15 Targeted (48 page)

“Yeah? What c’n I do for you?” His speech was slightly slurred, as if he was on something. When the door opened a little more, Kate could see why. His right hand was attached to some kind of metal plate with all kinds of wires and bars sticking out of it. It looked like it had been thoroughly pulped and some orthopedic surgeon had tried to put him back together without much success.

“Hi, I’m Kate,” she said brightly. “And you are…?”

“Grayson. Richard Grayson.” His drugged eyes sharpened a little. “What do you want?”

“I’m a PI hired by the parents of Emily Brooks,” Kate lied glibly. “We’re trying to find her last known whereabouts and we were told that you might have some information for us.”

“What?” His eyes went from mildly annoyed to wary in a heartbeat. “Who told you that? I don’t know where Emily went so just leave me alone!”

He started to shut the door but Rone was suddenly there, holding it open effortlessly, even though by this time Grayson was straining with all his might to close it.

“I don’t think so,” her mate rumbled, his glowing blue eyes flashing. “I think you
do
know something about Emily. You still have her scent on you. And are these her teeth marks?” He pulled Grayson’s collar to one side, exposing bruised and torn skin with some very human looking bite marks.

Kate frowned. “
Wow, somebody really worked this guy over? You really think it was Emily?”
she sent to Rone silently.

“
I don’t know but we’re going to find out.”

He forced his way inside and Kate followed though Grayson was complaining and threatening the entire time.

“Look,” she said, turning to him as Rone shut the front door firmly behind them. “We just need answers to a few questions and then we’ll leave you alone.”

“I don’t know anything about Emily.” He glared at them resentfully. “And I don’t care what she told you—
she
attacked me—not the other way around!”

“She did, huh?” Kate studied him thoughtfully. This guy, Grayson, lived in a nice house and drove a nice car. He had good hair and generically handsome features but there was something off about him—something she didn’t like. The psychic stink that rose from someone with a rotten soul. It was almost like someone with a rotten tooth will have bad breath. She was betting if Emily
had
attacked him, she’d had a good reason to do it.

“Yeah, she did,” Grayson said sullenly. “She just went crazy—tore into my neck for no reason—no reason at all!”

“Did she do that to your arm and hand?” Rone asked. “She must be a pretty strong female.”

“No, this was done by that other guy—that weird Kindred in the black vest.” Grayson made a vague motion with his unhurt hand. “Big guy—almost as big as you—long, black hair, yellow eyes. Looked like a professional wrestler.”

“Was he a Beast Kindred?” Rone asked.

Grayson shrugged. “I don’t know—maybe. Sure as hell did a number on my hand—again for no reason.”

Kate wasn’t buying the whole ‘Oh, I’m so innocent and people beat me up for no reason’ routine. Grayson must have done
something
to set off both Emily and the Beast Kindred who seemed somehow tied to her. But to find out what it was, she’d need to do a reading. Inwardly, she sighed. It was probably going to be really unpleasant digging around in the mind of a man like Grayson—but it was necessary to know what was going on.

“Mr. Grayson, thank you for your time,” she said, holding out her hand to shake.

“Sorry, um…” He started to reach with his hurt hand and then held out his left instead, awkwardly.

Kate took him by the fingertips and concentrated hard. She didn’t try to mute the sensation as she had when she read the Havoc’s memories back on the Mother Ship or the nice teacher at the school—they needed this information too desperately to be gentle. Instead, she dived right in, trying to get to the heart of the matter. Immediately a barrage of images—none of them pleasant—slammed into her brain.

“Whoa—hey!” Grayson pulled his hand away. “What did you do to me? That felt weird!”

“It’s about to feel weirder,” Kate said grimly. She looked up at Rone. “Hold him—I need to go in deep.”

Her mate stepped up and gripped Grayson by the shoulders.

“Listen up, human,” he growled, letting just a bit of his Beast out. “Unless you want your left hand to end up like your right one, you’ll be still and let my mate read you.”

Grayson took one look at his glowing blue eyes and slightly shifted features and began to whimper.

“All right—whatever—just don’t hurt my other hand!” he moaned.

“Be quiet and hold still,” Kate commanded. Bracing herself, she reached up and pressed her fingertips to the side of his face. Then she dove in, determined to find out what was going on, even if it hurt like Hell.

“No, leave me alone! Don’t touch me!” A scared girl with brownish blonde hair and pale blue eyes was scrambling away. Fear and loathing was written all over her face but for some reason these emotions excited Grayson. Kate couldn’t see him—these memories were from his point of view so for all intents and purposes she
was
him—but she could feel the excitement welling up from his rotten soul. He was terrorizing this girl who must be Emily Brooks and he was getting a sexual charge out of it.

Sick bastard!
Kate wished she could get away from him and go take a hot shower but she had to know what had happened to Emily—she had no choice but to go even deeper. She heard Emily accuse him of raping her and continued watching as Grayson kept advancing, clearly intent on assaulting her again. It made Kate sick but somehow she held on, needing to know the whole story.

Then Emily
changed
somehow—her eyes went from pale blue to glowing gold and her hair, which had been limp dishwater blonde only moments before turned into a lustrous, black curly mane.

Kate frowned—she’d only seen this kind of dramatic physical shift when she’d witnessed Rone change partially into his beast. He was always careful not to go too far though—not to let too much of it out when he was around her. But Emily didn’t grow fur or fangs, only her eyes and hair changed.

Suddenly Emily pounced! Kate felt Grayson’s fear and agony as she latched onto his neck and began to rip and tear. It seemed like she would rip his throat out but suddenly a tall Kindred warrior with black hair and golden eyes much like Emily’s own was pulling her off Grayson.

The Beast Kindred started speaking soothingly to Emily, calling her “
Khalla.”
Kate frowned—where had she heard that term before? It seemed like someone had said it to her the one and only time she’d visited Rone’s home planet with him.

There was a lot more—the Kindred threatening to kill Grayson and telling Emily she wasn’t safe, that he had been sent to kill her—that he was one of the
Verrak—

Oh my God—the Verrak! The Beast Kindred is the
assassin!
He’s the one that was sent to kill Emily. But instead he…

Instead he dragged Grayson to his car and pulverized his hand and arm, making sure, as he said, that Grayson could never touch a woman against her will again. Then he let Grayson escape in his car and walked back up to Emily’s house. At least, that was the last view Grayson had of him in his memories.

Kate released her hold on his face with relief. She still felt the need for a hot shower, to wash away the psychic slime of diving into a rancid mind like Grayson’s, but at least now they knew what had happened to Emily.

“So he let you go because she told him not to kill you,” she said to Grayson, who was still whimpering in Rone’s grip.

“I never would have hurt her—he didn’t have to break my hand,” Grayson moaned. “I told the police all about it—how she attacked me and then he practically maimed me. They were probably both on drugs.”

“And what happened to Emily after all this?” Rone demanded. “Where did she go?”

“Dunno.” Grayson shrugged sullenly. “They ran off together, I guess—probably to score more drugs. Anyway, that’s what the police think.”

“They did leave together but they weren’t looking for drugs,” Kate said, eying him contemptuously. Her fingers itched to go for her gun but she restrained herself. Such scum didn’t deserve to live but it looked like the Beast Kindred had already done a pretty good job of punishing him. She turned to her mate. “Rone,” she said. “I think I’ve got it—I know where she is. Or at least, what happened to her.”

* * * * *

“Thank you for seeing us.” Rone bowed to Commander Sylvan and the rest of the Kindred High Council. “The good news is that Kate and I tracked Emily Brooks to the school she works at and from there to her house. The bad news is, she’s already been taken.”

“Then we are too late to save her,” Commander Sylvan looked deeply troubled. “Gods…” He shook his head. “I hate to think what kind of torment the poor little female must be going through.”

“No, we don’t believe we’re too late.” Kate, said, taking up the narrative from Rone. “Emily was taken but she wasn’t killed.”

“The Verrak most often leave the body of their kills in plain sight, to prove their job is done,” Rone continued. “But we don’t believe that the one who took Emily intends to kill her.”

Briefly, he outlined everything Kate had learned from reading the rapist’s mind. Commander Sylvan listened, his pale blue eyes widening.

“I have heard of the
Khalla—
my half brother, Baird, is a Beast Kindred. But I thought they were extremely rare—how would one end up so far from Rageron in the first place?”

“We have no idea,” Kate said. “But we speculate that he might be taking her back there.”

“So you truly don’t think he intends to kill her?” Commander Sylvan asked hopefully.

Rone shook his head. “As you probably know, the Beast Kindred venerate
Khallas.
Even one that had gone rogue, as this one seems to have done, would be unable to kill a female he considered a sacred representation of the Goddess.”

“Possibly, but I’d still like to be certain she’s all right.” Commander Sylvan frowned. “I’d like the two of you to continue to track Emily Brooks and report back to me on her whereabouts and safety.”

“It might take some time to locate her on Rageron but we’ll be happy to, Commander.” Rone nodded.

“Absolutely,” Kate echoed. “I feel for that girl—she’s had a hard life.”

“And it’s likely to get harder in the near future,” Rone said grimly. “As I understand it, the initiation ceremony for a
Khalla
is…complicated.”

“Go—find her.” Commander Sylvan nodded at them. “Restock your ship with whatever you need and tell the Transport officer to fold space for you. We must make sure this girl is safe—we must protect her at all costs!”

Chapter Twenty-one

“Be well, my friend. The Goddess alone knows when we may meet again.”

Saskia embraced her warmly and Emily hugged her back, trying to be careful of her breasts which were very tender this morning. She’d had a night of strange dreams about red eyes staring at her from the darkness and had woken with the feeling that someone had been whispering in her ear all night. It was a weird and slightly creepy sensation which left her grumpy and out of sorts. But she tried to put her irritation aside, knowing this might be the last time she got to see Saskia.

“I wish we weren’t going so soon,” she said, smiling sadly at her new friend. “I would have liked to get to know you a little better.”

“And I, you.” Saskia sighed. “Maybe once you are finished with your
Tenrah
you may be able to return to our humble planet for a short visit—if the Holy Council allows it.”

“What do you mean if they
allow
it?” Emily frowned. “Who are they, anyway? And what do they have to say about where I go?”