Staked

by Sandra Edwards

  “We already ate,” Stone said, sitting in the chair across from Ava. “You figured out where to find your boy yet?” he added, getting down to business.

  “Yes. I know where Cole is.” She bit into the pizza, savoring the flavors of peppers, onions and tomato sauce. Pizza, one of the nice things about this era, hadn’t survived the test of time. Hardly anybody in her base year had ever heard of it. Those who had had learned of it from some time traveler.

  “Great,” he said. “As soon as you finish eating, we’ll head out.” He wasn’t overly anxious and didn’t come across as particularly eager to get going.

  “Well, I gotta warn you.” Lulled into a sense of ease—and perhaps falsely so—Ava gave a little laugh. “Mickey’s a real slow eater.”

  “Mickey can take all the time he wants,” Stone said, his tone still even. “He’s staying here.”

  “Say what?” Ava almost choked on the pizza.

  “Calm down.” He laughed at her. “It’s just a precautionary measure, since I don’t hold much trust for you.”

  “A precautionary measure against what exactly?”

  “Just in case you and your friends are playing me.” He leaned on the arm of his chair, towering in her direction. His eyebrows rose mischievously. “Mickey’s going to stay here with Skeet. So long as I get my jewels...your boy-toy here will be returned to you without fail.”

  Mickey set the pizza box on the coffee table and tried, unsuccessfully, to clear his throat under his breath.

  Ava touched his forearm. “Don’t worry about it, Mickey.” She hoped her tone was as soothing as she meant the words. “I’ll be back for you before you know it.” She patted his arm and stood, looking at Stone. “Ready when you are.”

  Stone chuckled and pushed himself up from the chair and headed for the door. Ava had learned not to expect gentlemanly manners from him. Instead of waiting for him to acknowledge her presence or beckon her to follow him, she did it all on her own.

  “So, like, do you have a car or something we can take?” she asked, catching up to him.

  “What’s the matter?” He closed the door. “You don’t like my bike?” He snickered, as if he thought her a prude.

  “No. I like your bike just fine.” She followed him down the hallway. “But I have a few demands of my own.” She waited for his reaction.

  They stopped in front of the elevator. Stone’s head jerked toward Ava. There it was. The look of complete surprise.

  “You have demands?” His words came with a hint of laughter—that he was obviously trying to contain. Then his face went somber and he punched the down button, and added, “What makes you think I give a shit about your demands?”

  “Look. For all I know, you may well care as much about your lost jewels as I do about Mickey...” She gave him the benefit of the doubt, but she had little faith that he had any idea what it was like to care about another being. Dexter Stone didn’t give a shit about anybody but himself. “Therefore, we’re going to come to an understanding right now.”

  The elevator doors slid open. “Or what?” He stepped inside the compartment.

  Ava followed him inside and waited for the doors to close before looking him in the eyes. “So do you have a car or what?”

  “Yes, I do. Why?”

  “Because, you’re going to have to agree to bring me back here to collect Mickey after I reimburse you.”

  He looked like he was about to start arguing with her about all the reasons why he wasn’t beholden to her when, all of a sudden, his face broke into a smile. “Fair enough. When I get my jewels I’ll bring you back here. You can collect your Mickey and be on your way.” That’s all he said, but she was sure there was an additional, “if that’s what you want,” hiding in his voice.

  Ava literally shook off the odd feeling. “Thank you,” she said as the elevator doors opened into the garage. She waited for Stone to step out first and then followed him into the cave-like garage—everything about this building he lived in was dark and foreboding. This place was probably a haven for vamps.

  She concentrated on the shadows and what might be lurking in them, sensing nothing. Which didn’t surprise her. Her danger was walking right beside her. All six-foot-something hunk of man—vampire. Ava wouldn’t allow herself to forget that.

  Stone led her to an old junker. The car looked beat to hell. The gold-colored paint was chipping away in spots, mainly in the creases of the dents—which were plentiful. The windows looked worn but there didn’t seem to be any visible cracks. Stone unlocked the driver’s side and got in. Ava went around to the other side and waited while he leaned across the seat and unlocked the door.

  She got in the car, shut the door harder than she’d intended and looked at him. “Nice car.”

  He turned the key, ignoring her remark. The engine roared to life and, to her surprise, it hummed perfectly. “Put your seatbelt on.” He shifted the car into reverse. Stone looked over his shoulder and laid his arm along the seat’s brim before backing out of the parking space.

  The nearness of him stirred something lurking deep inside Ava. She went to work on her seatbelt, hoping that’d distract her from the yearning coursing through her veins. Once the buckle clicked, she looked at him. “Not sure I had you pegged as the seatbelt-wearing kind of guy.” She eyed with scrutiny.

  He laughed at her. Not the funny ha-ha kind of laugh, but a ridiculing sneer that made her feel inconsequential.

  His eyes cut to her and pierced her with a drilling glare. “Think you’ve got me all figured out, huh?”

  “I know what you are,” she said, as if that offered her some sense of achievement.

  He shook his head. “You can’t always judge a book by its cover.” Stone guided the car to the entrance and stopped. “You want to tell me where we’re going?”

  “Soon,” she said. “I will clue you in soon.”

  “It would help if I knew which way to go.”

  “South. Just head south.” She wasn’t trying to hide their direction from Stone. She didn’t want Lucien to know she was on to him.

  Stone pulled out of the lot and directed his attention to the road straight ahead. They didn’t say much else until they were on the outskirts of Newark.

  “So where along the Jersey shore do you anticipate finding your bait?” he asked, breaking the silence.

  Ava swung her head in his direction. How did he do that? Damned vampire voodoo shit. “The southernmost tip of New Jersey.”

  There was only one place Lucien thought she wouldn’t look—the one place he thought she’d never return to. Of course, it helped that she’d told him years ago she’d never step foot on the site again.

  If principles were Ava’s downfall, assumptions were Lucien’s. Perhaps he didn’t know her as well as he’d like to believe. If he did, he’d know there was nothing she wouldn’t do, no place she wouldn’t go to retrieve her bounty—even the place where her mother had nearly damned her.

  The fact that they were in a different time period mattered little. The place was cursed no matter what year it was.

  The thought occurred to Ava to wonder if Stone knew what was about to happen to him when he was turned. Had he been a willing participant? When had it happened? And did he feel cheated for no longer holding his fate in his hands?

  Overwhelmed with the need to know more, she snuck a peek at him. “So, Dexter Stone...what’s your story?”

  Not that she thought he’d tell her what she really wanted to know, but if she got him talking she might get a chance to read him. That could tell her volumes.

  “I don’t have a story,” he said. “And even if I did...” He looked at her. “Why would I tell you?”

  “Geez...” She rolled her gaze away from him and set it on the road in front of them. “Spoil sport.”

  “Okay.” There was something tamer in his voice now, and it eased the tension between them. “Want to play a game?” His playful tone egged her on. “You want to know stuff about me? Play my game.�
� That got her attention. “You tell me something, and I’ll do the same.”

  “Deal.” She looked at him. “You spill first.”

  “No, no, no.” He shook his head. “Ladies first.”

  “Okay.” She paused. “What do I want to tell you....”

  “You’re not getting off that easy,” he said. “I get to ask you a question.”

  “And if I choose not to answer it?”

  “Then I get a free pass on any of your questions I choose.”

  Ava figured this was most likely going to end up in his favor. Somehow. Some way. It’s a common known fact that vamps don’t play fair.

  “All right.” She gave a reluctant but formidable nod. “I’m game.” She’d find a way to be truthful and still keep her secrets.

  “Where are you from, Ava?” His first question was simple enough.

  And easy to answer. “South Jersey.” There was no New Jersey in her base year, but that was a discussion they didn’t need to enter. Besides, it wasn’t a lie. Where she currently lived was known as New Jersey in this time period.

  “Ah...Jersey,” he said, as if the revelation had some hidden meaning. “I might have known.”

  “Why do you say it like that?”

  “Just enlightening. That’s all.”

  “Okay. My turn to ask you a question.”

  “You just did.”

  “No, I didn’t.” She knew it. She knew he wouldn’t play fair. “That wasn’t a real question.”

  He laughed at her. “Go ahead. What’s your question?”

  That was a loaded opportunity. There were a number of things she wanted to know, specifically regarding him being a vampire and how he got that way. But those kinds of inquiries were better left for later—if ever.

  “When do you think we’ll arrive at our destination?” She threw an easy and unassuming question at him in hopes that he’d drop his guard a little.

  He shrugged and thought about it. “Couple hours or so. Three tops.” He turned to her. “But since you’re from South Jersey, you should know that. Right?”

  “Well, it’s not like I’ve been there lately.” She shrugged. “So I can’t really judge travel time because I don’t know what the traffic’s like.”

  “Makes sense.” He gave a concurring nod and then went silent. They passed a sign signifying a rest stop one mile ahead.

  “Hey,” Ava said. “Can we make a pit stop up ahead?”

  “Seriously?” He rolled his eyes. “You want to stop now? Do you realize how much time we’ll waste by stopping?”

  “Five minutes,” she said. “Five minutes isn’t going to make or break us.” She wasn’t sure if he’d stop or not. Stone didn’t exactly strike her as the accommodating type.

  He didn’t say whether or not he’d stop, he simply turned his attention back to the road ahead and handled the steering wheel with one hand.

  Ava tried willing him to stop. Aside from needing to pee, she wanted to splash a little water on her face. Maybe it’d shock this detrimental fascination with Stone out of her system. It’d slammed her back at Louie’s, even before he’d crossed the threshold. She hadn’t wanted it then and she was no closer to accepting it now. The sooner she acquired Cole and reimbursed Stone, the quicker she could escape the spell Stone held over her. That was one thing she could look forward to if Stone bypassed the rest stop exit—getting away from him that much faster.

  Stone barely slowed down prior to veering off the freeway at the precise moment he was about to bypass the exit. Knowing now that they’d be making the stop left her with mixed feelings. She needed to use the bathroom, but there was something to be said for getting away from Stone as quickly as possible.

  The parking lot was nearly deserted and cloaked in the nighttime’s darkness. Most of the street lights were out, right along with the outside lights on the building. It was hard to see whatever might be lurking in the shadows.

  Ava scanned the area as she opened the car door but couldn’t decide if the eeriness swallowing her up was from real trouble or just her nerves. Well, she had to pee; plus she was sure that she and Stone could handle any mortal trouble hiding in the darkness.

  She closed the car door with an easy push and surveyed the area. The night’s warm air held the faintest hint of a breeze. She just wasn’t sure if it was enough to fuel the goose bumps that’d begun to pebble her skin. To be on the safe side, she and Stone had better stick together.

  Ava glanced over her shoulder at Stone strolling up the sidewalk about two paces behind her. “You think you could come inside with me?” she asked. He threw her suggestive look. She didn’t have the patience for his antics right now. “Look...I can’t say that sexing it up in a neglected john at some rest stop along the highway really turns me on.” She tried to project her impatience onto him with a glare. It must have worked because he rolled his eyes, drew a heavy breath and moved toward her. “Can you just go in there with me? These kinds of places give me the creeps.” It was best to let him think she needed a hero. But the truth was, if they were going to get backed into a corner, better to do it together.

  Stone moved in front of her, shaking his head. “No matter how long I live,” he said. “I’ll never understand women.”

  “Right back at you,” she said with a bite to her tone.

  Stone stopped at the door, cracked it open about a foot and scanned the interior before entering. After a second or two he pushed the door open and beckoned her to follow.

  “You’re safe, my lady.” He fanned a grand gesture about the outer area of the ladies’ room. Clearly making fun of her.

  Ava didn’t know why, but that wounded her ego. She headed straight for the sink and turned on the cold water. Luckily, it was instantly cold. She cupped her hands, filled them with the chilled water and splashed her face. Then she did it again for good measure. As she suspected, it didn’t do that much good.

  She pivoted on her heel and moved toward the nearest stall. Slamming her hand, palm out, against the door, it thrust open. Once inside, she flipped the latch. It helped knowing the bathroom stall served as a kind of barrier between Ava and what tempted her. If she kept telling herself that, maybe she’d believe it by the time she was done.

  She dropped her pants to her knees, well-aware of Stone’s presence and what she’d allow him to do without much persuasion on his part. She went about her business, hoping it’d distract her from the sexual attraction coursing through her body where it all seemed to be gathering beneath her belly.

  This was so not good. Ava couldn’t afford to give herself to some vampire. Especially not this vampire. The one who could convince her to give up all her secrets with a mere touch.

  Finishing up, she stood and pulled her pants back up around her waist.

  “Ava...?” There was a certain sense of wariness in Stone’s voice. “You about done?”

  “Yeah,” she said, pushing the stall’s door open. “Keep your shorts on.” She went to the sink to wash her hands.

  “Listen,” he said softly, moving closer to her. “I don’t want to alarm you, but there’s trouble outside.”

  “Trouble?” She turned off the water and shook her hands a couple of times before wiping them on her pants. “What kind of trouble?”

  Their eyes met and for a second it looked like he might actually say the word vampire. But he didn’t. He kind of left that part out when he said, “Five or six of them. I don’t know if I can fight them all off, but I’ll stand a better chance in here...where we can’t be surrounded.” He wasn’t paying much attention to her. Instead he was canvassing the room, taking in every inch of it. Finally, when his gaze landed back on her, he gave a half smile. “I’ll do my best to keep you safe and get you out of this alive.”

  She admitted the gesture was noble. Too bad the solution wasn’t appealing. Not as appealing as hers. “How much time do we have before they come in for us?” Ava pulled the Sun Stones’ pouch from her pocket.

  “Five minutes,” he sa
id, and she knew he was guessing. Hopefully he was close.

  “I need you to trust me for now.” she said, opening the pouch. “Please text your friend. Tell him he and Mickey should meet us at the place Mickey and I talked about. We may need backup.” She poured the Sun Stones into her palm. “I know you have questions. I’ll answer them all after I get us out of here.”

  Ava laid the stones out in a circle large enough for both of them. Luckily, it wouldn’t take much concentration to get to the TRS, which is where she was required to take him since he wasn’t from her base year and had no knowledge of time travel—as far as she knew. She’d never taken anyone to her beachside paradise in the Time Relay Station. It was her sanctuary; the place she went when she needed some peace and quiet and didn’t have to worry about dangers of any sort.

  Once the stones were laid out, she stepped inside the circle and beckoned him to join her, saying, “Wrap your arms around me and close your eyes.”

  The moment his arms encased her she reciprocated, closed her eyes and laid her head on his chest. Ava imagined them in an embrace meant for a much more intimate exchange. She pictured them on the seaside deck of the beach house she’d created in the TRS. It was nighttime and a gentle summer’s breeze blew in from the ocean.

  Ava heard Stone gasp as the transmission began. It started at her feet, sizzled up her body until it reached the top of her head and then cycled back down again.

  Traveling through time feels like an electric shock to all Brokers but Ava, for her it was more like the tingling sensation that happens when your extremities fall asleep. She knew Stone felt none of the pain, but even so, it had to be one hell of an eye opener. And, one he hadn’t been prepared for.

  But that was nothing. Wait until he figured out what was really going on.

  ~~~~

  Chapter Four

  Ava knew when the transmission had concluded. The niggling feeling that was trying to masquerade as pain fizzled out. She should let him go now. Hell, not even the embrace was necessary. Travelers only needed to be inside the circle with the Broker. Ava had no idea what had possessed her to use the process as an excuse.