Part 11 (2/2)

”G.o.d, you just don't quit. You'll do just about anything to get me in there with you.” I stepped down another step to get his hand off of me.

”Gwyneth, that painting has been here for centuries. I had an artist paint it before I became what I am now.” He sighed and continued, ”I had a life before I became a monster, and that is one of the few things left to remind me of it.”

My mind raced. I knew he told the truth. I would have sensed him lying to me. But if what Pallo said was true, how was it that I was in the picture with him? It was impossible. It was painted at least two hundred years before I was born.

”Gwyneth, I should have told you. When I saw you standing in my home, I could not think. There you stood, in the flesh, in my home.... He told us we would be rewarded, but neither of us expected you to return. We never expected a second chance at....”

I felt his hand on my shoulder again and I cringed. I pulled away and ran downstairs. I had to keep grabbing the material on my nightgown to keep from tripping.

I hit the bottom with such speed that I slid toward the front door. My shoulder took most of the hit from slamming into the heavy door. My right hand went numb and I had to use my left hand to open the door.

”No!” Pallo screamed from the staircase. He was having trouble keeping up with me because he hadn't fed yet.

I looked back at him coming downstairs. His eyes flashed wildly at me. I stepped out the door, and felt the ground give way under my feet. My stomach rose to my throat. The ground came upon me with such force it knocked the wind out of me. My hair spilled over my face like a curtain. Something crashed onto the floor next to me. My breathing went ragged, and I felt like a caged animal.

”Are you all right?”

I pulled my hair back and looked wildly at Pallo crouched on the floor next to me. He looked sick. He was bent over, holding his abdomen. He looked ghastly white, so much so that I thought he might start to glow in the dark.

”Are you hurt?”

”No, I need to....” He looked to me and could not bring himself to say the word feed.

”We need to get you back to the park. Come on.” I stood, and it hit me that we were not sitting in front of a house, but what looked to be a dungeon. All the joking I had done about his house, and he really did have one.

”This is not mine.”

I was getting pretty d.a.m.n sick and tired of his little mind--reading tricks but didn't have the energy to fight with him. When I looked at him and saw his body hunched over like a tiger about to strike, I put my hand on his back. His skin was no longer warm. It was cold and clammy. ”You're dying.” I bent and wrapped my body around his. In my mind, I thought that my body heat would warm him, but it didn't work.

”No. I am already dead,” he said. No trace of the strong and sure Pallo remained in his voice.

”Well, great, since you've already been there and done that we can skip it and go home.”

”Home?” He turned his face to me. All of the glory had faded from his brown eyes, only gray ones remained.

”Yes, home. We can fight more after we get there.” I helped him to his feet. When I was sure he wasn't going to pa.s.s out, I turned to look around the room.

”So, where are we? And don't state the obvious again.”

”h.e.l.l.”

”Figuratively or literally?”

”Does it matter?”

He had a point. I started to ask him how to get out of here when he put a finger to his lip to shush me. I listened but heard only silence.

He gestured to a metal door at the end of the room. He whispered in an unfamiliar language. I had no idea what he was saying, but if I had to take a crack at it, I'd have guessed he spoke in Latin.

”What are you doing?”

”Praying,” he said softly.

”Vampires do that?” I couldn't hide the shock in my voice.

Howling pierced the silence like a knife. Pallo pulled me behind him in a protective manner and stood tall.

The door burst open. Two h.e.l.lhounds leapt inside. They stopped at Pallo's feet, growling. Red eyes blazed at us, almost glowing. They were twice the size of full grown Great Danes. Pallo pushed me back slowly.

”I see you've met the boys,” a woman's voice said.

I looked to see her standing in the open doorway. She was about my height, average. Okay, short, and had long red hair. She looked like she had been dunked in leather: a leather top squeezed her large breast together, and her pants fit her body so tightly I was positive she couldn't sit down.

She looked familiar to me, but I couldn't place her. Yeah, you would think that a pair of beady yellow eyes and a chick dressed like a biker-wh.o.r.e-from-h.e.l.l would be easy to recall.

She spared me a glance then concentrated on Pallo.

”Pallo, Pallo. I didn't expect a visit from you today.” She pulled a knife holder from her back pocket. ”You should have called. I could have prepared the room, just the way you like it.”

”Talia, it's been a long time.”

”You know her?” I couldn't keep my mouth shut any longer.

She took a step closer and caressed the neck of one hound.

”Who is your little friend? Do not tell me you've taken to bedding virgins now? I thought you were done with that. They break so easy, don't they?” She smiled and fangs showed. I was happy at least one vamp I'd met was holding true to a Hollywood image.

”He's not bedding me, and I'm not a virgin.”

”Oh, I see why you like her. You always did have a thing for mouthy girls. Is she good with her mouth in other places as well?”

”Talia, to what do we owe the honor of this visit?” Pallo asked. The muscles in his arms flexed.

”I was running an errand for the Queen, but since I found you, let us just say it is for old time's sake.” She licked the blade of her knife. I could feel Pallo's fear. He was opening himself up to me. He feared this tiny little redhead.

”I do not recognize these two,” he said, looking at the h.e.l.lhounds.

”They are new. They just completed the initiation process a few days ago. They no longer have any ties to the human world. They 'severed' them. I have had to make so many new little ones as of late. I have lost many of my children. The humans hunt us like we are animals.”

”That's a shocker.” I bit my lip, but it was too late.

Talia gave me a look. ”Show her you are not animals.”

The two hounds' backs curved abnormally backwards as they howled. I lifted my hands to cover my ears. The decibel level was almost deafening in the chamber.

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