King of Darkness (11 page)

“Yep.”

The inky black yuck that wizards went around cloaked in was permeating his senses. For most vampires, that was a clear sign to run the hell away. The closer the wizards got, the stronger the urge was to turn tail. Lee had spent a lot of centuries conditioning himself to run toward it instead.

“Better get ready,” he told Tyra. “Thad, stay with Isabel,” he called over his shoulder.

Tyra shook her head but drew her gun anyway, keeping it cocked and locked. “I don’t understand. How could they find us here?”

“Doesn’t matter how; just matters that we have to get everyone out of here.” He held up a hand for quiet as he cast his senses about to ascertain what they were up against. Despite his centuries of experience, that was always hard to determine. A wizard’s malevolent aura varied in strength depending on how many there were, how powerful they were, and how close by. With sickening clarity, he realized that there was a good chance he couldn’t get a direction because the bastards were right the hell on top of them.

The door of one of the bedrooms opened quietly, and Thad stepped out with a large knife in his grip, one arm back to keep Isabel herded behind him. He’d felt it, too.

“I don’t get it. Everything was quiet. How’d they show up so suddenly?”

“I think I brought them,” Tyra said. “But I don’t know how. I didn’t sense anything until just after I got here.”

Lee started toward Alexia’s door, “Tyra, cover Thad and Isabel. I’m gonna grab the human.”

Tyra’s eyebrows shot up. “There’s a human he—”

A strangled cry and a loud thud cut her off.

Lee shoved into Alexia’s room just in time to see her body crumple onto a flowery area rug. A mangled chocolate doughnut with incongruously festive colored sprinkles remained clutched in her hand. His extra-sensory hearing picked up her breathing, but she sure didn’t look good. Her skin was pale, her forehead was bruised—and he was gonna kick some fucking wizard ass for the split in her lip.

There was just the one, but it was bigger than most. Soldiers like Lee were bred for their power and size, but wizards generally used their theft of vampire powers to compensate for their lack of physical prowess.

“Not so fast there, vampire. I can end her in a second.” The wizard pointed a long finger. Poised on the tip was a small marble of light. “Nice human you have here.” The smug bastard smiled and waggled his eyebrows, and Lee cursed. “Well, not that nice, actually. The bitch tried to attack me. Quite a little firecracker. Now, I suggest you stay right there. She’s still alive, but just barely.”

Lee set his jaw. “She’s nothing to us.” His attention stayed focused on the magic projectile at the end of the wizard’s finger. He couldn’t tell what kind of firepower that orb was packing, but he wasn’t taking chances. He extended his free arm downward, palm out. An invisible aura of hot energy radiated first from his hand and then outward from his entire body, even as he kept his gun trained on the enemy in front of him.

The wizard let out a dark chuckle. “I imagine she’s something, or else she wouldn’t be here in your midst. Now is that the lovely Tyra I see over your shoulder?” Lee didn’t move. It would take a hell of a lot more than that to distract him.

The cords in Lee’s neck pulled tight as he focused on the shield radiating around him until it filled the doorway. “Ty,” he growled under his breath. “Get ’em out of here.”

There was a rustle of movement. Thad murmured reassurances to his female. “It’s going to be okay, Isabel. Just close your eyes.” No doubt that female had gotten a whole lot more than she’d bargained for tonight.

The wizard took the opportunity to strike, hurling a stream of concentrated light just over Lee’s shoulder in an attempt to hit Ty or Thad before they vanished. The bright projectiles hit Lee’s energetic aura and exploded on impact. The force knocked Lee to the side and jarred his shoulder something crazy but otherwise did little harm. The superior gleam in the wizard’s eyes disappeared.

The air at Lee’s back stirred as Tyra disappeared with the other two, and the wizard bellowed his anger: “That’s an interesting power you have there, vampire.” He took a run at Lee, but Lee launched forward, snarling and palming a dagger just before their two bodies crashed in midair. Faster than the inferior wizard could blink, Lee thrust his arm up and sideways, slicing cleanly across the throat. It was a low cut, close to the collarbone, and Lee barely flinched when a warm, acrid spurt of the wizard’s blood hit him front and center.

The wizard’s actions were classic: Hands groped desperately to stop the bleeding, but it continued to flow steadily through cracks between the male’s fingers. His effort was no more effective than stopping the great floods with a cocktail napkin. But they always tried. Every living thing tried.

There was a gasp and a gurgle as the dude tried to draw breath. A leg sweep from Lee laid him out on the floor, a few feet from Alexia’s body. The wizard clawed and shook, but he was fading fast. Anger was all over his face. More gurgling and sputtering, more clawing, and finally the robed figure went still.

“Jeez, Lee. You killed him.” Lee turned to see Tyra standing in the doorway.

He grunted. “Works every time. They’re paying attention to the gun so they don’t think about the other hand. Stupid motherfuckers.” He shook his head and toed at the body, looking it over for any possible signs of life. It never hurt to double check.

“K, but you killed our only shot at knowing how they found me.” She said it patiently, like he was simple. “No wizard has ever managed to follow me before, and we’re like a thousand miles from home.”

Closer to eight hundred, but he was smart enough not to correct her hyperbole.

“Kinda doesn’t matter now. Killing that thing was too damn easy, which means either he was a stupid cowboy or there are more on the way, and it’s better if we don’t stick around to find out. Besides, we’ll get another shot. If it was you they tracked, they’ll find you again.” He jerked his head toward Alexia, ignoring Tyra’s answering eye roll. “She’s hurt pretty bad.”

Tyra nodded. “Grab her.”

First, Lee got down on his haunches and looked over the dead wizard. Typically, vampires would slice and dice vanquished wizards a little, and then relieve the bastards of their stupid robe getup. Once the body drained, it would crumble to dust like a vampire left out in the day. Short on time, Lee settled for a quick vertical slice on each wrist and hoped for the best.

A tug on the wizard’s finger netted one fugly signet ring, embossed with a small heart. Lee stowed it in his pocket before turning to Alexia. She was definitely still breathing, and he detected a pulse, but it was very faint. Shock, maybe.

Even as deadweight the girl couldn’t have been more than a buck ten, and lifting her was child’s play. “Wait.” He yanked a fleece throw from a nearby futon and tossed it over her before propping her face-forward against his shoulder. Not a chance in hell he was gonna get wizard blood on her.

Tyra gasped. Unseen while Alexia had been lying like a rag doll on the carpet, a deep, inflamed wound crossed her back and shoulder blade. Whatever the wizard had hit her with seemed to have cauterized on impact, so at least she hadn’t lost a ton of blood. But that didn’t explain why she was unconscious, and that was a bigger worry.

“All right,” Lee growled. “Let’s just get home.” He wanted to put Alexia down as soon as possible. That disgusting, fetid wizard blood was seeping into the blanket.

Tyra gripped Lee’s shoulder gently, wrapping her opposite arm around Alexia’s body. He glanced around at the sparse furnishings. White walls, red futon. Small cheapo desk with one of those tiny netbook things on it. The only other furniture was a giant industrial shelving-unit packed full of books that the girl would never read again.

Lee braced for the inevitable loss of control as Tyra turned all of their bodies into nothing more than vapor. Damn, but he hated to travel this way. Tyra closed her eyes and drew a deep breath, gathering the power and strength she would need to move so much weight a second time. Alexia’s blonde hair faded before his eyes.

Then they were gone.

Thad sat next to Isabel on a pristine white padded bench in the pristine front hall of what was now his pristine home, wondering how things had gotten so messy so fast. The foyer’s large, glittery chandelier cast the kind of elegant glow one would expect to see at a dinner party, and Thad couldn’t figure out how the light could be so bright when their moods were so dark.

It probably had been Isabel’s first time seeing a wizard. That alone would be a shock, even without the added head fuck of seeing her roommate in a heap on the carpet and then teleporting across the East Coast. She was wide eyed and slack jawed, with a healthy dose of this-is-not-happening all over her face.

Thad grasped her palm and gently interlaced his fingers with hers. Her hands were the softest things he’d ever touched, and they shook like crazy. He struggled with how best to care for her. How could he reassure her when he wasn’t entirely sure how it would all turn out? When they’d left, they hadn’t even been sure whether Alexia was alive or dead.

“Listen, I know you’re probably shaken up right now. I just want you to know I’m going to do whatever I can for you, okay?” She nodded slightly. “Okay.” He took a deep breath. “Now, maybe you should lie down. I can get a room prep—”

“No.” She squeezed his hand. A good sign. “No. I don’t—I don’t want to go anywhere until I know Lexi’s all right.” Her emerald eyes widened and focused on Thad. “She will be, right?”

He had, of course, no freaking clue. “We’ll do our best. Lee and Tyra wouldn’t leave her. They’ll be back any minute now.”

Thad looked up and, as if on cue, the three materialized in the foyer. “Brayden! Ivy!” Lee called. As if she’d been waiting for Lee’s command, Thad’s house manager came running in at breakneck speed with her long, black hair flapping behind her.

“Sorry, Thad. I was in my office dealing with development requests and I didn’t know you were ba—Oh, my God,” Ivy said. She stopped short, eyeing Alexia’s body as Lee laid her down gently on the deep-blue-and-green diamond-patterned carpet.

Relief pushed the breath out of Thad’s lungs. Lee had called for the doctor, so Alexia was still alive. Thad waved his hand, dismissing the apology. “Ivy, I want you to grab Brayden, pronto. Then I want you to find a couple of guest rooms for Isabel here…” His head tilted sideways. “And her friend, for
when
she’s feeling better.” He put stress on the “when.”

Ivy disappeared down the hall, her hair flowing in the breeze once more.

Isabel stood, still clutching Thad’s hand. He hated the circumstances but loved that she clung to him for support. Stopping about a foot from Alexia’s small form, she leaned forward. “She’s going to be okay,” she said again. “Right?”

Thad squeezed her hand again. “They’ll take great care of her.”

“Thad. Hey.” Greg Brayden approached briskly, and from the look of his flannel pants and rumpled T-shirt, he was straight out of bed. “Sorry. Ivy woke me; I overslept this evening.”

Why was everyone apologizing to him? Cripes. When his father was alive, no one had apologized to Thad for shit. Getting apologies now made him squirmy.

“Just take care of her,” he muttered, gesturing toward Alexia’s body. He tugged Isabel’s arm gently, urging her away so Brayden could get a look at her friend.

Thad resisted the urge to rub at the pain in his chest. He ached to make this better for Isabel, and he was completely, totally, utterly helpless to do anything but wait for Brayden’s assessment.

Kneeling by the body, the doctor did his thing. Checked her over, took her pulse, flashed a penlight in the eyes, and whatnot. Thad wondered if Brayden slept with the penlight in his jammies, given the way he’d conjured it up so fast. Isabel cringed beside him when Alexia’s body was rolled forward, exposing the nasty wound under her shoulder blade. Brayden prodded at it gently and then rocked back onto his heels.

“Well, the good news is, it doesn’t actually look that bad,” he said, running his hand through his bedhead. “She’s unresponsive, but shock and trauma could cause that. She’s got some bruising around her temple. The wound on her back is deep, but it didn’t hit anything major. Might have effed-up her tennis game a little.”

Lee scowled. “What caused the wound?”

“Hard to say, but the skin around it is pink and inflamed, almost like a sunburn. Could have been some sort of concentrated UV thing. Lucky she’s human, I guess.”

There
was something you didn’t hear every day.

Isabel stepped forward, still gripping Thad’s hand. “What can you do for her?”

Brayden’s brow furrowed. “We can give her blood to speed the healing. Other than that, just wait and see, I suppose. I’d X-ray the head, but we don’t have equipment here and I hate to transport her across town just now. We’ll need to get an X-ray, though, if we can’t wake her soon.”

“I’ll do it.” Isabel said immediately. “She can have my blood.”

Thad squeezed her hand again. “It’s better if someone else does it,” he said gently.

“She’s my friend.” Isabel twisted free of Thad’s grasp, and her eyes glittered with unshed tears. “I want to do it.”

“The older the vampire, the stronger the blood. You must know that.” His shoulders pulled back, and he looked over at the doctor. “It’s better if Brayden does it himself. Or Lee.”