by Lisa Olsen
“It’s not for me to approve or disapprove. You’re the Elder, ain’t ya?”
“That’s the general idea.”
“I am sure he meant it for strangers, boss,” Gunnar offered, playing peacemaker. “He will understand the circumstances.”
Rob didn’t say more on the subject, and it was silent and uncomfortable for the rest of the drive home. I gave them both a list of instructions to carry out. Gunnar was to oversee the preparations for additional guests, making sure the attic space was hospitable again. Rob was to send out a couple of reliable men to see what they could pick up from the crime scene. If we had something concrete to link it back to Byrne, maybe we could sic the Order on him instead of them targeting all of San Francisco when Rome inevitably responded to the attack.
I stayed up later than I normally would have, sending emails to Felix and the council, requesting they come to my house for an emergency session the next night as soon as it was dark. I also put in another call to Jenessa, asking her to get back to me and offering her a safe place to stay if necessary.
Rob appeared at my office door very near dawn, his features tired and drawn as he closed the blinds and shut the black out curtains. “It’s getting late. Won’t do no one no good if you was to fall asleep at your desk here and fry to a crisp.”
“Oh, come on, Rob, you’re not so mad you wouldn’t save me from turning into a crunchy critter, are you?”
“What makes you think I’m angry?” he asked, his expression mild.
“It’s not like you made a secret of your disapproval over my opening the house up to the Order.”
“Just makes my job harder is all. I’ll end up sleeping outside your door like a dog before this is over.”
“Where’s Tucker when you need him, right?” I said with an impish grin and he raised a single brow.
“You trying to be funny?”
“Apparently not,” I muttered. “You’re overlooking the obvious here.”
“Which is?”
“This is a perfect excuse for you to have to share a room with me. Maybe even a bed.” I waggled my eyebrows at him, but he didn’t so much as crack a smile. “Try not to freak out so much. For all we know no one will even show up. Those guys are pretty tough and I haven’t made myself a particular friend of theirs lately.”
The frantic knock on the front door said otherwise.
We were out in the foyer in a flash, Rob shoving me behind him as he darted a look through the window. “It’s Mason and someone, can’t make out who,” he reported, and that was enough for me. I flung open the door, wincing in the rapidly growing light to find Corazon hanging limp under Mason’s arm.
“She’s hurt bad,” Mason announced, no trace of his usual jocularity evident. They both wore their standard tactical gear, Mason’s hulking frame filling the doorway. There were cuts and scrapes on his body and dried blood on his forehead that told me their injuries were pretty recent, and tiny bits of broken glass peeped out of his shaggy brown hair.
Corazon was dwarfed by his bulk, wholly depending on his support with barely one foot under her. Her dark hair was pulled back into a thick braid, matted and slick with blood from a partially healed gash to her left temple. A deep stain on her abdomen oozed slowly and her eyes rolled, unfocused.
“Come in, both of you, quick,” I ushered them in, ignoring Rob’s scowl of disapproval. They both passed the house’s protection spell though and that was all that mattered. “Let’s get her up to the attic. Mason, can you manage or are you hurt too?”
“I’ll live, but she’s in bad shape.” Once inside, Mason hefted her up in his arms, taking the staircase at a quick clip.
I followed along behind them, trailed by Rob and Gunnar. “What happened?”
“Her and Stone got ambushed coming out of Dead Lazlo’s. Another car bomb, but it went off too early. They got pinned down by heavy gunfire and Stone was able to call in for backup, but I was the only person dumb enough to be out on the streets.”
“Lucky for them,” I murmured. “Where’s Stone, is he alright?”
Mason shook his head, pausing on the landing to readjust his hold on her before he took the next flight, and I could tell he wasn’t up to his usual strength. “Nothing left but ash by the time I got there.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Corazon took one in the gut and two to the leg, nicked her femoral artery by the size of the pool of blood she was in when I found her. I tried to give her some blood, but it didn’t go very far and I had to stay sharp to get her out of there.” He paused again at the top of the stairs, catching his breath. “Damn, this place keeps going on and on, doesn’t it?”
“Rob, could you?” Rob took Corazon from Mason’s arms, taking her up the last flight of stairs to the attic while I steered Mason in the right direction. His steps were a little unsteady, but he made it without too much trouble. “You did the right thing bringing her here,” I said, kneeling on the mat where Rob had laid her out. Corazon’s caramel skin held an ashy pallor, that couldn’t be good. “She needs blood, and she needs it now.”
Rob held out his wrist, but I pushed it away. “I don’t think that’s going to be enough, not with how much she’s lost. It’s going to take something a lot stronger.” I held my wrist to her blue-tinged lips, but she didn’t stir, sweat standing out on her brow as her body consumed itself to repair the damage. I’d have to help her out.
“Are you sure about this?” Rob asked as I brought my wrist to my lips, fangs descending.
“Her body will shut down soon if she doesn’t get enough blood.” Mason panted from where he slumped on the ground, leaning against a support column. “She’d survive it, as long as we got her more blood eventually, but it could seriously fuck up her brain for a while if she gets that far gone.”
“It’ll be fine,” I said, tearing into my wrist deep enough to get the blood flowing. The first pull hurt like a motherfrakker, as her fangs lengthened and sank into my flesh, and I saw Rob start toward me. “It’s fine,” I managed to get out, the pain receding as the next draw of her mouth sent a frisson of delight dancing along my veins. Definitely fine.
Corazon drank freely, a low growl of hunger muffling against my wrist as her throat worked to swallow. I grasped under her shoulder to pull her closer, my body curving toward hers protectively by instinct. Her eyes remained closed, but one hand bound my wrist to her mouth as she drank, the other slid across the top of my thigh, caressing, intimate.
My head fell back, fangs descending as I fought the urge to reciprocate, knowing it would defeat the purpose of giving her my blood entirely. Instead, I gazed through slitted eyelids at Rob, his heartbeat taunting me from across the room. More than anything I wanted his salty sweet taste in my mouth, and I moaned as the memory of his blood mingled with the bliss coursing through me as Corazon took her fill.
And then Rob was there, offering himself to me, and I didn’t have the strength to say no. I took his wrist into my mouth, his low groan sending a tingling ripple through me as the taste of his blood exploded across my tongue. One arm wrapped around Corazon, the other splayed across his chest, feeling the rapid throb of his heart mirroring the pulse of blood rushing into me.
Rob sat perfectly still, but I could tell from his labored breath it took everything he had not to touch me in kind as the pleasure danced between us.
“That um… that looks more than fine,” Mason swallowed, transfixed by the spectacle.
I didn’t care if we had a witness, I was too drunk with sensation. I wouldn’t have cared if Jakob walked in at that very moment. More than anything I wanted to take it to the next level. To shove Corazon aside and lose myself completely in Rob’s embrace. Heck, I might’ve pulled her in for a threesome if that’s what it took to be with Rob again, but luckily, for my psyche as well as theirs, Rob remained clear headed to put an end to it.
“That’s enough,” Rob said gruffly, pulling my wrist from her mouth when he deemed she was out of danger. The pain as her
teeth tried to keep me there was enough to cut through the haze of pleasure, and I let go of my hold on Rob, wincing until my flesh knit back together.
“Thanks,” I said, sucking in a deep breath as Rob produced a handkerchief, pressing it to his wrist.
“No problem, miss.”
“Here, let me heal that for you,” I offered, but he shook his head, knotting it tightly. Was he angry with me? Corazon gave a lazy stretch, her dark eyes fluttering open. “How are you feeling?” I asked.
“Like I need a cigarette,” she said, raising a brow as she took in the unfamiliar surroundings and our positions. “Something I should know about?”
“I gave you some of my blood, that’s all.”
I expected a smart aleck remark, or maybe even a protest that she didn’t need my help; at best she’d been prickly with me before. Instead, her dark gaze held mine. “Thanks,” she said, her voice husky.
“Anytime.”
Now came the smirk I’d come to expect and I backtracked a smidge.
“Well, anytime you’ve been mortally wounded.”
“Too bad,” she sighed, eyes drifting shut again as she fell back asleep.
Rob stood, tugging his cuff lower to cover the makeshift bandage. “Sun’s up,” he declared. “Finish your business, I’ll wait for you downstairs.”
I realized he thought I meant to give Mason some of my blood as well, and he didn’t want to stick around and be a part of it. “You don’t have to leave,” I said, trying to give him the message that I didn’t intend to do anything of the sort.
“I’ve given all I have to spare, miss. I’ll send someone else up if you require more blood.” His voice was utterly detached, as though he was my servant and nothing more. I tamped down the urge to chase after him, knowing it would defeat the purpose.
“No, I’m good. Thank you, Rob. That’ll be all.” I watched him leave, hearing the door open below, but not click shut, knowing he would be there, listening in case I needed him.
All at once I remembered Mason, feeling a tad guilty as I scooted away from where Corazon slept to check on him. He’d fallen silent, still propped up against the support beam.
“Are you okay? You look kind of scraped up yourself.”
He shot me a lopsided grin. “Apart from needing a cold shower? Nothing I can’t recover from.”
“Good,” I sighed, tired, despite the infusion of Rob’s blood. I wouldn’t last long with the sun rising overhead. “I don’t think my sister would forgive me if I let you drink my blood.”
“I don’t think she much cares these days,” he muttered, losing the grin.
“She told me you guys split up. I’m sorry, Mason. I have to tell you, I did not see this one coming at all. I thought you guys were making it work.”
“Me too. One day we’re fine and the next… bam, she hits me right between the eyes.”
“And you hadn’t been fighting or anything at all?”
“No, not fighting. I mean, I asked her to come away with me and she shot me down, but it wasn’t a fight. I told her I understood.” He shook his head and my heart went out to him. It was plain to see how much he still loved her.
“Maybe it has something to do with the new guy she’s seeing?”
Mason looked like I’d slapped him across the face, his mouth slack. “She’s seeing a new guy?”
Frak… “I’m sorry, I thought you knew.” Me and my big mouth.
“No, she said she needed some space, get back to a regular life again. She didn’t mention anything about a…” His face took on a resolved cant, and Mason sat up higher. “What do we know about him?”
Something about that look made my Spidey senses tingle unpleasantly. “Why?”
“Relax, I’m not gonna kill him.”
“Um, good?” The thought never crossed my mind, but it obviously had crossed his.
“I want to check him out though, to make sure he’s a stand up guy.”
That didn’t sound so bad. In fact, if I hadn’t been so distracted, I might have thought of that myself. “All I know is his name is Logan and they’re in Tahiti.”
“Okay… it’s not much, but it’s a start,” he nodded, his eyes lighting with purpose. “If she’s in another country that means I can flag her passport and chances are, he’ll be sitting with her on the plane…”
“Or I could call her and ask her about him,” I pointed out.
“Fuck, I can’t flag anything, our HQ was blown to shit,” he recalled, his head slamming against the post as he looked up in irritation. His face a mask of frustration, he banged his head against the post again, and again, freaking me out a little.
“Try and calm down, get some rest. We’ll figure it out, okay?”
“What?” Mason seemed to realize I was still there and he took a calming breath. “Yeah, okay. Look, it’s cool, I know this is what you wanted, a normal life for Hanna all along.”
“I did at first. But I could see how much she loved you.”
“Not enough to come away with me,” he said miserably.
“A girl doesn’t like to be pressured.”
“And I’m not normally a pressuring type of guy, but you saw what it’s like out there. I wanted to get her away from all of this. That’s all.”
A sneaking suspicion began to dawn on me. “Did you um, did you offer to turn her?” He wouldn’t look at me, his silence speaking volumes. No wonder she flipped out. “Oh, Mason, how could you? You of all people should know better than to offer something like that off the cuff, you know what the penalties are.”
“I figured you’d finagle the paperwork later, I didn’t think it’d be an issue,” he shrugged.
“She wouldn’t go for it though, huh?”
Mason shook his head, slumping lower.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t say I’m not glad to see her retain her humanity. I’m sorry you guys didn’t work out, but it’s true, I never wanted her mixed up in the vampire world. Especially now when things are so messed up. I never wanted this,” I gestured to Corazon, who looked like little more than a corpse in her death-like sleep, the wound in her abdomen healed, but still covered in sticky blood. “I wanted the killing to stop, I didn’t want to paint a target on your backs.”
“Yeah well, people suck,” Mason grunted, his eyes drifting shut.
“I’m going to take care of this, I promise.”
“I’m gonna hold you to that, sis.”
At least the rift between us had been healed, that was one good thing to come out of all the bloodshed.
Chapter Twenty-Two
I’d always pictured a war council as something out of a Lord of the Rings movie. A bunch of bearded elders sitting around a huge table, elegant, shining elves on the other side offering counsel, while demure women served steaming mead from mugs made of horn.
All things being equal, I liked my version better.
We didn’t have elves, and none of us wore a beard, but as I faced the council in my dining room, at least the women present had more to say than would you like another drink?
In fact, I’d have to say the women in the room were the most vocal as we went back and forth about how to stop the growing violence. Anders didn’t say much throughout the meeting, mostly he stroked his moustache and looked worried. Or maybe his coffee wasn’t sweet enough, I didn’t know him well enough to read his tells.
Holt and Powell didn’t think it would do much good to address the public and ask for an end to the terrorist activities. They argued it was the Order’s problem to deal with as they would.
“Oh, we are doing something, make no mistake about that,” I snapped, when Powell shot down Cordelia’s idea to put a price on Byrne’s head. “They blew up the Order, that’s not cool.”
“Is that a precedent we want to set? We have no direct evidence against him,” Powell insisted. “I still don’t see how this is our problem.”
“This is absolutely our problem. Like it or not, there isn’t a functioning Order right now, a
nd unless we want Rome sending a swarm of replacements, it’s up to us to take care of it. That means besides sheltering anyone who needs it, we’ll also need to piggyback onto the official investigation to try and figure out who’s behind this thing. Now that they’ve made such a public spectacle, we need to make sure no human looks too deeply.”
“I’ll get some people on it right away, boss,” Felix offered and I shot him a grateful smile.
“Good, talk to Rob, he was going to get started with it last night.”
“I still think this is the Order’s problem, not ours,” Powell said, pushing back from the table.
“Good thing for us it’s not up to you,” Cordelia smiled sweetly. “I can handle the media aspect of the investigation, make sure this story dies a fast death on all the outlets.”
“Great, that’s what I like to hear,” I nodded, glad I had her on my team.
“What if we didn’t put out an open bounty on Byrne?” Durand suggested, his blue eyes gleaming. “What if we put trackers on his trail?”
“I’m listening,” I said, not quite sure what the distinction was.
“Shifters?” Holt asked.
“Of course.”
We had werewolf trackers at our disposal? Why hadn’t anyone told me before? “Okay, that sounds like a good option, but no killing. I agree, we don’t have any hard evidence on him. I want him brought in for questioning only.” Then I could compel him to knock it off, rat out all his accomplices and let him be on his merry way with a song in his heart.
“I like it, but we still have a big problem looming over our heads,” Cordelia said and I nodded, on the same wavelength with her.
“Once the door’s been opened, it’s hard to rein the crazy back in. Especially when we don’t have the means to rein them in.”
“Right,” Durand nodded. “Even if we get Byrne off the streets, the faith in the Order’s been compromised. Without them, we can’t maintain basic vampire law. Without the law…”
“Chaos reigns,” Holt said, his mouth pressed into a grim line.
Maybe it was time to bring up an idea that’d been cooking in the back of my brain since before my return from Vetis. “This is something that came up on a larger scale at the Gathering. What if we come up with our own Order, so to speak?”
