by Tessa Cole
The rest were split into those who welcomed the supers for a variety of reasons, and those who welcomed the supers because the angels had told them to.
The news story changed to protests in Rome outside the Joined Parliament buildings. Like with all things, there was always a group that vehemently opposed those who were different even though, much to everyone’s surprise — including myself — there wasn’t a large difference in the crime statistics between humans and supers.
The current theory was that supers were so used to living in the shadows or hiding their true natures from humanity that they didn’t want to screw this up — or were still really good at hiding their activities. I know many of the shifters loved that they didn’t have to hide their packs. Vampires didn’t have to hunt in the darkness for sustenance and cults had formed around most of the elder vampires made up of humans who were enthralled with the macabre or desperate for immortality and eternal youth. I couldn’t see the appeal, but I wasn’t going to judge. Not like the protestors on the TV.
Someone knocked on my door and I got up and answered it. Jacob stood in the hall holding my purse, a bulging bag — most likely the clothes he’d promised — and a sandwich on a plate.
“Gideon has contacted Zella and wants to be back before nightfall, so we’re heading out as soon as you’re ready.” He held up his offerings. “You should probably eat before we go.”
My stomach rumbled again and I stepped aside to let him enter. “Thanks.”
“It would be best if you could eat while we head back to the garage.” He set everything on the bed and stepped back into the hall.
“Copy that.”
The door clicked shut and I opened the bag. Yep, clothes. A pair of black cargo pants that had an elastic waist and a stretchy black long-sleeve T-shirt that was going to fit a lot better than Kol’s baggy one. There was also a pair of black socks, a sports bra with a small fit that didn’t require a specific cup size, and a package of simple white undies.
Oh, thank God.
Everything was picked to be more or less flexible in its size and had only required Jacob to guess whether I had a small or medium build. Smart man.
I changed into the new clothes, shoved my feet into my runners, and grabbed my purse to get my wallet and my phone. I didn’t want to take the bag with me, but I did want my ID, money for a taxi if I needed to get the hell out of there, and my phone.
Inside, at the top, was an unopened box of nicotine patches.
Thank you, Pam. She must have tossed it in my purse when it’d been found in the store. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I took out a patch, pulled up my shirt, and stuck it to my side. It would take a few minutes for the nicotine to kick in, but it would kick in, and the buzz gnawing at my body would finally ease the hell up.
I shoved my phone, wallet, and room card into my pant pockets, grabbed the plate with the sandwich, and joined Jacob in the hall. His intense gaze swept over me and he gave a nod of approval. I was pretty sure the approval wasn’t of me but of how well he’d picked my clothes.
“Tell me about Zella and where we’re going. Is she the witch Marcus mentioned?” I asked, then bit into one half of the sandwich. Ham and cheese with tomato, lettuce, and mayo. Not my favorite but I wasn’t going to complain.
Jacob hit the call button for the elevator. “Yes, and she’s incredibly powerful. She fought with us during the war.”
“Us?”
“Me and Gideon.” He frowned. “Or is that Gideon and I? Gideon and me? I’ve been alive for well over a hundred years and I still can’t remember which way is right.”
I gasped and almost choked on my sandwich. “A hundred years?” I hadn’t known shifters lived that long.
“I know. You’d think Gideon would have picked an older, more powerful vampire for his team. I’m still not sure why I was selected.”
The elevator door opened and he stepped inside. He didn’t look like a vampire at all. Of course, I hadn’t seen many, only the few who made the news, and they were either young and had done something illegal, or very old and were a part of the Joined Parliament. Jacob, with his tanned skin, must have spent a lot of time outdoors before he was turned—
“If you’re a vampire, how were you at the hospital in the daytime?”
The door started to slide shut and I realized I hadn’t joined him. I scooted inside and the door shut, capturing me in the small space with his intense presence. It was like a physical thing with weight and thickness, pressing against my senses, but it didn’t terrify me. No, the wraith had terrified me and nothing could compare to that. Jacob being a vampire who worked for the JP was almost reassuring, since I doubted uptight ‘following the rules of good even if it hurt someone’ Gideon would let anyone malicious onto his team.
“I’m a JP agent, so I’ve been given a charm that protects me.” He held up his wrist, showing me a thick silver bracelet with prongs digging into his skin every eighth of an inch.
“That looks like it hurts.”
“Not nearly as much as sunlight.”
Yeah. There was that.
The elevator dinged, announcing the first floor, and the door slid open. Gideon, Marcus, and Kol waited in the hall.
“Good. You’re eating,” Gideon said. “Let’s go.”
He turned on his heel and marched away. Marcus followed without making eye contact with me, and Kol flashed me a grin that made my pulse stutter with desire, but it seemed like he’d intended it more for encouragement than anything else, since my thoughts didn’t completely stall out.
“We’re going to Rouge,” Gideon said over his shoulder. “It’s in the heart of the Quarter, about as far away from humans as it can get, and caters to the less than virtuous supers.”
“And your witch is there?” I was surprised someone who’d fought with Gideon would live in a place like that, let alone that he’d continue his association with her.
“I would have preferred if she’d picked a different place to call home, but she has her reasons.”
“She always did,” Jacob said.
“It’s mid-afternoon, so there shouldn’t be a lot of supers at Rouge, but you’re human so you might still draw attention,” Marcus said. His glower darted to Gideon and darkened even more, and I got the impression heated words had been exchanged between them. Then his gaze jumped back to me. “So don’t draw attention. Keep your head down and don’t be stupid.”
Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence. “Copy that.”
We piled back into the SUV and drove deeper into the Quarter. The buildings still looked the same, a mix of late 19th century to modern, and only a few reaching taller than ten stories. Fewer buildings had store fronts on the first level, and those that did weren’t as welcoming as the ones on the main strip. Many windows had a purple hue, indicating they were UV blocking, and others had the windows completely covered up.
We stopped at a red light. The street ahead as well as the crossroad were narrower than the one we were on. Four seven-story buildings, all in the same white modern architecture, stood sentinel on each corner, and each were joined with a walking bridge crossing the streets four stories up. UV-blocking glass shimmered in all the windows, and I could see people inside on the second floor of the building closest to me, sitting around a conference table.
The light turned green and Marcus drove around a corner and into the shelter of a UV-blocking canopy. The canopy was built down to the rooftops to prevent even a small band of light inside and stretched to the end of the street. It even carried over to a covered park where the plants were kept alive with angelic magic. This street had a little more activity on it than the previous one, but it was mostly delivery men and shop owners gearing up for the evening’s business.
We turned at the last intersection before the park and stopped in front of a converted bank or courthouse or something. Here the canopy had been built tight to the side of the building, creating a wall of purple glass that reached across the stree
t — leaving an enspelled opening for traffic — and carried on into the park. The building was set back from the street with a dozen wide, shallow steps leading up to a dozen glass doors, the whole thing framed by two towering Roman columns. A neon sign hung above the doors, proclaiming it was Rouge, and more signs glowed from behind the glass panels on either side of the doors, one saying ‘Open 24 Hours.’
“Remember to keep your head down,” Gideon said as he got out of the SUV, this time waiting — much to my surprise — for everyone to join him on the sidewalk before striding up the stairs.
Inside, past the vestibule, the place looked like any other nightclub, with the walls, floor, and vaulted ceiling painted in a red so dark it was almost black — I guess that was why it was called Rouge — and the inner doors had been blacked out, so it could look like a dance club all day. Booths lined the wall on both sides, while standing tables were scattered along the edge of the dance floor. A long bar sat against the far wall, manned by a single demon with leathery red skin and tall horns twisting from his temples.
On either side of the bar sat an archway, each opening into what looked like different rooms. One had more light and I could see the edge of a pool table, while the other was just as dimly lit as the main room. Dance music thumped from the speakers in the main room but at a modest volume and there were only half a dozen patrons, all of which were sitting in the booths.
Gideon led us into the room with the pool table and pointed to a table in a dark corner. “Jacob, Kol, stay here with Ms. Shaw. I need to check in with Bane first. Marcus, you’re with me.”
The room was bigger than I’d expected, its width going beyond that of the first room. It had the same vaulted ceiling, and a wide staircase in the back corner that curved up to a second floor landing. It reminded me of a local pub, complete with pub-like wood furniture, brass accents, five pool tables, three dart boards, a big TV playing a baseball game, and a dozen beer taps at the bar.
There were two dozen people scattered throughout the room, not including the bartender — who looked like she was human until the light caught in her eyes and it reflected back like a cat’s. Two of the patrons played pool at the farthest table, while two more groups, sitting far enough apart that they clearly weren’t together, watched the game. There were a few more patrons in booths, and all of them had drinks or plates of food.
“Do we know how long Gideon is going to be?” I asked, pulling out a chair from the designated table and sitting. “We’re going to stick out soon if we don’t get something to drink. Or do you come here on business often?”
“We don’t,” Jacob said, joining me. “Gideon usually goes by himself.”
“But he didn’t want to bring you without the whole team, just in case—” Kol snapped his mouth shut.
“You can say it. In case the wraith decides to come after me.”
“He didn’t while you were at the hospital,” Jacob said. “That would have been the easiest time to grab you, which tells me he’s waiting for something.”
Yeah, and I’d rather not find out what.
Jacob offered me a smile but it didn’t reach his eyes. “The brand manifested less than an hour ago, so I suspect he won’t be able to use it to locate you just yet.”
“So we’re just a precaution.” Kol pulled out a chair but didn’t sit. “You’re right, though. I’ll go get us drinks.”
“You know, I’m not some fragile woman who’s going to faint the moment the wraith appears,” I said to Jacob. I hadn’t fainted when Marcus and I had ended up in that fight with those werewolves, and that had been before I’d had the advanced training for dealing with supers. “You don’t need to pussyfoot around the truth with me. In fact, I’d rather have the whole truth then have to figure out what’s not being said.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “You sure? You had a meltdown when you found out about the brand.”
“And then I volunteered to be bait.” I met his raised eyebrow with my own. “Any normal person would have a freak out when they learned their soul was permanently bonded to a monster.” And I really didn’t want to think about that, because I was sure I was going to start freaking out again. “Now I’m dealing with it.”
This time the smile did reach his eyes, softening the harsh intensity of his look and making him look more rugged instead of fierce. “That you are.”
Movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention, and a rake-thin man with sallow skin and stringy brown hair slid out of a six-person booth and headed toward us. Three more men of varying builds joined him. All moved like predators, their pace steady with the promise of powerful muscles ready to jump into action. Even rake-thin guy oozed danger. Just great.
The man reached our table and hooked his thumbs into the waistband of his low-riding jeans. His gaze, filled with a hint of the same intensity that was in Jacob’s but not nearly as powerful, slid over me, drawing an involuntary shiver that made my pulse pick up and not in a good way. Vampires. I wasn’t sure how I knew which of the supers they were — they could have been shifters or one of the few demons who looked human — but I knew with that look exactly what they were and that they were dangerous.
“Jacob Lockwood,” he said, “have you finally decided to bring Victoria her tribute?”
“Victoria knows I’ll never pay her tribute.” Jacob shifted, letting his duster open a bit, revealing the sidearm holstered at his hip.
The thin man didn’t seem to notice. Neither did his friends who were inching closer around me.
“Every vampire needs to pay tribute,” the thin man said.
“Even one living with the angels,” one of the men behind me said. He had a stockier build than rake-thin guy and looked like he’d had a bath in the last few months.
“Especially one living with the angels,” another said, the tallest of the group, and he slapped a meaty hand on my shoulder.
Jacob stood, and a sense of barely contained violence radiated from him. “No vampire has to pay tribute,” he said, his voice low.
He was taller and broader than all of them, but the thin man sneered instead of backing down. “You’re not strong enough to take all of us. I can see it in your essence. The angels have you convinced you don’t have to drink from the vein, that you can survive on the stale blood they keep in their blood banks.”
The guy gripping my shoulder snickered and his hold on me tightened. “If you’re not going to pay tribute with the pretty human, maybe I should. Victoria is gonna like her.”
“You’re aware feeding on someone without their consent is illegal,” I said. Not that I expected this group to just give up because of that, but I was obligated as an officer of the law to give them fair warning.
The thin guy sneered at me. “Oh, you’ll give your consent. You’ll be begging for it.”
Jacob pushed his duster open all the way, looking every bit like a Wild West gunslinger. His hand settled on the grip of his sidearm, but he didn’t draw. “It’s not consent if it’s coerced.”
“And you’re not going to open fire in your sire’s establishment,” the thin man said.
“Try me,” Jacob growled.
“Hey, guys,” Kol said, approaching the table with three full pint glasses, his posture casual but with a hint of hellfire in his eyes. “What’s all the commotion?”
“Oh, and you brought a pretty boy, too,” the thin man said, with a wicked smile that promised violence. “How did you know it’s my birthday?”
Chapter 7
One of the up-until-now silent vampires seized Kol and wrapped an arm around his neck. Kol dropped the glasses and wrenched against the guy’s hold.
The guy squeezing my shoulder jerked me up. I twisted before he could choke me, but he grabbed my arm and yanked me toward him. I tripped on the chair, and he grabbed the front of my shirt and wrenched me off my feet.
Out of the corner of my eye, Jacob lunged at the thin man, who darted out of the way. Kol rammed his elbow into the guy holding him, and five
more men from the back of the room hurried toward us.
The guy holding me shoved me chest first against the wall, capturing my body with his, and pressed his lips against my throat.
He sniffed and softly moaned in pleasure. “Victoria is going to enjoy you.”
“Yeah, not going to happen.” I bucked against him and hissed the spell that summoned a blast of divine light.
The guy shoved me back against the wall. “That’s not going to work. I’m stronger than you, human.”
I bucked again and finished the spell. “That was just a distraction.” I slapped my hand against the side of his face, and white light burst from my palm.
The vampire howled and wrenched back, and I mule-kicked him in the gut, shoving him farther away. He snarled at me, my handprint red and oozing on his cheek, one eye cloudy and blinded. He lunged for me and I sidestepped his grab, seizing his wrist, twisting, and slamming him against the table.
Another guy rushed at me and I snapped a kick into his groin, making him stumble, and another kick into his knee making him fall. With all my pent-up anger and fear from the wraith’s attack, I wrenched the arm of the vampire I still held, dislocated his shoulder, and shoved him off the table to the floor.
The guy I’d kicked was back on his feet. He grabbed my shoulder and yanked me to face him. I used the movement to strengthen my punch and rammed my fist into his throat. Something crunched, and he gasped and released me to grab his neck. It wasn’t enough to stop him, but it was enough for me to summon another divine light strike and slap my hand on his face, catching both eyes.