by Nina Bangs
Fin had the picture of a building up on the monitor. Al frowned. It looked like a Greek temple set at the top of a hill. Familiar.
Fin didn’t waste words. “Jude’s vampires found them. They’re in the Museum of Art.”
Lio grinned. “Hey, now I’ll get to run up those steps like Rocky Balboa did. At the top I’ll pump my fists in the air and hum a few bars of ‘Gonna Fly Now.’ ”
Al wasn’t amused. The idiot was still in suit, jacket, and expensive tie mode. On the other hand, Al was dressed for killing. Jeans, boots, T-shirt, and black duster. His hair hung loose down his back. Tonight he hunted.
Jenna felt that she’d been fighting her way out of a black pit of goo for eternity. Her only point of reference was Al’s face. She didn’t understand why that was so. Didn’t even try to understand.
Finally. Light. She held her breath while awareness caught up with sensation. Wait a minute. The light had been there all along. All she’d had to do was crack her eyelids open and let it in. Dumb.
She opened her eyes wider and then blinked. “Bizarre” and “surreal” were the first words that came to mind. As her brain collected the bits and pieces of her most recent memory, she added “terrifying” to the list. She tried to look around without moving her head.
“Magnificent, isn’t it?” The male voice sounded normal and even a little friendly. “You’re in the Great Stair Hall of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The soaring ceiling with that grand staircase leading up to the statue of the goddess Diana makes me all emotional. I’ve tried to honor the architectural wonder of the building in my own little way.”
Uh-oh. Jenna didn’t need blinking yellow arrows pointing to “the spot.” Luke had kidnapped them. And she didn’t have to burn many brain cells to figure out who was signing his paycheck. Jenna looked for Lia. There, she was lying a few feet away. Still out. Then Jenna met the gaze of the man standing in the center of the hall. “You’re Eight.”
He winced. “Fin really doesn’t have much imagination. Call me Stake. I wasn’t expecting guests to night, but I admire Luke’s ability to grasp the moment. I’m afraid you’ve missed all the fun, though. The killing part is always good for a giggle. Feel free, though, to relax and watch me work.”
Jenna kept her mouth shut until she’d taken stock of what was happening. Eight was a tall man, about six one or two. Nice looking in a mature, middle-aged way. Touches of silver at his temples gave him a distinguished look. Expensive suit. He’d give Lio a run for his money.
She glanced into Eight’s eyes and froze. His human disguise was perfect except for his eyes. Black, with all the evil of the universe alive in them. Those eyes promised that he could watch the whole of humanity die and enjoy every moment of the dying. Jenna sucked in her breath and looked away.
His chuckle was warm and amused. “Scary, aren’t they? I’m among friends here, so I don’t feel the need to hide them. If you have any questions, ask me now. I don’t like to be interrupted while I work.”
For the first time, Jenna allowed herself to acknowledge the bodies arranged in front of Eight. No blood, but they were definitely dead.
“All nice and neat. Not like before. Why?” Did Jenna care about his method? No, but she did care about gaining time until help showed up or else she figured a way out of this herself. Whichever came first.
Oh, and she couldn’t forget the fear. She needed a few minutes, or maybe years, to get her terror under control. She tried to ease the pounding of her heart, tried to slow breaths that were coming way too fast. Maybe she needed a paper bag to breathe into.
“My vampires did a superb job. I’m impressed. Two punctures and not a drop of blood spilled.” Eight oozed pride in his minions. “I was interested in capturing the flow of lines rather than blood patterns this time. I found an abundance of unwilling models, security people and a few cops who came snooping around before I put up my ward.”
Eleven bodies. Someone had arranged them to form the number 2012 on the floor of the hall. Light spotlighted the gruesome scene. Shapes moved restlessly in the shadows where the light didn’t reach. She assumed these were Eight’s nonhuman recruits.
“Eleven. Clever.” She hoped her murmur hid the icy claws tearing at her mind.
“You recognized the symbolism. How bright of you.” Eight looked sincerely delighted. “I achieve two goals tonight. I tweak Fin’s nose at the same time I point Philadelphia down the path of mass hysteria. When I finish here, I’ll notify the media. It’ll be delicious.”
And the weirdness just went on. Eight had a sketchpad and pencils along with an iPod arranged on a small table beside him. There was a chair so that he could draw in comfort. On the floor beside the table was a cage with a seagull inside. It was alive.
“You like birds?” She recognized her mindless babble for what it was. Sound, any sound, kept her panic-stricken gibbering at bay.
“I appreciate anything that comes from the sea, Jenna. May I call you Jenna?” He didn’t wait for her reply. “The seagull is a bird of the sea. I found it injured and nursed it back to health. I’ll release it when the time is right.”
She didn’t try to hide her surprise. “Amazing. You get all gleeful about killing humans, but you care for a bird.”
He shook his head in mock sorrow. “You disappoint me. I thought that anyone who’d met Fin would realize that both black and white easily turn gray. There are many nuances to good and evil.”
Before she could ask him to elaborate, he called her attention to something else.
“I chose this spot because of the inspiration.” He swept his arms wide. “I took my pick from the best. I’ll take them with me when I leave.”
For the first time she noticed that paintings hung from the massive columns surrounding the hall. Obviously Eight had gone shopping in the museum’s galleries. The works of art all had one thing in common. The sea.
“Look.” He touched her shoulder and pointed.
She controlled her shudder.
“The painting on the third column. Manet and the Sea. My favorite.”
Jenna could only nod, because she’d seen something else as she’d turned to glance at the painting.
A man. No, not a man. Nothing human looked like that. He was the essence of all things beautiful, all things deadly, all things unearthly. His was a beauty forged in darkness.
Well over six feet, he was wrapped in a dark cloak, but it was his face that sucked the breath from her lungs. Every stark line of his jaw and cheekbones, every curve of his full lips spoke of sex. His eyes were deep forest green framed by thick dark lashes. Those eyes revealed what he could do to a woman’s body, the unspeakable pleasure-pain he could wring from her, sensations that would leave her screaming in ecstasy as she died because surely no woman could survive making love with him. Smoke-dark hair framed that sensual face, and Jenna knew if she stared into his eyes long enough she might just ask him to strangle her with that tangled glory. He had the kind of power to make a woman beg for even that kind of death. She was sure of it.
Oh God, oh God, oh God. Jenna had to look away, but she couldn’t. His gaze gripped her, tore her will away, and dragged her a step closer to him. Clenching her fists, she tried to resist. Because on a level far removed from reason, she knew that once she reached him, she’d tear her clothes from her body and offer herself to him. And there wouldn’t be a damn thing she could do to stop herself.
“Glorious, isn’t he?”
Eight’s voice broke the hypnotic hold the man’s gaze had on her. She blinked. Only then did she notice that only his eyes moved. The rest of his body seemed as inanimate as the steel sword that hung at his side.
“Who is he, and what have you done to him?” She forced herself not to look back at the man.
“Ah, my most prized possession.” Eight seemed to think about that. “Well, perhaps Manet and the Sea might be number one now.” Then he brightened. “But I’m still thrilled to have him. This is Kione, a Fae prince of the Unseelie Court. H
e’s an arrogant bastard. I’m sure he never thought anyone could capture him.” Eight’s smile was smug. “He knows better now. Oh, and he’s not moving because he’s less troublesome that way.”
“Unseelie Court?”
“He’s a dark fairy, my dear. A wonderfully evil addition to my collection. I acquire and use beautiful things.” Eight’s gaze turned predatory. “I’ll enjoy him.” He turned a speculative glance her way. “I might enjoy you as well.”
Over my cold and stiff body.
“Don’t tempt me. I find death in all its forms utterly fascinating.”
Eight’s smile was so normal it just didn’t fit the horror of his words. He seemed to sense her fear, and his smile widened. “Terror is the greatest aphrodisiac.”
Oh, hell.
Lia made whimpering noises as she regained consciousness. Eight turned his attention on her, and Jenna hated herself for feeling so much relief.
“And Luke also delivered the newly crowned queen of the vampires, who just happens to be human. Delightful. I must reward Luke for the amusement he’s giving me.”
While Eight’s focus was elsewhere, Jenna scanned the hall for possible escape routes. None. She wondered if Al cared that she was missing. Of course he did. The connection they’d forged when they’d made love was real, even if its links were created from the heat of sexual need.
And her sister. Kelly would be frantic.
Fin would sure care. He had bells for her to ring. Jenna got no further with her who-will-care list because Eight turned his attention back to her.
“I’d suggest you explain the facts to your friend. I can’t be bothered. I have a scene to capture.” He started to pick up his iPod.
“I know you don’t think we’ve got a chance to escape, but aren’t you afraid the Eleven will track us here?”
Eight looked mildly amused. “How? Fin can’t sense me, and I made sure that he couldn’t connect with you mentally. No one followed Luke. I have wards in place that’ll discourage interest in the museum.” He shrugged. “No, you’re completely at my mercy.” He winked. “And I have no mercy, none at all. I haven’t decided what part you’ll play in all this, but I’m thinking about it.” Once his iPod was in place, he began to sketch.
Lia was on her knees and about to struggle to her feet when Jenna reached her. Quickly, Jenna whispered what had happened. The other woman took everything in stride. And if she was terrified, she didn’t show it. Jenna felt a little resentful about that. She wanted someone to share her fear.
“So how do we get out of here?” Lia looked around the hall. “There’re too many of them for us to fight.”
“Uh, you think?” Jenna counted pairs of gleaming eyes in the darkness. Eight had brought at least thirty followers to his drawing party. She could only imagine what they were. Vampires for sure. She didn’t want to think beyond that.
Lia ignored Jenna’s sarcasm as she stared at the museum entrance. “The doors are glass, and so are the panels above them.”
“Yeah, but there’re a few pesky strips of steel in there too. What’re you thinking?”
Lia shrugged. “We can’t get out, but something might get in.”
Al. It was sort of pitiful how all thoughts led back to him. But they couldn’t count on a rescue. They had to come up with their own plan. She took a deep breath and dared to look at the Fae prince. “If we could free him, we might have a chance. If nothing else, he’d be a distraction. How powerful is a prince of the Unseelie Court?”
Lia’s gaze held raw sexual hunger as she stared at the dark fairy. Jeez, was that how she had looked? Jenna felt embarrassed.
“I guarantee there’s nothing in here except for the nutjob drawing pictures of dead people that’s more powerful than…” Lia never took her gaze from the prince. “What’s his name?”
“Kione.”
“Right. Anyway, we can’t free him. Neither of us knows how.”
Jenna narrowed her gaze on Eight. “The ‘nutjob’ is controlling Kione. If we could come up with a big enough distraction, maybe his hold would weaken and Kione could escape.”
Lia didn’t seem impressed. “Yeah, Eight would be so focused on killing us that the prince could escape. Fat lot of good that would do our dead butts.”
Talk about negativity. Jenna didn’t say anything more as she made her own plans to escape. She figured she was dead either way. Eight would kill them. No, wait, he’d have one of his recruits kill them. He couldn’t do it himself. Jenna would rather die in a fruitless attempt at escape. Proactive to the end, that was her.
She was still working out the details of her escape attempt when the floor beneath her began to shake.
Chapter Sixteen
His beast’s need for violence spurred Al on as he powered up the museum’s steps. Beside him, Ty’s T. rex matched him stride for stride. Behind them, the two raptors eagerly leaped ten steps at a time. Lio, in his human form, along with Sara and some of her wolves, followed in the rear.
Ordinarily Al would have drawn comfort from the feel of pack around him. Not this time. He didn’t care if he was one or one of many. A single purpose drove him—Jenna.
The ground shook and groaned beneath them. Humans close by would suspect an earthquake. Nonhumans inside the museum would know better. No one would see them until it was much too late. Fin had made sure of that.
They reached the top of the steps and pounded toward the glass entrance doors. The glass panels above the doors stretched several stories high. Neither doors nor panels would stop him. He didn’t slow down as he felt Fin’s power-boost kick in.
Al hurtled through glass and steel. Beside him, he heard Ty’s roar of challenge. Utah and Tor moved silently, lethal if smaller shadows ghosting into the Great Stair Hall.
Jude, along with his five vampires, had been crouched on the roof of a nearby building when they’d arrived. The vampires and werewolves would trail them inside, eager to be in on the kill.
Fin had cleared the way. He’d quietly gotten rid of the ward Eight had put around the museum and replaced it with his own. Maybe Zero should’ve warned his fellow immortal against overconfidence. Eight hadn’t posted any lookouts. Al was glad he hadn’t. Not that it would have made any difference once Fin arrived.
He analyzed the scene through his predator’s eyes. The man in the center must be Eight. His power felt like the controlling force in the room. Off to the sides, half hidden behind large pillars, figures scuttled to escape the flying glass. Those would be Eight’s people. But where was the only one he really cared about?
There. Jenna stood a few yards behind Eight. Lia crouched on one side of her, and a man who seemed frozen in place stood on her other side. The intensity of Al’s relief stopped him in his tracks while the barbs of fear that had wrapped around his heart loosened and fell away.
Only one man stood between him and his woman. He roared his challenge and then charged. Eight’s eyes grew wide as he flung a power burst at Al. If Al had been in human form, it would have ripped him apart. He wasn’t, and it didn’t. Sure, it slowed him down a little, but nothing Eight could do would stop him now.
The immortal wasn’t stupid, though. Al watched Eight glance around, assessing the situation. Then the immortal grabbed some things from a table, picked up a cage that held a seagull, and simply disappeared.
Al screamed his disappointment. He hated to lose prey. While Eight had been focused on him, Jenna and Lia had retreated to a far corner, safe from the fighting for the moment. Al’s job was to see that they stayed safe.
He put enthusiasm into his slaughter. Every one of the enemy would’ve killed Jenna if given the chance. They’d never kill anyone again.
Al clamped his jaws around the head of a vampire. The head separated from the body. Too easy.
Three werewolves leaped at him. He shook them off and then stomped on them. Luckily for the museum cleaning crew, Fin would make sure this mess was taken care of by morning.
During a brief lull in the ac
tion he noticed the human bodies that formed 2012. All Eight’s work was for nothing. Fin would get rid of those bodies too.
Then rational thought fled as a group of demons attacked him, and his soul’s instincts took over. Grotesque in their true forms, they leaped onto him, digging sharp claws into his back and slashing at his flesh with barbed fangs. They beat the air with leathery wings and screamed their fury. He scraped against a pillar and swung his tail, trying to dislodge them. Twisting his neck as far as it would go, he was able to tear one of them off him. He ripped at the creature, the taste of blood and flesh freeing the savagery that always lurked close to the surface in all of the Eleven. Nothing human remained of him at that moment.
“Holy hell.” Lia sounded more awed than afraid.
That was okay, because Jenna was terrified enough for both of them. Eyes wide, she watched the carnage. Even if she were capable of moving, she’d probably never make it across a floor slippery with blood and littered with body parts. The head of a creature she couldn’t identify lay near her, the dead eyes glazing over even as it stared sightlessly at her. She swallowed hard to keep from throwing up.
Again and again her eyes returned to Al. No, not Al. She could hardly see his shape inside the animal whose giant teeth were tearing apart the creatures that clung to him. “What are they?” She pointed.
“Demons.” Lia’s tone was matter of fact.
Jenna watched horrified as a demon’s wing wiggled and moved, searching for its lost body. A hysterical giggle rose and was firmly shoved back. “Why are they even fighting? They can’t kill each other.”
“It’s their nature. They were born to destroy.”
Lia licked her lips. “If I had my sword I could help.” Her eyes gleamed with her desire to leap into the middle of the fight. The rest of her might still be human, but her heart was vampire.
