Force of Nature Series Boxed Set (Books 1 - 4) (48 page)

“Let me try. Maybe it’s a mate thing.” Before he could touch the armor, there was a glimmer then a woman was standing before them. “What the hell? Who the hell are you and how did you get past my guard?”

“I’m with him,” Anye said with a frown. “And don’t touch him. It will mean your certain death.”

Phil noticed that she didn’t touch him either and started to ask about Holly and if she would now die from touching him. Phil was suddenly afraid of losing her. He shifted and pulled her into his arms as Anye spoke to the room in general.

“She can touch him because she is his mate. Any other person, foe or friend, will die and die a horrible, slow death.” Connor stepped back and put his hands behind him as Anye turned to Phil. “You should have been told that when you were given this gift.”

“He wasn’t given anything. This is something that he’s had all his life.” Phil smiled at his dad, who was quick to jump to his defense. “You’ll keep a civil tongue in your head, Annie, else I’ll take a switch to your hide. You know I will too.”

Anye looked ready to say something but Hope, his mother, simply took a step forward. Few people knew how powerful she was and fewer still lived to tell about it. Anye took a step back and bowed before her.

“I ask your forgiveness, My Lady. I was sent here to find out what had been decided with the rogue, not to cause a problem between myself and the Campbell family.” This time when she spoke Anye sounded like she was there to help and not to accuse. Phil was glad. He’d hate to have to explain to anyone why the head councilwoman was suddenly incinerated.

“See that you keep a tone befitting his title.” Phil flushed at his mom’s words. “What news do you have of this person? And what can we do to help get her under control?”

Anye looked confused and Phil decided to help her out. His mother, for all her toughness, didn’t like to use certain words when dealing with people. “She knows that she is going to be killed. To her, that’s getting her under control.”

“Oh. We know that she is in the area. As is the man you told us of at the meeting.” Holly snorted and it was all Phil could do not to laugh at Anye’s face. “I have brought you what we have on the other killings.”

Phil took the file and read it over before handing it to Austin. He looked at it a sheet at a time and handed those to Phil’s father. The two of them seemed to be making some notes on what was there. But he was still confused about the holes that were in the reporting.

“It does not say who her maker is. Do we know who is responsible for this rogue? Or how long she’s been turned?” He didn’t like the way that Anye looked away. “What is it you’re not telling us or, better yet, what you think you know?”

“The rogue was turned in the year nineteen hundred and sixteen. We know only that she was thought to be dead and when she rose, there was a…there was a problem.” Anye didn’t speak for several minutes and no one told her to get on with it. Phil thought everyone was afraid of what had happened. “She was taken to an undertaker. It was a poor providence so in that the girl was lucky. There was no money for her body to be preserved. And they were set to bury her.”

“They didn’t embalm her? How is that even legal?” Austin asked her, suddenly a fierce tone in his voice. “Are you telling me because there wasn’t much money, this woman was going to be buried and would have risen anyway? Christ, please tell me that someone noted what had happened.”

“She killed her maker. It was several…months before we figured it out. It wasn’t until another vampire happened upon the town that he heard the story how a being was almost buried alive and that, in her anger, she burned another woman alive.” She flushed a deep red before she continued. “The ash. The ash was in the room and they assumed that somehow, someone got into the morgue and set fire to a person. It wasn’t discovered who the person was, nor the one who might have been the murderer.”

“And the being that was nearly buried alive. That was Theresa, correct? They thought her alive and she killed the person?” She was shaking her head even before Connor had finished. “Then what?”

“They did think that Theresa was about to buried alive. She kept…she would show up on occasion and lead the people in the town to believe that since she was misdiagnosed, she held a grudge against the whole town.” Anye looked around before continuing. “They think someone else, not her, had burned the person. They all seemed to think that Theresa didn’t have the smarts or the ability to kill anyone. She isn’t, by all accounts, very smart.”

Phil didn’t think she was nearly as stupid as they thought. Nor did he think that she was incapable of killing anyone. She was as cold-blooded as they came.

Chapter 8

Theresa caught a scent as she walked around the streets. She’d been in town for three days now and still had no knowledge of the man she’d come to find and the woman. But this scent, the scent of her first love, was close by and she followed it.

The streets weren’t as busy as she’d grown used to while in New York. Night time, they were just as busy as during the day, if not busier. She’d learned to hide more during the day because anybody could come across her and disturb her sleep. She wouldn’t have been able to defend herself in the almost deathlike state she’d awakened from the few times it had happened. Most of the time she slept in basements of houses that she knew where the people were gone during the day. She’d only been caught once in all the time she’d been stealing into houses.

She stood outside a house where the scent of her Gregory was the strongest. There was another scent there as well, one she’d not smelled in a very, very long time. Moving with caution she went up to the door. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw him on the porch sitting in a swing.

He looked older. Much older, as a matter of fact. It had been years since she’d actually seen him, and then it had been from a distance. She heard him snore softly and stepped closer to him. He had been both her tormentor and her ally for so long she no longer knew what she thought of him.

His hair was white. So white that it made his skin look papery and thin. He needed a good shave and she wondered if the men of this time used the same strap and razor her father had. She thought she’d look into that when she left there. Gregory was heavier than he’d been when she’d first seen him, and his belly hung over his pants so that there was no trace of his belt. He still wore the bow tie and she knew that it was a real one and not like the one she’d pulled off someone she’d been feeding from.

In his hand closest to her was a cup. She could smell the whiskey in it mixed with coffee. Theresa had never had coffee. Her father had never drank it, so it had never been in the house when she’d been there. She knew that if she dared a taste now it would only make her sick, so she only sniffed it for a bit and then looked down at the papers in his other hand.

She couldn’t read. Not much at any rate. There had only been the one teacher when she’d been a child, and the woman had made Theresa’s schooling difficult. Theresa smiled at that. As soon as she’d learned what she could do, bite people and thus kill them, she’d wasted no time in finding Miss Platte and teaching her a few lessons too. But the papers in his hand looked like something she could figure out. Before she could even get past the first word, he stirred and she leapt back into the deepest shadows.

He dumped the cup into the bushes and staggered to the door. She didn’t think he was drunk, but old age made him clumsy. Going into the pretty little house behind him, she could smell the others.

A woman younger than him came from the opposite end of the house and smiled at him. Theresa had hidden behind the doorframe and held her breath. She wanted to see what this girl meant to him and was suddenly very jealous of her. She heard the woman speak only seconds before Theresa was ready to jump out and kill her.

“Hello, Grandda. I was just coming out to get you. Dinner is almost ready.” She kissed his cheek and Theresa felt anger surge up. “Come on in and after dinner, we’ll go over a few more things in your box.”

“I got a few more notes you can add to that contraption of yours too. I’ve been thinking about what that man said about a few things. You think you can fix ‘em up for me?” The girl laughed and Gregory and the girl faded away deeper into the house.

Theresa watched the big television while they ate. Food made her ill whether she ate it or not. There was nothing of interest on the thing, at least nothing she could figure out. There was a lot of color, which she loved, but the sound must have been broken because she couldn’t hear anything.

When she heard him going into another room, she slipped into it behind him again. This room was dark with all sorts of pretty books on the shelves. While he played around with his papers and Theresa figured he waited for his granddaughter, she looked at the small toys and such on the shelves in addition to the books.

She was just admiring a shell when she heard the door open. Hiding deeper into the darkened corner, she watched as the woman sat down at the desk and opened a computer, another thing that she never got to play with.

“Okay, tell me what you have.” He handed the woman a small sheet of paper like the one he’d had in his hand outside. “Okay. Do you want me to address this to the same man or to someone else?”

“The same.” He handed her something that looked like a picture and the woman got up and put it on something else. “You have no idea how much I appreciate you helping me out with this, Mary Kathleen. I would still be struggling with the first letter.”

“You know I don’t mind. It’s sort of fun really. I know that it’s been hard for you, all that mess, but for me it’s an adventure without all the gore.”

They worked for a while longer, and it wasn’t until they were shutting down the computer that Theresa thought about getting back out of the house. When they both walked out onto the back porch, she slipped out of the front door.

She didn’t know what they were talking about and that pissed her off. She wanted to go and demand that he tell her, but knew that wouldn’t work either. The picture, when she’d gotten a glimpse of it after they’d gone outside, was of her. Theresa didn’t even remember posing for the stupid thing. But it was her all right.

She decided that tomorrow night she was going to go to Gregory and tell him that she wanted answers. She wasn’t sure what she’d get, but he’d tell her or she’d…she’d just kill that girl of his. Standing a little taller, she thought about killing the girl and having him watch. Yeah, she thought, he’d tell her whatever she wanted to know.

The next night he wasn’t on the porch. She had to wait for someone inside to come to the door and that was taking too long. So she rang the doorbell and hid. When the woman came out Theresa threw the small stone into the bushes and the woman did just what she wanted her to. As soon as she walked off the porch to check the bushes, Theresa went into the house.

The house smelled strongly of the humans. There was also a cat inside, but Theresa ignored it. She looked all through the lower part of the house and didn’t see Gregory, so she went up the stairs when it was clear. She was peeking into one of the rooms when Gregory came out of one behind her.

“You. What are you doing here? Get out of my granddaughter’s house this minute.” He shooed at her with a newspaper and she growled. “Go on. I said to get out and you’d best not be harming her either.”

“You will tell me what you were doing with my picture. I saw you with it yesterday and I want to know where you got it.” She moved toward him, always startled by how fast she could move. “Where did you get it, old man?”

Theresa lifted him by his neck and carried him to the room that smelled like him the most. When she put him down on the floor again, he nearly collapsed. She had to keep reminding herself how strong she was, but she didn’t tell him she was sorry.

There had been enough of that, too, telling people she was sorry all the time.

“How did you do that? How did you lift me that way, you being a little girl?” Theresa snarled at him and he backed to the bed and sat down. “Didn’t mean to make you upset. But you are a little bitty thing.”

“Tell me about the picture. Where did you get it? How did you take it without me knowing?” Her anger surged, the horrible anger that made her feel like an animal. Theresa started pacing when she felt the room tilt. It was all she could do to turn to look to Gregory, and she could barely make him out with all the red haze. “Gregory,” she said softly just before it all went black.

~~~

“It’s important that you find who did this as soon as possible. I have people screaming in the streets that there’s a wild animal on the loose.” Holly wrote down everything her boss said to her as she glanced at the timer. Thirty-one seconds left. “And make sure you report all your findings to the local yokels. They want this solved yesterday.”

She had ten seconds left when she ended the call and snapped the phone in two then took out the battery. She was tossing the pieces into the jar of nitric acid when Phil finally spoke.

“You do know that I’m going with you, right?” She nodded, relieved that he was going too. “And as for what is killing these people who do—”

“It wasn’t people but a person. I think you should call that woman again. The guy’s name is Gregory. I don’t know why, but I think it’s your girl, the rogue.” She stiffened when he stood up suddenly and lifted her too. “Phil?”

“Tell me everything. Starting with why do you think it’s this rogue?” She watched him stretch his neck, then he stepped back. “I’m sorry. It’s just that she killed so many people and had come so close to…please tell me what you have found out.”

She laid her head on his chest and closed her eyes. They had to leave soon, but she needed this very badly and suspected he did too. When he ran his hand down her back she looked up at him.

“His granddaughter found him. Her name is Mary Kathleen Matthews and Gregory has been staying there since he left New York. Do you think she followed him there?”

“Probably. Or she knew where he was all along. I’m not sure if I heard where he was staying, but she either followed him or she lives here too.”

She didn’t think that was right but said nothing.

“How far are they from here?”

“Less than two hours. We need to get going. They are holding the scene for me. I have to talk to the locals there and my contact said that they are expecting me. I’m going in as an expert on wild animals.” She laughed at the irony of the situation. “Will you mind being my assistant?”

He shook his head before asking her something else. “How was he killed and why did they call you? Do they normally have you do run of the mill killings involving animals?”

She’d never thought of that. They hadn’t and she told him so. “I don’t know why me. They know that my main address is Ohio, but nothing more. I’m going to be really pissed if nothing happened and they want to bring me there to end my contract with them.” She headed for the car as he locked up. “I have to go by my apartment. I have some extra guns and ammo there that I’d like to bring along.”

She had more than ammo. There was the specially made bulletproof vest that she wanted to put on, as well as a few tracking devices that she wanted to hook up to Phil. She stopped in her tracks, which made him bump into her from behind.

“Can you find me?” He frowned at her question. “I mean, if I’m not close to you, can you find me if, say, something happens?”

“Are you expecting something to happen?” She nodded. “Yes. No matter where you are, I will be able to find you. You’ve the ability to find me too. Though I’m not sure how far reaching it is for you.”

Nodding again, she got into the passenger side of his car and turned to him in the seat. “Are you attached to this thing? The reason I’m asking is that I’d like to take something with a little more…well, a lot more safety measures in it. I have a four-wheel drive baby that is plated with bulletproof glass and steel in the doors. The gas mileage sucks, but it will keep us safe if something happens.”

Phil kissed her quickly on the mouth. “Can I drive it?” She laughed and told him yes. “Then let’s go get the sucker. It’s not a pretty pink or some girly color like that, is it?”

“No, it’s bright purple with yellow racing stripes. I wanted it to blend.” They were still laughing when they pulled into her parking lot ten minutes later.

“You don’t spend a lot of time here, do you? Nothing here says you like it here.”

She looked around the two rooms that served as a living room and dining/kitchen area. She supposed not. She’d signed the lease to this apartment over seven years ago and had probably only stayed there a total of one year…if that. There was a couch and an end table, a television set she doubted had ever been turned on, and a lamp. There were no magazines on the tables and no pictures on the walls. The kitchen had nothing on the counters, not even a coffee pot, which she would never have used anyway. The refrigerator was empty of everything, with the exception of some hot sauce, a bottle of catsup, and some packets from a Chinese restaurant, from where she couldn’t remember if the food was any good. She moved to the bedroom and noticed that this room was just as sparse.

The bed had a rolled up sleeping bag and three pillows. She knew the closet held a few t-shirts and maybe a pair of pants. She went to the closet, not wanting to see how depressing the bathroom was.

The wall behind the few bits of clothing was false. She moved the clothes to the side, kneeled down onto the floor, and pulled up the carpet to reveal a floor safe. But it, like the wall, wasn’t real either. She pushed down on the dial and turned it until she heard a click, then when the pad lit up she punched in the code. The entire top of the “safe” came off.

“Nice. I should see about getting one of those put into our house. Who designed it?”

She didn’t look up when she answered him, waiting for the next set of numbers to be put in. “I did. It was a combination of parts I picked up here and there. I wanted someplace I could hide my guns and not have to worry about the housekeeper finding them.” She keyed in the last of the numbers and the wall in front of her opened. She stood and finished answering Phil. “This wall is solid steel and was a bitch to get in here. I told the landlord it was a backboard for my bed. I was very careful not to let him help me carry it.”