by Rachel Lee
He turned and looked out over the city. “I am thinking,” he said, “that Terri’s plan to stop the newborns before they could emerge has changed the rogues’ direction. They will not be able to wreak their reign of terror and watch Jude be undermined before they kill him. No, they have realized that he is at least part of what is standing in their way yet again. They have focused on eliminating him. Then they will play their ugly games with this city in complete freedom.”
“And this means?”
“I guess you will get your chance, Dani. To prove yourself. Because we are going to have to try to take them in the garage.”
“Are you sure they’ll even go there?”
“They’ll smell all of us in Creed’s condo. When they find no one, the next obvious step is to see if we departed by car. They’ll note the smell of a car having left recently. They’ll decide to follow it. They want to know where we are.”
“Assuming they don’t want their reign of terror first.”
“I think Terri and your pack ended that. Between your pack finding all those bodies, and Terri making sure the brains were removed, I doubt they have increased their numbers. Certainly not numbers that are under control. If one or two newborns slipped by, they can’t do much in a single night. I think now they know Jude is onto them, and they’ll want to get him and the rest of us out of the way first. It is what I would do.”
There was something so hard in his gaze just then that she shivered. For an instant she felt her pack’s primitive loathing of vampires, and then she remembered this was Luc. The loathing vanished at the reminder. Luc had saved her life. Luc had become her lover in such an incredible way, and when she had lain defenseless with him he had done not one thing to harm her.
“How can I help?” she asked.
“Indirectly,” he said. He pulled the phone Jude had given him out of his pocket. “Are they still at the condo?”
He listened then said, “Good. I’m going into the garage. I’m going to leave my scent and Dani’s. And yours, if you’ll part with your coat for a while. Then I’m going to lay a trail.”
He hung up.
Dani stared at him, aghast. “You can’t go in there alone!”
“Just briefly. Call your mother and tell her what I am going to do. I’m tired of trying to second-guess these rogues. I’m going to make sure that tomorrow night they head north. We’ll get ready to meet them along the road. Give me your jacket.”
Numbly she obeyed, handing it over. He passed her his own and wrapped her in it, taking care to ensure she was fully enveloped. Then he cupped her cheeks and kissed her lightly.
“When this is over, ma belle, we have something to discuss. But right now, we must push this to an end. Call your mother. Tell her I am setting a trail. Ask her to make sure it is followed. Then we’ll all be going to ground for the day. Somewhere.”
Then he was gone. Dani stood frozen for a split second, terrified out of her mind that something would happen to him. Then a thought pierced her terror and reminded her of the one thing she could do to help him. She picked up her phone and dialed.
“Mom? Mom, Luc is going into the garage to lay a trail. He’s going to make it look as if all of us headed north. He wants you to keep watch to make sure they follow.”
“I thought we were taking them in the garage?”
“Apparently he feels there’s not enough of the night left to do it. Or something. Anyway, he seems to have become determined to take them north of the city somewhere along the road.”
Lucinda was silent for a moment. “That’s a better plan,” she agreed. “I doubt all these vampires would allow themselves to be caught in an enclosed space at the same time. But in open country, it’s different. And they’re not aware of us. We can round them up like chickens.”
“Maybe that’s the idea.”
“This Luc of yours is smart. All right, we’ll keep watch and make sure the rogues follow the trail. Don’t call me again unless it’s urgent. These damn bloodsuckers can probably hear my phone vibrate from several blocks away.”
“Okay. I love you.”
“I love you, too, sweetie. I’m just sorry you were never sure of it.”
Then her mother was gone. Dani shoved her cell into the pocket of her jeans and gathered Luc’s jacket around herself. It smelled of him. Amazing how good that smell had become to her when only a few days ago the scent of a vampire, any vampire, had set her nerves on edge.
Jude was the first to return. Just about the time Dani felt she would need to scream to release her fear and tension, Jude rejoined her, clad only in his shirt and slacks.
“Aren’t you freezing?” she asked blankly.
“I don’t feel the cold. Luc succeeded. He left all our scents in the garage and headed north.”
“God, I hope he can move fast enough.”
“He’s ahead of them, moving at top speed. They won’t be able to catch up. The problem is that he’ll have to circle back or find someplace to go to ground. But then, so will they. Your pack is following at a safe distance behind the rogues.”
It was odd, Luc thought as he sped northward out of the city. Just a few short days ago, his primary concern had been choosing the hour and manner of his death. Now that he could die at any moment simply by slowing down, he no longer wanted to die.
He blamed Dani for that. Yes, blamed her. Death was an easy release, but hanging around because of one human female was far from easy. He no longer felt he might be betraying Natasha. Indeed, those feelings had vanished last year when he had joined Jude and Creed in sending back to hell the demon that had deluded Natasha.
But cherishing her memory had become an obsession, one that had been driving him steadily toward death. And now he was free of that obsession, and ironically at the moment he was in the most danger of dying.
The thing that struck him as he carried the two jackets with him, leaving a trail as clear as a lit causeway to his followers, was that his decision to get involved in this had not been driven by concern for the human species, concern for Jude or concern for himself. It had been driven by concern for Dani.
He had looked into those silvery-blue eyes of hers the first time and had been captivated. And regardless of the arguments he had made about why he was involving himself, the one he had not acknowledged was the most important of all: he didn’t want Dani to live in the kind of world these rogues wanted to create.
Live or die, he didn’t care so much for himself. He cared for Dani’s sake.
A fine fix.
And his concern for Dani’s future had only continued to grow. Thinking about it as he raced north, it occurred to him that the best thing for her might be for him not to survive this mess. Then she would be utterly free to choose her path.
Except Dani didn’t seem all that happy with her path. She regretted not being able to shift like the rest of her family. She more than regretted it. It had gutted her in some very important ways. It hurt him to see those moments when she utterly lost her self-confidence.
A mile out of town, when buildings had thinned almost to nothing, he stopped. The back of his neck prickled almost hotly with warning of the coming dawn. He had to get to ground soon. But so did they. He was willing to bet that they wouldn’t come out from the security of dark places with the remnants of night shrinking so rapidly. They knew they couldn’t catch him. Tracking him would have to wait until tomorrow night.
Looking around, he noted a grove of trees. At once he dashed toward it, trailing Jude’s coat in the snow here and there. In the grove, he patted some of the trees with his hand and with the jackets, then he darted north again.
Time was running out. Turning east, he ran a circle out into the fields and entered the city from a different direction. At least now they should have a reasonably predictable path to watch at nightfall.
Back in the city, he slowed down a bit, pulling out the phone Jude had given him. “I’m back. Where should we meet?”
“Damn good question,” Ju
de said. “They followed your path north. I still haven’t heard back from Lucinda, and I’m not sure they won’t resort to checking my place or Creed’s again.”
“We’ve got to go somewhere.”
“My place,” Jude said finally. “I haven’t been there in so long they must have decided I’ve gone to ground.”
“Well, I left a trail from Creed’s place out into the countryside. And they’ve got to go to ground just like we do. Dani’s pack might even be able to tell us where. It would give us a starting point.”
“All right. My place. I’ll get Dani there safely.”
“Thanks, Jude.”
“My pleasure. You just get there safely, as well. Look out, these guys probably have more time to prowl than you do.”
Luc wasn’t sure what Jude meant by that, except perhaps their secure places for the daytime hours might be nearer to them than he was to Jude’s office. When he thought about it, he decided Jude could be right. If they were at all wise, they’d have any number of deep basements they could retreat to around the city.
He’d resorted to some of them himself.
So instead of running faster than the wind in a direct beeline, he climbed to the rooftops and took frequent pauses to test the air. He was still carrying the coats. Maybe he should have ditched them somewhere.
He paused again and decided it was too late unless he ran back to the country, and the prickling of his neck warned him he didn’t have the time.
He’d just have to trust that tomorrow night the rogues would pick up the trail in the same place they were forced to abandon it tonight.
He could see the first faint lightening of dawn by the time he reached a rooftop a couple of blocks from Jude’s. He paused again, and in that instant, despite the wind, he heard a stealthy movement.
They had posted a sentry near the office. There might be more than one.
He sniffed the air and quickly homed in on the scent’s direction. It was upwind of him, not too far away. He could risk waiting it out, for the other would have to find refuge from the light soon. Or he could attack.
He knew which idea he preferred.
He dropped the two coats on the rooftop and began a quick but stealthy movement toward the source of the scent. On high alert, his senses sharpened even more, easily picking out colors and shapes from among shadows.
He smelled blood.
Merde! A newborn? Or simply one of the rogues feeding just before sleep? Either way he had made up his mind. There would be one less vampire when the sun arose.
Not only his speed, which protected him from human eyes, aided him now. Over the centuries he had practiced moving soundlessly, even for a vampire. Practice makes perfect, he thought almost wryly as he leaped to the next roof. Even his shoes had been chosen with that in mind.
But a feeding vampire was also less than alert, and that helped him, too. Focused on dining, absorbed in the blood hunger, his quarry would not be as quick to act.
Then he saw the hunched vampire, saw the body it was bent over. Either a rogue leaving a statement or a newborn. The savagery of the attack on the human disgusted him. There was no need for that kind of wallowing in a kill.
Unless you were a newborn and out of control.
Luc’s neck prickled again, but this time from awareness of danger. Newborns were stronger. They had to be to survive their creators. Many a vampire had changed his mind about a newborn when faced with the reality of what he or she had just created. Other vampires generally loathed them because they made a mess that could draw attention to the reality of their supposedly mythical existence.
So a newborn had to be stronger.
And he was pretty sure that was what he saw on the next roof.
But a newborn, even more than an adult, was less likely to maintain situational awareness despite the blood hunger. Much less likely. They hadn’t learned how to control themselves at all.
Making his decision, Luc stopped worrying about stealth and opted for speed.
Not until Luc stood right behind him did the newborn look up from his victim, his face covered with blood.
At the mere sight of another vampire, no questions needed to be asked. The newborn sensed the danger instantly and sprang to his own defense. Luc had faced this before and thought himself prepared. Nothing, however, could really prepare him for the full-out assault of a newborn.
The other had a serious edge in sheer strength. But Luc had another edge: he was still thinking. While the other responded at an atavistic level, he could be outmaneuvered and jockeyed into a deadly position.
And the sky was lightening even more, probably barely detectible to human eyes, if at all, but to a vampire’s eyes it almost looked like flame on the horizon. The newborn would be helplessly aware of that, too, driven by a need to protect himself as well as a need to get to his hole before the sun turned him to ash.
Luc, however, had an idea of just how much longer he actually had, which was longer than the newborn’s instincts would be telling him.
He jumped back as the newborn leaped at him, and whipped around the other as he flew through the air. When the newborn passed him, Luc felt the searing pain of fire as the other raked him across the shoulder through his shirt. His own lifeblood, already low, began to run down his arm and chest.
He swore again but didn’t pause. A pause could get him killed.
The newborn leaped yet again, and this time Luc moved into him, grabbing his legs and then hurling him halfway across the roof.
The newborn landed like an upended turtle, then sprang to his feet with a snarl.
At that instant the first light of day struck his face. He froze for an instant, shocked by the pain, though he was not yet suffering any damage.
Luc saw the fear in the other’s eyes, saw the hesitation, the moment at which the newborn decided it might be better to run to his hole.
He waited a split second and then, just as the newborn turned to flee, Luc sprang.
He caught the newborn in midleap, bringing him down on his face. It was like riding a bucking horse, almost impossible to keep the other pinned.
Luc felt scratches to his thighs as the other clawed at him, but he ignored the wounds. The newborn was thrashing so hard it was almost impossible, but he reached for the head. Hard to hang on to, for the newborn was stronger and twisted wildly to escape the grip. With a massive effort, Luc dug his fingers in, gripping hair and skin, refusing to let go.
The newborn screamed, fighting, but Luc hung on, determined not to let the other escape even as he felt the dawn light burning him, too. He no longer cared if they became a pair of burning torches. He could not let the newborn escape alive.
Then, with one mighty, sharp twist, he snapped the newborn’s neck.
He didn’t wait. He didn’t have time to wait. He vaulted off the body, slid down the side of the building into the shadows as fast as he could and took off for Jude’s office.
Chapter 12
“Where is he?” Dani demanded.
Jude had retreated to his inner office but left the door open a crack. “He has time.”
“It’s dawn.”
“He just has to keep to the shadows. There’s still time.”
But Jude sounded sleepy, and Dani was sure Luc must be feeling the same thing. The clock on the computer in front of her as she sat at Chloe’s desk told her that actual sunrise had passed nearly a full minute ago.
Her heart was pounding with anxiety and she could barely hold still. But she had to. Jude had told her how to view the monitor and buzz Luc in when he arrived. Now she couldn’t afford to be even two steps away from the button.
It was past dawn.
“What happens?” she finally asked.
Jude’s reply was delayed. “Worst case? He falls asleep and when the first rays of the sun hit him he wakes up a torch. That’s not going to happen. Luc’s been around long enough to know the ropes.”
“Dear God,” she whispered, unable to bear even imagining it
. Her entire chest squeezed as if it were bound in steel bands, and drawing a deep breath became almost impossible.
Just as she thought she was going to shatter from the tension, she heard the buzzer and saw Luc’s face in the camera. At once she hit the button to let him in.
She heard his steps in the darkened hallway and forced herself to wait. He was not moving quickly.
When he stepped into the light, she gasped. One side of his face appeared red, as if slightly burned. Blood soaked his shirt and his pants. Panic and horror filled her. Seldom had she felt the pangs of seeing someone she cared about so badly hurt, and it hurt her more deeply than any physical wound.
“I am all right,” he said, but he didn’t sound all right. He sounded weak and worn.
She leaped up immediately and went to him, slipping an arm around his waist. “What do I need to do?”
“Nothing. I will heal. I need food. Jude?”
“Here.” The door to the inner office had opened and Jude stood there, looking sleepy. “Get in here before the sun gets into the office.”
Dani didn’t know how much she was really helping, but she kept her arm around Luc as he shuffled into Jude’s office. He sank into a chair as if he were a falling stone and leaned forward.
She heard Jude behind them, closing and locking his office door. There were no windows in here, but she was quite sure that ultimately that only protected them from death. They would still need to sleep.
“Blood will help you heal faster?” she asked.
“I’ll get him some,” Jude said.
Before he could do so, Dani pushed up her sleeve and held her wrist right under Luc’s mouth. “Drink,” she said.
“No,” he whispered.
“Oh, shut up,” Jude snapped. “You know live blood will work faster and we need you fit at sunset. The lady is offering. A gentleman never refuses a lady.”
A near laugh escaped Luc. “Have you never?”
Before Jude could retort, however, Luc sighed, ran his tongue over Dani’s arm. She heard Jude go into his bedroom, but sensation utterly distracted her. She couldn’t feel the puncture, indeed couldn’t feel anything except the sudden wakening of unimaginable pleasure. Never would she have dreamed that feeding a vampire could be nearly as wonderful as making love to one.
