“Of course, they are,” Cyn agreed. All three of them were stretched out on the ground, handguns aimed and following the chopper’s movements. She’d been right about pilots being hard to protect. The helicopter was vulnerable, too. A marksman could be effective at 100 yards with a 9 mm, same with Kathryn’s .40 caliber. They were all excellent shots, and Kathryn was a trained sniper. But Cyn still didn’t know how much damage they could do. No matter how good the marksman, targeting at this distance took much longer and delayed the shot, sometimes critically. That didn’t mean they wouldn’t try.
The helicopter’s lights lined up with the shore, growing bigger and brighter as they began their run. “Here they come,” Cyn muttered.
RAPHAEL WAS ON his feet the instant the lights went out, alerted to Cyn’s warning by Juro’s telepathic message.
“Lucas,” he snapped, shedding his jacket and tie as he headed for the glass doors off the conference room. The estate was completely dark, not so much as a stray candle lit the night. His vampires didn’t need light to function. They did better without it. If the attackers were vampires, they’d be the same, but they should be momentarily disoriented by the sudden blackout. Raphael counted on that, and on the fact that their enemies wouldn’t know the estate as well as his own people did. They’d have no way of knowing which of the many rooms Raphael was using for his meeting.
He walked out onto the balcony. Lucas was right beside him when he stepped up to the metal railing, and so was Quinn, which was something of a surprise. He’d expected Lucas. There was no threat that they wouldn’t face together. But Quinn had no dog in this fight, as the humans would say. He was here essentially to audition for the role of Lord of Ireland. He had no loyalty to Raphael.
“My lord,” Quinn said quietly, “what do you need?”
“Power,” Raphael said simply. “Lucas and I have worked together before, but you—”
“—will have to open my mind completely to you. I understand. Tell me when.”
“Now,” Raphael said and reached out, drawing Quinn into the connection he’d already forged with Lucas. Taking only a few seconds to be certain they would work smoothly together, he gathered his power and lashed out at the oncoming copter, which shuddered slightly under the blow. It was a testing strike, the only one he’d take.
“My lord?” Quinn asked, not yet understanding. But he would.
“Get ready,” Raphael muttered. The silver of his eyes flashed brighter than moonlight over the rocks below. He lifted his hand toward the helicopter as if in supplication, and the power flowed—his, Lucas’s, and Quinn’s. Raphael channeled their combined strength as he reached out and took hold of the helicopter. The engines’ growl became louder as the aircraft fought his hold, struggling to obey the pilot’s frantic efforts to break free, while Lucas used his unique gift to send waves of terror directly to the brains of the three vampires onboard the craft. Raphael gripped harder, putting every shred of power, every ounce of will he possessed, into ripping the copter out of the sky. This was the enemy, the same monsters who so recently had killed his people in their quest for vengeance, who’d come to his home tonight and threatened everyone he loved. Next to him, Lucas cursed, but it was a distant noise. Reality narrowed down to just him and his enemy.
The engine’s growl became a whine, like a wounded animal begging for its life. But Raphael was Vampire. There was no such thing as mercy in his world. Closing his fingers into a claw, he felt the thin metal of the helicopter against his skin, felt it collapse inward like a tin can in his fist. The vampires onboard howled, a sound heard in his mind, not his ears. He tightened his grip further and dragged the machine out of the sky. It hung there for a moment, clinging to flight, and then abruptly lost all power and smashed to earth.
Raphael leapt from the second-floor balcony to the grassy bluff below the house, aware of Lucas and Quinn striding next to him as he walked to the cliff edge. He took a moment to study the downed craft, searching for survivors who might try to escape on foot. Or, at least, that’s what he told himself. The helicopter was little more than a ball of scrap metal, barely recognizable as the attack craft it had once been. The vampires who’d been on board were dead, all of them old enough to have dusted when they died. He’d known that before he walked out to study the wreckage. He wasn’t looking for signs of life. He was wondering how the hell he’d managed to destroy the thing so completely, even with Lucas and Quinn’s help. Raphael didn’t suffer from false modesty. He knew he was one of the great powers in the paranormal world, a force little understood by the humans whose sheer numbers dominated the planet. But even he had never pulled a helicopter from the sky and crushed it like a tin can. He hadn’t thought before he’d done it, he’d simply acted on instinct. His home and people were threatened, and he’d dealt with the threat, knowing he had Lucas’s strength to back him up. Quinn had been a bonus, a boost of power that had made Raphael’s task easier.
Still, it was his power, his magic, his fucking will, that had made it possible. He wondered what Cyn would think about this new demonstration of his abilities. He wondered what his enemies would think.
“Tristan Fabrice?” Lucas asked quietly.
“Definitely, and two others,” Raphael agreed.
“Fits with the three attacks earlier.”
“And the reports from up North.”
“What’d you think of our boy?” Lucas asked, even more softly.
Raphael glanced over at Quinn, who was staring at the wreckage, but not seeing it. He’d probably never opened his mind to anyone the way he had with Raphael just now. Vampires simply didn’t take those kind of risks, especially not vampires with enough power to rule. It might take Quinn a few minutes to recover.
Oddly enough, the attack had solidified his opinion of Quinn. He’d measured the vampire’s power while he’d been deep in his mind, far too deep for deception. Quinn was more than powerful enough to be a lord. But there was more to it than that. The North American lords were an alliance. They might bicker, but when it came down to it, they would stand at each other’s backs. The vampire Raphael chose for Ireland would have to fit into that alliance when they began their European invasion.
Having seen Quinn’s power and person from the inside out, Raphael knew.
He looked at Lucas. “I think Quinn Kavanagh will be the next Lord of Ireland.”
CYN STARED AT the burning pile of wreckage, relief warring with disappointment. She’d been all geared up for a fight and then pfft. Nothing.
“What the hell just happened?” Kathryn muttered.
“My guess? Raphael with a touch of Lucas,” Elke said, jumping to her feet, as if the threat was gone. Which it obviously was. Damn it.
“I’ve seen some serious vamp power, but that takes the cake,” Kathryn said, as she climbed to her feet much more carefully, holstering the weapon she’d never had a chance to use.
“We should get back to the house.” Cyn needed to see for herself that Raphael was all right. Because Kathryn had a point. Even with Lucas’s help, Raphael would have expended one hell of a lot of power to take down a damn helicopter. He’d be feeling it, even though he’d never let it show. Except to her.
The estate lights came on at half power, illuminating the way back to the house.
“Let’s go,” she said, and started running.
RAPHAEL TURNED away from the wreckage and strode back inside, taking the side stairs to the conference room. His muscles ached as if he’d spent hours sparring with Juro instead of a few minutes taking down an enemy. He caught the big vampire’s eye as he entered the room. “You’ll have to handle the police,” Raphael told him. “Make up a story. A drone gone bad or something.”
“That’s a big fucking drone,” Lucas muttered.
“They won’t care,” Juro said, his tone lacking any of the usual animosity he showed toward Lucas. In a cr
isis, there was no room for personal feelings. It was something both vampires understood. “There were no humans aboard, and there are no bodies in the wreckage,” Juro continued. “The human authorities will only care about having a plausible story for the news outlets. A crashed drone will do.”
Raphael pulled his cell phone from the pocket of his jacket which hung on a chair where he’d left it. He needed to call Cyn. But she hadn’t waited. Before he could do more than turn on the phone, she ran into the conference room, followed by Kathryn and Elke.
“Are you all okay?”
CYN ASKED THE question as she entered the second-floor conference room, but she barely listened to the answer. Her attention was all for Raphael, as she went directly into his arms and held on tight. She’d been so terrified when she’d seen that damn helicopter heading for the estate. She’d known what it could do with the right weapons. Their enemy could’ve torn the house apart and dropped it into the ocean along with half the bluff and all the vampires inside it. Including Raphael. She didn’t even know if he could swim. Fuck that, he’d never have survived long enough to worry about it.
“We’re fine,” Raphael said, surveying her for damage, before pulling her close once again.
“Anyone know where Tristan Fabrice is right now?” she asked darkly.
“Dusted. All three onboard were vampires, including Tristan. I caught a glimpse of his mind at the auction the other night, when he was occupied with your father. I’m quite certain he’s among the dead. I didn’t recognize the others, but there were three attackers, three vampires who entered the country up north, and three vampires on that helicopter. Juro,” he said, breaking off to address his security chief. “I’ll want a team—”
“Already on their way, Sire.”
“Why don’t we retire to my office?” Raphael said. “It’s far more comfortable.”
“And it has a fireplace,” Lucas added, holding his Kathryn tightly, as he urged her toward the door. “You’re freezing, Katie mine.”
“We were in kind of a hurry when we ran outside,” she said. “I didn’t grab my jacket.”
Raphael didn’t make a move to leave the room. He lingered, holding on to Cyn, seeming unwilling to let her go. She didn’t know if that was for her sake, or his. And she really didn’t care.
“You’re all right?” he asked quietly.
She nodded. “I was more worried about you. I wasn’t sure which room you all were meeting in, if it was at the main house, or under the garage. I saw those damn guns—”
Raphael tightened his hold on her. “They never got off a shot. We made sure of it.”
“We? Even the new guy?” she asked, eyeing Quinn who was standing near the door, wearing a bored, I’m too sexy for my shirt, sort of look, while he waited for Lucas and the others to clear the doorway. He was a good-looking guy, but that was nothing new. The powerful vampires always were. He looked her way, and she realized he’d probably heard her question.
“Quinn and Lucas joined their powers with mine to take down the invaders,” Raphael said, probably as much for Quinn’s ears as her own. Maybe more, she figured. New allies and all that. Later, when she and Raphael were alone, and he could be completely honest with her, she’d get the full scoop of what had happened, and what the hell he’d done to stop it.
Kathryn, who was much better at dealing with people than Cyn, corralled Quinn into leaving the room with her and Lucas, giving him an easy smile that he returned the same way. What was it Raphael had said about the vamp? Oh, yeah. He’d been a lawyer in his previous life. Hell, he probably still was. And Kathryn was an FBI agent. It was a friendship made in heaven. Or, you know, hell, depending on how you looked at it.
For a few minutes, she and Raphael were alone in the conference room, though it wouldn’t last. He was the host of this little home invasion and would need to join the others. But she took advantage of the moment to wrap her arms around him and simply hold on. She worried every day about losing him. The only time she’d felt completely safe in the past was when they’d been home in their well-guarded estate. And now some asshole in a fucking helicopter had ruined that for her, too.
Raphael held her just as tightly as she was holding him, his face buried in her hair. It occurred to her that he’d been worried, too.
“I’m okay,” she murmured. “Kath and Elke and I watched the whole thing, like a fireworks show on 4th of July.”
He smiled briefly as he pulled back to see her face. “How would you like to visit Paris?”
She gave him a narrow-eyed stare. “That again? What? Is there another lame-ass auction I have to attend?”
His smile broadened, but he shook his head. “Not this time. It’s the real thing. Promise.”
“Then I say, hell, yeah, when do we leave?”
“There’s a bit more to it than that, but soon. Come, we’ll discuss it with Lucas and our new ally.”
She scowled. “What do they have to do with . . . Oh, damn, we’re going to be target practice, aren’t we?”
Chapter Six
QUINN WATCHED as Raphael took the seat behind his desk, with his mate, Cynthia—Cyn, they called her—standing next to him like a cross between a super model and a steely-eyed bodyguard. Raphael was silent, motionless, as he stared at the others gathered in the expansive room. No fidgeting. Not from this vampire. His only gesture was a possessive hand on the back of Cyn’s thigh.
Finally, his expression lightened enough for his mouth to curve into a slight smile. “We were interrupted earlier, Quinn. We were discussing your strategy for seizing Ireland from Sorley.”
Quinn leaned forward. “As I said, my lord, Sorley’s base, since his ascension, is Dublin. Once I’ve take him and his closest aides out, the city will be mine, and I can take my time about solidifying the rest of the country. There’s no one likely to fight me on it, not right away. And anyone who does, I can defeat.”
“Yeah,” Lucas agreed, “but as they say, that first step’s a killer. How are you going to get rid of Sorley?”
“The usual way. I’ll kill him. But first I need to get close enough. He’s not going to let me simply walk into his headquarters and challenge him. So, I’ll move in slowly, circle the beast, so to speak. I’ll start by killing off a few lower vamps and taking over their slots in Sorley’s organization. He’ll notice. He might even pay me a visit. But killing’s the vampire way, and he’s not known for loyalty below his inner circle. As long as his business and income aren’t negatively affected, he won’t care.”
“But you won’t challenge him, yet,” Raphael commented. It wasn’t a question, which made Quinn think the powerful lord already understood Quinn’s reasons.
“Not yet,” Quinn agreed. “I want to get on the inside, first. I’ll let him think my cousin and I are simply two homesick vamps come back to Ireland. Once I’ve learned all I can about how he runs his territory, that’s when I’ll challenge him and kill him. Garrick will be able to keep any of Sorley’s followers off my back during the challenge battle itself, and we can deal with any surviving loyalists together.”
Raphael nodded thoughtfully, his hand still resting on Cyn’s thigh, although she’d moved to sit on the arm of his chair, rather than standing next to it. “I’ve given it some thought,” Raphael said, “and it occurred to me that a distraction might be useful to your undertaking.”
The comment was so completely out of left field that Quinn didn’t know what to say. A distraction? That possibility hadn’t been broached in their discussions before the attack. Nor had Lucas or Raj raised it in their meetings with him.
It was Lucas who asked casually, “You have something in mind?”
“Well, I do owe Cyn a trip to Paris.”
Lucas straightened so quickly that even Kathryn, who’d been sitting next to him, was taken off guard. “Jesus, Raphael, you ca
n’t possibly be considering—”
“I can’t?” The question was said in the stone-cold voice of a powerful vampire lord, but with none of the power vibes that would have foreshadowed a truly dangerous confrontation. In Quinn’s mind, Raphael’s reaction, or absence thereof, confirmed the rumors of a close relationship between the two vampire lords.
“Well, hell, sure you can, but, why would you?” Lucas persisted. “And don’t give me that bullshit about Cyn wanting to shop.”
Cyn snorted her opinion of that.
“If you want a distraction,” he continued earnestly, “my lads can take care of that. There’s no need for—”
“I owe our French colleagues a debt, Lucas,” Raphael interrupted, before switching his gaze back to Quinn. “And I intend to pay.”
It was said calmly enough, but the rage simmering beneath the words was a living beast prowling the room, its nostrils flaring at the scent of blood. Had Quinn been a more fanciful man, he’d have sworn he felt the brush of a fang against his throat, before Raphael turned his black stare away.
Fortunately, Quinn was no novice when it came to intimidation by vampire or human. There was a reason he’d been chosen to pursue a takeover of Ireland. And it wasn’t because he was easily daunted. He didn’t have to guess what Raphael was talking about. The attack earlier would have been reason enough for Raphael to be seeking payback. But Quinn had picked up hints of vampires killed and wounded within the last week, all of whom lived locally. Details were sketchy. Raphael’s people were notoriously closemouthed, but Quinn was certain that all the vampires killed, and at least one who’d been wounded, lived and worked directly on this estate. The killings had been just as personal as the attack tonight, with Raphael the ultimate target. That was on top of the several large-scale invasions by European vampires on the North American vampire community in the last few months, and one of those had also been directed at Raphael himself.
Relentless: A Cyn and Raphael Novella (Vampires in America 11.5) Page 6