by Lisa Marie
“I know. Come in here.” Ash pulled the distraught woman inside and shut the door, the quiet click echoing in the hall.
Edward stepped out of his hiding place and hurried to the door. He scanned the dark area, searching for doors that would indicate other apartments, but didn’t see any. Satisfied, he lowered himself to the floor and pressed his ear to the wood. He had no fear that he would get caught. His enhanced hearing would warn him of someone approaching in plenty of time for him to find cover. Of course, he was risking Ash detecting him, but he was willing to take the risk. He was counting on the vampire being too caught up in his guest to notice him. At least, until after Edward had the information he wanted.
At first, he didn’t hear anything except the soft sound of the woman’s loud sniffs. He managed to stifle an irritated huff. No need to announce to Ash that he was here. Then he heard them talking, and their words brought a smile to his face.
* * * *
“We need to get to Mark. Right away. I don’t want him finding out by accident.” Flora wiped her nose with a tissue. Eve sat next to her, dressed in a pair of Ash’s drawstring shorts and a T-shirt. She rubbed a hand over Flora’s arm, hoping to offer the older woman some comfort.
“We’re heading out tonight. I just wanted to make sure we lost that werewolf before we took off,” Ash told her, his voice tense.
“I … I didn’t know when to arrange the funeral. I thought Mark should decide.”
Ash pushed out of the chair he was sitting in and settled down next to her on the couch, drawing the woman into the curve of his arm. “It’s okay, Flora. We’ll get it figured out. But we have to deal with Sebastian first. Cy would have wanted us to do that,” he reminded her gently, even as grief made his voice thick.
Flora nodded and blew her nose. “But that’s it. We can’t do this anymore, Ash. I can’t lose anyone else to this, especially not Mark. You have to promise to get him out of this.”
Ash’s eyes widened in surprise and he had no clue how to respond.
Flora gripped the front of his shirt in one hand, her look desperate as she gave it a tug. “You have to.”
“Flora, I can’t make Mark stop. He’s a fully grown…”
“No. He’s just a baby. He’s my baby.” Fresh tears flooded her eyes to spill down her cheeks. Misery and grief coated her words, each one threatening the hold Ash had on his own emotions. “He won’t listen to me. He’ll get himself killed trying to avenge his parents’ death on every vampire out there. It’s time to stop. Haven’t your kind taken enough?”
Ash reeled back as if she had slapped him and despite the immediate regret that flooded the old woman’s eyes, he quickly withdrew from her.
“Oh, Ash. I’m not talking about you. You know…”
“Yeah. I know.”
Somehow, Eve managed to stay silent and not rip into Flora for putting that look of anguish on Ash’s face. Everybody’s emotions were running high, making a tense situation even worse. She didn’t need to add her two cents, no matter how much she wanted to do so.
“Listen, I’ll do what I can. I can’t promise anything,” Ash told her.
After a few seconds, Flora nodded, wiped her nose, and straightened her shoulders. The change that came over the woman had Eve staring. The grief was gone from her heavily lined face, her mouth set in a determined line and her eyes blazing with an inner rage that looked ready to consume anything that got in her way.
“Now, what the hell are we going to do about them bastards that killed Cyrus?” Flora demanded.
The smile that curled Ash’s lip sent an icy finger of fear up Eve’s spine. He looked every inch the dangerous night creature he was in that second, and it both thrilled and terrified her.
“Let’s get to Mark,” he said quietly. “Then we’ll decide.”
“Can we call them? I mean, where the hell are they anyway?” Eve asked, finally jumping into the conversation.
“They’re safe. And, no, there’s no way to call them. We just have to get to them before the seventy-two hour deadline.”
“What’s that?”
Ash flashed a grin, and Eve had a feeling that there was something he’d neglected to tell her. “For safety, we had a cut off. If we didn’t show in seventy-two hours, he was to get Brie out—take her back to the island—then come and find out what happened to us.”
“Oh, really?” Eve didn’t know whether to be mad or glad that they had planned everything out so carefully. Granted, they could have filled her in, but she supposed that was inconsequential now. “Well, I bet that’ll go over like a lead weight with Brie. Not to mention Mark would be a prime specimen for reproduction with the Sirens. Huh, wonder if Brie can lay claim to him since she’s the one that got him there.”
Ash and Flora stared at her like she had just sprouted a second head. “What? You can’t think that they’d let him go once he got there, do you? He’s prime breeding material if I’ve ever seen it.”
“He’s not supposed to go on the island. Just get her there.” Ash nearly rolled his eyes, a stab of jealousy making them narrow. Eve seemed oblivious.
“Oh. How was he supposed to do that?”
“We had it covered, okay?”
An auburn-gold brow arched at the definite irritation she heard in Ash’s voice and Eve had to force back a smile. Irritation was an improvement over the lost, anguished look he’d been carrying most of the evening. “Okay. So, when do we leave? I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to wait around and see if Edward catches up with us.”
“I need to get some supplies from the shop,” Flora said, pushing up from the couch with a litheness that belied her size. “I should be ready to go in an hour. Maybe less.”
Ash nodded, his look thoughtful. “They don’t seem to know about you.”
“What?”
“It just occurred to me that they don’t know about you. They knew about Cyrus and Mark. But not you.”
“That’s right. Sebastian never mentioned her when he was talking to me about Cy.” Eve’s face brightened with realization.
“So?” Flora’s confused gaze shifted between the two as she tried to figure out what Ash was getting at.
“I want you and Eve to go ahead of me.”
“What?” Ash raised his hands to halt their incredulous exclamations.
“Listen, it’s not going to take long for them to figure out where we are. I don’t think it’s going to be safe for all of us to leave together. You two go on, I’ll follow. That way if we get a tag along, I can lead them away from you.”
Flora seemed to accept it, but the thought of leaving him to fend for himself had Eve’s stomach curling up into knots. “No, Ash. I’m not leaving you.”
“Eve, please.”
“No! If they see me, they’ll follow us. You know that.”
“I don’t want you here if he catches up with us. He killed Cyrus, Evelyn!” Ash exploded so quickly that Flora flinched, but Eve just crossed her arms over her chest and tossed her hair. She had that stubborn set to her face that Ash had started to think was cute. That is, until it was directed at him.
“Yeah, which means he can kill you, too,” she snapped.
“I’m a vampire. I have a bit more of an edge than Cy had.”
“So? You said it yourself: in a fight, werewolves have the advantage. They’re faster.”
“And I fight dirty. Dammit, Eve. Please. Just go with Flora.”
Flora watched the two battle, a smile playing on her mouth. She wondered how long they had been in love and if either of them even realized it. Ash’s eyes were pleading with Eve to listen, even as anger had his posture rigid. Eve was stubbornly glaring at him, tension making her shoulders ramrod straight.
“Please.”
The sound of Ash’s voice, soft and pleading had Eve’s resolve cracking. She could see the fear in his eyes that what had happened to Cy could also happen to her. Her resolve totally collapsed when he walked over and gently cupped her face, his ice bl
ue eyes staring imploringly into hers. “I can move a lot better on my own. And it would ease my worry if I knew you were with Flora. So, please, go with her.”
“You’ll be careful?” Eve asked instead of acquiescing outright.
A quick grin shot across his mouth and he nodded. “Yes, I’ll be careful.”
“Good.” Eve tried not to pout, but she couldn’t quite keep her bottom lip tucked in. She hated leaving him, hated the thought of letting him deal with those people on his own. But he was right. He could probably fare better without having to worry about her, too.
Ash leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her pouting lips, trying to ease her worries. Flora suddenly felt like a voyeur and cleared her throat. “Well, now that that’s settled, Eve, would you come help me downstairs? The quicker we get going, the better.”
Eve nodded and reluctantly pulled away from Ash. She looked down at her bare toes then back up at Flora. “I need some shoes.”
“I think I have some that might do,” Flora told her with a smile.
“Where’s your car?” Ash asked, looking at the older woman.
“It’s around the corner. Didn’t want to park in front, just in case.”
“Good idea. Can I get into Cyrus’ place?”
“Don’t see why not. The cops cleared out of there early this morning. Might want to be careful though, in case they have someone watching the place. Go in through the sewers.” Flora started to move towards the door, then stopped as something came to her. “Wait, Mark’s bike is in the storage shed outside.”
“I don’t want to ride that thing. Damn thing is strung together with chewing gum and a prayer,” Ash replied in distaste. He’d never understood why Mark had wanted to buy the ugly hunk of metal. But he’d managed to get it to run. He just didn’t ride it very often, since he usually needed the storage the Thunderbird afforded.
“Better than nothin’. Remember, Mark’s got Cy’s car. And you shouldn’t go back to Eve’s to get hers. Not much other choice.”
“Shit.”
“I got the keys downstairs.” Flora gave him a little smile, a palm up in question.
“Fuck. All right. Does he at least have a helmet down there?”
“With a head as hard as yours, what the hell are you worried about?” Eve asked, walking past him to follow Flora out. Ash watched them go as giggles exploded from them and he growled.
“No freaking respect,” he grumbled, grabbing his boots and storming after the women. As he closed the door, he paused, sniffing the air. There was something … his gaze darted down the hall, looking for anything out of place.
“Come on, Ash,” Eve said before she disappeared down the stairwell. Ash took one more look around, certain he smelled something under the waves of Flora’s perfume.
“Ash!” Eve bellowed.
Shaking the odd sensation off, Ash made sure his door was locked and followed the women downstairs.
* * * *
Edward jumped to the alley from the window at the end of the hall just in time for Flora to open the door. He quickly made his way across the street to the safety of his prior hiding place. As soon as he was there, he pulled out his cell phone and hit speed dial.
“Yes.” Sebastian’s smooth voice filtered through on the first ring.
“They’re getting ready to move,” Edward told him without preamble. “They’re going to split up, try to confuse us.”
“How very typical. How long?”
“Within the hour.”
“Very good. I’ll meet you in ten minutes.”
“Whatever you say.” Edward hung up and looked back over at the building. He would have preferred following them on his own, but he wasn’t stupid. He had no idea where they were heading and Sebastian’s reinforcements might come in handy. Afterwards … maybe it was time to dissolve his employment. And if Sebastian had a problem with him taking Brie as severance pay … well, that would be just fine, too.
He slipped out of the alley and started down the street to meet the vampire, images of Brianne, begging for his mercy dancing in his brain and making him hard. He refused to remember that she could kill him without batting an eyelash. His want of her had taken him beyond the point of caring about that. He wanted to have her, possess her. Own her. And it was high time that he did something about it.
* * * *
With a heavy sigh, Brie tossed the blankets off and climbed out of bed. The moon was still high in the sky and she was pretty sure it was a good ways past midnight. Her head hurt from crying and she would have gladly killed for some aspirin. But that meant leaving the safety of the bedroom to face Mark. And she wasn’t ready to do that.
She paced restlessly around the room, trying to dispel the edginess she couldn’t seem to shake. She knew she had the man out in the living room to thank for it and she felt her annoyance at him shoot up another notch. Not that she really felt justified in being angry with him. For whatever reason, he was trying to be a gentleman. Too bad she didn’t want anything to do with it.
That was another thing keeping her awake. What was it with the desperate need? Why was she so intent on sleeping with him? She had never felt this way before, but every time he looked at her, she felt an ache start. An ache that had gotten persistently more noticeable after he’d kissed her. She was scared, tired and more than a little worried about her sister. She had no business thinking with her hormones.
Brianne practically growled with frustration as she shoved her hands through her hair. Even now, she couldn’t focus on what she should be focusing on: Her sister, her life after Sebastian. All she could think of was Mark, lying out on that couch as frustrated as she was. Maybe I should just go out there and jump on him, she half joked to herself. Then maybe she could get some sleep. She was halfway to the bedroom door before she realized what she was doing. With a start, she came to a halt, her heart pounding erratically in her chest.
What are you doing? she screamed in her mind. You can’t just go out there and throw yourself at him!
Why not?
Brie had the sudden inane thought that she had those stupid cartoon devil and angel sitting on her shoulder. One whispering what she should do, the other whispering what she wanted to do.
“This is crazy. You just want some aspirin,” she huffed, conveniently forgetting that five minutes ago she hadn’t been willing to go out and get it. With a toss of her hair, she stormed over to the door and grasped the knob. She wrenched the door open and stepped out into the dark hall, her gaze trained towards the living room. Each step seemed tortuous and slow as she made her way silently across the floor. She couldn’t hear any movement and there were no lights save the dim moon from the windows to help her see. She passed the room where Seth was without even glancing into it, her full attention riveted towards the end of the hall.
She brought a hand up to brace it on the wall where it angled into the living room, her eyes immediately searching for and finding Mark’s long body. He was stretched out on the couch, his freshly bandaged arm thrown over his eyes, his other hand resting on his rock hard stomach. She spent a few seconds studying the contrast of the white bandage against his dark skin, before shaking herself and stepping into the room.
He didn’t move, didn’t even twitch as she moved over to him. But she had no doubt that he knew she was there. All of his pointed comments about being aware of your surroundings aside, she didn’t think he was having any easier time sleeping then she was. He was waiting, she could feel it. Waiting to see what she would do. Funny thing was that so was she.
Mark had known the second Brie opened the bedroom door. The quiet click most people wouldn’t have even noticed seemed to echo in his ears. Every muscle tensed with each step she made towards him. His blood ran hot in his veins, his heartbeat jumped. He knew exactly where she was for no other reason than he was completely entranced by her slow entrance. He didn’t move, was almost afraid to. God knew he was afraid of what would happen if she touched him. He was wound so tightly he mi
ght snap. He hadn’t been able to think of anything else but her since they’d gotten to this damn house. He had a feeling it was only going to get worse.
The aspirin long forgotten, Brie moved steadily towards Mark’s prone body. Her gaze roamed over the exposed skin of his chest, tracing the lines of muscle and sinew, memorizing it all. A blanket was slung haphazardly across his hips and she could just see the top of his jeans. The fact that they were unbuttoned had her stumbling. The blanket was thin, and it gave her a perfect view of the way his body responded to her presence. She watched in fascination as the bulge under the cover became longer, thicker. Good lord, her mouth was practically salivating with anticipation.
She stopped at his feet, looking at the one long leg that wasn’t on the couch, thinking to herself that even his feet were sexy. Somehow that didn’t seem fair. Her heart thundered in her ears and her panties became damper and extremely uncomfortable with every second she spent looking at him.
“What do you want, Brie?”
The sound of his voice, husky and near desperate, had her attention skittering to his face. His left arm still covered his eyes and, for all appearances, he could have been talking in his sleep. She nearly moaned when his tongue darted out to moisten his lower lip.
Brie had trouble forming words, so she did the next best thing. Shoving aside inhibition, she swept the T-shirt over her head and threw it at him, smacking him in his delectable mouth.
“What the…” His voice trailed off as he snatched the shirt off his face and opened his eyes. All the blood in his body rushed south at the sight of her, standing brazenly before him. She was dressed only in a pair of white cotton panties so plain they shouldn’t have made him think they were the sexiest things he had ever seen. The moon washed over her creamy skin, the slope of her silky limbs, the curve of her lush breasts. His dream had done her no justice.
She stared back at him, her violet eyes daring him to turn her down once again. There was no way he was going to be able to do so. Even now, he was pushing up to a sitting position, reaching out a hand to her.
Brianne felt like their fate was sealed when her fingers closed around his. A sigh of relief escaped her when, with a gentle tug, she was draped across his lap, his mouth crushing hers.