“Then maybe you should make her an offer,” he replied with a laugh. “Because we will not let you put vampires under your rule in our training house without her.”
Jason turned toward Alex, a mask of agitation covering his face. He thought this would be easy. Unfortunately for him, Morgan didn’t want to make this easy. His dislike of Jason was evident, but it went deeper than that.
“I’ll have to take this to the Head of the Council,” Jason sighed as he turned back to Morgan and Esmeralda.
“Go ahead,” he answered then sat down again. “We’ll wait.”
At least she had the morning off. Nikki took in the sights as she thought about all the plans that needed her attention. Jason’s childish dismissal of her for the session with the Warrens turned into a blessing. She could window-shop instead of watch Jason pretend not to be watching Alex every chance he got.
The little café was perfectly quiet and quaint, she thought as she took the empty table by the window. Once her coffee and pastry arrived, Nikki thanked the little lady and took her time with her breakfast. The last thing she was worried about was Jason, for once.
She’d decided on a beautiful black box invitation. Each satin box would contain the official invitation, RSVP card, and a black return envelope neatly bound together by a deep red silk ribbon. The three hundred guests that Jason had limited her to would be selected by Jason and Nikki. This was going to be the event of the year. And when Conner made the announcement of Jason’s appointment to the Lower Chamber, everyone that was anyone would want to attend.
Her pride and ego swelled as she thought about all the excitement that would buzz around her wedding. She suddenly felt a little panic flutter in her chest. Did she have the right dress? She sighed and giggled to herself. Of course she did. The wine red strapless gown was beyond dramatic. The mermaid design wrapped her body in silk all the way to her knees, then opened up around her legs in gorgeous folds of tulle. A diamond tiara was being made specifically for that dress. She would be the talk of the social circuit for years to come.
“May I warm your coffee miss?” the lady’s voice intruded on Nikki’s musing.
“Yes,” she sniffed as she pushed the small, white cup toward the edge of the table.
Fresh coffee scent surrounded her. She put the tablet down and stirred in real cream as she admired the picture of her dress again. A quick sip to test the temperature, Nikki tapped the screen again to move to a back view of the dress.
The taste of that first sip bounced around her mouth. She put down the tablet and took another sip. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d tasted coffee this good. Aromatic and rich, it didn’t need a thing, not even a bit of blood to kill a bad taste. It didn’t have a bad taste.
“May I ask,” Nikki said over her shoulder to the woman as she wiped down the small counter. “Do you grind this here?”
“Yes, miss,” she smiled. “Would you like to buy some?”
“Yes,” Nikki smiled back. “One pound please.”
The woman disappeared behind a dull colored curtain. When she returned, she had a small bundle wrapped in plain, brown paper in her wrinkled hands. Nikki immediately put the package to her nose and took a big whiff of the coffee. It was heavenly.
On her walk back to the hotel, she let that smell invade her senses. The short walk was pleasant. Inside the elevator, her vision blurred. When she reached the room, she had to lean against the door because the room began to spin. Before she could catch it, the package dropped from her fingers and broke open on the carpet at her feet.
She thought she heard her phone ring deep inside her purse.
“Paul? Come to my room, please,” she slurred and the phone dropped from her hand.
Not long after, he ran through the door and caught her as she fell.
“I got you,” she heard a deep voice say next to her ear.
Paul laid her gently on the bed then went to the bathroom. He returned with a cool cloth. As he laid it over her forehead, he put his phone to his ear and answered the door.
Nikki heard the scuffle, but she was too weak to move. When the smell of sulfur and ash reached her nose, she felt her stomach flip. Then her body began to rise from the bed. She must have blacked out because a sudden blast of cold air popped her eyes open.
A warmth spread over her cold skin as a man slid her inside the back seat of a pristine sedan. He got in next to her and her head dropped to his shoulder. She could no longer fight the darkness as it came crashing down on her. Then she heard him laugh.
“We haven’t been properly introduced, Ms. Hanson,” he chuckled as he held her face in his cold hands. “Jesse Cooper, at your service,” he smiled. “Everyone calls me Coop, though.”
She tried to form that word, but her mouth would not cooperate. She even tried to push him away and reach for the door handle, but the drug was strong and growing stronger as she fought her heavy eyelids.
“Don’t try to fight it, Nick,” Coop’s watery voice told her. “It was in the coffee you had too much of.” He and the driver she was suddenly aware of laughed together.
He took her purse, dug out her phone and tossed it from the car window. The last thing she heard was a cackle of a laugh come from the driver and something about a small taste before they killed her.
“You don’t have to do this,” Morgan said to Alex.
“Neither do you,” she replied.
“I’m just trying to get you a way out of this.”
“I don’t see a way out of this.”
Morgan tapped the table with his thumb as he stared at Alex. Jason was still on the line, supposedly with Conner. It had been almost thirty minutes. Esmeralda sat silently behind them. That’s very unusual for Esmeralda—to be quiet, that is, Alex thought as she turned in her seat to look at her.
“What? Nothing to say?” she hummed.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Esmeralda purred. “I have plenty to say. I’m just waiting on you two to stop the staring game for two seconds.”
Alex sat up straight, crossed her legs, and blinked.
“Whatever you’re planning on doing with that weapon, don’t,” Esmeralda announced.
“How’d you find out about it, anyway?” Alex frowned. No one could keep a damn secret these days.
“Please,” Esmeralda waved her off. “Bianca called me the second you came to Ashblood asking for that favor she owed you. Do you understand what the spell will do?”
“Not really. I was kinda hoping I wouldn’t have to find out,” Alex grinned. “Now I’m intrigued.”
“It will interrupt our spell,” Morgan joined in. “It will allow you to bring her to the surface again.”
With a few magic words, all the pain they went through to help her put a lid on her rage could all be wasted. How fair was that? When she needed them, they were there with Roland to save her from herself. Once she had been physically freed of Creed, his mental hold on her had to be broken for her to truly start over. Blood bonds could only be broken one way—death. She had died and been reborn, in a way.
Esmeralda, Morgan, and Roland had brought her back from death. Now, Alex was considering breaking the spell just to have an edge on Tristan. But how strong was she now? She talked a good game, but was she really any stronger now than she was then?
Alex was afraid to answer that question. They hadn’t had time to study the bracelet and text that the Cantu had brought her properly, but she trusted Esmeralda. If she said the bracelet’s own magic would block the current spell, it would. She’d be soulless once again.
“If it helps me get Tristan, I can handle it,” Alex said.
“You couldn’t handle it before,” Esmeralda replied.
“That was only because of the blood bond,” Alex stated. “It was broken when I died, remember?”
Alex grinned at them because she thought she’d won
the argument. Esmeralda sat forward and glared at her. Maybe the argument had just begun.
“Your bond with Creed was broken, but that thirst for blood and pain existed in you before that happened,” Esmeralda said. “Remember?”
“Yeah, I remember. I remember what I used to be, Esmeralda. Thanks for reminding me I was a psycho bitch! I can control that now. I was different then.”
“Were you? Or did you just get tired of fighting what they’d turned you into?” Morgan hummed as he still tapped the table. “You came to us begging to be freed! Begging for a chance to make things right. Now you want to go back to that? Just to arrest Tristan again?”
Alex moved closer to Morgan. “I’m not going to arrest him. I’m going to kill him this time, just like the Mistress told me to. Just like I should have been able to do all those years ago, but couldn’t! I wasn’t strong enough back then, but I am now.”
“Then don’t use that thing,” Esmeralda was next to her now. “You don’t need it. Like you said, you’re stronger now.”
Her slim hand smoothed Alex’s hair as she tried to not to be afraid. But she was, and Alex could feel it.
“I need it,” Alex whispered. “If I try to do this like I am now, I’ll fail.”
“Why?” Morgan whispered back as he took her hand in his.
“Because,” Alex swallowed the lump in her throat—that sign of weakness she tried hard to conquer. “Because I care about this team. I don’t want them to get hurt or worse. Because they deserve to live a little while longer. And if I don’t bring that part of me back—that part that doesn’t give a damn about anything or anybody—I can’t beat Tristan.”
“He’ll use that against you,” Esmeralda sighed.
“Yes. He’ll make me choose.”
“Your life or theirs?”
“No,” Alex stood up and stared down at them. “Their lives or the lives of everyone else.”
A loud bang caused Morgan and Esmeralda to jump to their feet as Alex ran for the door. “Stay put,” she yelled at them over her shoulder.
She pushed the door open as smoke and screams filled the hallway. Her earpiece buzzed and crackled. It was out. As she turned the far corner, two of the Warren guards practically ran her down.
“Go! They’re both in the meeting hall,” Alex yelled over the chaos.
In the next hallway, Sebastian and Xavier pushed their way toward her. Xavier’s head bled above his right eye. Sebastian was covered in dust.
“Where are the others?” she demanded as they pushed back through the crowd and desperately ran for the exit.
“David is with Jason,” Xavier yelled. “They’re getting him to the truck.”
“Kai’s trying to shut down the exits with the palace guards. Everyone is being evacuated to the commissary tent on the far lawn. Erin and Amy are there now. No one leaves the grounds until we say,” Sebastian replied.
“Xavier, you head to the tent,” Alex ordered, then yelled at his back. “See if Erin can get comms back online!” He threw his hand in the air to let them know he heard her.
As they cleared the crowd, Alex and Sebastian headed toward the guard house at the entrance to the grounds. The bomb had taken out an empty wing of the palace. That was a warning. If they didn’t move fast, the next one would kill people.
“No one’s left,” he said as the palace guards stood, assault rifles in hand, at the exits.
“Should we head over to the blast site? Kai should get as much evidence as he can before the locals mess shit up,” Sebastian stated.
“Be careful,” she warned. The rock in the pit of her stomach told her this wasn’t over yet. “Five minutes, then meet us at the tent.”
They ran in one direction; she ran toward the main stairs. Jason was being rushed to his vehicle when he saw her.
“Jesus,” he huffed as he took her in his arms. “What the hell happened?”
“Not sure yet, but we’ll see you at the hotel,” she answered then pushed out of his arms. “Don’t stop for anything,” she said to the driver and the two bodyguards. “When you get to the hotel, lock down the floor and the stairwell. Two guards on the elevator in the main lobby and the floor. Where’s Adam?”
“He’s already at the hotel,” Jason announced. “He’s checking on Nikki.”
She just nodded as Erin’s voice came through the earpiece.
“Boss, we’re up again,” she said sweetly.
“Thanks.”
“We need to get to the tent,” David stated as he waved his phone at her. “Kai’s got something.”
She followed David away from the truck with one more glance at Jason.
At the commissary tent, the atmosphere had begun to calm a bit. Palace guards stood outside and patted down everyone who approached the entrance, including Alex and David.
Once inside, Alex scanned the crowd. As people sat in tight groups close to the entrance, Erin stood in the far corner on her phone. Her back was to the crowd for some reason. A tight grip closed around her elbow before she could start toward her.
“Need some help?” Becker’s grim expression surprised her.
“What are you doing here?” she responded.
He looked over his shoulder at Tomas and another man she didn’t recognize. They seemed to be in deep conversation. The man had a cut on his arm that Tomas attended to.
“He had a meeting right next door to the blast,” Becker answered.
“Is he hurt?”
“No, but we’d like to help you, if you need it.”
Alex glanced back; Erin was gone, and so was Amy.
“I think they’re trying to get everyone out in an orderly fashion. We’ve got guards checking out the cars and the drivers before we let anyone out of here.”
“I’ll give them a hand,” he smiled at her. “Tomas is pretty good at keeping people calm in a crisis. Maybe it’s the former priest in him.”
Becker stepped outside and she could see him take control of the situation with the wave of a badge of some sort. She didn’t have time to worry about that though. She tapped the device in her ear and called for Xavier.
“Where are you?”
“In the guard tower, like you said.”
“The guard tower?”
“Yeah, Erin said you wanted us to meet you in the guard tower above the tent. Right?”
Alex rolled her eyes up as she yelled for Becker. He was at her side in a flash, along with Tomas.
“We have to clear this tent now.”
Becker didn’t ask any questions. He and Tomas began to calmly direct people toward the exit as Alex backed toward it herself. In the crisp early afternoon air, she felt her body began to warm up as adrenaline pumped through every vein. Her leather jacket, light as a second skin normally, seemed heavy now as she shook it from her body.
“Tent’s clear,” she heard Becker yell as he took one last look inside.
She gave him a wave as she began to run toward the elevated guard station directly behind it. Erin ran toward her with a young man by her side. They parted ways when she spotted Alex.
“What’s wrong?” she asked innocently.
“You tell me,” Alex answered just as innocently. “Why aren’t you up there with the team? You know, since I sent you to get them together and all.”
Alex glanced up. Sebastian and Xavier appeared to try pulling the door open. From her vantage point, she could see the stairs were wired and so was the door. If they opened it, it would blow both of them, as well as Kai and Amy, to pieces.
“Don’t open that door” she yelled. They stopped and the four of team members appeared in front of the observation glass. “The door’s wired. You gotta jump.”
Erin began to laugh uncontrollably. Alex grabbed her arm, twisted it behind her back, and forced her to the cold ground.
“Are you
crazy? That’s gotta be like twenty feet,” she heard Kai squeal.
David came up next to her as she held Erin down. “What the fuck?”
“That whole building is wired,” Alex nodded toward the rest of the team.
David ran toward the guard house at full speed. Alex released Erin and followed.
“Well,” Xavier hummed as he pulled his weapon from the holster. “I always did like that scene in Butch and Sundance.”
Kai nodded as he, Sebastian, and Amy copied Xavier. They aimed at the glass and fired. The sound of breaking glass reminded Sebastian of wind chimes. A blast of cold air rushed inside the room.
Xavier and Kai began to toss furniture out of the way then ripped the desk from the wall. They turned to Sebastian and Amy.
“If we get a running start, we might hit the tent,” Xavier surmised. “It might break the fall, a little.”
“Or not,” Kai shrugged with a grin.
Sebastian turned to Amy. “I might be able to keep us both airborne for a bit. Or at least slow us down. I’ll pull in when we clear the building. Just hold on tight.”
“What?” Amy looked at her teammates with stunned surprise.
“Oh yeah,” Kai smiled. “He can levitate.”
“Kinda,” Xavier added.
“Kinda,” Amy sighed and tightened her grip on Sebastian’s hand.
They heard Alex’s jumpy voice blast through the earpieces.
“Aim for the tent!”
They all laughed, backed up and ran.
Alex and David were blown back by the blast. With all the smoke and fire, it was hard to see where any of them might have landed as she tumbled head over heels down the slope. As wood and glass and metal rained down on them, Alex finally stopped. She didn’t see David right away. When he struggled to his feet, he waved at her.
The tent had collapsed in on itself. It was covered in debris as the smoke began to clear. She and David tossed mangled chairs and steel rods out of the way as they searched. To her right she saw movement. As she reached the spot, Xavier’s head came up as he pushed trash off of his body.
By Blood Sworn Page 24