5. Montana

Julius and I headed deeper into the ruined city, passing rows of old stores with faded names above the doorways. A hardware store, a gas station, even an old bridal shop which I scurried past at a ferocious pace. I had no intention of exchanging my current wedding dress for another one. If I never saw one of those flouncy white gowns again, I’d die goddamn happy.

A large building loomed up ahead with a shattered glass doorway. Several of the letters on the wall above it had fallen away, leaving B-y Plaz- Mall.

I vaguely recalled the term mall from my dad’s recounts of the past and started sprinting toward it with hope lifting my heart.

“Hey- wait up!” Julius called, dragging his attention away from a lingerie store window and chasing after me.

I slowed as I stepped through the broken doorway, my dress trailing over the shards of glass, making a plinking sound as they shifted. Inside, was an impossibly pristine corridor lined with rows upon rows of clothes stores. Relief ebbed through me at escaping the pouring rain. And now I finally had a chance to get out of this damn dress which was so wet, it weighed a tonne, and the skirt was coated in grime.

“Julius -look,” I gasped as he joined me.

His mouth parted, his eyes trailing from store to store. “By the gods, what is this place?”

“It’s a mall, a place people used to shop for stuff.” I jogged towards the nearest store with Nightmare tight in my grip, wrenching the door open and finding an expanse of untouched clothes hanging on rails all over the place.

My heart lifted as I took it all in, the cold so deep in my veins that I practically groaned at the sight of endless sweaters and cosy leggings.

“Shit,” Julius cursed. “I’ve never seen a market with so many fine things.”

He raced past me into the menswear, tugging off his shirt and tossing it to the floor before unbuckling his pants. He was down to his underwear in no time, revealing his deep bronze skin and the thick muscles that clad his body like armour. Then he dropped his boxers, and I turned away fast before I got an unwanted eyeful of his cock, his gleeful laughter reaching me as I started searching through the women’s clothes.

Several of the items were thin and sparkly, and there were a bunch of dresses that I swept right past. They wouldn’t be any use against the cold so I forged a path to the back of the room where the sweaters were waiting for me along with a whole range of more practical items. I grabbed a dark, long-sleeved shirt off a hanger and smiled at it in relief, certain it would keep me warm.

I placed it down along with Nightmare then reached behind my back to undo my dress, desperate to get out of this thing and abandon it forever. My fingers fumbled against the tiny buttons, failing to free myself and causing my heart to riot in frustration. There were so many of them. How the hell was I supposed to get out of it?

Your husband was supposed to get you out of it, Montana.

My teeth clenched as that thought passed through my head and the mark on my palm suddenly blazed with energy, making me yearn for Erik so much it left me breathless. I shut my eyes, working to force away the sensation.

“Need a hand?” Julius’s voice made me jump, and I opened my eyes, finding him striding toward me in a pair of jeans with a navy t-shirt gripped in his hand. My gaze shifted to his huge chest and the packed muscles of his torso, heat crawling into my cheeks.

“No,” I blurted, and he cocked his head in amusement.

“How are you going to escape from your final cage then, damsel?”

“I’m not a damsel,” I growled, sick of him calling me that.

“It’s not a weakness to ask for help when you need it, you know,” he said.

I chewed the inside of my cheek and Julius went to turn away, but I swallowed my pride and called, “Wait.”

He glanced back at me, tucking the t-shirt into his waistband as if he had no intention of putting it on anytime soon. Though I wished he would because his abs were a distraction I didn’t need right now.

He sauntered over to me, all cockiness and I pursed my lips at him before he moved behind me and started on the buttons. “Come on you little bastards,” he hissed, failing to get purchase on them.

“What’s the problem? Your big man hands?” I taunted.

“They’ve never been a problem for anything before now,” he said with a smirk in his voice.

“Were you born this arrogant or is it another curse of the gods?”

He laughed. “Fuck it.” He gripped the dress and ripped it clean down the back, sending buttons scattering everywhere.

I could breathe again as the tight bodice finally released me and I was so relieved that as I stepped out of the rumpled material and turned to face Julius, I completely forgot that I wasn’t wearing a bra and I had a see-through pair of lace panties on.

His gaze dropped to take in my nipples which were pointing right at him thanks to the cold. His throat bobbed and I snatched a sweater off the nearest hanger, clutching it against my body.

“Turn away,” I snapped.

But instead of doing as I asked, he frowned, reaching out to touch a bite mark above my left breast, scoring his thumb around it before his hand trailed to more bite marks along my neck. “The rain has washed a fair bit of the venom out, but we need to make sure it’s all gone or they won’t heal.”

The heat of his fingers against my ice-cold skin made me pull away, my heart thundering as my mind turned to Erik.

“I’ll go find some water,” he said, then turned, the broad muscles of his back flexing as he headed out of the store.

I picked up Nightmare and moved to the underwear section where I pulled on a pair of black panties with a sports bra. I tugged on a pair of warm leggings too, along with socks and some new, thick boots as I waited for Julius to get back.

It wasn’t long before he returned with a few bottles of water, walking over to me and gesturing for me to lie down on a bench in the shoe area. I did so and he knelt beside me, twisting off the cap of the water bottle and shifting my hair away before tipping it over the bite marks. The pain was sharp, but it eased dramatically as the last of the venom was washed out and I released a breath of relief, only now realising how much the bites had been stinging.

He grabbed the shirt out of his waistband, using it to dab at the bites and dry them, and I looked up at his dark eyes, his brow drawn low as he concentrated.

“Why are you taking care of me?” I asked. “We barely know each other.”

He knelt back, pushing a hand through his damp hair and mussing it up as he did so. “I’m nothing like the parasite company you’ve been keeping lately. I look after my own.” He stood up, moving to fetch himself another shirt and pulling it on at last.

“They’re really not that bad,” I muttered, not intending for him to hear, but he immediately responded.

“Yes they are.”

“Not all of them.”

“Wrong,” he growled, fixing me in his gaze as he walked back to me. “They are all undead, blood-thirsty creeps. And if you think Erik Belvedere wouldn’t suck you dry the second he got the chance then-”

“Stop it,” I snarled, grabbing the long-sleeve black shirt, and pulling it on. Anger flowed through me and the X on my palm prickled. “He would never hurt me.”

“He wants to though. He had to fight the urge to bite you every moment he was around you. How could you stand it?”

I glared at him, striding closer. “Just drop it, okay? I know Erik. He’s not like thosetwistedbiters who attacked us. Who left these marks on me.”

He pushed a hand into his damp locks again as they fell into his eyes. “Look, I’m not trying to upset you, Montana. I care about you.”

I frowned as he reached out and brushed his fingers over my arm. “It’s a slayer thing, I suppose. I’m lost without my kind. So I feel protective over you. It’s hard for me to accept that one of my own actually feels something for one of them. Especially Erik Belvedere.”

“Maybe all of this is to do with the prophecy,” I suggested with a heavy breath, my heart beating harder as I looked at the silver X on my palm.

“Did you speak to Andvari?” Julius asked, his tone darkening.

I nodded, a shudder running through me at the memory. “He said I’m part of the prophecy. Half of it. So I guess Callie has to be the other half.”

“What else did he say?” he asked, a hunger growing in his gaze for my answers.

“Nothing.” I dropped my eyes as the dark memory swallowed me up. “After he tortured me and Erik for a while, he just left.”

“Did the god hurt you, Montana?” he growled.

“Not really...it’s hard to explain.” I wrapped my arms around myself and Julius tugged me into a hug, resting his chin on my head. He was right, I had to admit it, even if only to myself. Us together felt right. Like we were both part of something bigger and we were bound to it together. It shouldn’t have felt so natural to seek comfort in the arms of a man who was still practically a stranger to me, but it did. And after all I’d been through, I couldn’t help but steal a moment in the warm comfort of his arms.

“We’ll work it out,” he muttered.

I knew it must have been hard for Julius to understand my feelings for a vampire. Erik had killed his father, and hell if I didn’t know the pain of such a loss. But if Julius’s vow urged him to end the curse, maybe that would be enough for him to put his revenge aside one day.

“Thank you for keeping your word not to hurt Erik back at the cathedral.” I pulled out of his arms and he gave me a slanted grin.

“I am nothing if not a man of my word. But don’t ever ask that of me again.”

I frowned at his words, but there was nothing I could do to make him hate Erik less than he did.

I picked up Nightmare from where I’d left it on the bench, the warm metal humming in greeting. But that soft hum turned to an abrupt buzz, almost like a warning blazing through my flesh. Julius’s head lifted just before a bang sounded behind us and I swung around in alarm, raising my blade defensively.

A haggard vampire stood beyond the window with his forehead pressed to the pane. He wore a fine suit, even though the rest of him looked filthy. My gut clenched as he opened his mouth and drool slid down the glass as he mouthed a word that looked like ‘blood’.

“Rotter,” I hissed.

Julius pulled Menace from its sheath which he’d strapped to his hip, his eyes narrowing.

“Stay here,” he breathed, and I frowned, my pulse thumping beneath my skin.

The moment Julius reached the door, the vampire darted toward him, his eyes wild with hunger.

“Blood – thweet nectar – the godth have ansthered my prayers!” he cried with a pronounced lisp to his tone.

Julius shoved him back and he hit the floor, skidding out across the corridor from the force the slayer had used.

The vampire scrambled up and I hurried toward Julius, eying the vampire’s open mouth in surprise. He had no fangs, his gums swollen and bloody where they’d once been as if his body couldn’t heal the wounds.

The rotter’s eyes turned between us, desperate and starving, looking so despairing that I almost felt sorry for him. But then he rolled to his knees and sped toward us like an animal, his tongue lolling as he closed in. Julius kicked him squarely in the face, but the vampire hung on through sheer desperation, sucking on the toe of his boot and clinging to his leg.

I grimaced, backing up as Julius shook him off and pointed Menace at his heart.

The vampire lifted his head, drool sliding down his chin as a bitter acceptance filled him. “End it then. Kill me. Thith life ith not worth living without blood.” He broke a sob, pressing his chest to the sword.

Pity sped through me, but Julius stabbed his sword forward and cleaved the vampire apart, sending dust pluming out around his feet.

“Julius,” I gasped. “What the hell happened to him?”

“Banishment,” he said darkly, his upper lip curling back. “I’ve seen it once before. It seems vampires who break certain laws are de-fanged and cast out of the city.”

I took a shaky breath. This was what Fabian had wanted for Wolfe. This would be his punishment. And in a way, it seemed almost worse than death. With no blood to feed on out in the ruins, he would surely starve into insanity.

Nightmare cooled in my palm, seeming content after the vampire’s demise, but I felt unsettled more than anything.

“Come, let’s gather supplies and head back to the others. It’s fucking freezing and I want to be sleeping by a warm fire before midday.” Julius’s tone was light as if he hadn’t just cut a man in two.

Vampire, I corrected internally. Shit, I was in trouble if I started pitying them. But he’d been so hopeless, so emaciated.

I battled away the thoughts, focusing on the task at hand. The vampire had no doubt deserved his fate, his past almost certainly dirtied with the blood of humans just as all of their kind were. I needed to get supplies and head back to my sister with an offering of warm clothes and as much food as I could carry. One dead vampire was not going to distract me from that. Callie was relying on me, and as I remembered how lost she’d looked when I’d left, my heart hardened. Survival was what mattered now.