by Arthur, Keri
He ran at me. I dodged, then swung the shoe, hitting his jaw with an audible whack. He howled and lashed out with a clenched fist. I leaned back, felt the breeze of the blow brush past my chin. The reek of unwashed flesh swamped me again. Not the scent of the first vampire, but the second. And he was approaching fast. I grabbed a fistful of the first vamp’s shaggy brown hair and yanked him around into the second vampire’s path.
They hit with enough force to rattle my teeth, but it wasn’t enough to knock either of them out. The first vamp somehow twisted around, his fist catching the side of my face with enough force to knock me off my feet. I hit the floorboards with a grunt, the shoes flying from my hands. For a moment, I even saw stars. Then the weight of one of the vamps hit, his body covering my length and pinning me to the ground. His stench flooded my senses, making it hard to breathe as his canines lengthened in the expectation of a feed.
Not on my neck, he wasn’t.
I bucked, trying to get him off me, but he had his legs wrapped around mine to anchor himself. He laughed, and suddenly all I could see was bloodied teeth, slashing down.
“No way, you bastard.” I forced an arm between us. His teeth slashed my wrist, slicing deep, and pain roiled white-hot through my body. Some vampires made the experience of taking blood pleasurable, but this one sure as hell didn’t. Maybe he was too young. Whatever the reason, I screamed.
The other vampire laughed, which only served to fuel my anger. Strength surged though my limbs, momentarily obliterating the pain. As the vampire sucked greedily at my blood, I thrust my free hand through his hair, grabbed a fistful, then yanked his head back, dragging his teeth from my arm. As he squawked in surprise, I clenched a bloodied fist and hit him in the mouth as hard as I could. Blood and bone and teeth flew, and his squawk became a howl of agony. I bucked again and flipped him backward over my head. He landed with a crash on his back, hard up against the bar, and didn’t get up.
One down, one to go.
And that one was flying through the air, diving straight for me. I scrambled upright and got the hell out of his way. The vamp twisted in midair, landing catlike, then swept with a booted foot, trying to knock me off my feet. I dodged the blow, then repeated it, battering him off his feet. He landed with a thump on his butt but quickly twisted around and dove forward. One fist smacked into my thigh and sent me staggering. The vamp was up almost instantly, teeth gleaming in the cold darkness.
I faked a blow to his head, then spun and dove for one of my shoes. It would kill the sucker if I hit the right spot, but the chances of his standing still long enough were next to nil.
Still, no matter where I hit, a wooden spike hanging out of his chest would not only slow him down, but burn the shit out of him. No one was actually sure why, especially given that vamps could touch wood without problem. Current theories suggested it was some sort of chemical reaction between a vampire’s blood and the wood—and that reaction was the reason a stake through the heart could kill a vampire. It set off a response that resulted in the cindering of all internal organs, in much the same way as sunlight crisped new vampires stupid enough to go out in it.
He snarled in rage and leapt for me. I grabbed the shoe, snapped off the heel, then rolled out from underneath him and jumped upright. As he spun around to face me, I drove the spike as hard as I could into his chest.
He moved, and I missed the right spot. It didn’t matter. At that moment, anywhere was good. He stopped abruptly and stared down in surprise at the flickers of fire erupting from the wound. That’s when I dropped him. He hit the ground and didn’t move.
For a moment, I simply stood there, desperately battling to get some air back into my lungs. When I could breathe again, the pain hit—a tide that was almost all-consuming. I took a deep, shuddery breath and called to the wolf that prowled within.
Power swept through me, tingling through vein and muscle and bone, blurring my vision, blurring the pain. Limbs shortened, shifted, rearranged, until what was standing in the club was wolf not human. I remained in my alternate form for several seconds, panting softly and listening to the silence for any hint of movement, then began to shift back into human form.
The cells in a werewolf’s body retained data on body makeup, which was why wolves were so long-lived. In changing, damaged cells were repaired. Wounds were healed. And while it generally took more than one shift to heal wounds as deep as the ones on my arm, one would at least stem the bleeding and begin the healing process.
Of course, changing shape while fully clothed is never a good thing for the clothes—especially when they were as fragile as the lace top I was wearing. At least my jeans were made of stretchy material, and usually managed to survive the change in reasonable shape.
Once back in human form, I knotted the remains of the shirt together, then swung around, my gaze searching the darkness for the humans who were here, somewhere. That’s when the clapping began. It was a solitary tattoo that somehow managed to sound sarcastic.
I knew it was Gautier without even smelling him.
“You bastard,” I said, as I turned back around to face him. “You just stood there and watched?”
There was nothing pleasant about his sudden grin. “You’re right. You can handle yourself.”
“Why didn’t you help?”
He shoved his hands into his pockets and strolled into the club. “Only arrived back in time to see you shoving your shoe into the kid’s chest. Interesting innovation, by the way.”
I felt like raging at him, or, better yet, grabbing the other shoe and spiking it into his chest. But what would be the point? Gautier was twisted enough actually to enjoy the caress of fire across his flesh.
“I called the Directorate. Is that the reason you’re here?”
He nodded and squatted beside the vamp I’d spiked. “It isn’t every day the Directorate gets an emergency call from a liaison. Jack put out an all-points to any guardians close to the area.” He looked up. “Imagine the luck, me being so close.”
Imagine, I thought sourly, and spun on my bare heel, walking to the corner where Vinnie, and a woman I presumed was one of the waitresses, lay. The big man had slashes across his arms, chest, and one cheek, but they weren’t all that deep. His leg was twisted at an odd angle, and even in the dim light, I could see the white of shinbone. He’d somehow managed to wrap a tourniquet around his thigh, but even so, he’d lost a lot of blood. I wondered why the baby vamps hadn’t sucked it up.
The woman hadn’t escaped so lightly. Her shirt had been ripped open and her breasts deeply lanced. The vamps had suckled her like children would their mothers, and from the look of it, they’d bled her dry.
I squatted beside Vinnie. His gaze, when it met mine, was distant, shocked. “They followed me in when I opened. I didn’t even see them.”
I placed my hand over his. His skin was cold. Clammy. “I called an ambulance. They won’t be long.”
“Doreen? Is she okay? God, what they did to her—”
I glanced at the dead Doreen. Saw the echoes of terror in her lifeless blue eyes. What a goddamn awful way to spend your last moments.
My stomach stirred and rose. I swallowed back bile and squeezed Vinnie’s hand. “I’m sure she’ll be okay.”
“What about the others?”
I hesitated. “If I go check, will you be okay?”
He nodded. “Me and Doreen, we’ll just wait here.”
“I won’t be long.” As I rose, there was an audible snap of bone. Gautier, finishing what I’d started.
Not that snapping vampires’ necks actually killed them, but it certainly incapacitated them for a while. Long enough to drive a stake through their black hearts, anyway. Though Gautier didn’t actually need to disable any vampire while he used the stake—he just enjoyed it. Enjoyed seeing the fear gather in their eyes as he raised the stake and drove it into their hearts. Which probably meant he was extremely pissed off at me just then, because I’d knocked both of the baby vamps unconscious, thereby
robbing him of his pleasure. Why he was breaking their necks was anyone’s guess. Maybe it was habit.
Maybe he just liked the sound.
I walked on past him like there was absolutely nothing wrong, like it was an everyday occurrence that rogue vampires were executed in my presence. Any other reaction could be deadly, because he was watching me like a cat does a mouse.
And I had no intention of ever being Gautier’s mouse.
The distant wail of sirens bit through the silence as I squatted beside the three other women. All three of them were badly cut, and at least two of them raped. And as the soft squelch of wood being pressed into flesh, past bone and into heart whispered across the silence, part of me was fiercely glad. Those bastards didn’t deserve a fair trial or justice. They didn’t even deserve the quick staking they were being given.
The emergency crews finally arrived. As Vinnie and the women were tended to, I made a statement to the cops. Gautier flashed his credentials and walked out. But the look he gave me as he wrapped the shadows around his body suggested he and I were going to be at odds for a while yet. No real surprise there.
As soon as I was able, I picked up my handbag and got the hell out of there.
The night air was sweet compared to the nightclub, and I breathed deep, letting it fill my lungs and sweep away the foulness. Blood still rode the wind, but that was natural, especially since a lot of it was now on me.
What I needed was a nice hot shower. I slung my bag over my shoulder and headed home barefoot.
But I’d barely gone a dozen steps when the wrongness hit again, this time stronger than before.
I stopped and looked over my shoulder. What the hell was going on? Why was I feeling this when the situation inside the club had been sorted?
Then it hit me.
The wrongness wasn’t coming from the club or the night. It was coming from a more distant place. A more personal place. A place that was forged from the bond of twins.
My brother was in trouble.
Chapter 2
Panic surged. Ten guardians had disappeared under suspicious circumstances in the last few months, and only two of them had been found. Or rather, only bits of two of them had been found. I swallowed heavily. My twin couldn’t be the eleventh. He was the only family I had left since our pack had thrown us out. He was the only person who meant anything to me, the one person I couldn’t live without. Losing him would kill me as surely as a silver bullet.
I took a deep breath and tried to calm my fears. Rhoan wasn’t hurt, and he wasn’t dying, because I’d have felt either of those.
He was just in some form of trouble, and, my fault or not, he’d been in trouble most of his life. He could handle it, whatever it was.
The last thing I needed to do was panic. But I could check. I retrieved my cell phone, pressed the vid button, then quickly dialed my boss, Jack Parnell. He was the current head of the guardian division, and one of the few vampires I actually liked. The other, Kelly, was a guardian and one of my few friends. Not only were they both nice, but they actually bathed like regular people.
Jack’s bald features came online. He gave me a toothy grin, but there was an intentness in his green eyes that belied his jovial expression.
“Nice to see you’re unhurt after your evening jaunt,” he said, his tone cheerful and gravelly. “I’ll expect your report in the morning.”
“I’ll write it up at home and e-mail it in. Tell me, have you heard from Rhoan?”
“About two hours ago. Why?”
I hesitated. I had to be careful what I said, because no one at the Directorate knew Rhoan and I were related, let alone twins. The fact that we shared the same last name was no clue, simply because every individual in a wolf pack shared the same surname. So everyone in our pack, related or not, had Jenson as a last name. And whenever someone new came into the pack, they legally changed their names to the pack name. It was the one way to differentiate origins between packs that shared the same coat color.
Most of those at the Directorate actually presumed we were lovers simply because we lived together—a theory neither of us corrected because it was far easier on us if they believed that. Of course, if they actually knew anything about Rhoan, they would have realized how unlikely our being lovers was.
I wasn’t sure what Jack believed—he’d never said anything about the two of us, never asked anything about our situation. He gave the appearance of not caring either way, but after working for him for six years, I knew that was never the case.
“You’re aware that werewolves often know when pack mates are in trouble?”
He simply nodded.
“Well, I’ve got that feeling now, with Rhoan.”
“Life-or-death-type trouble?”
“No.”
“Is he injured in any way?”
“No. Not yet.”
He frowned. “So you simply feel he is in trouble?”
“Yes.” Felt it through every fiber, and as strongly as I could feel the heat of the moon.
“I don’t disbelieve you, Riley, but as he’s not overdue, I prefer to wait. The mission he’s on is a delicate one, and sending rescuers in could make the whole thing fall apart.”
Like I cared about anything but my brother . . .
I took another deep breath and blew it out slowly. “But given the other disappearances, isn’t it worth checking?”
“The others disappeared from a specific area. Rhoan’s mission shouldn’t take him anywhere near it.”
“So you know where he is?”
“Yes.” He hesitated. “Though you and I are both aware he doesn’t always report changes of direction.”
Wasn’t that the truth. And if he wasn’t where he was supposed to be, then finding him was going to be a whole lot of fun. “When will he become overdue?”
“He’s due to report at nine tomorrow morning.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
“I shall decide then what to do.”
“I want in.”
“Riley, you’re not a guardian.”
Yet. I could almost hear the unspoken modifier. I could certainly see the amusement crinkling the corners of his eyes. Though I’d failed the tests, Jack, for some reason, held the firm belief that I had the makings of a great guardian. He’d told me so, lots of times. But because I’d already taken the test, he couldn’t force me to take another. I was safe—at least until he found a way to make me do the damn thing again. Or until I played into his hands, as I suspected I might be doing.
“He’s my pack mate. I don’t intend to sit back and twiddle my thumbs if he’s in trouble.”
“Then report to work in the morning, and we’ll see what happens.”
Which was neither a yes nor a no, but about as much as I was going to get that night. “Thanks, Jack.”
“Try not to scent anything else on the wind tonight,” he said, voice dry. “It looks like an ant could knock you over right now.”
“But only a very toned ant.”
He laughed and hung up. I stared at the phone’s blank screen for several seconds. If Jack wasn’t going to be forthcoming with information, maybe I should try someone else. Like Kelly.
Guardians often discussed missions, so maybe she knew where Rhoan had been headed. I had no idea if she was actually home, but I knew for a fact she wasn’t working. It was worth a try.
I dialed her number, but after three rings it clicked over to the answering machine. “Kel, it’s Riley. Give me a call when you get home, no matter what the time.” I hesitated, then added, so as not to panic her, “Nothing urgent. I just have a question.”
I hung up, shoved the phone back in my bag, and walked home.
Only to find the night’s weirdness had not finished with me yet. A vampire stood at my door.
A naked vampire, in fact.
I stopped and stared. I couldn’t help it. He was naked, after all. And damn, he was built.
He had hair that might have been black, but just then
looked brown with all the mud caked onto it, dark eyes that were anything but soulless, and a face angels would kill for.
His body was just as caked with mud as his hair, but underneath the dirt, it was lean and powerful—in an athletic sort of way. And to complete the perfect packaging, he was well endowed. Not the largest I’d ever seen, but mighty fine all the same.
The stairwell door slammed shut against my back, knocking me out of my admiring stupor.
“Hello,” I said.
“Hello,” he repeated.
A polite vampire. Amazing. “Is there any particular reason you’re standing naked at my door?”
I was hoping there was. Hoping that maybe he was some kind of present. Granted, my birthday was quite a few months off, but a girl can always dream.
Though my dreams didn’t usually contain naked vampires, especially mud-covered ones.
He answered my question with one of his own. “Is there any particular reason you’re covered in blood?”
“I got into a fight. What’s your excuse?”
He looked down, as if his state of undress was something he hadn’t noticed until that moment. “I really have no idea how I ended up like this.”
His voice was a low vibration that shivered through my soul and made my toes want to curl. Damn if it wasn’t the sexiest voice I’d ever heard on a man—dead or alive.
“But you do know why you’re standing at my door?”
He nodded. “If you live here, then I am here to see you.”
“Well, I can tell you, I don’t get many bare-assed guys turning up on my doorstep.” Which was partly what I’d been bitching about to my brother before he’d disappeared on his mission, and the main reason I’d half hoped this vamp might be a present. Rhoan tended to do things like that. Though admittedly, few vampires had a sense of humor, and most would not have gone along with such a stunt. “So, unless you can explain what’s going on, you can march your pretty body down the stairs and out of our building.”
“I need help.”
Which more than likely meant he wanted Directorate help more than my personal help. Which was a damn shame. My gaze did another tour down his naked torso, and I couldn’t help an almost wistful sigh. Okay, so I saw a lot of nice naked bodies at the werewolf nightclubs, but this vampire was definitely the best-put-together specimen of manhood I’d seen recently.