No Werewolves Allowed
Page 23
“What am I?” I muttered as I hurried up the stairs. “A coat rack?” As I moved, I hooked Angel’s whip on my weapons belt next to my right dragon-clawed dagger and gripped Joshua’s flail in my left hand. The blackness of the metal was dark against my pale amethyst skin.
Within seconds I was up the last four flights and at the penthouse, Olivia right behind me. A strange yet familiar odor that I couldn’t identify cloyed the air. I frowned. Why couldn’t I place the odor? So familiar…
Joshua and Angel were nowhere to be seen. As a Shadow Shifter, it was a given that Joshua had slipped beneath the door and into the Vampire’s lair. But squirrels…I looked up at the low ceiling. Dust was slightly disturbed on an air vent. That explained Angel’s disappearance.
“Like we talked about, wait here,” I said to Olivia. “I know you don’t think Vampires are dangerous because of the pukes at the Pit, but I think we have more to worry about than anyone realizes.”
She scowled and I cut her off before she could say a word. “Don’t come in, no matter what.” I grasped the handle. “Your job is to shoot anything that comes through this door. And make sure it’s through the heart.”
“Just get your purple ass in there,” she muttered as she positioned herself to the side of the stairwell door, her Sig held in a two-fisted grip and pointed upward.
I called to my air element and felt its reassuring embrace as it cloaked me and my weapons so that I was invisible. Most paranorms can still see me when I use a glamour, but Vampires are different.
Vampires aren’t born paranorms, they were once human and in some ways they have human weaknesses. So to them I’m invisible when I draw a glamour. Thank goodness for that favor.
With my free hand I tested the doorknob to the penthouse’s emergency exit. Locked. Joshua must not have been able to unlock it for me. I needed to be cautious because someone could be on the other side and see the door. I might be invisible to them, but they’d know something was up. A door being opened invisibly was bound to draw attention.
First I reached out with my senses, using my air element to search the area close to the door. To my satisfaction it was clear.
I focused on the lock and used a small amount of my air element to unlock it and cushioned the mechanism so that the sound wouldn’t be heard. I used the same element to buffer any squeak the hinges might make.
Olivia couldn’t see me anymore, but I looked at her over my shoulder before I slipped inside. Her features were set and grim.
The smell of Vampire—like old dirt and musty leaves—was strong as I eased through the doorway. Modern classic design greeted me. But, more than that, startled me.
Stark white walls with black accents towered to the vaulted ceiling. Muted city lights came through opaque drapes on the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Touches of red, like splashes of blood, were scattered on dead-white furniture. Crimson pillows were arranged on white sofa cushions, and I noticed hints of red in every one of the black-and-white paintings arranged on the walls. An enormous flat-screen TV was built into one wall. And I mean enormous. Go-to-the-movies enormous.
It shouldn’t have surprised me, but apparently I’d fallen for the old vampire stereotypes like everyone else. Like where would he keep a dusty old coffin in a place like this?
Voices echoed in the large room, words bouncing from one wall to another like the hollowness of a ping pong ball. I caught my breath as I settled the flail and barbed whip against the wall, keeping them cloaked in an air-glamour. Joshua and Angel should be able to see them—wherever they were.
I eased behind a potted black tree. The white pot was as high as my waist and the tree itself about six feet high. The tree was naked of any leaves and would have been worthless cover if I hadn’t shrouded myself in a glamour.
My gaze narrowed at Volod and another Vampire as they strolled into the room. Volod’s black shoes sank into the rich white carpet as he walked with his casual yet arrogant movements.
Dressed in a black button-down shirt and tailored black slacks, Volod looked like any one of New York’s elite aristocrats—just a lot paler. He was outfitted from head to toe in Gucci, Ferragamo, and Versace. Obviously I have a well-trained eye for the finer things.
The other Vampire’s white turtleneck sweater against the deadly white of his skin did nothing for his complexion. Except make him look more dead. Is that possible? The fact he wore Levis and Nikes as opposed to Volod’s designer clothing might have indicated he was some kind of underling if it wasn’t for the arrogant way he carried himself.
I peered at them both through the branches of the naked tree. It seemed bright in the room compared to the night sky barely visible through a slim part in the sheer drapes.
Despite my glamour, a tingling sense of danger rippled up my spine as I studied the two Vampires.
Volod picked up a black, smooth statue of a nude female and trailed his white hand down the statue’s curves. I swept my gaze around the room. Joshua might be one of the many shadows, and as a squirrel, Angel could be just about anywhere.
I reached out with my senses, using my air power to guide me. I found, but still couldn’t distinguish, Joshua on the other side of the room. In another second I felt Angel’s presence beneath one of the sofas.
Vampires have extraordinary senses, but I didn’t think they were able to sense Joshua and Angel like I could.
“Do you truly think that bunch of garbage can do it?” the second Vampire said as he tossed a crimson pillow on the floor and settled back in an oversized white chair. His skin was nearly as pale as his seat. “Can we put faith in the stupid creatures?”
Volod set the black statue on a glass table, and the thumping sound it made caused me to flinch. The irritation on Volod’s angular features sent that creepy sensation up my spine again. “Questioning me, Danut?”
Danut didn’t seem bothered by Volod’s glare. Danut shook out his long black hair, which gleamed in the light. “If they complete their mission, is it wise to give them the permanent ability, brother?” It shouldn’t have surprised me that he and Volod were brothers. The resemblance was clear to me now.
Volod didn’t bother to answer Danut’s question. “As long as the Night Trackers remain ignorant, nothing will stop the Sprites from getting the information.”
I caught my breath as thoughts spun through my mind. What was so important that he would be afraid of the Trackers finding out? I had a feeling that it had to be dangerous, whatever it was.
The Master Vampire turned to one of the windows, pushed aside the flowing sheer curtain. He studied the glittering Manhattan skyline through crystal-clear windows it bared. The view made the city’s skyline seem almost close enough to grasp each light in my hand.
“I have given the creatures what they need to accomplish this task and this task only,” Volod said.
Danut said, “It was brilliant that you gave the Sprites the ability to escape the elemental magic containment as only Vampires can.”
So many questions ran through my mind that I had to set them aside to concentrate on what was being said.
Danut grinned, baring his fangs. “The Trackers have no idea what will happen tonight at the Paranorm Center or what we have planned for the future.”
Tonight. Something is going down tonight. I gritted my teeth, torn between listening to the two Vampires and rushing to the Paranorm Center to stop whatever they had planned. If only there was a way to contact Rodán without the chance of being overheard on my cellphone.
“All will most certainly change with what you have planned for the Trackers later.” Danut’s grin vanished. “But for tonight the Sprites will gain the archives.”
Disbelief at what the Vampires had said caused me to shift my body backward. The Sprites in the detention center. How could we have not thought of that? I’d have bet my last Drow-mined diamond that the Vampires had intended to have the Sprites caught, so that the creeps could go after something in the archives.
I clen
ched my hand around the hilt of my sheathed dagger. Just like we’d thought, the Sprite mischief hadn’t been random. But the realization that Vampires were behind it all made my skin feel tight.
“We have played the part far too long.” Volod slammed his palms on the windowsill. He bent at his waist as he braced his hands.
My heart beat faster, my breathing grew heavier, my palms becoming sticky as I digested what I was hearing. What ability had the Vampires given to Sprites to break free of their cells and to get past the guards?
The Master Vampire straightened, then went still.
At once I knew he was searching for me with his mind, his senses.
Bless it. Volod had felt the strong shift in my emotions.
“You think you can enter a Master Vampire’s domain and not be found out?” He looked in my direction.
My heart thundered harder but I maintained my glamour. In a rush I sought out my elements with my mind and senses. I could use water from the pipes behind the walls, fire from the stove in the kitchen, and of course I had air.
In the flash of a moment it took me to reach for my elements, his hand shot up.
Invisible power slammed into me. I bit my lip to keep from crying out as the force of his power sent me skidding on my side on the carpet. The blast burned through my chest. Was my suit melting? It felt like the leather was sinking through my skin.
I rolled with the momentum of the power as it shoved me toward one of the floor-to-ceiling windows. My concentration on my glamour failed and I could be seen again.
With a shout and cry, I flipped my body into a crouch, drew one of my dragon-clawed daggers, and faced Volod. Shards of pain raked my lungs as I dragged in harsh breaths of air.
“Tracker.” Volod tilted his head and studied me, his hand still outstretched. He looked at me as if not concerned at all. “The strange one. The Drow female.”
“This creature is a Tracker?” Danut laughed, obviously not feeling threatened by me, either. “A purple woman?”
Give me a moment and I’ll show you purple when I shove your—
“What are you going to do with her?” Danut asked, looking at his brother in a lazy, bored way. “Fun and games?”
Volod’s black gaze held mine. “What do we do with all trash?” Volod splayed the fingers of his outstretched hand. “We dispose of it.”
I surrounded myself with my air element, a thick cushion that would have protected me if I hadn’t been so stupid and unprepared.
If I tried I couldn’t have held back the dangerous white flash in my eyes. “Vampire scum.”
I grasped the double-edged buckler from the front of my weapons belt and flung it at Volod’s neck. My air element shoved the buckler faster than a human eye could see.
Volod wasn’t human. Not for a very long time.
He caught the buckler right before the razor edge would have sliced into his throat.
In a blur he threw the buckler at me. I dodged it. The buckler sailed through the floor-to-ceiling window behind me. Glass shattered with a loud crack. Icy wind whipped inside the penthouse.
Danut shouted something. From the corner of my eye I saw Angel’s barbed whip wrap around Danut’s neck. Multiple lacerations. Blood streamed down his body. Blood splattered the white sofas. Angel would rip the Vampire’s head from his body.
I didn’t have time to take pleasure in the sight.
My target was too powerful to allow myself to be distracted.
Faster than any Olympic sprinter, I bolted for Volod with my dagger. Blood rushed in my ears. My skin tingled. I’d carve his heart out.
Air cushioned me. Knowledge that I was protected gave me more strength.
My gaze was focused on the Vampire’s grim expression. His bared fangs. A red glint in his black eyes. His pale raised hand as he faced his palm out to me.
I gripped my dagger. I was protected. Volod wouldn’t be able to hurt me this time.
Five feet. Three feet—
An even more powerful invisible blast slammed into me.
It was as if I had no protection at all buffering me.
Breath rushed from my chest. Did my lungs collapse?
Fire. My body was on fire. Burning more, even more than the last time.
My concentration on my air element shattered. All elements.
The power flung my body backward.
No control. I had no control.
My back and head hit one of the massive windows.
Glass shattered as I was slammed against it, hard enough to break the thickness of it.
Shards sliced my skin and dug into my flesh as I sailed through the window.
I screamed as my body started to drop.
Twenty-four stories.
Table of Contents
PROLOGUE
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FIVE
SIX
SEVEN
EIGHT
NINE
TEN
ELEVEN
TWELVE
THIRTEEN
FOURTEEN
FIFTEEN
SIXTEEN
SEVENTEEN
EIGHTEEN
NINETEEN
TWENTY
TWENTY-ONE
TWENTY-TWO