Eternal Hearts

by Jennifer Turner

  “So what else do I need to know?” Drake asked. “Aside from Brick and Baller, does she have any other friends in the city? Any known family? What kind of interference am I looking at?”

  “Well, her human family’s deceased, and from what I could tell she doesn’t have any contact with Alexander’s other kids, so she’s pretty much alone in the world when it comes to relatives. However, as you’ve probably already figured out, she’s on friendly terms with most of the Enforcement Team, as well as Clint. And before you even ask, the Boss specifically said Clint took her under his wing back when Alexander was too busy running around the city to teach her properly.”

  Drake tipped his head back and closed his eyes. “Tell me I’m not being assigned to protect one of Clint’s concubines.” When Jake didn’t answer right away, he ground his teeth together. “I know he’s friends with the Boss and all, but this is fucking ridiculous.”

  “I was told that Clint spent a lot of time with her, but not for his normal woman chasing reasons. He supposedly taught her about her lineage and how society works, all without using body paints or whipped cream.” He paused to laugh at his own joke. “Anyhow, I’m not sure how well he really did though. She was only about ten months old when she got the boot from Lord Locke, and we both know that’s barely enough time to learn even the basics of being a vamp.”

  Drake couldn’t argue his point. He’d been around long enough to know that it took at least ten years for a Fledgling to get their bearings as a newly created vampire. Between learning the rules, a little bit of history, and how to eat without causing a panic, the first decade of existence really wasn’t all that pleasant.

  And that was with training.

  If the girl hadn’t even had a full “childhood”, she was lucky she’d lived long enough to come back. But maybe that meant Jake was right for the second time that night. Maybe she’d been so busy fighting to stay alive that she wouldn’t recognize him or his reputation.

  Maybe – but he wasn’t counting on it.

  He opened his eyes and refocused on Jake. “Have you already confirmed someone’s out to get her? Is that why I’m on this?”

  “The Boss wouldn’t tell me why he opened the contract. All he said was that she’s not safe until Locke officially accepts her as a resident again, and that it’s imperative she completes whatever tasks or conditions he sets forth for her. To be honest, if someone’s after her, I have no idea who it is. But all you have to do is get her to that meeting. Once you do, you can mark this contract as another success and go on your merry way.”

  Drake raked a hand through his hair and tried to stave off the urge to yawn. “I hate it when you guys throw these kinds of contracts at me. Not only do I not have enough time to watch her first, but you either don’t have or won’t part with all the necessary information about her.”

  Jake tucked the photo back into the proper folder then moved it to the bottom of the stack. “I gave you everything I could find on short notice, Drake.” He turned his back and headed for the door. “This got dropped in my lap about two hours ago, so don’t feel like you’re the only one who didn’t get decent prep time. If I could’ve gotten more info out of the Boss, I would have, but he wasn’t saying anything that wasn’t already in the report.” He opened the door and stepped inside, but turned around before it closed. “If I get any new info, you’ll be the first to know.”

  Drake nodded as the door swung shut. “I’d appreciate that.”

  Once the Folder Gopher was gone, Drake directed his full attention back to the sidewalk below. Even now, standing next to 8-Ball with her shoulders just as slumped as when he’d first seen her, Toni Tutoro’s fine Spanish features mirrored that innocent quality so obvious in the contract photo. But the longer he looked at her, the more he realized there was something else about her, something about the worn, almost apologetic way she held herself that didn’t quite fit with the information in her bio.

  Why would his Boss be so interested in a Fledgling Warrior anyway?

  He studied her even closer, watching the way 8-Ball reached out every so often to touch her arm or shoulder as she spoke. And at one point when she buried her face in her hands, he even leaned in close and kissed her forehead.

  Either they were really good friends, or she was a lot better with the manipulation than Jake had given her credit for.

  Drake would never judge her for attempting to kill another vampire, but it took a special kind of person to look that sweet and defenseless one minute, then turn around and slaughter a handful of human security guards the next. Granted, he didn’t know why she’d done it, but knowing she had made the puzzle all the more interesting.

  He leaned forward and sharpened his senses in an attempt to pick up the conversation between her and 8-Ball, but the constant drone of the wind rushing through the buildings in the Business District easily drowned out their words.

  He rolled his eyes. It figured, the one time he could’ve used Odin’s powers for good instead of evil – the bastard was nowhere to be seen. Then again, keeping Odin quiet long enough to actually hear someone else talk was a lot easier said than done.

  The flash of headlights a few hundred yards down the road pulled Drake’s thoughts back to the matter at hand. If he wasn’t mistaken, that was Brick’s SUV heading towards The Rivers Building, which meant it was almost time to make fake friends with the dead girl.

  He leaned back and stretched out the tight muscles in his arms. If he was lucky and she played just as nice as he intended to, he’d be rid of her by sunset tomorrow. If he wasn’t so lucky…well, it certainly wouldn’t be the first time he ended up on the wrong side of a female vampire. He’d only been there once, but when all was said and done she’d left him nursing a hell of a lot more than a nasty bite wound.

  Drake checked his watch one last time as Brick’s truck slid to a stop in front of the sidewalk. How long would it take before Toni Tutoro tried to bite him? Or worse?

  No doubt, he’d have his answer the second she laid eyes on him.

  Chapter 2

  Toni Tutoro wrapped her arms around 8-Ball’s neck and held on to the big beautiful bald man with everything she had. She pressed her cheek against his hard shoulder, attempting to steady herself as three years’ worth of emotions rushed through her all at once. But they came so fast, and from so many different directions, she could barely distinguish one before it collided with the next.

  “Took ya long enough,” 8-Ball laughed close to her ear. “I thought you were just gonna stare at me. I almost told ya to take a damn picture.”

  Toni squeezed him even tighter as cold tears welled in her eyes. She’d prayed for this moment over a thousand times, but now that she was here, she didn’t know what to say. How could she explain what it meant to hear a familiar voice so close, to feel the arms of a friend around her…to finally come back home?

  She couldn’t. There just weren’t enough words.

  When 8-Ball started to pull back, she released her death grip on him but caught his handsome face between her hands before he could slip away. “You have no idea how good it is to see you.”

  He flashed a purely arrogant smile. “Of course I do.” He straightened to his full height, which was well over six feet, and then pressed a large hand to the center of his muscular chest. “I see this every day.”

  She smiled despite his huge ego. “You haven’t changed at all.”

  He shook his head, his dark green eyes filled with humor. “No need to change perfection. Once it’s right, it’s right. But look at you,” he said as he reached out and tugged the long sleeve of her black t-shirt. “You’re still so…so…short.”

  “Wow.” She blinked hard then shook her head, her smile still firmly in place. Only to someone like 8-Ball would 5’8” be considered short. “You haven’t seen me for how long, and the only thing you can think to do is tease me because you think I’m short?”

  He broke into a huge grin. “Don’t worry, I like my women short.”
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  She returned his grin with one of her own. “You also like to leave a twenty on the dresser when you’re done with them.” She purposely made a display of flipping her long hair back over her shoulder. “You’re gonna have to start snacking a little farther up the food chain before you’re ready for something like this.”

  His bronzed face sobered for a few seconds before only the corners of his mouth rose again. “Now there’s the little Latina spitfire I remember.” He reached out and playfully tapped her nose. “I knew she was in there somewhere.”

  “Yeah,” Toni said as she lowered her gaze to the snow dusted sidewalk. He hadn’t meant for his comment to hurt, that much she knew, but knowing didn’t stop the dull ache from thrumming in place of her heartbeat. She dragged the toe of her boot through the glittering white flakes while she summoned the courage to ask the question now burning in her mind. After inhaling a deep breath, she raised her eyes to meet his. “I know it’s been a while…but have I really changed that much?”

  8-Ball held her questioning gaze for a long moment, hesitation playing across his face. “Am I being honest?” When she nodded, he stared off at something behind her. “Yeah, Toni…you’ve changed that much.”

  She closed her eyes. Deep down, she knew she’d changed. She knew the last night she’d spent in Chicago had forced her to become someone else, maybe even something else. But to hear 8-Ball say the words, to hear him essentially confirm what she feared most...

  Toni bit the inside of her lips as the tears from earlier threatened to return. What hearing 8-Ball say those words did was reaffirm her fear that the monster coiled deep in the pit of her stomach wasn’t just a part of her – it was her. She couldn’t blame what she’d done so long ago on a loss of control, couldn’t even blame it on a single lapse of judgment. She’d allowed the beast to take control that night because she’d wanted nothing more than to rip Natasha Stryker’s blonde head off.

  Unfortunately, once the nearly blinding flash of rage had faded, Stryker hadn’t numbered among the nine casualties.

  Toni’s thoughts scattered when she felt 8-Ball’s heavy hand touch her shoulder. She opened her eyes and focused on his blurry face. “I’m sorry. I missed what you said.”

  Concern crept into his eyes. “Where’d you go?”

  “Same place I always go.” She cast a glance to the sparkling glass frontage of The Rivers Building, but looked away when she caught sight of her own reflection for the second time since she’d arrived.

  “Why here, 8-Ball?” She twisted so his hand fell from her shoulder then backed away from him. “Of all the places in Chicago for me to meet you and Brick, why the hell did he pick here?”

  The muscles in his jaw flexed hard. “You said you wanted honesty, so I’ll give it to you.” He folded his arms over his chest. “He said he wanted to make you think long and hard about why you came back. Said he hoped if you had to stand right there, you’d think about the choices you made the last time you were here and how it all could’ve gone different.”

  Toni couldn’t do anything but blink as a sharp pain burst to life in the center of her chest. She struggled for a breath as dozens of bloodstained images flashed in her mind. “How it could’ve gone different?” She squeezed her hands closed tight when the beast stirred in her stomach. “All I’ve thought about for the last three years is how that night could’ve gone different. How I could have stopped her…how I could’ve saved them. So don’t tell me I need to stand in front of this damn building to think about what I did. It’s all I think about. It’s all I dream about. Most days…it’s the only thing I have left!”

  When 8-Ball stepped forward and attempted to wrap her up in his arms, she wrenched herself free then shoved him back against the glass. “No! You wanted me to stand here. You wanted me to relive it all. But guess what?” She couldn’t hold back her tears any longer, so she quit trying. “I don’t need to relive it all…because what you don’t understand is that I’m still living it!” She gnashed her teeth together as scarlet flames erupted at the edges of her vision. “Every time I see a table, I see my mother’s heart lying in the middle of it. I see my brother and sister tied to the chairs. And no matter how hard I try…I still can’t save them. So I just stand there, watching it happen all over again, just like I did back then.”

  “I’m sorry about what happened to your family, Toni. You know I am.” He craned his neck, seemingly transfixed for a moment by the dark clouds gathering above The Rivers Building, but then lowered his head and shot her a knowing glare. “I don’t blame you for going after Stryker. I would’ve gone after the bitch, too. But the way you did it.” The muscles in his jaw flexed again as he shook his head. “What would’ve happened if you’d killed Stryker down on Rush Street, Toni? What would you have done next? Run off into the city looking for Oktober? Do you have any idea what would’ve happened if you’d found him? His Ancient ass would’ve chewed you up then spit you right the fuck out, that’s what would’ve happened. Then we’d have been burying you right along with your family.”

  Toni stared straight into 8-Ball’s eyes as the beast dug its razor sharp claws into her stomach. “If I’d known Oktober then, if I’d known anything about him…” She ground her teeth together. “I would have gone after him first.”

  8-Ball rolled his eyes. “So is that why you came back? To finish what you started? You gonna go after Oktober? You gonna suicide yourself so you can finally be with your family?” He straightened then slowly narrowed his eyes on her. “Or is that what you were trying to do the first time around, but Stryker just couldn’t get the job done?”

  “I didn’t come back for Oktober or Stryker. I just wanted to come home!” She pressed her fingertips against her mouth as a sob caught in her throat. “I’ve never even seen their graves, 8-Ball. I just wanna tell them I’m sorry. I just wanna tell them I loved them…that I still love them. That I wish I could have saved them. That I tried, but I couldn’t.”

  Toni shook the tears from her eyes as 8-Ball slowly faded away, only to be replaced by unwanted memories that stretched and distorted in her mind. She saw herself staring at the television in her old apartment, saw her own face twist in horror as something red streaked across the screen then landed with a sick, wet thud in the center of a familiar table. The table she used to eat at when she was little. The table her family used to sit at, in a house once filled with more unconditional love than she’d ever found anywhere else, or since the day she’d left.

  She heard her brother and sister scream when the thing on the table moved. Listened to Ray and Isabel cry for help as blood sprayed all over them and everything else in the room. They’d never sounded so scared, never looked more terrified…until he stepped in front of the camera.

  She would never forget Oktober’s swirling black eyes. Never forget watching him sink his fangs into her mother’s heart. Never ever be able to forget what followed, or the sound of her own sister moaning his name.

  Toni snapped back to the present at the sound of 8-Ball’s voice. She stared blindly at the wavering figure standing in front of her. “I only went after Stryker because of the note,” she breathed. “Oktober said to thank her for the address. I didn’t know him. I didn’t even know where to start looking for him. But I knew I could find her…I wanted to find her.” She blinked away a fresh round of tears. “Maybe I did the wrong thing that night. Maybe I overreacted. But if it was your family she sold out, if it was your brother…would you have done any different?”

  This time when 8-Ball rested his hands on her shoulders, she didn’t move. “It’s not that I don’t care about you or what you’ve been through, Toni. But Brick’s my Sire, and he’s risking a hell of a lot by letting you back in without Locke’s permission. Do you really blame him for trying to make sure you’ve thought this through? If you were him, would you do any different?”

  Toni tried hard to push her own pain aside for a moment and put herself in Brick’s shoes. She did her best to imagine how difficult the si
tuation must be for him, considering what she’d asked could very well get him and his Children permanently banned from the city, or worse.

  Would she do the same if the roles were reversed? Would she risk the only home she’d ever known to help a friend?

  She’d like to think she would. She’d like to believe she’d do anything to help someone she cared about. But she also had to admit that she’d probably be just as determined to make that friend think about what they were asking, even if it meant taking them back to the very place everything went so horribly wrong.

  “I don’t blame him.” She tipped her head back and looked up at 8-Ball. “I just wish I could go straight to Locke instead of getting you and Brick involved. If this whole plan blows up, I’d rather it explode in my face – not yours. The last thing I want is someone else to get hurt because of me.”

  “Hey, we made the choice to get involved.” He lowered his hands from her shoulders and rubbed her arms. “When you first called, we could’ve told you where to find Lord Locke, just like you asked. We also could’ve stood back and watched you waltz right up to his front door.” He flashed a devious grin. “God knows the look on his face would’ve been priceless.”

  “You know, you and Brick could wash your hands of me right now if you’d just tell me where he lives.” Though she didn’t truly feel it, she offered him her sweetest smile then sang the words, “It’s not too late to give Mr. Fancy Pants a panic attack.”

  8-Ball burst out laughing. “Oh, it’s tempting, it’s damn tempting, but that man would kick my ass if he found out I told you where he lives. A little known fact about Mr. FP, or the Armani Avenger, as I like to call him, is that he can throw a beat down like you’ve never seen. And while I like a good fight, I like ones I know I can win even better.”

  She arched a brow. “Armani Avenger?”

  “Yeah, he likes that better than Mr. Fancy Pants. He thinks your term of endearment sounds more like a name for a male stripper. Needless to say, it doesn’t fit well with his image and all.”