Bad Mouth

by Angela McCallister

  As she sank onto the bench across from Graham, she wanted to verbally tear him apart, but his darn puppy-dog expression held her in check. Vampirism hadn’t done anything to diminish that in him. The van started moving as they headed back toward Seattle, and Val sat quietly watching him for a long while before he broke the silence.

  “Do you hate me?”

  “You almost got me killed, Graham.”

  He scrubbed his face and sighed. His voice was mumbled. “You weren’t supposed to be there, Val. It was only supposed to be him.”

  “And you think that makes me any happier?” She yanked his hands down. “You were trying to get the prince of vampires killed. Did you really believe that would fly with the Legion? The Trackers would eat you alive.”

  “Evangeline—”

  “Was crazy. And stupid if she thought for a second Kade’s murder wouldn’t get her destroyed and you along with her. You’re as ignorant of the politics behind the Legion as the Ancients were.”

  He seemed to have trouble making eye contact with her. And then the depth of her ignorance struck her. Graham had turned too quickly, and now he faced execution at the hands of the Immortalis because whoever had sired him had failed to complete his training. He hadn’t learned enough about the castes to function within them. The only thing Graham could be thankful for was that he hadn’t been abandoned to become deranged.

  Val rubbed her temple to soothe the ache there. “Do you know who was with Will at the World Journal?”

  “I assumed it was one of Evangeline’s subjugates. I don’t get how any human could keep a deranged under control.” He gave a tired shrug. “But I guess we’ll never know now.”

  “How’d you figure out Kade would go after Will?” she asked.

  “Easy enough assumption. Everyone was looking for Will. Besides, Evangeline said Kade would have his friends searching. I don’t know how she knew. She wasn’t one to share information, only take it. I don’t even know how she led Kade to Will.”

  “And what information did the Domina take from you?”

  “She wanted transformation applications.”

  Val shook her head and frowned. “But she had access already.”

  “Only to the ones approved by the VLO.”

  She blew out a frustrated breath. “Okay, but we already found staff she had on the inside. She could have gotten them from Ginger or Jenna.”

  “No, they were Olen’s insiders.”

  “I can’t believe you knew about them.” She stared at him as if she’d never known him before. It killed her that he’d hide such information.

  “Stop looking at me that way. I didn’t know until after I…you know.”

  “Right.” She turned away, unable to stand the sight of him anymore. “Why wouldn’t she just get them from Olen?”

  “You’re asking the wrong guy. She told me nothing, but I know she was hiding a lot from Olen. I kind of think…”

  “Think what?”

  “I think she was succumbing to the vesania.”

  She snorted. “Well that explains a lot.”

  More tight silence passed while they swayed with the van’s movement. Graham had to have been desperate for something in order to stoop as low as he had. She’d known him for years and never suspected he’d be capable of what he’d done.

  “I didn’t think it’d be a big deal if she had the records,” he said. “What good would they do her? What harm would it do us? It didn’t seem like much of a payment.”

  She glared her displeasure at him. “I’d rather not listen to you justify your actions.”

  “Val—”

  “Just tell me why, Graham. Why would you transform? That’s what I don’t get.”

  “I told you. I did it for you.”

  “You knew how I felt about vampires.”

  “And I saw how you looked at Rollins,” he snapped. “For years, nothing I did caught your attention, and all it took was an Immortalis—”

  “Don’t you dare blame me for your mistakes. It’s not his immortality that I love, Graham.” She stood, fighting a wave of fury so sharp she had to leave before she physically assaulted him.

  When she headed toward the cab’s window, he called after her. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t tell me it was about love because I know now what love looks like. Nothing you did was about me. It was all about you.”

  He shook his head helplessly. “I don’t know how to fix this.”

  “You can’t change anything now, and I’m not sure it matters anymore.” Her shoulders drooped. The pain on his face was almost too much to bear.

  “If Will had waited just a little longer, none of this would be happening. I never thought I’d say this, but I hope they kill him when he gets out of the cellar.”

  “Where is he?” Her hand froze on the barred cab window.

  “They were punishing him and buried him in the cellar two nights ago.”

  “Graham, he could be free by now. He could be loose in the house!” She pounded on the cab until one of the officers slid the window open. “Go back. We need to get back to the mansion now.”

  They slowed the van and swung back around without questioning her. The roads were winding out here, and it took too long in her mind to get back to where they’d started, every minute stretching her patience toward a breaking point. She tried Kade’s cell several times, but the weak signal refused to connect her calls. When they finally arrived, she jumped down from the van and ran full-speed toward the mansion. She hadn’t quite reached the door when she heard that dreadfully familiar enraged shriek.

  Chapter Thirty

  Ezra was making a disaster zone of the Ancients’ files, but Kade didn’t give a shit. The Ancients were dead, and there were plenty of subjugates to clean the mess. He only wished for the night to end. He wanted to crawl in a hole somewhere and mourn privately. His friend must have sensed his despair because, for once, Ezra said nothing, not one inflaming remark. If Val didn’t contact him soon with information, he’d call off the search for the night, track her down, and drag her into his hole with him.

  She loved him. His mind reeled at that euphoric knowledge. In all the centuries he’d existed, he’d never been loved. His soul sizzled with new life, firing each synapse. He’d absorb her into his spirit if he could. He’d never regret the absence of the sun another day of his miserable life because he had her to light him up. But for how long? Dammit, he couldn’t think about that now. He had too many other problems to deal with.

  He needed to find Will so the VLO could wrap up their blooding cases, and there was still the question of the throne to deal with. He was too young to take over the Dominorum, and therefore the Immortalis as a whole. No way in hell he’d leave the vampire nation open to chaos, which would happen with a headless Dominorum.

  Dammit, Olen, why’d you have to go and off yourself? But he knew the answer. His father might have been obligated to execute Evangeline, but no vampire could live on without his lifelong mate. Olen had known what he was passing off to Kade when the man gave up his blood, had known it would bring him death. A Rex was forbidden to give of his own blood other than to his mate, not even to create another Dominus. Not even to save the life of his only son, a son he’d said he was proud of.

  The memory of Olen’s praise burned and eased his mind at the same time. Why had Olen never told him this? His father had left him in fetid isolation, an island in a perpetual typhoon surrounded by a sea of evil and lies. The man deserved to be dead, but justice didn’t relieve Kade’s grief. Funny how he didn’t hold the same grief for Evangeline.

  Clearly, she had never been his mother. It had been Annette. All those centuries ago, Olen had impregnated Annette the old-fashioned way. Suddenly much of Evangeline’s behavior toward Kade all his life made sense. He hoped wherever Annette was, she knew his gratitude for all she’d sacrificed and for all her love.

  “Find anything?” Ezra asked. Kade snapped back to his purpose. He’d been standing at
the window gazing over the tops of the Douglas firs encircling the mansion.

  “Nope. I doubt anything’s here,” he said. “Evangeline wouldn’t have wanted Olen to find any sign of her treachery.”

  He’d sent Luc and Guns home. Ian and Declan were pumping the Dominorum Enforcers for information, but he predicted they wouldn’t have any luck. The Enforcers were all useless dipshits, a bunch of royal meat puppets. He’d make the overhaul of that organization the first matter on his agenda, modeling them after the Legion Trackers.

  “Know what you’re going to do yet?”

  Kade laughed. “Hell no, but I’ll figure something out.” He glanced out at the darkness again. “Dawn’s not far off. Enjoy what’s left of the night. We’ll pick up tomorrow evening. Guns and Luc can search during the day.”

  “I’m sure you’ll enjoy your night.” Ezra waggled his brows. Kade gave him a shove. “And I thought such a night might never come. You’ve chosen well, brother. She’ll make a fair and perfect queen.” With that, Ezra opened the windows wide and leaped two stories to the ground outside. A moment later, he was gone. His friend made flashing look easy. Show-off.

  Kade closed the windows and left the office. The click of the door shutting was like a death knell. He’d never step foot in that office again. He’d never step foot in this mansion again. He might even have it burned and leveled to the ground. Nothing good had ever come from here.

  He started down the hallway when a shriek vibrated along the cold stone walls. That could only be the wail of one of the deranged. With the wolfish grin of the battle-hardened, he jogged toward the stairway landing when he heard a woman’s scream. Val!

  He barreled to the foyer and found two subjugates on the floor, one with her throat torn to a single fleshy strand and the other with his abdomen ripped open. Against the wall, Val slumped to the ground with Will standing over her. Kade’s vision went blindingly red.

  He lunged into Will, taking the vampire to the ground. The deranged was fast, the man’s bestial reflexes far advanced for a new vampire. Will rolled to his feet. Mud and blood splatter coated his ragged clothes. He smelled like a corpse. Will’s hands came up, curling like talons with the fingernails missing. Wherever the man had been, he’d had to claw his way out, which would make him a dangerous adversary.

  The deranged came at Kade hard and fast, but lacked finesse. Kade dodged and responded with a vicious blow that sent him sprawling. Will jumped to his feet, shrieked, and charged again, but Kade met him head-on. The vampire’s fangs bit through Kade’s shoulder, tearing muscle and tendon. The pain wasn’t new to Kade, nothing compared with the pain of seeing Val lying limp on the floor, possibly near death or worse.

  With a desperation he’d never known, Kade threw himself full-bore into transformational change and countered Will’s attack. The deranged couldn’t fully change and posed no match for Kade in this state. His fangs at full-length, Kade sank them deep into the young vampire’s throat, pulling back as he’d done a thousand times with his subjugates. A gurgle bubbled from the deranged’s foul lips, and then the man sagged against him. He bit down repeatedly, only releasing when he was certain Will was dead. With a swipe of his sleeve across his mouth, he dropped the dead weight and changed back to his more human appearance.

  He rushed to Val with his heart in his throat. She was pale. So fucking pale. He scanned her body but saw no wounds, only bloody handprints on her sleeves, but she wasn’t moving, and he couldn’t see her pulse. Panic seized him in a vise. His eternal winter flashed through his head, a vision of a future more hollow than any void. No fae eyes to gaze into at sunset. No lilacs in the desert of his life. No angry punches when he’d pushed too far. No vases flung at his chest.

  “Val,” he whispered. She whimpered, her eyes fluttered, and he came back to life. He lifted her carefully onto his lap and cradled her head. “Wake up, baby. Wake up for me. Did he hurt you?”

  She shook the groggy look from her eyes. “Kade? I saw…Where’s Will?”

  He grabbed her shoulders and shook her. Hard. “You scared the fuck out of me!” Tears pooled in her eyes. “Ah, fuck. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

  He folded her into his arms and buried his fingers into her gorgeous golden curls. He kissed her temple and then her forehead, each eyelid, each cheek, and ended up on her lips. He kissed her over and over, not stopping even when she tried to speak. Finally, she pushed him away. Her electric eyes sucked him into their depths like a whirlpool. He could live there forever. Except they didn’t have forever, not even one measly century.

  “What happened?” she asked.

  “Will’s dead.”

  She didn’t cry like he’d thought she would. Regret was all he saw in her expression.

  “Better him than you,” she whispered.

  “Or you.” He kissed her again. He could have lost her. Drawing her against his chest, he stroked his hands along the curve of her spine. How he loved the satin of her hands against his skin. That pretty floral scent of her filled his senses, making him crazy. “I love you. I love you. I love you.”

  “And I love you. I’m all right, Kade. I’m okay.” She brushed against his stubble and then back down along his face. Pleasure lit her expression, and his breath seized. He rasped his cheek along her throat, and she shivered. Hell, he’d rub his face all over her body now that he knew how much it turned her on. The thought of leaving marks on her breasts thickened his erection. She squirmed in his lap.

  “Let’s get out of here,” he whispered against the shell of her ear. He nuzzled the sensitive spot behind it. Her shiver was more pronounced this time.

  “I have to see him.”

  “Val, it’s not a pretty sight in here.”

  Uncertainty flickered in her gaze, but then she did that damned sexy-gunslinger thing again. “It’s not a request.”

  “Fuck me,” he said. “You’re one tough woman.”

  “If that was a request, it’ll have to wait a few more hours until we get home.”

  His cock flexed like a muscle. She likely wouldn’t feel like sex after seeing the carnage behind him, but he’d take what he could get. With a silent nod, he stood, bringing her with him, and then stepped aside and watched her face.

  When her eyes settled on Will’s remains, she didn’t even tear up, but her sorrow ate him alive. She’d loved that guy once, whoever he used to be. Kade probably should have felt jealous, but instead only pity filled him. The man could have kept her for a lifetime.

  Kade would give up vampirism in a heartbeat for her, if he’d had the choice. He would have given up his heritage. Hell, he’d give up his last breath for her. For a human.

  His old self would be rolling in his grave right about now, and that would be appropriate because that old self was dead and gone.

  The object of his love turned into his chest, sliding her slender arms around his waist. If only he could wear her like this every day.

  “Okay,” she mumbled against his shirt. “We can go.”

  He laced his hand with hers and led her to the door just as Alice ran in.

  “Okay, whew. I’m done dealing with the subjugates.” She brushed her hands together as if she’d been doing dirty work. “Val, I thought you left already. What’s holding you guys anyway? I mean, don’t you have to avoid the sun or something?”

  He laughed. “Ran into some trouble. He’s in a heap in the foyer, if the SWAT would like to claim the body.”

  Alice’s pretty gray eyes went wide as dinner plates. “You found Will?”

  “The report should say the Rex legally executed him,” Kade said. “That should wrap up your cases adequately.” He caught her before she could go in. “It’s messy.”

  “S’alright.” The woman shrugged, her expression bland. “I missed dinner.”

  “Uh, okay.” Crazy woman.

  Alice turned to Val, who still looked pale. “I’m so sorry, Val. I know you didn’t want it to end up like this.”

  “No, I didn’t, but I kn
ew it would. I’ll be fine.” Val gave Alice a shaky smile, but it was the look in her eyes that told Kade she really would be fine, a look that said she could take on anything and anyone if she had to.

  Alice gave Val a hug before disappearing into the mansion, and Kade was grateful for her presence. It would take hours to clear the scene. He had no intention of spending the rest of the night dealing with that mess.

  He led Val down the wide stone steps toward his car and then he stopped her. It was hard to look her in the eye, but he had to get this demon out. “I’m sorry, Val.”

  “Sorry for what?” She looked at him with confusion.

  “I killed him.”

  She took his hands in hers and took a deep breath. “You had to. I know that. I’ve known for a long time now what would happen to him, especially after seeing him in the warehouse. That thing wasn’t even Will anymore.”

  Her strength and understanding amazed him. He kissed her again. Seemed he couldn’t get enough. “I want to flash you home.”

  “I’m game.”

  “Can’t,” he said with regret. “Unless you can close your eyes and hold your breath for ten minutes.”

  “You could kiss me the whole time.”

  “You’ll be the death of me,” he muttered.

  The trip by car back to Seattle was pure, unadulterated torture, and he wished he’d called for a driver. He could have been in the backseat fondling his tiny bundle of hotness in the hours left before dawn. By the time they got to the city, sunrise would bite at their heels, and he’d be sucked into the pull of sleep.

  Val was too quiet, her face turned toward the window. Maybe she needed some private time as much as he did. He took her slack hand in his, and the squeeze of her grip eased his worry. She never let go until they pulled to the curb at the Towers. When she looked toward him, her expression was pensive.

  “Are you taking over the Immortalis?”

  “I can’t.” He dragged his hand through his hair and sighed. “I’m…at a loss. I’m too young to take it, but it’s too dangerous not to. There could be an uprising. Things were bad already between the Dominorum and the Legion. The Ancients didn’t want you to know this, but the number of rogues has increased so sharply, the Legion Trackers can’t keep up with them. I tried to warn them about that.”