Ellowyn Found: An MM Vampire Trilogy Omnibus Edition Books 1 - 3

by Kayleigh Sky

  “Go,” she whispered.

  After another few seconds, Otto jumped to his feet, snatched the flashlight still sticking out of the back of Isaac’s jeans, and hurried for the ladder.

  Isaac returned his attention to Mal. She grimaced, forcing a smile.

  “I told you to stay.”

  “I ignored you,” Isaac said.

  Slowly, he bent, his gaze on the rock wall, his heart fluttering in a panic. How much blood until he died? But the voice whispered in his head, the same voice that stole into his dreams at night, the voice in the fog, the voice his heart told him was Rune’s.

  Trust me.

  “Trust yourself,” he whispered, right before pain shattered his brain.

  53

  On His Way

  The earth rocked again. Daylight beckoned him, but Otto detoured to the map in the display case and dragged his fingertip over the glass to the next nearest entrance. Hurrying on, he dashed back out into the dim daylight.

  Adrenaline drove him, pumping through his veins like fire, pushing away his worry over Isaac and Mal. He had to get to Rune.

  A thin strip of cracked, forgotten pavement appeared in the weeds. He ran until he reached another gate in a cage around another entrance. The metal lock on the gate hung on a rusty hinge. He dragged the gate open and snapped on Isaac’s flashlight. The shaft in front of him angled down into a dark that swallowed the beam of his light. He took a breath and plunged in.

  Now he hunted Rune, tracking him into the guts of the earth like the vampire from hell he was. No dark was dark enough to stop him. Jessa was his.

  Mine!

  Fated.

  His Jessa. His light and joy in the utter darkness that had been his life for so long. It was fitting the battle should happen here, underground and in the suffocating dark.

  Only Jessa breathed life into him now.

  His flashlight led the way. When he came to a split, he headed back the way he had come. When he hit a dead end, he reversed and crawled through an opening in the wall. Soon he ran toward the sounds—solid, thumping echoes.

  His light revealed a figure in front of him.

  Rune ignored him. His shirt was off, sweat beaded on his tattooed skin. Otto slowed, mesmerized by the intricately lettered design on his back. The Letters of the Revelatory Passion.

  When only a few yards separated them, Rune turned and hissed. His fangs glistened, his eyes burning. But he followed the hiss with a laugh. “Damn earthquakes. All your fucking fault,” he muttered.

  “Get away.”

  Jessa lay on his side beside the wall of rock Rune had just dug through. Cool air wafted into the corridor.

  “There is no treasure, Rune.”

  “You’re wrong. An earthquake a few years ago opened a fissure that drops down into a cave in Celestine. When it happened, I stopped the renovations as a precaution and later on pretended I’d lost interest in starting them up again. I was too busy, I said, but I wasn’t too busy to explore. I know where the treasure is now. You should have brought a gun. It’s all that’ll stop me.”

  “I’ll stop you.”

  A grin split the beautiful face in front of him. Once, before the darkness had entered him, Rune must have been as light as Jessa, and the flash of understanding that hit Otto at that thought seared him with a cold fire. He was no better than Rune. He’d brought on his own fall too.

  “Give up, Rune. It’s over.”

  “You don’t know what it is, human. It’s my duty. My destiny.”

  “No.” That was a whisper. Jessa’s.

  Rune stooped, but his gaze hung on Otto’s. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “I can’t let you go,” Otto said. “You’re a murderer.”

  Rune’s smile was slow and sad. “A killer, yes, but not a murderer.”

  “Brillen was garbage, but you don’t pick who lives and dies.”

  “That wasn’t murder. I stopped a murder, and the victim got away. You don’t know what you think you know.”

  “Turn around and put your hands on the wall.”

  Rune laughed and—flew.

  He soared, arms swooping like wings, and Otto staggered back, trying to twist away. Rune landed on his feet with a smile. “You can’t win against me.”

  “I already have.”

  Shock flashed in Rune’s eyes, darkening to anger. He lashed out, slamming his forearm across Otto’s face. It knocked him against the wall, and he fell onto his knees. His ears rang, and a booming sound filled his head. Rune reached for him, and Otto lunged. His momentum pushed them both crashing into the rock wall. Otto wrapped himself around Rune, but Rune twisted, and his slippery skin slid out of Otto’s grip.

  Scrambling sideways, Otto crouched over Jessa and grabbed him under his shoulders. Jessa’s arms flopped as he tried to lift them and hug Otto back.

  “Go,” Jessa whispered. “Rune won’t—”

  Otto soared on a crash course with the ceiling before Rune tossed him back onto the ground. Otto’s air blasted out of his lungs. His throat seized and strangled him. Rune grabbed his shirt and yanked him up.

  “You can tell Zev to leave me.”

  Otto gasped. “You. Are—”

  “Cursed but free,” Rune said with a smile.

  “Under. Arrest.”

  Rune laughed and tightened his grip on Otto’s collar, choking him again. “Will you pursue me to the ends of the earth as one of your great poets suggested? Are you such a tortured soul, Detective?”

  “Committed,” he gasped.

  Rune’s face twisted with some strange pain. “To whom?”

  “My sister.”

  “Laudable, but you must lose today. Not me.” Rune twisted his grip on Otto’s shirt and dots began to dance in Otto’s eyes. He took a chance that Rune didn’t know about the circle of the Nine. His lungs heaved, and the sound that burst out of his mouth grated like broken rock. “You don’t… have… all… the necklaces.”

  Rune’s grip tightened, and Otto’s ears rang. The whoosh of air rushing back into his lungs lit him with fire. Rune’s lips pressed close to his face. “What are you talking about?”

  Otto dragged in another raspy breath. “Nine… nine necklaces.”

  His roaring blood deafened him until Rune chuckled. “What necklaces?”

  Otto gasped. “You don’t… have them… all.”

  “I don’t have any, and you have nothing.”

  The darkness flooded back, the pain flaring to life in his lungs. Otto knew he struggled, kicking. Then the earth shook again, and he tumbled downward. He hit his head and light burst, flashing like a strobe. Rune was fighting with something on his back. He howled in pain and surprise and twisted like a dervish right as the light winked out and darkness descended.

  54

  A Drainer with Balls

  Jessa sank his fangs into Rune’s neck. The fingers that grabbed the back of his shoulders dug in like pounding nails. The pain wracked his shaky body for only an instant before lassitude slipped over him. His limbs went slack and warm. His jaws relaxed, and Rune twisted and wrapped an arm around his waist, holding him up.

  No anger. The rage fire in Rune’s eyes had gone out. He smiled. “Silly boy. So be it.”

  Jessa fell, landing on something warm and solid. A heart beat under his ear, suddenly quickening. Otto’s.

  Otto sat up, bringing Jessa with him. Jessa rolled to his knees, grit seeping back into his body. Otto stood, and Jessa followed him. But Rune was already halfway through the hole he’d ripped from the wall. He pulled a silk bag on a string from around his neck and shook his head when Otto took a step forward.

  “No,” Rune said. “We are too alike, you and I. But I am lost. You? Live and pick a new fight.” He dropped the bag on the ground. “Those are the necklaces. Give them to Zev and don’t follow me.”

  “Stop,” Jessa said. “Don’t go. I know you didn’t hurt anybody. I know you.”

  “You were born of love. I was not.” He shifted his gaze
to Otto again. “I wasn’t the only one hunting the necklaces. Your sister died over one. Her murderer is dead too. I’m sorry I wasn’t in time to save her.”

  Otto swayed, and Jessa grabbed him.

  “Geli’feth, brother.”

  Dumbstruck, fumbling in his mind for the meaning of the old Celes word, Jessa said nothing. And then Rune was gone, vanished in a mist that disappeared behind the wall. Otto darted forward, but there was nothing there anymore besides the bag on the ground. He scooped it up, and Jessa remembered.

  Goodbye…

  55

  Otto’s New Job

  “You want me to work for you?”

  Otto ignored the champagne glass in Zev’s fingers as he waited for an answer. Not that he liked champagne. He didn’t, but the desire for a drink still crept up on him. He took a swig of the fizzy apple juice Mal had bought for her I’m-not-dead party as she called it. Vampires survived grave injuries, but she’d almost bled out by the time Isaac fed her. She’d gotten lucky, and now she was celebrating, and Otto was sipping apple juice from a bottomless supply because she’d bought cases of the stuff as though she anticipated he’d be at every family function until the end of time.

  Zev sipped the champagne then set it on the wall that surrounded the veranda. “Come. Walk with me.”

  Scowling, Otto obeyed. The bastard was a king, after all.

  “Some people would consider a job offer from me an honor,” Zev added.

  “You threatened to drain me.”

  “Well… a sometimes effective means to an end. What would you do anyway?” asked Zev. “Work for the police? Do you want that?”

  Did he?

  Was he the same person who’d started this investigation? He’d been hunting his sister’s killer and now?

  “Probably not.”

  Zev took them onto a gravel path alongside the castle. Lights lit the way and twinkled in the trees. The air was balmy, like the summers he remembered from childhood. Miss you, Maisie.

  Laughter followed them, mixed with the clomp of car doors outside as people continued to arrive. Behind them trailed several vampires, Uriah among them, conscripted to Zev’s bodyguards.

  “Well,” said Zev. “I’m offering you work, you know. I trust you.”

  Otto shot him a startled stare. “Why?”

  “You are honorable,” said Zev. A grin flickered on his face. “Volatile, but honorable. You honored your sister’s memory. Honor matters more than loyalty. If you want loyalty, get a German Shepherd, I always say.”

  Otto laughed, the sound and the feeling of it in his chest, surprising him.

  “I’ll remember that.”

  Now the grin stayed on Zev’s face. “Consider my sense of humor a perk.”

  The path took them alongside the front porch and busy driveway. From where she stood at the top of the steps, Mal turned to gaze at them. Fritt stood at her back, dipping his chin to their guests and gesturing to the front door. Mal wore another red dress that barely covered her ass and black spiked heels. Her hair hung in the same profusion of braids she’d done Jessa’s in for the night. The gloss on her lips gleamed red from across the distance. She lifted her chin and flashed a smile at him.

  “A bit of a contradiction, that one,” Zev said.

  Otto would never have imagined he’d have any fondness for her. “Who knew she’d have a heart.”

  Something like sadness crossed Zev’s face. “We all have.”

  Did he mean Rune? Well, they had been boyhood friends, hadn’t they?

  “Do you want me to find him? Rune? Is that why you need a private detective?” Otto asked.

  Zev was quiet for a moment. The crunch of their footsteps on the gravel grew louder as they put the house behind them.

  “I want you to find a human actually, though I will have many other tasks for you to do.”

  “What human?”

  “We’ll have time later for that. Will you or won’t you?”

  “You never asked me for an accounting of the investigation, you know?”

  Zev shrugged. “You solved the murder. It was what I asked you to do.”

  “I solved something. I’m just not sure it was a murder. But you knew that all along.”

  “I didn’t actually.”

  “You didn’t tell me everything you knew. You didn’t tell me Rune was involved.”

  “I didn’t know he was. I only suspected. I couldn’t tell you how he fit in.”

  “What’s your relationship with him?”

  Zev’s face softened, his look of tenderness visible even in the dark. “We were friends once. Before the war. Before Qudim’s fall. I have no idea what he’s doing.”

  “I won’t call you a liar, King Dinallah.”

  “That’s advisable. We don’t always know what we think we do.”

  “Somebody always knows something,” Otto said. “And I know Rune’s in the middle of this. I just don’t know how. Jessa says Rune promised he’d never leave him, so that means he’s still around, but Jessa’s a romantic. People are dead and Rune’s hand has been in most of it. He killed Acalliona.”

  “You still aren’t saying murder,” Zev commented.

  “Somebody else was there. Somebody who got away. My gut tells me Rune stopped Brillen from killing him, whoever he was. Okay. Good. But why was he there?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Me neither, and I don’t like that. He had seven necklaces, and he gave them up.”

  “For you to give to me, so I could give them back to the families.”

  “There are two more necklaces.”

  “According to you.”

  “Rune is on the loose and looking for them. The Adi ’el Lumi killed Mateo, thinking Mateo was the blood whore with Brillen. Brillen is dead, probably by Rune’s hand, and the blood whore got away. The drainer who killed my sister is dead too, her necklace stolen by Rune when he killed her murderer for it, I’m guessing. Wen was supplying the Adi ’el Lumi with human blood and got caught in the crosshairs. Maybe he knew something, or maybe he was just expendable. My guess is that Solomon Frenn knocked him off and took his body to confuse things. I’m also pretty sure Frenn had one of the necklaces at his shop and Rune got it after trashing the place looking for it. For a while, I thought Rune was connected to the Adi ’el Lumi, but now I don’t, though I think Frenn is, and both him and his cronies and Rune are after the last two necklaces. Now here’s the curious thing. The Adi ’el Lumi most likely plan to take Rune down to get the necklaces they think he has. But Rune… He gave them up. Why? Now he’s looking for two necklaces that won’t get him the treasure without the first seven. That’s the thing that isn’t making any sense to me.”

  “I guess that’s a mystery for another time.”

  Otto smiled into Zev’s amused eyes. “Is it though?”

  Zev shrugged. “I trust you’ll solve that mystery too. Just be patient. I’ll have work for you in the meantime. If you agree to work for me, that is.”

  Otto took a breath, smelling oak and jasmine. Blew it out again. “Yeah, okay. I’ll work for you.”

  “Good.”

  “What about the first necklaces?” Otto asked.

  “Baubles,” said Zev. “And the mines are too unstable now, anyway.”

  Otto had lost the bag in another quake. All his energy had focused on getting Jessa and Isaac and Mal out in time. A crack in the earth had raked across the valley and water, gushing from a hidden aquifer, had raged through it, snapping trees in its wake and filling another valley below.

  “And the treasure?”

  Zev chuckled. “Your theory of the crime was interesting, but the treasure is a myth. I told you. The Adi ’el Lumi perpetuate it because it serves their purposes, that’s all.”

  “What is it?”

  Zev’s lips twisted. “I told you, it doesn’t exist.”

  “I changed my mind about calling you a liar, King Dinallah.”

  “And you are a disrespectful employee, private
detective Jones.”

  “The start of a wonderful relationship,” Otto commented.

  Zev grinned. “I agree.”

  56

  Mine

  The nip in the air was welcome after the early warmth. It was after midnight, but the celebration went on.

  Jessa found Otto in the kitchen, sitting glumly, while Bettina and the temporary help arranged food and drink on the platters the servers took to the guests.

  “Chicken. You can’t hide in here.”

  “Yet, I am,” grumbled Otto.

  His glare was a smile to Jessa. He met it with a real smile. Though Rune wasn’t here, he had gotten away, and Jessa was sure he was close. For days, he and Isaac had pieced the broken statue in Rune’s studio back together, Jessa remembering enough about glass to meld the pieces into one. It looked bent and battered, but Jessa kept it in his room, anchored to the wall.

  “Have you seen Isaac?” he asked.

  Otto shook his head. “Not since before the party.”

  “Hiding, I guess.”

  “Smart kid.”

  Jessa took Otto’s apple juice away, set it on the counter, and snatched Otto’s hand. “I know a better place to hide.”

  He flipped his hair back and pulled Otto onto the veranda and down the steps.

  “Where are we going?” Otto asked.

  He was slow, slowing Jessa down, but he didn’t resist. They went under the trees in the miniature orchard, the air sweet with fallen fruit.

  Jessa fell back into the arm Otto slung around him. “You look beautiful tonight,” Otto said.

  Jessa sighed a laugh. “Mal’s handiwork.”

  “No,” Otto said.

  He was taller than Otto tonight in the heels Mal put on him, and he wobbled on the rocky path. But soon they exited the shelter of the trees and headed for the moonlit greenhouse.

  Inside, Jessa kicked off his shoes. “Look.”