I raked her other cheek.
Dawn screamed in pain, but otherwise stayed silent.
“All right,” I said, “let’s start at the other end.” I knelt down and took one of her bare feet in my hands. Grasping the smallest toe, I yanked up and snapped the bone. “This is one little piggy that will be yelling wee wee wee in pain the whole way home.”
I could smell the bile starting to rise up from her stomach so I quickly got out of the way. Vampire reflexes were wonderful.
Once she finished vomiting, Dawn sobbed. “Tristan! It was Tristan.”
“Anton’s second?” No wonder he had killed the female vampire the night we patrolled together. He wanted to shut her up before she gave anything away or pointed the finger at him. He was always hovering around, trying to keep me away from Anton, it appeared to prevent us from teaming up to discover his duplicity.
“We wanted to make the pair of you pay for your crimes! This was never about Kain.”
Then it hit me. The one “crime” Anton and I shared, if you belonged to Gregory’s caste that was, was their almost total destruction. Dawn and Tristan were of the same blood. This was why vampires didn’t usually take outsiders into their castes; you could only trust blood. If Anton had had any idea Tristan belonged to Gregory he never would have let him live let alone be his second. “Did you join our coven to betray us or did Tristan talk you into it after he found out who made you?”
I surprised her. I don’t think she expected me to connect the dots that easily. She should be grateful I had, she still had nine more toes that weren’t dislocated and fractured.
“I was sent here by the one who gave the blood to caste me. Tristan came later on his own mission. We met by accident.”
“Who made you?”
“That I will not tell.”
“I already know what bloodline you are, why hold back the name?”
“Because where I fail she will succeed and you will bleed bitch.”
“She? Now that is telling. Just give me a name and we can end this.”
Dawn remained silent.
“Why do you make me do this?” There went the next toe in line with a crack. And then the next. And then…..
“STOP! I’ll tell you, just stop!” Dawn gasped for breath. “Gregory’s consort, Helen, made me. They thought I would be useful, just like Lucius thought you would be, only they made me weaker so I wouldn’t be threatening.”
“The perfect spy,” I purred. “Pretty and fun and not bright enough to earn anyone’s suspicion. What was Tristan to them?”
“My feet!” Dawn whined.
“Next are your fingers. Tell me about Tristan.”
“Tristan had been their dessert before he was changed. He owed Gregory a debt for changing him so he came here to settle the score. He didn’t know I was here because he came of his own accord. We met up on the hunt one night and decided to work together. He’s the one that paid for that broodmare’s car and house. After you went to see her the first time and killed her guards, she started demanding more money for the ‘threat’ against her life you presented. We knew you would eventually go back so we told her if she described Kain and it worked we would give her more cash.”
“Was anyone else from the coven involved?”
“Max.”
“The driver?” That was a surprise. “What did he get out of all this? Was he of Gregory’s line too?”
“He got sex and in exchange, I got to know where everyone went and what they said. No one ever thinks that the driver with the preternatural hearing can hear through that glass.”
I had all I really needed. “Thank you for your cooperation, Dawn. For what it’s worth, when you weren’t being a snotty bitch I did enjoy spending time with you.”
I killed her in a very painful way reserved for traitors. I won’t go into details, but it was very bloody and messy. If she had been Hadi it would have been worse because she would have betrayed her own blood by turning on me and a coven under my protection.
As I walked out of warehouse, I was still wiping blood off my nails when Kain walked over. He eyed me as he fell into step beside me and said, “The cleaning crew is on its way over. I anticipated.”
“Thanks. We need to get moving.”
“I was going to ask if you cracked her or wound up killing her in the process, but of course you cracked her. Who was her accomplice?”
“Anton’s second, Tristan,” I hissed as we got into my car. “They both belonged to Gregory. This was all payback for what we did to their caste when they tried to invade us the last time I was home.”
Kain growled. “We have a problem.”
“Several. Gregory’s consort is behind all this and according to Dawn she is going to keep trying to kill us all and we had another traitor under our roof.”
“Who?”
“Max was her spy in return for some ass.”
“Max and Dawn? Really? He’s so….and she was so…”
“Kain? Can we focus? What problem were you talking about?”
“Tristan is at the club with Rainor going over details for the opening.”
“What?”
“Tristan called the house about some problem with the accounts while I was taking care of Dawn, something about insufficient funds to finish with the renovations. Rainor said it was something a ‘useless old man’ could handle while the rest of us did the dirty work so he had Max drive him over there.”
“And you let him go?”
Kain ran his fingers through his hair. “It’s not my place to tell our leader no. I had no way of knowing it was a trap. Upside is, I sent Gabriel with him so he’s not completely at the mercy of our enemies. Shit! I handed them a golden opportunity to ransom Rainor. There’s no telling how many of Tristan’s crew are waiting for us to show up. Shit!”
I glanced over at Kain and smirked. “That’s what makes it truly interesting.”
“I’ll call the house and have the offensive team meet us there.”
“No. Call Anton and tell him he’s going to need another second.” I slammed the gas pedal down.
Chapter 24
We found Gabriel’s body outside the club; they had stabbed him in the back and broken his neck. Four piles of ash that had been the vampires’ sentries joined his remains the instant Kain and I saw them. Max and the car were nowhere in sight, which meant Max was running for his life because he knew the second I found out Tristan had Rainor I would be coming. Run while you can Max, I will have you hunted down and killed. Maybe I would have his head nailed to the front gate as a warning.
There was no telling how many vampires were inside. My gut reaction was to kick in the door and just start killing them, but they had Rainor. It was one thing for him to die with his boots on, but to die as a hostage, most likely tied up, was not my definition of the term. My leader would not die as a victim even if he were already dying of cancer. We needed to take them by surprise. My eyes met Kain’s and I glanced towards the back door and then to the front. He nodded and headed towards the back. His mission was to get Rainor out; mine was to make sure he had a clear shot. That was my first mission; my second was to kill every vampire in the place.
I walked in like I had no idea this was anything other than a business meeting. “Sorry for being late, an old friend of mine was tied up and I had to attend to her.”
Ten pairs of now red eyes and ten pairs of bared fangs greeted me. Tristan’s eyes remained their normal color as he eyed me calmly.
I continued, “Oh, look at all the vampires and not one of them a Hadi, I bet I know who they used to belong to. I wish I had known this was a party, your doormen didn’t tell me. Don’t worry though, they won’t fail you again.”
Rainor was standing next to Tristan. They hadn’t even bothered to tie him up. I realized they thought that was more insulting, they didn’t even consider him enough of a threat to bind him up. Damn them! But there was a glint in Rainor’s eye as he asked, “Is the bitch burning in hell with he
r beloved Master?”
“Of course. Gregory would have been so proud. She not only cried, but she told me everything. Oh, and she begged for her life too.” I laughed and watched as Tristan’s eyes now went a murderous red. “What’s the matter Tristan? Mad I took your toy away or is it that I beat your people again?”
“You will pay for this!”
“Sort of along the lines of what she said, but we see where that got Dawn. You’ll be seeing her in hell soon enough so cheer up.” Aside from my delight in goading people, I was actually stalling for Kain to make his way in from the back. I was fast, but there was no way I could rescue Rainor and kill all the vampires. He no longer had the speed to flee on his own or the strength to help me fight. If I tried to take them all out he would most likely end up dying by the hand of one of the last ones still alive.
“No,” Tristan said, “I think you’ll be the one in hell Natasha. I’m going to make you watch your beloved Rainor die before I suck you dry and drag your corpse around the perimeter of Anton’s house behind my car.”
I sidled closer. “How very Achilles and Hector of you. But we know how that ended for Achilles. I think Anton would be more than willing to put an arrow in you for that even if you weren’t playing him all this time already.”
“But we’re in the modern era. Faster weapons.” Tristan pulled a gun from his coat and took aim. Kain was a blur of motion running towards the vampire to disarm him. I sped towards Rainor, knowing a vampire was likely to have the smallest bit more speed in his reflexes than Kain. I heard the gun go off and from the corner of my eye I saw Kain tackle Tristan and slam a stake into his heart. No sooner had I stepped between Rainor and the bullet than I felt myself being shunted aside. I had not anticipated Rainor being the obstacle to my saving him and was caught off guard. I stumbled to the side.
“No Natasha!” Rainor yelled. “You are our future.”
“Rainor it won’t kill me!”
But it was too late. The bullet whizzed by me and struck Rainor in the chest. Blood covered the front of his shirt. He had never been an instant regenerator, but this would not have necessarily been a mortal wound if he had not already been weak. He slid to the ground. I was about to take his hand when I heard the snarl of the vampires under Tristan’s command. Between their fury over their leader’s death at Kain’s hand, my sticking it to them about offing their old Master, Gregory, and the blood lust Rainor’s wound had caused they were ready to attack.
Too bad for them my own blood was screaming too. This was what I was created to be, the perfect guard for Lucius if his defenses were breeched and the perfect fighter against any sort of enemy my caste might ever have faced. I grinned at them. In a blurring motion I moved across the room where I killed the first one where she stood. The rest were staring at me in disbelief as I stood with her heart in my hand. It turned to dust an instant after her body finished burning itself out into ash. I smirked at them. “You have no idea what you’ve unleashed on yourselves tonight.”
The second one I beheaded with the toss of one of my throwing stars. Then the real fight began as their shock gave way to fury. I gave in to my blood and let battle heat take over. Between Kain and I, it was over in five heartbeats. The door bashed open and my offensive team poured in. Pity they missed the fun. I heard Rainor gasp my name and I remembered why I had been so angry.
“Fill them in Kain and keep them back,” I ordered and rushed to my leader’s side. I took his hand in mine and felt how cold it was. “We got them all sir.”
“It was a thing of beauty.” He coughed with the effort of speaking normally and his breath came in shallow rasps. Death was closing in on Rainor, I could hear it strangling the life from his heart, but he struggled to stay alive to ask me one question. A human would not have been able to hear what he was about to say, but there were too many keen ears around that did not need to hear this exchange. I leaned in closer to try to block others from hearing. “Na…tasha. The question I told you…I would…ask. I need…to…know about what you…took when you left.”
Here it came, the question that I had been dreading since I returned, but fate was being kind to me if not to him with the night’s events. I would be spared a hard decision.
“Where is my son? I know…you took him with you when…you left and I know…where you have…been.”
My blood stilled. “Then you know the answer.”
“I want the words.”
“You know what that means.”
“If you don’t do it, you will eventually face challenges for showing weakness and leaving me to fate instead of…ending it with your own hands. You will…wind up killing your way through my…coven. If we do it this way, you don’t have to…feel guilty, you will be…keeping to your code and…I will die quicker and with an easier heart…knowing for certain…where he is. Tell me!”
Let them challenge me if they wanted; I was going to stall until the choice was taken from me. Why could he not have insisted upon my answering this when I first arrived and some clarity still remained in me? My shred of humanity had returned; I would not do that which would kill it forever. “In good time.”
“Then…answer…me…did you…love each other before the ‘darkness’…twisted it?”
Patrick. The scowling boy in the photo with Rainor’s dead wife Claire had grown up to be the lover Anton sneered jealously over. Patrick had left with me twenty-six years ago and close to two years ago we had parted company on less than amicable terms, but that was not the exact bit of information he wanted from me. “As much as we were capable of.”
Rainor tried to laugh, but it came out as a rattle. “Glib…to the…last.”
Neither of us said another word. He knew I would tell him. In the silence I heard Rainor’s slowing heartbeat catch. That was when I leaned over and whispered the answer he so desperately wanted in his ear. He smiled and thanked me. And then he died.
The coven was mine.
Tears of blood began to pour down my face. I could not remember the last time I had cried for any reason other than laughter.
Kain came to my side and said, “Should I take you out of here before the vampires arrive? Anton said he would be coming personally when I called him from the car and you don’t need that right now.”
I shook my head. I could mourn, but I could not show weakness. Reaching over I closed Rainor’s eyelids and placed coins on them in the tradition of days gone by. “Good-bye.”
As I was getting to my feet, the vampires poured into the building with Anton and Marcus at the lead. I was a little surprised that in light of Tristan’s treachery Anton had brought someone not of his blood with him. He must really trust Marcus. The vampires were ready for battle, but saw there was no one left to fight. Anton’s eyes locked on mine and softened when he saw my tears before his gaze slid to the floor to confirm what he already knew; Rainor was dead.
Together, as if they had rehearsed it, all the members of my coven that were present went down on one knee to acknowledge my ascension. To my surprise, Marcus bowed to me and all the vampires with him, except for Anton, followed suit. Anton gave me an inclination of the head and a look that said I had his support in handling Rainor’s death and fully taking over the coven if I wanted it, but I would have to ask for it. We both knew I would not ask.
To my coven I said, “You may rise.”
To the vampires I said, “Thank you for your support my allies. I hope this means our good terms will continue under my reign as they did under Rainor’s. We are going to face enough challenges from the outside without tearing each other to pieces.”
To Kain I said, “See to Rainor’s body.”
Then I swept out of the building with tears still flowing from my eyes and went out into the night.
*****
As was customary, Rainor’s funeral pyre was built and ready to be set on fire by sunset the next night. I took my place at the head of the soon-to-be blazing pile with Kain to my left, as an enforcer should. If Patrick were
present, as Rainor’s son, he would have stood at my right as my second. That was if he had not ascended in my place and placed me at his right. All the eyes staring at the pyre were wet, some, like mine, were wet with blood tears. A series of hisses and snarls rolled forward from the back of the crowd of mourners. I could sense who approached, but still I turned and what I saw made my muscles tense for battle. No one could ever accuse me of trying to find the best in people’s motives.
The vampires had arrived.
It was not their entire caste, only Anton, the dessert and Marcus, who I assumed was his new second, glided towards me. This was a courtesy call, not an attack if there were only two vampires and a defenseless human. I relaxed immediately and hoped my coven realized that before anyone did anything stupid. I stepped forward to greet them. “You do us an honor Anton. I thank you.”
He inclined his head towards me. “I have known Rainor for many years, he was a worthy leader that earned my respect. I give him what courtesy I may.”
“As I said last night, I hope the…friendship that grew between our families can continue.”
Anton’s black eyes raked me from head to toe. Ashley noticed and bristled. “Natasha, I can assure you that I want nothing more than to be your friend.”
I shouldn’t. It was a funeral. But Rainor’s inner bad boy would love it now that the fall out would not be his problem. What the hell? “Really? I thought you wanted to have sex with me. But if friendship is all you want, brother dear, that’s what you shall have.”
The dessert stamped her foot. “Anton!”
Marcus began coughing, which would have been a plausible cover for his laughter if vampires breathed.
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