Hope and Vengeance (Saa Thalarr, book 1): Saa Thalarr, book 1 (14 page)

"What kind is that?" I took a huge swallow of the bourbon I'd ordered.

"Our kind. I can't say the name, because the enemy is listening."

"Convenient." I slapped the glass on the bar and nodded for the bartender to fill it again.

"At the moment, it's completely inconvenient. Of all the times for this to happen," Lion shook his head. "I'll have a double," he said as the bartender held up the bottle of Jameson's in a silent query.

"For what to happen?"

"For Kiarra to find a mate."

"I'm not her mate."

"A day ago, I'd have said that's a lie."

"I might have said it, too. Things change."

"You don't turn feelings on and off, like a light switch," Lion pointed out philosophically. "I know you feel betrayed. All I can say is there's a reason for the subterfuge. A very good reason. Kee wouldn't hurt you like this if there were any way to avoid it."

"Sure." I emptied my glass a second time.

"She can do things for you that nobody else can do."

"Like what?"

"That's not my information to give. You need to talk to her."

"I don't care if your kind can't lie. I don't choose to believe you."

"She's saved your life three times. That doesn't mean anything?"

"Maybe it would be better if she hadn't."

"You don't mean that."

"Fuck you."

"Not gonna happen. I have a mate."

"Then leave. I'm not in the mood for any philosophical, motivational speeches."

"That's what I used to do," Lion said with a sigh. "Before. Know how old I am?"

"No, and I don't care."

"You should. Make a guess. Tell me how old I am."

"Fine. Shifters live around two hundred years, on average. You're one hundred seventeen."

"I'm sixteen thousand years old, give or take, allowing for variances in size and lengths of planetary rotations."

"That's a lie. I know," I held up a hand. "Your kind can't lie."

"We can't."

"Why are you here?"

"Because I wanted to talk. Dragon wants your head. I felt discretion was the better course of action."

"You think he can take me? A vampire?"

"With no trouble, and keep your voice down," Lion cautioned.

"Perfect. How old is he, by the way?"

"He's slightly younger—by a thousand years."

"This is a fucking joke," I muttered.

"I fail to see any humor in this situation." Lion shifted. I watched as the muscles beneath his shirt flexed and bulged as he settled himself more comfortably on the barstool. The leather seat creaked beneath his weight, and I considered that I might not get away if Lion chose to chase after me.

"You wouldn't. I've tracked and killed things that were faster than you." He emptied his glass and thumped it on the bar. "Daylight is in two hours. What will it be, Chessman? You know too much already. Now, I can take you out of the game, or you can continue to play along. Either way, you won't be upsetting Kiarra. Any more than you have already, anyway."

"I won't go down without a fight," I hissed.

"Oh, it won't be to the death. I can have you removed from the planet until this is over, though. Make your choice. Do it now. You won't get another opportunity. If Dragon comes, he won't be half as polite."

"If I go, then Joey comes with me."

"That's not what I hear. Joey's talking with Kee. He's staying."

"Fuck."

"Again, no, thank you. The way I see it, you're staying. You have a job to do and an adopted child to protect. Do it, Chessman. Who knows, maybe you'll have a change of heart."

"Doubt it. I don't like betrayals." I tossed a hundred on the bar, nodded to the bartender and slid off the barstool.

"Then you have a long, difficult way to go," Lion growled low and followed me out of the casino.

* * *

"He'll play along, but he doesn't like it," Lion announced as we stepped into the basement of the safe house.

Anna—
not Anna
, I reminded myself, rose from her seat at the kitchen table. She'd been crying, that was easy enough to see. Her nose and eyes were red. If I were more forgiving, I'd have said she was still beautiful. That no longer figured into the equation for me.

"Thanks, Lion," she said softly. "I've moved my things into the third bedroom. I'll have Pheligar remove the M'Fiyah when he comes back."

"Kee, don't do anything rash," Lion said.

"You think this is rash?" She tossed a hand helplessly. "No good deed goes unpunished." I watched as she walked down the hall toward the smallest bedroom in the safe house. The door closed behind her moments later.

"Someday, vampire, you're going to regret every minute of this," Lion said. "I have work to do." I watched him climb the steps to the trap door without a word.

* * *

"Adam, I don't want to interfere in your business," Joey began.

"Then don't."

"You don't know everything."

"I have no desire to listen." I stalked toward my bedroom, realizing that I was punishing myself, just as much as I was punishing Joey and the woman. I still couldn't bring myself to say her name. For me, the Anna I knew lay dead in Corpus Christi, and a changeling had taken her place.

* * *

"I have information that says the woman you've been working with is very much alive. I want photographs," Xavier insisted. He'd called almost the moment my eyes opened after sunset.

"That may prove difficult," I said. "We aren't on speaking terms at the moment."

"Go fuck yourself, vampire," Dragon pulled the cell phone from my hand and spoke to Xavier.

"Who is this?" I clearly heard Xavier's demand.

"Somebody you shouldn't mess with," Dragon responded.

"Your name?"

"I don't give out my name. Most people call me Dragon. Tell your puppet master that." Dragon ended the call, offered me a scowl and tossed the phone on the bed. Without a word and with his black braid swinging, he stalked out of my bedroom.

"What's going on?" I demanded as I walked into the kitchen. Joey sat at the kitchen island, morosely drinking a bag of blood.

"Cheek's dead," Joey muttered. "Manuelo went nuts. Killed Kirby Lee first, then attacked Cheek. At least he did it in an alley behind one of the casinos. Anna—Kiarra," he corrected himself, "had to kill him. After that, a crowd of people was attacked outside a business in Summerlin. Fifteen died. The bodies were half-eaten when the police showed up."

"Cheek's body?" I asked.

"Mostly bones. He's at the coroner's, with Kirby Lee's bones. Manuelo devoured her, first. You were right—Cheek was a liability and they got rid of him and Kirby Lee—in a really gruesome way. The newspapers and TV stations are broadcasting that and nothing else. There's been a rush for the airport, and flights are jammed."

"What did she tell you?" I ignored her as she walked past us, on her way to the refrigerator.

"I can't tell you."

"Joey," I warned.

"He can't tell you. Knowledge of my race protects itself. If we don't tell you, nobody else can."

"You're joking?" I'd just broken a promise I'd made to myself not to speak to her.

"I'm not joking. My kind can't lie. If you'd stayed, or asked Lion appropriate questions, you might know a lot more than you do now. I've heard older vampires are more stubborn than jackasses. Now I know it's true."

"Did you just call me a jackass?"

"Yeah." She sipped the protein drink she'd pulled from the refrigerator before nodding her head. "I did call you a jackass. Jackass." She walked toward her bedroom without a backward glance.

"Adam," Joey hissed. "She's saved your ass. Three times. If you knew," he said.

"If I knew what? This changes nothing."

"I've been asked to set up another e-mail account for you," Joey ducked his head. "It's done, and I can get rid of the old one anytime you want."

"You should get a new phone, too," Dragon said, walking into the kitchen. "If I were you, I'd cut all ties with your sire."

"Because?" I snapped.

"Because it's the prudent thing to do." I blinked. I'd only seen Merrill once, and he walked into the safe house basement as if he owned it, followed by a hazel-eyed, brown-haired man who was taller than I. I blinked again. Merrill has jet-black hair, piercing blue eyes and a commanding way about him that brooks no argument.

"What the hell?" I began.

"Hello, Father," Joey said, and went to hug Merrill.

* * *

"There's a reason for the subterfuge," Joey attempted to explain later. "I know the Council's records say Timerius turned me, but that's not true."

"I keep hearing that word—subterfuge. I tire of it," I huffed. I felt betrayed a second time.

"I don't wish to interfere with your relationship with my youngest," Merrill frowned. "It has done him a world of good."

At that moment, I wished I were old enough—and strong enough—to tell Merrill to go to hell. I couldn't. Instead, I kept my features in a smooth vampire mask while seething on the inside. Anna had lied. Joey had lied. The world was crumbling about me and I had nothing in my arsenal to fight back.

* * *

"We're moving. They know where you are. Leave your phone behind—that's how they're tracking you," Merrill informed me after I returned from a very long walk in the dark. If anyone—or anything had thought to accost me during that walk, they would have died.

"What about Joey's phone?" I snapped, narrowing my eyes at Merrill.

"Non-traceable." Joey waggled it at me. "I got you one, too."

"Won't this brand us rogues with the Council?" I demanded, my voice rough with anger.

"Let me handle that," Merrill said.

"Adam, I know you don't trust me anymore," she blinked sky-blue eyes at me. "But they're coming. We have to go."

"Why do you trust them?" I turned back to Merrill.

"They're the only ones you can trust right now," Merrill's voice and eyes were hard. "We're all dead if we don't get out now."

"What about my things?" I pointed to my bedroom.

"Everything except your laptop and phone is already moved," she sighed. "Joey transferred necessary files to a new laptop and wiped the old one—with help from Pheligar. Nobody will be able to use it again."

"I liked my laptop," I snapped.

"It's been bugged," Joey said. "The Council supplied the equipment, remember?"

"This is untenable," I rubbed my forehead. If I'd been human at that moment, I'd have had a migraine.

"They know your every move, and have, since you've been connected," Merrill said. "It's time you left them behind—until this is sorted. There's something else, too."

"What's that?"

"I remove all compulsion from you."

I'll admit to staring at Merrill as if he were a lunatic—until the compulsion drained from my mind. I felt as if I'd been freed from nearly three centuries of chains weighting me down.

"What the bloody hell?" I blinked at the older vampire.

"I can't remove your sire's compulsion. There are only two things that might accomplish that." Merrill turned away and walked toward the steps leading to the ground floor. "We don't have much time. Don't make me place compulsion on you to come along quietly."

* * *

"Where are we going?" I asked, begrudging every word I was forced to speak. The words were hissed through my teeth, since I regretted having to speak to anyone.

"Into the hills, for now. Kiarra and Griffin say there's unfinished business here." Dragon, who drove a van with Joey's and my belongings stuffed in the back, answered my question. Lion and I rode with him, while Joey, Merrill and she rode in a separate van with the one called Griffin. The rental was left behind at the safe house.

Halfway to our destination, the neighborhood containing the safe house exploded in a fireball behind us. I settled myself uncomfortable in my seat after that. Something was happening; I just had no idea what it was.

* * *

"The windows are blocked, so you'll be safe. I have to say, Adam, you're not the man I thought you were."

She stood inside my assigned bedroom, blinking at me in half-anger, half-confusion. My new quarters were in a large house in a relatively new subdivision located outside Las Vegas. Lion, Dragon, Merrill and Griffin had taken the house next door, leaving Joey, her and me in this one. I had no idea how they'd managed to take over these homes, but decided not to ask.

"You're not the woman I thought you were," I responded, my voice cold. Somewhere, what was left of my heart was weeping—reeling from this unwelcome revelation. I didn't feel right, either, but there was no way to explain it. I'd never been so willing to give my love, and it was all a lie.

"Touché," she sighed. "Let me know if you need anything. We'll likely need your help come sundown." With that, she left my bedroom, closing the door behind her. With an unhappy sigh, I lifted my bag onto the bed and began to unpack.