He tightened his hold on her. Lyon was a lucky man to have been chosen her mate, an honor Tighe had secretly hoped would go to . Kara was a sweet Therian beauty, as kind as she was courageous.
No man could do better.
As he looked down at her, his eyes began to tingle as they did whenever he was about to go feral. Or when he was in the presence of a beautiful woman.
He alone among the Ferals had that little problem. For the others, feral was feral. The eyes, the claws, the fangs came as a package deal. Not so, Tighe. His claws and fangs only sprouted when he was ready to fight, but his eyes were another matter. If his body stirred with interest, his eyes shifted, the pupils growing until they blocked out the white, their color changing from their natural green to the golden orange of his tigers.
It was a major nuisance, necessitating dark, wraparound sunglasses whenever he was in human public, day or night. Tiger eyes were damned hard to pass off as human. And the humans needed to think he was one of them. If there was one agreement between the immortal races, it was that the humans continue to believe they were alone.
Lyon growled. Your eyes.
Tighe shrugged and grinned at his chief. Shes a beautiful woman, Roar. He winked at Kara. Do you want me to put on the shades?
Karas soft trill of laughter eased the craziness inside him. Its not like I dont know why you wear sunglasses in the house. She pulled out of his embrace and returned to her mate, looping her arm around Lyons waist. Im flattered, Tighe, and head over heels in love with my lion. She grinned. But you know that.
Tighe laughed. Yeah, I noticed. Lucky bastard.
The growl that came from Lyons throat held a note of hard satisfaction. You need to get one of these for yourself.
A mate? Hell no. He winked at Kara. Not unless I can have yours.
At the teasing words, Lyon tightened his hold.
Tighe shook his head. I never thought Id see you like this, Roar. The pleasure he felt that his friend had found his one true mate after all these centuries was bittersweet. Tighe remembered all too well how love could transform a man, clearing his vision and changing his world. And how it could destroy him.
Lyon smiled, his gaze dropping to Karas sweet face. Sometimes you have to risk your heart.
Tighe prayed Lyon never felt the cutting pain from the other side of that double-edged blade.
Lets eat. Lyon turned Kara toward the large formal dining table that sat in front of the wall of windows looking onto sunlit woods.
Foxx, Paenther, and Wulfe were already seated, but as he approached the table, each rose and greeted him.
Foxx, whod only been with them a couple of years and was genuinely twenty-three, nodded to him, his shaggy red hair falling in his face. Tighe.
As Foxx returned to his seat, Paenther, Lyons second-in-command, grasped his arm, his intense black eyes boring into him. The warrior, three-quarters Native American, had the bronzed skin and black hair and eyes of his human ancestors. A tribal tattoo snaked up his neck, while across one eye slashed the claw marks that marked him as a Feral Warrior. Dressed head to toe in leather, vibrating with a fine rage long ago burned into his soul by the Mage, he was a man whom others gave a wide berth. Except those few who knew him well.
Paenther, alone, never asked him how he was doing. But his friends deep concern came through in the too-tight grip on his wrist and the length of time he held the greeting.
Find him, Paenther said, his voice low, but tight. I wish I could help.
Tighe shook his head. Well find the clone. You and Foxx find Vhyper and that blade. Of the two tasks, yours is by far the more important, B.P. If I die, another Feral will be marked. You wont be down a man.
That black gaze never wavered. Youre not expendable, Stripes. . I wont lose you, too.
Tighe found his grin. Then Ill find him. The smile died as quickly as it was born, worry closing around his heart. Im doing my best, B.P. But he was seriously worried his best was going to be too damn little. And too damn late.
Wulfes deep voice echoed off the walls of the dining room.
Tighe turned to the newly installed flat-screen hanging on the wall behind him. And froze.
The killer some are calling the D.C. Vampire struck again last night in southwest. Jeanine Tinnings was slain in the same mysterious manner as at least ten others in the past three days. In the middle of the screen was a photo of a laughing blond woman holding a chubby-cheeked toddler.
The air left Tighes lungs as if hed been sucker punched. He was staring at the face of the woman whod been folding the laundry, the first of the two women hed thought hed killed. Orkill.
The hard knot of dread slowly dissolved in his chest. He wasnt going to kill her.
Ah, . That meant there would be no saving the other one, either. The dark-haired FBI beauty with the warriors eyes must already be dead, too.
Which meantChills rushed along the surface of his flesh. It wasnt a premonition, he said out loud.
Lyons gaze swung to him. What wasnt a premonition?
I saw her die last night. Through the eyes of the killer. I thought I was seeing the future.
Paenther looked at him with surprise. Youre starting to see through your clones eyes.
Tighe nodded slowly. At least when he kills.
This is the break we need. Lyons eyes began to glitter. If you can identify where a murder is taking place, we may finally have a way to catch that son of a bitch.
The crushing weight of the two deaths lifted from Tighes shoulders, but the relief was slight. The women were still dead even if he hadnt been the one to kill them. And there was still a strong likelihood hed end up as crazed and deadly as hed feared. As Wulfe had. Little by little, hed lose control until he finally tumbled into a feral rage from which he couldnt escape.
Until then? It seemed he was doomed to watch the terror of the dying through the eyes of the one desecrating his soul.
CHAPTER 3
As the sun rose over Washington, D.C., Tighe slammed open the door of the safe house and stormed inside, his fingers and teeth tingling with the need to go feral and rip something apart. Anything.
Frustration bled from his brain, down into every cell in his body.
They were getting nowhere. .
Easy, Stripes, Hawke said behind him as he and Kougar followed him in the door. Stay in your skin, buddy.
Tighe strode to the refrigerator of the small row house on Capitol Hill, grabbed a Budweiser, and drank it down with one long pull.
Once the residence of a Therian family, for years the house had served as a safe house for Therians caught too far from the enclaves at night. Nocturnal creatures, the draden only fed at night but were capable of passing through untreated glass to reach their Therian victims.
The glass of Therian homes and cars were treated with magic to keep them safe from draden penetration. Safe houses were scattered throughout the areas most often frequented by members of the race. Last he heard, there were nearly a dozen around the D.C. area in addition to the five actual enclaves.
This particular safe house was only four blocks from the apartment building where hed watched the dark-eyed beauty die yesterday morning. For twenty-four hours, the three Ferals had roamed the area, both in their human and animal forms, searching for the clone. In their animal forms, they should have been able to smell him, but theyd gotten nothing. Worse than nothing.
Even the visions were useless. That first one had been so clear hed really thought they might help him. But only in that one, when hed watched the dark-eyed beauty die had he seen the death as if through the eyes of the clone. Ever since, hed seen little more than vague faces contorted with terror. Nightmarish wisps with garbled sound. No details. Nothing to tell him where the killings were taking place. Nothing to help him catch the bastard.
He slammed the empty Budweiser can on the counter so hard that he crushed it.
Hawke lifted one dark, winged brow.
Im in my skin! Tighe snapped, reading his friends expression all too well. You cant blame me for being frustrated.
No ones blaming you, buddy. Were watching you. But were not blaming you.
Great. Watching him lose control, minute by minute. Tighe reached back into the fridge and pulled out three more beers, tossing one to each of his companions before turning on the old television in the corner to see if there was any news. He had a morbid need to know the identity of the dark-eyed woman hed watched die. So far, thered been nothing about her in the news. Maybe because she was FBI.
Already, she was haunting him. Hed barely gone an hour without thinking about her, without her face rising into his minds eye, those rich mahogany eyes flashing with fury and fire as shed met her death. Why he was so obsessed with her he couldnt begin to guess. Yeah, shed been beautiful. And a fighter, which was admirable enough. But shed been human. And he didnt give a rats ass about humans.
Especially dead ones. And with their short, fragile lives, they were all basically the walking dead.
Damn, but he wanted this to be over. He wanted his soul intact so he and his companions could concentrate on the true threat, the apparent Mage plot to free Satanan and his Daemon horde. If therea plot. They didnt know what in the hell was going on.
Hawkes brows drew down. Whats with your eyes, Tighe?
The black streak? Hed noticed it in the mirror that morning, a single black streak cutting across his green iris from pupil to outer ring. Beats the hell out of me. Frustration simmered inside him, refusing to be distracted. He slammed his fist on the counter. Where is that son of a bitch clone? For all we know, he could be halfway to Texas by now.
Kougar gave a pull on his Bud, his pale eyes shining over his mustache and goatee. I wouldnt put it past him. The bastards different than the other clones. Smarter.
Hawke nodded. He may be evolving.
What do you mean? Tighe asked warily.
If Im right, hes going to become smarter and more clever every day until hes nearly your equal.
Goddess forbid. While I degenerate into a raving lunatic.
Hawke shrugged. He was the only one who escaped the battle when they were all but defeated. Then he ditched your Land Rover in McLean and stole the cars of each of his victims, one after the other, making him impossible to follow. Thats clever. As is the fact that hes staying away from the Therian compounds despite the fact Therian energy is his natural food. Hes having to kill human after human to feed himself because he knows the Therians are watching for him.
Yeah, and maybe he just enjoys the killing, Tighe grunted. If I could get another real vision, maybe we could stop As if Nature heard his plea, his sight went suddenly black. Its happening again. As he was swept into another place, he grabbed for the kitchen counter and held on.
Confusion clouded his mind as he stared into the face of the dark-eyed beauty whod been haunting his thoughts all day and night. . He watched her in the mirror of a public bathroom, as if through her own eyes. She leaned in closer and pulled open the collar of her white blouse, revealing an oval of red welts on the otherwise-flawless olive skin of her long, graceful neck.
Teeth marks.
The clone had attacked her, yet . How was that possible?
He scowled at himself for the relief and, hell,rushing through him. She was human, for heavens sake. .
Yet there was little about her that reminded him of Gretchen. She was tall where Gretchen had been short. She was dark where Gretchen had been fair. And even in the vision her eyes burned with fire, the same fire that had lit their depths as shed faced the clone. While Gretchens eyes would, in his memory, always radiate with fear.
There was a fury simmering inside this woman that he sensed was as much a part of her as her brown hair and high cheekbones. He didnt have to hear her thoughts to know she wanted to catch the creature that had attacked her.
But it wasnt going to happen.
There was no way the Ferals could allow human law enforcement to get their hands on that thing. The moment they realized he didnt bleed, it was all over. For centuries, the Therian and Mage races had been careful to hide their existence from the humans. The mortals had become too numerous, too powerful. Yet their fear and hatred of the things they didnt understand was as great as ever. The moment they learned of the immortal races among them, theyd turn their considerable cunning and weaponry toward eliminating them.
Theyd end up destroying the only ones who could save them.
The woman grimaced suddenly, her face contorting in a pain she quickly masked. Shards of agony bolted through her eyes as her body went tense as a wire. She grabbed for the sink in much the same way hed grabbed for the kitchen counter a moment ago. As if she feared shed fall if she didnt.
Suddenly, a second vision overlaid the womans face in his minds eye. An old woman this time, with terror in her eyes as her face became a blur and her wrinkled neck loomed large.
Oh, God, the dark-eyed beauty gasped, and suddenly she was the only one he was seeing again. What did he do to me? she whispered to her reflection. It wasnt enough that he almost killed me. Now Im going to have to watch him kill others?
Tighes scalp tingled as the meaning of her words became clear. .his .
Agent Randall? A second woman appeared in the bathroom mirror. An older woman of Asian descent rushed toward the beauty. Delaney, whats the matter?
Nothing, his vision-stealer said brusquely and straightened, the pain and emotion disappearing from her expression as if theyd never been. Im fine.
Tighe blinked as the beauty disappeared. He turned to find Hawke watching him expectantly.
What did you see?
Tighe shook his head, reeling at the implications. Staggering from the inexplicable need to find the woman.
Someones stealing my visions.
What do you mean?
He met Hawkes piercing gaze. One of the two women I watched the clone attack didnt die. The FBI agent. I just watched her assaw the next murder. I saw snatches of it, but nothing useful.
Interesting, Hawke murmured.
I saw the bite marks on her neck. I know its the same woman. As if he could forget the face hed been staring at in his memory for twenty-four hours straight.
Hawkes eyes got that faraway look they always got when his mental gears started moving at the speed of light. She probably had backup. If her partner shot the clone as he was sucking her life force, he may have inadvertently exhaled some of his own back into her at that moment of impact, then fled without finishing the feeding.
Tighe scowled. Are you telling me she has some of my soul now, too?
No. Not your soul. A soul cant be split without serious magic. But I think she may have acquired a touch of your clones life force. Just enough to make her only 99.9 percent human.
Tighe groaned. Just enough to screw up everything.
Probably.
Grab your laptop, Hawke, and start hacking. I need an address for FBI agent Delaney Randall.
We going after her?
Not we. . Im going alone. The Feds already know what I look like.
Kougar plucked at his goatee. Kill her. Get her out from between you and your clone.
His gut twisted as he met Kougars pale gaze, as cold as any assassins. Not for the first time, he thanked Nature this warrior was friend and not foe.
Rest assured, that clone is going to die, Tighe said. And no one, , is going to stand in my way.
But he remembered too well his furious thought when he first thought he was destined to kill her.
CHAPTER 4
Delaney pressed the elevator button in the FBI field office, her head pounding. Six aspirin over the course of the afternoon hadnt done a thing to help, as if mere aspirin could relieve the tension of knowing that at any moment, in her head she could be watching another murder take place. Three so far this afternoon. .
Each more painful than the last.
What had that bastard done to her?
If she had to acquire superpowers, why couldnt she have gotten X-ray vision? Or maybe the ability to fly? Visions of death were soon her wish list.
No, that was a lie. Shed take anything, even this god-awful sight, if it helped her catch the killer. Unfortunately, none of the murders shed seen so far had given her a single lead to go on. And each time she got one, she saw less. And hurt more. Shed nearly passed out from the last one.
Leaving already?
Delaneys gaze swung to her boss, who was walking past with a Georgetown Hoyas coffee mug in his hand. Phil Taylor was in his fifties, with a body that was no longer fit, a mind that was as sharp as ever, and eyes that saw way too much. Which was annoying as hell sometimes.
Its after seven, sir. You know this is working late for me these days. She smiled at him, trying to paste a look of serene innocence on her face. I took your lecture to heart. Im a fifty-hour-a-week worker these days. Not a minute more.
Phil chuckled. And Im the Easter Bunny. Come into my office for a minute before you go, Agent Randall.
Delaney didnt bother to muffle her groan as she fell into step beside him. Phil knew she hated his fatherly lectures. He was a good guy, and genuinely interested in the mental and physical well-being of his agents, which made him an excellent boss. But she was sick to death of his warning her to put her job in perspective, get a life, etc., etc. She was the only one he hounded to be a littlededicated. Then again, she was the only one hed found still at work when hed come into the office at 2:00 A.M. three mornings in a row.
She wasnt in the mood for another lecture. Not tonight. Not when her superpowers could hit again at any moment. Another groan vibrated in her throat. Now wouldntguarantee her an appointment for psych eval?
You dont look good, Delaney. Phil closed his office door and went around his desk.
Gee, thanks, boss. As he took his seat, Delaney perched on the edge of the chair across from him as if she only had a minute.
Phil waved his hand. You know what I mean. Youve got circles under your eyes. You look pale.
Its early spring in D.C. Everyone looks pale.
True, but not everyone was attacked by the D.C. Vampire, though at the rate things are going, that might yet change. You were damned lucky to have lived to tell the tale, Delaney.
I know. Just before shed passed out, shed heard the crack of a gunshot and felt her attacker jerk and flee. Someone had shot the bastard and saved her life, though her savior hadnt come forward. None of the residents claimed to know who had done it, though she suspected one of the tough guys shed put in charge might have followed her down. The only person shed been able to thank for her life was the EMT whod administered CPR and gotten her heart started again.
By the time the cops and Feds had arrived on the scene, thered been no trail of blood to follow. Not a drop, even though she knew shed shot the killer as he lunged for her. Sheshe had. As had her savior. So why wasnt there any blood? It made no sense.
It was almost as if the manentirely human, which was ridiculous of course. Vampires werent any more real than the Great Pumpkin. The only reason the killer had been dubbed the D.C. Vampire was because of his habit of leaving teeth marks, though decidedly human teeth marks, on his victims necks.
But the fact remained, nothing about the murders made sense. And she seriously hated mysteries.
Phil steepled his hands in front of his mouth, tapping his forefingers on his upper lip. I want you to take a couple of days off.
Its Friday. Taking a couple of days off at this point in the week is traditional, sir.
Smart aleck. Two days in addition to the weekend.
Un-uh. No way. As if making her stay out of the office fourteen hours a day wasnt bad enough. I received a clean bill of health, remember?
We dont know what he did to you, Delaney, but your heart stopped, in case youve forgotten. Ive been keeping an eye on you today, and youre not looking good. Whether you like it or not, youa few days to get your equilibrium back. Go visit family. He winced as if hed forgotten she didnt have any. Or just leave town. Get away from this place.
Im fine. Im working normal hours, taking weekends off, all the things you told me to.
Yeah, sure. And what are you doing with all that free time? Tell me that.
She smiled sweetly. Innocently. Scrapbooking.
Phil gave a bark of laughter. Youre stubborn, Randall. Anyone ever tell you that?
You. All the time.
Ive always liked that about you. His expression turned serious as he leaned forward, resting his forearms on his desk. Youre one of the best agents I have, Delaney, but I worry about you. Youre determined to catch them all, and you cant. Nobody can.
Delaney rolled her shoulders uncomfortably. I dont have to catch them all. Just the ones Im after.
Phil shook his head. Stubborn, stubborn. His expression softened. A four-day weekend, Delaney. Thats all Im asking. If youre bored, call Mary. Since our youngest left for college, she doesnt know what to do with herself. Im sure shed be delighted to meet you for lunch or some shopping. Sleep. Eat. Maybe even read a book. Do something that has absolutely nothing to do with the D.C. Vampire for four days. He nodded once, sharply. Thats an order.
She gave him a wry look that held a hint of a smile. Youre a pain in the ass, you know that?
His expression softened the way her fathers used to after hed scolded her, right before he told her he still loved her. The liar.
I wouldnt be doing my job if I werent. Phil waved his hand toward the door. Now go home and turn on the television. And make it a comedy. When you walk in here Wednesday morning, I want you looking like the living again instead of the half-dead.
Delaney made a face at him but didnt say any more as she rose, lifted her hand in a brief farewell, and left. Taking a long weekend might actually work to her advantage. Maybe if she werent so tired, shed start seeing the visions clearly again, without the accompanying migraine.
Then, if she could just figure outthe next murder was taking place, she might be able to get there in time to stop it. Or at least, in time to catch the murderer.
That son of a bitch was going down.
As she walked to her car, she prayed shed get another vision soon. But as she slid her key into the ignition of her Toyota SUV, her head exploded with pain.
The keys dropped to the floor with a jangle as Delaney grabbed the steering wheel, gasping. Her vision went until all she could see were wildly colored jagged shapes that cut through her head and stole her breath with excruciating agony. Her skin turned to ice even as beads of sweat rolled between her breasts.
A scream tore through her brain. A scream not her own.
Amid the tearing color she caught glimpses of a scene. An unknown womans face contorted in terror. A body lying on a pitted and stained linoleum floor.
The visions and colors flew at her, clawing at her mind until the pain ran in bright red rivulets that slowly turned to black.
Hey, lady!
Delaney blinked, a god-awful noise blaring in her ears as she awoke with a jolt. She straightened, releasing the steering wheel. The noise abated at once.
The horn. Shed been leaning on the horn.
The fog of confusion dissipated through the ache that still filled her head. Shed had another vision. Or maybe just one hell of a migraine. A migraine with dead people.
The tapping resumed on her window, and she turned to find the garage attendant staring at her through the glass. She reached for the keys, remembered theyd fallen, and leaned down to search for them with shaking fingers. Finally, she managed to snag them, start the car, and lower the window.
Are you okay? he asked worriedly. Did you pass out or something?
I fell asleep. Im fine. With that, she backed out of the parking space and left the garage to join the heavy flow of traffic. Phil had told her she looked half-dead. She was beginning to think he might have been closer to the truth than she wanted to believe. Maybe she was coming down with the flu. The visions were just fever-induced hallucinations.
And maybe the man whod attacked her had given her something in addition to the visions. Some kind of deadly disease.
She groaned. If she still felt so bad in the morning, shed go to the doctor. Right now, all she wanted to do was to get home and sleep. Please God,another vision, or shed never make it home at all.
She white-knuckled it the entire trip to Fairlington, but made it without incident. As she fumbled with her keys in the lock of her condo, a cat leaped into her line of sight, startling her. Her keys fell from her nerveless fingers, but the pretty tabby barely seemed to notice, sliding instead around her ankle.
Sorry about that, fella. Whered you come from? She stroked the animals orange-striped fur as she bent down to retrieve her keys. Youre a pretty thing, but you dont want to stay near me tonight. If Im getting sick, like I think I am, things are bound to get disgusting. Go home.
But he only purred and rubbed his face against her pant leg. Delaney gave his chin a scratch, then rose and managed to get the key in the lock. As she pushed open the door, the cat raced inside.
Blast it. She was so not up to chasing a cat. Unless he changed his mind fast, he was going to have to spend the night.
The animal turned and sat in the bedroom doorway, watching her as she set her briefcase on the large dining table that constituted the only real furniture in her living room. On the table sat her laptop and computer and a host of case files. Covering the walls of the room were maps, photos of the missing, and the crime-scene photos of the dead. Her office away from the office. Although Phil had made her promise not to come in to work any more than fifty hours a week, she never quit working, as the too-shrewd man knew all too well.
She met the cats eerily sharp gaze. Believe me, if youre looking for a home, this isnt it.
She swayed on her feet and grabbed the back of the nearest straight-backed chair wishing, for once, shed bothered to buy a sofa. The only place she could relax was the bed. And that was where she needed to be.
The cats soft, deep purr caressed her frayed nerves, as if he sensed how lousy she felt. It was kind of nice feeling like someone cared, even if he was really just asking for food. Maybe with her working more hours from home, she could takeoff that wish list reserved for the distant future. A future she hadnt thought she was going to see for a brief few minutes in the laundry room of the Potomac Side Apartments.
The cat moved out of her way as she went into the bedroom, then resumed his watchful pose as she pulled off her suit jacket and tossed it on the bed.