Deceptions: A Collection (37 page)

Coffee in one hand, I hissed at the heat of the water and decided that this could very well be heaven. Or about as close to it as I was going to get on this planet. And I was going to damn well enjoy it for a few minutes before I stumbled into bed. Exhaustion preyed heavily on my mind and I needed sleep in the worst way.

Sleep. So I could deal with getting Doyle back home and safe…

And then come back down here and tear this place apart until I found every last soul behind—

Sleep grabbed me.

I never remembered it.

One minute I was munching on the cheese and fruit, nibbling at a sandwich and wondering if the coffee was going to keep me awake. And then I sat the coffee down to reach for…something.

And I was just under.

Asleep in the bathtub. Yes, home accidents can even happen to the NH population.

“You look exhausted…”

At the sound of Jude’s voice, I slapped an arm over my chest and huddled in the bathwater as I searched the dim room for him.

He was a mist at first and it seemed like he formed out of the steam that danced above my bath, solidifying by my feet and staring down at me with that slight smile of his. That one that made me think of superior gods looking down on their creations with indulgent if puzzled amusement and thinking…
whatever is that silly thing doing now
?…right before they swatted the fools back into the stone age.

Glaring at him, I said flatly, “Get out.”

“Oh, come now, darling Kit…you don’t really want me to leave you alone while you’re asleep in the bathtub,” he drawled, kneeling down.

I glared at him.

“You look so happy to see me,” he teased. “As always. Judging by your light mood, does that mean you’ve completed your job and you’ll return home?”

“Job’s not done.”

He cocked his head. “You still haven’t found the boy?”

“Oh, we found him.” But I wasn’t done. I was done when I found the fuckers behind this and ended them. “Now go away.”

“Really, Kit. All I want to do is talk…”

“Yeah, well, find somebody else.” I gave him a sour look as I drew my legs up to my chest and glared at him. Blond hair framed his face and for all the world, he looked like an angel. A deadly one.

“But I like talking to you.” He smiled again and trailed a hand through the water. “I like watching over you. I like being near you.”

I snorted.

His brows dropped low over his eyes. “It’s the truth. You…the energy in you is pleasant. I could feel it without even having fed from you, but ever since I have?” A ruby red gleam settled in the back of his gaze and my heart jittered in my throat. “It’s a pleasure like no other, Kit, and I can’t wait to have it again. It’s unparalleled. I suspected it would be wonderful. I underestimated.”

Was this the way a mouse felt when it was thrown into a cage with a snake, I wondered? Even in the dream, I was feeling freaked out. Very freaked out.

“I want to be alone,” I said flatly.
I want you the hell away from me
. “I’m tired.”

“All the more reason I should be here.” A slow smile curved his lips. “At least if I’m here, I can make you wake if you start to slip under.”

Then he narrowed his eyes and murmured, “Or worse…damn it, I knew this was going to happen. You can’t trust the cats, Kit.”

“Just get ou—”

Cooler air danced on my flesh.

“Wake up, Kit. He’s coming. You have to wake up,” Jude said. I saw him staring past me. “Wake up!”

I sneered at him even as my mind started to move in that direction. But something wouldn’t let me—

Something grabbed me. Shoved me under.

Voices yelling. Jude’s, a roar in my mind.

“
The fucking cat—he’s trying to kill you—the bitch had her job done. Stop fighting me
—”

Other voices, over the rush of water in my ears.

But I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t—

“
Let me in
,” Jude demanded.

Couldn’t breathe…couldn’t…couldn’t…

“You stubborn little bitch! Breathe!”

Something pushed down on my chest and I thought my ribs were going to crack under the pressure.

Choking.

I was choking.

A sensation that was all too familiar.

Hard hands shoved me, rolled me over as I emptied my gut, my lungs of the water, of every bit of food I’d put in my belly.

Even when I’d purged myself, I couldn’t stop retching. Couldn’t stop coughing. My heart thundered in my ears and I was cold. So fucking cold. Shivers wracked me and fear pummeled me. Part of me kept thinking…
what…what…what
…

But my brain wouldn’t let me even complete the thought because if I
did
, I might have to answer the damn question.

An eternity might have passed before I managed to get past that
what…what…what…
stage.

“Kit…”

Damon’s voice…

I shoved away from him as terror took back over.

Jude’s voice was a whisper in the back of my mind. An insidious, ugly little whisper. “
He tried to kill you, Kit. Let me in. I can help, but not if I can’t get to you in time
…”

Shivering, cold, I scrambled to my feet and stumbled out into the bedroom. Grabbing the blanket, I wrapped it around me before I let myself turn around. It was something of a shock to realize there were a half-dozen people in there. Damon, Kori, Es, Jo, Tate, and a witch I didn’t know.

“What…?” I cleared my throat and tried again. “What in the hell is going on?”

“That fucking leech was in your head again, wasn’t he?”

I was shaking so bad, I could barely speak. Couldn’t think. Blood roared in my head and I could still feel the weight of
him
inside me—”
Get away from all of them. They’ll harm you, Kit. Come to me. I’ll take care of you
.”

“Kitasa…”

I flinched at the sound of my name. Es touched my arm. Instinct grabbed me—
get away, get away
—

“No, Kitasa…I won’t hurt you,” she murmured. Her hand touched my temple. “You know this. He’s in your mind. You have to let me help you get him out.”

The battering in my head increased.

Get away—get away
—I bolted.

Or at least, I tried.

Powerful arms grabbed me from behind.

He’s going to kill me
—

“No, dearest. He means you no harm…be at peace…”

Panic crowded my mind and the only thing I knew was that I had to
run
—

Bright, blinding light exploded behind my eyes.

“Shhh.”

Vaguely I grew aware that the room was moving. Swaying back and forth, like a ship tossed on the waves.

Or maybe I was the one swaying.

The dull ache inside my head subsided enough for me to make a judgment call. Yep. It was definitely me. And that pitiful moaning sound? That was me, too. Kit Colbana. Descendent of the legendary Amazon race. Nearly drowns herself in her own bath. I
think
. And moaning like a pitiful little baby.

“Shhh, it’s okay, baby girl. It’s okay.”

Damon. Damon’s voice. His chest under my cheek. Moving rapidly. I could feel the bang of his heart against my cheek and he had a hand in my hair, kneading, flexing—agitated.

Judging by the rough growl of his voice, I suspected
very
agitated.

As another one of those little whines rose in my throat, I swallowed it down.

Go, me
.

I managed to stop whimpering.

“Kit?”

He eased back enough to look down at me and I found myself staring into glowing, shifting eyes. Yeah. I’d say he was in an agitated state.

“I…I think I’m okay,” I whispered, jerking my eyes away. Fear danced on the back of my tongue, but I was going to deal with that, too. I didn’t know what happened. Needed to understand that before I had another break with reality.

Es was still in the room. So was Kori. At some point, Jo, Tate and the other one had left. My hair was drying and my skin felt tight and itchy. How much time had passed?

Licking my lips, I darted a look at the mother. The calm look on her face should have been reassuring, but in that moment, nothing could reassure me. The bones in my legs felt like they had dissolved, but I needed to
move
. I eased away from Damon and some part of my brain told me he wasn’t going to let me.

He’s going to kill me
—

I twitched under the memory. It didn’t feel right. Even now. But the terror. Shit, that terror.

His arms fell away and when I had a hard time standing, he eased me upright and his hands didn’t move until I was steady. Shame crawled up my throat, a nasty, awful thing that just wouldn’t go away. Scratching at my arm, I looked at Es, at Kori, glanced at him from the corner of my eye. “What happened?”

Es and Kori shared a look, but then they looked at Damon.

I followed their glance, because it seemed if I wanted answers, he was the one who had them.

“You were under the water,” he said flatly. He had moved to stand over the fireplace, staring down into it. The dancing flames cast him into light and shadow as he stood there, eerily reflecting off eyes that had yet to return to normal. Lids drooped low, shielding his gaze from me. He rolled his neck, his shoulders—it was like he had too much energy trapped inside him and I realized something. All of that power he normally had dancing above him, he had it locked down. I couldn’t see any of it.

I flexed my wrist, absently.

He looked at me. “Your sword is on the bed. You were thrashing around and it was…”

Instead of finishing, he just shrugged.

I nodded. “The water. What happened? You said…”

“I walked in.” He turned away from me. “Es was getting Doyle settled down. Said he might do better with no outside stimulation and she had a room where she sometimes puts…damaged people. She could keep him safe there. Unchained, unrestrained, and safe. He wouldn’t hurt anybody else, and he wouldn’t have to be chained up either. The way he was going…fuck. Anyway, once we had him in there, I came up here. It’s night. I worried. The leech…”

Jude
—

Immediately, my brain screeched to a blank stop and my heart started to race. Panic, thick and hot, churned inside me. I could hear Es, but only vaguely. The heat in my palm was too much and then she was there. My blade. I could fight this time.

Fight what—somebody who is trying to sneak into your mind
?

“Kit, damn it, calm down!”

I swung out and felt the blade connect. Somebody—a woman—shouted. Something hot glanced off my hip.

A thunderous snarl echoed through the room.

None of it mattered.

Had to fight.

Had to get away—

“Kit…”

I struck out again. Blood. I smelled blood.

“Kit.”

Hands caught my face.

Wet hands.

The smell of blood—thick with magic,
alive
with it—flooded my senses and somehow snapped me back to myself.

Dazed, I struggled to think past the panic.

“Damon, you need to let me calm her down.”

“Es, the next one of you to try and throw magic at her is going to be digging my claws out of their gut, you understand me?”

Damon. Damon’s voice.

I blinked and blinked, struggling to focus my eyes. Red. That was all I could see. A wash of it—

“Kit.” Something under that red moved…

Oh, hell.

It wasn’t red.

It was
blood
.

His neck. His chest. Healing, slowly, but covered in blood…because I had sliced into him.

“Damon?”

A harsh groan escaped him and then his lips touched my brow. “Yeah. It’s me, baby girl. You’re okay. You hear me? You’re okay. Nothing hurts you when I’m here, got it?”

A hysterical laugh bubbled up out of me. Okay? I’d just damn near lost my mind and torn into somebody who could kill me as easily I could breathe. And he’s telling me that I’m
okay
?

No. I really, really wasn’t.

Damon kicked Kori out.

She went, bleeding and grudgingly. I didn’t know what had happened and just then, I didn’t care.

The mother wouldn’t leave. She brought me a cup of tea. “Drink it. Please. It’s just a special mix of mine—no magic—” She gave Damon a narrow look. “But it will calm your nerves.”

I didn’t think
that
was possible. I could smell chamomile, strawberry leaves and other familiar things in it, plus other herbs that I couldn’t identify, but nothing would calm me down tonight. To make her quit hovering, though, I took a sip. “Somebody needs to explain what happened,” I said after I tried the tea.

“As your cat said…he found you in the water.”

I swallowed and looked at Damon. He was holding me in his lap. His blood was drying on him, on me, but just then, there was nothing either of us could do about it. I had to know what was going on before I went insane. “Did I…?” I licked my lips. “I fell asleep. I remember being tired. I must have fallen asleep.”

Damon stroked a hand up my back. “I came in. You were under the water. Your eyes were open. I tried to pull you up and you fought me, Kit. You didn’t
let
me pull you up and you felt a hell of a lot stronger than I think you are.”

Shuddering, I shook my head.

He rubbed the back of my neck, staring at the wall in front of us. “I yelled for Es—I…” He paused, clenched his jaw. “She was in here almost right away and I was still trying to pull you out of the water. She hit the drain and said something…”

“I could feel an unnatural pull on your mind,” Es said quietly.

Damon shrugged. “She did something. I can feel the magic, but I don’t understand it. I was able to get you out—you weren’t breathing. Starting pushing on your chest and then you started coughing up the water.”

Closing my eyes, I buried my face against his chest, wishing I could just…
stay
there. Blood and all. Right here, I almost felt safe, as long as I didn’t have to think.

But Damon’s stock in trade was being an asshole and he wasn’t going to let me hide, it seemed. “It was him, wasn’t it?”

I cringed.

“Kit. We can’t fix this until we know what happened,” he whispered against my temple. Gentle, soothing strokes up and down my back.

Tears leaked out of my eyes.

“I fell asleep. And he was there. I told him to get out and he was just being…himself.” The panic tried to crowd in.

“Stop.” Damon gripped my shoulder. “Listen. Fight it back, you stubborn little bitch, you hear me?”

I saw his eyes—green eyes, that smile.
Wake up
…hands shoving me down.

“Kit. Where’s your fucking sword?”

My palm itched. I popped my wrist.

“That’s it,” Damon whispered. “Call her.”

I groaned and listened to the whispering of the blade at the back of my mind. Just that was enough to ground me. Gave me the strength to think past the fear. “I…I think I’m okay.”

“Hold your sword, Kit,” Damon said quietly. “You’re steadier when you have it.”

I closed my eyes. There had been a time in my life when I had gone to sleep cradling her next to me. Times when I couldn’t sleep without her, when I wouldn’t eat, wouldn’t leave the house for anything unless I had that damn blade. I didn’t want to go back to being that scared again.

“I want her sheathed,” I whispered.

Distantly, I heard the soft brush of fabric. The creak of leather. And then Damon said, “Thanks.” Then he pushed the sheathed blade into my hands. “She’s here. Now get this done. Hiding won’t make it easier.”

Hiding might not. But running could, I thought absently. Gripping the leather, I swallowed back the panic and made myself talk.

“He was in my dreams, talked about my…” I swallowed back the bitter taste of fear. “Talked about my energy, how it made him feel alive. Then he said how much better it was since he’d fed from me. It freaked me out. I told him to leave. I remember that. Then there was…something. I don’t know if somebody else was in the room, or if he wanted me to think somebody was. I don’t know what happened. He told me to wake up, and I
wanted
to, just to get away from him, but I couldn’t. Then…something shoved me under.”

I gripped the sword to me and closed my eyes.

“He told me you were killing me, Damon. I’d done the job and the Alpha was done with me so you were going to kill me.”

I finished the tea.

I can’t much say it calmed my nerves, but I finished it.

Es took the cup and continued to stand there, studying me critically.

“What?” I asked wearily. I needed to get the blood off of me. I needed to sleep, but I was terrified. I needed…shit. I didn’t know what I needed.

“You said he mentioned your energy.”

I gave a short, jerky nod.

A troubled look into her eyes. “And he’s fed from you.”

“Yes.”

“How many times?”

“Just the once,” I said quietly.
Never again—I’ll die before I let him feed from me again
. I’d rather
be
dead than let him deepen this…whatever. Maybe Damon had been right, after all, and death was better than fucking with a vampire.

Es rubbed her brow. “Not all vampires are like Jude, child. Some are just more…apt, we’ll say, to feeding from a psychic vein. It appears that’s what Jude was doing and he’s found a vein he very much likes in you. The blood feed deepened his connection to you. And it likely gave him a taste for more.” She lifted her head and the pale gray of her eyes glinted with warning. “He’ll try again,” she said, her voice blunt.

“I know that.” And that’s when my chaotic, jumping brain finally settled and I knew what I needed to do. I needed to figure out how to kill Jude. Tall order. I wondered if I could get my hands on a small range missile. It could maybe do the job.

“Why did you let him bite you, Kit?”

I glared at her. “At the time, I didn’t think I had much of a choice.”

“Well, that’s understandable.” A faint smile curled her lips. “Life happens that way at times, doesn’t it? But you have options now. Choices. But the fact is…he bit you and there’s a bond. Jude is old. He’s not ancient, but he’s got some years on him, so he’s strong. He’s also ruthless and something of a…well.” She pursed her lips and then said, “To be blunt, he’s a dick.”

I stared at her and then nodded. “I can agree with that.”

“He occasionally has his moments where he isn’t a total bastard, but even those moments are usually fueled by some innate drive to manipulate. He is always scheming.” She studied my face. “I heard he aided you once. Years ago. Even then, he was likely scheming. Don’t believe he has any innate sense of decency. Many vampires do. Jude does not.”

“We just established he’s a dick, right?”

Es chuckled. “Indeed we did.” She reached out and caught my wrist.

I tensed as she traced over the path where he had bitten me. I couldn’t
see
where he had bitten me and there was no way anything lingered.

“It leaves a mark.” She looked up at me. “A healer can see it. It will fade in time, but the mark is there. Just as the bond is there. Bonds are odd things, though. If a stronger bond is set in place…or if a new bond is formed, he won’t have the ability to call you.”