Dark Flame (17 page)

Just like that, Roche walked through, his red hair flowing away from his feral, smiling face.

Brannick shifted his Glock in Roche’s direction then fired. But Roche was a split-second faster and melted back into the blur of the dreamglide and vanished.

“Juliet, is he gone?” Brannick asked.

“For now, yes.” She kept building. “Did you hit him?”

“No. He was too quick. Are you almost done? Because I suspect he’s coming to your house next, in real-time. We need to get out of here.”

“Only a few seconds more.”

When she’d reached her starting point, even he could feel Juliet’s shielding wall solidify.

Within the dreamglide, Mary rose from her couch and looked around. “I can feel how much better it is. But he’ll come back. I know he will.”

Juliet explained about all three of them moving to Agnes’s compound.

Tears filled Mary’s eyes. She crossed her arms over her stomach and a sob escaped her voice. “I never thought I’d survive this. I was sure Roche would take me again. But Juliet, how did you hear me call to you?”

Juliet went to her and embraced her. “I just did. Please don’t worry. Brannick and I will get you to safety now. But we’ve gotta move fast.”

Mary thanked them then once more reclined on the sofa.

Juliet smiled one last time at Mary, then took Brannick’s hand. He felt a gentle squeeze of her fingers then suddenly woke up on the bed with her.

She didn’t stay in a reclining position, not for a second, but leaped off the bed and quickly packed a bag for herself. “Go get Mary. I’ll bring your bag as well.”

Brannick headed into the living room but before he picked up Mary, he took a good look around. He wasn’t taking any chances.

By the time he scooped Mary up, Juliet returned from the bedroom, their bags in her hands. He noted with approval that she’d already brought her new vampire cloaking power around her. If Roche was in the air, he wouldn’t be able to see her.

He moved to the patio and let the guard know to expect trouble. “Get Officer Keelen over here right now in case Roche shows up.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Juliet launched into the air and flew swiftly in a northwesterly direction. Brannick drew Mary tight against his chest, shielded them both, then punched airspace.

By the time he caught up with Juliet, she was already making her descent. She also began easing off her vampire shield, a wise move given that several guards ranged in front of Agnes’s compound.

All five heavily armed warriors lifted their weapons as she touched down. Brannick, however, chose to keep his shield tight and remained hovering in the air ten feet up.

Juliet spoke quickly. “Agnes is expecting me.”

“Your name?” The officer in charge had a tough look about him, short black hair, square jaw and a grim expression.

“Juliet Tunney. I have a vampire with me, from the Crescent Border Patrol, Officer Robert Brannick. He’s carrying the victim, Mary, in his arms.”

The man looked her up and down more than once. “The names all check out.” In a louder voice he called out, “Officer Brannick, show yourself, but remove your shield slowly or we will fire.”

Juliet turned toward him. Her eyes held a concerned expression. She must have feared he wouldn’t obey.

But Brannick respected the man right away and did as he’d been ordered. He released his cloak carefully, making himself visible in stages to all the men. At the same time, he eased down to the sidewalk.

Each guard grew stiff with tension at the sight of him, firearms held with both hands.

He understood why. Every known safe house in Five Bridges suffered intermittent and deadly attacks by the enemy. Vampires frequently worked as hired guns.

The men hired to guard these houses served heroically.

The lead guard glanced at Mary. “You may pass, all three of you.”

The guards lined up on either side of the wide walkway. Brannick noticed none of them holstered their guns.

When the door opened, an older woman with wavy black hair drew the door wide and beckoned them to come inside.

The guard closed the door and Agnes smiled at Juliet. “It’s wonderful to see you.”

When Agnes opened her arms, Juliet moved in and accepted the warm embrace.

Agnes continued, “I’ve been so worried about you. I’ve felt uneasy every night for the past week. And now I see why.”

Agnes wasn’t nearly as tall as Juliet and had to look up at least a foot to meet Brannick’s gaze. Juliet made the introduction.

The older sage fae had intense gray eyes and stared into Brannick’s for a long moment. Her eyes narrowed and she settled her hand on his arm. “You’re an
alter
vampire, but you’re more than that now. Why? Or is this the thing I’ve been hearing about. Something to do with two other Crescent Border Patrol officers. What are their names?”

“James Connor and Nathan Vaughn.”

“Yes, and each is engaged to a witch. They share powers now, don’t they?”

“They do.”

Agnes’s penetrating questions forced Brannick to turn toward Juliet. Framed in relationship to Vaughn and Connor, he realized he was on the same track as these men.

Juliet returned his gaze, but lifted her chin. “We don’t have to make the same decisions, Brannick. Your friends each had a very different experience from ours.”

Not so different, in Brannick’s opinion. But he didn’t speak the words out loud.

Agnes shifted the subject as she placed her hand on Mary’s forehead then traced the teal-colored flames on her cheek. “She’ll be out for several more hours, but I can feel that her dreamglide blocks have been strengthened. Was this your work, Juliet?”

“Yes. Roche was coming for her in the dreamglide.”

Agnes once more met Brannick’s gaze. “You were involved as well.”

“I fired at him when he broke through, but he escaped unharmed.”

“Glad you were there.” Agnes looked to be about fifty, which meant that was the age she’d been when she entered Five Bridges. The flame serum slowed the aging process so that long-life was attained by everyone enduring the transformation. But the serum didn’t reverse age.

Agnes turned down the hall and waved them forward. “Come with me. My team is expecting Mary. She’ll have medical attention as well as a witch healer.”

~ ~ ~

Juliet watched Brannick settle Mary on what was essentially a hospital bed. Recovery from dark flame wouldn’t be easy for her. Despite the fact that she’d only had the drug in her system for a short time, the volume of the drug that had kept her comatose over a period of days meant she’d have to go through a painful withdrawal.

A trained nurse would stay with her throughout and the healing efforts of a witch would help make the transition tolerable.

Agnes assured Juliet and Brannick that Mary would receive the best care, then led them out into the well-lit courtyard. Brannick took both bags from Juliet, a thoughtful gesture.

Several townhouses flanked either side of the lush central landscaping. Juliet counted three doors on each side. Agnes headed toward a cottage at the back of the property, past another green belt with tons of purple petunias and beds of white alyssum.

The small, charming house had the look of something well-tended by a woman who loved to garden. A massive spray of pink climbing roses formed an arch over strong metal supports. Brannick had to dip his head not to get caught by a few flowers that needed pruning.

“I used to live back here, when I was first consigned to Five Bridges and made the place my own. I probably should have torn the cottage down when I built the townhouses. But I liked the house a lot so I kept it as is.

“When I got your call, Juliet, I had one of my assistants bring over some essential groceries. Just let me know if you need anything else and I’ll send one of the guards out.”

She unlocked the door, then handed the key to Juliet. “You’re both welcome to stay as long as you need to. Though I should warn you that we have guards on the rooftops and there is no levitating allowed above the second-story rooflines. My guards are trained to shoot on sight, to wound first, if possible. But if not, we’ve stopped caring who dies. Do you understand? We’re fighting to save lives here and we’re under frequent attack, not unlike Vaughn and Emma at their safe house.”

Juliet nodded. “I understand.”

Brannick’s warm, rich voice flowed over her shoulder. “We both do.”

Agnes once more narrowed her gaze at Brannick. “Of course you do. You built a tunnel rescue set-up with support from the human part of Phoenix.”

“That’s right.”

“And has all this happened recently because Roche found out?” She flipped her hand back-and-forth a couple of times.

“I don’t think he knows about my tunnels,” Brannick said. “But he did figure out that both Mary and Juliet were helping women escape from Revel. That’s one of the reasons he took Mary. She drove for me.”

“I see. Well, that explains a lot.”

“There’s something else.” Juliet felt compelled to add the other component. “Roche was using Mary’s abduction to try to force me to work for him in his specialty sex club, the one that features dreamgliding for his wealthy human clientele.”

Agnes drew her lips tight together, compressing them and shaking her head. “There is so much beauty in being an
alter
fae, but Roche has made a travesty of our gifts.”

She took a deep breath then clapped her hands together as though to clear her head. “All right then. Give me a shout if you need anything. Otherwise, I’ll see you tomorrow night.” She glanced up into the night sky. “Dawn won’t be here for a couple more hours.” She headed back down the walk.

Though Brannick shoved the door wide, he waited for her to walk through. She smiled up at him as she passed by.

The interior was much more modern than she’d anticipated. The wall separating the living area from the hall had been replaced with a couple of heavy wood supports and opened up all the way to a small kitchen and dining area in the back.

To the left was a small study that overlooked the front communal garden. Agnes had left a wall of books inside as well.

Moving toward the back, she put a hand to her stomach and turned to Brannick. “Suddenly, I’m starved. Are you hungry?”

“Yes, I am.” He set both bags next to the stairs, then headed toward the fridge. A moment later she heard the soft suctioning sound of the door opening. “Agnes provided steaks and beer. Guess she was thinking of me. But there’s some lettuce in here.”

Juliet couldn’t help but smile. “Hey, all of that sounds great right now, but I’m going upstairs to freshen up, if that’s okay. It won’t take me a minute, then I can help throw something together.”

“Do what you need to do.” He held up two beers.

“Yes,” he said. “Absolutely. Must have a beer.”

“I’ll fire up the grill. We’ve got plenty of time before the sun starts easing over the horizon.”

Juliet picked up her bag. The stairs faced the backyard so she had a view of Brannick as he stepped outside, beer in hand. She could see a gas grill as she started up the stairs.

The second floor turned out to be the sole bedroom with an attached bath. She removed a full-length lavender gauzy dress from her satchel and with her hastily put together cosmetic kit headed into the bathroom.

One look at her hair told her what she needed to know. She always had a sort of wind-tousled hairstyle going on, but right now she looked like she’d been in a tornado. Well, maybe not that bad, but she had work to do.

She got undressed except for her thong, then slid into the floor-length, halter gown. It was made of cotton, very comfortable and had a crumpled look. It felt good to be out of slacks.

Next, she tidied her make-up and for a moment even considered using cover-up to get rid of her freckles. But a sudden memory, of Brann kissing each one, led her back the other direction and she put the make-up away.

He called up to her from the bottom of the stairs. “Grill’s getting hot.”

“Wonderful. Be down in a sec.”

She headed to the bathroom once more and using her curl-calming spray worked her tendrils into a less wild state.

She put on a pair of flat t-strap sandals with lavender flowers on the ‘t’. Lifting her skirt, she headed downstairs.

When she reached the bottom, she could see Brann through the open sliding door and for a moment, her heart stopped. He had the steaks on a nearby table ready to go and the gas grill closed to get good and hot. He held a beer in his hand.

The scene was so damn homey, tears stung her eyes. Nothing but pure affection poured from her in that moment, watching him, remembering how he’d made love to her on the desk in her small canal home, then in the shower. How he’d made love to her in the dreamglide all those months.

A thought occurred to her, a very wicked one. And Brannick would have enough essential power to pull it off as well, especially since they were sharing powers.

If they wanted they could combine real-time with the dreamglide while making love. This was the same kind of erotic experience Roche wanted her to do with his upscale clients.

There was a risk however, though it wasn’t at all physical, but rather involved the possibility that Brannick would regain all his memories of their time together.

They’d already started filtering through to his conscious mind. She felt certain, however, that if she engaged in real-time sex while she employed the dreamglide, he might suddenly experience a complete recollection of all that had happened.

Then he’d learn what she’d done to start the process in the first place, that essentially she’d broken into his dreams and seduced him.

Her heart rate rose. She didn’t want him to know.

She was pretty sure once he did, he’d end things with her.

He glanced in her direction. “Your beer’s on the kitchen island.” His gaze took her in head-to-toe, landing at least twice on her cleavage. He smiled. He appeared to approve of her summery gown. “You look great.”

“Thanks. And I’ll start the salad.” She needed to buy herself a little time to calm down.

After she took a long slow swig of the dark ale, she forced herself to breathe. She honestly couldn’t bear the thought of Brannick leaving, not now.