by C. J. Pinard
If Kellan was in fact an associate of Linden, then I had to be very careful. I could play this any way I wanted, just as long as I remained seemingly oblivious. But hadn’t Kellan found out I had been asking about Linden when I first started hanging out at Moon Chasers? Maybe he really had no genuine romantic interest in me, and was, instead, trying to get close to me to protect Linden.
The problem was, I had no idea what kind of “associate” Kellan was to Linden—if he was one at all.
I stared out the window of his Porsche. As the city whizzed by at speeds I was sure exceeded the law, I wondered what I had been thinking getting into this car. I was slowly coming down from my lusty high, and now realized how dangerous that was. I didn’t even know this guy, so that had been a little careless, hadn’t it? Beckett would kill me if he found out what I was doing. But I was a big girl, and could take care of myself. It wasn’t like he could bite me and it would do any more damage than the first vampire who had bitten me had done.
I would find that piece of shit if it was the last thing I did.
“What’s on your mind?” Kellan asked, glancing sideways at me as he continued to zoom through the streets of Denver as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
“What, can’t go digging around in my head and find out yourself?” I replied with a smirk.
He laughed. “No, little wolf, I cannot. I told you, unless you address me directly, I can’t just go reading your mind.”
“Okay,” I said, not sure I believed him. So I stayed quiet and concentrated, hoping to hear some inner thoughts of his. After a couple minutes of silence, I gave up and turned and looked out the window once again.
“Find anything interesting in here?” he asked inside my head.
I turned to see him smiling at me.
I flipped him off. “Ass.”
“Very childish,” he replied, biting back a smile. He followed it up with a tsk-tsk noise.
I shouldn’t have been surprised when we pulled up to the Vlasé’s mansion. The very one where I had committed murder not more than a month ago.
“You live here?” I asked, incredulous.
“Sometimes,” he replied vaguely.
I rolled my eyes and went to get out when he put his hand on my leg. “No. I will get the door. You wait.”
“If you insist,” I said without enthusiasm, but secretly I thought it was old-school-cool.
Just then, his phone rang, and he pulled it from where it sat in its dashboard holder. “Yes?”
I could hear the caller with my awesome supersonic hearing. A deep male voice said, “Are you alone?”
He glanced at me and replied, “No.”
“Get your ass over here, now. Alone,” the caller demanded and then hung up.
“Dammit,” Kellan said after ending the call.
“Problems?” I asked, trying not to smile.
“Change of plans,” he replied, closing his door and starting up the Porsche once again.
“Where we going?” I asked, feigning innocence.
“You’re going back to the bar. I, however, have to be somewhere.”
“Oh, bummer,” I said flippantly. I was feeling regretful for agreeing to get into this guy’s—this old vampire’s car, so I knew it was better this way.
“You don’t have to act so relieved,” he replied. “I was very much looking forward to exploring more of your body tonight.”
“God, you’re so filthy. Do you need to talk like that?” I asked, my mouth’s filter totally nonexistent.
He chuckled. “You’re so childish. You need to grow up. I can help with that.”
“Oh yeah?” I asked, my eyebrow quirked at him as he sped out of his neighborhood and back to the main streets.
“Most definitely, but I am enough of a gentleman to where that will be the extent of the sexy talk. The rest I plan on showing you.”
I swallowed hard. That actually sounded like fun. “I can’t wait,” I said only in my head.
He laughed. The rest of the car ride was done in silence before he dropped me off at Moon Chasers. He got out and opened the door for me, and said, “I’ll call on you later, love.”
Without looking around, he pressed me up against the car and kissed me until my toes curled in my boots. Leaving me breathless, he closed my door. As he was getting into the driver’s side, I said, “Or, just send me a message.” I tapped my temple.
“Doesn’t work like that, silly wolf.” He chuckled and took off at speed down the street.
Taking a deep breath, I shook out my hair and wiped my mouth to make sure I had no drool there, and with my shoulders back, walked into Moon Chasers. The group was still seated at the table, and they all turned around and looked at me when I came back in.
I approached the table and plopped myself back into the chair. “No laundry emergency. I’m good.”
Beckett narrowed his eyes at me. “Okaayyyy.”
“So what were you talking about?” I asked, hoping to get the subject off me.
“You,” Evan said with a grin.
Dammit!
My eyes widened. “Me? Why?”
“Just your training,” Karina said with a smile. Her Southern accent was charming and I wanted to ask her more about her upbringing. I would later.
The cocktail waitress came over and said, “The usual, Ayla?”
“Yeah, Jeannie, thanks.” I turned to my friends. “What about my training?”
“Just how well it’s going,” Evan replied, amusement in his eyes as he gained satisfaction over my squirming.
I beamed anyway. “Yeah? I’m happy to hear it.”
Jeannie brought me my Red Bull and vodka and I slurped it down loudly and greedily.
“So ladylike,” Beckett said, making a face.
I grinned at him over the rim of the glass. “So thirsty.”
“You need finishing school,” Karina commented, amused.
“What’s that?” I asked, chewing on the ice from my drink.
“Like dog obedience school, but for people,” Beckett said, biting back a smile.
I stopped chewing and narrowed my eyes at him. “Was that a wolf joke? ’Cause I have absolutely no qualms about whooping your vampire ass, pretty boy.”
Just then my phone rang. I plucked it from the back pocket of my black skinny jeans. My brother.
I hit the button and said, “Hi, Aden.”
“I need you to get down to the corner of Federal and Fifty-Fourth. Now.”
“Okayyy,” I said, standing and moving the phone to my other ear. “What’s wrong, are you all right?”
“Yes, just get here as fast as you can.”
“Is it okay if I bring—”But Aden hung up before I could finish my sentence.
“Let’s go,” Evan said, throwing some cash on the table, as he and the rest had supernaturally heard the conversation.
We all ran out of the front door and hopped in Evan’s Mercedes G-Wagon, and he raced down the road as fast as Kellan had.
Chapter 5
Two blocks from Federal and 54th, Evan cut the lights on the SUV and then parked on the street. We quietly closed the doors and ran to the location my brother had said to meet him. We didn’t see him on the corner, or anywhere else. I pulled my phone from my pocket and put it on silent. Then I went to text him.
Evan put a hand on my arm. “No, don’t,” he whispered. “We’ll find him.”
I nodded and put the phone away. Karina handed me a silver stake she’d pulled from her bag while we’d been in the car. I thanked her with a nod, and then closed my eyes, concentrating on Aden’s scent. I opened my eyes and looked up at the almost full moon, knowing my sense of smell would be stronger right now, as would Aden’s.
The streets were dark, as thick clouds kept moving in and out from in front of the moon, and there was barely a streetlight on. I could faintly smell Aden, and I nodded in the general direction. We moved as a silent group until we reached a building with a recess built into the front of it.
It was there Aden was waiting silently, leaning up against a door.
“What is it?” I whispered when we found him.
“Shh,” he mouthed, his finger to his lips. He eyed my friends, then me. “Really?” he mouthed again.
“We didn’t know if it was a trap of some kind. Your call was quite urgent,” Evan said too low for any human to hear.
Aden nodded. “Aden St. John.” He put his hand out.
“Evan Grant, and this is my wife Karina.”
He nodded and looked past Evan and acknowledged my friend. “Beckett.”
Beckett nodded in return. “Aden.”
“So what’s so urgent?” I asked, annoyed by the introductions and pleasantries.
Aden turned and looked at a tall building across the street, which sat on the corner. It was about six stories high, and had a lot of windows, none of which had lights burning inside them. “The vamp who bit you and turned you into this half-thing? I tracked his scent. I watched him go into that building. I’ve got Sam and Benson posted up around the back and side in case he decides to leave.”
I furrowed my brow. “How did you find him?”
Aden’s handsome face lit up into one his rare smiles I loved so much. “Total freak accident. We were having drinks at the Thirsty Peacock when I needed to take a piss, so I went out back, because the damn men’s room had a line. The fucker walked right by me, or rather, on the other side of the fence that was behind the bar. I knew that scent as soon as it hit me. He got into his car and left. I zipped up and ran inside and told Sam and Benson to get their asses outside. We hopped into Benson’s car and tracked him here.” He jutted his chin at the building.
I made face. “Gross. But lucky you had to pee right then, I guess.”
Beckett laughed and I shot him a look. He stopped immediately and pursed his lips.
“Right? We’re just waiting for him to come out.”
I looked at my watch. “It’s barely midnight. So... that’s the plan, we sit here and wait?”
“Yep,” he replied.
“Then what?” Evan asked. “What’s your plan for when he comes out?”
Aden looked annoyed at Evan’s question. “Then we stake his undead ass. What else?”
“We aren’t undead,” Karina said, looking hurt.
Aden raised his eyebrows and said, “You a vamp? Sorry, I thought the vampire stink was him.” He looked at Beckett and then back to Evan and Karina. “I knew he was, but I thought y’all were humans.”
Beckett gave my brother the bird.
“Evan’s a half-breed like me,” I told Aden.
“Yeah? What pack you from?” he asked.
Evan shook his head. “None, really. Was born human, got bit and scratched by a wolf. Was turned into a vampire to save my life.”
Aden sucked in a breath. “Ooh, tough break, man.”
“It was ten years ago, I’m okay with it.”
Aden cocked his head. “You don’t look a day over twenty, man. Guess you’re frozen too?”
He nodded. “It would seem.”
“Do you get all freaky wolfman on the full moon?” he asked, taking an interest in Evan all of a sudden.
“Yep,” he replied, his arms behind his back.
Aden looked at me. “See, you’re not alone!”
“Fuck off, Aden,” I said, and then looked at the building. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not a big fan of just waiting around. I say we go in there and get this piece of trash.”
“No,” Evan said. “There could be an entire clan in there. We’d be walking into a trap, outnumbered.”
“Party pooper,” I said to him.
He laughed a little. “Mature, Ayla.”
“She’ll always be like that... at least for a while,” Karina said, speaking to her husband as though I wasn’t there.
I put my hands on my hips, my right hand still gripping the stake. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“The vampire venom has frozen you, just like it has myself, Evan, and Beckett. It’s not only your body that will not mature. It’s your mind, too. You will have to work hard on that. It can be trained.”
I looked at her. “How old were you when you were turned?”
She smiled sadly. “I was twenty. But that was about seventy ago, so I’ve had a while to adapt.”
“Holy shit,” Aden and I said in unison.
Just then, a light popped on on the third floor of the building, and we all instinctively shrunk back into the shadow of the building we stood in front of.
With my excellent eyesight, I could see two men walking around up there. They were dressed in casual clothing, and they seemed to be arguing. With their voices undoubtedly raised, and their arms flailing around, I was waiting for one of them to start swinging.
Just then, a beautiful brunette woman walked in wearing a tight red dress that barely covered anything. The two men stopped arguing and looked at her as she appeared to be upset, too. She pointed her finger at the taller of the two men, and seemed to be yelling. Then, with vampire speed, he crossed the room to her and lifted his arm, backhanding her so hard, she went flying across the room and landed presumably on the floor, out of our sight.
This upset the other man, and the argument continued.
“Are you kidding me with this shit?” I said, pointing. “I’m gonna go kick his ass for that, and then I’m gonna cut his heart out!”
“The one who hit her isn’t the vamp who bit you. It’s the guy he’s arguing with,” Aden said, laying a straining hand on my arm.
“I don’t care! I’ll kill him first, then I’ll kill the other one.”
The vampire who bit me then raced with speed to the taller one, and in a blur, placed his hands on both sides of the other guy’s head and twisted his neck almost all the way around. He dropped like a stone, out of sight of the window.
“Oh, my God,” I whisper-yelled. “He killed that guy!”
Beckett shook his head. “No, he just broke his neck to incapacitate him. He’ll heal and wake up. Sore, and pissed off, but he’s not dead. Not if he’s a vampire.”
Before I could reply to Beckett, a small, red sports car went tearing out from the underground parking garage, and my assailant was in the driver’s seat. Sam had been posted up next to the garage. He looked over at us with his arms up, knowing he couldn’t catch a car.
Aden waved him over.
“I’m parked two blocks away, let’s go!” Evan said. We all raced at top speed toward the Mercedes and hopped in, grateful we were able to easily locate the asshole.
I looked behind me to see Benson hopping into his car and taking off.
The windows on his sports car were tinted just as darkly as the vehicle we were in, so it was hard to see his face. We kept far back, not wanting to clue him in that he was being followed. We hoped he was too pissed off to be watching his surroundings. After an agonizing fifteen-minute drive, we were rewarded when he pulled into a small house in the suburbs and parked in the garage. It was literally in the middle of suburbia. There was an elementary school around the corner, a small neighborhood park, and rows and rows of nice, new track houses with more being built, judging by the construction vehicles parked at the end of the subdivision. A fancy stone sign sat at the beginning of the street reading Sunrise Estates.
“What the hell is he doing here?” Aden asked.
“Hard to say, we’re going to have to just watch,” Evan replied.
A light on the side of the house popped on. I reached for the door handle. “I’m gonna go check it out.”
“We’re staying here, in case we need to get away fast,” Evan said, pointing to Karina then himself.
“I’ll stay, too,” Sam said. “Even if it does reek like bloodsuckers in here.”
I narrowed my eyes at Sam, and then flipped him off, as I’d never liked his perverted ass anyhow, and then got out quietly. Aden shot his friend a warning look, and then followed Beckett and me out.
I highly doubt a
nest of vampires lives a house like this, I thought to myself. That would be absurd. Although, they could live in the basement where there were no windows, I supposed. Pushing those thoughts aside, we made our way to the window where the light had come on.
Without making a sound, and with the stake still in my hand, I slunk up against the house and then ducked down under the window, which had to be a bedroom of some kind, because as we had passed the front windows, we could see the kitchen and living room through the sheer curtains.
When I reached the window, I looked at Aden and Beckett and pointed up to it. They both nodded, so I slowly craned my head up and peered inside. The curtains were shut fast, but there was a gap on the side. Through it, I saw the asshole kissing a woman who looked very much human. He undressed her as he kissed her, and she was undressing him just as fast. He then threw her down on the bed, as she appeared to laugh, and put himself on top of her.
My eyes wide, I moved my head out of the way and looked at my brother and friend. I then made a very immature sexual gesture with my fingers. Beckett covered his mouth as if trying not to laugh. Aden shook his head and then switched places with me, popping his head up to peer in. He quickly popped back down and made a disgusted face.
“What?” I mouthed.
With the first two fingers of his right hand, he pretended to pierce the side of my neck.
“He bit her?” I mouthed.
Aden nodded.
“While....?” I made the sex gesture with my fingers again.
Aden nodded again.
We moved quietly away from the house and ducked down into some bushes in the neighbor’s front yard.
“You two!” Beckett scolded by whisper-yelling, but was trying not to laugh. “Just break the window and finish off this fucker. I’m hungry, and I can’t bite either of you, so I need to find something to snack on.”
I jerked a thumb behind me. “That bimbo is obviously game. You feed while we kill off the rapist.”
“He wasn’t raping her,” Aden said, rolling his eyes. “She was very willingly getting fucked and bitten.”
