Blood Bargain

by Maria Lima

  "You knew him, sister mine.” Tucker's trademark grin flashed across his face for a moment. “Past tense. He wasn't Sheriff then. It changes you."

  I stood up. “Like you know. You coming with me, Tucker? We can swing by Carlton's office, then go back to the ranch."

  "We need to do something with...” Tucker inclined his head in the direction of the kitchen.

  Well, fuck me. I was all fired up about justice and finding the man's brother, or at least what happened to him, and forgot about the man himself. “Shit,” I said. “We need to find him a place to stay. We can't very well take him with us."

  Tucker laughed. “Yeah, that's a good one. Let's take the illegal alien to the vampire ranch."

  I slumped back into my chair. What the hell were we going to do? Rio Seco was miles away from any hostelry. The closest place was a small bed and breakfast about fifteen miles to the east. I'd happily pay to put him up there, but the place was run by a snotty southern belle with delusions of Scarlett-hood. She simply couldn't abide working folk. She primarily catered to people with more money than sense, overcharging her guests for the privilege of staying in a claustrophobic ten by twelve bedroom decorated like a doll's house version of Tara. She'd never take Ignacio.

  "There's always your place,” Tucker said. “It's empty ... more or less. You still out there, Bea?"

  She nodded. “On occasion. When it gets too crowded at my place."

  "There you have it, bro, no go on that,” I said. “Besides, even if Bea weren't hanging out there, that doesn't mean I want someone I don't know staying there by himself. Damn it. Maybe I'll have to move back to the house for a while. I suppose Ignacio could stay in one of the guest rooms and Bea could use the other.” I eyed my brother. “Or you could."

  "Could what?"

  "Move back to my house until Ignacio gets settled and finds his brother."

  The look on Tucker's face was priceless. “I don't think so."

  Bea laughed. “The two of you are so predictable."

  Two pairs of eyes turned to look at her as two pairs of arms crossed. I almost laughed myself when I realized that Tucker and I were clones of each other at that point. These apples did not fall far from our family tree.

  "You should hear yourselves. It's really pathetic."

  Crap. She was right. I was being selfish and so was Tucker. Here this poor man can't find his brother and we're bickering about leaving our lovers for a few days.

  "All right...” I started to say.

  "Never mind.” Bea waved her hands, motioning for me to stop. “Don't get all sacrificial lamb on me. It doesn't make sense for him to go to your place, anyway. He speaks about as much English as you do Spanish. I'll take him to my place. He can bunk in the guestroom above the garage. It's not fancy, but it's clean and none of my cousins are here now, so he'll have some privacy. Besides, Tio Richard already offered."

  I threw a sugar packet at her. “Bitch.” I threw her a huge grin. “You started that to see what we'd do."

  "Yeah,” she grinned back. “I love messing with you two."

  "So let's go tell Ignacio the news,” Tucker said. “We'll leave him in your capable hands and give you a call later."

  "Sounds like a plan,” I agreed. “Thanks a million, Bea. I owe you ... and I'll do my best to convince Carlton."

  "Anytime.” Bea stood up and grabbed the now empty coffeepot. “Here, help me carry these things into the kitchen and I'll tell Ignacio what you're going to do."

  The small man listened solemnly as Bea explained the situation to him. When she stopped speaking, he turned to Tucker, then to me, tears forming in his dark brown eyes.

  "Gracias,” he said, his voice breaking. “Gracias a dios. Senor, senorita, eren angeles. Con el ayude de Dios, encuentran a mi hermano."

  I looked at Bea who translated his words.

  Oh great. He called us angels ... and hoped that with God's help, we'd find his brother. Angels we most certainly weren't. Far from it. In fact, in his church, we were precisely the opposite.

  CHAPTER SIX

  "Hey, Carlton,” I said into the mobile phone. “This is Keira. Give me a call when you get a chance. Need to drop by your office when you have time."

  I flipped the phone shut and tossed it to my brother who did me the favor of tucking it into my backpack that was at his feet. We were in the car, about to head out to the Wild Moon. The Sheriff's office had been closed when we walked over and all the trucks and SUVs were gone. One of those little clock signs indicated that the Sheriff would be back at nine. A hand-lettered sign was taped up next to it giving the emergency number for the search. We figured the little clock meant tomorrow ... at which time I'd be sound asleep, or had better be. This sleep deprivation thing was not happening again.

  "You think we should volunteer for the search?"

  Tucker shrugged. “Officially, probably not. I think we should both probably get some sleep. Later tonight I'll do some unofficial recon. Go sniff around a few places they might have gone. I already heard some scoop from Tio Richard."

  "Scoop?"

  "You know he knows everything that's going on.” Tucker grinned. “He's better than a police scanner."

  "So true. What's up?"

  "Evidently, the Wentz twins got new three-wheelers and wanted to show them off. Seems there's some sort of crush or something going on with Brittany Martinez, so she hooked up with them. And since Missy and Matt drive sports cars and they needed to transport the three-wheelers, Matt called Jimmy Stahl and the four of them headed out in Jimmy's F150 early yesterday morning. Richard said the four of them stopped by to get coffee and snacks on their way. He heard the kids say something about going towards the county highway crossroads and the government land. Evidently there's a new lover's lane spot out there, ever since the quarry kind of became off limits."

  I flinched a little. The quarry was now off limits because last October Boris and Greta had dumped the bodies of their two accomplices there. It was also the spot where they nearly killed me, Adam and Niko. The mundane folks around here didn't know what happened, but they'd heard about the blood that someone found there. Now even the teenagers gave it a wide berth.

  "Isn't that up by the Pursell place?” I asked. “Also, up towards the far north boundary of the Wild Moon."

  "If by ‘up by’ you mean a mile or so, yeah,” he answered. “Not to worry, sis. Niko's got that whole area under patrols and, to be on the safe side, he's working on game fencing it. I don't think that kids hanging out in some clearing is going to be a problem. You don't honestly think there's any connection with Alex Robles, do you?"

  "Nah, if he's been gone since December, that's not likely,” I agreed. “But ... I don't like coincidences."

  Tucker nodded. “Yeah, I know what you mean. A little too much going on in the same neck of the woods, so to speak. No worries, though. We can talk to Adam and Niko first thing tonight and get some more patrols out there."

  "Why do they think the kids are missing? They didn't come home when they were supposed to, sure, but an all-out search party?"

  I was not going to tell my brother that his story sounded a little too much like the beginning of an after-school special, where one of the kids would get hurt on the three-wheeler and they'd consequently all learn a sincere lesson.

  Tucker shrugged. “Richard heard Eustace Lovelight say something when he came to get coffee for the searchers. Seems all four of the kids have been acting a bit weird lately. His daughter used to be friends with Brittany, except Brittany started hanging out with the Wentz kids and Jimmy. They're always whispering together in corners and they've stopped hanging out with their other friends. Eustace said they were supposed to come to his girl's birthday party today out at the lake. They didn't show up and when Dina called Brittany's cell phone, she answered, but whispered something she couldn't understand, then hung up. Dina tried a couple more times but Brittany never picked up. She told her dad she thought she heard screaming in the background."

/>   "Oh for ... they're kids. Teenagers. They got drunk or high or both, stayed out all night and are afraid to go home and meet the consequences. How many times did Bea and I do exactly that? You all knew we were safe. Besides, it's plenty hot out right now; they could've gone over to Hippie Hollow Too to cool off and sober up before facing the parents. If they were playing around on the tire swing that would explain the screams ... and/or the fact that girls tend to shriek when skinny dipping."

  Tucker's grin reflected various fond memories we both had of the secluded lakeside area, christened Hippie Hollow Too in remembrance of a popular 1970s Austin-based hangout.

  "That's certainly a thought,” he said. “Tell you what, I'll swing by there after we go back to the ranch. You can wait to hear back from your former boyfriend. Think he'll call you?"

  Tucker was now staring out the side window, no doubt playing the nonchalant brother card.

  "Yeah, he'll call,” I said. “Because ... well, let's say he plays fair."

  Tucker looked at me and laughed. “Because his ex-lover is boffing the local vampire king?"

  "Shut up.” I had to laugh. “You know Carlton's still married. And in spite of everything, brother mine, he still doesn't know about us ... or the vampires. Okay, so maybe he hates Adam for being Adam..."

  "Yeah, well, even if he doesn't know Adam's true nature, he's bound to hate him on principle,” Tucker said. “You know how much Carlton's always hated the so called ‘idle rich'."

  "That he has,” I agreed. Carlton had always been leery of people who didn't have to put in what he considered an honest day's labor. Back in the day, it took him a while to warm up to my family, none of whom had done a so-called honest day's labor in centuries. Of course, Carlton wouldn't have had a clue (and still didn't) about the labor we actually did do, nor who we really were. On the face of it, we were all as much idle rich as any ditzy heiress in the tabloids. Except we were a lot smarter and kept a much lower profile.

  Tucker placed his large hand on mine, oddly formal for once. “I promise, Keira, whatever it takes, I'll help. So will Niko and Adam. We'll help find Ignacio's brother."

  "Thanks. I appreciate it."

  "And you, Keira? How are you doing?"

  I shrugged. “Who knows? Still dreaming on and off. Nothing for the past couple of weeks and nothing as specific as before. Nothing concrete. Except for...” I hesitated, not sure I should mention the strange semi-whispers I was hearing on and off.

  "Something else?” Tucker squeezed my hand in sympathy.

  "Yeah, it's a little off-the-normal path but, so far, everything that's happened to me is not exactly normal for the Change.” I took a breath. “I keep hearing whispering."

  Tucker's eyes narrowed. “Go on."

  "I'm not sure if I'm asleep when this happens or drifting off or what but, I think I hear someone calling me, wanting me to come. At first I thought it was you calling. I heard ‘sis’ and ‘come here'. That was this morning. I was going to call you but Adam told me you were ... ‘busy'."

  "Busy?” He frowned and then beamed as he twigged. “Oh, yeah, I suppose we were. I can definitely tell you I was not calling you.” He patted my cheek and I caught a whiff of his skin. Salt sweat tang mixed with something foresty and dark underneath, a scent of family, of...

  Unbidden, my brain formed a mental image of two male bodies glistening in candlelight, moving together in rhythm. Myriad candle flames flickered, light catching on muscled arms, thighs, gleaming on red hair, one nearly strawberry blond, the other a bit darker. The fragrance of some green herbal scent suffused the room, a hint of sweat and musk beneath it. Quick breathing and a quiet murmur of urgent whispers teased my ear, words too low, too intimate. Perhaps if I concentrated, I could—

  "Keira?” Tucker shook my shoulder hard. “Keira, snap out of it."

  I blinked a few times and stared at my brother, his red hair not spread out on a bed, but neatly plaited. “Sis, what is it?"

  I scrubbed at my eyes as if to remove the memory. “Crap, get out of my head,” I muttered.

  "Excuse me?” Tucker sat back against the car door, facing me. “Oh, please tell me you did not..."

  "I did,” I whispered. “And I'm sorry, I didn't—"

  "Do it on purpose. I know,” Tucker said. “But wow, that was new."

  My eyes widened as I caught his unspoken thought. “Oh crap. You saw that?"

  "Saw it? I did it. But yeah, if you mean saw it now in your head with you, yeah. We do look pretty, don't we? But if you want to watch, I'm sure—"

  I smacked his arm. “Damn it, Tucker, really.” I sagged into my seat. “Bloody hell, I haven't had a vision in weeks, and this is what I get, my brother and Niko shagging? Really not what I wanted."

  "So what did you want?” Tucker teased.

  "Hell, if I'm going to get visions again, I'd like to figure out what happened to Alex Robles,” I retorted. “Then I could at least be useful."

  "'S'truth,” Tucker said. “In any case, you didn't see something horrible."

  I smacked him again. “That's what you think."

  Tucker's laugh filled the car.

  After a moment, he sobered, his tone more serious. “I know it sucks to be you right now, Keira. It can't be fun not knowing from day to day if you're actually starting to Change or what, but you know I'm here. Whatever happens."

  "I'm fine. I'm a little worried that it's taking so long, but I can deal with it. It's probably because of my mixed blood—early onset, longer duration, sporadic symptoms, visions, whatever. Eventually, I'm sure everything will be fine and I'll come out a happy little shapeshifter or something else. I'm not sick. I feel fine.” I wasn't sure who I was trying to convince, but on the face of things, it all sounded plausible.

  "Maybe we should try to call Isabel? She's a healer. She knows her stuff."

  "Maybe. But is it even worth it? C'mon, a few visions, some not-whispers—not the stuff of nightmares. I'm not worried about that."

  "Then what are you worried about?"

  "Nothing.” I was lying ... sort of. I wasn't exactly worried about Adam, more angry and frustrated than anything else ... maybe. His reluctance to take blood in its more pure form did worry me. Although I wasn't familiar with vampire physiology in any scientific sense, I did know that surviving on what was, at best, subsistence nutrition couldn't be good and couldn't be a long-term solution.

  Plus, lately, Adam seemed so ... okay, so he's undead, but ... lifeless—and the lack of sex wasn't the only sign. He'd stumbled. Fallen. Sure, with a grace no human could have emulated—he hadn't dropped anything—but no matter how uneven a floor, how dangerous a stair, how rough the terrain, I'd never seen any of my shapeshifter brothers trip or stumble. I hadn't said anything else to Adam, distracted by the foreplay that ended nowhere, but...

  It still remained, at this point, a discussion to have privately between Adam and me. I didn't want to involve my brother. He was my brother, but his relationship with Niko put him in an odd position. Niko was Adam's second, and had been at cross-purposes with me since the moment we met. Sharing details of my relationship with Adam and our arguments wasn't something I wanted to do, not quite yet.

  "Hmm.” Tucker didn't sound convinced.

  "Look, really, Tucker, I'm okay. I'm tired and want to get back to the Wild Moon so we can get some sleep. Then, tonight, we can talk to Adam and Niko about Alex. And if the kids aren't found by then, them, too."

  "Okay, Keira,” Tucker agreed reluctantly. “But you know I meant what I said. I'm here for you, and not simply as Gigi's watchhound. If there's anything—” he broke off the fraternal advice, then added: “Look, do one thing for me."

  "What's that?"

  "For my peace of mind, call Isabel? Tell her about the visions, the whispers and anything else? At least I'll know she knows and if there's anything to be worried about, she'll tell us."

  He had a point.

  "Okay, I promise, I'll call her soon as we get on the road."

&
nbsp; "Deal."

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  "Keira, a dead man cannot make a baby. You really have to start taking this seriously."

  In my not-so-humble opinion, cell phones had to be the work of the devil ... a devil ... well, whatever evil thing exists if one doesn't happen to believe in the traditional Judeo-Christian dude with a pitchfork and an unfortunate complexion. I think cell phones are damnable not for the usual “they bug other people” reasons, although that alone is enough to consign uncouth users to the lowest depths of the Inferno. It's because I rarely seem to have a normal conversation on mine, even if I was the one initiating the call.

  Tucker had dialed for me as I maneuvered the Land Rover out of the strip center parking lot and down towards the farm-to-market road that eventually led to the back entrance of the Wild Moon. Soon as someone answered, he'd turned the phone over to me.

  Before I could get a “hello” out, Aunt Jane started talking. Getting her on the line instead of Isabel had been even odds, my luck the wrong aunt answered the phone. I pulled the Rover onto the shoulder. There was no use trying to drive and listen/talk to Jane at the same time.

  Jane had been calling me practically daily, for weeks now, checking in on my health, urging me to come to British Columbia, “home to the family, Keira,” she'd say. Most of the time, I ignored the calls and let them go to voice mail. As much as I loved B.C., especially the area they'd chosen to move to, I had no intentions of going there anytime soon.

  I sighed and hunched over a little, turning away from what was fast becoming an amused look from Tucker. I kept the phone pressed to my ear—not that my dear brother wouldn't probably hear every single word of the conversation on both sides. Preternaturally good hearing came with the very infuriating package.

  "Jane, really, I can't talk now. Besides, what makes you think I even want to ... do what you said?” Crap, I couldn't even say it. Not the idea was completely out of the question forever. I had no intention of playing the family game yet, not for many, many years to come.