Once Bitten, Twice Burned (Phoenix Fire 2)

“It takes more than a stake to kill you and me. Let me show you.” Then Malcolm shoved forward with that stake.

Only . . .

Ryder’s hand flew up. He stopped the wood before it could do more than—fuck me—press against his heart. The pain pulsed through him, burning and white-hot.

Malcolm’s eyes widened in surprise. He tried to push down with the wood. “You’re . . . stronger.”

“I was always stronger.”

He heard a gasp behind him. Sabine. Coming back to him. Healing. Bones cracked.

Ryder yanked the stake from his chest. Malcolm jumped back and gazed at him with furious, desperate eyes.

“None of this was my choice!” Malcolm bellowed. “You should have let me die with the rest of our family. It wasn’t your call to make! You should have let me die then!”

Ryder nodded. “Yes, I should have.” Malcolm’s words were so familiar to him. His head cocked even as the blood continued to pour from his chest. “Julia,” he murmured, understanding so much more now.

Malcolm smiled.

“You’re the one,” Ryder said with a slow nod. “You wanted them to take me out.”

“I wanted you to wind up in hell, with me,” Malcolm snarled back. “Those Genesis bastards found me. They took my blood and kept me prisoner in their cells for years.”

Ryder stared at him. When he looked hard enough, he could almost see the brother that Malcolm had once been, back when they were both still human.

I never gave a shit about right. Not after my change, and, sorry to ruin this for you, brother, but not before, either.

But maybe he’d never even known him then.

“I told them about you,” Malcolm confessed. “Told them that if they wanted real power”—his lips twisted—“then they wanted you.”

And Genesis had begun hunting him.

Vaughn was yelling behind them and still thrashing against his bars.

“Ryder?” Sabine whispered.

He eased out a slow breath. “Richard Wyatt kept us both at the same—”

“You’re not listening!” Malcolm yelled at him. His brother’s face flushed. “I said . . . years. Richard was just a whelp when they brought me in to Genesis. It wasn’t him. It was the old guy who found me. His father. That’s the ass**le who dug me up. I thought he was going to help me. Stop the pain. He just made it worse.”

Ryder saw that his brother’s hands were shaking.

Malcolm lifted his hands and pressed them against his temples. “Everything makes it worse.”

A soft hand curled around Ryder’s wrist. Ryder didn’t look at Sabine. He couldn’t. Malcolm had already tried to use her against him once. “Go to the other room, Sabine.”

Malcolm’s hands dropped. “So she doesn’t see you clean up this mess? So she doesn’t see you kill the primal? Kill the human?” He pointed toward a frozen Keith. “And drain the doc?” He tossed a glare toward Cassie.

Cassie was crying. Tears trickled down her cheeks, but she didn’t make a sound.

“And after you dispatch all of them, you’ll have to kill me. But a stake didn’t work before. A beheading didn’t. What else can you try?” Malcolm seemed mildly curious.

Fire. “I think I have a few options,” Ryder said as he rolled his shoulders. There would be no room for emotion here. No sympathy could stir in his heart.

Do you know what the worms and insects did?

“Go, Sabine,” he urged and pushed her away. Pushed her away, when he wanted to pull her close. To make certain that she was whole and healed.

Her steps were hesitant.

But just as she reached the door, Malcolm spoke again. “Do you think Keith is the only human I . . . sampled?”

Hell.

“Sabine.”

She stopped at the door.

“What did you do?” Cassie whispered, her voice hoarse. “Why?”

Malcolm shrugged. “It’s good to hedge your bets. And I have always enjoyed being in control of my own little army.” His arms lifted and spread around him. “I’ve been building my army for quite a while. After all, I was in Genesis for over twenty-five years.”

Fuck.

“But . . . you were a primal,” Cassie said, swiping at the tears on her face. She came closer to them, with slow, hesitant steps. “You weren’t in control. You only knew the hunger.”

Malcolm turned his stare on her. “A mindless beast.”

She flinched.

“Isn’t that what I was supposed to be?” Malcolm growled at her.

“It’s what the others were . . .”

“The others were made from my blood. Humans, who thought that they could become bigger, better warriors with some vampire blood and DNA thrown into the mix. I made them. Me. They just couldn’t handle my power.”

“B-but . . . I found you . . . in that cage . . . you looked just like the others.”

Ryder knew she had to be talking about the black claws. The mouthful of razor-sharp teeth.

“You mean . . . I looked like this?” Malcolm’s head bowed. His body convulsed. Shuddered.

“The tears . . . They healed you!” Cassie cried out.

Malcolm’s head lifted. His eyes were pitch-black. His teeth—hello, mouthful of f**king fangs. When Malcolm raised his hands, Ryder wasn’t surprised to see the flash of black claws.

“I can change anytime I want.” Malcolm jumped forward, moving lightning-fast. His claws wrapped around Cassie’s neck and he hauled her against him. “I told you, I made them. My blood. Genesis wanted to play with genetics and mutations, but before they even started experimenting on humans, they first played with me.”

And his brother had become even more of a monster.

“Old Man Wyatt tried to punch up the vampire evolution.” Malcolm’s hold tightened on Cassie. “The scientists understood what I could be. How strong. How deadly. But I could change back, any f**king time I wanted.”

From the corner of his eye, Ryder saw Sabine crouch and pick up a chunk of wood.

Vaughn was still screaming. Snarling.

“After they experimented on the humans, they realized—too late—that they couldn’t change back.” He bent his head and licked Cassie’s neck. She held herself statue-still within his arms, eyes stricken and terrified. “They couldn’t do anything because they weren’t strong enough. They weren’t like me.”

Or me. Ryder realized as he stared at Malcolm. No wonder Richard Wyatt had been so desperate for his blood. Malcolm’s blood had sent the test subjects straight to hell. Richard must have thought that an infusion of blood from the first vampire—untainted blood—could help them.