Illusions (Night Roamers) Book Four (24 page)

Nikki

When Duncan had asked me to marry him, I
was thrilled. It made me feel almost human again, and thoughts of planning my wedding and picking out a dress made me giddy. But then an image of Ethan’s face popped into my head, and I felt myself almost waver. That is, until I remembered what a backstabbing loser he was. The guy had broken my heart and had the gall to try and pretend that it wasn’t his fault. No, he certainly wasn’t anyone worth hesitating for.

“Should we tell your mom and brother?”
said Duncan, still holding me.

“
Uh, sure. If you’d like. Or, we could wait until all of this is over. It might be better, actually.”

“That’s fine,”
he answered, kissing me again. “I’m just happy that you said yes.”

I closed my eyes and our kiss deepened. Sighing in pleasure, I slid my fingers into t
he back of his hair and blocked out everything, enjoying the way his body felt pressed against mine, and the feel of his hands cupping my buns. I wanted to drag him to one of the boats and have my way with him, but in the back of my mind, I knew it was probably too dangerous. So, instead, we made out on the dock for a while until someone cleared their throat.

“Should I get a hose?
”

We both turned to find
Nathan staring at us, his hands in his pockets.

Duncan
, who’d been holding me the entire time, put me down.

“Nice timing as usual,” I said, smiling coolly.

He grinned. “Hey, I’m sorry to interrupt your little moment, but Martin said to come and find you.”

“
Are we leaving now? For Vegas?”

“I think the plans have changed,” he replied, turning around.

Duncan and I exchanged looks and then followed him into the house. Martin, mom, and Ethan were standing in the kitchen, their faces grim.

“Great,” I said, rolling my eyes at Ethan
, who looked like he’d just gotten out of the shower. He was now clean and wearing one of Nathan’s concert T-shirts and faded blue jeans. “What is
he
doing here?”

“He’s going to help us,” said Mart
in. “Which is good, because I’ve just gotten word that Victor is on his way back to Shore Lake with several of his lycan. Apparently, to rid this town of Roamers.”

“
Is that right?” I answered. I folded my arms across my chest. “He’s pretty damn sure of himself.”

“Don’t overestimate him, honey,”
said my mother, looking tired. “He’s got an entire group of killers working for him. All werewolves.”

“You mean lycan?” said Nathan.

She grunted. “Yes, Nathan. Lycan. Anyway, standing against them is going to be very difficult.”

“Who told you he was heading back here?” asked Duncan
, scratching his head.

“Celeste just called my cell phone,” said Martin. “Faye
returned to Club Nightshade and told her about it.”

“
Great. Celeste ran back to her, huh?” I muttered. “Then, I guess Faye knows everything.”

“Who cares
?” said Nathan. “Everyone is free and we can pool our strength together. Victor and those guys won’t have a chance. Shit, we should be celebrating already.”

“I
’m telling you – it won’t be that easy,” said Anne, shaking her head.

I sighed. “I don’t know…
maybe we should just get out of town and go after Victor later. When he’s not expecting it.”

“Nikki, Celeste mentioned
that Victor is looking for you specifically. He wants
you
to breed the lycan babies,” said Martin.

My eyes widened. “What?”

“Yes,” replied Martin. “So, he isn’t going to stop searching for you. Look, he has contacts all over the United States and moves around frequently. He’ll find you before we ever find him. We need to take him out. Now.”

“I agree,” said Ethan. “
Think about it – he probably doesn’t know that we know he’s coming, either. So, we head back to his cabin and wait. When they show up, we pick them off, one-by-one. They may be strong, but so are we. And, we’re a lot faster.”

“
We
?” I snapped. “Why in the world are you helping us
now
? I just don’t get it.”

“I’ve never stop
ped helping you, Nikki,” he replied, pinning me with his icy stare. “And I never will.”

Something about the way he looked at me still
managed to give me goose-bumps. The fact that Ethan still had any effect on me at all was aggravating. “Well, whatever,” I mumbled, breaking away from his gaze. I looked over at Duncan, who was glaring at Ethan, and took his hand.

Duncan pulled me closer and I not
iced Ethan’s jaw set.

“
He’s absolutely right,” agreed Martin. “Let’s get over there now before they arrive and wait for them.”

“Are you sure about this?” asked Anne, looking frightened. “I mean, I
have to tell you, I don’t like the idea of putting my children in any more danger than I have to.”

“Mom,” said Nathan. “
We aren’t children anymore and this isn’t going to go away. Victor isn’t going to stop searching for us and I’m not interested in running. We do this
now
.”

She sighed and looked at me.

“I’m in agreement,” I said, letting out a ragged sigh. “I’m tired of running from him, too.”

As the words left my lips, I thought about the irony. We’
d been running from Victor when we thought he was just an asshole. Now, we knew he was a real monster and had decided to stand our ground, this time running toward him.

She nodded and then smiled grimly
. “You’re right. I need to stop running, too. So, let’s do this.”

“One thing,” said Nathan, turning to Ethan. He
pointed at him. “You fuck this up in any way…. you turn against us, or try flying off with my sister, I’ll hunt you down and kill you myself. I mean it, so keep that in the back of your mind. Better yet, keep it in the front.”

“If I don’
t kill him first,” said Duncan.

“I’m on your side,” said Ethan, looking at me again. “You have my word.”

“Yeah, and we all know how righteous that is, don’t we?” replied Nathan, sneering.

Ethan looked at Martin. “You have my word
, Martin.”

“That’s good enough for me,” he answered.

Nikki

It was almost
four a.m. when the lights appeared in the distance. There were three vehicles, all SUVs, and they were moving quickly through the fresh, powdery snow.

“Mom, are you okay?” I whisp
ered. We both had changed into black clothing and were nestled high up in the trees, near the garage.

“To be honest, I feel like I just peed myself,” she whispered back, her teeth chattering
slightly.

I
shook my head, grinning. “You need to stop or it will turn to ice in this weather.” I was also joking, but the temperature outside had dropped considerably.

She snorted.

“Are you seriously cold or something?” I asked, looking toward the rooftop of the cabin, where I knew Ethan and Duncan were waiting.

“No. Why?”

“I heard your teeth chattering.”

“I was clicking my teeth. I do that when I’m nervous.”

“You never used to do that,” I replied.

“I never had to deal with vampires or werewolves, excuse me,
lycan
before.”

“Which reminds me, I hope Nathan is going to be okay.”

Nathan had snuck into the cabin with Martin thirty minutes earlier to douse the place with gasoline. The plan was to trap the lycan inside, and then light them up.  To me, it seemed way too easy. In real life, things were never like that.

“I hope so, too,” replied my mother, staring at the cabin nervously. “Did he bring that gun he was talking about?”

“Yes. He brought it. Along with the silver bullets.”

“Sometimes I think he’s having too much fun with all of this. Like it’s a game or something.”

I frowned. “I know. I just hope he remembers that if he dies, he won’t get another life.”

“You both deal with things so differently,” she answered. “I still have a hard time believing
that you’re twins sometimes.”

“Which
reminds me – who
was
our real father?”

“Nikki, we’ll talk about it later. Now is
obviously not the time.”

The headlights grew closer. “But,
if something happens to us, I’d really like to know, you know?”

“Qui
t talking like that,” she snapped, looking horrified.

“Yeah, Nikki. Quit
talking like that,” echoed Faye’s voice in the darkness.

I sucked in my breath and
quickly looked around the trees.

“Who was that?” whispered mom
, her eyes wide.

“Faye,” I mouthed, my stomach clenching
in fear.

She looked up into the sky.
“There,” pointed my mother.

A shadow
dipped down and then passed between us.

Yep.

Faye.

She
came around again, but this time grabbed me roughly by the neck and shoved me out of the tree. Fortunately, with my new agility, I landed on my feet. I quickly looked up, to see if my mother was okay.

“Look out,” gasped mom
, pointing behind me.

I turned around to find Faye there. Her lips curled up into a sneer. 

“I think you have something that is mine,” she said in her demonic gargoyle voice.

“I don’t think so,” I growled back at her. I was seriously tired of her bullshit and just wanted to kick her ass at that point
. I just wasn’t sure if I was strong enough.

“Get away from my daughter,” deman
ded mom, landing next to us.

Faye
backhanded my mother with such force that she flew backwards and hit a tree. She then turned to me, her eyes glittering with amusement. “She’s about as useless as you.”

Glaring at her
, I pulled back my fist and punched her in the cheek, making her grunt. As I was about to hit her again, she grabbed my fist and squeezed it painfully.

“I don’t think so,” she said, repeating my words.

I looked over her shoulder just as my mother flew back toward us, her hands stretched out in front of her. She grabbed Faye by the throat. “I said, leave my daughter alone!” she snarled.

Enraged,
Faye released me and clawed my mother’s hands with her sharp talons, trying to get her to release her.

Mom cried out in pain. She looked
at me, her skin and knuckles bleeding as she tried to maintain her grasp around Faye’s neck. “Get out of here, Nikki.” 

“No,” I replied, punching Faye in the abdomen.

Faye glared at me. “I’ll kill you,” she said hoarsely and then elbowed my mother in the stomach.

Mom
grunted and released Faye, who lunged at me. We fell to the ground and she grabbed my hair, pulling it cruelly.

“Say goodbye, you little bitch,” she growled, her claws raised.

Ethan landed next to us and grabbed her wrist. He pulled her away from me and put her in a choke hold.

“Get out of here,” he ordered, motioning to me and my mother. “I’ll handle her.”

“I’m sure you will,” I snapped. “You’re probably the one who called her here.”

He clenched his
jaw. “No, I did not. Now, get the hell out of here. The lycan are coming.”

It was then that I heard the crunch of snow. I turned around
, and indeed, saw them headed in our direction. Ten or so of the ferocious beasts headed directly for us.

“Mom, come on!” I hollered.

She followed me back up into the sky and we circled the cabin.

“Where is Nathan?” she cried.

“I don’t know,” I answered.

Martin met us in the air. He motioned for us to follow him. We landed in the snow, on the opposite side of the house.

“What in the hell happened?” he snapped.

“It was Fa
ye,” I answered.

He scowled. “So much for a surprise attack. Was Celeste with her?”

“Not that we saw. Have you seen Nathan or Duncan?” I said.

“I left Nathan by the boathouse,” he replied. “I don’t know about Duncan.”

Mom flew into the sky and headed toward the dock.

“Martin,” whispered Celeste, from the roof.

He stared up at her. “What are you doing here? I told you to stay at Faye’s.”

“She left and I followed her here,” she replied.

Before he could respond, two massive lycan turned the corner of the house and began rushing toward us. Duncan fell from the sky, landing on the one closest to me. They tumbled together into the snow, the lycan roaring in protest.

Martin
rushed the second one and began beating its muzzle with his fists while I stared in shock, wondering if I should help or go after another one. Celeste reacted much more quickly than I did. She landed next to me and rushed toward her brother. She opened her mouth and sunk her teeth into the back of the lycan’s neck while Martin held it still.

I heard a yelp and looked back at Duncan, who was
raising himself from the second lycan, which was now motionless.

“Is he dead?” I asked.

“I don’t think so. I broke his neck but something tells me he’ll be recovering soon.”

“T
hen, shouldn’t we kill it?”

Someone screamed
in the distance.

My mother.

Duncan and I flew toward the boathouse. When we arrived, Victor had a gun to my mother’s head and Nathan was on all fours, growling at him in his lycan form. Three other lycan quickly arrived and surrounded us.

“Uh, I take it that one is Nathan?” asked Duncan
, pointing to my brother.

“Yes,” I replied. I
cleared my throat and turned to Victor. “Victor, please, let mom go.”

He smirked. “Certainly. If you leave here with me calmly. I’ll let them
all
go.”

“Everyone?”

“Of course.”

“I don’t believe you,” I replied.

“Believe this – I’ll kill your mother and every last one of your friends if you don’t do what I say.”

Ethan landed next to us. He was breathing heavily and the front of his shirt was soaked with blood. “Don’t go with him, Nikki,” he
said. “He plans on trying to kill everyone anyway.”

“
I’m warning you. If you don’t follow my orders, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life,” growled Victor.

“
Follow this,” I replied, turning both of my middle fingers up in the air.

I could tell from my mother’s expression that she was wondering if I’d lost my mind. Maybe I had.

“That’s pathetic and very immature, Nicole. I’m beginning to think that I’m better off with a different egg donor.” He sighed and scratched his head. “Yes, I believe I’m done with all of you Roamers, including Nikki. I’ll just search for someone else. Someone who will be willing to cooperate and I won’t have to keep chasing all over the nation.”

“I’d love to see that ad
on Craigslist,” I answered dryly.

He pointed the gun at me. “
You know, I should shoot you first, since everyone seems to fancy you. Frankly, I’m sick of listening to your mouth.”  

I snorted.
“Oh… you’re going to
shoot
me? I thought you were supposed to be some kind of bad-assed
alpha
lycan? I guess if you have to use a gun, then you’re really not as powerful as your pack believes.”

Victor’s face turned red with rage
. “I don’t need a weapon to kill anyone. It’s just faster.”

“Right,” I replied. I turned and looked at the other lycan, every one of them now surrounding us. “You really have this guy as your leader? Someone with a medicine chest full of
Cialis and Metamucil?”

Ethan
shook his head and grinned.

“Shut up, you lying little bitch,” growled Victor.

But, I kept going.
If he didn’t drop the gun, I knew that my mom’s brains would soon be splattered all over the snow. I wanted his anger centered on me. Make him so angry that he’d begin making mistakes, or his arrogance would override logic.