“That was…”
“Yeah,” Naomi breathed. “It was.”
After a moment, Naomi shifted. Looking at Tory she smiled, her eyes glazed and satisfied. “My turn to return the favor.”
And she did.
Chapter Sixteen
“So you guys have to understand, I’m pretty new with this stuff,” Adriana was saying when Tory and Naomi all but ran into the room.
The scream that had brought everyone into the living room hadn’t been loud, just effective. When he’d stretched out earlier, Colin took the opportunity to doze on the sofa in front of the fireplace, its gas log engulfed in dancing flames, while Ivy sat on the floor in front of him engrossed in some research. Tory and Naomi had been in a bedroom burning off a little stress, he hoped. God only knew where Riah’d been but she was like that. Now, they were all back together and staring at Adriana. For a woman with very dark skin, she was as pale as possible.
“Tell us what you saw.” Riah ran a hand soothingly down Adriana’s neck, and her touch seemed to have an immediate calming effect on her.
“Let me explain to you folks first.” She gave her a small smile. “It’s like this—” She turned to look at all of them. “I’m not preternatural, but as it turns out, I’ve got some nifty powers of my own.”
“You’re a psychic?” Tory asked.
Adriana shook her head. “Not exactly. I didn’t know it until my mother, Sabira, died, but I’m kind of from a different dimension.”
Both Naomi and Tory gave her puzzled looks. Colin understood but he’d had a head start. When Adriana had returned from New Haven to announce she was from another world, he was pretty sure he’d had the same expression on his face. He’d never even heard of Tigeran, though it had nothing to do with whether he believed Adriana’s story of being a sorceress, the child of a powerful warrior and a beautiful sorceress. He believed because he’d seen too much not to. Since she’d returned from that trip to New Haven, Adriana had been different. Better. And that was saying a lot about a woman impressive enough before she even left. Toss in a few potent powers and she was really something.
“The cool thing is,” Adriana said, “that I’m a sorceress. At first I didn’t believe it, at least not until I vanquished a really evil wizard who wanted to control this world. That was some pretty awesome shit, if I do say so.” She smiled and her eyes came alive. “Having super powers is some kind of trip.”
“What do you have for us now?” Colin wanted to know what had caused her to scream loud enough to bring them all running. Adriana was normally unflappable but something had shaken her up. That was bothersome in light of what was happening around here.
“Yeah, well, about that.” She looked at Tory, her head tilted, her eyes appraising. “Pretty sure it has something to do with you.”
Tory dropped her head and then brought her eyes back up to hold Adriana’s gaze. “I’m not surprised,” she said in a steady voice.
“I didn’t think you would be. You feel it, don’t you?”
Tory nodded but said nothing. Colin, on the other hand, wanted clarification. Felt what? Personally, the only thing he sensed was how dangerous it was becoming outside. People were scared, and when that happened, it could turn out badly for everyone.
“What?” Riah, like Colin, was getting impatient.
Adriana brought her gaze away from Tory and swept it over the assembled group. “There’s a vampire in town.”
“No shit,” Naomi muttered, and everyone turned surprised looks her way. “What? You don’t think a lay minister knows how to swear? I wasn’t always a minister, you know.”
Tory shook her head. “No, we all figure a former vampire hunter can swear like a Teamster, but given your current line of work, it’s a little surprising.”
Naomi shrugged. “You can take the girl out of the hunt, but there are just some moments…”
Adriana nodded. “Got a point, sister, and this is one of them. As I was saying, there’s a vampire with a hard-on for you, Tory.”
“Can you see him?” If Adriana could give them a face, it would make the hunt easier. Colin hoped her newfound powers let her see who the bastard was.
“Not clearly. He’s tall with dark hair and dark eyes. Sound familiar?”
There was a long beat before Tory said, “It’s got to be Pierre…my maker. I thought some of yours had destroyed him.” She looked over at Naomi.
Colin would have said the same thing. When he’d gone in search of Riah, who he’d known as Catherine Tudor, she’d been one of only a very few vampires known to still exist. The records of the church were extensive and he’d had full access to all of them. Right now, he’d give anything to be able to search those records. He wanted to know definitively what had happened to Pierre.
His leaving the church, walking away from his life as a hunter, forfeited any rights he had to those records. The only way to get back into them would to be to do the unthinkable: apologize to the church and—worst of all—destroy the woman he loved. The church would demand it of him and that was something he could—would—never do. The cost was too high.
“I wish,” he thought out loud, “we could access the church’s records.”
He saw the way Naomi’s eyes shifted to slits. She knew something. He didn’t know what but he’d find out. She moved her weight from foot to foot and wouldn’t meet his gaze.
“What?” he finally asked.
Naomi ran both hands through her hair and stared out the darkened window. “I did something before I left.”
“As in?”
“As in, I copied the database.”
Was she saying what he thought she was? “Sonofabitch! You have a copy of the records?”
Her lips tight together, she gave him a clipped nod. “Yeah, everything up to the point I walked out.”
This was a stroke of genius. He had a good recall of what had happened in the few years after Naomi left, and if she had all the legacy records, they had a gold mine. He could kiss her. “Perfect.”
He was thrilled but apparently he was the only one. Naomi’s expression could only be described as death warmed over. Knowing the power of what she had on her computer, she should be as pleased as he was.
“What’s the problem, Naomi? This is fantastic. I don’t understand the long face.”
She pushed out a breath and finally brought her eyes to meet his. Tears glistened in them and apprehension rippled through him. He didn’t like the look she turned on him. “A file exists in the records with details about the murder of your family.”
He stilled, his nerves abruptly alive as if just shot with a blast of electricity. Of all the things he guessed might come out of her mouth, that was the last. “My family? You know who murdered my family?” How could she have possessed that knowledge and not told him? And if she made the copy before she left, she’d had that information for several years. He’d thought she was his friend. What kind of friend withheld the facts?
A tear started to slide down her cheek. “I don’t know who killed your family. I only know who ordered it.” Her words seemed choked out.
For a second he thought his heart would stop. Ordered them murdered? My parents? My little sister with her Barbie dolls and bright-purple scooter? That couldn’t be right. It was a random vampire attack. Everyone said so. Monsignor said so. No one could possibly have wanted his family dead.
His voice was strangled as he choked out a single word. “Who?”
Naomi’s voice shook and tears spilled down her cheeks. Her voice was so quiet it was barely above a whisper, and yet the single word she uttered held the force of a hurricane. “Monsignor.”
*
He stood in the darkness and listened. The chaos in the Woodley Park area was too far away to appreciate. He’d have loved to stay around and watch the professionals try to control the panic. They’d be lucky if something didn’t explode, like an edgy neighbor or a paranoid passerby. The mood was quickly turning with his expert touch guiding the wa
y. He was incredibly pleased.
Back at Union Station, he sat in the massive lobby and looked up at the statues that ringed the area. People milled about, unaware of the blood that had been spilled only a few miles away. He thought about what he could do next and smiled. No sense wasting a good night.
He lowered his gaze from the statues and to the people who walked by him, most hurrying with their heads down, intent on getting where they were going as quickly as possible. Nobody wanted to linger. No one wanted eye contact.
So far nothing that really tickled his fancy had passed his way. The hunting in this city, at least in the brief time he’d been here, had been wonderful. Little satisfied him more than a good variety. From Goth, to professional, to gay, to purity, it was all tasty. His earlier snack on the were and her unwary human friend had taken what started out as a bad evening with the Meagan fiasco and turned it on a high note. Now he needed the perfect dessert.
It walked by in the shape of serious, blond, and federal. Could spot an FBI agent from a mile away. He was good that way. Something about the stoic expression, clipped walk, and dark suit. Not for the first time he wondered if they taught a class at Quantico on how to look the part. He laid odds they did.
He licked his lips and rose, falling into step beside the man, whose cologne wafted in the air. He approved, the scent heady and promising. His cock stiffened. He did so enjoy playing with his food.
“Heard there was another slaughter over by the zoo,” he said in a conversational tone.
The man turned gray eyes his direction. “What?”
“The killer, you know the not-so-human kind of killer. He murdered again tonight.”
“You should probably go home, then.” The man’s pace picked up.
“I’m Vlad.” He matched his pace and stuck out his hand.
For a brief second, the man stared at his outstretched hand. Then he shrugged and grasped it in his own. “Daniel.”
“Feel like a drink, Daniel?”
The gray eyes darkened. “A drink?”
“Sure, you know—scotch, bourbon, vodka—something to take the edge off.”
His pace slowed and he took a good, long look. Inclining his head just a little, he said. “Why not? It’s been a long day.”
Gotcha. He could spot ’em a mile away. “I hear ya, brother. I know a nice quiet place where a couple of guys can enjoy a drink and a little conversation.” And a good fuck, but he kept that to himself.
Chapter Seventeen
Tory didn’t know what this Monsignor was to Colin, but by the expression on his face, it wasn’t a good thing. What she did know was betrayal. She’d experienced it. She’d done it. She saw it in Colin’s eyes now and her heart hurt for him.
“I’m sorry,” Naomi whispered.
He didn’t move, didn’t say a word. Neither did anyone else. Silently, he turned and walked from the room, his back straight, his head high. Ivy gave Riah a look, then quickly followed Colin down the hallway. Still, no one said a word for long minutes after they left.
“What was that about?” Tory finally asked.
Riah and Adriana turned expectant faces to Naomi. If anybody would have a clue it would be another hunter—or former hunter, in both their cases—and the one who’d dropped what was clearly a bombshell.
Naomi’s voice was low as she began. “Colin grew up in this part of the country, not far from here in Virginia. When he was just a kid, he came home from a sleepover to find his family had been slaughtered. The local news made it out to be a home invasion gone terribly wrong.”
“But it was a vampire,” Riah added.
Naomi nodded. “Yeah, it was a vampire, all right. It was ugly and violent and he saw it.”
“How awful,” Tory murmured. No one had to paint a picture for her. She was ashamed to admit she’d seen it firsthand. Her heart ached for the child he’d been and how the trauma must have shaped his life.
“Colin was left an orphan and so Monsignor Joseph Warren essentially adopted him. He raised him like his own son and began to train him as a hunter when he was barely in his teens. Most of us came in as young adults who had both the calling and the aptitude. Not Colin. He was years ahead of the rest of us and better than any of us too.”
“This Monsignor ordered the death of his family? Is that what you said?” Tory had a hard time believing someone from the church would have the ability to order a vampire attack on humans—or the balls, for that matter. It was contrary to everything the church and its hunters stood for.
Then again, she’d seen enough subterfuge, deception, and outright lying in her time to know anything was possible, even killing an entire family. People, the most surprising people, were capable of terrible things. The real question was why. Sometimes the answer was obvious and sometimes the answer was never discovered.
Again Naomi nodded. “I didn’t believe it when I first came across the entry. Monsignor wasn’t that kind of man, or so I thought. Then I started to dig and, sure as hell, Monsignor had orchestrated the slaughter. Let’s just say I was sick to my stomach.”
“That doesn’t make sense. The whole mission of the church and its hunters is to save humans, not kill them,” Tory said.
“I thought so too but I was wrong. Colin was—is—special, and Monsignor recognized that early on. Colin and his family were in Monsignor’s parish at the time. He was just a priest way back when, but he was going places in the church and everyone knew it. I think he was a little drunk on the power that gave him and he wanted Colin as one of his hunters. What better way to ensure that would happen than to make him an orphan?”
Riah shook her head, her expression sad. “He didn’t have to kill his family.”
“Makes sense in a warped way. In fact, it was perfect. Colin was left all alone in the world and because of the very thing Monsignor wanted him to learn to hunt. I’m sure he chalked up the loss of Colin’s family as necessary collateral damage.”
“That’s fucked up,” Adriana muttered.
Tory agreed wholeheartedly. She’d run up against any number of hunters and the holier-than-thou’s who pulled their strings, but this…yeah, Adriana had hit the nail on the head: this was fucked up. She ached for Colin. She understood in a way that was too personal. After all, hadn’t she been an orphan her whole life? Her own parents had been executed mere hours after her birth. Not literally by a vampire, although an argument could be made that they sure were in a figurative sense. Vampires for power who didn’t even blink when it came to killing for the crown had existed for centuries. Her poor mother and father never had a chance. Neither would she, if not for the families that hid her.
“If you knew, why didn’t you tell him?” Riah asked.
She wondered the same thing. Why would Naomi not share the truth with him? He had the right to know.
Naomi let out a long breath. “I’ve thought of him a thousand times since I found that entry, and I just didn’t know how to tell him. He loves Monsignor. How do you destroy someone’s whole world?”
“How can we help?” Surely they could do something.
“I don’t know.” Naomi’s eyes were troubled. “I knew that someday I’d come face-to-face with Colin again and would have to reveal the truth to him. I sure didn’t relish being the messenger in this case, except I’m sure no one else would tell him and, ultimately, he has a right to know.”
“And now he does.” Tory laid a hand on her arm.
“Look,” Riah said as she rose from the sofa. “I think we need to give him space. Learning someone you love has betrayed you takes a huge toll, and sometimes the best thing is a little time.”
Tory stared out into the darkness. In the distance, the sound of sirens crackled through the night and unease whispered through the air. Chills rose on her arms. “I don’t think we have much time.”
Riah stood beside her. “Probably not, but he needs a bit of it anyway.”
“Well, we can’t just do nothing.” Adriana began to pace. “I know Colin need
s space, but not too much. We have to do something and soon. Shit’s about to hit the fan, I feel it.”
“I agree and I think I have a solution. We give Colin some peace and quiet to digest what I laid on him, and in the meantime, we dig into my pirated database to find out whatever the hell we can. Among all of us, we’re bound to come up with something helpful.”
She agreed. It was a good idea and, really, the best course of action at the moment. “Well,” Tory said to the other three. “What are we waiting for?”
*
Colin was cold, so cold he felt as though he’d been dropped into the center of an iceberg. He remembered feeling this way once before in his life and never thought he would again. As many years as he’d had to prepare himself for uncovering the identity of his family’s killer, this possibility had never entered his mind.
Naomi’s words echoed in his head until he wanted to scream. It simply couldn’t be true. Monsignor? The man who had taken him into his home and treated him as if he was his own son? The same man who gave him love and understanding when he was lost and struggling? The man who gave his shattered life a purpose? No way. No fucking way.
It had to be a lie, yet something deep inside told him it wasn’t. Besides the gut feeling another truth stood out: Naomi wouldn’t lie to him. She had no reason to. More than once, she’d had his back and saved him from the same fate as his family. She wouldn’t save his life only to destroy it with something as cruel as this. No, Naomi had told him the truth. He’d seen it in her eyes as the words left her mouth.
The look of pure pain on her face crushed him. Even worse were the expressions of pity on Riah and Adriana’s faces. He hadn’t seen Tory’s but had no doubt it held the same look of sorrow. He couldn’t take it. Only Ivy was different. No pity, no grief. She was the only person who knew his heart, and in her eyes he saw only love. If he made it through this, it was her strength that would carry him.
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