Initiation

by Paula Millhouse

  “She wants all of us, Sam,” Miss Daisy said. “Because of me.”

  I flinched. “What do you mean?”

  “Miss Daisy supplies the Hunters’ Watch Brigade with our finest shifters,” Updike said, gesturing to Max. “Like Maximillion here.”

  “But I can’t do that without your mother’s magic,” Miss Daisy said.

  I looked at her, narrowed my eyes, and the pieces began clicking into place. “Wait. So, Rosencratz doesn’t like the Hunters’ Watch Brigade, and she doesn’t want new inductees. What does it matter to her?”

  Penobscott chuckled, deep and low. “Oh, it’s not just her.”

  “She’s part of something bigger,” Cyn said, walking back over to the computer screens. “That’s what I came here to tell them. This man—” she pointed to the dossier of a figure on the screen, “—is a powerful vampire who represents a faction of supernaturals determined to end the HWB. His name is Kristoff.”

  “I knew there was more to it,” Max said, slipping his hand into mine. The fine fur he’d sprouted had morphed back into soft human skin. I held on tight, and swallowed hard. I clutched his hand, twining my fingers through his.

  His expression was grim. “It didn’t make sense, your mom and Rosencratz having this old fight about you, and Poseidon. I mean, that probably motivated her to conspire with the vampire faction, no doubt, but it’s got to run deeper than that.”

  “Right, Cat Man,” Shade remarked. “She’s being backed by someone who wants the HWB to fall in the worst way.” Shade’s usual white face turned a distinct color of vermillion. “Kristoff West is the vampire who turned me two hundred years ago.”

  That rat bastard. “Did you know this all along?”

  Shade crossed his hulking arms over his chest. “I knew something was up. Our intelligence agents in Europe gathered data on his faction of vampires, but we weren’t able to find the link until your sister came forward.”

  “So, it’s all been a lie, Fang Man? You’re using Sam to get to Rosencratz and her vampire?” Max asked, dropping my hand, and extending his razor-sharp claws. “What is this, some sort of vendetta gone wrong?”

  It had to be true. Why else would he agree to let Max shift? Encourage it, even? “That’s why you glossed over the mermaid assignment. Why you let me come home. To flush Rosencratz out to get to Kristoff?”

  “I never counted on her kidnapping Helmina. When this escalated, I included you—and Max—at the first sign of trouble.” Shade turned to Miss Daisy. “I thought he’d be your best bet at survival.”

  Penobscott filled us in on the rest of the story. “Kristoff has had it in for Shade because Shade left his house, and helped found the HWB. Since you’re his finest hunter, we assume he’s attempting to get at Shade through you.”

  “He turned me, then murdered my family.” Shade looked livid. “He’s not to be trifled with, Samantha.”

  I tapped my boot on the floor. “So why would Kristoff want to stop Mom and Miss Daisy from supplying shifters to the HWB?”

  Penobscott lifted a shoulder. “Classic warfare tactics. Interrupt supply lines of your finest agents, and you hurt the movement.”

  “So, what does this have to do with my mother?”

  “She simply got caught in the crossfire, Sam. Kristoff courted Rosencratz. When he found out she knew about Mom and Miss Daisy, and what they were doing for Shade, he exploited her hatred,” Cyn said.

  The bastard. I focused in on Kristoff’s face, and committed it to memory. If he hurt my mother, I’d hunt him to the ends of the universe to see that he paid. It would be a pleasure to introduce him to my Uncle Hades.

  “He’s dangerous, not only to Helmina, but to you too, Sam. To all of you,” Shade said. “You’ll have to trust me on this. Kristoff will kill every single one of you to get back at me for leaving his faction.” He gestured to the kittens who’d woken up, and popped their little heads out of Max’s coat pockets. They jumped to the floor, and gathered at Miss Daisy’s feet, and mewed. “I’m putting you and your entire brood in protective custody until Rosencratz and Kristoff are dealt with.”

  “Good.” Miss Daisy sat down cross-legged on the floor, and picked up the kittens, nuzzling each one of them in turn. She talked to them in her mama-cat voice, cooing at them, comforting them. Sebastian came over to investigate, licking their fur gently, and whining. The kittens meowed up at him, batting at his pointy taped ears. Miss Daisy looked up at Shade. “I need a room for the night, so I can shift back, and take care of these babies.”

  Rest, and a bed? That sounded so damn good right now, but I’d never really get any rest until we found Mom. “Who exactly are we dealing with here? Is Kristoff West the head honcho, or is there someone else we have to worry about too?” I had a feeling I didn’t want to know. When Penobscott raised a craggy finger, I turned my attention to him. “You have to tell me.”

  “As you well know, there’s always a faction of evil in the world who will not tolerate good. Kristoff West represents supernaturals who don’t want to be policed, the worst of the worst. They want to see the HWB fall.” Penobscott scrolled through several of the screens up on the wall, showing us paranormals who were a threat all over the globe, all claiming Kristoff as their leader. “Vampires who prey on humans. Werewolves who refuse to register with us, who terrorize humans in inner cities and rural areas where no one will help them. Fallen angels who prey on society. Witches who use magic for harm, rather than good.”

  I shivered. “Bad supernaturals.”

  “All the things that go bump in the night.” Penobscott gestured to the other commanders, then placed his fist over his heart, with three taps. “It was the very reason we all came together to protect the humans in the first place.”

  Everyone in the room mimicked Penobscott’s salute, the salute of the HWB. I put my hand over my heart, tapped my chest three times, and nodded in solidarity.

  “I’m glad everyone is united in their allegiance to the HWB, but you need to show Sam the rest of the story, Shade,” Cyn said, putting her fists on her hips. “You promised me you wouldn’t keep this from her.”

  Shade frowned, then walked to the crystal-clear glass monitors. He pulled up new files, and they jumped to life on the screens. “This is the enemy faction’s case files we pulled from the data Cyn supplied. These are their targets—and the reason I’m putting all of you into custody.”

  I walked over to the screens, my mouth hanging open, my chest threatening to close in on itself. Max’s photo sat front and center, at the top of Rosencratz’s list, both in his cat and his human form. One of the pictures showed us together, on our subway ride this afternoon. I winced. “Damn . . . they’ve had eyes on us the entire time.”

  Cyn’s photo was there too. A photo of me holding my trident, in my pink bathing suit, on Captain Tom’s Fish & Get ’Em.

  Miss Daisy, and her new litter of kittens, were there too, frolicking in the shade of the sugar maples back home. My mother relaxing in the hammock at the farmhouse. My entire family was targeted for extermination. “Wait,” I said. “These pictures were just taken.”

  “Today, Samantha. They’ve been tracking you since you got into the city,” Shade said, his voice grim. “I’m officially taking you off this mission until Rosencratz and Kristoff are apprehended.”

  Holy shit. Things just got real.

  Chapter 25

  Francesca

  FRANCESCA CHECKED the restraints on the cage that held Helmina in a locked room in her penthouse overlooking Central Park. When she was satisfied her nemesis wouldn’t escape, she turned to the monks. “Drug her with more of your elixir.”

  “It could kill her,” the lead monk said. “That would ruin your grand finale tonight.”

  “I don’t care. I can’t stand to listen to her whining for him any longer.” Helmina had started calling
for Poseidon once she got her back to the suite. Blah. Blah. Blah. Something about the full moon, and her lover, blah, blah, blah. She couldn’t care less at this point.

  Helmina would die tonight, and then Poseidon would have to live the rest of his days without her. How sad. . . . As far as Francesca was concerned, he could kiss her lily-white ass. She could hardly bear to hear the man’s name anymore, especially spoken from Helmina’s lips.

  “Perhaps your familiar could convince her to quiet down?” The monk pointed at her jade amulet.

  Francesca nodded. She touched her amulet and released her own familiar, Gesture. The dragon materialized from the amulet, and stared at her with pure adoration. “Come, love, I want you to stop her from crying for him.”

  The green dragon growled, then rattled Helmina’s cage with its claws. Helmina gasped when she saw the dragon, and curled into a ball in the corner. “If she makes another peep, I want you to tear open the goddamned cage and eat her alive.”

  Gesture whined his agreement.

  That shut her up. Finally, Francesca could get some peace. She locked the dragon in the room with Helmina, and strode into the great room of the suite.

  Four of the remaining monks had escorted her back to her penthouse so she could get ready for the next evening’s festivities. First, some sleep. Maybe a delicious meal. Then she’d have time to prepare for the Samhain festival of lights.

  A smile curved across her face when she thought of riding Gesture into Central Park, a triumphant entrance for all the underling witches to see her in all her glory.

  A knock sounded on the door, interrupting her plans. When she answered it, Kristoff rushed inside. His usual impeccable black Armani suit jacket was ripped, his eyes were wild, and blood stained his crisp white linen shirt.

  It startled her to see him so unkempt, and her stomach coiled into a tight knot of fear. “What happened to you?”

  He waved her off, and the expression of fury on his face frightened her. She followed Kristoff into the great room, and helped him take off his jacket.

  “He found you?” she asked, tearing open his shirt, and searching for injuries. Vampires could be mortally injured by silver, and a nasty gash near the center of his chest nearly took her breath away. She stared at his blood-covered hands. “Shade? He did this to you?”

  Kristoff grimaced. “He missed my heart by a fraction, love. Elven silver. It’ll take fresh blood to heal.”

  “Did you kill him?”

  He choked, and a nosebleed started. Wheezing, he grasped her head and dragged her to him. “Need. Blood. Now.”

  He tore at her neck, gulping furiously. Francesca yelped, and bucked to get away from him, but he held her down, on her knees, and fed from her like a savage. His mouth felt like a red-hot poker searing her neck.

  Terror washed through her. In his weakened state, the vampire couldn’t project the pretty images he wanted her to see, the way he’d done every other time.

  No, this time Francesca saw his blood whores, saw his weakness for multiple sexual partners, and witnessed his blood lust firsthand through his mind while he fed from her injured neck. The images paralyzed her with fear.

  Just before she passed out, he tossed her aside, onto the carpet. Her head hit the floor, and she thought she might lose consciousness, but for the first time, she saw him for what he really was.

  The monster’s mouth and chin were covered in her blood. And he wanted more.

  He moved across the apartment lightning-fast, his next victim the lead monk. As she lay there helpless and unable to move, Kristoff disabled the men who’d helped her, drained them, then cast their lifeless bodies aside. It was a bloodbath.

  Chapter 26

  Sam

  “PROTECTIVE CUSTODY can be a bitch,” I said to Max, as we finished our tasty room service meal of shrimp cocktail, toast with lobster bisque, and fresh tuna steaks with salty-sweet seaweed salad.

  I picked out the succulent morsels of lobster and hand-fed them to Max. He wasn’t too keen on the seaweed, so he fed his salad to me. How could something as innocent as sharing a meal be so erotic? We’d ordered drinks too, something sweet to take the edge off. White Russians. It was fun to watch Max drink. He got a little tipsy, really quick.

  The hotel suite was large and comfortable, modernly furnished with appointments like a wet bar, a hot tub, and fine Egyptian cotton linens. But Max’s presence made the walls close in on me.

  Max curled his lips into a grin. “We both need sleep. Today will be a long day. The Samhain Festival of Light starts at midnight, so that doesn’t leave us much time.”

  “You don’t have to do this.” I reached for his hand. “This is my mother, my mission, my problem.”

  He shook his head. “You don’t go anywhere without me.”

  There it was again, his protective nature, rearing up its ugly guardian head. Who was I kidding, though? I needed to protect him—not the other way around.

  Miss Daisy was right. He didn’t understand his magic, couldn’t control it yet, and while the partial shift had worn off, and now he was all human again, Rosencratz had put him high on her kill list.

  I held up my hand. “I’ll call my father . . .”

  “Yeah, because he’s always been there for you.” Max’s words were laced with an unspoken sarcasm, and a warning.

  “You’ve always been there for me, but—”

  “And I intend to continue with that course of action.”

  “She could take you,” I said. Tears pricked the back of my eyes. “Everything’s changed, Max.”

  “Some changes are for the best, love.” He grasped my arms with his warm, human hands. The only evidence of his half-shift was a scattering of soft ticklish whiskers on his upper lip. Even his ears were back to normal. He ran his face against mine. The back of his hand brushed my breast, plumping my nipple to hard, aching need. “Like how badly I want you now.”

  I sucked in a tight breath, his touch igniting a fire low and deep in my belly. “Max . . .?”

  Max

  SHE WAS SCARED, and Max intended to ease those fears. The distraction of loving her would do it, he was sure. He slipped his hand under her shirt, pushing away the fabric of her bra. Sam gasped with his touch, and the sound made his cock soar with sharp, raw need.

  He lifted her shirt out of the way, the bra next, and guided her back toward the giant king-sized bed. He pressed her back onto the mattress, and pounced.

  “Ah, this feels so damn good,” she said with a sigh when he latched his lips onto her right nipple, laving the plump rosebud with his tongue.

  He’d read tons of Sam’s spicy romance novels in his off time for reference. He’d studied up on how to please her his entire life. Now it was time to put that research into action.

  He popped the nipple out of his mouth, then turned his attention to its mate. Sam wove her fingers through his hair, pulling him closer, urging him to continue. She tugged on his shirt, and he turned so she could remove it. The sensation of her hands on his back, clawing him with her nails, sent shivers of desire across his skin.

  He moved his head up, searching for her lips. He kissed her slowly, deeply, thoroughly, completely. She lay back on the soft bed. His tongue tangled with hers, and he cupped her beautiful face with his hands. She was so precious to him, it nearly shattered him.

  He pulled away long enough to shed his boots and jeans, then hooked his fingers in the waistband of her pants. He pulled them down, tugging her pink panties with them until she was bare to him.

  Unlike the fevered rush of their first time together, now he stilled, and looked at her perfect body. Soft in the right places, toned and muscular in others. He stroked the back of his hand across her belly, and down to her thighs. “So beautiful. My Sam.”

  She stared up at him with a growing smile. His cock
jutted out, hard, and ready for her. She clasped her hand around the thickness. The pleasure of her touch consumed him, and he jerked forward. She had the power to choose anyone she wanted, yet she wanted him. Max spread her legs open with one hand, seeking her wetness, while she put her lips on the tip of his cock.

  His legs almost collapsed when she took him in her mouth. That was a sensation he wasn’t prepared for. She came up on her knees, and watched him from underneath her lashes. Her blue-eyed gaze locked him in a trance. He’d never be able to live without her now, and he knew it.

  His hands shook because the warmth of her mouth on the length of him shredded his control. “Ahh, gods, Sam, that feels so good.”

  She flicked her tongue against the tip, then used her hands to pump the base of his cock. He skimmed one hand around the soft globe of her ass, reaching lower until he found her nub. He stroked her, using her wetness to heighten her pleasure while she devoured him.

  She wiggled harder onto his hand, gasping for breaths. “Oh, hell yes,” she murmured, between her vigorous sucks and licks. None of his research had ever mentioned how exquisite the sensation of her lips on him could feel.

  The searing pleasure was blinding him, and Max threw his head back. She wasn’t easy with him. The harder she worked him, the closer to release he got. “Wait. Not like this. Not tonight.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  He pulled away, pivoted her body around, pressing her knees onto the bed. He pressed his hand in the center of her back, pushed her head down, exposing her to him. “Nothing’s wrong, sweetheart.”

  He wedged the thick tip of his cock against her slick entrance, spreading her open with his other hand. The blistering heat of her body nearly burned him alive.

  “Oh,” she said, understanding what he wanted.