My mouth nearly dropped open in shock. I was apparently headed off to some secret vampire hideout – and she wasn’t even coming with me?
“Wait a second,” I said roughly. “Where are you going?”
“I have to try and find more allies,” she replied. “If Serenity and Ronin come up against us, they’ll have an army on their heels. We’ll need one, too.”
Well – I guess that made sense. But that didn’t mean I had to like it.
“I don’t want to go until you do,” I said. “I’m gonna go home.”
“You can’t,” she said quickly. “Serenity knows you’re with me now. She knows where you live; where you work. No place is safe for you in the human world. She’d find you.” Her eyes were filled with fear and pain as she added: “She’d kill you, Dani – just to hurt me.”
Okay, so this was a tough one to wrap my mind around. The whole world was off-limits to me now? Every place but some unknown vampy hideout where Risa wouldn’t even be joining me?
Risa saw the doubt in my expression, and she tried to smile. “I told you this would be dangerous,” she said quietly.
Those words flipped some sort of switch in me. I took her hand immediately, feeling like a complete jerk. She had warned me. And I’d made my choice. I had no right to be petulant about it now.
“I’m sorry,” I said quickly. “You’re absolutely right. I’m being stupid. Forgive me?”
I went for my most winning smile – the one that had charmed the pants off quite a few women – and she laughed with genuine amusement. “Of course I do,” she said. “I understand how hard this must be for you. And believe me – I wish more than anything that I could come with you. I want to be the one who keeps you safe. But I’m crew leader, and the other covens will only listen to me. So, in a way, this is me keeping you safe.”
“And don’t forget,” I reminded her, still smiling. “I’ve still got the Smith & Wesson.”
She laughed again, drawing me close to her. “God,” she said, kissing my forehead with her cool lips. “I can’t remember the last time I laughed this much. The last time I laughed at all. You’re so good for me, Dani.”
I resisted the urge to reiterate that I was the reason Miss Thang Thang had a warrant out for Risa’s head on the chopping block. I knew that would steal this moment of happiness away from her, so I just went along with it.
“The feeling is entirely mutual,” I murmured, brushing my lips against hers.
She deepened the kiss, holding me tightly for another moment. But then she sighed and let me go. “All right,” she said with a wistful look back at the bed. “We really do have to leave now.”
I picked up my purse and slung it over my shoulder, taking the hand Risa offered me to hold. But then I thought of something, and I was way too curious not to ask.
“I thought vampires couldn’t go out in the sun?”
Risa grinned. “Actually, the director of ‘Nosferatu’ made that up. You know, that silent movie from the twenties? It’s not even in most folklore and stories – and it’s certainly not true.” She winked slyly and added, “We don’t sparkle, either.”
Well, whaddaya know. You learn something new every day. I mulled this bit of info over, wondering what else I’d come to find out about vampires, while Risa and I made our way into the back lot where her crew was waiting.
Sons of Anarchy they certainly were not. There were four of them: Jed, plus two more guys and a girl. The first guy was tall and muscular, devilishly good-looking and obviously full of himself. He had on a pair of well-worn jeans and a ripped muscle shirt. He leaned against his dark blue Suzuki, arms crossed, eyeing me like a piece of meat. If we weren’t in our current situation, I might have contemplated slugging him.
The second guy was considerably smaller than the first, with shaggy shoulder-length hair and a striped tunic that looked like it had been dug out of a time capsule from 1975. Seriously, this guy could have been heading to Woodstock. He had on brown sunglasses and – I kid you not – a pair of leather Birkenstocks. All he needed was a joint to complete the ensemble. To his credit, though, he offered me a friendly smile and a wave, which I returned in a much more subdued manner.
The last crew member, the girl, looked like a straight-up model of Lara Croft. This chick had some serious Tomb Raider vibes going on. She had on a pair of form-fitting cargo pants, military boots and a tight T-shirt, her dark hair up in a taut bun that looked almost cruel for her poor head. There was a gun on either side of her belt, and the belt itself was loaded with magazines.
I could see maybe being friends with this one.
“Dani,” Risa said as we approached the small group, “this is my crew, the Black Angels. That hulking guy with the ripped shirt is Dirk. The guy with the long hair is Morgan; and, last but not least, the lady with the guns is Sonya. You already know Jed. Everybody – this is Dani.”
Morgan seemed pleased to have an excuse to wave again – I think maybe he’d already had that aforementioned joint – and Dirk inclined his head subtly, his arms still crossed over his burly chest. Sonya smiled faintly and said, “It’s nice to meet you, Dani.”
“You, too,” I said, returning her smile. “Though I wish it was under different circumstances.”
“Don’t we all,” Risa said with a sigh, squeezing my hand. “All right, guys. Listen up. I’ve got to roll out and appeal to the other covens. I’m counting on you to keep Dani safe. Got it?”
“Got it, boss,” Jed replied. He didn’t even glance at me with the distaste he usually reserved especially for my bad self. Maybe, given the dire situation, he’d decided to let sleeping dogs lie and put on his big boy pants. Maybe.
“Don’t worry, little girl,” Dirk said with a wicked grin. “You’ll be safe with me.”
I really, really didn’t like the way he was looking at me. Like a wolf eyeing a deer he planned to take down. I’d just met him two minutes ago, and I could already tell this guy was going to be trouble. The kind with a capital T that you have to bitch-slap to make it act right.
“I’m not a little girl,” I said coldly. “But thanks for the sentiment.”
Morgan laughed loudly, and even Sonya smirked a little. Jed just glanced at Risa, seeming to wonder how she’d react.
“Feisty,” Dirk growled, his eyes flashing with dark fire as he looked at me. “I like ‘em feisty.”
“Behave yourself, Dirk,” Risa warned. “She’s not here for you to ogle and objectify. Now, I’ve told you once – and if I ever have to tell you again, we’re going to have a problem.”
Dirk glared at her for a moment, obviously miffed. But after a moment’s thought, he nodded subordinately, turning his face away.
Everyone got on their bikes, putting on sunglasses just like Risa had done the night before. Jed’s bike was black, but it was small like all the others, not big and heavy like a Harley. Morgan’s was lime-green.
“You can ride with me,” Sonya offered, climbing onto her hot pink Kawasaki.
“Thanks,” I said appreciatively. I was standing close to Risa, though, because I knew she was about to leave. I didn’t know how long she’d be gone. I hated this.
“Can’t I come with you?” I murmured to her.
“No,” she answered with a tender smile. “I don’t know how the other covens will react to my approach. Hell – some of them might even try to capture me and hand me over to Serenity. It’s way too dangerous for you, Dani.”
“Wow,” I said crossly, glaring at her from under my lashes, “way to make me not worry about you.”
She kept smiling, squeezing my hand gently. “You don’t have to worry,” she assured me. “I can take care of myself, and I’ll be back before you know it.”
“Okay, so like, give me an ETA. A couple of hours? Will you be back by tonight?”
She laughed softly. “I don’t think so,” she answered. “I’ll have to go to some pretty weird places – places where time works a little differently.”
I frowne
d. “You mean you’re leaving the city?”
“In a way. I’ll explain everything when I get back. For now – I really have to go.”
She looked deeply into my eyes, thousands of words written in her soft expression. She leaned close and whispered to me, her lips brushing my ear very gently, sending gorgeous shivers down my spine. “Be safe.”
She kissed my forehead softly as she pulled away. I wanted a real kiss – never thought I’d hear those words come out of my brain – but not with her crew surrounding us. We’d only just gotten together, and I didn’t want it to look like I was trying to exploit our relationship.
She walked away from me, and it was a bitter feeling as her fingers slipped out of mine. She hopped on her bike, put on her shades, and looked at me one more time. She smiled, and though it wasn’t easy, I smiled back. Then she was gone, and I was left alone with the Black Angels.
Chapter 8
I rode on the back of Sonya’s bike, missing Risa already. I thought of the night before when I rode on her bike, my arms around her waist, my head on her shoulder. The scent of her surrounding me. Now, I held onto Sonya for stability, but it was like holding a doll or something. It didn’t make me feel anything.
We rode almost all the way across the city before we turned down a narrow side street next to what looked like an abandoned warehouse. There was a roll-up door that Dirk got off his bike to unlock and open. Then, everyone slowly cruised into the building. Dirk shut the door behind us, and it was dark.
“Clap on,” Morgan said with a high-pitched laugh.
Someone must have flipped a switch, because suddenly the place filled with yellow light from several bare bulbs up on the rectangular concrete ceiling. It pretty much looked like your ordinary warehouse, only there was tattered, comfortable-looking furniture scattered everywhere, along with a big TV in the middle on a low table. There was a kitchen area in the corner.
“All right,” Sonya said in a business-like manner. “First things first. Jace and Max know where this place is, and they refused to come with us. That makes them a threat. A ward of invisibility wouldn’t work; they’d still know it was here. There’s only one option.”
“We go underground,” Jed supplied.
“Exactly,” Sonya returned. She looked at me and smiled kindly. “This is going to seem pretty weird to you,” she said. “Just bear with me.”
“Sure thing,” I replied, though of course I had absolutely no clue what she was talking about.
It didn’t take me long to figure it out, though. Sonya closed her eyes and stilled her body, then put her fingertips to her temples. The floor beneath my feet began to shake, and I reached out for something to hold onto, which just so happened to be Morgan’s arm. He glanced at me and grinned.
Yeah – that guy was definitely high.
A look of intense concentration spread over Sonya’s face, and the quaking grew more severe. It felt like we were slowly dropping into the ground. The entire building. I heard the loud cracking of the asphalt beneath the warehouse, then heard it scraping along the walls as the building fell into an underground hole. It seemed to take forever, but it was probably only a minute or two.
When the building had been lowered, there was the sound of shifting asphalt again, apparently closing over the top of the warehouse. Sonya had just buried us alive.
“Ummm,” I said slowly, letting go of Morgan’s arm, “I really don’t mean to be that girl who makes the first negative comment – but how are we supposed to get out?”
Sonya opened her eyes and grinned with good humor. “There’s a tunnel leading up to the street,” she answered. “And air ducts to provide us with oxygen. Risa prepared for something like this a long time ago. But don’t worry – Jace and Max won’t anticipate this plan. The only ones Risa told were me and Jed.”
“She prepared for this?” I asked in surprise. Well, hot damn. My girl was on the ball. But then, that really didn’t surprise me at all.
“Well, not exactly this situation,” Sonya answered. “Listen – why don’t we go and sit down? I’m sure Risa would want us to explain this to you.”
“All right,” I said quietly, still a little overwhelmed by the whole I Was Just Buried Underground thing. I’d never really been great with enclosed spaces, and even though this was a huge warehouse, the fact that it was now under the street kind of made me anxious. I wondered if anyone had a Xanax on hand.
“I’ll head up to take a look around,” Dirk said gruffly. “Make sure everything smells all right. Wanna show me where the tunnel is?”
Sonya nodded, then led Dirk to a metal door on the left-hand. They disappeared through it, and they were gone for a few minutes.
It was obvious that Dirk was in a shitty mood, most likely because Risa had put him in his place back at Bloody Teeth. I really hoped I didn’t have anything to worry about with him. I had my gun, yeah – but he was a fucking vampire. I was pretty cocky and all, but I think when push came to shove, he probably had the upper hand.
I shook myself to clear these thoughts away. Better not to think them unless – or until – he gave me a reason to. Then, and only then, would I take the time to contemplate how to kick his big, beefy ass.
Sonya returned from escorting Dirk to the tunnel, and she, Jed, Morgan and I made our way over to the cluster of furniture in the middle of the place, where we settled down to talk. I wanted to feel like I had a space of my own, so I chose an armchair a little away from the rest of the furniture. Sonya sat in a chair facing me, and Jed and Morgan sank into a deep couch in front of the TV. Morgan picked up the remote and put on a commercial-free music channel, one of those New Age stations that sounds like Indian music. You know, flutes and drums and all that type of shit. Jed rolled his eyes. He probably would have preferred the Death Metal station.
“Okay,” Sonya said to me. “Think of this like Twenty Questions. You can ask whatever you want.”
I thought for a moment. I was practically crawling in my skin on account of claustrophobia over here, so I figured we might as well talk about it.
“How did you just do that?” I inquired. “Lower the warehouse into the street? I didn’t know vampires could do stuff like that.”
“We can do all sorts of things,” Sonya replied. “Some things all of us can do; some things only some of us can do. I’m a psi vamp, so my psychic abilities are greater than those of a blood vamp.”
“A psi vamp?”
“Psychic vampire. Both Morgan and I are psi vamps. We don’t feed on blood; we feed on psychic energy. Because our food source is different, a lot of our abilities are different, too.”
“I, for one, give one hell of a mindfuck,” Morgan offered in a cheerful voice.
“Ah,” I said quietly, feeling like I was reading a book that was way too deep for me. This stuff was completely over my head, just like the “You Must Be This Tall to Ride” marker on the rollercoaster when I was six. That particular incident ended in me stomping on the coaster operator’s foot. I had no intentions of stomping on anyone’s foot today, but I was hella confused.
So I changed the subject. “You said Risa anticipated something like this. Will you tell me what you meant?”
“Of course,” Sonya replied. “Risa picked this hideout years ago when tensions between Ronin and Serenity and another vampire leader started to grow. His name is Marcus, and he’s head of New York City’s covens. He wants Shadow City for himself, and he’s been on the brink of declaring war for ages now. Risa wanted us to have a safe place to go. She had no interest in fighting for Serenity against Marcus.”
“Risa said she and Serenity have been having problems for a long time,” I said. “What’s their deal?”
“It’s simple, really,” Sonya answered. “Serenity is leader of Shadow City’s vampires. Risa is leader of a single coven. However, Risa is physically, even magically stronger than Serenity. Serenity’s afraid that Risa will try to usurp her position of authority.”
“Wait a second,” I
said. “Risa is head of your whole coven? I thought she just owned the bar?”
Sonya smiled. “Oh, no,” she said. “Bloody Teeth is the heart of our coven, but it’s only a part of it. It’s made up of hundreds of vampires. There are four covens in Shadow City. Ours is the First Coven, and Risa is – I should say was – leader of us all. When Serenity issued the warrant for her execution, her leadership was voided.”
“I appealed to the entire coven,” Jed said. “None of them would stand with us. No one but the people you see in this room.”
“And good old Dirk,” Morgan added in that same perky voice.
I thought about it. Yeah – I guess that did say something about the guy. Out of hundreds of vampires, he was one of only four who had chosen to stand behind his leader. Pretty loyal. (Even if he was a goddamn pig.)
***
The weirdest thing that happened that day was when I opened the fridge to find something to eat in the afternoon. I saw a few loaves of wheat bread – apparently these vampires ate a lot of sandwiches – a ton of diet soda (presumably to mix with alcohol), and on the top shelf, dozens of bags of dark red blood.
I almost yakked right inside the fridge. I mean, of course I knew vampires drank blood – but it was one thing to know it, and another thing to see the gross stuff right in front of you. Even nastier, I could smell it. That almost rancid, sickly coppery smell.
I shut the fridge in a hurry, my appetite having magically vanished. I had a feeling it was going to take me a while to get used to this.
***
Sonya was quick to notice that I never let my Smith & Wesson far out of my sight. That night, while I was bored out of my mind and the guys were watching a football game (football is on the list of the many things I despise), she showed me her weapons room.
I felt like a kid in a candy store strung out on Pixy Stix. It was so fucking beautiful. There were guns hanging everywhere, as well as an assortment of strange, shining objects that I immediately wanted to touch. I’ve got sticky fingers when it comes to stuff like that.
Marked (Shadow City Book 1) Page 7