by Joey W. Hill
Gideon’s lip curled. “The truth is always the best cover. He was a vet, honorably discharged, some PTSD and TBI history. Fell off the map with his family a couple of years back. I’m betting if we look, we’ll find out a family member or a friend got taken as some vampire’s annual kill and he figured it out. Or a hunter saw him living close enough to the edge to make him a good recruit. Gave him a new purpose. To silence the crazy voices inside.”
Wolf knew about those crazy voices and the need to find a purpose, anything, to quiet them. “Sometimes when you get back, all you want is to find something to fight. He found something.”
A shadow passed over Gideon’s gaze. “Yeah. But he and whoever he’s working with couldn’t figure out a way inside. Our security was too good for that, and they wouldn’t risk Perry being outed by raising suspicion.”
Gideon looked at Wolf. “How often did you go into that alley for a cigarette?”
“About every other time I’m here.”
“Yeah. I suspect what they decided is that they’d at least get one vampire and take out some of the building, with the primary intent being to send a message to the vampire owner. They want to drive her out before this becomes more of an enclave for vampires.”
His lips tightened. The flash through his midnight blue eyes revealed a churning inferno of cold rage, the helpless mix of fear and fury that came from knowing how close they’d come to an even worse scenario. “Anwyn feeds those cats, too,” Gideon said. “If they could have gotten you both out there, with the right timing…”
Daegan’s face was stone. “They did not. But we will address it.”
The cold tone told Wolf someone’s world was about to be burned down, and no one better stand in the way. He had to admit, he was right there with Daegan and Gideon on that.
He hadn’t wanted to be blown up, but if the alternative had been Anwyn, or Ella being hurt worse, he’d rather be smeared across the alley like peanut butter now. But since he wasn’t, he was all for being part of the plan to eradicate future threats.
“It takes a lot of effort and planning to take out just one vampire,” Gideon said thoughtfully. “Everything can go wrong and get fucked up pretty fast. Vampire reflexes and instincts are just that touchy. He couldn’t take the risk of wearing the explosives every night, just on the off chance that Anwyn and Wolf might be out there at the same time. Whereas Wolf was easier to predict. And there are so few vampires, relatively speaking, that taking out one at a time is still considering winning a major battle in the war.
“We learned…the vampire hunters learned,” he corrected himself, with only a slight tightening of his jaw, “from the attack on the Council Gathering. Too many hunters were lost that night. One by one is the better strategy.”
Daegan nodded, his expression now thoughtful. “Still, it does feel…”
“Like a piece is missing,” Gideon finished. “That’s what my gut says, too. These guys might not be done. There may be an even longer game in process. But we’ve got another immediate problem. Their M.O.”
Wolf’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
“When I was with them, there was one rule hunters followed above all others. Never where an innocent could be hurt. Innocent being defined as a human unaware of vampires. Servants of any mark level were guilty by association, because they knew. But now someone has decided they don’t give a shit.”
“Which means they might keep coming at Atlantis,” Wolf said slowly. “Or maybe Atlantis is just the first. They might target other businesses where they know a vampire is involved. Places where a vampire’s attention would be more distracted.”
There were plenty of made vampires out there who ran businesses, or worked in them. Fuck, Wolf knew a vampire who taught at the community college, night classes. Another who loved kids, despite the inability to have her own, and ran an evening daycare.
He shared that, and Gideon shook his head. “The community college is a risk, but I’m thinking the daycare is safe. As bad as this is…what I’m thinking…”
“Is that Atlantis was targeted because of what it is. They realized public opinion wouldn’t be as easily roused over a hit on this kind of business,” Daegan said.
“People aren’t going to worry about their own safety if the target appears to be some kind of sex club,” Gideon agreed. “Or they were just able to more easily rationalize hitting us, but either way, yeah. I don’t think it’s a coincidence they went after the place that had top notch security, instead of one of the more unguarded places you just mentioned. Fuck. There’s too much we don’t know. We’re guessing.”
Gideon turned away, rubbing his hand over his face, the back of his neck. “Damn it, Daegan.”
“I know,” the male said. “We need to locate the cell and eradicate them. Until we do, Atlantis needs to close, for the safety of the patrons and the staff.”
Now Wolf better understood the nature of Gideon’s frustration and anger, the way he and Daegan kept exchanging the significant looks. They were worried about Anwyn. Because they knew what Atlantis was to her.
And losing that could conceivably lose Anwyn everything. Because of her seizures.
Vampires did not trust easily. Made ones probably trusted each other more quickly than born ones, but even made ones took their time about it. So when Anwyn had asked for a sit down with Wolf in her office months ago, he’d been wary. Until he realized she’d decided to trust him with something almost no vampire would.
A few months ago…
“Wolf, I need to ask your help.”
“Anything,” he responded, and meant it. The time he’d spent at Atlantis had only increased his regard for her.
She gave him a tight-lipped smile.
“Beware of empty platitudes. They can get you in trouble.” She took a breath, tapped her fingers on the desk, as if giving herself a key few seconds to decide for certain this was a conversation she wanted to have. Or needed to have. “I wasn’t turned willingly, Wolf. It was a group of rogues, and my sire was a schizophrenic psychopath. Literally.”
Her expression remained steady, only the stiffness of her posture and mouth hinting at the cost of saying the words without inflection.
“Jesus.” It didn’t take much to imagine how that had gone. Sex and violence rode hand in hand for vampires. That helpless rage an honorable male felt, the desire to tear to pieces any of his gender who thought that was okay behavior, rose, but he tamped it back down. She didn’t need that right now. But he couldn’t keep some of it out of his voice. “Anwyn. I’m so sorry. Tell me they’re dead, in the most painful way possible.”
“They are dead.” She nodded, a precise, controlled movement. “Thank you. As a result, I have seizures. Gideon helps me manage them. The mental part, he can of course manage that from a distance. When he’s physically present, that helps me channel the physical response, mitigate it enough that he can help with it, get me down to our apartments below so I don’t hurt anyone.”
Her tone remained businesslike, brisk. As a fellow Dom, he knew how hard it was for any of them to admit weakness. For vampires, it was ten times as hard as that, so he kept his expression blank, attentive.
“Gideon will not say so, but I know he would very much like to join Daegan on his…business trips, on occasion, particularly the more challenging ones where he might need backup. To make that happen, I need to find someone else I can trust to help me keep my seizures under control, physically, when they happen in his absence. It would also be…reassuring, to have someone here who can match my strength, when Gideon is present and Daegan is not.”
He was flattered, but he was also protective. She was a fledgling. “It’s the height of foolishness to tell another vampire what you just told me.”
She didn’t flinch. “Any other vampire, yes. I don’t think I’ve misjudged you. Have I?”
A reminder; fledgling she might be, foolish never. She’d be happy to hand him his ass, at least verbally, if he tried to patronize her. Anot
her reason he liked her.
“No, you haven’t.” A slow smile slid over his face, but he also straightened. “I’m honored to have your trust.” He paused. “I assume that another reason you’re giving it to me is if I betray that trust, your, ah, silent partner…?”
“Will eviscerate you in ways that will make you long for the tender mercies of Hell.”
She also said that part without blinking, even-toned. She wasn’t given to hyperbole, so he took her at her word, though that wasn’t why he’d tested that ground.
“Good.”
She sent him a wry look. “Why am I always surrounded by overprotective males?”
“Because you are a female beyond compare, Lady Anwyn.”
Since then, when Daegan was gone, Wolf was at the club or in the basement quarters guest room during most of the evening hours. When Gideon and Daegan were both gone, Wolf stayed at the club 24/7.
Though Wolf didn’t dwell on the significance, he did now. She’d trusted him enough to let him see her at her most vulnerable. In the vampire world, there was only one interpretation for that. Gideon and Daegan, having this conversation with him in the room, only underscored it.
Someone trusted you that much when they thought of you as family.
He loved her. If the seizures got so bad she lost even more control over herself, it would not be good. But beyond that, the idea of this kicking the foundation out from under her…no. Just hell no.
“No. That’s not right.”
At his emphatic declaration, Gideon and Daegan brought their attention back to him. Wolf shifted, quelling the desire to wince at the screech of protest from his healing skin. “We don’t give into these guys. No closing the doors.”
“I don’t disagree with you, man,” Gideon said. “But we can’t endanger people here, either.”
“He has something in mind,” Daegan said, watching him with those still eyes.
Wolf set his jaw. “I do. And if they are running a longer game, it will help. We call in reinforcements they won’t expect.”
He went over it with them. After their initial surprise, and him addressing a myriad of legitimate concerns, they had a consensus. He asked Gideon to find him a phone he could use, since his own had been demolished. Though he still felt like shit, Wolf wanted to get this done. It felt good to do something other than feel blown up, his head a mess, his soul scrambled between the traumas of the past and present.
He made a couple of calls, set some things in motion. While he did, he kept that door cracked, listened to Ella breathe, hum. Live. He thought of her soft flesh and cool tile. When he finished this, he was going to her. But for now, he would sit inside the remarkable calmness of her mind, checking on her, even if he wouldn’t give in to letting her know he was there. Maybe he would do what Anwyn suggested, tell her the ability was some weird mind opening shit that had been induced by the blast, and wasn’t there anymore. Then he’d close the door, never to open it again.
Maybe.
Chapter Fourteen
Anwyn stood in the alley. Dawn was coming. The firemen had gone, the police as well. The full security team had been called in, and James was on his way back from New Orleans, because the story had made national news. No surprise there, with the salacious mix of a bombing and a sex club.
Even if it hadn’t made the news, James would have known quickly, because most BDSM clubs would have been alerted through the strong networking in their insular community. One of the places he’d intended to visit in New Orleans was Club Progeny, to check out their security setup. It was where he’d surprisingly met someone, special enough to extend his visit there from a vacation to a temporary work sabbatical he’d more than earned.
She knew when she finally checked her messages tonight, she’d have all sorts of communications from club owners across the country. While they’d sensibly want details, in case the threat was specifically targeted against BDSM clubs, they’d primarily be offering help. Their world was a very supportive one, especially in times of crisis.
She wanted to be strengthened by that thought, but the reality was setting in. With all the media exposure that was only going to build in the coming days, no member whose identity needed to remain private would be coming anywhere close to the club. Not until he or she was certain a reporter wouldn’t be at the front door, shoving a microphone in their face.
But that wasn’t the primary problem. She knew it, because of the ache in her lower belly, because of the way it goaded those gremlins in her head, threatening to send them into a full, screaming fit. She knew Gideon was staying close, tapped into her mind, ready for it if she had one of her violent seizures. Neither he nor Daegan had wanted her taking point with the police or firemen, adding to her stress. But it had helped distract her, focusing on their questions, deflecting without raising their suspicions.
Plus, she was the owner, damn it. This was her place. She’d built it. She’d made it happen, through unimaginable obstacles.
Then she’d been attacked, turned into a vampire. She’d thought she’d known what being helpless meant. She hadn’t. But thanks to Daegan, Gideon, and her own will, far stronger than she’d ever realized, she’d persevered.
But now there was this. Pretty strong evidence that vampire hunters knew where she was and that there was at least one vampire in her employ. Hell, they might even know about Daegan’s presence here, though she thought that less likely. Daegan had ways of blending and eluding detection, even from the heightened senses of other vampires.
She thought about Perry. She’d shared chuckles with him over the antics of her alley cats. He’d petted one of the friendlier ones, and she’d taken that as further proof he was okay, a good guy. Her heart had gone out to him, especially when he’d talked in faltering tones about losing his family, about being on the street, because he couldn’t handle being in a house for longer than a few minutes.
The bitch of it was, Gideon had found all of that was true. Which made his duplicity all the more shattering and unnerving. A good man, willing to sacrifice himself because he considered her and Wolf something to be exterminated.
She’d watched the video, seen the benign but wary expression of a homeless man fall away, replaced by a determined suicide bomber. They hadn’t turned the tape over to the police, saying that the camera in the alley had been out for the past week and they hadn’t yet repaired it. She doubted the detective had bought that, but he had little choice to do otherwise.
She’d also seen the flash of relief in Perry’s gaze a blink before the screen went dark, explaining why he’d chosen a method that guaranteed his own death as well. Unfortunately, Gideon thought that death wish had proved a useful tool. He didn’t think Perry was a lone wolf. Neither did Daegan. Whoever was behind this wasn’t done.
“Damn it.” She picked up a chunk of asphalt, slung it away from her. It flew the length of the alley and hit the charred dumpster with a hard clang. She would have scared the cats, if any of them were here. Which they weren’t. Would they come back? How could they? The alley was a mess, her shelters for them gone, demolished or scorched.
Cats being far more intuitive than humans, she hoped the majority of them had scattered when Perry rose from the trash. But she knew at least two or three hadn’t been as clever. They’d learned to trust humans too much. The humans here at Atlantis.
She swallowed, remembering a portion of a black and white body, a tail, before Gideon had put his arm around her, cupped her head. She was strong. Strong as hell, but she’d pressed her face into his broad shoulder, taking the comfort, because the sorrow and rage were more than she could bear.
It hadn’t been Barnaby, but one of the wild oats he’d sown before she got him fixed. His son, Tidwell.
“Barnaby’s a survivor,” Gideon had whispered to her. “He bugged out before the blast. I’m sure of it. He’ll be back.”
She wanted to believe that, but wouldn’t feel at ease about his wellbeing until she saw him again.
Once
the firemen had cleared the scene, she’d collected the parts of Tidwell and the other two cats into a box. Gideon had helped, and then given her a handkerchief to wipe away the tears that squeezed through her defenses. She’d take Tidwell and his brethren to a park she knew, and would bury them there, where there were birds and butterflies, whispering grasses and warm sunlight.
Goddamn it. She reached for her anger with both hands. It was preferable to the alternative. Why was life so goddamn uncertain? For animals, for people, for vampires. Yeah, it was important to live in the moment because one never knew how quickly life could change to shit, but knowing that didn’t make it any better.
The gremlins’ dull roar sharpened into individual voices. Her left arm twitched, made her body jerk. She couldn’t get too angry, and even when she did, she couldn’t try to block those gremlins. That made it worse. Resistance was a form of force, akin to violence, and they fed on anything like that.
She breathed deep, in, out, even as she wanted to rage and scream. Another form of helplessness, the inability to express her emotions the way she wished. But she knew how to control herself. That was a strength, a victory.
She turned her thoughts to other things. More positive ones. Ella and Wolf were alive. So were the three people injured in the accounting and security offices.
Anwyn recalled the section of the video tape when Wolf had grabbed Ella, surrounded her, run three steps before the blast had lifted them. If he’d been human, he’d have been knocked insensible instantly, his arms and legs flying open like a rag doll’s, releasing his precious cargo. On the slow-motion replay, she saw his eyes were open, his mouth creased on a scream of pain as the bomb ripped into his back. But he never let Ella go. He landed and rolled with her still protected by that tank bulk of his body. One arm around her back, the other over her head, as much of his body curved around her as possible. Most of Ella’s bruising had come from being landed on by the solid-muscled male who’d saved her life.
