by Susan Hayes
“Fuck off!” Val snarled, and Christoph’s response was a malevolent smile that made her blood run cold.
“I’d rather fuck you, sweet Valentina. And I will, one day soon.”
“That’s never going to happen,” Aedan vowed as he joined her at the window and she felt him reach his arm around her, dragging her back.
“Ah, the dhampir steps out of the shadows at last. Whatever are you doing with the likes of him, Valentina? He’s worse than I am.”
“Aedan has a pulse, and he doesn’t go around killing off my coworkers. Even if he was a serial killer, that would still make him better than you.”
Christoph laughed and stepped back from the glass to make a bow. “At least I don’t pretend to be other than I am. That one was born bad, my dear. Just the way the Brethren likes them. It makes it easier to turn them into killers if they already have blood on their hands.”
The vampire blew her a kiss through the glass, and her stomach turned as she saw the smudges of blood on his fingertips where they’d touched his mouth.
“I’ll come visit you again soon. For now, I have business elsewhere.” He turned his head to sneer at Aedan. “You can’t save her. You can’t save any of them.”
“I’m going to kill you, vampire,” Aedan declared , and Val caught the gleam of his sword reflecting in the glass.
“Not tonight you’re not,” Christoph mocked Aedan, and then he simply disappeared. Between one heartbeat and the next, Christoph vanished, leaving them alone once more. Val turned and ran for the door, intent on getting to Ingrid. She needed to know if the other woman was truly dead, or if she’d suffered. Her promise to stay inside was forgotten until she slammed into Aedan’s body as he rushed past her to put himself between her and the door.
“No!” he told her, and the arms wrapped around her were like bands of steel.
“Let me go damn it! He’s gone! I need to go out there!”
“He’s not gone, Val. He’s waiting for you to do something stupid like go out there! I’m not going to give him the chance to hurt you, so forget it!”
She screamed in frustration and lashed out at the only target she had, Aedan. “She’s dead because of me, so don’t you dare call going out there stupid! It’s the least I can do for the poor girl after getting her killed! And you! What else have you been keeping secret from me? What did he mean you have blood on your hands already?”
She glowered at him, their gazes locked as he restrained her. With a howl of fury, she stomped down on his foot and twisted, risking bruises as she tore herself free of his grip and staggered backward to put a few feet between them. Her eyes flicked to the doorway behind him, and he moved to intercept her, growling her name.
She feinted to the left and then dropped her shoulders and lunged to the right. Part of her knew it was pointless, but she needed to try. She had to vent some of the pain and anger she was feeling. If she couldn’t get her hands on Christoph, she’d settle for the man who’d been keeping secrets from her.
Aedan caught her in his arms again, using her momentum against her as he swung her around and slammed her into the nearest wall. Her lungs emptied with a whoosh as his body pressed hard against hers, crushing her against the plaster.
“Stop fighting me!” he ordered her as his hands grabbed hers and he wrenched away the knife she’d still been holding. It fell to the floor with a clatter and spun off down the hall. His fingers gripped her wrists, and he drew her arms up over her head, his body still pinning her to the wall.
“No! You’re the vampire hunter here, so why is that bastard still alive? I mean dead…undead. Whatever he is, he’s still running around killing people I know! If you’d done your job before, Nick and Ingrid would still be alive!” She tried to pull her hands free of his grip, but he was too strong. As his breath warmed her cheek, she turned her face away. She was too angry to even to look at him.
“Are you finished now?”
“No.” She whipped her head around and smashed her forehead into his cheek hard enough she was seeing stars. It worked, though, and she felt his grip loosen as he swore. Val threw her entire weight against his hold and slid free, dropping her arms and then straightening them as hard as she could, pushing him back against the far wall of the hallway.
She made it three steps closer to the door before he caught her again. He grabbed her and spun her around, his shoulder meeting her midsection. As her abused stomach muscles protested, he stood up and locked an arm over the back of her thighs, leaving her upper body dangling upside-down across his back.
“Put me down!” She couldn’t see anything but the taut curve of his ass just below her head, and she reached down and smacked it as hard as she could.
He completely ignored her blow and headed back into the living room, stopping when they were dead center in the middle of the space.
Without a word, he dropped one shoulder and eased her back onto her feet, turning her around so she was facing the window, her back to him. “Now tell me again why you were going outside.”
She stared at the hood of her mangled car. Ingrid’s body was gone. The bastard had taken it with him. “I was…” She trailed off, knowing Aedan had been right to stop her. “He took her?”
“He didn’t want me interfering in another vampire’s creation. If he has the body, there’s no way to stop it from happening.”
“Oh god. So Ingrid…”
“Will be a vampire the next time we cross paths.” Aedan finished her sentence for her.
Val’s heart ached with guilt, and she hung her head. Christoph had won this round. “Is he gone now?”
There was only a brief pause before Aedan nodded. “He’s gone.”
Before she could say anything more, she felt a stinging blow to her ass and Aedan’s voice was in her ear. “That’s for disobeying me and breaking your promise to stay inside.” His hand came down again, and she tried not to jump as he spanked the other cheek. “And that is for the swat you gave me in the hallway.” He smacked her ass a third time, and she snarled in protest.
“What was that for?”
“That was to distract you from feeling guilty over things that aren’t your fault. I need you thinking straight, Val. Christoph likes to play head games. Don’t let him get to you.” She felt his fingers stroke over the curve of her ass, and then he turned her around so she was facing him. “I need you to stay alive, luv. So next time I tell you not to do something, don’t argue.” He bent his head, and his mouth crashed down on hers, almost bruising her with his intensity. Her heart rate soared as she opened her mouth and sucked on his lower lip. She felt his hands curl around her shoulders, and he slanted his lips over hers.
The sound of tearing fabric filled the room, and she realized he’d ripped yet another of her shirts. She tore her mouth from his, raking her teeth over his lower lip as she twisted away from him. “Will you stop doing that? I don’t have an infinite wardrobe!”
“Not a good time to be making demands of me,” he warned her as he finished tearing the shirt off of her, leaving her upper body bared to his gaze.
“My house, my rules! And you still owe me some answers.”
“Not right now,” he told her as he cupped her breasts.
“Yes, right now,” she snapped and swatted his fingers away.
“No.”
“Yes, damn it!”
He let go of her and ran a distracted hand through his hair as his breath hissed out over his teeth. “What do you want to know, Val? Am I a saint? Fuck no. Neither are you. We’re both soldiers. We’re just from different wars. Can I read minds? Sometimes, and not very well at that. Have I read your mind? No. Did I try? Yes. It’s what I do. It’s who I am.” He prowled back and forth across the living room floor, and she could almost see the agitation rolling off of him in waves.
She crossed her arms across her bare chest and asked, “Did you know he was coming here to hunt us down?”
He stopped midstride and stared at her. “You think I flew a
cross the Atlantic to sit back and watch him kill your people?”
“I don’t know anymore. You’ve been lying to me, and he said you’ve got blood on your hands!” She pointed out the window, aware she was yelling now and well past caring. “Someone I knew was killed, and her body was laid out on the hood of my wrecked car like some sick kind of show-and-tell, and I’m having a very bad fucking day! So how about you tell me everything I need to know about you, that bastard vampire outside, and what the hell is happening to me. I just wanted to help people, Aedan. Now I’m getting them killed!”
“Now is probably a really bad time to tell you that you’re fucking sexy when you’re pissed, huh?” He flashed her a quick grin and made his way back to her side, curving his arms around her and drawing her against his chest. “I’m sorry. We’re both having a really bad night.”
Val dropped her head to his shoulder and let out a long, slow breath. “I should call Sin and let him know what’s going on. Then you and I are going to have a talk.” She poked a finger into his chest. “And you are right. Now is not the time to discuss my sex appeal. You were supposed to be intimidated by that display, not turned on.”
He laughed, a low, rumbling vibration that welled up from deep inside him. “It takes more than that to intimidate me. I thought it was kind of adorable.” He hugged her too him for a long minute and then murmured, “Call Sin if you must. But make sure none of them come here or step foot outside for any reason. They’ll just make themselves into a target.”
“Right.” She rolled her eyes at him to convey her opinion of his harping before stepping out of his embrace. “This is not my first rodeo, Aedan. I do know what I’m doing.”
“Sorry, force of habit. Most people in this situation aren’t like you. They’ve usually lost their minds by now.”
“Thanks.” She snagged the cordless phone from its cradle and dialed Sinjin’s cell number. He answered it on the first ring.
“Heath here. You okay, Val?”
“Mostly. Christoph came by. He got one of ours, Sin.”
“I know.” He sighed tiredly and then his tone sharpened. “How’d he get her there so fast though? She was only taken a few minutes ago.”
“That’s not possible. He left a while ago, and he had Ingrid’s body with him.”
“Ingrid?” She heard a muttered string of curses from Sin’s end. “Ingrid went home hours ago. He got two of them, Val. Denise is gone, too.”
“How the hell did he get to Denise? She was supposed to be safe at Paladin!”
“She should have been, but she didn’t stay inside. She snuck out to the parking lot for a smoke break.”
“And we didn’t ward that area because no one from Division S was supposed to go outside.”
“Exactly. We caught it on one of the security feeds. One minute she was there, and then she screamed and vanished.”
Shit.
“Sin, we need to find out how he got to Ingrid.” Val balled her hand into a fist, aching with the need to hit something until she felt better. “She had a thing for Jake, so she probably wasn’t a random target. He’s been watching us more closely than we thought.”
Now it was Sinjin’s turn to swear. “I’ll get on that, and see if I can figure out how the hell he’s been spying on us. Are you really okay, Val? I can send someone out.”
“No, don’t. We’ve already lost two people. I’m sure he’s watching, hoping to snag someone else. I’m fine, relatively speaking. Aedan’s been keeping me safe.”
“Good. I’m not losing any more of my friends over this. I want you in here as soon as the sun is up.”
“Yeah, about that, I’m going to need a ride to work.”
“Why?”
“Christoph trashed my car. The only trip my vehicle is making is to the junkyard.”
“Petty bastard, isn’t he? All right, I’ll send someone over to grab you two come sunrise. And pack a bag. You’re going to be staying on-site from now on. If he’s going after random employees, I’m going to have to start making some phone calls. No one else is going to die if I can help it.”
“Yes, sir.” She hung up the phone after saying her good-byes and put it back in its cradle to recharge.
Aedan was watching her closely, and the moment she turned around, he asked, “What’s this about someone else being taken?”
She filled him in on the details of Denise’s abduction, pacing the room as she talked. Finally she turned and threw up her hands in frustration. “I hate this. I’m not good at waiting.”
“There’s nothing else to do, luv. We’re stuck here until morning.”
“That’s not entirely true. There’s something you and I can do in the meantime.” She walked over to Aedan and wrapped her arms around him. She lifted her face so she could look into his eyes and told him firmly, “We’re going to talk. I don’t ever want that undead bastard to be able to make me doubt you again.”
“Fair enough.” He had her scooped into his arms a second later and carried her back to the couch, settling her into his lap as he sprawled into the overstuffed cushions. “No more secrets.”
Chapter 9
Aedan was doing his best to lock down the dhampir part of his nature, but it wasn’t going very well. Genetic hardwiring had made it almost painful for him to stay put and keep his vow to protect Val instead of going after Christoph. Adrenaline still coursed through his system, and the only thing keeping him from snapping was the memory of Val’s face as she had vented her guilt and hurt at him. She needed him to be calm. Well, as calm as he could manage, given current circumstances. He wasn’t sure he’d ever manage to be truly calm when he had Val half naked and in his arms. She made it hard for him to think straight.
He reached up to smooth an errant lock of hair back behind her ear, and she gave him the softest hint of a smile and said, “All right then, Mr. Doyle. It’s confession time.”
“Confessing all my sins might take more time than we have, especially if you intend for us to get some sleep tonight. How about I give you the abridged version?”
“Just don’t leave out anything I’ll need to kick your ass for later.”
“You’ll likely hear more than you want to,” he warned her and then settled back on the couch, his fingers still stroking her hair. “My mother died right after I was born. She succumbed to massive blood loss from what was reported as a mugging gone bad. She refused to be treated for her own injuries until they’d delivered me, and there wasn’t enough time to save us both. My da blamed me for her death. By all reports he was a bitter, angry bastard before she died. Afterward, he was worse. He had three hobbies, darts, booze, and beating on his only son. I packed up and left home when I was twelve. I figured no matter how bad the streets were, it had to be better than home.”
“Twelve? You were still a baby!” He tried to ignore the pity he could see in Val’s pretty brown eyes. He didn’t need anyone’s pity.
“I was young, but remember, I’m not human.”
“You already had your abilities?”
“We’re born with them. Itty-bitty vampire hunters from the time we take our first steps. The strength and speed ramp up as we age, but we’re freaks from the moment we’re born.”
“You’re not a freak.” Her hand closed around his fingers and squeezed. “If things like Christoph exist, then you’re a much-needed countermeasure.”
“You sound like one of the Brethren’s trainers.”
“You guys have trainers?”
“Trainers, safe houses, globe-trotting hunters like me, and a global network of observers, support staff, and such. They’ve been doing this for more than two hundred years. Imagine a very old, slightly stuffy version of Paladin, only without the military angle.”
“How old were you when they found you?”
“Sixteen. I’d managed to translate my rather unique skills into a lucrative career as a thief.”
“A thief? That’s the best you could think of?” She snorted with undignified laughter.
That was hardly the reaction he’d been expecting.
“Hey, I was twelve. My career options were a bit limited back then.”
“So you didn’t think that perhaps you could have been the greatest soccer player to ever kick a ball?”
“Yeah, I did. But not until I was already making too much money as a thief to give it up. And I’m not even going to discuss sports with you if you keep calling it soccer.”
She stuck out her tongue at him, and the sight sent a surge of blood straight to his cock.
“If you do things like that, I’m going to get very distracted and we’re going to end up doing something other than talking.”
“Not yet.” She squeezed his hand again. “Tell me why he said you had blood on your hands.”
“I ran with a rough crowd. We played hard, and there were times people got hurt. Sometimes I was the one who hurt them. Dhampir are born hunters, and that drive is encoded all the way down to our DNA. I didn’t know what I was or why I was that way, and I didn’t have a clue what I was supposed to be doing with my abilities. It was a struggle, and sometimes things got out of control. Sometimes I got out of control. The Brethren found me because my name kept cropping up in arrest records.” He loosened his arm from around her shoulders, expecting her to withdraw the moment she heard the next words out of his mouth. “I’m a convict. They found me while I was doing time in jail.”
“You were sixteen. You were a kid getting by the only way he could. That hardly makes you a convict.”
He blinked. That wasn’t the usual reaction he got from that confession, especially not from someone who had spent her military career as an MP. The woman in his arms seemed determined to surprise him.
She leaned up and pressed a kiss to his cheek before whispering, “I got suspended for beating the crap out of one of the guys at my high school. He tried to get a little too friendly with my younger sister, and I broke his jaw.” She lifted her head to look at him. “So neither of us was a perfect angel. It’s who we are now that matters, right?”
