Blood Kin (10 page)

I started to protest that it wasn’t a phone when the insistent buzz of my own cell caused the heretofore taciturn cab driver to scowl at me, his expression saying what he was only too polite to: see, it was you all the time. Except it wasn’t. I’d flipped it to buzz mode when we’d boarded the cab, after one more try to reach my dad’s number, then Adam’s. Neither had answered. I’d left voice mail for both. One good thing about modern communications is that cell phone technology lets you leave messages, even if the signal wasn’t getting through at the other end. I’d totally have called and left messages for Gigi, but she insisted on land lines at the enclave and no cell phones.

In order to reach into my right pocket, I had to practically lie across Niko, who was sitting between me and Daffyd, in what my brothers used to call the bitch seat. Tucker had chosen shotgun, as his long legs made it impossible for him to sit in the back of the environmentally friendly hybrid cab. Nice idea, but the damned vehicle was not meant for four fairly tall adults plus driver.

“Sorry,” I mumbled to all the occupants of the car as I answered without looking at the display. I tabled the music discussion until later.

“Hiya, honey.” My dad’s warm voice rolled out of the speaker. “You touched down yet?”

“What the—” I pulled the phone away from my ear and stared at the display, verifying the number. “Dad?”

Tucker turned as best he could in the small front seat. “Dad?”

I nodded and returned to the call. “I thought the phone lines were down up there.”

“Oh, right,” he said. “I’m actually not at the homestead,” he said. “Flew down to Seattle yesterday on an errand. Wanted to see if you’d arrived.”

“We’re all fine, Dad,” I said. “Couldn’t fly into the enclave because of the weather. We’re headed to the condo.”

“Yeah, storm’s a bit of a doozy,” he said. “Stormy here, too. Came up quicker than expected, frankly. Forecast called for it to blow in sometime tomorrow …” His voice trailed off. I strained to hear if we were still connected.

“You still there, Dad?”

“I’m here, sweetheart, sorry,” he said. “Isabel’s tugging on my arm.”

Say what? “Isabel’s there? I thought she went to the enclave.”

Tucker was poking my arm and waving his hand. I slapped his wrist and concentrated on hearing my dad. The line crackled with static; between that and the reverberating hum of the car engine and the music I could still sense more than hear, I was having a hard time making out the words on the other side of the connection.

“She was. I asked her to come down with me. Wanted to—” The rest of his sentence got lost in a burst of static.

“I didn’t hear that, Dad, what was it?”

“Never mind, honey, not important. Let me give Isabel the phone before she has a conniption.”

“Wait, don’t go yet,” I said. “Gigi knows we’re stranded here in Vancouver, right?”

He laughed. “She does, honey. She was going to call you but I guess the phones went. Your brother’s there though, right?”

I looked at Tucker. “Yeah, he’s with me.”

“Oh, good then,” Dad said. “I was hoping—”

More static and something that sounded like “Gigi told him … tell you …”

“Tell me what? How’s Gideon?” I hurried to ask before we completely lost the connection.

“He’s okay for now, Keira.” Dad’s voice went all somber. “He was in pretty bad shape for a while. We sent for you—”

Another blast of static then a female voice blared out of my phone’s earpiece. “Keira, he’s stable for now.” Isabel must have grabbed the phone from my dad.

“So what happened, Aunt?”

“No one there knows,” she said. “I tried to do some diagnostics, but he was in pretty bad shape magickally when I got there. Your father said he thinks the boy was trying something—”

“Again?” I said, letting the disgust through. Figured. Gideon was the magnetic poster boy for bad and very stupid shit. Limits? Yeah, he’d heard of them—enough to figure out how he was going to break them. This time, though, it sounded as if those limits broke him, instead.

Isabel let out a heavy sigh. “I know, dear,” she said. “He’s not … well, never mind that. I’ve managed to put him in a healing sleep. He’ll be resting for now. Jane’s watching over him while I’m gone.”

“So, he’s not dying?”

“Not anymore,” Isabel said. “I’m not sure how to fix him yet, but we’ll figure it out. How about you? You doing okay?”

“I’m fine,” I said, wondering at the abrupt subject switch. “Why?”

The crackle static tinged Isabel’s answer. Did she hesitate, or was it the signal? “Well, just wondering,” she said.

“I’m fine. Is there any reason I shouldn’t be?” Egads,
was
there something wrong with me? Was that why I was hearing the music and no one else was—oh wait, except for Daffyd.

“Yes, yes, indeed, that’s right.” I could almost hear Isabel nodding her head earnestly.

“Are you trying to tell me the—um—” I looked over at our taxi driver, who was deliberately staring straight ahead at the road. We were stopped at a traffic light. I recognized the street corner. We were only about a mile or two from our destination. “So my condition and my circumstances, should be different?” I meant different in style, not in amount of Talent—that part, I knew.

“Well, no, not exactly,” Isabel said. “You’re right, despite your many Talents now, your magick should be settled.”

Okay, well, that meant the phantom music wasn’t a symptom … maybe. “Isabel, what are you trying to say?” I asked.

“Nothing, nothing, dearie,” she said. “No worries. Just—”

Oh for … “What is it, Isabel? You keep asking if I’m okay and now I’m freaking.”

“Just be careful, sweetheart,” she said. “You’ve not yet been trained and I was hoping to take a fuller look at you when you arrived, but this dratted weather … I’m stuck in Seattle for at least another day or so. Perhaps, though, it would be a good idea if you try to avoid using your Talents until I can check you out more thoroughly.”

More thoroughly than what? Than the full body scan she did on me before she left Texas? What was she worried about?

“Aunt—” I began.

“Right then,” Isabel cut in. “I need to run, sweetheart. The battery’s beeping at me. Get some rest and I’ll call you later when we get back to our hotel.”

Rattled, I blurted out, “Am I going to be okay?”

“Oh, honey. Sorry for worrying you. I’m sure you will be,” she said. “I’ll see you soon. And if you get the chance to go the enclave before your father and I can get out of Seattle, go on. We’ll meet you up there.”

I closed my eyes and let out a deep sigh. “I’ll do what I can, Aunt. It’s not like I’m going to try to do anything beyond my normal capabilities anytime soon. I’m in the city. That would be a bit obvious, don’t you think?” I hoped the cabbie didn’t catch that.

“Well, yes,” Isabel said. “Very well, then. Talk to your brother. Gigi’s filled him in, so I’m sure as soon as she can, she’ll send a pilot to you.”

That totally didn’t make sense. I looked over at Tucker, who shook his head. I was now completely lost in this conversation. As far as I knew—and from Tucker’s expression, it seemed I was right—Gigi hadn’t communicated with Tucker any more than she had communicated with me. And what was all this last minute worrying? Isabel had left Texas with a cheery outlook and glad I was so healthy. What the hell had happened in the last couple of days that I didn’t know about? The other shoe dropped as I processed the last part of what Isabel had said.

“Send a pilot? We have a pilot. Liz is here in Burnaby. Why can’t we—“

“Oh, I know, honey, but Gigi wants to send her personal plane for you. You know, as a gesture.”

I sagged back against the seat and rolled my eyes.

Tucker whispered at me, “Say yes.”

“Fine, Aunt,” I said, tired of trying to figure all of this out. “Please give me a call when you all get to your hotel or whatever. I’ll be on my cell or you can ring the condo.” At which time, I thought, I was going to grill the shit out of both my aunt and my father. Something was most definitely up. Something that was ringing way weird.

A couple of short beeps interrupted and Isabel’s voice faded in. “… soon, dear. Soon as we can.”

The connection went dead. I closed my eyes and counted to ten before I said anything. “What was that about?” I asked Tucker. “I’m taking it that Gigi never contacted you.”

“Not a peep,” he said. “I think Dad and Isabel are smoking the crack.”

A snort from the cabbie made me smile. As we turned onto another street, the driver stomped on his brakes and swerved hard as a small dog ran out into the road. I fell against Niko, who slid into the now empty seat next to him.

Daffyd had disappeared.

“W
HAT THE
—” Niko twisted in the seat and looked wildly around. “Where—”

“Driver, please pull over,” Tucker said. The man looked at him, shrugged and did as he was asked.

“Did you see—” “Where did he go?” The three of us spoke over each other.

“Gentlemen, lady,” the driver began. “What is the matter? Is someone ill?”

“Did you see?” I demanded.

The man twisted in his seat and stared at me, his expression clearly reflecting the fact that he thought me insane. “See what, miss? We did not hit the dog.”

“No, the man, the other man.”

“I’m sorry, miss. Sir?” He looked over at Tucker, who looked at the driver and then the backseat, then back at the driver. Tucker’s eyes narrowed.

“You never saw him, did you?” Tucker asked the driver. “The third man in the car, the blond.”

The driver now looked at each of us as if we’d gone way over the bend and were entering utter insanity. “There was no other man,” he said. “Just you, the gentleman there”—he motioned toward Niko—“and the lady.”

“How—” I shook my head, hoping to make this all make sense. “You didn’t see the man sitting behind you? Tall, long blond hair, dressed in black? Got in with us at the airport.”

The driver scowled at me. “No one was there. I did not know why this gentleman sat in the middle when there was space, but I do not question my fares.”

“Okay, this is getting weirder by the second,” I said. “Let’s get out of here.” I opened the car door and scooted out.

Tucker pulled out several bills after glancing at the meter, which read $26.00. “This should more than cover the fare,” he said to the driver. “I apologize for any inconvenience we might have—”

“Fine, fine,” the driver waved one hand at us as he tucked the bills into his pocket. “But …”

“We are leaving,” Niko said and joined Tucker and me on the sidewalk.

The driver sped away, nearly running a red light half a block away.

“So now what?” I said, my hands on my hips. “Part of me wants to say that did not happen, but I’m not hallucinating … am I? Daffyd was here with us, right. On the plane, in the cab?”

Tucker turned slowly, scanning the area around us. We were already downtown, not too far from where we’d been going in the first place. Most of the buildings were commercial—combined office space and some restaurants, all of which served the daytime population. Nothing was open. We were at least eight or nine blocks from the major hotels.

“No sign of him,” Tucker said finally. “No scent, no sound. It’s as if …”

“As if he were never there,” Niko finished. “But he was. I would swear on it. I would swear on my oath to Adam.” I looked at Niko with a start. That was a blood oath he made to Adam and unbreakable.

“Can fey vanish like that, sis?” Tucker asked me. “I know so little about them.”

I thought back to my short time among the Sidhe, the faery folk in Wales, my mother’s kin. “I saw them walk through mirrors, reflective glass, a pool of water—to go from Underhill to Above, but never like that, never just poof, like—”

I started in shock as a thought occurred to me. Could Daffyd be a shade? I’d seen shades, or ghosts, plenty of times when I was working as an Escort. Once through the veil to the other side, most remained there, content in their choice. Occasionally, some would still be tied to this world, and their shades, reflections of their former selves, could appear on this side—but they’d never felt solid. I’d touched Daffyd, hadn’t I? Besides, Tucker and Niko had seen him. So had Liz. Niko had even given the man clothing. He couldn’t have been a ghost, not if the others had all seen and interacted with him. I was the one with the connection to the dead. I could perhaps understand with Niko, since he was dead himself, but Tucker? Nah. He’d never been sensitive to those who’d crossed over.

No, no, he wasn’t—isn’t, I insisted to myself. I
know
the dead. I know the feel of the dead, the sense, the pattern of energy.

“May I?” I asked as I reached toward Niko, my hand palm up, stopping it inches from his chest. Niko watched me in grave silence. I didn’t even need to close my eyes to concentrate anymore as I’d had to before the Change. This close, with intent, I felt his essence, his soul, for the lack of a better word. The sense of the walking death magick that animated him and Adam and other vampires. Something not of human make, though
they’d both been human before death. Niko’s energy vibrated against my palm, green and cool and vibrant with infused life-from-death. “It’s different,” I said, amazed. “Different from Adam. Are you all this way, then?”

Niko studied me, pausing before speaking. “All different? I do not know,” he said. “Never has anyone done such a thing to me.”

“Did you feel it?” I wondered aloud. “Feel me sensing you?”

“Indeed,” he said. “As if you touched inside me and plucked the strings of my soul.”

“Poetic.”

He nodded gravely. “It was … unusual … but not disturbing.” He tilted his head. “Did you sense Adam this way?”

I shook my head. “Not exactly.” I’d not really realized I could. I’d reached out to sense him, yes, but that was before. When he’d been in a coma and I’d still been unChanged. “It was different before. More a sense of energy, more diffuse.” Adam had always felt grounded in deep rich colors and a sense of Other that he’d once kept so well hidden from me.

“Daffyd did not feel like this,” I said firmly. “He was as alive as you or I, Tucker. Thing is …” I reached toward Niko again, refreshing my sense of his being. “There’s something there,” I said. “Some underlying … are you fey, Niko?” I asked in wonder as the sense of green energy merged with my own, striking a vibrant chord that reminded me of—