Broken Heart 02 Don't Talk Back to Your Vampire (9 page)

"Sorry, guys, I gotta go." The creatures paused and stared at me. Feeling guilty about the temporary abandonment, I held out my hands in supplication. "I'll be right back."

That seemed to satisfy them. I hurried into the street, then ran at warp vampire speed. The cemetery was nearly ten miles away, but I got there in no time flat. I stopped at the edge of the woods, hesitating. The unspoken rule was that this area was off-limits. Three months ago, the Wraiths, vampires who thought world domination was a fine idea, had caused some problems for us. The Consortium responded to the threats by blowing up the cavern the Wraiths had been hiding in and, along with it, most of the Wraiths.

I'm at the edge of the woods
, I sent out.
How do I find you
?

Don't! Get away! Nooooo!

Pain swiped at me as terror filled my mind like a heavy black cloud. Like one of those stupid girls in a
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slasher flick, I plunged into the dank darkness. Within seconds, my acute hearing picked up familiar growls and the mewling cry of a hurt animal. I followed the noises until I found a tiny clearing.

Hanging from the limb of a large oak tree was a small wire cage. Inside it was a sleek golden cat—Lucifer. She cowered and hissed, her eyes wide with panic as she scrambled around trying to find purchase. I'd be fritzing too if a seven-foot-tall beast was playing "smash the piñata" with me.

I recognized the lycan as the alpha that had chased me the previous night. But who had captured the cat and put her in the cage? The creature jumped and swatted the cage again, causing it to whip back and forth.

Help me! Help me!

I stared at the cat. I was way out of my element. I darted away and ducked behind a tree. No cell phone, damn it. I'd rushed out to this location without telling anyone, not even Tamara.

Lorcan
. He was the one who could really help me.

The lycan's frustrated roar made the cat cry louder.

Help me! Help me! Help me!

Hold on, sweetie
, I projected.

Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!

I wondered if I could use the mind-meld thing with Lorcan. He'd been an animal of sorts once, right?

Without any real hope of succeeding, I sent out the thought:
Lorcan? I wish you were here
.

"Didn't I tell you to stay out of the woods?"

"Aaaaaaaaaah!" I scrambled away. Crap, crap, oh crap! Not two inches from the spot I had occupied was Lorcan. He squatted next to the tree, looking at me with raised eyebrows. Gold sparkles faded from his body.

"Are you
insane
? You just appeared out of thin air! Holy God!" I gestured at him like a mad scientist berating his lab monster. "You scared me to death!"

"I didn't incur your death that way at all."

I gaped at him, then snapped, "You might not want to choose a career as a comedian." Obviously, he hadn't been joking, but heavens above, he didn't have to wallow in the morbid every hour of the day.

Argh! I was furious that he—he—just
popped
next to me without warning. But I was also relieved that he had arrived to save the day. I climbed to my feet. "How the Sam Hill did you know where I was?"

If I'd hoped to receive confirmation that my mental calls had reached him, I was sorely disappointed.

"Why did you come here?" he asked, pointedly ignoring my question. His voice was as emotionless as his gaze.

Well, he wasn't the only one who didn't have to answer questions. Besides, what was I supposed to

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say?
Hey, I heard a cat's telepathic plea for help, but I'm not crazy or anything
. Instead, I pointed toward the clearing. "Save the little fur-ball from becoming a lycan snack."

In the blink of an eye, Lorcan rose, zipped to me, and grabbed my arm. He looked down at me, his silver gaze gleaming with anger. "We will discuss your disobedience later."

"Disobedience!" I wasn't sure if what I felt was disbelief or anger. "What century do you think we're living in? You can't tell me what to do."

"Yes, I can. Stay here," he ordered. "Or
you
will be a lycan snack."

I frowned at Lorcan. Was that statement meant. to be protective or was it meant to be a threat? I didn't have a chance to ask for clarification, because he rose into the air and flew toward the clearing. The growls and screeches still echoed in the forest, which meant the beast hadn't gotten the cage down yet.

"Well," I huffed as I crept toward the ongoing melee, "
somebody
got out of the wrong side of the coffin today."

I ducked behind a clump of bushes and peeked over the tangle of leaves. The lycan's
parfum de sewer
attacked my nose in such a heinous way that I pinched my nostrils shut.

Lorcan alighted on the limb and drew up the chain holding the cat's cage. The lycan howled, leaping and swiping to no avail. The second that Lorcan opened the cage door, Lucifer lit out of it like her tail was on fire. She skittered up the tree to a high branch, then leapt to another tree. She repeated this pattern until she was long gone. If that wasn't just like a cat! Not even a "Well, so long and thanks for all the fish" as she left her rescuers in mortal jeopardy.

Lorcan yanked the chain off, then dropped the cage onto the lycan's big, furry head. The creature shrieked in pain as the cage bounced off and rolled onto the ground. It stomped on the cage, clutching its skull and yowling.

Feeling sorry for it, I dared a peek into its mind.

Once, he had been a vampire. I grabbed that much from his lumbering memories, but no name, no Family connection. And I got those same flashes—the pain, the blood, the chains—as I had with him and the other two last night. Who had locked him up? Tortured him? And let him go in Broken Heart?

Not sure what to do, I glanced up at Lorcan. If I hadn't had super vamp hearing, I wouldn't have heard the words he whispered: "
Níl neart air
. I must release you to Tír na Marbh."

He sailed out of the tree and dropped to the ground. To my utter shock, a sword made of sparkling gold light appeared in his hands. Lorcan's eyes were filled with compassion and sorrow as he raised the blade.

"Lorcan!" I leapt from my spot and landed in front of the lycanthrope. I crossed my arms to block his
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blow and he cursed a Gaelic blue streak as his wrist smacked into mine. The blade tumbled from his grip.

The minute it left his hand, it sparkled into nothingness.

"What the bloody hell are you doing? I nearly took your pretty head off!"

"Wait just a—" I blinked at him. "You think I'm pretty?"

His mouth dropped open. Then his lips thinned and his silver eyes went flat. "Leave it to a woman to find a compliment in the fiercest of words." He put his hands together and the sparkling gold light sword reappeared. "Get out of the way, Eva, and let me put the poor soul out of his misery."

"No." I whirled around, my heart pounding—from confronting the scary lycan or telling off vampire royalty, I didn't know. I kneeled in front of the hairy, smelly creature. "There, there. It's okay. What's your name?"

The lycan stared at me, a gleam of intelligence in his dark eyes. He pointed to his mouth and shook his head.

"You can't speak. Okay. Then think it."

Faustus.

"Faustus."

Images filtered from him: his struggle among dark-robed figures, taken into a shadowy room that smelled of antiseptic, forced onto a steel table and bound with thick chains. Syringes took out blood and others injected the substance that had turned him into the mutated lycan.

"He was turned into a hybrid against his will." I looked at Lorcan and flinched at the steely expression in his eyes.

The lycan's roar warned me. I whirled around in time to get swooped into his big, furry embrace. I yelled, "Let me go!"

The lycan released me instantly. Experimentally, I pointed at him and said, "Sit."

His big butt hit the ground. He looked up at me like he was a puppy instead of a murderous Bigfoot.

"Stay."

Lorcan grabbed my elbow and yanked me out of Faustus's grasp. "What the hell is going on? How do you know about him? How can you make him obey you?"

I tapped my temple.

"Glamouring does not usually include telepathy," he said.

"You've seen the nightly act, Lor. Animals love me. This might be crazy, but I think I can communicate with animals who can also take human form. Or who were human at some point."

Lorcan looked at me as though I'd plunged his glittering sword into his heart.

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"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Of course." He shook off whatever was bothering him. As Lorcan studied the lycan, I thought about Lucifer. I'd heard her thoughts—they were very human. If my hypothesis was correct, then she had been a human at some point. And if
that
was true… who was she?

Then Lorcan touched my elbow and nodded toward Faustus. "I can't transport all three of us. Will he follow you?"

"I don't know." I looked at the lycan. "Where do you want to take him?"

"My brother's house. It's closer than the compound, and it has suitable… facilities."

I looked at Lorcan. "I won't let you hurt him."

"I figured that out after you threw yourself in front of my blade." His hand drifted to my hair. I felt his long fingers stroke my temple. "Beheading is one of the few ways to kill a vampire."

"I know."

"You are either brave or foolish."

"Probably both." I felt unnerved by Lorcan's gentleness. It was like being touched by velvet wrapped around a sword point—one slip of the velvet, and I'd be cut by the sword. I stepped away from him.

How was I supposed to react to his touch, to the look in his eyes? I had no doubt he was still angry with me. I was angry with myself. I'd used up my allotment of dumb decisions in my lifetime; I shouldn't have tried to rescue Lucifer without help.

"I'm sorry," I said.

He blinked at me. "What?"

"Do you only recognize an apology when it comes from your own lips?" I smiled to soften the reprimand.

"I endangered myself by coming out here alone. I'm grateful you showed up and prevented me from doing something really stupid." I swallowed hard, filled up by emotions I couldn't name. "Thank you."

He stared at me, his silver eyes mercurial. "You are welcome,
a stóirín
."

I looked at Faustus.
We're going to help you. Get up, okay
? The lycan got to his feet, then grasped my hand lightly with his large, furry one, as if he realized his strength might hurt me. Of course, he couldn't really hurt me—a vampire healed quickly of most injuries.

Expectant, we both turned to Lorcan.

"We'll walk," he said. He strode around us and we followed. Vamp vision allowed me to see him clearly and I must admit I admired his backside. My heart hitched as I thought about what Lorcan must look like without his clothes. Although I'd seen his yummy chest, I couldn't help but think about the rest of him.