Way to be on my side, asshole. He’d said there was nothing I could ever do to make him turn away. Liar. I was really starting to hate anything that produced too much testosterone. So I was overreacting. It’s not like I didn’t have a reason or three.
Raised voices brought me out of my reverie. Brady was arguing with Damian and Patrick.
“You’re too close,” Patrick said. “Having you stay with her is like asking the fox to guard the chickens.”
Wow. Patrick using farm analogies? He’d been living in Oklahoma too long. Brady looked as though he wanted to plant his fist in both Damian and Patrick’s faces. He had no qualms about kicking paranormal ass.
“Add whatever security measures you want,” said Brady. “But I’m staying.”
I wondered why he was even bothering. He could be out of here, no obligation to me, and on to something else. I don’t know if I felt relieved or apprehensive that he was being all dutiful. Maybe a little of both, with some resentment and panic thrown in.
Crap, crap, crap! I already felt the tug of dawn, and damn it, I still had my task to accomplish—and it had to be done an hour before dawn. I wasn’t naive enough to think I could sneak away from a lycan, a vampire, and a military-trained counterterrorist.
But I did have an idea. It was a long shot, one I was willing to take. Otherwise I would have to outwit the Three Stooges.
Hmph. Really. How hard could that be?
“I’m goin’ upstairs,” I said, unfolding myself from the couch. “It’ll be lights-out soon, anyway.”
Three suspicious gazes swung in my direction.
“What are you going to do up there?” asked Damian.
Several rude responses tried to crowd out of my mouth, but I swallowed ’em down. “Pray,” I said. “Maybe God’ll see fit to help me. Maybe He’ll see fit to help us all.”
That declaration stunned them into silence. Trying not to feel too satisfied that I’d gotten them to shut up, I went upstairs to my room and closed the door. I locked it, too. Not that doing so would do any good.
My room used to have double windows, but they were covered over; the walls had been sprayed with a special metallic substance perfected by the Consortium. Basically, it kept the sunlight from getting into my room. I’d always slept safely here, even though I wasn’t friends with the dark.
I turned on the light and got onto my bed, a full-sized white four-poster that looked like it belonged to that girl from Labyrinth. All I needed was piles of stuffed animals and posters of unicorns and rainbows. The bed was whimsical and so not my choice. I guess I’d never thought about redecorating since maybe, somewhere in the back of my mind, I thought I’d get my own house. My own life.
I sat in the middle of the bed and crossed my legs. If I wasn’t already slated for hell, telling that lie about praying might put me on the fast track. Of course, if I was wrestling with my beliefs about a higher power, then I supposed that threw the whole heaven-and-hell theory out of the mix. Not to mention, death wasn’t exactly a problem for most vampires.
I waited for a few minutes, just to make sure no one was going to check on me. No one came. Not even Brady. I tried not to think about him or how I felt about his abandonment.
Then, softly, I called, “Flet. Come to me.”
No annoying gold sparkle arrived. One minute blended into the next. I was getting more and more tired, and I fought the instinct to lie down and close my eyes. Time. Damn it, I still had time.
“Flet,” I said again. Desperation weaved into my words. “Come to me!”
For a breathless moment (well, I guess every moment for me was breathless), I waited, and then . . . gold sparkled in front of me.
Flet.
He put tiny fingers to his lips, then sent a poof of gold magic all around us. We were encased in a big, sparkling bubble.
“They cannot hear us,” said Flet. “And when I go, you must act as though I did not arrive.”
I nodded. What a clever pixie. I’m glad at least one of us was thinking straight.
“Where have you been?” I asked.
“I’ve been watchin’ over Glory,” he said, sounding miserable. He heaved a tiny sigh. “I failed to protect her. ’Twas all I could do to hide and follow the men who took her.”
“I didn’t see you there.”
“I’m only visible to those I wish to see me,” he said. “I saw you. And I know what they asked of you.”
“You didn’t leave Glory.” Marvelous little Flet had stayed close to my daughter.
“Not until this moment.”
“Do you know how to get into ETAC?”
He nodded. “They aren’t far, and they are hiding, too. In a shield like the one you are building for Broken Heart.”
It must be really good if not even the lycanthropes could sense it. ETAC had been in and out of town without detection, either. Or had they? Maybe the Consortium knew more about what was going on than what they were telling me.
“I need you to sabotage the Invisi-shield,” I said. “You’ll need to disable four posts, one in each quadrant; that way it can’t be easily fixed.”
“This is one of the things we must do to keep Glory safe?”
“Yes.” I looked at him. “Can you do it?”
“Of course I can! I’m a pixie, aren’t I?”
He sounded so offended I wanted to laugh. When had I become fond of the little bug?
“Is there more to do?” he asked, anxious. “Or will Glory be freed after I disable the Invisi-shield?”
“I still have to trap the attendees at the festival, so that a bomb can take them all out.” I swallowed the knot in my throat. “And then I have to kill Brady. They want me to drain him so they can Turn him.”
“These humans know how to make the undead?” Flet sounded horrified.
“Yes,” I said, thinking of Jacob. ETAC had taken his body into custody. He was dying from the bullet lodged near his heart, bleeding out. Somehow, some way, they had Turned him.
“Will you do these things?” asked Flet. He floated close to my face, his tiny eyes assessing me.
“Yes,” I said, my entire being aching with despair. “For Glory, I’ll do anything.”
Flet placed a tiny hand on my forehead. “Be well, Simone Sweet.”
A feeling of peace washed over me, a gift from the pixie—the last being on Earth who I thought would understand my torment.
“When I’m done,” said Flet, “I will return to Glory.”
“Thank you, Flet.”
In the blink of an eye, he disappeared, and with him, his bubble of protection.
I lay down, giving in to the exhaustion washing over me. Vampire sleeping habits were nearly absolute. I would pass out soon, whether I wanted to or not.
“Oh, Flet,” I called out, “why didn’t you come?” I pounded the pillow as if angry. “He must’ve run away, the ungrateful snot.”
I didn’t know whether the General would believe my act. “At least the shields will go down tonight,” I said, hoping the General heard me. “It’s a good thing I know how to do that remotely.”
I hoped he believed me. I hoped Flet did as I asked. Mostly, I hoped that I could still figure out a way to save my daughter and my friends.
That was my last thought before I fell into the deep dark of vampire sleep.
I awoke suddenly.
“Simone.”
Brady sat on the bed, a tiny silver gun in his hand. It looked like the one ETAC had used to knock me out. I felt really weird. I was wide awake, but I shouldn’t be. I knew this, but I didn’t know how. I felt like I’d been hooked up to an IV filled with Jolt.
“The drug will only last two hours,” said Brady. He showed me the tiny gun. “Experimental. I wasn’t sure it would work.” He’d turned on the small lamp on my side table. He pointed to a silver cone sitting on its edge. “That will block the transmissions to ETAC. They won’t suspect anything because you’re supposed to be asleep.”
“You knew about ETAC?
”
“I suspected.”
I wrapped my arms around myself and scooted away from him. “Did you believe I killed those people? Or that I would shoot Elaine and George?”
“No. Never.” He sighed. “I couldn’t give myself away, Simone. There’s too much at stake. And I didn’t know how far their technology has advanced.” He tapped his head. “They have telepaths.”
If that were so, they might’ve heard our conversation. Brady had been protecting me.
“They have Glory, and if I don’t do exactly as the General tells me, he’ll kill her. If I step one inch out of line—”
“I know their methods.” He grimaced. “How the hell did they find us?”
Chills rippled up my spine. Finding out that Brady believed me and was trying to help me soothed the hurt. But I had trust issues, damn it. How could I believe that he would really help me?
I’d have to take a risk.
“Jacob,” I whispered. “He’d been transferred into a new unit. I . . . I thought I’d killed him. But ETAC took him.” I looked down at my toes. “They made him a vampire.”
“Your husband is alive?”
I nodded, unable to look at Brady.
“Good. Then I can kill him myself.”
Startled, I looked up and was shocked to find Brady just inches away. He cupped my chin and gazed deeply into my eyes. “If it’s the last thing I do, my beautiful, brave Simone, I will make sure you and Glory are safe. He won’t touch you ever again.”
I couldn’t tell Brady how Jacob tormented me when I was chained, helpless, to a wall. Brady’s expression was already filled with determination, and yeah, I saw the hatred there, too. I recognized that emotion easily enough.
Brady kissed me. Every doubt melted away under his tender assault. I felt my whole body kick into a new kind of awareness. Heat flickered in my belly. I moaned and wiggled into Brady’s embrace.
He wrapped his arms around me, not asking for anything else, just to be kissed, to be held. At that moment, I realized my world had shifted. The wall I’d so carefully built around my heart crumbled into dust.
I supposed it was the wrong time and place to realize that I’d fallen in love with Braddock Hayes.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
“I would really love to continue this,” said Brady, his tongue flicking against my earlobe. “But the clock’s ticking.”
I sat on Brady’s lap, secure in his embrace, and told him everything I knew, from being taken to ETAC’s cloaked facility to Flet’s help with disabling the Invisi-shield. According to Brady, the pixie had succeeded in taking out the posts.
“It had been ready to go online tonight,” said Brady. “In time for the festival. There’s no way to fix those posts, not with all the damage he did.”
Good. I nibbled my lower lip. Brady brushed my hair away from my face. “What is it?”
“Something Jacob said about coming to his old hometown and finding his long-lost family. I don’t think he’s the one who brought ETAC here, Brady.”
I wasn’t sure that my suspicions were correct, but I’d learned to trust my instincts. Well, mostly.
“There was a boy in the same room where they’re holding Glory,” I said. “He reminded me of someone and I hadn’t figured out who it was until just now.”
Brady nudged me. “Well?”
“Reiner Blutwolf,” I admitted. “Do you think that boy might be his son?”
Chapter 28
Brady inhaled a sharp breath. “Shit.”
“I’m probably wrong.”
“Maybe not.” He looked at me. “I told you that ETAC sometimes took in paranormals. Many of those were children. The first one I ever took in was a lycanthrope infant. A boy.”
“You think it’s the same child?” I shook my head. “I don’t know, Brady. I guess the age would be about right, but still . . . it seems like a long shot.”
However, if ETAC had Reiner’s son, it would explain why I felt like the lycan was such a fake, but why his sorrow had seemed real. Maybe he felt guilty about betraying his people, about setting them up to die just so his son could live.
“What a clusterfuck!” Brady rubbed a hand over his hair. “What else are you supposed to do?”
I licked my lips. “There are several small tributaries that crisscross under the town. The General wants me to use its waters to trap the festival attendees—right before the bomb goes off.”
I rubbed my fingertips across Brady’s jaw. As my forefinger slid by the corner of his lip, he sucked the digit inside and flicked it with his tongue.
I quivered and heat flooded me. One simple gesture and I wanted to leap on Brady and just . . . lick him.
I’d once thought I’d experienced love with Jacob. I’d believed that I understood the beauty and pleasure of making love—at least in the early days of our marriage.
I’d been so, so wrong.
Brady was love. Brady was lust. Brady was . . . everything.
“I have to do something else,” I said, reluctant to admit it. “One more task.”
His eyes had gone dark, and I knew he was thinking about kissing me. Maybe never stopping. And I wanted that. If my daughter and friends weren’t in imminent danger, well, I’d gladly give up a hundred years to be with Brady.
“What?” he asked.
I pulled away and looked him in the eyes. “I have to kill you.”
Tension stretched. I was afraid to keep eye contact, so I looked at the flowers on the bedcover. Brady gently cupped my chin and tilted my face up.
“That would certainly put a glitch in our wedding plans.”
“Wedding plans?” I squeaked.
He smiled. “Too soon?”
“We haven’t even had our second date,” I pointed out.
“I told you, I know what I want. You.” He kissed me lightly. “I’ll give you as many dates as you need, Simone.”
Yeah. About that love thing. Wow. It had really blindsided me. So had Brady. I was giddy and freaked out and not ready for any of this.
I tucked it all away. We had much more to worry about.
Almost an hour was gone, and if Brady was right about the effectiveness of the drug, only one remained before vampire sleep claimed me.
“We can’t do this on our own,” I said. “We need help.”
“We have to be careful,” said Brady. “If ETAC suspects we’re mounting a counterattack, they’ll forego the subtle approach. It’ll be a bloodbath.”
Queen Patsy was the opposite of subtle. So was the town’s lycan security. Brady was right; we had to handle the situation on our own.
“We need Dr. Merrick,” I said.
Brady looked at me in amazement.
I nodded. “Trust me. She’s perfect.”
Brady flipped open his phone and dialed. I could only assume the silver cone blanked cell phone calls, too. He spoke briefly to the doctor, and within moments she appeared in my bedroom. No sparkles like when the vampires and sidhe disappeared and appeared. She just blinked into existence.
“Hello, Simone. Brady.” She smiled. “I understand that you need a little help from Fate.”
For the next hour we made our plans. If we could pull it all off (and if four million things didn’t go wrong) then we’d rescue the kids, destroy ETAC, and prevent disaster from befalling Broken Heart.
It was a tall order for three people.
I didn’t have much choice. I was already sinking back into sleep. Dr. Merrick winked out, using her beam-me-up-Scotty powers.
Brady kissed me good night.
And I fell into the dreamless dark.
I woke up Friday night after eight p.m., no doubt because I’d spent those extra hours awake with Brady. My tummy got the butterflies just thinking about him, and then the butterflies turned into rocks. I would have to do something terrible tonight.
Could I kill Brady and drain him?
You must use your water powers to trap the festival attendees. After the bomb destroys the abom
inations, you will take Brady into the woods north of your house and drain him, directed the General. Leave his body there.
I took a shower and got dressed. Because I could, I went downstairs and brewed up a pot of coffee and poured in some chocolate creamer. Nectar of the gods. I drank two cups, ignoring the lycanthrope that stood in the kitchen doorway.
Finally, I took mercy on him. “Just have a cup already, Darrius. What am I? The java police?”
“It’s your home,” he said. “I didn’t want to presume.”
I was under house arrest. He’d been tromping all over the place in big biker boots, not to mention taking over the couch and TV in the living room (presume, my ass).
I went back upstairs and once again locked myself in the bedroom. I turned on the cone, and since my phone had been confiscated, I used the one Brady had left me.
“Hi, Reiner,” I said. “If you don’t want me to tell Damian about your plan to blow up the queen and half of Broken Heart, you’ll get your furry ass over here.”
I hung up on him, hid the phone, turned off the cone, and stuck it in my pocket. Then I returned to the kitchen. I was in the process of mixing up a batch of chocolate chip cookies when Reiner arrived. To me, he looked as though someone punched him in the stomach.
He gave Darrius a too-bright smile. “I came to take Simone to see her grandmother,” he said.
Darrius gazed longingly at the mixing bowl. I put plastic wrap over it and stuck it in the fridge. He sighed mournfully. “Ja. Damian called and told me. One hour, Simone,” he said. “Then you must return.”
“Are you saying that so that I’ll come back and make those cookies?”
He grinned sheepishly. “That is merely a perk.” His expression turned serious. “We still search for your Glory. I pray to the Moon Goddess she is well.”
“Thank you, Darrius,” I said sincerely. I waved good-bye and followed Reiner to his sedan. We got inside and put on our seat belts. I turned on the cone. I loved that I could use the General’s technology against him. I just hoped that we could best him.
Over My Dead Body Page 18
