The wolf sprang at her and Risa instinctively rolled away. But she wasn’t quite fast enough and the animal clawed at her arm as it landed, slicing through an artery. She winced as her blood began to pump out in time with her heartbeat.
She drew herself up into a low crouch, so that she was eye-level with the wolf. It bared its teeth, growling at her, and Risa was practically doing the same thing. She hated this...thing, this beast who had ripped apart two innocent girls and left them to rot like garbage. The shifter outweighed her and she was losing blood quickly, but she didn’t care. It had to die; she had to kill it.
Bloodlust surged through her veins, giving her the adrenaline to stay focused on the wolf, even though her head was swimming. They circled each other on the filthy floor, just a few feet away from the dead girls. The wolf was salivating and so was she. There was a madness in the animal’s eyes that Risa had never seen in a shapeshifter before. She knew that most of them just ate to live, but not this one. This wolf loved killing. It had enjoyed slicing up those girls.
The silver knife was strapped to Risa’s injured arm, so for the weapon to be of any use to her she was going to have to get it with her other hand. The motion would leave her defenseless for a moment. She needed to daze or distract the wolf in order to give her the time. Looking around, she saw that there wasn’t anything in the room that she could use to divert the shifter’s attention and the thing was probably too intent on her to fall for a diversion anyway. Stunning it was her only choice.
Risa lunged at the animal and it leapt at her as well. Catching it in the throat with her shoulder, she used her motion to thrust the wolf up and away from her. It landed on its back and choked as it tried to breathe through its bruised throat. Risa seized the opportunity to grab her knife.
The sleeve of her sweatshirt was soaked with her blood and her forearm was slippery as she tried to free her weapon. Her hand shook involuntarily and she fumbled with the strap. She was still struggling with it when the wolf recovered and charged at her.
Again she tried to dodge the beast, but she’d lost too much blood and her body would not follow her commands fast enough. The full weight of the animal hit her as it drove her into the floor. Looking into crazed eyes and snarling face of the wolf, Risa knew that she was going to die. These girls were not going to be avenged. Their deaths would just be another senseless, violent tragedy in this sick world.
The wolf bore down on her, taking its time now as it leaned towards her jugular. It was going to relish ripping her throat out. At least she wouldn’t have to feel it tear open her chest to eat her heart.
The hardwood floor suddenly creaked under them. With a loud crunch, Risa and the wolf fell through it. Her bones screamed as she slammed into the living room on the first floor with the shifter on top of her. But in the next instant they were falling again as the rotten wood there also gave way. They toppled into the basement.
As they fell, Risa took advantage of the wolf’s shock and jerked herself around so that the animal was at her side instead of on top of her. She’d be damned if she was going to break his fall again.
A high-pitched whimper escaped from the animal as it hit the cement floor. Risa’s body sang with pain as she landed as well, but she had braced herself for it this time and took it with the side of her body, slapping down with her forearm to ease the impact.
Clouds of dust exploded around them and Risa coughed as she slowly rolled over onto her feet. The wolf groaned next to her and, ignoring the pain and dizziness, Risa began to run toward the stairs. She sprinted up them fast enough to avoid breaking through any on her way back to the first floor. Leaping over the large hole in the living room floor, she threw herself out of the open window frame that she’d used to enter the house. She somersaulted as she hit the ground and then she was on her feet again.
Risa didn’t run towards her house yet. She kept glancing behind her, just to make sure that the wolf wasn’t following her. Holding her injured arm close against herself, she kept going until she realized that, if she didn’t get back to her apartment, she was going to bleed out on the street.
Too tired to maintain her pace, Risa staggered the rest of the way to the old house. She tripped on the steps up to her apartment, banging her cheek into the corner of the stair. When she finally got to her door, she didn’t have the energy to bother with the key. Pushing it open with the force of her dead weight, she collapsed on her knees in the kitchen.
She fell forward as she reached for the refrigerator and opened it while she lay on her stomach. Using her good arm, she felt around on the cold wire racks until she found the remaining bags of blood. Risa swept them out of the fridge and onto the linoleum next to her. Turning over on her back, she ripped into the bags, one after another, sucking the last drop out of each one before moving on to the next. The fresh blood helped her weak body to heal the gash on her arm and then she drank until the floor beneath her stopped tilting as if she was on a raft in the middle of the ocean.
Breathing easily now, Risa remained lying in the kitchen. It was strange being hurt as a vampire because her body healed so quickly. Except for the blood staining her clothes and skin, there was no evidence that she’d been hurt at all. No scab on her arm, no scar. Her pale flesh was as perfect as ever. But when a person is badly injured, as Risa had been, it was a trauma for the soul as well as the body. As a human, she’d always been so preoccupied with tending to her physical wounds that she’d never noticed the damage done to her psyche. Now that she was a vampire, Risa lay on her floor, shaking violently over something that her body had already forgotten about. It made her feel weak and unstable—a sniveling little girl who was still hiccupping because she’d been pushed by the boy next door. She was a pathetic excuse for a warrior.
Was it this way for lamias, as well? She’d never gotten the chance to ask Carden. But he never would have believed that her soul suffered when she was hurt anyway. He wouldn’t recognize the girl on the kitchen floor now.
“You’re too reckless! You’re taking too many damn risks. You almost died last night, again! Don’t you care? Or is that what you want, Risa?”
She’d never had any answers for him. His questions hurt too much because he had everything exactly right and utterly wrong. Most of the time she couldn’t figure out which was which. All Risa knew was that Carden didn’t understand and more than that, he didn’t want to understand. He only condemned her to the very end.
What would he think of her now? He’d probably say that she was more careless than ever and more thick-headed for not paying attention to the way that her soul was crying. He would look at that rotten, putrid mess that had once been two girls and shrug. “They’re dead, Risa. It’s nothing to kill yourself over.”
No, he was wrong. He’d always been wrong.
Of course, Risa Sinclair wasn’t listed in any public phone book and no matter what search engine he used, he couldn’t find any record of her. So how did Daybreak know about her? How did they find her? Why did they want her dead?
Carden couldn’t find out and it was killing him. He slammed his useless, piece of shit laptop shut and began to pace his room anxiously. How was he going to get the information he needed? He doubted that any of his contacts would talk to him now, and even if they would, Carden didn’t trust them with Risa’s name.
There was only one person who might help him, one person that he instinctively trusted, but it was the one person that he wanted to avoid. Reece Cahill had been running the mission that had gotten him fired; Carden had sold out Cahill’s soulmate to save his own. The witch had every right to hate him and had more reason than anyone to tell Carden to go to hell. But for some reason, he wouldn’t. Instead Cahill had protested Daybreak’s decision and continued to treat the vampire with undue respect. Stupid ass.
But it was Carden’s only shot now. For Risa, he was going to have to swallow his pride. Damn it, he hated doing that.
Still pacing, the vampire searched through his cell phone’s contacts and dialed the number.
Reece Cahill picked up on the third ring. “Carden,” he mumbled sleepily. He must have looked at the caller ID before he answered. “It’s early.”
“Is it?” the vampire asked. He hadn’t slept in so long that time ceased to mean anything to him.
“Yes. Very. Unemployed life not treating you well?”
“The pay sucks.”
“So I hear.” He yawned. “Look, I’m tired so let’s just skip the casual bantering. What do you need?”
Carden was relieved that the witch had spared him from asking first. “I’m locked out of all Daybreak’s databases and I need some information.”
“What kind?”
“It looks like there’s a hit out on a made vampire. I want to know everything about it. Who made the call, what kind of information they have on her, who’s in charge. Everything.”
It sounded as if Cahill was more alert and taking notes now. “What office are we talking about?”
“New York City. But it’s possible that the contract originated from a different office.”
“Okay. It’ll take some time. I’m not exactly climbing the Daybreak corporate ladder out here. That’s why they chose me to lead the DC mission. But I could probably call Anton Parish. He’s got more pull than—”
“No!” Carden interrupted. “No one can know about this. It has to stay between us. That’s why I called you.”
There was a brief silence on the other line that made him uncomfortable. “If that’s what you want.”
“It is.”
“I need the name.”
“Oh,” Carden said, surprised that he’d forgotten. “Right. It’s Risa Sinclair.”
“Okay, it’s done. Just give me some time.”
“Thanks,” the vampire whispered. He sat down heavily on the bed, suddenly exhausted.
“Don’t thank me yet. I want to know one thing first. Who is this girl to you? Does she have anything to do with what happened to you in DC?”
“That’s technically two things you want to know, Cahill.”
“Stop stalling.”
Carden sighed and bowed his head. “Would you do this for me if I refused to answer?”
Another silence. “Yes.”
“She’s my soulmate,” the vampire said thickly. “And yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell Anton?” Cahill demanded. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Even though the witch couldn’t see, Carden shrugged helplessly. “Because in the end, it doesn’t really matter. Threaten my life or hers…it’s the same thing.”
“So you’d rather have Daybreak think that you’re a weak, selfish bastard?”
“Better that than a weak, selfish bastard with a soulmate. Why give them or the Night World more ammunition?”
“You know they won’t see it that way. They would have been more lenient with you.”
“And they shouldn’t be. It’s different for you, Cahill. Your soulmate is seen as the goddamn second coming.”
“Trust me, Wild Power or not, they don’t see Lex that way. Not after the mess with Genevieve.”
“Whatever. You’re supposed to choose her life over everything else; I was supposed to choose Lex’s life too, but I didn’t.”
“There are a lot of people in Circle Daybreak who would have done the same thing.”
“Then they should all be fucking fired too, or the entire organization is in trouble.” Carden sighed again with frustration. “Look, I’m not trying to get my job back. I don’t deserve it. I let down the organization, my team, and you. And I really hate admitting all of this shit. So drop it. I just need to know what is going on with Daybreak and Risa. Can you do that for me or not?”
“I already said that I would.”
“Okay.”
“So what are you going to do now?”
“Well, I thought I would piss off Circle Daybreak a little more by protecting one of their targets from assassination.”
“Goddess. Listen, do you need help? Do you want me to come down there?”
Carden smiled a little, surprised to find that he actually wouldn’t mind Cahill’s presence now. “No, don’t worry about me. Keep your soulmate safe. I’ll try to look after my own until you can get me some more information.”
“Okay. Just don’t do anything stupid.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”
“I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”
Cahill hung up and again, Carden was relieved. He’d been afraid that there would be an awkward moment that he’d have to fill with sentiments of gratitude. That would’ve been torture for him and the witch seemed to know it.
Carden pushed himself off the bed. With Cahill taking care of the research, it left the vampire free to find his soulmate and protect her from the assassin. It wouldn’t be difficult to track Risa down again; the link was still open and trying to pull Carden to her. He only hoped that he would get to her in time and that the information Cahill found would prove that this was all some huge mistake before Carden was forced to kill Ian McCafferty and his human partner.
He hadn’t slept since he’d brought Hollis back and Ian knew that she hadn’t slept much either. She was quiet now, but he’d listened to her cry for hours. He wasn’t sure if she’d realized that he could hear her, but he hadn’t wanted to embarrass them both by letting her know. Besides, he considered it a sort of penance, bearing witness to the pain that he’d caused her.
He hadn’t meant to be so harsh. But it hadn’t been his fault. He’d only been trying to make Hollis understand just how thoughtless she’d been, how much danger she’d put herself in. And the girl had actually argued with him! What was he supposed to do with her? Things had just gotten out of hand.
As soon as room service delivered the food, Ian knocked on his partner’s door. She didn’t answer at first and his stomach sank again, as it had last night.
But then Hollis silently opened the door. She didn’t stop to look at him, just left the door ajar and walked over to the side of her bed.
“I got breakfast,” Ian said quietly.
“I’m not hungry,” Hollis replied stiffly with her back to him. She was still wearing the clothes that she’d worn yesterday. They were rumpled and her jeans were still damp. It wasn’t like her to look this disheveled.
He stepped further inside the room and realized that she was standing over an open suitcase, carefully folding a shirt. “What are you doing?”
“Packing. I’m leaving.”
That took Ian aback. “You called for a replacement?”
“Not yet. I will as soon as I check out.”
“But your record—”
Hollis glared at him over her shoulder. “I don’t care about my record as much as you seem to think. I’ve been opening my veins over this job and over you for days now and I’m tired. Yes, I want Circle Daybreak to think that I can be a strong team member, but after last night, it’s just not worth it. So I’m going to go. I’m sure they’ll send a good replacement.”
The sinking feeling was back now. “I don’t want a replacement.”
“It’s not about what you want, Ian,” she said slowly. She pulled another shirt off a hanger in the closet. “It’s about what’s best for me.”
“No, you’re wrong. It’s about what’s best for the job. You’ve been on it for almost two weeks already and you said that you got some evidence last night. You can’t just throw it away. People will die in the meantime.”
Hollis hesitated and her hands were still for a moment. Then she sat down on the edge of the bed and put her face in her hands.
“No, don’t cry again,” Ian begged.
She looked up at him sharply and for the first time, he saw her face. Her golden eyes were over-bright and there were dark smudges underneath them. She looked old and worn out. “You heard me?”
Ian swallowed. “Yes. The walls here are sort of thin.”
“Perfect, just perfect,” she whispered to herself. Then she asked him, “So have you got some sort of biting remark about how childish it was? Some comment on how hypocritical it is to act strong, but still be able to cry?”
“I’m sorry. I never meant—”
“Yes, you did,” she said, throwing his old words back at him.
“Okay,” he conceded. “I meant what I said and I wanted to hurt you last night.”
“Congratulations. Now please get out and let me finish packing.”
“You scared the hell out of me, Hollis,” he said heatedly, surprising himself. The girl was looking at him and he couldn’t read her expression. “I looked for you for hours. I searched through all of the really bad areas that Risa Sinclair frequents, trying to find you in someone else’s eyes, afraid that when I did see you, you’d be lying dead on the sidewalk.
“And then I did find you, still tailing the subject too close, completely unaware of your surroundings. Do you have any idea how easy it was for me to come up behind you and grab you? You could have been killed, Hollis.” He looked at her intently, trying to burn the truth into her with his eyes. “I’ve never lost anyone on the job and if I’d lost you last night, it would have been my fault.”
“Because you’re responsible for my safety,” she murmured.
“Yes. And because I indirectly put you in that position.”
She was quiet for a long moment. “I know that I shouldn’t have gone. I was angry at you for how you’ve been treating me, but it was still a stupid thing to do. You were right. And…maybe you had a small point, about how I may have been prejudice towards you.”
Ian lowered his gaze and winced a little. “Well, as I said yesterday, I’ve never given you any reason to think otherwise.”
“No. But still…I didn’t realize that I had done it right off the bat. I thought that the first time that I judged you was when you referred to me as ‘nutrition or recreation’.”
“Hey, I thought that was one of my best lines,” he said with a smirk.
Hollis burst into laughter and Ian stood transfixed. “Oh yeah,” she giggled, barely getting the words out. “It’s so romantic. I can just picture it, ‘You had me at “nutrition or recreation”’. Next time you ought to try, ‘Nice shoes. Wanna fuck?’”
She threw her head back and then rolled over onto her side, clutching her stomach as she laughed hysterically. It was an amazing thing to see her mouth soften and her golden eyes glow. And her face did flush, turning bright red as she tried to catch her breath. He might have laughed with her, but he was too captivated by the change in her. She had sworn for Goddess’s sake. And it was sexy as hell.
Finally she wiped at the corner of her eye. “Sorry, I’m a little out of it.” She giggled a little more. “Too much stress, not enough sleep. I get loopy sometimes.”
Ian smiled. “Don’t be sorry for that. You should laugh more often, princess.”
“Why do you call me that?” she asked, still struggling to get a hold of herself.
“Because you acted like one.”
His blunt answer sobered her up and Ian regretted it. “Look,” he said softly, “can we maybe just start over? No games, no prejudices?”
Hollis didn’t answer right away. She looked at her suitcase that was already half-full. He grasped at a thread of one of her thoughts and realized that she was afraid that he was only concerned about the mission.
“I don’t want you to go,” he said.
She turned to him them, her cat-like eyes brimming with unshed tears. “Okay,” she whispered.
A smile captured his lips before he could stop it. “Good. Do you want some breakfast now? Then we can get to work?”
Hollis sniffed and wiped at her eyes again. “What did you order?” she asked.
“Bacon and eggs, buttered toast, orange juice.”
“Oh my god, do you have any idea how many trans fatty acids are in all of that?”
Ian gave her a short laugh. “No. But the real question is: do I care?”
Part 4
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