by Beth Alvarez
Shuffling the file back into order, he clapped it shut and stuffed it back into the drawer.
That left the unsigned paperwork staring up at him. He already knew what each stack entailed; he’d never had to sign any, but he’d heard about them and had seen the forms. The terms they laid out held all the appeal of an angry rattlesnake.
Kade planted his elbows on the desk and buried his face in his hands.
He’d faced plenty of frustrations during his time as a hunter, but he couldn’t recall the last time he’d felt like they were insurmountable. Unpleasant memories of his life in Nashville—his life before Keepers and their blasted paperwork—stirred in his head. With them came all manner of unpleasant feelings. Heady memories of being lost, sinking and hopeless. He never thought he’d feel that way again, unable to find some way to escape.
He could always request a transfer; he wasn’t a hunter anymore. Any Keeper could handle his needs now, and transferring to a Keeper stationed closer to Holly Hill was probably a good idea, anyway. But that also assumed that he was going back, and that any Keeper would want to accept a charge with Potential Threat stamped on the front page of their file.
Which he wasn’t supposed to know about, Kade reminded himself. It made Thaddeus’s earlier statement—that the organization had found him to be no threat—that much more ironic. Then again, the old man had said currently.
Footsteps stopped outside the door. Kade didn’t stir when the doorknob creaked and the door swung open. He didn’t need to look up to know Thaddeus was judging him.
“You seem to have made little headway,” the old man remarked, the statement punctuated with a quiet sipping.
Kade could smell the blood from where he sat. Daggers lanced at his insides as the cravings awakened, making his teeth itch in the curious way he’d never quite managed to describe. He licked his fangs and tamped it down. For once, the hunger subsided without much fight.
“I can’t sign these, Thaddeus.” Though he thought of his Keeper informally, he’d never addressed him that way until recently. After he’d resigned from his position as hunter, he’d thought their relationship warmer. Clearly, he’d been wrong, but he couldn’t shake the use of the Keeper’s first name. Not when the situation was so deeply personal. “I have to go back. I need to.”
The old man took another slow sip from his coffee mug. “Even if the current threat is eliminated, which I doubt it will be, the city would still be considered a high risk zone. I cannot guarantee your safety there.”
“I don’t need you to,” Kade said. “I just need you to let me go. It’s... It’s my home. It’s where I belong.”
The Keeper frowned. “Until the young man who attacked you is subdued, the organization would never consider releasing you without the papers in front of you being signed. If you wish to remain as you are, he must be dealt with. But they will not do it, and you are not to leave the building until there is either no danger to Kade Colton, or he ceases to exist. What are we to do about that?”
“If I could have my phone-”
“No,” Thaddeus said before he could finish.
Kade swallowed his frustration. “Then give it a week. It’ll resolve. Keeper Jones will be in the area for a few days wrapping up that contract, assumin’ Cole was able to finish it. She can prove it.”
“And how, exactly, would a threat to a vampire simply resolve?”
“Filly,” Kade said, and just the thought of her warmed his still heart.
The Keeper burst out laughing. “Your intended is a baker. What could she possibly do?”
Despite himself, Kade smiled. “You’d be surprised.”
TWENTY
* * *
“ARE WE SURE this is the right place?” Cole asked in a murmur, casting a look over his shoulder before he passed Felicity a holstered gun.
She pushed the paddle holster into the waistband of her jeans, wiggling it into place and then tightening her belt to ensure it would stay up. She’d requested one of Kade’s weapons, being more familiar with it, but the weight was uncomfortable and foreign. She’d practiced sharpshooting in her teens, but that was a rifle. Aside from shooting with the boys now and then at the ranch, where Marshall McCullough had targets set up against a sand bank, she didn’t carry a weapon. In Holly Hill, there wasn’t a need.
“I know it doesn’t look like anything you city boys are used to,” Felicity said, “but this is it.”
“Don’t mind him. I don’t think he knows what to expect.” Justine shot her hunter a sidewise smirk as she holstered her own weapon. “I’m not sure he’s ever been in a library to begin with.”
Cole made a face.
“Are you sure you want to be along for this?” Felicity didn’t think it was her place to question a Keeper, but so far as she knew, Thaddeus rarely left his office. Seeing Justine in her suit with her pretty, manicured fingers wrapped around a pistol’s grip seemed wrong.
“Don’t let her fool you,” Cole said. “Justine was a hunter before she took charge of me.”
Felicity blinked at the Keeper in surprise. Justine flashed her a grin in response.
They’d spent the previous night milking as much information as possible from Gertie. Felicity wasn’t surprised the old woman had worked out Nick’s misconduct on her own, but she had been surprised she hadn’t mentioned it to Sam.
Then again, a lot of Gertie’s information was vague, matters of circumstance and hunches she’d strung together. If you were going to accuse the sheriff’s son of being a criminal, it made sense to want something more concrete. That was what led Gertie to the library in the first place. It was the place several of those circumstances and hunches intersected, someplace the old woman had been observing on her own in hopes of spying something worth reporting. The vehicles Gertie described were parked outside, but was that enough to warrant what they were doing?
Cole passed his Keeper an extra pair of magazines, then closed the supply case and shut his SUV. “The real question is do you want to be here, Felicity?”
That, Felicity wasn’t sure.
They’d left Penny and Brady back at the Hilltop House. With the last night of the full moon behind them, he didn’t need a babysitter anymore, and his new preternatural abilities made him an ideal bodyguard. Under the pretense of helping Owen with his assigned wedding work, they had a good cover—plus the rest of Kade’s weapons stashed upstairs, just in case.
“Well,” Felicity sighed, “I’m the one with the biggest reason to take care of this mess. The two of you are less likely to catch heat from the organization if I’m involved, right?”
“Justine’s not likely to catch heat anyway,” Cole said. “She’s good at finding places where the rules are a little... elastic, shall we say?”
Justine rolled her eyes, tagging Felicity’s shoulder with a fingertip before starting across the street. “Come on. It’s not getting any earlier.”
Felicity had some concerns about their plan. It was half-baked at best, but she wasn’t willing to wait any longer. Either they pushed forward and tried to make something happen, or... well, who knew? Kade’s phone was turned off—she was sure Thaddeus had it hidden somewhere—but Justine’s efforts to get information from her contacts hadn’t been fruitful, either. Considering she’d come with Thaddeus, she was entitled to inquire after Kade’s status. She wasn’t, however, entitled to having her calls answered.
Justine had shrugged it off, suggesting Thaddeus might be out of the office. If he was, that was no comfort.
Cole took the lead and the three of them strolled toward the library together.
If Gertie was right, Felicity had to give them credit. A library was the last place she’d have thought to look for traces of a rustling ring. But it had soundproofed meeting rooms where they could discuss business any time of day or night, and the back entrance to the library’s lower level meant getting in after-hours would be easy and out of sight. The building was tucked behind the town square, too; the nearby shops we
re closed and empty this time of night, which meant no foot traffic and little chance of having witnesses. Felicity hoped that held true. She was sure they’d be able to talk their way out of most things, but a run-in with Sam while they were hunting down his wayward son could prove difficult.
“This way.” She cut toward the rear of the building. The glass back door would have been easy to break, but she didn’t think vandalism was the intent. Especially if they wanted a chance to sneak in.
“I got this.” Cole nudged her out of the way.
She and Justine turned their backs, both watching the empty streets around them as he did his work. Felicity didn’t know what that entailed, but involvement with vampires always seemed to lead in directions she didn’t consider moral. She was probably happier not knowing.
The door creaked open and the three of them slid inside.
It took a moment for Felicity to orient herself in the dark. She threaded her way through the stacks to the main walkway. Cole left the door unlocked behind them.
“The meeting rooms are all upstairs,” she whispered. “If they’re in here, that’s probably where they’ll be.”
“Well, the cars are here. No reason to think they won’t be here.” Cole slid past her with his pistol in hand. His movements reminded her so strongly of Kade that it made her heart ache.
Justine flowed past her, too, but she was sleek and graceful in the way she moved. It was simply part of who she was, not some predatory prowling learned on a hunt. More like a house cat, Felicity thought; delicate, elegant, but still dangerous to her prey.
They traced a path up the stairs. Light greeted them, spilling from one of the meeting rooms in the back of the building.
“They’ll see us coming,” Felicity murmured.
Cole shrugged. “Guess that means we’d better be fast.” He darted forward with Justine on his heels, kicking the door and almost colliding with it when it didn’t open.
Two men inside shot to their feet, knocking their chairs back from the table. Felicity’s heart jumped, but from the way they both froze when they saw Cole’s gun, she knew they were unarmed.
“It’s a pull door, genius!” Justine snarled, jerking it open and letting him in.
Cole moved on like nothing had happened, training his pistol on one of the men. “Don’t move,” he growled, pacing around the table. Justine pulled her gun, leveling it with the other.
Cole’s target raised his hands, palms out in surrender. “What do you want?”
“You, over here.” Justine flicked the muzzle of her gun toward the floor and the second man scurried to where he was ordered. “Split them up. I’ll question him separately.”
Felicity nodded. Her fingers itched to wrap around her own weapon, but her stomach fought her. Hunting chupacabras was one thing. Aside from Drake du Coudray, she’d never fired at another person, and she wasn’t all that sure shooting at him counted. She paced forward instead, waiting to say anything until after the door closed behind Justine and her prisoner. The guy had looked a little too eager to go. Maybe he thought he’d be able to overpower the Keeper when he had her on her own. Felicity had a feeling he’d be in for a sore surprise.
“I’m looking for Nick Foster.” Felicity spoke slowly, reminding herself she was the one in control. Cole inched around to hold his gun to the guy’s back.
“Foster ain’t here,” the guy blurted.
Cole scoffed. “We see that. Any other helpful information? Like where he might be?” He prodded the back of the man’s shoulder with his gun, making him shudder.
“I dunno, man!”
“But you know who he is,” Felicity said. “So we already know you’re part of what’s left of du Coudray’s outfit.”
Panic flickered in the stranger’s eyes. She tried not to look at him for long. He had that small town familiarity; someone she’d seen but didn’t know, someone who passed through town all the time. Probably someone who shopped at her bakery.
She paced in front of the glass windows lining the front of the small meeting room, studying the wall instead. “My issue’s not with you. All I want is Foster. Tell me where he is and this won’t have to be ugly.”
“She helped make du Coudray disappear, you know,” Cole said. “She can do the same to you.”
“Her?” the man croaked, but he finished with a laugh. “She’s nothing. Nobody. She’s what, five feet tall?”
“And in charge of the man holding a gun on you,” Felicity said. “So you might want to be a little more cooperative.”
“Let me wipe him out,” Cole growled, and the flash of his fangs when he grinned told her exactly what he had in mind.
She shook her head, making herself meet the man’s eyes. “Listen, you’ve got a choice, here. You work with us, you might get out of here unharmed. If you don’t know where Nick is, tell us where the rest of the rustling ring is. We’ll go from there.”
“I ain’t telling you nothing,” the man spat. “You think this’ll make any difference? You’ll never stamp it out. Snuffing du Coudray didn’t stamp it out. You think I’m scared of you? What you’ll do is nothing compared to what these people do to squealers.”
An unpleasant prickle rolled down Felicity’s back. She didn’t doubt that. Penny’s story about Nick being unable to escape gave the claim weight. Still, she had to have something to go on, and she didn’t want to hedge any bets on whether or not Justine was faring better.
“I guess we’ll find out, huh?” She glanced to Cole. She didn’t know what she was giving him permission for, but she did it anyway. “Do it.”
The hunter’s pistol cracked against the back of the man’s head. Cole caught him by the neck when he staggered, slamming his face into the table.
Wincing, Felicity took a half step back. She expected a reprieve, but Cole kept going, bashing the man against the table’s edge twice more before spinning him against the wall. He buried the muzzle of his gun in the man’s stomach and surged forward to dig his fangs into his captive’s throat.
The man screamed, long and agonizing, and Felicity wondered just how soundproof these meeting rooms were.
He clawed at Cole’s face, frantic, blood running down his face and chest.
“Cleanup,” she called over the noise.
Cole tore away, licking blood from his lips. The hunter looked for all the world like a wild animal, and the savage look in his eyes summoned bad memories to mind.
Memories of Kade lowering a dying du Coudray to the floor.
Of Kade advancing on her with that same wild look in his eyes.
“Amarillo,” the man sobbed, covering his face with trembling hands. “Northwest. Amarillo. There’s no headquarters, everyone meets in a club.”
Felicity fought the queasiness churning in her middle long enough to speak. “What club?”
“The Dairy. One of the rooms in the back.” The man trailed off into whimpering moans.
“Sounds like that’s all we’re going to get out of him,” Cole grumbled. He dragged his pistol across the wound in the man’s neck, licking blood off the cold steel with a small sound of satisfaction.
Felicity nodded. “Got rope?”
“She does.” Cole turned his head, nodding toward the scene on the other side of the glass.
Justine stood over her own captive, who sagged against the end of a shelf with his mouth moving a mile a minute. From the slow, satisfied way the Keeper licked the corners of her mouth, Felicity suspected her method of convincing had been similar to Cole’s.
“Tie them up. There’s a hitching post outside the police station. No sense turning them loose after we’ve caught them and gotten confessions. We’ll leave them for Sam and he can do his own questioning.” She wasn’t sure how wise that was, given they’d be able to provide Sam with detailed descriptions of their assailants and both were sporting bite wounds on their necks, but she wasn’t about to win a war with her conscience right now.
Cole wrenched the man’s arms behind his back, steeri
ng him out of the meeting room while Felicity righted the chairs. There was a box of tissues on top of a shelf of reference materials. She pulled one free and used it to wipe blood from the table. There didn’t seem to be any on the walls or floor. A small blessing.
She stepped out, turning off the light and blinking as her vision adjusted. From the way the two vampires turned to look at her, they didn’t seem to have the same difficulty.
“Sounds like we got the same info from both of them,” Justine said. “That club will be our next stop.”
“She’s going to help me wrestle these two over to tie them outside the police station,” Cole said. “We both figure it’s best you not be over there, just in case they have security cameras.”
Felicity hadn’t even considered that. “Good idea. I’ll meet you at the car, I guess.”
The Keeper nodded. “You go first. Just in case these two aren’t cooperative. I can get me and Cole out of a pinch, but not you.”
Though she knew Justine meant it kindly, Felicity fought the sense of being burdensome. “So what should I do?”
Cole laughed, patting his captive on the shoulder. “You just caught a couple bad guys. Why not phone it in?”
Both rustlers groaned.
TWENTY-ONE
* * *
“WAKE UP, SLEEPING Beauty. You’d better be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed before we roll into town.”
Felicity twitched awake as Justine rubbed her shoulder. Her eyelids felt like sandpaper and a dull ache throbbed behind her eyes. She ogled the Keeper in the dark for a minute, then rubbed her eyes one at a time with the back of her hand. “Where are we?”
“Coming up on Amarillo,” Cole said from the driver’s seat. “Hope you’re feeling fresh.”
Fresh wasn’t the word she would have picked. “What time is it?”
“A bit after 3. Not much sleep, but it’ll have to do. You’ll need to drive us back.” He didn’t seem pleased about that, rolling his shoulders and shifting the seat belt across his chest. “Even if we make quick work of this, the sun will be up before we make it far.”
