Blood Shadows (33 page)

Ramsey Olaru didn’t flinch. And to Braden’s great relief, he didn’t eat the kid in one bite, either. He simply stared down his nose at the finger affixed to his chest and frowned. And then he sent Braden a clear, unmistakable warning. It happened so quickly it was barely discernible, but his eyes flashed red, and a deep, menacing growl rumbled beneath the pad of Braden’s finger before Ramsey’s calm, cool demeanor settled back upon him. “Move your finger,” he whispered.

Braden tried to withdraw the digit, but it wouldn’t budge. “No.” His wayward mouth was at it again.

Ramsey cocked his head to the side in a gesture of both amusement and surprise, and then he smiled. “How long have you been Vampyr?” Before Braden could answer, Ramsey continued, “I’ve been Nosferatu for seven hundred years; and unlike you, I put in four hundred years at the University to become a Master Warrior.” His pectoral muscles flexed, pushing back against the small finger still resting upon them. “I’m your elder and your sentinel, and that means you’re going to show me some respect.” His last words lingered in the air. “Move your finger.”

“Fine,” Braden yielded, at last withdrawing his wayward hand, “I’ll move my finger. But I won’t show you any respect—because you don’t deserve any.”

Ramsey’s brow curved into a deep frown as if to say
what the hell
, and he slowly licked his lips. “Boy, have you lost your mind?” He measured him sideways. “What’s this about? A girl? That silly redheaded female? Marquis’s progeny?”

Now that really ticked Braden off. “Watch your mouth.”

At that, Ramsey threw his hands up in the air, turned around, and began to walk away.

“I’m not through!” Braden shouted, his voice cracking a bit.

Ramsey glanced over his shoulder and sneered. “I am.”

Braden stood there stunned, watching the Master Warrior retreat as if nothing he had to say was of any consequence, as if he was as easily dismissed as a fly at a picnic. He might not be a warrior yet—or a 700-year-old sentinel—but he wasn’t…
nothing
. And frankly, Ramsey was just full of it.

Scanning the ground beneath him, Braden reached down, picked up a good-sized rock, and hurled it at the warrior’s back, putting all the speed and agility he had as a vampire into the throw.

His back still turned to the younger vampire, Ramsey sidestepped so fast that the motion appeared blurry, and as the stone missed him by a country mile, he turned on his heels and began prowling back toward Braden, his eyes locked fiercely on the young boy’s gaze. “You want to play games, kid?”

Braden tapped both hands hard against his own chest, not unlike a dominant ape demonstrating power to an underling, and held his ground: He figured there was no getting away at this point—and he could at least put on a good show before he died. Try to go out like a man, defending Kristina’s honor. “I’m not scared of you,” he snarled, forcing his feet to stay in place, his legs not to turn tail and run. “Bring it, then.”

Ramsey took another step toward him, his eyes fixed narrowly on his prey like a dangerous assassin. “Bring what, boy?”

Braden made two fists and held them out in front of him. “
It
,” he snapped, knowing he sounded as stupid as he felt. For a moment, he thought about calling out to Marquis to save him, and then he remembered what the Master Warrior had taught him:
When a
confrontation
is imminent, always
fight
to win. Strike first, and try to take your enemy down with the first blow
before he has a chance to harm you.
As Ramsey took another step forward, Braden released his fangs, rotated from the balls of his feet to his toes, and sprang at the sentinel’s neck. A vicious snarl emanated from his throat as he prepared to latch onto the sentinel’s jugular.

Ramsey swatted him away like a mosquito, sending him sprawling across the front yard in a series of violent rolls, but Braden sprang to his feet and faced him again. Crouching low toward the ground, he released his talons and prepared to swipe at anything that came his way.

Ramsey shook his head in bewilderment. “Calm down, Braden,” he cautioned. “You need to stop before you get hurt.”

Braden snarled low and deep, impressed by the feral sound that came out of his throat. “And you need to stop trying to get into Kristina Riley’s pants!”

Ramsey crinkled his brow and shook his head. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about this bullshit game you’re playing with Kristina’s head! Sneaking around with her behind everyone’s back, trying to get her to give you some just because she’s the only female vampire in the house of Jadon. You think you can use her like a widow, without having to mate her, and it’s wrong! I’m talking about you pressuring her. Nearly
forcing
her. Taking advantage of her when you know damn well that you have a
destiny
somewhere out there. You’ve totally messed up her head; she’s completely afraid of you; and you’re still trying to screw her anyways!” His voice cracked from the force of his emotion. “That shit is so wrong, Ramsey.” He slammed his fist against his palm. “And I’m not gonna let you do it anymore. I’m not!” With that, he sprang at the powerful warrior again.

This time, Ramsey caught Braden in midair, twisted his body around until his back was arched forward beneath Ramsey’s broad chest, and forced him to the ground on his knees. “Be still,” he commanded. He locked his arms around Braden’s chest to restrain him.

Braden struggled valiantly. “Let me go! Let me go!”

“Be quiet,” Ramsey snarled. “Be quiet…and
listen
.”

Braden’s ears perked up. Was Ramsey going to respond to his accusations at last? Was he finally going to explain himself? Apologize? Promise to stop using Kristina?

“Boy, I haven’t touched that girl,” he said plainly. “Are you insane?” He lowered his voice to a deep, soothing tone. “She came onto me,
once
, right here at Napolean’s, and I sent her home. I have no idea what you’re talking about, but rest assured, I would never dishonor or hurt any female in the house of Jadon. And if I was looking for a woman just to…screw, as you so crudely put it, I would pick someone other than Marquis’s ward.”

Braden struggled to understand the words he had just heard. “But…but…that’s not true.” He relaxed his shoulders, and Ramsey loosened his hold.

“It is true,” the sentinel assured him.

Braden shook his head adamantly. “But I saw it…in her diary. Everything you’ve been doing to her.”

Ramsey let go of him, settled on one knee in the grass in front of him, and looked off into the distance. “You saw this in her diary?”

“Yes,” Braden snorted.

“And you’re sure it was me—my name in the book?”

“Yes,” Braden repeated. “Plus, I know something’s going on because she sneaks around on the phone and hides things. I’ve caught her crying, and she’s all confused in the head now.” He took a deep breath, embarrassed at sharing Kristina’s secrets, but… “In her diary, she said that you were trying to force her, and she was thinking about giving in, even though she knew you were just using her.”

Ramsey scowled, his face a mixture of disbelief and disgust. “What the hell…” He looked away, and then all at once, a light came on in his eyes. “Oh, damn,” he murmured.

“What?” Braden asked.

Ramsey grabbed the kid by the arm and sprang to his feet, lugging Braden’s body up, along with his own, effortlessly. “We need to take this to Napolean.”

Now it was Braden’s turn to be surprised. “Why?”

“If Kristina truly believes it’s me, then that means the male must look like me, talk like me, act like me…and that has sorcery written all over it.”

Braden blanched as understanding dawned on him. “The Dark Ones?”

“Precisely.”

“Then why haven’t they killed her,” he asked, his stomach turning over at the thought.
Oh gods, had he failed to protect her?
“What do you think they want?”

Ramsey shrugged as he headed for Napolean’s front door, practically dragging the kid behind him. “And isn’t that just the million-dollar question.”

twenty-one

Kagen Silivasi paced nervously around the foyer, stopping to glance at Ramsey and Braden in turn as the two quickly filled him in on the details of what they had discovered. The angry males had rushed through the clinic doors like Wyatt Earp rounding the corner at the OK Corral, full of steam, vinegar, and deadly intention, and Kagen had not been able to get a word in edgewise as Ramsey quickly and succinctly brought him up to speed. He turned to glance at Braden, who had a sickly look on his face, his skin growing paler by the minute. “And you’re positive the diary had
Ramsey’s
name in it?” Kagen asked.

“Oh yeah,” Braden said, sounding out of breath. “Absolutely.”

“I don’t think there’s any doubt,” Ramsey chimed in. “By the way she came onto me that day outside of Napolean’s…” He paused, looking both remorseful and infuriated. “
Damn
, I just…I just didn’t think much of it. From everything Marquis has ever said, Kristina tends to act flighty at times. Impulsive. It never occurred to me that there was something more serious going on.”

Kagen nodded impatiently. Few things slipped by the insightful sentinel’s recognition, and no doubt, Ramsey was feeling horrible at having missed all the signs of danger, the Dark Ones’ plotting…
yet again
. Kagen’s blood heated in his veins, and he knew his eyes were changing color involuntarily as the obvious suddenly occurred to him: He had been so taken aback by the two males rushing into the clinic that he had failed to ask the most important question first: “Oh, shit! Ramsey?” His voice was unusually harsh. “Were you with Kristina and Deanna a half hour ago?”

Ramsey raised his eyebrows. “No…why?”

“You weren’t outside, waiting in the car to escort them to the casino?”

“No, Healer,” he repeated, “I was with Braden trying to figure out what the heck was going on. What’s up?”

Kagen swallowed his fear. Reaching out telepathically on a community bandwidth so both Braden and Ramsey could hear, he immediately called to his brothers:
Marquis! Nathaniel!
It’s urgent!

It took less than a second for the Master Warriors to respond.

Kagen, what is it?
Marquis’s voice was brusque with concern, his demeanor fully alert.

I’m here
, Nathaniel chimed in.
Speak, brother…

Kagen drew in a deep breath, not wanting to make the situation even worse than it was by sending both of his brothers into an instant rage—they all needed to be calm and cool in the face of danger.
We have a situation
, he began,
a very serious situation
.

Neither one responded. They weren’t willing to waste even a second with unnecessary words.

As you know,
Kagen explained,
Kristina invited Deanna to
spend time with her tonight—they were headed to the
casino with Ramsey riding escort
. He paused for only a scant second, his psychic voice revealing his anxiety.
Only Ramsey is standing right here in the clinic next to me. He never went with them.

He felt Marquis push against his mind, as if the Master Warrior was about to reach in and extract all the pertinent information faster than Kagen could relay it, but to the warrior’s credit, he remained silent and waited.

Nathaniel’s energy was growing darker by the moment, the lethal vampire’s own patience being tested to the limit.
Two sentences or less, Kagen:
bottom-line assessment and immediate course of action.

Kagen sighed with relief: They could catch up with details later.
Bottom-line assessment: We believe one of the Dark Ones has been impersonating Ramsey and spending time with Kristina…romantically.
We think he’s with them now. Immediate course of action—

Nathaniel! Have
Saxson and
Santos
meet you at the
casino,
Marquis commanded, instinctively taking over
.
Ramsey, meet us there, and conceal
your
weapons—we don’t want to alarm any humans unnecessarily. Kagen, alert Napolean.

I’ve already spoken to Napolean,
Ramsey cut in.
And my brothers—
he was referring to the other two sentinels of Dark Moon Vale, Saxson and Santos Olaru
—are already on standby, armed and ready to mobilize.

Good,
Marquis said.
Kagen,
have you tried reaching out to Kristina or Deanna telepathically
in order
to warn them?

Haven’t had a
chance yet, brother; I called you and Nathaniel first
.

Do it now!
Marquis ordered.
As for the rest of us,
let’s move,
warriors.
Now.
With that, the telepathic link was broken.

As usual, Marquis Silivasi was not wasting time.