Powerful Moves [L.U.S.T.] (Siren Publishing Classic) (18 page)

Too bad he couldn’t get them out of the room as easily. Tavius scowled as he looked back at Elena and watched all color drain from her angelic face. When she finally met his gaze, he saw nothing but sorrow, pain, and a deep fear in her eyes.

“Elena.” He said her name softly, not sure if she would hear him over her mental conversation.

“Cedric was taken to a hospital a few blocks away.” Her voice sounded small, distant, as if she were already on her way to that hospital.

She should’ve been. Damn it, he should’ve been able to put her there. He could feel the power inside him, but the full ability to teleport remained frustratingly just out of his grasp.

“He’s in critical condition.”

“But he’s alive.” Tavius needed her to latch onto the positive. He needed to somehow wipe that expression of absolute grief off her face. “Let’s get out of here, muirnin. We’ll get you in to see him if I have to...”

Fuck you in the parking lot to get the powers back on-line
. Okay, not the right thing to say to her at this point in time. Geezus, he prayed his powers would hold long enough to be of use if they needed them.

“I’m going to leave you there, at the hospital with Cedric.” He made the decision with little more than a thought. He needed to get to Seattle, to the museum that housed the third piece to the necklace. Tracking Le Mort in his quest to find the jewels was far from the way Tavius expected to catch the vampire when he jumped the realms, but damned if he would argue if it worked. The vampire had to be stopped. Already Le Mort was leaving a trail of blood and death to rival any war, and as far as Tavius knew, the vampire had yet to part with the weapon plans he’d stolen from Atnalta.

“We’re too late for Seattle, too.” Elena squeezed her eyes shut, more tears leaking down her cheeks to squeeze at his heart. “Le Mort hit the museum at nightfall. I don’t know how he made it so fast. Michael anticipated we might miss him here. He sent another team of agents to intercept Le Mort.”

“Shit.” Tavius lowered his head, already knowing the outcome before she told him.

“The museum in Seattle heard about the massacre in New Orleans and expected trouble. They brought in extra security.”

“And Le Mort and his wolf killed them all,” Tavius finished for her, feeling sick.

“The guards and the LUST agents,” Elena confirmed. “He butchered them, tortured them, too. He demanded to know who they were working for, but to Michael’s knowledge the agents didn’t tell.”

“Did you know them?”

“Gilbert and Mica? Yes, but not that well. They worked more as field operatives, always on assignments. That doesn’t make what happened to them any less horrific.”

“Of course it doesn’t.”

“Le Mort has three of the four pieces now. Michael told me the legend holds that in the hands of an immortal such as Le Mort the three will point the way to the fourth.”

“But we don’t know where that is.”

Elena shook her head.

“Let’s get to Cedric. Then we’ll figure out how to stop Le Mort.”

“Stay with me.” Geezus, the plea in her request tore at a part of him he hadn’t known existed until he met her. She gazed at him through eyes swimming in tears. What on Terra did a man say to that? The only thing he could say.

“Always.” Tavius refused to think of the implications and the promise he heard in that single word as he walked with her out of the museum and down the sidewalk to an awaiting taxi.

* * * *

Elena felt like a jigsaw puzzle of emotions with several pieces askew. She didn’t need to wonder what happened to those particular pieces. She only questioned what to do about them. How did one handle sensations that proved so alien yet equally oddly familiar? What made it possible for a woman to worry over one man while longing to be touched by another?

Screwy emotions in a jumbled mess, she thought as she brushed at a straggling tear with the back of her finger. She took Cedric’s hand in her free one, not allowing herself to register the chillness of flesh, the limpness of his limb. The bastard drained him, took from him all but that last few drops of life.

Why leave that much? Grateful as she felt that Le Mort hadn’t killed Cedric, she couldn’t stop from questioning why the vampire left him alive.

Barely alive. Her gaze fell on Cedric’s chest, on the erratic rise and fall as he struggled to hang on. Le Mort didn’t finish him off, but he’d allowed his wolf pet to have a little taste, too.

Elena tasted bile as her attention slid to the places where the wolf left his mark. She didn’t doubt Cedric would heal. His abilities and hunger for life would see to that. But at what cost? A give-and-take of power occurred when Le Mort drank from Cedric, when the wolf tore at his flesh. She knew that to be part of the reason Cedric continued to walk the fine line of death hours after the attack.

“He’ll be changed.” She didn’t realize she spoke aloud until Tavius’s soft words mingled with hers in the silence of the hospital room.

“He’ll be different. If what we suspect is correct, his powers will be affected. The important thing is he’ll live.”

Elena looked at Tavius. He sat on the padded bench along the sidewall, elbows resting on his knees, expression full of concern for a man he’d likely rather beat some sense into than care about. She could thank him and his evocative power for the fact that she sat at Cedric’s bedside now. Tavius worked his magic, faint though it had been, and convinced guard, nurse, and doctor that they both belonged in the intensive care unit with Cedric for as long as they wished to stay.

She figured the power would be gone now, humming just below the surface of usefulness until he gave it the boost it needed to bring it on-line again. He’d need it again. Another doctor had been called in to examine Cedric, to provide answers to questions the doctor on staff couldn’t explain. To tell either doctor about Cedric’s powers would be suicide. Instead, Tavius would need to work his magic, planting suggestions that would allow Cedric the time to heal himself in the safety of the hospital.

“You’re right, of course.” Elena kept her voice low as not to disturb Cedric. “Whatever happens to his, umm, special talents”—she didn’t want to say powers or abilities aloud not knowing who could be listening—“can be dealt with.”

“He’s pigheaded enough not to let a little attack like this get him down for long.” Tavius’s lips tilted in a smile that both comforted and amped her need for his touch by a thousand sexually charged volts. He held her gaze for several heartbeats that turned to rapid thrums of desire as the power settled like a heavy blanket in the air. The weight didn’t ease when he broke eye contact by glancing out the window behind him.

Elena knew he wanted to be out there. He wanted to be in Seattle picking up whatever clues the police and agency might have missed. He wanted to be anywhere that might lead him to Le Mort. Instead, he sat in this hospital room with her.

Always
. She heard the promise in his tone as clearly as she had when he first said it. The word, the guarantee of it, reverberated in her head like a chant of deep meaning and hope.

“Would you stop with the maxi-pad commercial?”

Elena gasped, her attention flying back to Cedric.

“Or is that the awful Saliva song?”

Elena gave a watery laugh and squeezed his hand. It still felt too cool, too flaccid, but he managed the strength to lightly squeeze back. “How many times do I have to tell you to stay out of my head?”

Cedric swallowed and winced. His voice sounded scratchy, his words weak, and he’d yet to open his eyes. “Sorry, can’t control it right now. Can’t. Seem. To. Control. Much.”

That didn’t stop him from trying. Elena saw him work to open his eyes even as his head came off the pillow.

“Are you nuts? Lay still.”

“Know how…hate to be flat on…back.” He licked his lips and expelled a sigh as his head fell back to the pillow. “Guess…better deal with it for now. Ass isn’t leaving…bed anytime soon, huh?”

Elena shook her head. “Not until you give yourself time to heal.”

“Never took this long before.”

“You’ve never been hurt this badly before.”

Cedric eyes clouded with pain, physical and mental. Elena wished she could ease both discomforts. She wanted to chastise him for being such a fool, for going into that museum alone, even as she wanted to wrap her arms around him and thank the Gods he made it out alive.

Another light squeeze to her hand combined with the barely-there quirk of his lips told her he was still in her mind, still reading her thoughts.

“You saw.” He made it more statement than question, his tone all knowing.

Elena nodded anyway. “Not everything, but enough.”

“Tried to prevent that. Guess it didn’t work so well.”

She realized then why the last of the vision came in such a blur of power and garbled images. Cedric had known she and Tavius wouldn’t be far behind him. He’d known she would be able to tap into the memories of the building and see what happened to him. He’d attempted in those last few moments to throw up a shield around the attack.

He held her gaze for a moment longer then slowly turned his head in the direction where Tavius sat.

Tavius got to his feet and moved to the bedside where Cedric could see him better.

“It’s you he wants.” Though quiet, Cedric’s breathing steadied enough that he could speak without the words being so labored and unsteady. “Le Mort knows you followed him through the realms. He knows you’re following him now. He’s playing a game just like that dark elf did the night Le Mort jumped, only Le Mort’s idea of fun is vicious, gruesome, careless.”

“He hasn’t been careless so far.”

Elena couldn’t help but agree with Tavius. If anything, the vampire showed a great deal of quick planning and skill. Yes, he was leaving a trail of bloodshed in his wake. Yes, he left a clear clue as to where he intended to go after New Orleans then after Rio. The jewels decorated that path for him. Yet, his moves showed a purpose of utter confidence. He didn’t think they would catch him. At the rate they were going, he just might be right.

“He’s toying with me.” Tavius’s brows drew together. “Why?”

“To show you what he can do, what he’s capable of in this realm. He hasn’t forgotten the primary reason why he came back to the Earth realm. The jewels are a side trip, something that caught his attention for whatever reason. Getting what he took from your realm to The Whisperer is still his intention.”

Tavius turned and raked a hand through his already-disheveled hair. When he turned around again, his face was hard, his mouth set, his jaw tight, and his intent eyes were fixed on Elena. “I’ve got to get Le Mort before he reaches your father.”

Elena shuddered.
He’s not my father
. The denial sprang to the tip of her tongue, but a knock at the closed hospital-room door silenced her. A tall man with keen, dark eyes and a stethoscope walked into the room. Elena guessed the stethoscope to be purely for show because she felt the strength of the man’s metaphysical abilities seeping off him in waves. A healer that powerful wouldn’t find need to rely on basic human toys.

A short, plump woman followed close at the doctor’s heels. Elena didn’t feel an ounce of anything coming off the nurse beyond contempt. She got the impression the nurse thought herself far more suited for the white coat and doctor badge than the gentleman. Elena bit back a grin.
Honey, if you could only feel what I do
.

The doctor’s name was John Jessup, a very nondescript name, easy to miss and obviously put in place to circumvent unwanted attention. Elena and Tavius stood back as Dr. Jessup examined Cedric, relayed a few instructions to Nurse Yuck, and turned to leave. He motioned for the nurse to precede him out and muttered softly to Elena as he passed.

“I have no doubts he’ll make a full recovery. Please stay a while longer. I’ll return alone to tell you more.”

Relief swamped Elena in such a rush it made her dizzy. She felt herself sway even as she nodded and struggled to maintain her balance. She waited until the door closed behind the doctor before she turned and bid a quick retreat to the bathroom.

* * * *

The tears Tavius saw Elena shed in the last few hours couldn’t compare to the ones he heard from behind the closed bathroom door. The quiet, racking sobs tore at his heart and compelled him to move.

Cedric had drifted off almost the second the doctor left the room. The man needed this time to rest. His powers to heal would be made stronger by the body’s chance to find this respite. And Tavius needed the time to get to Elena.

He didn’t bother knocking and was only marginally surprised when he turned the knob to find it unlocked. He eased the door open. One look at her standing with her hands braced on the sides of the utilitarian sink, head bowed, shoulders shuddering with her sobs and he was gone. Head over boots, power over mind, heart and soul gone in love with Elena Cabot.

Well, hell
.

Tavius closed the door softly behind him. The space reminded him of the closet back at the airport, only this room wasn’t empty. It was a tight fit, but he managed to wedge himself between Elena and the door enough to get his arms around her waist, to fold his body over hers.