Way of the Wolf: Shifter Legacies 1 (29 page)

“Goddess, you really are different!” she said and clutched him tighter as orgasm claimed her, shaking her entire body.

They lost themselves in the ecstasy of blood.

* * *

16 ~ Centre Field

“I don’t like this, Mister Gavin. It
feels
wrong.”

Gavin frowned at Angelina where she shifted nervously from foot to foot next to the car. She wasn’t a powerful witch as such things were judged, and she never relied upon her magic much preferring the more reliable technological weapons she habitually carried, but when a witch—even a little witch—said something
felt
wrong, it was best to heed the warning. It wasn’t her so obvious anxiety that made him frown at her however. It was that her words so mirrored his own thoughts and feelings. Something wasn’t right, but he wasn’t sure what exactly. The message had been legitimate enough. That Stephen wanted to use a neutral venue for their meeting was within expectation, but his haste was not. Still, Stephen and he had lived amicably for almost fifty years now. They respected one another’s strength and territory. Although Stephen was the younger and less powerful due to that happenstance, he would make a formidable enemy. Unlike him, Stephen had broken with tradition and did not live alone. He had allied himself with shifters too, but Gavin didn’t expect any unpleasantness. Not really. What concerned him was the reason for the meeting, not the meeting itself.

“You should have let me bring Flex and the others,” Angelina said anxiously when he didn’t respond. “He could take us out easy.”

“Not so easy,” Spencer said from the shadows on the other side of the car. “Stephen would warn us first.”

“But that’s stupid, Spence!”

Gavin smiled tolerantly. “Stephen is an honourable man. He will abide by our agreement. We’re not here to fight.”

“Then why do you need us?”

“Because the appearance of strength can often forestall unpleasantness. You and Spencer add to my power.”

“Spence does, sure, but me? I can’t do what he does, Mister Gavin.”

“Nor do I expect it. You add to my strength in other ways. It seems strange to you I know, but trust me. They’ll be impressed.”

Angelina just shook her head and settled her weapons more comfortably beneath the coat he had bought her.

Stephen would be impressed with Angelina; he hadn’t lied about that, and it wouldn’t be the clothes she was wearing either. He had bought her an outfit that subtly accentuated her beauty while emphasising her other attributes. She knew how to look after herself. She was no innocent, as anyone would find should they try to cross her. The long coat covered a slim woman wearing a biker’s leather pants and boots. The dark blouse she wore blended with the coat to hide enough firepower to start a war. Oh yes, Stephen would be impressed all right, but it would be her obvious loyalty and love for him and Spencer that would impress him the most, not her readiness for mayhem.

Gavin led the way through the parking structure and up the steps into the stadium. Spencer prowled on his left leaving the right for Angelina to cover. The meeting was to take place in the open. Centre field to be exact. With the stadium empty and the floods unlit, the stands could have hid an army, but they didn’t. Darkness hid nothing from him and his kind. Indeed, even as dark as it was, Spencer and he could see perfectly. Shifters were well suited to hunting in the dark, and the night was all Gavin’s world. Besides, he didn’t need eyes to know that they were the first to arrive and that the stadium was empty. He had other senses that could tell such things.

Angelina muttered something about taking foolish chances as they descended toward the field. Her eyes would take longer to adjust.

“We’re alone, take your time.”

“Don’t worry about me, Mister Gavin,” Angelina said. “I can see well enough to pull the trigger.”

“I’m sure,” Spencer said sarcastically from Gavin’s other side. “Just so you remember not to hit me. Bullets smart.”

Gavin chuckled.

They reached centre field without incident and waited. Perhaps five minutes of bantering among themselves found them joined by Stephen. Gavin turned to watch him approach accompanied by two others as agreed. Both were revenants. He knew Danyelle as Stephen’s oldest companion, but he had never met the man with her. Spencer advanced a couple of paces and moved off to the side. Angelina did likewise so that should Stephen’s allies attempt an attack, she would have a clear field of fire.

Gavin stood where he was unmoving.

Stephen’s glamour was wasted on him. They were both strong enough to see through such things. With or without glamour, Stephen was an impressive looking man to his jaded eyes. He had night dark hair braided into an intricate rope, intensely blue eyes, high cheekbones, and aristocratic jaw. He was wearing a custom-made suit and a gold coloured wristband. A plain and battered looking wedding ring adorned one finger. Gavin had asked him about it once. Stephen said to ask again when they knew each other better. That was over forty years ago. The very real pain in Stephen’s voice had convinced him to wait another century or so.

Stephen kept his distance and said, “Spencer.”

Spencer nodded amiably. “Stephen.”

“You’re well?”

“Can’t complain. A few years older, a few years wiser.”

Stephen smiled at that and turned to Gavin. “Would you care to introduce me to your charming companion?”

“Angelina, allow me to present Stephen Edmonton, an old friend.”

“Charmed,” Stephen said with a smile and small bow.

Angelina kept her eyes firmly fixed on Stephen’s shoulder. “Call me Angel, everyone does.”

“Not everyone it seems,” Stephen said with a raised eyebrow at Gavin. “But Angel is such an apt name for you.”

“How true,” Danyelle said sweetly. “Angel is a very
pretty
name. You surround yourself with weakness, Gavin.”

He did not quite smile. “We define weakness differently. We always have.”

“She is merely human. Any one of us could snap her neck before she knew it was time to scream. If Stephen gave the word, Lee and I could kill you before she moved.”

“I prefer to associate with the living not the dead,” he said and this time it was Stephen he was talking to. Stephen frowned at the jibe. “You will find her more than prepared should you wish to test her. Angelina, show her what you’re holding under the coat.”

Angelina opened her mouth to protest, but then she shrugged and opened her coat with her left hand. Her right was seemingly buried in her coat pocket, but upon opening the coat things were made clear. She had removed the pockets so that her hands could reach through to the submachine gun she was holding aimed at Danyelle. The second sub gun was still in its holster under her arm. She left it where it was for the moment.

“It’s an Ares FMG-P90 sub-machine gun, and comes in the box with laser sight and stunner attachment. I left them at home.” Angelina said helpfully. “Made in Belgium…
Europe?
” Danyelle scowled at the mockery. “It fires nine hundred rounds a minute, and has a fifty round magazine. I have plenty with me should you be wondering. It
will
cut you in half, and I’m being literal. I tested it on a vamp once.”

Stephen laughed aloud at Danyelle’s dumbfounded expression and Gavin grinned. They stepped forward and embraced each other heartily.

“How have you been, Stephen, did the thing with the night club work out?”

Stephen nodded. “It’s called Lost Souls. Appropriate no?”

“I’ve heard the name, but I didn’t realise it was yours.”

“You should visit. It’s the best place for our kind. There’s no need to wander the streets looking for food. It comes to me.”

“Perhaps I will someday,” he said but he wouldn’t do that. He meant it when he said that he preferred associating with the living. Stephen’s club might be a wonderful place, he was willing to concede the possibility, but he would find more than blood, music, and dancing there. Danyelle wasn’t the only revenant allied to Stephen. There was Lee for one. “Lee is new isn’t he?”

“He joined me just a couple of months ago. He’s part of what I want to talk about.”

“I assume by your choice of venue that the others are coming?”

“They’ll be here in a while. I wanted to talk to you first.”

Gavin raised an eyebrow at that. “Oh?”

“We two are the oldest in LA. What do you know of the Arcadian?”

Gavin stiffened. “The Arcadian?”

Stephen nodded watching him intently.

“I know that he’s dead.”

“You know it, or you heard it? It’s important, Gavin.”

He frowned at the urgency he heard in Stephen’s voice. The Arcadian had been a revenant he’d met not long after his exile began. They had despised one another the instant they met. He had been newly dead and still possessed of the qualities he had carried in life, and struggling to reconcile his new existence with the dictates of honourable conduct. The Arcadian stepped boldly into his life one day and shattered what little he had built. The Arcadian was old. Not just old in years, but truly old. Where Gavin’s life was measured in centuries now, the Arcadian’s existence had been measured in millennia even back then. He had been ancient in more than just his years. He was ancient in his thinking and evil to the very core of his being. There was no doubt in his mind that the man had been mad and probably the oldest
living
creature in the world.

“I saw him die,” he said reluctantly and Danyelle gasped. The Arcadian was like a bogeyman to their kind. To hear that he had truly existed was a shock for her. Meeting him in person certainly had been. “I helped William and Francis destroy him.”

Stephen sagged in relief. “Thank the goddess. I had hoped, but I wasn’t sure. You have never been one to share your past, but I knew that William was involved. He let slip some of it to me many years ago and you two knew each other back then. No matter. If you say you destroyed him that’s enough for me.”

Gavin shifted uneasily as he remembered those times. He had helped William and Francis capture the Arcadian to destroy him, but he hadn’t witnessed the deed. William was hurt during the capture and he had wanted to care for him. Francis had wielded the axe, he remembered, but he
had
seen the body burned afterwards. The Arcadian
was
dead. Irrevocably dead
.

“Why ask about this now?”

“I had wanted to wait for the others to explain, but no matter. People have been dying and in a way that points to one of us.”

“I haven’t killed anyone recently,” he said then frowned only just then remembering the two boys in Ellen’s apartment. “Who has died?”

“I do not accuse you. I merely state a fact. Eight dead women have been found in such a way that I think one of us is responsible. That’s bad enough. I don’t need police sniffing around. I can influence them one at a time of course, but this case is big news. There are dozens of reporters hanging around my club looking for a story and not just mine.”

“And Lee has a part in this?”

“In a way,” Stephen agreed with a nod. “Things are…
unsettled
in the world. Forces are moving. We have managed to keep our internal struggles hidden for so long without discovery that some of us have become careless.”

“You speak of what happened in Chicago last fall?”

“That and what is happening the world over right now.”

“I don’t understand—”

“Of course you don’t!” someone called from out of the darkness.

Gavin and Stephen pivoted on the instant both caught unawares by the arrival of Rachelle and her bodyguard.

Angelina and Spencer moved along with Danyelle and Lee to bracket the newcomers. Rachelle smiled mockingly at them but continued her advance forcing them to retreat or else lose good position. The result left Gavin, Stephen, and Rachelle in close proximity and the six bodyguards warily eyeing each other in a ragged ring around their combined charges. Angelina went to one knee looking outward at a tangent to the ring so that she might sweep the newcomers with fire while at the same time lower the risk of hitting Gavin.

He was aware of Angelina’s preparations, and that Spencer was growling low in his throat at one of Rachelle’s bodyguards. The woman was sneering at Spencer. He obviously knew her and didn’t like her. She was a human but there was something about her aura that said she was more. It took a moment of concentration, but he felt the darkness hovering about her. She was a practitioner, not in the same league as true magi, but she was vastly more powerful than Angelina was. Her magic had been enough to hide Rachelle’s approach and it was a dark power she wielded.

“Spencer,” Gavin said warningly.

Spencer didn’t take his eyes from the witch. “She reeks. Her foul magic soils us all.”

The woman scowled.

“I’m sure you’re right,” he said, though all he felt was darkness in her aura, not evil. Shifters were more sensitive to magic. “We are not here to fight. Do nothing.”

Spencer quit growling but continued to glare at the witch. He wouldn’t take his eyes off her now.