Force of Knight Magic (9 page)

“So I did.
And frankly
,
I don’t care how much we spend on everyone. I’m in too good a mood to let a little money bother me.
I have far more than I need or will ever spend and I’m going to have a little fun with it.”
He set down the blue dog and reached into his pocket.
“I bought this for you.
It’s temporary. We’ll get us a better one when we can get somewhere to pick it out.”

She opened the small bag and squealed in delight at the little ring inside.
It was perfect.
A small band was surrounded in wolves chasing each other round and round it. She was about to slip it on her finger when he told her to wait.
Going down on one knee
,
he took the ring from her and kissed her finger before sliding it over the first knuckle.

“I love you with all my heart and will always do so.
There is nothing I’d like more than to spend all eternity with you at my side.
Holly Force, will you be my vampire bride?”
He wiggled his brows at her and had her giggle.
“I love you, will you marry me?”

The doors slid open just as she answered him.
Dallas
,
of course
,
had to hold the door open while he pulled nearly every person he saw into the tiny space to meet his sister who was getting married.
By the time they made it back to CJ’s room they’d been hugged, congratulated
,
and kissed by everyone.
She was still wiping her cheeks from all the kisses when she entered the room.

“Let me see it,” CJ said from her perch on the bed.
Holly ran over and let her look at the ring while Austin and the rest of her brothers threatened Phil with every kind of injury if he hurt her.
He told them he was more afraid of her hurting him than the other way around.
By the time they left the room and all the gifts had been ah
h
ed over, CJ was dozing and Austin looked ready to drop.

“I’d like to set up a meeting with you and Austin tomorrow,” Phil told Dallas when they walked to the parking garage.
“There are some things that have happened that you and the pack need to be made aware of.”

“And I have something to tell you as well.
Something that I should have told you a long time ago.”
She could tell that Connor wanted to make a joke
,
but a small shake of her head had him stopping.
“It’s really important that we all are there with this.”

Dallas looked concerned
,
but he agreed. “They are going to let CJ come home tomorrow.
The pups are fine and the doctor knows we’ll be taking care of her well enough.
I don’t suppose you can give me a hint, something that I can think about rather than all the horrible things that are currently running though my head right now?”

Holly looked at Phil and waited.
She had expected this and so
,
apparently
,
had Phil.
He handed a file to Dallas, part of the one he’d been given by Anye, asking that he ke
ep
this between the two of them until they all talked.
He agreed.

“But I’ll need to tell Austin what I know. He’s not only my brother
,
but my alpha as well. I can’t…no, I won’t keep secrets from him. Especially if it concerns my entire family.”

Holly felt her pride in her brother go up another notch.
He was the best man for a job like this.
Keeping a secret like this could and would get a few people killed if the wrong information got out. Then there was her whole sor
did
tale.
They all agreed to meet at the pack house for dinner.

They were driving back when she thought of something else.
“How did you know who the woman was when Anye said she had a rogue?
You seemed to already have a really good idea about her before we were summoned.”

“Summoned.
I suppose that’s as good as word for what they did as any other.”
He parked the car alongside of the road and turned to her in the seat.
“How much do you know about my kind?
Other than what you’ve read in books that have never gotten it right.”

“Not much
,
I suppose.
I did look up a bit after I…after I figured out what you were to me.
But it was less than helpful.
Some of the information was so screwed up that I ended up tossing
it
away.”
She looked at him and frowned.
“Why?
What is it I need to know?”

“I would like to say everything
,
but I know that would only frustrate you and me too.
But you should know a few things.
Firstly, I’m not a full
-
blooded vampire.
My mother is
,
but my dad isn’t.
He was converted when they fell in love.
I should also point out that I have…powers
,
or magic that most vampires, full or not
,
don’t ever achieve.”

She waited for him to continue
,
but he sat there staring at her.
She reached for his hand and he held it.
“What else should I know?
You don’t want to tell me
,
but I’d really like to know.”

“One of my powers is the gift of longevity.
It doesn’t make you immortal, not until I convert you
,
but you can live a lot longer than the average person, or wolf in this case.”
She knew she wasn’t going to like where this
wa
s going
,
but he continued before she could tell him to stop.
“I’ve given it to your family, all but your mom.
She wouldn’t let me.”

“Why?
Wait, don’t tell me.
She said she wanted to join
D
ad, didn’t she?
I can see her doing that.”
Holly nodded.
“Yes, I can see that. She really misses him a great deal.”

He laughed.
“And you’re al
l
right with this?
I thought you’d demand that I give it to her anyway.
I thought for sure you’d say
,
‘
to hell with
D
ad
,’
or some other bullshit like that.”

“No. I know how much
M
om loved
D
ad. I think she always will.
She has told us all on many occasions that she only stayed for all of us.
That she loved us all
,
but she really missed him.”
Holly looked at Phil and wondered if she and he could have that sort of love.
“What else did you need for me to know?”

“I can make people believe what I need them to.
Such as the two men who were discussing the murders in the hotel bar.
I had them believe they were the only two people in that room
,
even though I sat next to them the entire time.
The older man, Gregory Hooper
,
has had dealings with the murderer before.”
He pulled another envelope out of his jacket pocket.
“Gregory told the cop, a homicide detective named Myles Kramer, that he had some information on the woman, the murderer in his room.
I went up before the cop did and looked around.
I even managed to make a few copies of some of the stuff he had.”

She took the envelope and opened it.
The picture of the woman didn’t look familiar.
She was a pretty little thing and Holly thought her too young and much too small to have done the damage that she’d done to the people in the bar.
She looked up at Phil suddenly.

“She’s the rogue.”
He nodded as she looked back down at the other pictures.
“You said this guy, Hooper, you said he had had dealings with her before.
How?”

“He was a runner for the cops at one time.
When the call came in, he’d go for the experience and for the extra cash. He would pound the pavement or knock on doors to gather information then take it back to the cop in charge.
He was young the first time he happened on the crime scene with his fellow officers.”
She didn’t care for the way he’d said young.

“Are you telling me he’s not young now?
How long…Christ, how long has it been? Years, decades? What?”

“Yes,” he said.
“Decades.
He had been gathering information for nearly sixty years.”
Phil took out a sheet of paper from the envelope and handed it to her.
“I found this on the back of one of his sheets of notes.
I think it’s her.
I think she has been making sure he’s been there for each of her killings to…I don’t know, taunt him.”

“Next time where the gren tye.
Its prety on your eyes. TES”

Holly read it three times before she looked at Phil.
“She isn’t educated.
And her printing tells me that she didn’t finish a grade that would have let her learn cursive.
From the picture
,
I’d say she has had some training
i
n hygiene but very little.
And I would bet she cuts her own hair.”
She looked up at him when he laughed.
“What?”

“Nothing.
What else do you see there? There is much more if you look at it.
And by the way, I’d not caught the hair cutting.
Thank you for that.”

She felt both stupid and prideful at his words. She looked down at the sheet again.
“Is this the original?”

“No.
I couldn’t take that. It might have held clues that I can’t glea
n
from it.
But it is a very good copy of his notes about her and her note to him.”
She flipped the paper over as he continued.
“See the name of the hotel?
That’s where she committed the murders
,
I’m betting
,
and he used the hotel stationary to make notes at the scene.
The second sheet,”
—
he handed her this one too
—
“
i
t has a crude drawing on it.
See where he has it marked with the body parts?”

She nodded and when he told her to buckle up
,
he was taking them to the house
,
she did so without putting the notes away.
She knew they were missing something and knew that it was staring right at them.
She turned the paper over to her note again.