Jennifer Rardin [Jaz Parks series book 2] Another One Bites The Dust

by Jennifer Rardin

  “Is something wrong?” he asked.

  Maybe we should discuss the virtue of pajama shirts. Although it seemed almost sinful to cover that broad, muscular chest and that luscious flat belly.

  “Jasmine?”

  “Huh?”

  “Not that I mind, terribly, but why are you sitting in my bedroom?”

  I sighed. Ogling my boss’s pecs, while deeply pleasurable, did nothing for my inner morale. Not only was it just plain unprofessional, it wasn’t even wholehearted. Big sections of me still wanted nothing to do with any man. So why did my sex drive keep revving the engine? Stupid mindless radiator full of idiot hormones.

  “RVs are too small,” I said in hurried response to Vayl’s get-on-with-it jerk of the head. I explained about the medallion and my talk with Bergman. He nodded and began to collapse his sleeping tent. While I helped him, I filled him in on my recent conversation with Albert as well.

  Vayl slid the tent into its carrying case, sat back on the bed, and laced his fingers behind his head. “So what do we know about Samos?”

  “Not much,” I said, leaning against the wall, fighting the frustration that would only mar my thinking. “He’s an American-made vamp who came up through the ranks of a Vampere house-hold. Though how we found that out I’ll never know. The Trusts are traditionally impossible to penetrate.”

  A flickering in his eyes told me maybe I’d discovered our source. “Vayl? Were you ever Vampere?” After the words slipped out I wanted to cover my mouth. Apologize. It was the equivalent to asking a priest if he’d ever been a mule for the mob.

  His hands dropped to his lap. “Yes.”

  I waited for excuses, but he made none. So I threw one in. “I imagine you were very different back then.”

  “You would not have known me. You would not have wanted to.”

  “What . . . why did you get out?How did you get out? You and Samos are the only two vamps I’ve ever heard of who’ve managed that.”

  “As yoursverhamin I am bound to answer those questions, but I must ask you to take them back. It would be too dangerous for you to know.”

  Dangerous for you, or for me?I wondered. However, I simply nodded and went on with my Raptor review. “Samos seems to spend most of his time recruiting allies from the supernatural community. Though vampires usually shun allothers , seeing themselves as far superior even to vamps from other nests, Samos is known to have partnered with weres and witches, not to mention humans.”

  “So is he building is own army?” Vayl wondered.

  “It sure looks that way. With Pengfei and Lung as his allies, and this reaver in his pocket, he goes from America’s problem to a worldwide threat. Which makes it all the more imperative that we get that armor.”

  “Yes,” Vayl agreed. “And I believe we must find a way to eliminate the reaver, Desmond Yale.”

  CHAPTERTHIRTY-THREE

  As we entered the living room area, Vayl took the crossbow he would use off its perch on Mary-Kate. A sleek black model made from mahogany and stainless steel, heavy, but accurate, it had been Matt’s weapon of choice. And I’d carried it with me faithfully since his death. Now it held the bolt Bergman had modified to make sure it dropped its internal load once it penetrated Pengfei’s skin. I thought I’d be okay with Vayl pulling the trigger to Matt’s weapon as long as we got our outcome.

  Cassandra, Cole, and Bergman, still finishing supper at the table Bergman had finally been able to clear now that he’d finished his projects, kept snatching glances at the bow. I watched them, trying to fathom their thoughts. If I had to guess, I’d say Cassandra wondered if she could bear the visions that would arise in her mind if she touched it. Cole tried to see himself pulling the trigger. Bergman prayed the mechanism he’d designed to release the inner light would work before Pengfei had a chance to rip our guts out.

  Vayl cleared his throat, calling their attention to him. “I would like you three to move about the new tent they erected for us as if you were preparing for another show. We do not want anyone who might be watching to become concerned with our behavior.”

  Cole looked up, wanting badly to say something, but we both stared him down. “It sucks being the rookie,” he said.

  “I’m going to get changed,” I said.

  I went to the bedroom, pulled Pengfei’s dress off its hanger and yanked it down over my butt. With slits up both legs clear to the upper thigh, it left no hiding place for a leg holster. That was the downside. The upside—though it looked quite formal, it had been designed for ease of movement.

  The matching low-heeled slippers I’d found in Pengfei’s closet didn’t fit. Her feet were too narrow, making me feel like Cinderella’s stepsister. Cassandra owned a flashy pair that would work, as long as I didn’t mind nursing blisters on my heels for the next week. I did. So I went with my boots. Let people laugh. Next time Pete could just give me fair warning that I’d be costumed like a geisha at some point in my upcoming assignment.

  Vayl came in and sat quietly on the bed while I worked on my makeup. I could tell he had something on his mind. And the acid-laced squeegee in my stomach said it would be one of those hard-to-face issues. So I concentrated on the makeup and hoped he’d let me pretend we had nothing to discuss.

  The eyes were the tricky part. Pengfei laid it on thick and yet somehow made it out the door without resembling a prostitute. I managed a pretty good likeness and moved on to the accessories. Long black earrings. Braided wig over my tightly bound hair. The translator wires wound happily among the fake tresses. I took the necklace Cassandra had made off the dresser where I’d laid it when we’d come in.

  Vayl stirred, making the springs in the bed squeak in protest. I agreed with them. “I was waiting for you to mention it before, but you seem to be following your usual tactics of dodge and ignore so I will say it straight out. Last night, you slept,” he said. “I guarded you until dawn and you did not move a muscle.”

  I turned to look at him. Moved close enough for him to hear me speaking English. “No, I didn’t.”

  “I take it those troubles that spurred you to sleepwalk have settled themselves.”

  I nodded carefully. “I’m never sure with me,” I said. “But I think it’s done with.” I wanted to stop there. I tried. But a guy who sits with you for hours to make sure that your snoring doesn’t turn to shooting deserves something for his efforts. So I struggled to put what I’d learned about the dreams into words. “I’ve needed, wanted to move forward. But I haven’t been able to, knowing that meant I had to let Matt go. I think that’s why I kept dreaming of him as a vampire. Because he didn’t want to live on in that form any more than Jesse did. It would’ve been easier, in a way, to say goodbye to him if he had turned in the end.”

  Vayl nodded soberly. “It matters so much the way in which people leave us. Perhaps it should not. Dead is dead. But the why and how make such a difference to the survivors.”

  And I am one. David told me that. Evie’s words came back to me now too. “You can only cry so long before it doesn’t do you any more good.” I was done crying. The time to grieve had passed. Because I knew Matt would want me to be happy now. But I needed to make something clear to Vayl. “I’ll always love Matt. Things will sometimes remind me of him. And sometimes I’ll miss him. When I’m ready to commit to another guy, it won’t mean I love him any less because of that.”

  Vayl nodded. “I understand.”

  “But . . .” I cleared my throat, lowered my eyelashes, trying not to seem too eighteenth-century miss and blushing like a schoolgirl anyway. “I don’t, I still feel kinda”—I made a gagging sound that raised both of Vayl’s eyebrows as I continued—“when I think of relationships.”

  Again with the dimple.I have got to find a suitable sound effect to herald its arrival, it’s that rare. Do they make portable foghorns? Vayl said, “I am happy you have found a sense of peace. And perhaps, someday soon, you will meet a man who does not make you want to vomit?”

  I shrugged, trying
for nonchalant and utterly failing. “You never know.”

  “In the meantime, would you care to fill me in on the rest of your day’s agenda?”

  “Actually, it sucked. I had to kill Shao’s brother because he was possessed by a reaver. And now that I know what reavers are about, I’m almost certain Yale and Pengfei mean to disrupt the festival somehow.” I told him Jericho and his buds would be providing undercover security, for which I heaved an audible sigh of relief.

  Vayl said, “It sounds to me as if you need some fresh air. Shall we find ourselves a Chinese Dragon Lady?”

  “Yeah, but how? And if she’s with Lung—”

  “Which is likely—”

  “How do we separate them?”

  “If we are masters at anything, besides assassination, it is thinking on our feet. We will work it out when we have a situation to actually—how do you say—scope out.”

  “Okay. So. Finding her. That’s going to be a challenge. It’s a big city, Vayl.”

  “I think you have the ability to track her, Jasmine,” he said earnestly. “Remember how you found me in the parking lot of our hotel in Miami?”

  “Yeah, but you were within a few yards of me.”

  “That is true. But we must begin somewhere. And perhaps wearing Pengfei’s dress will help direct your Sensitivity even further. These are not just random ideas, you know. In the past, Sensitives have been documented as having the ability to hunt vampires.”

  “Do we have any idea where to start looking though?”

  “We can make an educated guess. We know Pengfei and Lung do not spend their daylight hours aboard theConstance Malloy . Which means someone must ferry them to shore. I suggest we find the boat that brought them to land last night and try to follow their trail from that point.”

  “Okay.” If I sounded less than enthusiastic it might’ve been because I thought it was a really far-fetched idea. Unfortunately I couldn’t come up with a better one, so we were stuck.

  Fully dressed, with the medallion tucked under my collar and the translator wire woven in and around my wig hair, I minced down the RV’s hallway. I’d spent what moments I could spare that afternoon watching Pengfei reruns on Bergman’s laptop, trying to master her mannerisms. I was doing my best, but something felt wrong.Probably just my underwear inching up my crack because the damn dress fits too tight .

  Cole had a great view from his perch in the driver’s seat. He whistled when he saw me. “Freaky!”

  “I agree,” said Cassandra. She had donned a new Psychics-R-Us costume and was helping Bergman pack the last bits of his modular lab away in plastic bins. That he had allowed anyone, much less her, to touch his sacred bits said that he’d taken my last lecture pretty seriously. I hoped this was a solid sign he didn’t want to grow up to be a big, skinny creep.

  He noticed me watching him and said, “Our benefactors sent over a sound system about an hour ago. As soon as we get done here we’ll go over there and set it up.” He left what he was doing to hand out mouth-mints and hearing aids. “We’ll be using the same communications system as when we set up video surveillance on the yacht. Transmitting wasn’t a big deal there because we were all so close. In this case it’ll be more of a challenge.”

  He gave Vayl and me the fake tattoos we’d used on our last mission. Mine was a dragon. Ironic, huh? Vayl’s was a line of barbed wire. They would allow us to transmit from much greater distances. Once Bergman had outfitted and tested us, Cole nudged Vayl to get his attention. “Are you sure you don’t need some help? I could carry your crossbow.” He glanced at the weapon, which Vayl lifted from its resting place as if it weighed nothing.

  “This is a job for two,” he said.

  “Okay”—sigh of disappointment—“call if you need me.”

  “I will need you,” I reminded him. “Don’t assume Pengfei’s going to speak to me in English. I’m gonna need a fast translation of whatever she says and it can’t be from some guy lurking in the bushes. You know what I mean? This has got to be done right.”

  Cole nodded, sitting a little straighter now that he understood the crucial nature of his role. “Gotcha.”

  “Do we still have Jericho’s card?” I asked Cassandra.

  “Yes.”

  “If something goes down, call him.” Cassandra dove into her purse. After unearthing three pairs of sunglasses, a tile sample, and a box of tampons that made Bergman literally leap for the door, she found it.

  “Good job,” said Cole as he took it from her and keyed the number into his phone.“Remind me to bring you on my next mining expedition.”

  “I need this stuff,” she said as she returned the items to their rightful places.

  I shook my head. I didn’t even own a purse. “We have to go.”

  They nodded. Cole held up his phone to indicate he’d be ready if it all went to crap.

  “Good luck,” said Cassandra.

  Outside we caught Bergman halfway to the tent. He glanced at the crossbow in Vayl’s hands, nodded at the bolt nesting in its position, ready to fire as soon as Vayl switched off the safety. “I hope it works.”

  “Don’t worry,” I said, patting the gun holstered under my armpit. “We have a backup plan.” Actually I could’ve patted other areas of my body as well, but then I’d have either looked like I was hunting for matches or feeling myself up. Either way, a lame way to communicate that I’d added some blades to the mix as well. Bergman nodded and moved on.

  Oddly enough, a Chinese woman wearing black boots and a large Rumanian man carrying a crossbow don’t draw a whole lot of attention at a large entertainment venue. We stayed off the path as much as possible, but in some places were forced to join the growing crowd as we made our way to the marina. The office was open and it only took two crisp twenties to discover the docking point for our vamps’ water taxi.

  They’d tied it close to the path. Vayl helped me climb in and my doubts mounted. We were wasting valuable time in this spotless vessel. Not one shred of Pengfei remained for me to detect.

  “Take your time,” suggested Vayl. “Try a few different seats. Maybe she has left a bit of herself behind.”

  She wouldn’t have driven, so I sat in the rear. Nope, nothing. But, hey, we were talking about Pengfei here. She wasn’t interested in backseats.

  I moved to the front.

  Nothing.

  With a mounting sense of unease I let my eyes roam the vessel, the dock, paths she might have taken from there. Hundreds, if not thousands, of lives could depend on me figuring out Pengfei’s location tonight and my Sensitivity hadn’t stirred since—

  “Hey, wait a minute.” I pointed to Vayl as if he’d done something wrong. “You’re not simmering.”

  “I . . .” He scanned down his body, as if debating whether he should check for BO or blisters. “Pardon me?”

  “I can’t feel your power. I can’t sense you at all. You’re like a big blank to me!” I got up, tight waves of fear rising and falling in my chest. I held out my right fist, shaking it at him. “I can’t feel the ring, either. Usually it’s warm on my finger, especially when you’re around. What the hell is happening to me?”

  Cassandra’s voice boomed in my ear: “Jasmine, listen to me.”

  “What?”

  “I think the magic of the medallion is squashing your Sensitivity. Take it off.”

  Easier said than done when it’s tucked inside a tight dress underneath a long wig intertwined with a translator wire. What a pain in the ass. Yet as soon as I’d shucked it, relief washed over me. Yup, the underwear had definitely wriggled out of the crack. I felt Vayl’s cold, controlled powers doing their usual slow roll. I could see better too, as if I’d been running around wearing sunglasses at night and just remembered to take them off.

  I slumped back in the seat, the medallion bunched in one hand, the other braced against the cushion. I hoped to maintain my balance if the boat went rocky, rocky. Instead it whispered, “Pengfei.” But not loud enough. I’d never be able to
follow that murmur of sound all the way to its source.

  I leaned over the side of the boat, stared into the water, knowing what I needed to do, wondering how to broach the subject. Vayl had resisted almost violently the first time, and he’d been in dire need then.

  “I feel like we’re running out of time,” I said as I gazed, almost mesmerized, into the tiny waves the boat’s movements made in the bay. I tore my eyes away from the water, thinking Vayl’s weren’t so different. Deep pools you could get lost in forever, if you wanted to.

  “What are you saying?”

  “I sense her, but it’s not enough. I need to heighten this ability. And I only know one way to do that.”

  His focus sharpened, narrowed to me. “You mean, you want me to take your blood.”

  Multiple intakes of breath as our crew reacted. I’d almost forgotten they could hear us.

  “Yes. And before we spend the next twenty minutes arguing the morality of the issue, why don’t you just admit I’m right, it’s a great idea, and we may save a lot of lives this way?”

  His presence, a constant hum at the back of my head, began to expand. It was as if my request had released some huge inner padlock, opened a creaky old door, and allowed him to fill with the true blood of his personality. For an instant I felt the full brunt of his power. It spun out of him like a tornado, sparking visions like lightning strikes. I saw the labyrinth of rage, pain, and violence he’d mastered on his way from his own downfall to my side. His strength and sense of purpose impressed me. I recognized his devotion to the job, his passion for justice. And the hope that he would someday meet his boys again, which gave everything else shape and direction. Gawd Almighty, if you could capture his essence in clay or oils you’d have yourself a masterpiece. And then, just as suddenly, he pulled it back. “All right,” he said, his voice husky with the bit he couldn’t quite suppress.

  “Wow,” I whispered, struggling to keep my head on straight. He had such a way of turning me sideways. Hadn’t that bothered me once? “That was faster than I figured.”