by Wulf,Rose
Rhea made a thoughtful sound, straightened, and took half a step forward. “Correct me if I’m wrong,” she said, “but Allison here is the woman you’ve been looking for, isn’t she? Because this man reported her missing?”
“She wasn’t just missing,” Warner insisted before Harry or the other guard could reply. “She was with that Mick creep.”
Allison sucked in a breath. “Is that true?” she demanded, honing in on Harry.
Harry swallowed, looking between them all. “Ah, more or less, yes, ma’am.”
“Allison, sweetheart, please don’t be upset—”
“Don’t be upset?” she repeated incredulously. She stalked up to him, past Rhea and Harry and getting right into his face. “The last time I saw you, you forced a kiss on me. You jackass. I ought to have reported you right then and there but no, I walked away instead. I let you chase me away from my room because I had somewhere safe to go. Now I’m regretting that, so get out of my way.”
Warner had the audacity to actually look pained. He dropped a hand to her shoulder. “Allison—”
The hand on her shoulder was jerked sharply off, causing Warner to cry in shock, and when Ali turned she saw Rhea had his wrist in a tight, slightly twisted, grasp. “Hands off, pervert. I’m not as polite as my friend here.”
“If we could all keep our hands to ourselves,” Harry said carefully.
“Tell him that,” Rhea replied. “Allison, go ahead and get that ID. Let’s settle this.”
Oddly comforted, Allison nodded and angled herself around Warner. She pulled her keycard from her pocket, knowing full well everyone’s stares were on her, and let herself into her room. The door swung shut behind her, briefly leaving her alone, and she released a breath. That was not at all how she’d thought things would play out. Nothing about this morning was playing out as she’d expected.
For some reason she’d thought Rhea would take longer to get to them. Now she was faced with Mick’s imminent arrest, for lack of a better word, over his daring to take a vacation. And she couldn’t even just hope the vampire situation took as long as possible to deal with, because the longer it was drawn out the more people would inevitably die. She would never hope for someone’s death. That meant working as hard as they were able to solve the vampire problem. At the expense of Mick’s freedom. And what happened then?
No one seemed to be able to give a solid answer to that question.
It wasn’t right.
Allison sighed, her ID in her hands. Let’s get this over with.
She couldn’t believe Warner had gone out of his way to not only report her missing, but to accuse Mick of being a threat to her. And thanks to his games they were losing precious daylight they could better be using to track down Boris and Nico. Not that she personally knew what they’d do once they found the vampires.
When she stepped out of her room, her purse slung over one shoulder and ID in her hand, Rhea was leaning against a wall to her left. The two security guards stood slightly between Rhea and Warner and Warner himself was rubbing his wrist, standing in front of his own door. Allison had to admit she liked Rhea a bit more for that stunt.
“Here you go,” she said, handing her ID to Harry.
Harry studied it for a bit, nodded to the other guard, and handed it back to her. “Thank you for your cooperation, Ms. Drake. We apologize for the inconvenience.”
“While we’re talking about inconveniences,” Ali said, tucking her ID away. “Please keep Warner Mansfield away from me. I’ll switch rooms if I have to, but he’d better never touch me again.”
Harry inclined his head. “Yes, ma’am. You’re free to go, as is your friend.”
So this was all about me.
“Wait a minute,” Warner interrupted, stepping closer. “Allison—”
“Sir,” the nameless guard said, holding out a hand to Warner. “I think we need to have a chat about appropriate behavior. Let’s step into your room.”
Allison tuned out the rest, turning her back to them and starting down the hall. Rhea joined her silently. It was time to go back to Mick and get started on the end of this vampire hunt.
No matter what happened afterward.
Chapter Twenty
“Are we sure this is the best idea?”
The three of them were standing in front of what they presumed to be Boris’s room. The same room they’d been taken to the night before. On the short trip up from Mick’s floor they hadn’t caught sight of either vampire or their nurse compatriot. But they’d come directly here after reuniting with Mick, so that didn’t particularly surprise Allison. She personally still thought the best plan was to corner Tami and make her tell them where to find the vampires. But she also suspected she felt that way because Tami’s screwed up loyalties felt oddly like an insult to her. She couldn’t explain it beyond that Tami was supposed to be a nurse, supposed to help people. Not help them get drained of their blood and die.
“It’s a good starting point,” Mick replied quietly. He dropped his knuckles to the door and Allison held her breath.
“Really? We’re knocking?” Rhea asked. Her opinion of the strategy was apparent in her voice. She stood just behind them and Allison pictured her with one hip cocked and a look of annoyance on her face.
Mick’s arm fell back to his side and they stayed silent. Listening.
No sounds emanated from the room beyond the door. Or from anywhere else in the hallway.
Chills danced up Allison’s back and she rubbed her arms. The whole area felt disturbingly deserted. Was that possible? What if Boris bought off the entire level? Surely one passenger couldn’t do that. Although, a nasty voice suggested, he could’ve killed the entire level.
Mick’s hand landed on her shoulder with a light squeeze. “I don’t think anyone’s in there,” he said. “We’ll have to try plan B.”
“What’s that?” Ali asked, trying to distract herself from the horrible images flooding her brain. Suddenly she’d seen enough dead bodies to last a lifetime, thank you, and she couldn’t help but wonder if she shouldn’t reconsider her life’s ambition.
“Me,” Rhea replied, stepping around them.
She moved up to the door and Allison watched as she held her hand, fingers hanging down, over the lock. “What are you going to do?”
“Short-circuit the lock,” Rhea said. “Then we can slip inside and look around.”
“Wait,” Mick said, holding out a hand as if to stop her. “All that does is tip our hand. Maybe we should do like Ali suggested and talk with the nurse.”
“Then you go and do that,” Rhea said, frowning pointedly at him. “I have no patience for interrogations.” She returned her focus to her extended hand and almost immediately her fingers began dripping, as if she were sweating profusely.
It didn’t escape Allison’s notice that she hadn’t uttered a single sound of Latin.
Ali curled a hand around Mick’s nearest arm. “Come on,” she said. “Maybe splitting up is a good idea. We’ll rendezvous later.”
Mick inclined his head and Rhea ignored them, intent on her task. Ali’s gaze lingered on the lock as the red light started blinking sporadically, but she turned away when Mick did and told herself not to worry. Rhea wouldn’t get herself killed. Probably.
They walked in silence to the elevator bank, Mick wrapping a hand around hers. Strong. Supportive. Comforting. It took all her effort not to let her weight sag against him. But if she gave in now she wasn’t sure how long it would be before she could gather herself.
“When we do find them,” she began quietly, “what then? You can’t have a giant fight on a crowded ship. People would get hurt.”
“I know,” Mick assured her as they descended toward the infirmary. “But we may not have a choice. Vampires don’t want to die any more than you or I do. And we’re not talking about arresting them.”
Allison swallowed a lump and covered the back of his hand with her free one. That’s right. It was so easy not to think about, but
this really would be a fight to the death. And no matter how immortal a person was, Ali was sure even ancient vampires took death threats seriously. Which was a problem, to be sure.
The elevator stopped a floor too high for the infirmary and she scooted closer to Mick’s side. Someone was about to board.
Mick leaned down so that his lips brushed the shell of her ear. “I don’t want you anywhere near that fight,” he whispered as the doors swished open.
Allison turned a wide-eyed, incredulous stare up to him as a mother and adolescent son stepped into the box. That sneak! Saying something so … macho right when some bystander got into the elevator. So she couldn’t retort without looking crazy. It was almost worth her image, too. But ultimately not worth causing a scene they couldn’t explain. Warner’s little stunt would still have her name on the forefront of most security guards’ minds. If she and Mick got reported for fighting or something, that could be a problem. A delay they couldn’t afford.
So she did the only thing she could. She jerked her hands from his and crossed her arms in a show of petulant defiance. If she couldn’t voice her disapproval, she’d just let it be visible.
“Deck level, please,” the mother requested while her son kept his gaze glued to the tablet in his hands.
Mick obligingly pressed the button and the doors slowly slid shut.
Awkward silence hung in the elevator until it finally reached the infirmary level and the doors dragged open. Allison all but stomped out, being sure to walk ahead of her macho-ass boyfriend. Really, she knew she couldn’t help in the ultimate fight they were building toward. But to tell her to stay away altogether? He had some nerve. Didn’t he have any idea how much he was coming to mean to her?
She came up short at that thought, her feet stalling just steps before the official entrance to the infirmary.
How much did he mean to her?
Her heart lurched and her throat swelled. The idea of anything happening to him, or even of him being taken away by Rhea, was so abhorrent that just thinking about it caused her physical discomfort. Her stomach rolled and for a moment tears burned behind her eyes. Sharp, hot, and stinging. Blurring her vision.
“Ali?” Mick asked, coming to stand at her side again. He settled at hand at her hip and tugged her closer. “Baby, I’m sorry to upset you. I just can’t stand the thought of you getting hurt.”
Allison sucked in a breath, embarrassed at how unstable it was, and let her forehead land on his shoulder. “How do you think I feel, Mick?” She brought the sides of her fists to his chest and looked up at him as the threat of tears subsided. “The difference is, when this is over, if we both survive, you don’t have to watch me be dragged away like a prisoner.”
His expression softened, the shine in his green eyes dulling faintly. “I’m sorry,” he repeated. “If there was another way, I’d be looking into it, I promise. But we need Rhea for this fight.”
“And me?”
Mick dragged his hands up to her cheeks and pulled her close, until her lips were a hair’s breadth from his. “I need you, Ali,” he whispered. And before he could let her think too much on that he covered her lips with his in a crushing kiss. His hands tangled in her hair and his tongue swept into her mouth as his body curved around hers. Protectively. Possessively. His body was hot and hard against hers and she wished, as she kissed him back, that they could just lose themselves in the moment.
But they couldn’t. Couldn’t afford to do more than kiss and yearn.
Allison wasn’t sure now that she’d ever get another chance to come alive in his arms.
****
Mick let Allison lead the way into the infirmary and, sure enough, there was Nurse Tami typing away at the laptop halfway across the room. She didn’t even look their way before assuring them she’d be right with them. Either she wasn’t used to being on guard or they were walking into a trap. But Mick didn’t feel like he’d just walked into the lion’s den.
“How can you do it?” Allison asked as they came to a stop in the small waiting area.
“I beg your pardon?” Tami asked as she lifted her gaze from the device. Her fake smile faltered before falling away entirely. “Oh. It’s you. I can’t help you.”
Allison didn’t appear to be having any of it, though, because she planted her fists on her hips and repeated her question. “How can you do it? How can you claim to help people and then turn them over for vampires?”
Pride swelled in Mick’s chest as he watched her. If nothing else, and even though it might be for the wrong reasons, she was clearly invested. And this part, at least, this she considered something she could handle. He suspected she could handle more than either of them had discovered yet if she needed to. He only hoped they never had to test that theory.
Tami faced them, across from the extendable boundary strap, and crossed her arms. “My reasons are none of your business. At least I choose life. And I do help people.”
“You’re as much of a killer as Boris,” Allison snapped. “Maybe worse. At least he can claim it gives him something. You just offer people up on a platter like sacrificial lambs.”
“Careful,” Tami said, “or you’ll be my next lamb.”
Mick held up a hand, palm out. “Okay,” he said. “We’re not here to sling mud. We just need you to tell us where to find your masters.”
Allison shifted her weight and crossed her arms over her chest but remained silent.
Tami glared at him. “As if I would ever betray them, witch.”
“Maybe I wasn’t clear,” Mick said calmly. He flicked a glance at the tallest potted plant in the corner closest to him. With a thought some of the dirt lifted and hovered. Waiting. He turned his gaze back to Tami, whose eyes had gone wide. “You will talk.”
Tami swallowed visibly and managed a choked laugh as she finally looked away from the levitating soil. “An earth witch? On a cruise? Are you suicidal?”
“Just full of surprises,” Mick replied as he lifted one hand. He held his fingers up, straight, toward the ceiling for a moment. Tami’s gaze shifted to his hand and her confidence drained from her face. Mick flicked his wrist sharply to the side, fingers splaying, and the dirt flew toward her. He whispered his command even as the soil formed a solid ring around her throat. “Offoco.”
His arm lowered to his side as the soil constricted around Tami’s throat. He hated having to resort to brutality, but they didn’t have the luxury of waiting for the vampires to come for them. People were dying. And the woman before him was partially responsible for that. So he would scare her a little, maybe give her some perspective and, hopefully, get a little information while he was at it. She didn’t need to know that this particular choking spell wouldn’t kill her.
Tami coughed and tried sucking in air as the soil constricted. She clawed at the dirt but the flakes she managed to peel off just resettled in different spots along the ring.
Allison’s arms dropped to her sides and she turned startled eyes to him. He hoped he wasn’t scaring her, but reassuring her now would kill his advantage. And any chances they had at answers. So he willed her to trust him and prayed the deep breath she drew was her attempting to do just that.
The last thing he wanted was for her to lose faith in him over something like this.
Focus.
Tami was still gasping and he could feel the pressure against the dirt ring rising.
“Tell me what I want to know,” Mick said, keeping his voice firm. “And I’ll let go.” He paused, waited for her to drag her half-lidded gaze to his, and added pointedly, “Or don’t. And neither do I.”
“Do what he says, Tami,” Allison said, her voice surprisingly calm. He hoped that was a good sign. “For your own sake, just tell us where to find Boris.”
“Go…” Tami said on a choked gasp. “To … hell.”
Mick sighed. He was going to have hold until she blacked out at this rate. Damn. They’d never get information from her if it came to that.
Hoping to press h
is advantage, he took a couple of steps closer, putting Allison behind him. He lowered his voice threateningly. “You’ll get there first if you don’t cough it up.” Pulling the dirt in a little tighter for emphasis he added, “Do you really think they’d protect you at the expense of their own lives?”
“Mick!” Allison suddenly cried, too much alarm in her voice for her to just be upset at his bluff.
He spun, keeping hold of the dirt around Tami’s throat, and curled his fists at the sight that greeted him.
Nico had snuck up on them. Or perhaps he’d been following them all along. Either way, he had his elbow crooked tight around Allison’s throat and his other hand locked around her jaw. He held her back up against his chest and had lowered his lips to be even with her ear. Minimizing his own exposure and using Ali as a shield. A sneer curved his confident lips and he gave Allison’s jaw a squeeze.
“Better let her go, earth witch,” Nico said. “Or I bet little Allison’s body hits the floor first.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Allison couldn’t breathe. She wasn’t sure if that was because of the arm crooked tightly around her throat, physically constricting her airway, or because of the dangerous vampire whose breath kept rolling over her shoulder. His mouth was much too close to her throat for comfort.
She’d seen first-hand what a vampire could do to a woman’s throat.
She didn’t want to wind up like Mandy.
Or Amanda Michaels.
Or the ship’s Captain.
Tears stung the backs of her eyes and she sought out Mick’s gaze, desperate for comfort. Desperate to see that everything would be all right. Surely Mick could get her out of this. If he doesn’t… It didn’t bear thinking about.
“Let her go,” Mick demanded, his glare fixed firmly on Nico. He was visibly angry. Allison wasn’t so sure that was comforting.
“You first,” Nico returned, drawing his words out tauntingly. He tightened the arm around Allison’s throat. “Or I could drop her right now.”