“I pulled my punches,” Norah insisted.
“I’ll go too,” Raven offered and started gathering her stuff. “She might be from my old settlement.”
“She is, and Connor said you can’t go,” Ian said. “Before you get all pissy, she’s feeling like the humans here are her enemies. I’m not sure what we’ll get from her, to be honest.”
Raven nodded.
Kyleigh felt Ian’s eyes on her, so she looked at him. “I guess I’d better go home and shower,” she said.
Ian’s heated gaze moved along her body, and she found herself hoping he’d offer to help her. It was obvious that’s what he wanted to do. After a moment of tense silence, Ian cleared his throat and looked away.
“Do you have enough food at the house?” Ian asked, and just like that, the wall came up between them.
“I’ll bring something by later,” Raven offered.
“You don’t need to bring any more food,” Kyleigh insisted.
“I’m spending the evening with Mitchell, so don’t wait up for me,” Ian said a little too curtly.
Kyleigh merely shrugged. “Tell him I said hi.” While it stung a little that Ian hadn’t invited her to join him, she understood his reasoning. His time with Mitchell was limited.
For some reason, after fighting, Kyleigh no longer felt like she was going to fall apart. Raven, Norah, and Layla were right; this really was what she’d needed. She was still no closer to deciding what to do about Ian, but at least she was done wallowing in self-pity.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Ian made his way to the detention center with Simon and Norah. The entire time, Norah glared at him like she wanted to smack the hell out of him.
“Are you pissed at me for something?” Ian finally asked.
“I really like Kyleigh,” Norah said.
“Me too,” Ian said honestly.
“Then why are you acting like such an ass?” Norah demanded.
“Just let it go, Norah,” Simon said. “This is between Ian and Kyleigh. You’re only going to make it worse.”
“Fine,” Norah snapped. “I’ll leave it alone, at least for now.”
Cam sat close to the female vampire’s cell, still wearing the armband.
“You can take that thing off,” Simon told Cam. “She’s not going anywhere in the cell.”
“I agree,” Connor said as he walked in behind them. “The collar is overkill, and I remember how much Raven hated wearing it.”
“Come closer and I’ll take that thing off, sweetheart,” Cam said as he stepped toward the bars.
“Could you please stop calling me sweetheart?” the vampire muttered.
Cam removed the collar and brushed his thumb across the pulse on her neck. “Then what should I call you?”
She hesitated and smiled. “It’s kind of stupid to withhold my name, isn’t it?”
“It is if you want me to stop calling you sweetheart,” Cam said, handing the collar and armband to Simon.
“Claire,” she said.
“Okay, Claire,” Connor said patiently. “I already know you think we’re out to destroy humans. What do we need to do to convince you that you’re wrong? We need your help to stop Roger from killing more people.”
Claire snorted. “Why should I believe you?”
“You’re still alive,” Connor said patiently.
“So, I get to stay alive because I’m a vampire now?” she asked.
“A lot of humans live here,” Norah said.
“Yeah, slaves so you have blood,” Claire said, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
“Yes, we need blood, and donating is a requirement for most humans who live here,” Connor agreed. “Several humans from your settlement were exempted from blood donation because of their past traumas.”
“Are you telling me vampires don’t have human slaves?” Claire asked with a disdainful sneer.
Ian got the impression she knew the answer already. “Not in this territory,” Ian said. “It’s legal to keep humans for blood. They are kept like slaves in a lot of territories. Hell, I tried it here, but it was just to piss off Connor.”
“Now you’re admitting that keeping humans as slaves is okay? Roger doesn’t have human slaves.” Claire looked uncertain about her argument.
“Roger is an asshole who places no value on human or vampire life. He’s been rounding people up to use in his little experiments for a very long time,” Ian said.
“Roger was part of the leadership when my husband was tortured,” Norah said angrily. “I thought my husband was dead for a year.”
Claire wouldn’t meet Norah’s eyes. “We’re at war, and sometimes the enemy gets hurt. The humans Roger brings to the settlement are brought there for their own protection. Yes, some of them choose to become vampires, but they always have a choice. If they say no, then he offers them shelter.”
“That’s a lie.” Mitchell’s voice cut through the air.
“You shouldn’t be here, Mitchell,” Simon said. “This could get ugly.”
“I heard you had a vampire like me, and I wanted to meet her,” Mitchell explained.
Ian didn’t want Mitchell around Claire, at least not yet, but he also understood Mitchell’s curiosity. There was no one like Mitchell in the settlement, and he felt alone at times.
“You can stay unless things get ugly,” Ian said, which earned him a scowl from Connor.
“Are there others like us?” Mitchell asked.
Claire hesitated before nodding. “There are a quite a few. I guess things still go wrong sometimes, and people become undead. Were you infected in one of the earlier accidents?”
“Accidents?” Mitchell asked, looking confused.
“Yeah, when they were first working on mutating the virus, I heard there were some accidental infections. Roger said they’ve tried to care for the survivors, but I guess most are undead and just follow orders.” Claire looked sad.
“My family lived on a ranch. A lot of humans prefer to live that way instead of staying in big settlements,” Mitchell explained in a distant voice. “One day, a bunch of humans and some turned vampires showed up and forced us to go with them. I still don’t remember parts of it. My mind got damaged some when they were starving me of blood right after the change.”
Claire’s mouth dropped slightly, and Cam reached a hand through the bars to stroke her arm.
“I remember being kept in a cage,” Mitchell said. “I couldn’t even sit up straight. That’s where I was when they injected me. We all begged them not to do it, but they just laughed and called us cattle. I’m not exactly sure why I didn’t die like my family and the others. No one really knows for sure. Since I was starved of blood, I should have died within a few days like everyone else.”
Claire opened her mouth to speak but closed it and swallowed several times, refusing to look at anyone in the room. “This can’t be true,” she said softly.
“Why not?” Simon asked. “You think they’re so kind and good, even after what Mitchell told you?”
If her glare was any indication, Claire wasn’t convinced Mitchell was telling the truth, and she wasn’t happy with Simon’s attitude. “So, I should believe everything you’re telling me? You say you didn’t kill my parents, and I should believe you. You bring some kid in here with a story about how badly he was treated by Roger, and I should trust him too.”
“We didn’t bring Mitchell in here,” Simon argued. “In fact, we didn’t want him anywhere near you.”
“Leave her alone,” Cam growled. “Why don’t you give her some time to process all of this?”
As much as Ian wanted the woman to believe everything they’d just told her, he got that it was a lot to take in. Claire’s reluctance made perfect sense. “The shifter’s right,” Ian said. “We’ll get more out of her if she believes the truth. We just told her everything she’s been fighting for is a lie.”
“Agreed,” Connor said with a nod. “I’ll have blood brought in for you,” he said
to Claire, but she didn’t acknowledge him. She’d moved to the far corner of the cell where Cam couldn’t reach her.
Ian wasn’t sure what the shifter’s deal was. Cam had been mostly flirting with Claire up to this point. Now, he seemed protective of her.
Ian turned to Mitchell. “What did you want to do tonight?”
“Raven told me about a movie she saw recently, and I thought we could watch it with Kyleigh.”
Ian hesitated. “Let’s go watch it at Simon’s house instead,” he suggested, feeling like a complete ass for avoiding Kyleigh.
Norah slammed into his back on the way out of the room, and he heard her mumble, “Dumbass.”
Ian sighed. Norah was right about him being a dumbass, but he’d have time to make this up to Kyleigh once they returned to her realm. This place was his and Kate’s. Kyleigh understood that.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Arawn knew things hadn’t gone according to plan as soon as the team returned. First, there were no extra humans. Second, there weren’t even the same number of vampires that had headed out that morning.
“Where’s the female?” Roger asked in a bored tone. An annoying eye twitch was the only indication Roger was upset.
“Some of us were caught in traps at the human settlement,” the skinny male vampire said nervously. “Claire was one of them.”
“Why didn’t you rescue her?” Roger demanded with an edge of anger to his voice.
Seeing Roger begin to unravel annoyed Arawn.
“The humans were better prepared than we expected,” the vampire explained. “They attacked us with weapons. If we hadn’t fled, none of us would have made it back.”
Arawn cursed from his unseen position at the edge of the room. This was the exact reason that female never should have been sent out. Roger was too much of an idiot to keep her safe. Then again, the female was stubborn. The problem now was that this female was essential to his plans. The vampire council would want her there for the next meeting, and Arawn suspected Roger wasn’t stable enough to manage that meeting in her absence.
Then another thought occurred to Arawn. What if she ended up in the hands of his enemies? With any luck, the humans would kill her. Her death could actually work to his advantage.
The vampire was still rambling on nervously, but neither Arawn nor Roger were paying him any attention.
“Why are you still here?” Roger snapped, cutting the vampire off mid-sentence.
The vampire looked startled. “You didn’t tell me to leave.”
“Leave,” Roger ground out.
Alone in the room with Roger again, Arawn made himself visible. “With any luck, they’ll kill her.”
Roger’s startled gasp was satisfying. After a moment, Roger recognized him and looked more confused. “You came to me before,” he said.
Arawn loved fucking with people this way. “Yes,” Arawn said with a smile.
“I don’t see how this could be a good thing,” Roger muttered. “I need her to meet with the vampire council. They like her.”
“All the more reason her death could work to your advantage,” Arawn assured him. “With a heavy heart, you can tell the council how the local vampires murdered sweet Claire.”
“Yes,” Roger agreed in a calculating voice. “The council will see how dangerous the blood whores are after this.”
“I just need you to hold it together long enough to make this work,” Arawn said. “Keep up with the plan and make sure the vampires who went out today back up your story about the female’s murder.”
“What if she’s still alive?” Roger asked in near panic.
“Then make it known that she is to be killed on sight,” Arawn said. Much as he hated to lose Claire, if she was still alive, she was compromised. The only way the vampires would let her live was if she were useful to them. Hell, that’s just the way life worked. “If Claire is still alive, she must die.”
Roger nodded. “Such a pity to lose a good female,” he mused. “They’re rare creatures.”
With that, Arawn faded away, savoring the confusion clouding Roger’s eyes again. Yes, it really was fun messing with the human world. This was one of the things he missed most about the good old days.
It was a shame to lose the female. He wondered if she was already dead. She’d been much more ruthless than Arawn had initially anticipated.
The vampires were supposed to end their lives if captured, but that was harder to accomplish with the stronger ones, like Claire. Even the weaker of Roger’s vampires tended to possess enough self-preservation to fear death. Some of them were destined to feed Arawn’s shadows, so they had good reason to fear death. Of course, it was really the fear of the unknown that made most cling to life so tenaciously.
Arawn needed to return to his own realm to determine if Claire was still alive. Her soul contained too much light to be claimed by his shadows, but he’d know if it had passed on to the next plain of existence. If not, he’d have to move things in that direction.
That’s when Arawn realized he had another option. As long as he controlled the female, there wouldn’t be problems. That was what made the new vampires with no heartbeats good soldiers. Arawn smiled, knowing the best solution for his problem with Claire. If she was still alive, he would transform her into the perfect weapon.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Connor’s single raised eyebrow was the only reaction when Danny and Mark walked in for patrol with Trevor and Jenny, two other humans. Connor didn’t look annoyed, which impressed Danny. One thing Con hated was last minute changes to his schedule. Danny and Mark were on patrol that day. Trevor was off rotation, and Jenny was supposed to help Shelby with the new vampire trainees.
“So glad you decided to join us,” Connor murmured, and Danny was pretty sure he and Mark were in for a lecture on punctuality.
“My fault,” Mark said with a casual shrug. “Raven came by to tell me about Claire this morning. Then I went over to talk to Danny.” Nothing in Mark’s demeanor hinted at his tension.
Connor studied Mark for a moment before nodding. “Trevor, you’re with Jack,” he said. “You’re both heading over to Treasure Island to discuss replacing their stolen jeeps. Determine what they really need. In my opinion, they don’t need the extra jeeps if they can’t even tell us when they went missing.”
Trevor nodded, but Jack looked annoyed.
“Jenny, you’re with Carla and Rand. I’ll message you the maps for the areas I want you to check out. This is just basic patrol, but you will be visiting one human settlement.”
Rand chuckled. “No need to say it. I should hang back so I don’t scare the humans.”
“Exactly,” Connor said. “Don’t hang back too far. These humans are skittish and seem harmless, but I’d rather play it safe with everything that’s been going on lately.”
Carla looked pissed. “You don’t think I can handle a few angry humans?”
“I’m not exactly helpless,” Jenny added.
Connor glared at both of them. Yeah, even Danny knew this was a bad day to expect Connor to stroke anyone’s ego. “If I thought two people could handle this, I would only send two. Since there are three of you going, it’s because three are needed.”
Jenny nodded, giving Connor a sheepish smile. Danny almost laughed because Jenny had been piss your pants terrified of vampires before they’d moved here. Now, she still had some issues when fighting them, hence the reason she wasn’t on patrol often, but she was getting better. The woman was built like a fighter and spent hours training. Still, she had a cute pixie like appearance. Short curly brown hair made her heart-shaped face, almond-shaped green eyes, and pert nose more obvious.
Danny realized he’d let his mind wander when he heard Connor dismissing everyone. Strange how often he lost focus lately. Maybe it was the lack of sleep. Ian and Simon also stayed behind, probably because they were going to be involved in questioning Claire.
“Let me send out the maps to everyone,” Connor said as
he moved toward the computer and started typing. When he was done, he turned back and studied Mark and Danny. “I’m assuming by the familiarity in your voice, you know Claire pretty well.”
Mark nodded. “Yeah, we had something for a few months.”
“How long ago was that?” Connor asked.
“We haven’t spoken in over a year,” Mark admitted. “Let me talk to her. At least she knows me.”
“How did your relationship end?” Connor asked.
Mark dropped his head. “Not great,” he admitted.
“Then it would be a bad idea for you to see her,” Connor said, putting one hand up when Mark looked like he was about to argue. “We need to get information from her, not piss her off more. She already believes we killed her parents.”
“Her parents were still alive when we left the island,” Mark said. “They’re the reason she ended things with me. Nice people, but they were terrified of Raven. When they chose not to move here, it was no real surprise.”
Connor nodded thoughtfully.
“Might not be a bad idea to let Mark talk to her,” Simon said.
“Unless she hates Mark,” Ian added.
“She doesn’t,” Mark insisted.
“We’ll give it a shot,” Connor finally said. “If things turn ugly, you get out of the room right away, Mark.”
Danny really hoped Mark could make a difference in Claire’s thinking. Getting information about Roger’s plans would be useful. He was also having a hard time believing Claire knew everything Roger was up to. While he’d only met Claire a handful of times, his instincts about people were good, and they were telling him Mark was right about Claire being deceived by Roger.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
After a lot of arguing, Mark agreed to bring one of the vampires with him when he talked to Claire. Connor wanted all of them there, but Mark felt she’d react better if it was only him. Ian was shocked when Connor agreed to let Mark go in with just one vampire, and he was even more shocked when Mark picked him.
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