Blood and Destiny (16 page)

“Because you’re better than that.” His tone held no sliver of doubt. I could only wish I was that infallible. Now I had to shatter all that confidence by admitting the vampire in question had already zapped me once. I didn’t want to do it, but there wasn’t a choice if any element of this blasted plan was going to work.

“Actually, I’m not. He came into my office a couple of days ago and did just that. Walked in, zapped me, then left me a note telling me where to find his accomplice. He was done with the poor fool and wanted us to take care of the problem for him.”

I didn’t look at Frank’s face, but I could feel the shock vibrating in the air. Defensively, I added a disclaimer.

“Shapeshifters aren’t immune to magic, Frank. Especially not when it’s being used by a vampire as old as civilization.”

“He’s not that old.”

Frank’s voice squeaked and I realized he thought my little exaggeration was a literal fact. Sighing, I dropped my head forward onto the steering wheel and counted to ten before I corrected him.

“No. He’s not that old, but he is old enough to pack some abilities that aren’t supposed to exist outside legends and fairy tales.”

Silence stretched between us as two vampires appeared around the corner. They walked up the sidewalk and into the lobby without even a questioning glance from the valets huddled by the key desk.

“I guess my plan really does stink, doesn’t it? I thought your vampire would back us up.”

He sounded so dejected that I rallied what little optimism I had to put a positive spin on it.

“It’s a good plan if we’re expecting everyone to be honorable, practically immortal monsters. The problem is that you don’t know the monsters half as well as you think you do. It’s not a bad thing.

The local monsters like you. It’s the out-of-towners that we have to worry about.”

The worst of it was Marcus really would mount the rescue if I went in there and his father decided to draw the line in the sand over my body, dead or alive. It had the potential to be a bloodbath.

There simply was no right answer. I could call Dr. Vincent and tell him where his wife was and let him handle it or I could find a way to talk to her. I honestly thought I could talk her into confronting her husband on her own if I could get to her.

Reaching down, I turned the ignition.

“Where are we going?” The anticipation in Frank’s voice made me smile despite everything.

“To fetch reinforcements, of course. And you get to tag along. Don’t you feel special?”

I expected him to be happy about it. He was finally getting his chance to see the inside track of my life in the underworld. A quick glance at his face as I pulled out of the parking place showed how

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wrong I was. It was serious and his tone was totally devoid of emotion when he asked.

“Why? Why now? You’ve always said that it was too dangerous for a mere mortal to go where you so blithely go.”

“Maybe this is the last chance I have to let everyone know you’re okay before I go in there and don’t come out again.”

It sounded fatalistic. It also sounded true. No matter how good Marcus and his vampires were, deep down I was laying odds on the older being the stronger in a fair fight. And since I could almost guarantee it wouldn’t be a fair fight, Marcus was at a significant disadvantage.

“You don’t have to go, you know. You’ve done the job. We’ve found her and proven she’s not dead. The police can take it from here. Call Dr. Vincent, bring him up to speed. I have a friend at the department who can handle it delicately.”

As far as solutions, it was a good one. But I wouldn’t be able to look at myself if I didn’t see it through. I had to at least try to make Betsy Vincent see reason and talk to her husband. She might not listen to me, but I had to try. It was a hard truth to acknowledge, but even I wasn’t beyond being hit over the head by the occasional figurative baseball bat. Pulling out of the parking lot, I carefully answered his question.

“When you’re walking on the dark side, Rougarou, you don’t do the minimum and turn it over to the people in the sun. You see the job through. In this case, I go talk to Betsy Vincent and try to get her to talk to her husband. If she won’t, then we call him and tell him that she’s safe and doesn’t want to talk to him. He can decide whether he wants to tell the cops or not. Either way, he gets peace of mind and we’ve earned our pay. I presume you received one of those outlandish checks too?”

“Dr. Vincent is nothing if not generous and he has the funds to burn. Besides, my only job was to follow her and find out what she was up to. You had the harder task of finding her once she went down the rabbit hole.”

“Which, if you will recall,” I reminded him with no effort to hide the humor in my voice, “you called me with the word as to where she was. I was still jumping at shadows and chasing phantom blondes downtown to dead ends.”

“We all catch the lucky break, now and then. You’re paying me back by giving me a formal introduction to the mysterious vampire king that has you in knots. Did you know that there’s a betting pool about the two of you down at the biker bar on 5th?”

I didn’t. The thought made me groan aloud. Just what I needed. My romantic life was under the scrutiny of the entire supernatural community. Then a thought struck me.

“Where’s your money?”

“On you, of course. Anyone who can walk away from all that temptation has more backbone than to swoon after a little deprivation. No man is that good, vampire or not.”

Oh, how I wished I had his certainty. Since I didn’t, I hoped he didn’t have too much cash invested to lose. Silence stretched for a few miles and Frank changed the subject.

“Where’s your car? Did it finally keel over?”

The source of my original bad temper reignited my ire, but not at him. “It’s still at my office. Since

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I couldn’t get it out of the parking lot without tipping off either the werewolves or the vampires staking my place out, I simply snuck out and walked down the hill and caught a bus to the rental place.”

It was either that or have my reconnaissance mission chaperoned by enough muscle to tip even the oblivious valets that there was going to be trouble. I fully intended to slap Kale with the bill for the rental too. It was bound to annoy him more than it would Marcus. If I had to be put out and annoyed, someone had to suffer with me. Besides, Yasmine would think it a fine joke.

“Clever. I’d love to be a fly on the wall when they called their bosses and told them that they lost you.”

“They probably don’t realize it. For all they know, I’m hiding in my apartment doing who-knows-what. They’ve been having more fun growling and putting on a show for the each other. I’m only the toy they’re fighting over. How else do you think I managed to sneak away from wolves’ noses and vampires’ eyes?”

“Oh, this is going to be fun.” The glee in his voice made me question his sanity as we pulled into the warehouse district where the Vantage stood.

Peter and a quartet of guards were strolling from the doors as I parked. They froze when I popped out. Vampire sight is an awesome thing, but mine was nearly as keen. The surprise on Peter’s face was priceless. Yep, my guards had truly not missed me yet and that meant I was about to catch Marcus flat-footed. The prospect made me practically run to meet them without concern for Frank’s ability to keep up. He managed it, though he was a little winded as he pulled up a step behind me.

“Hello, boys. Marcus available? Of course he is.”

Sidestepping around them, only instinct and reaction time kept me moving out of the range of Peter’s suddenly outstretched hand. It all happened in a blink. The vampires with him closed ranks on us. All save one who was frantically talking into a two-way radio. The element of surprise was gone, but my opportunity to catch him unprepared was not. I wanted that moment to see Marcus as something other than the ancient, polished demigod image he personified. I wanted it badly enough to sweep my leg out and knock the feet out from under the vampire closest to me.

It was a mistake. I knew it the moment I escalated the encounter. They were faster than I was and I had a mortal with me. The asphalt was hot and gritty under my cheek as Peter took me down with far more gentleness than I would have if the situations had been reversed. He had my arm behind my back and his knee firmly pressed into the small of it as he waited for me to stop struggling. It was an instinctive response to being pinned, but a futile effort.

“Uncle.” It came out breathless and slightly strained, but without any heat. The vampire I had knocked down was climbing to his feet looking disgruntled, but not hurt, from being knocked over by a woman half his mass.

Peter let me go and watched me warily as I bounced up to my feet. Frank’s eyes were wide as he stood back with two of the guards. This time, his rapid breathing wasn’t because of his hurry to keep up with me from the car. Fear permeated the air and I wasn’t the only one to smell it. Both vampires with him watched as if he were the mouse and they were the cats guarding the door. To a mortal, our little display of speed and power would have seemed surreal.

Peter saw it too. A sharp, unintelligible command put them both in their places. I strode toward the building while I had the chance. Frank could follow or hide in the car now that I knew Peter wouldn’t let anything happen to him.

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Instead of stopping me, Peter’s longer strides caught him up with me before we’d reached the shadow of the Vantage. “Do you really want to descend upon him like this? You may not like what you see.”

It was as diplomatic as any other way to remind me I no longer held a place here. Or was it? I glanced at him. As old as he was, Peter held a trace of anxiety in his expression. If I hadn’t seen it for myself, I wouldn’t have believed it possible.

“What’s wrong, Peter? You’re usually glad to see me no matter what the circumstances. I thought you were in favor of me and Marcus patching things up?”

“I am, which is why I think you should not drop in unannounced at this time.”

Then it hit me. I raised my face to the sun long past its zenith. Marcus had been to see me after lunch, most likely as soon as he’d risen for the day. In another couple of hours, he would be the suave vampire at play to the public as he meandered about the Vantage strategically handling all the duties of his office. It all added up to one reason why Peter would bar the door to me. Marcus was having his dinner. Instead of stopping me, the thought only made me quicken my pace.

The guards at the side entrance didn’t bother to try to stand in my way. They stepped back and opened the door. Peter followed like a ghost as I walked the familiar winding path to the penthouse apartment built to overlook the dance floor. Nerves ran to temper as I let myself into Marcus’s private sanctuary through the large double doors across from the elevator. It made an impressive lair and looked exactly the way I remembered it.

Marcus wasn’t in the great room. I ignored the bedroom door in favor of the one-way mirrored glass that displayed the club below. At night, watching people revel in the mindless search for pleasure was exhilarating, but in the daylight, the club looked staged, empty and forlorn.

The closing of the outer door was loud in the stillness and a glance over my shoulder proved that Frank wasn’t a coward when it came to tough choices. He stood a few steps away from the guard I’d downed in the parking lot. The rest were probably waiting outside since the only other person there was Peter.

Peter looked torn between going to fetch Marcus so I wouldn’t have to wait and loyalty to his liege. Marcus made his decision easy by strolling into the room from the bedroom wearing nothing but a pair of tailored slacks with his Italian loafers. The smooth perfection of his chest was marred by a crude tattoo on his left breast above his heart. I’d asked what it meant once, but all he’d say was that it marked him as the second-born. Now, having met his father and learned the story, I understood why he chose not to talk about it.

The look on Marcus’s face could only be described as stormy. He wasn’t pleased and neither was I. It was one thing to know he had to eat, but quite another to be face-to-face with his entrée even if it was my own doing. Involuntarily, my hand rose toward the pinkish scars on my neck. Given another day or two and they’d be faded totally. There were some benefits to being a shapeshifter.

Before we had a chance to exchange opening volleys, a brunette stalked out behind him. The snug bodice of her blouse displayed more than a little cleavage that was only emphasized by the still oozing fang holes on her neck. If Marcus’s face was stormy, hers was a hurricane. It definitely wasn’t the post-euphoric glow.

Either we had interrupted or Marcus hadn’t used sex to soften the blow of the bite.

“Peter, see Ms. Reynolds is escorted home by someone willing to ensure she’s properly paid for

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services rendered.”

She cast a venomous look my way. My gaze locked with hers, but my comment was aimed at Marcus.

“What? Didn’t see to the job well enough yourself?”

Ms. Reynolds opened her mouth, but hesitated. Peter didn’t give her a chance to say anything. He took her by the arm and propelled her toward the door. Her gaze flipped from mine to Marcus and the fight went out of her. Shaking her arm loose, she threw her head high and left with as much dignity as tight leather pants and heels could give her. Seeing her made me think less of Marcus.

Perverse, but true.

“Leave us.”

Everyone moved to the door except Frank. He leaned pointedly against the wall with his arms crossed in a show of bravery. I shook my head and he gave me a putout look. After a marked hesitation, he followed Peter from the room and the door closed behind them.

The chasm between Marcus and I had never seemed wider. I had enough time to regret my waspish tongue before mustering the humility for the apology he deserved.