Blood Revolution (God Wars, #3)

by Suttle, Connie

  Jayson? If I'd been speaking, my voice would have squeaked.

  Yeah. Hank has taught him well. He's pretty good with a pistol.

  No doubt, I responded dryly. I hear Henry Hank Bell is pretty darn handy with that stuff, too.

  That's what his records say, Bill agreed. I'm offering extended temporary employment to both of them. I'm in desperate need of qualified agents, and since Hank has trained Jayson, he's good enough to add to the roster.

  Are they going for it?

  Looks like it. Both are worried about you, and being employed by my department will ensure that they get better updates on this mess—and on you, too. Hank's promoted his assistant manager and found two others to fill in. Jayson hasn't had a real vacation in years, so he's taking time off.

  Bill, I need a favor, I said.

  Anything, sweetheart.

  Can you freeze my assets? If you don't, the vamps will take them. It's what they do.

  I can do that. Making calls now. Do you want me to set up another account for you, for emergencies? I can put it under an alias and give you the numbers.

  Bill, I want to kiss you for that, I said.

  I'll remember you said that. I'll get back with you as soon as this is done.

  Thanks, Bill.

  I love you, Bill answered.

  Honey, I love you, too.

  * * *

  Lissa's Journal

  "Tell me why." I deliberately kept my arms at my sides and resisted the urge to plant fists on my hips.

  "Mom, she was a distraction. At least that's what I thought at the time. And she could have cost me my warlocks."

  "Is this my son standing in front of me, telling me he placed compulsion on my sheriff, a vice-director of the ASD and his warlocks, something he promised he would never do, just to cover his ass and destroy any affection anybody might have for Breanne?"

  Gavril sat heavily behind his desk. He didn't understand how his mother discovered what he'd done, but she had. "Mom, I don't know how to make this right," he began. "If I remove my compulsion, they'll know I made them forget."

  "And you see this as a problem because?" I snapped.

  "For starters, I'll lose my warlocks. Yeah, I deserve that," he held up a hand to hold off my immediate response. I was about to tell him he deserved to lose his warlocks. He'd promised them long ago that he'd never place compulsion. Mind cloud or not, he'd broken that promise.

  "Would you like me to tell Ildevar that you fucked with a vice-director of the ASD? Breanne has saved Ildevar's life twice. What reaction do you think you'll get if he learns of this? What I don't know, because your compulsion is still in place, is how much they cared about Breanne. Which of your warlocks cared about her, by the way? Gavin was too ashamed to explain any of this to me." I was getting wound up and my voice was getting louder. I'd yelled at this son more after he became an adult than I ever had when he was young.

  "Stell. Stellan."

  "The one who's never found anybody. The one who thinks he won't find anybody," I snapped. "His brothers have a mate or mates. Stellan, thanks to you, has nothing, and not only that, you cheated my sister, too. She won't even talk to me, because of you. And your father."

  "What do you want me to do?"

  "It shouldn't matter what I want. What should matter is what's right. Do you even know what that is anymore?"

  "You think I cheated Stell out of a mate."

  "Yes, I think you cheated Stellan out of a mate. Possibly Trevor and Kooper, too." I tossed up a hand in disbelief. "Hasn't that crossed your mind even once—that you mistreated people, or does that not matter to you?"

  "I worry about that in him—that he seems to no longer feel," Dee walked into the room.

  "I thought I taught you to have sympathy for all things deserving," I sighed. "I've failed." I folded away.

  * * *

  "Is that how you see me, now?" Teeg glanced up at his foster-father.

  "Yes. It began when you mistreated Reah and kept her from the others, just to have your way and achieve your goals. You assured me then that it was temporary, and that you'd make it up to her later. She has given you a child, and still your mate is nothing but an afterthought. I know not what has happened to you, Gavril Tybus Montegue, but I dislike it greatly." Dee stalked from Teeg's office.

  * * *

  Hank and Jayson walked into Bill's temporary office at the local FBI headquarters. "You wanted to see us?" Jayson took a seat in front of Bill's desk. Hank slipped onto the other chair and waited for Bill's answer.

  "Yeah. I spoke with Bree." Bill tapped his head. Jayson nodded his understanding; Hank's mouth pulled into a frown. "She's fine, but the vampires have her," Bill added. "She says that if she doesn't stay with them for a little while, that some of them could die. I'm not sure exactly what that means, but I trust her judgment."

  "What does that mean for us, then?" Jayson asked.

  "It means that I want to keep you on. Whether it's temporary or permanent, that's up to you. We're still following the money on KingDom's, and most of it leads out of the country. We have a Sirenali—according to Breanne, and she says all the employees and the vampires at KingDom's were obsessed. Some of them were responsible for the local murders. She got everybody else out and left those inside to die."

  "How many vampires?" Hank asked softly.

  "Including Oscar Forde and Keir Arthur, probably thirty-seven. Apparently, the Vampire Council sent an assassin in to take Oscar and Keir. Breanne had to pull him out of there before he died."

  "Is that how they got their hands on her?" Jayson asked. "One of their assassins took her?"

  "Looks that way. Believe me, you don't argue with Gavin. He's the Council's elite Assassin and nobody messes with him."

  "Is she safe?" Hank asked.

  "She says she's all right for now," Bill replied. "While I can't predict the polarities of the Head of the Council, he does recognize a good thing when he sees it."

  "He thinks Breanne is a good thing?" Jayson asked.

  "She's not dead, and I think she would have said something if he'd locked her up or restrained her in any way. My guess is that Gavin knows her talents, because she saved his ass. Anything Gavin knows, Wlodek knows shortly after."

  "His name is Wlodek?"

  "Yes, and keep that to yourself, unless you'd like your body julienned before burial."

  "Not me," Jayson held up a hand.

  Bill's cell rang. Bill lifted it from his desk and checked the sender. "Sheila?" he answered.

  "Director, I ran the plates on that car in Dallas," Bill's assistant said.

  "What did you find?"

  "Plates registered to Saxom Meletius. There are no records anywhere, indicating this person exists."

  Bill had gone perfectly still. "Say that name again—slowly," Bill instructed.

  "Saxom Meletius. S-a-x-o-m M-e-l-e-t-i-u-s," Sheila spelled the name.

  "Holy fucking Christ," Bill sputtered. "Sheila, get somebody on this. Dig deep. Find out who bought that car, what they look like, how much they paid and what they had for breakfast. Understand?"

  "Yes, Director." The call was terminated.

  "What's going on?" Jayson asked. The color still hadn't come back to Bill's face.

  "All hell just broke loose," Bill said. "What time is it in the UK?"

  * * *

  "Hold for Wlodek, please," Charles said.

  "Director, what do you have for me?" Wlodek spoke to Bill over the phone.

  "I have disturbing news," Bill said. "We've had evidence of surveillance on William Winkler's home in the Dallas area. At first, the car had no current plates. The vehicle was recently spotted, and we ran the new plates."

  "Does this concern me?" Wlodek asked impatiently.

  "That's what I'd like to find out," Bill replied. "We have a name on new registration and nothing else to go on at the moment."

  "The name?"

  "Saxom Meletius," Bill said flatly.

  Wlodek cursed fluently i
n Greek.

  Chapter 10

  Breanne's Journal

  Something was definitely up, but since I couldn't read Charles, I had no idea what that might be. Gavin had been called into Wlodek's office and the bite lesson postponed. Was I grateful for the reprieve? You bet.

  "Charles?" Wlodek's voice spoke from a walkie-talkie clipped to Charles's belt.

  "Honored One?"

  "Contact Merrill immediately."

  "Of course, Honored One."

  * * *

  "Winkler?"

  "Bill?"

  "I'll be flying to Dallas tomorrow," Bill said right away. "I've gotten information on that car tag."

  "What did you get?"

  "Just a name, but it has put everybody on edge."

  "What's the name?"

  "Recognize Saxom Meletius?"

  "Saxom. He's dead."

  "So we all thought. Regardless, that's the name the vehicle is registered under. Any thoughts on why there's no other information to be had, and why anyone else would use that name?"

  "None—that I know," Winkler's voice betrayed confusion. "You think it's somebody playing with us?"

  "If it is, it's a really bad joke."

  "Agreed. Who the hell would even know to use that name, unless it's another vamp or a were?"

  "That's the current theory, but we can't say that for sure, now can we? Wlodek says he only has the word of two people that Saxom died, and he's attempting to contact them now."

  "Bill, have you ever met their kind?" Winkler asked.

  "I don't even know who we're talking about, so my answer is no," Bill sounded exasperated.

  "You can't even talk about them without their permission. That's what I know. Lissa's father was one of them."

  "You're joking. That's what we're dealing with?"

  "Yeah. That's what we're dealing with, but they're not all like that."

  "I hope to hell not," Bill huffed.

  * * *

  "Are you still going out tonight?" Hank studied Jayson with an unreadable expression in his dark eyes.

  "Yeah. No reason not to," Jayson shrugged. "Belinda agreed to a play date."

  "Be careful," Hank warned.

  "I'm always careful."

  "Yeah."

  * * *

  Breanne's Journal

  "Honored One, Merrill says he'll have an answer in two days." Charles had left his office to make a call to Merrill, but now he was back and giving Wlodek information via walkie-talkie.

  "Is that the best he could do?"

  "He says that is the best he can do. He said you would ask that question, and asked me to tell you that he cannot move time, as much as he'd like to do so."

  "Of course not," Wlodek sounded displeased. "I knew I should have called him myself."

  Breathing a sigh, I went back to my assignment for the night—filing. Had I thought the job on Le-Ath Veronis boring? Well, I'd just been introduced to worse.

  "Tell me what you're thinking," Charles almost sang the words as I stuffed another folder in a file drawer.

  "That you have the patience of a saint," I said. He burst into laughter.

  "What's that awful racket?" Wlodek's voice blasted over the walkie-talkie. I almost fell to the floor, I laughed so hard.

  * * *

  "I've never been in your Mercedes," Charles said as he climbed into the back seat of Gavin's sleek, silver vehicle. The steering wheel was on the left, like American cars, but the speedometer showed kilometers per hour instead of miles. "Did you get a better deal in Germany?"

  "I did," Gavin shifted and tore out of Wlodek's driveway. I hadn't read him yet to see what he'd discussed with Wlodek. In fact, I was almost afraid to do so. I held on as Gavin raced away from Wlodek's manor.

  "Will we move into your basement?" Charles asked. "Wlodek intends to sleep in his bunker."

  "Yes." Gavin's voice was clipped.

  "There's a basement at your house?" I asked.

  "Closed off, most of the time," Gavin said. I didn't ask any more questions—Gavin wasn't in the mood to talk and I sure didn't want to push him. I'd seen enough of his temper in the future.

  "Gather clothing for the next three days when we get home," Gavin instructed as he drove. "There are beds and bathrooms in the basement. We will be securely locked in while we sleep."

  Whatever Gavin knew, it sounded bad. It made me think of the years I'd spent in Texas, when the threat of tornadoes came every spring. The wind would come up, rain and hail would pelt down, the television stations would issue dire warnings and everybody would troop to the cellar to wait out the storm. If they had a cellar.

  "Hey," Charles's head appeared between my seat and Gavin's. "We'll be fine, you'll see." I stared into hazel eyes for a moment.

  "Come here," he gestured me closer with a hand.

  "Huh?" I leaned forward.

  "Hold still," Charles stroked my face with a gentle hand. I frowned at him as his hand moved to the back of my neck. Careful fingers massaged my neck. It felt good—I'd spent most of the night filing a backlog of folders, and I felt tired and achy. My eyes closed as Charles continued to rub my neck.

  "That's it," he murmured close to my ear. "Breanne's tired, isn't she?" his words were whispered against my collarbone. I wanted to relax against Charles and let him keep soothing me. I shrieked instead when his fangs pierced my throat, and then the intense waves of pleasure hit. I was unconscious (again) in no time.

  * * *

  "Effective, although unconventional," Gavin mused as Charles lifted Breanne from the passenger seat.

  "Shhh, don't wake her," Charles whispered.

  * * *

  Breanne's Journal

  "Are you going to wake, my love?"

  Charles's voice. I came awake fighting.

  "No, no, there's no need for that, no need," Charles's voice was almost mesmerizing as he held my wrists in his hands. "Lie back, everything's all right," he breathed before kissing my forehead. I sobbed.

  "What's wrong? What's wrong with my baby?" I was in his arms quickly.

  I struggled to hold back tears as I trembled against Charles.

  "What happened?" Gavin settled on the bed beside us.

  "Scared," Charles murmured into my hair. "Almost took my head off when I touched her."

  "Understandable," Gavin sighed. "She has no guarantees that we won't hurt her—that anyone won't hurt her."

  "I know. Breanne, it's all right, darling. It's all right."

  * * *

  The tears fell during the hours of daylight over Kent. I didn't know what to do. Charles had lulled me into believing he wanted to soothe, and then he'd bitten me. Granted it may have been a much quicker process than the one I kept imagining, but the shock of it—and the ensuing intensity of the climax, had ended up terrifying me.

  Does it count as sex if there's no intimate contact? I trembled again at the thought. I didn't know what to think, either, about Charles taking care of me afterward. Calling me darling and other endearments. They'd come so readily to him, it made me wonder if those were simply common words for him to use with any woman. Since I couldn't read him, I couldn't know those things.

  Hank and Bill wandered into my thoughts, and I huddled into a ball on the bed. Gavin's basement smelled like a musty, closed-in space, and with my claustrophobia, I was finding it difficult to breathe. The bedroom I had was little more than a cubicle, and the shower was tiny. No surprise, given that it had been added long after the house was built.

  You can do this, I repeated my mantra. You can do this. You can do this. You can do this. I counted my breaths, hoping they'd even out soon.

  * * *

  "Get the pics?" Janine sounded breathless as she spoke to Colbi Wayde over her cell.

  "Got 'em," Colbi crowed. "The video, too. This is going to be so good—to rip into him with this. There's no way he can deny this. No effing way."

  "Hank wasn't at the club tonight," disappointment coated Janine's words. "His new assistant
managers threw me out."

  "You do have a restraining order, darling," Colbi laughed. "Don't worry; we'll catch up with Mr. Bell. If we can get footage of him doing something like this," Colbi played the video again of Jayson Rome lashing a woman tied to a wooden contraption, "then we can destroy both of them."

  "What if somebody asks about your source," Janine said, worry creeping into her voice.

  "No worries—sources are usually protected," Colbi assured her.

  "But what if," Janine hesitated.

  "What if what?"

  "Never mind," Janine said. "Bye."

  "You bet your ass never mind, I paid you a grand, you bitch," Colbi muttered after ending the call.

  * * *

  Breanne's Journal

  "Remember, we have a Council meeting tonight," Charles poked his head into my cubicle. I was showered and dressed appropriately, but probably looked as if I'd been in a fight with a troll.

  "Hey," he stepped inside. "What's wrong? Didn't you sleep?"

  "What kind of question is that to ask a vampire?" I turned away from him and straightened the covers on my narrow bed.

  "Breanne," his hands wrapped around my upper arms. "I didn't hurt you. If I did, I didn't mean it," his voice was soft. "You're my girl." He pulled me against him. I struggled in his grip.

  "You say that to everybody," I accused.

  "To my knowledge, Charles hasn't courted a woman in three centuries," Gavin rumbled behind us. "I sincerely believe he does not say that to everybody." My shoulders sagged at Gavin's words.

  "I don't know what to believe anymore," I muttered.

  "I didn't mean to scare you," Charles said, turning me so his eyes could meet mine. "Really. Usually the climax will mitigate the fear, so to speak."

  "Yeah. It sucks to be a vampire with PTSD," I said, pulling away from Charles. "No pun intended."

  "None taken," Charles nodded, holding back a smile. "But speaking of sucking, you're obligated to do that, now. It's the second part of the bite lesson. I know you have the rules and the mechanics down, you just have to commit the act."

  "Yeah. Thanks for ruining breakfast," I said.

  "You must eat," Gavin informed me. "How much did you take from her? She looks pale," Gavin pointed his question in Charles's direction.