by Debra Dunbar
And there it was, absurdly noticeable on the quiet rural roadway — a big black Mercedes parked right off the shoulder by the turn onto Briar Lane.
Jaq bristled. “It’s that asshole with the silk suit from the night they dumped you here. I’d recognize that car anywhere.”
Maybe. Or maybe someone just borrowed it for the evening. Although who would have the gall to borrow the Prince’s Mercedes?
Kelly’s heart quickened as they carefully walked towards the line of trailers. They’d just rounded the corner by Melody’s when the familiar aura washed across her.
“He’s in your house,” Jaq hissed, pulling at Kelly’s arm to drag her behind an unkempt hedge.
Yes, and I’m exhausted, still high as a kite, and covered in vampire blood, Kelly thought.
Why was the Prince here? Kelly’s first panicked thoughts were that he’d seen her during the fight and was here to deliver the ultimate punishment for her betrayal of the family.
“It’s the Prince,” she told Jaq. “You go check on Melody, and I’ll go see him.” There was no sense in getting Jaq involved in this. Better to make sure she was safe and face whatever was inside that trailer alone.
“No, you’re not going to see him! Let’s kill him and be done with this whole thing. No Prince; no more raids on our territory, and no more vampires tromping through on their way to take out the southern group. Problem solved.”
“No, problem just beginning. Let’s just say the pair of us get lucky and manage to kill a Born vampire of his age. The Master will turn the whole east coast upside down searching for him, and when he finds out what happened — because he will find out — every werewolf on the planet will suffer an agonizingly long death.”
“We could do it,” Jaq insisted. “We’re strong enough, and we can use the battle to cover it up — let your master–guy think the southern group did it.”
“First, we’re not going to be able to kill him. Maybe if I had more of your blood, but I’m terrified that even a little more will kill me — I’m still high from what I took earlier. Even if we manage to kill him, and successfully blame it on Kincaid, you’ll still have the entire Fournier family pouring through the border to avenge their prince. He’s the Master’s only offspring. If the Prince dies, the whole area is going to become a bloodbath.”
Jaq waved her hands in agitation. “He’s going to kill you. You betrayed your family, remember? They betrayed you first, but I doubt they’ll see it that way. I’m not letting you walk in there to your death.”
Deep breath. He wasn’t here to kill her. It was all going to be okay.
“Princes don’t do their own dirty work. He didn’t even stand close enough to get blood on his suit when they were walloping me. I think the only reason he helped when they were pulling my fangs was to save time. I’m not sure why he’s here, but I doubt it’s to kill me. He would have brought a couple of helpers, otherwise.”
Jaq sighed, glancing once again toward the trailer. “Fine, but I’m sticking around, in case you need back–up.”
“Just don’t get too close. I don’t want him to recognize your smell as anything out of the ordinary, or think there’s someone spying on us.”
The Prince was arrogantly leaning against the kitchen table, his arms crossed. Kelly felt a wave of irritation. She was just a tool to him. He didn’t care about her; none of them did.
Dispensing with the respectful vampire posture, Kelly nodded curtly at her visitor and went to put on a pot of coffee. It was what she’d gotten in the habit of doing every time she had human guests. Funny, to be making a pot of coffee that the Prince would most probably not drink.
“Where exactly does your alliance lie, I wonder?” Kyle mused, shifting slightly to better stare at her profile as she scooped grounds into the filter. “You were supposed to interrogate spies and report back to my man, Rube, but instead I get the feeling you’re playing both sides of this game.”
Kelly ignored the first question. “I have the list of Kincaid holdings in Virginia. I wasn’t able to interrogate their spy, although I did kill several Kincaid scouts tonight. There were quite a few passing through here earlier.”
His face darkened. “Yes, there was a bit of a skirmish. We prevailed, of course.”
She knew it was wrong to bait him, but just couldn’t help it. “Prevailed? And yet you’re here to collect my findings instead of Rube? Since when does a Born, a Prince, run his own errands.”
Her tone was beyond rude. She felt Kyle’s glare on her back, felt his aura flare against her in anger.
“Rube is busy doing something else for me tonight, and I wanted to check up on you myself. You’re looking mighty fit for a vampire without fangs. Last I’d heard, you were gnawing the heads off rabbits and were on the edge of starvation, but you look reasonably well fed to me. And clearly well fed enough to ‘kill several Kincaid scouts tonight’.”
Crap. Why couldn’t she just keep her head down, her mouth shut, and hand over the information like a good newly–turned vampire? Anger was once again going to be her downfall.
“The werewolves would never tolerate a vampire in their midst.” Kyle continued. “Who is protecting you? Who is feeding you? Who are you working with?”
No sarcastic comments, no taunts; for once, just keep a rein on my temper. Kelly kept him in the corner of her vision as she pulled mugs and the little jar of sugar from the cabinet. The silence grew uncomfortably heavy.
“Who, Kelly? Is it Stockinger trying to make a play for some eastern territory?”
He was pissed. Unable to ignore him further, she took a deep breath and turned around to face him.
“So do you still want the list of holdings or not? I have them. Rube expressed some urgency in my obtaining them for the Master.”
The Master’s name was like a magic word. She saw him hesitate, hunger in his eyes at the prospect of getting a detailed list of Kincaid–owned businesses.
“Let’s see what you’ve got.” Kyle relaxed slightly, and Kelly realized for the first time how tense he’d been.
Turning back around, Kelly grabbed the sheets of notebook paper covered in handwriting out of the lower drawer under the oven, thrusting them at Kyle. “I was a bit surprised by Rube’s request. Isn’t it a bad time to plot an incursion into Kincaid territory when he’s alert and prepared for war?”
Kyle looked through the sheets, pausing to frown at a few of the names. “That’s the Master’s business, not yours.”
Kelly hid a wince. For a second, she’d forgotten how things worked in vampire families. She’d become used to discussing things openly with Jaq, to having her opinion count for something. Hopefully she wouldn’t be dealing with these vampires much longer.
Kyle looked at the sheets, his face registering surprise. “Where are the rest? I’m sure there are more than this,” the vampire said slowly.
Yes, there were. And she would be a total fool to give him a complete and detailed list.
“I’m not trained in interrogation, and I don’t have a computer or internet access. This was the most I could obtain given the short timeframe I was given.”
“Shame that. There could be a regular source of fresh human blood if you happened to find more in that little drawer under your stove. I can’t imagine how difficult it is for you to continue, with that desperate need facing you every waking moment.”
A day ago he would have been right, but now she had a small but steady supply of fresh blood. Let him think she was still desperate for blood. Let him underestimate her as everyone else had done her whole life.
“How would that work? I have no fangs. How would I possibly be able to obtain a consistent supply of fresh human blood?”
Kyle looked down at the papers in a mannerism that echoed his father’s. “We could arrange for regular deliveries of fresh blood. Less than twenty–four hours old.”
Although that would certainly be a nice benefit, Kelly didn’t like the idea of a Fournier vampire trotting across the bo
rder every day or two. He’d eventually catch her doing something she wasn’t supposed to be doing —— like working with the werewolves. How to get out of this without the Prince suspecting anything? A vampire on the edge of starvation, as she was supposed to be, would eagerly accept this deal.
“How regular is regular delivery?” she asked.
Kyle shrugged. “We wouldn’t want you to lose that edge. I think it’s important for you to remain hungry. After all, you are banished. This is your punishment.”
Jerk. Kelly remembered Rube pouring the bag of blood down the sink and had an idea.
“Why do I get the impression you’ll never let me back? If eternal exile is my punishment, then I might as well die of starvation now and not jump through hoops like your little trained dog.”
The Prince didn’t quite have the temper that Rube did. His grey eyes grew cold, but beyond a tightening around his mouth, there was no indication he’d found her rudeness anything worthy of a response.
“Oh, I don’t mean to push you quite that far. You’ve proven to be very resourceful, ruthless even, about staying alive. I think if what else you have for me proves equally of value, we could place an end–date to your punishment, as a reward and an encouragement to continue to serve.”
Liar. Kelly was beginning to hate this guy with a passion. Stupid, arrogant, entitled snob.
“I don’t have anything more for you.” Two could play the lying game.
Kyle looked at the papers for another moment before folding them and putting them into an inside jacket pocket.
“That’s a terrible shame. If you were to find more, there might be some blood in it for you. If not, well, I hope your death is quick and painless.”
Yeah, I hope your death is quick and painless, too, Kelly thought. Jaq’s idea was starting to sound rather appealing.
“Walk with me to the road,” the Prince said, abruptly heading out the door, leaving Kelly trailing behind.
They walked down the lane, to his huge black sedan. Either he hadn’t been in the battle, or if he had, he’d driven there. Others fought and died, and their Prince drove through it all in his Mercedes.
Reaching into the back seat, he handed her a bag of blood. It was still warm. Kelly stared at the bag for a moment in shock. She’d not expected to be paid for tonight’s information and guessed that he hadn’t originally intended to give her this. He must really want further info if he was resorting to the carrot method.
“There’s more where that came from. Let me know if you have any further information, and I’ll have a bag at your doorstep,” he said as he climbed into his car without backward a glance.
Kelly watched him pull away and promptly heard a rustle behind her. She felt Jaq’s warmth, smelled her ice and forest smell.
“You’re smiling. Must have been good news?” the werewolf asked.
“Nah, just having a pleasant fantasy about ripping his head off.”
“What a coincidence. I was having the same fantasy.”
Kelly turned to walk with Jaq to Melody’s. “I have no idea why he wants this state so badly. I would have thought he’d beat a strategic retreat for a few decades, but I’m getting the feeling he’s going to press on — both in West Virginia and for the Kincaid lands.”
Jaq shrugged. “I really don’t care about anything south of here, but he’s not getting our land.”
“Thankfully he didn’t seem to know Rube was dead, or that I played any part in what went down tonight. I’m not sure whether the best plan would be to string him along and see what information I can gather from him, or cut him completely off and try to keep him out of the state.”
“Do you really think he’ll leave us alone? He seems pretty desperate.”
“Well, he’s about to get more desperate.” Kelly turned toward Melody’s trailer.
32
Melody’s leopard–print tights and lilac ruffled shirt were a startling contrast to her shotgun. She answered the door with it in hand, and ushered both Kelly and Jaq into the cozy trailer. Joe and Dale were slumped on the couch, as far apart from each other as possible. Both looked ready to nod off at any moment.
“All clear,” Jaq told them. “Vampires are out of the state — well, except for Kelly and her recent visitor who is probably almost to the border by now.”
“Good.” Dale struggled to his feet and rubbed his eyes. “We had a quiet night. Joe got home from work a few hours ago, but I didn’t want to leave until relieved of my duty.”
He glared at Jaq as he said the last words then turned his scowl on Kelly. “Glad to see you got some blood on you, although from the look of you, it’s probably mostly your blood.”
“She held her own,” Jaq bristled.
“Goodness!” Melody exclaimed, shoving Dale aside to examine the vampire. “You are a mess. Do you need some more blood? I’m afraid Margaret and Kristen left once their husbands got home, but Barbara and Shanna are asleep on my bed. I can have them get you a pint, if you need, from Barbara.”
“Thanks, I brought some.” Kelly showed her the bag. “I could use a mug to put it in though, and I really need to use your computer for a moment. It won’t take long — I know you and Joe want to get to bed.”
It was to Melody’s credit that she didn’t ask any questions about how Kelly was in possession of a bag of blood.
“Of course, dear.”
Melody bustled about getting a mug and setting out snacks for her and Jaq, while the others took their leave, Barbara and Shanna stumbling to their own trailers half asleep. Kelly grabbed her mug and bag of blood and headed back to the spare bedroom that housed Melody’s computer, leaving Jaq to discuss the battle with Joe.
With shaking hands, Kelly typed in the url then hesitated. Taking any excuse to procrastinate this momentous decision, she sipped her blood and perused Melody’s knitting projects until she could delay no more. Login. Password. The spinning cursor seemed to take forever, but just as panic threatened to overtake her, the screen loaded showing her the account balance. There was no turning back now. With a few clicks, the money had transferred, but it wasn’t enough.
This part was even more dangerous and sealed her fate to a degree the other transaction hadn’t. With a few clicks, she’d hidden her IP address through a software program then used an offshore VPN service to further mask her trail. There. The program she’d paid dearly for in case of an emergency. There was no looking back now. Either move forward or die. She hovered a finger over the mouse button for a brief second then depressed it, watching the numbers spiral across the screen.
Five in the morning. She was exhausted and still flying from Jaq’s crazy blood, but she needed to do one more thing. One more login screen. One more transaction. One more hacker software program to run. That Lowry guy had cost a fortune, but his work was untouchable. Worth every penny. The numbers spiraled once again, and Kelly found herself looking at a banking account balance of eleven dollars and twelve cents. Done.
When she walked out, Melody was dozing on the sofa, and Joe was huddled over coffee with Jaq, whispering.
“Sorry that took a while. I’ll leave you all to get some sleep. Please tell Melody ‘thank you’ and that I’ll have that scarf to her in a few days.”
If she was lucky. She ended up tearing out more rows than she knitted most nights. Craft work was clearly not her calling.
“What were you doing?” Jaq asked, rising to walk with Kelly to the door.
“Transferring money.” She handed the werewolf the print out.
“Eleven dollars and twelve cents. Wow. You should be paying my bills. I’d have charged you for the deer bologna if I’d have known you were so rich.”
If only she knew. But Kelly didn’t want to get into a huge discussion with Jaq about her moral justifications for embezzlement. She’d figure it out soon enough, but that was an argument for another day. Hopefully one where she’d had enough sleep and wasn’t high on Nephilim blood.
Kelly glanced over to Jaq’s t
railer and saw the light on. “Mike’s home.”
Surprisingly, Jaq followed her in through her own door rather than continue on home. “He likes you, you know.”
Well, she certainly couldn’t mean her brother. The vampire ran through a mental checklist of the males she’d encountered recently and came up blank. “Who?”
“Mike, silly. He says you saved his life.”
Now that was a gross overstatement. “Uh, more like he saved mine.” An unpleasant thought crossed Kelly’s mind. “Wait, you don’t mean like–like, do you? I’m not the most perceptive woman in the world when it comes to romantic interest, but unless you werewolves are really different, I don’t think he’s suddenly taken with the urge to send me flowers and put on the Barry White.”
Jaq snorted. “Hardly. He’d sooner cut off his arm. I mean, he’s less inclined to kill you then he was yesterday.”
Well, that was an improvement.
“So I’m assuming you have a boyfriend back in New Jersey?” Jaq continued, her voice full of curiosity. “Does he know what happened to you?”
She’d put all that aside long ago. “Vampires aren’t known for their romantic relationships. I’ve had one boyfriend in my life — only one, back when I was human. His name was George. I stayed with the vampires. He didn’t.”
It all sounded so wooden when she said it, so unlike the giddy rush of passion and hope George had brought into her life. Jaq must have sensed there was more behind the stilted words. With a sympathetic noise, she put a hand on Kelly’s shoulder.
“It must have hurt when he left.”
“He didn’t leave; I did.” It all came out in a rush of emotion. “We’d run away together, but after a few weeks in the catacombs, he changed his mind. We left together, but as soon as the daylight hit my face, I got scared. Isn’t that ridiculous? I was more afraid of putting my future in the hands of love than a bunch of ruthless killers. We’d curled up to sleep in an empty horse stall at some inn, and I snuck out. Didn’t wait to say ‘goodbye’. Didn’t even leave a note — it’s not like I knew how to write at that point in my life anyway. I just left him the little silver ring he’d given me when we ran away together. A part of me died the night I left him, but I was too scared to stay.”