by Lucy Lyons
The vampires we passed in the halls were all armed and ready for trouble, posted at the elevator, the stairs, and Nick had even suggested the air ducts be covered by at least a pair consisting of a wererat and a vampire, for the rats’ sense of smell.
The truth was, if anything got this far down, we were going to push the rats to the back door and blow the entire structure up, caving in the ceilings so the wererats and humans could escape. That part of the plan was in place since we’d moved in. Only Rachel, Colette, and Nick’s two personal guards, Michael and Germain, knew that part of the plan. The two guards were former mercenaries who had both been turned by vampires while on missions, and Nick had saved the village they were preying on. He’d spared their lives and they were completely obedient, no matter what he commanded them.
They didn’t like me much, and they hated that Nick had given me the authority to boss them around. To keep the peace, we just avoided each other altogether. Now, as we met near the back door, I knew we agreed. No one wanted to be the one to set off the explosives, but they would do it without hesitation, and that deserved my respect.
“Save as many as you can, if it comes to that… please?” I added the last because I really didn’t like giving an order that could cost them their own lives, and I knew that if they waited too long, they’d end up under the stone around us. Surprisingly, Germain nodded solemnly.
“You have our word. No one dies down here but the enemy.” I reached out my hand without thinking, and he engulfed it in his own. He shook it like we were equals, and I tried not to let the shock show in my face. To me, it meant things were worse than I thought, to have us on the same wavelength. Then again, this wasn’t about the bull crap of vampire politics for us like it was for the council. This was our home, and our family, and the one thing that Nick had that must have confused the grandmasters of Europe most of all, was that we were loyal out of love, not fear.
“Love conquers all, right?” I muttered aloud without meaning to.
“You gonna kill them with kindness, Witch?” Michael scoffed.
“I’m definitely going to try. But, if that fails, I’m just going to kill them with bullets and silver, same as always,” I replied. Michael held up a hand and I gave him a high-five. “Is there something wrong with us, celebrating killing?”
“We’re predators, Caroline,” Michael reminded me.
“Right,” I laughed shakily, suddenly less comfortable in the hallway than I had been a moment before. “And I’m late for my date with the scariest creature I’ve ever faced. Catch you later, guys.” Nick opened the door and let me through, then let it close behind me. I knew he was giving them additional instructions and I was perfectly safe, but that first few seconds alone at the bottom of the stairs made my throat feel like I’d swallowed a desert. My heart pounded away in my chest, and the thought occurred to me that I was surrounded by predators, and I was acting like prey.
It was enough to make me get control of my feelings and push them down. I calmed myself the way I had when anxiety was a constant in my life, before I’d become powerful enough, that I could simply force it away.
I started up the stairs alone, one hand on the Glock at the small of my back. I had expected the sounds of industry as I approached the backstage area, but it was dead quiet, and I feared that my stalling and reminiscing had made me power blind, as well as stupid.
Nick caught up to me and grabbed my arm before I could step out from behind the curtain.
“What are you doing?” he hissed. “Caroline, I can’t protect you if you can’t follow simple orders and show some common sense.” I flinched and drew myself up to my full five-foot-five (in heels).
“I don’t want to hide behind you. I wasn’t going out there alone, but it was so quiet I was afraid that they’d already taken or hurt our people.”
“It was quiet, because I ordered everyone back downstairs when they were done, to get more weapons. They must arrive after us, not before.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I’m not asking you to understand the inner workings of vampire etiquette I didn’t teach you. It’s my fault, and I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. Neither of us really do things the way our people taught us.”
He nodded, but his face was grim.
“We don’t, but tonight we have to. Which means you won’t be hearing any more apologies from me, and you will obey my every command.”
I gulped and let out a shaky laugh. “So long as the iron maiden doesn’t come out for me, I think I can handle it.”
“No,” he scoffed, “you can’t. But, you’re about to get a crash course on what it was like for Dominique, when my former master enslaved her. Maybe you’ll have more patience with her when we’re through.”
“Are we going to survive this, Nick?” His face remained inscrutable, which made my heart pound faster. “You’ve got me blocked so hard, it’s scaring me more than whatever is outside right now.”
“I don’t know what to tell you, Caroline. I never considered us powerful enough to get the council’s attention. I’m sorry I put everyone in danger.” His apologies were few and far between, and normally I would’ve loved hearing one. But it wasn’t the time to gloat, and for once, I didn’t think I deserved it.
“We will follow you to the ends of the earth, Nicholas. The power we share didn’t come from me. It came from what we are, together. I love you.”
I love you too, more than any other that has ever lived, he sent to me, and I felt his shields slam shut again. But I knew he spoke the truth. There wasn’t anyone else I needed to worry about, in his past or his present. I was his, and while he belonged to the clan, his heart was mine alone.
Nick grabbed my hand and led me forward. The lights were out on the stage, but the daytime overheads were lit. It struck me, as it always did, how much of the magic and glamour of the night club were in the half dark and strobe lights that moved and gyrated in time to the music. Without the magic of our audio-visual guys, Pulse looked like just another corner pub, albeit with much nicer seating and a better wine selection.
The only other person visible was Paul, and I cursed myself for not telling Nick about his vamp-glamour.
“Nick, Paul was assaulted by Sasha, with everything going on, I completely forgot about him. We have to get him out of here.”
“The assault is why he’s perfect. The council members will feel the effect on his will and assume he’s a slave,” he replied. “Don’t worry. Fin let me know about him when he saw her being sketchy.” I walked over to Paul and sat at a barstool.
“I don’t like how empty this place feels,” I sighed as I leaned across the bar and grabbed a tumbler. I pointed at it aggressively and arched an eyebrow at him. “The usual, and make it a double.”
With a chuckle, Paul picked up the nozzle and filled the glass with Diet Coke and slid it over to me.
“Your double, Madam.”
For a second, the world on my shoulders felt a little lighter, and I shot Paul a grin. Even Nick joined me on the next barstool and watched us laugh and tease one another.
“You have the most amazing way of compartmentalizing trouble, Caroline,” he said, laughing at me. I shot him a quick look to see if he was angry, but his expression was as soft as the way he was watching me.
“Trouble’s coming, Nick. But, we’re used to that, right? The day we don’t have trouble, we won’t know what to do with ourselves.”
“I already know. On that day, I’m flying you to Vegas and making an honest woman out of you.” He winked and strode off toward the curtain as I stared after him, mouth gaping.
“He’s not serious,” I finally managed to explain to Paul. “By the way, joking about that when you have a woman who loves you, is mean, and I hate him for it. don’t ever do that.”
I saw the velvet left stage curtain rustle again, and Nick ducked behind it. Instantly alert, I closed my eyes and reached out with my senses, reaching out with tendrils of energy past the runic defenses Henn
y had helped me set around the perimeter.
Sure enough, there was a disturbance at the south entrance to the club, so subtle it hadn’t set off any alarms. I kept searching and found a second disturbance at a window on the west side, by the water.
We have company, Lover. I didn’t say anything aloud, but reached out to Nick and shared what I was sensing with him. Not waiting for a response, I jumped off the barstool and started toward the west side window.
When I looked back, Paul was back at work, polishing the bar without a care in the world, it seemed. I scanned the room for sign of our people, anyone who could keep him safe, but the vampires were still waiting for the last possible moment to come out of hiding. I couldn’t blame them, the sun was still hanging low in the sky, and simply being mobile this time of day was taxing to the vampires.
I walked back to Paul and smiled at him, trying to get his attention without attracting any from the vampires. While wanting to put on a decent show for the council was great, I was responsible for the human lives inside Pulse, not Nick. I’d given my word to Rome that if they kept the hunters out, I’d keep the humans safe.
“Hey Paul? I heard something weird when I was doing my rounds, and I don’t want to finish them alone. Could you come with me?” He pulled himself up onto the bar with ease and swung his legs over, jumping down on my side.
“I can come with you, but I have to get right back. Nick’s got someone important coming in, and I get to serve them. It’s kind of a big deal that he noticed me, so I don’t want to let him down.”
“Hey, helping me isn’t letting anyone down,” I reminded him as the guilt of lying to him started to eat at my already nervous gut. I checked the window, and reinforced the spell Henny and I had cast there. We redid the spells a couple of times a month, just to be safe, but whoever had tampered with it had left it weakened. I tried to sense any presence outside, but whoever had been there had moved on.
Paul dutifully followed me around as I made a show of checking the locked windows and doors and muttered spells under my breath so he wouldn’t hear me casting.
The sky was getting darker by the minute, and just as I realized that I’d made it all the way around the upstairs, I felt a surge of power outside, slamming against my wards like the ocean, wave upon wave crashing down on us. I fell to my knees and pressed my hands against the wood floor, pushing back just enough to keep the wards in place, without expending any unnecessary energy.
Either our visitors thought they had the element of surprise on their side, or the magic user on the other end of the onslaught had boundless energy, and wasn’t afraid of running out. When I fell to my knees, Paul had run to get Nick, and in an instant, Nick’s guard surrounded me, with no way to get the only mundane human in the room to safety.
Chapter 10
“Hey, babe, guess what?” I joked weakly as I strained against the magic pummeling me. “We’ve got company.” Nick stayed out of reach, but paced just beyond the minimum barrier he knew I needed to prevent me from accidentally leaching off him.
“The wolves didn’t come,” I head a guard say to Nick, and my stomach twisted inside me.
“But are they safe? Did anyone get word to us?” There was no response, and I forced my head up to look at Nick and his guard.
“No word, Caroline, but don’t assume the worst. They don’t trust us, remember?” I let my head drop, and stared at the floor.
“We have to do something, Nick. Just holding this isn’t using any of my magical stores, which is great, if my body doesn’t give out from the sheer force of holding everything together.”
I was beginning to see colors, and closed my eyes again to focus. I followed the power back to the source as I had a hundred times before, and saw the sorcerer behind the casting. Louis wasn’t in a Venatores uniform anymore. Instead, he was in a long, archaic robe with gold embroidery along the edges all the way around. He carried a sword on his hip, and wore the hood of the robe up over his head so it partially obscured his face.
Another wave crashed and the power ebbed like the times before. But instead of using the brief break to breathe, I pushed back, hard and fast, smashing into him and sending him flying back onto his butt.
“I see you, Louis,” I said, and outside Louis and the humans with him heard me like I was speaking over a loudspeaker. “But you’re early, darling. I haven’t even made the hors d’oeuvres yet.”
Louis seemed truly shocked that I had been able to sneak up on him and unseat him as I had. He stopped trying to break down the barrier and stood on quaking legs, brushing himself off.
“My lady Caroline. We have no wish to impose, but we must move up our meeting to this evening.”
I stayed on my knees, but rocked back to sit on my heels and placed my hands in my lap, in resting pose. I glanced up and Nick and arched an eyebrow.
“Am I letting them in?”
He shook his head and stroked his jaw with his thumb for a moment as he thought.
“Don’t let them in until their master arrives. He needs to see your power, and know you bested his servant.” I rubbed my suddenly damp palms down my jeans and swallowed hard.
“He already wants me serving him or dead. Do we really want to sweeten the deal?” I was scared enough to not be ashamed to admit it. I hadn’t even met the master yet, and I was already thinking up the nightmares I’d be having later… if we survived.
“Just do as I say, Caroline.” He left the “for once” unspoken, but I felt it in the way he scowled at me.
“Just get Paul out of here, somebody. And check the back door. I don’t like that our most vulnerable only have one way out, especially after we broke up with some angry vampires who know the ins and outs of this place.”
Nick shot me an angry look, and was about to chasten me again, but instead, directed a couple of his guard to do as I asked. Paul was led away wearing an astonished look and rubbing his arms.
“What the hell is she doing man? It feels like I’m full of lightning.” I glanced up at Nick and he mirrored my surprise.
“You never know what’s going to flip the switch in someone, do you?” I asked. Louis was starting to test my wards again, and I placed my hands back on the floor. “The sun is almost down, and something big and dark in closing in on us. I sure wish I’d made Dom share a little power with me before you sent her packing.”
“That’s good to hear, at least,” a familiar feminine voice mocked me.
“Be useful or leave, Dominique,” I countered, and winked at Nick when he chuckled.
The sorceress placed her hands on the floor next to mine and went quiet for a moment. I could feel her clumsy attempt to follow my spell.
“Why are we on the floor, Caroline?” she finally asked.
“Because, since leaving your tutelage, I’ve learned how to use my power in lots of interesting ways, Dom.” I placed my left hand over hers and let her see the power I had wound through every splinter of wood in the building, then further, to the mortar and bricks and beyond that to the soil and grass and concrete outside.
She could see the humans gathered beyond the barrier as well, some pacing, others waiting, watching for their master to arrive. Her power added to mine was intoxicating, and I pushed farther, beyond the boundary of safety the Vatican Venatores leaders had allowed the club, past the hunters we saw gathered at the edge of the boundary, waiting to pick off whoever didn’t die inside the club.
“Well, somebody’s spy network is still functioning well,” I quipped, and Dominique chuckled.
“And somebody’s been holding out on me,”
I looked her in the eyes and saw real sadness there, just like I’d seen in the conference room.
“Oh, Dominique, why can’t you just be the person you are when it’s just the two of us, all the time?” She laughed and slipped her hand out from under mine, reaching up to tuck a nonexistent stray hair back from her face.
“Survival by any means, Caroline, surely you understand that?” I turned
my head and saw Nicholas watching us, and cleared my throat.
“We have human lackeys on the front lawn, Venatores frothing at the mouth to pick off the remains.”
“Bloody vultures,” Nick snapped. He held out a hand to me. “Did you feel any vampires out there?”
“Not yet,” I let him help me to my feet. “But the sun has a few minutes. Has anyone checked the forest outside the back door?”
“The rats didn’t smell anything, but they’re mindful of the six, and watching for trouble.”
I smiled at him and rolled my shoulders.
“This is really happening, isn’t it?” I began, and took a step toward him when I was hit with power like a fist to the gut. I gasped and bolted for the door. “Wolves incoming,” I blurted and threw open the door. A flood of fur and flesh poured through the humans loitering outside and into the club before Louis or the acolytes could do more than stare.
“So, are we late?” Clay panted a little and leaned over, bracing his hands on his knees.
“Nope, we’re just waiting for the guest of honor. Lucky for you, I already blew the ‘hey, we’re ready for you’ horn, so you didn’t ruin the surprise or anything…for them, at least,” I drawled, my arms crossed under my breasts.