Argeneau Family - The Immortal Hunter Part 19

"Then how do you..." She paused as she recalled the women in the ravine with their cuts and wondered if his blow hadn't done some brain damage that she would be so slow.

"Like this."

Dani glanced down as the hand that she'd used to grab his was suddenly being held by him in turn, and then he produced a short, sharp knife and flashed it across her wrist. It all happened so fast that it took a moment for her to realize what he'd done, and then the pain set in and she drew in a hissing breath as she watched blood rise, rich and red, to spill out of the wound.

Leo immediately lifted her wrist to his mouth to catch the liquid and began to suck greedily.Dani stared with revulsion and tried to pull her hand away, but he merely tightened his hold painfully and continued with his meal, sucking at the wound until it stopped bleeding. She ground her teeth together to keep from crying out when he then used his tongue and teeth to dig at it to encourage it to bleed more.

When he couldn't seem to extract another drop, Leonius raised his head and sighed with pleasure before glancing at her to announce, "There's just nothing as sweet as fear in the blood. All that adrenaline and noradrenaline and the extra oxygen just make it perfect." He tilted his head and gestured to the bleeding cut, asking politely, "You didn't mind, did you? It seems only fair since I'm going to give you some of mine."

"You're insane," she said weakly.

"Yes, isn't it marvelous? It's in the blood, you know," Leo announced, and then his smile took on a cruel edge and he used the knife to slice his own wrist, adding, "And now I'm going to share that blood with you."

Dani jerked back, trying to avoid him when he reached for her, but there was no escape. Leonius was fast, strong, and determined. Before she knew it, his hand was at the back of her head, grabbing a handful of her hair. He yanked viciously so that she cried out in startled pain, and then his wrist was immediately against her open mouth.

"Swallow," he ordered.

Dani pushed desperately at his wrist, feeling the blood pouring in, but refusing to swallow it as she fought to get out of the chair and get away, but she was held in place by the hand at the back of her head. When her mouth was full and blood began to leak out around his arm, he suddenly released her hair and pinched her nose closed with thumb and finger. Dani gasped in panic, swallowing convulsively as she tried to get air, and then again, choking on the thick liquid that poured down her throat. But no air followed, just more blood.

Dani was sure she was going to drown or suffocate, and then she was suddenly free. Choking loudly and spitting up what was left in her mouth, she gasped for air and peered around to see that the farmer had tried to help. Bending as far forward as he could, tied up as he was, he'd launched himself at Leo, chair and all, ramming him in the stomach and forcing him back from Dani. As she realized this, Leo roared with fury and swung out at the man.

Standing bent over, and panting, the chair still tied to his back, the farmer was helpless to avoid the strike. Dani screamed in horror, hardly noticing the wife's m.u.f.fled shrieks as the blow picked up the farmer and sent him flying into the wall. A loud crack filled the bas.e.m.e.nt as he struck the stone wall chair-first, and then man and what were now chair pieces tumbled to the cement floor.

Dani slid weakly from her seat and onto her knees on the cold concrete, still trying to catch her breath, and then glanced worriedly to the woman when Leo's angry gaze turned to her. She was making frantic little sounds through her m.u.f.fle and sc.r.a.ping her chair across the floor, trying to get to her husband.

"No," Dani gasped desperately as he moved to the woman, his arm rising again.

Leonius paused and turned to peer at her, one eyebrow arched. "No is a word I dislike very much."

Dani bit her lip and then winced when he turned back and hit the farmer's wife. The blow had much less anger and strength behind it, however. While it sent the woman's face jerking to the side, and blood began to pour from a cut on her mouth above her gag, she at least stayed in her chair and remained conscious.

Dani bit her tongue, afraid to say anything in case it just angered him and caused him to inflict more pain on the woman, but had to dig her nails into her palms to keep her mouth shut when he bent to lick away the blood trail from the shrinking woman.

"Mmmm." He straightened slowly, eyes closed as he savored the flavor, and then he smiled at Dani. "Afraid and diabetic, an unbeatable combination. You're going to love me for leaving you such a treat.""Never." The word-full of disgust-slid from her lips before she could stop it.

Fortunately, in his usual unpredictable manner, Leo was amused rather than angered further. Laughing loudly, he shook his head. "You say that now, but trust me, when the hunger hits, you'll tear these two to pieces to suck out every last drop of blood."

Dani stared back with silent horror at the very possibility, and shook her head.

"Yes," he a.s.sured her as he moved back to catch her by the arms and lift her up into her chair. He paused then, bent over and face-to-face with her as he added with delight, "It will take less than an hour for the need to get so bad they start looking like a couple of big juicy steaks on legs." He straightened and then continued, "Not long after that you won't be able to control yourself. The pain and hunger will be so strong you'll start gnawing on them."

Leonius grinned at her expression and gave a little s.h.i.+ver. "I can hardly wait and only wish I'd thought to get a camera to film it for you to watch afterward." He sighed. "All this talk of food has given me the munchies. Those two gals from the restaurant weren't very filling yesterday, and I'm afraid in all the excitement today I neglected to feed myself."

His considering gaze turned back to the farmer's wife. As the woman shrank back into her chair, Dani said quickly, "You said she was mine."

Leo turned back, eyebrows rising again, but this time a wry smile joined them. "You're only saying that to try to save her, but you'll understand the irony of that in an hour or so. I, at least, have a knife. You will be tearing into her with your teeth."

When Dani shook her head again, he smiled and shrugged. "However, I did say she was a gift to you. Besides, I'd just have to run out and grab you another. You'll need at least two to get through the turning. So..." Swinging away, he headed for the arch and the stairs beyond. "I guess I'll just have to run out and pick up some fast food. I do want to be back in time to watch the fun when it starts, and, unfortunately, Lucian did choose a spot to h.e.l.l and back for this new headquarters of his. I might take a bit of time, but I promise I'll get back as quickly as I can. Do try to wait for me so I can watch, won't you?"

Leonius paused at the stairs and turned back. When she merely stared, face expressionless, he let his eyes slide over her and added, "Perhaps I'll find myself a nice plump little blond like yourself." He smiled. "Watching you and Decker earlier today has put me in the mood for some fun and games, and I haven't bothered with that in a very long time. But I promise I'll save that until I get back so that you can join in too if you like." Turning away, he continued upstairs, calling, "Back soon."

The door closed behind him, but Dani waited, listening to the footsteps cross the floor above. The moment she heard the yawn of the screen door opening, then the clack of it slamming shut, she got swiftly to her feet and moved to the farmer on legs that were a bit shaky. Kneeling beside the unconscious man, she examined him quickly, a.s.suring herself that nothing seemed to be broken. Other than a head wound, he appeared uninjured, though he would no doubt be bruised and battered by the abuse he'd taken.

She set his head gently back on the floor and started to glance toward the wife, but paused and raised her hand to her forehead as a wave of dizziness swept over her. The smell of blood immediately overwhelmed Dani and she stiffened and pulled her hand back. The shallow cut on her wrist was no longer bleeding; Leonius had sucked every bit of blood out of it that he could.

However, a stain of fresh red liquid covered her palm from her examination of the farmer. The blood glistened on her skin in the fluorescent light in the room, its smell oddly sweet and rather pleasant.

Horrified as that thought wafted through her mind, Dani pushed herself to her feet. The room spun, but, desperate to get away from the bleeding man, she stumbled across the workshop and up the stairs to try the door. It was locked, of course.

Panic immediately overwhelmed her, but Dani leaned her head against the wooden panel, forcing herself to take deep breaths in an effort to calm down. She was panicking about nothing. The dizziness was the result of stress and the wound on her wrist.

She couldn't be turning this quickly, Dani a.s.sured herself, and then Leonius's words whispered through her head. It will take less than an hour for the need to get so bad they start looking like a couple of big juicy steaks on legs... Not long after that you won V be able to control yourself The pain and hunger will be so strong you 'II start gnawing on them.She closed her eyes on a moan. She had to escape and get the couple as far away from her as she could, Dani thought, and turned away from the door to start back down the steps, alarmed at how shaky her legs had grown in so short a time. Doing her best to ignore it, Dani glanced around the laundry room, but since there didn't appear to be anything she could use to pick the lock, she moved into the workshop.

The husband was still unconscious and the wife was looking at him with worry, but one glance at the woman's b.l.o.o.d.y lip made Dani avoid her and instead head toward the pegboard with its lined-up tools. She grabbed a hammer, then a pry bar, and started to turn back, her eyes running over the archway into the boiler room as she did.

A glimpse of what appeared to be the corner of a door made her pause. Dani peered at it for a moment, then set the tools on the corner of the workbench and moved to the archway. Sure enough, there was a door there, half hidden on the other side of the boiler. She moved closer before opening it, and found herself staring into darkness.

There was a light switch on the wall and she flicked it up, blinking as a bare light bulb winked on overhead. It was a strange room. Two feet deep and running the length of the bas.e.m.e.nt. It smelled damp and felt chilly. A pump and water softener were at one end, and empty shelves took up the other, suggesting that it had at one time been used as a cold storage room, but the wall across from her was covered with sheet after sheet of hard Styrofoam insulation boards. There was no exit.

Disappointed, Dani stepped back and closed the door, then turned away, only to sway and grab for the boiler as the room spun around her. She closed her eyes, a.s.suring herself yet again that this had to be because of the blood Leonius had taken.

Surely the turning couldn't start affecting her this quickly?

Then why are you avoiding the couple? Why haven't you dared get close enough to untie the wife? some part of her mind asked tauntingly, and Dani moaned unhappily as she acknowledged that they were in real trouble. Leo had forced her to drink his blood and presumably she was turning, becoming like him.

A no-fanger, she thought unhappily. Even though Dani still really didn't know what that was, the possibility that her being one might make Decker despise and apparently want to kill her was gut-wrenching. While she hadn't been sure if she'd wanted to make a life with him before this, having that possibility taken away was enough to sweep aside the uncertainty. It certainly would have been preferable to what she was now faced with.

Leonius had ruined her, she accepted sadly. He had utterly destroyed her and might as well have killed her, because it was the only acceptable end she could now see for herself. Dani was not going to allow herself to become like him, killing innocent people to revel in their blood. She had become a doctor to save lives, not to destroy them.

Becoming aware of an unpleasant acidy feeling in her stomach, Dani closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and forced herself to think calmly. She needed to find a way to get this couple out of here so that they were out of both her and Leo's reach by the time he got back...

and then she had to figure out how to kill the no-fanger and herself. She'd rather be dead than a monster.

Her mind made up, Dani opened her eyes again and moved carefully back to the archway. She was about to head back to collect the tools she'd set on the workbench, hoping to use them to force the upstairs door open, but paused at a moan from the farmer. Her gaze slid to find him rolling onto his side. Dani started to go to him, but had taken only one step when the acidy feeling in her stomach increased to a brief stabbing pain. Sucking in a shocked breath, she stumbled, b.u.mping into the arch. She grasped it, and then slid down its length when pain stabbed through her again. By the time the second one pa.s.sed, she was on her hands and knees, panting heavily.

Finally she lifted her dazed eyes to find the farmer now grunting and making other sounds trying to get her attention. The man was also squirming on the floor, appearing to be trying to move closer to her, his head bobbing. It took her a moment to realize the head bobbing was a silent gesture meant to get her to come to him. Her eyes slid to the blood still dripping from his head, and Dani shuddered as she recalled Leo's claim that in less than an hour the couple would look like big juicy steaks to her. They didn't have much time. She had to get them out of there, Dani thought faintly. She had to .get them untied so they could help her find a way out. Even if they couldn't come up with anything, it would be better if the couple were untied and could at least fight her off if she did lose control of herself.

Determination coursing through her, Dani started to s.h.i.+ft to stand, but groaned and fell back to her knees as the action brought the stabbing pain again. Whimpering, she took a moment to wait for it to ease and then crawled across the floor to the husband.

Tears were bleeding from her eyes by the time she reached him, but she ignored that and untied his hands. The moment she'd accomplished the task, he brushed away her clumsy hands and took over the job of freeing himself.

Dani fell back with relief, finding the sight and smell of his blood disturbing. She rolled away from him, curling into a ball on the floor and hugging herself around the waist. She heard him grunt and a rustle she suspected was his getting to his feet, but didn't look. Instead she pressed her hands into her stomach, wis.h.i.+ng she could dig out Leo's blood and stop all the pain.

The farmer moved past her, coming into her line of vision again as he moved quickly to his wife. Dani watched him untie the rope that bound the woman to the chair, but when he set the rope aside on the floor, she said, "Tie me up."

The farmer and his wife both turned to glance at her with surprise.

"Tie me up," she repeated. "You'll be safer."

They exchanged a glance, and then he returned to untying his wife, concentrating on the rope around her wrists now.

"If we can't get out of here," she began desperately, "I might-"

"Don't worry, girl," he interrupted. "I know a way out."

Dani felt a moment's hope, even thinking for one moment that she too might escape and perhaps find a way to stop what was happening to her, or to at least get help from Decker and the others. There would be a better chance of their stopping Leo and ensuring he never did this to anyone else than she had by herself... and they would keep her from hurting anyone too, Dani thought, but then closed her eyes and shook her head. She couldn't risk going with them. There was no way to know how long she could control herself. Her gaze slid back to the farmer as he finished untying his wife's hands and she said, "Tie me up and you two go without me then."

The wife reached up to remove her gag now her hands were free and said firmly, "We're not leaving you here for him to abuse."

"You need to get away from me. If what he said is true, I could attack you."

"What? That blood and vampire business he kept going on about?" The husband snorted as he straightened and helped his wife to stand. "The man was high on something. It was all bunk."

"What did he give you, dear?" the wife asked with concern, moving toward her as her husband rushed off through the boiler room to the long narrow room with the pump and water softener.

"His blood," Dani said on a sigh. "Now I'm becoming a vampire too."

The woman stopped beside Dani, her mouth opening to speak, but she paused and glanced around as her husband reappeared and rushed to the workbench. They both watched him grab the claw hammer Dani had set there, and then he rushed away again. There was a squeal of nails being torn from wood, and then the wife said, "What's your name, dear?"

"Dani," she answered wearily.

"Well, Dani, my name is Hazel Parker and that is my husband, John." Hazel knelt beside her and added sensibly, "I have to tell you, dear, vampires aren't real. That man must have drugged you somehow before he brought you down here."Dani closed her eyes. She wasn't terribly surprised they didn't believe it. She hadn't when Decker had told her, and he'd had fangs to flash. To Hazel and John, Leo must have just seemed your normal, everyday psychopath, she thought. Unless- "Who tied you up?" Dani asked, suddenly.

Confusion flashed briefly on Hazel's face, but she said, "I tied John and then the young man tied me up."

"Why did you tie up John? Did Leo threaten you?"

"No," she admitted, her confusion deepening. "He didn't even tell me to do it, and I didn't want to... I just... did." Something like panic flickered in her eyes. "I tried to stop myself, but it was like someone else was controlling my body."

"Someone else was," Dani said firmly. "Leo. He's a vampire."

Hazel peered at her with uncertainty and then turned with relief as her husband hurried back into the room.

"I got it open," John announced, rus.h.i.+ng to them. "I didn't think I would be able to. I nailed it shut a good twenty years ago, but the nails pulled out with a little elbow grease."

He paused to peer from his wife to Dani, and then set his mouth and bent to catch Dani's arm and lifted her. "Come on. He could be back any minute."

Dani resisted briefly, but her struggles were weak at best. She didn't seem to have any strength left in her body, and that was what made her give in and add what little strength she had to helping him get her to her feet. There was no way she could take Leo like this. If she stayed, he would simply bring her more innocents to feed on, and the way it was going, Dani feared she wouldn't be able to resist.

She would get out of the house with them and then send them next door to the enforcer house for help while she hid in the bushes or something. Then Decker and the others could come back and take care of her and Leo. It seemed like a good plan to Dani, and under John's urging, she took a faltering step forward, only to gasp and bend over as the movement made her pain increase again. Panting like a woman in labor, she stared at the floor and told herself she only had to get outside. Then they would drive off safely, leaving her-Dani stopped and glanced to John sharply, asking, "You don't drive a brown pickup, do you?"

"Yes," John answered, urging her forward another step. "Why?"

"Because that's what he was driving and is probably driving now," Dani told them miserably, ready to give up and find some way to force them to leave without her.

"Then we'll have to take his car," John said staunchly. "It's in the barn. I was out there putting away the new tractor when he drove it right in and-" John cut himself off abruptly, his mouth tightening at some unpleasant memory. "Come on, let's go, or we'll still all be standing here arguing when he gets back."

Dani bit her lip, but started to move again. She did her best to ignore the pain the activity sent shooting through her as they made their way to the cold room she'd examined earlier. She noticed the hammer and long nails lying abandoned on the concrete floor, and then raised her head to see that one of the boards of Styrofoam had been removed to reveal a stone wall with an old window in it.

The sight made her heart sink with despair. There was no way she was going to be able to get out through that in the shape she was in.

Chapter Fourteen.

"You can do this, girl."

Dani turned her head toward the old farmer. Apparently her expression had given her away, but he wasn't giving up even if she was.

"We'll help you," he added when she began to shake her head, and then he snapped with impatience, "At least try, dammit!

You might as well walk back into the next room and use one of my tools to slit your wrists if you won't try."

She ground her teeth together at those blunt words. He was right, and she could do this, or at least she could give it a d.a.m.ned good try. Dani had never been a quitter, firmly believing that the only failure was not trying. That belief had seen her through medical school and the grueling hours she'd worked as an intern afterward. She'd made it through all that; she could make it through this stupid window too, Dani told herself firmly. And if she didn't, it wouldn't be for lack of trying.

Relaxing a little, John helped her forward to stand in front of the window. They paused then, and John reached out and undid the rusty old hook-and-eye fastening. He swung the old-fas.h.i.+oned window out and up to slip the hook through a second eye in the low ceiling, holding the window out of their way.

The lower ledge of the window was about level with Dani's chin. It was about two feet wide and two feet high and was three quarters underground. She found herself looking out at a metal window well with gra.s.s poking up over the top and the star- filled night sky visible above it from where they stood.

"We'll need a chair or something to get out," Hazel said, and turned to rush out of the room.

Dani eyed the window and said unhappily, "I'm going to slow you down."

"We have a little time," John said with a shrug. "We're a good ways out in the country. It's half an hour to the nearest fast-food restaurant."

Dani didn't bother explaining that wasn't what Leo had meant by fast food.

"Here."

John turned and then stepped back, taking Dani with him as Hazel rushed in carrying one of the chairs from the workshop. She set it down in front of the window and then turned to eye them both uncertainly.

"You climb out, Hazel," John said. "And then I'll help the girl up and you can pull on her from outside."

Hazel nodded and scrambled onto the chair. She was spry for her age and size, Dani noted, watching as the matronly woman managed to wiggle herself through the window and huffed and puffed her way out into the well.

When Hazel paused on her knees and turned to peer back at them, John said, "Get out on the lawn. If you lie on the gra.s.s and reach down you can pull from above while I help the girl from this end."

"My name's Dani," she murmured as they watched Hazel heft herself out of the window well.

"Nice to meet you," John responded absently as he watched his wife with concern, and then he urged Dani to the chair. With his help, she managed to climb to stand on it and brace herself against the ledge. Hazel's hands immediately appeared from the top of the well, and Dani reached to clasp them, holding on as John grasped her lower hips and put his shoulder to her behind, and she began to move up. There was a lot of grunting and panting, and Dani was sure at least two layers of skin were sc.r.a.ped from her stomach when her T-s.h.i.+rt rose up, but after what seemed like forever she found herself crumpled in the bottom of the well.

"You're gonna have to try to stand to help Hazel get you out, girl," John said breathlessly, and Dani turned to see him standing on the chair inside the window. They were all out of breath from the effort expended, but his face was alarmingly red. Her eyes slid to his forehead where blood was drying around the wound there, and she felt her stomach dance, and then Dani groaned as pain knifed through her again, a terrible agony. If she could just get a little blood, just a little, she knew it would ease. Just a taste. Maybe she could just lick his forehead as Leo had done his wife's face, just a lick.

"Dani?"