by Jenna Black
Camille’s eyes glittered dangerously. “He would not dare defy me.”
Hannah refrained from pointing out that he just had. Somehow, she didn’t think Camille would appreciate the reminder.
God, would she ever be glad to get home! And she promised herself that once she did, she would never, ever get involved with vampire hunting again!
9
JULES CAUTIOUSLY ENTERED HIS hotel room, making Hannah wait in the hall while he confirmed there were no intruders. Like he could do anything about it if Ian or Gabriel were hiding out here! He got the distinct impression she was humoring him by letting him go in first. What he wouldn’t do to be alone for just a little while! But Hannah gave him about twenty seconds before she decided the coast was clear and came in. Cheerful as ever—though he thought he saw a hint of strain around the corners of her eyes—she sat cross-legged on one of the beds while he opened one of his suitcases on the other.
“So,” she said, “what do you think the story is with Eli and this Camille chick? I’m guessing they still have a bit of a thing for each other.”
He grunted irritably as he jerked open a drawer with unnecessary force. He shouldn’t be so surprised that Eli had secrets. Hell, everyone knew he had secrets. But no doubt about it, this particular one left a bad taste in Jules’s mouth. How could Eli have taken someone so vastly, obviously evil into his bed? How could a viper like Gabriel actually be his son?
“Vamps can’t have kids, right?” Hannah asked.
Jules paused in the act of folding a sweater and frowned. “Right.”
“Which means they had Gabe when they were still mortal. Whenever that was.”
Of course. Jules was surprised at how relieved he felt by the realization. “I suspect Camille had a somewhat more appealing personality when she was mortal.”
Hannah raised her eyebrows. “Does going vamp really change someone that much? I mean, I knew Gray before and after. He’s changed some, but I’d say he’s still basically the same person underneath.”
Jules shook his head. “It’s not that you necessarily change that much. It’s just that you lose a lot of your inhibitions. So, if deep down inside you’re a real selfish bastard, but you’ve been hiding it because that’s not an acceptable way to behave, then you become a real selfish bastard of a vampire.”
She grinned at him. “So if you’re a mortal with a short fuse, but you keep it under control to be polite, you become a vamp with a temper problem?”
He didn’t dignify that with an answer.
Undaunted, Hannah stuck out her lip and looked lost in thought. “Hmm. I wonder what I’d be like as a vamp.”
Jules pretended to give that some serious thought, then nodded sagely. “I doubt you’d change a bit, since you have no inhibitions that I’ve been able to detect.”
For that little pearl of wisdom, she gave him the finger.
“Shouldn’t you be packing?” he asked, glancing at the bedside clock. “We’ve only got forty-five minutes before Drake gets here.”
They were all going to have to ride in the car Drake had rented. When they’d checked on Hannah’s car, they’d discovered it had been towed. No doubt that would cause her some major headaches, but they didn’t dare hang around to straighten things out.
She laughed. “I barely unpacked, remember? So anyway, we never did finish our conversation about what happened between you and Ian.”
Jules rolled his eyes. “For God’s sake, Hannah. Give it a rest. I can’t even hear myself think with you around.” If she’d just shut up for a few minutes, maybe he’d be able to digest the evening’s unpleasant revelations.
“Hey, I’m just helping you think out loud is all.”
He stuffed a shirt carelessly into his suitcase, too irritated to worry about wrinkles. “Do I have to kiss you again to get you to be quiet?”
Idiot! Why did he have to go and say a thing like that? He leaned his hands on the edges of the suitcase, staring sightlessly at the contents. He didn’t want to know what expression Hannah was wearing just now. The springs on her bed squeaked as she moved.
“Is that why you kissed me the first time?” she asked. Her voice was oddly subdued. She barely sounded like herself.
Reluctantly, he turned to face her. A frown puckered her forehead, and he thought he detected a shadow of hurt in her eyes. But surely she couldn’t have taken that kiss seriously! She was a mature adult, she knew that stress could make people do stupid things.
“Well it does seem like the only time you don’t talk is when your mouth is otherwise occupied,” he said. He fought against the vision of Hannah’s overactive mouth occupied with something other than kissing. It was a stubborn, tempting vision.
She grinned at him, and the hint of hurt left her eyes. “I have to admit, I like your way of shutting me up better than some of the other ways guys have tried.”
He cocked his head. “Like what?”
“Like the guy who thought slapping me around would teach me a lesson.”
He winced in sympathy even as he felt his temper stirring once more. He hated bullies. Always had, though he supposed he’d been blind where Ian was concerned. He’d never realized someone could be physically weak and still be the worst kind of bully.
“Oh, don’t feel too sorry for me,” Hannah said, her grin reappearing. “Remember, I know karate. And judo. And tae kwon do. And I firmly believe giving is better than receiving. I literally kicked him out on his ass.”
He shifted awkwardly, sympathy still hovering in the forefront. However, he and Hannah were enough alike that he knew she wouldn’t appreciate the sympathy. So … “I guess you tend to bring out the worst in people. I know I’ve wanted to strangle you at least ten times since last night.”
She grabbed a pillow from her bed and hurled it at him. He ducked easily, laughing. She reached for another pillow, then stopped, shaking her head.
“Damn, you’re good,” she said.
He blinked. “Huh?”
“I’ve never met anyone as good at changing the subject as you are. First, you change the subject away from Ian by mentioning the kiss, then you change the subject away from the kiss by insulting me. And I just go right along for the ride.”
Jules groaned. “You know, Gray always says how stubborn Carolyn is, but I bet you could give her a run for her money.”
Hannah made a haughty face. “Carolyn’s stubborn. I’m persistent. And you’re trying to change the subject again.”
A knock on the door saved Jules from having to answer. He glanced at the clock, but they still had more than a half hour before Drake was supposed to show up. A brief psychic survey confirmed that a vampire lurked in the hallway outside.
“Drake?” he called out as he neared the door. Sensing his alarm, Hannah grabbed for her gun.
“No,” a voice said from the other side of the door. Gabriel’s voice.
Jules looked around frantically, but there was no other way out of this room. Hannah moved up beside him, her gun pointed at the door, her face pale with renewed fear.
“I haven’t come to hurt you,” Gabriel said, drawing twin snorts of disbelief.
“That’s very reassuring,” Jules said. He reached out to lock the deadbolt. Not that it would do much good. “What do you want?”
“Just to talk. I thought you might want to hear the rest. What my mother wouldn’t allow me to say.”
The idea that there might be more sat uneasily in his stomach, but Jules told himself only a fool would believe anything Gabriel said right now. Of course, if Gabriel was even close to as powerful as Eli, there would be nothing Jules could do to stop the bastard from killing him. And Hannah.
“We can do this one of two ways,” Gabriel continued. “I can overcome the two of you with glamour and force you to open the door. Or you can open the door of your own free will. If I have to use force, I’ll be … annoyed.”
Once again, Jules glanced around the room, wishing he could at least get Hannah out of here. But
there was no way out.
To his surprise, Hannah lowered her gun. “Let him in,” she said.
“What?” he cried, unable to believe his ears. “Are you nuts?”
She shrugged. “Like the man said, if he wants in, he’s getting in. It’s actually kind of polite of him to ask.”
She started to walk past him, her obvious intent to open the door. Though she was right and Gabriel could get in with or without their cooperation, Jules still wasn’t ready to give up without a fight. If they stalled for a little while, maybe Drake would get here to help even the odds. Not that the odds would be much better with Drake here—Gabriel had obviously overpowered him before. Jules put a hand on Hannah’s arm to stop her from going to the door. Then, he froze, trapped by Gabriel’s glamour. How old did Gabriel have to be for his glamour to work through a closed door?
“Damn,” Hannah muttered under her breath, then pried his unresisting fingers loose. He couldn’t even move his tongue to tell her once again not to let Gabriel in.
Hannah opened the door.
“THERE’S BEEN A CHANGE of plans,” Ian told Harvey Fisher. He drove with one hand while holding the cell phone he’d stolen from a pretty young coed who would have been Camille’s dinner tonight, if Ian hadn’t decided it was time for a strategic retreat. The coed had been a delicious diversion, though he’d been in too much of a hurry to enjoy her as thoroughly as he might have liked.
“What kind of change?” Fisher asked suspiciously.
He was one of Camille’s “initiates,” mortals she was grooming to be her fledglings. She used to make them serve her for two years before turning them. After Ian’s desertion, she’d upped the waiting period to five years. Some she just killed. It had been easy enough for Ian to buy Fisher’s loyalty with a promise of immediate transformation once Camille and Gabriel were dead.
“My idiotic fledgling came to Baltimore alone. It’s only a matter of time now before Camille figures out what I’m up to.”
Harvey started to curse, his voice a mixture of anger and terror.
“Calm down,” Ian said. Fisher was way too volatile for Ian’s taste. And Ian was no more going to transform him than Camille was. Still, Fisher served a purpose and Ian could still use him when his cover was blown. “She doesn’t know anything yet, and even when she finds out what I was planning for her, she won’t know that I have an accomplice. And contingency plans.”
“What kind of plans?” Fisher demanded to know.
“If the subtle approach doesn’t work, then you go for the bold one.”
“Yeah? What does that mean?”
Fisher wasn’t too bright. “It means I’ll bring my fledglings into the city and attack her.” The bitch would figure out Ian had been lying to her before the night was out. But there was no way she’d find out about his fledglings.
“She’ll eat them alive! How old is your oldest?”
“It doesn’t matter.” Which was a good thing, seeing as Ian’s oldest fledgling besides Jules was only two years old. A veritable baby! “Even the strongest vampire can be overcome with sheer numbers. And I’ve been stepping up production lately.”
Fisher grumbled. “Then why haven’t you turned me?”
“Because I need you on the inside,” Ian explained with exaggerated patience. “I need you to tell me when Camille is unprotected.” Even Ian’s dozen fledglings couldn’t take on both Camille and Gabriel at the same time. Hell, he wasn’t even sure they could take Camille, otherwise he wouldn’t have bothered trying to get the Guardians to take care of her for him.
Fisher was silent for a long time. Ian held his breath. He’d taken a huge risk recruiting this mortal—Harvey knew way too much about Ian’s plans for comfort. But Ian needed a spy, and it wasn’t like any of Camille’s other fledglings, slavishly loyal, would help him.
“She’s alone right now,” Harvey said. “I just came from there. She and Gabriel had a fight.”
Hope surged in Ian’s chest, but it was too late to launch an attack tonight. “If they keep fighting, we’re home free.” An exaggeration, to be sure, but if Fisher began to doubt him, he might be stupid enough to tell Gabriel or Camille the truth.
“The other initiates and me are supposed to take her to the opera tomorrow night. Gabriel never goes.”
True, but Ian could hardly set his fledglings on her and her mortals in the middle of the street. The fledglings didn’t have the power to hide the fight from prying mortal eyes. Maybe they could manage it with Ian’s help, but he couldn’t afford to be anywhere near the fight for fear of what Camille could make him do.
Gabriel might not go to the opera, but chances were he’d be hanging around the house beforehand anyway, keeping Mommy nice and safe. Unless they were still fighting.
“Call me at this number if Gabriel isn’t at the house tomorrow night,” he instructed Fisher. “If she’s alone, we can take her out right in the comfort of her own home.” He smiled at the images in his head. “Then when Gabriel finally comes to kiss and make up, he’ll be in for a big surprise.”
“This isn’t your normal cell phone number.”
“No, I ‘borrowed’ a cell phone. I don’t want to leave any unnecessary evidence lying about. But this phone should be good for tomorrow still.” Surely the authorities wouldn’t find the body that soon, if at all. Ian had gotten very, very good at hiding bodies.
“All right, then. I’ll let you know.”
Ian closed the phone and tossed it onto the passenger seat. If he got lucky—for once in his life!—by this time tomorrow night, Camille and Gabriel would be dead, and he would be the Master of Baltimore.
GABRIEL STRUTTED INTO THE room, all pride and attitude. He closed the door behind him, then turned to Jules. He sniffed the air, then wrinkled his nose.
“You stink of Eli,” he said, releasing Jules from his glamour.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jules asked, unable to keep a hint of challenge out of his voice. Gabriel’s very existence tweaked his nerves, set his teeth on edge.
Gabriel opened his mouth to answer, but Hannah—surprise, surprise—interrupted before he could get a word out.
“So, Gabe, you said you had something to tell us?”
Jules almost laughed at the look on Gabriel’s face as he blinked at Hannah.
“Gabe?” he asked, sounding appalled.
Hannah’s face wore another of her irrepressible grins, and Jules had to admire her pluck even while he cursed it. Luckily, Gabriel seemed more amused than angered.
“You should learn to treat your betters with respect,” he said, his voice holding a hint of a growl, though his expression showed grudging admiration.
“When I find my betters, I’ll respect them just fine,” Hannah quipped back.
Jules groaned. “Hannah, please, for once in your life—”
“I haven’t dined yet tonight,” Gabriel said, stalking closer to Hannah, who held her ground though she had to look up to meet his gaze.
“Is that what you came here to do?” she asked. She oozed bravado, but Jules knew she couldn’t possibly be as unintimidated as she was pretending to be.
“Perhaps.” Gabriel reached out with his index finger, his obvious intent to touch her face. She jerked away from the touch, and Gabriel smiled.
“I thought you didn’t like to pick on mortals,” Jules said, hoping to draw Gabriel’s attention away from Hannah.
It worked. Gabriel turned to him, sneering. “True enough. Were I to dine on your little mortal, she would not suffer.”
“I’m not his little mortal!” Hannah said indignantly, but Gabriel ignored her.
“Would you suffer, Guardian?”
Jules hoped he didn’t flinch at the thought. “Whatever you want, leave her out of this,” he said. “She doesn’t work for Eli. She’s never even met Eli.”
“But you work for Eli,” Gabriel said, his lip curled in distaste as if even mentioning his father’s name pained him.
“I do.” Or did
.
“And you hunt vampires and kill them.”
“Yes.” There was no point in denying it.
“You’re a traitor to your own kind.”
“Your mother seems to think you’ve killed your fair share of vampires yourself.”
Gabriel shrugged. “We all have our foibles. And those I’ve killed have richly deserved every torment they suffered at my hands.”
Jules bristled. “And the Killers the Guardians destroy deserve to die!”
“Don’t give yourself airs. You’re but a step removed from the rest of us. Had my mother made you, you would have hundreds of kills to your name by now. It was only chance that gave you a choice not to kill. A chance that was denied to the rest of us, the ones you so self-righteously murder.”
Something akin to guilt stirred in Jules. In truth, he was lucky. If Ian had had his way, if it hadn’t been for the Guardians, Jules himself would be a Killer right now.
“Oh, yeah, you seem real unhappy with the situation,” Hannah said. “I can tell killing people just breaks your heart. I feel really sorry for you.”
A weird light shone in Gabriel’s eyes as he started to turn toward her. Jules caught a glimpse of his fangs and his heart nearly stopped.
“Hannah, please,” he said. “Shut up before you get us both killed. Gabriel, if you have any quarrel, it’s with me. Leave her out of it.”
Power crackled in the air. Even Hannah seemed to feel it, the starch going out of her spine. She took a step backward, then came to a stop with a visible effort. Jules wondered if he should use his glamour to keep her from getting them in any more trouble, but from the look on her face he guessed she was out of quips.
Relief flooded Jules’s system when Gabriel turned away from her. Anger still simmered in those gray-green eyes—eyes Jules now realized were the exact same color as Eli’s—but it was a controlled anger.
“Finding out I’m Eli’s son must have poked some holes in the halo you’ve given him. Yes, Saint Eli practices preferential treatment for Killers who are of sentimental value to him.” Gabriel’s voice seethed with scorn and contempt. “My dear Da gave me this,” he said, tracing the jagged scar that marred his cheek, “but when it came right down to it, he didn’t have the balls to kill me. Would you like to know why?”
