Blood Wager (Blood Destiny #1)

by Connie Suttle

  "I realize that. Why don't you ask him to submit the schematics instead and we will decide whether to allow him inside the Council chamber."

  "I'll do it." Charles held out a hand and Wlodek handed the paper over, holding it by a corner with an expression of distaste. Gilbert wasn't one of his favorite vampires.

  "Has Radomir arrived, yet?" Wlodek asked. "I wish to speak with him."

  "I'll find out," Charles said, lifting the walkie-talkie from the holster at his belt. "Rolfe, has Rad come in?" he released the button on the walkie-talkie.

  "Not yet," came the crackling reply.

  "Send him up when he arrives," Charles said.

  "Will do," Rolfe sent back.

  "Anything else, Honored One?" Charles asked.

  "Nothing at the moment," Wlodek told him. Charles turned quickly and left the office.

  Radomir, the youngest of Wlodek's three remaining vampire children, arrived in Wlodek's study less than fifteen minutes later. "Father?" Radomir dipped his head respectfully to Wlodek.

  "Child, I want you to contact Gavin Montegue," Wlodek sighed. "And keep it quiet. This must be between the three of us, do you understand?"

  Radomir's eyes widened only a fraction but Wlodek caught it. Radomir knew things were serious if Wlodek was asking for their most effective Assassin. Gavin had served the Council as an Enforcer for three hundred years before taking on the assignment as Wlodek's elite Assassin. If Gavin went after a rogue, their death was assured and would come swiftly.

  "What shall I tell him, father?" Radomir asked.

  Wlodek watched his youngest turn carefully. Radomir was more than eleven hundred years old. Flavio was nearly eighteen hundred. And the other—only that child and Wlodek knew that Wlodek had made him. He was quite old indeed.

  "I have had word from someone operating on my behalf in the U.S.," Wlodek shuffled papers on his desk. "He tells me that two of ours accidentally turned a female and she is running loose and feeding from the populace without guidance."

  "Do you know where she is?" Radomir wanted to know. His breath had caught when his sire said female.

  "Not exactly," Wlodek frowned and signed his name to the top paper. "We've narrowed it down to a general area. I also want those two imbeciles taken into custody and brought to me. I wish to question them before we pass sentence."

  "And the female?" Radomir was still holding his breath.

  "She will be eliminated," Wlodek said softly. "If those fools had taken responsibility in the beginning, this might have been avoided. As it is," Wlodek signed his name to another paper, "I am considering her rogue, my child. That is why I'm calling Gavin."

  "I'll bring him tomorrow evening, father." Radomir nodded to Wlodek again and left the study. Radomir knew why Wlodek was asking him to contact Gavin. All of Wlodek's calls came through Charles. Wlodek didn't want to upset Charles with this for some reason. Radomir would never say it, but he found Gavin's involvement and Wlodek's decision just as distasteful as Charles might.

  * * *

  Davis was forced to take Winkler's date home. He'd grumbled about the assignment and then Phil had done a little grumbling of his own so Davis loaded the woman in the car and pulled through the iron gate. She was humming and applying lipstick when he dropped her off. Davis made a mental note and pulled away a little, turning a corner before stopping to watch the woman.

  "We need to run a check on the person living at this address," Davis walked into the kitchen later with a slip of paper in his hand, interrupting Winkler at breakfast.

  "What's that?" Winkler wiped his hands on a napkin.

  "The real address of your lady friend from last night," Davis growled. "She asked me to drop her off at an apartment complex in Fort Worth, but I pulled around and waited while she made a call on her cell and a cab came to pick her up. I followed until the cab dropped her off at this address." Phil and Glen were helping themselves to pancakes the cook had just served up, but Phil was the one who reached over and took the address from Davis.

  "Lissa was about to have a hissy fit over the woman last night," Winkler smiled and cut into his own pancakes.

  "Maybe you should listen to Lissa more often," Davis said. "She had that reporter collared before he could even blink."

  "And that's why there's no footage of me all over the news this morning," Winkler agreed. "Perhaps we should make ourselves a little more public. Do you think she'd like to go to a basketball game? I have tickets for tonight."

  "Are you sure this is what you want? You know they'll broadcast your image all over the place."

  "A game is harmless," Winkler observed. "Lissa can appear to be my date. She's quite attractive."

  "I haven't failed to notice," Davis said dryly. "But she said last night she only has jeans to wear."

  "Here," Winkler passed over his credit card. "Go find something for her. Size six."

  "How do you know these things?" Davis muttered, slipping the credit card into his pocket.

  "Why do you think they're all after me?" Winkler replied, grinning. "I'm a genius."

  * * *

  Davis was pounding on my door when I got out of the shower at six-fifteen. Yeah, I know I hadn't bought a robe and the motel room I'd rented hadn't been classy enough to provide one that I could steal. And yes, I'm probably going to hell for even thinking about stealing a robe. If hell exists. Truthfully, I think I've been there for a while. "What?" I flung the door open, clothed only in a big, fluffy towel that I'd wrapped around myself. At least Winkler provided his guests (and employees) with big fluffy towels.

  Davis just stared for a minute, shut his mouth a few seconds past that and handed a bag over to me. "We're going to a Mavericks game tonight and Winkler wants you to pose as his date. Wear something in the bag." He turned to leave. I was too shocked to thank him at first. In my experience, men didn't normally buy anything you'd pick for yourself and it usually didn't fit on top of that. Remembering my manners when it was nearly too late, I yelled, "Thanks," at his retreating back. Davis just flung up a hand and kept walking toward the stairs.

  Okay, the long-sleeved top was really pretty. A royal blue with some sort of beading, designed in a crossover style that would accent the breasts. There were two other tops; one pink, the other a plum color, but I liked the blue best. Then there were two pairs of slacks and a skirt. The skirt I tossed aside right away—it was short. The shoes at the bottom of the bag were only a half-size off. Davis must be good at sizing people up; the clothes were all in a size six.

  The blue top and the black pants were what I chose to wear. I wasn't sure if I'd ever worn anything that I liked so much or had more than likely cost so much. The shoes were Christian Louboutin, in black with a kitten heel. The bag came from Saks, so some money or serious plastic had changed hands. I French-braided my hair, too. An old friend I worked with at the courthouse had shown me how, once. Gloria was a tall black woman who had enough confidence and charisma for six ordinary people. I always admired her for speaking her mind and having what it took to look everybody in the eye when she said it. Gloria never minced words and she could braid hair better than anybody I'd ever met.

  Too bad I didn't have any earrings, they might have completed the outfit but I was hoarding the four thousand dollars in cash I still had left. I had no idea if or when I would find myself on the streets again. Winkler seemed satisfied with what he saw when I showed up inside the house a little while later. "You clean up nice," Phil wandered out of the kitchen carrying a sandwich on a plate in one hand and a soda in the other. I wanted to snap at him for some reason.

  Don's Cadillac came to mind when Davis drove a new model around front and I was more than happy to sit in the back seat on the drive to Dallas this time. I also listened in on his and Winkler's conversation, learning only then that little miss spread-legs from the bar was a spy of some sort. Since Davis had been in the house all night, she hadn't been able to poke around like she wanted.

  "She came out twice, once to get a drink i
n the kitchen and the second time to find the bathroom down the hall. That's what made me suspicious," Davis observed after Winkler said that Phil had gotten information on her. The bathroom inside Winkler's suite should have been just fine. She was an industrial spy, I learned, and was thinking about how far over my head all that was. Her real name was Merlia Tomkins. Yeah. Merlia. Mer-lee-uh. Go figure.

  Winkler had seats on the first row, of course, so close to the team we could reach out and tap them on the shoulder if we wanted. Just before the game started, Winkler's face and mine were splashed across the screen at the top of the arena for the entire nation to see. Lovely. Just fucking lovely. If Ed and Serge had any idea what I looked like now and just happened to be watching, well, ESPN was about to get me killed. Plus, I was hungry, my stomach clenching in near-pain. There'd been no time to feed before we left for the game and I desperately needed my blood fix. No way could I ever be vegetarian; I was hooked on a protein diet now. Excusing myself at the beginning of the second quarter, I rose from my seat, telling Winkler that I had to visit the ladies' room. That was the first time I drank from a woman. The guys might have welcomed me in the men's room, but it would have been much more noticeable. If I'd been giving the males orgasms, the girls got them too, I learned.

  My blood donor was plump and pretty, dressed in a white and blue Mavs jersey with Dirk Nowitzki's name spelled across the back. She'd stepped inside the handicapped stall (more room, you know). I moved so fast nobody could see me and got her as she was sitting down. I had to cover her mouth; she wanted to moan with her orgasm. I licked her neck afterward—I'd noticed the punctures healed up almost instantly when I did that. My donor blinked and nodded when I whispered the instructions to forget about me. I stepped out the door first, washed my hands and returned to my seat beside Winkler.

  "You're going to be on national television," Winkler observed and leaned over to kiss me. Our faces were spread across the giant screen at the top of the arena during a lull in the game. The cameras were searching for couples to kiss while the lenses were trained on them. Forced to smile afterward, Winkler went one better and rubbed my nose with his. The crowd loved it. I was scared witless.

  "I can't say I'm all that pleased about it," I grumbled in Winkler's ear. He laughed. The Mavericks played Golden State that night and trampled all over them. Davis and I had to fend a few people off Winkler as we made our way to the car after the game, but the drive home was uneventful.

  Chapter 4

  "So, this is the young man?" Gavin paced the length of the teen's small bedroom. The boy was sitting at his computer, swallowing with difficulty as the tall, wide-shouldered man examined him and growled.

  "Yes." Harry might have been sweating, just as the boy was, if he'd been able. The Council had sent an Assassin. Harry expected an Enforcer to come after he'd contacted them, sending the female's purse and personal effects to London along with the message. Schooling his face, Harry turned his attention to the business at hand.

  "What did she look like? This vampire you claim you saw," Gavin growled.

  "Uh, really pretty," the boy shuddered. Compulsion had been placed by Harry, which forced the young man to answer every question Gavin asked.

  "Describe her!"

  "I can show you. I saw her at a basketball game and got the image off the internet. She uh, was with some famous guy," the boy quavered.

  "Show me. Immediately."

  "Okay." Harry had to back up so the boy could get to his keyboard. The teen pulled up the image quickly. "I was about to put this on MySpace," he said, "So everybody could see what she looks like."

  "Get a copy of this," Gavin ordered. Harry took a flash drive from the kid to download the images.

  "See, that's her, right there," the boy pointed out the strawberry blonde sitting next to the tall, dark haired man on his computer screen.

  "Who is she sitting with?" Harry breathed, crouching next to the boy to get a better look.

  "William Winkler," Gavin growled.

  "The one who's putting the recognition software together that's supposed to catch criminals ninety-eight percent of the time? The software that's supposed to be ten times better than anything else on the market? That William Winkler?" Harry's voice almost shook as he stared up at Gavin. The vampire community lived in fear of that software. If anyone started hunting them, it could be used effectively to track them down.

  "That would be the one," Gavin agreed. "This is becoming more complicated by the minute."

  Harry pulled the flash drive out of the boy's computer. "Now, young man, you are going to remove those images from your computer and you are going to put up messages that you didn't see anything and that you lied, do you hear me?" Harry ordered.

  "Yes, sir."

  "Good. We'll wait while you do it."

  The boy had everything done roughly half an hour later. "Now, you will forget you ever saw us, won't you?" Gavin placed compulsion this time.

  "Yeah." The boy's eyes went blank. Gavin and Harry walked out of the teen's bedroom, breezing past parents who wished Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones goodbye. The two vampires climbed into the rental Gavin had gotten at the airport to drive away.

  "I have the name and phone number of his dealer," Harry held up a slip of paper.

  "Good. Let's take care of that next," Gavin said. They met the dealer in the parking lot of a nearby bar. It only took a bit of compulsion to get the man inside the rental with the two vampires. "You're the one who was bitten by the female vampire?" Gavin demanded.

  "Did she bite me? I thought she kissed me. Man, that was the best sex I ever had with my clothes on." Gavin expected the man to smell of stale sweat and marijuana. Surprisingly, his scent was fresh, smelling of body wash and freshly laundered clothing instead.

  Harry snickered a little at the dealer's comment but cut it off at Gavin's frown. "You will no longer remember the incident and you will not recall meeting us. Get in your car and go home." Gavin was finished with this one.

  They watched as the dealer drove out of the parking lot. Harry sighed. "She really hasn't done that much damage, if you think about it," he said. "I mean, that had to be her first time and the compulsion wasn't strong enough to take completely. Apparently she's gotten better at it."

  "Those fools botched this," Gavin growled. "And now I've been sent to terminate her. If they'd shown even the slightest bit of responsibility," Gavin didn't finish.

  "At least we know where she is," Harry sighed again. "She was lovely, wasn't she?" Gavin didn't reply. He couldn't consider any target lovely. He had to kill them. Gavin left Harry at his home in Moore before driving to the airport. The Council's private jet was there, waiting for him to check on the prisoners before they left for London.

  "Russell, Stephan," Gavin nodded at both Enforcers. Edward and Sergio were chained with silver and titanium while the Enforcers prepared to load them onto the jet. "Too bad we weren't allowed to kill you; I think I might have taken pleasure in doing you both," Gavin showed his fangs to the captives. "But Wlodek wants to question you instead. Perhaps I'll be back before he passes sentence."

  Edward Desmarais hissed at Gavin. Grinning, Stephan cuffed Edward for his impudence, his white teeth a contrast to flawless black skin. Russell, slightly taller than Gavin but not as wide across the shoulders, snickered, slapping Stephan on the back. The hard blow failed to shift Stephan's solidly muscled frame.

  "There's more where that came from, so you'd better behave yourself," Russell informed the prisoners.

  "I don't believe you wish to tangle with either Stephan or Russell," Gavin warned Edward, who'd been knocked off balance by Stephan's blow.

  "Why aren't you returning now?" Sergio had the temerity to ask.

  "Because I have to stay and clear away your little fuck-up," Gavin growled. "If you'd had the balls to take responsibility, this might be turning out a bit differently. As it is, she's not going to live over it. Doubtless, that was your plan all along but I find it dishonorable and unjustified.
You took someone who wasn't a viable candidate according to the laws, and a female in addition to that. If she'd not accepted the turning, you'd be just as guilty of murder and potential exposure of the race as any of the rogues we kill. And then you allowed her out on her own. Every sire is obligated to watch over his turns. You left her locked in a cellar while you amused yourselves. Which one of you turned her, anyway?"

  "He did," they each pointed at the other.

  "It matters not to me at this point," Gavin growled. "Wlodek will be asking and there's no way you can deny his compulsion. I warn you to be honest so your death might be swift. He can draw it out, you know."

  Sergio shrank back at Gavin's words. Gavin knew then who'd done the actual turning. Edward and Sergio were loaded into the plane and extra chains were placed on both, holding them to special seats inside the jet. Prisoners were always transported in this manner. "Good luck with that filth," Gavin told Russell, Chief of Enforcers for the Vampire Council. Russell nodded, flashing a grin at Gavin and waving as he leapt up the steps. The door closed shortly afterward and the plane rolled out toward the runway. Gavin heaved a sigh and walked toward his rental. The Skirvin Hotel in downtown Oklahoma City was his destination, where he planned to spend the night. The cellar where the female had been kept was his chosen objective after checking into the hotel. Gavin wanted to visit it one last time before flying to Dallas the following evening.

  * * *

  Gavin sniffed his way through the cellar. It held a musty odor, overlaid with that of Sergio, Edward and Harry, even. There was a lighter scent, too, that belonged to the female. It was a more exotic spice than that of the males. Vampires always knew one another by scent. Humans sensed it too, at some level. It was designed to attract them to vampires so they might feed. A female vampire's scent was an aphrodisiac to some males of the species. Gavin had been close to Ilaisaane and Susila many times—they were both female Council members and he'd not felt as much pull from either of them as this slight scent from the cellar. He reminded himself to be careful; she was a kill and he was going to get this over with quickly.