Dangerous Days

by C. L. Quinn

  “Go. I have to get back to Dani.”

  “Good luck. Merry meet again.”

  Quattro grinned. “Yeah, merry meet.”

  Dani sat on a low gnarled tree branch, her arm around the young man who still shivered uncontrollably. She tried to pull up magic to comfort him, but she thought he might be too far past that. The woman, the young mother, Malina, was doing better.

  “What did that man want from us?” Malina asked.

  “It had nothing to do with you. You’re safe from him now. You were just a random choice and I promise you, he won’t come after you again.”

  Her mind was on Saul, who she knew had been shot, who Quattro had assured her through her coms that he would be fine, and who Quattro had sent to safety with everyone else.

  “We’re going after him. Just you and me,” he’d said.

  She agreed. Felix needed some good old-fashioned justice. The law of the land.

  “And I mean the land,” she whispered aloud.

  “What?” Malina had heard her comment.

  “Nothing, dear. Just breathe, relax. Some people are coming to take you and Loren home shortly.”

  “Here.”

  Quattro, arriving back on the air, handed a coms unit to Malina. “This will let our friends find you. It’ll be a huge black man, a gorgeous brunette woman and a shaggy looking bodybuilder. They’ll get you two home. Good luck.”

  He held a hand out to Dani. “Come with me.”

  Pulling her around a corner, once they were out of sight, he lifted her in his arms. “Have you moved through air with a vampire before?”

  “Have I. You know where he is?”

  “Since I learned, I could find him in pitch darkness in a raging storm. Let’s finish this before fucking Christmas.”

  “I’m ready. Quattro, it’s weird how we’re so good together. We must be linked in some way.”

  “We fit together like perfect puzzle pieces. I know. Let’s be grateful and not question it now. We have to kill a man tonight.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be. I’ve never been close with Felix. I doubt anyone has. He’s incapable of feeling that type of emotion, and I should have always known, but I had a lot to figure out too. I face a lot of redemption coming down the road for things I’ve done.”

  “Meet that burden another day, vampire. We’ve a job to do.”

  “Here we go.”

  She’d forgotten how disorienting air-displacement could be. Riding on the wind, completely out of control of everything, the world passing in a blur, she kept her eyes closed, remembering that was how a human rider could reduce the dizziness this type of rapid movement caused.

  When Quattro finally stopped and lowered her, his arms stayed around her, supporting her, aware that her balance would be shit. Finally, she felt his fingers in her hair.

  “Dani? You all right?”

  “Yeah. Uh, yeah. Wow. That’s much further than I’ve moved before like that. It’s…vertiginous.”

  “Huh. I might have to look up that word. As long as you’re okay.”

  Once he released her, still a little unsteady, she followed him, looking around an odd empty room.

  “Where are we?”

  “He’s here. In this building. This is the basement. Above us, he’s waiting for me. I don’t know if he expects you, but he doesn’t know what we can do together. He expects to kill me easily. He’ll expect to rape you, drink you, and kill you too, as a bonus. I’m going to enjoy disappointing him.”

  “You’re that certain we’ll best him?”

  Quattro turned to Dani, and slid his fingers up her cheeks to capture her gaze. “Of that I have no doubt. It was always going to come down to him or me. I should have recognized it. I think he did. Thing is, he thinks that once he kills me, he’ll still finish his job and go after all of you. If he were to win, your entire team is still in danger.”

  Dani’s eyes were huge, locked on Quattro’s.

  “Oh, my gut is rolling and I feel kind of sick. I never feel sick.” Her hands wrapped around her belly, feeling as if she could throw up, she nodded. “Then there is no option. We kill him tonight.”

  “We kill him tonight.”

  Six floors above

  Felix laughed and pushed the man back with his foot, shoving his penis back into his pants.

  “He’s here. Showtime.”

  Rising, he reached for a half filled glass of chardonnay.

  A soft snick behind him widened the smile and he turned to face the man he’d spent the past three hundred years with. They’d been close, but it couldn’t affect this outcome.

  “Quattro.”

  “Fee.”

  Another laugh made Felix put his drink down.

  “Aw. Sentiment. Your casual address. It’s offensive to me, did you know that?”

  “It appears I’ve known nothing about you after all these years. Seems impossible, doesn’t it?”

  “I’ve never hidden my nature.”

  “I guess that’s true.”

  His eyes moved past Quattro. “You brought the Nubian. Is she a gift?”

  “Hardly. You’ll find out.”

  “My friend. I will. You cannot win over me. I’m stronger than you because I’ve no sentimental attachment to you or anything else. I will kill you without mercy.” Felix laughed with a snort. “Although I might take my time doing it.”

  “Keep thinking that.”

  “I never thought of you as delusional, but I have thought you were going soft.”

  Another harsh laugh.

  “These past few months you’ve thought that the hunting team was your greatest battle. Ha. It was always going to be me.”

  “I know that now.”

  “Good. It’s always best to be on the same page. Do you want to get to the fight or have a nice merlot first?”

  “I want the threat of you gone.”

  “Nice. Clean. I’m ready, then. Your little concubine going to watch?”

  “In a way.”

  Quattro turned to Dani. “Shall we?”

  “Oh we fucking shall.”

  Dani reached for Quattro’s hand. Both lifted their free hands upward, reaching into the air for magic riding from the earth, the combined conduit so strong, the air obeyed.

  Shocked, Felix’s mouth fell open as he lifted from the ground into heavy air that held him as if he were a doll.

  “What is this? Quattro, you can’t do this. You don’t have this skill.”

  “Yeah, old friend, I do. Along with my little concubine here, our magic is almost limitless.”

  He and Dani strolled forward, casually, as if they were enjoying an evening walk, their arms lowered now, still holding hands as springtime lovers might.

  “You were right, Felix. It was always meant to come down to this. You were made wrong, buddy. Something essential is missing in you. Empathy, love, connection, emotions other than hate and the desire to rule. I’ve always known. Gentle Felix. Quiet Felix. Who could murder without remorse or regret, anything and anyone. I will have to live with my part in the world we built, but you. You’re finished. Dani and I send you back to the black void from whence you came.”

  “I can change. You must give me a chance.”

  “Sorry. Dani and I can see into your spirit. There is no good in you. Felix, we commit you to return to nothingness. Your life is no loss to the universe, which is sad indeed. Every soul should be mourned. But not yours.”

  Dani kept her eyes on Quattro, amazed at how he glowed. He was finding his place in the order of it all and realizing his destiny.

  “You’re beautiful, Quattro. Your soul, your spirit, you’re…wow. It is time.”

  Nodding, his hand tightened on Dani’s and with only a small amount of sorrow, he and Dani let earth magics enter Felix and lift his soul from the body hanging suspended above them.

  Slowly, Felix’s eyes closed, his head dropped, and they knew he was gone. For long minutes, Quattro stared at the remnants
of a man he’d once called brother without having any clue what family really meant.

  “There’s a tragedy in there somewhere,” he murmured.

  Several more minutes later, hoping not to be insensitive, Dani twisted her fingers held by Quattro into a gentle handclasp.

  “We should lower this empty vessel.”

  Startled, Quattro came out of his thoughts. “Yes, of course.”

  Pulsing through their magic, Felix’s body glided down and dropped awkwardly onto the floor.

  Dani’s eyes went to two shocked faces. Big men, naked, on a bed across the room, watched the entire event. She glanced up at Quattro. “Oh.”

  “I’ll take care of them.”

  Crossing the room, he caught their eyes.

  “Dress. You will not remember anything you saw in this room. You will not remember anything that happened to you after this man looked into your eyes. You’ll feel confused, but okay. Just go home and return to your lives. When you walk through that door, you will remember nothing that happened after you met this man.”

  Once the men were gone, Dani looked down at the body. “We should behead him. To be sure. We should burn him.”

  “The hunter way?”

  Tilting her head with a grin. “Yeah. You can’t be too careful with vampires.”

  “All right. We’ll find a place and do it. But I think the magic worked. I think he’s gone.”

  “Probably. Likely. Let’s do it anyway.”

  “It might be cathartic.”

  “Quattro, you’re going to be all right. You have a new family now. A real family. Saul is a wonderful man, and he’s your brother. You two are brothers, Quattro.”

  “Yeah, we’ll see.”

  “I won’t let you two mess this up. Saul and I are mated now, and that makes you my brother too.”

  “Now that I can get behind. Let’s do our vampire purge thing and get you back to your mate.”

  Heading out of the room, Quattro paused. “I thought we were meant to be together.”

  “It seems we are. Just not as lovers.”

  “Dani, you know you’re Shoazan, don’t you?”

  “What? No. I am?”

  “You are. I read it in you from the beginning. I thought we would bear a child together too.”

  Shocked, amazed, Dani slid her hands down to her belly, memory of wondering recently if she’d caught a bug suddenly clear. “I could? Could I be? Holy shit!”

  “Some big bombshells dropping this week. Wonder what next week will bring?”

  “Oh, brother, I can’t take any more.”

  The Big Island of Hawaii…on top of Kilauea

  “I can’t stand this. We have to go back and find them.”

  “Quattro said they would come to us when it’s done.”

  “Oh, I fucking believe that asshole.”

  “I do, Saul. And so do you. I saw it in your eyes before we went to battle. I saw it when you let your mate go off with him, or you never would have done so.”

  “Like Dani would have let me stop her.”

  “She’s an intractable force. Saul, we have to trust them. Quattro was certain that their magic would prevail and I have to tell you, I believe it will. If we don’t hear from them within the next two hours, we’ll talk about it again.”

  “Fuck. Okay. I’m going outside.”

  Saul blew out of the odd little cabin they’d found at the summit of Mt. Kilauea, a dormant volcano due to begin erupting again soon. The view from here was staggering. Lights from the two cities on the island formed a glow along the shoreline. Hawaii was one of the paradises on earth that had fought overpopulation, placing strict regulations that limited growth so that the islands would remain beautiful and as natural as possible in a world far too overpopulated and overused.

  It was one of the few places left on earth where people could still easily see the Milky Way.

  He couldn’t enjoy these special views because the only thing on his mind was Dani. He loved her so deeply, the idea of living even a moment of the rest of his life without her was too painful to contemplate. She’d become his world, the reason he was excited to see the future, the one and only thing that would ever make him smile again.

  What if Felix killed her? She wasn’t vampire, she was fragile, and even earth magic couldn’t save her. Could it?

  “Gods, I can’t take this! How could I let her go off without me?”

  “Because you were dead. I think that’s a good excuse.”

  Saul froze for half a split second before he turned and pulled Dani into his arms. It was impossible to speak, his emotions flooding through him, tears filling his eyes.

  Eventually he pulled back and looked her over.

  “You’re okay?”

  “I’m perfect. By the way, so is your brother.”

  Brother. He still couldn’t process that.

  “Dani, is he, Felix, dead?”

  “Gone forever. We sent his soul away, then destroyed his body. We’re safe now.” She ran her fingers over a deep hole in his temple where the bullet had entered, already healing. “You look good. San and Eva give you blood?”

  “Yeah. And Kwano. Gods. I’m so relieved.”

  “It’s okay, my love. It’s all okay now. I’m starving. Quattro and I stopped in Hilo and loaded up on food. Come, join us.”

  Saul let Dani pull him back into the cabin, dedicated to letting her pull him anywhere she wanted the rest of their lives together.

  Jack smacked him on the back. “It’s over, man.”

  “Yeah. We can breathe a little now. Get back to business as usual.”

  Evaleigh was setting out entrée after entrée on a low wood table. “You guys spared no expense.”

  Quattro shrugged. “This is a celebration.”

  He looked across the table to Saul, noticing the hole still healing on the side of his head. “Sorry you got caught in the crossfire.”

  “I’m healing.”

  “I’d like to talk.”

  He wasn’t ready, but Saul acknowledged Quattro anyway. “Yeah. Not now. Sometime. Yeah.”

  Quattro realized that was the best he was going to get.

  Dani slid a hand across the table to touch his wrist.

  “We’ll all get there.”

  “What happened to Peele and Monsta? Did you kill them?” Jack asked.

  Quattro shook his head. “No, they’d already disappeared. But I’ll get them someday.”

  Sanquinetta lifted a stemmed glass filled with her dark red cherry wine. “To victory. However we can find it. To Quattro, for coming through. I think you really are a member of the gang now. And to Dani, who we already knew was extraordinary. To the future, back to the usual threats we face in our lives again.”

  Kwano, Jack, Saul, Dani, and Eva joined Sanquinetta in lifting their glasses to toast their victory. Quattro still felt like an outsider in spite of San’s kind comment. He watched each beautiful face around the circle of friends and wondered if he could ever fit in. Lingering on Saul, who leaned close to Dani to kiss her lightly on the lips, still, he couldn’t believe that they were actually brothers. It would probably take a long time, if ever, for them to put their history behind them and try to forge a new relationship. It would be one of the greatest gifts of his life if they could get there.

  Dani. His earth angel. In spite of how all of this had turned out, she was and would always be, his earth angel. The connection they held was even deeper than the one he’d thought they held. While they would never create that child, he still felt that they had a mission together that would change the world.

  For now, though, when they finished this celebration, he would leave the new lovers in peace and let them begin their lives and find their place together. Someday he would return to see if he and his brother had a place together too. For now, he didn’t belong here.

  Jack rose, scrolling through his fone. Ife had pinged him several times over the past few hours, all marked “nothing urgent.”

  Ste
pping onto a cantilevered porch, he put his call through.

  “Hey, baby. Everything okay?”

  Ife’s voice, as always, made him smile at once. Gods, he loved that woman.

  “Yes. No. Well, no, but it’s nothing new and nothing we can do anything about.”

  “Brigitte.”

  “Yeah. I got a message from Fi that she’s gone off the grid again.”

  “You would think that as powerful as you first bloods are, you wouldn’t be prone to all the shit we humans are.”

  “More so, baby. Try keeping your emotions in check after centuries of life. Bridge just never really found her place in all of this. She’s been party girl since she found out how fun drinking and sex was. And in the beginning, that was fine. After a while, though, most of us grow out of it and learn to move on and make the right choices. Brigitte never really has.”

  “Do you know where she is?”

  “Nope. She’s blocked her life signal again. Eras is going to try to find her.”

  “I’m sorry, my love. I wish I could help.”

  “So do I. Just hearing your voice again does. Can you come home soon? I miss you worse each day.”

  “Actually, I think I can. Not only has Saul returned, but I think we may have a new recruit. And he’s first blood.”

  “Really? Who?”

  “You don’t know him. He’s new to all of us. I’ll fill you in tomorrow night, because if I’m right, I’ll be coming home then.”

  “Thank the Gods. Okay, babe. Soon, then.”

  “Don’t worry about your sister. She’ll be all right.”

  “I’m sure. It’s just hard to see her go through this.”

  “You need a big hug, my mate.”

  “I need something big, love.”

  Cupping his crotch, Jack laughed. “Funny. I’m leaning over a wood railing, thinking about you, and there’s something big in my hand right now.”

  “Tease. Get home.”

  “Soon.”

  Back inside, Quattro finished off his drink and turned to leave. They wouldn’t even miss him for a while and by then, he’d be long gone.

  The last sip sliding down his throat, he had a hand on the door handle when he felt fingers wrap around his shoulder.