There was no mistake. Viola’s description of the tall, dark-haired man with the regal bearing she saw when she touched the book was so like him. Even today, she could picture the way he moved, his black hair shining as it caught the light of the fire. He was a beautiful man and a charismatic vampire. The combination made him a dangerous hunter, easily luring in the unwary. When that didn’t work, he still took what he wanted…like her…and he didn’t like losing what he considered his. So now Pierre was back, and she knew one thing with a terrible certainty: he was here for her.
Wiping away the tears with the back of her hand, she glanced up at the clock. Plenty of night left. Pierre might be back for her, but she wasn’t going to make it easy. Stronger and smarter than the last time they were face-to-face, she also had tools not even imagined at their last meeting. She planned to be ready. Putting the book on the desk, she turned to the computer. Her fingers flew over the keyboard until it coughed up the information she sought. Had to love computers and the Internet.
It took only thirty minutes this time of night to make it to the lovely little home six blocks from the cathedral. The neighborhood was quiet, with old-growth trees and parked cars lining both sides of the street.
The house she sought was actually pretty easy to find because it was one of the few with lights still burning. Plenty of neighborhoods in the city where things happened all night long. This wasn’t one of those. Here, people worked during the day and slept during the night. Except in this house.
As she stood and studied the place, the front door opened and a man walked out, although walked might be a stretch. More like stormed out. When he passed under the light, she got a good look at him and was surprised how much he resembled Naomi. Didn’t have to be a genius to figure out the two were related. His step didn’t slow until he reached the unmarked District police car. He got in and drove away, perhaps a bit too fast for the tight residential street. Then again, who was going to pull him over in that car?
Dragging her gaze away from the rapidly disappearing police car, she took a deep breath and went up the steps to the front door. Old habits were hard to break, and walking face-first into a hunter rather than turning and fleeing took every ounce of will that she possessed. Of course the fact that Naomi Rand was on the other side of the door didn’t hurt. She wanted to see her as much as she needed the help of a hunter—or former hunter, as the case might be.
Her hand shook as she reached up to knock on the door. She paused. Could she really go through with this? Ask a hunter for help? Didn’t want to ask anyone for help, least of all a hunter. She knocked. Right at the moment, all she had to go on was faith. Roland instilled in her the belief that faith was the one thing she could always count on. He’d never let her down and she prayed his lessons held true today.
Something about Naomi promised trust, and Tory desperately needed that right now. Even though she felt a little betrayed to learn of her former profession from someone other than Naomi, she still couldn’t shake the feeling that she was different. Yeah, there was that the little attraction element too, but it wasn’t the primary draw tonight. It would be stupid to ignore the truth, and she wasn’t a stupid woman. For the first time in a really long time, she needed help, and she was going to ask for it. Beg, if she had to.
Naomi opened the door and stared. “What the—” From inside the house the low sounds of conversation drifted out.
“Hello,” Tory said. “I’m sorry to bother you but…I need help.”
“I’m sorry.” Naomi sputtered. “Forgive me. It’s just I’m so surprised, no, shocked, to see you. How did you know where I live?” She stood, blocking the doorway, her expression mirroring her words.
Tory shrugged. “I Googled you.” Truth was the best explanation she could come up with.
“Googled me?” Naomi laughed softly and her face cleared. “I love it. Come in.” Naomi stood aside to let her in.
Not waiting for her to change her mind, Tory took three big steps off the front porch and into the entryway. Tension crackled in the air the second she stepped inside, and Tory had a split second when she almost turned around in retreat. She actually started to and at the same time heard a distinct click. Naomi stood with her back against the heavy locked door. Her exit path was blocked. Naomi put a hand on Tory’s shoulder and the electricity that shot through her body at the contact nearly made her jump. The little “oh” that escaped Naomi’s lips let Tory know she wasn’t the only one who felt it. It was a small measure of comfort to know that.
“Maybe this isn’t such a good idea.” As if the whole situation wasn’t weird enough, this thing happening between her and Naomi was disconcerting. She needed help but maybe from someone she didn’t want to haul up and kiss.
Naomi squeezed her shoulder lightly. If she sensed the direction of Tory’s thoughts, she didn’t let on. “Don’t be silly. Come in.”
What choice did she have? Well, short of picking Naomi up and throwing her out of the way. She shrugged and said, “Lead the way.”
Naomi waved her into a room on the left. “In here.”
In the living room, Colin and Ivy sat close to each other on a pale-green sofa while Riah and Adriana shared an overstuffed chair, Riah on the cushion and Adriana perched on the arm. Riah jumped up when she saw Tory, rushing over to gather her up in a hug. Tory loved the solid feel of her body and the sweet scent of her perfume. Even after all these years, it was achingly familiar.
“I’m so glad to see you,” Riah said as she pressed a kiss onto Tory’s cheek. “I thought you were dead.”
“Back at ya, auntie.” She hoped no one heard the catch in her voice.
Riah stepped back and studied Tory. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
That was a loaded question. What wasn’t wrong right now? “Besides a rampaging vampire here in the District?”
“Yes, besides that. I know all about the rogue. What I don’t know is what’s bothering you.”
Her legs felt suddenly weak. Everything was bothering her. The New Testament. The reappearance of Pierre. Her attraction to Naomi. Most of all, the way her life was suddenly whirling out of control. Yeah, pretty much everything was bothering her right at the moment.
Naomi seemed to sense her near crumble and took hold of her arm. “Come on,” Naomi urged. “Sit here.” Her hand was warm, comforting.
She took the chair gratefully and wouldn’t have minded at all if Naomi continued to hold her arm. She didn’t and Tory didn’t make a fool of herself by being clingy. She turned her attention back to her aunt. “What’s bothering me? Okay, here it is in the down-and-dirty version.”
“My favorite way,” Ivy said from the sofa, one eyebrow raised and a tiny smile on her lips.
Riah looked at Ivy, rolled her eyes, and said, “Don’t listen to her, she’s always horny. Can’t you do something with her, Colin?”
Colin slung an arm around Ivy’s shoulders and hugged her close. “I’ll see what I can do. Now quiet, you,” he said to Ivy right before he gave her a quick kiss.
Naomi grabbed a dining-room chair and sat in it next to Tory. Once more she laid a hand on her arm. “Tell us.”
Yes, it was better with that touch on her arm. That and the light, easy way they all talked to each other helped put her at ease. It felt somehow normal in a time when she didn’t have a clue what normal was. Even so, her voice still shook a little as she started to talk, her eyes on Naomi’s face. “It began that first night.”
Naomi nodded and then turned to the others. “She means two nights ago when Tory came to the special service at the cathedral. I noticed her there before the service started and walked over to introduce myself. I try to do that anytime someone new ventures into the church.”
“Right,” Tory said. “It was a nice gesture I really didn’t appreciate at the time. Sorry.” She gave Naomi a small, wry smile.
Naomi’s return smile was warm. “No problem. Go on.”
Tory took a deep breath. “When I got to work that nig
ht, I discovered a mysterious package on my desk.” She went on to explain about the New Testament, the box it came in, and her inability to discover anything about how it got to her desk. When she was done, everyone was quiet for a moment. She got the impression they were each rolling over the possibilities in their minds.
“I don’t understand why the book threw you into such a panic,” Naomi told her. “You haven’t explained much about it, and since you work with old books every day, it doesn’t make a lot of sense. It’s an old Bible. Big deal.”
“I get it.” This came from Riah, who until now had listened to her fragmented story quietly.
Tory looked away from Naomi and over to Riah. “I thought you might.”
“It was your mother’s”
Tory nodded. “Yes. Unfortunately, that’s only a tiny part of it. About two hundred years ago, give or take, a lovely Episcopal minister befriended me at a time I was ready to have it all end. He became like a father to me, and when he died, I buried that book with him. I had to do something for him, and to leave my mother’s New Testament with him seemed only right.”
Riah seemed to be following. “That was in New Orleans, wasn’t it?”
Tory nodded again. “He was buried in a crypt in one of the oldest cemeteries in the city. Just leaving it with him made me feel a little bit better. His death never should have happened. It was one hundred percent my fault.”
“You didn’t kill him, did you?” Riah was giving her a puzzled look.
Tory was actually shocked Riah would think that. She loved Roland and even on her darkest days never would have hurt him. Never. “Absolutely not. It was Pierre. He killed Roland because he was important to me. It was the ultimate way to punish me. It worked. God, how it worked.”
Even now so many years later the pain was sharp in her heart. From the day she was born her life had been one long sea of movement from house to house. Good-intentioned, it was designed to keep her safe, and though it did keep her alive, the feeling of isolation was her constant companion. Then she was turned and the nomadic nature of her life ratcheted up another notch, until she freed herself from Pierre and met Roland. Finally, she had a real home and a real family.
“Pierre?” Adriana asked. “Who was this Pierre guy?”
“My maker.” One thing about this group, those two words were all the explanation they needed.
“I’m so sorry.” Naomi touched her hand.
“If he’d just killed Roland it would have been a terrible tragedy I’d have learned to deal with. But that wasn’t good enough for Pierre. It didn’t hurt me quite enough. No, he took it further and turned Roland, leaving him for me to find. He knew I’d be forced to do the unthinkable. I destroyed Roland and left him sealed in that crypt, the New Testament on his chest. I hoped it would send his soul to heaven where it rightfully belonged. It was all I could do for him. I thought he’d be safe forever.”
Colin spoke up at last. “But Hurricane Katrina dredged up all kinds of things. Nothing and no one was safe from that hell-born storm.”
She closed her eyes and images of the hurricane that destroyed the city she loved flashed through her mind. Water, destruction, heartbreak. “True, but it wasn’t the hurricane that brought the book to me.”
“What or who do you think it was?” Naomi rubbed her shoulder lightly.
She thought about what Viola had told her. The words had chilled her soul, only to be replaced a few minutes later when the embers of a fire ignited almost a century earlier took flame. She saw the crypt as it had been that night—strong, beautiful, solid. She imagined the destruction created by one with the power of an immortal.
“I don’t think, I know. Pierre Babineau.”
*
He had to hand it to the DC police, they were certainly Johnny-on-the-spot. His perfect gifts were barely cold by the time the police were there with their yellow tape and evidence bags. With lights on tripods illuminating the bodies, it was like his work was center stage for all to see. No one would ever accuse him of understatement.
Leaning against a nearby building, he blended in with the curious crowd. What was more fun than watching them scurry around like busy little ants and feeling the tension ripple through the night? It was on every corner and down every street, out in the open and behind locked doors. The line between the human and preternatural communities was growing more solid and defined with every passing hour, thanks to him.
In this city where diplomacy and cooperation were a hallmark, coexistence had been not only tolerated but embraced. The capital wanted to be seen as the example of peaceful coexistence for the country, and perhaps the world, to follow. What a load of crap. In his mind, the need to all get along was unnecessary and so he was changing that all by his little self. The early returns pleased him. How he loved to stir the pot.
Actually, it wasn’t quite correct to say he was doing it alone. If not for his precious flower, his beloved Victoria, he wouldn’t be here at all. She had set everything in motion, and to be honest he still didn’t get it or, more accurately, her. He’d given her everything he’d had, including the most important of all: love. She’d turned her back on all of it, including his love, and tried to destroy him in the bargain. Talk about an ungrateful bitch. He’d had such high hopes for her.
In her defense, the rich and powerful had been after her soul from the moment of her birth. Until the night she received the gift, she’d had to hide who she was for fear someone would take her life. Her true identity was always shrouded in secrecy, and she never got to be the princess she should have been. With immortality, no one could threaten her with death again, but it had left her alone and lonely.
He was the one to change all that. He shared his home with her, even gave her a family of sorts, and was totally devoted to her. He’d been there for her through thick and thin, yet how did she show her gratitude for all he’d done and the sacrifices he’d made? She’d tried to destroy him and then she ran without ever looking back. Some kind of princess she turned out to be. He’d been fooled by her pretty face and big words. Behind it all was a coward who took the first opportunity she had to race away.
Well, she wouldn’t be running this time. It had taken him too long to track her down, and she owed him for all the wasted years. Her crimes would not go unpunished. They could have ruled the world together and he’d have treated her like the princess she was. Instead, he’d nearly lost everything and she’d hidden herself away pretending to be someone she wasn’t.
Working for a stuffy depository of old books? What kind of life was that? It was beneath her. Surely she couldn’t have changed that much since he’d seen her last. It didn’t matter. She’d either take her punishment and they’d move forward…or not. Having witnessed her stubborn streak more than a time or two, he was putting his money on the not.
“What’s happened?”
He didn’t notice the young woman until she spoke. She stood next to him, her hands stuck in the pockets of her tight jeans, her long hair hanging free around her face. “Vampire kills,” he said conspiratorially, as if he possessed inside information—which of course he did.
Her intake of breath was sharp, frightened. “Again?”
He suppressed a smile and shook his head. He hoped his expression was suitably somber. “It’s terrible. I swear the vamps are taking this city over, and the stupid cops can’t seem to do a thing to stop it. None of it’s right. I don’t know what we’ll do if the police can’t protect us.”
He felt her shiver as she crossed her arms over her chest. “This is all so terrible. Can’t even take a walk in your own neighborhood lately.”
Looking around, he realized the young woman was alone. Not a beauty by any stretch, but she was cute in a bookish kind of way. Her light-brown hair was long and whipped around by a light breeze. She wore nice jeans and one of those hideous hoodie things that all the young people seemed to favor in this decade. Still, she had a freshness about her that he liked, and her clothes, while young and t
rendy, were definitely expensive, as was the carefree cut to her long hair. All in all, potentially a very nice dinner.
“What’s your name?”
She cocked her head and studied him with chocolate-colored eyes. “Meagan,” she offered timidly.
He smiled and put a hand lightly on her arm. “Well, Meagan, I don’t think this is a good night for a pretty young woman like you to be out all alone. May I walk you home or to wherever you’re heading? I’ll make sure you get there safely.”
She hesitated for only for a moment and then took his arm. The warmth of her hand flowed through the cloth of his shirt. “Okay, I’d like that. It doesn’t feel very safe out here tonight. I don’t know what I was thinking when I walked down to the market.”
“No worries. I’m here now and you’re safe with me. Which way?”
“Just on the other side of Embassy Row.”
Patting her hand, he started to walk. “Then let us be on our way. The sooner we get you behind locked doors, the better.”
As they moved away from the police tape, flashing lights, and crowds, he pulled her a little closer to his body. She smelled good. A light, fresh fragrance that only the young could pull off. He hoped she tasted as good as she smelled.
“You didn’t tell me your name,” she said when they were a couple of blocks from the crime scene.
He smiled again, this time allowing just the tips of his canines to show. “You can call me Vlad.”
*
Colin, Riah, Adriana, and Ivy were clustered around the table with a laptop booted up. Naomi wasn’t sure what they were searching for, but all four heads were tilted toward the bright, small screen. Tory had walked out to the patio off the living room and stood breathing in the air washed fresh and clear by the rain of a passing storm. The motion light mounted on the back of the house glowed, bathing Tory in buttery yellow light and making raindrops sparkle like a thousand diamonds tossed across the deck.
Scarlet Revenge Page 9
