Blood Slave: A Realm Walker Novel (2 page)

Deliberately turning her back on the bodies, she pulled out her phone and dialed the Agency. The International Law Enforcement Agency employed Nathaniel and her as Realm Walkers. They were kind of like international police officers that kicked Altered ass when it got out of line. The top agents among them had been labeled Realm Walkers due to the Agency’s use of portal mages to send its agents from one end of the globe to the other in pursuit of their prey.

“Send a team of techs with six body bags.” She glanced at her partner. “And a dog kennel. A small one.”

Nathaniel clutched the beast to his chest protectively as she hung up the phone. “They can’t have her.”

Exhaustion swamped her, the three hours of sleep she’d gotten the night before catching up with her. Or perhaps it was the culmination of the last fortnight of sleepless nights. Caffeine could only take you so far. “That’s between you and them. I just want to go home and crawl in a hot shower. I’ve got zombie on me.”

With a grin, he stepped toward her. “Are you sure it’s not your vampire you’re in a hurry to get back to?”

Heat flooded her cheeks. Curse it. Her mate, master vampire Thomas Kendrick, had recently come back to town and their lives had been a whirlwind ever since. For the time being, they were living on the top floor of the Roma hotel, which he owned. Thomas’s brother-in-law and niece were staying in the guest room while they all recuperated from the loss of Thomas’s sister. The thought of Sara brought a twinge of guilt and a fresh slicing of pain.

Sara had been Juliana’s best friend and it was Juliana’s fault she was dead. Juliana had been hunting a sadistic serial killer and kidnapper that went by the Thief. Too late, she had discovered her partner on the case, Detective Warren Taft, and the Thief were one and the same. Thomas kept trying to convince her that she wasn’t to blame for his sister’s death, but it was difficult to believe that when the killer himself told Juliana he’d done it because of her. Rachel, her niece, wasn’t buying it either. Juliana shook her head to clear it. “I’m going to square my weapons away and get the hell out of here.”

After trudging up the hill, she knelt down to dismantle the gun and put it back in the case. She deliberately ignored the blue light that lit the area from the portal. Nathaniel was lead, it was his job to deal with the techs and she’d gladly let him do it. After making sure her sword hung comfortably across her back, she picked up the case and made her way back to the clearing to find Nathaniel baby talking to the zombie dog.

“I’m headed home, boss man.”

He gave her a lopsided smile. “Don’t forget, you’re on rookie detail in the morning.”

Chapter Two

By the time Juliana stepped out of the portal in front of the Roma hotel, her eyes were raw as if she’d been through a sandstorm and her lids kept drifting shut. Sparing only a brief moment to wonder if anyone would notice if she curled up in the chair right inside the door and went to sleep, she trudged through the ornate lobby. Her dirt covered clothing and the weapons she carried fit in far better on a battlefield than the middle of a five star hotel. She always felt out of place amidst the opulence of the Roma, but never more so than right after she finished a job.  Though, with all the practice she’d been getting lately, she was doing better at ignoring the disdainful looks from the paying guests.

After she told Nathaniel she was headed home, she’d been waylaid by the M.E., then by one of the techs, and then an agent. On and on it went. Trying to get everyone to talk to Nathaniel instead had been a pointless exercise as the werewolf had been too busy making kissy faces at his new pet to pay attention to anything around him. The only time she saw him even acknowledge anyone else’s presence was when he snapped at the techs that approached and tried to take the mutt. The last she’d seen it, it had been curled up against Nathaniel’s chest, sleeping. If zombies slept. Hell if she knew.

It was now over two hours after she’d originally intended to come home.  The three hours of sleep she’d had the night before was catching up to her. She ran a hand down her face in an effort to wipe away the bone-numbing exhaustion. It didn’t work. In fact, probably all it accomplished was making mud from the dirt on her hands and the sweat on her face. No one would ever accuse her of being the epitome of beauty and grace that was for certain.

Nicholas the concierge materialized in front of her as she neared the front desk, though he didn’t phase in completely. From the waist up he was as solid as anyone else, below that he was just wisps of smoke. He floated backward as she walked. If she hadn’t been expecting it, it would have scared the crap out of her. In fact, the first time he’d done it, she shrieked in surprise. Now that she knew he was merely projecting an image of himself to her and wasn’t actually half-disembodied, she’d calmed down. It still unsettled her, but at least now she knew what he was doing.

No matter the time of day when she returned to the hotel, Nicholas greeted her personally. He’d been told repeatedly it wasn’t necessary but he obviously wasn’t going to listen so she didn’t bother anymore.

“Welcome home, Ms. Norris. Is there anything I can provide for you this evening?”

She gave him a little smile. “No, thank you, Nicholas. I just want to go to bed.”

He nodded once and disappeared. Nicholas was an oddity for Juliana. His signature was one she’d never encountered before and she had no idea what his species was. He was Altered, she knew that much, but she couldn’t even begin to guess what kind. Thomas claimed to have no idea of his employee’s origins, and thus far Altered etiquette had kept her from asking directly. She wasn’t sure how much longer that would last before her curiosity overrode her manners.

She continued on to the small private elevator around the corner from the front desk and punched in her personal code. Thomas had been making noise lately about finding a more permanent home. While she agreed that they needed to live somewhere besides the hotel, she was going to miss Nicholas catering to her every whim. Maybe she could convince her mate that they needed a personal concierge in their new home.

The doors slid open and she moved to step inside, stopping when a wall of lean muscle encased in soft cotton greeted her. She looked up into Thomas’s pale topaz eyes and gave him a weary smile which he returned, causing her heart to skip a beat.

He used one thumb to swipe away the dirt from one cheek. “Playing in the muck again I see.”

Wrinkling her nose in irritation, she let him pull her the rest of the way into the elevator so the doors could close. She leaned her head against his chest, reveling in his warmth and nearness too much to care if she was getting him dirty. Inhaling deeply, she filled her lungs with his spicy scent. They hadn’t seen near enough of each other lately, and the time they did have together, they were rarely alone. That was the natural consequence of four people living together in a hotel even if it was a penthouse suite.

While Juliana was ready for some time alone with her mate, she wasn’t necessarily ready for James and Rachel to leave yet. The girl had only started speaking to Juliana again in the last several days. She suspected Rachel still blamed her for her mother’s death. Or maybe she was just mad Juliana had survived and Sara hadn’t. Whatever the cause of the girl’s anger, Juliana wanted more time to work on returning their relationship to its previous loving state.

Thomas reached past her and pressed a lone button on the elevator wall.

The elevator slid to a smooth stop and she frowned. “What is that?” She’d never seen the button before and she’d ridden in this elevator more times that she could count. It went only from the lobby to the penthouse and back. There had never been a need for any buttons before and she wasn’t sure there was a need for any now. What was her mate up to?

The corner of his mouth tipped up in a half-smile. “It’s a stop button. I had it installed today.”

“I see. Then the next question I suppose would be…why?”

Wrapping a hand around the back of her neck, he pulled her to him until he touched his nose to hers, their lips a breath apart. “Because,
Joya
, I never get you alone anymore. I am taking matters into my own hands.”

“So your solution to us needing time alone was to put a button in the elevator to stop it mid-trip?”

White teeth flashed in a devilish grin and he claimed her mouth with his own. She guessed that was her answer. The gentle possession soon turned into a burning, searing need. White hot flames of desire licked through her and beads of sweat formed in the small of her back. Thomas walked her backward until she pressed against the cool wall of the elevator and she moaned in spite of herself. Her fingers fumbled with the bottom of his t-shirt.

He stepped back only far enough to strip off his shirt and then he returned to feasting hungrily at her mouth. She ran trembling hands over his lean muscled torso. It felt so good just to touch him, to feel his skin against hers. His skilled hands had the button of her jeans undone and the zipper down before she could even think of protesting. And then he was there, one long finger slipping inside of her. With a gasp, she arched her back as moisture slicked her passage for him. He added another finger and she groaned.

A low satisfied chuckle escaped him and she half-heartedly smacked him on the arm. Arrogant jerk. “Not funny,” she managed to scold between gasping breaths. Thomas gave her no respite, no quarter. His talented fingers worked their magic as she all but climbed him. Her back still arched, her fingers clawed at his back. Nails sliced his skin, but she couldn’t stop, was almost past the point of rational thought.

“Thomas, please.” Whether she begged for release or relief of a different sort she had no idea. She just knew she needed something more.

“I will stop only when you scream,
Joya
.”

Even with her scalp pressed against the unyielding metal wall, she still managed to shake her head. “Someone will hear.”

“Then let them hear,” he demanded. “You are mine.”

***

Another flick of his fingers and she did just that. He didn’t relent until she sagged against him, wrung out and exhausted. Perfection. He kissed her again, smiling when she moaned against his lips and wrapped her arms around his neck. After deftly refastening her jeans, he untangled himself from her grasp and scooped his shirt off the floor of the elevator. Things hadn’t gone exactly according to plan. His visions throughout the afternoon had been of her pressed against the back of the elevator naked with her legs wrapped around his hips as he thrust into her.

One look at her had chased that expectation from his mind. His bride was exhausted. As she had been for more days than he cared to count. He hoped making her come would relax her enough she might actually get some real sleep. Maybe it would at least give her something to think about besides the terrors that kept running through her head, waking her up night after night. After pulling his shirt on, he placed an arm around her shoulders to steady her. She was literally swaying on her feet she was so tired. It had been well worth it though. Nothing was more satisfying than his mate letting herself come apart in his hands.

“Awfully proud of yourself, aren’t you?” she said in a disgruntled tone. The shy smile she gave him told the truth of how she really felt more than any words possibly could.

“Yes. I am.” Keeping her tucked against his side, he pressed the button on the wall to allow the elevator to continue its ascent. “We need to talk.”

“Nathaniel has a zombie Pomeranian.”

Thomas blinked as he tried to process this bit of information. His mate was attempting to distract him from the discussion of buying a house. Again. But as far as distractions went, she’d picked a good one. “A what?”

“Zombie Pomeranian.”

“I see,” he said, though he really didn’t understand at all. “How did he come by such a creature?”

“We were putting down zombies in the Dead Zone. It was with them. I was going to kill it, but he wouldn’t let me. I can only imagine the paperwork he’s going to have to fill out over that thing.”

Closing his eyes, he counted to ten.

“I can hear you doing that, you know.”

He opened one eye and peered down at her. “Sorry. It’s a coping mechanism to keep me from going insane.”

“Why would you be going crazy?” The sweet smile she flashed him said she wasn’t as ignorant as she played.

Juliana was good at her job. He knew that and he was grateful for it as it meant he didn’t have to worry about her every time she walked out the door. In theory. But reality was that he was a man from a time when men protected their women. And those women didn’t do things like kill zombies and play with undead pets. “When you go out on a mission, I prefer to imagine that you’re out somewhere running up my credit cards. It’s a delusion that’s better for my sanity.”

She made a moue of disgust. “I hate shopping. Unless it’s for guns. Or knives. Sometimes clothes. I am a girl after all.”

He rubbed his temples. “You are missing the point.”

“Well, you may be from the era of ‘me man, you woman’, but I am from the era of ‘I can take care of my damn self, buddy’.”

“I am well aware of that. And if I wasn’t, you remind me of it constantly. Thank you for that, by the way. It does wonders for my ego.”

The doors slid open and she patted his shoulder before stepping past him into their apartment. Cartoons blared from the living room and a bleary-eyed James looked over and greeted them with a half-hearted smile and a wave. The living room had been empty when he went downstairs.

“Again?” Juliana asked.

She referred to their niece, Rachel. Much like Juliana, the girl had been having nightmares ever since her mother died. None of them were sure how much Rachel had seen or experienced herself while she was in the Thief’s hands as the girl refused to talk about it. Not to any of them or to the therapist James had hired. She still woke in the middle of the night screaming and one of them got up with her until she gave in and drifted back to sleep.

Juliana stepped out from under Thomas’s arm and went over to kneel in front of the couch.

So much for continuing what they’d started in the elevator. He crossed his arms over his chest and pressed his legs against the back of the couch.

When Rachel continued to watch the TV instead of looking at her aunt, Juliana reached over and pushed the mute button on the remote.

“Hey,” Rachel said, sitting up with a scowl.

The girl had only just begun to talk to her again in the past several days and it was usually in anger. And even though he felt his mate’s sadness every time harsh words were flung in her direction, it was so much better than the bone-crushing emptiness she’d felt every time his niece refuse to acknowledge her existence at all. Or rather, they felt, as he’d shared every emotion with her through their bond.

“Listen, little girl,” Juliana said. “We talked about this, right? Nothing’s going to hurt you ever again. There’s no reason to be scared here.”

Thomas cringed. He hated when she made such promises. If she failed to keep them, it would kill her. And that he would not allow.

Rachel reached past her for the remote and Juliana pushed it further away. “That’s mine,” the girl protested, crossing tiny arms over her chest. “Give it back.”

After running a hand down her face, Juliana sat back on her heels. No one that witnessed the exchange would suspect that his niece used to worship Juliana, that she had passed entire days sitting by the window waiting for her aunt to come and play with her. It was heartbreaking watching Juliana try to retrieve that bond, to mend what was broken.

“Hey, midge. This is your aunt’s home. You will be courteous,” Thomas instructed.

“It’s all right.” The weariness was evident in Juliana’s tone as she pushed herself to her feet.

“No. It’s not.” Thomas directed a look at his brother-in-law. James nodded once in understanding. They’d all been giving Rachel leeway, letting her get away with things they normally wouldn’t, but the time had come for it to stop. They were doing the child no favors by allowing her to behave in such a manner. And it was slowly eating Juliana up inside.