Initiation

by Paula Millhouse

  Max was just about to agree when the muffled sound of Sam’s screams caught his ears. He turned and ran back to the front of the plane.

  Chapter 11

  Sam

  YOU KNOW THAT feeling when you’re so exhausted, and you finally fall asleep, and you dream? You know it’s a dream, but it’s so real, you can’t tell if you’re there or not? I could even smell the new leather of the plush seats in the HWB jet.

  I saw my mom.

  I looked around the cabin of the jet when I heard her call my name, and there she sat across the aisle in one of the leather swivel seats near the table. It was like she was waiting for room service, or something. “What are you doing here, Mom?”

  She stared into my face, and put her index finger over her lips to silence me. “You have to be quiet, Sam.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t want them to find you.”

  “Who? Oh, Rosencratz?”

  My mother nodded. “And her lover.”

  “What’s going on, Mom? How’d you get on the plane?” I stared out the window, thinking we’d landed already, and that the HWB had found her, and brought her here. The moon wasn’t full yet, but it was big and round enough that it glimmered off the top of the waves of the Atlantic Ocean. Nope, we were definitely still in the air. I checked my watch. “How long was I asleep?”

  When I turned back to Mom, she was gone.

  I blinked, hard, and shook my head. “What the hell . . .?” My usual iron stomach bubbled with acidy dread.

  I reared up and searched out the window of the jet. She was down there, on a rocky coast, the almost-full moon illuminating her figure. I covered my throat with my hand. “Mom?”

  She didn’t look at me. She held out her arms toward the ocean, and called for my dad. “Poseidon! I need you. Samantha needs you!”

  “Mom!”

  Then I saw him. Big, and handsome, and larger than life, he was riding one of his mighty seahorses, reins in his hands, racing across the ocean. He was calling for her, but he didn’t see her, and he was going the wrong way. They were both searching for each other, and it broke my heart.

  “Dad! She’s over here,” I yelled, pointing to where she stood on the craggy black rocks. But he didn’t hear me either. He was riding off into the waves in the opposite direction. They couldn’t find each other, and no matter how loud I yelled, neither could hear me. I felt powerless, and groggy, as if I couldn’t move my arms or legs.

  Mom walked dangerously close to the edge of the rocks, where angry ocean waves crashed far below. “Stop! Don’t get so close to the edge!” A fall into the ocean from that height would kill her. “Mom!”

  “Sam!” Strong hands grasped my arms and shook me. “Sam. Wake up. You’re having a nightmare.”

  I blinked my eyes open to Max’s worried expression. Shade stood behind him, a concerned look on his face. I bolted up, and Max helped me stand. “What happened?”

  “Mom. She was on the plane.” I rubbed my eyes, hoping to clear my head, then turned and looked out the window into darkness. “Then she was down there on the rocks, and . . . and . . . my father . . .”

  “You were dreaming,” Shade said. “Helmina’s not on the plane, Samantha. We’re still two hours from Cape Cod, above the Atlantic Ocean.”

  What the hell was going on? I dragged my hand across my face, blinking hard to remember the dream. It all seemed like a vision to me now, and a blurry one.

  “Here, I’ll sit with you. You can tell me what you saw,” Max said, and raised the armrest between the two seats so we could sit closer together. He wrapped me in a firm embrace, and I let him sit me down beside me. He waved the vampire off. “I got this, Shade.”

  Shade stalked off to the back of the plane in a huff.

  “They were trying to find each other,” I said, my voice shaky, piecing fragments of the dream together in some sort of attempt to explain myself. “They couldn’t . . . they couldn’t hear me, and . . .”

  “Shh. Shh. Shh,” Max said, and stroked my hair. He kissed my forehead. “It was just a bad dream.”

  I went rigid. “What if it was more? A warning. What if . . . she came to me in a vision?”

  “Did she say anything? Anything specific?”

  I nodded, refusing to shed tears. “She warned me to be quiet. That Rosencratz was trying to find me. That her lover was in on it, too.”

  “Then they’ll have to go through me first.” He tightened his grip on me, giving me something to hold on to. And I did. I buried my face in his neck, trying to shake off the awful jittery feeling the nightmare had left behind.

  My throat ached with emotion, and tears bled from my closed eyes. None of my previous missions had affected me like this. If I didn’t pull it together, Shade would take me off the case. “What if she’s gone? What if we don’t find her?”

  “We will find her. You’re exhausted, Sam. Let me hold you while you sleep.” He started up his purr, the sound soft and comforting, and while I was pretty sure I’d never sleep again, in a few minutes, I relaxed.

  “You’re so warm,” I said, running my face against his, burying my nose in the hollow of his neck.

  “You too. I love your body heat. Perfect temperature for me.” He stroked his hands through my hair.

  And even though he wasn’t my cat anymore, his purr was the same. How did he get to keep that, post-shift? The frequency of the gentle hum settled my nerves, just like it always had. Maybe he was my perfect guardian. “I’m glad you’re here. I don’t think I can sleep without your purr. I don’t think I can sleep without you.”

  He chuckled, then sighed. “That makes two of us.” He lifted my chin with his fingertips and kissed me.

  The soft, sweet kiss surprised me, because it felt just right. Tender. Comforting. Reassuring. “Definitely helping distract me from the nightmare,” I said, my voice barely a whisper.

  “Mmm, good. Because I kind of like this kissing thing.”

  Maybe this thing growing between us really could work. I turned my body closer to his, and he deepened the next kiss. When our tongues touched for the first time, Max’s purr sped up.

  Chapter 12

  Shade

  SHADE SAT DOWN on the black leather couch in the back of the jet, and dragged his computer onto his lap. The secure satellite link the HWB geek squad had provided cloaked his Internet search. He typed in the name Kristoff West, and watched dozens of links pop up.

  “Christ, this guy . . .” The vampire Shade hated more than the devil himself had set up aliases all over the world. Actors. Political activists. Motivational speakers. Wading through all the false identities would deter someone less motivated, but Shade had had an eternity to track Kristoff. Finding and killing him would ultimately make the universe a safer place.

  For Samantha, Helmina, and every human being on the planet.

  Stopping predators like Kristoff was the reason the Hunters’ Watch Brigade existed.

  Finding nothing on his own, he logged on to the secure HWB server. A video chat screen popped up on the laptop’s screen. He selected the third option: Druscilla.

  A perky blonde wearing two ponytails, black horn-rimmed glasses, and cherry-red lipstick popped to life on the video screen. “Hi, Shade. How’s the weather down in Florida?”

  “Evening, Dru. Hotter than Hades, actually, and muggy. We’re headed to Cape Cod for the weekend, and I wanted you to look into something for me.”

  “Anything for my favorite commander.” The way Dru emphasized the word favorite made his cock twitch. She looked so damn innocent in those horn-rimmed glasses. The last time they’d met for cocktails and wound up back at her place, he’d insisted she keep them on, and nothing else. Dru was the perfect lover, all business at work, and all raging sex kitten when he asked her to be.

  “I
need you to see what our guys in Europe have on Kristoff West.”

  Dru typed furiously on her keyboard, and then looked up at the screen. “No recent sightings. Oh, wait . . .” She blew a small pink bubble with the chewing gum in her mouth. He could almost taste the sweetness of her lips on his body. Damn. She shouldn’t be allowed to chew gum at work. It was distracting. She typed something else into her keyboard, and a link popped up on his computer screen. “That’s an international flight manifest. Looks like someone fitting West’s description entered the country last week.”

  Shade grimaced. If West was here already, he had to find him. “Dru. Pull three agents over to the Provincetown airport for me. Pilot says we should land in about an hour and a half. I want an escort to accompany me this afternoon in case West is involved.”

  “Done,” she answered. “Did you get a chance to try the new chainmail?”

  “I will today.”

  “Good. The tech guys say it’s rad. Looking forward to your report on its effectiveness. I don’t need to tell you to be careful, do I?”

  Dru’s expression turned all protective. Shade didn’t like that. If she was going to be worrying about him, it might be time to cut it off with her. He’d have to break it to her the next time he met her in Manhattan, after he fucked her into oblivion one last time. “Your job is to field intel, Dru. Not worry about me.”

  Getting close with a woman wasn’t an option. He’d spent too much time recruiting agents for the brigade, making certain the commanders were all in agreement about their mission statement, and interceding, where he could, on the supernatural front. The last damn thing he needed was a woman who wanted more than professional courtesy and a romp every now and then to satisfy the basic urges.

  Shade moved his finger to tap the “End” key on the video chat, and took one last look at Dru’s gorgeous face. “I’ll let you know about the new equipment.”

  He tapped “End.”

  Then he searched the international manifest Dru sent him. He frowned. Someone like Kristoff didn’t exactly fly commercial. Shade had set up a group of agents in customs who watched for supernaturals coming and going without credentials. He rubbed his temples.

  Who was he kidding? Kristoff West, and creeps just like him, had access to unlimited funds to pay off humans to look the other way. Hell, the state of the economy practically bred black-market payoffs anyway, and his agents, while most were loyal, were not above reproach. Money and power did strange things to people.

  So did fear.

  And the rival vampire had no problem using his power, or his vast wealth, to strike innocent humans with fear. Shade had lived it. He’d lost people to him. Hell, he’d lost his entire life because of that bastard.

  Shade had to find a way to stop him before he got to anyone else. No one deserved to suffer under the madness that was Kristoff West.

  Chapter 13

  Sam

  I AWOKE IN MAX’S arms when the HWB jet descended to the tiny airport in Provincetown, Massachusetts. It was probably the best sleep I’d had, like, ever. I stood up and stretched, yawning.

  “No more nightmares?” Max asked, standing beside me. He pulled me into his arms, and snuck a sweet, soft kiss, right on my lips.

  “Not after those kisses we shared last night. Perfect distraction.” I licked my lips.

  Max pulled back when Shade swooped by us from the back of the plane. In addition to his black leathers, he wore soft metal gloves and a scarf made out of what looked like dull titanium. I had a pair of hoop earrings cut from the same metal. Titanium was soft and malleable, and you could make almost anything from it.

  The vampire tossed his thumb over his shoulder to the back of the plane. “There’s coffee back there, if you want it. I’m meeting a group of agents flying in from Manhattan. I want to go to your mother’s house and look for clues.”

  “You’re going outside?” Max asked. “Won’t the sun turn you into a crispy critter?”

  Shade gestured to his scarf, then donned a baseball cap with down-turned flaps. “The Geek Squad at the HWB designed titanium chain mail for me and my division. I can go out in daylight in small increments.” He shrugged, as if it was no big deal. “Days like today call for special measures.”

  “Coffee sounds good. I’ll take Max to Cyn’s apartment, then we’ll check in with you. I want to talk to her first myself,” I said.

  I was worried about her, and I needed to see her, to make sure she was all right.

  The vampire swiveled, and then he was gone in an eerily fast flash of his black leather jacket and chainmail. I’d never get used to how fast Shade moved.

  My sister lived in a small apartment just off tourist row in downtown Provincetown, Mass. After a bathroom break, and a cup of java to go, Max followed me through P-Town, keeping time with my steps.

  A brisk late October sea breeze blew in from the Atlantic, and I zipped up my purple leather coat. The sun showered down, bathing Provincetown in light, illuminating colorful fall leaves with a glow you only saw this time of year.

  “Maybe I should shift back into my cat?” Max asked while we walked the sidewalks. “Your sister might be less inclined to worry if you show up with a cat, instead of me, looking like this.” He gestured to himself.

  “Can you do that? Shift at will?” I furrowed my brows. If he could, it might be best.

  The last thing I needed was to have to explain this newest chapter in our lives to my sister right off. Personally, I wasn’t interested in her opinion. Her views on how I ran my life usually sucked figs, and pissed me off until I saw things through crimson-colored glasses.

  “I think I can,” he said, searching around us to see if anyone was near. We didn’t need to reveal all our secrets to prying eyes on our first day out.

  He walked into a quiet alleyway. I stood watch, making sure no tourist or curious locals were around to see him shift. Most humans didn’t do well with paranormal things, I’ve found, so hiding Max seemed second nature.

  A second later, my thirty-five pound Maine Coon cat streaked out of the alleyway past me, and onto the sidewalk. I blinked. “That is so damn cool.”

  He looked back at me. “Are you coming, or what?”

  I bolted forward, and headed down the street for Cyn’s apartment. Max kept pace beside me. “Did it hurt?”

  “Nah, not really. It sort of felt like walking through a field of energy. Like I got zapped by a low-voltage bug-zapper.”

  “Ah, taking a hit for the team.” My first thought was, what about his clothes? If he shifted back to his human form, what would he be wearing? Would he be stark naked this time? “What about your jeans?”

  He didn’t have time to answer me, or he didn’t hear. Instead, he bounded up the steps to Cyn’s place. Lifting his pink nose, he sniffed the air. I hesitated. “What’s wrong?”

  You know that weird thing cats do when they go on alert, and peer off into space, as if they can see or sense something you can’t? Yeah. That’s what he did, and I hesitated.

  And while I didn’t see a damn thing, Atlantis buzzed my wrist, demanding to be unleashed. I looked up at Cyn’s front door. I sensed that her wards, the magic bonds she’d laid around her place to protect her, had been fractured. Someone, or something was here.

  I swallowed a lump that had the consistency of a blowfish. We walked up to the front door. I glanced behind me to make sure we weren’t being watched, then fingered my wrist, beckoning Atlantis.

  The trident materialized in my left hand, seven feet long, and buzzing with blue-white energy. Cyn’s front door was ajar, just an inch or two, and I reached for the doorknob. “Maybe you should wait out here, Max.”

  “Like hell,” he said, and wove between my legs to push his way inside.

  I threw open the door. Cyn’s apartment was small. Airy and light, it smelled cle
an. Bright sunshine poured in through clear glass windows, revealing my worst nightmare.

  My older sister sat crying, tied up to a wooden chair in her kitchen. Not just tied, but gagged, with duct tape around her mouth. Oh, hell no. I bolted inside. She screamed from under the gag, tossing her head toward the back of the apartment. She shot me a warning glare, and blinked three times.

  It was a signal we’d used while growing up. There were three of them. A home invasion? Or something more sinister? I was willing to bet on the latter.

  “Vamps, I think, maybe, or demons?” I sensed them before I saw them, a cool eerie brush of magic tentacles drawing chills against my skin.

  They were dressed in monk’s robes, and they rushed me. I went down easily, on purpose, and they laughed.

  Max bolted over behind Cyn. In a flash, he shredded the tight ropes that bound her with his razor-sharp claws.

  “Well. Well. Well. What have we here? Looks like little sister’s come to save the day,” one of them said. He jerked me up by the hair.

  “She’s got a weapon,” his buddy growled.

  “Yeah, I come fully equipped, asshole.” I swung my trident’s crystal tines up into the guy’s ribcage, lacerating his flesh. So, he wasn’t a vamp.

  Blood spurted from his chest, and he slumped down like a rag doll.

  I turned his body, picked him up, and shoved him toward the second one. I fired a bolt of energy out of Atlantis into the back of his chest. The blast knocked the dead guy forward, throwing the second monk back against the wall. The acrid smell of burned hair filled the room.

  I whipped around to find the third one, ready to take him down too.

  The third guy rushed Max and Cyn. He knocked her down to the floor, and she struggled to get away.

  Then he kicked Max. Max went airborne, fur flew, and his feline body crashed against the kitchen door. Oh, hell no, motherfucker. All the fury of the universe reverberated through my fingertips to my toes. “Nobody touches my familiar, you bastard.” I lunged toward the freakishly big monk, and drove the tines of my trident into his back.