Dalton, Tymber - Brimstone Blues [Brimstone Vampires 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (35 page)

She stretched and looked at the clock.
Did I?
She remembered looking at Rafael’s laptop, then talking with him. God, it felt like she hadn’t slept a wink! “Not as long as I’d like.”

“I’m sorry about that.” He trailed his fingers along her arm, making her shiver. She looked at him, struck again how Rafael’s eyes looked exactly like Matthias’.

Okay, this is
not
the time to think that.

She kissed him, feeling her desire grow. “How much time do we have?”

“Enough.” He rolled over on top of her, his lips on hers. His cock, hard and hot, rubbed against her hip. She shifted position until he had access. Then he was inside her, deliciously filling her pussy. She gasped, always surprised how good his cock felt when it was inside her, the way he perfectly fit her as if they were made as a matching pair.

As if they’d been together all their lives.

She dropped her mental barrier a little, just enough to let him in, but not enough he could find Rafe.

She hoped.

Matthias’ passion built. He rolled over again, pulling her on top of him so he could slip his hand between their bodies. His fingers gently parted her labia, finding her clit. She paused for a moment, moaning as he unerringly rolled her swollen nub between his talented fingers.

“Is that good,
cara
?”

“Yes!” she gasped. He didn’t stop until he brought her to climax. As he felt her contracting around him he grabbed her hips and thrust into her, pulling her against him, and she felt his explosion. She collapsed on his chest, gasping for breath as his hands gently kneaded the muscles in her back.

“I love you, Taz,”
a voice whispered in her mind.

Is that Matthias, or Rafe?

She kissed Matthias. “
I love you, too
,
”
she thought to both.

* * * *

During the car ride she closed her eyes and went to Rafe’s room. He was waiting.

“Taz, you don’t need to—”

She kissed him, and then stood back. “What is it?”

He looked down. “You don’t need to know.”

She touched his shoulder. “Rafe, please.”

He reluctantly revealed what he found in his travels through the recesses of her mind, but not exactly what it meant. Not the context of what she was. Before. Never evil, but always powerful.

She sat, stunned, on the sofa. “I can do that?”

He nodded, sitting next to her. “You can, but I don’t want you to do it because you think you have to get revenge for me. That’s not what I want you to do.”

She shook her head. “They’ll want to use drugs.” She looked at him. “This way, it would be instantaneous, wouldn’t it?”

“And painless. Fast.”

“Then that’s what has to happen.”

* * * *

Dame Agnew met them at the door. “Hello.” She hugged Taz. “You didn’t have to come for this, dear.”

Taz sent Dame Agnew a thought, and the woman looked at her. “It would be highly irregular.”

“But can it be done?”

She nodded. Matthias, knowing he missed something, spoke up. “What?”

Dame Agnew scowled. “I’m sorry, Matthias, but it’s Tribunal business. Come with me, Taz.” Dame Agnew led her from the room, leaving Matthias stewing.

Well, he’d wanted me to join the board
. This was one of the side effects. He couldn’t be privy to everything, no matter how well connected he was.
He’ll have to get used to it.

The women walked down a long hall to where the other Tribunal members waited. Dame Agnew asked them, and they looked at each other. One of them spoke. “I don’t see why not, but it is something you must carefully consider, Anastazia.”

“I know it will be fast, painless. Better than they certainly deserve, but it would be faster than drugs.”

“As long as you can assure us?”

Taz nodded. “I want to do this.”

“Vengeance isn’t healthy, dear,” an older man, Tacy, she thought his name was, offered.

“This isn’t vengeance. This is carrying out a Tribunal-ordered sentence in the most humane way possible.”

The members considered, and Dame Agnew called for a vote. Unanimous, they agreed to let Taz do it.

“You need to tell Matthias and Tobias, dear,” Dame Agnew said.

“Why?”

“Because they get a say in this. Rafael was their blood relative. If they disagree, we must go with our first plan.” Dame Agnew sent her a thought. “
You also need to ask Rafael’s permission.”

Taz nodded, withholding that it was his idea in the first place. Dame Agnew led her back to the sitting room where the four men waited.

“Matthias, Tobias. Taz needs to talk to you. Alone,” Dame Agnew said, and motioned for Albert and Tim to follow her. They closed the door. When Matthias stood, Taz didn’t go to him. She studied the floor.

“What is it, Taz?” She had a strong barrier up against him, not letting him in.

She had already summoned Rafael, letting him listen to the conversation and give his final input. She detailed her plan to Matthias and his grandfather while both silently listened.

Finally, Matthias said, “I’m not sure I like this, Taz. I don’t know what it’s going to do to you.”

Tobias nodded. “I think I agree with him.”

She shook her head. “I worked on some pro bono capital punishment cases when I was in law school. I know what the drugs do. They want to use the same combination they use for executions in the States, and it’s not fast, and it’s not painless. Not to say these bastards don’t deserve to die long and slow, but this way they literally would not suffer. At all.”

“But what is it going to do to you?” Tobias asked.

She met his gaze. “Honestly? If they want to use the drugs, I’ll stop the execution.”

“You would go against them?” Matthias asked.

“I’d have to. What I wanted to do to Caroline wasn’t right. By all rights she should suffer when she dies. We know she’s guilty. We know Bartholomew’s guilty. If I’m going to be a party to their deaths, I need to be willing to be a full party, not just an observer.”

Matthias sat, scrubbing his face with his hands. “I don’t know what you want me to say, Taz. I don’t want to give you permission to kill them.”

“I’m not looking for your permission, Matthias. I don’t need it. I’m looking for you both to agree to the execution, agree that if they’re going to die, they die quickly and painlessly.”

Rafael finally chimed in.
“Don’t do anything that’s going to hurt you, Taz. I don’t want that.”

She closed her eyes and met him in his room. “Do you want me to not do it?”

“I won’t stop you either. If you feel you need to do this, then I’ll support you, but don’t do it for me. I wish I hadn’t shown you now.”

“Then I’ll take that as consent.” She opened her eyes and looked at Matthias. He was watching her. Could he sense what just happened?

He finally sighed. “Okay. I’ll agree to it, but only if I get to be there with you, and only if you know it won’t cause you any problems.”

“Agreed.”

Tobias nodded. “Ditto.”

Dame Agnew and the other Tribunal members led the way down the hall to a secure elevator where everyone crowded inside. Taz felt the elevator descend and knew when they stepped out they must be at least fifty feet underground, just from the length of the ride. Another stark hallway lay before them, and she followed Dame Agnew.

Matthias gently rested his hand on the small of Taz’s back, and she moved closer, drawing from his strength and warmth. Now that this was a reality, did she really want to do it?

Want, no. Need—yes. It was the only way.

This hallway ended in a secure door. Dame Agnew produced a key, opened the door, and then they were in a small room ending in a locked cell door. Two men stood watch over a bank of video monitors. Only four were lit, two showing Caroline’s cell, two showing Bartholomew’s cell.

Another Tribunal member produced yet another key and unlocked the door. They progressed through three more secure, locked doors.

Taz supposed when dealing with prisoners who could literally control minds, it was best to have an extreme system of checks and balances.

They reached Caroline’s cell door first, and she stood, probably sensing what would happen.

Taz moved to the front of the pack, Matthias beside her.

“Caroline, you need to sit,” Taz said. It wasn’t an order, but Caroline complied.

Dame Agnew took her place on Taz’s other side before she spoke. “Caroline Abernathy, you have been sentenced to death by the Tribunal for the murder of Rafael Collins, and the attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and bodily injury to Anastazia Proctor and Matthias Hawthorne.” Taz knew that was because of the Florida attack on him by the Other at her house. “Do you have any last words?”

Caroline looked at Taz. “I’m sorry. I know that doesn’t help, but I am.”

Taz gently reached out for her, sensed she meant it. Caroline was unstable, had a lot of emotional problems. She had a poor upbringing and a lifelong habit of falling in with the wrong people, and that was an understatement. Taz knew it would always be a case of “sorry” with Caroline, whether she washed her red sweater with your whites, killed your puppy, or wrecked your car.

Or smothered your fiancé’s cousin.

Taz nodded. “Thank you.”

Dame Agnew cleared her throat. “The Tribunal orders the sentence be carried out.”

Caroline looked confused, expecting them to hook up drugs.

“This won’t hurt,” Taz whispered. She reached out again with her mind and took control of Caroline. Taz imagined a pair of scissors snipping the thread holding Caroline’s soul to her body, and it floated away like a stray balloon.

Caroline’s eyes fell closed. She slumped across the bunk.

Dame Agnew’s eyes widened. Another Tribunal member unlocked and entered the cell, checked Caroline’s pulse, and shook his head. “She’s gone.” Less than thirty seconds had passed.

Taz stared at Caroline’s body. “The sentence is carried out.”

Dame Agnew looked stunned. “How? How did you do that?”

Taz shook her head. “She didn’t even feel it.”

The other Tribunal members looked both awed and scared of Taz. She doubted any of them would dare cross her after tonight.

But she didn’t like that they feared her.

“It didn’t hurt her?” Dame Agnew asked.

“No. She didn’t know what happened. It’s like a guillotine. For the soul.”

“How did you know you can do this?” she asked.

Taz shrugged and looked at Caroline’s body, which the other man was now covering with a sheet.

And Taz lied. “I just realized I could. If you’d used the drugs, it would have taken several minutes for her to die, not to mention the half-hour prep time, the mental agony. If I wanted to torture her, I would have. If we’re seriously taking these rogues out, then we need to do it. They torture. We carry out a sentence.”