by Jenna Kernan
His friend gave a slow shake of his head and then breathed a deep sigh.
“We can’t leave her unguarded. One of us needs to be with her from now on.”
Johnny used an open hand on his chest. He’d take the first watch.
“Twelve hours each?”
Johnny nodded and set off toward his secret hideaway.
“I’ll see you at noon. Do you think I should go explain it to her?”
Johnny huffed and kept going. Mac wondered what Bri would think of her new guardian sleeping opposite her at the campfire.
* * *
The two male vampires finished checking the apartment where the female and her grandmother lived before the old woman’s death and Vittori’s escape. They found nothing to indicate where she might have gone and no trace of the two sent to apprehend her. The elder, Burne Farrell, stood on the balcony looking out at the empty street below. The hours between two and four in the morning were usually quiet in human neighborhoods, and he felt at his best then. His lavender skin held no purplish cast because of his recent meal, but the artificial lights made his veins prominent. He stared at his hands, seeing the twisted bluish ropes beneath his transparent skin. Beside him stood one of his best Chasers, Hagan Dowling, flipping through the loose paper in a file folder. Beneath one arm he clamped a battered red leather journal. A younger vampire by two decades, Hagan’s skin remained the unnatural cadaver white of his birth, but that would change in time as his veins bled through. Eventually they all ended up looking like ripe plums.
Hagan had scored a hit, one of the females that had eluded them for a decade. Unfortunately he had sent two of his less experienced men to retrieve her and they had failed. Vanished, really. No report, no location. Just gone. It made Burne angry, for he expected better from his Chasers. They had better both be dead, because if not, he’d kill them for disobedience.
Now he understood why this female had been so successful at remaining loose.
“She had a protector,” said Burne.
“Yes. Her grandmother knew what she was and she knew exactly how we check each quadrant. Her moves were methodical, from one cleared territory to the next. It was almost as if she was chasing us.”
“How did she know?”
Burne lifted his gaze from his hands to look at his Chaser. Hagan’s lips were the color of blood and his fangs had grown so long that they no longer fit in his mouth. The faded color of his irises made his eyes look milky, instead of gray, as if he were staring at a corpse. The effect was deceptive because their vision was perfect, far better than the humans.
“According to this, the human learned of our methods from a Leanan Sidhe. The female we seek is the human’s granddaughter, Brianna. She’s not like us. She’s first generation.”
“First?” Burne blinked. “Are you sure?” The most pure vampires he knew were fifth generation. Many were tenth or more. To capture a first-generation vampire might change everything. They might even have children by her that were not so abhorrent. He might even have a son who could walk among humans.
“Her father was human. Her mother was a true Leanna Sidhe.”
“How do you know?”
He held up a battered journal. “The old woman kept a record of everything. Where they were, where they should go next. Instructions dictated to her by Brianna’s mother. Photos of her mother.” He flipped open the journal and withdrew a snapshot, handing it to Burne.
He stared down at the face that could have been an angel’s, she was so lovely. Flowing red hair, crystal-blue eyes and skin smooth and pale as cream. Burne felt his heart pitch and his loins tingle. “Where is her mother now?”
“The best I can piece together is that after Brianna’s birth, she returned to the Fey.”
“She was afraid her power might kill her child.” Burne stared out into the night. “Does her daughter look like this?”
Hagan handed over another photo. Brianna’s eyes were leafy green, and her skin was more pink than ivory. But in all other regards she resembled her mother. Hagan held out his hand for the photo. Burne tucked it in his vest pocket.
“Do you think that is why your man failed? Is she more powerful than our females?”
“She might be very fast and her draw stronger than our females, but she has no training. We could give her that. I volunteer, sir, to train this one.”
Burne snorted. Of course he did. Anything to get close to a first-generation vampire. Perhaps impregnate her in the process. “First we catch her. Then we worry about the rest.” He forced a smile for Hagan’s benefit, felt the sharp tips of his fangs graze his lower lip.
“Yes, sir.”
“I want three Chasers on this. The first is to return to the area we just swept and begin again. If she follows her grandmother’s pattern, we will find her there. The second is to begin a search of increasing circumference from this spot.”
“And the third?”
“Follow the direction of your men’s last check-in. All teams are to contact me at any sign of our target. I want this one, Hagan. Bring her to me.”
Chapter 13
After Mac left her, Bri spent an unpleasant night tending the fire and jumping at every rustling sound from the forest. She could see past the orange flames of the campfire, and though the light gave her a certain comfort, it also made her very easy to find. It was for this reason that she left the fire and moved deeper into the darkness. At first she thought her perception was a trick of the night. But the longer she sat away from the flames, the greater her visual acuity became. She could see everything down to the creases in the bark and the tight new pinecones clinging to the upper branches. Her vision wasn’t that funny green night-goggle thing, either. It was a perfect gray, like a black-and-white movie. Why couldn’t she do this before?
She thought back and could not recall one single time in her life when she was away from streetlights, away from a city. She breathed deeply.
Another rustle brought her head swiveling about, and she spotted a small rodent, a mole or vole, perhaps, scuttling along in the pine needles and sounding like an elephant. Bri sighed and rubbed her tired eyes. How long until Mac came back for her?
She settled against a pine and drew her knees up for warmth and comfort. Her head rested against the trunk of the tree, and she rubbed her legs to try and sweep away the gooseflesh there. Bri caught some movement out of the corner of her vision. She turned in that direction and saw something big moving between the trees. She gasped as she came to her feet, then covered her mouth as a tiny squeak emerged from her throat.
Vampires!
The rush of energy surged through her and she bounded away, seeing the tops of the trees before coming back to earth. She looked back and saw the creature running toward her. She jumped again but this time she heard a howl. Bri froze. She knew that howl.
“Johnny?” she whispered.
There was a huffing sound and then she saw him clearly. He stood on his hind legs, arms at his sides, the long claws curled slightly as if he cupped something in his palms. His shoulders sagged and he lifted his furry, dotlike eyebrows as he met her stare. He made a whining sound and then a huff.
She didn’t know what to do. Mac trusted Johnny, but she’d never been alone with him in the woods. On those few occasions when he guarded the compound he had never approached her. And she knew he had been against Mac taking her in. Then there was his recent attack on her. Mac said it was the drugs. Was it?
Suddenly a more frightening thought struck her. What if something had happened to Mac? What if he couldn’t come back? Her worry for Mac overcame her fear and she hurried toward Johnny.
“Is Mac all right?”
He nodded and then motioned back to the supply depot she had left.
“Is it safe?”
Another nod. She hesitated only a moment and th
en joined him. They walked back side by side. He was so tall that her head only reached his elbow. She could feel the impact of his footsteps on the earth as they continued along. When they reached Johnny’s personal hideaway, he added more wood to the fire and then dragged a rug from inside for her to sit upon. Through a series of questions and Johnny’s scratching words in the sand, she discovered that she must stay here for the time being and that he and Mac would take turns as her bodyguards.
He held her gaze until she stopped shaking and gave him a nervous nod. Then he continued his slow scrawl in the sand. More cameras had been found in the woods; plus, they had replaced the cameras at their quarters and added new ones. Bri felt cold right through to the core at this revelation, and her inclination was to run again. Johnny must have sensed her need for flight because he gripped her at the elbow. She trembled and he gave her arm a squeeze before releasing her.
Bri thought about the risk that Johnny and Mac took for her, a stranger, an enemy, a defenseless, soul-sucking vampire. Her chin sunk to her chest with shame.
“Maybe I should go before you get into more trouble.”
Johnny growled. He clearly didn’t like that idea. Bri nodded her understanding, and Johnny motioned to the rug, lifting a blanket and pillow. She accepted the offer and nodded off to sleep with her werewolf bodyguard keeping watch.
Bri’s life fell into a pattern from then on. Johnny watched her during the day and Mac returned at night. The only deviation was when Headquarters wanted Johnny for tests. On only one occasion was she alone. Since this supply depot was her home for the foreseeable future, she gained Johnny’s permission to do some decorating. She arranged the oriental rugs and ammo crates and the low Moorish furniture into a living area inside the concrete shelter. Mac brought her a mattress, bed frame and bedding, helped her fix meals using the MRE packets and stocked the firewood. She felt like Rose Red living in the woods. At least here there were no cameras. And though the shelter was less comfortable than the qala, that Mac and Johnny used as their quarters, she still preferred it because even though it had no electricity and no kitchen, it also had no surveillance. So she had the freedom to walk in the woods here, as long as she didn’t wander too far. Johnny accompanied her on daily walks during his shift. Mac kept her distracted with stories about basic training, but he never spoke of his squad again. After supper they retired to the compound, where she fell easily into Mac’s arms. He was a gifted and generous lover—inventive, playful and intense. She’d often fall asleep in his arms, but he never slept, at least not in her bed. He was holding back, she knew. Keeping their relationship sexual. But sometimes she caught him staring at her and felt the longing in his eyes echoing in her soul.
Tonight, after making love, Mac sat on a folding chair, drawing on his boots while she remained in bed, now dressed in his long T-shirt, which she used as a nightshirt. Johnny would be here soon, with the changing of the guards at midnight.
“When do you think they will come?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I expected them to have tracked you already. Seems they didn’t know your pursuers’ exact location. They’re backtracking, circling until they find your trail. That rental, for instance.”
Bri tried to push back her anxiety and pretend she was safe, and that Mac’s protection came from something more than keeping the only known she-vampire safe and sound.
The nights they spent together were magic, but knowing that this was a “no strings” relationship poisoned the sweetness of their joining. She knew that when they parted she’d miss Mac. Chances were good she’d never meet another man who could resist her energy draw, and so she faced a terrible choice. Spend her life alone or kill the one she cared for. It was no choice at all, really. She’d have to remain celibate, but that would make her more dangerous to be near, if Mac’s information was accurate. So even if she didn’t sleep with a man, just being near a human—any human, male or female—would be toxic.
Bri had once thought to have a family, settle in one place and be like other people with a job and a mortgage and toys underfoot. She’d lost all that when she’d discovered what she was. She couldn’t love a man without risking his life. Except one man. But he didn’t want strings.
Mac was an escape clause in a life sentence of solitary confinement. She still held stupidly to the hope that he might find her more than physically attractive. But Mac was a Marine. He had a mission—to look after Johnny—and he wanted an active combat assignment. Beyond that he wanted what she could never give him: a house filled up with kids and dogs and rabbits. Bri stifled a sob and covered her mouth with her hand as she ached for that life.
He’d be a fool to choose her, though he was opportunist enough to take advantage of the situation at hand. And what more could she expect? He protected her and satisfied her and then left her at midnight like some male Cinderella, reverting back to a soldier.
And what did that make her? Bri sighed miserably and hugged herself, sitting up on the single bed that Mac had provided her. She hated these nightly partings. His arrival at midday was always joyous, and the afternoon would fly by. Then they would have sex, and he would leave her like a married man hurrying home to the wife and kids. Bri wondered if they were protecting her or just using her as bait. Perhaps she was naïve. Perhaps Mac wasn’t keeping her safe but just keeping her. If she tried to leave, would he let her, or was she more prisoner than guest? After they caught a male vampire, if they could catch one, what was to stop him from turning her over to his supervisors? Wouldn’t it be better to bring in a male and female?
That evening she asked him about her situation again.
“Even if you catch the ones that are tracking me, there are more of them. Aren’t there?”
His silence was answer enough.
“You can’t hide me in the woods forever.” But a small part of her wanted just that. “How will I keep them from finding me, Mac, after you have your prize?”
He leaned forward, elbows on knees, hands relaxed with fingers before him. “We have to teach you to use your powers. Tactics, hand-to-hand combat. Practice. Just like basic training, so that you’ll be ready if they find you and ready when the time comes to defend yourself.”
And there it was. The implication in his words. I need to defend myself so I can survive after he leaves me.
She nodded woodenly. He was right. Her nana had protected her without her even knowing. Mac and Johnny protected her now. In their way, both Matthew and Jeff had tried to protect her. She’d allowed others to jeopardize their lives to guard hers. It was too much. She needed to start taking care of herself.
“Yes. I want to learn.”
* * *
Bri spent the next week practicing her bounding. At first she was clumsy, faltering between her human speed and her vampire one. It was difficult to summon her power when she was not frightened out of her wits. At first, Johnny provided the scare, leaping out at her unexpectedly. One day it just clicked. She switched to her vampire speed without being afraid and bounded away so fast that even Mac, in werewolf form, couldn’t keep up. She shot straight up to the top of a pine tree and watched him run in circles trying to find her. Unfortunately her laugh gave her away. Then she found she couldn’t get down. That scared her so much that she gained her power again and made the jump to ground.
“It just keeps cutting in and out like a bad wireless signal. Like dropping a call. One minute I have four bars and the next, nothing.”
Mac gave her shoulder a squeeze.
She looped her arms about his neck and smiled up at him, then gave him a quick kiss on his furry snout. “You’re right. I’m getting better.”
She let her hand slide off Mac’s hairy shoulders. He captured one hand and held it for a moment longer. She looked up at him. “What?”
His fingers dropped away and he sighed.
She wanted him to change so she
could make love to him right here in broad daylight. Then at least she wouldn’t see the shimmer. She and Mac didn’t talk about it since that first time. But they often saw the golden glow, the wispy tendrils that emanated from her skin when she found her pleasure. Neither knew what it was.
“Phew! I’m tired. All this running and jumping. I feel like I’m in boot camp.”
Mac grinned showing rows of sharp white teeth. Then he scooped her off her feet so fast it made her head spin. She shrieked and laughed as he set off at a run, carrying her in his arms as they returned to her new home. His jarring gate forcing Bri to wrap her arms about his neck.
“Mac! Put me down. I’m not that tired!”
He sped up and she laughed again as the wind whistled past them. Mac skidded to a halt. Bri turned to see what had stopped him and found Johnny.
Mac released her legs and she swung down to his side, her arms slipping from his neck as she reached the ground. Mac kept one hand on the center of her back. Bri stepped away. Johnny’s dark expression and ridged posture made her cautious. He stood with hands on hips glowering at them both and finally fixing his glare on Mac.
Johnny growled.
“I said I was tired and Mac just...”
Mac had taken a defensive pose. He’d lowered his head and bared his teeth.
“No,” she said, stepping between them. “It was just a joke. We were laughing and—”
Johnny lifted a finger to his lips and pointed towards their new quarters. Brianna went still. Was someone here? Had they come at last?
“Vampires?” she whispered.
Johnny shook his head and then patted his ears.
“Too loud?”
He nodded.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “It won’t happen again.” He turned to Mac. Her silliness had put them both at risk. Thank God it was only Johnny that heard. “Thank you, Mac, for helping me down from that tree.” She addressed Johnny. “I’m getting better, but I poop out sometimes.”