Artistic Vision (22 page)

Akane nodded, but her gaze never left him. “I know.”

When she crooked her claw at him he stood, trusting Duncan to keep the nightmares at bay. “Trust my mate, Moira.”

Moira, jaw clenched, turned away.
 

“Come to me, love.” Akane crooned, her dragon song layered throughout her voice, a song he had no desire to resist. “Come and lie for me.”

“On a bed of diamonds and gold,” he whispered back, a vision of light pushing back the darkness for a brief second.
 

“Yes.” Akane smiled and helped him on the table. “You’re so taking me to Milan when this is over, you stubborn son of a bitch.”

He shivered as she tied him down. “I love you.”

She wiped sweat-dampened hair from his brow. “
Is tú mo ghrá
.”

He gasped. “Who taught you that phrase?” He hadn’t, that was certain.

“You did.” She leaned down and kissed him, sweet and strong.

“You are my love too.”
 

Akane winked down at him. “I know.”

Shane jerked as one of the visions took his breath away. All he could see was tarnished silver, darkened gray skies and a man shrieking in silent agony. His fingers twitched, tested his bonds as the urge to create tried to take hold.

A gentle silver warmth pushed the vision back and Shane’s eyes cleared. He focused on the most important person in the world, refusing to blink until those gorgeous golden eyes filled his vision. “Hurry.”

The dragoness nodded once, and Shane lost himself in visions once more.

Akane flew from the studio with only one thought in mind: find Constance and Hobart and kill them.
 

“Hey, Akane! Mind taking along a rider?”

Akane paused in her flight. “How are you out during the day?”

Jaden shrugged. “SPF three thousand, courtesy of the Hob.” That green light flared in his eyes. “Can we go? I’m kind of wigging out here.” He pointed toward the dipping sun. “I haven’t seen that in a hundred years, ya know.”

“I know.” Akane shifted to her full dragon form. “Hop aboard.”

“Damn. If only you’d extended that invitation before I was mated.” Jaden winced and gingerly climbed onto her back. “Do you have any idea how loudly a leprechaun can screech?”

“As loud as she needs to.” Akane took off once he was holding securely to her back.

“Who are we hunting?”

“I’m surprised Moira didn’t tell you.” Akane banked, following the line of the road toward the Malmayne estate. She wanted to start there but doubted she’d find the clan in residence. Constance had to know Akane was going to come after her.

“I’m surprised she knew I’d be able to come out in the admittedly fading sunlight.” Jaden shifted slightly. “So, tell Daddy who needs their ass whipped.”

Akane grinned. “Constance Malmayne and Hobart Klaussner.”

“One of those names is familiar, but who was mean enough to name their kid Hobart? And how many ass-kickings did the dude need to endure?”

Akane rolled her eyes. “He’s the son of the Hob and a pooka who was turned into a vampire while pregnant with him.”

Silence. She loved when she was able to shut Jaden up.

Of course it never lasted very long. “How did the Hob take his sudden fatherhood?”

“Haven’t told him yet.” Mostly because she figured he didn’t need to know about someone who was already dead.

“Ah. You don’t think he’ll react poorly to you killing one of his offspring?”

“I really don’t give a shit.”
 

“So when I get invited to his home for dragon burgers you’ll be okay with that? What am I saying, you’ll already be there.”

“Hobart’s the one who pumped Shane full of sludge.”

“Crap. And I mean that literally.” Jaden sighed. “Fine, but you’re taking the heat for this one. I’ve had my yearly helping of pissed Hob, thank you very much.”

She nodded and banked again, scenting the air. It was faint, but she could detect the scents of both Constance and Hobart. “They’re not here.”

“Duh. Smart people get out of the way of angry dragons, you know.”

She chuckled, reluctantly amused. “That explains a lot.”

He poked her left shoulder hard enough she grunted. “There. Turn left.”

Akane turned, her wings adjusting to a sudden updraft. “I see it.”

A dark sedan was heading down the road, the stench of the Malmaynes thick on it. Akane was tempted to just wipe out the entire clan, keep them from ever harming anyone else ever again, but Shane wouldn’t approve of such a draconian measure.

Damn it.

“I spy with my little eye something that begins with D,” Jaden hummed.

“Dragon food?”

“Congratulations, you win the kewpie doll.”

“I’ll take a pound of flesh instead.” Akane swooped down on the car. Inside she could smell two of the people she was hunting, two who she might let live if they gave up the real culprits to Akane’s claws and Jaden’s teeth. She landed on the roof of the sedan, digging in when it swerved in a useless attempt to shake her off.

Idiots. She began ripping into the roof, tearing it off in chunks. When she had almost the whole thing open she took off again, hovering easily over the speeding vehicle. They should have known that running around in a fiberglass can wasn’t going to save them from her wrath. “Where’s Constance?”

Cecelia Malmayne, face paler than normal, stared up at Akane in horror. Akane easily kept pace with the racing car. “Not here.”

Jaden leaned over her neck. “Hey, sweetie. Remember me?” He jumped down to the car below and grabbed hold of Henri’s neck. The Sidhe slammed on the brakes, but the vampire held fast. Instead of throwing off the vampire, Henri wound up with four puncture wounds in each cheek from Jaden’s claws. “Naughty naughty!”

Akane lit on the roof and blew smoke at the Sidhe female. “Where are Constance and Hobart?”

Henri stiffened, the gesture so slight that Akane would have missed it if she wasn’t so focused on the pair. “I don’t know who you’re talking about.”

Jaden leaned over and lapped up some of the blood running down Henri’s cheeks. “Oh?”

“Constance is heading to New York.” Cecelia was shaking, her eyes glued to the vampiric tongue running up and down her lover’s cheek. “I think Hobart went with her.”

“Liar,” Jaden whispered. One clawed hand reached down and grabbed hold of Henri’s penis, twisting it. “If you want to find out all about the transgender lifestyle you’ll keep lying to me.”

Henri gulped and held very, very still. “Constance is at a safe house. Hobart’s with her.”

“Where?” Jaden twisted and Henri cried out.

“Omaha!” Henri panted, his face a mask of pain. “They’re in Omaha.” His expression pleading, he turned to Akane. “Duncan will know where.”

Jaden stilled. He was consulting with his bondmate. He rattled off an address that had Henri nodding in relief. “Please. Let us go. Or at least let Ceci go. I’m begging you.”

Jaden looked at Akane and raised his brows. He was letting her make the call on this one.

“Have you given your oath of fealty to the White Court?”

Henri gulped. “No.”

His response was so quiet Akane could barely hear it. “The Black?”

Henri nodded almost imperceptibly.
 

“When?”

“Does it matter?” Jaden shook his head sadly. “The Malmayne Clan has already fallen. Shit.” He let Henri go, his expression full of disgust. Henri and Cecelia had done nothing that warranted Blade justice. While she and Jaden could intimidate the hell out of them in pursuit of Constance and Hobart, they couldn’t touch the pair otherwise.

But they could make them hurt, make them bleed, to give up Constance and Hobart, and Akane would do just that until she got what she wanted.

“Where are the rest of your clan?”

“Some are heading for our new home, some have refused to join us and are seeking refuge in the White.” Henri shivered, and with good reason. If the lord of Clan Malmayne had already given his allegiance to the Black officially then
all
members of the clan were considered Black. Glorianna would have no pity in her for them. The White Queen had dabbled in a game she wasn’t equipped to play and had lost before she’d even begun, and those poor sons-of-bitches who ran to her would find little mercy.

“Go on, get out of here. But know this: you tell Constance we’re coming after her and ripping your dick off will be the least of your punishments. Got it?” Jaden settled once more on Akane’s back. “We’re enemies now.”

“We always were,” Henri muttered.

“No. We weren’t. You were just too blind to see it.” Jaden patted Akane’s neck. “Let’s go.”

Akane nodded. “Yes, my lord.”

She left the pair gasping in their destroyed car, the Sidhe’s eyes nearly popping right out of their stupid heads at her acknowledgement of Jaden as her lord. She’d never given allegiance before and wouldn’t have now, if it weren’t for Shane. Let them think that her presence in Jaden’s clan gave them an edge with the Seer. Maybe it would keep them from trying anything else in the future.
 

She took off, already dreading the coming interview with the Hob. Robin was not going to like this latest development. That was one man who
really
hated to lose.

He was lost in a nightmare world of pain and degradation, the visions coming faster and faster. Unable to process them, he’d given up trying to make sense of them. Instead, he allowed them to flash before his eyes, helpless to hide from his own powers even deep within his own mind. More than a few of those visions showed what would happen to Shane if he gave in, if he allowed the sweet whisper of dark power currently coursing through him to take over, to channel his visions. It didn’t take a genius to figure out who the seductive female figure whispering in his ear was.
 

The Dark Queen, the first
leanan Sidhe
. The first vampire.

Most vampires had forgotten the lore that their ability to seduce their victim’s minds, to inject pleasure or pain, came from their Sidhe Queen’s roots. So had most Sidhe. But Shane understood, whether he wanted to or not. When she’d given her soul over to the demon masquerading as a man, he’d granted her powers beyond those of any Sidhe who’d ever lived. But deep inside, she’d still been a Sidhe.

A flash of creamy breast, a burst of agonizing flame in his balls and Shane was screaming to be released. The vision flashed again, and Shane stood on a black road, watching something or someone drive away, someone he desperately needed to talk to. Then another flash, and Akane lay broken and bleeding, her wings torn, her horns twisted off her head. Her golden eyes had dulled to lifeless black.

Shane writhed in his restraints, the need to save his mate overriding everything else.

The vision whirled away to be replaced by a hospital room. A pretty woman stood over a child and smiled while pumping poison into its veins.

“We’re losing him.”

“Where the fuck is Cassie?”

Shane could barely hear his sister’s voice, but the fear in it had another vision floating before him. Moira, chained and naked, marked by countless bruises, the personal cow of a vampire so malevolent he made the Dark Queen look like a sheepdog. The vampire’s bright red hair had Shane shivering in horror.

“If his mind cracks nothing will bring him back.”

The Liberty Bell rang, cracking on the third ring.

Duncan. That voice belonged to the Sidhe who’d mated his sister.

“Shane! Listen up! If you give in Akane will die. You hear me? Akane. Will. Die!”

Akane.

The visions swirled again, and before him was the vision that had driven him to first create the sculpture
Akane
. The dragoness soared, high and free, joy in every movement of her body. Shane watched her, a child held close in his arms, another trying desperately to follow his mother into the sky.

Shane held onto that vision with both hands, using it as a club to beat the others back. If he could hold on just a little bit longer, that one would come true.
 

But the darkness crept closer, and one of the children vanished.

Akane followed Jaden’s directions to the safe house, changing once more to her human Seeming when they reached a quiet part of the city. The sun had finally set, but the humans were thick on the ground, forcing Akane to land on top of a building that looked like it might have a working fire escape.
 

“C’mon down.” Jaden whispered to her, clinging to the side of the building like a four legged spider.
 

“You’re funny.” Akane made her way to the fire escape. “You’re also paying for the taxi.”

Jaden snickered, but otherwise climbed silently down the side of the building. Akane kept her own descent as quiet as possible but she didn’t have the vampire’s ability to silence her footfalls. Still, she was a Blade, trained by the Hob himself to use what the gods gave her. So Akane, realizing the fire escape was too damn noisy, chose to risk spreading her wings. She glided down to a dirty, stinking alley silently, wondering why she’d bothered with the fire escape in the first place. She shouldn’t have made such a rookie mistake.

“Mating makes you crazy, especially when one of them is in danger.”

Akane glared at the vampire.

“Oh! I have a present for you.”

Akane walked out of the alley, praying nothing had stuck to the soles of her shoes. She’d hate to burn a favorite pair of Ferragamos. “What?”

He held out a plastic jar. “Just a little something for when we find Constance and Hobart.”

She took the bottle and read the label. “Barbeque sauce?”

He shrugged. “You would have preferred Heinz 57?”

Akane held up the barbeque sauce and shook it. “Taxi!”

“You’re no fun anymore.”

The cold was seeping into his bones. The children were gone. The dragon was gone. Only the voice remained, whispering.

“Shh. I have you now.”

Seagulls. Why did he hear seagulls? Waves crashed on the shore, gently washing against the bare feet of the man with the silver hair and sad eyes. Something precious had been lost in the waves and might never be found again.