No Man's Land (30 page)

Jaq pulled Rube’s lifeless body from her and tossed it aside, extending a hand to help Kelly to her feet.

“Do your newfound psychic abilities reveal any other vampires near here?”

Kelly closed her eyes and reached out, extending her awareness past the railroad tracks and down along the river. The area was filled with werewolves, but there were only ten vampires in a mile radius. They were toward the east, all heading toward one specific spot.

“In the town of Harpers Ferry. I think they’re retreating. We’ve won.”

Furred shapes raced by, through the trees, heading east into Harpers Ferry. A series of yips filled the air followed by a long howl. Close.

“The werewolves are tightening ranks and herding the remaining vampires toward the river.”

Once there, they’d have a choice of taking the train bridge across the Potomac into Maryland, or following the highway through a short stretch of Virginia before crossing. Kelly sighed in relief. It
was
over. They’d ensure the vampires retreated into Maryland, and then go home to regroup. She thought of her future. What would life be like, a solitary vampire among werewolves? She’d lost her job at Dales, but maybe she could get one somewhere else. With the humans donating blood, and the vampires out of their territory, the future suddenly didn’t look so bleak.

Jaq smiled. “Excellent. We’ll corner them down on High street, at the fork in the rivers. It’s fight or swim. We’ll kill the remaining ones, then they’ll know to never mess with us again.”

“Wait …no.”

But it was too late. Jaq had morphed into her wolf form and took off through the trees. Kelly cursed, racing after her. Foolish werewolves. Cornered vampires who’d lost all hope of survival were dangerous. It would have been better to let them escape. They’d sent their message. It would be a long time before the vampires attacked again — if ever. West Virginia wouldn’t be worth the trouble. This last stand would only result in more losses.

They ran down the streets of Harpers Ferry toward the Potomac, steadily joined by other wolves who made clear their dislike of Kelly. Jaq held back to run by her side, snapping at any who came close.

A railroad bridge gave access across the Potomac River, but the werewolves carefully guarded it. Kelly could see figures darting here and there among the buildings and along the rooftops as the wolves attempted to herd them into a group.

“Just let them cross the railroad bridges,” she told Jaq.

The werewolf snarled in response. This was going to get bloody, and all for nothing.

“It won’t gain you anything. You’ll wind up with more dead, and there’s a good chance most of them will escape anyway.”

Jaq shot her an exasperated look and slowed to a walk. The scene ahead of them broke into chaos as vampires used their ability to leap and climb to avoid the werewolves who threatened from below. Like monkeys, they hopped across rooftops and scaled up railroad tresses to cross the river. In the end, the werewolves watched, frustrated, as their quarry escaped.

“It’s for the best,” Kelly told Jaq. “Enough have died, and the vampires aren’t going to risk this again. The goal was to secure your territory. You’ve done that. Don’t put yourselves in further danger for nothing.”

Jaq flashed back into her human form. “I get the feeling this isn’t over.”

Exhaustion overcame Kelly. Her shoulders drooped. All she wanted was her bed.

“Well it’s over for tonight. Let’s go home. I want to check on Melody and the humans, and get a hot shower. Then I truly want to be in bed by dawn. It will be nice, for once, to sleep the day away.”

Jaq took one last look at the retreating vampires darting across the railroad bridges. “You’re probably right. And I could use some sleep too.”

31

I
’m sorry about the truck,” Kelly repeated once more as she and Jaq shuffled along the empty road. The thing had sputtered to a stop a mile from their home, and no amount of Jaq’s tinkering and cursing had managed to get it running again. Finally she’d given up, declaring herself too tired to work on it. She wasn’t the only one. Kelly had that weird sensation of being high and completely exhausted at the same time. They were the lucky ones. Mike had stayed behind with the other werewolves to clean up. There were bodies to bury, lost pack–members to find and mourn, and families to notify.

Bed, bed, bed
. It was the only thing that had kept Kelly going, although she knew there would be no bed until she checked on the neighbors and cleaned the filth and gore from her skin. Tomorrow they’d help with burial, relieving the others. But what would tomorrow bring? What kind of backlash would face her after this–evening’s activities? The prospect of more Kincaid assassins depressed her, but not as much as the knowledge that she’d probably added Fournier assassins to her list. And there was no guarantee the werewolves would ever accept her, let alone defend her against two vampire clans. She hoped the word hadn’t gotten back to her previous family that she’d fought against them.

And there it was, absurdly noticeable on the quiet rural roadway — a big black Mercedes parked right off the shoulder by the turn onto Briar Lane.

Jaq bristled. “It’s that asshole with the silk suit from the night they dumped you here. I’d recognize that car anywhere.”

Maybe. Or maybe someone just borrowed it for the evening. Although who would have the gall to borrow the Prince’s Mercedes?

Kelly’s heart quickened as they carefully walked towards the line of trailers. They’d just rounded the corner by Melody’s when the familiar aura washed across her.

“He’s in your house,” Jaq hissed, pulling at Kelly’s arm to drag her behind an unkempt hedge.

Yes, and I’m exhausted, still high as a kite, and covered in vampire blood,
Kelly thought.

Why was the Prince here? Kelly’s first panicked thoughts were that he’d seen her during the fight and was here to deliver the ultimate punishment for her betrayal of the family.

“It’s the Prince,” she told Jaq. “You go check on Melody, and I’ll go see him.” There was no sense in getting Jaq involved in this. Better to make sure she was safe and face whatever was inside that trailer alone.

“No, you’re not going to see him! Let’s kill him and be done with this whole thing. No Prince; no more raids on our territory, and no more vampires tromping through on their way to take out the southern group. Problem solved.”

“No, problem just beginning. Let’s just say the pair of us get lucky and manage to kill a Born vampire of his age. The Master will turn the whole east coast upside down searching for him, and when he finds out what happened — because he
will
find out — every werewolf on the planet will suffer an agonizingly long death.”

“We could do it,” Jaq insisted. “We’re strong enough, and we can use the battle to cover it up — let your master–guy think the southern group did it.”

“First, we’re not going to be able to kill him. Maybe if I had more of your blood, but I’m terrified that even a little more will kill me — I’m still high from what I took earlier. Even if we manage to kill him, and successfully blame it on Kincaid, you’ll still have the entire Fournier family pouring through the border to avenge their prince. He’s the Master’s
only
offspring. If the Prince dies, the whole area is going to become a bloodbath.”

Jaq waved her hands in agitation. “He’s going to kill you. You betrayed your family, remember? They betrayed you first, but I doubt they’ll see it that way. I’m not letting you walk in there to your death.”

Deep breath. He wasn’t here to kill her. It was all going to be okay.

“Princes don’t do their own dirty work. He didn’t even stand close enough to get blood on his suit when they were walloping me. I think the only reason he helped when they were pulling my fangs was to save time. I’m not sure why he’s here, but I doubt it’s to kill me. He would have brought a couple of helpers, otherwise.”

Jaq sighed, glancing once again toward the trailer. “Fine, but I’m sticking around, in case you need back–up.”

“Just don’t get too close. I don’t want him to recognize your smell as anything out of the ordinary, or think there’s someone spying on us.”

The Prince was arrogantly leaning against the kitchen table, his arms crossed. Kelly felt a wave of irritation. She was just a tool to him. He didn’t care about her; none of them did.

Dispensing with the respectful vampire posture, Kelly nodded curtly at her visitor and went to put on a pot of coffee. It was what she’d gotten in the habit of doing every time she had human guests. Funny, to be making a pot of coffee that the Prince would most probably not drink.

“Where exactly does your alliance lie, I wonder?” Kyle mused, shifting slightly to better stare at her profile as she scooped grounds into the filter. “You were supposed to interrogate spies and report back to my man, Rube, but instead I get the feeling you’re playing both sides of this game.”

Kelly ignored the first question. “I have the list of Kincaid holdings in Virginia. I wasn’t able to interrogate their spy, although I did kill several Kincaid scouts tonight. There were quite a few passing through here earlier.”

His face darkened. “Yes, there was a bit of a skirmish. We prevailed, of course.”

She knew it was wrong to bait him, but just couldn’t help it. “Prevailed? And yet you’re here to collect my findings instead of Rube? Since when does a Born, a Prince, run his own errands.”

Her tone was beyond rude. She felt Kyle’s glare on her back, felt his aura flare against her in anger.

“Rube is busy doing something else for me tonight, and I wanted to check up on you myself. You’re looking mighty fit for a vampire without fangs. Last I’d heard, you were gnawing the heads off rabbits and were on the edge of starvation, but you look reasonably well fed to me. And clearly well fed enough to ‘kill several Kincaid scouts tonight’.”

Crap. Why couldn’t she just keep her head down, her mouth shut, and hand over the information like a good newly–turned vampire? Anger was once again going to be her downfall.

“The werewolves would never tolerate a vampire in their midst.” Kyle continued. “Who is protecting you? Who is feeding you? Who are you working with?”

No sarcastic comments, no taunts; for once, just keep a rein on my temper
. Kelly kept him in the corner of her vision as she pulled mugs and the little jar of sugar from the cabinet. The silence grew uncomfortably heavy.

“Who, Kelly? Is it Stockinger trying to make a play for some eastern territory?”

He was pissed. Unable to ignore him further, she took a deep breath and turned around to face him.

“So do you still want the list of holdings or not? I have them. Rube expressed some urgency in my obtaining them for the Master.”

The Master’s name was like a magic word. She saw him hesitate, hunger in his eyes at the prospect of getting a detailed list of Kincaid–owned businesses.

“Let’s see what you’ve got.” Kyle relaxed slightly, and Kelly realized for the first time how tense he’d been.

Turning back around, Kelly grabbed the sheets of notebook paper covered in handwriting out of the lower drawer under the oven, thrusting them at Kyle. “I was a bit surprised by Rube’s request. Isn’t it a bad time to plot an incursion into Kincaid territory when he’s alert and prepared for war?”

Kyle looked through the sheets, pausing to frown at a few of the names. “That’s the Master’s business, not yours.”

Kelly hid a wince. For a second, she’d forgotten how things worked in vampire families. She’d become used to discussing things openly with Jaq, to having her opinion count for something. Hopefully she wouldn’t be dealing with these vampires much longer.

Kyle looked at the sheets, his face registering surprise. “Where are the rest? I’m sure there are more than this,” the vampire said slowly.

Yes, there were. And she would be a total fool to give him a complete and detailed list.

“I’m not trained in interrogation, and I don’t have a computer or internet access. This was the most I could obtain given the short timeframe I was given.”

“Shame that. There could be a regular source of fresh human blood if you happened to find more in that little drawer under your stove. I can’t imagine how difficult it is for you to continue, with that desperate need facing you every waking moment.”

A day ago he would have been right, but now she had a small but steady supply of fresh blood. Let him think she was still desperate for blood. Let him underestimate her as everyone else had done her whole life.

“How would that work? I have no fangs. How would I possibly be able to obtain a consistent supply of fresh human blood?”

Kyle looked down at the papers in a mannerism that echoed his father’s. “We could arrange for regular deliveries of fresh blood. Less than twenty–four hours old.”

Although that would certainly be a nice benefit, Kelly didn’t like the idea of a Fournier vampire trotting across the border every day or two. He’d eventually catch her doing something she wasn’t supposed to be doing —— like working with the werewolves. How to get out of this without the Prince suspecting anything? A vampire on the edge of starvation, as she was supposed to be, would eagerly accept this deal.

“How regular is regular delivery?” she asked.

Kyle shrugged. “We wouldn’t want you to lose that edge. I think it’s important for you to remain hungry. After all, you are banished. This is your punishment.”

Jerk. Kelly remembered Rube pouring the bag of blood down the sink and had an idea.

“Why do I get the impression you’ll never let me back? If eternal exile is my punishment, then I might as well die of starvation now and not jump through hoops like your little trained dog.”

The Prince didn’t quite have the temper that Rube did. His grey eyes grew cold, but beyond a tightening around his mouth, there was no indication he’d found her rudeness anything worthy of a response.

“Oh, I don’t mean to push you quite that far. You’ve proven to be very resourceful, ruthless even, about staying alive. I think if what else you have for me proves equally of value, we could place an end–date to your punishment, as a reward and an encouragement to continue to serve.”