Skye's Trail (31 page)

Skye laughed and her heart settled into a controlled rhythm. This she understood. Her hunts had ended this way many times, with a game of cat and mouse played around insults.

“And for you,” Skye said as she moved to the left. “Where’s Marina?”

Rafael went to the right, Gian and the other vampires fanned out in equal distances around the circle, chanting low and in a language that Skye couldn’t understand.

The witch’s laugh was an unpleasant sound against Skye’s skin. “Go look for her, Angelini. See if you can save the poor pathetic human.”

Skye shrugged. “There’ll be plenty of time for that. I doubt this will take long. If you were so powerful, you wouldn’t be here like this, your fledglings lost and your servants dead.”

The witch screamed in fury and the vampires chanted louder.

Inside the circle, the air shimmered, like heat off the desert, and Skye sensed something powerful fighting to break free and take shape. She edged closer to the circle and the witch lunged at Skye.

But Skye was quicker, jumping away and asking, “Ready for justice yet?”

The chanting grew louder then stopped abruptly. Into the silence Brann said, “A fair question, and because I’m a fair man, I’ll give you a choice—a quick death or an ugly one…Iselda.” At the use of her name, the witch shrieked.

Before Skye could react, Iselda leapt halfway out of the circle and grabbed Skye’s lower legs. The shimmering power that Skye had seen before surged forward and true terror kicked in. From the depths of her soul came the word
demon
.

Skye fought the witch’s hold, struggling to keep from being dragged into the circle as the vampires started chanting again, their voices layering one on top of the other.

Brann’s voice rose above the rest and as they reached a crescendo, Skye heard him say the witch’s name in the instant before he plunged the witch’s own athame into her heart.

Blood gushed from her every opening, rancid and evil. It should have been a killing blow, but Skye could sense that Iselda wasn’t dead.

Gian’s voice commanded,
Come to me
,
just as Skye fought her way free of the witch’s hands.

Without thought, without question, Skye went. He pulled her against his body and she let her soul and mind flow into his, joining all that she was to him.

Oaths and blood-magic united the vampires. As one, their power pushed the witch’s body back into the circle, trapping it with the demon she’d summoned.

With the knife driven through her heart, she could do nothing but shriek and scream as the demon devoured her, leaving behind only blood-soaked clothes and the black athame that Skye had used to save herself from being a sacrifice.

The vampire voices lowered to a whisper and once again Brann spoke, invoking a different name…and the vibrating shimmering energy disappeared.

Chapter Nineteen

They found Marina in one of the bedrooms, drugged and bound, but unharmed otherwise. “She is a friend of Amy and Jen’s,” Kyle said. “I will do what needs to be done.”

Skye tensed, but before she could question or argue, Gian pulled her against his body.
The girl will not be harmed. Kyle means only to explore her thoughts and alter her memory if necessary then send her on her way.

Amy and Jen are mere fledglings. They will be placed under a master’s care until they are strong enough to stand on their own and cause the rest of us no harm. Until that time, they will have no contact with anyone from their past.

Brann will be their master?

Gian’s soft laugh whispered along her spine.
No, while Brann can remove the witch’s taint and remake them, he has no patience for training fledglings. There are others among us who relish that role.

Skye nodded, her mind lingering for a moment on the images that his words created. Though she wasn’t drawn to the BDSM scene, she had hunted among its participants in the past.

Amy’s half-brother will not give up looking for her now that I’ve told him that I think she’s alive
,
Skye said.

Then he must be convinced that she is dead.

Skye nodded.
His personal aide is in town, waiting for my call.

Gian licked along her neck then scraped his fangs over her pulse.
I have met very few humans who couldn’t be hypnotized by us, by the Angelini. Call him to you. Let him carry the news of Amy’s true death back to her brother.

It would be better if we could also send proof.

Gian looked to Brann and Skye knew that they talked, though she had only the impression of words and not their sound. When Gian shifted his attention back to her, he said,
Amy possesses a ring that she stole from her brother. Brann has commanded that she surrender it. Haley will give it to you when we return to the club.

As soon as they were in Gian’s car, Skye used her cellular to call Martin. “Have you located her?” he asked without preamble.

“Yes.”

“I want to meet with you. Immediately.”

His manic, nervous energy flowed down the telephone line. “At your hotel?”

“No. I’ve got a rental car. Name a place where no one will notice us and I’ll pick you up.”

“I’m on my way to a bar named Fangs. I can wait for you there. Do you need directions?”

“No. I’ll get them. How long?”

“Thirty minutes.”

“I trust you’ve been discreet and no one else knows that you’ve located Amy.”

Skye’s instinct warned that the question was more important than it seemed. “I’ve got a silent partner. He knows.”

There was a tense silence. “None of the research indicated that you had a partner.”

On a hunch she said, “He doesn’t want the police department to monitor him as they do me.”

“Ah.”

“I’ll see you in thirty minutes,” Skye said, snapping the cellular closed and returning it to her pocket.

“He’s nervous,” Gian said. “Untrustworthy.”

“Yes.”

“I’ll go with you.”

Skye laughed even though warmth flooded her heart at his unspoken concern. She moved closer, her body touching his, and the warmth became heated need.

Later.
His voice was a husky caress in her mind.
Let us deal with this and get it behind us, then there will be time to love and play at our leisure.

Skye reached to find Rico. He was still at Toppers, but close to being finished. She could feel his body respond as her thoughts and needs brushed against his.

* * * * *

Haley was waiting for them as Skye and Gian moved through the back entrance of Fangs. Her hand fluttered nervously to her pendant as her gaze moved back and forth between Gian and Skye then finally settled on Skye.

“Kyle said that you’d been injured and that your clothes were bloody. I left something for you to wear, in the room you were in before.”

“Thanks,” Skye said.

Gian pressed a kiss to Skye’s temple.
I will meet you in a few minutes.

As he walked away, Haley handed a heavy, masculine ring to Skye. “I’m supposed to give this to you. Amy said that her brother stole it from his grandfather. It was supposed to be buried with his grandfather, but her brother paid someone to remove it before they buried the coffin.”

Skye studied the ring and knew instantly why Amy had stolen it from her brother. It had the look of something old and mystical, though she could feel no magic attached to it. “Somehow that’s fitting.”

Haley twisted the pendant she was wearing. “Thanks for finding Jen. And for not killing her…them.” In a rush, she added, “They didn’t mean for Brittany Armstrong to die. They wanted to make her a vampire—their vampire and not the witch’s. But they weren’t strong enough.” She took a deep breath, her eyes both pleading and hopeful. “I hope we can be friends. This life is…it’s hard sometimes…not being able to talk about…things.”

The request surprised Skye. She’d had people ask her for many things, but no one had ever asked for friendship. Feeling oddly disoriented, she nodded and said, “I’d like that.”

Haley’s smile was brilliant. “Thanks.” She moved back. “You probably want to take a shower and change.”

* * * * *

Skye found it amusing that the senator’s aide drove past Fangs several times before finally parking in a remote, pitch-black area of the lot. If he only knew what lurked in the dark, he’d park directly under a light.

She watched as Gian glided toward the car, toward the unsuspecting man. She followed, sure to stay in the light, to keep Martin’s attention away from the unexpected menace that was Gian.

When she was close, she heard the click of electric door locks being released.
Front seat or back?
she asked.

The night grows short. I will take the front and with it the blame for whatever happens. Your other mate comes to us now. Let’s be done with this.

Even if Skye had wanted to argue, there was no choice. Just as Martin frowned his annoyance that she was getting in the backseat, Gian joined him in the front.

Martin whirled and stood no chance at all. The instant his eyes met Gian’s, he was trapped, his thoughts and intentions spilling out like the insides of a gutted fish.

He makes it easy for us
, Gian said, satisfaction in his voice at the aide’s plan to kill Amy and bury her in the desert.

Skye laughed silently and pulled the ring from her pocket. Gian took it and offered it to Martin, along with the suggestion that he go to the place where Skye had buried the now-retrieved coffins and sleep until the sun rose. The disturbed dirt and the shovel in the trunk of his car, along with the ring were all the proof his mind would require that his plans had been successful.

Martin took the ring and slipped it over his finger. Skye could sense the glee in him, the expectation of having the Senator in his debt for taking care of this matter. Through the aide’s memories, she could see that it was a debt the Senator willingly took on, though he’d been careful never to give the order directly.

Kyle appeared with a shovel. At Gian’s command, Martin unlocked the trunk. As soon as the shovel was in place, Kyle said,
Your mate has arrived
, then blended back into the night.

Gian said,
I will finish providing him with the details of his crime and meet you in the club
.

Skye slipped from the car and went into Fangs.

Rico was leaning against the bar. At the sight of him, Skye’s pulse quickened and when he looked up and smiled, joy rushed through her.

She skirted the dance floor and got to him, wrapping her arms around him and pressing a kiss against his lips in greeting.
Everything’s okay?
she asked.

He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against hers.
Yeah. There were plenty of witnesses, so I only got a little bit of my ass chewed off for letting you guys leave the scene.
He gently ran a hand along her side.
He healed you?