King of Darkness (29 page)

They stopped to listen when they reached the second-floor landing. Nothing. No fighting, no explosions. That could be good or very, very bad. Finally, the sounds of quiet shuffling could be heard, and the two stepped back into the shadows as a door nearby creaked open.

“Oh, good. There you are.” Tyra’s voice whispered into the hallway. Thank goodness.

Now that Thad knew she was all right, he was gonna kill her.

They entered the apartment and closed the door, locking it behind them. The place was about ten years past being condemned and looked it. The few pieces of furniture, including a small rickety table and a busted-up recliner, looked like they’d been hauled out of a Dumpster.

Tyra materialized in front of him. “Good news. Isabel’s fine, I think. She’s in the other room, unconscious but definitely alive. There are others—another female who’s in real bad shape and a male who’s been beaten all to hell. None of them are lucid enough to talk so they can’t tell us anything.” She gestured across the way to the adjoining bedroom.

Thad growled as he passed her. “You and I are going to have a serious talk later.”

“Yeah, yeah.” She crossed her arms defiantly as he and Lee passed by.

Thad growled under his breath. She might be his sister, but he was the king, and she needed to start being more respectful.

Thad opened the door to the apartment’s only bedroom and took in three dead wizard bodies and three comatose vampires. For a moment in his head, they seemed like teams for some messed-up, half-court basketball game.

Siddoh was kneeling on the floor beside the blonde female, checking her over while he barked instructions rapid-fire into the phone that was clamped between his ear and his shoulder. He nodded in Isabel’s general direction. “I think she’s all right. I’m calling in transport.”

Getting to Isabel’s side meant stepping over two bloody wizard corpses lying side by side. Thad noted with gratitude that Isabel was most definitely alive—breathing, heart beating, and all that good stuff.

“Isabel,” he said quietly. His hands skimmed over her body to check for injury. “I’m here, okay? I’m going to take care of you.”

She needed blood, and he refused to waste the time to get her checked out. His fangs punched through his gums with record speed and he pierced his wrist, pulling her chin down to let the blood drip between her lips.

“Come on, Isabel.”

***

Lee remained by the door, one eye on the entrance in the main room. He turned to Tyra. “Talk to me. What happened?”

“She went fucking kamikaze in here is what happened,” Siddoh said tersely, snapping his phone closed.

Tyra sighed. “I teleported in here and took out these two.” She gestured to the floor. “Sliced that one’s throat, stabbed that one in the back, and that one…” She trailed off, turning to gesture at another behind her and to the left. “Siddoh broke his neck.”

Lee nodded, his eyes remaining on the outside door. “We should assume there could be more.”

“I know. Siddoh said another one left earlier.” She seemed to sag against the wall.

“How are you doing? Need a break?”

“No, no,” she insisted. “I’m fine. Really.” Lee didn’t try to hide his frown of disapproval.

“It would be good for her to rest,” Siddoh muttered from across the room. “She blew her reserves transporting twice while invisible.”

Lee scowled, pegging Tyra with a frustrated glare. “It’s not a problem if you’re tired, Ty. It happens to the best of us, and if you aren’t up to par, you’re a liability so don’t fucking try to be a hero.”

Her spine straightened, her facial features becoming hard. Great, she was gonna take that as a challenge. “If I’m out of juice, I’ll let you know. Now drop it.”

“Fair enough.” Lee remained doubtful, but time to argue was in short supply.

Besides, it was important that he be able to trust his fighters, Tyra included. There was a good chance that more wizards were coming, and they needed to be prepared for whatever could happen. If she was strong enough to help out, he couldn’t justify sending her packing.

Siddoh’s cell phone buzzed. “Pickup’s arrived. Let’s get these guys out of here.”

“Take the other two first,” Thad instructed. “Isabel just started drinking.”

Lee allowed himself a quick glance over to where Thad held his wrist steady over Isabel’s mouth. He hadn’t realized she was coming around, but thank goodness. Lee walked into the next room to look around. “There’s a fire escape outside that window. Have the guys come up and grab them that way. Make sure someone keeps a lookout at the bottom.”

Siddoh had just begun to heft the blonde female when he paused and straightened. Lee felt an imminent sense of icky as well, and Tyra was right behind them.

“We’ve got incoming,” Lee murmured.

Tyra moved to the other side of the room. “Siddoh, put her down.” She bent and curled one long arm around the blonde female’s waist and the other around the male, whose mug looked like hamburger.

“Tyra, you can’t,” Siddoh said softly. “You haven’t recharged enough. Your noodle’s gonna be cooked.”

“Ty…” From his crouched position Thad was at eye level with her. Concern was all over his face.

“Thad,” Tyra said urgently, “just shut up, and let me go. We have to get these guys out of here.” As if on cue, everyone’s heads snapped up when a key started to jiggle in the front door of the piece of shit apartment. “Thad,” she said again. “Just take care of your queen. I might not be able to come back right away, but I’ll be fine. I promise I’ll be careful.”

The knob began to turn, and she didn’t waste any more time. Tyra hugged both bodies to her sides, and the three of them disappeared.

Lee remained in the doorway, his eyes trained on the turning knob. He pulled his MK23 and quickly affixed the silencer. The gun was in his right hand and a blade in his left. He’d allowed the protective shield to fizzle out but now it roared to life as he placed himself in the doorway to block the rest of the room from attack.

Here
we
go
.

Adrenaline shot through Lee’s system as he readied for battle. This was different from what they’d come up against in Orlando. Whatever was about to come through that door was packing a whole lot of power. An odd kind of arousal filled his body. The promise of a good fight always got him hard.

“Hold up, man.” Siddoh was cloaked and making a play to squeeze past him. Lee pulled back his shield for a beat, and as the door creaked open, a small noise told him that Siddoh had taken up a position in the other room.

Lee focused on filling the doorway with his shields so that Thad and Isabel would be protected. Faintly, he heard Thad tapping the keys on his phone. Good, he was getting more backup. When the door swung open, Lee was surprised by what he saw on the other side: the dude looked like an ordinary man. No dumb-ass robe, no shaved head, no heart-embossed signet ring. Just an average-looking Joe in jeans and a button-down shirt.

But you couldn’t hide the evil just by changing the wardrobe. And this guy? Lee hadn’t encountered a wizard so powerful in centuries. The bad mojo was so thick that you could choke on it, and even with his strength and experience Lee felt his extremities go cold as all of his blood recoiled to the center of his body.

“Well, what do we have here?” The man smiled calmly at Lee, throwing some sort of folder down by the door as he kicked it shut behind him. “Company? And I didn’t even set out the tea and cookies,” he said in a mocking voice.

Lee remained still.

Staring.

Waiting.

He wanted the wizard to attack first, to show at least one of his powers so they all knew better what they were working with. Lee would draw the dude’s attack, and then Siddoh could get him from behind.

“So…” The wizard walked slowly toward Lee, unbuttoning his cuffs and rolling up his sleeves as he went. Like he was getting ready to sit down to a good meal and didn’t want to drag his sleeves through the gravy. No apprehension or aggression was apparent in the man’s actions. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” A few more steps. “I see you’ve taken my prisoners. And killed my men. That’s not fair, because I don’t come to your house to kill and steal things.”

The wizard cleared his throat. “Then again, if I knew where you lived, I might. But hey! Water under the bridge, right? What say we call a truce.” He approached Lee, hand extended. “Name’s Petros.” Lee waited. “What? Not interested in being civilized, vampire?” Abruptly a wicked grin appeared on the wizard’s face as he sank into an attack stance.

Lee had to suppress his shock as suddenly one man became two. Then there was another, and another. In an unholy instant the room was filled with half a dozen replicas of the wizard, all in the same fighting stance. How the fuck the wizard had done it, Lee had no clue.

It was known that wizards could mutate the powers they acquired into something far more sinister, but without question this was the craziest thing Lee had ever come up against.

He squared his shoulders and braced for impact.

Tyra materialized in the alley behind the busted apartment building, sagging under the deadweight of two less-than-conscious bodies. She pursed her lips and sounded a shrill whistle, the pitch so high that it would only be heard by her own kind or any stray dogs that might be in the neighborhood.

From the shadows emerged two of her fellow soldiers, Zarek and Flay. They each grabbed a body and loaded them as gently as they could into the nearest Land Rover. Tyra sighed gratefully. “Thanks, guys.”

“No problem, Tyra.” Flay’s face was hard and solemn.

“It’s a damn shame,” said Zarek. He carefully arranged the blonde female on the bench seat, making sure that her hair was out of the way of the door before closing it. “You okay, Tyra?”

“I will be.” She straightened and squared her shoulders as best as she could. “Where’s everyone else?”

Zarek jammed a thumb in the direction of the building behind them. “Thad sent a text asking for backup.”

Tyra nodded. Jesus, she was really tired. “All right, here’s what I want you to do. One of you stay and stand guard, and the other needs to haul ass back to the estate and get these two seen by a doctor. Make sure you check for identification. Their families need to be notified.” The two nodded. Glancing around, she realized there were only a couple of vehicles nearby. The others had probably come on foot. “Where’s Xander? Is he still out of commission?”

Zarek nodded an affirmative. “His wounds are healing but Siddoh’s keeping him off active duty for a little longer.”

Tyra blew out a sigh. She was probably going to catch hell later for this one, but that didn’t much matter at the moment. Besides, being Thad’s sister generally granted her a little leeway.

“I want you to get him out here.” She held up her hands in response to their dubious expressions. “Not to fight, just to have as backup. He can bring an extra vehicle, and he can stand by just in case. I don’t know what they’re up against, but that was a whole lot of nasty up there and I’d rather be safe than sorry.”

“Yeah. You can feel it even down here,” Flay agreed.

“Good.” She sighed. “Now, I’m out of here. I’ve used up most of my juice, and I need to leave before I’m a liability. The shelter’s not far so I’m going to chill there in my office till I feel well enough to make it home.”

“You sure you don’t want an escort?” Zarek looked around the area, brow furrowed with concern. What a sweetie.

“I can handle myself well enough to get where I’m going. I just don’t want to drain my reserves.” She clapped Zarek on the back, waved to Flay, and headed down the alley toward Broad Street.

Tyra meandered through the winter night. She kept her head down and walked as quickly as she could manage, not wanting to be hit up for money, drugs, or sexual favors. Luckily, there was little activity, given the weather and the holiday. Not many lights were on, and the few Christmas decorations she saw made this part of the city seem even more bleak.

Tyra thought of Thad and said a small prayer that everyone would make it home safely tonight, him and Isabel especially. For all the issues she may have had toward her too-busy father and completely absent mother, she had to admit no small amount of relief at being half human. Thad’s responsibility would never fall to her.

He had a long row to hoe, starting with just getting his poor female out of that dilapidated apartment and away from wizard hands. Then he had to convince her to be his mate and his queen, and of course he still had to figure out how to be the kind of leader their father had spent hundreds of years becoming.

No freaking biggie.

God, what a shitty way to spend Christmas. Turning down Broad, she trekked headlong into the blustery, frigid wind, turning her attention to her other big dilemma: the apparently homeless wizard camping out at her shelter of all the crazy messed-up things. Oh yeah, and she
lit
him
up
, for crying out loud.

But there could be an alternate explanation. He could have found the ring, or he could have been attacked by wizards and grabbed a ring in the scuffle.