Léopold's Wicked Embrace (Immortals of New Orleans) (2 page)

Hunter sighed and licked his lips in indecision. They’d all known the child wouldn’t be all wolf, yet no one had suspected the origins of her human side.

“The baby, she’s special. Yes, she’s at least half wolf. But Mariah, we didn’t know what she was. We all assumed she was human and wolf.”

“What are you trying to say?” Dimitri put his hand on the Alpha’s shoulder to comfort him.

Hunter raised his gaze to meet Dimitri’s. “I can’t explain it. Ava has this strange energy about her. I could almost handle that, but then I felt something…something worse.”

“What the hell did you feel?” Léopold asked, growing concerned for Ava’s safety.

“Something dark was out there. No, it was more than that. Something evil. Hell, I don’t know what it was.”

“A witch?” Dimitri offered.

“I don’t know. I mean, come on, guys; we’re in the middle of the wilderness out here. It’s not like we’re in New Orleans. What the hell would someone be doing practicing dark magick in the middle of Yellowstone? It doesn’t make sense. Besides, this was more like something watching…waiting. I don’t know, it could’ve been nothin’. I can’t explain it. If I didn’t know any better…” He shook his head, unwilling to share his thoughts. Even to him, his suspicions were ridiculous.

“Say it, wolf. I need to know,” Léopold insisted.

“There were times when her energy felt so strong. I actually thought I saw her skin glow…like a firefly. And things in her room…would be moved.”

“Moved? What do you mean?”

“Like objects. Like a stuffed toy. Her pacifier. I never saw her do it but I think she may be able to move things. Like call them somehow.” Hunter pressed his hands on the bar and bowed his head, embarrassed to look at their faces. What he was saying made no sense, he knew. “Goddammit, I know it sounds crazy but I’m tellin’ you that she’s not just a hybrid.”

“The baby glowed?” Dimitri laughed.

“I told you it was crazy. Even if that pup’s part wolf, she’s something else…something besides human.”

“Then what is she?” Léopold considered that he’d best call her caretaker as soon as possible. He’d seen all kinds of supernatural beings during his long life. He may not have liked Hunter, but that didn’t mean what the Alpha was saying wasn’t true.

“I don’t know,” Hunter admitted. “So Devereoux, I’ve laid out my cards. Where’d you take the baby?”

“I shall tell you where she is, but let me be clear, I’m not returning the baby to your pack until her safety is assured. The fact that a human nanny was able to steal her from your home and drag her into a blizzard is outrageous. Given that you have so many security measures, one can only assume that the human didn’t do this on her own.” Léopold eyed the Alpha, walked to the overstuffed chair and sat down, shifting his feet onto an ottoman. He raised an eyebrow at Hunter, who stood silently contemplating his words. “That being said, you don’t need to worry about her being with pack. She’s with Logan.”

“Logan? How the hell did you get a baby to Logan so fast?” Dimitri asked.

“Why would Logan take Ava?” Hunter questioned, doubting the vampire’s words.

“He owes me a debt.”

“Must be some hell of a debt if you got Logan to watch her,” Hunter said with a shake of his head.

“That it was,” Dimitri confirmed. “Léopold saved Logan’s mate, Wynter. I was there when she died…almost died. His blood runs through her veins.”

“Since when does a vampire give his gift to a wolf?”

“Doesn’t matter, Alpha. Just know that it does, and she’s alive. I went to Logan last night. It’s no business of yours as to how.” Léopold shot Dimitri a knowing look. He’d show the wolf soon enough. “It wasn’t as if Logan had much choice, but he agreed. And Wynter was more than happy to take the baby. She may not have known it before, but she’s very nurturing. They know it’s not permanent. But they will care for the pup, and she’ll be around a pack.”

Hunter quietly considered what had happened. He had no explanation for how the nanny had taken Ava from his well-secured home in the middle of the night. And he couldn’t be sure if he’d only imagined the dark force he’d felt or if the pressure of losing two wolves and caring for a baby had skewed his senses. While he cared for Ava, he was not her father. He’d merely been foster parent and he’d known that he’d eventually have to find her adoptive parents.

“I agree that Logan is well suited to watch the child, but we still don’t know about the baby…what she is. Her mother, Mariah; I didn’t know her very well but I know she’d lived in both New York City and New Orleans. Maybe if we could find Perry or track down a relative, they could help us figure out if Ava has any special abilities.”

“We’re leaving for New Orleans tonight,” Léopold informed them. “Tomorrow, we’ll meet with Logan to make sure the child is safe.”

“I’m going to search Perry’s house tomorrow and see if we can find any clues to Mariah’s background. I don’t understand why someone would want to kill her baby. It makes no sense,” Hunter said.

“People kill for all kinds of reasons, Alpha. Spite, love, anger, jealousy…sometimes people kill just for fun. It is a wonder at times there’s anyone left on the Earth,” Léopold pondered. “I, myself, prefer to kill for revenge. And the next person who attempts to harm Ava will die. I can assure you of that.”

Hunter went to his desk, pulled out a piece of paper and wrote down Mariah’s and Perry’s full names. He extended the note to Léopold. “Perry’s local. He met Mariah in New York last year. But I remember him telling me that she hadn’t lived there very long. I don’t think she even ran with a pack. You know how the hybrids can be…they like to lay low sometimes. Even though he’d mentioned New Orleans, she may not have been there very long either. I don’t have an address or anything else to go by.”

“She’s never been part of the Acadian wolf pack. Maybe she was just passing through or stayed with a friend?” Dimitri suggested.

“We’ll find her family and her friends. And we’ll find Perry, too. I don’t give a damn if the wolf had his heart torn out all over the floor, a man doesn’t just walk away from his child,” Léopold replied with disdain.

Dimitri didn’t answer the vampire, hesitating to agree with him. While the loss of a wolf’s mate was devastating, there was no excuse for leaving one’s offspring. Dimitri caught Hunter’s gaze, expecting the Alpha to argue with Léopold. Instead, deafening silence hung in the air for several minutes until Hunter responded.

“Listen, I don’t condone what Perry did and he’s not welcome to return, but I agree with the vamp. We’ve got to find him. Ava deserves better.” The buzz of Hunter’s cell phone drew his attention away. He clicked it off and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry gentlemen, but I’ve gotta take this in my office. I’ll just be a few minutes.”

As Hunter retreated out of the living area, Léopold addressed Dimitri. “Time to go, wolf.”

Dimitri rolled his eyes, recognizing the patronizing tone of Léopold’s statement. “Yeah, I need to get dressed, first. How the hell did you get here anyway? I told you I’d find my way back to the cabin. Even if you drove the main highway, you’d be hard pressed to make it up Hunter’s driveway tonight. Did you walk?”

Léopold smiled coyly at Dimitri. It had been so long since he’d had a friend and now he was about to clue him in on a little secret. Léopold approached him with a small chuckle, closing the distance between them.

“What’s so funny?” Dimitri stood with the blanket wrapped loosely around his hips, confused as to what Léopold found so amusing. The hairs on the back of his neck pricked as Léopold raised his hands as if to embrace him. “Come on, man. Let me go get dressed and we can get the hell out of here. We can call the airline on the way back to the cabin and…”

“Ah, mon ami, have I told you how much I’ve enjoyed the past few days?” Léopold set his palms on Dimitri’s shoulders.

“What? Yeah, okay. Good times and all, but we’ve got to get going.” Dimitri cocked a worried eyebrow at the vampire. His gut told him something bad was about to happen; something very, very bad. He looked from side to side at Léopold’s hands. Their heavy weight warmed his bare skin. A whisper fell through his lips. “What are you doing, man?”

“First, know that it’s going to be okay.”

Dimitri nodded, attempting to remain calm.

“Second, we aren’t taking a plane.”

Dimitri hit the floor with a thud, his head barely missing what he recognized as a heavy wooden spindle from a four poster bed frame. His eyes flew open and he realized he was in a strange room, but he wasn’t alone. Léopold lay next to him, grunting in pain.

“What the fuck did you just do, Devereoux?” Dimitri yelled, unable to gather the energy to get up off the carpet. Confusion fogged his mind as he tried to figure out where he was and how he’d gotten there. A deep rumble of laughter interrupted his growing state of panic.
Damn vampire.
“Jesus Christ. Are you trying to kill me?”

“Yeah, I thought it’d be better not to tell you. You might not agree otherwise. Much faster than a plane, no?” Léopold continued to laugh as he attempted to push up onto his elbows.

He glanced over to Dimitri who was laid flat out on his back, naked as a jaybird. Very few knew of his ability to materialize and very rarely had he pulled someone through with him. But he needed to get back to New Orleans as fast as possible and flying in a plane would have taken hours. Unfortunately, he’d had to bring the baby last night and hadn’t fed in a few days. Exhausted, he clasped his hands onto the side of the mattress and used it as leverage to hoist himself off the floor and onto the bed.

As he rolled onto the soft comforter, he groaned in agony. Reaching across his chest, he fingered the torn fabric and ripped open his shirt. The crusty line across his abdomen provided evidence that he hadn’t fully healed from the Alpha’s blade. The rush of adrenaline must have kept him from feeling the pain, but now the sting tore across his chest.

“Merde,” he coughed.

“What the hell is your problem, vampire? Travel arrangements not up to your standards?” Dimitri spat out, trying to get his bearings.

“Don’t tell me you’re not impressed, wolf. It’s a cool trick. Don’t try to deny it.” Léopold took a deep breath and blew it out.

“Now you see it, now you don’t. You’d better fucking tell me what you just did. I feel like you scrambled my brain. Not cool.”

“Ah, stop complaining. You’ll feel better in a few minutes. Just look at it like shifting. It’s a kind of magic, sort of. Or one could say it is the temporary reorganization of mass and energy. Perfectly safe, I assure you.”

“Yeah, well, it may be safe, but you could have told me. A little warning might’ve been nice.”

“And you would have agreed?” Léopold choked up blood and his eyes fluttered.

“Probably not, but shit, Leo,” Dimitri huffed. He was loath to admit it but Léopold was right; he was beginning to feel well again. He sat up and noticed Léopold sprawled out on the bed, looking unusually pale…even for a vampire. A nasty scab lined his chest. “Hey man, what’s wrong with you? What happened to mister, oh so powerful ancient one? You do remember that vampires heal themselves, don’t you?”

“Mon ami, even I have my limits. I need to feed. I flashed back here last night with Ava and now again with you. If I can get my phone out…” Léopold kicked off his boots with his feet and began to take off his jacket, searching the pockets. “Where is my damn phone?”

“What’re you doing?” Dimitri stood and stretched, looking at his hands, feet and groin, checking to make sure everything was in working order.

“Arnaud.”

“Who’s Arnaud?”

“He’s my, uh, you know, assistant.”

“Like your Renfield, huh? Maaassster,” Dimitri joked in his best Transylvanian accent.

“He’s not sired or bonded, smart ass. But he is well paid. He was supposed to bring me a donor, and you, some clothes. I just need to lay here a minute…find my fucking phone.”

Dimitri laughed. “Looks like the great one is definitely loosening up. First the hot tub. Your liberal use of the f bomb hasn’t gone unnoticed either. There’s hope for you yet.”

“What can I say? You’re a bad influence.” Unable to find his phone, he threw his jacket to Dimitri, who effortlessly caught it mid-air. “Find my cell.”

Dimitri quickly rummaged through all the pockets of the parka. “Nothing. You said, Arnaud is supposed to be here? And by donor, I assume you’re talking about a human?”

“Oui. Some are paid, some are volunteers.”

“Volunteers, huh? You got em’ lined up waiting for you to suck their blood? You must be good,” he joked as he made his way toward the door.

“The very best,” Léopold replied with a smile. But as soon as Dimitri left the room, he moaned, gritting his teeth together. Damn, he needed his sustenance. He should have known better than to try to transport again without feeding but he’d be damned if he spent another minute in the Alpha’s home when there was work to be done. He stared at the ceiling, weighing his options. Sure, he could drag his sorry ass downstairs and catch a cab to a local blood club. But the donor should have arrived already. Within minutes, he heard Dimitri returning down the hallway. The distinctive sound of a singular set of footsteps told him that he was alone.

“No one’s here yet. But hey, look at this.” Dimitri gestured to the dresser which was covered in an assortment of new clothing with the tags still attached. “Jeeves must’ve gotten one thing right. You mind?”

“Please do. If I have to look at your naked ass one more second, I think I’ll bite my own arm.”

Dimitri laughed, ripping open a new package of boxers. He quickly put them on and went to look through the large pile of jeans. He was about to ask how Léopold’s manservant would know his size, more than a little creeped out that some personal assistant was trying to dress him, when he heard a hiss from the bed. He sighed, knowing that his next idea was probably not the smartest thing he’d ever proposed, but damn, he felt a little guilty that the big guy had brought him all this way, sharing his ‘special travel skill’ and now the vampire was having trouble even sitting up in bed.

“Hey, Léopold. How about we take a cab to one of those clubs? What’s the name of that place? Mordez?”