“You scared the shit out of me. You have no idea how easily I could take your head off. What the fuck are you doing here?” She asked, giving him a push before returning the foil in an umbrella stand and running her hands through her hair.
“Don’t smile. Do you know how pissed I am with you right now? How did you get in? The entire Collective is looking for you. Briar is looking for you.” She said Briar’s name with emphasis and his eyes grew wide.
“You said that I was always welcome. I guess it held over. Why would Briar and the Collective be looking for me?” He asked, lazily stretching as if she hadn’t just dropped a bomb on him.
“Briar is looking for you because I asked him to. That was before the Collective decided that you needed to be contained. Why are you here Nicky? The vampire rock star thing getting old?” She spat, going to the kitchen for a bottle of water.
“Contained?” He asked. “What does that mean, like put me in some safe house? Do I get to go live in the Kent fortress? Or do they shepherd me off to some exotic location for safe keeping?”
“No, it doesn’t.” She stared at him with sadness in her eyes and his face softened a little.
“I just wanted to see my best friend. I wanted to let you know that I was okay. Didn’t you miss me?” He hopped on the counter top, smiling broadly. Gone was his natural tan, his skin was pale and powdery, his vibrant blue eye seemed watered down, almost pastel. He looked hollow, a faded version of the superstar he once was. He was wasting away. It was obvious that Nicky did not have the fangs to be one of the undead.
“Of course I missed you, but you’re in so much trouble. Nicky, what have you done? Who did this to you?” She asked, exhausted and saddened by his appearance. She took his face in her hands and pressed her forehead to his, tears streaming down her face.
“It wasn’t my choice, CeCe. I thought, after it happened, that I would make the best of it. I just can’t do it, C.” He pulled away and went over to the window.
“What do you mean it wasn’t your choice?” CeCe barked. “It’s part of the covenant.”
“I don’t know what it was or who it was. It changed from this groupie-”
“I have told you about bringing groupies back to your apartment and hotel rooms. You never listened to me and now you’ve been killed.” She slapped his arm. “Was she Fae? Was she Lycan?” She sat crossed legged on the sofa, her eyes on the back of his head.
Nicky stood at the window, in dark jeans and a black t-shirt that seemed to hang off of him, his hair looked almost white against the moonlight. There was nothing worse than watching a vampire starve himself. He would eventually die, and it would not be pretty or painless.
“Here,” She went to her refrigerator and took out a bottle of red wine. She uncorked it and poured some into a glass beer mug and placed it into the microwave for a few minutes before handing it to him.
“Drink this. You need to eat.” She insisted and watched as he finished the entire thing. Once he handed her the mug, she repeated the process and prodded him into finishing the entire bottle. “Now tell me what happened.”
He returned to his place at the window, staring down at the street below.
“She-it-was something I have never seen before. Definitely older. It wasn’t completely vampire, or lycan, or a Fae for that matter, some sort of shifter I think. It was able to change- to make herself into something- horrible. I remember being bitten. I don’t remember dying. I remember waking up in that coffin and that I couldn’t breathe, not that it matters anymore. I remember someone else being in the room at the funeral home. I couldn’t see but I could feel someone. I thought it was you for a minute, but then I realized it was a man. It was like he was there, but not there.” He turned around to face her, his eyes luminescent with tears.
“It wants me to come to it. It wants me to be a part of some sort of nest or commune. It kept telling me that I was special, rare in a world of ordinary. And that there would be more; that I was beautiful. It wasn’t there when I woke, I thought that your sire would be there when you wake, but I was alone. Except for the man, but I knew he was just watching from somewhere else, some other time. Anyway, I left the funeral home looking for- I don’t know what. It took me a while before I realized that I was dead. It took a stoned fan on Royal Street to tell me. ‘Dude,’ he said, ‘you’re dead. Wicked.’ ” He mimicked and shook his head. “I looked for my maker, but she’s –it’s not normal. Not even for you guys, it’s bizarre. I can feel it and I can hear it, but we have no home. I have no home. I have no clan, no family – I’m lost.”
“That is unusual. Your maker should have been there, Nicky. It’s part of the covenant. Sires are responsible for their brood. They teach you how to hunt, how to survive. You become family.” He was kneeling before her in the blink of an eye, his head on her lap.
“You are my family. If I wanted to be changed, I would have come to you or Remy. I would have chosen to be a Kent. I didn’t want to be this way. I just don’t know what else to do. Sunlight doesn’t work. It hurts, doesn’t kill.” She stroked his hair and thought for a moment and shook her head.
“You don’t want to die, Nicky,” she whispered.
“I don’t want to live like this either.” She loved Nicky, even in his present state, but she couldn’t hide him here. He would have to be somewhere safe; somewhere without so many windows. Nervously, she chewed her bottom lip as her mind worked overtime.
“Well, as much as I love you, you can’t stay here.” She sighed after a long while. She went to the telephone. “There’s no protection for you here. That just isn’t going to work. We need some place with a dark room so that you can sleep. ”
“Because of your cop? You reek of him, by the way.” Remy’s voice came from the elevator that acted as her front door.
“What the hell- How’d you get in here?” She screamed in frustration. “What’s the point of having a freakin’ doorman if anyone can just waltz into my apartment?”
“I have my ways.” He smirked, his fangs bared, his eyes completely black.
`“You’re dating a cop?” Nicky asked, still lying in a heap on the sofa.
“Not dating, really. She’s planning on fucking him, though. That is if she hasn’t already. Isn’t that right, Little Sis?” Remy stroked her cheek and she slapped his hand away, fire lighting her eyes.
“Don’t start with me right now, Remy. I need you to take care of Nicky. Keep him safe. Keep him out of sight. Take him to Mandeville, he’ll be safe there and I’ll let the Collective know that he’s been taken care of. I need to get a handle on his maker. ” In one swift movement, she’d hoisted Nicky into the air by his collar, his feet dangling like those of a marionette, and shoved him towards Remy. “We will find out what this thing is that changed you, Nick. Remy, don’t come into my apartment again without buzzing in first.” She walked past them to press the call button for the elevator.
“Or what?” Remy was at her side in an instant, in that same moment, the tips of his fangs brushing seductively at her throat. She gave him a hard shove and spun on her heel, lifting her foil from the umbrella stand and held it at his crotch. In one swift movement, she moved the sword upward, then back down, slicing the buttons from his shirt, grazing his skin beneath. He inhaled as the air hit him.
“Never forget that I’m older, faster and stronger than you. And I can gut you like a fish.” She gave his crotch a tap with the tip of the sword, and winked at him. “Keep him safe, Remy.” She was suddenly serious and Remy gave her a quick nod.
“Who keeps a fucking sword? I mean really?” Nicky asked Remy as the elevator doors slid closed.
***
He’d watched her car until it was just a dot in the distance before he looked at the buzzing phone in his hand. “I swear you have the worse timing in the world. What is so damned important?” He snapped.
“Jesus, E. Who pissed in your cereal? I’ve just been calling to ask if you wanted to come over for dinner.” Eli deflated, all of
his anger and frustration seeping out of him. “I didn’t –interrupt anything did I?”
“As a matter of fact, you did. Now CeCe’s gone, thanks for that.” He headed back into the house, staring at the discarded hair band on the floor and smiled. The fire was down to embers and the remnants of their dinner, empty pizza box and drained beer bottles, sat idly on the coffee table.
“Who the hell is CeCe?” Riley snorted. “Another woman du jour Grace ambushed you with?”
“Dr. Kent.” There was a long silence followed by a hoot of laughter.
“No fucking way.” Riley laughed.
“Yes. We ran into each other at the coffee shop and decided to eat dinner together. She’s such a cool chick, Riley. The more I’m around her, the more I like her.” He held the thin delicate lace of her bra and sighed. This fragile material was a physical representation of the CeCe Kent he had seen today, soft, pretty and easy to break. There was so much to her he still didn’t know, but he wanted to know all about her. He smiled, putting it up to his nose, he inhaled. It smelled of lavender and vanilla and her.
“Are you-sniffing? Oh E, are you crying? “
“No, I’m not crying. She left something and it smells good.” Guiltily, he shoved the bra in-between the sofa cushions. Riley was silent for a split second, and then started to laugh.
“Oh my God, Elijah Cain are you sniffing her panties.”
“No,” Eli spat indignantly.
“You are, aren’t you, you big perv. You’re sniffing Dr. Kent’s underwear.”
“I’m not sniffing her panties.” He argued and Riley laughed even harder.
“Oh man, Eli-”
“It’s a bra. And don’t call me a perv,” he mumbled. Riley laughed even harder still until it was a loud snorting guffaw.
“I’m hanging up now.” He grumbled and Riley attempted to stifle his mirth.
“Okay, Okay. I’m sorry.” He held his laughter for as long as he could, which was about thirty seconds before he started again. Rolling his eyes, Eli blew out a big puff of air.
“Good-bye Riley.”
***
The click of her heels on the obsidian floors echoed in her head as she rushed towards the raised voices at the end of the hall. When she burst into the room they all looked at her in confused irritation. The Dark sisters, three women, two men, looked at her in mild confusion before continuing their usual nonsensical, unending debate which now bordered on laughable.
“I have news,” she gushed, her eyes alight with excitement, her smile turning her pretty face into something feral and hungry. They ignored her and continued to talk at each other until their voices melded into one loud disorganized bellow. Irritated, she stomped her foot and slammed a hand on the dark wooden table in the center of the room. Those seated looked at her with a start, those standing slowly quieted, all eyes focused on her.
“Now that I have your attention,” she said, straightening the dark suit jacket she wore. “I have news that may help our cause.” She said her eyes on the woman at the head of the table. She was pale with blue green hair and an ethereal smile, her delicate fingers laced together on the table as she waited.
“It seems that we have a Ghost.” She squealed and there was a gasp.
“What type of ghost?” The woman at the head of the table asked, her eyes narrowed suspiciously.
“Not sure, but he’s big. Whatever he is, he’s very strong and very old. And he’s very into our precious Dr. Kent. If I’m right, I believe that he may be our way in. His been bound though, but if you’re ever around him, you can feel the power just beneath the surface. And get this, his eyes- just like hers. They change color like hers. That has to mean something.”
“And he doesn’t have allegiance to the Collective?” The woman asked, leaning forward, a new gleam in her eyes. As if she’d struck gold, she smiled.
“No, my Queen. He is unclassified. He can be turned without repercussion. If he’s who I think he is, we can take down the Collective and the Council.”
The Dark Queen sat back with a smile, “Come sit next to me and tell me everything you know.”
SIX
Eli was startled when his phone rang that night. He was in the first floor study he’d converted into a gym, when his cell phone sang to life. He picked up the phone, breathless and sweaty.
“Yeah,” he breathed into the phone.
“Det. Cain, am I interrupting you?” She asked, her voice low and sultry. He smiled his own voice lowered to a seductive baritone.
“No, I was just working out, Dr. Kent. It seems I had some tension I needed to release. What can I do for you?” He could feel himself smiling and felt like an idiot.
“I know that this is weird and you could say no if you want, but I was wondering if you could help me out. I am in need of your services. I can pay you.”
“Pay me? What services are you requiring?” He teased, unable to stop his widening smile. He wiped the sweat from his brow and listened as she explained. She started to speak, then paused, then started again. Suddenly it burst from her in a rush, the photos, and Jonas’ private investigation into Nicky’s death, her feeling that something was very, very wrong and his special talent.
“I’ll understand if you don’t want to do this. I know you could get into trouble, but this is really bothering us. I haven’t told anyone what you could do, but we’re sure that it wasn’t an accident or a suicide. We just need to know for sure. I need to know.” She was finally silent, and Eli imagined that she was anxiously biting her bottom lip waiting for his response. He only mulled it over for a moment before he spoke.
“Let me call Riley and we’ll meet you at Nicky’s apartment in thirty minutes,” he said. “Don’t worry, we’ll help you.”
“What harm could it do?” He thought, as he ended the call. Besides, he’d get to see her again and that was always a plus. He sprinted up the stairs to the bathroom to shower, speed dialing Riley as he went.
“I need a favor.” He said when Riley picked up.
***
Nicky Sky had lived in the penthouse apartment of an exclusive and expensive building in the center of Downtown New Orleans that overlooked the Mississippi river. Eli and Riley found Dr. Kent sitting in the lobby waiting nervously. She was in a yellow velour track suit, a sheer white t-shirt beneath the jacket and white Nike's, her hair in intricate braids down her back. If he didn’t know better, he would have mistaken her for a teenager. She nervously wiped her palms on her thighs as she stood to greet them.
“I’m so glad you could come. I know you didn’t have to but it just bothers-” Eli held up his hand to stop her, nodding his head slightly and she immediately fell silent. Riley watched their interaction with something close to awe. They didn’t speak, but simply fell into step together and headed towards the elevators. The doorman, who’d watched them for a moment stepped in front of the elevators, his arms folded across his barrel like chest.
“I’m sorry, but no one is allowed in the penthouse. Not until they clear out the rock star’s stuff. Too many fans have tried to sneak in,” he said in his most authoritative tone. He was a large man, with dark eyes and what Eli supposed was a permanent scowl.
“Of course, Stan.” CeCe spoke in the sweetest tone she could muster. “But honestly, do I look like a fan? You remember me don’t you Stan? I’m Dr. Kent. Nicky was my best friend.”
“Sorry, Doc. No one gets in. Not even you.” He shrugged, helplessly. “Rules.”
She touched his hand, her eyes locked with his, and she smiled.
“I understand. But you will let me in, of course. My friends and I really need to get up there and you will let us up. You want to let us in, don’t you Stan?” His eyes got heavy and he stared at her sleepily, his head bobbing up and down slowly.
“Thank you, Stan. I really appreciate it,” she purred. “Now you go and make sure no one bothers us.”
Without another word, the burly doorman stepped aside and went to stand at the lobby entrance.
He didn’t budge as she pushed the call button and waited as the elevator doors slid open. Eli and Riley shared a puzzled look as they stepped into the waiting elevator with her.
***
“Holy hell,” Riley mumbled. “Okay, the gay rumors were definitely wrong. No gay man worth his salt would live in this-designer hell.” Garish was an understatement when it came to Nicky’s style. The apartment was a study in overkill. They entered the foyer and were greeted with beige marble from floor to ceiling. The chandelier which hung low enough for Eli and CeCe to duck as they entered was a god awful combination of brassy gold with bronze monkeys dangling from it holding crystal bananas.
The main hallway was a hodgepodge of Greek statues in various stages of undress, and a fountain that protruded so far away from the wall that they had to walk single file to get around it.
The living room was covered in a white shag rug that resembled fake fur; there was a faded blood stain in the middle of it, as if someone had tried halfheartedly to clean it, and none of the furniture seemed to match. There was a Victorian sofa in deep green and art deco dining room in black and white, his kitchen was a study in stainless steel and his bedroom was gothic chic. Statues from Greece, Japan, Africa and South America dotted the landscape, none fitting in to the overall theme of the rooms in which they were housed. He had two grand pianos in the dining room, one white with silver trim, one black with gold trim. In his music room, which had once been a bedroom, there were vintage guitars lined up in Plexiglas cases, all on display and some autographed. He had a collection of vintage posters from The Who, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and Woodstock.
“He was eclectic,” Eli mumbled. CeCe smiled lovingly at the collection of oddly placed furnishings, running her fingers over a marble bust.
“He was lazy and rich. His decorator was an art student with a tight ass and big boobs and he let her do whatever she wanted because he thought she was cute. The only rooms in this place that are one hundred percent Nicky were this one and his studio.” She pointed to a room they hadn’t seen; a suit of Samurai armor blocked it from view.
The First to Fall: A Fallen Novel (The Fallen Series) Page 10