Realm Walker rw-1

by Kathleen Collins

  He grunted. No doubt she already knew the answer to that question, but he answered anyway. “Not well. She is not the Juliana I left behind. She’s changed.”

  “Dying will do that to a person.”

  Thomas’s heart literally stopped in his chest. “Dying?” His voice cracked.

  “Yeah. Twice that I know of, but she keeps things from me so I won’t worry.” She said it so nonchalantly, as if it wasn’t really that important at all.

  Juliana stepped from the shadows at the bottom of the stairs. “Three times actually,” she said with the shrug of one shoulder.

  A strangled noise came from the back of his throat. Again with the acting like it was no big deal. What was wrong with the women in his life? “Three times?” He looked at the fresh scars on her arm. “Don’t you think you should be in a hospital somewhere? Or at least in bed?”

  She frowned. “I didn’t die yesterday. Just almost.”

  Almost. Yes, that was so much better. She just almost died. He laughed, realizing he sounded half-crazed but unable to help himself.

  Juliana shook her head then turned to his sister. “No worries. Rachel was asleep. I heard everything. I would have stopped you if I didn’t want him to know. He’s got to earn the rest though.”

  Relief smoothed the lines around Sara’s eyes and she nodded. Getting caught spilling secrets had spooked her. Thomas wouldn’t get anything else out of her.

  “It’s time for me to go home,” Juliana said and opened the front door.

  “Wait,” he and his sister said almost in unison. Juliana ignored them and stepped outside, shutting the door behind her.

  “I need to go after her,” Thomas said. “Thank you for telling me what you did. It’s more than I knew.”

  “You knew she was there, didn’t you?” his sister asked.

  “I knew, but I needed to hear it and so did she. Neither of us are very good at talking to each other.”

  Sara studied him for a moment. “At least you know it, I guess. Go after her.”

  He opened the door.

  “Thomas,” she said stopping him.

  He looked over his shoulder.

  “Take care of her this time.”

  * * *

  Perhaps it was stupid of her to wander out into the dark by herself considering everything that was going on, but she didn’t care. She would rather face both demons by herself again than spend one more moment in that house. She had to get away. She couldn’t face the questions Thomas would have. Not right then.

  If he was sincere with his sister about the reason he left, she had some thinking to do. Not that it excused him leaving without explaining, or asking her what she wanted.

  Part of her regretted letting Sara tell Thomas how much she grieved when he left. She’d hoped he would realize she never intended for him to leave completely. She never wanted that, but his temper and ego got the best of him. Or so she’d thought. His words were playing on an endless loop in her head. Had he really left to give her freedom? She’d never known Thomas to do anything that didn’t benefit him in the end. She couldn’t see how this did.

  The night wind wrapped around her as she walked toward home. Goosebumps rose on her arms, reminding her that she didn’t have a jacket, or even sleeves for that matter. She rubbed her arms roughly with her hands in an attempt to warm herself. After a few moments she gave up, letting the cold sink into her skin and numb her.

  A car approached and she willed herself to blend in with the shadows. To not be seen. It had never worked in any of her twenty-seven years, but there was a first time for everything.

  The car slid to a smooth stop a short distance in front of her and the passenger door opened. She arched a brow thinking of how many bad horror movies she’d seen that started just like this—the kind vampire pulling over to pick up the lonely hitchhiker. It always ended badly for one party or the other. She considered ignoring the car and walking past, despite the welcoming warmth that seeped from its interior.

  “Please.” Thomas’s voice was low, with no demand in it. Just a plea. She couldn’t deny him. She slid into the car and shut the door. “Thank you,” he said but didn’t look at her as he pulled away from the curb.

  She kept her eyes locked on the scenery passing her window and let herself stay lost in her thoughts. A dull ache formed in her chest and she rubbed it with her hand as she wondered for a moment if she was going to cry. Then she realized the feeling wasn’t hers. She glanced at Thomas. His eyes stayed locked on the road in front of them, his knuckles white where he gripped the wheel. Every muscle in his body was tight. She could almost hear his teeth creak as he gnashed them together.

  Picking up each other’s emotions was just one of the many joys of being United. Her shields were iron tight, and usually so were his. Evidently he’d let them slip. “Thomas.” That was all she said. Just his name.

  The car jerked to a stop. Slowly, by degrees, the depression faded.

  His hands still gripped the wheel and he looked straight ahead. “I’m sorry,” he said.

  She let the silence stretch, uncertain if he was talking about the sorrow he’d transmitted or something else.

  “I shouldn’t have come back. Not without talking to you first.”

  “That might have proven difficult, as I would have just hung up on you.”

  He ignored her attempt to lighten the mood and started driving again. When he stopped in front of her house, she didn’t move. After a while he said, “I never dreamed my leaving would bring you such pain. I knew you’d be upset, but not heartbroken. I hoped only that you would realize that you desired me, wanted me as much as I did you. That we were meant to be together. It never occurred to me that you could already be in love with me.”

  “Did you really think I agreed to be tied to you for the rest of my life because I wanted to get laid?” She tried but couldn’t keep the bitterness from her voice.

  He reached out his hand but pulled back before he touched her. “I reacted without thinking. I did what I thought was best for the both of us. I thought if I left you’d experience life and come around to the idea of us faster. But I never heard from you. I finally resolved to swallow my pride and come back whether you wanted me or not.”

  She stared at him, her jaw slack with disbelief. “Thomas, I called you. Over and over again, I called.”

  He went utterly still.

  “Every day,” she said, not believing he didn’t know. He had to know. “I called all day, every day for a week. Someone else always answered. The last day I was informed in no uncertain terms that regardless of what I fancied myself to be to you, you did not wish to speak to me and it would be better for everyone involved if I just gave up.” She left out a few of the other things the female stated, mostly because she had no desire to know if they were true. “That was when I broke down on Sara’s couch and vowed never to call you again. No matter how much I might want to. I figured you’d call me if they were wrong. You never did.”

  He turned to her, eyes pure black with rage. “Who was it that told you this?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. Some girl. Does it matter?”

  “It shall matter very much to them if I ever find out.”

  “Surely something you said or did must have given them the idea you were through with me,” she insisted.

  He shook his head. “No, I was wallowing in self-pity. They were told not to disturb me except for items of the utmost importance. Namely you.”

  She sighed. “And why would they think I was important?” She hadn’t so why would they? He’d never understood just how disliked she was by a good portion of the coven. She was an outsider, an invader. For the most part that changed when she killed Raoul’s lackeys. Oddly enough, it proved she was worthy to be among them. Or some crap like that. She didn’t really care anymore.

  “They knew how I felt about you. I made it very clear.”

  “And most of them resented my existence. They are vampires, Thomas. You know as we
ll as I that unless you specifically told them to put my calls through, they weren’t going to do it.”

  “I did,” he yelled and she cringed from the sound. If that was true, gods help whoever it was if he ever found out. No one disobeyed a direct order from Thomas Kendrick. Well, except her. And Sara. Thomas slammed his hand against the steering wheel.

  She sat for several moments without moving or speaking. She spent years convincing herself that she hated him for leaving her. For abandoning her to the monsters. He broke her heart, but the remaining pieces still loved him. As much as that sucked, she couldn’t help it.

  He turned dark eyes on her. “What else aren’t you telling me? What secrets are you keeping?”

  “If I told you, they wouldn’t be secrets, would they?”

  He snarled, revealing fully extended fangs. “You and my sister think it’s so amusing to play with me. To push me to my limits. You always have. I need an answer, Juliana.”

  Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath before answering. “And I need you to remember that it’s not me you’re pissed at right now. Get yourself under control and maybe we’ll talk. Good night, Thomas.”

  * * *

  She swung her legs out of the car and her feet thudded against the pavement in the quiet of the night. She took a deep breath as she stood. A piercing, mournful howl cut through the dark causing a cold chill to run up her spine. It was a distant sound, well faded by the time it reached her ears, but her eyes searched for its source out of habit. That’s when she noticed two things.

  First, the spot where her bike usually stood was empty. There was no sign of it anywhere. Second, no light shone inside or outside the house. She glanced across the street behind her. Even the lone street light that offered relief from the darkness on her block was out. That in itself wasn’t unusual. Kids were always busting it with rocks or bullets depending on their level of criminal maturity. Combined with the events of the week and the utter lack of illumination from her house however, it was disconcerting to say the least. She wrapped a hand around her gun and readied it.

  Chapter Ten

  Juliana took a couple of steps toward the house and paused, searching the shadows for any movement.

  “What is it?” Thomas asked from just behind her.

  “The house is dark,” she answered. “It’s never dark.” The porch had a dusk-to-dawn light and one of the lamps in the living room was on a timer. Never mind the nightlights in the hallway and bathroom. Growing up in a vampire coven had cultivated a paranoid dislike of the dark in her. She wasn’t afraid of it per se, just of what it might be hiding.

  “The breaker?” Thomas asked, ever the voice of reason.

  It was too coincidental that it would trip when she wasn’t home. She didn’t believe in coincidences. “Anything’s possible, but the streetlight’s not attached to my power supply and it’s out, too.”

  Thomas glanced at the light in question. Tension tightened his shoulders. He turned back and gave her a small nod.

  She rolled her shoulder and flexed her arm, testing her injuries. Not healed but good enough.

  “I will be accompanying you to the door, Juliana. I will brook no argument on the matter.” His voice was hard. She had no doubt he would have ordered her to stay in the car if he thought it would do any good.

  She shook her head. “You’re not accompanying me anywhere. You’re going around and coming in the back.”

  He rested a hand on her spine and placed a chaste kiss on the back of her neck. “Be careful,” he said in her ear and then he was gone.

  She fired up her gift but saw nothing other than the signatures of a couple of small animals. Most likely rats knowing the neighborhood. She crouched down, moving low to the ground. When she reached the door, she stood to one side and tried the knob. Locked. A twitch of her fingers and it gave way. She threw open the door.

  Peeking around the doorframe she saw nothing except one bright lavender-blue signature down the hall by the back door that hung crookedly from one hinge. Thomas. He tilted his head in question.

  “Door to your left. The box is on the back wall,” she told him.

  He moved so fast his signature was a blur of color. Seconds later the nightlights flared to life and she shut down her gift. She didn’t need it to see the disaster that used to be her home. She flipped the switch on the wall next to her.

  Thomas appeared back in the hallway, the lines at the corners of his eyes drawn tight with worry as he looked around at the destruction. “Were they looking for something?”

  She grunted. “Yeah. Me.” Her house hadn’t been searched, it had been demolished. Claws shredded her couch, tore into the walls. Large claws. She was going to be hard pressed to find anything salvageable. She walked through the living room, stepping over things in her way and doing a mental inventory of everything that would need to be replaced. The tally made her head spin and she wondered how much she could get the Agency to pick up. Surely this would count as work-related destruction.

  She laid a hand against the burning pit of her stomach. The sanctity of her home had been violated. This was her space, her life. It wasn’t much but it was hers. No, not someone, a demon. A demon powerful enough to tear through the wards that protected her home as if they were paper. She was so screwed.

  A well-placed kick sent a speaker bouncing off the wall. It wasn’t as if anything would be in worse shape from her abuse. She might as well take the opportunity to vent some frustration.

  Digging her fingers into her hair, she pressed them into her scalp as she ran them back and down to her neck. She huffed out a breath and dropped her hands then headed across the hall to her office. Her sword still hung above the front door and appeared to be the only thing untouched. She ran a finger along the length of it as she passed.

  The office looked no better than the living room. In fact, it might have been worse. Every article of clothing she owned was destroyed, shredded. She didn’t look too closely at the clothes by the dresser, content in her ignorance of what had been done to her undergarments.

  She went down the hall to the bathroom. Her mirror had been struck, leaving a spider web of cracks behind. Carved into the wall beside it was one word, Pup.

  “Pup?” Thomas asked, appearing in the door behind her.

  “Nathaniel.” She choked on the word. “They call us hounds, right? The first time they assigned me to work with Nathaniel, he was mad. Said I was more puppy than hound. Granted I was young and untried. I wouldn’t have been happy either in his shoes. When I proved myself to him, showed I wasn’t going to be a liability, he turned Pup into a nickname instead of an insult.”

  “Nathaniel?”

  “My demon-ridden werewolf.” Her heart froze for a beat and panic scrambled inside of her as she remembered the one thing Nathaniel knew that no one else did. She pushed Thomas aside. Running down the basement steps, she jumped the rail at the bottom. A bloodstained block was set in the wall behind the stairs. She laid her hand against it and closed her eyes. “Let me pass.”

  The wall shifted, making a hole big enough for her to walk through. She held her breath and stepped into her sanctuary. She released it only when she saw that, at least here, nothing had been disturbed. Thomas walked up behind her but she didn’t look at him. She ran her eyes over everything, making sure all was in place. The wall to her left served as the armory. In front of her, there was a portable closet, her workbench and supplies. To her right stood the only bed in the house.

  If Nathaniel was still strong enough to hide this place from the demon, there was hope she could get him through this. She started pulling things from the shelves to her left and piling them on the workbench.

  * * *

  Thomas watched her move around the room. He arched a brow at the impressive arsenal. Perhaps that was why she lived in this hovel—she spent all of her money on weaponry. “Not that I can fault you for making sure you are well protected, but if you accessed my accounts you could have had a nice home, as well
. In a better neighborhood. Where people don’t break in and destroy your house.”

  She flicked her hair out of her face and glared at him. “I live here because I choose to. If I wanted to live somewhere else, I could. Without any help from you.” She picked up a knife and looked it over before tossing it on the bed. “And my house is heavily warded. Nothing should have been able to get in here without my permission.”

  “I felt no warding.” He’d have to make sure his personal wardsmiths came over to set new ones once her house was put to rights. Obviously the ones she could afford weren’t up to the task.

  “Because it stripped them all.”

  Which it wouldn’t have been able to do if the wards were set properly. There was no point in discussing it further with her. He didn’t need her permission to see she was taken care of. He eyed the bed where she was laying out her belongings. “This is where you sleep?”

  “Not unless I have to. That’s what the couch is for.”

  He clenched his teeth until his jaw ached. Anything to deny him. Her bed in his home was dressed in silks and satin and she would rather sleep on a couch. “And your werewolf? He knows about this room? How to get in?”

  She nodded.

  Never once did she stop gathering her things. “You can’t stay here.” It was obvious she was planning on going somewhere but he had to say it. Had to be sure she wasn’t that stubborn.

  She grabbed a small silver flask from a drawer and proceeded to fill it with a bottle of Irish whiskey sitting along the back edge of the table.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Blessed flask.”

  He blinked at her. “Aren’t those intended for water?”

  “Yep.” She grabbed two more flasks from a different drawer, pocketing one and handing him the other.

  She snatched a duffel out of the bottom of the closet and loaded the weapons into it. When she finished she tossed fresh clothes from the closet onto the bed. “I need to change.”

  He studied her for moment, thought about telling her it wasn’t anything he hadn’t seen before and wouldn’t see again. But his bride deserved better of him. He faced the wall. “You aren’t going after him tonight. You need rest.”