Bypassing the grungy elevator, Linus guided me to the stairwell. We climbed two floors before I noticed the discreet numbers painted within circles on the walls. Five levels after that, we hit a shorter staircase than the others. There was no number at all, just a door marked maintenance with a keypad beside the handle. Linus approached it, punched in a code, and it swung open, admitting us into a sleek office space that must exist between floors.
“Welcome to Base Two,” he said, ushering me across the threshold before locking us in.
“Good to see you, boss,” a tinny female voice rang out from across the room.
“Good to see who’s with you, boss.” The masculine voice lowered to a purr. “Mmm. Me likey.”
“I caught you humping a light post once,” another woman countered. “You don’t set a high bar.”
“I can’t tell if I’m supposed to be insulted,” I muttered to Linus.
“I hope not.” A tall man rounded the corner with a steaming mug cupped between his palms. His hair was the bright white of fallen snow, and his eyes were pure titanium. “Wilting violets don’t last long around here.” He stuck out his hand, warmed from the ceramic. “I’m Bishop.”
The scent of copper hit my nose, but no shiver coasted down my spine. “You’re a vampire?”
His smile revealed even, white teeth. Nary a fang in sight. “Can’t a man enjoy a mug of hot O negative without being judged?”
“Grier has earned her reservations about vampires.” Linus clasped hands with him. “She’ll behave if you do.”
“Are you dangerous then?” Interest sparkled in his eyes when he looked at me. “You must be, if you’re with him.”
“I’m a violet, remember?” I tried my best to look unassuming. “What harm could I possibly do?”
“My mistake,” he murmured. “I never make the same one twice.”
“Why should you?” I chuckled. “There are so many new experiences out there.”
“Stop flirting with her, Bish,” one of the women called. “Bring her over here. I wanna see.”
“Come and meet the team.” Linus cupped my elbow and walked me to a bank of monitors that belonged in a superhero flick mounted on a wall painted black. The layout reminded me, on a much grander scale, of the teleconferencing suites he had designed for the Society. This must have been his inspiration. Outlines of men and women filled the screens, but filters shadowed their features. He gestured to each one in turn. “Lisbeth, Reece, Anca, Milo, this is my fiancée, Grier Woolworth.”
“You just love saying that, don’t you?” Lisbeth chortled. “He only called you his fiancée like five times when he called control earlier.”
“Five?” Milo scoffed. “I counted ten, and I wasn’t half listening. I was watching those surveillance tapes.” His jaw cracked on a yawn. “Riveting stuff.”
“You were dozing off,” Reece accused, his accent pure Good Ol’ Boy.
“I was zoning in,” Milo countered. “Big difference.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Anca interrupted. “I can see your influence in Linus’s work.”
Surprised by the comment, I paid her closer attention. “You’ve seen his paintings?”
“Paintings? No. I haven’t had that particular honor.” She leaned forward in her chair. “Our lives intersect very little offscreen.” An embarrassed chuckle escaped her. “But I must confess, a job brought me to the Mad Tatter once, some years ago, and I couldn’t resist the temptation of touring his workstation. You’re the little girl from the mural. I recognized you at once.”
“Ah.” Much to my shame, I realized I had been jealous to think he had shared such an intimate piece of our history with another woman. Silly to let it cramp my gut, but there you go. As much as Linus was still learning to trust us, I must be too. “I haven’t decided yet if his memory is just that good, or if he borrowed a photo album from his aunt to get the small details so perfect.”
“You knew each other as children?”
“Yes,” Linus answered for me, saving me from admitting how I had ignored him when we were kids in favor of Boaz. “Grier was my muse from the start.”
The ping of an incoming text had me searching for my cell. “Midas says their ETA is thirty minutes.”
And then he would hand Taz off to us, and we would hope no one saw through her glamour.
“We better get this meeting started then.” Bishop sank into a chair in front of the monitors. Until he woke them, I hadn’t noticed other screens winking to life below the main displays. This was more than a teleconferencing suite, it was a first-class control room worthy of the name. “First order of business… There’s a ghoul, maybe two, terrorizing Ben’s Fried Chicken customers.”
While Linus and the others decided on a plan of action, I stood against the far wall, marveling at the seamless way his team coordinated their efforts so that he wasn’t spread thin across the city but sent only where there was a critical need. As I listened, I came to understand three of them weren’t only techs but deputized to patrol the streets in black garb reminiscent of his tattered wraith’s cloak. The overall effect was of him being omnipresent. It was a brilliant strategy, and I wasn’t the least bit surprised he had implemented it during his reign as potentate.
A flicker on my periphery alerted me to Cletus’s presence, and I dared to hope. “Do you have news?”
Cletus had been dispatched to watch over Corbin, who Lacroix had detained in his clan home. So far, the reports had been more of the same. Nothing. The house had been warded against wraiths, which meant Cletus could no longer pop in and out to pass messages between Corbin and me.
Corbin, who came from vampire hunter stock, was continuing the family tradition of protecting humans in his own fangy way. He had volunteered to infiltrate Lacroix’s organization to help us dismantle it, but he got caught relaying a sensitive message to us via Cletus that brought Lacroix’s wrath down upon him.
Progeny or not, I owed him. His intel had saved lives. Dozens, if not hundreds, of them.
One way or another, we were getting him back.
Linus spared us a concerned glance, and Bishop frowned our way, but Cletus behaved himself and let me follow the safety procedures we had put in place before imparting his message.
Sitting on the poured concrete floor, I wedged my back into a corner then gave Linus, who acted as my spotter, a thumbs-up.
“Okay, Cletus.” I braced my palms to either side of me. “I’m ready.”
The wraith rushed me, dunking me in its cowl, and I spun out into a darkness so vast there was no beginning or end. And then Corbin was there, his mouth pressed against a two-inch high crack at the bottom of a window in what must be the room where Lacroix ordered him to be detained until Savannah was his.
From firsthand experience, I knew Lacroix opted for plush suites over actual cells with bars on the windows for his guests, but a cage was a cage was a cage in my opinion. All the gild in the world couldn’t change that basic fact.
“I finally made enough noise about the heat that they cracked a window so I don’t suffocate,” he rasped. “There’s no AC in the attic where they moved me after my last escape attempt, but they’ll figure out what I’m up to soon enough.”
The sawing breaths spoke of more than heat exhaustion. Corbin was hurt. Bad.
“This might be my last report unless I can trick them into giving me access to your wraith again.” He wiped sweat from his brow. “From what I’ve overheard, there are about fifteen vampires in residence. They’re all loyal to Lacroix, not compelled, which means they need to be dealt with.” A pained laugh escaped him. “You can take out the trash after you pick me up, huh?”
Hearing he still trusted me after all this tightened my throat until swallowing hurt.
“I haven’t eaten in a few days,” he admitted. “I need to…sit down now.”
Bruised eyes closing, he sank onto the floor to rest.
The image swirled, draining away, until the room came back into re
luctant focus.
Linus knelt in front of me, waiting on an update as my vision cleared fully.
Cletus, waiting on a return message, hovered at my shoulder.
After relaying the information to Linus, I waved Cletus closer to record what I said next.
“Take care of yourself, Corbin. You’ve done enough. More than enough. Don’t take more risks. We have your location. Cletus will remain on watch and check in regularly. You are not alone.” I gave that time to sink in. “We’re coming for you the second Lacroix is out of power, sooner if we can spare the manpower to extract you safely.”
Nodding to Cletus that I was done, he stroked bony fingers down my cheek then vanished in a swirl of black mist.
“We need to get you back to our suite so you can rest.” Linus straightened. “Can you stand?”
“Just give me a minute.”
Wraith vision always left me disoriented afterward.
“Hold up.” Reece tapped a few keys on his end that seized control of one of the lower monitors. “Before you go, look.”
“Gwyllgi.” Linus leaned in to examine individual faces. “These are all dominants in the Atlanta pack.”
“They’re swarming the city.” Bishop flattened his lips into a thin line. “You know what isn’t?”
Linus unfurled to his full height. “Submissives.”
“What does this mean?” Slowly, I got to my feet. “The dominants are the protectors, like Lethe, right?”
“And the fighters,” Milo added. “Usually we see submissives out and about too. They tend to run errands, like buying groceries and paying bills. Taking the pups to school, that sort of thing. Dominants tend to work alone, but we see them in pairs often enough. But in these numbers? Never. Not unless the alpha is on the move, and she rarely leaves the den.”
“They’re hiding their vulnerable and putting on a show of force,” I said, grasping the situation. “Do they expect the fighting to spread this far?”
“This might all be a show for your benefit,” Anca murmured. “You two have an upcoming meeting with the alpha. Perhaps she’s employing intimidation tactics?”
“Tisdale is a good alpha,” Linus said. “I don’t see her dragging her people out of bed to patrol the streets without good reason.”
“The Society was dealt a blow,” Lisbeth countered, “and that weakens their position, including who they ordain to run their cities.”
“Lethe’s mom is planning a coup?” The bloody implications made my heart skip a beat. “Taking out Linus makes no sense. The Society won’t leave Atlanta in gwyllgi hands. It’s too valuable. She must realize that.”
“Our relationship is stronger now than ever, thanks to your friendship with Lethe.” Linus tapped his fingertips on his chin. “Because of that friendship, she’s aware of what’s happening in Savannah. She may simply be taking precautions with their most vulnerable members in the event there’s spillover.”
Given his ties to Atlanta, and his relationship with me, that was entirely possible. “Want me to touch base with Midas?”
“He’s loyal to his alpha.” Linus dismissed the idea with regret. “He can’t tell us anything without his mother’s express permission. The only way to override her is to challenge her, and he won’t do that. He doesn’t want to take up the mantle.”
Frowning, I studied the screen, wishing I saw answers there. “Lethe is her heir.”
“Lethe followed you to Savannah, and she remained there. There’s a reason she was challenged for her position as second in the pack.”
“Pregnancy made her an easy target,” I argued.
“It’s more than that. They must believe she plans on establishing her own pack, in Savannah.” Linus made it sound like a done deal when Lethe and Hood hadn’t breathed a word of that possibility to me. “If that’s the case, the sooner they dethrone her, the better for the stability of the pack.”
“You did buy her a house to grow into,” I reminded him. “If she wasn’t considering a move before, she will once she realizes how close that puts her to my refrigerator.”
“Plus, she’s memorized your debit card number and security code.” A tiny smile cut his mouth. “She could still have food delivered to Woolly, meet the driver at the gate, and walk it back to her place.”
Able to picture it clearly, I sighed. “Remind me to have a new card issued when we get back home.”
Home had been a slip of the tongue. He was already there. I was the fish out of water. But I had gotten so used to him in my home, in my life, I couldn’t see him fitting elsewhere. A lifetime of memories of him and me at Woolworth House just cemented the absolute certainty he belonged there, with me. Always.
Since he couldn’t very well deny his ties to Atlanta while in his city, with his team, I backed away to give him space to handle his business.
After the team wrapped up their meeting, we exchanged goodbyes then exited the way we had come. To prevent our conversation from carrying, I kept my thoughts to myself until we were back in the van.
“You told me you kept your team anonymous,” I began, “and you meant it.”
Cranking the engine, he guided us out and onto the street. “The meeting didn’t go how you imagined?”
“You could say that.” I shoved him for teasing me. “Why was Bishop present?”
“He was given the same choice as the others. He prefers to coordinate our efforts.” Linus let the silence drag for a moment. “He was in a bad place when I found him. Perhaps he feels since he was handpicked there’s no point in hiding his face from me?”
While it made sense, it was still risky. “What about the others?”
“He’s our point of contact,” Linus explained. “He travels the bases, knows each of us, and protects the team’s identities.”
Linus, as potentate, would be a talking point. There was no hiding him, no protecting him. And that went for me too. Our engagement would be announced in a lavish party as soon as Savannah had dusted herself off and gotten to her feet again. But it was nice to think these people could do good without painting a public bull’s-eye on their backs.
The trip back to Mary Alice’s building was short now that we could take a direct route. Facing down the garish hallway leading to our suite wasn’t any easier the second time around. The bright colors were quick to remind me I had a slight headache, but the suite itself offered instant relief from the psychedelic assault.
“Um.” I spotted Midas in the kitchen first. It was hard to miss him. But I wasn’t as sure about the lean black man sharpening his knife while he sat on the couch. “Hello?”
“Mary Alice let us in,” Midas explained. “I hope you don’t mind.”
“No,” I said slowly. “Who’s your friend?”
“Your face right now.” End over end, the man tossed his knife, catching it without looking. “I wish I had a camera. Boaz would pay good money to see you speechless.”
“Taz?” I gawked as she—he—rose. “You’re—you’re a man.”
“Yep.” Brown eyes dancing with mirth, he traced the waist of his pants. “Want to see—?”
“No. Goddess no.” I covered my eyes with my hands. “You’re worse than Boaz.”
Until he offered, I hadn’t realized glamour transformed a person to that degree. I assumed it was an illusion, but this meant a tangible illusion or a physical manifestation. Either way, I wasn’t keen on finding out which, even if she—he—had offered.
“No need to be rude.” He harrumphed. “Or a prude.”
If passing on an illusory peen viewing got me labeled a prude, I could live with that. Happily.
“I’m going by Jake Clemmons from here on out,” Taz said. “You can call me Clem.”
The smug twist to his smile told me there was a story there, but I was afraid, after the peen, to ask.
“You mentioned staying in deep cover. You’re good with doing that as a man?”
Afraid I might have offended her—him—with the question, I was ready to back
track when he cracked a smile.
“I’ve always wondered how the other half lived,” he admitted. “And it’s not like I can’t go back if I decide I miss being a woman.” He made a show of hiking his junk. “I peed a minute ago. Standing up. No toilet paper required.” His grin was infectious. “It changed my whole perspective on life.”
Returning his maniacal grin, I stuck out my hand. “Nice to meet you, Clem.”
Tempted as I was to ask if the sacrifice had been worth it, I could tell he thought so.
As we shook, he shot a wink over his shoulder. “What do you think, Lawson?”
Shock had prevented me from noticing when Linus joined us, but it was hard to miss him now.
“Remarkable.” He walked a circle around Clem. “I’ve never seen glamour before and after.”
“You’ve done it now,” I teased. “He’s going to take you up on the offer to see your, um, perspective.”
A glint sparked in Linus’s eyes, and I debated how I should feel about his eagerness to peek down another woman’s pants, even if she was currently a man. I settled on amused. The man truly was curiosity personified.
“I got used to stripping with the women in my unit.” Clem shoved his hands in his pockets. “Men, not so much.”
Patting my fiancé’s arm, who was hiding his disappointment well, I ventured, “I’m sure Linus would be just as happy if you answered a few questions.”
Linus’s eyebrows winged up, daring to hope again, and Clem rolled his eyes.
“Sure.” He dipped his shoulders. “Why not?”
“I have to get back,” Midas interrupted before the interrogation began. “Mom has a barbeque scheduled the day after tomorrow, and she expects me to take several eligible females from the pack on a hunt for the main course.”
“Mothers do love matchmaking, don’t they?” Unable to stop from meeting Linus’s gaze, I winked at the man Maud and the Grande Dame had selected for me long before I chose him for myself. “Sometimes they even get it right.”
How to Wake an Undead City Page 5