Aiden placed the glass of wine he held next to them on the banister and rested his arms on either side of Cara. His voice dropped a seductive octave lower as he closed his arms around her. Despite feeling as if she were trapped in a steel cage, Cara felt a reflexive shudder rising to the surface and fought hard to suppress it.
“Do you wonder why you are not dead? How you, a mere human, managed to hold your own against me when the most powerful vampires cannot? Are you not the least bit curious as to how you accomplished such a feat?” As Aiden whispered intimately into her ear his lips brushed against its lobe.
Cara silently cursed the involuntary and hotly feminine reaction it caused. “Maybe I got lucky. Or maybe Your Darkness is not as infallible as he thinks he is.” The words came out a little more breathy and a lot less snarky than Cara intended.
“I do not believe in luck. And I am just as infallible as ever.” Aiden pressed the rigid length of himself into her backside.
This time she was helpless to stop the shudder it elicited and a low moan escaped her lips. Visions of Aiden posturing her over the balcony’s ledge and gripping her hips while driving the hardened length she felt straight to her core danced before her eyes. Somewhere in a distant corner of Cara’s mind her psyche registered that sentiment did not sound right coming from her at all. She would never defile her grandparents’ home with such an act, and she certainly would never go there with a vampire. No matter how incredibly sexy he appeared. She hated vampires, all of them. A vampire murdered her father, and she had made it her life’s mission to track down and murder every one of them she could in hopes that it would eventually lead her to information about her father’s killer. That last thought about her father cleared the remaining fog from her mind.
Cara shoved hard against the bastard of a vampire standing behind her, forcing him a couple of steps back. She swiftly turned around, her eyes alive with rage. “If you ever attempt to mind fuck me again I will castrate you.”
Cara was livid at the uninvited entry into her mind. What both terrified and pissed her off even more was the possibility of what could have happened had she not picked up on the psychic intrusion and blocked it. The result would have been as much a physical rape as a mental one.
“I would never and have never.” He had the audacity to sound offended.
“I mean it. Stay the fuck out of my head,” Cara shouted as she brandished a dagger. She would feel guilty for shedding blood in her grandparents’ home but God help her she would if this vampire did not back off with the mind games.
“I’m not in it,” Aiden annoyingly smirked.
“Your eyes as much as your blood and your body betray your thoughts. Especially, when you’re worked into a tizzy. You may want to be more careful about that in the future.”
Aiden had permitted Cara to push him a small amount of a space away from her, but he refused to allow her any additional room. He resealed the distance between them, binding Cara’s wrists within his vice-like grip. He walked them backwards until she was trapped between the balcony’s banister and him. Aiden freed the wrist whose hand held the dagger and snaked his own arm around Cara’s waist. He tugged her a fraction closer.
“For instance, when you first sensed my presence out on the balcony, your body stiffened and your instinct was to turn toward me. Even though you fought against it, you still angled your body in my direction ever so imperceptibly. Your heart beat increased its pace and your blood began to vigorously pulse in your veins.” Aiden let go of her remaining imprisoned wrist so he could trace a finger over the thudding pulse in her neck. “Kind of like it is doing now.” He leaned into her neck and lightly flicked his tongue of her beating pulse. “But let us be clear. It would only be deemed rape if you did not want it, and clearly you do.” His gaze pointedly lingered on the hardened buds that rubbed against her silk blouse.
Cara averted her eyes but crossly folded her arms over her chest, refusing to acknowledge the moisture that was embarrassingly pooling between her legs.
“And do not dare try to accuse me of compelling you again. We both know that even though I may have slipped through them the first time, your mental barriers are far too powerful for me to do it a second time. They are so powerful that it begs the question how much of your reaction to my efforts was due to the compulsion attempt and how much was due to your own dark desires? It was a rather intense reaction for a failed effort don’t you think?”
Cara wanted to refute the accusation, as arrogant and conceited as it was. However, she could not deny the truth in it. All vampires possessed the power of compulsion. They could rather easily bend most humans to their will. The only defense against it was constructing and maintaining mental barriers in the mind that blocked such efforts. It was a skill that all new recruits were required to learn during intake training and before being placed into the field. Cara not only learned but mastered it. Her mental shields were impenetrable even to the most powerful of vampires and telepaths.
“What. Do. You. Want?” she gritted out. She was tired of beating around the bush. She was not dead yet which meant the vampire wanted something from her.
“You,” the vampire replied unwaveringly.
“That is not a real answer.” Cara let the annoyance and exasperation she felt seep into her tone.
“It will have to be a good enough answer for now. The question you asked is one that I have not yet determined the answer to myself.”
Aiden released his hold on Cara’s waist. He took a few steps backwards and executed a superfluous but gallant bow. Cara was just as sure it was meant to mock her as she was sure Aiden had never bowed to anyone in his life. The facetious spark in his eyes paired with the knowing smirk on his face all but confirmed the former and the latter for Cara.
“I must consider what I have learned of you in our few short encounters. I will definitely be in touch, but for what reason I cannot yet say. Until next we meet, Hunter.”
Aiden turned away and left, leaving Cara more confused about his intentions and motives than ever.
Six
“She is not going. As Field Director all field assignments and active hunters fall under my command. Which means I have the final say about who is assigned what missions and Cara will not be undertaking this one. Select someone else for the assignment Director Ford.”
Reiya could be one frightening bitch when she was standing up for something that she believed in or someone she loved. Her loyalty was unwavering. It was one of the many reasons Cara loved her like a sister.
“With all due respect Ms. Montgomery, the Dark Prince himself contacted our office and requested Cavanaugh. Perhaps you should put your personal feelings aside. We have a huge opportunity here. The vampires are a secretive group. We know very little about the species other than what they allow us to find out. Working alongside one of them, especially one in his position, could provide Cavanaugh an opportunity to get close enough to learn their weaknesses. We may end up with information that makes it a hell of a lot easier to hunt the bloodsuckers down.”
Cara did not like the Executive Director much. She regarded him along with everyone else in the executive branch of the North American Division of Hunters or N.A.D.H for short as a bunch of overstuffed bureaucratic windbags too afraid to do any real work and get their hands dirty. Though she grudgingly had to admit that the work they did was just as important to the Division. Whereas the Field Operations Branch was responsible for doing the nitty gritty work like tracking down and killing vampires that had gone too far, the Executive Operations Branch was responsible for handling the day to day runnings of N.A.D.H like managing its funds and acting as a liaison with the government. When Ford did not back down in the face of one very scary and very pissed of Reiya it gave Cara a new level of respect for him. Many men before the director had attempted to stand up to her and ended up turning tail or giving in. She knew she should stop eavesdropping outside the cracked door of Reiya’s office and intervene but she held off for a few moments
longer. She was having too much fun listening to the banter between Reiya and Ford.
“It is Director Montgomery, and with all due respect Director Ford, I do not give a rat’s ass about how advantageous this assignment could be to the Division. I am not forcing Cara into the lion’s den. I am sure there are plenty other operatives who would jump at the opportunity. Pick one, any one. Just not Cara,” Reiya all but yelled.
Cara grinned impishly and decided she was a horrible friend for not immediately marching into Reiya’s office and putting a stop to their bickering. The decision was hers to make after all, if you could even call it a decision. Cara had made her decision the moment she heard about the request, but for different reasons than Director Ford. Cara was positive Aiden had an end game and what better way to find out exactly what it was and shove a wrench right in the middle of his schemes than to work up close and personal with him. Besides if she was working alongside Aiden he had a clear path to get to her and would no longer need to go through her family and friends. The farther away she could keep them from him the better off and safer they would be.
“Director Montgomery if you can just consider things from Central’s perspective. The Dark Prince adamantly demanded he work with Cara. He made it clear no other hunter would be suitable. It appears he has a particular interest in her. Now I don’t know why or what it means, but if she is able to infiltrate vampire society and gain his confidence she could deliver us the inside track we need about the inner workings of their society. I am sure there are more than a few closely guarded secrets and weaknesses that we could find out about and exploit with the right intel. Again, he made it clear he will not receive any hunter other than Cara nor will he accept no as an answer. So we are left with a choice between not sending anyone and incurring his wrath or sending Cara and possibly gaining the upper hand on those bastards in the future.”
“Fuck his wrath…” Reiya started in but Cara figured she should cut her off before she really landed herself in hot water with Central Office. It would be a shame to get demoted so soon after receiving a promotion. Cara took a deep breath and readied for her own showdown with her best friend.
“Enough, Reiya. I’m going.” Cara said as she marched into her office.
Reiya immediately turned her wrath on her. “Like hell you are!”
“Look, Reiya, I appreciate your concern and I know you don’t agree with it, but I am taking this assignment,” Cara told her in a soothing but firm tone.
When Reiya started to object, Cara held up her hand. “Just listen Rey, will you?” Cara knew addressing her by the nickname Cara and no one else called her would get through to her. It was an endearment from back when they first met during intake training as teenagers. They had become close friends so fast they were calling each other “Rey” and “Cair,” by the end of the first week of intake.
Reiya let out a defeated sigh and sat down exasperatedly in her chair. Cara walked over and sat sideways on her desk.
“Director Ford is right. I have to do this. But not for the bullshit political reasons Central cooked up. You know I don’t give a rat’s ass about learning more about vampires either. A dagger to the heart or a sword cleaving their necks from their body exterminates them permanently. That is all I need to know. But I do care about you, and Reyes, and my grandparents. Remember the anonymous admirer you and Reyes saw hitting on me at the bar in Chelsea? That was the Dark Prince. Then he showed up again last night at my grandparents’ house. He posed as a new resident moving into their building and tricked my grandfather into inviting him to a dinner he knew I would be at. He is stalking me instead of killing me like he tried to do during our first encounter. He wants something and I am going to find out what it is.”
“Oh my God Cara why didn’t you tell me sooner.”
“I needed time to process it all and what it meant. And I wanted to protect you and Reyes, which I am still trying to do. I don’t know why he is in Manhattan or what he wants with me, but it has nothing to do with the reasons he gave Central. I have witnessed his level of power and what he is capable of. He does not need my help or anyone else’s to track down a rogue vampire. There is an ulterior motive at play, one that is probably a threat to all of us. The only way I can protect you, and Reyes, and my grandparents and everyone else is to find out what he is up to and circumvent it.”
“So that’s it. You’re just going to go to him like a sacrificial lamb to the slaughter, and expect me to sit around and do nothing,” Reiya all but spat at Cara.
“I lost my father to one of them Rey. I cannot lose you or anyone else I love to another one.” Cara tried to make her best friend understand.
“Fine,” Reiya bit off. “But know this Cair. If he so much as lays a finger on you, I will hunt him down and carve his heart out myself.”
Cara took her best friends’ hands in her own and gave them a gentle squeeze. “I know you will want to but promise me if the shit hits the fan you will go running in the opposite direction.”
“Would you?” Reiya countered.
“You know I wouldn’t.”
“Then don’t you dare ask me to.”
Cara sighed resignedly. Reiya was loyal to a fault. She treasured her for it and was grateful to have someone in her corner that would back her up and fight for her unconditionally. She only hoped the loyalty that she loved her best friend so fiercely for would not get her as dead as her father.
Seven
Cara silenced the engine of her yellow Ducati. She left it parked across the street from the New York coven house. As she walked up the ridiculously steep stone steps toward the front entrance she sent off a quick text to Reiya. Alerting her of her arrival as well as her safe departure was one of the conditions Reiya placed on her acquiescence. Cara paused in front of the ornately carved wooden door. How did one announce their presence at a vampire residence? Ring the doorbell? Knock? Simply stand and wait for the bloodsuckers to detect your scent? Cara shrugged her shoulders and decided to proceed as she would in any other instance. She balled her hand into a fist and moved to rap it against the door. She could have rung the doorbell but that would have been too polite and she was not here to make nice. Before her fist connected with the wooden door it swung open on its own accord. Behind it stood a tall, pale vampire outfitted in a formal black jacket with matching cummerbund and slacks and a crisp white collared shirt.
He did not immediately invite her inside. He paused for a moment to examine her. His eyes roved over her in a dismissive manner. He regarded her as if she was inferior and yet he was the one that held the station of a servant. So vampires have butlers too, Cara mused. It figured they would be every bit as elitist as any other Upper East Side resident.
Cara stepped over the threshold inviting herself in. She broke the silence first. “Don’t tell me. Your name is Jeeves.”
The look of utter indignity that Jeeves’ face contorted into was near comical. “My name is Phillip,” he responded stiffly.
“Well Jeeves I am here as Aiden requested, and I would like to know exactly why that is sooner rather than later. Plus being in a house full of vampires makes my hands itch for a blade. The sooner I can get out of here the better it will be for everyone involved. So instead of standing here looking down your nose at me why don’t you help speed this along and show me to His Darkness?”
Again, Jeeves face contorted into utter indignity. This time it was damn comical. Cara did not bother to stifle her laugh.
Jeeves cleared his throat. “Prince Aiden, His Grace, was called away on pressing matters. You will be meeting with the Master of the New York Coven House.” Jeeves ushered her down a narrow hallway and motioned toward a closed set of double French doors. “Master Michaelson awaits you.”
He gifted Cara with one final sneer before sharply turning on his heels and disappearing back down the way hall. Cara thought about turning sharply on her own heels and leaving too. The nerve of the arrogant bastard. He had practically summoned her to a meeting he could
not even be bothered to attend. She stayed figuring it might be easier to pull information out of the head of the coven house than Aiden. He might be too conniving and calculating for her to easily gleam his ulterior motives but the Master of the New York Coven House might be fool enough to let a few choice pieces of information slip.
“His Grace sends regards for his absence,” The dark haired vampire spoke with an Old English lilt.
“His regards are duly noted.” Cara eyed Michaelson suspiciously. She trusted any vampire about as far as she could throw them. But the Master of the house seemed particularly more smarmy than most. The predacious glint in his eyes and the way the intonations in his voice slinked from one syllable to the next to form words into a sentence reminded her of a snake. Cara sensed he might strike out at any moment, provoked or not. She subtly shifted her weight to achieve a lower and more forward center of gravity positioning herself to be physically ready to defend or attack if the need arose.
“Did he also send the details of this supposed hunt Your Grace insisted I assist with?”
The snake-vampire laughed as he rose from his plush leather chair. “Actually, His Grace did not.”
The laugh left the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end and his latter comment left her palming the hilt of a dagger inside her right jacket pocket. One of the reasons she loved winter in New York was because her favorite purple pea coat contained all kinds of pockets for sharp and deadly objects to go unnoticed in. “So the business I have here is…”
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