Relentless (23 page)

“You have to let Dad take care of this,” Peter pleaded. “Please.”

I looked from Peter to Roland. “What would you do if you were in my shoes? What if it had been one of your parents? You can’t tell me you wouldn’t do everything to get to the bottom of it.”

“Yes but –”

“No buts, Peter. You wouldn’t sit back and let someone else handle it and neither can I.”

Roland shredded the top of his hamburger bun without even realizing he was doing it. “So you only went to the Attic with us to meet someone.”

The betrayal in his voice made me want to say no, but I couldn’t lie to him anymore, not about this. “I asked him to meet me there after you asked me to go.”

Roland let out a breath and I could tell he was hurt and thinking that I only went with them to meet someone else. “I’m sorry,” I said softly.

The silence at the table hung over us like a shroud and I felt a small tear appear in the trust we’d always had between us. My deceit hurt them and now they were wondering what else I’d lied about.

“I swear it was the only time I ever did anything like that.”

“Why didn’t you tell us or ask us for help?” Roland demanded. “Don’t you trust us?”

“Why didn’t you tell me what you were?” I countered.

He shifted on his chair. “That’s different. We thought you were human. We were protecting you.”

“I thought you were human too. I didn’t want to drag you into this.” It wasn’t enough to ease their hurt feelings but it was the truth.

We sat there quietly for several long minutes, each of us toying with our food and waiting for someone to say something to break the uncomfortable silence. I didn’t know what to say to fix things between us.

The quiet was shattered by a small group of girls who clamored around a table nearby. Glancing their way, I saw Faith, Jessie, and Marie along with two other girls from school. The five of them chattered and giggled loudly, making enough noise to draw annoyed stares from the other customers.

It didn’t take Faith long to spot us and her smile fell away as she glared at me. The other girls followed her stare and their laughter died as they looked at me with narrowed eyes. Their lame attempt at intimidation was so comical I almost burst out laughing. If they had seen half the things I’d seen in the last month alone, they’d be at home cowering under their beds. Sometimes I wondered if I should be doing that myself. I returned their stares until one by one, the girls turned away to whisper amongst each other.

“We should go.” My appetite was long gone.

We picked up our trays and carried them to the nearest trash can. I pointed at the restroom. “I’ll meet you over by the entrance.”

“Okay,” Peter said. Roland only nodded.

The restroom was empty and I washed my hands then leaned against the counter with my back to the mirror. I’d never hurt my friends before, had never seen them look at me with doubt. I swallowed the lump that started to form in my throat.
What did you think would happen when they found out you lied to them?

I had to find a way to fix this. Maybe it was time to come clean to them about all my secrets. Now that I knew they weren’t human, there was no reason to hide anything from them anymore. Remy had warned me in the beginning that the wrong people would try to use my power for their own needs so I had to keep it hidden. But my friends would never hurt me that way. I knew their secret, they should know mine. In fact, I wanted them to know. I needed to think of the best way to tell them, to show them. Not today but very soon.

I felt lighter when I emerged from the restroom. I saw Roland and Peter waiting for me by the large glass doors and a smile crept across my face as I imagined their expressions when I revealed my power to them. What would they say when they heard about Remy or when I told them about the visit from Aine? After I told them everything, my friends would never doubt my trust in them again.

My happy thoughts were cut short by the shock of icy liquid splashing across my shoulder and down my left arm. I gasped at the orange stain spreading over my light blue jacket before I looked up at Faith’s smug face and the empty smoothie cup in her hand.

“Oh I’m so sorry!” Faith exclaimed without a hint of sincerity. “You ran right into me. You really should watch where you’re going, you know.”

The monster in my head came roaring to life, crying out for swift retaliation. I clenched my teeth so hard it hurt and it was only extreme willpower that kept me from slugging that smirk right off her face. Images of Scott’s bloody face still haunted me and I would not let the demon use me like that again. As much as I detested Faith, she was human and I had to be careful not to hurt her.

Faith glanced at the mall cop near the entrance watching us and her lips twitched in glee, assuming he was the reason for my lack of action. Behind her, the other girls twittered and enjoyed the show.

I brushed past her to get some napkins from the closest concession. The blond boy behind the counter gave me a sympathetic smile and shoved a stack of paper napkins toward me. I grabbed a handful and started mopping up the slushy liquid running down my arm.

“What? No witty comeback this time?” Faith’s voice dripped acid behind me.

I took some more napkins to wipe smoothie off my jeans. “I have nothing to say to you, Faith.”

“Figures. You are such a loser.” She held up the empty smoothie cup. “Think I’ll get another. That first one went down so good.”

I let my eyes fall to her waist. “You might want to lay off those for a while. That stuff is full of empty calories.”

Faith’s mouth fell open like a fish gasping for air. The boy behind the counter made a snorting sound and she shot him a scorching look. She whirled angrily, her long blond hair whipping my face as she stalked off.

“What the heck is her problem?” The boy asked.

“Don’t mind her. She’s still pissed about her boyfriend.”

He leaned on the counter, his eyes sparkling. “You went out with her boyfriend?”

“Yeah, not likely.” I crumpled the pile of wet napkins and handed them to him to throw away. “I broke his nose.”

I looked down at my stained, wet clothes and grimaced. There wasn’t much I could do about it until I got home. I joined Roland and Peter who had witnessed everything and were holding back grins. “Not a word,” I warned them as we walked through the automatic doors.

It came as no surprise to find Nikolas leaning against his motorcycle across from the mall entrance. At least this time he had stayed outside. We walked right by him on the way to the car and his eyebrows rose when he saw the orange stain down one side of me. I thought I saw the corner of his mouth twitch and I knew right then and there that I was going to haul off and deck him if he started laughing.

“What? You think vampires are messy?” I scoffed as I passed him. “Try tangling with the homecoming queen.”

Nate left for
his conference on Tuesday morning and Malloy contacted me later that day to let me know his guy had come through with the Ptellon blood. The timing sucked but I figured Nate should be safe in Boston and if anything bad came, it would come here. Not a comforting thought but better than the alternative. I could slip the blood to him when he got back.

My immediate problem was how to meet up with Malloy to make the exchange without one of the Mohiri tailing me and interrupting us. I didn’t think Malloy would appreciate Nikolas or Chris crashing his business and I could only imagine what Nikolas would say about my extracurricular activities.

The Mohiri were not my only obstacle. Since I’d confessed about trying to meet NightWatcher, Roland and Peter had been watching me more closely too. They sat with me at lunch, followed me to the school library – the last place Roland liked to hang out – and offered to give me rides home from school. If they were still upset over my admission, they did not show it. I appreciated their concern but right now they were seriously cramping my style. How the hell was I going to outsmart two werewolves and two Mohiri warriors at the same time?

Jed’s was out of the question because I was still spooked by the unknown person asking about troll bile. I did not want to take the chance that someone would see me there with Malloy again and connect the dots. The fact that Malloy didn’t argue when I rejected that location told me I wasn’t the only one thinking about it. After much back and forth, we settled on a place and I started planning how to sneak away to complete the deal.

When the final bell rang on Wednesday, I stuffed my backpack into my locker. Instead of heading for the exit where I knew my friends were waiting for me again, I surreptitiously made my way to the faculty entrance near the teacher’s lounge. There was no one around to see me when I opened the door and slipped outside to the back parking lot the school shared with the church next door. Hidden from the street and conveniently located next to the cemetery, this spot was perfect for my getaway. I sprinted across the half empty lot, past the church and hopped over the waist-high iron fence surrounding the cemetery. Ducking down, I swiftly navigated between the headstones and exited by the small gate on the far side. It was so easy I almost laughed out loud. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it until now.

I knew it would not take long for my watchers to figure out that I’d given them the slip, so I set out at a fast walk, trying not to run and draw attention to myself. I skirted the waterfront, giving home a width berth, and took a slightly longer route to my destination. Last night, Malloy and I had agreed to do our business on a boat belonging to an acquaintance of his. The boat, called the Mary’s Hope, was docked in a slip at the Bayside Marina and Malloy said it was highly unlikely that anyone would connect it to either of us. I had a feeling it was just one of many places where Malloy handled his business.

As I approached the marina, I couldn’t help but feel rather pleased with myself. I’d managed to evade my growing posse of protectors and in a short while I’d have the means to keep Nate safe if more monsters came to call. It was the least I could do for attracting them to us in the first place.

“Going for a spin on your sailboat, are you?”

I whirled to face Roland. “How…?”

He jogged toward me on silent feet, his expression serious. “You didn’t really think you could give us the slip did you?” He stopped in front of me. “I knew you were up to something as soon as I saw you this morning.”

I looked behind him, expecting to see Peter and one of the Mohiri appear any second.

“It’s just me. Pete and I split up; he took the front door and I got the back. The blond fellow is probably just realizing you are no longer at school.”

Poor Chris
. He didn’t seem like a bad sort and he was going to develop a complex if he kept losing me.

“You’re going to meet that guy, aren’t you?” Roland said in an accusing tone.

For a second I thought he knew about Malloy but then it hit me that he was talking about NightWatcher. “No. This has nothing to do with that. I swear.”

He gave me look that said he didn’t believe me. The loss of trust sent a small stab of hurt through me but I had only myself to blame.

“So what is so important that you had to sneak away like this?”

“It’s just something I have to take care of and I’m tired of having someone watching my every move, okay?”

“Maybe I can help you,” he pushed.

I sighed loudly. I planned to tell him everything – just not yet. “Roland, there are some things I keep to myself, just like I don’t know what werewolves do half the time.”

His mouth formed a stubborn line. “Werewolves can protect themselves if they go off alone. And none of us are being hunted by an obsessed vampire.” He crossed his arms. “Go ahead and do what you have to but I’m coming with you.”

Damn it.
I
had
to meet with Malloy and I was pretty certain it would be a hell of a lot harder to get away after my stunt today. Too much was riding on this to turn back now.

“You can come with me but you have to do what I tell you to.” His eyes narrowed and I said, “I’ll explain if you promise to do what I say.”

“I promise to do it
if
I don’t think you are in any danger.”

I chewed the inside of my lip as I wondered how much to tell him without actually saying who I was going to see. Rule number one in this business was to never reveal your contacts and Malloy held that rule close to his vest. He might never do business with me again if he thought he could not trust my discretion. Troll bile and diamonds meant nothing to him if he got killed acquiring them.

“I’m going to buy something to keep Nate safe in case something tries to hurt him because of me.”

Roland’s eyes widened and I could tell that whatever he’d been expecting, it wasn’t that. “Keep him safe? How?”

“Have you ever heard of the Ptellon flower?” He shook his head so I explained where it came from and how it could be used to repel vampires and other like creatures. “I warded our building but that won’t help Nate when he’s away from home. The Ptellon nectar is all I need now.”

He looked at me like I’d sprouted a third eye. “You warded the whole building by yourself? How do you know how to do that? And how do you know all this protection stuff.”

There was so much I wanted to tell him but this was neither the time nor the place. “There are some things about me you don’t know and I promise I’ll tell you soon – just not now. All I can say is that I have this friend Remy who taught me and he really knows more about this stuff than anyone I know. I have a guy who can get things and I’m going to get the Ptellon from him.”

“Have I met this Remy guy before?” he asked as we began walking toward the marina entrance.

“Not likely. He doesn’t, um, hang out with werewolves.”

“And what about the guy we are going to meet?”

I stopped walking. “You’re not going to meet him. When we get there, I’ll go in and you’ll wait outside.” Roland opened his mouth to argue and I held up a hand. “This guy won’t deal with me any other way. And we’ll be on a boat tied to the dock with you right outside. I’ll be fine.”

He made a grumbling sound. “I don’t like this.”

“You’re going to have to trust me on this. I know what I’m doing.” I looked down at my watch. “I have to meet him in five minutes. Come on.”

We entered the marina parking lot and passed between the office and the clubhouse to the main pier. Beyond the pier, a wooden dock extended into the water in a large L-shape and along the dock were four narrow docks with six slips on each side. Most of the slips had a boat secured to them. Anchored at the end of the main dock was the biggest yacht I’d ever seen. Most of the boats in the marina were cabin cruisers, sail boats, and powerboats and occasionally we got some small yachts in the summer. Nothing as big as that yacht though.

I caught Roland gaping at the boat and I laughed. “Yeah, in your dreams.”

There was a lot of activity on the pier as marina workers rushed around with ropes and tarps. I stopped one as he hurried by and asked him what was going on.

“Storm coming,” he said as if I should already know that. He lifted a coil of heavy rope to his shoulder. “We have to secure the boats so they don’t get banged around too much.”

I looked at the partly overcast sky and the calm water of the bay. “Really?”

“Yep. If you guys had any plans to go out, you’ll have to cancel them. Harbormaster sent out a weather warning.”

“Okay thanks,” I said as he started to hurry away.

“Hey,” Roland called after him. “Who owns the monster yacht out there?”

The man shrugged. “Some oil guy from what I heard. Putting in out of the weather.” He hoisted his rope again. “Gotta go.”

I grabbed Roland’s arm. “We’d better hurry up. They’ll shut this place down soon if it’s a bad storm.”

The Mary’s Hope was a forty foot cabin cruiser moored at slip twenty-eight and there was no sign of activity aboard when we reached it. I hoped Malloy was already here because he might not show if he arrived and saw Roland. 

More dock hands passed us and I saw them head for the massive yacht where a tall olive-skinned man with black hair and a hawkish appearance directed them to their tasks. I wondered if he was the same oil guy Nate’s group was trying to keep from drilling in the area. The thought made me glare at the man before I turned back to the business at hand.

“Okay, I’m going in.” I hopped onto the deck. “I should only be a few minutes if he’s here.”

Roland nodded and I hurried down the two steps to the cabin that housed a small table, a tiny kitchenette, a bathroom and a small sleeping area. Tinted windows obscured the interior from the outside.

Malloy sat at the table waiting for me.

“Look at you on time for once,” I quipped making him scowl. I sat across from him even though I was in a hurry. Malloy liked to keep up the appearance of a formal sales transaction. His quirks didn’t bother me as long as he came through for me.

“Payment first as usual,” he said, watching me closely as if I was about to pull off a David Blaine act. I reached into the front pocket of my jeans and rooted around until my finger hooked the diamond.

“I don’t know what the big deal is with these but whatever.” I held out my hand with the red gemstone lying on my palm and Malloy twitched with anticipation. My other hand stretched toward him. “Your turn.”

He didn’t take his eyes off the diamond as he produced a tiny black vial and handed it to me. As soon as I had it in my possession, I extended my open hand to him and he picked up the red diamond almost reverently. I stuffed the precious vial in my front jeans pocket as he examined the gem.

“Perfect,” he gushed, holding the stone up to the light. “I almost didn’t believe it when you said you had one. But I figured someone who could get their hands on troll bile could get almost anything.” He stuck the diamond in his jeans pocket like I had and gave me a satisfied smile. “Listen I know there’s no way a kid your age can get this stuff on your own. Whoever you work for is bloody brilliant to have a nice normal looking girl like you running their goods for them. You let them know that I’m their man for whatever they need from now on.”

“As long as you keep coming through for them, they’ll keep doing business with you.” If he wanted to believe there was a boss man in the background, I had no problem with that. In fact, I liked the idea.

“Good to hear. I’m sure we –”

Malloy jumped to his feet as a thump sounded above us followed by footsteps and a body running down the steps. Roland burst into the cabin. “We gotta get out of here! Someone’s coming and they look like trouble.”

“Who the hell are you?” Malloy demanded, his eyes darting around for other intruders.

“This is my… lookout,” I replied, saying the first that that came to mind. “You didn’t think my boss would send me to these meetings alone, did you?”

“Hey, I know you?” Roland said to Malloy and I saw a disaster in the making.

I got between them and faced Roland. “Forget him. Who’s coming?”

Alarm flashed in his eyes and he grabbed my hand, pulling me toward the steps. “I don’t know but they look like they mean business. Probably some of his friends.”

“Not that way!” Malloy hissed at us. I turned to see him halfway up a ladder propped against a window open to the bow of the boat. Leave it to him to have an escape route in case things went south.

Roland lifted me and practically threw me up the ladder. Malloy had already disappeared through the window, and by the time I scrambled out onto the bow he had jumped to the next boat and vanished from sight. For a small guy he was pretty damn fast on his feet. I turned to see Roland coming through the window behind me just as footsteps pounded on the dock. Peering around the wheel house I saw three large muscled men who looked like they should be guarding some foreign diplomat. The one in the lead was well over six feet with short spiked blond hair. Behind him were two darker complexioned men with short black hair. The looks of determination on their faces as they approached the boat scared the crap out of me. What the hell had Malloy gotten me into?