Quinn's Undying Rose (Scanguards Vampires #6) (19 page)

Amaury rolled his eyes. “Oh, put a sock in it, Quinn. You would do the same for any of us. So, let’s cut to the chase. There’s only one way to get Keegan off Rose’s back.”

“Remove what he’s after and you remove the threat,” Samson said.

“No, destroying the flash drive alone won’t be sufficient,” Quinn interrupted. “The only way to eliminate the threat for good, is to eliminate Keegan. Even if we destroy the data he wants, he’ll seek revenge. Rose and Blake will never be safe as long as he’s alive.”

Amaury nodded. “Exactly.”

“I want to know more about this Keegan before we come to a decision,” Samson cautioned.

“But we can’t wait!” Quinn protested.

“There’s no need to wait. You do what you need to do to protect Rose and Blake, and the rest of us target Keegan. Thomas is already working on finding everything he can about him. It shouldn’t take long.”

Quinn knew his boss’s high ethics and realized that he wouldn’t give permission to kill him unless it was the only possibility. There was no use in trying to convince him otherwise. But he hoped that whatever Thomas dug up would justify taking Keegan out for good. Any man who posed a threat to Rose had to be eliminated. Particularly one who’d laid his dirty paws on her.

Samson turned to the door, then changed his mind and turned back to Quinn. “And another thing: you and Rose . . .”

The hairs on Quinn’s nape rose, instantly alert.

“Maybe if the two of you resolved whatever issues you have, she might tell you where to find the flash drive. It would help us out a great deal.”

“Easier said than done,” he murmured under his breath.

But his boss had heard him nevertheless. “Maybe you should try harder. I didn’t win Delilah over by twiddling my thumbs. Neither will your anger get you any further with Rose. I thought you were a master in seduction, or am I mistaken?”

With a smirk, Samson left the room.

Amaury grinned. “If you want to, I can give you a few pointers.”

“Get out of my sight!”

He needed no advice on how to seduce his wife. Seducing Rose had never been the problem. Her body still responded to him, he knew that for certain. But would her heart answer to his again? Would she open it once more and let him in? Would she trust him once more?

Despite the misgivings he had about her lying to him, to a certain extend he could understand her caution. After all, they hadn’t seen each other in two hundred years, and he was practically a stranger to her. But that was something he wanted to change.

21

Instead of heading home, Samson drove to Thomas’s house. Eddie opened the door instantly, inviting him into the spacious living room where Thomas sat in a corner, which had been fitted out as an office.

Eddie shut the door behind him. “Hey, what’s up?”

“We have a situation. I have a job for the two of you.”

Eddie’s boyish face lit up. “Cool. What do you need?”

Thomas rose from his chair and joined them. “Short party, huh?”

“I doubt Haven minded that we all had to leave early. I’m sure he’s got better things to do than entertaining the likes of us.”

Samson grinned. He had better things to do too. Delilah was waiting for him at home. Isabelle was finally asleep, and he hoped would remain that way for a few hours to give him and Delilah some time alone together.

He caught a flash of sadness in Thomas’s eyes before he hid it again, reminding him that his friend hadn’t had a steady partner in a long time. For a moment he wondered whether it was all that good for Thomas to have the object of his affections living with him, yet unattainable. Maybe it would be better for Eddie to move out. But Samson would be the last man to suggest such a thing. If the two of them liked this arrangement, it wasn’t for him to question it.

“Well, anyway,” he started, and filled them in about the happenings at the B&B. When he finished, he laid out what he needed the two to do for him.

“Is there a way of sweeping an area for this flash drive?”

Thomas raised an eyebrow. “I’m assuming you don’t want anybody to know you’re looking for it?”

“You could say that.”

“And when we’ve found it, what then?” There was something akin to suspicion in his tone now.

Samson shook his head and chuckled to himself. “Thomas, how long have we known each other?”

“Do you ever truly know anybody, even after a hundred years?” Thomas replied with another question.

“Sometimes it’s a matter of trust, don’t you think?” Then he looked at Eddie. “Has Thomas ever told you how we met?”

Eddie looked at him with keen interest in his eyes. “Thomas doesn’t like to talk about his past.”

“Well, I’m not one to spill the beans. Maybe one day you can coax it out of him.” Then he trained his look back on Thomas who’d been quiet the entire time. “So what do you say, considering our history, do you trust me to do the right thing?”

Their gazes locked.

“There’s a device I tinkered with. Considering that a flash drive has no power of its own, none of the conventional bug sweepers would work. But I’ve been working on a programmable device that allows me to search for any combination of metals. So if I enter the components in some of the most common flash drives into it, theoretically, it should be able to search for it. But it’s only a prototype.”

Samson smiled. “Then let’s put it to the test. Start at the B&B. And if it’s not there, you and Eddie will go and visit all of Rose’s brothels from here to Chicago and find that damn flash drive.”

“Brothels?” Thomas repeated. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Quinn’s wife is a
Madame
? I’m sure there’s a story there.”

***

London 1814

Rose knew she had to get away. Sooner or later, Quinn would return and do unspeakable things to her. She was certain of that. Because he wasn’t her sweet Quinn anymore, he was a monster now, a vampire! A bloodthirsty animal. The red glare in his eyes had chilled her to the bone, but when she’d seen his fangs, the weapons with which he could kill her in an instant, her heart had stopped only to restart moments later at triple the pace.

She’d never felt so frightened in her entire life. And not just for herself. If he ever found out about his daughter, he would take her too. His possessive words before he’d left her chamber still echoed in her ears.

You’re mine, Rose.

A cold shiver ran down her spine. No, she didn’t belong to a monster, and neither did her daughter. She would go to the country, and later, when she’d calmed down, she would plead with her father to let her stay at the estate closest to where he’d placed her child. She knew now, since a marriage with Quinn was impossible, that she had no chance of ever getting her daughter back.

A sob tore from her chest at the terrible thought. She could never be her child’s mother now. But maybe, if she begged her father long enough, he would relent and let her stay close to Charlotte so she could at least watch how her daughter grew up to be a young woman. She would never have the kind of privileged upbringing that Rose had enjoyed, but at least she could make sure that the girl lacked nothing.

With her parents having just left for a soiree, Rose summoned her maid and ordered her to alert the coachman to ready the carriage. She would be hours away before her parents even knew she was gone. She would deal with their wrath later. Leaving London during the height of the season was an affront they would not take lightly. It mattered not. If they knew what she was running from, they would understand, but she couldn’t tell them. They would never believe her.

But she’d seen what she’d seen: Quinn was a vampire.

Within an hour she was on her way. But she didn’t even reach the outskirts of London before her travels were interrupted. The horses let out frightened whinnies and reared up. Her driver stopped the carriage instantly, pulling back the horses and trying to calm them, but they were scared out of their wits.

Rose poked her head out of the carriage. “What seems to be the problem, William?”

Instead of an answer, her driver suddenly screamed. The carriage rattled as if somebody had jumped onto it. A struggle ensued. But within seconds it was over. Quiet spread through the night again.

“William?” Panic coursed through her veins, where her blood had turned to ice.

Her trusted servant didn’t respond. Oh God, no! She craned her neck trying to see what had happened.

“Now that we’re alone, let’s talk.”

The stranger’s voice came from behind her. She whirled around, but he’d already opened the carriage door and squeezed inside. His clothes were simple, but his face was all she could look at. His eyes glared red the way she’d seen Quinn’s eyes glare, and pointy fangs protruded from his mouth. Blood trickled from them.

She screamed.

All it earned her was his mocking laughter.

“Nobody will hear you. Your driver is dead. Damn tasty too. Who would have thought an old man like him has such sweet blood? But then, you can never tell what’s inside until you open a present, can you?”

Shrinking back from him, her hand reached for the door on the other side, but the vampire’s hand clamped around her wrist like a vice in a motion too fast for her eyes to follow.

“Let me go!”

His eyes bored into her. “I can’t do that.”

“Who are you? What do you want? Money?”

“Apologies, my lady. I neglected to introduced myself. I am Wallace.”

Wallace? Where had she heard that name before?

“I’m Quinn’s maker. His sire, the vampire who made him what he is today. I saved his life on the battlefield.”

Rose gasped. “Oh God, no!” Quinn had sent him after her to hurt her.

“I saved his life on the battlefield so he could come back to you.” Suddenly his voice turned to ice. “And what do you do? You reject his love. You toss him out on the street. You think you’re better than him?”

Wallace lashed an angry glare at her.

“You’re not any better than Quinn, not once I’m done with you.”

Her breath caught in her throat.

“Yes, you know what’s coming, don’t you? I’ll make you in his image.”

“No,” she whispered, her voice deserting her.

“You’ll be like him. You’ll be equals then. There will be no more reason to reject him. He will finally get what he wants.”

A terrible thought spread in her heart. “Did he ask you to do that?”

“Quinn? He’s too distraught to think. You brought this on yourself! It’s my gift to him.”

Why his words gave her momentary relief, she didn’t have time to contemplate, because Wallace grabbed her and pulled her closer. Despite her struggles, she couldn’t get away from him. Kicking and screaming did nothing to dissuade him from his mission.

His head came closer, ever closer to her throat until his lips connected with the skin on her neck. A moment later she felt his fangs. Then a violent pain. She fought against him, the pain in her neck intensifying, spreading over her entire body as his fangs dug deeper.

When darkness encroached she fought against that too, but her struggle was useless, her body too weak to hold off the inevitable. He was turning her into a monster, and she had no way of stopping him.

Darkness came and went. The pain anchored in her heart, spreading like black mold. It engulfed her entire being, overtook her senses so all she could think of was the throbbing hurt of a life lost. She would never be the same again.

Even as she was reborn that same night, the pain never vanished.

When Rose took her first breath as a vampire and opened her eyes to a new world, she found herself in a shabby room. From the noise she heard coming from downstairs, she knew she was in some tavern.

Everything seemed sharper, her vision, her hearing, her sense of smell. Particularly the last. But all she could think of as she reared up from her position on the hard bed was the thirst that controlled her like the strings of a marionette. She needed to drink, to still the thirst that drove her wild.

“Finally awake.”

Wallace’s voice was the last thing in the world she wanted to hear. But he was here, sitting in front of the fireplace. At his feet, she noticed a bundle. Her eyes honed in on it, as did her nose. It smelled delicious.

Without thinking, she rose in one fluid motion and charged toward it.

“Thought you’d be hungry.” The rickety chair he sat on creaked as he bent down.

She was faster and reached for the bundle. The girl was maybe sixteen and judging by her clothing she was most likely a scullery maid.

“She’s tasty. I had a sip before.” Wallace gave her a suggestive look. “Have at it. I know you’re thirsty. I can see it in your eyes.”

Rose recoiled from him and the human who was now stirring. Her jaw suddenly ached. Her hand came up to touch her mouth, and she felt sharp teeth peaking past her lips. Fangs! She had fangs! The finality of this fact hit her. There was no denying it. She was a monster now, one that killed to survive.

“No!” she screamed.

The girl on the floor reared her head, her frightened eyes staring up at her. Rose tried to pull back, but the human’s blood smelled enticing, better than anything she’d ever smelled. Though she was filled with disgust at herself, her body didn’t obey her mind. As if pulled by invisible ropes, Rose felt herself pulled toward the girl. Closer and closer.

She fought to resist. But her body’s needs were stronger.

As she sank down and pulled the struggling girl toward her, hunger overcame her. It drove her, controlled her. Only when her fangs sank in the human’s neck and drew the precious liquid from her, did her need ebb, making way for repulsion and loathing.

Rose withdrew from the girl as soon as she had the strength to command her body again, but it was too late. She’d drained her. As tears filled her eyes, fury surged through her. Without thinking, she charged at Wallace. The chair crashed beneath him as they both landed on the floor, fighting.

She was aware of her sudden strength, the immense power that ran through her veins. Her hatred for Wallace and what he’d done to her only fueled this power, pumped it up, stoked the fire in her belly higher.