When Darkness Hungers: A Shadow Keepers Novel (Shadow Keepers 5) (38 page)

She curled her arms around his neck and smiled up at him. “Sounds wonderful,” she said, but she couldn’t help wincing as he moved, shifting their position on the pillow.

Immediately, he pulled back, concern in his eyes. “What’s wrong?”

She pushed herself up into a sitting position. “I’m sure it’s nothing. I’ve just got a headache.” She pressed her fingers to the bridge of her nose. “A nasty one.”

“What can I get you?”

“A couple of aspirin, maybe.”

He had them for her in under a minute. “Anything else?” He reached for her and she took his hand and squeezed.

“You have a good bedside manner, Dr. Serge.” The image of Serge as a doctor amused her, and she laughed, which was a mistake, as it brought the headache back in full force. “I don’t think this is anywhere near as bad as Leena’s migraines,” she said. “Suddenly, I’m boatloads more sympathetic. I’m sorry,” she added, lying back against the pillows and closing her eyes. “I’m going to be useless to you for a while.”

“Just rest. We can train tomorrow. And there’s no reason we can’t bump the schedule up. I’ll go see Derrick today.”

Alarmed, she opened her eyes. “Do you think that’s a good idea?”

“Might as well go sooner rather than later, and it’s not as if we’re missing out on anything. You weren’t going to go with me anyway, remember? But I do think I should take you to Luke’s before I go.”

“Luke’s? You mean because of Derrick?” She shook her head. “You’re being paranoid. Even if he has spies at the PEC, all the paperwork says I’m locked up tight. And you’re going to be gone what? Maybe two hours, max? You’re just going to talk to him, right? Reconnect?”

He nodded, but she could tell he didn’t like it.

“I’ll be fine,” she said. “Seriously.” She reached for her phone. “I’ll even call Leena and see if she can come over.”

“Do that,” he said.

She rolled her eyes but dialed, then left a message for Leena to call her when she got her friend’s voice mail. “She’ll call back, and I’ll invite her over. But she won’t even need to come, because you’ll be back.” She looked hard at him. “You’re not really worried, are you?”

After a moment, he shook his head. “I think I’ll always worry about you. But like you said, you don’t even exist right now outside a jail cell.”

“See? There you go.”

“One hour,” he said.

“Good. I’ll nap. And I’ll be refreshed when you come back.” She wasn’t sure she would. Her head was starting to pound even more.

“I love you,” he said, and the words curled around her, warm and soft like a blanket.

“That’s exactly what I wanted to hear. Now go fight the bad guys. And by the way,” she added as he stepped toward the door. “I love you, too.”

As soon as he was gone, she settled back against the pillows again. She couldn’t help her smile even though the tug of muscles on her face was making her head feel worse. She hoped she was right and that it would pass by the time he got back, but she was afraid she’d been sorely mistaken. Now her stomach had jumped on the illness bandwagon, but her head was pounding so hard she didn’t want to get up to go track down some antacids. Instead, she curled up in a ball, staying that way even when she heard Serge’s footsteps in the hall.

“Did you forget something?”

He didn’t answer, but a second later she heard the door open. She shifted, tilting her head back to look at him and reassure him that she was still doing okay.

Except it wasn’t Serge who was staring down at her.

She rolled off the bed, going for the gun she kept on her bedside table, but he was beside her in a flash holding down her arm. She fought, but her pounding head was a disadvantage, and in no time he’d overpowered her.

“Hello, Alexis. I’m Jonathan. And I have a friend who’s dying to meet you.”

She only had time to scream Serge’s name once, but she knew it would do no good. He wasn’t in the house, and Jonathan was moving too fast. Her scream was still hanging in the air when the vampire grabbed her in his arms, transformed into mist, and the world dissolved around Alexis.

Heads turned and whispers filled the room when Serge walked into the Z Bar. He glanced around, his gaze finally landing on the woman behind the bar. She had pudgy cheeks and a tiny nose, giving her a face that resembled a hamster. “I’m looking for Derrick,” he said. “I’m Sergius.”

Her eyes widened almost imperceptibly, then she stuck out her hand. He ignored it, and after a moment, she withdrew her fingers, then wiped them on her apron. “I’m Vivian Clamdale,” she said. “This is my place.”

“Derrick,” he repeated. He wasn’t interested in this woman or in her customers. More than that, though, the Sergius that Derrick used to know wouldn’t be interested in them, either. Sergius had always had his own agenda; had always been the biggest badass in the room. If he wanted to reestablish himself with Derrick, he had to be that vampire again.

Looking at Vivian and her customers—some of whom were rogues he recognized—Serge thought that it wouldn’t be too hard.

“Now,” he added, because the woman still hadn’t answered. “Or I’ll just start looking for him myself.”

“In the back,” she said, her eyes darting toward a door off to his left. “I’ll take you.”

“I’ll find it,” he said, then headed that way. As he did,
he saw her pick up a phone and send a text. Undoubtedly telling Derrick that Serge was on his way. Good.

He pushed through the doorway and found himself in a long, dark hall. On alert, he took a step forward, testing the air, searching for anyone who might be hiding in the shadows.
Nothing
.

The door at the end of the hall flew open and Derrick stood there, his arms outstretched. “Sergius! My God, I feared those bastard Dumonts had destroyed you as they almost destroyed me.”

“And yet we’re still here, and the Dumont men now rot in the earth,” Serge said.

Derrick threw his head back and laughed. “Ah, Sergius! You are the same, after all. I’d feared you’d changed.”

“Did you?”

“The Sergius I remembered would not remain hidden for so long. I was certain you were here in Los Angeles, and yet you were a chimera, a shadow, nothing more than a rumor.”

“You assume that I was forced under by the PEC agents sniffing around. I assure you that wasn’t the case.” He kept his eyes on Derrick’s face, well aware of all that was riding on this conversation. He had to convince his old friend that he hadn’t changed. That the darkness still thrived within him. “I’ve been pursuing a purpose of my own. That’s one of the reasons I came tonight. We had a uniquely beneficial relationship in the past. I hoped we could resume it. That, and I missed the company of my old friend.”

“And I you. Come in, come in.” He stepped back so that Serge could enter the small room in the back. It was set up as an office, and Serge raised a brow in question.

“Tom and Vivian appreciate the customers I bring into their establishment, and they’ve done an excellent job spreading my message.”

“I’ve seen the results of your work—I assume I’m correct? You’ve been sharing your philosophy with the younger generation? They’ve been putting it into practice?”

“You’ve been very observant.”

“I find it amusing to watch the PEC chasing its tail. The rogues have them baffled.”

Derrick frowned. “Them, perhaps. But someone has been playing a game of cat and mouse, and I’m afraid that my men are the mice.”

“I’d heard rumors that rogues were disappearing. I’ve heard rumors of worse things, as well.”

“It’s horrible,” Derrick said. “So many of my men have been found completely desiccated.”

“And you have no inkling of how they came to be that way?”

“None. It’s baffling.” He waved a hand as if pushing away these disturbing thoughts. “But enough of this. We’ll have plenty of time to discuss political philosophy. What I want now is to hear about you. I wonder, for example, who replaced me as your companion. We had good times together, didn’t we?”

“Very.” Serge fought the rising memories of his time with Derrick, memories that disgusted him but made the beast and the daemon curl with pleasure.
Alexis
, he thought, reaching out through the blood connection, seeking her strength to calm him.

He couldn’t find her, though, and that failure sparked a tiny flicker of worry.

“Was I tossed aside and replaced?” Derrick asked. “Let me guess. By Lucius?”

“Luke?” Serge said, adding a note of scorn to his voice. “Haven’t you heard? He’s the new Alliance chairman. Far too tame for me.”

“Indeed. Then perhaps a woman?”

There was nothing strange about Derrick’s voice, but Serge stiffened anyway.

“A woman?”

“Just a guess, of course. I can imagine you with a woman at your side. Fiery of spirit. A hunter.”

On guard now, Serge shifted position, his muscles tensed and ready. Derrick had said nothing volatile. And yet still Serge felt his trepidation building.

“Of course, I would never have imagined you with a woman who hunted our own kind.”

Alexis. Dear God, Alexis
.

“What have you done, Derrick?”

“You’re a fool, Sergius, to think that you could walk into my territory and play games with me. The world truly has changed over the last century. Because you never were a fool before.”

Behind them, a door opened, and four vampires filed in, all wielding stakes. Serge ignored them as he rushed Derrick, fueled by a fierce need to destroy this threat to Alexis. This bastard who would surely kill her at the first chance, if only to antagonize Serge.

When he was only inches away, he stumbled under the unexpected weight of a metal mesh that fell from the roof.
Hematite
.

“It’s been a pleasure talking with you, my old friend. I’m sorry to say we won’t be working together. But you
see, I don’t need you. After all, I already have your woman.”

And with that, Derrick dissolved to mist. Serge tossed the mesh aside—hematite no longer affected him—and immediately spun around, ready to defend himself against the four vampires. But they were gone, too.

Derrick hadn’t even tried to kill him, and Serge damn well knew why. Hadn’t he done the same thing far too many times in the past? Why torture your enemy when you can torture the person your enemy loves most?

Alexis
. Again he reached out, searching for her. Again, he found nothing. Derrick was too smart to have his plans foiled by something as simple as the blood connection. Now Serge had to be smarter. He had to find her, and if he couldn’t track Alexis, then maybe he could track Derrick.

And he knew just the person to help him.

Serge pounded on Leena’s door, waited about two seconds, then broke the thing in. She stood there, crossbow raised, ready to release the arrow.

“He’s taken Alexis.”

“Who?” Her expression didn’t change, and she still held the crossbow.

“His name is Derrick. He’s been organizing the rogues. Alexis and I had a plan to infiltrate his organization, but he must have gotten wind of it.”

“Derrick,” she repeated, her voice low.

“Dammit, Leena, I need your help to track her.”

“The blood connection?”

“He’s blocked it.”

“I have no way of tracking her, either.” The crossbow came down, and Serge stepped farther inside.

“You have her blood. She told me you used it.”
Used it to track Tori’s killer. To track me
.

“And that blood has served its purpose. It can’t be used again.”

“Goddammit!” He lashed out, his fist putting a hole through her wall.

“We’ll find her. What about the men under him? Would they know where he took her?”

It was possible. “Let’s find out.” He took another step toward her. “I can get us there faster,” he added, and without waiting for her reply he transformed into mist, becoming corporeal once again only after they’d reached the Z Bar.

“Out,” he said as he burst through the door. The place was mostly empty now, and the few vampires who were left looked at him and rushed out, obviously not wanting to die that night.

Vivian Clamdale was still behind the bar, and Serge vaulted it with one clean leap. She backed away, obviously about to transform, but Serge grabbed her.