Bloodline (17 page)

He nodded. “Then we'll take the first left we find and hope for the best.”

“Can't we just drive across the field?” I asked. “Wouldn't it be faster?”

“That would draw attention, Lilith. We need to remain undetected for as long as possible.”

“It's the dead of night. Who would notice?”

“Why take the risk that
anyone
would?”

I sighed my frustration, but I knew he had a point. So he kept driving, and soon we found a road that went in the direction we wanted; he took it, and we drove some more.

“It seems too far,” I said. “We should have come to the road by now.”

“You were running full bore, certain you were being pursued, Lilith. You're a vampire, don't forget. You could have covered miles in a very short time.”

“I suppose—Wait! There's a crossroads. Could that be it?”

“I don't know.” He drove until we came to the stop sign where the two roads met. As we sat there, I looked left, then right.

“Which way?” he asked.

“Right…I think.”

He turned and drove. When I spotted the bridge looming ahead, I nearly bounced in my seat with exhilaration. “There!” I shouted. “There it is!”

“I see it,” he said. I could feel him trying not to let any emotion come through in his tone. But damn, it felt as if he'd been hoping I wouldn't be able to find my way quite this easily.

Then again, we weren't at The Farm. Not yet, anyway.

“We found it, Ethan!” I said, unable to contain my excitement, despite knowing that he didn't share it. “We found the bridge. I
know
we can find The Farm from here. I just know it.”

I felt a wave of emotion from him, but it was brief. As if he'd slammed the doors on it the instant it began to flow. It didn't feel like what I was feeling. It wasn't excitement or triumph. Far from it.

“You're not happy about this, are you, Ethan?”

“I have a deep feeling that we're driving this borrowed Bronco straight to our deaths, Lilith. So no, I'm not happy about that.”

“And yet you're doing it.”

He didn't answer.

“Go straight from here, and then take the next possible left-hand turn. I remember that much, at least.”

He nodded and kept driving. He checked the mirrors often, and I did, too, but no one appeared to be following us. So far.

“You were wrong about them watching this place,” I said. “No one's spotted us.”

“They can hardly follow every vehicle that passes. They may not have known it was us.”

“You have a very negative attitude, you know that?”

He sighed, and I sensed his frustration. “What's going to happen to them, Lilith?”

“To whom?” I asked, unable to follow his train of thought.

“These captives you're risking your life to save,” he said. “What do you think they're going to do once they're free?”

“Live, I imagine.”

“They all have implants, just as you had. If they didn't when you left, you can bet they do by now. They'll be tracked, followed. Hunted like animals.”

“I'll tell them about the devices. They can get them removed.”

“Half of them will be caught before they can do that.”

“Then half will go free.” I shook my head. “Or more, if they remove them quickly enough. And I intend to decimate that place. I intend to cripple the keepers, to buy the prisoners more time to get away.”

“How?”

The word burst from him as if driven.

I blinked and stared at him. “I don't know yet. I'll…I'll think of something.”

He lowered his head slightly but kept on driving.

“It's a long way from here,” I told him. “I know we're going in the right direction, but…I ran for a long time. Hours, I think.”

“We only have a little more than an hour until dawn,” he said. “We should start looking for a safe place to rest.”

“But—”

“We'll need time once we find The Farm, Lilith. Time to plan, time to carry out the attack, time to get the others to safety. Even if we were two minutes away now, it would be better to wait.”

I sighed, rolled my eyes and tipped my head back until it hit the seat behind me. “All right. All right. We'll find a place to rest.”

“It's for the best,” he said, and I felt the relief in his tone. He wasn't afraid; I didn't get any sense of fear from him. But he was in no hurry to face this battle, and I was beginning to fear he would rather try to stop me than help me as he'd promised to do.

“You don't have to do this, you know,” I told him. “If you would rather part ways here, I would understand.”

He shot me a look that roiled with emotions I couldn't begin to name. “I don't want to see you killed,” he said slowly, and I sensed him choosing his words with great care. “I don't particularly want to die, either, but, Lilith, it's the thought of what could happen to you that's making me dread what's to come.”

“Why?” I asked him, nearly shivering with suspense as I awaited his reply.

“I-I'm not sure.” He stared deeply into my eyes for a long moment, then tore his gaze away. “I just know that
I don't want you hurt or killed, or tortured or captured and returned to that hell, or—”

“Stop,” I said. “I'm afraid enough as it is.”

“You are?” He sounded surprised. “You don't seem afraid. You seem like a warrior, eager for battle.”

I shrugged. “I don't like to be afraid. I'm trying to refuse to let my fear control me. But don't confuse that with the idea that I'm fearless. I'm not. I know what could happen as well as you do.”

“Then why do this?”

“Because it's what I want to do, what I'm compelled to do. If I didn't do it just because I'm afraid, that would be letting fear control me. And nothing controls me, Ethan. Nothing and no one. Never again.”

He glanced sideways at me. “It's like you have something to prove. Or is it vengeance driving you?”

“Maybe it's both. Or maybe it's Justice, using me as her tool. I just know it has to be done, Ethan. I know that every time I close my eyes and see the lifeless face of the Wildborn I killed to gain my freedom. You know it, too. Someone has to do this. If not me, then who?”

He nodded. “I know.”

“Look, there's a barn up ahead.”

He looked and nodded. As he drove closer, he said, “It looks abandoned. There, across the road from it, that must have been a house once.”

Now the “house” was little more than a crumbling foundation, with the worn black shingles of a peaked roof lying broken and cockeyed on the ground.

The barn was in far better shape, but it, too, showed signs of deterioration. He drove past it slowly, his sharp senses scanning the area just as mine were.

“No one's around,” I said. “At least no one I can feel.”

He nodded, turned the Bronco around and started back. “If we can get the door open, we can drive right inside, so the truck won't be seen.”

“You're good at this,” I told him.

“I've been hiding for a long time.”

“And now I'm taking you back to the people you've been hiding from.” I thought just then that it might have been better for him if I'd never found him that first night of my new life.

His gaze snapped toward mine instantly, and he said, “Don't think that, Lilith. You were
meant
to find me.”

I started, surprised that my thoughts had been so easily heard by him. “Do you really think that's true?”

“I do.”

“So that you can help me rescue the others?” I asked.

“So that I can keep you alive.”

“L
ilith is your daughter,” Ginger said softly. “I'm putting you in charge while we're here.”

Serena had been with the Sisterhood of Athena for twenty-one years, but being in charge had never been one of her goals. She was content to be a soldier in the cause. Giving orders wasn't her forte.

“I don't need you to do that, Ginger,” she said.

The three of them were parked in front of Ethan's home, with its long curving driveway, rolling fields, immaculate stable and pristine house. Red, with white trim to match the picket fences, the place was warm and welcoming. It was also abandoned.

“I need to do it,” Ginger said. “This plan is in direct violation of our rules. If it goes badly, I don't want to shoulder the blame. Neither do any of the others. It would drive a wedge into the heart of the organization.”

Serena felt the weight of the world settling heavily onto her shoulders. “You're right. At least they might forgive me—once the whole truth comes out—chalk it up to a mother's love.”

“Besides,” Terry added, “who better to know what's best for Lilith than her own mother?”

Serena tried to slow her racing heart. She'd been the one to suggest they put a team out here, in case Ethan and Lilith returned. It was a long shot, but she hadn't been able to think of anything better. It had taken a couple of days to organize after Ginger had not only agreed but insisted on coming along.

Then again, she was still trying to keep the truth about Serena's relationship with one of the Undead under wraps, so it made sense.

“All right, then, let's go,” Serena said, giving her first order.

As one, the three women exited the blue Ford Taurus, which they'd parked at the end of the driveway that snugged up beside the house, making it less obvious, though not invisible. They strode toward the house, and then a soft beeping sound brought them to a stop.

“It's the GPS!” Serena yanked the small gray box from its belt clip and stared at the flashing light on the screen, blessing the day they'd managed to hack the DPI's tracking program. “They're close and coming closer.” She turned, scanning the horizon, and then a nickering call brought her head around.

Serena smiled as she saw two horses galloping across the meadow toward the stables, their glorious manes flying as their hooves thundered over the earth, and with every stride, the beeping on her tracking unit got louder and faster. Then she realized that the horses were riderless, and her smile froze and then died.

“Something's happened to them,” she whispered.

Terry clutched her shoulder. “Not necessarily.”

“No,” Ginger said. “They're smart. They must have found the transmitter, attached it to one of the horses and sent them home. Freaking ingenious.”

Serena felt as if her heart had fallen to her feet, but she tried to hold back tears. God knew she'd shed far too many of them over the years, and not one had done any good.

Terry gave her a squeeze. “Look, you get the door open, so we can spend the night in the house. Ginger and I will check out the horses. Okay?”

Blinking, she nodded and fished in her backpack for the tiny zipper pouch that contained her lock-picking tools. Breaking and entering was one of the skills the Sisters mastered during their training, and she was no exception.

She opened the door without too much trouble, then stepped inside and lifted her head. She went stone-still as she spotted the painting above the fireplace, a portrait that bore the same name as her daughter.

Lilith.

And it looked like her, in subtle ways. The hair, the skin tone, the height.

Serena swallowed the lump in her throat and blinked her eyes dry. She dragged her gaze away from the painting with no small effort, tossed the tracking unit onto a coffee table and forced herself to check out the rest of the house, beginning with the kitchen. They would need to eat, after all. As she had suspected, the cupboards were bare, and the fridge held only a stack of plastic bags with the familiar Red Cross logo on them.

She'd moved on to the dining room, in search of clues that might lead her to her daughter, when she heard the others come in and returned to the living room.

“How are the horses?” she asked.

“They're fine. Tired, I think, but they came inside without any trouble,” Terry said. “Walked right into their stalls, once we'd cleaned them and put down fresh straw.”

“You rubbed them down? Fed them?”

The two women nodded in unison.

“That's good. God only knows how far they've run.” She returned to the window and sank into a chair.

“Have you found anything here, Serena?” Ginger asked. “Any sign of where they might have gone?”

“No.” She glanced at the gray electronic box that lay uselessly on the coffee table. “And we can't track them with this anymore. But then again, neither can the DPI.”

Ginger moved closer and pressed a hand to Serena's forearm. “I'm sorry. To have come so close, after searching for her for so long—”

“It's not over, Ginger. I'm determined to find her, and I will.”

“I know you will,” the older woman replied.

Terry stood looking around the room. “I doubt they're coming back here tonight. It's too close to dawn. They would have taken shelter by now.”

“I doubt they'll come back here at all,” Serena replied. “They have to know the place is being watched.”

“
If
it's being watched,” Terry said, looking nervously toward the window behind Serena's head, “then should we still be here?”

“We're not vampires,” Ginger said. “They might be watching, but they won't bother us, probably won't even approach us. They won't risk knowledge of their activities leaking to the public, and as far as we know, they have no idea the Sisterhood even exists.”

Terry nodded, but she still looked nervous. She had been with the organization nearly as long as Ginger had, and in the years since Serena had joined their ranks, she didn't remember ever seeing her shaken before.

“If we're staying, we'll need supplies,” Ginger said.

“Yeah, there's not a crumb here to eat,” Serena told her.

“Should I go into town and get food?” Terry asked.

“Not alone,” Serena said. “You should both go.” She glanced at Ginger then, because she was so unused to giving orders. But Ginger nodded her approval, encouraging her to continue. “I want to stay here, just in case they come back.”

“Anything else?” Ginger asked—almost as if it were a test.

Serena licked her lips and thought. “Be discreet, and stick to our cover story. Keep a sharp eye out, too. It wouldn't hurt us to know whether those government goons are keeping tabs on us. Notice everything.”

“Will you be okay here alone?” Terry asked. “Maybe we should all go. It won't take long, and if they come back—”

“Go.” Serena smiled, even though she was far from feeling it. “I'll be fine. I have a hankering for an omelet. Bacon on the side. Oh, and coffee, for God's sake.”

“We'll be back in no time,” Ginger said, taking Terry's arm and heading for the door.

Serena waited for the sound of the car, and only as it faded did she lower her head into her hands and let the tears she'd been holding back come pouring out.

She'd been so close! But she hadn't had the reunion she'd dreamed of, the fantasy that had kept her going for
so many years. Only a glimpse, a teasing glimpse of her flesh and blood, and no more.

Lilith—the name those bastards had given her—was a grown woman now. A vampire, yes, but her daughter, still. And she was beautiful. More beautiful than even Serena had imagined. She wished she'd been able to look at her more thoroughly, to drink in every feature, to talk to her, to touch her….

“I'm closer than I've ever been before,” she whispered, wiping the hot tears from her cheeks. “I'm going to find her this time.”

A knock at the front door startled her, and Serena shot to her feet, darting a quick look in that direction before dashing into the kitchen to splash cold water on her face. The tears must not show. The Sisters of Athena did not weep. Not in front of others, at least.

As she grabbed a hand towel to dab her face dry, she called, “I'm coming.” Then she hung the towel neatly where she'd found it and walked to the front door. “Who's there?”

“Police, ma'am.”

She peered through the window beside the door. The man wore a dark blue suit. No uniform. She didn't see a car in the driveway, either. “Police, my ass,” she muttered. But she moved to open the door all the same, replaying her cover story in her mind.

She opened the door and fixed a calm expression on her face as she looked up at the tall man who stood on the other side.

“Ma'am,” the man said with a respectful nod. “Are you the owner here?”

“Oh, I wish,” she replied with a smile. “No, I'm just house—and horse—sitting while the owner's out of town.”

“I see.” He looked around. “I don't see a vehicle.”

“No, I don't, either. Did you walk here,
officer?
”

He looked back at her quickly. Had her sarcasm been a little bit too evident? “I parked down by the road.”

“What an odd thing to do.”

“Where's your car, ma'am?”

“Oh, I'm not here alone. I have two colleagues with me. They took the car into town to get us some junk food and DVDs.”

“I see. And can I get your name?”

“Sure. If I can get yours. I imagine it's on your identification, isn't it?”

He frowned at her. “There's really no need to be defensive, ma'am. Unless you have something to hide.”

“I'm a woman alone in the middle of nowhere, with a strange man standing at my door. I'm not being defensive, I'm being careful.”

He smiled a little. “How well do you know the owner?”

“Not well at all. I've met him once or twice, and we share a love of horses. He phoned to ask if I could care for his, and I said yes.” She waved a hand. “How could I not? It's a gorgeous place, and like I said, I love horses.”

“And where are these horses now?”

“Munching oats in the stable,” she said, hoping that nasty little tracking device had been crushed to dust by now.

“Do you know the owner's name?”

“It's on the mailbox, Officer. Dan Smith.”

“Mmm. And how long will
Mr. Smith
be gone?”

“It's open-ended. I told him I could stay as long as he needed.”

“Do you know where he's gone? Did he leave any contact information with you?”

“No. And no.”

“Don't you think that's a bit odd? What if something happened to one of the horses?”

“I imagine I'd call a vet. You still haven't shown me your ID.”

He stared at her silently for a moment, as if trying to decide whether she was what she said she was. She probably ought to stop taunting him and play the obedient citizen, intimidated, as most people were, by authority figures.

“Oh, hell,” she said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a business card. “Here.”

He read the card out loud. “Peggy Johnson. House-sitting and In-Home Animal Care.”

“That's right.”

“There's no address.”

“I go where I'm needed.”

“Work is that steady?”

“You'd be surprised.” She smiled. “Why don't you call my office if you don't believe me?”

His eyes narrowed a little, and he pulled a cell phone from a pocket, quickly dialing the number.

The phone that was clipped to her jeans pocket rang, and she quickly picked it up and said, “Peggy Johnson, House-Sitting and In-Home Animal Care. Can I help you?”

The “cop” almost smiled as he closed his flip phone and returned it to his pocket. “Very funny,” he said.

“I couldn't help myself. You're so serious. Is Mr. Smith in some kind of trouble?”

“No. I just need to ask him some questions about a few things.”

“I see. Well, I'll tell him you were here if he calls in. Or if not, then when he returns.”

“You do that, Ms. Johnson.” He nodded, his eyes taking their time scanning the room beyond her before he finally turned and walked down the driveway, back to where she saw he'd actually parked his car. Why? Did he have a partner waiting in the vehicle? Weapons? What?

She watched him all the way there, then watched him get into the vehicle, visible now that she knew where to look. Though it was too dark outside to see many details, she could tell it was a big, darkly colored SUV. She remained where she was until it pulled out of sight.