by K. F. Breene
“Dawn is fast approaching. Let’s get to the safe house,” Darius said, thrusting a finger in the air.
I ended up in an SUV on Emery’s lap, my head still pounding and a huge lump on it to show why.
“Did you get it?” I asked.
“I think so. I need Darius or Clyde to read over a couple pages to be sure, but I really think so.” His eyes held relief and sadness. “I never would’ve guessed. It wasn’t the person I’d suspected. But one document in particular…” He shook his head and grazed my forehead with his lips. “It just goes to show how conniving that bunch really is. They’re almost a match for the vampires.”
“So you can get closure.”
He gave me a squeeze. “After trading with the vampires for information, yes. Clyde has all the details I need to end it. Finally.” He looked down on me, his eyes deep and soft. “I couldn’t have done it without you. You have more courage than combat-trained men. You went in there knowing next to nothing, but you never once balked. I am in awe of you, Penny Bristol.”
“It’s easier to have courage when you don’t know what’s coming. You’re the courageous one, not me.”
His lips were firm and insistent on mine, fluttering my heart. “Thank you for helping me,” he said. “I will never forget it.”
His heavy tone sent a tendril of fear worming through my heart. “Is that an invitation to constantly remind you of my heroics?” I asked, keeping it light.
A flash of sadness and regret rolled across his expression, there one moment and gone the next, so fast I wondered if I’d imagined it. Before I could press the point, because if he thought he was walking away after all this, he was sorely mistaken, the procession of vehicles slowed.
“Wait…where are we?” I asked, straightening up and looking out the window. Lush greenery lined both sides of the narrow road. Ahead of us loomed a large house nestled into the trees, mostly obscured by the natural surroundings. “We got him what he wanted, so now the vampire is going to kill us, is that it?”
The light came on as we stopped beside the road. “Do not be absurd.” The dark gaze of the driver flashed into the rearview mirror. “You are much too valuable to kill.”
“Well there you go. See?” Emery opened the door. “And you were worried.”
“Okay, but where are we?”
The driver was next to the door in a flash, his hand outstretched to help me. Judging by the grumpy expression on his face, this was the last thing in the world he wanted to be doing. “We are at a friend’s estate. The guild does not know of it. You’ll be safe here.”
“Thank you, Mr. LaRay, I’ll take it from here.” The driver peeled away to reveal Darius, just as immaculate and freshly pressed as when he’d shown up earlier at the warehouse. How was beyond me. I was pretty sure I looked like a dead rat that had been dragged by the tail through the apocalypse.
Darius held out his hand, and I took it, because it seemed rude not to. The man had some serious manners.
“I didn’t want this venture to be associated with Mr. Regent in any way,” Darius said, steadying me until Emery had climbed from the car and slipped an arm around my shoulders.
“I’m good, you guys,” I said. “Aside from the headache, I’m fine.”
“We merely encountered a small, on-hand staff tonight,” Darius continued as though not hearing me. Clearly he had his own ignore list.
He directed us up the driveway to the house and continued. “The Mages’ Guild will be out for blood. I do not want them knowing who exactly the perpetrators were.”
“But they had cameras.” I watched the vampires zip by, carrying their boxes.
“Vampires don’t show up in cameras or video equipment,” Emery mumbled. “They’ll only see you and me.”
“Yes,” Darius said. “They will know you were working with vampires, but they will not know which vampires. Mr. Regent has been with guests and in the public eye all night, along with his prized children—”
“Wait, vampires can have kids?” I asked.
“That’s what they call the new vampires they make,” Emery whispered.
“When they inevitably go looking for him,” Darius continued, “he’ll have an alibi. As for you two…well, you are already at the top of their list. Now they know to fear you.”
Dread pounded in my middle. “People kill what they fear.”
“Not in your case.” Darius nodded to a woman holding the door open. Not a woman, judging by the predatory stare—another vampire. “They will see you—both of you—as the greatest prizes available to them. You blew through their facility as though peasants had created the spells guarding it. You are firmly at the top of the power pyramid.”
“Being the top of the pyramid didn’t help my brother,” Emery said darkly.
Darius held out his hand at the bottom of a wide set of stairs, the house large, spacious, and fashionably rustic. It was gorgeous. “Please. I’ll show you to your room. I’ll have dinner and drinks brought up, if you’re hungry?”
My stomach growled in answer.
“Yes, I thought so.” He followed us up. “Your brother, Mr. Westbrook, was in an entirely different situation than are you. He thought he could change the guild from the inside. You, wisely, realize that to do any benefit, the guild must be torn down and rebuilt. Which you have the power to do. With my help.”
“I’m not saying I don’t agree, but it’s going to take a lot more magical might than someone like me to change the guild.” Emery stopped at the top of the long hall. Darius gestured us to the right. “Even with Penny, we can’t do much more than make a dent. Not if they organize. Which, after tonight, you can bet they will. I’ll never be able to set foot in this town again.”
My heart squeezed and I grabbed hold of his shirt. Though what was I responding to? I wouldn’t be able to stay in this town either. Not after tonight. My home wouldn’t be my home anymore. I needed to come to grips with that.
“There are…others that can help in the struggle, I think,” Darius said, his voice far away. He was strategizing, probably. “The guild won’t be taken down immediately, but all good things come to those who wait.”
We stopped at a closed door that looked the same as the closed doors to the right and left. Darius opened it and pushed it wide.
“I wasn’t sure if you wanted two rooms or one. This—”
“One,” Emery said. He squeezed me, and butterflies filled my stomach.
Darius offered a slight bow and stepped back. “I’ll have clothes brought up to you. After you’re rested, we’ll create a plan for what is next.”
“I need someone to look at a couple letters,” Emery said.
“Of course. And you’ll want to know what we dig up from the records we’ve collected, I trust?”
“I would, thanks.” Without a goodbye, Emery walked us into the room and closed the door after us. He conjured up a spell and smeared it against the door. “It’s unusual for a vampire to offer to share information.” He unzipped his vest and shrugged out of it. His white shirt underneath was plastered to his body with sweat. “I’m not sure what that’s about.”
“Seems like he wants the guild brought to the ground for his own reasons, and realizes you have to help. You need to know your enemy.”
Uneasiness wrestled with his expression, but he didn’t comment. Instead, his gaze connected with mine, raw, deep, and bare. “How about that bath?”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Something clattered against the nightstand. Before I could open my eyes, it clattered again. And one more time. The accompanying buzzing finally registered.
My phone was ringing. Probably my mother. If she’d sent another text, she’d now be calling to chat about it.
I willed myself to roll away from Emery’s heat and grab the phone, but I couldn’t find the strength to peel my eyes open, let alone move my body. I hadn’t stayed awake long enough for dinner the night before. I’d let Emery slowly strip me of my clothes, kissing every cut
and scratch along the way, plus a little extra kissing on certain areas of my body that had made me curl my toes and arch in pleasure. We’d sunk into the hot waters of the bath, the tub large and easily able to accommodate us. But while my body was gloriously wound up, and my ache for him had only grown stronger, I’d fallen asleep nearly immediately. The next thing I’d known, he was carrying me to bed and settling in beside me, comfort, trust, and magic making the air buzz around us. I’d never felt so safe in all my life, and given the circumstances, that was saying something.
The clattering sounded again. I moaned and Emery stirred under my cheek. His arms, wrapped around me, squeezed before he tilted his head on the pillow and his breath, heavy and content, drifted over me.
Sure, I felt safe, but we were in a house with a bunch of night dwellers, and it was most certainly daytime. Anyone could crash through the place, and it would come down to Emery and I to fight them off. If my mother could help with that, it was worth it to roll out of Emery’s arms and answer the phone.
Just barely.
I slapped my hand on the nightstand, capturing the jumping flip phone that had endured these last few days better than Emery’s smart phone. Take that, modern technology!
I pulled it over and forced a groggy, puffy eye open. Two in the afternoon and fatigue still pulled on my every limb.
Was it too late for an office job?
Two missed calls from Veronica, which was strange, since my mother had called her and told her some of what was going on. She’d been told to wait for me to contact her—which I planned to do once this was all over. Then two calls from my mother, which were the last two, plus three texts. I was usually a light sleeper, but it looked like my body had pulled me way under.
I rubbed my eyes as I pulled up the texts. The first was from the early morning, probably when we were still in the thick of it. Not all monsters are bad.
Monsters. A vampire’s other form, like when shifters changed into animals. That was what Marie had turned into last night in order to heal quicker. They were faster and stronger that way, but so, so much uglier.
“A little too late on that one, Mother,” I muttered into the quiet room.
They won’t go to you. You will go to them.
I nodded, because clearly she meant the Mages’ Guild, and I had gone to them, all right. Right into the heart of their whole operation.
I frowned, because that text had been sent at nine in the morning. Until now, my mother’s premonitions had always arrived before the event or, at the latest, during. It was strange this one would come so late.
In a moment, I saw why.
They’ve got Veronica. Call me ASAP.
I clicked into my voice messages. The first one was from Veronica. “Penny…I’m sorry. They—” A man’s voice sounded in the background. Veronica sobbed into the phone. “I’m sorry, but they want you to come here. They say that they’ll”—more sobbing—“k-kill me and my family if you don’t.”
My eyes snapped open fully. Adrenaline rushed in to replace the fatigue from a moment before. I hopped off the bed, seeing two trays of food waiting by the door and a couple of sets of clothes beside it. Emery must’ve lifted the spell he’d used to keep people out the night before, probably for just that reason. Pulling on the new leathers, I spared a hand to call my mother, then trapped the phone between my ear and my shoulder.
“It’s about time you called,” my mother said by way of answering the phone. “I was worried sick. What have you been doing?”
“I was storming the guild with a bunch of vampires last night.” I couldn’t help the sullen teenager approach, even now. Some things were hard-wired. “But I’m up. I’m getting ready.”
“They are not to be trusted, Penny, no matter what pretty lies they might tell you.”
“Yes, I’ve been told—”
“But they do have their uses. Where are you?”
“I’m at one of their houses. Have you talked to Veronica?”
“Yes. Briefly. She snuck a phone call to me when they weren’t paying attention. They have her phone now, though. She’s cut off.”
“What is it?” Emery asked, sitting up with bleary eyes.
My mother’s tone took on a hard edge. “Is that boy sleeping in the same room— Never mind. It doesn’t matter right now. We can deal with that later.” She took a deep breath, and I knew she was pinching the bridge of her nose like she did when she was trying not to get worked up about something. “From what I understand, there is a group of them working on our house, trying to get in, and another group guarding Veronica and her family. Since the houses are so close, they essentially have a large host waiting for us.”
“Waiting for us, Mother? No. You don’t know what they can do.”
Emery swung his feet out of the sheets and dropped them to the floor. He stood stiffly, his body clearly as tired and sore as mine. “What’s the matter?” he asked.
“You had better believe that I know exactly what that crooked institution is capable of,” my mother said. “I will enjoy getting a little revenge. I’m sitting down the street right now, watching their movements. The arrogance is staggering. They puff out their chests like a bunch of turkeys when they walk down the street. And that’s exactly what they are. Turkeys.”
“It’s Veronica,” I said to Emery. “They have her.” Worry choked me, threatening to derail the anger and determination. “They made her leave a message on my phone saying that if I don’t come, they’ll kill her. I haven’t called her back yet.”
Emery’s movements sped up and he hurried for his leathers. “Has your mother foretold anything?”
I put the phone on speaker and repeated the question to my mother.
“I’ve got nothing,” she said. “All is appearing blank. I have a feeling it’s because of you. The images will come in a flurry once you choose a path. That’s what’s happened in the past, based on the things I was seeing.”
Emery nodded, pulling on his pants. “Call them back. Let’s see how long we have.”
“Call me right after,” my mother said. “Did you hear what I said? Right. After.”
I hesitated. “Right now, they’re on the defensive, trying to regain the upper hand.” I thought it through. “They will know what we did to the guild, they’ll know we’re together, and they’ll know we’re working with vampires. They fear us, Darius said.”
“Darius Durant? The elder vampire?” my mother said breathlessly. “He’s extremely high up in their hierarchy, not to mention powerful. He’s the one helping you?”
“Yes,” I answered distractedly. “The people that have Veronica will know what to expect. They’ll be able to prepare. If I call them, they’ll demand that I come alone.”
“What are you thinking?” Emery asked.
I met his steady gaze. He was game for anything. He would put off his vengeance and help me save my friend without batting an eye.
“By now, they’ll guess we have vampires working with us,” I said slowly, thinking it out. “A large host means they’re worried about a fight. They’ll look for us as the sun sets.”
“Yes,” Emery said softly. “And by then, they’ll be dead.”
“Wait a minute,” my mother said. “They have a lot of power waiting here. A Sheriff, some high-level mages—even with Emery, they’ll easily out-power us.”
“What about all those spells we made?” I asked Emery. “Is it too much to hope they’re still in the warehouse?”
His eyes sparkled. “Darius and I didn’t get a chance to barter about the price. Since money hasn’t exchanged hands, those spells are still ours. They’ll be in that warehouse, along with the ingredients. Maybe with the addition of a guard.”
“A human guard.” I nodded, hopeful. “That won’t be a problem for you. What about the locked door?”
“That also won’t be a problem for me.” He smiled ruefully. “It seems a misspent couple of years will come in handy this once.”
“It has come in handy
repeatedly.” I stepped forward and put my hand in his.
“Don’t encourage him,” my mother said.
She could sure spoil a moment.
“Mother, hang tight. We’ll be there as soon as we can, and we’ll have a world of firepower with us.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
We got out of the black SUV at the end of the block, back far enough that we were hidden behind the corner of the last house. My utility belt was stuffed with herbs, power stones, and powerful spells contained in color-coded casings. Various spells rolled through my head, some that I’d learned the day before, and some my imagination was cooking up.
A cloud of evil intent thrummed, even from this distance, and I knew they were working up some nastiness, preparing for the battle they were sure was coming. I only hoped they expected it a bit later.
Emery looked at the darkening blue sky.
“What?” I asked, shaking out my hands. My body trembled with adrenaline, fear, and anxiety. I needed to get going, or I might not go at all.
“A nasty storm would be better so everyone would go inside. I don’t like fighting where innocent people might get hit in the crossfire.”
“Says the evilest man in the whole world.” I sniffed at him. “See? I hadn’t even thought of that. I was too busy wondering if I could do that vampire spell without the vampire. But don’t worry. The neighbors across the street are the worst. That jerk Billy Timmons deserves whatever he gets. Although watch. He’ll be the only one left unscathed.”
Emery took my hand and started forward, the flaps up on his utility belt. We crossed the street like a couple walking to the store, strolling along casually. I glanced down the street, seeing someone on the sidewalk outside my house, looking the other way. A moment later, his gaze switched direction, and he took notice of us.
“Look away and keep walking forward,” Emery murmured, and I recognized the spell he was using with his other hand—my concealment spell from the previous day.