Heart of Ice

by Lisa Edmonds

  Beside me, Sean went still. Shifter magic rose and he stared at Barclay, his eyes going bright gold. Two vampire security guards appeared from behind the red curtain and watched the stare-down, ready to intervene if a fight broke out.

  Finally, Barclay turned away from us and left the salon with his enforcer. The security guards followed, apparently wanting to ensure that Barclay left the property without causing trouble.

  “Does Vaughan have a history with this guy?” Sean asked, his voice growly.

  “I think so,” I murmured. “Not sure what it is, but I’m pretty sure the hate is mutual.”

  With the drama over, a passing waiter offered me champagne. I took a glass to have something to do with my hands, but found myself drinking it as the minutes ticked by. The female vamp left with a long wooden box tucked under her arm. The other winning bidders left a few minutes after that with their purchases, and still there was no sign of Charles and Bryan.

  Nearly fifteen minutes after they’d disappeared behind the curtain, Charles and Bryan reappeared. Charles carried the wooden box that contained Esther’s cup and another I assumed held the vampire cuff, but there was no sign of the stone.

  The vampire gestured at the doors. “Shall we?”

  When we’d entered, Charles and I had gone first with our escorts behind us. On the way out, Sean walked in front of us and Bryan followed.

  When we reached the front doors, our limo waited with Adri at the wheel. It looked like we were the last to leave; no other vehicles remained in front of the mansion. A doorman opened the rear door and Charles offered me his hand as our escorts guarded us. As I settled myself into the seat, the vampire got in, followed by Sean and finally Bryan. Sean sat next to me and Bryan sat next to Charles.

  As soon as the door closed, Adri pulled away, gliding around the circular drive and accelerating smoothly down the long driveway toward the main road. Charles put the wooden boxes next to him on the seat. The cup’s magic teased my senses, reminding me that I’d failed my client, through no fault of my own.

  Before I could bring it up, Sean spoke, addressing Charles. “You want to tell us about this vamp from Seattle?”

  “Vincent Barclay is contemptible,” Charles replied, his voice cold. “He trafficks people throughout the region for sex, blood, and other purposes. It is known that his companions are not always willing. He is not welcome in this city, which he knows very well. He risks much to defy the Court in this way.”

  That settled things, as far as I was concerned. When I got home, I’d put in a call to Trent Lake about Vincent Barclay. “He came for the Tepes stone, that much was obvious. Speaking of which, where is the stone? Did you not bring it with you?”

  “I have it with me.” He looked out the window as the limo slowed, turned onto the main road, and accelerated.

  “Where are we headed?” Sean asked.

  “You asked where I am staying,” Charles said, his eyes on the scenery. “We are going to visit my temporary place of residence.”

  I started to object. Sean was tired after being up all night and only getting a few hours of sleep this afternoon. Plus, going to wherever Charles was staying seemed like a recipe for more of the same hostility that had made our ride out to the auction so tense. There was something in Charles’s tone that made me stay quiet, however. I couldn’t quite put a name to it, but he sounded almost…wistful?

  Sean covered my hand with his. Charles’s eyes flicked to our hands, then back to the window. I suppressed a smile. After spending most of the night needling Sean, he could hardly object to—

  The limo swerved sharply, throwing us violently against one another. Sean dove on top of me, knocking me flat as the others hit the floor next to us.

  A second vehicle plowed into ours, its engine roaring. Metal crunched, glass exploded, and the limo went sideways, the entire side caved in where Charles had been sitting a fraction of a second earlier. Sean curled around me, trying to shield me with his body as glass and broken pieces of the limo’s interior pelted us.

  The other vehicle’s momentum pushed our limo sideways, tires squealing, as Adri fought in vain to keep us from going off the road. At the edge of the pavement the car turned on its side and we fell in a pile against the undamaged side of the limo. The limo teetered for a heartbeat before the other vehicle pushed us over and we began to roll down the steep embankment.

  Seats, roof, floor, glass, grass, sky, and bodies whirled around me for what felt like an eternity as the limo rolled. Sean lost his grip on me when Bryan collided with us in midair. The four of us smashed into each other, our elbows, knees, and skulls battering each other’s bodies relentlessly.

  Through the broken window, I glimpsed the tree line approaching fast. If we’d been sliding down the hill I could have used my air or earth magic to slow or halt our movement, but since we were rolling there was little I could do but try to hang on to something.

  The second impact was only slightly less terrible than the first and our roll down the hill came to an abrupt halt when we hit the trees. Someone grabbed my arm, but not fast enough. My face smashed into something hard and then there was only darkness.

  11

  When I woke, at first all I could see, taste, and smell was blood. Judging by the traces of shifter and vamp I could sense, not all of it was mine, but I suspected most of it was. It bubbled from my lips, trickled from my nose, ran down my face.

  Disoriented and confused, I wiped the blood from my eyes. I recognized the effects of shock and possibly a mild concussion. My body ached like I’d been beaten up, which wasn’t far from the truth. The worst pain radiated from the middle of my back, where Bryan’s knee had hit me during the rollover, and I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to stand up or walk if I tried. My left arm ached. Someone had grabbed me just before we hit the trees and my shoulder felt like it had almost been wrenched from its socket.

  I managed to focus and discovered I was alone inside what remained of the limo, which was upside-down and smashed to hell.

  Charles? I asked. Even my mental voice sounded woozy.

  A pause, then a terse reply: Stay where you are. He cut our connection so abruptly that I winced.

  I couldn’t see what was going on outside, but I heard the distinctive sound of fighting. That meant Charles, Sean, and the enforcers were facing whoever—or whatever—had run us off the road, and they were having to fight hand-to-hand.

  I forced myself to move, crawling toward the opening where a door had either been torn off or kicked out. Broken glass cut into my hands and knees, but I ignored the pain and focused on finding out what the hell was going on and where Sean was.

  Finally, I emerged from the wrecked limo and tried to figure out what I was seeing.

  To my left, Charles appeared to be fighting two other vampires. No wonder he’d blocked me out so he could concentrate; they moved so fast that all I saw was a blur. I couldn’t tell who he was fighting or if I recognized them, but he appeared to be holding his own.

  Meanwhile, Bryan and Adri, both bloody from the crash, battled two black-clad men who, based on their size and speed, appeared to be enforcers. They moved almost as fast as the vampires. One of them was bigger than Bryan, and I suspected I knew who had attacked us.

  As I watched, Adri knocked her opponent down. He flipped back to his feet, a blade in his hand. In a blur of movement, she kicked the blade away and met his charge with a boot to the face. He went back down, dazed.

  I heard a growl and turned to my right.

  Sean, in wolf form, his fur standing up, ears back, and teeth bared, stood between me and a third vampire. I pushed bloody hair out of my eyes and looked up.

  “Alice, my dear,” Vincent Barclay said, his eyes silver. He looked me over and made a tsk sound. “Look at all that wasted blood. Such a shame.”

  I pulled myself to my feet, unwilling to face him on my hands and knees, no matter how much it hurt to stand up.

  Barclay smiled, revealing his fangs. “Yes, do stand, l
ove. No need to crawl to me. Not yet, anyway.”

  Sean snarled and snapped his teeth. On my left, one of the vampires went down and didn’t get back up. Yay, Charles.

  Barclay didn’t bother to check on his fallen buddy. “What a lovely woman you are. I can’t decide if I want to keep you for myself or see how much you might be worth on the open market. How much are you worth, Alice Worth?” He chuckled.

  “Not funny,” I muttered.

  He tilted his head. “What did you say?”

  I raised my head, my hands tingling with spooled magic, and met his glowing eyes with my own. “I said, that’s not funny.”

  He came for me, vamp-fast. Sean met him in midair with a vicious snarl, his teeth sinking into the vampire’s throat, and the fight was on. Sean was a blur of teeth and claws. While Barclay got in a few hits, the wolf was tearing him apart. Blood sprayed across the grass and it wasn’t Sean’s.

  A strange pulse of magic from my left made me glance over just in time to see Charles pinning the second vamp to the ground, his palm against the other vamp’s chest. A tendril of dark magic was coiled around Charles’s arm. As I watched, the vamp on the ground convulsed, his back arching as a wave of energy ran up Charles’s arm and disappeared. The vamp went still and Charles smiled, his eyes shining silver.

  Before I could figure out what that was about, Barclay tore free of Sean’s teeth and came after me.

  The vamp’s momentum drove me back into the side of the limo so hard that it knocked the wind out of me. Barclay’s mouth was open, fangs extended, as he went for my throat.

  I wrapped my hands around his torn neck and sliced through it with my spooled blood magic just as Sean hit him from the side. Barclay’s head went one way and his body went another. Cool vampire blood fountained across my face and down the front of my dress.

  Barclay’s head rolled and came to a stop next to my bare foot, his face frozen in an expression of shock.

  Sean stood over him and snarled as the Seattle vamp’s body and head turned to ash. A frisson of cold gray vamp magic tingled on my skin and faded as Barclay died.

  “Alice.”

  I wiped blood out of my eyes and looked up at the sound of Charles’s voice. He, Bryan, and Adri were bloody but in better shape than I was. Barclay’s enforcers were either unconscious or dead. The other two vamps were still down and not moving.

  The wind sent some of the ash swirling into the air and it stuck to my bloody dress. “Am I going to be in trouble for this?” I asked Charles, gesturing at what was left of Barclay.

  “He stated his intention to kill us and take you and the Tepes stone,” he said. “There will be a hearing before the Court, but I have no doubt your actions will be deemed justified.”

  “That’s good to hear.” I leaned back against the limo. The shock was beginning to wear off and I was acutely aware that I was hurting all over, except the parts that were numb.

  Three black SUVs screeched to a stop up on the road next to the mangled stretch Hummer that had smashed our limo. Black-clad Vamp Court enforcers spilled out and rushed down the embankment.

  Charles’s people cleaned up Barclay’s remains and loaded the unconscious vamps and enforcers into the SUVs. I crouched to burn my blood and ended up sitting against the side of the wrecked limo, unable to rise because my back had become a giant knot of pain. I pulled a few shards of glass from my knees and palms that looked like what was left of the highball glasses from the limo’s minibar.

  Charles tried to approach me. Sean moved between us and gave him a warning growl. “I mean her no harm, wolf,” the vampire said.

  Another growl, this time with more teeth.

  “I’m all right,” I said. “He’s on edge because of Kent Stevens. You’d best give him some space and go see if you can find the stuff you bought at the auction somewhere in this wreck.”

  You are injured and require healing, Charles said in my head, annoyed. This is no time for such behavior.

  He’s just protecting me. Get Barclay’s cronies out of here and he’ll shift back. I hoped so, anyway.

  Sure enough, as soon as two of the SUVs left with the prisoners, Sean shifted back to human. I knew I was in bad shape when the sight of him naked failed to elicit the usual response from me.

  He crouched and touched my face. “How badly are you hurt?”

  I thought about that. “Pretty badly.” I lowered my voice. “I can’t stand up.”

  He scooped me up and headed for the road, where two more SUVs had arrived with reinforcements. I spotted one of my missing shoes halfway up the hill, where it had apparently fallen out of the limo during our roll down the embankment.

  “Why didn’t you stay in the limo?” he asked as he carried me.

  I rested my head against his chest. “Would you have stayed put if it was me facing some unknown attacker?”

  “No,” he said automatically.

  “Well, there’s your answer.”

  He kissed me then, vampire blood and ash and all.

  The bathroom door opened and closed. Familiar footsteps crossed the tile floor. “Aren’t you clean yet?”

  I didn’t open my eyes as Sean came to sit on the side of the gigantic tub where I’d been soaking for a very long time. “Don’t rush me,” I murmured, sliding a little farther down under the bubbles. “This tub is amazing.” Not to mention the hot water and massage jets did wonders for my battered body.

  He brushed hair back from my face, careful to avoid tender bruised areas. “How do you feel?”

  “Sore.” Which was the understatement of the year.

  It turned out Charles was staying with Niara of the Vampire Court. As soon as we arrived at her home, a human physician examined me and determined I had no broken bones and had not been concussed. I did, however, have dozens of cuts and bruises, and my back hurt like I’d been kicked by a mule. The doctor removed shards of glass from my arms, legs, and hands and cleaned the wounds with what I could only assume was battery acid.

  I’d refused both Charles’s and Niara’s offers of blood in favor of a mid-range air magic healing spell, which had helped but not healed me completely. My decision had angered Charles and left Sean conflicted. He didn’t like seeing me hurting, but he didn’t want me drinking from Charles again any more than I did.

  Sean stayed at my side until I’d showered and climbed into the tub for an extended soak. He finally agreed to go shower and put on clothes when Bryan promised to guard the door.

  He leaned down and kissed me. “If Malcolm were here, he would be able to heal your injuries.”

  “When I get home, I’ll use a stronger healing spell and then I’ll be fine.” I opened my eyes and stared. “That’s what they gave you to wear?”

  He grinned down at me. “I always thought the enforcer look was unimaginative.” He inhaled deeply and his eyes turned golden. “But if me wearing all black gets you this turned on, I might make this my standard attire when I’m not at work.”

  “There’s no way you can smell anything from me over this bubble bath,” I retorted, raising my hand and blowing some frothy bubbles in his direction. “Niara’s housekeeper poured half a bottle of the stuff into the tub. It smells like a florist shop in here.”

  “It does,” he agreed. “But I’d know your scent anywhere.”

  I pulled him down again for another kiss. When we broke apart, he reached for a towel, draped it over his knees, and gently lifted me out of the tub. I sat on his lap as he dried me carefully. Then he kissed me thoroughly enough to make me wish we were at home instead of a bathroom in Niara’s house with Bryan standing outside the door. I was sitting on ample evidence that Sean agreed.

  Finally, he nudged me off his lap. “Get dressed and let’s find out why Vaughan brought us here.”

  “And what the hell that stone is.” I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and winced. I was covered in bruises and half-healed cuts that stood out as angry red lines all over my skin. A knot on my forehead marked where I’d
been knocked out, and my right knee had gotten twisted in the rollover and was now painful and stiff.

  Sean made a growly sound and gently put his hand on my bruised back. “You’ll finish healing yourself when we get home.”

  “I will,” I promised. “Believe me, I have no desire to go around any longer than I have to feeling like a three-hundred-pound enforcer kicked me in the back. I’m almost afraid to ask, but what clothes did Charles give you for me?”

  He gestured at a stack of folded clothes on the counter. “These are from Niara, actually.”

  The clothes turned out to be a pretty, sleeveless purple top that left my midriff bare and a colorful, multi-layered ankle-length wrap skirt.

  Sean raised his eyebrows at the sheer black bra and matching skimpy undies, both of which fit too well to be coincidence. “Anything I should know about this?” he asked, gesturing at my sexy lingerie.

  I hesitated.

  His eyebrows went higher. “Really. And here I thought Vaughan was the only member of the Court I had to keep an eye on.”

  “No need to worry. I made it clear I wasn’t interested,” I told him as I tied the skirt around my hips. I pulled the top on over my head and stepped into a pair of sandals.

  “And vampires are always so respectful of boundaries when it comes to these things,” he said dryly. “As evidenced by that very lovely lingerie, which she must have had on hand and which I look forward to taking off later.”

  I started combing through my wet hair. “Speaking of which, I’m sorry your clothes were ruined in the wreck and then finished off when you shifted. I wanted to take that tux off of you myself.”

  “I know.” He kissed me. “You’ll have to settle for taking off this enforcer uniform, I guess.”

  I looked him over and decided I could make do with that.

  When we emerged from the bathroom, Bryan was waiting on us. We followed the enforcer through a maze of hallways and out onto the back patio, where Charles and Niara waited.