by Tina Folsom
Delilah put a hand on her husband’s arm, then looked at Kim, smiling. “I’m sorry. If you want to keep your relationship under wraps for now, don’t worry, our lips are sealed. We know how the Council can get when a warrior starts seeing a human. Particularly one he was supposed to protect.”
“Oh,” was all Kim managed to squeeze from her tight throat. Was that why Manus hadn’t touched her in front of Virginia? Had she gotten him into trouble with his superiors?
There was an uncomfortable pause, but thankfully, Kim remembered the purpose of this party and quickly extended her hand to Delilah. “I’d like to wish you a very happy birthday, Delilah. And whatever you’re doing to keep looking so young, I’d love to know, because you don’t look old enough to have a son of Grayson’s age.”
Delilah laughed softly as she shook Kim’s hand. “I’m afraid it’s not something you can buy in a store.” She glanced at her husband, and the two exchanged a knowing look.
“There are advantages to being mated to a vampire,” Samson said with a grin. “Apart from the hot sex, of course.”
Delilah let out an embarrassed huff and slapped her husband on the arm. “Of which you won’t be getting any if you make our friends feel uncomfortable.” Despite the words, Delilah didn’t seem to be too mad at her husband, because when he bent down to her and pressed a kiss to her cheek, she accepted the tender gesture with a smile.
“My apologies, sweetness,” he murmured. “But you look just a little too ravishing tonight.”
Kim could only stand there and stare. Too many things were going through her head. The powerful vampire in her presence seemed like a tame kitten when dealing with his wife, who seemed to have him wrapped around her little finger. But that wasn’t everything. Had Samson just implied that his wife didn’t age because she was mated to him, whatever mated meant?
“Don’t worry, Delilah, your husband can’t make us uncomfortable,” Manus said. “Now, if Samson had said such a thing in front of Grayson, that would be another matter.”
“If he said what in front of me?” Grayson asked from behind them.
Kim looked over her shoulder.
“You don’t wanna know,” Samson said to his son.
“I think I do,” Grayson insisted. “I hate it when people keep things from me.”
Manus put his hand on Grayson’s shoulder. “Trust your dad on this one.”
But Grayson didn’t look like he wanted to let it go. “What—?”
Kim put her hand on his arm to distract him. “I’d love to dance, and your mother just told me you’re a great dancer.”
Confused, Grayson looked at Delilah, then back at Kim. “She did?” Then he grinned and offered his arm. “Well, then let’s dance.”
Kim winked at Delilah, then allowed Grayson to lead her to the dance floor.
~ ~ ~
Manus watched Kim walk away with Grayson, and while he would have liked to be the one to dance with her, he was glad to get a few minutes alone with Samson. He liked the over two-hundred-and-fifty-year-old vampire.
“Samson, do you have a minute to talk?” Manus started.
“I think I’ll leave you guys alone,” Delilah said.
Manus lifted his hand. “You don’t have to—”
“I should mingle anyway,” Delilah insisted. “You guys talk business.”
Samson followed her with his eyes as she walked away.
“You’re a very lucky man, Samson.”
“Trust me, I know it.” He tore his gaze from Delilah. “So, what’s on your mind?”
“Grayson filled you in on what I’m working on?”
“He did.”
“Well, we’ve just found out what the demons are after. A valuable book, one that recounts our history, customs, and training guidelines for our warriors. Should it fall into the demons’ hands, then they’ve finally got the upper hand.”
A concerned look crossed Samson’s face. “What’s the Council suggesting?”
“They don’t know yet.”
“When are you gonna talk to them?”
“Tomorrow morning. I can’t really drag it out any longer, or they’ll fry my ass for circumventing their rules, yada yada yada. You know the drill.”
Samson’s lips quirked, and he motioned in the direction of the dance floor. “She one of the rules you’re breaking?”
Manus shrugged. Seeing her dance with Grayson made him realize instinctively that she was more than just a rule he was breaking. “She’s got the best chance of all of us figuring out where her mother hid the book. If anybody can find it, it’s Kim.”
“Zoltan will be watching her,” Samson mused. “Are you using her as bait?”
At the last word, Manus jolted involuntarily. “Bait? God no, I’m keeping her invisible as much as I can.”
“You know that by hiding her, you’re tipping Zoltan off to the fact that you’re onto him, don’t you?”
That boat had already sailed. Zoltan already knew that the Stealth Guardians were closing in; otherwise, he wouldn’t have sent a demon to kill the translator. But to Samson he said, “I know, but it’s gotten too dangerous.”
“Or you’ve gotten too attached to her,” Samson suggested.
“I’ve not—”
Samson lifted his hand. “I’m not judging. I’m not the Council.”
Manus gulped down his whiskey. He wasn’t looking forward to speaking to the Council, but he knew it was time. Now that he was aware of what Zoltan was after, and how this could put their entire race in danger, it was time to notify the Council and accept their wrath for keeping them in the dark for so long.
“Depending on what the Council decides tomorrow, there’s a chance they’ll ask for more vampires to support us until this crisis is over.”
“I appreciate the heads-up. Considering the severity of the situation, I’m sure I can spare a few men to help you sniff out the demons. Have you had any recent demon sightings in Baltimore?”
“Nope. It’s been a little too quiet. Basically nothing since Nancy Britton was killed. Almost as if Zoltan is curbing his underlings. He doesn’t wanna rock the boat while he’s looking for the book.”
“And you’re absolutely sure Zoltan knows what he’s looking for?”
Manus nodded. “He knows. He’s a very unusual demon. Smarter than the others.”
“That may well be, but he’s still a demon, and they have a fatal flaw: they are impulsive. They don’t think ahead.”
“Zoltan is different.” Manus sighed. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but he knew that Zoltan was already planning his next move. “We have to beat him.”
“Then you have to start thinking like him.”
Manus stared into the crowd. “Yes.” He sighed. “But not tonight. There are too many people I haven’t seen in a while.”
Samson slapped him on the shoulder. “Then stay a while longer. Gives me a chance to spend some more time with my son.”
“Then I’d better cut into that dance.”
“You’d better, or he’ll get some ideas. You know how he is.”
“Like father, like son,” Manus said.
“I’m a one-woman man these days. I’m afraid my son is still sowing his oats.”
“Not with Kim.” Manus would make sure of that. He’d already let them dance long enough. Time to intervene.
33
Manus had gotten up early, letting Kim sleep in while he’d updated his brethren on the news he’d gotten from Virginia. He’d made it clear to them that Kim would stay at the compound from now on. It was too dangerous to let her go back to her own condo because if the demons got desperate, they might snatch her to use her to help them find the book her mother had hidden. He wasn’t going to risk that.
Nobody had protested.
Pearce had communicated with the council compound and arranged for an urgent meeting for Manus, while the others left the command center to join their mates for breakfast. Manus nodded his thanks to Pearce and looked at his wat
ch.
“Before you leave,” Pearce now said. “There’s something else.”
“Regarding?” Manus asked.
“You asked me to look into what Nancy was doing for us in the weeks and months before her death.”
Interested, Manus nodded. “What did you find?”
Pearce swiveled in his chair. “As was to be expected, she checked in with her liaison regularly, even if she had nothing to report. During one of those calls she mentioned that she didn’t feel that she could defend herself with the dagger she’d been issued should she ever come in contact with a demon.”
Manus was aware that many of their human spies received a weapon forged in the Dark Days to defend themselves should their work warrant it. It was a relatively new policy, implemented after many emissarii had lamented the futility of human weapons. “And?”
“According to the notes, Nancy was wondering if the dagger’s metal could be used to make a more modern weapon. When the liaison warrior asked what she meant, Nancy said that it should be relatively easy to melt the metal into bullets.”
Stunned, Manus stared at his compound comrade. “You’ve gotta be kidding me. Why did nobody notify us about this?”
Pearce grimaced. “Because the guardian in charge discouraged Nancy from trying it, telling her that it wouldn’t work, that the potency of the weapon would be lost. And he told her that even if it worked, the bullets were something that could only be used once, whereas a dagger was good for many fights. He explained to her that we have a finite supply of weapons and can’t afford to lose any.” He turned back to the screen and read something. “Yeah, and apparently she said fine, and he figured that was it. So he didn’t send it up the chain.”
Manus shook his head. “She said fine? Does that guy know nothing about women?” He let out a breath. “When a woman says fine, she means anything but fine!”
“Yeah, well, what can I say?” Pearce said.
“That would explain why I never found the dagger when I search her house after her death. I’d assumed that the demon had taken it.” He shook his head again, surprised at what Nancy had done. “She must have used the workshop at the museum to melt down the dagger and make bullets from it.” He sighed. “I wish she’d had them on her the day the demon followed her. She might have actually been able to kill him.”
“Particularly since we now know that the bullets work.” Pearce pointed to Manus’s upper arm, where Kim had shot him with her mother’s gun. “I think we should bring this up with the Council.”
“Good idea,” Manus agreed, “but not today. Let me get through this crisis first.”
Pearce nodded. “Agreed.” Then he glanced at this watch. “You’d better get out of here or you’ll be late.”
With a quick nod, Manus hurried out of the room and headed for the kitchen.
Kim sat at the kitchen island and was just starting her breakfast. She smiled at him. “Hey.”
“Hey. I’ve gotta go. The Council is waiting for me.”
She nodded. “Will they punish you?”
“Punish me? For what?”
“Delilah implied last night that the Council doesn’t approve of relationships like ours.”
“Don’t worry about that. They’ve got bigger fish to fry than being concerned about what’s going on between us.” At least he hoped so. In any case, there was no reason for the Council to even know about it. None of his compound brethren would have told them. And Manus wasn’t going to volunteer the information. Nor disclose the fact that Kim was staying at the compound.
“I hope you’re right,” she said.
He nodded, feeling awkward because he wanted to reassure her by taking her into his arms, but they weren’t alone. The kitchen was teaming with his brethren and their wives.
“I’ve instructed the hybrids to protect you while I’m gone. Stay in the compound. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“And what should I do in the meantime?” she asked, looking frustrated.
“Think about what your mother might have done with the book. If she hid it somewhere because she was afraid the demons were following her, she would have counted on you to find it if anything happened to her. When I’m back, we’ll brainstorm together. We’ll figure it out. Okay?”
“Okay.” Kim rose and walked toward him, but he gave a quick shake of his head. He didn’t want any show of affection in front of his brethren. It all still felt too new.
“I have confidence in you. I know you can do it.” Manus turned and left the kitchen.
He made his way to the lowest level, where the portal was located. His footfalls echoed against the thick stone walls, reminding him of how different his life was from Kim’s. Had he really done the right thing by bringing her here, exposing her to a world that she couldn’t truly understand? Not only had he broken a bunch of rules by doing so, he’d also broken his own rule: never to get close to anybody for fear that his heart might be broken again, just the way it had broken when his parents had perished. Or was it already too late for him? Had he already gotten too close and was just not ready to admit it to himself?
With a deep breath, he placed his hand on the carved symbol on the portal and willed it to open. The moment the heavy stone disappeared, he stepped inside the small cave that could accommodate eight people, ten if they didn’t mind being squeezed together like sardines in a can.
His ride to the council compound was short despite the distance he traveled. A couple of years earlier, the original compound from which the Council of Nine ruled had been destroyed. Because of the constraint of not being able to build any new portals, the new compound had to be built at a location of one of the lost portals, a location that only warriors and the council members knew. The general Stealth Guardian population was unaware of it.
Upon his arrival at the compound, Manus made his way to one of the upper floors, where the council chambers were located. A guard stood sentry in front of two massive oak doors, adorned with diagonally laid iron bars.
“Identify yourself, warrior,” the guard demanded.
“I’m Manus. I called ahead to speak to the Council.”
The guard nodded. “They’re expecting you, but only five members are present. Your request was too short notice. Next time—”
“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Manus reached for the door handle, but the guard stopped him.
“Your cell phone, please.”
Manus pulled his cell phone from his pocket and handed it to the guard, who placed it in a built-in box next to the door. No recording devices were allowed in the council chambers due to the sensitivity of subjects discussed there. He was fully aware of that.
“May I now?” he asked impatiently.
“Go ahead, warrior.”
Manus pushed the door open and stepped into the room. Just like the old council chamber, this one, too, had a halfmoon-shaped table around which the council members sat. They looked up when they saw him.
Barclay, the head or Primus of the Council of Nine, and Manus’s compound mate Aiden’s father, waved him to step closer. To his left sat Riona and Wade, to his right Ian and Cinead.
Manus was glad to see that Virginia wasn’t present. It meant there would be no awkwardness having to hide that Virginia already knew what was going on and hadn’t disclosed it to the Council immediately.
“Manus, I must say, we’re surprised you wanted to speak to us urgently. We’re not aware that you have any sensitive cases on your docket right now,” Barclay started.
“Primus.” Manus bowed briefly. “Council members. I’m afraid we have a situation.”
The council members’ eyebrows rose.
“The demons have discovered the existence of a previously lost Stealth Guardian warrior training manual.”
Stunned gasps echoed in the chamber.
“We need to mobilize our defenses,” Manus added, “in case they find it before I do.”
34
Kim sat at the kitchen island in the Stealth Guardians’ c
ompound, her mother’s calendar lying open in front of her. The breakfast rush in the communal kitchen was over, and most everybody was off to do whatever Stealth Guardians did. Only Grayson was keeping her company.
“What are you trying to do with that?” he asked.
“I’m trying to get into my mother’s head. Figure out her logic,” Kim said. Her best friend, Jennifer, would be a great help right now. She loved figuring out puzzles. But with this, Kim was on her own. At least for now.
“By going through her calendar?”
Kim nodded. “She always had a system to everything. Maybe it’ll help me figure out what she did after she left the translator.”
“What time was the appointment with him?”
Kim shrugged. “Let me see.” She leafed to the page that contained the day of her mother’s death. “4pm. Hmm.”
“How long do you think the appointment lasted?”
“If I believe the translator, which I don’t necessarily do, it wasn’t a long meeting since the translator received the page to review in advance. So, I assume that Kilgore told her verbally what he could glean from the text. And that shouldn’t have taken long. Hmm.” Something was off.
“What?” Grayson asked.
“It’s weird. When I got to Mom’s place after the gym that day, she wasn’t home yet. I assumed she’d gone grocery shopping, but I now know that she didn’t. She didn’t bring any shopping home, or I would have seen it later after she’d died.”
“Wait, wait,” Grayson interrupted. “What time did you get home?”
“At about six thirty. I was hungry and checked the fridge, but there wasn’t anything I wanted. I figured Mom was out grocery shopping, so I went to take a shower. It must have been around seven o’clock when I heard the commotion downstairs and saw the demon disappear in the vortex.”
“But you didn’t hear her come home?”
“No, but it must have been while I was in the shower, sometime between six forty-five and seven.” Kim stared straight at Grayson. “The demon must have been following her.”