by Dannika Dark
I wasn’t certain if Houdini needed the key or just didn’t want anyone else to have it. Maybe it was just an excuse to stay in my life.
“Are you a man of integrity?” I returned to my truck and gripped the open door, looking around one last time. “Turn on the damn lights.”
When Christian called Viktor, he was already on his way home in a borrowed car. After he ended the call, he reached out to Merry with instructions that he and his companion switch locations. One of the churches didn’t have enough guards. Christian was glad for the reprieve and also wanted to check on Raven. If she had any other ideas going through that inquisitive head of hers, he wanted to be there.
Along the way, he spotted her truck barreling toward him. So he turned and tailed her. Wasn’t hard to do with her monstrosity of a vehicle. The motor sounded like thunder in Christian’s ears even from two blocks away. She was probably on her way back to the church, but he kept a safe distance just in case she had something else in mind. When she steered toward the Bricks, he cursed under his breath. That girl had a penchant for trouble.
And it was sexy as hell.
Christian had always been attracted to dominant women. It was his weakness. It was also his downfall.
She drove through the Bricks as if she owned it, oblivious to the men spying on her from windows and dark alleyways. Christian switched off his headlights and fell back far enough that she couldn’t see him but he could see her. When a plonker jumped onto the bed of her truck, Christian nearly blew his cover. Raven hit the gas, but the man held on and reached back with his fist to punch through the rear window. Gunshots fired. While the man was flopping across the road like a fish on land, Christian trained his ears on a vehicle parked on a side road up ahead. He heard the distinct sound of a window rolling up but nothing else.
Raven suddenly spoke, saying she wanted to make a deal. She wasn’t talking to Christian, nor was anyone else standing near her truck. Those words were meant for Vampire ears.
Raven was here searching for her maker.
Christian’s heart pounded against his ribs like a war drum, so he took a deep breath, forcing it to slow down. This might be his big chance to see the one and only Houdini. While he’d noticed him in a bar shortly before Raven’s abduction, he hadn’t put the man’s face to memory, thinking he was just another patron. As Christian tailed behind Raven, he neither saw nor heard a second vehicle. It was dark enough that a Vampire could shadow walk after her, and if Houdini was out there, he knew Christian was following.
Raven approached a bridge, her speed slowing until she stopped in the middle. After parking his vehicle, Christian treaded lightly across the grass and stood next to a tree, watching her from a safe distance as she got out and approached the edge. She was a vision to look at, her gorgeous black hair whipping around like tassels. After she said a few words, he realized what she was doing there. Raven was giving up something in exchange for saving the whole damn city.
As she threw an object into the water, she appeared confident that Houdini was listening and would accept her offer. That made Christian’s blood boil. Despite the gaslighting, Raven and Houdini shared the intimate bond between maker and youngling. All Vampires had experienced that powerful connection. It made younglings more trusting of their makers, no matter if they were good or evil. It was innate and one of the great mysteries of immortality. Even Christian had struggled with those feelings with his own maker, and Ronan was a decent man. It made severing the connection difficult—probably nature’s way of protecting the elders. Because of that, it was hard to know if Raven had reason to trust this man or was blinded by the blood they shared.
After her truck sped away, Christian readied himself for a confrontation. “I need to speak to you,” he ground out, shadow walking up to the bridge. “Still hiding like the coward that you are? I know what you’re doing to Raven.” Christian stalked to the center of the bridge, tuning out the wind so he could hear the Vampire’s heartbeat. He’d heard it all along. It had pounded faster when Raven asked him for help, and Christian realized just how much Raven excited the man.
The figure standing at the far end approached, his pace steady and confident. Christian could make out his bleached-white hair and narrow eyes. His dark eyebrows were perfectly shaped and sloped down in the middle, but the serious expression came across as forced. He was Christian’s height but with a slimmer build. Body type hardly mattered when determining a Vampire’s strength.
Houdini could have shadow walked to close the distance between them, but he continued at a leisurely pace. As he neared, his light eyes reeled in Christian’s attention. It wasn’t easy to tell from the distance their exact shade, but they definitely weren’t black.
Raven had been keeping a secret: Houdini wasn’t a full Vampire. Either that or he was defective.
It was common knowledge that Vampires had black eyes due to their fully dilated pupils. Their irises ceased to exist. Christian remembered him from the bar the night Raven went missing, but he’d always just assumed that Houdini was wearing contacts. Up close, it also appeared he didn’t have the same complexion as a Vampire. It was pale, like a man who lived underground, but there were far too many imperfections. Houdini had angled features like those of a well-bred aristocrat and hands that had never seen a day of manual labor. Christian was turned at thirty-one, but lower-class men like him were seasoned from experience and hardships. He guessed Houdini to be in his twenties.
“Nice night,” Houdini said, the collar on his grey coat standing straight up. “Since you’ve already seen my face, I’ll make this one exception.”
“What makes you so certain I won’t murder you?”
A smug smile touched the Vampire’s lips. “Surely a man of the cloth wouldn’t commit a mortal sin.”
Christian folded his arms, his robe flapping in the wind. “I wouldn’t hold your breath.”
“You also make an assumption that you could overpower me. Maybe you can, but maybe you can’t. Do you want to risk losing? And what might that mean for Raven?”
Christian’s fangs punched out. He lunged at Houdini and gripped him by the lapels. “If you ever hurt her, I will destroy you… even in death.”
“Then it seems we’re at a stalemate.” Houdini shoved Christian off and stepped back. “I do tire of assumptions. If I wanted to harm Raven, don’t you think I would have done it by now?”
“Haven’t you? She’s without her memory.”
Houdini played with the black stud in his ear. “You should thank me for that. You know as well as I do that whatever infatuation you have with her will never last. Raven only interests you because she’s different.”
“Aye. But answer me this: how many of your other younglings do you follow around? Do you meddle in their lives too, or do you just sell them on the black market like cattle?”
Houdini’s eyes narrowed.
“Your infatuation with her is unnatural. She’s your youngling.”
“She has my blood, and I have hers, but you act as if it’s incestuous.”
“You’re abusing your power!” Christian fired back, no longer able to control his anger. “If the Elders knew what you were doing, they’d lock you up for manipulation and gaslighting. Raven’s not herself. She doubts her memory and doesn’t even know her ideas from yours. Mind control is forbidden. Of all your crimes, that is the most heinous. Worse than selling your younglings on the black market. You and I both know it.”
A look of acknowledgment flashed on Houdini’s face, and Christian was certain that he recognized his crimes. The question was how much he cared. The more trust he built with Raven, the harder it would be for their relationship to sever naturally, as was the custom between a maker and his youngling. A Vampire must be able to go out into the world and make his own decisions without influence. Houdini was still the finger resting over her trigger.
“You erased me from her memories so you’d have more control,” Christian said sharply. “She trusts me, so that makes
me a threat in your eyes. But why should you care? You obviously don’t want her, or you wouldn’t have thrown her away like trash when she turned.”
Houdini snarled, and his fangs punched out. “Never speak of what you don’t know!”
“You’re a clever fella, but you don’t seem to recognize your own insecurities.” Christian squared his shoulders. “This was never about Raven; it was about your sense of entitlement and ownership to what she’s become. You want her to bow down at your feet and worship the ground you walk on. Charm her all you want, create a fictional life in her head that doesn’t exist, but there’s something deep down that neither of us can touch.”
Houdini tossed his head back and gazed at the universe. Christian watched closely, wondering if Houdini could see every celestial body that traveled across the heavens as he could. Raven had less-than-average vision for a Vampire. Had she inherited that trait from her maker?
“I’m aware of her free will,” Houdini admitted.
“Then give her back her memories.”
Most Vampires didn’t erase everything forever, not when it came to large chunks of memory.
Houdini quirked a brow. “Having trouble winning her heart?”
Christian locked his hands around Houdini’s neck, squeezing hard enough to kill an ordinary man.
Houdini’s lip curled in a snarl. “Kill me, and she’ll never be whole.”
“You’re a weak, insipid little man. Raven told me all about your little experiments. You’ve managed to convince her that you don’t have ulterior motives, but I don’t buy it—not from a man who tips the scales in his favor by selectively scrubbing her memories. You’re a coward. You hear me? You’re so afraid that she won’t subscribe to your beliefs that you’ve erased pieces of her to ensure that never happens.”
Houdini’s eyes slanted to the side before returning to meet his gaze. “Everything comes at a price.”
“And what is the price of her mind?”
“If you wish to bargain, you’ll know when the time comes.”
After a brief struggle, Christian let go. The wind battered the two men, who stood impervious to its frigid temperatures.
“Are you certain this is what you want?” Houdini asked, a fiendish smile touching his lips. “You make a valid point. It’s never a good idea to forget your past, is it, Mr. Poe?”
Christian felt uneasy about the implied meaning behind those words. “You’ll give it all back? I have your word?”
“You make a compelling argument that I can’t in good conscience ignore. I’m not the villain here, you know.”
“No. You’re the devil incarnate.”
Houdini laughed, and he sounded like a young man without a care in the world. Christian finally understood why it was so easy for Raven to believe him. Her maker came across as genuine and affable, and those were the most dangerous men of all.
“Do we have a deal?” Christian pressed. “You’ll give Raven her memory back? All of it?”
Houdini tucked his hands in his pockets and casually shifted his stance. “I’d shake on it, but that’s such a human thing to do.” He gave Christian an inscrutable gaze, but behind it lurked a secret. “Careful what you wish for.”
Before Christian could nail the fanghole with a right hook, Houdini shadow walked out of sight.
Christian knew that favor would come back to bite him, but it was a risk he was willing to take. Raven had soldiered on, despite the violation. But she didn’t deserve this.
Would her restored memory change her feelings for him? Perhaps. But for the first time in a long time, Christian was putting someone else’s needs before his own.
And that revelation surprised him more than he could have possibly imagined.
Chapter 22
After leaving Arrowhead Bridge and the puzzle box behind, I made my way back home. Because of the Regulators, Viktor didn’t need me at the church. We’d successfully moved all the officials on our list, so our job was done. When I pulled into the garage to park my truck, all the cars were accounted for, including the van. Curious how Blue was doing, I headed up to the second floor and heard chatter coming from Wyatt’s office. It sounded like a party going on in there.
When I poked my head inside the room, I caught Wyatt rolling across the floor in his leather chair. He had one knee on it, hands gripping the back, and a look of jubilation, as if his team had just won the Super Bowl.
“Put it back on the other channel!” Blue demanded from Claude, who was standing up with the remote control in his hand.
“A River Runs through It is a good movie,” he argued. Claude switched on another floor lamp and sauntered back to the L-shaped sofa.
It was surreal to see the lights and television working again. Wyatt’s vending machine was lit up inside, and he had several laptops and monitors switched on. All the colorful pillows on the black sectional were scattered, some on the floor and the rest in the corner. Blue was in the black beanbag chair, facing the TV, and she glared back at Claude to get his attention.
“No, go back one,” she said. “To the news.”
Claude turned his mouth to the side and reluctantly switched stations.
“I see the power’s back on,” I said from the doorway. “When did that happen?”
Wyatt rolled in my direction and startled me when he gripped my head and kissed me on the lips. “Ten fantastic minutes ago.”
I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.
Wyatt rolled to his desk to check everything. “All systems are go.”
I strolled farther into the room. Viktor was also sitting by the desk, and he and Niko were engaged in a quiet conversation. Claude sat on the couch across from the television while Shepherd claimed the side facing Wyatt’s desk. He was putting his cigarette out in an ashtray, his hands battered from whatever had happened during their shift. The room felt warm because of all the electronics running and warm bodies. Though Wyatt had a space heater beneath his desk, he hardly ever used it.
“Those people have no idea what it’s really like to live without power,” Wyatt remarked, replying to something the news reporter had just said. He peeled the wrapper off his candy bar. “All hell breaks loose because they can’t use their blow-dryer. It’s like people have no idea how to function.”
I snorted. “Says the man who’s always glued to his computer.”
He spun around in his chair. “Hold your ponies. This is my job. I can live without electricity.”
“That so?” Shepherd asked, a smile winding up his face. “’Cause I don’t see how the TV and vending machine are part of your job.”
Wyatt narrowed his eyes and turned to face him. One of his socks had a hole with his toe poking out. “If you put one finger on my shit, I’ll put all your smokes in that vending machine and charge twenty a pack.”
Shepherd spread his arms across the back of the sofa. “You do that, Spooky. See what happens to that windup toy you call a car.”
“Touch my car, and I’ll donate all your weapons to a museum.”
“All right, enough!” Blue said, cutting through the bullshit. “I’m trying to hear the news.”
When I approached Viktor’s chair, he reached for my hand and patted it.
“I was just telling Niko how proud I am of each of you. Because of the important nature of this assignment, I was able to negotiate generous pay. My contact assured me they’ll send payment once the officials are released.”
“Are they doing that now?”
“Nyet. The power only just came back. I believe they’re still looking at the most recent murders before they proceed.”
“Is your contact also in one of the churches?”
He smiled with his eyes. “I cannot tell you who my contacts are, little one. But rest assured, you will receive payment. It will just arrive later than usual.”
“That’s fine. It’s not like I had anything on layaway.”
“Lay a what?”
“Never mind.” I squeezed Viktor’
s shoulder and then pushed up my sleeves. “How’s Gem?”
“I am not without compassion. I have taken her off assignments for at least two weeks.”
Viktor was a good man. Work or not, he was concerned about our mental health and didn’t push us beyond our limitations. We were people with emotions, and sometimes we needed a mental vacation, or the stress would bleed into our work and put others at risk. There were enough of us to go around, so taking someone out of the game for a few weeks wouldn’t cause any irreparable damage.
“Did I hear my name?”
Everyone turned to Gem, who lingered by the door. Not a stitch of makeup was on her face, but her colorful hair and violet eyes more than made up for it. Her long grey duster floated past her black leggings, and she wore a bright-pink shirt beneath it. What also caught my eye were her roller skates.
Claude rose from his seat and glided toward her before lifting her off the ground into his arms. “How are you feeling, female?”
“Can’t you smell it?” she asked, her heavy skates dangling off the ground. “Put me down, Claude. I don’t want to make a scene.”
He did as she asked and stepped aside.
Wyatt used his feet to walk his chair up to her. “How’s it shakin’, Rollergirl?”
She mussed his hair. “I heard the television all the way from my room.”
He rolled back to his desk and resumed work on his computer. “I’ve been monitoring the surveillance cameras around the city, and the good news is the looting has stopped.”
She rolled past Claude and sat on the arm of the sofa. “What’s the bad news?”
“McDonald’s still isn’t open.”
I was curious about Christian’s whereabouts but didn’t want to draw attention to the fact I was interested. “Where’s the kid?”
“Sleeping,” Viktor replied. “He’s a good boy. Kira has had no trouble with him. Well, except for the sleeping arrangement.”