WE REAPPEARED IN the middle of what looked like a village. Around the small square were several brightly colored shops and some low buildings in need of repairs. Behind the buildings, I could see small mountains rising up in the darkness.
I yanked my hand from Eldeorin’s and turned on him. “What the hell? You can’t just grab people and disappear like that. Take me back.”
He shook his head calmly. “I apologize for interrupting your romantic moment, but this could not wait.”
I folded my arms across my chest and scowled at him. “The least you could have done is let me say goodbye. Nikolas is probably freaking out right now.”
“I am sure he is not.”
“You obviously don’t know him very well.”
Eldeorin smiled. “He may not like it, but he knows you are safe with me.”
“I’m not even sure I’m safe with you,” I muttered angrily, earning a laugh from him. I scanned the square, struck by how empty and quiet it was. A few lights lit up the square, but all the buildings were dark. A sign on one of the buildings was in another language that looked like Spanish. “Where the hell are we, and where are the people?”
Eldeorin leaned against a small fountain at the center of the square. “We are in Mexico. This village has been terrorized by a pair of vampires for a week, and the people hide in their homes after dark. Three people have been killed, and last night, the vampires took a young boy.”
“A boy?” Tears pricked my eyes at the thought of a child in the clutches of those monsters. “Are we here to find him?” Please, say yes.
“No, it is too late for him,” he said regretfully.
My eyes welled. “If you knew about this, why didn’t you help them?”
He sighed softly. “Cousin, the Fae are powerful, but we are not all-knowing. I learned about this village’s troubles a few hours ago, which is why I came for you. We cannot return their loved ones, but we can avenge them and free these people from the threat to their village.”
“You don’t need me for that. Surely you can take out a couple of vampires?”
He huffed as if he couldn’t believe I would question his ability. “I can, but I’m not the one who needs an outlet for all the magic she has built up inside her.”
Nervous excitement flared in my chest. My body literally ached with the need to release some of this pent-up energy, but the idea of facing two vampires was terrifying, even if Eldeorin was with me. “Are we talking about baby vamps or mature vamps?”
Eldeorin shrugged. “Does it matter?”
I threw up my hands. “Of course it matters. Mature vamps are super-fast and strong, and I can’t take one down with just my power. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not packing a weapon.”
“You are thinking like a Mohiri, like your power is finite.”
“Isn’t it? Healings don’t drain me anymore, but I still get tired if I used too much of my power. Westhorne was attacked before I left and I was barely standing by the end of it.”
“Your body was tired from channeling your magic, but you never could have depleted it. And now that you have been through liannan, your magic is purer and stronger, which is why you struggle with it.”
I stared at him. “If that’s true then why did I have to use a knife to finish off an old vampire I killed in New Mexico? I gave him what I had and it wasn’t enough.”
He shook his head slowly. “You gave him what you thought you had.”
“So I –” I broke off and spun around as cold blossomed in my chest. “They’re coming!”
“Good. It is time for you to ‘let off a little steam’, as they say.”
The cold spread until the vampires appeared between two of the buildings. The male was tall and blond and the female a few inches shorter with dark hair. Both wore jeans and knit tops, and if I hadn’t known better, I might have mistaken them for a couple of twenty-something American tourists. They spotted us and started walking leisurely in our direction.
My pulse raced, and my knees felt weak, but I held my ground. “Which one do you want?”
Silence.
“Eldeorin?” I looked behind me to discover I was alone. “Shit!” My heart hammered against my ribs. Okay, calm down. You’ve got this.
Who was I kidding? I was going to die in the middle of God only knows where, and I hadn’t even gotten my first date kiss.
I’m going to come back and haunt that goddamn faerie for the rest of his immortal life.
“You’re not one of the locals,” the male said when they were within speaking distance.
“Are you lost, sweetie?” his companion asked in a falsely sweet voice. Both of them had what sounded like Texas accents, and I sent up a prayer that they were newly turned.
I swallowed and tried to control the tremble in my voice. “I think I am.”
They stopped about ten feet away, as if they were a kind human couple not wanting to frighten the poor lost girl. I resisted the urge to rub my chest where an icy lump was lodged.
The male looked around. “How did you get here? Are you alone?”
I scrambled for a believable story. “I’m on a road trip with my cousin. Our Jeep broke down a few miles away, and I walked here for help. But I can’t find anyone to help me.”
A look passed between them. “So it’s the two of you?” he asked. “Your cousin stayed with the car and you walked here alone?”
“Yes. He’s a lazy jerk who expects me to do all the work,” I said loudly, real annoyance clashing with my fear. “Last trip I take with him.”
The female smiled sympathetically. “We have a car. If you’d like, we can take you to your cousin. Douglas is great with cars, and I’m sure he can help you with yours.”
“That’s very kind of you, but I should stay here in case my cousin gets it running and comes looking for me.” I wondered why they were bothering to keep up the charade when they could have grabbed me and forced me to show them where my supposed cousin was.
They exchanged another look and Douglas said, “I tell you what. I’ll go and see if I can help your cousin, and Carla will stay here with you. We’d hate to leave a fellow American all alone here at night.”
They were going to split up? I might actually get out of this alive. “That would be great. Thanks.”
Douglas nodded in satisfaction. “Now, where is your car? You said it was a few miles from town.”
“I-I can’t remember.” I gave them what I hoped was a helpless look. “It was dark and I got all turned around. I really am lost.”
“No worries. There are only two roads in and out of town. I’ll find him.” He gave Carla a kiss and whispered something to her. Then he headed back the way they had come.
Carla smiled and took several steps toward me, and I backed up until my calves hit the fountain. She stopped a few feet away, and I gritted my teeth because it felt like ice was going to burst from my chest.
“Don’t worry. Douglas will take care of your cousin.” She gave me a small smile, and I knew she was thinking about exactly how her companion would “take care” of my cousin. She sniffed the air and leaned slightly toward me. “Do you smell that?”
I swallowed hard. “What?”
“I don’t know, but it smells amazing.” She took another step in my direction and sniffed again like a dog picking up a scent. Bile threatened to rise in my throat when she licked her lips. “I’ve never smelled anything like it. It’s –” She stopped and stared hungrily at me. “It’s you.”
She was on me before I could reach for my knife, and her speed and strength told me she had been a vampire for years. Her hands grabbed my shoulders in an iron grip, and she pressed her nose to my throat and inhaled deeply. A shudder passed through her as she breathed in the intoxicating scent of faerie that had probably grown stronger since my liannan. “What are you?” she moaned, her fangs distending to brush against my skin.
I resisted the urge to whimper as she pressed me back against the fountain. My mind threatened to blank out, and I battled with the memory of Eli holding me captive just like this.
“Douglas will be so angry if I don’t wait for him, but I have to taste you.” She pushed my head to the side. “Sorry, sweetheart, nothing personal.”
Her words brought me back to my senses. What was I doing? I was a vampire killer, not some defenseless girl ready to be their next meal.
Power roared through me. Carla’s hands were ripped from my shoulders, and she flew backward to land in the dirt a dozen feet away. That’s more like it, I thought as I watched the vampire sit up wearing a dazed expression.
“What-what did you do?”
“I decided I didn’t want to be tasted. I like my blood right where it is.” My hands began to glow as power filled them. It felt so good to be able to release my power without fear of hurting someone. Someone other than the vampire, that was.
Carla’s eyes narrowed in fear. “What the hell are you?”
Static rolled across my skin, and I resisted the urge to turn up the power. If I scared her too much she might run after Douglas and I’d have to face both of them at once. I needed to take care of her before her boyfriend discovered there was no cousin and came back for me.
“You have no idea how many times I get asked that. The way I heard it, one of my great grandmothers was a faerie. Can you believe that? I guess this” – I held up my hands – “is some kind of faerie thing. Beats the hell out of me, but it does come in handy.”
Hunger replaced the fear in Carla’s eyes. It looked like she had heard how yummy faerie blood was. She stood slowly, never taking her eyes from me. “So you are only half Fae?”
“Something like that.” I could see her mind working, calculating how strong a half faerie was compared to a vampire her age. Come and get me.
Carla leapt at me. I raised my hands, but the force of her attack knocked me off balance, and I put out a hand to keep from falling backward into the fountain. My fingers touched the water, and it felt like I’d grasped a live power line as the water’s magic fed mine. The hand crushed between our bodies found Carla’s chest and my power pushed forward. She screamed, and I gagged as the stench of burnt flesh filled my nostrils.
Regaining my balance, I shoved her away from me and she toppled to the ground. A hole had been burnt through her top and my handprint was seared into her chest. She twitched and gasped for breath, her eyes full of pain and terror as I stood over her.
I crouched beside her, and all I could think about was the family hidden in one of those dark buildings, grieving for their little boy.
“Please…”
I laid my hands on her smoking chest and summoned my power. “Sorry, sweetheart, nothing personal.”
I was washing my hands in the fountain when I sensed Douglas’s return. He let out a howl of outrage when he spied the body of his girlfriend, and then he spun, searching the square for whoever had killed her.
“It’s just you and me,” I said with a calmness I’d never felt before when facing a vampire.
“How?” he demanded, hatred burning in his eyes.
I held up a hand and watched his eyes follow the blue sparks dancing across it. “Half Fae versus vampire. Fae wins.”
“Half Fae?” A familiar hunger filled his eyes.
I sighed at the single-mindedness of these vampires. They were so mesmerized by the chance to taste Fae blood they didn’t stop to consider the danger. Douglas’s girlfriend was dead at my hands, but instead of running, he was planning his attack on me.
This time I would be ready. My hand slipped behind me and touched the water again in preparation for the assault.
I was not, however, expecting the water to turn to ice, and I managed to yank my hand away just in time. Stupid power! What a time for it to act up.
Douglas grinned and sped toward me. I whirled to the side in a burst of speed and called on my power. I wasn’t fast enough to evade him, and he grabbed my right arm painfully. Lurching toward the fountain, I ducked to avoid the large icicles hanging from the second tier. Several broke and shattered on the icy surface. Instinct drove me and I grabbed for a long shard of ice, as Douglas jerked me toward him. I let momentum carry me to him and power the strike to his chest.
He shrieked and released me to grab at the icicle protruding from his chest. It took him several seconds to realize it was ice and not silver buried in his heart. His eyes gleamed with triumph when he looked at me. “Nice try, but ice can’t hurt me.”
“Maybe not, but this can.” I grabbed the end of the icicle and sent my power into it. The ice was a perfect conductor, amplifying my power and carrying it straight to the vamhir demon. Douglas didn’t even have time to scream before his heart and demon exploded in his chest. I jumped back as he fell across his dead girlfriend.
“Death by icicle. Very creative.”
I whirled on Eldeorin who stood a few feet away. “You left me! You… you asshole! I could have been killed.”
“Language, Cousin,” he reproached mildly. “I did not leave you. I was merely observing your training.”
“Training? You made me face off against two vampires without any warning. What kind of training is that?”
He raised an eyebrow and waved at the bodies. “The effective kind.”
I crossed my arms. “I got lucky.”
“Nonsense. You performed admirably. I am very proud of you.”
The retort that was on the tip of my tongue died. “You are?”
“Yes. You did well, Cousin.” He gave me a bright smile. “You separated them and took them both out very quickly, and you did it without your Mohiri weapons. The ice was ingenious.”
I decided not to mention that the ice had been an accident.
Eldeorin inclined his head toward the dead vampires. “That was an impressive display of power. How do you feel now?”
I took a moment to do a self-check, and I was pleasantly surprised to find the pressure that had been building inside me for weeks was gone. Also gone were the anxiety and the fear that I would slip and lose control of my power. For the first time since I’d awakened from the healing sleep, my power felt normal, manageable. I told Eldeorin how it felt and he nodded.
“You needed to release your magic without holding back out of fear of hurting your friends. I think you will find your next training with Aine will be better.” He looked quite pleased with himself. “Now, shall we go home? I’m sure your warrior is waiting for your return.”
I pointed to the dead vampires. “Shouldn’t we get rid of them?”
“No. We’ll leave them so the people can see the vampires are dead and their village is safe.” He walked over to me. “If I take you home looking like that, your warrior is not going to be happy.”
“Like what?” I looked down at my clothes and found then splattered with vampire blood. “Exploding vampires is a messy business.”
“So it would seem.” Eldeorin waved a hand and the blood vanished. “Next time we’ll work on your technique.”
“Next time?” My question went unanswered as he took my hand and the village disappeared. A few seconds later, we arrived in my bedroom at the mansion.
“Home sweet home.” Eldeorin wrapped me in a loose hug and kissed my cheek. “Sleep well, Cousin. I will see you soon.”
“I really wish he’d stop doing that,” I grumbled when he disappeared again.
A glance at the clock beside my bed told me I’d been gone no more than forty minutes. It didn’t seem real that I had travelled to Mexico, killed two vampires, and freed a village in less than an hour.
I threw my coat on a chair and went to look for Nikolas. I could only imagine the mood he was in right now. Not that I blamed him. I’d be angry too if some faerie took him away right in front of my eyes.
Voices carried to me from the living room when I reached the top of the stairs.
“They could be anywhere,” Nikolas bit out, leaving no doubt that he was royally pissed.
“He won’t let anything happen to her,” Chris replied calmly.
Nikolas appeared at the bottom of the stairs before I started down them. “Are you okay?” he asked harshly as I descended the stairs.
I gave him a reassuring smile. “Better than okay.”
When I reached him he took my face in his hands. His eyes searched mine and what he saw must have satisfied him. “Where did he take you?” he asked in a softer tone.
I hesitated, unsure what to tell him. I didn’t want to keep secrets from him, but he would freak if he knew what had happened. Based on Eldeorin’s comments, there were going to be more training sessions like this one, and I didn’t want Nikolas worrying every time Eldeorin took me away.
“We went to a place where there were no people around, and he helped me release my power. He said I needed to let it out without worrying about hurting you guys.”
Nikolas dropped his hands. “Did it help?”
“Yes. I almost feel like my old self again.” I laid a hand on his chest. “I’m sorry if you were worried.”
The anger drained from his expression. “You don’t have to apologize.” His hand grazed my cheek and his gaze held mine. It was as if the last forty minutes hadn’t happened, and we were out in the driveway again, returning from our date.
His phone rang.
He smiled apologetically and stepped back to answer it. “Here.” He listened for a minute. “What did they find? No, I want to talk to them. We’ll be there shortly.”
I hid my disappointment behind a smile. It looked like another movie night with Jordan.
Nikolas looked at me. “It’s still early. Do you want to come see the command center?”
Jordan was beside us before I could open my mouth. “Hell yes, we do.”
I grinned. “What she said.”
“Grab your coats and we’ll head over,” Nikolas said, returning his phone to his pocket.
The house they had rented was impressive, though not as big or as opulent as Eldeorin’s. Warriors patrolled the iron fence, and at least half a dozen black SUVs and motorcycles were parked in the driveway. As soon as we entered the house, I heard men’s voices coming from the living room. I followed Nikolas into the room that had been transformed into a temporary command center. Folding tables had been set up around the large room, and each of them was covered in computers and other electronic equipment. I looked at the closest one that held three large monitors displaying maps of Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco. On each map were small clusters of blinking red, blue, green, and yellow dots.
“What are the dots?” I asked the blond warrior sitting at the table. He was someone I hadn’t seen before.
“The colored dots are our people. Each unit’s signature is coded for a different color, which makes it easier for us to track them.” He moved his cursor over one of the dots and a small box appeared on the screen, showing the person’s name, status, and last check-in time.
“How big is a unit?” I asked, impressed.
“A unit has six members.”
My eyes found Nikolas and Chris, who were talking to another warrior on the other side of the room. “When I met Nikolas and Chris it was just the two of them. They don’t have a unit?”
The blond warrior smiled as if I’d said something funny. “Nikolas and Chris normally work alone. If you saw them in action, you’d know why.”
Jordan elbowed me. “She’s seen Nikolas in action alright.”
I smiled at the warrior’s questioning look. “Nikolas found me in Maine last fall.”
“Oh, you’re that girl.” His blue eyes sparkled with laughter. “We’ve heard all about you.”
“See, Sara, you’re famous.”
We walked to another table where an Indian warrior named Raj was tinkering with tiny electronic devices the size of a dime. When we expressed an interest in his work, he was more than happy to explain it to us.
“These are transmitters we use for surveillance.” He held up one of the devices. “They work well most of the time, but some of our targets have started using warlock magic to detect and disable them. I’m working on a transmitter that is undetectable and impervious to magic.”
I took the device and turned it over in my fingers. “Are you close?”
“I believe so. I’ve been working with a warlock in Jaipur for two years, and I think we are close to perfecting it.”
“That’s pretty cool.” I gave the device back to him. “Thanks for the show-and-tell.”
He smiled widely. “Anytime.”
Jordan tugged on my arm. “Let’s check out the rest of this place.”
“Nice talking to you,” I said to the warrior as she dragged me away.
We circled the room, stopping at each of the work stations, which were manned by warriors. A couple of them showed security feeds from cameras in Los Angeles, and I recognized Blue Nyx on one of the monitors. One station was dedicated to police bands and news feeds, and another showed a map of Los Angeles with a dot for every confirmed vampire victim. There had to be almost fifty. My stomach churned as I turned away.
We wandered around the first floor and made a detour to the huge kitchen for snacks and sodas. When we returned to the living room, Nikolas and Chris were nowhere to be seen, though I could feel Nikolas’s presence close-by. Jordan and I claimed a sofa that had been pushed against the cold fireplace to make room for the equipment. Our location gave us a view of the entire room, and the equipment and voices in the room made it easy for us to talk privately.
“Okay, spill it,” Jordan ordered. “What did you and the faerie really do?”
I started to shake my head and stopped. I hadn’t told Nikolas the truth because I knew how upset he’d be, but there was no reason not to tell Jordan. She’d keep it to herself if I asked her to, and I really wanted to talk to someone about what had happened.
“This stays between us,” I said in a low voice.
She moved closer. “That good? So what did you do, go hunt down a vampire to practice on?”
Her guess was so close to the truth that I was at a loss for words for several seconds. My silence made her eyes go round and she grabbed my arm. “Shut up! You did not!”
I nodded slowly as I watched the door in case Nikolas returned. “I had no idea what Eldeorin was planning and it happened so fast.”
“Well, don’t leave me in suspense.”
I related the entire story to her, leaving nothing out, as I kept an eye out for Nikolas. Some of the warriors glanced our way and smiled at us like we were two school girls whispering about boys. If they only knew what really passed between us.
“You killed two vamps without a weapon?” Jordan croaked, staring at me with something akin to awe. “Sara, that is…”
“Crazy, I know, but it’s not like I had a choice. Eldeorin has very different ideas about training.”
“I’ll say.”
I chewed my lip. “Now that you know everything, what do you think I should do?”
“About Eldeorin? Doesn’t sound like there is much you can do.”
“No, about Nikolas. If I tell him, he’ll be so upset and he’ll worry every time Eldeorin shows up.”
“That’s putting it mildly.” She rubbed her chin. “I don’t know. It’s a tough call.”
“What would you do?”
“I’d keep quiet and go kill some vampires.” She shrugged. “But I don’t have a Nikolas to consider. I honestly don’t know what I’d do in your shoes.”
I sighed heavily. “You’re no help.”
She pursed her lips. “Okay, let’s look at it another way. You took out two vampires who killed a kid and were probably going to kill that whole village. You saved a lot of lives, and you burned off some of that power that’s been making you miserable.”
I nodded.
“If there’s nothing Nikolas can do to stop Eldeorin from training you, then it’s probably best not to say anything right now.”
“I guess.” I looked at the doorway as Nikolas walked through it. His eyes found me, and a small smile touched his lips. One of the warriors called to him, and it was easy to see the way the others looked to him to lead them.
My eyes were drawn back to the doorway as two more warriors came in. They were both tall, but one towered over everyone in the room. His features and coloring were Middle Eastern, and he wore his black hair tied back in a short ponytail. He was by far the biggest warrior I’d ever seen, and maybe the surliest if his scowl was any indication. I watched him absently hold the hilt of the sword sheathed at his hip, and I wondered if he was one of the foreign warriors sent here by the Council to help hunt the Master.
“That guy must be six-seven at least. What do you think?”
Jordan didn’t reply and I gave her a sideways look, only to find her staring at the large warrior.
“Hello? Earth to Jordan.”
“Mmm.”
A smirk spread across my face. “Is it love at first sight?”
That got her attention and she fanned herself. “I think you mean lust at first sight. That has to be the hottest male I’ve ever seen.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Hotter than Nikolas?” Not possible.
She tilted her head and studied the man as if she hadn’t heard me. “There is something about him, something…”
“Dangerous?” I offered, thinking he was one man I wouldn’t want to face in a dark alley.
“Yeah. He looks like he could take out a nest of vampires by himself.”
“You don’t think he’s kinda scary looking?”
She exhaled slowly, her eyes never leaving the warrior. “He’s perfect.”
I nudged her with my shoulder. “Are you sure it’s not love?”
Her rich laugh drew the attention of some of the warriors, including the new one. He aimed his scowl in our direction and stared at her for several seconds before looking away again.
“I don’t think he likes us,” I said.
“Not yet.” She winked at me. “Did you see the size of that sword?”
I felt my eyes widen before the two of us dissolved into laughter. Every eye in the room turned our way. Nikolas gave me a questioning look, but all I could do was shake my head and laugh.
