it came from Alex’s old bedroom. But I couldn’t make out a heartbeat.

  I couldn’t make out a heartbeat.

  A piece of paper was pinned to the wooden frame of the door. I snatched it.

  You took something of mine. Now I took something of yours. I hope he’s still alive when you find him, so you can watch him die.

  W.

  It was written in ink, not blood like I’d feared, the handwr
iting sophisticated and elegant.

  My fangs dropped.

  I didn’t bother hiding them again.

  “I swear, I’ll kill you.” My words echoed back to me in the narrow corridor. A low thump snapped me out of my shock and led me to the entrance of the room. Another thump followed, and I realized that it was a heartbeat, slow and unsteady.

  Slowly, reluctantly, I opened the door.

  Then I saw him.

  My brain at first refused to make sense of the sight; it couldn’t accept that the crimson sheets weren’t really red, just soaked with my lover’s blood. I couldn’t accept it.

  I couldn’t believe that the naked torso, covered with wounds, belonged to the man I loved. I couldn’t grasp that I was seeing his life essence seep away from too many cuts for me to count. Willoughby hadn’t fed from him or there wouldn’t be so much blood. He’d taken his time slicing and biting Alex, for the soul purpose of torturing and killing him.

  I hoped Alex had been under a thrall or unconscious during his ordeal. He’d had to be, or the neighbors would have heard and called 911. On second thought, I wished someone had heard; Alex’s chances of survival would have been higher. His pulse was too weak. Even if I called now, they’d be too late.

  I climbed on the bed next to him and raised his head in my lap, willing him to wake up. “Come on, baby, open your eyes. Please, open your eyes and look at me.”

  I was crying again—or still, rather—begging him to stay with me, threatening him if he didn’t, if he dared slip away from my grasp when we were so good together. “I want to be with you, Alex. Please look at me. Look at me!” I was rambling. I took my top off and tried to wipe him clean.

  I didn’t want to lick his wounds closed. I didn’t want his blood in my mouth, even if it was to save him. So I spat on my hands and rubbed them on every inch of him, pressing everywhere, trying to stem the flow. His blood slid between my fingers, too precious and too elusive.