“We can try.” Benic flinched as Sorin’s claws dug deeper.
“Enough. She comes home with me.” He glimpsed a shadow of doubt creeping over her face and ground his canines. “Right?” he asked Susan.
Chapter Nine
Susan clutched the lantern handle tightly. “I—I don’t know. The only thing I know for certain is I’m not staying with the Payami.” And that she wasn’t staying another minute in the maze. She’d never been afraid of the dark until she discovered monsters truly did exist.
Sorin loomed well over her head in his feral form. The tips of his ears brushed the tunnel ceilings when he stood straight. At the moment, he leaned forward as he held Benic against the wall with one huge hand. His fur shone silver in the lantern’s soft yellow light. If not for the teeth and claws, he would have been magnificent.
The vampire struggled in his grasp but didn’t budge the shifter’s arm an inch. It said much for Sorin’s strength, but did little for Susan’s desire to follow him home. A shiver ran up her spine. What if he didn’t keep his word and treated her worse than the Payami? She couldn’t fight him. “Whatever I decide, we need to go. Benic, please, show us the way?”
His eyebrows rose at her plea. “Very well, but if you choose him I get little out of this deal.”
A small noise of frustration escaped her. She couldn’t hear any sounds of pursuit yet she knew it wouldn’t be too long before she did. Every second wasted meant a better chance at her being caught once more and possibly turned over to Ahote. “What do you want, then?”
Benic smiled. “Your blood, of course.”
She covered the V-neck opening of her blouse with Sorin’s leather kilt and swallowed. “Of course.”
“No.” Sorin shook his head. “I won’t allow you to feed from her.” He twisted his head to meet her stare. “Apisi do not feed vampires. Not willingly.”
His amber glare pierced her with its intensity, and she gave a small gasp. “But I’m not Apisi.”
He rolled his eyes, and she barely contained a hysterical giggle at the familiar gesture. Was he claiming her as pack? A day ago that would have meant nothing, but tonight it meant survival.
Benic cleared his throat. “If you’d ease off my neck a little…” His voice sounded strained, and he cleared his throat again. “So I can speak easier.”
A growl rolled from Sorin as he set the vampire back on his feet, yet kept a firm grip on him.
“I never said feed. I simply want a sample of your blood to study.” He pointed to a small satchel hanging from his shoulder. “May I?”
Sorin nodded.
Benic opened it and searched inside. He extracted a small glass vial.
Susan’s gaze traveled from the vampire wearing a chainmail shirt and well-worked leather, and who spoke of studying her blood as if he were a scientist, to Sorin in his feral form, who offered a place in his pack.
Not long ago she’d had noplace to go in this dimension; now she had too many options. None of that would matter if the Payami caught them in these tunnels. She rolled up her sleeve and offered her arm.
Sorin shook his head, yet released the vampire.
Sorrow in the shifter’s eyes made her hesitate and clench her hand. “I’m not feeding him, Sorin, and it will get us out of here. So stop looking at me like that.” He had no right to make her feel guilty, and he didn’t have any claim on her. By pack laws, Ahote had more rights to her, apparently.
“You will choose to follow him.” Sorin nodded toward Benic before crossing his arms over his wide chest.
Maybe. She needed to consider her future. Living with a pack of shifters in the wild didn’t hold a strong allure.
Moving with supernatural speed, Benic grabbed her wrist before she could change her mind. Something sharp stung her fingertip. She yelped and struggled in his grasp, but taking her blood was finished as quickly as it had begun. She hugged her hand to her chest.
Benic held the vial, with a pointed, needle-like end, filled with her blood, in his hand.
Susan tried to swallow but the tight constriction in her throat prevented it. “How will you study it?” She forced her arms to relax at her sides. The speed Benic had used to grab her was inhuman, and her brain still skipped in a what-the-fuck mode. What wouldn’t the US Military do to have that kind of speed? It only reinforced her decision to destroy DOUG.
“I’ll compare it to the others I’ve collected from species all over Eorthe.”
“You study blood that much?” Susan asked.
Benic shrugged. “It’s only natural.”
The muscles in her legs clenched, preparing to sprint. However, she took a deep breath and held his gaze. Fear would only kill her. She didn’t need Kele to tell her about controlling it. On Earth, she’d had to deal with corporate predators who had wanted to consume her soul. This wasn’t much different from Benic’s desires.
She pointed to the vial. “It will clot.” She watched the ruby liquid roll back and forth. The needle he’d used appeared clean, but that didn’t count for much. Things like HIV and hepatitis B or C couldn’t be seen. If she got ill she was screwed.
Benic grinned. “You’re familiar with blood.”
“Like I said, I’m a scientist. I’ve studied biology.” Her theories about dimensional gateways required knowledge of organic material that could travel through the Gate, such as humans. She had needed knowledge on cell function so she wouldn’t turn people inside out.
“The vial is laced with a serum that keeps it fresh.” Benic capped it with a cork and pressed on her wound with his thumb to stop the bleeding. “If what you tell me is true about your origins, have you given some thought as to where all the other humans are on Eorthe?”
A shudder traveled through Susan’s body. “I haven’t had time.” Yeah, what had happened to them all? She stared at the predators in front of her. Maybe the humans had been dinner. “What’s your theory?”
He grimaced. “Nothing yet. Are you sure the portal closed?”
“No, I’m not sure of anything.” Her heavy heart weighed so much it wouldn’t surprise her if it tore from her chest and landed in her gut. She’d never see home again. All her dreams, her studies and her work were for nothing. She’d wasted her whole life to end up some creature’s plaything until he grew bored and killed her.
A tender touch on the chin snapped her out of her pity party, and a rough finger turned her until she faced Sorin.
His ears were fanned out now as he tilted his head. “You have no pack or—or people close by?”
“No.” She could barely whisper the response through the pain in her throat. Sorin didn’t know her full story, and she lacked the strength to retell it. Not unless she wanted to cry like a babe in front of them. She tore her chin from his grip. “We done? Can we get out of here?”
Lifting his arm, Benic dangled something white and rectangular from his hand.
Susan gasped and stepped closer. “My ID badge.”
He held it in the light so her picture was visible. “I believe your amazing story. I think we could help each other. Once we’ve escaped these tunnels you’ll need to choose to stay with one of us. Give me the light.” He took the lantern from her hand before she could react. “We’ll go in this direction.”
Sorin blocked his way. “How can I trust you to lead us the right way and not back to the Payami?”
Susan paused her steps as she unrolled her sleeve and waited for Benic’s answer. She hadn’t thought this through. The vampire could bring them right back to the den instead of the dead volcano’s exit.