by Judy Mills
I stared at the heavy black contraption. It rang again. "I'll call you back," I said to Falcon.
"Wait! It could be rigged to—"
I hung up and pocketed my iC. Picking up the handset of the desk phone, I put it to my ear. "Hello?"
A man's voice rasped over the line. "We have your brother."
"Who is this?"
"High Lord Navarro wanted you. But he's flexible." In the background, a man screamed and chills fractured down my back.
"What do you want?" I asked the raspy voice.
"Secrets should be kept. Find a way to do that."
Secrets? What the hell? "How?"
"Be creative. But get Lord Bellmonte to back down or Laswell dies." He disconnected.
I stared at the receiver in my hand, my mind running over what I'd heard. A moment later Falcon rushed into the office, sweaty and disheveled.
He waved a Browning outfitted like mine around like he expected the office to be full of vampires. When he almost hit me in the face, I grabbed the gun and pulled it from his sweaty grip. "Hey, hey, hey. It's not nice to point."
Relieved of the responsibility of having to shoot someone, Falcon braced a hand on one of the guest chairs and sucked in air like a winded scarecrow. "Nothing...blew up... That's good."
"They have Laswell. Turns out he also has a sister."
"W-who...does?" he asked.
"Someone unpleasant."
"Someone unpleasant has a sister?"
"You're not making any sense. Breath deeper." I waited a moment to make sure he'd gotten enough oxygen to his brain. "If whoever has Laswell kills him, we lose our best shot at clearing Cooper's name and finding the missing kids. I'm not letting that happen."
"He could...be anywhere. Charlotte's a big area."
"Happily, there's only one place where ferry boats are still running this time of night."
Falcon pulled in one more deep breath and stood up. "Lake Norman's a big lake, Addison."
"But only one place on it is big enough and deserted enough to give off the echo I heard when Laswell screamed."
"They've taken him to the new hoverbus terminal that he's building?"
"Better than even odds," I said.
"A mysterious enemy that's extremely deadly and has a sense of irony. I don't have a chance of stopping you from trying to rescue him, do I?"
"Not a one."
* * *
The gigantic, half-constructed hoverbus terminal was a sight to behold, but not in a good way. The half exposed skeleton of raw beams stuck out from one end. At the other end was an enclosed section that looked like an upside-down punch bowl with rows of windows around the top. The architect's drawing on the splashy, happy sign looked futuristic and lavish, but at this stage? ...I wasn't seeing it.
I crept up to the forty foot para-fence barricading the construction site. Aiming my upgraded deluxe remote control at it, I pressed HDMI. The remote sparked and I almost threw it down and ran, but then the air around the fence shimmered. When the remote didn't explode, I counted to thirty as instructed while the faintly glowing barricade sputtered, flickered and finally went dull.
I pocked the gadget and started climbing.
Ten minutes and a few locked doors later, I was sneaking along a catwalk eighteen feet above the envisioned terminal floor. A fancy tile design was underway in one corner, but I still had trouble seeing anything but construction flotsam and nonsense. Then again, who was I to judge?
Below, in the pool of light cast by several portable lanterns, Jacob Laswell slumped, tied to a sturdy-looking wooden chair. The middle-aged, sharp-featured man had a PRC clamped around his neck and appeared to be unconscious.
Two average-sized vampires stood at ease on either side of him, as motionless as statues. I aimed my gun—
—And was hit by what felt like a train dropping from the ceiling. Adrenaline shot through me as I went down under a third vamp. My reflexes took over and I got off two shots directly into his neck as he went for mine. He immediately went limp and I rolled him off of me.
Having lost the element of surprise, I sprang to my feet and swung over the railing of the catwalk. I landed solidly on the floor. The other vamp guards were gone. Not good.
I raced for cover and one of the thugs slammed into me from the side. My gun went sliding across the floor and the bastard slugged me in the side of my neck and a little toward the front.
* * *
I came to from the faint the vamp had induced in a chair next to Laswell, my wrists bound together with duct tape as well as my ankles. At least my feet weren't taped to the chair. They'd either been in a hurry or didn't think I was much of a threat. Probably both.
Laswell watched me from his chair, his expression dazed. His custom-made shirt had been ripped to expose his shoulder. From where I sat, I could see at least five bite marks. They'd fed on him, filling his blood stream with their venom. Great.
"You are not my sister," he said, slurring his words like the drugged up man he was.
I tested the strength of the duct tape binding my wrists while scoping the area for our captors. "Who's Navarro?" I asked.
"They'll want you to give him a message."
I made a few test moves with my chair, first rocking it and then taking an experimental hop. "I'll need to know who he is first, don't you think?"
"Lord Bellmonte. A message for Lord Bell...monte," he slurred.
"Should not be surprised to hear that. He's been popular lately."
From the left, the vampire guards approached us, seeming to emerge out of the darkness just beyond the ragged circle of light. Typical vamp drama used for centuries to intimidate intended victims. So scary. Not.
The first vamp, a big guy with a shaved head looked down at me for a moment and then slapped the hell out of me. Pain exploded across my jaw and cheek and my eyes watered. He hadn't hit me hard enough to knock me unconscious again, but it was definitely enough to make me good and mad. He just didn't realize it.
"It's your lucky night," the bald twit said. "You're useful to High Lord Navarro."
As soon as he spoke, I realized this was the guy who'd called Laswell's place. I narrowed my eyes at him and then spit blood on the floor at his feet.
Both vampires' expressions tightened with hunger. Bald Twit bent over me.
"I'm gonna bite you and you're gonna like it," he hissed in my face. "When you wake up outside your master's penthouse, tell him the High Lord Navarro knows what he wants."
"Spearmint gum for every minion?" I ventured. He raised his hand like he was going to hit me again and I stared at him defiantly.
The vamp gave a cruel parody of a smile and lowered his arm. "Tell him the High Lord also knows what he fears."
He straightened up. Behind him, the second vampire, a nasty looking guy with sandy-colored hair and a crooked nose, let his fangs drop down. His face began to distort as his excitement built.
"That's it? That's the message?" I said.
"No." Bald Twit's face morphed and he grabbed me by the hair. Pulling my head back until my scalp felt like it had lit on fire, he exposed my throat.
"After I bite you, I'm gonna have you, and then my friend's gonna have you. And you're gonna like that, too." His fangs extend.
"Fair enough," I said, holding his gaze. "Now I have a message for you."
I kicked him with both feet in the crotch and when he let go in surprise, slammed my forehead into his nose. I felt the bone snap under the impact. Before he could recover from the shock of a broken nose, I pulled back and then rocked forward, ramming my head into his stomach. As he stumbled back, I lifted the chair off the floor, spun around and stabbed one of the legs into his crotch again as hard as I could.
He went down.
As I teetered, pulling forward to maintain my balance, Nasty leapt at me. I got my balance and sprang straight up about six feet and came down on him with the chair. He hit the floor and the chair shattered. A hoped for added bonus.
Rolling out of the debris, I
shimmied my bound hands around my butt and over my feet and pulled my hunting knife out of my right boot. I sliced the duct tape on the way by.
I pinched the handle of my knife between my boots and I sliced through the tape on my wrists. Grabbing the knife in both hands, I pivoted and jumped onto Nasty before he could get up.
I rammed my knife into the back of his neck all the way to the hilt. As the flesh smoked and bubbled from the poison I'd coated on the blade, I started sawing through the muscle and bone with both hands as fast and hard as I could.
I kept my knives sharp and the poison softened the flesh. In less than a minute, I'd decapitated him. Messy, but effective.
Bald Twit stumbled to his feet and burst into full on vamp. He lunged for me and I scrambled away from the body, my bloody hands slipping on the cement in my mad hustle to get back on my feet. He tackled me.
We wrestled across the floor, rolling and tussling, as the vamp tried to bite me. I plunged my knife into him again and again, hoping to hit something vital. We crashed into Laswell's chair and to my shock, the practitioner landed a focused and precise kick at Bald Twit's face. A split second of disorientation was all I needed.
I shoved the knife into the vampire's chest, straight into his heart. Around the wound, the flesh bubbled and hissed and the skin turned black.
I pushed him away and jumped to my feet as he screamed and clawed at the knife. With a final spasm, he exploded.
"That was unexpected," I said, wiping decomposed body sludge off my face. "That usually only happens if they're over two hundred years old. But if he were that seasoned, I should be dead."
"My blood weakened them. The older they are...the better it works," Laswell said.
I cut him loose from the chair. Despite sounding closer to sober, he would have hit the floor if I hadn't caught him. "How much did they take?"
"Enough to feel. Practitioner blood is like catnip to them. But at a price."
A commotion at the back of the factory had me dropping him back in his chair and sprinting for my gun, which had been kicked under a table. Before I could get to it, Cooper charged in, Glock drawn, fury in his eyes. He took in the scene and skidded to a halt. Falcon, wielding his Browning, ran into him from behind.
"Associates of yours?" Laswell asked, his tone weak but amused.
Between one blink and the next, Cooper was in front of me. "Are you hurt?"
"Why are you here?" I asked, scowling at Falcon as he hurried up to us.
The kid gave me a ballsy look that surprised me. "You keep telling me to listen to my instincts. I called Agent Daine."
"You both suck at taking orders. You know that?"
"But are you hurt?" Cooper started inspecting me for injuries despite the disgusting goo covering me. I slapped his hands away.
"Stop that. I'm fine. Mr. Laswell needs the medical care."
"No, no. Just some rest," the practitioner said. "And a med pack for these bites. Filthy things, vampire mouths."
"Marc and Stillman have secured Laswell's estate," Cooper said. "We can take him there."
"The same Agent Stillman who busted into my place of business?"
"She's been working for me from the start. It's a long story."
"Which will include the cost of a new office door. But for now, you need to know that Bellmonte's involved."
He frowned with annoyance. "There's a shocker."
"Not necessarily with the drugs. I think that's higher up the vamp food chain that even we realized. Ever heard of someone named Navarro?"
Falcon paused in the process of helping Laswell to his feet. He and Cooper exchanged a quick look of surprise.
"High Lord Santos Navarro?" Cooper asked me.
"Why do you guys look like you just ate Mexican food that sat in the sun for two days?"
Cooper turned his attention to Laswell. "Navarro is behind this?"
Laswell nodded as Falcon helped him to his feet.
"Damn it!" I growled. "Who the hell is this guy?"
"The North East Archon," Cooper said, sounding like that was something everyone and his two year old knew.
"Which means?" I asked.
"The commander of every vampire on the East Coast. Including Bellmonte," Cooper said.
"Rumored to have been turned as a teenager during the Spanish Inquisition. Before the enforcement of vampire law against transforming children," Laswell added. "As far as supernatural power goes, nearly unstoppable."
"So of course he's the one we have to take down," I said.
Tired and beaten, Laswell nodded.
I was beginning to feel his pain. "We are so screwed."
CHAPTER TEN
I covertly watched Cooper pacing in front of the cold fireplace in Laswell's two-story library full of books, luxurious furnishings and a truly impressive antique flute collection in glass cases. He abruptly left the fireplace and prowled like a caged animal around the cozy, inviting groupings of chairs and couches that were scattered throughout, including a pair of stately his and hers antique desks that dominated one side.
For my part, I was glad to stay curled up in a fat armchair cleaning my gun. It had been a long day. My muscles were sore, I was tired and my feet hurt.
Falcon slept on the sofa to my right. From the plain, well-worn armchair to my left, the also exhausted Laswell watched Cooper, tugging every now and then at the PRC still clamped around his neck.
Cooper marched back and redirected his energy to stalking back and forth in front of us.
"Keep that up and my patience will be as thin as that carpet's getting. This is Bellmonte's problem now. There's nothing more we can do," I said.
"It's Clan business," Cooper snarled.
"They were rogues and therefore dead to the Clans. Let it go."
He paused to scowl at me. Not a heart-warming sight. "Outside the Clans, not banished."
Laswell studied him, a spark of curiosity in his light brown eyes. "Mercenaries are tolerated as long as they conduct themselves inside basic Clan law. Twice a year they must return to their designated alphas for the ancient—
Cooper spun toward him and gave him a fierce, "shut the hell up" look.
"—celebration," the practitioner finished as if that was what he was going to say all along. Maybe it was. "Rather like swearing fealty in the old days," he concluded.
"How medieval," I said.
"You have no idea." He studied Cooper. "She deserves to know."
And I would. After we'd rescued the kids, shut down the drug cartel, and stopped the unstoppable ancient vampire. If I remembered to after all of that.
"The point is, they were under Alpha protection," Cooper said.
"The point is, a vampire high lord is behind it and it's not our business anymore," I countered.
Laswell motioned with his hand to indicate his ravished home, including the blood drying on the outside of one of the library windows. "All this was only a small sample of what Santos Navarro is capable of. Revenge against the Archon is nothing short of a death wish."
"What's Navarro got on you, Laswell?" Cooper snarled.
"Me," a woman said behind us.
I flinched and turned in surprise. A stunning blonde dressed in a flowing silver and white evening gown sauntered gracefully toward us from the doorway. I caught no scent off her except a hint of jasmine. No life vibration, no inner intentions, nothing. She was as golden and ethereal as a goddess—the stuff of men's dreams. And somehow she'd managed to sneak up on all of us.
Cooper went completely still at the sight of her and his eyes glowed with an ardent silver light that I'd never seen before. A sharp unexpected pain stabbed the middle of my chest and I swallowed a gasp. Turning back to cleaning my gun, I diligently pretended not to notice. I could hardly blame him. The woman was beyond gorgeous.
The subtle change in the room's energy woke Falcon. He sat up and his eyes went wide when he spotted the woman. At least it wasn't just Cooper.
"How are you holding up?" the woman asked
Laswell as she strolled over to his chair.
The practitioner tugged at the PRC. "Feeling my age, I'm afraid."
She gave a sparkling chuckle of amusement and planted a light kiss on his cheek before draping herself across the arm of his chair. She smiled at Cooper who finally had the decency to stop staring and look away.
"My sister, Holly," Laswell said.
"Navarro's leverage?" I asked.
"Love makes the best of us vulnerable," Holly said in her disgustingly melodious voice. "The Archon has promised to kill me very slowly if Jacob doesn't play nice."
"They were hoping to grab you."
"Thank you for filling in for me when I was called in to play hostess at the benefit party."
Yup. Didn't like her.
Cooper looked at Laswell and I was glad to see that his eyes had returned to their normal, hard focused glint. "You've been giving him what he wants for months now. Why suddenly the extra pressure?"
"Navarro believes that I'm one of two players plotting against him. He blamed me for several inconveniences these last months. Things like snooping FBI agents and recent school break-ins."
"Why not kill you and move on to one of the other schools in his territory?" I asked, pretending I had no idea what he was talking about.
"I'm known for my knack at finding powerful talent." His gaze flickered to me, but it was so quick I wasn't sure if I'd imagined it. "Especially hidden talent."
"He's very good." Holly smiled at me full on. No subtlety there.
She shifted her fathomless blue gaze to Cooper. "Me? I have a gift for spotting liars."
A dark flush spread over Cooper's lean cheeks. He turned away and continued his pacing. "None of this gets us any closer to stopping Navarro. We need a plan."
Agent Stillman appeared to the side of the doorway. "Sir. We've detained a messenger from Lord Bellmonte."
"Of course you have," Cooper said, growling under his breath. "Like a thorn in my ass, that guy."
He nodded acquiescence and Stillman stepped back. Cooper's mountain of a bodyguard strode in with an uncollared Danny held at gunpoint.
At the sight of him, Holly bristled. Finally, I could feel something from her—hatred coming off in waves. Laswell patted her hand to calm her and I wondered where she'd met Danny before.
