Night Reigns (36 page)
She smiled tentatively. “Yes.”
Seth caught Chris’s eye. “We also need to eliminate the source.”
“That’s a given,” Chris said. “We take care of our own and need to make sure these ...” He seemed unable to find a word for them that he thought wouldn’t offend Ami.
“Monsters?” she suggested helpfully.
Chris smiled. “Thank you. Make sure these monsters won’t come looking for Ami at a later date.”
Marcus had never liked the man more. Chris hadn’t overreacted to Ami’s secret
and
had just included her in their
family.
and
had just included her in their
family.
“Now,” Chris continued, “we already have Montrose Keegan in custody.”
Marcus sat forward. “You do?” He hadn’t heard that and couldn’t wait to get his hands on the little prick.
“Yes, but I’m afraid he’s useless as far as providing us with the information we need. He was admitted to the hospital this morning after a deputy found him slumped over the wheel of his car in a ditch.”
“He tried to drive himself to the emergency room?” Ami asked incredulously. “I assumed he’d just call 911.”
Chris shrugged. “I guess he didn’t want the police to find his lab. He died en route to the hospital and was revived, but the extended oxygen deprivation left him brain-dead.”
“Where is he now?” Ami asked.
“The network. It took me all afternoon, but I managed to shut down the police investigation he spawned before it could catch fire and had his hospital records purged. The only ones who even know he was there are the people who worked on him, and none of them will be able to say where he was transferred if asked.”
“Is there no brain activity at all?” Seth asked.
“None that we can detect.”
“Take me to him when I return you to the network, and I’ll see if I can’t find something in there.”
He nodded. “So, Montrose has been neutralized. Ami, I need you to give me his address if you can remember it so I can send a crew in to sweep the location clean. The address isn’t in our system.” He looked at Seth. “If you can spare an immortal or two, we can get started tonight.”
“I’ll accompany you myself. The vampire king may return, and I’m the only one who won’t be affected by the drug.”
Marcus frowned. “Are you sure? Roland is nine hundred years old, and it affected him.” They couldn’t afford to lose Seth.
“I’m sure.”
Ami looked as worried as Marcus felt.
“Do you remember the address?” Marcus asked her.
She nodded and recited it.
Chris added more notes to his tablet. “Okay. Keegan’s house will be clean by noon tomorrow. The vampire king still needs to be taken care of, his lair found, and his army destroyed. Any plans for tackling that?”
Seth shook his head. “Not until everyone is back on their feet and supplied with an antidote for the drug.”
“We were able to collect some darts from the passed-out immortals, and Dr. Lipton has been working on it nonstop ever since. She’s the best we have. If anyone can combat this drug, she can. Marcus, will you be patrolling tonight?”
“No.”
Ami regarded him with surprise. “Why not? You told me you felt fine.”
“I’m not leaving you alone until the vampire king is either captured or killed. If he returned to Keegan’s after you left, he could have tracked you here.”
“Then I’ll go to David’s and hang out with Lisette and her brothers while you hunt.”
Marcus looked to Seth.
“It’ll have to do,” Seth said. “We need you out there.”
And if anything went wrong, as it seemed to do regularly now, Ami would once more rush to his rescue.
With the d’Alençons on her heels,
Seth reminded him.
And they’ll be given the same instructions I gave Roland and Sarah: protect Ami at all costs. She won’t fall into enemy hands again.
Seth reminded him.
And they’ll be given the same instructions I gave Roland and Sarah: protect Ami at all costs. She won’t fall into enemy hands again.
Marcus agreed, unhappily with the plan.
Chris studied his notebook. “So, the three major things on our to-do list are: find and capture the vampire king, locate and destroy both his lair and his army, and discover the identity of the mysterious supplier of the drug. That about cover it?”
Marcus and Seth nodded.
Ami bit her lip. “Actually, I think I may be able to help you cross a couple of those off your list.”
Marcus frowned.
She met his gaze. “Remember how I told you my brother can make people see things that aren’t there?”
“Yes.”
“Lasarans each have our own—”
“What’s a Lasaran?” Chris interrupted.
“I am,” Ami said. “Our planet is called Lasara.”
“Oh. Cool.”
She smiled and turned back to Marcus. “Anyway, we each have a unique talent outside of the more common ... paranormal abilities I guess you’d say. Mine is ... Well, it’s a little hard to explain, but ... We all have electrical impulses running through our bodies. And every individual has his or her own unique energy signature. I can feel that signature internally like a GPS signal and trace it. It’s how I can always find you when you need me.”
“Is that how you always knew when I was in trouble? My energy signals changed?”
“No.” She blushed. “I’m not sure why I always know that. I think it may be tied to the way I feel about you.”
“Damn!” Chris exclaimed.
Marcus scowled at him. “What?”
“I lost the pool.”
“What pool?”
He looked uncomfortable for a moment. “There’s sort of been a long-standing wager over whether or not you would ever fall in love again. You love Ami, don’t you?”
“Yes.” Outrage swelled. “Are you telling me people have been betting on my love life?”
“For centuries. And now I’m out a thousand freakin’ bucks.”
Marcus couldn’t believe it. He turned to Seth.
A sly smile slid over Seth’s features.
“Don’t tell me you bet, too!” Marcus demanded.
“Neither David nor I ever engage in wagers because we inevitably end up being accused of cheating or divining the outcome. But Darnell did. And just won big.”
Marcus could think of no response. It was bad enough that everyone gossiped about him, but to place bets?
Chris leaned forward. “Ami isn’t going to continue being your Second, is she, now that you guys are together?”
“Of course she is,” Marcus said. He had already made the mistake of
asking
(ordering) her to step down once. He wouldn’t do it again.
asking
(ordering) her to step down once. He wouldn’t do it again.
Chris threw up his hands. “Damn it! I just can’t win!”
“There was a wager over that, too?” Marcus snarled.
“Yeah. Pretty much everybody expected you to take the Roland route and scare her off.”
“Darnell didn’t,” Seth put in smugly.
“Well,” Chris grumbled, “I think some of your paranormal whozeewhatzit is starting to rub off on him.”
Ami stifled a laugh, which went a long way toward relieving Marcus of his irritation.
“Sorry for the interruption,” Chris told her. “Go ahead.”
“Since I was in close contact with the vampire king,” she told them, “I learned his energy signature and can use it to lead you to him. If we wait until daylight, he should be in his lair with whatever is left of his army when I find him. So you could do as you did with Bastien and his army.”
A sound plan, Marcus thought. But Ami didn’t fare well when fighting in close quarters, and he really didn’t want her anywhere near the vampire king.
Seth gave a slow nod. “You can lead us to the king and his lair tomorrow afternoon, Ami. We’ll take Roland and Sarah with us.”
Marcus opened his mouth to object.
Seth held up a finger. “But I don’t want this to go down like the destruction of Bastien’s lair. I won’t have a handful of us fighting dozens of vampires in cramped quarters with this drug floating around. It’s too risky. Instead, we’ll see if we can’t sneak in, snag the king, and blow the place.” He met Chris’s gaze. “Can you get us some napalm-B?”
“Anything you need. Bombs, flamethrowers. Just let me know how much, and you’ll have it by tomorrow morning.”
“You know the plan. I’ll let you estimate it.”
Chris turned a page on his notebook and began to write. “I’ll also have network emergency response crews ready to sweep in and divert the authorities, say it was a gas main explosion or maybe a meth lab.”
That last one always seemed to work.
“Once we have the king in custody,” Seth finished, “I’ll find out what he knows about the drug’s origins. I seriously doubt he would allow Montrose to keep secrets.”
Chris finished writing. “That about cover it?”
Everyone nodded.
Marcus rose, his eyes on Seth. “When was the last time you had something to eat?”
Seth thought for a moment. “Before our meeting last night.”
“I’ll heat you up some vegetarian lasagna.”
“Is there enough for me to take some to David before we get started?”
“More than enough. I’ll get it.”
“I’ll help,” Ami offered, rising.
Smiling, Marcus took her hand and headed for the kitchen.
Chapter 17
Bzzzzz.
Groaning, Seth rolled over and grabbed the cell phone that vibrated on the bedside table. He peeled an eyelid open, saw the time, and swore.
Bzzzzz.
Only an hour had passed since he had returned from Montrose Keegan’s house and Ami and Marcus had talked him into lying down to get some much-needed rest. If he looked out the window, no doubt the sun would have barely crested the horizon.
Bzzzzz.
Sitting up, he swung his longs legs over the side of the bed and let his senses seek Ami and Marcus.
Downstairs. Sound asleep. Good.
Bzzzzz.
“What?”
“Hey,” Chris Reordon said. “I have something you need to read.”
Which was Chris’s code for
Someone might be listening, so read my thoughts if you can.
Someone might be listening, so read my thoughts if you can.
“All right.”
I’m still with the cleaning crew at Keegan’s house. We’re well on the way to removing everything. But I keep feeling that crawling sensation on the back of my neck that tells me someone is watching us. It started about half an hour after you left.
Have you found any surveillance equipment inside?
Seth asked him.
Seth asked him.
No. We did a careful sweep before we started tackling the interior. Whoever is watching us is doing it from outside in the surrounding trees.
Vampire or human?
I don’t know. The sun’s up, but there’s enough dense shade to shelter a vampire. I could call in reinforcements, have them set up a perimeter, and gradually tighten the circle until we find whoever it is. But I would have to give my men shoot to kill orders for their own protection in case it’s a vamp.
And they couldn’t afford to lose any possible leads.
Give me five minutes,
Seth said with a sigh. Even powerful immortals such as himself could feel tired as hell at times.
I’ll meet you in Keegan’s laundry room.
Seth said with a sigh. Even powerful immortals such as himself could feel tired as hell at times.
I’ll meet you in Keegan’s laundry room.
Great. See you then.
Seth returned the cell phone to the bedside table, then rose and crossed to the adjoining bathroom. Splashing cold water on his face did little to revive him, but felt good nonetheless.
He rubbed a towel briskly over his features.
A sensation of fear poked at the edges of his consciousness. Slowly lowering the towel, he strode back into the bedroom and paused to seek its origins.
Ami was slipping into a nightmare. He recognized the pattern.
Seth reached for the too-short sweatpants Marcus had loaned him and made a mental note to pop over to David’s for a change of clothes on the way back from Keegan’s.
Pants on, borrowed shirt in hand, Seth headed down to the basement at immortal speed. He slowed and drew the shirt on as he approached Marcus’s closed bedroom door.
The well-oiled hinges made no sound as he opened it.
Marcus lay in bed beside Ami, propped up on one elbow.
Ami lay on her back, limbs stiff, arms at her sides as though held down by manacles. Every once in a while she would jerk minutely, small twitches that broke Seth’s heart because he knew well what caused them. No screams erupted from her lips. But her breathing occasionally hitched with silent sobs.
“What is it?” Marcus asked him, preternaturally quiet, as he stared down at her with concern.
Seth strode to the bed. “She dreams of her captivity.” Placing the tips of his fingers to her forehead, he guided the dream away from the pain and toward happier times.
The stiffness left her. Sighing, she curled onto her side and rubbed her cheek against her pillow. Her breathing grew slow and even as she slipped deeper into sleep.
Withdrawing his hand, Seth met Marcus’s gaze. “She had such nightmares often in the months after we found her, but they gradually stopped. I had hoped they wouldn’t return.”
“What did they do to her, Seth?” Marcus asked bluntly. Dread and anger battled for dominance in his brown eyes.
“That isn’t for me to tell.” Seth left the room on silent feet and returned upstairs to fetch his boots. Opening one of the guest bedroom’s dresser drawers, he found a clean pair of socks. They, at least, should fit.
“I need to know,” Marcus insisted, striding through the doorway in a pair of hastily donned sweatpants as Seth sat on the edge of the bed.
“You’ll know once you read the files,” he replied and drew on a sock.
“If smelling the sedative revived her nightmares, what the hell do you think seeing those files will do?” He paused, brow furrowing. “Wait. Do you think telling me what she is did it?”
“No. It was the sedative.”
Marcus began to pace. “I need to know what happened to her, what they did.” When Seth opened his mouth to refuse, Marcus stopped him. “I can’t read those files in front of her, and I can’t leave her alone until this is all resolved. Seth, if you loved her the way I do, if she were your woman, wouldn’t you need to know?”
Hell yes.
Seth had needed to know without the intimate connection to her. Which was why this wasn’t the first time he had looked into her dreams without her knowledge.
Seth had needed to know without the intimate connection to her. Which was why this wasn’t the first time he had looked into her dreams without her knowledge.
He drew on the other sock. “I’ll tell you how we found her. Nothing more.”
Marcus nodded and sat in the chair across the room, visibly bracing himself.
“Ami didn’t scream aloud when they tortured her or
experimented
on her. She screamed in her mind,” he began, shoving a foot into a dirt-encrusted boot. “David and I traced her cries telepathically until we located the facility in which they kept her, then broke in. We found her in a lab that was a bit like a hospital operating room. She was naked, uncovered, splayed out on a sturdy metal table that was bolted to the floor.”
experimented
on her. She screamed in her mind,” he began, shoving a foot into a dirt-encrusted boot. “David and I traced her cries telepathically until we located the facility in which they kept her, then broke in. We found her in a lab that was a bit like a hospital operating room. She was naked, uncovered, splayed out on a sturdy metal table that was bolted to the floor.”
Marcus clutched the arms of his chair.
Seth pulled on the other boot. “Her arms and legs were restrained by steel manacles. Her head was strapped down, leaving her completely immobile. Men in surgical scrubs and lab coats surrounded her. Her body was emaciated and littered with small burns, puncture wounds, cuts, and contusions. Two of her fingers had been removed. Two of her toes as well. No wounds were bandaged.”
The wooden arms began to crumble beneath Marcus’s grip, disintegrating into dust.
“Her chest had been cracked open, and one of the men was using small electrical paddles to shock her heart. She was not in cardiac arrest. She was not sedated. No numbing agents were used. She felt everything they did to her.”
Marcus’s eyes glowed a brilliant amber. His fangs descended, the tips showing as he rose with a curse.
“Don’t,” Seth cautioned.
“Don’t what?” Marcus growled, shaking with fury.
“Don’t throw the chair. You’ll wake her.”
Cursing, Marcus began to pace. “We have to kill them. And I mean all of them, Seth. We can’t let them get their hands on her again.”
“I know. I’m on my way back to Keegan’s now. Chris thinks someone is watching them, so we may already have a lead.” Laces tied, Seth stood. “I’ll be back soon.”
Marcus reached out and took his arm. “Seth ... her fingers and toes. How did you save them? Did you find them and reattach them?”
“No. They grew back on their own. Ami’s ability to heal is remarkable. Her body’s regenerative abilities rival my own.”
Shaking off Marcus’s hold, Seth teleported himself to Keegan’s laundry room.
Ami sat on the sofa, body still, mind racing, wondering what—if anything—Seth had learned at Montrose Keegan’s place. He had been gone for hours with no word.
“Don’t do that,” Marcus murmured beside her.
Ami looked at him. “Don’t do what?”
“Don’t hide what you’re feeling from me.”
She frowned. “I’m not. Am I?”
He ran a hand over her hair, rested his arm across the back of the sofa, brushing her shoulders. “If you’re nervous. . .” He shrugged, pursed his lips. “Fidget. Pace. Squeeze my hand. Aggravate Slim. Shoot something. Do whatever will make you feel better.”
She glanced down, only then realizing how still she had been sitting, and smiled wryly. “Sorry. Old habits. Sometimes I forget.”
The smile he produced seemed strained at first, then turned sly as he slid over and pressed up against her side. “If you ... need something to take your mind off things,” he teased in a leering voice, and waggled his eyebrows, “my body is yours to do with as you please.”
“Really,” she replied, interest peaked.
He spread his arms wide. “Entertain yourself as you will. I am yours to command.”
Grinning, Ami rose onto her knees, slung one leg over his thighs and straddled his lap. “So.” When she touched her index finger to his soft lips, he drew it into his mouth and teased it with his tongue.
Her heartbeat quickened. She trailed her fingertip, now damp and tingling, down his chin and his warm throat to the neckline of his black, long-sleeved T-shirt. “If I told you to take this off, you would?” she queried.
The shirt was on the floor behind her in a trice.
She gave him a wicked grin. “I like how this is going.” Leaning in, she touched her lips to his.
Marcus inhaled deeply. “I love your scent,” he murmured between kisses.
She drew the tip of her tongue across the seam of his lips.
His warm brown eyes flashed amber. Parting his lips, he drew her in. “I love your taste.”
She kissed him deeply, her whole body flaring to life. “Does it bother you,” she asked breathlessly, “that you can’t bite me when we’re ... you know ...”
“Making love?”
She nodded.
“No.” He slid his hands up and down her thighs.
“But your fangs descend.”
He smiled. “They always do when I’m in the grip of strong emotion. And the love I feel for you when you touch me or when I’m buried deep inside you ...” He leaned forward and took her lips in an all-consuming kiss. “You turn me inside out, Ami, expose all my secrets. You make me burn. And I’ve been cold for so long.”
Her breath caught. “Marcus.” Ami wrapped her arms around his neck and forgot everything but the way he tasted and felt as their mouths merged.
Marcus found the hem of her black turtleneck, then slipped it over her head.
Ami smoothed her hands over his muscled chest and gave his nipples a provocative pinch.
He hissed in a breath and clutched her hips, drawing her forward until the heart of her was wedged up against the thick erection straining against his jeans, her thighs spread wide.
He abandoned her mouth, trailed his lips down her tender neck and over her collarbone. Gooseflesh rippled over her arms.
“I like this,” he growled.
Ami raked her hands through his hair, gripping fistfuls of it. Her heart pounded as he drew his tongue along the edge of her bra. “What?”
“I like you on top,” he murmured, sliding his hands behind her and burning a path up her back to unfasten her bra. “We haven’t done it this way yet.”
“We can ...” She gasped when he drew the flimsy material off and palmed one of her breasts. “We can make love like this?”
“Absolutely.” He laved her other breast with his tongue, sparking heat that made her writhe against him. “Just the thought of it ... you riding me ... slow and steady ... fast and hard ...” He groaned. “Touch me, Ami.”
Eager to oblige, she slipped one hand between them, caressed the hard muscles of his stomach, then dipped her fingers beneath the waistband of his pants.
A gasp sounded behind her.
“Whoa!”
Ami shot a startled look over her shoulder as Seth, Roland, and Sarah turned away. Gasping, she released Marcus’s soft locks, yanked her hand out of his pants, and hastily covered her breasts.
“Damn it, Marcus,” Seth said, “she’s like a daughter to me.”
Marcus scowled as he helped Ami don her bra and shirt. “Well, maybe next time you’ll call ahead,” he grumbled.
“This is
our
house after all.”
our
house after all.”
Ami stared at him as she scrambled off his lap.
Our
house? Did he really think of it like that now?
Our
house? Did he really think of it like that now?
Roland laughed. “So says the man who failed to knock and walked in on Sarah and I making love in the living room.”
“It wasn’t your house,” Marcus pointed out.
“You still could have knocked.”
Marcus grabbed his shirt off the floor and pulled it over his head. Instead of tucking it in, he left it loose, but it did little to conceal his arousal.
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