Enemy Within (Vampire Born Trilogy, #2) (36 page)

The thought terrorizes me.

My phone vibrates on the pillow next to me and anticipation fills me. I roll over, expecting it to be a text from Brooke saying she fell asleep. I swipe my thumb across the screen and pull up the message.

BROOKE:
Im ok. Dont worry. Im @ my house w Kaitlynn. We needed 2 get away for a bit. Will b over after the sun comes up.

I read the message again in case my tired eyes aren’t seeing clearly. When the words don’t change, I toss the phone on the nightstand and roll out of bed.

What is she thinking?

I curse and stab my foot into my jeans. I don’t expect her to be a prisoner in this house, but I expect her to tell me when she wants to leave. And leaving in the middle of the night is even more foolish than sneaking into my room.

When clothes hang in all the right places, I snatch the phone off the table and march out of the house, grabbing the Land Rover keys from the dish in the foyer on my way out.

I take Beech Avenue once I get into town. I’ve never been to Brooke’s house, but my GPS knows the address. I turn it off when I get across town and spot Kaitlynn’s Jeep in the driveway. I pull in behind it and hop out.

My sneakers make a hollow thud against the old, wood planks as I climb the stairs and walk across the porch to the front door. I almost walk in but decide knocking will scare Brooke a little more, so I tap the door and cover the peephole.

Serves her right.

Her light footfalls sound as she pads to the door. There’s a beat of silence. “Who is it?” she asks sternly.

“Open the damn door,” I reply.

Once the locks disengage, I push the door open. “What the hell were you thinking?” I want to grab her shoulders and shake her.

She shuts the door and folds her arms, scowling at me. “I was thinking that I was sick of being in a house with everyone, but feeling more alone with my thoughts than I felt comfortable with. I was thinking that if I could just get some fresh air, that invisible slab of concrete wouldn’t be able to crush my lungs. I was thinking if I had to endure one more achingly long minute in my own bed, I would crawl out of my skin.”

“Mirko?” Kaitlynn interrupts us.

I hesitate, but I can’t shrug off Kaitlynn. She’s been through too much and deserves more than that. The argument will have to wait. Probably a good thing anyway, because I’m not sure yet how I want it to go. “Hey, how have you been doing with your transition?”

“Okay, I guess. What’s going on?”

“I should be asking you two the same question.” I walk over to the couch and sit. I prop my ankle on my other knee, making myself at home, ready for their story.

Brooke and Kaitlynn eye each other. “Do you want to tell him, or should I?” Brooke asks.

Kaitlynn strides over to the couch and sits down. Brooke hesitates by the door.

“What’s going on with you two?” Kaitlynn asks.

“Later,” I say.

“All right,” Kaitlynn says and sighs. “I can feel people.”

I appraise her, my brows stitching together. “What do you mean? In what way?”

Kaitlynn glances back at Brooke, who nods an assurance. “I know where people are because I can feel them.”

My heart speeds up, but I focus on breathing to control it. None of this makes any sense. “But you had Nestati. Do you still have it?”

“I don’t know.” Kaitlynn holds her hand out and it blinks in and out.

“I guess you do,” I say.

Brooke’s jaw drops. “No way! How can she do that? She just thinks about it and it happens for her?”

So many thoughts tumble through my mind, but my answer comes automatically. “For one thing, she’s not trying to fight it. And another, when she was turned, all of her pathways were opened up to the Zao Duh aspects of herself. You had to work to get to yours.”

“Oh,” Brooke says and smiles at Kaitlynn.

I’m not as easily distracted. “Can you feel me?” I ask Brooke.

She chews the inside of her cheek. “No,” she says.

“Can you feel anyone?”

She shakes her head. “No. No one.”

“Well, then how can you?” I ask Kaitlynn. Of course she won’t be able to answer that, but I’m thinking out loud.

She shrugs. “I just do. From the moment I woke up.”

“That would mean you have both Nestati and
Locirati.” The one alone should be impossible. But two …?

“Loca what?” Brooke asks.

“Locirati. She can locate people by feeling where they are physically.” I study Brooke, the way her bottom lip pouts naturally and how her gaze turns down, almost afraid to meet my eyes. “And you’ve never felt that? Not once?”

She peers up at me. “No, I’ve never known where someone was like she can.” Brooke looks at Kaitlynn and moves to rest a hand on her shoulder.

Kaitlynn closes her eyes.

“David,” Brooke whispers. “She can’t feel him.”

Damn.

“I’m sorry, Kaitlynn.” I reach over and rub Kaitlynn’s other shoulder. “Really, I am.”

She gives me a tight smile, but her eyes convey all the hurt and torment consuming her. She’s hid it pretty well before we mentioned David, so distracting her again is the best thing I can do.

“It’s possible
Locirati runs in your bloodline,” I explain to Brooke.

“So, you’re not aware of any of my relatives who had it?”

I shake my head. “I’d have to ask Zladislov.”

Could Kaitlynn …?

I sit up and drop my leg. “Can you feel Zladislov?”

Kaitlynn’s eyes grow distant before she smiles. “Yes! He’s south of here. I’m not sure where, but probably only two or three hours. I could lead you there.”

I clap my hands together and stand. “Grab your things. Let’s go.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-THR
EE

Brooke

Mirko, Ace, Hawk, Kaitlynn, and I perch on top of a North Carolina cliff overlooking a large house and a manmade lake in the middle of the woods.

“Zladislov’s in there,” Kaitlynn says, sounding as certain as she did the first time she said it.

“After a four-hour road trip, I hope you’re right,” Mirko says.

Ace mentioned earlier that it should’ve taken us only three hours to reach this location north of and between Winston-Salem and Greensboro, but Kaitlynn argued that she didn’t come with GPS to navigate the winding roads. Her gift works in a more linear fashion.

That shut him up.

I still can’t believe her accuracy in leading us here. I trust her completely. If she says my dad’s in there, then he’s in there. And I love the way she sees her power as a gift, and not something negative like I did when I first found out what I was.

“Are they going to let you see him?” Kaitlynn asks, sitting shotgun. I’m in the back of the Land Rover. It’s probably better this way with the weird tension between Mirko and me.

“We’re about to find out.” Mirko puts the car in reverse and winds his way down to the road we found while peering over the cliff.

“What’s the plan?” Ace asks from the back seat.

“We walk up, knock on the door, and ask to see Zladislov.”

“And if they say no?” Kaitlynn asks.

“They really can’t stop me,” I say. “I’ll flex inside and use Nestati until I find him.”

Mirko’s dark brows lower at me. “Your powers can be useful, and now could be one of those times, but not if it means you always go off alone. I can’t back you up or be inside there with you if you get spotted. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

“But I could,” Kaitlynn interjects, having my back like the badass best friend she is. “I’ll walk in with you if you only use Nestati.”

I smile and reach my hand forward to her. Kaitlynn grabs it and we have a BFF moment. I can’t remember the last time we had one of those. I made a mistake not telling her about Mirko and me. She wouldn’t have said anything to anyone. And after she led us to my dad out in the middle of nowhere—and everything else she’s gone through this week—I know she can handle anything I throw at her.

“It won’t get to that point,” Mirko says, agitated. “You said you wanted to see your dad, so I’m trying to make that happen. But this is not a game. You will follow my orders as I order them.”

Mirko’s sexy when he goes all commander.

Just not when he goes all commander on me.

Sadness fills my heart when I think to tuck that away to tell him later when we’re alone, but I’m not sure he’ll talk to me later. Let alone be alone with me. He’s been avoiding me altogether.

I roll my eyes to hide my pain.

“I’m serious.” Mirko hits the brakes and the Land Rover comes to a hard stop.

“All right,” I sigh. I trust Mirko, but I can’t help that I can do things he can’t.

He continues forward, diligently surveying everything around us, while at the same time avoiding locking eyes with me.

My insides tangle. It hurts.

“Three o’clock.” Hawk points. “Did you see that?”

“I caught it,” Mirko says.

“See what?” I glance behind us, trying to find what they saw.

“A camera.” Mirko says. “If they have one out here, they’ll have them around the property and in the house too.”

“For sure,” Ace adds.

We ride in tense silence the rest of the way. Mirko turns the car around so it faces the road. “Let me do the talking,” he orders as we unload and follow him to the front of the house.

Three men stroll down the front steps and make their way toward us. “This is private property,” the larger man says.

“We’d like to see Zladislov,” Mirko replies. He stands with his feet shoulder-width apart, and although he isn’t as burly as these guys, I know he will give them all hell if it comes to it.

I hope it doesn’t, though. I just want to see my dad, see if we can get him out, and figure out this Emerik stuff.

The big guys look at each other, surprised. “Who are you?” the same guy who spoke earlier asks.

Mirko points to me. “This is Brooke. She’s his daughter. And I’m Mirko, a Zao Duh acting as her guardian.

The man studies me, looks at Mirko, and whispers to the guy standing next to him. It’s faint, but he whispers for the guy to call someone.

The smaller man turns away from us and goes up on the porch. He pulls out a phone and follows the wrapped deck to the side of the house. It must be a sat phone because I don’t have any cell service out here.

I worry my bottom lip as we wait for the man to come back. Hopefully, the worst thing will be him telling us we can’t see my dad.

But with Pijawikas, you never know.

I’m about to ask the larger guy who the smaller man is calling when he walks from the porch. “He said the Zao Duh could see him, but not the girl.”

My eyes grow big and my jaw drops, along with my anxious heart.

“Why not?” I ask, heated.

“Brooke,” Mirko says, pushing my shoulders, making me walk backward. “Let me go talk to him.” His brown eyes swirl with shades of brandy and flare for a second, pleading with me.

I grind my teeth and exhale, slumping my shoulders in defeat. “Fine. Tell him I don’t hate him.”

He squeezes my shoulders.

I close my eyes and shiver internally. It’s the most contact I’ve had from him since I told him to leave.