One thing was certain. Stefan must not be allowed to succeed.
Chapter Seventeen
Just after sunrise the next morning, Finn put in a call to Nix’s cell phone. He figured if anyone from the rogue group was still watching, he was safe to call the daughter of his father’s girlfriend. Thus far, no one had suspected him in Tobias’s murder. When she answered and realized it was him, she put him on speakerphone. Finn let her and Tobias know what had been happening, and gave them directions to the mine. “I’ll meet you there around noon,” he said. “I have a little business to take care of first.”
“Business such as?” Tobias asked.
“Liuz has sentries posted. I have to take them out before we can even hope to get into the mine.”
“We can help you with that, you know.”
Finn snorted. “They’d smell the two of you coming a mile away. It’s better for me to do this on my own.”
“All right.” Tobias shushed Nix when she started to object. “Trust me, honey, Finn will be all right. They won’t know what hit them.”
Finn felt burgeoning pleasure at the unexpected praise. “You know, for a vampire, Caine, you aren’t half bad.” He laughed at Caine’s pithy response and rang off.
While mentally preparing himself, he physically geared up for battle. He attached his holstered Glock to his belt, shrugged into the scabbard sheath that held a short sword between his shoulder blades, then finished dressing. Before heading out the door he grabbed a plastic bag—he’d need that for his clothes later on. He hadn’t thought about it last night, and had to shake a lot of dirt out of his clothing before he could redress.
Two hours later he paused about half a mile away from the mine. Stooping behind a large boulder, he got undressed, putting both his clothing and his weapons into the bag and stashing it between a big boulder and a smaller one.
With a slight grunt he focused his energy inward and reached for his chameleon ability. In a few seconds he was a mountain lion again, panting through the pain of the metamorphosis. His eagerness to take care of business helped mitigate the discomfort, though, and he was soon on his way.
The sentry who’d been on the ledge above the mine was higher up, in a spot that would be easier for Finn to reach. He ran his wide tongue over his whiskers and padded forward. He stalked toward the guard, sometimes moving only a millimeter at a time. The sun was nearly overhead when he was finally able to pounce on the man from behind. Finn quickly chomped down on the sentry’s throat, ripping away his ability to scream and ending his life.
As he padded off, he knew it had taken him longer than he’d anticipated to reach the sentry. He had to take out the other two quickly, before Tobias and Nix started up the trail, or this fight would be over before it got started. Liuz would realize that Tobias wasn’t dead, which would lead him to the realization that Finn had not carried out his orders. That would make him realize Finn wasn’t on his side after all, and things would go seriously downhill from there.
The other two guards were easier to take out than the first one had been. It was over before either of them could get off a shot. Finn clamped his powerful jaws in the vampire guard’s shoulder and dragged him into the brush to hide him, then did the same to the other pret. Once finished, he loped back to where he’d left his clothing and weapons.
He pushed his chameleon demon back and shifted to his humanoid form. He closed his eyes and leaned against the side of a large boulder, panting through the last of the transformation, and tried to ignore the fatigue tugging at his muscles. He got dressed and rearmed, then made his way back to the mine, this time on two feet. As he approached the entrance, he smelled the sweet grass scent of heather and stopped moving. He looked around but didn’t see anyone. Yet, as soon as he took a step toward the mine Keira stepped out into the direct sunlight.
She wore black pants that hugged her shapely legs, a knit top, and thick-soled boots. When she shot a quick glance around, he saw that her gorgeous hair was in a tight braid wound around the back of her head. She turned toward him and stared. “That’s far enough, Finn,” she said. “Did you do something to the guards?”
What the hell was she doing here? She was going to ruin everything. “Yes, I did. Now, Keira, get out of my way.”
“No.” She shook her head. “You need to go. I can’t let you ruin everything I’ve worked for.”
“Don’t you mean we?” he muttered.
She scowled. “What nonsense are you spouting now?”
“We as in you and your toothy lover boy.”
“Stefan?” Her scowl darkened and a look of distaste flickered in her eyes. “I’ve told you. He’s not my lover.”
Finn shoved back the elation that tried to surface at her disavowal of the rogue leader. He walked a few feet forward and scowled when she moved to block him. “Keira, get out of the way.”
“You shouldn’t be here,” she said.
“Me?” He glared at her. “What about you?”
“I—” Her fists clenched at her sides. “What does it matter to you?”
“It matters because I care about you. I want you to be safe.” He took a deep breath and held it a moment before exhaling. He had to get through to her. “Look, I know you want Stefan’s plan to succeed, but I can’t let that happen.”
She gasped. “Finn, I don’t want him to succeed.” Guilt passed through her eyes. “I’m here to take care of that bloody machine once and for all.”
Finn felt like he’d come into a conversation midway and didn’t have a clue what was going on. “What exactly do you mean by, ‘take care of the machine’?”
“I mean to destroy it,” she said.
Now it was his turn to be stunned. And disbelieving.
Her gaze turned pleading. “Finn, don’t you see? What he wants to do is wrong, on so many levels. Not least of which is the fact that bringing such a high number of new prets through the rift will only further enflame relations between preternaturals and humans. He’s putting all of us in danger.”
Finn moved closer to Keira and studied her, trying to gauge her sincerity. “You’ve been acting as a spy all this time?”
She nodded. “For Caladh. He came to me months ago and asked for my help.” She paused and her lips tightened. “No, that’s not quite accurate. He basically blackmailed me into helping him.”
Finn’s gut tightened. He knew Keira had history. Hell, she was three thousand years old, so of course she’d done things she might not be proud of, above and beyond grifting. But something she could be blackmailed over?
“It’s true,” she whispered. “Many years ago I fell in love with a man who I thought loved me, who I thought I was helping by agreeing to run a job on a wealthy mark. Even though I’d stopped grifting several centuries before, I came out of retirement. And just like now, on the jobs I pulled with you, there was no getting back into the groove, no trying to remember how to do something. It was as easy and natural to me as breathing.” Her blue eyes took on a slight sheen of tears. “He was only using me, but that’s not the worst of it. Due to our actions, the mark died. Not by our hands, but because of the circumstances we manipulated.” A tear slid from the corner of her eye and she quickly wiped it away. “It’s something I’m deeply ashamed of and an action which I’ve been trying to atone for ever since. I thought if I could do this, if I could stop Stefan from ruining countless lives, it might make up in some small way for my lack of judgment before.”
Finn had to accept Keira was telling the truth. His initial instinct about her had been right—she was trying to be better. She studied him as closely as he had her. “You believe me then?”
He gave a nod. “I believe you. That’s why I’m here, too. To stop Liuz.”
“You…” Her eyes widened. “You killed Tobias!”
“No, I didn’t.” When she looked doubtful, he said, “You’ll see soon enough. Let’s go.”
The thought crossed Keira’s mind that Finn might be lying, trying to fake her out. Howeve
r, if that was the case, why hadn’t he killed her while he’d had the chance?
Either way she’d get close to the machine. She wasn’t quite sure what she was going to do once she did, she was making this up as she went. She’d been a warrior queen once upon a time, but that had been fighting other tribes with spears and arrows, not trying to take out a great metal beast.
Finn checked his watch. “The next rift is due to open in two hours. We’re cutting it close.” He frowned. “I’ve already contacted Tobias and Nix. They should be here pretty soon.”
She gave a nod, then what he’d said really filtered in. “Wait.” She watched a slow grin curl his sensual lips. “You really didn’t kill him?”
“I told you I didn’t.”
Keira allowed herself to feel hope for the first time in a long time. Something else fought its way up from the depths of her soul, too: a sense that, working with Finn at her side, there wasn’t anything they couldn’t do.
She was relieved that Finn wasn’t the bad boy she’d thought he was. There was good in him, even though he did his best to downplay it. She’d known that; it was one of the reasons she’d fallen in love with him. She should have had more faith in her own judgment.
Finn cast another glance at his wristwatch then looked at the trail. “Damn it. Where are they?” His gaze snagged hers. “I don’t think we can wait. Liuz is probably in there right now firing up that machine.”
“What’s your plan?” she asked.
“We go in there, fight the bad guys, and disable the machine.”
She blinked. “That’s it?” She couldn’t keep the shrill incredulity from her voice.
“I never said it was a good plan,” he defended.
“How about we go in, you take care of the bad guys, and I’ll sweet talk Stefan until I can get close enough to the machine?”
“I’m not sure that plan’s any better than mine,” he muttered. “But I like it. Let’s go.”
She shook her head at his grin and followed him into the mine. They reached the juncture right before the shaft seemed to dead end. Two burly vampires stood on either side of the shaft, leaning broad shoulders against the wall of the mine. Upon seeing the intruders, they straightened from their relaxed posture.
“You’re not authorized to be here,” the one on the left said.
Keira took a step forward and pushed out with her empathy. “Oh, Stefan asked us to come,” she said. She tried to wrap both vamps in a comfy cloak of camaraderie, but they weren’t having any part of it.
“Oh, the hell with it,” Finn muttered and launched himself at both vamps. “Get out of here,” he told Keira as he dodged their fists. “I’ve got these two.”
One of the vampires struck him in the jaw, sending him staggering back several feet.
“Oh, you do, do you?” Keira drew her dagger and stepped into the fray. She was smaller and lighter than her opponent, who looked like he’d been a boxer back in the day. She couldn’t tell how old he was, though she sensed he had been turned rather than coming through the rift. He was probably one of Stefan’s converts after he’d arrived on Earth.
She figured as long as she stayed out of reach she’d do okay. So she took a page out of Muhammad Ali’s playbook and danced around, jabbing out with her dagger every time she saw an opening.
Soon the vamp was bleeding from several cuts, some of them deep, and he was getting madder by the minute. Which suited her just fine, because the more he let his emotions control him, the bigger her advantage.
“I am gonna gut you with your own knife,” he promised her, his pupils so dilated she couldn’t see any hint of iris. Crimson filled the whites of his eyes, unspoken testament to how she’d riled him. Vamps were fast, but she was pretty quick, too. He charged her, a move she easily sidestepped. She hadn’t counted on how quickly he’d recover his momentum, though, and he grabbed her arm as he turned around. “You’re mine now, you little fey bitch.”
“I don’t think so,” she muttered. Reaching forward and down, she grabbed his balls and squeezed as hard as she could. His free hand came up and wrapped around her throat. Okay, maybe not the smartest move she could have made, but it would be interesting to see who passed out first: Her or Mr. Numbnuts. If she could only get her bare skin on the Earth beneath her feet, she might be able to get a boost of energy.
She sagged in his grasp, pulling him off balance. They went down in a tangle of limbs. She still had her hand wrapped around his testicles, and he continued to choke her. As soon as her head hit the dirt, she focused on drawing more energy from the Earth. There wasn’t much to draw on, and she realized it was because nothing was alive here. It was all soil and rock. There was some energy because of the surrounding area that had plant life, but directly beneath her…she might as well be in a barren desert.
She was able to draw enough to give herself a tiny boost of strength. He must have realized what she was doing, but it was too late. His eyes widened just as she broke his hold on her arm and brought her dagger to his throat. A couple of quick slashes ended him, and she pushed his corpse off her. She grimaced at the warm blood she could feel sliding down her face. She swiped at it with her sleeve, wiping it off as best as she could, then turned to see how Finn was faring.
He slammed his vamp up against the wall of the mine with enough force to split his skull. He let the vampire fall to the ground and looked around, his gaze a little wild. When he saw her, his eyes widened and he hurried over to her. “Keira,” he said, his hands coming up to cup her face. “You’re bleeding.”
“It’s not mine,” she whispered. He didn’t seem to hear her, and now his gaze was fixed on her throat where she imagined the imprint of the vamp’s hand still showed. She rested her palm on his lean cheek and said, “Finn, I’m all right.”
He looked into her eyes and some of the worry left him at her words. “Good,” he muttered. “That’s good.”
She dropped her hand and took a step back. She cleared her throat. “What do you say we go take care of that machine?”
Finn ran his tongue over his lips. “Why don’t you hang back and let me take care of that? You’ve done enough.”
She sighed. On one level she understood his need to protect those he saw as weaker than himself; he wasn’t one to exploit weakness unless it was in the enemy. On the other hand, it rankled that he wanted her to stay behind like a good woman should. “You know what? You have more machismo in your little finger than any other man I know.” She propped her hands on her hips and scowled at him.
“You sure it’s not this finger?” he asked, flicking up his middle finger.
That made her laugh. “Come on,” she said with a shake of her head. “We still have work to do.” His face, as he realized she wasn’t going to stay behind like a good little woman should, would have been comical if the circumstances were different.
As they approached the sliding wall, she sobered. With her hand on the rock mechanism that operated the wall, she looked at Finn. “You ready?”
“Wait a sec.” He searched around until he found a sizable rock. He hefted it in one hand and nodded. “Let’s do this.”
She opened the wall. As it began to close behind them, Finn set the rock on the ground in the opening, making sure it blocked the doorway from completely closing. Then they made their way into the large chamber of the mine where the machine was housed.
Liuz stood beside the machine, twisting dials and fiddling with the array. Several other prets were there as well, each engrossed in their duties. One was bent over a laptop, another stood next to the antenna array, and two others prowled on the other side of the machine, no doubt guarding it from intruders who might find another way into the mine.
She caught the thumbs up that Finn gave her. He stayed to the shadows and moved soundlessly around the wide shaft, heading toward the man on the laptop.
Keira drew in a deep breath and started walking in Stefan’s direction. He wasn’t yet aware of her presence. Pulling a cell phone–siz
e device out of the front pocket of his slacks, he twisted a dial and started talking in the standard language of the other dimension. She heard the tinny response from the person on the other end, assuring Stefan that all was ready on that side of the rift.
Good God, this really was happening. Her heart stuttered and her palms began to perspire. They had to stop this madman!
Stefan lifted his head, nostrils flaring, and looked at her. Confusion, irritation, and then growing anger flitted over his face. “What are you doing here? You weren’t invited.” Concern flicked through his eyes. “You’re bleeding.”
“I’m fine, Stefan. It’s not my blood.” Having replenished her energy from her time on the ground beneath the now dead vamp, Keira projected a feeling of lust and pride toward him. “I couldn’t miss this, Stefan,” she said, putting just a bit of whine in her voice. “I want to be with you during your time of triumph.” She continued moving forward, keeping one eye on the gal who, when Stefan hadn’t sounded the alarm, turned back to the array.
In her peripheral vision Keira saw Finn put his hands on the laptop guy. She started talking to cover up the sound of the man’s neck breaking as Finn twisted his head. She pushed a little harder, focusing her empathy directly on Stefan.
He relaxed, his face going a little slack, and let her get closer. But as soon as she reached him he seemed to overcome her empathetic push. He let out a little growl and said, “Why are you covered in blood? If it’s not yours, as you say, then whose is it?” He looked over her shoulder. His eyes widened and she had no doubt he had seen the stone doorway was ajar. He reached out for her, his face dark with rage, but Finn jumped forward and punched him in the face.
Stefan staggered back, but quickly recovered and launched himself at Finn with a roar of fury. Keira drew her dagger and headed toward the young woman who stood at the antenna array, the woman’s face holding an expression of indecision. “Make your choice,” Keira told her. She hefted the dagger. “I’ve already taken out a vamp with this. Don’t underestimate my skills or my determination.”
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