by Dannika Dark
Mr. Favreau dropped to the ground, and when he stood up, we were eye to eye. He was dressed and ready to haul ass, but not with us.
“Shit.”
As soon as he turned to run, I bolted to the back door and fumbled with the locks.
“Raven?” Wyatt called out.
“We’ve got a runner! Get the van!”
I flung the door open and stumbled down three steps, my arms windmilling as I regained my balance and sallied forth.
Favreau scaled the fence at the far end.
“You idiot! We’re trying to help!” I jumped over a bush and climbed the fence with ease.
As soon as I landed on the other side, I caught sight of him sprinting down what appeared to be an alleyway. I was hoping we would have wound up in someone’s backyard, blocking him in.
Once again, destiny screws me over.
I flashed after him, but being a Mage, he stayed ahead of me. Favreau had the advantage since he knew this neighborhood better than I did.
When he turned left, I followed.
As soon as we crossed an intersection, I unzipped my coveralls enough in the front to retrieve the large stunner sheathed inside the lining. His energy would run out eventually.
Favreau kept running in a straight line, but when he neared a burning building, he made a sudden left turn.
I glimpsed a few men by the fire, beating someone up.
Not my concern.
Not today.
I halted in my tracks when he led me down an alley littered with cardboard boxes and discarded furniture.
“Will you just stop?” I yelled out. “Do you want all your friends to know you’re nothing but a big pussy?”
He briefly looked at me before taking off again. “I don’t know you!”
“Really? Is that what this is about? Holy shit, just stop before I throw a stunner into your back!” I tripped over a pipe and fell to my knees. Undeterred, I sprang to my feet in pursuit. “I get it. You’re paranoid. But can you just stop and think for a second? If we wanted to kill you, why the hell would we let you go upstairs to get dressed?”
When he finally quit running, I bent over—hands on my knees—struggling to catch my breath.
“Why are Regulators not picking me up? That’s in the procedures. I don’t recognize you.”
Rubbing a stitch in my side, I straightened up and widened my stance. “Because most of them abandoned their posts. Haven’t you heard?”
“Mon Dieu.”
Shit. Maybe I wasn’t supposed to blurt that out.
“The phones do not work,” he countered. “How am I to know this is true?”
“Look, we can’t do this out in the open.”
Tires screeched behind me. When I looked back, I glimpsed the tailpipe of a van moving out of sight. It backed up, and Wyatt rolled down his window.
“You all right?” he yelled.
“Give us a minute.” I held up my dagger and tried to resist throwing it at Favreau. “I’ll put this away. Unless you’re good at scaling a ten-foot wall, you’ve got nowhere to go. I promise you that we’re the good guys.”
His breath clouded the air in front of him, and he wiped his sweaty forehead. “What would you do in this situation if you were me?”
I looked over at Wyatt, who was backing up into the alleyway. Niko had the rear doors wide open.
I tucked my hair behind my ears and faced Favreau. “If I were in your shoes, I’d run. But that’s me. You’re a representative of the higher authority, and you know all about these emergency protocols. You also know that if you deviate from the plan, they could revoke your position. I’m a good thrower. If I wanted you dead, I would have struck you in the heart already and finished you off. I’m asking you nicely to get in the van, or else my friend is going to hog-tie you.”
He got that cocky look all men who think they’re important get. “You would not dare.”
I heard the whistle of rope whirling against air, and when I turned, Wyatt was approaching with a lasso twirling around him.
“Ask me how many years I spent rounding up wild horses,” he boasted. The only other time I saw him that giddy was whenever we had a new shipment of candy. “I’ve wrestled hogs bigger than you.”
“Wyatt!” I hissed. “I’ve got this.”
When I looked back at Favreau, he was attempting to scale the concrete wall behind him.
“Great job, Spooky. You scared him.”
Wyatt winked and strutted past me, lasso swinging high. When he spoke, he switched to that Southern drawl I’d heard him use on rare occasions—the drawl he was probably born with. “Y’ain’t seen nuthin’ yet.”
Chapter 14
It took us eight hours to load the van for our first drop-off at the church. So far, we had six out of twenty-five. Driving between homes took up a lot of time, especially with the traffic signals out and accidents at intersections. But so did chasing after three officials. One woman had even gone so far as to sic her poodles on us. I didn’t even know you could train poodles to be attack dogs, but I had a hell of a time getting them away from Wyatt. After an official throat punched me, I started carrying a machete to the door to persuade them not to run. Between Mr. Favreau hog-tied in the crate and a woman we had to tie up after she blasted Wyatt, we didn’t have any more room in the back.
Two of them were squabbling nonstop. Since Wyatt was still recovering from electric shock and a few dog bites, I’d taken over driving.
“How are you holding up?” Niko asked from behind my seat.
“Fine,” I said quietly. “But I don’t have a good feeling about this. Viktor said one of the other groups handling Vampires was having serious issues, so I don’t know how we’re going to get them all in.”
“We can only do what’s possible.”
I turned my head toward the window so I could speak privately over my shoulder. “Thanks for chasing down the last guy.”
“You should level down when your adrenaline spikes. We talked about that in the training room. If you lose control of your energy, it’ll turn on you. We still have several hours before the second team takes over.”
“Gotcha.”
Leveling down was something every Mage had to learn. Uncontrolled energy spikes had a nasty way of turning into a reverse vacuum and sucking the energy out of you for days if you let it. The flashing I’d done when chasing down a few officials helped burn off some of that excess energy, but it also made me anxious that everyone might run. I got energy spikes each time we showed up at someone’s door.
Now I was wiped out, missing a dagger, and my shoulders were sore.
Since there were a few cars in front of the church, I pulled up to the side and saw a door up ahead where the building extended.
I shut off the engine. “Niko, can you jump out and have a look around?”
There were bushes and trees on the outskirts of the parking lot that made it difficult to see if anyone might be hiding. Niko had the gift of seeing energy, so I hopped out of the van to let him climb out through the front. The crate covered the floor in the back, and our passengers were resting their feet on the edge of it, much to the dismay of Mr. Favreau, who was still inside.
While Niko circled the van, I heard a door open and turned to see Christian and a priest emerging. I tried really hard not to laugh at Christian’s getup.
Tried and failed.
“Raven, this is Father Martin.”
“Nice meeting you.” I smiled at Christian. “And you are… Father Poe?”
He dipped his chin and gave me a thorny look. “We have a door in the back for deliveries. You’ll need to go around.”
“No need to trouble anyone,” Father Martin said, his feet dancing back and forth to stay warm. “Are the keys in the engine?”
My brows popped up. “Do you know how to drive?”
“I live in the rectory and gave up my license years ago, but I miss driving.”
Christian clapped him on the shoulder. “Keep her under the
speed limit, Father.”
The priest chuckled as he climbed into the driver’s seat.
“Niko!” I called. “Step out of the way. We’re backing up.”
He approached us from the opposite side of the van, his pace sedate.
“It’s all clear,” I assured him. “None of those concrete parking bumper things or poles are on this side of the building.”
He picked up speed until he reached me, the wind blowing his long black hair. “I smell snow.”
“Aye. We might get a flurry or two, but the ground’s been too warm this past week for it to stick on the roads.”
“Bridges might be a problem,” I added, stuffing my hands in my pockets. “Has anyone checked the weather report?” It was a rhetorical question since no one in our house knew what the weather would be from one day to the next.
Both Niko and Christian stood relaxed, neither man affected by the cold temperature, which was making my teeth chatter.
“Are there drinks inside?” Niko asked. “We should take a short break before we start again.”
“There’s wine in the back,” Christian said, humor edging his words. “What’s ailing Wyatt?”
Niko reached up, his fingers running across the logo sewn into his coveralls. “One of our passengers knocked him out. I can heal injuries, but I can’t do much for the aftereffects of an energy attack. With him out, it’s going to slow our progress.”
Christian’s eyes swung to mine. “How many did you bring?”
“Six,” I said, combating the wind by turning against it. “And it wasn’t easy. They know emergency plans exist for different situations, but they were expecting Regulators. Some of them took one look at us and freaked out. They thought we were part of an organized faction trying to overthrow the higher authority. So you can imagine how easy it was to convince them to get in a black van.”
Christian scratched his neck. “Call Viktor and find out if any of the others are ahead of us. Have you been using the crate?”
“No,” Niko said. “Raven came up with a clever plan to dress them in coveralls and a mask and pretend to be workers. Only two were forcefully restrained—the others we managed to convince or capture. I’ll speak to Viktor while Raven gives you the update.”
We headed to the door and entered a narrow hallway. After a short walk, he stopped at an intersecting hall.
Christian gripped Niko by the shoulders and turned him to the right. “Straight this way goes to the vestibule. The fourth door on the left is a private office you can use to call Viktor. There’s also a water fountain in the front. If you don’t find us first, we’ll find you.”
Niko reached out until his fingertips touched the wall, and he used them to count the doors as he passed each one.
Christian grabbed my hand and led me into a room with candles burning on two long tables.
I looked around at the cabinets and appliances along the wall. “I didn’t know they had kitchens in churches.”
“Where do you think they cook all those potluck dinners?”
As the door shut behind me, Christian went straight to the fridge. The light didn’t come on when he opened it and pulled out a bottle of green Gatorade. After twisting off the top, he handed the warm bottle to me. “Drink it. You’re an awful sight.”
“You really know how to woo a girl with compliments.”
I chugged down half the bottle and gasped to take a breath. Man, did that hit the spot. I drank the rest, not even caring that I probably had a green mustache.
Christian set the bottle on the cabinet and examined me closely. “Your heart rate is weaker than normal. And the blood vessels on your face are flushed.”
“Stop looking at my vessels.” When I licked my upper lip, his eyes smoldered.
Christian stepped closer, the heat between us rising at least ten degrees.
I devoured the sight of him from head to toe. His dark hair was wild from the wind whipping it around, and the scruff on his neck disappeared beneath the white collar. Because the robe was formfitting, he wore the hell out of it. Damn if he didn’t look dashing and formal. There was a moment when it felt as if he might be out of my league, but then I remembered this was Christian Poe and not a Jane Austen character. Maybe Christian was right about modest clothing. The less I saw of him, the more I wanted to unbutton that robe and discover what was underneath.
“Your pupils are dilating,” he informed me.
“Maybe you shouldn’t look so damn hot in a dress.”
“It’s not a dress, it’s a cassock. Now shut your gob and give me ten Hail Marys.”
I reached around and grabbed his ass. “Don’t wield that power of yours, or I’ll smite you.”
“Mmm, that sounds like something a sinner would say.” His lips brushed against mine.
When I felt my sex pulse with desire, I backed up. “No, no. I’m already going to hell in a handbasket, but I draw the line at having sex in a church with a Vampire dressed as a priest.”
His brow furrowed. “Why do you keep rubbing your neck?” Christian pulled the zipper halfway down on my coveralls and swept my hair back.
“Nobody bit me,” I assured him, stretching my back. “I had to do a lot of running and a lot of climbing, and I think I pulled something out of whack.”
“Turn around.”
I gave him a warning look as I faced the door. Instead of sliding his hand inside my coveralls, he pulled the material away from my shoulders. Before I could ask what he was doing, his strong hands were on my neck.
I moaned when his thumbs pressed against my spine. Those hands had the power to crush bones, but instead they kneaded my sore muscles.
“That feels good,” I breathed, crossing my arms so my heavy coveralls didn’t drop to the floor.
His cheek rested against the side of my head. “I’m not just good for one thing.”
I tilted my head. “I know that.”
Christian’s remark was bereft of humor, and suddenly, this felt very wrong. Neither of us had made any declarations on where our relationship was heading, yet that hadn’t stopped us from having sex. Did he think I was using him? I wanted to feel the same emotions he did, but someone had taken me out of the race and put me at the starting line again. Sometimes I thought my heart would leap out of my chest when I saw him walk into a room, but I didn’t know why I felt that way. With no recollection of intimate conversations between us that would have elevated us to that level, how could I trust a raw emotion?
And yet guilt consumed me as he silently rubbed my shoulders.
I stepped away and zipped up my coveralls.
Christian averted his eyes before going into the fridge and grabbing two more bottles of Gatorade. “Wyatt better wake his arse up.”
“I’m coming here when our shift is done.”
He slowly strode past me. “And why is that? Viktor might need you at the house.”
“Viktor’s getting an update from Niko. I think it’s a good idea if one of us stays in the city in case Shepherd’s crew runs into trouble like we did. You could also use some help guarding the church.”
Christian approached the door and half turned. “I’m concerned about that. The rooms are downstairs, but there’s no escape tunnel. Back in olden times, escape tunnels were commonplace. An extra measure of security should someone set the building on fire. I wager when they devised this plan, they expected Regulators to be guarding the doors.”
I folded my arms, my eyes downcast. “That’s a huge flaw in their plan they didn’t account for. Are most of the Regulators Chitahs?”
“Aye. It fluctuates over the years, but the job attracts Chitahs. Besides the fact that they can kill a Mage, they’re incredibly fast and have a sharp sense of smell when it comes to emotions.”
“I thought they were men of their word.”
“Perhaps their families are more important than guarding their mortal enemies. If anyone’s going to rise up against the higher authority, it’ll be now. Every day that passes w
ithout power increases the odds of war.”
“All because the lights went out.”
“It’s the small things that govern our actions. If any more cell towers go down, we’ll have no way of knowing what’s happening.”
A chill ran down my spine when I thought about my father. What if Fletcher came out of hiding and went after him? It wouldn’t be hard to do since there weren’t any Regulators around to keep the peace. He could come after me, but Fletcher was too smart for that. He knew how to push buttons by finding a person’s weakness, and my weakness was family. We needed Regulators, but how could we possibly talk them into working the positions they so casually abandoned?
“What’s going on in that head of yours?” Christian asked. “I can see the wheels turning.”
Christian could read me like a book, so I left the room before I showed him my hand. He enjoyed telling me what I should and shouldn’t do, forgetting that he was my partner and not my boss. Christian wasn’t always right, and that was a flaw I had to be careful of. I had an idea nestling in my head to visit the Overlord. It would never have entered my mind had I not met him in person. If Quaid held more control over his people than the higher authority, then Regulators would never refuse his orders. Not only would they be able to help us finish this job, but their presence would restore a little order. It was a shot in the dark, but I tucked the idea away for the time being and decided to tell Christian later. He needed to keep his mind on guarding the church, not on me.
We entered the main chapel, my eyes drawn to the lofty ceilings. Afternoon light illuminated the colorful windows, and tall candles brightened dark corners. I was approaching the steps to the altar when Christian snagged my sleeve.
“The chancel is for clergy and choir only. I’m afraid you’ll have to find a pew.”
I looked around, having never been in a Catholic church. It was an older one with wood beams curving around the arched ceilings. The statues were sublime and the silence welcoming. I glanced on either side of the altar near the back. “What are those armoires for?”
Christian led me down the aisle, and we sat on the second row. “Those are confessionals.” He spread his arms over the back of the bench. “The secrets people tell in there would make a prostitute blush.”