Burn For Me (Phoenix Fire 1)

He’s like me.

“See what she did?” Ryder demanded. “Do you see what her blood did to me? Didn’t realize it . . . not until I had to escape your fire at Genesis. It didn’t burn me. The fire doesn’t . . . not any more. . . .”

Cain yanked his hand away from the vamp and punched Ryder. The vampire hurtled over the side of the staircase and crashed to the floor. Cain jumped over the banister and landed in a crouch beside him. Ryder wasn’t rising. He’d fallen on the wooden table and a huge chunk of wood burst from his chest.

Fire might not kill him, but a good, old-fashioned stake to the heart would.

Eve rushed down the rest of the stairs and hurried to Cain’s side. Only . . . Cain wasn’t finishing the vamp. Cain just stared at Ryder with his hands clenched.

“I crave her,” Ryder said as blood dripped from his mouth. “Every damn moment . . . I need her.” His eyes locked on Eve. “Tell me where she is!”

Eve grabbed a piece of broken wood. She just had to take out the bastard’s heart. She could do this. Cain had been right. They never should have rescued Ryder from Genesis. Some monsters couldn’t be saved. She needed to stop trying.

Eve pushed forward with her weapon ready, but . . . Cain stopped her. He grabbed her and yanked the stake from her hands.

“No.” Cain’s voice. Firm. Flat.

What? She could still feel Ryder’s claws at her throat. Her blood had spilled onto her shirt. He’d cut her. Would have killed her.

The kids always taste so good. The voice from her past whispered through her mind. Eve wanted to slap her hands over her ears, but she knew that wouldn’t do any good. The voice was on the inside. It would be with her forever.

Ryder was rising and yanking the wood from his chest. Blood had pooled beneath him.

Mommy! Another echo from the past. the echo of her own scream.

Ryder reached for her, but Cain stepped between them. His hand wrapped around the vampire’s throat and lifted Ryder into the air. “Control yourself. . . or I’ll kill you right now.”

Ryder’s fangs flashed.

Cain tightened his hold. “I’ll snap your neck, and while your body tries to recover from that injury, I’ll shove a stake in your heart.”

Ryder wasn’t fighting. His breath came out ragged, panting.

“I know crazy,” Cain said, voice a snarl. “Trust me, I f**king know it.”

Eve picked up the shattered piece of wood. A foot long. Jagged on both ends. It would be a perfect stake.

“Get that crazy under control,” Cain ordered, “and tell me what the hell you’re talking about, vampire.”

Eve shook her head. This was a mistake. “He led them to us again.” Didn’t Cain realize that? “He’s sold us out, just like he did before.”

Cain stared at Ryder. “You’re talking about a woman, aren’t you? The thing that Wyatt took. The thing you want so badly . . . it’s her.”

Her who?

Ryder nodded. Cain dropped him to the floor. The vampire scrambled back and then rose slowly to his feet.

Eve kept her fingers curled around the wood. If he came at her, she’d stake him. She’d already tried to play the Girl Scout with him and that bit hadn’t worked.

The guy probably ate Girl Scouts for breakfast.

“She’s . . . like you,” Ryder said as he stared at Cain. “She burns, then comes back.”

Eve’s gaze darted between them.

“Just like you did in that bar,” Ryder added. “I saw you.”

“How do you know she’s like me? How can you be sure?” Cain demanded. His voice had lowered, hardened.

Ryder hung his head as if in shame. “Because I killed her, and she came back.”

A muscle jerked in Cain’s jaw. The air around his body seemed to heat up.

“Wyatt starved me,” Ryder said. His eyes were on Cain, but Eve could see the emotion flooding his gaze. Pain. Rage. “I wasn’t there for just a few months—it was a whole f**king year. A year kept in his cage. Trapped. I was so hungry, and then he brought her to me.”

Wyatt had told Eve about the starving vampire. He’d threatened to feed her to him. Goose bumps rose on her arms and pity stirred in her heart for the woman she didn’t even know.

“Her blood—it was different. Tasted different from anything I’d ever had before. I didn’t know what I was doing. I couldn’t stop. I tried and I tried, but I couldn’t. . . .” Ryder’s eyes squeezed shut, but there was no missing the torment on his face. “Then she was still, and I couldn’t get her to open her eyes.”

“You drained her,” Cain said. His legs were braced apart. His hands loose at his sides.

Eve couldn’t tell if he was about to attack the vampire—or give the guy a free pass out of the cabin.

No free pass. Eve still had her weapon ready.

Ryder’s eyes opened. Darted to her, then back to Cain. “I called for the guards. Begged them to help, but they wouldn’t touch her.”

Eve bet that had been on Wyatt’s orders. The doctor had been waiting, probably eager to see what would happen next.

“Then she burned.” The quiet words came from Cain.

Ryder nodded stiffly. “I was fighting the guards, trying to get back to her. I thought . . . I thought I could try to turn her.”

Turn her. Eve felt nausea rise in her throat. No matter what else happened to her in this life, she never wanted to become a vampire. Not that most people survived the brutal turning, anyway. If they did, the vamps would have taken over the world long ago.

Ryder jerked a hand through his hair. “Then I smelled the smoke. The fire was everywhere. Wyatt was in the hallway, watching her, smiling. Smiling when she burned, and—”

“When she came back,” Eve said, cutting into his words. She’d seen the same thing with Cain. Wyatt, standing back in his pristine lab coat. Studying the death scene with a steady gaze, then smiling when the fire brought his subject back to life.

“I have to get her out of there.” Ryder’s gaze was on Eve again. Pleading. Demanding. “You saw her, I know you did. When Wyatt took you, you saw her.”

Eve shook her head. “There were only guards. I didn’t see anyone else.”

Ryder lurched back. “You’re lying.” Anger flashed in his eyes and his claws rose up. “Tell me where she is!”

Eve’s hold tightened on the chunk of wood. Why did she have to get stuck with the crazies?