A Touch of Crimson

CHAPTER 14

Vash wiped the blood from her mouth with the back of her hand and bared her fangs at the lycan she’d pinned to a pine tree with a silver-coated blade. Forced into his human form by the silver’s poisoning of his blood he slumped naked with his head hanging, breathing shallowly.

“You know whose blood this is,” she said again, nursing her own myriad collection of deep bites and gouges. She waved the rag with the telltale bloodstain on it under his nose. “Which one of your packmates took the pilot from the airport in Shreveport?”

“Fuck. You. Bitch,” he gasped, gripping the hilt of the sword but too weak to pull it free of the wood behind him.

“We’ll be at this all day.”

He looked up at her from beneath a hank of red hair that was lighter than hers by a few shades. “I’ll be dead in an hour. And you’ll have nothing.”

“You really don’t want to keel over before you tell me what I want to know.”

“Barking up the wrong tree.” He managed a croaked laugh at his lame pun.

“You’re a real comedian.” She gripped his chin and forced his head up. “I see recognition in your eyes. If you’d just spill the name, your pain would be over.”

He flipped her the bird. “See this, too?”

Vash stared at the lycan with a clenched jaw, wondering if he could possibly be responsible for the death of her mate. It was a question that haunted her with every lycan she met. She had to believe the responsible party was still alive and out there somewhere, waiting for her to exact retribution for the atrocities committed against her beloved Charron. “How many vampires have you killed, dog?”

“N-not enough.”

“He’s young,” Salem said beside her, momentarily distracting her with his latest blinding hair color of primary blue. It was fortunate for him that he possessed classical bone structure; there was a regal quality to his handsome face that transcended whatever crayon hue adorned his head. He was also a badass motherfucker. If he hadn’t been, the bull’s-eye on his noggin would have seen him killed long ago.

She examined the lycan’s face. Beneath the agony and exhaustion that marred it, she could see youth. Perhaps he was too young. “How old are you?”

“Suck my dick.”

Bending forward, she aligned their gazes. “I’m teetering on the brink of releasing you, stupid. Don’t fuck it up.”

The redhead glared. “Fifty.”

Not him. He would have been a five-year-old pup at the time of Char’s death. She yanked her blade out of the tree and watched the lycan crumple to the forest floor. “Go to the asshole who kidnapped my friend. Tell him Vash is coming for him. Tell him he can meet me like a man, or he can cower like a dog and find himself with my blade in his back.”

The lycan’s skin began to ripple with the shadow of fur, a last-ditch attempt to save himself by shifting into his lupine form. In the process, his altering flesh would knit back together faster than it would without a shift.

“You’re letting him go?” Raze asked, his massive biceps bulging as he cleaned the lycan blood from his blade.

“If he makes it out of the woods alive, he deserves to die another day.”

She turned away and began tracking the path the two lycans had taken as they fled from her. The two Fallen captains fell into line behind her.

A mile away, Raze caught her arm and looked down at her through his sunglasses. Vash was a tall woman, but the captain towered above her. “Syre wanted us to bring the lycans back to Raceport.”

“That one isn’t going to crack, not even for Syre. If we want him to be useful, we need to give him his freedom.”

“The chances of him making it back to civilization are practically nonexistent,” Salem pointed out drily.

Her returning smile was grim. “He’s motivated. He was willing to die to protect whoever it is we’re after. He’s going to want to get back and give a heads-up that we’re coming, and when he does, he’ll lead us right to the one we want. If necessary, we’ll help him along and make sure he survives long enough to give us a trail.”

They located the remnants of the lycan’s clothing two miles farther. In his pants pocket, they found his wallet. Pulling out his Mitchell Aeronautics identification card, Vash smiled and waved it. “I thought so. His home address is Angels’ Point. I knew Adrian was involved. Now maybe we’ll be able to prove it.”

“Mr. Mitchell.”

Adrian paused as he moved past the Mondego’s registration desk. “Yes?”

The front desk clerk reached for the phone. “Mr. Gadara would like to see you when you have a moment.”

He gave a curt nod and continued toward the elevators. His cell phone beeped with a text message just before the doors opened. He pulled it out of his pocket as he stepped inside the waiting car.

The principal’s on the move, via Gadara. Heading to airport to intercept, but may have to follow to CA. Will report ASAP.

Because he was partially distracted by planning the logistics of the hunt for Helena and her lycan, it took Adrian a split second to register who’d texted-Elijah-and who the principal was-Lindsay. “Shit.”

He thrust his hand out just before the doors slid closed, then exited the car in a rush. “I’ll see him now,” he said to the front desk clerk, who directed him to another elevator, which required a key code from the occupant or the front desk to activate it.

The elevator had only two stops-Raguel’s office and the roof. The doors slid open directly into a massive reception area that kept visitors at bay until Raguel was ready to receive them. Adrian set the bag of food on the receptionist’s desk, then walked right through to Raguel’s office.

“Adrian.” Raguel rose gracefully to his feet from behind his desk and waved off his secretary with an insolent flick of his wrist. Behind him, a wall of windows offered a panoramic view of the city, creating an impressive backdrop for the overly ambitious archangel. “I am afraid the test results have yet to come back.”

“You’re fucking with the wrong seraph.”

“Ah, I see.” Raguel’s smile was knowing. “You are here about Ms. Gibson. I had assumed your thoughts were focused on more pressing matters.”

“Right now my thoughts are focused on making your life hell. You don’t want me to do that. Where is she?”

“There is no emotion at all in your voice, yet your words are so fierce. Which is it, Adrian? Does Ms. Gibson’s departure truly upset you, or have you simply failed to acquire suitable social skills?”

“You can’t bait me, Raguel. Where is she?”

The archangel sank back into his seat with an elegant economy of movement. “She took my helicopter to the airport, where I believe she intends to catch a flight to California. She was most eager to begin her work as the Belladonna’s assistant general manager.”

“Your interference in my matters is exceptionally foolhardy. I thought you were smarter than that.”

“I had no right to detain her. Once she stated her desire to leave, I had no choice but to allow her to go. What would you have had me do? Restrain her?”

Adrian’s back rippled with his aggravation. “You didn’t have to assist her.”

“She works for me. How could I not help her when she asked?”

“Did she ask? Or did you offer?”

“What does it matter? She accepted eagerly.” Raguel’s smile was filled with calculation.

Pulling out his phone, Adrian sent a quick text to Elijah. Find the principal. Protect her until further notice.

“I am more than happy to lend you my helicopter as well,” Raguel offered.

“Perhaps. If something pressing comes up.” He was almost decided that he shouldn’t go after Lindsay even when it became possible for him to do so. She would be safer if he stayed away. He no longer needed her to lure Syre-the vampire leader was giving him all the excuse necessary without her help.

And maybe letting Shadoe go was the lesson he’d never learned. Maybe she’d been his test at selflessness and he’d failed to pass it over and over again. Maybe freeing both Shadoe’s soul and the vessel carrying it was the true sacrifice he was expected to make. There was no reason Lindsay Gibson couldn’t live a life separate from him. He’d given her the choice between relative normalcy-a secular job and the cessation of her hunting-or training with him. If she’d chosen the former, there was no good reason for him not to let her go. He knew where she was; he could keep Syre away from her until the time came when he could end this.

That time was coming soon. Very soon.

In the interim, he had Helena to contend with. Finding her wasn’t something he would delegate to anyone else. He respected his Sentinels too much to not see to them personally. And when he did find her and separate her from her lycan, it would be best if he could look her in the eye and tell her that he’d made the same sacrifice to his happiness that he was demanding she make to hers.

“You surprise me,” Raguel murmured. “You have risked so much for something you relinquish so easily.”

“You don’t know me, Raguel.” He pivoted to leave the room. “But I know you. Your ambition will be your downfall. Especially if you make an enemy of me.”

“I believe you will find,” the archangel called after him, “that I am a friend worth having in your corner.”

“Unlike you, I don’t have a corner.” Adrian stepped into the elevator and faced Raguel, baring his teeth in a feral smile. The archangel’s territory extended only across North America; Adrian had no such limits.

The elevator doors closed, shutting out the look of sharp consideration on Raguel’s face.

Shadoe had never run from Adrian before. From the first time she’d seduced him past all restraint, rules, and better sense, she had been ferociously determined to keep him enthralled. It had taken her a long time to break him down initially, a relentless and passionate assault on his senses that led to him falling on her in a mindless rut, driven past all reason. Since then, her incarnations had been consummate seducers and she’d relished his every surrender.

Until now.

Now he was alone, stripped of the people he’d relied on for support. First Phineas. Then Simone. Lindsay’s departure was equally hard to take. He’d found comfort in her presence and he missed her already. But Adrian refused to allow his losses to impact his ability to carry out his mission.

He did concede, however, that they were likely the first of many signs that his retribution was nigh.

Lindsay was still kicking herself when her plane landed at John Wayne Airport. It wasn’t like her to run. She was a doer. A woman who faced things head-on. She didn’t like leaving things to chance or not knowing the score.

Yet the minute an escape route had been opened to her, she’d bolted. Not because she was frightened. No-that was a lie. Everything about Adrian Mitchell scared the shit out of her. The way he affected her was damn scary. She was so used to making do by herself, keeping to herself, and he got under her skin so deeply, she was already beginning to forget what it felt like without him there. She couldn’t forget, however, what it felt like to be herself. The experience had been freeing, and now she was returning to the cage of the “real” world.

The sense of loss was almost like grief.

But she would learn to deal with it. Having Adrian’s soul on the line was powerful motivation. He was too valuable to waste on her.

The wind, that fickle bitch, taunted her with soft whispers. Adrian… Go back to Adrian…

“Fuck you.” She exited the terminal with no more than the designer clothes on her back, her cell phone and emergency charger she’d bought at McCarran Airport, and a ridiculous amount of cash in her messenger bag. She intended to pay back every penny she spent, but she hadn’t had the luxury of leaving the money behind. Not while Adrian had her suitcase at his house. Which made it inevitable that she’d see him again. At the very least she had to retrieve her luggage. She could ask him to send someone down the hill with it and spare them both the awkwardness, but she wouldn’t. They had unfinished business, and he deserved the courtesy of hashing it out in person.

She headed to the nearest taxi stand. For a single surreal day, Adrian’s life had felt like it could be her life. But that was a ridiculous fantasy. His existence was filled with private jets, presidential suites, Maybachs, a home that was showcased on television, dragons, demons, vampires that foamed at the mouth, skies filled with angels, guys that turned into wolves, and regenerating limbs. Meanwhile, she was a mentally scarred, slightly crazy, middle-class mortal with a death wish. Nary the twain shall meet.

Downtime to get her head on straight and catch her bearings-that’s what she needed. Then she could plan her next steps. Steps that would lead her away from Adrian. The temptation he presented was too great. She couldn’t trust herself around him.

Sliding into the backseat of a cab, Lindsay directed the driver to take her to the Belladonna hotel. Mr. Gadara had offered her one of the finished suites until he could make arrangements for her to move into one of his residential properties. She’d been surprised by how sweet he was. For such a powerful and well-known public figure, he seemed remarkably down-to-earth and approachable.

She pointedly ignored the fact that whatever sort of being was driving the cab was sending out the kind of malevolent, inhuman vibes that would formerly have put him on her hit list.

“It’s your lucky day,” she murmured, meeting the curious glance the driver shot her through the rearview mirror.

Lindsay pulled her phone out of her pocket and turned it back on. She wasn’t surprised when it chirped a multitude of voice mail and text message alerts. Steeling herself against a suddenly knotted gut, she read the text messages first.

No trouble til I get there, pls (this is Elijah BTW)

“Aw, fuck,” she muttered, feeling like an asshole for leaving him holding the bag. If he got in trouble because of her… Well, he just better not or she’d be pissed at Adrian for not being fair.

Then Adrian. Call me.

She dialed his number.

“Lindsay.” His voice, modulated and smooth, made her grip tighten on her phone. “Are you in Anaheim?”

“Not yet. I just landed.”

“You shouldn’t have left,” he said with the arrogance she was beginning to adore. “That said, it’s best that you did. Something’s come up. It’ll be a day or two before I can get to you. Elijah will join you until then. Don’t ditch him again.”

Even across the cellular waves and despite his steady tone, which gave nothing away, she knew he was troubled. She could feel it. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”

“I’m…” His voice trailed off. “No. I’m not okay.”

Her spine straightened. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m not in a place where it would be safe to discuss it.” He exhaled audibly. “I wish I could speak freely. There are things I want to get off my chest that only you would understand.”

“Adrian.” She leaned forward, prepared to tell the driver to turn around. “I’ll come back if you need me.”

“Always,” he said, so simply, as if it wasn’t deeply profound that a being of his power was reliant on her for anything. “But not now. You’ll be safest at Angels’ Point.”

“Actually…” Lindsay found herself hesitating to put the necessary distance between them. It didn’t seem like the time-not while he needed her. But she couldn’t lie to him or hold off the inevitable, either. Whatever it was they had between them, it was based on baring sides of themselves they exposed to no one else. “I’m on my way to the Belladonna. I’m going to stay there until I can find a place of my own. You said I’d be safe with Gadara.”

There was a short pause. “Keep Elijah with you at all times. Stay in the hotel as much as possible and don’t hunt.”

“I won’t. I know we need to discuss the logistics first.” She’d need his help to take down the vamps who had killed her mother. As reckless as she could be at times, she didn’t have a death wish, and she didn’t want to inadvertently endanger Adrian by crossing a line or breaking a rule she wasn’t aware of.

“When you left Vegas, were you leaving me as well?”

Her stomach tightened. “I felt like I had to. I… want you. If it was just sexually, I’d be okay. But the more I’m with you, the more I like you. I’m not as good at fighting those kinds of feelings. I can’t say no to you, and we both need me to.”

The silence stretched out this time. Long enough that Lindsay feared she’d lost him. “Adrian?”

“I’m here. You just… surprised me. Your decision to leave in order to protect me is unexpected.”

“I’m not worth falling over,” she muttered. “I promise you that.”

“I disagree.” Although his tone didn’t alter, she sensed a change in him. “I like you, too, Lindsay. You fascinate me. For someone of my years, that’s a rare gift. I intended to let you go, if you agreed to stop hunting. But I’ve changed my mind. We’ll pick this up when I get back and reach a compromise.”

Lindsay’s brow arched. Adrian compromising on anything wasn’t something she pictured easily. He always seemed to end up getting what he wanted. He was a favored son, this warrior angel with his bloodstained wings. And he captivated her completely.

“I have to thank you,” she said, “for calling my dad. He would’ve worried himself sick.”

“It was my pleasure.”

“It means a lot to me that you thought of it.”

“I can’t help but think of you,” he said in a low, intimate tone. “I haven’t been able to stop since we met.”

God… she felt the same way. They were in such deep shit with each other. “Whatever you have to do, please be careful.”

“Don’t worry, neshama. Nothing can stop me from finishing what we started today.”

“Are you ever going to tell me what you’re calling me?”

“Ask me again,” he purred, “the next time I’m inside you.”

Shivering against a sudden flare of sexual heat, Lindsay said a hasty good-bye and ended the call.

She knew she’d done the right thing by leaving, but that didn’t stop her from regretting it. Especially now that she knew he needed her with him to listen and offer support.

Damn it… she had to get a grip and think, but her lungs were constricted by a ferocious pressure to return to him. Although her mind knew the most reasonable and selfless course was to stay away, there was a driving need inside her demanding she go back and take him. Claim him. Make him irrevocably hers. The rapacious urge was so intense, it frightened her.

She’d never had trouble holding to her decisions, but with Adrian it felt like she was battling with herself… with a high risk of losing. He was a glorious being, proud and dangerously beautiful. His sole purpose was hunting the very creatures she hated and wished dead. If she destroyed him, if she derailed the work he did-which was so important to her-she’d destroy herself. But knowing the consequences didn’t seem to quiet the furiously whispering devil on her shoulder.

Holding to her chosen course of action by more willpower than she should have needed, she sent Elijah a text message: c u @ the Belladonna.

She was glad he was going to be with her. He was a straight shooter. He’d help her keep her head out of the clouds, where angels flew and mortals had no business treading.

“This is for the best,” she told herself, earning another wary glance from the driver.

The verbal reinforcement didn’t help as much as she wished it would.

“Whatever the most disastrous thing you can imagine is, the reality is worse.” Torque shoved a pillow behind his back and leaned into the headboard attached to the wall. He was careful to keep his leg away from the slender shaft of sunlight sneaking through a tiny parting in the blackout curtains of his motel room. “Word on the street says Phineas is dead-from an unprovoked vamp attack.”

There was a long pause, filled only by his father’s deep and steady breathing. “Dead? Are you certain?”

“As certain as I can be without hearing it from Adrian himself. He’s been out of town since I arrived. My guess is that he’s hunting down those responsible.”

“Without a doubt.”

Torque allocated unlimited resources to the cabal he’d managed to infiltrate into the area, which gave him-and his father-access to fairly accurate reports of Adrian’s and the other Sentinels’ activities. Of course, Adrian kept a high profile on purpose, and Torque had long suspected that the cabal members had gone unmolested only because the Sentinel leader willingly looked the other way. You can see me coming and I’ll still get the jump on you seemed to be his message.

“I was hoping to meet with him,” Torque said, toying with a throwing star, “to let him know we had nothing to do with this.”

“No. He might see you as a fair trade for Phineas-someone he loved and relied upon for someone equally valuable to me.”

“A small sacrifice to keep a war from erupting.”

“That isn’t your decision to make.”

“Isn’t it?” Torque threw the hira-shuriken at the wall, absently noting the star’s position in relation to the wallpaper pattern. His father was too protective, to the point that Vash served as his second-in-command to keep Torque out of the direct line of fire. While Torque understood the motives-and the paranoia that fueled them-it didn’t make the bitter pill any easier to swallow. He wanted to serve the vampire community to the fullest extent he could. There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do or sacrifice to see them thrive and flourish.

“I’ve already lost one child. I won’t lose both of you.” Torque could imagine his father’s head leaning heavily into the headrest of his office chair. “Come home, son. We have the information we need. Now we need to figure out what to do with it.”

“We should send Vash on cleanup duty. If we police ourselves first, maybe that will reinforce our innocence.”

“Yes, you’re right. You can take over the hunt for Nikki’s abductors.”

“I’d like nothing more, but there’s something else.” Torque threw another star, embedding it in the wall directly beside the first. “Adrian’s been spotted with a woman recently.”

Again, a lengthy stretch of silence. “You think it’s Shadoe?”

“I haven’t known him to show interest in any other women. Have you?”

“Phineas is gone. Adrian will be deeply aggrieved, maybe enough to break a cardinal rule. We need to be certain of the woman’s identity before we take her.”

Torque’s hand relaxed. “I’ll keep digging until I know for sure.”

“If it’s your sister, we need to bring her home.”

“Of course. I’ll keep you posted.” Pulling the phone away from his ear, Torque turned it off and tossed it on the bed beside him. The hunt for intel distracted him from the grief he couldn’t bear to deal with now. When he’d Changed Nikki, he had done so because he wanted her immortally by his side. Nikki’s life was a sacrifice he hadn’t expected he would have to make. Living without her was killing him. He now understood the venom that coursed through Vash’s veins over the loss of her mate. His agony fueled him, keeping his focus sharp and his need for retribution simmering in his blood.

A couple more hours until dusk, and then he could hit the streets again. And god help any Sentinel unfortunate enough to cross his path.

Adrian had just reached Mesquite when his phone rang. “Mitchell,” he answered.

“Do you have an idea of how long the vampire was infected before you captured him?”

The somberness of Raguel’s voice snared Adrian’s complete attention. “No. Why?”

“The vamp is dead, and the blood sample degraded during testing. It was, I am told, as if his blood turned into a ‘motor oil-type sludge’ in an instant.”

“I’m very sorry to hear that.” Furious was more apt, but he made certain that wasn’t evident in his tone.

“Whatever you are dealing with,” the archangel went on, “is apparently lethal and perhaps fast-acting, depending on when the subject was infected.”

“Thank you. Your help is appreciated.”

Ending the call, Adrian looked at Jason and Damien. They were waiting nearby, looking bleak and disheartened beneath a flashing neon keno sign. Adrian wished he could have spared them this hunt for one of their own, but he couldn’t risk losing Helena or her lycan if they decided to split up. Already Helena’s second guard was traveling separately from the couple, stopping less frequently and swiftly pulling ahead.

“We need to capture more minions,” he told them. “Infected and not.”

Jason’s golden good looks were made stark by concern. “What’s going on?”

“Perhaps the end of the vampires is finally nigh.” Adrian returned his cell phone to his pocket. Jehovah does love his plagues, Raguel had said. Perhaps the archangel had been onto something.

“What a blessing that would be,” Damien said grimly, following Adrian around the corner of the casino parking lot in preparation for takeoff.

Adrian didn’t voice the rest of his thoughts.

Or we are about to be tested in ways that may yet see the end of us all.