4 - We Are Gathered (3 page)

“Enough!”

She heard the command through what sounded like water, and then everything went black.

CHAPTER THREE

He knew he should get her back. He had contracts to assign, funds to transfer, communications to make, it was going to be dawn soon, and she wasn’t to be initiated quite yet. He was under orders. No turning without her full consent. He’d known it and still had to be commanded to cease taking her fluid. He couldn’t help it. Nothing had ever felt so good, been so fulfilling, or salved so many wounds. Nothing.

He wasn’t a crusader knight anymore, blindly adhering to his vows. That life ceased the moment Akron found him dying of his battle wounds and changed him, granting him this after-death existence, but he’d always known there was something more. And now he had it. Or soon would. She was his mate. The glow infused him again just at the fact she actually existed and he’d found her.
His mate!
Somehow Akron had known it, too.

The man was unreadable and complex. Tristan knew little more than when he’d first sworn allegiance to the man. As Akron’s most trusted vassal – the man holding the secrets and codes to the entire operation - Tristan should’ve been a close confidante, but he wasn’t. No one got close. He should also be well above an easy mission like this one. And yet, he’d been the one sent to get this one woman. He guessed why Akron wanted her. With her powers, she’d be an enormous asset to the league, but there were thousands who could have gone. Tristan knew now why he’d gotten the assignment. He’d known it the moment he touched her.

She was beautiful; more beautiful than he’d been led to expect, and more than he deserved. She had dark brown hair so silky that it curled about his finger; deep, green-shaded eyes that pierced and scorned; a form that was driving him mad – especially with her dress clinging to every inch of it, despite her efforts to prevent it…and her thoughts! Tristan didn’t adhere to telepathy, and yet he instantly knew every one of her thoughts and answered them. He didn’t need her little blushes for verification, but he really liked watching for them.

Everything about her pleased him, especially her instant recognition of the castle. It had been his idea to copy Vlad Dracula’s castle for their use. The novel had appealed to him. He’d been given the assignment, and his plans, construction, and oversight made it happen. He’d spent eighteen years studying the real one before committing one block to the foundation, and then a full century making certain no one involved with the construction remembered its existence. It wasn’t their only one but it was his first, and therefore, his favorite.

 As with the others, this Tirgoviste Castle was an exact replica of the fifteenth century one – except for one major detail. They were all constructed underground. Hidden. Completely invisible. Accessed only through caves in the rock face, and a series of satellite receivers that would never be spotted in the woods surrounding it. It was the only way to keep a business like Akron’s functioning.

The ear-com shivered in his pocket, as if he’d ordered a call. Tristan put it on message link and lifted Rori. He knew he had to take her back and leave her, and wait until tonight to reach her again. He also knew it was going to hurt.

o0o

Smoke was wafting about the clearing, diffusing moonlight into bands of light, and then a siren went off, altering everything.

Rori leapt onto her feet, slapped a hand at the offending piece and watched the alarm clock disintegrate against the wall. An instant check revealed she was in her room, there wasn’t anything male or handsome except the wall poster on the closet door, and she was still wearing the black dress. A few things she could say about polyester: it may cling with static, but it was cheap, and it didn’t wrinkle. An early glow of sun hit on her next, feeling like needles skewering her eyes. She put up a hand and the blinds fell with a clatter.

“Hey! I just bought that.”

Naomi stuck her tongue out at Rori before tossing the covers back over her head. Rori flicked her wrist and the bedspread peeled right back. And with it came Naomi, sitting and then staring.

“Did you just do that?”

“What am I doing here?” Rori’s voice croaked. And it hurt to use it. She swallowed, and that hurt, too.

“You live here.” Naomi yawned through it, and then snuggled back into her mattress. “And you owe me another ten minutes of sleep.”

Rori flicked her wrist, and this time not only the sheet but Naomi ended up at the foot of her bed on her knees, while wide eyes mirrored Rori’s with surprise.

“Wow.”

“I meant, how did I get here?”

“You have powers! You really have them! We have to tell—.”

Rori put a finger up and her roommate’s words halted. Just like that. She put her hand down, and Naomi finished it, although the name limped out in two parts.

“Eliz…abeth.”

“How did I get here?”

“How are you doing that?”

Rori put her hands in fists and knocked them into her shoulders and it sounded like every door in the house slammed in response.

“Can I get up? And maybe…dress?”

Naomi put a foot on the floor and hesitated as if Rori might stop her. And she actually considered doing it, just to see if she could. All of which was weirder than her vision last night. She had to consciously force the desire down and watched as her roommate grabbed a robe, pulled it on, and then just stood there, staring.

“How did I get here?”

Naomi shrugged. “Don’t ask me. You were here when we got in.”

“When was that?”

“Near dawn I think. It was a great evening. I don’t know why you left.”

“What was in the little stars?” She was probably coming down with something. Her throat was sore from staying out in the night mists. That might also account for the headache just beginning behind her sinuses, getting an accompaniment from her pulse.

“Your neck.” Naomi pointed and then came a step closer.

“The star you gave me. What was in it?”

If she gritted her teeth it kept the throb to a minimum. It also made her sound more forceful and commanding. At least, it should have. It didn’t work on Naomi. She just came closer, and then pointed.

“Candy. From the specialty pipe shop.”

“You bought it at a stoner shop?”

“Where else am I going to get stuff that looks like that?”

“What was in it?”

“Mostly sugar. I swear.”

“Sugar doesn’t cause hallucinations.”

“You had a hallucination? Was that before or after someone bit your neck?”

Rori put her forefingers to her temples and rubbed in a circular motion. The pain lessened, but not enough.

“You two could like make a little less noise. We’ll be kicked out – if someone like posts bail after the police get finished booking us.”

Elizabeth was always cheerful. Loud. Annoying. Rori moved a hand toward her intrusion. The girl slid backwards to the wall, and then stayed there, like she’d been glued in position right next to the closet.

“Rori has powers,” Naomi told her.

“Wow.”

“Exactly as I said.”

“How did you—?”

A finger in the air cut off the words, but Rori could still see Elizabeth mouthing them. Her headache was getting worse, too.

“She won’t say. I think it’s tied to her neck.”

“There’s nothing wrong with my neck!”

Rori put too much emphasis on it and that made her throat hurt. She moved her hand to her neck to prove it, and came away with blood tipped fingers.

“Oh my.”

“Exactly,” Naomi finished. “Now do you believe me?”

Rori stood, waved away the mist that seemed to surround her feet, and stumbled into the bathroom to look. Things were worse in there. The mirror looked like one from an old hostel she’d stayed at once, where it was so old the finish had rubbed off, making it difficult to make anything out clearly. Only this one was worse. There was a murky image projecting back at her, but even if she squinted, it wasn’t recognizable. Nor could she make out anything on her neck, despite craning. And everything just made the throb in her head worse.

“Do we have aspirin?”

The water spigots were still there. As were the paper cups. Normal things, in the normal place, but if she chanced to glance at the mirror, nothing more than indistinct blobs could be made out. All of which made this surreal and abnormal.

“Can I move now?”

Elizabeth called it from back in the bedroom. Rori put one hand on the basin, and flipped with her fingers toward the voice.

“What happened to you?”

“Nothing.” Nothing she was willing to discuss, anyway.

“Then what punctured your neck? A vampire?”

“Twigs in the forest. I ran into a tree.”

“Looks…infected already. Really sore. Maybe we should see a doctor. Or at least, get a gauze pad.”

She filled the cup, gulped it down, and then took another. And another. All the while ignoring how it felt like hot sauce was shooting down her throat.

“Can you like work this magic on Professor Nall? I’d give anything to see him shut off like right in the middle of a sentence.”

Elizabeth was too damn cheerful. Naomi wasn’t any help, and Rori had to give up. The water was so fire-filled her eyes watered. With her luck, they’d think she was crying. She splashed water next, and then a towel rub, and they were still debating her powers and her wound. And that wasn’t acceptable. She didn’t want to be the center of attention. She was at the fringes of any crowd because she liked it there.

A quick band and her hair was in a tail, another search of her drawers netted a light blue scarf. Another search got her sunglasses that would look odd, but she didn’t think she could handle light without them. And then she walked to the door, pushed outward into the air, and got a half-hearted opening. Great. If she’d had powers they were fading. She felt like she was fading, along with them.

She didn’t make Professor Nall’s class. She could barely drag herself back home after the first one.

o0o

“Hi. Is Rori ready?”

Rori’s eyes popped open the moment the door opened. By the time Tristan had finished his greeting she was on her feet and in the doorway to their main room, in a frenzy of motion that had her black dress tossed aside, a slinkier one zippered on in replacement, and she’d even donned evening sandals.

“Who are you?”

“And wow.
Look
at you. Right on our doorstep. Can you believe it?”

The first was Naomi. The second, Elizabeth, and she was gushing.

“She didn’t tell you ladies?”

“Tristan.”

Rori said it for him, but it wasn’t necessary. He’d already seen her. Nothing about him had changed. Dark, smoldering, sexy male looked across the small space at her, creating a tunnel effect with his locked gaze. Everything in the room blurred, including her roommates, and every moment seemed to heighten and elongate the experience. It was akin to downing an energy drink but a thousand times more potent. She could actually feel her hair rising with the electric sensation.

Naomi and Elizabeth were still mouthing words, as if they made sense, and Tristan was answering, but he wasn’t looking at anything other than Rori.

“She didn’t tell you about me? How…odd. I usually make a better impression.”

He still had the devastating smile. It worked. Rori felt alive and aglow, like a shaft of pure light permeated her right to her soul, just to be on the receiving end of it. Her roommates sounded like they might be giggling, and maybe if she concentrated on something other than Tristan, she’d hear it.

“Am I a real vampire? So…she did tell you of me.”

The smile reached his eyes, making something go all soft and weak just below her heart. Rori put both hands there to make it stop.

“Her last boyfriend was one, too? You wound me, ladies. Truly.”

He licked his lips, sending a flick of tongue over elongating canines, and Rori rocked in place as it hit her. Tristan might actually be real. He was nothing like Eric. That guy had paid to have his teeth elongated and then filed, and then he played with being dark and sexy with his fangs. She’d bought every bit of it. But not now. In comparison.

“What? Before dawn, of course. Don’t wait up. Rori?”

She was at his side without making one step, and didn’t worry over how. It was enough to feel the forces radiating outward from him, filling her, strengthening her, granting her power back. Rori lifted her hand and pushed toward the door, and knew it flew open without even looking.

“Gently, Love.”

His whisper touched her, making the wound on her neck tingle. Rori tipped her head sideways to keep the locked gaze through her lashes. Gently? She didn’t want gently! She felt primed to sprint a marathon, climb a mountain, and swim a lake. In tandem. She took his hand, got another jolt the moment his fingers wrapped about hers, and returned the smile, and then looked out the door. A cab waited in the street below them, his lights glinting off raindrops.

“A taxi?”

“It seemed best.”

“Why?”

“I wouldn’t want to tire over the trip.”

“Right.”

She had to look away or something worse might happen. She could drown in the black of his eyes, felt faint at the light-headedness led by a buzz in her ears, almost as if her blood was thinning and racing through her veins…calling to him. Rori swallowed on the thought, because just maybe, that was exactly what was happening. It terrified and yet excited her, and knowing him, he’s probably already read her thought. The slight huff of groan he made verified it. The next moment saw her down the stairs, ensconced in the back seat, and held very close against Tristan and she couldn’t remember taking one step to get there.

 “Your roommates are very curious. Very interested.”

“Of course they are. You’re very noticeable.”

“You think so?”

“You angling for compliments?

“No. I mean…I don’t think so.”

He looked as confused as he sounded. Rori edged away slightly, setting her tailbone against a seatbelt connector. She needed the space, but it didn’t work. Everything on her felt like it itched. Annoyed. Demanded.