Warrior

by Karen Lynch

  “Where is she?” I fought to keep my voice at a normal volume, but every minute Sara was out there was another minute she could be in danger.

  Roland shook his head slowly. “I can’t tell you. But Pete’s with her, so she’ll be okay.”

  “Like she was okay in Portland?” I asked harshly. “And when the crocotta attacked?”

  He swallowed. “This is different. It’s the middle of the day, and she’ll be back soon.”

  “Khristu! When will you three get it through your heads that no place, no time, is safe for her anymore. She’s an untrained Mohiri, and no match for the kind of enemies we have. The vampire that attacked her is still out there somewhere.”

  “But it’s sunny and –”

  “Any number of demons can go out in sunlight, and they would be only too happy to do a vampire’s bidding for the right price.”

  Fear and uncertainty flashed in his eyes. “She just went to… She’ll be back soon.”

  “What is she doing, Roland? What is so important that she had to take off again like this?”

  “I-I can’t say. She made me swear.”

  My Mori growled and pressed forward, and the effort to keep it back made me grit my teeth so hard my jaw ached. Its intent was clear, and the only thing that stopped me from shaking the truth out of the werewolf was Sara. She’d never forgive me if I hurt him. Any other time, I’d admire the unwavering loyalty the three of them had for each other, but right now, it was impeding my ability to keep her safe.

  “Just tell me they haven’t left town,” I managed to say.

  “They haven’t,” he rushed to assure me. “All I can tell you is that she went to talk to someone.”

  “About what?” My Mori eased off a bit, knowing she was still in town. “Is this about her father?”

  He gave me a startled look. “No… Why would you say that?”

  His expression told me I was right. “Tell me where she is, Roland.”

  “I can’t say.” His tone was apologetic, but it was clear he wouldn’t betray Sara’s trust. He glanced at his phone. “They’ll be back soon. You can ask her then.”

  Oh, I intend to. I folded my arms across my chest, staring across the lake as if that would make her magically appear.

  “Whose idea was it to use jet skis?” I asked, though I already knew the answer.

  “Sara’s. She’s pretty creative.”

  I released an angry sigh. “So I’ve noticed.”

  Chris joined us. “What do you want to do?”

  What I wanted to do was find Sara and take her straight to Westhorne. Since that wasn’t an option, I’d settle for finding her and making sure she never did anything this risky again.

  “I can’t wait around here.” I fixed Roland with a hard look. “Will you call me the second she shows up?”

  “Yes.”

  We exchanged phone numbers, and then I strode toward the driveway, ignoring the curious stares that followed me. My face must have reflected my mood because people quickly moved out of my way.

  At my bike, I looked at Chris who had accompanied me. “Roland said she didn’t leave town. Let’s split up and hope one of us spots her.”

  “You believe him?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay.” He walked over to a dark blue Toyota and stuck his hand under the front bumper. Then he pulled out his tracking monitor and turned it on to check the signal. “Just as a precaution. If he leaves, we’ll know.”

  “Good idea.” Roland hadn’t looked like he planned to go anywhere, but Sara had proven to have more than a little influence over her friends. One call from her and he’d be out of here.

  Chris straddled his bike, his eyes dark with remorse. “I’m sorry, Nikolas.”

  I picked up my helmet. “It’s not your fault. Sara had this all planned out. She knew we couldn’t catch them on the lake without a boat.”

  “Clever girl.”

  “Too clever for her own good,” I muttered as my bike roared to life.

  We separated at the main road. I went one way around the lake, and Chris headed in the other direction. If Roland was right about Sara and Peter returning soon, they couldn’t have gone too far. I might even catch them as they returned to the cottage where they’d left the jet skis.

  I’d almost made it to the other side of the lake when a police car sped past me with its lights flashing. My stomach twisted, even though I knew it most likely had nothing to do with Sara, and I did a U-turn to follow the vehicle. When it drove up a ramp to the highway, I almost didn’t follow because Roland had sworn Sara was still in town. But a gut feeling had me tailing them to a rest stop a few miles down the highway.

  Half a dozen people were milling around when I pulled in behind the police car. They all gave slightly different accounts to the officers, but I was able to get a picture of what had happened. And it made my blood run cold. Three teenagers had gotten into an altercation with a large man wielding a knife. One of the boys was stabbed before they took off in a red Mustang. The man had jumped into a black Escalade and gone after the teens, one of whom was a female with long dark hair.

  I left the rest stop, heading in the only direction the Mustang could have gone, and took the first exit I came to. At the bottom of the ramp, I found myself on a road in a small industrial area with little traffic. There was no sign of the Mustang or the Escalade, but the place wasn’t that large. If either vehicle was around here, I’d find it.

  As I began searching the area, I called Chris, bringing him up to speed. “It’s them. I’m sure of it. I don’t know who the second boy is, possibly the person they went to see.”

  “You want me to head your way?”

  “No. We can cover more ground this way. Is Roland still at the party?”

  There was a short pause, and then he said, “His car’s still at the house. Unless he got a ride from someone else, he’s there.”

  “Good.” If Roland thought Sara was in trouble, he’d go to her. So he must not have heard from her, which meant he expected her to show up there. “Let me know if he leaves.”

  I spent the next thirty minutes covering every road, alley, and parking lot within a five-mile radius. I saw no red Mustang, though I did pass a black Escalade with tinted windows once. The driver wasn’t doing anything suspicious, but when I saw the SUV’s dented fender, my body tensed, and worry flooded me again. There was a chance that Sara hadn’t been involved in the rest stop incident, but with her track record, I wasn’t betting on it.

  What are you messed up in, Sara?

  My phone rang, and my pulse quickened when I saw Roland’s name. I didn’t bother with pleasantries. “Please tell me she is with you.”

  “No, and they should be back by now.” Fear laced his voice. “One of the guys heard the cops were called to a fight at the rest stop.”

  “I heard that too.”

  “That’s where Sara and Pete went,” he confessed, confirming my fears. “I tried calling them, but they’re not answering their phones.”

  “Where would they go, Roland? If you know anything, you have to tell me.”

  “If Sara’s in trouble, she’ll go home,” he answered without hesitation. “I’m going there now.”

  “I’ll meet you there.”

  There was no sign of the blue Toyota when I got to Sara’s building, and I swore as I called Chris. “Where is Roland’s car?”

  “One second. He’s headed toward the waterfront. No wait. He just turned into the parking lot next to their school. I think it’s the church.”

  “Got it.” I did a U-turn and tore away from the waterfront.

  I reached the church minutes later, and I sensed Sara as soon as I pulled into the parking lot. Relief and anger flooded me when I sped around the corner of the church and saw a red Mustang with Sara behind the wheel. I stopped the bike a few feet from the car, and my control slipped when I saw the damage to the front of the Mustang. Tearing off my helmet, I was at the car in seconds and pulling her out of it.<
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  “Do you have a death wish?” I shouted.

  “Hey!” she yelled, but I drew her closer, torn between the urge to shake her and the fierce need to hold her.

  She twisted weakly, another reminder of how defenseless she was against the vampires and demons that hunted her. And now she could add humans to that list.

  “Let me go,” she demanded.

  “Forget it. You’re coming with me since it’s obvious you can’t be trusted to take care of yourself.”

  Roland moved toward us. “Now wait a minute.”

  I shot him a warning look. “I’ll do whatever is necessary to protect her, even if it’s from herself.”

  “The hell you will!” Sara’s eyes blazed. “You don’t own me.”

  I opened my mouth, but Peter cut me off. “Hey, this is not helping anyone. Before you all go off half-cocked, why don’t you let us tell you what happened?”

  Reluctantly, I released her, but I didn’t move away. I didn’t think I could if I tried. I forced myself to calm down and listen as she told us what had happened.

  “Peter and I went to Phil’s, and he dropped us off at the rest stop a few minutes before I was supposed to meet David. I went into the diner, and Peter stayed outside. David showed up and we talked, and then he left. That’s when the trouble started.”

  “Who are Phil and David?” I asked.

  “Phil is a friend, and David is a guy I know from online,” she said without looking at me.

  It was even worse than I’d suspected. “You went to meet a stranger from the Internet?”

  She crossed her arms. “I had my reasons.”

  Roland exchanged a look with her. “Tell him.”

  She finally looked at me. “I’ve been looking for answers about my dad’s murder for a long time. David lives in Portland and he had information for me, but we could only meet in person.”

  I stared at her, afraid of what I’d say if I opened my mouth. She took advantage of my silence to continue her story.

  “I went outside to call Phil to pick us up, and Peter ran into the diner to get a milkshake. That’s when the man grabbed me and tried to drag me to his SUV. And then the witch showed up.”

  “Witch?” Roland and I said together.

  “Yes. I think he was African, and he was covered in strange white tattoos.”

  I froze. It couldn’t be. “You’re sure about him, what he looked like?”

  I was close enough to feel the shiver that went through her.

  “I don’t think I’ll ever forget that face after what he did,” she said.

  “What did he do?” The thought of one of those bastards touching her made my skin crawl. She didn’t answer immediately, and my gut clenched. “Sara, did he hurt you?”

  “No, not really. He tried to do something to my mind. It felt like something…awful got inside my head and took control of me. I couldn’t move or say anything.”

  She shuddered, and I had to fight to not wrap my arms around her. “It was the most horrible feeling, like I’d never be clean again,” she said in a trembling voice.

  “Fuck! How did you get away?” Roland asked.

  “I don’t know. One second there was a creepy voice in my head telling me to go to sleep, and the next thing I knew the tattooed guy was screaming.” She fell silent and hugged herself, as if that would protect her from the horrors she was reliving.

  When she spoke again, her voice cracked. “I think… I think my Mori is dead. I felt it dying.”

  Solmi! My Mori reached for hers.

  No longer able to resist the need to touch her, I laid a hand on the small of her back. “It’s been hurt, but it’s still alive,” I told her softly.

  She didn’t meet my eyes. “How do you know?”

  “Trust me. I would know if it was gone,” I replied gruffly, refusing to think about that possibility.

  Roland looked at me. “What kind of witch can hurt a demon like that?”

  My lip curled in disgust. “A Hale witch. A desert witch from Africa. They get their power from the spirit world.”

  “Like a shaman or witch doctor?” Sara asked.

  “Hale witches only deal in dark magic, and their power is much greater than a shaman’s. A Hale witch can cripple a person with a single thought, and their compulsion is even stronger than a vampire’s, almost unbreakable.”

  She gasped and raised her gaze to meet mine. I saw the confusion in her eyes.

  “Not even the Mohiri are immune to their power. I’ve seen warriors brought to madness after a single encounter with a Hale witch.” I thought about Desmund Ashworth, the strongest warrior I’d ever known, whose mind was destroyed after a confrontation with one of them. “Hale witches abhor demons, and they do not work with vampires. And they usually stick close to their tribal region of the desert. It would take something big to get one of them to come all the way to America.”

  I held her gaze. “You aren’t telling us everything. Who else is after you?”

  “No one. I swear, I have no idea why they attacked me,” she declared so earnestly I believed her.

  “What happened after you got away from the witch?” Roland asked.

  “Peter was still fighting Tarak, and Tarak pulled a knife on him. I kinda lost it when I saw him cut Peter. I just jumped him and squeezed his throat until he went down. Then we took off.”

  Roland pointed at the dark-haired boy sitting in the front passenger seat of the Mustang. “Where does he come into this?”

  “He was there at the rest stop when those guys showed up. He got blasted by the witch when he tried to stop Tarak from taking me.”

  My hands clenched at my sides when I thought about how close she’d come to being taken. “What were you thinking, going off to meet a total stranger in the first place with everything else that’s going on?”

  She took a step back from me. “I had to go. You don’t know how long I’ve waited to find answers about my dad. I’ve been trying to meet with David for weeks.”

  “How do you know he didn’t lead those men right to you?”

  She shook her head. “He’s an Emote, and I believe he was telling the truth. He knew things…things about Madeline.”

  My body tensed at the mention of her mother, and I knew I was not going to like what came next.

  “Ten years ago Madeline went to see David’s father to tell him she was in trouble. They were friends, and David’s father gave her a lot of money to leave the country. She said vampires were after her and before she left she had to warn –” Emotion choked her, and she paused for a moment. “She had to warn my dad. A few days later, my dad was killed.”

  Roland paled. “Jesus, Sara.”

  She cleared her throat. “David wanted to meet with me because he lost someone, too. The vampires killed his father the same day they killed mine. David’s afraid the vampires will come after him because of what he knows. He was hiding upstairs while Madeline was there, and he heard something he wasn’t supposed to. He thinks it’s why his father was killed.”

  Dread filled me. Vampires didn’t need a reason to kill, but these deaths sounded too deliberate, too organized. “Did he tell you what it was?”

  She nodded slowly. “Madeline told David’s father that she knew the identity of a Master.”

  It was as if a switch had been flipped in my brain and all I felt was pure instinct. I lost all thought except getting Sara as far away from this place as possible.

  Moving with demon speed, I grabbed her and carried her to my bike. I had only one helmet, which I shoved down over her head.

  She pushed against the helmet. “Stop! What are you doing?”

  I fought to maintain control as fear gripped me. “I’m getting you out of here. I can’t protect you from a Master by myself. The only place you’ll be safe now is at a Mohiri stronghold.”

  “That happened ten years ago. There is no Master after me,” she argued, trying to twist away from me.

  I let out a harsh laugh because after ev
erything that had happened, she still had no comprehension of the danger she was in.

  “To you ten years is a long time, but to a vampire who has lived hundreds of years, it’s nothing. And what of this witch and the man who grabbed you? Either way, someone is looking for you, and we need to get you out of this town.”

  She tried to push me away. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

  “I’m not asking,” I said through gritted teeth. Chris had asked me if I was willing to make the hard decision when I knew I could no longer protect her here, and that time had come. I didn’t want it to be like this, but I was out of options.

  Shock and hurt filled her eyes. “So, that’s it? You’re going to force me to go against my will? You’re no different than them.”

  Roland lifted a hand. “Sara, maybe he’s right. I don’t want you to go, but I don’t want you to get hurt either.” He looked at me next. “But maybe we should talk to Uncle Max first to see what he thinks.”

  “I see,” she bit out. “So everyone gets a say about my life but me?”

  I steeled myself against the angry hurt in her voice and took her by the shoulders so she was forced to look at me. “If you stay here, you or someone you care about is going to end up hurt or killed. Someone is trying very hard to get to you, and they obviously won’t think twice about going through your friends to do it.”

  She blanched, but I didn’t stop. “Next time it could be worse. They could go after your uncle. Is that what you want?”

  “Of course not!” She flinched, and I hated the cruelty of my words, but I was desperate to make her see reason. Her face gave away her internal struggle, and I could see her trying to think of a way out of this. “Talk to Maxwell all you want, but I am not going anywhere until Nate gets home tomorrow. And if you make me go, I’ll run away the first chance I get.”

  “Fine. You’ll stay with me and Chris until then.” Between us and Erik’s team, the safe house was the best location for her until we could leave.

  She crossed her arms. “I don’t think so. I’m going home, and you are free to follow me if you want.”

  “That location is not secure.”

  Her laugh took me by surprise. “Trust me. The devil himself couldn’t get into that building.”