Blood Passage (Blood Destiny #2)

by Connie Suttle

  "And what will happen if you walk away from me at daybreak?" Tony asked softly, his eyes searching my face for information I couldn't give.

  "Why don't you try it and see?" I asked, hugging myself and hunching my shoulders in fear. I kept telling myself that walking into the sun was the best thing, now. Doubtless, this was what Kelvin and whoever he was in league with were planning all along. Expose Lissa and Weldon. The only thing that we had in common was the successful defense against Lester Briggs, Bart Orford and their horde of henchwolves. Most likely, Tate Briggs and Kelvin Morgan, if that was his real name, had somehow planned this together. Too bad Tate had gotten his in London. I wondered if Kelvin would have included Winkler in his plot for revenge if he'd known that Winkler executed Tate. If Tony wanted, he could now uncover the vampires and the werewolves with very little effort. If Kelvin had been anywhere around at the moment, I would have killed him right in front of Tony and then allowed Tony to arrest me and haul me in. If they tried to move me anywhere in daylight, they wouldn't have anything except ash to show for their efforts.

  Tony wasn't saying anything; he just kept staring at me, his fingers still on the photograph of me at my frumpiest best—overweight and graying slightly. "How many people are here in the store with you, Tony?" I asked. "How many have guns, ready to shoot me if I make a wrong move?"

  "You told me to contact you at night for a reason, didn't you?" Tony's face was showing disbelief. "You always worked nights and slept days before, didn't you?" Christ. He was putting it together, right in front of my eyes. "And now," he went on, "you want me to let you walk into sunlight. What will happen, Lissa? Why won't I have to worry about you after that?" His gray blue eyes held a hint of steel as he questioned me.

  "You'll just have to trust me, won't you?" I mumbled, dropping my eyes. "What are you going to do about Winkler and Weldon? Anything?"

  "Winkler is very important to us. You know why—you suggested he come to me in the first place," Tony said. "He's the one who can upgrade the software. He knows all about it, Lissa. The man is a genius. We have the footage of the shooter; he looks young, about five-ten or so, dark hair."

  "If it's who I think it is, he's been going by the name of Kelvin Morgan but I don't think that's his real name." I turned my head; I didn't want to look at this man any longer. He was trying to trap me. Sure, I could tell him everything. And the vampires would find me afterward. They wouldn't hold back from killing me a second time if I exposed the race. Better to walk into the sun. That would be my decision.

  "If I hazarded a guess at what you are, Lissa, what would happen?"

  Still not looking at him, I mumbled, "I'd be dead. Very, very dead."

  Tony's cell phone buzzed; he had it on vibrate but I heard it clearly. He looked at the ID and answered. "Yes?" he said.

  "We have the shooter," the voice on the other end replied.

  "Good. Where did you find him?"

  "One of the detainee's friends tracked him down and handed him over. Some guy named Davis Stone."

  If I could have, I'd have given Davis a huge kiss. As it was, I wasn't likely to see him again.

  "Where?" Tony asked. A location in Overland Park was given. I had no idea where that was. "We'll be there in a few," Tony said and ended the call. "Well, Lissa, I'd like to bring you with me for this. Am I going to have to handcuff you to do it?"

  "No." My voice was sullen. Tony took my arm and led me out of the store. Three men detached themselves from whatever it was they were doing and followed us out. I kid you not; two of them wore sunglasses.

  There was a van waiting outside and I was loaded into the back seat. One of the three men scooted in beside me. I sniffed him; he was human enough, as were the others. He also wore a gun in a shoulder holster—he'd opened his suit coat and pulled it back a little just so I could see the weapon. I wondered what he'd do if I told him I'd been shot in the back three times and lived over it, even after Gavin had dug around to get the bullets out without the benefit of anesthetic. Now I wondered if anesthesia would even have an effect on me. Alcohol didn't unless it was mixed with blood or my donor happened to be drunk.

  We drove along for fifteen minutes before pulling into an underground garage beneath a red brick building. The agent or whatever he was that sat beside me opened the door and motioned for me to get out. Did he think I was going to jump him? So far, he hadn't done anything to warrant that.

  Tony was already walking swiftly toward the bank of elevators located in a corner of the well-lit parking garage. There were two other vehicles parked there—another van and a dark sedan. The whole place was low ceilinged and claustrophobically concrete, interrupted by rows of thick columns holding everything up. There were no signs anywhere to tell me where I was and our footsteps echoed as we followed Tony toward the elevators. An elevator answered Tony's call after he inserted an ID card in a slot and we all loaded in. The doors closed, Tony hit the button for the third floor and up we went.

  A long, carpeted hallway stretched out before us as Tony led the way again. One agent was behind him, two others were behind me. If they left me inside a room, I wondered if I'd have enough time to turn to mist before they saw it on a monitor somewhere. Tony pulled the card out of his pocket again, swiped it through a reader outside a door and we followed him inside an interrogation room.

  Kelvin sat at a wide table, handcuffs on his wrists, his expression sullen and angry. Two other agents were already in the room, sitting at the table opposite the prisoner. Kelvin was staring at the tabletop but as soon as he got a whiff of my scent, he drew in a huge breath and stiffened, his dark eyes wide as he lifted them to stare at me. I almost growled at him but held myself in check. No need to show everybody there just what it was I was trying so hard to hide.

  "You're afraid of her," Tony said softly to Kelvin, looking from him to me.

  "Hmmph," Kelvin lied.

  "He's lying," one of the two men at the table looked up at me. I got a good whiff of that agent and the one who was sitting next to him.

  "As are you," I said.

  "You three, out." Tony gestured to the three who'd been at the bookstore. They left immediately. As soon as the door closed behind them, Tony turned to me. "What do you know," he said softly.

  "You think I'd tell you anything?" I scoffed. "How many cameras do you have in this room, Tony?"

  "There aren't any in this room," the agent I'd accused of lying said.

  "Yeah, like I'd believe that," I grumbled.

  "We're part of the FBI—special agents," the other one said. Well, that was a new one on me. "We know of Weldon Harper," that one continued. "And we're now trying to uncover what this one knows." He jerked his head toward Kelvin. "Our division is cooperating with Hancock's here to try and keep everything stable. We don't need the population turning on itself in fear, now do we?" He gave me a grin. For a werewolf, he had a nice smile. I wondered what his wolf looked like.

  "Are you crazy?" I stared at Tony. The werewolf's partner was a vampire. FBI special agents? Puhleeze.

  "They say they can tell by the scent," Tony said. "They knew right away that a werewolf pulled the trigger and it wasn't anybody that had been in those two hotel rooms where Winkler and Harper were staying. This one's room had the stink all over it, though." Tony was grinning at me.

  "Boss," the vampire said to Tony, "I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but I'm sure you've already figured out that our little girl there is a vampire. What you don't know, however, is how rare they are. There may be a handful, if that, in existence now. This one I haven't heard of, so she's new."

  "Little more than a year," Tony nodded. At that point, I sure as hell hoped there weren't any cameras or bugs in the room. These guys were spilling secrets left and right.

  "What have you got so far?" Tony asked, nodding toward Kelvin, who was sweating.

  "A list of names," vampire agent said.

  "And a promise to be a good boy and never do this again," werewolf agent added.


  I was growling by that time. "How are you connected to Tate Briggs?" I said to Kelvin, looking him right in the eye and putting the strongest compulsion I had into my voice.

  Kelvin whimpered and nearly collapsed on himself. "I can't tell you," he sniffed. That spelled out one thing to me—another vampire had placed compulsion and he was a stronger vampire. An older vampire. I looked over at vampire agent, who looked up at me. "You try," I said. I'd scented him; he was nearly as old as Charles.

  "Tell us your connection to Tate Briggs," vampire agent tried his compulsion, only he met with the same results.

  "What does that mean?" Tony looked from me to the vampire agent.

  "It means an older, stronger vampire placed compulsion for him not to tell," vampire agent sighed.

  "Do you remember that?" I asked Kelvin. "Do you remember having someone place compulsion on you?"

  Kelvin growled softly. "He said you'd ask. He told me to tell you if you asked that Saxom may be dead but his children are alive and well." After that statement, Kelvin passed out, banging his head on the table as he folded up like a bad hand of cards.

  Well, his words didn't mean anything to me and the vampire agent was also shaking his head—he didn't know either.

  "Do you have a trace on my cell phone?" I asked, studying Tony's face.

  "Not yet," Tony replied enigmatically. Likely, he just hadn't had time to order somebody to do it.

  "I don't know whether to trust you or not," I said.

  "Use mine, then, it's untraceable," Tony handed his cell over to me. I had no idea if Merrill would answer or not. He certainly wouldn't recognize the number. I still stared at Tony, unsure about all of it.

  "It's as he says," vampire agent told me.

  "Yeah. Like I trust you, too," I grumbled. I tapped Tony's cell and dialed Merrill's number from memory. Things like that came so easily to me now.

  "Hello?" Merrill wasn't sure about the call either.

  "Um, hi. This is Lissa."

  "Lissa, where have you been? The two who came to get you are nearly frantic."

  "Um, can't discuss that, right now," I said. "I have a question and it may be an important one," I added. "Do you know who Saxom was?"

  The silence was so long on the other end I was afraid the call had dropped. Finally, after what seemed a very long time, Merrill sighed. "Yes. I know who Saxom was. I assume you cannot mention names at the moment or tell me where you are?"

  "No," I said. "But the one who actually killed those employees at the hotel says that a vampire placed compulsion on him and told him that if anybody asked about it, to say that Saxom may be dead but his children are alive and well."

  More silence. "This is the worst of news," Merrill said eventually. "Are you safe for the moment?"

  "I suppose," I said. "As safe as I can be anywhere, I guess. Tell the two that I'll try to get with them soon."

  "I'll pass that on. Lissa, your fiancé is about to have a fit."

  "Well, tell him to join the club."

  "I will not attempt to contact you," Merrill went on. "I will wait to hear from you, instead."

  "I hope you do," I told him and hung up.

  Handing the cell back to Tony, I said, "He wasn't happy with that news and knew better than to say anything. Besides, these two could probably hear both sides of the conversation." I nodded to the vamp and werewolf agents.

  "You guys can do that?" Tony looked at the special agents. The werewolf just shrugged.

  Kelvin was struggling to wake up again. "What happened?" he asked, sitting up.

  "You fainted," werewolf agent snorted.

  I was narrowing my eyes at Kelvin. "What kind of idiot would murder two people and not check for security cameras?" I asked. "Was Tate the one who approached the vampire? Tell me." Compulsion was back in my voice.

  Apparently, if you ask the right questions, you can get around many compulsions. Kelvin was instructed not to reveal his connections to Tate. This, though, he hadn't been instructed not to reveal. "Tate met him on campus, one night," Kelvin said. "The vampire knew what he was, of course. Tate's father had just been killed; it was listed in the newspapers as an auto accident with the body mangled beyond recognition so it was a closed casket. The vampire recognized Tate."

  "More than likely went looking for him," I muttered. Kelvin stared up at me in shock.

  "You think so?" he asked.

  "Duh," I said. "Let me guess, the vampire told Tate that he knew Lester had gotten killed in a challenge. Isn't that right?"

  "Well, yeah."

  "And then he offered to help Tate get revenge."

  "Yeah."

  "By exposing the vampires because he had an ax to grind, too."

  "Yeah." Kelvin couldn't believe I knew all this. Actually, any idiot would have known all that. He should have read some of those mysteries I'd loaned him instead of sending the pages off to be fingerprinted.

  "Well, idiot boy," I said, "he intended to expose your race, too. Imagine what would happen if you were locked in a cell come the full moon?"

  "Oh." Now Kelvin was getting the bigger picture.

  "The campus you mentioned, is that here in Kansas?"

  "No." We were back to sullen answers. I wondered how old Kelvin actually was, and had Winkler truly been fooled by all this? I couldn't imagine that he'd be that stupid.

  "Then it's New Mexico," I said. "Tate was from Santa Fe, as nearly as I remember."

  "You said Tate Briggs?" The werewolf asked as he pulled out his cell phone and hit a button. "Delgado, Renfro here," he said. "I need any records pulled up on Tate Briggs, a student at any college in New Mexico." He waited; apparently, somebody was checking.

  "Albuquerque State University," I heard the voice on the other end of the call quite clearly. "Majoring in sports medicine."

  "Check for Kelvin Morgan," Renfro said. I knew the werewolf's last name, now.

  "No Kelvin Morgan. There's a Kevin Miller, enrolled in the same program," the voice said.

  "Is that your name? Kevin Miller?" I asked Kelvin. He blinked stupidly at me. He'd been told not to answer but I think I'd gotten answer enough.

  "Any fingerprints on Kevin Miller?" Renfro passed the message along.

  "Not required by the school," the voice said. Renfro had called him Delgado. I wondered if he were furred or fanged.

  "Where are Winkler and Weldon now?" I asked Tony as Delgado was looking for other records on Kevin Miller.

  "They're out of jail and the media are being told that they were arrested by mistake—that we are currently seeking the real suspect or suspects," he said.

  "And just how do you intend to deal with that?" I flung a hand toward Kelvin/Kevin. It would be just as I'd said. When the full moon came, he'd turn. No way to prevent it that I knew of. Tony just shrugged. He had something planned, I just knew it, and there wasn't any way he'd be telling me.

  "Am I under arrest?" I asked him instead.

  "No."

  "Can I walk out of here?"

  "I was hoping you'd come out to dinner with me so we could talk." His gray eyes were begging a little.

  "You used to be one of my good memories, Tony Hancock," I said bluntly.

  "And I'm not now?" He actually looked disappointed.

  "Now you're just like all the other males I know." I stalked out of the room. He followed me for a bit and when the three who'd been in the bookstore tried to block my way, Tony told them to let me go.

  Figuring that I'd be followed once I left the building, I caught scent of my tracker. He wasn't furred or fanged so I started running, turning to mist as I ran. The poor schmuck lost me after three blocks. Tony still had my cell number, though, so I was going to have to fix that. I came back to myself about two miles away and asked a nice young man outside a bar if I could borrow his cell phone. He was more than happy to, handing it over with a grin. I called Winkler.

  "Where are you now?" he asked.

  "Funny, that's what I was about to ask you," I said. "I
need another cell phone. I don't need Tony tracing my number."

  "We'll get you one tomorrow. Weldon is talking to the new Packmaster tomorrow evening and we're hopping the jet immediately after."

  "We've got lots to talk about," I said.

  "Same here," he said. "We're at the Marriott hotel. Weldon wanted to shake the dust of the Saint James off his feet; they offered us free rooms since we were wrongly accused but we respectfully declined."

  "I have to catch up with a couple of people to let them know I'm okay," I said. "I'll be there before the night is over."

  "Good," Winkler sighed. I hung up, thanked the young man and then placed compulsion to forget about me.

  Rhett and Dalroy were about to have a fit when I wandered into the safe house. "You probably need to get rid of the Cadillac," I said, first thing. "And rent something else, just in case."

  "Already got something, it's in the garage," Dalroy told me with a grin. I'd misted inside the place; there are cracks just about everywhere. "Where's the Cadillac?"

  "In the parking lot about two blocks from the Barnes and Noble on Rock Road," I said. "I didn't want to take any chances, and I still don't. They probably didn't connect me with the car but you never know."

  "I'll go get it," Rhett offered. I handed the keys over to him; they'd been in my pocket the whole time.

  "I need to get back with Weldon and Winkler, they're expecting me," I said. "I need to take the cooler with me, too."

  "Take this one, it has a lock on it," Dalroy pulled a replacement out of a broom closet. A set of keys were taped to the top of it. Vampires were prepared, looked like. And since there were two keys, Winkler and I could both have one.

  "Where do you need to go? I'll drop you off," Dalroy offered.

  "The Marriott."

  "I know where that is." We loaded up the clothing that Rhett bought for me and I tried to pay him for it.

  "Nope. The Council said they'd reimburse me." He was smiling. "It was worth it, even if we didn't get to see you for more than a little bit," he said. "Neither one of us have ever seen a female vampire before."