Blood Secrets - By Jeannie Holmes Page 0,97

and old blood hit him once more. He turned back to the framed print as it swung outward and a body slammed into him, knocking him to the floor and sending his Glock tumbling down the stairs.

He used the momentum of his attacker and kicked upward with both feet, launching the assailant over his head. Varik completed the backward somersault motion to land in a kneeling position.

A tall blond vamp charged him, the flash of metal in his hands.

Varik blocked one blow but the other found its target. He grunted as a scalpel sliced open a gash along his left biceps. The blond vamp continued to slash at him. Varik gathered his legs beneath him and, with a roar, launched himself into the other’s midsection.

They crashed into the wall beside the stairs, cracking plaster and sending plumes of dust into the air. Varik used his knee to dislodge one of the scalpels while he kept a grip on the Dollmaker’s other arm.

Peter used his scalpel-free hand to punch Varik in the side of the throat. Varik gagged and stumbled back. He tried to clumsily dodge another swipe with the remaining scalpel but the thin blade connected with his chest, opening a wound diagonally from his right shoulder to his breastbone.

“She’s mine,” Peter snarled, dropping into a crouch. “She came to me!”

“You took her,” Varik snapped as they circled.

“I saved her! I showed her the truth about you, about her father, and now she loves me, not you.” He smiled. “She’s already forgotten all about you.”

The blood-bond opened and Varik cried out as pain seared his mind. He sank to his knees, helpless as Peter manipulated the bond to show him the hell in Alex’s mind.

Memories—their memories—were nearly all gone, burned away and new ones erected in their place. Tears of agony tracked down his cheeks as he writhed on the floor at the Dollmaker’s feet.

“You see now,” Peter said calmly, kneeling beside Varik. “I’ve already touched her more deeply than you could ever dream of doing.”

Varik groaned as another wave of fire burned his brain.

“I made her forget about you. Only a few memories to go and then she’ll be completely mine.” He grabbed the front of Varik’s bloody shirt, pulled him to his feet, and walked him to the stairs. “And after I kill you, I’ll finish what I started. I’ll mindfuck her and when she no longer even remembers your name, I’ll fuck her body until she cries out my name.”

Teetering on the edge of the first step, Varik growled, “I’ll kill you first.”

“You can try.”

Varik frantically grabbed for Peter and then the stair railing as he was shoved backward. He hung suspended in mid-air for a moment before crashing into the hard edges of the staircase. He felt something snap in his lower left leg as he tumbled head over heels to land in a battered heap at the bottom.

Laughter rang from above. “And he sticks the landing!”

Using the banisters and handrail, Varik maneuvered into sitting position. Footsteps banged on the stairs overhead. Groaning with the effort, he pushed to his feet and gritted his teeth, ignoring the sharp pain in his left leg as he hobbled to the fireplace. He found a set of rusted iron tools and grabbed the longest poker.

Peter skipped the last two steps, laughing as Varik haltingly turned to face him and hefted the poker like a bat. “You’re going to beat me to death with a poker?” He snorted with laughter. “Oh, now that’s original.”

“Who said it was for you, asshole?” Varik rasped and swung the poker at the nearest display case.

“No!”

Glass shattered and porcelain doll heads disintegrated. The stench of decay intensified as the blood contained within the heads was exposed to the air for the first time since being sealed away.

Peter shrieked and clutched his head in pain.

Varik raked a line of dolls off a shelf, destroying them.

Peter howled.

He smashed another display case.

Peter roared and leapt forward.

Varik met his charge, thrusting the poker like a sword before him. The poker pierced Peter’s flesh below the breastbone, impaling him on the hooked end.

The Dollmaker dropped to his knees, eyes wide. He clawed at Varik and blood bubbled from his mouth as he tried to speak, but no words came forth.

Varik released the poker and let him crumple to the floor. For the first time, he heard sirens wailing, growing louder as they approached. His eyes shot to the stairs. “Alex.”

Using the wall for balance, he stepped over the struggling vampire