by Deanna Chase
“Really? And how did you do that?”
She shrugged and stopped at a red light. “I may have mentioned to the agent who had the job that I’d seen him out around town with a woman about ten years younger than his wife.”
“And?”
The light turned green, and Phoebe laid into the gas. “Let’s just say he was willing to negotiate.”
Laughing, I shook my head. Phoebe had a way of getting whatever she wanted. She could also transform into anyone she wanted. Today she was wearing a dark brown wig, carefully mussed into a carefree, college-girl style. Her tight blue jeans and formfitting T-shirt screamed student. If it weren’t for Link and me, anyone who saw her would never make the Void connection.
“I thought you said the job wasn’t Void sanctioned.” If she was working the case, this was not only normal, but expected.
“Oh, the job is. Taking you isn’t. The director ordered you benched for the time being.”
“What? And she didn’t tell me?” I scowled. What if Phoebe needed Link and me to go out on patrol with her?
“She left that lovely job to me.” Phoebs wrinkled her perfect nose. “Sorry. I think she’s off her rocker, obviously, or I wouldn’t be taking you along. But to be fair, she probably doesn’t want Allcot’s people mixed up in any Void business.”
“She knows?” Jeez. Was the Void following me, too?
Phoebe nodded slowly. “I’m sure she has informants. A good director would.” Twisting, she nodded to a duffle bag in the back seat. “Find a disguise. You don’t want to be spotted.”
I bit my lip and rummaged around in the bag. There had to be something to hide my wings. I tugged a dark blue sweater out of her bag, tucked my wings to my back, and pulled it over my shoulders. It was late September and still far too hot for such clothing, but I had little choice.
Phoebe eyed me. “You need a wig.” She pulled up in front of a shotgun double with peeling paint and grabbed a bleach-blond, shoulder-length wig from another bag.
I pinned my own hair back and turned myself into a cheap blonde. “Ready?” I asked, not daring to study myself too much.
“Let’s do this.”
Clutching my new stun gun, I followed Phoebs to the front door. She pulled out one of her magic-filled agates and knocked on the door. When no one answered, she peered in the window. “Looks empty.”
She jumped off the porch and headed around to the back. Link and I followed, knowing this was her usual routine for breaking and entering. As a Void agent, she didn’t quite have a get-out-of-jail-free card, but it was close. She was expected to go undetected, but if caught, the Void had ways of getting her off the hook. Unless the property was controlled by a vamp. Then she had to deal with him or her directly.
Before Link and I even caught up, Phoebe had the back door open and was doing a security sweep through the small house. “All clear,” she called and tucked her witch agate back into her pocket.
Link and I stepped inside. I peered through the kitchen doorway to the rest of the house. Four rooms were all lined up in the shotgun-style home, each leading into the other in a straight line. The one directly off the kitchen had dirty clothes strewn all over the floor and an unmade bed.
The bedroom. I wrinkled my nose at the stale, sweaty stench. When was the last time the guy had washed his sheets?
“You start at the front of the house and I’ll take the kitchen,” Phoebe said.
Worked for me. If I was lucky, I wouldn’t have to touch anything but the warped wood floors of the bedroom. “Sure.” I snapped my fingers and Link and I hightailed it to the living room. The rancid grease stench from the abandoned fast-food bags made my stomach roll. Ick.
Link raised each paw carefully as he made his way over the debris scattered throughout the rooms. Seemed the place wasn’t even fit for a dog. “We won’t be long,” I told him. It took me less than five minutes to determine there was nothing of informational value in the front room. Not unless you counted the stack of Vamp magazines towering in the corner. It was a publication devoted to humans who longed to be turned.
There were almost no accounts of wannabes of his caliber who had been turned. Vampires were very choosy about who they let into their families.
“Wil,” Phoebe called excitedly from the other room. “I found something.”
Link and I rushed through the dining room and bedroom to the kitchen. Phoebe was standing on the counter, holding a tattered spiral notebook. “Names and numbers. A bunch of them.”
“For what?”
“It doesn’t say, but some are starred. I want to start with them first to see what kind of connection there might be.”
“Sounds suspicious,” I said, heading for the back door.
“Where are you going?”
“To get some fresh air. This place reeks.”
She nodded her agreement. “Are the rest of the rooms clean?”
I snorted. “I think clean is the last word I’d use for this place, but the living room is done. The dining room is almost empty, and you couldn’t pay me to search that bedroom.” I opened the back door. “I’ll check the shed and then we’ll wait for you on the back porch.”
“Okay.”
The outbuilding was about half the size of the house. I gritted my teeth at the ceiling-high cardboard boxes that blocked the windows. If it was full of storage, we’d be there all day. I glanced at Link. “This is gonna suck.”
He barked.
“You can say that again.”
The doorknob turned under my grip, but the door was blocked by something and wouldn’t open. I glanced up and noticed the padlock slipped through a latch at the very top of the door. Better than a deadbolt.
After a quick search of the ground, I picked up a rock about the size of my fist, shed my sweater, and fluttered my wings, lifting myself off the ground. Three strikes later, the lock and the hardware had come loose. One more and the entire operation tumbled to the ground. “Termite damage,” I said to Link.
He sniffed the lock and wagged his tail.
Must be nice to be a dog. The door swung open and the musty stench of mold and dirt filtered out. I fumbled around for a switch. My hand hit something cool, and fluorescent light flooded the shed. Blinking, I took a deep breath of clean air and then stepped inside.
The hair on my arms rose and I froze. A diagram of pictures was tacked to the wall with my name in the middle, surrounded by all my loved ones and a bunch of people I didn’t recognize. Arrows were drawn between me and some of them, but not all, and some of the accompanying, unfamiliar names were circled and connected to other names.
I took a step closer and pressed my fingers to a picture of Talisen. He was standing on my porch in the twilight, laughing as Link bounded up to him. I recognized the shot. It was taken ten days ago. They’d been watching me for over a week and a half, at least. Asher’s people, if Allcot was to be believed. Who else would be following me, unless someone in the Void had gone rogue again? But why were they making a move now?
I pulled out my iPhone and snapped about a dozen pictures of the pictorial in front of me. Phoebe and I’d have our work cut out for us figuring out who all the players were.
“Wil!” Phoebe whispered harshly. “Time to go!”
I shoved my phone back in my pocket and ran out of the shed, finding her pressed against the building.
“Get over here.” She indicated the space to her left as she peered around the corner.
Crouching down, I snapped my fingers and Link joined me. He was vibrating with anticipation, ready to shift if anything went down. I ran a calming hand down his back. Shifting now would guarantee we were spotted. “What’s going on?” I whispered.
She waved a hand to silence me. Link pitched his ears forward as unintelligible voices floated through the yard.
Crap. Someone was here. Had the suspect been released? I tightened my grip around the stun gun and sucked in slow, calming breaths. I could do this.
“Get to the she
d. All the files are in there.” The deep male voice was close.
“Shit,” Phoebe murmured. “They’re coming. Move.” She nudged my shoulder, pushing me toward the back of the structure.
But I was cemented in place. Thick honey vampire energy kept my feet glued to the ground. My wings flexed in panic and a cold sweat blossomed over my body.
“Wil,” Phoebe hissed in my ear. “Move it.”
I shook my head, positive my expression was frantic. “Vampire,” I mouthed, knowing just how close he had to be.
Her eyes went wide with startled surprise. It was barely eleven a.m. The sun was shining full force. If there was a vampire here, that meant only one thing.
A daywalker.
And Phoebe’s sun agate would mean nothing.
The energy got thicker with each passing second. The sensation pressed in on me, making it hard to breathe.
“David?” Phoebe mouthed back.
I shook my head, wishing that was the case. I’d accidently turned David into a daywalker not too long ago. One of the side effects of his transformation was that I could no longer sense him when he was around. His touch no longer caused me physical pain, either. The vamp on the other side of the shed definitely wasn’t David.
“Someone’s already been here,” another man with a nasally voice said.
“No. They’re still here,” Deep Voice replied.
Phoebe sprang to her feet, her agate in one hand and something silver in the other. Link vibrated, his head morphing into a large wolf shape while his bones contorted and elongated until he was a snarling, full-fledged wolf.
Me? I was trapped in my own personal vampire hell. I’d never been affected as much by a vamp before. Normally it took prolonged exposure or a major energy depletion to cause a reaction so intense. I had no idea what was going on.
In true Phoebe fashion, she charged around the building, Link at her side, and yelled, “Siste!”
A loud chuckle came from above me. I glanced up and caught a glimpse of a medium-built man dressed in a beige seersucker suit, but his facial features were obscured by his fedora. How old school of him. He moved away without noticing me and the vamp pressure lessened slightly, just enough that I was able to shuffle to the edge of the shed.
Halfway to the house, Phoebe tackled a thin, balding man. They went down in a tangle of limbs.
“Get off, you dumb bitch,” her victim cried.
“Not likely, you sorry sack of vampire lover.” She coldcocked him and he went limp.
I stumbled to Phoebe’s side. The instant she touched my arm, a cool, numbing sensation filtered through me and the vampire energy no longer weighed me down. I still felt him. He hadn’t left; I was just functional again.
Link stood in front of the shed, howling up at the vampire.
“Is there a reason you attacked my nephew, Agent Kilsen?” the vampire asked, more curious than angry.
Phoebe raised one eyebrow. “How do you know who I am?”
A ghost of a smile teased his lips.
“Why are you here?” Phoebe demanded with a snarl.
The vamp shifted. One second he was on the roof, the next he was standing less than a foot in front of us. He reached out and traced one finger down my cheek. A line of fire burned where he touched me and I flinched, swallowing the gasp of agony. Oh, no. I was not going to stand there and let him torment me.
I lashed the stun gun out, blindly connecting with him. My arm vibrated in time with the vampire’s growl. Somehow the electric current seemed to keep us connected and as my vision cleared, we locked eyes. His angry, ice-blue ones bored into mine and fear filled my soul. Once the gun ran out of juice, I was dead. If I let go now, he’d kill me.
Another growl and Link was on him. He sank his fangs into the vamp and then let go, howling in pain. Link! Shit. He twitched, fell to the ground, and then went limp, his fur standing on end. Phoebe had moved and was now standing behind the vamp, blue witch light streaming from her fingertips.
The vampire was contained in a holding pattern of my electric current. His face contorted in obvious pain, but the gun wasn’t bringing him to his knees like it should.
“Now!” Phoebe cried. I broke the connection while simultaneously thrusting my wings. I shot off the ground and flew toward Link, who was lying a few feet away. If I could get to him, my touch would help.
The vampire spun in my direction and leaped for me. “I’ve been waiting for this moment, Rhoswen.”
Phoebe’s blue magic crackled like fire over his body, stopping him. I’d seen this spell before. The second the blue flame hit the vamp, he should’ve started to burn from the inside out. This vampire, however, did no such thing. He writhed as if he was weighted down with chains, but clearly neither of us had caused him any damage.
“Grab Link!” Phoebe cried.
I was already on him, forcing my life magic into his battered body. He was still alive, thank the Goddess, but his breathing was shallow and his pulse was faint. “Come on, buddy.”
My life magic could restore pretty much any living thing, but Link was a magical shifter and it took more than a little bit of will to force it into him. I was sweating and cursing as I waited for my power to help restore his vitals.
“Let’s go,” Phoebe cried.
I glanced at her. She was struggling to maintain her own power. This vamp was old. Incredibly old. That’s why I’d felt him so strongly and why Phoebe was unable to contain him.
We had to get out of there. Under my touch, Link shifted suddenly to Shih Tzu form and he started taking deeper breaths. I let out a strangled sigh of relief and scooped him up into my arms, flying as fast as I could to the car.
I yanked the door open, set Link in the back, and cursed myself for not remembering my keys, which were still sitting in my desk. If I had them, I could start the car and be Phoebe’s getaway driver. Instead, I rushed back to where she and the vamp were having a mental-strength showdown.
His eyes met mine and rage burned in their chilly depths. I shuddered and scanned the yard for Phoebe’s pack. There. Right beside the fallen bald man. I rushed to his side and landed with an ungraceful thump. My knee gave out on impact and I went down, crashing into him. “Ouch!”
Ignoring the searing pain in my knee, I scrambled over his prone form and grabbed her pack. Reaching in the front pouch, I closed my fingers over her keys and scrambled to my feet.
A hand shot out and grabbed my ankle, pulling me back down.
“Willow!” I heard Phoebe’s panicked cry and did the only thing I could think of. I elbowed the bald man in the back and then brought the stun gun down on him, ensuring he wouldn’t be getting up anytime soon.
“Run!” Phoebe commanded from behind me. I’d lost sight of her while grappling with Baldy. But as I turned, I found her shaking and alone, her magic gone.
“Phoebs?”
She grabbed my arms and dragged me to the back of the car. But the vamp stood at the driver’s side, glowering at both of us. If he wanted to, he could probably pick up the entire car and toss it down the street. Vamps in general were strong, but the really old ones were almost unstoppable. Especially when they couldn’t be burned by the sun.
Phoebe tried to stumble past me toward the vampire but was clearly weakened from her impressive display of power. She’d never survive another full-on attack.
I pulled her back and clutched my stun gun, more than grateful Phoebe had thought to get me one. “Be ready to get the hell out of here,” I ordered. I might not be trained in physical combat, but damn it, I wasn’t afraid of electrocuting someone’s ass. Hopefully he was drained enough that the gun would buy us a few seconds to get the hell out of there.
The vamp moved so fast, I didn’t even see him coming. One second, I was headed for him, gun in hand, and the next I was lying face-first on the rough asphalt pavement. “You’ve messed with the wrong vampire, Rhoswen,” he hissed into my ear. “Hear me? You know I can’t let you live since you’ve learned my secret.�
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My world spun with equal parts agony and fear: the pain from where his hand pressed into my back, burning every last nerve ending, and the fear from not knowing how to fight such a powerful being. My gun had fallen on impact. I had no idea where it had gone. Link was out of commission in the car, and Phoebe had used up almost all her magic. I was going to die at the hand of this unknown daywalker.
The vamp brought his mouth down to my neck and whispered, “It’s been two centuries since I’ve tasted fae.”
“And it’s going to be another one before you have a chance, you sick son of a bitch,” Phoebe yelled.
I heard the buzz of the gun and from the corner of my eye saw Phoebe press it to the vamp’s bare neck. His body started to twitch uncontrollably. The Taser was running out of juice, judging by the whining sound, and I was still trapped beneath him, every last nerve ending screaming from the vamp contact and the residual electricity streaming from him to me. My head spun and everything started to go black. I’d soon be a ball of fire. It wouldn’t matter if the vamp wanted to kill me or not, I’d die from shock.
Using every ounce of strength I had left, I pushed upward, barely moving the stonelike creature sprawled over me. But when I bucked, he shifted a tiny bit and I rolled, tumbling farther into the street and over a pothole. Ouch!
I could barely get to my feet, but my adrenaline took over and I found myself in the driver’s seat of Phoebe’s car with the engine running. “Let’s go!” I cried to Phoebe.
I had one foot on the gas and the other on the brake. As soon as her ass hit the passenger’s seat and before the door was even closed, we took off, leaving a trail of rubber in our wake. I glanced in the rearview mirror as we sped down the street. The only things left of us at the house were our tire tracks, an unconscious human, and a very pissed-off, daywalking vampire.
Chapter 10
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Phoebe pounded her fist on her thigh and glanced behind us for the sixth time.