I’d attacked the vampire before he’d been able to think twice, and I’d killed him. When I’d stood in the alley, blood on my hands and my heart beating in my throat, a voice had rung out to me.
“You have skills,” he’d said. I’d swung around and backed away, scared he’d call the police.
“You hate vampires,” he’d said again, a statement, not a question. “I know someone that I’d like you to meet.”
He’d pulled out a card with Ruben’s firm name and number on it.
“This is an accounting firm,” I’d said, confused.
“Just call him. Tell him Carl sent you. He’ll know.”
He’d turned and sauntered down the street without a care in the world.
“Why?” I’d called after him.
“You have rage, kid. In this life, we can use that kind of thing.”
After that he’d disappeared.
Working for Ruben had been quick and painless. I’d spent one night out with Carl, and for a week I’d had nightmares after I’d seen him work. I’d gone back after that, and told Ruben I wanted to do it permanently. He’d told me everything I already knew, that I’d need to train, that it wasn’t going to be easy, that it would border on illegal activities. But I’d agreed because it meant I could kill vampires. I hadn’t been able to kill my dad. Maybe if they hadn’t come in time to save him I would have. But there were so many other mundane vampires around since the laws let them roam free, and it hadn’t been long before Carl had started avoiding me because I’d been better, because the rookie was outshining him and jealousy didn’t look good on a man with his physique.
I’d taken the job because somehow it had felt like every vampire I killed was one less in the world that could get to Aspen. In a wheelchair she was vulnerable, and I couldn’t run the risk of another monster suddenly going rogue.
The fact that there never really was a chance for that anymore was something I ignored.
And after all that, after training for years and killing vampires every week night the way other people went in to the office, I’d managed to fail her again.
I sat on my bike after I’d parked in front of my apartment and took a deep breath. I closed my eyes and focused on the blood that surged through my veins. I could still feel her, a feint pulse next to my own. She was still alive.
Every time I checked in to find out I held my breath, hoping for the best but preparing myself for the worst. And every time I found she was still alive, I felt relief so strongly I felt like I might crumble.
But still I couldn’t pin a location. It was like someone knew that this was what had happened, that I had my own tracker on her, and they stopped me from finding her. It was like a metal wall between us, and try as I might, I couldn’t get through it.
I pushed the bike into my crumby garage and rolled the door shut with a terrible noise. I clicked the lock shut and made my way into the building. Everything in my apartment was as I’d left it before, and I felt safe enough to take my guns off and put them away. I still had my Glock under my pillow and I kept the knife on me in the thigh sheath just in case.
I sat down at the booth in the kitchen and stared at the empty seat opposite me. How long had it been – a week? – since Jennifer had sat across from me? It had looked like such an innocent job then. Distasteful, but innocent. It was difficult to think things had gotten so bent out of shape in such a short time.
I’d lost Joel, the only friend I ever had. And I knew it was my fault. They’d taken him either as a warning, or as bait. They might have killed him. I didn’t know. And I had no way to know if he was still alive the way I was tracing signs of life from Aspen. He could be dead for all I knew, and I knew it was all my fault.
A dark cloud formed above me, and it colored my mood black.
Ruben was dead. That was my fault too, because I hadn’t done my job. If only I’d understood how serious it was, if only I’d taken him more seriously and done what he’d asked. But his cocky attitude and the arrogance with which he talked about the night world when he knew nothing about it annoyed me, and I showed that to him by lack of respect.
Now he was dead, and there was nothing I could do about it. And Sonya? It was dumb luck that she was still alive, and no one knew what would happen to her now. Maybe they would come after her too, in case she knew something. In that case that would be another mark on my name. Another life to feel guilty about.
I folded my arms on the table top and rested my head on them. My breath bounced off the plastic and came back into my face, making a warm little furnace that painted my face with my own breath.
I sighed. The only way I was going to get any further was to get to the bottom of the master vampires and how they operated. If I knew what they did, what skills they possessed and how they did their business, I could find out more. I could find some kind of crack in their metal wall and find Aspen.
The only person that knew anything about the masters, was Connor. I was damn glad I’d missed when I’d shot him. I needed him alive now to tell me.
At the same time I knew that it was ridiculous even trying to go to him after that. He would never help me, why would he? And after what happened between us, after the night we’d spent together… I pushed the memories away. They made my throat swell shut and I didn’t know if it was because I hated the memories, or because it hurt that Connor probably didn’t want me anymore. I didn’t want to find out, either.
I had to find him if I wanted to find Aspen, no matter how horrible it was going to be. So that was what I was going to do. And the only person I could rely on for that right now was Jennifer.
There were so many obstacles in front of me now I didn’t feel like dealing with, but I didn’t have a choice.
I found her card in the drawer I’d dumped it in after I’d visited her the last time. There were a couple of people on my list of least-favorite characters in the world. She’d made it on. I didn’t appreciate liars. I had a hell of a life I covered up all the time but I avoided lying if I could. The only thing left in the world that people had, even when everything else was stripped away and they had nothing, was their word. And if your word was good for nothing, you had nothing left.
The phone rang seven times. One more time and it would roll over to voice mail. But it didn’t. She answered.
“I need to see you,” I said into the phone. She hesitated for a moment.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”
“Why not? Don’t you think that you owe me, at least?” I knew it wasn’t the best card to play, but I was running out of options with Aspen and I needed Jennifer to play along. At least for one more night.
“Look, you’re not the kind of person I should be having contact with right now. If they hear that I’ve spoken to you, after everything…”
“The master vampires? Have they contacted you?”
If they’d threatened Jennifer but she was still alive, she had something on them. And if she refused to speak to me, there was nothing I could do. I was getting desperate.
“I just need to find—“
“Don’t say it,” Jennifer cut me off. “Don’t. I can’t do this.”
She hung up on me. The line beeped in my ear and I swore, throwing my phone onto the bed. Dammit.
Two seconds later it beeped. It was a message from Jennifer.
They’re watching me. I didn’t want to talk on the phone. Meet me at Fiasco at nine.
It was still a while before dark, but at least now I had something to do again once the sun was down. Without a job I felt untethered, and I didn’t want to think what sitting at home twiddling my thumbs would be like.
I showered and got dressed. I put on my leathers again. I wasn’t going out for kills just yet, but I didn’t know what information would come to light, and if I was going to get Aspen out of there later, I wanted to be ready.
I loaded my guns. Silver bullets in each of them. I had my Smith & Wesson on me, my SIG at my back and my knife on my thigh. I had an ankle ho
lster where I secured my Glock, and I put the Carbine in my bike’s compartment. I didn’t want to be caught off guard and if I wanted to get Aspen out of there alive, me too, for that matter, I had to go in there guns blazing.
My phone rang on the bed where I left it.
“What is it?” I asked into the speaker. I was in a foul mood, pumped full of adrenaline in anticipation for the night, and in a foul mood because I had to wait.
“Don’t sound so happy to hear from me,” Carl’s sarcasm came through the phone.
“What do you want, Carl?”
“I told you, I want in. I want to know where you’re headed later. You can do with some back up once in a while.”
I shook my head even though Carl couldn’t see it. “I’m not going out to kill. I need to contact some people first, and you’re not coming with me.”
“Don’t cut me out of this now, Adele. I want to avenge Ruben just as much as you do.”
I hadn’t thought about it. I didn’t want avenge Ruben. His death was tragic, and the guilt for it would chew away at me for a very, very long time. But I wasn’t out to avenge his death and make it right. I was going to get Aspen. I wondered what Ruben and Carl had going that he felt the need to avenge him.
“Look, I’m just going to talk to someone. If I know more, I’ll call you, okay?”
Carl mumbled something that sounded unhappy, but he agreed. I hung up the phone and closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. It didn’t matter how badly he wanted to get in on this. I wasn’t going to drag him along. Carl was just a human, and even though I hated his guts most of the time I wasn’t going to drag him into a situation where he could get killed, too. There was enough blood on my hands already.
It was finally time to leave and I pulled out, my bike growling into the night. It sounded the way I felt. I made it through town, weaving in and out of traffic, and I parked in front of Fiasco. When I stepped onto the deck where the outside tables were arranged, I noticed Jennifer sitting in the back looking like she was trying to make herself small and invisible.
“You’re not really fooling anyone trying to hide like that,” I said. “You’re not invisible.”
I sat down and a waiter appeared immediately.
“Water,” I said. I didn’t like anything else, and alcohol was off limits for me. It made me buzz and I couldn’t go out on a killing spree on that level. It would be asking for trouble.
Jennifer rolled her eyes.
“What do you want?” she asked me. Her voice was calm but her eyes kept darting around the place, looking for faces.
“Who are you hiding from?” I asked.
“I can’t really be seen with you. I’ve been warned.”
“By them?” I didn’t have to clarify who I meant by ‘them’. Jennifer nodded.
“They called me yesterday and told me that if I talk to you, I’m dead.”
For someone who was walking around with a death sentence, she was damn brave to be our here talking to me. The water arrived and we both kept quiet while the waitress put the cold glass in front of me. When she was walked away I took a sip and kept quiet until I was sure everyone was out of earshot.
“What do you have on them?” I asked. She frowned at me.
“They have to have a reason why you’re still alive. They already killed a handful of people to get what they want.”
Jennifer’s face blanched. “They have?”
I nodded. I wasn’t going to go into it. I didn’t want to tell everyone how much I messed up. And I didn’t want to think about it too much myself, either.
“So?” I prodded.
Jennifer took a shaky breath and looked down at her hands. She was fiddling with a napkin, tearing it into tiny pieces, making a pile on the table. “It’s not really something I have on them. It’s more like it’s just something they need. They can’t kill me as long as they need the funding for their… business. Connor’s account has my name in there, too. I’m allowed to say what happens to the money, and as long as I’m alive they have the money. They can’t kill me, it’s one they can’t crack. Unless they can find funding somewhere else.”
I was horrified. Jennifer was letting this carry on.
“Why don’t you cut off funding?” I asked. “You’re just letting this continue and you know it’s wrong.”
When Jennifer looked up at me her eyes were rimmed with tears. Again. She was really quick to cry.
“If I do, they’ll kill me. This is the only thing that’s keeping me alive. With what I know… they’ll kill me. It’s the lesser of two evils.”
Something inside me closed. I wasn’t going to fall for that one. The lesser of two evils was what I’d chosen. To keep my sister alive no matter what. But if it came down to the greater good I’d sacrifice myself. The only reason I couldn’t do it now was because I was the only person left to care for her, the only person that could bring her back.
“You’re disgusting,” I said and I meant it. Judging by the look of shame on her face, something mixed with anger, I could tell she knew it, too.
“What did you want from me?” she asked in a cold voice.
Right. The reason I came. I needed information from her, and I just told her how appalling I thought she was. Great.
“I need to find Connor,” I said.
Jennifer shook her head.
“Why would I know where he is? Since he disappeared…” She swallowed hard and looked down at her pile of napkin shreds. “He’s dead to me now. He’s cut himself off from everyone, I don’t know where he is.”
I’d expected her to answer that. But I wasn’t going to give up.
“Give me an address. Something. Anything, Jennifer. Otherwise a lot more people will die. I need to stop this.”
I don’t know if it was something in my face or my voice, or because she felt condemned, but she nodded and pulled out a notepad and pen. She scribbled on it and slid it across the table.
It had two addresses on it. The mansion in Caldwell Street in Westham Hills. That had belonged to him after all. And the address of his offices. The Palace.
“If you want to go to the offices, just use my name and they should let you in. The night guards know me.”
I bet they did. I thanked her and got up, my glass of water hardly touched. At least I hadn’t ordered something that had cost money. I walked to my bike and got on. It was nine thirty. I’d only spoken to Jennifer for half an hour. My phone rang just as I was about to pull off.
“You owe me money,” Carlos said.
“I know. I’ll bring it to you—“
“Now. I don’t like waiting. I can’t afford to give my clients credit.”
His voice was hard. I guessed this was as tough as his life got. I sighed and pulled the phone away from my ear for a second to check the time.
“I’ll drop by later tonight,” I said. “I have errands to run.”
“You can’t—“I hung up. I didn’t feel like arguing about it. Yes, I hadn’t paid him and I was in the wrong. But that was how it was and I would fix it once I had the chance.
Chapter 17
The roads were quieting down, most people settling down into their weeknight routines. I was the only one that was out of mine. If it had been an ordinary life, I would have been heading out from the office with a stack of papers from Ruben and a night of blood and guts before me.
I wanted to go back to that. It hadn’t been a hell of a job, and there’d always been a little torn. But it had been familiar. Safe, ironically. It had been my life.
What did I have now? A big mess to clear up before it was all too late.
The neighborhood felt like it always did, with so many suburban families home. The neighborhood buzzed with vibrant life, if not happiness then at least contentment. Families were together, I could feel the strength of their bonds as I passed the houses. It made me feel strangely untethered, like an island. Surrounded by nothing but ocean. Disconnected from everything else like me.
I cut the engi
ne before I got to Connor’s house and rolled the last couple of feet. He had probably heard me coming, who was I fooling? He was a pure bred, with hearing that out-matched my own. But it made me feel better to do it this way. It made me feel like somehow I still had control.
I parked my bike and slid off it, walking up the dark drive way. I was aware again of the strong scent of night flowers. The jasmine hung the thickest in the air, and I couldn’t decide if I liked it or hated it. Smells had so many memories, good and bad. I tried the front door, the only entrance to the house I hadn’t actually used before, and found it unlocked. It was a surprise. If Connor was home I expected him to have stronger security.
Clyde, the mean old house cat, came to the door with a low moaning sound that warned me off.
“Get over it,” I sneered at the cat. I was irritated tonight that it didn’t like me sometimes. I was irritated in general, tonight, and I was taking it out on a stupid cat.
I worked from the one room to the next, systematically checking it. I had my SIG out, gripped in two hands and pointed toward the floor. I didn’t want to shoot Connor, for once, but I didn’t want to run into unwanted company either. After all, the door had been unlocked.
When I got to the office, a room I’d only been in once before, Connor stood in it with his back to me.
“So, you’ve decided to have another run at it,” he said, not looking at me. His voice was dull, empty. He sounded bored. But the muscles in his back were tense, both his feet were planted firmly on the ground, and I knew all his attention was on me, not on the papers he was flipping through.
“I’m not here to kill you,” I said. My voice sounded thin, nothing like the person I usually was. And I didn’t feel big and tough, either. I had three guns on me, and I’d never been so nervous in my life.
I tucked my SIG back into my waistband to prove my point. Connor wasn’t looking at me, but I didn’t doubt that he heard.
“I know you’re not,” he said. Finally he turned to me. His face seemed paler than it was before, his eyes had faint circles underneath them. He looked taller, and the skin on his face clung to the bone so I could see the structure of his skull. I wanted to ask for a moment if he was alright, but it wasn’t my place.
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