Amelia Elias - [Guardian's League 02] - Outcast Read online

  Outcast

  Book Two of the Guardians’ League

  Amelia Elias

  Dedication

  To my beautiful sons, my reason for everything. I love you.

  Chapter One

  The night was alive with the promise of battle.

  Eli’s eyes narrowed as he chased the last of the Outcast band he’d been following for days down the deserted street and into an alley. Bad move, he thought as the remaining pair of vampires disappeared into the darkness between two tall government buildings. Apparently they didn’t know that this alley went nowhere. Bad for you, good for me.

  This blind alley meant cover for him to slay them and no route of escape from his relentless blades.

  He’d forgotten about the underground parking garage. He cursed and put on a burst of speed, chasing his enemies down the ramp. It would be too easy to lose them amidst the cars. He was tired of the chase and ready for the kill.

  He caught sight of one Outcast whipping around a corner and pursued as he drew one of his swords from its hidden sheath beneath his long coat. When he sprinted around the corner, Eli skidded to a stop in surprise. They’d led him straight into a trap.

  How clever of them to try to outnumber him.

  Instead of the pair of Outcasts he’d been chasing, he now faced five of the blood-thirsty villains. All stood ready for battle at the back of the parking garage. The area around them was clear but for one red car parked near the door to the fire stairs.

  “Come to play, Slayer?” an Outcast asked smugly.

  Eli swung his sword in a wide arc around his body and let a wicked grin spread across his face. This might have posed a problem for anyone else, but it would take much more than five against one to outnumber Eli. “Who’s first?” he asked tauntingly.

  Five Outcasts would be a nice warm-up for the evening to come.

  Three charged him at once and he engaged them in a flurry of shining steel. Oh, he could have disabled them with bullets and finished them off when they were all lying on the ground as some Slayers preferred, but it had been too long since he’d had a real challenge in a battle.

  Yes, he was going to enjoy this.

  But as he cut down the first snarling vampire, the situation suddenly went straight to hell. The heavy door to the fire stairs swung open to reveal a young woman digging in her purse for her keys. Her dark hair covered her face, preventing her from seeing the danger in her path.

  “Get out of here!” Eli shouted as she approached, clearly intending to head for the red car.

  Her head jerked up at his shout and she froze at the sight of the tall warrior crossing swords with two snarling Outcasts.

  “Run!” Eli yelled again.

  The last thing he needed was a mortal in the middle of this, dividing his attention.

  His warning cry had the unwanted side effect of alerting the other two Outcasts to the woman standing frozen by the sight of the battle. Eli snarled out a curse as they converged on her before she could do more than gasp in shock.

  “We’ll just have a snack while you play with Franz and Pietr,” one laughed, dragging the woman away from the fire stairs by her hair. She screamed and fought fiercely, earning a vicious punch to the face. Even dazed, she still struggled and clawed at her captor, but he didn’t even seem to notice. “You don’t mind, do you, Slayer?”

  “Leave the woman out of this,” Eli demanded. “Fight me like a man, damn you.”

  “But I’m not a man,” the Outcast sneered, laughing at the woman’s terror. “And neither are you.”

  Eli ground his teeth but wasn’t surprised. There had been a time when taking a hostage would have been unthinkable, but the concept of honor in battle had died long ago. Now it was the law of the jungle, survival of the meanest, and it was time to stop playing with his prey and get serious. He whipped out his second sword and attacked with single-minded intensity. The woman’s screams were suddenly cut off and he knew the Outcast had bitten her.

  “Save some for me, Caen,” his partner laughed, and Eli’s rage rose to dangerous heights.

  Franz and Pietr fell before his furious onslaught and Eli turned to take out the other two before they damaged this mortal beyond saving. The one who had taunted him, Caen, was crouched beside the red car, fangs sunk deeply into the woman’s throat as she still fought weakly, and the second charged Eli with his sword flying.

  It was a futile gesture. Even with his lightning reflexes and exceptional skill with his weapons, the Outcast was no match for Eli. No one was.

  “Release her now and I will make your death quick,” Eli growled at the Outcast still feeding from the woman as he drove his opponent back mercilessly.

  Caen lifted his head and grinned, showing blood-stained fangs. “You object to me taking her blood?” he asked with mock-chagrin. “Well, perhaps you’re right.” He paused, pretending to give the matter serious thought. “I know what to do, Slayer. I’ll give it back!” Then he lifted his own wrist to his mouth and bit. He pressed his bleeding wrist to the woman’s mouth, forcing his own blood down her throat, completely ignoring Eli’s outraged roar.

  Eli saw red. He slashed brutally at the Outcast he fought, cutting him down, and leapt toward the pair crouched beside the car. He had to stop this travesty before the woman swallowed out of reflex.

  It was the worst brutality a human could suffer and live, to be turned against her will.

  It was already too late before he could intervene. Caen shoved the choking, gasping woman at Eli and sprinted out of sight, laughing madly as he disappeared.

  Eli barely caught her as she stumbled toward him. She fainted in his arms and he cursed in frustration at the situation the Outcast had thrust them into. Outcasts rarely turned mortals because they had no use for fledglings and no patience at all for teaching them what they needed to know to live in their new world.

  And no Slayer would abandon a mortal in need. The Guardians’ League and their Slayers were dedicated to protecting the world from Outcasts. Eli couldn’t leave the poor woman here to bleed to death on the filthy pavement, and the Outcast knew it. It had been a clever and cruel move made solely to save Caen’s own life.

  He swore again as he looked down at the unfortunate woman and healed the wound on her throat. She wasn’t a fledgling yet, and unless he found someone to help her, the transition into her new life would be horrible.

  As much as he hated to let the Outcast go, he couldn’t take up his pursuit again until he’d seen to her safety.

  “This isn’t over,” he swore into the night, despising the cowardly Outcast who had stolen this woman’s mortal life as thoughtlessly as he’d squash a bug. “You have earned yourself a death of such pain it would curdle your blood to imagine it.”

  He sighed and looked down at the limp woman in his arms. There was nothing to be done for it. He would have to take her somewhere safe and find someone to both ease her through the Change and teach her the rudiments of what a vampire needed to know to survive.

  Only then could he take up the hunt again and exact revenge on Caen for this.

  * * *

  Eli stood in the foyer to Diego’s palatial home an hour later with the unfortunate woman in his arms. Frustration threatened to choke him. “What do you mean, no?” he asked in a dark and deadly voice.

  Diego didn’t flinch from his tone or his furious glare. “What do you think I mean? I can’t believe you’d even ask me to take in a fledgling sired by an Outcast. No, Eli. Blood tells. I will not invite the enemy into my refuge, nor teach an Outcast’s spawn how to survive. What are you thinking? Kill her now and save some Slayer the trouble later!”

 
; “She is an innocent bystander, not an enemy,” Eli said with a patience he did not feel. “He did this to distract me and buy his escape, not because she desired the life of an Outcast. She needs your help, not your condemnation.”

  Diego shook his head again and stepped back. “I will not take the responsibility of a sire for her. I’m a Slayer, not a nursemaid, Eli. Find someone else, someone not in the League.”

  “It has to be someone in the League.”

  Diego’s eyes narrowed. “Why, just in case she does turn out to have Outcast tendencies?” he asked. When Eli didn’t deny it, he took another step back. “No, Eli, I won’t do it,” he repeated. “You’re asking me to play sire to a fledgling not mine and still be ready to slay her if it becomes necessary. I’m not that cold-blooded, damn it. Take her to Ronin or take her yourself it you won’t end it now.”

  Eli opened his mouth for an angry retort, but the woman in his arms suddenly shuddered and moaned. “The Change is starting,” he said as her pain echoed though his mind. “She needs help, Diego.”

  Diego rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. “Look, it’s going to be dawn soon,” he said in a quieter voice, relenting a little as Eli had known he would. “You don’t have time to get back to your place. I’ll let her stay here through the Change, all right? You can take her into the north wing, it’s empty. But that’s all I’m doing, Eli,” he warned. “You help her through the Change now and decide what to do with her tomorrow. She’s not staying here.”

  Eli bit back a furious reply. “Fine.” Damn Diego for his stubborn attitude. Even when offering her sanctuary he still refused to have anything to do with her. Asking again would be pointless. Diego wasn’t going to take her in despite his offer of temporary refuge.

  And Diego’s suggestion to find someone else was out of the question. There were only three members of the Guardians’ League in the city besides himself—Diego, his mate, Sian, and Ronin. Eli had long ago vowed never to sire a fledgling again and there was no way in hell he would even contemplate giving one to Ronin—the man was completely uncontrollable. If Eli did take her there, when Ronin found out the truth of her heritage he’d kill her without batting an eyelash even if she hadn’t done anything to merit it. They all despised Outcasts, but Ronin hated them with a passion that bordered on obsession.

  Eli couldn’t chance that. Too many innocents had already died because of him. He wouldn’t add this woman to their number.

  Diego was the best vampire for this job. Calm and implacable, he thought everything through and rarely lost his temper. He was the perfect one to teach the fledgling about her new world and deal with whatever temper fits or grief she threw his way when she found out what had been done to her. Sian was both sympathetic enough to comfort the fledgling and strong enough to protect herself should this woman show signs of going Outcast, and their mortal Steward, James, was dependable and totally loyal. It had been the ideal solution.

  Until Diego had thrown a wrench in the plans by balking.

  Eli carried the woman into the north wing without another word, his mind whirling. There simply was no one else. Diego had to do it.

  But Eli wouldn’t command him to take her even if he hadn’t already given up his place on the League’s governing council. He’d forced too much on Diego already. Eli knew far too well the responsibilities of a sire weren’t to be taken lightly. It was a task which should be assumed willingly or not at all.

  Eli kicked open a bedroom door as the woman moaned again, shuddering against him. He laid her gently on the bed and turned the lamp on to its dimmest setting. She curled into a ball as soon as he released her, groaning in pain. He rested a hand on her forehead and sent a thread of power through her to track the transformation within her, to find the worst of the pain and ease it as much as possible.

  “What’s happening to me?” she whispered when he touched her.

  Eli paused, surprised. He hadn’t expected her to regain consciousness until after the Change was completed, much less be lucid enough to ask any questions. It was too bad. It would’ve been far easier on her if she’d remained unconscious.

  It wasn’t easy to become a vampire.

  “Do you remember what happened to you tonight, little one?” he asked softly, knowing all her senses would be hypersensitive right now. She winced at the sound despite his care.

  She started to nod but stopped at once. Eli felt the burst of pain in her head through his connection with her and moved to soften the sharp edge of it. “I—someone bit me,” she breathed.

  “Yes,” he murmured. She went still for a second and he had the brief hope she’d fainted.

  She hadn’t. She shuddered, not speaking for a long moment as her body shook. When she did, she managed only a single word on a harsh gasp of pain. “Rabies?”

  “No, not rabies.” He didn’t know if it was wise to tell her this right now, but if it had been him, he would have wanted to know from the start rather than find out later. “You were bitten by a vampire, little one. You’re going through the Change now. When it’s over, you will be a vampire, too.”

  She moaned and writhed on the bed as another cramp tore through her. “That—that’s ridiculous,” she gasped through the pain.

  He placed his other hand carefully on her abdomen and let a soothing wave of energy seep through her. It had been a long time since he’d helped anyone through the Change and he hated himself for not anticipating the spasm. He sent his senses traveling through her, hoping he wouldn’t be surprised again. “I’m sorry,” he said, meaning it. “It’s the truth.”

  “No!”

  He hardly heard her as his eyes narrowed with bitter anger at the information his gentle exploration revealed. His job had suddenly gotten far more complicated than simply easing her pain. The Outcast hadn’t given her nearly enough blood for this, and there was no way in hell Eli could give her his own to make up the deficit. He refused to violate the oath he’d made to himself countless years ago, and besides, even he didn’t know what adding his blood into the mix at this point in her transition would do to her. No, he would have to use all his powers to help her survive the Change and hope it was enough.

  She went rigid with another wave of agony as her body fought a deadly battle within itself, her human physiology fighting the vampire’s blood within her. If the Outcast had given her enough blood, it would have simply overrun her body’s defenses. As things stood now Eli wasn’t sure which side would win out in the end. He hardly knew what to hope for.

  If the vampire’s blood prevailed, she would be reborn as a fledgling when this passed, an unwanted newborn in a strange new world. But if her body’s defenses triumphed…

  She would die in terrible pain, but the eternal darkness of vampire kind would not have been forced on her, unchosen.

  He didn’t know which fate she would have chosen for herself. “You’re going to have a rough time, little one,” he whispered regretfully as fury at the selfish Outcast boiled within him. “I’m sorry for that. I will help you all I can. Rest, and don’t try to talk. You need to save your strength.”

  “Renee,” she gasped at last when the pain waned a little again.

  He waited for her to go on. When she didn’t, he leaned closer. “What did you say, little one?”

  She hissed in a breath between her teeth. “Not—little one. Renee.”

  He stroked her ebony hair back from her bruised forehead and wished he dared send her into the deep, almost lifeless sleep of the vampires. It would be far easier on her, but she was balanced on a knife edge between life and death and he wouldn’t do anything to upset the balance.

  “I am Eli,” he whispered, feeling the agony in her skull rising toward the shattering point. “Now please, try to relax and let this happen. Don’t resist, it will only make the pain worse. If you feel me moving through you, don’t try to fight me. I’m here to help you.”

  She didn’t speak again. He wasn’t sure she could have. The pain came in strengthening waves with
hardly a break between them to let her take a breath. Eli closed his eyes, one hand on her forehead and the other on her abdomen, and shook as he took as much of the pain from her as he could. It was agony like he’d never experienced, and even so, he knew he did little more than dull the edges of it for her. He poured every ounce of his great strength into her, hoping to help her make it through this.

  As morning dawned and moved toward noon, he despaired. Her body’s struggles went on unabated, even though the sun was high and she should have been rendered unconscious by it. To make matters worse, he was tiring. Doubts tormented him. Would it have been more merciful to kill her before the Change, as Diego had coolly suggested, and spare her this? If her body’s violent attempts to reject the Change didn’t kill her, the torment alone might drive her insane. He’d never heard of any transition this agonizingly painful, nor any lasting this long.

  He cursed himself for his inability to give her his own blood and ease the transition, and he didn’t dare ask Diego for help. The man had made his position clear.

  Finally she went limp and still as the afternoon darkened outside. Eli withdrew from her side and collapsed into the armchair beside the bed, completely exhausted. Renee had survived, though just barely.

  But the Change was over at last. She was a vampire now.

  Eli hoped she wouldn’t hate them all for it.

  * * *

  Renee woke slowly, her entire body aching.

  What the hell had happened to her last night? She felt like she’d been hit by a Mack truck, but the last thing she remembered was going downstairs into the parking garage last night after finally finishing up with work.

  She opened her eyes and immediately shut them again, gasping. Colors assaulted her with a vibrancy she’d never before imagined and her head hurt so badly, even looking at them was agony. A moment later she gathered her courage to look again. Such incredible illusion couldn’t possibly have been real.

  It wasn’t a dream. Every color was awesomely beautiful and intense. All her life she’d worn glasses, but now her vision was perfectly sharp and clear. The individual shadows beneath the miniscule bumps on the textured walls were distinct, even from all the way across the room. It was beyond weird, it was impossible. She shook her head to clear it and had to bite back a groan at the wave of pain the movement caused.