Twice Cursed (40 page)

“
Good. And did you procure
the donor from one of the shadow houses on the preferred list, or
is it someone from a random hunt?”

Lily’s mouth went drier than it
already was at the images the conversation prompted. Shadow houses
and willing donors were bad enough, but her stomach clenched at the
memory of watching vampires stalk their victims on a ‘random
hunt’.

“
Oh no, sir. Clovis
supplied the donor tonight. She’s from the shadow house on east
67th street.”

“
Bring her in.”

“
Sir?”

The master vampire hissed, and the
vamp procurer jumped, nearly pissing his pants. “Right away,
master… right away!”

The grandfather clock in the corner
chimed 11:00p.m., but before it reached its eleventh peal, the
sound of hurried footsteps and rushed harsh words could be heard in
the hallway behind Etienne.

Both Lupo, and whom Lily could only
guess to be Clovis, came through the door, carrying a half
conscious woman. She was in a state of semi-undress, as was Clovis,
and from the disgusted looks on the council member’s faces, it was
obvious they didn’t much approve of procuring vampire’s
extracurricular activities.

The woman was already foaming at the
mouth when they laid her on the floor in front of Sébastien. “Here
she is, boss,” Clovis said, tucking his too shiny shirt into his
unzipped pants. He was an unadulterated pig of a pimp, by any
standards.

Sean got up and knelt by the woman’s
head. He took a deep breath and coughed, the stench was so bad.
With his fingers beneath his nose, he squinted up at Sébastien. “I
find it inconceivable that you can’t smell this. It’s absolutely
foul.”

He spoke as much to himself as to the
master vampire, but didn’t wait for a response. Instead, he turned
his attentions back to the girl. Careful not to get any of her
spittle on his hands, he shifted her head to the side exposing a
series of bite marks on her throat. “Looks to me like she’s been
the appetizer for more than just a few vampires,” he commented,
eyeing Clovis and the obvious proof of his duplicity.

Lily didn’t think it was possible, but
the procurer actually blanched.

Wiping his hands on his thighs, Sean
sat back down next to Lily. “From the look of things, I’d say you
have an epidemic starting.”

“
Nonsense, we still don’t
know how she was infected, or if she’s the only one,” Rémy
interjected.

Sean shrugged. “There’s only one sure
way to find out.”

Both men looked at Lily. Not wanting
to gag, she was already breathing through her mouth. “Oh no! I
can’t go through that again, Sean. The dizziness and the
nausea—forget it!”

“
We don’t have any other
option, Lily. It’s the only way we can prove to Sébastien and Rémy
that this situation is rife.” His eyes were sympathetic, but
resolute. She didn’t have a choice.

She exhaled, and stood up. “Okay, but
only if we form a mental chain. I’ll touch her first to open a
conduit and get a read.” She pointed to the half dead woman lying
on the floor. “Then Etienne will have to channel my thoughts so you
can see what I see as well,” she said, addressing Sébastien
directly. “On our end, Sean and Jack can follow via the Hunter’s
shared mind path. Sean’s right. If we want to eliminate all doubt,
this is the way it has to play out.”

Sébastien rose from his seat,
motioning for Rémy and Etienne to do the same. The other vampires
moved into position, flanking them, but with strict instructions
not to interfere. They linked accordingly, with Jack and Sean each
with a hand on Lily’s shoulders.

She knelt on the floor next to the now
unconscious woman, smoothing the girl’s matted hair in an effort to
inject some humanity into this inhumane scenario.

Lily inhaled through her mouth, but
still gagged slightly. Sean squeezed her shoulder, and the cool
feel of his confidence flooded through at his touch. She glanced
up, giving him half a smile. “I love you, too,” she whispered,
their eyes locking in a private moment.

“
You got this,”
he feathered across.
“Show them what my girl can do.”
He
winked, and she covered his hand with hers, giving it a
squeeze.

Foregoing another breath, she
stretched a shaking hand out toward the woman, but stopped,
glancing up at Sébastien. “Promise me you’ll show mercy and end
this woman’s suffering as painlessly as possible.”

Sébastien nodded. “We may be a master
race, chéri, but that does not mean we are utterly devoid of
compassion.”

Satisfied the vampire would be good to
his word, she placed her hand on the girl’s forehead, but this time
it was Sébastien who interrupted. “You must promise me something as
well,” he said, eyeing both Sean and Lily.

Sean glanced at Jack before shifting
his eyes back toward the vampire. “Of course, if it is in my power
to grant,” he answered carefully.

Time seemed to stand still as they
waited for the other shoe to drop, but the master vampire exhaled
as if relieved.

“
Good. To use your witch’s
turn of phrase, if this ‘plays out’ the way we fear, I ask two
courtesies: first, that you help us track and kill my sad progeny
and her offspring, tonight. And second, that you lend us the
olfactory services of your Hunters to help find and eradicate those
infected within our shadow houses, both vampire and human donor
alike. This is a sad business throughout, and killing one’s progeny
is never easy, but for the greater good, I am left with no other
choice.”

Sean put his hand on Sébastien’s
forearm. “I hunted my own brother for the very same reason, so I
understand. We’ll help you clean house.”

Chapter Sixteen

***

The sky was cloudless, but the air was
damp and frigid. Lily stamped her numb feet on the red brick
esplanade circling the Bethesda Fountain at the heart of Central
Park. Her shitkickers were great for throw-downs, but their steel
reinforced toes weren’t much when it came to keeping her feet
warm.

“
Come on, you fanged bitch.
Show yourself,” she muttered, her warm breath puffing out onto her
cupped hands. At least the rest of her was warm, having traded in
her thin leather jacket and gloves for ones that were shearling
lined. It was nearly two a.m., and still there was no sign of
either Améile or her redheaded brat. Sébastien had warned that it
could be a long wait, and so far he was right.

The park was quiet, and she didn’t
know if it was the cold and the wet, or the vampires scattered
throughout, but either way she was glad the homeless had decided to
move indoors. Maybe this way they stood a chance at keeping the
human collateral damage to a minimum.

Funny how none of the vampires seemed
to know the redhead’s name. Even Clovis. If he did, he’d taken it
with him into the vampire great unknown. Sean had mentioned that
vamps tolerated little, but if tonight proved anything, it was they
tolerated deceit least. Ironic, really, considering the trickery
they used to lure their victims, but who was she to point out the
pot calling the kettle black?

The time was well past midnight when
they finally left the Red Veil, stopping home only to call Ryan as
promised. To say he was more than a little put out at being
rescheduled was an understatement. That is, until he found out why,
and where they were headed.

Lily exhaled, blowing a cloud of steam
into the icy, wet air. She had to hand it to Martinez. His
membership in the world of the supernatural was less than
twenty-four hours old, yet already he was as stubborn and crazy as
the rest of them. Talk about an argument for nature versus nurture.
Martinez was still thinking in human terms, though. This wasn’t a
stakeout, it was a search and destroy mission. Sean had even tried
to dissuade him, but the stubborn cop claimed this was still his
case.

Ha. Tell that to the
vamps!

She could see him across from the
fountain terrace, watching the water that spanned the area between
them and Améile’s suspected lair. He was all in black, like that
made any difference. To the supes, the full moon might as well be
high noon.

Lily paced the perimeter around the
fountain, her eyes scanning the tree line and the footpaths for
movement. “Anything yet?” Martinez asked, coming up behind
her.

She hooked her hand on her hip, her
fingers wrapping around the base of her concealed crossbow. “It’s
really not a great idea to sneak up on people, especially when more
than half the team is undead. I could have shot you, you
know.”

He smiled, lifting his hand to show
her the 9mm in his palm. “Yeah, I thought about that, but you’re
too smart a hunter to just react.”

Silent, Lily just looked at him. “Why
did you want to come tonight? And don’t hand me that bullshit about
it being your case. The fact that you brought a gun to fight
vampires shows you have no clue how to fight what we’re up
against.”

He snorted. “I think I’ve seen enough
to figure it out as I go,” he countered, pulling a sharpened stake
from his inside jacket pocket.

By now he’d seen her skepticism plenty
to read the look on her face. Maybe he’d take the hint and go home
where it was safe. “Well, good luck with that. Try not to get
yourself killed,” she muttered, turning to scan the trees
again.

Ryan moved beside her, hands on his
hips as he followed her line of sight. “I’m surprised the big guy
let you take this area alone. What, no bodyguard?”

Lily could feel the heat coming off
his body, and as he stood watch, his intensity was equal to that of
any of Sean’s hunters. There was no doubt Ryan would be an asset to
the compound, despite how much he bothered the crap out of
her.

“
Look. Sean is the Alpha of
the Brethren, and like it or not, I’m his alpha female…his mate. If
you really want to be part of the supe world, you’d better learn
that loyalty and trust are necessary evils. As to being on my own,
Sean knows I’m a competent hunter, besides, Jack is
around.”

Ryan huffed. “I guess the fact he put
me in such close proximity doesn’t count, huh.”

“
Nope. Not one bit. Until
you prove yourself, you might as well be bait.”

He frowned, his expression just shy of
offended. “You seem to forget I’m a seasoned cop,” he replied
quietly. “I came tonight because all you’ve talked about is my
accepting who I really am. In order to do that, I need to reconcile
the world I grew up in, with the world I’m genetically linked to.
If this really is my world, then I need to test my own mettle. I
need to see if there’s a place for me—as me. Get it?”

Ryan’s posture was stiff, but insulted
or not, she didn’t care. This was dangerous. “Listen, I didn’t mean
to dismiss your abilities, but this is a whole new game with lethal
players. Any badass mutt you’ve encountered in the past, will look
like a cartoon villain after tonight. You want in? Then you’ve got
to be prepared to step up and smell the blood on the vampire’s
breath as you stake her. Literally.”

Lily’s gaze jerked toward the
water.

“
Hey! We’ve got possible
movement near the center of the park, somewhere close to Belvedere
Castle by the turtle pond. Can you sense anything?”
Jack’s voice floated across through the common
Were path.

“
With all the supes
Sébastien brought with him tonight, not a chance. The place is
flooded with supernatural signal.”

“
Ugh…what good are you
woman! What if you got closer? Would your antennae work
then?”

Ryan made a noise, grabbing Lily’s
attention. “What’s going on?”

She waved him off, sticking her finger
in her ear, silently telling him to shut up so she could
hear.

“
Jeez, Jack, could you make
me feel any more like a bug? To answer your question though, yeah,
getting closer would work. I’ve got a clear radius for two hundred
feet as we speak, and if I know which guards Sébastien has lurking
around, I can segregate their feel.”

“
Good. Then get to the
castle. I’m at the Boathouse, so I won’t be far behind.”

Lily’s hand went to her
temple. There was an odd hum behind Jack’s voice that made her head
throb.
“Okay. Where’s Sean? Does he know
there’s been a possible sighting?”

“
He knows. He’s with
Sébastien at the lake. They’ll have to catch up.”

“
I’m on my way…”

Lily knelt to adjust the stakes in her
boot. “That was Jack…” she hesitated, looking up from her laces as
Rémy stepped out from behind the giant angel at the center of the
fountain. He launched himself in the air, turning a somersault
before landing silently on the red bricks not three feet from where
Lily and Ryan stood.

“
How long have you been
there?” she asked, pushing herself to standing, unfazed by the
vampire’s acrobatic entrance.

“
Long enough,” he said,
sliding a critical eye over Ryan’s defensive bearing. “Etienne has
been keeping watch, and he informed me Améile is in the area, or so
your wolf guard thinks. Unfortunately, the opportunity to verify
that escapes us as we speak, so I have elected to fly you to the
castle. Your wolf will meet you at the designated place. Sébastien
has one of our guards posted there already. His name is
Chen.