Defeat the Darkness (Hearts of Darkness) (24 page)

Once the idea entered his head, it seemed brilliant. They had so much to discuss, what with Max worried about her test results. The sooner he met with Kyle the better. They needed to discuss the virus in Shelby’s blood.

Chapter 30 Discussion

Kyle wasn’t surprised to receive the text from Max late last night. After seeing him in the alley yesterday morning, he figured he had more questions. Only, the text sounded ominous. Max warned him he had information about Shelby that Kyle should know about. He still had questions about her physical condition, so they were even.

He glanced at his watch. He scheduled the meeting for right after sundown to keep from unnecessarily burning up energy in the light. Max should be arriving any minute. As Kyle settled in, waiting for his friend to arrive, he did a mental check in with Dylan.

Meeting Max at the cemetery in St. Loupe was Garr’s idea. The wolves were too territorial to invite humans into their midst, but they wanted to be sure he wasn’t followed. The wolves could watch out for strangers and remain hidden in the woods. He and Max could speak freely and Dylan planned to stay back in the shadows in case the wolves missed something and Amyra showed up.

Dylan touched their mental link.
He just arrived. He’s alone and the wolves don’t sense anyone else nearby.

Make sure we have Shelby covered.

She’s fine. The team I put on her checked in a minute ago.

Kyle senses were animal sensitive lately, even in his vampire form. He smelled Max before he saw him or heard him. Kyle stepped out of the shadows to greet him.

His friend walked up to the gate and glanced around. “What made you come up with the gruesome idea of meeting out here?” Max tilted his head in the direction of the large mausoleum’s wrought iron gate with the head of a snarling wolf.

Kyle would have laughed at the irony if he’d been in a better mood. Instead, he acted sullen. “Hadn’t noticed. It’s quiet. Isolated.” Kyle felt Max’s tension sending waves of anger into the surrounding air. How much did they have to say to each other under the circumstances? “I can think more clearly out here. So why are we
here
?”

“Look, Kyle, I won’t pretend to understand what happened to you in the jungle, and if you don’t want to talk about it, fine—”

“Let’s get to the point. You said something about Shelby’s blood?”

“Yeah, besides the drugs, I found something else. The virus I found in her blood is unidentifiable by our standards. It appears to be mutating her blood cells.”

Kyle’s blood turned to ice water in his veins, and he had to fight back his fear or risk unleashing his demon. Lately, it was closer to the surface, waiting, always ready for the first opportunity to burst free. Now wouldn’t be the best time for him to lose it.

“What kind of virus?”

“The closest I could come, while comparing it to other viruses with similar characteristics that infected humans, was cat scratch fever. But it isn’t that either.”

Kyle was careful not to show any emotion, even though his heart raced within his chest wall like a runner at the end of a marathon. He racked his memories of that night in Guatemala trying to remember details. Who bit Shelby? Had he?

“What sort of symptoms is she manifesting?”

“That’s just it. None, since that first week. I attributed most of her nightmares and hallucinations to the drug. She was eaten-up with bites when she returned and suffered from reoccurring fevers, so I checked her for Malaria.”

If he was the one who infected Shelby, it meant they’d been together that night. So why couldn’t he remember the last few hours before morning?

“What kind of bites?”

“Bug bites, mosquito and flies, I figured. One or two became inflamed and infected. She tested negative for everything. I contacted Dr. Salazar, but he didn’t have any explanations about the fever. He sent me information about the drugs that woman used, and I did a blood cleanse on her. I told him about her blood and he offered to look at the results. But after I sent him her blood tests with the strange blood cell mutation, he never returned my calls.”

“He’s actually here. He probably left before you sent them.”

Dylan relayed a message from Victor. According to Dylan, he never got the reports. That idea worried him. If Salazar left before Max sent the reports, then Amyra had access to them.

Max gripped his arm. “Can you talk to Salazar? Ask him if he’d be willing to look at my data?”

“Of course. Don’t worry, Max. If her symptoms aren’t getting any worse, maybe she’s fighting off whatever she had.”

Max shook his head and dropped to sit on a nearby stone. He scrubbed his hands down his face and then stared up at Kyle. “I tested her blood yesterday. It’s still mutating.”

Kyle’s stomach turned. “I’ll talk to him and get back to you. You stay close to Shelby. Don’t let her out of your sight. I think that woman may be in town.”

“What’s her deal with you, anyway?”

“I don’t know.” Kyle shrugged. “A woman scorned, maybe. I wasn’t interested, so she was determined to get even. I never imagined she’d go this far.”

“How far?” Max looked worried and damn well should be.

Kyle had to convince him that this was deadly serious. “Murder.”

Max spun around. “What the hell?” He searched Kyle’s face. Max’s expression was stunned when he asked, “Who?”

“No one we know. The police called in a friend of mine who occasionally consults for them. A couple was discovered murdered not far from Shelby’s apartment. My friend contacted me when he got there because there was something unusual about the victims. When I arrived, I agreed. The eerie part about the killing was that the guy looked remarkably like me and the woman, like Shelby.”

“Coincidence?”

“I wish.”

“What do you make of it?”

“Nothing good. The woman’s heart was ripped out of her chest and placed in the guy’s hands.”

“Geezus! Would that woman do such a thing?”

“Amyra is just evil enough to have done something like that.” Kyle poked Max in the chest, warning him, “Watch your back and Shelby’s. I have a few friends who are operating a neighborhood watch in the area. But I’ll feel better knowing you’re with her.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to help find that bitch and turn her over to the proper authorities.” That sounded normal enough, even though the proper authorities were the vampire council and a wolf pack. No need to go there.

“Don’t do anything stupid—”

“I’m only volunteering to be the bait, not the hero. The authorities assured me they’ll keep close track of me.”

“Ah, Kyle? Maybe you should also know that Shelby’s trying to track you down. She wants to find you and she’s trying to solicit my help.”

Kyle stared at Max trying to read his friend, and held his breath. “What did you tell her?”

“I told her that you knew where to find her if you were interested.”

“Whoa!” A curse escaped without him thinking. It must have been hard for Max to say something that callous to her. It was more like the attitude he took with most other women. Never with her. “That was cold, even for you.”

“Yeah. She said the same thing.” He squirmed uncomfortably under Kyle’s scrutiny. “You wanted me to keep your secret. I needed to distract her. She can always tell when I’m lying.”

“Humph. So you hurt her to keep her away from me?”

“You said it was for her own good. Wasn’t that the truth? Because I believe if you could find a way to make this right, you still would.”

“If. But not likely.” He shook his head and ground his teeth.

If only things were different.
The ripple across his back forced him to shrug.

“I want her, Kyle. And I don’t feel right pursuing a relationship with her under the circumstances. You two need to settle what’s between you.”

“I settled it that night in Guatemala.”

“She doesn’t think so, not anymore.”

“What are you talking about?”

“She’s remembering more details. She heard you call out her name and realized you had to have been drugged, too.”

“Well, talk her out of it. I don’t want to be the reason she gets hurt, Max. Not again. And if she pursues this, believe me, I’ll hurt her.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I told you. She’s in danger.”

“Are you saying she’s in danger from you?”

“From me, because of me—what’s the difference, Max? Leave it alone. I can’t explain—”

The sound of low growls began rumbling out from deep in the woods.

“Did you hear that?” Max jumped up, glancing around and then focused his attention on the woods.

“Sounds like growling coming from that stand of trees?” Max started in that direction, but Kyle grabbed his arm and held him back.

The wolves were warning Kyle to shut up. They made it clear that
no
humans other than their special employees were permitted to know about their existence. Max’s line of questioning skirted the subject too closely.

“Careful. May be a pack of wild dogs out there,” Kyle said, to scare Max off.

“Yeah, you could be right, but—”

“Hey, I need to get back. I’ll call you as soon as I can find and setup a meeting with Salazar. You keep Shelby safe and away from me.”

The growling in the distance stopped, but Max glanced back nervously in the direction where Garr and the others were positioned. “You need a ride somewhere?”

Kyle patted Max on the shoulder. “No thanks. My ride’s just down the road.”

“You going back through the woods?”

“No. Through the cemetery. I parked on a side road back there. I’ll call you.” Kyle walked away with remarkable control considering how volatile his emotions felt.

As soon as he was well hidden by the underbrush, he traced to where Dylan had met up with Garr and the wolves.

“What do you think?” he asked Dylan.

“I think if you want to keep her alive, you need to bring her back here. We’ll help her through this.”

“If what he said about her blood is true, someone or something infected her,” Salazar said.

“I keep having flashes of memories, but nothing more than the scent of her blood.” Kyle licked his lips and remembered the fragrance and the rich sweet taste. His head swam and his knees buckled. He sat on an old headstone close by, before he fell down and embarrassed himself. “Me?”

“It doesn’t matter now.” Garr offered him a hand up and clapped him on the back. “The full moon is two nights away. We don’t have much time to prepare her for her first shift. Go get her.”

“I don’t know if I can face her. What have I done?”

“Kyle, there’s no choice,” Dylan said. “Garr’s right. You want me to come with you?”

“Allow me,” Victor Salazar offered, stepping forward. “She and I have met before, and although it was under terrible circumstances, I believe she came to trust me.”

“Good idea, Victor. Being a doctor, you can spew all that medical mumbo jumbo, with confidence,” Garr said. “Dylan, will just go all mental.”

“You may need me to probe her memories to discover if this was you, Kyle or some other jaguar, or worse yet, Amyra. It will help us to know what she’ll be facing,” Dylan pointed out.

“You’ll get your chance, Dylan. Victor and I will bring her to your place.” Kyle wondered how to explain his change of heart to Max. “Now all I have to figure out is what to do about Max. Have any suggestions?” He’d just finished telling him to keep her away from him. Now he was ready to go in and kidnap her if necessary.

“Tell him what he would expect to hear—you’re hiding her out until Amyra is located. He’ll believe that,” Garr suggested.

“He may believe it, but he isn’t going to like it,” Kyle mumbled. “He won’t be comfortable being out of the loop.”

Dylan added, “We’ll come up with something else later after I have a chance to talk to the council. Now get going, Kyle.”

Kyle and the two vampires traced to where Kyle had hidden his Jeep. He opened the passenger door for Victor and said, “Hop in, doc, and buckle up.”

Kyle shut the door and walked around to the driver’s side of his Jeep. After he slipped behind the wheel, he told Dylan, “I’ll call Max and fill him in on the way. He can be prepared to take our side when Shelby balks. I’ll make sure he doesn’t warn her that we’re coming.”

He pushed the call button, put the phone on speaker, and waited for the call to go through as he pushed the engine through the back roads.

Kyle assumed Max would go along with the plan for the time being, but when he had time to think it over, they had better have some reasonable explanation to account for the change in Shelby. Max wasn’t going to accept a line of bull—not when it came to her.

“Max? Is Shelby at home?”

“No. She’s volunteering at the clinic. Why?”

“Victor Salazar and I are heading into town. I need to take her some place safe. Remember that danger I mentioned? It’s worse than we thought.”

“You also said you were the danger. You didn’t want to endanger her—”

“Doctor Hamilton, this is Victor Salazar. I reviewed the DNA data you sent me. I need to examine Shelby and run a few more tests, but Kyle wants to do them some place where she’ll be protected.”