by Keri Arthur
I needed to talk to Jonas and Nuri—and fast.
But that was next to impossible given where I was and who I was with. This was Charles's night, and I couldn't leave without eyebrows being raised—especially if Dream was Hedda. She might not be here, but her boss was, and it was very likely that—even if he weren’t knowingly a part of plans—she'd ask him about the evening. I couldn't risk doing anything that would throw her suspicion my way.
“Julius,” Karlinda said, “I'm afraid the ceremony has, as you feared, taken too much out of me. Would you mind greatly if I go home?”
“Of course not.” A cool, unsurprised smile touched his lips. “Do you wish me to accompany you?”
“Of course not.” She glanced at Charles and me. “You must both come to dinner tomorrow night.”
“I wouldn't want to tax your strength—” Charles began, but Karlinda cut him off with a wave of her hand.
“You won't. Consider it an apology for walking out on your party tonight.”
Charles inclined his head. “Then it would be my honor.”
She nodded and, without a backward glance, left the three of us. My gaze followed her, and my feet itched to do the same. I half considered asking either Cat or Bear to follow her, but it was far more important right now to uncover where Branna was rather than who—or what—was feeding on Karlinda.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Charles,” Julius said, anticipation in his voice. “I'm off to pursue satisfaction.”
“Indeed,” Charles agreed, and caught my hand. “Shall we dance, my dear?”
He didn't wait for an answer. He simply led me deep into the heart of the slow-moving throng and then pulled me so close that every movement, be it breath or excitement, was felt. As the night wore on, and alcohol was consumed, the dancing dissolved into a whole lot more. While I avoided having sex with anyone other than Charles, there was no real joy in the act. Not when all I wanted to do was get out of the place, and away from these people.
It was close to three by the time I persuaded a somewhat drunken Charles to leave. The air taxi deposited us at my building and I all but carried Charles into my apartment.
“A nightcap,” he announced grandly. “We both need a nightcap.”
A smile twitched my lips. “You need to lie down, Charles, before you fall down.”
“I will only do so if you are with me.” He somehow planted a somewhat awkward kiss on my cheek. “My need for you has not dimmed despite the pleasures of the night—”
“So I see,” I replied. “Do you think you can make it up the stairs alone? I'll make us a nightcap.”
“Indeed I can,” he said, and dutifully staggered toward the stairs.
I watched, ready to spring into action should he look ready to topple, but he reached the landing without incident and disappeared into the bedroom. I poured two whiskeys, placed the sleeping draught into one, and mentally hoped it was fast-acting as I followed Charles up the stairs. He was sitting upright on top of the blankets rather than under them, and looked altogether too awake despite his drunken state.
“A vision in sheer blue and jade visits me.” He patted his thighs. “And she brings a nightcap.”
“Technically, you're visiting me, Charles, not the other way around.” I sat astride his lap and handed him the glass. “To the newest Lord. May he rule with a hard but fair hand.”
He chuckled softly and touched his glass against mine. “The hard bit will be no problem with you in my life.”
“Evidently,” I said, amused. Certainly the alcohol hadn't diminished either his ardor or his capabilities. “Do you know what is wrong with Karlinda?”
He raised an eyebrow. “I would rather not talk—”
“Humor me,” I murmured, and gently slid up and down against the thickness of him, “and I might just humor you.”
“Ha! Saucy wench.” He downed his drink in one gulp, placed the glass aside, then caught my hips and held me still as he slipped inside. “Karlinda's strength has been on the decline for several years, but it has gotten much worse over the past few weeks.”
“Can they not find the reason?”
“From the little Julius has said, she has a low blood count and is iron deficient, but they do not know its cause.”
It was possible that both problems were related to her being a vampire's meal ticket, but I'd never known any vampire to assert such self-control. Their usual mode of operation involved a feeding frenzy that left their victims little more than bloody bones.
My body began to rock in time to Charles's gentle movements. I drained my whiskey and placed the glass on the table beside his. “And what of Julius? If they are constant companions, why would he not have caught the illness?”
“Because they do not live together, even though they are an acknowledged couple.” His grip on my hips tightened. “I hope you don’t have designs on the man, because that would rather aggrieve me.”
“Oh, I don't know,” I teased. “There is a fierceness about him—a danger—that many would find attractive.”
“If it's fierceness you want, my dear, then it’s fierceness you shall get.”
With that, he slipped down the bed and artfully shifted positions so that I was on my back. From there on in, he allowed no more talking and gave no quarter until both of us were satiated.
Only then did he finally fall asleep.
I carefully slipped out of his arms, grabbed a tunic from the cupboard, and then padded into the shower to wash the smell of sweat and sex from my skin. The last thing I wanted was to be seeing Jonas stinking of Charles. Once dressed, I quickly left.
Central was a city of never-ending light, and the everyday rhythm of life had evolved to cater for that. Many businesses were open twenty-four seven, and though the streets were far from crowded, there were still plenty of people out and about.
I made my way through the streets until I reached a cross street that led to Twelfth and—once it was empty—called the light to me and disappeared behind its shield. On Twelfth, I made my way to the top of the nearest building and continued to climb upwards via various rooftops, until I could go no further and there was only the rusting heaviness of the metal curtain wall between me and the night-clad world beyond.
I took a deep breath to gather my strength, and then thickened the walls of the shield until the brightness within disappeared and there were only shadows. I shifted to particle form and leaped upwards. A heated ache instantly throbbed across my body, but I ignored it. There was no other way to get out of Central at this time of night.
I flew over the top of the wall's wide walkway and plummeted down the other side. As the brightness of the UV towers began to fade, the light shield unraveled, until there was nothing between the night and me. It should have eased the ache in my head. It didn't.
I cursed softly and arrowed toward the bunker. The entrance door had been closed against the darkness, but even as I approached, it opened. No light spilled out to warm the night; Jonas had obviously turned it off in preparation for my arrival.
I dropped down and regained human form, but weakness washed through me and sent me stumbling forward. Jonas caught me before I could fall. He didn't ask if I was okay—he really didn't need to, given the connection we now shared. He simply helped me inside, shut the door, and then escorted me across to a chair and sat me down.
“You're taking one hell of a risk coming here.” His voice held none of the anger and concern that washed from his mind to mine.
“I know, but I used that drug you sent and Charles is out cold—”
“I wasn’t worried about Charles, but rather whoever is watching this place.” He stalked across to the autocook sitting next to the old brick tower that still held the solar panels powering a good portion of the equipment in the underground levels. Long before this level had become a museum, it had been a heavily fortified base for day-to-day operations. But there was little left of the equipment that had survived both the war and the subsequent cleanout of all thi
ngs déchet, nor was there anything to indicate the museum it had then become. Everything had either been destroyed or removed after Dream and her people had set off the bombs in an effort to contain me underground.
“Look, I’m sorry, but Cat and Bear are following Branna and I have information I needed to get to you and Nuri.”
“Why the hell didn't you tell us you'd found Branna? We could have—” The rest of his sentence was lost to a cacophony of happy noise as all the little ones swept into the room. I didn't bother trying to calm them down—it had been a few days since I'd seen them, and I missed them as much as they'd missed me.
I waited until their excited chatter and their tingly kisses began to ease off, and then said, “I hope you haven't been annoying Jonas too much.”
“Aside from all the noise,” Jonas commented dryly, “they've been good company.”
This set off another round of chatter and giggles. Jonas rolled his eyes and walked back with what looked like a mug of green swill and a plate piled high with meat, eggs, and bread.
He sat down opposite and slid both across the table. “Eat, then we'll talk. Your chatty little ones might have calmed down by then.”
Which only set them off again. I plucked a knife and fork from the nearby container and hoed into the food. I had to admit, I felt a lot better by the time I'd demolished it.
Jonas pushed the so-far ignored mug of green muck a little closer. It was an herbal drink favored by shifters for its energy-boosting properties, but I was not a fan. It rather tasted like fouled swamp water.
He waited until I'd drunk the damn stuff and then said, “So, Branna?”
I crossed my arms and grimly updated him on not only everything that had gone on over the last twenty-four hours, but everything I suspected.
By the time I'd finished, his expression echoed mine. “I would like to think that Julius Valkarie is not involved in Dream's schemes, but who knows how far the tendrils of her evil has spread.”
“You know him?” I asked, surprised.
“Know of him, more precisely. He is, as Minister for Home Defense, the commander and chief of the ranger division, and a good one at that.”
“I got the impression he left the day-to-day operations to his staff.”
Jonas hesitated. “He never used to, but it's been a while since I resigned from the ranger division. Things could have changed.” He pursed his lips for a moment, his expression thoughtful. “If Hedda is in fact Dream, then that might also explain the chancellor’s current state of ill health.”
“How so?”
“Hedda is Karlinda's younger sister.”
“But she's not—” I stopped. Sal had told me that Winter was a rare vampire survivor and that he'd been the force behind the push to give vampires light immunity. But they were all survivors of a rift that had mashed their DNA together, and while Sal had never shown any hunger for blood, that didn't mean the other two had similarly skipped the need. And the vampires in the bunker I'd raided had not only mistaken me for someone else, but had called me mistress. Not master. Mistress.
If Dream was feeding off the people closest to her Hedda Lang persona, then she'd been doing it for some time, given Karlinda's gradual descent into frailty. But how the hell was she getting away with it without someone catching on?
“Why would anyone catch on?” Jonas asked, obviously following my thoughts. “They were taking multiple blood samples at Winter Halo with no one being the wiser. It would be very easy for Dream—in her Hedda disguise—to take the same sort of approach with her so-called sister.”
“Yes, but surely someone would have connected the dots and have realized the weakness and anemia got worse after every sisterly visit?”
“Why would they? Hedda isn't a registered survivor of a vamp attack and she shows no outward signs of vampirism.” He grimaced. “And, unfortunately, not even Nuri can make a move on her without concrete proof. All we have so far is suspicion.”
“It’s far more than a mere suspicion.”
“Yes, but we still cannot act against her without proof. She is both too well regarded and well guarded for any action against her to succeed.”
“You don’t have to get close—any long-range rifle would take care of the problem nicely.”
A smile touched his lips. “Except that Dream is a body shifter like yourself, and unless we get close, we can’t be absolutely positive it’s not the real Hedda Lang we’re shooting.”
That was, rather annoyingly, all too true. “What does the chancellor actually do? Is it an official or ceremonial position?”
“Historically, the chancellor was the chairman of the governing body of the universities board, but after the war it became a position within the House of Lords itself. He or she is responsible for overseeing the running of the house, and is called on to vote if there is a tie on a piece of legislation.” He frowned. “Why?”
I leaned back in the chair and rubbed a hand across my eyes. “Karlinda invited Charles and me to dinner tomorrow night, so I figured I’d better be aware of what she actually does. It's possible Hedda will be there. If she is, then I might be able to act against—”
“No,” he said immediately. “Hedda Lang, as divisional second, is never without protection. It would be nothing short of suicide to even contemplate carrying a weapon into Karlinda’s premises, let alone trying to use it.”
“So I’m simply to sit there and do nothing?”
“I’d rather you not sit there at all,” he said. “Even without the bracelets Branna stole, she’s still an earth witch of some power. She might well sense that you are more than you seem, just as Nuri did.”
“Nuri had the advantage of a psychic connection with Penny and knew from the outset that I was lying.”
His expression clouded over further at the mention of his niece's name. I knew why without even asking.
“Jonas—”
“I cannot let it be,” he said, his expression suddenly fierce. “And I will not give up on her. Not until I know, with absolute certainty, that there is no hope.”
“I know, but—”
“You, of all people, should understand why,” he continued. “You went against reason and put your life on the line to rescue a child injected with wraith pathogens simply because you believed she had a chance—that she deserved the opportunity and the time to prove she was not the sum of what they'd done to her. How can you expect me not to offer my own flesh and blood that same chance?”
Because there was a difference, I wanted to say. But was that really true? Penny might have fled with the vampires, but she'd also let me live, and surely that meant something. After all, Dream had ordered the vampires to kill me on several occasions now, and Penny was no doubt well aware of that fact. And that, in turn, meant that somewhere deep inside, the child that was Jonas's niece still survived.
“But the longer she remains in their hands,” he said softly, “the less chance there is of that remnant remaining. It needs to be done, if not today, then in the next couple of days.”
“To echo your earlier words, we’re taking one hell of a risk if we go out today.”
“No more than the one you took to come here,” he said.
“And Nuri? What would she say to this sudden change of plans?”
He didn’t immediately answer, and the soft buzz at the back of my thoughts told me why—he was checking with her. A slight smile tugged his lips. “She agrees it’s a fool’s mission. But she also said that if we’re going to do it, it has to be done now, because there will be no other chance.”
I took a deep breath and released it slowly. I’d only come here with the intention of updating him and Nuri, but given Charles was knocked out for a good part of the coming day, there was no real reason why I couldn’t investigate the rift Penny had disappeared into.
I scrubbed a hand across my eyes and then met his gaze grimly. “I will not go into that rift without a means of being tracked or indeed rescued. I've barely escaped from three
of their facilities now. I fear I will not escape a fourth.”
“All that can be arranged.” He reached across the table and caught my hands in his. His fingers were calloused and oh so warm, and oddly made me feel safer than I'd ever felt in my entire life.
“For the first time in my long life,” he continued, “I'm excited about the future and what it might bring. I don't want to lose that feeling, Tiger. And I would, if I lost you.”
His words had an odd sort of tightness forming in my chest. I wasn't exactly sure what it was, but it felt heavy and wonderful all at the same time. “But we barely know each other. We don't even know if this thing between us—”
“Is real?” he cut in, amused. “It definitely is if it’s managed to turn around the opinion of this world-weary, déchet-hating ranger.”
I took a somewhat shuddery breath and released it slowly. “Wherever I end up, it's likely to be a trap. It might take an army to break me out, and not even Nuri, with all her contacts, will be able to rustle up such a force.”
“Sometimes the best force to use is no force at all.”
“Being enigmatic is doing nothing to ease my fears.”
He smiled. “I know, but it's better you don't know details in the event you’re captured. You just have to trust me.”
I did trust him. I just didn't trust the fact that Dream hadn't already countered whatever they were planning to do. “You do realize that we lures are immune to all manner of drugs? They'll find it hard to get any information out of me.”
“Hard doesn't mean impossible, Tiger. You were affected by that drug in Winter Halo, remember.”
It wasn't like I could forget it. Even though the drug had done nothing more than cloud my senses and mind, it had still been something of a shock that there were now drugs my immunity couldn't handle. Although, given time, my natural healing abilities would chase any drug, no matter how deadly, from my system. It was the reason I'd survived being all but melted by the Draccid gas, after all.
But would I have that time if I were caught again? If Dream had issued a kill order within Central, why wouldn’t she order the exact same thing everywhere else?
