Blood Shadows (10 page)

And Kane had spoken about vengeance, not fulfilling the prophecies.

Unless he meant vengeance against the whole of humankind.

No. He wouldn’t have waited for that. He’d clearly been watching her for a long time and would have had plenty of opportunities to snatch her. His motivations were definitely more personal.

‘Xavier will do whatever it takes to bring in Kane. There’s no better excuse to lock him up and throw away the key than catching him red-handed trying to incite the prophecy.’

‘It could happen decades from now, centuries even. I’m supposed to shy away based on that?’

‘You’re not shying away. You’re saving your life.’ He sighed heavily. ‘Max told me you still believe all this stuff about Rick’s and Kathleen’s deaths being linked. That it’s coming for you. He thinks that’s why you’re doing this. That you just don’t care.’

She folded her arms and lowered her eyes.

He stepped up to her again and tenderly pushed her hair back from her face, cupping the back of her head as he always used to.

She closed her eyes. Responding, reaching for him, accepting his help, admitting defeat all crossed her mind. But not one of them felt right.

‘I’m here for you, Caitlin. I left you once but I’m not going to leave you again.’

She looked up at him, deep into his soft blue eyes, not needing to search for sincerity because it was so apparent.

‘Nothing is going to hurt you,’ he added. ‘Not while I’m with you.’

He leaned in before she had time to respond. His lips were as soft as she remembered. As warm. They met hers with ease. And, consumed by familiarity, she reciprocated.

She wanted to lose herself in the moment. To forget everything. To think of nothing but him.

Maybe if last night hadn’t happened, she could have.

But Kane had touched her now. Kane was no longer just a report, a photograph or a moving image on camera. She’d felt his lips against her skin, his hard body against hers, his strength, his resilience, the threat and promise of sensual sexuality. And her body had responded. More dangerously, so had her mind. Or he wouldn’t have been so lodged in her thoughts right there and then.

She didn’t want Rob. She hadn’t wanted Rob for a long time. She wanted Kane. More than that, she needed Kane.

Kane was the only one who could give her what she wanted, even if she was pressing the self-destruct button in the process.

She broke away from Rob’s kiss, the tension in his body consuming the gap between them. ‘I need you to go,’ she said, lowering her eyes again to break any other prospect of intimacy.

He hovered for a moment as if searching for the right thing to say. She could feel his anger. Anger that had never been more apparent.

She looked up warily as he brushed past her to the draining board.

He slid the cards towards him and, grabbing a pen from the counter, wrote a phone number on the envelope of the top one. ‘Think carefully, Caitlin.’

He stopped in front of her again, reached to smooth her cheek as he always used to, but she sidestepped away. He retracted his hand, this time impatience, not upset, igniting behind his eyes.

She watched him go. Watched him close the door behind himself.

Feeling sick, she collapsed against the counter again. She stared back down at the cards, urged herself not to open them, but grabbed the one with his phone number on and ripped open the envelope.

The birthday card was simple: white, with a small, shaggy teddy sat amongst some presents. Inside it simply said, Always in my thoughts.

As a tear trickled irritatingly down her cheek, she wiped it away, refusing to break open old wounds that she’d spent long enough trying to stitch.

She threw the card back down and scanned the chaos. She had to do something worthwhile, something to work it all off. And starting with cleaning the apartment seemed as valid a task as any.

The club was awash with people lining the basement entrance, chatting against the graffiti-emblazoned stone walls. It had once been a row of five derelict houses, but Alexander had knocked them all through, albeit illegally. The heavy beat of the music vibrated through the floor. The scent of excitement, of illicit substances, of sex dominated the air.

Kane made his way along the length of the dim corridor, people automatically moving out of his path. He took a right, not into the heart of the club, but down the worn stone steps into the cellar’s caverns. The bouncer sent him a polite nod, letting him pass unquestioned into the exclusive area. Taking the second recess on the left, Kane stepped into one of the catacombs.

Alexander glanced across his shoulder from the card table. ‘Kane.’ He leaned back in his chair and tapped the behind of the woman who was sitting on his lap as a directive for her to move. His dark eyes ignited, his easy grin broad. ‘It’s good to have you here. Do you want to join us?’

‘Not tonight,’ he said, fleetingly appraising the woman as she sauntered past him, her large doe-eyes meeting his as she smiled slowly, sensually.

Alexander took Kane’s hint. He discarded his cards onto the table and lifted his six-foot-four, lean frame from the table to promptly join Kane in the doorway before leading him out into the private neighbouring catacomb. ‘I wasn’t expecting you tonight.’

‘I hope that’s not your way of telling me you haven’t got my stuff.’

‘Of course not.’ Alexander grinned again, his dark eyes flashing. ‘When have I ever let you down?’

Kane followed him through to the back of the catacomb and into the makeshift office. He eased back on the sofa as Alexander crossed to the old metal filing cabinet.

He rifled through the top drawer before joining Kane on the sofas. He lay what looked like small plastic evidence bags on the glass tabletop between them, each small enough to hold in the palm of his hand. The first contained a tight-knit green herb, the next a bunch of brown leaves and the last a fine powder. Each was marked with symbols.

‘Mix it all together with warm water. They have to drink it all.’ He slid over a folded piece of paper. ‘They’re the words you utter. It should all take less than five minutes.’

‘You make it sound simple.’

‘It’s frighteningly simple, if you have the right ingredients. I’ve had to call in a lot of favours for these. Some of this stuff I haven’t seen for centuries. Trust me, the process is easy but finding the tools is not.’ He leaned back in the sofa. ‘Who’s the lucky victim?’

‘No questions, Alexander. That was our agreement.’ He sent Alexander an amiable smile, before gathering up the packets and tucking them inside his coat as he stood. ‘And you know I’ll return the favour. With gratitude.’

‘I know you will.’ He hesitated. ‘Rumour has it you’re after the VCU’s numero uno. ’

Kane smirked. ‘Is that right?’

His eyes narrowed with concern. ‘Am I?’

‘Questions, Alexander.’

‘I’ve never known anyone capable of removing a shadow reader’s soul, Kane. Just a friendly warning. Those things are locked down tighter than any other humans’. Either of you could end up damaged in the process.’

‘I’ll bear that in mind. What do I owe you?’

‘Some loyalty is all I ask. Defence if I need it.’

Kane nodded. ‘Goes without saying.’

‘But Tyler’s been causing some trouble again,’ he said, following Kane back across to the door. ‘And Tay.’

Kane stopped. He took a cigarette out of his top pocket and placed it between his lips. ‘What have they done now?’

‘Tyler’s had three open feeds. Full public view. One wasn’t willing. We had a gang of humans come round seeking revenge late last night. You know I don’t mind sharing my premises with vampires, but not ones out for trouble.’

‘Did you handle it?’

‘We sent the humans away with their tails between their legs. But if he keeps pushing it they’re going to come back and in greater numbers. We don’t need the hassle. And we sure as hell don’t need the VCU all over the place.’

‘I’ll sort him out,’ Kane said, stopping at the door. ‘What about Tay?’

‘Usual. I swear he’s in with them. The VCU and stuff, I mean. He’s got snitch written all over him. I don’t trust him.’

‘He’s done some work for Caleb hasn’t he?’

‘Caleb will kill him if he gets word. I know you’ve never met him, but trust me – Caleb doesn’t take any shit. That vampire rules that nightclub and the five blocks around it.’

‘So I’ve heard. Then make sure he knows. And if Caleb doesn’t do anything, I’ll gut Tay for him.’ He turned the handle.

‘Hey, Kane.’

Kane looked back across his shoulder at him.

‘There’s plenty would pay a good price for that shadow reader,’ Alexander said. ‘If you wanted to rethink.’

‘Are you saying you’re interested?’

‘I could make use of her.’

Kane smiled as he opened the door. ‘Trust me, she’s more trouble than she’s worth.’

‘A girl Kane can’t tame. Nice to know she’s living up to her reputation.’

‘Taming is all about letting them run wild first, Alexander. You know that. Let them think they have control.’

‘Well, you don’t want to be holding on to her too long. Rumour has it that girl’s parents were slain by some fourth-species being, and it’s coming for her. You might want to be done with her as quick as you can.’

‘Concern noted.’

‘We need you around here, Kane. I hope you know what you’re doing.’

Kane sent him a smile across his shoulder as he stepped back out into the catacomb. ‘Always.’

The woman who’d been sat on Alexander’s lap stood outside waiting, hovering though trying not to make it look obvious. She was certainly stunning. Tasteful too. She sauntered towards him with an appealing grace, only slightly inhibited by one drink too many. But the look in those doe eyes, framed by the heavy fringe of her bobbed hair, the upward curl of those full sensuous lips, told him she knew exactly what she was doing, the alcohol merely giving her the courage to approach him. Hopefully it had also given her enough courage to let him indulge in ways other than just a feed, especially with that nubile human body offering potential for so much more.

Alexander stepped up alongside his friend. ‘I see Mila’s caught your eye.’

‘Is she not yours?’

Alexander smiled as he handed Kane the key to his office. ‘Not for the next couple of hours apparently.’ He slapped him on the shoulder as he stepped away. ‘Although minimal damage would be appreciated – of her and the room.’

CHAPTER SIX

K
ane stood in the darkness. Her street was always quiet at this time of night. Another few hours and the place would be crawling with Curfew Enforcement Officers doing their rounds in Lowtown – ensuring all the non-residential vampires had crossed the border back into Blackthorn and that the vampires who had earned residence there were back in their homes. Then the district would be deemed safe again for the humans who opted to stay behind their barred windows and reinforced doors whenever nightfall came. Humans who hadn’t made it far enough up the social ranks to warrant a home across the closely guarded border into Midtown or the exclusive, elite, vampire-free Summerton.

Every locale was the same. Same principle, different district names. All there to suppress, repress and control. To keep the powerful in power. To keep the third species in their place.

Border control was always stronger at that time of the morning, but it would make no difference. To most it was an urban legend, but Kane knew of the underground tunnel that joined the two districts. And it would prove an asset tonight.

Kane took the back lane. He broke open the locks and bolts that held the shabby metal gate upright, the only rear entry into the courtyard. There was the usual Lowtown household security but the place wasn’t even being monitored, let alone guarded.

They may as well have offered her on a platter to him. Which seemingly they were.

Interesting.

He crossed the darkness with ease, the space visible only from a few barred side windows along the five-storey building.

He broke into the back door in three easy moves, despite the residents’ clear attempt at security, and made his way up the two dark flights of stairs. It took him no time to conquer the lock of her door and less than a second longer to slip inside.

The small apartment was heavily shadowed, silent apart from the resonance of Caitlin’s gentle breathing beyond the ajar door to his left. Her breathing was soft, subtle, melodic. The pace of a woman’s sleeping breaths had always enticed him. A perfect reminder of the rhythm of their life.

The open-plan living space had been recently cleaned but there was still a lingering male scent in the air. It was faint enough to tell him that whoever it had been, he’d not been there long. Kane stepped over to the coffee table and picked up one of the folders from the neat pile. He smiled to himself as he looked through the pages upon pages about him. The girl was thorough, he’d give her that.

He placed the folder back down and sauntered around the rest of the living room, past the dining table that she used as a desk. Her DVD collection was sparse, unlike the overflowing bookcase. Her taste in music was hard to determine from the eclectic handful of CDs shoved amongst them. Her choice of pre-Raphaelite pictures adorning the walls looked out of place in the otherwise minimalistic contemporary apartment she called home. There were no photos of friends or family. No ornaments other than the singular Pegasus he picked up from beside the TV. The place was nothing more than an office away from work.