Moonlight(Pact Arcanum 3) (23 page)

Noah laughed. “We’ve been friends since we were kids. At first, we thought he was just being cocky when he took up the violin, but he managed to make it sing eventually. We’ve been playing as a group, on and off, since we were teenagers.”

“Then it must be good to work together again,” said Andrea. She toyed with her napkin while she considered her words. “Does this whole business with the AIs put a damper on your relationship?”

Matt looked at her with a sober expression. “It kind of shocked me when I heard that Toby became their spokesman.”

Noah’s expression turned grim. “The things they say these machines were about to do are chilling. Still, after everything we’ve been through, we decided to let Toby prove he was still the man we remembered him to be. We owed him that.”

Rafael watched Ethan with his senses open, but caught only a tightly restricted burst of anger, just for a moment, before it faded. Rafael was impressed. He hadn’t met a mortal before with such rigid control.
Is he deliberately hiding something, or is he just disciplined?

“We take care of our own, Andrea,” Ethan said finally. “Toby’s one of us, no matter what else he is.”

“Thank you, guys,” Toby said, his eyes bright. “It means a lot to me.”

“Like glue, brother,” Matt said with a smile. “Now if only you’d stop yakking about your woman all the time, it would be just like it was before.”

“Hey, now wait a minute,” Toby said in mock anger. “Don’t hate me because you’re jealous. Maybe you just need to find someone nice and settle down yourself.”

Matt laughed. “Not on your life, blondie.”

Noah shook his head. “Kids.” He smiled at Andrea. “Don’t mind them, my dear. Matt’s just annoyed that Toby won’t join him in catting around ‘til all hours of the night anymore.”

Toby snorted. “Hey, you can’t stay single forever. Life’s too short.” He looked at Ethan. “What about you, Eth? What happened to that girl you were seeing? Sarah? The two of you seemed pretty serious before I dropped out of the band.”

Rafael was shocked at the explosion of white-hot rage that boiled off Ethan’s mind. He tensed, ready to protect Toby if the other musician attacked. Ethan simply stared at Toby for a few moments, holding himself perfectly still.

“You were gone for quite a while, Toby,” Ethan said, betraying nothing of his emotions. “Things change. I haven’t spoken to Sarah in months.”

“It’s too bad.” Noah turned his head to look at Ethan. “You guys were tight. What happened? You never talk about it.”

“And I don’t plan to start now,” Ethan said. He checked his watch. “It’s late, and I want to get some sleep before my flight tomorrow.” He stood from his chair. “I’ll see you guys next week at rehearsal.”

Matt stood, as well. “I’m going to head out, too. There’s a couple of clubs down here that I want to check out, and my flight’s not until the afternoon.”

“See you guys later,” said Noah. He cocked his head and regarded Andrea intently. “Can I interest you in a movie, perhaps?”

Andrea smiled slightly. “Sure. What’s playing?”

Noah shrugged. “No idea. Give me a sec, and I’ll snag the listings from the maître d’ while I settle the tab.” He stood and walked toward the reception desk, leaving Rafael, Toby, and Andrea sitting alone.

Rafael felt Andrea’s psychic probe against his shields and linked with her.
“What did you find out?”
he asked.

“Noah is more bothered by Toby’s association with the Nexus than he lets on, but it’s based more on principle than because of any deep-seated antipathy. Matt really doesn’t care. He’s just happy to have the band together again.”
She looked at Toby.
“You’ve got some good friends there, Toby.”

Toby smiled.
“See. I told you. None of them would try to hurt me.”

“Don’t be so sure, Tobias,”
thought Rafael.

Both Sentinels turned their full attention on him at once.
“What are you talking about?”
Toby demanded.

“When you mentioned Ethan’s girlfriend, Sarah, he became so angry that I thought he was going to punch you out.”
Rafael gave Toby an apologetic look.
“There’s something he’s keeping bottled up inside, and I don’t know what it is. All I can say is that he blames you for it.”

“So he had a bad breakup. What does that have to do with me?”

“I don’t know. But the woman is the key.”

Andrea leaned forward intently.
“What’s her full name, Toby? I can have Armistice Security check her out. Maybe she can tell us what Ethan is hiding.”

“I don’t remember,”
thought Toby. He glanced back and forth between them.
“Do you honestly think he’d try and hurt me? The OU wants me dead. Ethan wouldn’t go along with that.”

“You haven’t dealt with this kind of anger, Toby,”
Rafael thought.
“I have. I live with it every day. It consumes you, drives out your reason and beliefs, until all that’s left is rage.”

Toby stared at him and then got up out of his chair.
“I’m going home. I’ll see you two later.”
Then he disappeared in a haze of white light.

Noah came back to the table. “Hey, where did Toby go? I just saw him teleport out.”

“He went home,” said Andrea. She looked at Noah. “Do you want to get out of here?”

Noah’s smiled in delight. “Sure. I’ll have the car meet us outside.” He pulled out his sat-phone and offered a hand to Andrea.

Andrea allowed him to help her to her feet and then extended her hand to Rafael. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Rafael.”

Rafael nodded to her as he shook her hand. “Likewise.”

He watched Noah and Andrea walk out of the restaurant. Then he stood and ordered his AI to teleport him home. The restaurant faded away, replaced by the master teleport gateway at the heart of the Citadel. Making his way to the internal gateways, Rafael jumped himself back to his building. He walked purposefully to his apartment and let himself inside before turning to face the single heartbeat he could hear.

Nick turned away from the window and its view of the stars. “Well?”

Rafael gazed at him silently and then took a deep breath. “Ethan is your man.”

Nick snarled. “Tell me everything.”

THE SPACER

CHAPTER 30

Anchorpoint City, Colorado; One week later

Andrea Daniels placed her hand over the security sensor and allowed the AI to recognize her. After a moment, the door chimed, and she let herself in.

Layla looked up from her workstation. “Good morning, Ms. Daniels. What brings you to Anchorpoint today?”

Andrea sat in one of the chairs drawn up to the other side of the desk. “Speaker Layla, I thought perhaps we should talk, given our mutual ties to Toby.”

Layla folded her hands on the desk and looked at her with a calculating expression. “That seems appropriate. We have not spoken more than a few words to each other since the two of you became linked.”

“Yes, well, I hope the three of us will have a long time to get acquainted, but I thought I’d start the ball rolling.”

Layla considered the Sentinel with a hint of a smile. “Were you afraid I might be jealous of you?”

“Possibly. The link is a powerful connection, and it wouldn’t be the first time that an outsider might mistake the motives of a bondmate.”

Layla chuckled. “No, it wouldn’t.” Her expression grew more somber. “I have studied Sentinels for millennia, first as enemies, then as allies. I have no illusions that I could separate the two of you, nor do I feel threatened by the closeness that you share through the link. However, it is not uncommon for that closeness to develop into something more, if firm boundaries are not enforced on both sides.”

“Even if I felt that way about him, I’d never try to take him from you, Layla. No matter what our relationship evolves into, he’ll still put you first.”

“I believe you. In any case—” She broke off with a grimace.

Andrea raised an eyebrow. “Is something wrong?”

Layla took a deep breath. “If I had to guess, I believe that was a contraction.”

Andrea’s eyes widened. “Right now?”

Layla stared at her with a dazed expression. “So it would seem.”

Andrea seemed totally at a loss. “How can I help?”

Layla laughed. “I think, if you could ask Tobias to collect his sister and meet me at the main hospital here in Anchorpoint, that would be sufficient.” She struggled to stand.

Andrea jumped to her feet and went around the desk to help the Daywalker up. “I can do that,” she said. “Is there anyone else you want me to call?”

“I think Nicholas and the rest of the Triumvirate should know, in case they need to cover my duties. They can decide whom else to tell.” She staggered slightly. “On second thought, perhaps, could you help me to the gateway? I do not wish to attempt a teleport in my state of mind.”

Andrea slipped her arm around her. “If you like I can jump you there directly.”

Layla sighed. “I do not ask for favors easily, Ms. Daniels.”

“It’s no trouble, Layla, and my name is Andrea. Feel free to use it.” Andrea grasped the vampire more tightly and then jumped them both away.

San Francisco, California

Toby was playing a short melody on his violin when he heard Andrea’s voice in his head.
“Toby, you need to get to the main hospital in Anchorpoint right now.”

Toby broke off his tune with a screech. The other members of his band looked at him as if he was demented.
“Why? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong. Congratulations.”

Toby turned white. “Now? It’s happening now?”

“Yes. She wants you to grab your sister and meet us at the hospital.”

“Right. I’ll be there in a minute.”
Toby laid his instrument back in its case before turning to his bandmates. “Guys, I have to go.”

Matt grinned at his obvious nervousness. “Shall we break out the cigars, Toby?”

Toby nodded, speechless.

Noah slapped him on the back. “Go, then. Congratulations.”

“Do you want us to come with you?” Ethan asked in a soft voice.

Toby stared at him, trying to see if there was a hidden meaning in the offer, but he suddenly didn’t care. “Oh, God, yes.”

The others immediately put their instruments aside and stood next to him. “Then we’re there,” said Noah.

Toby gave him a look of gratitude, then enfolded them in a teleport matrix and jumped them all away.

Anchorpoint City, Colorado; Four hours later

Ethan watched the people in the waiting room. He had known Nick for years, but had never seen him this restless, pacing back and forth in the open space. Andrea slept, leaning against Noah, who had casually wrapped his arm around her. Matt was deeply involved in a conversation with Rory about drum theory, while Takeshi played chess with Jeremy. Ana had gone off to get food for all of them, since the hospital’s internal teleport functions were temporarily offline. Scott was the only one missing, staying home to take care of his own newborn, but he checked in every so often with Nick over their link. It all appeared charmingly domestic, and if he hadn’t known that most of the occupants of the room weren’t human, he might even have been comforted by the illusion of normalcy. As it was though, the entire tableau struck him as strangely creepy.

He got up from his chair and followed the signs to the restroom. When he was done, he stared into the mirror while he washed his hands, seeing the creases on his face that hadn’t been there a year ago.
How did I get so old?
Briefly, he thought of Sarah and her talk of “laugh lines,” which brought a smile to his lips for just a moment. Then he pushed the memory away. He couldn’t think about her, not in this place. This was enemy territory, and nothing would change that. Nothing at all.

The door clicked and then opened.
I locked that,
he thought, schooling his expression. It wouldn’t do to let his feelings show. Not here. He felt a brief spasm of fear when Nick walked inside the room, then he deliberately smiled at the Daywalker.

“Hi, Nick. I’m done. The room’s all yours.”

Nick closed the door behind him. Then he laid his palm on the center of the door.
“Let no one enter. The way is barred.”
A faint green glow spread out from his hand to cover the door, then faded. Nick turned his attention back to Ethan, and his eyes turned red. “It’s time we had a little chat.”

Ethan controlled his panic, affecting innocence. “What about?”

“Sarah Harrison,” Nick said in a rumbling whisper, his voice dropping into a lower register.

Ethan’s composure crumbled, and he snarled in rage. “Don’t say her name, you freak.”

Nick smiled, allowing his fangs to show. “Ethan, I am truly sorry, but it doesn’t change anything.” He stalked forward, closing the distance between them. “You can lie, scheme, and plot all you want against the Nexus. Be my guest. But if you ever endanger Toby or his family again, I will see you dead.”

Ethan laughed harshly. “You can’t just kill me, Daywalker. Don’t you have laws about that sort of thing? Honor can be such a bitch.”