Gravity (53 page)

coffee shop since he was nineteen.”

Page tugged at her collar, saddened by the idea of it. As much as she despised Slater for what

he’d done, scrubbing a Relic was a cruel punishment. She couldn’t imagine having her memories

and ancient knowledge erased. Then again, she wasn’t so sure they could wipe him of that

knowledge. It was hard-wired in their DNA and became as natural as breathing.

“We don’t need protection?”

Christian made a disgusted sound and rolled his eyes. “He’s only a Relic, no offense.”

Page cupped her hand over her nose and blew a heated breath to warm it. Once they

approached the bench, Slater looked up without a hint of recognition. “Are you lost?”

Christian bent down in front of him, pulling him into a hypnotic stare. The Vampire picked the

combination to a mental lock and without so much as an audible click, the expression on Slater’s

face changed when Christian whispered a word.

Slater blinked and began looking around.

The Vampire wagged his finger. “Before you get any ideas of running, be reminded that you

won’t get far.” He took his strong hand and clamped it over Slater’s knee as a warning. Then he

looked up and nodded at Page. “Go on now, let’s get it over with.”

Slater abruptly shouted, “What have you done to me? You can’t do this; it’s not right!”

“I need to talk to you,” Page said in a lulling voice, moving into his line of vision.

“I got nothing to say to you, bitch.” He flinched and recoiled from Christian, whose hand had

tightened ever so slightly.

The icy wind licked the back of her neck and she shivered, thinking she should have worn her

scarf. “Slater, I need to know what the injections were that you gave to me.”

He jerked back with a breathy laugh, staring up at her. “You know what I’d like to know? Why

knowledge had to be wasted on someone like you, who doesn’t even want to pass it on. You’re a

stupid woman.”

“Some things just aren’t meant to be, Slater. Not everything can go on forever—that’s nature.

You of all people should understand that, given your knowledge of extinct Breeds.”

“Yeah, yeah, but we have the power to prevent that. Technology has opened doors. Why

couldn’t you see it my way? Our baby would have been exceptional, one that prophets talk about.”

“Your ego disgusts me,” she said, curling her lip into a snarl. “I’m not an incubator, but that’s

what you set out to make me, isn’t it? Just something to grow your little science experiment in.”

He leaned back with his arms draped across the back of the bench. “What did you bring me

here for? To torment me with the truth that I’m going to live the rest of my life thinking I serve

coffee for eight bucks an hour? Enlighten me, for the love of Christ.”

“Why don’t you enlighten me, and tell me what you injected me with?”

“Something those idiots hadn’t thought of; they were so busy using humans as a Petri dish

making cocktails that they didn’t even comprehend they had some of the right techniques. All the

right tools at their fingertips, but the formula was all wrong.”

Page folded her arms, tucking her cold fingers beneath her pea coat. “So I was just a pawn for

science?”

He scooted down in his seat. “Why not?” He gave her a relaxed smile and Page tightened her

fists, sliding them inside her coat pockets. “We needed someone with genetics close to a human,

but not quite. Why spend all that time looking for a Chitah human when we had a perfectly good

Relic? You and I both know there’s something different in our DNA, and yet we aren’t like the rest

of them. A human body can’t nurture and develop a Breed embryo.”

“What kind of mutant baby did you have in mind for me? A Sensor and Gemini? Or maybe a

Vampire and a Chitah.”

Slater snorted and rubbed his scruffy beard. “Only ours, Page. It was to be my baby. But all

things would have been possible. Now we’ll never know.”

Her knees weakened. “I need to know what you put in the injections, Slater.”

He leaned to the left and laughed wickedly. “I just bet you’d like to know, wouldn’t you? That’s

the only trump card I have left in my hand, and I think I’ll keep it. If you ever decide to take me

out of my hell at Latte Lovers, then by all means, give me a call.” He challenged her with a long,

contemptuous stare.

Page sighed and touched Christian’s shoulder. “I’m finished. He isn’t going to talk. Do it.”

Christian looked up and cold terror spiked through her when he slumped over with a wooden

stick poking out of his neck. Slater crouched over him for a second before he stood up and

confronted Page with a malicious grin.

“Stupid Vampires—taking someone to a park with trees,” he said, snatching her coat when she

tried to turn away. “No, no, honey. You’re not going anywhere. It’s too late for that.”

He yanked her against him and puckered his lips for a mocking kiss.

Page screamed.

Chapter 40

Justus had decided to sit outside Page’s apartment that evening. He remained quiet in the

shadows, keeping a close watch for intruders.

When she had returned the gold bracelet, he felt the sharp sting of rejection.

It wasn’t enough.

He had a fortune at his disposal and it must have appeared that he thought very little of her. It

was so delicate—like Page—and didn’t cost very much. Foolish gesture, he thought. Emeralds

would have been better.

Justus knew something was afoot when Christian arrived unexpectedly with Silver nowhere in

sight. It was no secret between the two of them that Justus was shadowing close behind.

Christian only acknowledged him once by a quick glance and then looked away.

They took off in Page’s car and Justus tailed behind in his silver Aston Martin. Page rushed

through a red light and briefly lost him. When he finally sped up, he had a hunch he knew where

they had gone. As he rolled into a parking space in the public park just a few spaces away from

her car, alarm ran up his spine. It was too late for her to be wandering the streets, and it

concerned him that she was in need of a guard.

The hairs on his arms stood up when he tasted the energy buzz, the way he often did in the

club when emotions were ripe. He somehow sensed Page in a way he couldn’t explain; he didn’t

just feel her, he gravitated toward her.

His heart stopped when he saw Slater shaking her as they argued by a park bench beneath a

canopy of trees. They were too far out of range for him to hear what was said. All he saw was

Slater hurting Page.

With blinding speed, Justus flashed across the grounds and grabbed him by the throat. Slater

let go of Page and she stumbled backward.

“Fuck you,” Slater spat. When he reached out for Page, Justus tightened his grip.

That’s when Justus saw the glimmer from his own dagger pulled out from beneath his shirt,

and he felt the searing pain of skin separating as Slater swiped the blade across his chest. Blood

immediately soaked through his shirt and Justus stepped back. Before he could react, the Relic

drove the blade through his right shoulder, still holding on to the handle. Little did he know that it

wasn’t a stunner.

Slater’s inexperience with knives showed. Hundreds of years of skilled practice had taught

Justus how to disarm his enemy. Tonight that enemy would feel that cold steel in his body, pushed

in to the hilt. He could have easily thrown his energy into Slater and ended it before it began. The

level of power surging through Justus at that moment was so electric that he could have touched a

power grid and taken out the lights in three states. But he leveled it down, stepping back and to

the side until the blade slowly came out. In a quick motion, he snatched Slater’s wrist, breaking it

as he disarmed him.

Justus grabbed the knife and threw a hard fist into Slater’s face. The Relic dropped like a bag

of bricks. Justus fell to his knees and heard Page gasp; it distracted him for only a moment. He

gripped the dagger with the sharp blade arrowing toward the Relic’s heart as he pinned him down

with his left arm across his throat. When Justus lifted his head, he saw Page backing up.

She shouldn’t have to watch this. “Turn away,” Justus said in cold words. “Go help Christian.”

Slater was too unstable and couldn’t be allowed to wander freely after another scrubbing.

There was no guarantee it would work, and he had become a dangerous liability—one they

couldn’t bring to justice because of the risk. Justus was left with only one alternative.

When she turned her back to him, Justus plunged the blade into Slater’s heart. In seconds, the

man’s life came to a staggering halt. He rose to his feet and looked down at the Relic indifferently.

He held no remorse for a man who would inflict harm on a woman. Justus believed there was a

moral code of honor, and that all men had an obligation to protect women and children.

Page knelt before Christian, who lay motionless on the concrete with a stick protruding from his

neck and a pool of dark blood collecting beneath his head. She grimaced before pulling it out.

Christian rolled over, gasping and spitting out a mouthful of blood.

“Jaysus. I’d much rather get it in the chest any day. It’s when they go for the neck—there

should be a law against it,” he coughed out, holding his throat. He stared at the blood on his hand

and shook it angrily, wiping his fingers across his dark pants. “I should have been listening when

his hands moved out of sight. The stick could have been sitting on top of the bench. Hell if I

know.”

Justus understood Christian’s frustration—he himself had foolishly underestimated the man

because he was a Relic. Only certain kinds of wood paralyzed a Vampire, and Christian hadn’t

considered his surroundings.

Page ran her fingers through her hair and he noticed the humidity had caused it to kink up at

the ends. “I guess now we’ll never know the secrets he kept in that head of his.”

Justus stepped forward, his combat boots scraping along the concrete. He lowered his eyes

and watched the way her hands trembled. “Would you rather he killed you?”

“Slater wouldn’t have killed me; he was too polluted with the idea of impregnating me with his

DNA so he could create a child with unparalleled knowledge.”

Justus knelt down on one knee and tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ear. “Will you

come home with me?” The moment the words left his lips, his chest constricted. He’d spent years

caging his heart, and now it was on his sleeve.

She lifted her soft brown eyes to his and turned her beautiful mouth to the side. “It’s over,

Justus. I don’t know that it ever really began, but this will never work out between us. I’m not the

kind of woman that’s good for you.”

Christian slowly walked out of earshot, although for a Vampire, that would have to be the next

state over. The illusion of privacy was merely a common courtesy.

“I care for you, Page. I want to see that you’re looked after properly.”

“Like one of your cars?” she suggested. “I’m not a possession. I know you think your heart is in

the right place, but you’ll regret it. We can’t build a relationship out of one night. One beautiful

night. I’ll never forget you, Justus. The real you that you allowed me to see. I’ll still be around for

Silver, but I don’t want you to be confused about how I feel. We can’t see each other anymore.”

“What has changed in you?” Never had Justus been denied by a woman; he had always been

pursued, not the pursuer. Now it seemed there was nothing he could say to remedy what had

happened between them, and he still wasn’t sure what that was, but he had a good idea that the

sex had everything to do with it. “What have I done to displease you?”

“Nothing, Justus. It’s not you, it’s me. And God, I hate that line, but it’s true. You deserve to

find a woman who will treat you right, someone who’s also a Mage. We’re just on different levels,

and I’m mortal. Have you considered that in twenty years, I’m going to start getting grey hairs and

arthritis? Don’t even think about doing this to yourself. It’s for the best, and it’s a decision I’ve

made that you can’t change. If you really do care for me, then you’ll let me go.”

***

Two weeks later, I asked Sunny’s permission to borrow Knox’s ashes. They were kept safe in a

beautiful brass urn. Knox wouldn’t have wanted anything fussy or silver, plus he always liked to say

he had big brass ones. Sunny hadn’t come to terms with releasing his ashes just yet, but we knew

the time would be coming soon enough. So it was suggested that we spend an evening with Knox,

honoring his memory.

I placed the urn on the coffee table in our living room and we turned off the lights and lit up

the hurricane lanterns, placing them around the seating area. Christian came up with the idea of

an Irish sendoff, one where we would spend the evening drinking and sharing memories about

Knox. He didn’t know him very well but said it would bring peace to the living.

Justus sat with us for a little while, but he retired downstairs when Page arrived. He had a lot