“Which will lead her meddling daughter, her guardian, and her vampire handler right to us. It’s perfect. And the witch’s death? You’re not opposed to killing your own kind?” Kristoff narrowed his brows together.
“Not at all.” Her face lit up with a brilliant smile. “Consider that my contribution to our cause against the Hunters’ Watch Brigade. I’ll kill Helmina in front of everyone once the Samhain festival starts. I want every one of the covens to understand my power, to see her wriggle and burn. It’s the only way to bring them all to heel.”
Kristoff chuckled, a deep, low rumble. “We want them to grovel at your feet, love, because that’s where they belong. You’ll be their leader.”
“I could live with that.” Finally, she would get her due. Once she had her revenge on the woman who destroyed her life, she’d take a new path. One where she led all the witches, where they considered her their goddess. “Better to be feared than loved. Thanks to you, I see the wisdom in the philosophy.”
She’d failed when she was young, but she wouldn’t fail this time. Not with Kristoff by her side. Failure was not an option anymore, not since he’d come and asked her to help him infiltrate the Hunters’ Watch Brigade.
Kristoff was a powerful master vampire, and his presence made her shiver, both with dread and anticipation. He and a group of disgruntled brothers had issues with the way the Hunters’ Watch Brigade was being run. Because his nemesis, Shade Vermillion, headed the organization, Kristoff wanted to see it destroyed.
She was in a prime position to help them cut down a division of the supernatural police force. Kristoff placed his hand on her neck and caressed her jawline. She cringed, but tamped down her instinct to run. When her heartbeat accelerated, he smiled at her, and asked, “How did you learn Helmina Silverton was spelling her familiar to bear guardian shifters for their ranks from her litters?”
“Creation spells are powerful things,” Francesca said, staring out over Central Park. “It was something Helmina and I worked on together when we were younger, when we were still friends, before . . . before everything changed.” Though she tried never to frown because she couldn’t afford the negativity, nor the wrinkles, her face turned to a grimace with those bitter memories.
“Those damn guardian shifters are a significant threat to the underworld of supernaturals.” Kristoff’s eyes became hard, almost full black. “They interrupt my businesses. Kill my coven members. I can’t get any rest for fear they’ll find me when I have to sleep.”
With ties to the ancient Egyptian Pantheon, the guardians protected Vermillion’s hunters from harm.
Francesca nodded. Helmina’s guardians were paired with the agency’s hunters, making them almost invincible. Together, the pairs represented the HWB’s most coveted soldiers. “As fast as they reproduce, your people can’t stamp them out. It will be my pleasure to stop them once and for all.”
“I want Shade Vermillion to suffer,” he said. Kristoff lifted her chin, peered into her eyes, and smoothed his thumbs across her face, then down to the beating pulse on her neck. “You’re sure Vermillion will follow the girl to her mother?”
“He will. He’s devoted his life to her welfare. He’ll be there if Helmina’s bastard child is in danger.”
“Then I’ll be there to take him, just before you kill her.” A predatory smile crossed his face. “Our alliance will cripple the HWB.”
“Why do you hate him so much?”
“He betrayed me. I gave him immortality, and the bastard paid me back by making my life a living hell with his do-gooder organization of paranormal freaks.”
“Will you kill him?”
“Eventually,” Kristoff whispered, the tone in his voice sinister and dark. A chilling smile spread across his lips.
Franchesca’s imagination drew frightful images of what it would be like to be held and tortured by Kristoff and his men.
He pulled her into a forceful, passionate kiss, and plundered her mouth with his tongue, claiming her, bending her back, and slipping his sharp fangs into her neck.
For one brief moment, the euphoria that came with Kristoff’s intimate kiss swamped her. When he fed from her, it was pure pleasure, and she forgot the reasons she entertained him.
She felt young, and alive, and wanted, and she forgot about hurting while she was in his arms. When he swept her away to the bedroom, she found a temporary refuge from all the pain. Only later, lying there in the dark beside him, did the memories return.
And while the vampire was an expert lover, Francesca couldn’t help but long for another man’s arms around her, another man’s lips on hers. She could have been a goddess, not someone who consorted with vampires.
She hated Helmina for taking Poseidon from her, from taking her carefully planned-out future away. Killing her, and her daughter, would finally make up for all that Francesca had lost.
Turning over the HWB vampire Kristoff wanted to see in silver chains was the least she could do for his help.
Helmina Silverton would finally pay for what she’d done, to her, and to the underworld of supernaturals.
And getting paid well by the vampire and his faction of brothers for disrupting the HWB supply line of shifters only made Francesca’s revenge that much sweeter.
Chapter 9
Sam
KEY WEST INTERNATIONAL airport was far from glamorous, but it had a runway, a vending machine, and you could buy a margarita with real tequila there. Good for incoming tourists looking for freedom from the mainland, searching for Jimmy Buffet’s ethereal Margaritaville, sure, but we just needed the runway today.
We had to get out of Key West.
We hustled up the stairs to the big black HWB jet, and took our seats. The plane was new, and plush, and outfitted with reclining black leather seats, a round table for eating, and a private back room where Shade disappeared. I wondered if he had a coffin back there.
The thunderstorm had passed, and as I strapped myself in for takeoff, I was glad lightning bolts and thunder wouldn’t be an issue. I was already jumpy enough, trying to process the fact that Max wasn’t my cat any longer. My skin tingled in anticipation.
The fact that he’d shifted into a glorious specimen of a man in tight, distressed Levi’s who was currently wearing no shirt, made me even jumpier.
“How did you shift into those jeans?” I asked.
He shrugged. “I put a lot of thought into the shift beforehand. I didn’t want to have to tangle with a vampire naked.” His low, sultry voice caressed me. “Do you like them?”
“That’s so like you. Meticulous to a fault. Disciplined.” Of course, he’d have thought of what to wear when he shifted, and damn it, I’ll admit, I approved. I licked my lips and nodded.
Sure, I wondered what he looked like naked, but man, oh, man, those dark stone-washed Levi’s didn’t leave much to the imagination. He was perfectly built in all the right places, and the waistband of those jeans hung low, hugging his muscular thighs.
My sexy shifter. How could I be so lucky? Erotic images of what Max would look like without the Levi’s blew through my brain. Oh, God . . . I couldn’t do this to myself.
Could I?
It wasn’t like Max was off-limits or anything, right?
I mean, I could exploit this newfound treasure, and from the way he stared at my lips while I talked, he certainly looked like he was up for the job.
All the reasons why I shouldn’t participate in ogling Max in his human form flew out the jet’s window. My God, the hard-honed muscles on his naked chest called for my fingertips to sample his skin, but Shade interrupted us before I could work up the courage to touch him.
“Here, Kitty Ra-Ra. Put these on so we don’t have to look at so much of you.” Shade held out a long-sleeved black shirt for Max to wear, as well as socks and boots for his feet. Once Max was dress
ed, seated next to me, and strapped in, the jet rocketed down the runway, and took off. I nearly lost my breath, but, once we were airborne, and leveling out, I could finally concentrate on the matter at hand. Rescuing our mothers.
The pilot got us up to cruising altitude, and announced we were free to move about the cabin. Shade appeared with a laptop, and handed it to me. “Here. You can use this to check out that flash drive I gave you. I want to know everything you can piece together about Francesca Rosencratz—all your memories. No detail is too small.”
I took the computer and opened it up, then whispered quietly to Max, “For every evil magic spell a witch casts, she grows another wart, you know.”
“I’ll bet she’s loaded with them,” he replied, his smile broadening with a conspiratorial grin. I smiled too, though laughing seemed like something I thought I might never do again.
Ire grew in my belly like a sea serpent on a rampage. I looked up at Shade. “Aren’t you supposed to be the guy with all the intel?” In addition to being jumpy about Max having shifted, my worry over our mother’s kidnapping had turned me snappy and sour.
“You know the witches in your family history way better than we do. See what you can dig up. By the way, you need to check your email. Your sister sent some sensitive information about Rosencratz. It’s on the secured server, and I think you need to read it.” The vampire stalked off to the back of the jet.
“What? Wait? Cyn sent us some helpful information? How unlike her.”
“Let me see if I can help you,” Max said. He curled his fingers a few times, smiled, and spread out his hands. “Nice. Opposable thumbs.” He fired up the laptop. I handed over the flash drive, he popped it in, and we surfed through the evidence.
I’d thought it was going to be weird sitting here beside him in his human form, but if Max thought so too, he didn’t let on. We’d done research like this together for years, and we gradually fell back into our natural rhythm. I’ll admit, it was easy to be around him.
“You’re pretty good with those fingers.” I grinned, and reveled in his presence, the mere glory that he was sitting beside me in his true form. It was like he had waited for this his whole life. I snuck glances at his squared jaw where just a dusting of black whiskers grew. Would he grow a full beard? If he did, would it look like his black tabby fur?
Would it be itchy if he kissed me again?
I gotta confess, it took every ounce of control I had not to reach out and run my fingertips over his face. Honestly, I missed petting him, stroking his soft luxurious fur under my fingertips. Would he like it if I did that now?
We both pointed at the computer screen at the same time, and our hands bumped into each other. “Sorry,” he said, running his fingers over my hand. His eyes widened, and he swiped his fingers over my skin, lingering, touching me for the first time. “I had no idea your skin was this soft. It’ll take me a little while to get used to these.”
My mouth gaped open as he stared at his two big hands. I ran my fingertips over the tips of his. The texture was smooth, but calloused. “Does that hurt? Where your claws came out?”
“No, not really.”
“You cut a vampire’s skin with those things.”
He grinned. “Yeah. I’ll need to practice with them. Figure out how to keep them sharpened.”
“Shade said there were others like you. Have you ever contacted any of your older brothers or sisters? Like, out of curiosity?”
He shook his head. “No. I never thought past living and working with you.”
He looked in my eyes then, and I saw sadness there. I gripped his hand, lacing my fingers through his. “Well, for now, you don’t have to. Let’s take this one mission at a time.” I snapped my fingers at the computer screen. “Let’s get back to work. We have to find our moms.”
“Good plan,” he said, and scrolled through the pages of email Cyn had sent me. “Wow, Helmina was some looker back then,” Max commented.
The digital files contained details, all right. I searched the computer screen. There was a photo of Mom and Rosencratz at their senior prom. My heartbeat sped up, because Max was right. She was beautiful. Did I look like my mother?
The photos of the Cape Cod high school senior prom were classic 1985. “And just guess the theme, would you? The Kingdom Under the Sea. Is that what drew your father in to find your mother?”
“I’m afraid it was something more sinister. Rosencratz tried to trap my Dad with her magic, and Mom countered her spell and released him.”
“He obviously made the right choice,” Max said.
“As I recall, Wham! and George Michael were all the rage back then. I swear, she still listens to his music. That’s good stuff. And look at their dresses,” I said, pointing to the pastel prom gowns they wore back in the mid-eighties—yards and yards of poufy taffeta. “Ooh, and all the sparkly decorations. Look at their big hair. Holy crap, people really went all-out back then, right?”
“Yeah, Helmina’s dark red hair and her green dress go perfectly together. She was a hottie!”
“That’s my Mom you’re ogling!” I swatted his chest.
Max grinned back at me. “Good. I got a smile out of you. That was worth all the effort.” He advanced the computer through a couple more slides. “That’s Rosencratz?”
My gaze landed on her photo, and I nodded. “It’s weird. They looked happy here.”
“You said they were friends, so it makes sense. Prom’s a rite of passage for humans, I take it?”
I nodded, and snuck a peek at his stunning blue-green eyes. It was like I was looking into the Gulf Stream waters in my cat’s eyes. “That’s right. It’s a formal ceremony where young adults meet for a night in their best clothes, dance, and romance their way into adulthood. Lots of them have sex for the first time.”
Max trained his gaze on the computer screen. “Who’s this guy with your mother?”
My throat tightened. “That’s my dad.” Young and virile, my dad was worthy of every statue the humans had carved of him. Model-like handsome, he reminded me of Jason Mamoa. His curly brown hair was cropped short, and he wore a beard and a tux. He stared at my mother with the expression of a man in love.
Max leaned closer to inspect the screen. “No way. I would have expected him to be bigger.”
I nodded. “I don’t know how she did it, but she convinced Poseidon to attend her senior prom. I was born nine or so months later.” An ache of missing him fluttered across my chest.
“I’d say it had something to do with her dress,” Max teased in a sarcastic tone. “Very sexy.”
The next few pictures showed my parents happy and in love. Dancing. Dressed to the nines. My dad seriously looked good in a tux, and you could see the love between them—the way their gazes met in the photos. I let out the breath I was holding. “Too bad they couldn’t find an earthly compromise.”
We’d never really lived together as a family. I remembered him being around at times, but not always. Mom told me it was better that way, but I’d never understood why. There were summers when she’d let me go visit him in his realm, to his palace under the sea. Those were good times. I met all my relatives on Dad’s side, and even got to visit Mt. Olympus a few times, where I met my favorite half-cousin, Artemis.
Artemis was the virgin goddess of the hunt, and protector of all women. Sometimes I think she inspired me to become the hunter I am today.
But I never stayed long at my dad’s. Not even Artemis could fill Mom’s shoes, and I’d end up missing her too much. Dad was sad to see me homesick, so he’d take me back to her on Earth.
Once Mom sent me to join up with the HWB, our visits got fewer and farther between.
I tugged hard at a curl of my hair, wrapping it around my index finger. I had a hard time looking at the photos, seeing the love my parents shared. “In the end, they
didn’t stay together, and we didn’t have what you’d call a normal life.”
“But they both loved you, right? I mean, what does normal even mean, Sam?” Max asked.
“I don’t honestly know. Not even I could make them happy enough to find their ‘ever after’.” I shut down that line of thought, and buried it deep where it wouldn’t bother me again. Love wasn’t really meant to last, even if you had supernatural powers, and supernatural love.
As Max flipped through more images, I honed in on Rosencratz’s expression. She’d had her own date, sure, but it was obvious to me that she’d only had eyes for the human form my dad had taken. It really skeeved me out, the way she’d stared at him. My mother must have been pissed. “Rosencratz was hurt he didn’t choose her.”
Max nodded, and grasped my hand. “Your mother caught the eye of a Greek god. Once you go there, I understand there’s no turning back.”
“And you know this how . . .?”
He shrugged. “I read. I love the mythology of the Greek Gods, and the Egyptians.”
“Hmph. Maybe I’ll introduce you to my father someday.”
The plane hit a bump of turbulence, and the jet fell about eight feet or so through the sky. I jerked in response. Max pulled me close. “You’re okay. I’ve got you, Sam.”
The pilot adjusted the jet, and the flash of terror passed. I couldn’t help it. I held onto his very large hands longer than I needed to. “I hate flying. Turbulence makes me nauseated, and I hate not being in control.”
“You never let on you did on any of our other missions,” Max said, his expression grim.
“That’s because I was the alpha—the one who had to hold it all together for both of us.”
“Things have changed now. I know this is weird,” he said, gesturing to himself. “But I promise, if you’ll let me, I’ll take control and do whatever you need to help you hold it all together until we find your mom, Sam.” He kissed the backs of my hands.
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