Steal the Sun (26 page)

The vampire smiled now, her lips turning up in a sly grin. She gestured toward Neil with an exceedingly confident smile. “Another hunter looking for prey. We’re not so different, little girl. We both use men to do our bidding. We both know they’re but helpful tools to be used and discarded.”

Neil snorted. “That’s Zoey’s problem, lady. She can’t discard any of them. She just keeps marrying them. If she doesn’t stop soon, we’ll be looking for a bigger place.”

The vampire was paying close attention to Neil, who was already obligingly naked for her. She held out her hand and the boys let her pass. She wasn’t doing anything threatening and I’d already killed once this evening. If I could talk her into giving up Lee, I would still leave without firing a shot.

“What’s she doing?” Neil never took his eyes off the
baobhan sith
as she started to sway her hips and move toward him. Her body rolled in an impossibly sensuous dance and, for the merest of moments, I worried. She called to hunters and Neil was a hunter. He was a predator. Despite his sweet looks, he had the heart of a wolf beating inside his body, and I wasn’t so sure she wouldn’t call to that.

“Sweetie,” I heard myself saying as I laid a hand on his arm to start to pull him away. The last thing I needed was Neil to find the hetero within. I already had one wolf to save. “Maybe we should stash you somewhere.”

“Z,” Neil whispered, still watching the vampire do her mating dance. “I think she’s calling to me. She wants me to come to her, to love her, to feed her.”

My insides clenched at the thought of losing Neil. I was going to have to make a move and fast. I was just about to level my gun at her when she reached out to touch Neil’s face. Her mouth was slightly open in a lusty show of desire. Just before she caressed him, his hand shot out and stopped her.

“Not happening, sister,” Neil said with a disgusted groan. “Unless you have a hot brother stashed away somewhere, that shit ain’t working on me. Now, keep your skanky hands to yourself. I have a boyfriend. Trust me, I’ve turned down some super-hot male tail because I love Chad. I’m certainly not going to start my own episode of
Cheaters
because some ho-bag faery vamp can make me hear music.”

“What’s wrong with you?” She hissed the question as she looked him up and down, trying to see the problem.

“There’s nothing wrong with me,” Neil said simply with no hint of animosity. He didn’t care what anyone thought. He had people who loved him and they were enough. “I just don’t find you even vaguely attractive. I like boys. If I were going to break down and fuck some chick, it would be Z.”

“Thank you.” I was flattered that I was at the top of his list. I had always kind of thought it would be Sarah.

“You’re welcome,” he said with a coy smile. “I’d do you because you have so many hot dudes going through your bed, I’m sure one of them will eventually slip up and take me instead.”

The vampire obviously didn’t like being turned down. Her face was a mask of rage, and she drew that nasty finger back to slash it across Neil’s throat. Without the aid of her victim being drugged by magic, she was no match for Neil. He slapped her hand back and she found herself on her ass.

“Protect me,” she commanded and Lee and the Hunter moved forward.

“Oh, shit,” Neil said under his breath as we moved backward in perfect time with each other. “I don’t know about the other one, Z, but Lee can kill me and not even break a sweat.”

“I think the other one can, too.” I felt the back of the wall and we had nowhere else to go.

The Hunter gave the dogs a closed fisted gesture and they began to growl.

I took a deep breath. The problem with this whole scenario was that I didn’t want to kill any of the people or animals who were about to come after me. Shuck and Barghest didn’t want to hurt me, but they were the Hunter’s creatures. They had to do his bidding. If I wanted to get everyone out intact, I was going to have to get creative.

“Think about this, Herne.” I didn’t make a single threatening move. “What you are about to do will hurt me. You intend to hurt me if you sic those dogs on me. You will break your oath and my friend will call down the Wild Hunt. They’ll come, Hunter. They’ll come even for you. They won’t care about the spell you’re under. Your oath holds no matter what. It can’t be broken without penalty.”

He stopped and even through his magic addled brain, my logic seemed to penetrate. It went against everything he was to break his oath. He was the keeper of the Wild Hunt and the Wild Hunt was about justice. If he harmed me, he was doing an injustice, and that he could not handle.

I turned to Lee, my voice strong and righteous. It was a voice Lee would understand and relate to. “I own you, wolf. You’re my creature or you’re an oath breaker as well. You promised me. You made vows, Lee Owens. You made vows to me, not this creature before you. Search your brain and you’ll know I speak the truth. The hunt can come for you as well. They can come for royals or nobles who break their oaths or those who commit crimes against them. I am your queen. Don’t make me call them down on you.”

He seemed to fight with everything he had. His muscles bunched up, his eyes closing as though he was in pain. Whether he was fighting to come with me or to stay away, I didn’t know. I only knew which instinct won out. Lee calmed finally and took his place at my back.

The
sith
backed away and stared at me, suspicion in her eyes. “What are you? Why do you glow so brightly?”

I’d wondered if that shine I had was visible to the faery vampire. I had met one female vampire in my life, and while she could see my glow, she wasn’t particularly taken by it. I used the
sith’s
ignorance to my advantage. “If you were on the Earth plane, you would know me well. I’m the Queen of all Vampire, and pray you don’t meet my husband. Your wiles won’t work on him and he’ll kill you for even trying. These men are mine. I take them back now.”

“You’re not a vampire,” she insisted even as she backed away.

“I’m something more,” I said, using Bris’s words. They sounded pretty impressive to me, so I tried them on her. I moved forward, staring down at the vampire. “Do you doubt me? I killed the ogre. I own the wolves. My servant is unaffected by your unique brand of magic. I walk the forest with no fear. If you choose to test yourself against me, then you will lose. I’ll enjoy the exercise. It’s your choice, nightwalker.”

“You said I could keep the other,” she argued, pulling back even as she tried to negotiate. She dropped to her knees, her head falling forward into a submissive position. Unfortunately for her, that time was done. I was through bargaining.

I pulled the cold iron knife from its sheath and knelt down so we were eye to eye. It was time to use those faery stories to my advantage. “That was a deal I was willing to make should you have aided me. You know how these tests go, vampire. If you had aided your queen, I would have showered you with gifts. You chose to show me no hospitality. I’m well within my rights to take your life.”

She believed me. She began crying bloody tears, another way she was different from her Earth plane brethren. “I am sorry, Your Highness. I will aid my sisters from now on. I was just eager to get back to my prey.”

“And that’s why you failed,” I said, standing up. “I leave you with your life,
baobhan sith
. Remember the lesson. Now go. We will need this cottage for an hour to prepare for our return to the palace.”

Her eyes were downcast as she rose. “I’ll go and sleep in the caves. The house is yours until tomorrow.” She gave one last long look at the men in the room and then she was gone, disappearing in the night.

“Wow, Z,” Neil said with a look of approval. “That was an Oscar-worthy performance.”

I cocked my eyebrow. “Why? I technically am her queen. She’s a vampire and I have it from the
bean si
that I’m the Queen of all Vampire. I didn’t lie. I did all those things. And bitch really did fail the sisterhood test.” I looked at the boys, who were kind of in a fugue state. “Do you think she broke them?”

Neil waved a hand over Lee’s impassive face. “I hope not. I can probably drag one of them, but we’d have to leave the Hunter dude behind.”

Lee suddenly took a deep breath and intelligence came back into his eyes. He glanced around the room, shocked at finding himself in a completely different place from the last one he remembered. He frowned when his eyes settled on me.

“Zoey, what the hell is going on?” He put his hands on his hips like he was going to launch into a lecture, but the minute he felt bare skin he blushed all over and I mean everywhere. His hands left his hips and cupped his privates. He should be happy he had big hands.

“Nice to have you back, Lee.” I located his jeans and tossed them over.

“What happened? Where the hell am I? Why am I here? Why aren’t you back at the palace?” Lee barked questions as he tugged the jeans on. I turned away to give him as much privacy as possible because he was still trying to cover up with one hand. I heard his zipper go up and turned around. “And why the hell was I naked?” He practically yelled the question and naked came out sounding like nekkid. I loved it when he sounded backwoods. It meant he was way passed pissed off.

“Are you done yelling at me?” I asked. “If you are, I’ll answer your questions. You met a hottie in the woods and decided to come back to her place for a little action. This is your new girl’s pad. You’re here for some loving and a nice blood exchange, since you suddenly have the hots for a vampire. It’s okay. I understand. They can be persuasive. I’m not at the palace because the asshole next to you decided to make me ogre bait before he joined in on your threesome. As to why you were naked, well, I think that’s the state you’re usually in when having hot sex with a vampire. Daniel insists on it.”

“So does Chad,” Neil added helpfully.

“I did not have sex,” Lee stated, offended.

Neil shrugged. “He can lie to himself but not to his nose.”

Lee took a deep whiff and blushed again. “I can’t believe I had sex with a vampire.”

“Welcome to the club, buddy,” I said with a grin.

The Hunter was starting to come out of his stupor. “Why am I…”

I rolled my eyes. “Hush and I’ll give you the Cliff Notes version since you slept through the lecture. You,
baobhan sith
.” I made an
O
with my left hand and shoved my right index finger in and out in a junior high gesture, accompanied by a creaking mattress sound.

Lee groaned and sat down on the bed with his head in his hands, but the Hunter eyed me curiously. “I was with you in the woods and the ogre was close. I could feel it in my bones. Then I woke up here. You’re saying it was a vampire that lured me here?”

“And you loooved her,” I said with a smile that made Lee moan again.

“I certainly did not,” the Hunter said seriously. “I was enchanted by her. Did I kill the creature? Is that how I escaped?”

“You didn’t escape,” Neil pointed out. “Zoey saved you.”

Lee’s head came up and there was a horrified look on his face. “Why didn’t you just leave me to die, Neil? How could you let Zoey save me?”

“Well, it’s not exactly a fate worse than death.” He could be more grateful.

“Oh, yes, it kind of is,” Neil replied. “Zack is never going to let him live it down. He can give his brother hell.”

I wasn’t sure what the problem was. “Well, it’s not like Lee is the first. I’ve saved everyone. I saved Daniel and Devinshea many times. I saved you from your asswipe brother when he tried to kill you. I saved Sarah from Hell. Why should Lee be any different?”

“You haven’t saved Zack,” Lee said sourly.

Now that I thought about, it was true. While Zack had saved me from a demon last year, I’d never had a chance to return the favor. “Huh, I guess it never came up.”

“Hence the hellacious ribbing Lee is going to get from his brother. It’ll be constant, Z. He won’t ever let up,” Neil said with the tiniest bit of malicious glee.

The Hunter frowned at all of us. “How is this conversation aiding us? Your Grace, I have no idea how you escaped, and I’m grateful you’re alive, but our problem still persists. I still need bait to lure the ogre out.”

Lee was suddenly on his feet. “What did you say? Are you telling me you dragged my charge into the woods to use her as bait for an ogre?” He was baring his teeth at the Hunter even as the black dogs started to growl.

“It doesn’t matter,” I injected to try to stop the inevitable fight. “I killed the ogre.”

Both heads turned and looked at me with complete disbelief.

“Well, I had some help.”

Neil smiled. “She didn’t need much.” He always had my back.

The Hunter invaded my space, searching my face for the truth. “You truly killed the ogre? You dealt the death blow?”

“Yep.” I wasn’t about to let him intimidate me. I’d had quite the night. I crossed my arms. “And by the way, is there a reason you’re naked in my presence, Hunter?” I asked, tossing his words back at him. “Are you trying to tempt me into fornication?”

He looked down, realizing he wasn’t dressed, and when he glanced back up, he was Herne once more.

“Coward,” Herne said to the god inside him. He smiled down at me before going in search of his pants. “Nice going, Zoey. The Hunter is now slightly afraid of you. It’s the greatest compliment he’s ever given a female. You made him run and hide.”

“Good to know. Now, if you’ll get dressed, I need to sneak back to the palace before anyone realizes I’m gone.” I looked at Lee, who seemed hopeful for the first time that evening. “Yes, I’m keeping silent because I don’t want the hubbies to know I was out for the evening.”

“Thank god for that,” Lee said before frowning Neil’s way. “Where the hell are your clothes?”

Neil shrugged. It was a question he often had to answer. I was satisfied that I’d managed to keep all of my clothes on for once.

It was the only great satisfaction I would get from the endeavor because thirty minutes later, as we approached the palace, I realized there was no way to sneak in.

The entire palace was lit up and the army seemed to have been called in. There were people everywhere.