“Sorry, I didn’t have time to put away my toy.” Blondie strolled into the foyer.
Orin stepped forward, hands clenched. “Zadalia.”
Zadalia? The blonde from the airport was Zadalia? Great place to get a snack, my ass! That fucking bitch.
Breena strode past Orin and planted herself right in Zadalia’s face. “Where’s Jenny?”
“Don’t worry, she’s alive. For now.” The preternatural’s long stringy hair swished around her shoulders as she spoke. “Won’t you come in?” She grinned.
Orin glared at her. “I knew you weren’t loyal to our queen.”
“My loyalty lies with the highest bidder. Always has, always will.” She flipped her hair away from her face.
“I don’t give a rat’s left nut who you work for. Take me to Jenny.” Breena had had enough.
“Right this way.” Zadalia led them through the arched entryway and into a larger room. She took a seat by the fireplace, which wasn’t burning.
The room was only partially lit by the moonlight coming through the window. Breena spotted a small Tiffany lamp on the side table by the sofa and yanked the chain to turn it on. Then she saw Jenny. She had a rope around her hands and feet, what looked like a white handkerchief stuffed into her mouth, and her eyes bulged with fear. Breena’s palms burned as she fisted her hands.
Desperate to untie her sister, Breena lunged forward, but Zadalia apparated directly in front of her. “Not so fast.”
“Get out of my way.” Breena pumped her fists at her sides.
“After the warlock arrives.”
As if on cue, a burst of wind blew into the room, filling the parlor like a controlled tornado. Breena turned toward the commotion. A tall man with chestnut hair and big brown eyes appeared in front of her. The long-haired silver wolf, Rae, trailed in after him in her wolf form.
“Hello, Breena.” His gaze locked with hers. “My name is Victor. I’m your–”
“Father. Get on with it.”
A smirk tightened his lips as he looked Breena up and down. “I’ve searched for you for a very long time. Waited for you to come into your powers.”
Out the corner of her eye, Breena glimpsed Orin slink behind a wingback chair. He made his way to Jenny. “Well, here I am.” The edge in her voice drew the warlock’s attention to her.
He shook his head. “There’s no need for hostility, daughter.”
From her point of view, there was plenty need for hostility. And who the hell was he to call her daughter? “What do you want with me?”
“Excellent question, and to the point.” He mindlessly stroked the nape of the silver wolf’s neck. “When I first set out to find you, I wanted to kill you. It was because of you my own mother banished me from the Council.”
“How is this my fault? I didn’t exactly ask to be born,” she shot back, trying to keep Victor’s focus on her.
“Quiet!” The warlock raised his arm and made a fist. The room suddenly grew cold. When he tightened the fist, Breena scrabbled at her throat. A puff of air, like smoke on a winter day, escaped from her lips.
She couldn’t breathe.
“But now that I know what you and Jenny are capable of…” He released the invisible grip on her throat and lowered his arm. “There is one more thing you must do to prove your worth.”
Hunching forward with her hands still around her throat, she coughed. She hoped Orin had gotten to Jenny and poofed them both out of there, but didn’t dare take her eyes off Victor. “So you’ve tested me?”
“Yes.” He looked at her with an arrogant air.
“Did I pass?” she mocked, hoping it pissed him off.
“Nearly. You survived a preternatural attack, and one by werewolves. If you survive against vampires, I will let you live.” A twisted smile played at the corners of his lips. “I’ll even make a deal with you.”
“You don’t have anything I want.”
“Not true.” His gaze moved away from Breena and nodded toward the chair where Jenny sat, bound. Orin had only gotten her legs untied. The warlock raised his hand in Orin’s direction and suddenly the preternatural stood next to Breena. His eyes turned black as his ears rose, and he narrowed his gaze on the warlock. Victor lowered his hand and ignored the preternatural. “You want custody of Jennifer, don’t you?”
“Of course, but–”
“We will sign the papers.” He rubbed the wolf’s ears, but she seemed to fidget under his touch.
“You mean you and Rae are Jenny’s parents?” Why hadn’t she seen it before? It had been staring her in the face from the moment Jenny had taken a chunk out of Stan’s leg without flinching. The way she healed so quickly. Her high metabolism. The silver wolf protecting her at Norma’s house. Plus, Breena and Jenny’s bond. Her little sister was part werewolf. “And you’ll give me custody of Jenny?”
Rae nodded her big wolf head.
“Why would you do that?” Breena forced herself to face Victor, keeping Jenny in her peripheral vision.
Victor grinned. “Can’t a father do something nice for his daughters?”
“No.”
“I believe you inherited your grandmother’s frankness, daughter.”
“I’m not like her, or you. So you can take your daughter-talk and shove it where the sun don’t shine.” Breena thought she did a pretty good job of self-editing her comment for Jenny’s sake.
“You’re more like me than you think.”
Breena caught a glimpse of Orin out the corner of her eye. He looked like a snake about to strike.
“Whatever.” To keep Victor’s attention on her, she pretended to yawn and gave her best bored-now shrug. “So, I survive the vampire attack and Jenny and I get to walk away from this together. Is that it?”
“There is one more thing.”
Typical.
“Why am I not surprised?”
“You and Jenny possess a special set of skills. Skills which will be beneficial to the Council.”
“What are they?”
“Don’t be coy. I’m sure you’re fully aware of your ability to draw the supernatural to you. Take, for instance, the unnatural and the blood-sucker. And little Jennifer is able to see and categorize the glow of supernatural beings.” Victor shivered. Breena could almost feel the excitement radiating off him. Rae must’ve told him.
Dammit. He’d cornered them.
“So?”
“So, daughter, whenever the president requires your services, you and Jennifer will make yourselves available.”
It wasn’t a request. It was an order. Of that, Breena was one hundred percent sure. They would be at the president’s beck and call. That is, if they lived through what would come next.
“What’s in it for you?”
“I will obtain the president’s pardon because I’ve brought her a powerful weapon...my children.”
“What if we die?”
He took a deep breath before responding. “I will still receive a pardon for ridding the supernatural community of halfling garbage.”
Breena only stared at him, fists clenched at her sides. How could he say those things about his own flesh and blood? She and Jenny were not garbage. And, who the hell did he think he was, anyway? What kind of monster kidnapped and tied up his own child?
Before she had a chance to respond, another burst of wind flung the front door off its hinges and Victor and Rae vanished.
All hell broke loose.
Orin pulled an object from his pant leg and leapt on Zadalia. He shoved the copper knife into her stomach.
Breena ran to Jenny. Her big brown eyes were wider than saucers as Breena pulled off the gag.
“Sis, look out!” Jenny shouted.
A flock of bats poured through the front door. A wave of fur and flapping wings knocked her off her feet and away from Jenny.
Breena tried to find Jenny, get back to her, but all she could see were tiny mouths with razor-sharp teeth nipping and tugging at her clothes and skin. Liquid trickled down
her face, and she tasted the thick iron flavor of her own blood.
Something crashed to the floor and the little Tiffany lamp went out.
Covering her face with her arm, she struggled to keep it together. She managed to get to her feet, but each step forward felt like ten painful steps back. The darkness was absolute, and it had teeth.
She almost thought she was dreaming when strong arms forced her to the ground. She still heard the flap of the bat’s wings and the sound of something ripping, but she couldn’t move. Her protector had pinned her to the hardwood floor with his body.
For the first time since the flood of bats swept over them, she had a chance to think. Was Jenny okay? Had Orin managed to get her out of there? If he had, who exactly was lying on top of her?
It seemed she spent an eternity of darkness curled in the cove of her protector’s body, listening to the awful sound of beating wings. Finally, it stopped. Her hero rolled off her and Breena saw him silhouetted in the moonlight coming through the front porch windows.
“Bree, are you okay?”
“Myles?”
Oh God.
She couldn’t look directly at him. Even in the dimly lit room, she wanted to yack at the sight. His face, neck and arms were torn and bloody.
“We have to go. Now.” He pulled her to him. His shirt hung in shreds around his neck and chest.
“Where’s Jenny?” With her nerves shot, Breena’s legs moved like wet noodles, and her hands trembled as she leaned heavily against Myles.
“He’s coming. We’ve got to go.”
“Who?” She shook her head. “I can’t leave Jenny.” She scanned the room in a frantic attempt to find her sister.
“Breena, I won’t be able to protect you from him.”
“What are you talking about?”
She stumbled down the hallway while Myles dragged her toward the front door. Feeling along the wall, Breena searched for the switch. Then her fingers ran across a bump. She flipped it up.
“Too late,” Myles said right before light flooded the room.
Hundreds of bats hung upside down from the ceiling, shielding themselves from the light with their wings. Jenny was nowhere to be seen. Breena hoped her sister had somehow escaped the attack.
Zadalia hadn’t been so lucky. She’d been reduced to a few shreds of cloth and bone…and the copper knife lay in a blue pool of blood.
Orin didn’t look nearly as bad as Myles, but he had been injured. Blue blood dripped down the front of his t-shirt and blended into the dark color of his jeans. He’d come out of the hall closet right as three vampires walked through the front door.
The vamp on the right had slicked-back dirty blond hair, like a greaser from the movie Grease, only more menacing and unlikely to break into song and dance any time soon. The vamp on the left was more on the short and bald side, practically Danny DeVito’s doppelganger.
But when he entered, her gaze was instantly drawn to the middle vamp. Taller than Myles, he had long pitch-black hair tied at his neck, wide shoulders, and a presence that filled the room. His skin was a clear deep tan, not entirely unattractive.
His features reminded her of Dandi.
It took Breena a minute to process, but she knew she’d seen him before. The guy from the airplane. Yes. He was the one who’d watched her and Myles kiss. She’d been right to think he wasn’t food. He didn’t have a soul for her to take. Breena, on the other hand, had plenty of blood. Matter-of-fact, a good amount of it still seeped out of various bat bites and slashes.
Mr. Mysterious motioned DeVito Twin toward Orin, and Greaser in Myles’s direction.
He nodded at Myles. “Greetings, N’namoun. It has been too long.”
“Who are you?” Breena didn’t have the patience for formalities.
The tall vampire lifted his chin and his smooth dark brow also rose. “I am surprised my child has not mentioned me.”
“Child?” Hell’s bells. That’s why he couldn’t protect her from him. “Myles?” Breena looked at his battered face.
Myles nodded, eyes lowered.
When she turned back, Mr. Mysterious stood directly in front of her. She swallowed her surprise. “My name is Atian.” He pronounced it Ah-tee-ahn and she thought she picked up the faintest trace of an accent, though she couldn’t place it. “I have looked forward to meeting you officially, Breena Cross.”
What was it with vamps and their damned official meetings?
“It is a shame I am here to kill you.” His gaze roamed over her body. “Since I now know you do not belong to my child, I could make you mine.”
Breena wondered how he knew she wasn’t Myles’s. Then she thought about it, deciding maybe if she had belonged to Myles he would’ve been able to fight his master. She knew they should’ve slept together. Oh well, not much she could do about it now. Hindsight was twenty-twenty.
Atian towered over her. She looked up, then up some more to see his face and really had to work to keep her knees from knocking together. Despite her fear, he’d pushed the wrong button. Yeah, she might want to belong to someone, but she didn’t need some a-hole vampire to make decisions for her. She controlled her own fate. Sort of.
“I don’t belong to anyone.” Breena squinted her eyes and pursed her lips together in the hope it made an intimidating statement.
He grinned. “You have a fiery tongue. You bravery is misplaced, but you would make an excellent vampire.”
Why did supes always want to turn her into something else? Wasn’t being half-witch, half-preternatural enough?
“No, thank you, ass-wipe.”
Atian acted like Breena hadn’t just called him a butt tissue. He reached down toward her face. Unsure of what he would do, but sure she didn’t want any part of it, she smacked his massive hand away.
Big mistake.
He grabbed her left arm and twisted until it snapped like a twig.
Breena screamed. Shooting pain coursed through her body. Orin rushed toward her, but DeVito Twin zipped in front of him. The preternatural reached down to pull a different object from his other pant leg. He brandished a wooden stake as they toppled to the floor.
She scanned the room for Myles. He was currently being body-slammed by Greaser and wouldn’t be able to get to her in time.
The throb of her broken arm seemed to spread through her body. Atian grabbed her by the neck and hoisted her up against the wall. He looked straight into her eyes.
“I find no pleasure in killing you, Breena Cross. You are young and beautiful and I have never experienced a halfling. I must confess I am curious about you.”
His face was so close she could feel his cool breath on her cheek. She flinched and tried to turn away from him but his grip on her neck wouldn’t allow it.
His long tongue slid over a cut on her face. He seemed to savor it. “I can taste why my child toils so to make you his. An ancient magical power courses through your blood. It draws the supernatural to you.”
What option did she have left? She tried to think. Form a plan. Myles and Orin had been there to save her in the past, but they both fought their own battles now. She’d at least had her hunger to save her from the werewolves, but now, facing this soulless creature with his menacing stare and deadly grip, rescue seemed completely out of her reach. As she began to lose consciousness she remembered one other time she’d felt trapped. Orin had been trying to take away her pain. Closing her eyes, she pictured Myles’s living room…his couch…the little throw pillow. She opened her eyes. Still here.
Dammit!
Why? She needed to try again. Gasping, she squeezed her eyes shut one more time. Then the realization hit her full force. She’d seen it happen with Orin when the werewolf bit him and then again with Dandi’s pin. Poofing to safety wouldn’t work until she healed.
Hope didn’t exist for Breena anymore. At least Jenny wasn’t here. Breena didn’t know where her sister was, but she had to believe it was somewhere safe.
She couldn’t bear it if Jenny saw her
die. Not like this. Maybe of natural causes, when she turned old and gray. Of course, being half-and-half, she wasn’t exactly sure of her shelf life. Not that it mattered now.
As Atian tightened his hands around her neck, the haze of sleep, like fog creeping over a meadow, began to roll over her.
Something moved across the floor, crept toward her.
Jenny?
Breena thought she’d said her name aloud but her words were held captive by the fingers around her throat. Jenny must’ve slipped in through the window.
No!
Jenny pressed her finger to her lips in a be-quiet gesture.
No prob, Bob.
Breena had practically gone down for the count. If she didn’t take a breath soon, she wouldn’t make it.
Atian loosened his hold ever so slightly, his fingers making way for his fangs. He reared back, ready to bite, to drain every last drop of halfling blood from her body.
Atian hissed and struck at something behind him. Blood oozing from the corner of her mouth, Jenny careened across the hardwood floor and sailed straight through the open front door and down the steps. Atian let go of Breena and she crashed to the floor, sharp pain stabbing through her. Unable to catch herself, she’d landed on her left side with her broken arm underneath her. Slowly, Breena raised her uninjured arm to her throat. The vampire hadn’t bitten her.
Ignoring Breena completely, Atian did an about-face, headed for the porch. She spotted the hole in his pant leg where Jenny had bitten him. No way would Atian let that go.
Sucking in a deep breath, she let the anger flow through her. With a crazy shot of adrenaline coursing through her veins, her ears shot up through her hair. Breena duck-walked for a couple steps, until she got her balance and stood with some difficulty. But once she unleashed the adrenaline, she took off, Spanish bull style. She rammed into Atian’s thigh as hard as possible.
Rearing back, he threw her to the ground with a force so powerful Breena heard her spine snap the second she hit the floor. She couldn’t feel her legs.
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