Blood Dark (6 page)

K
ane took
the only other available seat at the round table.

Jask met Kane’s gaze only fleetingly in a silent exchange before returning his attention to Caleb. The lycan leader was, in fact, remaining unnervingly quiet despite radiating a glare in Caleb’s direction that lay the unspoken ground rules of whose patch they were on.

Fortunately, when it came to self-control, Jask was refined.

At least he was for now.

And Kane needed to make sure Jask stayed that way because Caleb may have turned up alone, but if he didn’t get back to the west, an army would be on Jask’s doorstep in no time – a battle that would manoeuver them all right into Sirius’s hands.

‘This is cosy,’ Caleb said breaking the silence, his green eyes boring deep into Kane’s.

But Kane was far from in the mood for games.

‘We know Tuly told you Phia’s here,’ Kane said, ‘so get to the point, Caleb.’

‘If only you’d been as direct when you came to see me two days ago.’

‘And have you try some crazy move like turning up here?’

Caleb smiled – a fleeting and unnerving smile. He placed his cigarette between his lips and lit up before sliding the packet to Kane.

He felt Jask tense beside him at the provocation, but he was thankfully too smart to bite.

‘I wish I’d done it years ago,’ Caleb declared. ‘Jask’s hospitality has been second to none.’ He exhaled a controlled stream of smoke as he met the lycan’s glare with a hint of a taunting smile.

Jask smiled back but there was just enough glimpse of canines to remind Caleb who he was dealing with.

‘As it has been for the serryn by the sounds of it.’ Caleb playfully flicked his lighter on, his gaze momentarily drawn to the flame before he snapped the case shut. ‘Though
I’m
a little more difficult to get into bed,’ he added, sending Jask a playful wink.

There was an almost undetectable upcurling of Jask’s upper lip that was
never
a good sign. Jask may have been playing the game, but the lack of the concoction needed to control his lycanthropy was bound to be taking its toll. Because even amidst the relief that, now all the young were back, they could move out of the compound, his pack was still facing an internal risk beyond their control. In less than three days time, they were going to be on the cusp of morphing.

Caleb returned his attention to Kane. ‘You do know he’s fucking the witch?’

Jask’s hands clenched in his folded arms, something that didn’t go unnoticed by Caleb either.

He exhaled another stream of smoke, this one more pensively. ‘Or maybe it’s
more
than that,’ he added, leaning back in his seat. ‘Shame. That might add to the complication.’

‘Of what?’ Kane asked.

‘Of you making out that you were protecting my back when instead you were protecting Jask’s here. I had you down as a lot of things, Kane Malloy, but not deceitful.’

‘I’m afraid that’s the downside of being uncertain of where someone’s loyalty truly lies, Caleb. You
are
still bedding Feinith, right? Their rule
does
still stand that all serryns are to be handed directly to the Higher Order?’

‘Guilt by association, huh?’

‘Does Feinith know Phia’s here?’ Kane asked.

‘Feinith’s nothing to do with me anymore. What
is
to do with me though is you knowing there’s a serryn in this compound; you
knowing
the devastation one of those poisonous bitches can wreak if let loose in Blackthorn. Yet here you are
protecting
her. From
me
. What the fuck is that all about, Kane?’

The steadiness of the vampire’s glare as he dared to challenge him caused the hairs on the back of Kane’s neck to stiffen more than his summons in the first place. ‘Careful,’ he warned softly.

‘Me be careful?’ Caleb said. ‘No.’ He leaned forward and rested his forearms on the table. ‘
You’re
the one who needs to be careful, Kane. I know you and Jask here have some kind of special bond, some kind of loyalty thing going on, but
this
is just disturbing – and you know how broad my spectrum is on what constitutes that.’

It was Kane’s turn to lean forward. He stared deep into Caleb’s eyes, searching for any clue of what he might know. ‘I’ve looked her in the eye; I’ve been in the same room as her. What I’d like to know, considering you haven’t got close to her yet, is how
you
know what Phia is, Caleb?’

Caleb tongued the cusp of his incisor through his partial smile. He leaned back again. He flicked his lighter open and shut as he dropped his gaze, Kane taking the hint there were no answers coming his way any time soon.

‘Tell me, Kane, was there some ulterior motive behind the warning to back off?’ Caleb’s gaze snapped back to his. ‘Such as you protecting your little agent girl from me now that she’s hunting my arse instead of yours?’

Jask tensed beside him. He felt his gaze burning into his at the lack of disclosure.

The same tension coursed through his own body at Caitlin already being on Caleb’s radar. Her questioning had clearly leaked through the Blackthorn grapevine.

The knot of protectiveness hardened in his chest. He wanted nothing more than to knock Caleb’s chair from under him and slam him to the floor for even hinting at a threat.

‘Caitlin’s nothing to do with me anymore,’ Kane said, his gaze and tone steady as he echoed Caleb’s words.

‘Then I suggest you do something about that,’ Caleb declared. ‘Especially for the sake of Jask here.’

Kane’s eyes narrowed. ‘Meaning
what
, exactly?’

‘Meaning I want the exact dates, times and locations of all killings I’m being accused of – the kind of information that isn’t public knowledge. It appears I might need to organise some alibis, or a little bit of mind-raping from your girlfriend and we both know they’ll find a way to keep me in one way or another. Unfortunately for you, Jask,’ he said, ‘that also means she’ll see everything else I now know about your pack’s situation.’

Jask’s glower intensified on Caleb as the shared understanding silently bounced between all three of them. If Caitlin informed the LCU that the pack was on the cusp of morphing, they’d take Jask in, they’d cage the lot of them, leaving Phia exposed.

And Blackthorn would be left two pivotal leaders down.

Worse, if Caleb
did
know anything about the serryn’s role in the prophecy, Caitlin would then know that too. She’d know a serryn was the key. She’d know there was a way to stop it happening. The entire TSCD would be looking for Phia.

She’d also know Kane knew.

Caleb reached into his jacket pocket and threw a handful of clear plastic packets into the centre of the table. He looked at Jask. ‘There are enough supplies there to stop your young morphing as of now. I have enough for the rest of your pack too.’

Kane stared at the packets before his attention snapped to Jask, the relief over the existence of the supplies nonetheless overshadowed by the accompanying threat.

Jask’s gaze raked from the packets up to Caleb’s steady gaze as the vampire leaned back in his chair, his elbow casually resting on the back of it again. ‘You don’t know what we need,’ Jask said.

‘Thanks to Tuly, I do. That’s one smart kid you’ve got there, Jask. Inquisitive by all accounts. Nothing much gets past her, does it?’

Jask’s eyes narrowed. ‘I’ve searched the whole of Blackthorn. All the contacts there are in Lowtown. There
are
no more supplies.’

‘My contacts aren’t going to talk to you; my contacts deal only with me. If your soulmate here gets me the information I need before his girlfriend comes for me, you’ll get two-thirds of the remaining amount. If I’m still out in forty-eight hours time, we can further negotiate the rest. By then that’ll give you –’ he checked his watch ‘– less than a day before you morph.’

How the hell Jask was keeping his composure, Kane had no idea.

‘Why would you have access to all of that, Caleb?’ Kane asked. ‘You have no need.’

‘Like now, you mean? Always be at least three steps ahead on the board, Kane. Mixing vampires with lycans in every core is about more than behaviour management, whatever the Global Council claim. If the GC ever wanted to turn on us, they knew they just had to take the lycan supplies from them and they’d have all the justification they needed. Why make the meds optional, otherwise? Why not just insist on them taking it intravenously if they’re really that worried about the threat? The lycans are perfect landmines to them.’

‘So you know our predicament,’ Jask said, ‘yet
still
you’re not going to hand the supplies over.’

His gaze snapped back to Jask. ‘In the name of solidarity?’ The accusation over their shared lack of disclosure emanated from his eyes. ‘I would have. Gladly. I’m all for fucking the system any way possible but, unfortunately for you, you now have something I want. Be grateful I’m meeting you halfway, Jask. Actually, two-thirds of the way for now. I think that’s
more
than generous.’

‘And when the time comes, I give you Phia for the rest of it?’

‘We’ll discuss that in due course.’

Jask leaned forward, looking Caleb square in the eye. ‘If you want Phia so badly, why give Tuly back to us so easily?’

‘Because I don’t use kids as bargaining tools, Jask. Even I have limits. What I’m offering is a fair trade. After all, what good is Phia to you? Or should I say, what good is she to you
more
than those supplies are to your entire pack?’

‘You think it’s smart, Caleb, coming in here and letting me know you have what I need?’

Caleb exhaled a curt stream of smoke off the back of a partial smile. ‘Do you think you have a chance of getting to any of it without me? And before you start thinking of some return bargaining, we don’t want a civil war on our hands, do we?’

The rhetorical question rebounded around the room like an explosion of glass.

‘No,’ Kane cut in, ‘we
don’t
. And I don’t appreciate the threat.’

‘I’m not threatening you, Kane,’ Caleb declared, that gaze unrelentingly steady. ‘I’m not threatening either of you. I’m simply making it clear what will happen if Jask here decides his pack is better off morphing or dying than taking the logical option of accepting my offer.’

‘And does it mean nothing to you that you might be on the cusp of inciting exactly what Throme wants?’

Caleb offered a small shrug. ‘According to Parish.’

‘What?’

‘I’m assuming Throme didn’t come to see you personally? So my guess is that it was Agent Parish who paid you a visit to pass on the news. The agent who works
under
Throme.’

Kane heard Jask shift in his seat.

‘Because I sure as hell know what I’d do if I was Throme,’ Caleb added. ‘If he
really
wants you, why come in here all guns blazing when he can slip in the back door? Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer. Isn’t that right, Jask? It must have crossed your mind too – considering it’s
your
pack that’s on the line. Considering Kane here already did you over once for Caitlin.’

Kane knotted his hands out of sight behind his back, the only way he could flex his fingers before fisting them into balls without Caleb seeing. ‘You’re out of order, Caleb.’

‘Am I?’ Caleb asked, meeting his gaze before reverting his attention to Jask. ‘Have you ever seen a serryn in action, Jask? Have you ever seen the venom leaking from their eyes? Have you ever seen a grown male cry for mercy at the hands of one? A three-year-old tortured and gutted alive just for the sheer pleasure of it? You fell for the wrong girl, but I know you’ll make the right choice for the sake of your pack. I know you’ll persuade Kane here to get me what I need. After all, from what I hear, he
does
owe you.’ He reached for his pack of cigarettes and tucked them in his shirt pocket as he stood. ‘Midday tomorrow at the latest. Information in exchange for the next batch. I can’t be fairer than that.’

Silence descended.

A silence that lingered even after Caleb’s exit.

Kane let out a steady exhale as he forced himself not to pursue.

Jask wasn’t quite as willing to remain tempered. He stood, and then kicked the nearest chair across the room so that it buckled against the wall.

‘How long has Caitlin been hunting him?’ he asked, turning to face Kane again.

‘Since she returned to the VCU.’

‘And you didn’t tell me? You didn’t tell me that the vampire who is hunting Phia is being hunted by the TSCD? If Caitlin gets even a sniff of my situation and the LCU find out …’

‘She hasn’t and she won’t.’

‘So you say. But like Caleb said, this is
my
pack on the line.’

Kane could see it in Jask’s eyes: there was more to his agitation.

‘Tell me you didn’t know he was coming here,’ Jask demanded.

‘
What
?’

Jask’s rested his fists on the table and looked Kane square in the eyes. ‘It’s a simple question: did you know?’

‘Like fuck I did. Why would I?’

Jask rested his hands low on his hips as he stepped away again.

‘Jask?’

‘Then there’s something I need to show you,’ Jask declared. ‘That’s why I called you earlier. There’s something you’re going to want, going to
need
to see before you decide what to do next.’

T
he raucous laughter
descended the corridor towards Caitlin. That was uncommon enough, but more so was the female laughter amidst it.

Caitlin frowned in curiosity as she stared up into the open-plan office.

There was more laughter. There were smiles.

The woman stood amongst her colleagues at
her
old desk. They were smiling at her – more to the point,
with
her. She was stroking the arm of one of them; a colleague Caitlin had only ever got barely a grunt out of.

The woman looked across her shoulder to catch Caitlin looking, and immediately gave the guys the brush off before heading up towards her.

With a pencil skirt that skimmed over her small waist, her shapely hips, and sat just below the knee, she was sexy as well as classy. And even in elegant four-inch heels, she walked with grace and ease.

Caitlin glanced down at her own footwear – at her scuffed rustic brown, round-toed, sensible two-inch block heel boots splattered in evidence of mud she kept telling herself she would clean off one day.

As the woman closed in on her, Caitlin immediately took in the immaculate shine of the woman’s blunt-cut auburn bob and instinctively tucked a couple of stray strands from her messy bun behind her ear.

‘Hey,’ the woman said. Her smile was broad, as captivating as her vibrant blue eyes.

She was flawless.

‘Agent Parish?’ The woman held out a finely manicured hand, short, neat, shiny nails to match her shiny smile, her shiny hair
and
her shiny shoes. A hand that was as soft and untainted as her complexion. The woman took the lead and grabbed a hold of Caitlin’s hand first. ‘I have heard
so
much about you.’

A cliché. At least she had one flaw.

Caitlin politely shook her hand. ‘And you’re Agent Yale, I assume? My replacement on the Malloy case?’

‘Meghan. I wasn’t sure if Matt
had had a chance to speak to you yet.’

Matt.
Familiar with the boss already.

‘Yes,’ Caitlin said. ‘He told me.’

She wouldn’t have blamed Meghan for batting away the sudden thick atmosphere between them.

‘I’m a couple of hours early,’ Meghan added, ‘but who counts hours in this job, huh? I couldn’t wait to get started. I’ve spent the last couple of hours on your files, have been getting to know the team …’ she glanced over her shoulder, no doubt flashing another smile in their direction.

‘You’re not from this locale?’ was all Caitlin could muster.

‘They thought it was best under the circumstances. Don’t worry, though; I’m more than adept with cases like these. I have an A-rating across the board, a ninety-five per cent success rate for those I take to legal proceedings, ninety per cent detainment rate. I’ve done my time these last six years since I joined and …’

… and she was young and beautiful and sexy and confident – all the traits Caitlin had never thought bore any relevance to effectiveness in the role,
until then
.

If she had any doubt her replacement on Kane’s case hadn’t been handpicked, it was now blown out of the water. And if Sirius had anything to do with the choice, he was clearly intending to up the ante from behind closed doors. He was planning on playing dirty with Kane.
Her
Kane. Or he was playing dirty with her.

‘I have work to do,’ Caitlin cut in, unable to ignore the churning in her stomach.

‘Oh, sure,’ Meghan said, her eyes flaring slightly that she’d been cut short mid-accolade citing. She checked her watch. ‘So we’ll catch up later?’

‘I’m a bit full on today.’

‘Oh,’ Meghan said, a frown rippling her flawless forehead. ‘Matt assured me we’d talk as soon as possible. It would be really beneficial to find out more about those three days you spent with Malloy. I’ve read your account but it’s not the same as being able to question someone directly. It’ll really help me complete my case notes. Matt said you’d be more than happy to support me.’

Suddenly there was a change in Meghan’s composure. It was subtle, but it was definitely there. Her steady, almost-invasive gaze told Caitlin this was far from an option, however she was presenting it. She wasn’t being
asked
for her co-operation, she was being
told
to give it. And unless she wanted to look like she was protecting Kane, Caitlin had no option but to comply.

‘And I am,’ Caitlin said through partially gritted teeth, just about mustering a smile. ‘Later.’

The relaxed Meghan was back as she reached out and rubbed Caitlin’s upper arm in a move that was more patronizing than pally. ‘Great,’ she said, spinning on her elegant heels.

‘I’ll let you know when,’ Caitlin remarked.

Meghan glanced back over her shoulder.

This time, Caitlin chose to turn away.

Silence emanated from behind her for a moment.

‘Hey!’ Caitlin then heard her call out ahead. ‘Out of my chair, Denver! Don’t make me come in there and spank you!’

There was more raucous laughter, some jeers.

She glanced across her shoulder to see Meghan giving one of her colleagues a playful shove with her hip.

Caitlin’s spine prickled. Because this agent was not afraid to play the game Caitlin had never been willing to play. And that meant Agent Meghan Yale was going to be a problem that – now more than ever amidst her and Kane’s fracturing relationship – she could certainly do without.

K
ane stood
in the small side room of the lock-up nestled away next to Pummel’s now burned-down row, the scent of the blackened remnants of what was once the empire of the south’s most-notorious con lingering in the air.

Jask remained leaning against the doorway behind him as Kane strolled around the tomb-like enclosure. Despite the glimmer of heat from the few candles at his feet, the chill was all encompassing. Every hair stood on the back of his neck, on his arms, his spine tingling. This was a concentration of energy, a place where ley lines crossed. This was where the physical and incorporeal merged – an epicentre.

The walls moved slightly as if they were inside a living creature’s lungs. Shadows flitted around the place that had nothing to do with the flames of the candles. Whispers that were probably inaudible to anyone else filled the air as if nothing more than a gentle breeze through a crack in a door. They made no sense, but then they weren’t supposed to. The language they whispered was ancient – more ancient than the master vampire race to which he belonged. It wasn’t intended for his ears despite him being receptive to it.

Kane studied every inch of the mural drawn on the walls, a mural that told a story – revealed the prophecy.

So much of it replicated everything that he knew was to come, except it also reflected an even-greater darkness – the darkness he had been awaiting for decades; that he had come to Blackthorn to prevent.

‘And you’re telling me that Throme has seen this? That he sent this Eden Reece in to collect Jessie – the envoi who drew this – so he could have her shadow read?’

‘The vampire leader is his greatest opposition according to this prophecy and now he knows it. If he finds out who it is, he can kill him before he becomes this Tryan and rises. Blackthorn is Sirius’s chessboard, Kane. You already know he’s been mulling over his strategy for years. Now you’ve shown him soul transference can happen, he has even more reason to take out the leader.’

And do Kane’s job for him.

Kane cupped the back of his neck as he stood braced. The second wall was the most unnerving. That wasn’t part of the prophecy he knew of – where it looked as though the fourth dimension was leaking into theirs.

Unease coiled deeper in his chest on recollecting the rare nilkim having appeared that morning.

Jask stepped up along side him. ‘But something has gone wrong. Tuly talked about seeing monsters: one in the cellar that looked like a child and then she said there was another in one of the alleys. Eden and Jessie told me Pummel’s row was overrun with creatures. The fourth species are leaking into Blackthorn, Kane. According to Jessie, it’s because the process between the leader and the serryn has been started but wasn’t finished. It’s blown open a hole between our dimension and the fourth. The only way to close it again is to conclude what has begun: for one to kill the other. If anything happens to either of them in the meantime, we’re all screwed. Forget Sirius, we’re
all
going to be wiped out if that dimension isn’t closed.’

Kane’s attention snapped back to the beginning of the story – to the two entwined bodies – before locking back on Jask’s troubled gaze. ‘You’re telling me the serryn and the pending Tryan have already met?’

‘Jessie says this prophecy took a new direction a matter of days ago – a new direction triggered by a non-prophesied course of action.’

But
they
had the serryn. Jask had assured him Phia had only just turned. Turned when Leila lost her serrynity to Caleb...

Kane’s gaze snapped back at the drawing of the entwined couple. ‘You have
got
to be
fucking
kidding me.’

‘Caleb might be the one, Kane. We might have just had the pending Tryan at my compound.’