Chapter 25

Carwyn watched Brigid from a distance. They'd said their goodbyes hours before since from the time she met Ivan to the time Ivan was dead, Brigid needed to remain Claire McKee. She walked to the car and driver they'd hired from San Francisco and entered the vehicle, which backed out and departed the parking lot.

"Where did you arrange for her to stay?" Carwyn asked Baojia.

Baojia put down his binoculars. It had taken an effort to keep the vampire in the car when Ivan appeared. "There's a private lodge north of town that's vampire friendly."

"Lovely. Doesn't surprise me that our type likes this place." With the narrow streets and beautifully preserved Victorian homes that populated the old lumber town, it had a historic feel.

"She's going to email us?" Baojia asked.

"She can't use any voice command if someone might overhear. She said she'd send a message via the driver. Supposed to meet him at a gas station near Redwood Highway and West Street."

"I know where that is." He glanced at Carwyn. "You going crazy yet?"

"Are you?" Even Carwyn had to hold back from bursting out of the car when he saw Ivan, and he didn't have half the history that Baojia did. "If we kill him now—"

"Then we don't get the participants, and there will likely be newborn vampires out there, rampaging throughout the Pacific Northwest with no guidance and no idea of what they are, wreaking havoc in Katya's territory." Baojia sounded bored. "I got the memo from my boss."

"Do you ever wish you didn't have one?" Carwyn asked. "You have enough of a reputation to be independent now. Have you thought about it?"

Baojia looked amused. "You do know I'm not nearly as old as you are, right? I haven't exactly had time to accumulate a vast fortune of a thousand years or so, my wife was a newspaper reporter when she was human, and I have two kids who are probably going to want to go to college someday."

"Oh." That hadn't occurred to him. "So you're saying—"

"I need a paycheck, Carwyn. And Katya pays well for skills that don't exactly have much use outside the military."

"Well, I suppose that makes sense then."

"Yep." He tapped the driver's seat with his right hand. "Juan, let's head out to that gas station and wait for the driver." He sat back in the seat and put on his seat belt. "Plus I don't mind being part of a power structure as long as I can respect it. Katya isn't my friend or my sire, but I respect her and I like the way she runs things. Summer is a prime example."

"So she's turning her?"

"Oh, it was done last night."

Carwyn let out a long breath. "And the Mackenzies?"

"They left, and they were not happy." He glanced at Carwyn. "She'll be fine. Jamie and Ross are going to get home and Logan Mackenzie is going to smack them around for letting someone else turn his granddaughter, but Summer will be fine."

"She'll be Katya's."

Baojia shrugged. "She's a good sire. And the girl will gain some independence from her family. In a hundred years, if she wants to transfer her aegis to them, Katya won't say no. At that point, it'll be an alliance the Mackenzies will likely welcome. Good for everyone."

"Her parents are human."

"And they're welcome to visit anytime." Baojia looked at him. "I promise I'll keep an eye on her if that will ease your mind. Natalie and I both will; you know that. She's a smart young woman. She'll take a leave of absence from school, probably transfer to Humboldt after that, study forestry or whatever environmental science she was studying in Seattle, and eventually get a job with one of Katya's green-energy companies. Or she'll end up being a kick-ass soldier and train with me." He patted Carwyn's knee. "Her life isn't over. It's just beginning."

"You were manic about Natalie remaining human. Why are you so casual about this?"

Baojia frowned. "Natalie was forced to turn when we had two small children and she was diagnosed with cancer. It's nothing like Summer's situation."

"I suppose not." Something about the whole business still bothered Carwyn. "Do you think she'll ever see her young man again?"

Baojia didn't answer directly. He stared at the lights of the highway as they drove north. "Life is long," he said. "Anything is possible."

Summer woke in the darkness, surrounded by water, a pair of hands immediately cradling her face.

"Shhhhh." Katya, her fangs gleaming in the low light from a lamp near the doorway. "I have you. Relax." She stroked her forehead. "Relax."

Her whole body hurt except for the parts that were underwater. She flashed back to the pond behind her grandfather's house and the cool relief of plunging into the shaded depths.

"I'm a vampire now?" She knew the answer already. She could feel the pain in her jaw and taste her blood where her fangs nicked her lips.

Katya brushed her hair back from her forehead. "Are you hungry, love?"

"My throat is burning." Tears ran down her cheeks. "It hurts."

"Shhhhh." She held Summer to her chest, her cheek pressed against the vampire's cool skin. "You're young and very strong right now. But your control will need tempering." She snapped her fingers toward a dark corner, and another vampire appeared from the shadows. "Bring Summer her first blood."

She closed her eyes and focused on the feeling of the water that danced along her skin. She felt high, euphoric, but still her throat burned.

The blood hunger raged when she scented the human nearby, and a high whine escaped from her throat. "Katya?" She started to panic.

"My love, you have to learn control, and I have always believed that it's best learned early and not late. I will be with you." She stroked Summer's cheek. "Do you trust me?"

"Yes." She loved Katya. Loved her with an intensity she didn't quite understand. But if Katya asked her to do anything in that moment, Summer would have said yes.

"We saved one of the guards for you," Katya said. "From the farm, remember? One of the men who hurt your Daniel. What was his name again?"

Her fangs shot down, slicing her lips. "Ricky."

"Yes. We saved Ricky for you."

"No, fuck you!" A voice shouted in the hallway. "Fuck all you fuckers! Let me go!"

The door opened and the man was thrown in. He was stripped down to his underwear and a white T-shirt. His long hair was a tangled mess around his face. He smelled of panic and sweat, and his blood called to her.

Katya rose and held out her hand. "Come, Summer."

She realized she was wearing a cool white shift soaked in water. As she rose out of the large bathtub, her whole body ached, but she knew the solution. She knew what would make her feel better.

Ricky scrambled to the corner of the room and held out his hands when the white apparition stood over him. "No." He sniveled. "No, please—"

He said nothing more because Summer was at his vein. All the human's muscles were useless against her new strength. She cracked his neck with one twist and his body went limp. His blood ran down her throat, and Summer nearly wept with relief.

Katya pulled her away when the man's pulse began to flutter. "Release."

With effort, Summer pulled back. "I want to kill him."

"So kill him." Katya handed her a knife. "But do it with control."

Twenty hours after Brigid checked into the house in the redwoods, she received a note slipped under her door. She opened the wax seal and read the handwritten note on vellum.

Ingomar Club, tomorrow at midnight.