by Joey W. Hill
"Concept's good," Cai said with forced casualness. "We just have to accomplish it another way. The bear carries her scent, and they'd wonder why we have it."
Cai moved to the doorway and stood before Rand. The male looked put together, but what was beneath the surface was untamed, raw. Their eyes met and held. Even with all the stuff unresolved between them, Cai couldn't help taking the wolf shifter in through all his senses. And feeling guilty for how much he meant the next words. "Glad you came back."
When the male said nothing, Cai plucked the bear out of his hold and lifted it. "Fortunately, you can convert to a fuzzy cuddle toy if she needs it."
Rand's gaze sparked. Yeah, now wasn't really the time for Cai to be a wiseass, but that always seemed to be the time he found it impossible not to do it.
Rand had talked about being able to shift his brain to mostly human while in wolf form. Apparently, he could also do the reverse. Cai realized the shifter was keeping his mind in a passive state by letting the animal side hold onto as much of it as possible. Intriguing.
"You still coming with me?"
"I wouldn't have returned if the answer to that was no."
"Not true. Because you're not like me. You like closure and being polite and noble. I like things rude, messy and left dangling like a dick in the wind."
Brian cleared his throat, drawing the two men's attention back to him. "The gum works for neutralizing the tracer on a vampire or a human servant. But I don't have enough information about shifters to say for certain it will work on him."
"Nobody's putting their mouth on him but me unless they want to experience a full fang extraction." Cai lifted his lip to display both of his.
Brian's gaze sharpened and he came closer, peering at Cai's mouth in an alarmingly intent way, as if he might stick his hands in there. "Why do you have an artificial fang? The original should have regenerated."
Cai drew back, bumping into Rand, an involuntary white coat reaction to the scientist's unexpected eagerness to touch, probe. Reminding himself he was a grown-up who could set this guy on his ass, Cai planted his feet.
"Fire and blood. It was cauterized with my blood. Not going into the whys. None of your damn business." He'd told Lyssa, but that was different. He was getting antsy. He wanted to be alone with Rand, resolve some of this shit. Get on his way. Get out of here.
Fortunately for the scientist's long, elegant fingers, Brian didn't attempt a dental exam, but his attention remained on Cai's mouth. "If you'll let me take some quick dimensions before you go, I can have a replacement one made that fits better, without the wiring, and has retraction ability. We had to do something similar for another vampire, one caught in a house fire."
Brian's turned back to Rand. The gleam in the young vampire's gaze reminded Cai of Jacob's veiled warning about a full interrogation. "I recognize your quest is urgent," the scientist said, "but I'd also like to request a blood and hair sample from your servant for study, and about fifteen minutes to ask him some questions."
"You can ask all day long," Rand said. "But I'm standing right here and saying no."
Brian's expression cooled. "You're his servant."
"We're blood bound due to circumstances and to up our chances of survival," Cai said. "That's all."
"Oh." Brian sent Cai an odd look. "You truly aren't very well versed in our ways."
"The first hundred years of my life I was with Trads, and the rest has been as far away from vampires as I can put myself. So yeah, that's accurate." Cai's brow furrowed. "What, because he's my servant he has to do everything I say?"
Lyssa had pretty much said the same, but hearing it reinforced under practical circumstances made it more unsettling.
"Yes," Brian said simply. "In the eyes of our society, he's your property. You've third marked him. We've only recently been able to unmark servants from vampires who feel the relationship was not what they intended it to be, but permission for that is being granted on a case-by-case basis. Some vampires...are not patient."
"They kill their servant, because that's allowed," Cai guessed.
"Yes." The male vampire looked uncomfortable. "Not advised, and not officially sanctioned by Council."
"But not punished, either."
Brian said nothing. Cai noted Debra's expression had become flat as a still pond. He wondered if that was how she covered disapproval, or if she simply didn't have an opinion on it.
Rand's mind was a still pond, giving away nothing. Though the look in his eyes, trained on the younger vampire, suggested more of the wolf than the man. Despite Debra's reaction to her Master's words, she'd noticed it too. Cai saw her studying Rand as intently as Brian had been studying Cai's mouth.
Cai shifted partly into the field of view between the shifter and the scientists, commanding the attention of the latter. "We're different," Cai said. "I'm not a Trad, but that doesn't make me part of your world, either. We'll do this job, and then I'll cut Rand loose."
He'd invited him to go to Syria, but since Rand didn't say anything to contradict him, Cai guessed being future travel buddies was off the table.
"That's not permitted," Brian said. "Simply cutting him loose."
"He's not a human. He's no threat to exposing our world. All due respect, how are they going to stop me?"
"They could track him down and kill him," Brian said in a neutral tone. "He would be safer if you could discuss it with Lady Lyssa, when the time comes. If it comes."
Cai bristled at having to discuss any decision with anyone other than his own damn self, but if it would keep Rand safer, he might be okay with another chat with the queen. And maybe getting that new fang wouldn't be bad. Least they could do if he brought them back their vampire girl.
While he allowed the scientist to take some fang replacement measurements, Cai took his mind off the guy having his hands in his mouth by watching Rand. The shifter moved out of the doorway and took a seat in a cushiony chair. He stretched out his legs and crossed them at the ankles, a deceptively easy pose. The watchfulness behind his gaze remained the wolf, scrutinizing everything with those glittering eyes.
Tell me you're okay, Rand. You know I didn't know any of this shit. We won't let them dictate to us. I won't let them. Okay?
Rand met his eyes. Cai saw a slight softening of his mouth and he inclined his head, a bare nod. Not exactly a vote of resounding trust and confidence, but at least it was direct communication.
Brian was finished and typing in some notes on his computer to wind things up. Cai pivoted as he sensed another human coming down the hallway. The place was crawling with house servants, so he should have ignored it, but there was something familiar about this one.
A blink later, the hairs on the back of his neck prickled, and something with jagged edges gouged his gut from the inside. When the male stepped into view, entering from the second door to the study, Cai already knew who it was.
This was no human servant. There could be no reason this male was here, except to deceive and kill vampires.
Cai was in motion before his brain had to order it. The human was as good as dead.
Instead, the male managed to twist and duck at the last second, despite Cai's speed. It was as if he anticipated the movements of a vampire and was ready to counter them, even if he had no chance of repelling them in close quarters.
No more than what Cai would expect from a fucking vampire hunter, a human who made his kills through cowardly deception, not hand-to-hand combat. He was going to learn what it was like to be torn limb from fucking limb.
Cai caught him, seizing him by the throat and shirt front. The thundering in his ears was like the white noise after an explosion, muting sound and leaving only a faint ringing, like a toneless bell. It deafened him to everything but the need to do what he was trying his best to do. Kill this human, make this moment his very last.
Cai swung the male into the wall like a sack of bricks, savagely pleased with the thud, the grunt of pain. He absorbed the hit to the face, the kic
k, noting the strength was considerable. Guy was built solid, all six feet of muscle. But it wasn't enough to deter Cai or make him let go. He rammed his fist below the rib cage. Fueled by fury and vampire strength, it punched through flesh, and his lips peeled back in a victorious grimace. Cai was going to rip his fucking heart out. So easy and so quick. Guy wasn't so tough now, when he didn't have the element of surprise.
He saw the flash in the hunter's midnight blue eyes. He knew he was fucked. No fear, but a great deal of pissed-off. Didn't matter to Cai. Dead was dead, however you got there, but some fear would have been gratifying.
Lord Brian grabbed his arm, trying to pull him off the human. Not going to work, since Cai had over a hundred years of strength and speed on him. Rand joined the fray with a snarl that told Cai he'd shifted. Damn it. Brian cursed as the big wolf latched onto his arm.
Brian fell back, taking Rand with him. Cai had a brief impression of Debra's wide and startled gaze. Brian shouted an order at her to stay clear of the scuffle, but she was already looking for a weapon to drive Rand back, get him to release her Master.
Cai knew the wolf was acting in his defense, rather than with an intent to maim or kill. No way in hell he was releasing his death grip on the hunter, but he didn't want Rand hurt.
Before he could spare a thought through his killing rage to get Rand to ease off, another barked order penetrated that white noise, powerful enough to vibrate a house on its foundations.
"Stand clear."
Smart fucking idea. He didn't know who had the thunder god voice, but it would defuse Rand, and Cai didn't want Brian hurt, either. But nothing was going to stop him...
White hot pain shot through his core, like something had detonated in his gut and spread up through his diaphragm and chest. Suddenly his lungs were pumping madly, heart jumping.
More rage filled him, because the pain was so overwhelming it drained his strength and loosened his grip on the vampire hunter's throat. Looking down, Cai blinked, startled to see a sharp blade sticking out of his stomach and curving up close before his ribs and chest. Someone had jammed a long, curved sword into his lower back and let it emerge from his upper abdomen.
That would explain why it fucking hurt so much, though if the blade hadn't been so wicked sharp, he expected it would be hurting like a hundred sons of bitches, instead of ten. Maybe twenty. And it hadn't severed his spine, because otherwise he would have lost feeling in his legs and crumpled to the floor.
All sorts of unlikely plans to twist free of that blade shot through his mind, but his assailant was faster even than them.
A palm clamped onto his shoulder, thumb against his neck, and a hard body, thigh to chest, pressed to his right side, so close it was lover intimate. The menace in the deadly voice that spoke against his ear wasn't pillow talk, though.
"Let him go."
Cai had his wrist deep in body cavity, his forearm running with blood. The human's heart was so close to his fingertips he could feel the thud. The vampire hunter should be focused on bleeding out. Instead, his mouth was twisted into a matching sneer, adrenaline and anger overriding pain. With the least opportunity, he'd keep fighting.
Both of them pinned and wanting to fight; neither able to do so. Life was a bitch.
"Withdraw your fist from my servant's chest, slow and easy, or you die right here."
That came from the one who'd skewered him, making it clear why the vampire hunter wasn't well on his way to dying.
"He's no servant," Cai spat. "He's a vampire hunter. A killer."
"He was at one time. Now he serves me. I will not tell you again." The voice did something with the blade that sent more indescribable pain vibrating through Cai, wresting a cry from his lips. He heard a growl and realized that growl had been growing in volume and strength while he'd been distracted by his impalement.
A slight movement from the male vampire who held him said he might have spared a glance to his right. "Your wolf is close to attacking again. If he does, my cher and Lord Brian will be forced to break him into pieces. Pick your battles. This isn't one of them, unless you wish to die, here and now. Do it."
Cai curled his lip, but he'd lost his chance to accomplish what he wished. If he twitched his fingers anywhere closer to the heart, the vampire would know because he was there, wasn't he? Deep in the head, heart and soul of his servant. He'd slice and dice Cai before he got anywhere close, and then Rand...fuck, he'd third marked Rand.
Shit. Slowly, he pulled his hand out of the vampire hunter. He gave him credit; the human's eyes never wavered. His face was tight with agony, but he still looked like he'd be happy to go a couple more rounds with Cai, as soon as either one of them was capable.
But as Cai withdrew, a female vampire with sable brown hair and blue-green eyes was there, easing the human down the side of the wall. She refused to back off even when he seemed to want her to move back from the fray.
He was protective of her, that was obvious. It was also quite necessary, because the female was even younger than Brian, and a made vampire on top of that. Maybe only a few years as a vampire under her belt, which meant Cai could crush her even more easily than he could have Brian.
The one at his back was a different matter. He smelled...ancient. He held the power of centuries. Not as old as Lyssa, but raw power and something else made Cai think this vampire would be a match for her, regardless of the difference in ages.
"Be still. I don't want to sever your spine," the male said in a cool, even tone. "You'd heal, but it would take a very unpleasant day or two, and I understand there is a need for your services. I've not harmed anything that can't be sufficiently healed within a couple hours, with some of your servant's blood. But you must remain still."
Cai decided not to tell the vampire what he could do with his instruction. He hated that when the blade slid free, he hissed out another sharp cry. Fuck, that hurt. He didn't expect Rand to be there to catch him as the beautiful female had his opponent, so he was surprised when Rand was indeed there, in human form, easing him down to the floor.
The older vampire wiped his sword across Cai's shirt front in a ritual cross movement. It was probably some crazy samurai sign of yeah, I kicked your ass. Rand shot a notably hostile glance his way. The male seemed unaffected by it, but he did straighten and step back, sheathing the katana in a scabbard harnessed to his back.
He was tall, lean, with unnaturally dark eyes and a loose fall of black hair around his sculpted face. He wore a gi, as if he'd been working out with that deadly blade before joining them in the study.
He moved to the side of the female vampire and the injured human. Cai's bloody hand closed into a fist again, feeling how close that beating heart had been.
"I should have done it," he muttered. "Why the hell did I mark you like that?"
"That isn't what stopped you. Who is he?" Rand asked. He'd pulled on his jeans but he knelt by Cai shirtless, his hand over the sword wound, stanching the blood with his balled-up shirt. Cai swallowed over the sudden wave of weakness, the inevitable result of an injury that severe.
"He's a vampire hunter. He killed someone I know...a while back. A friend."
Rand glanced over at the other wounded male. "I thought you had no friends or family."
"I don't. Not anymore. There was just the one."
"Oh. Just one...ever?"
"Yeah, I don't make friends easily. Shocker, I know."
Rand pressed his lips together and lifted his wrist toward Cai's mouth, offering. Cai shoved it away, ungraciously. "Not here. I won't fucking be nursed like a baby in front of him."
Rand laid a hand on the side of his throat. He seemed remarkably unconcerned about anything else happening in the room. "If you're too stubborn to feed here," he said steadily, "then we go back to our room where you will. You're very pale. More corpse-white than usual."
"Nice. I can't die."
"Yes. But you also can't leave until you're strong enough to do so, and we both wish to leave here sooner than la
ter, correct?"
Calm logic. Whatever had kept Rand so deep in his head when he first arrived seemed to have been put aside to handle the immediate crisis. That semblance of his normal self relieved Cai, though he felt like a shit for everything suddenly being about him, when Rand had had the far more stressful past few hours.
"Yeah, yeah," Cai said gruffly. "You just want to be the hero who saves the girl."
Rand gave him a patient look. Cai would have shot off a couple more stupid things, but Lord Brian, who had been examining the injured hunter, now came to Cai's side. As he squatted next to him, Cai saw he'd shed the lab coat that Rand had bitten through. The sleeve off his dress shirt had likely been punctured, but he had that rolled up high on his arm. The area above the elbow was bound up in a torn piece of the coat, a temporary dressing to handle the blood until the wound knitted.
"I'm sorry," Rand said. "My wolf doesn't always reason the way I do."
"I expect you and your wolf are very much on the same page most times. Your Master was under attack. That's all that matters to a servant, when the bond is true." Lord Brian slanted him a benign glance. "And a small price to pay to see you shift twice."
He turned a more serious gaze back to Cai, pulling the torn shirt up to examine the sword wound. Cai would have protested and shoved him away, but he was taking a break from belligerence in favor of recuperation.
True to vampire healing abilities, the run-through was already closing, though he would need blood to accelerate the internal healing process, as Rand had pointed out.
Brian's expression was far less amiable when he met Cai's eyes. "You're alive right now only because you are of use," he murmured. "And because Lord Daegan was aware of that and would not kill you indiscriminately. You understand?"
"You understand how little I give a shit?" Cai closed his eyes at Rand's look. "Did you give us everything you need to give us, so we can get the hell out of here?"
Brian shot him an inscrutable look when Cai opened his eyes, but offered a tight nod. "Almost. Lord Daegan and his servant, Gideon, were going to discuss other tactical considerations with you."
"Gideon Green." Cai bared his teeth. He'd already known it, but hearing it confirmed, said aloud, provoked his bloodlust once more. "What the fuck is a vampire hunter doing here, bound to a vampire?"
