“I’m guessing we’ve been here about thirty hours or so,” Thomas said. He sat up, too. “Are you going to let him sleep like that or wake him?” He nodded at first Hal then at the dirt sculpture over by the back wall.
“I don’t know. Hal makes my head crazy when he’s awake. I just want to slap him.”
Thomas laughed.
She grinned back at him.
Cupping her jaw, Thomas ran his thumb over her lips. “You’ve changed,” he said.
His simple statement not only startled her, but it worried her, too. “Is that bad?”
He shook his head. “No, it’s good. You’re stronger somehow, more determined. The only time I’ve seen this much fire in your eyes is when I made love to you.” He brushed her lips with his then leaned his forehead against hers.
His words sparked a flame inside her. She wanted him, desired him to lay her on the floor and slide into her body. She placed her hands on his chest, enjoying the warmth emanating from Thomas, but pushed him back.
“Although this whole situation is the stuff of nightmares,” she said, “at least I’m getting answers—insane answers—but answers all the same. Now I have labels for the things I’ve been fighting.”
Footsteps and conversation startled them. Sable scrambled to her feet. Thomas stood and pushed her behind him as Emerald and the same two guards appeared at the cell door.
Sable gulped, her heart racing so hard she fancied it reverberated in the catacombs.
“It’s time for you to go,” Emerald said. She offered Sable a tight smile, her green eyes flat, cold. “And no, we’re not here to kill you.”
Relieved, Sable looked away. Heat flamed in her cheeks. Having her mind read not only frightened her, but she felt violated, too.
“How long have we been here?” Thomas asked.
“A little over twenty-four hours,” the vampyress replied.
“You’re letting us go?” Sable asked. “Just like that?”
A wicked smile cavorted at the corners of Emerald’s mouth. “Would you rather that I keep you?”
“No, it’s just that—”
The titter that fell from Emerald’s painted lips both chilled and charmed Sable. “I understand what you’re saying. Goldie and Isa hold you and Valimar in the highest regard. They’ve convinced me to release you both, and Cheyenne has begged me to spare her father.” Her gaze settled on the dirt formed into Hal’s likeness. Wariness crossed her face. “I see why the Jud—Goldie and Isa have a kinship with you. I’ve heard of your talent as a sculptress, Sable, but I had no idea it stemmed from magic.”
Sable glanced from Hal to Emerald.
“Obviously you have no idea who Goldie and Isa are.” Looking at the raven-haired guard, Emerald indicated he should open the cell. “I offer you some advice, Sable. Exercise caution when you sculpt, for you never know what might become of it. And don’t always believe what your mind tells you when your heart whispers something entirely different.”
“What does all that mean?” Sable asked as she stepped out into the passageway.
The vampyress’ expression possessed a combination of pity, concern, and admiration. “You’ll figure it out. However, should I find out that either of you have spoken of our den, or should you send others here after us, I will hunt you down and drain you both until you are no more than husks.” Her eyes flashed fiery green, and she focused solely on Thomas. “Valimar, do you understand?”
Sable glanced up at him, fear threading her veins.
Thomas nodded. “I’ve never had any issues with you, Emerald. You’re not like the others.”
“Thank you,” Emerald said. She pointed at Hal. “However, that one is trouble. He has the taint of evil about him as if…” She sniffed and held the breath for a moment before releasing it. “As if he’s…” Frowning, she shook her head, her hair bobbing with the motion.
“It’s as if he’s working for a vampire,” Thomas stated.
Emerald’s startled gaze met his. “Yes. So you detect it, too?”
He nodded and drew Sable to his side. “At first I wasn’t sure, but the more I’m around him, the stronger this vampire’s essence becomes.”
“Well,” the vampyress replied, “let’s make sure he stays asleep until later. Perhaps he will think this has all been a dream. I’ll have one of my guards help you with him.”
The other male vampire entered the cell, stooped, and picked Hal up. He slung Hal over his shoulder with the ease of shrugging into a jacket.
On Sable’s opposite side, Emerald looped her arm through hers. The vampyress’ body emanated cold, as if Sable had hooked arms with a marble statue. Emerald drew Sable away from Thomas, but he motioned it was okay.
“I told you Emerald is different from other vamps,” he said. “Besides…” He offered Emerald a smug smile. “She knows better than to try something here.”
Emerald’s laughter filled the tunnel. “And if you’re a Paranorm, you always know where you stand with Valimar. Either on the end of his blade or as his ally.”
Together, they walked through more catacombs. Thomas stayed close on Sable’s heels.
“Can I please take my daughter back with me?” Sable asked Emerald, dismayed at the pathetic note in her voice.
“I wish that were possible,” Emerald replied, a hard edge to her words. “However, Cheyenne is of our world now.”
“I read the books you left for me. Isn’t there a way to unmake her?”
More laughter flowed out of Emerald. “You’ve been watching too many horror movies. You cannot unmake one of the Fae.”
“But you can unmake a vampire, right?”
Emerald looked askance at her, and shivers stomped up Sable’s spine like a herd of elephants. “Vampires aren’t part of the Fae realm. We’re divided now, and some of us barely tolerate the Neo Paranorms’ New Order.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Nor should you,” Emerald replied. She patted Sable’s hand where it hooked through her arm. “Our worlds are too different, and when they collide, only misery and mayhem ensue…regardless of what the Neo Paranorms say.”
The dark-haired guard chuckled, but it sounded hollow, derisive. The vamp carrying Hal snorted in disgust.
“The Paranorm realms are not something mortals can easily comprehend.” The vampyress guided Sable around a sharp bend in the corridor. “The best thing you can do is chalk this up to a bad dream with the realization that your daughter is forever lost to you and move on with your fleshy, mortal life until your demise arrives.” She sighed like a worried mother. “Humans obsess over everything when they should just enjoy the short time they have in this world.”
Emerald ushered her into a small storage chamber. A steel door stood on the opposite side. Crates of Miller Light, Budweiser, and Corona lined the right. On the other, cases of canned beer reached to the ceiling.
“Once you open that door,” she said, “you won’t have my protection anymore.”
Thomas threaded his fingers through Sable’s, then drew her away from Emerald as he kept his gaze trained on the vampyress.
“Your protection?” Sable echoed. “We were your prisoners.”
“Yes, but by being in my den, you were protected, too.”
“Protected from what?” Sable asked.
“Not from what, but whom.” Emerald tugged at a lock of her hair as if it were a habit from her mortal years. “Someone intends to kill you, Sable, or, at the very least, trick you into taking your own life because they want your power. It’s why you must go on your way. The last thing I want is for this force to find their way into my den. They’ve already infiltrated my bar but only managed to do it during daylight hours.”
Realization rushed in on Sable. “The thing that chased me on the stairs when I was looking for The Threshold.”
“Yes.” Emerald gestured for Sable and Thomas to leave through the opposite door. “Just remember that my hair is a huge part of my strength. I’m immune to the power of re
d.” She grinned, revealing gleaming canines. “But your hair, as beautiful as it is, Sable, is your downfall.”
Growing increasingly confused, Sable followed Thomas, who opened the door. Bass music blasted the room.
“Goodbye and good luck,” Emerald said.
Sable turned to reply, but the catacombs, Emerald, and the guards had vanished. A normal storage room remained where the dirt and stone walls had been. Against a column of boxes, Hal dozed, his chin tucked against his chest, hands resting in his lap.
The music changed, and the bass grew louder, more bone-jarring.
Shock coursed through Sable. “What the hell?” She glanced at Thomas. “Where are we?”
He pushed the door wider so she could see.
“The Threshold?” Mouth ajar, Sable stared out at people dancing, screwing, and drinking.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Falsehood
“T his is just too weird,” Sable said. “How is this possible?”
Outside the door, groans and cries of ecstasy blended with the booming music.
“Bartender!” someone yelled. “Another round of Jell-O shots over here!”
Thomas grimaced. “Come on. Let’s see if we can wake Hal and get him on his feet.”
Minutes later, Sable gave up shaking and patting Hal into wakefulness. “Okay,” she said with a delighted laugh, “I’m going to do something I’ve always wanted to do.” She snatched a bottle of Bud Light from a box, twisted the cap off, and dumped it in her ex-husband’s face.
He gasped, eyelids flying open. “Fuck!” He sat bolt upright and glanced around, his eyes wild. “Where am I? What happened?”
“You passed out at the bar,” Sable said, trying to sound normal, convincing.
“I did?” He wiped beer out of his eyes and snorted it from his nose.
“Yeah, you got into that cognac you like so well,” she added, praying he accepted her lie. “Thomas tried to get you to slow down, but you wouldn’t listen. The bartender said you could sleep some of it off in here, but we got tired of waiting. I’m exhausted and want to go back to my hotel.”
“Let’s go, man,” Thomas said and held out his hand.
“I remember getting into a limo with you, Sable, and then riding to a cemetery…” Hal groaned.
“No, Hal. You came here with Thomas, remember? We stayed and had a few drinks together.”
“Man, last time I got into that stuff I lost three days. Shit!”
Sable chuckled, relieved Hal had accepted her lie so easily. “Hey, we tried,” she said, “but you know how you are once you get a taste of that cognac.”
“Damn!” he muttered again and allowed Thomas to hoist him to his feet where he swayed back and forth until he got his bearings. “I could’ve sworn we were already here and that Thomas took you back to the hotel.” The furrow that appeared between his eyebrows deepened. “Didn’t you?” He looked at Sable. “And you had on jeans and a sweater, right?”
“No, Hal,” Sable replied. Although Hal had lied to her plenty of times in the past, she hated the trait and yet was forced to do it, too. However, something told her Emerald would honor her threat of draining them dry if any of them put her den in jeopardy. “You must have had a hell of a dream. I’ve had this outfit on all evening.”
Her ex scowled.
“Better lay off the cognac, man,” Thomas said. “That stuff will make you have blind babies and land you in jail, too. Let’s get you back to your crib, so you can sleep the rest of it off.”
Hal started toward the door, but paused, his gaze boring into Sable. “I dreamed about Cheyenne.”
Blood roared in her ears. She forced her face into a blank expression. Please, God, don’t let him realize he was really in Emerald’s den and saw our daughter. Quirking an eyebrow, she said, “Oh? What did you dream?”
The bass pounding through the door faded, and every few seconds, Sable caught the strains of some sort of Celtic melody.
Hal stood watching her, his expression skeptical. He reached for the door, his hand on the knob, and shook his head. “It was bizarre. I dreamed Cheyenne was part horse…or something…and she was surrounded by vampires.”
Clapping him on the shoulder, Thomas laughed, but Sable heard the forced note in it. “Dude, you really need to switch to Bud Light.”
“Yeah,” Hal said and opened the door. “Vampires aren’t real, so it was a stupid dream.”
At his words, cold seeped into Sable’s bones. He sounded scared.
Before she could ponder it further, Thomas tugged her out into the nightclub. Sable gazed around at the people screwing on every available surface. Fog rolled and tumbled around the beds and mattresses. Throaty cries urged heat to pool in Sable’s belly. A tall man in a dark suit and carrying a silver-topped cane bumped into her. He looked down at her, his eyes a brilliant blue.
“Mmm,” he said, “I bet I could make you squeal.” He smiled, revealing perfect teeth. “What do you say? You and me on that bed over there?”
“Sorry.” Thomas stepped between them. “She’s with me.”
“We can make it a threesome,” the guy said.
“No thanks,” Sable replied, repulsed by the man’s offer and his determination. “We’re calling it a night.”
“What a waste,” he grumbled and wandered into the crowd of dancers.
Sable wound her arm through her ex’s, and Thomas grasped Hal’s other arm. Together, they mounted the curving stairs past men humping men and heterosexual couples groping one another. Every direct gaze that Sable met, she wondered if he or she was a real person in costume or some sort of Paranorm. They shouldered past the feline couple she’d seen the night before. If the twosome wasn’t wearing leopard costumes, then what were they? Cat people?
Shape-shifters. She tried not to stare. Vampires were real. Why not shape-shifters, too?
As they rounded the middle portion of the staircase, Sable glanced over her shoulder and met a familiar gaze.
Rick stared at her, his eyes angry, his stance that of a man trying to decide whether to let her go or to confront the men she was with. Something pulled at her, and she paused.
“Sable?” Thomas said. “What’s wrong?”
She heard him, but she couldn’t seem to tear her gaze away from Rick’s. The music changed, and the bass of a grunge song pulsed throughout the club. The sound matched the throbbing between her legs. A slight whimper escaped her.
“What the hell’s the matter with her?” Hal asked.
“Sable!” Thomas called. “Snap out of it.”
She let go of Hal’s arm. She had to go to Rick, had to let him kiss her, hold her, make love to her over and over…
Thomas stepped in front of her, his gaze meeting hers, and Sable gasped as the connection with Rick broke.
“Come on, baby girl,” he said. “I saw the guy.” He dipped his head by her ear and added, “Rick is a Paranorm, so don’t look at him.”
“He is?” She gulped and wished the heat winding through her body would stop.
“Yes, the Judges thought I needed help protecting you,” he said into her ear. “If you had allowed yourself to be seduced by a Phooka, then his magic would hide yours because your will would belong to him.” He glanced Rick’s way. “Just take Hal’s arm and mine. Keep your gaze straight ahead.”
Nodding, she did as he instructed, and they ascended the stairs. At the door, the huge bouncer leaned toward her and sniffed.
Sable started and sidestepped him.
“You have the smell of Emerald on you.” He flashed his fangs at her. “You must be favored.”
“Th-Thomas?” She looked askance at her ex, praying Hal hadn’t heard him.
Thomas pushed her and Hal out the door past a group of people barely legal to drink.
Outside, a black limousine waited. Sable recognized the driver as The Golden’s chauffeur.
He stepped forward and bowed slightly. “Ma’am. I’ve been instructed to drive you and your friends back to you
r hotels.”
“Thank you,” she said.
Hal climbed into the car.
“Seems like Goldie and Isa have everything covered, doesn’t it?” Thomas said.
“Valimar.” The big man nodded. “I assume she knows all?”
“Yes, Gerald, she does,” he replied and motioned for Sable to get in the car.
She glanced up at the driver, her brain tired, body weary. At the moment, she really didn’t care if a one-eyed, one-horned flying purple people eater drove her home. All she wanted to do was go back to her suite, crawl into bed, and snuggle into Thomas’s arms.
He smiled at her. “Patience, baby girl.”
Gerald dropped Hal off at his hotel.
“Do you need us to help you to your room?” Thomas asked. He pasted concern on his face. Help him to his room, my ass. Right now I could dropkick him up there.
“No, no…I’m fine,” Hal said, bending to see into the car. “I feel like shit, so I’m going to get a shower, grab something to eat, and go to bed.”
“Watch yourself,” Sable told him. “You don’t need to be doing things that can get you hurt.”
Thomas caught the underlying meaning of Sable’s words. Hal nodded, and regret passed through his eyes. The guy felt regret? Was that even possible for Hal?
“Talk to you soon,” he said and shut the door.
The limousine drove out into the street. Traffic whizzed around them. At a stoplight, Thomas pulled Sable against his body and wrapped his arms around her. She felt wonderful in his embrace, but it did little to alleviate the guilt he had for lying to her for so long.
Will she ever trust me again? The uncertainty of it twisted his guts into a knot.
“I hate lying,” Sable whispered, her thoughts uncannily matching his own. “Hal lied to me all through our marriage, and now I’m lying to him.”
“I’d rather lie to him than find vampire fangs in our necks.”
She shivered and snuggled deeper into Thomas’s arms.
“Speaking of lying,” Thomas began. “I hope you know how much I hated the façade I wore around you, how much it bothered me every time I had to pretend I didn’t know anything about Cheyenne.”
The Darkness of Sable Page 26