Eternal Craving

by Nina Bangs

  “Then we messed up his recruitment program and kicked Nine back out into the cosmos. One less immortal worker bee for him. That’s a problem. The only way he wipes the human race off the face of the Earth on December twenty-first is if he has armies of nonhumans ready to rise up and destroy everyone. His guys already have thousands of shiny new recruits spreading the word across the rest of the world. But he needs more true believers. He can’t afford to lose another one of his immortal flunkeys. Who’ll do his recruiting then?”

  “Does he know we’re in Philly?” Utah glanced at his brothers. They all wore the same eager look.

  Al figured the three brothers were the deadliest of them all except for Fin. He never let their spiky blond hair, bright blue eyes, and body piercings fool him into thinking they were less than they were. They were pack, and they thought and fought as one.

  Fin closed his eyes as he took a gulp of his coffee. When he opened them, he looked a little less grim. “No. But he knows we’ll be tracking down his guys. So he’ll hit each of the cities where they’re recruiting. I kept his mind off what we were doing in Houston with a bunch of psychic attacks. That won’t work this time. He’s motivated to wipe us out.”

  “Why don’t we stop all the freaking games and make our stand here?” Gig’s pale eyes gleamed with the same need that drove all of them.

  Fin’s gaze swept the table—cold, assessing, and always with that deadly calm. “We’ve gone down this road before. Get this straight. We can’t kill them. We can only give them a one-way ticket home. And each of them has one and only one key to his house.”

  Gig made a rude noise.

  Fin skewered him with a stare that pushed everyone back against his chair. Gig paled.

  “I’m the one with the visions. I know which key will get rid of each of these guys. And you’re not it. We track them down, kill their recruits, and get the key to where it needs to be when it needs to be. Any more questions?” His stare said more questions wouldn’t be a smart idea.

  I’m the one with the visions. For just a moment, a starburst of memory exploded in front of Al’s eyes. Fin, but not Fin. Speaking the same words. Not in the same language, but the same words. A feeling of hopelessness so terrible it brought Al to his knees. And then it was gone, fading into the fog that always rolled in whenever he tried to remember. But there was something there, something just out of reach. And Al was convinced that Fin was at its center.

  He glanced up to find Fin staring at him. No emotion showed in those silver eyes, but Al got the feeling Fin knew exactly what he’d just seen.

  “The numbers aren’t random, are they?” Lio evidently thought his revelation was worth the danger of asking a question. “I’ve been thinking. We don’t know the names of these immortals, so you call them by numbers. I get that. But you’re a number guy. I bet each of those numbers has a meaning to you.”

  For the first time since he’d sat down at the table, Fin really smiled. And even Al was swept away by the power of that smile. It made all kinds of promises that Al didn’t believe anymore.

  “You’re right.” Fin nodded at Lio.

  Fin approved of Lio in a way he’d never approve of Al. Lio was cold and logical like Fin. But he was passionate enough about his fighting to fit in with the rest of the Eleven. He had the best of both worlds. Lucky Lio.

  Fin leaned back in his chair, his expression thoughtful. “When the visions first hit me, they didn’t make a lot of sense. They were like dreams where things were all mixed up. I saw each key and a hint of what it would do. I saw individual numbers and understood which city went with the numbers, even though the names of the cities meant nothing.” He frowned. “The one thing I didn’t see was the final outcome.”

  “Kelly was your key in Houston.” Ty sounded accusing.

  Al took orders from Fin, but sometimes the head guy’s coldness made his veins ice up. The keys weren’t people to Fin. They were tools. Al wondered what he and the others were. Just weapons?

  Fin nodded. “And she did what she needed to do. Kelly took down Nine in the Astrodome, but not exactly in the way I envisioned.” He shook his head. “That bothers me.”

  Of course it bothered him. Fin wanted a sure thing. Something they all wanted. Al spoke up. “So what did the number nine have to do with anything?”

  Fin stared out the window. “Did you know that the first exhibition game played in the Astrodome was on April ninth 1965? Or that the last game the Astros played in that stadium was on October ninth, 1999? The Oilers played their last game there on December twenty-first, 1996. Nine, nine, twenty-one. Significant numbers. And I missed them.”

  Al laughed. “Oh, come on. You can find the numbers you’re looking for anywhere. It’s not your fault you didn’t realize the Astrodome was the place where the big event would go down.” He couldn’t believe he was giving Fin an out.

  “I should’ve known.” Fin sounded like he meant it.

  Al added god complex to Fin’s sins.

  “This time will be different. Eight is the number.” His voice was packed tight with all kinds of intensity. “And we’re looking for a bell.”

  “The Liberty Bell?” Lio had taken his guidebooks seriously.

  “I don’t know. Could be. But that might be too public.”

  Al pointed out the obvious. “And the Astrodome wasn’t?”

  Fin nodded. “Point taken. In my vision, I saw a woman reaching out to ring a bell. I couldn’t see or hear it, but the knowing was in my head.” He leaned forward. “I saw the number eight, and I knew it was in Philadelphia.” He relaxed back into his chair again. “But I don’t have a clue what kind of bell or where it is. It could be a damn doorbell for all I know.”

  Spin’s bark of laughter sounded loud in the sudden silence. “Whoever gave you these crazy visions had a sense of humor.”

  “Yeah. Ha, ha.” Gig would never be accused of having a sense of humor.

  “Is that all?” Q glanced at his watch. “I have stuff to do before we hunt.”

  Fin took another swig of coffee. “Oh, there’s one more thing. Car, you’re switching partners.”

  Al felt like Fin had yanked the chair out from under him. “Hell, no. Car’s my partner. I don’t want anyone else.” Not too friendly, but Car was his pack now. Not much of a substitute for the real thing, but Car was all he had.

  Car frowned. “I didn’t ask for a new partner.”

  “You two weren’t together last night. Don’t think you had any problems, Car.”

  Al noticed Fin didn’t include him in the no-problems group. “I don’t want another partner.” He winced. Sulky wasn’t a good sound on him.

  Fin raised one brow. “Did I mention another partner for you?”

  Uh-oh.

  “I do what I think is best for the Eleven. Gig didn’t have a partner in Houston. He deserves one this time around.”

  Al had opened his mouth to speak, but Fin held up a hand to stop him.

  “Here’s the deal. I want to keep Utah and his brothers together. Can’t beat them as a team. So that means someone won’t have a partner.”

  “Doesn’t seem fair to me. Letting three guys stay together and then splitting others up whether they want it or not.” Car tugged at one of the diamond studs in his ear, a sure sign he was pissed.

  “Life isn’t about fair.” Fin’s power swirled around him, pushing outward, pressing against them until breathing got tough and they had to lean away from him. He might not do a lot of shouting and stomping, but Fin had no problem reminding everyone that he was the big boss. “If life was fair, we wouldn’t be here chasing nonhumans down every damn alley trying to find Eight.”

  Fin’s expression never showed anything but calm. Only his display of power hinted that he might be a little ticked. “Don’t worry about Al, Car. He won’t be alone. I’m putting him in charge of keeping Jenna safe and ignorant while she’s here.” He looked at Al and smiled.

  Gotcha. That smile said it all. Fin was taking him away
from the fight until he got his act together. He knew Al would hate playing babysitter; he wanted Al to hate it.

  “Follow her whenever she leaves the condo during the day and take her with you at night.”

  “Where the hell will I go at night if I can’t fight? May as well sit on the couch, get fat on chips and dip, and watch the Seventy-Sixers. I don’t get it.” Al didn’t get anything because the angry roar in his head was drowning out reason.

  Fin’s smile faded. “This isn’t about you. Get over yourself.”

  Al forced himself into tight-lipped silence. He gripped his coffee mug to have something to do with his hands.

  “She thinks we’re missionaries. Or maybe not. But whatever she thinks, you’re going to prove that we really are trying to pull people out of the gutter and make productive citizens of them. You’ll take her with you every night, you’ll find humans passed out in dark alleys, and, by God, you’ll save them. Whether they want it or not. By the time she leaves here, she’ll think we’re freaking saints. And you’re the man who’ll make it happen.”

  His soul crept closer to the mouth of its cave, but Al wouldn’t allow a repeat of last night. He tightened his grip on his control. Squeezing, squeezing, squeezing…

  Hot liquid spilled over his fingers. Shocked, he glanced down. His mug lay in pieces as coffee soaked into the tablecloth.

  “Very good.” Fin sounded surprised but pleased that Al hadn’t gone primitive on him.

  Al could only nod as Greer rushed to mop up his precious table.

  How could you hate a guy while at the same time knowing he was right? Al understood that Fin had to shut him down. One loose cannon could out them and throw every human in the city into a panic. Fin couldn’t take a chance on that.

  With the violence option off the table, Al satisfied himself with silently cursing Fin. He used every word Fin had poured into his head and some that he hadn’t.

  “Inventive. I’m impressed. Just make sure when you’re with Jenna you keep your emotions under control. Don’t broadcast, and for God’s sake don’t turn your soul loose. Ty made a mistake with Kelly because he let her feel his rage and lust, and then he let his soul escape. She didn’t have to do a damn thing. He connected all the dots for her.”

  The voice in his head didn’t surprise Al. He welcomed it. After all, what fun would mental curses be if Fin wasn’t listening?

  Then Fin turned his attention back to the others. “I know being around me and close to each other is working on your tempers, but keep it cool. I want Jenna to see a bunch of really kind and gentle guys.” He seemed to think about that for a moment. “Okay, that might be tough. But at least talk a good game. Make her think you’d throw yourself in front of a bus for your fellow man.”

  There was a collective groan that was cut off suddenly as Jenna entered the room.

  Coffee. Jenna needed a shot of caffeine before she could think about last night. Following her nose, she paused in the doorway to the dining room.

  Kelly hadn’t told Jenna she would have to eat breakfast with the savage hordes. Missionaries, ha. Jenna took a deep breath and scanned the men sitting around the long table. Eleven pairs of eyes stared back at her. None of them looked friendly except for Ty’s and Fin’s. And Fin’s friendliness was dipped in sinister.

  Jenna propped up the walls of her determination with some false bravado and tried to decide where to sit. There were two empty seats next to Ty. Probably for Kelly and her.

  Ty was still smiling, but his eyes looked worried. Why? Interesting. He pointed to the seat beside him. Jenna shook her head.

  She’d never find out the truth of what was going on here if she attached herself to Ty. She had to set up shop in the belly of the beast. So taking a last survey of the empty chairs, she walked around the table and settled herself next to the guy Fin had called Al.

  Jenna didn’t look at him, but she could feel the virtual darts of dislike he was sending her way. And beneath that, she sensed something stronger, emotion that raged and roared, fought to escape. She did some mental eye-rolling. Talk about an overactive imagination.

  But she hadn’t imagined his dislike. Too bad Al hadn’t talked to Kelly about her. Kelly could’ve told him that Jenna only had one reaction to anything negative flung her way. She caught it and heaved it back.

  Jenna poured herself a cup of coffee, added sugar and cream, stirred it, and then took a gulp. A sip wasn’t big enough to get her through the next few minutes. Turning her head, she smiled at him, showing lots of teeth. “So how long have you been a missionary?”

  She had to keep her smile from wobbling because…Wow, just wow. Last night she’d been dead on her feet, and he’d been standing in shadows. In the bright light of midmorning, he was a sight to behold.

  Jenna had already done her body inventory of him last night—almost as tall as Ty, muscular, über alpha-type, but she’d missed his more subtle points…“What’s your last name?”

  “Endeka.”

  The ghost of a smile touched lips so sensual she wanted to reach up to skim her fingers across them.

  “We’re all Endekas. Ty’s my cousin.” The smile disappeared completely. “I’m into the missionary life. It’s been such a blast that it seems like only minutes ago I first took my vow to help others.”

  Yeah, right. Jenna’s bullshit hat was planted firmly on her head. She spent lots of working hours squeezing stories out of people who were professional liars. No matter what Al’s luscious lips were saying, he wasn’t one of life’s nice guys.

  She knew that because? His eyes. He had eyes that could lure a woman into all kinds of sexy or possibly even illegal situations. Maybe both at once. They were hazel. She’d wondered about that. A lot. It was a little unsettling to realize how much she wondered. And if eyes truly were the windows to the soul, Al’s soul was a scary place. So many emotions, all of them dark.

  Jenna blinked and broke eye contact. “I admire someone with your kind of calling.” She didn’t even try to sound sincere.

  His soft laughter walked up her spine on silent predator’s paws. “You’d be surprised at what I do for my ‘calling.’ ”

  No, I wouldn’t. And I’ll find out soon enough. She shifted her gaze to his hair. Dark brown. He’d braided it, and the braid fell almost to the base of his spine.

  She wondered on a purely impersonal level what that hair would look like freed and falling around his shoulders. Things got a little less impersonal as she wondered what those silky strands—they’d have to be silky because he was that kind of a guy—would feel like skimming across her bared body. Drawing in a deep breath, she banished that thought to the trash bin where it belonged.

  “Kelly told us you were a journalist. What kinds of stories do you write?” His expression said, “Making meaningless conversation here.”

  Jenna smiled. She always loved this part. “I write about vampire attacks, werewolf maulings, ghost infestations, and alien abductions.” Her theory was never act defensive about what you do. Always attack first.

  Instead of the expected snort of derision, he simply nodded and continued eating. How…disappointing.

  It didn’t look like he intended to hold up his end of the conversation, so she shifted her attention to the man on the other side of her. He had the requisite great body and face that was evidently required to join this missionary society, but there his similarity to Al ended.

  He had short spiked blond hair, brilliant blue eyes, and a gorgeous smile. But she wasn’t sure she believed that smile. She glanced past him and realized the two men who sat next to him were carbon copies.

  She grinned. “Triplets?”

  “Yeah.” His smile widened. “We do everything together.”

  Jenna didn’t find that particularly comforting.

  He nodded at the two other men. “These two are Tor and Rap. I’m Utah.”

  She didn’t ask him to explain who was who because she’d never be able to tell them apart anyway. Jenna leaned forward and smi
led at the other men.

  Tor, or maybe it was Rap, spoke up. “How long do you think you’ll be here?” The unspoken addendum was, “I hope it won’t be long.”

  She was sure of that. He was still smiling, but his eyes had a “get lost” gleam to them. Ah, it was great to be wanted. “A week or two. I don’t have to worry about my job. My laptop’s in my room, and I bet Philly has as many weird stories as Houston.”

  Jenna could’ve sworn they all looked a little wary, but maybe she was imagining it. Could be she was seeing deceit everywhere she looked because she was worried about Kelly. Maybe she should back off and give these guys the benefit of the doubt until they proved they didn’t deserve it.

  She considered that for a nanosecond.

  Nope, couldn’t do it.

  Her intuition was scarily accurate, and her intuition was pointing fingers and taking names. And so far it had the names of everyone she’d talked to since she’d arrived last night, including her loving but lying sister.

  Utah’s smile faded, revealing a face that could only be described as predatory. “Some stories shouldn’t be told.”

  A warning? It sure sounded like it. Jenna had never considered herself a coward, but she quickly shifted her gaze to the man across the table from her.

  Jenna recognized Lio from last night. There was something really sexy about his square-neck chunky sweater. It wasn’t the color. Dark gray wasn’t a huge turn-on. It was the way he wore it, as though he could stride down any street in the country and women’s heads would turn. His hair, his clothes, his attitude said, “I’m too rich for any woman’s blood, but for the woman who dares…” Jenna couldn’t finish that line, because she didn’t know what would happen to a woman who dared.

  Lio’s smile was cool, his gaze assessing. “What do you want to do while you’re here in Philly?”

  She tried to look casual as she took a sip of coffee before answering. “Visit with Jenna, see Independence Hall, maybe take a look at your soul-saving techniques.” Jenna deliberately met his gaze. “Just in case I ever have the urge.” Okay, that sounded ridiculous.