2. Two

two

Stars shone in my vision—both in the metaphorical and physical sense—as I lay there blinking up at the night sky. A hundred and forty pound wolf crouched on my chest, staring down at me, her gaze wild with panic.

For the second time that night, I had the breath knocked out of me when the wolf used my abdomen as a launching pad.

“Bitch,” I gasped, rolling over onto my stomach to find Caroline’s wolf racing into the night. “Seriously?”

She was just going to leave me here? Not even a backwards glance to see if I was alright?

Some friend she was.

At least I’d dealt with the collar. Or I hoped I had. With things like this, it was always difficult to tell, and her abrupt abandonment meant I couldn’t check. Her gaze had been clear though. Panicked, too, but I’d seen Caroline in the wolf before she darted away.

Despite that, I couldn’t help the worry that crouched in my stomach. There was nothing I could do about it now though. Caroline was long gone. Even with my vampire speed, I wasn’t a match for a werewolf in their wolf form.

Nor could I exactly call her since her impromptu shift meant she’d abandoned her clothes and everything that was in her pockets. Including her cell phone.

Until she contacted me, she was on her own.

“Um.” The human’s tremulous voice issued from the car. “Can I move now?”

Leaving the question of Caroline and what had just happened alone, I pushed to my feet, dusting stray pieces of asphalt from the palms of my hands and my clothes. Dots of blood welled from where I’d scraped my skin against the ground. It was already in the process of healing around the debris.

That was going to be a real bitch later. There was nothing quite so awful as finding tiny pebbles and other detritus under the surface of your skin. Just rolling around. Like they’d found a new home and had settled in for the long haul.

Each piece would need to be cut out when I got home. Lovely.

The human peered out of the car as I stumbled over to the driver’s side. “Are you sure you don’t want to go after her?”

“What’s your name?” I asked in lieu of an answer.

I figured after everything that had happened this evening, I should know who I was compelling.

“Allan.”

“Alright, Allan. Here’s what you’re going to do. I want you to forget everything from the past few hours. Ever since stepping out of the grocery store.” The damage to his back bumper from where Caroline had crashed into it when she was in pain caught my eye. “Someone hit your car in the parking lot. You decided to take a drive to calm down. Now you’re going to go home and go to bed. Tomorrow when you wake up, you’re going to realize you’re missing something in your life. For the next month you’re going to be open to new experiences.”

Hopefully, my compulsion would give him an outlet for those desires while avoiding more dangerous pursuits. Like, for instance, volunteering to act as a chauffeur to the vampire who kidnapped you.

Allan’s eyes glazed over. A vagueness entering them that told me my compulsion was working.

I stepped back, watching as he started the car and drove away. At last, something that had gone according to plan.

“Well, that was certainly interesting,” the hunter drawled from the car he was leaning against. “I’ve never seen anyone as bad at tailing someone as you. Were you even trying to be covert?”

The piercing in Drake’s eyebrow twinkled at me as I turned. A merry taunt that rubbed in the fact that I’d allowed myself to be taken by surprise. By a hunter, no less. If this was a contest in dumb ways to die, I would have taken the gold.

In my defense, my senses insisted that I was alone. My hearing. My sense of smell. Everything except my vision said there was no one standing there. Particularly not a cousin who was as dangerous as any vampire I’d ever met.

Drake’s brown hair was the same shade as my dad’s. It was long on top and slicked back from his face in an effortless style that probably took almost an hour to achieve. If I looked closely enough, I could see the resemblance to my family. Faint but there.

Seeing my frown, Drake reached beneath the collar of his shirt to pull out a charm I’d seen on other hunters. Its purpose was to conceal the user’s presence. Particularly from those with superior senses like me.

“Checking up on me, cuz?” Drake tucked the charm back under his shirt. “You didn’t need to go to such dramatic lengths. If you wanted to know what I was up to, all you needed to do was ask.”

My answer was interrupted by a cool voice from the opposite side of the parking lot.

“Cousin?” A vampire glided out of the shadows. The silvery color of his hair almost glowing under the moonlight as he fixed calm eyes on me. “That is an interesting tidbit of information that you neglected to mention to me.”

“Connor.” I wiped my hands on the legs of my jeans, wetting my lips nervously. “What are you doing here?”

My vampire brother’s expression was calm as he fixed his attention on Drake. “I’d wondered why I sensed his presence that night at your parent’s house.”

Connor’s features held a beauty that didn’t belong entirely to the mundane world. His skin pale with an ethereal glow that made it easy to believe he was a child of the moon and stars come down to see how us mere mortals lived.

Drake stiffened, looking up in stunned realization. “You were never really interested in me, were you? You asked me out so you could figure out the connection between me and Aileen.”

Connor’s smile allowed the tips of his fangs to peek out of his mouth. A sign of aggression among vampires. Or flirting.

With vampires, it was sometimes hard to tell the difference.

“Aileen showed an obvious reluctance to discuss the events behind that night. As a good brother who respects his sister’s privacy, I had to find other avenues through which to obtain that information.”

I stared at my brother. “That’s not how privacy works.”

Sometimes I really wished I could open up his head to peer inside.

Drake rubbed his jaw. “I’m hurt. I thought you were really interested in me.”

Connor’s chin lowered as he gave the other man a seductive look. “The two are not necessarily mutually exclusive.”

Tension crackled between the pair before Drake looked away. Acting casual, he ran a hand through his hair, almost preening as he smoothed the already immaculate locks into place. “Stop—you’re making me blush.”

I kept my face blank, determined not to show disapproval in any way. Repeat after me—

Connor’s romantic relationships are his business. Just because his last boyfriend betrayed him didn’t give me the right to comment or object.

So my brother preferred love with a side of danger—who didn’t?

Look at me—I was getting frisky on a regular basis with a vampire many referred to as Death due to the high body count he’d accrued over his thousand or so years of existence. A vampire I’d also once feared.

On second thought, Connor and I shared a type.

“You knew this whole time that Drake was there that night?” I asked, ignoring their flirting.

“Gunpowder and cedar.” Connor gave Drake a look that bordered on seductive. “It’s a very distinctive scent.”

Why did that sound almost admiring?

I shook myself before I could fall any further down that rabbit hole and sent Drake a frown. “So much for the charm hiding your scent.”

“To work, I’d have to be wearing it. If you remember, I was hunting humans that night. There was no need for such extreme measures. Especially since it’s a limited time use.”

Still, it seemed pretty careless to me. Particularly since Drake struck me as the cautious sort.

Everyone in the city knew who my sire was. Just as they knew who I’d call if I needed help. It stood to reason he’d want his identity to remain secret.

Unless he’d planned to draw Connor or Liam’s attention.

“How fortuitous that I’ve found out your relationship now.” Connor’s smile widened, showing more of his fangs. “It would have been a shame to mar such a pretty throat over a case of mistaken identity.”

Okay, maybe I’d been a little quick at considering Drake the bigger threat. It seemed Connor had his own agenda. One that was exactly as bloody and final as you’d expect of a vampire.

“Yes—just as much of a shame for you to end the night sans heart,” Drake returned with an equally saccharin smile.

“M’kay. Enough of that.” I stepped between the two men before either could decide to make good on their not so subtle threats. “You’re both on the same page now and neither of you are going to try to kill the other.”

I leveled both with a look in hopes they would listen.

Frowning, I watched Drake stroll toward his bike. “Where are you going?”

“Since it looks like this date isn’t happening, I’m calling it a night.” Drake grabbed his helmet and threw a leg over the back of the bike. “A word of advice—next time you’re on a stake out, maybe don’t leave your car in the area. The spooks in town all know it by now. It’s a dead giveaway that you’re somewhere nearby. Even if you leave it a few blocks from where you’re staking out an apothecary.”

I guess that answered the question of whether his happening by me at that exact time and place was an accident.

Drake slapped down the visor of his helmet, the bike coming to life with a low rumble. “See you later, cuz.”

I stepped back as he hit the accelerator, speeding past before slowing to make the turn at the end of the parking lot.

“We should head home too,” Connor informed me.

“Connor.” I stopped, not knowing where to start. I should have told him about Drake being there the night my parents’ home was attacked by hunters. Even then, I’d known I should. But by the time he’d arrived to help me compel the police that their neighbors had called when they heard gunshots, it had just seemed easier to keep my dad’s secret—and by extension, Drake’s.

Connor’s expression gave nothing away. His gaze as deep and mysterious as the ocean at night.

“I know. You were worried about your family.”

“You’re my family too.”

My brother by circumstance, if not by blood.

“I’m sorry. I should have told you,” I said, forcing myself to meet his gaze despite the guilt clogging up my throat. “I needed time to process this massive shift in everything I thought I knew.”

“I imagine learning your father is descended from a line that hunts our kind is difficult to come to grips with.”

There was something in his voice as he said that. An understanding born of experience. It occurred to me how much of a shock it must have been to learn his father, our sire, was a vampire all those years ago.

I, at least, had the benefit of pop culture to soften the blow. It had been shocking to find out that myth had become my new reality, but modern thinking was a tad more flexible than the era he’d grown up in. Just look at how his mother had reacted—by trying to drag his father and uncle into the daylight in hopes of killing them.

“I know my dad would never do anything that might jeopardize or hurt me or our family,” I explained.

It was how I justified keeping this secret from him and Liam.

Drake was something else entirely though. It was the reason I felt like I was drowning in guilt. In some ways, it was a relief for Connor to finally know.

Connor moved closer, stopping beside me to tousle my hair. “Don’t look like that. I’m not angry at you.”

“Really?”

Connor dropped his hand and stepped back. “It would be the height of hypocrisy if I was.”

Wait a minute.

“Does this mean you’re keeping something from me?” Taking a moment to swipe Caroline’s belongings off the ground—she’d want them later—I trailed after Connor as he moved through the parking lot. “You’re not, right?”

Connor stopped in front of a dark blue minivan that still had its temporary plates on it. He spread his arms wide, indicating the vehicle. “What do you think? Nice, huh?”

“It’s a minivan,” I said, stating the obvious.

Connor looked a little too proud of himself as he held up a key fob for me to see. “The sales person at the dealership said it was the perfect vehicle for the growing family.”

I got very quiet.

“You bought a vehicle that soccer mom’s covet,” I said in a hushed whisper.

It wasn’t that I had anything against minivans, but we were vampires. Fierce, seductive creatures of the night. Somehow a minivan just didn’t fit our vibe.

Connor’s head tilted, that look he sometimes got crossing his face. The one that reminded me that he’d spent the last few hundred years out of touch with human society. “Soccer—that’s the one where they chase the ball with their feet.” He gave the minivan a probing look, nodding softly to himself. “This does look large enough to transport a significant number of the team.”

Finally, he was getting it.

He beamed at me. “It’s perfect.”

Nope. I was wrong. He’d entirely missed the point.

I rubbed my forehead, trying to figure out a way to explain it to him. “There are only three people in our house. Me, you, and Deborah.” The last was my human companion. “Why would we need a vehicle this big?”

I realized my Jaguar wasn’t exactly the ideal car for group events, but this seemed like overkill.

“You’re forgetting your sister and her daughter. Your parents. Deborah’s sister. All of whom may need to be transported at once,” Connor corrected. “Not to mention, we’ll eventually have to add a blood companion for me. Along with the vampires who will wish to join our House over the next few years. It makes sense to buy a vehicle to fit what our future will bring.”

“Who said anything about adding other vampires to our House?”

I decided to ignore the mention of a blood companion, aware he’d need one sooner or later. Free-range hunting humans in bars and clubs was a time consuming and laborious process. Most vampires moved to a companion if they could afford it.

“It’s inevitable. Strength and power will draw others. Already, some are eyeing our House as a possibility for their future.”

“They can eye all they want. I won’t agree.”

“You mean to say if a vampire, fresh out of their hundred year indenture, was fleeing from an abusive master, you wouldn’t give them safe harbor.”

My teeth clicked shut. I couldn’t disagree and he knew it.

Connor’s expression softened. “You’re a soft touch when it comes to strays. Others will realize that eventually. I’m simply preparing in advance. It’s not a move meant to force your hand.”

The vehicle beeped as he unlocked it.

“Now, let’s go for a ride in my new conveyance.”

“Do you even have a driver’s license?”

“I do. I got it earlier this evening.”

With one last worried look in the direction Caroline had disappeared into, I opened the passenger door and climbed inside. “Someone’s having a productive night.”

“One of us has to since the other ditched work for a personal errand.”

“Just drive. And try not to kill us.”

Rather than backtracking to pick up my car, we decided to go home since it was closer. We headed north, passing High Banks, a metro park named for the hundred foot bluffs overlooking the river, and the Fae barrow located there.

At this time of night, the park was dark and deserted. Its gate lowered to prevent trespassers.

A thick cloud of magic hung low on the ground. Fog-like, it stole through the trees like a wraith hunting for its next victim.

“Something wrong?” Connor asked, noticing my preoccupation.

“Magic.”

A lot of it.

That had Connor tensing as he scrutinized the woods we were driving past. A meadow of wild flowers rambled at the foot of the trees, walking trails meandering along the outskirts.

“Targeted?” Connor asked.

I thought about the question before I shook my head. “More like a byproduct.”

The magic felt aimless, if that made sense. A consequence of some massive working that had imprinted its mark on the land surrounding it.

Think of a house where a mass murder had taken place. You could get rid of the bodies, scrub the floors until you destroyed all evidence of what had happened, but you would never truly free the house of its presence. Every person who walked through its doors would feel that something wrong had taken place there. It would be etched indelibly into the fabric of the residence until time or something else cleansed the memory of that horror from the space.

This was like that, but on a much larger scale. I’d never seen a spell have such an effect on its surroundings before.

Worry ate at me. Our house wasn’t that far from High Banks. Only about five or so miles as the crow flew. It was scary to think of whatever had caused this reaching us. Particularly during the daytime when I was at my most vulnerable.

“If it’s the remnants of a massive spell, the danger should be past,” Connor said with a confidence I envied. “We’ll notify Thomas when we get home. He’ll want to know about this.”

“I hope by ‘we’ you mean ‘you.’”

I’d done it last time.

Connor put the metro park in our rear view as overgrown fields gave way to big box stores and fast-food chains. “You’re the leader of our House. That makes notifying the master of the city of a potential problem in his territory your job.”

I leaned my shoulder against the door and stared at the side of his face. “It’s funny how you always have a reason for why I’m the best choice for communicating with our sire.”

Light played across Connor’s features, creating shadows and highlights that made him seem like he was carved from stone. His silence spoke volumes. It was amazing how stubborn he could be without ever saying a word.

A sigh of defeat slipped free. “One of these days I’m going to pull rank and make you do it. You can’t avoid him forever.”

Connor and our sire had what you could call a fractious relationship. Somehow, I’d managed to end up in the middle.

“Like I said—a soft touch,” Connor murmured.

“Whatever,” I grumbled, deciding to ignore him in favor of staring out the window as we made the turn onto our road.

On one side, dark shapes skulked at the end of long driveways, massive mansions sitting next to more modest sized homes. To our left, a fence framed a large, wooded lot before giving way to a gated community.

I admired the trees lining the street as we followed the hill down toward the river that waited on the flat land below. The house that I’d started referring to as the Bird Cage due to its large number of oversized windows was located halfway down at the end of a long gravel road.

From this vantage the trees obscured its presence except during the dead of winter when the cold stripped the leaves from their branches.

One of the things I liked best about our new home was its isolation. I never had to worry about enemies burning down my house and humans getting caught in the crossfire.

Gravel crunched as we turned down our driveway, starting up the slight incline that led to where our house sat on a hill overlooking the ravines surrounding it.

Something flashed across our bumper, moving too fast to identify.

The car slammed to a stop, the tires sliding on the gravel for a brief moment before gaining traction. The seat belt tightened around my sternum and hips, preventing me from smashing into the dash.

I stayed still, blinking dumbly at the driveway leading up to my house, a little confused and dazed.

We’d nearly run someone over just now. It’d been quick, but I thought it was some kind of Fae. They’d been dressed in black and carrying weapons that looked like they’d come from a different century. A bow and a quiver full of arrows. Also, some kind of blade at their waist.

“Did that really just happen?” I asked, turning toward Connor to share in my shock.

Only he wasn’t there. His seat was empty, the vehicle door open, and a pale shape was disappearing into the trees after the mysterious trespasser.

“Connor!” I reached for my seat belt, cursing when I fumbled at getting it undone. “Damn it! Wait for me!”

Why did he always have to go running off on his own? Now I knew how Liam and the others felt when I did something similar.

“Finally,” I growled as the seat belt came free. I shouldered open my door and tore through the woods after Connor.

Thank God I always went armed these days. My gun may not have been a deterrent against most spooks, but it had saved my life enough times to warrant carrying it.

I moved through the woods on my property as silently as Nathan, an enforcer friend of mine, had taught me. He would have been proud that I didn’t let panic or desperation compel me to blunder forward in haste, announcing my presence to all and sundry. That I took the time to conceal my presence, ghosting over the ground like a wraith. Or an assassin.

I was nowhere near as quick as Connor or other vampires centuries older than me, but I didn’t have to be. Sometimes all you needed for victory was the element of surprise.

Connor hadn’t left me much of a trail to follow. Rather than bulldoze my way forward blind, I stopped to listen, detecting the sounds of fighting up ahead and to my right.

They were faint. Barely more than a grunt here and the whistle of wind from a blade slicing through the air, but they were enough to give me a direction.

I moved through the woods as silently as before. Only this time with a destination.

It wasn’t long before I came upon Connor fighting three Fae. All dressed in black and carrying blades that contained a golden glow. Evidence of the lethal magic coating their edge.

Connor’s lips peeled back to expose deadly fangs. Bright red liquid ran down one forearm and over his fingers to drip onto the forest floor.

From my vantage, I couldn’t tell if that blood was courtesy of an injury or the result of wounding one of our trespassers.

Connor burst into motion, him and a Fae trading blows as they moved through the trees like a dervish. One of the Fae’s companions, cloaked in magic, crept up behind Connor while the last Fae aimed his bow at my brother.

Connor stepped out of the way of his ambusher, almost blurring as he evaded both assailants.

The last Fae kept him in his sights, magic dancing along the arrow’s length.

I didn’t think, stepping out from my cover, aiming and shooting in one easy motion. The bullet took the Fae with the bow in the shoulder, knocking his aim off. The arrow shot harmlessly into the dark.

The fight ground to a halt as the Fae took in their injured companion.

Connor’s chest heaved as he caught his breath, his blue eyes glowing from the heat of battle. He looked feral as he considered the Fae across from him.

“I wouldn’t,” I warned, shifting my aim to the Fae who’d tried to sneak up on Connor earlier. “Your friend over there should be feeling the effects of that iron bullet right about now. I’d be more than happy to let you experience the same.”

This was one thing the myths had gotten right when it came to spooks. For the Fae, most of them anyway, iron was poison. One of the few things that could weaken them, and in some cases, kill.

Of course, that was only if the rest of the bullets in the Judge were also iron.

It was a small deception really. Not even necessitating a lie. There really were other iron bullets in here. One. The last one.

To get to it, I’d have to empty the rest and hope no one shish kabobbed me in the meantime. All the while hoping I’d be able to hit my target a second time. An unlikely event given how fast they moved. They’d gone toe-to-toe with a vampire that was centuries my senior and who also happened to be as deadly as any enforcer. No easy feat.

I was dead if they decided to call my bluff.

“Anyone want to tell me why you’re trespassing on my territory?” I asked.

Connor had calmed down in the moments since I arrived. His expression smoothing out until he was back to the unflappable vampire I knew. His rage tucked away and hidden. But it was still there. Boiling just below the surface.

Something about these Fae had set him off, uncovered a trauma I hadn’t known was there.

The three Fae traded glances before the one who seemed to be the leader, a tall man with lilac colored eyes and skin that looked like mottled bark, stirred. “We’re in pursuit of a fugitive. Step aside.”

Or else. That’s what he really meant.

I adjusted my aim until the gun was pointed squarely at him. “How about this? I shoot you in the head while my brother takes care of your friends.”

“We’re agents of the Summer King, employed to hunt down a traitor, killing us will only bring disaster down upon you and yours.”

Uncertainty flickered in his eyes. I was betting most spooks backed down when they realized who he worked for. Too bad for him I wasn’t exactly known for taking into account the consequences before I made my move.

“I don’t care who you work for. You’re standing on my land. Without a proper notification or clear evidence of your fugitive ever having been here.”

I was well within my rights to retaliate.

“You can’t plead ignorance either since you were there when the barrow lord and the master of the city agreed on the terms,” I said with a glance at the injured Fae.

He wasn’t looking so good. His skin had paled, his breathing growing more labored by the second.

I’d seen him around the barrow a time or two. He was one of Arlan’s guards. He should know better. Even if his friends didn’t.

“You know who I am,” I said, addressing him. “You know who my sire is.”

When Thomas learned about this, there would be war. If I ever informed him of what happened.

“You know what he’ll do to you if either of us are hurt.”

He’d turn the city upside down, hunting for the perpetrators. The streets would run red with the blood of the innocent and guilty alike.

The third Fae curled his lip in a sneer. “I doubt that. Everyone knows about the grudge between the master of the city and his yearlings.”

“Your information is old, friend. Otherwise, why would he have gifted me this territory and the house that sits on it.”

Suck on that.

All he had to do was ask around to confirm I wasn’t lying. Thomas had been quite high profile when he’d practically forced the house on me in front of a gathering of vampires.

The Fae who’d tried to challenge my assertion sent the wounded man a questioning look. There was a marked hesitation before Arlan’s guard nodded reluctantly.

Their leader’s features tightened. He must have realized how badly they’d overstepped. “In the interest of cooperation, we’d like to formally request passage through your territory for the purposes of hunting this traitor.”

“Request denied.”

“You just said—” the Fae argued.

“There’s nothing in the rules that say I have to grant you permission.” I gave them a hard smile. “You don’t get to break the rules and then try to use them to force my hand. Get off my property or we’ll dine on Fae blood tonight. I’m told it’s quite the delicacy. Isn’t that right, Connor?”

“It is a feast like no other,” Connor agreed, eying the Fae hungrily.

“We’ll go,” their leader declared, giving his friend a look that told him to cool it.

At least one of them had brains.

There was a standoff as the friend held his leader’s gaze before cursing and giving in. He stalked toward the wounded Fae, dragging the man’s arm over his shoulders before escorting him toward my property line.

The leader lingered long enough to deliver a warning. “We’ll be back tomorrow. You’d better hope we don’t find evidence of you harboring this traitor. Even your master won’t be powerful enough to protect you then.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I murmured as the Fae glided after his brethren.

I remained on guard long after the trees had swallowed him, my gun up and at the ready.

Connor’s head tilted, his expression intent as he listened. After a moment, he nodded, “They’re gone.”

I lowered my arms and holstered the gun with a feeling of relief. “For a moment there, I was afraid they’d call my bluff.”

Connor’s forehead furrowed as I stepped around him, heading in the direction I assumed the Fae had been going before he’d intercepted them. “You were lying.”

I patted the gun at my back. “Not entirely. There’s one last iron bullet in here. I just would have had to go through a few rounds to get to it.”

“That was,” Connor paused, considering his best choice of words. “Impressive.”

He meant impulsive. Reckless. Dumb. All of those words fit.

“Who were those guys anyways?”

Over the year that I’d known him, it had slowly become clear that Connor was a bit of a badass. His fighting skills among the best I’d ever seen. They shouldn’t have been able to give him as hard a time as they did.

“They’re called the Luigseach. Elite agents of the Summer King.” At the sharp look I gave him, Connor nodded. “Yes, I agree. It’s a cause for concern that they’re in this city.”

I’d say.

There were a lot of reasons to be worried that the Summer King’s influence had reached all the way to my doorstep. The least of which was because I’d played a major role in his daughter’s death. The other one—the one that would destroy everything if it ever got out—was that I was the biological daughter of his greatest enemy.

Oh yeah. And I was a magic breaker.

Any one of those were enough for me to pack my bag and head for the hills to hide out for the next few centuries.

“What are the chances they’ll make good on their threat and return?” I asked.

“They don’t make threats. Only promises.”

Great.

I nodded at the ravine. “In that case, what do you say we go take a look at whoever they were after? I’m curious as to who they’d risk offending Thomas over.”

Our master wasn’t a being you trifled with lightly.

“I’m curious about that as well.”

Together, we walked the short distance to the ravine where the Fae’s quarry hid. From the traces of green and yellow magic that I could see in the air, I had a feeling I knew who I would find.

A few seconds later, we stopped at the edge of the ravine and stared down into its shadows.

I focused on the remains of a fallen tree where the magic was the strongest. Someone had cast a powerful illusion spell to hide whoever was there.

“You might as well come out. I know you’re there.”