Toni intended to object, but stopped short. He was right, if the Director had been a man, she probably would’ve done the same thing. She’d been doing almost the exact same thing to every guy she’d picked up in a bar for nearly four years now.
At least he didn’t hurt her. Taking the subconscious cue, she decided to ignore the subject. “I didn’t talk to anyone because I had that really bad feeling again, and then I realized we have no idea what the new wolves look like. The last thing I wanted to do was walk up to one of them and say, ‘Hey, ya seen this guy?’ – I don’t think it would’ve gone over well.”
“Good point,” Dominic said as he pushed through the gate and back into the parking lot. “I’ll meet you at Cyberz. I really wanna know what the hell Stryker’s up to with these dogs.”
Toni headed straight for her car. “Yeah, you and me both.”
***
Stryker sat comfortably in her high back office chair, patiently waiting for her last guest to arrive. Once the impending meeting ended, three years of hard work would be finally come to fruition. And every single debt Christian Locke owed her would soon be paid in his worthless blood.
“Miss Stryker,” her butler said, interrupting her wonderful thoughts. “Your guest is here.”
“Please show him to my office. And make sure he’s given anything he wishes to drink. I’ll spare no expense for a guest of his station and stature.”
Her servant swallowed the apparent lump growing in his throat. “Anything, Miss Stryker?”
She glared at him. “Did I stutter? Yes, you imbecile. Anything.”
He wrung his hands before he turned away. “Yes, Miss Stryker.”
Stryker twirled the platinum pen on her desk as pure excitement simmered in her blood. The assurance this single meeting would garner her was worth every penny she’d spent on it.
She jumped when she heard a loud cracking sound, followed by one of her maids shrieking. A second later her guest sauntered into her office with a bloody finger protruding from his mouth.
“You wanted to meet with me?” he asked, almost innocently.
She frowned, and had she been human, her stomach probably would have churned. “Where exactly did you get that finger?”
He smiled down at her. “You said I could have anything I wanted. I wanted a finger.” He held it out towards her. “Would you like some? Tastes kinda like chicken.”
She grimaced. “That’s absolutely disgusting. Is she dead?”
“Right now, she’s just missing a finger. What else she loses depends on how long I’m here.”
“If she bleeds on one of my Persian rugs, I’m holding you financially responsible.”
He didn’t seem to care. “Get on with it, Stryker. The longer I sit here, the more I think about eating your finger.”
A jolt of fear shot straight down Stryker’s spine. She knew she was out of her league, but she still had something he wanted. “So be it. I have another job for you.”
He kicked his head back and let out an evil, thundering laugh that chilled her to the core. “You’ve got a lot of nerve, Kid.”
She offered him a curt nod then pushed a piece of paper across the desk. “Why don’t you take a look at that, and then you can tell me just how much nerve you think I have.”
The smile he’d arrogantly draped across his lips quickly changed to a fanged snarl as his eyes moved across the letter. “You have ten seconds to explain yourself.”
She reined in the fear flooding her body and forced her voice to remain steady. “That’s a rejection letter from DePaul University, currently slated to be mailed to your little showgirl in Vegas. Which, I’m sure will be the only career she’ll have once her dreams are shattered by not getting accepted to the school of her dreams. Of course, should you complete the job I need done…I’ll make sure that letter reads: Congratulations, you’ve been accepted.”
Stryker felt anger wash over the entire room before the lights went out, plunging her into total darkness. She stilled when she felt his gloved hand close around her throat.
“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t kill you right now,” he growled in her ear.
Even when her body began shaking, Stryker struggled for a deep breath and forced the words between her lips as confidently as possible. “Because if you do, and I don’t check in with the man I have watching her, she’ll meet a very brutal, very violent end. And then you’ll never get to meet her.”
Stryker let loose with a scream when pain exploded in her muscles as she connected with the wall on the other side of the room. A nearly deafening roar cut through the silence, followed by the shattering of glass and the cracking of plastic from near her desk.
Unwilling to lose what little edge she had on him, she crawled to her feet. Every movement she made sent a shock of pain down the backs of her legs, causing lights to dance across the dark room. But somehow, she found the nerve to continue. “I know what you want more than anything in this world, and I can give her to you. I researched her as payment the last time we worked together. This time I’ll actually deliver her. All you have to do is say yes.”
She groaned as the back of his hand cracked hard against her cheek. The force behind the blow sent her to the floor again, where he stepped on her chest, pinning her to the ground.
“Who?”
She shivered as his voice clawed at her from every direction. “Christian Locke. If he’s still alive after tomorrow night, I want you to kill him.”
Silence stung the air as seconds turned to minutes…
“You’ll make sure she’s accepted to DePaul, and then you’ll forget you ever knew me, Stryker. You’re nothing but a whelp, who stumbled across information you should not have. It wasn’t because of your intelligence. It wasn’t because of your skill. It was blind luck. You’re nothing, and next time…I will kill you, whether I get what I want or not.”
Stryker winced and squeezed her eyes closed when the lights came back on. She knew he was gone, but every nerve in her body was still teetering on edge. Slowly, she once again rose to her feet and stared around the room. She’d expected everything to be broken, but it wasn’t. Nothing even looked out place. And if she hadn’t known better, she’d have never believed he’d been in the room.
She carefully moved to her desk then sank down into her chair. She covered her mouth with an unsteady hand and gave herself a moment to calm down. But when that calm finally found her, she realized something very important…
Oktober had meant every word he’d said. She knew it. She felt the warning tapping against her soul like a wayward branch against a window pane. This would be the last time she could use him…the last time he’d allow himself to be used.
It wasn’t until she pulled her hand away from her mouth that she realized she was bleeding. She got up and went into the bathroom across the hall, but cringed as she looked in the mirror. Not only was she bleeding from her nose, but she was bleeding from her ears, too. Her skin had taken on a sickly, pale hue and dark circles curved deep beneath her eyes.
Willing her blood to flush her skin, Stryker smiled when her color came back and the circles disappeared. But as her fear subsided, anger replaced it. She leaned through the doorway. “Someone bring me the phone!” When no one answered, she made her way down the hall and into the living room.
She stopped and couldn’t do anything other than stare down at the floor. Every single one of her Servios was dead, their pale, lifeless bodies scattered across the same Persian rug she’d complained about just minutes ago. It looked as though they’d been scared to death…if that was even possible.
Stryker jumped when the phone rang then quickly crossed the room and picked it up from its place on the table. “Hello?”
“We have a problem,” Thomas growled into her ear.
“What kind of problem?”
“There was a young Spanish girl and a rather large bald man asking questions at the zoo today. I assume the girl is Toni Tutoro, but who’s the man?”
“What exactly did he look like?”
“Hold on.”
Stryker growled at being made to wait. It was a good thing wolves didn’t need to be intelligent to survive in their natural habitat, or Thomas would’ve been dead a long time ago.
“He was tall, bald, had light brown eyes, tattoos, and a deep voice. He said his name was Dominic.”
She nearly dropped the phone. “Tell me this is a joke.”
“It’s no joke. Who is he?”
“The person you just described is Dominic Tutoro, Toni’s older brother, who was also turned by Alexander. He was exiled from Chicago by Locke at least ten years ago.” She stared up at the ceiling. “I don’t understand why he’s here.”
“I take it he’s an unexpected complication?”
Stryker gnashed her teeth together. Dominic Tutoro could be a serious complication, but she wasn’t about to tell Thomas that. She smiled as inspiration struck. “Don’t worry about Dominic. We’re going to change our plans one last time. Has the device been set?”
“Yes, it was taken care of earlier tonight. Why?”
“Tell me something, Thomas, do you like Mexican food?”
“What? What does that have to do with anything?”
Stryker shivered with anticipation. “Ready the rest of your pack and meet me in the alley in two hours, Thomas. We’ll be taking the city of Chicago tonight.”
Chapter 22
“No, I haven’t seen anyone like that. Sorry.”
Toni sighed as one of the male patrons of Cyberz offered her an apologetic smile, and then walked away. No one outside the club had seen anything. She’d talked to at least fifteen different people and the only person they all seemed to know was Stryker. And for some inexplicable reason…they all adored her.
“Nobody in there knows a damn thing,” Dominic growled as he burst through the front doors. “It’s like talkin’ to a herd of fucking Emo cows.”
“No one out here knows anything either. I knew it’d be a stretch, but I hoped maybe someone might have seen something.”
“All right,” Dominic said as scanned the sidewalk, “let’s get out of here. These people with the shiny pants are pissing me off.”
“Is it the people or do you have something against shiny pants?”
He shoved her, hard. “You really wanna start this again?”
Toni shoved him back. It felt so good to have her brother back, even if he was a perpetually angry person. Having him so close didn’t erase the pain she still felt over losing the rest of their family, but he did help ease it.
“I wanna stop back at the hotel before we check out the alley. I wanna take another look at that fuckin’ dog bite report and see if there’re any other places bites have gone up, even a little.”
She nodded at him. “Okay, I’ll meet you there.”
Dominic grinned. “How ‘bout you race me there?”
“Oh, you’re dead meat!” she yelled as she bolted for her car.
He wasn’t far behind her though, and when he caught up to her, he pushed her out of the way and passed her.
“Hey! This is not a contact sport!”
He smiled then showed her his middle finger. “It is when I play.”
When Toni finally made it to her car, she started it with the flick of her wrist then tore out of the parking lot. Unfortunately, her brother was already way ahead of her.
She cringed every time she watched him weave in and out of traffic. The last thing she wanted was for him to get in an accident, especially with how fast he was going. If he did, he’d have to play injured and let the paramedics take him to the hospital.
But that wasn’t the bad part…
The bad part was that when he got there and they started running tests, he’d be breaking the Veil. The results would say that the blood in his body was dead, and that his tissues were too. Then there’d be a bazillion questions she couldn’t even begin to answer.
She frowned at the thought. Then she’d lose the only family member she had left…and her home. She was almost positive that Christian would hold anything Dominic did while he helped her investigate the wolves against her final score.
Toni blew out a long sigh of relief when Dominic’s car barreled into the hotel’s garage. After she parked, she got out of her own car then went to where he leaned back against his. “You drive like a maniac!” She punched his shoulder. “You could’ve killed someone!”
“What, that? Shit, that was nothing. I can do a lot more damage with my hands than I can with this damn car. Fuckers would be a lot luckier if all I did was run them over.”
“We seriously need to talk about your attitude when this is all over with, Dom. You have some serious anger issues…”
“I know, but you love me anyway,” he said as he put his arm around her and walked her towards the lobby.
She rolled her eyes. He was right though, she did love him anyway. She just wished he wasn’t so mad all the time. For as happy as she was to have him back, she also hurt for him. Something awful must have happened to make him this way, because from what she could remember he wasn’t like that when they were kids.
Toni pushed her thoughts aside. She could talk to Dominic about everything else later. Right now, she had to figure out what Stryker was up to.
“How are we ever gonna prove Stryker’s guilty?” she asked.
“Investigations aren’t always easy, Toni. And you never get all the info fast. We’re just gonna have to keep digging.” He smiled down at her. “Come on, let’s go upstairs and look at the reports. I’m bettin’ there are other areas of town that’ve seen more bites than normal. The wolves ain’t just staying at the zoo or Stryker’s place.”
“You’re probably right. Oh, and if I didn’t say it before, thanks for helping me.”
He pulled her tighter against him. “You’re welcome.”
When they stepped into the lobby, Toni smiled at Robert, who stood behind the desk again. “Hi, Robert.”
He looked up then smiled. “Well, hello siblings!”
She smacked the back of Dominic’s shoulder. “Go ahead and go up, I’m gonna chat with Robert for a second.”
When he nodded then headed for the elevator, she collapsed into the chair in front of the desk. “So how’s your night going?”
“My night is going very well, thank you. However, you, my dear, appear to be rather frustrated.”
“It’s this damn investigation. It seems like everything either leads to some kind of dead end or doesn’t give us the any of the proof we need to take to Christian.”
“Is there anything I can help you with?”
She shook her head. “I don’t even know where I am.”
Robert smiled down at her. “Christian often says the same to me when things get busy for him. If you think this is frustrating, you should sit at his desk for a day.”
Toni tilted her head to look up at Robert. “You know, I never thought of it that way. I bet he has a lot going on all the time.”
He nodded. “Sometimes it seems as though there is something every single minute, of every single hour, of every single day.”
“So how does he do it without ripping his hair out?”
“Well, it’s not his hair that takes a beating. More his heart, if you want my honest opinion.”
“His heart?” she asked. “Why would it be his heart?
Robert looked around the lobby before he focused back on her. “Christian’s position dictates that he’s responsible for keeping the Veil intact in this city. And that means he’s constantly fixing other vampires mistakes. Be it a feeding accident or a spectacular action sequence fit for only Hollywood,” he said then added a wink. “Much like you, Christian also has a darker side, and sometimes it’s very difficult for him to think or feel human when he spends so much of his time attempting to hide things from them. And the older he gets, the more difficult it becomes.”
Toni lowered her eyes to the intricately designed marble floor.
She knew Robert was talking about her on the ‘Hollywood’ part. She’d never really thought about how much Christian had to deal with as the Lord. Between the newspapers, television, cell phones and all the technology, it had to be hard to keep everything under control so that no humans found out about vampires.
And then to have someone like her go running around absorbing bullets…she was lucky Christian didn’t have someone track her down and kill her. Not that she would have blamed him if he had. If she was the one in charge, she probably would have.
“Toni, you’re not the only action star this city has seen. Please don’t think I was speaking solely of you.”
She shifted her gaze back to him. “I know it’s not just me, Rob. I guess I just never thought about what Christian has to deal with. I bet it’s not as easy as it looks from the outside.”
“To most of the younger generations, it does look very easy. However, I can tell you from experience that it isn’t.” He stared down at the desk as sadness crossed his face. “I’ve been with Christian for a very long time, and sometimes it hurts to see how cruel he can be. But in the end, it hurts him even more. Sometimes he scarcely reminds me of the young man I met so long ago.”
When Robert’s voice faltered, Toni got up and went around the desk to hug him. She hadn’t even considered how difficult it must be for Christian, let alone Robert.
He held onto her for a few minutes before he pulled back from her. “Please excuse an old man and his ramblings.”
“It’s okay,” Toni said as she patted his arm. “I can tell it bothers you. I never really thought about how everything that happens in Chicago might affect the way Christian sees the world. Or you.”
Robert rested a warm hand against her cheek. “Promise me you’ll never stop being you.”
She wrinkled her nose. “What do you mean?”
“You are a remarkable young woman, Toni. Your compassion and your heart defy the very nature of what you are. As much as I feel loss for what Christian has become, I also recognize it was the road he chose to walk. But I don’t know if my old heart could take seeing you become anything other than who you are now.”
Eternal Hearts Page 31
