by Aliya DalRae
I wasn’t home for more than half an hour when I heard someone knocking. I wrenched myself off the sofa, and went to let Harrier in. He must be in some kind of trouble if he was pulling Jessica duty again, but for whatever reason I was glad he was the one coming to retrieve the tape.
I opened the door to let him in, not surprised to find him with a chaperone. When he stepped inside, I nearly choked to see the Legion’s Warlord behind him. I thought he only left the Compound when there was a battle to be waged. After probably too long a pause, I asked him in, not because it was necessary, but because it seemed like the appropriate thing to do.
“Jessica. So nice to see you again,” Mason said, always charming. He wore his usual tan slacks and sporty jacket over a dark, silk shirt. I took his jacket—Harrier wasn’t wearing one—and hung it on a hook in the corner of the kitchen.
“Come on in,” I said again, motioning to the living room. “Both of you.” Mason naturally took the lead, but Harrier waved me ahead of him, startling me with a brief squeeze on my shoulder as I passed. I looked at where his hand had been, and back at him, but he acted like nothing had happened.
Mason had already arranged himself in my favorite recliner, so Harrier and I pulled up a piece of sofa and waited for the Warlord to speak.
“Lovely home,” he said, gazing around the room at the paneled and papered walls, and the Home Interior décor. My mom had enjoyed going to those parties, and I didn’t have the heart yet to change anything. Some of it I even liked.
“Thank you,” I said, looking at the room and trying to see it as he did. In truth, it wasn’t much different from his office, although I ventured to guess that one of his prints was worth more than all my pictures combined. Probably more than my house.
“Can I offer you guys anything? Something to drink? I’ve got some pizza left over.” Even as shaken as I was leaving Lockman’s, I couldn’t help grabbing a pepperoni pie on the way out. Fact was, I needed it more than ever.
“Perky’s is hard to resist,” Harrier grinned, but Mason declined for both of them.
“You have the tape?” he asked, niceties apparently fulfilled.
“Yeah, but I don’t have—”
Mason pulled a small Lanier recorder out of his pocket. “But of course, you do,” I mumbled. I fished the tape out of my pocket, removed it from its case and handed the cassette to Mason. He inserted it into the recorder and hit the play button. Hearing that eerie voice again, I shivered.
“The sins of the mother paid for by the son. The blood of Evil runs through the veins of your love, and the Beast walks the earth once more. What was past becomes present, he who was wronged seeks revenge. Beware the man you think you know.”
“That sounds ominous,” Harrier said, leaning forward on the couch.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought, only what the hell does it mean?” I sat back on the sofa and pulled my legs up underneath me. It seemed wrong to be so casual in front of Mason, but this was my house, and I can’t think when I’m trying to be formal.
“‘The Beast walks the earth once more.’ That seems pretty straightforward,” Harrier said, not at all helpful. “Past is present, we already know that.”
“It doesn’t say that it’s Raven,” I pointed out, but Harrier was undaunted.
“No,but it does say the Evil is in his blood. It’s got to be him.”
“You just want it to be him, Harrier,” I snapped. He was looking so smug I wanted to slap him.
“You’re the one who can’t be around him,” he sneered, his brogue thickening with the taunt.
“Screw you, Harrier,” I said, and he laughed.
“That’s not quite what it said.” Mason finally decided to join the conversation, his input more in line with what I wanted to hear. “He said, ‘the blood of Evil runs through the veins of your love.’”
“So what?” Harrier sneered. “You think a long lost uncle decided to take up where his nephew left off? One that looks identical to him? Please.” He waved a dismissive hand and settled back in the sofa, folding a booted foot underneath him. I glared at him and he put his big-ass boot back on the floor, ignoring me like the move was his idea.
“Do you know his history? His lineage?” Mason asked, and Harrier scoffed.
“Never wanted to. His reputation was all I needed to know. Made me sick then, still makes me sick.” He shrugged as though it was simply fact.
“Has he ever mentioned family to you, Jessica?” Mason chose to ignore Harrier. Most sane people did.
“Only his parents, who he said were murdered. He never mentioned having anyone else. He said an old Vampire took him in when he was orphaned and helped him survive, but that’s all I know.”
Mason was nodding at me, and I took it to mean he knew all that as well.
“Did he ever mention the old Vampire’s name to you?”
“No, you?” I asked, surprised. I thought the Warlord knew everything about everything, especially Raven.
“Never, and it was never important that I ask.”
“Do you think this guy might know something?” I asked, hope rising for the first time in days.
“I don’t know, but if we can track him down, it’s a string to pull, to be sure.”
“What about the sins of the mother thing?” Harrier asked
“Could be connected,” Mason was tapping his finger on the arm of the recliner, thinking. A moment later he rose, and after a brief hesitation, Harrier and I joined him on our feet. Guess the meeting was over.
“Thank you for seeing us,” Mason said, offering his hand to me. I took it, even though doing so gave me the heebie-jeebies. This was a Vampire with a lot of past, and I knew any vision triggered by him would be a doozy. So far our interactions had been one hundred percent vision free. I really wanted to keep it that way.
Harrier seemed hesitant to leave, but with a mocking bow, he offered his hand to me as well. I took it, and after the relief of touching Mason again without incident, I was unprepared for the vision that set upon me.
A small boy of maybe three or four, was hiding in a cupboard, listening to his parents fighting.
“If it weren’t for him, I would have left you years ago,” a woman’s voice was raging. “I’m ruined, because of you, and because of him. Ruined! They will never accept me again. And it’s all your fault.”
“You chased me, Vampire, and I’ve done nothing but love you and our boy. Acceptance? From that lot of insufferable bastards? Why? Why do you need theirs when you have mine, and that of our son?
“I was young and stupid,” the female voice spat. “I never knew the consequences. Take him. Take the boy and leave me.”
“It’ll never be done,” the male voice spoke softly. “You married me for better or worse, and I’ll see it through. ‘Til death do us part, my love.”
“Then gods see you dead before eternity passes!”
A door slammed, and the little boy jumped, bloody tears streaming from golden eyes, splashing silently on his taloned hand.
I came to myself again, surprised by the look of concern in Harrier’s gaze. His arms were around me, holding me up, and Mason was watching me with a calculating eye.
“A vision, I assume,” Mason said.
I pulled away from Harrier’s grasp and righted myself on my own two feet.
“Yeah, but…uh,” I glanced at Harrier, but quickly looked away. “It wasn’t—wasn’t anything about Raven,” I said, looking back at Harrier and seeing the golden-eyed boy staring back at me. I had a lump in my throat, and I ached to throw my arms around him and comfort him, but fortunately I restrained myself. The hulk in front of me would be none too pleased to find I had gotten a glimpse of his past, and I doubted he would accept my sympathy either.
“You’re certain?” Mason asked, doubt in his voice.
“Yes,” I said, my voice shaking. I took a deep breath and cleared my throat before saying, “Yes,” with a bit more conviction. “This was…personal,” I added. Mason nodded,
but Harrier was giving me suspicious eyes. Sooner or later, he would be asking me about this vision, and I didn’t know if I would ever be prepared for that conversation.
Chapter Forty-Five
M aggie Dane stood by the window, watching through the curtains at the scene unfolding in her driveway, while her husband sat behind his desk, listening. She couldn’t hear what was being said, but Patrick, being Were, might as well have been out there with them.
When the Werecat climbed in his car and drove away, Maggie turned a questioning eye to her husband.
“He’s worried about her,” Patrick said, fingering an old, dog-eared photograph on his desk.
“What does he suspect?” Maggie asked, wringing her hands.
“He suspects we want to hurt her.”
“What?” Maggie peaked out of the curtain again at the dust cloud trailing the retreating vehicle. “Why?”
“I don’t know.” Patrick pushed back from the desk and rose to join his wife at the window. “Apparently he feels we’re disrespecting her by spying on her. Thinks we should be more grateful for what she’s done for us.”
“Why would he think we’re not?” Maggie asked, but paled a moment later. The man had seemed familiar, and now she knew why. “Oh, God, Paddy. He saw us.”
“Saw who?” Patrick put a hand on Maggie’s shoulder and turned her to face him.
“I took Allie to the Polar King for ice cream. I went to the restroom and Allie was supposed to wait for me by the door, but she went out into the lobby. Jessica had come in with a friend, and Allie must have sensed her. When I found her, they were talking and hugging and—I panicked.”
“What did you do?” Patrick narrowed his eyes, sensitive to his wife’s distress.
“I turned away from her, to make sure she couldn’t see me, and I grabbed Allie and ran out of the restaurant. Malcolm was coming in as I was leaving, and I nearly ran him over. He must have been watching. Oh, Patrick! I’m so sorry I didn’t mention it. But she didn’t seem to recognize me, and I never dreamed it would become a problem.”
“It’s okay,” Patrick said, pulling his wife into his arms. The whole situation was difficult for them both, but more so on Maggie. Leaving his wife and daughter was never his choice, but when he was bitten, Patrick was forced into a world where his family simply could not follow.
It took several years for him to be able to pull off the coup that gave him control of the Pack. By that time, Maggie had completely self-destructed, and any hopes of bringing their daughter along were dashed. Because of his disappearance, Maggie had buried herself in alcohol and drugs, abandoning their daughter in the process.
When Patrick found her in that alley, he convinced Maggie to join him, explaining that she would have to leave her old life behind, and she had done so without a second thought. Once she sobered up, cleansed her system of the drugs and booze, she realized exactly what she had lost, and had never forgiven herself for not being there for their daughter.
Allie helped, gave them both perspective, but living in the same town as their eldest daughter and her new family produced complications of their own. They managed to avoid chance encounters by keeping track of her, and it had been good for them both to see her being cared for and loved.
When the Sweets died, Malcolm had seemed a godsend, willing to stay with her around the clock, and advise them periodically of her wellbeing.
As it turned out, it was a smart move, given that she ended up involved with the Vampires. Jessica apparently still had visions, a trait Patrick and Maggie always hoped she would outgrow, and now with the Vampires claiming her as a Legion asset, their daughter would never know the normal life they had so desperately wanted for her.
Patrick kissed his wife’s forehead and held her close. “It’s okay,” he repeated, but he doubted his own words even as they passed his lips.
Chapter Forty-Six
T as had been following the dynamic duo for hours, and had yet to see anything out of the ordinary. Tailing a Vampire was difficult in its own right, but when you were following one with Raven’s extrasensory perception it took skill. And patience. Neither of which Tas had in great abundance right now.
He tried to blend at the club while the two questioned the human patrons there. Or rather, Perry did the questioning, while Raven stood back and glared, making people uncomfortable. Go figure.
Tas was almost certain he’d been made right away, but Raven didn’t approach him, and hopefully understood why he was being followed. Didn’t matter, though. There wasn’t much to see.
While Raven and Perry talked to people, Tas watched the watchers. No one seemed to be taking a particular interest in the Vampires in their midst apart from the two girls who were obviously taken with the Soldier.
Tas shook his golden mane, remembering when things like flirting had been fun for him. So long ago.
When the pair left, heading out of town in Raven’s Hummer, Tas followed at a distance in his preferred Cadillac Escalade. When they turned into Buzz’s Tavern, Tas wasn’t surprised. The owner, Buzz, was a Werewolf, and the bar was known throughout the preternatural community as a safe haven for beings of the non-human variety. Perry’s girl, Heidi, a Werewolf herself, worked there as a bartender. If anything unusual was going on, she was in an excellent position to hear of it.
Raven and Perry were entering the bar as Tas pulled into the lot. Buzz’s was a fairly small place without a lot of ins and outs, so finding a parking place with views of both the front and side exits wasn’t too difficult. The Escalade was a bit out of place in a lot filled with older model pickup trucks (translation: “rust buckets”), but the corner he found was dark and on a slight rise that made surveillance easier.
Tas leaned back in his seat and waited. It wasn’t but a few minutes before he saw Peregrine sneaking out the side exit with Heidi. They went directly to her car, which was parked in a dark section near the back of the building. The two entered the vehicle, and a couple of minutes later—well, you didn’t have to be a Vampire to know what was going down in there. The sounds and scents of sex were obvious to his acute senses, and Tas rubbed his nose trying to clear his head. The two were definitely enjoying themselves, the emotions permeating the air more than carnal. It seemed young Peregrine was in love.
Tas sighed, dragging his hands through his hair and shaking out the curls.
How long had it been since he had loved? Raina had been gone for what? Almost seventy-five years now. It was hard to believe so much time had passed.
In spite of being a turned vamp, Tas’s fellow Warriors had accepted him, largely based on his easy going manner, not to mention his ability to soothe the savage beasts. Raina had given him that.
It’d been awhile since Tas had thought of his lost mate so intensely, too long, really, and that realization shamed him. Raina was not only his mate, she was his maker.
When she died, he had cursed her for leaving him alone, but in truth he was grateful for the gift she had bestowed upon him. He wouldn’t live forever,nobody did, but he was alive now and it was a life with meaning beyond his own selfish wants and needs.
Some people never found that one person they were meant to love forever. Tas had been among the fortunate ones.
The sound of a car door slamming brought his attention back to the task at hand, and he watched as Perry returned to the tavern through the side entrance alone.
At that exact moment, Tas sensed movement in the front of the building, and he was surprised to see Raven walk out.
What the…? The large male didn’t even glance toward the vehicle he’d arrived in. In fact, he seemed completely unaware of his surroundings as he headed for the road. Goddamned Perry had managed to get himself a piece of tail, and lost his charge in the process.
Tas watched as Raven hesitated at the entrance to the gravel parking lot, then turned left and stumbled down the road. Where in the hell was he going?
No one else had come or gone since Tas’s arrival. If someone was watchi
ng Raven, they had to have been inside already. Fuck! He should have gone in, but the place was so small, he couldn’t have done so without being made. Torn between investigating inside, and following Raven, Tas hesitated.
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” he growled through clenched teeth, banging on the steering wheel for emphasis. Perry was on his own.
Cranking the engine, Tas drew the vehicle out of its dark space and steered it down the road in pursuit of his friend.
Chapter Forty-Seven
I sent the rest of the pizza home with Harrier, and that seemed to take his mind off my vision. For now at least. I was certain I hadn’t heard the end of it, but that was the problem with other people knowing my secret. They always wanted to know what I knew. I would assure them that they didn’t, but they never listen. If I told them, they’d get upset with me for invading their privacy. If I didn’t, they said I was hiding things from them. People were never satisfied.
After seeing my visitors out, I slumped back to the living room and crashed on the couch. My visions were getting stronger ever since I met Raven. Before, it was quite rare that I would touch someone and pass out from the images I received, but with the Vampires, the visions were overwhelming.
There was a new intensity to them now, like my talents were evolving. The things I saw were sharper, clearer, and the toll they took on me emotionally and physically was increasing exponentially.
I wondered if there was anyone on Mason’s team who had experience with my specific skill set. Someone who could tell me if this change was standard for someone like me, and if so, exactly how much more could I expect? I made a mental note to ask Mason when I saw him next. Based on recent events, I wouldn’t have to wait too long.
I tried channel surfing, but not even Man v. Food could hold my attention tonight, and I decided to go to bed. Sleep had been a rare commodity for me the last few nights, and I was hoping to catch up on some much needed Z’s. I was out before my head hit the pillow.
