“I’m not wrong,” he insisted. I’m not wrong.
She shook her head at him as if he were a child. “Besides being consummately stupid, I never thought you could ever be that cruel.”
Hunter, his emotions simmering because he hadn’t really liked what he’d done either, let them boil over. “It had to be done!” he shouted.
“Coward!” Sam shouted back, drawing up out of her chair to her regal height.
He couldn’t believe she was treating him this way. “I serve no one anymore.”
“That you had to say those words scares me, Hunter. I’d like to believe we’ve been friends all these years as well as compatriots in a common cause.”
Apologetic, he answered, “We are when you don’t go all high priestess on me.”
She smiled, having reached the place she’d been leading him. “Didn’t you do exactly the same just now with Tori?”
Had he?
“For the record, I hate when you use your psychology on me,” he groused. She didn’t answer. Her smile simply deepened. “All right,” he sighed, knowing he’d never get any peace until he asked the question. “What exactly am I afraid of?”
“Caring. Feeling. Commitment. All of the above.”
Hunter stilled, hearing a word inside his head he thought long dead. One he never thought Sam would shout at him. “Go ahead. Say it.”
“Love.”
He digested the word. Yes, it was true. He was afraid. Feeling made you—
“No, Hunter,” Sam answered in a gentle tone. “Feeling doesn’t make you weak.”
“Feeling makes you vulnerable,” he retorted. “And in this case, that’s downright dangerous.”
“For whom?” she asked. “I’ve lived way longer than you, Hunter. So know this. Love doesn’t make you weak. It makes you strong.”
They could debate this point all night long and not get anywhere. “Casperian would like nothing better than to find out I care about her. He’ll hurt, maim, and torture her to get at me. Some things simply should never be. I’m doing this to protect her.”
“How very noble of you,” she half sneered. “Did it ever occur to you that she has feelings?”
His gaze whipped up to snare Sam’s. “She’s way better off hating me.”
Sam shook her head at him. “You really are a mess.” A half-amused, half-revolted look filled her features. “I’m going to try to repair some of the damage you’ve caused.”
He pushed his emotions and his hurt way down deep. “Repair away.”
“Fool.” Sam drew herself up to her full height, every inch the high queen and priestess of a nation far greater than his own. “I don’t need your permission. Neither does she.”
Sam turned on her heel and left. Hunter pivoted so he could look out the window. Years of secret toil. Careful manipulation of money. Building this compound. Creating a safe haven for his fellow—were they creatures? Just another life-form, right?
Hunter asked himself the million-dollar question. What had he really wanted? Above all else? What was the true purpose behind this home?
He’d wanted to belong. He’d wanted to be part of a family. A culture. A society. He’d wanted the fruit, the wine, and the entire pigeon.
And now?
Now Hunter wondered. Had he done the right thing?
Yes. Absolutely. There should never be a mingling of their species. All right, he argued with himself, their races. No matter what the moniker, they were different. For one day the blood would win. The blood always won.
Vampire. Human. Could they at least try to coexist? What would become of the kind of friendship Tori wanted? Humans didn’t trust. And with good reason. They were food—and would know they were food as soon as they realized vampires were real.
The fight raged on even though Hunter was certain he was right. He had his place. She had hers. Charles and Stacy were doomed to failure.
Weren’t they?
And then the words popped into his mind. How does it feel to become all that you hate?
Hunter rolled his tongue in his mouth, not liking the taste of what he’d done. Releasing the bitterness, he let out all of the words. Casperian would like nothing better than to hurt her to hurt him, but Hunter and his people needed her. To fight this insidious plot, this monster. Hunter needed to protect his family. And his family came first. Therefore, she needed to hate him.
Didn’t she?
God, what had happened to him? When had he become everything he despised? The first backhand to the mouth? The first sting of the lash? The first night he’d suffered the true indignity of his station, bent over a couch, open and defenseless to anything the man had wanted?
No. He knew the exact moment. His first games. The resistance of muscle and flesh, then his blade slicing deep inside another man’s gut. That had been the moment. Because by then, it hadn’t mattered anymore. He’d stopped caring about anything.
Dead inside. Then dead outside. How strange to finally admit. How fitting.
All those years. Alone. Being hunted by terrified humans who hadn’t stopped to ask, who’d shot their arrows and thrown their blades, their axes, making him the one thing he hated above all else.
Outcast.
Until Sam had found him. Until Sam had taught him. What he was. What he could be.
Guess you didn’t count on me being an arrogant bastard, did you, Sam?
Hunter.
His name sent a chill down his spine. Her fear enveloped him. He stood stock still.
We have a problem.
Suddenly, the door to his office burst open. Sam looked seriously pissed. But what simmered in her gaze scared the hell out of him. “I’ve looked everywhere, and I can’t find her. Tori’s gone.”
Chapter Twenty
Tori shivered as she came awake. Cold, damp air filtered down beneath her collar. She tried to make out where she was. A small, shack-like building. Smelled like damp, rotting leaves and aged wood—her gaze traveled the small area—with a large object in the corner that looked like some kind of a pump.
“You’re awake.”
God, her head hurt. She closed her eyes and willed the pain into a small ball. Think, Tori. Think. She reached up to touch what felt like a huge baseball on the back of her head, only to find her hands tied. Great.
“Who are you?”
“Jonas.”
Her heart sped up, causing a hollow to form inside her stomach. Her head pounded at the same speed. Tori swallowed hard to get her fear under control. “What do you want with me?”
No answer.
“Newly minted?” she asked.
It was shadowy and kind of dark, so she couldn’t really see his face. “’Scuse me?”
Tori shrugged. Either he was ignoring the question or didn’t understand. “Nothing.” She shifted. Her hands were tied. But not her feet. “Where are we?”
“New York.”
Again, just a lot of help. Tori breathed in again. This time she tried to make sense of the air. Smelled like forest. Pine. Musty. Definitely like woods. Could be Stokes State Park, could be Bear Mountain. She decided to try the latter. “Bear Mountain?”
He didn’t answer.
With a groan, she rotated her neck, and pain shot up through the base of her skull. Better not to do that. “What do you want with me?”
Again, he ignored her question. “The discomfort won’t last long.”
Tori rotated her neck again. “How would you know?”
“Just a mild brain injury. Maybe a contusion. Nothing serious.”
She frowned. “You sound like a third-year med student.” With a slightly British accent.
“Just about to graduate. With honors.”
“Why would you be dealing with the likes of Casperian?” Tori paused. “Oh. I get it. Money.” He shrugged. “He doesn’t care about anyone, least of all you.”
He glanced over at her, brows drawn together. “Feeling’s mutual.”
Wait a minute. Something wasn’t exa
ctly right here. “Really,” she drawled, trying to learn more. “You’ve stirred up a hornet’s nest, you know. My disappearance isn’t going to go over too well.”
He smiled, seemingly unconcerned. “Just a lackey doing a lackey’s job.”
“Which pays very well,” she surmised. “What with student loans coming due.”
He didn’t answer.
“So you’re not a vampire.”
“God, no!”
“But you know about them. How? You do realize there’s a posse of vampires coming to get me as we speak?”
Tori screamed the words in her mind over and over again. It’s a trap. Stay away!
“You’re playing with fire, you know,” she continued. “Your boss considers you nothing more than a loose end.”
“Not ‘boss.’” A thoughtful look filled his features. “I have a contingency plan.”
Whatever that plan was, Tori knew it had better be good. The vampire wasn’t one to trifle with anyone or anything that stood in his way.
“Oh?” The high-pitched question sounded as the door to the shack opened. Speak of the devil. “And what is that?”
Several soldiers followed by a man stepped into the small room. Tall, thin, terribly pale, Casperian moved as if he owned everyone and everything around him. His close-cropped, black hair only accentuated the severe lines of his face. Long, hawk-like nose. Longer chin. Pale, nearly translucent cold eyes. Patrician to the core, arrogant, and—she already knew—a bully.
“I believe the expression is ‘cat got your tongue?’” Casperian commented.
Jonas eyed his potential business partner carefully as he rose to his feet. But he still didn’t answer. Tori wondered why.
“All right,” the vampire continued. “I’m intrigued. You set this up. Why?”
Jonas took his time answering. “I have the key to Nirvana.”
The man laughed. “Of course you do.” Jonas didn’t flinch, and Casperian looked a bit startled. “Very well. I’ll play along for the moment. And what might that be?”
Jonas smiled. “Do you really think I’d be stupid enough to tell you? Here? Now?”
“You don’t have a choice,” the vampire answered, his tone turning deadly. Then he took a deep breath, letting the air out slowly. “But don’t worry. I won’t kill you. Can’t promise about her though.”
Brazen little bastard just smirked and pointed to a corner of the shack. She hadn’t seen the laptop sitting on a crate in the shadows. Stunned, Tori didn’t know whether to applaud him for his balls or his stupidity.
“Fine. I’ll tell you,” Jonas continued. “It’s right there in my computer. All of it.”
Casperian flicked his hand, and one of his soldiers went to grab the computer. “I wouldn’t if I were you,” she warned, beginning to figure out the game.
The vampire eyed her with suspicion. “Why not?”
“He’s probably programmed some sort of failsafe into the computer. Without the right name and password—because fingerprint identity is useless since he’s here—I’d say all the data will be wiped clean.”
“Did you do that?” Casperian asked, his brows drawing together. Damn, the vampire actually looked pissed. Tori flicked Jonas a quick glance, rather impressed.
Jonas’s mouth quirked. “Maybe.”
The vampire stilled. Then he started. His eyes widened. He paused as if he was trying again, then he frowned. “I can’t read your mind.”
Tori burst out laughing. Her head nearly exploded, but she couldn’t help herself.
The vampire tried again. Obviously with the same result because his lips thinned and his gaze really narrowed. He reached out and lifted Jonas by the neck. Jonas’s face turned beet red. Then it started turning purple. Jonas flailed and clawed at the hand that held him.
“Temper, temper,” Tori mocked. “You don’t really want to do that, do you? After all, you shouldn’t kill the one person on this planet who might be able to help you.”
Casperian let go. Jonas clutched his neck, gasping for air and writhing on the concrete floor.
“I can make you wish you’d never been born,” the vampire said to Jonas, each word coated in sick anticipation.
Tori watched in amazement as Jonas started to breathe again, then turned his gaze toward his attacker. “Don’t…waste…” he choked out, “your time.” Jonas hacked and coughed. “I don’t know the password. Or the formula.”
Dead silence. Then the door opened again. “But I do.”
What?
Flaming-red hair, emerald-green eyes, almost as pale as Casperian. She bent down and looked at the marks on Jonas’s neck, her gaze narrowing. “You all right, sweetheart?”
Jonas nodded and smiled up at this new guest. What the hell?
Casperian looked put out. “You thought to trap me instead?” His head cocked. “Your name is Vanessa.”
She nodded. “Trap?” she asked, tapping a perfectly manicured finger against her chin. “Let’s see now. I wouldn’t say ‘trap.’”
“You don’t have the strength to take me on,” he goaded.
She laughed softly. “Hadn’t planned on it.”
“Really.”
Casperian paused, and the redhead continued. “But I never underestimate an adversary. You’ve told me a great deal without saying a word.”
“Indeed.” Now the vampire looked thoughtful. “How does he shield his mind?”
“Ancient meditation techniques practiced his entire life at the foot of the Dalai Lama,” she sassed back.
Casperian’s chin lifted. Tori watched his fist clench. “I don’t like being played with. And I don’t like being the butt of a joke.”
She simply laughed. This time right out loud. “Darling, you’re way too serious. Besides, I can’t help myself. You asked for that.” Vanessa seemed to be debating. “Jonas? Do tell the man and appease his curiosity.”
Jonas coughed, hawked, and spat. “I was born this way.”
“Indeed.”
“Now, sweetie pie,” she continued, turning toward the vampire, a sneer threading her tone, “why don’t you go crawl back under that rock you slimed yourself out of.”
Casperian seemed about to answer, then changed his mind. He motioned to his soldiers to leave. “Moves and countermoves,” he chortled with glee.
Only one soldier remained, and Vanessa started toward him. They eyed each other, each gauging the small space they had for fighting. They continued to circle. A minute later, Sam and Hunter rushed into the shack. Out of the corner of her eye, Tori watched the soldier stop and pull a gun out of his waistband. There was a click, a whoosh, and then something arched toward her. She tried to duck. The next thing she knew, Hunter threw himself in front of her. Whatever it was never reached her. Instead, it hit Hunter. He grunted and landed on the concrete just in front of her. Something seemed to be sticking out of his arm. Hunter automatically reached for it with his hand, but he never made it. He crumpled. Then he lay as still as the dead.
Mocking laughter filled the room as he left with his soldiers. Casperian finally got his revenge.
Chapter Twenty-One
“Damn it, Vanessa!” Sam shouted, falling to her knees next to Hunter. “What the hell were you thinking?”
Tori scrambled over to him too, heart pounding, pain forgotten. He seemed asleep. She knew better. What did Casperian want most of all? For Hunter to suffer and die. And what better way to do that?
“Nirvana,” she whispered.
One word. One death sentence.
“Damn it! I told you not to come,” Tori moaned, trying to gather her wits and assess him.
Panic filled Sam’s voice. “I couldn’t stop him. He was like a madman.”
“All I wanted,” Vanessa whispered in horror, “was to tease Casperian out. Just tease him out. Jonas is unique. I thought he might get that weasel to make a mistake.”
“Instead,” Tori bit out, “he turned the tables on us. On you.” She looked up at Sam. “We have to get
Hunter back to the lab.”
A hand reached out to grip her arm. Emerald-green eyes were filled with remorse. Vanessa opened her other palm. Inside rested the dart that had pricked Hunter’s arm. “Thank you.” Tori wrapped the dart in a tissue and put it into her pocket.
Mercy stood in the doorway, her face made of stone. But Tori caught her gaze. With one glance, they shared their terror. Mercy motioned to three of her men to pick up Hunter. She didn’t say anything. She didn’t have to because Tori knew. Mercy cared.
“Be gentle,” Tori begged.
“You,” Sam commanded, pointing at Jonas. “Come with us.” She turned to Vanessa. “I’ll deal with you later.”
Once they were in the car on their way back to the compound, Tori tried to think. Hunter lay draped across her lap. He looked so at peace. “Is it true, Jonas? Can you really shield your thoughts from them?”
“Yes,” he answered, his accent thickening. “Ness found me roaming the streets in London after my mum OD’d. She took me in, then adopted me and brought me to the States. Kinda raised me.” He grinned. “I kinda lied about needing the money.”
“Then you really are a med student?” Tori asked. He nodded. “You do realize the oath means do no harm, don’t you?”
He shrugged, but Tori could tell he hadn’t wanted to hurt anyone. “You try telling Ness no.”
Indeed.
“Vanessa may have shown her strategy too early,” Tori murmured, torn between worry for Hunter’s condition and worry whether or not Casperian would now have the upper hand.
“Perhaps,” Sam answered. “But the dart was meant for you, not Hunter.”
For her? “A win-win,” Tori replied. “I have a feeling there’s more than just Nirvana on the dart. Think about it. If something happens to me, Hunter gets hurt. If Hunter follows and something happens to him? Self-explanatory.”
Sam sounded ready to tear concrete apart as she asked, “How does Casperian know about you?”
“I don’t understand,” Tori answered.
“Our telepathic powers—if you want to call them that—only work in close proximity. I’m the one exception. Hunter is sort of an exception.”
Honorable Rogue Page 15
