Guarding Valentina [Paladin Protection Agency 3] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Susan Hayes

  * * * *

  When her cell phone had sounded the ringtone that indicated she had a new voice mail, Val hadn’t thought twice before slipping out to check the message. Only family and her fellow Paladin employees had her cell number, and her family only used it in case of emergency. They knew her job included strange hours and out-of-country travel, so they’d gotten used to leaving her messages at home and waiting to hear back. She called up voice mail without checking to see what the incoming number was, and a few seconds later she wished like hell she’d taken the time to look. It was Christoph.

  “Hello, Valentina. I hope you don’t mind my disturbing you. I took the liberty of recording this message before I went to sleep this morning. I hired a service to forward it to you via Denise’s phone at the appropriate time. It’s really amazing what you can have arranged these days. Isn’t technology glorious? It should now be just a few minutes before sunset, and I will be rousing myself for another night of hunting as you listen to this. I will confess that the chase hasn’t been as satisfying as I had hoped for. Your people are well guarded, and that damnable dhampir you insist upon trusting is no doubt helping you thwart my original plans. Which is why, my dear, I have a new offer for you. Give yourself over to me, and I’ll leave the others alone. I’ve already gotten two of your team, I can take you all eventually, but I am growing rather bored, and your pet freak is an unwelcome complication. So there it is, Valentina. There’s my offer. Be on the rooftop of Paladin within five minutes of getting this message, and I promise I’ll make it painless. If you don’t show, I’ll kill them all, and leave you drowning in guilt, grief, and blood before I finally come for you.”

  The message ended, and Val slumped against the wall. Her heart twisted in her chest, and she had to fight to breathe past the lump in her throat. He wanted a trade, her life for the others. There was only one choice, but for the first time in her life she hesitated. After a lifetime of taking chances and charging in first, Val felt the bitter bite of heartache as she turned and sprinted for the stairs. This time she had something to live for, but that didn’t change what she knew she had to do. As she ran, she sent up a silent prayer to whatever gods were listening that Aedan would understand and maybe, one day, even forgive her. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him or his abilities. In fact she trusted him to track her down and destroy her vampire self before she could hurt anyone. She knew he’d take down Christoph, too, eventually. But this way, she wouldn’t have to live with the blood of another friend on her hands. She ran harder. She had to get to the roof before Christoph left without her. She had to end this.

  She was charging up the last staircase when she felt Aedan in her mind, and she strengthened her mental shields, hoping she’d been quick enough to stop him from learning what she intended to do. She had to do this, and if he caught the slightest glimmer of her plans, she knew he’d do everything he could to stop her.

  She paused just long enough to leave her phone by the access door, tucked into a corner where it would be found quickly. She grasped the door’s handle and sucked in a slow breath, strengthening her will and clearing her mind before she swung the door open and stepped out onto the rooftop.

  “I’m here,” she called out as she looked around her, trying to see Christoph among the plum and navy shadows that grew deeper with every passing second.

  The crunch of gravel came from somewhere to her left and she spun to face it, catching a flicker of movement just at the range of her night vision. She heard feminine laughter and realized that Christoph had not come alone.

  “Hi, Val.” Ingrid appeared first, and Val could see that her face had the same terrible pallor as Christoph’s now. Ingrid had always favored bright, almost gaudy colors, but now she was clothed entirely in colors so dark she blended into the night. It hurt to look at her, but Val forced herself to meet the woman’s gaze.

  “Hello, Ingrid. I’m so sorry this happened to you.”

  “Don’t be. It’s wonderful.” The fledgling grinned, flashing her fangs. “Isn’t it, Denise?”

  Denise’s cheery visage materialized out of the darkness, an obscenely chipper smile on her bloodless face. “We’re free, Val. Free to be whoever we want, to do whatever we wish. It’s glorious, you’ll see.”

  “Indeed she will.” Christoph’s voice sounded from just behind her, and it was all Val could do not to spin around and try to take him down. Her instincts screamed at her to fight or run, and it took every ounce of her will to stay still and do nothing as she heard him step up behind her.

  “I’m here, just like you wanted.” She forced the words past the tightness in her throat.

  “I’m so pleased you came.” She felt his hand stroke over her bandaged neck where he’d bitten her just two short nights ago, and a shudder of revulsion ran through her.

  “You’ll get used to my touching you, I promise.” He slid an arm around her waist and drew her back against his body, swaying them both to a melody only he could hear. “But not here. The freak is coming, and I don’t want him ruining this moment for me.”

  He held her firmly, his grip so tight she could barely force air into her lungs. “Denise, stay here and see to it the dhampir doesn’t interfere. Ingrid, come with me. It’s time to go home.”

  Val’s whole world shifted as she was lifted bodily into Christoph’s arms, and then they were moving, flying across the rooftop at an impossible speed. The wind shrieked in her ears, and she could see nothing but a blur of images that flew by too quickly to be understood. She felt her stomach roil in protest as they left the rooftop and plunged into the shadows below. As Christoph’s boots hit pavement, she thought she heard Aedan calling her name, but it was so far away, she couldn’t be sure. Taking a chance, Val dropped her mental shields and focused on Aedan as she pushed three words into her lover’s mind. “I love you.”

  Seconds later she was sailing through the air to land in painful heap on the floor of a running vehicle. Doors slammed, and Christoph growled out a single command to their unseen driver. “Go.”

  Christoph wasn’t gentle as he dragged her up onto the seat, and she hissed in pain as his fingers sank deep into her flesh. She found herself hauled into his lap, and she gritted her teeth against the revulsion that washed over her. His body was rank with the scent of death and rotting things, and the unnatural chill of his hands struck a chord of primal fear deep within her psyche.

  “You gave your word, Christoph. This is the end of it. You get me and you leave the others alone.”

  He eased the bandage off her neck, his icy fingers stroking her with obscene intimacy. “I did promise that, didn’t I?” She felt his cool breath fan over her freshly bared skin, and she nearly gagged at the graveyard stench that wafted over her mouth and nose.

  She felt his arms wrap around her until she was held impossibly tight, and then his laughter filled her heart with despair. “Poor, trusting little mortal, of course it’s not over. I lied.”

  Then his teeth were gouging fresh holes in her neck and there was nothing but pain. Red hot and glowing, the agony spread throughout her body, but she made no sound. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. The pain pushed out every other thought and sensation until her entire being was nothing but raw nerves and torment. Only then did she slip into unconsciousness, her screams still locked behind her teeth.

  Chapter 12

  Aedan hit the door without slowing down and sent it flying off its hinges. The crash of mangled metal hitting gravel was almost loud enough to drown out his bellow of rage as he realized he was too late, Val was gone. He’d heard her telepathic message of love as he raced up the last flight of stairs, but despite the finality of her thoughts, he had hoped she’d still be within reach. He could sense Christoph’s presence, but it was already fading away. There was one vampire still on the roof, though, and he knew she’d been left behind to slow him down as the bastard spirited Val away.

  Aedan forced himself to move slowly, drawing his blade from its scabbard in one s
mooth motion as he scanned the dark rooftop, looking for his prey. His hunting instincts surged to the forefront of his mind, controlling his body and filling every cell of his body with the full scope of his supernatural gifts. The darkness brightened, and his senses heightened, giving him all the information he needed to track down the fledgling left behind.

  “So which one of you was he willing to sacrifice to get away? Which one of you did he love a little less than the other?” Aedan tossed out the mocking query as he moved further out onto the rooftop. “He left you to die up here, vampire.”

  “He loves me. He said I was the strongest. He told me how to beat you.” A woman with dark hair and a cheery smile moved out from behind an air vent, letting him see her.

  “Did he now? Somehow I doubt that. I’ve been hunting your kind for far too long to be taken down by a newborn creature like yourself.”

  He shifted his grip on the blade and was about to move closer when he heard someone else racing up the stairs. It was too fast to be human, and Aedan wondered for a second if there was another vampire around, one he somehow hadn’t been able to sense. When something massive, furry, and fanged flew through the battered doorway Aedan realized it wasn’t a vampire he’d heard. It was a werewolf. Jase had joined the party.

  “Holy hell man, you’re fucking huge!” Aedan stared in awe at the white-furred creature pacing just a few feet to his left. The werewolf swung his head to look at him, and Aedan pointed his sword at Denise. “Not me, her. The bastard took Val already. We need to take this one down and go find my girl before it’s too late.”

  Jase growled and jerked his head in the affirmative before turning all of his attention back to Denise. Caught between the two of them, she looked less sure of herself, and the chipper grin had faded to a frown of deep concern bordering on fear. Her eyes flicked back and forth between the two men as they converged on her, and her lip curled back into a snarl that bared her fangs.

  Denise threw herself at Jase, her hands curving into claws as she launched herself against his chest.

  “Don’t bite her!” Aedan reminded the werewolf as Jase’s jaws opened and then snapped shut a second later. They’d discussed this in their briefings. If Jase bit one of the vampires, he risked being infected himself. No one knew if werewolves were immune to the blood of a vampire or not, and they weren’t willing to take the chance of finding out.

  Jase’s claws sunk into Denise’s arms, and he held her away from him, ignoring the lacerations she inflicted on his chest and forearms as she struggled and thrashed. Her enraged screams were deafening, but she wasn’t able to wrench herself free of the werewolf’s grip.

  “Hold her still!” Aedan yelled and slashed his katana in a sweeping arc that parted Denise’s head from her shoulders. Gouts of blood gushed everywhere, and the air filled with the noxious odor of decay and rot. Both of them were covered in the vile sewage that spewed from the dying vampire’s body, and Jase dropped the corpse, his already ugly visage now twisted into an expression of disgust.

  “Sorry, I should have warned you lot about the smell.” Aedan kicked the body onto its back and drove the point of his sword into Denise’s chest, piercing the heart.

  Silence fell, and Aedan took a second to throttle back on his instincts, calming himself down enough to be able to think clearly again. He flicked the gore off of the blade and sheathed it, glancing up as he heard a muffled whine from Jase. He watched as the werewolf shed its fur and shrunk down until he was human once again.

  “Man, and I thought they smelled bad on the outside!” Jase quipped and tried to wipe some of the viscous blood off of his bare body.

  “I cannot believe you’re standing there, butt naked and quoting Star Wars.” Aedan shook his head in disbelief.

  “Believe it. He’s sick that way. We’ve not been able to find a cure yet.” Sin’s voice had both of them turning around. He and what seemed to be half of Division S peered through the doorway, with only Sin’s massive bulk holding them back from spilling out onto the roof. Sin held up a cell phone and gently lobbed it to Aedan. “That’s Val’s. She must have left it for us to find.”

  “If someone wouldn’t mind getting Jase something to wear, we need to head downstairs and fire up that tracking system of Jake’s. I can’t rescue her stubborn, difficult ass until I figure out where she is.” Aedan headed back inside, and the crowd seemed to melt out of his way. He knew the others would be close behind.

  At the first landing, he stopped just long enough to hit redial on Val’s phone, and when he heard Christoph’s recorded voice on her voice mail, he cursed himself for being a fool. By the time he’d finished listening to the message, he was cursing both himself and Val. She’d gone and sacrificed herself, but he knew without a doubt that wouldn’t be the end of it. Christoph wasn’t the kind to let a vendetta die, not until there was nothing left of his enemies but ashes. He thought he’d made her understand that, but she’d gone and handed herself over to the monster anyway.

  Aedan tucked her phone into his pocket and started taking the stairs two at a time. He needed to find her before it was too late. There was not a chance in hell he was going to let go of her without a fight.

  * * * *

  Val came to slowly, consciousness returning one sense at a time. The first to come back was touch, and she took a mental inventory of her injuries as well as her immediate surroundings. Her head ached, and her throat was still throbbing from Christoph’s bite. She could tell just from the depth of the pain that whatever he’d done to her, it would take a good amount of time before she was fully healed. That is, if I live that long. Recriminations filled her head as she remembered Christoph’s mocking words as he’d admitted that he’d lied to her. Her sacrifice had been for nothing. Anger and pain surged through her, but neither of them was enough to overcome the lethargy that ruled her limbs or the weakness that made even the slightest of movements feel impossibly difficult.

  She twitched her fingers and determined she was lying face up on something that felt like it was upholstered in velvet, and her arms were secured behind her back. She tried to move her hands, and the bite of metal at her wrists told her she was handcuffed, not bound.

  Sounds began to intrude into her awareness, indistinct and unrecognizable at first, but soon she realized it was a conversation being held in sibilant whispers. She opened her eyes slowly as she discovered that even the dim light that filled the room she found herself in was strong enough to make her eyes water. Her vision adjusted, and details of her surroundings started to become clear. It was hard to think through the wool that was wrapped around her brain, but she tried to figure out where they could have taken her. They were in a loft-type space with exposed concrete and metal beams crisscrossing far overhead. Carpets and throw rugs covered the concrete floor around her, and a smattering of furniture had been strewn about the place. By far the largest piece was a king-sized bed that dominated the area that had been made habitable. The air was cold, and burning candles seemed to be the only light source. The scent of warm beeswax blended with the lingering scent of rot and ruin that permeated everything around her.

  “Ah, she’s awake.” Christoph’s voice was rife with satisfaction as he moved into her line of sight. “I had thought perhaps I’d taken too much and killed you already.” His lips were still stained crimson, and she realized with a sickening lurch of her stomach that it was her blood that had dyed his mouth that color.

  “She’s much too tough to die so quickly,” Ingrid chimed in from somewhere behind her. The girl’s voice had been piping and sweet when she was alive, but there was no sweetness left in it now, nor any humanity.

  “You lied.” Val’s defiant words came out as more of a croak, and she realized just how parched her throat was. The moment she became aware of it, her thirst grew until it took up nearly all of her focus. She had to fight to keep her mind on Christoph and what he was saying.

  “Of course I lied.” His lips turned up into a smug grin. “I am the villain i
n this little tale. You were never my final target, Val. After all, someone gave you your orders. And even he will not be my final kill. When Paladin is a smoking ruin and every member of your precious Division S is dead, then I will come for the man who truly killed my children. Geoff Remington.”

  “You won’t be around that long.” She managed to get the words out past the sandpaper rasp of her tongue.

  “Oh, I think I will be. Or are you talking about your precious dhampir? He can’t find me. His ability to track my kind isn’t strong enough. There are some who could, but he isn’t one of them.” Christoph trailed a cold finger down her cheek, and she turned her head to escape the obscene contact. “I did my homework, you see. I know all about Aedan Doyle. He’s a first generation dhampir with a touch of his mother’s psychic gifts. He’s nothing more than a womanizing rogue, a violent criminal with abandonment issues. Is that who you’re pinning your hopes on? My dear, you are going to be sorely disappointed. Or you would be, if I were to let you live that long.”

  He pressed the tip of his finger into the open wound on her neck, and she moaned as the pain flared again. “I am going to save you from having to experience that, Val. You should be thanking me.”

  “Fuck you.” Val managed a passable snarl and then clamped her jaw shut. She was done talking. She felt a weak probe at her mental shields, and she reinforced them with every scrap of will she had left. Her attempt to trade in her life to save the others may have failed, but that didn’t mean she was done yet. If she could just keep him distracted long enough for the others to track her, then her sacrifice would still mean something.