"Bella's been taken by the lessers," Rhage said, checking his Glock.
A cold draft came out of Z like a blast. "What did you say?"
Rhage frowned at the brother's intensity. "Bella. Mary's friend."
"When?"
"Don't know. Butch and Mary are at her house"
Just like that, Zsadist was gone.
Rhage and Phury were right behind him, dematerializing to Bella's. The three of them ran up the farmhouse's front steps together.
Mary was in the kitchen, right by Butch who was checking out something on the floor. Rhage thundered over and grabbed on to her, holding her against him so hard their bones met.
"I'm going to take you home," he murmured into her hair.
"Mercedes's back at her place," Butch said as he rose from the black stains he'd been looking at. He tossed a set of keys at Rhage.
Phury cursed while righting a chair. "What've we got?"
The cop shook his head. "I think they took her alive, based on this pattern of scorched streaks to the door. Her blood trail burned up when the sun hit it"
Even before Butch stopped short and glanced at Mary, Rhage started for the door with her. The last thing she needed was to hear the god-awful details.
The cop continued, "Besides, she's no use to them deadZsadist? You okay, man?"
In passing, Rhage glanced over his shoulder at Z.
Z was in a shaking fury, his face twitching along the scar under his left eye. Hell, he looked as if he were going to blow up, except it was hard to believe the capture of a female would matter one way or the other to him.
Rhage paused. "Z, what's doing?"
The brother turned away as if he didn't want to be seen, then leaned closer to the window he was in front of. With a low growl, he dematerialized.
Rhage glanced outside. All he could see was Mary's barn across the field.
"Let's go," he said to her. "I want you out of here."
She nodded and he gripped her arm, leading her from the house. They said nothing as they walked quickly through the grass.
Just as they stepped onto her lawn, glass shattered with a crash.
Somethingsomeonewas thrown out of Mary's house. Right through the slider.
As the body bounced on the terrace, Zsadist jumped through the opening, fangs bared, face contoured with aggression. He launched himself onto the lesser, catching the thing by the hair and lifting its torso off the ground.
"Where is she?" the brother snarled. When the thing didn't answer, Z switched his hold and bit it on the shoulder, right through its leather coat. The slayer howled in pain.
Rhage didn't stick around to watch the show. He raced Mary around the side of the house, only to run into two more lessers. Forcing her behind him, he protected her with his body while he went for his gun. Just as he got it into firing position, popping sounds rang out from the right of him. Bullets whizzed by his ear and pinged into the house and hit him in the arm and the thigh and
He'd never been so glad to have the beast emerge. He threw himself into the vortex with a roar, embracing the change, welcoming the flash of heat and the explosion of his muscles and bones.
As a blast of energy came out of Rhage, Mary was thrown against the house, her head snapping back and banging into the clapboards. She slid to the ground, dimly aware of a huge presence taking Rhage's place.
There were sounds of more gunshots, screams, a deafening roar. Dragging herself over the ground, she hid behind a juniper bush just as someone turned the outdoor lights on.
Holy Christ.
It was the tattoo come to life: a dragonlike creature covered with iridescent purple and lime-green scales. The thing had a slashing tail with barbs, long yellow claws, and a wild black mane. She couldn't see the face, but the sounds it was making were horrific.
And the beast was deadly, making quick work of the lessers.
She covered her head with her arms, unable to watch. She hoped like hell the beast wouldn't notice her, and that if it did, it would remember who she was.
More roaring. Another scream. A terrible grinding crunch.
From the back of the house, she heard a rapid splatter of gunshots.
Someone yelled, "Zsadist! Stop! We need them alive!"
The fighting went on and on and probably lasted only five or ten minutes. And then there was just the sound of breathing. Two breaths in. One slow breath out.
She looked up. The beast was looming over the bush she hid behind, that steady white gaze trained on her. Its face was huge, its jaw carrying a shark's load of teeth, its mane falling over its broad forehead. Black blood ran down its chest.
"Where is she? Where's Mary?" V's voice traveled from around the corner. "Mary? Oh shit."
The beast's head whipped around as Vishous and Zsadist pulled up short.
"I'll distract it," Zsadist said. "You get her out of the way."
The beast turned on the brothers and positioned itself in an attack stance, claws up, head forward, tail waving steadily. The muscles in its hindquarters quivered.
Zsadist kept coming as V started to close in on where she was.
The beast snarled and snapped its jaws.
Z cursed in its direction. "Yeah, what you gonna do to me that hasn't already been done?"
Mary shot to her feet. "Zsadist! Don't!"
Her voice froze everything like a tableau: Zsadist walking forward. The beast preparing to lunge. Vishous sidling up to her. All three of them looked at her for a split second. And then refocused on one another, going right back to the collision course they'd been on.
"Will you two get out of here!" she hissed. "Someone's going to get hurt. You're just pissing it off!"
"Mary, we need to get you out of its way." V's tone was that awful let's-be-reasonable one men pulled out at traffic accidents.
"It won't hurt me, but it's about to tear the two of you apart. Back off!"
No one was listening to her.
"God, spare me from heroes," she muttered. "Back the fuck off!"
That got their attention. The two brothers stopped moving. And the beast looked over its shoulder.
"Hey," she murmured, stepping out from behind the bush. "It's me. Mary."
The great dragon's head shook up and down like a horse's, its mane flashing black. The massive body swung a little toward her.
The beast was beautiful, she thought. Beautiful in the way a cobra was, its ugliness overshadowed by graceful, shifting movements and a predatory intelligence you had to respect.
"You are really huge, you know that?" She kept her voice low as she approached it slowly, remembering how Rhage liked her to talk to him. "And you did an excellent job keeping those lessers from me. Thank you."
When she was right next to the beast, the jaws opened and it called out to the sky while keeping its eyes on her. Abruptly the great head lowered, as if it were seeking her touch. She reached out, stroking smooth scales, feeling the great tensile strength in the thickness of its neck and shoulder.
"You are scary as hell up close, you really are. But you feel nice. I didn't think your skin would be so soft or warm."
Those white eyes flickered to the left and narrowed, its lips curling up into a snarl.
"Tell me someone isn't coming closer," she said without varying her tone or turning away. She kept her eyes locked on that huge face.
"Butch, hang back, man," V muttered. "She's talking him down."
The beast growled low in its throat.
"Hey, now, don't bother with them," she said. "They're not going to do anything to either one of us. Besides, haven't you had enough tonight?"
The creature heaved a great breath.
"Yeah, you're done," she murmured, stroking under the mane. Heavy muscles ran in great ropes under the skin. There was no fat, nothing but power.
It eyed the vampires once again.
"No, they're nothing you and I need to worry about. You just stand right here with me and"
Without warning, the beast whirled around and knocked her to ground with its tail. It leaped into the air at her house, crashing its upper body through a window.
A lesser was pulled out into the night, and the beast's roar of outrage was cut off as it took the slayer between its jaws.
Mary tucked into a ball, shielding herself from the tail's barbs. She covered her ears and closed her eyes, cutting off the juicy sounds and the horrible sight of the killing.
Moments later she felt her body being nudged. The beast was pushing at her with its nose.
She rolled over and looked up into its white eyes. "I'm fine. But we're going to have to work on your table manners."
The beast purred and stretched out on the ground next to her, resting its head between its forelegs. There was a brilliant flash of light and then Rhage appeared in the same position. Covered in black blood, he shivered in the cold.
She shrugged out of her coat as the brothers ran over. Each one of the men took their jackets off and laid them down on Rhage, too.
"Mary?" he croaked.
"I'm right here. Everyone's fine. The two of you saved me."
CHAPTER 47
Butch wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't seen the whole thing for himself. Mary had turned that raging beast into a pet.
Jesus, that woman had some kind of way about her. And courage, too. After seeing that nasty-looking piece of work eat those slayers in front of her, she'd stood up in front of the damn thing and actually touched it. He wouldn't have had those kind of cojones.
Mary looked up from Rhage's body. "Will some of you help me get him to the car?"
Butch went right over, taking Rhage's legs while V and Zsadist each picked up an arm. They carried him around to the Mercedes and muscled the brother into the backseat.
"I can't drive him home," Mary said. "I don't know the way."
V went to the driver's-side door. "I'll take you guys. Cop, I'll be back in twenty."
"Be careful with them," Butch murmured. When he turned, Phury and Tohr were staring at him with an expectation he was used to.
Without even noticing, he slid right back into homicide detective land and took control.
"Let me tell you what I know so far." He led the two to the back of Mary's house and pointed at a pattern of black patches on the ground. "You see these burned marks in the turf? Bella was taken by the lesser and carried across the field from her place to here. She was bleeding, and when the sun came out her trail of blood incinerated and left this pattern on the ground. And why did he have to take her through the meadow? I think the slayer came looking for Mary and somehow ran into Bella on this piece of property. Bella tore off for her house and he had to bring her back, probably because he'd parked his car here. Follow me, boys."
He went around the side of the house and down to the street where there was a Ford Explorer parked at the curb.
"Bella was, for them, a lucky mistake, and they came back tonight to finish the job by getting Mary. V, I want you to run this car's plates, okay?" Butch eyed the sky. Light snow flurries were coming down. "With this shit falling, the integrity of the outdoor scenes is disintegrating, but I think we know what we can from the exteriors. Let me go through the SUV while you boys clean up the bodies of those lessers. I don't need to tell you to take anything you can off them, wallets, BlackBerrys, cell phones. Give it all to V when he comes back so he can take the stuff to the Pit. And stay out of both houses until I clear the scenes."
As the brothers got to work, Butch went through the Explorer with a fine-toothed comb. By the time he was finished, the vampires had finished poofing the lessers.
"SUV's clean as a whistle, but it's registered to a guy named Ustead." He handed the registration card to Phury. "Probably a false identity, but would one of you boys check out the address anyway? I'm heading back to Bella's to finish up there."
Tohr checked his watch. "We'll check this Ustead's place out, then go do our civilian sweeps. Unless you need help?"
"No, it's better if I go it alone."
The brother paused. "What about some cover, cop? Because the lessers might show up again. None of the ones here got away, but when those boys don't check in, some of their buddies could come back for a look-see."
"I can handle myself." He took out his gun and checked it. "But I spent my clip. Can I borrow another?"
Phury held out a Beretta. "Take this and start fresh."
And Tohr wouldn't leave until Butch accepted one of his docks as well.
Tucking one gun into his holster and keeping the other in his hand, Butch took off across the meadow at a jog. His body was primed and pumped, and he covered the distance in no time at all, barely breaking a sweat. As he ran, his mind was sharp as the night air, churning over lists of things to follow up on and theories about where Bella might have been taken.
As he ran up to the back of the farmhouse, he caught a flash of movement inside. He flattened against the wall next to the broken French door and eased the Beretta's safety off. From inside the kitchen there was the sound of crunching glass, like popcorn on a stove. Someone was walking around. Someone big.
Butch waited until whoever it was got closer; then he jumped into the doorway, aiming the gun at chest level.
"It's just me, cop," Z muttered.
Butch swung the muzzle to the ceiling. "Christ, I could have shot you."
But Z didn't seem to care that he'd almost been plugged. He just leaned down and fished around some dish shards with his fingertip.
Butch took off his coat and rolled up his sleeves. He wasn't going to ask Zsadist to leave. There was no point in getting into an argument with him, and besides, the brother was acting totally weird, kind of like he was in a stupor. The dead calm in him was eerie as hell.
Z picked something off the floor.
"What is it?" Butch asked.
"Nothing."
"Try not to disturb the scene, okay?"
As Butch looked around, he cursed to himself. He wanted his old partner from the force, Jose. He wanted his whole Homicide team. He wanted his CSI folks back in the lab.
He allowed himself a couple seconds of black frustration and then got to work. Starting at the busted French doors, he was prepared to go through every inch of the house, even if it took him until dawn.
Mary brought out another round of Alka-Seltzer from the bathroom. Rhage was lying on their bed, breathing slowly, more than a little green around the gills.
After he drank the stuff, he looked up at her. His face tensed and his eyes grew leery, worried.
"Mary I wish you hadn't seen all that."
"Shh. Just rest for a little while, okay? There's time to talk later."
She got undressed and slid in next to him. The moment she was between the sheets, he curled himself around her, his big body a living blanket.
Lying next to him, all safe and secure, made her think of Bella.
Mary's chest constricted and her eyes squeezed shut. If she believed in God at all, she would have prayed right now. Instead she just hoped as hard as she could.
Sleep came eventually. Until hours later, when Rhage let out a mighty yell.
"Mary! Mary, run! "
He began flailing around with his arms. With a lunge, she dove between them, putting herself against his chest, holding him down, talking to him. When his hands still scrambled, she captured them and put his palms to her face.
"I'm okay. I'm right here."
"Oh, thank God Mary." He stroked her cheeks. "I can't see very well."
In the candlelight, she looked down into his unfocused eyes.
"How long does the recovery take?" she asked.
"Day or two." He frowned and then stretched his legs. "Actually, I'm not as stiff as I usually am. Stomach's a mess, but the aches aren't bad at all. After I change"
He stopped, jaw going rigid. Then he loosened his hold on her as if he didn't want her to feel trapped.
"Don't worry," she murmured. "I'm not afraid of you even though I know what's in you."
"Hell, Mary I didn't want you to ever see it." He shook his head. "It's just so awful. The whole thing is awful."
"I'm not so sure about that. I went right up to it, actually. The beast. I was as close as you and I are now."
Rhage's eyes shut "Shit, Mary, you shouldn't have done that."
"Yeah, well, either I did or the creature would have eaten V and Zsadist. Literally. But don't worry, your beast and I get along just fine."
"Don't do that again."
"The hell I won't. You can't control it The brothers can't handle it. But that thing listens to me. Like it or not, the two of you need me."
"But isn't it ugly?"
"No. Not to me." She pressed a kiss to his chest. "It's fearsome and terrifying and powerful and awe-inspiring. And if anyone ever tried to get at me, that thing would wipe out a neighborhood. How could a girl not be charmed? Besides, after seeing those lessers in action, I'm grateful for it. I feel safe. Between you and the dragon, I don't have to worry."
When she looked up at him with a smile, Rhage was blinking rapidly.
"Oh, Rhage it's okay. Don't be"
"I thought if you knew what it looked like," he said hoarsely, "you wouldn't be able to see me anymore. All you'd remember is some horrible monster."
She kissed him and wiped a tear off his face. "It's a part of you, not all of you or all of what you are. And I love you. With it or without it."
He gathered her close and tucked her head into his neck. When he let out a deep sigh, she said, "Were you born with it?"
"No. It's a punishment."
"For what?"
"I killed a bird."
Mary glanced at him, thinking that seemed a little extreme.
Rhage smoothed her hair back. "I did a lot more than that, but killing a bird was what finally tipped the scales."
"Will you tell me?"
He paused for a long while. "When I was young, right after my transition, I was uncontrollable. I had all this energy and strength and I was stupid with how I used it. Not mean, just dumb. Showing off. Picking fights. And I, ah, I slept with a lot of females, females who I shouldn't have taken because they were the shellans of other males. I never did it to piss off their hellrens, but I took what they offered. I took everything I was offered. I drank, I smoked opium, fell into laudanum I'm glad you didn't know me then.
"That went on for twenty, thirty years. I was a disaster waiting for a coastline, and sure enough I met a female. I wanted her, but she was coy, and the more she teased me, the more I was determined to have her. It wasn't until I was inducted into the Brotherhood that she came around. Weapons turned her on. Warriors turned her on. She only wanted to be with brothers. One night I took her out into the forest and showed her my daggers and my guns. She was playing with my rifle. God, I can remember the look of it in her hands, it was one of those flintlock ones they were making in the early eighteen hundreds."
1800s? Good God, how old was he? Mary wondered.
"Anyway, it went off in her hand and I heard something hit the ground. It was a barn owl. One of those lovely white barn owls. I can still see the red stain as its blood seeped onto its feathers. When I picked up the bird and felt its light weight in my hands, I realized that carelessness was a form of cruelty. See, I'd always told myself that because I meant no harm, anything that happened wasn't my fault. At that moment, though, I knew I was wrong. If I hadn't given the female my gun, the bird wouldn't have been shot. I was responsible even though I didn't pull the trigger."
He cleared his throat. "The owl was such an innocent thing. So fragile and small compared to me as it bled and died. I felt wretched, and I was thinking about where to bury it, when the Scribe Virgin came to me. She was livid. Livid. She loves birds to begin with, and the barn owl is her sacred symbol, but of course the death was only part of it. She took the body from my palms and breathed life back into the bird, sending it off into the night sky. The relief when that bird flew away was tremendous. I felt as if the slate had been wiped clean. I was free, cleansed. But then the Scribe Virgin turned on me. She cursed me, and since then, anytime I get out of control, the beast comes out. In a way, it's really the perfect punishment. It's taught me to regulate my energy, my moods. It's taught me to respect the consequences of all my actions. Helped me understand the power in my body in a way I never would have otherwise."
He laughed a little. "The Scribe Virgin hates me, but she did me one hell of a favor. Anyway that's the awful why of it. I killed a bird and got the beast. Simple and complicated by turns, right?"
Rhage's chest expanded as he took in a great breath. She could feel his remorse as clearly as if it were her own.
"By turns. Indeed," she murmured, stroking his shoulder.
"The good news is that in another ninety-one years or so, it's over." He frowned, as if considering the prospect, "The beast will be gone."
Funny, he looked a little worried.
"You'll miss it, won't you?" she said.
"No. No, I It'll be a relief. Really."
Except that frown stayed in place.
CHAPTER 48
Around nine the next morning, Rhage stretched in bed and was surprised to feel like himself. He'd never recovered so fast before and had a feeling it was because he hadn't fought the change. Maybe that was the trick. Just go with it.
Mary came out of the bathroom with a load of towels in her arms and headed into the closet to drop them down the chute. She looked tired, grim. Which made sense. They'd spent a lot of the morning talking about Bella, and though he'd done his best to reassure her, they both knew the situation was bad.
And then there was another reason for her to be worried.
"I want to come to the doctor's with you today," he said.
She came back out into the room. "You're awake."
"Yeah. And I want to come with you."
As she walked over to him, she had that tight look she got whenever she was going to argue.
He jumped the gun on the most obvious objection. "Switch the appointment to late in the day. Sun goes down by five thirty now."
"Rhage"
Anxiety made his voice hard. "Do it."
She put her hands on her hips. "I don't appreciate your pushing me around."
"Let me rephrase myself. Change the appointment, please." But he didn't ease up on his tone in the slightest When she got the news, whatever it was, he was going to be by her side.
She reached for the phone, all the while cursing under her breath. When she hung up, she seemed surprised. "Ah, Dr. Delia Croce will see me us tonight at six."
"Good. And I'm sorry about being such a hard-ass. I just have to be with you when you hear. I need to be a part of this as much as I can."
She shook her head and bent down to pick a shirt up from the floor. "You are the sweetest thug I've ever known."
As he watched her body move, he felt himself harden.
Inside, the beast shifted as well, but there was a curious calm to the sensation. It was no big rush of energy, just a slow burn, as if the creature were content to share his body, not take it over. A communion, not a domination.
Probably because the thing knew that the only way to be with Mary was through Rhage's form.
She kept going around the room, tidying up. "What are you looking at?"
"You."
Sweeping her hair back, she laughed. "So your sight's returning."
"Among other things. Come here, Mary. I want to kiss you."
"Oh, sure. Make up for being a bully by plying me with your body."
"I'll use any asset I've got."
He threw the sheets and duvet off himself and swept his hand down his chest, over his stomach. Lower. Her eyes widened when he took his heavy erection in his palm. As he stroked himself, the scent of her arousal bloomed like a bouquet in the room.
"Come over here, Mary." He twisted his hips. "I'm not sure I'm doing this right. It feels so much better when you touch me."
"You are incorrigible."
"Just looking for some instruction."
"Like you need that," she muttered, taking off her sweater.
They made love in an unhurried, glorious way. But when he held her afterward, he couldn't go to sleep. Neither could she.
That night Mary tried to breathe normally as they took the elevator up to the hospital's sixth floor. Saint Francis was quieter in the evening, but still teeming with people.
The receptionist let them in and then left, pulling a cherry-red coat on as she locked the door behind her. Five minutes later Dr. Delia Croce entered the waiting room.
The woman almost managed to hide her double take at Rhage. Even though he was dressed like a civilian, in slacks and a black knit turtleneck, that leather trench coat was still something to see falling from those broad shoulders.
Well, and Rhage was Rhage. Unbearably beautiful.
The doctor smiled. "Ah, hi, Mary, would you come down to my office? Or will it be the two of you?"
"Both of us. This is Rhage. My"
"Mate," he said loud and clearly.
Dr. Delia Croce's eyebrows shot up, and Mary had to smile in spite of all the tension in her body.
The three of them went down the hall, past the doors of the exam rooms and the scales in the little alcoves and the computer stations. There was no small talk. No chatty, how's-the-weather, gee-the-holidays-are-coming-up-fast kind of stuff. The doctor knew Mary hated social chatter.
Something Rhage had picked up on at TGI Friday's on their first date.
God, that felt like years ago, Mary thought. And who could have foreseen they'd end up here together?
Dr. Delia Croce's office was cluttered with neat piles of papers and files and books. Diplomas from Smith and Har-ard hung on the wall, but the thing that Mary had always found most reassuring was the line of thriving African violets on the windowsill.
She and Rhage sat down as the doctor went behind her desk.
Before the woman was in her chair, Mary said, "So what are you giving me, and how much can I handle?"
Dr. Delia Croce looked up over the medical records and the pens and the binder clips and the phone on her desk.
"I spoke with my colleagues here as well as two other specialists. We've reviewed your records and the results from yesterday's"
"I'm sure you have. Now tell me where we are."
The other woman took off her glasses and inhaled deeply. "I think you should get your affairs in order, Mary. There's nothing we can do for you."
At four thirty in the morning, Rhage left the hospital in an absolute daze. He'd never expected to go home without Mary.
She'd been admitted for a blood transfusion, and because evidently those night fevers and the exhaustion were also tied to the beginnings of pancreatitis. If things improved she'd be released the next morning, but no one was making any commitments.
The cancer was strong: Its presence had multiplied even in the short time between when she'd had her quarterly checkup a week ago and when the blood test had been taken the day before. And Dr. Delia Croce and the specialists all agreed: Because of the treatments Mary had already been through, they couldn't give her any more chemo. Her liver was shot and just couldn't handle the chemical load.
God. He'd been prepared for one hell of fight. And a whole lot of suffering, particularly on her part. But never death. And not so fast.
They only had a matter of months. Springtime. Maybe summer.
Rhage materialized in the courtyard of the main house and headed for the Pit. He couldn't bear to go back to his and Mary's room by himself. Not yet.
Except as he stood in front of Butch and V's door, he didn't knock. Instead he looked over his shoulder at the façade of the main house and thought of Mary feeding the birds. He pictured her there, on the steps, that lovely smile on her face, the sunshine in her hair.
Sweet Jesus. What was he going to do without her?
He thought of the strength and resolve in her eyes after he'd fed from another female in front of her. Of the way she loved him even though she'd seen the beast. Of her quiet, shattering beauty and her laugh and her gunmetal gray eyes.
Mostly he thought of her the night she'd torn out of Bella's, running out into the coldness on her bare feet, running out into his arms, telling him that she wasn't okay Finally turning to him for help.
He felt something on his face.
Aw, fuck. Was he crying?
Yup.
And he didn't care that he was going soft.
He looked down at the pebbles in the driveway and was struck by the absurd thought that they were very white in the floodlights. And so was the stuccoed retaining wall that ran around the courtyard. And so was the fountain in the center that had been drained for winter