Wayward Son (18 page)

Jack’s ears picked up the entire conversation and he assumed that their guest did as well. He stood from his chair and turned to the door. “I got this, sir.” He pushed past the colonel and stepped into the hallway. “What is it, Kalen? I’m in the middle of something.”

“The Wyldwood, she has sent word.” Kalen’s face appeared ashen. “The young woman inside?”

Jack felt a knot in his stomach at the mention of the Wyldwood and more than just a touch of anger that she didn’t come directly to him with information that was supposedly so damned important. “What about her?”

“She is one of the two we are to expect. She is the missing warrior.”

*****

“But when? The full moon is just tomorrow.” Mick stared wide-eyed at the two women. “You will need some place to shift.”

“What about you?” Laura gave him a sideways look.

“I’m a cat. We aren’t controlled by the moon.” Mick waved her off.

“So, what? Litterboxes?” Laura’s attempt at humor was not well received.

“Werecats shift at will. Nothing controls them.” Jennifer stood and paced. “Much like other cats, they are aloof and are not easily controlled. Werecats are the same.”

“Thanks. I think.” Mick studied her with curiosity. “Why the sudden rush to get there?”

Laura noted a change in Mick’s voice but she couldn’t place a finger on what exactly that change was. He seemed almost apprehensive about them returning to the states. “I need to return to work and Jennifer would like to get this meeting out of the way. See if…I dunno. If maybe the chemistry is right?” She shrugged.

“I don’t know what will happen.” Jennifer plopped onto the bed and avoided both of their gazes. “I just need to do this.”

“But do you need to do it now?” Mick asked.

“Why?” Laura stepped closer, her arms crossing her chest. “Is there a reason why maybe she shouldn’t?”

“What?” Mick suddenly turned and gave her a blank stare. “Why would you say that?”

“Why would you try to stop her from returning there?” Laura turned to Jennifer, who was staring at both of them, her face twisted in confusion. “It’s almost like you know something that we don’t know, Mick.”

Mick shook his head, almost too much at first. “No, not at all. I don’t know anything.” His mouth suddenly went dry and he licked at his lips. “I just…that’s an awfully long flight for a light craft and…”

“And Mitchell authorized commercial flights.” Laura cocked her head to the side. “But you didn’t bat an eye at flying us here.”

“Well, heh-heh…that’s really just a hop and a skip compared to…” He cleared his throat and reached for the water pitcher.

“Mick?” Jennifer reached for his hand and he quickly pulled away. “What is it? You’re not acting yourself.”

Mick’s hand shook as he poured a quick glass of water and drank it. He looked down at the ground, shaking his head. “You don’t understand. I was just trying to protect you, that’s all.”

“What did you do?” Jennifer asked as she moved closer to him.

“I was just trying to keep you safe.”

“Spill it, Mick.” Laura took a step closer, effectively cornering him in his own room. She knew that should he get aggressive, she couldn’t stop him from hurting her, but she hedged her bets that he wouldn’t try anything with Jennifer there.

Mick took an instinctive step backward, his eyes glued to the floor. “It was just to keep you safe, Jen. That’s all.”

“Tell me, Mick.” She reached for his hand, and he jumped at her touch. “Mick?” Her eyes pleaded with him as her voice tried to sooth his rattled nerves.

“Your father…”

“Oh, great,” Laura moaned.

“My father? What does he have to do with anything?” Jennifer edged closer, and Mick continued to shake his head. “Tell me, please.”

“He just wanted to keep you far away from there. To keep you safe, that’s all. I promised him I’d fight tooth and nail to keep you safe, too. He knew I would. He knew…”

“What happened? Mick, you’re starting to frighten me.” Jennifer edged closer until she was right beside him. “You have to tell me.”

“He sent his people to attack the hunters. They’re not done. They won’t stop. They’ll never stop until they’re all gone.” Mick finally raised his eyes to meet hers. “He said to keep you away from there at all costs. To keep you safe. He said that he’d hunt me down to the ends of the earth if I let you anywhere near there…”

“Ohm my God.” Jennifer’s face paled and she turned to Laura.

“Your father was behind the attack on the squads.” Laura turned and opened the door to Mick’s door.

“Where are you going?” Jennifer’s hands shook as she saw the determination set in Laura’s eyes.

“I have to call Matt. He needs to know.”

*****

Apollo finished his inventory of the supplies and noted the discrepancies. They were short too much material for it to be considered acceptable losses. Either somebody was skimming and cooking the books or somebody wasn’t supplying what was being ordered.

He tucked the inventory under his arm and marched into the office he shared with Sheridan. “You’re short.”

“No, you’re simply very tall,” Sheridan joked, spinning in his chair to face the large ebony skinned man. “Oh. I see you weren’t making a joke about my height.”

Apollo threw the inventory down on the workbench in front of Sheridan. “Tell me you ain’t skimming.”

Sheridan sighed and pushed the inventory away. “I already told you, due to the overwhelming amount that we needed, I had to go through numerous suppliers. Not everything has been delivered yet.”

“This is what we’re supposed to have. That’s what we
don’t
have. Somebody has been skimming to the tune of about thirty percent.” Apollo straddled the chair across from Sheridan. “That’s a pretty good amount. It could mean the difference in winning and losing.”

Sheridan shook his head. “There’s more coming, trust me. When the time comes, we’ll have more than enough supplies.”

“What you doin’ with all the extra?” He narrowed his gaze at him. “You pocketing the money, or you storing up your own little armory?”

Sheridan fought back the urge to scream. “I already explained to you—”

“No. You already tried to lie to me.” Apollo stood and raised a brow at him. “Now, you about to tell me the truth. Or me and you are gonna have some serious issues.”

Sheridan lowered his eyes and stared at a spot under the workbench. He contemplated maintaining the lie and hoping that Apollo would believe it. He contemplated making up a new lie. He even thought about letting him on the truth.

He opted for the latter.

“I’m building my own little cache of weaponry.”

“Now why the hell you wanna go and do that?” Apollo moved forward and took his seat again.

Sheridan shook his head. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me.” He glared at the man. “I ain’t going nowhere, and I ain’t got nothing but time.”

Sheridan inhaled deeply and let it out slowly. “Call it an insurance policy.”

“For what?”

“In case this mission goes south.” Sheridan looked up and met his gaze. “I’ll need a way to defend myself while I beat a hasty retreat, and I’ll probably need a way to defend my position once I get there. I’ll need start up weaponry to start my own little…”

“What? What you gonna start?”

“A mercenary-for-hire contractor can’t very well expect all of his clients to provide the weaponry, now can he?” Sheridan crossed his arms and gave him a stony stare. “One can’t be expected to be taken seriously if you don’t have the arsenal behind you.”

“So, you going freelance once this is done?” Apollo found his story only a smidge above total bullshit.

“That’s the plan. And I was hoping you’d come along as well.” Sheridan raised a brow at him. “You and I both know that, as much as I adore Big, the man doesn’t have the skillset you do. I’m in no shape to fight like I used to.”

“So you thought you’d hijack a ton of weapons then sweet talk me into being the hired muscle.” Apollo shook his head at him.

“Nothing quite that simple, but if you must boil it down to bangers and mash…yes.”

Apollo stood and headed for the door. “If that’s a job offer, I’ll consider it.” He paused then turned back to Sheridan. “But you better get a helluva lot better at cooking books if you hope to get shit like this past the folks financing this cluster fuck.”

*****

Rufus waited while Paul went through the enforcers man by man and hand chose the group to accompany them to Geneva. Once the group was chosen, he walked through them and gave them the once over. Even though their power was strong, their abilities unrivaled, he knew that they were walking into the belly of the beast. Literally. Their powers would be minimal compared to the central guards of the council. They would be centuries older, their strength unparalleled, and their abilities untold.

Rufus dismissed them to their meals and retreated to the office, all the while knowing that their only hope still was with an attempt at diplomacy. He contemplated the many ways that the trip could go wrong and feared that should such a thing happen, all of the good he had tried to do in his life would be for naught.

A light knock at the office door caught his attention and an enforcer dragged a young woman through to him. “You need your strength, master.” He offered her to Rufus and felt his fangs descend before she came within his grasp.

He pulled her close to him and saw the terror in her eyes, yet she made no sound. He opened his mouth and drew her neck closer to him when he felt the unmistakable ebb of power emanate from her. He knew at that moment why she did not scream. She had been manipulated. Entranced. Hypnotized.

He pulled back and stared at her. Her shivering body, her wide eyes, the snot running from her nose as she quivered in place. She could not run. She could not resist. She could not scream. She knew what was about to happen to her, but she couldn’t do anything about it. He placed her gently in his lap and stared at her as she tried not to cry.

“You know why you are here,
oui
?” She shook her head. “You did not volunteer yourself to nourish us?” Her eyes widened even more and she shook her head again. “You were about to be eaten alive. You knew this,
oui
?” Her eyes rolled back in her head as she tried to pass out, but he patted her face awake again.

“Speak to me, child,” Rufus commanded. “What is your name?”

She mumbled something, but the words were unintelligible. It was as if her mouth had been numbed. Rufus stood and dumped her to the floor, his anger rising.

He threw open the door and found Paul leaning against the doorjamb, licking blood from his fingers. “That last one was a bit too lean.” He pushed his way into the office and saw the young girl cowering in the corner. “That one should just about top me off. You done with her?”

“She did not volunteer herself.” His voice shook with anger as he pointed at the girl on the floor.

Paul paused and stared at him wide eyed. “Huh? She…didn’t? You sure about that? Because I’m pretty sure that they all knew what they were getting themselves into.”

“Did they?” Rufus’ voice was barely a whisper, but the anger screamed loud and clear. “Truly?”

Paul withered slightly and gave his brother a weak smile. “Well, I’m almost positive they did.” He shrugged. “What difference does it make? I mean, hey…look at you. You’re back, right? You’re vampire again. You’re strong, healthy, and robust.”

“And about to face the council as the head of the
Lamia Beastia
and beg them to overturn the edict. They will know that I am no longer Beastia.” He closed his eyes and shook with rage. “It would have been better had you let me die.”

“No!” Paul grabbed him by his shoulders and spun him around, away from the cowering figure on the floor. “You have a destiny, remember? You are going to face the council and you are going to convince them that you are the man to take down Lilith. Because we have an in with her maker.”

Rufus’ eyes settled on Paul and he shook his head. “
Non
. Not her maker. Her reanimator, perhaps, but not her maker.”

“Semantics. You know what I mean.” Paul led his brother to the door of the office and pointed out toward all of the enforcer vampires scattered about the warehouse. “You have an army at your disposal. Not a huge one, true, but an effective one. A very strong one. More than capable of taking out Damien and some big-tittied bitch that he’s dragging around with him.”

“You over-simplify things once again.”

“And you’re over complicating things.” Paul dragged him out of the office and into the warehouse. “If you want to load up on sheep blood and ox bile and whatever your heart wants, just let these guys know and they’ll make it happen. Hell, they’ll hit the closest butcher shop and drain every last drop from whatever there is. But don’t you dare start second guessing your mission. You have a destiny.”

Rufus nodded and stepped into the crowd of gathering vampires. “My friends, we have one more errand this night. I require the blood of…” Paul stepped back toward the office while his brother went into ‘leader’ mode. He gently shut the door behind him and turned on the young girl still cowering in the corner.