by R. E. Butler
“I understand.” She eased away from him a little and picked up her mug to take a drink. “The wild emotions are part of it. For humans, everything is amplified – eyesight, hearing, touch, taste – and it takes a lot of getting used to. When humans are turned, they have to stay with their maker until they can handle the change. Some newbies go off the rails, mixing feeding and sex and trying to experience everything. It can be dangerous, especially for the food. Mishka made sure I didn’t hurt the humans I fed from, and he didn’t let me out of the chamber for a few days. After that, I was always with him or one of the family members until I could handle myself. But your change is so different from mine.”
“How so?”
“You’re in complete control. I mean, you had a willing human female offer you a vein. I expected you to fall on her like a hungry beast and to have to try to restrain you. When you were faced with her offering, you kicked her out of the chamber. I’ve honestly never seen anything like it. And then, you didn’t try to hurt Bridge or Tamar when you were feeding. Bridge said he was feeling light headed and you stopped without anyone having to force you to.”
One thing had stuck out to him. “Why is sex and feeding dangerous?”
She blinked at him. “What?”
“You said that newbies have trouble with the two actions together.”
She put the mug down and leaned against the counter. He couldn’t help but notice the way the overhead light made her skin glow. She was so sexy.
“Newbies are suddenly strong and fast, and their hunger is so great during the first few days that they have to be watched carefully so they don’t kill someone during a feeding. You have a new vampire who is experiencing everything in high-definition for the first time, and generally food of the opposite sex is offered. There can be a sexual undertone to feeding because it’s intimate.”
He nodded in understanding. “If a maker’s not paying attention, and the food is willing, it can go overboard.”
“Exactly. Before we came to Cleveland when we were still traveling and looking for a place to settle, we heard word of a maker who had turned several people at once – all family members – and then he was killed suddenly. So there was a small band of hunger-crazed newbies running around, with no one to guide them. They basically gave into every urge they had, including having sex and feeding at the same time.”
“What happened to them?”
“The council sent Hunters to put them down, but they killed a whole lot of humans before that happened.”
“You say hunters like it’s a job title.”
“It is. Hunters are vampires who keep the rest of us in line. Occasionally there will be a rogue vampire who will go on a killing spree or try to take over a coven by killing off vampires. Hunters go in and investigate. A few years ago, there was a were-fighting ring that was created by a vampire who called himself The Doc. He was operating in Cleveland under the radar, abducting shifters and forcing them to fight for their lives. Hunters stepped in – with the help of the wolf pack – and killed the bad guys and set everyone free.”
He rocked back on his heels. “I remember hearing about that. There weren’t any tigers who’d been abducted. I didn’t realize that vampires took the ring down.”
“It involved vampires, and the higher ups in the vampire world – specifically the Council – don’t like anything to tarnish the general image of our people.”
“Tigers don’t have a council like that.”
“I think it’s only wiccans and vampires, but I don’t know every shifter and supernatural group out there.”
She finished her drink and put the mug in the dishwasher. He took her hand and led her to the elevator. There was silence between them, but it wasn’t strained, and he was glad for that. The doors opened smoothly and they entered the cab. She pressed the button to go down and when the doors shut, he pushed the stop button.
He pushed her gently against the wall, caging her in with his hands flat on either side of her head. He stared down at her, tracing the features of her face with his gaze. He could see her so clearly now because his senses were heightened.
“If I hurt your feelings at all when I first woke, I apologize.”
“You already did,” she said.
“I know, but it pains me to know that I couldn’t talk to you about what was going on with me. I know I hurt you, I know you were trying to help, and I treated you badly.”
She hooked her hands on his forearms and tilted her face toward him. He brushed his lips over hers, the odd purring from his tiger rumbling in his chest.
“You sound different,” she whispered against his lips. “I like it.”
“Do you?” he chuckled. “I feel so strange. I need time to process everything and figure out exactly what I am now and how I can keep you safe.”
“Me? I’m not the one that found a bomb and nearly died.”
He chuckled. “Good point. I’m a little worried about how I feel now, it’s like the two parts of me are warring.”
“Three parts. Human, tiger, and vampire.”
“Right. Three. That’s even stranger. I wish there was a tribrid I could talk to.”
“Me too. Mishka has some very old books about different species and some mythology of our people because he’s a collector of that kind of thing. I’ll see if I can get access to his library and do some research.”
“I’d appreciate it. Tell me, besides you feeding me when I was nearly dead, who else did?”
“Mishka, Temple, Merrix, and Rytel.”
“I’ll have to thank them.” He kissed her again then pressed the button to continue the downward momentum. The elevator made a light thud as it connected with the floor and then the doors opened.
When they were in the chamber, he asked a question that hadn’t been front and center in his mind because of all the other shit he’d been dealing with.
“Does my family and the ambush know what happened?”
“I called your parents, because the bombing made the news, and of course Mishka had to talk to Midas about it because it was too dangerous to continue the work until they figured out what happened. I told your parents that you’d been near death and I saved your life by turning you, and Mishka told Midas.” Her mouth turned down and he leaned in and kissed one corner and put his arms around her. Just settling her against him made whatever mix of supernatural creatures he was very happy.
“How did they take it?”
“They were shocked at first, but they had no doubt that it was done to save your life and they were thankful. They want to see you, but I told them we weren’t sure when you’d be up for an in-person visit. The way you’re acting though, makes me think you don’t have regular hunger issues like a normal vampire. But we’ll still have to clear it with Mishka.”
“I wouldn’t want to attack my family.”
“Yeah, that might put a crimp in family get togethers.”
He chuckled, and it was the first time since he woke that he actually felt some relief. He was still him, he was just different. The most important thing in all of it was that he and Cella were alive and well, and that he’d be able to talk to his parents without having to break the news to them about his change. Cella had paved the way.
“Were you worried how they’d react?” he asked.
“A little, actually. I didn’t know if they’d be angry at me for turning you or if they’d hate that you were different. You can be sure that I called them with my heart in my throat, ready to defend my decision.”
It was his turn to frown. “What do you mean ‘defend your decision’?”
“There are people in our coven whose families said they’d rather they were dead than a vampire. Your parents and ambush were accepting to me as your mate, but I didn’t know how they’d feel when faced with your turning.” She gave him a sweet smile. “They’re pretty amazing, but of course I’m not surprised because you are too.”
His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he read the screen. “B
rone said they’re ready. I should go. I don’t want to, trust me.”
“It’s important though. I hope you’re able to figure out who’s behind the bombing. We’re just lucky no one died.”
“That’s very true.” He kissed her again, forcing himself to not toss her to the bed and reacquaint himself with her sexy curves. “If you need me, call.”
“I’ll be safe down here. You just come back to me.”
He walked out of the chamber before he spent any more time in her distracting presence. He had a job to do, and ensuring her safety was one of the most important things he could do. He waited until she locked the chamber door before he strode down the hall and returned to the first floor. The sooner he dealt with this, the better.
His beloved was waiting.
Chapter Fifteen
Cyrus made his way to the reception area, where the family members were gathered. Each was dressed for war, with bullet proof vests and weapons strapped on. He accepted a vest from Temple, and once that was secure, Rage gave him a knife sheath and several deadly-looking blades.
Temple handed him the tablet with the view from the alley cameras. No one said anything while he watched the footage. There wasn’t any activity aside from the vampires going from the club to the restaurant before the third shift started. But he didn’t think he was wrong. He scrolled back through the first shift, and then to the previous day.
“Just these two cameras, right?” he asked.
“Yeah, why?” Rage asked.
“I need to see the front of the alley. The camera is a foot or so back from the entrance, and I think the bomber knew that.”
“What’s at the entrance to the alley that this guy could use to get into the restaurant?” Ven asked.
“It’s the bathroom,” Cyrus said. “Both bathrooms have windows, but the men’s faces this side.”
“Ah, shit,” Temple said. “But the windows lock from the inside.”
“They’re just slide locks,” Ven said.
“Why the hell are there windows in the bathrooms? They’d let in natural light which would burn the vampire patrons,” Rage said.
Cyrus had asked a similar question when he’d seen the interior of the bathrooms. “They were in the original building. The plans called for them to be bricked over on the outside and covered with wall board on the inside, but it was decided instead to cover them with light-filtering film.” The same window treatment had been done on the ones at the front of the restaurant.
“Well, we’re sure as hell bricking them up during the rebuild,” Ven said. He folded his arms over his chest. “I am so fucking tired of the church. We’re not hurting them; we’re just trying to live our lives.”
Cyrus agreed wholeheartedly. Talk about holding a grudge. The leader of the church was a fanatic in the worst sense of the word, and he’d nearly cost Cyrus his life, not to mention the lives of the vampires working at the time.
Temple snapped his fingers suddenly. “Hey! The office across the street has cameras that face the opposite side. I bet we can see the alley from there.”
Cyrus handed the tablet back to Temple and turned to Brone. “When are they going to start on the cleanup?”
“We still have to let the human arson investigators finish their report, which will take a few days. We’re ready to start as soon as that’s done,” Brone said.
There hadn’t been any structural damage to the restaurant. It was an older building that had sat empty after Mishka bought it and the surrounding properties to protect the coven from the church moving into them.
“My impression is that the bomb maker didn’t really know what he was doing, and it wasn’t big enough to do the damage that they might have hoped for. They brought the ceiling down, but the actual structure is undamaged,” Brone said. “I’m not a bomb guy though.”
“I am,” Rage said. “And he’s right. If they wanted to take out a building that old and well-built, they would have had to set off a much larger bomb. Either the guy didn’t know what he was doing, or the point was to delay us, maybe cause panic. Hard to say with those whackadoodles.”
Cyrus looked at the male who was several hundred years old.
“Whackadoodles?”
Rage grinned. “Angie’s vernacular is rubbing off on me.”
Cyrus chuckled.
“Bingo, as the humans like to say,” Temple said. He held the tablet in a way that everyone could see the footage from the building across the street. They watched the fast-forwarded footage for the twenty-four hours before the blast, and just as Cyrus suspected, someone ducked down the alley and climbed into the bathroom window. They zoomed in as much as they could, but the images were too grainy to get any decent details about the person.
“You were right,” Brone said. “Well done.”
“I’m just glad there was a camera view available.”
“We’ll need to get them upgraded,” Vex said. “The alley is vulnerable, and we’ll have people walking back and forth during the night hours, and that means we need to add security there as well.”
Cyrus nodded in agreement. “I think the church looks harder for vulnerabilities than the coven does. Their minds are warped toward evil.” It was inconceivable to him that a vampire hate group had so callously bombed the restaurant. They’d clearly been paying attention to the shifts, and that they tried to use Cyrus’s people’s scent against them made him furious.
The group left the reception area and headed out the front of the club so they could scout the alley. For the safety of everyone, the club had been closed until the restaurant was cleared by the arson investigators. The family cleared the sidewalk of gawkers who had pressed as close to the police tape as they could to take pictures. It infuriated Cyrus that they treated an event like this as if it was something to gawk at, and not a place where people had nearly died.
Biting back the snarl and the desire to flash his fangs at the onlookers, he opened his senses and covered every inch of the opening of the alley, finding the faux tiger scent right underneath the window. Which was ten feet in the air. He put his hands on his hips and stared up at it, then glanced down one side of the alley and the other. No ladder in sight. How the hell did a human get up there?
He got a push from his cat, no matter how oddly it felt in his subconscious right now, and without giving it any further thought, he planted his feet firmly on the ground and leaped for the window ledge. He reached it. Easily. Bracing the toes of his boots on the brick and holding himself aloft with one hand on the windowsill, he saw that the window had been pried open and didn’t close all the way anymore. Pulling the window open all the way, he saw a piece of frayed rope. He hefted himself over the edge so he could look down the interior wall and there, on the polished marble wall was a single dark smudge in the shape of a foot.
“Fucker,” Cyrus said. He shoved the window shut and gave it an experimental tug, glad when it didn’t budge.
Releasing his hold, he jumped down, landing solidly, and faced the family. Their expressions were varying forms of shock, brows high, mouths open, eyes wide.
“What?” he asked.
“You just jumped like ten feet effortlessly,” Temple said. “How the hell did you do that?”
He thought to the nudge from his cat. “I guess from my cat.”
“Could you jump that high before?” Ven asked, his head tilting.
“I never tried. But I don’t think so.”
“That’s very handy,” Rage said. “Next time I need something off a high shelf I’ll call you.”
Cyrus snorted with a grin. “Happy to help.”
An hour later they were tapped into the video cameras on the street, watching for vehicles that were stopped near the restaurant. He was not surprised that the coven had wired the whole street for their own protection. According to Ven, they couldn’t depend on the human police force to put in the time when it came to them. They weren’t necessarily against vampires, but it had been proven time and again that they also did
n’t go out of their way to help. They’d do their jobs, but the coven had never witnessed a human police officer going above and beyond. Which explained their daytime guards, cameras by the hundreds, and a security team that would rival a military.
“There,” Brone said, “pause it.”
They were in the War Room – aptly named because it felt like they were going to war with the church – and using one of the flat screens as a huge monitor. A dark sedan, with blacked-out license plates, had parked three blocks from the restaurant, turned off the engine, and sat for hours the day before the bombing. Right at the overlap between the first and second shifts, a man wearing coveralls with a cap pulled low on his head hustled to the alley, used a grappling hook to climb the wall to the window, and left behind a long rope. He disappeared back to his vehicle and then sat through the second shift, until the change over into third. Then he left, returning the following day during the first shift and sitting low in the vehicle.
“Fucker,” Cyrus said. “I wish we could see his facial features more clearly for recognition software. Or that his damn plates weren’t blacked out. How the hell did people miss that suspicious looking vehicle?”
“It’s far enough away,” Vex said, shrugging. “But vampires I think are more paranoid about that kind of thing than others would be, so tigers coming to work at the restaurant wouldn’t necessarily think anything of a vehicle sitting all day.”
“Pause,” Brone said. He rose to his feet and moved close to the screen. “What’s that?”
He pointed to the windshield of the sedan. There were several years’ worth of inspection stickers, and an oddly-shaped, bright orange sticker.
“Is that a pineapple?” Cyrus asked. He joined Brone.
“It’s a sticker for something,” Brone squinted. “I can’t tell what though.”
Cyrus suddenly realized he’d seen that sticker recently. He pulled his phone from his back pocket and called Aeryn. “Hey,” he said. “Got a minute for your favorite cousin?”