Eternal Pleasure (10 page)

All eyes turned to him. Kelly looked at Fin’s expression and understood how he controlled these men. She didn’t know what Fin had been before, but he must’ve been a hell of a predator.

“
I
asked Kelly to be here. She’s seen Ty’s and Q’s soul forms. I want her to know what we are and why we’re here. She can help us.” Fin narrowed his eyes as he focused on Gig. “Do you have a problem with that?”

For a moment, Kelly thought Gig would challenge Fin, but instead he stalked away.

“Anyone else?” Fin scanned his audience. Finally satisfied with the silence, he spoke directly to Kelly. “Cut Gig and the others some slack. They haven’t been around females for a long time. They’re hungry.”

Kelly nodded, but she hoped her expression let everyone know there wouldn’t be any snacking on her. She sat down and pulled at Ty to join her. He stood for a moment undecided, and she hoped he wouldn’t go after Gig. Finally, he sat down too.

She was relieved when Q joined them.

“How’s Neva?” Kelly kept her voice to a whisper. She wished she could help the other woman. Did Neva have a family? Would she want them contacted? Kelly thought about
her
parents. No, some things were better not shared.

Q shrugged. “Still unconscious. Fin has her in a secure room with a guard. No one knows what to expect.”

Fin stopped any further conversation. “Jude is on his way up. He has three guards with him. They can stay. We want him to feel safe.” His smile said it would be a false sense of security. “We need allies. So no threats, no attacks. Mess this meeting up and I’ll show you violence like you never imagined.”

Kelly was duly impressed.

The tension built until the bell rang. Fin nodded at a man sitting near the back of the room. He was bigger than Ty, with a shaved head and the prerequisite hard face. The difference was that Kelly knew Ty smiled sometimes. This man looked like he’d never smiled in his life. He got up and left the room.

By the time the vampires trailed in behind the big man, Kelly felt as if she were drowning in a sea of testosterone gone wild. She expected to see fights breaking out all over the room. Fin was right about his effect on the others. Even she felt a little snarky.

Jude’s three protectors entered the room first: two men and a woman. The two men didn’t disappoint. They were massive, muscle-bound giants with scary faces, glowing
eyes, and fangs on full display. As intimidators, they were awesome.

The woman was a shock: cute in a sweet, innocent kind of way, with big green eyes and curly red hair. You just wanted to take her home and plunk her on your bed next to your fave teddy bear.

Jude entered last.

The two hulking male vampires didn’t seem to inspire any interest from Fin and his men. The woman was getting plenty of interest, all sexual.

But when Jude appeared in the doorway, every predator in the room went on instant alert. Kelly didn’t have to read minds to understand the reaction of a bunch of alpha males to the vampire leader.

He was one of them—powerful, deadly, and an equal. With his red shirt open at the throat, black pants, riding boots, and that black hair loose and flowing, he gave Fin a run for his money in the notice-me department.

Riding boots. Kelly just bet he had lots of riding skills.

His gaze slid to her, and he smiled—all smooth, sensual invitation. “You’d be surprised how well I ride.”

Ty’s grip on her tightened. “And you’d be surprised how well I kick vampire butt.”

Jude’s attention shifted to Ty, and his smile widened. “Ah, the T. rex. You intrigued me last night. Nothing has intrigued me in centuries, so I savored the moment.” Even though he sounded almost playful, his dark eyes were watchful.

Kelly stared at Jude with wide eyes, and then she looked up at Ty. “He read my mind. He freaking
read my mind
.”

Ty allowed himself a tight smile. He had a feeling Kelly’s universe would do a lot of expanding tonight. But he had
a question he had to ask Jude before Fin got started. “What’d you do with the body you took away last night?”

The vampire leader raised one dark brow. “Be more specific. Do you mean the part that’s in Galveston Bay, the part that’s in Lake Conroe, or the part that’s floating down Buffalo Bayou?”

Ty couldn’t help it, he laughed. He hoped Jude turned out to be an ally, because he wouldn’t mind fighting beside him. His smile faded. As long as the vampire stayed away from Kelly.

“Glad you could make it. I saved you a seat.” Fin’s smile was open and nonthreatening as he gestured to a chair near him. “We’re new to Houston, and you’re the first guests we’ve had.”

“Do you think Jude will buy Fin’s friendly and harmless act?” Kelly braced her hand on Ty’s thigh as she shifted into a more comfortable position.

Ty almost groaned out loud. He should take Kelly with him whenever he had to be near Fin. All she had to do was touch him and he forgot about his need for violence.

As if given a silent signal, Jude’s three bodyguards moved to different spots in the room, all with good views of Fin and their leader. Jude’s smile was slow and very threatening. “I bet you say that to all your guests right before you kill them.”

Fin’s smile was sincere this time. “That or something similar.”

Jude seemed to relax a little as he took the seat Fin offered. “I suppose you want to know about me first.”

“If you don’t mind.”

Ty translated: If you don’t want to die. From Jude’s expression, he knew it too.

“Vampires have divided the United States into ten territories. I govern the territory that includes Texas. I’m in Houston now because there’s been an outbreak of vampire attacks on humans. We like to keep a low profile. Multiple drainings could out us. So I’m here to pick up the trash and dump it in the compactor.” His gaze never left Fin. “Now who are
you
, and what are you doing in my territory?” Jude showed some fang to emphasize his question.

A low, rumbling growl came from Q. Ty shook his head at his partner, and Q subsided.

The change in Fin’s expression was subtle, almost as if the angles and planes of his face shifted just enough to reveal something terrifying. Beside Ty, Kelly gasped.

Above the threatening murmurs of his men, Fin smiled his frightening smile, baring his pointed canines. “I admire a lot about you, Jude, especially your teeth. Hope you don’t mind that I borrowed the idea.” He leaned back in his chair. “Technology amazes me. One of my people prepared a PowerPoint presentation. Images enhance understanding.”

Jude chuckled and some of the tension eased from the room. “Way to defuse a situation. It’s tough to enjoy a good bloodbath in the middle of a PowerPoint presentation.”

Fin’s eyes glowed with pleasure. Ty frowned. The bastard was getting a kick out of this. He could make Jude do anything, say anything he wanted, but he enjoyed the game. Always had. Again, he wondered why he was so sure of that.

At some unseen signal from Fin, the lights dimmed, the big-screen TV came on, and the show began. “We existed as Earth’s greatest predators sixty-five million years ago.”

The scene caught at Ty’s throat.
His
time. And the
creatures of his time. As they’d really been, not as he’d seen them when he Googled
dinosaurs
.

Kelly must’ve felt his tension, because she clasped his hand and squeezed. Warmth flooded him, a feeling that had nothing to do with sex.

Fin’s voice was flat, emotionless as he continued. “Existence on Earth is measured in time periods. It’s been so since the planet formed. And as each time period ends, the same immortals visit Earth once again. Their only goal is to create anarchy by eliminating the dominant life form of that time. When they succeed, the balance the planet has achieved is destroyed and other life forms, weaker or with fewer members, battle for supremacy, and so chaos continues. The immortals have
always
succeeded.”

Jude’s hiss of surprise was the only other sound in the room.

“But until now, the outcome had fewer ramifications. Forces that exist now didn’t exist during the last Dying Time. Humans are the dominant life form now. Their extinction would cause catastrophic destruction on Earth. And those that came after them would bring unspeakable evil.”

Ty could feel Kelly shiver against him. He bent close and whispered, “It won’t happen. Trust me.” He shocked himself with the ferocity of his promise. Before now, he would’ve said he fought just for the hell of it and because that’s what Fin expected. Now it was more personal, more about Kelly surviving.

“The Mayans understood some of this. Their long count calendar ends on the winter solstice, December twenty-first, 2012 at eleven eleven UT. Then time will reset to zero and start again.” Fin clicked to the next image. “This is what happened to us when time hit zero.”

Ty closed his eyes, shut out what he knew the screen showed. All of his kind dying. The asteroid strike, the volcanic eruptions it triggered, and all the things that had come after. It hadn’t happened over one hour or one day or even one year, but it had happened. Slowly, inexorably.

Ty opened his eyes when he heard another click, opened them to the future.

“That is what will happen on December twenty-first, 2012 at eleven eleven to whatever remains of humanity.” Fin gazed out over the room. He didn’t have to look at the screen.

Kelly gasped. “Omigod.”

Vampires, shape-shifters, demons, and some nonhumans he didn’t recognize were pictured massacring what was left of humanity. Ty’s killing instincts rose on a wave of emotion that forced him to clench his hands into fists, digging his nails into his own flesh. Even pain couldn’t distract him from his need to destroy all of them.

Jude looked puzzled. “If these immortals are that powerful, why don’t they kill everyone themselves? Why even leave the nonhumans alive? They could have the whole planet. And if they called up an asteroid before, why not do that again? It’d be a lot faster.”

“They can’t destroy the dominant species directly.” Fin shook his head at the vagaries of the universe. “Some higher power must’ve set the rules, I guess. So they need minions to do their dirty work for them. And they don’t want everyone dead. They feed on chaos. Can’t have chaos with no one to create it.”

Fin’s smile was bitter. “The asteroid would be a last resort. No fun. Besides, only their leader can call up that kind of cataclysm. And I’m keeping him busy in my own
way right now. But that sort of ties up my power. That’s why I need all the help I can get.”

“Fuck.” Jude spoke for all of them.

Fin shrugged. “From a vampire’s point of view, that might look like a bright future. But I promise that civilization will revert to its most primitive state. Earth won’t be a comfortable place to live.” He clicked off the TV.

Jude leaned forward. “I’ve always thought vampires have a vested interest in the future of humanity. Besides, I have business interests and a big home in Austin to protect. How do we stop this?”

“There are ten of them, one who leads and nine who carry out his orders.” Fin’s eyes turned predatory. “I don’t know their names, so I call their leader Zero. He’s mine. The others are numbers too, and we’re working on our own personal countdown to zero.”

Then his expression returned to calm neutrality. “Zero has targeted all the major cities of the world. One number per city.” He smiled. “Zero is overconfident. A mistake. He thinks it’ll take only one of his immortals to bring a city under his control. Once an immortal has recruited enough nonhumans willing to destroy the city’s human population, he moves on to the next city. I’m calling the one assigned to Houston Nine. He’ll pull together an army ready to rise and kill when the moment comes. He’s already gotten to some of your vampires.”

Jude curled his lip away from his fangs. “We’ll stop that.”

“Tell your people to keep their ears open. Nine is finding a way to recruit. Discover how he’s doing it, and we’ll get rid of him.”

“If I find him, I’ll kill him.” Jude’s eyes glowed black with fury.

“That’ll be tough. He has no weaknesses. But he can be
flung back out into the cosmos, and once out, he can’t return until the end of the next time period.”

The vampire didn’t look like he thought throwing Nine out into the cosmos was a satisfying ending. “I find him, I try to kill him. I fail, and I turn him over to you.”

“Give it your best shot.” Fin’s smile said Jude would have to learn the hard way.

Jude stood and started to leave. Then he stopped and turned back to Fin. “Notice that I didn’t ask you a bunch of questions. Like how you’ve managed to exist for millions of years just so you could show up at the right moment to save humanity. And how you know so much about these galactic goons. But tell me, what were you before you were dinosaurs? Because you
were
something. I’d guess you jumped into the dinosaur bodies the same way you did the human bodies.”

Something about Jude’s question tugged at Ty’s memory. There was something he should know, but it was just out of reach.

A sudden stabbing pain in his head dragged a grunt from Ty. What the…He pressed his palms against the sides of his head to keep his skull from shattering and spilling his brains onto the floor. Kelly’s voice asking him what was wrong sounded like it was coming from far, far away.

Through a haze of pain, Ty heard Fin answer.

“Nothing. We were nothing.”

The agony went as quickly as it had come. The absence of pain left him feeling weak. He couldn’t even remember what he was thinking before it hit. Somewhere in the middle of all that pain, the vampires had left.

“Are you okay? What happened?” Kelly sounded worried as she slid her fingers along his jaw.

He shook his head, trying to shake off the lingering
effects of the pain. Her touch helped. A lot. But not in the way she’d want. The feel of her fingers smoothing across his skin was like striking a match against a stick of TNT. An instant superheated explosion of his senses.

“I’m fine. Just a stab of pain in my head. It’s gone now.” But the fierce need she’d ignited wasn’t even close to gone.
Tonight
. He wanted her warm, naked body beneath him. Wanted her fingers touching his chest, his stomach, reaching between his thighs to cup his balls. Wanted to feel his cock slipping deep inside her.