“Who were you talking to?” a voice asked from behind her.
Startled, Karissa Gigena whipped around. Nick stood in the doorway of their kitchen, leaning heavily on his cane. He looked good for a guy who had been gutted only three weeks ago. He’d lost weight after being bedridden for so long and his clothes hung loosely off his frame, but he was starting to gain it back. His skin, while still pale, had finally lost its ghastly pallor, and his hazel eyes were sharp as he looked at her in his annoyingly perceptive way.
“What are you doing up?” Karissa demanded. “You’re not supposed to be walking around like this.”
The witch rolled his eyes and tapped his cane against the floor. “I’d hardly call this walking.” He nodded to the cordless phone on the kitchen table. “Was that Cahill?”
She bit her lip anxiously—a nervous habit that she’d never been able to break. Oh no, not good. He must have heard her hanging up with Reece. “No,” she replied, trying to sound as casual as possible. “It was a wrong number.”
Nick looked at her skeptically. It really wasn’t fair how easily he could read her when he wasn’t even her soulmate. “Oh really?”
He limped over to the table and sat down, hooking his cane on the back of the chair. Karissa watched, pointlessly standing her ground, as he picked up the phone and checked the call log. “Strange,” he said. “Because it says here that the last call was from here to Cahill’s cell phone.”
Damn modern technology.
“Oh,” she stuttered. “That must have been earlier today. I tried, but I couldn’t reach—”
“It says that the call was placed ten minutes ago.”
Double damn. “Um, maybe the time is off.”
“It isn’t,” Nick stated without even bothering to glance down at the phone to check. His eyes burned steadily into hers. “What’s going on, Karissa?”
“Nothing,” she replied, but her voice came out too high-pitched. She reached for a sponge by the sink and began to wipe down the counter—anything to avoid his probing stare. His hard eyes had intimidated information out of more Night World hostiles than she could remember, and she really hated it when he turned them on her like this. “I just…wanted to see where he was and when he was coming back.”
He looked at her steadily for another long moment. “Okay. So why did you lie?”
Oh, screw it. There was no way she was going to get out of this. She tossed the sponge into the sink and then threw herself down in the chair next to him, running her fingers through her short hair. “I called him to tell him that I’m worried about Lex.”
“Not that again,” Nick groaned. He tilted his chair back, gripping the edge of the table for balance. “Whatever is going on between them is their business. Why do you have to keep sticking your nose in it?”
It wasn’t like she’d had a choice this time. Lex was the one who had sought her out. The vampire girl had called a few days ago, asking her to make new IDs for her and to liquidate her bank account. When she had refused to do it without knowing why, Lex had begrudgingly told her that she was leaving Reece, and then she’d begged her not to tell anyone about it.
This was actually the longest that Karissa had ever kept a secret like this. She could handle not telling the world about her boyfriend being a witch or about the fact that they worked for Circle Daybreak—leaving that information on a need-to-know basis kept them alive. But when it came to something that could ruin a friendship or a relationship, she always felt compelled to speak up. Nick liked to call her a “Nosy Parker”, whatever the heck that was, but it really wasn’t her fault. It was just that her friends could be so stupid and stubborn. If she didn’t take it upon herself to let the truth out and open the lines of communication, the team would have fallen apart several times over by now.
Still, there was something fragile about the vampire girl that had stopped Karissa from telling Nick or Reece the truth. She’d wanted to, of course, and she’d come close to letting the secret slip when she was on the phone with Reece. If he hadn’t been too preoccupied to notice the telltale signs that she’d been hiding something from him, she probably would have let him pry the truth out of her. In the end, she had compromised by giving him a few hints without actually violating Lex’s trust. Now she wished that she had just told him, if only to see what his reaction would have been. Because during her conversation with him, Karissa had realized that Lex was right. There was something wrong with him. He’d been cold and curt—nothing like the witch who had led their team for years.
Looking back on it, there were signs in the last few months that she should have picked up on. Moments when he’d snapped at her, team meetings that he’d cancelled, questions that he’d dodged—little things that she’d brushed off, thinking that he must have had a bad day, he must have been stressed out. Now, after talking to him and to his soulmate, she suspected that the reasons for the changes in him were not so simple.
Nick snapped his fingers in front of her face, jolting her out of her thoughts. “What?” she asked.
Her boyfriend sighed. “I asked you why you were so interested in Reece’s relationship with Lex and you completely zoned out. You’re not getting off that easily, Kar. I want an answer.”
She met his eyes and bit her lip again.
“Oh no,” he murmured. “I’m not going to like this, am I?”
Karissa couldn’t answer him, but she didn’t need to. After spending two years in a relationship with her, the witch had learned to interpret her silences too well. “You’ve been keeping something from me, haven’t you?”
After another non-answer from her, Nick’s jaw dropped. “Goddess, it’s something huge.”
Okay, he was really getting riled up now. She opened her eyes wide, trying to look as innocent as possible. “Please don’t be mad at me, but—”
“Ah, shit,” he grumbled. “Here we go. Just tell me what it is already, before you give me an aneurism.”
So much for her wide-eyed trick. “Lex is leaving Reece,” she blurted out. “She may already be gone—she didn’t tell me when she was planning to go. She just asked me to make some IDs for her and to get her some money.”
Nick looked at her, aghast. “And you did it for her?” he asked in disbelief. “How could you be so stupid? Do you have any idea what this will do to Reece when he finds out?”
“I tried to talk her out of it, but Lex didn’t even think that Reece would care if she left,” Karissa exclaimed defensively.
“Do you honestly think that when he finds out that his soulmate has disappeared, he’ll just say to himself, Oh well, that was good while it lasted. Better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all. Now, I wonder what I should make for dinner?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. He’s been out of it for months now and you know it. He hasn’t called a team meeting in weeks—”
“I’ve been out of commission since the attack, and you’ve been taking care of me. He knows that. So maybe he just hasn’t called us. Have you talked to Alyssa or Jase or Sorrentino?”
“Well. No,” she stuttered. “But still, even before you were hurt he was acting weird. He’s been working day and night on something he won’t even tell us about.”
“Kar, he’s the leader. It’s his right.”
“Yeah, well, the last time he worked on something like this, Beth died,” she snapped. Anger and hurt flashed in Nick’s eyes, but she carried on heedlessly. “Cahill never even told us what really happened to her, and she was your sister. You have a right to know.”
“I don’t need to know,” he snarled back. “I trust Reece. If he can’t tell us, then he can’t tell us. That’s all there is to it.”
“No, it’s not. God, I hate when you get like this,” she said in exasperation. “I hate that whole ‘the-team-comes-first-and-we-must-obey-the-leader-without-question mentality. What the hell is up with that?”
“That’s the way a team works. If you can’t accept that, then you’re in the wrong line of work.”
She nearly slammed her fist down on the table. “Open your eyes, Nick. Use your head. Cahill’s changed. Lex thinks that it’s because of her, but I don’t know. I think there’s something else going on.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know,” she sighed. “But…something.”
Nick curled his lip. “Oh, we’d better set up an intervention,” he said sarcastically. “Cahill’s been afflicted by something. And here I was afraid that you were going to be vague.”
Karissa pushed her chair back roughly and stood up. “You know what? It doesn’t matter if you agree with me or not. I wanted to be a friend to Lex, and that’s all that I did. Cahill came back from D.C. with her over a year ago, and I don’t think she’s said more than ten words to any of us since then. I mean, Reece is like family and we know next to nothing about his soulmate. This was the first time that she’s confided in me or anyone else on the team, and I was not about to ruin it. So yeah, Reece will probably be pissed, but he’ll go after Lex and bring her back. And when he does, I want her to know that she has a friend.”
“It’ll be awfully hard to be her friend after Cahill kills you. Assuming that I don’t kill you first.”
“You?” she sneered. “You can’t even walk on your own, you jerk.”
That was it. If she fought with him any longer, she’d end up saying something she’d regret. Karissa started to storm out of the kitchen, but before she could reach the doorway, the room suddenly went dark. Slowly, she turned back around.
Nick was still sitting at the table, his pale face illuminated by a sliver of light from a lamp in the living room. His hazel eyes were luminescent. “I’m a witch,” he said in a soft voice. “I don’t need to walk.”
She stared at him, her heartbeat thundering in her ears. His power was crackling in the air around them. “You want me to be afraid of you, Nick? You think you can scare me into apologizing with a few threats and a cheap light trick? Well, screw you. You can’t control me, and if you really cared about me, you wouldn’t want to.”
“Don’t try to turn this around, Kar,” he said. His voice was still so soft that it almost frightened her. “You’re the one who betrayed both Reece’s trust and mine. And if we can’t all trust each other, then we’re as good as dead. I’ll do what I have to do to make you understand that.”
Tears stung her eyes, but she blinked them away furiously. “Oh, I understand perfectly,” she said in a ragged whisper. “I’m out of here.”
Karissa walked out of the room with every ounce of dignity she could muster and grabbed her coat off the couch as she headed for the front door. Once she stepped outside into the cold air, shutting the door behind her, she broke into a run.
The night was crisp and quiet. Wisps of snowflakes coiled on icy winds and the bright, full moon shone in the dark sky. This was his favorite time of year, his favorite time of night—so late that most humans had long since fallen asleep.
He felt alone.
Singular.
A conscious mind amongst the useless, mundane dreamers.
The world was his.
Zarek turned the knob and pulled open the front door of Lindsay’s house. The hinges squeaked loudly and he froze, listening for any sign that he might have woken the family.
After a few silent minutes had passed, he stepped into the living room.
Inside the house, Lindsay’s scent was thick and heady. He could easily distinguish it from the scents of her parents and little brother. She smelled like rain, like sun, like the winter air. Her fragrance spoke of purity and innocence, and he began to salivate as he crept down the hallway.
This was an experiment. He had never before come this close to one of his quarry without being ready to take them, but tonight he would do just that. He would stand over Lindsay’s sweet, sleeping body, do what he had come to do, and then he would leave.
Already, he was starting to ache for her, nearly cursing himself for deciding to play this new game, but he reminded himself that drawing out the anticipation like this would only heighten his pleasure when he finally did take her.
The idea had come to him only hours ago. He’d been watching Lindsay through her windows as she prepared for bed. As usual, she had changed into her long nightgown, brushed her teeth, and then she had slowly, seductively brushed her beloved hair. Once she had gotten into bed, she’d closed her eyes and said her prayers—again pleading for forgiveness for her vanity. She had begged for the strength to overcome her weakness.
Zarek smiled. He would answer her prayers tonight.
When he arrived at her bedroom door, he paused to place the palms of his hands on it. He thought that he could feel her heat through it, even though it was impossible. More than anything, he could feel her mind. She was dreaming that she was being chased by some dark force that she could not see. To her, it felt like a wave of evil was trying to overtake her.
Oh yes, this girl had intuition that rivaled Alexandra’s. Of course, he had never played any games like this with his former slave. But over the weeks that he’d been stalking her, familiarizing himself with her strengths and weaknesses, Alexandra had been anxious. She’d had nightmares. While walking down the street, she had looked over her shoulder often, feeling his eyes on her. In fact, she had almost caught him watching her once. If he hadn’t ducked out of sight with preternatural speed, she probably would have.
He wished that he’d had the self-control, then, to play with her as he was playing with Lindsay now. He could only imagine how sweet that would have been.
As it was, the time he had spent stalking Alexandra had been the most deliciously excruciating months of his long life. She had been thirteen when he’d found her in a rundown seaside town. The moment that he’d first seen her, she had been walking on the beach, letting the waves pour over her feet as they crashed onto the shore. Her hair had been whipping around in the salty wind. Her hands had been in her pockets. And believing that she was alone, she’d been singing. It was clear that she was tone deaf, but she hadn’t cared. To this day, he wasn’t sure why, but her dissonant voice had made him come undone. He’d been addicted, he’d been helpless. She had stolen his soul that day.
Unfortunately, the damn vixen had never given it back.
It didn’t matter. Not any more. He had Lindsay now and the only thing standing between them was a door.
Zarek opened it and silently stepped into her bedroom. Amazingly, she stirred. Some part of her knew that he was there. He suddenly, desperately wished that she would wake, but that would ruin this moment, this game. So he forced himself to telepathically will her into unconsciousness.
Approaching her bed, he was mesmerized by her small, sleeping form. For a long while, Zarek could only stand over her, gazing at her angelic face and breathing in her scent. God, he burned for her. His hands itched to touch her. To hurt her. To make her rich blood drip down her creamy skin. He wanted to see fear light up her blue eyes, see her full lips open in a scream. His breathing became ragged with lust.
It took enormous effort to restrain himself. He knew that if he touched her now, it would be all over. He’d throw her over his shoulder and whisk her away. And he didn’t want that. Not yet. He had to breathe, had to chill out, as they said in this day and age.
Some time later, he found that he had calmed down considerably. Finally trusting himself to do what he’d come here for, Zarek reached into the pocket inside his coat and drew a pair of scissors. He opened and closed them a few times, loving the metallic scratching sound as he sliced through the air.
With one hand, he rolled Lindsay onto her stomach while trying to ignore the way that her scent wafted up to him as her body moved. Then he reached down and gathered all of her long, silken hair into his other hand, pulling up until her head lifted from the pillow. With one quick snip, he freed the mass of hair from her and her head fell back down.
Rubbing a length of Lindsay’s hair between his thumb and forefinger, he brought it to his nose and inhaled deeply, shuddering.
Soon.
Soon.
He slid his scissors back into his pocket and impulsively tucked one of her light brown tresses inside of it as well. After rolling her onto her back again, he spread the rest of her sheared hair on the pillow around her head. When she woke, it would take her a moment to notice that it was no longer a part of her. And then…
Zarek didn’t know. That was the best part of this little game. The prize.
His heart was pounding as he fled Lindsay’s home as quietly as he had entered it. Once he was outside, he dashed back around the house so that he could crouch underneath the window that was over her bed.
Sinking down into the soft snow, he waited for her to wake.
The highway was deserted this time of night. There were no streetlights on either side of the road. He left his headlights off, relying on his exceptional night vision to guide him through the darkness. Aiden felt alone, stealthy—moving through the world, but not a part of it.
Everything that he owned was in the trunk of his car and it took up a depressingly small amount of space. Things like that had never bothered him before, when he’d been working for the Night World. It had been impractical for someone like him to have a lot of possessions. He never knew when he’d be forced to run, without time to stop by the apartment to pack any clothes, books, movies, CDs, electronic equipment, small appliances, or furniture. And even though he was no longer a part of the Night World, his situation had changed very little. He was a hunted man and he always needed to be prepared to take off. The search for him had cooled off over the last year, though, and more often than not, when Aiden fled a city, it was of his own volition. If he stayed in any one place for too long, he became restless. After his sorry encounter with the prostitute the other night, he knew that it was time for him to leave Buffalo.
He didn’t know where he was going. Hell, Aiden didn’t even know what road he was on any more. After he’d gotten in the car, he’d decided to stay in the left lane and follow that route, wherever it took him, until he ran out of gas. He would stop to sleep for a while, and then tomorrow he would fill up the tank and do the same thing. Over and over again, until he hit a big city or got sick of driving.
So far, his path had landed him on some highway that was cutting through the mountains of upstate New York. He wondered if maybe, instead of heading towards a city, he should think about settling in some remote area like this. At least then he would be as alone as he felt. God knows it would be harder for him to find a hooker to humiliate himself with. And maybe, if he didn’t have to see beautiful girls who reminded him of Eve or Lex every damn day, he wouldn’t feel so haunted.
Goddamn, he was pathetic. The vampire that he’d once been—the one who had earned the nickname Hellraiser—would have staked the person he’d become long ago, just to stop his whining.
What would Eve have thought of it?
She probably would have loved it. She would have drunk in any emotion she could wring out of him. She hadn’t known about his Night World business, no, but she’d been well aware of his persistent detachment. Time and again, she’d tried to get him to talk about himself—not just the facts, but his feelings as well, and every time, Aiden had left her hurt and disappointed. He hadn’t even tried to humor her, spinning a web of lovely lies to help her sleep at night. No, he simply hadn’t answered her questions.
Stop thinking about her, damn it. It doesn’t do any good, it doesn’t accomplish anything.
Feelings aren’t supposed to accomplish anything, he could imagine Eve saying. They just are.
Maybe. But they’re still fucking annoying.
Aiden could hear her soft laugh in his ear. Well if you hadn’t avoided them for ninety years, it wouldn’t be this hard, silly.
Eighty-nine years, he corrected her, though he knew that wasn’t the point. He had always thought that he was naturally cold and aloof. After Eve died, however, it had become painfully clear that he had feelings, just like everyone else; he’d just been better than most people at cutting himself off from them. And he was paying the price for that now.
You will make it through this. You’re strong.
You of all people should know better.
Don’t be so hard on yourself. You coped with life the only way you knew how. There are reasons that you shut down the way you did.
Really? What are they?
She laughed again. How should I know? You never told me anything.
You’ve developed a sick sense of humor since you died.
That’s because I’m not actually Eve. I’m just a part of your own wretched mind.
Oh yeah, he was definitely losing it. But then, hadn’t he lost it a long time ago? Was it even possible to keep losing it, again and again and again?
He really ought to find some shrink to talk to, like the prostitute had suggested. The guy would be able to make a career out of Aiden. Then, at least someone would be profiting from his madness.
Enough already. He reached down to turn up the volume on his radio, trying to drown out his own thoughts. Besides, Linkin Park sounded better at an ear-piercing volume.
A few minutes later, a strange sensation ripped through him. Gasping, he turned off the radio, trying to focus on the feeling. It almost felt like something was tugging at his chest, sucking the air out of his lungs.
Suddenly, he wrenched the steering wheel to the right and slammed on his brakes. Inertia sent him flying into his seatbelt as the car came to a screeching stop on the side of the highway.
“Oh god,” he gasped. It couldn’t be…
Aiden cocked his head to the side, opening himself up to the sensation. He had to be mistaken. This wasn’t possible. But there was no other explanation.
As he sat alone in his car, he realized that the tugging on his chest felt more like something was being shoved into his heart and it was stretching to accommodate it. Just under the sound of his own heavy breath, he could hear something else. Crying, maybe. Whimpering.
Fear shot down his spine, but he knew that it wasn’t his own. For the first time in nearly nineteen months, Aiden was feeling the presence of another person in his mind. Someone who was frightened and alone and very close by.
Alexandra.
But what the hell was she doing alone? Where was her soulmate—that sickeningly perfect, warm-hearted, idealistic Daybreak witch that Aiden had left her with? He was supposed to protect her, goddamn it.
He put his car back into drive and slammed on the gas, jerking the steering wheel around at the same time. The car whipped around and fishtailed for a few feet, and then he was racing the wrong way down the highway toward the nearest exit.
Aiden was going to find her. The soulmate link between them might not be the real thing, but it felt even stronger now than it had in D.C., and it wanted him to be with Lex. Who was he to argue with a force that was stronger than he could even imagine? He had tried once, with Eve, and he had ended up losing everything. Maybe he was crazy, but he sure as hell wasn’t stupid enough to try to control the soulmate principle a second time.
It was still dark when Lindsay’s alarm clock rang, waking her up for school. Zarek hadn’t moved in the few hours since he had been inside of her room. He was kneeling outside of her bedroom window when he heard her alarm go off and he froze, unable to breathe.
This was it. The moment of truth.
After another endless second, he heard a high-pitched shriek that was so loud, it shook the windowpane.
Zarek Kakopoios nearly wept at the sound. It moved him even more than Alexandra’s dreadful singing had. He realized, then, that he belonged to this young girl, just as he had belonged to Alexandra.
As her screaming continued, Zarek knew that he couldn’t wait any longer. He had to have Lindsay today.
Part 3
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