“I…I’m only here because of my boyfriend,” she stammered.
The young woman didn’t smell more than fifty or so years old. She’d probably been born here on Earth, of two fey parents who had most likely kept her very sheltered.
“Go,” Keira said. “And don’t come back.”
“Thank you,” she whispered. She took off running.
Keira turned to face the other two prets coming toward her. One was a demon—a big, tall man with gleaming yellow eyes and nasty written all over his flat face. The other one, a werewolf by the smell of him, was smaller than the demon but still bigger than she was.
“Don’t think you’re going to scare us with that little dagger,” the demon said. “As soon as we get through with you, we’re going to take care of your friend there.” He looked entirely too enthusiastic about the prospect for her comfort.
She couldn’t let them get to Finn, not while he was grappling with Stefan. She had no doubt he could hold his own against two, but three was pushing it, even for him. The demon and werewolf came at her together, and she ducked and struck out with her dagger, catching the werewolf along his ribcage as she rolled out of the way.
“You’re gonna pay for that,” he snarled.
“Yeah, yeah,” she muttered.
The rest of the fight went by in silence punctuated only by the grunts and growls of the combatants. She took a punch to the face. The flash of pain across her cheekbone made her eyes water. She swiped them away and lashed out with one foot, catching the werewolf in the midsection and knocking the breath from him.
The demon reached for her, and she heard Finn say, “Don’t let him touch you, Keira. He’s Surtur.”
Her eyes widened. She bobbed and weaved, eluding the Surtur’s reach. She’d never met one before, but she’d heard of them. They were the fire giants of legend and were the worst of the worst.
She tried to keep the machine at her back, and keep her eyes on both assailants, without success. The werewolf grabbed her from behind, his arms trapping hers at her sides. She struggled, bucking and twisting, but couldn’t break his hold.
The Surtur started forward with an unholy glee glittering in his eyes. “You picked the wrong side, sweetheart. Now it’s time for you to die.”
Keira’s heart pounded against her ribs. She wet her dry lips and waited for him to get close enough. Then with a soft grunt she pushed her feet off the ground and slammed them into his chest. The action knocked him back several feet, and it also rocked the werewolf off balance. His arms loosened. Not by much, but it was enough.
She broke free and slashed out with her dagger, catching the werewolf behind one knee. He went down with a yelp, holding his leg. She knew if he’d fed recently he wouldn’t be down for long because his metabolism would enable him to heal rapidly. No, she had to do more damage. Permanent, not-able-to-recover-from damage.
With another couple of quick slashes, she cut a deep gash across his belly and one across his throat. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. It had been millennia since she’d been in battle, but the sadness of taking another’s life, even if he was the enemy, was the same now as then.
She twisted to face the Surtur and froze as she saw him closing in on Finn. “Finn!” she cried out in warning. “Behind you.”
Finn whirled to face the new danger. He avoided his assailant’s grasp and threw a sneer his way. “You’ve backed the losing team, Phoebus,” he said. He lifted his arm and drew his short sword from the scabbard between his shoulder blades.
“Funny, I was just about to tell you the same thing,” the Surtur demon responded. “Guess we’ll see who’s right.”
“Guess we will.” Finn dodged Phoebus’s lunge and slashed downward with his blade.
Phoebus drew back in time and only the tip of the sword raked across his biceps. Still it was enough to cause pain, and yellow flared in his eyes. The next time he lunged, Finn closed the distance and thrust his sword forward deep into his enemy’s gut.
Phoebus’s eyes widened and he gasped. As Finn withdrew the sword and retreated a few feet away, Phoebus pressed his hands to his wound and staggered back. He lifted bewildered eyes.
“You always did rely too much on your ability,” Finn muttered. He hefted his sword. “You should’ve learned how to fight.” With that his blade sliced through the air and Phoebus’s neck. Finn stared at the head at his feet. “Well, it’s not on a platter, but it’ll do.”
He turned to see that Keira had squared off with Liuz. As Finn started forward, the vampire got past Keira’s defensive moves and wrapped an arm around her throat. She’d lost her dagger at some point, and dug her fingers into his arm to try to loosen his hold. Her gaze, filled with anger, fear, and exhaustion, met Finn’s. He realized whatever energy she had was depleted, and she wasn’t strong enough to break free from Liuz.
“Back off,” the vampire snarled, “or I’ll kill her.”
Finn forced all emotion aside. He couldn’t allow himself to be distracted by fear for Keira or rage that Liuz had dared to threaten her. Coldness filled him, an iciness that drove out everything but the certainty that Liuz was a dead man. “Go ahead,” Finn finally responded to the vamp’s threat. “I’m here to do a job. Regardless of any peripheral damage, that’s what I aim to do.” He met Keira’s gaze and kept his free of emotion. “I don’t care about her.” He put his attention back on Liuz. “As an enforcer I’ve been trained to focus on what matters. I care only about the successful completion of my mission.” He lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Kill her and you lose your advantage. You’ll make my job that much easier.”
Chapter Eighteen
Keira felt her pulse jump in her throat. Finn had to be bluffing. He couldn’t really mean it. He couldn’t care more about his mission than he did about her life. She reached out with her empathic ability and drew a sharp breath. There was no insincerity from him, no doubt, no fear. Just the certainty that what he was doing was right.
She searched his eyes, looking for a hint of the gentleness she’d sensed in him before, the softness she’d experienced firsthand. There was only hardness. He might as well be wearing armor.
He was a warrior first and foremost. Always. Only.
This was the real Finn, then. This man toughened by his experiences, jaded by the life he’d lived. And she was to become the latest casualty of war, not even a blip on his radar.
The Finn she’d seen before, the one who’d told her he wanted something different, had all been an act so he could get past her defenses. So he could use her body to assuage his lust.
He must have lied to her when he told her that Tobias was still alive. If it furthered his mission, whatever that mission was, she believed he would kill Tobias.
And lie about his feelings for her.
She stiffened in Stefan’s grasp, listening with disbelief and sorrow as Finn told him how he’d gotten into this to gain his freedom from his father, who for his own reasons didn’t want more preternaturals coming through the rift.
“Personally,” Finn said, “I don’t care what kind of havoc you plan to create.” He took a few steps forward. “And if a few prets have to die in order to preserve the old order, so be it.” He moved a little closer. “Sorry, doll,” he said to Keira.
“I’d tell you to go to hell,” she replied, blinking back tears. “But you’d probably enjoy it there.”
His lips twitched. “I might.” He walked forward several steps, stopping only when Stefan told him to. “There’s no way out, Liuz,” Finn murmured. “Let her go and let’s settle this between us.”
Stefan tightened his arm, closing off her air supply even further. Keira clawed at him and fought to breathe.
Over Finn’s shoulder she saw movement, and as she was about to call out a warning—she couldn’t help it, she still loved the bastard—she recognized the man and woman walking into view. Tobias Caine and the woman that Finn had gone to see at her house.
Hope unfurled within Keira. If Tobias was here, o
bviously alive and unharmed, that meant Finn hadn’t killed him. He’d been lying all along. She met his gaze. He obviously knew she’d thought the worst of him, because his eyes chided her yet held such affection for her. She was ashamed she’d ever doubted him.
Stefan, on the other hand, wasn’t feeling so generous. Rage emanated from him. “You!” he snarled. “I thought you were dead.”
“Obviously not. Once again the master manipulator missed,” Tobias rejoined. A world of satisfaction and triumph rode the curve of his lips.
Stefan’s arm tightened again. Keira choked, gasping for air. She wished everyone would stop yacking and get on with it. She’d like to start breathing again, soon.
“Everything you’ve told me, everything you’ve done,” Stefan said, “has been a lie?”
Finn raised his eyebrows. “I’m surprised you didn’t have more people joining your group so they could stop your insanity.”
“I suppose you were in on it too, weren’t you?”
She felt Stefan’s face move against hers and guessed he was talking to her. She couldn’t respond—she didn’t have enough voice to speak, and the way he had his arm wrapped around her throat limited the movement of her head.
“Let Keira go,” Finn said. “If you don’t hurt her, you might come out of this with your head intact.”
“We have over an hour until the rift,” Stefan said. “I can hold on to her that long, and then I win.”
Keira slumped a little in his grip. Part of it was playacting; a larger part was because her vision was beginning to go dark from lack of oxygen.
“There’s no way you come out of this as anything but the loser you really are,” Tobias said. Satisfaction rode every lean line of his body. And something more, a savage fury that radiated from him in waves.
The woman with him—another vampire—felt just as strongly, though Keira sensed she was restraining herself a little more than Tobias was. The female vamp took a step forward. “You and I have some unfinished business, Natchook. There’s a little matter of you putting out a hit on my husband. And, oh, yeah.” Her eyes narrowed. “You nearly killing me a year ago.”
“Nix, my dear. How good to see you again. You’re looking well.” Keira couldn’t see his face, but she heard the smirk in his voice. Stefan asked, “Has it been a year already?” By Dagda’s balls, the man did not know when to quit.
“Nearly.” Nix took another step forward. “And I see nothing has changed, you’re still hiding behind a woman.” Disgust colored her tones. “Can’t fight your own battles, eh?”
Keira felt rage and anxiety rolling off Stefan and, for a brief second or two, doubt. She took advantage, letting herself go completely slack as if she’d fainted. Her action pulled him off balance, and he loosened his hold. She jabbed back with her elbow and ducked beneath his arm.
Finn jumped in, pushing the vampire away from her, and he and Stefan went at it with their fists. Very quickly blood smeared both their faces as lips split and knuckles crunched into bone.
“He’s mine,” Tobias bellowed. Keira looked to see him heading toward the combatants, his eyes black surrounded by crimson.
Stefan bit down into the fleshy part of Finn’s shoulder. Finn yelled, his face contorted in pain. “Then come and get the bastard,” he snarled and slammed his fist into the vampire’s temple. It loosened Stefan’s hold on him and Finn shoved him away.
Tobias jumped into the fray, landing several blows before Stefan turned and ran deeper into the mine. Tobias, Finn, and Nix all started after him, Keira on their heels. Tobias caught up with him after several yards, but Stefan shrugged out of his jacket, leaving it hanging in Tobias’s grip, and kept running. They took up pursuit again.
The further into the mountain they went, the colder it got. The shaft sloped downward, then hooked up with other shafts so that they zigzagged their way after Stefan. Keira hoped to God someone remembered the way back, because she was now completely turned around.
She was chagrined to realize they were all so much faster than her. Not because she was a slacker, but because Tobias and Nix were vampires who naturally were capable of moving at much greater rates of speed than other preternaturals, and Finn…Well, this was what Finn did for a living. He was used to chasing after fleeing subjects.
She redoubled her efforts and turned the corner into another shaft. The others were several yards ahead of her and it looked like Tobias was once again closing the gap. Stefan glanced over his shoulder, his expression a mixture of anger and disillusion, and maybe even a little fear. As he turned his head forward again Caladh stepped out from a cross-shaft, a wooden stake in his hand.
Stefan’s own momentum drove him into the stake. He let out a gasp and looked down, then dropped to the ground.
Keira ran up to the group and stopped beside Finn. She wrapped her arm around his inner elbow, gratified when his bigger hand came up and curled over hers. The warmth of it took away some of the coldness of her skin. And, more than that, it gave her comfort.
Tobias knelt beside the fallen vampire. His face grim, he muttered, “Damn it.”
“Isn’t he dead?” Finn asked.
“Yes. Damn it.”
Finn shared a glance with Keira. “I, uh, thought that was what you wanted. Him dead.”
“He wanted to be the one to do it,” Nix said. She walked up to her husband and urged him to his feet. Bringing one hand to his face, she cradled his jaw. “It’s done, Tobias. He’s finally paid for his crimes.”
He reached up and clasped her hand in his, and turned his head to press a kiss into her palm. The love between them was obvious, and Keira felt a pang of envy. Why did that type of love always seem to elude her?
Tobias let out a long sigh and turned away from the body, keeping his wife’s hand in his.
All of them stood in silence for a few seconds. Keira knew everyone else felt as much relief that the crisis was over as she did. All that remained was the dismantling of the machine. She was about to suggest as much when Tobias spoke again.
“You have perfect timing, my friend.” He held out his hand to shake Caladh’s. “I only wish we’d known we were on the same side.”
“Hey!” Finn shot the vamp a frown. “Just because Liuz was running didn’t mean he was going to get away. We would’ve caught him.”
“Of course,” Caladh said, a jovial smile on his face. As usual he was dressed smartly, his white long-sleeved shirt crisp and bright, his charcoal-gray slacks tailored to a perfect fit. “I am happy I could be of assistance to such brave and fearless people.”
“I don’t know about the fearless part,” Keira muttered. “I was plenty scared.” Finn slid his arm around her shoulders and gave her a quick squeeze. She slipped her arm around his waist and stared at Caladh. “How did you know to show up when you did?” When the others looked at her, she said, “I was working for him, that’s the whole reason I infiltrated the group. To stop them. At his behest.”
She heard Finn’s sharply drawn breath and glanced up at him. “I couldn’t tell you,” she whispered. “I wanted to, many times.”
“Same here.” His dark blue eyes began to shimmer with hope and something she was afraid to even dream that looked like love.
Dragging her gaze away from his, she looked at Caladh again. As she realized what his being here meant, her heart started a reggae beat behind her rib cage. “You didn’t return any of my calls. I never had a chance to tell you the location of the machine.” She took a few steps away from Finn and closer to the selkie councilor. “How did you even know where we were? Where the machine was? And how did you get in here without coming through the main entrance?”
Finn went cold, then hot as the impact of Keira’s words hit him. “The council was behind this?”
“No.” Tobias stared at Caladh. “They weren’t.” He glanced at Keira. “Were you working for the council at large? Did Deoul have Caladh ask you to do this?”
She shook her head. “It was just Caladh. He said he wasn�
�t sure who on the council he could trust, so we were to keep this between us.” She bit her lip and then whispered, “I trusted you.”
“I told you not to trust anyone.” He seemed pleased with himself, an odd attitude to take considering he was so outnumbered. Tobias still had a look of bloodlust about him, and Finn looked ready to strangle Caladh with his bare hands.
“You put Keira in danger for nothing?” Finn took a step forward. “Why the pretense? Why hide behind Liuz?”
Caladh didn’t respond.
Finn thought he understood. “It kept everyone’s focus on Liuz, and off you.” He narrowed his eyes. “That’s it, isn’t it? You let him manipulate people, use them, but all the while he was only a marionette dancing to your tug of the strings. Did he even realize you were using him?”
Caladh chuckled. “He was such a stupid little shit. Of course he never realized he was merely another cog in the wheel. He thought he was the wheel, turning and shaping events to bring in a new world order.”
Finn took a deep breath and held it a moment while he sorted through his racing thoughts.
“What are you up to, Caladh?” This from Tobias, whose face had darkened as he came to realize the extent of his coworker and friend’s perfidy. “What exactly didn’t you want anyone to see?”
“His bid to take over the council,” Keira answered. “You killed Deoul so you could be moved into the position of president. Start with the regional council, then work your way out to what? Setting up a national council? Or a worldwide one?”
“That would presume my ambitions are limited to the preternatural community,” Caladh said.
Finn noticed he didn’t deny killing Deoul.
“And they’re not, that’s what you’re saying?” Nix’s lovely face creased in a frown. “Oh, for God’s sake. Don’t tell me this is a ploy to take over the world.” She rolled her eyes. Finn was happy to see she was still as snarky as ever, and not only with him. She hadn’t let a little thing like being turned into a vampire change her for the worse. She propped her hands on her hips. “Couldn’t you come up with something more original than that?”
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