A Touch of Crimson

CHAPTER 10

Lindsay stepped out of the plane, slipped on her sunglasses, and looked around. “Holy shit.”

A warm hand settled in the small of her back, followed by Adrian’s murmur. “What?”

She turned all the way around, slowly, until she faced him directly. “Where is the ground?”

The runway ended… in midair.

“We’re on a mesa.”

“No way.”

“Yes way.”

“Who’s crazy enough to build a landing strip on a mesa? If the pilot overshoots, you’re toast.”

His mouth twitched, making her long to see him smile again. “Come on.”

He led her to the airport’s small parking lot, where two sleek dark town cars awaited them. Jason and Damien climbed into the back of the first vehicle, while Elijah slid into the front passenger seat of the second one.

“Saint George, huh?” she said as Adrian opened the door for her. “I’ve never been to Utah before.”

“It’s a beautiful state.” He took the seat beside her and shut the door. The cars rolled into motion. “The southern half has some gorgeous red rock formations.”

“Where are we headed?”

“Not far. A little town called Her-ah-kun.”

Lindsay frowned. “Her-ah-kun? Weird name.”

Again, he almost smiled. “It’s spelled like ‘hurricane.’ ”

A storm. Oh man…

Resolve strengthened her.The city’s moniker couldn’t be a coincidence, not on top of everything else that had happened to her since she’d left Raleigh.

As they descended into the city, Adrian grew still and silent, but she felt his volatility gathering force with every mile that passed. His best friend was dead. As stoic as Adrian appeared, it was clearly a loss he felt deeply. His pain humanized him, made him more man than angel. It also made her wonder where he sought comfort when he needed it, or if he internalized everything. Surrounded by angels who would die for him, he still seemed so alone.

She set a hand on the seat between them and surreptitiously linked her pinky finger with his. Although he gave no outward sign of it, Lindsay felt the surprise that jolted him. He caught her hand in a fierce grip, his gaze trained out his window. She draped the top of her canvas messenger bag over their joined hands, shielding the contact from the rearview mirror’s reflection. He gave a quick squeeze of gratitude.

Oddly moved by being a source of comfort to him, Lindsay contemplated the closeness that had developed between them already. They were opening up to each other in ways they didn’t with others they’d known longer. Why? Why had Adrian planned on taking her to his home last night? A restaurant would have been the wisest choice to prevent her from discovering his secrets. And why was he so intimate with her? So tender…

Why did she let him? Why wasn’t she more guarded with him, as she was with everyone else whose path she crossed?

She stared sightlessly at the passing vista, wondering why she seemed to attract the strange and weird. Why did she move so fast when she was only human? Her dad had taken her to the doctor for every runny nose and minor rash. She’d had her share of dental and bone X-rays, routine blood work, and even a CAT scan when she’d gotten a concussion from falling off a friend’s backyard playground. There was no medical explanation for her abilities. But she was undeniably different, and her anomalies were fostering an affinity between her and Adrian. She couldn’t decide if that was a blessing or not.

They pulled off the road and into the parking lot of a small country hardware store. As the car slid smoothly into a marked space next to the vehicle carrying Jason and Damien, Lindsay looked around to gain her bearings.

“We’re here,” Adrian said, before exiting the vehicle.

Her door opened, and Elijah stood there, tall and impressively intimidating. Although he was a muscular man with broad shoulders, he wasn’t oversized, yet his presence made him seem so. Like Adrian, he clearly was someone you wouldn’t want to piss off.

Stepping out, Lindsay took a deep breath and scanned her surroundings. Hurricane seemed to be a small, one-main-street sort of town. In addition to the hardware store, there were a couple fast-food establishments, one chain grocery store, and a couple mom-and-pop shops.

The wind whipped through her hair, screaming. She gasped and took a step back from its vehemence. Elijah caught her arm to steady her.

Adrian was beside her before she could catch her breath. “What do you feel?”

She shivered. “This place crawls.”

“A nest, perhaps?” Damien said, joining them.

“I don’t know what that is.”

“A group of rogue vamps,” Adrian explained.

Great. Just what she’d always wanted. “There are definitely more than a few.”

Damien looked at Adrian. “You weren’t kidding. She’s hypersensitive.”

Adrian gave a curt nod.

She pulled herself together. “Do we want to dig around now? Or wait for reinforcements?”

Jason gave her a thorough once-over. “Can you pinpoint their location?”

She nodded, knowing the wind would steer her in the right direction if she gave it a chance. “The closer I get to them, the more I’ll feel it. I just need to wander around a bit.”

“No.” Adrian turned away as if that was all there was to say on the matter. “Now we know Phineas wasn’t followed; he walked into a nest. We can take it from here and track without risking her.”

Lindsay debated her next move. Challenging him in front of his men wasn’t an option for her, but she also wasn’t going to be denied the chance to help “for her own good.”

When no better idea presented itself, she went with the only solution that came to mind-she walked away.

She headed toward the main street, figuring the road most traveled was the best place to start; plus she was hoping the highly visible location would prevent Adrian from restraining her-she wouldn’t put it past him. She didn’t doubt that he was capable of tossing her over his shoulder and putting her where he felt was safest. As it was, she felt his gaze on her. For better or worse, her senses were as focused on him as they were on finding their prey.

Elijah fell into step beside her. His eyes were shielded behind shades, but she knew he was surveying the area with a predator’s meticulousness. “FYI: there are usually consequences for defiance.”

“I figured. I’m a big girl; I can handle it. Are you going to be okay?”

“I’m not supposed to let you out of my sight.”

“So you’re damned if you come with me and damned if you don’t.” Her lips pursed. “What do you think he’ll do?”

He shrugged. “Not sure. Insubordination is usually fatal, but I suspect he’ll go easier on you.”

Apprehension rippled through her, intensifying the disquiet caused by the frantic wind. She was certain Adrian was capable of things she couldn’t even imagine; he wouldn’t have been placed in charge of the Sentinels otherwise. Still, she didn’t fear him-after all, it was her safety he was concerned with in the first place. Worrying about the consequences wasn’t going to get her anywhere. The only thing she could do was what she’d always done: put one foot in front of the other and keep moving forward.

Fortunately, that reasoning seemed to be doing her good now. With every step she took, Lindsay grew more comfortable. However Adrian felt about her mutiny, he was giving her the lead. She appreciated that. It gave her credit for having a brain and some experience. Considering the cavernous gap between her abilities and his, his show of trust meant a lot to her.

As she and Elijah walked past a Dairy Queen, she glanced through the windows. There were families and teenagers inside, laughing and eating and living so happily unaware. Lucky bastards.

“Do you have a girlfriend?” she asked. “Or a wife? Kids?”

“I’m not mated.”

She resisted the urge to see how closely Adrian was following. It would actually be better if she were alone; a group of intimidating hot guys in a town of this size was a dead giveaway that something unusual was going on. “Is that who you lost? Your mate? Sorry-I shouldn’t pry.”

Elijah looked at her. “If I’d lost my mate, I wouldn’t be alive now. Lycans languish when their mates die. Death follows swiftly.”

“Oh. Like wolves? The real ones. I read that they mate for life.”

He turned his attention forward again. “Yes.”

“That happens to humans, too, you know. With couples who’ve been married a long time. The surviving partner usually doesn’t last long after their spouse passes away. Does the same thing apply to vampires? And Sentinels?”

“Vampires pair up, but not for life. Sentinels don’t date.”

“Ah, well… They’ve got a lot to hide and it’s not like they can commingle among themselves-there aren’t enough of them. I can see why one-night stands would be the best route under those circumstances.”

“To my knowledge, they don’t even have sex. Period. They don’t seem to have a craving for it as far as I can tell. I’ve always gotten the impression the urge was beneath them.”

Lindsay grinned, knowing damn well Adrian craved sex. The man practically dripped it from his pores. “You’re just not their type, I guess.”

“Sentinels are never without lycans nearby,” he insisted quietly. “I would have heard something from someone.”

It was the unwavering conviction in Elijah’s tone that caught her, followed by recollections of how collected the Sentinels were. She had yet to see one laugh or really smile. They didn’t even raise their voices, whether with excitement or anger. Not that she’d been around them long enough to make a comprehensive study of it…

“You’ve got to be kidding,” she said.

“Why would I?”

She was surprised to realize she believed him. He was one of those guys who just didn’t bullshit. Which left her confused. She knew masculine interest when she saw it-not to mention Adrian had come right out and said what his intentions were. What else could he want from her, if it wasn’t to explore the attraction between them?

They reached the end of the main drag, where the road veered to the left, turning into a more residential area. Signs said the turnoff for Zion National Park was close.

“So are you looking for your soul mate?” she asked. “Does it work like that? Only one person in the world for you sort of thing?”

“No. No. And no.”

“I hear ya. This is the wrong kind of life to want any sort of long-term relationship. I threw out that possibility a long time ago.” The wind whipped through her hair. “We’re close.”

He looked at her. “Care to explain the crazy gusts of wind that follow you?”

“We’re in a place called Hurricane. What do you expect?” She jerked her chin at a rocky hill across the street; then she darted across the road at full speed.

Elijah stayed directly on her heels. “Lycans sense danger in the air before we catch scent of it,” he pressed.

She still considered her weather radar too personal and too revealing to share. She wasn’t sure what exactly it revealed, but it said something about her she’d rather keep to herself-for now.

Her hand slid under the flap of her messenger bag and gripped the hilt of a throwing knife. They passed some sort of monument, a stone pillar with a brass plaque. There were small homes fanning out in a horseshoe behind it. Old homes from the fifties or earlier.

“Do you scent equally well in both forms?” she asked, raking the area with an examining gaze.

The next minute she was bumped in the thigh, drawing her attention to a massive chocolate-colored wolf beside her. She supposed that answered her question.

“Wow.” She was seriously impressed. “How did you do that so fast? And where are your clothes?”

He gave her a look that she pegged as exasperated.

“Fine,” she conceded, reaching out to touch his fur to see if it was soft or coarse. It turned out to be somewhere between the two. The lustrous cocoa pelt was relieved by patches of white on his chest and paws, making the overall package both beautiful and regal. “You’re a really good-looking wolf, you know.”

Elijah snorted.

Lindsay moved forward, noting how still the air had suddenly become. Almost stagnant. Protecting her by not blowing the scent of lycan and angel around. Somehow, she knew the angels had taken the high ground. She didn’t look up, but she suspected they were on the hilltop above her.

“I’m thinking basement,” she said, to which Elijah chuffed in agreement.

They moved forward, circling around the horseshoe. An elderly lady sat in a swinging bench on a covered porch. She smiled and waved as they passed, apparently not the least bit concerned by the humongous canine beside Lindsay. Considering the thickness of the woman’s glasses, Lindsay assumed she couldn’t see all that well. It was the only explanation-aside from senility-for dismissing a pony-sized wolf prowling around.

A gravel path marked by two squat brick lampposts appeared before them in the space between two homes. They followed it around the hill. At the end was a surprise-a home marked by antebellum-style architecture and a dilapidated bed-and-breakfast sign.

An icy breeze caressed the back of her neck.

“You’ve got to be kidding,” she groused aloud.

While it was obvious the building was no longer in use as lodging, it retained a dignity and style that belied its use as a vampire “nest.” A gardener and a fresh coat of paint was all that was needed to revive the exterior.

As they neared the small opening in the brick fence surrounding the property, a massive shadow and the flap of wings announced Adrian’s graceful landing in front of her. “That’s far enough, Lindsay.”

Her brows rose. “Think nothing of it. Glad I could help.”

His features softened. “Thank you.”

Jason and Damien landed on the other side of the fence in the front yard. To the right was the hill. Behind them, about a half mile away, were the road and the horseshoe-shaped street of vintage homes. To the left were acres and acres of undeveloped land. The nest was hiding in plain sight. Not that Lindsay was overly surprised. The things she killed were usually normal-looking on the exterior. Freakishly so.

She hung back, staying a good twenty feet away from the fence. Elijah sank onto his haunches beside her. The angels moved forward-Adrian in the middle, Jason to the left, and Damien to the right. Two more wolves appeared, startling her. She wondered where they’d come from, then remembered the two drivers, one for each town car. Or a lycan for every angel. One was a mixture of charcoal gray and white, and the other was a rusty brown and taupe. Both panted softly, as if they were barely containing their eagerness.

Yet the three beasts surrounded her. Leaving the angels to fend for themselves.

She reached down and stroked Elijah’s huge head in silent gratitude. The other two took up positions behind him, giving him the lead. Only his ears and eyes moved. Although his stance appeared casual, she knew he could explode into powerful movement in the blink of an eye. All the hunter traits she’d observed in him as a human were multiplied in his lupine form.

Her attention moved to the angels, who approached the house with their wings flexing at their backs. That surprised her. Why expose such a vulnerability when they weren’t flying? Jason and Damien might be able to retreat by air if they were capable of taking off vertically, but Adrian was on the porch, caged in by two-story-high columns and an overhanging roof.

Adrian entered the house through the front door, while the other two found alternate ways in that Lindsay couldn’t see from her vantage. Quiet blanketed the area. She shifted from one foot to the other, twirling a throwing blade in one hand and playing absently with Elijah’s ear. “I have a really bad feeling about this.”

The wind screeched across the vacant plain, making the fine hairs on her arms stand up. Then all hell broke loose.

Glass shattered as angels exploded out of draped windows in unison, followed by a veritable horde of vampires.

“Holy fucking shit!”

The flood of vamps poured toward her, surging over the short wall. Lindsay tossed the blade in her hand, nailing a foaming-mouthed vampire right between the eyes. She kept on throwing, one right after the other, retreating as the lycans lunged forward, forming a barrier to protect her.

She looked for Adrian over the writhing mass of limbs. Oh man…

He was cutting a swath through the throng… literally. Had she thought his wings were vulnerable? They were deadly. He wielded them like blades, slicing through limbs and torsos, spinning with lethal precision. The sight of him and the other two angels was riveting. Their wings flared like capes, snapping wide, then curving fluidly around their bodies. The burning embers of vanquished vamps spiraled around them in glittering clouds. She couldn’t take her eyes off their eerily graceful, macabre dances.

A high-pitched yelp yanked her attention back to the lycans, and the suicidal vampress who’d latched on to the back of Elijah’s neck. Resisting his violent efforts to shake her off, the wild-eyed bitch held on even as Elijah threw himself to his back and writhed, grinding her into the ground beneath him.

Lindsay looked frantically for the other two lycans and found them with their jaws full. Steeling her courage, she leaped into the fray. A male vampire darted toward her head-on, playing chicken. Knowing that changing course would only weaken her footing, she charged ahead with a dagger in hand. She staked him in the heart, then used the protruding hilt for leverage to flip over his shoulder and land on the other side.

She continued without breaking her stride, diving forward as Elijah straightened. Her fist collided with the vampress’s jaw and it gave way with a sickening crack. Dislodged from her hold, the vampress hit the dirt on her back. Elijah rounded on her with a roar, grabbing her by the throat and ripping the flesh to the spine. Lindsay finished her off with a throwing knife to the forehead.

A gunshot echoed off the hillside, followed by the unmistakable whine of a ricochet.

She pivoted. A woman stood on the steps of the house with a shotgun, pumping another round into the chamber. She took aim at Adrian and pulled the trigger. As the report reverberated through her, Lindsay’s lungs seized, preventing her from screaming the warning that howled inside her horrified mind.

Adrian whipped one wing around, deflecting the bullet with the harsh ping of metal on metal.

The gun disappeared from the vampress’s hands and appeared at Lindsay’s feet.

It took a half minute for Lindsay’s brain to lurch into full understanding. Then she caught up the weapon and pumped the fore-end, firing at a vampire charging one of the wolves. She got off six more shots, providing cover for the lycans. When the last chamber was spent, she wielded the shotgun like a club, whacking a vamp attempting to get up from where he’d been sprawled on the ground.

Risking a glance at the house, she searched for Adrian.

He was surrounded on all sides and kicking some serious ass. But the chick on the porch had retrieved another shotgun-a sawed-off one this time-and was lifting it to aim…

Lindsay darted through the opening in the fence, dodging flying bodies and barreling through ash piles. A vamp flew at her from the right and she ducked beneath his sailing body, startling herself with her own agility. She grabbed the last throwing knife from her bag and prepared to hurl it.

The barrel of the gun swung toward her.

Lindsay caught the nearest vampire and hauled him in front of her. The shotgun discharged with a deafening boom.

The vamp jerked against her. Agonizing pain radiated through the forearm she had wrapped around his waist. She dropped to her knees in an exploding cloud of ash, the vampire disintegrating from the fatal shot.

The three lycans tore up the stairs and attacked the shooter.

Lindsay gulped in air but couldn’t breathe past the pain. She kept her gaze averted, afraid to look at her arm.

A vamp galloped on all fours out of the black pit of the front door and leaped toward Adrian. She took him out with the final blade still clutched in her uninjured hand. His ashes billowed over the yellowed, weed-infested lawn just as Adrian slammed his fist into the frothing maw of a snarling vamp.

The vampire hit the ground, unconscious. A second later, Lindsay joined him.