Weaken the Knees (The Immortal World Book 6)

by Shannon A. Hiner

  Megan, for her part, was behaving perfectly normal. She moved around the building with stealth, not making a single noise. Faber brought up the rear. He wasn’t completely silent, but nearly. Megan stopped moving abruptly and Rene nearly ran her over. They hissed at each other. Megan shot her a glare before getting back to business. Rene snickered silently, her shoulders twitching. Will had to bite down on his lip to keep from laughing too.

  Putting her head to the wall, Megan closed her eyes and listened. From where he stood, Will could hear the heartbeats within, but not the thoughts or conversations. Not one to be left out, Rene pressed in beside Megan. Without a word, Faber and Will each watched a side of the alley.

  “Why don’t we just go in the way they did?” Rene asked in a low voice.

  Megan hissed under her breath, “Oh yeah, that’s a bloody brilliant idea. Why don’t we just walk in the front door and announce ourselves to the vampire hunters?”

  Will turned, ready to jump in if needed, but the look on Rene’s face stopped him. That cocky smirk said she had everything well under control. In fact, he wouldn’t be surprised to learn she was purposefully baiting Megan. Though to what end, he couldn’t say.

  “First of all, as you well know, they aren’t meeting in the front room. And the only one of us they might recognize is me. Why not sneak someone in? Have a pair of eyes on the inside? How would they know you’re a vampire?”

  “You want to send me?”

  Rene shrugged. “It doesn’t have to be you, but Faber’s a little more obvious. I suppose Will could almost pass for human.” Her dark eyes flicked over Megan’s shoulder and surveyed him briefly, and not in a complimentary fashion.

  “It’s a ridiculous suggestion anyway,” Megan argued. “They may have some other means for determining we’re not human. And in any case, this is obviously the most clandestine of meetings. A stranger would likely be tossed out.”

  Will wasn’t sure what it was, but something about Rene’s demeanor was making him think she wasn’t serious about her suggestion. Was she testing Megan? Baiting her? What was her game?

  A buzzing sound erupted from between the two females and Rene made a face as she reached into her pocket and withdrew her phone. She checked the caller ID before accepting the call. “Kendra, what is it?”

  Every set of vampire ears in the alley could hear the response. “Smart just received a phone call. I was able to listen in. I think Mr. Money Bags might actually be at this meeting tonight.”

  “What makes you think that?” Rene asked.

  “The way Smart spoke to him, very respectful, very brief. Whoever it was said they would be there in five minutes.”

  “Anything else?”

  “I—” Kendra hesitated. It was the first sign Will had heard or seen that she wasn’t made of confidence. “I didn’t like the sound of this guy, Rene. Be careful.”

  “Thanks, K. We’ll see you in a couple of hours.” Rene ended the call and looked around at them.

  Faber crossed his arms and leaned a shoulder against the wall of the building. “Fortune smiles on us.”

  “Does it?” Megan asked, glancing around warily. “This is starting to feel a little too fortunate.”

  Rene looked at them both, then met Will’s eyes. He couldn’t tell if this was one of the rare times she really wanted to know what he thought (it had happened two, maybe three times in the decades he’d known her) or if she was going to do the opposite of what he said . . . as usual. He met her indigo glare silently, willing her to see that he stood behind her. Whatever she decided. Always would.

  “Hadrian gave us one task: Find the money. If Money Bags going to be here tonight, it’s too good an opportunity to pass up. Trap or no trap. Besides, who really thinks these humans could be a match for four vampires of our strength?”

  Grinning, Faber pushed off the wall. “Kendra is going to be so pissed she missed this.”

  Rene rounded on him, holding out one finger. “This is still covert ops, Faber. I want a face and a name for Money Bags. We don’t need a bloodbath on our hands. That would probably just galvanize the other hunter groups. And they might go public.” She motioned to the steel side door a few feet from them. “We’re in, we’re silent, we’re back out. No killing if it can be avoided.”

  Hadrian was a genius, Will decided, watching Rene take charge of the moment. Yes, he’d questioned the vampire leader before in his choice, but seeing her step up to the expectations set, he had to change his mind. Tanner should have pushed responsibility on her years ago.

  “No killing?” Will asked with a small smile. He loved the maturity she was showing, but couldn’t help teasing her.

  Indigo eyes skewered him in place. “If it can be avoided.”

  Megan’s ego was clearly smarting. Crossed arms didn’t hide the clenching of her fists. Taking orders from a younger vampire—an Acrien vampire, at that—seemed to be wearing on her.

  Rene ignored her, ignored Will, and barely nodded at Faber. “Let’s go. Before someone happens across us in this alley.” She closed the distance to the side door and tried the handle. It jiggled but didn’t turn. Pressing her ear against the door, she waited a moment before trying the handle again. With a little more strength. Something inside the hardware audibly broke, a sharp crack then a rattling within, but the door swung open. Rene smirked and, without looking back, signaled them to follow.

  Megan was still pouting as Will moved past her. Perhaps her leaders had sent her here for a reason other than helpfulness. She obviously needed humbling. Rene Kaplan was certainly the right person for the job. She’d been humbling him for at least twenty years.

  Will followed Rene into a dark and silent hall. The tepid air smelled of mildew and industrial floor cleaner. They moved swiftly. Rene seemed to have an idea where she was going, likely based off whatever she and Megan had been able to hear through the walls. He counted turns in the labyrinthine building. Whatever it had been designed for, quick escape wasn’t it. Two rights and a left later, she slowed. Her dark ponytail swung over her shoulder as she glanced back at him and the others, signaling for silence. Will repeated the signal in case either Faber or Megan had missed it. Both vampires nodded back at him.

  He caught the tail end of Rene’s eye-roll as he looked back. Did she think he was trying to supersede her? Will sighed inwardly. With Rene, he was damned if he did and damned if he didn’t.

  Voices ahead were still too far to be clear, but the rise and fall of them reminded Will of something. Rene was practically tiptoeing now. Her boots didn’t make a sound as she slid over the floor, staying close to the walls, nothing more than a shadow. One voice rose above the others. Will recognized it as Stephen Smart’s deep tenor.

  Rene stopped in front of him without notice and he only had a second to pull up short of running her down. She glanced back, no doubt to berate him, but seemed surprised by just how close he’d come. Her dark eyes widened and she froze solid, a rabbit spying a fox. Will took a moment to appreciate the feeling. He was so rarely the fox in their dynamic. Wisps of her dark hair had escaped the ponytail, and they caressed the back of her neck. Whiskey and freesia. He forgot where they were, forgot what they were doing. His head bent closer to the elusive scent of her. All he could think of was the scrape of his teeth over her skin.

  Well? Came Faber’s voice in their heads.

  Rene took a quick half step away from Will, but stopped short of rounding the next bend in the hall. Her nostrils were flared, all attention on him even as she looked away.

  Will was going to kill Faber. Murder him in cold blood and leave his body for the dawn.

  Rene made some hand signals. Honestly, Will missed them. He was busy thinking of all the ways he would make sure Faber never interrupted a moment like that again, and pondering how likely it was a moment like that might ever come around again. Megan and Faber split off, taking a left at the hall and rounding another corner so they were out of sight. Either Rene wanted them to find more exits, or come
up on the other side of the vampire hunters. He wasn’t stupid enough to ask for clarification. They were alone now and she’d likely stake him.

  Hmm, they were alone . . .

  Nope, moment was gone.

  Her glance was arctic as she turned away without even a signal or word to him. Crouching down, Rene turned to the right and disappeared from view. He winced and peeked around the corner after her. A half wall started a few feet away, the room beyond brightly lit and full of humans. He was taller than Rene, and not quite as graceful. Even bending in half, he’d be taller than that wall. This was what he got for overstepping that moment. Retribution was swift and painfully embarrassing. Down on his hands and knees he went, closing the space between them as quickly as possible before she looked back and saw. He would never live this down.

  “My dear friends and fellow hunters,” Stephen Smart’s voice rang out over the half-wall. “We have with us this evening a very special guest. A man who believes in our cause and who has been working with us to find the most effective ways to exterminate the parasitic presence in the world. He is here to speak to you about an amazing opportunity we would like to offer each and every one of you. A true defense against the vampires. I present to you, Mirsad.”

  Rene stopped moving and went to her knees as well. He watched her fists clench and unclench over and over again and wondered, not for the first time, how she was coping with what the human had done to her. She hadn’t seemed one hundred percent herself since the poisoning.

  Her eyes never strayed from Smart as she pressed her back against the wall. Will stopped next to her, leaving about a foot between them. Now was not the time to let himself get distracted by her. He rose up on his haunches to peer just slightly over the wall. Rene opened her mouth in a silent hiss and reached to drag him back down. He wasn’t close enough for her to reach though, and if she moved for him it would cause more of a stir. The left side of his mouth lifted in a smirk, but he ignored her otherwise.

  Over the top of the wall, he saw nearly thirty humans seated in folding chairs, faced away from him and toward the front of the room. Stephen Smart had just stepped to the side and a new man stepped up in front of the crowd. Tall and broad, the stranger had dark hair and an air of sophistication. The sweater and slacks he wore were expensive, designer. He only appeared slightly older than the other leaders of this group, probably in his early thirties.

  “Thank you, Stephen.”

  Beside Will, Rene stiffened.

  “And thank you all. Your being here is a testament to the goodness still in humanity.”

  Will glanced down to find her face frozen in horror, arms crossed over her middle and fingers digging into her skin. A shaking had started in her legs and it was spreading up through the rest of her body. Will forgot about the speaker, forgot about the hunters, forgot about everything else. Ducking down behind the wall again he closed the distance between them.

  “Rene?” he whispered, reaching for her.

  She flinched. It wasn’t the normal brush off she gave him. This came from deep within. Her wild eyes flew to his face and there was no recognition in her gaze. Suddenly she looked so much younger, so fragile and frightened.

  The need to comfort her, quiet her, was overwhelming. He swallowed hard and reached for her again. “Rene, what is it?”

  Her horrified gaze flew to his hand, his fingers, as if they were that of a rotting corpse. The trembling reached her chin. The man they called Mirsad was still speaking, but William heard none of it. He had to get Rene out of there, had to help her, but he was terrified if he touched her she would scream.

  Rene, look at me. Look at me. He tried to make his voice soothing, but there was too much urgency in the moment.

  She was staring at him without seeing him. Whatever she saw—God—if she never looked at him like that again, it would be too soon.

  Do you remember how we met? he tried again. He had to break through. You walked into the record store wearing a Nirvana t-shirt. Do you remember that? Smells Like Teen Spirit. I was in the back of the store. I sensed you the moment you opened the door.

  The shaking abated some, and he kept going, I was in the classical section, but when I saw your t-shirt, I moved over to the alternative and rock. The manager of the store knew you by name. You smiled at him. I was ten feet behind him, but I could have sworn you were smiling at me. You passed me, didn’t even give me a second look, and went straight for Rachmaninoff.

  She squeezed her eyes shut and folded in on herself. I did it on purpose, her voice whispered back to him.

  Will nearly gasped on a relieved laugh. I know. You witch.

  You were about as obvious as a two dollar bill.

  He couldn’t help it, not where she was concerned. Baby, we need to get out of here.

  Don’t call me baby.

  There she was. Thank God.

  She took a deep breath and straightened. She wasn’t completely back; the terror was still in her expression, but so was the spark of her, the anger that defined and filled every move she made.

  Chapter 9

  “Have faith in the good of humanity,” he told their neighbor. “You must always believe in the good of man.” His eyes slid over to her, sitting still and silent across the table. “Wouldn’t you agree, Sarah?”

  She froze in place, afraid to look at him, but more afraid of what would happen later if she didn’t.

  Their neighbor, Mr. Hawkins, didn’t even notice. “But you must admit, Ira. In this day and age it’s dangerous to rely on the good in others.”

  He smiled at Sarah and turned to Mr. Hawkins. “Rely? No. I contend we must believe the best of others, but always be prepared for the worst.”

  Threads of the past were strangling her. Memories and impressions of her human life.

  It couldn’t be. It was absolutely impossible. But that left only one other possibility: She was going insane. It happened. All formerly human immortals had a limit. Only the Fae and the angelics seemed to be exempted from the madness of living too long. Though, one could argue that the Faeries demonstrated it in their increasing ennui and inability to feel compassion.

  For each immortal, it was different. Some, like Hadrian, could live a millennia and still function easily. Others, only a few hundred years. Rene had always proudly believed she would be one of the long-lived ones. Around long after all her enemies walked into the dawn. She hadn’t anticipated such a short run at eternal life.

  And here was Will with a front row seat to the shattering of her mind.

  He hovered next to her, closer than she liked and farther than he wanted. He would let her break upon him if she wanted. Would pick up all her broken pieces and carry her to safety. But she wasn’t that girl anymore. She wasn’t.

  The voice from the past had just finished speaking, handing the crowd back to Stephen Smart. Yesterday, Smart had been her biggest worry. Now she had this Mirsad person with his voice of terror and charm.

  Turning toward the wall, Rene gathered shaky legs under herself to peer over. She had to prove to her mind that he wasn’t who she thought he was. Face the fear. That was the only way to conquer it. Will shifted closer to her, as if ready to catch her. She rolled her eyes and ignored the solid feel of his presence next to her. Just as her eyes peeked over the wall, the room erupted in chaos.

  Someone shouted, “Vampires!” and hysteria ensued. For all the humans called themselves hunters, it seemed most of them had never actually confronted the night terrors. The humans tripped over folding chairs. The noise as the chairs scraped across the floor and fell over grated on her eardrums. Rather than running away from Rene and Will, the humans were running toward them.

  Rene caught sight of the back of a tall, dark-haired man as he disappeared out the side entrance. His broad form was wrapped in a dark green sweater. He could have been anyone. His gait was familiar, though. Renewed trembling started through her body.

  Will grabbed her and wrenched her to a standing position just before they were tr
ampled by the crowd of fleeing humans. They didn’t react to her and Will, likely not realizing what they were. Stowing her against the corner of the wall, Will said something to her and took off headlong into the stampede. She didn’t hear him, again struggling to pull herself from the memories and return to the present, this time without his help.

  A smell hit her then, turned her stomach and brought her back to herself with a snap. Werewolf. Blinking, she searched for the source. Most of the humans had flown past her; one had fallen and been stepped on by his comrades. He groaned from the floor a few feet away from her. She stepped closer and sniffed. No, not him. Moving past him, she went around the half wall and stopped halfway through the now destroyed room.

  Stephen Smart stood off to one side, maybe thirty feet from her. He smirked openly at her, arms crossed over his chest and without a trace of fear in his expression. “Welcome, Sarah. I wondered how long until you found us.”

  ∞∞∞

  That name. How did he know that name?

  The only ones who’d known it had been dead nearly two hundred years. Even Tanner never heard it spoken of her.

  Stephen Smart stood there coolly surveying her. As if he could easily get away. As if she wasn’t ten times faster than him, twenty times stronger. As if she could never hope to kill him.

  And maybe he was right. All it took was hearing that name to take her right back to hiding under the bed, in the broom closet, under a pile of hay in the barn. The shaking filled her body and again she was a quivering statue.

  How could he possibly know that name?

  And where in the hell had Will gone? At the rate her body was freezing up, Smart would probably be able to stake her in place. The thought seemed to cross the human’s mind at the same moment. His head tilted to one side as if considering, and he reached within his coat to remove a length of sharpened wood. Son of a heinous harpy, was he actually that unoriginal? No, she couldn’t die this way. No way in the nine circles of hell was she going down by a wooden stake.