“Even if you could share it with him, it still takes time, discipline, and will to master the abilities. It’s not like, poof, and suddenly you’re powerful. It’s different with you, because you’re permanently linked to me. Even then, notice how you’re stronger now than you were at the start.”
I couldn’t help but smile at the testiness of his voice. Kristair hoarded his knowledge like a damn miser sitting on a mother lode. “Tony, I have an idea. I don’t know how well it’ll work, but it’s worth a shot.”
He cocked his head. “What is it?”
“You know how I said I’ve got Kristair’s stuff in my head and how I can do some of it, all of it probably, if I put my mind to it?” Except for the trick of walking through walls; that was just a little too creepy for me. “I want to try to see if I can share a part of it with you.”
Tony studied me, his face thoughtful, before he finally responded. “Maybe you are on the level and maybe you’re telling me the truth, but I’m just not ready to open my mind to you.”
I bit back the rush of disappointment and nodded. “It’s a standing offer, so if you change your mind….”
“I’ll let you know.”
Chapter 16
I WAS very grateful Kayla hadn’t arrived yet when we’d arrived at Steve’s. Kristair was too stirred up at the prospect of seeing her again. We’d even had a quick, heated argument about her on the way over. He insisted she wasn’t to know he had returned. In a way, I understood, if it didn’t work out, and fuck I didn’t want to contemplate the possibility. Then her grieving would start all over again. That didn’t seem to be the only reason, though, and I didn’t have the time to dig any further. Besides, it didn’t matter in the long run. We’d find a way to make it work this time.
Tony and I filled Steve in about what had happened to me. As he listened he unloaded the dishwasher, banging the dishes together and downing a second beer in the process. Then we sat down and went over plans and possibilities, losing track of the time.
For the moment, it was good to be with Tony and Steve again. To have some hope that after this whole mess was over, the three of us might be able to salvage our friendship. And to make the day near perfect was having Kristair with me again. Being connected with him again made me believe in just about anything. The only thing that would make it better would be to have him next to me in the flesh.
My cell phone rang and my stomach tightened when I glanced down and didn’t recognize the number. After the day I’d been through, I was starting to listen to all these little stabs of intuition. “Yeah, who’s this?”
“It’s Detective Kuykedal returning your call. You never came in to see us.” The sound of his nasal voice had me curling my lip. The man grated on my nerves, even when he was trying to help. The only thing that made me feel better about the whole situation was knowing I irked him just as much.
Damn, I’d forgotten all about my call to them. My pulse picked up. “Who is it?” At Kristair’s silent question, I quickly relayed my conversation with Aderson. “You shouldn’t have gotten them involved. The situation is murky enough.”
“It’ll be worth it if they lock those idiots up for a bit. Hell, even if it’s only overnight.”
“Sorry about that. I got a little sidetracked,” I replied to Kuykedal.
“Another imaginary kidnapping, punk? We checked the place you called about and it was clean. Nobody tied up, no drugs, nothing.”
At first I was so stunned, I couldn’t even find the words to reply. Steve shot a questioning glance my way and smacked Tony on the arm, nodding toward me. I waved them to silence. “Then you got there too late.” I couldn’t imagine how if they’d gone over right after I’d talked to his partner.
“Next time you come down here and make a proper statement or I’ll haul your ass in for making a false report.”
I opened my mouth to curse him out when Kristair interrupted. “Let it go, Jacob. It’s not much of a surprise that they cleared out. It was close to nightfall. Besides, he seems eager to get his hands on you. Don’t give him reason. We can always deal with him later.” There was an awful ring of finality in his words.
“Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.” I didn’t even try to stop the sarcasm in my voice.
“See that you do.”
I swore as I hung up. “Guess all the goons who grabbed me managed to get away clean.”
I sensed Kristair’s disquiet over it and gave him a mental nudge. “I couldn’t just kill them.”
“I know, and to be honest, I don’t expect you to, but it certainly would’ve made things tidier.”
“I don’t like the sound of that,” Steve grumbled as Tony stared out the window, his frown thoughtful.
“I more than don’t like it,” Tony said. “They must’ve sent more than one cell to the city. I should’ve thought of that. You should let Ussier know, if he doesn’t already.”
“Why don’t you?” I suggested. “You’re a part of this team too, and if you decide to stick around you’ll have to put up with him more than I will.”
As Tony made the call I went over to the window and looked out at the empty street. Something was off and it made me restless. “When did you say Kayla was gonna get here? She’s coming, right?”
Steve glanced at his watch and scowled. “She was supposed to be here an hour ago.”
“She’s never late. She would’ve called if she fell behind.” Kristair’s alarm had my stomach jumping as Steve echoed his thoughts aloud.
“I’m sure she’s just primping or something,” I said, though I didn’t believe it any more than they did. I pulled out my cell again and tried her number. As it rang, the tightening in my gut became stronger until it hurt. The tension in the room thickened.
I tried telling myself I was just being paranoid about the whole situation, but my instincts screamed when someone picked up on Kayla’s end. A voice I didn’t know; a man.
“Hello, Corvin. I hope that’s you.”
“Just who the fuck are you? Where’s Kayla?” Kristair went still inside me, his predator instinct leaping to life as Steve’s expression went flat.
“I see I’ve gotten your attention. Good. The pretty girl has something she wants to tell you.”
I waited, tense, but nothing happened. I strained to hear as a muffled curse came across the line, then a woman’s outcry of pain. Kayla. My insides turned to ice. Then the sensation was lost under Kristair’s white-hot wave of killing fury. “You leave her the hell alone,” I snarled, trying to fight off Kristair as he struggled to take me over. “Calm down. I hafta hear what he has to say. Please, Kris.”
“What do you want?” I asked, striving for calm as Steve began demanding answers until I shot him a glare. Tony grabbed his arm and shook his head and Steve shut up, his jaw clenching.
“You take that blood traitor youngling who’s hanging with you and head to the access tunnels underneath the campus. You know the ones?”
I closed my eyes. “Yeah, I know them.” Too well, in fact. The three of us had stumbled across them drunk once and had gotten lost in there for hours before we’d come to our damned senses. I mouthed the info to the two of them and Steve swore under his breath.
“We’ll find you down there. And if Ussier even twitches from his hidey-hole tonight, we’ll know about it. She’ll become one of us long before you can rescue her.”
I laughed grimly. “That would be a bad idea. She’d end up yanking out your guts and feeding them to you.” Hanging up the phone, I tried contending with Kristair, who was deep in a bloodlust frenzy.
Tony and Steve began demanding details as Kristair began raging for blood. My skull pounded. “Hold it! Jus’ hold it for a damn minute.” I was deeply shaken by the rabid man inside my head and could only deal with one thing at a time. Kristair must’ve shielded the worst of his instincts from me when we were together, but now either he couldn’t, or he’d forgotten to do so. I shot Tony a stricken glance. Was this what all vampires dealt with? It wa
s far worse than the rage that had come over me when I’d fought my kidnappers.
The intense craving for the hunt filled my mouth. I was hungry for the sharp tang of blood, to chase my prey as they ran from me, to hear their scream as I tore them open.
“Kristair, you’ve got to calm down. I can’t take this.”
“They’ve got my daughter,” he raged. “I’m going to rip them apart.” The list of rather inventive tortures he had in mind flashed across my brain, making me ill. Not that I could blame him, but I didn’t want to be the one to do all those things.
“I know,” I tried to soothe. “And we’ll get her back safe. I swear it. Come on, love. I need your brains, your instincts to get through this. They aren’t going to be suspecting what we’re capable of what we have coming their way, okay?”
Kristair muted the edge of his rage and I realized my hands were shaking. Damn, that had been intense.
When I turned to address my friends, Steve’s expression was grim, Tony’s wary. I drew in a breath and tried not to think of Kayla stuck in those damn tunnels for god knew how long. Abruptly, I remembered what the goon who’d kidnapped me had said, that one of them, Ted, was working on something to ensure my good behavior. He must’ve meant Kayla.
The hot taste of blood and fury filled my mouth. Ted was one dead motherfucker.
“Okay, here’s the deal. They’ve got Kayla and they want Tony and me to meet them in the access tunnels under the quad.” I turned to face Tony. He really had no stake in all of this. He didn’t know her at all. “Will you go with me?”
Surprise crossed his face and then he nodded. “Yeah, I’m with you.”
“You’re not cutting me out of this,” Steve said, his eyes narrowing. “I’m coming too.”
“He’d just be somebody else we’d have to keep an eye on. He’d be a liability,” Kristair said.
“Out of the three of us, he knows the tunnels the best, unless you spent some time down there.”
“I have not. I’d forgotten they were even down there, to be honest.”
“He’s a good man, Kristair. He’s the most level-headed of the three of us. He can get Kayla out while we deal with the rest. Besides, he’d follow anyway. He and Kayla have a thing going right now and he won’t just sit here while she’s in danger.”
“A thing? What’s a thing?”
I thought it best, seeing as I was talking about his daughter’s personal relationship, if I just ignored the question, so I gestured to Steve and looked at Tony. “I think we should take him with us, Tony. What do you think? They said we couldn’t bring Ussier into this, but they shouldn’t consider him a threat.” I glanced at Steve. “But, if it does jeopardize her to bring a third person, I’m sorry, but I’d have to ask you to stay back.”
“No, he’s human and probably known to be a friend of ours,” Tony replied. “They won’t think him a threat at all. More bang for their buck. He’d be a bonus, as food or extra leverage.”
“Well then, they’re a bunch of idiots.” I checked the gun in my pocket. “Let’s go.”
“Wait. Don’t we need a plan?” Steve asked as he grabbed a flashlight.
“The plan is to get Kayla free and for you to get her the fuck out of there,” I said, exchanging a grim look with Tony, who nodded.
“What about you two?”
“We’ll be the cleanup crew,” Tony replied. “Before we go, Jake, that thing you said you can share with me. Do you really think it’s possible?”
I nodded. “Yeah, but I’ve been told time and again that I can share the theory with you, but you need to work on the practical application. It might not all catch on at once.”
“Lord, you sound like you’ve downloaded an encyclopedia into your head since I’ve been gone. Can it or can it not be done?”
“Kristair?”
He was very reluctant, I could sense that much, but his concern for Kayla outweighed his hesitance. “Some of the changes would probably be immediate. For example, the physical changes that you went through because it’s a part of every vampire and he would’ve started on them already whether he’s realized it yet or not. Others will take time. It’s just the way of things. Still though, the Syndicate members would be expecting him to have the abilities of a youngling, so they’ll underestimate you both. Whatever extra he gets will have a much heavier psychological impact because it will surprise them.”
I pondered that a moment. Well, it couldn’t hurt in the long run. “It’ll help. You won’t be able to walk through walls tonight, but it’ll give you an edge they won’t be expecting.”
“I’ll take anything at this point. You know we’re walking into a trap, right? Are you sure you don’t want to call Ussier?”
“Fuck no! Not until I know she’s safe. Don’t argue with me on this, please, Tony.”
“Will somebody care to fill me in on what the hell’s going on?”
I realized that I’d never explained to Steve about the legacy Kristair had left me. “I’ll explain along the way. We’re wasting time.” I gestured to the chair. “Let’s sit down, Tony. I don’t think this’ll take long. After this, trust me, these guys won’t stand a damn chance against us.”
“There needs to be a connection between you two, an empathic one. You were friends for a long time. That might suffice,” Kristair spoke up.
“We’ll never know until we try. What do I do?”
“We’re doing this in a hurry, so touch your fingers to his temple and close your eyes. I need to take a hold of you for a moment. Do you mind?”
I smiled at his politeness and teased. “You asked. You’re learning. Go ahead. Let’s get this over with. I don’t want Kayla down there one second longer than she has to be.”
I figured that she was the only reason why he was agreeing to this and right now I didn’t care for the reasons, just that it was getting done. I brushed my fingers against Tony’s temple. “Now reach out to your friend, mo chroí, to the heart of him. If he is the man you think him to be, if you know him as well as you claim, it should be rather easy. If he’s not, you’ll never be able to reach him without tearing through his defenses.”
I hoped I was right. Now was not the time to find out Tony was trying to screw us all. I doubted it, though. He never would’ve agreed to this intrusion if he was lying. Long, tense moments passed and I blocked out Steve’s grumblings. Then I sensed the whisper of Tony’s thoughts, his nervousness, and grinned.
“Like that, babe? Is that what I need?”
“Yes, very good. Follow that connection, make it stronger. Once you’ve got it established I’ll take over.”
I concentrated and soon heard Tony’s startled voice in my thoughts. “Jake?”
“Hey there, buddy. Yeah, it’s me.”
“Who else is with you? There’s an echo.”
“Trust you to get too deep. A lighter touch would’ve sufficed without alerting him to my presence,” Kristair said in a tight aside to me. He hesitated and for a moment, I thought he was going to break the link and refuse.
I sent him a silent appeal and he gave in, deftly taking control and shunting me off to the side, though this time I wasn’t overcome with the same feeling of helplessness I’d had before. There was a confused welter of emotions, images, the babble of voices that went on for I didn’t know how long. Then the connection was broken and I fell back gasping.
“What happened?”
“You held on too tight, made the connection too complete.” Kristair sounded shaken.
“Was he hurt?” I rose up on shaky feet and looked down at Tony, who had fallen out of the chair and lay on his side, cursing.
Steve bent over to help him up. “What did you do to him?” he demanded.
“I’m okay. It’s just a lot to process.” After several long moments, Tony raised his head. “I see what you meant. It’s going to take a bit, but….” He hesitated then a slight smile tugged the corner of his mouth. “Thanks, man.”
I grinned back at him, great
ly reassured by the connection we’d shared. I’d wanted to trust him before and now I knew I could. “No problem. Now let’s go kick some vamp ass. No insult intended.”
“None taken.”
Chapter 17
WE FILLED Steve in as we walked to my dorm to grab the extra gun I stole from my kidnappers, before heading over to the tunnels. I don’t know whether he was shocked or pleased or how to read his thoughts at all on the whole damn situation. Steve was almost as good hiding what he was thinking as Kristair. By the time we arrived at the quad, my heart was pounding and Kristair was a tightly coiled presence in my mind, tense and ready to spring.
The tall buildings thrust up high into the night, obscuring the sky, their height turning the quad into nothing more than a dark, narrow alley between the buildings. As we went inside the main building, I was sure we’d attract attention. Between the way we looked and our determined swagger, our presence had to scream “dudes up to no good.” Yet, no one commented as we passed the bank of elevators and loaded ourselves into the freight elevator.
The basement was empty as we made our way over to the access door. “Still know how to pick locks?” Tony asked me. “I could rip the hinges off, but that might draw too much attention to us.”
“Yeah, though last time I did it I ended up locked inside a room at the top of the cathedral.” I crouched down in front of the door and studied the lock as my lover filled me with a rush of warmth.
“It was a nice surprise to wake up to,” Kristair said, and I grinned.
“I bet.”
“You’ll have to tell me that story sometime,” Steve murmured and switched on the flashlight as soon as I’d popped the lock. “Are you sure you won’t need a flashlight coming out? We should’ve stopped and gotten another one at least.”
“Positive,” Tony replied. “I don’t need the light to see. Neither should Jake.”
“I’ll be cool. Think of me as Super Jake without the burning need to be a vigilante. Most of the time anyway.” I gestured to the door as the thrill of the hunt rose in Kristair then filled me in turn. “Shall we?”
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