She raises an eyebrow. “This is Mirko we’re talking about, right?”
“He hasn’t pushed it. I swear. I’ve instigated it more than he has, and we almost, but then my dad, and we … yeah, it was bad. We have a lot to catch up on.”
I freeze. It truly hits me. “You couldn’t feel David.”
Kaitlynn’s eyes close.
“Outside his house. When you said you couldn’t feel him. You meant literally.” Oh my God. Not only is she suffering from the fact that the boy she loves is never coming back, but she can feel everyone except him. It must leave her with a gaping hole where she should feel him.
I’m not sure how it all works. I’ll have to ask her when time heals her a little, but I’m certain her loss goes deeper than I can imagine.
Kaitlynn’s eyes glisten in the moonlight.
I step closer and wrap my arms around her.
“I have to leave,” Kaitlynn says and steps back, but she doesn’t turn to go.
I ignore her. We both fight back tears.
“I’m so sorry.” I want to ask her why she didn’t tell me about being able to feel people. I want to tell her that her need for revenge is justified, that I’ll go with her, but it’s a suicide mission. We aren’t prepared to fight Emerik, nor are we prepared for the dominoes that will fall if we get lucky. But most of all, I’m not prepared to lose my best friend.
“You can’t go—”
Kaitlynn opens her mouth to interrupt, but I talk over her. “Tonight. You go and Emerik wins. Is it more important to you to go after him tonight, or to win when you go after him? You need backup. You need training. You need a better plan than simply knowing where he is.”
Kaitlynn peeks back at her Jeep as if it beckons her.
I step toward her and place my hand on her shoulder. “You want Emerik? Fine. We’ll get him. But tonight is not that night. Not yet.”
Kaitlynn tilts her head and appraises me. “You’ll help me get him?”
“Of course.” I cross a line without second-guessing myself. I’m now willing to kill for more than self-defense. That should bother me, but in this case, it doesn’t. Emerik tried to kill me. He’s behind David’s murder, and these facts overpower any guilt that might weigh upon me.
Kaitlynn sticks her hand at me with her pinky pointed out. “Promise?”
I hook my pinky around hers and then we bring our hands to our mouths and kiss the hollow end made by our fists. I won’t break this promise. “I promise. Now let’s go home.”
Kaitlynn shakes her head. “I can’t go home. Too many memories of David. I can’t be there tonight.”
I can take her back to Garwin’s, but being in a house full of Zao Duhs probably won’t be much better.
But …
I know a place that can work.
My house is where Kaitlynn and David had their first kiss, but my room is free of all memories of him and filled with others that should be comforting. “Wanna stay at my house? In my room?”
She considers it before nodding.
“I’ll meet you there.” I climb into my car and wait for Kaitlynn to turn around before I do. I set the alarm on my phone for 4 a.m. so I can text Mirko and let him know where I am. He’s going to be pissed when he finds out I left the house by myself and stayed the night somewhere else. But it’s worth it for Kaitlynn.
Hell, I just pinky swore I’d help her kill a man without question.
Actually, I do have one question: I get my own shovel, right?
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Mirko
The moonlight streaks across the room, casting shadows on the far wall. I lie awake and stare at them, willing them to give me answers to some of my worries. I’ve had many sleepless nights recently, but none have been as desolate as this one.
Brooke used to fill some of my nights with whiffs of lemon drops from flipping her hair, with her quiet laughter when I nip her bottom lip, with her freshly shaved legs rubbing against mine, softer than silk. Her taste, her warmth. I miss every facet of her.
I knew Brooke would be scared of her father’s threats. That’s why I made her promise she would never give me up. I wanted Brooke to fight for us. To really fight for us. But as soon as real resistance stood in our way, she gave up on me.
I toss in bed and pull the covers out from around me.
Zladislov is locked away somewhere, so he can’t really do much to keep us apart if we don’t want to be.
So why hasn’t Brooke come to me tonight?
A large part of me has been hoping she would. The fact that she hasn’t proves to me how little she’s willing to fight for me.
For us.
I battle with myself to not get up and go to her instead, telling myself that if she doesn’t come to me, she doesn’t want to. But the more I agonize about it, the more I can’t help but wonder if she’s changed her mind about us.
The thought terrorizes me.
My phone vibrates on the pillow next to me and anticipation fills me. I roll over, expecting it to be a text from Brooke saying she fell asleep. I swipe my thumb across the screen and pull up the message.
BROOKE: Im ok. Dont worry. Im @ my house w Kaitlynn. We needed 2 get away for a bit. Will b over after the sun comes up.
I read the message again in case my tired eyes aren’t seeing clearly. When the words don’t change, I toss the phone on the nightstand and roll out of bed.
What is she thinking?
I curse and stab my foot into my jeans. I don’t expect her to be a prisoner in this house, but I expect her to tell me when she wants to leave. And leaving in the middle of the night is even more foolish than sneaking into my room.
When clothes hang in all the right places, I snatch the phone off the table and march out of the house, grabbing the Land Rover keys from the dish in the foyer on my way out.
I take Beech Avenue once I get into town. I’ve never been to Brooke’s house, but my GPS knows the address. I turn it off when I get across town and spot Kaitlynn’s Jeep in the driveway. I pull in behind it and hop out.
My sneakers make a hollow thud against the old, wood planks as I climb the stairs and walk across the porch to the front door. I almost walk in but decide knocking will scare Brooke a little more, so I tap the door and cover the peephole.
Serves her right.
Her light footfalls sound as she pads to the door. There’s a beat of silence. “Who is it?” she asks sternly.
“Open the damn door,” I reply.
Once the locks disengage, I push the door open. “What the hell were you thinking?” I want to grab her shoulders and shake her.
She shuts the door and folds her arms, scowling at me. “I was thinking that I was sick of being in a house with everyone, but feeling more alone with my thoughts than I felt comfortable with. I was thinking that if I could just get some fresh air, that invisible slab of concrete wouldn’t be able to crush my lungs. I was thinking if I had to endure one more achingly long minute in my own bed, I would crawl out of my skin.”
“Mirko?” Kaitlynn interrupts us.
I hesitate, but I can’t shrug off Kaitlynn. She’s been through too much and deserves more than that. The argument will have to wait. Probably a good thing anyway, because I’m not sure yet how I want it to go. “Hey, how have you been doing with your transition?”
“Okay, I guess. What’s going on?”
“I should be asking you two the same question.” I walk over to the couch and sit. I prop my ankle on my other knee, making myself at home, ready for their story.
Brooke and Kaitlynn eye each other. “Do you want to tell him, or should I?” Brooke asks.
Kaitlynn strides over to the couch and sits down. Brooke hesitates by the door.
“What’s going on with you two?” Kaitlynn asks.
“Later,” I say.
“All right,” Kaitlynn says and sighs. “I can feel people.”
I appraise her, my brows stitching together. “What do you mean? In what way?”
My heart speeds up, but I focus on breathing to control it. None of this makes any sense. “But you had Nestati. Do you still have it?”
“I don’t know.” Kaitlynn holds her hand out and it blinks in and out.
“I guess you do,” I say.
Brooke’s jaw drops. “No way! How can she do that? She just thinks about it and it happens for her?”
So many thoughts tumble through my mind, but my answer comes automatically. “For one thing, she’s not trying to fight it. And another, when she was turned, all of her pathways were opened up to the Zao Duh aspects of herself. You had to work to get to yours.”
“Oh,” Brooke says and smiles at Kaitlynn.
I’m not as easily distracted. “Can you feel me?” I ask Brooke.
She chews the inside of her cheek. “No,” she says.
“Can you feel anyone?”
She shakes her head. “No. No one.”
“Well, then how can you?” I ask Kaitlynn. Of course she won’t be able to answer that, but I’m thinking out loud.
She shrugs. “I just do. From the moment I woke up.”
“That would mean you have both Nestati and Locirati.” The one alone should be impossible. But two …?
“Loca what?” Brooke asks.
“Locirati. She can locate people by feeling where they are physically.” I study Brooke, the way her bottom lip pouts naturally and how her gaze turns down, almost afraid to meet my eyes. “And you’ve never felt that? Not once?”
She peers up at me. “No, I’ve never known where someone was like she can.” Brooke looks at Kaitlynn and moves to rest a hand on her shoulder.
Kaitlynn closes her eyes.
“David,” Brooke whispers. “She can’t feel him.”
Damn.
“I’m sorry, Kaitlynn.” I reach over and rub Kaitlynn’s other shoulder. “Really, I am.”
She gives me a tight smile, but her eyes convey all the hurt and torment consuming her. She’s hid it pretty well before we mentioned David, so distracting her again is the best thing I can do.
“It’s possible Locirati runs in your bloodline,” I explain to Brooke.
“So, you’re not aware of any of my relatives who had it?”
I shake my head. “I’d have to ask Zladislov.”
Could Kaitlynn …?
I sit up and drop my leg. “Can you feel Zladislov?”
Kaitlynn’s eyes grow distant before she smiles. “Yes! He’s south of here. I’m not sure where, but probably only two or three hours. I could lead you there.”
I clap my hands together and stand. “Grab your things. Let’s go.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Brooke
Mirko, Ace, Hawk, Kaitlynn, and I perch on top of a North Carolina cliff overlooking a large house and a manmade lake in the middle of the woods.
“Zladislov’s in there,” Kaitlynn says, sounding as certain as she did the first time she said it.
“After a four-hour road trip, I hope you’re right,” Mirko says.
Ace mentioned earlier that it should’ve taken us only three hours to reach this location north of and between Winston-Salem and Greensboro, but Kaitlynn argued that she didn’t come with GPS to navigate the winding roads. Her gift works in a more linear fashion.
That shut him up.
I still can’t believe her accuracy in leading us here. I trust her completely. If she says my dad’s in there, then he’s in there. And I love the way she sees her power as a gift, and not something negative like I did when I first found out what I was.
“Are they going to let you see him?” Kaitlynn asks, sitting shotgun. I’m in the back of the Land Rover. It’s probably better this way with the weird tension between Mirko and me.
“We’re about to find out.” Mirko puts the car in reverse and winds his way down to the road we found while peering over the cliff.
“What’s the plan?” Ace asks from the back seat.
“We walk up, knock on the door, and ask to see Zladislov.”
“And if they say no?” Kaitlynn asks.
“They really can’t stop me,” I say. “I’ll flex inside and use Nestati until I find him.”
Mirko’s dark brows lower at me. “Your powers can be useful, and now could be one of those times, but not if it means you always go off alone. I can’t back you up or be inside there with you if you get spotted. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
“But I could,” Kaitlynn interjects, having my back like the badass best friend she is. “I’ll walk in with you if you only use Nestati.”
I smile and reach my hand forward to her. Kaitlynn grabs it and we have a BFF moment. I can’t remember the last time we had one of those. I made a mistake not telling her about Mirko and me. She wouldn’t have said anything to anyone. And after she led us to my dad out in the middle of nowhere—and everything else she’s gone through this week—I know she can handle anything I throw at her.
“It won’t get to that point,” Mirko says, agitated. “You said you wanted to see your dad, so I’m trying to make that happen. But this is not a game. You will follow my orders as I order them.”
Mirko’s sexy when he goes all commander.
Just not when he goes all commander on me.
Sadness fills my heart when I think to tuck that away to tell him later when we’re alone, but I’m not sure he’ll talk to me later. Let alone be alone with me. He’s been avoiding me altogether.
I roll my eyes to hide my pain.
“I’m serious.” Mirko hits the brakes and the Land Rover comes to a hard stop.
“All right,” I sigh. I trust Mirko, but I can’t help that I can do things he can’t.
He continues forward, diligently surveying everything around us, while at the same time avoiding locking eyes with me.
My insides tangle. It hurts.
“Three o’clock.” Hawk points. “Did you see that?”
“I caught it,” Mirko says.
“See what?” I glance behind us, trying to find what they saw.
“A camera.” Mirko says. “If they have one out here, they’ll have them around the property and in the house too.”
“For sure,” Ace adds.
We ride in tense silence the rest of the way. Mirko turns the car around so it faces the road. “Let me do the talking,” he orders as we unload and follow him to the front of the house.
Three men stroll down the front steps and make their way toward us. “This is private property,” the larger man says.
“We’d like to see Zladislov,” Mirko replies. He stands with his feet shoulder-width apart, and although he isn’t as burly as these guys, I know he will give them all hell if it comes to it.
I hope it doesn’t, though. I just want to see my dad, see if we can get him out, and figure out this Emerik stuff.
The big guys look at each other, surprised. “Who are you?” the same guy who spoke earlier asks.
Mirko points to me. “This is Brooke. She’s his daughter. And I’m Mirko, a Zao Duh acting as her guardian.
The man studies me, looks at Mirko, and whispers to the guy standing next to him. It’s faint, but he whispers for the guy to call someone.
The smaller man turns away from us and goes up on the porch. He pulls out a phone and follows the wrapped deck to the side of the house. It must be a sat phone because I don’t have any cell service out here.
I worry my bottom lip as we wait for the man to come back. Hopefully, the worst thing will be him telling us we can’t see my dad.
But with Pijawikas, you never know.
I’m about to ask the larger guy who the smaller man is calling when he walks from the porch. “He said the Zao Duh could see him, but not the girl.”
My eyes grow big and my jaw drops, along with my anxious heart.
“Why not?” I ask, heated.
“Brooke,” Mi
rko says, pushing my shoulders, making me walk backward. “Let me go talk to him.” His brown eyes swirl with shades of brandy and flare for a second, pleading with me.
I grind my teeth and exhale, slumping my shoulders in defeat. “Fine. Tell him I don’t hate him.”
He squeezes my shoulders.
I close my eyes and shiver internally. It’s the most contact I’ve had from him since I told him to leave.
“I will. Don’t do anything stupid. Ace.” Mirko turns around and Ace walks over. Mirko whispers to Ace as they pass. “Watch her. Leave without me if you have to.” Mirko gives him the keys.
I squint at him. Does he know what I plan to do?
He must. He knows me too well not to.
Mirko follows the man who made the phone call. The other two keep their post as Kaitlynn, Hawk, Ace, and I walk back to the car.
“Take the front,” I tell Kaitlynn and step in front of her to get into the back with Hawk as Ace gets in the driver’s seat.
Once we’re all in, I stretch across the seat and rest my feet in Hawk’s lap.
“What are you doing?” Ace scolds me.
“Shhh.”
“They can still see us!”
“I know. That’s why I’m lying down.”
Hawk rolls the ring in his lip under his teeth and wraps his arms around my ankles, like that can stop me from going anywhere. “Even if you do go in all invisible, you can’t just walk around opening and closing doors. The cameras will pick that up.”
Good point. “Where’s he at, exactly?” I ask Kaitlynn.
“Toward the back of the house. To our right of center. Can you pop in and out of rooms until you find him?”
“Yeah, I’ll make sure they don’t even know I’m there.”
“Brooke, no,” Ace growls. “You can pop in and out of there, but Mirko can’t. You get caught and you’ll put him in danger.”
My pulse pounds in my ears, and Hawk’s grip around my ankles tightens. I don’t want to put Mirko in danger. Ever. But he went in there by himself. He doesn’t have any backup.
Enemy Within (Vampire Born Trilogy, #2) Page 23