His eyes twinkled in the dim light, teasing her in a way only Quinn had ever done and never with such effect on her stomach. He actually made it flutter for a second ... or was that the gag reflex still working from her height fright?
"Evil? Interesting name. You sound like my kind of woman."
She rolled her eyes. "E-vahl. Not evil ... unless the situation calls for it."
He laughed a warm, rich sound that resonated from deep inside his body. "Nice meeting you, E-valle." His tone deepened, as if he savored the cadence of her name on his tongue. "Guess you can take care of yourself." He lifted her fingers before she could stop him and kissed her scraped knuckles. "I always say beauty is best when it comes mixed with danger."
This time there was no mistaking her attraction to him. Oh, yeah, I'm definitely high on demon fumes. She pulled her hand away. "On that note, General Bison, I really need to go before I turn into a pumpkin."
He inclined his head to her. "Head out. I'm right behind you."
She wanted desperately to argue with him about following her down through the building. He had a team out there, and for all she knew, one of them might tail her back. And that she couldn't have. She needed to find Tzader or Grady before daylight, someone who could help her figure out what was going on.
She glanced over her shoulder to find Isak had his monocular back in place. He'd have no problem following her down this dark hole.
On the ground floor, she paused at the door and cautiously cracked it open to make sure no one was there. The reception area was on her right, two long strides away. Bright blue lights flashed through windows that faced the street, letting her know that even more police had been called.
What? Had they found drugs in the building? Surely her little demon pile hadn't caused all that.
Evalle turned to Isak, who was touching his ear where a wire curled from his earbud and down the back of his shirt.
He lifted his hand and pressed the tiny throat mic. "Everyone clear?"
So he hadn't been kidding about his team. Just what had she walked into? And how much of her interaction with Isak had they been privy to?
She didn't like being spied upon.
Isak held up a finger, silently asking her to sit tight as he rattled off his location to whoever was on the other side of that system. "Report on all perimeters." He paused again, nodding. "Affirmative. Need a diversion on the west side. Target located and neutralized, but doesn't matter. We know the source. DHQ located. Mission accomplished."
Evalle scowled. DHQ? What the devil was that? Demon headquarters?
Was it possible that Isak might actually know where the Birrn had come from and what it was doing in Atlanta?
More to the point, did he know anything about Alterants and why the Birrn had been seeking her?
He turned to her. "You set?"
She gestured to his mic. "Can they hear us?"
"No. The mic sensor only picks up my vocal cord vibrations." A slow smile curved his lips. "What you got in mind?"
She didn't trust him one bit, but he was the closest thing to a lead she had since he'd turned her demon into roadkill. "You have a card or a number?"
Interest glowed in his gaze. "Not one I can share, sugar. You got a phone number?"
Yeah, right ... "Don't normally give my digits out to demon-blasting strangers who call me 'sugar.'"
He laughed. "Tell you what. I've got to pick up something, then I'm free for a bit. Want to meet somewhere in a half hour?"
She had maybe an hour before daylight, and then her activity would be severely limited. She could ride in daylight, but it had to be fast and furious in full gear that would boil her in this heat. Which meant meeting close to her home. "You familiar with downtown?"
He gave her a droll stare. "No, the demons only hunt in the burbs."
She ignored his sarcasm. "Meet me at the Varsity. I'll be in the drive-in on my bike." Yeah, it would be open to daylight, but she didn't plan to stay long enough to get caught. The Varsity was two minutes from her apartment, and she'd stay on her bike. And it was a public place.
If he tried anything, she could be outta there in an instant.
"See you there ..." He gave her an evil grin. "Sugar."
Evalle let it go as she prepared to head out.
She was sure she'd catch grief from Tzader for not calling him in to meet this guy, but she didn't know how Isak would react to someone showing up unannounced. And there was no way she could miss this chance. Besides, she hadn't heard a word from Tzader. Which probably meant he was having trouble with his informant, and bugging him in the middle of that was not the smartest thing to do.
While he loved her like a sister, she didn't want to test the limits of his adoration by making him strangle her.
Not to mention she wouldn't mind seeing Isak again. It was, after all, only natural for her to be curious about a new player in town. She had a duty as a VIPER agent to find out who Isak and his people were.
Nothing more.
She cast a look back at his massive form that filled out the black ops garb nicely. Better than nicely. Her heart quickened.
Seeing him again was only work-related ...
Evalle drew a long, easy breath and worked to accept that along with the inevitable. Isak considered nonhumans the enemy, and she didn't encourage male attention.
Ever.
Don't start now.
True to his alpha DNA, Isak took charge. "Here's the plan. In sixty secs, my people will draw the police's attention. I wave you out, you go right. Once you're clear, I go."
She normally bristled under any authority, but she'd let him have his way since she had to make the most of every minute between now and daylight. "Works for me."
He started past her, then paused and swung around. His fingers wrapped around her upper arm in a firm, but nonthreatening, way.
Her muscles clenched with the need to lash out, but hitting someone who was trying to help her wasn't a normal response. She might even hurt him if she didn't keep her power in check.
His fingers slid off her arm, erasing her irrational sense of threat. "Thirty minutes. The Varsity ... or else."
Or else what?
She would've asked, but time was ticking and she needed to get out of here.
Turning away, he went to the door and held an electronic device up to the security panel. He waited for the lights to turn off before he opened the door an inch and peered out.
She stared at his back, glued to the spot. Her skin still felt embossed where he'd touched her. No man had ever left her breathless before. Not even the ripped warrior gods at VIPER who were as daunting as a fully loaded tank ...
And Isak was only human.
Then again ... She swept a look down his shapely backside.
Most women would call that a god.
And in all honesty, he did make her wish she could break through the scars of her past and feel normal--like any other woman around an attractive man.
But that had been cruelly ripped from her, and she didn't know if she'd ever be able to overcome it.
Sometimes dead wasn't dead enough ...
Isak gave her the high sign. It was time. She took a deep breath and moved forward.
Racing past him, she gave a quick glance at the cops on her left who'd gathered around the electric gate with their backs to her. She took off fast in the opposite direction.
She didn't stop until she was out of sight. Stepping into a dark alcove, she peered over her shoulder in time to see Isak walk across the street with a deceptively nonchalant pace and dissolve into the shadows like he owned them.
Who was that guy?
She shook her head. Now was not the time to contemplate him, his hotness or his bizarre quirks.
She took a convoluted trek back to her bike since Atlanta's finest stood between her and the most direct route. The detour cost her ten of her thirty minutes.
That was all right though.
The Varsity was an easy eleven-minute ride. She could ha
ve made it in eight, provided a state trooper wasn't running radar.
But why take the chance for only three minutes?
Just as she reached for her helmet, her cell phone vibrated with a text message. She fished her phone out of her jacket pocket and read the message:
Red-V-2.
That was code for "your butt needs to be at VIPER HQ in two hours, not one minute late."
The only excuse Sen would accept for running late was death. And even then he'd want blood.
He'd probably write her up for it, too. After all, death was no excuse for dereliction of duty.
But there was one slight problem with his order. VIPER's HQ was two hours north of Atlanta. If she left immediately, she'd barely make it in time.
Of course ... she'd also be riding in full daylight.
Isak would be at the Varsity to talk about his Birrn hunting, and he didn't strike her as the kind of guy who'd handle being stood up real well.
So that left only one question. Which one of them could she least afford to severely piss off?
FOUR
"Where's the Alterant?"
Tzader didn't care for the way Sen always referred to Evalle as "the Alterant," as if she was a tumor on his ass and not one of their most valuable assets. He gave the man his best eat-shit-and-die glare.
It didn't faze VIPER's head ballbuster one bit.
So Tzader tried a little more tact to soothe Sen's trauma. "She'll be here."
"By 0700? The others are already in the war room. We don't have time to wait on a mongrel."
Tzader had to ride herd on his tongue, which really wanted to put Sen in his place. Tzader didn't like him on his best day.
And this definitely wasn't one of those.
It seriously griped him that Sen couldn't give Evalle her due. She was twice the agent of many of them, yet Sen continued to pick at her like some inept newbie fresh on their force.
However, punching the arrogant prick in his face wouldn't accomplish much, so Tzader changed the topic away from Evalle. "Why are we here, anyway?" If VIPER had caught wind of the Cresyl attack, Tzader was sure he'd have been contacted by Brina herself. And Sen would have teleported Evalle up here immediately. If for no other reason than Sen knew she hated teleporting.
Worthless pig.
Sen gave him a snide once-over. "If you want to hear about the mission this morning, stay. Otherwise have Trey brief you and Quinn later. I refuse to waste breath going over details twice." He checked his watch. "The Alterant has sixteen minutes to arrive."
"You sure old Mickey there isn't fast?" Tzader shouldn't have bothered. Sarcasm was usually lost on imbeciles.
With one last parting sneer, Sen teleported to the war room, leaving Tzader alone in the sterile hallway. Sighing, he stared at the dull stone corridor that went on for what appeared to be forever. Hallways like this one formed an intricate spiderweb through their isolated haven set beneath the North Georgia Mountains. This was a safe zone for all preternatural beings, since almost no one could use majik or powers here.
No one except Sen, who, as a rule, was as surly as a hungover Hells Angel left naked in the desert. Sen didn't hide the fact that he considered his position with VIPER on par with mucking out pigsties. Something that made Tzader wonder why the first Tribunal had chosen Sen to mediate between them and their VIPER agents.
Or better yet, who Sen had pissed off to rate this assignment. Whoever it'd been, they had to be extremely powerful to stick Sen with this gig against his will.
And there wasn't much mediating involved when it came to Sen; just hard-nosed enforcement.
He ran VIPER according to only one set of rules ...
His.
Of all the wizards, shape-shifters, Beladors, empaths, witches, centaurs and a list of other beings that made up the VIPER international coalition, no one but the gods and goddesses knew what Sen was or where he came from.
Tzader's bet was the lowest bowels of hell, but that was just his opinion.
That lack of knowledge kept agents on edge around Sen. You couldn't even look at him and tell his genetic origins. He was like an amalgam of all races. Almond-shaped blue eyes, mahogany brown hair and possibly Nordic bone structure.
As the Belador Maistir, Tzader commanded the North American contingency, answering only to Brina and Macha. He considered Sen a peer at best, regardless of Sen's position in VIPER. He didn't care why Sen was stuck in this role or how much he hated it as long as Sen didn't treat any Belador--including Evalle--unfairly.
Which meant Tzader had his work cut out for him most days.
Working his way through the tunnels, Tzader reached the checkpoint at the entrance to the cave where Jake, their resident troll, stood guard. At five feet tall, the repulsive troll might look unimpressive, but he was a dangerous beast. A ragged, unkempt beard covered the entire lower half of his face.
Tzader paused upwind from him--something everyone with a brain did. "Anyone call for clearance recently?"
Jake held one side of his headphones against his ear as he shook his square head, disturbing the shaggy gray-brown hair that'd been shaped into an unattractive bowl cut. "Got one call a minute ago, but it didn't come through ... broke up."
A bad feeling went through Tzader. The troll was always screwing with Evalle. Jake used a facade of incompetence to cover a mean streak so wide the other trolls swam in it. But Tzader wasn't fooled.
Jake was out to get Evalle as much as Sen was. "Thought you had the comm unit fixed."
Jake wiped at his nose. "I did, I thought. I mean, it worked fine when everyone else came in this morning, but something isn't syncing now. The new hydraulic door got stuck a few minutes ago, so I closed it. I can't do anything about the audio breaking up until I get the door to function properly. Sucks really." Jake lifted a slim voice recorder to his lips and made a couple of notes, then fumbled with the digital settings and the keypad on a black electronic box supported by his enormous gut. "Wouldn't have this problem if Sen would trust me to use my powers. What's he afraid of? I'll fart and take out his office?"
Uh, yeah, that was the concern. "Didn't you once use your powers to conjure a pen and instead took out the entire northeast corridor?"
Jake bared his teeth, looking more like a hairy hog posing for a family picture than a dangerous troll from his native Jotunheim. "I can control them, I--" He stopped and angled his head to listen, then frowned.
If he was screwing with Evalle again, Tzader was going to eat troll balls for breakfast. "Put it on speaker."
"Calm down." Jake hit a button on his little box.
A female voice came through the static intermittently. "VIPER 66--" The next part skipped, then Tzader heard, "--caid."
"Call sign not clear," Jake responded in a voice washed with boredom. "Repeat--"
There was no mistaking who it was anymore when Evalle's fury-ridden voice yelled, "Open the wall ... now!"
Tzader saw red. "Cut the shit, Jake. That's Evalle and you know it." And she was in mortal danger. The longer she was out there, baking in the sun, the closer to death she came. "Open the door, Jake."
Jake's eyes turned completely black. "It's jammed again. I can't."
Tzader felt his knives rattling against his thighs as his fury mounted. The bastard could have kept the door open long enough for Evalle to get inside out of the sun. "Open the damn door!"
"I. Can't!" Jake roared. "Why don't you use your powers and open it?"
For the same reason Jake couldn't.
No one was allowed to use powers here ... except Sen.
"Get down here, Sen!" Tzader shouted, sending his voice straight into the bastard's head. "Kincaid is coming in hot and the door's jammed tight. If we don't get it open, we're going to be scraping her off your new door." Or worse, scraping her boiled ooze off the pavement.
Sen appeared at Tzader's side and lifted his hand, flexing his fingers at the entrance forty feet away.
Rock disintegrated.
The whine of a high-
powered engine screamed ahead of the motorcycle that pierced the dense fog hanging in place of the rocks.
Evalle came in like the Ghost Rider hell-bent for his contract holder. The front tire squealed when she engaged the brakes, laying a strip of rubber across the hard rock floor. The rear tire lifted off the ground, rising chest high, while the bike skidded the last fifteen feet, then stopped eight feet in front of Tzader. It swung around and slammed down on the rear tire in a one-eighty Enduro finish, complete with the side stand down.
Evalle ripped off her full-face helmet and pitched it at Tzader like a sideways pass. He caught it without hesitation. She shoved a pair of dark sunglasses on her face, hiding her scary luminescent green eyes. But the glasses did nothing to conceal her fury, which pulsed through the room in sonic waves.
She snarled in Jake and Sen's direction. "Which one of you bastards was trying to kill me?"
Jake went rigid. "Let's not get into questioning each other's parentage, shall we? After all, you're the one with a faulty bloodline."
Tzader cringed at what had to be the most blatant act of suicide he'd seen in awhile. Even a troll should know the limits of his stupidity.
But obviously Jake had flunked Survival 101.
Wet strands of black hair clung to Evalle's neck and face where the Georgia heat had boiled her inside that insulated black suit she was forced to wear to keep the sun from searing her skin.
"Alterant," Sen warned softly when she slammed a boot to the ground and stepped off the bike.
She pinned him with an acid-lined glare and a curled lip. "Don't 'Alterant' me." Tzader could swear he heard a "you prick" in that tone. "What took so long to open the wall?" She stormed across the twenty-foot space between her and Sen.
"Alterant," Sen cautioned again.
Jake swallowed hard. "We're evaluating a new door system and it's got a flaw ... or two."
"Of course it does. One conveniently programmed to only act up when I'm coming in during daylight hours." Evalle stopped inches from Jake. Standing almost six feet tall in her riding boots, she stared down the guard, whose snarly attitude waned.
He shrank under her blistering glare and flinched when she lifted her hand.
She pointed her index finger at him. "You ever hesitate to open the wall for me again when I'm treading daylight and I'll rip off your balls and wear them for earrings." She turned away, taking wide steps on those toned legs.
It was all Tzader could do not to smile. But he couldn't fault her for her anger. They'd come close to ending her days, and if anyone had a right to be pissed, it was definitely her.
Blood Trinity Page 7