Unchanged (Morta Fox Book 3) Read online

  UNCHANGED

  Morta Fox #3

  D.N. HOXA

  Copyright © 2016 by D.N. Hoxa

  This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or other unauthorized use of the material or artwork herein is prohibited.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

  Table of Contents

  I

  II

  III

  IV

  V

  VI

  VII

  VIII

  IX

  X

  XI

  XII

  XIII

  XIV

  XV

  XVI

  XVII

  XVIII

  XIX

  XX

  XXI

  XXII

  XXIII

  XXIV

  XXV

  XXVI

  XXVII

  XXVIII

  XXIX

  XXX

  XXXI

  XXXII

  BONUS READ

  Part I

  Part II

  Part III

  I

  Hammer

  I remembered everything.

  Five vampires dragged me away from her, three of whom I knew. One I’d nearly killed a couple of times, one I’d barely ever spoken to, and the third…boy, was I glad to be owed favors such as he owed me. Dublin was right. A vampire who is owed favors is the wealthiest of all.

  I watched Morta Fox as they pulled me back. The tear that slipped from her eye broke me to pieces. I missed everything about her—her heartbeat, her eyes, her lips that were no longer red. The vampires holding me had five guns pointed at my head. If I moved, they had plenty of time to shoot me and cut my head off before Morta could get to me. Even knowing that, I almost didn’t give a shit. Anything at all was worth running after her. Taking her in my arms.

  The strength with which she pulled at my chest as she watched me with tears in her eyes stunned me as it had the first time. So, no, I couldn’t move. I didn’t care about myself, but I wouldn’t risk her. Nobody was going to be able to stop her if they hurt me.

  Call me selfish, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

  A few more minutes and I could no longer see her. The barrels of the guns were pressed to my head while another vampire put a thick silver collar around my neck. He grinned, because he had leather gloves on. I wondered what he’d do when I freed myself.

  The energy that coursed through my veins together with the memory of Morta’s face gave me a sense of invincibility. I almost didn’t feel the way the silver burned me when they threw me in the backseat of a car.

  It would take days to get back to Brazil. A single minute alone with Cooper was all I was going to need. And if he refused to help me, the smell of the tire iron buried under the driver’s seat behind which I sat was unmistakable. For a reason I won’t ever understand, I smiled as I looked at the four vampires in the car with me. The fifth had disappeared.

  I had escaped hell to come back to Morta. It was going to take a lot more than an army of vampires to stop me from going back to her again.

  “Put the bag on his head,” the driver hissed at Cooper and another vampire who sat with me in the backseat.

  “Really unnecessary,” I said. The smile on my face put them off. They didn’t know what to make of it, so all they did was check my silver collar and its chain again, then moved on.

  They didn’t put the black bag on my head, but like I said, it wasn’t necessary. I already knew where we were going and the fastest way to get there by car.

  And I knew exactly where I was going to escape.

  The sun was barely half an hour from rising. I rested my head against the dirty window of the car and closed my eyes. Nothing could be done yet, but soon, my freedom would be mine again.

  As I thought of Morta’s face, the way her lips had tasted, the way she’d looked at me when we both thought I was someone else, Dublin came to mind, too. More specifically, something he said,.

  He told me to go to the Yukon to find his Doyen. A brilliant fucking idea if he ever had one.

  Victor was unlike anything anyone had ever seen. He was the first. The very first vampire. A father to us all—technically—but a major asshole, too. He left everything behind, because he claimed he was tired of the politics, and he never set foot in our part of the world again. That was one hundred and fifty years ago. He also very kindly told all of us that we weren’t to talk about him more than absolutely needed with one another.

  Being the first, he wielded a strange power over all of us. We didn’t feel like he was our Doyen—far from it. We just knew that he was someone who could tell us to drop dead, and we would. That’s stretching it, of course, but it was the kind of feeling he gave off.

  And Morta thought she was the freak among our kind.

  Once the decision was made, I no longer felt like smiling. The silver around my neck began to hurt a little more as if it wanted to change my mind. But I couldn’t.

  I had already seen too much. I knew too much about Mohg and everything he planned to do. That’s how I knew that he could not be stopped by anyone.

  Except Victor.

  It was going to be a long way to get to Canada, but not as exhausting as convincing him to come back with me would be. Probably. And that was if I didn’t end up dead the second he heard me approaching. That’s how the rest of the vampires who didn’t know and went inside his territory ended up.

  The stakes were high but the reward higher. If Victor agreed to help against Mohg, everything would be over before it even had a chance to begin. But I wouldn’t get to see Morta for another couple of weeks, and maybe that’s why everything hurt so much more, so suddenly.

  But if the humans—and the rest of us—were going to survive these dark times, Victor had to be first on my list for now.

  The sun was mere seconds away before the vampires stopped the car, then dragged me out and put me inside somewhere. I didn’t care to open my eyes, because it didn’t matter where I was. What mattered was that I had my memories back. And I was going to use them the best way I knew how to make sure Mohg couldn’t destroy what was left of the world.

  II

  To my surprise, the car I was in was the only one on the road the next night. The other twelve stayed in New York. Why? Why wouldn’t they go back to Brazil?

  Not that I was complaining—it was easier for me to escape that way, but I was desperate to know Mohg’s plan of action. I needed to know how much time I had to get to Victor.

  The sooner I could escape the better, but I couldn’t let them get me past the Mexican border. That would be too late. Who knew how long it would take me to get to the Yukon from there?

  “We need to feed,” the driver said. At the sound of the words, my teeth began to turn sharp. I’d lost a lot of blood from where the silver touched me and didn’t let me heal.

  “It’s an hour ‘til sunrise, Sid.” Cooper got more and more tense the farther from New York we drove.

  “I don’t care,” Sid muttered.

  “You know what will happen if we’re late,” Cooper’s friend said as he threw me a dirty look as if I were to blame for what they were doing.

  “I. Need. Blood,” Sid hissed. It was obvious he was in charge, because none of the three others said anything else.

  They stopped the car in the middle of nowhere. Sid and the guy in the passenger seat went first, while I was stuck with Cooper and
his friend. My chance had come much faster than I expected. If I played it right, I could be gone before sunrise.

  I sat up straighter, ignoring the silver that burned my already churned flesh. “What’s your name?” I asked the vampire. He looked away from me immediately. “Come on! I’m not asking for your real one. I know Cooper’s here, and it’s not like it gives me any advantages.” That they knew of.

  Cooper’s eyes grew wide as he instinctively leaned away from me.

  “I thought they said…”

  I grinned. “That I didn’t have any memories? I didn’t, but they came back just last night. Lucky me, right?”

  He became paler than he was if that was even possible.

  “Doesn’t matter. Shut up,” Cooper said, but he would no longer meet my eyes. His brows remained raised as he swallowed the panic and tried to convince himself that it was okay. That even though he’d been counting on me not remembering him or the favor he owed me, it was fine.

  “I just want to know your friend’s name,” I said. “It can’t be that bad, can it?”

  “It’s Draco, alright? Draco. Can you shut up now?” I almost laughed.

  “See? That wasn’t so bad, was it? And no, I can’t shut up. Draco.”

  “Tighten that damn thing around him, will you?” Draco said to Cooper.

  “You’re the one with the gloves,” Cooper replied just as angrily.

  “Yeah, Draco. You should be the one to put me in my place. Don’t bother Cooper about it.”

  The look on his face was murderous. He reached for the inside pocket of his jacket and threw a pair of leather gloves on Cooper’s lap.

  “Shut up!” he shouted at me.

  “I’d rather you tightened my dog collar, Draco. I like you much better than Cooper. That a sin?” Oh, if looks could kill…

  Hissing like a freaking snake with razor sharp teeth, Draco opened the door and got out.

  “Hey, get back here!” Cooper called, panicked. He opened the door, but his friend Draco was too far away.

  “You’re not going to leave me here all alone, are you? Sid wouldn’t be happy,” I said before he could get out of the car, too.

  “Draco!” he called again, but there was no answer.

  “You don’t have to be so nervous to be alone with me, Cooper. I’m not going to bite you,” I whispered. “I’m just going to ask you to return the favor I once did you.”

  When he turned to face me, his eyes were silver, his teeth sharp. “I’m not doing anything for you!”

  “You know that’s not the way this works,” I said. “You can’t go back on your word now, can you? Otherwise, the first thing I tell Mohg is going to be what you did. What I helped you cover.”

  Cooper was young—barely fifty years old when I met him about ten years ago. I was on a hunt for a rogue by Mohg’s order. He’d been in a killing spree for weeks, tearing apart any human he found outside the walls for his pleasure. Mohg couldn’t have that. Other vampires wouldn’t have anybody else left to feed on if he kept up.

  When I found the rogue, Cooper was with him. He even tried to fight me and escape, but he changed his mind when I chained his friend to a building in three minutes.

  He begged me to let him go. He said that he would never kill another human being again, that if I just didn’t mention seeing him to Mohg or anyone else, he would be gone. Far away. And he wouldn’t cause any more trouble.

  I believed him. He was young, his Doyen long dead. For some reason, I had the feeling he deserved a second chance. Maybe the reason was this.

  “It wasn’t my fault,” Cooper said. “Jackal made me do it.”

  “Nobody made you do anything, Coop. You killed those humans all by yourself. We both know that, but did I ever tell anyone about it?”

  Cooper’s eyes turned to brown and his teeth to square the next second. He looked as lost as when I’d found him ten years ago with the rogue. Like a little boy.

  “I won’t have any other choice, Cooper. You know how Mohg feels about these things.” The truth was, Mohg wouldn’t give a single fuck about what Cooper did ten years ago, but Cooper didn’t know that. His fear was too large, and I just had to feed it even more. “You’ll be dead and nobody’s going to be able to stop him.”

  “What if I just kill you right now?” he hissed and I laughed.

  “Then he’ll kill you for killing me,” I said. “Admit it. You and I are both better off if I disappear.”

  “They’ll kill me,” he said, his voice filled with desperation now. And we could hear Sid and the other approaching.

  “No, they won’t. How much is he paying you for getting me to him?” That had to be it. Why else would they have tried so hard to get me?

  “A human each,” Cooper said. “Two for Morta Fox.”

  “Oh, he’s paying you in humans now.” Why the hell wasn’t I surprised?

  “I mean it, Hammer. They would kill me.” He sounded terrified.

  “All I need is the key to my collar,” I whispered.

  “Sid has it.”

  “Then you’ll get it for me.”

  “How?”

  “I’ll create a distraction. Remember, I’m going to tell Mohg everything if you don’t get me that key. That’s a promise.”

  The last word was like a slap to his face, as promised. There was no doubt in Cooper’s mind that he wouldn’t be able to survive my telling his secret. Everyone knew Mohg. No amount of begging and pleading would ever change his mind.

  I wished I had a few more minutes alone with Cooper, but Sid and his friends got inside the car before I could whisper another word.

  “Where’s Draco?” Sid said.

  “He left,” Cooper said, his voice half of what it normally was.

  “What’s gotten into you?” Sid said.

  “It’s that asshole,” Cooper said. “He threw me the gloves and just got out.”

  Not bad, actually. Pretty believable. Way to go, Coop.

  “He’ll find us. We need shelter,” the other vampire said.

  “What about us? We need to feed, too,” Cooper said.

  “Lenny’s right. We need shelter. No time for feeding,” Sid said.

  “But—”

  “You’ll feed first thing tomorrow, okay? And Draco better find us as soon as we wake up.”

  He started the car and drove ahead at full speed. I only had a few minutes left to form some kind of a plan in my head. I needed to create the perfect distraction for Cooper. It was the only chance I would get.

  III

  The third night. My strength was all but gone, and I felt every ounce of pain the silver caused me. Impossible to ignore. If I didn’t take it off soon…

  Focusing on the distraction was all I could do. We were in a basement somewhere, and Sid and Lenny grabbed me by my arms to drag me out. Cooper had already gone to feed thirty minutes ago. If my calculations were correct based on how long it had taken Sid and Lenny to get back the night before, he should get back some time in the next ten minutes.

  The car was on the opposite side of the road when we went out. I strained my ears but heard nothing. My hands were tied behind me, and though it was just iron, I had no strength to break the cuffs. The silver had drained me almost completely.

  But when Lenny opened the back door and pushed me to it, I had no choice. Gathering any bit of strength still left in me, I turned, and with my head on his gut, I pushed him back a few steps. I succeeded only because he wasn’t expecting it.

  Sid grabbed me from behind, and I pushed my head back. I caught him in his nose twice, and broke the bridge of it. It crack loudly right before he pulled at the iron chain attached to my collar.

  The pain was unbelievable but I pushed back, again and again, hoping all the while that my head wouldn’t fall off. At some point, Sid fell back with me right on top of him, and he shouted so loudly next to my ears, they both whistled. The collar around my neck had touched his chin when I’d fallen on him.

  He cursed as loudly as
he could, and the next second, Cooper and Lenny were in front of me, dragging me away from Sid by my ankles.

  I widened my eyes at Cooper. What the hell are you waiting for? The distraction was for him!

  He let go of my leg and went over to Sid. Without asking, Cooper grabbed Sid from under his arms and pulled him up.

  “Goddamn sonovabitch! Fucking asshole!” Sid grabbed me by my shirt and pulled me to my feet before he hit me across my face three times.

  I wanted to smile but I couldn’t. Dread filled me when I realized that I might not even make it to free myself from the collar. I felt so, so weak.

  “Get him in, and let’s get the hell out of here,” Sid shouted, not caring whether he was being heard. “And where the hell is Draco?!”

  Even when Lenny took off my cuffs, I couldn’t move my arms too much and I didn’t want to. I had to save my strength for later. Draco showed up not thirty minutes later as we drove. Sid didn’t even bother to stop the car—he just slowed it down until Draco got in.

  “You fucking asshole. Don’t you ever pull shit like that ever again, you hear me? I’ll cut your head off myself!” Sid hissed.

  “What the hell happened?” The vampire looked confused.

  “Disappear like that again, and I’ll show you what’ll happen.”

  Cooper and Lenny kept their mouths shut.

  “I was feeding—”

  “I don’t give a shit,” Sid said, and that was the end of that discussion.

  In the next few hours as we drove, the view in front of me took on the quality of a dream. When something cold and small touched my hands, I nearly jumped back—or would have if I’d had the strength. Good thing I didn’t, because Cooper had just put the key to my collar in my hand.

  The question was, would I be able to stay awake after they all dropped unconscious?

  ***

  I was losing it. So hard to focus. They threw me in a corner, somewhere inside, while they sat on the two couches right in front of me. They’d barely said a single word to each other until the time had come to stop. Lenny had noticed me then and told Sid that they had to give me blood if I was going to make it. Because Mohg wanted me alive, and they had better drop off the face of the earth if they managed to kill me before him.