by Parker Blue
Austin nodded. “They were here, though. I remember seeing them.”
“Okay,” Val said. “Which one of you two knows most about this attack?”
They exchanged glances, and the shorter one of the two said, “I do.”
“Then tell us why you attacked this blood bank,” Val said.
“We were ordered to kill the lieutenant known as Austin,” he said.
Obviously. “Why?” Austin asked.
When Val ordered him to answer Austin’s questions as well as her own, the guy replied, “Because we need to eliminate opposition to our plans.”
“What are your plans?”
“To take over the city.”
“And how do you plan to do that?” Austin persisted.
“By taking out the leaders of the Movement first, then sowing discord and fear among the human population.”
“Did you kill Alejandro?” Val asked.
“No.”
Austin rephrased her question, in case they were being too literal. “Did anyone kill Alejandro, like Mike and Ike?”
“Not that I know of.”
Relief filled him, followed by frustration. “Then where is he?”
“We don’t know.”
“Do Mike and Ike know?” Val persisted.
“Maybe,” the vamp conceded. “But they told an unbelievable story about what happened.”
“What was the story?” Austin asked impatiently. Any leads would be good about now.
“We don’t know. We just heard that it was bogus, not the details.”
Damn. Looked like it came back to the candy twins again. “Where can we find them?”
“At the training camp.”
Now they were getting somewhere. “Where’s the training camp?”
“I-I—” the vamp began, then stopped.
Val looked annoyed. “Both of you—tell us where the camp is. Immediately.”
The two of them made grinding motions with their jaws, then went into spasms.
What the heck?
“Oh, crap,” Val said, glancing down at the hellhound. “They’ve just swallowed demon blood—Fang felt it hit their bloodstream.”
Damn it. Demon blood made vamps go insane. “Now we’ll never get anything out of them.”
The rogues went berserk, and his followers united to stake the rogues.
“What happened?” Val asked after they were both down. “How’d the blood get into their systems?”
Austin leaned down and opened the short guy’s mouth. Just as he expected. “A hollow tooth. They must have been implanted with a command to destroy themselves rather than reveal the location of their camp.” Now they had two dead rogues and no answers.
Ordering his men to clean up, Austin went back into the other room to check on the progress of the cleanup. Gwen must have taken Jeremy to the clinic downstairs, and it looked as though the rest of the cleanup was well in hand.
Ivy approached them, and Austin noted how the Goth look suited her so much better than it did Val. Not that he was complaining about the unexpected cleavage Val displayed.
“Did you get any answers?” Ivy asked.
Austin shook his head. “Nothing helpful. How about you two? Did you learn anything at the seminar?”
Val grimaced. “Not really. I ended up having to stake the recruiters.”
“But we did learn one of the twins’ hangouts,” Ivy said. “Club Gothick—we tried to find them there.”
“Did you learn anything?” Austin asked.
Val shook her head. “Just that they planned to attack you here tonight. But maybe we can stake out the club, wait for them to show up.”
“It’s worth a shot,” Austin said. “Right now, it’s the only lead we have.”
“I don’t know,” Ivy said. “If they learn we were there asking about them, they might not show up again.”
She was right. “And if they figure out you’ve been doing the questioning,” he told Val, “you are probably one of their targets now, too.” Damn it. He didn’t want to put her in any more danger, but with Val, there was no choice. It was one of things he admired most about her, even as he hated the fact that helping him put her in danger. “I worry about you. Especially since your powers—”
He broke off, glancing at Ivy, unsure how much she knew.
“You can trust her,” Val said. “With my powers diminished, you mean.”
Val and Ivy both glanced down at Fang.
He knew what that meant by now. “What’d he say?” Austin asked.
“He’s not so sure my powers are diminished,” Val said slowly. “Earlier, I felt so much stronger than I have before—and the bruises don’t seem to bother me as much. Maybe my powers are coming back.” She glanced down at the hellhound again, apparently in mental conversation. “You also said you were stronger and faster than before, and Shade was able to heal Jeremy in record time.”
“Yes. Does that mean something?”
“I think it does,” Ivy said excitedly. “I talked to my dad a little bit ago. He said it’s possible the demon inside the crystal fractured when the amulet did, and pieces of the demon went into the people present.”
“I have a demon inside me?” Austin asked. “Does that mean I’m going to go insane, too?” Surely it would have happened by now.
Ivy shook her head. “I should have said that pieces of the demon’s power went into the people present.” She turned to Val. “You said the full crystal enhanced your natural abilities, so it follows that part of the crystal inside you would do the same thing.”
It made sense.
“Who else was present when it broke?” Ivy asked.
“Just Shade, Austin, Fang, and me,” Val said. She glanced at the hellhound. “You notice enhanced powers?”
She listened for a moment, then grinned at Austin. “He said maybe, but he’s just always been that good.”
“Luis was there, too,” Austin reminded her. “In another room.”
Ivy frowned. “I think the closer you were to the crystal, the more power you’d get. So Luis probably got a lesser amount.”
“Any amount is too much,” Val grumbled.
“Is it permanent?” Austin asked. He kind of wanted to know if he’d go all berserker every time they were attacked.
“I don’t know,” Ivy said. “I’ll guess we’ll see.”
Unfortunately, they were no closer to finding Alejandro than they had been before, and Austin was beginning to worry that they never would.
Chapter Sixteen
Val
THE REST OF THE evening was a bust. No one knew anything about the attackers except that they were fast, lethal, and had no apparent leader. None they were able to identify during the attack, anyway. Not even Austin, since he was the focus of their attack and had way too many vampires focused on taking him down.
Leaving the vampires to finish cleaning up the mess, I headed home with Ivy and Fang. It was almost dawn, anyway, and I was really hungry.
Ivy offered to fix breakfast, and I let her—cooking was not one of my skills, and I hadn’t improved since Gwen left.
Just as we were finishing eating, my phone rang. I checked the caller ID. Mom. I groaned and considered not answering it but knew she’d just continue calling if I didn’t. “It’s my mom,” I told Ivy. “She gets up at this time and knows I’m about to go to bed.”
Ivy nodded in understanding. She made as if to leave the table, but I waved her back down. No secrets here.
After the initial “how-are-you’s” came the real reason she’d called. “You are coming to dinner the day after tomorrow, aren’t you?”
“Day after tomorrow?” I didn’t remember discussing this with her before.
“It’s Jennifer’s birthday, or had you forgotten?”
Oh, crap. I did remember her birth date, just not that it was coming up so soon. “No, I didn’t forget. I just didn’t know you’d scheduled a party.”
“Oh, the party is next weekend—a pampered spa thing with all her girlfriends. This is just a family dinner—Jennifer would love to see you. You can bring that nice Shade if you want.”
No other full humans besides my family, I noticed. Guess they didn’t want the ugly secret of their demon daughter getting out.
WOW, BITTER MUCH? Fang asked.
Well, they had kicked me out of the house and their business because I wasn’t a good role model for my sister, but I wasn’t bitter, not really. Guess I’m just tired. “Shade and I aren’t dating anymore,” I told her.
“Oh, that’s too bad. He was such a nice boy.”
I rolled my eyes. “But I do have someone staying with me from out of town—from the Underground in Sedona. Can I bring her with me?”
“Really? I love Sedona.”
Mom hesitated, and I realized she was wondering what kind of demon Ivy was and whether she’d play havoc in Mom’s nice, neat world. “Ivy is a gemstone whisperer,” I said, to head off the awkward questions. “She talks to gemstones, and she doesn’t know anyone else here, so I’d like to bring her along.” Plus having any kind of buffer between Mom and me had to be a good thing.
“Of course she can come,” Mom said, sounding relieved that Ivy wasn’t going to pose a threat.
“What should I get Jen for her birthday?” I asked. I didn’t know much about her interests over the past few months.
“Oh, nothing. Your presence is enough.”
Yeah, right. Like that would go over well with Jen.
“So, we can expect you at seven?” Mom asked.
“Okay,” I said on a sigh. “We’ll be there.” And just hope there wasn’t going to be any serious slayage needed during that time.
I hung up and glanced at Ivy. “My parents are having a birthday dinner for my sister Jen the day after tomorrow. You’re invited if you want to go.”
She smiled. “Sure. It will be nice to get to know more families in the Underground.”
“Well, they’re not.” At her puzzled look, I explained, “My parents were divorced when I was a baby, and my mother remarried. My father was the one with demon blood, so when Mom had my sister, it was with Rick, her new husband. They’re all fully human.”
“Oh,” Ivy said, looking surprised. “And your father?”
“He died when I was five.” I didn’t go into the whole suicide bit—I didn’t know her well enough to reveal that much. “So, they’re all human. They’re kind of okay with me being part succubus—Rick and Jen much more so than Mom—but I don’t like shoving their faces in it, even though they are new agey and kind of accepting.”
“I’m sorry for your loss,” she said, her Goth makeup making her look extremely sad.
“It was a long time ago,” I said dismissively. “But what I really need to know is, what the heck am I going to get my sister for her birthday? She’s turning seventeen this year. Any ideas?”
“What does she like?” Ivy asked.
I shrugged. “I’m not sure—I haven’t seen her in a while. Her tastes change a lot.”
“Then . . . a gift card?” Ivy suggested. “Depending on how much allowance or money she earns, she’d probably appreciate being able to buy what she wants.”
Mom would think it too impersonal, but Jen would love it. Okay, then—a gift card it was. I grinned. “Good idea—thanks.” Easy, too. “Guess I’ll get some sleep. Do I need anything special to get this gunk off my face?”
“I have something that will help with that,” Ivy said, inviting me back to her bathroom with a wave of her hand. “Come on.”
Fang announced his intention to go to bed and trotted off in that direction.
Soon, Ivy and I were both back to our makeup-free faces. Since we were feeling all girlfriend-like, I asked, “So, I guess this was a bit more dangerous than what you expected. What are you going to report back to Sedona about us?”
“Oh, I already told them not to worry. You guys have it under control.”
Not exactly, but I appreciated her confidence in us. “What happens in San Antonio, stays in San Antonio?”
“Something like that.” She sighed. “I love Sedona, but my parents are geologists, and when I turned eighteen, they sold the rock shop there and left to roam the world in search of rare stones and adventure. That’s what they used to do before they had me, and now they’re having the time of their lives traveling all around everywhere.”
Strange, she didn’t sound unhappy about it. “My parents kicked me out when I was eighteen, too. You’re okay with it?”
“Oh, they didn’t kick me out. I know they love me, and they knew I could make it on my own since I’ve been working in their shop since I was a kid. But now, there’s nothing holding me in Sedona, so I wanted to visit other cities—bigger cities, see where I might want to live for a while, use my savings to open up my own rock shop. I checked out Phoenix, Albuquerque, and Dallas before I came here. For the Sedona Underground and myself.”
“Where to next?” I kind of envied her the self-confidence to strike out on her own.
She shrugged. “I don’t know if there is a next. I kind of like it here.”
I stared at her, flabbergasted. “Even after the vampire attacks and everything?”
She grinned. “Maybe because of them. It’s kind of exciting, and you guys are making a difference here. I think I can help, and I’d like to be a part of that.”
Wow—not at all what I’d expected. “Well, great,” I said. “And since Gwen moved out, I do need a roomie, so you can stay here.”
“I hoped you’d say that,” she said with a smile.
She hugged me—a quick thing, but it made me feel good. I think I’m gonna like having her here.
ME, TOO, came Fang’s sleepy voice in my head. BUT CAN WE GO TO SLEEP NOW?
Grinning, I headed for bed. A new boyfriend, a new girlfriend, and a new roomie. Life was looking up.
WE GOT UP LATE the next afternoon, and I’d had a brainstorm, so I called Austin. “I set up an appointment with Lieutenant Ramirez,” I told him. “To see if the SCU has heard anything about where the rogues might be concentrating.”
“Good idea. What time?”
“I asked for seven. Will that work for you?”
“Yes. We’ll come by and pick you up, okay?”
“We?”
“Yeah, my men won’t let me go anywhere alone again,” he said, sounding testy but resigned. “They insist I need backup.”
“Okay. See you then.”
The three of us were ready and waiting when Austin drove up in a dark nondescript luxury car—one exactly like it following along behind him. He had the vamps riding beside him move over to the other car so we could all fit.
They seemed a little paranoid, but Austin reassured them, saying, “I have the Slayer, the gemstone whisperer, and a hellhound with me, plus you’ll be right behind me. I’ll be fine.”
They reluctantly agreed, and we drove to the SCU station, though we made them stay outside. It wasn’t as if the rogues would attack us inside the police station.
I asked the desk sergeant for Lieutenant Ramirez, and he told me to go on back. As we walked down the long hallway, Austin rested his hand at the small of my back.
It was an odd sensation, almost as if he was claiming me as his, or showing affection—I wasn’t sure which. Either way, I didn’t mind. In fact, I kind of liked it. It made me feel warm and cherished. I hadn’t had much of that in my life, ever.
We met Dan on the way into the lieutenant’s office. He glanced pointedly at Au
stin’s hand on my back and frowned. Too bad. He’d dumped me, so he had no say in whom I chose to date anymore.
BESIDES, AUSTIN IS THE BETTER MAN, Fang declared.
I wasn’t going to argue with that.
We entered the lieutenant’s office together, and I introduced Ivy to everyone. I didn’t explain that she was part demon—that was her secret to tell, if she wished. But I could tell the lieutenant and Dan both wondered what kind of demon she was—they had to know she was one, or we wouldn’t have brought her in.
Lieutenant Ramirez shook Ivy’s hand, then waved us all to seats. “I asked Sullivan to join us since he’s familiar with the background. So, what can we do for you?”
Austin explained about Alejandro’s disappearance and what we’d discovered so far. He concluded by saying, “We were wondering if you’ve heard of Mike and Ike, have any more info on them, or if you’re aware of this ‘training camp’ they have.”
Dan shook his head. “I haven’t heard of them or a camp. Do you know where it is?”
IF WE KNEW, WE’D HAVE TOLD HIM, Fang said, sounding exasperated.
I shook my head, and Ramirez said, “I don’t know either.”
“What about patterns?” I asked. “The rogues are gearing up to take over the city—have you seen an increase in murders or attacks?”
“Yes,” Ramirez conceded. “But we didn’t realize it was a concerted effort.”
“Why didn’t you tell us about this before now?” Dan demanded.
“Because we just learned it ourselves last night,” I said, trying to be patient with him. “Have you noticed the attacks concentrated in any one part of the city?”
“I’ll have to check through my notes,” Dan said.
Ramirez nodded. “We haven’t noticed a pattern, but we weren’t looking for one.”
“Could you provide us with the data?” Austin asked. “That way we can see if there appears to be any pattern we can discern.”
Dan looked really reluctant.
I THINK HE DOESN’T WANT TO GIVE IT UP TO THE BLOODSUCKERS, Fang said.
