Phoenix Dead (New Adult Dark Romance) (The Vampire Years) Read Online Free Page A

motioned for me to move into the driver's seat.
    “No.” I crawled over the center console and held my left arm out to him. “He had me by the arm and I was trying to hit the horn.”
    “Techs went over it, said it was disabled.” He took my arm, held me loosely by the wrist. “What was your mom doing?”
    I pulled my hand back and he let it go. He repeated his question.
    “Helping him,” I answered after a few more seconds. I took a deep breath and repeated myself. “She was helping him. When I screamed after realizing the horn didn't work, she covered my mouth.”
    Danny bent down so that he was level with me and covered my hand with his. “I thought so. Your mom didn't have any defensive marks on her.”
    “She thought he was going to take care of her. She told me I was going to ruin it if I kept fighting.”
    “Shit, Lee.” Danny abruptly leaned forward and wrapped his arms around me. His hand cradled my head and I felt the press of his jaw against my temple. He held me like that for maybe a full minute, his grip growing tighter until he pulled abruptly away.
    I looked at his face; he looked away, his cheeks flushing. I guessed he didn't hug most of the victims he worked with.
    “Army finally got me out of the cab when he hit my leg.” I gestured at my left knee. At the time, it had seemed a crushing blow, may well have been, but, like the cuts, it had healed faster than humanly possible.
    “Then he slammed me onto the floor.” I laid down, facing the garage door. “Someone else had come into the garage then, said he thought Army wasn't going to be able to handle me on his own. He called Army 'brother.'”
    “His only real brother is in prison in California,” Danny said, helping me off the ground. “Probably a gang brother, but he's not listed as running with a particular gang.”
    When I didn't say anything, he prompted me with a question. “Would Elliot know?”
    I shrugged. Elliot ran with a lot of different bikers, guys that would kill one another if they were in the same room at the same time. How my uncle managed to pass among them was some kind of miracle. “Elliot isn't in a gang,” I answered. “He just…”
    “Buys his drugs from them?”
    I didn't say anything, didn't look at him.
    “Lee, I know about Elliot--”
    I walked past him, the tight space causing me to brush against him. “I passed out, woke up in one of the rooms.”
    Before we could enter into the house, I turned back to him. “How'd they get out?”
    “House behind this is in foreclosure, too. They'd dug a tunnel to the other yard without anyone knowing.”
    Walking into the kitchen, I tried not to think about how many houses in the area were in foreclosure or how many yards Army's friends might have their tunnels running through.
     

Chapter Six
     
    Army and his gang had torn down the wall that divided the kitchen from the living room. The walls were spray painted black. The table they had placed me on was still there, a four by six foot slab of particle board on top of four fifty gallon drums.
    I climbed up onto it.
    “Lee, are you sure?”
    “Yeah.” There were still candles on the floor and I motioned to one. He lit it, brought it to me. “Turn off the lights.”
    He turned them off and then came back to stand beside me.
    “They were chanting when I woke up. The second voice in the garage…” I gestured up by my head. “He was talking from up here. I couldn't see him.”
    I ran my hand down the front of my sweater. “He told Army to strip me. Then they started biting me.”
    “Were your eyes open?”
    “Just a little while, then I tried to go someplace else in my head.”
    “Did you see any of their faces when…when they were biting you?” His voice was rough, laced with suppressed rage.
    I shook my head.
    “Lee, there were candles, your eyes were open. Try to remember.” He was rubbing my arm as if he could massage the memory out of me.
    I closed my eyes, saw their faces, saw the occasional