Blade Song (11 page)

I also, to my disgust, had to try not to drool.

Jude was a sexy, sexy work of art, one that got better with age, but I didn’t want to think about that. Didn’t want to think about him at all, really.

“I wish to hire you,” he said quietly, keeping his voice low.

That didn’t stop Damon from hearing him.

I heard the shifter’s voice trip over the phone, then steady.
Yes, yes, My Lady, everything is well
…

I stepped aside and gestured. The small, inner office was spelled—work by some of Colleen’s fellow witches. It would work well enough.

And
hello
…I could piss Damon off.

He came off the couch the second he saw Jude.

I waggled my fingers at him.

“I assure you, we are making progress, My Lady. Ruling things out is part of the process,” Damon said, his voice calm and easy even as he swiped out a hand for me.

Jude blocked it, summarily shoving me forward.

Good grief. I stumbled into my office just in time for Jude to slip in behind me and shut the door.

That was all it took to activate the spelling.

I’d have to open it for anybody to enter. Unless somebody busted the wards. A witch could do it. Weaker shifters couldn’t. Vamps were incapable—wards were earth magic, living magic. Vampires couldn’t break them if they tried. Sadly, Damon was a strong shifter. Give him enough time and I knew he could break the damn ward.

“Well, well, little warrior,” Jude murmured, turning to face me. “You pick unusual company these days. That’s Annette’s most favorite toy. How did you get so lucky? She doesn’t like to share her toys.”

Annette. The cat-bitch’s name was Annette. It didn’t suit her. Kitty-cat Barbie was so much more fun.

I sneered at him and dropped down into one of the chairs.

“He’s not a toy I’m interested in playing with,” I muttered. Then I mentally cringed, knowing exactly how Jude would take it.

Yep. Seconds later, his hand stroked over my cheek. “I’m glad to hear it, little warrior. I’m not particularly good at sharing myself…and I’d hate to have to share you with that.”

I batted his hand away. “Newsflash, vamp. I’m not yours.”

“So you keep insisting.” He snagged the only other piece of furniture in the room, another chair, and swung it around. He straddled it and stared at me as he rested his arms on the back. “Why are you working with cats?”

“A job. Money. Same reason I take any job.”

His gaze flickered down to my throat. “It’s a job that’s gotten you in trouble already. Is it paying well?”

“Not well enough,” I muttered.

A fist slammed against the door and I groaned as I felt the magic of the ward crackle. “Open the fucking door, Colbana.”

“He has a nasty temper,” Jude murmured.

Absently, I touched my throat. “I can handle it.” To be fair, Damon hadn’t laid a hand on me since that first day, except to push me out of the way a few times. It had been necessary more than a few times, and not just when we’d gone trolling down in Wolf Haven.

“I heard the Alpha’s nephew was missing.”

I shot Jude a dark look as the pounding at the door increased. Damon shouted, “Colbana, open the door or I’m going to wring your fucking neck again.”

Sighing, I leaned forward and buried my face in my hands.

A hand touched my knee. Cool as death. I knocked it aside.

Too bad I couldn’t brush aside the whisper in my mind.

“
She does not tolerate failure, Kit. Why did you take this job
?”

I shoved up out of the chair.

The hell would I answer him.

Jude continued to watch me while Damon banged away on the door. Each time he did, the magic sparked. He’d break the ward soon. It would cost me money to put it back up if he broke it. “I can’t let him break my wards. I need the safe room.”

“Look at me.”

I shouldn’t.

But I did.

The green of his gaze started to glow.

“
If you fail her, it’s likely she will try to have you killed. You already know this
.”

With a short nod, I acknowledged that. What was the point in denying it?

“
I can help you. Not many can stand against the cat Alpha. But I can
.”

Rolling my eyes, I stared at him. Why in the hell would he?

I knew I amused him, but my amusement factor wasn’t going to get me that far in life.

He came out of the seat. “
Would you like a way out, Kit
?
It will not cost you much
.”

“Uh-huh.” I wasn’t about to become another one of his servants.

A faint smile canted Jude’s lips upward. “
I have enough of those. Just
…” He brushed his fingertips along my bruised neck. “
One taste. For now. Another when you require my assistance…should it come to that
.”

I tensed.
No
.

“
Why not
?
It’s just a taste, Kit. And it will not harm you, nor bind you…and if it comes to it, it could be the very thing to save to you
.”

Why in the world would he be willing to fuck with the Alpha Cat just for a taste of my blood?

A smile pulled his lips back from his teeth and the glow in his eyes started to go red.

“
Fucking with her is reason enough. But you…you amuse me, as you already know. And you are…unique. Now…do we have a deal
?”

The banging at the door grew louder and something that looked like lightning whipped around the room.

With a curse, I shoved my wrist into his face. The wrist would have to work. My throat had been abused enough lately.

Jude smiled.

It had hurt.

Plain and simple.

There was nothing erotic or seductive about it, although I know they can make it pleasant.

I don’t think he wanted it to be pleasant, and I’m actually happy with that.

He did seal the wounds; another thing I was happy about, despite the fact that it only made it hurt more.

The entire exchange lasted maybe fifteen seconds.

I had maybe another thirty before Damon would break the wards.

Jerking away from him, I went to the door. Under my hand, the door knob buzzed. The magic responded to my touch and the abused wards faded away. Since they hadn’t been broken, once they had enough time, they’d rebuild themselves and be as strong as they had been before the bastard had started beating on them—the beauty of things made from the earth. They healed.

I opened the door and then found myself on the ground, shoved there by Jude’s hands just in time to avoid a punch that just might have caved my head in.

“You should show more control, cat,” Jude said icily as he helped me to my feet.

Damon’s face was fixed in an awful snarl. And something…I bit back a curse as I stared at him. His face was awful. The bones were stretched and terribly wrong and he looked…bigger. Nearly a head taller, broader, with the cloth of his shirt stretched too tight over his chest and shoulders.

But as I stared at him, the bones shifted. Melted back into place. “What kind of little fool locks herself in a room with a vampire?” he asked, panting out the question.

“One who has business to discuss with him,” I said dryly. “And you were on the phone.”

“Business…” Damon shook his head. “You’re otherwise engaged for the time being.”

“Hmmm. Yes, so I’ve heard,” Jude said. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded slip of paper. “A retainer, Ms. Colbana. For when you’re no longer so occupied. I’d appreciate a call at your earlier convenience.”

Damon went to snatch the check away.

I managed to get it first.

Damn it. I was not going on retainer for that jerk.

Except if I didn’t take the damned check, Damon was going to think he had something to do with it. Shoving it into my pocket, I turned away and headed over to my desk. “I’ll be in touch when I can, Jude.”

Absently I flexed the wrist he’d bitten. He hadn’t taken much. I couldn’t even tell.

“
I can
—”

I tensed.

His voice was heavier in my head. Fuller.

Oh,
shit
.

Seconds later, he was gone.

“What in the hell did he want?” Damon growled.

I dropped down into my seat, determined to ignore the creeping sensation of dread crawling through my stomach. I wasn’t going to freak about this. Nope. Wasn’t going to do it. Folding my hands across my belly, I stared into Damon’s dark gray eyes. “You heard him. He wants me available for a job when I’m done with this.”

“You shouldn’t work for vampires. They’re dangerous, slippery creatures.”

“Yes, and it’s so much better working for cats, Hell, for werecreatures of any kind for that matter,” I muttered. “In the past four days, I’ve had a number of them try to attack me, I’ve got a nasty scar on my torso—”

“Hey, Wolf Haven was
your
move, not mine,” he interjected.

“Yes, but we were attacked by weres…not vamps, not humans, not my kind. Weres.” Narrowing my eyes at him, I leaned forward and added, “My so-called bodyguard has tried to strangle me. Every time I go into a business, I get patted down and twice, I’ve had somebody grab my tits—”

He slammed his hands down on my desk so hard, I felt the damn thing vibrate. “Twice?”

I stared at him.

“What in the fuck does that mean?”

The phone rang.

I reached for it only to have him grab my wrist. “What in the fuck does that mean, Colbana?”

“Do you want me to do my job or not?” I snapped.

“Answer the fucking question.”

The call rolled over and a familiar voice filled the air. “Heya, Kitty girl, it’s Lincoln down at Banner Central. I heard you were looking for a runner. I don’t know if this is the one you’re looking for…”

Damon let go of my wrist.

As I reached for the phone, I glared at him. “I really wished I’d never laid eyes on you,” I muttered.

He glared right back.

Chapter Eight

I don’t pray much.

But as we drove to Banner HQ, or Bureau of Non-Human Affairs Headquarters for the Florida Region, I was praying, and praying hard.

Lincoln had some info on a runaway.

Actually, what he had was a body.

And if it was the body of the kid I was searching for, I was going to need Jude’s help in the worst way.

A way out. That was what he’d offered me and as much as I hated to accept it, if it was the
only
way out?

Fine. I’d take it.

The question was, how fast could he get to me?

Maybe I should have asked him that.

“Tone it down,” Damon said from the seat next to me. He was drumming a hand on his knee, staring out the window. “You’re driving me nuts.”

I ignored him as I started to mentally plot my escape route.

He still underestimated me. That was a good thing. So far, in the past few days, I’d played it quiet, never once calling my blade to me even when I wanted it, when I all but thought I was going to die. So he didn’t know I could summon it at will. That was an ace in the hole.

I hadn’t needed to pull any of my other little tricks, either. Most of them just included the subterfuge skills, invisibility and all of that—skills suited to assassins and thieves, but useful all the same.

He could track my scent if he had to, but I knew that and I could compensate, and scent trails only lasted for so long.

All I needed to do was buy time to reach Jude.

Granted, I’d be going from one problem to another. If I was alive, though, I could figure a way out.

Alive was better than the alternative.

It was a mantra I had told myself very often during a certain point during my life. It had gotten me through hell before. I could rely on it to do the same again. Alive was better than the alternative and if I was alive, I could figure a way out.

Okay.

So that was the plan.

Stay alive.

Absently, I flexed my wrist again. It didn’t hurt anymore, but I’d swear I could still feel the press of his fangs, and damn it, I didn’t like it—

Suddenly, Damon’s hand on my arm.

I hissed out in pained shock before I could stop it. Clutching at the steering wheel with my left hand, I tried to keep my focus on the traffic. “Damn it, you prick, I realize a car wreck isn’t going to damage you much, but it will hurt me pretty bad. Would you stop it?”

“You drive like a fucking racecar driver,” Damon snapped. “Pull over.”

“I’m trying to get to Banner HQ, remember?” I jerked on my arm. “They might have the kid there? On ice?”

“Pull over,” he said again. “Or I’ll fucking make you.”

I sighed and pressed on the brakes, easing through the traffic until I could turn off International Drive. I ended up in the parking lot of one of the many vacated restaurants, although judging by the looks of it, it wouldn’t stay vacant much longer. Lately the packs had been buying up all the land and turning out some seriously profitable enterprises for use among the were packs.

“Okay, asshole.” I pulled over. “What now?”

He didn’t respond.

Instead…he reached over and grabbed my left wrist. The one Jude had bitten. I hissed out another startled breath as he jerked it to his nose.

My heart beat jacked up to about ten thousand beats a minute, or so I thought, as he opened his mouth. Oh, hell no—

But all he did was inhale.

“Did you let him bite you?”

“What the hell?” I twisted my arm and tried to pull away.

“Did you?”

Again, I tried to pull away from him but it was like trying to pull something out of concrete. “You son of a bitch, you seem to forget something…I’m working a job for your Alpha. That doesn’t mean I owe you answers on everything damned thing I do.”

“You little idiot.” He jerked and thanks to the seat belt, I thought he was going to pull my arm out of its socket. “You don’t get vampires very well, do you? Once you let them bite you, they own a piece of your fucking soul. He can call you, whenever he wants. Can whisper into your dreams…and you can’t fight him. You can’t say no.”