My worry for Jake immediately doubled as I imagined a horde of vampires tearing him to pieces. He was strong, yes, but not indestructible, and his tendency to act irrationally landed him into trouble more often than not.
No, I couldn’t leave. I didn’t have to rush in to rescue Stephen, but I could approach carefully, gauge the situation, and call the police if needed.
My heart pounded as I turned the corner and cautiously walked toward the repair shop, the yellowish moonlight illuminating my way.
The repair shop was on the next corner from where I’d been dropped off. I crossed the street and walked close to the buildings, trying to stay in the shadows. When the shop finally came into view, I drew back into a narrow alley, though not before sending a wary glance past a dumpster and a tall stack of discarded wooden crates. The pungent smell of garbage rode the air, rotten fruit with a hint of dead rat. I wrinkled my nose.
Very smart, Toni, hiding in a dark, stinky alley. Just the way to avoid ever becoming a grandma.
The alley appeared empty though, so I huddled against the wall and peered across the street. The repair shop consisted of an uncovered garage with a massive metal door, razor wire atop each brick wall, and a small office space to the right. Eyes roving around, I tried to spot signs of life but saw nothing, not even Jake and his motorcycle. Had Walter sent me on a wild goose chase? I got the sensation that he hadn’t liked me very much, so maybe this was an attempt to get me mugged and murdered and out of his grandson’s life.
I shook my head at the irrational thought. Really?! Where had that come from? I barely knew the man, and I’d already tagged him as a creepo? He had been nothing but nice.
I was considering whether or not to casually approach the repair shop when a heavy hand wrapped around my mouth, and I was yanked deep into the alley. I kicked and squirmed, trying to get free, but whoever had me was too strong.
“What do we have here?” A deep, accented voice asked close to my ear.
I shuddered, trying to place the voice, but it was the warm, sweet scent that triggered my memories first. Beeswax with a metallic tang of blood, the same scent I’d caught in Bernadetta’s limousine.
The voice belonged to Bertram. The vamp’s driver. Oh, God, if he was here, it meant Stephen’s location had truly been compromised, and his captors knew it. This couldn’t be good.
The vampire flipped me and pressed my back against the wall, his dark eyes piercing mine with a powerful compulsion that ordered me not to scream.
I tried to cry out for help, but the words crowded in my throat.
“Ms. Sunder,” he said in his vaguely German accent. “This is no place for the likes of you. I advise you to leave.”
To my surprise, he released me, and before I knew it, he disappeared in a blur of movement that rustled my hair. I stayed against the wall, my heart thundering like an approaching storm. A loud crash reverberated down the street. I didn’t move for a full minute. When I finally felt confident that I wasn’t going to wet my panties, I peered toward the repair shop again. The door to the office was busted, and Bertram nowhere to be seen.
Not that I was complaining, but why had he let me off with a simple warning? This didn’t make any sense. Still, the relief that washed over me seemed like a second chance at life. For a moment there, I’d thought I was done for.
Suddenly assaulted by a fit of sensibility, I decided to leave the premises. I started to walk from the alley, when, across the street, I spotted Jake slinking along the pitch of the roof. Oh, no! Heart drumming, I pressed a hand to my mouth to resist the urge to call out a warning that would give away his location. Crouching, he drew closer, peered down into the open garage area, then leaped inside, disappearing out of sight.
Holy crap! Bertram was in the shop. Jake was in the shop. This was bad!
I couldn’t leave now. I reached inside my purse, feeling for the gun. My hand squeezed around the handle.
You’re trained to use it. You’re not defenseless.
Regular bullets wouldn’t stop a vampire, but I could buy Jake some time if he got in a bind and needed to escape.
Nope. Nope. Don’t be stupid. Get the hell out of here, a sensible voice called inside my head. But that sensible voice mattered very little when it came to Jake. That sensible voice could go take a hike down Shit Street. No way I could not help Jake. Being honest, even after all that had happened, I would give my life for him. Yep, that was the kind of loyal idiot I tended to be. So...
Screw it. Here goes nothing.
I pulled the gun out, hid my purse behind the dumpster, and crossed the street.
Chapter 34
Slinking like a thief, I crept to the repair shop and pressed my back to the wall next to the busted door. My heart and my senses kicked into hyper-mode, overwhelming me with an intensity I’d never experienced. The scent of grease and gasoline were pungent enough to mask everything else, dizzying me. Over the pounding of my heart, I thought I heard someone’s breathing and soft padding steps, but that was impossible. No one was in sight, and my ears weren’t that sensitive. It had to be my imagination. That or the adrenaline coursing through my body was the best I’d ever produced, and it could probably auction for millions on the black market.
Focus. Quit messing around, Toni.
I squeezed my eyes shut, doing my best to push aside the sensory overload. Slowly, I took a knee on the sidewalk and peered inside the office. Darkness greeted me. As my eyes adapted, I made out the silhouettes of furniture: a desk, a file cabinet, shelves on the walls. I squinted, trying to spot movement. I didn’t notice any.
In the back of the room, another busted door lay on the floor.
Damn! Bertram was like a steamroller.
Staying low, I walked into the room, gun at the ready. I crept in with the moonlight behind me. A bead of sweat trailed down my back as I slid along the wall, inching toward the other door. A long corridor stretched from there, flanked by shelves on the right and windows on the left. Moonlight bathed the shelves, revealing boxes of automotive parts. The smell of gasoline and grease grew thicker.
I exited the office and stepped into the corridor. The windows were waist-high, so I squatted then peeked over the edge at the outdoor garage area. The space looked as big as a basketball court, and a variety of vehicles waited for repairs.
One of them was the Lucciola Candle Shop van.
My breath hitched and my heart sped up to near-death speed.
Stephen.
Was he inside the van? I inhaled sharply as if, among all the intense scents, I would be able to detect his familiar one coming from the van. For all I knew, they’d transferred him to another vehicle. It would make sense if this one needed repairs.
I scanned the garage for movement and hiding spots. Jake had jumped in there, but where was he? And what about Bertram? Was he the van’s driver? Probably not. He seemed too high in the pecking order for such a job. He’d been driving Fiore herself.
I felt stuck. Should I go check the van for Stephen, possibly exposing myself?
No. Jake was already out there, and I had a clear view of everything. From here, I could take good aim and let loose a few shots if it came to it.
Movement caught my attention. Holding my breath, I stared down the sights at the figure sneaking around the car parked in front of the van.
Jake.
He was still in human form but might as well have been walking on all fours, stalking like a predator toward the white van. I wanted to yell in warning and tell him a vampire was around, but that would only give away his presence... and mine.
I bit my lower lip and tried to calm my breathing. My body tingled and itched all over again, feeling like it didn’t belong to me, like my skin had shrunk.
Suddenly, the vampire flew out of nowhere and landed on top of the van with a crunch of metal, his face twisted in a mask of savagery, fangs elongated, eyes pools of black ink, hands tipped with two-inch claws.
Without thinking, I stretched to my full
height and aimed the gun at Bertram. Vision tunneling, I pulled the trigger and hit him square in the chest. He barely staggered backward and glanced down at the hole in his shirt with annoyance. He shook his head and sent me a withering glare that should have frozen me on the spot, but instead, I pulled the trigger again and again until I emptied the gun. Each explosion reverberated loudly, like hammer blows pounding straight against my brain.
The shots hit their mark with incredible accuracy. The practice sessions with Tom at the shooting range had paid off. Bertram twitched with each hit, distracting him long enough for Jake to shift.
A beautiful dark gray wolf leaped onto the van’s hood. He was massive and filled me with awe. I had seen his animal only twice before. The first time after I begged him to show me, and the second time the night we rescued Emily Garner while he used his extraordinary senses to spot her exact location.
But now, he looked bigger.
Even on all fours, he stood nearly five-foot tall from his massive paws to the top of his head. His shoulders were wide, and he was made of pure, taut sinew. His paws were the size of softballs and tipped with dark claws as sharp as surgical scalpels.
His chest rumbled deeply in an unequivocal threat to the vampire. Leaping over the van’s windshield in one fluid motion, he landed on the roof, then bounded again, claws screeching against metal. Like a wrecking ball, he slammed against the vampire, knocking him off.
Bertram hit the ground with a thud and tried to scramble to his feet, but Jake landed on top of him, claws ripping his chest open. The vampire growled in pain as Jake raked his claws down and angled his jaw toward his neck. But this creature was no easy prey, and he wrapped his hands around the wolf’s neck, raking with his own claws, making Jake yelp.
No!
I didn’t have any more bullets, and even if I did, what good were they?
As Jake and Bertram scrambled on the ground, snarling and tearing each other to pieces, a figure suddenly moved inside the Lucciola van.
What the...?
I squinted through the dim light as the person opened the door, gingerly stepped out, and slunk away from the van and the snarling creatures. As the figure moved away to hide behind another vehicle, I gasped. It was a female with a short, tufted tail and small fawn horns.
A Fae!
Was she the one who’d been driving Stephen around and maybe he was still in the van? Did this mean the Fae were responsible for kidnapping him? Had they done it to start a war between vampires and werewolves as I’d imagined? They would certainly benefit from it, strengthening their foothold in the human realm as that of the others weakened. Or did this Fae work for the Dark Donna? It was uncommon for Fae to trust others but not unheard of.
Crouching low, she ran toward the garage door. Skillfully, she leaped, climbed over the sidewall, avoiding the razor wire with ease, and disappeared on the other side.
Shit! I couldn’t let her escape. I had to stop her, so we could find out the truth. Whirling, I dashed back outside, running at a full pelt. On the sidewalk, I skidded to a stop, my eyes immediately homing in on her moving shape. She was fast like a gazelle, her short tail bouncing behind her as she ran.
Damn, there’s no way I can catch her. Despite my certainty, something inside me snapped, an instinct that urged me to give chase.
“Hey, stop right there!” I yelled, the cry echoing down the deserted street.
The Fae glanced over her shoulder, then ran faster.
Every one of her steps seemed to be three of mine. I would never match her speed. Anger and frustration built inside me as my legs and arms pumped to their max, yet the distance between us grew.
Suddenly, I caught her scent in the wind, a combination of earth and wood, like a spring day after rain. The scent and the chase unleashed something wild inside of me, restless energy and that hunger which had been inside of me all along, and I hadn’t known how to satiate. Its intensity scared me, almost bringing me to a halt. But I couldn’t stop, not now that my limbs had come alive with power, and the Fae seemed within reach. I blinked in surprise, realizing how close I’d gotten in a matter of seconds.
Before I knew what I was doing, I lunged in her direction and tackled her to the ground. We fell in a heap of arms and legs and rolled around on the pavement. I ended up on top of her, straddling her. She stared at me with terrified eyes, her vertical pupils wide. Her thin, black mouth opened and a trembling voice came out.
“Don’t hurt me, beast,” she begged in her lilting accent.
Beast?
I tried to speak and a growl came out instead. I froze, my hands pinning the Fae’s shoulders down. She let out a whimper as my thumbs dug into her, ripping her skin. Warm, sticky blood oozed out of her supple skin. I yanked my hands back and stared at clawed fingertips. I began to shake at the monstrous sight. What was happening? What kind of trick was this?
A glamour from the Fae. That had to be it. There was no other explanation.
“Stop!” I ordered her, and my voice was a growl again, the word barely recognizable.
“Please, please, I was just the driver today. That’s all,” the Fae said.
I was hyperventilating, and her voice had become but a buzz, barely able to break through the thunderous roaring in my ears. Words of denial echoed inside my head.
Not real. Not real.
“Quit, you bitch!” I grabbed her by the throat and forced her to her feet. She stood on tiptoes as I wrapped my hands around her neck. “Stop the glamour!”
She shook her head an infinitesimal amount. “I’m not...” She croaked, looking confused.
I forced her back toward the repair shop, pushing her along and causing her to stumble. She didn’t try to run again, which added to my confusion. Fae were good at fighting, but she seemed truly intimidated by me. I examined my hands as I shoved her down the length of one entire block. No more glamour. The claws had disappeared. Good.
We approached the garage. Loud clangs and growls came from behind the metal door.
Jake.
My chest tightened with worry. Judging by the racket, they were still fighting, but was he winning?
I pushed the Fae against the shop’s outer wall. “Is Stephen Erickson in the van?” This time, my voice sounded more like my own. The Fae had finally realized her cheap glamours wouldn’t work on me.
She nodded, her slitted eyes taking me in, analyzing my face with fear.
“Is he... is he alive?”
“Yes,” she said.
A jumble of emotions came undone inside of me. Stephen was alive, and none of this had been in vain.
I was trying to decide what to do next when the Fae’s expression changed and a satisfied smile stretched her black lips. The fear that had twisted her features slowly disappeared and glee replaced it. Her gaze lingered on something behind me. A shiver ran down my spine as the sound of steps reached me.
Slowly, I let go of the Fae and moved away, angling my body sideways. I glanced back and found four dark figures standing across the street, untouched by the moonlight as if they weren’t really there.
“Let’s see what your little claws can do against my friends,” the Fae said with amusement.
One of the figures pulled away from the group. I held my breath as moonlight bathed the handsome features of none other than Prince Kalyll Adanorin. The female next to me let out a whimper, and her smugness died a quick death and putrefied into horror. Not who she’d been expecting, it seemed.
She lowered her head and fell to one knee, looking contrite.
“At last, I find you, Gonira, and entangled in unsavory trade, no less.” Kalyll’s voice dripped with cold anger and disappointment. “Your punishment shall be... deliberate.” He lifted a hand and waved two fingers. Two figures peeled from the dark and came forward. They were dressed in their black tunics with the embroidered shield in the chest. They each took one of Gonira’s arms and walked her away.
“We meet again, Antonietta Sunder,” Prince Kalyll said.
“You should leave this place,” he said.
“I can’t... my friend...” I crooked a finger toward the shop. Inside, something banged against the garage door, making a loud clanking noise. I jumped, my heart knocking against my ribs.
Moonlight shone on Kalyll’s midnight-blue hair as he made a regretful face. “I would stay and help you, but I cannot get involved in human matters, especially not this one. It’s bad enough Gonira has been making friends with the wrong people.”
From the sounds of it, this Gonira had been acting on her own. So did that mean the Fae had nothing to do with this mess? It seemed that way.
Growls and more bangs came from inside.
“Are you sure you wish to stay?” The Prince lifted a perfect eyebrow as if evaluating my intelligence and finding it lacking
I nodded, that same resolve that had driven me here coursing through my veins.
“Well met, then.” Kalyll said as he realized I wouldn’t be dissuaded. He pressed a fist to his chest, inclined his head, and was gone.
The shapes retreated into the darkness and disappeared. I was about to run inside to check on Jake, when something moved in the shadows. It seemed the Prince has decided to stay after all, except the shapes that reappeared didn’t belong to Kalyll and his guards. They varied in shapes and sizes. Two of them were massive men while the others had the proportion and stances of large shifters.
What the hell?! I had a feeling these were the friends Gonira had referred to earlier!
I squinted for a better look, and as I watched, the figures tore in my direction, growling and snarling. Adrenaline ignited my blood, and I whirled and ran.
Chapter 35
I hurried into the repair shop through the torn door. Without stopping, I dashed through the back door. The shelves and windows whizzed by in a blur. Pressure built up in my fingertips, and I felt my skin tearing as claws materialized again.
The Tracker's Mate: Sunderverse (Mate Tracker Book 1) Page 19