by Tracy Tappan
It’d been another scrap persuading the old gal to reveal the whereabouts of the doorways into the Om Rău’s underground den. His leg was still feeling a bit out of sorts from that violent confrontation. ’Struth, he found fisticuffs to be dreadfully barbaric, but Ұavell’s pure Om Rău bloodlines lent her a certain immunity to his power. However, that was neither here nor there. The information had been acquired; it just remained to be seen if it was outdated or not. Tëer had been watching this entrance for twelve days and nights, and had seen no comings and goings.
Tëer wearily scratched the black flame tattoo on his left jaw with the backs of his fingers, his young face looking knackered from his long stint of vigilant camping out. “They’re probably just comin’ from really deep in the—”
There was a metallic clank of an elevator coming to a stop, then the shish of doors sliding open.
Tëer hopped to his feet and moved to Raymond’s left side.
Two men stepped through the rocky doorway, both of them tall, muscled, wretchedly soiled, and dressed in ill-fitting dark clothing. One had fiery red hair and several safety pins stuck through his earlobes. The other had black hair and black teeth tattoos surrounding his enormous biceps à la Ұavell, and like the tattoos of the men who’d kidnapped Toni, apparently. Both had the black eyes which marked them as definitely Om Rău.
Well, bully for Ұavell. The old broad had been correct.
“Tally-ho, mates,” Raymond greeted them.
The two came to a dead halt, their surprise at finding four strangers standing there turning into shock when they noted the black flame tribal tattoos on Mürk, Rën, and Tëer.
“Who the fuck are you?” Red Hair demanded, flashing a steel tongue stud in the process. “And how the fuck do you know about this portal?”
“A little Om Rău birdie told us.” Raymond smiled, sorely tempted to pull out his handkerchief and press it over his nose; the two smelled atrocious.
Red Hair slitted his lids. “What the fuck do you want?”
“Such language, lad.” Raymond tushed. “But, yes, let’s crack on with matters.” He planted his walking stick firmly in front of him and leaned on it with overlapped hands. “Nearly a fortnight ago some of you blokes nicked a Dragon female from Scripps Memorial Hospital. Strawberry blonde hair, blue eyes, height about five-five.”
Red Hair scratched his crotch. “She got big titties?”
Rën stepped forward, a hot, territorial aggression boiling off him.
Toni was Rën’s by right of him being Boian’s eldest son, and the lad evidently didn’t care to hear his woman’s attributes being discussed. Perhaps from this Om Rău’s personal knowledge of them? Raymond nearly sighed. Rën’s temper could be quite annoying at times. If Raymond had his druthers he’d pair Toni with Mürk instead, but the genetic muck-up such a coupling would produce made that impossible.
Raymond held up a staying hand to Rën. “She would be the one, yes.”
“So.” Red Hair drew a battered flask out of his jacket pocket. “What about her?”
“You blokes took her erroneously, old tosspot. She’s ours.” Raymond let another smile curve his lips. “And we want her back.”
Red Hair shrugged. “Shit happens, Pops. ’Fraid you’re gonna hafta live with the screw up.” He took a pull on his flask. “That girl’s too much of a fuckable twinkie to give her up.”
Rën snarled.
The black-haired Om Rău sniggered and reached for his buddy’s flask.
Red Hair jerked it out of his reach.
“Or,” Raymond countered in a steely tone, “you and I could negotiate a trade for her.”
The black-haired Om Rău tried to take the flask again. A shoving-slapping-hitting match ensued, which ended in Black giving Red a hard purler to the face and then seizing the coveted flask.
Growling, Red swiped a hand across his bloody mouth. “No way a cum-chugger like you has anything I’d want to trade for.”
“No?” Raymond raised his hand, palm out. He generally didn’t use such theatrics when activating his power, but he wanted to make right certain these two gobbins understood who had the true negotiating power here. “How about your continued good health?” He blasted a shock of energy off his hand.
The two Om Rău shot backward, hit the rocky cliff, and rebounded. Stumbling forward, they convulsed for several moments, then stood in place, blinking and twitching. The supernatural red light in Black’s eyes pulsed in and out steadily, while Red, who Raymond was beginning to discern was more humanoid, tamped down the glow in his own eyes.
“You psychotic dickend,” Red hissed, “back the fuck off. We don’t have her. It’s the Vârcolac who took her. I just seen her.”
“Vârcolac?” Raymond snapped his brows down. “Are you under the assumption I’m soft in the head, boy? Vampires have been extinct for centuries.”
“Well, then, you’ve been misinformed.” Without warning, Red caught Black a perishing smacker on the jaw.
The poor sod, still unsteady on his feet, crashed to the dirt, his arms and legs sprawling.
Red snatched the flask out of Black’s hand. “They live underground, same as us, but in their own part. They’re just real good at keeping themselves hidden from people up here, is all.”
“That’s a load o’ shite,” Rën bit out. “I saw the man at the hospital who took our woman. He had black eyes and the same kind of tattoos on his forearms that your knobber friend here has on his arms. That makes him an Om Rău.”
“I ain’t lying, jizzbeard, so you can go plow yourself up the ass. The cocksucker you saw at the hospital was a Brun, and he’s Vârcolac, sure enough. Just a Half-Rău.”
Half-Rău? Raymond deepened his frown. How was that possible? “Vârcolac and Om Rău can’t interbreed.”
Red shrugged. “Guess it’s what you’d call an amolly…animally….”
“An anomaly,” Raymond provided drolly.
“That’s it.” Red chugged the rest of whatever was in the flask
Raymond compressed his lips, his patience growing thin under this convoluted run of turnabouts. His own progeny were Half-Rău, but a mixture of Fey and Om Rău. He knew what to expect from that combination, but didn’t have the foggiest notion what sort of creature would come from pairing an Om Rău with a vampire. “Will they negotiate with us?” he pressed.
Red dragged his sleeve across his mouth. “No way, Pops. Those Vârcolac ain’t givin’ up their pussy for nuttin. They protect their women good, too. Seven Dragons those bloodsuckers have gotten ahold of, and we’ve only been able to steal one.”
Raymond stiffened. These ruddy Vârcolac had succeeded in obtaining seven Dragon females? How in botheration had he missed this? He gripped his walking stick in a rigid fist. Well, shame on him for not paying sufficient attention to the possibility of competitors while waiting for the two eldest boys to come of age. His full attention was engaged now, however. “You wouldn’t happen to be privy to where the Vârcolac’s portals are, would you, dear boy?”
Red stepped warily to the side as Black finally managed to hoist himself to his feet. “Naw, not topside. But there’s a way into the Vârcolac side from our town. If you wanted to try and snatch the twinkie yourselves, I could take your dickfucks here”—Red gestured at Rën, Mürk and Tëer—“down into Oţărât. That is,” he hooded his eyes, “for a price.”
“Dare I ask what that might be?” Raymond drawled.
“Ten Dragon females.”
“Exorbitant,” Raymond countered. “Ten Dragon females for only one in exchange. That wouldn’t make sound business sense on my part, would it?”
Red showed his dirty teeth in a smug smile. “But, see, the big tittie one’s special to you.” He tapped two fingers to his temple, presumably indicating his mind. “My own little birdie told me that.”
It seemed that Red’s more human lucidity had the potential to be a proper pain in the posterior, too. “Very well,” Raymond agreed. Not the best of all situations, but he
didn’t exactly have an alternative, not short of outright war. These Underground Om Rău controlled the only access to Toni. “We have an accord, lad, save that ten Dragons will take some time to procure, and I want my woman now.”
“You wanna pay in installments, okay, but no welshing, Pops.” Red shoved the empty flask back into his jacket pocket. “And you pay whether you manage to swipe your bitch or not. You don’t, and it’s Lørke and Jøsnic who’ll be coming after you, and your so-called bionic hand there won’t do nuttin but make them laugh.”
“I’m a man of my word,” Raymond returned icily. “No need to tender threats.”
“Come back in five days, then,” Red said, “things are whack downstairs right now. Be here at midnight. And no guns. Bullets bounce off the walls down there and end up pegging the wrong guy in the uglies.” Red turned to smirk at Mürk, Rën, and Tëer. “Hope you ass-pounders like the heat.” Cackling, he started off.
Raymond’s voice stopped them. “What’s your name, boy?”
“I’m Tøllar.” He smacked Black on the shoulder. “This is Ejøhn. Oh, and in case you get any ideas about going it alone.” Tøllar jerked his chin at the opening in the cliff face. “That elevator will blow a guy’s Beaver Cleaver off in nine different directions, he operates it wrong.” Tøllar grabbed the black-haired Ejøhn and pulled him toward the street, more of his maddening cackling floating back to them.
“Wretched creatures,” Raymond murmured as he watched the two Underground Om Rău saunter off.
Mürk crossed his thick arms over his chest. “They’re goin’ to try and snuff us down there, you know that.”
“Let ’em fuckin’ try,” Rën bristled. “They can’t.”
“Yeah, but it’ll make for one ballache of a mission.”
Raymond fingered the lion’s head on his walking stick. “I’d hardly send you three to deal with those blighters without some of my choicer enchantments to aid your endeavors.” He glanced at Rën. “You, in fact, will be using one of my most powerful concoctions on Toni. She’ll be an obedient and devoted piece under the influence of it, lad. You just make bloody well certain she looks at you, and only you, right after you inject her with it. Do you hear?” The lion’s head bit into his gloved palm. “By God, if you bugger up this part, Rën, the entire plan will go all to cock.”
Chapter Twenty-two
Kimberly scribbled frantically on a yellow legal pad, occasionally referring to the four huge law books open in front of her on the library table. Inspiration was really hitting now. The article was going to be great, even if she was more likely to give birth to a Chihuahua, or anything else, for that matter, than ever get it published from down here. Still, the distraction was helpful, allowing a side part of her brain to work the key card problem; Toni had sent word to Kimberly that her first attempt to steal a card had been a bust. And now Toni was laid up in bed from having Lørke go to serious fist-city on her.
That left Kimberly options like, well…
…drugging Sedge, although she only had access to OTC meds that might kill him in overdose.
…or doing some kind of outlandish miner-sixty-niner sexual position to render him stupefied, although that would be suspicious, considering that she hadn’t slept with the jerk since Toni had been kidnapped.
…or outright begging, which would be completely transparent, not her style, and probably not worth it, anyway.
None of these options was, in truth. Fact was, she’d never actually seen a key card on her husband’s person.
She wouldn’t have put it past him to have decided to keep his own card locked up in a safe somewhere, far away from her. Large didn’t equal stupid when it came to Sedge. She wasn’t sure how she felt about him outsmarting her in this area. Either filled with a boatload of respect or a pathological need to kick his ass. Anyway….
Back to business, working other options. She flipped a page in one of the law books and read intently. She had to hand it to good ol’ Pollyanna, Hannah Banana had stocked the library extremely well with volumes that only Kimberly would use.
“I have to talk to you,” a voice told Kimberly in an underbreath.
Kimberly popped her head up to find Beth’s pretty face only inches from hers.
The clothing designer’s blue eyes were alive with excitement. “I need to show you something.”
“Oh, really?” Kimberly eased back in her chair, her eyebrows inching upward. “What would that be: your new fall line?”
“No.” Beth said the one word succinctly, as if Kimberly were just learning English. “This has to do with what we discussed at the tea party.”
A surprise, and then some. The five Dragons had been lying low for the seven days since their first meeting with Toni, all doing the “act casual” thing until someone could produce a key card. Beth was the last person, besides Hannah, that Kimberly would’ve expected to approach her.
Kimberly looked Beth up and down, not bothering to hide her suspiciousness. “I didn’t think you’d found your Zen place about our plans.”
“Well, I have.” Beth’s lips curled inward, her chin tightening slightly: a different look for her. “Thanks to my husband’s utter lack of help with the matter.”
Kimberly jerked forward, her heart stumbling out of rhythm. “Crap, Beth. You told Arc about what we’re up to.”
“I didn’t give him specifics,” Beth returned tartly. “But I figured…well, I thought that if we could get our men to approach Roth about our demands, then we could avoid a lot of hullabaloo.”
Kimberly snorted. “They’re not going to do that.”
“No,” Beth agreed quietly, her eyelashes floating downward. “Arc and the other men pretty much held the company line about them not having any power, just like you said they would.” She pressed a slender hand to her brow. “I’m trying not to feel too disappointed with Arc over that. I understand that the Vârcolac history has been very tragic, and that the people of this community have learned to band together around their leadership because of that, but….” Dropping her hand, she trailed into a sigh.
“Changes are a’comin’,” Kimberly murmured.
Beth met Kimberly’s gaze, a fierceness in her blue eyes that Kimberly never would’ve guessed the too-sweet-to-be-true woman could manage. “They just expect us to do all the work,” Beth accused, her cheeks blooming. “We’re expected to adapt to their ways, to learn their culture. We’re forced to give up everything, and they don’t give up a danged thing.”
Wow, whatever level of asshole’ness Beth’s normally devoted husband had sunk to, thank you, stars above. Kimberly now had a definite ally. She smiled at Beth. “Welcome to the light side of the Force, my padawan.”
Beth drew a quick breath, a look of satisfaction flashing across her gaze. Planting her hands on the tabletop, she leaned forward, putting her face right into Kimberly’s again. “So, do you want to do this thing, or what? Because if you do, then you need to get your butt over to my house right now so I can show you the email I received from Alex Parthen, a man claiming to be Toni’s brother.”
Kimberly shot to her feet so fast she nearly stumbled out of her shoes.
They made it to the Costache residence in under five minutes, Beth locking the front door behind them. “Arc’s working and the kids are at preschool. Over here…” She led Kimberly to a desk situated in a cubby off the living room. “Apparently, this Alex Parthen is some sort of computer genius. He hacked into our system to get to me, if you can believe it.”
“I can’t,” Kimberly said as she sat in the desk chair. Cleeve kept the community on a constantly changing network of cables that was—supposedly—impossible to breach. “Maybe someone inside the community sent this email to test how serious we are about raising Cain, you know, to see how we’ll respond to it.”
Beth surprised Kimberly with a harshly exhaled Ha! “Look me in the eye, Kimberly, and tell me that for one minute your husband has taken your ability to cause trouble seriously. I know Arc hasn’t.�
�
Kimberly twisted her lips. “You make a good point.”
Beth reached over Kimberly’s shoulder and grasped the computer mouse. “Alex told me a person sending him emails in Toni’s name was using the same small, private IP address as mine.”
Huh. So Cleeve had failed to keep up his ruse as Toni, had he? Funny, he’d kept Kimberly’s family bamboozled for three years by claiming that she’d gone back into the Peace Corps, working in Comoros, Africa, a country that wasn’t even as big as Rhode Island. So, gee, I can’t email too often, guys, being in the middle of nowhere and all, but I’m doing such amazing work for these poor unfortunates….
Beth brought up the email from Toni’s brother. “He wants to know if I have any information about his missing sister. He sounds really worried about her.”
“I can imagine.” Kimberly read the email, but Beth had already summarized the main points.
“So what do you think?” Beth asked breathlessly.
Kimberly swiveled in the chair to look up at Beth. Something about the polite, but urgent tone of the email smacked as very real. “Genius may be understating matters for this Alex guy.”
Beth giggled, her expression bright and eager again.
Kimberly bounced the desk chair back on its sturdy springs. “And I’m thinking if Toni’s brother can hack Cleeve’s computer system, then I bet he can help us circumvent the key code boxes.” She waggled her eyebrows. “We need to tell him about—”
“Wait a minute,” Beth stopped her. “We can’t divulge the community’s security system.”
Kimberly stopped bouncing. “What did you plan on doing with this email? Just tell this Alex fella, ‘Hey, pal, don’t worry, Toni’s okay, she’s just locked away in an underground bunker for vampires, but she’ll be home for a visit as soon as she squeezes out a puppy, so chill your nuts.”
Beth’s forehead pleated.
Kimberly exhaled a laugh. “I’m kidding—about the vampire part, at least.” Who would believe her anyway?