Placing the last CD in its proper place, he leaned over and pressed a kiss to the edge of her jaw. “I knew it,” he whispered against her skin, then drew away and stood up, offering a hand to her.
Rene swallowed, avoiding his eyes, and accepted his hand. Halfway there, he thought. Halfway to her trust. And it had only taken just over twenty years. He was making excellent time.
∞∞∞
“There’s some people you should meet.”
Will’s vague words had meant little to her. She’d expected a group of Hadrian’s and Wade’s vampires. The predictable sort of rescue party. What she faced instead was a ragtag group of immortals who never should have seen the inside of the same room together.
A woman approached her, a little shorter and rounder, with wavy auburn hair and dark eyes. A wave of power spread out before her as she walked, invisible but no less real. Rene had to fight the instinct to take a step back. “Rene! It’s so good to see you up and about!”
That was about two too many exclamation points for meeting a person. Rene rolled her shoulders, trying unobtrusively to shake the feel of the other vampire’s superior strength. Something about the woman was familiar, yet she couldn’t place her. “Who the hell are you?”
Next to her, Will snorted. She cast a glare in his direction before returning it to the woman.
“Oh, um, I’m Aubri,” the woman stated, as if that cleared up everything. She then held out her hand to shake. “Hadrian’s . . . Second.”
First Rene stared at the hand, then, without moving, back up at the woman. “Hadrian doesn’t have a Second.”
“Didn’t.” The woman smiled, though her dark gray eyes didn’t convey humor. In fact, Rene thought she was getting somewhat irritated. “He didn’t have a Second. He does now.”
“Why have I never heard of you?”
“Well, I believe you were in Ladyslocke long before me.”
“Before you—” Rene broke off, realizing the woman’s voice was familiar. In fact, it was the only familiar thing about her. “You were human. I smelled you.” I could have eaten you.
“Was.” Aubri’s smile didn’t alter. “Yes.”
Rene glanced at Will, waiting for him to jump in, explain the unexplainable. He merely crossed his arms and—in typical Will fashion—left her to figure it out on her own. Narrowing her eyes, she turned back to the woman. Again the strength of the other vampire rolled out over her. A reminder that age didn’t have as much effect on a vampire’s strength as the nature of their death. What had the wolves done to her? “You expect me to believe he not only turned you, but that he made a baby vampire his Second?”
Aubri threw up her hands. “God, they were all right about you. I don’t care what you believe.” She returned to her seat on the couch, next to Errin Kaye and the only human in the room.
Aside from those three, Serena and Wade occupied a corner, as well as a small grouping of shapeshifters, Zane Verbotsch, and the shapeshifter he’d defeated Ignatius with. Faber stood between Wade and Zane, and someone was behind him. Rene raised her head and sniffed, sorting through the air of the room. A growl erupted from the back of her throat. Will tried to catch her, but she was across the room and shoving Faber aside before anyone else could move. Catching the other vampire by the throat, Rene slammed Kendra against the wall of the room, shaking the house down to its foundation. A crack appeared in the paint and plaster, rising up directly behind Kendra’s head.
“Traitor,” she snarled at the young vampire. Arms were tugging her back, off of the betraying bitch, but Rene wouldn’t let go. Rene shoved them away with her free arm, then brought it back to rake her nails across Kendra’s neck. Two arms wrapped around Rene, one across her stomach, the other her chest. Strong, firm, and familiar. Will. Will should be the last one trying to remove her. He’d known. He’d tried to tell her. “Let me go!”
“Stop, love, let her go. Let us explain.”
“Us? US?” She turned on him then, ripping herself free of his grasp even as Kendra slid to the floor behind her. “That bitch is working from Ignatius’ pocket and with the werewolves.”
“How do you think we found out where you were being held?”
Rene’s head whipped back around to stare at Kendra. Faber had helped her to her feet, once again standing slightly in front of her as if to guard from further attack. The young vampire looked so sorrowful, so contrite . . . it was sickening. Rene trembled all over with the need to expel rage from her body. “Get her out of here.”
“Rene—” Faber started.
“Get her out of here before I kill her,” she yelled, and started back toward the vampire.
Faber touched Kendra’s shoulder and they both disappeared from the room. As soon as they were gone, Rene whirled about to face Will and everyone else. Pointing back to where the traitor had been, she growled, “Whatever she is up to, you can lay money it is Ignatius’ will. You can’t trust them, not a damned one of them.”
“You were one of them,” Will said quietly.
“I was Tanner’s,” she returned, repeating the words he’d said to her so many months before.
“And she is Melchior’s,” Zane Verbotsch said, standing and making his way over to her. “Kendra’s first allegiance is to her sire, not Ignatius.”
“And how is that any different? Melchior is his Second now, they want the same things.”
“Maybe,” Zane said. “Except that Ignatius ordered Melchior to kill her. And Melchior sent her to me instead.”
“Hmph.” Rene crossed her arms and sent her glare over everyone in the room. They all stared back, expectant. What did they want of her? What was this anyway? “If you’re all waiting for me to thank you or something, you probably shouldn’t hold your breath.”
Beside her, Will choked on a laugh. Serena put a hand over her eyes as Wade rolled his.
“All right, everyone,” Will said. “I think maybe we had better postpone anything further until next time.”
Aubri—Hadrian’s Second apparently—nodded. “Yes, I think we’d better start smaller, Will.”
Rene’s eyes narrowed on the recently human woman, not liking the way she spoke to Will. Looked at him. Aubri might be stronger, but she was so young, she probably didn’t know what to do with all that strength. Rene was relatively certain she could take the vampire. Rid Hadrian of what was obviously a bad decision or two.
Will, to her relief, barely nodded back at the other vampire. Relief? Ugh. Rene wanted to slap herself. Why should she feel relieved? It wasn’t possible that after only one night of not absolutely hating him she’d already laid claim to him mentally. Was it?
The room began to clear out. Eventually only Zane, his shapeshifter, Will, and Rene remained. It was apparently Errin’s house, but he and the random human had vacated to another room. Rene wasn’t sure why Zane remained. Shit, she wasn’t sure why she and Will remained. Everyone was staring back and forth somewhat awkwardly.
“Can we go . . .?” she asked Will quietly, wondering why she even asked that. Why she didn’t leave on her own. It must have been out of practicality, because she had no home to go to anymore. It wasn’t because she wanted to be with him. Around him. She could have gagged.
He smiled down at her and her stomach dipped. “I need to speak with Errin a moment before we leave, okay?”
“Fine.” She sighed.
Will went off in search of the doctor, and Rene walked out of the room, then out the front door and down the steps. In the front of the house was a lovely English garden. She passed through it and the small gate to pace to the edge of the woods beyond. What was going on here? What weird sort of club had these relative strangers dreamed up?
Steps in the grass behind her. Out of the corner of her eye she spied Zane, his long strides eating up the ground quickly as he paced toward her with hands in pockets. He stood next to her for a few quiet moments before saying, “Do you know why Ignatius lets so few of the Fraccas turn other vampires?”
“B
ecause he’s a control freak?”
“In part, yes.” He smiled. The moonlight made his dark hair darker, and his turquoise eyes gleam unworldly. “In part because of you and Tanner. And I suspect in the future, because of Melchior and Kendra. The bond is too strong. You don’t bond to him if you have something stronger pulling on you.”
“You didn’t bond to him either, if I recall correctly.”
Zane’s smile turned rueful. “He did not choose well with me. I think even he would be ready to admit that by now.”
“What is this, Zane?” She nodded her head back to the house. “What are you idiots cooking up in there, and how did you get Will involved?”
“You got Will involved.”
“Excuse me?”
“By getting yourself taken.”
“Getting myself—” she started, feeling anger rise.
Zane cut her off before she could go full steam. “It was only a matter of time before you became a target. I’m surprised he waited as long as he did.”
Zane knew about Ira? How could he possibly—
“After he got Tanner, I thought for sure you would disappear the very next day.”
“I don’t . . . understand.” Ira would have definitely gloated if he’d killed Tanner. Definitely. Yet, the leader meeting had been attacked by werewolves.
“Power and control, Rene,” Zane said, “Those are the only things Ignatius values. And Tanner thwarted him, left of his own free will, publicly, started a new clan with a Risqueen of all things. And took you. The final insult, he showed that you had absolutely no loyalty to the Fraccas or Ignatius.”
Ignatius. He was talking about Ignatius. Zane didn’t know about Ira. Rene breathed out a heavy sigh of relief. Then started processing what he’d actually been saying. “I—are you saying that—” No, he had to be wrong. She knew what happened. Everyone knew what happened. “Werewolves killed Tanner.”
“Ignatius killed Tanner.” Zane peered down at her, his eyes calculating. “And he attempted to kill you. I don’t know why the wolves kept you alive so long, but I’m sure it was against his wishes.”
“Ignatius killed Tanner,” she repeated. Looking down at her hands. They’d begun to shake. It made perfect sense. Tanner had always known, always suspected that Ignatius would come for them. But with his head already on the chopping block, he’d got out anyway. Started a new life. Saved her once again.
Zane was nodding, watching her face closely, and nodding. “That right there? What you’re feeling this second? Everyone who was in that room has felt that. Everyone in that room wants Ignatius dead.”
“This is . . .” Rene shook her head. “This is huge, Zane. Working with werewolves isn’t something that Hadrian will be able to overlook.”
He smiled savagely. “Why do you think his Second is with us?”
“He knows she is?”
“The only reason it’s her and not him, or both of them, is because that would be too obvious. He’s too visible. Aubri isn’t known by the entire immortal world yet, she can still go somewhat unnoticed. Catching Ignatius in his lies and double crossings won’t be easy.”
“Try impossible. You know he’s smarter than that. All you have is the word of one baby vampire. Nothing Kendra says will hold up as more than hearsay with Hadrian.”
“We have some werewolves with us too.”
“What?” Rene hissed. “Are you an idiot? You think you can trust them?”
“A few, yes. They aren’t that different from vampires or shapeshifters, Rene. Some are good, some are bad.”
“Do Hadrian and his Second know you feel that way?”
Something like laughter sparkled in his eyes, but he didn’t clue her in on the joke. “Yes, I believe they do. And, as you saw, we have a number of shapeshifters with us as well.”
“Look Zane, I appreciate that you have your ragtag set of groupies who all want to help you kill the master, but I don’t need your help. I don’t need theirs. I can take care of Ignatius on my own.”
“Can you? Without evidence? All by yourself? Will you take over the clan? Answer to Hadrian?”
“You already said Hadrian knows—”
“And you already admitted that he won’t be able to do anything with only hearsay as evidence.” Zane shook his head. “Our strength lies in numbers, and in finding evidence—hard evidence—of what he’s done.”
“I’m not a team player, Zane,” she growled. “The last team I was on, someone betrayed me. And, oh, look, she’s now on this team as well.”
“I’m not asking you to trust everyone or play on a team. I’m just asking that when we have the evidence and the go ahead to take him down, you answer the call.”
“Answer the call?” Rene laughed. “What is it? A bat signal?”
The side of his mouth quirked up. “It could be. If you wanted.”
“All I want is to be left out of this.”
“We need you,” he said simply. “You’re the oldest vampire we’ve been able to ask, and we need your experience.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” To be their babysitter . . . this really was her pathetic task force all over again. One only had to wonder how long it would be until she was betrayed again.
“At least think on it, though I can’t guarantee how much time you’ll have to make up your mind.”
Rene sighed and turned back toward the house, determined to interrupt whatever Will was doing and drag him back home. Zane followed just behind her.
She said, “Ignatius sure has a lot of enemies all of a sudden.”
“I just pray it will be enough.”
His shapeshifter was waiting on the porch, one shoulder leaned against a pillar, her long dark hair falling around her eyes as she watched them.
“That your pet?” Rene asked Zane.
The shapeshifter grinned savagely. “No, he’s mine.”
Rene raised her brows.
Zane merely shrugged and smiled, holding his hand out to the shapeshifter. “Let’s go home, Kali.” She took his hand and they disappeared a moment later.
Rene stared at the spot they’d vacated for a moment before sighing and reentering the house. Will was in the foyer saying his goodbyes to Errin and the human. What was with the human, anyway? Rene stared at the petite, curly thing until it backed up a step and Errin Kaye cleared his throat loudly.
“Bree, why don’t you head to bed? It’s getting late.”
The human glanced at Errin, her brown eyes wide and inquisitive, then back at Rene, before taking a few steps back and into another room. Once the human was out of sight, Rene looked back at the doctor, still trying to figure out the correlation. Had Ignatius offended the human somehow as well? How did she possibly hope to keep up with the rest of them?
Errin stared at Rene with a hardness she’d never seen in his face before. It occurred to her: He didn’t like her. A strange thing for her to key on, since most people didn’t, but Errin Kaye liked everyone. Or at least, seemed to. He held her gaze a few moments, just so that she could see how purposeful his look was. He wasn’t afraid of her seeing how much he disliked her, distrusted her. Then he turned back to Will, shook his hand, and said goodnight.
Back in Will’s apartment, Rene tried to shake off the unease at having someone so likable, so good-natured, dislike her. What had she done to him? He couldn’t still be upset about the autopsy of Smart, could he?
“What on earth did you do to Kaye?” Will asked, as soon as they settled.
Rene shrugged, trying to downplay her unease. “What do I do to anyone? Cause offense by merely breathing the same air most days.”
Will shook his head. “No, typically you make people dislike you on purpose, so what did you do to him?”
“Nothing.”
He raised his brows.
“Once I may have threatened to shoot him.”
Will sighed.
“I didn’t mean it!”
“You always mean it.”
Hard to deny that. R
ene changed the subject. “So that little group of misfits, you’re with them?”
“Yes.” He walked over to the shelves and started sorting through the music there.
“What if I didn’t want you to be?”
He looked up slowly, a CD in one hand. “Why wouldn’t you?”
“Ignatius is dangerous, Will. And like a wild animal, gets all the more dangerous when you corner him. Someone in that group, probably a few someones, will not survive the confrontation with him. And if they don’t take him down, no one will.”
“He’s already targeted you. What do you have to lose by joining?”
You. She didn’t say it out loud, but it had to be written all over her face.
Will looked down again, opening the CD player and placing a disc in it. He closed it and pressed a button, standing and approaching her again. Strains of a concerto she recognized gently filled the room. Rachmaninoff, number two, in C minor. “You know this one always reminds me of you.” Will stopped in front of her, cupping her face in his hands, and leaning down to kiss her. She didn’t resist. Should have. He was getting far too comfortable. But didn’t.
“I bought it that day, in the record shop.”
He smiled against her mouth. “Me too.”
“Will, I—”
“You won’t lose me, Rene,” he whispered. “You won’t be rid of me that easily.”
She leaned up and kissed him back, molding her body against his even as she reached a hand into his hair to tug his head more firmly down upon hers. If she was going to have to join that stupid club in order to keep him alive, he was going to pay for every second of it.
“Besides,” he said some time later, breathless. “I’m not in it because of you, I’m in because Estrada knows what they’re doing and wants a piece of Ignatius.”
Chapter 33
When Errin Kaye stopped by a few nights later, he seemed a bit more forgiving toward Rene. Still somewhat short with her, he managed an extreme sort of solicitousness that put Rene on edge.
He came bearing gifts though, so she let him through the door and even offered him a place to sit. In one hand he carried a dark blue folder, in the other, a leather medical bag. “I realized after you left the other night that I forgot to mention this to you, so I thought I would bring it by during my rounds tonight.” Opening the folder to the first page, Errin turned it toward her and held it out. “While you were otherwise indisposed, I finished the autopsy of your vampire hunter, Stephen Smart. Do you remember the injection site I pointed out to you?”
Weaken the Knees (The Immortal World Book 6) Page 28
