by Nina Bangs
Utah didn’t watch Kione leave. He studied Fin. “Are you okay?”
Fin nodded. “Thanks to both of you for pitching in. The pain was more than I expected.”
Lia shuddered, and Utah tightened his grip on her shoulders. He felt the exact moment when she gathered herself together, when she didn’t need him anymore. He dropped his arm, and found he regretted the loss.
“Well, that was an experience. Never want to repeat it.” She brushed a few strands of hair away from her face. “I have a few things to do in my room. Give a shout when you need me.”
How about now? Utah bit his bottom lip and concentrated on the pain. Sex wasn’t on the afternoon’s agenda.
Fin nodded.
She didn’t glance at Utah as she left the room. He watched the sway of her hips with unblinking intensity. His beast also watched. For once they were on the same page.
When he finally forced his thoughts away from Lia and into the moment, Utah realized Fin was watching him.
“I don’t give a damn about Adam’s rogue, but you have to keep him happy. So I think we can combine the search for the vampire with the one for Seven.”
“You’re going to follow up on Seir’s tip?”
“Yes.”
“You trust Seir?”
“No. But that doesn’t mean I can afford to ignore any leads, even from him.” Fin wrapped his fingers around his coffee cup. “The heat feels good. Pain is too damn cold.”
“I’m listening.”
“I looked up Burnside Bridge online. It’s right in the geographical center of Portland. A good jumping-off spot for any place in the city. Seven would be smart to headquarter near there. We know that Seven is recruiting nonhumans. I’d be willing to bet that a lot of the missing vampires are going to Seven and not to Adam’s rogue.” He turned to stare out the window, his reflection forming a silver halo framed by darkness.
Utah wasn’t into symbolism, but the reflection seemed somehow fitting. “So let’s hear your idea.”
Fin motioned him over to an open laptop sitting on a side table. “I pulled up records showing where the biggest recent spike in homicides has been. It’s probably a lot more than the police know because most of the bodies haven’t been found.” He pointed to a spot on the Google Map filling the screen. “There. Burnside Bridge. We’ll do a sweep and see how many vampires we catch in our net. And if we bag a few other entities, that’s fine too. Seven isn’t just recruiting vampires. And if we find Adam’s Chris, it’s icing on the cake. But information about Seven is our priority.”
“And how do we catch a lot at one time?”
Fin shut down the computer. “We provide bait.”
Utah raised one brow. “Bait?”
Fin’s smile flashed as he turned away. “Us.”
Chapter Seven
Lia couldn’t remember when she fell down the rabbit hole, but it must’ve been back at the condo when Utah said they were personally baiting the trap to catch some vampires.
All because Fin’s brother gave them a tip. The brother he didn’t trust because Fin didn’t trust anyone. It made perfect sense.
Now here she was, wedged into Fin’s SUV with Kione, Utah, Fin, Tor, Q, and Lio.
Were they crazy? She tapped Fin on the shoulder. “Do you really think any vampires will be stupid enough to attack you guys?”
“Yes.” Fin never took his eyes off the road. “I never underestimate the stupidity of others.”
She wasn’t sure if that was an insult to the intelligence of all vampires or just Fin being overconfident. “Adam won’t be too happy if you start messing with his guys.”
“I called Adam before we left the condo. I told him to keep the people he trusted away from the Burnside Bridge tonight.”
“And he went for your idea?”
Fin’s strange silver eyes gleamed at her in the mirror. “Adam is arrogant and vicious, but he’s not stupid. He saw the advantage of letting us take all the risks.”
Lia sat back in her seat. She watched the shapes of darkened buildings whiz by in the night. And thought about Utah. She might not be looking at him, but every sensitized inch of her body was aware of him seated next to her. When she turned her head, he was staring at her.
“I think you should stay in the SUV.” Utah’s expression said he was ready for her hit.
In the seat behind him, Tor chuckled. “Man, you have some kind of death wish.”
She took a deep calming breath. “I have my sword, my gun, and a lifetime spent studying how to fight vampires. I’ve survived other battles. I can handle this.”
“This won’t be about brains. It’ll be about speed and brute strength.” Utah looked frustrated. “I don’t think—”
“I don’t care what you think. I want to be part of this.” Need to be part of it. Just one more proving ground. For a moment, she wondered why she had to keep showing Katherine that she was worthy. Her dead mother didn’t care. But I care. Will always care. And in a flash of insight, she recognized her obsession for what it was. Bet she’d blow someone’s mind if she ever took this to a shrink.
Utah touched her arm, and she almost jumped out of her seat.
“A little nervous?” His grin was a flash of hotness that took her mind off her neuroses. “Just want you to know that I’ll be close by if you need me.”
Lia wanted to show him a hard, kickass face, but her lips kept quirking up. He’d walked into this one. “I’ll remember that. I mean, if I need you. For anything.” She looked at him from under her lashes.
His expression changed. Those blue eyes heated and he gripped his bottom lip between his teeth. Then he released it. She stared unblinking at the full wet sheen of it, imagined its taste as she slid the tip of her tongue across it. She raised her gaze to his.
He smiled. It was a slow, sensual peeling back of layer after layer of reasons that she should back off this man, leaving the bare truth exposed. She wanted him in her bed, in his bed, or on the floor, if that’s what kick-started him. She wanted him naked, stretched the length of her body, touching every inch of her with his bared flesh. And if they went up in flames, so be it. Extreme pleasure had its price.
“This is it.” Fin pulled into a darkened side street.
Thank you, God. Lia wouldn’t have lasted another city block.
She climbed out to find Utah by her side. They listened to Fin.
“We’ll spread out. But stay near the bridge. Try to look down and out, nonthreatening. We don’t want anyone sensing what we are until it’s too late for them to run. And remember, this is all about capturing not killing.” He glanced around him. “There’s a skateboarding park under the bridge, but no one should be there now. I’ll make sure no homeless are sleeping close by.”
Everyone had on dark clothes, even Fin. He wore a hoodie and had pulled the hood as far forward as he could. No one would notice his silver hair unless they got real close. And if they got that close, it was too late for them anyway. Lia shoved her hands in her coat pockets to warm them. The solid feel of her gun calmed her.
Kione hadn’t said a thing since leaving the condo. He’d put on a shirt, but still wore his cloak. “I don’t know how to look ‘nonthreatening.’ I choose not to pretend to be prey.” He faded into the night.
Fin didn’t seem upset by his departure.
Q glanced at the sky. He appeared eager to be gone. “Why did you decide to tag along tonight? We could’ve handled a bunch of vampires.”
Lia wasn’t sure of that. No matter how powerful they were in predator form, they were vulnerable as humans.
Fin scanned the darkness. “I’m here to keep humans away from the area. That means stopping bridge traffic. We don’t need witnesses.” He paused. “Besides, there’s always the chance that Seven will show.”
Lia spoke up. “But your vision—”
“My vision showed a possible solution. It wasn’t proof that Seven wouldn’t kick all your asses along the way. I don’t want to be ticking off names on my act
ive roster.”
“Got it.” She shifted her feet, anxious to be moving. It had started raining again.
They ghosted toward the bridge. How could large men move so silently? Lia had always thought she was quiet, but she was a rhino tap-dancing on a tin roof compared with these guys.
Somewhere along the way, Q freed his Quetzalcoatlus soul. He took to the sky on giant wings. The biggest flying animal that ever existed—she’d done her research—his shadow would have blocked out the moon if there’d been one.
When they reached the Willamette River, Lio disappeared. Liopleurodon. Even looking at an artist’s representation of the eighty-foot-long sea predator gave her chills.
That left Fin, Tor, Utah, and her. Fin took a moment to switch off all the lights in the area. Great. She loved the challenge of fighting blind.
Finally, Fin left too.
They were in the shadow of the bridge by now. No one spoke as they separated. Utah threw her a hard look that promised he’d be near and dared her to make a big deal out of it. She almost found his protectiveness endearing. Was she really that into him? Uh, yeah.
Lia settled down with her back to the wall of the skateboarding park. She rested her sword by her side and had her gun hidden in her lap. Then she tried to look nonthreatening.
It seemed like she’d waited forever. Again and again, she’d forced her mind away from thoughts of Utah. Distractions got you dead.
And just when she’d decided the night was a loss, they came. They glided out of the darkness, black on black, moving like shadows but so fast the human eye could barely follow their paths. Silent. Deadly.
But Lia had lived her life among them. She maintained her I-am-clueless-prey body language while reaching for her sword. She pointed it upward, ready to skewer the first vampire who saw her as a juicy treat. She moved her gun from her lap to her side. The safety was already off. Finally, she eased a syringe from her other pocket. The only time she needed it was when death wasn’t the desired outcome.
Lia had done this enough times to feel pretty confident. Vampires never expected their victims to fight back.
She didn’t worry overmuch about striking a killing blow, just one that would take her attacker down long enough for her to pump the industrial strength tranquilizer into his or her neck. Then let the questioning begin.
The vampires moved too fast for her to get an accurate count. Maybe a dozen. Too many. There’d have to be a freaking seventy-percent-off-all-humans sale to draw this kind of vampire interest.
A double-cross by Adam? No, he had nothing to gain. Who else would . . . ? Seir. Could be. There didn’t seem to be lots of brotherly love happening between Fin and him.
Lia gathered herself. She watched the vampires pause before reaching their supposed victims. They knew.
But the knowing didn’t help them. They thought they were a safe distance away. They weren’t. Utah and Tor exploded from their crouched positions, changing in mid-leap.
The vampires had numbers on their side, but they didn’t have the pure savagery and pack skills that Utah and Tor had. And no one must have told them that the Eleven in their animal forms were just about indestructible.
Lia searched for Utah, but she couldn’t tell which one was he in the darkness. She edged closer, always making sure her back was to a solid surface.
Death was dressed in basic black tonight, but it couldn’t have been any more gruesome if it were in high definition and living color.
The raptor nearer her leaped onto a vampire. Gripping his victim with razor-sharp teeth, he held the vampire in place with hooked claws. Then he shredded the vampire with his sicklelike toe claws. Quick, efficient, bloody.
The coppery scent wrapped around Lia at the same time as blood splattered her exposed hands and face. She wiped her face with the arm of her coat and kept creeping closer. This wasn’t the first time she’d been within splashing distance of death. It came with her life as Katherine’s daughter.
She did draw the line at watching the raptor rip the head from what remained of the vampire. Lia turned away . . . in time to see that at least one of the vampires had come armed with something other than his arrogance.
He’d pulled out a gun and was aiming it at the raptor. He wouldn’t score a kill, but he’d slow down his target. Lia didn’t hesitate. She raised her gun and fired. A head shot. The vampire’s scream was cut short as the second raptor removed said head from his shoulders.
The raptors drew the vampires from under the bridge to where Q could reach them. His screams echoed eerily over the water. The vampires weren’t prepared for an aerial assault.
One of the vampires evidently didn’t like how the battle was shaking out. He decided to swim home. The monster that rose from the river to take him sucked the breath from Lia’s body. It was one thing to read about Lio’s ferocity and eight-inch-long teeth, but it was something else entirely to see what he could do with one bite.
She cursed the darkness. Lia figured the raptor that stayed closer to her was Utah. She needed to see his human form within the predator to remind herself that this was really Utah, not a bad take from Jurassic Park.
Lia shifted her gaze long enough to wonder why none of the vampires had come for her. Hey, easy kill over here. And as if conjured from her thoughts, a dark shape raced toward her.
He never reached her. A raptor took him down right in front of Lia. She frowned. There was something she needed to remember. She did a quick scan of the area. Torn and decapitated vampires everywhere. These weren’t the powerful of the vampire world. Adam or Jude wouldn’t have gone down so easily. And now Utah or Tor was about to kill one of the last. Oh crap. Fin would be ticked if they didn’t keep at least one of these guys alive.
Raising her syringe, she leaped at the vampire. The raptor lowered its head and shoved her away. She sat down hard and rolled to avoid the bodies.
Still clutching the syringe, she watched the battle in unblinking horror. The vampire had managed to crawl onto the raptor’s back. He sank his fangs into Utah’s neck. And yes, she was sure after his head bump that it was Utah. Tor would probably have just mowed her down.
The vampire was hurting Utah. Now wasn’t the time for self-analysis, but she couldn’t stop her thoughts. Why didn’t she feel any kinship with the vampire? He was putting up a hell of a fight. He could be any one of her people from back in Philly. But his blood-smeared face and dripping fangs froze her inside. Was she looking at her future?
Lia switched her attention to Utah. He swung his head and gripped the vampire’s leg between those deadly teeth. She winced at the snap of breaking bone. The vampire screamed.
She knew what to expect once he dragged the vampire off his back. Lia had seen him do it with the last vampire. He’d claw out the vampire’s stomach, then rip his head off.
Glancing past Utah, she saw Tor methodically tearing apart the last vampire standing. The two raptors, Q, and Lio hadn’t accounted for all the carnage. Kione must be doing his part too.
She scooted back to avoid the spreading pool of blood. Damn. Everyone had gotten carried away. This would be a waste if they ended up with no one to question.
Lia forced herself to focus on Utah, the way he was now, with his soul in complete control. She’d bet even if the light was better she wouldn’t be able to see his human form within his beast. There was no human left in him, in any of them.
Take a good look. If she wanted the man, then she also had to accept this part of him. Could she? More to the point, should she want someone she’d have to walk away from in a short time?
Utah had finally dislodged the vampire. The last one. Clutching her syringe, she ran at the raptor again. There was only one way to do this. And she hoped to God that Utah was alive and aware inside the monster.
She waved her hand in the raptor’s face. Then without giving herself time to worry about whether he’d rip her apart to get to his victim, she leaned down and emptied the syringe into the dazed vampire’s neck.
> Lia felt the raptor’s hot breath on her neck and shuddered. She straightened and stared into the beast’s eyes. So much bloodlust. “Back the hell off, Utah. We need at least one of them alive to question.”
Since she wasn’t suicidal, she crept slowly backward, keeping her eyes fixed on the raptor.
So she didn’t see the woman who appeared beside her.
“You wanted to know why none of the vampires attacked you. Okay, one did, but he paid for not obeying instructions. I told everyone to ignore any humans and concentrate on the Eleven.”
“What?” Lia spun to face her.
“This was a costly raiding party. I arrived too late to save any of my people. But that’s an acceptable trade, because I’ll have you as well as one of the Eleven to take home.”
Lia had an impression of long dark hair and a pale face before she felt a light touch on her cheek, and then everything went black.
Utah’s beast forgot about the vampire at his feet. A woman was standing beside Lia. The woman touched her, and Lia just disappeared. He leaped for the bitch. She met his gaze and suddenly, he was flung back into human form. That didn’t slow him down, though.
But even Utah’s rage couldn’t keep Fin out of his head. “Back off. I’m coming.”
The hell with that. Nothing mattered but getting to the woman and making her return Lia.
“Utah. No!” Fin appeared about twenty feet away from him.
Utah didn’t listen. He reached the woman and grabbed for her. Instead of doing the expected and either running from him or attacking, she simply touched his hand.
Fin was the last thing Utah saw. His hood had fallen off and his silver hair whipped around his face. But his eyes weren’t fixed on Utah. He stared at the woman.
Utah carried the image of Fin’s shocked recognition into the darkness.
“Such a fierce and beautiful animal.”
The soft croon was accompanied by the cool slide of fingers along Utah’s jaw. Female. Unfamiliar. He lay still, absorbing the feel of his surroundings, the woman next to him. What the hell had happened? He reached for Fin with his mind. Nothing.