Immortal Revenge (28 page)

“So you plan to tell him about everything, including the Order?”

Katie took in a deep breath, hesitating to answer yet knowing she had to. “One day.”

“Don’t.”

“Why?” Jules asked, shocked. “We need all the help she can get against people like you. Especially if you’re always attacking us.”

Riker stood with a heated glare directed at Jules. “You know too much. We don’t need–”

“
Your kind
doesn’t want people to know you exist so
your kind
can rule the world and feast on us,” Katie said with venom. “Fuck
your kind
.”

Riker stiffened as he slowly moved toward Katie. “Have you forgotten your lover was a vampire?”

The question fueled her anger. Katie stood with the same fluid movements, controlled, yet very ready to act in a split second notice. She disliked how he brought Kyle into the mix. She would never forget Kyle was a vampire, but the term was just a label. Kyle was different. He loved her and treated others with kindness, not as if they were food. The few minds he manipulated didn’t cause any harm. While Riker didn’t look at humans as meals, he clearly saw humans as unequal, lower on the food chain. He believed in peace, but even that came with the dirty job of clean up. Lumping Kyle into the race of vampires just seemed inappropriate. He never hurt another human or regarded one so coldly. If anything, he wanted to help humans. Although her lover of nine years sustained his existence by ingesting blood, she would never classify him as belonging to their race.

“He was my immortal lover and I will never forget him. Never.”

They stood silently staring at each other. Slowly, Katie cooled her temper. Humans knowing about vampires, specifically her friends, bothered Riker and that was the issue at hand.

“If
you
are on my team, then we need Jules and Ben. You will leave them alone.”

“Uh, I hate to break up the party,” Jules said, coming to stand next to Katie. “But shouldn’t we focus on what to do with the two vampires?”

Lips pressed together, Katie watched and waited for a response from Riker. When none came, Katie said, “She’s right. We need a plan.”

“We can plan one after we move,” Riker said.

“Move?”

“We need to switch hotels. I have everything ready in my room.” He strode past her and headed for the door connecting to his room. As he opened the door, Jules’s phone came to life with the melody they’d heard earlier.

Jules rushed to claim her phone from the bed. She lifted it and stared at the screen. “Oh my God.”

Katie rushed to Jules’s side. She grabbed hold of Jules’s shaking hand holding the phone. Peering at the device, she saw Joe’s number on the screen.

Not even a second passed before the phone disappeared from Jules’s hand. Riker took it from behind them. They both spun to face him.

“Don’t destroy it!” Katie yelled.

“Please, don’t.” Jules pleaded. “What if he is alive?”

Riker hit a button on the side, silencing the ring tone. “I’m not destroying the phone.”

“Why won’t you answer it?” Katie reached for the cell.

He stepped back, holding it out of her reach. “Because we haven’t decided how to deal with them. We shouldn’t talk to them without formulating our plan first.”

The number flashed on the phone, indicating the caller either disconnected or was listening to Jules’s voice mail. Brandon or whoever had called would not take kindly to silence and would probably call back soon.

“Then let’s plan,” Katie said with urgency.

“First, we move.”

Jules’s sniffle magnified Katie’s desire to plan first rather than move. “No, we don’t have time.”

“We have all the time we need,” Riker said.

“No. They want us to meet them. So let’s set the meeting.”

The color of his eyes brightened. Katie suspected his temper was on the rise.

“Rushing into the den of wolves will not keep you alive.”

Quarrelling with Riker wasted too much time. He had the phone and she needed it. How could she get it? If she punched, shoved, or kicked him he would tighten his hold. The only way to get it free was to knock it out of his hand and pray she could get to it before he could. Then maybe, just maybe, she could hold onto it for the next call, which she suspected would come at any minute.

She glanced down and saw the skates on the floor. “All right, let’s go,” Katie said, then twisted to Jules. “Would you mind carrying the skates?”

Jules turned her attention toward them. “Sure.”

Simultaneously, Jules bent to get the skates and the phone sang the melody again. Riker’s gaze lowered while he lifted the phone. Katie snatched the opportunity and swung her fist at an angle to hit underneath his hand. He noticed her punch coming and started to step back out of her way, but his movement came too late. Katie hit his hand and sent the phone into the air. It bounced off Jules’s back as she rose, then sailed to Jules’s other side before bumping into the wall.

“Ouch,” Jules said, reaching around to touch her back.

The melody continued unaffected. Katie and Riker rushed for the phone, but Katie had a two second lead. Jules stepped out the way, swinging the skates toward the door where they knocked against it. Katie fell to her knees, grasped the phone with both hands and held it close to her chest. Immediately she rubbed her fingers across the screen to answer the damn thing. Riker grabbed her arms and tugged them back. Her right arm moved, not affecting her hold on the phone but delaying her progress. Riker jerked her up to her feet.

“Let her go!” Jules yelled.

A second after Katie turned her attention, the skates thudded against Riker’s back. He released Katie and roared in response. In the next second, he gripped Jules’s arms and the skates fell to the floor.

Hearing the end of the ring tone, Katie returned her focus to the phone in her hand. The number stayed illuminated on the screen, indicating the call hadn’t gone to voice mail. She lifted the cell to her ear.

“Hello?”

“Who the fuck is this?” said the caller with a deep, unfriendly voice.

Riker jerked his gaze to Katie while he kept his grasp on Jules.

“You tell me your name, then I’ll tell you my name,” Katie said.

“Do you think this is a game?” the caller asked.

Riker grabbed Katie’s wrist while he held onto Jules’s arm. Katie refused to let him take the phone from her. She tightened her grasp as she held the cell close to her face. She lifted a finger and mouthed the word
wait
.

“No, but you must think it is since you won’t tell me your name. I guess I’ll hang up now.”

Riker stared deep into her eyes as she spoke to the caller.

“Hang up and I’ll gut Joe like I did the dog,” the person on the phone said.

A chill passed through Katie. Joe was still alive. For how long remained unclear, but the fact he was living made her pause.

“Let me hear him speak.”

“Glad to have your attention,” the caller said. “Hold on.”

Jules met Katie’s gaze. “Joe?” She whimpered.

Katie bit her tongue, refraining from saying anything. While Joe might indeed be alive, his health had to be deteriorating quickly.

“Speak.” She heard the caller say.

“Jules.” Joe’s voice sounded scratchy and weak. “Run. Runaway.”

Katie’s heart sank and she closed her eyes. Even in pain, he wanted to save Jules. Katie’s anger rose again and she felt flush. The fucking vampires were going to pay.

“As you heard, he’s alive, but I can’t say for how long,” the caller said.

Katie opened her eyes. “I’m Kyle’s girlfriend. What do you want?”

Riker’s eyes lit up. He tugged on her wrist and she struggled to keep the phone close to her. At the same time, Jules tried to break free from Riker. The vampire had two human women working against him, and from the flash of his fangs, it was clear he wasn’t happy. Katie gripped his forearm and squeezed, hoping he would give up his mission to take the cell from her, but it did little to thwart his effort.

“Well, well. Katie Dillinger. I look forward to meeting you and your friend.”

“I’m sure you do.”

Riker finally let go of Jules and grabbed Katie’s other wrist. She struggled to hold the phone close enough.

“Why don’t you and your friend come by for a visit tonight, say…around midnight?”

Riker finally gave up tugging on her wrists. Instead, he thrust her back into the wall. Her head hit, but not hard enough to cause any damage other than a slight ringing in her ears.

“So you can kill Joe, Jules and me? I think not.”

“Joe?” Jules sobbed as she stepped around Riker.

“Turn yourself in and we’ll let the two go.”

Katie fought the urge to laugh. Did he really think she was stupid?

“What about their memories?”

“We’ll have to adjust them, of course.”

Of course. What a fucking liar. From the smoothness of his tone, she gathered he had zero intent of letting any of them walk away. Yet, she pretended to believe him. She needed to arrange some kind of meeting so she could work on a plan to destroy him and the other vampire. At the same time, she wanted to save Joe, if possible.

“Where?”

“Are you familiar with the Jennings orchard?”

Katie’s heart raced. The orchard wasn’t quite five miles from Kyle’s property. She’d visited many times for snacks, juice and wine. She knew the family well since they lived so close, out in the country. The elderly Mr. and Mrs. Jennings owned the land and lived in the old farmhouse while their daughter, divorced five years now and granddaughter lived in a newly built ranch on the other side of one of the orchards. The shop, which they all took turns running, sat at the front of the driveway and the farmhouse was within walking distance behind it. They owned a lot of land, including some that bumped up to Kyle’s boundary. Of all places, the vampires found the perfect one to hide and plot how to destroy Kyle.

“I’m familiar with the orchard. How are the Jennings?”

“They’re around. No need to concern yourself with them.”

Riker shook his head. Katie wondered if he didn’t like the sound of the meeting or the location. Or, maybe he disliked what she was agreeing to all together.

“All right. Midnight.”

“Katie, please don’t be late. I’d hate to have to cut off more fingers for your tardiness.”

She clenched her jaw, hating the sound of his voice and game he was playing with Joe’s life. “Don’t worry. I’ll be there.”

“Good. I’m looking forward to our visit.”

Riker stripped the phone from her hand, then stepped away from her as he ended the call.

“I had to do it. We need to meet with them,” Katie said, pushing away from the wall.

“They have the upper hand. You realize this, don’t you?”

They set the time and location. Big deal. It didn’t necessarily mean they benefitted from this arrangement, at least not to Katie. After all, they didn’t know she had vampire blood in her, nor did they know about Riker. The playing field leveled out.

Jules moved closer to Katie. She wiped her eyes. “Is Joe…?”

Katie gave a slow nod. “He sounded very weak.”

Jules covered her mouth with her hand, then closed her eyes. More tears rolled down her cheeks. She wanted Joe to live, as did Katie. Yet the both knew the odds of him surviving were not good. The poor man was probably suffering and he didn’t deserve such treatment. Thank God Jules couldn’t hear him through the phone. Her heart would’ve plummeted.

Katie turned to Riker and found him staring at her. “We need a plan now that we have a date with two vampires. Let’s move, then figure out how to proceed.”

Without a word, Riker headed for the door leading to his room. He kept Jules’s phone, which mattered little to Katie. The meeting time and place was set. Now, Katie had to come up with a way to behead the two vampires before they could kill anyone else.