Twice Cursed (41 page)

Lily raised an eyebrow. “Not exactly a
French name, huh?”

Rémy gave her a lopsided
smile that did more to soften his deformity than all the firelight
in the world. His period coat was right out of
Interview with a Vampire,
and his
long hair blew across the ruined side of his face, making him seem
both sad and romantic. “Shall we?” he said, holding out his
hand.

“
Wait…” Martinez said, his
hand reaching for Lily’s elbow.

Rémy fixed Martinez with an unblinking
stare, but to his credit, the detective met the vampire’s gaze head
on without flinching.

“
I want to help you, Lily,
and not by standing here with my thumb up my ass,” Ryan whispered,
cocking his head closer to her ear.

The vampire raised his one intact
eyebrow. “Unlike my face, detective, my hearing is preternaturally
perfect. Don’t think to circumvent the little witch’s directive.
However, if you’d care to demonstrate the trick you described using
your thumb, I’m sure we could spare a moment or two.” Rémy spread
his hands invitingly, his amusement undisguised.

Martinez clenched his jaw, his eyes
torn between wanting to take a swing at the vamp, and not wanting
to die for the effort.

“
Enough,” Lily cut in,
shoving the detective’s hand away. “We don’t have time for this.
Ryan, you’re right. Get to the boathouse and look for Jack. I’ll
meet you both at the castle.”

Barely waiting for Lily to
hook her arms around his neck, the vampire launched them both
effortlessly into the air, hovering thirty feet or so before
lifting over the tree tops. She was surprisingly warm, considering
the wind temperature as they flew, and the fact that vampires were
ice cold to the touch. Rémy must have recently fed, and she
shivered, regardless of being warm.
Nope.
Not going there, thank you…
and she stopped
that train of thought in its tracks.

The park looked beautiful from their
high vantage point, and she wondered why Sébastien didn’t have his
vampires do an aerial search. For that matter, why wasn’t he the
one who gave the directive to head to Turtle Pond, if he had
someone stationed there? Wouldn’t they have spotted Améile first? A
weird feeling tapped her on the shoulder, and she couldn’t shake
the feeling she was missing something crucial.

“
Sean…where are you? I’m
headed over toward the castle. Jack said they had movement
there.”

“
Jack said what?
When?”

“
Just now, and Etienne sent
Rémy to give me a ride, vamp style. Jack said you knew about
this…”

“
Hmmm. Maybe he thought
Sébastien told me. Strange, though, he hasn’t said a word. Hang
tight. Don’t do anything until I get there.”

Hang tight. Ha. Considering she was in
transit via an airborne piggyback ride, she would have found the
directive mildly funny, if it weren’t for the nagging feeling at
the back of her mind. Rémy slowed as they approached the pond. A
night bird’s whistle echoed from the top of the castle, and Rémy
answered, setting Lily down on the floor of the main
turret.

“
Chen this is the wolf’s
seer. See that she isn’t injured.” With a single nod, he launched
himself with one leap off the side of the battlement.

“
Impressive,” she said,
staring off after Rémy. “Can all vampires do that?”

Chen shook his head. “Skills like
flying come with extreme age. I’ve only been dead for fifty years,
so, nope. Just your run-of-the-mill vampire,” he said, adding a
very 1950s Draculaesque hiss for effect, followed by hearty
chuckle.

From the top of his shiny black
pompadour to the bottom of his blue suede shoes, the Asian vampire
looked as if he’d walked off the set of an Elvis movie. Chen seemed
a tad more likeable than the others of his kind, relaxed—except for
the fact he would drink Lily dry in a heartbeat.

He jumped up to sit on the wide stone
railing, and leaned so far backward it looked like he’d either
topple over or snap his back. With his arms over his head, he
stretched. “Not exactly the way I thought I’d be spending my
night,” he said, taking a pack of Lucky Strikes out of his pocket.
He stuck one in his mouth then held the pack out toward Lily. “Want
one?”

She shook her head. “No thanks.” Her
fingers itched for a cigarette, but she needed to keep her hands
and her mind on target.

Chen shrugged, cupping his hands to
light his own. “Probably better you don’t,” he replied, blowing a
cloud of smoke out the side of his mouth. “You’ve still gotta watch
out for cancer and shit. Me, I’m already a walking corpse.” He
laughed, flashing a fangy grin.

Lily couldn’t help but smile back,
half expecting him to drawl ‘thank you, thank you very much,’ the
first chance he got. “Were you the one that spotted
Améile?”

He shook his head. “I haven’t seen a
thing all night. To tell you the truth, I was a little confused
when Etienne instructed me to signal my position to Rémy so he
could land with you.”

That same creepy feeling now walked
itself from her shoulder to latch its cold fingers around her
throat. “This doesn’t add up,” she muttered, gaze moving toward the
wall overlooking the pond and the footpaths that lead to the road.
She walked to the edge and rested her hands on the stone. Where the
hell were Jack and Ryan? And why was it taking so long for Sean to
get here? She shook her head dismissing the nagging feeling as
ridiculous. Jack had to have gotten his information from one of the
other vampires, otherwise this made no sense.

The water looked black, despite the
moonlight, and the ice floes gathered along the rocky slopes of the
embankment were eerily in shadow. Lily wheeled around on her heel.
“I’m going to head down toward the water’s edge. Keep me covered,
okay?”

Chen busied himself blowing smoke
rings. “Later gator.” With a smirk, he saluted, cigarette in
hand.

Lily ducked down the winding
staircase, the sound of her boots clattering like gunfire off the
masonry walls. Perhaps something down by the water could give her a
clue as to what was going on.

She stepped out of the main keep, and
scanned the rocks sloping down towards the water. They were slick
with ice, but there was no other way to get to the water’s edge
short of scrambling down the side wall.

“
Lily! Help! Up here! The
vamp bitch is up here!” Jack shouted from the castle terrace
above.

“
Jack!” Lily raced back
inside, her heart pounding in her chest. Why hadn’t she sensed him?
She unclipped her crossbow and deftly grabbed a stake from her boot
as she took the stairs two at a time.

Inside the arched doorway, she paused
to listen, pressing herself as close to the stone wall as possible.
There was an agonized scream, and she pushed herself away from the
wall, crouching as she ran through the entry, her crossbow cocked
and ready.

Chen was sprawled across the wet stone
floor, his limbs broken at odd angles. A puddle of blood spread
beneath his torn throat, and there was a gaping hole in his chest
where his heart should have been. She blinked as flakes billowed
past. The cool Asian vamp was already turning to ash.

In the corner was another body Lily
didn’t recognize. She couldn’t tell if it was human or supe as the
scents were too intermingled. All she knew, was he was dead, as
well.

“
Jack!” Lily hissed. “Where
are you?”

From the shadows, a gray wolf menaced
forward with his head low, four large canines dripping red as he
bared his teeth. Jaws snapping, he let out a snarl and leapt
forward, his large paws hitting the stone with a thud a few feet
from where Lily stood.

With slow measured movements, she
shifted the crossbow to her left hand and reached behind her back
for her 9mm. “Jack, it’s me. I don’t know what you did or why, but
if you can understand me, you need to stop and phase back to
human.”

He didn’t, though. He kept coming, his
teeth snapping as he advanced.

“
Sean…Jack just killed
Sébastien’s guard and swallowed his heart. He’s still in wolf form,
and it’s like he’s been drugged or spelled or something. He won’t
respond. I’ve got my gun drawn. I don’t want to shoot him, but I
will.”

Two men approached from the shadows
behind the gray wolf. One had a coil of rope in his hands, the
other a bottle and a rag, and Lily could smell the chloroform. In a
snap of bone and muscle, Jack phased back to human and stood
between them, naked, his mouth and chest covered in
blood.

“
Jack! Have you gone crazy?
What are you doing? Both Sébastien and Sean are on their way.” She
was confident Sean heard her call, however, the smug look that
spread across Jack’s face told her otherwise.

“
I’m afraid it’ll be too
late by the time they figure things out. It’s nothing personal,
Lily. I like you and I’m sorry it has to be this way. It’s just
Sean’s made some serious enemies, powerful ones who can give me
what I deserve. Unfortunately, you’re the bargaining
chip.”

“
Sean! It’s a trap!
Jack…”
she tried again, but pain, white
hot and piercing spiked through Lily’s ears. Her knees buckled, and
her hand shot out to grab the lamp post next to the stone
overlook.
“Sean! Help!”
The words seared her mind, the pain exploding
behind her eyes, blurring her vision. Panting, she tried to
straighten, but her knees gave out and she collapsed, her gun
clattering to the ground.

Jack kicked it to the corner and stood
over her. “I’m sorry, Lily, but you’re just too smart, and I can’t
have you blowing the whistle on me.” He squatted down, peeling her
white knuckled fingers from her crossbow and helping himself to a
handful of sharp stakes.

She looked up at him, trying to see
past the swirls and double vision. “Why, Jack?” she rasped, earning
a scornful sigh from the wolf.

“
I’m surprised at you Lily,
smart as you are that you didn’t figure things out. You were
suspicious, I’ll give you that. Your instincts were right on target
up until the very end, but you ignored them, buying into that
goody-goody garbage Sean’s been feeding you.” His expression
hardened, and the once handsome hunter suddenly seemed
ugly.

“
Poor Jack,” he mimicked in
a soft girly voice. “You and Sean, you’re both the same and both
stupid. You were better as a vigilante, Lily, until you let
emotions rob you of your edge. It’s weak. If it had been Edward at
dinner with us the other night, he would have politely listened to
my complaint, patted my hand and then shot me point blank in the
head.”

Lily stared at him in disbelief. “And
that’s what you want for the Weres? A power junkie, unmerciful and
ruthless?” she asked.

He shook his head, his lip curled in
distain. “You still don’t get it.” For a moment he stared at her,
his expression almost disappointed. “It doesn’t matter, I guess.
You’re a pawn now, and I get to call the shots. Using you to lure
Sean back to the compound was only part of the deal. After that,
you’re mine.”

Lily lifted her chin and spit in his
face.

Jack stiffened. He wiped his cheek,
then backhanded her across the face. “Like I said…
mine.”

Pain reverberated through her jaw and
up into her ear. With a sharp intake she winced, but gritted her
teeth, refusing to let him see her break.

“
Enough of this chatter, we
need to get moving before Sean realizes I’ve sent him and Sébastien
on a wild goose chase. Stupid fool. In wolf form I told him Rémy
and Etienne were behind this and were flying you toward Columbus
Circle—that it was a vampire set up, and I killed the guard while
trying to stop them.” Shameless, he drew himself up fully. “After
all, Sébastien did say you’d make a wonderful addition to his
group, and everyone knows vamps don’t take kindly to being
told,
‘No, thank you’
.”

Lily stared at him, the puzzle pieces
that had eluded her for a week finally falling into
place.

“
Oh, and don’t worry. The
telepathic block I’m using on you may be painful, but isn’t
permanent. Just a necessary evil, until Sean is dead and Edward is
in control. You see, I learned a few things working all those
nights on bedpan duty. Hunters are trusted, no questions asked, and
I took full advantage of that and the access it gave me to
Volkmann’s research. Too bad Sean thought I was all brawn and no
brains. Guess the joke’s on him now, huh?” He kicked at the pile of
wet soot that used to be Chen.

Lily stealthily slid her fingers over
the outside edge of her boot. The single telltale bump under her
fingers said she had one stake left, one chance for escape that
Jack had missed.

Jack’s back was to her, but there was
still no chance to strike or get away. He had her crossbow, and her
gun was in the corner out of reach. Time, though, was her ally for
the moment. He had ordered his men to drag the remains of the dead
guy down to the pond for the police to find, and the longer it
took, the more of a chance there was Sean would figure things out
and come for her.

Lily didn’t recognize any of the men
with Jack, including the dead one. They had to be Parr’s flunkies.
The one he called Tony hooked his arms under the inert bulk of what
was left of his pal. “Marcus, grab Leon’s ankles,” he said to the
other, straining to lift the slumped over body. “Jeez, he’s heavy,
no wonder they call it dead weight,” he snickered.