by Tina Folsom
Maya took in a much needed breath—and froze as the scent filled her lungs.
She stepped around the tree and leapt at the man who stood in front of her. “Gabriel.”
His arms came around her as he pressed her to him and buried his head in her hair. “Oh, Maya… I thought I’d lost you.”
Before she could answer him, his mouth took hers in a fierce kiss, wiping away the memories of Ricky’s touch. When they came up for air, Gabriel stroked his hand over her face.
“Ricky, he’s after me. It’s him. He’s the rogue.” The words came spilling from her lips.
“We know. Amaury and Zane figured it out. They alerted me, but I got to the house too late.”
“I injured him, but I don’t think he’ll give up.”
Gabriel nodded. “I’ll alert the others to where we are. You’ll be safe in a few minutes.”
He pulled out his cell phone and started to dial.
Maya stared at it, instantly recalling Ricky’s own phone. “Shit!” She snatched the cell from his hands before he could react and smashed it against the tree with such force that it splintered into hundreds of tiny pieces.
“What the—”
***
Gabriel stared at her as she destroyed his only means of communicating with his colleagues. What on earth had gotten into her?
“You led him right to us.” There was no accusation in her eyes, only grim horror.
“How?”
“He has a tracker on you. I saw it on his iPhone. He knows where you are. We have to run.”
Gabriel cursed himself. Instead of saving her, he’d put her in more danger. He’d found her because of his unique connection to her and the fact that he could tap into her memories. Ricky didn’t have those skills and had probably followed him all along. And he, idiot that he was, had led him right to her. He couldn’t be far behind them.
“God, I’m sorry.”
“This way. I know a place where we can hide.”
Without hesitation, he followed her as she ran further into the woods. He only hoped that Ricky was far enough behind them that they’d have a chance to get away.
They zigzagged through the forested area before they reached the edge of a small meadow. Instead of crossing it, Maya continued hugging the tree line, staying hidden in their shadows. Gabriel was only steps behind her. But he didn’t speak, despite the many questions he had. If Ricky was close, any sound could lead him their way. While he was certain he could defeat him if confronted, it was too close to sunrise to fight. Even though he hated the idea of hiding, for Maya’s safety’s sake, he knew he had to.
When she turned and locked eyes with him, he knew she wasn’t angry at him, merely scared. And he wished he could wipe that fear off her face, but there was no time for it now. He gave her a reassuring nod and followed her around a bend on the barely recognizable footpath she appeared to know.
As they came to an earthen mound, she stopped.
Gabriel drew up next to her and saw what she was looking at. Notched into the small hill that looked like an oversized mole hill, was a metal door. It was locked with a padlock.
“Can you open this?” she asked him.
“What is this?”
“An old bomb shelter.”
“In San Francisco?”
“Built back during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Can you break the lock?”
He nodded and pulled his knife out of his boot. Luckily, he never left home without it. He held the padlock with one hand, then stuck the knife into it and twisted.
“Quickly. I can feel my skin prickle. He’s close,” she whispered.
Gabriel didn’t question what she sensed. If she felt him close, he wasn’t going to doubt her. He doubled his efforts and twisted harder. A moment later, he heard a click, and the lock sprung open. He unhinged it from the door, and pressed down the handle. The door opened to the inside.
Darkness greeted him. “Are you sure?”
Maya was already behind him and pressed inside. “The sun is coming. Quick!”
He stepped inside, pulling Maya with him before he let the door snap shut. All he could hear was her heavy breathing.
Thirty-one
Yvette heard the dog’s hesitant woof just outside the entrance door. She could sense his confusion as he sniffed, wondering whether it was safe to enter. How she was able to connect with an animal, she had no idea, but she’d had the same strange feelings when she’d wandered through the streets of San Francisco a few nights earlier and had noticed how dogs had suddenly started to follow her. One had even gone so far as to follow her all the way to Samson’s house. Maybe she’d tapped into a gift she didn’t know she had.
“Here, doggie, doggie,” she coaxed from her position at the fireplace, still strung up by her wrists, the silver painfully burning her skin. If she ever got out of this one, she’d string Ricky up by his balls and let him suffer until he fried in the rays of the rising sun.
A look out the window told her she didn’t have more than fifteen minutes until sunrise. This was cutting it close.
The dog’s claws scratched against the wood floor as he entered the house. “Good dog,” she praised. As he rounded the corner, she saw him, a light colored lab with big, brown eyes. His head tilted to the side as if he was trying to figure out what was wrong with her.
“Yes, my boy, come here.”
The good-natured beast approached and wagged its tail. She spotted a collar around its neck. Good. He had an owner, and hopefully that owner wasn’t too far away. “Where’s your daddy?” she asked him in the same crooning voice she’d used before. She only hoped that nobody would ever see her like this. They would all make fun of her, for sure.
“Hey boy, how about you play Lassie for me?” If a TV dog could summon its owner, surely this Labrador could do it too. His eyes looked intelligent, his ears perking up as if listening intently.
“Good doggie, go get you owner,” she ordered. “Go get Daddy.”
The dog wagged its tail again. Did he understand her? Yvette felt sweat build on her forehead. “Come on, doggie, do this for me, and I’ll give you a big meaty bone.” Yes, cutting off a piece of Ricky would be just up her alley.
The dog took a few more steps toward her and nudged at her legs.
“Do it, doggie, go on.”
“What are you going to have him do? Lick the chains off you?”
At the voice from the door, Yvette snapped her head toward it. “Stop joking and untie me, Zane!” She’d never been so happy to see her nasty colleague than at that moment.
Zane stepped into the living area, his gait relaxed, almost bored. “Never thought I’d see you like that. Looks like you’ll have to finally beg me for something.”
Yvette clenched her jaw. “You little shit, untie me now.”
He laughed, and she froze. She’d never heard him laugh. In fact, she had always assumed he was incapable of laughing. But the rumble that tore from his chest was definitely a laugh.
“I guess that’s as close as you’ll ever come to begging me for anything, huh?” he ventured as he approached. He pulled leather gloves out of his pockets and put them on. For a moment, she was reminded of the gloves Ricky had worn and instantly tensed when he reached her.
“Now that,” he commented at her indrawn breath, which she knew he recognized as fear, “that just made my day.” His grin widened. “Who would have thought that you’d ever be scared of me?”
Yes, and for an instant she had been scared of him, but the moment he loosened the silver chains and freed her, the fear vanished. “You’re such a sick bastard.”
“Ain’t it grand?”
Yvette decided not to comment. Whichever way Zane got his kicks, she didn’t really care. All she cared about was that he’d saved her life. And for that, she owed him. On impulse, she pulled his head to her and kissed him on the cheek.
“Thanks, buddy.”
She laughed when he pulled away, his lips pulled into a snarl. Zane hated
any show of affection and even more so when it was directed at him—and Yvette knew it. She smiled.
“Bitch! Let’s go. I have a blackout van outside.”
“First, we’ll have to warn Gabriel. Ricky’s the rogue.”
“We already know. I’ll fill you in on the way. We’re setting up a command post at Thomas’ house.”
By the time they pulled the van into Thomas’ garage, which was located underneath his house, Zane had filled her in on most of the details. Behind them, Yvette heard the garage door roll shut. She gave it another couple of seconds before she opened the door of the van and jumped out. Zane killed the engine and followed her.
Yvette rubbed her chafed wrists. In the blackout van she’d helped herself to the supplies of bottled blood, but it would take several hours for the wounds to heal. The silver had painfully eaten away the outer layers of her skin, exposing the raw, pink flesh underneath. But she could deal with that. The pain inside her however, was harder to push away. One of their own had tried to kill her. Betrayal like that always cut deep.
She glanced behind her as she ascended to the upper level of Thomas’ house. Zane had a grim expression on his face, his lips drawn into a thin line. When he caught her look, he growled. Kissing him on the cheek to thank him for her rescue had clearly rattled him. It made her chuckle.
Hardass.
“One word about what happened back there and I’ll string you up myself.”
She shook her head and turned the door knob as she reached the top of the stairs, not bothering to reply. As she pushed the door open and took a step into the foyer, she recoiled.
“Fuck!”
Yvette slammed the door shut and bumped into Zane behind her.
“What’s wrong?”
“Daylight,” she hissed. “He’s got the shutters open.”
A moment later the door opened, and Thomas’ frame silhouetted against the light from behind him. “It’s all right, come in.”
“You’re fucking kidding me.” Yvette tried to move further back into the shadows.
Thomas reached out his hand. “It’s not natural light. Come, let me show you.”
Hesitantly, she followed him into the open-plan living area. The large room was flooded with light. As her eyes adjusted, she took in the room. Instinctively she hid behind Thomas—the room had floor-to-ceiling windows on two sides, and through them she saw the world outside.
“What the …?”
Thomas beckoned her closer to the windows. He seemed unconcerned. Outside, it was clearly daytime, and the light flooding through the windows should have turned him into toast within seconds, but there he stood, right in front of one of the large windows, admiring the view over the city below.
“It’s not real,” he claimed as he turned back to her.
Zane stepped closer, his mouth dropping open at the sight. “It’s not a picture,” Zane said. “There are cars moving. Live feed?”
Thomas nodded. “The house is equipped with cameras all around, filming what’s going on outside right at this moment. It projects the images onto the special shutters I’ve had designed. They block out the sunlight like regular shutters, but I can project film onto them. What you see on them is what you would see if the windows were clear. The projections are accurate depictions of what’s going on right outside.”
“Ingenious.” Zane nodded his approval.
“And the light?”
“A new kind of light bulb that mimics daylight. Pretty realistic by the looks of your reaction.” Thomas smiled at her, and she finally exhaled.
“I’d say.” Only now she realized they weren’t alone. In one corner Eddie stood talking on his cell phone. And to the left where Thomas had several computer screens hooked up, Amaury sat, the phone pressed to his ear.
“Ricky tried to kill me.”
Thomas nodded, his mood solemn. He seemed to notice her damaged wrists now. “We figured as much. Do you want blood?”
“I’m good. I had some in the car. What I want is Ricky’s head on a stick.”
Amaury turned to them. “Good to see you, Yvette.” The sound in his voice told her he meant it. They hadn’t always been on the best of terms, but at least now she knew who she could trust.
“What’s the latest?” Zane asked.
“Gabriel and Maya have disappeared. We can’t trace their cell signals either.” Amaury looked at Thomas and pointed at the phone. “That was the human crew you sent to Samson’s house. Nobody’s there.” For a moment, he closed his eyes. When he opened them again, pain was evident in the brilliant blue of his irises. “We have reason to believe that Carl is dead.”
“Oh shit,” Thomas mumbled.
“What about Ricky?” Yvette asked.
“We have our human bodyguards out looking for him.” Amaury stood.
“He’s dangerous.”
“We know that now.”
“Damn, we could have known earlier,” Eddie’s voice came from the corner as he flipped his phone shut. “That was Holly, Ricky’s ex-girlfriend.”
“Has she seen him?” came Amaury’s question.
“No. But she just told me that she followed him one night. Guess she was jealous and wanted to know who Ricky was so infatuated with. She followed him to an apartment in Noe Valley.”
“Maya’s place,” Yvette uttered under her breath. “What else did she say?”
“She gave me a few of his favorite hangouts.”
“Have the daytime guards check them out, see if we can flush him out,” Amaury ordered. “His movements are limited right now so this is our best time to find him. Tonight, once he’s able to move around again, he can slip through our fingers.”
Eddie nodded. “I’m on it.”
Yvette stared out the window at the city below. Somewhere down there, Ricky was hiding, and so were Gabriel and Maya—she could only hope that Gabriel had gotten to Maya before Ricky could lay his dirty paws on her. As much as she’d wanted Gabriel for herself, she would never forgive herself for not stopping Ricky if he’d harmed Maya. Gabriel deserved to keep the woman he loved. And she would do anything to make sure it stayed that way.
“Ricky has to be hiding somewhere.” She clenched her jaw and looked into the round of the four big vampires in her company. “And when we find him, he’s mine.”
Nobody contradicted her.
Thirty-two
Gabriel ran his hands alongside the door and found a switch. He flipped it. A second later, a neon light flickered and hummed before it steadied itself and illuminated the entire room. He bolted the door from the inside before he turned to take in his surroundings.
The approximately five-hundred-square-foot room was fairly bare. There were several cots stacked on one side, a supply cabinet next to them. In the back was a rudimentary toilet and a small sink. A small desk and chair completed the furnishings. While it wasn’t much, the place was surprisingly clean, and most of all, it had no windows through which sunlight could penetrate. For now, they were safe.
Next to him, Maya seemed to have come to the same conclusion. She nodded to herself.
“How did you know about this place?” he asked, turning to her and reaching for her hands.
“A paramedic told me about it a long time ago—they found a sick homeless guy who’d broken in.” She looked back at the heavy bolt on the inside of the door. “Ricky won’t be able to get in, will he?”
Gabriel pulled her close, seeking contact with her body to appease the worry he’d felt for her. “No. We’re safe. At least until sunset.” He tipped her chin up to look into her eyes. “I was scared. I thought he’d gotten you.”
“How did you even find me?”
“I’m not entirely sure, but for some reason I could see into your memories as you were fleeing Ricky. I followed the streets you saw when you were on the back of the truck.”
She shook her head. “How’s that possible? I thought you can only go into someone’s memories when you’re close to them.”
He shrugged. “That’s like it’s always been, but maybe my connection to you is so strong that I don’t need to be physically close.”
“You mean you saw everything?”
He’d virtually felt Maya’s disgust when Ricky had kissed her. It wasn’t a memory he’d particularly wanted to see, but nevertheless it only cemented what he planned on doing to him when he caught him. “I’ll never let another man touch you ever again, I promise you that. We’ll get Ricky and I’ll kill him.”
“Not if I kill him first,” she responded.
There was so much contempt in her voice, that Gabriel pulled back a fraction to look into her eyes. That’s when it hit him. “You remember.”
She nodded. “It all came back when he touched me. Gabriel, he’ll never give up. He’s obsessed. And he’ll stop at nothing. If you knew the things he’s done.”
Rage boiled up in Gabriel. “Tell me what he did,” he bit out through clenched teeth. If that bastard had harmed a single hair on her head, he would draw and quarter him. He’d torture his sorry ass until Ricky begged to be killed.
Maya blinked her eyes shut, then opened them again. “He was about to rape me when he got interrupted. That’s when he wiped my memory for the first time.”
Gabriel gasped, disgust rolling off him. As gently as he could manage, he stroked over Maya’s back. “Oh, baby, I’m so sorry. I wish your memory hadn’t come back.”
“Frankly, I’m glad it did. At least now I know one thing for sure.” She pulled back and locked eyes with him. “Despite what he claims, I never let him touch me. I was never intimate with him.”
He felt himself rejoice at the knowledge that Ricky had never laid claim to her. “Baby, I’m so glad for your own sake. But I’m still going to kill him.”
“I’m not sure how he managed to keep all this from you and your friends. Did nobody have any suspicions?”
Gabriel had wondered the same, but he now knew with certainty what Ricky must have done. “He used his gift, his gift to dispel doubts. When I went over the list of vampire males, who had no alibi for the time of the attack, Zane was adamant that Ricky was in the clear even though he had no conclusive alibi. I was suspicious of it, but somehow my doubts disappeared just as soon as I wanted to raise them. Ricky must have been near. He must have been watching me and Zane and interfered with his mental gift.”