“Don’t I know it.” I snorted and tugged him closer for a kiss. “It’s crazy, I’ve always wondered what happened, especially when I thought about Tony. I was so fucking pissed at him, you know, and he’d been through all that. God only knows what his state of mind was those last two days when everything went to shit.”
Kristair hesitated and then gave me a sad smile. “You don’t have much say in anything when you first change. Your creator has complete control. They have to, because if their youngling goes on a rampage, then they take the blame by their peers. The mind is very susceptible those first few days. All she had to do was tell Tony that you were in danger, and he would’ve believed it with everything in him.”
“Yeah, I know he didn’t really betray me.” I shrugged, grateful that I had already come to that conclusion before Tony had been murdered by the Syndicate. “How do you think he’s doing now that he’s a big, bad Ascended?”
“I know for a fact that he’s enjoying himself immensely.”
Chapter 12
THE DREAM had caught me in its snare. It wasn’t the same nightmare that had been haunting me for months. Instead of being outside, waiting in terror for dawn to approach, I was trapped in the middle of nothingness. I couldn’t see or speak or hear, but I could sense the disturbed minds around me. I stirred uneasily, aware on some level that I was tossing on my bed, but my mind was caught within the lucid dream. Or was it real? Was it a warning of some kind?
Emotions swirled, mistrust building into a seething morass of recrimination and anger. An explosion was coming, and I struggled to get out of the dream and back to the safe haven of my room before it erupted.
Abruptly the dream changed as someone else seized my mind, wrenching me awake and holding me prisoner. I stared up at the ceiling, my mouth working, though no sound came out.
Tired, so tired. Hands grabbing, shaking. “Lemme alone.” Fury stirred, but it didn’t push back the lethargy enough to be able to put up a fight. My heart pounded. Dawn was coming. Terror froze into a desperate scream. “Help! Alette, Alette, Maman. She’s going to kill me! Alette! Tabitha! Oh Maman, help me!”
A grim determination laced through the other emotions, confusing me until I realized there were two distinct minds brushing against my own. Or maybe even more than two.
With a wrenching effort of will, I broke free and sat up with a gasp. Blankets tangled around me, strangling me, and hard hands shook my shoulders. I fought them in the dark, growling in warning as I kicked free of the sheets and tried to shove away my attacker. They weren’t taking me into the dawn too. I hissed, baring my teeth, hands stiffening, ready to rake with my nails.
“Kristair! For god’s sake, calm the fuck down. It’s me,” Jacob snapped, shaking me hard again. “What’s going on, what’s wrong? That wasn’t like the other dreams. What the fuck is happening?”
I stilled and drew in a shuddering breath, twisting around to glance out the window. A sliver of light stained the horizon, just a bit, but enough to send another jolt of terror through me. There wasn’t enough time.
“There’s another attack happening right now.” I knew it with absolute certainty, even as I jumped up from the bed and grabbed a pair of jeans from the dresser.
“What? Where? Are you sure?” Jacob flipped on the bedside lamp and glanced at me in worry, though he started to get dressed as well.
“I’m positive. You said that I was being tormented by these dreams. I think you’re right. I think they might’ve been sent to me deliberately, or at least some of them. And I’m inclined to think it’s the killer doing it.” I shrugged into a shirt and grabbed Jacob’s keys off the nightstand, tossing them to him. He caught them out of the air and finished dressing, shrugging on the holster for his gun. “I heard someone screaming for help… I thought it was just the dream, but it’s real.” Distantly, I was still aware of the struggle going on.
Jacob followed me out into the hallway. “We don’t have much time. How are we going to find them?”
I grabbed the sheath I’d made for the rod and tugged it through my belt loops as we ran outside. “I don’t know, right now I’m going by instinct. Whoever’s doing this wants us to know. I’m still connected to them somehow. I think it might be enough to lead us to them.”
“Then it could be a trap.”
“Of course it’s a trap, but we have to go anyway.” My heart pounded as Jacob spun out of our driveway. Something big was coming, big and ugly, and if we weren’t careful, we were going to end up being the flotsam and jetsam tossed about in the waves after a storm.
Jacob cursed a vicious stream under his breath as I guided him through the light traffic of the city and out toward Oakmont. Every second, the sky became a smidgeon lighter, and Jacob drove faster, his car roaring as it hugged the curves. For once his driving failed to me make apprehensive, urgency was thrumming so hard within me.
“Turn here! Here!” I stabbed a finger at a small hidden road off to the side, and Jacob slammed on the breaks, turning and almost skidding past it before he managed to sling the Camaro around and down the drive. A moment later he slammed on the brakes again as the trees parted and a large, wrought-iron gate came into view.
The door to the small gatehouse stood open, and a guard sprawled unmoving across the threshold. A chill went through me. This was Alette’s haven. Though she’d never told me where she rested, I knew this was the place in my bones. I was pretty sure Artemise also rested here.
“Now what?” Jacob asked, frowning in thought. “I can climb the gate, but it’s going to take some time.”
“Ram it.”
“Are you out of your goddamn fucking mind? I just got her fixed.” Jacob’s head whipped around, and I glared right back at him, pointing at the sky, which had lightened into a steely, cloudy dawn.
“This car is solid metal. We’ll be able to fix whatever damage is inflicted, but trust me, if we don’t save the woman being attacked, it will be hell tonight. Ram the damned gates, Jacob.”
He snarled, turning his car into a screaming reverse before revving the engine. The car roared back into life, and with a hard thud and a squeal of twisting metal, we broke through the barrier, Jacob cursing the entire time. I’d have to make it up to him later.
I held onto the handle strap, staring grimly at the Tudor mansion that came into view as the driveway curved around out of the screening trees. At first everything appeared peaceful: no smoke marred the horizon, a breeze stirred the ivy clinging to the elegant façade, and the shutters were tightly closed over windows.
Then I saw another body sprawled grotesquely on the manicured lawn, and the front door had been torn off its hinges. “I think we’re too late,” Jacob said, slamming on the brakes in front of the mansion. “We should call the cops, leave a tip, and get the fuck out of here.”
“We have to be sure. This is Alette’s place; we have to be absolutely sure we have done everything in our power to help, or else she’ll be able to read the lie in our minds tonight.” Even then, that might not stop her from seeking retribution. Who knew what a madwoman would do.
I hopped out of the car, scanning the grounds, listening intently for any disturbance. Several more bodies littered the ground, leading around the side of the house, the Kevlar-clad bodies of fighting men, dead with their weapons still in their hands. Every single one of Alette’s personal guards had been slaughtered.
“Wait, if it’s her place and she kicks it, how is she going to come asking questions?” Jacob ran up the steps to the front door and glanced inside. “More dead dudes. Jesus, we’re in over our heads. Does she have a fucking garrison here? Who are all of them?”
“Her guards and familiars. I doubt she is the target. Though now she will be far more dangerous running around raging for vengeance.”
“No, we’d just have Ussier and Hugh after our asses if she’s killed. That’s not pleasant either.”
“Not her, it’s not her… Artemise had to have been the original target, but I don’t
think that’s who they got.” Frantic now, I ran around the side of the house. “Someone close to her, a youngling, perhaps Bethany or Tabitha….”
The screaming started again in my mind, shrieks strident with overwhelming agony and animalistic fear. I bolted toward the backyard and heard the pounding of Jacob’s footfalls behind me. We rounded the corner and came upon the woman with the blank face as she fought with a guard. As we appeared, she snarled and ripped out his throat. His hands flew to his throat as he crumpled, his scream breaking off with rasping gurgle.
She shoved him off to the side and moved to stand over the bodies of two women, one with long blonde hair and an air of childlike fragility. Bethany. The other woman had a short brunette bob. I knew Tabitha better, for all that she was newly created. She had been a librarian as well before Alette had turned her. Both women lay lifeless on the ground, knives sticking out of their chests and wisps of smoke rising up from darkened spots on their exposed flesh.
Their assailant turned toward us, a grim smile on her lips, and I tasted the hot rush of battle. I roared, rushing toward her, my fingers stiffened into talons. “God dammit, Kristair, you’ve got a weapon!” Jacob shouted behind me.
The woman and I went down in a tangle of clawing limbs, hissing and biting, tasting blood as I went for her jugular. Fingers burned into my chest, ten points of searing heat. I shoved her away from me with a shout, kicking free, and rolled toward the first woman on the ground. Shots rang out, and then a woman’s shout of pain as I yanked the knife out of Bethany’s chest. She immediately began shrieking, sitting up and cowering into me, desperately scrabbling away from the sun as more spots appeared on her face, the smoke thickening. Even her nightgown was starting to burn.
Every second made the damage worse.
“Jacob! Get her inside!” I shoved Bethany toward him, trying to free myself of her clinging hands. Maddened with pain, sobbing with fear, and drugged by the sun, she didn’t have the wherewithal to aid us.
Jacob smothered the flames on her nightgown and swung Bethany up in his arms. I jumped in front of the killer as she tried to grab for him, grappling with her and shoving her back. Tabitha smoldered, her face blackened now, and I counted time with each heavy thud of my heart. The killer snarled, her eyes narrowed and glittering white in fury. “You’re too late,” she spat, kicking my knee.
It buckled, pain flaring through my leg, and I sank down, startled by the sensation. That shouldn’t have hurt the way it did. Being human had its distinct disadvantages. I shoved her away and lurched after her, intent on throttling her into submission, when Tabitha burst into flames.
“No, no, no!” In horror, I spun around, almost stumbling as my knee buckled again. As I leaned down to grab the knife paralyzing Tabitha, a weight jumped on my back from behind. The screams inside my mind sharpened in intensity, and the woman behind me snarled.
“She’s gonna burn, burn into a pile of greasy ash, Kris. Alette is going to destroy everything you love for failing here.”
Arms locked around my throat, cutting off my air. I grabbed for them, trying to pry them loose as she laughed and tightened her hold. The stench of burning flesh filled the air, and the screams in my mind began to dwindle. The woman’s arms were like bands of steel, and my lungs burned. Her legs tightened around my waist, digging into my ribs, applying pressure until I worried they’d snap.
My fingers scrambled for the rod at my waist, and I ripped it from its sheath. Dark spots appeared before my eyes as my legs trembled. I concentrated, and then the weight and the heft of the object in my hand shifted. I fell to the ground, dropping back, and the arms around my neck loosened as her air whooshed out and she cursed hoarsely.
We rolled, and I stabbed into her side with the long-bladed knife I’d willed into being. I felt the shock of the thrust ripple through her, and then her hands grabbed mine, pushing the knife in deeper, twisting the blade as she screamed. “Finish the job, Kristair,” she snarled, spittle forming on her lips.
Then Jacob was there again, ripping us apart, his blue eyes blazing and his face pale. The woman curled into a ball, hands pressed to her side, groaning in pain as her lifeblood spilled from between her fingers.
I turned toward Tabitha. “Help me, Jacob. It might not be too late.” I couldn’t hear her screams anymore, but she was of Alette’s bloodline, and she was tougher than most. Tougher by far than Bethany, for all that Tabitha was younger. She had to survive.
The fire singed the hair off my hands, and searing pain scored my palm as I yanked the knife free and tossed it aside. White foam covered us in a hissing spray, dousing the flames as I tried to block the sun from Tabitha as much as I could with my body. I glanced up at Jacob, seeing that he’d grabbed both a fire extinguisher and a blanket.
“You think ahead.”
“Somebody’s got to,” Jacob snapped, switching off the device as the flames were smothered.
The woman appeared behind Jacob hands raised to attack. “Watch out,” I shouted, jumping to my feet. Jacob spun around and threw the fire extinguisher at her head, but she dodged with preternatural speed. She must’ve healed at least some of the damage from the knife, because she moved without any hindrance at all.
My thoughts raced as I wrapped the blanket around Tabitha. We needed some time to get her under shelter. The killer might still be hurt, but we needed to find a way to contain her, hold her immobile. How much could she heal in one day?
Jacob shot at the woman, who laughed tauntingly. The bullets glowed in the air and fell harmless to the ground. She scampered to the side with another snicker, chanting under her breath in a sing-song manner. She was just playing with him in a mad kind of caper. She was dangerous enough without being insane on top of it.
I thrust Tabitha at Jacob, and he cursed, almost dropping her and the gun. “Warn me next time.” He shifted Tabitha in his arms, tightening his grip on the gun.
“Get her inside. Go now!”
“But—” He scowled at me fiercely even as he turned toward the house.
“I’ll keep her occupied.” I had no idea how it worked, but it seemed somehow the woman was weaker when she faced me. I shouldn’t have been able to stab her as easily as I’d had. Not with the nimbleness she had shown, though the damage I’d done hardly seemed to matter now.
I could figure the mystery out later. Right now, I’d take any advantage I could get.
I concentrated, and the knife shimmered and expanded into a quarterstaff. The woman danced back with her strangely blank features, her hair whipping about her face. “You want to fight? You’ve got to catch me first.” She turned and bolted toward the back of Alette’s property.
Letting her go wasn’t an option. Not when Alette would be thirsting for blood when she awoke. We had to have something to tell her or someone to give her.
Trusting that Jacob would be able to find me wherever I went, I chased after her.
Chapter 13
THE HOUSE was goddamned creepy with its darkened windows and the quiet, empty stillness of the rooms and echoing hallways. The dead dudes scattered around the entryway and up the stairs didn’t help either. I carried the woman into the inner room I’d found, one without any windows. The other woman was still there, curled up on the table, unmoving. At least she’d stopped screaming almost as soon as I’d laid her down.
I’d never met a hysterical vampire before, and I never wanted to again.
I laid my other burden down beside her. This bloodsucker didn’t stir or make a sound, and the stench coming from the blanket was sickening. I didn’t dare pull the edge of the blanket back. I didn’t want to see what she looked like. If she was dead, there was nothing I could do to help. And if by some miracle she wasn’t, I had no damned intention of offering myself as her first snack so she could heal herself.
Didn’t matter. I had to get back to Kristair before he went toe-to-toe with that creepy-assed vampire hunter again.
The sound of footsteps in the hallway drew my attention. “J
acob?” I breathed a sigh of relief at the sound of my lover’s voice.
“In here,” I called back, searching the drawers of the cabinet along the wall. Just as I hoped, there was a tablecloth, and I caught a glimpse of Kristair’s silhouette in the doorway as I shook it out.
“What are you doing?” he asked as I covered the blonde chick with it. Burns had made gaping holes in her nightgown, and she looked so damned vulnerable, vampire or not.
“I can’t just leave her here naked. It’s indecent,” I said with exasperation. “What happened with freaky chick? Did you knock her ass out?” I shook the tablecloth over the both of them and tucked the sides in, feeling a little silly about the whole thing.
“What are we supposed to do now?” I continued when Kristair didn’t answer. “We can’t call the cops, they’ll be crawling all over this place. If you say this house belongs to Alette, then sure enough they’ll find her, and I don’t think it’ll improve her mood to wake up on a morgue slab with a toe tag. We can’t leave the house unguarded either, not with the door hanging off its hinges and the front gate destroyed.” Not that I wanted to stay and do the job. It was the last damn thing I needed.
The sound of a gun clip sliding into place had me spinning around only to find Kristair pointing a small fucking cannon at my chest. I’d never appreciated the size of a Desert Eagle until one was aimed at me.
“What the hell is wrong with you? Now’s not the time to decide to take target lessons, Kristair. Put it away before someone gets hurt.”
Our gazes clashed, and a chill went through me. This wasn’t Kristair. He looked exactly like my lover, down to the long lashes and sensuous curve of his lips. He moved like him, the flowing grace of a born warrior. But even if the clothes weren’t different, I would have known. I should’ve realized it the other night. The man just screamed wrongness. I’d been too distracted to notice when he’d come in. Just as he’d seemed so unnatural the other night—only then I hadn’t realized it wasn’t Kristair.
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