Kissing Sin (38 page)

His hand slid down my back and onto my rump, pressing me against him, against the hardness of his erection. “But you will not get into his circle without my help.”

“Don’t wipe off the Directorate, Misha. They’re not the fools you and this man seem to think they are.” I hesitated, then added, “We have Roberta in custody, you know.”

That seemed to surprise him. “Then I hope you protect her well, because he will try to kill her.”

“If he’s killed Nasia, he’s probably already tried to kill his mother.”

“True. He always did intend Rupert to be the next Helki alpha.”

Obviously, there was no love for Mom, despite the fact she helped him to the throne. “We have Rupert, as well.”

“Then I hope you get the location of the lab fast, because he will burn it from their minds.”

“Even if that happens, you still know the location. You can tell me.”

“Only if I’m alive.”

I raised an eyebrow at that. “And here I was thinking you were acting rather blasé about the threat to your life.”

“Blasé? Far from it. Why do you think I’ve been living here twenty-four-seven this last week?”

“Here?” I waved a hand toward the window. “With all this glass about? How is that safe?”

“That glass is bulletproof. I replaced the original glass when I had the building refitted a few years ago.”

“Given the fact your master is into creating the weird and the not-so-wonderful, I wouldn’t be banking on the fact that he can’t get something in here.”

“Whoever wants to come into this office has to do so through the Fravardin.”

“All he really needs to do is set a bomb or use a rocket launcher, and you, this building, and the Fravardin are all dust.” Taking me along with them if the attack happened right now.

“But that’s not even remotely subtle. He cannot afford to draw attention to himself until his base of power is secure.”

“Uh-uh.” I reached behind me, grabbed Misha’s hands, and pulled them away. “Let me state what you already know—I’m not having sex with you tonight. Not here. Not until whatever is going to happen happens.”

“We had a deal.”

“That deal was us meeting at the Rocker, nothing more.”

He grimaced, though the effect was rather spoiled by the glimmer in his eyes. I was guessing he pretty much thought he was the winner here anyway—because I was with him, and not with someone else.

“I knew I should have widened the terms of reference.” He walked across the room to the bar. “He won’t attack me here. He’s well aware that I’m very secure in my foxhole.”

He offered me a beer and I shook my head. “All foxholes have weaknesses, Misha.”

“Not this one.”

“You certain of that?”

“Yes.”

It was at that precise moment that the lights went out.

Chapter 12

S
o much for certainty,” I muttered, blinking to switch to infrared vision.

“There must be a problem with the power,” he said, walking across to the window.

Why, I have no idea. It was pretty much obvious by the rainbow beams of light invading the office that this building was the only one that’d lost light. “Yeah, it’s been cut. There’s no hum coming from the fridge, Misha.”

He shrugged, and turned around to face me. “Whoever or whatever it is still has to get through the Fravardin.”

I glanced toward the metal door. “What kills them?”

“White ash.”

And I was betting the mastermind behind this operation knew that. “Warn them, then contact the guards downstairs, see if they’ve been taken out.”

He stared at me for a moment, his body a mass of pulsing red against the bright backdrop of city lights. Then he nodded, and moved across to the desk. “Tiimu, be prepared for an attack. They may have white ash, so tell everyone to be wary.” He flicked another button, then added, “Security?”

No answer came. His gaze met mine. “They’ve been taken.”

“Obviously.” I slid the pack from my shoulder and took out the gun. “You have anything resembling a weapon in this office?”

“Besides teeth?” he said, baring them.

I shoved the extra rounds of bullets into my pockets, then ditched the pack. “I’ve got a feeling whatever is coming at us isn’t going to be particularly fazed by a sharp pair of canines.”

He grinned, and even from this distance I could smell his excitement. But then, he was a wolf, and when the male of our species was threatened, common sense usually flew out the window.

He pressed a button on the small console, then moved the bookcase behind him and pushed. It retracted into the wall, revealing a veritable arsenal. “I would suggest you take a laser—runt rifles are not good for close-in fighting. They take too long to reload.”

I caught the one he tossed me. “How long have you had the armory?”

“It’s another of my refurbishment details.”

“Don’t suppose they also included a quick escape route should things go bad?”

He merely grinned. Meaning he probably did, but he wasn’t going to show me unless it was absolutely necessary. “Have you got monitors on all the floors?”

“Yeah, but with the power out, they won’t work.”

Well, duh. I shook my head at my own stupidity. “So we just sit here and wait for whatever’s coming at us to come.”

“Basically, yes.” He fired up the laser, and the gentle hum rode across the night, itching at my nerves.

I retreated to the pillar opposite the door, pressing my back against the cool concrete. My palms were sweaty, my heart was racing nine to the dozen. I welcomed the reaction, welcomed the fear that sat like a weight at the bottom of my stomach. Because it meant that, despite my fears, I was not yet like my brother.

The mechanical drone of an elevator edged into the silence. Tension slithered through me, and my grip tightened on the laser. I glanced at Misha. “Why are the elevators working if all the power is out?”

“One elevator is a fire elevator—it has a separate power supply for situations like this.”

“Great. Easy access for the bad guys.”

“Unfortunately, yes. But it was a regulation I couldn’t fight.” He stood close to his arsenal, his back to the wall and a laser in either hand.

I licked my lips and turned my gaze back to the door. How strong was it? Given Misha’s other refurbishments, it was probably reinforced, but would it be strong enough to keep out whatever was coming up in those elevators? Something deep inside said no, and fear rose another notch.

The mechanical drone of the elevator stopped, and in the corridor beyond the door, chimes sounded, warning of the elevator’s arrival.

Sweat broke out across my brow, and the tension in my fingers started becoming cramps. I took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves as I waited for something to happen.

But for the longest of moments, nothing did.

Then an unearthly roar shattered the silence, and raised the hairs on the back of my neck. With it came the sound of fighting. Heavy thumps, flesh against flesh, the grunt of pain, more roars. The very walls seem to shudder under the force of the hits they were taking. Whether those hits were from weapons or from bodies being crashed against them, I couldn’t say.

A red spot appeared in the middle of the door, white in the center flaring to red at the ever-growing edges. I stepped to one side, so that if—when—that laser broke through, it wouldn’t skewer me in the middle.

“Lasering a hole in the door,” Misha commented, his voice showing little concern. “They won’t get far.”

I swallowed to ease the dryness in my throat, then asked, “Why not?”

His eyes had an unearthly, almost fey, look about them. “Because those doors are rated against lasers.”

“How long?”

“An hour.”

Long enough for help to get here. Lord, I hoped Jack read his text messages sooner rather than later. “What’s it rated against explosives?”

“If they use explosives, half the floor will come down on top of them. This is an old building, remember.”

I remembered, but I was wondering if they would. “Why don’t you call the police?”

“Why don’t you call the Directorate?”

“I have.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Then why aren’t they here?”

“How the fuck am I supposed to know?” My voice was sharper than I’d intended. “I’m here, not there. I have no idea—”

I stopped abruptly. Through the noise of the fighting in the corridor, and the whine of the laser and bubbling of melting metal came another sound. A soft skittering against metal. It sounded for all the world like little hairy feet brushing across the surface of the door. A chill ran down my spine, and the sensation that we were no longer alone had my breath lodging somewhere in my throat.

Because that sound was coming from above us, from the ceiling itself rather than the door. I looked up. Infrared revealed absolutely nothing. Not on the ceiling, not in the hollows beyond it. Yet those sounds were drawing closer.

My heart raced so fast it felt as if it were going to tear out of my chest. I switched to normal vision, scanning the white expanse, wondering what the hell was going on. There was nothing there, nothing to be seen, yet the certainty that something
was
there, that it was almost on us, was growing like a cancer deep inside.

“What’s wrong?”

The sudden question made me jump. I met Misha’s gaze. “Something is in the ceiling.”

“The ceiling is not designed to hold a great deal of weight.” He looked up regardless, his expression edging toward concern for the first time.

“Whatever’s coming at us hasn’t got a great deal of weight.” I jumped to one side as the laser broke through the door. A deadly red beam shot across the room, smashing into the pillar where I’d been minutes before, boiling the concrete in the few seconds it was on. Then light blinked out, leaving only the glowing edges of melted metal as evidence of its presence. Silence had fallen in the corridor. Whether that meant the Fravardin had won out or been defeated, I couldn’t say. But I had a horrible suspicion it was the latter rather than the former.

“Given up,” Misha said.

“I doubt it.” The skittering drew closer, becoming hundreds of steps rather than just a few. Fear curled through me. My gaze rose to the ceiling again. What the hell could it possibly be? It sounded for all the world like spiders….

Oh, fuck.

Kade had mentioned spiders. Spiders that were invisible to infrared and able to squeeze through the smallest of holes. Holes like the one in the door. Or those in the air-conditioning vents.

Even as fear crystallized, moisture began to drip from the grate of the vent directly above me.

“Misha,” I yelled, stepping aside and taking aim with the laser. “Look up. Your master has sent his spiders.”

He swore, a sound lost to the sudden hum of the laser as I pressed the trigger. The cold beam bit through the semidarkness, hitting the gathering moisture square in the center. The grate began to melt, and steam boiled, filling the room with the thick scent of burning flesh. Something squealed, a high-pitched, unearthly sound no human would have caught. Then the vent cover came down, and with it a flood of water. Water that hit the carpet but didn’t splatter, not even against my legs, though I stood barely two feet away. Horror crawled across my skin as the water began to separate, forming mounds that grew, took on shape, developed legs and heads and beady little eyes and sharp, razorlike teeth.

My fingers clenched reflexively on the trigger, and the laser’s bright light shot out again. But the spiders that were as clear as water were also faster than fear.

They scattered. A good half dozen came directly at me, and I pressed the laser’s trigger, burning carpet and spiders alike as I swept the beam back and forth.

Something bit my calf, and I yelped. Swinging around, I swiped the spider eating my flesh with the butt of the runt rifle, then speared it with the laser, killing it. More came. I kept my finger on the laser’s trigger, almost choking in the steam that was beginning to fill the room. Still they came, a river that seemed endless. The laser grew hot in my hand, and the power light was flashing, warning that the energy cell was near depletion. I swore, and began to clear a path toward the armory. And saw Misha surrounded by a flood of the creatures and barely holding his own.

We couldn’t beat them. I knew that then. Our only chance lay in escape—and in hoping that something worse wasn’t out on the street, waiting for us.

I ran through the space I’d cleared, then leapt onto the desk, and toward the weapons. Felt sting after sting on my back as creatures leapt aboard and began to munch. Pain bloomed as moisture began to trickle down my spine. I dropped the runt rifle and the spent laser, replacing them with two more lasers. Swinging around, I thrust back against the wall as hard as I could. Something popped, and moisture splattered to my feet. I hit it with both lasers, then fanned the beams across the floor as more of the creatures came at me.

“Misha,” I said, without looking up, “we need to get the hell out of here. Where’s the escape hatch?”