Katie's Hellion (Rhyn Trilogy, Book One) (6 page)

His white-silver hair was long and clasped at
his neck, his bronzed face and forest-green eyes displaying no
emotion. His features were chiseled, the firelight casting harsh
shadows across the planes of his face. He was muscular and tall,
clothed in dark jeans, a snug grey T-shirt that hugged his biceps
and stretched across his chest and back and then sagged at his
slender torso and hips, and a round black medallion that fell from
his T-shirt as he leaned over her.

"Ully," he growled, turning to face the
scientist.

Ully was pale.

Katie pushed herself up, startled by the
stickiness on her hand. She looked down and saw the sleeve of her
sweater soaked in blood.

"I am so sorry!" Ully gushed, stricken. "You
fell, and I tried to catch you, but then you kind of veered to one
side and I grabbed your arm but then you --"

"Out."

Ully frowned but obeyed. Katie sat up,
wondering why her hand didn’t hurt. It shook, and she was even
colder.

"I don’t know what you are, but I couldn’t
heal you. You owe Gabriel one," the silver-haired man said. He
squatted beside her, wrapping her arm in a clean white towel before
he rose and strode to the desk along the far wall. He picked up
what looked like a medical file and became as still as the death
dealer, as if forgetting her presence completely.

Her eyes skimmed his perfect, buff body
before the pain in her hand finally registered. She tugged off her
wool coat with some effort. Blood soaked her towel, and she
stood.

"Do you have a restroom?"

He jabbed his thumb toward the wall behind
him, where she made out the slender nickel doorknob in the space
between two shelves of ancient books. He didn’t acknowledge her as
she entered the surprisingly large bathroom. She winced and pulled
the towel free then turned on the water as hot as she could stand.
She stared at herself in the mirror, wondering when she’d started
looking like a pound dog. She glanced down to watch the blood
stream down the drain then held up her arm.

It was healed, just as he said.

She flipped both hands front and back and
looked at the blood-soaked towel and the sleeve of her sweater. Her
hands both worked. With a sigh, she cleaned up the area as well as
she could and pulled off the sweater, as it was warm enough in the
study with her T-shirt.

She looked like shit. There were dark circles
beneath her light eyes, her hair was in a half-assed lumpy
ponytail, and her face was so pale and drawn, she looked ill.

Was this what crazy looked like? She breathed
out another sigh and righted her ponytail, then splashed water on
her face. Emerging from the bathroom, she was confronted by a
pacing Ully.

"I, uh, dropped your blood sample," he said
with a glance at the figure with his back toward them both. "Could
I get another?"

She handed him the towel. He hesitated, then
took it and left. The silver-haired man made no move at all.

"I need --"

"Have a seat."

His order was calm, the slight accent in his
voice foreign. She stared at the back of his head, a chill running
through her. Her move toward the fire was reflected in a small
mirror behind the desk in front of which he stood.

He had no reflection.

She squeezed her eyes closed and breathed
deeply, swaying. His touch made her jerk away and her eyes snap
open. She stared at him, backing out of his reach until the back of
her knees hit a chair and she dropped into it.

His eyes had changed color to a deep
violet-blue, a beautiful shade of tanzanite. She felt cold again on
the inside and shivered. He looked away finally and returned to his
desk.

"Are you all right?" he asked in a measured
tone.

She cleared her throat and said simply,
"Yes."

As if sensing the weight of the word, he
turned, brow furrowed. He perched on the edge of the desk, the fire
casting shadows across his perfect, chiseled features. Any other
day, she’d have stared at his hard body and the way his jeans
hugged his muscular thighs and the round globes of his backside, or
the T-shirt that fit so well.

"What’s your name?"

"Katie."

"How did you get in my lab?"

"Ully brought me."

"From the Outside?" He crossed his arms,
displaying his displeasure without his face changing.

She nodded. "You must be Kris."

"I am."

"Ully said you don’t let him out much."

"I don’t."

"And that he was once a dead doctor."

"Yeah."

She shuddered. They gazed at each other for a
long moment, her shock and exhaustion too deep to fear the man who
radiated power and control, even in a simple T-shirt. Tattoos of
interlinked geometric shapes glowed on his arms before fading.

"Why do you need my blood?" she asked.

"Ully’s testing it. It’s what he does."

"Dr. Williams said my blood tests were
unusual."

His eyes turned from tanzanite to deep
emerald. She shivered again.

"I need a shot of whiskey," she said.

For a long moment, she didn’t think he’d
agree. At last he moved around the desk to a dark corner and
withdrew a crystal carafe from a locked cabinet.

"Don’t give me your good stuff. I don’t
intend to savor it," she warned.

He gave her an amused look, then poured her
three shots worth of whiskey and handed it to her. She downed a
mouthful, grimacing at the burn that went down her throat and all
the way to her gut.

"I can’t get warm any other way," she
admitted, and took another gulp.

"You’re in shock," he surmised.

"No argument there. I have a feeling you know
already what the past two days have been like."

"Tell me."

"No, thanks."

He raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms
again. She really didn’t give a damn if he wasn’t used to being
challenged. She finished her whiskey and sat back in the chair, its
warmth chasing away her internal chill. For now.

"Do Gabriel and Toby work for you?" she
asked.

"In a sense."

"What does that mean?"

"Death dealers don’t work for anyone really,
just Death, though I do buy assassinations from him on
occasion."

Buy assassinations
, like he was
ordering a new couch for his study.

"Oh," she managed. "And Toby, the
baby…angel?"

His gaze had sharpened.

"I’m his guardian, yes."

"And you randomly assign him new moms every
few dozen years and then send Gabriel to pick them off at the
end."

"More or less."

"Do you ever bother to see if the moms want
to have a baby angel in their lives?"

"I don’t think I’ve ever had a
human
question me," he stated, eyes flashing golden topaz.

"It’s really not cool to use women like
this," she replied. "Even if we are puny humans."

"You’re the first to object."

"No offense, but I’m under the impression the
others didn’t have a chance to object."

A light tap sounded at the door.

"What, Ully?" he belted.

She jumped, unaware she’d ruffled him despite
the calm exterior. Ully opened the door without entering, his gaze
fluttering from her to the angry non-human.

"I, uh, kinda need to talk to you, bossman,
if you’re cool with that."

The man with the jewel-toned eyes strode
across the study without a look at her. She waited until the door
closed before crossing to the carafe and refilling her glass. His
anger surprised her with its intensity, and she judged from Ully’s
reaction that seeing the lord and master pissed was not something
the good-natured mad scientist wanted anything to do with. She
didn’t know what he was, but if he routinely played with the lives
of puny humans and bought assassinations…

She drank the caramel liquid too fast and was
soon too dizzy to stand.

* * *

"I thought something was weird based on what
death dude said," Ully said, stepping back from the rotating DNA
molecule on the screen with a triumphant smile.

"Antigens? You’re saying she’s allergic to
us?" a skeptical blonde woman with striking blue-green eyes
asked.

Kris glanced at her and then back at the
screen. His trusted deputies --the slender blonde Iliana and the
raven-haired gigantor Jade with cocoa skin --sat across from him.
Death dude sat at the back of the conference room, out of the glare
of the screen.

"Sort of," Ully said. "Basically these
antigens are acting as a screening agent."

"Meaning…?" Jade waved his hand
impatiently.

"Meaning she’s immune to many of our
talents," Kris supplied with a frown. "How, Ully?"

"It’s genetic."

"So one of her parents was like us?" Iliana
asked, tapping a hot pink fingernail.

"Not exactly. It’s kind of like…" Ully looked
around and stretched for the pen on the table. "If immortals are
pens, and normal humans are number two pencils, then she’s a
mechanical pencil."

"
What?"
Jade demanded.

"She’s a hybrid," Iliana said, realization
dawning on her face. "Kris…"

"Yeah, I know."

"She's also an immortal's mate," Ully
added.

Kris studied the DNA molecule, now certain
the woman's appearance spelled certain danger for him. His gaze
settled on Jade's familiar features, and he studied his companion
of so many years. Jade was everything he admired: brave,
compassionate, dedicated. Loyal. He didn't doubt his second and his
lover would move on, if Kris chose to take the woman as his mate.
Yet he wondered if
he
could ever care for another the way he
did Jade.

His duty as the leader of the fractured
Council always came first. Jade's duty would, too. He'd found peace
with Jade after Rhyn killed his first love, Lilith. But Jade was
like most immortals: he'd only ever loved other men, whereas Kris
valued mettle over sex.

As he weighed if he'd be forced to choose
between someone he loved and an immortal's mate with a desirable
gift, he couldn't help thinking Jade wouldn't take breaking up
well. His love had a temper. It would take him a while to
recover.

"We have two issues," Ully continued,
sitting. "There’s never been a mutation like this in the history of
our people. If it’s hereditary, then the mutation has been hidden
from us for, like, maybe even hundreds of thousands of years.
Second, I can duplicate the DNA with some time in my lab and
isolate the antigen, meaning I can make someone immune to our
enemies' powers."

"Or they can make someone immune to us," Jade
said.

Kris felt the intent gazes of both of his
deputies, who left the obvious unvoiced.

They were in more trouble than he’d thought
once the Council convened.

"We know a few things," he started. "One,
Sasha probably knows about her by now. Two, someone in our
organization knew what she was when they set her up to be Toby’s
human guardian."

"Good job, death dude!" Ully cheered, earning
him the scathing look of Jade.

"She’s immune to all but the most ancient of
us. The mutation started sometime after our births, Kris," Gabriel
voiced.

Surprised, Kris eyed him.

"You know more than you’re telling me?" he
challenged. "This isn’t a secret you’re sworn to protect."

Amusement flashed across the death dealer’s
face, and Gabriel shook his head.

"Ully, do a full workup on her parents,
grandparents, as far back as she remembers. Find any siblings and
get their blood. We need to know how many people have this mutation
and where they are," Kris ordered.

Ully bounced up.

"And Ully, be discreet," he added. "No more
stalking and kidnapping."

The lab rat flushed but saluted and ducked
out of the room.

"The Council meets in a few," Jade commented.
"Do we return her and pretend we don’t know or keep her where they
can’t get her?"

It’s not cool to use women like that.

Kris had never heard anything so ridiculous.
No human --nor most of those in his organization --would dream of
speaking to him like that. And yet, she had without fear. Shock did
much to humans, he knew, but she was either crazy or incredibly
stupid to challenge someone like him.

Worse, they’d never run across this type of
issue in all their years. That it emerged now, when the Council was
on the verge of disintegrating, couldn’t be a coincidence.

"Jade, send some men to her apartment and dig
around. Check on Toby while you’re there. Iliana, we have a Council
meeting to attend in a couple of hours."

"You want them to take her back?" Jade
asked.

"Yeah. Take her back and post guards
everywhere you can. I want to see what Sasha’s planning."

"You shouldn’t go alone to the Council
meeting," Jade warned.

"It’s the way it is."

"Someday, one of you is gonna snap and take
out the others."

"Let’s hope it’s me," he said with a small
smile.

"If you wouldn’t take out half the continent
doing so, I wouldn’t care. C’mon, death dude. Let’s get her to her
apartment. Travel safely, Kris."

Gabriel followed them out obediently, content
to hang around them while bored.

Kris traveled via shortcuts through the
shadow world as Gabriel did and willed himself to the in-between
world. It was foggy and chilly, like a walk on the beach after the
fog rolled in. Several portals glowed, and he strode across the
silent domain toward the portal he needed. He emerged from the
shadow world in a luxurious penthouse suite in Paris overlooking
the Arc de Triomphe.

"You Americans. Jeans and T-shirt, Kris,
really?"

He dismissed his uneasy thoughts at his
eldest brother's accented voice. He shook the hand of his brother
and friend, whose black skin clashed with his. Andre was dressed in
cashmere and wool, his hair kept short and neat, his loafers more
expensive than Kris’s conference room had cost to build.