by Tina Folsom
“But if she’s human, and he’s a vampire, she’ll grow old and die.” And she would have to watch her husband stay as young as he was now while she withered away. Haven shook his head. How good could that be? No, a relationship between a human and a vampire—or a witch and a vampire for that matter—had to be doomed from the start.
A soft smile curled around Yvette’s luscious lips. “They’re blood-bonded. She won’t age as long as he’s alive. That’s the beauty of a blood-bond. He’ll never have to turn her. She can remain human and still be with him.”
Haven’s mouth dropped open as he looked back at Amaury, who now held Nina in his lap as he sat in one of the armchairs, softly caressing her blonde locks. He was surprised by the tender gesture from this hulk of a vampire. The emotions between them were clearly visible in every smile and every action. He loved her, and there seemed to be no fear in her despite the fact that Amaury would be able to crush her with one hand.
As he watched Amaury and Nina, Haven’s entire belief system came crashing down. None of the things he thought he knew about vampires made sense anymore. What he’d experienced with Yvette, how she’d healed him and later made love to him, had already shown him glimpses of a truth he hadn’t wanted to see. And Amaury only cemented those beliefs: vampires were living, breathing, feeling creatures as much capable of love and compassion as humans.
Haven’s gut twisted at the thought of the vampires he’d killed. Had he robbed a wife of her husband, a woman of her lover, a child of his father? And despite the fact that the vampires assembled around him knew what he’d done, they’d let him live. If anything, they were better than he.
“What’s wrong?” Yvette whispered next to him.
Could she sense his turmoil, the guilt that was flooding him? Haven squeezed her hand. “We need to find Kat—Kimberly.”
The voices around them settled as Gabriel motioned everybody to calm down. “We’ve made mistakes. I’m the first one to admit that.”
Nobody contradicted him.
“Our traditional methods of dealing with a threat haven’t worked in this case. We can’t fight a witch with our usual powers; she’s too strong. And we need to act fast. The full moon is tomorrow night, and we can be sure that the witch will make an attempt at snatching both Haven and Wesley from under our noses to perform the ritual. We can’t let that happen.”
Haven released Yvette’s hand and stepped forward. “I disagree.”
Several pairs of eyes snapped in his direction.
“She wants me and Wes. So we’re gonna deliver what she wants.”
“Out of the question!” Yvette snapped. “You’re not—”
Haven snatched her wrist and stopped her. “I know you’re afraid for my safety, but it’s the only way to get Kimberly back. You have to just trust me. I have an idea.”
He hated lying to her and to the rest of them, but he knew that if he suggested what he planned on doing, Yvette would be the first to call him crazy—right after his brother hit him over the head with a heavy object.
***
“What idea?” Yvette asked, worried that whatever he suggested would put him in the path of danger. Not that he’d ever stepped off that road.
Now that she’d admitted to herself that Haven was more important to her than anybody else in her life, she couldn’t allow anything to happen to him. She had to protect him, even if that meant protecting him from himself and his heroic ideas.
A feeling of unease settled at the nape of her neck when Haven finally spoke. “I’m not sure whether any of you know what I do for a living, but I’m very good at it. I’m a bounty hunter. I know how to ferret out people who don’t want to come crawling out of their holes. It’s all about the bait.”
Yvette didn’t like a word of what he was saying. “Bait” was synonymous with “suicide.”
“We have no idea where that witch is hiding out, right?”
Gabriel tried to protest. “We’re still looking for her. Our guards are out there, combing the city for her. Unfortunately, without anything with her DNA on it, Francine won’t be able to scry for her, otherwise we would have already tried that route.”
“That’s what I figured. We know she’s going to try to get me and Wes before tomorrow’s full moon. Otherwise, she’ll have to wait an entire month for another opportunity to perform the ritual. Since we can’t go and find her, let’s try to control what we can. Next time she snatches us, it’ll be on our terms.”
“Go on,” Gabriel encouraged.
“Wes and I will go back to my apartment and wait—”
“No! You can’t leave our protection!” Yvette interrupted. If she and her colleagues weren’t around him, how could they prevent him from being taken?
“We have to. Because this time she’ll attack during daylight hours. That way she knows you can’t follow her if you’re not prepared. That’s why you have to prepare. Once she has us, she’ll take us to Kimberly, and you’ll have to follow us. You need to stay far enough away for her not to sense you, but close enough to interfere when we need you.”
Yvette knew that what he was suggesting was too risky. What if they lost track of them when the witch took them away? “We need a way to trace you.”
Thomas nodded. “I can put a GPS tracking device in each one’s shoe. It’s tiny; she won’t be able to find it.”
“Good,” Gabriel approved. “See to it.”
Thomas rose and waved to Eddie. “Eddie, we’ll go get a couple of the chips. I’ll show you how to program them.” Then he looked at Haven and Wes. “We’ll be back in an hour.”
As the door closed behind them, Yvette felt the finality of Haven’s decision close in on her. He wanted to offer himself up to save Kimberly, but what if something went wrong? “We weren’t able to defeat her last time. What makes you think we can do it this time?”
Haven took her hand and squeezed it. “I think we all know now what powers she has. We’re prepared. If we go at her with more manpower, we can weaken her.”
With her eyes, she tried to convey to him that he was making a mistake. “Knowing what she can do, and being able to defeat her are two different things.”
“We’ll enlist Francine’s help. She seemed keen enough to help last time. She can hold Bess off with witchcraft while a dozen vampires try to weaken her with traditional weapons. In the meantime, a few of you can free Kimberly, Wes and me,” Haven suggested.
Gabriel gave Yvette a confident half-smile. “And this time we’ll double the number of vampires fighting her.” He looked at Zane. “Draw up a list of our best men and get them ready.”
The cry of a baby interrupted Gabriel’s orders. He lifted his head. A moment later, he smiled. “Maya wants me to tell you that Delilah’s just delivered a healthy baby girl.”
***
After congratulating Delilah and Samson on their beautiful baby, Yvette closed the door to the master bedroom and headed for the stairs, leaving the rest of her colleagues to coo over the newborn.
“Yvette.”
Haven’s voice behind her made her turn. Without another word, he pulled her into the guest room and closed the door behind them.
“I know you’re not happy about my plan, but I need you to trust me. Everything will be all right.”
Yvette twisted out of his arms. “It’s suicide.” Did he have no sense of self-preservation?
Haven cupped her shoulders and drew her closer. “It’s not. Didn’t you say yourself that your friends are the best bodyguards, the best fighters out there?”
“So now you’re using my words against me. Figures.”
He put his finger under her chin and tilted up her face so she had to look at him, facing his piercing eyes. “Baby, I have no interest in putting my life in danger, but I can’t lose Katie again. She’s my family. You understand that, don’t you?”
Of course, his family would come first. Yvette wasn’t family, maybe wasn’t even somebody he really cared about. Or was she? “So everything you
said earlier, you didn’t mean it.”
“I meant every word I said.” He pulled her against his chest.
She couldn’t resist inhaling his scent and losing herself in it.
“When this is over, you and I, we have a date,” he whispered into her ear.
“You said that once before.”
“And I kept my promise. We had a date. Only next time, it’ll be longer.”
She raised her head to look at him, hope rising with it.
“Much, much longer. And that’s a promise I intend to keep,” he added before he took her lips and kissed her as if he were starving. She returned his kiss, clinging to him in the hope that it would never end.
Thirty-Two
Haven shut the door of his apartment and followed his brother into the living room, where he let himself fall onto the well-worn couch. Wes ran his hands through his hair and paced.
“You sure that’s a good idea?”
Haven nodded. “Nobody had anything better to offer.” Despite his calm voice, he felt anything but. Yvette’s last kiss when they’d had to say goodbye had shaken him. It had been full of fear and desperation. He hoped that he’d interpreted her feelings correctly and that she would do the right thing when she had to. As much as he’d wanted to confide his plan in her, he’d stopped himself. In any case, it was only a when-everything-else-fails measure. Even though, deep in his heart he knew it was the only way to make sure the Power of Three would never be unleashed. And ultimately he’d have to take that step.
“What’s gonna happen, Hav?”
Haven shrugged. “I don’t know. She’ll kidnap us, take us to some—”
Wesley stopped in front of him. “No. Not with the witch. With Yvette. You and her, what is it? Just an itch you needed to scratch?” There was a hunted look in Wes’ eyes.
Haven broke eye contact and looked out the window. “I don’t know where it’s gonna go.” How could he tell his brother what he really felt when he hadn’t even told Yvette? It felt wrong to confess to Wesley when he’d been too much of a coward to tell Yvette what she needed to hear from him.
“Are you in love with her?”
Haven jumped up and walked to the window. “Hell, Wes, I barely know her.”
“That’s neither here nor there.”
“What do you care?”
Wes joined him at the window as they looked out onto the street and its midmorning goings-on. “It can’t have escaped your notice that two of those vamps are married to human women.”
“So?” Haven didn’t like the direction the conversation was going. His brother was about to corner him.
“So, it means that relationships between our two species are possible. Don’t play dumb with me. I know it’s crossed your mind.”
When Haven didn’t answer immediately, Wes dug in again. “Hell, you were holding hands with her!”
“And what the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“When have you ever held hands with a woman?”
“Plenty of times,” Haven lied. He couldn’t remember a single time. He wasn’t the type, and he didn’t do relationships. He did one-night stands.
“You know, Hav, I always thought my future sister-in-law would be some tough bounty hunter chick you met at one of your jobs, maybe even some ex-con. That you’d bring home a vampire one day, not even I expected that.”
“I’m not bringing home—”
A hand on his shoulder stopped him. “Don’t. I guess you could do worse. Yvette doesn’t seem half bad. At least it’s obvious that she cares about you.”
Haven met his brother’s look. “I’m sorry, Wes. I know it feels like betraying Mom’s memory, but there are things I can’t fight.” At the thought of his mother, he again felt a stab in his chest. And he clearly wasn’t the only one upset about the revelations Francine had made that night at Samson’s house. If his brother only knew what else the witch had confessed, the horrible crime his mother had committed … but Haven knew he could never tell his brother. It was one secret he’d take with him to the grave.
“I don’t want to talk about Mom right now.”
Before Wes could turn away, Haven grabbed his arm. “I think we have to. If Francine was telling the truth, and I believe she was, then we were in the wrong all this time. I was in the wrong. And I dragged you into it when you would have been young enough to forget.”
Wes let out a long breath. “You really think I could have forgotten what happened that night even if you hadn’t reminded me constantly? Hav, I was the one who let him have Katie! I didn’t run! I didn’t keep her safe.”
It was the first time Haven realized that Wesley carried the same guilt with him as he did. It was time to let go of it now, to forgive and forget. They would have Katie back. And this time they’d keep her safe. Haven would make sure of it, even if that meant sacrificing himself to stop the prophecy from being fulfilled.
He took Wesley by the shoulders and shook him. “Stop, Wes! It wasn’t your fault. And it wasn’t my fault. We were kids. We did what we could. What happened was because of Mom. She brought this on us.” Mom had robbed them of their father. But he couldn’t tell Wes. He would break if he knew. “We lost Katie because of her, because of what she wanted.”
He saw tears well up in Wes’ eyes and pulled his brother into an embrace. “The past is over.”
“How could she do that to us? Didn’t she love us?”
Love? Had their mother loved them? Haven contemplated his brother’s question, remembering the last time he’d heard his mother speak of love. Had it meant anything?
“I don’t know. I don’t think we’ll ever know.” Could anything cut deeper than a mother’s betrayal? “But we’ll make things right now. I promise you.”
Wes nodded. “Yes. We’ll make it right.”
Haven released his brother from his arms. “We have to destroy the Power of Three. It’s brought too much pain to everybody involved. I don’t want it.”
“I don’t either.”
“Good, then we’re in agreement. But I need your help. There’s a second part to the plan which I haven’t told anybody about, not even Yvette.”
Thirty-Three
Yvette bit her fingernails. She hadn’t done that since she was human. But waiting in the blackout van for any news on what was happing at Haven’s apartment was nerve wracking. Next to her, Zane sat like a stone statue, not moving, not shuffling around, and certainly not fidgeting like she was. As if nothing bothered him. Which was probably the case.
“Hungry?” he suddenly asked and reached into the cooler next to him, pulling out a bottle of blood.
She shook her head.
“Ah, I guess you dined on Haven earlier. What’s it like, witch’s blood?”
Yvette’s patience snapped like a bungee cord. Her fingers wrapped around Zane’s neck, pressing him against the headrest. “Shut the fuck up or I’m gonna stake you right here!”
He grabbed her wrist and freed himself, then moved his head from side to side, cracking the vertebrae in his neck. The sound sent a chill down Yvette’s spine.
“Touchy. Guess that’ll teach me not to interrupt next time he’s going down on you.”
Zane really didn’t know what was good for him.
“Stay out of my private life!” She wrenched her hand free from his grip and narrowed her eyes. “You know what, Zane—if I had one wish, you know what it would be? Do you? It’s for you to fall in love with your greatest enemy. And do you know what I’ll be doing then? I’ll be laughing my ass off.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and stared out the tinted windows. “So leave me the fuck alone!”
“I don’t do love!” Zane snorted.
“Yeah? Well, neither did I. Shit happens.” Yvette felt slightly better at the thought that she was rattling Zane’s cage. At least it had shut him up. Better than having him poke his nose into her business. What she felt for Haven was private. Nobody needed to know. She’d have to come to terms with it herse
lf first, before others could add their opinions on the matter.
Not that she would allow her friends’ opinions to deter her in the end: whatever she decided to do would be her decision and hers alone. It didn’t matter what the others thought about her infatuation with a man who was neither human nor vampire, but witch. Had there ever been a successful vampire-witch pairing? She sure knew of no such event occurring. But then again, Haven wasn’t really a true witch. He had no powers at this point. Would that make things right?
Yvette exhaled, trying to ease the tension in her body. It didn’t really matter what Haven was, because he was just … Haven. A man who made her forget all the pain of her past. A man who could maybe even accept her the way she was: damaged, not a real woman. And if fate threw her this bone—who was she to toss it away?
A beeping sound pulled her out of her reverie. Her gaze flew to the monitor in front of her. Two green dots blinked as one. Red dots were circling them. “They’re on the move.”
“Let’s go,” Zane ordered the human driver. “Keep back. Let’s see where she’s taking them.”
Yvette watched on the monitor as the green dots moved through the city, the red dots being Scanguards blackout vans moving in synch with them, but always staying at least three blocks away from the green dots. It was imperative that the witch didn’t realize she was being followed even though she might suspect it. But since it was daylight, she probably felt herself to be safe from the vampires. She wasn’t.
Her eyes glued to the monitor, showing a map of San Francisco, Yvette followed the movement of the green dots. Heading west at about the same speed as their own van, the other vehicle slugged through heavy midday traffic. It slowly advanced on one of the main arteries before it turned north onto the road leading toward Golden Gate Bridge. The witch was heading for the countryside.
Yvette thought about it for a moment. If Francine’s assumption was right, then the ritual would have to be performed outside under the moon. Marin County just north of the Golden Gate Bridge would offer many secluded and wooded areas where such ritual would go unnoticed. Besides, the area was full of new-age junkies, and another witch dancing naked in the moonlight wouldn’t rouse any suspicion. Not that Francine had said anything about naked dancing.
