What did Lyon have to say? Foxx asked, as they started across the lobby, heading for the dark-paneled Roosevelts at the far end. The bar was one of a dozen watering holes the Ferals frequented in that part of the county. A favorite of Vhypers. And Paenther was damned well going to find him.
Lyons called a meeting in the war room in two hours. This is going to have to be our last stop.
Hows Tighe?
They got the bullets out of him. Hell live. For now. If Tighe didnt find that clone of his soon, it was going to be another matter. His hands fisted at his sides as worry for his friends twisted and braided with the barely controlled rage that lived in his bones and had for centuries. He refused to lose two friends to that sadistic bitch, Zaphene. Refused.
Lyon and the others were helping Tighe. It was his job, his and Foxxs, to track down Vhyper. Maybe, maybe, theyd find Vhyper downing a scotch at the bar. Yeah, and what were the chances?
Any word from that gut of yours, Cub? Paenthers gaze pinned the youngest Feral, walking silent and morose beside him. Foxx had fancied himself in love with Zaphene, not realizing she was a witch whod enchanted him and used him to breach the Ferals stronghold.
But it was neither pity nor sympathy that spurred Paenther to bring him along on the search. No, for the past year or so, Foxxs Feral talents had been starting to come online. Hed been showing some impressive talent as an intuitive.
With any luck, that intuition would eventually guide them to Vhyper. And if that didnt work, he wasnt sure what he was going to do. Other than continue to haunt Vhypers usual hot spots in hopes of eventually stumbling upon him.
The young Feral shook his shaggy head of red hair. Guts saying nada. Actually, my guts saying it wants a couple of beers, then some dinner.
Thats not helpful, Paenther muttered.
As they passed through the lobby, businessmen moved out of their way, eyeing them warily. One small pack of well-dressed women watched them with a level of interest bordering on hunger.
Paenther ignored them all. The men, humans all, were harmless. The women were of no interest. Like any man, he had needs, but he took care of them with a willing Therian female at one of the enclaves. He couldnt remember the last time a woman had actually turned his head. Lust rarely broke through the surface of the ever-present torment that filled his body thanks to another Mage witch whod ensnared him centuries ago. Even if, by some miracle, he stumbled upon a woman who interested him, hed ignore her. All that mattered was finding Vhyper.
As they walked through the bars entrance, through a thin haze of cigarette smoke, Paenther did a quick, fruitless scan. No Vhyper. Dammit.
Dull sunlight filtered into the dimly lit room through bare-branched trees. Only a handful of patrons sat at the polished-wood tables, most apparently deep in business discussions. Behind the bar, the local news lit the television screen, a video of a raging apartment fire. The same fire that Tighe, Hawke, and Kougar had gotten involved with that morning? Maybe.
Tearing his gaze from the television, he glanced at the bartender, recognizing the thin, balding man whod served him a few times before. The bartender was missing his usual friendliness, his eyes wary as he eyed their approach.
Scotch and a Bud? he asked, as they slid onto a pair of barstools. Clearly, he remembered them. Then again, few people forgot a long-haired six-foot-six Indian with clawlike scars across one eye and a thick tribal tattoo on his neck. Or his redheaded sidekick. Ill need to see your IDs.
I havent gotten any younger since the last time I was in here, Foxx grumbled, but he pulled out the license that gave a fake name and address and handed it to the man.
The bartender kept it and opened an unsteady hand to Paenther. His gaze tried to rise to Paenthers face, but faltered somewhere around the tattoo on his neck. Both of them, he said bravely.
Paenther lifted one disbelieving brow. Humans. He supposed he admired the mans courage for insisting, especially when Paenther towered over him by close to a foot. He pulled out his own fake ID and handed it to him.
Be right back. Got to get my glasses.
As the bartender moved off, Paenther watched the door, praying Vhyper would walk in. Everything pointed to Vhypers joining forces with the Mage, but goddess, it couldnt be true.
The rage bubbled under his skin, burning his nostrils. The Vhyper he knew would never help the Mage. Never.
And that was the problem, the thing that scared Paenther the most. The possibility that the Vhyper he knew was gone.
A muscle began to twitch under his eye, his jaw clenched iron-tight as he breathed through his nose. He would save him. Just as Vhyper had saved him from a Mage captivity that had nearly destroyed him, body, mind, and soul, two and a half centuries ago.
But he had to find him first.
Ease up on the Dirty Harry look, dude, Foxx said, his voice vaguely amused. Youre clearing the place again. Foxx nudged him with his elbow and nodded at the television. Look. The volume had been muted, but damn if that wasnt Tighes face plastered across the screen, right above the words, D.C. Vampire.
Shit.
His gaze snapped to the bartender only to find him hurriedly writing something down, his cell phone tucked between his shoulder and his ear, one of their IDs tight in his hand.
Dammit to hell, he growled. He rose from the barstool and strode menacingly toward the traitor.
Walking behind the bar, he grabbed the cell phone off the mans shoulder, dropped it on the floor, and ground it beneath his heel.
Hey! the bartender cried.
Damned camera phones. The last thing they needed was two more pictures plastered across the television beside Tighes. Paenther snatched up the two IDs, nodded to Foxx, and started for the lobby.
I didnt get my beer, Foxx complained.
Tough shit. As they started across the lobby, a flashing light outside caught his attention. His jaw set. Walk calmly and follow me.
Why?
Theres a cop cruiser pulling up in front. He turned down a side corridor. Well shift if we have to, but Id like to avoid it.
As they ducked out the back, Paenther knew their chances of stumbling upon Vhyper had just taken a nosedive into the toilet. Because Vhyper was going to have the same problem they were. Hed be instantly recognized as a friend of Tighes in any of the many places theyd frequented together.
A friend of the D.C. Vampires. A person of interest. Guilt by association.
Finding him now was going to be next to impossible. Unless Foxxs intuition started kicking in, Vhyper might be well and truly lost.
CHAPTER 12
Lyon extended his arm to Tighe. Youre looking better.
Tighe smiled. Im alive. Hawke and Kougar had taken him to the healer, Esmeria, in the Georgetown enclave, where shed taken the bullets from his flesh and healed his injuries. Theyd then brought him back to Feral House, where Kara had filled him with radiance over and over through the day, healing and strengthening him until he almost felt normal again.
Normal was an illusion, of course.
His clone still lived. And as long as his clone lived, as long as his soul was split, he could never be right.
Hell, he wasnt sure hed be right again even if his soul were returned to him. Not until he found a way to get Delaney Randall out of his head.
From the moment hed regained consciousness beneath the healers care, hed thought of her, worried about her. What if she got another of those visions without him there to help deflect the pain? And she would get another vision unless his clone had somehow, miraculously, died on his own, which he was certain hadnt happened. The other Ferals had reported feeling a sudden shift, almost a lightness inside, when their own clones had been destroyed. Tighe felt no lightness, nothing but tension. Frustration. And concern.
For Delaney.
Lyon slapped him on the shoulder. Come. Were meeting in the war room.
Tighe followed Lyon into the wood-paneled room at the back of the house. A large oval conference table sat in the center of the room. Along the walls, Hawke had rigged up four large computer screens. All were dark, the chairs empty, as the Ferals paced.
Paenther greeted him, clasping his arm hard and long. Glad you pulled through.
Yeah, thanks. I cant tell you how much I wish that damn clone had gone after the Therian enclaves instead of getting me mixed up in the human world. Then again, hed never have met Delaney. Which would have been a good thing. Definitely a good thing.
Your eyes, Paenther murmured.
The streaks? Tighe answered Paenthers unspoken question. No clue what they mean.
Lets get started. Lyon took the seat at the head of the table and motioned the rest of them to take their chairs. All did, except Paenther and Tighe. Tighe was too damned tense to sit. He prowled the room like an animal in a cage.
Paenther remained standing by the door, back straight, arms crossed, a fine tension radiating from him that rivaled Tighes own, thanks to an inborn rage that had tormented the black-haired warrior for centuries.
After dealing with his own unnatural tension, Tighes respect for his friend grew another three notches. How he kept his sanity, Tighe couldnt guess.
Lyon turned to Paenther. Report, B.P.
Paenther scowled. Nothing good. No sign of Vhyper in any of the places he would have gone, were he still himself. Which isnt surprising. Tighes face is splashed all over the news. A bartender recognized us as friends of his and called the cops on us this afternoon. He shook his head. Hes not hanging out in bars, Roar.
Lyon nodded. Where do you think he is?
With the Mage. Paenther nodded at Foxx. Weve been afraid so from the beginning, but the cubs gut started confirming it last night. We drove out to the Mage stronghold on the Eastern Shore to have a look around, but its gone, Roar. The mansions still there, but by the look of the place, the Mage have been gone for months.
I thought we had Therians keeping watch on the place, Hawke said.
Two Therians were there, hiding in the woods nearby. They swore up and down every room in the mansion was lit when in truth they were all dark. Glamour strong enough to fool Therians for weeks, maybe months, is damn strong magic, Roar.
Sensing a theme here, Chief? Jag drawled.
Lyon threw Jag a sharp look, then turned his gaze to encompass all the Ferals. I want to know how the Mage got their ancient magic back and how much of it they actually have. A deep growl rumbled from Lyons throat as his gaze returned to Paenther. Find Vhyper and the blade, B.P. And that Mage stronghold, while youre at it. I want to know what in the hell is going on!
Paenther dipped his head, his shoulder-length hair brushing his cheeks like twin black curtains.
Tighe glanced up as Kara entered the room. He expected her to go to Lyon, as she usually did, but though her hand trailed along Lyons shoulder as she passed him, she came straight to him, meeting his glance with a gentle smile that warmed the half of his tattered soul he still possessed.
Hi, she said softly, taking his hand.
Hi, yourself. He tugged lightly on her blond ponytail, finding a smile for her beneath the weight of his worry. As he felt the first warm surge of power flow from her hand into his, he knew what she was about. Her skin began to glow with the iridescence of radiance. Thanks, little one.
With another soft smile, she turned to stand beside him where she could watch her mate and the others. Keeping their hands joined, he lifted his arm over her head so that his arm was around her, and tucked her against his side as she acted as the conduit for him to the Earths energy and strength.
Lyon barely batted an eye at the move, to Tighes relief. Lyon was as jealous as any mated male, but Karas closeness strengthened Tighe almost as much as the radiance, and Lyon knew it. Besides, she thought of Tighe as more of a big brother, which suited Tighe just fine. Theirs was a bond he was coming to treasure. He adored her.
But it was another womans face that wouldnt leave his mind. Damn Delaney. Hed admired her warriors spirit, so it shouldnt have surprised him that shed turn on him the moment she got the chance.
As if she couldnt even feel that soft connection to him in her head. Or it meant nothing to her.
And what had it meant to him? It hadnt changed his own mission or her place in it. He could hardly expect it to have changed hers.
Delaney Randall might be a woman, but she was FBI through and through. And the truth was, that was one of the things he admired most about her. She never let her emotions get in the way of what she had to do.
Better? Kara asked, looking up at him, the glow of radiance leaving her face.
Much. He leaned down and placed an affectionate kiss on her forehead. Thanks.
She gave him a quick hug, then slipped out of his hold to join Lyon, hooking her arm around his shoulder as he tugged her down to perch on the cushioned arm of his chair.
Lyon nodded to Hawke. Show them what you showed me earlier.
Hawke reached for the laptop sitting open in front of him. A moment later, one of the flat-screens came to life, replaying the local news channels morning report. The sound was muted, but no sound was needed.
Tighe watched his own likeness with dismay. An amateur photographer at the scene of the fire had caught Tighe leaving the apartment with the child in his arms.
Is that you? Lyon asked him. Or the clone?
Me.
Who was the girl?
Tighe set his jaw and shrugged. Just a kid trapped in the apartment above the fire.
Jag snorted. Since when do you give a shit about humans?
Tighe threw the warrior a glare, but had no decent answer. Hed been asking himself the same question.
The better question, Lyon said, is why is that clone so damned hard to catch?
Tighe nodded. Ive been asking myself why this ones different. Why did this one escape the battle when the others stayed to the bitter end?
The witchs control on him must have been weaker, Hawke said. But theres more to it than that. The clones were created for one purpose only. To perform the Feral ritual to free the Daemons from the blade since wed never do it.
Wulfe leaned forward in his chair. But Tighes clone developed a will to survive.
Hawke nodded. Maybe more than that. Those clones should have been the same. They were made at the same time with the same magic by the same witch. The only differences were the souls used. And the draden.
The draden, Lyon murmured. What if she accidentally caught one of the old ones in her net?
Thats what Im thinking. Hawkes palms flattened on the table in front of him. The oldest ones were once Daemons. Though the souls were stripped and imprisoned in the Daemon blade, its conceivable a bit of the Daemons consciousness survived in the draden all that time.
Tighe scowled. And now that hes been reanimated, he possesses the drive of a Daemon. Hes acting like one, thats for damned sure.
Lyon turned to Hawke. Does that mean what Im afraid it does?
Hawkes jaw clenched as he nodded. His ultimate goal is bound to be freeing Satanan. And with that bit of Daemon consciousness, he may know things, ways to accomplish that that even the Mage and Therians have never known. At the moment, he doesnt seem to be doing anything but feeding. And maybe thats all he is doing, but its clear hes evolving. Survival comes first, and sooner or later hes going to realize, if he hasnt already, that his survival hinges on you, Tighe.
He cant live if I die. At least thats what your clone told Kara.
I believe that was right initially. Before the clones were fully evolved. But Im not sure thats true any longer.
So what exactly are you saying, Wings? Tighe asked warily.
Im saying, watch your back, buddy. I dont think killing you is going to automatically give him your half of the soul, but there may be other ways. He was born of magic. A magic Ive seen evidence he may still possess.
Explain, Lyon said.
Kougar and I had him cornered. He slipped into a group of humans and disappeared. Were not sure how, but when we combed the group for him, he was gone. And he should not have been able to get away.
Could he have acquired Tighes ability to shift? Foxx asked.
Tighe frowned. My animal cant be split like that.
Hawke shook his head. We dont know what abilities hes acquired. They could be anything.
How are we going to catch him? Lyon demanded.
Daemon traps. Kougar pulled at his goatee. If we can unearth some of those old spells.
Hawke groaned, shaking his head. They havent been used in five millennia. What are the chances?
Get on it. Lyon turned to Tighe. Have you had more visions?
Tighe quit pacing and faced his chief. The lady Fed is getting them now instead of me, but when I touch her as shes having one, I see them clearly. I know right where he is.
Lyon met his gaze, his amber eyes thoughtful. Hawke told me what happened. That you werent able to take her memories.
Not yet. Im working on it.
Where is she now?
Tighe shook his head. I dont know. Ill find her.
Lyons hands fisted on the table in front of him. I dont like that you dont have control of her mind.
Tighes teeth ground together, his temper sparking. I said, Im working on it.
I dont have to tell you how dangerous it is to have an FBI agent searching for us, knowing what we are.
She doesnt have a clue what we are.
Maybe not, yet. But shes an investigator. And I have to believe shes already seen things that have her questioning who you are. What you are. Am I wrong?
No. Youre not wrong.
Contain this threat, Stripes. However you have to do it. If you cant, we will.
Tighe heard the promise in his chiefs words. The threat. Because there was only one way anyone else could contain this.
By killing Delaney Randall.
Deep inside, the tiger raised its head and growled.
Whatever we do, we have to do it fast, Hawke said. I called the Shaman and talked to him about those streaks in your eyes, Tighe.
Tighe lifted a brow. And?
Hawkes jaw clenched, his expression grim. Your souls beginning to disintegrate. Once your eyes are fully black, there wont be anything left of you in either body. Until then, theres still hope we can put you back together again.
But his time was running out.
Delaney sat on the edge of the bed while the blood-pressure cuff contracted around her arm.
How do you feel? Dr. Jensen asked for the fiftieth time. The doctor was a short, round woman with a tight cap of salt-and-pepper hair and shrewd blue eyes.
Fine. Like her heart had been ripped out of her chest.
Good. All your vital signs are normal. The doctor removed the cuff. Well have the lab results back in the morning. Id offer you something to help you sleep tonight, but until we know if they drugged you, I dont dare give you anything.
Delaney shook her head. I dont need it. The last thing she wanted was to be in a deep, unnatural sleep if one of Tighes men found a way to track her.
Just the thought of Tighe made her jaw tighten with anger. Her eyes began to grow hot, stinging with unshed tears. He shouldnt have run. He shouldnt have died.
God, what an idiot she was to care.
Dr. Jensen said good night and closed the bedroom door behind her, leaving Delaney alone in the master suite of the FBI safe house. Phil had arranged for her to stay under a doctors supervision until they figured out if she had, indeed, been drugged. In addition to Dr. Jensen, there were two highly trained guards inside with her and another two outside in case Tighes brother, or others in his organization, came after her.
Until they understood what shed stumbled into, they werent taking any chances.
The only one she knew wouldnt come for her was Tighe himself.
She pressed the heel of her hand tight against her chest, trying to ease the awful ache. The tears shed held at bay all day finally got the better of her, and she sank onto the bed, letting them go. Her tears turned to sobs as she cried, grieving for a man shed never understood and barely even known. She couldnt regret her own actions, because shed done what she had to do, but she couldand didregret the outcome. She hated that Tighe had been so involved in illegal activities that hed sacrificed his life rather than be taken in for questioning.
Lying back, tears rolling, she ached with loss. In some inexplicable way, theyd connected. Shed sensed a goodness in him, seen it in the man whod been so intent on rescuing a little girl, hed stumbled into the FBIs trap. And hed understood her, maybe better than she understood herself. Hed claimed she sought the killers out of revenge. And she did. She absolutely did. But it was more than that, she could see that now. Somewhere in the back of her head was a belief held from childhood that if she could just catch the man whod killed her mom, she could make it all right again. She could get rid of the ache shed lived with all these years once and for all.
But that ache was so much more than righteous retribution. It was loss and grief. Betrayal.
Loneliness.
Once the tears started, tears she hadnt shed in years, she couldnt stop them. She cried for Tighe, and for the mother she still missed, and for the children whose own mothers had been stolen from them by a man Delaney couldnt catch. But mostly she cried for herself, for the loneliness that pressed in harder every day. A loneliness she hadnt even known she felt until a handsome, mercurial, strangely gentle man made it disappear.
A man who would never touch her again.
She didnt realize shed fallen asleep until pain tore through her head with the force of a sledgehammer, slamming her awake with a breath-stealing gasp. She needed to call for Dr. Jensen. But before she could utter a sound, the darkness rushed up to envelop her. As the dark fog of agony stole her away, a single name screamed through her mind.
Tighe!
As Tighe stood in the war room, Delaneys cry tore through his head. He froze.
Stripes! Whats happening? Another vision?
Yes. He grabbed for the wall as blackness stole his sight. He saw Delaney lying on a bed, still and silent, her cheeks streaked with tears. His heart clenched, that warmth in his mind that connected with her throbbed with pain. Terrible pain.
Tighe! He felt the fog circling her, swirls of black threatening her.
He reached out to her, but the suffocating darkness had her in its grasp, pulling her down.
Tighe!
Her voice was smaller, more distant. And filled with such fear. Such pain.
Delaney.
He reached for her through his mind, but she slipped through his grasp, disappearing into the dark, perilous fog.
And then she was gone.
Tighe? Karas voice broke through the fog.
The vision dissipated. He shook his head, clearing his sight as he blinked, trying to understand what hed just seen, even as desperation to find her leaped inside him, rising side by side with a terror not his own.
Delaneys.
What had happened? Someone was hurting her. Or some thing.
He stilled. It had almost felt as if the vision itself had turned on her.
Goddess, yes, that was exactly what had happened. The visions had been growing too much for her human mind. Too strong. Shed finally broken beneath the weight of this one and fallen into that dark for good.
Deep in his heart he feared she wouldnt break free of it on her own.
He started for the door.
What happened? Lyon demanded.
Delaney needs me. Ive got to find her. How? She wouldnt have gone home. He was certain of that. He lunged from the room and strode down the hall toward the front door.
He heard her calling to him. Felt the pull of her through that accidental connection hed formed with her when hed tried to cloud her mind, and prayed it would be enough to follow.
Behind him, he heard Lyon barking orders. Hawke, Kougar, and Jag, go with him. Take two different sedans this time, in case the humans took note of the first ones.
Lyons voice receded as Tighe ran out the door. What if he couldnt find her? What if he did, and he couldnt reach her mind?
I have to save her.
Desperation and determination wove and twined inside him, fueled and fired by a rage that was all too real. The clone already threatened Tighes own life. He would not let him and these evil visions destroy Delaney, too.
If they hadnt already.
As Tighe ran for the nearest car, he feared it might be too late. Even if he managed to find her, would there be anything left of her mind to save?
CHAPTER 13
Darkness swallowed her, swallowed everything. Sight, sound, even her sense of touch. Delaney felt nothing but the distant echoes of pain.
She had a sense that she was standing. Perhaps even walking. But where? With her hand, she reached out and touched nothing. She lifted her hand to her head, and it wasnt there.
Panic welled up, and she shoved it down, forcing logic into the void. Not real. This isnt real.
Her body was still lying on the bed where Dr. Jensen had left her. It was only her mind that had taken off, swept away by a vision she hadnt seen, into a darkness she didnt know how to escape.
The last time shed glimpsed this darkness, Tighe had snatched her back before it could suck her in. But Tighe was dead.
Grief mixed with the panic that welled again, clawing at her mind. She struggled to escape, to find her way out of the dark, but it was as if she were trying to run with her feet set in concrete.
Lost. So lost.
Tears fell through the silent darkness as loneliness grew to gigantic proportions, a suffocating cold stamping out every thought.
The terror reared up, swallowing her whole as a single word screamed through her head again, shattering the choking silence.
Tighe!
Turn right.
You sure? Hawke asked.
Tighe growled, his fingernails clenched into the palms of his hands. Do it!
The car turned onto a residential street in an upscale Arlington neighborhood.
Expensive digs for an FBI agent, Jag drawled.
The house isnt hers, Tighe said. Ten bucks says its acting as an FBI safe house. Shes being guarded.
Well shift and knock them out, Hawke said. Jag, you stay with the car.
Jag muttered something under his breath. Tighe didnt need to hear it to know the warrior was railing against the fates for not giving him the ability to keep his clothes on when he shifted.
Which house? Hawke asked.
Ill tell you when I know. Tighes sense of Delaney had been growing steadily since they left Feral House, drawing him to her with a solid pull. His heart pounded as her terror weaved through his brain. Over and over, he heard her calling for him with a desperation, a hopelessness, that tore at his battered soul. She thought he was dead, yet knew he was her only hope.
She thought she was well and truly trapped.
Here! Tighe wasnt certain how he knew she was in the single upstairs bedroom with the light still on, but he knew.
Hawke continued to drive by the house, the nights darkness hiding the features of the men inside the car. Theyd left the second sedan two streets over. If the situation went south, theyd split up and meet again elsewhere.
When theyd turned the next corner, Hawke parked along the side of the road.
Shift, Tighe ordered, then called to the animal who lived inside him, pushing past the tiger, straight to the smaller form of house cat. As a younger Feral, hed had to go first to his full tiger form before he could downsize. A serious handicap hed quickly learned to overcome.
Jag, remaining in human form, opened the car door for him, and he leaped out onto the grass, Kougar behind him, Hawke soaring into the air.
As Tighe and Kougar ran toward the house on four feet, Hawke reported back.
Two guards patrolling the grounds outsideone in back, one watching the front from the bushes in the right front corner of the house. The fence is high and looks to be solid. Ill get the one in back.
Tighe replied. Ill cloud the mind of the one in front and get him to open the door. Kougar and Ill go in. Wings, you keep watch.
Will do.
Tighe ran through the yard, then slipped between the legs of the watching guard.