I dropped my sword and cradled my arms to soften the impact of her fall. My arms closed around her, and I held her against my chest as I breathed hard to maintain my cool. The feel of her soft body against mine awoke something other than protectiveness inside me. In that moment, I didn’t want to ever let her go.
A low growl nearby reminded me we were not alone. One of the werewolves crept closer to me. The other had shifted back to his human form and was racing down the fire escape.
“Sara!” the dark-haired boy yelled before his bare feet hit the ground. He ran to us and held out his arms for her. “Is she…?”
I made no move to hand her over to him. “She passed out, but she’s okay.”
The boy let out a harsh breath. “I don’t know how to thank you.” He reached for her again. “You can give her to me.”
The affectionate way he looked at her made me want to crush her to my chest. There was no way I was handing my…orphan over to a naked male, even if he was her friend.
“You might want to get dressed before she wakes up,” I suggested dryly.
“Shit!” The boy and his friend ran to the mouth of the alley. I heard them talking in hushed voices as they pulled on their clothes.
I studied the dark lashes and pale skin of the girl in my arms, and breathed in her scent that was a mix of sunshine and spring rain. Never had I found those scents overly appealing, but on her the combination was alluring and sweet at the same time. My eyes moved over her lips, and I had to resist the sudden urge to taste them.
She looked so young and innocent, and I would have given anything to have shielded her from the evil she’d faced tonight. She’d been incredibly brave, but I worried about how she would be affected by all of this when she woke up.
The attack wasn’t the only thing she’d have to cope with. Her lack of fighting skills proved she was no warrior, or even a trainee. She was an orphan, and she was in for an even bigger shock when she learned the truth about what she was.
I still had no idea how she had survived this long on her own. I’d need to call for someone who had experience dealing with orphans and helping them acclimate to their new life. Paulette worked with the most difficult cases. I’d call her.
“I’ll take her now.” The dark-haired boy approached me slowly as if he half expected me to run away with her.
I reluctantly placed her in his outstretched arms, and then I cursed myself for the sudden rush of sentimentality. I should be off tracking down that vampire, not standing here acting like a lovesick boy.
“Thank you again,” her friend said thickly. He held her like she was a porcelain doll that might break if handled too roughly. I got the impression that none of them knew what she really was.
And none of them had any business being here. What was the pack thinking, allowing their pups, and what they obviously believed to be a human girl, out at night with vampires roaming the city?
I was furious at them and at myself for letting the vampire get away. I snatched up my sword and sheathed it, then reached for the fire escape. Silver wounds slowed a vampire down, but a mature vampire could still cover ground quickly.
“Take her home,” I growled over my shoulder.
“Where are you going?” the red-haired boy asked.
“Hunting.” I started up the ladder without looking back. “Get her out of here.”
On the roof, I found the vampire’s blood trail. I called Chris to let him know what had happened, and he said he’d try to pick up the trail on the ground. I let my Mori come closer to the surface to enhance my senses. I could already see and hear far better than a human, but the more my demon emerged, the easier it was to smell the vampire’s blood.
I followed the blood trail across the rooftops of four buildings before it disappeared. At the last building, I made my way to the ground, but the trail was cold. Chris was a good tracker, and if the vampire was anywhere in the area, he would find him.
I swore softly. I should have handed the girl over to her friend as soon as I’d caught her and then gone after the vampire. A warrior fresh out of training would have done this job better than I had tonight. I wasn’t used to failure, and I didn’t like it one bit.
My mood was dark when I started back to the bikes. But instead of going behind the club, I stood in the shadow of a building where I could observe Sara and her friends, unseen. She was awake and sitting on a bench with the werewolves on either side of her. My gut twisted when I saw how lost and scared she looked, but there was nothing I could do for her now. I’d find out where she lived and send someone to collect her. It was better that way.
I watched them stand and walk to a blue Toyota parked on the street. Easy enough. I’d catch the license plate when they drove past me.
Sara and the dark-haired wolf got in the car. The redhead stood outside and made a phone call, most likely to his Alpha if his unhappy expression was any indication. The news that vampires had attacked someone in werewolf territory was bound to get the pack riled up, and Maine had the largest werewolf population in the country.
The boy hung up and got into the back of the car. I waited for them to drive away, but they sat there talking. After a few minutes, worry began to gnaw at me. Why hadn’t they left? Was something wrong? She’d looked okay as they’d walked to the car, but there was no telling how an ordeal like that would affect her.
Before I realized what I was doing, I left the shadows and strode toward the car. The werewolves jumped out of the car and intercepted me before I reached it.
“I thought you left,” the dark-haired boy said harshly.
“I came back.”
He scowled. “About that. What is a hunter doing around here? This is not Mohiri territory.”
Instead of answering him, I looked past them at the girl approaching us. She was pale, but otherwise she looked unharmed, and I couldn’t help but admire her resilience.
“Hello again. You seem to have recovered quickly from your adventure.” When she didn’t reply, I waved a hand at her two companions. “So, these are the friends you spoke of earlier. It’s no wonder you were attacked, with nothing but a pair of pups to protect you.”
“Hey!” the redhead protested angrily.
She pushed between the boys, clearly not happy about my criticism of her friends. “It’s not their fault. How could they have known something like this would happen?”
“How indeed?”
A frown creased her brow. “What do you mean? What’s going on here?” She turned to the dark-haired boy. “Roland? Do you know this guy?”
This guy? My demon and I had been in turmoil since we met her, and she had no clue who I was or my connection to her.
Roland shook his head. “I’ve never seen him before.”
“But you know something about him? What does Mohiri mean?”
“I am Mohiri,” I said, drawing her attention back to me.
She gave me an appraising look. “And you hunt vampires.”
“Among other things.”
I studied her in return. Most people would be in a quivering heap after experiencing what she had been through. I could see she was still shaken by the attack, but she wasn’t at all intimidated by the sight of an armed warrior.
She looked unsatisfied by my answer. “What about your friend from the club? Is he a hunter, too? Why didn’t he help you?”
“Chris scouted the area for more hostiles while I handled the situation here.” Considering she’d only seen Chris for a moment in the club, it surprised me she remembered him after everything that had happened.
She shook her head and gave me a wry smile. “So what happened? Did you get the short straw or something?”
“Or something.” If it were only that simple.
The redhead spoke up. “What about the other vampire? Did you get him?”
“Chris is tracking him.”
Roland stared at me with a mixture of disbelief and alarm. “He got away?”
“He’s injured, so he won’t get too far,” I said to assure Sara more than her friend. “Don’t worry. He won’t stick around here now that he’s being hunted.”
Roland did not look convinced. “We should put some distance between us and this place all the same.”
They should have left when I’d told them to go. There was no telling how many more vampires were in the area.
“You live in Portland?” I asked.
The three of them shook their heads.
“Good. The farther you get from the city, the better. It’s not safe here right now.” I didn’t want her anywhere near this city with that vampire out there, injured or not.
“No shit.” Roland took her arm. “We need to get out of here.”
He tugged her gently toward the car, and I stayed where I was, feeling a mixture of relief and dejection. I shook my head to clear it. The bond was new, and I didn’t think it should affect me like this so soon. I was closer to Viv than I’d ever been with any other female, and I’d never felt anything like this for her. It made me feel naked and vulnerable, and I didn’t like it.
Sara pulled away from her friend and spun back toward me. “Thank you…for what you did. If you hadn’t come when you did…” Her voice broke, and she appeared to be fighting back tears.
Her green eyes met mine, and I felt myself being pulled into them. My protective instincts flared, and for a moment, all I wanted to do was pull her to me and wrap her in my arms.
I caught myself before I took a step toward her. What the hell am I doing? I needed to put as much distance between us as possible. I definitely should not be entertaining any thoughts of holding her. The sooner she got out of here, the better it would be for both of us.
“Just doing my job.”
I regretted my cold words as soon as they left my mouth, especially when she flinched and hurt crossed her face.
“Oh…okay, well, thanks anyway,” she said quietly before she turned away to join her friends.
I watched her walk to the car, waiting for her to turn around and look at me again. But she got in the car, ignoring me as if I didn’t even exist.
Probably for the best. I melted back into the shadows and watched them drive away, ignoring the part of me that wanted to jump on my bike and follow them. I caught the license plate and pulled out my phone to shoot off an email to one of the security guys at Westhorne. It wouldn’t take Dax long to track her down. I’d call Paulette and let her know we had a new orphan that needed help, and then I could get back to business as usual.
* * *
“Seems our boy likes pool.”
I watched the young blond vampire we’d been following enter the pool hall as if he hadn’t a care in the world. If he’d paid attention to his surroundings, he might have noticed he’d had a tail for the last five blocks. Today’s vampires were less vigilant than those created a century ago, which was why most of them did not live to maturity. Their increased strength and speed made them feel invincible, and that made them cocky and careless. It also made for easy hunting.
Chris or I could have taken this one down at any time, but I was hoping he’d lead us to his friends first, namely the vampire I’d let get away last night. Vampires rarely traveled alone, and the odds of two different groups of them showing up in Portland at the same time were slim.
We were halfway across the street when a gray sedan pulled up and four males got out. Downwind from them, I picked up the scent easily this time. They stood in front of the car and quietly watched us approach.
“It looks like we aren’t the only ones on the hunt tonight,” I said.
The largest man, a tall stocky one with reddish-brown hair, nodded. “So it would seem. We don’t see your kind here often. What brings you to Portland?”
“We heard about the human girls that went missing here recently, and we suspected vampires.” I gave the entrance to the pool hall a meaningful look. “Appears we were right.”
The man, who appeared to be the leader of the group, crossed his arms over his chest. “We sent some of our people to check out the disappearances. They couldn’t pick up the vampires’ trail, so we thought they’d moved on.”
“This lot is good at covering their trail…except for the one we followed here,” Chris said.
“You mean the one we followed.” A dark-haired man who couldn’t be much older than twenty sneered at us. “We’ll take care of it from here.”
Ignoring him, I addressed the older man. “You can have the vampire after we ask him a few questions.”
The young one took a step forward. “This is our territory, and we’ll decide how to handle the bloodsucker.”
“Like I said, you can do what you want with him when I’m done.” I couldn’t help but notice the young wolf bore a slight resemblance to Sara’s friend, Roland.
“Listen here. You don’t –”
“That’s enough,” barked the leader, putting an arm out to restrain the hothead.
“But Brendan –”
“I said enough, Francis.” A low growl entered his voice, and the younger man backed off, glaring at us. The older man didn’t act like an Alpha, but he was definitely someone with authority in the pack. The Beta, most likely.
The other two males kept silent, apparently content to let their leader do all the talking. He studied me for a long moment. “What information do you hope to get from the vampire?”
“I hope he can lead me to the vampire who got away from me last night.” I saw no reason to keep anything from them. Mohiri and werewolves were not friends, but we had a common enemy.
The man’s expression told me he knew exactly what vampire I was referring to, but he wouldn’t speak of it. Werewolves were almost as secretive as my own people, and if Sara was a friend of the pack, they would protect her as if she was one of them. Would they feel the same way when they learned what she was?
“We’ll give you thirty minutes with him.”
I nodded. “Fair enough. We’ll send him out the back when we’re done.”
The man stepped aside, despite the muttered objections of his young pack member, and Chris and I walked past them to the entrance of the pool hall. Chris opened the door, and loud music assailed us along with the smell of sweat and beer.
The interior of the club was dimly lit except for the lights hanging over the pool tables. Along one wall ran a long bar that was already crowded, and small tables filled the rest of the floor. It was only nine o’clock and the place was over half-full.
It took me less than thirty seconds to locate our target. He stood at the end of the bar near a dark hallway, talking to a brunette in a low-cut blouse and a short, leather skirt that left little to the imagination. She might as well have rung a dinner bell. The vampire was practically salivating over her.
My eyes met Chris’s in silent communication. He nodded and began to make his way around the room, while I set off in the other direction. Fortunately, the vampire was too wrapped up in procuring his next meal to notice us. He wasn’t a match for either of us, but the less attention we drew, the better.
The vampire looked up when I was six feet away, and something in my expression spooked him. Fear flashed in his eyes, and he took a step back, but Chris came up behind him and grabbed him by the arms.
“Not a word,” I heard Chris whisper to him.
I smiled at the female. “Would you mind giving us a few minutes? We have some business to discuss with our friend.”
She tossed her hair over one shoulder and looked me up and down. “Baby, I’ll give you anything you ask for.”
I slapped on the bar to get the attention of one of the bartenders. He came over, and I handed him a twenty. “Give the lady whatever she wants to drink. Keep the change.”
“Thanks, man.” He turned to the brunette. “What’s your poison?”
She leaned against the bar, putting her breasts on display. “I’d love a White Russian.”
Chris made a noise and smirked at me over the vampire’s shoulder.
My lips curved, and I nodded toward the hallway that led to the restrooms and the back exit. Wordlessly, Chris forced the silently struggling vampire to the end of the hallway.
Once we were away from the humans, I pushed the vampire against the wall, easily holding him there. “I’m going to ask you some questions. Whether or not you walk out of here will depend on how you answer them.”
He swallowed convulsively and nodded.
“Where is Eli?”
“Wh-who?”
I shook my head slowly. “Wrong answer.”
He hissed in pain when a knife suddenly appeared in my hand, the blade pressed lightly against a spot under his ear. It was barely touching him, but the silver made a wisp of smoke rise from his singed skin.
“Let me ask that question again. Where is Eli?”
“I don’t know,” he squeaked, trying to lean away from the knife. I pressed harder and he whimpered. “I’m not lying! I haven’t seen him since last night. No one has.”
“Who is no one? How many of you are here?”
His eyes were fixed on the hand holding the knife. “T-ten.”
Ten vampires was an unusually large group to be travelling together. Something important had drawn them to Maine and had made them willing to risk discovery by the werewolves. There was much better hunting to be found in larger cities like New York and Philadelphia.
I thought of the four missing human girls, and then another face filled my mind. I remembered Sara’s terror as Eli held her against him. If I’d been just a few minutes later, she might have suffered the same fate as those other girls.
The thought of her at Eli’s mercy made my hand tighten on the knife. A thin rivulet of blood ran down the vampire’s throat.
Chris laid a hand on my arm, and I eased the pressure on the knife. A dead vampire could not answer questions. And I had promised the werewolves the kill. As much as I hated letting a vampire walk away, I was a man of my word.
“What are you doing in Portland?” I asked harshly. “Your kind isn’t usually stupid enough to walk into werewolf territory.”
His eyes widened, telling me he had been unaware of that fact. “Eli didn’t tell us why we’re here. We just go where he tells us to go.”
I wasn’t surprised by his answer. Most vampires worked together out of necessity, not loyalty. “How long have you been in Portland? Why are you here?”
“We got here three weeks ago, and we haven’t done much but hide out in the place Eli found for us. He goes out with Joel, but I don’t know what they’re doing. He….”
“He what?”
The vampire cleared his throat. “He brought some human girls back to the house, but he kept them to himself.”
I knew the answer before I asked my next question, but I had to ask it anyway. “Are the girls still alive?”
Terror flashed in his eyes. “No. Eli killed them, not me!”
Experience told me I wasn’t getting anything useful out of this one – except for maybe one thing. “Where are you and your friends holed up?”
The vampire stared at me but didn’t answer. I suspected it was fear for his own life and not loyalty to the other vampires that kept him quiet.
“Here’s the deal, and it’s the only one you’ll get. You tell us where your friends are, and we’ll let you walk out that door. Or you can choose not to answer, which is not in your best interest. Trust me.”
Doubt and hope filled his eyes. “You’ll really let me go?”
I lowered the knife. “I give you my word as a warrior that you’ll walk out that door unharmed. But if I see you again, you won’t fare as well.”
His eyes darted to the door, and he nodded jerkily. “Okay, I’ll tell you. We’re staying in a place on Fletcher Street.” He rattled off an address. “That’s all I know. I swear. Can I go now?”
I released him and stepped back, clearing a path to the exit. “Go.”
The vampire lunged for the door and pulled it open. Without a look back, he ran outside into the alley at the rear of the building. As the door closed behind him, I heard a chorus of growls followed by a muffled scream.
Chris blew out a noisy breath. “Ten vampires?”
“I know. Something is up, and we’re going to get to the bottom of it.”
“We should call in a unit for this one,” Chris said as we headed for the front exit. “Unless you’re in the mood to piss off the Council again.”
I laughed, remembering my last talk with Tristan. “Let’s call Erik. His team is closest.”
Chris made the call. “They’ll be here in two hours.”
We left the building and headed back to our bikes. My mind kept replaying what the vampire had said about Eli and the teenage girls, and the more I dwelled on it, the more I wanted to hit something.
“You want to tell me why you’re in such a black mood tonight?”
I gave Chris a sideways glance. “I’m not in a mood.”
He made a sound suspiciously like a snort. “How long have we known each other? You have the coolest head of any warrior I’ve ever met, but you almost killed that vampire back there. What was that about?”
“I’m mad at myself for letting Eli get away last night. That’s all.” The real reason for my agitation wasn’t something I wanted to discuss, even with Chris. The sooner we dealt with the situation in Portland and sent our people to get Sara, the sooner I could put this behind me.
My Mori growled unhappily. It had been doing that a lot since I’d let Sara drive away with her friends last night. Mori demons were driven by instinct and emotion, and all mine could think about was its mate.
Potential mate, I reminded us both. I couldn’t deny there was something about the girl that drew me in like no one ever had. Was it the innocence I’d seen in her eyes? Or her blind trust in me in that alley?
Or was it because of how right it had felt to hold her in my arms?
It doesn’t matter what it is. There was no place in my life for a mate, no matter what I was feeling. My Mori would just have to get over it.
My phone rang and Dax’s number flashed across the screen.
“Dax, what do you have for me?”
“I traced the license plate to a Judith Greene in New Hastings, which is about an hour north of Portland. She has a son named Roland, who attends St. Patrick High School. I searched the school records and found two girls named Sara. I’m sending you their pictures now.”
A photo appeared on the screen of a blonde girl named Sarah Cummings.
“Not her,” I said.
It took a minute for the second picture to arrive, and I recognized the face immediately. I stared at Sara Grey’s green eyes until Dax spoke.
“Is it her?”
“Yes. Do you have an address for her?”
Dax chuckled. “Do you even have to ask?”
Seconds later, a text arrived with her address. “You need anything else?” he asked.
“No, that’s it. Thanks.”
“Anytime.”
Chris leaned in to look at the face on my phone. “Ah, Dax found your little orphan.”
I closed the picture. “She’s not my orphan,” I grumbled, ignoring my Mori pressing forward insistently. Mine, it growled.
“So, are we going to pick her up?”
I stared down the dark street instead of looking at him. “Since when do you and I bring in orphans?”
“It’s been a few years, but I’ve handled orphans once or twice.” He fell silent for a minute. “Anyway, we’re here and she knows you. You already have a connection with her.”
“Connection?” Was it that obvious?
Chris laughed. “Yes, that happens when you save someone’s life. Look, I can handle the girl if you want me to. Or are you thinking of calling in someone?”
“Paulette has the most experience. I’ll call her tomorrow,” I said as our bikes came into view. The least I could do was give the girl a few days to recover from her ordeal before we sent someone in to turn her world upside down.
Opening the GPS app on my phone, I entered the address for the house on Fletcher Street. I hoped Erik didn’t take too long to get here because, right now, I was in the mood to make a different kind of house call.
