Her full, dusky, mauve lips curved into a sensual come-hither smile. “It is my pleasure to help the Chosen,” she answered, then turned away from him without missing a beat, as if she were used to being superior to those around her and his thanks a foregone conclusion. Colt bristled just a bit. Yep. No doubt about it, she was a vampire all right. Cocky, insufferable bloodsuckers.
Her head snapped around, her tawny eyes narrowing in warning as if he’d said it out loud rather than merely thought it. She looked down her long, aquiline nose at him. “Fair warning, sir, this ship is filled with vampires. And we can hear your thoughts as clearly as if you’d spoken them out loud.”
Colt gulped back a sudden uncomfortable swell in his throat. “Yes, your ladyship.”
She gave him a curt nod and turned back, heading for the large intricate Tiffany stained glass double doors that adjoined the deck. The motif of the red castle with black wings swung past Colt’s nose as Winn opened the door to let the ladies enter the interior of the dirigible first.
“Mind your manners, boy. No sense in offending the vampires before we know if they can help us find the missing part of the Book,” Winn whispered harshly into Colt’s ear as he passed.
The top level of the dirigible looked surprisingly modern, like a plush hotel lobby, surrounded by windows. Huge potted palms, their long, fringed green boughs ruffled by the breeze coming in the open doors, broke up the large open space. Heavily stuffed and elegantly carved chairs and settees were grouped like small parlors for gentle conversation or tea. Underfoot a thick oriental carpeting in rich burgundy and gold interspersed with the black points of the vampire’s crest muffled their steps. There was even a roaring fire in the grate of a marble fireplace at the far end of the room.
Colt couldn’t help himself. He was drawn to the huge fireplace. Stone cherubs held the ornately scrolled columns aloft. Upon closer inspection he saw the cherubs had fangs. A small shiver slithered over his skin and he took a quick step backward. A fire. In the air. It would certainly give Marley a conniption to have missed it.
“Fascinating, isn’t it?”
The familiar voice startled him. “Marley?”
The inventor grinned. “So good to know that I can occasionally surprise even you Jacksons,” he said with amusement.
“What are you doing here?”
“Your brother and the Contessa offered to assist me in delivering Balmora to Her Majesty.”
Colt’s gun hand itched and a slight whiff of sulfur made him draw his revolver and cock it in one swift motion, pointing it an inch from the center of the fake Marley’s forehead. “Who are you really?”
Marley sighed dramatically, rolling his eyes, and suddenly the image smeared and shifted, the white cottony hair growing longer, blond and silky, the body turning taller and curvaceous. “What gave me away?” China asked.
“First, Marley don’t like supernaturals, so I seriously doubt he’d take an offer of riding aboard a vampire’s dirigible. Second, I think it’s going to take half of the Queen’s army to pry Balmora out of Marley’s hands. He’s not going to give her up willingly. Third,” he wrinkled his nose, “I can still smell the sulfur on you.”
“So I’m a little rusty,” China groused with a shrug.
“You’re sloppy. There’s a difference. You should know who you’re impersonating better than that. And you didn’t answer my question.”
“I attached myself to the ladder as a mouse when they hauled it up. Remington wanted to make sure it wasn’t a trap. And, for your information, at least I’m not heartless like you. I can’t believe you left me behind.”
Colt turned back to the fire so he didn’t have to see the wounded look in her eyes and the angry set of her mouth.
“Look. If I’d had any chance of getting us both out, I would have. As it was, Remington came to get you. If anybody could talk you out of that jail cell I knew it would be him, not me.”
“Regardless, you still owe me.” The petulance in her voice left no doubt China intended to collect on the debt. “And by the way, I’d watch that demon if I were you. She’s already got you hooked.”
Her assessment rankled and Colt didn’t feel like discussing it, especially not with China. “Tell you what, you protect my brother’s back if you two go out searching for Diego’s map and make it back, then we’ll talk about what I owe you.”
A low growl started deep in China’s throat. For a moment he thought she was going to shift, then he sensed the female warmth standing right behind him and caught a whiff of Lilly’s unique fragrance in the air. Damn. Caught between a succubus and a shifter. Not a good place to be for a Hunter. And a hell of a place to be as a man.
“We’ll talk when we get back,” China said between gritted teeth, then turned on her booted heel and strode off across the lobby of the airship, the fringe on her jacket swinging with the motion of her hips.
“What did she want?” Lilly asked, her tone as bristly as an annoyed porcupine.
“Difference of opinion about a job we did a while back. Thinks I still owe her.”
“Certainly sounded like more than that.”
“Can’t always trust that a supernatural is going to stick to their word.”
“Or a Hunter, for that matter,” she said with some bitterness.
He snapped his gaze to her and stared at her hard. As much as he hated to say it, he needed to clear the air between them before anything happened that was as big a mess as the misunderstanding that had somehow happened between him and China. He needed to make her understand.
“I’m not going to let you torment my brothers.”
“Excuse me?”
She had the temerity to look surprised at his comment, which made Colt feel he needed to be even more direct. “We had a pact. You agreed not to take my soul. But you didn’t say nothin’ about leaving my brothers alone. Two out of the three Chosen wouldn’t be bad. I suppose it would satisfy Rathe. Except nothing ever does.”
“What are you talking about?”
Now his skin was starting to itch with irritation. She still wasn’t getting it. “I saw the way Remy looked at you. And the way you looked at him.”
“Yes, normally one looks at the other person with their eyes. I believe that’s rather mandatory.”
Colt cursed under his breath and glared at her. “No. He looked at you—undressed you with his eyes.”
The angry lines on her face softened with understanding, the scent that cloaked her growing more pronounced like roses in the summer sun so that it filled the air around him. “Think about it, Colt. It’s part of my allure as a succubus. Some are just more immune to it than others. Your brother is mortal. If he hadn’t reacted in some way, we’d have known he was a corpse, or worse yet, a vivified corpse.”
“That explains him. What about you?”
The angry flash in her eyes reignited. “Me?”
“You were looking at him too, hell, rubbing up against him like a damn cat. China even noticed it.”
Her lips pulled together into a tight little twist as she paused for an instant, sighed, and closed her eyes. When they opened she seemed far more serene. “While your jealousy is quite flattering despite it being Neanderthalic, it’s misplaced. I’ve always been fascinated by the Chosen. You and your brothers are all part of that mythology, whether you wish to accept it or not. And speaking of the shape-shifter—”
“So you were admiring him like a museum piece? Is that what you’re telling me?”
“Just how close were the two of you during your brief association?”
The fact that she had completely changed subjects and was back to hounding him about China was not lost on Colt, but put him on the defensive nonetheless. He straightened, turning back to face the fire, trying to resist the urge to reach out and touch Lilly. “Close enough to know better, and distant enough not to care.”
“So it’s worse than I thought.”
His gaze darted to her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“What?”
She waved her hands in a fluttering motion as if stirring curls of incense to disperse them. “The air was simply saturated with the smell of it. Only now she loathes you as well. Which makes her attraction to your brother even more complicated.”
Colt’s shoulders sagged a bit. It was true. All of it. How was it possible she had guessed? “You got all of that out of one sniff?”
Lilly crossed her arms, making her bosom swell in dangerous proportion over the top of her gown. Colt tore his gaze away from the soft swell of creamy skin and deliberately focused on the flickering blue parts of the flames dancing in the fireplace. “Call it a gift, or a curse, depending on what side you’re on.”
“And what do you call it?”
“Doesn’t matter, because I can tell all the same exactly what’s going on.” She turned and walked away from him, avoiding the windows on the opposite side of the dirigible, to sit in a chair as far from him as she could, her back ramrod straight.
Colt knew better than to follow. He just stared at her graceful silhouette outlined by bright light streaming in the windows, feeling completely out of his element surrounded by supernaturals, suspended in the air over the desert.
There were things about Lilly he just didn’t understand. How could she read him so easily when she’d only been in the room with him, China, and Remington for less than a half hour? Besides seducing men to surrender their immortal souls, what other powers did she possess as both a demon and a woman? And exactly how tied to Rathe was she?
While he felt he could trust her, given she’d been completely blunt about Rathe’s intentions and stayed with him thus far, he wasn’t absolutely sure. He hadn’t trusted anyone other than his brothers and Marley in so long that just contemplating it seemed foreign. And if that weren’t all enough to confuse a man, his interest in her had turned from one of mere lust-fueled attraction to wanting to protect and help her in her quest to become human and find her sister. He actually cared, dammit.
Then a thought burned through him faster than a lightning bolt: he might actually love her.
Colt turned away, clenching and unclenching his hands, totally unsure of how to handle the situation, and went searching for Winn. When in doubt it was best for a Hunter to focus on his work.
The airship was divided into three different decks, each dedicated to a different purpose. He took the stairs and went from the upper observation and dining deck down below to the secondary deck divided into long halls leading to what he guessed were individual sleeping cabins, and ended in a cargo hold where he found Tempus secured to the floor by ropes.
Beneath that, at the base of the gondola, he found the gas jet fires that heated the air inside the balloon for lift and ran the steam turbines for the steering props. It was so loud and hot, beads of sweat trickled down into his eyes. Colt swiped them away with the sleeve of his shirt.
“A marvel, is it not?” He turned to find the Contessa. The light from the flame shooting upward over the gas jets made the row of highly polished gold buttons along the left side of her gown glow.
“Is this where the fire comes from in the fireplace on the upper deck?”
She smiled. “Very astute of you.”
“But don’t you find hot air more limiting than the lifting aether?”
“More limiting, perhaps, but far less flammable.”
Even though the conversation was totally benign, Colt was getting uncomfortable around the vampire. He’d had one too many close encounters where his neck had been on the line, literally. “Do you happen to know where my brother is?”
“Of course. I shall show you.”
As they walked, the Contessa’s skirting and bustle shushed with each step. “Tell me, Mr. Jackson, why is it you detest vampires so?”
He stiffened slightly at the direct nature of her question. “I guess for the same reason all Hunters do. You feed on humans.”
“But we were all human once. Does that not count for something? Surely we can find common ground, da?”
Like hell. Finding the Book wasn’t going to change a vampire’s diet. But then he and his brothers couldn’t be picky about allies at the moment. “It depends.”
“On what?”
“On if you’re serious about keeping the Gates of Nyx closed.”
The Contessa came to a stop before a dark wooden door with a round brass porthole in it. “Mr. Jackson, you must understand. The Chosen are as much our salvation as they are for your own kind. Surely you can see that we need one another. We have been guarding Europe’s part of the Book for six centuries. If we didn’t want to help, we wouldn’t.”
“I suppose that’s true enough.”
She stepped to the side and clasped her black-gloved hands before her. “Your brother is through that door.”
Colt swung open the polished mahogany door with caution, still not trusting what might be on the other side. As the Contessa had promised, Winn sat at a table cluttered with charts and maps muttering to himself as he took notes.
“Am I interrupting?”
Winn looked up at him. “Of course you are. You always do. Sit down anyway.”
His brother had stripped down to a shirt with a vest over the top and discarded his coat, collar, tie, and Stetson.
Colt ran a finger along the inside edge of his own shirt collar. “Doesn’t your neck feel a little exposed?”
Winn grinned at him. “She’s not that kind of vampire.”
Colt snorted. “What, the kind that don’t drink blood?”
His older brother shook his head. “I don’t have time to explain it all to you. Look, I’ve got an idea where Pa might have stashed his pages. If my calculations are right, Waltz’s mine should be somewhere close to this military road, practically in sight of it.”
“You really think Pa stashed the pages in the Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine?”
“Why not? Waltz was a Hunter from the old country. Chances are he’s got it hidden well enough nobody would find it if they didn’t know the Hunter lore.”
“How do you know that’s not some wild-goose chase?”
“You have any better ideas based on the clue he left us?” Colt shook his head. “Good. Then listen up, little brother. This ain’t going to be easy.”
Chapter 16
Lilly couldn’t stop bouncing her booted foot. She perched on the edge of a very comfortable settee covered in deep plush burgundy velvet, one of several cushiony chairs and sofas scattered about the large and luxurious lobby of the airship. Sitting in the middle of the settee, she was as far away from the windows surrounding the room as she could possibly be.
Saying she was not fond of heights was an understatement. Beyond the expansive windows, the cerulean blue of the sky seemed almost serene, until one contemplated the distance between the insubstantial cloth-and-metal framework of the airship and the rocky earth far, far, far below.
She closed her eyes and breathed out slowly, trying to calm her quickly beating heart. When she managed to slow it down enough to qualify as somewhat normal, she opened her eyes to find the Contessa headed toward her.
Lilly envied her poise and grace. She seemed to float on air as she crossed the thick black and burgundy Turkish carpet. Considering where they were, the thought of floating on air made a bubble of hysterical giggles tickle the back of Lilly’s throat. She giggled, then coughed, covering her mouth with her hand to mask her nervousness as the Contessa took a seat on the settee beside her.
The woman fairly breathed nobility. Her straight posture, her demure grace, even the fine, smooth quality of her pale skin all made her seem larger than life to Lilly. But it was the cool, assessing, superior gaze of those tawny eyes that made Lilly understand why vampires were among the most deadly and independent of the Darkin.
“Are you enjoying air travel, Miss Arliss?”
Lilly hesitated. She’d never been comfortable around people from high society, and the Contes
sa seemed to be from the highest echelons. She always felt that they’d see the dirt and ragged hems from her disreputable childhood no matter how far she’d removed herself from her beginnings. She didn’t want to offend the elegant lady vampire. “It’s smooth. Much better than a stagecoach or even a steam train, but—”
A spark of kindred understanding twinkled in the Contessa’s eyes, relaxing Lilly’s tension. “But it makes you sick to your stomach, da?”
Lilly placed a hand to her overheated cheeks. “Does it show that badly?”
The Contessa offered her a warm, kind smile. “You just look the way I feel when I am on a sea vessel—a bit green.”
It was socially not what one would normally say, but honestly, Lilly liked it. It made the Contessa seem more real to her rather than some untouchable vampire princess.
“Just the thought of how much space there is between the bottom of the airship and the earth makes me nervous.” Lilly didn’t tell her that thinking about it made a fresh surge of panic spark along all her nerve endings making her skin prickle and itch all over.
“I think tea is in order.” The Countess held up her black-gloved hand and materialized a small, cut crystal bell between her fingers. She shook the bell, and the light tinkling sound of it brought out a uniformed crewman within moments. “Tea for Miss Arliss and myself.” He nodded and whisked away before Lilly could manage a thank-you.
The nervous knot in Lilly’s stomach was still growing larger. She didn’t know how to make polite conversation with a Contessa and she’d certainly never taken tea with a vampire before. The closest she’d ever come to conversing with nobility had been when she’d been begging for a coin or two as a child, or when she’d surreptitiously entered a ball using a forged invitation in hopes of stealing the lady’s jewels while the party went on below stairs.
“I hope you don’t misunderstand me, Lady Drossenburg. Your dirigible is amazing.”
The Contessa waved her hand in the air. “Do not think on it any longer. I understand this feeling. You are not meant for the air as I am not meant for the sea.”
The Hunter Page 17