by Jeni Burns
"I can tell you where she is. I can bring her home to you. But, I need her help. Besides the Pinnacles wanting this bracelet, so does my Alpha."
"You keep talking about this cuff. Let me guess, it's the one that belonged to Queen Boudica, the ancient warrior queen." She put more distance between them and flopped on the couch. "Your boss and Alpha aren't the only ones looking for it." She shook her head. "Bring me to Kara. I need to see she's okay."
"I will. Let me loose and I'll take you to her."
His words sent a chill down her spine. "Once you have the artifact, you need me, don't you? The hand offs. I do them."
"I think as far as the pack is concerned they just want the item. They don't care who delivers it."
"But Kara can't be seen with the artifacts. That's the whole point of there always being three Sheel women. None of us get discovered if we stick to our respective jobs." Her broken heart begged for more torture. His ruggedly handsome face looked no less handsome despite the new knowledge. In fact, his aura seemed more relaxed and at peace than she'd ever seen. "Why Ronin?"
"Originally it was to earn my place back in the pack. I swear that's all it was. And then when I realized how dangerous your family business was, it became more about being here to protect you. When Francine died, and the vampires closed in, I couldn't imagine being anywhere else. I couldn't risk anything happening to you."
"Wait. Hold the phone. The vampires closed in?" The broken heart in her chest wasn't bad enough because now her brain shattered too. "What vampires?"
"Kara's blood sucker?"
"Leo? The guy she dreamed about?"
"Yeah. He's not a dream. He's a nightmare. I'm pretty sure he's already changed her into a Vamp. And that makes her dangerous to you and Julia, but I still can't keep her from you if that's what you want. I need to make things right."
The plea on his lips matched the look in his eyes, but she didn't trust herself to decide his honesty at this moment. She searched for a kernel of something she could cling to. Kara being a vampire felt so farfetched even if it was true, she couldn't believe it. "Where's Kara?"
"She's at my place."
"Where is that even? You've never invited me to your home. Nor have you even said where you live." Her stomach soured as more reasons to distrust him came to light. "I don't really know anything about you do I?" The realization was a punch to her gut.
"I live in Mount Charleston. There's a community of wolves that settled there eons ago from Scotland. I have a little log cabin on the side of the mountain, but that's not where Kara is. The Pinnacles put me up in a place off the strip. They like having me close and it's one of the properties they own."
"Tell me where."
"I'll take you."
"No." She rose to her feet. "I'll go get her myself. I'm sure you can understand me not trusting you at the moment." She walked to him and reached into his bar pants pocket and withdrew his wallet, before holding it up for his inspection. "Where's your key card?"
"Behind my license."
She opened the trifold and found the card in question. "Your room number?"
"1224."
"Okay." She tossed the wallet on the coffee table before deciding what to do next. She probably shouldn't be driving with her nerves so frayed, but if she called Julia, who would mind the store? But if Kara really was a vampire, wouldn't it be better to bring back up with her?
"I promise I won't hurt you. Don't go alone."
Ronin's words cut into her thoughts. "Who said I wanted someone to come with me?" She glared in his general direction as she glanced at the clock. Shoot. It would soon be time to meet Dean and Jake. "The Magic Castle or..."
"Magic Castle," he interrupted. "Room 1224. She's in the master suite. But, I had to sedate her, so she might be groggy. And groggy could also mean dangerous with a vampire."
Wrapping her head around the notion of her cousin being a vampire wasn't something she had the luxury to do at the moment. She nodded in his direction and then gave one last thought in his direction. Leaving him where he stood was not nice. But she didn't want to risk him following her. She toyed with the idea of replacing his jeans, but the idea of touching him at this moment was not in her purview. With a shake of her head, she left and refused to look back.
Lindsay found herself standing outside the door to room 1224 with a lead balloon full of dread in her gut. On the floor laid the 'Do Not Disturb' sign and the door had a wedge propped in the doorjamb. An unsuspecting cleaning person was likely moments away from finding her cousin drugged. Her mind raced through the best next courses of action and then settled on walking in. She gave a knock on the opened door as she entered. The suite was larger than she anticipated. At the end of a short hallway she found another open door and heard a noise she wasn't sure she could identify. She moved down the hall without a moment of hesitation and crossed the threshold to find a scene she'd never be able to forget.
"Kara?" Her cousin's name died on her lips as the source of the sound became apparent. The cousin she used to talk boys and fashion with had blood running down her chin as she chewed on the neck of a hotel maid. "What've you done?"
"Lindsay?" She released the women's neck from her teeth. "Oh my word. It's really you. Help untie me. Please. Your crazy boyfriend drugged me and tied me up like some damn piece of livestock."
Her body froze. Unable to move forward and unable to turn and run. "What happened to you? Ronin said you're a vampire. And I didn't want to believe it, but it sure looks like it's true." She swept her arm across the blood splattered room.
"It's not what it looks like." Kara bared her teeth. "See? No fangs. I can explain." Kara made it sound like the most normal thing in the world.
"Did you run away with a vampire?" She stood frozen in place as she waited for the answer.
"There's so much we didn't know, Linds. Nana kept so much of the magical community from us. Like there's a power struggle right now between your boyfriend's werewolf pack and the local vampires. The overall wolf king is staying out of it, but he and his vampire mate know what's happening. And instead of stepping in, they are leaving this town to be the disaster it is. Leo has been trying to help the vampires hold on to their existence. Together we've been trying to find all the gem sets that would give his people the magical advantage needed to secure their continued futures."
"It sounds all good and well, but you realize there's more than just Vamps and Weres in town, right? While you've been off playing house with your dream walking guy, Jules and I have been trying to keep the businesses afloat. Nana committed us to a Fae coming of age party."
"Hold up. Nana knew there was an upcoming Fae event and she got us involved in it?"
Despite being tied up and tangled in the comforter, her cousin's face looked as bright and calm as the morning of any beautiful day. "Yes,' she cautiously answered. "Why?"
"There's this cuff that belonged to a queen I keep hearing rumors about. Leo says that whomever owns it can run the territory. There's something about the original owner that lends the bearer to great power. It's said to be spelled. I was taking some time back in the area to find it because I keep getting flashes of a young fairy wearing it. The dreams are enough to make me think the original owner wasn't actually human at all." Kara's left brow arched as the words sank in.
"So, you're telling me that this cuff gives the wearer powers?"
"That's the current though process." She wiggled on the bed. "Now, can you let me loose so we can get outta here?"
"What about her?" Lindsay nodded her head toward the woman slumped beside Kara on the bed.
"If you let me loose, I can fix this."
In all their years living together, Kara had never given Lindsay a reason not to believe her, but beyond the blood bath in the room, there was something else different about her cousin.
Against her better judgement, she crossed the room, careful to avoid any blood on the floor as she stepped. "Turn over and I'll untie you."
"Wait." K
ara's eyes flashed gold as she approached. "I need to be honest with you."
Lindsay stopped her forward movements as her hands trembled at her sides. "What?"
"Leo wasn't a turned vampire."
"Okay. What's have to do with anything?" She shook the useless information free.
"It means, he can have a vampire child of his own. He's mostly human genetically speaking. So, not as dead as all Vamps."
"Okay..." She drew to the word and tried to connect the dots. "So, what you're saying is..." Still lost, she let her words trail off.
"I'm pregnant, Linds. With a vampire baby." She arched her head toward the slain maid. "That's why this happened. Since Ronin abducted me, I haven't had any blood and the baby was hungry."
Kara arched her back and managed to roll herself onto her side, the bump in her midsection bigger than Lindsay would've expected after only the short time she'd been missing. She wasn't sure she could contain the surprise etched in her mind from seeping onto her face.
"Vampire babies grow faster with blood. Typical gestation period can be less than half of a normal human baby," Kara explained. "Ronin hasn't fed me since he nabbed me the other day. I'm sure Leo's a mess with worry."
"It's okay, Kara. I get it." The words sounded sincere even to her own ears but she couldn't hide the feeling she was in way over her head. She moved to the bed and worked at the knots binding her cousin. She was careful to watch that she didn't become Kara's next snack.
She managed to get the knot undone and untwined the ropes from her cousin's wrists before backing away and giving her the space to undo her own ankle restraints.
"So, what's the plan with the maid?" She couldn't help but feel the wash of guilt over Kara's actions. Had she come sooner maybe she could've prevented the needless loss. But, a tiny voice in the back of her mind argued, if she'd been here sooner, maybe she would've been Kara's meal. A shiver wracked her body.
"I can heal the bite marks and if Leo comes, he can give her enough of his blood to reverse the damage so long as she isn't dead when he gets here," Kara replied matter-of-factly.
Without thinking, Lindsay pressed her index and middle finger to the maid's neck and hoped to find a pulse. When she couldn't find it immediately, panic set in. "And what do we do if she isn't alive?"
"Then we still need Leo to help dispose of the body." Kara shrugged and finished working the knot at her ankles despite working around the swell of her belly. "Bottom line, we need Leo." She glanced around the room. "Any chance you know what Ronin did with my stuff? My phone was in my purse when he..."
Lindsay's stomach soured all over again. "I don't know. And he isn't here to ask. He's sorta indisposed at the moment." She thought about having left Ronin essentially bared to whomever entered the house on the cross. A steady thump of a pulse beat beneath her fingers. Relief flooded her system. Leaving Ronin in that condition definitely was not her finest moment but she'd committed to the notion. And it he really wanted to, he could break free and be on his way here right this very minute.
"We don't have time to wait for Leo," she said as the realization hit her. "There's a chance Ronin is on his way here as we speak. So, we need to get Leo here to help this lady, but we need to get as far away as we can, Kara."
Kara slid from the bed finally freed from her binds. She picked up the hotel phone and dialed. "Hey, babe. Yeah. I'm okay. Nothing I couldn't handle. But I need a favor." Kara placed a hand over the receiver and turned to Lindsay. "Where are we anyway?"
"The Magic Castle. Room 1224. We can hide the keycard for him."
Kara relayed the information and ended her call. "Let's go find Ronin and make him pay."
"No. I get it. He didn't do right by you, but he had his reasons for what he's done." She hated the defensive stance she was taking, but at her core she meant it. "Ronin's had a complicated life too. He didn't ask to be put in the middle like this. But regardless, Jules and I have a meeting tonight with the Fae to finalize details for that party and we were going to try to get a bead on the cuff. Come with us. Help us find it. Because we've had multiple requests for it too and ever since you left, the business is suffering. Jules and I are struggling to keep Sin-Sation afloat while the other side of things has taken a nosedive."
"Here's the thing," Kara rolled her shoulders and cracked her neck. "Leo and I are on a mission of our own. As much as I'd like to help, it's probably not the best time."
"Are you kidding me? We're family!"
"Yeah, but now I also have a family of my own to think about. And what you don't realize your boyfriend's pack tried to kill me. So forgive me for wanting to get as far from here as I can."
Unable to piece together this person who she knew her entire life with the woman before her, she began to unravel. Her knees threatened to buckle. "This isn't you, Kara."
"Give me a break. The only reason you want my help is so you can make your boy-toy happy. I'm not going to help further the pack agenda, so as far as I'm concerned, you're on your own. Look, it doesn't mean I don't love you and Jules, because you know I do. But if the business ends, it wouldn't be the worst thing. Look at what it's done to our family for generations. Our moms are gone. Nana's gone. And if the supernaturals knew who we individually were, we'd be dead too. I'm going to be a mom. I can't take the risk anymore. As it was, I'm here because your boyfriend was planning on selling me to the highest bidder." She turned from the bed and began a thorough search of the room, presumably for her belongings.
The custom ringer for Julia cut through the silence between them. "I've got to take this," she intoned, "but we aren't done. Not by a long shot, Kara."
She tiptoed around the blood splatter and moved back into the main suite as she answered. "Hey, Jules. What's up?"
As her cousin droned on about closing the store, Lindsay moved into the hallway, slid the maid's cart a few doors down and then returned to Ronin's suite and removed the doorstop, letting the door swing closed behind her.
"That all sounds good, but I've got to tell you something."
A scream ripped across the phone line.
"Jules! What's wrong?"
"Please tell me you're about to explain why Ronin is naked in our living room!"
"Ohmygod, I'm so sorry. I didn't realize how late it was. I figured you were still at the store. So, about that, Ronin and I are having a bit of a tiff at the moment."
"You don't say. So how long should I stand out here on the porch?"
"I'm on my way. I just need to try to persuade Kara to come with me."
"Kara? Where is she? Is she okay?"
"She's fine now. Well, sorta fine. She's carrying a Vampire baby, so there's that. And I get the feeling the Vampire dad is a permanent fixture in her life."
"I'm so glad she's okay. Did you ask her to help us find that cuff?"
"Well, that's part of the problem. I asked her, but I don't think she's feeling it. She pretty much told me that we're on our own. She feels like anything the magical community sees as a tool, doesn't belong in their hands." She moved toward the bedroom door. "I'm going to try one more time, but if she says 'no,' then I'm going to come home. I'll deal with Ronin."
"What did he do that you left him like that? Should I even ask?"
"He broke my trust. He's earning it back right now. Let me run and I'll be home shortly." She disconnected the call and pocketed the phone. As she crossed the threshold, she met Kara almost head on.
"Don't waste your breath. I'm not coming with you. As soon as Leo gets here, I'm leaving with him. After the baby is born and I know we're safe, I'll contact you. Okay?"
"If that's what you have to do, I'll respect it even though I don't like it." Lindsay leaned in and hugged Kara, trying not to think too much about the bump between them. "Be safe. And promise me you'll come home to us at some point. Okay?"
"I will. Just promise me you'll be careful with Ronin. I don't think he can be trusted."
"I know. He's made some mistakes. Big ones. But he came to me and cam
e clean. He trusted me even though he knew I would be angry and probably turn him away. But there's something between us I can't just throw away. And if you aren't going to help me find the cuff, I'm going to need his help. He found you and told me where I could find you after all, so he can't be all bad, right?"
"Just be careful." She added an extra squeeze to the hug. "I love you and don't want to see you get hurt. Not by Ronin or anyone else. Werewolves can't be trusted."
"And I love you too. But be careful playing with Vampires. They're in the same league as the Werewolves you seem so concerned about."
"We're going to have to agree to disagree, Linds." A knock sounded on the door and Kara skipped around her to let Leo in. "Leo, Lindsay. Lindsay, Leo."
The Vampire nodded and moved past her into the bedroom as if driven by the scent of blood.
"You guys have this under control?"
"Yeah. Leo knows how to handle these things. He's had a lot of practice in his lifetime. Good luck, Linds. I mean it."
"I know you do." One more quick hug was exchanged and then Lindsay was on her way back to Jules and Ronin. She needed to get her head on straight. Without a new attitude, she was as hopeless as the maid bleeding out in Ronin's room. She needed to dig deep and decide how to handle what was ahead of her. If she could successfully get this party done and find the cuff, she could do anything. And if Ronin was ready to really be honest, maybe there was a chance for them in the end.
6
Fang on the play
LISTENING TO THE living room clock count the minutes since Lindsay had left was driving Ronin mad. He wanted more than anything to break free from his prison and go after her, but he had to give her the space she needed. He needed her to trust him again. The look on her face when he'd admitted his deceit wounded him deep.
