Caretaker

by Laken Cane

  I would like to have heard her story. I would like to have known how and when Clayton had entered her world—but I’d seen her face. The deeper she got into her past, the more dangerous she became.

  Someday I’d hear it, but not while Clayton was within touching distance.

  “Miriam,” I urged, and finally she focused on me. “I have to go to the island tonight. I have to bring Angus home.”

  She downed the rest of the water, then crushed the plastic bottle. “Yes. And that is not going to be an easy task. I will go with you.”

  I got to my feet. “You can’t go. You’re a supernatural. The only way they’ll let you inside the Byrdcage is if they plan on keeping you there.”

  She shuddered, then stood as well. “Perhaps. But I’m not letting anything happen to you.” Despite the calm surety in her voice, her face went a little pale and remembered terror peeked from her eyes.

  I grasped her shoulders, leaned down, and kissed her forehead. “Thank you. But I don’t want you risking your life. I’ll have Shane and Alejandro with me.”

  “It would be risky,” she murmured. “Very risky.”

  I sighed, realizing that one minute I was wishing her dead and the next I was trying to keep her safe.

  She put her fingers to her forehead and her glassy blue gaze softened. “Clayton will go with you. They won’t let him enter the prison, but if he knows something is happening to you, he won’t ask them for permission. Leave Silverlight with him.”

  We both turned to look at the golem. He lifted his gaze to look first at Miriam, then me. Finally, he nodded. “You’ll need all the backup you can get.”

  “Absolutely not. It’s too dangerous for you, just as it’s too dangerous for Miriam. I don’t want to have to worry about you while I’m inside trying to break Angus out.” I smiled, but neither of them returned my smile. They didn’t respond at all—just continued to watch me.

  “Breaking him out is an impossible task,” I admitted, finally. “Isn’t it?”

  Miriam nodded. “Even if you somehow managed to free him from his restraints and sneak him out of the prison, how would you get him off the island? And how would you keep either of you free with law enforcement on your heels?”

  I put my fist to my mouth, my heart sinking as I accepted the futility of my plans. The only way I could get Angus out was if they gave him to me. “Then why am I even trying?”

  Miriam took my hand. “Because Himself told you to try. And that means you have a chance, even if you can’t see it at the moment. There will be a way. You just have to find it. You can’t break him out, but you can get him out.”

  I straightened my shoulders. “Yes. There will be a way.” The ancient, mystical man would not have set me an impossible task. That would have been a waste of his time.

  And once again brimming with hope and belief and determination, I strode from the necromancer’s office and went out to face the coming night.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Before I got into my car I hesitated, frowning when I realized my thoughts had drifted to Amias.

  If the island killed me, he would suffer forever. Once upon a time that would have made me a happy woman. Now, it just made me worry.

  I shook my head and climbed into my car. I had no idea why I was feeling some sort of misguided concern for him. I should have hated him. I did hate him. But it was obvious that I cared about him, as well.

  That was fucked up.

  Not that I would ever admit that to him. I could barely admit it to myself.

  My phone rang and I pulled it from my pocket, sighing. At last, reluctantly, I answered. “Captain.”

  “Trinity, I apologize. I…” He blew out a hard breath and I could almost see him running his hand over his head like he always did when he was frustrated. “I was out of line. I’m sorry.”

  I tapped the steering wheel. “Are you just calling to apologize, or is something going on?”

  “Lewis is impatient. He’d like an update.”

  “I have none to give him.” I hesitated. “I followed her to her blood and lost her in Galangal. I don’t think she’s still in the city, Captain.”

  “Frank,” he snapped. “Can’t you use a simple name?”

  “Why does it make a difference?”

  He was silent for a few seconds. “I don’t know.”

  I cleared my throat. “I’ll call you if I pick up her trail.”

  “Keep searching. You’ll get it.”

  He hung up and as I started the car, my phone buzzed again. That time, it was Shane.

  I drove away from the business park, my heart beating a little faster. “Hi,” I said.

  “I just talked to Rhys.”

  His voice was enough to make my skin pebble with goosebumps. “About the way station?”

  “Yeah.” He hesitated. “You okay?”

  I wondered exactly how much Rhys had told him. “I’m fine.”

  “Where are you?” he asked.

  “Leaving the business park. I’m going to drive around the city and try to pick up Madalyn’s scent. Finding her would make things a hell of a lot easier.”

  “You can’t trust the judge.”

  I frowned. “You don’t think he’ll keep his word?”

  “No. I don’t. I looked into some things today, Trinity. Bennett doesn’t see supernaturals as people. He’s not going to mind breaking a promise to one.”

  “I’m not exactly a supernatural.”

  “You are.” His voice was grim and sure. “To him, you’re a supernatural. He doesn’t just hate you because you hang with them. He hates you because you’re one of them.”

  I drove on autopilot, my mind on his words. The truth of his words. “But Crawford knows the judge well. He told the judge about my ability. He wouldn’t have done that if he hadn’t trusted Bennett.”

  “You sure of that?”

  “Yes,” I replied firmly. Then, a little softer and a lot less sure, I repeated my answer. “Yes.”

  “Watch your back until I’m there to watch it for you.” He hung up.

  For a second I hated the daylight. I wanted night to fall so I could hunt. So I could kill the remaining infecteds. I couldn’t do any of that when the sun shone down like a beacon of joy and happiness, covering the dark reality of the city with a blanket of bright, warm lies.

  I wanted the darkness.

  For reasons unknown to me, the ancient man had decided it should be dark when I returned to the island. Perhaps because things would be calmer on the island at night. Maybe there’d be fewer humans there. Fewer guards.

  I stared into the distance, waiting for the light to turn green, when something crashed into the side of my car. I yelped and instinctively released my seatbelt, then jerked around in my seat, but I saw nothing.

  I opened my door and stepped out, leaving the engine running. One never knew when a quick exit might be needed. I hurried around to the back of the car, though the thump had been on my side, to peer down at the street. Nothing on that side, either.

  No blood, no body…

  What the hell had hit my car?

  Whatever it had been, it was gone now. Maybe a huge bird. I shrugged and jogged back around to the driver’s side, and found a rather large man leaning against my car.

  Mystery solved.

  “You hit my car,” I said.

  He didn’t waste time with small talk. “I’ve come for my demon. You know where he is.”

  I gaped. “Your demon?”

  “Seth Damon. I’ve come to take him home.” He paused and sniffed the air, frowning. “Why do you smell like vampire?”

  Cars whizzed down the highway, but not one of them made the turn into Bay Town. A couple of them honked, a few slowed down out of nosiness, but no one stopped—I couldn’t decide whether that was surprising or completely understandable, seeing as how the man standing in front of me was completely naked.

  He didn’t seem to notice that he was naked, however. He straightened, crossed his
arms, and spread his bare feet, staring down at me with a haughty, impatient expression.

  I tried to keep my gaze from dropping to the huge appendage between his legs, and I succeeded. Mostly.

  “You’re an incubus,” I said.

  He lifted an eyebrow. “Thank you for telling me. I’ve often wondered.”

  I said nothing, but I inched my fingers to the shrunken blade sheathed at my hip.

  “All I need is the demon who calls himself Seth Damon. He was summoned home and failed to appear. He’s not dead, and I’ve tracked him here. To you.” He stepped toward me and his presence was suddenly so large and looming and powerful that I stumbled back, ripping Silverlight from her sheath.

  She screamed to life, attaching so violently to my arm that I screamed with her as agony spread like fire through my arm before blessed numbness descended. She was attaching for a demon—and that shocked the hell out of me. Silverlight usually came to life only for vampires. She didn’t spread her light for other creatures. She didn’t attach when a demon was in the vicinity. At times she would expand when I felt a threat, but very rarely did that happen.

  Yet there she was, brighter, longer, and angrier than I’d ever seen her.

  Her silver halo was brighter than the sun, and its forceful power caused the demon to halt, finally something other than dark disinterest in his stare.

  He fell back against the car, his hand to his chest. “Silverlight,” he roared.

  Expressions he couldn’t hide chased each other across his face—recognition, awe, fear, pain, and finally, complete and utter rage.

  And suddenly I knew from whom Amias had stolen the sword. He had stolen her from the demons. From that demon.

  “I walked through hell to steal her for you…”

  “Uh oh,” I said.

  Seth Damon had caused her to react as well, but not like that. Nothing like that.

  Tires screeched and cars crashed, but I couldn’t look away from the demon. If I had looked away, he would surely have taken me. He would kill me and he would reclaim my Silverlight.

  And I absolutely could not allow that to happen.

  “She’s tasted me,” I said. “She lives with my blood inside her. She belongs to me now.”

  “You,” he sneered, but his eyes filled with blood and he had to shield them from the light of the sword. “You.” And then his words were more of a whimper than a roar, and I knew he saw the truth. “I’ve lost her.”

  Silverlight was mine.

  “She chose me.” And though my voice was not loud, it was certain, and the truth of my words was unquestionable.

  Sirens screamed urgently in the distance.

  “Seth Damon,” he whispered, continuing to shield his eyes. “This is his fault, and I will forge a new sword from his flesh, his blood. His lust.” His voice grew louder as he talked, and by the end, he was shouting. “His heart!”

  And he dropped his hand from his eyes and faced Silverlight, stood against her light with his fury at her loss and his pain at her betrayal, and even as he started gushing blood from every orifice on his body, he didn’t look away.

  Demons were a proud, stubborn lot.

  For a second, I felt only pity. I could imagine how I’d feel if Silverlight betrayed me for someone else. I would be unreservedly devastated. Just as he was.

  His blood splashed upon the ground, hissing as it sizzled and burned its way through the blacktop. It began to spread toward me, that blood, and I knew if it touched me I would burn just as the street burned.

  I backed up. Slowly, I backed up. I could have attacked him. I could have tried to slice him into bits with the light and power of the sword, but I was afraid to. If he managed to grab me and seal his mouth over mine, she would drop away to protect herself—and then he would reclaim her.

  I didn’t look away from him when a car screeched to a halt behind mine. My people were arriving—and I was not surprised. First Shane, roaring up in his truck, then Rhys, then Clayton and Miriam.

  Miriam yelled my name, and that was when I realized she had arrived—and where she went, Clayton went. And where Clayton went, Seth Damon went.

  I swayed as the blood drained from my face, and I took my stare off the new demon and put it on Miriam’s slave. If the incubus figured out Seth was inside Clayton, he would not hesitate to rip Clayton wide open as he yanked Seth free.

  I had to protect Clayton. I hadn’t freed him from Miriam, and I was for damn sure not giving him up to a fucking demon.

  I had Silverlight. I just had to believe in her.

  And I had to believe in myself.

  The demon might have battled us all but for the human police. As they and the paramedics sped toward us, the incubus looked at me. His stare was long, dark, and challenging, and it held absolutely no doubt. “I will return for you.”

  And just as he’d appeared, out of thin air, thumping against my car, he disappeared. The air rippled and smoked, and he was gone.

  We were all safe. At least for the moment. Silverlight calmed and detached, and I dropped her into her sheath to sleep.

  I started to turn toward my supernaturals when Clayton’s eyes widened and he lunged, tackling me. He bore me to the ground and the asphalt scraped the skin from my cheek just as my car exploded.

  I didn’t see it, but they told me later how the car had been flung into the air by unseen hands and then exploded with the force of a thousand dirty bombs.

  Only one human was seriously injured, and that was likely all that would save the supernaturals from another vicious round of persecution by the police.

  That human was Shane.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Get off me, baby hunter.”

  I ignored his words and continued my frantic search of his body. He was covered with blood—a piece of sharp metal from my destroyed car had embedded itself in the side of his head, and when I felt the back of his skull, my fingers came away sticky and wet and red. “Get the paramedics over here,” I said calmly.

  At least I thought my voice was calm until Rhys squeezed my shoulder.

  “Breathe, Trinity,” he murmured.

  Shane’s face was so pale it was nearly blue, and as I stared down at him, his eyes rolled wildly, like a frightened horse. “Where’s Betty?” he mumbled.

  Then he focused on my face. Sort of. “Trinity.”

  I took his hand. “I’m here.”

  His grin was crooked. “You’re my one.”

  My jaw dropped. “What?”

  But he drifted into unconsciousness and did not repeat himself. I glanced up at the circle of faces surrounding us. “Get the paramedics.”

  “Clayton,” Miriam ordered, and she dropped to her knees beside me. Clayton turned immediately to fetch the paramedics.

  She traced Shane’s face tenderly, and I saw that Shane wasn’t the only one bleeding. Her fingers were coated in blood.

  “You’re hurt.” Then I glanced up to tell Clayton to have them bring two gurneys, and froze. The entire back of his body was covered in blood. Miriam wasn’t hurt—she was just bloody from touching Clayton.

  “Clayton,” I cried. Then I leaned forward and grabbed Miriam by the front of her dress. “Tell him I can touch him.”

  Dazed, she stared at me. “What?”

  “Tell Clayton I can touch him,” I screamed.

  Shane groaned, and then all her attention was on him. “Shane,” she murmured.

  I shook her. “Miriam—”

  She looked at me. “I will not. Get away from me, Trinity, before I order that motherfucker to rip his own heart out.”

  She was furious, but she was also scared. Clayton had somehow circumvented her command and had thrown himself on top of me to save my life.

  Yeah, she was scared.

  Rhys grabbed my arm. “Come on, love.” He pulled me to my feet and we rushed to Clayton, who walked doggedly on.

  “Clayton.” I pulled back just before I touched him. He didn’t need to lose any more blood. “Sit
down. Sit down.”

  He stumbled but continued on. “I can’t.”

  “Miriam told him to fetch the paramedics,” Rhys reminded me. “Hang on, buddy.”

  He jogged toward a couple of the paramedics, who were bent over a prone body. Even as I watched, the person on the ground sat up.

  Rhys returned with two paramedics and a cop in tow. We could have done without the cop, but it wasn’t like we could force him to leave.

  The paramedics stopped in front of Clayton. “Let’s get him on the cot.” One of them took Clayton’s arm.

  Clayton shoved the paramedic away. “See to the human.” He pointed toward Shane.

  The paramedic shook his head. “Getting harder and harder to tell the supernaturals from the humans.” Then he and his partner trotted away to tend to Shane.

  The cop eyed me. “Ms. Sinclair. What happened here?”

  “Bomb squad is here,” someone yelled.

  “Rhys,” I said, grabbing his arm. “Can you get Clayton to the doctor?” He didn’t need a human paramedic. He needed a supernatural doctor.

  “Ms. Sinclair,” the cop insisted. “Have a word?”

  Another cop trotted up to us and without hesitation, he brought out his cuffs. He slipped to Clayton’s back as I watched in confused silence, but when he grabbed Clayton’s bloody arm and started to cuff him, I unfroze.

  “Get away from him,” I snarled.

  The cops looked at each other. “We’re going to have to take him in and question him,” the first cop said. He pointed his chin at Rhys. “You’re not human, either, are you?”

  “Rhys.” My voice couldn’t possibly have been any colder.

  “Yes, Trinity?”

  “Take Clayton to the doctor. Go now.”

  He didn’t hesitate. He slid in between the cop and Clayton, put his arm around Clayton’s shoulders, and urged him away. Honestly, I had no idea how Clayton was still standing.

  The two cops shifted uncertainly from foot to foot, uncomfortable and silent.

  Rhys glanced back at me once, and in his eyes was a soft appreciation. “Just one more reason why we’re thrilled to fucking death that you’re ours,” he said. “Our human.”