Her Vampire Ward (2 page)

I
watched him on the monitor as he spoke. He kept his voice low. “I
can. Report?”

“
Magical
probes, from a pretty good distance. Nothing to get alarmed about
just yet.”

He
was silent for a moment. “No. We remember this guy. I’d
rather be proactive now. Is Eve there?”

I
leaned over Carolyn’s shoulder. “I’m here.”

“
I
want to set off the decoy wards. Come take my place in here.”

“
I
can just go deal with them.”

“
Let
me,” he said, “You did all the driving tonight so far.
Chill out here, it won’t take me long.”

“
Okay.
Be right down.” He was right; after the adventures earlier in
the evening, I was probably a little too tired to drive around for
another couple hours.

He
waited with his head out the door as I approached the room. “He
still sleeping?” I asked.

“
Yeah.
I’ll be in touch.”

“
Be
safe.” I watched him go before shutting myself into the room.
The alarm was still humming. I pulled my walkie from my belt. It was
small, no bigger than a flip phone. “Updates, Carolyn?”

“
None
yet,” her voice crackled through the tiny speaker. “Ian
and Joel hit the road already. I’ll let you know when they’re
heading back.”

“
Thanks.”
I sank to the second bed, put the walkie and the sword down next to
me. The vampire was still sleeping, arm draped over his eyes. I got
comfortable sitting up with my back against the wall. Walkie and
phone both close at hand, guns ready, sword nearby, and there wasn’t
a single thing I could do but watch and wait. I closed my eyes.

-

I
was dozing off a little when the second alarm startled me upright.
The hum became a low, pulsing tone. I called over the walkie,
“Update?”

“
Decoys
were detected,” Carolyn replied, “They haven’t
found our location, but it’s a concern. We’re to stand by
for now.”

“
Thanks.”

“
Are
we in danger?” The vampire sat up, rubbing his eyes. The dark
circles remained. If anything, he looked paler.

“
Alek,”
I said, “No. We’re fine. This alarm is because some decoy
locations were detected. But they’ll move on. They can’t
find us here."

He
blinked for a second, thrown off by my using the new name. He’d
have to get used to it, though. "I thought your brother was
here."

"He's
in the field. Listen, you won’t get much sleep with this thing
going off, so if you want something to drink, or if you want to use
the shower, feel free. We’ll be here for a while, still.”

He
looked down at himself. “A shower sounds like a good idea.”

“
Towels
are above the toilet. There’s some clean clothes in the
drawers, should be about your size.”

He
shuffled into the bathroom and shut the door. I picked up my cell and
called Daniel.

“
Yeah?”
he asked, his voice distant through the earpiece.

“
Where
are you?”

“
Twenty
miles out, now. We’re just going to keep on going, I think.
Even if they know they’re just finding fake locations, we’re
leading them away.”

“
I
don’t like you guys being so far,” I said, “I guess
Ian and Joel aren’t much closer?”

“
No.”

I
sighed. “Okay.”
“How’s Alek?”

“
I
think he was starving when you picked him up. If we need to run, it’s
going to be a problem.”

“
That’s
not going to happen. But you or Carolyn or one of the other agents
could, you know...”

“
Ugh.”
I shuddered. “I’ll think about it.” I hated feeding
vamps. It always felt so violating.

“
Gotta
go,” Daniel said, “Call in another half hour?”

“
Yeah.
Drive careful.” I hung up and tossed the phone down next to the
walkie.

Alek
emerged from the bathroom, towel this around his waist. He was
incredibly pale but, annoyed at myself for noticing, incredibly
sculpted. He was a lean man, and all tight, hard muscle.

And
crossed with scars, mostly healed but red around the edges. Vampires
almost never scarred - it was evidence of the severity of the magic
he’d been using.

"Sorry,"
he said, eyes downcast, "I was in such a rush to get clean, I
forgot to grab the clothes." He rummaged quickly through one of
the drawers.

“
You
should have called us before you did that,” I said, referring
to the scars. It was an unprofessional thing to say. It was none of
my business. But it hurt just to see them.

“
No,”
he said, “I didn’t want to drag anyone else into this.
That warlock is too powerful. I’m only here now because it
became... too painful. But I need to be at that trial.”

I
didn’t know very much about blood magic. I knew it had
something to do with summoning some beings, some creatures, some
vicious little... things. They’d attack for you. To create
them, though, to
birth
them
- it was a painful and violent process.

"I
heard you on the phone," he said, "We are in danger, aren't
we?"

"Not
yet, Alek," I said, "We are... concerned. But there's still
no reason to believe that they'll find us."

"I
should leave." He spoke in nearly a whisper. "I didn't want
endanger anyone else."

"This
is our job. This is what we do. Get dressed. There's some cow's blood
in the fridge. I know it won't help much, but it's better than
nothing."

"And
then?"

"We
wait."

-

The
third alarm went off while Alek was flipping through one of the few
magazines we kept in the room's drawers. I was scanning through the
security camera feeds on my phone and braiding and re-braiding my
hair to work off my nerves, though the pulsing tone was wearing on my
brain. I realized I was breathing in time with it.

"Are
you and Daniel twins?" he asked suddenly. I hadn't realized that
he was watching me mess with my hair. I knotted it quickly and let
the messy braid hang over my shoulder.

"No.
He's two years older. We get that a lot, though." We both
strongly resembled our father, with our black hair, deep blue eyes,
strong jawlines. I'd inherited my mother's full lips, but that was
the only resemblance either of us had.

"What
is that thing you do?" he asked, a half-smile on his lips. It
was surprisingly charming. I imagined he must be quite handsome once
fed and rested, and quickly pushed the image away. "Good cop,
bad cop?"

I
chuckled. "No. We didn't arrest you. More like compassionate
cop, business cop. He tells you what you need to know, I keep you
calm."

Alek
nodded, and opened his mouth to say something else just as the
alarm's tone changed. It rose a note and pulsed faster. The third
alarm. Still not meant to induce panic, but waking everyone into a
sense of urgency. It was effective - I felt like my breathing and
heart rate rose with it.

I
spoke into the walkie. "Report?"

Carolyn's
voice was tight. "They pinged a truck."

"Shit.
Didn't we cast on the garage?"

"Yes,
twice. This guy is good."

"No
kidding."

"We're
going to maintain the spells at smaller intervals. Cast on your room
and stand by."

I
sprung from the bed, opened the closet, and punched in the code on
the little electronic safe.

"What's
going on? Eve?" I could hear the strain in his voice as he said
my name, rather then the formal "Ms. Ballard." I wondered
again what the warlock had done to scare him so badly.

"Stay
calm, Alek." I'd found that unless the information put them in
danger, it was best to explain to a client what was happening. No
matter how scary, the unknown was always worse. "The warlock
detected matter that isn't from this area, that entered it very
recently. Something small, some dust or dirt from the city, maybe. It
traveled outside the range of our magic after our spells were cast,
and he found it. That's the ping." I pulled the contents of the
safe out - a bowl, some packets of herbs and mystery bits of things,
a pack of matches. "Basically, foreign matter touched by magic.”
I tried to keep the concern out of my voice. We'd had witches and
warlocks penetrate our spells before, but never from so far away, and
never when we were working so hard to maintain the protective magic
that hid the motel. I opened a packet and emptied its contents into
the bowl. "Now, a ping alone is worthless. You could cast that
detection cloud anywhere at all and ping all day. If he decides to
take a closer look, investigate at all, though..." I lit a match
and dropped it into the bowl. It produced a sweet odor, like basil. I
muttered the incantations and a thin, tiny trail of blue smoke rose.
"Another few layers of protection. No reason to worry."
Even though the alarms hadn't calmed, yet.

"I
see. Are you always so honest with your clients?"

"As
long as they aren't hysterical." I set the smoking bowl on the
desk.

"What
now?" he asked.

"More
waiting."

-

The
fourth and fifth alarms sounded two hours later. The field team had
gone silent, afraid that making contact would open opportunities to
locate the motel. I worried about Daniel.

Alek
and I played cards while I flipped through the feeds on my phone.
None but the magical detector showed any activity.

I
taught the vampire gin rummy, more to keep him calm and distracted
than to pass the time. It gave me a chance to study his face as he
pored over his cards. He'd drunk the cow's blood, but still looked
haggard. I supposed the alarm wasn’t helping in that regard -
it was getting to me as well. I felt as if the whole room pulsed with
it. Like the motel itself was breathing.

I
watched him consider his hand. His green eyes weren't as cold as I
was used to seeing in his kind. They were expressive, bright if I
managed to make him smile. And that smile caught me off guard every
time. It was warm, and contagious, and increased my anxiety. I did
not
want
to lose this one. We lost clients more often than we liked to talk
about, almost always because they broke our rules. If we lost Alek
tonight, though, it would be our fault alone. My failure. He’d
fought so hard to stay alive this long. I had to keep him safe, now.

He
read the concern on my face.

"What
happens to you if they find me here? Do you run?"

"It's
not going to happen." I shuffled through my cards, not paying
attention to their faces.

"Still,
though. What would happen? Would you leave?"

"I
won't leave you." I made sure to look at him as I said it. "We
do not escalate to violence. The team will call the authorities for
that, if they hadn't been called earlier. My job at that point is to
try to negotiate or try to stall them."

"Then
why the guns?" He indicated the pile of weapons on the bed next
to me.

"If
they shoot first."

His
hand brushed mine as he took a card from the deck. He kept his gaze
averted, studying my weapons.

"And
the sword?"

I
flashed him a grim smile. "Some things need to have their heads
removed to die."

Then
the fourth alarm went off. The lights dimmed, and fog would be
clouding the windows outside if we opened the curtains to look. The
humming alarm's pulses sped up, though the tone dropped in volume.

"What
is it?" Alek asked.

"He's
suspicious. He's got eyes in the area. No physical beings, but he's
looking for visible signs, now."

"That's
bad?"

"It's...
a new challenge." I picked up the walkie. "Carolyn?"

"We're
going silent," she said, "Stand by. Be calm."
Don't
worry yet, but don't take off your boots
.
But, watching the vampire, knowing they were trying so hard to find
him, I was worried.