Caretaker

by Laken Cane

  “We can’t get those on the island,” I said.

  “I’ll leave them in the car. Someone can bring them over if things go crazy. I know a man.”

  “We’re gearing up for a war,” I said, almost jokingly, and then realized the grim truth of my words. Something was coming, and we all felt it.

  I sat at the table with him and gulped down dinner, but halfway through I had to push my plate away as the nervous knots in my stomach left little room for food.

  “Full?” Clayton asked.

  “Scared,” I answered.

  He reached out to touch me, flinched, then slammed his palm down on the table so hard the plates jumped.

  Neither of us said anything. There was really nothing to say. We shrugged into our vests and left the house.

  Alejandro was leaning against my borrowed car, his arms crossed, looking like he had all the time in the world and didn’t have an impatient bone in his body.

  “I hope you weren’t waiting long,” I said, striding past him to the driver’s side.

  “About an hour.” He grinned, then shrugged. “I’m used to waiting for women to get ready.” He offered Clayton his hand. “I’m Alejandro. I hear we’ll be kicking ass and taking names tonight.”

  Clayton shook his hand, then got into the passenger side, leaving the backseat for Al. He said nothing.

  “A man of few words,” Alejandro said. “I like him.”

  By the time we reached the lake, a grim and silent darkness had descended upon the city, and upon me and my two friends.

  Whatever came, I was ready for it.

  And that belief was the only thing that made me hunker down into my darkness and prepare to face whatever bad shit lay ahead.

  PART THREE

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  No one would take us to the island.

  “It’s the weekend,” one ferry operator said. “Only employees and police get a ride over tonight, lady. Come back Thursday.”

  “Convince one of them to take us,” I hissed to Alejandro. And when he strode off, I drew Silverlight from her sheath. “I had to bring her.”

  Clayton nodded. “I know.”

  I stared across the dark lake, my mind churning. Finally, I sighed. “I’ll have to bury her. You said you know someone who’ll bring weapons from the car if we need him?”

  He nodded.

  Silverlight, warm and familiar, vibrated in my hand. And I knew what to do.

  “Shield me,” I told Clayton, and crouched beside the car.

  I wasn’t figuring things out—Silverlight was. She expanded in my grip, but gently. The tip of her blade pulsed with a dull white light, and she grew heavy in my grip—urging me to lower her to the ground.

  “She’ll bury herself.” Clayton’s murmured tone was full of admiration and maybe the tiniest bit of envy.

  I touched the tip of her sharp blade to the earth. The ground began to sizzle, and Silverlight spun feverishly in my grip. I let her go, then watched with wide eyes, barely breathing as my sword twisted herself into the ground.

  When she was finished, the earth had closed protectively around her, and she was gone. Hidden.

  I rubbed my fingers over the dirt, awed.

  “I saw a vampire go to ground once,” Clayton said. “That’s what she just did.”

  I stood, my body tight and trembly. “She’s alive, Clayton. Isn’t she?”

  Alejandro jogged toward us. “Found someone,” he called. “Let’s go.”

  Alejandro had slipped a folded pile of bills to a woman who wanted the money more than she cared to stick to the rules of Byrd Island.

  “Good luck finding a way back,” she said, when we climbed aboard her tiny transport. “I’m not hanging around.”

  We didn’t care. We just needed to get there.

  “Why aren’t visitors allowed on the weekends?” I asked her.

  She shrugged. “They need their party nights, girlfriend.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, but she was done talking.

  I closed my eyes as the image of Angus’s face swam into my mind. We’re coming for you, Angus. We’re coming.

  I was determined, but when I thought too hard about the fact that there were only three of us—a bloodhunter, a golem, and a human—against an island of guards, a secure prison, and a stockpile of weapons, my confidence began to slip.

  So I opened my eyes, straightened my spine, and refused to allow doubt to enter my mind. Angus was coming home. Simple as that.

  There were no other options.

  As far as I could tell, Clayton was healed from Miriam’s torture. His face was blank, his eyes empty, and he was once again the quiet, emotionless man I’d come to know well over the last year.

  I wrapped my hand around the railing, right next to his. “Don’t…”

  He looked at me, waiting.

  I tried again. “Be careful tonight. Don’t let them take you.”

  His expression didn’t change. “I won’t leave you.”

  I nodded, pretty sure my heart was in my eyes. None of us spoke again until we reached the island. Even Alejandro was quiet. He’d settled into his own grimness.

  We exited the boat five minutes later. Clayton moved as though he hadn’t just been tortured nearly to death, and Alejandro was like a watchful, smooth shadow.

  I had confidence in both of them.

  There were no guards at the checkpoint right off the docks.

  “Where are they?” I murmured.

  “I don’t know,” Al answered, “but it’s too bad we didn’t know they were going to be slacking. We could have brought some fucking weapons.”

  Silently, watching and listening intently for signs of guards, we walked through the shadows, drawing closer to the prison.

  I could almost hear Shane urging me on. “You’ve got this, baby hunter…”

  I missed him. I missed Shane the way I missed Angus, and Clayton, and Rhys and, though I didn’t want to admit it because it meant I was…well, I was just fucked up…I missed Amias.

  And if I hadn’t finally witnessed the unquestionable horror that lived inside Miriam, I would have admitted that I missed her as well. I wished she hadn’t been the enemy, because I needed her. We all did. We just didn’t need her monster.

  Had they all been with me as we landed on the island, I would not have been so afraid. I would not have wondered quite so fiercely if the morning would see me zipped inside a body bag, or if Angus was still alive, or if Clayton would be captured.

  The lack of security at the first checkpoint had been surprising, but when we found no one at the second checkpoint, either, I became just a little freaked out. “Something’s wrong,” I said.

  And then Alejandro shone his flashlight over the ground, and we spotted the blood.

  “Someone killed the guard,” he said.

  Then my breath caught as I saw something in the beam of Al’s flashlight.

  A fog trail.

  “Shit,” I whispered. “Vampire. A vampire killed them.”

  A vampire had somehow made it onto the island—had to have been by boat since vampires couldn’t swim for long. He’d killed the guards. I couldn’t figure out a reason a vampire would want to sneak onto the island. Not only would it be extremely risky, but he’d have to be healthy to manage it.

  And now he was roaming the island, looking for…

  “What? What possible reason could there be?”

  “What do we do now?” Al asked.

  “As planned,” I said. “Clayton, get out of sight.”

  When Clayton disappeared from view, Alejandro and I jogged down the path that led to the prison.

  “Are you telling them about the checkpoint guard?”

  “Nope.” I lifted my nose and unthinkingly sniffed the air.

  I stumbled to a halt, my eyes wide, turning in frantic circles, drawing air into my nose, into my brain.

  Alejandro felt for weapons that weren’t there, searching the moonlit darkness with darting e
yes. “What is it, Sinclair?”

  I was afraid my pounding heart might explode from my chest, and I pressed my fist against it. “Madalyn is here.” My words came out in a whispered hiss, as though someone might hear and spirit her away. “The fucking judge’s wife is here.”

  He shook his head, frowning at me. “I don’t know what that means.”

  “Judge Bennett offered me a trade—his abducted wife for Angus. Only I lost her scent in the city.” I took a deep breath, then another, sucking in air that tasted like poison and smelled like pure blood.

  That was why the vampire had risked everything to come to Byrd Island. He was after Madalyn. He’d scented her clean blood. And if one vampire had scented her, there would be more.

  I didn’t question how a vampire had caught the scent of her blood across the water when I, a tracker, had not. I didn’t know. It didn’t matter. It just was.

  I started to pull my cell from my pocket so I could call Crawford, but before I could, Alejandro took my arm.

  “Someone’s coming,” he murmured. “Let’s get out of here.”

  It was smarter to call the judge and Crawford when I actually had Madalyn in hand anyway. We jogged on up the path to the prison, and I didn’t know about Al, but part of me didn’t believe we’d actually make it there.

  But we did.

  “Listen,” I said. “Do you hear that?”

  He cocked his head and narrowed his eyes, listening. “Sounds like a football game.”

  From the distance came the sounds of yelling, stomping, cheering. I sniffed the air, and for a second I thought I smelled hot dogs and popcorn. I pushed the bell, hoping the people inside would tell us what was going on.

  We waited impatiently to be acknowledged, and it took so long I was afraid they would simply ignore us and we’d have to find another way in. Finally, the heavy portcullis began to open, and we were admitted into the Byrdcage.

  “Help ya?” the same woman called, once we stepped into the waiting area.

  Alejandro and I walked to the window. “We’re here to see Angus Stark.” We placed our passes on the countertop.

  She was already shaking her head. “Not possible. I don’t care who gave you passes. Warden will shit a brick if I let you in. Stark isn’t available tonight anyway.”

  I pressed my palm against my stomach. “What do you mean, he isn’t available? Open the damn door.”

  “Nope.”

  Al squeezed my arm and grinned at the woman. “Sounded like a crowd had gathered back behind the prison. You guys having a party?”

  “Oh yeah.” She returned his grin. “We throw the inmates a big party every weekend.”

  “We like to party.” I tried to sound as lighthearted and bland as Alejandro, but I didn’t have it in me. I was too worried about Angus. And perhaps I was just a little worried about Himself ending my life if I didn’t do as he’d suggested and bring Angus home.

  She picked up a blank sheet of paper, pursed her lips, and ran her fingertip over some nonexistent words. “Sorry, but you’re not on the guest list. Go home. Come back Thursday and maybe we’ll let you in.”

  I slammed my fist into the window. It didn’t do a thing other than hurt my hand and piss off the receptionist.

  She jumped to her feet. “Back the fuck up!”

  “Open the fucking door,” I said.

  She strode to the door inside the office and yanked it open. “Need you to escort some irate people off the premises.” She glanced back over her shoulder at me, not at all concerned with my temper. She knew I couldn’t get to her.

  Then she went back to her desk and buzzed open the double doors across from us. Three guards hurried through, already pulling their weapons.

  I didn’t recognize two of them, but the guard in the middle was Jamie Stone, the warden’s son.

  His stare sharpened when he caught sight of me. “I’ll take care of them,” he told the other guards. “They’re not going to cause any trouble. Are you?”

  I spread my hands. “No trouble. We just need to see our friend.”

  “Stark’s not available,” the woman behind the window repeated. “I told you that already.”

  Jamie Stone holstered his gun. “I’ll walk you and your friend out.”

  He escorted us back through the entrance doors, and the portcullis began to descend almost before we’d cleared it.

  “You have a plan to get us in,” Al said, staring at Jamie. “Don’t you?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “He does.”

  Jamie smiled. “Nothing like a nighttime tour of the island. Let’s go stir things up.”

  He just wanted to piss off daddy. And that was more than fine with me. Jamie could throw daddy off a cliff and I wouldn’t argue, as long as he took me to Madalyn or Angus.

  “I think we need to crash a party,” I told him.

  “And I think you’re trouble, Sinclair. But then, I always did enjoy a little trouble.”

  I let him take my arm.

  And so it began.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  The street that snaked around to the back of the prison appeared well-tended and was lit with sporadically placed lights which did little to dispel the shadows on either side of the paved path.

  “What’s going on tonight?” As I walked, I continued taking occasional, quick sniffs, making sure Jamie wasn’t leading me too far from Madalyn’s scent. If I found her, I wouldn’t need to get to Angus. The judge would simply give him to me.

  Jamie released my arm and walked with his fingers brushing his gun, as though he might need to draw it at any time. “Same thing that goes on every weekend.” He shot a quick glance at me, then Alejandro, where his stare lingered. “The fights.”

  My chest started to tighten. “Fights?”

  “They fight the inmates every weekend.”

  I frowned. “You mean like boxing matches?”

  Alejandro kept his stare roaming the darkness on either side of the dimly lit path. “He means like dogfights.” He didn’t look at me.

  “The inmates are forced to fight?” I was beginning to understand not only Angus’s well-fed appearance but also the guilt and torment I’d glimpsed in his eyes.

  “It’s a very lucrative practice.” Jamie’s voice was mild, and I caught no sign of outrage or sorrow in his tone. Maybe he was just that good at hiding his emotions. Or maybe he didn’t care about the supernaturals.

  I was betting on the latter.

  I realized my nails were biting into my palms and forced myself to relax. “They’re fighting Angus?” I whispered.

  “There are half a dozen top-tier fighters,” Jamie told me. “Stark is one of them. He’s not just crazy strong—he’s crazy. That makes him almost unbeatable.”

  Al glanced at me. “Trinity?”

  I had two choices. I could ask Jamie to lead me to Angus and do my best to free him, or I could find Madalyn, call the judge, and have him give me Angus. Shane had warned me away from trusting Bennett, but I had no doubt he would trade Angus for his wife. I’d seen his love for her.

  I didn’t have to trust him to make that happen.

  But I had no real leverage over Jamie Stone. He was carrying a grudge against the warden, and that grudge might cause him to give us information or help us screw with his father.

  He would also not hesitate to throw us to the wolves if he needed to. Or if he grew bored. We were nothing to him.

  And we absolutely could not trust him.

  “Shit,” I muttered, and then, I looked at Alejandro.

  Jamie had not even a millisecond to understand what was about to happen. Alejandro turned like he was preparing to hit a home run, then smacked Jamie in the temple with the side of his fist. Jamie dropped to the ground, out cold.

  It was over in seconds, from the moment the thought had formed in my brain to the young man lying on the pavement, unconscious.

  I gaped at Alejandro. Now I knew why Rhys trusted him to have my back. “You can read minds?”


  Al laughed, then leaned over to lift Jamie’s lanyard over his head. The lanyard held a keycard which could potentially get us through some locked doors. “I read your face, Trinity, not your mind.”

  “You’re very fast,” I said, impressed with both his brain and his speed.

  “You thought Rhys would send someone incompetent as your backup?” He rifled through Jamie’s pockets and pulled out a small ring of keys and a wallet, then quickly divested him of his weapons—an electroshock baton and a handgun. He handed me the baton and slid the gun into his pocket.

  We had weapons.

  “What are we going to do with him?” I asked. “He won’t stay unconscious forever.”

  “I can kill him.” Alejandro smiled, but there was no smile in his eyes.

  “No.” I frowned at him. “You can’t.”

  Then Clayton strode from the darkness, pulling a pair of silver cuffs from his belt. “I’ll take care of him.”

  Al slapped him on the back. “Good to see you, buddy.”

  “Where’d you get the cuffs?” I asked.

  “From one of the dead guards.”

  “Drained?”

  “No. The vampire who killed the guards didn’t appear to be after their blood.” He knelt beside Jamie, then looked up at me. “I saw Angus.”

  “How? Where?”

  “I followed the noise.”

  I put my hand to my chest. “He’s fighting.”

  Surprise lit his eyes. “Yes.” He stood, then dragged the restrained Jamie off the ground and slung him over his shoulder. “But I didn’t see a way to free him.”

  “Madalyn Bennett is on the island.” I tapped the baton against my leg, trying to decide once again whether to track her or go to Angus. “If I find her, I can call the judge. He’ll give me Angus.”

  “Then you should do that.”

  I hesitated. “What was going on? Was Angus okay?”

  His eyes were as empty as I’d ever seen them. He gave me nothing. But I didn’t have to see his concern. I could feel it. “We need to get him out tonight.”

  That’s all he’d say.

  And that was more than enough.

  “We will.” I stiffened my spine. “That’s why we’re here.”