by Jess Haines
After stumbling to catch my balance, I skittered around Mouse, who was staring up at me with an expression I couldn’t read. Her guard waved his gun at me, and I moved faster, ducking into Royce’s bedroom.
He slept on, of all things, a futon. A big futon, true, but a futon nonetheless. The sheets were rumpled, and it made me wonder if he’d left it that way when he got up, or if it was from the vampires dragging that girl in the blue shirt out of it. Before they dragged her out, what would she have been doing there? Waiting for Royce to come home and slide into bed with her maybe? I hadn’t given much thought about whether all of a male vampire’s “equipment” worked after they were turned, but–
No. That was quite enough of that train of thought.
Any other time, I might have been more interested in examining this most private part of his home to see if I could get more insight into the man. Instead, I hurried into the ridiculously large bathroom. The floor was slick marble and there was a shower and tub that looked big enough to host a party.
I pulled my jacket aside to examine where Mouse had clutched at me, grimacing at the feel of a forming bruise at my waist. To my surprise, she’d tucked a cell phone into the belt. In all the confusion, I hadn’t noticed.
Why would a mute vampire have a cell phone? Whatever the reason, I wasn’t going to question this fortunate turn of events. Mouse was unbelievably sly to have thought of pulling that stunt right in front of Max’s men. I wouldn’t waste the opportunity she’d given me.
First, I turned the water on to cover my actions. Next, I opened the phone and put it on silent mode. Scrolling through a long list of contacts, I found Royce’s name and tapped out a quick message.
THIS IS SHIA. I’M AT YOUR HOUSE BY CENTRAL PARK. JOHN BETRAYED US– MAX HAS THE HOUSE AND YOUR PEOPLE. PLANS TO KILL US BOTH. BE CAREFUL.
Hopefully, this would give him enough time to round up the cavalry. It didn’t take long before a reply message popped up.
ALMOST DONE WITH THE POLICE. THEY KNOW IT WAS MAX AND HIS PEOPLE. I’LL BE THERE AS SOON AS I CAN.
I never thought I’d say this, but thank God Royce was coming to the rescue.
Tears of relief stung my eyes. I couldn’t let them fall, though. To keep the guards from catching on, I shoved the phone in my pocket and buttoned up the jacket so they couldn’t see any telltale lumps. Next, I rinsed my hands and face. In addition to the shallow scratches on my wrist, there was blood on my fingers from touching the dance floor earlier to wash off. Gross.
When I walked back out, I headed quietly to the chaise, settling down on the cushion. Mouse was back to pacing, the guards had resumed their bored expressions and posts at the door, and most of Royce’s people had retreated to the far corners of the room. One of them stumbled closer to sit by me, his expression dull and shocked. There was some dried blood at the corner of his mouth. Max must have bound him, too.
“Are you okay?” I asked, unnerved he’d come so close but didn’t bother to say anything. He turned to look at me, his eyes a pale seawater green, peering out from behind a few stray tendrils of shoulder-length brown hair. He was barefoot in jeans and an unbuttoned white shirt, leaving a good portion of his chest and stomach bare to view. He was lean, his skin littered with scars, and I tried not to stare.
“Yeah. Yeah, I’ll be okay. Are you with that … that guy?” His voice didn’t match his appearance. It was deep, rumbling, like Tiny’s or Chaz’s. It seemed out of place on that slender, wiry frame.
“I’m unwillingly along for the ride.” I turned away to watch Mouse pace instead of staring into those dull, injured eyes.
“Did he kill Alec?”
I started at that, not badly, but enough to make him really look at me instead of stare through me. “No. He wants to, but no, he hasn’t killed him.”
Hope lit his features, at odds with the blaze of red in his irises and flicker of fangs visible when he whispered, “He’ll save us. He’ll kill them all.”
I suppressed a shudder and nodded, looking away again.
After a little while, some of the other vamps and their toys came to join us, gingerly settling down on the cushions like a flock of nervous birds ready to take flight at any moment. Most of them kept their distance from me. It was weird to see the vampires protectively holding people against them. It was even weirder to see the people clinging to them in return.
The only one who never sat down was Mouse. All she did was pace, endlessly following a circuit, back and forth, back and forth. The most unnerving thing about it was that she was utterly silent. Those leather boots she was wearing didn’t make a single sound against the polished hardwood.
After a while, I shut my eyes so I wouldn’t have to watch Mouse or see all the helpless tears or the agonized expressions of the vampires.
I must have drifted off. It startled the hell out of me when I felt a hand close on my upper arm and drag me roughly to my feet. I started reaching for one of the stakes or a gun, but my jacket was buttoned closed, hiding and blocking easy access to my weaponry. Peter shook me a little until I straightened up. That had me more pissed off than afraid. Like John, I would make sure he paid in spades for all he had done.
Peter didn’t pay me any mind, dragging me behind him toward the door. Mouse rushed forward, but when the guards trained their guns on her, she halted. He shot her a warning glare and a few terse words.
“Max told you to stay put.”
She looked like she would’ve screamed if she could have. Her hands moved in abrupt, angry gestures. Though I didn’t understand sign language, it wasn’t hard to figure out that she was venting her frustration. I tried to give her as encouraging a look as I could, to let her know as covertly as possible that I’d found the phone and contacted Royce. I’m not sure if she got it, as she kept gesticulating at us.
The guy with the seawater green eyes rose up to put his arm around her. He whispered something to her until she relaxed, sagging against him.
I had more pressing concerns. Namely, Peter dragging me out of the room. I contemplated using my new strength to break his fangs and pound his face into pulp, but until Royce got here, I shouldn’t tip my hand too soon. Whatever it was that kept me from thinking bad thoughts about Max didn’t do a damned thing to make me feel less vindictive toward Peter or John.
“You know, if you asked nicely, I might just follow you,” I snarled at him.
He grunted in response, not bothering to look at me. I almost tripped on the stairs, finding it awkward to follow him this way. He ignored my blunt curses all the way down to a fastidiously clean cellar where Max, John, and a couple of other vampires were waiting.
Peter yanked me around and shoved me forward. I braced myself, catching my balance, and whirled with a snarl to punch him.
The hit never connected. Max caught my arm mid-swing, and it stopped me so abruptly I nearly ended up on my knees. It was like having a band of iron wrapped around my wrist. Peter looked as surprised as I felt.
“That’s enough,” Max said, the harsh command in the words unmistakable.
I gathered my balance with as much dignity as I could muster, slowly straightening my back and loosening my muscles, letting my fingers uncurl out of the fist. Max didn’t release my wrist until the tension left me. I rubbed the place where he’d grabbed as surreptitiously as possible. No doubt there would be a bruise there come morning.
Putting a hand on my shoulder, Max guided me to the others, continuing the thread of whatever conversation we’d interrupted.
“In your estimation, would it be better to leave her here as bait or bring her in as a distraction later?” Ah, I just love it when people talk about me like I’m not even there.
John shrugged, eyeing me thoughtfully. “Probably better to use her as a distraction than as bait. If you rough her up, it might make him angry. If he gets angry, he’ll make mistakes.”
I pointedly mouthed you are so dead at him, knowing Max would miss the murderous look. John’s eyes widened and I felt
Max tense, sensing I’d done something I shouldn’t have. Maybe I should’ve been more lovey-dovey distracted by Max, but, for some reason, watching him murder an innocent girl right in front of me took the sparkle out of the relationship. His touch felt as warm and inviting as before, but I no longer felt the desperate urge to lean into it or please him. Maybe I was getting used to the bond.
Yeah, and next maybe winged monkeys would fly out of my butt.
John backed up a pace, putting some distance between us. “She’s a tough-willed little bitch. Maybe you should lock her up, away from the others. Mouse or somebody else up there might be trying to help her somehow.”
Max’s fingers tightened on my shoulder. I leaned into his touch. Not so much because I wanted to, but because I thought it might help the illusion that I was deeply under his power. All I needed to do was keep in mind that looking into his eyes was a bad, bad idea, and I should be fine. The belt dimly concurred with me.
“You may be right. Have you fed tonight, John?”
What was with the sudden shift in topic? John shook his head, looking just as confused by the question as I felt.
“Let’s test the theory then.” Uh-oh. That didn’t sound good. “Shiarra, pull up one of your sleeves and let John get a taste of you.”
For the love of all that’s holy, would nothing go my way tonight? I could either do as he commanded and keep up the ruse, or I could refuse him and end up forced into it anyway. I couldn’t think of the right words to say to deflect the command while still making him think I was thoroughly, hopelessly under his influence.
My phobia of being bitten made me hesitate too long. Max laughed, though whether it was my indecision or the others’ astonishment he found funny wasn’t quite clear. His hands slid down to hold my upper arms, pinning them tightly at my side.
“Well, that answers that question. You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you?”
“Damn, you got me.” I fell back on sarcasm, as I am wont to do when stressed, pissed, tired, and generally in fear of my life. Call it my form of denial. “Does this mean I don’t get the award for best actress?”
His grip tightened, squeezing until I voiced an involuntary gasp. “No, you won’t be getting any awards. Peter …” His attention shifted, though he didn’t come anywhere close to loosening his grip. “Peter, hold on to her for me, will you?”
I was abruptly stumbling forward, shoved into Peter’s arms. I didn’t bother fighting since I knew Max had the speed and strength to catch me even if I got away from Peter. Instead, I went limp, figuring if I played it up like I was defeated for the time being, it might make them more careless of me later.
“How long ago did Alec leave the police station?”
I stiffened. That news concerned me intimately. John answered, glancing down at the watch on his wrist.
“I got a call twenty minutes ago. He should arrive within the next half hour or so.”
“Excellent. Everyone is in place?”
“Yes. I’ll lead him down here when he arrives.”
Max nodded, a grim smile on his lips. I didn’t like that look at all. Especially when he moved to the table and ran his fingers along the same sword he’d used against Mouse, still coated with her blood. I hadn’t noticed it until then, mostly because I was more interested in glaring daggers at John and Peter than paying attention to the details about the room.
I made it a point to examine the place now. The basement ran the length of the house and was nothing but wide open space, with a little furniture and some boxes scattered here and there. The floor was plain cement, giving it a cold, damp feel. There were a couple of paint cans and a tool box on a low shelf, some gardening tools off in a corner, and a washer and dryer tucked away in a niche under the stairs. The walls were a featureless, whitewashed expanse, save for the doors set at each point of the compass in the four walls. I imagined they must lead to the tunnel systems Royce used to make his way around the city to his businesses.
All in all, it looked like a good, empty space for the elders to duke it out. I wondered where the rest of Max’s men were hiding, because I had no doubt he was willing to play dirty and would use them to overrun the place as soon as he had Royce trapped down here.
I prayed it wouldn’t be much longer. I wasn’t sure my nerves would survive the next half hour alone with these people.
Chapter 31
An hour and fifteen minutes later, Royce still hadn’t showed up. Max was glaring daggers at John. Made me wonder if any revenge I later visited on Royce’s turncoat flunky would be moot.
To keep from worrying about Max turning his attentions on me, I stayed still and quiet, pretending like I was on a really weird surveillance job. Stay still, stay quiet, don’t let the mark know you’re watching and listening. Entertaining thoughts of pounding whatever was left of John into the dust helped pass the time.
“Why would he not be answering his phone?”
John shrugged uncomfortably, not meeting Max’s eyes. “He could be caught in traffic. Or in a no-service zone.”
Max growled something under his breath. I had the sinking feeling he thought he’d been had. There was no telling what he would do to any of us (meaning me) if he thought someone had tipped him off to his rival.
“John? Where is everyone?” Royce called from somewhere upstairs.
I didn’t realize how tense I’d been until I heard his voice. As much as I wanted to relax and let relief wash over me, I couldn’t give him away. His puzzlement sounded natural, a better act than I’d ever been able to put on.
One of Peter’s hands slapped over my mouth before I could call out a warning, his arm tightening around my waist as he pulled me back to the far side of the room. He hadn’t pinned my arms, so I might be able to go for a weapon once the fight started. I doubted he thought of me as much of a threat. Understandable, considering the only other times he’d seen me, I hadn’t had the hunter’s belt on. I had put up a pretty pathetic fight in those handcuffs.
The other vamps, save for John and Max, came with us, moving with that eerie silence I attributed to nothing other than the undead.
“Downstairs, Alec!” John called, the vampires beside us leaning forward, readying their weapons.
Max picked up the sword and silently drifted behind the stairs to lie in wait. I squirmed in Peter’s grip, not too hard yet, just enough to be believable. When the time came, I planned on reaching for one of my guns. If I could, I would pull Peter’s hand off my mouth in time to warn Royce. That is, if he needed it. After the text message I sent him, he was no doubt wary of an ambush.
Royce didn’t come all the way down the stairs, leaning over the rail to peer at John. If he looked the other way, he would spot me and the other vamps. Peter’s grip tightened painfully, a warning to be still.
Royce would have to come all the way down to see Max. By then it would be too late. I struggled in earnest and felt Peter hiss an almost silent breath of warning in my ear.
“Where is everybody? What are you doing down here?”
John gestured at one of the boxes behind him so nonchalantly, I might have believed his act had I not been here to see all his plotting earlier. “I was looking for the Talisman of Artemis. Since you’re on the hunt, I thought it might be of use. Could you come down here and help me find it?”
I couldn’t see his face, but the amusement in Royce’s voice was clearly evident. “You know I returned the Talisman to Athena. You always were a bad liar, John.”
That’s when all hell broke loose.
I didn’t see him move from the stairs, but suddenly Royce was there, tearing Peter off me and hurling him bodily into Max. It scared the hell out of me when I saw that Max was only a few feet away when Peter slammed into him. He thrust aside the heavily built vampire like a piece of stray newspaper blown his way by an errant wind. Royce met Max mid-stride. He deflected Max’s sword and went for his throat with a hand curled into claws. All of this happened while I was still catching my balance
from being torn out of Peter’s grasp.
There were more people rushing down the stairs and moving to grapple with or shoot at the other vampires in the room. I had time to see a fur-sprouting Chaz bounding in my direction, Tiny and Devon, too, while a few of the vampires who had been with us at the club headed for John. All four doors in the room slammed open, more of Royce’s vampires pouring in with fangs bared and eyes aglow.
Not a bad way to stage a coup. If I hadn’t been so preoccupied, I would have applauded Royce’s tactics.
The rest of Max’s men must have heard the commotion. The room was soon packed with vamps from both sides, screaming, biting, and clawing at each other. Every now and then I could hear gunshots or the explosions of spells, drowning out the other sounds of battle in brief spurts.
The creepiest opponent of all was Dawn. I watched with some astonishment as she flowed gracefully through the viciously clashing bodies around her toward Max’s people on the stairs, her eyes glowing with an eerie greenish radiance. I watched how some of the vampires simply stopped in their tracks when they spotted her, struck deaf, dumb, and blind as she became their universe. With a touch she made them into her guards. I watched in amazement as they turned on those who had a moment ago been their allies, tearing with fangs and claws into any of Max’s vampires who attempted to hurt her.
Well, seeing as everyone else was having so much fun, I decided I might as well join the fray. I unbuttoned my jacket, drawing a stake and gun in one fluid motion. The belt was positively cackling with glee. The warmth of rage swelled up inside me, aching for release.
I gladly let it take me.
My world narrowed down to one target. John was engaged, but Peter’s unmistakable, bulky form was working on escape up the stairs, bodily throwing other vampires out of his way. I noted a huge, furred body tearing apart one of the vampires who had been standing near me, knew it was Chaz, and was further warmed by the chorus of triumphant howls echoing deafeningly across the basement. The pack was here, and it was pissed. Max and Royce were still fighting, looking like nothing so much as solid blurs of force. Max had the advantage of a sword while Royce had none.
