Blood Hunt

by L. L. Raand

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Sylvan pulled Drake closer into the curve of her body and reached over her for her cell phone resting on the table next to their bed. Her cabin was quiet, the night outside the open windows just starting to cool. She scented Andrew and Misha close by—standing guard in the forest. Drake’s naked body was a warm comfort against her own. The phone vibrated again.

  “Sylvan.”

  “Alpha,” Max said, a hint of apology in his voice. “Sorry to disturb you. Detective Gates is on the line.”

  “That’s all right, put her through.”

  Drake stirred and grumbled beside her. “What is it?”

  “Jody.” Sylvan stroked Drake’s chest and belly. Her mate had been unusually restless and agitated when they’d arrived back at the Compound, and Sylvan had insisted they sleep. Drake had finally fallen into an uneasy slumber, but even now she vibrated with tension, as if sensing danger. “Rest a bit longer. All is well.” Into the phone, she said, “Vampire?”

  Jody said, “Have you made any progress finding your females?”

  “We have suggestive activity at two locations,” Sylvan said.

  “Becca may have found something more for you.”

  “What do you have?”

  “The Green Mountain Center for Progressive Studies outside of Bennington, Vermont, underwent significant expansion a little over eighteen months ago. An entire new wing was constructed. That’s a matter of public record.”

  “That’s cat territory,” Sylvan snarled.

  “I thought they were too disorganized to be a threat?” Jody said.

  “They were, but everything is different now. If they were offered part of our territory to help overthrow us—who knows?”

  “It would seem we can no longer rely on previous assumptions,” Jody said.

  “What else did Becca discover?” Sylvan would worry about the cats when she had her young home.

  “She found some preliminary architectural specs buried in a slew of environmental filings that show underground tunnels.”

  “Perhaps an underground installation?” Sylvan’s wolf surged along with her fury. Abducting her wolves was a killing offense, but if they’d been harmed, she would make sure the death of anyone involved was slow and painful. Pack law ruled where protecting her wolves was concerned, and as Alpha, she was judge and executioner.

  “Very possible.”

  “Who owns it?” Sylvan sat up, bracing her back against the sanded log walls. Drake rolled over in the nest of tangled sheets and rested her head in Sylvan’s lap. Sylvan combed her fingers through Drake’s hair, soothed by the satisfied rumbling in her mate’s chest.

  “We don’t know that yet. I’ve made a few calls. Discreetly. I may be able to track down the filing papers, but my guess is we’re going to find a shell corporation or a series of them. Eventually we may be able to sort out who owns it, but not within any reasonable timeframe.”

  “I posted watchers at all three potential sites this morning,” Sylvan said. “We’ve seen significantly more personnel arriving and departing throughout the day in six-hour shifts at this place. Thank you for the information. I am in your de—”

  “Wait a minute,” Jody said. “You’re going to need me and my Vampires.”

  Sylvan said, “I told you before, I don’t need Vampires to protect my Pack. Wolves don’t fight with Vampires.”

  “That hasn’t always been the case,” Jody said. “We’ve hunted together before against common enemies. And you could use us if the place is warded with silver.”

  “How is it I can’t get rid of you, Vampire?”

  Jody laughed. “Sometimes, Wolf, necessity creates strange bedfellows.”

  “How are my wolves?”

  “Niki is a worthy second. As to Lara—” Jody chuckled. “My Vampire is amazingly healthy. She is strong, Sylvan. She’s very strong.”

  Sylvan heard pride and perhaps a trace of worry in Jody’s voice. “Can she come home?”

  “She will never be just a Were again,” Jody said quietly, all hint of arrogance gone from her voice. “There are still things she needs to learn. Powers, if I’m correct, that will manifest soon and that will be difficult for her to control. She needs to be with my Vampire seethe, with my aides, until we know whether she will eventually be more Were or more Vampire.”

  “She will never be separate from Pack,” Sylvan said. “I feel her connection as strongly as I ever did.”

  “Nor can she be separated from me. At least not for very long.” Jody sighed. “It seems yet another compromise is necessary. If she needs to be around Weres, you can station your wolves in my lair. But they must be willing to host or be able to resist the thrall if the other Vampires here wish to feed from them. I won’t ask my Vampires to ignore their needs for the comfort of Weres.”

  “Agreed,” Sylvan said. “What about Niki? I need my second to come home.”

  “Understood,” Jody said. “She can supervise those you station here, if you wish. She’s an excellent liaison, despite her resistance to the idea.”

  Sylvan laughed. “She is not bred for diplomacy, but Niki will do what is needed. What about Lara—if you are with us—”

  “We will come to you tonight. Lara will be secure for the night in the Compound if she has fed.”

  “Very well.”

  “And, Wolf,” Jody added, “if I am to have Weres in my lair, I will send Vampires with Lara when she is in your Compound. I protect my own as well.”

  Sylvan snarled. “We have never had Vampires in the Compound.”

  “No, and I have never had Weres in my lair who were not here for my pleasure.”

  Sylvan grumbled and silver pelt shimmered beneath her bronzed skin.

  “Easy, love.” Drake rubbed her fingers in light circles between Sylvan’s breasts, reaching deep inside her, soothing the fires of temper.

  Sylvan drew a breath and covered Drake’s hand with hers. “On your word as Liege that these Vampires will not take an unwilling Were host in my Compound.”

  “You have my word, Alpha.”

  “Then we have an alliance,” Sylvan said.

  “Even if that alliance puts you at odds with the Regent?”

  “I hope I never need to choose. If I do, you must know that I will choose what is best for the protection of my Pack.”

  “Of course,” Jody said. “That, I never doubted. One more thing.”

  Sylvan growled and Jody laughed.

  “I’m bringing Becca to the Compound with me tonight. If we are going hunting, I want her protected.”

  “On my honor.”

  “Then I and my Vampires are at your service.”

  “I heard that last part,” Becca said, leaning in the doorway leading from Jody’s bedroom to the bath. “Exactly what do you plan to do with me? I’m not going to hide somewhere so the big strong Weres and big bad Vampires can babysit me every time you think there might be danger.”

  Jody pulled a black shirt out of her closet, shrugged it on, and tucked it into her black trousers. With her speed she was nearly invisible to human perception, but in a fight, any advantage was welcome. She glanced at her blood mate. Fortunately looks could not kill, because the daggers Becca was sending her way might very well have proven lethal. She smiled at Becca. “You look good in my clothes.”

  Becca scowled and flicked a hand in the direction of the slightly too large maroon silk shirt and the decidedly too tight blue jeans that one of Jody’s servants had brought her. “Somehow, I can’t even see you in blue jeans. You’re too elegant. And you’re avoiding the issue.”

  “Too elegant?” Jody laughed. “A strange phrase to describe a Vampire.”

  “That’s because you have no idea how you appear to others.”

  “Oh, I know how others see us,” Jody said, remembering after the Exodus when humans had demanded that Vampires be exterminated like a contagion. Only a joint appearance by her father and Sylvan’s on international television had convinced
the heads of the powerful human governments that the Praeterns could control their predatory urges—that the humans had nothing to fear. Even now, organized human factions called for the destruction of the Vampires. “Because we feed on humans, we’re viewed as the greatest threat of all the Praeterns. We’ve been labeled monsters. Unnatural. Undead—isn’t that what they call us? Not worthy of rights because we’re not really alive?”

  Becca moved so quickly Jody was startled. Nothing ever startled her, but then Becca constantly surprised her. Becca’s warm hands were on her face, and Becca’s hot mouth was on hers, and for a fraction of a second her mind was blank of everything except Becca. She pulled Becca close, drew her in, let Becca plunder her mouth. Finally she moved her head away. “Careful,” she murmured. “I’m still potent.”

  Becca swayed in her arms, laughing. “Darling, your potency has nothing to do with whether you can get physically aroused at the moment or not. You are always arousing to me, and don’t think you can use not having fed as an excuse to put me off if I want you. Ever.”

  Jody’s clitoris stirred, but the arousal went far beyond the merely physical. Unlike anyone in her experience, Becca reached her in places she could not name.

  “You make me feel,” Jody whispered, still astonished by what she had never imagined.

  “Is that bad?”

  “In some ways. You make me afraid, and I have never in my existence been afraid.”

  Becca skimmed her fingers over Jody’s face. “What do you fear, my darling Vampire?”

  “The one thing I have no control over. Losing you.”

  “It must be terribly hard,” Becca said with utter sincerity, “for you, who can so easily control others, control your own desire, control your own destiny, to love me when I’m so damn uncontrollable.”

  Jody laughed. “I’m not sure I like being so well understood.”

  “You’ll have to get used to it. And here’s something else you’re going to have to get used to.” Becca kissed Jody lightly on the mouth, looped her arms around Jody’s waist, and leaned back so their eyes met. “I love you. I don’t want you only when it’s safe. I want you when it’s dangerous. I want you when you’re threatened. I want you when life is uncertain. Whatever is coming for Sylvan or for you or for us, I want to be there. I want to be by your side.”

  “Isn’t it enough that you’re in my heart?”

  “No. It isn’t.” Becca sighed and kissed her again. “That you love me is everything, but only if you let me love you back.”

  “You’re not a warrior. You can’t fight the way we can. I’m a cop, and you don’t expect to take to the streets with me.” Jody grimaced. “Well, actually, you do, but that’s just because you’re unreasonably stubborn and—”

  “Careful”—Becca pressed her fingers to Jody’s mouth—“you’re getting in deeper by the second. I expect to do whatever I can to be part of your fight, whatever form the battle takes, and that does not involve sitting back somewhere safe with armed guards around me.”

  “For tonight, come to the Compound with me,” Jody said. “We’ll find out what Sylvan plans.” She glanced at the computer where Becca had adeptly gathered all of the information that had pinpointed the most likely location of the imprisoned Weres. “You’re very good at finding information fast. At communications.”

  “That’s what I do.”

  “Then that’s how you’ll fight.”

  Becca nodded. “It’s a start.”

  Drake sat up in bed next to Sylvan and caressed her mate’s chest. “What time is it?”

  “Just about seven p.m.”

  “Do we have them?”

  Sylvan gave a satisfied growl. “I think so.”

  Drake warmed with a surge of relief and a hotter wash of fury. “Then we’ll take them back. Tonight.”

  “We will. The Vampire is bringing her soldiers.” Sylvan stroked Drake’s back. “I’ll take Niki and Max in with me. A small, swift hunting party. I’ll bring them home.”

  Drake straddled Sylvan, braced both hands against Sylvan’s shoulders, and pinned her against the wall. She dipped her head and nibbled on Sylvan’s lower lip. “All of us will bring them home. I’m going with you.”

  Sylvan stiffened for an instant, and Drake could practically hear the argument forming in her mate’s mind. In fact, she could feel the argument pushing against her senses. She bit a little harder and slid her tongue into Sylvan’s mouth, stealing the words and replacing them with her own desire. Sylvan groaned.

  “All of us,” Drake repeated, then worked her way down the bed and between Sylvan’s legs. For the last few days, their mating had been wild and hungry and hard and hot, and every joining strengthened her bond to Sylvan. But now, she wanted something else. She wanted to show Sylvan how much she loved her and how much they belonged together. She wanted Sylvan to know Sylvan owned her heart as well as her body, her soul as well as her passion. Now, on the eve of battle, she needed her to know. She took Sylvan into her mouth, held her there in the warm haven as Sylvan hardened for her, grew wet for her.

  “Drake,” Sylvan whispered hoarsely, trembling with the effort to give Drake control. “I need you.”

  The words speared Drake’s heart. The only words that held more power over her were I love you, and she wanted Sylvan to feel her need and her love. She sucked Sylvan slowly at first, letting the tension build, even though she knew Sylvan was instantly ready to release. She wanted to satisfy her, but more than that, she wanted to please her beyond the primal bonds that made Sylvan hers and her Sylvan’s. She reached up, brushed her fingers over Sylvan’s chest, felt Sylvan’s heart beating strong and sure. Sylvan’s breasts swelled, her nipples tightened. Drake dragged her fingers down the center of Sylvan’s tense abdomen, feeling muscles contract. Sylvan quivered, her body drawing tight. When Drake owned Sylvan, body and soul, she pulled her in deeper, licked her faster, sucked her harder. Sylvan jerked, the warning growl of her impending release starting deep in her chest and filling Drake’s heart with power and wonder. When Sylvan groaned and poured all that she was into her, Drake was more than satisfied. She was complete.

  “I love you,” Drake whispered.

  “You are my life,” Sylvan said, drawing Drake up beside her. She licked Drake’s neck and kissed her. “You are Prima of the Timberwolves. If I fall in battle, you will become Alpha—”

  “You won’t fall,” Drake said sharply, refusing to consider the unthinkable. “Not tonight, not ever. Remember what you told me—the Pack needs us both. Besides—I don’t want the job. I hate politics.”

  Sylvan smiled and rested in Drake’s arms, absorbing the strength of their bond. “As you wish, Prima.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Niki stood on the landing of the Vampire’s town house and sniffed the air. Nothing unusual—the park was across the street. Dogs, humans, squirrel and other prey. A faint scent of Were, a few days old. Vampires were hard to scent under the best of circumstances, and she was surrounded by them. If a Vampire assassin lay in wait for them, she might miss them. She growled unhappily. A dark-haired Vampire, female, in black fatigues and boots, an automatic strapped to her right thigh, appeared beside her and echoed her visual scan of the street.

  “I can’t scent any Vampires,” Niki said, because pride had no place when duty was at stake. “Can you?”

  “No sense of any other than ours,” the female murmured.

  “You feel each other?”

  The Vampire regarded her blankly, and Niki stared back. The female smiled after a second. Her incisors gleamed. “Yes.”

  “Handy,” Niki said thoughtfully.

  A black limo pulled to the curb. Gates waited in the foyer with Lara and Becca.

  “Clear,” Niki and the female Vampire said simultaneously. They flanked the group as everyone moved down the stairs toward the now-open rear door of the idling vehicle. A male Vampire, the driver, stood by, his black suit jacket unbuttoned, a holstered weapon on his hip.

 
After everyone was in, Niki climbed into the back of the limo, and the female Vampire got into the front along with a male Vampire dressed in combat gear. Lara curled up in the corner a foot from Niki. Gates and Becca settled across from them. The vehicle was luxurious—leather seats, a recessed mini-bar, phone, satellite radio—and it was also armored with reinforced side panels and smoked UV-filtering glass.

  “This vehicle will have trouble off-road when we reach the Compound,” Niki commented.

  Gates smiled. “I believe it will manage, Wolf.”

  All three Vampires in the front were dark haired and dark eyed like Gates. Niki had difficulty telling the age of the ageless and didn’t understand the bloodlines, but one thing she recognized. The carriage of warriors. They weren’t just bodyguards, they were soldiers. From the practiced ease with which they had maneuvered the car up to the house, covered the street, and escorted Gates and the others from the house to the vehicle, they were Gates’s personal guard. Gates was more than just a detective. Why the Vampire put herself at risk, working with humans, unprotected, unguarded, made no sense. Why anyone would let her made even less sense.

  Niki would never allow the Alpha to be so vulnerable. Where was the Clan allegiance to this Vampire, that they allowed her to be so alone? Or were they all so singularly focused, they cared only for the one who held power in that moment? At least the Vampire had guards now, and something else. Something strange. The human—Becca—kept her hand on the Vampire’s leg, something Niki had never seen before. She had been in Nocturne many times with the Alpha, and she’d seen how Vampires acted with their retinue of blood servants. She’d witnessed possession, domination, and primal passion, but she’d never in her memory witnessed tenderness. She’d never seen a human, or a Were for that matter, put claim to a Vampire. Gates slid her hand over the human’s, and their fingers intertwined. Niki raised her head and found the Vampire watching her, a speculative look in her eyes. Niki stared back, but felt no challenge. Rather, she read an acknowledgment of what lay between the Vampire and the human and sighed inwardly. She supposed she would have to continue with the Alpha’s directive to protect the Vampire and the human as well as Lara. She leaned back and closed her eyes.