
Amber Riley
iUniverse, Inc.
New York Bloomington
The Flash of a Firefly
Kindred Blood: Book One
Copyright © 2010 Amber Riley
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This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously
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ISBN: 978-1-4502-3206-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-4502-1773-6 (cloths)
ISBN: 978-1-4502-1772-9 (ebook)
Printed in the United States of America
iUniverse rev. date: 6/3/10
Contents
For Nonny and Poppy, who have always been there through thick and thin.
"What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset."
Crowfoot
As a self-respecting vampire, I shouldn't lurk around cemeteries. It was creepy and cliché, not to mention pointless. The only people there were six feet under. Lucky bastards.
I sighed and leaned my head against the bark of an oak tree. Sirens were blaring somewhere in the city, but everything was still and quiet among the headstones.
I flicked my cell phone open. There were no missed calls. What could be taking Merv so long? He didn't answer when I called him, and he had never been late in the six months he had been working for me. It was his one redeeming quality.
His exact words to me the first time we met were, "I've always known Dracula was real. I've seen all the movies. You don't look like I thought you would. Where's the cape?" It was not the greatest first impression.
About nine years before Bram Stoker wrote his novel, Dracula had been killed by the Enforcement Team for calling too much attention to us. People still talked about Jack the Ripper.
But that was beside the point. What he expected me to look like always confused me. I was pale; I had fangs. Maybe he expected me to skulk around in the shadows with a crazed, blood-hungry look on my face.
I chuckled and glanced at my cell phone again. Maybe I had enough blood to last me through the next couple of days. There was a lot to do the next few nights, though. I would probably use up my supply before we could reschedule. There was nothing to do but wait.
A mouse skittered along the base of a nearby angel statue. It froze ten feet from the tree I was leaning against and watched me. I looked it straight in its beady little eyes and participated in the world's stupidest staring contest. I would have won, too, but a set of headlights caught my attention as a dark green Festiva rolled slowly around the bend. It was about time.
The gears screeched as the driver threw the car into park. Merv fought with the door for a little while before rolling the window down and using the outside handle. He finally hopped out, huffing and puffing, with a giant smile on his freckled face.
"Hi." He waddled forward, pulling my suitcase behind him. His smile faltered when he saw me scowling. He pushed his glasses up his nose with a pudgy finger. "Sorry, Kaden."
"I'm assuming you have a good reason for keeping me here for over an hour." Truthfully, I didn't really want to hear the lame excuse he would come up with, but since I didn't like him, I didn't feel like letting him off completely scot-free.
"I g-got held up at S-Sid's," he stammered. "There was this guy that wanted to fight me."
"It's not like you to get into it with people," I said. "Where was Sid? Or Reece?"
He shrugged. "Reece was there."
I held my breath as my irritation rose to the surface. If I was paying the two strongest werewolves in the city to keep an eye on the moron, then I didn't expect to hear he was fighting with anyone.
"Then what was he doing?" I asked.
"He was ... You know, I don't need anyone to babysit me." He peered over his glasses at me with a defiant look and rambled on about being an adult.
It was part of the deal. He supplied me with blood, and I kept him out of danger. None of the men before Merv had been this difficult to keep intact. Granted, he had never gotten into a bar fight before, but he was perfectly capable of being troublesome in other ways.
Merv puffed his chest out and ended his tirade with, "I can look after myself."
"Of course you can, Merv." I flicked a bug off my sleeve. "Nevertheless ..."
"If I can survive that vampire, then I can survive just about anything, so I---"
"Vampire?" I interrupted. He had my attention now. "What vampire?"
He looked at me like I was an idiot and spoke slowly like he was talking to a small child. "The one that wanted to fight with me at Sid's tonight. Were you listening to me?"
As far as I knew, vampires didn't go to Sid's bar. It was more of a human hangout than anything else. Maybe a werewolf here and there. Something was wrong. I grabbed the suitcase from Merv and turned to go.
"Hey, are you going to do some vampire stuff tonight?" He clasped his hands in front of his chest and started following me.
I sighed, irritated. "No, Merv. You can't come with me."
He mumbled something under his breath and stormed back to his car. He could be mad. I was the one that waited an hour in the middle of Calvary Cemetery just to humor him. Deep breaths, I told myself. It was only another couple decades until I would get a replacement for him.
I didn't find that thought very comforting as I rushed from the cemetery. I could still make it to Manhattan if I visited Sid in Queens first. There were hours before daylight.
I ran by a used car lot surrounded by a tall chain-link fence at a speed the human eye couldn't detect, and rounded the corner. There were several coffee shops and restaurants still open within the next two blocks, and people were milling around outside. An older man was selling meat kabobs from a cart on the corner. The smell from the grill traveled half a block before disappearing into the night.
My destination wasn't far. Another block, and---
I came to an abrupt stop inches away from a group of people exiting a bar. They piled out onto the sidewalk, laughing and talking, totally oblivious to the world around them. At least they were too drunk to realize how quickly I appeared next to them.
I took a deep breath and stepped forward before freezing in place. I had to blink repeatedly to make sure I wasn't seeing things. There was a face among the women who had just cut me off that was familiar. Too familiar.
Long, dark hair cascaded down her back in waves, and her pale skin stood out against her little black dress. It was impossible. The person I was thinking of was in Spain. I blinked again and watched as they piled into one of the cars parked at the curb.
You're seeing things, I told myself. But if it was who I thought it was, then there was going to be trouble. The feeling that something was wrong multiplied tenfold. I watched, numb, as the car drove past me. I had to find out what was going on.
Another block down, I stopped outside Sid's. There was a new sign hanging above the door. Bold blue letters were carved into a massive piece of wood with gold etched onto the border. It was amazing to me that he would spend money on something like that when the walls inside were stained a dingy yellow from years of smoke, and the floor was in desperate need of refinishing. The cushions on the bar stools were cracking, and the felt on the pool table was starting to wear thin. New light fixtures wouldn't be a bad idea. Despite all that, Sid had a decent number of customers every night. Two-for-one specials and attractive bartenders could really bring in a crowd.
I pulled the suitcase over the threshold and quietly hid it behind a long jacket hanging on the hook near the door. If anyone wanted to steal a bunch of blood, they could be my guest.
Reece was moving around the end of the bar with a broom in one hand and a dustpan in the other. He was wearing a T-shirt with an eighties band logo scrawled across the chest, and his blond hair was crunchy with gel. The picture-perfect college kid; no one would ever suspect that he turned furry at least once a month.
He was concentrating on emptying the dustpan when I appeared next to him. He jumped, dropping the lid to the garbage. He fumbled with it for a moment before setting it back on top of the can. "God, Kaden. Be careful where you do that whole appear-out-of-thin-air thing, would you? We've got customers."
I smiled sarcastically, making sure my fangs were hidden. "Tell me what happened with Merv tonight."
He grabbed a rag and started scrubbing the water stains from the bar. Red began creeping up from his neck into his cheeks. "Honestly, I don't know what happened." With the buzz of chatter and music surrounding us, it was hard to hear his whispers. "One second they were sitting there; the next second the guy had his hands around Merv's throat."
"Who?" I snapped. "What did they look like?"
A man at the bar pushed an empty bottle toward Reece. He grabbed it and threw it into a large bin beneath the bar. "Hey, can I get another one?" he asked. Reece ignored him, continuing to scrub. "She was really pretty with dark hair. The guy had a little bit of an accent. Why? What's up?"
My hands itched at my sides. Deep breaths, I thought. It was important to remain calm. I wasn't sure anything was wrong, and anger solved nothing. I was probably becoming paranoid. There were countless vampires fitting those descriptions.
"Hire a couple more people to help out," I told him. "I'd rather be safe than sorry."
"If this is about letting Merv get into trouble, then you don't have to worry. It won't happen again." He darted back behind the bar and grabbed the man's wrist as he reached for a beer sitting in ice. "Not a good idea, buddy."
"It's only partially about that." I crossed the room and grabbed my suitcase again. "I've got some things to look into."
"Kaden, what's going on?" he called after me, sounding slightly nervous.
The heat blew across the floor and up my pant legs as I unloaded the blood bags into the mini-fridge in my bedroom. It felt good against my skin. With my diet, I never felt warm. But I refused to steal the heat from anything living, and I was therefore resigned to that fact.
There was one thing that helped a little. Scalding hot showers thawed me out. My joints would loosen, and I could feel almost normal. As long as the hot water lasted, I would let it pound my skin and take some of my stress down the drain with the soap. It was then, and only then, when no one was around, that I could allow myself to remember the rush of the hunt, the sensation of sinking my fangs into flesh, their pulse beneath my lips, and the rush their blood gave me as it flowed over my tongue.
I pulled myself back to reality. I was on a mission; there wasn't time to think about that. If that woman was who I thought it was, then I was probably being investigated. As an investigator, she would have gone to the club I owned. Someone there would have seen her.
Every little sound seemed to echo off the walls around me as I finished putting the blood away. The house was too big for one person, or even for five people. It was more for show than for comfort, but it provided the perfect amount of privacy.
I reached up to the top shelf of my closet and grabbed a shoe box. I flung the lid aside, followed by the entire box. I grabbed the next, then the next. Each was full of information. I had stolen them when I left Spain, hoping to figure out if there were any more lies to uncover. It wasn't enough that my entire afterlife had been a giant fabrication. I wanted the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Unfortunately, I came up empty-handed in regards to the shoe boxes. All I managed to get out of the country were vampire profiles and a few locket-sized portraits. If I had just had more time to look, I was sure I would have found something more.
Once the chocolate brown carpet was covered with things I should have thrown away long ago, I found it---the box with the portraits. As luck would have it, the one I was looking for was sitting right on top. The same girl I had seen earlier was posed, unsmiling, with her hair piled on top of her head. With it tucked safely into my back pocket, I took off for Manhattan.
It was only after I got there that I realized my keys were sitting at home. I hadn't planned on needing them before I got sidetracked, and after that, I had been too preoccupied to even think about them. So I knocked and then I waited in the cold October air.
The Amaryllis was the club that I used as a cover. There had to be some sort of legitimate income in case anyone ever came asking, and there was plenty coming in from the club. It was in a great location for nightlife. The building was red brick with white awnings over dark windows. The inside had been completely redone to open up the layout. Upstairs, velvet couches were positioned around square glass tables overlooking the dance floor and bar below.
I heard someone hurry toward the door, their heels clicking on the tile. Jessica swung the door open with a smile. The bags under her eyes didn't suit her very well, and her auburn hair was frizzing around her oval face. There was a large cranberry juice stain running down the entire front of her blue dress.
"You look like hell," I told her. "You drank one of those energy drinks again, didn't you?"
"I might have." She beamed, trotting after me.
Music was still playing from the DJ booth. It was some upbeat song I didn't recognize. I assumed it was to keep her awake while she finished cleaning up, since the club had been closed for a couple hours.
"You know they're not good for you," I said.
She laughed. "Kaden, you do care."
"I don't want to worry about finding someone else to run this place for me." From the look of the new bartender behind the bar, I knew it wouldn't be easy to find someone as good as Jessica, especially since she knew what I was. It always made things easier when I didn't have to hide.
I watched as Max slowly hung a martini glass upside down above the bar. He was trying not to let the base of the glass touch the opening. It reminded me of the game Operation. The only difference was that nothing was going to happen if the glass touched the sides. It was a mystery how he got anything done.
"There are water spots on that one," Jessica said, plopping onto a stool.
Max blushed and stuck the glass back into the water. He had that certain boy-next-door charm about him, completed by his Southern accent. He must have been in his own little world not to have noticed me come in, but he jumped when he saw me standing there. His elbow knocked a glass onto the floor, shattering it.
"Never mind him; he gets nervous around you," Jessica said to get my attention back.
I forced myself to stop watching him scramble to pick up the broken glass, crossing my fingers in the hope that he didn't cut himself. I was too thirsty to smell fresh blood. I didn't know why I even bothered hiring humans. I must have been a masochist.
"So, what are you doing here so late?" she asked.
My gaze unconsciously floated back to Max, who was still picking up the pieces of glass gingerly between two fingers and dropping them into the garbage one by one. I wondered what it would take to light a fire under him. Attack dogs? An ax murderer?
"Earth to Kaden," Jessica called, waving her hand in front of my face.
I motioned for her to follow me to one of the lounges. I didn't want Mr. Jumpy overhearing us. I couldn't imagine his reaction to the truth if he was that on edge to begin with.
When we sat on one of the maroon sectionals, far out of Max's hearing range, I pulled the portrait from my pocket. I looked down at it and let out a breath. "This is very important. Do you recognize her?" I asked, handing the portrait to her. "Has she been in here?"
She stared at the portrait, covering a piece with her finger and then uncovering it again. She turned it one way and then the other, finally shaking her head. "No, I haven't seen her."
I leaned back, scowling. "That doesn't mean she wasn't here."
Jessica shook her head again. "I don't see everyone that passes through."
It had been worth a try to ask. If Jessica hadn't seen her, then someone else would have. She would have been there at one point. I knew it because I knew her. But she probably wasn't alone. Anyone could have come instead of her.
"Why are you looking for her?" Jessica asked.
"I'm not," I told her. "I think she's looking for me."
She smirked. "Ex-lover, huh? You scorned her, and now she's here for her revenge. Ah, sweet revenge." She clasped her hands together and batted her eyelashes.
I scowled. The last woman I would have ever taken as a lover was the one in that portrait. I pulled it back from Jessica and stuffed it into my pocket again. "Keep an eye out, and let me know if she shows up."
She picked at the stain on her dress. "Still not watching the news?"
Of course I wasn't. The news was depressing. It was always about the same things: someone was missing, or dead, a building had burned down, a politician was dirty, the economy was falling. I didn't want to hear about women killing their own babies or another dogfighting ring.
"I didn't think so," Jessica continued. "So you don't know about the murder in Central Park? The man was completely drained of blood."
"No," I said, sitting up straight. "When?"
"Last night."
Now I was sure of it. The rule in the city was simple: don't kill your dinner. I had never had a single problem before now. It was too coincidental. I needed to take a look at the crime scene first thing tomorrow night.
"Kaden?" Jessica snapped her fingers. "What's wrong with you tonight?"
My head was spinning. Why now? I asked myself. Why did she have to come back now? I had just gotten comfortable here after so long.
"I've got to go," I blurted. I got up and stormed toward the door. Max came around the corner with a box of liquor and almost ran into me. He spun on his heel and disappeared around the corner with eyes the size of dinner plates. I looked over my shoulder at Jessica. She shrugged. It was going to get really annoying if he kept avoiding me like that.
"Good night," she called.
I waved my hand over my shoulder at her. "Stop drinking that stuff, and go home already."
"Yes, boss." She laughed.
I was glad one of us could still find humor in anything tonight. Things had gone from bad to worse. There wasn't anything more I could do now except go home. I was ready to crawl into my bed, safe and sound, to mull everything over.
But when I got there, Reece was waiting on the porch steps for me. His head was resting on a pillar, and his eyes were shut. He was still in his T-shirt, but he wasn't cold, though he had his arms folded across his chest. Werewolves ran at least twenty degrees warmer than the average human.
"Hey," I said, giving him a little kick. "What are you doing here?"
He jumped and rubbed his face. He blinked his sleepy brown eyes until he could see straight again and looked up to the sky. "You're cutting it close."
He was right. The sky was turning light, and if I was still on the porch in another few minutes, I would be nothing more than a pile of ash. I pushed the door open and waited for him to go inside before me.
He got up stiffly and shook his head. "You're telling me it was unlocked all this time?"
I shrugged when he passed me, and I shut us both safely inside. "I guess I should rethink that."
He flopped down on the black leather couch in my living room and put his feet up. "I told Sid what happened, and he asked me to come find out exactly what's going on."
"Is your phone broken?" I asked.
"Is yours?" He yawned. "We tried to call like a hundred times."
I reached into my pocket and pulled the phone out. A little box popped up saying I had missed nine calls. Somehow I had set the ringer to silent. I turned it back up and threw the portrait at Reece. "Was this the girl in the bar tonight?"
He caught it in midair and glanced at it. "It looks a lot like her, but I'm not sure, Kaden. It's one of those faces that a lot of people have. Who is she, anyway, and what's the big deal?"
"Her name is Francesca, and it's a big deal because she works for Phoenix." I snatched the portrait back. "She's probably here to collect information for him."
He held up his hands. "Wait. You think the master vampire sent her here for something like that? Don't you think he'd do something a little more drastic? I mean, what does he need to know about you? It's pretty well known how you live here."
He was right, but I still felt that something was off. She wouldn't have been vacationing, and I hadn't received any requests to enter my territory. Working for Phoenix, though, she didn't need to get permission. The whole world was her playground.
"There was a murder last night where the man was drained of blood," I said and began pacing back and forth.
Reece sighed. "I think you've become paranoid. I'll talk to one of the wolves that works down in the morgue, but it's probably just some local vampire gone crazy."
"It's too coincidental---" I started.
"Kaden, it's not this Francesca person. You need to stop worrying that Phoenix is going to send someone to kill you. It's been what? Like two hundred years?" He yawned again. "Let the past be the past. Relax a little."
I sat down in one of the leather chairs and sighed. He was probably right. If the master had wanted me dead, then it would have happened by now. There would be no point in coming to get me after all these years. But grudges could last forever---I should know.
"I'll relax after I figure this out," I told him. And I would figure it out.
The cops had probably cleaned up the crime scene and gotten rid of anything I might have found useful. I was determined to try though. Maybe there would be something they missed or something they didn't think had any relation to the murder.
Reece had gone home sometime during the day. He hadn't called yet to tell me what his friend from the morgue had said, but I could wait to hear about it until after I checked things out. I should have asked him to measure how far apart the fang marks were. Francesca had a large mouth with fangs set farther apart than most vampires. But it was too late to ask now.
When I opened my bedroom door, I heard voices. As I made my way down the hallway, I realized it was just the television. Reece must have left it on when he went home. Or that was what I thought until I saw the blond head of someone sitting in one of my chairs.
Flo was wrapped up in a white fluffy robe. Her hair was pulled back into a braid that reached her hips, and her makeup was flawlessly painted on. She was sunk down into the chair cushion and idly flipping through the channels.
She, like me, used to work for Phoenix, but she came to live here shortly after I did. There were actually four former family members living in New York. Phoenix's "family" was another way to say "vampire royalty," and I was their rogue prince. The four of us who had left didn't see much of each other. I suppose it brought up bad memories for all of us.
Flo had a habit of showing up unannounced once in a while though, then disappearing. Only now wasn't a good time for her to be around. If Francesca saw her, then she could be added to the hit list, assuming there was one. But it was a little pointless to worry about Flo. She had always known how to take care of herself, and she never appreciated anyone getting in the way.
I walked slowly up behind her and crossed my arms. "Make yourself at home, why don't you?"
She bent her head backward to look up at me, batting her big blue eyes innocently. "I did."
"I noticed," I said under my breath.
She looked me up and down before turning back to the TV. "Where are you going tonight?"
"Central Park." I went to the closet beside the front door and pulled out a pair of white sneakers. "I think someone was killed by a vampire there."
"I heard," she said offhandedly. "I checked it out last night, but there wasn't anything left but the stench of death."
I raised an eyebrow at her and shut the closet door. I carried my sneakers over to one of the chairs and sat down to untie the laces. "You checked it out?" I asked in disbelief.
She scowled at me. "I do useful things sometimes, Kaden."
"Not often." I slipped the first sneaker on and started to tie it. "That's not why you're here."
"Of course not," she scoffed. "I wouldn't bother coming all the way out here for something like that. Dealing with those baby vamps is your department."
It wasn't like I chose to be in charge of the city. It had just happened. I was the first vampire to settle here, and when other, younger ones started to move in, I had to step up. It was either that or the Enforcement Team would show up to control the chaos. No one wanted to open that can of worms.
"So what are you doing here then?" I asked.
She clicked the power button on the remote. "They're remodeling my apartment. I need a place to crash until it's done. I figured I haven't seen you in fifty, sixty years, so I thought I'd come here instead of a hotel." She smiled, her pink, glossy lips pulled back to show her fangs. "So, what about this murderer?"
I tied my second sneaker and stood up, fixing my jeans. "I'm going to find out who it was and kill her."
"Her?" She cocked a well-manicured eyebrow at me. "How do you know it's a female?"
I hadn't meant to say that. I didn't want to tell her whom I suspected until I was sure. Flo had a hot temper. I could only imagine what kind of rampage she would go on. It was better not to wake that sleeping dragon unless it was necessary.
"Him," I added. "It. What's the difference?"
There was a knock on the front door before Reece came inside. He was talking on his phone as he shrugged off his coat and tossed it onto the back of the couch. He waved at me and looked curiously at Flo before sitting down. He was saying a lot of uh-huhs but not much of anything else.
Flo made a little disgruntled noise and turned her attention back to the television. Apparently it was too much for her to pay attention to. I, on the other hand, wanted him to hang up and tell me everything.
It seemed like ages before he ended the call. But even then, he didn't say anything. He held his finger up to tell me to wait a minute and clicked around on his BlackBerry. I huffed, and after clicking a few more buttons, he handed it over. "Pictures," he sighed.
I looked at the screen and scrolled down the e-mail. There were two pictures of the dead man's neck from different angles. I felt a wave of relief at the spacing. The fang marks were too close together. But there was still a problem. There was a vampire out there breaking the rules and making a public spectacle of us. I'd have to take care of him or her before someone else showed up to do it.
"So is it Francesca or not?" Reece asked.
Flo shot up in her chair and looked at me. I groaned and handed the phone back. "Thanks, Reece," I hissed under my breath. He looked at me like I was crazy and scratched his head.
"Kaden," Flo demanded, "what's he talking about?"
"Nothing," I lied. "I was just being a little paranoid. I thought I saw Francesca the other night and figured she was the one that killed that guy, but it wasn't her."
Now that I said that out loud, it seemed to click. She might have had someone else kill him, but it wouldn't have made sense. There was no point in leaving a calling card to let me know she was in town if she wasn't going to do it herself. It must have been a girl that looked like her on the street. As for Sid's bar, I didn't have an answer for that, but it seemed unimportant now.
"It wasn't her?" Flo started. "How can you be sure? What made you think it was? Kaden, don't you walk away from me."
I kept going all the way out the door. I wasn't in the mood to play twenty questions with her. It usually ended with her screaming, and things might get broken. I chose to revel in the fact that my life wasn't about to be turned upside down.
I was planning to do that by skipping the crime scene and keeping my appointment with my antique dealer. He would call every few months with an interesting item. Usually it was something from the time I was alive. He knew what I was. His finding out was a complete accident, and he scarcely handled the news well, but he didn't know anyone else that appreciated history as much as I did.
I arrived at his apartment building within minutes and pressed the button on the intercom. He lived in a decent area, but the building itself was run-down. The fire escapes were rusted, and the cement around the door was cracking. There was a Blimpie right across the street with a torn sign above it and a stray cat sitting in front of it.
"Hello?" Tom's hoarse voice crackled through the box.
"It's me."
A buzzer sounded, the door unhinged, and I slipped inside. The paint was peeling off the walls, and the stairwell smelled like someone had just thrown up, but I wasn't getting into the rickety elevator. Besides, the smell wasn't so bad the higher you climbed, and his apartment always smelled like a candle store.
The hall on his floor was covered in an ugly, worn green carpet, and one of his neighbors was screaming at someone every time I was there. A person must get used to it after a while, but I couldn't imagine it. Especially when the little ankle-biter dog started barking its head off.
Before I could knock, Tom was ushering me inside. His hair was sticking up in odd places, and he had something that looked suspiciously like spittle on his shirt. A perk of having a new baby. Luckily, his offspring was nowhere to be seen. People always want you to hold them and say how adorable they are.
"I'll go get it. Wait here." He disappeared into his office, leaving me alone in his kitchen. Roosters covered almost every inch of it, from the hand towels to the decorative tile behind the sink. Even the dishes that were drying on the counter had a picture of a chicken with her chicks painted in the middle.
Tom's wife, Diana, looked up from her laptop with a big smile. Unlike her husband, she didn't look any worse for the wear. Her hair was teased and sprayed into place, and she looked bright and full of energy. I wondered how she managed that when Tom looked like he hadn't slept in days, not to mention his obvious lack of shower time.
"How have you been?" she asked.
"Good, thank you. And yourself?"
"I'm great," she replied, an ear-to-ear grin stretching across her face.
Drugs. That must have been her secret. No one was naturally that energetic with a newborn in the house.
Tom came back into the room with a boyish grin as he handed me a little black box. "A guy brought it in yesterday afternoon. I wouldn't have called you about this except that the guy knew a little history on it and mentioned your name. Well, I'm sure there's more than one Kaden in the world, but ..." He shrugged, trailing off.
"My name?" I repeated. That sinking feeling settled back into my stomach, and I started to think I had talked myself into having false securities. I flipped back the velvet box to see a sapphire ring glittering happily up at me. I swallowed hard and plucked it from the fabric. "Where..."
He laughed. "You recognize it? I dated it to the fifteenth century, but what are the chances?"
"It was a gift from my wife on our wedding night." I slipped it on my finger where it had been centuries ago. "I lost it in Europe awhile back." It had actually been stolen from me, and for that reason I knew she was here.
"Huh," he replied, uninterested.
"Thank you," I said distractedly. I pushed more money than the ring was worth into his hand, and his eyes popped.
I stepped back from him as he tried to shove half of the bills back at me. No amount of money would be enough for this. I might not have married for love, but she was a good woman and this was an important reminder of my humanity.
"Tom." Diana was still watching us. "Ask him."
He gave up trying to force the money on me and glared at his wife instead. "I told you, no."
She gave him a dismissive wave of the hand and turned to me. "My niece just moved to the city with a couple of friends, and she doesn't really know anyone. Her friends are losers, and I was hoping you could show her around."
Tom was slowly turning a deep shade of red. "Diana, stop it. This is a client, here to do business. Stop pestering him."
"I just thought that since they're about the same age and since they were both single ..." She paused and had the decency to blush a little. "It's better than having her walk around the streets alone when her friends go home with random men. I told her mother I'd try to keep an eye on her, but what kind of college kid wants to spend her weekends playing Scrabble?"
"Diana!" Tom tried to guide me to the door. "I'm sorry, Kaden. I'll walk you out."
"Look, this is her a few years ago." Diana rushed in front of me with a framed photo.
It would have been rude to just push past her. The polite thing to do would be to look at the picture and say she was attractive, but that I was awfully busy. If worse came to worst, I would have to lie about having a crazy, jealous girlfriend.
She held the photo up in front of my face so I could get a good look. Diana and Tom were standing on either side of a young girl in royal blue graduation robes. She was about five-three and slender. Her eyes were a light shade of brown that matched her hair, which was cut up to her chin. She looked like any other high school girl---ordinary---and yet there was something about her. At the very least, I wouldn't have to lie about her being cute.
"There was a murder in her neighborhood last night." Diana lowered the picture and ran her finger over her niece's face. "She's from a small town in Vermont. She doesn't know about city life, and I'm worried about her. I'm sure you two would get along great."
If she cried, I was out of there. There was nothing worse than a crying female. I would rather stab my own eyes out with a hot poker than deal with that.
Tom took her around the waist and tried to pull her away. "Please don't keep bothering him, sweetie. He pays for most of the bills, and we don't really know him well enough to trust him with Lyn," he whispered quietly.
What? I was honestly shocked. He trusted me around his wife and baby. He had invited me into his home, which I never could have entered otherwise. I had never made him feel uncomfortable about the vampire issue. I had never threatened him. Okay, maybe that once, but I had to make sure he knew how important it was to keep his mouth shut about my world. That was years ago, though; it was all water under the bridge.
"I'm not asking him to marry her, Tom. I'm asking him to show her around," she whispered back.
"Please, Di. I---"
"I'll do it," I stated, surprising them both and myself.
Diana did a little leap of joy and rushed to the phone. Tom's jaw hung open as he tried to decide what to say. "Diana, don't call her." She started dialing. "Diana!" he yelled.
What am I doing? I thought. I was having a late midlife crisis. There was no other explanation. I was losing my mind. The word masochist popped into my head. Resisting my natural desire for blood had gotten easier, but there was no reason to tempt the fates.
"She'll be safer with me than on her own. Just think of me as her personal vampire bodyguard," I said, sounding more sure than I was.
He turned to me with uncertain eyes. "I don't mean to be rude, but---"
"I promise not to bite her, if that's what you're worried about."
He paled. "She means a lot to us."
"I give you my word that I won't let anything happen to her."
"I don't think this is such a good idea."
"I gave you my word."
What happened to the good old days when that meant something?
"I'm not kidding. If you touch one hair on her head, I'll kill you." Red was creeping up his neck and into his face.
"And if anything happens to one hair on her head, then I'll hand you the stake." Not that it would really be the most effective way to do me in, but if it was all the same, I'd rather he not know that.
"I'm not comfortable with this. I want you to tell Diana that you changed your mind."
I leaned in toward him. "Why, Tom, if I didn't know any better, I would think that you didn't trust me."
"You'd be right to think so," he mumbled.
I leaned even closer. "What have I done to make you think I'll hurt her?"
He glanced around to make sure his wife was out of earshot. "You're a vampire. Do you need to do anything? Maybe you're hungry. What guarantee do I have that you won't suck her dry?"
"If I did that, then I'd die," I said evenly. "I'm sure you've done enough research on us to know we can't completely drain anyone."
His eyes narrowed. "That doesn't mean you can't take enough that they'll die afterward."
I shrugged. "Would it make you feel better to know that we can't possibly drink that much in one sitting?"
His face changed from red to white to red again in a matter of seconds. "Tell her you've changed your mind."
"Hmm." I pretended to think. "I don't think so."
Diana came over to us with her hand over the phone. "She doesn't start her job until Monday, so she's free until then."
"All right." I smiled at Tom.
"When's best for you, dear?" She waited for her niece to answer and then put her hand over the phone again. "She wants to know when is best for you."
"I've got a couple things to do tonight---" I started.
"After that then," she said before I could finish my sentence. I was going to suggest tomorrow or the next night. I wanted to stop by Sid's and The Amaryllis. When I was done, I was hoping to make it home before Flo got back from feeding. "She says she can meet you at midnight." Diana smiled expectantly at me. "She's out near Rockaway Beach."
"He said he's got plans tonight, sweetie." Tom patted his wife's hand. "Maybe another day."
Tom's smile of defeat was enough to change my mind. It was eleven thirty now, which in their minds gave me just enough time to get there. I could call Sid and Jessica later to warn them about Francesca. My pride was kicking in and overriding the importance of my situation.
"That's fine," I agreed. "It's nothing that can't wait."
"Great." Diana beamed. "I'll have her wait there for you."
"I'd better get going then," I said with a careful smile.
"I'll walk you out." Tom stormed to the door and held it open. He checked over his shoulder, but Diana was still talking on the phone. "I will kill you," he wheezed.
"So you said." I paused. "But ask yourself this: do you really think you'd be able to?"
"Don't fuck with me." His face was the color of a fire truck. It was so much better than squeezing a stress ball.
"Oh, I'm not, Tom. Maybe later with your niece though." I tapped my head. "Just a little something to think about."
I was gone before he could say another word. I was being petty and I knew it. I knew perfectly well that I wouldn't be doing anything with his niece, ever. Humans could never be more than dinner to a vampire, and you're not supposed to play with your food.
Somehow I didn't think Tom would accept that analogy very well. I had a feeling that it would be a long time before he spoke to me again, but it would be even longer before I talked to him.
I knew I was a proud person. I had to prove myself to Tom, but I also wanted to prove something to myself. Maybe it was because Francesca was in the city, and I was remembering things that I wanted to forget. I needed to prove to myself that I had changed---that that wasn't who I was anymore.
I wasn't using my head. I didn't even know how to find the girl. She could have been anywhere near the beach. It wasn't even open at the moment, but that didn't seem to matter to her. A female figure stood out near the water.
I stopped far enough away so she didn't see me and watched her. She looked a lot like the girl in the photo, but her hair was down past her shoulders now. She looked older. No, I thought. Not older, but maybe more mature. The graduation robes hadn't done her justice.
She was wearing a black peacoat with a purple hat, and her jeans were tucked into her boots. Her hands were slipped up into her sleeves, and she was drawing in the sand with her foot.
A chuckle escaped from between my lips. I had promised Tom I wouldn't let her get killed. I hadn't said anything about keeping her away from the police, although that could prove to be equally disastrous.
As I got closer, she turned to face me. She looked a little nervous, so I tried my best to appear unthreatening. It really wasn't a safe idea for her to be waiting alone for me in the middle of the night. I could have been anyone. I put on my best smile and held my hand out before I was close enough to touch her. "Lyn?" I asked brightly.
She let out a breath and shook my hand. "You must be Kaden. I'm really sorry about my aunt. She doesn't know when to stop sometimes."
"She's just looking out for you," I assured her. There was an awkward silence where we just looked at each other. I really, really hadn't used my head. "So did you want to go get coffee, or ..." I trailed off, leaving it up to her.
"Can we just walk?" She smiled, a little unsure if that would be all right. "Or is it too cold? You're not wearing a coat. Your idea was better," she ended in a blur.
I felt the corners of my mouth twitch in amusement. I hadn't seen this level of innocence in a long time. Maybe it was because I lived in a harsh city, or maybe it was because of who I was. Either way, I liked it. It was refreshing.
"I don't mind," I told her. "Let's walk."
She smiled and started down along the waterline. "So, what is it that you do? If you're a good customer of my uncle's, then you must be a trust fund kid or something. His store is extremely overpriced."
"I own The Amaryllis. It's a nightclub in Manhattan."
I tried to bite my tongue. I didn't want to give her too many details about myself. The less she knew, the better it was. I should have made up a fake life to tell her about on the way there.
Her eyes widened. "How old are you?"
"Twenty-two." Plus six centuries, give or take, but I couldn't say that.
"Wow, I'm impressed. I wish I could be that successful at such a young age. I'm going to school for nursing. It pays pretty well, but let's face it: it's not as glamorous as what you do."
She laughed again, and I cringed. It wasn't that it was annoying. It was quite the opposite, in fact. It was one you would want to listen to all day. And when the breeze blew her scent in my direction, I was completely overwhelmed.
She kept on talking about college as I struggled to compose myself. She smelled like lavender and vanilla. It filled my senses. The hunger started as a tingle in my fingers and started to creep over the rest of my body.
Stop it, I screamed at myself. It had been over a hundred years since I had bitten anyone. I would not break my promise over this one tiny person. She wasn't worth it. I was stronger than that. I took a deep breath of ocean air and let it burn into my nostrils.
"So, after I finish my degree here, I can go back to Vermont and look after my dad," she finished.
"That's really good of you," I said stiffly. In this day and age, that was an understatement. A lot of kids would just stick their parents in a nursing home if they weren't able to look after themselves anymore.
Her eyes sparkled with life as she turned her head to look at me. "What about your parents?"
I took another big breath of ocean air, but there was another smell. I slowed down and scanned the beach. "They're dead," I said, distracted.
Not now. Why now? I asked myself. She didn't have to find me at that very moment. Why did I risk taking Tom's niece out under the circumstances?
Her familiar presence was getting closer and closer, and there was someone with her. "Wait here," I said. I walked out so I could meet them halfway. There would be no hiding Lyn, but I didn't have to expose her to what was coming. It was agony walking away at a human pace. I wanted to get farther away, but I couldn't just disappear. The sand tried to swallow my feet with every step. I wasn't going to be able to put much distance between us.
Then, a hundred feet away, two figures slowed their pace to match mine. I clenched my jaw and forced my feet to keep moving forward. I hadn't been looking forward to this day. I knew it would come sooner or later. I just wished that I had listened to my gut instinct in the first place.
Well, there was no going back now. I was within reach of them, and my blood was boiling under my skin.
"What the hell are you doing here?" I snarled.
"It's good to see you too, Kaden."
"What are you doing here, Francesca?"
Small lines formed between her perfect brows on her porcelain face. Her hair tumbled down her back, and her jaw set as she forced her full red lips into a big smile. It was a face I hadn't seen in over two centuries, one I could have gone a thousand lifetimes without seeing again.
"Would you treat your own sister so coldly after all this time?" she asked in a sickeningly sweet voice.
"You're no relation to me," I growled through gritted teeth.
A flame passed over her eyes as a tanned hand touched her shoulder. Davis stood to her right. He was an average-looking man, or vampire, with tanned skin, short hair, and slightly large ears. He was a much respected member of the family.
"I see you got your ring back." He smiled at me. "I was worried I sent the wolf to the wrong shop with it."
I rubbed the silver band with my thumb. "You always were resourceful."
"I have my ways." He winked, his hand hovering near Francesca like he was waiting for her to lunge forward. She did seem a little different, a little more temperamental or unstable.
"I thought you would have stopped working for Phoenix by now," I stated evenly. He had always been too good for that lifestyle.
Francesca huffed. "Not all of us are traitors."
"I knew you weren't going anywhere," I snapped.
She smiled sarcastically. "We've come to take you home."
It had been a long time coming. Phoenix never forgets those who betray him, although technically it was the other way around. I was the one with the knife in my back. If he hadn't lied to me in the first place, then I would probably still be with him now. But he had lied, and it was too big a lie to ignore. It opened up my eyes, and now I was never going to willingly go back.
Davis pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. "I was hoping to be a little gentler in breaking the news to you. Actually, the ring was supposed to be a peacemaker of sorts. I knew you would want it back."
"Thank you," I told him. "I appreciate it, but I'm not returning with you. I'm honestly surprised you thought this would work."
"We didn't." Francesca smiled sweetly, gloating in her sense of superiority. "That's why we came prepared."
I sighed. I was sure they had, but that didn't mean I was going anywhere. This was my home turf. It was my playing field. I wasn't about to go down without a fight. I probably didn't stand a chance with the two of them, maybe more, against me, but I certainly was going to give them a run for their money.
"You remember the last time you underestimated me, Francesca. Do you want to go down that road again?" I asked.
Her jaw dropped, and Davis's hand glided down the skin of her arm. "You know that we can't go back empty-handed without being punished. The Marquis has come up with some new techniques." He shrugged. "I've always liked you, Kaden, and I understand why you left, but if it's you or me, I choose me."
I almost felt bad for him. Almost. The last individual any vampire would want to be was alone with was the Marquis. His old methods of torture were enough to make you seriously consider walking out the front door at midday. What else could he possibly have thought of? I shivered at the thought. It was better not to know.
"If I return, I'll be facing a firing squad," I replied. "I know the rules as well as you do."
Francesca laughed. "Do you really think the master would send us all the way to New York to get you if he simply wanted you dead? He would have sent the Enforcement Team to kill you ages ago if that was all he wanted."
"'Cesca," Davis called softly, "your attitude is not going to help."
"What is this? Good cop, bad cop?" I asked, growing impatient. "This discussion is over. You knew my answer before I gave it."
"Do you know what that means?" Francesca shrieked. "What we have to---"
"'Cesca," Davis warned again, and she fell silent. "We haven't had a second-in-command since you left, Kaden. It's been very worrisome. There was almost a fight within the family during the war."
He hadn't replaced me?
That was dangerous for everyone. If he died, then everything would be thrown off balance. Major battles would be fought to find out who would become master. Law and order would fly out the window. There were at least two or three perfect candidates he could have stuck in the role. He was out of his mind.
"Listen closely, turncoat," Francesca growled. "You're coming back with us whether you like it or not."
I hissed at her. That was it. My blood was boiling. She wasn't about to waltz into my territory and threaten me. Not after all I had been through. I had earned the right to be where I was. The only thing she had had earned was a first-class ticket to hell.
Davis stepped between us. The vein in his temple stood out as he stared at me. He looked serious and a little nervous. I would have been too if I had been sent on a mission with a loose cannon like Francesca.
"We came to offer you everything on a silver platter," she went on, spitting her words angrily. "You will return to Spain as if nothing ever happened. You won't lose status. You'll have all of your prior benefits. He's going to forgive everything that you did."
I teetered on the fence between explosive anger and a complete loss of sanity. The only thing I wanted on a silver platter was Phoenix's head. After all the time I spent believing his lies, it was the least I could ask for, but I wasn't. I had talked myself out of revenge a long time ago, and I was trying to settle on being allowed to start a new life. Apparently that was impossible.
It was time to step back and take a deep breath. In. Out. In. Out. When gravity slowly settled around me again, it was safe to speak. "You remember why I left, right?"
Francesca sighed. "I'm bored now."
"Get out of my city," I snarled. "Go back home and tell your master that I have no intention of coming back. Not now, not ever."
"Your city?" she asked. "Kaden, this isn't your city. This is just the place he has allowed you to live out your stupid temper tantrum. If I have to hear one more thing about you and the way things used to be, I might rip my hair out. No one can bear it anymore. Two hundred years of 'Kaden this' and 'Kaden that.' There isn't a single member of the family that doesn't resent you in one way or another. You have what we all want. Stop acting like a spoiled child."
"You can tell everyone I'm not that Kaden any longer, and they can stop being jealous. Tell Phoenix to pick someone to replace me and move on."
Francesca stepped around Davis and poked me in the chest. It wasn't hard, but it was enough to get her point across. She was fighting with herself not to rip my heart out on the spot. Well, ditto, I thought.
Davis pulled her back gently. "We could use a little vacation time, but expect to hear from us again soon. And don't worry; we will live by the current city rules while we're here."
Francesca gasped and pushed Davis's arm away. "What is that? A human girl? I heard you had given up fresh blood."
Davis sighed. "It's time to go."
"She's very pretty, Kaden." Her eyes flitted back to me. A big smile spread across her face as she peeked back around my shoulder. "Do you intend to let her survive?"
"Leave her out of this." I moved to my right to block Lyn from her line of sight. I had a promise to Tom to keep. Nothing was going to happen to Lyn, even if it killed me.
Francesca giggled and licked her lips. "If you don't kill her, maybe I'll have a taste another night."
"Get her out of here," I growled at Davis. "Now."
Francesca tossed a lock of hair over her shoulder and spun around. "You never did share very well." She sauntered away, swinging her hips.
"Sorry about this," Davis said. "It's too bad we're on opposite sides now. We really will be seeing you soon. Think about it. She was serious when she said we came prepared for you to say no."
I nodded. We had been on opposite sides for a while. The only difference was that we were just getting around to doing something about it. It wasn't my choice. It wasn't his choice. It was coming from above both of us. That very fact reminded me just how much I hadn't missed my old life.
"You knew my answer before you asked it." I sighed.
"Unfortunately." He cracked his neck and took off to catch up with Francesca.
I stood there alone listening to the waves break in the distance before turning back to Lyn. It was too dark for her human eyes to have noticed the quick movement, but she could tell that someone was there one second and gone the next. Don't ask questions, I thought. Just don't ask questions.
As I plodded back through the sand to her, she cocked her head. She held her hair back into a ponytail with her hands, but the crisp ocean air was still blowing strands of it across her face. "What happened?"
"Nothing," I lied. I wouldn't have known where to begin even if I wanted to. And I definitely didn't want to.
"It didn't seem like nothing." She hurried after me as I led the way back to the sidewalk. "Is everything okay?"
My head was spinning. I needed two minutes of silence to wrap my head around everything. I really had been convinced that I was seeing things the other night. It was what I wanted to believe, but I should have trusted my instincts. There was no denying it anymore.
"I'll walk you home," I told her. "Which way do you live?"
She narrowed her eyes suspiciously but didn't comment. "This way."
It was better that she didn't know, even if she didn't think so. I obviously couldn't tell her the truth, and I didn't want to create a believable lie. Lying wasn't exactly something I enjoyed doing, and I didn't want to lie to her specifically.
Ridiculous, but true. I glared down at her walking quietly on the sidewalk. I wondered what she had that was so appealing. It wasn't that she was attractive or that she smelled wonderful. Those things just made me want to bite her; they had nothing to do with wanting to be closer to her. She seemed extremely fragile next to me, like she would break if I touched her. If I wasn't gentle, she would. One wrong move of a finger, and her arm would snap like a twig.
The thought didn't stop me from wanting to reach out and feel the heat from her skin, to move that little piece of hair from her face. Her cheeks were pink from the cold---small pools of blood lingering just beneath the skin. I was sure her blood would taste sweet.
My body jolted, and I forced my eyes away from her face. It wasn't a good idea to think about it. She wasn't going to make me ruin my long-standing diet. She wasn't worth it, I reminded myself. I promised that I would never bite a human again, and I wouldn't. But being near her, smelling her intoxicating smell, seeing her rosy complexion all made my jaw ache.
The silence became deafening. I should have been thinking about how to deal with Francesca, but instead all I could think about was the little insignificant person beside me. If I wasn't going to think about the right things, then I wanted to talk. Talking would divert my attention to something other than that thick, rich liquid flowing beneath her skin.
Time dragged on and on, but she wasn't going to be the first to say anything. Is she mad at me? I wondered. I hadn't meant to come across as cold. I was just trying to protect her. I wanted to explain that more than I wanted to explain anything else.
Maybe I should just say something, I thought. No. She was being obstinate. It wasn't like I had any obligation to explain myself to her. She had no right to demand any details of my private conversation with people unknown to her.
Fine, I decided. If she didn't want to talk, we wouldn't talk. I should have listened to Tom. He was right; it was a bad idea. Humans and vampires didn't mix.
I had proved my point to him though. I could wash my hands of the entire situation and forget it ever happened. She could tell Diana that I was a complete jerk if she wanted to. The point was that she could tell them anything at all. Her throat hadn't been ripped open by a savage, bloodthirsty vampire. At least it hadn't been tonight. There was a strong possibility that Francesca would make good on her threat.
Wonderful. Just wonderful.
Lyn's teeth chattered, and she flipped the collar of her peacoat up. She held her hands up in front of her face and breathed into them. Little clouds of air formed each time she exhaled.
"Are you cold?" I asked, realizing it was a stupid question.
"We're almost there," she replied, shoving her hands back into her pockets.
"If I knew it was this far, I would have suggested a cab." I wasn't sure how long we had been walking, but it wasn't a short distance by any means. It was no wonder her aunt was worried about her.
The buildings were covered with graffiti, garbage littered the streets, and old clunker cars were parked on the side of the road. There were apartment buildings with groups of men sitting outside and trains running on a track above our heads.
She shivered again. I had the urge to put my arm around her, but I couldn't offer her body heat I didn't have. I clenched my hands into fists and held them at my sides.
What was the matter with me?
"This is it," she said quietly, stopping in front of a two-story brick house.
There were a total of three houses on the road. There was a car garage on one corner and a strip club across the street, right next to a Chinese restaurant. One of the windows on the first floor was cracked with plastic stapled over it, the front porch was beginning to dip, and the roof needed to be reshingled. Overall, it was a piece of crap.
"I'm sorry," I told her. My stomach flip-flopped. I hadn't apologized in a very long time. "I didn't mean to upset you back there."
"Upset me?" She dug around in the bottom of her purse. "You didn't upset me. It just looked like you had a lot to think about. When I have things on my mind, I hate having someone jabber away in my ear."
It was definitely not the reaction I was expecting. Where was the cold shoulder? The short, one-word response?
She pulled out her keys with a few colorful key chains attached, and smiled. "Thanks again for humoring my aunt and everything tonight. I'll tell her we went out to a late dinner if that's okay with you."
"Sure. That's fine."
"Great." She headed up to her front door and stuck the key in the lock. "Maybe I'll see you around."
"Yeah, maybe." But not likely, I thought.
She flashed me one last smile before disappearing into the house. My fingers uncurled stiffly. It was finally over. The air around me seemed so much clearer. I had acted like a complete fool. It served me right for being so proud. The next time someone doubted me I would let them. I knew the truth.
There was something more important to deal with anyway: my impending doom. Maybe that was a little melodramatic, but Phoenix would have sent enough muscle to drag me back half-dead if he really anticipated I would say no. I couldn't take them all on my own. I sighed. There was a way to get out of it. There always was. I just didn't know how yet.
Then the burning sensation hit like a Mack truck, almost bringing me to my knees right in front of her house. My veins were on fire, and every little movement sent a searing pain throughout my entire being, completely taking my breath away.
The stress from the walk on the beach had burned through nearly all the blood in my system. I had been so preoccupied with Lyn that I hadn't realized I was running on empty. It seemed impossible not to notice this degree of pain for any reason.
I staggered on the sidewalk and grabbed a chain fence for support. This wasn't good. In fact, this was very, very bad. The sooner I got home, the better. I filled my lungs with cold air and braced myself to run at full speed.
This was going to hurt.
I stumbled across the threshold to my house and collapsed to my knees, still clutching the doorknob. It was hard to breathe, and my head was spinning, but I made it that far. I wasn't going to give up a few hundred feet away.
The medallions on the wallpaper blurred into ugly blobs. I blinked hard until they had a vague shape again. The stairs looked so far away, but ascending them was my only choice. Every cell in my body was screaming in protest as I moved forward. I just had to make it up the stairs and down the hall.
I hoisted myself up, using the door for support, and staggered forward. My ears were buzzing. I latched onto the banister and slid against the smooth wood. My legs felt like they weighed a thousand pounds, and the muscles burned with each step.
I hit the first landing and stopped. I was halfway there. Whoever designed such an elaborate staircase needed to be shot. It didn't have to form a zigzag pattern. The shortest distance from point A to point B was always a straight line. The person must have missed that day of school.
I let out a long breath and pulled myself up the last set of steps. With my bedroom door in sight, I felt a second wind. I lunged forward and shoved the door open. I sank to the floor in front of the black mini-fridge. My hands trembled as I grabbed a bag from inside.
The red liquid slid down the back of my throat in a cold stream. My veins convulsed with the sudden rush, and an icy tingle replaced the burning sensation. The room slowly stopped spinning, and I felt like I was on solid ground again.
I fell onto my back and took shallow breaths. The carpet was soft and plush. I could have fallen asleep right there. My eyelids were growing heavy. Just a quick nap, I thought.
There was no time to waste sleeping. I had to think of something to do before Francesca showed up again. I would start by telling Flo. Now that it was a sure thing, I was going to have to tell her. She was going to lose her cool, but the plus side to that was it would make me keep mine. One of us would need to keep a level head.
I focused my eyes on the swirled design in the ceiling and fished my cell phone from my pocket. After countless rings, music blasted through the receiver. I winced against the pain that shot through my head and held the phone away from my ear.
"What?" she shouted into the phone.
"Where are you?" I asked in a shaky voice.
"Out." The music started to fade in the background. "I'm looking for dinner. Where are you? After storming out on me earlier---"
"I didn't storm out on you," I interrupted. I took a deep breath and decided to let it go. I would never win, and there wasn't time. "Are you coming back here or not?"
"What happened?" she demanded.
"Why do you automatically assume something happened?" She stayed quiet on the other end. Of course she knew. She wasn't an idiot. I never would have called if I hadn't had a reason. The silence lingered on until I couldn't take it anymore. "All right, I had a visit from a couple of old friends tonight."
My stomach tightened up and my body twitched. I still didn't have enough blood to get worked up again. Breathe in, breathe out, I told myself. Remain conscious. Stay calm.
"Friends?" she asked. "What friends?"
"Francesca and Davis." I groaned in anticipation of the coming tirade.
The phone clicked in my ear, and she was gone. "Bye," I said into the dead air before letting the phone fall from my hand to the floor. I hoisted myself into a sitting position and ripped off the end of another blood bag.
It was painstakingly slow getting downstairs. I felt like I had just finished running a marathon. Every muscle was sore, and even my bones seemed to ache. But I made it into one of the leather chairs just minutes before the front door slammed shut behind Flo. She stood there in her strangely fashionable silver sequined dress, tapping her heel against the tile. Her arms were already crossed before she uttered a single word.
It slowly came back to me why she was so exhausting to be around. Her temper tantrums and attitude problems could drain the energy out of the room in seconds. She didn't know the meaning of tact, and listening to her was tiresome.
I raised my head off the headrest, but it took too much energy. My neck wasn't ready to support the weight just yet. I let it fall back onto the cushion and shut my eyes. "Hi," I managed to grunt.
"What the hell?" Her heels clicked all the way across the tile and then onto the hardwood in the living room. "You call me with news like that, and that's all you can manage to say?"
"Do you have volume control?" I asked.
She was standing in front of me now, her foot still tapping away. She smelled like beer, cigarettes, and a hint of something sweet. "At least open your eyes and talk to me," she growled.
"Stop yelling." I opened one eye just enough to look at her. "There's really not much to say about it. They're here to take me back to Spain. I'm just giving you a heads-up."
She inhaled sharply through her nose, and I shut my eye again. She started in on her lecture, and I tuned her out. There was mention of security and a lot of talk about danger. It all amounted to blah, blah, blah. Once she got it out of her system, we could hold a normal conversation. I was secretly hoping she wouldn't let me deal with it alone, but I would never ask for her help.
"Kaden," she yelled, "what are you going to do?"
I used the arms of the chair to push myself up into a straighter position. I looked right at her, with her heavily outlined blue eyes and bone-straight hair, and shrugged. "I'll figure it out."
"That's it?" Her hands flailed around her. "That's your plan?"
It was actually the lack of a plan, but I wasn't stupid enough to tell her that in plain English. It had been only been a couple hours since Francesca met me on the beach. Before that, it had been just a gut feeling, one I was quick to deny at the slightest hint I was wrong. There hadn't really been time to form a solid plan. There were two basic ways to go: seek and destroy or sit and wait.
To seek and destroy could mean creating more conflict than necessary. I didn't want to have to fight them unless I had to. I had left that kind of life behind me. At least I was trying to, but waiting could be dangerous. They would have all the advantage because I wouldn't know what was coming. I could get caught off guard and end up on the next plane to Europe.
"I'm still debating," I told her.
I was leaning toward my second option. I was worried. It had taken a lot of time to get to where I was. If I entered into a world of violence again, I might enjoy it. Maybe there would be no going back a second time. I didn't want to take that chance unless I had to. If I waited and won, great. If I waited and lost, it would be the same as attacking. They were odds I was willing to take. I didn't want to stay here if I was ruined anyway.
Flo sat down on the edge of the coffee table and scowled at me. "You're going to let them hunt you down and drag you back, aren't you?"
"No," I growled. "I'm not going back there."
"Well then ..." She paused and ground her teeth. "We'd better tell the other two. Your wolves should know too. Phoenix is always looking to make his pack bigger, so they should be careful."
"They're not my wolves; they're Sid's wolves," I said flatly.
"Stop trying to change the way things work." She waved a manicured hand at me. "There is no utopia. New York is about as good as it gets with you in charge, but you can't change the pecking order just like that. Sid's already as independent as possible."
If they depended on me at all, then they weren't independent. Werewolves were bred for our protection. Vampires had used and abused them since the beginning of time. It wasn't something I agreed with. The world was different now, and there was less need to have them around. It was about time they broke away from their chains.
"You can't have everything," she went on. "You can't treat them the way you do and expect them to think things are any different than they used to be."
I scowled at her. "I don't treat them like slaves."
"No, but you do tell them what to do sometimes."
Of course I did. It had nothing to do with them being what they were. If I was stuck running the city, then it was going to be run the way I wanted. Vampire or werewolf, it made no difference to me. They were going to follow my rules and help me keep order, or they were going to live somewhere else.
"Fine," I agreed. "I'll let Sid know."
"The vampires too," she added.
Yes, I thought, them too.
It was late, or early, depending on how you looked at it, when Sid and Reece showed up. They didn't need to come all the way out to Old Westbury. I definitely hadn't expected them to show up on my doorstep an hour before dawn. There they were though, sitting on my couch, not saying a word.
Sid's light brown curls were a mess, and there were still marks on his stubbly cheek from his pillow. I must have woken him up when I sent my message. At least he had bothered to change out of his pajamas. Reece was still in black running pants and a red zip-up sweater.
"You could have just called," I told them.
Reece shrugged. "It's kind of something that deserves more than a one-line text."
Flo sat on the couch gloating. She was loving the fact that I was the only one not freaking out, because we all knew Reece was right. But she didn't know that on the inside my head was spinning, my stomach was in a tight knot, and it was taking all I had not to tear something apart. I was just better at hiding my feelings from the outside world.
"So," Sid started, "what do you expect from us? We've never met Phoenix, which makes you two the experts on what to do. But, if you don't mind my being frank with you, I'd rather keep my pack off his radar."
I nodded. It surprised me that Sid hadn't been scooped up long ago. The master's werewolf pack was enormous. He collected them like a pet hoarder would collect cats or dogs. If even one whisper hit his ears of a powerful wolf, then a team would be sent out to bring him back.
Both Sid and Reece had enough experience to put them at the head of Phoenix's pack. During the war, they had both led missions that demolished everyone in their way. Whatever they did to stay away had worked though, because they had never been approached.
There wasn't a vampire or werewolf in the five boroughs that didn't have a shady past. All of them were looking for something different. That's why they were there. Even the monsters of the world didn't necessarily want to be that way. If I had to leave, it wouldn't be just my life that would be ruined.
"The plan is apparently to have no plan," Flo said sarcastically.
"There is a plan," I sighed. "I just don't know what it is yet, and to be clear, I don't expect anything from you. I just want you to be careful."
"I trust you." Reece shrugged. "I heard you always kind of made things up as you went along. I just hope it works this time."
"I trust him too," Sid commented. "But I'm a planner. I can't sit here and do nothing, so I'm going to set up a bus trip. I don't want anything to happen that will cause early transformations. Something tells me that the people within city limits wouldn't like a bunch of werewolves running around."
They had monthly bus trips up north. The full moon held no sway, but they did have to change at least once every cycle. If they didn't, they would lose their control. The younger ones especially had to be careful. Anything too stressful might set them off. If they changed now, the chances of that happening would be lower.
"That's a good idea," I said. "Try to get one leaving this week if you can, before things have the opportunity to get messy."
"Messy?" Reece asked. "How messy are we talking here?"
It was my turn to shrug. "It depends."
Flo let out a burst of laughter. "Are you kidding me? Messy? It's going to get down and dirty. Expect blood and gore and death. Phoenix is always ready to play hardball, and if you're really not going to give in, that's what you can expect."
"Stop being overdramatic, Flo." I stood up stiffly. I didn't want her putting ideas in their heads. "Prepare for the worst, and hope for the best."
"That's all you have to say?" Flo growled.
As she started in on another long lecture, I said good night to Sid and Reece. I was grateful that they had shown up, even if they didn't need to. If we could be united, then it would make things easier.
Flo was still yelling at me as I headed for the stairs. I was surprised that she wasn't trying to physically stop me, but she probably knew better. It was respect, or so I liked to think. There was something to be said about starting battles you couldn't win.
She would be a tough opponent, but ultimately it would end in my favor. I could only hope that the same thing applied with Francesca. Alone, she wouldn't be an issue, but that was the problem. She wasn't alone. Davis was with her, and I was sure there were others. I couldn't take them all on and win.
I kicked off my shoes and flopped face-first onto the bed. I half groaned, half screamed into the down comforter. I took a few deep breaths and felt myself sink into a fitful sleep.
It had been a week since the incident at the beach, and I was tired of being stuck in the house. The first few nights I spent thinking, really thinking. All it had really accomplished was that I made myself more confused. Countless times I started out to find Francesca and settle it then and there, but I never made it off the porch.
This hesitation was new to me. It was the first time I had been put into a situation where I had to choose between following my nature or following my conscience. This was different from the everyday struggle I faced with feeding. It was much more important than that.
After the first few days were over, I committed myself to staying inside to avoid accidental meetings. I was sure that if I saw Francesca, then I would lose myself. I wouldn't be able to stop myself from trying to kill her.
I had daylight protection now. Sid and Reece had agreed to take shifts sleeping at my house. I didn't like the idea. I had heard Francesca with my own ears say that they needed me alive. They weren't about to drag me out of my light-safe bedroom to fry. Having the werewolves stay with me just gave them a reason to be killed.
Sid was fidgeting on the couch. He had gotten a pillow and blanket out and set up a bed. I tried talking him into using a spare bedroom, but both he and Reece had refused. They said it was easier to protect me from the living room. I thought it was a load of crap.
"Tired?" I asked.
He looked at me and blinked heavily. "I can't sleep without noise. Do you mind if I turn on the TV?"
I shook my head. "How are things going at the bar?"
"Everything's fine." He pushed the power button, and an episode of Law and Order started playing. "Francesca hasn't come back in since that night."
"And the bus trip?" I asked.
"We leave in the morning," he answered. "I'll have someone stay behind for you, and we'll be back around ten, maybe midnight at the latest. I don't want to risk staying more than a day."
I hugged a throw pillow to my chest and slumped in a chair. Maybe Flo was right. If he was more worried about protecting me than he was about his pack, maybe it was impossible to bring about a new age for them.
Sid pulled the covers up around his shoulders and rolled over. His long eyelashes twitched as he fell asleep, and his hand muffled his snoring.
That was it. I couldn't take sitting there another second. I threw on my gray jacket and headed for the door. There had to be something to do. Sitting around just waiting for someone to make a move was getting on my nerves. I hated not having the upper hand. Even if we could find out who Francesca had brought with her, it would be something. I could rest a lot easier if I knew. A lot depended on that bit of information.
Francesca had such a knack for agitating me. I would love to wipe that little smirk right off her face. It didn't even have to be me as long as I was there to see it done. I would settle for hearing a secondhand account.
And did she really think that Lyn was just dinner? I wondered. She had to. She was just pushing my buttons. I had a feeling that Francesca knew more than I'd like her to. They knew who Tom was, but there was no way they could know the connection to Lyn. I had only met her that night.
Even if they followed us back from the beach, they would only know I hadn't bitten her that night. They would only know she was alive and where she lived. And I couldn't call Tom to ask about her. I couldn't very well tell him: "Sorry, but there might be some bad vamps after your niece. I just wanted to make sure she was still alive." I would have to personally check on her, even if it seemed stalker-like.
Before I could make the conscious decision to go there, I was standing on her front porch and my finger touched the doorbell. There was just enough time to realize I was a complete idiot and for ding-dong-ditch to flit across my mind before the door opened.
"It took you long enough. Oh." A girl with overly bleached hair stood in front of me. She was a little shorter than me and thin. There was a line around her face where her makeup ended, and she had raccoon eyes. "Can I help you?"
"Is Lyn available?" I asked.
Her bottom lip stuck out. "She's busy. Come back some other time."
"Sarah!" Lyn pushed the blond aside. "Hey, Kaden. What's up?"
Oh, just making sure you hadn't been abducted or murdered. Checking for bogeymen under your bed. Goblins and the tooth fairy too. What was I doing?
"I just wanted to see how you were," I said. "I was in the neighborhood."
She cocked her head. "I'm fine. Thanks."
There was a short, awkward silence. She didn't understand why I was there any more than I did. "Right." I scratched my head. "I'm sorry to bother you. Have a good night."
"Well," she called as I turned around, "since you're here, did you want to come in for a while? My roommates have a couple people over, but I'm not hanging out with them."
There was a shriek of laughter from a girl inside. Drunk humans didn't sound like fun to me. "I should probably get going."
"Are you sure? We ordered a couple pizzas."
Her brown eyes smiled up at me. How wrong would it be to go in? I asked myself. Could I even handle sitting in a house full of warm-blooded humans? I had never put myself in that kind of situation before. The club was different. It didn't have the right amount of privacy or that relaxing, homey feel. It was all business.
But this was business too. I had to check on Tom's niece. I shook my head. I wasn't kidding anyone. This had nothing to do with Tom. I had fulfilled my promise to him. She was fine. I was here for reasons I couldn't explain.
"All right," I agreed. "I'll come in for a little while."
My inner voice groaned, but I was going to find out what was so appealing about this girl. If I figured it out, then I might be able to stay away.
"Sorry. It's kind of a mess in here." Lyn moved a heap of mail off the dining room table. "This is my roommate, Sarah." She pointed to the blond. "And my other roommate, Emma. Sarah's boyfriend just ran out for more beer. He'll be back in a few minutes."
"He's not my boyfriend." Sarah laughed a fake laugh.
"Oh, please. He's here every night," Emma scoffed. Her hair was dark with a layer of blond beneath it, and she had tattoos covering both arms. She got up from the card game she was playing with three other people and pretended she needed something from the kitchen. She "accidentally" bumped into Lyn and whispered, "You said he was cute, but you didn't say he was drop-dead gorgeous. He's hot. If you don't want him, I'm making a pass."
Please don't.
I pretended not to hear by looking around. The house had an open layout. A counter separated the kitchen from the dining room. The floor was that vinyl stuff that comes on a roll; it was beginning to come up where it met a burnt orange carpet straight from the seventies. There were spots on the wall where pictures had once hung.
It wasn't like I was going to be frequenting the place, but I really wanted to give it a good cleaning. Not me per se, but someone needed to. There was a pile of clothes in the corner. I couldn't tell if they were clean or dirty. Dust was accumulating on top of the television, and empty bottles were sitting in odd places all over the house.
Then, like she was reading my mind, Lyn touched my arm and walked toward the stairs. She motioned for me to follow with a bob of her head.
I hesitated. When I was alive, you didn't go into a girl's room unless you were married. If you did, she was ruined and your only option was to marry her. The times had changed, but that didn't make me feel any better about it. I'd had my fair share of bedmates, but that was all a matter of blood. And a temporary loss of morals. This was different. I would like to bite her, but it felt like there was more to it than that. It was more than not wanting to break my diet. I didn't know what had happened to the "don't play with your food" philosophy I had. Apparently my good sense had flown out the window.
I gave in though and followed her up the squeaky staircase. She walked lightly on the faded golden carpet covering the steps. She had on a soft-looking pink sweater with sleeves that covered most of her hands. I forced myself not to reach and touch it, or her hair, which was shining like glass.
I was doing all right until we got to her bedroom. Her scent hit me like a battering ram the second she opened her door. It was everywhere. I was being enveloped in lavender and vanilla. It was rich and warm and so tempting. I felt like I was suffocating. I cringed and held my breath.
On a better note, I realized that it wasn't Lyn who had made all of that mess downstairs. It was like stepping into a room of a different house. Everything was in its place except for a notebook and a textbook that lay open on her desk. There was a Calvin and Hobbes calendar hanging on the wall above it. Her pens and highlighters were all sitting in a clay cup some child probably created in his or her first pottery class. Her bed was neatly made. A single stuffed pig sat carefully on stacked pillows. She was using a homemade quilt made of greens and browns as a bedspread, and a cream-colored afghan was folded at the foot of the bed.
Lyn carried the books to her bed and sat down. She pulled a pillow behind her and leaned against the wall. I stood frozen, closed in the little room with her and my aching jaw.
"You can sit down." She smiled and clicked her pen.
"I should get going so you can study," I said without really opening my mouth. I could taste her on my tongue. It was sweet and warm. It was all I could do to continue standing there.
"You don't have to. I'm good at multitasking. Besides, no matter how much I look at this, I'm never going to pass." She stuck her pen into the crease of her textbook and shut it.
I was still holding my breath. I couldn't face her until the smell faded from my memory. I turned to look at a corkboard covered in photographs. There were various pictures of her with people her own age. The same photo Diana had shown me was stuck in one corner, next to one of Lyn blowing out birthday candles.
The bedsprings creaked, and she came to stand next to me. "This was my going-away party before I came here," she told me, pointing to a photo.
She was standing so close, I could feel the heat jumping off her skin. Focus, I told myself. The picture was taken at a dining room table. A balding man with oxygen on was sitting in a wheelchair. Lyn had her arms around him. Next to them was a woman who looked exactly like Diana, and a young teenage girl who was blowing a noisemaker.
"My father, mother, and sister." She pointed to each person in turn.
"You look very close," I managed to say.
"Well ..." She paused. "I guess you could say that. I've always been very close to my dad. I can tolerate my mother, and you never appreciate a sibling until you don't live together. What about you? Do you have brothers or sisters?"
I shook my head. "I don't have any family left."
"I'm sorry," she said softly.
"It was a long time ago." I looked over at her from the corner of my eye. She was looking at the board with a thoughtful expression. "So what's your test on tomorrow?" I asked.
She wrinkled her nose. "The Civil War."
"I thought you were going to be a nurse," I said, surprised I had actually retained the information.
"I am. I needed more credits to get financial aid, but I should have picked something easier. I thought the class would be no problem because we learned about it in high school." She shrugged. "But I've forgotten most of it."
I smirked, feeling myself relax a little. "I believe history would be my best subject."
"Really?" Her voice raised in excitement. "Would you mind helping me out? It's okay if you don't want to or if you have somewhere else to be though." She smiled nervously and pulled on her sweater sleeve.
I didn't know if I wanted to help or not, but I wasn't going to tell her no. I couldn't with her looking at me like she was. There was a sparkle in her eyes, that proof of life, that I wanted to say yes to.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"I'm fine. Sorry." I had to snap out of it. My lungs were uncomfortable from the lack of oxygen. It wasn't going to kill me, but it felt strange. I took a shallow breath to test the air. It was better than before---not as strong. "Do you know what you're being quizzed on?"
She grabbed her notebook from the bed and flipped through the pages before pulling out a piece of paper. "The professor gave us a study guide, if it will help."
I sat sideways in the wooden desk chair and scrolled down the list. It covered everything from key people and terms to major battles. It would take some time to learn everything. I hoped she picked up on things quickly.
When I looked up again, my breath caught in my throat. She was smiling so happily it was almost painful to look at. I forced my eyes back to the page. I could get through this if I was careful. I could.
It was three in the morning before we finished covering everything. I had completely lost track of the time. She had picked up the subject fairly well. She would be able to get a passing grade if she could remember it when she woke up.
She was lying on her back with her head hanging over the edge of the bed. Her hair skimmed the floor, and I felt myself wondering if it was soft again. I laced my fingers together and kept them securely in my lap.
Her eyes were straining to stay open as she looked over the study guide again. "My aunt has backed off since the other night," she said, stifling a yawn. "I told her we might hang out again, so if you could just let her think that." She looked away from the paper to meet my gaze, and she shrugged. "I didn't really expect to see you again."
"I felt bad about the other night," I told her. I watched as she grabbed the stuffed pig and started to pick at its fur. "So you didn't want to live in the dorms?" I asked.
She rolled onto her side and propped herself up on her elbow. "Well, Sarah's grandmother was put into a nursing home just before the semester started. She said we could stay here while we were enrolled in school. It's worked out really well. We only have to pay the utilities and stuff."
"And you started your job on Monday?"
I wanted to know, but mostly I wanted her to keep talking. Her voice was calming. The whole time I had been with her, Francesca hadn't crossed my mind once. After I got comfortable with the smell in her room, I found myself not wanting to leave. There was something here that I had been missing. I just couldn't put my finger on what it was.
"Yes." She laughed. "I get to wear a stupid hat." A fresh wave of lavender hit my nose as she hopped up from the bed and opened her closet. She pulled out a pink knit hat shaped like a cupcake, complete with sprinkles and a cherry. I raised my eyebrows and bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from laughing. She pulled it onto her head and struck a pose. "You don't like it?" She fought a smile. "I was thinking about getting one in every color."
My lips curled into a smirk. "Where exactly are you working?"
She pulled the hat off and fluffed her hair. "Granny's Cupcakes and Confectionaries." She laughed again. "It's a paycheck, and I get a free cookie every day that I work."
"A free cookie?" I smiled carefully. "Then the hat is definitely worth it."
"Hey, they're good cookies." She tossed the hat back into her closet and sat on the edge of her bed again. She covered her mouth as she yawned and wiped the water from her eyes.
"I'd better get going," I said. She was exhausted, and I really should have been home a long time ago.
She nodded and walked me back downstairs. I followed quietly, trying not to wake up the rest of the house, but it became obvious that it wasn't necessary. Lyn's roommate Sarah was still awake. She and her boyfriend were making out like a couple of love-struck teenagers on the couch.
Lyn forced herself to cough so they would know we were there. Sarah jumped and started smoothing down the back of her hair. She ran her finger over her bottom lip and smiled guiltily. "Hey," she said.
"Hi," Lyn replied. "Hey, Alex. Sorry. I'm just walking Kaden out."
I froze at the foot of the stairs. Alex was young with a perfect set of teeth, brown hair, and a tan, muscular body. His cheekbones were high, and his profile was perfect. I had seen him around a few times. He was one of Sid's werewolves.
His cheeks blazed a bright red, and he refused to make eye contact with me. His body was stiff, and he was holding his breath. If I were him, I would be scared too. He was busted having relations with a human. Sid strictly forbade it due to their uncontrollable nature during intimacy.
"I was just on my way out," he murmured. I bet you were, I thought sarcastically. He was hiding more than his girlfriend.
He kissed Sarah on the cheek and rushed out the door as fast as he could. The two girls exchanged confused looks but shrugged it off. I, on the other hand, wasn't about to let it go without answers.
"Good luck on your test tomorrow," I told Lyn.
"Thanks a lot." She smiled. "I owe you big-time."
I raised my hand in a quick farewell and rushed out after Alex.
The wind had picked up outside and was beating against Alex's back. He was going down the sidewalk at a brisk walk with squared shoulders and the hood from his sweatshirt pulled up onto his head. His hands were shoved into the front pocket, and his forehead was wrinkled against the elements.
"Hello," I said as I reached his side. He kept walking without acknowledging me. "A human, huh? I thought that was against the rules," I continued. "Do you care to tell me what you were doing?"
He stopped dead and spun around to face me. "Me? What were you doing? Last time I checked, humans were food for vampires." He flinched, knowing he was out of line, and shifted his eyes to the side. He lowered his voice and told me, "I was just visiting a friend."
"A friend?"
He nodded and kept his eyes averted.
"With benefits, I see."
His face turned a light shade of pink. "It's not exactly like that," he mumbled.
People were so picky these days. Either you were sleeping with someone that you were not in a relationship with, or you weren't. It wasn't that complicated. There wasn't time for semantics. It didn't really matter to me what their relationship was as long as I found out why it just so happened to be Lyn's roommate that it was with.
"It looked like it to me," I said, trying to feel him out.
His eyes dropped. "Don't tell Sid," he pleaded. "I know we're not supposed to be with them, but it's not like I actually like her."
I was pretty sure that made it even worse. "All right, Alex," I said slowly. "I won't tell him, but you're going to have to tell me what you're really up to."
He thought for a second and took a deep breath. "I don't know what you're talking about. I met Sarah a few weeks ago at Starbucks, and we've been spending time together since then."
He was squirming now. His weight shifted between his feet, and he fiddled with something in his pocket. His green eyes dilated, and he kept flaring his nostrils. I hadn't seen such a bad liar in ages.
I shrugged and whipped out my phone. "Have it your way then."
I had dialed nine out of ten numbers to reach Sid when Alex stopped me. His hand reached for the phone, and I yanked it out of reach. He looked at me, frantic, and shook his head. "I wasn't supposed to let anyone find out."
I continued to hold the phone in the air above my head. "Find out what?"
"Sid's girlfriend told me to do it." He let out a giant puff of air, and the rest just seemed to fall out of his mouth. "I'm supposed to date Sarah in order to keep an eye on Lyn. She doesn't want Sid to find out because he wouldn't approve. So, you're not going to say anything, right?"
I was. If Sid wasn't supposed to know about something, and it was something that made sense, then something was wrong. Not to mention, it didn't add up at all. I hadn't told anyone about meeting Lyn, so Sid's girlfriend wouldn't know to have Alex look after her.
It was something that Sid had better have an answer for. It wasn't like him to hide things from me. Honesty was what made the two of us work so well together. I couldn't think that he was doing things behind my back.
"Hey, you're not going to say anything, right?" he asked again. "Kaden, seriously, are you?"
I turned and grabbed him by his collar. His pupils grew to twice their size, and he held his hands up. The wind was howling against us. The force of it made both of us wince as it stung our eyes. The smells of sewage, car exhaust, and metal all mixed together in the air, making me want to gag.
Alex must have smelled it too, because his breathing became shallow. That and fear mixed with confusion was all I could see in his face. I was good at reading people, and he had no idea what was happening. His eyes screamed ignorance, perhaps a little naïveté, but not mutiny. At least not on purpose.
I let go of his sweatshirt and took a step back. He rubbed at the stretched-out fabric and pulled his hood farther onto his head. "What are you doing?" Alex asked as I finished dialing my cell phone.
I ignored him while the phone rang, and I started down the sidewalk. He ran after me like a little puppy. I glared at him from the corner of my eye and stopped. I held a finger in the air for him to wait a minute, and he bounced around nervously.
"Reece, it's Kaden," I said when his voice came through the receiver, and I brushed Alex's hands away from my face. "I'm glad I caught you."
He paused. "What happened?"
"Nothing," I lied. "Everything's fine. I was just wondering what time you're coming to replace Sid tomorrow."
"It's the bus trip tomorrow," Alex whispered. "Please hang up."
"The bus trip," I said quickly into the receiver. "I forgot. Why don't you come over when you're done working and pick up Sid? It would be easier for him to leave tonight."
"Kaden, what happened?" He sounded very serious. "Is Sid okay?"
"Of course. I'll see you in a bit." I hung up and stuck the phone back into my pocket. "Sorry, Alex. I think this is a little bigger than you realize."
"She's going to kill me," he groaned.
I shook my head. "She's not going to know, if you keep your mouth shut. So you didn't see me tonight. Got it?"
He nodded. "You don't have to worry about that."
I knew I didn't. He wasn't going to throw himself under the bus. I just hoped that I wasn't making a mistake by telling Sid. I didn't want to believe he would go behind my back, but there was always that slight chance. I had been burned before by people I trusted. After all, I hadn't even known that Sid had a girlfriend.
There was no time like the present to find out. As I walked back into my house, I found myself feeling nervous. I was suddenly unsure about everything in my life. If Sid's betraying me, then who else is? I thought. There was a sinking feeling in my stomach.
Sid jumped off the couch when I shut the front door, and I watched him carefully. A yellow glow reflected from his eyes until it was replaced with recognition. He picked up his jeans, which he had knocked onto the floor, and folded them. He looked comfortable in his T-shirt and boxers.
I had to suppress a flash of anger. He was in my house, sleeping on my couch. Is he who I think he is? I asked myself. Maybe I had really been fooled. If he was working for Phoenix, then he was a really good actor.
"Reece is on his way," I said. "I need to talk to both of you."
"Uh-oh," he groaned.
Normally I wouldn't have called Reece. Sid could have relayed a message as easily as the next guy, and he was head of the pack. But if I was going to be questioned, then I'd rather it all be done at once.
Then I realized that I didn't know how I was going to explain anything. I would have to tell them everything, including why I was visiting Lyn, or tell them nothing at all. They had to know. If they weren't involved in any of it, then I was hoping they would have some idea of who was.
Sid moved his blankets to one end of the couch and sat down. He leaned back and stuck his hands under his thighs. There were a few lines around his eyes, aging him to around ninety. They aged a lot slower than humans but were far from immortal. That was enough time to have Phoenix snatch you up and mold you into the perfect spy.
"What?" Sid asked when he caught me staring at him.
I shook my head. I would play along like nothing was different until I had time to make a decision. Everyone was a suspect now. Phoenix might have even been controlling Flo.
Speak of the devil, I thought as she flew through the door.
She clicked the deadbolt into place and slid the chain into the lock. When she was done, she turned around, hands on her hips, and nodded once. "Don't open the door."
Sid and I both hovered between sitting and standing, confused. If there was someone after her, then she would have faced them. There was a small, triumphant smile on her face as she walked across the room in her stilettos.
"Um---" Sid started.
"What?" she snapped. "Are you expecting someone?"
"Actually, yes," I said, enunciating carefully.
She shrugged indifferently and sat down. A few seconds later there was a knock on the door. Flo examined her fingernails and pretended not to hear it. The knocking grew louder and louder, and eventually started creating a rhythm. Flo pursed her lips but remained in the chair.
I raised one eyebrow at her and stood up. She was being ridiculous. We weren't going to sit there and listen to it any longer than we already had. I crossed the room, but before I could open the door, Flo rushed in front of me, grabbing the knob. "Flo," I sighed. "Come on."
"Yeah, come on," a man's voice said through the door.
I scowled at her until she grudgingly moved out of the way. Her foot immediately started tapping as I unlocked the door and pulled it open. If she was acting that way, then it was obvious who was waiting on the other side.
I leaned my head against the dark wooden door. "Hi, Stu."
He smiled brightly and saluted me. He was wearing black pants and a silk blouse that he had unbuttoned enough to expose his muscular stomach. With his hair spiked and his rings, he looked like a cheap, cliché gigolo.
"Long time, no see," he said. "Want to ask me in?"
"You were already invited inside a long time ago," I told him.
"I was just being polite." He stepped over the threshold and winked at Flo. "You're getting fast in your old age. You almost lost me there for a minute."
She glared at him and crossed her arms. "Too bad."
I shook my head and went back to the couch. The two of them were always at each other's throats. It was a never-ending cycle. Stu would antagonize Flo, and Flo would always give him the reaction he was looking for. It might have been a fun game for them, but it never was for anyone else in their general vicinity.
"You're crushing my heart," Stu said with a fang-baring grin.
"You have no heart," she spat. She spun around, shot me a nasty look, and stormed up the stairs.
Stu laughed. "She loves me."
An ankle-high boot flew over the banister, heading straight for his head. He reached out and grabbed it before it could leave an indent in his forehead. He examined the shoe carefully and started twirling it by the heel as he sat down.
Flo stomped her foot and ran down to the living room, snatching the shoe from his hand. Her hair hit him in the face as she turned to leave the room again, and he twirled a piece with his finger. She turned around, hit his arm with the shoe, and stormed away.
Stu smiled and shrugged at me. "So what's up, my peeps?"
I blinked slowly, trying to process what he had just said. Stu may have always been great at adapting to the changing centuries, but he was being a little extreme. "I have never seen you looking this ridiculous," I told him.
He plucked at his shirt and laughed. "I like to switch it up sometimes, or I get bored." He started to button the shirt, and the smile fell from his face. "I got your voice mail about Francesca, so I found Flo and followed her back here."
"I left that voice mail a week ago."
"Yeah." He rubbed his eye and accidentally scratched himself with one of his rings. "This is the age of text messages. I don't check my voice mail much, but I'm here now."
"Comforting," I said sarcastically.
Sid's phone started playing a rock song and vibrating across the coffee table. He grabbed it and pushed the talk button. Reece was talking so loud on the other end that I could hear him. Apparently there was something wrong with his car and he didn't think he could make it.
"Put it on speaker," I told Sid.
He did. The wind was making a crackly noise into the phone, and it sounded like he was banging around on metal. His voice kept getting louder and softer as he moved closer to and away from the receiver.
"Reece," I interrupted. I was too impatient to wait. "It's fine; just listen."
There was a loud clang, and he swore into the phone. After another few noises, the wind stopped and there was silence on the phone for a second. "All right, I'm in the car. Tell me what's going on."
"Sid has a girlfriend," I said, watching him carefully for a reaction.
There was a long pause. "So?" Reece said.
Sid blushed and ruffled his curls. "I just started seeing her a few weeks ago. It's not anything serious."
"Good." I looked him straight in the eye. "Because she's sending Alex to date a human so he can watch the girl's roommate."
"I'm totally lost here," Stu said, jumping into the conversation. "You're worried about Alex dating a human because Sid's girlfriend said so, in order to protect the roommate of said human? Now? Don't you have better things to deal with?"
"The roommate is my antique dealer's niece," I said, throwing him a nasty look. "Francesca threatened her, and now Alex is supposed to be watching her."
"I don't understand," Reece said.
Flo appeared and leaned over the back of the couch. She was wearing her white robe again and had her hair up in a bun. "You morons," she started. "He never told anyone about this," she glanced at me, "niece. How does Sid's little girlfriend know enough to have someone look after her? And why didn't she tell you about it?"
There was another long pause before Sid got up and put his jeans on. He pulled his sneakers out from under the table and grabbed his jacket off the back of the couch.
"Reece," he said into the phone, "fix the car."
"Where are you going?" I asked.
"To deal with this," he said, slamming the door on his way out.
When I woke up, Francesca was already waiting for me outside. I knew because Flo was outside my door having a hemorrhage of green paint. I hadn't heard that many curse words strung together in a long time. I took my time getting dressed. I still wasn't ready to face the music, but I doubted that I ever would be.
By the time I made it to the front door, twenty minutes had passed. I was nervous, and Flo was getting me agitated. She hovered behind me in a state of near panic. Even Stu was keeping his distance from her.
I got to the door and spun around to face her. "Flo, seriously, calm down."
"Calm down?" she hissed. "How can anyone be calm at a time like this?"
"Meds?" Stu suggested quietly from across the room.
She shot him a look, and I held up my hands. "Not right now. Don't do this now. You can either get it together and come with me, or stay inside and not kill each other."
I flung the front door open, not sure if they would be behind me, and went out to see what Francesca wanted. She was standing on the stone walkway leading to the porch. The wind was whipping her polka-dot skirt around her legs, and her hair was pulled back into a ponytail so tight that it would have given a normal person a headache.
Davis was beside her, and another vampire was wandering around my lawn, looking down at the grass. My heart dropped into my stomach. The Marquis was here, complete with the same ivory cane he had been carrying around since I first met him. The devil himself had arrived at my doorstep.
His face was just as delicate and kind as I remembered. His black hair trailed down his back, just hitting his elbows, and his smile alone would leave girls weak at the knees. The Marquis was the picture of innocent youth, changed into what he was at the age of sixteen while visiting the court of King Henry VII.
But lurking behind those green eyes was a mind as sadistic as they came. As Phoenix's torturer, he had free reign to abuse any vampire sent to him as he saw fit, as long as his or her face wasn't permanently marked. He would keep some vampires for days, some for weeks, others for months. Locked within the walls of his chamber, there was no escape, and nothing too vile.
"It took you long enough," Francesca said with a forced smile. Her heels clicked onto the bottom porch step. "Why don't you invite us in so we can talk things over?"
I spared a second to be thankful that the invitation rule applied to vampire, as well as human, homes. "I don't think so," I growled. "What do you want?"
"You know what we want," she said flatly.
"You can't have him," Flo spat from behind me. "Go back where you belong and leave us alone." Stu tried to pull her back inside, but she hit his hands away. "Don't make me say it again."
Francesca started to laugh. Even the Marquis looked up and smiled. "Still the same as always," he called from the middle of the lawn. "I always liked your spirit. It would be fun to break."
Flo stormed forward, brushed Stu off a second time, and headed straight for the Marquis. I grabbed her wrist as she passed me and yanked her back. I wasn't ready to fight anyone tonight.
Davis nodded to Flo and Stu, acknowledging his former family members. "This is turning into a regular reunion. We're just missing Sullivan now."
"Sorry," I grumbled under my breath. Sullivan was the only one I could completely trust to have my back in any situation. It stung a little that he hadn't come to help. "You'll have to make do with us."
"Those two are easy enough to dispose of," Francesca hissed. "We just need you."
The trees were creaking in the wind. All around me I felt the chaos. It surrounded me like a suffocating cloud. Flo's anger behind me, Francesca's in front, the Marquis's eagerness to make something bleed. I needed to center myself. I needed to focus.
"Phoenix said he changed me to save my life. He had me believing that my neighbors, my friends and family, had burned my house to the ground with my wife and daughter inside. He made me hate humans. I spent centuries getting what I thought was revenge." I stepped off the porch so I was at eye level with Francesca. "Lies. It was all a lie. He sucked them dry and set the fire to hide what he had done. And, for what?"
The Marquis popped up next to me and stroked my cheek. "He did save your life. You would have died a long time ago. He needed a strong second, and you were the most qualified."
"Don't touch me." I grabbed his finger as it made its way down to my chin. I bent it backward until I heard the bone snap in half. "I'm not going anywhere."
"Kaden, you are being absolutely ridiculous." Francesca pushed the Marquis aside and placed her hand on my chest. "Don't you miss it? The blood, the power?" she whispered.
I could feel the lure in her words. The sweet taste of it all danced on the end of my tongue. I missed parts of it. I missed the ability not to feel guilty for my sins. I missed living that blissfully ignorant life, thinking I had taken the right path. But I wouldn't trade any of it for what I had gained when I learned the truth.
I twisted her wrist and held it in front of her face. "I left all those things years ago and have never regretted it. Not for one second." I tossed her wrist, and she nearly fell over.
"We can't stay here forever, waiting for you to change your mind. We'll have to go back soon, and you'll be with us." She spun around. "I promise you that."
"Don't make promises you can't keep," Stu yelled as the three of them disappeared into the trees. "What?" he asked when I looked over my shoulder at him.
I stormed back into the house and grabbed my zippered sweater off the back of the chair. There wasn't much I could do. No one had seen them in the city, and I had no idea where to start looking. I didn't have the resources I had when I was working for Phoenix. I could find out anything at the drop of a hat back then. I wasn't used to being this blind.
With one sweep of my hand, I pushed everything off of the table just inside the door. Glass shattered against the tile, and unopened mail went flying. My fingers dug into the ends of the wood, and I carried it out to the front porch. In one fluid movement, I smashed it against a stone pillar, sending splinters of wood in every direction.
Flo ducked behind Stu. "What the hell are you doing? Are you trying to kill us?" she shrieked.
"I'm a sitting duck. Forgive me if I am a little irritated," I screamed, throwing the chunks of wood left in my hands. Everyone was silent. "I'm leaving."
"What?" she demanded. "Where are you going?"
"Out," I screamed at the top of my lungs.
The anger was flooding my body. It was slowly picking away at my brain. I was losing myself. My control was slipping away, and it was being replaced with fear. Once it took over, I didn't know what I would do. I knew what I was capable of. I knew that I would do whatever it took to stay out of Spain. I just didn't know what that "whatever" was, and it scared me. I didn't want to go back down the road to violence. I didn't want to be a monster.
I hesitated on Lyn's front porch. There weren't any lights on inside, but I could hear the television and see the faint blue glow from behind the curtain. There was only one heartbeat in the house, leaving me to wonder which of the roommates was at home. If I wanted to find that same calm feeling I had the night before, then I was going to have to risk finding out.
I still didn't know what it was about Lyn that could make me forget about everything, but it didn't make much difference to me at that point. I was stressed and worried and had no direction to go in. This was the first place that came to mind to go to. Lyn calmed me. Being around her made me feel like I was better and that everything was going to be all right. It was relaxing, and what I needed the most was a clear head.
So I rang the doorbell. It took a minute for the TV to go silent and slippered feet to shuffle across the floor. I fidgeted nervously with the zipper on my sweater. I didn't know what I was going to say if it wasn't Lyn; I just hoped that it was.
The door opened a crack and then slammed shut in my face. My jaw hung open as I tried to process what had happened, but it opened again, slowly. Lyn stood there in gray sweatpants and an oversized NYU T-shirt. Her hair was pulled back into a messy knot, and her cheeks were blushing a deep red.
More importantly, her eyes were red and puffy. She had been crying. It hadn't been a few tears. She had probably been sobbing for at least an hour before I got there. It was my cue to turn and run, so why was I still standing there?
She sniffled and forced a smile. "We should really exchange numbers."
"I'm sorry." I backed up. "I'll come back some other time."
"No, it's fine. Come on in." She stepped aside. "It's just that I almost went out tonight. I hate to think of your coming over and finding no one here."
I followed her into the dark house and pulled off my sweater. There was a movie on pause in the living room. It was frozen on a scene with a man and a woman staring at something off-screen. A gallon of ice cream sat on the coffee table with a spoon stuck in it.
She hurried to pick up a pile of used tissues and took them into the kitchen to throw away. After she washed her hands at the sink, she shuffled back to where I was standing. "So, what brings you to this neck of the woods?" she asked.
"I was just in the neighborhood."
I cringed at my own cliché statement, but she seemed to buy it. She went back to the old plaid couch and sat down, pulling a tweed blanket around her legs.
I hovered by the front door. "If this is a bad time, I can go," I offered. I didn't know what was best. If she was just trying to be polite, then I wanted to leave. It was awkward not knowing what to do.
"No, it's not a bad time." She patted the cushion beside her. "Some company would be nice."
I walked slowly through the wide archway into her living room. When I sat down on the ugly couch, a spring poked up into my thigh. A scented candle was flickering on top of the entertainment center, filling the room with the smell of apples.
"How did you do on your test?" I asked awkwardly as I made myself comfortable.
Her face lit up. "I think I did pretty well, thanks to you."
"That's good." I hesitated. I was feeling self-conscious. I didn't know what she thought of my popping over, unannounced, two nights in a row. I was probably coming across as a level-five clinger.
Lyn's cell phone rang, and she glanced at the caller ID before pressing ignore. Then she flipped it open and pressed a few buttons. She glanced up at me and asked, "What's your number?" I told her, and she dialed it. My phone vibrated in my pocket, and then she ended the call. "There, now you have mine, too."
Her phone was still in her hand when it rang a second time. She pushed ignore, turned the volume off, and shoved it between the cushions. Her breathing became shaky, and her eyes welled up with tears. I felt myself tense, anticipating the waterworks.
But she surprised me. She took a deep breath and pulled herself together. The water brimming in her eyes disappeared as she snuggled down into the corner of the couch and pulled the blanket up to her shoulders.
Her body was emanating heat. I could feel it from a cushion away. I wanted to reach out and touch it just for a second. I wanted to soak it up. Her veins were visible under her translucent skin, mocking me, daring me to do it.
"So do you want to watch this movie with me?" she asked. "I just started it. It might be a little corny."
I nodded. I had managed to get used to the urges once; I could do it again. The movie would be a good distraction. It would give me something to look at other than her.
She pressed play on the remote, and the scene changed from neutral to violent. The two people had been watching their friend turn into a zombie. They both started to run, but the zombie was faster. It caught the woman by the hair and bit into her shoulder.
It wasn't going to be as good a distraction as I thought.
The green numbers on the cable box glowed two thirty. The second movie wasn't as bad as the first one. It was about some little kid who could talk to dead people. I hadn't seen the ending coming, which was a nice change. Lyn must have seen it before. She didn't act the least bit surprised when the truth came out. She was curled up under her blanket with heavy eyes. The puffiness around them had subsided, and she was back to looking like herself again, just tired.
For the second night in a row, I found that I had gotten used to her scent. I had gotten used to the heat radiating from her body and her steady heartbeat. I still wanted to reach out to her. I wanted to touch her hair and feel how soft her cheek was. But I didn't feel the overwhelming desire to taste her blood. There seemed to be something overriding that natural urge.
I was sure that I would feel it later, after I left. Subconsciously I knew what I wanted. It was secretly taking its toll on my body. When I got home, I would have to go straight for the mini-fridge.
When she clicked the television back to cable, a stand-up comedian was onstage. We watched for a few minutes in silence. I wasn't much for comedy, but the man was good and I actually started to laugh. It felt good. I hadn't laughed in ages.
Lyn sat up, letting the blanket pool on her lap, and smiled. "That's the first time I've heard you laugh."
I didn't know what to say, so I just let my lips fade into a little half smile. I was forgetting myself around her. It was dangerous for both of us. She could spot my fangs, or worse. But it didn't seem to matter to me as much as it should have. I felt the pull to her more than I felt there was imminent danger. That alone should have sent me running.
"Kaden, I know this is going to sound stupid ..." She paused, turning bright red. "We've only spent time together the last two nights. I don't count when we met," she added quickly. "But I feel like I've known you a lot longer than that."
Is that how to describe the feeling? I wondered. I had known a lot of humans for a long time, but I still didn't feel as at ease around them as I did around Lyn. But it was different for me than it was for her. She was attracted to the vampire in me. Not only do our muscles tighten when we're turned, giving us bodies that models would kill for, but we emit a low-level pheromone, making us the perfect predators.
Luckily I was saved from having to come up with a reply. It was good for two reasons: I had no idea what to say, and the interruption happened to be Alex. He came through the door with his arm around Lyn's roommate, holding her up. The smell of alcohol trailed behind them as they moved toward the stairs. The second roommate stumbled in after them and made a beeline for the kitchen. From the sound of it, she didn't make it to the garbage before throwing up.
Lyn sighed and got up, adjusting her sweatpants. She started to shake her head and disappeared around the corner. "Emma, get up," she said.
I turned my attention to Alex. He was staring at me while he guided his pseudo-girlfriend to the second floor. He let out an exasperated sigh and picked her up by the waist, carrying her the rest of the way. She shrieked and then began laughing uncontrollably.
I waited for him at the bottom of the stairs while they shuffled around. The girl was still laughing as two clunks sounded on the floor above my head, which I assumed were her shoes. A few seconds later, the door slammed and Alex came running downstairs.
"Hey," he said, giving me a boyish grin. "Sorry about last night. You caught me off guard, and I got scared. Sid talked to me though, and he wants me to stick with the plan."
I didn't understand why Sid would care what happened to Lyn. Humans were nothing to us. Each one only survived a split second in our eyes. "Really," I said under my breath.
"Yeah," Alex replied. "He said if you cared enough about the girl, then we should care too."
I narrowed my eyes at him. "Why didn't you go on the bus?"
He reached around to the middle of his back and scratched through his polo shirt. "They wanted someone to stay behind and watch out for you during the day, so I hung out in the woods around your house until dark. Then I came here."
"How were you watching her if you weren't here?" I growled. I couldn't help being mad. I wasn't sure if it was because he had stalked my house all day or if it was because he hadn't been keeping his eyes on Lyn. Maybe it was because Sid had him do all of it without telling me. Maybe it was all three.
"Listen ..." Alex grew serious. "I know, but she's been crying all day because her ex-boyfriend moved into the city to get her back. She doesn't want anything to do with him, but he won't give it up. Nothing was going to happen to her when a cop car was driving by every two minutes, and Sid would have killed me if I skipped out on your house."
Lyn came out of the kitchen, drying her hands on a dish towel. "Are you all right to go home?" she asked Alex.
"I'm fine." He beamed. "I didn't drink tonight, so I'm just going to get going. It was nice to see you again, Kaden."
He was a born actor. I would have believed every word that came out of his mouth if I didn't know better. He smiled all the way to the door and even threw a wave over his shoulder before opening the door to reveal a police officer.
"Excuse me," the officer said, standing aside to let Alex pass.
Alex looked at me for a long moment, urging me to understand something. I didn't know him well enough to know what he was getting at. If it was important, he would have to tell me later.
The officer, whose name tag read "Gorski," stepped inside and closed the door. It obviously wasn't a work-related house call. He didn't introduce himself, and he didn't carry that official air about him. He set his hat down on the dining room table and reached out to take Lyn's hands. She was frozen in place, her eyes the size of dinner plates. I was standing right next to her, but I might as well have been invisible.
He pulled her in and hugged her. "You weren't answering any of my calls," he said. "I got worried."
"What do you want, Frank?" she asked. "I said I didn't want anything to do with you. Why are you doing all this?"
Alex's look suddenly made sense to me. So did his comment about a cop car driving by constantly. Frank was her ex. He wasn't what I would have pictured for her. He was short and had a long, curved nose. His ears stuck out slightly too far from his head, and he had a little mole just under his left eye.
"I want to be with you again. You're not being fair," he whined.
"Fair?" She pushed him away from her. "It wasn't fair when you got that other girl pregnant."
Her eyes welled up with tears as he tried to grab for her hands again, and I stepped between them. I didn't need problems with a jealous cop, but I didn't want to see her cry. I felt like I needed to protect her, so that was what I tried to do.
"Hello," I said in a low voice.
He looked around me at Lyn and said, "Hi."
Lyn clung to the back of my shirt. Her little hands wadded into my T-shirt and sent a jolt of electricity up my spine. I kept my body still so I didn't make it worse, but my skin was soaking up the heat like a sponge. I wanted to close my eyes and enjoy the relaxing sensation. But the man in front of me made that impossible.
"Who's this guy?" Frank turned his eyes back to me with a less than friendly look. "You've got a new boyfriend? You're cheating on me?"
"I'm not your girlfriend anymore," she replied angrily. "Go home."
"Who is he?" He tried to stare me down, but I didn't budge. He even went so far as to puff his chest out and go into full cop mode. When he finally realized that I couldn't be scared off, he put his hat back on and broke eye contact.
"Kaden," she said angrily. "He owns The Amaryllis, and he's a friend of mine. Do you have a problem with that?"
"The Amaryllis?" he asked with a sly grin. "You mean the club in Manhattan? One of your employees was reported missing last night. Do you know anything about that?"
I had no idea what he was talking about. None of my employees were missing. If they were, then Jessica would have called to let me know. Putting aside the supernatural aspects, these were still dangerous times. Anything could have happened, but I would have gotten a call if it had.
"I don't know what you're talking about," I said.
"Jessica Miner," he said, gloating. "She's been missing since last night. The last time her parents saw her, she was leaving for work. Your bartender reported it around two in the morning. You don't know anything about it?"
My stomach knotted, and my hands balled into fists. It was no coincidence. I needed Jessica. She was what kept my business running. Without her, things would start falling apart. Francesca was going to try smoking me out. She thought that once everything I cared about was gone, I would go back.
Frank took a little notepad out and scribbled something down. Who does he think he is? I asked myself. He was a cop, not a detective. I doubted that he was even on the missing persons case.
"I'll call you tomorrow. Pick up," he told Lyn. He glared at me a moment longer, trying to commit my face to memory. "If not, I'll stop by."
"Go home," she repeated.
He left, slamming the door behind him and leaving half of his tires on the road as he sped away. It looked like he had anger management issues. I would hate to be a criminal and cross his path. He would probably end up on the news for beating them half to death.
Lyn's hands slowly uncurled from my shirt, and she stepped away. The places where she had touched me still burned and ached for more, but I checked myself. I had to keep a cool head and maintain control. I was glad to have a little space between us again, but it almost made it worse.
"I'm sorry," Lyn said, letting out a long breath.
"Don't worry about it." I grabbed my sweater and zipped it on. "I've got to go to work and see what's going on."
"Of course." She nodded vigorously. "Let me know if you need anything. And thanks for hanging out tonight. It was fun."
"It was," I agreed. I made my lips turn up into a charming smile before I flew out the door. I didn't want to leave yet, but I had to find Jessica before it was too late, assuming it wasn't already.
The wind whistled in my ears as I ran to Manhattan. The closer I got, the worse the weather became. Drops of slush began to beat down on me like little bullets. It wasn't quite snow, but not exactly rain. It was the kind of weather that was only good for getting everything wet and dirty.
By the time I made it to The Amaryllis, I was completely soaked. It was closed already, but I was hoping that someone had picked up the slack for Jessica and stayed to clean up. I stood in the back alley, pounding on the door, for what seemed like forever before anyone opened it.
Max stood in front of me with his shirtsleeves rolled up to his elbows and a towel thrown over his shoulder. The door began to close as he backed away from it, but I held it with my hand. His heart was about to pound out of his chest, and he started to stammer a bunch of nonsense.
I held my hand up to stop him. I didn't have time to figure out what he was saying. "Where's Jessica? What happened?"
He blinked at me and pulled the towel off his shoulder. "I don't know. She never came into work last night."
"Why didn't anyone call me?" I fumed.
His face turned fire engine red. "No one knew your number."
I took a deep breath and turned away without another word. Someone other than Jessica should have known how to get in touch with me. My number should have been in some sort of address book in the office.
"Wait," Max called. He left me to standing outside in the elements. A minute later he came running back, holding something out to me. "This came this afternoon, but the police haven't come to get it yet."
I took it carefully. It was a postcard addressed to Jessica. There was no message and no return address. I flipped it over to see the photo. It was the old Shea Stadium. Jessica was a Yankees fan. I looked at Max through the slush and handed it back to him. "Thank you. Make sure the police get this."
He nodded and quickly shut the door in my face. Even now he was avoiding me. At least he had taken the time to show me the postcard. I knew where to look now.
The lot where Shea Stadium used to stand was empty with the exception of some heavy machinery. Francesca wouldn't hide her there. It was too busy and there were too many chances to get caught. But she was keeping Jessica nearby. The rain had washed away most of the scent of blood, but there was enough to follow.
It was coming from the east. I wove my way between cars and around businesses. The scent of blood became stronger with each step. I crossed into a muddy lot full of rusting metal objects. There were trailers, vehicles, and cement tubes left there to rot. That was where the blood was coming from.
I snuck behind one of the trailers, and then the next, until I got as close as I dared without being seen. I heard Jessica groan before I actually saw her. I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding. She was still alive. I hoped I wasn't too late to keep her that way.
I had to risk getting closer. I stayed hidden behind old rusty vehicles and other debris, moving quietly, until I saw them. Francesca was pacing back and forth next to a white van while the Marquis had perched himself on the hood of a black car.
"Are you sure he'll understand the clue you left?" she asked him.
The Marquis swung his cane around, bringing it down with a loud crack. There was another groan and a fresh wave of blood in the air. "If he sees it, he'll understand. And if he doesn't come tonight, then we'll just kill her and be done with it," he said.
As I moved to the next piece of cover, I saw her. Jessica was on her hands and knees, coughing up blood, beside the black car. Her left eye was swollen shut, and there were cuts and bruises covering her skin. Francesca kicked her in the side, and she fell over, curling into a fetal position.
The Marquis chuckled. "Perhaps we should have abducted a better hostage."
"I already told you," Francesca hissed. "The girl didn't leave the house tonight, and all our werewolves are gone on their little woodland adventure with the rest of them."
The Marquis shrugged. "He still hasn't found out that his blood supplier is dead. You said he would be devastated and be forced to feed on humans again."
Merv was dead?
I hadn't talked to him since the night in the cemetery. I still had enough blood to last another week, so I hadn't bothered to call. Come to think of it, I hadn't had any messages from him. He usually called a few times during the week and left a voicemail.
My stomach knotted, and I had to shake my head to see straight. They were going to play hardball. That was fine. I had waited around long enough.
I stepped out from my hiding place and stormed through the mud. The Marquis saw me first, tipping his bowler hat. Francesca turned to see what he was looking at and grinned ear to ear.
"Nice of you to join us," she called across the yard.
I picked up my pace, soaring right for her throat. She jumped out of the way at the last minute and grabbed Jessica by the hair. She pulled her to her feet and held her like a human shield.
Blood ran down Jessica's face in a steady stream. She was wheezing, unable to get enough oxygen. The slush falling from the sky had drenched her, and she was covered in mud. She was shaking all over, but I couldn't tell if it was from the cold or from pain.
"Let her go," I hissed.
The Marquis hopped off the hood of the car and sauntered over to me. He touched my stomach, and I shivered. I had to stay strong. I couldn't let him see my fear.
"Don't touch me," I growled.
He smirked and stepped away. "I was just remembering old times. I apologize."
"Kaden," Jessica croaked.
"I know," I told her. "I'm going to get you out of here."
The knot in my stomach tightened. I didn't want to move. I was inches away from the devil himself, smelling more fresh blood than I had in a long time, and I wanted my human back.
"We'll let you take her body with you." Francesca glowered.
"Enough," I hissed. "I've had enough. Give her to me."
Both Francesca and the Marquis laughed, setting me over the edge. I picked up a steel bar and threw it at the Marquis's chest. He dodged it, grabbed it in midair, and plunged it into Jessica's heart.
Jessica's breath caught in her throat as blood began to pour out of her wound. She looked at me, pleading with her eyes for help, but it was too late. Her head fell limp, and she stopped feeling pain.
My hands balled, and my Nikes sunk into the mud as I got ready to charge at the Marquis. Francesca dropped Jessica's body into the mud and appeared between us. My fist met her face, sending her tumbling backward.
The Marquis's ivory cane landed on my shoulder. The scales, carved carefully to replicate a dragon body, dug into my skin. The top of the cane, the dragon's head complete with ruby eyes, ripped through my clothing as he dragged it back toward him.
I grabbed onto it with my left hand and pulled. The Marquis pulled even harder, and I stumbled. Francesca took the chance and sank her fangs into my forearm. Blood poured freely from the wound, and I was struck by a wave of dizziness. I hissed and tore her off my arm, taking a chunk of flesh with her. Searing pain ran up my arm, and I fought not to black out.
"You've gotten weak," Francesca said, wiping her mouth.
She was right. I had. After years of peace, with no one to fight, I had lost my touch. I was out of practice. But it was like riding a bicycle. My body remembered. I just had to trust it.
"It's the diet," the Marquis said solemnly. "The master won't like it."
That was also true, but there was nothing I could do about it. To break my promise to myself now would put me back at the beginning. With Merv dead, I was going to have to find some other way of getting around it.
A helicopter with a spotlight started circling above us. The propellers were cutting the air with a loud whoosh. It would only be a matter of seconds before it spotted us. Even if we could evade the police after being spotted, it was better not to be seen at all.
Francesca and the Marquis took off into the night, leaving me standing in the muddy yard with Jessica. The sleeve of my sweater had a huge gaping hole where my skin had already healed. But the blood had soaked through it and the left leg of my jeans. The tear in my right shoulder wasn't nearly as bad, but it still left a bloody trail. I was soaked and covered in mud and was completely pissed.
I spared one last look at Jessica before forcing my feet to carry me out of that yard. "I'm sorry," I told her body. And I was.
The slush stopped when I got home as if on cue. Flo was on the porch with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. She was shielding her eyes, watching me stumble up the driveway. The fact that she was waiting for me raised a red flag. I could only imagine what she had to tell me. I walked by her shaking my head. I wasn't ready to hear it. I couldn't process anything else tonight. I wanted to take a shower, crawl into bed, and forget the evening had ever happened.
"What happened?" she demanded, following me into the house.
I kicked off my soggy sneakers and let my head hang. Alex was sitting at my dining room table with a phone stuck to his ear, and Stu was standing beside him clicking keys on a laptop. They were all staring at me intently.
"What?" I snapped. "I forgot my umbrella. And what are you doing here?" I asked Alex. "Aren't you supposed to be watching Lyn?"
"I ... They aren't ... I'm calling the bus company now," he sputtered.
Flo stuck her face next to my chest and inhaled. "That's your blood."
"Stop smelling me." I made a circle in the air with my finger. "Personal space."
"Kaden, what---" Stu started.
I held my hand up to stop him. I wasn't ready for questions yet. I needed a hot shower, and I had to replenish my blood supply. Then I would answer them. I was sure I would have a few questions of my own once the fog lifted. I focused on walking up the stairs as normally as possible. It was hard but necessary. I didn't want their help.
Once in the privacy of my own room, I latched onto a bag of blood, shivering as the cool liquid made its way through my body. My shoulders relaxed, and I could breathe a little easier. But the more I drank, the more aware I became of how uncomfortable my clothes were.
I unzipped my sweater and pulled it off, one clingy sleeve at a time. It hit the floor with a heavy slosh, and I peeled off my soggy socks. I shed the itchy jeans and gathered all of the clothes under my arm. With two strides I was at the window, tossing the sodden pile into the backyard. That took care of that for the time being. I grabbed a set of clean clothes from my dresser and walked to the bathroom feeling a little more like myself.
The hot water steamed up the room within seconds. I removed the rest of my clothes and stepped under the showerhead. The water was hot enough to blister normal skin, but I scrubbed myself with a bar of soap until the water swirling down the drain was clear. I stood there, soaking up the heat, for countless minutes.
My mind slowly sorted the jumbled mess. Jessica was dead. Merv was dead. Lyn was a target, and I had no idea what side Sid stood on.
Sid.
I turned the water off and grabbed a towel from the rack. I threw my dry clothes on and hurried back downstairs. Francesca said she had wolves on the bus along with mine.
"Where's Sid?" I asked before anyone could utter a single word.
"His cell goes straight to voice mail," Alex replied. "The bus was due back over two hours ago, so the company is trying to get ahold of the driver. I can call back in a little while to see what they find out."
I pulled up a seat at the dining room table across from Alex and rested my head on the smooth table. "Jessica's dead. So is Merv."
"What?" Flo slammed her palms onto the table. "You killed them?"
I lifted my head again. "No, Francesca and the Marquis did."
"This night keeps getting better and better," Stu groaned.
"Did you try to call anyone else?" I asked. "Sid can't be the only one with a cell phone."
Alex blushed and nodded. "No one is answering."
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Sid had either orchestrated this or was a victim. The results were the same. My werewolf pack had just become a pack of one. One young, naive wolf that hadn't seen a day of battle in his life.
Wonderful.
I pushed away from the table. "I'm going to bed."
I felt like Atlas with the world sitting on my shoulders. I couldn't understand how so much had gone wrong in such a short amount of time. I would make it right again. It was time to start fighting back.
When I woke up the next morning, the first thing I thought of was Jessica. They would have found her body already. I wondered if I could say the same about Merv. I reached over and felt around the table for my phone. I dialed his number and waited. It went to voice mail, and I ended the call. He always answered. They must have been telling the truth.
There was a text message waiting for me. I didn't recognize the number, but it read, "I saw your employee on the news today. I'm really sorry. Let me know if there's anything I can do." There were a few squiggles and stars surrounding the sender's name. Lyn.
I smiled to myself. She would be the only one I knew to say that to me. She had sent it around midday, which meant Francesca hadn't figured out how to pry her out of the house. At least she hadn't before dawn. Tonight was another night. I hopped out of bed and pulled on a pair of jeans.
Alex was lying on the rug in the middle of the living room. His phone was on his chest, and the television remote was in his hand. An anchorwoman was talking about some political scandal on the news, but he was just staring at the ceiling.
"Why isn't anyone calling?" he asked in a dry, monotone voice.
I sat down in a chair and sighed. "I don't know."
His eyes were bloodshot. "The bus company still hasn't heard anything."
I didn't know what to tell him. I had no answers. The company wasn't able to get in touch with the driver. None of the pack were answering his calls. Whatever was going on wasn't good.
"Everyone has gone out to feed," he told me, breaking the silence. "They left just after dark so they could be back in case something happened."
"How much sleep did you get?" I asked.
He forced himself to sit up on his elbows. "A few hours, on and off. Sarah called. You should know that Lyn's ex-boyfriend had The Amaryllis searched earlier tonight. They're probably going to try to pin it on you or something."
I shook my head. Human laws were the last thing on my mind. Tonight I was going to find Francesca and rip her head off. There was no more time to waste. I got up and walked out the door. I had no idea how to find her, but I was going to look until dawn, and keep looking each night until I found her. At least the weather seemed to be holding up. There was no wind, no rain, and the sky was clear.
"Alone tonight?" Davis asked. He was leaning against the corner of the house in a navy blue suit. "Don't worry; I'm here on my own too."
I scanned the surrounding area, but he seemed to be telling the truth.
"Why are you here?" I asked.
"Hmm." His face lost any hint of humor "I came to apologize for last night. The Marquis explained the entire thing. I can't say they were very remorseful, but they should be."
"I don't understand," I said, looking him up and down. "What's it to you if they're dead?"
He shrugged one shoulder. "We are supposed to be getting you back without involving the locals. Phoenix wants to get on your good side."
I laughed and started to walk away. "It doesn't matter what he does. I'm not going back with you. The three of you need to get that through your heads and go back before I find where you're staying and kill you."
His forehead wrinkled. "Were you always this stubborn?"
"Yes," I called over my shoulder.
"I know where they are staying."
I stopped midstep. I knew that voice. I would recognize it anywhere. It was the one vampire I had been hoping to see again. I finally felt there was someone I could trust wholeheartedly. Sullivan's coal gray eyes were lifeless and dull. Even his brown hair seemed to have lost some of its shine. He couldn't possibly still be in mourning. I wanted to reach out and shake him back to normal. But nevertheless, it was good to have him by my side again, and I had to smile.
Davis laughed. "It really is a family reunion."
"You know where they're staying?" I asked, getting back on track.
Sullivan nodded. "There's a house in Oyster Bay Cove that they're using."
That was out of my territory. The only way to get to them would be to piss off the vampires in the neighboring area. I didn't need that at the moment. And I would never get permission to cross over and kill them, because that would upset Phoenix. I wasn't going to be able to get to them unless they crossed over to my side of the line.
"I hate to make this short, but I don't want Francesca to know where I've been." Davis shrugged. "If I were you though ..." He lowered his voice and stepped closer to me. "I'd pay close attention to that human you're so fond of. They're not going to stop until there's no one left."
My eyes snapped to his face. He was serious. "Excuse me," I told Sullivan in an angry rasp. I stormed into the house and pulled Alex off the floor and onto his feet. "Listen to me very carefully," I hissed. "Get to Lyn's now. If you let her leave that house, I will personally detach your head from your body."
"Kaden? What---"
"If she leaves that house, day or night, I will kill you. It's not a hard concept to follow." My chest was heavy, and I gripped the back of the couch. "Do you understand me?"
"How am I supposed to do that?" he asked in a rushed voice. "Do you expect me to start living there? What about finding out what happened to everyone?"
"I don't care if you have to break her legs, Alex. She doesn't leave that house." I pushed him toward the door. "You can call about the bus from her house."
"Kaden," he protested as I shoved him outside.
"Come in," I said to Sullivan, ignoring Alex. "Flo and Stu went out to feed, so it's just us for now."
He crossed into the house and looked around. It was the first time he had been to my house. I hadn't seen him in a century. I had thought he looked bad then, but now his diet had to be worse than mine. It was probably rats or other small mammals.
I still didn't know what had caused him to go off the deep end. One day he was living in France with his lover; the next he was hiding in the Canadian mountains alone. He was being followed by angry vampires, but I didn't know the reason for that either. What I did know was that whatever happened had left him broken.
"Nice place," he said softly.
"Thanks." I sunk into one of the chairs. "Make yourself at home."
"I'm sorry it took so long to get here," he said, perching himself lightly on the edge of a couch cushion. "I wanted to find them first."
I nodded, shutting my eyes. My forehead wrinkled as I tried to rethink my plan. I wouldn't be able to tell when Francesca crossed the border unless I was waiting there for her. If I waited in one place, she might cross in another. I could wait outside Lyn's house, but then she might go to Tom's. I was at a loss.
"Don't worry," Sullivan said. "If we stay calm and go about things rationally, then we'll find a way to beat them."
"Calm?" Flo asked, coming inside. Stu bobbed along after her as usual. "What's with you two? That's the last thing we need to be."
"Hey." Stu beamed, cutting her off. "Sullivan, nice to see you again."
He held up one hand as a greeting just as tires crunched onto the gravel outside. If it was Alex, I was going to strangle him. I opened my eyes and twisted around to look out the bay window. It was Reece's Trailblazer. I sighed. The bus had finally gotten back. I just didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
"Uh, Kaden," Stu said nervously.
Reece stumbled out of the vehicle. He clutched his stomach and sprinted toward the house. Stu opened the door for him, and he fell inside. He stayed kneeling on the tile, trying to catch his breath. His body was shining with sweat, and one side of his head was caked in dried blood. "The news," he whispered. We all exchanged glances. "The news," he repeated. "Turn on the news."
Sullivan picked up the remote and changed the TV to a different news channel. Live footage of the highway appeared on the screen. Fire was billowing from the windows of a bus, and black smoke was rising into the night sky. Firefighters were spraying it with giant hoses, while cops ushered the crowd back. The anchor's voice was nothing more than fuzz to my ears.
I turned to Reece. Tears were brimming in his eyes as he tried his best to stand up. "Dead," he whispered. "They're all dead."
"What's going on?" Flo demanded.
"Hello," Stu said. "Look at the television."
"Stop it," I yelled as she reached out to hit him. "Where's Sid?"
"I don't know," Reece croaked. "I stayed behind to watch his girlfriend so she wouldn't go on the trip. When I saw that"---he pointed to the screen---"I knew she had something to do with it. I snapped."
"Where is she now?" I asked, panicked.
"Dead." He sniffled and tried his best to hold himself together. There wasn't much that would be worse than seeing a strong man like Reece break down. "I killed her."
I grabbed my head and did my best not to scream. I was ashamed of myself for ever having doubted Sid. Now it was too late. Reece and Alex were all that were left. Davis was right. They weren't going to stop until everyone was dead. I had to stop Alex before they found him. I had to do something with Lyn.
"I'll be back," I said in a daze.
Alex's car was still sitting in the driveway. He wouldn't have transformed and run all the way to her house, I thought. But he must have. That would have meant he had already arrived. I didn't know what I was going to tell him. I didn't want him to create a scene in front of his fake girlfriend. It would probably be best to get him back to the house first.
The real problem was Lyn. No matter where I took her, Francesca would find her. I had to come up with something. She couldn't continue with her routine. Even school and work were dangerous; it was a sure thing that Phoenix's wolves hadn't blown themselves up too.
But I was out of time to think. I was pounding on Lyn's door before I realized I was even there. Alex flung the door open, his lip turned up into a snarl. I pushed him aside and rushed into the house.
"Kaden, what are you doing?" he hissed.
"Reece is at my house." I looked into the living room, around the corner into the kitchen, and finally poked my head around the banister. "Do what you need to do and get there. Where is she?"
"Reece?" he asked, stunned. "They're back?"
I shook my head and started up the stairs. Alex followed after me asking for details. I kept going in silence. I was determined now. I knocked on Lyn's door and pushed it open.
She was sitting at her desk with another textbook open in front of her. A highlighter was in her hand, and yellow lines marked up the pages. Her cupcake hat lay on the bed, and she was still wearing her polo shirt, spotted with flour.
I smiled as brightly as I could. "I want to take you out tonight."
She looked up at me, surprised. "Kaden, I don't think I can."
Alex stood in the doorway with his jaw hanging open. I raised my eyebrow to him. He spun on his heel just as his girlfriend grabbed him and pulled him into her room. "Look at this," I heard her say. A television was on in her bedroom. The same newscaster was still talking about the explosion.
I went across the hall to the mint green bathroom and grabbed a few essentials. I hoped it was the right toothbrush. I opened her closet, found a duffle bag sitting in the corner, and pulled out a few pieces of clothes. I stuffed everything into the bag and held my hand out to her.
"Come on." I smiled. She was staring at me like I had lost my mind. Alex came bounding around the corner, eyes wide. I shot him a dirty look, mouthed "go," and turned my smile back to Lyn. "I'm stealing you."
Lyn sat as far away from me in the cab as she could get. Apparently there was something very fascinating outside the window. All I saw were a few houses, some trees, and the occasional car passing in the opposite direction. The silence between us was only made worse by the driver's incessant tapping on the steering wheel in time with the music.
I hadn't really thought of her reaction to being forced into leaving with me. In my own defense, she did give in fairly quickly. It wasn't until we were in the taxi that she really thought twice about it. I would, however, take the blame for poor presentation of the idea.
As we neared my house, I pulled my wallet from my pocket. My driveway was hard to find during the day, and nearly impossible to find at night. Thick trees lining the side of the road camouflaged it, along with any trace of a house lying behind it. It was perfect for privacy.
"Stop here," I told the cabbie. I didn't know what would be going on at the house. He looked at my reflection in the rearview mirror, and I held the money over the seat to him. He eyed me curiously, and then Lyn, before stopping the taxi. I could only imagine what he thought of dropping us off in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere.
I hopped out and grabbed her duffle bag. Reality began to sink in as I watched the two red taillights disappear around the bend. I was going to have to explain things before we went inside. Or at least try to. It wouldn't be possible to hide the truth with everything that was going on.
What the hell had I been thinking?
"Where are we?" Lyn asked, yawning, and pulled her purple hat farther onto her head against the cold.
"This way," I told her. Here goes nothing, I thought. "Watch your step."
Our feet crunched on the gravel driveway. She followed close behind me, staring at the ground. When the trees ended and the house came into view, I stopped. I set her bag on the ground and turned around to face her. I didn't know how to tell her about us. I just knew that I had to.
"You live here?" Her mouth hung open, and any resentment she had was gone from her face. "It's huge."
I looked back over my shoulder. The porch lights were on, illuminating the white siding and blue shutters. The second floor was a mirror image of the first, but the third floor had decorative windows and a widow's walk. A large flowered wreath hung on the door, which I attributed to Flo. The porch went the full length of the house, with stone pillars holding the roof up. Neatly trimmed shrubs were planted in front of it. The shades were drawn in all the windows in anticipation of the coming dawn. On the outside it looked like a peaceful, all-American home. On the inside, Flo was hissing.
One disaster at a time, I told myself. My chest tightened, and my stomach churned. I had to bite the bullet. "Listen, things here aren't exactly normal." She tore her eyes from the house and cocked her head. Her breath formed little clouds in front of her face. "I'm going to introduce you to some people inside," I continued. "On the off chance that you actually believe me, don't be scared."
"You have mob connections, don't you?" She smiled. "I knew it."
This was going to be harder than I thought. I didn't know how I was going to tell this sweet, innocent girl that evil truly did exist in this world. I didn't want to be the one to open her eyes.
"No, we aren't in the mob." I took a deep breath. "We're vampires. Well, there are a couple of werewolves too, but the majority of them are missing at the moment, so it's mostly vampires right now, and---" She formed a cross with her index fingers and started to laugh. "I'm serious," I said.
"Right. You're a vampire." She kept laughing. "Can we go in now? It's pretty cold."
"Lyn, please listen," I begged.
She put her hands down and looked up grudgingly. "Okay, okay. You're a vampire, and I'm a leprechaun. A freezing and exhausted leprechaun. So if you don't mind, I'm going to go inside and crash." She trudged toward the house without waiting for an answer.
I hurried across the lawn after her so I would be the one to open the door. If she was going to be shocked into believing me, then at least I would be the one to get hit with any possible flying objects that Flo had sent toward Stu. And by the vibes I was getting from inside, it was extremely likely that I would.
"What's wrong?" Lyn asked when I hesitated.
"Nothing." I yanked the wreath down and swung the door open just in time to see Flo lunge across the room toward Stu with her fangs bared. "Stop," I yelled as Stu dodged her.
Flo landed and spun on her heel. "What's your little human doing here?"
I threw the wreath at her. "She's going to stay here until Francesca leaves town. Don't touch her. In fact, it's probably better if you don't even talk to her."
"You told her?" Flo's eyes flashed. "What were you thinking?"
"Kaden," Sullivan whispered in my ear, "I think she was frightened off."
Lyn was halfway down the driveway, running as fast as she could toward the road. The scent of fear hung heavy in the air, almost gagging me. Everyone reacted differently when they found out the truth, but deep down I had hoped she would be one of the accepting ones. The sight of her running pulled on a few strings I didn't know were attached anymore.
I hurried after her, desperate to make her understand. But I appeared in front of her before I realized what I was doing, scaring her even more. She jumped back and nearly fell to the ground. Her eyes were wide and her breathing unsteady.
"I'm sorry. I tried to tell you," I blurted. "I swear that no one will hurt you, so come inside." There was an unfamiliar pang in my chest as I struggled to collect my thoughts into something coherent. "I'll answer any questions you have, so just please, please come inside."
Tears burst from her eyes. "I won't say anything to anyone. I swear. Please, don't kill me. I can--- I can just go home to Vermont, and you won't have to worry that I'll tell your secret."
"I'm not going to kill you. If I wanted you dead, then you already would be by now." I cringed. That wasn't the best thing to say. "I brought you here to save you, and that's why I can't let you go anywhere. You're safer here than anywhere else right now."
She closed her eyes and pinched herself through her jacket. "This isn't real. Wake up, wake up, wake up."
"Please. I promise that you'll be safe." I held my hand out to her, but she didn't move. "It'll be all right. Trust me."
I didn't move a muscle. I just waited with my arm stretched out in front of me like an idiot. I was waiting for her to trust me, to take my hand and know she would be safe. I knew it was too much to ask for, but I needed it. Every second she hesitated was gut-wrenching.
As the minutes ticked by, her tears slowed to a stop. Her breathing steadied somewhat, and her muscles relaxed a little. And then, ever so slowly, she lifted her shaking hand and reached toward me. It hovered above mine while uncertainty flooded her eyes.
Carefully, so I wouldn't scare her, I raised mine to close the extra space between us. She flinched when my skin made contact, and I froze. When she didn't pull away, I wrapped my fingers around hers as delicately as I could. I made sure to hold on loosely so she didn't feel threatened. She could pull away at any moment if she wanted to.
"Your hands are cold," she whispered.
Butterflies were dancing around in my stomach, and I smiled. "I know."
I was leading her back to the house when I felt her stop. Afraid she had changed her mind, I glanced over my shoulder. Her face was paler than a sheet, and she started to sway. Her head bobbed backward, and her knees buckled from underneath her.
I caught her before she could hit the ground. I tapped her face lightly, but she was out cold. It had been too much for her. It probably would have been too much for anyone.
Back inside, Flo and Stu were standing at opposite sides of the room, Reece and Alex were sitting uncomfortably on the couch, and Sullivan was flicking through television channels.
I carried Lyn inside and dared one of them to say something. They could think what they wanted, but I didn't want to hear it. I knew it was stupid. It didn't have to be rubbed in my face. They just had to keep their mouths shut and, right or wrong, accept that it was what it was.
"Is she all right?" Alex asked, sitting up.
I nodded. "She fainted."
It was awkward standing there. Everyone was purposely not looking at us, and judgment hung thick in the air. I carried her up to my bedroom to delay the conversation that was bubbling under the surface.
I pulled the thick comforter back with one hand and set her down on the cotton sheets. She looked peaceful there, but it would only last until she woke up again. I brushed the hair out of her face and pulled the blankets up around her shoulders. I had created a bigger mess. I sat down on the edge of the bed and put my head in my hands. I stayed there, letting the situation sink in. Then, with a deep breath, I stood up and went to face everyone.
Before I could even make it to the bottom of the stairs, Flo started in. I couldn't say that I hadn't expected it. I would have been surprised if she hadn't. She was always the first to make her opinion known.
"Kaden, what in the hell are you thinking?"
I continued by her and grabbed the duffel bag off the lawn where I had left it. "I know it's not ideal," I snapped, walking back across the lawn.
She stood on the porch with her arms crossed and her lips pursed. "That would be the understatement of a lifetime."
"I had no other choice. If I didn't do this, then she would have been killed." A mental picture flashed in front of my eyes of her lying in the woods somewhere without a drop of blood left in her body. I saw her lying in the mud like Jessica with a metal rod stuck through her chest. I had to shut my eyes against it.
"So?" Flo tapped her foot against the wooden planks.
"So ..." I bit back a million and one nasty comments. "You couldn't possibly understand, but I have to protect her. I won't stand by and let her get murdered. I'm not asking you to agree with me; I'm simply asking you to accept it. Live with it for now. She'll go back home when this is over and it's safe again."
"What you're asking is impossible," she hissed.
"Flo," Sullivan called from the doorway. "I'd like to speak with him, please."
Her eyes narrowed, but she stormed inside without another word. I let the bag fall from my shoulder and clutched the strap. I waited for him to say something, but he didn't. He just looked at me with understanding and offered me a half smile. "It's almost dawn," he pointed out, leaning against the railing.
I looked to the brightening sky and nodded. There wasn't much time left before we would have to lock ourselves inside for another day.
Sullivan looked at me from under his eyelashes. "You don't have to explain anything to me. I know."
"This wasn't a good idea," I mumbled. I climbed the stairs slowly and stopped just before the door. "I should have figured something else out. There just wasn't time."
He continued to lean on the railing, looking out across the lawn. "Do you love her that much then?"
"I don't lo---," I started.
He held up a hand to stop me. "I hope you have better luck than I did."
I sighed. Just because I didn't want her dead didn't mean that I loved her. I didn't want a lot of people to die. I wished that Jessica was still alive, but I didn't harbor any feelings for her. I was a vampire. I didn't love anyone. Those feelings were sucked away from me the same night my life was.
I rolled onto my back and kicked the sheets to the end of the bed. I opened my eyes slowly. The room seemed different. Something was out of place. I looked around, but nothing seemed to be missing. I sat up carefully and felt the comforter pull. Lyn's left arm was lying on top of the covers. Her eyes were shut, and her breathing was shallow. All of the events from last night came flooding back. I hung my head and groaned.
"Hey," I whispered. She didn't move a muscle. She had to be mentally exhausted from everything that had happened. Fainting wasn't the worst reaction she could have had.
I swung my feet off the side of the bed without waking her up. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do next, so I used the next few minutes to wake up completely. I twisted my ring around my finger and shook my head.
I couldn't stop thinking what a moron I was. Had I expected her to automatically accept everything as normal? Bringing her into this house to avoid being killed was like bringing a mouse in front of a house cat to avoid a lion. The house cat was much safer but ultimately just as dangerous.
Her uncle would know what had happened if she went missing. I didn't know how I had forgotten about Tom. I wasn't sure that he would keep our secret if his precious niece was gone. If he went public with the information, even if people thought he was insane, I would have one more issue to deal with. The Enforcement Team would arrive before I could snap my fingers.
But Lyn was still alive. I would just have to keep her that way. She might have been nothing more than a troublesome human, but it was my fault that she was. If I hadn't been so proud at Tom's that night, or if I had used my head and stayed away from her after that, things might have been different. It was too late to think "if only." The situation was what it was, and I had to deal with it.
Lyn sat up in the bed, rubbing her eyes. Her hair was tousled all over, but it was becoming. She took a deep breath and wrinkled her forehead. "Oh, God. How much did I drink last night? I don't remember anything, and I had this crazy dream."
"We weren't drinking last night," I told her, hoping she would handle the news better the second time around. "And it wasn't a dream."
She pushed the covers off and laughed. "Where are we?"
"Lyn ..." I hesitated. "I brought you to my house last night. You passed out after I told you I was a vampire."
"Oh." Her face paled, but she kept quiet. She started to fan herself and took deep breaths. She put her head between her knees and began to shake. She stayed that way for countless minutes, setting me on edge.
But I waited. I didn't want to push. Maybe she just needed time to process the information. If I just gave her a little while, then she might collect herself enough to have a conversation.
Her breathing steadied itself, and her body stopped shaking, but she didn't move. I began to worry if she was really all right. I thought she had gone catatonic until she lifted her head. There was still a light in her eyes that said someone was home. Scared, but home. She slowly slid off the side of the bed and inched away from me.
It hurt, but it was understandable. If I had come face-to-face with a vampire when I was still human, then I would have been petrified. I wasn't like them though. I wasn't going to do anything to hurt her. If she could just see that.
"You're a vampire," she repeated what I had said. "So you eat people?"
I shook my head. "Blood keeps you alive, and it does the same for me, but I haven't bitten anyone in over a century." I stood up and walked slowly toward my mini-fridge. I opened the door so she could see the blood piled inside. "The stuff from the blood bank works just as well."
Her shoulders relaxed just a little. "You won't---" She trailed off.
"Don't worry." I regretted sounding snappish. I hadn't meant it. "Nothing is going to happen to you. Everyone here is old enough to control themselves."
There was a long silence while she stared at me. Her eyes traveled across my face, resting longer on my mouth than anywhere else, before traveling down my chest, my arms, my legs, and going back up once she reached my feet. When she finished scrutinizing me, her eyes fell to the floor.
I would have given just about anything to know what she was thinking. I hadn't been that uneasy about someone's reaction to me before. Before I left Phoenix, it hadn't mattered at all. They were just food. After I got to New York, I started to see things differently, but if they didn't want to accept the existence of vampires, then it was no skin off my back. This time it was personal. She knew me. I wanted her to trust me.
"Okay," she finally said. Her brown eyes came up to meet mine.
"Okay," I repeated.
There was another awkward silence. "Okay" could have meant so many things. Okay, we weren't going to hurt her. Okay, she wasn't freaked out. Okay, it was all irrelevant and she wanted to go home. She was going to make the first move this time. I didn't want to scare her by misreading anything.
"I ... um ... your ring. It's nice," she stammered.
I instantly started twisting it around my finger again. "It was a gift from when I was still human."
She took two careful steps toward me. She reached out and took my left hand. She glanced up at me to make sure it was all right to touch me before taking a closer look. With half a smile, she let go. "It's really beautiful."
My stomach flipped over, and I fought not to smile. She wasn't running away. It was all I could ask for right now. Maybe later she would learn to be comfortable with it.
Without thinking, I reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear. She flinched, and I pulled away. "Sorry," I mumbled. "Come on. I'll introduce you to everyone."
I would have waited before throwing her into that snake pit, especially with Flo there, but there wasn't time. We were in the middle of a crisis. If Lyn was going to be here, then she was going to have to meet them sooner or later. It was better to formally meet instead of accidentally running into each other.
She followed me closely all the way to the living room. Her heart was pounding against her chest so hard I thought it was going to explode. Everyone was sitting in the living room, but no one was talking. Lyn's fingers wove between mine, and she pressed herself against my arm.
The corner of my mouth curled upward, and I gave her hand what I hoped was a reassuring squeeze. Stu was showing Sullivan something in a magazine, while Flo sat on the floor in front of them painting her toenails. Reece was sitting across from Alex at the dining room table with a cup of coffee. They were both leaning back, faces red, and scowling.
"What happened?" I asked.
Alex turned to face us, and Lyn jumped. "I've seen you during the day," she said in a shaky voice. "You can't be a---"
He shook his head slowly and walked over to us. He pulled up his top lip to show her he didn't have fangs and leaned in to hug her. She stiffened but put her free arm around him. When he pulled away, he was grinning at her. "Don't worry about the bloodsuckers," he said, laughing. "These guys are harmless."
"Excuse you," Flo growled.
Alex rolled his eyes. "I'm a werewolf."
"A werewolf," she repeated quietly. "Of course you are."
"Reece is too," Alex continued, pointing. "We're the only two left in the pack at the moment, since someone decided to blow up the bus. Don't worry," he added when her eyes widened. "There wasn't anyone on it. They're just missing now."
"Alex, shut up and sit back down," Reece said flatly.
Alex frowned, but with Sid gone, Reece was the alpha. He couldn't ignore him. When Alex was back at the table, Lyn clung to me even tighter than before. I should have told her about Alex before. It had to be a shock. I cleared my throat and diverted her attention. "That's Flo, Stu, and Sullivan."
Sullivan stood up. His hair was half pulled back with a rubber band, and his shirtsleeves were rolled up to his elbows. His face was strained. I could have sworn he wanted to cry, but we weren't able to. "It's a pleasure," he said to her.
Flo popped up in front of us. She looked at me and raised one eyebrow before turning to Lyn. Her jaw clenched as she made herself smile. It was painful to look at. "Kaden needs to talk to the fur balls for a minute. I'll give you a manicure."
Before I could stop her, she was pulling Lyn away from me. The places she had been touching me were still warm. I took a step after them, but Flo shot me a nasty look over her shoulder. Lyn looked petrified, but she wasn't going to get hurt. It had to be important for me to talk to Reece if she was willing to play nice with a human.
I turned my head to see Reece sipping his coffee. He simply shrugged at me, but Alex was practically bouncing out of his chair. There was something going on that Reece didn't want me to know.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"There was no one on the bus," Reece said flatly. "So we have no idea where everyone is."
Alex continued to bounce around in his chair. There was something else that he wasn't telling me. "Alex?" I asked. "What else happened?"
"Reece called Oliver," he blurted faster that it took to blink. "He sent a bunch of wolves up to watch our backs."
My eyes snapped back to Reece. Oliver had raised him since he was thirteen years old and had helped him through his first transformation. They were as close as any father and son could be. Of course he would send help, but it caused a huge problem for me.
Christopher was the vampire in charge of Philadelphia, and he wasn't going to like the thought of my commandeering half of his wolf pack. We'd be attacked, and rightfully so, if he ever found out. And he would find out. We were under some sort of surveillance by Francesca, and she would use the opportunity in her master plan.
"You did what?" I growled. "How hard did you hit your head last night?"
Reece set his coffee mug down on the mahogany table. "Don't worry."
"Don't worry?" I shouted. "It's me that they want alive. They don't give two shits if the rest of you get killed."
"I'd rather be dealing with Christopher than Francesca," he said.
"I'd rather not deal with either." Alex groaned and put his head down on the table. "I told him not to do it."
I stood at the bottom of the stairs and held my breath. Calm down, I told myself, just calm down. Ten, nine, eight ... Forget it. "We're going to be dealing with both of them at the same time," I screamed.
"Kaden," Stu called from behind me.
I spun around, ready to snap at him, when I saw Lyn's face. An instant wave of guilt flooded over me. If she hadn't been completely terrified before, she was now. I ran my fingers through my hair and looked at the pattern in the tile floor. Way to go, I thought. But what had I expected? Things were going to get rough around here.
Before I could form any type of apology, a growl vibrated through the house. Reece and Alex were both on their feet instantly; chairs clattered to the floor.
"They're here already?" I hissed.
"They got here a few hours ago," Sullivan said, suddenly standing next to me. "They've been in the woods."
I was screwed. Francesca was attacking from the front, and now Christopher was going to be attacking from the back. Add having a wolf pack totaling two and a defenseless human to the equation, and I was definitely a sinking ship.
Reece and Alex flew out the French doors into the backyard. They were bounding toward the tree line, shouting. Their arms were waving frantically in the air. A second later I saw why.
Sid was pushing his way through a dozen werewolves. He was in human form, half-naked and filthy. There were others with him. Some were limping; others were leaning on another pack member for support. The Philadelphia werewolves were dancing around them, eager to sink their giant teeth into them.
Alex fell to his knees halfway across the yard. Bones began to jut through his skin and mutate. The sickening sound of popping joints mixed in with the angry growls. He twitched from the pain for just a brief second before he was covered in fur and leaping toward his alpha.
Reece was yelling in a language I couldn't understand when Alex crouched beside him, ready to attack. Sid walked stiffly up to Alex, standing only up to his shoulder. He reached out and patted his leg.
Ever so slowly, the wolves began to take human shape again. Reece walked up to one of them and shook his hand. Great, I thought. If they had just waited a few more hours, then I wouldn't have had to worry about problems with that little upstart vampire in Pennsylvania.
Christopher was still new in charge. He had to make a name for himself. If he did nothing, then he would look weak. Any kind of peace talks or any deals were out of the question, and Oliver was a dead man walking.
I walked outside to meet Sid. His jeans were caked with dirt, and his curls were matted to his face. He pointed to the garage, so I lifted the sectional door for him. It was a mostly empty four-stall with a few boxes of who-knew-what lining the back wall. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust from lack of use, but it was big enough to fit everyone inside.
"Where have you been?" I asked.
"I knew what they were up to," he wheezed. He leaned up against the siding and motioned his pack in before him. They were just as filthy and exhausted. "We sent the bus back without us. We were attacked by Francesca's wolves after they realized it, and then we walked back here. This is all that's left of us now."
He stood outside on the gravel with me while sixteen wolves filed into the garage. Just sixteen. That was less than one third the original size of the pack. I looked at Sid and saw the raw look on his face. A pack was like a family, and he had lost so many.
"We'll leave in the morning," he said. "I didn't think you'd mind having us stay here."
I shook my head. "I'll send out some blankets and whatever food we've got. I don't think there's much."
"Sid." Reece came running over.
That was my cue to leave. They needed to talk things over. I had the CliffsNotes version. Besides, I had something else to deal with when I got back inside. Hopefully, things with Lyn were salvageable, but it would have to wait. Stu was ushering her into the downstairs bedroom, and he patted her lightly on the head before he shut her inside.
"We've got company," Flo told me as I crossed back into the dining room.
Francesca was here. Things were about to get interesting.
The vampires on the other side of the front door weren't going to like my answer tonight. I wasn't planning to let them survive long enough to dwell on it too much though. I stormed for the door, determined to put an end to everything.
Francesca was waiting with Davis and the Marquis on the lawn. They stood as still as statues. Their silhouettes were outlined in the moonlight, showing their perfect figures.
I took a deep breath and dove off the porch. Stu and Sullivan both tackled me from behind. I landed face-first on the grass with a thud. It knocked the wind out of me, and I coughed.
The Marquis chuckled. "Smart move."
"We've got more to lose right now," Sullivan reminded me. "The werewolves are weak, and your friend is inside."
I knew that, but I hadn't the slightest intention of letting them beat me. I wasn't afraid anymore. I was stronger than them. I knew I was. And I outnumbered them now.
"Let me up," I growled.
"We're here to ask for the last time." Francesca sighed while they kept me pinned to the ground. "Are you coming back to Spain or not? Yes or no? I'm a little tired of asking."
"No, I'm not going with you," I grunted. "I don't know why it's not sinking in. You can keep killing people off, but you'll eventually run out of them, and I would rather live here alone than go anywhere with you."
"Is that so?" Francesca yelled. "I believe you borrowed yourself some daylight muscle. When I phoned the appropriate vampire, he didn't know a thing about it. Funny, isn't it?"
I knew it. There was no way to sneak the Philadelphia pack out of New York. It was amazing that I had lived for centuries without any problems, but the second my past reared its ugly head, conflict lined up, quite literally, at my door.
"Don't worry," Francesca said from her spot on the lawn. "He promised not to take any actions against you yet. I suppose if you're reinstated to power, he wouldn't want to be on your bad side."
I pushed Sullivan and Stu off me. I stood up and dusted myself off. I wanted to lunge at her again, but I knew I would end up back on the ground. "And Oliver?" I asked.
Francesca shrugged. "I don't really care."
I wasn't going to stand there and argue with her. If I wasn't going to kill her, then I was done with the conversation. If it wasn't too late when the whole ordeal was over, then I'd make some sort of deal to save Oliver's life. He was smart. He would go into hiding as long as he could.
"Is there anything else?" I asked.
The Marquis appeared in front of me, his face an inch from mine. His perfect, smooth skin gleamed in the moonlight, and his eyes danced. "Not exactly."
My stomach clenched. I couldn't stand him being that close. My scars remembered him. They tingled beneath my T-shirt. "It's time for you to leave," I said through clenched teeth.
The ivory dragon head on his cane touched my cheek and slowly slid down my neck. "I look forward to working with you again."
"Marquis," Davis called in an authoritative voice, "we're leaving now."
He tapped the end of my nose with his finger, smiling. Seconds passed before he backed his way down the steps and I could breathe again. Davis got frustrated waiting and grabbed the back of his shirt collar. He pulled him back into line with Francesca.
"Two days," Francesca snarled. "We need to try to keep some semblance of order. We'll meet at your club to discuss the time and place for the fight."
Then they were gone, and we were standing there like idiots. Two days. We had two days. That was too long. I wanted her dead now. Two days left plenty of time to hunt down and kill anyone I knew. It was two more days for Christopher to change his mind and take a strike against me.
"That's just ridiculous," Stu said.
Flo punched his upper arm. The two of them started to fight with each other when my phone vibrated in my pocket. I looked over my shoulder at Sullivan. He looked at me from the corner of his eye and shrugged.
I let out a long breath and answered it without looking at the caller ID. That was always a bad idea, especially when you had an entire list of people hating you.
"You kidnapped my niece," the voice shouted back at me.
I held the phone away from my ear and cringed. "Tom?"
"Yes, Tom," he screamed. "How many other nieces have you kidnapped? Is it a bad habit of yours? Do you befriend families and then steal their daughters away? Kill sisters and wives?"
"Tom," I shouted back, "I didn't kidnap anyone. I don't know where you're getting your information from, but I really resent the accusation."
I ended the call without another thought. To say that he was insulting would have been an understatement. I was helping Lyn, not trying to drain her of all her blood. I wouldn't need to weasel my way into his good graces if my plan was to meet and eat. Maybe I had forced her to go with me, but I hadn't kidnapped her.
The phone went off again, and I flicked it open. "What?" I snapped.
"Don't lie to me. Frank just left, and he told us everything."
"Frank?" Anger flooded over me. The last thing I needed was high school drama. "I don't think he told you everything, Tom. She's safe here. No one is going to touch her."
"I'm more worried about you touching her," he wheezed.
"Me?" I held my breath and stopped myself before I threw the phone. I wasn't going to listen to that. I turned on my heel and stormed back inside. Lyn was still waiting in the downstairs bedroom. I pushed the door in and tossed the phone onto the bed. "Your uncle thinks I've kidnapped you," I said, trying to keep calm.
She blinked at me and silently picked up the phone. "Uncle Tom?" He started to yell on the other end of the line. "No, no. I wasn't. I'm fine, really."
I walked away and let myself fall into the corner of the couch. I laid my head back on the chair and shut my eyes. Why me? I asked. It had to be some kind of karma for all the bad things I had done in the past. The last century had just been preparation for this torture.
I could hear Tom yelling into the phone and Lyn trying to interrupt him. I was alone with her now, I realized. Flo and Stu were still outside arguing, and Sullivan was supervising. I would have to double my self-control. It was different than the night I spent watching movies at Lyn's house. Killing her there might've left a shred of evidence. Here, it was almost too easy to clean up.
"Here's your phone." She set it on the end table and sat down next to me. "Does he know?"
"He knows about me, yes." I opened my eyes and looked at her. "There's something I have to do, and you're going to have to come with me. You'll be exposed to more vampires. None of them will be like us. You'll have to stick close to me and the others."
She looked at her hands resting in her lap. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, exposing her neck. I fidgeted and forced myself to stop looking at the veins just below her skin.
"Do I have to go?" she asked.
I nodded. I knew this was all new to her and she wasn't exactly all right with it yet, but if she was with me then I knew she would be safe. If I left her alone, then it would be too easy for Francesca to send a werewolf in to kidnap her. Really kidnap her.
"So ..." Her voice was a bit steadier. "Where are we going?"
She was looking at me now. Straight at me. Her shoulders weren't slumped, her body wasn't shaking, and her breathing was normal. I didn't understand what had happened. All of a sudden she was trying to be brave and unafraid.
"The Amaryllis," I answered carefully. "There needs to be a formal meeting to decide the time and place."
"The time and place?" she asked.
"For"---I hesitated---"the fight."
The color drained from her face. "Fight?"
"Things aren't exactly stable right now. Don't worry. I'll send you home as soon as it's over."
That was the plan. I was assuming I would be around to do it. I hadn't really thought any of it through. It was something I would have to revisit later.
"But it---it will be a fight to the death, right? In the movies, they---"
I reached over and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. She didn't flinch again, but there was a nervous look on her face. "This isn't a movie. And they want me alive, so no matter who wins, you'll get back safely. Trust me. You'll be fine." I shut my eyes and listened to her heart beating frantically in her chest. I could feel her looking at me as she fidgeted. "Tell me what you're thinking," I said.
There was a light pressure on my shoulder. Lyn was resting her head on me like it was normal. The heat from her body soaked into my skin, and I felt that familiar tingle start in the tips of my fingers. I gripped the edge of the leather cushion. I had just fed; I shouldn't have been feeling the urge to bite her that badly.
I patted her knee and stood up. I still had to get blankets and food out to the garage. "Will you help me raid the fridge?"
I paced back and forth in my room, cracking my knuckles. The shades were still open, and moonlight was pouring inside. Lyn was sitting quietly in the oversized armchair with a plaid blanket wrapped around her. Her eyes were watching me carefully as I wore a hole in my carpet.
I was beyond upset. I was so close to falling off the edge. If they had just let me kill Francesca, then the whole ordeal would be over with. It was four against three. We could have won. Forget Sullivan's strategy of being calm. I wanted to tear something apart.
"I'm sure you have questions," I said while I continued walking back and forth. Anything that would take my mind off the entire situation was fine with me. "We haven't gotten a chance to talk. Ask whatever you want."
"Well ..." She squirmed, watching me nervously. "I was wondering about, you know, vampires."
"What about us?"
She blushed. "About the myths, I guess."
"We can't touch crosses," I said distractedly, counting with my fingers. "Holy water is like acid. Sunlight will burn us. A stake through the heart is effective, but it's easier to behead us. We can see ourselves in mirrors. We don't turn into bats. Anything I missed?"
"Garlic," she whispered.
I stopped pacing and glanced sideways at her with a little smile. She looked adorable huddled up like she was. Her hair was spread over her shoulders, and her cheeks were flushed. "It smells awful," I replied.
Her forehead creased. "So it's all real then. Really real?"
I nodded. Unfortunately it was, and I had been living it for far too long. It didn't seem so long ago that I had hopped on the boat heading for the United States. Back when I was still running around with Francesca and everyone else, it had all seemed fun.
Decades flew by like days, and each day held something new and exhilarating. If we weren't going out on missions to turn people for Phoenix, we were having parties, or attending them. In any case, people ended up dead. It was the chase, the games you got to play, that kept everything exciting.
Now that I was finished with all the intrigue and bloodshed, things took on a bleaker look. There was business to take care of, making sure anything supernatural was behaving and running the club to keep up appearances. There were a few good shows on television, and that about summed up my life. I was alone, and that was how I wanted it. But I was beginning to question if it was the right way to spend an eternity.
"How old are you?" she asked me quietly.
How old was I?
It was a good question but not one I was expecting. Age really was just a number for me. Major events were measured by the year, while other things were by centuries. There were only a few dates that I remembered precisely.
"I was born the seventh of July, 1382, and I died the twentieth of September, 1404." I paused and did some quick math because, honestly, I had stopped keeping track. "I've been twenty-two for the last 606 years."
"Wow." She closed her eyes. "You've seen so much history. It must have been incredible."
"That would depend on who you asked," I mumbled. A lot of terrible things happened in history. You could read about some of them in the history books, but the stories were usually twisted to suit specific needs. I had seen the real thing, and it wasn't pretty.
"I'm asking you," she said, looking up at me expectantly.
I stopped pacing and turned to look at her. I didn't know how to answer that. I had seen everything from a different point of view when I was living through it. Now, looking back, everything was jaded.
She smiled, just a small smile. "Kaden, you don't have to look so serious."
"Sorry." I let out a breath. "My own past isn't anything to be proud of. The rest of it is kind of a blur unless you have specific questions."
She slowly shook her head. "I have too many. I'll get back to you when I narrow my list down to the really important ones."
Lyn yawned into the sleeve of her sweater and started to fold the blanket. I watched her carefully as she stood up and placed it on the back of the chair. She padded across the hardwood floor and climbed into the bed. Her pulse echoed in my ears, and I felt the familiar tingle start inside myself.
I blinked and shook my head. When I looked at her again, she was maintaining that innocent look she always seemed to have. My jaw ached, and my hands tingled. I stopped breathing immediately and tried to step back, but my feet weren't listening to me. I tried to form the words to tell her to get out of the room, but my mouth was being as disobedient as the rest of my body.
I found myself standing at the edge of the bed before I realized I was moving. She opened her mouth to say something, but she didn't get a chance. My hands were on either side of her head, holding her in place as my lips pressed against hers. She went completely still for a moment before kissing back. She was warm and soft and tasted sweet.
I was breathing again, inhaling her attractive scent. My entire body was tingling with the excitement. When her tongue brushed over the end of mine, I felt my control slip away. My hands were on her back, pressing her closer to me. I became hyper aware of her heartbeat and the sound of her blood pulsing through her veins.
Stop. Stop. Stop, I told myself. Gravity began to center in my stomach again. All I needed was the strength to pull away long enough to run. Her hands trailed down my chest, making a knot form. Stop, I repeated to myself once more.
Just as I was about to regain my senses, my fang nicked her bottom lip. She gasped, pulled away, and put her finger to her mouth. When she brought it away again, there was a spot of blood.
I couldn't feel anything. There was no tingling sensation, no bubbling desire. There was nothing. I was numb, and her pulse was throbbing in my ears.
"It's okay," she told me, looking at her finger. "It doesn't hurt; I was just surprised."
"Lyn," I managed through a clenched jaw, "you have about two seconds to run out that door before I can't stop myself anymore."
She looked up at me with her big eyes and shivered.
"Go."
She stayed kneeling on the bed, a drop of blood hovering on her lip. Very, very slowly she pulled the neck of her sweater down onto her shoulder without looking away.
"What are you doing?" I growled.
She moved her hair aside and bent her neck. It was an open invitation. She was welcoming her own death. I might not be able to stop myself once I started.
She let out a long, shaky breath, and it sent a chill down my spine. I grabbed her by the shoulders and bent my head to her neck. I hovered, trying to find that last shred of strength in myself, but the battle was already lost.
My fangs sunk into her delicate skin and found her vein. My jaw clamped down, and I felt the warm blood flood my mouth. Every cell in my body felt the shock from her heat. She tasted as good as she smelled. As good as she looked. The more I drank, the more the thirst grew.
I wasn't aware of how much blood I had stolen from her until my thirst was quenched. I stopped sucking and slowly pulled my fangs out. I loosened my grip on her shoulders and lifted my face away.
"Lyn?" I took her chin in my fingers and held her head up. She was extremely pale. I felt a jolt in my stomach. "Can you hear me?"
Her eyes fluttered open, and she let out a soft sound. Blood was trickling from the puncture wounds. I looked around for something to use to apply pressure, but I couldn't find anything. I panicked, pulling off the shirt I was wearing and holding it against her neck. It shouldn't have been bleeding that much. The bacteria in my saliva should have acted as a coagulant.
"Lyn, if you can hear me, say something," I urged.
Her hand reached up toward her neck. "I can hear you," she whispered.
"Don't touch it," I told her, lowering her hand away. "Are you okay?"
"I'm tired," she replied in a very low voice.
"Are you cold?" I felt her cheek. "Dizzy?"
"No. I'm just tired," she repeated.
I pushed the hair away from her face. "Are you positive?"
"Yes."
I lifted my shirt to check the bleeding. It had finally clotted. I picked her up and pulled back the sheets. "You can sleep," I said, tucking the sheets around her. Her heart was still steady, and her breathing was normal. She would be all right.
She will be, I thought. She has to be.
I left the room, unable to bear it any longer. The smell of blood, her blood, made me sick. If I had fed earlier, then I would have had more control. I had no one to blame but myself.
Sullivan was standing at the end of the hall shaking a snow globe as I stormed from the room. I couldn't face him. I couldn't even face myself. I started in the opposite direction, going nowhere in particular. I just had to leave.
"She will grant you forgiveness," he whispered, looking out the window. I stopped and clamped my eyes shut. I didn't want to hear it. "You didn't force yourself upon her. She won't hold it against you," he promised.
I continued to walk away from him, down the stairs and out the French doors. I crossed the backyard and drove my fist into the thickest tree I saw. It creaked, and a few of the remaining leaves fell around me.
Someone moved in the shadows. "What now?" I screamed. "If you want me, come and get me. I'm right here. I'm right fucking here."
"Kaden," Sullivan called softly from behind me.
"What?" I snapped, and all the anger left my body. The guilt came crashing around me like a tidal wave, making it hard to breathe. "What?" I asked quietly.
As I watched Lyn sleep, her chest gently rising and falling, I went over and over Sullivan's story in my head. He had finally told me exactly what happened before he ended up in Canada. He had accidentally killed the human woman he loved and upset some important vampires at the same time. It didn't put me at ease, but at least I understood. A lot of things suddenly made sense, and it made me all the more determined to protect Lyn with everything I had.
She made a small sound, and my body tensed. When she didn't wake up, I relaxed against the headboard. I traced the line of her jaw with my finger and glanced at her neck. I hadn't been gentle. There were two deep puncture wounds that were swollen and red.
"Kaden?" Her eyes opened slowly, searching for me in the dark.
"I'm so sorry," I told her, staring at the ceiling. "I'm so, so sorry."
She reached in the direction of my voice and found my hand. "You're warm."
I let out a groan and pulled my hand away. Her blood would stay warm inside my veins for hours. I would have an extra boost of strength and energy until it was out of my system. Going back to my diet now would make me feel twice as weak.
"I didn't mean to hurt you," I whispered.
The sheets rustled as she pulled herself into a sitting position. She let out a little gasp as she touched the holes I had left in her. "I'm not mad at you," she told me. "I wanted you to do it."
"Why?" I asked. "Why didn't you run when I told you to?"
"I wasn't afraid." She looked in my direction and gave me a small smile. "Can you turn on the light? I can't see anything."
I got up and flicked the switch. Lyn blinked against the sudden light and gasped. Before I realized that I was topless, Lyn cried out, "Oh, my God."
I hit the light switch again, throwing her back into darkness. My breathing picked up, and I counted backward from ten. I had never let anyone outside the family see my scars. Just the thought of them took me to a dark place.
"What happened to you?" She hopped down from the bed and stumbled.
I caught her and set her on the edge of the bed again. I knelt in front of her and put my forehead on her knees. "I took more than I should have. You might be a little dizzy for a bit, so don't try to get up."
"Kaden?"
I squeezed the sheets on either side of her legs. "I'm sorry. I can't say it enough. I never ... I didn't want ... I was supposed to protect you."
It felt like someone had stuck a knife in my stomach and was twisting it around and around. She was such a fragile little thing. If I couldn't keep my control around her, then I was a liability. I felt so guilty that I couldn't imagine it happening again though. I hated myself.
"It's okay." Her fingers ran through my hair. "It really is."
I sighed. I would never be able to make it up to her. The fact that she was fine with everything, that she had wanted it, made me feel even worse. I didn't understand how she could be all right with it. I wanted her to be mad. I wanted her to yell at me and try to storm out of the house in a fit of rage.
"What happened to you?" she asked again.
It was in that moment that I decided two things that would make everything good again. The first thing: I would tell her what she wanted to know. She deserved that much. I flipped on the light again and stood in front of her, trying not to be embarrassed.
"Give me your hand."
She stared at me, shocked. "What ..."
I took her hand and directed her fingers over the first set of scars. She didn't flinch away but touched them carefully, like they might still hurt. Her eyes studied each of the three crosses on the left side of my lower abdomen.
"That's where he pressed a crucifix into my skin until I lost consciousness. When I came around, he did it again. And then a third time." I moved her fingers around to my side. The scars there were the ugliest. It looked like someone had carved strips out of my skin with a melon baller. "And this is where he dripped the holy water."
"Who is 'he'?" she asked, mesmerized.
"The Marquis. He takes care of the punishments for the master vampire, and he enjoys every second of it."
She trailed her hand freely over the scars. She outlined them one by one, touching first the skin around them and then the wounds themselves. Her fingers left streaks of heat behind that were barely noticeable with my new body temperature.
I stepped back as her hand reached the bottom of the last holy water trail. She watched without changing her expression as I pulled a clean shirt from my dresser. It made me self-conscious. I knew how bad the scars looked. I turned away from her until I was covered again.
Lyn winced from pain as she turned her head. "What were you being punished for?"
I bent down to her level and took her chin in my fingers, moving her hair to the side to get a better look at the wounds. "I tried to leave," I said. "Someone ratted me out."
"But you got away," she said, half statement, half question.
"I was more careful the second time," I explained.
The fang marks weren't healing like they should have been. In fact, they looked infected. They couldn't be though. My saliva was free of anything that could cause that from happening. It was just bruised and sore.
"It's not that bad," she lied.
"It is." I let go of her chin. "I bit too deep."
"Really, it's---"
"Don't." I met her eyes. "I'll get you some ice for the swelling. Lie back down and try to get some more sleep so you'll heal properly."
She did what I told her, snuggling between the sheets, as I headed down to the kitchen. Reece was there, sitting on the green marble counter, talking to Sid. They both shut up as soon as they saw me, making me curious. No one ever stopped talking unless they were saying something they didn't want you to hear.
I went straight to the freezer and started pawing through frozen food. It was a mystery to me when all the microwave dinners made their way into the house. I hadn't really thought about what everyone was eating. But there was an extraordinary number of supposedly healthy meals.
"We're going with you," Reece told me. "To the meeting."
"I figured you would want to." I continued to move boxes around. Ice shouldn't be that difficult to find. "How's the pack?"
"Alex is using the car to get them all back to the city," Sid explained. "He should be getting back from the last trip in a few minutes, and then we're heading out."
Where were the ice trays? I started taking boxes out and stacking them in the sink. They had to be in there somewhere.
"What are you looking for?" Reece asked.
"Ice," I grumbled.
He hopped off the counter and grabbed a glass from the cupboard. He started to shut the freezer slowly until I moved out of the way. Setting the glass on the shelf inside the stainless steel door, he asked, "Crushed or cubed?"
Does it matter? I thought. Ice was ice. It would do the same thing no matter what shape it was in. "Crushed," I answered anyway. It would be more comfortable to set on her neck.
Reece pushed the button, and ice came falling out. I had bought the refrigerator because it looked nice and matched the rest of the kitchen, but I had never needed to use it before. When the cup was full, Reece hopped back onto the counter and grabbed an apple from the bowl beside him.
"Thanks." I grabbed a dish towel from the drawer and dumped the ice onto it. "Where are the two of you heading? Home to get some rest, I hope."
"Alex is going to stay here," Sid said. "But I'll need Reece to come with me. We'll be back in time for the meeting though."
"He's back." Reece took a big bite from the red delicious as a car rolled up to the house. "Ready to go?"
Sid nodded. "See you later."
They were up to something. He had gone around my question without really answering it. If they didn't want me to know what they were planning, maybe it was better that I didn't. It was always easier to deny something if you didn't know the details.
Lyn was half-asleep when I got back. Her eyes were fluttering in an attempt to stay open. Her hair was clinging to the pillowcase with static electricity, and her hand was resting over the puncture wounds. I sat down behind her and lifted her hand.
I grabbed my cell phone off the nightstand and checked for missed calls. Merv hadn't called back. There was a part of me that was in denial over his death. I hadn't seen his body. Maybe he was alive somewhere too.
I tried to force myself to accept the truth. Francesca didn't know I had been listening to that specific conversation. Merv was dead. I hadn't been able to save him, but there was still time to save Tom. He didn't like me at the moment, or maybe he never did, but I could do something for Lyn's sake.
Lyn moved her hand over mine to hold the ice in place. Her eyes were shut, but her grip on the ice was strong. I let go and let her keep the pressure on it so I could send the message.
I had less than two hundred characters to text Tom to stay inside and not let anyone in until I said it was okay. I had to do it without scaring him, and I had to mention the idea of keeping silver bullets handy. I was sure he would catch the werewolf reference, but I had never admitted to him that they were real before. I sighed and clicked the message out.
It had been a long night. My body was still buzzing with Lyn's blood, and my head was still spinning from the talk with Francesca. My mind didn't even have the capacity to fully grasp everything with Sid and the Philadelphia pack. And there was still the second part of my decision to take care of before I could get some sleep.
"I'll be right back," I whispered in Lyn's ear.
Then I went to stand in front of Sullivan's door. It was intricately carved with scrolls and little flowers, just like the rest of the ones on the second floor. My hand hesitated before knocking. I was determined that I had made the right choice, but I couldn't stop feeling like it was wrong. When he told me to come inside, I had to ignore the urge to turn around.
He was sitting at a small desk that was situated in the far corner of the room. A copy of Guinness World Records was wide open in front of him. His head was propped up with his fist under his chin, and only his eyes moved to look at me.
"I have a favor to ask," I blurted. I had to get it out before I changed my mind. "When this is done---"
"You want me to erase her memories of what's happened," he finished for me. "I had a feeling you would."
"Yes," I sighed. There was no going back now that I had asked it. I would stick to the plan. "It's better that way."
"For some of us." He shut the book slowly and turned his head to look at me. "I will do it because you asked me to."
I wasn't quite sure if that meant he didn't agree with what I was doing or not, but it didn't matter. What mattered was that Lyn was going to be able to go home and forget this ever happened. She would be able to finish school, take care of her father, get married, have children, and die at an old age without knowing what really lurked in the shadows. It would never erase my guilt, but it was the only thing I could do for her at that point.
"Thank you," I told him. "I'll let you know when."
He nodded and opened his book again. "Sleep well."
I felt exhausted by the time I made it into my own room. Lyn was still holding the ice on her neck, but she was losing the battle to stay awake. I lifted the towel away from her and put it in the bathroom sink to melt.
"Is everything okay?" she asked.
"Yes." I climbed into the other side of the bed carefully. I wasn't sure if she would be comfortable with the idea any longer, but she was calm and relaxed. In fact, once I was settled, she inched closer to me and put her head on my shoulder.
"Good night," she whispered right before drifting off to sleep.
I would have rather had her hate me. There was no question about it. I didn't deserve to be forgiven.
I hadn't slept much. What sleep I did get was restless. It wasn't just my conscience, although that was a big part of it. I was like a person on a caffeine high. The fresh blood woke my body up. I was buzzing with energy all day and was even feeling the effects of it as I sat in the leather recliner in my living room.
Flo and Stu were at it again. It hadn't gotten to the point where anyone would get injured, unless you count a headache, so I didn't stop them. It was going to happen. They were like five-year-old siblings. You could put them in time out, but the second you turned your back they would be at it again.
"Being the ladies' man that you are, you shouldn't have a problem," she hissed at Stu.
"Don't flatter yourself. You're not my type," he replied. "Besides, it only works on human women."
"It doesn't work with any women---alive or dead," she snarled.
"Sure it does." Stu turned his head toward Lyn and smiled. The look in his eyes changed, and his voice dropped an octave. "Hey, what do you say about---"
The spoon hit him right between his eyes, sending corn flakes around the room. It was a perfect throw. "Don't even try it," I told him.
Stu started to laugh and used his sleeve to clean the milk off his forehead. Lyn looked at him, then at me, and then down at her cereal before she realized what had happened. "I was using that," she said when she spotted the spoon on the floor.
Stu kept laughing. "Don't let him bully you." He disappeared into the kitchen and popped back up beside her with a clean spoon. She jumped in surprise but smiled. He reached over and ruffled her hair. "So are we going or not?"
"I'm not," Alex said. He glared at me from the stairs, where he had perched himself. He had to be uncomfortable. Marble wouldn't have been my seat of choice, but he didn't want to be anywhere near me.
Apparently he had just as big a problem with Lyn being bitten as I did. He made that blatantly obvious when I went downstairs just after dark. It wasn't so much the shoulder check as it was the snide remark about being hungry. In my opinion, he had gotten a little big for his britches, or maybe Sid was getting too lax in the way he ran his pack. That was my doubled-edged sword. I wanted the racism between species gone, but I wanted their never-ending respect.
"Party pooper," Stu taunted. "That's what you get for staying up to watch American Werewolf in London with a certain human this afternoon."
Alex glared at him. "Mind your own business."
Stu rolled his eyes at me. "What about you?"
"What about me?" I grumbled. I had a feeling I wasn't going to like what he had in mind. It was either the grin that was spread across his face or the way he said it. I knew Stu too well.
"We're going to your club for a night out." He started doing a little dance in the middle of the room. "We'll let off some steam before playing Russian roulette with our lives."
I sat in that chair wondering if I had heard him wrong. They were talking about going dancing when we were in the middle of a manure pile. I blinked slowly at him and shook my head. "You can't be serious."
"Of course we are," Flo scoffed. "Even Sullivan is coming."
Sullivan looked completely modern from his clothing to his hair, which was slicked back and knotted. "It will be a good time to check the exits," he said, squirming uncomfortably in the recliner opposite my own.
I did want to take a look around before the meeting. I had my reservations about the location. There weren't many exits, and being in such a busy neighborhood, it wouldn't give us much privacy if things went downhill. It would be crowded tonight. It would be hard for anyone to attack us, but it would also be hard to defend ourselves.
"Would you like to go?" I asked Lyn.
She hesitated. "I ... guess, yeah."
She was probably worried about getting killed before I had a chance to take her back home. As unwarranted as that fear might be, I could hardly blame her for it. She was just a little girl with no special abilities. She wasn't stronger, faster, or more agile than any of the things trying to kill her.
"Wear this." Flo held out a loosely knitted blue scarf to Lyn. "We don't need to advertise anything."
There was a grunt from the stairs. I turned my head and threw Alex a dirty look. "You can stop. I get it."
"Do you?" He got up and stormed into the kitchen. He started pulling dishes out of the cupboards and slamming things around. I had to bite my tongue and let it go. He was young after all.
Flo started to fuss with her hair in front of the mirror. Her eyes were carefully done with dark shadows, and the neckline on her dress plunged. Stu was hovering behind her. She batted him away, but he just moved to her other side. He was asking for trouble, and he got it. She spun around and swung a fist at his head.
"Nothing has changed between those two," Sullivan observed. He was standing by the door, ready to leave. He held Lyn's jacket out in front of him so she could slip into it.
She walked over and turned her back to him. Her big brown eyes found me, and she smiled. What happened with her? She was almost too all right with us being monsters now. I knew it was what I had hoped for, but something was strange. No one becomes that okay with it that quickly.
"No," I said absentmindedly. I flinched as Stu missed a ceramic statue by an inch. "I don't think they ever will."
We watched their fight for a few moments in silence while Lyn adjusted the scarf Flo had given her. It was impossible that anyone had missed the bruises on her neck, but I was grateful that none of them had actually said anything. Alex would get over it, and no one else would hold it against me.
Lyn glanced nervously at the fight happening on the other side of the room, confused that no one was reacting to it. She leaned over to me and whispered, "I only have sneakers."
I looked down at her white running shoes. "What's wrong with them?"
"Your dress code," she said.
I smiled. I couldn't help it. "Don't worry. I know a guy who knows a guy who can get you in."
"All right," Stu yelled. "Uncle. You win. Let's go." Flo stopped behind him and kicked the back of his knee so he fell forward. He stumbled but didn't fall. He chuckled, taking off after her.
It looked like we weren't taking a car. I looked awkwardly at Lyn. I was going to have to carry her, but I wasn't sure how she would like it. It would be fast. Very fast. There was only one way to find out.
Sullivan waited in the alley behind The Amaryllis with me while Lyn threw up. I winced each time she gagged. By the time she was finished, I thought she had left all of her intestines on the cement, but she said she felt much better. I couldn't imagine anyone feeling good after that, but she looked less green around the gills than when I set her back on her feet.
Inside, The Amaryllis was filled to capacity with scantily dressed women and men wearing too much cologne. The music was vibrating through the floor, and some of the Halloween decorations were still up from the night before. There were a few new faces working. A pair of platinum blonds were working with Max behind the bar, and there was a muscular man at the door checking IDs.
With Jessica gone, I had been a little nervous that my cover would be blown. Somehow, Max had managed on his own though. I suppose that meant I needed to promote him or give him a raise. I folded my arms and leaned against the back wall. It could be tricky if he didn't stop running away from me all the time.
With Flo dancing and Stu chatting up girl after girl, it was no wonder we weren't getting much done. At least Sullivan was checking the perimeter. Lyn was doing exactly what she was supposed to be doing: staying in my direct line of vision. Her roommates had shown up. Strangely coincidental if you ask me, but she seemed happy to see them.
I, on the other hand, was miserable. There were so many people---warm people with fast heartbeats and pulsating veins. It was harder than usual for me to be around them. I had tasted real blood after such a long time. Now that goop I used to get from Merv made me gag, and with my senses peaked again, I had to force down twice as much. It still didn't seem like enough, but I needed to try to ration the supply in the mini-fridge.
A girl with black hair and too much cleavage caressed my arm as she walked by. I gave her a cold look and walked away before she could talk me into taking her somewhere else. Max spotted me and rushed to the other end of the bar. I rolled my eyes. I just didn't understand.
"I don't see any enemies," Sullivan stated, meeting me near the back door. "I believe we're alone tonight."
"Probably." I glanced at Lyn. She was fine as long as she stayed inside. There wasn't anything supernatural inside but us. "I'm going up to the roof for a minute. Do you want to come?"
He nodded, following me outside and up the ladder attached to the wall. The atmosphere of the city surrounded us. It was a giant buzzing energy. It was what most people were attracted to and what I hated most about the city.
"Is there any particular reason for this?" Sullivan asked.
"To make sure the alleys are clear," I lied.
"You have to do that from up here?"
I walked to the edge of the building and looked down the street. It was lined with bright lights and glowing signs. Vehicles drove by honking their horns at each other. Drunk girls were cackling from the sidewalk. I wasn't going to get any peace and quiet here, but the air was fresher.
"No," I answered. "I just wanted to get away for a minute."
"Things will work out. They always do." He stuck his hands in his jeans pockets. "You shouldn't think on it so much."
"They don't always work out. And I'm not." I shrugged. "I'm not really worried about myself. I'll be all right even if we lose. I can get away again when the time is right. If we lose ..." I couldn't finish the sentence.
"If we lose," he continued for me, "you will go back to Spain and resume your duties. We will survive as best we can and wait for your return."
"I won't come back to New York. It won't be the same after they get their hands on it. I'll go somewhere else. Somewhere remote."
"And Lyn?"
I stared across the sleepless city and cracked my knuckles. "If she doesn't get killed, then she will be dead of old age before I could come back for her."
"If we win?" He paused. "Would you still like me to erase her mind?"
"Yes," I answered softly. I listened to the hustle and bustle of the street below. "As soon as we can."
"Well, as they say, one bridge at a time," he told me. There was a strange edge to his voice. I wanted to ask him for his honest opinion, but I was too worried that it would be something I didn't want to hear. "It's just about closing time. Shall we?"
I didn't want to go back inside. I knew I'd start to feel real hunger soon, and I didn't want to be confronted with it. My body could handle only so much under stress.
But I had to go, and when we got into the building, I noticed that Stu's hand was very close to being inappropriately placed on Lyn's hip. I checked my temper. There was nothing worse than acting irrationally and making a fool out of oneself.
"I promise to bring her home later," he was saying. I crept closer and saw her two roommates trying to pull her toward the door. Stu kept his hand around her and winked at the girls. "I promise."
The tattooed roommate let go of Lyn's wrist. "As long as you promise."
"I do," he insisted, smiling. They practically skipped to the door. "Let's find Kaden so we can get you---"
I popped up in front of him. "Thanks."
"What just happened?" Lyn asked.
Stu grinned. "I can hypnotize humans with my voice. Pretty cool, huh? I tried to show you earlier, but I got pelted with a spoon."
"So..." She paused and thought for a second. "What can you do?" she asked me.
I glared at Stu. He still needed to learn how to keep his mouth shut. "Let's go home." The crowd was starting to thin, and I didn't want to be overheard. "Go get Flo. We'll meet them outside."
Stu saluted me before walking away. I didn't understand how he could be that happy and energetic all the time. It was unnatural.
Sullivan was near the back door, watching Max curiously. I wondered if Max had scurried away from him too. Perhaps he was sensitive to supernatural things and unconsciously avoided us. It would make sense.
"He's just a little highly strung," I said. "Don't pay any attention to him."
Sullivan's eyes narrowed. "It's not that."
Before I could ask what he meant, Max was walking toward me. For the first time, he was actually moving in my direction and not the other way. "You're not leaving, are you?" he called from behind the bar.
He had my full attention---that was for sure. "I was planning on it. Why?"
"Can I talk to you in the office first?"
I shifted on my feet. "Two minutes."
"There's been an officer here asking questions about you," he said as he fumbled with the key to the office door. "An Officer Gorski."
Gorski. That was Lyn's ex-boyfriend. He really didn't give up. What is he looking for? I wondered. He wouldn't find anything that would hold up in court. Things that could make him suspicious, yes, but solid evidence of any crimes, no.
"Questions about what?" I asked.
"Jessica." His face was red and blotchy, and his heart was pounding. He shrugged his big shoulders and fell silent. Something was rotten in Denmark.
"All right, Max," I said slowly as he shut us into the office. "You've been avoiding me since you started working here. What's going on? You wanted to talk, so talk."
He stayed silent. His heartbeat sped up even more, and sweat broke out on his forehead. I wasn't going to stand there in that tiny, dimly lit room and give the man a heart attack. I was going to go home and deal with real issues. I reached for the door handle.
"My name is Maximilian Accorsi," he shouted before I could touch it. His Southern accent had been replaced with a faint Italian one, and the blood drained from my face. "I've come here on behalf of the Iustitia to ask for your help."
My breath caught in my throat. The man who had been avoiding me for months really had been a vampire's worst nightmare. The five families of the Iustitia had been around since the late thirteenth century. They had been contracted by the pope himself, and from the time they could walk, they were trained with the sole task of killing vampires. They were the faces of death to us. Chances of escape were slim to none. I was looking my biggest enemy right in the eyes, and neither of us dared to make a move.
"Iustitia?" I breathed.
"Newly ordained," he replied. His face was blazing red. "We don't have enough manpower to handle the infestation in Rome. There seems to be something larger going on than we expected, and we need you to come to the Holy City for assistance."
"You're asking me for help?"
I couldn't believe my ears. The church had sent a brand-new hunter all the way to New York to ask a vampire of my caliber for help? I was dumbfounded. Did they really expect him to return? He hadn't even seen any action. There wasn't a single battle wound anywhere that I could see.
"I know that we've always been enemies, but if you'd just listen to---"
"Shut up," I snapped. "Be on the next plane home, or you'll go back in a box."
I flung the door open, almost ripping it from the hinges. Everyone was waiting by the back door for me. Good, I thought. We needed to get out of there before we ended up piles of ash.
"We're leaving," I growled as I pushed through the crowd. "Right now."
"Whoa---" Stu stopped in mid-sentence. "What's the matter with you?"
I grabbed Lyn around the waist and kicked the back door open. "The Iustitia are here."
The Iustitia had no qualms about playing dirty. They had to get the upper hand somehow, and the best way to do that was to hunt during the day. Burn down a house, knock down a wall ... With all their training, it wasn't that difficult. They started to teach their kids to shoot a crossbow before they were even out of diapers.
Needless to say, none of us got much sleep. Well, Alex did. He seemed to find the whole situation amusing. I didn't quite grasp why. If they had tried anything, then he would have had to jump in and probably would have died himself.
I was tired. I was cranky. I was not in the mood to go meet with Francesca. Piles of crap kept falling into my lap, one right after another. None of them apparently wanted to kill me, except Christopher, but I wasn't worried about him. Not yet. I'd handle it if I managed to stay out of Europe.
We had to leave or be late to The Amaryllis, but Sid and Reece still weren't there. If they wanted to come, then they would have to hurry up. I didn't want to be the last one to the party.
I sat in the leather armchair facing the front door and tapped my foot against the hardwood floor. Everyone was sitting so quietly that each tap seemed to echo off the walls. Even Flo and Stu were sitting side-by-side without making a peep.
"All right, let's go," I said, hopping up from my seat.
Alex scowled at me even deeper than before, if that was possible, and got up along with everyone else. He put his hand on Lyn's back and started to guide her toward the door. I cracked my knuckles but kept my mouth shut. It wasn't anything that should upset me.
Sullivan snuck up behind Lyn and gently moved Alex's arm away. I wasn't sure if he did it because of my reaction or if it was because he really had the urge to tie Lyn's hair up for her. His long fingers wove through her silky hair with sureness. He wove it up into a French twist and stuck a hair stick into the center.
She reached up and touched it, giving him a sideways look. It was obvious that she was still unsure of Sullivan. It was understandable, but she was misreading him. He was a broken man. It was as simple as that. But I was a little concerned with his sudden interest in hairstyling.
"Sullivan?" I asked.
"To show that you've staked a claim," Flo grumbled. "You didn't want to give her as a present, did you?"
Lyn was watching us carefully with wide eyes. I walked up to her and lifted her up by the waist. She made a small sound of surprise and grabbed my shoulders. The two pink puncture wounds stood out against her pale skin. My stomach lurched, but I forced myself to smile at her. "Ready?"
"No," she squeaked.
"Don't get sick again," Stu said brightly, throwing her a wink. "Flo"---he snapped his neck to look in her direction---"isn't that hair stick she's wearing the one you wore to the banquet in Russia?"
She glared at him. "Yes. I let Sullivan borrow it."
"I remember it like yesterday---" he started.
Flo took a deep breath. "Shut it, Stuart."
"Are you okay?" I whispered in Lyn's ear as Sullivan tried to end the fight before it started. "You're a little pale."
"Come on already." Alex pushed through the door and stomped down the stairs without looking back. That was our cue to leave. We didn't have much time.
Lyn's face was buried in my chest. I tried to go a little slower than I had when we went to the club the night before. She had been even sicker after the trip home. Apparently it was something you had to get used to. Thankfully, when we got into Manhattan and I put her on her feet again, she didn't look ill. She swayed a little, but it was a vast improvement.
I unlocked the front doors to The Amaryllis and flicked on the lights. "We'll stand over there," I decided. There was no exit on the far side of the dance floor, so there was no chance of them sneaking in behind us. On the flip side, there was no quick way out if we needed it.
"Hey," Reece called. He and Sid came through the door wearing dress shirts and ties. "Sorry we're late. We had to finish something really quick."
They exchanged a look, followed by the slightest of smiles, and made their way across the club. It made me wish I had asked what they were up to the other night. "Finish what?" I asked. It was better to ask late than not at all.
"This." Francesca came out of nowhere. Her hair was frizzing around her face, and her eyes were blazing. I gaped at her for a second before registering the strong scent of blood with a hint of decay. "All of my wolves are dead," she shrieked so loudly that her voice vibrated off the walls.
The next thing I knew, a severed head was rolling toward my feet. When it stopped, the face was looking away from us. Flo reached over with her foot and rolled it so we could see who it was. Beneath the bruises and gashes, he was almost unrecognizable. I knew him though. He had been Phoenix's pack leader when I was still in the family. It looked like Francesca hadn't sent all of the wolves she brought with her on that bus trip.
Lyn was clutching the back of my shirt. "Kaden?"
"You did start killing my people first." I tried my best to ignore Lyn's shaking and control the surprise in my voice. I wasn't sure how it was a problem that he was dead. It wasn't a problem that Jessica and Merv had been killed. "It seems like an okay form of retaliation to me."
She bent over and took a few deep breaths. Her hands were balled into the fabric of her skirt. I had to fight the urge to back away from her. Francesca had never been very stable, but I had never seen her that upset.
Everyone was falling into a line beside me. Francesca was alone, but probably not for long. Davis and the Marquis couldn't have been far behind. Even if they hadn't followed her, there was really only one place where she would have been going.
I eyed Sid. He looked at me from beneath his mop of curls and shrugged. I had to wonder what rules he had broken to get it done, and what new problems it was going to cause. "What did you do?" I whispered.
"I didn't cross any boundary lines," he explained. "I called in a few favors, and I owe some now. It was a small price to pay."
Francesca straightened herself back up, laughing hysterically. She licked the blood that was caked on her hand slowly, making eye contact. My eyes narrowed in response. I didn't want to fight her with Lyn there, but I would if I had to.
"She's lost her mind," Stu said, crossing his arms.
"What are you doing?" Davis yelled, appearing next to her. "Save your anger for the fight I'm sure we're about to have. Things are obviously not going to be figured out peacefully," he said, looking at me from the corner of his eye.
"Why bother waiting?" she breathed. "We can just take them out right here. Right now."
"Now, now." The Marquis came in, spinning his cane. He winked at me as he sauntered up next to Davis, wearing gray sweatpants. "Patience is a virtue."
I looked down at the severed head and shifted over so Lyn couldn't see around me. Her shaking had gotten worse, and she had a death grip on my arm. "It's all right," I said over my shoulder.
"It's all right?" Francesca spun around in a circle, her pleated skirt twirling around her. "Yes, it's all right." She stopped and met my eye. "Because I'm going to kill you."
The Marquis cracked his cane against the back of her head. "Watch your mouth."
"Kaden, I'm really sorry about this," Davis muttered.
"Human," Francesca called, "come out from behind him."
A silence fell around us. They were waiting for me to decide what I was going to do, and we were waiting to see if anyone was going to try talking some sense into her. Then the Marquis smiled expectantly while Davis gave him a death stare. Everyone was watching me now, waiting to see what I would do.
"Just have her step out from behind you," Stu muttered from the corner of his mouth. "Before she gets violent."
"Let her try," I snapped.
Sullivan pried Lyn's hands from me and led her into the space between us. Her face was as white as a sheet. He nodded to her reassuringly and let go of her hand. I tried to reach out and pull her back, but Flo knocked my hand away.
"You're eating again," the Marquis observed in a pleased voice. "Phoenix is going to be happy about that."
"Enough," I hissed. "Leave her out of this."
Francesca eyed Lyn, first with glee and then with hatred. "We need time to rethink our strategy," she said in a calm voice and turned toward the door.
The Marquis followed on her heels, but Davis kept standing there. He looked at each of us before letting out a breath. They were outnumbered now. The odds were in our favor, and he knew it. He took off after the other two. It would have been smart to make a move against them while we had the upper hand. And they knew that was what we would be thinking.
"Calm down," Reece said. "They can't find replacements with that kind of strength in just a few days. We can come up with a plan before that."
"Why didn't you talk to me about this?" I fumed.
We were back in my living room safe and sound. Of course we were safe. If they had attacked us in The Amaryllis, they would have lost. They knew it as well as I did. Francesca may have wanted to test her luck, but deep down even she knew better. I just wished I had been prepared for a scene like that. Especially with Lyn there.
She hadn't stopped sobbing since I set her down on the couch. Alex sat next to her, rubbing her back. I was sure it was meant to be comforting, but it still yanked on a few of my nerves.
"Because you would have found some reason to talk me out of it," Sid said. "Besides, they were my favors to cash. And you're welcome."
"Shit," I muttered under my breath when I saw Lyn again. Her face was too pale. Why did they have to bring the head with them? I thought. "Shhh." I helped her stand up. "Stop crying. Everything's all right now." I closed my eyes, resting my cheek on top of her head. It wasn't all right, but it would be.
"There was a head," she mumbled into my shirt.
"I know." I wiped the tears from her cheeks. "Let's get you in bed."
I glanced at Sullivan, who was by far the only understanding one in the room. I looked to him for support and got a half smile with a nod. He knew what I was asking and agreed to it, but I didn't miss that hint of sadness behind his eyes.
It took Lyn a few minutes to get her hands to work well enough to change clothes, but once she was beneath the covers, I got in beside her. I ignored the knot in my stomach and held my arm out to her. "Come here."
She inched across the bed and rested her head on my shoulder. Her tears soaked my shirt as she cried herself to sleep.
I used my towel to wipe the fog off the bathroom mirror. There was a heaviness in my chest that hadn't been there before. I didn't really understand it. It should have been the opposite. A weight was about to be lifted, but that light, relieved feeling was missing.
I threw a little water on my face and opened the bathroom door. Lyn was sitting in the chair again with her hair falling around her shoulder, and her eyes were puffy from crying. I had wanted to wait until I solidified my freedom again before I had everything cleared from her mind. If Francesca was still lurking around and Lyn had no idea what was going on, then it would end badly. That, and there was always the off chance that I would lose. But after last night, it was time.
It wasn't like I had gotten so attached to Lyn that I couldn't let go. Having her memories erased was for her own good. That was what I was telling myself, so it had to be true. I couldn't imagine how she could be this deeply involved with vampires and not end up dead. She'd only been here for a matter of days, and she had already seen enough carnage to last her the rest of her life.
"Kaden?" Her voice cracked, and she paused. "About last night, that woman ..."
"Francesca?"
She nodded and seemed to sink deeper into the chair. If I were her, having a severed head tossed at my feet would have traumatized me too. It was my fault for bringing her with us, but I didn't know what else to do with her. It would have been the perfect time for them to break in and kill her.
Of course, I was taking that risk by sending her home. It wouldn't really be safe for awhile. I'd have to bank on Francesca's thinking I had lost interest. She would look at this as giving Lyn up because I wasn't interested anymore. She didn't really understand emotions, not that I did. I couldn't get a firm grasp on my own, let alone anyone else's. But I needed to believe Lyn would be safer at her own house.
I sat down on the edge of my bed and patted the spot next to me. She slowly pulled herself up and took the few steps to sit beside me. Her heart sped up, and her hands were shaking in her lap. I hated seeing her like that.
"I'm sorry you had to be there," I started. "It was my fault; I never should have taken you with us. I was worried something would happen to you if I let you out of my sight, but something happened to you anyway." I stopped talking and rubbed the right side of my face. "I'm not good at this kind of thing."
"What kind of thing?" she whispered.
"Apologizing." I sighed. "Not all vampires are like us, you know. Some of them are the ruthless, bloodthirsty monsters that we're portrayed as. Even we feel the attraction of that lifestyle sometimes. It was a long, hard road to learn the control it takes to be like this. And ... and I don't like that you're afraid of me now, but I'm going to make things better for you."
She was quiet for a long time. It twisted my stomach not knowing what was running through her mind, but that was as much as I could say. I wasn't one for deep conversation.
"I'm not afraid of you," she finally managed to say. "I was at first, but then it clicked. You could have killed me instead of keeping me around. You could have let your enemies kill me, but you didn't. I can tell you're not evil. It's just been a lot to process."
I stood up and bent down to her eye level. With one finger, I lifted her chin until she looked at me. I kissed her softly on the lips. "I know it has." I placed one last kiss on her forehead and left her sitting there alone. I had to get out then, before I changed my mind.
Sullivan was waiting for me just outside the door. He was studying the medallions on the wallpaper like they were actually something of interest. His hair was pulled back away from his face tonight, making his features sharper.
"Are you positive?" he asked.
I shook my head, but my mind was made up. "Just do it."
Then it was my turn to study the wallpaper, but to me they were just a bunch of blobs. A fight between Flo and Stu was starting downstairs. Their voices sounded muffled in my ears. The feeling in my chest grew heavier. Those two short minutes waiting for Sullivan to come out again were two of the longest minutes I ever experienced.
When he finally came out again, he was frowning slightly. He quickly wiped the frown away, nodded, and continued walking by me. I watched him walk downstairs without looking back. It made me wonder if he had actually disagreed or if something had happened.
I forced myself back into my room. She would be unconscious for the next twelve hours, maybe more. Now I just had to get her home and into her own bed. When she woke up again she might have a slight headache, but she wouldn't remember anything about us. She wouldn't remember me.
She was lying still on the bed. If it wasn't for the steady sound of her heart and the rising and falling of her chest, I would have been worried. Her face didn't look as peaceful as I had imagined it would, but it would be over soon. She could go back to her normal life.
"I'll drive you," Alex said from the doorway, clinking the keys. He glared at me with unfriendly eyes. "I'll wait in the car."
He spun on his heels, and a moment later he was slamming the front door. I turned back to Lyn and scooped her up so her head was resting on my shoulder. I closed my eyes and inhaled her scent. It flooded my senses, and I opened my eyes again.
With heavy feet, I carried her to the car. The wind was whistling through the trees, and I wished I had had the sense to grab Lyn's coat. Alex was holding the back door to Reece's Trailblazer open so I could set her inside. He kept standing there as I laid her across the backseat, and when I stepped back he slammed the door so hard the vehicle swayed.
Once we were both inside, he started the engine and stomped onto the gas. The SUV lurched forward, and I grabbed the dashboard. "I could have taken her myself," I told him.
He scoffed. "Like you could have taken her through the city like that without getting yourself into some kind of trouble."
I grabbed onto the bar above the window as we whipped out of the driveway. "No one would have seen us."
"The first time you took off running with her, she was puking her guts out in an alley," he snapped. "Don't you think this is a better idea?"
I looked over my shoulder at Lyn and was suddenly mad at myself. I should have thought of that, but she had been fine the night before.
Alex's driving probably wasn't much better. If we got to her house without getting into an accident, then it would be a miracle. I wasn't going to tell him to slow down or take it easy. He was obviously already upset with me, and I didn't want to get into an argument. Alex was the least of my worries. I reached over and buckled myself in. We were probably going to get pulled over at this rate. It would be interesting to see how he explained the woman in the backseat.
We flew through traffic. At every red light Alex slammed on the brakes, he honked the horn when other cars were in his way, and he almost took out a few pedestrians. Businesses with neon lights whizzed by outside. We avoided buses and a couple limos that were on the side of the road.
During the entire forty-five minute drive, I opened my mouth only once, to tell him there was a cop car. His response was to blare the radio. By the time he parked in front of Lyn's house, my head was throbbing.
"What was that about?" I growled, climbing out of the car and opening the back door. He did the same on the driver's side. "I'm surprised no one got killed on the way here."
"I had it under control." He leaned in to pull Lyn toward him.
"I've got her," I snapped, lifting her gently. "Just open the front door."
A group of teenagers walked down the sidewalk and stared. I shifted Lyn so her head wasn't hanging back and her arm wasn't hanging limply beside her. I smiled to try to avert their suspicion. It would have worked if one of them hadn't noticed Alex's using a credit card to open the door.
I hurried onto the porch and grabbed the handle. One of the teens was already on her cell phone, which I assumed was to contact the police. I pushed the door, breaking the lock, and stepped inside.
Alex was right behind me as I carried her to her room. It was exactly how she had left it. The bed was made, her textbook was open on her desk, and clothes I hadn't been able to fit in her duffle bag were tossed in front of the closet.
"Her roommates are out," Alex said.
I nodded and waited while he pulled the covers back. My hands gripped her a little tighter. I didn't want to put her down. I actually took a step away from the bed before snapping out of it. It was already over; she already didn't remember.
A numbness came over me as I set her down on the pale yellow sheets. With my right hand, I reached down and grabbed the blankets. I tucked them around her and brushed the hair from her face. She still looked troubled, if that was possible for an unconscious person.
"Are you having a nightmare?" I whispered. I traced my fingers down her cheek. "You're supposed to be having good dreams now."
"You'd better get going," Alex said. "If they called the police on us, then Frank will probably show up."
I stared at Lyn for a few more seconds before kissing her forehead. I stood up straight and cracked my knuckles. I glanced at Alex and walked over to her desk. He was probably going to have a problem with this too, but I opened the top drawer and pulled my ring off. I set it next to her pencil sharpener and shut the drawer again. I wanted her to have a piece of me.
"Let's go," I told him.
"I'm staying to make sure she wakes up all right." He brushed past me and plopped himself down in her desk chair. "She'll remember me anyway, since I'm her roommate's boyfriend."
My hand tingled with the urge to punch him in the face. "If you stay, then Francesca might get the wrong idea and think I'm having you protect her."
He shrugged. "Since it's obviously something you couldn't do."
My fist flew toward his face before I could stop myself. Blood spurted out of his nose. His jaw dropped, but he didn't try to retaliate. He knew better. I stormed out of the house and started running.
I didn't stop until I reached Flushing Park. The Unisphere loomed in front of me. The fountains were turned off, but the lights were still on. The steel globe was to symbolize peace through understanding. If that was all it took, then I'd be in a very different place right now.
There wasn't anyone around tonight; it was too cold for a stroll. I found the nearest bench and sat down. I rested my elbows on my knees and held my face in my hands. The wind carried the scent of rain in the air. If I waited there long, then I would get soaked, but I found it hard to care.
I couldn't help but wonder why everything seemed so much less important now. What did I care about this city? I had lived there for a long time, and I'd had a good routine going for a while, but it wouldn't go back to the way it was. Things were changing; I was changing. Maybe it was time to embrace that and move on.
"What are you doing out here?" Flo asked.
I looked up and frowned. Stu and Sullivan were with her, along with Sid and Reece. I had been hoping for a few minutes alone to sort out this strange feeling. "What are you doing here?" I replied.
"We're heading to my bar. This is a shortcut," Sid said. "We've got business stuff to do, and they're looking for dinner."
Sid wasn't cracked up about vampires feeding on his patrons, but he didn't seem to mind then. Desperate times called for desperate measures. With so few werewolves left, it was safer to be with vampires.
"Did you get her home safely?" Sullivan asked.
I nodded and looked toward the Unisphere. I felt empty. Empty and angry. Alex was by her side where I wanted to be. I had to let it stop bothering me and focus.
There was a loud thud in front of me, and I jumped. Sid was laying face-first on the ground. We were all instantly on edge. There wasn't anyone in the park besides us. Reece knelt down carefully to check on him, and a low growl escaped from his throat.
He looked up, and his eyes glowed yellow green. The sounds of bones popping and tearing flesh echoed as he transformed; the air around us was vibrating with his growls. He barreled forward, lips curled in anger, before we could even see what he was running toward.
Francesca was on the other side of the Unisphere. Davis was trying to pull her back as another wolf rammed into Reece's side. Flo hissed and was the first to run forward, but what she didn't notice was that we were outnumbered.
Stu called to her, but it was too late. The only thing left to do was follow her. Half a dozen vampires were running toward us, but one in particular had singled me out.
Francesca smiled. Her eyes fixated on me as she got closer and closer. When she finally hit me, it was like a battering ram. I fell to the ground with her on top of me. Her teeth snapped at my neck. I shoved her away and got back on my feet. She was back on hers just as fast.
When she flew at me again, Reece caught her ankle in his mouth in midair. Her body was catapulted toward the statue of the Rocket Thrower. I sped after her. I wasn't waiting. I lunged at her throat and sunk my teeth into her jugular vein. She shrieked. Her fingernails dug into my back. She tore at my skin. Blood trickled from the gashes and soaked through my shirt. I punched the front of her throat, collapsing her windpipe.
While she was clutching at it, I grabbed her by the hair. "I said I wasn't going back." I jumped onto the very top of the bronze sculpture. "I meant it." I took her by the shoulders and shoved her down so the point of the star pierced her heart.
The wind carried her ashes back toward the Unisphere. I hurried back, but the fight was already over. That was what bringing baby vampires against ones as powerful as us resulted in. Even Francesca hadn't posed much of a threat.
I looked around to make sure I wasn't missing something. As it was, I felt like things were unfinished. It was too easy. It was too quick. All that buildup for such a small climax---things never worked like that.
"Kaden?" Sullivan called.
I looked around in a daze. Reece was cut and limping. Flo was pushing Stu away from her as he tried to examine a wound on her arm. Sirens were blaring nearby. It all seemed to blur together.
"Kaden." Sullivan's hair was falling around his face and he was breathing a little hard, but he was otherwise unharmed. So was Davis, although his throat was in a death grip at the end of Sullivan's arm. "Would you like to send a message back to Phoenix, or should I kill him?"
The smart answer was to kill him. One less enemy was always the safest route. But it was Davis. He had the power of reason even if he was still loyal to the master vampire. The only way I would see him again would be because he was sent to me, and I would rather deal with him than someone else.
I counted to ten and exhaled. "Let him go."
"What?" Flo shrieked. "Have you lost your mind?"
Davis rubbed his neck once he was free and nodded to me. "I'm grateful, but this kind of thing isn't going to get you very far."
"No," I replied. "But it's gotten me far enough."
"I'll pull everyone out tonight." He gave me a little smile. "But, you know, Phoenix won't let you go. He's not going to give up."
I knew. Things were just going to get harder from that point forward. It was going to be one attack after another, each one worse than the one before. This was only going to end with one of us dead. I had no intention of it being me.
"I can look after myself," I told him. "Don't forget to take the Marquis with you."
Davis's eyebrows knitted together, and he spun around slowly, scanning the park. His hand fell away from his throat, and he took a step back. "You didn't kill him?"
I knew I hadn't, and Sullivan had been busy with Davis. Stu shook his head and looked at Flo. Her eyes widened. "Reece?" she demanded.
He was kneeling beside an unconscious Sid. Blood was streaked down his naked body, and his left eye was swollen shut. "I didn't even see him," he croaked.
Davis kept backing up. I didn't understand what he was doing at first, but there was a steady glow of fear coming from his eyes. It all clicked when he met my stare.
I took one step toward him and stopped. My head spun for a moment before the anger bubbling in my stomach overflowed. My eyes seemed to get tunnel vision. Lyn's house was at the end of it.
Without another thought, I was running at full speed. Alex would never be enough to protect her from the Marquis. Not in a million years.
Red and blue lights of two police cars reflected off the windows at Lyn's house, and the front door stood wide open. One of her roommates was standing on the lawn, sobbing hysterically as the cop next to her scribbled on his pad. People were standing on their porches to see what happened while more cars, sirens blaring, flew around the corner.
My stomach was in my throat. The wind stung my face as I watched one of the officers come from the house with his hand over his mouth. Everything slowed down around me, and my mind went completely blank.
Then the smell of fresh blood hit me. It was heavy and rich, far too dense to be human. It was werewolf blood. If Alex was dead, then Lyn was in trouble. There was no rhythmic sound of a human heart in the house and no trace of her scent anywhere outside.
The pressure on my chest was almost unbearable. She would've still been unconscious and wouldn't have had a chance. It was all my fault. If I had just left her alone to begin with, then none of this would have happened.
My cell phone vibrated in my pocket, and I pulled it out with numb hands. There was a text from Alex. I looked back at the house before reading the message. When I did, a wave of relief rushed over me. They were on their way to my house. Then who is dead inside? I asked myself.
It didn't matter. All that mattered was getting back home and seeing Lyn alive with my own two eyes. But, what should have occurred to me was that I received a text instead of a phone call. It could have been anyone sending me that message. I wanted to believe it though, so I did. That was my first mistake.
My second mistake was barreling down my driveway at full speed without making sure the coast was clear. Before I knew it, I was tripping over an ivory cane and landing face-first in the gravel. Little pieces of stone lodged themselves in my face and hands as I skidded forward.
Ouch.
"You know, Kaden, it's starting to get awfully tiresome chasing you around." He kicked me onto my back and left his foot on my throat. "Can we get going back to Spain now?"
"Did you really think that it would be that easy after everything we've just gone through?" I asked in a hoarse voice.
The stars were beginning to show from behind the clouds, but the ground was still wet from a rainstorm earlier. The wounds on my face were healing around the little rocks, and to make matters worse, the familiar twinkle came over the Marquis's face.
"Let's wait for your little girlfriend to show up and see what tune you're singing then."
I had to get out of this. I was stronger than him; I knew I was. It was fear that had been holding me back, but now there was a new fear, a stronger one, urging me to do something.
"Here they are," he said as Alex turned onto the driveway with the Trailblazer. "I don't know how they got away from the muscle I sent, but it adds a little excitement to my night."
"If you touch her ..." I started.
"You'll what?" He smiled down at me.
The vehicle slammed to a stop as it came out of the tree line. It was thrown into reverse and the engine whined as Alex slammed onto the gas pedal. At the last second, he swerved and rammed into one of the larger maple trees near the road.
You've got to be kidding me.
I took advantage of the distraction. With every ounce of energy I had left, I drove my fist into the Marquis's knee. The knee cap crumbled under the pressure with a terrible crack, and he fell backward onto the wet grass.
Alex had successfully managed to dig the wheels into the mud and had given up trying to get them out. He was lifting Lyn out of the backseat like she was a rag doll and rushing toward the house with her.
The Marquis was back on his feet already. His long hair fell into his face as he started to laugh. "That wasn't very nice."
My fingers twitched at my sides. Alex wasn't inside with her yet, and until he was I couldn't make my move. He was almost there. His sneakers squeaked against the porch steps, and he fumbled with the doorknob.
The Marquis was watching me as intently as I was watching him. Come on, Alex, I thought. Finally, the door was open and he stepped across the threshold.
I collided midair with the Marquis and landed on the ground with a loud thud. His fangs sunk into my shoulder, sending pain up into my neck. I hissed and clawed at his face, but he had latched on with an iron jaw.
I drove my knee up into his groin, and he pulled away. My blood was running down his chin as he lunged forward to chomp on me again. I shoved my fist into his chest but missed his heart by an inch. It made a disgusting gurgling sound, and he smiled again.
"You can do better than that," he whispered.
I pushed him away from me, and he landed on his feet halfway across the lawn. He sneered at me and got ready to pounce. Before his feet could leave the ground, he stopped and changed direction toward the house.
My eyes followed him in what seemed to be slow motion as he moved forward. Alex was on the porch again, still holding onto Lyn. I flew after him to stop him before he could reach them, but I wasn't fast enough.
Luckily, I didn't have to be. Sullivan came out of nowhere and slammed into him. The two tumbled to the side, and I continued toward Alex. In one fluid movement, I pushed Alex and Lyn inside and shut the door behind them.
"Kaden," Alex called nervously, "open the door."
Sullivan and the Marquis were circling each other on the lawn with their fangs barred. With each step, the Marquis was increasing the distance between them until he reached his cane, which was lying in the grass where he had dropped it.
"I know when I'm fighting a losing battle," he growled. "But this isn't over. Phoenix isn't going to let you slip through his fingers."
I used the top step to push myself forward. I was going to end it with him tonight, even if it wouldn't end the rest of it. He had other ideas. With lightning speed, he took off down the drive, and Sullivan grabbed my arm before I could follow him.
"What are you doing?" I yelled. "He's going to get away."
"Kaden." He pointed to the house. The door was open again, and Alex was backing out of it. "There are more pressing issues at hand."
I opened my mouth to tell him to go back, but the words stuck in my throat. The living room was torn apart. There were claw marks gouged into the wallpaper, and stuffing from the throw pillows was all over the hardwood floors. The dining room table was flipped onto its side, and an awful burnt odor was wafting toward us.
My mouth was still hanging open as I stepped around Alex. The damage was worse than it looked from outside. The television was cracked, spindles from the staircase were broken off, and the coffee table was splintered all across the room.
I stepped carefully over bits of what used to be my house. Now I was really pissed off. This was so far over the line that you couldn't even see it anymore.
And just as I thought my night couldn't possibly get any worse, Max came in through the shattered French doors, crunching on broken glass as he did. He was filthy. There was something black smudged on his arms and neck, and his T-shirt was torn.
He looked at me from across the room with wide eyes and took a step backward. "Hi," he stammered.
"What are you doing here?" I growled.
It was against my better judgment to not kill him on the spot, but I fought to control myself. The last thing I needed was the Iustitia coming to New York to avenge one of their fallen.
"I came to talk to you." He carefully skirted around a broken chair. "But when I got here, a werewolf was doing all this ..."
"Where is it now?" Sullivan asked as he stepped lightly to my side.
Max turned red and began brushing off his jeans. "I found a shovel in your garage, so I buried her."
My eyes narrowed. "And all that commotion a minute ago didn't catch your attention? What kind of vampire hunter are you?"
"I'm not," he said defensively. "I was pulled out of university, given basic training, and put on a plane to come get you. So excuse me if I'm not doing this right."
Well, that was something. I knew the Iustitia had to be desperate to ask for my help, but they must be worse off than he made them out to be. That didn't change the fact that he was dangerous to have around. If he didn't think he was going to get anywhere with us, then he might as well knock us off while he had the chance.
"She's waking up," Alex called.
He had replaced the tattered couch cushions and laid her down. When I got to her, her eyes were fluttering open. Her heartbeat was erratic, and she started gasping for breath between coughs.
I flashed a look at Sullivan. He looked down at her, and his forehead creased. He laid his fingers on her temples for a brief moment. He straightened back up and took a deep breath.
"What?" I demanded. My stomach was in knots as he slowly let his breath out. He was thinking too much about this. "Sullivan, what's happening to her?"
"It's possible that it didn't work," he said slowly. "I had a few issues."
"Issues? What kind of issues?" I knelt down next to the couch. Her body was shaking viciously as she continued to fight for air.
Sullivan watched her intently. "I pull the subconscious desire to forget something forward to rewrite their memories. She didn't really have that kind of desire."
"Is she all right?" Max asked.
I shot him a look, and he backed away. Sweat was beading on her skin now, and her heart was speeding up even more. "Sullivan," I pleaded.
"This has never happened before," he admitted.
I gripped the ruined cushion and looked up at him. My body tingled with anger, or worry. I still couldn't tell the difference. If she didn't wake up soon, then she was going to have to be taken to the hospital. Her heart couldn't keep up this pace for long without giving out. I tapped her cheek lightly, but it didn't help.
Alex came around the couch and placed a wet washcloth from the bathroom on her forehead. "Hey," he said to Max. "Make yourself useful and get a glass of water and a paper bag."
He cracked his knuckles. "I can't. The kitchen caught on fire before you got back. I put it out as quickly as I could," he added.
My head spun. This isn't happening, I thought. This is not happening. How did things get here? One day things were going along as usual, and the next it was all turned upside down. There was no going back now. At least there wasn't without losing anything else.
Lyn gasped and tried to sit up, but Alex held her down by her shoulders. Her eyes fully opened and became glassy. She continued to fight to catch her breath, but she was awake. She looked between Alex and me with tears rolling down her face.
"Lyn?" I asked nervously. "Are you all right? Do you know who I am?"
She nodded her head. Alex moved his hands and let her sit up slowly. She wiped at her face with the sleeve from her sweater. "What happened?" she asked, barely audible.
Sullivan bent down and leaned in toward her. "How are you feeling?"
She rubbed her forehead with both hands and winced. "My head is killing me, I'm nauseous, and I'm confused." She looked me straight in the eyes. "Did one of you do ..." She trailed off and stiffened.
"No one did anything to hurt you. We ..." I paused. "We tried to erase your memories of us, but it was to protect you."
Her jaw dropped. "What?"
"We thought it would be better for you," Sullivan explained.
"Better for who?" She stood up and swayed.
I caught her before she fell, and she pushed me away. It was like a knife in my heart. It was better for her even if she didn't realize it. I didn't expect her to understand, but I wished that she had.
"Alex, take me home." She brushed past me and stopped. Slowly, she turned around and glared at me. "Kaden, what happened to your house? And who is he?" She pointed to Max. "Someone better tell me what's going on here."
There was a long pause. I wasn't sure how to answer her. So much had happened but nothing she should know about. "Lyn, I---"
"Don't," she interrupted, changing her mind. "I don't want to hear you lie to me. I'm leaving."
Alex walked around the couch and touched her arm. He leaned in to whisper into her ear. She started to cry again, and he led her upstairs, but not without throwing me a nasty look over his shoulder.
"Kaden, I know this is a bad time, but I really need to talk to you about Rome," Max said.
Saying that this was a bad time was a huge understatement. My life had just crumbled to dust at my feet. Why would I want to discuss anything with him, now or later? I didn't care what was happening in Italy. Enough was going on in my own backyard.
"They're killing people every night. Rome is supposed to be off limits, but it's completely overrun. We're losing members left and right while we're hunting. It's impossible to get a step ahead of them."
"I don't care," I snapped. "The fewer of you, the better."
"It seems like they're on a crusade against religion. If this continues, then people might find out you're real," he continued.
"Phoenix would send the Enforcement Team if he felt things were getting out of hand," Sullivan told him.
"He's right," Flo said, storming in the open front door with Stu trailing behind. Her blond hair was stained with blood, and they were both covered in dirt. "It's not our job."
Max was bright red now. His heart was racing as he fought to maintain his composure. He was like a sheep that had wandered away from his flock and into a den of wolves. Hungry, agitated wolves.
"I say we go help," Stu said.
Flo smacked the back of his head. He had to be kidding. We would have to be out of our minds to go into the middle of enemy territory and expect them not to kill us. It was impossible.
Max perked up. "If you want to bring anyone to help, that would be great."
"I want to get my name off that list you guys have," Stu grumbled. "It's not a selfless act or anything. It's a give and take type of deal."
"Of course." Max looked at me again. "I'd have to speak with the elders to get approval, but I'm sure something could be arranged."
Even I was a little intrigued at the thought of being removed from their list. Every vampire with any significance was on it to be targeted. We were the ones hunted down, while any other kill was just a bonus. From a rational standpoint, all four of us would have been off it already due to good behavior, but that was not how the Iustitia worked. The only way off was death.
"So we are?" Flo asked. "On the list, that is. Why aren't you killing us?"
"Yes, because of what you're capable of," he stammered. "But my orders weren't to kill anyone."
"Assuming you get permission, I'll go," Sullivan announced.
"What?" Flo shrieked. "The two of you are insane."
She continued to yell, but I was getting better at blocking her out. They were insane---she was right about that. But maybe it was the right decision. I just had risked my own life, and theirs, to keep my freedom. I barely had managed to hang onto it, but what was I going to do with it?
I could stay and rebuild, but they would be back. Next time with bigger guns. Saying no to the Iustitia would be the smart thing to do, but at the same time, I was curious. Phoenix was trying to get me to go back after all this time while he let vampires into a territory that was out of bounds.
Things were about to change whether I liked it or not. One thing I knew for sure was that I wasn't going back to Spain alive, but another thing I knew was that they weren't going to stop trying. I wasn't going to sit around and wait for them. If Phoenix was trying to pull something off in Italy, then I was going to be there to stop it. Two could play at that game.
"Make your phone calls," I told Max. "I'm going back with you."
"No way," Flo snapped. "I'm not going on a suicide mission."
"No one is asking you to." I stepped over broken glass and pillow stuffing to get to the stairs. My room had better be in one piece. The sun was going to be up soon.
"I hate Europe," Flo grumbled. "You'd better not screw me over, Iustitia. After this, I never want to see one of you again."
He smiled with relief and hurried after me, holding out his hand. I looked at him but kept my arms at my sides. I might have been going over there to help, but I didn't have to like it. And I certainly didn't have to get friendly with any of them.
"So you're coming with us then?" Stu nudged Flo.
It was going to be a long trip with those two tagging along. There was nothing like traveling with overgrown children, but the help would be nice.
Alex came out of my bedroom and shut the door behind him. He walked quietly down the stairs and stopped right in front of us. "I'm going with you," he said seriously, glaring at me.
"Alex, I'm not sure that's a good idea," I started.
"I'm not asking," he said. "Someone's got to make sure they don't try to stake you during the day."
"Werewolves?" Max asked.
I smiled to myself. "Is that a problem?"

