Death’s Sweet Embrace

by Tracey O’Hara

  Jericho looked up. “Your brother disappeared this morning after your visit and your father wanted us to keep an eye on you in case he came after you again.”

  Probably scampered off somewhere to lick his wounds.

  Kitt wasn’t worried about having the extra protection around, especially in light of everything that had happened recently. She came to her feet as Joshua rose to his knees. “You should see a healer to make sure you don’t have any residual aftereffects of the trace silver nitrate.”

  “Ah, don’t worry about me, you missed my eyes,” Joshua said, dusting off his clothes. “Besides, it’s not the first time I’ve had a face full of paramace. I’ll be all right in a half hour.”

  She picked up her keys from the ground as Jericho helped his brother walk back to the SUV. They would follow her, she knew, and it made her feel a little bit safer knowing they were the ones watching over her.

  Raven heard her voice coming down the hall. It felt like weeks since he’d seen her. Yet it was less than twenty-four hours. He tried not to hurry, tried to keep his stride slow and measured, but his feet had other ideas.

  “Are they sure?” Oberon growled.

  “What’s wrong?” Raven said as he came up behind them.

  Kitt turned. She seemed happy to see him, yet something was obviously wrong. Something besides the fact her brother had tried to kill her. He’d found out the details from Oberon earlier.

  “What’s the matter?” he asked, reaching out to her.

  “Nathan’s gone missing,” Oberon said. “At first they thought he was just off somewhere sulking, but they found his bodyguard and driver in his car, both with their throats cut and a lot of blood on the backseat, which is most likely Nathan’s.”

  Raven put his arms around Kitt’s shoulders and pulled her against him, and this time she didn’t pull away. The scent of her skin and hair filled him with that familiar longing. Her warmth stirred the protecting instinct in him.

  She snuggled against his chest for a moment, and let him comfort her. After a minute, she drew back, her eyes dropping to his neck, and turned to Oberon. “Why is he wearing an inhibitor?” she asked and turned to the ursian. “Take it off. Now.”

  “No,” Raven said. “He’s right. When I heard you’d been hurt, poisoned, I wanted to rip the whole Pride apart. It keeps everyone safe, including me. I have great control, masterful control as an agent of the Draconus Nocti. But when it comes to you, all reason dissipates.”

  The ursian looked at him with a strange, unreadable expression. Then nodded with what looked like a new level of respect. “Besides, I’ve given him the combination, so he can take it off any time he wishes.”

  The ursian placed a large hand on Kitt’s shoulder. “Come on. Let’s get you home so you can tell the twins about Nathan.”

  Oberon climbed onto the big black customized Harley-Davidson with a beautiful scene of an American Indian woman and a large grizzly bear airbrushed onto the fuel tank. He turned the key and the machine rumbled into life with the distinctive potato-potato idle.

  She climbed onto the noisy beast behind her surrogate brother as he revved the engine, and she gripped his waist as it leapt away, all power and growling menace.

  The motorcycle rumbled between her thighs and her hair whipped every which way as she glanced behind to see the tiger brothers’ SUV following close behind. Thank God that they’d stopped Raven from coming. As much as she wanted him with her, he would be in danger.

  When they arrived back at her building, the other Jordan SUV sat where she had last seen it. Dark shapes were slumped against the windows. Her father would be furious to find his men sleeping on the job.

  It was only as she got closer that she wondered at the odd angle of their heads. Oberon yanked the door open and the first bodyguard tumbled out onto the pavement, his head only attached to his neck by a thin strip of skin at the back. Kitt heard Oberon pull out his cell phone, but immediately ran into the apartment building. She didn’t have time to wait for him or the elevator and took the stairs to her floor.

  With trembling hands she managed to get the key into the lock just as Oberon caught up with her. The safety chain only allowed the door to open a couple of inches, and with frustration she pounded her fists against the wood.

  “Cal, Seph,” she called out. “It’s me, Kitt. Open the door!”

  But no answer came from within.

  “Please, girls. You must let me in.” Desperation cracked her voice a little.

  Oberon’s phone chirped in his pocket. He slid it open and answered with a terse, “DuPrie.”

  His eyes snapped wide and locked on her. “Right. Thanks. And Antoinette”—he held Kitt’s gaze—“tell Raven.”

  He slid the phone shut and looked at his feet, frowning. “A young man has been found murdered only two blocks from here. The MO’s the same as the campus killer.”

  “Just let me check on the girls and we can go,” she said, turning to bang on the door again.

  “They found something else beside the body,” Oberon said, his voice low and heavy. “A girl’s purse and cell phone—they belong to Seph.”

  Her legs lost all feeling and a pain stabbed through her sternum, tightening across her chest. Kitt braced herself against the wall for a moment, then turned and banged frantically on the door screaming, “OPEN UP!”

  Oberon pushed her aside and hit the door with his massive shoulder. The wood around the doorframe exploded into splinters as the safety-chain housing gave way. Kitt raced inside her apartment and ran from room to room, looking for the twins.

  She found Cal in the bathroom hugging her knees to her chest, rocking back and forth. She’d thrown up several times, and the haunted terrified eyes in her pale face stared off into nothing.

  Kitt dropped to her knees, but the girl didn’t seem to notice her at all. She reached out to touch Cal’s arm lightly. She recoiled and began to shriek hysterically, trying to fight her off with flailing hands. Even Oberon seemed rattled by the terror in the chilling scream.

  “You’re safe,” Kitt said, trapping Cal’s arms against her body and drawing the girl into her chest.

  “It’s cold and dark,” Cal croaked, horrified. “Uncle Nathan is here. I can’t see him, but I can hear him begging and pleading with the other man.”

  Cal’s throat worked hard as she swallowed several times. “That other man scares me. His voice is so . . . so dead.”

  The girl’s pallid features twisted with revulsion. “He’s touching Seph’s face, calling her his angel.”

  Kitt rocked Cal back and forth, planting several kisses on her forehead. “You’re safe—you’re here with us.”

  The frightened girl returned to the room from wherever she’d been with her sister. Kitt could almost feel Cal’s spirit reinhabiting her body as her eyes focused. Her tears welled and slid down her cheeks, and her lip trembled. “Persephone isn’t.”

  Cal wrapped her arms around Kitt’s neck and wept. “We have to save her, Mem. She’s cold and frightened and helpless.”

  Kitt’s heart not only broke, it splintered and shattered into shards of icy glass. It was the first time either of her daughters had called her that, but it was overshadowed by the fact she may be about to lose one of them.

  Oberon grabbed a towel and handed it to Kitt. She wiped away the spilled sick on the girl’s chin and fevered sweat from her face.

  “Let’s go into the living room. Oberon, make some hot sweet tea,” Kitt said, helping the girl to her feet.

  “We have to find her—save her from the evil man,” Cal said, clutching at her with desperation. “She’s in danger. I don’t believe him when he says he’ll never hurt her. He lies. He’s insane.”

  Kitt bundled her up on the sofa with a thick blanket around her shoulders and took the mug of hot sweet tea Oberon held out. She helped Cal take a sip.

  “She’s awake again.” Cal sat straight, speaking from far away. “I think I can connect with her.”

  Oberon
took her hand. “Now tell her to be calm; we need her help to find out where she is.”

  Cal nodded, her brow furrowed in concentration. “She asks what you need to know.”

  “Tell her to concentrate. She may not be able to see, but she can use her other senses.”

  “She can’t move. He’s done something to her. She can’t move.”

  Terror pierced Kitt’s heart. An Animalian didn’t regenerate like an Aeternus; if he’d disabled her the way he had the others, she might never be able to move again.

  “No, wait,” Cal said. “She can move, but her hands and feet are bound and she can’t change either. Something’s stopping her.”

  Kitt let out a sigh. Thank God. She wouldn’t be permanently maimed—at least that’s if they could get to her before— She really didn’t want to think about what might happen if they didn’t.

  “Okay, Cal. Ask her what she can hear,” Oberon prompted the girl.

  Cal tilted her head, as if listening to something. “At the moment it’s quiet. Wait, water, she can hear water dripping. It sounds . . . hollow?” Cal frowned. “No, it echoes.”

  “Good, what else is there? Or what else has she heard? Where is Nathan? Tell us about the man who holds them?” Oberon fired questions at her, causing her to grow a little agitated.

  “Slow down.” Kitt shot Oberon a warning frown. “First tell us about Nathan.”

  “She says he’s a few feet away, slightly to her left. Sometimes he’s silent, sometimes he moans, and sometimes he argues with the man.” Cal frowned. “That’s all she knows.”

  “What’s he doing now?” Kitt asked. He may have tried to kill her, but he was still her brother.

  “She can only hear him breathing.” Cal opened her eyes and looked at Kitt. “She says she hears a rumbling periodically.”

  “Okay, what about the other man?” Oberon asked.

  “He’s insane and very angry. When he’s not arguing with Nathan, he’s talking to someone called Ealund. Maybe on the phone, though she can’t hear any ringing or key presses. She thinks this Ealund might not really exist.”

  “Tell her she’s doing very well.” Oberon soothed. “Is there anything else? What can she smell?”

  “Dirt? She thinks she’s sitting on dirt, and she thinks she may be leaning against a rock—it feels too irregular to be concrete. And there’s something else, something familiar that she can’t put her finger on—like hot metal or something, usually around the time of the distant rumbling, screeching noise.”

  “The subway,” Kitt and Oberon chorused.

  “There are thousands of tunnels down there,” Oberon said. “Both manmade and natural.”

  “Then we’d better get started,” her father’s voice said from the open door.

  Tyrone came into the room with his hands behind his back, Jericho and Joshua flanking him. Then Leon walked through the door.

  “Get out of my home,” she hissed, and his arrogant smirk widened.

  Chapter 31 - Danger Signs

  So, Nathan’s missing. Raven looked at the first images Tones sent through from the crime scene. The two bodies were in the front. The passenger’s head leaned against the window, his white shirt soaked with blood from the neat line splitting his throat. The driver’s head hung back, the cut yawning through to the bone. Arterial-pulse spray covered the victim’s lap, the dash, and the windscreen.

  Whether human or Animalian, it wouldn’t have mattered—they both would’ve bled out in seconds.

  “Raven!” Antoinette raced into the room. “One of your daughters is missing.”

  “What?” He stood up so fast he sent the computer chair flying back. “Which one?”

  “Seph.”

  Oh, thank God for small miracles. “She can take care of herself better than Cal. How long has she been missing?”

  “That’s not it.” Antoinette dragged her hand through her hair and placed the other on her hip. “They found her things at the site of a campus-killer murder.”

  Please God, let her be all right. Raven snatched his jacket off the coatrack and headed for the door.

  “Wait,” Antoinette called.

  “NO!” He turned on her and stabbed a finger in her direction. “Jordan Pride be damned—I’m not going to stay here while my baby’s in danger.”

  She held up a set of car keys. “I’ll drive.”

  He nodded. “Right. Where’re we going?”

  “Kitt, Oberon, and Cal are making their way to the subway caverns. Cal’s made a connection to her sister and that’s where they’re convinced Seph is.”

  Cal would be able to sense Seph. Raven had no doubt she was right.

  Antoinette clicked the unlock button on her key and the taillights flashed on her car.

  She climbed into the driver’s seat and turned the key in the ignition—the V-8 engine roared to life.

  She leaned over to the passenger side and opened the door. “So, are you coming or what?”

  He jumped in and buckled up, suspecting Antoinette drove the way she did everything else. Full throttle.

  And he wasn’t wrong. She zoomed through the streets at breakneck speed, running lights where she could, effortlessly changing gears, heel-and-toeing the clutch and accelerator to get the maximum performance out of the machine.

  Raven clung to the seat and dash. She changed lanes quickly and often, weaving in and out of the traffic, missing other vehicles by inches. But the whole time she worked the stick shift, brakes, and accelerator—especially the accelerator—she wasn’t reckless. The female was in total control of both herself and the car.

  She would’ve been an asset to the Draconus Nocti back in the day—the perfect operative. Smart, fearless, and more than a little crazy: the perfect point-and-shoot weapon.

  He wasn’t afraid to die. The only thing that scared him was not being there to save his daughter.

  “Faster,” he growled.

  A cell phone rang. “Shit,” she said as she clicked the hands-free receiver. “Talk.”

  “They’ve surfaced,” the disembodied voice said. “And they’re hunting.”

  “Fuck! Perfect timing,” Antoinette spat and glanced over at Raven looking torn. “I’ll meet you at your place as soon as I can.” She pressed the hang-up button. “I’m sorry, something’s come up. I’ll have to drop you.”

  She steered to the curb and brought the car to a screeching stop. “The subway entrance is a block that way. You should be able to catch them up.”

  “Thank you,” he said as he reached for the door handle. “And good hunting.”

  She tilted her head and gave him a tight, deadly smile. “You too.”

  He’d barely closed the door when she took off in a cloud of smoke and squealing tires, narrowly missing a blue sedan as she changed lanes.

  Raven willed the change, but nothing happened.

  The inhibitor. He’d forgotten all about it.

  He knew the combination, but couldn’t see to remove it. I can’t change! A great inconvenience, but his skills didn’t rely on his canian abilities alone. Raven took off at a dead run along the pavement, moving as fast as he could, pumping his arms to match the stride of his legs.

  “OUT OF THE WAY,” he yelled.

  Pedestrians hurriedly moved. He slammed his hip sideways to avoid a man bending over.

  A woman pushing a baby buggy came out from behind a car. He dodged her, smashed into the side of a parked van and ricocheted off with barely a break in his stride.

  He reached the staircase leading down into the subway and made it to the bottom with three well-measured leaps. There were so many people moving around, even at this time of night. But among the scents were two that stood out above all others: Kitt’s and Cal’s.

  They led him to the edge of the station platform and down into the subway tunnel. No rattling or rumbling came from either direction and he dropped onto the tracks to follow their trail.

  The light from the station grew dimmer behind him, but he was tracking
by scent—following two of the three most important people in his life, and praying they would lead to the third.

  The girls were not alone; there were four other felians. He recognized Leon and Tyrone Jordan.

  That could make things interesting.

  Along with the four felians, there was one big ursian scent. Thank God for Oberon. He’d protect them, especially from Leon.

  A roaring rumble came from behind and he turned to see the subway train headlights speeding toward him.

  A service nook veered off a short distance ahead.

  The ground beneath his feet trembled.

  Raven put on a burst to speed up and threw himself into the gap. The metal wheels clattered and screamed less than a foot from his head as the train hurtled past.

  As he lay there panting, he picked up the scent trail going the same way. He was relying only on his sense of smell to guide him, it almost formed pictures in his mind.

  The trail led him to an old, disused section of tunnel. At least he didn’t have to worry about getting run over by trains. There were hundreds of miles of old and disused tunnels down here, and who knew what else.

  He followed the scents to a fissure in the concrete wall of the tunnel, wide enough for a large man to squeeze through. It went downward, close to thirty feet, before it opened onto a natural cave system, which lacked the angles and lines of the manmade tunnels above.

  They were close; the trail was only several minutes old. And what’s more, an older scent, of Seph and Nathan, lingered here, both strongly tinged with fear. And traces of the killer’s pheromone-charged odor faded in and out, something he’d never encountered before in all his years of training.

  He ran carefully, his nose still leading the way. Voices came from up ahead, around a half mile. An eerie yellow glow flicked and disappeared as the voices moved around corners. Then it stopped and he moved in carefully until he came upon them. His heart leapt at the sight of his other daughter and her mother.

  “We need to rest for a moment,” Oberon said.

  “No—we should push on,” Kitt demanded.

  “Look at Cal, she’s exhausted,” Oberon growled.