by Karen Lynch
My chest expanded with pride and the knowledge that I’d been here for her first kill. I walked toward her as she pulled her knife from the vampire’s chest and wiped it clean on his pants.
“Good work,” I said.
I meant it. She had great aim with her throw, and she’d finished the job quickly. A more experienced warrior would have gone for the chest instead of the throat because the vampire was already half-dead. But I wasn’t going to correct her technique and ruin this moment for her.
“Thanks.”
She swallowed and took a step back. It was clear she was flattered by the praise but not comfortable with the person delivering it. I needed to change that.
Running feet alerted us to the fact we were not alone, and the two of us looked down the street as Brock and Mason approached, swords drawn. They slowed when they got close, and Mason’s eyes widened at the sight of Beth’s bloody sword.
“Way to go, Beth.”
Brock walked over to her and gave her a fist bump. She smiled, and I felt a pang of envy that she was so at ease with the other warrior.
“You guys going to stand out there all night?” Raoul called from the front step of the house.
I looked at Beth. “Ready to see the inside of a vampire nest?”
“Yes!” she and Mason said in unison.
I smiled at their excitement as I grabbed the dead vampire by the foot and dragged him to the house. Brock made a sound of disgust and picked up the head.
I left the corpse near the bushes lining the fence where it was out of sight of passersby. Then I followed the others into the house. When I entered the living room, I found Beth already tending to the humans, talking to them in a gentle, reassuring voice.
Raoul came to stand beside me in the doorway. “We have another girl upstairs. She’s in shock but uninjured.”
“Laurie!” One of the women leaped to her feet. “My sister. Where is she?”
Raoul held out a hand to her. “I’ll take you to her.”
“Should we call in a cleanup crew?” Mason asked me.
“They’re on the way.”
I stepped over one of the bodies to do a final sweep of the house, something I should have done before allowing Beth and Mason to come in.
The other team arrived a few minutes later and quickly got to work, disposing of the four bodies. The humans were treated and taken home since none of them had sustained serious injury. The man had been bitten, but he improved once we administered gunna paste.
While the others handled cleanup, Raoul and I went through the house and yard to look for clues to the fate of the homeowner. We both knew the elderly woman was dead, but it was part of our job to make sure. In the backyard, we found a mound of freshly turned soil, but we didn’t dig it up. Once we cleared out of here, one of us would call the human authorities to report a disturbance. They would investigate and discover the grave. It was all we could do for her.
It was after midnight when we finished up. I walked outside, looking for Beth, and saw her walking down the street to where she and Raoul had parked their bikes. Mason was nowhere to be seen. For once, she was alone.
Beth
I smiled to myself as I walked to my Harley. I’d killed my first vampire, and I’d been inside an actual vampire nest. The fact that Chris had been here didn’t even dim my excitement. I’d have to work with him eventually, so I might as well get used to it. As long as we kept our conversations about work, I could do this. I would.
Yeah, that’s why you’re sneaking away while he’s busy.
I was pulling on my helmet when I felt a small gust of air and Chris appeared in front of me. Startled, I dropped the helmet, and it rolled noisily across the pavement.
I scowled at him. “It’s not nice to sneak up on people.”
Chris smiled, not looking the least bit sorry as he retrieved my helmet. “You used to love it when I did that, Dove.”
I ignored the little thrill that went through me at hearing his old pet name for me. “No one calls me that anymore, and I haven’t played games since… in a long time.”
His smile dimmed, and regret filled his eyes. “Dove – Beth, I’m sorry.”
I said nothing.
“I’m sorry for everything, for hurting you, for the way I left. At the time, I thought it was the right thing to do. I never meant to hurt you, but you were so young and I was –”
“You don’t have to explain,” I said in a tight voice. “I was a silly girl, and it hurt for a little while, but I got over it. There’s nothing to apologize for.”
I looked away, swallowing around the lump forming in my throat. I was a warrior, damn it. I would not cry.
“If that were true, you wouldn’t be avoiding me and you’d be able to look at me now.” He came closer and rested a hand on the handlebar. “I’ve missed you, Dove. Tell me how to fix this and how we can be friends again.”
“I…” I wanted to say he’d known where to find me all these years if he’d missed me, but I was afraid my voice would crack before I got the words out.
“Look at me,” he ordered in a tender voice I was unable to refuse.
I lifted my eyes and instantly regretted it when I saw the sadness in his. No fair. He’d hurt me, not the other way around. He didn’t get to be the injured one here.
“I left because I thought it was best for you. It didn’t mean I stopped caring about you.” He ran a hand through his blond hair. “It just got…complicated. One day you were a little girl, and the next you were a young woman, and everything changed.”
I nodded mutely. He didn’t need to remind me of how things had changed between us. I’d wasted too many hours trying to figure out what I’d done wrong and how I’d driven him away. It had taken me a long time to admit it wasn’t my fault and to accept I couldn’t have done anything to make him stay.
“Did you get the things I sent you?” he asked.
“Yes. Thank you.”
Every birthday and Christmas, a package had arrived from Chris without fail. But it was hard to feel happy about gifts from someone who couldn’t be bothered to deliver them himself. As much as I’d wanted to get rid of them, I couldn’t, so they’d ended up in the back of my closet, along with every other gift he’d given me since I’d known him.
An uncomfortable silence fell between us, broken after a long moment by Chris’s barely perceptible sigh.
“I know we can’t go back to the way things were. Too much time has passed, and you’re not a little girl anymore. But I hope we can be friends.”
I should have avoided his gaze. One look into his beseeching green eyes and I couldn’t come right out and tell him no, even if the ache in my chest warned me against letting him in again.
As if he knew I was weakening, his smile returned, and my traitorous stomach fluttered. I needed to get away from him before I reverted to that naïve girl of four years ago. Like he’d said, there was no going back.
“Beth,” Mason called.
I caught the frustration in Chris’s eyes before I looked over my shoulder at Mason, who was walking toward us.
“You heading back to the house?” Mason asked, standing so close to me that our arms touched.
I had to stifle a laugh. I loved that Mason always had my back, but no one could ever accuse him of being ambiguous.
“Hey, Chris,” Mason said.
Mason wouldn’t admit it out of loyalty to me, but I knew he was conflicted about Chris. His anger at Chris for hurting me was tempered by Chris’s easy manner and a little bit of hero worship on Mason’s part. Chris was almost as well-known as Nikolas, and his fighting skills had been talked about just as much among the trainees back home.
Chris smiled. “Mason, how’d you like your first nest?”
“It was cleaner than I expected, except for the blood from your kills.”
Chris laughed. “That was a new nest, no more than a few weeks old by the look of it. I’ve seen some that would make you not want to eat for a week.”
Mason made a face. “I bet you’ve seen some crazy stuff.”
“You have no idea.” Chris’s gaze moved between Mason and me. “Remind me to tell you about it sometime.”
“That’d be great.”
My sigh was inaudible. It was like Chris knew exactly what to say to win over my best friend. Not that I didn’t want the two of them to be friends. Did I?
Mason looked at me. “Brock and I are heading back to Newport Beach. You want to patrol with us?”
“Raoul’s going to show me how to write up our recon report, so I have to go back to the house.” And then I was going to have a long shower and crawl into my very soft bed.
I extended my hand toward the helmet Chris was still holding, and he passed it to me. I donned it and started the Harley, raising a hand to Chris as he stepped aside to let me out.
I let out a long breath when I rounded the corner and headed down the next street. Okay, that wasn’t as bad as I’d expected. He’d said his piece, and I’d managed not to embarrass myself by crying. Now he could go about his business, and I could stop worrying about talking to him.
I hadn’t replied to his comment about us being friends because I didn’t think I could open myself up to him that way again. I’d work with him as long as he was here, but that was as far as I was willing to go. I’d let Chris in once, and he’d hurt me deeply. I wouldn’t give him the chance to do that a second time.
Chris
“Vampires?”
I nodded grimly at Nikolas. “That’s my first guess.”
We entered the living room where Sara, Jordan, Raoul, and several of the other warriors milled around. Upon our arrival, everyone found seats and waited for Nikolas to speak.
The door to the back terrace opened, and Beth and Mason hurried in.
“Are we late?” Beth asked.
Her gaze flicked to mine for a brief moment before going to Nikolas. It was like that every time she and I were in the same room. Since our talk two nights ago, she had stopped avoiding me, but little else had changed between us. I missed the easy relationship we used to have, but I couldn’t push her. I’d hurt her badly, and it would take time to earn her trust again.
It was because of Beth that I’d agreed to take command of the center from Nikolas when he left for New York. If she hadn’t been here, I probably would have decided to go with Nikolas and Sara. But Los Angeles had the most demon and vampire activity in the country, and Beth, though well-trained, was a new warrior on her first field assignment. She didn’t know yet that I was taking over for Nikolas, and I wasn’t sure how she’d react to the news. We planned to announce it once we got final approval from the Council.
“We’re just about to start.” Nikolas looked at me, and I glanced down at the report displayed on the tablet in my hand.
“In the last ten days, there have been eight missing person reports filed with the LAPD. That’s not unusual in a city like Los Angeles, but we’ve detected a pattern in three of the cases that suggests they are connected.”
“What kind of pattern?” Jordan asked.
“Three of the missing people are young women between the ages of seventeen and twenty-one. Two of the girls are seniors at Catholic schools in the area, and the third is a novice from a convent in New York who was visiting her family.”
Sara’s brows drew together. “Who would target Catholic girls?”
“The most likely answer is a vampire,” Nikolas said. “Some of them have been known to have such fetishes. No bodies have turned up yet, so if it is the work of a vampire, they’re being careful to hide their tracks.”
I nodded. “It could also be the work of slave traffickers. Healthy young women would fetch a high price on the black market. Their religion might be a coincidence.”
Sara’s mouth formed a thin, angry line. “I’ll work with Kelvan to reach out to the demon community and find out if we have another gulak setting up shop here. They like to run slaves, and as soon as we shut down one operation, another pops up.”
Sara’s friend Kelvan was a vrell demon who also happened to be an elite computer hacker skilled enough to outmaneuver our own security guys. Thanks to their friendship, we had access to Kelvan’s unique talents and an inside connection to the vast demon network across the country.
“Do we know where the girls disappeared?” Raoul asked.
I looked at the tablet again. “Alice Carney – the novice – was the first to go missing. She went to mass at St. Vincent’s a week and a half ago, and her family said she never came home. We don’t know if she even made it to the church.”
Raoul nodded. “I’ll start there.”
“What about the other girls?” Jordan asked me.
“Jessica Ryan left Our Lady of Mercy Academy alone last Saturday to go to a movie in Pasadena. She never returned to the school.
“Tracy Levine went to St. Teresa’s Preparatory School. She left school on Monday afternoon, and that was the last anyone’s seen of her. Her car was found in the student parking lot, and there were no signs of a struggle.”
“A vampire wouldn’t take her from a school parking lot in the middle of the afternoon,” Beth said almost to herself. “Do they have outside security cameras?”
“Yes, but they only cover the exits, not the parking lot.”
“Beth and I will check out the high schools,” Jordan said.
Beth gave her a look of surprise. “We will?”
“Yeah. Who better to talk to a bunch of girls than us. We can fit in there, and no one will know the difference.”
I let out a short burst of laughter, earning a glare from Jordan.
“What?” she demanded.
It was Sara who answered her. “Sorry, Jordan, but the idea of you posing as a Catholic school girl is hilarious.”
Jordan glowered at us. “Are you guys saying I can’t blend in?”
Sara grinned. “You’d blend into a high school about as well as I would at a Paris fashion show.”
That got a snort from Jordan, who looked slightly appeased.
“I’ll go with Beth to the schools,” Sara offered. “I’m the only one here who’s actually been to high school, so I’m the best one to go.”
“Well, when you put it that way,” Jordan drawled.
“Good.” Nikolas stood. “We’ll send word to our local informants and see if anyone’s heard something about the missing girls.”
Jordan jumped up from her seat. “I guess that’s a wrap. Come on, ladies.”
Sara groaned. “Do I have to?”
“Yes, you have to. We made plans.” Jordan reached for Sara’s hand and pulled her to her feet. “It’ll be fun. I promise.”
Sara gave Nikolas a helpless look before Jordan tugged her toward the bedrooms on the other side of the house. Beth followed them, laughing at their antics. Seeing her smile brought one to my own lips. I hoped someday she’d be like that with me again.
“Where are they off to?” I asked Nikolas.
“Jordan planned a girls’ night. Dinner and then dancing at Lure.”
I shot him a disbelieving look as we walked back to the control room. There’d been a time when Nikolas wouldn’t let Sara out of his sight in this city, and now she was going to a nightclub without him after we’d just had a meeting about missing girls.
We entered the control room, and he smiled as if he’d read my mind.
“Sara lets me know where they’re going, and she carries a tracker whenever she leaves the house.”
“How did you get her to agree to that?” I laughed, remembering how much Sara had detested our tracking devices when we met her.
“It was her idea. She thought it would give me peace of mind.”
“Does it?”
“No, but she won’t have a good time if she thinks I’m worrying.”
He led the way to the room we were sharing as an office, and we sat on either side of the desk. Leaning back in his chair, he ran his hands through his hair in agitation.
I rested my elbows on my knees. “Nikolas, you do remember Sara can sense a vampire a block away, and she has enough Fae power in her pinky to take down an army of demons. I’d be more worried about what damage she and Jordan could cause together.”
“You’re right, I know.” He rubbed his jaw. “My parents told me it’ll be like this for the first few years.”
“Years?” I grimaced.
The thought of always worrying about another person’s wellbeing sounded exhausting. Beth’s face immediately filled my mind, and I dismissed it. Being protective of someone you cared about was nothing like what a bonded male felt for his mate.
Nikolas opened his laptop. “Keeping busy helps. It’s that or follow her, and we both know how well that would go over if she found out.”
I didn’t try to hold back my laughter. “By all means then, let’s get to work.”
We spent the next three hours reaching out to every informant and contact we had in southern California. There were no leads on the missing girls, but we put out enough feelers that we were bound to get a hit if a vampire or demon was involved.
Raoul filled the doorway as we were finishing up.
“Spoke to some of the parishioners at St. Vincent’s, and two of them remember seeing Alice Carney at mass the night she disappeared. They didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary, though.”
I leaned back in my chair. “That means she was taken on the way back to her parents’ house.”
Raoul nodded. “Looks that way. I’ll pick it up there tomorrow. Right now, I’m heading out for a steak. Either of you want to join me?”
“Yeah.” I stood and gave Nikolas a questioning look.
He closed the laptop. “Sounds good.”
We went through the door to the garage, and Nikolas grabbed a set of keys for one of the SUVs. He was backing us out of the garage when the door to the kitchen opened and Jordan emerged in a short red dress and heels. She was followed by Sara, who was dressed more demurely in pants and an off the shoulder top.
Nikolas put the SUV in park, and Raoul and I rolled down our windows to make catcalls at the girls. Jordan gave us a sexy pose. Sara rolled her eyes and walked over to Nikolas, who had gotten out of the vehicle.