by Dannika Dark
“Where in Canada are we going?” I asked.
Wyatt stretched. “New Brunswick. I’ve already got your fake passports and paperwork. I think you’re going to a private airport, so from there, who knows.”
“I still don’t get why Shepherd’s not going.”
Gem shrieked when Wyatt let out a shameless belch. “Caveman,” she muttered.
Wyatt flashed a grin and winked at me. “Shep’s a Sensor. He can’t heal like the rest of you. Blue and Viktor can do all that shifting. Anyhow, Viktor knows what he’s doing. He’ll have a tracking device so I can pinpoint your location. I need to stay here and man the station.”
“Sounds like a cop-out.”
“If you get yourselves in a pickle and I’m not here, who you gonna call?”
“Ghostbusters?”
Gem laughed. “She got you on that one, Spooky.”
It made me wonder who would have gone in my place had I declined Viktor’s offer. Shepherd was a tough guy, but going up against a Vampire was another matter. Claude would be a good contender given his Chitah speed and tracking ability.
I twirled a ballpoint pen around on the desk. “How cold is it there?”
He tossed his grey beanie aside and raked back his disheveled hair. “Well, it was twenty-five degrees today. The daytime isn’t so bad; it’s what happens when you’re stuck outside at night with no shelter, and it drops to four degrees. Just make sure no matter where you guys end up that you find shelter, even if you have to strip naked in a bear den and huddle together for body heat.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to join us?”
“No, but take pictures.”
I got up and rested my arms over the back of the chair. “Chitah country, huh?”
No wonder Viktor wanted me along. Not only did I have the power to blast a Chitah with my energy, but I was also immune to their venom.
“Ah, my hero!” Wyatt chanted.
I looked over my shoulder to see who he was talking to.
Kira floated past me with a tray in her hand. The smell of french fries quickly filled the air, and Wyatt’s eyes widened at the large bowl of what looked like homemade fries. They were steak cut and seasoned with salt, pepper, and chopped parsley.
I smiled. “That almost looks healthy.”
He reached in his drawer. “We came to an understanding. Potatoes are good for you.”
Kira wrinkled her nose when he peeled the metal lid off a can of cheese dip. I admired her stunning hair, a summer sunset with gold burning at the ends. She wore a blue kerchief over the top of her head that tied at the nape beneath her hair. Sometimes I’d see her wearing a shawl when she wasn’t scrubbing the floors or cooking. Kira’s plain style may have seemed old-fashioned, but she blended in perfectly with our surroundings.
She lingered, eyes glued to the television. As if pulled by invisible strings, she drifted forward and stopped short of Gem’s chair.
“That’s a first,” Wyatt murmured, cupping his hand around the side of his mouth. “Usually she ignores the TV.”
“Maybe it’s because all you ever play are video games and action movies.”
He chuckled and swiveled in his chair a little. “Nice to have you back, Miss Black.” As soon as the words left his mouth, his cheeks turned a blotchy red, and his eyes drifted down.
Pity was never a sentiment I was fond of. “Better eat your fries before they get cold.”
When a musical number trumpeted from the movie, we turned to watch Kira again. She walked all the way up to the television and placed her hand on the screen.
Claude gave a secretive smile, probably from an emotional scent that only he could pick up. But perhaps the rest of us knew how magical something as simple as a movie could be.
I kicked the toe of my shoe against Wyatt’s chair. “Is there anything else about the case I should know?”
He lifted his can of soda and slurped the drops around the rim. “The buyer’s name is Temple. We don’t have anything in our files that links to that name. Vampire elders don’t like keeping detailed records on their own.”
“How do you know his name?”
He shrugged. “Mr. Anonymous. Sometimes hackers help each other out for a favor, but he didn’t ask for anything. Looks like someone’s playing on our side. Either that, or maybe he’s got it in for this guy. Anyhow, we got lucky the higher authority took interest. They’re practically throwing money at us to solve it and bring this guy to justice. See how everything works out? One fish jumps out of the boat, and another jumps in. Either way, we’re going home with a catch.”
“When?”
He looked at the invisible watch on his wrist. “If everything goes according to plan, you leave late tonight. I’m going to send out a text message in thirty minutes with the info you need. Pack light. Viktor doesn’t want you taking anything that you can’t carry in a backpack.” Wyatt yawned extra wide before dipping a fat potato wedge in the can of cheese dip. “Just pack the necessities. Socks, clean panties, ninja throwing stars…”
“Are we taking the van?”
“Negative. Christian’s car will draw less attention, and he’s already got the paperwork ready for it. I’m sure Viktor will give you the rundown on the way there. The border guards tend to ask a lot of questions, so Christian’s going to do all the talking, if you catch my drift.”
“Let’s just hope he doesn’t get someone who doesn’t want to look at him.”
He swallowed his bite and licked his fingers. “We usually have at least one Breed insider working the main thoroughfares, but you never know. If they’re wearing sunglasses, Christian will have his work cut out for him.” Wyatt belched again, and before Gem could chastise him, he quickly said, “In some cultures, burping is a compliment to the chef.”
Gem peered back at him. “Did you know there used to be a colony of Chitahs in Norway who believed that burping meant your soul was escaping?”
Wyatt shuddered. “If that’s true, I’ve been soulless since 1891.” He looked at me and winked. “That’s when I had my first carbonated soda.”
I shook my head. “Sometimes I forget how old you are.”
He jerked his neck back. “Old? In Gravewalker years, I’m only in my twenties.”
And he looked it. Sometimes I felt older than my actual age. Meeting people like Gem and Wyatt made me realize that who we are is a choice more than a result of years.
After my second encounter with Fletcher, I wondered who I would choose to become.
Christian hadn’t been able to stop pacing the halls since dinner. This situation was out of control. He’d been seething from the moment he suspected that Houdini had scrubbed Raven’s memory. What right did that Vampire have to meddle in her life after abandoning his youngling? No maker in their right mind would have sent his newly made youngling off to the morgue to make their death look real. Yes, the deaths had to be faked and documented, but that was a task the maker handled him- or herself. And now he appears all these years later to scoop her up and look like the hero by convincing her that going back to her Creator was therapeutic?
Jaysus. That shitebag had been toying with her from day one. Either he was a certifiable lunatic, or he was one of those ancients who allayed boredom by senselessly interfering with people’s lives. He must have been watching her all this time. It revealed a possessive nature that unnerved Christian, and he found himself glancing at every window he passed to check the locks.
Christian heard Raven and Gem chattering, so he followed them to Wyatt’s office. Instead of going in, he remained just around the corner in an adjacent hall. After dinner, he’d wanted to go after her and talk but feared it would only make the situation worse. Bringing up every memory they shared to see if Houdini had wiped it would only frustrate and anger her. It was safe to say they were all gone. Well, any moment that truly mattered. She was already suspicious of Christian’s motives, and if he were in her shoes, he’d feel the same. Without the memory of their intimate conversatio
ns and the link they shared to her childhood, what reason did she have to trust him?
If she didn’t regain her memory, Christian wasn’t certain he could recapture that level of trust. It was as if someone had hit rewind on her feelings about him all the way back to day one. Their gradual progression had occurred through a series of events and conversations that he couldn’t recreate. Revealing the story about the fire would seem contrived and might push her away, especially if she didn’t believe him.
Maybe it would have been easier if he’d scrubbed her memory himself. But now that the deed was done, he wanted it all back. It hadn’t been her choice.
Or was it?
That thought niggled in the back of his head like a thorn. What if she’d asked Houdini to erase her feelings for Christian? Maybe she thought it would be easier to get through whatever hell she was about to face.
He simply couldn’t bring himself to believe it. Raven had been through a memory wipe before and experienced how disorienting it was—how invasive. Even if Christian had broken her heart with a sledgehammer, that girl treasured her memories. This was exactly what Houdini wanted—to give Christian doubt. After all, he’d specified that the money could only come from Christian’s account, so this was personal.
Fecking lunatic.
“Why don’t you have a seat?” Niko asked. “This is the second time you’ve walked by.”
Christian swung his gaze over to the arched window where Niko was seated in one of two chairs. The floors were painted a dim yellow from a lantern around the far corner, but neither of them needed light.
“You have a lot on your mind,” Niko said, both arms relaxed on the armrests. “What happened to Raven affected us all.”
Christian sat down and glared out the window. “Not as much as it’s affected her.”
“It took her five years to overcome her first encounter. She’s seasoned now, so every tragedy becomes easier to endure.”
“Aye. Because each time, we die a little inside.”
Niko pinched his chin. “That’s one way to look at it. But maybe the part of us that dies is the one that matters least.”
Christian sighed and rubbed his eyes. “Her maker is the one who abducted her.”
Niko’s dark eyebrows slanted down over his crystalline eyes. “And once again, he sent her into the cruel world.”
“Right back into the hands of her Creator.”
“The fates are at work. Her Creator would have known it was her by the description in the ad. His brand of madness must be extinguished before it spreads.”
“And what of her maker?” Christian asked with annoyance. “She’s always despised her Creator, but her maker has done nothing but throw her into the fire.”
“Maybe he believes he’s forging a weapon. Look how strong it’s made her. Where some would have given up, she has the fortitude to keep going. Resilience can’t be learned; you’re either born with it or not.”
“If you’re on his side, I’ll toss you out the fecking window. That man meddles, and while I can’t prove or explain it, he’s scrubbed some of Raven’s memory. Not of the attacks, but other things. He’s been playing mind games with her since the beginning, but with all the scrubbing he’s done, she doesn’t even realize he’s trying to control her. His words are so seductive that she believes his ideas are really hers. That’s what happens when someone tinkers around in your head. He’s nothing more than a snake charmer.”
“It’s more complicated than that. Because he’s her maker, she sees herself in him. And to see him as evil is to see herself as evil. There’s no one else like her, so she looks to these men for a sense of her own identity. After the brutality she suffered with Fletcher, she feels more akin to her maker now than anyone. She wants to believe.”
“Believe what? That she can save him?”
“That she can save herself. Good and evil isn’t black and white. We’re all driven by motives, and we yearn to be in control.” Niko laced his fingers together and dipped his chin. “That which we try to control ultimately enslaves us. She’ll find her truth one day, and when she does, he’ll no longer have any power over her. His blood flows in her veins, so she’ll struggle with it. Years of abuse will sever that bond, just as Fletcher has done. But mental abuse is harder to see. Shared magic creates a loyalty that resides within us—you know that as well as I do. No matter if you despise your maker, you want to believe his truth.”
“If I ever find him, I’ll sever more than a bond.”
Niko leaned forward. “Careful what you do, Christian. Until she realizes the truth for herself, she’ll never forgive the person who takes his life. He sounds like a convincing man, and you forget how young she is in our world. Her umbilical cord is still attached, and only she holds the power to sever it. Has she confided in you what happened with her Creator?”
“Aye, she did.”
Niko pursed his lips, his gaze fixed. “I hope she can control her anger. If she finds him and delivers her own justice, we won’t be able to protect her, no matter how shocking his punishments were.”
Christian rubbed his face. “I’m knackered. I’ll be driving all night, and I need to stop thinking about what that fecking sparkplug did to my partner.”
In truth, Christian had already come to terms with what Fletcher had done. The chains and starvation were bad enough, but learning that he’d sexually gratified himself while torturing her explained so much about Raven and her cautious approach toward relationships with men. It wouldn’t surprise him at all to learn she’d not been with a man since becoming immortal. Fletcher had stripped away her trust and made her associate her pain with his pleasure. He’d sought to ruin her as a means to control her.
Fecking hell, it made Christian want to be something he wasn’t—a romantic. He wanted Raven to know what it felt like to be revered by his touch, his words, and his kiss.
And now, thanks to Houdini, he might never get the chance.
Niko’s blue eyes flashed up. “If her maker charmed her, then we can assume he knows about us. Should he decide to target anyone, it’ll be either you or Viktor. He must know that you’re her partner, and that’s why he considers you a threat. Partners have a bond, and maybe he doesn’t want her to have a loyal connection to anyone. Makers and Creators aren’t so different from one another. Not all of them have love for their progeny, but they still have a compulsion to control that which is theirs.” Niko drew in a breath and held it for a moment. “He didn’t erase her memory of him. I find that most curious. Either he has reason to trust that she won’t divulge his secrets, or she’s promised him something.”
While those two suggestions could be right, Christian was certain that Raven had bartered her necklace. He didn’t mention it to Niko. No one in the house knew its true value, and it would only draw suspicion as to why he’d given it to her in the first place.
“What’s Viktor got you doing while we’re away?” Christian asked, shifting the conversation to give the topic a rest.
Niko rose to his feet and stretched his arms overhead. “Guard duty. We can’t be too careful with Raven’s Creator on the loose. Viktor had to bow out of a few meetings, so I’ll be attending those in his stead.”
“Sounds grand,” Christian said absently.
Niko stretched out his arm and touched the window. “Perhaps you better get Raven off the roof lest she fall and break her neck.”
Christian stood up and squinted. “I can’t see anything.”
“She’s just up there,” Niko said, pointing his finger south. “I saw her light move by just now. She walks the roof at night when she’s troubled. I guess you know that by now.”
Christian put his hands in his pockets and shrugged. “She does what she likes.”
“You can’t change the past and what’s been done.” Niko reached out until he caught Christian’s shoulder. “No matter how she portrays herself, she’s vulnerable now. I know you two have had your differences, but Raven’s a strong addition to our team.
Don’t give her a reason to quit, even if she asks for it. Remember: if she’s not our ally, then that makes her our enemy. Viktor will have no choice but to scrub everything, and she’ll be left with nothing but hollow memories of the past.”
“You’re always a pocketful of sunshine, aren’t you?” Christian patted Niko’s cheek. “Why don’t you run along now and spread some of that good cheer into the world.”
Niko grinned and turned away, his hand running along the grooves of the wall. “One of these days, Christian, you might actually find my advice useful.”
Men as old as Niko were qualified to give sage advice, and his words were enough to prevent Christian from doing something regretful, like telling Viktor the truth. It wasn’t worth the gamble. The truth would do them more harm than good if it meant jeopardizing her career and their partnership. Maybe it was time to let go of a fate he couldn’t change and a dream he’d never hold.
Chapter 28
Why do men always get the front seat?” I complained from behind Christian.
Viktor reclined his head on the passenger headrest. “Because men have longer legs.”
“Then sit on the roof.”
Christian adjusted his visor so he could see me. “I was saving that seat for you, sweetheart.”
“Maybe you should ride in the trunk since you’re practically blind from all this sunshine.”
He tipped his head until I could see his eyes peering at me from beneath his dark sunglasses.
We’d left the mansion at around two in the morning, and it felt like we’d been on the road for ages. Around noon, Christian had pulled in to a gas station to refill the car while Blue and I went inside to use the restroom. Though I wasn’t hungry, browsing the aisles of the convenience store allowed me to stretch my legs.
Now I was squished in the back seat again, any hope of napping long gone after Christian had spent the past half hour giving his uncensored opinion on why computers don’t belong in cars.
“Are Canadian Vampires nicer?” I mused.