by Mary Hughes
…
I leaped to my feet, painfully aware of the dagger dripping blood in my hand. Scrambling for a good lie to protect whoever was behind me from a truth they couldn’t handle, I turned.
A blond woman stood a few feet away, cupping her face in Home-Alone horror.
Beside her, hovering protectively, was a man built like Captain America. His face, as gorgeous as any Chris in Hollywood, was tightened in a scowl.
“You.” He curled a beckoning finger at me. “What happened here?”
I eased into a lie as I approached them. “Don’t worry, it’s over now. A drive-by shooting—”
“And that bloody dagger?” The man’s eyes narrowed in mistrust.
“Um…” I grimaced at the tattletale blade in my hand.
“Luke, don’t tease.” The woman pointed at my vest. “She’s staking that v-guy.”
“V-guy…?” Like vampires? My eyes widened. “Y-you know about bloodsuckers?”
“So do you, or you wouldn’t have tried such a terrible lie.” She snorted. “Drive-by shooting, really. A Meiers Corners crime spree is when Mrs. Gruen visits the art museum to paste flower stickers on the nudes. I’m Alexis. Normally I don’t do this, but I’m learning.”
“Learning what? Eep!”
My squeaky-toy sound came from her throwing arms around me in a big hug. I stood there, barely breathing, trying to act cool. But my family had never been physically demonstrative, showing our love in ways other than hugs and kisses. Casual hugging simply wasn’t a thing growing up. So inside, I was Code 3, running hot with all sirens and lights. Nervous because it restricted my weapons draw, not because I never hugged anyone but Rey.
Really.
Then she completely freaked me out with, “We’ve been expecting you, Kat.”
My stomach dropped through my legs. How does this stranger know my name? I stared into the woman’s warm blue eyes and wished like hell I could think of a riposte.
I’d practiced with swords. Words, not so much.
“I’m Alexis Steel,” she said, as if that would miraculously make the whole thing make sense. “Liese is my sister-in-law.” With a squeeze, she finally released me. “Hattie’s daughter, Liese? Or rather, Hattie’s other daughter.”
With a nasty bang, things fell into place. Hattie was my birth mother.
The woman who hadn’t kept me.
When the Stieg family first contacted me by letter, I refused to read it. Then my sister, my real sister, told me that meeting Hattie would be good for me.
“It’s a part of your life that’s missing,” Rey had said.
“I had parents who loved me and have a sister who is my staunchest supporter and ally. I’m not missing anything.”
She’d muttered something about unresolved issues, followed by, “It’s important, Kat.”
Rey never sweated the small stuff. If she said it was important, it was important.
So here I was. Stomach churning and palms sweating, but here. I put my dagger away.
Alexis was saying, “This is my husband, Luke.”
I opened my mouth. I wanted to say the right thing, like “Nice to meet you,” though it wasn’t nice, it was scary, and besides, I lie like crap.
What came out instead was, “I have a body bag.”
Embarrassment rose hot up my neck. Ah, hell. Work was always easier. “I’ll just get it out.”
“Actually, do you mind waiting a minute?” Alexis rummaged in her purse. “This is a great opportunity to test my v-guy unbinding serum.”
“Unbinding? Like, unmake them?” I straightened in astonishment.
She stopped rummaging and hit me with her blue eyes. “I was hoping to heal them.”
The idea was so unexpected I could only stutter, “From what, vampire colds and flu?”
I’d meant it, but Luke laughed. Alexis said, simply, “Heal them from being v-guys.”
That kicked the air from my lungs. I managed, “How? It’d be like healing the dog out of dogs or the cat out of cats.”
“V-guys are at least partially human.” She went back to rummaging.
“What?” I spewed the word in surprise. In all my years on the dark net, I’d never come across that. “How do you figure?”
“I’m a doctor.”
“My parents were in medicine, too.” The first tug of connection eased some of my panic.
“Nice. I also run Adelaide’s Heart.”
“Okay…” I got a strange picture of her reaching into a lady’s chest and pumping her heart with her bare hand. “Don’t they have machines for that?”
“What? Oh, no. It’s the name of our local domestic violence shelter. Ah. Here they are.” She extracted a couple test tubes from her satchel, one filled with pink liquid, one with ruby. “We know v-guys are at least partially human because of tissue samples. The samples are human, but lacy. Full of holes. By the way, Luke and I are enlightened about suckers being real, but not everyone in town is. Though a lot are.”
“Meiers Corners is unusual that way,” Luke said. “Worldwide, maybe one in a thousand are aware. Here, about half are—but none of us want to scare the tourists. We don’t usually say the v-word out loud.”
“V-word…? Oh.” Vampire. Code to talk about suckers. “My sister and I say tick.”
“Bloodsuckers.” Luke laughed. “Nice pun.”
“If you say so.” Confused delight curled in my chest. Though unintentional, I’d connected; Rey would be proud. “What does lacy, um, v-tissue mean?”
“Our best guess? V-guys are humans enhanced by v-bits.” Alexis knelt beside the body. “When tissue is separated from the living organism, the v-bits disintegrate. Which means we can unbind the v-part from the human part.”
“Cure them,” I whispered. My brain was freewheeling, part awe, part shock.
All opportunity.
“Right now, my research is mostly trial and error. Let’s see how this works.”
She tilted a drop onto the vamp’s arm. It hit with a small sizzle and curl of smoke. She tried a second, bigger drop. It spit a brief flame.
I sidled closer, ideas percolating. “How is that different from silver or garlic?”
She glanced up with a quick smile. “Ooh, you’re inquisitive. I like that. Want to help?”
“Alexis,” Luke said in a warning tone, obviously the distrustful sort.
“Kat’s family, Luke.” She handed me the ruby tube and pointed at the vampire’s other arm. “My theory is that the v-factor is a microbe, probably a prokaryote from the size of the holes—”
“Pro-huh?”
“Sorry, I get carried away.” She gave me a grin. “Like bacteria. Silver and garlic are antibacterial. These,” she waggled her pink tube, “are souped-up antimicrobials. Various strengths. I’ve been waiting to try them on mostly dead suckers.”
“Why mostly dead?”
“Well, you wouldn’t muck with living v-guys, right?” She glanced at Luke.
“No-o?” Wasn’t the point to make the un-dead all-dead? “Oh, wait. Because they could attack if it didn’t work?”
A beat. “Sure.”
Kneeling beside her, I uncorked and tilted the vial. The ruby liquid was thicker than I expected, like corn syrup. A drop hit the sucker with a snap and sizzle, the skin immediately blackening.
“Cool.” I moved the vial over the gash in the chest wound.
Alexis spoke into her phone. “External tissue shows thermic reactivity with both serums.”
I poured a drop into the sucker’s wound. The flesh began to bubble furiously, like vinegar poured into baking powder. Slowly, the tissue turned soupy.
The vampire’s whole chest caved in.
I shot to my feet in surprise. The rest of the monster bubbled violently, followed by total collapse a moment later.
“Wow.” Alexis rose and put a hand on my shoulder. “Sorry. I didn’t think of how disturbing that might be. I should’ve warned you.”
“No, that’s pretty cool.” I grimaced. “In a gross kind of way.”
“I really like you.” Alexis shot me a smile before speaking into her phone. “Ruby serum displays an obvious dis-organizational effect on internal tissue.”
I would have said, “Great vamp exterminator juice.”
Speaking of… I crouched beside the head and tipped ruby serum into the mouth. A muted gurgle came from inside. After a few moments, the head seemed to liquefy from the inside, like an hourglass’s sand collapsing in on itself.
This stuff was strong. “Does it have to be fresh?” I wiggled the tube.
“No, it’s stable, even in sunlight.”
I stood, corking the half-empty tube. Strong and stable. Maybe strong enough to dissolve the king sucker? I absently stuck the tube into a dagger sheath on my vest.
“Next step is to test on a subject with a beating heart.” Alexis was still recording. “Probably it will make them very sick first.”
“Time to wrap this up, ma chérie,” Luke said. “We don’t want to be late for our meeting.”
“Right. Well, nice to meet you, Kat.” Both arms went wide.
Hug coming.
I fell back a step, hands rising automatically. “Yes! Nice. B-but I have to get back to my flat.”
Her eyes brightened. “You’re staying here in town?” When I told her where, she went incandescent. “We’re headed that way!” She hooked an arm through mine and drew me into a brisk walk.
Luke fell into step on my other side. “Straight sword and scimitar?” He eyed the sheaths on my back with a professional eye.
Yikes. What was it with them? “Talwar.”
“Good choice.”
Alexis released me at the corner of West Fifth. “We turn north here. If you like coffee or sugar, I highly recommend the Caffeine Cafe.”
Even from here, the dark acid of freshly ground beans bit my nostrils. The coffee would be rich and full-bodied. “Thanks.”
“See you tomorrow, Kat!” Alexis waved and trotted off with her sauntering hubby.
“Right.” My stomach catapulted into my throat at the reminder.
Tomorrow, I’d meet my birth family.
Including my mother.
Chapter Three
Wearing the outer form of Officer Keydew, Ryker cheerfully pushed open the cafe’s door—straight into the subtle, earthy scent of a vampire.
Forcing himself to stay in character, he scanned the room. Behind the counter, a woman poured glossy sable beans into a grinder. A grating crunch was followed by the sting of a medium roast. Guatemalan, unless he was mistaken. It almost covered the warning scent.
Almost.
Far corner. Cautiously, Ryker turned his attention that direction.
A powerful male—male, not man, because they were no longer simply men—sat at a table for four with his back to the wall. Blond hair brushed broad shoulders; gold-flecked hazel eyes continuously scanned.
Logan Steel.
Smart. Formidable. Elias’s right hand in his time, now a knight in Elias’s merry band of defenders—currently going by the amusing sobriquet of the Iowa Alliance. Though his brother vampire probably used the term operative or lieutenant. Ryker snorted mentally. Medieval titles far better expressed the real relationship of lord and vassal.
Steel’s gaze swiveled to him. Ryker clomped in, making plenty of reassuring human noise. Even so, Steel’s eyes went red-gold, ramping up for a fight. His nostrils flared, no doubt testing the air for any telltale earthy odor.
Ryker grimaced. Hopefully Elias hadn’t ratted out his scent-changing ability, or this would be a very short meeting indeed.
Not going to let that happen. He had two goals: tell the Alliance their master’s final message and discover where Elias was the night he went missing. Elias’s last location was Ryker’s first step in rescuing him. Not that his brother vampire usually needed rescuing, but this time, Ryker was concerned.
His brother’s failsafe had triggered only a handful of times over the centuries. Once, when an enterprising enemy managed to cut off Elias’s head, Ryker scoured graves for weeks to put him back together. When Elias first met Dracula, it had not ended well. Elias had saved Ryker, too, though not as many times. Well, as long as he didn’t count adventures where he almost made it out on his own.
Getting Elias’s last location from Steel, hell, simply getting help from the Alliance male should’ve been easier. But Ryker and Elias had a…complicated relationship. Like brothers, both loving and hating each other. Unfortunately, the Alliance lieutenants almost hero-worshipped Elias, automatically mistrusting anyone who wasn’t completely, exhaustingly gung-ho on Elias’s rules for life. To Ryker, they were a mite too rigid in their thinking. To them, Ryker was a wildcard and not to be trusted.
And, just maybe, the lieutenants were a smidgen jealous of Elias’s inexplicable soft spot for him.
Bottom line, Steel would just as soon cut off Ryker’s head as listen to anything he had to say. If Ryker wanted to stay in one piece while getting help, or at least get his message across, he needed his disguise of human Officer Keydew.
Channeling every simple soul he’d ever met, Ryker lit up Keydew’s face with a brilliant smile. “Mr. Logan Steel?”
“You’re Officer Keydew?” The male eased to his feet, standing with a nonchalant strength that concealed a hair-trigger readiness. Ryker had encountered it in Elias—losing several tussles to his brother before learning to recognize it.
“Nathaniel Keydew, sir. Honored to meet you.” He stuck out his hand.
Finally, Steel’s eyes cooled. He took Ryker’s hand in his own firm grip.
Ryker began enthusiastically pumping, secretly amused at the other’s wince. Vampires tended to be all too superior, and worse, smug about it. Ryker took his duties as the great equalizer seriously.
“You have news?” Steel said.
He piped in Keydew’s tenor, “I do! Should we wait for your brother—?”
“My younger brother is here.” Steel’s eyes flicked over Keydew’s shoulder.
“He means his better-looking brother is here.” From behind came almost the same deep drawl, along with the scent of a vampire—and a human female.
Ryker turned. Luke’s blond hair was scraped into a braid, but other than that he was identical to Logan, down to his attitude of casual competency. Beside him was a smart, Nordic blonde with a no-nonsense attitude. Ryker had spies in every part of the world, but especially here in the Alliance’s back yard, so he identified her immediately as Luke’s mate, Dr. Alexis Steel.
The brothers were only four hundred years on this side of the grave. Despite their youth, both had mates—the one-and-only who, once found, a vampire couldn’t live without. Keydew’s thin chest lifted in a sigh. He’d yearned for his own mate in the beginning. After a few millenniums, the sharp pining desire had dulled to a constant ache.
As if your mate would actually accept you.
His shoulders hunched in dejection. He disguised it by clapping a hand to Keydew’s breastbone. “Gosh, Mr. Steel, you came in so quietly, you nearly gave me a heart attack!”
“Sorry.” Luke gave him a charming, unrepentant grin. Ryker liked the young male better for it. Luke introduced his wife as he pulled out a chair for her. They smiled at each other in a besotted way.
While Ryker was happy for the pair, he couldn’t help a twinge of sorrow. No female would look at him like that, not for long.
“Officer Keydew. You have news?” Luke waved over the barista and sat.
“Yes, sir.” Pulling out the remaining chair, Ryker scudded it deliberately against the floor.
He eased into it, his back to the door. Not his preferred position but getting stuck with the worst seat was an unfortunate consequence of his current role. Elias, you owe me.
Only after he sat did Logan also subside into his chair. The youngster was thinking tactically. Ryker mentally nodded his approval.
As the barista swooped in with a tray of mugs, Ryker began. “A big gentleman approached me during patrol tonight. I mean big.” He took his mug and sipped. His kind couldn’t digest food, but he could drink anything a human could take in an IV. “He said his name was Inky-doo.” The Alliance vampires knew Ryker by his original alias, Enkidu. “Inky-doo and his old friend, Mr. Elias, keep tabs on each other.”
“Elias?” Though Logan said it, all three stilled. “His old friend?”
“Yes. Though Mr. Inky-doo didn’t look that old.” Ryker sipped coffee, his face arranged in innocent thoughtfulness.
The twins exchanged a meaningful glance. Vampires healed everything, even aging. Eventually each stabilized at their ideal age. They’d understood “Inky-doo” was a vampire, but they hadn’t made the connection yet which vampire.
Ryker carefully kept Keydew’s expression blank. As Officer Keydew, he wasn’t supposed to know about vampires.
“According to Inky-doo, Mr. Elias has a failsafe message. The kind that sends if he doesn’t reset the trigger? I guess it triggered because Inky-doo said he had to tell the message to Mr. Emerson, but he’s busy with the new baby. That’s when he named you two.” Ryker beamed Keydew’s bright smile.
Logan said, “Elias could have simply forgotten to reset the trigger.”
“Oh, no, sir. The gentleman said Mr. Elias wasn’t the kind of person to forget anything, much less an important thing like this. Did you want to hear it? It’s scary.” He shuddered Keydew’s narrow body and set the mug down. “He said, ‘I am investigating a dangerous adversary who is provoking war among our kind. I believe this adversary uses the chaos of battle to kidnap ancients—and drain them of their power.’ That sounds really important-like!”
The twins exchanged a horrified glance. Despite the code words, they understood the vile implications.