Together, they looked like denizens from a chic version of hell. Dangerous messengers.
A shiver ran up the back of his spine, instinctual reaction to a centuries-old nemesis. Until the treaty, his kind had hunted them, battled them and sought their death. They’d been sworn enemies, vamps and shifters, and to this day much of the distrust remained on both sides.
The three vampires glided to a stop a short distance from the truck, waiting for them to emerge. Again, Beck felt a premonition of danger. While he’d never feared bloodsuckers before, these weren’t your everyday, run of-the-mill vampires. His first instinct—and one he trusted implicitly—was to recoil in repugnance.
A quick glance at Marika told him nothing; her nonexpression might have been chiseled from the same perfect stone as the other three vamps.
“Now what?” he asked.
Careful to avoid meeting his gaze, she shrugged and pushed open her door. “We find out what they know.”
He jumped down, too, conscious that his wolf had become completely alert. The hair on his arms rose as if from static electricity. Moving toward them, he schooled his expression to match Marika’s.
As they drew near, the two men kept their gazes riveted on Marika. The vampire woman watched Beck.
“You brought a pet with you?” she purred to Marika, the slight tilt at the corner of her eyes giving her an exotic appearance.
“Not a pet. An ally. Surely Brigid told you of him?”
“Perhaps she did. No matter.” The woman dipped her chin, slanting Beck a mocking smile. “I am Renenet. You can call me Renee.”
Marika’s eyes widened. “Goddess of Fortune?”
“So I’ve been called.” She lifted one shoulder in an elegant and disaffected shrug. “I am an old friend of Brigid, from the times before.”
Which meant that this one was very, very old. Also very powerful.
“This is Heh.” Waving her hand languidly, she indicated the tallest of the two men. “And finally, Usi.”
Beck had to ask. “What do their names mean?”
When she turned that glowing gaze on him again, this time he felt the strength of her power. More magic. How many of these vampires were witches?
“Heh is the God of Immeasurable and Usi means smoke.”
Usi’s mouth spread into a thin-lipped smile. “Smoke comes in handy sometimes.”
“You were supposed to come alone.” Renee turned her violet gaze on Marika. “Do you dare disobey Brigid?”
“I do what I have to. Enough of this. What do you know about my daughter?” Letting a rasp of anger color her voice, Marika eyed each of them in turn. “What has Brigid told you?”
Before anyone could answer, the wind began to blow, gusting in fierce spurts, as though from the dying breath of an unseen cyclone.
Beck spread his legs for balance and braced himself against the forceful air. Beside him, Marika did the same. The three others, without appearing to move, glided back into the shelter of the garage, eyes glowing in the dim space.
They did not invite Beck and Marika to join them.
And the wind continued to buffet them. Beck’s sense of unease increased. Fleetingly, he wondered if even nature was trying to warn them.
“This is ridiculous,” Marika shouted, glaring at the vamps. “Invite us in.”
Surprised, Beck glanced from her to their hosts. Was that old bit of folklore actually true? Vamps couldn’t go inside a residence unless invited? Hmm. He’d file that away for future reference and ask Marika about it.
Finally, he took Marika’s arm and led her into the garage and out of the increasingly powerful air. Once inside, she shook him off and stalked to one side, keeping a distance between her and everyone else.
No one spoke. The three vamps continued to stare, as expressionless as statues.
“A storm is coming,” Beck finally said, uncomfortable with the silence. He could swear he heard a voice shrieking unintelligible words in cadence with the wind. A child’s voice. A little girl. Dani?
Imagination. Had to be.
Usi’s lips twitched. “Somewhere, the earth Goddess is angry,” he commented, bestowing on them a faint smile. “I hear her rage in the wind’s fury.”
“Not the Goddess. Her child,” the vampire woman said, turning her unsettlingly sharp-eyed focus on Marika. “Your daughter calls out to you. Can you not hear her screaming your name on the wind?”
He’d been right. Cocking his head, Beck listened. Now he could tell for certain. The gut-wrenching sound of his daughter crying for her mother. Fury and a toddler’s anguish mingled in the air, making him want to lash out in a blind attempt to help her.
“She calls you,” he said, taking care to hide his gut reaction from the others. Hearing his child’s voice for the first time, in such a powerful way, nearly brought him to his knees. He could only imagine how this made Marika feel.
Meaning to offer comfort, however small, he touched Marika’s shoulder. She shot him a look so full of anguish, he felt it like a knife.
“I don’t…” She bit her lip.
“You cannot hear her?” Renee asked.
Slowly, Marika shook her head. Making no sound, she pushed away from the others, wrapping her arms around her middle, as though she’d been struck in the stomach. Lost in her own private grief, unable to find comfort.
Beck started for her, but the vampire called Heh materialized in front of him, blocking his path.
“Wait,” the other growled. “You cannot help her with this.”
Beck ignored him, shouldering him away. “Move.”
For the space of a second, their gazes locked. Man and vampire—no, wolf and vampire. Once Beck let Heh see the wolf behind his eyes, the vamp conceded.
With an elegant shrug, Heh stepped back.
Marika closed her eyes, her face contorted with her misery.
The sound of Dani’s need intensified, perhaps fueled by a connection with her mother’s obvious pain.
“Marika.” Beck wrapped her in his arms. Though her posture felt rigid and stiff, she didn’t resist. She simply allowed his embrace. It was as though she’d simply vacated her body.
Still he held her, willing her to accept what little comfort he could give. He hated to see her so silent and defeated. Even anger would be better than this.
But she didn’t move—not to sag against him, not to break her frozen despair. The silence stretched on, both awkward and painful in the face of the ever-present wind still carrying Dani’s cries. In a way, he was glad Marika couldn’t hear them because the heartbreaking sound brought a fiery need to do more.
When he finally stepped back, she gave him a broken, hard-edged look, full of grief.
“I can’t hear her,” she said, her voice echoing her agonized expression. “Yet you all can. Dani calls to me, her mother, but I don’t recognize her voice. How can that be?” Her voice broke.
She glared at Renenet, as if she believed the older vampire responsible. “Why can’t I hear my own daughter, while you—a total stranger—can?”
“I don’t know. Perhaps you are not listening hard enough.” Renee’s harsh voice didn’t soften.
“Too much worry and fear can cloud your abilities,” Heh agreed. “Clear your mind and then try again.”
“If you let her, she will reach you. Your girl is already very powerful,” Renenet said.
With a nod, Marika closed her eyes and began taking deep breaths. She missed the hard glance the two male vampires exchanged. Beck shot them the same kind of look.
“What kind of creature is this child?” Usi snarled. “So small, yet she can send her voice out over the wind.”
But Renenet now watched Beck. “You heard her, too, right?” she asked. “So this is not something only detected by vampires?”
“I’m her father,” he said, even though doing so felt a bit like rubbing salt in Marika’s open wound.
Now, he watched the play of emotion on Marika’s perfect face as she strained yet again
to hear Dani’s plaintive cry. Meanwhile, he clung to the sound, even though doing so made his inner wolf want to howl. Keeping the beast under control proved a Herculean effort, occupying all his self-control, yet he refused to try to block out the sound of his daughter’s voice. This, his first connection, no matter how painful, brought him hope. As long as they could hear her, that meant she was still alive.
The other three vampires exchanged glances. They all waited for Marika while she cocked her head and continued to try to hear. Their faces were too beautiful and so expressionless that they might have been carved from stone.
Unlike Marika, who looked as though she might shatter into a thousand pieces.
Finally, she made a sound of defeat and opened her eyes. “Nothing,” she said, her gaze locking with Beck’s.
Aching for her, still battling his wolf, he dipped his chin in acknowledgment.
She shifted her gaze to Heh, then to Renee. “You all heard her, didn’t you? Everyone but me.” Shadows darkened her eyes.
“Yes, this is true.” Heh’s perfect expression never changed. “Your child is very powerful. What kind of magic does she wield?”
“She’s just a little girl.” Marika glared at him, wiping her streaming eyes with the back of her hand. “She has no magic.”
“Or perhaps it’s well-hidden.” Renenet moved restlessly, making a circle around the perimeter of the small garage. Beck noted that all the while, she managed not to turn her back on him.
Smart vampire.
“I want to hear her,” Marika said, her voice troubled.
The other woman shook her head. “She has gone silent. If she cries again and you don’t hear her, I will tell you to listen.”
Beck could tell from her rigid posture that Marika didn’t like this, but finally she dipped her head in acquiescence.
Once she had, Renenet stood still, as if satisfied.
Now Marika moved, watching her like a hawk. “Tell me what Brigid has told you about my daughter’s capture. Do you know where she is?”
“We have been told that we must help you find your daughter. If we do not, Brigid has seen the beginning of a terrible war. When our people battle each other on such a scale, many lives will be lost. Not just us, but precious few humans would survive such a cataclysmic conflict.”
“War?” Marika stared. “That’s insane. What has any of this to do with me and my child?”
Renee’s eyes gleamed. “Your little girl is…unique, is she not?
They all waited, the two male vamps appearing fascinated while Beck was confused. Of course Dani was unique. She was the child of a shifter and a vampire.
But for the space of a heartbeat, Marika looked…trapped. Fear, stark and vivid, filled her eyes. Then, so quickly a blink might have made him miss it, she again composed her features into that perfect mask.
“Dani is a two-year-old child who learned early to change form. There is no reason to think she would cause a war.”
The other vamps didn’t appear convinced.
“If she is harmed, you would seek to destroy those that have taken her, would you not?”
The sharp glance Marika sent his way told Beck her answer before she even spoke.
“You know what I would do. And I don’t think anyone here would dare to tell me I’d be wrong.”
“They are shifters,” Renee continued smoothly. “One vampire attack and the truce is off.”
“They have already broken the truce by snatching my daughter,” Marika responded sharply, appearing on the verge of abandoning all pretense.
“You see? Do you then advocate a war? Now, between us and all shifters?”
Again, Marika shot Beck a glance. “No. I’m not a fool. This is between me and the creeps who took Dani. Not all vampires and all shifters.”
“But there is more,” Usi put in. “Because of what your child is—”
“Enough.” Cutting him off, Renee paced restlessly. “This talk leads to nothing.”
Usi bared his fangs, his vampire mannerisms so similar to that of an angry shifter that Beck nearly spoke his thoughts out loud. Only the knowledge that the other man wouldn’t appreciate such a comparison kept him silent.
“I would not be opposed to such a war,” Heh said.
“Brigid would.” Renee’s sharp reprimand left no room for a retort. “You will do as you promised and help find this powerful child.”
“Dani.” Marika sounded weary. “Her name is Dani. Though she’s half shifter and half vampire, she’s only a little girl. If she has magic, she doesn’t know how to use it.”
“And he really is the father?” Renee asked Marika.
“Yes.”
“But only a mere shape-shifter. Interesting. The only other times a vampire has borne a child were only possible because the sire was an elf. We’ve always believed this was due to elvin magic.”
Was this a test, confirming what they already knew? Marika sighed. “I don’t know how it happened. I made love with a shifter, with him. The next thing I knew, I was pregnant.”
“Does her heart beat?” Heh’s voice was savage.
“Yes. Red blood flows through her veins, her heart beats and she breathes. She cannot go without sleeping, and she eats and drinks regular food, not blood. She’s smart and funny and beautiful.” Her voice cracked, but she continued. “And I love her.
“And though she’s only two, she already can shape-shift,” Marika said.
“Is this unusual among your kind?” Heh asked Beck.
Though he didn’t trust them, Beck saw no reason not to answer. “Yes. Even in Halflings.”
“Halflings?” Renee asked.
“Those of our kind who are not full-blooded shifters.”
“She is not vampire.” Renee spoke decisively. “I don’t understand why Brigid believes she’s so important.”
“Obviously someone else does, too.” Heh’s dry tone matched his impassive face. “Someone kidnapped her, according to Brigid.”
“What are you going to do about it?” Beck put in. The vampires ignored him.
With a savage smile, Beck continued. “I thought you were supposed to help us. We’re running out of time. Dani’s missing.”
“And I want her back.” Marika glanced from Heh to Beck, a pain-filled look of entreaty on her face. “You’ve got to help us.”
“Do you help or hinder, Shifter?” Renee demanded, her hard-edged gaze cutting.
Beck stepped around her, moving to Marika’s side. He took her hand firmly in his. “She is my daughter. Of course I help. But even more, Dani is Pack. We Pack protect our own.”
“But according to Brigid, Pack are the ones who’ve taken her,” Usi pointed out.
“Which makes no sense.”
“Why not? Pack hate vampires. The child is half.”
“No,” Beck insisted. “We don’t look at things that way. She is a Halfling, she can change, therefore she’s Pack. There’s no reason for anyone to wish her harm.”
“Unless—” Renee dipped her head toward Marika “—there is something she’s not telling us.”
Beck fully expected Marika to deny this. After all, she’d promised to give him only the truth.
Instead, she straightened her shoulders and took a deep breath. “I can only assume Brigid already knows, right?”
“Knows what?” Beck wondered if he was the only one in the dark. “What is it you’re not telling me?”
But Renee and her two cohorts waited, too, watching Marika, who stiffened. Her very posture spoke of defiance.
“Dani can change shapes, it’s true,” she finally said. “But she can do more than the average shifter. She can become not only a wolf, but something else. Something like a…griffon. But instead of a lion’s body, she’s a wolf. A wolf with wings. She can fly, too.” She shot a glance at Beck as she spoke.
All three of the vampires made sounds of shock. Stunned, Beck scarcely heard them.
“You didn’t think this was important enough to tell
me?” Anger choked him. “Your Dani is no mere Halfling. She’s the stuff of legends. A being like this comes along only once in centuries.”
“In a millennium,” Renee corrected him, her dark eyes gleaming with what looked like excitement. “Dani is more than all of us.”
“Does Brigid know this?” Usi asked.
Marika shook her head no.
“So we are searching for a god?” Usi looked unhappy with this possibility. “If she’s so all-powerful, why can she not escape herself?”
“She’s not a god. She’s a small child.” Hands clenched in fists, Marika appeared ready to fight them all.
Beck didn’t care. She’d already betrayed him. Again. “You promised me the truth,” he reminded her. “And you lied.”
“I didn’t.” Up came the chin. “I hadn’t gotten around to telling you yet.”
“Omission is a form of falsehood.”
She froze, lowering her gaze to the floor. “I thought it would be easier if you didn’t know.”
“Easier how? You say shifters took her, but you didn’t know why. For all you know, they are protecting Dani. Legend or no, she’s as much a part of the Pack as she is a vampire.”
Heh growled, again reminding Beck of a wolf. Odd that a vampire could have so many shifter traits. Glaring at him, Renenet immediately shushed him.
“Shifter, are you leaving us then?”
“I’m going nowhere.” Crossing his arms, Beck waited for them to argue. “I will find my daughter, no matter what it takes.”
As one, the three others turned their attention to Marika.
Again, thunder rumbled. Far off in the distant slate-gray horizon, lightening slashed the sky.
“A storm is coming.” Marika’s toneless voice spoke of her decision to say no more about her child’s unique abilities. “If you hear my daughter again, I want to know what she says. Maybe she can tell us how to find her. In the meantime, tell me what Brigid has asked you to do.”
“Asked us to do. The old ones are gathering in Greece.” Renee sounded smug. “The full council.”
Marika’s sharp intake of breath was her only reply to this. From what Beck knew of vampires, a gathering of this magnitude meant things were dire indeed, or about to become that way.
Lone Wolf Page 8
