CREAM (On the Hunt) (6 page)

Jeliyah followed him to his car and was a little surprised when he held the door open for her. She got in, settled herself and then reached for the head. Teaghan pulled it back while he closed the door. He put the head in the trunk. Jeliyah decided not question it since she hadn’t wanted to hold it.

Teaghan drove them to the reserve. It was her first time going there. She’d never thought she would. Enforcers didn’t usually bring necromancers to the vampire bank. The only humans allowed inside were the ones who worked there and those were few and far between.

At the door, Teaghan glared down the guards when they started to bar Jeliyah’s way. He put his arm around her waist and yanked her against his side as they entered. The enforcers followed them inside and up to the teller Teaghan chose to receive Didios’ head.

The teller didn’t look at the bag and continued staring at his computer screen with a bored—or maybe it was fed-up—manner. He clicked his mouse with a sigh. “You weren’t assigned a hunt.”

“This fucker attacked my necromancer. I took him out.”

The teller turned his gaze to Jeliyah. “Necromancer?”

She nodded then hissed at the pain in her throat. Her voice still rasped when she said, “No provocation. We think he was pissed that Teaghan took his hunt.”

“It happens,” the man said with an indifferent shrug. He opened the plastic bag. “Yup, that’s one of the twins all right.”

“Teaghan.” Jeliyah and Teaghan faced Fredrick, the vampire who had accompanied Teaghan the day before. The man nodded to them in greeting. “Good timing. I was about to call you with a hunt.”

Teaghan said, “Let me guess. Dumbass and Dipshit.”

“Their names are Dumas and Didios. And how did you know I was calling you about the twins?”

“Because I already solved half the problem.” Teaghan jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the teller and the bag in front of him.

Fredrick went to the counter and pulled down the edge of the bag. “I only just authorized this hunt.”

“Next time how about you authorize it before he goes after my partner, so I have a little warning?”

“He went after the necromancer?”

Teaghan gestured to Jeliyah’s neck as his answer.

“Then it wasn’t isolated.” Fredrick closed the bag and pushed it at the teller. “Pay the man.”

The teller picked up the bag and walked away.

Jeliyah asked, “What’s not isolated? Did he attack someone else before coming after me?”

“His necromancer. It’s the reason I changed their status to rogue. We got an emergency call from Dumas’ necromancer that Didios had killed his necromancer. The call got cut short. We’re not sure if the other necromancer is alive or not. Since neither twin works alone, we’re assuming this insubordination is both of them and we gave them both rogue status.”

Teaghan released Jeliyah when the teller returned with the payment. He checked each jewel with quick, precise movements and then handed the bag to Jeliyah. He asked Fredrick, “Dead or alive?”

“The necromancers want him alive for interrogation. The family wants him dead.”

“Which one is paying the highest?”

Fredrick grinned. “How mercenary of you.”

“Me and every other enforcer or we wouldn’t be doing this job. Which one?”

“The family is prepared to pay ten percent above anything the necromancers will offer.”

“Dead it is.” Teaghan slipped his arm around Jeliyah’s waist again and escorted her out of the building. They were in the car headed back to the hotel when Teaghan asked, “No lectures about how I should capture Dumas alive and hand him over to the necromancers?”

“You don’t know me well enough to assume I would say something like that. If the higher-ups want him, they’ll send a team after him. That they left it up to an enforcer means it’s lip service. The necromancers want him as dead as the head family does but they know the families of the murdered partners will want answers so they act like they want Dumas alive to placate them.”

“And they call vampires shady.”

“Plus the necromancers get an enforcer to do a job while sticking the head family with the bill. Not to mention, the head family will owe restitution to the partners’ families for ordering a kill when the necromancers wanted him alive. That restitution will probably be in the amount of both men’s retirements plus a little extra for the families.”

“Cash rules everything around me.”

“
C.R.E.A.M.
”

Teaghan grinned at her. “Know that song, do you?”

“I don’t dislike hip-hop.”

“Oh, so it’s me you don’t like.”

“I thought we’d already established that.”

Silence descended for the rest of the ride back to the hotel. Teaghan walked Jeliyah to the room door with his hand on the small of her back. She didn’t know why he felt the need to keep touching her and she also didn’t know why she didn’t call an end to it.

He said, “Pack. We’re leaving.”

“Okay. Here.” She held the bag of jewels out to him.

“That’s yours.”

“What? All of it?”

“And half the next one when I kill Dumas. Get packed and meet me at the car. I’m going to check out.” Teaghan grabbed his duffel bag and left the room.

Jeliyah stared after him in confusion. Why would he let her keep the entire payout and then promise her half the next one? She knew she shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth but this day had gotten surreal.

Putting it out of her mind, she gathered up the few things she’d left spread around the room and shoved them back in her bag. In the next room, she would keep her belongings together. It seemed like Teaghan was the get-up-and-go type. She didn’t want to slow him down.

To that end, she pulled her gun harness out and slipped into it. Didios had taught her a lesson about preparedness. She tied her pouch of necromes to the harness so they were close. That attack was the first and last time she would be so helpless.

She did one last walk-through of the room for anything she might have overlooked, before slinging her duffel onto her shoulder opposite her gun. Grabbing the bag of jewels, Jeliyah headed out of the room for Teaghan’s car.

They would need to stop by her bank so she could stash the jewels in her safe-deposit box, which is what she would tell Teaghan when he joined her. Or that was what she planned.

She didn’t get a chance because he tackled her to the ground a few steps from his car. Gunshots rang out, stopping her from questioning his actions.

* * * * *

Teaghan pulled the hotel room door shut and had to stop himself from leaning against it. There would be time to reflect on the night after they got to a new hotel. Until then, he would hold off thinking about the way his heart had started pounding when he caught sight of Jeliyah being choked. He also wouldn’t let the urge to keep touching and holding her—assuring himself she was safe—make him reenter the room.

He went to the lobby to check out. The woman behind the counter gave him a fake smile while her eyes showed her disdain for his choice in clothing.

“Checking out. Room 115.”

“Oh.”

“What?”

“Nothing. Sorry.” Her smile flipped from fake to real and she blinked her eyes several times. “Did you enjoy your stay?”

“Fine. How much?” He didn’t have time for this. Not that he would have flirted with her if he did have time. She wasn’t his type. And she’d been less than interested in him until she caught sight of his canines. Vampire groupies were high on his list of women to avoid.

“Your total is eighty-seven dollars and sixty cents.”

Teaghan flipped five twenties off the wad he’d gotten from Lee earlier and handed them to the clerk. DJing was the only time he accepted cash. The money wasn’t much and it wouldn’t last so demanding jewels was a waste of time.

The woman took the bills from him, making sure her fingers brushed his. He let her touch him since snatching his hand away would cause drama he wanted to avoid.

The skin on the back of his neck crawled as someone with active necromes entered the vicinity. He’d told Jeliyah to wait at the car. Why had she come to the lobby?

The second the question entered his mind, he realized the sensation moving over his skin didn’t feel familiar. Necromancers all had a feel unique to them—the magical equivalent of a fingerprint. After Jeliyah’s barrier spell the night before, Teaghan knew her flavor well. This wasn’t it. That meant another necromancer was near and had his necromes activated.

Teaghan ran from the lobby. The clerk called after him but he ignored the woman. Dumas was here. Teaghan was sure of it. His necromancer was still alive and Dumas was using the man to hunt Teaghan.

Teaghan cursed the presence of his marker and his own stupidity for forgetting it. But then he’d never had to hide from a necromancer before, at least not since becoming an enforcer.

He caught sight of Jeliyah walking to the car at the same time he heard the shot. Teaghan dumped his duffel bag and put on speed to get to Jeliyah first. He slowed himself one second before he hit her so the impact wouldn’t kill her, knocking her to the ground behind the car. The bullet whizzed past her head but it was followed by several others aimed lower. Dumas was trying to hit them through the car. Teaghan would take the repair costs out of Dumas’ ass before taking the man’s head.

Teaghan sat up, assured the bullets wouldn’t go through the car, and looked over at Jeliyah. “You hit?”

She felt her arms and chest before shaking her head. “No. You?”

“No.”

“It’s Dumas, right?”

“Has to be. I haven’t pissed off anyone else but you this week.” The gunshots stopped. Teaghan decided not to stick his head out and see why. Dumas might be waiting for that. And it seemed like Dumas wanted to take Teaghan out from a distance. Of the two, Didios was the better close-combat fighter. Dumas was as good as dead when Teaghan found him.

He jabbed his finger at his shoulder where the marker was located. “Do something about this damn thing. It’s how he’s tracking me.”

“So his necromancer is still alive then.” Jeliyah rummaged through the pouch dangling from her gun harness. She quickly jammed her rings on and then grabbed his head. “Don’t get any ideas from this.”

He started to ask her what she meant but her lips landing on his answered the question. Teaghan sat in stunned shock. He came back to his senses when Jeliyah bit his lower lip. She sucked at the wound, tasting his blood, and then he realized what she was doing—besides making him hard when he should be worried about killing the mofo who’d shot up his car.

Jeliyah pulled back from the kiss. Her upper lip and tongue were stained red with his blood. Her breath came in shudders and her grip on his head tightened as his blood entered her system, amping up her abilities.

She pulled in a deep breath and then said, “Activate. Recognize.”

Teaghan’s body hummed along with her necromes but it wasn’t painful or uncomfortable. The sensation could almost be described as soothing, like a tingling massage.

She shuddered again. “Confusion. Ghost Status.”

“What’s Confusion?”

Jeliyah dropped her hands from his head and hugged her arms. In a shaky voice, she said, “Decoys. It gives every vampire in a one-mile radius a beacon that mimics a marker.”

“Nice.” He stood. “You going to pass out again?”

She shook her head.

“You good on your own while I take care of him? We don’t know if Dumas brought someone besides his necromancer.”

Jeliyah slipped on her bracelets and then pulled out her gun. It started humming along with her necromes. Good enough for him. Teaghan unsheathed his sword. Before he could walk away, Jeliyah said, “My necromes know you now. I can back you up from here without hitting you.”

“Do it then. Where is he?”

She closed her eyes. “Chasing shadows. Headed for nine.”

“Can you track his necromancer?”

“No.”

“Keep me posted.” He tapped his head and then ran after Dumas. There were a lot of vampires in this district. It’s the other reason Teaghan chose hotels here. A rogue wouldn’t be able to pinpoint him. That was working in his favor with Dumas as well.

You should see him. He’s almost on top of you.
Jeliyah’s telepathic voice entered Teaghan’s head. She sounded as sweet as though she were whispering in his ear.
Focus, vampire!

Teaghan was always focused but that didn’t stop him from thinking about his blood inside Jeliyah. With it, her abilities were stronger and she could speak to him telepathically. It also meant she could read his thoughts…if he wasn’t blocking her. She could see his surface thoughts but nothing deeper. It was a one-way street unless he drank her blood.

Not going to happen. Heads-up!

“I see him,” Teaghan said aloud as an answer to Jeliyah and to give Dumas a one- second warning before Teaghan swung his sword at the man’s head. His sword hit a barrier, which deflected the sword and forced Teaghan back a few steps.

Dumas turned, grinned at him and raised his gun. “I saw the way you killed my brother. I figured this would be poetic. After force-feeding the necromancer my blood, his Shield will withstand anything you and your necro-bitch toss at it.” He started firing.