Tracker: A Rylee Adamson Novel (16 page)

“Hey, you’re with us now. And we always get the bad guys.”

Liam wasn’t so sure that was true, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to correct her.

Let her believe they would win the day. For a little while longer, let her believe it would always work in their favor and they would all survive.

Chapter 15

W
e sat on
the outskirts of Alice Springs and the thrum of the Blood hovered inside my head. The closer we got to them, the more my nerves jangled like live wires.

“It’s like they know we’re coming.” I rubbed my hands over my arms, a chill chasing along my skin in the 120+ degree weather. “Fuck, I might as well be standing in an ant nest.”

“I’m sure we could arrange that,” Doran said, pouring the last of the fuel into the gas tank. “Here, drink some of this.” He handed me the water jug.

“Al said we didn’t have to.”

“Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t.”

He had a point. I took the jug and held it to my lips, drinking until my belly was full, then handed it to Alex. The werewolf slobbered and slopped at the opening, getting more water poured down his front than into his mouth.

“Thank the gods I can’t catch his virus,” Doran muttered, shaking his head.

I snorted and climbed into the passenger side. “Not like you would end up a submissive.”

Doran started the Willy. “Maybe not now, but in the beginning, perhaps I would have been like Alex.”

A quick glance his way showed he wasn’t kidding. “You were submissive?”

He didn’t answer. “I need to stop in Alice. Pick up a few things. Just in case.”

Hmm. Interesting. The idea of Doran being submissive, excepting the fact he’d been bonded to the former Empress and then Berget, was odd.

Not that it mattered right now. I stared out the window and Tracked the Blood, then tossed out a thought for Jack and Berget.

I sat straight up in my seat.

“They’re in Alice.”

Doran glanced at me. “Who is?”

The sky was still bright over head, how the fuck had they gotten here ahead of us? Tonight was the equinox, but ~>

He put the pedal to the floor. “We can take them both while they sleep, Rylee. The gods
are
looking out for us.”

My heart stuttered. Killing Jack, well, maybe he deserved it. And the beasts residing in Berget, they deserved a final death too. But my sister, what was left of her, didn’t deserve anything of the sort. No, I had to believe the opal would work, that it would be enough, buy us some time.

“Rylee, where?”

I gave directions numbly and within a few minutes we were parked outside a squat building, only one level. Which meant they were in the basement, well away from the sun.

I stared at the sign. “Donny’s Fishing Hole.” The sign on the door said the place was closed, but I didn’t pay much heed.

Checking my weapons, I slid out of the Willy, my boots hitting the sidewalk. Up and down the street, everything seemed quiet. As in no humans. Alex jumped out of the back of the old truck and bounded to me. I crouched to look him in the eye.

“Alex, there are going to be vampires in here, so we have to be very careful. One of them looks like Jack, but he isn’t our friend anymore, do you understand?”

The werewolf frowned, his lower lip sticking out. “Bad Jack?”

Teeth gritted tightly, I nodded, unable to say anything past the sudden lump in my throat.

The door was locked, but a slide of my blade through the latches and we were in. Inside smelled musty with an overlay of fish, but the thick coating of dust was the tip off.

No one had been in here for a long time. Two sets of footprints left a path on the floor. One large, one petite. I loosened my swords and started forward. Behind the counter was a small selection of flashlights. I grabbed one and flicked it on, the battery sputtering only once. Not bad.

Doran put a hand on my shoulder. “We kill Jack first. That won’t wake her. But if we do anything to her, he’ll be up before we can say ‘fuck it, we’re dead.’”

“Got it.”

I tried my best to not think about Jack as we located the trapdoor, but it was hard. Though I hadn’t known him long, and he’d lied to me several times, he’d also helped me swallow some hard truths. And I’d wanted so badly to believe he was going to be the mentor I needed.

Finding the trapdoor was easy enough following their footprints. Doran pulled the door open and peered into the darkness. “Leave this open. Just in case.”

Doran went first, and I followed. We were about halfway down when he cleared his throat. “Rylee, I have to tell you something in case this is the last time we speak.”

Shit, I hated it went people got maudlin, but if he wanted to talk, I wouldn’t stop him. “Okay, what?”

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Those panties you’re wearing make me want to bite your ass.”

I glared over my shoulder at him, but there was nothing I could do. The Daywalker had a perfect view right up the short skirt. At least I was wearing panties.

“Ass.”

“Tease.”

I swung a boot at him, and with a quiet laugh he dropped to the floor. Following his lead, I did the same, a puff of dirt swirling up around us. Alex landed next to me in a crouch, sniffing the ground in soft whuffles. Doran had broken my tad widrain of thought around Jack, and I suspected he knew it.

Clever boy.

I handed him the flashlight and let him lead so I had both hands on my swords. Down here, the musty scent was far stronger, and Alex sneezed twice. At first, I worried he would alert them to us, but the further in we walked, the more I realized the place was damn well cavernous.

“How far?” Doran asked.

“Twenty feet,” I said, keeping my voice low.

Doran glanced back at me. “They’re dead to the world, you don’t have to be quiet. The only thing that will wake them is when we take Jack’s head.”

I swallowed hard. “Will it be that simple?”

Doran stopped and turned to me. “Never killed a vampire?”

“No, Faris was the first I’d met, and he never gave me the chance.” True and not true. One time I’d been able to kill him was when he flooded me with his power, not because of anything I was on my own.

“Take the head, then pierce the heart. Your swords are edged with silver, are they not?”

“Yes.”

“Then that’ll do it.”

We rounded a small curve in the underground complex and there they were, asleep on two separate beds. Mind you, Berget was in the princess bed, a canopy swooping between the bedposts, bright white sheets curling around her small body.

Jack was on a basic bed, more like an army cot than anything. On the side wall, there was a simple white wooden door.

“Fuck, you want to bet that goes to the castle?” I strode over and yanked it open, looking straight into the hallway where we’d seen Jack and Berget originally.

“I bet she’s cheating,” Doran said, rapping his knuckles along the edge of the door. “Using the memories of her parents to further herself.”

They hadn’t been searching for the right door like us; they’d known where they were going, or at least, which continent.

Moving away from the doorway, I looked at Jack. Alex had his head on the Tracker’s chest, tears streaming down his furry face.

“Bad Jack. Alex sad.” He scrubbed his paw over his face and Jack stirred.

“Alex,” I hissed. “Get over here.”

“Rylee, quick,” Doran said.

But even that was too late. Jack was on his feet without me even blinking.

“Hello, Rylee. Be glad the Empress sleeps, or I would have to kill your friends where they stand.” His voice was strong and deep, nothing like the shaking tremor I’d last heard in him.

“How could you, Jack?” I held my swords up, pointing them at his neck and heart. “How could you let her use you?”

His blue eyes, those three tones of blue, swirled. “She didn’t give me a choice, and she took my memories of her visits. Until I stood before her, a vampire fully fledged, I had no idea what had happened.”

“Doran?” I didn’t know who to trust, though I wanted so badly to believe Jack. But that would mean one more person to try and rescue.

“I don’t know,” the Daywalker said. “I don’t think he’s lying.”

Alex, though, was the one who sealed it for me. “Smells honest, like Jack.”

“Jack, if we take you away from her …”

Doran was beside me, shaking his head. “Sunlight. WeSf b’d be better off to kill her now, get it done with.”

This time Jack shook his head. “Rylee, there is only one thing to be done. You won’t be able to kill her. I tell you this because I believe there is only one thing that
would
be able to kill her, to finally end her life. She must walk into the sun by her own choice.”

“Well, that ain’t going to fucking well happen, is it?” I growled, but I wondered if that was just what she’d told him? To make him believe she was unsinkable. It wouldn’t surprise me, but then again, she was carrying the blood and powers of two very old, very strong vampires. “And why aren’t you cussing up a storm?”

His lips twitched. “The Empress doesn’t like bad language, so I’m forbidden from using it.”

I couldn’t help laughing; it was the most ridiculous thing I’d ever heard. “Seriously?”

He shrugged. “I have no say in my life. Ask Doran, he was her pet too.”

“I was far enough away that she let me say whatever I wanted until she remembered I belonged to her and found a use for me.” Doran folded his arms over his chest. “Shit, what are we going to do, then?”

Jack smoothed his hands over his head. “She has commanded me to find the Blood. But she has not told me to take the most accurate route. I can slow her down, let you get there and get Faris on the throne. If what I understand is true, once the new Emperor has the blood of the old ones in him, she won’t stand a chance.”

I turned, lips tight, and looked at Doran. “Good plan if Faris hadn’t fucked it up.”

Jack sucked in a sharp breath. “He’s not with you?”

Doran filled him in. “He couldn’t hold out. He doesn’t have the control to finish the task.”

Jack’s whole face tightened, as if in pain. “She’s waking.”

I didn’t say goodbye, didn’t think of anything but getting to the ladder. Doran shoved me ahead of him, and I shoved Alex, praying Jack could hold her off long enough for us to reach the ladder and the relative safety.

No such luck. Doran’s hand on my shoulder disappeared, when we were just steps from the ladder. “Alex, up,” I screamed as I turned around and faced the gloom, my flashlight showing Jack holding Doran against his chest.

There was no choice now. I rushed them, and Jack held still, his eyes meeting mine one last time. In slow motion, I leapt into the air, my blades arcing forward.

But Jack jerked away and Doran dropped to the floor before I could contact anything. Doran caught me mid-air and all but threw me partway up the ladder. “CLIMB!”

Berget’s laughter floated from the depths. “Run away, sister. I will see you soon enough. Tell Faris I said hello.”

I scrambled through the trapdoor and flopped onto the dusty shop floor beside Alex, who stared into the hole. Doran climbed out and slammed the door shut behind him.

“We shouldn’t have survived,” he said, holding a hand out to me.

“Yeah, I kinda thought that myself.”

Though we didn’t run out of the store, it was close. Spooked, my body knew how just
how
close it had come to getting snacked on, even if my brain was trying to tell me everything was fine. Alex, like always, was already moving onto the next adventure.

“Car riifywasde?”

I pointed at the truck and he leapt in, dancing in one spot, or maybe bucking would be a more accurate term. “Seat too hot?”

“Nope, just dancing.”

Shaking my head, I let the smile slip across my lips. We had to take the bright spots when we could, even just a werewolf doing his version of the chicken dance.

Again, I let Doran drive. “Do we have time for your pit stop?”

“We have to.” His face was closed off, zero emotions to read.

Maybe he’d been more spooked than I thought. So I left him to his own thoughts, and me to mine.

Mine, of course, were dark and less than pleasant. Jack hadn’t made the choice to become a vampire, yet I wasn’t sure there would be a way to save him. Or if we could even get past him to get to Berget. Shit on a stick. I couldn’t reach Liam, but I tried to Track him anyway. Of course, nothing but a big empty hole with all the oceans between us. A low sigh escaped me and I scrubbed a hand over my face.

“I know you said there would be no rest for me, when you Read me. But really, did it mean I would feel like I was wrung out, completely done in, exhausted with every breath I took?” I glanced at Doran, watched as a smile slid over his lips. Ah, so I could still get him to respond.

“Dramatic much?”

“I was trying out my ‘Milly.’ Did you feel any sympathy at all?”

He snorted. “Sorry, none. She’s much better at laying the guilt and begging for sympathy. You just sound irritated.”

A few minutes later, we were at his pit stop, which turned out to be a hokey looking crystal shop on the far edge of town.

“You’re kidding, right?” I couldn’t help the way my eyes widened. This was supposed to be what, some sort of Shaman’s place?