Assassins Bite (30 page)

As they shook, Sunny let out a cheer. Below, vampires and humans alike shouted. “Victory!”

Aiden smiled. They were cheering the win, but it felt like they were applauding him. He'd fought the good fight, and with the help of his friends and most of all Sunny, he'd won back his life.

We returned to Meiers Corners in the early hours of the morning.

After dropping off the DTL contingent, who were taking Eloise to a secure location for questioning, Aiden and I headed straight for Strongwells'. We chatted with Dirk for a while—his one clear sentence was “I like your hair, Sunny”—before he had to take a nap. Ric was with us too, though he was pale and sweating and fell asleep off and on. His wife Synnove held his hand tightly.

“I can see you worrying,” she said to Aiden when Dirk was gone and Ric had fallen asleep again. “Don't. He's stable.”

“‘Stable' looks pretty sick,” Aiden said. “Can Elias cure him?”

“I'm in contact with his best. The poison seems to be attacking the mechanism that lets the vampire part heal the human part. The problem is we can't actually see the vampire part.”

“
Invisible
?”

“No, just missing. When we take tissue samples, they're full of holes. What's left is normal human cells. My theory is the vampire bits—probably cells of some sort, and from the hole size, eukaryotes—the vampire eukaryotes disintegrate when separated from the living organism.”

Aiden wiped Ric's brow. “So you can't find what to fix, because it disintegrates?”

“Luckily I thought to check effects. A healthy vampire's eukaryotes compress the usual stages of inflammation, proliferation and remodeling from days into seconds.”

“Translation?” I said.

“Faster healing. Better too. The healed cell matrix is not just remodeled but good as new. It's even possible the vampire eukaryotes somehow become stems cells…well, you don't care about that. Bottom line, if healing is a phone call between eukaryote and cell, the poison has hijacked the line. We have to formulate an antidote to make it let go.”

“Hey. Blackthorne.” Bo came into the room, carrying a conference call hub, Elena following him. “I'd have waited, but they asked for you.”

“Who?”

Bo rolled his eyes. “Mars and Venus.” He put the hub on a tray in the middle of the room and pressed a button. “Go.”

“We discussed it, Blackthorne,” Milwaukee started.

“We discussed it and decided,” Madison said.

“Decided what?” Aiden exchanged a confused and slightly apprehensive glance with me.

“You're the one to lead us.”

“Well, halleluiah,” Ric said.

“Good morning again, Sunshine.” Synnove smoothed his hair back.

“Lead?” The word exploded from Aiden's lips. “The battle is over.”

“But the war has just begun,” Milwaukee said. “Nosferatu's in his hidey hole licking his wounds. But he's a bully and crafty. He'll be back.”

Madison said, “Besides, there are others out there like him. Waiting to grab power.”

Aiden exchanged another confused glance with me. “What do you want me to do about it?”

“Isn't it obvious?” Madison said. “We want you to lead our alliance.”

“Exactly,” Milwaukee said. “I've already talked with Green Bay and Upper Michigan and they're in.”

“Wait—what?” Now Aiden was staring, stupefied, around the circle of grinning vampires and mates alike.

Madison said, “I've got a cousin in North Dakota who's interested. South Dakota is friendly with the Iowa Alliance but he's open to relations.”

“But…”

“We thought we'd call ourselves the Confederation of Border States,” Milwaukee said.

“You thought that,” Madison snapped. “I like the League of Extraordinary Households.”

Ric muttered, “How about The Fellowship of the Grumpy Old Vamps?”

“This is why we need you to unite us, Blackthorne,” Milwaukee said dryly. “What do you say?”

Aiden began, “But Ric Holiday—”

“Is perfectly happy running his own city,” Ric said. “Go for it, Aiden. I'll support you. I'll even do your event planning.”

Expression adorably bewildered, Aiden turned to me. “Sunny?”

“I'm with you.” I took his hands. “Either way. Always. But honestly, you made a hell of a general and I think you'll be a wonderful president.”

“President. Huh.” He straightened. “Well, then. I guess I'll give it a try.”

Bo pumped air. “Yeah!”

“Why are you so happy?” Elena said.

“Now the Iowa Alliance doesn't need to be prepared to fight on all four sides. We have an ally.”

“Whoa, wait,” Aiden said. “Bo, I'll accept
you
as an ally, and even a friend, but I reserve the right to get pissed at Elias whenever I want.”

“Except you promised,” I said, remembering.

Aiden briefly closed pained eyes. “Elias's favor for healing Ric. Damn it, that bastard knew this was going to happen.”

Ric said, “What are you talking about?”

Aiden's thin sexy lips were drawn in disgust. “If I have a problem with Elias, I have to talk it through with him before taking action. As a single vampire it was an annoyance, but as a leader, it's
politics
. Now I have to warn Elias and the Iowa Alliance before the…what the hell are we calling ourselves?”

Ric started laughing.

“Confederation of Border States,” Bo said helpfully.

Elena said, “Or the League of Extraordinary Households.”

“Or Grumpy Old Farts.” Ric hooted.

“I have to warn
Elias
before we go to war,” Aiden said. “But I don't have to warn you.” He jumped on Ric and tickled. Ric howled.

“What's going on there?” Milwaukee asked suspiciously.

“Nothing,” Aiden and Ric caroled at the same time.

“There's a large home available in Linesville,” Madison said. “I'll have my academics renovate it as a vampire household for you—”

“My industrialists will renovate it,” Milwaukee broke in. “You'll have the latest in technologies.”

“But why?” Aiden said.

“A leader has to have a meeting place,” Madison said.

“A place of business,” Milwaukee said.

“Linesville works for us,” they both said.

Again Aiden's black eyes found mine. Seeing me smile, they lost the haunted look and even crinkled at the edges. “All right. Sunny and I will create a household in Linesville and head a new alliance of Northwest vampires.”

“Northwest?”

“Sure. Why stop at North Dakota? We'll work deals with states west through Idaho and Montana to Washington and Oregon. Maybe even open negotiations with Canada.”

“You'll need human intervention,” Elena said suddenly. “Linesville doesn't have a police department. It's a great opportunity for Sun-Hee. She can create one and head it.”

“Wait, what?” I said.

“Turnabout.” Aiden's smile widened and his gleaming gaze took on a smug glint.

Ric gaped at him. “What the hell is that? Is that a
smile
?”

“What? No.” Aiden touched his lips. Dropped his hand immediately and scowled hard at us all. “So what? I've smiled before.”

“Yes. Twenty-three times, with this one.”

Aiden rolled his eyes. “Seriously, Holiday, you need a life.”

“And you need a jerk-ectomy.”

“You're married to a doctor. Get her to practice first on you.”

“Boys, hush,” Synnove said. “We're waiting for Sunny to decide now.”

“Well…” I could exchange my clunky shoes and heavy uniform for a sleek pants suit and fedora? I had to admit I was interested. “I'm not very experienced.” I tapped my lip. “But I could bring in Jonesy to help me.”

“And Dirk,” Elena said.

“To help?” Were we talking about the same Dirk?

“Not at first,” Bo said. “He'll need close supervision and training. As both his brother-in-law and maker, Blackthorne, you'd be perfect.”

“Wait, what?” Aiden and I said. Aiden said, “I don't know how to train a fledgling.”

“Maker?” I said. Although that explained the veiled comments. I totally ignored the brother-in-law comment. Hell, Mom and Madison had probably already planned the complete wedding, including what kind of chloroform they'd use if we tried to get out of it.

“You trained dozens of us,” Ric said.

“But this is Dirk,” I said. “A Ruffles is bad enough. But a super-v-guy-Ruffles?”

“Aiden will take care of it,” Ric said.

“So that's a yes for Dirk,” Elena said. “Tight Ass?” she added hopefully.

“
No
. Double no.” I nailed her with an eyeball so hairy it qualified as its own species. “With a dollop of ick.”

“What about Eloise?” Bo asked suddenly.

“She's somewhere secure,” Ric said. “And off the grid. We're in touch with a psychiatrist who runs a hospital for our kind. Highly regarded. We hope he'll take her on.”

“After what she did to your mate?”

“I suggested it,” Synnove said. “It might help us learn why so many vampires are insane.”

“Or power mad,” I said.

Ric briefly grasped Aiden's arm. “Sorry, by the way. I had to go to her. She had Synnove.”

“I get that,” Aiden said. “But next time you try anything like that, it'll be you and me and a staple gun, buddy.”

Elena rose. “I'm going upstairs to get some food. We're going to be a while, hashing out the details.”

“I'll help.” I followed her out. “I've wanted to ask you something.”

“Sure.” She led me to the kitchen where she put in a large breakfast order with Mrs. Cook. “I've been meaning to say—I like your new hairstyle. Glad you moved on with your life. What's up?”

Well damn. Had everyone been waiting for me to grow beyond my kindergarten self? Sometimes small towns were a pain, but sometimes the deep caring made me want to cry. “That first night, when you called me into the MCPD. You told me to keep an eye on Aiden. But you know and trust him. So why did you really ask me to follow him?”

She smiled. “You're immune to vampire suggestion. I figured telling you to stick to Aiden was the easiest way for him to keep an eye on you. Plus, with him you didn't talk to the wrong people—imagine if you'd stumbled across Nosferatu or his henchvamps without knowing the players?”

“Yeah but—couldn't you have told me all that?”

“You've seen what's going on in my life. Now that Rorik's started walking, well…sorry, but I didn't have time. You dealt with it all right.”

“Learning by doing? I made a lot of mistakes.”

“It's a new age. We're all making up the rules as we go.”

By the time we got back with the food—breakfast burritos and Mrs. Cook's famous
chiles rellenos
along with scalding hot coffee and fried potatoes with onions and red and green diced peppers—they'd managed to hammer out the start of an agreement.

Aiden rose to his feet. “We'll finish later. Sunny, can you drive me somewhere?”

“Where?”

“Redfox Village Police station.” Affection—maybe something more—lit his eyes. “I have a parking ticket to pay.”

On the way back Aiden's phone chimed. He frowned at it. “Unknown number. Last time that was Nosferatu.”

I grimaced. “Better answer.”

“Mr. Blackthorne,” Elias greeted us, his deep voice defying the tiny speaker. “I understand congratulations are in order.”

Aiden shot a black glare at the phone. “That was a slick trick you pulled on me.”

“No trick, Mr. Blackthorne. I find it in everyone's best interests to gather harmony where I can. I'm calling about Detective Ruffles.”

“My brother?” I squeaked. Damn, I was definitely going to have to have a mousectomy. “What about him?”

“Simply to reassure you, Officer—or should I say Police Commissioner—Ruffles.”

“How about Sunny?” I surprised myself by offering him my family name.

“Thank you for that honor,” he said, and I knew I'd done the right thing. “Strongwell reported to me that he hadn't quite made it clear. As a human, your good brother had some, well, frailties. In my experience, given the proper nurturing and training, he will end up as good as any other of our kind.”

“What are you saying?”

He chuckled, the sound like rich black silk sliding along my skin. “Leaders are made, not born, and the same is true of protectors. It just takes time. Mr. Blackthorne, here's your opportunity to be a different maker than Nosferatu. Whether Detective Ruffles is to be any better than a basic beast is up to you.”

“Wait,” Aiden said. “Are you being
helpful
?”

“Am I?”

“Impossible. What's the catch?”

“The catch is that I feel there are enough Nosferatu clones in the world.
Please
don't make another.” He disconnected without saying goodbye.

“I've asked several times,” I said. “You've never answered to my satisfaction. What does that mean exactly, that you're my brother's maker?”

“I guess I can tell you now. I gave your brother a transfusion. A rather large one. It insured he'd turn, but it also means we have a permanent connection. A blood tie.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You're leaving out details.”

“Only the gory ones, I promise.”

“Fine. But does it mean Dirk will be less of a Ruffles?”

“I don't mind Ruffles.”

“You know what I mean.” Inside I was smiling.

He took one of my hands from the steering wheel to give it a brief clasp. “He'll be the best he can be. I'll make sure of it.”

As we drove, he sobered. “Sunny, a while ago you asked me for the truth about whether I was falling in love with you.”