by Nina Bangs
While Thadeus took care of the body and the winner showered, he’d talk to the audience. That was the price he demanded for his free show. He waited until the clamor stopped and then he reached out to them.
“Houston, you have a problem. For hundreds of years you’ve been told you can’t kill freely, you can’t call attention to yourselves.”
A rumble of anger told him he was right on the mark.
“Your natures are to kill, to feed, but for too long your leaders have told you that humans are off-limits.” The rumble grew louder.
“Told you that you couldn’t drink from the living, the only blood that truly nourishes you.” The vampires in the audience shouted their hatred of that rule.
“Told you that you couldn’t hunt the prey you were created to hunt.” Werewolves and a few other carnivorous shape-shifters joined their voices to the din.
“Told you that you should hide from a species that could never be your intellectual or physical equal.” The fae in the audience just sat and looked dangerous.
“And so you’ve hunted in secret, hoping your leaders wouldn’t find out.” Silence fell. He was treading on thin ice now.
“But that’s okay, because I’m on your side. The world is about to change. Humans will be wiped from the face of the earth.” He felt the uneasy silence. They didn’t quite believe him. “Except for sorcerers and those willing to work for our cause.”
“And I haven’t forgotten my demon friends. No one will ever again deny you access to Earth or try to send you back into the abyss.” He didn’t promise demons the right to kill, because they already thought of murder as their right. Besides, they were a varied race with many different agendas.
The fae? Who knew what they wanted. Like the demons, they were too varied for him to address their individual needs. But he’d assume that all lusted after power, particularly the Sidhe.
He paused for a moment to scan the minds of his listeners. As usual, he found what he was looking for. There were a few in every group. Three werewolves—a woman and two men—sat in the back near the stairs. They were planning to return to their pack and tell their alpha about him. Earth’s inhabitants, whether human or nonhuman, were so predictable.
He smiled at everyone. Now for a demonstration, because lesser beings always required proof of power. “I’m sad to announce that we have three members of our audience who are contemplating telling their leader what they’ve seen and heard here.” He sighed his fake regret. “I’m afraid I can’t let that happen.”
Mentally leafing through his termination Rolodex, he chose a method that wouldn’t be instantaneous, one that would be rare and impressive, one that would, in the common vernacular, scare the shit out of everyone.
Presentation was everything in this part of the show. It was his favorite part. Extending his arms out in front of him, he pointed at the three werewolves. “You would betray us to our enemies. For that sin, your lives are forfeit.” Yes, he sounded a bit overdramatic, but it added to the impact of the whole thing.
The three jumped up and tried to race for the stairs, but they were too late, much too late. It took only a thought to stop them. They stood frozen.
Unfortunately, to do what he intended, he had to reveal his true form. Oh, well, the audience wouldn’t be able to say they didn’t get a spectacular show tonight.
He changed.
There were gasps of disbelief followed by a babble of voices.
The first scream silenced them.
And then for the next fifteen minutes, he meticulously took the werewolves apart cell by cell. It looked as if an eraser were smudging them out little bloody bits at a time. Their mouths were the last to go, still stretched wide even though their screams had ended five minutes before.
When he’d finished, the audience still stared wide-eyed at the spot where the werewolves had stood. He quietly returned to human form.
Someone finally broke the silence. “Uh, who’ll we feed from?”
He blinked and turned to face the demon that had fought in the circle. Cleaned up and dressed in jeans, shirt, and a leather coat, the demon looked bigger than he had in the circle.
“What?”
The demon shrugged. “I mean, if you’re going to wipe humans from the earth, then what’ll we hunt?”
One another, you idiot. He pasted a smile on his face. “I’m sure no one will mind if you raise a few humans for your own use.” It wouldn’t happen. All humans would die, along with any nonhumans who supported them, and those who were left would fight for supremacy. It was all about creating chaos.
Turning back to his audience, who had at last recovered from their shock, he smiled. “Each of you has a form listing the rewards for joining us in this great crusade. Fill out the bottom and Thadeus will collect it as you leave. Someone will be in touch with you later.”
He narrowed his gaze. “If you choose not to join us, please hand in a blank form.” He had no need of the scribbled information on the papers. All he needed was something each of them had touched with their bare skin. With the papers, he would call them to him when the time came. None could resist. And those who handed in a blank form? His smile widened. They’d be dead by morning.
He turned back to the demon that still stood behind him. “You did well in the circle tonight. I could use someone smart and powerful to help eliminate those who would stand against us. Your rewards would be great.”
The demon watched him from icy blue eyes. “Sounds like fun.”
“What’s your name?”
“Seir.”
“Once everyone has left, Thadeus will explain your first assignment, Seir. I’m sure you’ll find the work satisfying and the rewards even more so.”
Seir nodded before joining Thadeus.
He’d keep an eye on this one until he was sure the demon could be trusted, as much as demons could ever be trusted.
Then he forgot about Seir as he made sure every member of the audience handed in a form. Their minds spoke of eagerness to slaughter, fear that they might be killed like the three werewolves, or lust for power. All perfectly good reasons to join him.
It was only when he returned to his office that he realized Seir had never turned in a form.
Kelly woke to the sound of her cell phone and the sensation of something heavy crushing her legs. She lay with eyes closed, trying to figure it out. Random thoughts skittered around her brain before finally settling into a memory of last night. She was at Fin’s. Neva was a werewolf. She’d made love with Ty.
On that last thought, her eyes popped open and then widened. At some point while they’d slept, Neva had joined them. Her massive bulk was hanging off the bottom of the bed. Pulling her feet from beneath Neva, Kelly rolled over and met Ty’s steady gaze.
He smiled, a slow sexy grin that said he was thinking about last night too. “Your phone is ringing.”
“Right.” She glanced down. “Naked.”
“Beside the bed.”
Rolling over again, she spotted her nightshirt on the floor where Ty must have dropped it last night.
She snatched it up and pulled it over her head. Then she climbed out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom. Closing the door behind her, she fumbled around in the pocket of her jacket, which still hung on the hook.
“Hello?” Probably Mom or Jenna. She hadn’t called them yesterday.
“Is this the woman who was in Memorial Park last night?” A deep male voice. Sounded cautious.
“Maybe.” Kelly was just as cautious. Okay, and nervous too. Considering all the scary stuff that had gone down last night, she wasn’t saying more than necessary to a stranger.
There was a long, uncomfortable pause. Long enough for Kelly to wonder whether she should end the call.
“You met a wolf last night. You gave him your number. I’m his pack leader. We need to talk.”
He sounded all nice and polite, but Kelly got the feeling this meeting was on the level of a royal command. Mr. Pack Leader wouldn’t tak
e no nicely.
“Where?”
“Parking lot across from the Museum of Natural Science. Midnight.” He didn’t sound like any of that was negotiable. “The guy you met last night will be there. Look for him. He’ll bring you to me.” He didn’t offer a name.
Okay, she was meeting a werewolf outside a museum tonight. Was that surreal or what? “I’m bringing a friend with me.” No way was she going to meet a werewolf by herself.
There was another long silence. “One friend. No one else.” And the line went dead.
While she was in the bathroom, she freshened up and tried to decide what to do about tonight. Fin had supplied a few basic cosmetics, and Kelly wasn’t proud. A little cheek cream and some lip color gave an impression of life. Then she left the bathroom.
Good things had happened while she’d been gone. Someone had brought breakfast and left some of her clothes on the bed. Ty sat on the couch eating his meal.
He wore a clean pair of jeans. She had a brief but intense underwear moment. Was he wearing any? She forced herself to move on. A fresh shirt hung over the back of a chair.
Neva was tearing apart a huge piece of raw meat set on a platter. Ugh. Still in wolf form.
Kelly grabbed the clothes and ran back into the bathroom to change before settling down next to Ty on the couch.
“Who brought breakfast?” Technically it was afternoon, but for this job, afternoon was the new morning.
“Shen.”
Worry didn’t affect her appetite. She helped herself to eggs, bacon, and toast. Making love was tough work.
Kelly nodded. “Fin’s secretary, or whatever. He hired me. What about the clothes?” His knee touched hers, but she didn’t move it away. Yesterday she would have chosen a chair, but now being near him felt natural. Her reaction to the bare expanse of his chest still tensed her up, though. His low-level erotic hum never let her forget the sexual animal part of him or her reaction to it.
“Shen said they went to your apartment this morning.”
After a fortifying gulp of coffee, she told him about the call.
While Ty thought about what she’d said, Neva padded over to sit next to Kelly. The rest had evidently done the werewolf good, because her eyes were bright and—thank God—sane. Her wolfy expression said she was ready to take an active part in determining her destiny.
“You know, I think Neva should go with me to meet this pack leader. After all, it’s her future we’ll be bargaining for.” Kelly hoped he wouldn’t fight her on this.
“I agree.” Finishing his coffee, he stood. “I need to talk this over with Fin.” He retrieved his shirt, slipped into it, then pulled on a pair of boots. “Relax until I get back.”
“Just a thought, but if I’ve got this straight, you can communicate mentally with Fin. So why do you have to tell him in person?”
“Fin’s mental power is pretty much tied up right now with distracting Zero. When you’re psychically blitzing the enemy, you can’t be bothered with a minor communication unless it’s an emergency.”
“Oh.” Kelly watched him leave. She glanced at Neva. “Relax. Right. Vampires, werewolves, and the ultimate big bad are after our behinds and he wants us to relax. Feeling relaxed yet, Neva?”
Neva shook her massive head and offered Kelly a wolfy grin. Her expression looked hopeful, though. Kelly sort of liked Neva’s can-do attitude.
“I just realized that you only know bits and pieces of what’s going on. Let me fill you in.”
Kelly had just finished her explanation when someone knocked. Now what? She walked to the door and then hesitated. No peephole. But her hesitation only lasted long enough for her to remember where she was. No unfriendly monster waited on the other side of the door. They were all friendly monsters here.
She opened the door to Shen. “Hi, haven’t seen you for a while. Come in.” Kelly stood aside to let him pass.
A second after she said it, she remembered Neva. Oops. Shen strode past her and then stopped. Neva crouched by the couch, a low rumbling growl warning of bad things to come.
“It’s okay, Neva. You remember Shen. He hired you.”
Neva wasn’t impressed. Her growl grew louder.
Shen wisely backed out into the hall.
Kelly frowned. “I don’t know why you upset her.”
He held up his hands. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m a shape-shifter. Her animal senses my other form. No biggie.”
Shen smiled. About six feet tall with dark hair and eyes, his quick grin might’ve fooled her into thinking he was friendly and uncomplicated. But that was before. Now she knew that no one who worked for Fin was uncomplicated and a smile could hide any number of agendas.
“Shape-shifter? So what’s your other form?” Behind Kelly, Neva’s growling died away.
Shen glanced at his watch. “I’d love to hang and talk, but I need to get you down to the office so I can update some of your employment info before you run off for the night.”
“Sure.” She frowned. “What about Neva?”
“Ty will be back in a few minutes. She’ll be okay alone until then.”
Kelly glanced at Neva. “Do you mind staying by yourself for a short time?”
Neva didn’t go all wild-eyed on her. Instead, the wolf jumped back onto the bed and spread out. Kelly took that as an I’m cool with being alone.
Stepping out into the hallway, Kelly pulled the door closed and followed Shen to his office. Grabbing a chair on the other side of his desk, she waited for him to leave the doorway and sit down.
Mesmerized, she stared out the floor-to-ceiling windows behind his desk. Night was falling, and the Houston skyline was lighting up. “Wow, Fin sure likes windows. Can’t say that I blame him. This view is spectacular. I think I get it. He came from an environment where he was never enclosed, so I guess claustrophobia could be a problem when he’s in a building.”
“Very insightful, Kelly.” Fin’s voice was blandly approving.
Uh-oh. Kelly turned her head and watched Fin walk toward the desk. Shen had skipped out on her. This could not be good.
Fin lowered himself to Shen’s chair behind the desk and smiled at her.
If Helen of Troy’s face launched a thousand ships, then Fin’s smile was good for the launch of at least a million rockets. And yet Kelly sensed no emotion behind his expression, nothing to connect her to the man.
His silver hair gleamed, and against the backdrop of the sparkling Houston lights, he looked like some cold, beautiful Christmas tree.
Fin’s bark of laughter was the first really sincere reaction she’d felt from him.
“A Christmas tree? That has to be a first. Now you’ve put me in a good mood for our meeting.”
He really was a gorgeous man. But he also made her mad as hell. “Stay out of my mind.”
“How can I do that when you’re so entertaining?” He held up his hand to forestall her tirade. “Okay, I’ll try.”
“Why the bait and switch?”
“I knew if Ty showed up while I was trying to drag you off to my lair, he’d insist on coming too.” Fin’s expression turned thoughtful. “He’s getting all protective with you. I don’t know if that’s a good thing. He doesn’t need any distractions.”
Her stomach dropped about four floors at the thought that Fin might assign her to another one of the Eleven. And immediately after that, she had an oh-no moment. She cared too much.
Three nights did not a relationship make. Sure, she had impulse issues at times, but she’d never made love with a man after knowing him only three nights. And she’d certainly never done it naked on a balcony. The truth? She’d do it hanging upside down from a tree limb if it kept her close to Ty. A dangerous admission. Dangerous to her emotions. He’d be moving on soon. Dangerous to her health. Caring would make her more likely to follow him into scary situations.
“I have a favor to ask,” Fin said.
Favor? That snapped Kelly back into the moment. “What?”
“I’d like t
o record your brain waves.”
Okay, that was officially weird.
Chapter Eleven
“Brain waves? Mine?”
“Hear me out.”
“I wouldn’t miss it.”
Fin leaned back and idly tapped his finger on the arm of his chair. “I can see the distant future. I see the problems, the potential solutions, but not the outcomes. Two out of three is a start, though.”
“How distant?” Three nights ago she would’ve dismissed what Fin was saying as idiocy. She knew better now.
“Sixty-five million years.” He was staring at her, but his eyes had that unfocused look that meant his thoughts were elsewhere. “I saw that Zero and his crew would return to Earth and try to raise an army of nonhumans so they could wipe out the human race in 2012. I saw what measures could stop them.” He shrugged. “I didn’t see if anything worked.”
“Is that how you were able to save the Eleven from the extinction event?”
“Yes.” He watched her with those strange silver eyes.
“And my brain waves have something to do with your master plan?”
He grinned. “Not my master plan. This is more like the universe’s master plan. Not to fall back on a cliché, but it’s bigger than both of us.”
“Right.” Kelly’s thoughts were in turmoil. Her first instinct was to walk, because there was something insanely creepy about Fin targeting her millions of years in the past.
“You want to run from me.” Fin captured her gaze and held it. “But you won’t be able to run from what’s coming. No one will. Not you, not your family.”
She hated him. Because he was right. Because he didn’t hesitate to bludgeon her with the truth. Because there wasn’t one speck of warmth in him. He didn’t care about her or her family, just his fight against the Lords of Time or whatever they wanted to be called.
She forced her gaze away from him and focused instead on the Houston skyline behind him. “You know, this is one time I hate the messenger more than the message. What do you love, Fin? What do you have a passion for other than this battle?”