Sophia

by D. B. Reynolds

  “What the hell you want, Murphy?” Ellen nudged the rifle to emphasize her question. It was an amateur’s move, but at this distance, it didn’t make much difference.

  “Ellen,” Colin said quietly, aware that Sophia had grown perfectly still behind him. He held his hands up where the woman could see them. “I’m not trying to cause problems. I heard there was some trouble at Babe’s yesterday afternoon and I’m just trying to figure out what happened.”

  Ellen regarded him suspiciously down the long barrel of her Remington. It was a nice rifle and, amateur or not, at this range a blind man could hit him.

  “Leon didn’t come home last night.” Her voice wavered when she said it, but the rifle didn’t. “That’s not like him.”

  Colin nodded. “I heard there was some trouble,” he repeated.

  Ellen stared at him, clearly trying to decide how much to say or whether she could trust him. She lowered the rifle a fraction.

  “Someone said guns were fired, Ellen. If something has happened and—”

  She snapped the rifle up again, glaring at him suspiciously. “Where’d you hear that? What’d you—”

  That was all she managed to say before Sophia stepped deftly around Colin, wrapped her fingers around the rifle barrel and tore it from Ellen’s hands, almost before Colin even saw her move. Holding the rifle out to Colin with her right hand, she held Ellen immobilized with her left and said, “Shall we take this inside?”

  “Well, shit, Sophie,” Colin drawled. “It was goin’ so well, too.”

  “I can give her the gun back if you’d like?” she said, smiling sweetly.

  “Maybe not. All right, let’s see what Ellen has to tell us.”

  Sophie had wanted to use her vampire mojo to force Ellen to talk, but Colin had persuaded her to let him try talking with her first. Once Ellen stopped rubbing her neck and glaring at Sophie, it hadn’t taken long to convince her that Colin had nothing to do with the men who’d shot up the parking lot yesterday. He’d been right about Leon telling her what went on at the bar, but he’d never mentioned Colin’s name. Besides, Ellen was genuinely worried about her husband and had no one else to turn to.

  “Leon didn’t have nothing to do with them,” Ellen insisted for the third time. “They met in the bar, but that was it. He can’t turn away customers because he don’t like their politics. He’d have no one at all if he did that. Besides, even if he knew they was planning something, what’s he supposed to do about it?”

  “If something was going on, he could have told me, Ellen.”

  She scoffed noisily. “Your buddy McWaters was right in the middle of ‘em, Murphy. How’d we know we could trust you?”

  “Fair enough,” he ground out, still feeling the punch of Garry’s betrayal.

  Ellen shrugged. “I’ll tell you this much, though. Those boys are bad news. If you’re planning on taking ‘em on, I hope there’s a lot more than just you two.” She eyed Sophia distrustfully. “Even if one’s a vamp.”

  “Ellen,” Murphy said, drawing her attention away from Sophie. “Did Leon mention anyone besides Garry?”

  “Curtis Jenkins, who else? He’s been trouble since day one.”

  Colin nodded. “Where’s Leon now, Ellen? I’d like to talk to him.”

  She gave him a bleak look. “I told you, he didn’t come home last night,” she whispered. “I figured I’d find him here when I got home tonight, sleeping off a bender.” Her eyes filled with sudden tears. “He’d have called me if he could, Murphy. He knows I’d worry.”

  Colin swore under his breath. “Okay. I’m going to the bar—”

  Ellen stood. “I’ll go with you. I can—”

  “No,” Colin said immediately, thinking of Raphael and his vampires who’d soon be overrunning Babe’s and the woods around it. “I’ll check it out and call you.”

  “You can’t force me to wait here, Murphy. I’m a free—”

  Sophia was suddenly there, her hand cupping Ellen’s neck as she eased her onto the couch. Clearly after having zapped her unconscious, or whatever the hell it was that vampires did.

  “Geez, Soph, could you warn me before you do anymore of that vamp shit?”

  “You’re too polite, and we don’t have time to argue with her. Raphael will be on his way by now, and we don’t want to miss the hunt.”

  Colin covered Ellen with a crocheted throw from the back of the couch. There was something in Sophie’s voice when she talked about the hunt that made him turn and look at her. She was edgy and anxious to leave, already heading for the door. She glanced back at him impatiently and he saw the gleam of her eyes, not full-on amber the way they got sometimes, but like a rim of gold around her irises.

  She met his scrutiny with a challenging stare. “What?” she demanded.

  “You’re excited,” he said, realizing it as he spoke. “You’re looking forward to this.”

  “Hell, yes,” she agreed. “You’ve no idea what it’s like to spend your life pretending to be ordinary. To tamp down your power, conceal your differences, lest the humans become frightened. Raphael will let his people run tonight. There’ll be no holding back. You’re damn right I’m looking forward to it.”

  “I’m human,” he reminded her.

  She moved faster than he could see. One second she was by the door and the next she was right in front of him, her arms around his neck, her lush body pressed against his.

  “You may be human, Colin Murphy.” She licked a long line up his neck and over his jaw until her mouth touched his. “But you’re definitely not ordinary.”

  She pressed her lips against his in a quick hard kiss.

  “Let’s run the night, Colin. It’s time to hunt.”

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Colin and Sophie pulled into the parking lot outside Babe’s on the heels of Raphael and his vampires. The bar was dark, the lot empty. Or it had been before they arrived and filled it with SUVs. And even then it remained dark. The vamps had traveled without headlights, apparently seeing as well or better in the dark than they did in light. Even Sophie had slipped on a pair of sunglasses to preserve her night vision from his headlights as they’d driven here.

  Colin turned off the engine and flicked off the interior light, so it wouldn’t come on when they opened the doors. Then he waited, although he didn’t know what they were waiting for. The SUVs in front of him just sat there, presumably filled with vampires. He was about to ask Sophie what was going on when, as if some signal had been given, the doors all opened at once and Raphael’s people piled out.

  Colin did the same, going around to the back of the truck and gearing up, all the while watching warily as the vampires jostled each other, practically bouncing on their toes with anticipation. He wasn’t sure how to feel about that. On the one hand, the adrenaline rush of going into battle was so familiar, it almost hurt to feel it again. He hadn’t appreciated until that moment how much he missed this. But there was something a little creepy about being surrounded by vampires who were all juiced up at the idea of killing a bunch of humans.

  “Don’t let it get to you,” a deep voice said next to him.

  “Hey, Rob,” Colin said, looking up to find the Ranger standing in front of him, armored up and ready to roll.

  “And don’t let their hyperactive behavior fool you either. These guys are trained within an inch of their lives. When it comes down to it, they’re disciplined as hell.”

  “Good to know.” Colin’s attention shifted as Raphael walked over to the two of them.

  “Tell, me, Murphy, do you think you managed to shoot any of these animals? Or was my Cyn the only one injured?”

  Colin ground his teeth together, reminding himself the vampire was worried about Leighton. “We hit a few. I don’t know how seriously.”

  “We can start with that, then. Duncan.” His lieutenant half-turned toward the assembled vamps and nodded.

  Like horses out of the gate, several of the vamps took off, rushing in among the trees so fa
st, they were little more than a blur of motion. And they didn’t make a fucking sound, not even a whisper of movement despite the tightly packed trees and years of deadfall.

  Sophia joined Raphael and Duncan in some sort of confab. Presumably discussing their plans for tonight, but who the hell knew? Not Colin.

  When she joined him again, he gave her a dark look which she returned with a smile. “Patience, Colin.”

  “What the hell are we doing here?”

  “Raphael’s people are searching for a blood scent. You and Robbie both said some of the attackers were injured which means they bled. The scent will help us identify the guilty. It also has a . . . psychological benefit, I suppose you’d say. It motivates the soldiers, gets them ready for battle.”

  “Like these guys need more motivation,” he muttered.

  “Raphael knows his people,” she said calmly, placing a hand on his arm.

  A huge noise shattered the stillness. Colin looked up, expecting to see a tree falling nearly on top of them, but at the same time, his brain played the sound back in his head and he realized it wasn’t a tree at all. One of the vamps had kicked in the back door to Babe’s.

  The vampires around Raphael all came to immediate attention, staring at the closed bar like dogs on point.

  “I’m guessing they found what they were looking for,” Colin said dryly.

  Sophia stood quietly, her head tilted to one side, listening. “A body,” she said. “In the freezer.”

  “Ah, fuck.” Colin sighed deeply. “I should take a look.”

  Sophia walked with him into the bar. They went in the front door, held open by one of Raphael’s vamps who directed them to the back. Not that Colin needed the assist. There was only one place a freezer big enough to hold a body could be.

  It was a big chest model, maybe twenty-five or six cubic feet. A lot of the people around here had them. Coop’s small grocery store was fine for day-to-day sort of stuff, but most of the residents made a monthly trip down the hill and stocked up on things like meat and anything else that could be frozen.

  The lid was propped open, but Colin really didn’t want to see what was inside. He looked anyway.

  “Yeah, dammit, that’s Leon.” He glanced away. This was beyond the pale, completely unnecessary. It wasn’t Leon’s fault those jack-offs had decided to meet in his bar. But even so, the bar owner hadn’t told anyone what he’d heard. And they’d killed him anyway.

  He reached for the freezer lid and slammed it shut, careful to hold it by the edge and wiping his prints. “The cops’ll have to be called on this,” he said flatly. “Make sure there’s nothing to say you were here.”

  He spun on his heel and strode back through the bar into the parking lot.

  Sophia walked with him. She put a hand on his arm as they crossed the dirt lot. “I’m sorry, Colin.”

  “Yeah, well, it wasn’t any of you that did it.”

  Sophie’s grip on his arm tightened, pulling him to a stop. He waited while she listened to something only she could hear. “Raphael wants to speak with us,” she said.

  Colin didn’t even ask how she knew that. He’d already figured out there was some sort of telepathy going on between the vamps. He just wondered how widespread it was.

  “You were correct in your assessment,” Raphael told him, once they’d drawn within human earshot. “There were no fewer than four blood trails. They begin among the trees, where the assailants concealed themselves, and they end here—” he said, indicating the parking lot. “—at which point the humans took to their vehicles. The human male in the freezer—”

  Colin’s head shot up and he glared at Raphael. “Leon,” he snapped. “Leon Pettijohn.”

  Raphael gave a sideways tilt of his head, acknowledging the point. “Yet another victim of these killers. He died inside the bar, his neck was broken. With no blood and the body frozen, the scent was almost completely concealed by the air tight container.”

  Colin nodded. “So what happens next?”

  “We go after them, beginning with McWaters,” Raphael said. “He appears to be some sort of ringleader, maybe even the mastermind behind this scheme.”

  “I think we should split up,” Colin suggested. “Ellen Pettijohn, Leon’s wife—his widow now—gave us a name that came up on the vehicle list, as well. Curtis Jenkins—”

  “Deb’s brother,” Raphael said, surprising him.

  “Yeah,” Colin agreed, puzzled. “But how do you know that? She just got back into town a month or so ago. Are you saying she’s involved in this?”

  “Not directly, no.”

  Colin waited for some sort of explanation, but it wasn’t forthcoming. Next to him Sophie seemed as puzzled as he was, at least at first.

  But then she exhaled a breathy “ahhh” sound and said slowly, “But she is involved. Perhaps with one of your vampires?”

  Raphael gave her an unfriendly look, which was answer enough.

  “She is most likely the one who told them how devastated Jeremy was after Mariane was attacked,” Duncan provided. “Which is no doubt why they believed targeting Cynthia would incapacitate Lord Raphael.”

  “No doubt,” Colin said dryly. “Okay, fine. So, one of us goes after McWaters and the other Curtis Jenkins.”

  “McWaters is mine,” Raphael said flatly.

  Colin nodded, trying not to think about what Raphael had planned for his old buddy.

  “Then, Sophie and I will check out Jenkins and a couple of others on that list,” he said. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and they’re all holed up together somewhere.”

  Raphael looked over at his lieutenant. “Duncan?”

  “It makes sense, my lord. Sophia and Mister Murphy can reconnoiter Jenkins and the local citizenry. Several of your hunters can accompany them, while the rest of us take on McWaters and his allies. You have my cell number, Mister Murphy. In the event you require assistance, we can immediately dispatch additional people to your location. If the need is urgent,” he added, anticipating Colin’s next words, “we can abandon the vehicles and arrive in moments.”

  Colin’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. He’d seen the vamps move fast earlier, but apparently they could do it over distance, too. Good to know.

  “All right, then. Sophie?”

  “That is acceptable. Good hunting to you, my lord.”

  “To all of us,” Raphael growled, and his vampires responded with an eerie howl, a warning to all creatures that a far more dangerous predator was abroad in the forest tonight.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Raphael strode into the yard in front of Garry McWaters’s hideout, his vampires maneuvering silently among the trees to surround the house. This was the first of the two locations Murphy had suggested, but there was no doubt it was the right one. There were multiple trucks parked alongside and around the back, several of them showing signs of the gun battle, and at least one carrying a familiar and strong scent of blood. These were the men he sought, the men who had tried to kill his Cyn.

  Next to him, Duncan was communicating quietly with the others, while Juro walked several paces ahead of him. They were all aware that the humans they hunted were armed and willing to kill. Cyn herself had taught Raphael and his vampires that even the most powerful among them could be destroyed by a human with the right weapon and the courage to use it.

  Juro’s twin brother was back at the compound tonight, overseeing security and protecting Cyn, which had taken on a new urgency in light of Murphy’s information that she’d been specifically targeted. That same urgency fed Raphael’s hunger for blood tonight. The best way to ensure her safety was to eliminate those who sought to harm her.

  Duncan moved closer. “Two sentries, my lord,” he said in a whisper that only another vampire could hear. “Both eliminated.”

  Raphael nodded. Around them, the night had grown utterly quiet. Any animals that might have been about earlier had taken refuge in their dens or nests, or what other safety they could find. The ultimate predat
or was afoot tonight, the top of the food chain on this planet, and the animals, even the human ones, knew it.

  He focused on the house in front of him. It was a rough-made structure, fairly old, but well maintained and larger than he’d anticipated. Instead of a pitiful cabin along the lines of Hugh Pulaski’s, this was more like the hunting lodges of old Europe—drafty structures with few private rooms designed to accommodate the lord and his retinue in what passed for comfort back then. The building in front of him had been expanded not too long ago, probably in anticipation of their killing spree. The additional wing was obvious and the sharp bite of fresh wood still stung his nose. The windows were covered with thick curtains, but there was light visible around the edges, and there were definitely people inside.