It was a unique gift she had somehow developed with the last gift of Slayer power she had earned. Her gift was warning her now that Evangeline was too far on the edge to see reason any longer. Because of that, she quickly repeated the instructions to avoid punishment.
In the case of Slayers-in-training like her, punishment often meant death. Or at least it previously had under Evangeline's rule, but in the last couple of months, it was clear that things were changing.
It was also painfully obvious that Evangeline was not a fan of such change.
“I'm to undergo the next level of my tutoring with Benjamin, but I am not to trust or befriend him. I am to report back any interaction between him and the vampires, Michaela, or their human friends. If Benjamin should violate any of the rules regarding feeding from the humans, I am to sanction him immediately.”
Evangeline smiled, a cold and frightful grin like that of a hungry shark, and nodded. “You understand what I mean by sanction?”
She knew all too well, not that she'd ever taken a life before, even an undead one. As a Slayer-in-training, fulfilling sanction orders were beyond her pay grade. That was usually left to full Slayers or Council members so this order was surprising and unexpected. But as she noted the darkness of Evangeline's aura and how it shimmered with crimson hate, she had no doubt about what the other woman wanted: Any reason to get rid of the Slayer now turned vampire.
“It means I'm to kill Benjamin if he acts on his vampire urges.”
Not that she was even sure that she could. Benjamin was a big and powerful man. A full Slayer at the height of his strength who now also had the benefit of undead power.
But of course, he also had vampire weaknesses like silver and sunlight.
“Smart girl,” Evangeline replied, reached out, and ran a hand along Rhiannon's cheek.
The punch of Slayer energy as it touched her rattled Rhiannon, but there was something else in that life force. Something familiar that shook her core, especially as she saw her own aura meld with Evangeline's, as if they were somehow connected.
Evangeline must have sensed it also since she jerked her hand back as if stung, narrowed her eyes, and stared hard at Rhiannon, inspecting her.
“You're different since the last gifting. Stronger. I can feel it,” she said.
She nodded. “Xander said that I had bonded with our source more powerfully than he had ever seen.”
Evangeline huffed out a breath and waved her hand dismissively. “Xander. That mewling man wouldn't know power if it bit him on the ass.”
Like Evangeline had bitten him, Rhiannon thought. For many years, Xander had been Evangeline's lover and confidant on the Slayer Council. Some had even said that it was his smarts and advice that had saved Evangeline more than once, but a few weeks back, she had unexpectedly tossed Xander aside for Anthony, one of the younger and physically stronger Slayers. While Xander hadn't outwardly protested or shown any hint of anger, the upset was evident in his aura and the way he hungrily watched Evangeline as she ran the Slayer Council meetings.
“All I know is that I'm different now,” she said demurely, not wanting to upset the other woman in her obviously dangerous state.
Evangeline eyed her once more, leaning close until their noses almost brushed since there were of a like height and build. “Different, but still not a full Slayer. Not until you receive the final gifts of energy. Don't forget that.”
“I won't.” How could she? This close she could feel the stronger push of special life forces from the other woman, a reminder of how little Slayer strength Rhiannon actually possessed. It would take full abilities to fight the undead and maintain the fragile peace between the two warring factions.
Evangeline didn't wait another second to whirl and march out of the chamber, her long leather duster billowing out around her as if pushed by some unseen wind. As she opened the door, the deep thrum of the nearby dynamos escaped into the room and echoed against the cement walls of the chamber. The sound was almost like the beat of a heart and grew so strong, it became a physical force against her and stirred the unique energy within.
She suspected that was why the Slayers liked to meet down here, well below the average people above them in Grand Central Terminal. The huge generators that powered the trains hid the existence of their power and also seemed to regenerate it at times.
As Rhiannon glanced down at her hand, her aura became even more visible with the leakage of electricity from the generators. She opened herself up to it and her core warmed much as it had when Xander had provided her the transfer of Slayer forces she had earned during her last training phase. It made her wonder just what was in those life energies and where they came from, especially since blood was also involved.
It occurred to her that in some ways the Slayers and vampires weren't as far removed from each other as much as they might hate one another.
She drove that thought from her mind and strode from the room, ignoring the pull on her body as she walked away from the generators and found her way through the assorted tunnels and stairs until she was in the Northwest Passage for the terminal. The underground thoroughfare ran for blocks beneath the city streets and passengers used it to access some of the farther tracks and the main station.
She walked in the direction of the station until she was in the large hall that was the heart of Grand Central Terminal. It was just past three o'clock in the afternoon, but there was still a good amount of foot traffic through the area. New Yorkers on their way to other locations, the National Guardsmen charged with protecting the area, and tourists snapping pictures of the famous clock with its opal faces and Vanderbilt's restored constellation on the ceiling.
She stopped for a moment to take it all in. Experience the life forces of those coming and going. The vibrations underfoot as a train pulled into the terminal and brakes screeched in complaint before the train stopped on a nearby track.
As the doors opened, a rush of people charged through them and out the gates, in a hurry to reach their destinations.
She sensed it then, a low thrum of immortal power, and focused on the crowd, searching for the source.
She saw him approaching then, moving with lethal male confidence, his big body strong and somehow also elegant with his minimalist motion.
He wore a fleece hoodie with the hood pulled up to mask his face. A scarred face that had once been almost painfully beautiful before his brother's brutal attack had marred that perfection and mortally wounded him.
She still found him beautiful.
Inside her, unwanted desire stirred. From the day she had first met him, she’d battled his allure and that need had not diminished even now when his undead state precluded any involvement.
“Good afternoon, Rhiannon,” Benjamin said as he strode to stand before her and met her gaze.
“I didn't think vampires were fond of afternoons, Ben,” she replied, fighting the surge of heat that enveloped her from his proximity. She told herself it was because of his power and aura, a brilliant serene blue which told her this was a man at peace with himself.
No, not a man, she reminded herself.
A Slayer Council member and a fledgling vampire.
“Truth be told, I was never a fan of afternoon training assignments, Rhi. I much prefer to spend my afternoons in bed with a warm and willing woman,” he said, the tones of his voice low, strumming the desire she was sure he sensed.
He was too damn perceptive and way too masculine not to notice what he did to her. His gaze dipped to her throat, where the thudding of her pulse had to be visible. But then again, maybe he was just sizing her up as a possible snack now that he was a vampire.
“I bet that you've had your share of brainless bimbos, but don't think I'll be one of them.” She jerked her head in the direction of the Northwest Passage from where she had just come. “I'm told that you'll supervise the next phase of my education.”
“I'm sure that's not the only thing Evangeline told you,” he said and joined he
r as they started walking toward the passage.
She heard the amusement in his voice and looked at him from the corner of her eye, but the hoodie prevented her from seeing his face. “Would you mind putting your hood down? It's tough talking to a wall of fleece.”
Benjamin stopped dead in his tracks and looked around. There were few others in the passage tunnel leading uptown and besides, this was New York. People wouldn't notice a marching band streaming by so it was unlikely they'd notice him in all his ruined glory.
But Rhiannon will see, he thought and his gut clenched with the realization.
Rhiannon would see the scars and know how he had gotten them. What they meant. And although he could no longer see himself in a mirror, he could feel them and their ugliness.
He hesitated, but then her softly worded, “Please, Ben,” ended his indecision.
Shoving back the fabric, he stood and waited there, fists balled as her sharp-eyed gaze skipped over his face. Over the puckered ridges and lines of scars along his temple, brow, and cheek where his brother had tried to bash his skull in.
No trace of emotion registered on her features until she offered him a reassuring smile. “Thanks. I hated talking to the hoodie.”
Fuck. How he wished she had shrunken away with revulsion or made some other comment that he could have used to guard himself against all that was Rhiannon.
He pivoted on one foot and pushed on, making her chase after him until she matched the stride of her long legs to his, her tall, lean body in sync with his movements. A body that any red-blooded man could not ignore.
Sexy and curvy, but strong. Utterly female, even when she was dressed as she was today in faded black jeans and t-shirt beneath a leather jacket that contained the weapons of a prospective Slayer. Stakes, knives, holy water, and an assortment of other items meant to dispatch the undead were hidden within the garment.
Items meant to put an end to someone like him now, not that Rhiannon had been blooded yet. She was too new a trainee, although at this level she would certainly have to face her first vamp and take them out if necessary.
If she had the stomach for it.
If she didn't. . . .
He didn't want to think about what would happen if she couldn't take this next step in her training.
“What are we doing today?” she asked, not a hitch in her breath to indicate that his fast-paced strides were a problem.
“Tracking some vampires. It's not easy in places like this,” he said and flicked a hand in the direction of the concrete and tile tunnel through which they were passing.
“Way different than where you grew up,” she said and glanced at him from the corner of her eye.
“Yeah, way different. My brother and I. . . .” He stopped short then and faced her, unsure of how to proceed. Wanting it out there and over with so they could continue with her tutoring without the constant specter of his brother Bartholomew hanging over their heads.
“He wasn't always like he was at the end.”
“Psycho much?” she shot out and then had the grace to blush. “I'm sorry. He was your brother. I'm not good with family things.”
No, she wouldn't be since she had none, Ben thought.
The Slayers took their recruits from two camps. The first were those who had been born into Slayer families and were instructed from birth as to what their roles would be. The second were orphans and other outsiders who had no one and no place else to go.
Rhiannon fell into the second camp.
“Yeah, I get it, Rhi. You don't do family well, but I did. I had a family I loved until a kiss of vampires killed most of them.”
She looked down then, her shoulders slumped. Her voice almost weary when she spoke. “I'm sorry for that, Ben. And for Bartholomew. It couldn't have been easy for you.”
No, it hadn't been easy, but neither was teaming up with Rhiannon for this phase of her schooling.
Benjamin had no doubt how Evangeline wanted it to end: With him dead. He was certain that she didn't care that accomplishing that might also do irreparable damage to Rhiannon.
But he cared, which was why he had asked to train her, no matter how difficult it would be because of his attraction to her.
He placed his hand beneath Rhiannon's chin and applied gentle pressure to urge her head upward.
Such a beautiful face, he thought, admiring flawless skin the color of cream with a heavy splash of coffee. Full lips, a razor straight nose, and high cheekbones completed the perfection, but it was her eyes that caught and snared him time and time again.
Hazel-green almond-shaped eyes were filled with intelligence, passion, strength, and vulnerability. An intriguing mix that called to him more than the sheer beauty of her physical being.
“Let's get this out in the open and maybe we can deal with it. Accepting the Council's decision that my brother was to be sanctioned by another Slayer was one of the hardest things I've ever had to accept. He was all that I had left of my family. If I could have changed things, I would have.”
“But you're a Council Member and bound to follow orders, right?” she challenged.
Which meant he should by all rights order her death if she failed this level of her education. The thought brought intense pain in the middle of his chest. Pain he wasn't ready to handle at the moment.
He'd had too much of it lately.
He broke the physical connection between them and started walking again as he said, “Things are changing.”
“And you're not a fan of those changes?”
He shrugged, but didn't break stride, his long legs eating up ground since he was in a rush to reach the end of the passage and head down onto the tracks. The Terminal ran for dozens of blocks below ground and it was in those areas and the paths that crept away from the heart of Midtown Manhattan where vampires would make their lairs.
“Carlos thinks the changes will be better for us. That we'll be able to rebuild and recruit more Slayers,” she said, prattling on about the new balance between the Slayers and the vampires. A balance necessitated by the changes in recent months and their weakness.
“Carlos is solely interested in assuming control of the Council. If he had to sacrifice you or me to do it, he would,” Ben warned and as they neared the last tracks along the passage, he rushed through the gate to an empty track and jumped down onto the ground.
He turned to wait for her and motioned to the rails close to his feet. “Watch out for the third rail.”
Rhiannon rolled her eyes. “I'm a native New Yorker. I know better than to fry myself.”
She hopped down beside him and he again gestured to the third rail as a reminder.
“There's too much human activity here still. Repairmen and others so it may be a ways before we find physical evidence of vampires, but you should sense them well before then,” he said.
They had barely gone two blocks along the tracks when Ben picked up on the unnatural vibrations of undead power, but he kept that knowledge to himself. Part of his mission here was to instruct, but the other part was to test Rhiannon. He and the Council needed to know the extent of her powers and whether she had embraced them enough for them to be of use to her.
As she laid her hand on his arm and murmured his name, he bit back a smile that she had passed this first small test.
“I feel. . .something,” Rhiannon said and nervously glanced around the dark confines of the tunnel. It was lit only by small wire-caged utility lamps that cast meager light. Now that they had moved away from the passenger areas, it was colder as the chill of the outside winter air swept into the tunnels.
“Where?” Ben asked, although she knew that he would be able to find the source of the undead energies with little effort. They were like a weak pulse against her rookie Slayer senses, but with his combined powers, it probably felt like the crash of angry waves against the shore.
She shook her head. “Don't know.”
“Close your eyes and listen. Smell. Hear and feel the vibrations, Rhi,” he
whispered close to her ear so only she could hear.
She did as he asked, but all she could feel, hear, and smell was him since he was intimately near. His soft breath spilled against the side of her face and he smelled like sandalwood and soap. The muscles of his chest were rock hard as they brushed against her back and his unique life force beat against her senses.
It was unnerving being beside such power, but moreso, being next to a man that fascinated her on so many levels.
Especially in light of Evangeline's instructions.
She sucked in a breath to control herself and it brought a sharper odor. Blood.
Opening her eyes, she avoided meeting Ben's gaze and carefully moved along the tracks to where there was a small side maintenance tunnel. Ben was right behind her and as she looked into the darkness of the opening, two bright neon eyes glared back. A low snarl warned that she had found a vampire, but he scurried deeper into the darkness of the tunnel and a second later, tossed out something that landed at her feet with a soft wet plop.
She looked down for only a second, not wanting to be distracted.
The limp and bloodied body of a fat rat lay there.
She backed away and met Ben as he stood in the middle of the tracks, arms tucked across his broad chest.
“Good job. You didn't needlessly engage, but next time, have your stake ready just in case,” he said.
“He was eating a rat. A fuckin' rat,” she said, disgusted by the thought as they continued down the tracks, heading ever farther away from the Terminal and humanity.
“Better that than a human,” Ben replied.
“Because I'd have to sanction him then. I've never done that before,” she admitted and belatedly reached into her jacket to swipe her hand across the trio of stakes tucked into the lining of her coat. Next to them were another threesome of silver knives and a small bottle of holy water. She should have checked her weapons before approaching the vermin-eating vampire and had one ready, as Ben had warned.
Taming the Vampire: Over 25 All New Paranormal Alpha Male Tales of Contemporary, Military, Shifters, Billionaires, Werewolves, Magic, Fae, Witches, Dragons, Demons & More Page 130
