Tempting Evil (10 page)

“Why is he collecting so many women this time?”

She hesitated. “Because it is a gathering.”

“A gathering?”

She nodded. “Every major person in his cartel will be there.”

“Holy crap, we’ve hit the jackpot,” Jack said. “This is fantastic!”

If it was so fantastic, why did I suddenly feel sick? Maybe because Starr wouldn’t be taking such a risk unless the prize at the end of it was worth it. Or maybe it was simply a matter of the shark-infested pond I was diving into suddenly getting a whole lot more dangerous. And I wasn’t sure if I was ready for a mission of that magnitude.

Not that I intended backing out. Even if Jack would let me back out.

“Why is he calling in his generals?”

“Because he plans his war against the other syndicates.”

“In a month,” I said, suddenly remembering Dia’s message to Gautier. “When the Directorate lies in your control.”

Her gaze swept me. “How did you guess?”

“Fledgling clairvoyance skills,” I muttered, and rubbed a hand across my eyes. “We have to stop him.”

“Yes.” She hesitated. “Starr and his lieutenants have their very own, very secure floor under the mansion, and it is fitted with all the latest scanners. It is there he’ll meet his people and plan his war. You will not get anywhere near it. Your best bet is the arena, winning the attentions of Alden and Leo, and reading their minds every night. If you can.”

And that “if” seemed to be getting bigger and bigger every time I thought about it. I grabbed my backpack and stood up. “The plans?”

She rose and moved to the mantelpiece to pick up a notebook and several rolled-up sheets of paper. “Everything I know about security is in here.” She handed me the book and the papers. “The other item is the contract you are supposed to have signed on recruitment. It’s basically a work agreement and terms. The others will have read it.”

“Then I’d better, too.”

She nodded. “And in answer to your earlier question about my sight, I have assistance to help me see when I am outside the boundaries of this house.”

I raised my eyebrows. “What type of assistance?”

“If you knew Misha as well as you have said, then you will know of the Fravardin.”

I nodded. The Fravardin were guardian spirits Misha had met and enlisted when he’d been in the Middle East. “He never did tell me how he’d managed to get their services, though.”

She smiled. “He saved them. Now they are indebted to him, and honor bound to following his wishes, even after his death.”

One of his apparent wishes was the Fravardin protecting me, but I hadn’t sensed the creatures, let alone met one face-to-face. If you could meet a spirit creature face-to-face, that was. “How is that related to your sight?”

“One of the Fravardin was placed in my service. Whenever I go beyond the four walls of this house, he is with me. I am able to connect through his mind and use his eyes.”

I snorted softly. “So you were never in danger last night, even if those vamps hadn’t been a setup?”

“No. The Fravardin would have taken care of any real threat.”

Which was a warning as much as it was a statement. “Then why couldn’t you use the Fravardin to take out Starr and rescue your daughter?”

“Because he is my eyes, and my bodyguard when required, but nothing more. Risa is my child, but she does not fall within his guardianship role.”

“So they’re sticklers for obeying Misha’s wishes to the word?”

“Yes.”

Then maybe I wouldn’t feel the Fravardin’s presence until my life was in danger. But how would it know if it wasn’t around? And did I really want an answer to that, especially if it meant putting my life on the line to find out?

The answer was a resounding no.

“Why would Misha give you one of the Fravardin? I thought the five of you were less than friendly with each other.”

She smiled. “That is true up to a point. But Misha and I shared more of a history than the others. I suppose you could say that he is my brother.”

“You’re his sister?” I said, incredulously. “But…aren’t you all clones?”

She nodded. “Yes, but Misha and I are clones of siblings. Our original selves were born of a Helki mother and silver pack father, and were fraternal twins, born of the same mother and father. If a clone is capable of sibling love, then I guess we shared that. I miss him.”

“So—” I paused, trying to gather my suddenly scattered thoughts. “If you’re clones of siblings, does it mean that, like the originals, you are both able to shift shape?”

She raised a pale eyebrow. “What makes you ask that?”

“Simple curiosity.” I’d wondered when I’d first found out about the Helkis and their shapeshifting abilities if Misha might have had another form—wondered whether the body he wore all the time was really his. Of course, he was dead and it really didn’t matter anymore, but still, part of me wanted to know. Especially when his “sister” had the potential to either make or break our mission. My gaze went to her blue eyes—eyes that were so very different from his. Deliberately so, probably. “Misha told me that shapeshifting took a lot of power, and that the eyes were the hardest part to maintain. So which of you is closest to your real form, and how could he—and you—maintain the changes day in and day out?”

“Our changes are subtle, which is why we are able to maintain them so easily.” She smiled, but it was a fleeting, almost sad thing. “Last night you saw our true hair color. Misha preferred to maintain silver hair rather than the mixed color, but he never changed his eye color. Like the original, he was born with silver eyes.”

“And you?”

“Helki brown, ringed by blue.”

“So why do you change it?”

“Because blue is more effective in my work.” The bright depths of her eyes suddenly cleared of any emotion, and were all the more chilling because of it. “For Misha alone, I would have my revenge.”

“Which is why Starr took Risa hostage.”

“Yes.”

“So why haven’t you contacted the Directorate before now?”

“Because of Gautier. Because I did not know how much you knew about him, or how far his influence went.” She snorted softly. “If I were to believe everything he said, he practically runs the place now.”

That had my eyebrows rising. “I was given the impression that you and Gautier never met during your information exchanges.”

“We don’t.”

“Then how have you talked to him?”

“Where else would I talk to him? At the estate, of course.”

Chapter 5

F
uck was the only word that came immediately to mind, and even that didn’t really encompass the shitload of trouble that had just raised its ugly head. Or, given it was Gautier we were talking about, maybe that should have been its greasy, stinking, ugly head.

“Well, at least that explains where Gautier has disappeared to on the few occasions we’ve lost him,” Jack commented. “But it doesn’t change our plans. Liander’s work is subtle, but good. I doubt he’d recognize either of you.”

Maybe not by sight, but if I opened my mouth and started throwing barbs his way, like I normally did, he’d certainly suspect. There weren’t many people as stupid as I tended to be when he was around.

“All you have to do,” Jack continued, “is keep out of his way and keep your mouth shut. And that’s an order, not a suggestion.”

One I’d definitely try to obey. Gautier had already beaten up on me—I had no intention of giving him a second chance. Especially in a place where there was no one to save my ass at the last moment.

“So,” I said to Dia, “how often does he appear there?”

She shrugged. “Only very occasionally. Starr does not wish him to be seen or recognized.”

“He’s a guardian—they work at night. I doubt any of Starr’s regulars would recognize him.”

Her smile was grim. “There are politicians who have access to files. Starr doesn’t want to take the risk because he believes Gautier’s position at the Directorate is unknown and safe.”

Then yay us for keeping our knowledge of him a secret.

“Is he one of Starr’s lovers?” Somehow, I just couldn’t imagine Gautier being homosexual. Though I couldn’t actually imagine him making love to women, either. He’d always seemed asexual to me.

“No. Starr uses him as an occasional form of punishment—do something seriously wrong, and you fight Gautier.” She hesitated. “No one has ever beaten him.”

No surprise there. The man was a stinking fighting machine. “Does he kill them?”

“Always. It is what he does.”

Wasn’t
that
the truth. “Is he expected anywhere near the place over the next couple of weeks?”

“Unless something dramatic happens, no. There’s too many people going to be around. I doubt he’d take the chance of exposure.”

Good. Because I didn’t want to be anywhere near the bastard, disguise or no. “Anything else I need to know before I board the bus this afternoon?”

She hesitated. “There will be eleven other women with you, all either shifters or weres. At least one of them is not who she pretends to be.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Another plant?”

“No. She wants revenge.”

Then maybe I could enlist her help sometime over the next few weeks. “Who?”

Dia smiled. “That I shall let you figure out yourself. I’d hate to influence your instincts.”

“Meaning you’re not entirely sure of your own guesses?”

“Meaning, I cannot say whether she will be a help or a hindrance to what either of us want.”

Uh-huh. Typical psychic avoidance of the question if ever I’d heard it. “Why only twelve of us?”

“Because three women stayed on after the last moon dance.”

“Why only three? I would have thought the money would be enticement enough to stay longer.”

“I honestly don’t know. Perhaps they simply wish to go home.”

Or perhaps there was more going on behind the scenes than Dia was aware of. “Will it be safe to talk to you once you arrive at the estate?”

“In the house, no. As I said, there are voice monitors in the halls. But I will endeavor to be outside whenever possible. I have made it a habit to wander the grounds, so Starr will not think it unusual.”

“There’s nothing else?”

“Not that I can immediately think of.”

“Good.” I half held out my hand, then dropped it. Not because she couldn’t see the action, but because she might do another reading. I had a feeling I wouldn’t like what she might see. “I’ll see you there, then.”

She simply nodded. I flung the backpack over my shoulder and escorted myself out. I’d barely made it through the wrought-iron gates when a black van cruised up beside me, the side door opening even as I looked up.

“Get in,” Jack ordered, both in my ear and out loud.

I did. As the van cruised on, Jack swiveled away from a bank of com-screens and monitors that lined one wall of the van and held out a hand. I gave him the notebook and contract.

“This is a bit of a risk, isn’t it?” I plonked down on the other swivel chair and scanned the monitors. They were showing nothing more than fences, trees, and a long expanse of lawn.

“Dia knows who we are. And if what she said about Starr holding her daughter hostage is true, then he has no need to monitor her when she is not at the estate. Nor have we found any evidence of it.”

Didn’t mean there wasn’t. If Starr knew about the Fravardin, what was to stop him creating similar creatures for his own use? I watched Jack flick through the notebook’s pages, then asked, “Anything useful?”

He looked up, then gave me back the book. “Lots. Memorize it, then I can arrange to get the information to Kade and Rhoan.”

I raised my eyebrows. “How? Neither of them are telepathic.”

“No. But we currently have use of the seconded hawk-shifters, and only the fence line is fully monitored.”

Which is basically what Dia had said. I nodded toward the monitors. “That the estate?”

“Yes. We’re trying to get cameras closer to the house, but they’re doing regular checks and it’s making it extremely difficult.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Stepping up security because he’s called all his generals in?”

“I suspect so. After all, what better time would there be for another cartel to strike?”

“Given what Dia said about the vampire attack, he may be installing infrared, also.” Which would put a serious dent in my nightly activities. I could shadow as well as any vampire, but infrared would pick up my heat trail.

“We’re monitoring the infrared companies. So far, no order has been placed.”

“What about the black market?”

“The devices can certainly be bought, but installation requires specialist knowledge, and there are only a dozen or so qualified people in Melbourne.” He pointed to the notebook. “Start memorizing.”

He went through the work agreement as I studied the notebook. Starr’s estate consisted of over fifty acres of forest and paddocks. The house itself was a huge, square-shaped, double-story complex that featured not only a soccer-field-sized arena in the middle of the square, but an Olympic-sized pool and a huge gym complex. Set apart from the main building were several smaller ones, including quarters for security and the prostitutes. The barn and the zoo were on the opposite side of the complex to these. Behind them was a man-made lake apparently big enough to yacht on.

“Standard work agreement,” Jack said, after a while. “The only interesting point is agreeing to have your memories ‘rearranged’ when you leave.”

“Which is what is happening to the whores.”

He nodded and glanced at his watch. “We’ll drop you off near the meeting point at one. That gives you an hour to read the rest of the notes as well as the contract.”

So I read and memorized while he studied the banks of monitors. What he was looking for I had no idea, especially since there didn’t seem to be a lot happening on them. At one, they dropped me off at a Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet. Obviously, he’d heard my stomach rumbling. Either that, or it was a last meal for the doomed. I grabbed a dinner for two—once again thanking my lucky stars that a werewolf’s increased metabolic rate made it almost impossible for me to gain weight once I’d hit adulthood—then headed down to the meeting point to see who else might be waiting.

Three women were already there. Two were sullen excuses of womanhood, thin and rangy looking—in that long-distance-runner sort of way. The third was taller, broader, with spiky, bleached-blond hair and sharp blue eyes. She had tats up her arms and trouble written all over her sharp features. I would have categorized her as punk, except for the way she stood. It wasn’t the typical, bite-me-or-fight-me stance that so many of the street kids in need of an attitude adjustment had, but rather that of someone who fought for a living. Light on her toes.

I gave her a nod, ignored the other two, and sat on a nearby brick fence to eat my chicken. Animosity rode the air, coming from the direction of the rangy chicks rather than the toey one, but neither of them said anything as other women began to roll up. By two, we had a full complement, and a good cross-reference of shapes, colors, and race. I didn’t see another werewolf, but there were werecats, a bear-shifter, bird-shifters, and a sly-looking woman with red hair and reddish skin who surely had to be a werefox. The arena was going to be interesting, to say the least.

The bus rolled in about five minutes after the last woman had arrived, and a big man with slate gray hair climbed off. “Okay, ladies,” he bellowed, in a drill sergeant tone. “When I read your name, you will board the bus.”

He began snapping off names, and like obedient little soldiers, we rose and entered the bus. I hesitated on the top step, my gaze sweeping the semidarkness. There were plenty of empty seats, but most of the women already aboard had chosen to sit near the back. The bear-shifter sat about halfway down, her large frame barely squeezing into the seat. Her gaze, when it met mine, was challenging, as if daring me to sit with her, so I walked down the aisle and plonked down on the seat opposite hers.

“The little wolf is game,” she said, her voice a rumble that seemed to come from somewhere deep. “Most of the others seemed a little afraid to come close.”

“The wolf is only little compared to some.” I made a show of looking her up and down. She was a big woman—in all ways—but the crow’s-feet touching the corners of her brown eyes, along with the dimples in her cherub cheeks, suggested a good nature that was at odds with the attitude she was projecting and the fierce reputation bear-shifters had. “But with mitts like that, you can hardly blame them. I think they should be labeled an unfair advantage.”

She laughed—a booming, merry sound that had me grinning. “You could be right there, wolf.” She leaned forward and offered me one of her oversized paws. “Bernadine. Berna to my friends.”

“Poppy.” I grinned as her hand wrapped around mine. Though her grip was strong, it wasn’t menacing or testing. A woman confident in her own strength and not needing to advertise the fact to others. “Pencil me in as a friend, Berna. I’ve got a feeling it could get dangerous to be considered anything else.”

“And you might have that right, too, wolf.” She grinned. “Sorry, but Poppy just doesn’t seem to suit you.”

“It’s not a moniker I would have chosen, but my parents didn’t exactly give me the choice.” Nor did my goddamn boss.

The two sullen-looking women climbed on board, hesitating as I had on the top step as their gazes swept the bus. Both sneered when their gaze came to rest on me, then they turned as one and sat two seats in from the front of the bus.

Berna gave me an amused glance. “Are we taking bets on the fact that they’re twins?”

“Twins don’t echo each other’s movements like those two do.” Hell, my brother would kill me if I started parroting his movements like that. “The sync of those two is almost creepy.”

“Which is why I bet twins. Separated at birth.”

“Or they’re just plain weird.”

She chuckled. “I think we’re all weird. After all, here we are, sitting on a bus, waiting to be taken to God knows where.”

“The money made me do it.”

“Me, too. Have to wonder about some of the others, though.”

Military guy climbed on at that point, cutting off the immediate chance to ask what she meant. As the doors swished shut, he said, “Okay, ladies, listen up.” He waited until the slight murmur of conversation died, then continued, “As you will have noted in your contracts, the owner of the estate you are being driven to wishes to keep its location secret, so the windows will be blacked out in a moment and a curtain pulled across the front of the bus. The interior of the bus will be monitored, however, and anyone caught attempting to look out the windows will lose their position.”

“I can’t remember any mention of paranoia in the contract,” I muttered.

Berna snorted softly. Military guy gave me a glare. “You have read and signed the contract, have you not?”

“I have.”

“Then you will know backchat is not acceptable.”

“And if you have read my file, you will know that is one of my more charming personality traits.”

“Riley, shut the fuck up,” Jack said into my ear. “You do not need to be shoved off the bus just yet.”

I bit my bottom lip to restrain my grin and wished I could remind him that he was the one who’d made Poppy the mouth, not me.

Military guy’s expression was less than happy. “Insolence may be good for the ring, but it will lose you money out of it.”

“You’d dock my pay?”

“It was in the contract.”

“Bugger. Guess I should have read it better.”

His frown darkened, but his gaze moved on. Several of the woman sitting in the back of the bus shifted uncomfortably, and I wondered whether the cause was military guy’s fearsome gaze or the realization they might have gotten themselves into more than they bargained for. Certainly I could “feel” concern in the air—and the mere fact that I was sensing
that
was a cause of concern for me. Since when had I been able to sense emotions? I’d always been able to sense Quinn’s, true, but that was due to the extraordinary connection between us…wasn’t it?

“Those of you who
have
read the contract”—the emphasis left me in no doubt to whom that particular comment was aimed at, but then, it didn’t exactly take a rocket scientist to work that out—“will no doubt be aware that there is one final test on reaching the estate—an obstacle course. If you do not complete this course, you will fail and be returned to the pickup point. If you shift shape during the course, you will also fail.”

“Why no shapeshifting?” I piped up.

He gave me a deadpan look. “Because that is the wishes of your new employer.”