Dark Flame (25 page)

He flew toward the east end of the building and began drifting through door after door, each leading to the normal rooms found in a production facility; cafeteria, bathrooms, offices for management.

At the north end, close to the executive offices, Brannick found what they needed. A spacious elevator.

He took the dreamglide within the elevator and rose up and up. The doors opened onto a private space guarded by two powerful fae warriors, each wearing tight, black t-shirts, black leathers and bearing an assortment of tattoos.

He flew through them and entered what turned out to be Roche’s private mansion. He stopped his forward movement, but rose to hover halfway to a tall twenty foot ceiling.

The bastard’s living area looked like the hotel of a fancy Las Vegas lobby with marble pillars and massive plants. The lighting made it look like it was high noon.

Juliet took his hand.
This is what seems so unfair about what men like Roche do. They build their fortunes on something that brings so much pain and suffering to tens of thousands of people, then build palaces.
She shook her head.

I’m with you on that. Roche should live at the end of that alley with the corpses and flies. That’s where he belongs.

You got that right.

Brannick didn’t need to see the rest of the place. He flew the dreamglide toward the fairly long foyer and a set of heavy, wood-carved double doors.

Shall we go outside?

Juliet nodded.
I’d really like to see where we are in Revel and in relation to the Graveyard. His home is probably in a fancy neighborhood.

As Brannick passed through the doors, the opposite of Juliet’s prediction was true.

Juliet glanced around. “Oh, my God. Well, if he wanted to disguise his location, this would do it.”

“This is unbelievable.”

The street onto which Roche’s house emptied used to be a strip-mall but now only showcased a long row of derelict storefronts. A Revel patrol SUV cruised by, then another.

Roche’s men?
Juliet asked.

Undoubtedly. In order to live in an area that would usually be overrun by homeless addicts by now, he’d need his security force patrolling constantly.

Brann, look to the south. The street is blocked with a lot of barbed wire.

I see it. And to the north, not fifty yards away is the Graveyard.

Juliet turned around.
You wouldn’t know this was his home.

Brannick dipped his chin.
Not in a million years.

The abandoned row of storefronts had boarded up windows as though preparing for a hurricane. Colorful graffiti created an odd yet striking panorama across the entire face. Desert weeds and cactus had filled in the torn up asphalt of the parking lot.

Juliet shook her head.
I have to give him credit. He chose his location well, because who would want to live this close to the Graveyard?

He glanced at her and saw that she’d wrinkled up her nose. That’s when he smelled it as well.
Jesus, that has to be a decaying body. Well, Roche is nothing if not innovative. And I’ll bet he makes sure when his addicted workers die, he lets a few rot out here to keep everyone else away

Juliet pursed her lips.
So, how do we do this? How do we tear down the factory without killing hundreds of innocent people?

Brannick thought for a moment.
I’ve been thinking about it this whole time. We won’t be able to tear it down all at once. If we did, we’d have a war on our hands. But now that I’ve seen the layout, you and I and maybe some others could begin to strategize a long-term plan. If we do anything else, the cartels will get involved and that might do a helluva lot more harm than good.

Juliet’s large blue eyes glimmered with excitement.
Then this is how we’ll start, you and me. If we take it slow and we’re clever, if Roche doesn’t find out what we’re up to, we can chip away at every vile establishment in Revel.

Brannick added,
We can operate in the same way I’ve run my tunnels. We’ll choose our targets carefully, use the dreamglide to figure out how best to structure each mission, and eventually we can bring this organization down, one bad guy at a time. If we keep our identities a secret, there can be no retaliation.

Juliet smiled.
So, we’re partners.

Yes, we are.

Then I suggest we return to the cottage and start putting a plan together.

He headed the dreamglide back to Agnes’s compound, and because the formation of a thought created the destination, within seconds, they were back in the cottage living room.

But he didn’t drop out of the dream state. Instead, he took Juliet in his arms. “Don’t leave the dreamglide yet. Be with me. Right here.”

“What? No, Brann, I already told you. I’m not doing that.”

He kissed her. He knew what he was doing was wrong, but he wanted to be with her. And he knew she had a weakness for him. Hell, he was pretty sure the woman was in love with him.

Brann, no.

Yes.
He dragged his tongue over her lips.

I can’t do this.

She tried to pull away from him, but he held her fast. Being with her had ramped him up. He’d wanted to make love to her from the moment he’d entered the dreamglide, but her excitement about taking on Roche’s empire had added gasoline to the fire.

Let me make love to you one last time.

It wouldn’t be a last time, and you know it.

He drew back, but held her gaze. “I want to make love to you. Do you remember what it was like last time, the wind, the movement, the thrill?”

“Of course I do. It was amazing. But you don’t want me in real-time.”

His eyelids grew heavy. “Oh, I want you something fierce, just like I do now. Please, Juliet. Please.” He didn’t mind begging.

His gaze dropped to her swollen lips. He kissed her again and this time, her lips parted for him.

Then he knew he had her.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Juliet loved the feel of Brannick’s tongue in her mouth, pulsing as it always did. She loved his body, the way she could feel different muscles flex and release and how it took so little for his arousal to start pressing against her thigh or her abdomen.

She knew she shouldn’t do this, but the time spent with Brann hunting through Roche’s domain had excited her. They’d ended up with a solid commitment to build a secret resistance movement to the drug-related horrors that haunted all of Five Bridges. She could feel a powerful vampire electricity flowing from his body, and she wanted it, all of it, inside her, pushing hard.

Despite her good intentions, she was going to do this thing with Brann, though every cell in her body warned her against it.

She drew back and unbuttoned her vest. His eyes flared and he dipped quickly to kiss the mounds of her breasts. She was already breathing hard. This would be quick and amazing.

When he drew back and began to remove his shirt, that’s when things turned sizzling hot. Real-time and the dreamglide merged suddenly and in real-time, Brann pulled her up from the couch and mirrored what he was doing in the dreamglide. She couldn’t believe it.

She gave a cry and got herself out of her leathers as fast as she could before the real-time Brann changed his mind. Brannick lost the rest of his clothes as well.

As before, the wind-like element began to flow through the dreamglide as though the passion each of them felt whipped the space into a fury of movement.

The couch was too damn small, so he drew her down to the floor. In real-time, she ran her fingers through his brown hair. He looked panicked, but she could tell he wasn’t going to put a stop to things.

He pushed her legs part with his knees then settled in-between. He was fully erect, and she was streaming, so ready for him. As he pushed inside, she gave a cry. She was one with Brann on the floor of the cottage in real-time, yet experiencing the wind of the dreamglide.

Passion flowed so strong, but still she caught his face in her hands. “Tell me straight up that you know you started this.”

“I know. I did. This is on me.”

“Good.” She had no illusions about Brann’s conscious self. But it didn’t matter, not when he possessed her body as he did with his cock drawing in and out and hitting her just right.

She arched her back and a long cry left her mouth of sheer pleasure. The wind whipped around her, as the dreamglide reflected how she felt and what Brann was doing.

Heat radiated from his body and the humming electrical field of his vampire nature tingled wherever his body met hers.

He nudged her neck, and she cried out again. “Yes, do it, Brann, I want to feed you.”

A quick strike came next, which sent a thrill between her legs. More sizzle and heat.

He began to drink, grunting with each thrust of his cock and pull on her neck. She felt her life force leaving her and flowing down his throat.

She could feel his muscles bulking up as they’d done before each time she’d fed him. He drove deeper now, curling his hips. She glided her hands down his back and caressed his ass, loving the way it moved up and back and the way it arched, which gave her so much pleasure.

That’s when she let everything go. She became one with him, feeling what he felt, savoring his body, the feeling of him drinking. Pleasure built like a bonfire. The dreamglide wind buffeted her, adding another layer of sensation.

On he drove.
I’m going to come, Juliet. I’m so hard for you. Are you ready for me, Baby? You ready to come?

“I am. All you have to do is go a little faster or a lot, doing that vampire thing you do.” She moaned at the thought of it.

He released her neck and swiped at the wounds. He was glowing as well, a silvery aura around his body. She probably was as well.

When he lifted up, he held her gaze. “Come with me, Baby. Come now.”

He increased the rhythm of his hips, going faster and faster.

She stared into his intense green eyes. She breathed in heavy gulps as ecstasy bore down on her, the wind of the dreamglide sweeping over her body.

“Brann.” She cried out his name as pleasure began to flow.

He kept looking at her, driving harder and faster.

He roared his passion, his eyes glowing, his body an electrical current that kept taking her to the heights, over and over. The wind carried her back and forth as well.

She cried out again and again, her chest expanding, her heart on fire.

When the wind began to die down, and his hips slowed then finally stopped, she lay with her arms stretched out to the sides, gasping for breath.

He kissed her neck, her cheeks, her forehead then lingered on her lips. She took his tongue inside and suckled gently, wanting him to know how much she loved doing this with him.

When her breathing had evened out and she looked up at him, he wore his serious expression once more. His brows were pinched tightly together. “What if in all this I lose you the way I lost my family or worse, the way my sister died? Do you understand?”

She knew what lay beneath his words. “Does it really matter how I die? Or when? I’m choosing to go down this path. In fact, I think I made this choice five months ago when I met you in the White Flame. Resistance fighters don’t tend to survive the war, and I’ve already accepted my fate.

“Don’t get me wrong. I plan to stay alive. But even if you ended our business arrangement, I’d find another way to battle men like Roche. Do you understand? I’m in this fight ‘til the end.”

“I don’t think it’s that simple,” he said.

“I know you don’t. But for me it is.”

He looked around and grabbed his t-shirt, shoving it between her legs as he pulled out of her.

She could tell he was really upset as he rose. “I’ll be back. I need to figure things out. But a shower sounds really good.”

She let him go. As he’d done before, he was using the shower as an excuse to create distance. She’d said all she could say, and now that he was in full possession of their dreamglide conversations, he knew she spoke the truth. She’d held nothing back from him during the five months he’d been her lover.

She also knew his sister’s death had terrorized him as nothing else could have, causing him to withdraw from all close relationships. She didn’t blame him. She wasn’t much different. She valued both Agnes and Mary, but she’d never truly confided in either. She’d kept her cards as close to the vest as Brann had, at least until she’d seduced him in the dreamglide and he’d opened up to her. Then she’d told him everything about herself, her fears and hopes, even about her marriage.

Maybe time would resolve the issue between them, maybe it wouldn’t. But for now, she knew enough to give Brann plenty of space.

She stood up, gathered her clothes and headed to the small, downstairs bathroom. She cleaned up as best she could in the half-bath then got dressed again.

She loved sex. She wondered if she was even normal for how much she enjoyed being with a man she loved.

When her choice of words hit her mind, she mentally repeated themselves over and over:
The man she loved
.

The man she loved.

She loved Brannick so much. On some level, of course she had from the first. But it was a hard thing to accept she was in love with someone who might never be able to return that love.

She left the bathroom, and had just reached the dining area near the bottom of the stairs, when a loud explosion rocked the space all around her. Yet there was no debris. She turned in a circle, but she didn’t see any real damage.

It didn’t make sense.

She started to feel dizzy and very strange. Her dreamglide called to her, pulling her toward it.

Brann. It had to be Brann. He’d made a decision about her, about them.

Joy rushed through her so fast she cried out.

She gave herself to the dreamglide and in a blink was inside. At first she didn’t understand, because the space was hazy with black smoke. And the smell was bad.

She didn’t get it at first, except that it appeared the explosion had occurred within her dreamglide.

That’s when she understood exactly what had happened. Roche had finally broken through and her reckless entrance into the dreamglide made it too late to do anything to protect herself.