As the SUV climbed the winding mountain road, Beth’s stomach crocheted itself into knots.
The cousins had been right. By sharing consciousness, Garret had been able to demonstrate the trick of amplifying Morgan’s power. That had allowed her to learn the technique in hours rather than the several nights Val and Cade had struggled with the problem.
Then he’d driven them to Cherokee Leap at a speed no one would have dared but a man with vampire reflexes and the ability to hypnotize highway patrol troopers. Even so, every instinct Beth had screamed they were taking too long.
She knew her instincts were right when she felt a sudden ripping pain in her guts. Val’s voice yelled, “Cade!” It wasn’t a sound Beth heard with her ears. She knew her sister had just been hurt. “Stop the truck!” she shouted, even as Morgan hit the brakes. As the SUV skidded to a halt, Beth swung open the back passenger door and leaped out. Garret opened his own door and grabbed her by the collar just before she could throw herself down the steep mountain slope. “Ramirez’s house is further up the mountain,” he told her, hauling her back from the edge.
“But Val and Cade are down that way.” She flung out a hand to point down the mountainside. Anxiously, she peered over the lip of the cliff. Even with bright moonlight and vampire vision, she couldn’t see them -- but she knew they were there. “They’re fighting. Somebody’s hurt. I don’t know how I know that -- I just do.” She shouldn’t even be able to sense her sister, since Val hadn’t transformed her. Yet Beth felt Val’s pain and desperation to her bones.
“You’ve got a blood bond,” Morgan explained, joining them on the edge of the cliff. “Changing strengthened it, even though your sires are different.”
“Good thing, too.” Garret released her cautiously. “Lead the way, but try not to break your neck. Trust me, it would be damned inconvenient.”
Beth nodded curtly and went over the edge faster than she ever would have dared as a human. Her sister’s pain had subsided from that first scarlet agony to a dull throb, but she could still feel it.
Tracking her, Beth scrambled down the trail, leaping over half-seen obstacles, grabbing at saplings as she plunged downward to control her descent. As she ran, the men bounded along at her heels, Garret’s calm and Morgan’s solid confidence soothing her fear.
Suddenly a hand clamped down on her shoulder, dragging her to a stop. “I hear them,” Morgan said. He gestured at a fallen tree. “Why don’t you curl up behind that and ride my mind the rest of the way in? You’d be out of the line of fire.”
“But --”
“We can move faster than you can, Beth. Besides, Ramirez’s thralls will know you’re amplifying us the minute you lie down. They’d target you, and we’d be distracted by trying to keep you free of holes.”
“Goddamnit. Okay, fine,” she growled, knowing he had a point. She scrambled over to the log and plopped down behind it. Garret jerked a couple of nearby bushes out of the ground and piled them in front of the trunk to conceal her.
Rearing up just long enough to meet Morgan’s gaze, she sent her consciousness to him. She didn’t even feel her body slump back down to the leaves.
Looking through his eyes, Beth watched him consider her hiding place. “I think she could use a little more camouflage,” he told Garret, and scooped up an armload of fallen leaves.
“Val is down there getting shot at,” she objected.
“And you getting killed won’t help her,” Garret said, adding his own armload to the pile Morgan had dumped over her.
“That’ll do,” Garret decided once she was covered, and the two of them headed off down the mountain.
* * *
After that, everything was a blur as the two men ran hard, plunging down the slope with a reckless disregard for the trees and thick brush in the way. Beth felt tree limbs slap Morgan’s face, the crunch of leaves under his running feet, the weight of his great sword across his back.
Ahead they heard the thunder of gunfire and screams. “Sounds like World War III,” Garret said in the link.
“Cade doesn’t fool around when he’s pissed off,” Beth told them. And if Val was hurt, he’d be really pissed off. She tried not to think about that.
“We’re going to be up to our asses in cops,” Morgan grunted. Though a vampire could psychically influence one officer, there was no way to control a gang of them. If enough law enforcement showed up, the situation would go to hell in a hurry. “We need to get this under control now.”
Morgan abruptly slid to a halt at a cluster of trees, grabbing Garret by the arm as he skidded past. The smell of blood hung in the air as somebody screamed in pain just below. Beth was relieved she didn’t recognize the voice.
Cautiously, the two men went to their knees and edged past the screening trees onto a stone outcropping. The mountain dropped off as if something had taken a huge bite out of it.
Below them, thirty or so men, armed with rifles and handguns fired toward a stone formation fifteen feet further down and a good fifty yards off to the left.
From behind the rock came a muzzle flash and its accompanying rolling boom. Cade was giving as good as he got. One of the gunmen fell with a howl.
“Good shooting,” Morgan drawled.
“Cade is a hell of a shot,” Beth agreed in the link.
Garret frowned at the rock formation. “Which doesn’t alter the fact that he’s pinned down. Other than that outcrop, there’s no cover over there -- not so much as a bush.”
Morgan flashed him a grim look and drew his sword. “Let’s do something about that, shall we?”
His cousin unsheathed his own rapier and dagger. “You know the old saying about taking a sword to a gunfight, right?”
“Yeah, but I love a challenge.” With that, he stepped right off the edge of the rock.
It was all Beth could do not to scream as they plunged downward. She was sure Morgan was going to break his leg, but he landed as lightly as a cat leaping off a kitchen counter.
The nearest gunman spun with a shout. Morgan promptly ran him through. A quick twist of his wrist destroyed the man’s heart, and he pulled the blade free, simultaneously kicking another thug in the face before he could get off a shot.
“Morgan!” The psychic shout made him whirl and duck aside. A .45 boomed, followed an instant later by a scream as Garret drove his dagger into the would-be killer’s throat. The man fell, gagging on his blood.
“Human,” Garret said in the link, snatching the pistol out of his hand before he even hit the ground. “Most of this mob is human.”
“No surprise,” Morgan replied, spinning to decapitate one of the three remaining Swedes with a slash of his sword. “We’ve wiped out all but a handful of Ramirez’s thralls.”
Beth said nothing, too busy trying to amplify his powers with her own. It was hard work -- he was so fast, so skilled, she found it almost impossible to keep up with him as he cut through his opponents.
But there were so many enemy fighters… And she didn’t sense Ramirez among them. “Where the hell is --” Beth broke off with a gasp as a vicious blow rammed into her face in an explosion of light. For a moment, she was disoriented, her head swimming, not sure what was going on. “Did someone hit you, Morgan?”
“Hit me? No.” He sounded alarmed. “Did someone hit y --”
Something slammed into her face so hard, it jerked her right out of Morgan’s body. Feeling her consciousness ripping away from his, she cried out, tumbling into the darkness…
Bellows of rage and pain cut off as if God had flicked a switch. Gasping, blinking away tears from the brutal impact, she cringed, hearing leaves crinkling under her back. She was back in her own body.
Ramirez grinned down at her, his fangs very white in the moonlight, one hand drawn back as if to slap her again. “Ahhh, you’re back. I was afraid I’d have to beat you unconscious to jolt you out of that meld. Believe me, you don’t want to miss this.”
“Bastard!” Beth drove her fist at his smirking face with all her new vampire strength. He batted her arm aside, then backhanded her with a brutality that made stars explode in her skull. Her head snapped back and hit the ground. Stunned, she could only lie helpless as he grabbed the fabric of her T-shirt and jerked. It ripped away, leaving her clad only in her boots, jeans, and bra.
“Guys!” she yelled with all her psychic strength. “I need help! Ramirez has me!”
“Hang on!” Morgan shouted in the link. “I’ve got to take care of some of these bastards before I can come to you, or they’ll take Garret apart while I’m gone.”
Beth clawed for Ramirez’s face as he grabbed the cups of her bra and snapped them with one pull. “I don’t know how long I’ve got, Morgan!”
Ramirez smirked, obviously enjoying her fear. “You’re on your own, aren’t you? My men have Elena’s dogs leashed. Just as I intended.” Straddling her, he reached behind his back and drew a stiletto.
Her heart stopped at the sight of that long, wicked blade, bright in the moonlight. She was dead -- as dead as Elena.
No. Morgan and Garret would come. They wouldn’t leave her to die. Gotta stall until they can get here. “How did you find me?” With any luck, the bastard would want to brag.
Ramirez knelt and rested the knife against her cheekbone, right at the corner of her eye. She fought to hide her fear. “I was attempting to circle around and take your pretty sister captive when I felt you coming. I knew they’d use you to amplify their strength, so I followed our link right to your body.”
Shit. Just what they’d intended to do to him. “Garret and Morgan broke the link you had with me.”
“No, I only let them think they had. The only thing that will break my hold on you is your death.” He flashed his fangs and pressed the knife a little deeper against her skin. Its cold point stung. “Take heart, my dove. That won’t be long at all.”
* * *
“He’s going to gut her,” Garret said in the link as the two men crouched behind a granite outcrop in the face of the cliff. “We’ve got to reinforce her now or she’s finished.”
He was right. Trouble was, the two Swedes had ordered their men to withdraw. Stealing a glimpse around the outcrop, Morgan could see the whole crowd further up the slope, apparently organizing for a charge. If he left now, they’d cut Garret to pieces -- and Morgan wouldn’t survive long against Ramirez without him.
“I’ll go,” Garret said, following his train of thought. “Knowing you, you’re more than a match for this lot.”
Probably, but the idea of Garret experiencing what he had when Elena died made his gut clench. But so did the thought of Beth facing Ramirez alone. “I’ll do it. I’m better than you hand to hand.”
“I’d argue that, but we don’t have time.” He leaned forward to steal a glance around the boulder.
A rifle cracked, the sound flat and echoing across the rocks. Garret gasped and fell back. Swearing, Morgan caught him. Something gleamed wet in the moonlight -- blood rolling from a gunshot wound in his cousin’s upper arm.
* * *
Beth cried out as pain seared its way up the link. Despair followed it. Garret had been hit. Morgan would never leave him now, she realized, staring up at Ramirez as he crouched over her.
“Now, what,” the Spaniard purred, “should we do first?” He pressed the point of his stiletto against her cheek. “I wonder -- do I have time to fuck you?” He wrapped his free hand around her throat and squeezed. Choking, she clawed at him, but he only smirked and squeezed harder. “I’ve always loved this part.”
Beth bucked beneath him with all her vampire strength, kicking and struggling, but she couldn’t break his hold. Her vision was beginning to gray.
“Play dead,” Elena said suddenly in her mind.
“What?” She dug her nails in his face, but he didn’t seem to notice, his stare locked on her, bright with vicious pleasure.
“Go limp and fall back. Fix your eyes. Now!”
It went against every instinct of her howling body, but Beth went limp.
* * *
Ramirez felt her body go lax. Time to let her catch a breath. He was nowhere near ready to cut out her heart. He wanted her to suffer until her pain crippled Morgan with memories of Elena’s death. If Ramirez played it right, the new wave of guilt would make the bastard easy prey. With Morgan dead, Garret would be unable to mount a proper defense. Ramirez could toy with him as he pleased before going for the kill.
He started to relax his grip so the little puta could breathe. Instead, her darkening face suddenly went white, and something seemed to move under her skin. As he stared, the outlines of her face seemed to change, taking on a ghostly overlay. Recognizing that spectral face, he jerked away as if burned, losing his hold on the slut’s throat.
“Ramiiiireeeez.” The word rang in his mind.
Elena.
No, it was impossible. It had to be some mental trick…
The ghost floated from the gasping body of his victim, glowing like St. Elmo’s fire. “Yessss, Joaquin. It’s me.” He’d looked into those dark eyes so many times as he’d tormented her. There was no fear in them now, only an awful knowledge, a horrific power. “You’ll be joining me soon. And I will have my revenge.”
Dropping his knife, Ranirez made the sign of the cross with a shaking hand. He wanted to run, but his leaden legs wouldn’t obey. It was as though he’d been frozen in place. “Get away from me!”
“Look at what you did to me, Rammmiiiirezzzz.” Her pretty face was darkening, decaying as he watched, rotting away from her skull in black globs. Skeletal hands seized the front of her gown and tore it open to reveal the beautiful breasts he’d once taken such joy in tormenting. Maggots burrowed in them now. “When you first took me all those centuries ago, when you raped me, I was a nun. For this, Hell awaits you, Joaquin. For your many sins, you will burn.”
* * *
Beth’s fingers closed around Ramirez’s forgotten knife. She looked up into his terrified face as he shrank from whatever horrific vision Elena was creating for him. Her throat still ached savagely from his vicious grip, and she felt weak. But she also knew this was the only chance she was likely to get.
She stabbed the blade at his heart with all her strength.
His hand clamped around her hand the instant before the point reached him. “No,” Ramirez snarled, lips peeled back from his fangs. “I don’t know how you brought the bitch back, but you’re not taking me that easily.” He started to twist the knife from her fingers…
Familiar power blasted into Beth in a white-hot flare. All her fear drained away, replaced with a glorious anticipation. Her grip tightened on the stiletto, frustrating his efforts to jerk it away.
“Let go,” Ramirez gritted, drawing back his free hand and curling it into a fist as he prepared to hit her again.
Morgan’s grin stretched her mouth. “No,” Garret drawled, her voice sounding deep, rasping, “I don’t think so.”
Horrified realization flooded Ramirez’s eyes. He wrenched at the knife again. They yielded, letting him pull it toward him -- only to redirect it, ramming the stiletto into his chest with all their combined strength.
Beth/Morgan/Garret smiled slowly, inches from their enemy’s hated face. “For Elena.”
Ramirez stared down at the weapon hilted in his chest, appalled. “No,” he choked, even as blood bubbled to his lips. “You won’t do this to me!” He tried to wrestle Beth’s knife hand away from his body, but he was no match for all three of them. With two quick jerks left and right, they ripped up his heart. He sucked in a breath and fell backward across Beth’s legs.
Elena flashed into view above his corpse, glowing like a star with white-hot triumph. “Yeesss!” Her hand flashed downward and punched into Ramirez’s butchered chest.
“What the hell…?” Beth began, just as the ghost began dragging something glowing and translucent from the vampire’s body.
Ramirez’s ghost writhed as Elena hauled it into the moonlight. “What are you doing?” he demanded in frantic Spanish. “Release me!”
Elena sneered into his face. “In a moment, you son of a whore. Watch.” She pointed.
Beth looked in the direction she indicated and gasped. A… hole was opening in the air, a vortex of darkness surrounded by spinning sparks of light. The stench that rolled from it made her recoil. “Good God,” Garret said with her mouth, “what the hell is that?”
Elena smiled grimly. “Hell.”
Beth kicked free of the corpse and shot to her feet, backing hastily away, heart pounding. Ramirez’s ghost clutched at Elena even as she started dragging him toward the black maw. “No,” he gasped. “Do not give me to that thing. Please!”
The triumph faded from her face, and for a moment, she looked almost sad. “You gave yourself to it before I was even born.”
The hole began to… inhale. Ramirez shrieked in terror and tried to cling to her.
Her expression cold as an executioner, Elena released him.
His panicked howl as he was sucked toward the vortex made Beth flinch. Flailing, screaming, he writhed as the pit sucked him down.
“Elena!” he shrieked as he disappeared into the blackness. The hole vanished with a pop of displaced air.
“Jesus,” Garret said, crossing himself, though it was Beth’s hand and Beth’s chest he blessed.
“Served the fucker right,” Morgan growled.
Beth swallowed hard, staring at the spot where hell had been. “Remind me never to piss you off.”
Elena shrugged. “He sinned for a very long time. The devil will have his due.”
Beth blew out a breath and managed a tight smile. “You seem to have the hang of the ghost thing a lot better.”
“I did some praying. It helped.”
“Elena.” It was Morgan. He took a step forward in Beth’s body, extending a hand toward the ghost. “I…” He broke off. What could he say? Stay with us?
Elena smiled, but there was sadness in those dark, lovely eyes. “Ahhh, mis angeles, I wish I could, but…” Her voice trailed off.
“But you’ve got somewhere else to go, too,” Garret finished for her.
Elena’s smile widened, becoming more genuine. “Somewhere much more pleasant than where Ramirez finds himself. And now that I know you’ll be safe and well, I am free.” But then her smile faded into something more tender. “I love you, mis angeles. And that will never change.”
“We love you too, my darling,” Morgan said softly.
“Now and always,” Garret added in Beth’s voice.
Her smile turned tender. “It comforts me to know I leave your hearts in loving hands, mis angeles. Savor your lives until we meet again.”
She looked skyward.
As if summoned, a star appeared overhead, glowing a pure, incandescent white. A waterfall of light poured from it. Beth caught her breath at the serene sense of peace it radiated. Elena began to drift upward as the streaming light reversed course, carrying her skyward toward the star. The sadness of separation fell away from her as her face lit with pure joy.
“Goodbye,” Morgan said softly.
She looked back. “I’ll be waiting for you, my loves.” That charming grin flashed again, the one they knew so well. “But take your time.”
And then she was gone, vanishing into the light.
Beth swallowed around the thick knot of tears in her throat. Before she could think of anything to say, Garret spoke, urgency in his voice. “We’ve got to go. Val and Cade need us.”
“What? Why? What’s going on?”
Then, in their combined memories, she saw what had happened. They’d been bracing themselves for a suicidal rush at Ramirez’s thugs when Cade and Val had charged up the hill to join them.
Val told them she’d sensed that Beth was nearby and in mortal danger, and that the two strange vampires were somehow connected to her. The McKinnons had volunteered to protect the cousins’ helpless bodies while they rescued her.
But though Beth was now safe, Cade and Val were still in danger.
No sooner had she grasped the situation than the two men let their minds stream back toward their bodies. With a huff of worry, Beth lay down in the leaves and followed them, intent on providing any help she could.
After all, Ramirez was too busy roasting somewhere hot to cause any further trouble.