Another One Bites the Dust (30 page)

“In the meantime, would you care to fill me in on the rest of your day’s agenda?”

“Actually, it sucked. I had to kill Shao’s brother because he was possessed by a reaver. And now that I know what reavers are about, I’m almost certain Yale and Pengfei mean to disrupt the festival somehow.” I told him Jericho and his buds would be providing undercover security, for which I heaved an audible sigh of relief.

Vayl said, “It sounds to me as if you need some fresh air. Shall we find ourselves a Chinese Dragon Lady?”

“Yeah, but how? And if she’s with Lung—”

“Which is likely—”

“How do we separate them?”

“If we are masters at anything, besides assassination, it is thinking on our feet. We will work it out when we have a situation to actually—how do you say—scope out.”

“Okay. So. Finding her. That’s going to be a challenge. It’s a big city, Vayl.”

“I think you have the ability to track her, Jasmine,” he said earnestly. “Remember how you found me in the parking lot of our hotel in Miami?”

“Yeah, but you were within a few yards of me.”

“That is true. But we must begin somewhere. And perhaps wearing Pengfei’s dress will help direct your Sensitivity even further. These are not just random ideas, you know. In the past, Sensitives have been documented as having the ability to hunt vampires.”

“Do we have any idea where to start looking though?”

“We can make an educated guess. We know Pengfei and Lung do not spend their daylight hours aboard the
Constance Malloy
. Which means someone must ferry them to shore. I suggest we find the boat that brought them to land last night and try to follow their trail from that point.”

“Okay.” If I sounded less than enthusiastic it might’ve been because I thought it was a really far-fetched idea. Unfortunately I couldn’t come up with a better one, so we were stuck.

Fully dressed, with the medallion tucked under my collar and the translator wire woven in and around my wig hair, I minced down the RV’s hallway. I’d spent what moments I could spare that afternoon watching Pengfei reruns on Bergman’s laptop, trying to master her mannerisms. I was doing my best, but something felt wrong.
Probably just my underwear inching up my crack because the damn dress fits too tight
.

Cole had a great view from his perch in the driver’s seat. He whistled when he saw me. “Freaky!”

“I agree,” said Cassandra. She had donned a new Psychics-R-Us costume and was helping Bergman pack the last bits of his modular lab away in plastic bins. That he had allowed anyone, much less her, to touch his sacred bits said that he’d taken my last lecture pretty seriously. I hoped this was a solid sign he didn’t want to grow up to be a big, skinny creep.

He noticed me watching him and said, “Our benefactors sent over a sound system about an hour ago. As soon as we get done here we’ll go over there and set it up.” He left what he was doing to hand out mouth-mints and hearing aids. “We’ll be using the same communications system as when we set up video surveillance on the yacht. Transmitting wasn’t a big deal there because we were all so close. In this case it’ll be more of a challenge.”

He gave Vayl and me the fake tattoos we’d used on our last mission. Mine was a dragon. Ironic, huh? Vayl’s was a line of barbed wire. They would allow us to transmit from much greater distances. Once Bergman had outfitted and tested us, Cole nudged Vayl to get his attention. “Are you sure you don’t need some help? I could carry your crossbow.” He glanced at the weapon, which Vayl lifted from its resting place as if it weighed nothing.

“This is a job for two,” he said.

“Okay”—sigh of disappointment—“call if you need me.”

“I will need you,” I reminded him. “Don’t assume Pengfei’s going to speak to me in English. I’m gonna need a fast translation of whatever she says and it can’t be from some guy lurking in the bushes. You know what I mean? This has got to be done right.”

Cole nodded, sitting a little straighter now that he understood the crucial nature of his role. “Gotcha.”

“Do we still have Jericho’s card?” I asked Cassandra.

“Yes.”

“If something goes down, call him.” Cassandra dove into her purse. After unearthing three pairs of sunglasses, a tile sample, and a box of tampons that made Bergman literally leap for the door, she found it.

“Good job,” said Cole as he took it from her and keyed the number into his phone.“Remind me to bring you on my next mining expedition.”

“I need this stuff,” she said as she returned the items to their rightful places.

I shook my head. I didn’t even own a purse. “We have to go.”

They nodded. Cole held up his phone to indicate he’d be ready if it all went to crap.

“Good luck,” said Cassandra.

Outside we caught Bergman halfway to the tent. He glanced at the crossbow in Vayl’s hands, nodded at the bolt nesting in its position, ready to fire as soon as Vayl switched off the safety. “I hope it works.”

“Don’t worry,” I said, patting the gun holstered under my armpit. “We have a backup plan.” Actually I could’ve patted other areas of my body as well, but then I’d have either looked like I was hunting for matches or feeling myself up. Either way, a lame way to communicate that I’d added some blades to the mix as well. Bergman nodded and moved on.

Oddly enough, a Chinese woman wearing black boots and a large Rumanian man carrying a crossbow don’t draw a whole lot of attention at a large entertainment venue. We stayed off the path as much as possible, but in some places were forced to join the growing crowd as we made our way to the marina. The office was open and it only took two crisp twenties to discover the docking point for our vamps’ water taxi.

They’d tied it close to the path. Vayl helped me climb in and my doubts mounted. We were wasting valuable time in this spotless vessel. Not one shred of Pengfei remained for me to detect.

“Take your time,” suggested Vayl. “Try a few different seats. Maybe she has left a bit of herself behind.”

She wouldn’t have driven, so I sat in the rear. Nope, nothing. But, hey, we were talking about Pengfei here. She wasn’t interested in backseats.

I moved to the front.

Nothing.

With a mounting sense of unease I let my eyes roam the vessel, the dock, paths she might have taken from there. Hundreds, if not thousands, of lives could depend on me figuring out Pengfei’s location tonight and my Sensitivity hadn’t stirred since—

“Hey, wait a minute.” I pointed to Vayl as if he’d done something wrong. “You’re not simmering.”

“I . . .” He scanned down his body, as if debating whether he should check for BO or blisters. “Pardon me?”

“I can’t feel your power. I can’t sense you at all. You’re like a big blank to me!” I got up, tight waves of fear rising and falling in my chest. I held out my right fist, shaking it at him. “I can’t feel the ring, either. Usually it’s warm on my finger, especially when you’re around. What the hell is happening to me?”

Cassandra’s voice boomed in my ear: “Jasmine, listen to me.”

“What?”

“I think the magic of the medallion is squashing your Sensitivity. Take it off.”

Easier said than done when it’s tucked inside a tight dress underneath a long wig intertwined with a translator wire. What a pain in the ass. Yet as soon as I’d shucked it, relief washed over me. Yup, the underwear had definitely wriggled out of the crack. I felt Vayl’s cold, controlled powers doing their usual slow roll. I could see better too, as if I’d been running around wearing sunglasses at night and just remembered to take them off.

I slumped back in the seat, the medallion bunched in one hand, the other braced against the cushion. I hoped to maintain my balance if the boat went rocky, rocky. Instead it whispered, “Pengfei.” But not loud enough. I’d never be able to follow that murmur of sound all the way to its source.

I leaned over the side of the boat, stared into the water, knowing what I needed to do, wondering how to broach the subject. Vayl had resisted almost violently the first time, and he’d been in dire need then.

“I feel like we’re running out of time,” I said as I gazed, almost mesmerized, into the tiny waves the boat’s movements made in the bay. I tore my eyes away from the water, thinking Vayl’s weren’t so different. Deep pools you could get lost in forever, if you wanted to.

“What are you saying?”

“I sense her, but it’s not enough. I need to heighten this ability. And I only know one way to do that.”

His focus sharpened, narrowed to me. “You mean, you want me to take your blood.”

Multiple intakes of breath as our crew reacted. I’d almost forgotten they could hear us.

“Yes. And before we spend the next twenty minutes arguing the morality of the issue, why don’t you just admit I’m right, it’s a great idea, and we may save a lot of lives this way?”

His presence, a constant hum at the back of my head, began to expand. It was as if my request had released some huge inner padlock, opened a creaky old door, and allowed him to fill with the true blood of his personality. For an instant I felt the full brunt of his power. It spun out of him like a tornado, sparking visions like lightning strikes. I saw the labyrinth of rage, pain, and violence he’d mastered on his way from his own downfall to my side. His strength and sense of purpose impressed me. I recognized his devotion to the job, his passion for justice. And the hope that he would someday meet his boys again, which gave everything else shape and direction. Gawd Almighty, if you could capture his essence in clay or oils you’d have yourself a masterpiece. And then, just as suddenly, he pulled it back. “All right,” he said, his voice husky with the bit he couldn’t quite suppress.

“Wow,” I whispered, struggling to keep my head on straight. He had such a way of turning me sideways. Hadn’t that bothered me once? “That was faster than I figured.”

Twitch of the lip. Glint in the eye that took me slightly aback. It was so . . . hungry. Which was when I realized he hadn’t eaten yet. Must’ve meant to take his fill from Pengfei and Lung. And the reaver, if we could find him. He’d told me once that he did it as a failsafe. His way of knowing for certain he wasn’t taking out innocents. He was already sitting next to me. Now he slid closer. “Tell me you are certain.”

“Well, I was.”

“And then?”

“Then I remembered how much you like the taste of Jaz.”

Out came the dimple again. Hell, if it was going to become this common I’d have to announce its arrival with a bicycle bell. “If it makes you feel better, I will let you bite me first.”

“No!” The chorus of negatives boomed into my ears like a megaphone alarm.

“Um, team, I would function better if I could hear tonight,” I said.

Cassandra’s voice came, thankfully softer, but just as deep as the others. “We just wanted to let you know how much we enjoy the fact that you’re human.”

I assumed we were using the term loosely, considering both my history and foreseeable future. “Don’t worry, kids. I’m not vampire bound. Just intent on enhancing some of my finer traits.” I looked up at Vayl. “You’re going to enjoy this, aren’t you?”

His eyes glittered with an otherworldly light as he regarded me. “I am vampire, Jasmine. Would you have me pretend otherwise?”

“Ummm, no.” I realized we were done with the foreplay. Vayl’s arm, already across my shoulders, dropped behind my back and pulled me close. “These marks can’t show,” I murmured.

“I will take care to conceal them,” Vayl assured me, his words muffled as his lips crossed the line of my jaw. My neck tingled as the tips of his fangs brushed my carotid. They moved lower as he pulled back my collar and thumbed open the top button of my dress. I think my eyes actually did a one eighty in their sockets as his teeth pierced the skin just below my collarbone.

The last time Vayl had taken my blood I’d blacked out partway through. This time I stayed up for the whole show. And it rocked. I tried to work out why, but that part of my brain hit the deck first. The rest of me, well it doesn’t seem quite decent to describe the feelings Vayl woke in me. Knowing Cassandra and the boys could hear the whole shebang, I stayed silent, though I badly wanted to moan, encourage, and at the very end, shout in triumph, as if I’d summited Everest without oxygen, or a map, or even a Sherpa to guide me.

When Vayl straightened, he looked as astounded as I felt. “It was actually better this time. How can that be?”

“Age?” I hazarded. “You know, like fine wine?”

His laugh, which generally held not one iota of amusement, made me smile. “How do you feel?” he asked as he fished his handkerchief out of his pocket and laid it against the mark.

“Great, actually,” I said. “Though it probably won’t last. I crashed pretty hard the first time.”

“Then we should move quickly.”

“Agreed.”

CHAPTERTHIRTY-FOUR

He checked his handkerchief. The bleeding had already stopped, so I buttoned up. “Vayl, it worked.”

“Already?”

Oh yeah
. I realized I could practically see in the dark, even without activating my special lenses. And I could see Pengfei as well, with that other, mental eye that sensed vampires the way bloodhounds scent rabbits. She had sat in this very spot. Still. Serene. Her head tipped toward the stars as if enjoying the ride but, in reality, leading the charge.