by Dee Carney
She watched him struggle to get to the spikes, but Lucy was already on the move, her hand going to the strap on her leg. Unlatching it, she reveled when his eyes widened as she dragged herself closer. He grabbed her by the hair, but it was too fucking late for him. Lucy threw her head back, allowing him to yank out a large tuft. At the same time, she stabbed the ash stake down.
Directly into the chunk of ice he called a heart.
Tears welled in her eyes as she stared at him, watched and waited for any sign that he’d survived the fatal blow. She worked on supposition only, never having gone over a true vampire death with Victor. Their lessons incomplete.
She wiped absently at the moisture rolling over her cheeks, determined not to move from the spot until she could be absolutely sure she’d ended his miserable life. She would be sure.
After almost thirty minutes had passed, and Sage’s unseeing eyes hadn’t flickered once, all of the tension in Lucy’s body leeched out. Gathering her aching self, she stumbled her way to the elevator and pressed the down button.
When the doors opened, she gaped.
Two of Sage’s men lay duct-tape-bound in the elevator, their mouths similarly taped shut. Someone had put a blindfold on each, and muffled sounds came from them both when she stepped inside. Certain either of them might break free at any moment, she rolled their bodies into the foyer with a mental promise to herself to call the cops after she’d made it away safely.
Who would have done such a thing and why?
The question answered itself, filling her with reluctant hope. Her heart beat like a steady drum, but she willed it to hold its peace. She ached for him in the worst ways, but she didn’t know if she could trust him anymore. That hurt more than the ache ever could.
The doorman was noticeably absent when she limped through the lobby, the security officer nowhere in sight. It seemed Lucy had a guardian angel who’d taken steps to ensure her plans went through all the way, without unnecessary interference.
She shook her head and once outside, looked for signs of Victor. The streets were empty though and she went home alone.
If he stayed, Victor would have tried to stop her. If he stayed, he would have forced her to listen to him.
If he stayed, he would have ruined any chance at all of winning back the heart of the woman he loved. Instead, after dispatching Sage’s staff, Victor went back downstairs and climbed into his Mustang. He killed a few seconds by staring at one of the windows of the townhouse and then drove away to protect Lucy the best way he knew how.
The hours passed, his thoughts and fears eating a hole in his stomach. The closer he came to his final destination, the more dread and regret weaved into the nauseating emotions.
Where had he gone wrong? He’d been sure Lucy would have at least listened to what he had to say about the lycans and Sage, knew she would have been angry, but understanding. Instead, she’d stormed away. He’d felt like an idiot chasing after her and had ultimately stopped, deciding she’d come around soon enough. Let her take the time to cool off and she’d find him again, either at their place or at the bar. Watching her walk off had killed something inside of him, but she needed space. He’d give it to her.
Except she didn’t try to contact him. Didn’t show at the cabin or the bar. Three days of silence. It shredded him to know he’d destroyed the only chance at happiness he’d ever come close to achieving.
He pulled to a stop a few blocks from his destination and then jogged the rest of the way. The night was damp and muggy, the air weighing him down. By the time he stopped moving, his clothes clung to him in places, sweat beading on his forehead. As he approached, he glanced at the green-and-gray house, and then pulled down a blind over turbulent emotions. Inside the building, the most important job of his life awaited.
Getting inside cost him a few minutes of careful work on the double lock of the back door. Before putting a hand on the knob, he searched his mind for one last time, trying to come up with some other plan—anything else—but alternatives failed him. As if encouraging him, the door swung open without protest.
His careful steps landed on the hardwood floor of a spit-shine kitchen. The smell of bleach hovered everywhere. Stemware and china dried on a rack next to a plastic sectioned plate, a little girl’s face painted on the surface in bright colors. Seeing it made Victor pause.
Would Lucy want children some day?
With a mental curse, he extinguished the intrusive thought and moved deeper into the house. Despite the relative cleanliness of the place, he was forced to pay some attention to the floor where the occasional toy lay in wait. He didn’t mind the sharp objects so much—those would be crushed beneath his boot—but the high-pitched whine of a surprise squeaky toy was a heart attack waiting to happen.
He turned the corner, still exploring, and came face to face with an ash stake held parallel to his eye. Victor stilled, not giving Corin Gerulaitis any excuse to shove it forward and then finish him off with another ash to the heart.
“Just want to talk,” he said. Slowly, very, very slowly, Victor raised his empty hands into the air.
“You come into my home...where my wife and little girl are sleeping? My baby?”
Victor couldn’t begin to imagine what was going through the former executioner’s mind right now. A man used to killing vampires on the orders of others. Victor hadn’t told him his occupation when they’d last talked, but in his place, he would have done the research. Surely Corin knew the risk here.
“Please,” Victor said, unable to recall the last time in his life when he’d been this close to begging. “You helped us with Sage, and I can’t thank you enough, but I’m here because the woman I made, my progeny, she’s everything good in this world. I can’t lose her.”
Corin didn’t flinch a muscle. “I told you last time you were here that I’d dispatch you myself if you ever returned.” His hand tightened on the stake still less than a few inches from Victor’s head. “Why shouldn’t I just do it and save the Council the problem?”
Victor searched for something profound to say, something that would sway the executioner or buy him some time. He’d driven the long two hours because he had no other choice. With only one thread of hope left, he had to grab on to it. He had to try.
Now, as he stared death in the face, words failed him. His memory supplied him a visual of his Lucy, flushed and drowsy and in his arms. Her hazel eyes looked at him with an emotion she hadn’t yet spoken, but he knew existed anyway. The subtle tilt of her lips, the beginning of a smile, lending her a celestial beauty. His heart hurt without her in his life.
“Because I want a little girl, too,” Victor said softly. “Our little girl who looks just like her.”
He looked up in time to catch a flicker in Corin’s eyes. The latter man slowly lowered his arm, the stake no longer an imminent danger. “Fuck,” he muttered. “What has this world come to when men such as us are brought to our knees by little toes covered in pink nail polish and afternoons of pretend tea parties?”
“Don’t tell anyone,” Victor grunted.
“If any of the others found out that I kiss six stuffed animals before bed every night, I’d never hear the end of it.” Corin jerked his head toward the doorway. “Come, fill me in. Let’s figure out what we’re going to do about the Council and your progeny. I don’t guarantee you anything.”
“I know.”
Victor figured he should know why they’d wanted Sage, so after they sat in a small study, he gave the bare bones of Lucy’s history with the man. Enough to make a case for his elimination. Like Victor, Corin found the introduction of spice into humans, treating them as a conduit, abhorrent.
“I have a friend,” Corin said, once he’d finished, “who also created a progeny without the Council’s approval. They are alive and well and living free of the Council’s hassle.”
Victor sat up straighter. “What?”
“It’s a well-kept secret, and I trust you’ll keep it also. If everyone knew abo
ut him, vampire creations would run rampant. I’m only telling you that much to give you a little hope. It’s not impossible to skirt the law, you just have to come up with a really, really good reason to get the Council to ignore you.”
“How did they get away with it?”
“He’s only part vampire. The other part apparently scared the shit out of the Council members present to see it.” Corin chuckled to himself. “Do you happen to have an ability to eat a vampire if he pissed you off enough?”
Victor blinked, not sure if he was joking or not. “Uh, no, but I keep thinking what they did to Lucy...there has to be consequences for it. Something they’d want to hide.”
“It’s a place to start. I wish I had an answer for you, I really do. I wouldn’t want to be alive without my wife. When she gave me a baby too...words fail me. Find a way to keep your woman safe. One exists.”
Less than an hour later, and Victor was back on the road. He and Corin had twisted everything they knew about the Council, reasons why they could bend the laws to their advantage, but neither came up with anything useful. If Victor thought staying there another hour would have helped, he would have, but they were getting no closer to a solution. Corin gave him as much as he could offer without putting his other friend in danger, and Victor was grateful for the tidbit of information. He left without any answers, but at least felt like he now had an ally.
The two-hour drive home went by quickly, his mind churning with ways to distract the Council away from Lucy. By the time he pulled into the final road to his house, though, he’d somehow abandoned thoughts of Council and reminisced on his feisty progeny.
He didn’t wonder if she’d gotten rid of Sage. He’d given her some of the skills she needed; new vampire strength helped even the odds. Her righteous hatred toward the man leveled the playing ground.
He didn’t have to worry about her one bit. Not until an executioner found her.
Fuck.
Victor slammed his hand against the steering wheel. The pain shocked him, but it kept him from doing something stupid like tearing off the wheel and throwing it out of the car. He’d never been so fucking frustrated in all of his life and never, never so close to failure before.
What kind of shitty mercenary was he? He could track down anyone, living or dead, break into cars and houses, kill a person without blinking. But keeping alive the one person who mattered the most, stayed out of reach. If he thought for a split second sending Lucy to live among the werewolves would help—
Wait a minute.
He veered the car sharply to the side of the road and then stomped on the brakes. His damned hands were shaking when he withdrew the phone from the console and scrolled through recent numbers. He recognized a few of the digits without having to read the name associated with it.
“Merc, if you don’t fucking stop calling me,” Cicero growled into his ear.
“I need a favor—”
“God d—”
“Next job’s on the house if you do this for me.”
The pause that followed went on for so long, Victor couldn’t be sure they hadn’t been disconnected. About to pull the phone away from his ear to check, at last Cicero said, “Go on.”
“There was an assassination tonight. And I know who did it. I’ll give up what I know in exchange for the safety of my progeny.” His heart kicked hard, every part of him knowing they had no reason to trust him. No reason to not kill him for the fun of it. But maybe, maybe someone there would be curious enough to find out what he had to say.
Lucy’s life depended on it.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Victor stumbled his way into the bar. It didn’t matter if people stared at him. Never did. He just wanted to get his drink and keep drinking until he stopped hurting. Until he stopped thinking about her.
Three weeks of sending her letters and emails and phone calls. None answered.
It hadn’t taken long to track her down through her credit card trail. Not many places sold the type of lingerie she’d bragged about owning. After cracking a few databases, voila, he’d hit pay dirt.
His skills hadn’t mattered though. None of it mattered now. He’d fucked up so badly, and the only thing he wanted to do was set things right. She wouldn’t let him.
His Lucy in the sky, smile like diamonds. At least she would be safe from the Council for the rest of her life. He’d done one thing right.
The bartender placed a tumbler of whiskey in front of him after he sat down at the bar, and Victor threw it back. Smart woman waited for him to get through three more shots before finally pouring the fourth and moving away to tend to other customers.
He couldn’t feel either side of his face right now and if he timed the next drink just right, maybe he’d stop feeling the ache in his chest too. At the very least, he’d stop feeling his toes.
Victor laughed to himself.
Must have made the next guy over nervous, because he picked up his beer and moved a few seats down. Victor studied the amber liquid, wondering if maybe he should have some O-neg thrown in to spice it up a little. Damn, he couldn’t even remember the last time he’d had something to eat.
“Need to eat,” he muttered. Needed nutrition too, because he could smell her and that had to mean something.
“Tell me why.”
That voice. Victor opened his eyes, his heart double-thumping madly.
The world spun when he whipped his head around to look at the strawberry blonde sitting next to him. She wore her hair pulled high and away from her face, the red glyph on her slender neck like food to a starving man. He ran his gaze over the smoothness of her skin and traced the plump outline of her lips. It took him a second to remember that she’d spoken.
“Why what, doll?”
“Why did you sell me out? Why give Sage to the lycans before you gave him to me?”
He rubbed a hand over his face, regretting the alcohol he’d consumed. His physiology would burn it off soon enough, but for this he wanted a clear head. When she walked away from him again, he wanted her to leave knowing the last time she’d seen him hadn’t been at his worst.
Help me say this right. Help me keep her.
“I didn’t sell you out. Sage had a price on his head, coming from multiple places. When you got done with him, it would have been over. The end.”
“You thought I’d kill him?”
“Thought? Hell, I knew you would. Lucy, if there’s one thing I’ve learned about you, it’s you are not a woman to be underestimated. You want something and you’re going after it, consequences be damned. If you had to walk through fire to get to Sage, you would have doused yourself with gasoline and done it.” He burped. “Excuse me. And I knew once you had him, that was it for everyone else. No one would get another chance.”
She wrinkled her nose before her gaze dropped to his mouth. She seemed to study the downward turn before shaking her head loose of whatever thought had grabbed her. “But that doesn’t tell me why you gave him to Locke first. Why didn’t you think the lycans would have killed him, robbing me of my chance?”
“That’s easy. He wasn’t guilty of the crime they were accusing him of.” His head began to clear.
“What?”
Victor shrugged. “It didn’t make sense for him to be. Using tech that accidentally ended up hurting you and your sister, that made sense to me. Hurting people with his own two hands just for the thrill of it? Nah. Sage was too into himself to get dirty like that. Locke would question him and never get the answers he wanted, no matter how he tried. Sage was walking away from Locke.” He looked her directly in the eyes. “But he wasn’t getting away from you.”
“And you were sure of this?”
“I bet my life on it.”
Lucy looked surprised. “What does that mean?”
“You,” he said. “If I was wrong, I was going to lose you and I knew it. Like losing my heart if I lost you. Losing the best part of me. I bet my life when I handed Sage over.”
Her eye
s widened, the hazel green in them captivating him. “What am I supposed to do with that?” she whispered.
Victor shrugged. He’d only told her the truth.
She licked her lips and then searched the room. A few men and women stared her way, their gazes inevitably going to that glyph she insisted on displaying. He took perverse pride in having her sit next to him while others were forced to drool at a distance. This woman who held his heart...
“And Sage’s men?”
“What about them?”
A crease appeared between her brows. “Never mind. I suppose it doesn’t matter. But I do have one final question.”
“Shoot.”
“Are you really available to the highest bidder?”
“That’s the way mercenaries operate—”
“Oh.” Lucy visibly deflated.
“But you of all people should know that you never have to question my loyalty to you. I don’t care who’s offering me a job or how much they’re paying, my loyalty to you is absolute. You’re my progeny.” He reached for her hand, curling it in his. A part of his mind still didn’t believe she sat here in his presence after finally believing that he’d lost her forever. The moment he touched her, his heart began to beat again. “And you’re my world. I am humbled by your goodness and your beauty and who you are. I’ve fallen so hard for you I’ll lose my cool card the minute the others find out.”
A slow smile pushed at Lucy’s lips. “Your cool card, huh?”
“Gone.” He snapped his fingers.
After a long minute of consideration, Lucy leaned into him, and Victor wanted to whoop at the top of his lungs. He wanted to hold her forever and if she let him, he would. “I’m still scared that the spice is running through my system and maybe all of this is just some sort of residual effect.”
“Could be, but I don’t think so,” he murmured against her head. “I think you’re just stuck with me for the rest of our lives. Do you think that might be alright?”
Her arms wrapped around his waist, and a peace enveloped Victor. Whatever more they faced, they would be doing it together, and that was alright with him.