Burn For Me

CHAPTER NINE

In the next instant, Cain had slammed Ryder back against the wall. The thud of the vamp’s head hitting that brick wall made him smile. “No deal,” Cain growled.

Give Eve up to that guy? Hell, no.

“Wait, listen. Listen!” Ryder’s teeth flashed, but he didn’t fight Cain’s hold. “We just need bait.”

Cain had to step back. It was either step back or burn the vamp. “Eve’s not bait.” No one would use her.

“No,” Eve muttered from behind him. “I’m not. If that’s the best idea you had, vampy, then, sorry, time for a new plan.”

“He wants you alive!”

The vamp needed to shut the hell up.

But the guy just kept talking. “Wyatt wouldn’t hurt you. He’d take you back to the lab—wherever that second lab is hidden. We could follow you there, get you out, and end Wyatt.”

While they were doing all that ending … “Let me guess,” Cain muttered. “You get to retrieve that ‘something’ that Wyatt took of yours, right?”

A grim nod from the vamp. “It’s in the second lab. Has to be. And if I have to, I’ll tear that place to the ground in order to find it.”

The vampire’s features were tense. Stark. Had the guy been feeding? Because it looked like he could sure use more blood.

The vampire’s gaze dropped to Eve’s throat.

“Don’t even think it,” Cain snarled at him.

That gaze flew back to Cain. “Then help me find what was taken. Help me … and I’ll help you.”

Eve laughed, a cold sound. “Doesn’t sound like much help to me. Sounds like you’re just trading me in order to get what you want.”

Sounded the same way to Cain. He caught Eve’s hand. Led her back toward the door. “No deal, vamp.”

Ryder didn’t follow them. “You’re making a mistake. If we work together, I can help you.”

No, he couldn’t.

Cain yanked open the door. Music still pounded. Too damn loud. Voices whispered. Vampires gulped blood. He could hear all those sounds. All of them and—more.

The lights flashed around him, but he could see perfectly in the dark—or in that blinding light.

The room Ryder had taken them inside—the walls had been too thick. Soundproofed. Reinforced one hell of a lot more than the rooms had been at Genesis. He’d been so focused on the vamp that he hadn’t even noticed the quiet that surrounded him.

My mistake. Cain knew the mistake could prove fatal. He hadn’t realized the threat that was growing around them. Hadn’t realized just how close the hunters were.

He could hear their footsteps now. Could smell their sweat.

Moving in for the kill.

“Eve!” Ryder shouted her name even as Cain shoved her behind him.

The gunfire came then, erupting in a lightning-fast burst. The bullets thudded into his chest. Again and again.

The hunters had come in nice and close. Good. When he rose, it would make killing them so much easier.

Eve’s scream echoed in his ears, and he fought to stay up. Fought to keep blocking those bullets.

But Cain knew that he’d be dying soon.

“No!” Eve screamed and leaped forward, but Cain pushed her back. His body jerked as the bullets slammed into him, one after the other in fast succession. The bullets were perfectly aimed for maximum, up-close impact.

Then …

Silence.

Cain’s body slumped to the floor. She grabbed for him, aware of the others stalking forward. “Cain?”

His eyes were open. Staring at nothing.

Blood soaked her knees. His blood. All around her.

“You’d better run,” she said, not looking up at the men. She kept her hold on Cain. “Because when he rises, you’re gonna die.” Not a threat. A promise.

Hard hands reached for her. She fought those hands. Punching. Kicking.

They were too strong. She was too weak. She could stop fire, but couldn’t stop them. Her gaze flew around, looking for help. From someone.

Ryder was gone. He’d left them. Set them up—and left.

Cain wasn’t moving.

“Leave him. Just get her out of here.”

She knew that voice with the hint of the South sliding beneath the words. She knew—

“Hello, Eve,” Richard Wyatt said as he stepped from the shadows. “So nice to see you again.”

She tried claw her way to him, but one of the hunters holding her lifted his gun and slammed it into the side of her head.

After that, she didn’t see anything else.

Screams echoed in his ears. Cain smelled ash. Burning flesh. Death.

The fire was around him. In him. Burning hotter every second. Consuming. Destroying.

There was pain. More agony than most could ever imagine. There was a price for life. A price for death.

He’d never been able to stop the pain as it burned him alive and then seemed to mold him back together. The fire—it was all he knew.

Power. Fury. Fire.

His eyes opened. The flames were around him, streaking up walls, sliding down some dark corridor.

People ran away, screaming. He liked the screams. He let the fire flare higher.

His mind was torn, fragmented, the way it so often was after the fire. He stared at those around him and thought only …

Burn.

Shouldn’t everyone feel the same burn that he did? Shouldn’t everyone suffer?

It only seemed fair.

He lifted his hand and let the fire leap away at his touch.

Destroy.

“They took her!” someone screamed.

He didn’t care. Cain began to head down the hallway. The fire spread in his wake.

“Dammit, stop!” A man stood before him, just beyond the reach of the fire. Fool. He must have thought he was safe. Didn’t he realize the fire could go anywhere? He’d show the man. He’d—

“Eve’s gone! We have to follow them!”

Eve. The name slid past the flames. Past the beast. Cain screamed his fury and the fire raged higher.

The one who’d said her name—a blond male with a face too pale—leaped back. Even as the fire ripped forward.

More screams.

Eve.

Someone was shooting at Cain. The bullets never made it past the flames, and the fire licked out at his attacker.

No more bullets.

Only ash.

Eve.

His fire blew a hole in the wall nearest him and he walked out into the night. Black vans and SUVs waited. More men with guns. Their bullets came at him even as one van sped away.

Eve.

The fire erupted. The men stopped shooting. They ran. As fast and as far as they could.

His gaze turned back to the van. To the one that was racing away so quickly.

“Pull it back!” It was the blond male again. Perhaps Cain should know him. But he knew only fury. “Pull it back before you hurt an innocent!”

There were no innocents in the world. There hadn’t been, not for a very long time. Only monsters and killers and men who wanted more than they should ever possess.

“Pull it back … or Eve will die!”

Eve. She was the one link to sanity that he still had. The only link.

He sucked in a breath. Another. Tasted the ash and the fire. But the fire began to flicker around him. The flames turned back in on themselves.

The van’s taillights were gone. He couldn’t see them anymore.

“Eve.” Her name was a rasp from his throat as he shoved the beast back inside his cage.

The woman they’d taken—that was his Eve.

His eyes squeezed shut and he fought to regain his sanity. She was Eve. He was Cain.

Not a monster.

Yes, I am.

He was both—beast and man. Killer and—

Lover? Eve’s lover.

“Come on!” the guy beside him said. A vampire. Cain knew him. Ryder. He’d … wanted to use Eve as bait.

He had used her as bait.

“We’ll follow them,” Ryder said, the words coming fast. “We’ll get her back and stop Wyatt and we’ll—”

Cain grabbed the guy and hurled him back toward the burning building. “You set her up.”

He turned away. The vampire could fight the flames. Cain had a battle of his own—he had to find Eve. Had to get her back.

Because if he didn’t, he wasn’t sure how long his sanity would last.

No, no, dammit, this wasn’t happening. Eve yanked at her handcuffs, twisting and jerking. The assholes had cuffed her hands and shackled her feet, then tossed her in the back of a van.

“Let me go!” she yelled.

The guard next to her pushed her harder against the van’s floor. “Settle down. Wyatt wants you to—”

She slammed her feet into his stomach. The guy swore and grabbed at her, but she rammed her head right into his face as hard as she could. Bones crunched and she knew she’d broken his nose. Savage satisfaction filled her. She wasn’t making this easy on them. No way.

She hit him again with her head, harder, barely feeling the pain that swept over her at the blows. She had to get out of the van. If they took her to Wyatt’s other lab …

I won’t get out. He’d experiment on her. Cut her up. Kill her.

The guard’s body slumped beside her. One down.

“What the hell’s going on back there?” a voice demanded from the front of the vehicle.

Panting, Eve searched through the unconscious guard’s pockets. Keys. Keys. They had to be there. They’d been dumb enough to leave only one guard with her in the back, and that guy had been the one to handcuff her in the first place.

He had to be the one with the keys.

Her fingers closed around the metal keys. Yes. Twisting her wrists, she managed to shove the key into the lock binding her left hand.

Click.

Eve froze. That sound hadn’t been the lock snicking open.

“Wyatt wanted you brought in alive.” It was the same voice that had called out minutes before. The guy who should have still been in the front of the van. He wasn’t up in front any longer.

Eve looked up and found a gun barrel pressed into her forehead. “But if you fight too much and I have to contain you, well, then I guess Wyatt will just have to enjoy playing with your dead body.”

Her legs were still shackled. She couldn’t get out like this.

And of course, the guard she’d taken out would choose that moment to groan and shift beside her. “Bitch,” he muttered.

She wanted to punch him again.

Instead, he raised his fist to punch her. She braced, knowing this was going to hurt and—

“Stand down, Martinez.” The order came from the guy with the gun.

Wait. He’d just offered to casually kill her, but he was telling his buddy to ease up? What the hell?

Martinez hesitated, then he snatched the keys from Eve’s fingers. “I hope Wyatt cuts you into a hundred damn pieces.”

He probably would.

“Go up front,” the guy with the gun ordered Martinez.

Martinez crawled past her. He made sure to kick her in the gut on his way. She grunted at the impact.

The other guard tensed. “Martinez.”

She wanted to kick Martinez’s ass. Oh, wait. She’d just done it. She’d like to do it again. But with a gun on her, it wasn’t the best moment for another attack.

Eve waited for him to haul his bleeding carcass into the front. Then she focused on the man with the gun.

It was too dark for her to see much about him. He was big. Strong. Holding a gun.

Did she need to know a lot more?

Cain would have risen already, right? He’d chase after her. She hoped he would but …

Why would he risk himself for me?

It was the question that wouldn’t leave her alone. Deep inside, she worried that Cain would just cut his losses. He’d leave her.

She needed to get herself out of this mess. She couldn’t count on Cain. She wanted to trust that he’d help her but …

“Just settle down,” the guard told her. “No more fighting.”

He had no idea who he was talking to. Maybe she didn’t think Cain was coming for her, but this guy didn’t know that. “He’s going to kill you all.” She’d always been good at bluffing.

The gun didn’t waver. “I don’t see anyone else here, ma’am.”

“He’ll follow me. He’ll track me down, and Cain will make sure that anyone who took me dies.” Did that sound good and dramatic enough? She rather thought so.

The gun stayed pointed at her head.

“The plan is for him to follow,” the guard told her quietly. “But nobody on my team will die. We’re gonna be ready for him.”

So not what she wanted to hear.

Why did everyone want to use her as bait? This sucked.

“Your boyfriend needs to be contained. He’s too dangerous to be left out with the humans.”

Damn right he was dangerous—to Wyatt and this team of jerkoffs. “Want to move that gun, you know, before we hit a pothole and you accidentally blow my brains out?”

The gun eased away. He even put the safety back on. Wasn’t he a gem?

“It won’t be long now.” There was no accent at all in his voice. “So you just stay calm and do what you’re told.”

Not about to happen. He’d lowered the gun. Did he realize that she’d managed to get one cuff unlocked? “So where’s Wyatt? He up in the front, too?”

She’d seen that bastard. Just for an instant. He’d left in a hurry—probably because he’d been afraid Cain would rise and torch his ass.

He will.

The guard didn’t speak. So now he got quiet? The guy had sure seemed chatty enough earlier.

“He’s crazy, you know.” She had plenty to say. They were the ones who hadn’t been smart enough to gag her. “The humans who died at Genesis—”

“Your boyfriend killed them.” Ah, he was talking again. And sounding good and pissed.

She shook her head. Kept the cuffs in her lap so he wouldn’t see that she was easing her left wrist free. “No, the bombs that Wyatt set off did that. The guy giving you the orders is a psychotic freak who’ll kill you if you become any kind of hindrance to him. You won’t be anything more than collateral damage.” Just like Gloria.

Eve’s breath rushed out. Maybe if she kept talking, she could convince the guard to listen to her. If he thought his life was in danger …

The van braked to a stop.

Hell.

“We’re here,” he said.

Eve’s body tensed. With her ankles shackled, she wouldn’t be able to run. She wasn’t sure exactly where “here” was—Wyatt’s second lab? Some other fun little pit of hell? She didn’t think they’d driven far enough to actually leave North Carolina.

“So why don’t you just snap that cuff back in place,” he added, “before someone gets hurt.”

The back of the van opened. Bright light hit her. They were inside a big parking garage.

She could hear distant sounds from a city. Definitely not the second lab. Wyatt liked his privacy too much to put the lab near too many other people. So this had to be some kind of temporary holding facility. With Wyatt’s power and reach, he probably had places like this scattered over half the East Coast.

The guard snapped her cuff back into place, then hauled her out of the van. She wobbled on her feet, nearly falling as she tried to find balance in the shackles. He put a hand on her side, steadying her.

She turned her head toward him. This guy kept helping her. She might be able to work him and—

Thin, white scars slid down the right side of his face. Scars that looked just like claw marks.

No wonder he wasn’t exactly pro paranormal.

But she still had to try. “He’s going to kill me.” There was no need to add a tremulous quiver to her voice. It was already there. “Wyatt will—”

The guard just picked her up. Hoisted her over his shoulder and carried her. She tried to fight her way free—not happening. The man’s grip was unbreakable and so strong that Eve started to wonder if the guy was human or something more.

A door creaked open. Then she was inside yet another room. He put her down, and her gaze flew around the area. Heavy, metal-looking walls. A clear-glass window located right next to the door. Not on an exterior wall. Interior. One glance and she knew exactly what that window was for. Observation. Wyatt always liked to have a good view of his subjects, and she knew he’d watch her through that glass while she was tortured.

The guard freed her wrists and feet, but before she could try to rush him, he had his gun pointed at her again. “Stay in this room.” He began to back toward the door. Her gaze darted to his gun, and her eyes narrowed on the tattoo that she saw peeking back from his wrist. Wolves.

Eve pulled her gaze away and studied the room even as she rocked forward on the balls of her feet. There were vents on the floor. Sprinklers on the ceiling. No, no, no.

The guard was almost at the door.

“Please.” The whisper came from her. No faking. No acting. “I’m a reporter. I’m just trying to stop Wyatt from hurting anyone else.”

The guard shook his head. “Wyatt’s trying to save lives.”

Brainwashed bastard. “No, he isn’t.” She swallowed back the lump in her throat. “When you see what he does to me, you’ll understand.”

Only by then, it would be too late.

Tracking Eve was the easy part. Cain took out one of the hunters left behind at the vampire club, and he stole the asshole’s clothes—the black uniform. The gun. And, since the fellow wouldn’t be needing it, Cain borrowed the jerk’s ride, too.

He followed behind the dark van, and when the group drove down a ramp into a thick, squat building, he headed right in after them. NO TRESPASSING signs were posted all around the perimeter and guards patrolled the entrance.

He drove right past the guards. Damn idiots. The vehicle’s tinted windows hid him from view, and they thought he was one of them.

Never.

Good thing their security sucked. It would make taking them all out so much easier.

Once inside the building, Cain tapped his fingers against the wheel, waiting a moment until he was certain that the coast was clear. The occupants of the van had already cleared out before he parked. They sure hadn’t wasted any time. Cain eased out of the SUV. No other vehicles would be following him. He’d made sure of it. Disabling the others back at Blood Bath had been child’s play for him.

Find Eve. She was his priority. He studied the area around him. Where the hell would they take her in this place? It was too big. Hulking and—

“The bitch broke my nose.”

Cain turned at the angry snarl. The words had come from the left. From some whiny prick. Cain crept closer to the voice, making sure to keep to the shadows as much as possible. Once the other men got a good look at his face, they’d know he didn’t belong.

“She’ll pay. She’ll bleed.”

Cain could see the guy. Another idiot in black. This idiot had blood streaming down his face, and his nose was obviously broken.

The bloody one was talking to another one of Wyatt’s goons. The second man was smaller, with light red hair. “I think she’s gonna burn before she bleeds.” Laughter.

Burn before she bleeds.

Cain rushed toward them. “The hell she is.” He slammed their heads together, and before their bodies hit the floor, he was already racing down the hallway.

The temperature in the room was rising. Heat seemed to be coming from the vents in the floor.

Eve kicked at the door. It had sealed as soon as the guard cleared the threshold. There was no doorknob on her side. Nothing to grab and yank. Dammit.

She moved toward the glass window. The guard watched her. His brown gaze steady, intense. Determined.

Sweat coated her skin, and that slickness wasn’t just from heat … but from fear, too.

“We’re almost ready now, Eve” Wyatt’s voice drifted into the room over some kind of intercom. She’d noticed the speaker located above the door.

Eve swallowed back her fear. “Ready for what?” she demanded, trying not to let her fear show. The room was wired. She could hear him, he could hear her. But she couldn’t see him because the bastard was hanging back.

“I have to make sure you’re the one,” Wyatt said.

She slammed her palm against the glass. The glass didn’t so much as crack. “The one what?” She kept her eyes on the guard. Help me, she mouthed.

The guard didn’t move.

“The one who can kill him,” Wyatt told her.

There was a faint hum, then tapping. Strokes on a keyboard. She’d thought Wyatt would come in for an up-close view, but it looked like the guard was going to be the only one who saw her suffer in person.

Wyatt’s voice continued, droning on. “I have to be sure.”

She didn’t have any idea what the crazy psycho was talking about. “Kill who?”

“O’Connor, of course.” Irritation hummed in the words.

Kill Cain? Her heart shoved against her chest. “You killed him.” Another slam of her hand against the glass. Break. It was so damn hot in there. “You’ve killed him over and over.”

“But you can truly make him die.” Wyatt’s cool voice. The irritation was gone. He was back to sounding clinical again. “If you’re what I think, then, Eve, you alone will have the power to make certain that Cain can die—and never rise again.”

What I think … His words echoed in Eve’s head. What, not who. The guy wasn’t even seeing her as a person any longer.

The guard’s eyes were on her. Please. Help me.

A muscle jerked in his jaw. She could see the struggle on his face.

Maybe he wanted to help her, but the guy wasn’t moving.

She kept her own face desperate, afraid. Not hard to do because she was desperate and freaking terrified.

“We have to see how much heat you can handle.” Wyatt’s voice seemed emotionless, but she knew the truth. He was enjoying what he was doing. He’d enjoy her screams. “So we must get the fire to burn as hot as possible. Maximum temperature levels are necessary.”

“It’s necessary for you to kiss my ass!” Eve snarled. Her hands fisted, and she pounded them into the glass. Nothing. She hit the window again. Again.

Nothing.

“Help me!” Eve screamed at the guard.

His eyes were wide. Wide and—

Fire was rising from the floor. From every vent. Shooting toward her, burning so hot that her clothes melted, that the floor hurt her feet, that she screamed—

And was swallowed by the fire.

Another damn guard. The guy was yanking at some door, swearing, trying so hard to get inside the room that waited before him.

“Stop!” he screamed. He pulled out his gun. Shot at the glass window near him. “Fucking stop!”

Cain rushed the guard, swung him around and—

“Help her,” the guard said. His eyes were wild. “There’s a woman in there—Wyatt’s fucking burning her alive.”

A woman—Eve. Cain’s gaze rose to the window. He’d smelled the flames. They’d led him this way. The fire was raging inside that room, burning hot and bright. He couldn’t see her. Just the fire.

But she could handle the fire, couldn’t she? Eve could handle his heat.

The flames died away as he watched, seeming to vanish right back into the room’s floor.

And there was Eve. Naked, with her arms wrapped around her body. Shivering. Her gaze found his. Her mouth opened. She was screaming, but through that soundproofed wall, her words came to him as a whisper …

Cain, help me. Make it stop.

It was fucking stopping.

He tossed the guard away. Kicked open that damn door, knocking down half the surrounding wall.

Eve hadn’t moved. Her arms were still around her body, and she was shaking so much. He went toward her, seeing ash float in the room around them.

Cain reached out to her. She flinched.

“Eve?”

“He was watching,” she whispered. Her voice was hollow. “I couldn’t stop it. The fire was everywhere.”

The floor below them was heating up again. Shit. Cain snatched off his stolen shirt and put it over her. It hung low, falling past her knees. “Come on.” He couldn’t stand to see her look that way. So … broken.

She was shaking her head. “They wanted to lure you in. They wanted you to come …”

Cain’s fingers locked with hers. “Screw ’em and what they want. I’m getting you out of here.”

She didn’t move. “Wyatt’s here.” A faint line appeared between her brows. “I heard him. We can find him.” Her words came faster. “We can stop him.”

She wasn’t moving. Fine. He’d move her. Cain lifted her into his arms and carried her the hell out of that place.

“But Wyatt—”

“He’s not here.” The guard had vanished. He’d damn well better stay gone. Actually, the whole place looked empty as Cain headed back for the garage. No guards. No bodies. The place was as quiet as a tomb. But he was catching dozens of scents in the air, scents that told them just what Wyatt planned next. “This place is about to explode. It’s wired—I can smell the damn explosives.”

The bastard was still experimenting. Probably watching with video cameras to see just how much fire Eve could handle.

An alarm was beeping somewhere. Understanding hit. No, that wasn’t an alarm.

It was a countdown.

His hold tightened on her, and he raced down the corridor. No guards—they’d sure cleared out fast.

The SUV waited for them, just where he’d left it. Only the gate leading back outside had been locked, trapping them inside.

“Cain?” Eve’s worried voice.

He flashed her a smile. “We’re getting out.”

He could smell the fire again. The smoke. Wyatt’s latest fire had already started.

He put her in the passenger side. Rushed around the vehicle. Jumped in and gunned the engine. “Hold on.” He jerked the vehicle into reverse.

For an instant, Cain stared at that heavy gate. Then he smiled. His hand lifted, hanging outside of the driver’s window, and he tossed a ball of flames right in the middle of that gate, weakening it. Then he pushed the gas pedal all the way down to the floorboard. The SUV lurched backward and crashed right through the gate.

They made it outside with a scream of metal and tires. Cain spun the car forward and didn’t slow down, not for an instant. He kept the gas pinned to the floor and drove as fast as he could.

Right then, Wyatt didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but getting Eve away from there.

Cain knew exactly why the freak scientist had been testing her. He knew what Wyatt wanted her to do.

You just had to see how much fire she could handle, didn’t you?

Wyatt had wanted to make sure that Eve was strong enough for a deadly job.

She’d survived the flames. Come away without even a mild burn. And Wyatt had seen it. He’d seen everything.

Wyatt had just proved to himself—and to Cain—that Eve could be a very, very dangerous woman.

A woman who could kill a phoenix.