Devil's Eye (10 page)

The faded signage said
Hennessey Yacht Building Company: Hand-built vessels since 1884.

Clearly nobody has much use for hand-tooled yachts since the economy tanked
, thought Mick.

The warehouse was like any other in the area—rundown and unassuming, crouched behind a dilapidated chain link fence that had a few holes big enough for a man to slip through. The only boats in evidence were moored further down the waterway, riding uneasily on the churning waters of the Mississippi River. The building itself was brick, its face dotted with dozens of small, filthy windows, pockmarked in places by broken panes. The place appeared to be abandoned to the vagrants and drug dealers who frequented the neighborhood.

Mick fidgeted. The Eye was a warm weight in his pocket, the demon an uneasy presence in his mind. Sophie fidgeted beside him in the passenger seat.

“
Mick, if this doesn’t—”

He laid a finger over her lips to stop her words. “Save it,
chère.
We’ll talk about it on the other side.”

He handed her the Eye. Gingerly, she placed it back into the case and snapped it closed. Then she looked at him long and hard, her eyes full of things neither of them dared to speak.

I believe it is time.

Mick frowned at the intrusive voice. But the demon was right.

“
Let’s go.”

They had to wrestle the car doors open against the wind. Sophie stuck close as they made use of one of the gaps
in the
fencing and ran for the relative shelter of an overhang above a metal door. Their staggering progress to the door of the warehouse took twice as long as it should have, but they made it. A chain hung limp from the handle, but there was no padlock. Clearly they were expected.

“
You ready?” he asked.

Sophie’s face was white and pinched with anxiety, but she nodded, her Sig Sauer clutched tight in one hand.

Mick thought those lightning balls of hers would be more effective against whatever they were about to encounter, but she seemed steadier with the gun, so he left it alone. Instead, he said, “We’re gonna get Liza back. I promise.”

He didn’t let himself think about whether it was a promise he could keep. Faith and straight-up stubborn were keeping him going here. That and the knowledge that both of them needed him to be strong. He disentangled the chain holding the old metal door shut and carefully eased it open. The rusty hinges screamed in protest, and even though the noise was lost in the general wail of the storm, he winced, body tensed for something to fly out of the dark at them. There was no response to the noise, so he slipped inside with Sophie close behind.

He waited, ears straining as his eyes adjusted to the darkness.

Except for the sounds of their breathing and the roar of the wind, the warehouse was silent. Too silent. The wolf prowled beneath his skin, hackles raised. And yet, when he lifted his nose, he caught traces of Liza’s scent. Faint, but there. It was overlaid with wood and metal…and blood. Suppressing a growl, Mick crept forward, Sophie on his heels.

The narrow hallway led past a row of what had probably been offices, their windows now dark. At the end of the hall, a series of huge metal racks, still loaded with wood, rose high above them. The ceiling sloped up toward a central point with a skylight. Mick could make out the lines of some kind of crane apparatus with a system of chains and pulleys. Probably for moving the ships from one point to another.

Sporadic thuds of debris hitting the walls sounded like gunfire and the roof above groaned under the onslaught of the storm.

“
Better hurry, Sophie. I’m getting impatient.” The voice echoed from everywhere and nowhere at once.

Something metallic groaned and snapped beyond the wood racks. Mick froze, listening to the sound of saws starting up. Then they heard the muffled scream. Sophie was already running toward the middle of the building. He loped after her, trying to snag her before she left cover, but he didn’t make it. Stopping before the end of the racks, he didn’t follow her out. Keeping hidden might give them an advantage if things didn’t go as planned.

There was a series of scaffolding and catwalks at varying levels around this central work area. He leapt up to the nearest one, using the noise of the equipment and the storm to mask the sound of climbing.

Sophie skidded to a halt, the hand with the box held aloft. “
Stop!
I’m here! Stop it!” she shouted.

Mick followed her gaze to see Liza suspended by handcuffs from a hook on one of the chains hanging from the ceiling. Her face and
head were
crusted with blood, her shoulders bunched oddly.
Dislocated
, Mick realized,
probably from struggling to get free.

Mere feet away, an enormous circular saw hummed. Her body writhed, her eyes wide and terrified. She was whimpering behind the gag.
Oh gods
. He gauged the distance, but even in wolf form, there was no way he could reach her. His eyes travelled up to the pulley system, searching for access.

“
Excellent. I’m glad to see you made it out of the catacombs unscathed.”

Mick could hear the smile in the voice and finally tracked its source. The man stood at the edge of a catwalk, high above the workspace below. He was white, almost from tip to toe—platinum hair, fair skin, and even a white suit. Vampire. A very, very old one. Mick automatically curled his lip in a snarl.

“
Cassius?” The shock in her voice had Mick turning his attention to Sophie.

“
The very same,” said the vampire with a sarcastic bow.

“
But I don’t understand. Why would you go to all this trouble? You’re an
Elder
on the Council. You could get access to the Eye without me.”

“
Ah yes, but not without the rest of those simpering dolts knowing about it. It’s so much harder to stage a coup when they see it coming.”

“
You want to overthrow the Council of Races?” asked Sophie slowly.

Don’t we all?
thought Mick. Yet he didn’t think whatever Cassius had in mind was in line with the goals of the Underground.

I could help with that,
said the demon.

Shut up,
Mick snapped.

“
Yes, yes, child. Catch up with the program here. The Council is hopelessly stuck in the past, content to exist with their collective heads stuck up their asses. War is coming, whether those doddering fools recognize it or not.”

War?
Mick shifted uneasily. The Underground had known there was another group in play, but their intelligence hadn’t uncovered anything like this.
Keep him talking,
petite
.

“
Why would you start a war?” demanded Sophie.

Mick edged his way closer to Liza.

“
Oh I’m not in the business of warmongering. But I do know how to pick the winning side. You see, our kind were gods once. These idiot humans worshiped and feared us. Then we were forced into hiding at the behest of the Council. The beings I work for are quite tired of the Council’s fears of human discovery dictating how the world is run. The Eye is merely a more expedient means of returning to our proper station in life. As for the humans, well, someone must be left as biddable slaves. Now, bring it to me.”

Too much. He’s said too much,
Mick realized.
He can’t possibly have any intention of letting them live.

“
Not until you stop the saw.”

“
You seem to forget that you are in no position to bargain, Sophie. I could drop her and break your neck before you could get halfway to the door. Don’t insult my generosity. Bring me the Eye,” he repeated.

I could kill him,
whispered the demon.
It would be nothing.

No
, thought Mick.
I will not use the Eye.

He sensed the demon’s frustration and ignored it, keeping his attention on Sophie as she crossed the warehouse to the ladder beneath Cassius.

“
Throw it up,” he ordered, leaning over to catch the case.

Sophie hesitated, looking over at Liza.

“
Now, Sophie!” snapped the vampire.

She tossed it high.

Cassius snatched it from the air, lips curving in triumph. “At last.” He ran his hands over the case in a lover’s caress.

“
Stop the saw, Cassius,” Sophie ordered.

“
Now, now, I must inspect the artifact.”

Sophie’s hands fisted at her sides as Cassius flipped the clasps open and tilted the top back. The Eye lay nestled in the case, glowing dimly. The vampire’s eyes flashed red with lust. Then slowly, he reached out a hand and picked up the stone.

For a moment he looked rapturous, and Mick instinctively felt for the demon.

I am waiting for you to let me do something
, it said.

Cassius fisted his hand around the Eye and hissed like a viper. “Do you take me for a fool!” he demanded, springing off and catwalk to land only half a dozen feet away from Sophie.

Mick bit back a snarl, his wolf pressing close to the surface at the threat to his woman. As she edged backward, he crept forward, muscles coiled for action, eyes on the vampire.

“
I don’t know what you’re talking about. I brought you the Eye.”

“
It is bound!
” thundered the vampire.

“
Not my problem,” said Sophie coolly. “You asked me to get the Eye from the catacombs. I did that. I didn’t open the case, didn’t touch it, just as we were ordered on the retrieval mission. If something isn’t right with it, that’s not on me. I kept my end of the bargain. Now let my sister go.”

“
Who is bound to the Eye?” demanded Cassius, stalking forward.

Let me take care of this,
begged the demon.

No,
Mick thought.
This is for me to do.

Mick leapt. He couldn’t make it all the way to Sophie, but he landed with enough deliberate noise that the vampire whirled to face him.

“
That’d be me.”

~*~

No!
Sophie wanted to scream it as Mick deliberately made himself Cassius’s target.

“
Who the hell are you?” asked Cassius.

Mick circled, drawing the vampire away. “Let’s just say I’m a concerned employer. You’ve deprived me of a waitress on one of my busiest nights.”

Cassius stared at Mick. Sophie sensed that very little surprised the old vampire, but this threw him off kilter.