by R E Mullins
She was unable to stop the watery chuckle when John muttered, “After that first blowout—of volcanic proportions—let’s just say all his clothes and most of mine are in the trash bins behind the supercenter.”
Not long after, her worn out little boy drifted off in the king-sized guest bed where Joann would join him later. Lightly brushing soft strands of baby-fine hair off his forehead, she smiled in relief. Somehow her child had gotten through this mess without being traumatized. Her mouth twisted a little ruefully. Again she had John to thank for that miracle.
He was the key to their salvation. Without him, she would still be Sabriento’s prisoner and chew toy while on her way to an even worse fate with the Toltecs. Everyone would think she’d abandoned Cody. God, wasn’t that an unbearable thought? What if the authorities couldn’t find Bobby? She swallowed at the thought of them making her baby a ward of the state.
Stop making yourself crazy, she sternly told herself. She and Cody were in a well-appointed home, well fed, and would sleep in a clean bed. Admiringly, she ran a hand over the expensively soft linens and tried not to contrast them with the stiff and scratchy sheets currently on her bed at home.
How could she ever thank John for upending his life to rescue her while keeping her baby safe and happy at the same time? No matter how dangerous he looked, the big vampire did turn into a pile of goo where her boy was concerned. Gently stroking Cody’s back, she wished she could settle as well as her son. The plush bed called to her, and she felt drained beyond measure. Her body ached to lay down, but she couldn’t seem to remain still for any length of time.
Worry forced her to get up and pace even though her calf muscles trembled weakly. The first leg of each circuit took her through the sitting area where John and Justin were talking. She’d head to the windows overlooking the broad sweep of land, checking the virgin snow cover for any blemishing footprints. After that, she checked each door lock before returning to the bedroom where her son snoozed contently.
She lost track of how many of the weary loops she made until she entered the living room to find it dark and empty. Even without the lamp on, her feet knew the way, and she trudged over to the window. One day she’d like to stand there when the only thing on her mind was an appreciation for the beauty of moonlight glistening like tiny diamonds off the freshly fallen snow.
Instead, she searched the flawless white cover for a dark, sinister shadow. How long until Sabriento found them here?
“How can I help?”
The quiet voice coming out of the dark startled her already shredded nerves. With a muffled cry, Jo whirled around. Knocking her funny bone against the pane of glass in the process, she grabbed her elbow to rub the sore spot. Since it had been John’s voice, she weakly said, “Ouch.”
He turned the table lamp on low. Then rising, he approached cautiously with his empty hands held palms forward. Outwardly his demeanor was relaxed, his tone reassuring, but she didn’t think he was either.
“Justin went out to look around and get more wood. It’s just me.”
“I see that now.” Her heart, which had seemed to stop, began beating again with painfully hard strokes. “You scared me.”
“I got that.” John’s smile was reassuring. “I’m sorry.”
“Why were you sitting in the dark?” Joann accused as he reached her side. “I’m sorry. I’m just tense.”
“I know. I’ve been watching, and you’re wound tighter than a spring. But there was a longer than usual space between your last trip up and down the hall.” He shrugged “I hoped you’d finally worn yourself out enough to sleep.”
“Oh.” She’d paused for another potty break. “I can’t seem to stop.” The quavering admission spilled out before she could stop herself. She hated the pity in his expression.
“How can I help?” He repeated.
“I don’t know,” she whispered. “I can’t stop thinking—”
“That the other shoe is about to drop,” John finished, proving he did understand what was messing with her head. When he held out his arms, Joann found herself going into them.
“Listen. Justin and I are taking turns keeping watch. You and Cody are as safe as we can make you.”
“I know,” she mumbled into the front of his shirt. “Thank you.”
“I swear as long as I live, he won’t touch you again.” The fervor in John’s voice shook and calmed her at the same time.
“I don’t understand why you’re doing all of this for us.”
“I’ll tell you all about it later.” Touching his lips to the top of her head, he murmured against her hair, “Right now you need sleep. Cody is going to wake up fresh and raring to go.”
That was true. “Maybe if you bash me in the head I can shut down for a little bit.”
“Let’s try something a little less brutal.” Taking her by the hand, John drew her down the hall and into the guest room where Cody slept. Pulling back the covers, he placed a hand on her back to guide her onto the bed, and she slid into the middle of the mattress. Curving her front to Cody’s back, John mimicked the position behind her.
At first, her body stayed rigid, but he did nothing more than slide the flat of his warm palm up and down her arm. Soothing her with that slow motion until her muscles relaxed one by one.
And, before she knew it, she slept.
Chapter Eight
The moment the hand touched the doorknob, John came instantly awake. His fingers closed around the stake he had secreted under his pillow after Joann had finally slept. Lifting his head, he waited to see if friend or foe would enter.
“It’s me,” Justin warned, using such a low register that only another vampire would be able to hear him.
His friend was right to be careful before poking his head into the room, John thought. He’d been ready to stake first and ask questions later. Frowning with concern, he got up and joined Justin in the hallway. Something was up for the meticulously proper vampire to intrude on his guests’ privacy. One look at the other vampire’s face said the news was indeed bad.
The moment the door shut behind him, Justin uttered two words, “Perimeter breach.”
“Sabriento?”
“Could be.”
John headed to the end of the hall before whipping out his cell phone to call his commander.
“Leto,” the voice was clipped.
“I recovered Michaela Blautsauger’s assistant from Sabriento and brought both her and her kid to Stefka’s place for safe keeping,” John responded with equal brevity. “Now there’s a perimeter breach. I’m requesting backup. It’s highly likely Sabriento is out there.”
Commander Leto’s unexpected reply left John dumbfounded.
“What?” Justin demanded as John replaced the phone in his pocket.
“Some heavy stuff is going down.” John shook his head with patent disbelief. “Remember me telling you how Michaela Blautsauger decided to head for Toltec territory?”
“Looking for some plant?” Justin nodded. “Foolish of her.”
“Seems no one has heard from her or Seth Whitehead, the human detective they sent to retrieve her.” Concern edged John’s voice.
Justin frowned. “That is troubling. Whitehead’s a good man. If anyone could extricate her—it would be him.”
“Gets worse.” John motioned for them to move further away from the closed bedroom door. “Have you heard of Usiri?”
Justin seemed to briefly hesitate before admitting, “Yeah, I know about him. He heads up the Nosferatu spy agency Orcus.”
“According to Leto, he’s been selling us out. Usiri not only caused the death of several Orcus agents, but he and Mateo Osvaldo have been secretly working together.”
The two vampires shared a look of dismay. This was extremely unnerving news for any Nosferatu. The Toltecs and the head of the secretive Orcus Agency, Usiri, made for a dangerous combination.
“Leto’s on his way to Mexico with almost all of the Enforcement detail and all available Orcus agen
ts. Evidently, Usiri betrayed one of his own, and he’s taken the agent to the Toltec compound in Mexico—”
Justin cut in to demand, “Which agent?”
That Justin had followed his convoluted explanation without further clarification told John his friend was more versed in current affairs than he’d first thought. If Justin knew the secret operants by name, the older vamp might, in fact, be better informed than he was.
“Donel.” John wasn’t sure what reaction he expected, but he felt a little down when Justin simply nodded. Part of him wanted his old mentor to ask “Donel who?” so he could say, “The enormous guy with the Irish accent,” just to show he was in the loop too.
“So we’re on our own.” The cell phone in Justin’s hand chimed softly, and he read the code.
“The intruder has crossed into another quadrant.” When Justin looked up from his phone, he appeared more angry than worried. “This one is within a hundred feet of the house. Doesn’t give us much time to decide how to handle this.”
“You know the layout here better than me,” John said even as he mentally sorted through several approaches. “Can you pinpoint his location?”
“Infiltration point was next to the river. I suspect he came in through the Nature Center. Now he’s skirting the edge of the field while staying as close as possible to the tree line.”
Their eyes met in a silent communication.
“I suggest we leave via the front and go in opposite directions around the house to flank his ass,” John finally said and Justin’s grin told him that they were on the same page.
****
The plan went off without a hitch. In a relatively anticlimactic fashion, John and Justin came up on either side of Vincent as he attempted to break into a back window.
“Look at this,” John drawled. “I thought I heard a rat gnawing at the glass.”
The traitor started violently before freezing. Turning to face John, he sneered, “Alden. So it was you. I want her back.”
“Well, that’s where we have a problem.” John scratched his chin, dislodging the snow collecting on the stubble there. “You can’t have her.”
“What do you want with her?” Vincent’s eyes narrowed with suspicion, and then his gaze took on a knowing gleam. “She’s tasty, but too skinny for me.”
John jumped forward so suddenly the traitor stumbled back, cringing in the face of John’s wrath, and ramming into Justin behind him.
Vincent’s head jerked around to see what he’d hit. “Stefka, since when do you get involved in politics?”
“You’re on my land.” Justin’s tone was as wintry as the air. “I get involved when needed, although I don’t consider it political to help a human woman. Neither do I have any tolerance for vampires like you.”
Twisting away from Stefka, Sabriento sidestepped while palming a stake. He swung the gleaming point at John’s chest. Alden managed to dodge and plowed his fist into those crazy blue eyes.
Surprisingly, or, John decided, maybe not, the coward fell to the ground, holding his face and sobbing like a broken child. “Don’t hurt me. Don’t hurt me.”
Perhaps that’s why, in the end, neither John nor Justin could stomach killing him.
“So what do we do with him while Leto’s out of town?” John grumbled as he secured Vincent with a set of ferronium cuffs that Stefka had brought outside with him.
“We’ll think of something.” Justin glanced at the lightening sky and then back down at the bound vampire. “Too bad I never put in that dungeon.”
John perked up. “That gives me an idea.” Rifling through Sabriento’s pockets, he found his car keys and handed them up to Justin. “Get his Ferrari.”
Fifteen minutes later, John and Justin found themselves expending more effort to finagle the bastard into the cramped trunk of his auto than they had to capture him in the first place.
“This is ridiculous,” John swore when Sabriento kicked him in the head.
Justin smirked. “Might try keeping your face away from his feet.”
“Nice,” John grumbled as he grabbed Vincent’s legs. “What great advice.”
Everything, he decided a few sweaty moments later, had been worth it to see the traitor bent like a pretzel. Murderous fury glared from his pale eyes highlighted above the gag in his mouth.
John didn’t feel an ounce of pity for the violent sociopath either. He’d lost too many friends at the traitor’s hands. “Comfortable?” he asked with mock concern. “Might as well get used to it because this is going to be your coffin, bitch, and we’ve got the ideal spot to bury you in.”
His hand rested on the trunk lid, ready to shut away the vamp who’d harmed so many—the one who’d hurt Joann—when he realized something was wrong. Turning to the waiting Justin, he said, “Keep an eye on him. I’ve got to get Joann. She needs to see this.”
Justin frowned thoughtfully. “Sure that’s a good idea?”
“I think it is.” In fact, John was completely sure. “Closure. You know? If she doesn’t see him go down, she’ll be jumping at shadows for the rest of her life.”
That seemed to strike a chord within Justin. His face cleared, and without further objection, he gestured toward the house. “Get your woman then.”
As John ran, he thought over Justin’s words, Get your woman, and decided they sounded just right.
****
“Nother minute,” Joann muttered a little crankily as sleep held her tightly in its grip. Her eyes refused to open even as her arm was lightly shaken again. “Mama needs one more minute.”
“Wake up, Jo,” John whispered directly into her ear. “You can come back to bed right after you see this.” The deep masculine voice where she’d expected her son’s high boyish one jerked her awake. Flying up off the pillow, she clonked their skulls together in the process.
Holding her aching head, she immediately rolled over to check on Cody. Once reassured her baby was fine, she pulled her body out from under the warm covers. Gasping as her bare feet touched the cold floor, expecting the worst, she went to him.
“He’s here?” She asked unsteadily.
“Yeah,” he whispered. It was the answer she feared most. Clutching John’s arm, she listened as he hastened to reassure her. “We got him. Will you come? I think you ought to see this.”
When she unquestioningly nodded, he plucked her up into his arms, and carried her down the hall through the great room to the bay windows. Setting her on her feet, he reached back to pluck a soft throw off the back of the couch and placed it around her shoulders before pointing outside at the Ferrari. “There.”
Justin must have been watching for them. For at their appearance, he raised Sabriento’s head up by the hair so Joann could get a good look at his face. She huddled closer to John as he explained what had happened.
“He’s bound with vampire proof ferronium cuffs.” John signaled Justin with his hand. “He’s going to a place he can’t escape from, but it might be a bit brutal for you to watch. Are you up for this?”
Joann straightened her shoulders. The monster had not only hurt her, but had boasted about how much he enjoyed hunting and killing humans. “Yes.”
John sent Justin a thumb’s up, and Justin pushed the cruel vampire down into the trunk and slammed the lid shut.
Joann tugged at John’s sleeve to get his attention, “You aren’t burying him alive, are you?”
“It will be his prison unless we send someone to fish him out.”
They watched as Justin climbed into the driver’s seat and started the engine. Revving the engine, he let it roar like a horse chomping at the bit before the race. Then he threw the Ferrari into gear, and slipping and sliding over the icy ground, he sped for the river.
Since she couldn’t see that far in the dim light, Joann asked John what was happening. He softly narrated, “The car’s just gone airborne off the edge. There he is. Justin bailed, and he’s safe on the ground. Wow, it just hit the water.”
As he vividly des
cribed the scene, he stepped behind her and wrapped both arms around her waist. “The Ferrari’s sitting on top of the surface. It looks like a boat, but with the door open it’s taking on water. There it goes. It’s going under…it’s gone.” John sighed. “What a waste of an excellent sports car.”
“He won’t drown?”
“Being immersed will ruin the car, but won’t kill the bastard,” John said, and she thought he sounded regretful about both things. “Getting water in our lungs is painful—as it is for anyone—but we don’t drown. Physically, all that will happen to him down in his watery cell is that he’ll go into a type of stasis. And since only the three of us know where he is, he’ll stay there until we retrieve him.”
“I’ll never tell,” Joann announced with a note of finality.
Looking up, she found John intently watching her. His gaze lingered on her mouth in a way that said he was thinking about kissing her, and she discovered she was all for the idea. That’s why she felt so let down when he didn’t follow through.
Stepping away from her, he said, “If you decide to go back to the lab, I’ll babysit. I don’t think your neighbor is up to the job.”
“Wh-what?”
“I, well, I want to stick around. I want a place in your lives.”
“By babysitting?”
“Any way you’ll have me.”
“Oh, John,” she murmured. This time it was her arms that wrapped around his waist. Resting her head against the solid warmth of his chest, she assured him. “I want you to stick around too.” She knew she ought to leave things there. After all, they’d only known each other less than forty-eight hours. Curiosity got the better of her. “How would that work with us?”
“You being human and me vampire?” John kissed the top of her hair. “If things progress…I mean if you ever want to…an actual relationship…there are ways.”
“You mean you can turn me into a vampire?” The lines between Joann’s eyes deepened as she considered the idea. It ought to be abhorrent to her, and yet her mind wasn’t dismissing the idea out of hand. “What about Cody?”
