by K. A. Linde
Chapter 11
Reyna couldn’t get warm.
No matter how many layers she had on, despite the hand warmers in her gloves. Her bones ached. Her skin had gone past the point of numb to a painful stinging. Her nose was bright red and she kept having to sniffle. The rooftop overlooking City Hall downtown was a bad location right before a blizzard.
Beckham had spent the last hour securing their position. He didn’t want to take any chances. She sure as hell didn’t either. Being here was a huge risk. They were exposed and a lot of people wanted them—dead or alive.
Her eyes traveled to the waiting crowd in front of City Hall. The streets were filled for as far as she could see. People come to hear the big news the beautiful mayor, Penelope Sky, would deliver. No one cared that she had been turned into a vampire or that she was most assuredly a puppet.
“This feels awfully familiar,” Reyna muttered. “Except for the cold.”
Beckham’s eyes turned to the crowd and he frowned. “I’m glad we’re not down there this time.”
“Yeah. No angry mobs for me.”
The last time an announcement was made at City Hall—when the old mayor, Penelope’s father, had begun the Blood Census, issued mandatory identification bracelets, and initiated a curfew—Reyna had been swept up in a riot and nearly knocked unconscious by the crowd.
The crowd suddenly quieted down as figures walked onto the stage. She was lucky that Drew’s safe house had had a pair of binoculars; he’d given them to her before she’d left. It had been hard getting him to stay behind, but convincing him to watch Laura had done the trick. Her stomach had already settled knowing he was alive.
Reyna brought the binoculars up to her eyes and watched Penelope walk onto the stage erected in front of City Hall. Rowland followed behind her and took a seat to her right. A few people she didn’t know or recognize filed in. To her surprise, Harrington was absent.
“Where is he?” she muttered.
Reyna looked and looked and looked. But it was useless. If he was going to be there, then he would be front and center next to Penelope. He wasn’t the type to stand in the shadows and let someone else take the credit. Which begged the question—where was Harrington if not here?
Someone introduced the mayor to the crowd, which cheered at her introduction. Reyna returned her binoculars to Penelope’s long, lithe body. She was dressed in a sensible black pantsuit. Her dark hair was glossy and expertly curled. There were no longer any traces of the fire that had ravaged her body. No signs of the weeks of reconstructive surgery she had undergone to try to rectify the damage. Just smooth skin and perfectly puckered pink lips and shining blue eyes. Reyna had always thought she was the most beautiful human she had ever seen in her life. As a vampire, she was dazzling.
If only she wasn’t rotten to her core. A two-faced bitch who had attempted to claim Beckham, and when she had lost, had done anything necessary to try to fix it. Even becoming a vampire and blowing up their entire operation on New Year’s Eve by turning coat, all because Beckham didn’t want her. Whatever pity Reyna had felt for her had evaporated. The gunshot to Penny’s heart that night had been less than she deserved.
“Thank you. Thank you,” Penelope said into a microphone, holding up a gloved hand. “Thank you all so much for coming out today in the midst of this cataclysmic weather. First, I would like to remind everyone to prepare adequately for the storm. It’s not like anything we’ve seen in a long time. Probably since before I was born.”
She let out her little tinkling laugh that endeared everyone to her. Then she suddenly sobered.
“Now to address the other occurrences around the city. I’m not immune to the death and destruction happening. As you know, there was a spree of murders on New Year’s Eve and I was targeted. Luckily, I was spared from certain death…again. I can’t say the same for Cassandra Dressla, a top official in Visage and a close personal friend.”
Reyna rolled her eyes. Yeah, right.
“Couple that tragedy with the blood disease sweeping the city, we are in dire times. Humans are unknowingly being affected and passing it on to vampires through their blood. There the disease rampages the vampires’ systems and turns them into starving monsters. These rogue vampires go mad and try to kill everything in their wake. We have identified this as cogitare anemia.”
Reyna drew in a sharp breath. Washington had told her about this before everything had gone south. They both suspected that Visage had been the one to unleash this deadly disease onto the population. If treated quickly, the vampire could survive, but the longer they went, the worse they got. And from Penelope’s speech it sounded like things were getting a lot worse.
“Because of the rebellious terrorist groups and this blood disease, we have come up with a solution.”
She could feel Beckham tense next to her.
“With the full support of the government, the city is going to work with Visage to secure human safety housing. Anyone who believes that they may be infected or would like to be moved to safer housing in the midst of this, you are welcome. The housing is completely free. The only thing we ask is that you help us fix this problem in our city. Together we can eradicate this illness and bring peace back on the streets.”
A cheer rose up from the crowd.
Reyna couldn’t understand why. Her stomach had sunk all the way to the floor. Free housing. Trying to cure a disease that Visage had unleashed. This sounded way too fishy to her.
“The city is providing our bus service to take people from specific locations to these designated areas. All costs will be covered. For more information regarding the new housing, stay tuned for a Visage representative.”
Penelope flashed a brilliant smile. But for a second, Reyna thought she saw something else in it. Fear. Distaste. It was only there for a second before it disappeared
“Thank you all so much!” Penelope waved her hand and the crowd cheered even louder for her. They loved her. She quickly departed, anxious to get off that stage. A woman who had just delivered a death sentence with a candy bar.
The Visage representative moved to the microphone and started to drone on about protocol, effectively losing the crowd. Reyna moved her binoculars to where Rowland stood and approached Penny. She visibly flinched away from him. Oh, yeah, she was not enjoying her new role in this. Finally, she was getting what she deserved.
“We should go,” Beckham said.
“You don’t think we should go down there? Find out more information?”
Beckham sliced his head to the side once.
She nodded and followed behind him. It was likely that what Penelope had said was all she actually knew. Beckham had been Elle’s insider for so long. They all felt a little blind without him feeding them stuff about Harrington.
Reyna could sense that he felt a little lost without it too. Though he’d never say so. He’d continue to go on and put on his big bad mask for the world. And she’d let him. They both needed it.
They took the endless stairs down to the main floor. Round and round and round they went until her legs ached.
When they finally made it to the ground again, the wind whipped her dark hair in her face and she cursed. Beckham tucked the loose strand into her beanie. She looked up at him and smiled. Beckham gently took her hand in his and then hauled her through the crowd that was dispersing down the street.
They veered toward the getaway car. It had been damn near impossible to find a place to stash their SUV on the way in. She wouldn’t mind the walk if it weren’t so bitterly cold. The wind chill was some obscene negative number. It was like even the weather disagreed with Visage’s new plan to take over.
Halfway to the SUV, snow began to fall.
Big beautiful snowflakes so white and picturesque.
A soft flurry that cascaded from the clouds and over the dark city streets.
Reyna couldn’t help it. Despite everything going on, the snow still amazed her. She hated the cold, but the snow was different. It was too beautiful to hate when it first fell and blanketed their world in a winter wonderland. Before it turned to black ice or gross tramped-through slush on the sidewalks.
She stopped in her tracks, pulling Beckham to a stop beside her. Then she opened her mouth like a little kid and tasted the snowflakes on the tip of her tongue.
Beckham watched her in utter fascination. She might as well have sprung a second head for all her behavior made sense to him.
In the midst of the dire, the world produced beauty.
She intended to revel in it.
“You are a mystery,” Beckham said. His eyes followed her as she skipped a circle around him with her arms wide and her head tilted back.
“The world is a mystery and I live in it.”
“So…human.”
She twirled toward him and planted a kiss on his lips. “You were human once.”
“Might as well have been a lifetime ago.”
She shrugged and stole another kiss. “We have a lot ahead of us. You can enjoy the snow for a full second. I won’t tell anyone.”
And for that full second, he did. He dropped all his guards. Looked at her like his glorious snow queen and tasted the snow on his tongue.
She giggled and then traded her snowflake for his. As their kiss heated the space, the snowflake melted between them. She sighed against him, forgetting the world in this moment of security.
And when she pulled away, a wind picked up, the snow all around them spiraling savagely toward them. She looked up as if she could find the source of the sudden current and just saw a blur barreling toward them. She got out a gasp before Beckham said, “Get back.”
He barely touched her when he tried to move her backward, but it was as if he’d forgotten his own strength in the moment. She tumbled back a foot and landed in a heap in the freshly falling snow. She groaned as she righted herself. That hurt like a bitch. Her tailbone was definitely going to be bruised. At least she’d had a lot of extra clothes on to pad the fall. She wondered what the hell had freaked Beckham out enough to react like that.
Then she saw it.
Rowland.
Her heart stuttered and she scrambled backward as Rowland collided with Beckham at full force. They skidded into the brick building, the force of their collision shaking the entire block. Whatever had accumulated on the rooftops fell to the ground.
Rowland had his hand around Beckham’s throat and was holding him in place. There was fire in Beckham’s eyes. He’d seen it coming. And had spent a crucial second making sure she was out of harm’s way. Reyna scrambled farther backward and tensed.
Her hand drifted into her pocket and she reached for the phone that she’d taken with her. She flipped the light display on and then pressed down the number three button. Beckham had told her to call it if she was ever in trouble. This probably qualified.
“You traitor!” Rowland snarled at him. Beckham just blinked. “Did you think I wouldn’t know you were here? That I couldn’t spot you on that rooftop? You and that bitch!”
“Watch what you say about her,” Beckham said, low and dangerous. He wasn’t even frazzled. In fact, although Rowland was holding Beckham down, he was also the one who looked out of control.
“And you defend her. After all of this. You gave up everything for one fragile human.”
“Are we going to fight or do you want to keep running your mouth?”
Rowland snarled in his face. “I should kill you right now.”
Beckham knocked Rowland’s hand away from his throat. “But you can’t.”
“You’re not my hit.”
“Still following daddy’s orders, I see.”
Rowland straightened. His face was a mask of fury. Gone was the civilized and dignified Frenchman who had tried to seduce her. In his place was a monster. Beckham was pushing him to the edge. He was trying to get a rise out of him. He wanted the fight.
“You are a disgrace to your kind. Humans are food. She is food,” Rowland said, pointing at Reyna. “A sweet delicacy, sure, but nothing more. When did you forget that? The moment she spread her legs for you?”
Beckham’s fangs flashed dangerously. “Tell me why you are here or let’s get this over with. I tire of you.”
“How could you throw your lot in with theirs?”
For the first time, Reyna realized that Rowland might actually be offended. If it was possible for someone so vile to be hurt, this would be what it looked like. Despite their differences, Rowland had believed that Beckham was on his side. They’d spent years working together. Their word was their honor. Rowland felt betrayed.
“You have arrived alone with orders not to kill me on sight,” Beckham said, ignoring his question. “You either want something or you have a death wish. Which is it?”
“A truce,” Rowland said. Beckham arched an eyebrow. “An alliance, then.”
“And what would give you the idea that I would want to ally myself with you?”
“Think about it.” Rowland straightened. This was the part he must have prepared himself for. The rehearsed address. “You and I spent years circling each other. Harrington brought us together with a vision of a better future. That future is now. Let’s grasp it. Together.”
“Speak clearly.”
“Depose Harrington. Take back what we had and rule as we once did. Not just lords but kings!”
Reyna’s head swiveled in terror between the two vampires. She could imagine the world Rowland was foreseeing. Vampires had once ruled with ultimate power. As far from equality between vampires and humans as possible. Reyna could never condone a world in which Rowland ruled. Harrington may be horrible, calculating, and sadistic, but Rowland was crude, base, and cruel. A close second to the devil.
Beckham released a laugh. Both she and Rowland snapped their heads to look at him. It was such an unusual sound. She heard it so rarely. She doubted Rowland ever had.
“No,” Beckham said plainly.
“Harrington is holed up! You will never get to him without me.”
“No.”
“You don’t know what you’re refusing.”
Beckham laughed again. “Oh, I do. And the answer is still no.”
Then he grabbed Rowland by the front of his jacket and threw him into the brick wall as he had done on New Year’s Eve. Reyna shuddered at the impact.
“Coward,” he spat over Rowland’s crumpled body, and then held his hand out for Reyna. “Shall we?”
“You’re not going to kill him?” she asked in surprise.
“He wasn’t here to kill me. I do have some honor.”
Her eyes were wide as she stared at the deadly man she had fallen in love with. There was no fear in her when she looked at him. She would do whatever it took to stop the trajectory Visage was on. She couldn’t fault Beckham for who and what he was for wanting to do the same. And she loved that by stopping just short of killing Rowland, it proved what she had always said—Beckham wasn’t a monster.
She placed her hand in his.
Chapter 12
Beckham and Reyna were off of Rowland’s radar by the time Philippé and Katarina sprinted toward them.
“We received your call of distress,” Katarina got out. She was actually breathing a little heavy. “Why…do you not seem in distress?”
Beckham’s eyes moved to Reyna. She shrugged one shoulder. They had been in distress when she’d made the call.
“I had it covered.”
Reyna rolled her eyes. “Well, when Rowland had you against the brick wall by the throat, I wasn’t so sure.”
“Rowland was here?” Katarina gasped. “And you were alone.”
“I can handle Rowland.”
“Right. What
did he want?”
“We’ll discuss it later.”
Katarina fell into step beside them and Philippé took the rear. “So…is he still smoking hot?”
Reyna’s head whipped to the side. “He’s disgusting.”
“Well, yeah. I was kind of into that for a while.”
“Katarina has interesting sexual tastes,” Beckham said with a smirk.
“What can I say? I like the kink.”
Reyna laughed. “I’m going to assume that you don’t know this from personal experience.”
“Beckham’s walked in on me tied up a time or two,” Katarina said with a wink. “But do you see this red hair? It’s like mosquito repellant for him.”
“Brunettes, right,” Reyna muttered.
“Hey, at least he didn’t torture you into insanity like the others!” Katarina said, all chipper. “Looking up for you.”
“Kat,” Beckham snarled. It sounded like he said that a lot.
“What? Philippé likes brunettes too.” Kat winked at her. “Young male ones.”
Philippé threw something at Kat’s back and she stumbled forward. “Hey!”
“You had that one coming,” Beckham said. “Now, can we get back to business?”
“Right. The spy’s place was secure. We’d never even tracked it.”
“So, like…is that what you do for Beckham?” Reyna asked. “Have you always been working behind the scenes?”
“Pretty much,” Kat said with a wink. “Gerard and Philippé worked for Beckham in public, and Zoya and I did the things other people couldn’t see.”
“Like a spy.”
Kat shrugged. “You could say that. We’re a tight-knit group.” She turned back to Beckham. “Anyway, I thought it might be that zealot group we’d had on our radar for a while, but it wasn’t. This is an all new thing. They use the tunnel systems to get around. Clever.”
“Your assessment of the premises?”
“Secure,” Philippé said from behind them.
Katarina agreed.
