Mistwalker (26 page)

“Help them!” one onlooker cried. “She’s dead.”

“Dial emergency,” another called loudly. “Call an ambulance.”

Humans climbed out of their cars and hurried over to stare. Metal and glass debris scattered the road. They certainly don’t build cars like they used to, Carlo thought wryly. The nearest escape was…. His gaze swerved. Manhole.

He grabbed a piece of metal from the destroyed car and crawled to the cover on the road. It was flattened and compacted, but he wedged the metal under the lip. The cover popped open, and he dug his fingers beneath the edge and pushed it aside.

He went back for the woman and dragged her across the asphalt with his left arm, shuffling down the hole feet first before the humans could see him. A blast exploded in the air, and a wave of heat scorched his skin. Flames leapt around the car and skimmed the surface of the road. The sudden heat forced his eyes closed. He stepped down onto a firm foot hold, knowing step-irons led down into the drain. With her bulk in his left arm, he couldn’t hold onto the ladder, so he shifted her slight weight over his shoulder.

The heavy scent of dirty water hit him. He pulled the cover back across the manhole. The absence of light gave his eyes their full opportunity to adjust.

A gush of water flowed almost three metres beneath him and smelled of wet basement. He descended, his left hand sliding down the edge of the ladder. Close enough to the bottom, he jumped, and water splashed into his tennis shoes and jeans. At the edge of the channel, he sat her on the ground and pulled out his cell phone from his back pocket. Luckily, the device hadn’t been crushed.

Master picked up after the second ring. “Yes?”

“We’ve had a car accident. She isn’t hurt as far as I can see. But she’s sick. Real sick. Smells funny. I made it down the drains. We’ve got no transport. I look too messed up to catch a taxi. I need Kristoff here to wipe the humans’ memories above ground and take care of the car.”

Master growled. “Kristoff isn’t with you?”

Carlo frowned. “No. Robard threw her in the car and made a false trail.”

“Travel to the main intersection of the tunnels, the marketplace, and keep her hidden. I’m sending in a team.”

“Are you sure that’s the best idea—”

Carlo talked to thin air. He sighed and tucked the phone into his back pocket and then lifted the female over his shoulder. He stepped into the rushing water, thankful it wasn’t sewer.

Chapter
Twenty-Seven

At the blast of a car horn, Simone jumped and turned to the streaming cars and interested cyclists on the street. Bystanders gawked. Any minute now someone would call the police.

“Juliun, we could look at the other cars…” But she realised he wasn’t listening.

His fingers sunk into the vampire’s throat, crushing his windpipe. Juliun muttered some words, and although she didn’t understand the dialect, his tone sent chills down her spine.

The vampire’s eyes rolled to white, and his body sagged.

She gasped. “Juliun, stop. He might have information on Tammy. We need him to be able to talk.”

Juliun’s broad shoulders lowered, but his deadly grip did not relax. Foreign words dripped from his lips that sounded like insults. His expression was a mask of stone. “No, we do not.”

Slowly, she crept toward him, so close her unsteady breath fanned the long fall of his black hair. She could smell the sharp twist of his anger. Combined with her adrenaline rush, it made her cells fire with longing, but she didn’t want to contemplate any attraction to him. She’d never seen him like this, and she had to stop him before it was too late.

“Juliun…” she whispered. “Don’t kill him yet. We need information. Please.”

His steely, grey glare flicked toward her, and she fell into it. So close. One tiny movement and they would be touching, kissing. His massive chest pressing against hers, his jaw looked hewn from granite, and a wild, ferocious aura rolled from him.

Then without knowing why, she sent a single thought on their mind-link.
*Please.*

He opened his fingers, and the vampire instantly dropped to the ground. “You were in danger. He could have killed you.” Juliun’s voice shook, and he
enveloped her in a crushing hug.

“Not in this lifetime,” she mumbled into his clean white dress shirt.

“Which I want to last for an extremely long time. And he thought it.” Juliun’s chest expanded in an obvious effort to control himself. “Wanted that.”

“It doesn’t matter. I have to find Tammy.” Simone looked at him with a nervousness that had nothing to do with the aggression he’d displayed. She pulled back and looked him right in the eye. “I’m…I’m going to need your help.”

He stiffened. The air crackled with the noises in the street. An angle relented in his face; the sharp line of his jaw curving slightly, and he smiled, his grey gaze searching hers.

“About time.”

He hauled the unconscious vampire by the collar past the shadows lining the abandoned buildings to a doorway. “Ladies first.” His hand rested on the small of her back where the bottom of her jacket met the waist of her jeans.

Tingles arrowed across the bare expanse of her skin.
What would his touch feel like all over her body? She flushed, blood warming her face, knowing she shouldn’t be thinking about that. Would he make her ache for more as he could with a single brush of his fingers? What of his lips?
Level head, Simone. Level head.

“Well, what’s your answer?” she asked.
The full moon cast a pearly light through the doorway, and he stepped to the outskirts where the darkness overwhelmed the room. The creeping warmth of the mist suffused her every cell, and her mist merged into his as though there were no separation.

Her body solidified inside the dungeon inside Ravenkeep. A chill pervaded the air, the three-foot thick stone walls and floor as grey and lonely as the moors during a change.

“I will help you in all ways, Simone.”

She tensed, and her body seemed to be filled with fire. Together, they would be working together. This strange dark vampire would
help her. She didn’t know how to answer the meaning behind his statement, so she nodded. “Thank you.” Her gaze landed on the unconscious vampire in Juliun’s grasp. “Here again with another drop off.” She grimaced. “I wish I’d faded Tammy immediately.”

“Do not blame yourself. You cannot be everywhere at once.” Juliun’s body held a stance of regal and utter command. His physical appearance of youth belied his true age. “I will get her back. But what do you mean by another drop—”

The scuffling of shoes had him pivoting in an instant. “Kristoff,” Juliun growled, his eyes shot with silver. He laughed and glided to the vampire inside the cell whom she’d trapped earlier. “I wondered what happened to you.”

She looked to the vampire in the cell and back again to Juliun. “You know him?”

He cocked his head. “Oh, Kristoff and I go way back.” Juliun dropped the vampire he’d dragged from the street into another cell and then stalked toward Kristoff like a tiger hunts a mouse. “He is the one who put a compulsion upon the vampire who killed my father.”

Her eyes widened, and she stepped back. Words froze in her throat. Every line of Juliun’s body tightened, ready to spring into action.

“Pig.” Kristoff’s head lowered, and he glared at Juliun. “You have no proof.”

“Grandfather managed to crack into Dain’s mind long enough to know it was you.” Juliun didn’t try for civilised or calm. A sheen of sweat surfaced on his forehead, and his hands balled into fists, nostrils flaring. “You forgot his command of glamour surpasses your own.” Juliun turned to her, his face mask-tight and animalistic. “I trust I have you to thank for his capture?”

She nodded and flicked another wary glance to the door. She wasn’t about to ask him to let Kristoff live. This was between Juliun and Radu. “Should I leave?”

He smiled, hard laughter lighting his gaze. “Oh, I am not the one he should be concerned about. Grandfather has prior claim.”

Kristoff growled behind the rails, his black eyes simmering in the darkness. “Under Council rule—”

Juliun laughed again. “You destroyed his only son. He would lay
waste to every immortal in the Council, and they
know
it.”

Kristoff retreated. The lights in his eyes burned with an emotion so strong Simone felt incredible nausea.

“When will he realise that won’t work on me?” she asked, curiously. “It’s rather annoying.”

“Never,” Juliun answered. “It is all he knows. You have managed to capture one of the most elusive vampires in England.”

“He came for me. I thought he would be better here after your tour of the dungeons. What about Alec? He succumbed to the compulsion. We can’t leave him on the train. And Tammy?”

“The royal guards have been sent to clean the train and collect Alec. Grandfather will see to Alec’s compulsion. Have no fear; we will save your friend.”

Her stomach grumbled, twisting and rolling in protest. She laid a hand on the sharp pain and grimaced. “Alec said they took her because they thought she had the mist, but I need to feed before I go looking for her.” She flicked a look at Juliun.

*Of course, love.*

Before her gaze, her fingers turned to mist and tingles shot down her arm and legs, the fire of the fade consuming her. She took form inside a huge kitchen where bright lights bathed a plethora of kitchen appliances. The floors gleamed in checkerboard tile, and she breathed in the warm ambiance of the room. “This kitchen is bigger than my entire apartment.”

Juliun’s fingers heated her skin through the leather jacket. “We can share breakfast,” he said low and directly into her ear. “You are truly more than I ever imagined.”

Gooseflesh sprang down her arms, and a smile curved the corners of her mouth. “Sweet talk before breakfast? I like your style.” She bit her bottom lip and turned to him.

He slid his hands up her arms and didn’t say anything, but his mouth opened; his bottom lip full and sensuous, his jaw hard and sculpted as though hewn from marble. She wanted to reach up and touch his beautiful face; feel his skin, smooth her fingers over his face. Be that close. She swallowed and stepped back.

“Food.”

He grinned devil
ishly. “Yes. Then we will tell Grandfather who is in the dungeon.” Juliun strode to a stainless container that held a wine bottle and poured the dark red fluid into two tall glasses. “That will make his day. The bottle is heated. Enjoy.”

She strolled to the bench and perched on one of the many stools. The aroma of blood wafted in the air. She leaned across and breathed in the scent. “Divine.”

He lifted his glass high. “Cheers.”

She grinned and chinked her glass against his. The sweet, rich liquid flowed into her mouth and down her throat in an ecstasy of flavour. Her eyes closed, enjoying the sensation. “So good…” She dipped her head back for more, and her hair brushed against her shoulders.

“It amazes me how you held out for so long tonight. How did you control your hunger?”

She licked the corner of her lips and set the glass on the counter. “With great difficulty,” she admitted. “Let me tell you, there was one guy on the train who had me so—” She shivered.

Juliun stepped closer, frowning. “So…what? You yearned to feed from him?”

She fidgeted on the stool. “Well, I have the oath.” She shrugged. “So I didn’t.”

“And that is the only thing that stopped you?”

“Basically, plus the fact that I don’t hurt innocent people.”
She wouldn’t bow down to him. “Please. I’m a newly changed vampire, right? I was stuck on a train
full
of humans. No food beforehand. Nothing. This guy had veins popping out all over the place. Sainthood is a moot point right now.”

His jaw worked as though he’d swallowed something unpleasant. “Anytime you feel the need of a vein, I want you to drink from me,” he asserted.

“Forget it,” she bit back and pushed away from the counter, preparing to vanish. “I didn’t have the time then, and I wouldn’t want to be a further burden to you. I’m just trying to figure it all out as I go along, you know. I’m not perfect.”

“I mean it, Simone.” He grabbed her hand. “Stop this. What burden? I fantasise about you tasting me. You cannot go.”

She stared at him. “You do?”

“Totally normal, considering all vampires…” Lissanne’s voice floated from across the room. “Oops…I can see I chose a bad
moment. Anyway, I dreamed of Juliun’s father.”

Where had she come from?
Simone stepped back from Juliun.

Juliun breathed out heavily and replaced his glass on the sink. “Mother…” he warned. When he spun back, he leaned against the counter, his large body stretching out as he surveyed Simone. “You shaved a hundred years off my life tonight.”

Lissanne reached into the refrigerator, kicked the door shut and turned with a bottle in her hands. “How’s that?”

“Rogues kidnapped her friend in hospital, and Simone went after them.”