Marked By The Vampire (Purgatory #2)(16)
Author: Cynthia Eden

“No! I don’t—I don’t think so.” Then, softer, “Is that like a genie?”

He caught a scent drifting toward him. Familiar. Human. The warden.

Hell, hell, hell. “Come on. Now.” And they were off, moving through the tunnel at a breakneck speed, and the tunnel narrowed as they fled. Going down, down, and the scent turned heavy with mold and earth as the darkness swelled even more, ever deeper.

She didn’t speak again, and Olivia moved quickly, not asking about…things…even though he saw them scurry across their feet.

Then he could smell the salty air. The ocean. And hear the lap of the water.

“Please tell me a boat is waiting up there.” Her voice held a desperate edge.

He whirled back toward her. The water bubbled up about ten feet away. If they dove into that water, they could swim out and get to the other side of the island. A place of safety, for the moment. “Tell me,” he told her, “that you’re a good swimmer.”

Silence. Then she shook her head.

He had the worst f**king luck. “Then, love, you’d better hold tight to me.” She was trying to back away. Very much not holding tight. So he picked her up, but he didn’t toss her over his shoulder again. Instead, he cradled her in his arms. “When you need to breathe, kiss me.”

“Wh-what?”

“And I’ll give you my air.”

He ran toward the water, and, with her in his arms, leapt in.

***

Case Killian stormed into the quarters he’d given Olivia Maddox. He grabbed her bag, rifled through it. Found nothing but clothing—and a wooden stake.

“Where the hell is she?”

He’d already made Evan talk. The idiot had been blubbering when Case left him in the infirmary…with those two doctors who were bleeding messes, courtesy of the vampire Shane.

Evan had said that Olivia would be with the werewolves—only she hadn’t been. The doctor had seemingly vanished.

Shane has Olivia. It was the only thing that made sense. The only reason why Case couldn’t find them. The vampire was unlike any other that Case had seen. Too powerful. Too dangerous.

He spun around to face the guards in the doorway. “Search every inch of this facility. Find the missing vampire and find Dr. Maddox.” His gaze fell to their weapons. “Forget the tranq. If you see Shane, kill him.” Because the vampire wouldn’t destroy Purgatory.

Case wouldn’t let him.

“And bring Dr. Maddox to me.”

***

Her lungs were burning. Olivia couldn’t see anything in front of her but a murky darkness, and the salt water stung her eyes as she tried desperately to make out something.

Shane had her right hand in his grip. She was trying to swim with her left hand and kick with her feet, but the current was pulling at her, trying to rip her away from Shane.

She needed to breathe.

He’d told her to kiss him when she needed air, so she turned frantically in the water, trying to get closer to him, trying to find his—

Shane pulled her against him. His other hand came up under her chin, and his mouth pressed to hers. Her lips parted, and he breathed for her. Into her. A quick burst and then he had his arms wrapped around her. He was shooting them up, up out of that darkness.

Her head broke through the water. Her mouth pulled from his and she gulped in and out desperately as she bobbed in the water.

The moon shone down on them. A million stars glittered overhead.

And the vampire held her easily against him.

“Thank you,” Olivia whispered because she knew he’d saved her life. She didn’t know what would happen next, but for that moment, they were alive. And relatively safe in the ocean.

The island that housed Purgatory was close, and Shane was already stroking them back toward it even as the waves heaved against them.

“Stop,” she said, as she tried to pull him back. “They’ll be waiting for us.”

“No, they think we’re still inside Purgatory right now and that buys us time.”

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders. Her legs brushed against his beneath the water. “Time for what? Unless you’ve got a plane hidden in your pocket…” Wouldn’t that be awesome?

“Time to get to a safe place.”

A safe place? On that little island?

“I told you before, you have to trust me.”

He’d also told her that he was a killer, but it didn’t seem like she had much choice, not unless she wanted to swim back to the mainland. And drown along the way.

So she did her best to stay with him—okay, he pulled her along, a lot, as they made their way not directly to the main shore, but to the left-hand side of the island.

“We’re going under again,” he warned her.

“Why?” The little beach was right there.

“Because that’s the only way to access the cave.”

Wait, what?

“Breathe, Olivia.”

She did.

They went under. She kicked and stroked as best as she could and blindly followed Shane’s lead. There was no choice for her anymore.

Then, too many moments later, they were breaking through the surface of the water once more. She couldn’t see anything when she came up for air, and the darkness felt suffocating.

“We’ll be safe here,” Shane said as he began to pull her toward—what, a shore? Inside the cave?

Her left hand flew out and landed on a rocky outcropping.

“Be careful,” he warned her, then he was lifting her up, sitting her on a hard, flat circle. Water poured down her body as she crouched there, and shivers rocked through her.

He came up beside her, she heard the rush of water falling off him, but even though she strained, Olivia couldn’t see him. The darkness there was too complete.

“We’ll be safe here,” he said, and the words sounded like a promise.

She pushed back her sodden hair. Her teeth were starting to chatter. “Where is…here?”

“An old cave. There was an entrance to this cave on the island once, but it collapsed years ago.” His body brushed against hers, and she jumped because she hadn’t realized that he’d sat right next to her. “Now the only way in is through the water.”

Her breath heaved in and out in too fast pants.

“There are some cracks along the cave’s ceiling, and they let air in. Maybe even some light that will hit us later. We’ll be fine here.”

“Until?” There had to be an until.

“Until we can make a run for either the seaplane or the ferry.”