Eternal Prey

by Nina Bangs

  Utah shrugged. “He’s never attacked any of the Eleven. Besides, if we tell anyone about this, they might feel obligated to tell Fin. And he might try to stop us.”

  Lia kept quiet on the elevator. She agreed with him. And she was curious. The mysterious Fin had a brother. Who would’ve thought?

  The elevator opened to an empty lobby. Not surprising given the early hour of the morning. Lia did a quick scan. No one at the night guard’s desk. That was surprising. She reached into her coat pocket, wrapping her fingers around her gun. Then she followed Utah out of the car.

  Leashed power raised the hair on the back of her neck even before she spotted the figure half hidden in a shadowed corner of the room.

  A man sat cross-legged on the floor, his head tilted down, his long blond hair falling around his face. A face she couldn’t see.

  Beside her, Utah tensed. Lia could swear she sensed his soul creeping closer to the surface. Was that normal? She’d never felt this attuned to anyone before. Wasn’t sure she wanted it now.

  “Seir?” Utah stopped and waited.

  The man lifted his head. His face delivered the same emotional punch as Fin’s. Both had an unearthly beauty. But Seir’s hair framed that incredible face in a tangled glory shading from intense to pale gold. His eyes were an icy blue.

  Then he smiled, and his resemblance to Fin faded a little. There was real warmth along with wicked humor in that smile. Lia thought Fin could take some lessons from his brother. That didn’t mean Seir wasn’t dangerous. Eight had done a lot of smiling too, and he’d been a freaking psychopath.

  “Lia and Utah. You’re alone, so I assume you left my brother sleeping peacefully. Good. He was always the wet blanket at every party.”

  Seir rose to his feet in one fluid motion. Lia figured he was over six feet but not as tall as Fin. He reached them in a few easy strides. She had only a fleeting impression of his clothes—black leather jacket over a T-shirt deifying Jim Morrison, jeans, and boots. But no one would ever notice his clothes unless he hid his face.

  She dared a quick glance at Utah. In a world suddenly populated by beautiful immortal men, she still preferred Utah’s savage beauty. It was honest. His eyes promised nothing, gave nothing away. But she knew when he walked with her, the night shadows would never claim her. Did she forget anything? Oh, and he was the most sensual creature she’d ever met. Kione might be a lust-inducing machine, but it was all fake. Utah was hot nights, tangled sheets, and screaming orgasms.

  “What do you want?” Utah met Seir’s gaze.

  He was too direct. Lia wanted to ask a few questions leading up to why he’d called for this meeting. “What are you? Why do you wait outside the condo? What’s between you and Fin?”

  Seir looked at her. He was still smiling, but for a moment, she saw something cold and assessing in his eyes. Then the moment passed.

  “I’m whatever you want me to be.” He shrugged. “And I wait outside the condo because I know if I stand out there long enough my ass of a brother will come out just to try to get rid of me.” Unholy glee moved in his eyes. “Then the fun begins.”

  “One answer out of three. Guess I have to be satisfied with that.” Lia didn’t try to hide her irritation.

  “Guess you do.” Seir’s attention returned to Utah. “I have info that you and Lia can use. And yes, I know you’re hunting for a rogue vampire that’s siphoning off Adam’s people.” His smile widened. “I know because I followed you. See, I don’t spend all my time watching Fin’s windows.”

  Cold washed over her. How had he followed them? She’d kept her eyes open. The roads were empty in the early hours of the morning. She would’ve made a tail. But then Tor had found them too. The thought made her uneasy.

  “Why do you care what we’re doing?” Utah narrowed his eyes. He radiated distrust.

  Lia didn’t blame him. Seir made her nervous. Sort of like when someone you think you know takes off his Halloween mask and a total stranger is staring at you. Who hid behind that beautiful smiling face?

  “Bored. I get tired trying to outwait Fin. Besides, this whole 2012 thing fascinates me. And whenever I help one of you guys, it always leads to a fight. You entertain me.”

  Lia might’ve taken him at face value if she hadn’t forced her attention away from his incredible smile long enough to spot the mockery in his eyes. He was playing them. She’d bet he was getting a lot more than entertainment from the Eleven. What? It all had to come back to Fin somehow.

  “Say what you have to say.” Utah glanced beyond Seir.

  Lia followed his gaze, and for just a moment thought she saw a pair of gold eyes gleaming from outside the lobby’s wall of windows. She shuddered.

  “You’ll find what you’re looking for under the Burnside Bridge. The homeless make easy pickings. Adam’s rogue hunts there.”

  “How do you know all this?” Lia strained her eyes to see outside the window. The eyes still stared back at her, gleaming and unblinking. Not human. “Who’s outside the window?”

  Seir turned to look. “A friend. He’s just making sure I get out of here in one piece.”

  Lia didn’t believe that for a minute. If Seir had even half the power she sensed in his brother, he could flatten this condo without breaking a sweat.

  “I know all this because I listen.” Seir broke eye contact to glance down at a ring he wore.

  That was no answer at all, but Lia didn’t care about that. Now that he’d called attention to his ring . . . What was that symbol? It looked like a triple spiral. Connected. Significant to Seir or just a random design? Jeez, she was looking for hidden meanings in everything.

  “Well, thanks for listening. What do you want in return?” Utah the cynical.

  Seir laughed. “Hey, I’m just doing this out of the goodness of my heart. But if you really want to repay me for this and future gifts, get my hardheaded brother to meet with me.”

  Utah shook his head. “Don’t think it’s going to happen. But I’ll mention it to him. Best I can do.”

  Seir simply nodded before turning and walking away. A few seconds after he left the building, the golden eyes winked out. And a confused-sounding voice rose from behind the guard’s desk, followed shortly after by the groggy guard himself.

  “Damn. Must’ve dozed off.” He cast a wary glance their way. “This never happened before. Hope you won’t tell anyone.”

  “Nothing happened while you were out.” Utah glanced at her. “Ready to head back up?”

  She did a lot of thinking on the way up in the elevator. “Something about Seir is off.”

  “Yeah, I felt it too. But then, he’s Fin’s brother.” He shrugged as if that explained everything.

  They didn’t say anything else until they were once again standing in the living room. The TV was still on mute, and the sandwiches still lay uneaten on the tray.

  Tension wrapped Lia’s head in tight bands of pain. Great. The perfect end to a crappy night. She thought about those moments on the couch. Okay, maybe not all crappy. She glanced at Utah. Even with a headache pounding away she’d be willing to . . .

  No, she wouldn’t. He’d withdrawn. She could feel it. Did he regret almost sleeping with the enemy, or at least future enemy? Or was he just thinking about what Seir had said?

  She sighed. “I’m going to my room. I have a headache.”

  He raised one brow.

  “No, really.”

  “You haven’t eaten for a long time. Hunger feeds a headache. Sit down.” He dropped onto the couch.

  Lia sat down, but she kept some space between the two of them. She reached for a sandwich. If she was chewing, he wouldn’t expect her to make small talk. They ate in silence for a few minutes.

  But she couldn’t keep quiet for too long. “So what do you want to do when all this is over?”

  He stared at her blankly.

  “Oh, come on. You must’ve thought about it. Ten months and it’ll all be over. What then?”

  He put down the sandwich
he’d been eating. A line formed between his eyes. “Never thought about it. There’s no guarantee that I’ll make it to 2013, so why get ahead of myself?”

  She could only gape at him. “Everyone makes plans for the future.”

  “Not me. If I have a future, I’ll worry about it when I get there.”

  He sounded flip, but his eyes looked somber. Or was she just reading what she wanted into him? Maybe not somber, just tired.

  “Ty and Al got married. They’re counting on having a future.”

  His eyes darkened. “So did my brother. Rap wanted to be a paleontologist after everything was over. Who better to study dinosaurs? He had it all planned out. He figured that Fin would loan him the money to go to school. Then he walked into a restaurant in South Philly and it all ended. I come from a time when you didn’t count on your next meal until you’d killed it. Seems like that attitude works now too.”

  His cynicism horrified her. “I can’t believe you think that way. I mean, you take all kinds of chances every day. Why not take a chance on your future?”

  “I take chances because I’m not afraid to die. That has nothing to do with what you’re talking about.”

  She’d had enough of this conversation. His attitude shouldn’t bother her, but it did. They could decide what to do with Seir’s information later.

  Lia took a last bite from her sandwich and stood. “I’ll see you in the morning.” She reached for the tray.

  “I’ll take care of it.”

  “Thanks.”

  His silence followed her out the door.

  Back in her room, she took time to do two more things before taking a shower and climbing into bed with only her frustrated sexual fantasies for company. She called Phil, her second in command in Philly, to make sure everything was okay. Then she opened her laptop and hunted for the symbol she’d seen on Seir’s ring.

  And when sleep once again eluded her, she took a break from her sexual fantasies for a reality check.

  She liked him too much, wanted him too much.

  He loved Rap. Lia didn’t want to think of him as a loving brother, or a loving anything. They might be forced to work together for a while, but she had to keep the word “enemy” front and center in her mind. Because she was going to have to kill him when this brief truce was over. And she didn’t doubt for a minute that he’d kill her with no regrets if she became vampire.

  She’d believed all that enemy stuff at the beginning. Did she still believe it? God, she didn’t know.

  When she finally fell asleep, Lia dreamed of her mother.

  “Did you pass on the information to Fin?”

  “Yeah.” Seir watched him pace the rooftop, his gleaming red hair swinging in time to each long stride. “Why the hell do we always end up on freaking roofs? You know how much I hate high places.”

  He stopped pacing long enough to flash Seir a grin. “I like roofs. There’s nothing between me and the stars. Besides, I enjoy making you nervous.” His grin widened as he moved to the roof’s edge and peered over. “Sure you don’t want to come over here? The view’s magnificent.”

  Seir swallowed hard. “I’ll take your word for it.” He looked away and met the stare of the black jaguar crouched in the shadows. It watched him from shining golden eyes. “Don’t you get sick of him, Balan?”

  “I ignore what annoys me. You would be wise to do likewise. He finds it too easy to . . . push your buttons.”

  Balan’s voice in his head irritated the crap out of Seir. The damn cat always sounded so superior. “Push my buttons? Learning the vernacular quickly, aren’t you?”

  “I do what I must to blend in.”

  “Right. Blend in.” Seir turned away from the big cat. “I noticed that Balan isn’t the only one mellowing a little. You’re calling him Fin, the name he chose for himself in this time. Does that mean I get to use the name he chose for you—Zero?”

  “Fin and his damn obsession with numbers. Who would name themselves Fin meaning infinity?”

  “I guess he figures he’s a forever kind of guy.”

  Zero shrugged. “I can be Zero for the short time we’re here . . . and he can be Fin. Names change nothing between us.” He glanced at Seir, his expression neutral. “Since you did what I asked, does that mean you’re on my side this time?”

  “I’m not on anyone’s side. I please myself.”

  One second Zero stood at the edge of the roof, the next he appeared beside Seir. Seir sucked in his breath. “Don’t do that. It bothers me.”

  “I live to bother you.” Zero’s laughter echoed in the night. “Do you think they’ll take the bait?”

  “Don’t ask me. Jump into their minds to find out.”

  “Fin protects his own while they’re under his roof. Their minds are closed to me.”

  For whatever reason, that made Seir happy. “I think they will. I wonder if they’ll tell Fin.”

  “He already knows. The bastard doesn’t miss anything.” Zero shrugged. “We’ll just have to see what happens.”

  This seemed as good a time as any for Seir to ask the question nagging at him. “Why are you doing it this way? You don’t need to go through all this crap of raising a nonhuman army to destroy humanity. You did it with an asteroid last time. Why not do the same thing now?”

  Zero grew thoughtful. “A challenge? He’s grown more powerful over the eons. Perhaps I want to prove I can defeat him on this playing field.” He shrugged. “Besides, the whole purpose of all this is the rise of the new and the death of the old. Nonhumans should have to work for ownership of this planet. And if they fail, I can always take care of things as I did before.”

  “If he lets you.”

  “I’m still the stronger.” He cast Seir a sharp glance. “As long as it remains a one-on-one fight.”

  Seir refused to rise to the bait. “Why do you hate him so much?”

  Zero looked honestly shocked. “It was never hate. Never.”

  When Lia entered the dining room late in the afternoon, Fin sat at the head of the table. He was the only one there. He wore a short silver metallic jacket with a black T-shirt underneath. With his silver hair and eyes, he was almost too shiny to look at.

  He smiled. It was beautiful and cold.

  At least there was food on the table. Her gaze slipped past the toast, eggs, bacon, and fruit. Coffee. Yes! If she had to talk to Fin, she’d need caffeine.

  Lia sat two seats away from him. Close enough so he didn’t feel insulted but far enough away to avoid being sucked into his personal vortex. She poured some coffee and took her time adding the cream. He waited patiently.

  Finally, he spoke. “I’m glad we’re alone. I have things to discuss with you.”

  Way to ruin a perfectly good day. She gulped her coffee. The steaming liquid burning a hole in her esophagus kept things real. “Talk.”

  “Utah and Kione will be here soon, so I’ll keep this as brief as possible.”

  He leaned toward her, and she resisted the impulse to lean away.

  “You understand what’s at stake, Lia.”

  “Remind me.” She needed time to wall up her defenses against him. Strange how she instinctively knew she’d need them. Fin wasn’t a person you relaxed around.

  “Zero and his men are raising an army of nonhumans. They go to a city, train recruits, and then send their students to other places to repeat the process. On December 21 their armies will slaughter humanity.”

  “There’re only ten of you guys. How do you expect to stop an army?”

  He leaned back, and she breathed a little easier.

  “We won’t have to stop an army if we cut off the heads of the hydra before December 21. Eight and Nine have already bought their one-way tickets back out into the cosmos, and once there they can’t return until the end of the next cycle.”

  “Why bother with an army? Why not destroy everyone themselves? A natural disaster erased the dinosaurs.”

  “They’re forbidden to kill humans directly, hence their
need for minions. A natural disaster isn’t any fun. No challenge. And only Zero has the power to call forth that kind of apocalyptic event. He resorted to the asteroid to destroy the dinosaurs because he didn’t have any intelligent life forms to mobilize.”

  Now there was something she hadn’t known. “Seems there’re a lot of cans and can’ts attached to all of this.”

  Fin shrugged. “Those are the rules of the game.”

  Rules of the game? A shiver worked its way down Lia’s spine. Could Fin sound any more cold, more disconnected from humanity? And Lia wondered what kind of unfeeling monster would think of mass murder as a game. Maybe she didn’t want to meet the cosmic rule maker.

  “Now for your part in all of this.”

  Here comes the bad part. Lia could feel the sucking sensation as the tide rushed out on her personal tsunami. Any second the giant wave would appear on the horizon.

  “Millions of years ago, I had a series of nine visions. They detailed where and when each of Zero’s immortals could be defeated. The visions also showed me the nine human women necessary to do it.”

  “Women?” She knew what was coming, but she couldn’t stop it.

  “Kelly and Jenna took out both Nine and Eight. Not a coincidence.” His gaze grew intense. “We need you.”

  In times of crisis, she thought silly thoughts. She was picturing the old recruiting posters that said Uncle Sam wants you. And the giant finger of fate was pointing directly at her.

  “I was in one of the visions.”

  He nodded.

  The wave towered over her, then crashed on the beach, sweeping her off her feet.

  “I saw you reaching out. You had something in your hand. I didn’t see Seven, and I didn’t see what you were holding. But I knew that its touch would banish Seven from Earth. I saw lots of trees and what looked like a column of smoke in the background. Then the vision ended.”

  She fought to the surface as the wave dragged her out to sea. “You’re a powerful guy. Why don’t you just find Zero and whip his ass? You don’t need me.”

  Emotion too brief to identify moved in Fin’s eyes and was gone. “My visions didn’t include me ‘whipping his ass.’ Too bad.”