Radiance (Brotherhood of the Blade Trilogy #3) (16 page)

“
I have to believe that, too, or just what the hell are we doing on this planet?” I took in a breath and let it out, watching the traffic and keeping the van in the correct lanes to stay on our destination path. “You are all the most amazing people I have ever known. If something happens to me—”

“
Don’t talk like that,” Ambra interrupted.

“
No, Ambra. I need to say this to everyone.” I swallowed, cutting into another lane when a big truck blocked my long-range vision. “If something happens to me, this goes further than the financial provision I have made for all of you so that either this vampire hunting can continue, or the ones who want to depart have a nice severance that will keep them solvent. Beyond that business end of it, I just want you all to know that I have never loved anyone outside of my own family like I love and cherish all of you. I can’t think of any time in my life when I felt so connected to my friends. My true friends.”
And my lover.
I looked at Ambra. Her eyes were moist.

“
We are all connected,” Joan said. “It’s part of a big plan in the sky.”

“
Aye,” Corbin said. “It’s like the circle of life.”

“
You stole that from
The Lion King
,” I said.

“
You have your favorite movie. I have mine,” he replied with a canine-like smile.

“
We are a circle of people who are attracted to each other for a reason,” Joan said.

“
We run and jump and fight and cry together,” Ambra said.

“
And then we get to the next part of the journey and we find out that you haven’t gone anywhere,” Griff said.

“
But if your friends are still with you, it doesn’t even matter that you do the same thing, day after day,” Nariko said, “because you are still alive.”

“
Oui
, it only matters that you are together and alive,” Ambra said.

“
The moon rises and sets, whether you want it to or not,” Corbin said. “But you are never—”

“
Alone,” Nariko said.

“
That’s what really counts,” I agreed.

We were all so close that we could finish each other’s sentences.

My heart was so full of them, that to lose anyone on this mission to find and rescue Kristin…I would be completely undone and would never forgive myself if they died helping me. I was choked up with the love in that van, with us and all of our vampire-killing gear. I realized how much I not only loved them, but I liked them, too.

Rush hour was easing up and I got us onto the surface streets. I headed for the Hilton on Glenoaks Boulevard, where we had reservations. It was only three miles away from Griffith Park.

When I pulled into the valet parking area, I said to everyone, “Welcome to our command post for Operation Kristin.”

Chapter Seventeen

In the old days, and on my old budget, I usually checked into two-star hotels during a vampire hunt. Or even one-star motels. The current goal was to get as close as possible to ground zero, Griffith Park, and still have some semblance of comfort and security. We needed suites. We needed a conference room, and we needed uninterrupted sleep during the day.

The Hilton staff got us situated on the same floor with keyed access to a private conference room. We checked into multiple suites, and we paired off with our current vampire-hunting partners.

“
I am with you, Rand?” Ambra asked.

“
Of course.” I paused. “Do you want to be with me?”

“
Oui.
I don’t want to get jumped by a vampire.”

“
They wouldn’t dare. It’s the Hilton.”

“
That sort of thinking could get you killed,” she said. “You let down your guard thinking you are in no danger in a fine hotel, and voilà, the next morning, you could wake up as one of them.”

“
Or take a dirt nap.”

“
Or first one, then the other,” Mikhail said and hoisted Nariko’s luggage as well as his own. It was none of my business what the vampire hunter partners did—or didn’t do—in the privacy of their rooms…only that they fought well together and kept each other alive. This wasn’t the military. It was about survival of a species.
Ours.

We took the elevator to our floor and disbursed to our neighboring suites. As soon as we got into our room, Ambra entered it as if vampires awaited us. We checked every nook and cranny and even looked inside the closet for access panels to the ceiling. There were none.

“Clear,” she said.

“
I’m satisfied, too.”

We unpacked and I texted the group to meet in the conference room in one hour. Everyone texted back in the affirmative.

“I want to take a shower,” Ambra said.

“
Is that a sexy hint?”

“
No, it’s not. Perhaps after we complete the mission.”

“
Of course.” I winked.

“
Los Angeles is sweaty. I need to get all of these weapons off and all of these clothes, too, and just stand under the water. Will you stand outside the bathroom door so I don’t have to take my weapons in there?”

“
Yes.” I paused. “What’s wrong? You’re so on edge.”

“
This isn’t my turf. I know Switzerland. I know France. I even know Romania and some other countries. But Los Angeles is foreign to me.”

“
What do you mean?” I asked.

“
L.A. is modern, a world of movies and TV and the internet. I worry that vampires in Los Angeles are more modern, too. Even if they are ancient, like Nero, and like Delilah, are they going to have high-tech weapons that go beyond the fist and the fang?”

“
Not to put words in your mouth, but do you feel like they could best us through some technology that gives them an advantage?”

“
Exactement
. We started to see that trend when we went up against Vlad, with his Kevlar vests—”

“
Double Kevlar vests. We had to undress the guy to kill him.”

Ambra nodded. “If Lucian would not have been there to help us hold him down, Vlad would have killed us.”

I swallowed hard. “You’ve had my back since day one. I would have died a thousand deaths but for you.”

“
Maybe five. Don’t exaggerate like you Americans do.”

I smiled. “I would have died five deaths without you. Is that better?”

“Yes. Accuracy.”

I sighed. “If not for you, my heart would have shriveled up and died.”

She shook her head. “Not because of me. Because you have to live for Kristin, you have stayed alive.”

“
Where are you going with this?”

“
Somewhere dark,” she admitted, her blue eyes measuring mine.

“
What is this, Ambra? Some weird intervention coming?”

“
I am afraid for you.”

“
I’m a trained vampire hunter. I’m second only to you in strength and stats. You are bad-ass number one. I am bad-ass number two. We’re almost invincible.”

“
You speak of the physical perspective. There is a psychological element that I worry about.”

A tingle of fear went through me. “Go on.”

“I do believe we will find Kristin, but we don’t know what condition we will find her in. And that will affect what happens in the final fight against Nero, when and if we find him and his henchmen.”

“
Yes,” I said heavily.

“
This needs to be discussed, Rand. This is not just your life at stake on this mission, but everyone’s.”

“
You think if we find Kristin and she’s in a bad way—either a vampire or dead—that I’ll choke up in the final fight and lose my edge, even let them kill me?”

“
The thought crossed my mind.” She put her hand on my cheek and looked at me with worry in her blue eyes.

“
You should trust me more than that.” I pushed her hand off my cheek. “I wouldn’t do that to you, Ambra. I wouldn’t do that to the others.”

“
You wouldn’t be able to help it. If things are bad when we find Kristin, you will lose your fierceness and your heart will be seized with grief. Therefore, you would leave yourself open to being killed because you would think you won’t want to live if Kristin is gone.”

“
No!”

“
You wouldn’t be able to help it.
Mon Dieu
, what if they showed you her bloody head on a pike to psyche you out?”

“
Damn it, Ambra! Don’t talk like that!” I was angry now.

“
It needs to be discussed. Even if it’s a fake, would you lose it? Would you forget all of your training and just unleash yourself and rush at them in a blind rage?”

“
I’ve been in the military. I know better than that.”

“
This is an intensely personal war and you know it. It’s very different, Rand. It isn’t just you here. We all trust each other to perform in a certain expected way in battle. We can have no deviation of our training, or some of us could die. Not just you.”

I fought the urge to roar at her, to deny this, to spew bravado. Instead, I fell to my knees and pounded my fist into the soft carpet. She came down there with me and put her strong arms around me. I was breathing hard, unable to scream my rage at the machine that was vampires, and at one Sister of the Scythe who understood the psychology of vampire hunts even more than me.

“I see you agree with my greatest fear about Operation Kristin.”

“
I don’t like it that I agree.”

She took my hand and said, “No more fists pounded in the floor. You need this hand to fight them!”

I nodded. “What am I going to do if they pull something like that? I
would
fail at keeping my cool.”

“
There is only one solution. I must lead the mission.”

“
You?”

“
You would become my defense, Rand. I will take the offense. Not just for this reason that you have a heavy emotional investment in Kristin’s welfare, but because the vampires will not expect it if I lead the charge.”

“
Are you sure about this?”

“
Yes! On every mission that they could possibly know about, The Brotherhood of the Blade has been the offense and Sisterhood of the Scythe has been the defense. They know our fighting styles well. The ones that got away at the Raven Citadel ruins in Romania, especially, must have discussed us at length, perhaps even shared their intel of how we killed Vlad.”

“
So, at this eleventh hour, you propose that we switch up the yin and yang of our well-practiced team?”

“
Exactly. Put me in charge of this mission. Now.”

“
What about tomorrow night, when we hope to battle Nero?”

“
Actually, Rand…” She paused and kissed me hard. I kissed her back the same way, because her passion was just so fierce that I had to meet her needs or be swallowed up by them.

“
What was that for?” I asked when we came up for air.

“
That was because we need to find and fight Nero tonight.”

“
Tonight? Um, what about jet lag and sleep and getting ready for tomorrow?”

“
They likely know we are in Los Angeles and they might even know we are at the Hilton, only three miles away from Griffith Park. If they do, they would expect us to rest and not attack them until tomorrow night. If I was a vampire, I would be laughing at how the poor humans are suffering from jet lag and then pre-gaming with a blood-drinking fest and bragging to each other of how they are going to annihilate us all tomorrow and finish us off in one gory battle. Or plan something even worse.”

“
What could be worse than that?” I asked.

“
Capture and torture. And then, after that, they could storm Blackstone Castle and take it from Lucian and his family to set up their new regime.”

“
Despite you playing such a sick devil’s advocate, I think you’re right. No, I
know
you’re right.”

“
Then give me control of the mission, Rand.
Immédiatement
.”

“
That means ‘right now,’ doesn’t it?”

“
When are you ever going to learn to speak French like a good Swiss citizen?” she chided me.

“
When you kiss me like you want to kill me with your lips,” I countered.