by Nina Bangs
“Uh-huh.” He pulled into the driveway of a darkened house.
“One particular throat.”
“Let me guess. Utah’s.” He turned off the motor and sat in the sudden quiet just watching her.
“It’s weird. I understand the issues new vampires have, so I was extra careful. I made sure I wasn’t hungry when Zero brought me to the rose garden. I had everything under control.” She threw up her hands. “Then Utah came close. I guess what I felt was bloodlust because all I wanted to do was grab him and drink. There was no rational thought connected to it.”
Jude nodded. “Not unusual.”
“But I didn’t feel that way with anyone else. I stood and talked with Fin. Nothing.”
“Hmm.”
Lia dropped her voice to almost a whisper. “It wasn’t just the bloodlust. It was something else.” She took a deep breath. “I wanted to kill Utah. I wanted to freaking kill him.”
Chapter Thirteen
Fin drove everyone to his condo. Ty and Spin’s drivers picked them up and drove them back to their apartments. Utah went directly to his room. There was no sign of Kione.
The last two bothered Fin. Once Kione got rid of his curse, he’d have no real reason to stay. And they needed him. Not many beings had his power. Loyalty? Fin doubted that Kione would think twice about his promise to help track down Seven. With great age came great cynicism. Self-interest ruled the universe. He firmly believed that. Except for his men. He’d chosen them carefully. They had no hidden motives. Sometimes he hated himself for taking advantage of them.
And what about Utah? Ty and Al had found love and married. Love hadn’t been part of Fin’s long-range plans. He needed total commitment from his men. Love could divide their loyalties at a critical moment. But even he wasn’t enough of a bastard to deny them their happiness.
Now it seemed as though Utah was walking down the same path. Fin recognized the signs. Maybe there was still hope, though. Lia was vampire, and Utah might not be able to get past that. Too bad Fin didn’t have a close relationship with his men. He could tell Utah that love was a bitch who walked away from you when you needed her the most.
Fin waited only long enough to make sure no one would notice him leaving before heading back to his SUV. He didn’t need a vehicle to get where he was going, but he was tired. Driving took less energy. And he had to do this before morning.
Ty and Spin had pretty much torn up the International Rose Test Garden. It was a Portland landmark. Someone would notice. When strange things started happening, people began asking questions. Too many questions, and eventually, someone would come up with an answer.
Fin didn’t think about anything during the drive. He was never safe from Zero’s probing, so the best defense was a blank mind. Once there, he parked far enough away so that no one would connect the car with the rose garden and walked the rest of the way.
Too bad that someone had gotten there before him.
She knelt in the dirt surrounded by broken and crushed rosebushes. She might wear a stranger’s face, but he knew her soul. She looked up as he approached. Tears filled her eyes.
“They were so beautiful.” She cradled one perfect rose in the palms of her hands.
“This was not their time.”
“Of course it was their time. I gave them heat. I gave them everything they needed.”
“They bloomed out of season.”
She made a disgusted sound. “You never had any imagination.” Her gaze swept the ruined plants and beyond. “This city is too cold. My parting gift to Portland will be heat, lots and lots of heat.” She cast him a sideways glance. “And blood.”
“So you’ll force your vision on the land.” He crouched down across from her. “You were always impetuous and obstinate.”
She smiled, and for a moment the smile warmed something eternally cold inside him.
“And those were my good qualities.”
“Why are you here with him? You weren’t one of his the last time he visited Earth.”
She shrugged. “Nothing stays the same. Someone was lost to time. I took his place. I thought it was a worthy venture. Humans have misused the planet. Another species deserves a chance.”
He decided not to ask if the dinosaurs had misused the planet too. She’d had no part in that, and sarcasm wouldn’t gain him anything. “Do you believe the nonhuman population will do better?”
“I have no idea.” She placed the rose carefully on the ground. “Have you come to banish me from Earth?”
“No, that’s not my destiny.”
“You abandoned your destiny millions of years ago.”
Fin smiled. She never changed. “You were always so sure you knew what my future held. Unfortunately, you didn’t ask for my input.”
She cast him an exasperated look that took him back to so very long ago. Across the millions of years, he still remembered that exact expression. He’d missed it.
“You call us by numbers. I always knew that numbers would consume you one day. Be warned that I won’t answer to Seven. I’m Christine for the short time I’m here.” She scooped up some soil and let it run through her fingers. “I’ll miss the realness of this place.”
Fin stood. This conversation couldn’t lead to anything good. “I have to put everything back the way I found it.” He drew on his well of power, visualized what he wanted, and watched it manifest. Without the flowers. So easy to fix all the snapped and crushed plants, so hard to repair the broken parts of his own existence. “Leave this city, stop recruiting for Zero, and you’ll get to stay on Earth until the winter solstice.”
She smiled up at him. “I bet he hates you calling him Zero. And no, I don’t think I will leave this city, at least not until I’ve done what I came to do.”
Tight-lipped, he nodded and turned to walk away.
She called his name. The name he hadn’t heard for millions of years. He paused but didn’t turn around.
“Come back to me.” Her voice was soft with all that had been between them.
The need to turn around, to go back to her, almost won. Then he drew in a deep breath and closed his eyes. “That name belonged to someone from a long time ago. He’s gone. Forget it. Forget him.” And every word dug into his heart—the heart his men believed he didn’t have—and he bled.
She didn’t try to call him to her again. And when he paused to glance back once he was out of sight, he saw that the rosebushes were once again in bloom.
He should wait until she left and get rid of the roses. He didn’t. That was all he could ever give her. Fin walked away.
Maybe it was just his mood, but the drive back to the condo seemed extra long and dark. For a few minutes back in the garden, he hadn’t felt alone. He’d been with someone who knew him, understood a little of what he was.
His aloneness sometimes drove him crazy. But he could never share friendship with his men. No one could be allowed to get close because in a moment of weakness he might say too much. If his men ever found out what he was . . . No, friendship was out.
Fin parked the SUV and headed up to his condo. He found Lia waiting by the elevator in the lobby. She had a small cooler at her feet.
She glanced at the security guard. “He’s trying to make up for falling asleep on the job by being extra vigilant. He wouldn’t let me go up until you gave the okay.”
Fin nodded at the guard and followed her into the elevator. The door closed. He waited for her to break the silence.
“I promise I won’t leave holes in all your favorite dinosaurs.” She pointed to the cooler at her feet. “I brought my own liquid refreshment. A gift from Jude to celebrate the happy event.”
Fin smiled. “Speaking of the happy event, have you told your father?”
She frowned. “Yes. I called him while I was waiting for Jude to get the blood. He wasn’t happy about the circumstances. But I was able to convince him not to come here and try to hunt Christine down.”
“How did you do that?”
Lia didn’t m
eet his gaze. “I told him I’d be flying home tomorrow.”
Fin tried not to show his frustration. He was too tired for this crap. “I think we need to talk.”
The opening of the elevator door put a pause to the conversation. But once inside and seated in his office—if he sat on a couch he’d fall asleep—he got ready for a battle that he had to win.
“What made you decide to leave Portland?” Could he be wrong about her feelings for Utah?
“I don’t really think you need me to get rid of Christine. No matter what your vision showed, I bet you could do the same thing.” She kept her gaze fixed on his hands.
Fin was used to that, but it still got old. Just once, he’d like to yell, Look at me, damn it. But that would destroy his reputation as a cold, emotionless, and definitely inscrutable bastard. Besides, he sensed she wasn’t avoiding his gaze because he made her nervous. She probably didn’t want him to read anything in her eyes.
“Interesting ring. Any significance?”
Fin frowned. What did his ring have to do with anything?
He glanced down. “No. I just liked the design.”
She didn’t look as though his answer satisfied her, but she subsided.
“Would you like to tell me the truth now?”
Startled, she finally stared at him. “What do you mean?”
Fin just stared back. And if he allowed a little of his rage that always simmered right below the surface to show in his eyes, so much the better.
“Put the purple away. I’m not intimidated.” She sighed. “This is about two things. First, I can’t be Utah’s partner anymore. Whenever I get close to him, I want to sink my teeth into his throat. We’re not talking love bites here. And it’s just him. I don’t feel like biting you.”
“Interesting.” He steepled his fingers and studied her. “I could give you another partner.”
“I don’t want another partner. And I don’t want to hunt Christine. Get someone else to do it. And, yes, I sound like a whiny kid.” She got up as if to leave.
“Sit down.” He put a little compulsion into the command.
Lia sat back down, but she didn’t look happy about it.
“Did Zero say anything or do anything to you?”
She closed her eyes. “I woke up. He was there. He talked to me. I don’t remember what he said. I slept. When I woke up again, he slashed his wrist and made me drink. Then he brought me to the rose garden.” She opened her eyes. “That was it.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t starve trying to feed from the bloodless bastard.” Fin raked his fingers through his hair. He shouldn’t have said that.
Lia smiled for the first time. “Well, well, two snarky comments from the great Fin in one night. I like it.” She shook her head. “You know, there was something strange about his blood. As I was drinking, I got this crazy idea that the blood was almost a living thing. It was searching for a place to hide so it could wait . . . for something. I know, it doesn’t make sense. It was my first bloodlust, and things were all mixed up in my mind.”
“Zero is a powerful being. I’m not surprised his blood affected you.” Fin allowed himself a tight smile. “We’re all tired. Don’t make any final decision about going home until you’ve had a good day’s sleep.” He turned to glance at the lightening sky.
She followed his gaze. “I’ll miss the dawns.” Lia stood and walked to the door. “Sure you don’t want to walk me to my room, lock the door behind me?”
“Not necessary. You’ll be asleep as soon as your head hits the pillow. Don’t forget to make sure the curtains are drawn.”
“There are a lot of things I’ll have to get used to.” And then she was gone.
Fin sat for a while watching the dawn, and thinking. Lia’s reactions weren’t normal for her. She wouldn’t just give up on the search for Seven. It wasn’t in her nature. And there was no logical reason for her obsession with killing only Utah. Unless . . .
Zero. He’d have no trouble implanting a few suggestions and then taking away her memory of his doing it. He had no way of knowing how important she was, so he’d simply opted for prodding her into leaving the city. He’d probably pulled her interest in Utah from her mind and used it against her.
This presented a problem, though. Fin didn’t know if he could free her. Zero was too powerful. But whether he could or not, one thing was sure. He wouldn’t allow Lia to get on a plane back to Philadelphia. Her destiny was linked to Seven, whether she believed it or not.
Utah woke to the sound of someone pounding on his door. When it didn’t stop, he crawled from his bed and shuffled over to open it. This better mean the building was on fire. He’d tossed and turned until long after dawn. He got a little cranky when he was sleep deprived.
He flung open the door to find Tor grinning at him. His brother held a covered tray. Utah growled something before turning and shuffling to the nearest chair. He dropped into it and closed his eyes. “What?” He heard his brother settle into the chair across from him.
“Hey, you’ve slept like the dead all day. Oops, guess I misspoke. Nothing wrong with sleeping like the dead.” He scanned the room. “Lia isn’t around, is she?”
Utah muttered a string of his favorite curses and attached them to Tor’s name.
“You had to wake up sometime, so don’t get pissed at me.”
Utah opened one eye. “I’m deciding how to kill you.” He needed coffee to give him the strength to open the other eye. His gaze fell on the tray. Tor had uncovered it.
Utah opened the other eye. “Okay, you live.” He reached for the carafe of coffee. After pouring a cup, he leaned back in the chair. “Talk.”
“I’ve been watching the news this afternoon.”
“Yeah?” Was Lia up yet? Utah glanced at the clock. Almost sunset.
“Fin gave us a mental wake-up call this morning to fill everyone in on what happened last night. And according to local news, your rose garden isn’t the only thing that’s blooming.”
Utah was suddenly alert.
“Authorities are worried. Things are heating up in Portland. Almost overnight plants and trees are putting out leaves and flower buds. The ground is getting warmer.”
“She always brings the heat. That’s what Seir said about Seven. She’s crazy about growing things.” Utah thought for a moment. “And killing things. Any news about crime levels?”
“Yeah. Homicides are through the roof. The police aren’t giving any info about how all the victims died, but at least some of them looked as though large animals had mauled them.”
“Seven isn’t only drawing vampires to her. What we have is a nonhuman crime spree. And she’s cheering them on.” Utah put his coffee down and stood. “I don’t know what’s happening with the ground. Have you talked to Fin about this?”
“No. I came to your room as soon as I got here.” Tor picked up the remote from the coffee table. “Go get dressed. I’ll wait.”
Utah didn’t spend much time in the shower. His hair was still damp when he joined Tor. Together they went down to the dining room.
As he walked into the room, he had a fleeting impression of Ty, Kelly, Al, and Jenna at the table. No sign of Kione. Fin sat at the head of the table. But all Utah really saw was Lia.
Utah hesitated. It was a big table. He had lots of chairs to choose from. He took one step toward the chair next to Lia, and then he saw the panic in her eyes. She dropped her gaze to hide it, but she was a little too late. He wasn’t about to make her uncomfortable, so he sat between Kelly and Jenna.
Jenna clucked at him.
Utah stared at her. “Is there a reason for that?”
Kelly poked him with her elbow. “In her own subtle way, my sister is hinting that your backbone is a little rubbery.” She turned to her husband. “Speaking of poultry, did you know that scientists believe chickens are the descendants of the mighty T. rex?”
Ty looked outraged. “Chickens?”
“Cross my heart.” Kelly laughed.
“She doesn’t want me near her.”
Jenna shook her head. “Beautiful but clueless.”
Okay, he wasn’t going to sit here and take this abuse all through his meal. Utah stood and went around the table to sit next to Lia. Jenna’s laughter followed him.
Lia offered him a quick smile.
“Will you be all right with me sitting here?” He noticed that she leaned away from him.
She shrugged. “If I go for your neck, throw your glass of water on me. Fin blessed it right before he parted the Willamette River. It was spectacular.”
Utah smiled and tried to relax. “Do you still want to kill me?”
“Very much.”
“Then why don’t you ask me to move?”
Lia finally turned her head and met his gaze. “Because I want you near me more than I want to kill you.”
Utah forced back his instant surge of hope. Fate had a way of squashing him when his expectations bypassed reality. Besides, he hadn’t decided how he felt about her as vampire yet. Who’re you trying to kid? You still think about her all the time. You still want to make love to her. Looks as though her fangs haven’t slowed you down much. Self-knowledge was a bitch.
He decided to drop the subject as Greer put a plate of bacon, eggs, and sausage in front of him. Breakfast didn’t have a set time at Fin’s. Utah paused as he noticed the silence beside him. He glanced at Lia.
“No, don’t let me stop you from eating.” She kept her gaze on the food. “I just can’t believe I’m not hungry for any of that stuff.”
“Do you have blood here?” Utah decided he might as well say the B word.
Lia slid her gaze over his body until she reached his neck. “Sitting right next to me.” She must’ve sensed his startled horror because she laughed. “Lighten up, raptor. I’ve already fed. Jude supplied me with lots of blood. It’s in the fridge.”
Utah nodded and tried not to look relieved. Wasn’t much he could say to that. He glanced to where Tor had just finished talking to Fin. Probably filling him in on the latest news.