Blade on the Hunt (3 page)

“You know you’re the only one I allow to do this. Enzo is very good but he doesn’t massage my scalp like you do.”

Rowan met her cousin’s gaze over Theo’s head. He didn’t react when she rolled her eyes, but she knew he was amused.

But it was still dangerous. The air in the room was unsettled. Theo gave off angry waves of energy from time to time. He wasn’t under control. He tried though, and that had to be enough until she could figure out another away or until this madness passed and he returned to red alert homicidal and cranky instead of melting the crust of the earth going to destroy everyone crazy.

“You’re very spoiled.” She brushed and brushed, feeling the tension in his muscles release little by little as she kept up.

“I am.”

“Where did you go,
Vater?
Your Five need to know.”

“Do you think me so careless as to leave evidence?”

She kept her tone soothing. “No. I think you’re very powerful and sometimes you forget the human world is different now. They can find so much with one strand of hair.”

He waved a lazy hand.

“Don’t underestimate them. I work with humans daily. They’re not as strong as Vampires, but they’re curious and inventive. They already have so much fascination with Vampires that if they knew you really existed you might find armed troops on your doorstep while you are resting.”

“I still know how to pour boiling oil on anyone attempting to breach my lair.”

True. He kept giant cast iron cauldrons at the spouts and there was always enough tinder to start a fire and get that oil—already waiting in the cauldrons—boiling hot and ready to kill invaders.

Some kids had earthquake drills at their houses growing up. Rowan had learned that and laughed and laughed.

“You think me weak?” He was cranky again, though it wasn’t aimed at her. Not yet.

“I think you very powerful. A shark sometimes forgets it’s not the only creature with teeth in the ocean, yes? I do not want you to get kidnapped by shadowy government agencies.” Not that they could hold him very long, but it would be quite the mess.

“Bah, shadowy!”

“Bah? I
work
for a shadowy agency. I would be one of the type of people sent to take you. And your household staff. And your Vampires all over the planet. You take this far too lightly.”

“You said you weren’t angry, Petal, but I think you are.”

She realized she was. Worried about him too. Fuck it all twice sideways. She wasn’t supposed to be back here wanting to protect him again. Seems old habits died hard and damn if she didn’t love this whackadoodle old weirdo.

“I’m angry you’re being careless with your safety. I’m not questioning your ability to protect yourself when attacked. But there are elements—human elements—who’d stop at nothing to have you. And there are Vampires who would use this to take over the Nation.”

“You worry for me?”

“Of course I do. Where did you go? Let us help or I shall be very cross with you.”

He stilled and she continued to brush and hoped she masked her fear.

“I will tell you and I will stay here.”

She waited, brushing, knowing there was more.

“I would probably feel far better if I was able to see my daughter more often. You’re very stingy with your time.”

Stingy? He was so dramatic. “Did I not recover here for six weeks before I went back to Las Vegas? I’m here now and will be for a few more days. Hardly stingy.”

“You were nearly dead during part of that time and would not do well to remind me of it.”

Anyone else on the entire planet and she’d have hit him on the back of the head with that brush hard enough to render him unconscious for being so annoying.

Instead she made herself not yank the brush too hard and waited him out. He’d spill it eventually. After he pouted and complained some more. She needed to have Carey add a few terms to his search list so she’d think on that while mentally scouring Theo’s complaints until she got to the heart of it and finally worded her offer however he needed to hear it so they could be done.

“I would rather like to see you. And Clive, he’s permanent is he?”

“He’s not dying anytime soon. Unless he annoys me too much.”

Theo made a sound and waved a hand. “Don’t avoid the question, Petal.”

“Yes, he’s permanent. He’s in the family business so to speak. He’s nice to look at. He doesn’t burst into tears when I have to kill something.”

Theo laughed this time. “Bring him then. I’ll need to invite Warren for another time or he’ll be petulant.”

“Warren?”
Petulant?
Really? She wasn’t sure she’d ever seen Warren petulant.

Theo looked over his shoulder at her, chiding. “While the Keep is akin to Vatican City, Germany is in Warren’s territory. Another Scion comes to visit and it only makes all the rest of my children petty and childish about what is fair. Fair. Beings who span into the millennia and they still mewl at me about who gets more love from poppa.”

Oh that. Vampire politics were so dumb. She’d make a crack, but again, scary old Vampire on the edge and also, Hunter politics were just as dumb so she couldn’t really cast stones. Though maybe she should cast them at people’s heads so they’d be unconscious and she could get on with her business.

“I know you come to Ireland for your goddess’ holy day and your birthday at that time. I won’t get in the way of that part of your life. I know you belong to Her then. Afterward, I’ll expect you for a week.”

As Brigid’s Vessel, Rowan returned to Kildaire every year at Imbolc, Her holy day in February. Which also happened to be Rowan’s birthday. She always spent a week or so in Ireland, visiting with the women who revered Brigid. Many of whom had a part in educating Rowan in what it was to be who she was as a Vessel. They were her elders, much like aunts.

“I can do that. He...well I don’t think Clive will be in Ireland with me, but I can meet him here a week after Imbolc.” Clive tread carefully when it came to the side of her life belonging to Brigid. He seemed in awe and maybe a little scared of it. Which sort of was how Rowan felt about it too so she wasn’t offended.

He held up three fingers. “One visit agreed on. And the other three times? It’s been far too long since my Keep has celebrated the winter holidays. Come then. We will have trees like the Christians and Druids. Cook will make croquembouche. You will allow me to give you presents and not complain about how much they cost.
Not once.
I want presents in return. A framed picture or something of that sort. Not a painting. I have paintings of you. No silver, no matter how funny you think that is.”

She gave in to the smile at the memory of giving him a silver-handled mirror after reading
Dracula.
She must have been ten or so. He might be old and out of touch in a lot of ways, but all Vampires, no matter how long they’d been around before Stoker’s novel, knew the reference.

Vampires weren’t bothered by mirrors, but silver did harm them. They were all pretty insulted to be considered bug eaters and crypt sleepers when most Vamps liked high thread count sheets and tended to be snobs about food.

But he’d laughed when he unwrapped her gift. A good memory.

Still, there was no way she could just freaking put her life on hold and make the trip from Vegas to high in the Wetterstein four times a year.

But it didn’t matter. He wanted it and she knew, in the end, she’d agree because she needed him at the Keep instead of marauding across Europe where she’d have to watch him every minute so he didn’t start snacking on passersby who looked at him sideways.

Plus Clive would be getting more face time with The First, which would be good for his career within the Nation. Not that she’d admit to either male that she cared, but it mattered to Clive so it mattered to her.

And just maybe it was nice that Theo cared enough to use his power with her to demand not concessions to the Treaty, but time with her.

“I can’t just fly like you and Clive can. The trip takes me way longer.”

“I’ll send my private jet for you and Clive. That’ll keep him safe for travel as well and you’ll be brought right here to our airfield down the mountain.”

“I can agree to do my best. Things are chaotic right now so I can’t say yes. I will do my utmost to make it happen.”

He reached up and patted her hand. And then he gave her the names of the Vampires he’d executed and agreed to stay at the Keep as long as Recht went with her on the hunt.

Chapter Three

Clive stalked back down the stairs after ending his meeting with the other Scions. He needed some distance from Warren Farrelly. Being in Germany meant it was Clive on the defensive in the power dynamic. He wasn’t a fan.

Clive
was smarter. Certainly far better looking and more charming. If pressed, Clive believed he would prevail in a physical challenge. But Farrelly had been a soldier in the middle ages and had battled alongside Clive’s father and uncle during the war that brought the Treaty into being. He held Europe ably and, despite his annoying ego, had been a solid ally along with Clive to back The First.

Warren was a pompous prat who looked at Rowan far too often and for far too long. Made Clive want to rip the other Vampire’s head off.

Rowan was
his.
Yes, yes, no one truly owned Rowan but Rowan. But she’d given herself to him. She was his in ways she’d never be with anyone else. Clive found that immensely satisfying.

When Clive rounded the corner he came upon Nadir.

“I was just looking for you. Do you have a moment to update me on the situation?” Technically he outranked the Five, but it did no good to antagonize or disrespect them. They were powerful. Feared for a reason. In truth, they were far more powerful than anyone other than Rowan when it came to dealing with The First.

She nodded back, paying him the same respect. “Yes, now is appropriate. With Rowan’s help we’ve been able to identify those who’ve been disciplined by The First.” Nadir handed a piece of paper over to Clive.

Shock skittered along his spine as Clive read the same last name over and over. Lacoste. A line long powerful within the Nation. They’d held their territory without any trouble as far as Clive knew. If they’d done what The First had alleged—and Clive trusted his master on that—they wouldn’t have died easily. Or quickly.

“We’ll need to get with Rowan and Hunter Corp on this new development.” Which would also give him a reason to speak with her quietly and privately. And hopefully without clothes.

“She’s going to train with our weapons master for a bit.” Recht’s voice was smooth and quiet, but held a whip of command as he approached. Recht was the weapons master and had taught Rowan most of what she knew, so Clive could only cheer on the idea that she’d be able to take her aggressions out on Recht. By the time she came to Clive, they could get one another relaxed in other, less antagonistic ways.

Still, Clive didn’t miss the other nuances of the situation. Recht made a claim on Rowan’s time. And issued a little bit of warning. It said they all needed to take care of Rowan and help her get through the end of what had been a really rough day.

Rowan would never accept anything she considered pity or coddling. But in her own way, she’d understand this work out with her mentor and teacher was affection she could accept. Clive had no plans to miss taking in that spectacle.

Clive loved to watch Rowan fight. Single-minded and bloodthirsty, she was more Vampire than most Vampires he knew.

Fierce. Sexy. God above she was devastatingly alluring to him. Strong. Vicious. Intelligent. She understood strategy in ways it had taken him several hundred years of Scion training and an education at Oxford to gain.

Before her, he’d always taken on lovers who were calm and elegant. Cultured. Women who loved the opera and had closetsful of expensive clothing. Manicured, plucked, well coiffed women.

And then there’d been Rowan. Foul mouthed. Moody. Aggressive. Angry and resentful. And even then he’d wanted her. As he’d come to know her, he could add wary. At times totally unaware of her appeal. At other times, quite aware and she used it with such precision it made him hard just watching it.

Loyal. Righteous. Beautiful. Singular.

There was quite simply no one and nothing on Earth like her.

Rowan. This woman he started off hating and now adored more than anything he’d ever dreamed he was capable of. And there she was, just a few feet away. She’d changed into her workout clothing and still looked as if she could kill with a fingertip. Magnificently vicious.

Nadir’s amused expression told Clive he’d been woolgathering a little too long and had been obvious about his affections for Rowan. But here and with these Vampires it was safe. They wanted to protect Rowan too. They loved her and accepted her nature, appreciated it.

“I’ll head to my rooms to change and clean up. I’ll see you both shortly, then.”

They nodded crisply as he excused himself. He’d elected to fly with her from the States. He’d rested during part of it but he knew Rowan. She would not have rested. She’d have used the time to work. Think. Plan.

He smiled as he entered his suites.

Rowan would never, ever let go until she’d handled this business with Enyo. It wasn’t just the pain and recovery. It was that Enyo had bested Rowan. She’d attacked, would have killed Rowan had she not been interrupted. And escaped.

Since that night Clive had nearly lost her, she’d been sidelined as she regained her strength. His prickly Rowan couldn’t let the imbalance between her and Enyo remain uncorrected.

He fed quickly, checked in with Alice, his assistant, who assured him all was well and then headed to the practice space where Rowan was already stretching.

Her hair had been pulled back from her face and the braided rope of crimson hung to her waist. She’d tuck it in to her collar once she started with Recht but for the moment it swung slightly as she moved in body hugging workout gear that showcased a powerful and toned form.

He kept out of her vision but she would know every person in that room. Would know their footfalls, if they moved in anger or fear.

Rowan was a sharp-edged weapon. He’d yet to have met any being more aware of her surroundings than she.

Recht came out, his hair similarly pulled back from his face and wrapped into a neat bundle at the base of his skull. Smart, Rowan had no problem fighting hard and vicious. She’d pull hair out, poke an eye from a skull, kick the balls up into the lower intestine. Whatever she had to.

A series of chimes sounded and Rowan and Recht squared off across from one another in the practice ring. Each bowed to the other, keeping gazes locked on one another.

Clive heard her jaw click closed in his head when Recht announced broadswords. Given her overall mood and the day she’d already endured, Clive figured Recht wanted to get her tired, sweaty and sore enough that she could exorcise some of that mountain of emotion she buried so deeply within.

“As you’re aware, you need my approval to sign off on this hunt. In order to do so, I need to be sure you’re fully recovered,” Recht said as he sauntered past, handing her a very fine replica of a broadsword Clive knew the other Vampire had used in the original war against the Hunter Corporation troops.

For just a moment she let her defenses down. Rowan was tired. Exhaustion emanated from her in waves. She’d never have exposed that vulnerability to anyone else. Not even for a second. But she trusted everyone in that room knew she was the strongest, baddest bitch around.

Clive smiled at that, having heard it in her voice as he thought it.

A smile that faltered when he caught sight of Rowan’s valet, David, as he entered quietly. The young hunter clearly tried not to catch Rowan’s attention. But he was hers to protect and as he’d been there when Rowan had told David to remain in Las Vegas during this hunt, she would be doubly aware of his presence just then.

She tucked her hair into her shirt and rolled her shoulders, loosening up. Her features had hardened into an utterly blank mask. The Rowan he’d first met.

Clive knew she was already planning her next several moves. Recht had chosen a heavy weapon. To tire her while also reminding her she was more powerful then than she had been her entire life.

When she’d been barely clinging to life after Enyo had attacked, Rowan had been given not only The First’s blood, but the blood of the other Scions and two of the Five. She hummed with a force-field like energy now. More powerful than he’d ever seen her.

More than that, Clive had noted how much faster Rowan could call on Brigid. And how fast Brigid manifested herself if She felt the need. The loop between Vessel and Goddess seemed to have strengthened by leaps and bounds.

He and the being of power who shared Rowan’s body had come to a wary truce and Clive was all right with that. If Brigid was on alert, it only served to keep Rowan safer.

A hush brought total stillness over the area. Recht inclined his chin slightly and stepped into the practice space. Rowan echoed his movements and stepped in.

“Has being back in your city of luxuries made you soft, little goddess?” Recht taunted.

Rowan’s mask remained in place and suddenly she moved, faster than Clive had ever seen. Recht, startled, met her slices and her stabs.

Clive couldn’t take his gaze from them. A master Vampire, one everyone he knew feared and respected, The First’s weapons master, locked in hammer and tongs battle with a human.

A human who moved like a Vampire. Who moved as fast as an
ancient.
The light shone from her as she spun and had to lean back to avoid a strike that would have dislocated her jaw had Recht landed it.

A bell sounded and they moved apart, never taking attention from the other. Neither looked more than moderately winded.

There was no teasing when they went at it again. Rowan, instead of flagging after so much intense physical exertion, seemed to brighten and flex, grow more confident and steady.

He loved to see her prowl around Recht, her gaze roving over him, assessing constantly. There was no fear there. Not that Recht would truly hurt her. But it was more than that, it was
confidence.

Rowan, with a snarl, chasing Recht across that floor, the thud, clank and clatter of the practice swords and the grunts and snarls of exertion as they went at one another without holding anything back was quite truly the most alluring thing he’d ever seen.

His woman.

His warrior.

He wanted to make her his queen. Wanted to shower her in every pretty bauble and expensive fabric. But she was skittish and defensive, so he found her far more receptive to gems and couture if they came with a weapon.

Sometimes she wore both—recently it had been a bladed sheath at her thigh and a long rope of rubies and diamonds around her neck—and nothing else. His favorite. And his alone. Because she gave herself to him. Because she made the choice to be with him.

Pride roared through his system. She loved him. This creature like no other came to him, revealed herself, let herself be soft—
just for him.

Rowan filled him with greed. With pleasure and vexation. With respect and awe at her abilities. Rage too. No one could make him angry like she did. On purpose. To toy with him. But also, because to Vampires, that sort of snarling back and forth was foreplay.

She incited him as another Vampire would and yet, she did it in a way no one else could have. And she did it knowing it made him even hotter for her. It was her way of preening for his attention. Which she always had.

Whatever it was, he’d given up questioning why he liked it and loved it instead.

After two more timed matches, Recht finally called things as finished before taking a long look from the tips of Rowan’s toes—which were bare because she preferred to work out that way—to her face.

“Little goddess, look at you. Not soft at all. And very ready to get out on this hunt.”

Her impassive mask broke away as she grinned, grabbing the towel Recht tossed her way and wiping her face with it.

It buoyed Clive’s heart to see that expression. She’d needed the exertion definitely, but it was the job well done from her mentor and teacher that had been the salve she’d be healed by most.

Warren pushed from the doorway where he’d been taking the whole scene in. Clive narrowed his gaze at the other Vampire.

Clive knew Rowan. This moment she was sharing with Recht was important. Intimate. And she would see it as no one’s business but hers and Recht’s.

Clive simply waited for Rowan to smack Warren’s nose. Which would be sexy and satisfying on many levels.

* * *

“You’ve recovered more than well.” Recht looked at her again, taking inventory and there was something satisfying with that. With the expression he wore, which was proud.

“I’d already gotten faster, but the affects of the blood don’t seem to be wearing off. It’s been six weeks now and it feels more like...” Rowan paused trying to figure out how to say it, “...as if I’m becoming more adept at managing it.” Like her new abilities were permanent and had been absorbed, just waiting for her to figure out how to use it all.

Still, she’d been faster than she’d ever been before as they’d sparred. Rowan had let it happen. Maybe it was due to her exhaustion and dealing with Theo. She’d turned off everything but instinct. And the power had simply leapt to her will. She’d been overthinking and slowing herself down as a result.

Warmth pooled in her belly. Brigid was pleased with that deduction.

Rowan would talk to Clive about it once they were alone. About all of it. Theo, this power, the hunt. She’d gotten used to that. Bouncing ideas off him. He was brilliant and had plenty of life experience so it usually helped her out. And it was...nice.

It would never be anything approaching normal. But she was a human, raised by The First Vampire, honed into a weapon by Hunter Corp. and fueled by the power and magic of the Goddess who lived within her. It wasn’t like Rowan ever expected normal.

“Nicely done, Rowan.” Warren eased over the line and into the practice space and into her thoughts.

“Is there a problem somewhere?” There had to be or he wouldn’t have interrupted like they were all down at their local gym having a wheat grass juice or whatever after they did their workout.

“No. For now it seems quiet enough. I just happened by and stopped in to watch you work.”

“Why would you do that?”

He appeared confused by her question and then looked around the large room, lingering to her left for a few extra seconds.