by Teal Ceagh
Mia glanced at her watch again. “Time to go. I’ve texted Wyatt and told him to go straight to the keep.” She chewed her lip. “I hope he’s okay.”
Alexander took her face in his hands. “He’ll be fine,” he said softly. “Stop it, Mia.” He kissed her to stop her fretting and slipped his tongue against her lips. He drew back when he tasted blood. “You just fed?”
She blushed. “Sorry, yes. I should have warned you.” This was one of the changes he’d had the hardest time accepting. As a result of the bonding, from time to time, Mia had to feed on blood, like a vampire. She ate normal food and excreted it like a human but every few months or so, like a vampire, she hungered for blood. Alexander had been devastated by the knowledge. Instead, Zachariah and the other vampires had taught Mia how to ingest the artificial blood developed by the clan.
At least she had no incisors. He was spared that.
Alexander hugged her, instead, and let her go. “We were running late, I believe?” he reminded her.
“Damn, yes.” She straightened her business skirt back into place and threw him a dirty look. “I wish you would stop kissing me at work. You know I hate that.”
“While I can make you look like a cat on catnip, I’ll keep kissing you whenever you’re within reach,” Alexander growled softly as they hurried through the office to the elevator bank. The armored stretch limousine would be waiting for them in the lower basement. Max, the driver and one of the Earthwing clan, would have the engine running and his bolo tucked between the seat and the door, watching the street ramp. “Zack and Diego aren’t coming with us?” Alexander asked as they passed the other two partner offices without pausing.
Mia shook her head. “Zack is…he wanted to be with Seaveth today. Diego just didn’t show up this morning.” She frowned. Diego’s dedication to playing the role of a normal human was flaky, at best, despite the combined pressure Alexander and Zack tried to exert upon him. Diego had spent centuries unfettered. He was taking a longer time adjusting to Seaveth’s demands for assimilation than most. But they both knew he would be at the full assembly. Even he would not dare risk Seaveth’s wrath by missing that.
“He’ll come around,” Alexander assured her. “Diego is just…” He tried to find the right world.
“Savage,” Mia said succinctly. “I’ve heard the gossip. There’s a reason for his last name.”
“There is,” Alexander said flatly. “But whatever you’ve heard, it’s wrong.”
She glanced up at him, a furrow between her brows but she couldn’t ask him a more direct question for they had reached the foyer and were surrounded by strangers for the ride down to the basement.
In the elevator car, Alexander was swamped by memories of the day Mia had reappeared in his life, here in New York. She swiveled her head to look up at him and smiled and he knew she was thinking the same thing. She pressed closer to him in the crowded car.
She was getting many admiring glances from others in the car, who skimmed her high heels, smart skirt and jacket, silk shirt and shoulder-blade-length hair she refused to either cut or wear up in a bun despite the weather, and the hourglass figure that the suit did nothing to hide.
She’s with me, Alexander thought. At last. And he curled his hand around her hip.
The car was empty by the time they reached the last basement and they looked out cautiously. The limousine was waiting as promised. Mia swapped her briefcase over to her left hand and they stepped out, heading for the limousine.
There was a rattle of metal to their right and Alexander turned, his animal instincts flaring. Max was already leaping from the driver’s seat, his bolo in his hand.
But Mia was faster. She had the gun pulled from the holster at the small of her back and out, ready to fire, before Alexander had completed his turn.
Her reactions were faster than his.
She dropped her briefcase and threw her arm out across Alexander’s path to prevent him from moving forward. “Stop. It’s Wyatt,” she said, putting the small caliber gun away again. She ran forward into the shadowy basement and was enfolded by the dark figure there. Alexander could not make out the details but she had been able to. This had been another of her changes. Not only were her reaction times faster than his, she could see and hear better than a vampire.
And Wyatt was stronger than one. She was leading him forward now but he did not look like the strong hunter who had gone off the day before to Quebec to hunt a gargoyle. He was hunched over, an arm to his stomach. Alexander felt his heart seize. He hurried forward.
“What happened?” He and Mia between them bundled Wyatt into the limousine. “The keep, Max.”
“Aye.” Max climbed in and got the long vehicle rolling with minimum fuss, pulling out into the traffic without delay.
Alexander was grateful for the smoked windows and air-conditioning. He and Mia stretched Wyatt on the seat. “What happened?” he repeated again as he tried to pull aside Wyatt’s shirt to see his stomach.
“Demon was working with the gargoyle. The damn things are ganging up together these days.” Wyatt rolled his head back.
“Why aren’t you healing?” Mia cried.
Alexander winced and leaned over to the back of the driver’s seat. “Sorry, family business, Max.” And he hit the button for the privacy screen, which slid up behind the driver’s seat, a blacked-out window of total privacy between them and Max. It was soundproof and bulletproof.
Alexander turned back to Wyatt and looked at the long crimson gashes on Wyatt’s stomach.
“You’re supposed to have vampire healing powers now,” Mia said, tears rolling down her face.
“He does,” Alexander said quietly, studying the wounds. “These were much worse, twelve hours ago.”
Wyatt swallowed and nodded. “A friend drove me down from Ontario through the night. I had trouble convincing him not to take me to hospital in Toronto but when I didn’t die on him right away and was still talking when we hit the New York border he was starting to put it together. He was happy to get rid of me, I think. I scared the crap out of him. And he hunts demons.” He tried to laugh and it turned into a series of coughs that looked painful. He finally took a deep breath and opened his eyes. “God it’s good to see you both.”
Mia threw herself on his chest and Alexander kissed his forehead. Wyatt held Mia to him and eyed Alexander. “I’m guessing the war ain’t over, if the ass-kicking I just took is any measure. No sign of the infamous third trinity?”
He shook his head.
“Fuck.” Wyatt sighed. “The elves are going to eat Seaveth for dinner at the assembly.”
Chapter Two
“Silence!”
The full-throated roar came not from a vampire but from the most senior of the elves. Amrod had taken the most un-elven extreme of standing upon his chair and expanding his chest and bellowing at the top of his lungs for the attention of all assembled in the great hall.
Aubrey, perhaps the most senior of the vampires in the hall, if reckoned in years, also stood up but that just made him only the second at the table standing on his feet. Beyond the huge banquet table, the rest of the hall was a seething mass of people who had already been on their feet, arguing their point.
Amrod climbed down off his chair and bowed his head toward Seaveth, who sat at the head of the table. “My lady, the hour grows late and we have talked around this point at length. May we ask a direct question and beget a direct answer?”
“You may ask,” she said serenely.
“You keep assuring us the formation of the third trinity will hasten our victory over the Grimoré. Very well then, when will the next trinity form? This entire meeting has been nothing but an airing of this single problem. We cannot last much longer without that trinity. The human police force cannot be fooled for much longer and their other authorities grow suspicious. If we are not to make a fatal mistake that reveals us to humans for what we are, or allows the Grimoré to have their way with the humans, then we must have the tri
nity in place.”
“I see that you have come to believe that the third trinity will be our saving, after all, Amrod,” Seaveth said.
“When one has no more swords left to fight with, one turns to prayer or prophecy instead,” Amrod replied.
“Do you know when the trinity will form, my lady?” Aubrey asked gently. “I do not mean to press the point but it is a critical question the elf asks.”
Seaveth rose to her feet. None in the room failed to note that she stood taller than either man already standing. With her hair falling to her hips in fiery red waterfalls and her coat trailing to the ground behind her in blazing green velvet that matched her eyes and made them snap fire, she was the focus of all eyes in the room. “I did not write the prophecy, gentlemen, and don’t pretend to know more of its meaning that what is written for all to read than you.”
“Then you do not,” Amrod said.
“I do not,” Seaveth said evenly. “But nor can you tell me when this seemingly endless summer will end, Amrod…merely that it will end.”
“Then you guarantee that this third trinity is not something you have whipped up out of your imagination?” Amrod pressed. “It will form? It will save us?”
Seaveth looked him in the eye. “It will form,” she said.
A wave of emotion swept across the room, with a rustle of movement. Even the dignitaries at the table shuffled uneasily. Diego Savage snorted. “We’ll all be eviscerated by then, but sure, it’ll form,” he whispered to Alexander, next to him. Alex kicked his shin.
Lindál, across the table from Diego, glared at him. Diego snarled back.
Seaveth spread her hands. “Amrod, Aubrey, please be seated.”
She waited for the two senior representatives to sit back down again, which left her the only one standing at the table. “The last trinity will form,” she said firmly.
“Until the trinity forms, we must endure. I know that is becoming a challenge, especially when you have no idea how long you must continue on. But the trinity may form tomorrow, or two years from now. We have no idea. All we do know is that the forces that saw to the writing of the prophecy and the formation of the trinities have been remarkably long-sighted in their arrangements. Some of their scheming has been almost…kindhearted. And it all seems to be determined to bring balance back to the world in the long term. Keep that in mind. It helps when you’re wondering why you’re doing what you’re doing.”
She spread her hands. “The practical details we have been over already today, so until next month, this assembly is dismissed.”
Lindál moved quickly around the table, weaving between the assemblage, to grab Diego by the throat. “You owe Seaveth an apology, vampire.”
Diego smiled. “I was speaking in a private conversation, mutant. It’s not my problem if you were eavesdropping.”
Zack stepped in next to Lindál. “I’m not even going to pretend I don’t know what’s going on. Are you being a pain in the ass again, Diego?”
“I was talking to Alexander. It’s not my fault the mutant has ears the size of an elephant’s.”
Alexander sighed. “He was being an asshole,” he said quietly.
Diego glanced at him. “Thanks,” he said dryly.
Lindál was breathing heavily and Zack’s hand on his shoulder was clearly exerting pressure, holding him down. Diego frowned. Would the elf really try to take him out? Vampires were naturally stronger but he did have strength inherited by the bonding and Zack might just take his side…
Diego pushed his hand through his hair. “Okay, okay,” he said and sighed. “I’m sorry,” he told Lindál. “This fucking war is driving me crazy. And I don’t take to behaving like a fucking human all that well, okay? Four centuries of being myself and now I have to be a good little person again? It’s stupid.”
“You know why we do it,” Lindál said heavily.
“I know, I know. I don’t have to like doing it though.” Diego grimaced. “You should know what I mean. You’re not even human. How do you do it, parading like one? Doesn’t it drive you crazy?”
Lindál’s smile was serene. “I love two of them so much I’d give my life for theirs, vampire. Parading as one of them is a tiny price to pay. I barely notice the inconvenience. In fact, it’s fun.”
He brushed past Diego, Zack following him.
It took Diego a moment to be able to look at Alexander. He was shocked to see the tall vampire wore a small smile. “What?” Diego said viciously.
Alexander shook his head. “You just got TKO’d and he didn’t lift a finger, Diego. After four centuries, don’t you know when to throw in the towel?”
* * * * *
Zack unlocked the Maserati with an electronic warble and opened the doors. Seaveth wrapped her arms around Lindál’s neck. “Is there any chance I can talk you into taking me home, instead?” she asked.
Lindál looked around the public garage. “We’d better go home with Zack.”
Zack glanced up and around the empty, almost deserted area and frowned. “Diego really got to you, didn’t he?”
Lindál shook his head. “Beth herself said we’re supposed to minimize risks we’ll be exposed as nonhuman. Teleportation is a risk. We should drive home with you.”
“Bullshit.” Zack got into the car and started it.
Lindál eased his long length into the passenger seat, then settled Beth onto his lap and shut the door.
“Teleportation from a deserted basement to a locked apartment is zero risk, my friend,” Zack continued, pulling out of the garage with a squeal of rubber. “You’re just fuming over what Diego said.”
“What did Diego say?” Beth asked.
“Nothing,” Lindál said.
“It’s the usual mutant crap Diego spouts,” Zack said, “But for some reason, today Lindál is choosing to own it. Although Lindál knocked him down verbally before he walked away.”
“Wish I’d seen it,” Beth said with a sigh.
Zack felt his animal instincts kick in a second before the car slewed to the right, the steering wheel pulling hard, out of his control. He yanked the wheel, trying to gain back the road. “Fuck. Hold on!” he yelled. He heard the tires explode and the steel of the rims hit the road and start to grind. They were being dragged. A net, something had been laid for them. The second the Maserati’s wheels had hit the trap they had been reeled in like fish.
He looked over his shoulder. The whole car was being pulled toward an alleyway. Not good. Once they were inside that confined space, there wouldn’t be enough room for fighting, or escape.
“Get out of the car!” Zack said, reaching for the door controls. Just as he reached for the controls, the engine cut out. He tugged at the manual override for the lock but it didn’t budge. “Shit.” They’d used a remote to lock them in.
“They’re going to have to open the doors to get at us,” Lindál said calmly. “I can’t move fast enough with Beth on my lap. It has to be you first.”
Zack nodded. “I’ve got a Glock in the glove box, fully loaded.”
“I’ll take that,” Beth said, pulling it out. “And I have my knife, as usual. But it’s in my boot.”
“Leave it there, until you’ve used up all the bullets in the gun,” Zack said. “It’s a silenced gun.”
The Maserati was bumping across the pavement now, to the disbelief of cynical New Yorkers, who watched its passing with open mouths. They were drawn into the deep alleyway past a Dumpster that rolled across the mouth of the alley, cutting off their retreat. “Well, I guess that means I’m not getting the Maserati back,” Zack said with a sigh.
“They’ve planned this well,” Lindál said. “For us?”
“For me,” Zack said evenly. “I usually come this way after assemblies but you two don’t normally come with me. I think if I come out of this alive, it’s going to be because Diego was an asshole this morning.” He glanced at Lindál and Beth. “Ready?”
Vampeen came at them first, opening the doors with the remote th
ey had used to cut off the engine and lock them. The sound of the unlocking doors was what Zack had been waiting for. He exploded out of the car, moving at vampire speed, using the knives he always carried with him now. His first move was to vault the low nose of the Maserati and clear a space around the passenger door. Beth emerged from that door, next and began to fire the Glock in controlled single rounds, picking her targets carefully. She stepped away from the door to give Lindál room to exit.
Lindál stepped from the car, tripped and sank to his knees. Blood flowed from his mouth. “We forgot…the other door.”
He fell over.
Beth screamed.
Zack slammed the door shut, snatched the Glock from her and pushed her up against the car. He straddled Lindál and called over his shoulder. “Beth, call for them. Anyone. Everyone. Now!”
She was staring at Lindál, her eyes huge.
“Seaveth!” Zack roared.
She blinked and looked at him.
“Call them!”
She closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them, she nodded. “They’re coming.” She held out her hand. “Give me the gun.” The hand trembled but she was calm.
Zack shook his head. “Tend to Lindál. Get something on the wounds. Stop the bleeding. Put pressure on them. Their anatomy is close to ours…that has to work.”
She nodded and got down on her knees next to him and rolled Lindál over. Her gasp was half a sob but she worked steadily. Lindál made no sound. Zack kept his eye on the hovering vampeen, who knew his reputation with the Glock and the knife enough not to come any closer than spitting distance.
Suddenly the air was rushing about his ears and the alleyway was filled with elves. Dozens of them, in the black cloaks and muffled head gear that Diego called their “black ops” uniforms. Amrod, with Alexander. More senior elves, carrying vampires. Beth had called out everyone, as promised. The black ops teams were sweeping the alleyway, clearing it of vampeen and any Grimoré that lingered further behind.
