Katie’s heart sank a notch. “Now I’ll never know.”
She lowered her gaze as she processed the new information Riker had shared. Kyle had met Riker at the Order. They’d spent a great amount of time learning and working together. An Egyptian named Hector trained them and Kyle had a special bond with him. Hector made predictions. A big one involved humans at war with vampires which later shifted to the two working together and fighting vampires. What a bloody mess. If that weren’t enough, Hector’s prophecies fell short at times, or he lied about them, which led to him leaving the Order. One plus one equaled two, but what did it all mean? How did it answer her original question about the vow Riker made?
She lifted her head. “I’m not understanding how this relates to the question I started with.”
“Hector stayed in touch with Kyle, or vice versa. I don’t know which.”
Katie held her hand up. “Wait. I thought he was gone.”
“Hector? Impossible.”
“Anything is possible.”
Riker grinned. The vampire actually grinned. “He’s invisible, has been for two centuries. No one has seen him. Members have searched and not a trace of him has been found.”
“Let me guess, he’s on the extermination list too.”
“At the very top.”
An unusual high level of excitement zinged through her. She straightened, braced her palms on her knees and leaned closer to Riker. “Are you fucking serious? This Egyptian is first on the list and he kept in touch with Kyle. My Kyle.”
“I have no reason to lie. There is nothing for me to gain from misleading you.”
Katie shook her head. “Now, I’m really confused. I don’t understand why Kyle kept this from me. And you have yet to answer why you’re still sitting here.”
“I actually find you attractive.”
Katie flinched. “What?” She’d misheard him. No way had he just told her he found her attractive.
“You don’t believe me?”
“No. You’re changing the subject and you lack humor. Now, answer my fucking questions.”
The familiar coldness on his face returned. “Hector sent Kyle notes and packages over the years. Most of the messages were compliments, such as ‘good catch’ and ‘the professor has found his match.’ When Kyle called me with the last communication he received from Hector and asked me to make a vow, I told him I needed proof the note came from Hector. He scanned it and sent me the copy in an email message.”
“How long ago was this?”
“A little over seven years ago.”
Katie’s pulse accelerated. She’d moved in with Kyle eight years ago. He’d started training her. Why did Kyle keep this man, this ancient vampire, a secret?
“Was it the last communication?”
“To my understanding yes, and I authenticated the penmanship. It came from Hector.”
She shook her foot nervously. Adrenaline flooded through her from either sitting too long with the vampire juice wanting action, or her damn curiosity had reached a new high, wanting to know about the note from Hector.
“What did it say?”
Riker said nothing for several seconds. His hesitation to reply drove her anxiety higher.
“The note said, ‘Protect her. Teach her. She’s the one.’”
Katie shot up from her seat and paced the room. No, not possible. The old man made false predictions. Certainly, Kyle didn’t believe she would lead a war. She was plain ol’ Katie with deceased parents and trying to make a living in the crazy world. She had no special qualities, background, or ancestry that could possibly make her a war leader. She could sum up her entire life using a country song. The Egyptian had to be nuts.
But what if Kyle had believed she was the one? Were all of the years of training, sharing knowledge and pushing her limits in preparation her for the big day? She didn’t believe so since she’d asked for all of it, wanting to fight and beat him to show that she could. She’d wanted to prove herself worthy. He’d given her everything she’d ever asked and more. She was a stronger and more knowledgeable person because of Kyle. Perhaps she was the female version of Rambo as her best friend eloquently had stated. Was all of it because Kyle believed what a crazy vampire told him or did Kyle really love her?
Riker stood and she stopped pacing.
“Is it because of this note you made a promise to Kyle?”
“Yes.”
“Do you believe Hector’s prediction?”
“He trained me for a century. I know him personally.”
She stepped closer to him. “But you admitted to disagreeing with his beliefs.”
“Everyone has differences and has to decide which beliefs are the right ones to follow. I disagree with your decisions, yet here we are with only one vampire left to eradicate.”
A compliment from Riker? She branded it to her memory.
“I’m not who you think I am.”
“Hector was wise and he never led us astray. I have survived over eight centuries and seen many changes among vampires.”
“Do you believe him?” she asked again.
He stared directly into her eyes. “I have no reason not to.”
14
Katie gazed out of the window from the Denny’s booth. She sat slouching and with her legs spread out underneath the table. Sunglasses shielded her eyes from the bright sun and helped hide her shiner. Aromas of grease, hamburgers and fries along with the lingering scents of syrup, bacon and eggs flooded her nose. She and Jules had arrived past 11:00 as the breakfast crowd lessoned and the lunch one took over. Jules sat across the table, nibbling on her second chicken tender.
“You said you’d eat some of this with me,” she said, sounding very much like a complaint. “I can’t eat it all.”
Katie’s stomach gurgled, but her appetite was lacking. Still, she needed to eat something or her body would consume the vampire blood quicker and the chances of her strength lasting three days would end up next to none. She reached across the table and snatched a piece of chicken. After she dipped it in the ranch sauce, she took a bite.
“What happened after I fell asleep?”
Katie finished chewing. “Riker and I had a lengthy conversation, then I went to the workout room for a couple hours.”
After releasing some built up energy, she showered again and slept for maybe two hours. Riker was hiding in the bathroom of his hotel room by the time she’d rose from her nap. The chat she’d had with the vampire kept replaying in her head and she couldn’t stop analyzing it. Unable to sleep or think, she returned to the workout room and ran on the treadmill.
“Did he take care of…?” Jules paused, glanced around, then leaned over the table. “The female vampire?”
“He left while I was on the bicycle and returned sometime later saying she was gone. I didn’t ask for details.”
“I don’t blame you.” Jules grinned. “So, what did you two talk about while I was sleeping?”
Katie shrugged as she dipped her chicken in the ranch dip.
“Come on, you can tell me.”
“He shared with me how he met Kyle.” It was a good starting point. Maybe she wouldn’t probe for too many details.
“Oh?” She lifted her brows.
“They met at the Order and trained together for over a century.”
“Wow.” Jules dunked her chicken in the honey mustard. “That’s a long time.”
“Apparently an Egyptian vampire taught them quite a bit. He was a philosopher and had a close friendship with Kyle.”
“Did you know about this friend?”
“No.” She gave a shake of her head. “His name is Hector.”
“That’s an unusual name for an Egyptian. Don’t they usually have names like Ra, Osiris, or…”
“People had trouble pronouncing his name so everyone called him Hector, according to Riker.”
“Okay. What else?”
“Riker told me more about the Order, not much I didn’t already know.”
“Does he think they are responsible for Kyle’s death? I recall he mentioned something about it.”
Katie slid her hand under the table and wiped her hand on her jeans. “He said Kyle’s name was on the extermination list, which we already knew.”
Jules flattened her arm on the table while she held a small piece of chicken between her fingers. “Did he give you valuable information besides how he met Kyle and who trained them?”
Katie leaned back with her belly tightening.
“No you don’t.” Jules pushed the plate toward her, scraping it on the countertop. “If I have to eat, so do you. We’re in this shit knee deep together.”
A smile revealed Jules’s mood had brightened. Although Katie regretted Jules was now involved with her crappy situation, at least they had each other to lean on for support and that brought some comfort.
Following a heavy sigh, Katie picked up another chicken strip. “Thanks for coming to my aid with the gun.” She hoped Jules wouldn’t notice her avoidance to the prior question.
“I would’ve shot him in the head. I’m pretty good at hitting my target.”
“I know, and I would’ve moved in time to make sure you did if it came to that.” Thank God, it hadn’t. Katie’s relationship with Riker was tense enough. There was no need to make it any worse, especially now that she understood why he wouldn’t leave. She disliked how she was stuck with his frowny coldness guarding her and she doubted he would go even if she begged him. Her second priority after claiming her revenge would be proving she wasn’t the leader of some great war.
“Were you able to talk about Joe’s situation?”
Katie continued chewing while staring into Jules’s hopeful eyes. How many more times would she have to repeat Joe was dead? It was difficult the first time. Before they’d left the hotel, Jules checked her phone and found no messages. Brandon, Kyle’s assassin, had kidnapped Joe and as Riker had mentioned, Brandon would not take pity on Joe once he learned about his girlfriend’s disappearance. Familiar with the grieving process, Katie wondered if Jules was in denial.
“I don’t think–”
“I can’t eat anymore,” Jules said, then wiped her fingers on the napkin.
Her friend’s downcast gaze and pouty lips revealed she held her feelings in check, but barely. It seemed Jules understood Joe wasn’t coming home.
Katie reached across the table and covered Jules’s hand with her own. “My heart is with yours, Jules. I wish I could take the ache away.”
Her lip quivered. “I know. I know.” She lifted her eyelids and revealed her teary eyes. “Just get the fucker for me. Make him pay.”
Katie offered a comforting smile. She would honor her friend’s request gladly.
“We should stop by your place and see if my weapons are still secured. If we have to meet Brandon tonight, I want to know if he’s fully armed and dangerous, or just dangerous.”
“That’s fine.” Jules agreed, nodding. “I’d like to take a shower, if you don’t mind waiting on me. I couldn’t take one at the hotel with your friend lounging in the next bathroom. It felt creepy.”
“Sure.”
Katie lounged in the seat while Jules sipped on her cola. She returned to her dreamy gaze out the window and watched the cars pass by. For a brief moment, they simply sat in silence.
“Can I get you anything else?” the waitress asked, standing at the end of the table.
“We’re fine,” Jules answered. “Just the check.”
“I’ll get it ready for you.” The waitress left, stopping two tables down and repeating her question.
“So…” Jules straightened and leaned her arms on the table. “Are you going to tell me what’s on your mind or continue to daydream all day?”
“What?”
“You’ve been quieter then normal and you successfully avoided my question about what you learned from Riker.”
Lips pressed together, Katie determined she hadn’t been successful enough in evading Jules’s question. The detective once again brought the issue to the surface.
“He shared something with me that has me thinking, but it’s nothing really.”
“So tell me about it. I need something to distract me from thinking about Joe in a coffin.”
Katie couldn’t avoid the issue any longer, especially when Jules needed something else to occupy her thoughts.
“Riker said Hector was a philosopher.”
“You mentioned that.”
“Right. He made predictions and they came true.”
“Really? What kind?” Jules asked excitedly.
“I don’t know. I didn’t ask. He just told me about this one that installed fear among vampires.”
“Oh? What is it?”
“He said a war would come one day and a human would lead it. Many would die, including vampires.”
“Is it a war against vampires?”
“Yes, it starts that way, then vampires get together with humans and fight other vampires.”
“It sounds exhausting.”
“Obviously it never happened.”
Jules gave a shrug. “Okay, so some guy made a bad prediction. It happens. What else?”
“Hector eventually left the Order, but members never forgot about his prophecy. They put him at the top of the list to get rid of.”
“Damn, that sucks.”
“No one knows what happened to him, but Riker said he is walking around somewhere. He kept in touch with Kyle.”
“Did Kyle ever mention–?”
Katie shook her head, revealing her answer. “Never.”
Jules leaned sideways with her elbow on the table and her head resting against her hand. “Do you find it strange Kyle hid this from you?”
“Very. I’d like to know why he did, but he’s not here to answer.”
The waitress walked by and slid the receipt on the table. “Pay at the front when you’re ready.” She smiled before she moved on.
“How does Riker know Hector kept in touch with Kyle?”
The detective’s mind had returned.
“Kyle told Riker he had received messages and packages from Hector over the years. The last note he got was over seven years ago. He sent the communication to Riker. Riker confirmed the writing belonged to Hector.”
Jules straightened and her eyes gleamed of curiosity. “What did the note say?”
Katie inhaled as she prepared to repeat what Riker had shared. They were just words, ones she didn’t believe were meant for her, but they still gave her a chill.
“What did it say?”
“Protect her. Teach her. She’s the one.”
Jules jerked back in the booth with a gasp. She covered her hands over her mouth, trying to hide her squeal.
Katie grabbed the check. “Maybe we better go.”
She scooted out of the booth, dragging her purse behind her. Knowing Jules, she’d have more questions and sitting in Denny’s with a lunch crowd growing was not the place to exchange secretive information.
Katie paid the cashier, then they left in Katie’s Camaro. Jules fidgeted in her seat as if something played on her mind. Katie kept track of the time to see how long the detective could hold out before probing for more details.
“You met Kyle, what…nine years ago?”
Katie looked at the clock and estimated Jules had waited three minutes. She chuckled inwardly. “Yes.”
“Moved in with him after a year?”
“Close enough.”
“You trained with him after he told you what he was.”
“That’s right.”
“How can you think Hector’s message was not about you?”
“Because I’m not Rambo.” She braked hard at a light and Jules braced her hand to the dashboard. “Okay, maybe I am a version of Rambo, but I’m not someone who could lead a war. Maybe Kyle thought I could and prepared me for it, but…”
“It’s exactly what he did.”
Katie didn’t want to believe, fo
und it too difficult to accept, she could be the one Hector prophesized about.
“It has to be a set up. There’s no way little ol’ me could pull off leading a war. No fucking way.”
“But what if?”
Katie glared at Jules. “Don’t go there.”
“I’m just saying–”
“Don’t.”
The light turned green and Katie zoomed through traffic. She whizzed around cars with ease and confidence. When vehicles in front of her refused to move out of her way, she flashed her lights at them. The minute they slid into the next lane, she accelerated past them.
“Katie, pull into the gas station at the corner.”
“Why?”
“I need cigarettes.”
She glanced at Jules. “You quit smoking years ago.”
“I need a one. Pull over.”
Katie checked the mirror, braked for the passing car, then swerved into the next lane. She turned into the lot of the gas station and took the empty spot at the end of the building.
“I’ll go in with you,” she said as Jules pushed her door open.
Keys and purse in hand, Katie stepped out of the car. She walked to the sidewalk where Jules stood, but her friend blocked her from going any further.
“Can I see your keys?” Jules held her hand in front of her.
“Why?”
Jules snatched them from her hand, then stepped around her. “I’m driving.”
Shocked by her friend, Katie spun and stared at her. What happen to her craving for cigarettes?
Jules opened the door. “Come on. Let’s go.”
Katie watched in a frozen state as her friend claimed the driver’s seat and shut the door. When the engine roared, she decided she’d better hurry and find out what the hell Jules was doing.
She flopped into the passenger seat and stared at Jules.
“You were driving like a maniac and I was about to lose my lunch.” Jules backed out of the parking spot and briefly met Katie’s gaze.
“I was not.” Katie half-laughed, half-argued.
“You were doing 55 in a 35 and dodging cars like you were Frogger.”
“I always speed.”
“Speeding is one thing. Swerving between cars at a high speed is another. It’s dangerous.”
Katie’s temper rose and she flushed. It was her car and if she wanted to speed, by golly she would.
Immortal Revenge Page 14
