“Gibberish?” Talulah said skeptically. “You couldn’t understand him?”
“I know many languages,” Isaac said. “If he were speaking actual words, I would have understood. But he wasn’t. He sounded drunk or deranged. He said something unintelligible, and then, he tried to kill Rose. So, I came to her rescue.”
Talulah frowned. “Sometimes, he has these odd spells after his visions. He starts sweating and becomes visibly disturbed. Did he mention his visions?”
Rose straightened at that, but this time, she glanced in Kara’s direction before answering. Kara shook her head—almost unnoticeably—signaling Rose to keep that part a secret as well. “He has visions?” Rose asked, instead, her brows furrowing. “What kind of visions? Hallucinations? Or…the precognitive kind?”
“The latter,” Talulah answered. “Logan had precognitive abilities.”
Rose glanced at the man’s lifeless body, her chest twisting with sympathy for this vampire who had tried to kill her. She also felt a stab of fear as she tried to remember all of the things he’d said. At the time, she’d assumed he was insane, but if he had precognitive abilities, everything he’d said—it could have been true.
“He never mentioned any visions,” Isaac lied. “He just attacked her.”
Kara watched him, her brows furrowing, as she tried to figure out why he was lying for Rose. But she quickly shifted her gaze back to Talulah, hiding any confusion that had been on her face. “Do you have what you need now?”
Talulah looked down at Logan’s body, her brows creasing. “I guess…”
“Because if that’s not enough, then we can involve Aaron,” Kara added.
Talulah sighed. “I’m leaving. I’m leaving,” she grumbled. “Just don’t call Aaron. I’m exhausted, and I don’t have the patience to deal with him right now.”
Kara nodded. “I assume you’ll want someone to dispose of his body?”
“I’ll send my second-in-command,” Talulah told her. “He won’t disturb you, if you’re asleep. Just leave the door unlocked. I’ll tell him to make it quick.”
Isaac waited until Talulah left to say, “Now, can I go back to bed?”
Kara watched him, her icy blue eyes burning with curiosity and suspicion. “Yes. Thank you for your help. I trust you’ll keep certain…secrets…between us?”
“Yeah, yeah, of course,” Isaac said, as he headed toward the door. “Bye.”
“Thank you!” Rose called out, her brows furrowing. “For…saving me.”
Isaac paused in the doorway and turned back toward her. A small, almost unnoticeable smile tugged at the corners of his lips. “Yeah,” he muttered quietly, almost as if he were talking to himself. Then, he stepped over the corpse and left.
“That was weird,” Rose mumbled. She was still staring at the door, trying to understand what had just happened, so she didn’t notice Kara making her way toward her until the warm scent of violets filled her senses. The room smelled of Logan’s blood, still, but Kara’s scent appealed to Rose in a way that was so deep and instinctual that it overruled even her hunger for blood, her instinct to feed.
Kara curled her fingers around Rose’s forearm and lifted it so that she could look at it. Rose didn’t understand what she was doing, at first, but then, Kara slid the sleeve of Rose’s flannel pajama shirt up to her elbow, revealing the partially-healed scratch marks carved into her arm. Kara traced the wounds with her finger, her touch so soft and gentle that it didn’t even hurt. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah,” Rose sighed. She watched the guilt that burned in Kara’s light blue eyes, the shame that twisted at the angles and curves of her face. Rose felt torn in two directions: between her desire to soothe Kara’s pain and her curiosity about where Kara had gone. “Kara,” she murmured softly, “where were you?”
Kara looked away, her brows creasing with pain. “Answering a call.”
Rose nodded, her bright blue eyes full of understanding. “Hey,” she said, lifting her hand to touch Kara’s face. As Rose traced the softness of Kara’s face with her thumb, Kara’s eyes fluttered closed, and the lines of her face smoothed and softened with relief. “Is something wrong?” Rose asked. “You seem upset.”
Kara opened her eyes, pinning Rose with her intense, piercing gaze. “I’m just…sorry,” she sighed, shaking her head in frustration. “I should’ve been here.”
“You can’t always protect me, Kara,” Rose said, “no matter how many crazy oaths you make.” She offered Kara a weak, playful smile. “And I’m fine.”
“Because of Isaac, oddly enough,” Kara muttered with a frown.
“Yeah,” Rose said. “I’m grateful and all, but something feels…off.”
“Yeah, he’s definitely up to something,” Kara agreed, “but if we want to figure out what it is, we need to make him believe we trust him. We can’t let him realize that we suspect anything. Do you understand what I’m trying to say?”
Rose nodded. “You want me to lie. You do know I’m bad at it, right?”
Kara laughed, “I can help with that.”
Rose’s smile faded. “So,” she began, chewing on her lip worriedly, “I’m assuming you left because you didn’t want me to hear your conversation?”
Kara avoided her gaze. “My job demands a level of secrecy.”
Rose nodded. “I know that,” she assured her. “It’s okay. I trust you.”
Rose had expected that to put Kara’s mind at ease, to smooth those lines of distress in Kara’s face, but instead, it only seemed to distress her more. Kara’s gaze darted up toward Rose’s face, and for a moment, she just stared at Rose, her skin even paler than usual, her jaw tight. “Why would you? No one trusts me.”
“I do,” Rose breathed. The words came so easily, so effortlessly, as if she had known them all along. “Everyone in the world could warn me not to trust you, and I still would. Because I can’t help it. Because…everything inside of me tells me that you’re more than what people think you are. You’re strong and sly and cunning, but you’re also sweet and kind and compassionate. You’re not just confident. You empower other people to be confident as well. And you don’t like to see people in pain any more than I do. I’m not saying that you’re always good. I’m just saying that I think you’re good when it counts. And I think you love me.”
“I do love you,” Kara breathed, barely able to speak, “immeasurably so.”
Rose smiled. “I love you, too. And love is more powerful than fear. The fact that we’re together is proof of that. Because I was afraid. But not anymore.”
Kara’s chest rose and fell quickly, and her heart raced. Her brows creased with worry, as she seemed to deliberate something. But then, suddenly, the lines in her face smoothed, and her piercing, blue eyes lightened, as if she’d suddenly reached a decision. She took Rose’s wrist into her hand again and turned Rose’s arm over so that her palm was facing upward. She placed a phone in Rose’s hand. Kara took a step back, her eyes wide, feeling terrified and exhilarated, all at once.
Rose glanced down at the old, black phone in her hand. “What is this?”
“My secrets,” Kara said breathlessly. “I use that phone for my work.”
“To speak to your spies?” Rose asked. “Why are you giving it to me?”
“Because I trust you, too,” Kara murmured. “I kept telling myself that I shouldn’t, that giving you access to this could ruin everything. But…like you said, love is stronger than fear. And I love you. So, I’m giving you access to my secrets.”
Rose frowned. “I never asked you to do this, Kara. You don’t have to.”
“I know,” Kara said. “I want to do it. I want to stop hiding things from you. You can look at as much or as little in that phone as you want. Your choice.”
Rose smiled in surprise. “You’re serious? You’d really let me do that?”
“Yes,” Kara said, fierce boldness burning in her eyes. “You could ruin me with that much information. That’s the kind of power I’m gi
ving you. I’ve told you where to stab and given you the knife. Now, what do you want to do?”
Rose smiled. “Kiss you,” she said, stepping closer. “I want to kiss you.”
Kara’s pale lips curved upward, into a surprised smile. “Then, kiss me.”
With the phone still tucked between her thumb and palm, Rose lifted her hands and cupped Kara’s face, tilting her own face forward, until their lips met.
Kara remained still for a moment, allowing Rose to taste her lips, to kiss and suck and nip at them, and then, when she was too turned on to hold back any longer, she pushed Rose back, until her back hit the desk, and began to kiss back, her lips warm and soft, and rough and desperate, all at once. Rose gasped as she slid her hands beneath Rose’s shirt, touching Rose’s soft stomach and then cupping Rose’s even softer breasts. Kara slid her leg between Rose’s thighs, separating them, her bare thigh brushing against Rose, teasing her with pressure in the place she needed it most. Rose’s skin flushed with desire. Her heart raced.
“Would you like me to take out the dead body before you get started?”
Rose pulled back, startled by the sound of the unfamiliar voice. Her eyes widened as she noticed the large man in their doorway. He looked as if he’d just stumbled out of bed, dressed in nothing but a pair of green sweatpants, his dark skin bare from the waist up. He ran his hand through his hair, pushing his long, curly hair out of his face and offered them an apologetic—but amused—smile.
Rose realized that she’d seen him before—the night before, at the ritual.
Kara laughed, casually removing her hands from Rose’s shirt. She turned around. “Rose, you remember James, don’t you? Talulah’s second-in-command?” She looked at Rose and lifted an eyebrow, as if she were about to impart some intriguing knowledge. “James was a spy during the American Revolution.”
Rose glanced back and forth between them. “Really? For which side?”
James scratched the back of his neck, wincing a little. “Does it matter?”
“Rose studies history,” Kara explained. “She loves that kind of thing.”
James looked at Rose. “You were a historian when you were human?”
Rose shrugged. “I was just a student, really,” she said with a shy smile, “but the Head of the History department did tell me that I had a guaranteed spot in the Ph.D. program, if I wanted it. But then again, he also tried to kill me, so…”
He frowned curiously, as if he were trying to figure out if she was serious.
Rose tried to smooth her ruffled clothing. “So…are all seconds spies?”
“Nah. Not all,” James said as he kicked Logan’s lifeless body out into the hallway and returned with a mop. “But our skills do come in handy sometimes.”
“No one makes it to the top without playing dirty,” Kara remarked.
James glanced at her, as he continued to mop the blood from the floor. “Maybe, but at least Talulah prefers to do things in a cleaner manner than Aaron.”
Kara scoffed at that. “Snob,” she said with an amused smile.
James laughed, “She’s not your biggest fan tonight, either.”
“She never has been,” Kara said. “She thinks I lack honor.” She laughed, “Probably because I visited her colony under false pretenses, stole information, and then gave that information to Aaron, which gave him more power over her.”
James gave her a disapproving look. “Yeah. She’s still pissed about that.”
“It was three hundred years ago,” Kara said defensively. She shrugged her bare, lean shoulders and smiled. “I’ve done plenty of worse things since then.”
Rose watched Kara, her eyebrows raised. “And she still slept with you?”
“Before and after,” Kara said with a cocky smirk. When she noticed Rose’s confusion, she chuckled, “Haven’t you ever heard of hate sex? It’s fun.”
“Yeah, that definitely sounds emotionally unhealthy,” Rose muttered.
“Well, I’m going to go,” James said as he finished cleaning the floor. He flashed a playful grin at Kara before he left. “Try not to start any more trouble.”
Kara snorted, “I live for trouble.” She waited until he closed the door before she spun back toward Rose, her piercing, blue eyes sparkling with mischief. She stepped closer to Rose, resting her hands on Rose’s hips. “Where were we?”
Rose laughed, “That was so embarrassing.” A pink flush spread across her face. “Maybe we should be more careful about when we decide to make out.”
“That’s going to be hard,” Kara said, “since I can’t stop kissing you.”
Rose smiled at that. But then, the memory of Logan and his terror-filled eyes flashed in her mind. “What do you think he meant by that? Mercy killing?”
Kara’s smile faded. “Rose, every crazy killer out there has a good reason for why they do it,” she sighed, shrugging, “or apparently, it sounds good to them. To the rest of us, it makes no sense. This guy’s no different. He tried to kill you.”
“But why?” Rose said again. “What could he have seen in those visions?”
Kara looked away uncomfortably. “We should get some rest,” she said, changing the subject. “The sun sets soon, and we have a busy night ahead of us.”
Rose blinked. “We do? I thought all we had was that meeting tonight.”
Kara winked at her. “That’s what you’re supposed to think.”
29
Going Rogue
As Rose left the room, she glanced down at her phone, checking for any missed calls from Kallias or her friends. The warmth of the room, maintained by the fire, had sheltered them from the cool air, so much so that the cool air of the hallway stunned her momentarily. “I’ll just wait out here,” she called out to Kara.
“It’s you,” said a woman, suddenly—standing way too close for comfort.
Rose looked up, startled to find a vampire standing right in front of her.
The woman stood just a little taller than Rose, dressed in an emerald-green dress that clung to her soft, curvy figure and complimented her gorgeous, dark skin. Her curly, black hair hung around her shoulders, somewhat disheveled, in comparison to her nice clothing. And the skin beneath her round, brown eyes looked swollen, as if she’d been crying. “I came home to find my husband gone.”
Rose took a step back, suddenly feeling wary. “Umm…have we met?”
“No,” the vampire said, “but you met my husband. And you killed him.”
Rose didn’t even have time to react because the vampire punctuated that statement with a knife—that she swung at Rose’s throat. As Rose stepped back, dodging the attack, Kara stepped between them and caught the vampire’s wrist.
Kara twisted the vampire’s arm behind her back and restrained her, and the grieving vampire didn’t even fight back. “You don’t want to do this, Yolande.”
Yolande shook her head, tears streaming down her cheeks. “He’s gone.”
“I know,” Kara sighed. “But that’s not Rose’s fault. He attacked her.”
“It is her fault!” Yolande sobbed. Her dark eyes narrowed at Rose. “She drove him insane. He would have never done something like that, if she hadn’t.”
Rose frowned worriedly. “Wait. What? How did I drive him insane?”
Kara’s light blue gaze shifted toward Rose. “Rose, don’t,” she warned.
“Those visions,” Yolande said. “He called me. He told me about them.”
Rose took a step toward her. “What visions? What do you mean?”
“Rose,” Kara said gently. “She’s grieving and angry. You’ll agitate her.”
“I’m sorry,” Rose sighed. “I don’t mean to. I just…want to understand.”
“He can usually control his precognitive power,” Yolande said, “but you messed that up. He couldn’t stop having visions, and they were all about you.”
Rose’s heart began to race. “What did he see? Do you know?”
“No,” Yolande said. Even though her voice cracked
, even though her face and lips were wet with tears, she lifted her chin, anger flashing in her brown eyes. “He wouldn’t tell me. He said he didn’t want to scare me.” She pulled against her arms, which Kara still held behind her back, leaning forward, closer to Rose. “But he did tell me one thing: you’re bad news, Rose Foster. For all of us.”
Rose stepped back, startled by those words, her gut twisting with dread.
“Okay, that’s enough,” Kara interrupted. Her intense, blue gaze darted toward Rose, flashing with worry, as she sensed Rose’s emotions. “Yolande, you know what happens if I report your attack to Talulah. I don’t think you want that, and neither do I. So, just…promise you’ll leave Rose alone, and we’ll forget this.”
Yolande watched Rose, her eyes dark and predatory. She tilted her head to the side, as if she were studying Rose’s reaction. “I wonder if she could do it.”
Rose frowned. “If I could do what?” she asked. She looked up at Kara.
Kara sighed, “If I report her attack to Talulah…you’ll have to kill her.”
“What?” Rose gasped, her eyes widening. “No! Why would I do that?”
Yolande smiled, her teeth bright and sharp. “I knew she was too weak.”
“She’s not weak. She’s compassionate,” Kara said, her mouth near the woman’s ear. “Which is why you should realize that she’s not responsible for your husband’s death. Now, I’ll give you one chance to walk away. Or I’ll kill you.”
Yolande laughed bitterly. “Oh, Kara. How easily you turn on people.”
“I do what I must,” Kara said. “Now, please, Yolande, just walk away.”
“I should make you do it,” Yolande said, “just so you’d have to live with the fact that you killed an old friend. I don’t want to live without him, anyway.”
“Yolande,” Kara sighed, her brows creasing with sympathy.
“But…I won’t,” Yolande said. Kara breathed out a sigh of relief and let her go. Yolande shot one last glare at Rose. “If we survive what’s coming, just remember: you’ll be looking over your shoulder for me for the rest of eternity.”
The Assassins of Light Page 65