by Emily Bex
Max smacked Tomas on the back. “I like the way you think, warrior. And you’ve never let me down. Pull back our warriors and let things go quiet for a while. Don't let them totally disappear. I want them to know we're still around, but just enough to be an aggravation. Then I'll leave the rest up to you. When you see the opportunity to stage an ambush, just take it.”
“You’ll know when I’m ready, Max. I’ll stay in close touch. I need to head there now. Starve the root and the mighty oak falls, brother.”
Giving Max a back-slapping hug, he let himself out and headed straight into the night, with a plan straight to the target that would make him rich before he moved on to the next fool master.
Max picked up the map of Shade's estate, as well as a copy of the D.C. grid Shade had used to plot out his attacks on his warriors. He even had photos of Shade's house, from every angle, every window, and every door. He had a floor plan that identifieds every room. The house was isolated, situated in the middle of a large piece of property, so they wouldn’t have to worry about the noise or the interference of any do-gooder mortals calling 911. All they needed was one night, one night when Shade decided to stay home while his warriors were all in D.C.
If Max made it quiet on the streets in D.C. but staged just enough activity that they had to keep on guard, maybe he could lure Shade into feeling confident enough he could leave his warriors in charge while he took a night off to spend with his mate. After all, nobody understood the allure of a mate more than Max. If he could bring Shade down, then Alec was next to fall. And without power and influence, Rissa would leave him in a heartbeat. Max loved Rissa, but he was no fool. He knew what attracted her. It was power, money, and influence. And she was just a heartbeat away from belonging to him.
32
Kate felt so happy to have him back, to talk, to cut his hair, and play in the shower before climbing into their bed. There was a lot to be said for makeup sex, but not having to make up in the first place, even better. She lay here next to him, as the sun set and knew he would awake from his death slumber soon. Then he would dress in black leather and leave her for the night. He still shared little about what he did. He didn’t speak of what happened when he was away from her, and she let him keep those secrets, because there was a part of her that preferred not to know the details. She felt him stir beside her, and watched as he opened his eyes to see her propped on one elbow, looking at him.
"Mi amore, you are watching me sleep?"
“I love watching you sleep, lover.”
She touched his face, ran her fingers down the stubble on his cheek, and touched his lips with her fingertips before lowering her mouth to his. He returned the kiss, lifting his hand to slide it through her hair.
"Do not get me too distracted, bel rosso, I must leave soon."
“I know I lose you to the night, but I hope I never get used to it.”
He gave her a sad smile. "Si, bel rosso, and I hope you never get used to it as well.”
She watched him as he slipped from their bed, and she slid into the spot he had vacated, her head on his pillow. She watched him until he was ready to leave, and he warned her again to not come downstairs until he had left with all the warriors.
When the house was quiet again, and she felt him leave, she got up and got ready to meet Luca. She tapped on his door and he answered right away, stepping out and leading her outdoors. “Do you see the warriors, Luca?”
He looked at her with a question. “Of course, I see them every day.”
“Shade tells me to stay upstairs until I hear them leave, and then I hear them every morning when they all head for the barracks when they return. They're a noisy bunch.”
Laughing. “Well, I think that's an understatement. Start warming up while you talk.”
She stretched in preparation for their nightly run. “Shade said I could meet with Marcello and show him the property where the warriors could get outside a bit. Would you set that up please, since I don't think he wants me going to the barracks? I prefer day hours if he can. I understand he is a day-walker, like you.”
“He would love that, Kate. I'll take care of it. He said they were getting a little stir crazy. They love the fight, and being on the streets, but they were feeling a little cooped up here. So that will be great for them.”
They started their run, and she let Luca set the pace for her. She gave him a sideways glance. “And is there anything you want to tell me?”
Luca looked at her. “About the warriors?”
“No! About Shannon. Shade said you talked to him, and he said you could call her. Luca, we talked a long time... he wants to meet her... I think he's going to say yes.”
Luca scrunched up his face. “Shade wants to meet her? Well that won't be too intimidating.”
She laughed softly. “Stop it. But I know what you mean. He can be threatening. But did you call her?”
“I did call.”
She stopped running and put her hands on her hips. “Seriously? Am I going to have to pry every word from you?”
“I don't know what to tell you. She said she was excited to hear from me. She wanted me to ask her on a date, which of course, I couldn't do until Shade made his decision. She said I swept her off her feet.”
“And what did you say?”
“I honestly can't remember what I said. I mean, when I hung up, my heart was pounding, and I had been holding my breath and my palms were all sweaty. What is that?”
She started running again, laughing as she ran, and looked back over her shoulder at him as he stood there. “That's love, Luca... that's love kicking your ass, and isn't it wonderful?”
He ran to catch up with her, setting the pace once again, as he shook his head. “Wonderful? I'm not sure I would describe it as wonderful, confusing maybe.”
“Well, hang on, Luca. I promise you never learned anything like this in warrior camp. We all need to get the shit kicked out of us by love.”
He laughed. “You make it sound like a battle.”
“A battle for your sanity maybe. Are you upside down or right side up? Does he love me back? Will he call? Does he feel the way I feel? Did I make him mad? Sad? Happy? Will he like this dress? Or does he prefer me in jeans. What about my hair? Up or down? Am I talking too much? Or too little? Does he like my laugh? Torture. Beautiful, delicious torture.”
He looked over at her as she gestured while she ran. “Can I just say if this is supposed to be a pep talk, you are doing a lousy job?”
“All I can say is life is hardly worth living without love. To love and be loved... and it will turn your whole world upside down. And you will be angry sometimes, and you will cry sometimes, but mostly, you just feel this overwhelming joy for life, and this person. This one person who makes your heart pound, and your breath stop, and your palms sweat. Suddenly, you wonder how you ever made it this far in life without them because you know you can’t go forward if they aren't with you. I can't describe it, you will just have to dive head first into this madness and experience it for yourself.”
“No wonder master warned me...”
Kate glared at him. “Don't you dare back out now, warrior. Don't you dare!”
She was issuing him a challenge as difficult as any he had put before her. “I'm not backing down, I was just...”
She interrupted him, “Thinking? Well, don't. I bet Shade told you to think about it, consider all the ramifications. Love isn't about thinking. Love is about feeling. Just follow your heart. If any of us sat down and thought about it, none of us would ever fall in love. Love is illogical, and messy. I mean look at me. Look at Shade and me. Could it be any more illogical? I followed my heart when I chose him, not my head. You have a good heart, a pure heart. Just trust where it leads. I don't know if Shannon will be the girl for you, but I do know that right now, your heart says she is, and you owe it to yourself to find out.”
Luca looked over at her as they ran. “But she’ll need master's approval. I still need to wait for his decision.”
&nb
sp; “You know what? You leave that part to me. I'll think of something that will make this introduction work.”
They were closing the ten-mile loop and returning to the house, as they ended this conversation. She started her cool-down while he went back inside and returned with the bow and the quiver full of arrows.
“No sit-ups? No push-ups?”
Luca shook his head no. “Not tonight, we have some ground to cover. Tonight, we hunt.”
Looking confused, Kate answered, “Hunt? Hunt what?”
“There are all kinds of wildlife in the woods. You hear them every night when we run. Tonight, we will hunt them. Use your skills of stealth to move in as close as you can, without their detection. Their hearing, their sense of smell is much greater than humans, but still not as good as vampire. If you can approach the wildlife without detection, then you are one step closer to tracking a vampire.”
She looked at him confused, “Uh... okay, but just for the record, I’m not planning a career as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so not really sure why I need this skill.”
“Who's this Buffy?”
“No one... not a real person... a TV show.”
“The things in your head confuse me, Kate.”
She followed him across the open fields and into the woods, where he reminded her to watch where she placed her feet, step lightly, determine the direction of the wind, and how to stand downwind from the wildlife they saw.
Luca watched her as they moved through the woods, letting her spot the wildlife. He moved with her, letting her lead, to get as close as they could to the animal before they were detected, and they scurried away. As they stepped into a clearing, he saw the large buck and realized she had spotted it as well. He handed her the bow, and whispered, “Take him down.” She turned her face to him, her eyes large as saucers, and shook her head no. He pulled an arrow from the quiver and put it in her hand and whispered again, "Take him down."
She saw the magnificent buck across the clearing. He wanted her to shoot the deer? No! She couldn’t. She heard him instruct her again to take him down. She placed the arrow across the bow and pulled back the bow string as Luca stepped behind her.
"Line up your sights. Feel the wind. Control your breathing. Hold your breath right before you release the arrow."
He was whispering to her. She did as he instructed and as she released the arrow, she felt a tear run down her face. She watched as the arrow struck the deer in the chest and the majestic animal dropped first to his front knees, before dropping to the ground. Luca responded with, "Kill shot!" and started walking towards the deer. She followed him silently, tears falling.
Luca reached the slayed deer and removed the arrow, turning to Kate and saw her tear stained face. “What's wrong? It was a clean shot? A kill shot. He never felt anything.”
“I have never killed anything. I don't believe in hunting for sport. Do you know the Native Americans believe all life is sacred and there is a spiritual relationship between people and wildlife? They believe all animals contain spiritual power. To sacrifice an animal for your own survival, you have to honor that animal. You take his spirit into your own. To sacrifice an animal for sport, for no reason... that is a sin against nature.”
She knelt next to the deer, and ran her fingers through the warm, pooled blood, marking her forehead and each cheek.
“I honor you,” she whispered to the still warm carcass.
He heard her words, but her emotions about the wildlife were something he had never seen before and only confused him. He wondered if her gentle spirit would ever let her take another shot at a living creature.
She stood and started to walk way, but she couldn’t. “I can't leave him here. That would be a dishonor. We have to take him back.”
“You want to take the deer back to the house?”
“That's exactly what I'm saying. I'll call a soup kitchen. They can pick him up. Reynaldo can prepare him. The deer will be food for the homeless, and at least then his death has meaning and honor.”
Luca lifted the deer across his shoulders, as if the large animal weighed nothing, and they walked back to the house. She was silent on the walk back.
Mortals... what was he getting himself into?
33
Shade decided to have a smoke while he waited for Marcello to come back in off the streets. He walked down into the dungeon area of the Dead House and had a look around. He wondered how many dead had travelled through this house. The place was a wreck but fitting for the deeds that were done here. Lighting up, he wondered what the fuck he was doing here. He didn’t need to be here every night. He mostly sat for hours at the command center, monitoring their whereabouts, letting his boys take care of business. Things had calmed down some and they seemed to have a good handle on this damn Aries Coven. The attacks on mortals seemed to have died off. The new rogues out there were easy to track and whoever was running this damn show didn’t have the brains to hand out this potion to everyone.
Hearing the ruckus coming from upstairs, it sounded like the herd of warriors had come in for the night. It usually took a few hours to get them all back in as they straggled in a few at a time. No one left the Dead House until they all checked in and were accounted for.
His thoughts went to bel, and her idea of giving the warriors some running space at the house. He liked the idea but damn, he didn’t think she had any fucking idea how wild these warriors were. You let them loose and it would be hell reining them back in. But she had this mothering instinct that made him adore her all the more, and he knew she was bored out of her head lately with him being gone so damn much, so maybe he would let her roll with it and worry about how to crack down on the warriors later.
Walking upstairs, Shade found the lot of them all pissing and moaning about a hot shower and a soft bed. He laughed to himself, they’d been here a week and the sons of bitches had gone soft already. Too damn much good living was what that was.
“Listen up. Now! I’m splitting my warriors down into two packs tonight, first four are going feeding. You teleport, feed, do your business and teleport back to Bel Rosso within two hours. That’s an order. You know the fucking rules. You break ‘em, your ass goes home. I don’t care how you do the split... get it done, now. The rest of us are going home. I’m calling Alec, so keep it down.”
Walking back to the piles of grids and kill sheets stacked at the command center desk, he decided to give Alec a quick call, give him the details and then head home to bel.
Hitting speed dial, he lit up another smoke and put his booted feet up on the table.
Alec was lying in bed with Rissa curled against him when he woke up a little early. He was waiting for the alarm when he heard the buzz of the cell phone. He grabbed it from the nightstand, saw Shade on the caller ID and sat up in the bed. “Hey, brother. Problems?”
“You are talking to Medici here, we don’t have problems, brother, we solve them. Just giving you a heads up. The rogues that were turning mortals have been eliminated for now. Easy as hell, brother. No hocus pocus potion to hide them. Easy targets. But this is far from over. We haven’t gotten to the actual Aries Coven rogues yet and there seems to be fewer attacks. Something is about to come, I can feel it. They know we are here, so they backed off and are planning, you can bet your solid gold cufflinks on it.”
Alec sighed. “Well, at least you got those walking zombies off the street. That would have been a nightmare if it had gone on long enough for the press to pick up on a pattern. And the attacks are down, that's good. But I agree. This is far from over and they’re probably just regrouping at this point to plan a counter strategy. I still haven't heard anything about this Angel... so, that really bothers me. That's just too fucking weird that a master could plan something like this, and nobody else knows anything.”
Shade took a deep drag from his cigarette. “He is one big ass master for this bullshit to go down and me not get wind of it, but give me more time and I will hand his head to you, no doubts. You heard anythi
ng from Council?”
Alec shook his head. “Nothing, not a word.”
“Well, don’t fucking panic, they’re probably doing some deep snooping themselves. It’s a good sign, brother. I’m out. We’ll be back out there at sunset. I have a few day-walkers now in our legion, so you want some protection for the house, or Rissa, let me know.”
“I'll think about it, thanks, brother.”
“No problems. We got it.”
As he hung up the phone, Shade headed out and rounded up his crew. The pack had narrowed, and he was left with the strongest four that didn’t need to feed, Marcello among them. “Let’s roll, warriors! My mate and my bed are calling me.”
Coming home from the Dead House, Shade made sure all the warriors were bunked down at the staff quarters. Marcello walked back to the main house with him, and Shade noticed he went right to Luca's door. He was glad to see Luca had some company. Heading upstairs, Shade walked into their bedroom, emptied his pockets on his dresser and yelled out, “Bel rosso!”
Kate giggled as she heard his booming voice. “Lover, you make such a quiet entrance. Full of energy today?”
“Si, I am. I’m tired of sitting on my ass in the Dead House, directing my warriors from a chair, makes me restless. What have you been up to, you minx?”
Wow. How do I answer that one? Other than killing a deer. “Nothing. I’ve just been waiting for you. But I was thinking about your request to have Shannon over, so you could meet her. Instead of just the four of us sitting in a room feeling awkward, and you know both she and Luca will be nervous, why don't we all go out? You mentioned the bikes that Luca rides as well, why don't you and Luca take us into town? It will be a nice drive, we can walk around, and they have a live band on the open mall in the evenings. What do you think?”
Propping his boot up on the stool, he unlaced them as he turned to look at her. “The mall? Like shopping, you mean?”
“No, the open-air mall in Charlottesville. They have shops, but also little bistros with alfresco dining. I'm sure we could arrange for one to hold Midnight for you. And the band is outside as well. People just walk and talk, enjoy the night air, and dance and sing along. It’s very casual.”
