Read Star, Starland Vamp Series, Book 1 Online
Authors: Theresa Oliver
“Two,” I interjected, thinking of the one I killed in the bathroom.
“Two?” Zac asked, incredulous, then wheeled on his father again. “Or the rogue vamps that chased us down in a truck stop last night, and then the vamp that found us in our hotel room this morning. Star was almost killed!”
“Hardly,” I replied, listening, letting Zac take the lead. This was between father and son.
Zac ignored me, turning his venom on his father. “And do you mind explaining to me why there’s a million dollar price tag on my head?”
“A million dollars?” Abbott gasped, truly surprised. “Son, I had no idea …”
“And can you explain why I always thought you were an architect? I had no clue you were the head of a covert branch of the CIA. Not just a member, but the
head
?”
“Son, lower your voice …”
“The hell I will!” Zac retorted, directing all his pent up anger at his father.
“Zac …” I decided it was time to intervene, grabbing his arm, but Zac shook me off.
Suddenly, Abbott realized his son had become a man in just these few short days. “Son, I always knew this day would come …”
“Yeah,” Zac interjected. There was no stopping him now. “That’s what Mom said.”
“Now leave your mother out of this!” Abbott bellowed, and my muscles tensed, on the defensive. “She knew only what I told her! She knew I worked for the government, but she didn’t know everything.”
“Well, she does now,” Zac interjected, remembering his conversation with his mother.
“So be it,” Abbott replied. “But, son, you have to understand that I loved your mother. I still do. She left for other reasons.”
“What other reasons?” Zac bellowed, his hands clenched into fists at his side.
“I was gone a lot, or at the office, away from you both,” Abbott replied, sitting in his cushy office chair, placing his hands on his head, defeated. “I was gone too much, Zac, and your mother felt alone, so she left with you.”
“And she still doesn’t have protection?” Zac was still reeling, when I placed a calming hand on his arm.
“You have different names than I and you live in another city,” Abbott replied, clearly wanting his son to know the truth. “I thought you were safe.”
“Safe?” Zac retorted, then laughed without humor.
“You
were
safe, Zac!” Abbott suddenly regained his strength. “I miss you both terribly, but at least you two are away from danger!”
“Well, Dad,” Zac replied in a low voice. There was no stopping now. This was about much more than rogue vamps. He was releasing years of pent up anger and hurt upon a man whom he thought he knew. “Well, Dad, we’re in danger now.”
“That’s why I sent Star and Rick,” Abbott interjected, then asked, “Is your mother safe?”
“Yes,” Zac said, then added before I could stop him. “Rick and Annie are protecting her.”
“Annie?” Abbott’s demeanor suddenly changed and his eyes narrowed. “Who’s Annie?”
“Acantha,” I replied. “You remember, Acantha. She is now called Annie.”
“Annie?” Sam Abbott’s voice raised several octaves. “Acantha Bree?”
“Yeah,” I replied, my eyebrows pulling together. I knew Annie left the agency years ago, but I didn’t understand why Abbott was having a heart attack about it now. If not anything else, you would think he would be happy for the extra protection for his son. “What of it?”
“Ms. Starland,” Abbott retorted, using the tone I hated.
“Abigail, please,” I said, smiling sweetly, not letting Sam get to me.
“Star,” Abbott continued, ignoring my request. “Did you know that she left the agency?
“Yes, of course,” I responded, my eyebrows pulling together. “But there’s no crime in leaving the agency.”
“Yes, but she went rogue,” Abbott replied, using a patronizing tone.
“You don’t know that …”
“Oh no?” Abbott continued. “A few years ago, she was on assignment, then something happened and she left the agency. But after you leave, you’re supposed to let the agency know where you are for the next ten years, and Annie hasn’t checked in since she left.”
I laughed openly now. “Is that your proof? Just because she hasn’t checked in?” I asked, incredulous. “If it were me, I wouldn’t call you either!”
“Does a vamp named Michaels ring a bell?” Abbott continued.
I stopped laughing immediately. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Abbott’s eyes narrowed, then he replied, leaning forward for effect, “She left the agency because she fell in love with him.”
“She fell in love with Michaels?” I replied, incredulous. “There’s no way. She’s in love with Rick. She has been for a long time.”
“Did she tell you that?” Abbott grinned without humor, as Zac listened, taking it all in.
“Yes,” I replied. “She’s been in love with Rick since before she became a vamp. This is ridiculous. I’m not listening to you anymore.”
“I’m just trying to tell you not to trust her, Star,” Abbott replied. “And if she’s with Rick or my wife …”
“Ex-wife,” Zac interjected, crossing his arms.
“Ex-wife,” Abbott amended, looking into Zac’s eyes, then into mine. “If they’re with her, then Zac’s mother’s in danger, Star.”
“You’re lying!” I replied, clenching my fists.
“Am I, Star? Think about it! She’s gone rogue before, hasn’t she? Before the agency?” Abbott kept going, unrelenting.
“What else do you know, because I’m not talking about Annie anymore!” I replied, taking a step toward him. I had to keep reminding myself that Zac was there and he didn’t need to see me kill his father.
“Annie went rogue, Star!” Abbott continued, unrelenting.
Suddenly, a thought occurred to me, as I pulled Zac behind me. “You never scanned me, Sam …”
Suddenly his eyes flared. “What?”
I smiled sweetly. “The hand scanner, Sam, laying on your desk. You never scanned my hand when I came in.” Suddenly I reached for it, but he was quicker. “Let’s scan
your
hand, Sam.”
“Go to hell!” His eyes flared.
“What the hell?” Zac asked, trying to walk out from behind me, but I held him there.
“Then prove it, Sam,” I calmly said, my eyes flaring. “Give me the scanner and your hand.”
“What are you going to do, Star, kill me?” Abbott asked, holding the hand scanner behind his back. “In front of my son?”
Suddenly, my emerald eyes flared. “What have you done with Abbott?”
“Oh, my God …” Zac replied, backing toward the door, pulling me with him.
“Michaels,” Abbott called over his shoulder. “Would you be so kind as to join us, please?”
A moment later, a vamp with dark, curly hair and an ear ring, wearing a power suit stepped out from behind a wall behind Abbott’s desk leading to a private office.
“Michaels,” I calmly said, as Zac pulled my back to his chest.
“The amazing Abigail Starland!” Michaels replied, knowing he had me, as Abbott smiled.
“Who the hell are you?” I asked the vamp posing as Abbott, my eyes narrowing, knowing full well it wasn’t him.
Abbott laughed. “Well I’m Abbott, of course!” Then he turned to Zac. “Son, don’t you recognize me?”
“You are not my father!” Zac spat through gritted teeth, as angry tears brimmed his eyes, his hand on the small of my back.
“Nice touch,” I calmly began, “telling me that Annie went rogue, that she was in love with Michaels here,” I said, gesturing grandly to the brunette vamp with the ear ring.
“Oh, but it’s true,” Michaels retorted in a low voice with a smile on his face. He had a wild look in his eyes as they flared. He was clearly mad. Crazy. The worst kind of rogue vamp. “She’s very much in love with me, and she will do as I ask.”
“You’re lying!” I yelled at him, my eyes flaring. “Annie would never be with you! She could never be in love with you!”
“Well,” Michaels said, matter of fact, taking another step closer, stopping directly in front of me. “Whether she’s in love with me or not is irrelevant.” Then he said in a low voice. “So long as I get what I want.”
Within a second, Zac grabbed the Glock from the back of my pants, and shot Michaels twice in the forehead, as he fell to the ground. The other vamp came from around the desk and I quickly pulled my Ballistics knife from my ankle and shot it into his chest, while Zac unloaded the rest of the clip in his head, sending him flying backwards.
“Let’s
go
!” I yelled to Zac, retracting my knife.
Immediately, Zac grabbed my hand as we bolted through the office door, past the pretty receptionist now cowering behind her desk, back down the hall, and ran toward the elevators when the alarms sounded.
I quickly completed the retina scan, but the elevator wouldn’t open. I knew that Michaels and the other vamp posing as Abbot would be here in a moment, along with God knows who else. “Follow me, Zac!” I ran with him down the hallway, still clutching his hand, to the stairwell. I pushed it open, and looked down, but agents, human and vamp, were on their way up.
“Not that way!” Zac yelled, as we quickly shut the door.
It was too high to jump out the window. I could do it alone. It’d be a piece of cake, but too risky with Zac. Then I had a thought. “Come on!” We ran into a vacant room, then locked and bolted the door. It was an interrogation room with thick steel walls and a thick metal door. The room would buy us at least a minute or two.
At the ceiling was an air vent. I abruptly jumped into the air, grabbing the grate covering it, then pulled it down, exposing the air ducts.
Zac watched, saying nothing.
Holding onto the edge of the hole, I expertly swung my legs up like a trapeze artist until I was safely inside, when agents pounded roughly on the heavy metal door, yelling for us to open up. Hooking my legs into the vent, I reached down and grabbed Zac’s extended arms and I pulled him up with one arm, then quickly replaced the grate, propping it across the hole, buying us another minute or two.
I silently motioned for Zac to follow me through the air vents. We moved through them as quietly as possible, hearing agents busting through doors, looking for us. Then we came to the end of the air vents to one that went straight down.
I looked down it and, to human eyes, it would be completely dark all the way to the bottom. But with my vamp eyes, I could clearly see through the dark with no problem. The vent went straight down to the bottom floor, 20 floors, with no curvature at all. It was a straight drop, with barely enough room for the two of us.
Suddenly, I heard men scrambling into rooms below us.
I had no choice.
“Zac, do you trust me?” I asked, looking directly into his eyes.
“You know I do.”
“Come here,” I replied, holding him tightly within my arms in front of me. “Hold onto me and close your eyes,” I whispered into his ear. “Ready?”
“Let’s do it.”
Suddenly, there were men scrambling through the air vent behind us.
“One, two …” I began.
“Three!” Zac yelled and I jumped into the air vent, holding tightly onto Zac. The wind rushed past us as we free fell through the vent, blowing though our clothes and our hair. Within seconds, we neared the bottom, so I scraped my feet along the sides of the vent to slow us down and we landed safely at the bottom, then I set Zac lightly on his feet, steadying him.
“Are you okay?” I whispered into his ear.
“Fine,” he answered, “But I think I’m going to get sick.” Then he laughed.
At the bottom, was another vent that led to the parking garage. Men were rushing around looking for us.
“We’ll have to wait a bit until things settle down, then we can leave,” I said to Zac.
“Come here,” Zac replied. He sat on the floor, pulled me onto his lap, and wrapped his arms around my waist.
“Zac, I’m sorry about your father,” I said, gently broaching the subject.
“I really thought it was him,” Zac replied, shaking his head.
“We’ll find him …”
“Abbey, don’t play games with me,” Zac cut me off. “He’s dead.”
“You don’t know that.”
“How else could they have gotten close enough to impersonate him?” Zac asked in disbelief.
“They might be holding him hostage,” I said, knowing it was a stretch. “They could have gotten his body print when they grabbed him.”
“What are you talking about?” Zac asked, clearly hurt. “How were they able to do that? That guy looked
exactly
like him.”
I sighed. “Zac, that guy was a vamp shape shifter, like me,” I replied, stroking his hair.
“Are there a lot of you?” Zac asked, trying to be open minded.
“No, we’re very rare.”
“What makes you a shape shifter?” Zac asked, then rephrased. “I mean, how do you become a shape shifter?”
“It’s in my blood,” I replied, already telling him more than I’ve ever told anyone.
“What about it?” Zac asked, clearly intrigued.
“I’m not sure, but I think it’s hereditary,” I replied, leaning back against the side of the vent. “I’ve never really thought about it before, but it’s in my blood and passed down from one generation to the next. It’s an anomaly and very few people have it.”
Zac thought for a moment, then closed his eyes, but spoke again, obviously talking to keep from thinking about the fate of his father. “Then how do you become a vampire?”
“Zac, you don’t want to know that …” I said, as I stroked his hair away from his beautiful face.
Suddenly, his eyes snapped open. “Yes, I do, Abbey.”
I thought for a moment, warring with myself, wondering how much to tell him. “Well, a vamp has to bite you, then the venom spreads,” I said, then paused, remembering my own transformation.
“Is that all?” Zac asked, his azure eyes clearly interested.
“No, that’s not all,” I hedged, not wanting to tell him the rest.
“What else?” Zac asked tiredly.
“You burn for two days,” I replied, my voice merely a whisper.
Zac’s beautiful azure eyes met mine. “What do you mean ‘burn’?”
I sighed, not wanting to tell him, but then I realized he should know. Maybe knowing might deter him from ever wanting to be one. “You feel like you’re whole body is burning at the stake, but from the inside out. It feels like fire is spreading throughout your whole body and you beg for someone to kill you, but no one will. Then the fire fades and becomes manageable until it finally fades away. Then you wake with an insatiable thirst that never completely quenches.”
Zac nodded, listening. I noticed that everyone must be upstairs because it was settling down in the parking garage.
“Come on, let’s go,” I said, standing up. “But we’re going to have to run for it, in case.” Then I helped Zac get to his feet, but he wobbled a bit. “Do you think you can make it?” I asked, knowing he’d been through a lot for one day.
“Yeah, of course,” Zac replied, stretching a bit. “Sorry, I just needed a minute.”
I looked him straight in the eye, thinking of his father. “You’ve been though a lot today.”
“Let’s go,” Zac replied, clearly unwilling to talk about it.
“Ready?” I asked as he nodded, then I quietly took the vent off and looked around. Suddenly a guard hurried by, so I held the vent cover up again, undetected, until he passed by. “Come on, let’s go!”
We made a run for Zac’s black Hemi Charger RT and quickly slid into the seats. Zac immediately threw it into reverse and we sped toward the exit. Security guards stepped in front of the car with their guns drawn.
“Floor it!” I yelled at Zac, bracing myself for the impact, but we were lucky, they were humans.
Zac braced himself against the steering wheel and floored it. The hemi engine revved and snarled angrily, as the tires dug into the asphalt. “Hold on, Abbey!” Zac yelled, but didn’t let up on the gas, then at the last minute, the guards dove into the small guard house. Others had their weapons drawn and unloaded their clips into the side of the car as we passed.
Within minutes, we were driving down the long tunnel at top speed, and I hoped it was clear at the end of the tunnel. I quickly grabbed my Glock and shoved a clip into it, on the ready. “Zac,” I yelled over the rumble of the engine, louder within the narrow tunnel. “No matter what happens, just floor it and keep going.”
He nodded, but said nothing, then I smelled it. Blood. It was fresh and it was Zac’s.
“My God, Zac!” I yelled to him across the seats.
“Abbey, don’t!” Zac yelled, holding onto the steering wheel with his foot jammed onto the gas pedal. “We don’t have time for this!”
And I knew it was true. He was tougher than I thought.
“Here we go!” I yelled, viewing a lightening at the end of the tunnel. There was a barricade at the end of the tunnel, just as I feared. “Brace yourself!” I shouted over the angry growl of the engine and squealing tires.
“Hold on, Baby!” Zac shouted, bracing for the impact, as I held my Glock up on the ready. We hit the barricade and wood flew high into the air, landing across the street. Human agents jumped out of the way and a few vamp agents stood right in the way. I unloaded my clip into them, knocking them to the ground, but not killing them, hating myself for doing it. They were just on the wrong side now, to no fault of their own.
A second later, Zac expertly cut the wheel to the right and we were speeding toward Cooperstown. Once we were safely back on the expressway, Zac took the first exit.
“Zac?” I asked, already knowing the answer before I asked. “Zac, how bad is it?” I asked, frantic for the first time since I’d become a vamp.
But there was too much blood for the answer to be good. I leaned him back and crimson blood stained the side of his shirt. He was shot in the side and had already lost a lot of blood.
“Don’t worry, I’ll get you to a hospital,” I said, as tears slid slowly down my cheeks.
“I love you, baby,” Zac replied as he slumped over the wheel of the car.
“Don’t you dare say that!” I yelled into his face, pulling him into the backseat of the car as tears slid slowly down my cheeks. “Don’t you dare say your goodbyes to me! I love you, damn it! Don’t you leave me, Zac!”
“Abbey, there’s no time for the hospital. You’re the doctor tonight,” Zac softly said, as he slowly faded from consciousness.
And I knew it was true as the tears slid slowly down my cheeks. “Zac,” I said though my tears, but forced myself to ask this question, “If it’s the only way to save you, do you want to become a vampire?”
His eyelids fluttered, and I hated myself as I waited for his answer, but he was already unconscious, so the decision was solely mine to make.
And for the first time in years, I prayed as the tears rushed down my cheeks. God, give me the strength to make the right choice.