The Thief

by J. R. Ward

  Assail had been a sitting duck. Why had they let him go in there alone?

  "Let me out!"

  Done with the yelling, she went for the nine millimeter she'd been given, outing it. And then she put the muzzle to the back of the driver's skull and snarled, "I said, let me the fuck out."

  They were speeding along the empty city streets, blowing through red lights and stop signs, getting farther and farther away from that warehouse. From Assail.

  Oh, God, he could be dead--

  "I swear to Christ, I will shoot you!"

  "No," Vishous said in a bored tone. "You won't--"

  To prove her fucking point, she shifted the muzzle ever so slightly to the right and pulled the trigger three times--blowing out the entire front windshield, the safety glass spidering and then falling back into the front seat in sheets because of their velocity.

  "I sure as fuck will!" she hollered at the top of her lungs.

  Suddenly, the world was in a blender, the vampire punching the brakes and wrenching the wheel to the side, sending them into a screeching one-eighty. No, three-sixty.

  Sola ripped her finger off her trigger as she marble-in-a-jar'd around in the backseat. And then things moved so fast, she had no idea what happened.

  Somehow, by the time the sedan lurched to a halt, her gun had been taken from her and Vishous was pointing it right in her face.

  He was furious, his white eyes so angry, they threw shadows as he panted.

  As cold air from the shot-out windshield replaced the warmth from the heater, and she smelled gasoline and burned rubber, the vampire lit into her.

  "You are really. Fucking. Lucky," he yelled--before seeming to force himself to calm down. At least temporarily. "That Fritz likes taking care of this car and will think that replacing that piece of glass is a treat. Because if he didn't, Assail or no Assail, I'd be drilling you full of holes right now, sweetheart!"

  Sola panted along with him, her arms splayed out, her body half on, half off the seat. Between heaving inhales, she No-More-Wire-Hannnnnnnnnger'd him back: "Don't. Call. Me. Sweeeetheeeeeeeeeeart!"

  Black slashing brows popped up in surprise.

  And then Vishous let out a crack of laughter. "Yeah," he said as he lowered the gun. "I do like you. You can stay--"

  At that moment, impossibly, Assail appeared from out of thin air, his body seeming to materialize in the bright illumination of the headlights.

  "Assail!"

  With the doors locked, she didn't even try them. She shoved the vampire behind the wheel out of the way and dove through the massive hole she'd created, her palms getting scratched on the glass, her head banging into something, her feet scrambling for purchase as she propelled herself out onto the Mercedes's hood.

  Squeaking, slipping, crying, she leapt off the car and nearly tackled Assail.

  The moment she made contact with his body, she realized she didn't care what the fuck he was. Man, male, human, vampire, she just really didn't give a shit.

  He had been a mystery when she had first met him. Then a source of incredible sexual attraction. After that, she had run, and not just from the life she had been leading, but from him, too. She had been so scared by the love she had found.

  And when she had come back, and nearly lost him, she'd discovered home.

  "You're alive," she croaked against his chest. "Oh, God, you're alive!"

  His arms came around her with hesitation, as if he weren't quite sure whether to believe his good fortune. But then he was holding her like he never wanted to let her go.

  Pulling back, she put her hands to his face and looked into his moonlight eyes. "I don't care," she said. "I don't care, I don't care, I don't care. I just don't want to be without you. I love you, however you are--"

  He didn't let her finish. He kissed her so deep, he took her breath away.

  Sola had no idea what the future was going to bring. How this was all going to work. Whether she had lost her damn mind.

  But she was smart enough to know that when fate sent you true love, no matter what form it took, you needed to accept the gift.

  Besides, at least now her grandmother would start talking to her again--

  As she dropped her hands to his shoulders, she frowned and broke their contact. Looking down, she saw blood on his fine overcoat.

  "You're bleeding," she said.

  "I love you," he replied.

  "No, wait, you're bleeding..." She pointed at him--and noticed more blood on him. "You're bleeding!"

  "You were right. It was Benloise's sister. I think she got me a couple of times--"

  Sola jumped back and punched him in the chest with both palms. "Are you even kidding me! I told you not to go in there alone! I told you she'd recognize you! Are you out of your mind!"

  As he doubled over with a curse and grabbed for his injured shoulder, she switched to Spanish and kept yelling at him, her adrenaline overload coming out verbally and then some.

  Vishous got out, came over, and just shook his head ruefully, like seeing a male who was full of lead slugs getting slashed and burned by his significant other was just the normal course of business. He even lit a cigarette, like he knew they were going to be there for a while.

  Eventually, he cut in. "How about we take this show back on the road, huh? The human cops are out this time of night, and not just to eat donuts--"

  The sound of a cell phone going off cut through her tirade.

  With a frown, Assail reached into his inner coat pocket and took out that burner. "It's her," he said tightly.

  "Speakerphone," Vishous ordered. "If you don't mind."

  Assail complied, and Sola stopped breathing just so she could focus on the female voice that came over the connection.

  "If you're answering this," the woman said in well-articulated, only slightly accented English, "I can guess you somehow survived."

  "I am well enough," Assail said, "and you?"

  "I was better prepared than you thought. Kevlar is the new black, haven't you heard?"

  "Thank you ever so kindly for the update. I shall have to remember that."

  "Just so we are clear, I will kill you. I will find you, and I will kill you, and I will settle the score you started."

  "Such ambition. You are your brother's sister, after all. But I think you will find that I have tricks up my sleeve and friends in very low places. You might reconsider the goal given what the prize is going to look like for you."

  "I am not afraid."

  "You should be."

  "I will see you soon."

  "I look forward to it."

  As the call was ended, Sola became abruptly aware that Assail was weaving on his feet--which had a pool of blood around them.

  And then the male lurched...and fell to the ground.

  SIXTY-ONE

  Some two hours later, Assail was out of surgery and in one of the training center's inpatient rooms--and he was awake, and smiling. He was fairly certain he had been smiling all the way through the stitch-up process, where, according to Doc Jane, he'd needed a repair for a collapsed lung, a leaky bowel, and something else that didn't matter to him.

  There was an IV in his arm, which he'd been told was pumping meds into him, but he was floating on a bubble of such happiness, it could have been saline solution and the stuff would have been like morphine.

  The only thing that could make him feel better was if his female--

  Right on cue, the door opened wide. But it was not his Marisol; it was his other female.

  "Mrs. Carvalho," he called out, even though her hearing was perfectly fine and the room no larger than ten by twelve. "Do come in."

  Marisol's grandmother was smiling just as he was. "We stay, then. She told me. We stay with you. We stay here in Caldwell."

  As the older woman came forward, Assail frowned as he caught sight, over her short stature, of an argument out in the corridor. Marisol and Vishous were standing nose to nose, as if they were in disagreement about somethi
ng--and he knew well that thrust of his woman's chin: The Brother might have been bigger, stronger, and a vampire.

  But he was going to lose whatever it was.

  Assail refocused on her grandmother. "What are they arguing about?"

  Mrs. Carvalho made a dismissive motion. "I no care. I only care that we are here. My granddaughter not so stupid after all."

  "That she is definitely not." He motioned for the elderly woman to sit at the foot of his bed. "How are you feeling?"

  "I am perfect. I live a hundred more years."

  "Good. That's what I want to hear."

  As a flicker of unease went through him, he considered how long he was going to be alive as opposed to the humans in his life. But maybe...miracles happened. Who knew what the future held? He had heard stories of Mary and Jane being saved.

  He would have to find a way for Marisol and her grandmother to be similarly blessed.

  "So," Mrs. Carvalho announced, "you come home next night they say. We go to church then. Midnight mass. All house. Cousins and Markcus."

  "Yes, madam. As you wish."

  Mrs. Carvalho took his hand in hers and gave him a little pat. "You good boy. And then you convert--"

  "Vovo," Marisol said as she entered. "He does not have to convert--"

  "For you," Assail told his female's grandmother, "I will do anything. If you want a Catholic in me, then you shall have it."

  Marisol came over and kissed him on the lips. "Suck-up," she whispered.

  "I have to be in good with the in-laws, as you call them."

  "Listen," Marisol said, "I'm going to take Vovo back to the house, if it's okay."

  "I have to cook for those men," Mrs. Carvalho said gravely. "They too thin. They no eat unless I make the food."

  "You need to take it easy, Vovo."

  The pshhht was quick and declarative, and then Mrs. Carvalho was onto her feet and heading off. "I go make my bed. I leave--"

  "Vovo, this is a hospital. You don't have to make--" Marisol shut up as a glare came at her sure as the boxing of an ear. "Of course, Vovo. I'll be out in a minute to help you."

  When they were alone, Assail reached up and touched her face. "My love."

  She kissed his palm. "I'm so glad...well. You know."

  "I know." He grew serious. "Listen, Ghisele is going to come in in a little bit and I'm going to..."

  "Jane explained it to me."

  "There is nothing sexual at all in it."

  "I understand." She smiled. "Save the sex for me, okay?"

  "Always," he growled.

  "I'll be back as soon as I can. You rest."

  "I love you. Always and forever."

  "I love you, too, Assail." She leaned in and kissed him. Then ran her tongue across the points of his canines. "Man, I am so turned on--"

  Before he could help himself, he snatched ahold of the nape of her neck and yanked her to his mouth. After he kissed her hard, he set her back so he could meet her eyes.

  As the scent of her arousal flared, he knew she was staring at his fangs as they descended from the roof of his mouth.

  "I will never hurt you with them," he said in a guttural voice. "Ever. But if you want them--"

  "I do," she breathed. "I want you to do...whatever you do."

  Without thinking about it--and even though the door was not locked and there were people around--he took her hand and pulled it under the sheets. Placing her palm on his erection, he rolled his hips.

  She took over from there. As they kissed, and his hand found her breast through her fleece, she stroked him.

  It did not take long. And even though his fresh stitches stung as he worked with her rhythm, the pleasure was so great, he started coming almost immediately--and he didn't stop.

  He didn't ever want to stop.

  "I love you," he said on a groan, "and I can't wait to be inside you again."

  "Me, too. God...me, too..."

  * * *

  --

  It was about an hour later when Sola caught a ride to her car with Vishous in the van they used to run her grandmother back home. Assail's cousins and Markcus had been overjoyed at the reunion, and the three males had fallen in line with marching orders to go to the supermarket.

  All was well in the world.

  And about to be even better, Sola thought as she got out. "Thanks for the ride."

  "I do not like this."

  "You've made that amply clear," she said dryly.

  At that moment, his cell phone went off, and talk about perfect timing. In case it was about Assail, though, she waited.

  The vampire cursed. "Goddamn it. Another attack."

  "What?"

  "Nothing. You just lucked out, though. I've got to go handle this--otherwise, I'd be going with you."

  "I told you, this has to be a solo flight. It's the principle of the thing."

  The vampire just shook his head. "You have that phone I gave you, true?"

  She patted her parka. "Yup."

  "When you're ready, assuming you live through this, call me and I'll get you back into the training center."

  "Thank you." She cleared her throat. "I mean that. And you know, I'm sorry about the windshield."

  "No, you're not."

  She laughed. "Fine. I'm not. But will you let me pay for the damage?"

  "Never." He looked over at her. "Just don't get yourself killed and we'll call it even. Assail won't make it without you."

  "I won't make it without him. So don't worry, I'm not going to fuck up the good thing I got going."

  With that, she closed the passenger-side door. And as she went to her car, she became so relaxed, she floated over the pavement sure as if her feet did not touch the ground.

  Then again, she was in the zone with this one.

  Revenge...was a dish best served calmly.

  SIXTY-TWO

  Some eight hundred miles to the south, on a tract of land that was serene and largely uninhabited, emissaries from the King arrived at a destination that knocked their socks off.

  As Saxton, the King's solicitor, re-formed, he looked around and took a deep, easing breath. "Oh, this is beautiful."

  His beloved mate, Ruhn, materialized beside him and echoed his sentiments. "This is...astounding."

  They each reached for the other's hand at the same time--and then they stayed where they were, letting the gracious landscape sink in. Up ahead, under a fat moon in a balmy sky, a lovely old white house sat at the culmination of an allee of live oaks. With porches on both the first and second floors, and black shutters, and a hip roof, it was a Southern lady of gracious extraction.

  "So he knows we're coming?" Ruhn said.

  "Well...I wouldn't go that far, precisely."

  When Saxton went to walk forward, his love pulled him back. "Murhder does not know we're here?"

  "I sent him a letter."

  "And his response was?"

  "I didn't actually get one."

  Ruhn was largely a placid and loving soul, a gentle giant with a heart of gold who had lived through more pain and suffering than Saxton could ever understand.

  The male was not a pushover, however. And as those caramel eyes narrowed, Saxton held up his free hand. "We have to do this. It's the law."

  Ruhn's eyes returned to the house's lineup of darkened windows. "I don't like this."

  "I have to inform him of the inheritance. Come, let us approach."

  They walked straight up the center of the allee, and as they proceeded, Saxton had to wonder why anyone ever volunteered to sit through Caldwell's winters. If he didn't have his position with the King, he would most certainly spend time down here.

  Although...their old farmhouse was incredibly quaint, with its cheery fires in the fireplaces, and cozy quilts to cuddle under--and the opportunity for Ruhn to play plumber under that faulty kitchen sink.

  There was nothing better than a male who knew how to deal with pipes--

  Twin red laser beams hit both of them in th
e chest--directly at sternum height--and froze them in their tracks.

  There were only two things in the world that would make that sort of optical effect. And one had to assume that nobody would be bothering with a laser pointer this late at night...toward two strangers who, technically, were not invited to be on the premises.

  On the second floor, a light came on, illuminating a tremendous shadow that stood in what was an open window.

  "You're trespassing," came a low, evil voice. "And I don't like people on my land."

  Saxton cleared his throat as both he and Ruhn lifted their hands. "We come in peace. We are here to see Murhder."

  There was a long pause. "You're the one that sent the letter."

  "Yes. I am Saxton. I am Wrath, son of Wrath, sire of Wrath's solicitor. This is my mate, Ruhn. We have arrived here to inform him that he has come into an inheritance--"

  "I don't want it."

  Saxton glanced down at his own chest. "Would you consider lowering your weapons? This is a bit unsettling."

  "No, I won't. And I don't want anyone's money."

  "Then will you kindly sign the documents I sent in my letter renouncing it--"

  "My signature is no good."

  Saxton recoiled. "Why?"

  "I'm insane. Haven't you heard. The insane cannot consent, we do not legally exist."

  Excellent point. But let us not get hung up on technicalities, Saxton thought to himself.

  He took a deep breath. "Forgive me, but you do not sound crazy." Although the male was threatening to shoot two perfectly innocent people--so how balanced could he be? "And I am required to see this through. It's my job."

  There was a long period of silence. "Tell your King that I will sign those papers, but only if he sees me personally. I want to meet with him. I think it's about time."

  "Once again, forgive me, but this is not a matter usually handled in such a fashion. The King doesn't--"

  "Those are my terms. You know where to find me. If Wrath will see me, I will sign the papers. Now go. Before I decide to indulge my need for target practice."

  Saxton measured the sheer heft of the shadow in the window. Backlit as the male was, there was no telling what the face looked like--although he was fairly certain that the hair was long, and yes, the size of the body was definitely that of a Brother.

  Saxton bowed low. "I will inform the King of your preference, and I shall be back in touch. Perhaps if you would like to give me a number where I can--"

  "I am old-fashioned. I prefer parcel post--or FedEx, I believe is what you used. You can communicate with me that way. Now get off my property."