I stayed with Sara until she fell asleep, and then I went to notify the pilot we would be flying to Boise instead of California. After that, I called Raoul and asked him to have our things and Sara’s cat sent on to Westhorne. He was also going to take over running the command center, but they were going to move it to Los Angeles now that they didn’t need to be close to Eldeorin’s house.
“You coming with us to Westhorne or heading back to California?” I asked Chris after all the arrangements had been made. All we were waiting for now was word from the pilot that we could depart.
“I’ll make sure you two lovebirds get home safe and sound, and then I’ll probably go back to LA by way of Longstone.”
He gave me a sly look. “Something tells me you won’t be leaving home again for a while.”
I didn’t disagree with him. Males stayed close to their mates for the first year or so after completing the bond, and I had a feeling I wasn’t going to be any different. That didn’t mean we had to stay at Westhorne, however, and I hoped to persuade Sara to take a trip to Russia to meet my parents. I’d be sure to phrase it a lot differently this time.
“Is Sara comfortable in the den?” Geoffrey asked. “She’s welcome to use my bedroom until you leave.”
“Thanks, but it shouldn’t be much longer.”
I heard running feet a second before Sara screamed, “Vampires!”
I ran to her as she burst into the living room. “Where? How many?”
“Everywhere,” she gasped. “At least fifteen.”
Fifteen? Jesus, it was another ambush.
“How does she know that?” Geoffrey demanded.
“No time to explain. Get ready.”
Chris and I grabbed our weapons. I went back to Sara, and he ran to take up a position by the large window.
“Chris?” I asked as I strapped on my knife belt.
“Nothing yet.”
I began issuing orders, not caring this was Geoffrey’s command. I was taking no chances with Sara and Jordan here, even if they had proven themselves to be more than capable fighters.
“We have at least fifteen hostiles incoming,” I shouted as warriors spilled into the living room. “Jordan and Abigail, you’re with Chris. Elijah, you, Joseph, and Noah cover upstairs. Travis and Oliver, take the kitchen. Geoffrey and I will cover the back.”
“What about me?” Sara asked.
Geoffrey held out a sword to her. “Can you fight?”
She put up her hands. “Not with that thing.”
I touched her arm. “Sara, you stay with me. Do not leave my sight.”
For once she didn’t argue. Grabbing a knife from Geoffrey, she followed us just as a window broke at the back of the house. We ran into the den to see two vampires come through the window. My blood chilled at the thought that Sara had been sleeping in here a few minutes ago.
I went after the first vampire, letting Geoffrey worry about the second one. There wasn’t a lot of fighting room in the den so I had to watch where I put my sword. Sara stayed by the door where I could see her out of the corner of my eye as I fought.
The vampire looked surprised to see two armed warriors waiting for him. I took advantage of his hesitation and sliced open his gut. Then I brought my blade around again and took his head from his shoulders.
As soon as he went down, two more vampires leapt through the window. I checked to see where Sara was before I moved in to meet the newest threat. They were faster than the first one, but there was no way they were getting past me with Sara standing a few feet away.
Over the thunder and rain, I could hear screams and fighting in the rest of the house, but I blocked them out to concentrate on the two vampires circling me.
The nearest one feinted at me from my left, and his friend tried to use that as an opportunity to come in from my right. My sword flashed, but there was barely enough room to swing with any force.
The vampires realized that too, and they smiled, showing me their fangs.
Holding my sword in one hand, I unsheathed my long knife with my other hand.
In the hallway, a vampire screamed.
Sara.
Someone crashed into a wall. Fear knotted my stomach, and I spun to the empty doorway, forgetting the danger behind me.
A familiar figure ran past the door toward the living room. I started after her.
“Nikolas,” Geoffrey grunted.
I turned back to the room just as both vampires came at me at once. Desperate to finish the fight, I brought both blades up – my sword to block and my knife to maim.
The vampire on my left screamed as my knife plunged between his ribs. The strike was too low to hit his heart, but it still had to hurt like the devil.
He staggered back, and I spun to the one who had tried to get past my sword. Blood dripped from one of his hands where four of his fingers used to be.
He snarled and lunged at me again, and I used his forward momentum against him. My sword came down, cutting his arm off at the shoulder. Before he could scream in pain, I skewered him through the heart.
I turned back to the one I’d knifed as he started to regain his footing. I leapt at him, striking out with the knife again. This time my aim was perfect, and he sank to the floor in a heap.
Leaving Geoffrey to finish off his opponent, I raced into the hallway where a dead vampire was crumpled against the wall.
“Sara?” I shouted, running toward the front of the house.
A vampire jumped out of the hall bathroom, directly into my path. I was moving so fast I slammed into him, knocking us both off balance.
Dropping my sword, I wrapped an arm around his neck and snapped it. He went limp, but he’d be back on his feet in thirty minutes if I left him like that. I picked up my sword and finished the job.
Heart pounding, I ran into the living room to find half a dozen dead vampires and no sign of Sara. People stood in front of the broken window staring in shock at something on the front lawn.
No. A bellow of rage tore from my throat. People scattered as I ran to the window and jumped through it. Ignoring the bodies littering the ground, my gaze zeroed in on Sara. My knees weakened when I saw her standing there, looking unharmed.
She didn’t move as I strode to her. Trembling, I pulled her into my arms, needing to reassure my Mori and myself she was okay. Her arms immediately crept up around my neck, pulling my head down to her.
“I love you,” she said. Then her lips met mine.
Her touch dismantled my rage, and her kiss set me aflame with a different kind of heat. I crushed her to me, my hands roving over her back, only vaguely aware of the rain plastering our hair and clothes to our bodies. She clung to me, wrapping her legs around my waist as she made me forget everything but the two of us.
My sanity returned to me, and I separated our mouths, breathing harshly. “You were supposed to stay with me.”
Her look was anything but apologetic. “You didn’t need my help, and someone had to save Chris’s ass. Again.”
I opened my mouth, but all that came out was a groan. She’s going to be the death of me.
I rested my forehead against hers. “Now I know why Nate’s going gray. At this rate, I’ll be white before him.”
She smiled evilly. “Well, there’s always Clairol for Men.”
I stared at her, and she burst into laughter before she burrowed her face against my throat. Her hot breath on my skin made me extremely thankful for the cold rain drenching us.
Chris walked up to us, chuckling and shaking his head. “Do you two want us to give you some privacy?”
I grinned at him as Sara lifted her head to say something.
Her eyes widened, and she looked down as if realizing for the first time where she was.
Satisfaction filled me, knowing I’d done that to her. Her eyes lifted to mine, and I smiled as my hands slid down to cup her firm bottom.
“On second thought, this might be worth a few gray hairs.”
Her brows came together in an unconvincing scowl, and she removed her legs from around my waist.
Ignoring her silent demand to be set down, I held her for a moment, relishing the feel of her body flush against mine.
Her scowl deepened as I lowered her to the ground. Unable to resist, I kissed her nose before finally letting her go.
Geoffrey walked across the lawn toward us, his mouth set in a grim line.
“How many?” I asked him.
“Fifteen.” He rubbed his head and stared at the bodies on the grass. “Jesus! If you and your team hadn’t been here, it would have been a massacre.”
“Or maybe they came because we were here,” Chris said.
“How did you know?” Geoffrey asked Sara. “You said fifteen were coming. How could you possibly guess that?”
“I wasn’t guessing…” Her eyes narrowed, and she rubbed her chest. “I was wrong. There were sixteen. There’s still one here.”
Elijah stood in the doorway. “The house is clear.”
“Chris, can you and Elijah do a sweep out here to be safe?” I asked as Sara walked toward the house, her lips pursed in concentration.
I followed her because her intuition, or radar as she called it, was never wrong.
She entered the house and stood motionless for several seconds. Then she pointed at the closed door to the basement where the control room was located. “There.”
Geoffrey shook his head. “There’s no way for anyone to get in down there. The basement windows are all too small.”
She put her hands on her hips. “Then one tried to go out that way and got trapped, because there is a vampire in that basement.”
He looked at me, and I nodded.
“We’ll have to flush him out,” he said. “Abigail and I will go down, and the rest of you keep an eye on this door in case he comes through it.”
“We need to find out how they found this place and if they knew who was here,” I reminded him. “Unless you’re in immediate danger, do not kill him.”
I looked at Sara. “I don’t suppose it would do any good to ask you to let the others handle this one.”
She put up her hands and walked to the far side of the living room. “I’ve done enough killing for one night. This one is all yours.”
The other warriors and I formed a semicircle in front of the basement door. Geoffrey opened the door, and he and Abigail disappeared through it.
Seconds later, a female vampire’s scream was followed by the sounds of a struggle and a crash. The vampire cried out in pain.
“We have her,” Geoffrey called.
The rest of us relaxed, and I went to stand by Sara.
“What will they do with her?” she asked, still watching the basement door.
“They’ll confine her and wait until she gets hungry to see if she’ll talk.”
I looked through the window as the other Vegas team came roaring up in an SUV. The four warriors leapt out and dashed into the house. They skidded to a stop when they saw the damage.
“Goddamn!” Evan, a dark-haired warrior with short, spiked hair, let out a whistle. “We missed all the action.”
“Fuck the action.” Jackson ran past us to the stairs. “If my Martin has a scratch on it, I’m going to find some vampire ass to kick.”
I grinned at the blond warrior who loved his guitar almost as much as he loved his mother.
Chris waved me over, and the two of us righted an overturned couch. Then we went outside to drag bodies from the front lawn to the garage. The last thing we needed was for someone to drive by and see a pile of bodies on the lawn before we could dispose of them. We were lucky as it was that the houses on this street were spaced far apart, and that no one had come to investigate. Lucky too that the storm had probably camouflaged most of the noise.
Sara was standing where I’d left her when I went back to the living room. The cleanup was underway, and she looked around as if she wasn’t sure what she was supposed to be doing.
“Are we staying here?” she asked me.
“We’re leaving once we help get the place secured. The rest of them will pack up and move to another safe house in the morning.”
I would have left for the airport with her already, but the chances of another attack on the safe house were slim, especially now that all the warriors were here. The place was trashed, but it was probably the safest place in Vegas tonight.
It took all of us working together for two hours to clear out the bodies and cover most of the windows to keep the rain out. Sara and Jordan worked alongside us, neither of them complaining about the hard work, though I knew it had to be tiring after their long day and the attack.
Sara had been put through an emotional wringer in the last twelve hours, and I had no idea how she kept going. I hoped this was the last of the excitement for us until we got home.
As we were finishing up, the pilot called to let me know we could leave in the next hour.
I looked around for Sara. I couldn’t wait to get her out of this city.
She came down the stairs a few minutes later, wearing dry clothes someone had loaned her. I hid my smile when I saw the rolled-up legs of her borrowed jeans.
She looked tired but otherwise okay as I made my way over to her.
“The storm is letting up, and the pilot says we can take off in an hour or so,” I told her. “I’m going to call Tristan, and then we’ll head over to the airport.”
“Okay.” Her smile told me I wasn’t the only one eager to leave.
I took out my cell phone and frowned when I saw there was no signal, most likely due to the severe storms. I walked out to the covered deck at the back of the house to call Tristan, who still didn’t know we were coming home or that we’d talked to Madeline. I’d called him from the plane to tell him we were on the way to Las Vegas and that we had a lead on Madeline. But so much had happened since then I hadn’t been able to update him.
The vampire screamed as I stepped outside and closed the door behind me. Geoffrey and Abigail had been down in the basement with her this whole time, questioning her, and I could imagine what interrogation tactics they were using now. Silver probably. It was clean, easy, and effective. None of us liked that part of our job, but you had to do unpleasant things when you fought a war like this one.
Someone shouted inside the house. It was followed by a second one, and then a third.
I ran inside and down the hall to the living room as the vampire screamed again, closer this time.
The first thing I saw was Geoffrey coming through the open basement door. Then I saw the crowd gathered in front of the kitchen, bodies crouched in attack positions.
A pit opened in my stomach. I pushed my way through the warriors to the kitchen as a flash lit up the room, and the vampire sagged against Sara.
“Damn it, Sara. There are a dozen warriors here. You couldn’t let one of them handle this?”
Her glare told me what she thought of my question. “Look at her, Nikolas. She’s even smaller than I am. Do you think I can’t handle one little vampire?”
Jackson spoke up. “Don’t answer that, my man. It’s a trap.”
I shot him a hard look, though he had a point. Not that it was a trap, but that Sara was capable of holding her own against the vampire. Arguing with her just because I still had trouble with her fighting was not going to help. It would only make her think I doubted her in front of everyone.
The vampire moaned, alerting me to the fact she was not unconscious.
“We need to get her secured again before she comes to,” I said to Geoffrey as he and I entered the kitchen. “How the hell did she escape in the first place?”
He rubbed his jaw. “She picked the lock on the shackles. I don’t know how she did it. Most vampires can’t handle silver that long.”
Sara smiled wanly. “Desperation will make you do a lot of things you couldn’t do before.”
Evan joined us in the kitchen, and he and Geoffrey moved to take the vampire from Sara.
“Good job, Sara. We’ll take her now,” Geoffrey said.
The vampire woke up and bared her fangs at us as she tried to twist away from Sara. Before anyone could grab her, Sara sent another jolt of power into her, knocking her out again. The ease with which she handled the vampire and the control she displayed impressed the hell out of me.
Even more impressive was how cool-headed and fearless she was, holding a vampire in her arms. Every warrior there, myself included, was tense and ready to jump in at the slightest provocation. Sara could have been holding a life-sized doll for all it seemed to affect her.
Geoffrey whistled under his breath. “That’s some trick.”
“You should see me pull a rabbit from a hat,” she joked.
Several people laughed, but the mood was still tense as Geoffrey and Evan took the vampire by the arms and relieved Sara of her burden.
“We’ll make sure this one doesn’t get loose again,” Geoffrey said firmly. “Not sure if she’s worth keeping, though.”
“Why?” Sara asked.
He shrugged. “Some vampires break. Most don’t. After a while you can tell the ones that will.”
Jordan entered the kitchen. “Then why waste your time with her?”
“Because they can’t take the chance of not getting information out of her,” I explained.
“Wait,” Sara called as Geoffrey and Evan dragged the vampire away. “Maybe I can get something out of her.”
Geoffrey gave her a skeptical look. “How?”
I shook my head. “No.”
I knew what it would take to get this vampire to crack, and Sara was too softhearted to do what needed to be done, even to a vampire. She had a weapon we didn’t have, but that wouldn’t help when she remembered this tomorrow or a year from now.
She gave me a puzzled look. “Nikolas, you said they need information. And it’s not like she can hurt me.”
I laid my hands on her shoulders. “You don’t have the stomach for torture, and that’s what it will take.”
“Maybe not.” She chewed her lip. “I could connect with the demon.”
My stomach rolled as fear shot through me. “Absolutely not. Do I need to remind you what happened the last time you did that?” The memory of her lying on that cell floor after she’d healed Nate would haunt me for the rest of my life.
“No,” she said slowly. “But I’m a lot stronger than I was that time, and I know what to expect now.”
“No.”
She laid her hands on my chest. “I know you’re worried, but I’ve come so far since that thing with Nate. I’ve spent months working with Aine and Eldeorin, and I know what I can do.”
My heart, my Mori, and every instinct yelled at me to take her away from here. In that moment, I relived every torturous hour spent waiting for her to wake up and not knowing if she would. The only thing that had made it bearable back then was knowing she had saved Nate. This wasn’t the same. This was a random vampire who might have information we wanted. It wasn’t worth the risk.
I looked into her eyes, which pleaded with me to trust her. She was confident she could do this, just as I was sure of myself as a warrior. And her power was much stronger than it had been back then, not to mention the control she’d displayed a few minutes ago.
“Sara has powers and abilities you’ll never be able to comprehend. Don’t underestimate her, warrior.”
Eldeorin’s words came back to me. As much as I hated to agree with him on anything, he was right in this. As a Mohiri, I couldn’t understand her power, and that scared me because I’d never know if she was ready to face a situation like this one. I had to trust her to know.
I rested my forehead against hers. “Promise me you’ll be careful.”
“I promise.”
“I mean it, Sara.” I pulled back to look into her eyes. “If I have to sit by a hospital bed for another two days, I really will lock you up.”
“That won’t happen. Trust me.”
Her smile did not reassure me. I let go of her shoulders and stepped back.
“What do we need to do?”
She waved at the kitchen floor near the island. “Just lay her here on the floor, and I’ll do the rest.”
I turned to Geoffrey. “Do as she asks.”
He shot me a look that said he expected some answers later. When I nodded, he and Evan laid the vampire where Sara wanted her.
Sara looked at the vampire and then at me and the other warriors. “I need some room to do this. Can you all move to the living room?”
I was the last one out, and I stood outside the archway, refusing to go a step farther. Jordan stood beside me while the other warriors crowded in behind us, curious to see what Sara was going to do to the vampire.
Ignoring her audience, Sara knelt on the floor and placed her hands on the vampire’s chest. Immediately, her hands began to glow, causing gasps and exclamations behind me.
The vampire opened her eyes, and I took a step into the kitchen. Sara’s glow intensified, and the vampire’s face contorted into a hideous silent scream.
“What the fuck?” Jackson croaked.
My body tensed and my stomach turned to rock as I waited for what would come next.
The glow coming from Sara’s hand expanded until her whole body was encased in soft white light. Unlike before, when her power had exploded from her, it billowed out from her in undulating waves like a giant soap bubble that slowly enveloped her and the vampire.
“What the hell is that?” someone asked.
“What is she?” Geoffrey breathed.
Jordan looked up at me, her eyes wide with awe. “I heard about it, but I never imagined…”
“I know.”
My eyes went back to the two shapes that were still visible but distorted through the bubble. Sara didn’t move, but every now and then the vampire twitched as if it was being electrocuted.
Minutes ticked by. What was happening in there? Sara hadn’t actually talked to the vamhir demon inside Nate; she’d seen and heard its memories. Was she doing that now, or was she trying to talk to it? Was it even possible for her to communicate with the demon in that way?
I shifted restlessly. She’d been connected to Nate for no more than a minute. At least five had passed since she laid her hands on the vampire.
The bubble suddenly grew brighter and hotter until it was impossible to look upon and unbearable to be near, forcing us to retreat several feet.
My throat went dry when I found myself shielding my eyes against the same sphere of light I’d seen in Nate’s cell.
Oh God. I knew what she was about to do, and I was powerless to stop it.
“Holy Mother!” someone said as the sphere pulsed and the lights in the house flickered.
And then it was gone.
