by Misty Evans
As I trudged up the stairs to the second floor, I considered jumping in my car and leaving. Avoiding Damon. Pretending Dru wasn’t dying or already dead. Forgetting about that fact that Toel was still alive. But I felt wrung out and I smelled like the Undead. My feet carried me up the stairs and into my room where I shed my clothes and took a long, hot shower, hoping to wash off the dread leaching its way back into my bones.
I’m not one to avoid anything. I don’t pretend, and I never, ever forget.
After the shower, I dressed in my standard black everything. Downstairs in the kitchen, I grabbed a ham and egg sandwich from Lainie, our resident cook and house mother, and took it with me to the roof where I could watch the sunrise.
The day dawned cloudy. Big surprise. Winter in Chicago is one long cloud fest. This morning, it was particularly dark, the clouds roiling and fighting with each other, and totally blocking out the sun. I endured the cold wind coming off the lake as I scarfed down my breakfast and went through my mental list of shit once more.
Taking my emotions out of the picture made things simpler. Simple is good, especially when it leads you to do the right thing.
“Thought I might find you up here,” a familiar voice said, startling me out of my revelry.
Rad. So much for keeping my emotions at bay. “What are you doing here?”
Looking over my shoulder, I answered my own question. He looked pained, his gold eyes too pale and his cheeks sunken. Trying to hide his need to feed, he glanced up at the sky and flashed a smile. “Not much of a sunrise, is it?”
I shifted my focus to the lake. The edges were icy. The center teemed with white caps. “Seems appropriate, considering everything that’s going on.”
His footsteps drew close, his tall frame casting a shadow over me. “If Dru dies, we’re back in the same boat with the blood, aren’t we? You’ll go into withdrawal and possibly die.”
“Yep.” But I wasn’t going to let Dru die. Please JR. Come through. “I’m working on it.”
“I can’t honestly say I’m sorry to see him wiped off the planet.”
A fissure of anger cracked my emotional shield. “Don’t go there.”
Rad folded his legs and sat down beside me. Our nylon parkas swished against each other as his shoulder touched mine. “You know you couldn’t have denied him anything.”
Logic said as much. I didn’t give a damn about logic. “The blood slave to liege bond is strong.” I released a tendril of my magic to call my blood that was inside Rad’s veins, seeking to prove a point. We locked eyes and his magic responded, lust coiling tight between us. “But that doesn’t mean it’s unbeatable.”
The cold wind blew stronger, whipping hair across my face. I leaned forward and kissed the corner of Rad’s mouth. Switched sides and kissed the other corner. “Say, for instance, I could command you to help me save Dru. Would you submit or resist?”
His mind resisted, but his body strained to yield to me. He caught my bottom lip with his teeth, released it. “You can’t save Dru.”
So everyone kept telling me. I drew back, scanned the horizon and toyed with the Hello Kitty necklace at the base of my throat. “Can’t save a loyal friend. Can’t stop an evil spirit. Can’t make anybody happy. Failure is my middle name today.”
Rad rested his arms on his bent knees. The wind lessened. “You can’t fail at being yourself, Kali.”
My mind turned that over, let it take root. “I think that’s the problem. I’m not being myself.”
“What do you mean?”
I looked at my Achilles’ heel. His face was perfect and beautiful to me even with the strain in it. “I’m letting my emotions get in the way of my job, my friendships, everything.”
“You’re breaking up with me.”
“I should, but I just can’t seem to do it.”
“And how exactly am I causing you problems with your job and friendships?”
How to explain? “I opened my heart to you.”
He studied my face. “And you think that’s a weakness?”
Shifting my gaze back to the sky, I ignored the pinch in my heart confirming his suspicion. “Dru asked me to stake him. To put him out of his misery. I refused.”
Rad was silent, his comforting ocean sent enveloping me.
I kicked snow off the roof. “If the situation was reverse, I’d ask the same from a friend. But some friend I turned out to be. I ran away when he needed me most.”
“Nah, that’s crap. Friends don’t stake each other, Undead or not.”
Maybe not in Rad’s world. They did in mine. I stood up and brushed snow off my butt. “Sounds like a line from one of your songs.”
He chuckled and stood as well, sinking his hands into his coat pockets. “The Noctifectors are not going to kill Toel.”
“What the hell are they going to do with him then?”
“They’re taking him to Rome.”
“For what?”
“I don’t know.”
But he knew something, I could see it in the way he avoided my eyes. “Have they left already?”
Concern creased his forehead under his dark bangs. “Stopping them would be a mistake.”
Letting them take Toel out of the country would be a bigger one. “They’ll never make it to Rome. He’ll kill them all.”
Rad looked like he wished he hadn’t told me. The Achilles’ heel problem went both ways. He handed me a folded paper from his pocket. “I’m just a foot soldier. They don’t tell me anything. But there’s a private flight leaving O’Hare before noon. The plane belongs to the Church.”
I snatched the paper from his hand, looked at the flight manifest. “Then we’d better go stop it.”
He glanced down at his shoes, shifted his weight. “We can’t be seen together in public, remember?”
“Right.” Damn, this was getting old. It wasn’t just the being seen together in public that was the issue. The Nocts would string him up if they found out their half-demon foot soldier was a double agent. And his fans would probably mob him wherever he went. “I’ll take care of this on my own. But first, we better feed you.”
Grabbing him by the hand, I snuck him downstairs, past Damon’s apartment and to the door to my room. On the threshold, I touched the antique copper knob with my fingers, using my magic to unlock it. Before I could drag him into my room, he swept me into his arms and kissed me deeply. Lust and dark magic flowed, making my head swim. “You’re like a drug I’ve never had before,” he murmured against my lips. “One I can’t live without.”
Breathing hard, I ripped open his coat and grabbed the lapels of his shirt, ready to rip that open as well. The sound of a door across the hall opening and my boss clearing his throat stopped me in mid-tear. “I’m afraid your little unauthorized rendezvous is going to have to wait,” Damon said. “We have a problem.”
By my calculations, the problem was standing three feet away wearing Armani and looking like he was going to kill me. I released Rad’s shirt and tried to reason with Damon. “I already took care of that renegade nest of vamps.”
“That’s not the problem.”
Merde. “Is it Dru?”
“I have not been notified of his passing, no.”
Phew. “Then whenever it is, it can wait ten minutes.”
“Fifteen,” Rad interjected.
Damon gave us an admonishing glare. “My scouts have notified me that Toel’s army is in route to O’Hare airport to retrieve him.”
“It’s daytime. What can they do?”
“It appears we’re about to find out.” He checked his watch. “The first wave is due to arrive within the hour.”
Chapter Thirty-nine
On our way downstairs, we ran into Maddy. She was carrying one of her teen mags and when she saw Rad behind me, she hid it behind her back and gave him a narrowed-eyed look. “I need to talk to you,” she said under her breath while trying to pull me aside.
“Not now.”
“It’s important.”
“Not as important as an Undead army invading O’Hare.” When her eyes went wide, I nodded. “Call Arman and see if his shifter battalion is up for another run at Toel’s minions. We’ve got to stop them before they hurt any humans or rescue Toel.”
“In the middle of the day?”
Technically it was early morning, but Maddy was a vamp. Sunrise, sunset. Everything in between was either night or day. “Have you seen how dark it is outside for seven a.m.? It’s like night…”
As a thought struck, I stepped back and closed my mouth. Rad touched my arm. “What is it?”
“Maria. The storms, the lightning. Now this. How the hell is she manipulating Mother Nature? She’s a ghost.”
“A revenant.” Salmad appeared at the bottom of the steps and held up a ginormous leather-bound book that looked like one from Damon’s personal collection. “Much more powerful than your everyday spirit, which is no doubt why you were unable to control yourself once she possessed your body.”
I touched my stomach, which had healed but still felt odd. “Don’t remind me.”
Revenant. My memories of the cemetery and what had happened afterwards inside my house had slowly trickled back, but out of order and disjointed. “What did Vicky say about her? That she was able to control Maria?” I glanced at Damon. “Tell me you didn’t let Vicky escape.”
He clasped his hands behind his back and looked abashed. “She’s disappeared.”
“What? You let her walk off into the sunset?”
“Give him a break,” Cole said, coming down the hall and stopping next to Salmad. “Saving you was more important than keeping eyes on Vicky.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Asmund. What happened to him? Why didn’t he keep her from running?”
“Asmund died, Kali.” This from Damon. “We assumed you knew.”
I thunked my head a couple of times into my hand. “My memories are still a mess. I’m not sure what’s what.”
Blowing out a painful breath, I put the lock on my emotions again but stated the truth. “He was a good soldier.” Asmund also added another mark to the tally of entities who had been hurt or killed because of me. “Vicky’s the key. If Maria is controlling the weather and Vicky can control Maria, even a little, I have to find Vicky.”
My boss shook his head. “We don’t have time for that. I’m sending all Institute employees to the airport post haste to intercept Toel’s minions. You will assist with the plan of attack, should one be necessary.”
“Has Stephan called up the troops from the other regions? We’ll need them.”
“Neither Stephan nor his brothers will be of much assistance with this dilemma, I’m afraid.”
Guess I wasn’t surprised. Outside of Dru, none of Vlad’s descendants seemed all that upset about their father’s demise. “What exactly happened at Chloe’s when Dru was staked?”
Damon glanced at Rad, back at me. “We’re not sure.”
Just as I suspected. Was it a Noct who had staked Dru or someone else eager to get rid of him? Theorizing wouldn’t accomplish anything and we had an army of Undead to take care of. “Time to go kick minion ass. We’ll meet you at O’Hare.”
Grabbing Maddy’s arm, I gave her a shove to get her moving down the staircase and shot Cole a get us out of here look. Rad followed behind me and once we were outside the Institute’s doors, I placed a hand on his arm and lowered my voice. “Tell your friends they need to kill Toel and end this before his minions cause a fight.”
He touched my face. “I’ll do what I can.”
“There’s a bottle of blood at my place if you need it.”
A tiny, sad smile touched his lips. “I need you.”
I squeezed his arm. “Be careful.”
“You too.”
“Kali?” Salmad appeared behind Rad. “A word, please?”
“Not now, priest.”
I jumped into the car with Cole and Maddy, blowing off Salmad and leaving Rad in the parking lot looking pale and haunted and more like a fallen angel than a deeply damaged demon.
“You’re not going to like this,” Maddy said, tossing her magazine in my lap. “Lover boy’s a douche.”
Folded back to show a bunch of chopped up photographs and colorful text, the magazine sported a headline that read Rock God Radison Beaumont Engaged! As I scanned the pictures, my throat closed up. There, amongst the publicity photos and meaningless words, was a shot of Rad coming out of Tiffany’s in New York City with a blonde Barbie doll hanging on his arm.
“That’s Parker Burkett.” Maddy pointed at the woman. She was holding her left hand out to the cameras, and sure enough, on her ring finger was a diamond the size of one of my throwing stars. “Her daddy’s the CEO of Burkett record label. He’s a millionaire and has produced all kinds of hit bands and singers. Parker’s living large off her dad’s money and apparently his pull with rock stars.”
My teenage friend sounded almost jealous. “There was a video on TMZ too,” she continued. “I thought maybe the pictures in the magazine had been Photoshopped, but you can’t argue with TMZ.”
I didn’t know or care what TMZ was. I lowered the car window as we hit the street and tossed the magazine out into the dirty snow.
Chapter Forty
Ignoring the way my stomach clenched after seeing Rad with a hot human chick in his arms, I called Stephan, Dru’s brother. “How’s the Master vamp doing?”
“Not well.” His tone was cold even for a vamp. “We don’t expect he’ll live through the day.”
Not that you’re unhappy about that. “Tell him to hang in there. I’m working on something.”
“I’m sure he’ll be delighted.”
Zing. Someone else was going to be delighted when I rammed a stake up his ass. “Toel’s at O’Hare with the Noctifectors getting ready to leave the U.S. for Rome. Problem is, his minions are in route to stop that plane.”
A slight pause and a yawn. I’d woken up the poor vamp. “And?”
“Get your army together. All the Carpathia vampires and the ones the other regional managers sent to us. We’re forming a perimeter around Terminal 5 to intercept them.” I rattled off the details about the plane and the flight. “We need to be as unobtrusive as possible and secure the safety of all humans in the area.”
“Il nous est impossible de laisser Alexandru seuls.”
“I’m not asking you to leave him alone.” As if he really cared about Dru. “Leave a set of guards with him. The rest of you gather our vamps and meet me at Terminal 5.”
“You do not issue orders to me, Mademoiselle Sweet.”
“As queen of the Central Division and the enforcer for the United States Bridge Council, I’m asking for your help.”
“I’ll discuss it with my brothers and speak to you again.”
The picture in my mind was clear. He had no intention of talking to anyone. “If you fail in this, Stephan, I will hold you accountable.”
I disconnected and heard Maddy talking to Arman. She shifted the phone away from her mouth. “The shifters are on their way. The alphas want to know if they can start killing vamps before you get there.”
I love shifters. Low maintenance, non-political. They keep to themselves and rarely bother humans. Oh, and they hate vamps as much as I do. “Only if they do it covertly. No messes, no human witnesses.”
Not that I was happy about them starting before I saw the game board, but the one fault shifters have is an inability to stay focused. The monster inside caused all kinds of attention deficit problems. Better to keep them entertained until I arrived than to make them sit on their hands until their impulse control overloaded. We’d have a far bigger mess on our hands.
“How is Arman?” I asked Maddy once she’d disconnected. “Any weirdness?”
“Arman’s always weird.”
“I mean like obsessive or radical or violent?”
“No. Why?”
“Just checking.”
My cell buzzed, JR’s avatar of
Yoda popping onto the screen. I hit the connect button. “What do you got? It better be good.”
“I contacted a buddy of mine in Germany who’s an expert on Undead Canon. There’s a footnote in one of his books that might help you out.”
A footnote, I knew it. The important stuff was always found there. “Cool. What is it?”
“The volume is an older European version that isn’t used in America, but since Master vamps are different than regional kings and queens in both places, you could try it. A Master is focused on protecting the House and its occupants, right? And the king or queen is a political pawn. They handle rules and elections and…”
“JR. I don’t need a lesson in Undead politics.”
“Right. Well, if I’m translating this correctly, it means the king or queen may take jurisdiction of a House from a House Master if he’s unable to perform his duties, but only until a suitable replacement is found and only if the House is under extreme stress. Natural disaster, human persecution, war. That sort of thing.”
Hunh. “That’ll work. Do you have a hard copy of that footnote?”
“I can print one.”
“I also need you to make up a decree from the Bridge Council stating that the House is in violation of XYZ code, and as enforcer, I have the right to temporarily seize the house in the name of the Bridge Institute and the occupants must carry out my commands.”
“You want me to forge a document and make up a false Bridge code?”
“You got a problem with that?”
There was a noise like he’d knocked over his Han Solo bobblehead. “Uh, no. I’ll get right on it.”
“Good. I’ll be at the office in…” Checking my watch, I did the math in my head. “Eight minutes.”
“Eight minutes?” He hung up, I assumed in order to get to work.
“Hit the office first,” I said to Cole. “Then we’re going to Carpathia.”
“I thought we were going to the airport.”
“We are, but we have to make a couple of pit stops first.”