Illusions (Night Roamers) Book Four (13 page)

“But, what if I can’t change back
at will? Or worse, what if I come after you?”

My eyes widened. “
Nathan, are you saying that you probably can’t control yourself?”

He was silent for a few seconds and then sighed.
“Honestly, I really don’t know. I mean, I was still conscious of who I was after I’d changed. But, I also had this twisted urge to hunt and kill something. Like I was some kind of predator. I literally wanted to stalk, kill, and eat. And, I did, too. A small rabbit, which disgusts me now. But at the time, it felt… awesome.”

“
Of course it did,” I replied. “It was the wolf part of you. Don’t feel bad about it. At least you only do it when you’re a lycan. I
always
crave blood. I don’t have to change into a predator to do it. I’m always this way. It’s pretty pathetic.”

His eyes softened.  “It’s not your fault, Nik. Don’t feel guilty.”

“I’m not sure if it’s guilt that I feel,” I replied. “It’s more like… a feeling of remorse. I miss being normal.”

“At least you’re alive. You have to remind yourself of that every time you start feeling bad about it.”

I cleared my throat. “I do, but it doesn’t make it easier.”

He sighed. “You’re not a bad person, Nikki. Neither am I. We were just thrown into bad situations and now we have to make the best of it. We can’t go back, but we can move forward with what’s been dealt, and face it head on.”

I grinned. “When did you become so philosophical?”

He gave me a smug smile.
“What are you talking about? I’ve always been philosophical and full of great ideas.”

Before I could come up with a s
mart-assed comeback, someone knocked on the door.

“Crap. Who in the heck is that?” I
said, lowering my voice.

“
It’s probably someone looking for Sonny or Duncan. I’ll get it,” he replied, walking toward the doorway.

My heart was racing. Nobody ever stopped at the house looking for either of them.
“Wait, it could be Martin.”

He turned back to me. “How would he know about this place?”

As I was about to answer, the door swung open and Martin walked through.

Nikki

Nathan and I both stared at him in a
pprehension.

Martin smiled grimly. “It w
asn’t hard finding you both. Nikki, you of all people should know that our hearing is superb.”

I forced a smile. “Of course.”

Martin turned to Nathan. “So, you’re the mongrel who attacked my sister?”

Nathan
stood up straighter and looked him in the eyes. “Yes,” he replied. “But, she attacked me first.”

“Relax,” he said
, chuckling. “She’s healed and we talked. In fact,” he stepped back outside and pulled Celeste through the door. “You guys can tell each other you’re sorry and we’ll move on.”

Celeste, who looked pale but totally healed, glared at Nathan. “He needs to tell me he’s sorry first. He almost killed me.”

My brother grunted. “You were going to kill me first. Hell, this hasn’t even been the first time.”

Her nostrils flared.
“Only because you were threatening me!”

“Children,” said Martin, his voice stern. “Enough with the fighting. We need to get over this and figure out how we’re going to kill Victor.”

“And rescue our mother,” I added.

Martin looked at me. “Your mother? I thought she died?”

“That’s what he wants us to believe,” I said. “But she’s not dead.”

His eyebrows furrowed. “Do you have proof?”

“No,” said Nathan. “But Victor is plotting to create an army of vampire-slash-lycan soldiers or something.”

“What does that have to do with your mother?” asked Martin.

I explained what Victor had told me and how Anne had become pregnant with Caleb’s child. How he had originally planned to experiment with the baby, but then claimed that our mother had committed suicide.

“And you don’t think she killed herself?” he asked
, looking perplexed.

“No,” I replied. “She would
never
kill herself. Victor told us that she was dead because he knew we’d try to help her escape. He did this to keep us out of his hair.”

“
Let me get this straight – if your mother is alive, then she’s carrying our father’s child?”

“Yes. So, not only did he kill Caleb, but he’s going to do horrible
things to our little brother or sister. We can’t let that happen.”

“No,” he replied. “I agree
.”

“
Anne is dead,” replied Celeste, still looking at me and Nathan as if we were scum of the earth. “You’re fools to think she’s still alive.”

“How do you know
that she’s dead?” I asked her. “Did you see her body?”

“No, but she wasn’t there when Victor brought me back to the cabin and tortured
the hell out of me. Thanks for not helping, by the way,” she snapped.

I pointed my finger at her. “You have no right trying to make us feel guilty.
You’ve tried killing us more than once, and almost got away with it.” I looked at Martin. “I’m sorry, but I don’t trust Celeste. Not one bit.”

“I know and you probably have no reason to trust me, since we’re strangers. But, we have a common enemy and I
think we need to work together to take him out.”

“He’s right,” said Nathan, who looked
very relieved that Martin hadn’t ripped his head off. “Victor has his army of lycan and we need all the help we can get.”

I knew he was right, but working with Celeste left a bad taste in my mouth. “So, you’re
really willing to forgive Nathan after what he did to Celeste?”

Martin smirked. “She’s my sister and I love her, but I also know her. Sometimes I think she’d stab me in the back.”

Celeste’s head whipped around to Martin. “You’re an ass, Martin. You really are.”

“Yes, but I’m also the only family you have left, so get over it. I’ve gotten over most of your antics throughout the years.”

She hissed at him.

“What about Faye?” I asked, looking at Celeste.

Her eyes became guarded. “What about her?”

I looked at Martin. “Faye, your sister’
s crazy shape-shifter buddy, is holding our friend hostage. Plus, she’s a threat to me and Nathan.”

“You mean Faye Dunbar?” asked
Martin.

“Yes. We were just abo
ut to go rescue Duncan from some ranch. She’s holding him there hostage I believe.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Faye Dunbar is staying at a ranch? It’s not the one in Valley City?”

“I think so,” I answered, trying to recall the signs nearby. “I mean, I’m not for certain. I wasn’t really paying attention to the road signs when I was following her.”

“Where’s
Valley City?” asked Nathan.

“North Dakota,” he replied
. He turned to his sister and the expression on his face wasn’t a happy one. “Celeste, why is Faye using my ranch?”

She let out a small, embarrassed laugh
. “Um, she needed a place to stay. One that was far enough away from Shore Lake. You’ve been gone for so long; I didn’t think you’d mind.”

“I have
been gone for a long time, but it wasn’t your place to loan out one of my homes,” he replied sternly.

“Maybe if you would have kept in contact with us more, I’d have known that,” she
huffed back.

“It couldn’t be helped,” he replied. “I had important business in Europe. I couldn’t get away.”

“You mean – trying to locate Emily?” she sneered.

“Drop it,” he
answered.

“She’s never going to love you, you know,” said Celeste. “You should just give it up.”

“And I wouldn’t blame her,” he said stiffly. “What happened to her was tragic and inexcusable. What happened to all of those women? Father had been wrong to take out his vengeance like that. And I let him talk me into helping him. Now,
I’ve
got to live with that.”

Celeste rolled her eyes. “Get over it, Martin. Daddy suffered too.”

The pain and anguish in Martin’s eyes was enough to make me want to change the subject. I cleared my throat and did just that. “So, do you know Faye?”

He looked back at me.
“I’ve heard of her but we’ve never spoken. Our father used to work for her.”

“She’s
one crazy, scary bitch,” said Nathan. “I’d hate to interview with her for a job.”

Celeste glared at him. “She is not. Faye has never been anything but good to me.”

“That’s because you haven’t crossed her,” I replied. “Or had a relationship with Ethan.”

From her silence, I knew that even she couldn’t argue that.

“Speaking of which, is he dead?” asked Nathan. “Because he really was a prick.”

Celeste shrugged. “I don’t know. The last time I saw him was when Drake went after him. You should ask him if he killed Ethan.”

“Drake is dead,” I replied.

Martin’s eyebrows show up
. “What?”

“Faye killed him. Ripped off his head a few hours ago. It wasn’t pretty,” said Nathan
, grimacing.

“That’s a shame,” said Celeste
with a small smile. “Drake was hot and I loved that little accent of his.”

“Dammit,” snapped Martin, clenching his jaw. He rubbed a hand over his face. “Are
you certain?”

“Yes,” I replied. “His body is probably still at Victor’s cabin. We were there when it happened. In fact, Drake was about to tell us something. Something important
, I guess.”

“And he was killed bef
ore he could tell us anything,” said Nathan.

“So, you knew Drake
pretty well then?” I asked.

“
We were good friends. In fact, he’s the one who contacted me to let me know what Victor had done to our father.”

Nikki

My eyebrows shot up. “Drake worked for Victor, and yet you two were still friends?”

“He
only stayed working for Victor to keep an eye on him. Then he was going to help me kill the bastard.”

I frowned. “Victor made it sound like Drake had been on his payroll for a long time.”

“He did do some odd jobs for him throughout the years, but once Victor killed our father, Drake’s loyalty stopped,” said Martin. “And that’s when he called me.”

“Ho
w come I didn’t know about that?” whined Celeste. She scowled. “You always leave me in the dark.”

Martin smirked
. “Because you’re not exactly one to keep things quiet.”

“
Oh, come on, Martin. I wouldn’t have said anything,” she protested. “I keep your secrets quiet.” 

“I couldn’t take that chance. I’m sorry, but your
track record for keeping them isn’t very good, Celeste.”

She folded her a
rms under her chest and sulked. “That’s not fair.”

He just sighed.

“Martin, do you have any idea what Drake wanted to tell us?” I asked.

He shrugged. “I’m not too sure. Maybe it was the fact that I was returning. Or, maybe it had som
ething to do with your mother.”

“
I guess we’ll never know now. So, will you help us free Duncan?” I asked, not even looking at Celeste. “Before Faye tortures him to death?”
Hopefully she hasn’t already…

“
You say he’s a Roamer?” asked Martin, rubbing his jaw.

“Yes,” replied Nathan. “And a
very good guy to have on your side.”

“What about you?” asked Martin, staring at my brother. “Your blood has
obviously been tainted by the lycan. Can
we
trust you?”

Nathan’s eyes hardened. “I didn’t ask to be b
itten by a lycan, and the
hell
if I’m on their side. Obviously I want to free our mother and will kick anyone’s ass that gets in my way, lycan, shape-shifter, or Roamer.”

Martin nodded slowly and then grinned
. “Good. I just needed to be sure.”

“You don’t have to worry about Nathan,” I replied. “He would never do anything to help Victor or even Faye.
” I turned to Celeste. “
You,
on the other hand…”

She
glared at me. “You’ve always hated me.”

“Not before you hated me,” I countered.

Martin raised his voice. “I assure you, Celeste will not be a problem. At least not while I’m here.”

I didn’t believe that, even though Martin obviously did.
But, I didn’t feel like arguing with him, not if he was willing to help. “What about standing against Faye?” I asked. “Is
Celeste
willing to step aside?”

Martin turned to his sister. “Celeste?”

Celeste’s face fell, and to my surprise, there were tears in her eyes. “I can’t do anything to hurt her, you know that, Martin. And… she won’t forgive me if I betray her.”

“I know you
’ve looked upon her as a friend over the past few years,” said Martin, his voice softening. “And I’m happy that she’s been good to you, but we need to free this Roamer. And who knows, maybe we can talk some sense into Faye. Maybe she’ll even help us with Victor.”

I rolled my eyes. “
Sorry, but that woman will never help if I’m involved. She’d rather kill me and Nathan before siding with either of us on anything.”

“
She’s right. Faye despises Nikki,” said Celeste.

“Why?
” asked Martin.

“I
have no idea,” I replied. “I never did anything to her.”

“It’s because of Ethan,”
said Celeste. “Faye has always been obsessed with him. If he even looks at another female, she wants to rip their head off.”

“
That’s ridiculous. Ethan used me,” I snapped. “And yet she
still
hates me that much?”

“Psycho,” said Nathan in a high voice.

“Wait a minute, what do you mean that
Ethan
used you?” said Martin, his eyebrows furrowing. “How so?”

“Victor paid him to watch over me,” I replied.
“Meanwhile, I had no idea.”

“She fell for him,” said Nathan, smirking.

I glared at him.

His smile fell. “Just admit it. You wanted to have Ethan’
s bats.”

“Not funny,” I replied
, my face growing red.

“Hey, it wasn’t exactly your fault. He obviously charmed you
.” He turned back to Martin. “Anyway, Ethan turned her into a Roamer,” added Nathan. “Because Victor originally wanted Nikki to be the lab rat for his experiments.”

“Victor told Ethan to turn you into a Roamer?”

I explained how Victor had been our stepdad, and how we’d lived with him for many years.

“And you never had a
clue?” he asked, looking shocked.

I shook my hea
d. “No. I mean, we knew he was a moody jerk at times, and traveled a lot. He always blamed everything on his job and we took his word for it.”

“Because cops travel
so
much,” said Nathan dryly.

“
Admittedly, that
was
kind of weird,” I replied. “But, he always had some kind of excuse and we really didn’t think twice about it. Mom may have, but Nathan and I were actually relieved when he wasn’t around. It meant no fighting.”

“Then, thankfully, they
divorced,” said Nathan. “And last summer, we moved out here. Little did we know that it was all a setup. That Victor had this elaborate plan to turn Nikki into a vampire and that Ethan was involved.”

“A
Roamer,” corrected Celeste.

“Whatever,” he replied. “O
bviously, you were aware of it too, Celeste.”

“I didn’t know anything about that. I just heard from daddy that we needed to keep an eye on you
r family. But, then he fell for your mom and that’s when everything began to fall apart.”

Martin rubbe
d his forehead. “How did you three end up here in the first place? In Shore Lake?”

“We didn’t know that our mother’s boss, Ernie, was a friend of Victor’s. He sent her to work here and then set us up with a cabin,” said Nathan.

“Victor’s cabin,” I added. “Which we weren’t aware of, obviously.”

“Yes,” said Nathan. “We all thought that Ernie was such a nice guy, when in all reality, he was a snake.”

“So Ethan was supposed to seduce you and then turn you into a Roamer?” asked Martin.

“Yes,” I replied. “Because Victor paid him.”

“If I recall, Ethan turned you
after
you were shot,” said Celeste. “How could he have planned that?”

“
He got lucky,” I answered.

“Unless he staged the shooting, too,” said Nathan.

For some reason, that suggestion hurt more than anything. “I wouldn’t put anything past him,” I said softly, feeling my eyes get moist. Frustrated that I still cared, I turned away and swiped at my eyes.

“I’m sorry, but I have a hard time be
lieving that Ethan would do something that despicable,” said Martin, frowning. “Even for money.
Especially
for money.”

“Why?” I asked
, blinking back tears.

He studied my face, and I could tell he’d seen the tears.
“Because, that’s just not him. He doesn’t play games like that and he already has more money than he knows what to do with.”

“
He has money?” I asked, wondering if that just meant Ethan had done it for kicks.

“
Caleb told me that Ethan’s family owned a shipping company and that he sold it many years ago and made a killing. So, he certainly didn’t do it for money.”

“Then, he’s just a sick and twisted
individual,” I answered, feeling nauseous. The more I learned about him, the more I hated him.

“Maybe,” said Martin.
He looked away. “I guess I was wrong about him, too.” 

“
Join the club,” I replied, looking down. I then began to wonder what kind of person Martin really was. From his words, he seemed like a decent guy, but was it all an act? Could we really trust him? Did we even have a choice at this point? I would never trust Celeste, but my mother had trusted Caleb, and even I had to admit, he’d made her happy and had tried protecting her. I hoped that Martin was his father’s son, and that we weren’t falling into another trap.

Nathan cleared his throat. “So… what now? We go and rescue Duncan
, right?”

Martin glanced at Celeste and then at me. “Nikki and I will go to t
he ranch and free him. Celeste – you and Nathan wait here. Until we return.”

Even I wasn’t so sure about that. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.
Leaving these two alone together.”

Celeste wasn’t happy either.
“You want me to wait
here
?” She glared at Nathan. “After what he just did to me? You expect me to stay with
him
?”

Martin smiled grimly. “Yes
, I do. And seeing how he can take care of himself, I guess I don’t have to worry about you harming him.”

“I’m not staying here
,” she replied. “No way, Martin.”

“
Hey, I’m not exactly thrilled about it either,” said Nathan. He looked at Martin. “Why can’t I come with you two?”

“Because you can’t fly, and second, you need to keep an eye on Celeste. To
make sure she doesn’t warn Faye,” he answered.

Celeste’s eyes widened
and she looked hurt again. “Martin, you seriously don’t trust me?”