Dark Legacy (House of Winterborne Book 1)

by Luanne Bennett

  “Give me the jewels,” he said, holding out his hand.

  I took everything off and gladly handed them over. “What are you going to do with them?”

  “I’ll try burning them this time. We’ll see how useful they are after that.” He glanced up at the top of the Winterborne Building and lost his smile. “But right now we need to find you a place to hide.”

  “I know where to go,” I said, feeling for spare change in my pockets. “Got any cash?”

  Chapter 23

  “Jules is meeting me downtown,” I said, handing the phone back to Jakob.

  He fished a few bills out of his pocket and handed them to me. “Forty will get you there, but it won’t buy much else.”

  “Thanks. I’ll borrow some money from Jules until I can figure out what to do next.” I gave him a hug and took a deep breath, feeling naked and vulnerable for the first time in my life. “What would I do without you, Jakob?”

  His eyes softened as he prepared to send me out into the streets of New York without a parachute. “I’ll always be here for you. I just wish your mother could be here too. She’d put those self-righteous immortals in their place.” His concern for me was hard to hide. “Don’t do anything stupid like try to call me or come back here before this is all over with.”

  I stuffed the money in my pocket and looked at the Winterborne Building across the street. “You’re assuming it will be over with. I swear, Jakob. If they kill Hawk, I’ll burn that building to the ground.”

  “No, you won’t,” he said with a weary smile. “That building is your home, and those are your people. No man is worth destroying your family over. Now go find him so you don’t have to make that choice.”

  My heart ached when I thought about what they’d do to Jakob if they knew he’d helped me escape. “You better get back in there before they come down to the lobby. You’ll be one of the first people they interrogate.”

  “Right.” He headed back toward the street but looked back before crossing over. “Don’t bother with the subway, Mora. Take a cab.”

  Wasting most of the money in my pocket was probably foolish, but a cab ride was tempting. I hadn’t been on the subway in years, and I didn’t have time to figure out which train would get me where I needed to go.

  I jogged a few blocks down before exiting the park to hail a cab. On the ride down to the Village, I thought about everything that had happened over the past twenty-four hours. I’d gone from being the queen of my clan to being a fugitive, and the only thing that would make it worse was if Jakob got caught helping me. He’d be banished—or worse.

  “Miss.” The driver snapped me out of my dark thoughts when we pulled up to the curb.

  I handed him my scarce cash and climbed out, paranoia following me all the way to the door. We were meeting at a dive bar I’d never been to before because I didn’t want to risk the clan tracking me to one of our usual places.

  The bar was half-empty when I walked inside, giving me a good view of the exits. And judging by the sawdust on the floor and the help-your-fucking-self decor, there was no need to wait for a nonexistent hostess to seat me. I headed for a booth in the back and waited for Jules to show up.

  A skinny guy wearing a ratty T-shirt came over to take my order. When I told him to come back in a few minutes, he stuck his pencil behind his ear and let out a weird little sigh before shuffling over to the bar. Jules was never late, and I was starting to worry. Not having a phone to call her with—or to receive her call if something was wrong—was frustrating, but Jakob had pointed out the obvious reason why giving me his was a bad idea. Phones were trackable.

  I was about to beg a complete stranger to let me use their phone when she walked through the front door.

  “Sorry I’m late. I almost kicked some guy’s ass for trying to steal a pair of boots from the shop.” She slipped into the booth and plopped her bag on the table. “The son of a bitch tried to walk out wearing a pair of vintage Ferragamos. You know how much those things cost?”

  When I didn’t comment on her plight, her irritation turned to concern. “What’s going on?” she asked, glancing down at the sawdust on the floor. “And what the hell are we doing in this dive?”

  “You suggested it.”

  “Well, you said some place where no one would think to look for you, and I think this place qualifies. Now tell me what the hell is going on.”

  The waiter shuffled back to the table, so we ordered some drinks to get rid of him.

  “I’m in trouble, Jules. Cabot’s wife was attacked this morning. She went out for a run before sunrise—which is real interesting since I’ve never seen the woman so much as break a sweat before—and someone came out of nowhere and jumped her.”

  “That sucks, but what does that have to do with you?”

  I sat back against the hard booth and exhaled. “We hunted again last night. A vampire attacked me, and Hawk showed up and killed it. Ethan saw him and thought he was a Walker. When he tried to kill Hawk with a knife, I panicked and slammed him against the wall.” I showed her my palm. “Remember when I stopped that car on Park Avenue years ago when it almost hit me?”

  “Please don’t tell me you killed your brother.”

  “No, but I gave him a pretty serious concussion, and Cabot’s wife, Rebecca, saw it all. Then all of a sudden, I get pulled into council chambers this morning and they show me this video and try to pin the attack on Hawk. Rebecca opened her damn mouth and told them everything.”

  “Why did Ethan think Hawk was a Walker?”

  I’d never hear the end of it for not telling her about Hawk’s other side. “There’s something I didn’t tell you about Hawk. I told you he’s a shifter, but I didn’t mention his other half.” She prompted me to spit it out, so I did. “He’s also half… vampire.”

  She cocked her head. “I’m sorry, what?”

  “You heard me. But he’s not a Night Walker,” I quickly added in his defense.

  “Okay,” she said, throwing her hands up when I tried to continue. “You need to stop before I lose my mind.”

  The waiter delivered our drinks and a bowl of peanuts, which seemed to give her just enough time to settle down. She took a sip of her beer and cleared her throat. “I think you’ve outdone yourself this time with that little bit of news.”

  “Not really,” I said, stuffing a few nuts in my mouth and chewing them thoroughly before giving her the next news that would put our friendship to the ultimate test. “I think I know why Hawk can’t stay away from me. We’re a lot alike.”

  “Oh yeah? How’s that?” She snorted a half-baked laugh and popped a handful of peanuts in her mouth.

  “Because I’m half vampire too.”

  On my way into the apartment building on the Upper East Side, I was accosted by an elderly woman who seemed to think she was the building police. I showed her my key and assured her I had permission to be there. After she continued through the lobby and out the entrance, I took the elevator to the eighth floor and stuck the key into the lock of apartment 821. I was so relieved to be safely inside, I slid to the floor and just sat there for a few minutes, letting the sun bathe me through the windows as it began to set.

  Jules had taken the news better than I expected. But then again, she knew me better than anyone, and we’d gone through some crazy shit for each other over the years. I came from a clan of immortals, for God’s sake. What was a little vampire blood running through her best friend’s veins?

  Eventually I climbed to my feet and headed for the kitchen to check for supplies. If Margo Wells had coffee in the cabinet, I’d be fine. Food would be nice too, but caffeine was a necessity. I was in luck and found an unopened bag of French roast.

  I toured the apartment, taking an inventory of the philodendrons I’d be looking after until this was all over with or Mrs. Wells came back from vacation. Jules had given me her mother’s apartment key, telling me I was doing her a favor by sparing her a trip uptown twice a week to water the plants. Her mother
and current stepfather spent a month in Europe every year. This time it was Italy.

  My stomach growled when I walked back into the living room. I hadn’t bothered with breakfast that morning, so a handful of peanuts back at the bar was all I’d eaten since yesterday.

  The refrigerator was empty except for condiments, half a dozen eggs, and a few plastic containers of something Mrs. Wells would regret not throwing out before she left for her lengthy trip. I took a whiff of the contents of one container and shuddered before tossing the whole thing into the trash. She’d thank me for it. I finally decided to open a can of baked beans I found in the cabinet and ate them cold right out of the can, a favorite meal back in college.

  As the sun started to set, I knew Hawk would come looking for me soon, escalating my fear and need to find him. But how was I supposed to do that? I didn’t have the vaguest idea where to look for him, which prompted me to make a mental note to ask him where he lived if he survived the Winterborne lynch mob trying to hunt him down.

  After practically licking the can clean, I tossed it in the trash and headed for the windows. The apartment had a spectacular view of the East River but no balcony. I feared what I had to do next, and part of me wanted to use the money Jules had given me and take a cab back to the West Side to wait in the shadows until I saw him sailing over the Winterborne Building. But what was I going to do then? Yell at him from the street nine stories below?

  I drank a glass of water before heading out of the apartment to look for the stairwell. I spotted an exit sign at the end of the hallway and pushed the door open to climb the steps to the roof, my heart practically beating out of my chest as I reached the top. I found myself looking over the edge of the building before I had a chance to talk myself out of my plan and head down to the street to hail that cab I’d considered a few minutes earlier.

  “Damn you, Hawk,” I muttered, angry at myself for never asking him where he lived. It was a reasonable question to ask a man you were sleeping with.

  I spotted a table and some chairs on the other side of the rooftop. Gathering my nerve, I grabbed one of the chairs and carried it to the wall, my hands shaking as I raised my foot to climb on the seat. “I hope you’re right, Jakob.”

  With my eyes closed, I took several deep breaths and tried to steady my trembling body. All I could think about was hitting the sidewalk fourteen stories below, my bones shattering into splinters and my head splitting open like a ripe melon.

  “I can’t,” I whispered. Defeated by fear, I turned to climb off the chair.

  “Morgan!”

  The sound of Hawk’s voice startled me. I twisted around, losing my balance. For a second, I thought I’d tumbled down onto the rooftop, but when the city lights began to whirl around me and the building flew past me in a blur, I knew I’d gone over the edge. As I plummeted toward the sidewalk, I looked back up just as the wide wings of a hawk sailed off the roof. It took a few seconds for him to catch me, but I slipped away from him as if his feathers were an illusion. Then suddenly I was standing back on the roof, looking over the edge as he flew back and forth several stories below.

  Hawk dived toward the sidewalk and then shot back into the sky. He circled the rooftop and spotted me, then landed several feet away. As he shifted back, I began to shake from all the adrenaline coursing through me. Jakob was right. My powers had kicked in, and I’d just traveled for the first time on my own.

  “Is there something you want to tell me, Morgan?”

  I planned to tell him everything, but first I had a question of my own. “How did you find me?”

  As he approached, his eyes lingered on mine. “After last night, I’ll always know where to find you. I can sense you.” He leaned in and kissed my cheek, continuing up to my ear. “You’re inside me, Morgan, and I’m inside you.”

  “I don’t know if I like being found so easily,” I whispered, heady from the feel of his warm breath against my skin.

  He pulled back to look into my eyes. “No?”

  I smiled slowly and took him by the hand. I was so thankful that he had found me. “You can find me anytime you like.”

  I’d had enough talking for one day. I led him back down the stairs to Mrs. Wells’s apartment, past the master bedroom, to the guest room down the hall.

  “We can talk in the morning,” I said, slipping my hands under his shirt and around his waist, his skin soft and smooth against mine.

  We took our clothes off and climbed into bed, the lights from the city and moon casting a warm glow over us, my back to his chest with his arm wrapped around me. My mind and heart were finally at peace from having him safe and sound next to me, and I turned around to press my lips to his, my heart melting as his golden eyes looked into mine.

  “I think I know why you’re so attracted to me,” I whispered against his mouth, wondering how much of my vampire blood be could sense.

  He placed his finger against my lips, quelling a conversation that could wait until morning. Then we gave in to the desire binding us together and satisfied ourselves to sleep.

  Chapter 24

  It was just before dawn when I woke up. Hawk was sound asleep next to me, his breathing heavy and labored like he was dreaming of running or flying. I decided to let him sleep while I threw on my clothes and headed for the bare kitchen to scrounge for something to eat.

  With the coffee brewing, I found a loaf of bread that had expired two days earlier and stuck a few slices in the toaster oven. The eggs in the refrigerator where a godsend, and I even found some powdered coffee creamer in the cabinet.

  I cracked four eggs into a skillet and let them cook for a minute or two before turning the burner off and placing a lid over it. When I turned around to check the toast, I jumped. Hawk was leaning against the wall, watching me.

  “You shouldn’t sneak up on a woman with an unpredictable power hand.”

  He walked into the kitchen and gave me that look that seemed to reach all the way down to my soul. “I like watching you when you think no one’s looking. I can see you better that way. Who you really are.”

  “Ah,” I said. “Well, you’re seeing me, all right. I need a shower and a toothbrush.”

  As I combed my messy hair with my fingers, he reached for my hand and turned it over to kiss my palm. “I like you this way,” he said, glancing over my shoulder at the smoke billowing from the toaster oven. “But I prefer my toast on the lighter side.”

  “Damn it!” I grabbed the door and swung it open, praying the fire alarm wasn’t about to go off. The last thing we needed was for the neighbors to show up and call the police on the intruders in Margo Wells’s apartment.

  Hawk stuck his hand inside and pulled the blackened toast out, barely flinching from the heat. When he lifted the cover off the skillet and looked at the eggs, he nodded a couple of times. “I’ve never been much of a toast eater anyway, but those eggs look delicious.”

  “Good, because that’s all we have unless you like moldy leftover takeout.”

  I plated the eggs while he poured the coffee. It was time to have a talk.

  “I have to tell you something,” I said after he sat down at the counter next to me.

  His brow arched. “Like how you managed to slip through my hands last night and then miraculously reappeared on the roof?”

  “Among other things. But first you need to know why I’m staying in a stranger’s apartment.”

  He took a bite of his food and chewed it thoughtfully for a few seconds. “I was wondering about that, but I figured you’d eventually get around to telling me whose apartment we’re in.”

  “It’s a friend’s place. She’s out of town for a while.”

  “And you’re staying here because…”

  “Because my aunt and cousin saw you at the theater the other night. Then they saw me give my brother Ethan a concussion when he tried to filet you with a knife.”

  He swallowed his mouthful of food and set his fork down. “I take it they’re not too happy about their quee
n sleeping with a vampire?”

  “Well,” I said, chuckling, “they don’t know about that part. You’ll have an even bigger bounty on your head if they find out you’ve defiled me.”

  “Bounty? What are you talking about?”

  Suddenly losing my appetite, I pushed my plate away and took a fortifying sip of coffee. “I think my uncle and his wife are trying to frame you. Rebecca went out for a run yesterday morning and got attacked before she even made it past the block.”

  By the look on his face, he seemed to be getting the gist of what I was saying. “What did they say?”

  “The attack was caught on the building’s security camera. It was obviously a shifter, but it was too dark to make out her attacker’s face. He pulled her around the corner, out of the camera’s view, and sank his teeth into her shoulder. Then he came back around and shifted into a bird before disappearing into the park.”

  “Do you know how many bird shifters live in Central Park?” He laughed bitterly and shook his head. “Talk about being railroaded.”

  “I know about the Flyers, but Rebecca swore it was you. You were with me at the time, so she’s clearly lying. And even if you weren’t, I wouldn’t believe her for a second.”

  His ran his hand over the small of my back. “And you obviously can’t provide my alibi because that would make it worse. But why would they frame me? I’m a stranger to them.”

  “I think my uncle Cabot put her up to it. He’s been trying to undermine me since my mother died and named me as her successor, and anything that will get Rebecca closer to the Winterborne throne is all the motivation she needs to lie. You’re nothing but a convenient pawn to them. They’ve already accused me of the crime of attacking Ethan to protect you. Now that you’re a fugitive, imagine how much more they can accuse me of for helping you.”

  “Man,” he said, shaking his head. “Nothing personal, but your family is brutal.”