Dark Liaison (An Ema Marx Novel Book 2)

by J. D. Brown

  Jesu bounded after me, quickly catching up. I cursed under my breath and then flew the remaining distance to the guest wing, putting space between us. I caught a whiff of Bridget’s scent and followed it three doors down, to a room on the opposite side of mine and Jesu’s. I rattled the knob, but it was locked, so I rapped my knuckles against the wood.

  It opened. Bridget’s smile fell as she looked me over. Well, if she was disappointed, too bad. I pushed past her and then shoved the door shut, making sure to turn the latch on the lock. “Naamah and Maria are in trouble. Nikolas is sending men to kill them.”

  “King Nikolas.” She put her hands on her waist and jutted her hip with extra attitude. “What happened to your finger?”

  Heat flooded my cheeks, but I bit back the embarrassment. “Look, we don’t have time. Tancred and the others followed Naamah back to the Wolf Den. They think Apollyon might be hiding in there too, so they’re going raid the place and kill everyone they find.”

  Her brow furrowed. An emotion I couldn’t place flashed across her features, darkening her irises to a reddish-brown color before they returned to their usual orange. “Are you sure?”

  “I was standing right there when Nikolas gave Tancred the order to kill on sight. We need to warn them.” My arms shot into the air and then fell to my sides, slapping against my thighs. Somehow, I resisted the urge to shake Bridget senseless.

  She relaxed her stance, yet shook her head. “How? I don’t have any way to reach zem, other than to go there myself.”

  “Then we’ll go there.”

  Bridget scoffed. “You can’t just bal-musette into zee Wolf Den, Ema, you—”

  The doorknob jiggled, halting whatever she was going to say. Then, the entire door shook in its frame, followed by the frantic slamming of a fist. “Ema, I know you are in there, I can hear you speaking to Bridget.”

  I looked her in the eyes, narrowed my gaze, and pressed a finger to my lips, warning her not to repeat our discussion to Jesu. I walked backward to the door, still holding Bridget’s gaze. My hand reached around and flipped the lock.

  The door swung open and Jesu stepped inside. “We need to talk.”

  “I’m busy,” I said and stepped around him. He gripped my shoulder, spun me around, and yanked me against his chest. His arms wrapped around my waist, tightening against the small of my back. Instinctively, I phased to escape his grip. A jolt of sweltering heat scorched my molecules, slamming them together with such finality that my every muscle clenched in a petrified state. I gasped in pain. I wanted to scream, but my lungs only constricted, unable to draw another breath. My jaw clamped shut, my teeth gnashed together. Panic wracked my mind as I scrambled to grasp what was taking place, but even my thoughts were paralyzed as I convulsed helplessly on the floor.

  Chapter 17

  Sara sat on the edge of the bed and offered me a glass of blood. I took it, grimacing as my stiff knuckles worked around the thin flute. “What happened?”

  “You were electrocuted. You phased and set off the sensor in the handcuffs.”

  I groaned. “In that case, I have a complaint for the manufacturer; turn down the juice. My molecules don’t have the mass equivalency of a rhinoceros. It’s a gas-state, for crying out loud.” I sipped the drink and sighed in contentment as the blood released its blissful exuberance. I rubbed my free hand against my forearm, dispelling the remaining static in my body hair. “Where’s Jesu and Bridget?”

  “Prince Jesu’s in bed. Didn’t you see?”

  “See what?”

  “The shock extended to him. He dropped to the floor same as you. Bridget carried you guys to bed and then ordered the drinks. I imagine she’s tending to him right now.”

  “Will he be all right?” I thought out loud, not sure how electricity affected a vampire that wasn’t phased.

  “He’s probably better off than you are.” She smiled. “He wasn’t shocked at the molecular level.”

  I finished my drink and set the glass on the nightstand. “I’m feeling better.”

  Sara stood and fished for something in her pants pocket. “I brought the key.” Locating it, she removed a small remote control from her pocket and then took my hand in hers. “There is really no reason for you to keep these silly things on.”

  She aimed the remote at the tiny digital screen and pressed a button. It beeped as it powered down. Sara unlatched the cuff and the metal band fell to my lap. A rush of cool oxygen claimed the sweaty strip of raw skin around my wrist.

  “Won’t your father mind?”

  Her nose scrunched as she aimed the remote at my other wrist and the second band came undone. “I doubt he’ll even notice. Besides, he doesn’t consider you a threat.”

  I scoffed. “Is that a compliment?”

  She shrugged a shoulder and her gaze brightened. “Hard to be threatening when you squeal at itty bitty spiders.”

  “I did not squeal.” I swatted at her and we both giggled.

  The bathroom door flung open and smacked the wall behind it. Jesu marched into the room, every line on his face held in sternness. “Princess Sara, please excuse us.”

  Sara snatched the handcuffs, dipped in a quick curtsy, and then rushed out of the room.

  “You too,” he growled. It took me a moment to realize he was speaking to Bridget. I leaned to the side and glanced through the bathroom. She stood just inside the threshold of Jesu’s bedroom.

  Bridget rolled her eyes. “I’ll be in zee weapons room.”

  She moved out of my line of sight, toward the hall. The soft click of the door latch and the thinning of her scent attested to her gradual absence. For a long while, Jesu watched me; silent, motionless, his jaw rigid, his fists clenched at his sides, his back stiff. His brow furrowed, hard lines creasing his forehead. I fidgeted under his gaze.

  What’s his problem? I didn’t mean to shock us on purpose.

  “Look,” I said, when I couldn’t stand the tension any longer. “Naamah’s and Maria’s lives are in danger and we’re wasting time.”

  “What am I going to do with you?” The question came as a soft breath and I wasn’t sure I heard him correctly.

  “Excuse me?”

  His shoulders softened in a sigh and he shook his head. “You went to Bridget. You demanded to go to the Wolf Den—”

  “To protect Naamah and Maria!” I said defensively, because he sounded like he was accusing me and I didn’t understand why he would.

  “You cannot go to the Wolf Den, Ema, they have rules there.”

  “What exactly is the Wolf Den again? Because in my mind, I have this image of a biker bar, full of Harley-loving men, but I figure they’d have more of a Volkswagen model here.”

  “You are scheming with King Nikolas behind my back,” he said, completely ignoring my motorcycle question. I didn’t answer, thinking only of how he had asked Nikolas to keep me in the dark.

  Payback’s a bitch.

  Jesu shook his head again, disappointment evident as he cast his gaze to the floor. “I thought we were on the same side.”

  I winced. He played a good game. I almost felt guilty. Almost. “You hide the truth from me all the time.”

  His gaze snapped in my direction. “To protect you. I will always try to protect you, Ema.” He turned away and scoffed while raking his fingers through his hair. “Don’t you understand that?”

  He glimpsed over his shoulder as though he expected an answer. I looked away. My stomach twisted in knots at the look of hurt in his emerald eyes, but I couldn’t allow myself to think about what it meant. There wasn’t time. I wet my lips and hardened my tone.

  “Right now, Jesu, I don’t need your protection, but Maria and Naamah do. If I can’t go to the Wolf Den, then we need to find another way, now.”

  He watched me from the corner of his eye for a moment then finally nodded in resolve. “I am concerned about them too. I will find a way to convince Nikolas to order his men not to harm them.”

  That won’t work, I thought, bu
t I held my tongue and nodded. “Go, then. Hurry.”

  He hesitated, but then quickly left the room. I released a heavy breath and then stood. I needed to find Bridget fast. I hoped the weapons room wasn’t very far. The electric cuffs no longer an issue, I phased to the dining hall and then tried each door until I found the adjacent kitchen. Thankfully, Rudo was present, chatting with a few of the maids near a metal sink. They hushed their conversation as I entered.

  “Where’s the weapons room?”

  Rudo’s brow arched. “Madam, I don’t think—”

  “I’m not going to use them,” I growled, my patience wearing thin. “I’m just looking for Bridget.”

  Rudo nodded and gestured for me to follow. He led me back through the dining hall and into the doorway on the far left. It ended at a set of cement stairs that sank into a basement of sorts. The path ended before a wide double door. The right side stood ajar. Rudo pulled it open and then swept his hand through the air to announce our arrival.

  I stepped inside. The room was very long and well-lit. Wooden racks lined the walls, holding several hundred rifles, snipers, hand guns, crossbows, and an array of things I couldn’t name. Along the back, glass display cases held dozens of swords, daggers, axes, maces, fist weapons, and armor. My stomach knotted at the sight. I didn’t doubt that every last device in this room had tasted blood, left over from the eight-hundred-year war after Apollyon’s death.

  Bridget stood near a table, broadsword in hand. She traced the flat side of the blade with her fingertips. A faraway memory played across her features. She didn’t even notice as I approached her. My determination reigned anew, tensing every muscle in my body. I kept my tone soft, hoping to win her over with kindness.

  “Bridget, I need your help.”

  “Why would I help you?” She sneered, her attention still on the sword. I didn’t dare get too close. I knew the speed and skill she possessed. If she chose to slice off my head, it would be done before I could blink.

  “You’re not doing it for me; you’re doing it for Jesu.”

  Her gaze flashed in my direction, lips pressed tight.

  “You’ve known him longer than I have, you must know Maria and Naamah are like a second mother and father to him.”

  She turned and set the blade on the table. Her mouth opened as though she might say something, but she hesitated. I gave it one more push.

  “He would be crushed if anything happened to them. If you really loved him, you’d—”

  “It’s not zat simple.” She faced me. “Zee Rebels would kill us before we could ever set foot inside zee Wolf Den.”

  I forced myself to ponder that for a moment. “The Rebels are normal vampyres, right? They’re not anything… weird?”

  She scowled. “Of course they are normal vampyres, and some vampires too. What else would they be?”

  I thought of Enki, but I let it go. “Can they phase… like I can?” I held out both hands to show that my wrists were no longer adorned with the electric cuffs. “Bridget, I can phase us into the Wolf Den. We can warn Maria and Naamah and the four of us can leave without anyone knowing.”

  She hesitated. “They owe a life-long debt to King Apollyon. They would be at risk if they left that debt unfulfilled.”

  “They’re at risk by staying with Apollyon, too. Besides, I got it covered. Trust me.” Okay, I was counting my chickens before they hatched, but who was to say Nikolas wouldn’t still cut a deal with me? I was the prophesized one, after all. She turned and walked away. My shoulders slumped in defeat.

  “I hope you have good aim.” She approached a row of shelves and pulled them open to reveal row after row of an odd sort of gun. “Because we’re going to need these.”

  My eyes widened. “Does that mean we’re on?”

  She scowled, but then grabbed two guns off the shelf and tossed one at me. I caught the bulky thing and then fumbled while trying to figure out the correct way to hold it. A comfortable grip seemed impossible with my dominant hand being maimed. The gun was unlike any I’d seen before, not that I’ve ever handled a gun, but this one was thick with cumbersome squared edges.

  “It’s a Taser gun,” Bridget explained. “It has a four-point-five meter range and is effective anywhere on the body, even through layers of clothes. You’ll want to hold it with two hands and you’re going to have to pull zee trigger with your left index finger.” She wrapped my left hand tight around the handle with my finger in the trigger ring. Then she placed my right hand over the left. “Use your right arm to steady your left as much as possible. It won’t kill a vampyre, but it’ll incapacitate them long enough for you to get away. There is a ten second charge between shootings, so use it wisely.”

  I nodded, feeling the weight of the hard plastic and imagining what it would feel like to fire it.

  “Phasing will get us inside, but we won’t be able to just grab Naamah and Maria like you think. There will be several others. You’ll need to blend in.” She grabbed a dagger and then knelt and sawed at the legs of my jeans.

  “What on earth are you doing?”

  “Zere isn’t time for you to go to your room and change clothes. Tancred and zee troops have already left. If we are going to do zis, we need to go now.” She tore off the remaining fabric, leaving me in a pair of shorts so small my butt cheeks hung out. She tugged at her vest zipper next. “Here, trade tops with me.”

  I pulled my T-shirt over my head. Luckily, I wore a black lace bra that matched the leather vest, so the whole ensemble wasn’t bad—if street corners were your thing.

  Bridget didn’t bother putting on my T-shirt and, unfortunately, she didn’t seem to believe in underwear. My poor eyes got a good look at her knockers as she opened another chest of drawers and pulled out a small black bag. She put the stun guns inside along with my T-shirt and then undid her boots and pants.

  “Why are you stripping?”

  She raised a brow as if I were the weirdo in the room. “I have to shift. Everyone at zee Wolf Den will recognize me otherwise.”

  My lips pressed into a silent Oh. I turned away as she finished undressing and stuffing her clothes into the bag. When she was done, she handed the whole thing to me.

  “Phase us out of the castle and then let me go. I’ll shift into a falcon and lead the way to the Wolf Den.”

  Gulping, I swung the bag strap over my head so that it crossed my chest, and then I closed my hand over hers.

  “I don’t like this idea at all,” she grumbled. “But I’m doing it for Jesu.”

  “That’s good enough for me.”

  “Just stay alive,” she warned.

  Despite making a beeline to downtown Berlin, the trip still afforded us a couple hours. I had no idea whether or not we caught up with Tancred and the soldiers. Their journey would be slower on foot, but they’d also had a head start. What would happen if we didn’t make it in time?

  The wind shifted as Bridget angled her wings to descend. I kept pace and lowered near her side. The urban atmosphere clung to my molecules, full of sticky human energy that sated and lulled my nerves. I waited a moment before unphasing, giving myself a chance to absorb as much as possible. My feet finally touched ground as I solidified and then unzipped the bag. I handed Bridget her pants and my T-shirt before turning away to give her some privacy.

  We’d landed in a narrow alley near a large dumpster and a stack of crates. A dark liquid seeped from the trash and mixed with the gritty puddles in the pavement. The cement walls were cracked and covered in graffiti.

  Bridget headed toward the sleepy street, gesturing for me to follow. Drab apartment complexes lined the block. Weeds grew alongside a chain-link fence. Rusty bicycles and tattered toys littered the stoops. It reminded me of the outskirts of Chicago. I tugged my torn shorts down as far as they’d go without exposing my butt-crack, then pulled the vest zipper up to my neck.

  I looked for a sign that said The Wolf Den, but I didn’t see one. Instead, we neared a large opening in the sidewalk with a se
t of stairs that led underground. Above the opening hung a big blue sign with a white “U” in the center. A thin chain ran across the entrance, suggesting that the stairway was not in use. Bridget swung one leg over the chain, and then the other.

  “We’re taking the subway to the Wolf De—”

  “Shh!” She glared at me. “Do not say zat name out loud during zis mission, understand?”

  I nodded and kept my voice to a whisper. “But the subway? I thought we agreed to fly straight there.”

  “Zis is a geisterbahnhöfe.”

  “A geister-what?”

  “It means ghost station. Zis section of zee U-bahn is abandoned.”

  “I thought all the ghost stations were re-opened after the Cold War,” I said, falling on my old habit of pulling up historical facts.

  “Zis platform was part of a newer design to connect zee southeast suburbs, but zee plans fell through.”

  “So the Wolf… I mean the, um… place we’re looking for… is in an abandoned subway tunnel?”

  “Sort of.” She turned away and descended the stairs. I gripped the handrail to steady myself and swung one leg after the other over the chain, then joined her as we entered the underground passage.

  It looked as though the station’s construction had been completed. The tracks were laid on either side of the platform and a little ticket booth stood at the far end. It lacked the finishing touches, though. No paint on the cement walls, no signs or directions or advertisements. Just dark shadows, trash caught between the tracks, and the occasional inner city graffiti.

  “See zat door?” Bridget nodded in the direction of ticket booth. I followed her line of sight past the booth to an entrance that looked to be a janitor closet or a public bathroom. “Inside zat room is another door zat is locked. Next to it is a switch. It looks like a light switch, but it’s really a call button. On zee other side of zee door is a passage to an underground bunker. Zere are at least two guards on duty. They can phase. When a member presses zee call button, zee guards come. If they have zee correct password, they phase them and bring them through zee door. If they don’t have zee password, zee guards beat them to a pulp. Ema…” She paused and studied me for a moment, her brow pinched in the center. “We do not have zee password, understand? You need to get us inside. I will shift into a mouse and hide in zee bag. As soon as we’re in, drop zee bag on the floor and then stall for as long as you can. I will find Maria and Naamah and get them out.”