Tegan's Power (The Ultimate Power Series #4) (11 page)

“Sorry, not tonight,
Josephine,” I say cockily. “There’s a park down the street where I hear the
rent boys do a booming business. You might want to try your luck there.”

A millisecond after I
say it the vamp hisses and lunges for me, but I shoot him in the stomach before
he can sink his teeth into my neck. The shot isn’t going to keep him down for
long, but I don’t need long. I just need one moment of opportunity.

I pull one of the
stakes from my pocket and slam it straight into his heart. Damn, that felt
good. Nothing like a bit of staking to blow off some steam. I highly recommend
it if you’re tired of the shooting range.

Oh, but if only it were
that easy. At least another five vamps come crawling out of the woodwork and I
swear loudly.

“We thought you’d all
been killed,” says a sharp eyed female. “I guess there’s always one that gets
away.” She licks her lips and stares at me like I’m a prime piece of meat and
she’s been starving for weeks.

“You don’t want to do
that,” I warn her, aiming my shotgun at her head.

“Oh really,” she purrs.
“And why is that?”

“Because I’ll blow your
pretty head off and it’ll take days to heal. Now, kindly take a step back. I’ll
get in my van and drive away. Pretend this little happenstance never even came
about.”

She laughs at me.
Fucking bitch. I hate vampire theatrics and I’ve witnessed plenty in my time.
They have a bone to pick with slayers, and let’s face it, why wouldn’t they? It
means they’ve always been very cat-like in killing us. They don’t just end our
lives, they want to play with us for a while, see us squirm before they crush
us.

Her laughing ceases and
she dives for me. It almost looks as though she’s flying for a second. I drop
to the ground and roll out of her reach before putting a bullet in her head
just like I’d threatened to do. I breathe heavily and swear again. That’s when
I realise that I’ve been stupid, because as I had my sights set on the girl
vamp, I hadn’t been watching my back.

In this city, you
always need to watch your back. I feel fangs sink into my neck before I see
him, a blonde vampire with big old muscle arms. His hand grasps my neck and
squeezes.

“You don’t want to kill
me,” I manage to sputter.

He grins and releases
his mouth from my neck. “Sure I don’t.” A trickle of my blood runs down from
his mouth and my stomach twists.

“No, really. Cristescu
will be mighty pissed if he finds out I’m dead.” Ha! Only because he probably
wants to do the honours himself, but I’m not getting out of this situation
unless I lie my way out of it.

The vampire’s grip
loosens. “What did you just say?”

“Cristescu. He’s your
new Lord Almighty, right? He’s a friend of mine. We go way back.”

“A friend?” the vampire
asks with a narrowed gaze.

“I helped him out when
you all had him exiled,” I say and the vampire’s eyes get wide now. “If you
kill me you’ll be the next one in the ground. Or on the ground turned into a
pool of sludge,” I correct myself.

I can see the cogs
turning in the vampire’s head as he makes his decision. “Fine,” he says,
grabbing my wrists and pulling them behind my back in a lock. “I will take you
to Cristescu and we shall see what he has to say. If you’re lying I will
torture you before I kill you.”

“I wouldn’t expect
anything less,” I quip as he and his friends guide me away from the compound
and into a garish canary yellow Ferrari, one vamp sitting on either side of me
to make sure I have no escape. The vamp I’d been talking to gets in the driver’s
seat and another gets in the passenger side. The female I’d shot in the head is
still lying on the ground unconscious. I expect she’ll be making her own way
home when she comes to.

“I see you boys like to
ride in style,” I comment as we drive, heavy on the sarcasm. It earns me a
sharp punch to the jaw and my face goes flying sideways. Shit, that hurt. I
want to rub where he hit me but I can’t since the vamps are holding me down.
I’m going to have a real pretty bruise on my mug in the morning.

A couple of minutes of
total and absolutely creepy silence pass before we turn onto the street where
Cristescu had been living before he was exiled. It looks like he’s decided to
take his residence of choice back now that he’s a supervamp.

We come to a stop in
front of the three story house and I swallow hard. I guess I’m not going to
have the chance to wait until daylight to see him after all. I’m going to see
him now, and I can only hope that Tegan’s there and that he’ll listen to her
when she tells him not to kill me.

This Could be Heaven or
This Could be Hell

Tegan

I think I’ve died and gone to heaven.
Well, maybe not that, but it’s close.

I’m lying on Ethan’s
bed and he’s licking at me; his head is between my legs and his tongue is working
some kind of freaking miracle. I grab tight onto the blankets and fist them as
I moan. I have never felt anything more exquisite than this.

Ethan raises his head
for a brief moment to demand, “Come.”

I can’t hold back as I
stare into his eyes and his tongue returns to its lapping. His fingers thrust
inside of me and I undulate, shivering with an orgasm. I drop my head back into
the pillows and sigh, a big fat smile on my face. Ethan crawls up to me and
nestles his head in the crook of my neck, pressing tiny kisses to my skin.

We’ve had sex three
times tonight and it isn’t even two o’clock yet. I can feel him harden against
me, eager for round four.

“You’re unbelievable,”
I say laughing and he laughs too just as there’s a knock on the bedroom door.

“Go away,” says Ethan
in a hard voice.

A second later Lucas
calls, “There’s someone downstairs to see you. I think you might want to take
care of this now, Ethan.”

“
La naiba
,” he mutters
grumpily as he climbs out of bed and pulls on a pair of jeans. I’ve heard him
say this a few times. I think it means something like,
shit
or
fuck’s
sake
. I haven’t asked. To be honest, I kind of like the mystery. There’s
just something about a man saying stuff in a sexy foreign language that’s
incredibly appealing, especially when you have no clue what he’s saying. He
could be uttering romantic declarations or talking absolute filth.

He throws on a T-shirt
next and some shoes before opening the door. I pull the blankets over my body
so that Lucas doesn’t cop an eyeful. He’s standing outside waiting and cocks
his head inside as Ethan emerges. I snicker knowing he was hoping he’d catch me
in a state of undress.

Amanda arrived at the
house a couple of hours ago and I settled her into one of the spare rooms
furthest away from where Lucas will be sleeping. I told her he was here and she
straightened her shoulders at the news, telling me she could handle him. I was
proud of her in that moment.

“Tegan might want to
come, too,” Lucas says to Ethan.

“Why?” both Ethan and I
question him at the exact same time. Spooky.

“Because it has to do
with your slayer friend,” Lucas explains.

“Finn?” I say, brow
furrowed.

“Yes, he’s downstairs
and only minutes away from being slaughtered by several of our people. He
really knows how to kick up a ruckus that one.”

My heart skips a beat
and I shoo Lucas away so that I can get dressed. What oh what has Finn gotten
himself into this time?

When I arrive
downstairs fully clothed, I find Ethan and Lucas in the living room with
another vampire I don’t recognise. Finn is sitting on a chair with his hands
tied behind his back, a bruise emerging on his cheek and a bloodied bite mark
on his neck. Shit.

I rush to him and kneel
down on the floor by his chair. “Finn,” I say, my voice more air than sound.
“Are you okay? You look like hell.”

“You should see the
other fella,” he replies with a casual shrug.

Oh, Finn. Ever the
comedian. I pull him into my arms and hug him tight, surprised by the amount of
relief I feel at seeing him. I hear Ethan growl from where he stands but I
ignore it. Finn is my friend and I’m so incredibly happy to see him. I’d been
unbelievably worried, so Ethan is just going to have to suffer through me
hugging him.

“Where are the others?”

“They’re safe.”

“What’s going on here?”
I surreptitiously eye the strange blonde vampire who is glaring daggers in
Finn’s direction.

“I got jumped by a
couple of vamps. Killed one of them. They were about to do the same to me when
I told them your boyfriend might not take too kindly to it. Though to be honest,
by the way he’s looking at me right now I think he’d take very kindly to it
indeed.”

I pull away from Finn
and turn to look at Ethan. “Stop it. Nobody’s killing Finn tonight. Or ever.”

The blonde vampire
stares at me in awe at how I’m addressing Ethan, while Lucas shakes his head as
if I’m being stupid for having the gall to give orders.

“He murdered one of my
people tonight,” says Ethan coolly as though that’s a sufficient reason.

“I’m sure it was only in
self-defence. And anyway, how many humans have your people killed in the last
couple of days? If you want to kill Finn you’ll have to go through me first.”

I stare at Ethan just
as sternly as he’s staring at me, while I clench my fists to keep my hands from
shaking. “Have you forgotten how he welcomed you into his home not too long ago
and made a pact to work with you when your own people had shut you out?”

“No, I have not
forgotten,” says Ethan. “And really, I care nothing about whatever killing has
taken place. It is the way he looks at you that makes me want to murder him.”

“Now you’re being ridiculous,”
I retort as my stomach tightens from the possessive gleam in his eyes.

“Hey, man,” Finn
interrupts. “I know she’s with you now. There’s no need for the caveman routine.”

I inwardly wish Finn
didn’t always have to be such a smart arse. He has a way with words that
manages to rile people up, even when he’s supposedly trying to be civil.

Ethan takes a step
forward and I stand, placing myself in his path. I lean in close and whisper
beseechingly, “Please, don’t. If you hurt him you’ll lose me forever.”

He looks deep into my
eyes, an internal struggle going on in his own. The tension in the room makes
me want to run quickly out of it. Jesus, this is bloody hell.

I wish that these two
could just get along. What makes it worse is that I know it’s not really the
whole vampire vs. slayer thing that makes them dislike one another so much.
It’s me.

After what seems like
forever but what is really only a matter of seconds, Ethan exhales and turns
his attention to Finn.

“You are lucky my love
favours you,” he says before dismissing the vampire who brought Finn here with
a simple wave of his hand. The blonde guy looks palpably disappointed with
Ethan’s decision and walks out with hunched shoulders.

“Well now,” says Finn
after a stretch of silence. “Who’d like to do the honours of untying me?”

I walk around to the
back of his chair and undo the rope around his wrists. Whoever tied it put it
on way too tight and I wince at how the rope has cut into his skin.

“It’s a good thing you
decided to pardon me, your highness,” Finn talks to Ethan directly now. His
openly sarcastic tone isn’t going to do him any favours and I poke him in the
shoulder to urge him to be polite. He gives me an amused look before
continuing, “Because I’ve got some news you might be interested in hearing.”

“Oh yes?” says Ethan,
going to sit down on the couch. “And what news is this?”

“Do you know about the
barrier around the city?”

Ethan gives him a bored
look that says,
of course I do.

“Okay, so do you also
know that while the barrier isn’t allowing anyone to leave, it’s letting people
come inside? They just can’t get back out once they pass through it.”

Ethan gives him his
full attention now. “How do you know this?”

“Saw it with my own two
peepers,” says Finn. “It spells trouble whatever way you want to spin it.
There’ll be riots and all sorts before the week is out. Shit, I spoke to two
police officers earlier today and they said people have been looting the stores
so that they can stockpile food.”

“That does sound bad,”
Lucas agrees.

“You need to find
Theodore and figure out some kind of a truce. Tell him he can have a portion of
the city for himself if that will keep him happy,” Finn suggests.

“If I thought that
would subdue him I’d do it in a heartbeat,” says Ethan. “But Theodore isn’t a
man who will accept fifty percent. He wants it all.”

“You could at least
try,” Finn mutters in annoyance and nobody talks for a minute.

I’m the one to break
the silence. “Hey, I got Rebecca back from Emilia,” I say to Finn and he nods
smiling.

“I know. You beat me to
it. I went there today but all I found was a distraught butler guy who told me
Emilia had been taken by Theodore.”

“Yes!” I exclaim. “It
was so weird. One minute Emilia was setting fire to anyone who got in her way
as she chased us for Rebecca, and the next she was gone. I saw Theodore holding
her and laughing only a second before he disappeared.”

“Creepy.”

“So creepy,” I agree.

“Have you other news,
slayer?” Ethan interrupts us icily.

Finn scratches at his
head. “Actually yeah, I do.” He pauses like he’s unsure as to whether he should
disclose this other news or not.

“Out with it,” says
Lucas impatiently.

“Fine, fine. The other
night we all came across a woman when she jumped out of a moving limousine
right in front of us. Our old friend Michael Ridley emerged after her and she
was scared witless of him. We managed to fend him off. Well, actually, Ira did
by biting off his hand.”

Lucas chuckles. I
grimace and swear under my breath. Ethan remains stoically silent.

“So anyway, it turns
out that this woman is half elf and she can see into the future. Ridley
kidnapped her two years ago and had been using her for her powers. He’d tried
to cast a spell to take her ability from her, but it went wrong and ended up
blinding her. I’ve kind of taken her into my protection and she has visions all
the time. She said that up until this point her visions were always different,
but now she keeps seeing the same thing.”

“What does she see?” I
practically whisper.

“She sees a little blonde
girl who will be the saviour of this city and bring peace. I think the girl she
sees is Rebecca.”

I gasp and Finn eyes
Ethan, gauging his reaction to this information. Ethan’s expression shows
nothing except a tiny hint of interest.

He clasps his hands
together and says, “So we will keep her as safe as we possibly can. If she is
to lead someday and if this elf woman’s vision is correct, then no expense will
be spared in ensuring she reaches adulthood. I will see to it myself.”

“Do you think it’s wise
for a girl with her blood to be raised by vampires?” Finn asks and if I’m not mistaken
his eyes flick briefly to Lucas in suspicion. He doesn’t trust him around
Rebecca and I don’t blame him. I don’t trust Lucas either. He’s one of those
ambiguous men who can do good things just as equally as bad things depending on
what suits his agenda at the time.

“She will not be among
vampires for long. I’ll make arrangements for her to be taken somewhere safe,”
Ethan assures him.

“Right, well I better
be going,” says Finn rising from his seat.

“Not too fast. I want
you to bring Delilah to me. As you can see, I may be changed but I am not a
threat. My sister needs to come home now.”

Finn eyes him. “Yeah,
I’ll pass on the message.”

“Thank you.”

“I’ll walk Finn out,” I
say and we proceed to the door.

In the hallway Finn
turns to me with a serious look on his face. “Are you okay here? You want to be
here, right? He’s not forcing you?”

“What? No, I’m fine.
Things are good. Drinking my blood made Ethan stronger than any vampire I’ve
seen before, but he’s still the same in his head. He hasn’t gone all savage and
blood hungry or anything. He’s still a good man.”

Finn raises an eyebrow
when I say it, but I don’t let him goad me. I expect nothing more than him to
be wary of Ethan. He always has been. Besides, I know that my lover can hear
everything we’re saying. He’s only pretending that he can’t out of courtesy.

“So, where have you all
been staying?” I ask.

Finn sighs. “At some
dive hotel out on the motorway. I’m gonna head back to mine in the morning
seeing as Cristescu seems to be keeping his vamps under control.”

“I’ll come over
tomorrow, then. I want to see everyone. Oh yeah, and we need to discuss Rita.”

“Not you as well. Alvie
won’t shut up about her either.”

“You shouldn’t
underestimate her, Finn,” I say tensely. “That girl has the ability to surprise
all of us.”

He looks at me with
sympathy in his eyes, like he feels sorry for me and how I’m holding onto this
thin thread of hope for my lost best friend. I swallow and look away, blinking
back tears. When I feel like I have them under control I look back at him.

“I’m going to hug you
now,” I tell him before I fold him into my arms. He seems taken by surprise a
little but then hugs me back.