by Rye Brewer
One name was mentioned in the email: Bourke.
“The address is untraceable,” the hacker said, sounding apologetic even though he had already proven himself invaluable.
“I guessed anything you found would be—but this is just what I needed to know.” Jonah was already dialing a number on his phone as he spoke, and in a tight voice gave the go-ahead to test the blood.
There had been three bags that were contaminated.
Now, they were looking for two units total, he said.
One of the three had already been used, of course.
I knew that. Sara. I saddened.
It felt like it took forever.
Jonah was like a caged tiger, pacing back and forth, even growling in frustration every so often.
Whenever his phone buzzed, he’d practically pounce on it. When the call came in from the team of scientists he’d put together, his face was a mask of fury. His hands shook as he hung up.
“Well?” I asked, crossing my fingers.
“Well, they found a contamination.”
“They did?” I beamed.
“In only one of the bags.” His mouth set in a hard line.
“Oh.” I sat down when my knees went out. “What do you think?”
“I think it means there’s some else with elemental skills, just like your sister.”
“Yeah. Only they’re better at hiding it than she is,” I said.
20
Philippa
“I can’t believe you did this.” I turned in a slow circle with my mouth hanging open. “How is this even possible?”
“Porting directly into Vance’s chambers?” Allonic asked. He almost smiled.
“Not just his chambers. Lucian’s home. There’s no way that’s allowed.”
“Of course, it isn’t. You didn’t tell me to only do what was allowed, did you?”
I shook my head. “Semantics. But it’s good. No way they would’ve let me in here. What made you think of it?”
“As you said, there was no way you would be allowed to walk into to Vance’s chambers, but it’s the one place he’s sure to visit alone.”
“If he’s here at all,” I reminded him in a tight whisper.
One of my ears was trained on the hall, listening for footsteps.
“Correct. With that, I have to leave you.”
“What?”
It seemed so sudden.
“I can’t possibly stay. The leader of your League resides here. The presence of a shade, even a half-vampire shade, isn’t the sort of thing that can be swept under the rug.”
I realized I would sort of miss him, even if we had only been together for a handful of hours.
I had no idea what I was doing, so having someone along with me was comforting.
But he had a point, too.
Lucian would never let him survive it if he got caught.
“Thank you for this,” I said, and I wished I could say more.
“Be careful. I’ll be back to check on you.”
And he would, too. I believed him.
I watched as he opened another portal with a wave of his hands, then stepped through it without a look back at me.
It was gone just as quickly as it had appeared, and I was alone.
I looked around the room again. It was Vance’s room, for sure—how Allonic could pinpoint the exact location was beyond me. Then again, if anybody could do it, I supposed he could.
I ran my hand over the dresser, where about a hundred colognes, sprays, pomades and other bottles were strewn. That was Vance. Always so vain, but he always had a reason to be.
The bedspread covering the four-poster bed was silk. I ran my hand over that, too. There was a stack of books on the floor by the picture window, right beside an easy chair that looked like he had spent a lot of time in it.
I touched the indentation in the cushion.
Vance. Was he here?
How long should I wait for him? Where would I go if he never showed up?
I didn’t have to worry about that. The door opened moments later, and Vance stood before me.
I put a hand to my chest when I saw that he looked good, totally unharmed.
“Oh, Vance.” I threw my arms around him before I could stop myself.
It was his body, at least. I could hug his body and know he was in there somewhere.
He pushed me away like my skin was made of silver.
“You. I should’ve known.” Not Vance’s voice.
The body language was all wrong, too. He moved stiffly, like the Ancient inside him didn’t remember how to operate a young body.
I moved further away and tried to ignore the way my heart broke.
“Where is Vance? Is he in there? I want to talk to him.”
It was disgusting, knowing that creature was inside him, controlling him. Seeing Vance but not really seeing him. I would’ve done anything to hear him tease me or flirt with me again. Anything.
“You will learn one day that your desires matter little, if at all,” he said, sitting in the chair and folding his hands in his lap.
My hands curled into fists as I fought the urge to tell him to get out of Vance’s chair. He didn’t deserve to sit there.
“Then I’ll go to Lucian and tell him what you’ve done,” I said. “Unless you let Vance go. Now.”
His eyes dilated. Then he laughed a high, bitter laugh that made me wince.
“That is fine. You should do that. And you should see if any of them believe you—but I’m fairly sure we both know that none of them will. Meanwhile, when I’ve done what I intend to do, and I have no more use for this body, I’ll kill him, just to teach you a lesson for your defiance and interference.”
A shudder of disgust ran through me. He would do that, too, wouldn’t he? I didn’t feel sorry for him anymore, the way I almost did back at Sorrowswatch when I thought about him and Nivia and what they had been through.
There was no excuse for what he was doing. Nothing made it okay.
I held onto one of the bedposts to steady myself. “All right, then,” I said, and my voice was much quieter because I felt defeated.
It was all for nothing, risking my neck by going there. I should’ve known I couldn’t help him. “At least let me talk to him. Can I do that? Please? Just for a minute.”
He stood and walked over to the dresser.
I caught sight of his face in the mirror as he worked out his response.
“Just for a minute, as you say.” I watched with my heart in my throat as his face changed. It lost the hardness, the coldness. His eyes met mine in the mirror, then he turned around.
“Philippa?”
“Oh, Vance.” It was him. I knew it, I could feel it. “You’re still in there? Are you all right?”
He nodded with a tight smile. “I’m okay, gorgeous. Just do me a favor and don’t get me killed, all right?”
A sob hit me, and I couldn’t help myself. I threw my arms around him again, but this time, he hugged me back. I felt his heart pounding in his chest, just against mine, and I closed my eyes and held him as tight as I could.
Just as suddenly as Vance had come back to me, he was gone.
Valerius threw me halfway across the room, bouncing me off the bed and onto the floor.
I scrambled to my feet, wishing I could get away with screaming the place down without getting caught by one of Lucian’s bullies.
I settled for hissing instead. “I swear, I will see to your destruction if you hurt him.” His eyes were cold again, hard, and they glared into mine. I didn’t look away. It was time for him to know who he was dealing with.
“Yes. I’m sure you’ll try,” he whispered.
A thought hit me. “Where is Nivia?”
He drew breath, like he was about to answer, but the sound of the doorknob turning cut him off.
We both watched as the door opened.
I expected Nivia to come in next.
It wasn’t Nivia.
It was Lucian
.
21
Cari
I had no idea what I was doing there. It was insane. It was stupid. It was pathetic, really. But there I was, standing outside the club where I had met Gage.
It wasn’t my fault—or so I kept telling myself. I couldn’t help it that the memory of him wouldn’t leave me, even after a week of trying to distract myself.
I was obsessed. I dreamed about him. I Googled him like crazy and found absolutely nothing, which only made me more interested than ever because who the hell had no online presence?
It was like he was a ghost.
It only hit me after a day or so: he must have given me a fake name. I was such an idiot for believing him.
Even so, I didn’t stop wishing I could run into him again. I looked up the building I had watched him disappear into, wondering who owned it.
Bourke, Limited.
But there was no information on that company anywhere, either. Maybe he really was involved in some sort of shady business. Maybe my mafia guess wasn’t too far off. Maybe I had imagined the whole thing and needed to take a long vacation.
I looked up at the sign hanging above the entrance to the club. I hadn’t noticed it before.
Jungle.
What a weird name for a club. What was even more weird was the fact that none of my girls wanted to come with me, even though all of them had gotten lucky the week prior.
I had assumed all of them would be dying to go back for seconds, but they all had excuses.
Come to think of it, I thought as I lingered on the sidewalk, none of them wanted to talk about what happened that night, after leaving the club. Not even girl talk. Nothing.
I chewed my bottom lip and wondered if it was such a good idea for me to go in alone. But it was my best chance of finding Gage, or whatever his name was.
So I went in, wearing the same black dress I had worn the first time. I hoped he would recognize me if he was there—besides, I didn’t have a lot of club clothes. It wasn’t exactly my idea of a fun way to spend the night. I was much more the movie-and-popcorn type. Bonus points if the movie was on my TV, in my apartment, and my cat was on my lap throughout.
The dark, deafeningly loud place was just as packed as it had been before. I managed to slide between two couples and snag a seat at the bar—the only available stool, it looked like.
The bar stretched from one end of the back wall to the other, and the wall behind it was mirrored.
I watched the crowd in it, looking for a flash of red hair as I ordered a drink.
“Hey, beautiful.” A guy was standing behind me, smiled menacingly. Almost like he was looking at his prey.
I felt distinctly nauseated, but couldn’t figure out why. I gave him a half-hearted smile in the mirror.
“Hi.”
“Buy you a drink?”
“I already have one coming to me—and I’m not alone,” I explained with a shrug.
“You look alone.”
“Right now, I do. But I’m not. Thank you anyway.” I turned my attention the bartender as he slid my drink across the bar.
By the time I glanced up again, my would-be boyfriend was gone.
I breathed a shaky sigh of relief and couldn’t put my finger on why he made me feel icky. Not “Get this random guy away from me” icky. I had felt that before, plenty of times. He felt… dangerous.
That wasn’t the only attempted pick-up I had to deal with in the two hours I spent sitting there, either. The couples around me changed, the music changed, but the guys who kept coming over to offer me a drink never changed.
They were all tall, well-built, handsome, perfectly groomed. Charming in their way. And none of them wanted to take “No” for an answer.
Was I wearing a sign? Did they have radar?
I was more and more miserable every time I turned one of them down because none of them was who I wanted them to be.
After two slowly nursed drinks and a lot of wishing, I decided to give up. My heart felt about as bruised as it ever had.
I knew it would be too easy for Gage to magically walk back into my life but that didn’t mean I couldn’t hope it would turn out the way.
How could I miss somebody I didn’t even know? Maybe it wasn’t him I missed. Maybe I missed the way it felt when we were together. Like somebody finally understood me, like I wasn’t a freak for not being into hookup culture.
I was so tired of feeling more mature than everybody else my age. It was lonely. I didn’t feel lonely when I was with Gage.
I had driven myself to the club instead of getting a cab, thinking it would discourage me from drinking too much and making a bad decision.
I stepped outside, then searched my purse for the valet ticket.
“Hello, pretty one.” The sound of the voice over my shoulder made me freeze.
I remembered it well. I could feel his presence as he loomed over me.
How did he find me?
I turned and looked up into the eyes of the guy who Gage saved me from.
“Oh. Hi.” I heard the shaking in my voice and willed it to stop, but I couldn’t stop the shaking in the rest of my body at his nearness. Not a good shaking, either. It was the quaking of an animal that knew it was trapped.
A smile stretched across his face, like he sensed my fear and liked it. How could a smile seem so nasty?
“Where’s your boyfriend?”
How did I not notice his eyes when we first met? I remembered his sunglasses, how he had worn them even inside the club. He wasn’t wearing them anymore. There was a red ring around his light-gray irises. They seemed to glow.
I swallowed over the lump in my throat. “Oh, him? He went to get the car. He’ll be here any second.” I tried to keep my voice light, but it was impossible. I sounded as terrified as I felt.
He looked me up and down with that same smile. “Come on. Don’t give me that old line. Your boyfriend wasn’t in the club with you tonight.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Because his kind isn’t allowed inside.”
I forgot my fear for a second. “What’s that mean?”
He blinked, speechless for a second, then let out a little laugh.
When I didn’t laugh or even react, his eyes narrowed—and he laughed harder, like something just hit him. When he opened his mouth, I could’ve sworn his canine teeth were longer than they should’ve been. Pointier.
No, that was impossible. It had to be the drinks I had imbibed. They were playing tricks on me. Still, I couldn’t breathe all of a sudden. I went weak all over and wanted to run. I needed to run.
Where was Gage? I needed Gage to help me.
A group of girls went past us on their way into the club, and in my panic, I decided to go in with them at the last second and walking back inside.
Not that I felt much safer back inside the club, but at least I wasn’t alone on the street with him anymore.
I needed to get my thoughts together, and I couldn’t do that when I was afraid he would pounce at any second. What the hell just happened?
I snagged a two-top near the entrance and leaned against it, trying to catch my breath. I kept looking toward the door, sure I would see him following me inside, but he hadn’t.
Maybe he got the hint?
I could hope, anyway, though I was pretty sure it wouldn’t be that easy. At least I could breathe again. I didn’t feel like those creepy eyes of his were hypnotizing me.
I decided to wait for a big crowd to leave so I could sneak out with them.
I’d get a cab if I had to, as long as it meant getting away from there. I’d find my car later. I just had to get out of there, back home where I felt safe.
“You need anything, hon?" A waitress eyed me up and down.
She wore a tight black top and jeans, had put on too much makeup and showed too much cleavage. Like the rest of the staff.
“Just a club soda, please.” I tapped my fingers against the tabletop and wondered how much longer I would
have to stick around.
I got lucky, escaping him the way I did. I didn’t want to wait longer than I had to in case he came back again.
When the waitress came back, she was carrying a tray—and on it was a drink with a frilly umbrella sticking out. She placed it in front of me.
“What’s this? I asked for a club soda,” I said.
“I know. It’s compliments of Dietrich.” She pointed across the room.
I went numb all over when my eyes locked with his. The guy from outside.
Dietrich was his name. He must have found some other way inside the building because he hadn’t used the main entrance; I would have noticed.
“I don’t know him,” I said. My chin trembled. I felt like the walls were closing in.
“You ought to,” she giggled. “He’s one of the owners, and I guess he likes you if he’s giving you a drink on the house. He’s good in bed, too.” She dropped a broad wink before walking away to another table.
I couldn’t look at him. I looked down at the drink instead and pushed it away. Let him take that as a message. I didn’t want him or his drink. I wished he would leave me alone. I wished for nothing more than that as I looked down at the table, chewing my lip until it almost bled.
The whole time, I felt him staring at me from across the room. It might as well have been just the two of us in a club packed with people.
I wasn’t sure how much time passed. A handful of songs played. Still, I was rooted to my spot, and I could feel his eyes were glued to me. Didn’t anybody notice how weird it was that he stared at me? Of course, they didn’t. They were busy having fun.
“Excuse me, miss.” I looked up to find two musclebound men standing in front of me.
Two of the number of several bouncers I’d noticed at the front door.
“Yes?” I looked from one of them to the other.
What fresh hell was this?
One of them said, “There’s been a complaint against you.”
I gaped at them. “A complaint? Against me?”
The other nodded. “For stalking.”
I let out a shocked laugh. It had to be a joke.