Once Bitten, Twice Burned (Phoenix Fire #2)(21)
Author: Cynthia Eden

He’d just thought that was a legend. He’d hoped it was truth, but had discovered no evidence to back up that particular power, until this moment.

“He’s controlling me,” Donaldson whispered. A tear streaked down his cheek. “Stop him!”

Oh, now that was the tricky part. “It’s the blood,” Richard said. With vampires, wasn’t it always? “He didn’t take control until he had your blood.” Otherwise, Ryder would have escaped sooner. He would have just taken control of the guards at any point and used them to do his bidding.

But though Ryder had killed a few guards when he’d first been contained at Genesis, the vampire hadn’t been allowed to get within biting distance of any Genesis personnel, not since those early, desperate weeks. And since he hadn’t been able to bite them . . . You couldn’t control them.

Until a fatal mistake had been made. Until Thomas and Donaldson had gotten within the vampire’s deadly reach.

During his time at Genesis, Richard knew that plenty of other vampires had tasted the guards. They’d had their blood—new guards often made foolish mistakes. They got too close to their prey. One nip of the teeth was enough to guarantee that they’d be better prepared in the future.

Those vampires had never been able to take over the minds of their prey.

Those vampires hadn’t been like Ryder.

What makes Ryder different? He had to find out. Ryder could very well be the vampire that he’d sought for so long.

The key.

The cure.

Richard’s fingers tightened on the gun. “You’re his puppet now. Whatever Ryder says, whatever he so much as thinks, you’ll be compelled to do.” Even turning against his own teammates. Hell, the guy would kill his own family if Ryder told him to do so. The proof was plain to see.

Donaldson had put a gun to his own chest.

Very, very interesting.

“Help me!” Donaldson begged. “If you find him, if you kill him, I’ll be free, right?”

Yes, he would be free then, but Richard shook his head. “I have no intention of killing Ryder.” What purpose would that serve?

The cure. He’d looked for a vampire like Ryder, searched since he was little more than a child.

Containment of Ryder would be priority one. They’d need more of his blood. Humans would have to be injected. More test subjects lined up and—

“Help me!” Ah, now Donaldson was shouting again.

It was hard to think when someone shouted like that.

Sighing, Richard lifted the gun. He fired. The bullet blasted into Donaldson’s chest, a direct hit to the heart. The man fell to the floor.

“Now you’re free,” Richard murmured. He stared dispassionately at the body. Donaldson had been dead from the minute Richard realized he was under Ryder’s control. Donaldson would have been a weakness for Genesis. Ryder would have manipulated the human. Used him to attack.

“Sorry, Donaldson.” Richard turned for the door. “But it’s for the good of science.”

CHAPTER SIX

Genesis was a maze. At least four levels, though Ryder was betting more levels waited downstairs, far below his own prison. So many cells. Far more than he’d realized.

Too many prisoners.

“There are others trapped here,” Sabine said as she walked closely by his side. Ryder kept his head down. They’d been lucky enough to walk right past two guards without those guys even giving them a second glance.

You just saw the lab coats and you didn’t bother to look at our faces.

Richard had hired those guys for their bulk. Not so much for their brains.

“We should get them out,” Sabine told him, voice soft.

“I’ll come back,” he told her. Not on a rescue mission. But a mission to make Richard Wyatt scream in agony.

She glanced toward him.

“We’ll turn the corner up here,” he told her, inclining his head slightly, “then we’ll go in the room on the left.”

“I thought we were going for the exit.”

Boots pounded behind them. More guards. Would these guys be as clueless as the others? Hopefully. If not, then he’d just kill them.

“We are heading for the exit,” he explained, keeping his voice low. “I can smell fresh air coming from that place.” His nose was even better than a wolf shifter’s. Actually, since he’d taken Sabine’s blood, all of his senses seemed to be working overtime.

“Walk faster,” she told him as she started to double-time her steps. Had she heard the guards, too?

They rounded the corner.

Ryder kept following that fresh air scent. He didn’t want to run. He wanted to turn and fight all those fools following him. To have a bloodbath just like in the old days.

But I can’t risk her.

So he clenched his teeth and shoved into the room on the left.

A small window waited. One covered with bars. An office. Barely ten feet long. It smelled of humans. There were half-eaten snacks scattered on a table. A breakroom?

A breaking-out room. He headed for the window. Yanked on the bars.

The footsteps were coming closer.

The bars snapped in his hands. “Come on!” He all but tossed her through the window.

But then another alarm began to blast. One that was coming from the exterior of Genesis. Got it rigged so no one gets out, huh? Too bad, we’re out. Ryder shoved his own body through the narrow window. Chunks of plaster and brick rained down on him as he broke not just the window, but the weak wall surrounding it. Unlike the walls in his cell, this room wasn’t reinforced. Probably because it wasn’t a place for prisoners.

Before he’d even cleared the window, Sabine grabbed his arm. The woman was actually trying to help drag him out of the building. Cute. He didn’t need any help. “Run!” he ordered.

She kept her hold on him. Didn’t run until he did. Unexpected. It looked like Sabine wasn’t the type to leave a partner behind. He’d remember that tidbit about her. Then they were rushing toward the line of trees before them. Guards raced into their path, ready to cut off their escape. The guards had big, shiny guns.

Big f**king deal. He had big, sharp teeth—and he was about to let his claws out. Claws that would make a shifter envious. Had, actually, on plenty of occasions in the past.

He grabbed Sabine’s arm and shoved her behind him.

“Stop!” one of the guards yelled. “Raise your arms and—”

Ryder didn’t stop. Bullets tore into his shoulder and stomach.

He kept running. Grabbed the nearest guard. Broke his arm. Took his gun. Shot back at the others who were foolish enough to still be trying to stop him.