Life Cycle (22 page)

She resisted at first, but soon enough, she was
kissing back, moaning against his lips, her hand sliding down his
pants. Sexual heat rose off her without thrall, without him doing
anything preternatural to elicit it. He broke away from her mouth
and whispered in her ear.

“You want to see me every day for the rest of your
life, and you know it. You want me to fuck you like a bitch in
heat, and if you say anything different, we’ll both know it’s a
lie. Now go back to your tent and stay there. No wandering until we
get this situation under control.”

He turned and left the cave, one of her energy balls
hitting him in the back on the way out.

Chapter Twelve

Hadrian stood by the pool on the roof of Anthony’s
penthouse. Jack was waiting for him in the forest near the portal
point into the demon dimension. They’d discovered it while tracking
the werewolf pack alpha. The sun had set less than an hour ago, but
it wasn’t quite time for the meeting. Would it look suspicious
being up here this early? He adjusted the Roman collar on his
clerics.

The metal door slammed against the brick. Anthony’s
dress shoes clicked over the concrete as he reached the conference
table. Why he preferred open air meetings, Hadrian had never
bothered asking. It seemed strange for a man who otherwise seemed
so intense about security.

“Where’s Charlee?” he found himself asking. He
didn’t care where Anthony’s mate was, but making small talk would
make him look less nefarious.

“She’s in her room, taking care of the baby.”

The vampire king seemed tense. For a moment Hadrian
wondered if just taking out the infant would end the police
state—even though the idea made him recoil. That child had done
nothing wrong, no matter who her father was.

There was no way to anticipate what was going on with
vampires in other countries—how tight the control was—but in the
U.S., more magical barriers had started cropping up to keep
therians in pens like cattle. Vampires could pass freely—for
now—but they were under Anthony’s thumb in other ways, and Hadrian
feared that by the end, the vampires would be cattle to the vampire
king as well. He’d seen the plans for the vampire barriers in
Anthony’s vault.

Killing the baby wouldn’t change things—not now with
Jack involved. There was no turning back, and Hadrian was
determined to see this through.

“How is she?” he asked.

“Charlotte or the baby?”

“The baby.”

The vampire king shrugged. “She’s
as to be expected. Weak. Needs a lot of blood. Sleeps all the time.
She’ll have to be protected. Always. Kept out of the sun. Kept away
from anything stronger than a human female that might wish to hurt
her. She’s got her mother’s physical strength and all of a
vampire’s weaknesses. That’s how these things work. I don’t know
how long she’ll live. I don’t recall an
abomination
being allowed to live
long enough to find out. She could be effectively immortal, or she
could have a human life span. Is it wrong that I’m hoping for the
latter? I can’t imagine the stress of worrying about her for
centuries.”

Hadrian shrugged. “I really wouldn’t know, sir.”

It was clear the vampire king didn’t see his daughter
as an abomination, even though he’d used the word. He was prepared
to protect his offspring, even if it was against every vampire
instinct to let something weak and frail live. But then, Anthony
had always had that weakness. He’d been a king mated with a human
female.

Taking humans was still frowned upon. They weren’t
considered equals. And yet, Charlee had held her own most of the
time. Though many of the vampires who followed her orders probably
would have slaughtered her in a heartbeat if not for fear of
Anthony’s wrath.

The two of them stood awkwardly, having exhausted all
conversational topics that wouldn’t reveal Hadrian’s contempt for
Anthony’s policies. At least the vampire hadn’t pulled out a wallet
full of baby photos with cute little fangs popping out of its gums.
Vampires couldn’t reproduce like this with other vampires. And
there was a reason. It was freakish and disturbing.

Thankfully they were interrupted by the metal door
clanging against the brick. Cole. Hadrian tried not to look
anxious. The portal charm was on the werewolf.

“Where’s Jane?” Anthony asked, looking up from the
projector. He’d most likely been briefed by guardians on what had
been happening while he’d slept. It would be a big meeting tonight
with a new death and a greater pressure to come up with ideas on
ways to find The Cycler.

The kill site was different each time. Jack would
tease and taunt them, but he’d never give them a chance to find him
until he was ready to bring the fight to them.

The werewolf grunted. “She’s out doing Cain’s
bidding.”

Anthony arched a brow. “Oh?”

Cole flung his jacket over a chair, causing the
leather cord from the portal charm to spill out of the pocket.
Hadrian’s eyes flicked to it for a moment, but he quickly made his
face go bland, pretending to be interested in what Cole and Anthony
were discussing, trying to look like it was all news to him.

“Cain is trying to do as much damage control as
possible. They’ve been at it all day. Politicians, people with
power, news media. The demons have been covering all locations
where the sun was out. Vampires hit the parts of the world where it
was night. The people have seen what they’ve seen. We can’t stop
that, but we can at least set up strong denial and retractions
among those in authority to slow it down,” Cole said.

Even if they wanted to, vampires couldn’t go about
during the day. The sun being up nearly killed them, slowing their
respiration to almost nothing. It was the moon that resurrected
them again. It was a law they couldn’t breech. The best they could
do was go underground, or black out their windows and lock their
doors and hope no one suspected what they were. More than most
preternaturals, vampires were always vulnerable to the truth coming
out.

“Have you seen any of the news since you rose?” Cole
asked.

“No, I was being briefed for the meeting,” Anthony
said.

“You probably should.”

The vampire king followed the werewolf back inside
the penthouse. He turned at the door. “Hadrian, are you
coming?”

“In a moment. I want to read the new letter if you
don’t mind.”

The transparency was already up and ready. Anthony
shrugged and went inside.

Hadrian couldn’t have planned this better. He
couldn’t have planned it at all. Cole showing up early, being left
with his coat. He thought he’d have to pull off a bump and grab
like the pickpockets he’d so often fed from in the alleyways of big
cities.

He took the portal charm and slipped it into his
pocket, then stood on the ledge and looked down onto the small
alley between the apartments and the next building over. The next
building was only four stories, instead of six. As a vampire he
could make a four story jump without much trouble. He leaped to the
neighboring building, then jumped down into the alley from
there.

***

When Hadrian reached the portal point in the Cary
Town forest, Jack was waiting. He’d created a circle with salt, and
lit candles. Incense burned in a censor, and he had a dish with an
unidentified herb crushed in it.

“Did you bring it?”

Hadrian passed the portal charm to the sorcerer.
Jack’s eyes lit as he looked at the circular golden object with
runic markings and a dial.

“Let’s find out your secrets, shall
we?” He placed the charm on the ground inside the circle and
sprinkled it with the herbs in the dish while chanting:
“Revelare tuum secreta. Revelare tuum secreta.
Revelare tuum secreta...”

A pure white smoke rose out of the herbs, swirling
into runic markings, forming the combination for the charm. The
sorcerer stared at it for a few moments, memorizing the symbols and
the order they came in, then he brought down the circle and blew
out the candles.

Hadrian stayed out of the way as Jack turned the dial
on the disc to the correct combination and a shimmery film
appeared—the doorway into the demon dimension.

Jack tossed the charm to Hadrian, not having any
pockets for it himself. “Are you coming? I need you to persuade her
out. It’s less fuss that way, if she’ll fall for it. Who knows with
her?”

Hadrian hadn’t looked forward to seeing Tamara
again—not under these circumstances. It wasn’t as if the vampire
had started with the intent to betray her. He’d been curious and
searched for another cycler until he’d stumbled upon Jack in the
seventies. The Cycler had been on a break from hunting, but his
interest had renewed upon hearing of Hadrian’s encounter with
Tam.

The vamp had known from the beginning the man was
crazy, but now, well... they wanted the same things. At least
temporarily. They both wanted Anthony out of power. Their
similarities in goal ended there, but for now it was enough.

He stepped through the portal after
Jack, into a dimension that felt like a
past he wasn’t old enough to remember. Jack stayed a distance
away, keeping an eye out for Tam while Hadrian poked his head in
tents and wandered. A few demons milled about, but most of them
seemed involved in their own activities, wrapped up in the humans
they’d brought back with them. One of them
stoppe
d.

“What is your business here?” the demon asked,
suspicion in his eyes.

Hadrian looked around him, but Jack had slipped
between a couple of tents out of view. The vampire pulled out the
portal charm. “Cain sent me. I need to speak with Tam. It’s of an
urgent matter regarding the investigation.”

The demon made a face at the mention of the blonde
witch. “She’s one street over, about halfway down, in a purple tent
with two demon guards outside. You can’t miss it.” He turned and
went off in the other direction.

The vampire wasn’t sure if Jack had heard all of
that, but he followed the directions to the tent. He had to go
through the same explanation with the guards to let him pass.

Tam looked up, startled, when he entered.

“Do you remember me?”

“Of course I do. You still wear the same clothes,”
she said. “I may be old, but my memory isn’t shot.”

Hadrian chuckled. It was regrettable that this woman
had to be in the middle of all this. He’d promised to keep her
secret, and now he was working directly with the man she’d been
running from, the one she’d thrown herself at Hadrian’s fangs once
to avoid. He just hadn’t been old enough or strong enough to kill
her for good.

“Why are you working for him? I don’t understand why
you’d betray me this way. What have I done to you?” The calmly
spoken words caught him off guard.

So much for convincing her and luring her away.
Still, he made an attempt at a lie. “Cain needs you.”

She shook her head. “No. He would have come for me
himself. He never would have sent someone, and he wouldn’t want me
to leave the dimension. He was insistent about that point. Your
face lies. Even without using magic I can see your guilt. Do you
think I’ve existed this long while being repeatedly duped by those
with bad intentions? Tell me why. I deserve that much.”

But he couldn’t tell her. All he could do was yell
for backup. “Jack!”

She tossed an energy ball at him. Hadrian dodged it.
He heard Jack outside the tent, chanting, no doubt incapacitating
her demon guards. Tam raised her arms and started her own chant.
“Jack!” Hadrian shouted, not sure what the witch was about to do to
him, but not wanting to find out.

“Bite her!” Jack yelled from outside.

Hadrian rushed her, going for her throat, but a field
of some kind forced him back.

The witch looked shocked like she hadn’t expected
that. Her hand went to her throat, but not the side he’d tried to
bite. The other side. Before he could figure out what was going on,
Jack entered the tent.

Tam began to hyperventilate, but managed to push past
her fear to conjure an energy ball.

“Come now, Tam. You know that’s not going to hurt
me. It’ll only piss me off. You know how strong I’ve gotten over
the years—we’ve had our little meetings. I could have killed you at
any one of them. I could kill you right now.”

“So do it, then. I’m not afraid of death.”

He chuckled and looked around him at her
surroundings. “No, it doesn’t appear that you are. But you know my
purposes can’t be served that way. Go open the portal, Hadrian, the
one we talked about. I’ll be right behind you with the girl.”

Hadrian, not wanting to be more involved than he had
to be, left to carry out the order. The vampire walked at a normal
pace, trying not to draw attention to himself, until he reached the
portal point Jack had found during his dream connection with the
witch.

As soon as Jack was through the portal, Hadrian would
go back to his resting place. It might be daylight where The Cycler
was going, and even if it wasn’t, he didn’t trust the guy. When the
sun rose and he was helpless, his usefulness was over.

Jack finally showed up, the girl slung over his
shoulder.

“What did you do?” Although Tamara had been scared
and was no match for Jack, who’d been collecting powers and
additional strength with each kill for centuries, he’d still
managed to incapacitate her much faster than the vampire would have
bet on.

“I punched her. You didn’t think I’d waste magic did
you? First rule of magic users, Hadrian: at the end of the day,
we’re still humans with human frailties. Why waste magic when you
can just knock one out? Why do you think I told you to bite
her?”

“About that…” the vampire didn’t know what to
make of bouncing off her like that. Whatever she’d done, it hadn’t
affected Jack.