Marcus shook his head and ignored the question.
“You know, I’m getting a little tired of secrets, Marcus.”
“I don’t have any answers yet.”
“Yeah, well, it would be nice to be included in what you do know, or even what you think.”
“Chase, we’ve been over this. I need you to be patient and trust me. Rayna will be working with you while I’m away. She can teach you the basic exercises to help you control your element.”
I was tired of him changing topics and tired of trusting him. He had yet to do anything but add to the mysteries that seemed to fill my life, but before I could respond the door opened and Mom entered.
“Marcus we need to get going if we’re going to....” she stopped and gasped. “Chase, what is that on your back?”
“Umm, surprise! I got a tattoo.” I smirked.
My mom rushed over but Marcus quickly interjected. “Tessa, he’s kidding. I believe this is the mark.”
Mom looked at Marcus and then back at me. “Oh, Chase,” she said, shaking her head, but there was a worried tone in her voice. “I know Marcus has told you the rules, and I expect you to follow them.” She gave me the no-nonsense look that all mothers have.
“I know, I know. Don’t leave the condo.”
“I mean it. It’s important you listen to Marcus on this one. It’s for your own good.”
“Don’t worry so much.”
“I’m your mother. That’s what I do.”
“I know.”
“Alright, well you two be good,” she said, wrapping Rayna and me in a hug.
“Mom, relax. Everything will be fine. It’s just a couple of days. How much trouble could we get into?”
Mom pulled away and glared at me. “Rayna, don’t be afraid to keep him in line.”
“No worries, Tessa. If he gets out of line, it’ll only take a few smacks to straighten him out.” She smiled.
“Good girl,” Mom replied.
We walked her and Marcus to the door with their overnight bags in hand. When they had gone, I turned to Rayna. “A few smacks, hey?”
“If necessary.”
“Well if it comes to that, I’ll just take my shirt off. You won’t be able to do anything but stare.”
She brought her fist around and hit me in the arm. “Ouch,” I said, rubbing the sore spot, but she just rolled her eyes and went back to her breakfast.
~~~~~~
Chapter 21
Rayna and I spent the few hours before our meeting working on exercises to improve my control. They were boring, to say the least, but anything that would help was a worthwhile. Still, I was more than happy when the clock showed that it was time to go. Rayna was a miniature Marcus in training, and I’d had enough for one day.
We armed ourselves lightly; we both knew whatever weapons we took would be confiscated at the door.
Rayna dressed herself to the nines again, in tight black pants and a green tank top that made her eyes look extra fierce. Black boots with four inch heels brought her to my eye level. She had her hair half up, the dark pieces all held together in a silver clip with the red strands falling down around her shoulders. Her pale skin showed how little she got to be out during the day. In our line of work, there wasn’t much time to get a tan. Our quarry tended to avoid the light.
We left the condo and caught a cab. Even after hundreds of years of life, I doubted Vincent had much patience for tardiness. Rayna and I hadn’t talked about what we would do once we got there. I think we were both hoping to make the exchange as quick and painless as possible, although I had a feeling that Vincent did very few things in a quick and painless manner.
He sat in the same booth as before, surrounded by beautiful girls. The vampires standing around him pretended not to notice us as we approached. Vincent whispered into one girl’s ear, then made her giggle with a kiss on the neck. Rayna had to clear her throat to get his attention as we approached the table. Vincent turned to us, wearing a smile that chilled my bones.
“My sweet Rayna, I thought you might change your mind, so I took the opportunity to… entertain myself.”
“I’m glad you were able to occupy yourself while you waited,” Rayna replied. She faked a smile, but she wasn’t as talented as Vincent when it came to feigning pleasantries. Then again, who was?
“My dear, I do love your ferocity. It’s always a breath of fresh air.”
“Shall we?”
Vincent inclined his head. “Shall we what, my dear? I could take that offer to mean so many different things.” His smile changed into something different, more primal. I thought for a minute that he might try to swallow Rayna whole. The innuendo gave me a mental picture I’d need to scrub out of my mind with steel wool.
“Shall we do the exchange we came here for?” she asked, displaying a flash of the scroll. I thought Vincent’s eyes would pop out of his head at the sight, and he pushed Rayna’s hand under the table with lightning speed.
“Put that away!” he demanded, scanning the room.
Rayna smiled and I looked over the crowd, in search of anything that might be a threat. Tonight, I trusted Vincent even less than usual.
“You’re a little on edge this evening, Vince,” Rayna said.
Vincent shuddered. “Please, it’s Vincent.” He waved everyone around him away and invited us to sit down. “What you’re holding is not something to be flaunted. You never know who could be watching.” Vincent’s eyes met mine and his power pushed against me, but I had my shields up. I wasn’t playing that game again. “There are eyes and ears everywhere,” he continued in a whisper. “I would prefer to complete our arrangement at a different location.”
I laughed and shook my head. “Forget it, Vincent, we’re not giving you the chance to blindside us. Right here is fine. There are plenty of eyes around in case you try anything.”
Vincent shrugged. “There is much going on in the Underworld of which you are unaware, hunter. The sudden disappearance of Underworlders has left many among us with an uneasy feeling. It’s been rumored vampires may be responsible, that we’re working with the hunters. This is something I know nothing about, but the rivers of information that flow my way are running dry. People are distancing themselves from my family, and that is bad for business. So as you can guess, doing any sort of business with the likes of you is criticized.”
I watched Vincent, but his tone and expression gave no hint as to whether he was telling the truth or not. Five hundred years of life – if you could call it that – could teach a person a few things about lying. Vincent’s magic pushed at the edge of my shields again and I put my focus into pushing them away.
“Not this time,” I said.
“This will be much easier if you cooperate, hunter.”
“You’re not getting in my head.”
His magic let up and he leaned towards me. “Let me make one thing clear, Mr. Williams. You are not welcome here, and Rayna is a disgrace to this world. Nobody else will be willing to help you, given the current state of affairs, so you should feel lucky I am being so generous with my time.”
“That’s exactly why we shouldn’t trust you. You’ve got it in your head that we need you. Well I’ll tell you something: we don’t need you. We can take this fancy piece of paper elsewhere if you think you’re above working with us.”
“Chase…” Rayna interrupted, but I put up my hand.
“We’re doing the exchange we agreed upon, here and now. Unless you don’t have the information we need, in which case we’ll be holding on to the scroll.”
“Chase, will you stop and listen...” Rayna began, but I interrupted her.
“Now, do you have what we need or not?” I said, my blue eyes gazing intently into his yellow orbs.
Vincent gave a dramatic sigh before turning to Rayna. “Really, Rayna, why must you involve yourself with the socially inept? He’s like a caveman. He has no appreciation for politics whatsoever.”
Rayna smirked. “But he’s so c
ute when he gets all determined and commanding, isn’t he?”
Vincent looked at me a moment and nodded. “Yes, I suppose you’re right.”
I raised my eyebrows. Were they really talking about how cute I was when I got mad? Talk about taking the wind out of my sail! I wanted to say ‘It’s not cute, it’s very manly!’ but I didn’t think either of them would appreciate that.
“Are we going to do this or not?” I asked impatiently.
“No, I’m sorry. With the Underworld fearing that vampires are involved in the abductions, just being seen with the two of you is a mark against me. If I’m seen doing business of any sort with you, it will damage the reputation of my family. I know you can’t understand the politics, so I won’t bother to explain.”
“Fine,” Rayna said, and pushed me out of the booth.
I shot Rayna a look, but she ignored it.
Vincent smiled. “Thank you, Rayna. I knew I could count on you to understand.”
“Oh, I understand. You’re a vampire – a soulless creature with his own agenda,” she said.
“Now, now, that isn’t fair. You know as well as I do that I have a soul.”
“No, Rayna, we’re doing this now!” I said.
Rayna looked at me. “Relax. We’ll find another way. Trust me.”
I didn’t want to trust her. I wanted to reach across the table and beat the information out of Vincent, but I didn’t. We had something Vincent wanted, and I didn’t want him or his family coming after us for it. But at some point, I was going to have to put my faith in something, and putting it in Rayna seemed as good a plan as any.
“Okay,” I said.
Rayna turned and leaned over the table. “Thanks for nothing.”
“You’re welcome, my sweet Rayna. I’m sorry we could not come to an agreement.”
I caught a strange movement out of the corner of my eye, but before I could interpret it, Rayna picked up Vincent’s drink and threw it at him. The thick red liquid slid down his face, but he didn’t react.
“Well played, my sweet. A little over the top if I do say so, but well played nonetheless.”
Vincent’s family rushed back over, but Vincent’s hand shot up to stop them.
Rayna pushed away from the table. “Let’s go, Chase.” she said, walking past me.
“Rayna, my dear!” Vincent called, the dark liquid running down his pale flesh and his pink tongue slipping out to catch drops of it.
“What?” She scowled.
“I truly am sorry,” he added, looking sincere in a way I couldn’t quite place.
Rayna’s unimpressed expression changed to one of confusion. She nodded hesitantly and continued to the door.
“Rayna, what the hell?” I said, coming up the stairs into the alley. Rayna ignored me and continued walking. “Rayna!” I called again and ran down half the alley to catch up to her. Her head was down as she read a piece of paper.
“What’s that?” I asked. She didn’t answer me, and she wore a sad expression. I felt comfortable enough with Rayna to know she had my back. She’d proven worthy of my trust more than once, but I still didn’t know her well enough to read her moods. “Rayna?”
“It’s an address.”
“Okay…” She stopped walking and looked at me, her eyes glazed with tears. “Rayna, what is it?” I reached over and slid the paper from her fingers as a single tear trickled down her cheek. I looked at the address. I had never been near there, but I knew it was outside of town. “I don’t understand. You’ve got to give me something here,” I said.
Rayna closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The single tear had run down her face and clung to her jawbone, but as she exhaled it shook loose and fell to the ground. “It’s where I used to live,” she said. Rayna reached out for the paper in my hand. “This is the place Marcus found me. It’s where they killed my mother.” I could hear her choking back more tears. She took another deep breath and a new determination filled her eyes and replaced the sorrow. “We need to make a stop before we go.”
“I’m so lost right now,” I said.
“It’s done. The trade is done. Vincent has the scroll and this address is where we’re going to find the answers we need,” she said.
“Wait, what?”
“Vincent was talking to us, only it wasn’t with his lips, but with his mind.”
“Why didn’t I hear anything?”
“Because you wouldn’t drop your shields. We were both trying to explain, but you weren’t listening. You were too busy being in control.”
I wanted to react with anger, but she was right. “Why couldn’t we make the trade as planned?”
“Because of what Vincent told us. The Underworld is watching him right now, with the demons being kidnapped. The victims aren’t low level players in the Underworld – they’re powerful. They think the Taryk family is trying to make a big move. Everybody’s on edge and Vincent doesn’t want to attract unnecessary attention.”
“So you two made the trade while acting like he was breaking the deal. Nicely done.” I couldn’t help but admit it was well played, even if I was embarrassed about missing it.
“Shouldn’t we wait for Marcus?” I asked. Rayna shot me a hostile look. “I’ll take that as a no.”
“If Marcus knew the information was there, he wouldn’t let me go. This is something I have to do.”
“Okay.”
I couldn’t argue with her. If it were me, there would be nothing that could stop me. All I could do was support her decision. Whatever was at that address was a different kind of demon for Rayna, one I was betting she hadn’t thought she’d ever have to face. I knew there was no weapon or magic that would help her defeat it.
~~~~~~
Chapter 22
Back at the condo, Rayna took a set of keys from the kitchen and led me to the underground parking area.
“You have a car and we’ve been taking cabs and walking everywhere?”
Rayna gave a half smile, which was the most I’d seen since we left the club. “It’s Marcus’s other car, and I’m allowed to use it in case of an emergency. It’s not what you'd expect.”
“Well, I think this qualifies as an emergency, and I’ve come to learn that very little is ever what I’d expect,” I replied.
Rayna led the way as we passed vehicles worth more money than I’d probably see in my lifetime. We passed classy car after classy car before we came to a stop in front of an older model Jeep with a customized lift kit and large mud tires.
“You’re kidding me,” I said, eyeing the blacked out Jeep with tinted windows.
“I told you it’s not what you’d expect.”
I watched her struggle to pull herself into the Jeep and I came around to the passenger door. “You sure you don’t want me to drive? It’s a pretty big truck for a girl.” I smiled.
Rayna gave me her unimpressed glare. “I can handle it. Besides, it’s a little too much machine for you.” She winked, turned the key and made the engine roar to life.
Aside from the rumble of the engine, the ride out of town was quiet. Once we got onto the freeway, Rayna turned on the high beams and settled back in her seat. I could see her body relax as she started taking deep breaths.
“You sure you’re up for this? We don’t have to do this now. We can wait until Marcus and my mom get back, and let them do it.”
Rayna shook her head. “I’m fine. Is it difficult? Absolutely, but I can handle it.”
“Are you sure?”
“I need to do this. You can understand that, can’t you?”
“Of course I do. I didn’t mean you couldn’t handle it. I just didn’t want to push you into it. Not like I did with Willy. That didn’t turn out well.”
Rayna laughed. It sounded forced, but it was a laugh nonetheless. “Not well is an understatement. But on the plus side, you discovered a few tricks, didn’t you?”
I nodded, but I didn’t think I’d come to accept my powers yet. After all these years of feeling like le
ss than a hunter, I suddenly had not one, but two elements. I should’ve been excited and eager to use them, but I wasn’t. I was nervous. I wasn’t sure if I was scared because the magic had just appeared, or that it might disappear just as quickly.
The more I thought about my powers, the soul piece, and the mark, the more on edge I was. There were too many unknowns in this equation. My thoughts were interrupted by the crescendo of the engine as Rayna passed the only car we’d seen since we’d gotten out of the city.
“So what do you think we can expect when we get there? I mean, we asked Vincent for information and all he gave us was an address.”
“I don’t know what to expect,” Rayna said. I could hear the nervousness in her soft voice. At least I wasn’t alone in that particular emotion.
“I guess the real question is: if there are people there, are they going to be willing to help?” I said, but this time I didn’t get a response.
Rayna turned off the freeway and a few miles later we coasted onto a gravel road. Tall stalks filled the fields to either side of us and dust blew up around us, limiting our vision. At the moment I saw the bright yellow sign signaling a dead end, Rayna jerked the Jeep to the right and drove off the road.
“Where are we?” I asked, my voice wobbling as we went over endless bumps. Rayna jerked the wheel again without answering. The car slid down into a ditch and started to push through the field. I gripped the dashboard and door as the Jeep rocked back and forth.
I watched the vegetation fold under us as we moved forward. The Jeep made a final push forward and we plunged out into a rocky clearing. I could see another source of light in the distance.
As we neared, I could tell it was a house, but it was still too far away to make out any details. We drove down another ditch and back up the other side before we were back on a dirt road. Rayna slowed down and pulled to the side of the road, turning off the lights and killing the engine.
We got out of the Jeep and walked down the road before jumping back down the ditch and into the field. The house was still a mile away, but we wanted the element of surprise on our side.
A barbed wire fence surrounded the property, but we both leapt it with ease. We were a few hundred yards from the house when Rayna’s voice came in a loud whisper. “Stop.”
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