Golden's Rule (30 page)

Someone whistled. Aeros shifted in his seat, pulling one of Tabithia’s delicate hands into his. Jaxon frowned over at Bryson, then shot an odd look at her before moving on to look over at Torque.

“This would be why I need to see the tapes, do a bit of voodoo, you know?” Hunter said, drawing Beauty’s attention away from Jaxon’s odd behaviour.

“How’s that?” Torque asked, intense and focused on the witch.

“Oy, you don’t know? Seriously man, never loan her your cell,” Jaxon said. “Never.”

Hunter smirked at Jaxon and turned to stare at Torque, clearly not intimidated by him. “I can follow the lines of power from one source to the next. That’s how we found out about the humans from the States watching the club in London.”

“Humans watching the club? I thought there were humans at the club as prisoners?” Alex look more pissed about the humans than the vampires.

“Do the humans pose a threat? I mean, really?” Bryson asked, clearly not in the least worried.

“Nah, Hunter has them all under control,” Tabithia said. “Torque, Hunter can follow the trail of a computer to another, find the branching out from there, where they’ve sent feed, emails, files, all of it and cut the line, destroy the feed.”

A stunned silence fell on everyone. Even the two vampires quietly regarded Hunter.

The young Lykae was the first to break the silence. “That’s pretty radical shit.”

Hunter winked. “Thanks, you’re pretty hot too.”

“Wait, that might end the feed, files and shit, but what about the humans watching, seeing the feed?” Alex demanded.

“And who are the humans?” Aeros rubbed his chin, looking thoughtful. “Were they watching the club for some reason?”

Agni laughed. “Dude, humans wouldn’t know what to do if they did discover more about us, true?”

“Can Hunter check into what they were doing and why?” Torque demanded.

Hunter nodded. “Yep, but I won’t know until I get the tapes and do some research. Day, two tops.”

“Damn.” Agni whistled low. “I’d like in on the progress.”

“Sure thing, cutie.”

“Ah, geesh, don’t feed his ego.” Tabithia grumbled at Hunter, then focused on Torque and sighed. “Look I’ll work with Hunter on this, but what can you tell us on the abductions? Hunter says she has no memory of anyone, until the room below the club. If they have the skill to trap a witch and a Lykae, we have to think this is much bigger. The humans are a pain in the ass, but the DS are the focus, right?”

Torque didn’t respond at first, and she knew he wanted more on the new human aspect to the case, but finally he nodded. “I agree. But I want in on what the story is behind the human element. The Death Stalkers have pushed hard to increase their numbers, if they’re using humans now as well, we need to be more on top of this. The club is just one location. We need to discover where the others are.”

“How did you figure this out, mage?” Alex demanded. He made it sound like Torque had hidden details from him. Beauty bristled, but under the table, Torque gripped her hand warmly.

“I didn’t. I guessed. Beauty is going to go get some answers. Is everyone up to speed on what went down, and ready to move forward?” Torque asked.

“You mean the part where you got tossed on your ass, and passed out like a girl?” Agni asked.

“Hey!” Three females shot Agni a death stare. Tabithia tossed her dagger up and down, and eyed him like she was deciding what body part to slice off.

“Would that be before or after you were flat on your back in an alley, a knife to your…parts?” she asked.

“Throat, Red Hot, throat.” Agni frowned over at her, his golden looks darkening in something that might be embarrassment.

“Huh, I’ve heard men prize all those dangly parts more, but…” Tabithia trailed off and laughter spilled through the group. Beauty joined in after only a brief hesitation. She liked Tabithia, the woman had spunk.

“All right. Now that we have that cleared up, we need to focus here. The facts are the evil is spreading,” Torque growled, clearly losing his patience.

Torment nodded. “True. I can feel it. The pressure, as if the evil is pushing on us, demanding its place. I’ve seen it before. The balance needs to be met, good versus bad, all that. Soon there will be more fighting, more lost loved ones. “

Torque seemed to agree. His face darkened, and he pulled her hand to his lap.

Eyes glinting obsidian in the light, Tor met each of their gazes in turn. “If the Death Stalkers created a way to force a change, for human or for immortal, we must find and destroy them, before they destroy the balance.”

“And the humans at the club, if they were aiding the Death Stalkers?” Aeros frowned, shifting his jet-black hair off his brow irritably. “Then what?”

“The humans were not involved, merely used. They believed they were simply doing what they were told.” When everyone zeroed in on Beauty, she nearly swallowed her tongue, but pushed on. “They were fed misinformation, much like the spells used on the club, to hide the oddly normal décor? The mage or mages used the same.”

“Or mages?” Jaxon murmured, unwrapping a piece of gum. He stared at her steadily but spilled a piece of gum to Agni when the demon hit the vampire’s stomach.

“Yes, there had to have been more than one. This was a big operation. There was the attacker when Torque was hurt, then the one in the room with Sydney. Two.”

“Damn. She’s right. Possibly more. Vampires for certain. Sydney was turned. The mage can’t do that.” Bryson said.

“Really?”

“Really, sweet. It takes a vampire.”

“And to turn an immortal into a beast-wolf-tiger?”

Torque jerked a little and frowned at her. “Is that the only way a vampire can be created? What about feeding an immortal vampire blood?”

Both vampires exchanged a look, but shook their heads. “No, not a chance.”

“No?” Torque didn’t look impressed.

“Look, not a chance. The blood has to be from the source. From a vampire source. Not a bag.” Jaxon put a bit more emphasis on bag then she thought necessary and for some reason Torque gave him a hard stare too before turning back to the group.

“Doesn’t matter. For now, all we can do is wait. Beauty will find out what she can, if we get a name, we get a name.”

Torque couldn’t have surprised her more if he’d suddenly sprouted two heads. Suddenly her stomach flipped around. He was going to let her question the Dark Lord. Only now, she wasn’t so sure she was ready.

Ready or not, she thought and tried to get her courage up for the test.

Chapter Twenty
-
One

This was the first time Torque had witnessed Beauty hesitate. She’d been as brave as hell in the meeting. Hell, immortals were a tough bunch, not giving an inch but taking miles if you let them. She’d done well.

Now, she glanced at him, her green eyes darkening to grey against her too-pale face. She’d worn her hair down, the straight blonde tresses tempting him to run his hands through and tug. Dressed in another too small T-shirt and dark blue jeans, she looked like some teenager. With more sex appeal in her little finger than most women dreamed of possessing.

“That was intense.” She didn’t have to say what. He knew. The meeting.

He’d seen worse. More often than not, the different factions ended up in a shouting match.

“Yeah, you did well.” She had. He had to wonder if she hadn’t exerted some calming influence on the group. Alex could be a hard man to deal with in the best of times. With two vampires in the room? He’d expected much more from the guy than his dark looks and his snide parting jab.

Beauty calmed him, why not the cold-hearted wolf?

She wrapped her arms around him, warm, soft, and not one ounce of her thought him cold. Swallowing, he pushed his pussy thoughts aside and stopped stalling.

He couldn’t read much through their bond, but he didn’t have to. One of the gazillions of things he loved about his woman was her complete lack of artifice. She showed what she felt. And she was afraid, clearly aware of the dangers a Dark Lord poised.

“He can’t touch you. Not with a spell or his words. Just sense him. Tell me if you can discover how many other cells there are. Where. If it gets too hard”—he made sure she was listening before he continued—“drop it. End the connection—screw that—don’t even make a connection, Beauty, just simply sense what he is hiding.”

That did not sound good. Calm. He needed to calm down. Her delicate brow furrowed and she rubbed her bare arms. She was cold. No doubt from the cute little pink T-shirt that hugged her breasts way too tight. Those breasts were his, not up for display with glittering letters across them spelling out the words, ‘Spoilt Princess’.

“Torque, your possessive grumbling is so not helping.”

Right. He needed to torque it down a bit. Grinning, he tugged her in close, hugging her tight. “Just be aware he is a Lord. That means one disgusting bastard.”

“Okay.” She sounded muffled. He pulled back a bit. He was so erasing that word from her vocabulary.

“Really? I kinda like it. Since you’re smothering me with all your silly fears and you’re bigger than big body.”

“Hell, I don’t want you in there.”

“I’ll be fine. Okay. Ready?”

Calm. “Yeah, ready. Now, I got your back. I’m in charge of the scene, so if I say cut it, you?”

“Cut it.”

He nodded. She was scared, but tightening her controls, she felt prepared for the shit she was going to see.

“I can do this. I’ve already seen most of it.”

He swallowed his grumble and took her small hand in his, instantly feeling better.

“Calm down.”

“I’m trying. No more talking.”

“Okay.”

He shot her a look for the smart-assed comment. She wasn’t looking at him. Her eyes were pinned on the dark-haired, bleeding Lord.

Yeah, the guys had been a bit upset when he’d not talked. Bruises ran over his face like a road map. Dark straight hair hung in his eyes, coming to his chin and with his head hanging down, hiding most of his features. He wore a pale straight jacket with blood splattered on the chest and shoulders. Soft grey sweatpants covered his legs and someone had put black socks on him.

He looked like hell. The padded walls had food, blood and by the smell, something a great deal worse, spattered on them.

Beauty’s face hardened, her green eyes shone lighter for a second before her delicate nose scrunched up. “Disgusting. And he’s like this because?”

“He’s a piece of—”

“That’s so not helpful. Fine, let’s hurry.”

The guy hadn’t moved, but when she stepped closer, his head jerked up, revealing dull, pale-coloured eyes, centred on Beauty in a way he didn’t like. Not at all. Beauty paused, tilting her head to the side, and slowly raised her hand to her temple.

The warning bells practically had him grabbing her and hauling them from the room. She must have sensed it because she hissed at him to be still.

Not moving closer, she seemed to struggle with the guy, her attention focused on him until with another jerk he slipped sideways and landed on his side. His head hit the floor with a thud. Mouth open, he looked like he’d passed out.

“He’s unconscious. I didn’t want to deal with him.”

“And you did this, how?”

“Now is not the time, Torque.”

“Well, fuck,
now is the perfect
—”

“Torque, shhh.” Holding two fingers to her temple, she frowned softly. He watched, feeling her travelling down something that looked a hell of a lot like a link with the Dark Lord.

A cold shiver worked its way down his spine. Slowly images of faces, all blurs, flooded him, places he knew, others he didn’t, all flew by only pausing like a snapshot a few times. Each time he sensed Beauty doing something and more was revealed, details he caught, streets he’d walked on, places he’d visited mingled with places he’d never seen. She was using him, his memory to try and piece together the places the mage revealed.

He could have hugged her. Right when he started to settle his worry, something happened. Something that jerked down their bond, snapping his attention to full focus. Beauty gasped, shivering along the bond. Something close to pain flooded her and for some reason it centred on a small child’s upturned face. Blue eyes, eerie and pale, peered up from a small, pale face framed by dark, midnight hair for an instant, then with a cry Beauty fell to the ground.

If he’d been sucker-punched in the head, he’d not have been so damn caught off guard. Seconds later he held her close, standing up. He didn’t even remember leaving the room until Jaxon’s worried face came into view.

“What happened, Torque?”

What happened? Beauty was silent. Still in his arms. So still he could barely get a pulse.

“Did the bastard touch her?” Jaxon demanded.

His head practically spun but he met Jaxon’s concerned eyes. “No. Get me…” Who the hell could help with this? ‘This’ being Beauty passed out, not waking. “Beauty, wake up. Now.” He sent the same message through the bond with no results.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck
. Calm? Where was his calm?

“Who? Who should I get, Torque?”

He tightened his grip on her before he could loosen enough to reach up and brush her hair off her face. He couldn’t sense anything from her. Behind him, he heard Jaxon cursing and met his eyes again.

“She’s…she’s bleeding. Back.” Jaxon pointed and his eyes turned red with rage. “Sorcha. I’ll get Sorcha.”

A chill settled over him. Something had triggered her memory. Something she’d seen.

“Yes. Get me Sorcha. Now.”

“On it, bro. Don’t panic. Get her home.”

He lifted Beauty in his arms and gently turned her so her head rested on his shoulder. Struggling with his phone, he found it and shook his head at Jaxon when the vampire tried to take it.

“I’ll call Sorcha, get something for her back, Jaxon.”

“Right.” Jaxon tore down the hall, practically knocking someone over before he disappeared from view.

He prayed while he dialled one of the most powerful witches on the planet. Anything, anything she wanted, he’d give it.