Blood of Dawn (30 page)

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Authors: Tami Dane

BOOK: Blood of Dawn
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“I don’t know.”
“Can you call her? Arrange for her car to pick you up somewhere else?”
“I don’t have her number. My father arranged the meeting.” I was already pulling out my phone.
“Call him.”
“On it.” I dialed. The phone rang once, twice, three times, four, five, six, seven times, eight. “He’s not answering.”
“Call Damen.”
“I’m afraid to. What if they can trace the call somehow?”
At the window, Katie pulled the curtains aside to peek out again. “Sloan, some guys in black are surrounding the house. They have guns.”
“This is crazy! I’m unarmed. So are you.”
My phone rang. It was JT.
I glared at it, then poked the button. “The chief called in a SWAT team. I’m surrounded by armed officers!” I yelled.
“I’m sorry, Sloan. She had no choice. It’s protocol.”
“He’s not here, JT. It’s just me and Katie.”
“They’re not going to shoot you,” JT said. I supposed that was meant to be reassuring. It wasn’t. “They’re there to protect you.”
“Right. I feel so protected, with the serious end of all those guns pointed
at
me.”
“Chief Peyton’s on the way. She’ll take care of it when she gets there.”
“I hope so. I’m wishing I had a bomb shelter right about now.”
“Hang in there, Skye.”
“Okay, bye.” I clicked off, then dragged Katie away from the window. No sense taking any unnecessary risks. In fact, we opted to pay a visit to Mom’s media room downstairs, where we’d be less likely to be struck by stray bullets. Of course, we stayed away from the electronics too.
After a moment’s hesitation, I dialed Damen’s number. He answered right away.
“Hi, Sloan. I received your message,” Damen said. “What’s happening? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. It’s not me who’s in trouble. It’s you.” A tear dribbled down my cheek. I wiped it with the back of my hand. “They know, Damen. I had to tell them.” I sniffled.
“It’s okay, Sloan. When I warned you, I expected this. What’s going on?”
“There’s a SWAT team outside, the entire FBI, as well as the Baltimore and Alexandria Police Departments. They’ve set up a mobile police station in front of my parents’ house.”
“Sloan, I’m so sorry I dumped all of this on you.” His sigh was audible. “I need to see you.”
“You can’t come over.”
“I’ll be there in a second. Don’t worry. They won’t see me.”
Simultaneously an electric
crackle
sounded in my phone and a house-rattling
boom
of thunder followed in my backyard. I heard the humming of electricity buzzing all around me.
Katie practically crawled on top of me. “What the hell?”
“Sloan, where are you?” It was Damen. He was in the house. Already.
“Down in the basement!” I yelled.
The steady
thump, thump, thump
of his footfalls signaled his descent.
Katie’s hold on me tightened. “I don’t like this. What if his owner has ordered him to kill us?”
“I’m guessing he would have warned me if she had.”
He stopped at the foot of the stairs. It was the same Damen I’d known since my parents’ wedding. Same hair. Same mesmerizing eyes. Same model-perfect body.
“I’m sorry, baby. I told you because I wanted to warn you. I didn’t want this.” He waved an arm toward the staircase.
“Neither did I. But I had to tell someone. Unfortunately, that started a cascade of dominos.” Dragging Katie along—she was wrapped around me like an overly affectionate python—I stepped closer. As I came nearer, I noticed the little blue arcs of electricity sizzling from him. I’d never seen those before. As much as I wanted to touch him, to be held in his arms, I wasn’t about to risk it.
“It’s safe,” he said, seeming, once again, to be reading my mind. “She hasn’t ordered your execution. But I have a feeling that’s just because I’ve been avoiding her. If she learns how to issue the command without speaking directly to me, I’m in trouble.”
“Can she do that?”
“She can. And she is aware of it. She just doesn’t know how to. Yet.”
“I’m scared.”
“I’m scared for you. If she forces me to . . .” His jaw clenched. His eyes darkened. “I think it may destroy me. Already, what she’s done has poisoned me. I’ve been fighting against the darkness. If she uses me again, especially against someone I care about, I don’t think I’ll be able to hold off anymore.”
Damn it, I felt so helpless, and yet so desperate to do something, even if it was almost guaranteed to fail. “Tell me what to do.”
“You must stop her.”
“But you can’t tell me who she is.”
“No.”
“Can you lead me to her?”
He considered my suggestion. “Perhaps, if I didn’t know you were following.”
“Understood.” I was already formulating a plan. “Wait, you didn’t drive over here. How would this work?”
“That’s the least of your problems,” Katie said. “There’s an army out there. You’re not going anywhere if they have anything to say about it.”
“Hmm,” I said.
“Hmm,” Damen said. “It’s not going to work. I’ll know you’re following. Your best bet is getting to my mother. She’ll know what to do.”
“Fine. That’s what I’ll do then.”
“There’s just one problem. You can’t be followed. The car won’t be able to pull onto the property if it’s being tailed.”
“Okay, so I not only need to get out of the house without being detained, but I also need to make sure we’re not being tailed. Hmmm. We need someone to stand in for me,” I said. “She needs to be quick. Smart. Lead the police on a wild-goose chase. Someone who is young and female. . . .”
We both looked at Katie.
Katie’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head. “Are you kidding me? You want me to lead around a pack of armed policemen?”
Hearing it said aloud, I couldn’t help scowling. “Truthfully, I don’t like this plan either. You’re right. It’s too dangerous. Plan B. What is Plan B? Maybe I can lead the pack and you—”
“No, I’ll do it. I think I can handle it.” Katie visibly gulped.
“I can help her,” Damen offered. “Protect her. And I can tweak her appearance a bit, too. To make her look more like you.”
When this case was over, I was going to owe Katie big-time. “Thank you. You have no idea how much I appreciate this.” I hugged her. She hugged me back. “But no, I’m not going to let you risk your life for me.” To Damen I said, “Can you get her out of here?”
“Sloan!” Katie yelled. “I said I’d do it.”
“No, you won’t. But . . . you aren’t safe here, either. Once they realize I’m gone . . . and if Damen . . . no, I want you to go somewhere safe and I don’t want you to leave until I call you. Now, I have a question for Damen.” I turned to him. “You say you can protect Katie from the police, but is she safe from you?”
“Sure. I wouldn’t hurt anyone, if it were up to me. My mistress must give the command, and she must name the target, by their full name. She won’t know Katie’s name.”
“Okay. So now all we have to do is figure out how you two will leave the house without attracting the attention of all of those armed guys out there.”
“Not a problem,” Damen said, looking completely confident. Of course he was confident. The man could turn into a bolt of electricity. Katie couldn’t.
“That’s fine and dandy, you can leave. But what about Katie?”
“That won’t be a problem,” Damen said. “I’ll help her get out of the house. Then I can call for one of Mum’s cars. We can arrange to meet the car close by. I’ll make sure she’s safe, Sloan.” He placed a call, then told Katie where the car would be parked. ”Katie, you may not see me, but I’ll be with you every step of the way.”
“O-okay.” Katie was petrified. And I was petrified for her. And for Damen, too. I hoped this was worth it, and his mother would know what to do.
It seemed we’d thought our way over most of the hurdles. “Okay, if that’s settled, we just need a second limo for me.”
Damen stuffed his hand into his pocket, pulled out his phone again, made a very brief call, hung up, and announced, “You ask and you shall receive.”
“Keep that up, and I will marry you before next summer,” I said jokingly as I headed toward the stairs. My progress was suddenly impeded by one scrumptious
impundulu.
He caught me around the waist and hauled me up against him. With his cupped hand, he tilted my head back.
“I’m looking forward to making you keep that promise.” And then he smashed his lips on mine. I swear, currents of electricity were zinging all through my body, as if I’d grabbed hold of a live wire. I couldn’t let go of him, couldn’t back away, couldn’t break the kiss that was making my heartbeat go irregular and my gray matter turn to mucilaginous mush.
His tongue shoved in my mouth, and I savored the taste of man and need and sensual hunger. Our tongues did a little naughty dance together, twining and stroking. By the time he finally released me, I could barely stand and my brain had completely shut down.
“Wow,” I said, staggering backward.
He looked mighty pleased with himself as he helped steady me. “That’s just a hint of what’s to come—after we’re married, of course.”
If that was true, I wondered what reason I might have for leaving our bedroom. I tried to shove aside the myriad images that flashed through my head. It was time to focus. My best friend was about to walk into an ambush of epic proportions. And I was on my way to visit the queen again, in the name of saving a man I’d come to care about. Surely, fate would be on my side, and I’d succeed. After all, I was on the side of the just.
Right?
“Sloan, Mum’s car will pick you up at the intersection. My powers are limited now, because of my mistress. I can cast a temporary spell on both of you, making you more difficult to see, but not completely transparent.”
I half-walked/half-staggered upstairs, Damen behind me, and Katie taking the rear.
“Whatever you can do to help, Damen. Thanks.” I checked my phone. It was fully charged. I waved it at Katie. “Make sure you call me the minute you get somewhere safe. Don’t do anything dangerous.”
Katie scowled. “You know how I feel about dangerous.” I did. Katie blew things up on a regular basis. She wasn’t as fearful of danger as she liked to let on. “I’ll be extremely careful.”
“Please do. I hate that I’ve put you in harm’s way. If only I could be in two places at once, I’d lead the police on a chase through town, giving you time to get away.”
Katie shrugged as she checked her phone. “Sorry, Sloan, but evidently people can turn into electricity and zap from cloud to cloud, but they can’t instantaneously clone themselves.”
“Hmm,” I said again. I recalled what the queen had said about me having some kind of magic power. I closed my eyes and concentrated, imagining a perfect duplicate of me standing next to me. I opened my eyes.
No deal.
Either I didn’t have any special magic power, or it wasn’t magical cloning. Either way, I was out of luck.
I grabbed Katie and gave her a big hug. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I’m not.”
“I’m heading out,” Damen announced, nuzzling my neck. “You remember where the car is?” he asked Katie.
“I remember.” Katie rolled her eyes. “Just because I don’t have a Ph.D. yet doesn’t mean I can’t remember where a car is parked. I’m this close to finishing my thesis.” She pinched her thumb and index finger together. “Rather, I was that close before my research burned up.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll be calling you ‘Dr. Katie’ in no time.” I hugged her again. “By the way, I forget where I park all the time.” We laughed. Hard. To near tears. I think it was the stress. We were both freaked out. We needed the outlet. After ten minutes of
haw-haw-hawing,
I felt better. I think Katie did too.
I tipped my head. I could hear movement outside.
“The first car is pulling into position,” Damen said.
“All right. This is it. Here we go.” I gave Katie’s hand a squeeze, then hugged Damen.
“We’re going to fix this,” I told him.
He smoothed his hand down my hair. “Thank you, baby. And don’t worry, Sloan. When the time comes, Gelf can shake any tail.”
“Gelf?”
“Mum’s driver. He’ll be driving Katie’s car.”
“I’m not worried,” I said, smashing my cheek against his broad chest. “I mean, I am scared. But—” He kissed me again. This time, the kiss was more gentle and sweet, a promise, a whisper. Still, when it ended, I was dizzy. “What was I saying?”
“You’re leaving now.” He cupped my cheek. “I’ll see you soon, Sloan Skye.” He snapped his fingers at me, and a buzzing charge hummed all around me, soaking into my skin. Again, he snapped his fingers, this time over my shoulder. “Hurry. The spell won’t last long.” And then he changed into a ball of blue-white, crackling energy that hovered in front of me before drifting toward an open window.

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