Page 50 of Taste of Forever (Vampires of Sanguine #3)

Heather

T hey tied my wrists and ankles in the van, and put a hood over my head. The whole situation was beyond terrifying, but I could only think of Laith. He’d been bleeding from his eyes and face when they dragged me through the window and tossed me in their vehicle.

He had to pull through. He was a fucking vampire after all. Surely he’d be able to recover, find me, and we’d leave this shitty world full of humans for the last time.

Regret filled my chest and burned its way up my throat.

This never would have happened if I hadn’t insisted on coming to the apartment.

He hadn’t wanted to come. He’d only agreed because I wanted that photo, which felt so insignificant now.

He had found it. I saw it in the bathroom sink when he told me to lock myself inside.

And it was because of that photo that he’d never seen those men coming.

So fucking stupid. I shut my eyes against the scalding tears.

I’d choose him over that photo in a heartbeat.

My parents had lived a full life and were at rest. I had plenty of happy memories with them.

If either Laith or I ended up dead, there would be no sweet photo of us to look back on.

The van drove for what felt like hours. It was impossible to gauge distance or make sense of turns and stops without being able to see. The passage of time worried me too. It was early in the night, but Laith only had until dawn to find me. What if these men kept driving past sunrise?

On and on my thoughts spiraled. No matter how much I tried to come up with a rational plan for escape, coherent thoughts turned to frantic worry about the vampire I loved.

Great time to figure out that you love him. Of course it would dawn on me now, after seeing him injured and being kidnapped.

I’d known Laith for a fraction of the time that I’d known Justin, and I just knew .

From the very beginning, he’d been all in.

He showed his care in every touch, every joke he cracked, and every single action toward me since we met.

I found what had been missing in my last relationship and so much more. A love that could truly last forever.

After what felt like hours of driving, the van slowed to a complete stop and the engine shut off. I curled into a fetal position, bracing myself for whatever would come next. All I could do for Laith now was stall. Buy enough time for him to come find me.

I heard the van doors open. Someone grabbed my leg and dragged me toward the end. I kicked and flailed my arms, and managed to catch my bound hands around some indent in the van wall, probably the wheel well.

“Quit being a pain in the ass,” one of my captors groused.

A fist enclosed around the hood at the back of my head, catching a good chunk of my hair and yanking me out of the vehicle. I yelped as he continued to drag me by the hair once my butt hit the ground, never giving me a chance to stand.

“Should have tied her hands behind her,” another voice said.

“Yeah, whatever. Fuck you.”

I dug my heels into the ground, which felt like slightly damp, packed earth. It wouldn’t buy me much extra time, but hopefully it would make an easy-to-see trail as the guy dragged me.

He pulled me across a threshold. Instead of bumpy dirt under my butt, I felt the smoothness of hard flooring. I split my legs wide, trying to catch my feet on the doorframe. My hands also managed to grab one side and hold on.

“Jesus fucking Christ!”

The guy who’d been dragging me released my hair, giving me relief for one split second before something solid slammed down hard on my temple. His fist probably. The impact rocked through my skull and made my head bounce once on the floor, and my body went limp.

A ringing sounded through my head and it was suddenly much harder to stay conscious. Can’t fall asleep. Gotta give Laith time. Stay awake, stay awake…

“Hey, watch it.” I could barely hear the other person over the distorted noise in my head. “Soren wants her alert.”

“She’s pissing me the fuck off.”

“Well, relax. She’s out of it now. No more hits to the head, though.”

Someone yanked me roughly by the arms and then I was up in the air. Vertigo made me want to kick and thrash, but my limbs wouldn’t cooperate.

“Wish I could throw this bitch down the stairs.”

The voice was extremely close. The guy who hit me was currently carrying me, and the fear of that fact gave me a much-needed dose of clarity. My head continued to pound painfully, but some of the fog lifted.

I was being carried down a flight of stairs and my captor made no effort to be gentle. My head rocked on my neck with each heavy, creaking step. The air became stale and musty, like we’d entered a basement.

Finally, we hit the bottom and a familiar voice spoke up from across the room. “Took you long enough. Put her there.”

Soren.

My exhausted, aching body couldn’t help but tense up as my captor brought me closer to him. I was deposited in a chair, and then the hood was removed roughly from my head, taking a thick lock of my hair with it.

“Damn it, Hills. You didn’t have to rough her up so badly.”

I blinked at the sudden brightness, squinting at Soren’s fuzzy image as he came closer to inspect me.

“She pissed me off,” was the grunted explanation.

Soren made a motion with his hand. “Guard upstairs and leave me alone with her.”

Oh fuck. I had expected Soren, but the last thing I wanted was to be alone with him. Even though these men had already hurt me, something about him truly terrified me.

The henchman stomped up the stairs and then Soren knelt in front of me, his face coming into focus and looked like pure evil. How could I have ever thought of him as handsome? He was nothing compared to Laith.

“You ghosted me, Heather. I thought we had an agreement.” He shook his head slowly, clicking his tongue as if he were disappointed. “It was only for two months. None of this would have happened if you had just done your part.”

My head pounded. I probably had a concussion and could barely hear him over the rushing of my own blood. This wasn’t looking good for me, and my fragmented, panicked thoughts couldn’t determine if it was better to keep quiet or antagonize him.

Time. Stall for time. Laith will get here. He has to.

“You kept changing the rules on me,” I choked out. “I felt trapped. I was scared.”

Soren laughed dryly. “Come on, Heather. You’re no damsel. It was a simple assignment. You could’ve handled it.”

Anger flared. For some reason, his deflection reminded me of Justin. “You stalked me. You threatened to make me disappear. You came to my house and my work. You’re not my boss. You’re just some psycho who showed up out of nowhere.”

“You forced my hand when you kept visiting a parallel world we know nothing about.” Soren stood to full height, towering over me in the chair. “I’ve silenced a lot of people for doing exactly what you did. Usually, I only need to do so once.”

I swallowed, fighting the sickening idea that he must have stalked and terrified tons of other people.

“When you refused to listen, I tried to give you a break,” he went on. “One of their kind seemed attached to you, so my employers thought you might be useful.” He clicked his tongue again. “Until you weren’t.”

My breath sawed in and out through my nose. The seconds dragged by and I tried to listen for any sounds of a motorcycle outside, but I heard nothing. The basement was probably too well insulated.

“We figured you left our world for theirs when we lost all trace of you here.” Soren gave me a disgusted look. “Abandoning your whole life, your own kind, for one of them— really?”

“Well, with the choices presented to me”—I gave him a pointed look up and down—“I think I picked the better option.”

“They’re creatures, Heather. They’re not human. Not people.”

“They’re definitely people,” I shot back. “Better people than most of the humans I’ve met.”

Soren sucked his teeth, eyes flickering over me like deciding what he should do. “Too bad.”

He walked to a table set against one wall and opened some kind of case. My heart jumped into my throat with a fresh wave of panic.

“What are you doing?”

“If you’re really choosing them over humans, there’s little chance you’ll give us any more intel.

” Soren’s wide back blocked my view, but he was messing with something that sounded metallic.

“I have permission to torture you, and while I’m just as much a scumbag as you think I am, I’d prefer not to.

It’s not something I enjoy, believe it or not. ”

“What do you even want?” My voice broke with fear. “Why are you doing this?”

“The human world at large will eventually learn about these parallel words, and how they slightly overlap with ours. And when that happens, the United States needs to have full knowledge and control over those places before any other nation does. Wouldn’t you agree?”

I stared at his back. “No. Why can’t you just leave them alone?”

“And let Russia harness the power of vampires? North Korea to breed an army of werewolves? Leave Iran or China to utilize dragon shifters?” I heard the unmistakable sound of a slide being pulled—a round being chambered into a gun.

Soren turned around, holding a handgun fitted with a long silencer.

“It really should be us, don’t you think? ”

Despite the fear running through me, I shook my head. “There is no us , Soren. I’m not part of anything you’re aligned with.”

He looked almost apologetic, but mainly resigned as he brandished the gun.

“I can kill you instantly, make it painless as possible,” he said. “Or I can hit a major artery and make you bleed out. You’ll die slower but”—his lip curled with disdain—“you can give that creature you love so much a final meal when he finds you.”

“Why?” I willed myself not to cry, not to blubber and beg for my life. “Why do this at all? Just let me go. Forget we ever met.”

“It’s not my decision. I either pass on intel to my employers, or I tie off a loose end.” Soren held the gun by his thigh, pointing down. “You don’t want to die, Heather? You can talk.”

I closed my eyes. There was so much I could tell them at this point.

I could talk about the ruling clan, about the vampires’ biggest weakness, draitrium.

I had enough of a clear mental image of Sanguine now that I could draw out a rough map.

I could tell them where the Blood ‘til Dawn compound was, the blood bank, and Novak’s house.

But when I pictured Laith smiling in bed before he kissed me, his hands on me with reverent affection, I knew I couldn’t say a word.

It wasn’t just him, either. It was because of Tavia sharing her wine with me.

Amy chatting with me as we walked to her house, and the way she and Novak looked at each other.

It was the gruff sincerity of Thorne and the other vampires when I’d identified the werewolf blood.

It was how they’d all helped Laith search for me after I’d been attacked.

Those creatures were better friends and family to me than anyone else I’d ever met, despite knowing me for a fraction of the time. So my choice was made. The only question was how it would be done.

I was still terrified, but did my best to meet Soren’s eyes. “Do it quickly, please.”

If or when Laith found me, it wouldn’t matter if I was covered in blood or not. He deserved the minuscule comfort of knowing I didn’t suffer. He would be devastated regardless. Thinking of the pain he’d be in was already breaking my heart.

“You’re sure?” Soren asked.

I hesitated for a moment. I could try giving false information, which could buy more time, but I didn’t know what they already knew, and they’d probably end up torturing me anyway if they figured out I was lying.

“Yes.” I forced the word out through a painfully tight throat, a throat that desperately wanted to scream and sob rather than quietly accept a death sentence.

“Then look up.”

My head lifted until I felt the press of the silencer against my forehead. I squeezed my eyes shut, but wasn’t fast enough to stop the tears from rolling. I shook so hard from fear, my teeth rattled. But I forced myself to stay there, my final breaths tight and ragged.

I heard the creak of leather as Soren’s gloved finger curled around the trigger, and waited for my end.