Stealing Time (30 page)

James smiled. “As Gage would say, totally freaking awesome.”

It surprised me how quickly vampires burned to ash, as if we were made of paper and not sinew and muscle and bone.

Seeing me staring at the flames, Siska said, “It will consume everything, even the teeth, leaving nothing identifiable.”

“How is that possible?”

Clearly someone who didn’t waste time on unanswerable mysteries, an indifferent Siska shrugged and headed back to the cars. “We’re done here,” he called out to the others.

Nic went to her unmarked sedan and put the assault rifle in the trunk. When she slammed the lid shut, I was standing at her side. It was evident that she was accustomed to how quickly vampires move because she didn’t even flinch to see me there.

“Feel free to keep the rifle,” I said wryly.

The marshal bared her teeth. “Thanks. I will.”

James came to me and leaned against the car. “Siska, what do you sense now from Caleb and Nathaniel? Have they moved since you last checked?”

Siska concentrated for a moment. “They’re pretty close now, just a few miles west of us. They’re not alone.”

“Oh sure,
this
time you bother checking the surroundings. Well done, seeker,” Jack said scathingly.

Siska drew breath to retort as Nic’s head came up like a predator scenting prey. “How many?” she breathed.

Glaring at Jack, Siska said, “Not sure. Maybe fifteen vampires. But I sensed something else…I don’t know what the hell it is, but my instincts reacted strongly to it.” His expression turned troubled.

“Any ideas?” James asked and I reached for his hand at the undercurrent I felt from him.

Siska hesitated, frowning with concentration. “It’s vampire…but
not.
I haven’t come across anything like this before.” Considering his age and all he had seen—he was older, even, than Leo—this was disturbing.

The shifting breeze carried the scent of prey.
Kate
. Leaving the others to put together a plan, I released James’s hand and walked to the SUV.

“You can’t sit there all night,” I told Kate softly. “I know how awful all of this is and I’m sorry you’re in the middle of it. But we have to get going. Caleb and Nathaniel are not far from here and they’ve got more vampires with them. Siska thinks they’re gearing up to kill a bunch of humans and we have to stop them.”

Kate stirred and her eyes turned to me. “More fighting?” she whispered.

“Yes. But you don’t have to come. You could go back to my house and wait it out. Are you okay to drive?”

She seemed to consider this. “How would you all get back?”

I grinned. “We can run fast enough that no one will see us. The distance is nothing.”

“I don’t know…” She trailed off as she looked over my shoulder. I’d heard Jack approaching, so I wasn’t surprised by her sudden distraction.

“Good evening, Kate,” he said and I detected a faint French accent overlaying his usual drawl. Although he seemed calm, I sensed his tension and wondered if he wasn’t subconsciously reverting to his long-past origins, the way James sometimes did.

Anger and fear flew across Kate’s face as she stared at him. Then, remarkably, her expression relaxed into one of her beautiful smiles—the kind that lights up her face and stops males in their tracks. “Hi, Jack.”

I caught his arm as he passed me, stopping him. He looked down at my hand before meeting my eyes. Visibly restraining his annoyance at being blocked, he muttered, “I do not give my word lightly, Evie. Kate has nothing to fear from me.”

“What’s going on?” she asked, unable to hear Jack’s words since he had spoken subaudibly. All Kate knew was that I was keeping him back.

“Nothing,” I said, letting my hand drop.

Continuing the interrupted conversation, Jack said at a normal volume, “I’ll take Kate home.”

I sucked in a sharp breath at the thought of him knowing about my house. He may have fought as our ally and his intentions seemed okay, but I still did not trust him.

James strode over. “That’s not necessary. Kate can drive herself.”

“Besides, we need every one of us to fight Caleb and the others. We can’t spare you, much as it hacks me off to have to say it,” Siska added as he joined us.

Jack grinned. “Careful there, asshat. Wouldn’t want you to go all mushy on me.”

Siska snorted.

I reached up to brush a strand of hair from my face and was startled to see my hand shaking. James took it in both of his. “You’re hungry?”

“Well, yeah, now that I’m thinking about it,” I said as hunger dug around in my stomach and clawed its way up my throat. “I guess I was too distracted before to notice.”

“You have expended twice the effort of any of us, between fighting and your talent,” James said as he tugged me to the back of the SUV.

“Talent?” I echoed darkly, thinking of the brutal uses to which I’d put the freakish energy.

He smiled. “Talent, gift, ability, skill. Tell me which you prefer and I’ll use it.”

“Hey, Thesaurus, no more choices?” I tried to make a joke before emotion clouded my voice. I shook my head. “You take such care of me.”

“That’s
Mister
Thesaurus.” He grinned. “And you are my life, Evie.” He brushed the errant lock of hair from my face and held my gaze, his eyes emerald and warm. He turned to lift the cover from the SUV’s hidden compartment, revealing two jars with about twenty capsules in each. “They aren’t very satisfying, but they’ll help.” Removing the lid from one, he handed the open jar to me.

Gage wandered over, drawn by the capsules’ mild aroma. “Do you have any extra?”

James opened the other jar and handed it to him. “Certainly.”

Leo walked up. “Is that all you have, James?”

“Yes, when I loaded the SUV, it was just Evie and me. I’m sorry there are not enough for everyone. Are you hungry?”

“No, thank you. I am fine. I was just wondering, that’s all.” Leo’s pale complexion put the lie to his words, though.

I glanced at Jack and Siska, and saw hunger in their eyes. When I looked at him, James shrugged in response to my unspoken question—he too needed to feed.

Kate went white, looking at all of us. “Well crap. This is just great—six hungry vampires. What’s on the menu, guys?”

Jack said, “It’s not a big deal. We just need to hunt.”

Even though Nic moved almost as silently as one of us, her luscious scent betrayed her. In my current state, with two humans so close, I swayed and my fangs extended. Siska’s gaze snapped to me and he moved closer to Nic.

“Hunt?” she repeated, anger deepening her voice. Although it was Jack who had spoken, she glared at Siska.

“Well have you looked at those things? I mean, seriously, would
you
eat them?” Jack pointed at the capsules.

“Nobody offered them to you, ingrate,” I said, defiantly popping several in my mouth and dry-swallowing. It took an absolute act of will not to grimace—they tasted like I imagined Styrofoam would. Siska continued to stare at me as I tried desperately not to allow my mind to linger on the capsules’ lack of appeal compared to the mouth-watering scent of the two humans in our midst.
So close
…My stomach knotted and I sidled a few feet away so the faint breeze would carry their scent from me.

“It is irrelevant,” James said. “Gage and Evie are the youngest of us, and their hunger is more immediate. The capsules are for them.”

Having already finished his, Gage looked up. “They’re not that bad, really. Kind of like tofu. Sure wish you had more. I’m still hungry.”

I started to offer him the rest of mine, but James stilled my hand. “No, Evie. You need them. He’s had his share and this is yours. As it is, this small amount will not help much, but there’s no time to return to the house for anything else.”

I swallowed the last handful. “I’m okay, this was fine.”

His expression told me he wasn’t buying it and I knew he had also noticed I kept my hands in my jean pockets to hide their tremor. James missed nothing.

“So I guess we’re not going hunting,” Jack groused. “Although I don’t see why not. In deference to certain people’s sensibilities, we could hunt bad guys. There have to be plenty of bad guys around this neighborhood.”

Not amused by his attempted humor, Kate leveled a dark glare at him, and to my surprise he was the first to look away. Sighing, he crossed his arms and muttered to himself. Then he looked at James. “When this is over, would you teach me about your…dietary preferences?” He said the words with distaste, but the request seemed earnest enough.

“Certainly,” James said, grinning to see Jack tamed.

Nic was vibrating with impatience. “Are we done here yet?”

James shut the SUV’s rear hatch and Jack helped Kate down off the hood. I noticed them holding hands about the same time Gage did. Anger flared in his eyes and he started forward, only to be restrained by Leo.

“That is not the way to win her, my young friend,” Leo warned.

Kate couldn’t have heard him, but Jack did and he let Gage see his amusement.

I was torn between loyalty to Kate’s clear interests and sympathizing with Gage. Either way, I wanted to slug Jack for rubbing it in.

James bent his head close to my ear. “Remember our laws, Evie, whether we like them or not. If Gage is to make his way among our kind, he must do more than stand up to a rival’s mocking.”

“In other words, don’t coddle the baby vampire, hmm?” I whispered and felt James’s silent laughter.

Siska scowled at the drama surrounding Kate and shook his head. Drawing a deep breath, he turned to Nic. “I want you to go with Kate back to Evie’s house and wait for us there.”

Nic spun to face him. “No way in hell, Siska. Don’t you go all caveman on me. This is my bust and I’m going.”

“In a normal situation,” he said, not backing down. “But there’s something going on that I don’t understand. I’ve been trying to figure out what it is that Caleb has with him and I can’t. But whatever it is, my instincts are telling me it’s bad. Real bad. I flat-out refuse to allow you near it.”

“Allow?” Her lip curled in a sneer. “You have no say.”

“Yeah, I do. I have protected the
sachem’s
line for over six hundred years and you’re the last one. You’re not going, even if I have to hogtie you and throw you in the trunk of your car.”

Rage blazed in her black eyes. “You wouldn’t dare, Wolf.”

Siska straightened to his full height. “Try me, Owl.”

The two faced off, glaring at each other for an interminable length of time before Nic finally relented. “Man, this pisses me off,” she muttered. Ignoring Siska, refusing even to look at him, she stalked to her car. “Come on, Kate.”

Jack walked Kate to the car and opened the door for her, standing closer than the courtesy required. Gage stirred restlessly at this and Leo turned him away, speaking so only he could hear. Nic waited until Kate’s door was closed, then punched the accelerator and took off, throwing loose gravel out from the car’s rear tires in a rooster tail.

“I’m going to catch bloody hell for this,” Siska muttered to himself.

“You sure are,” Jack agreed, reveling in the idea. Seeing my raised eyebrows, he added, “Bastard.”

James held the Rover’s passenger door open for me. “I find myself strangely anxious, Siska. We need to be going.” Not waiting for a response, James sped around the SUV and got into the driver’s seat. Siska, Leo and Gage got in the back.

“Jack?” I asked. “Are you coming?”

“My motorcycle is a few blocks away,” he said, climbing onto the running boards. “Give me a lift to get it and I’ll follow you.”

A short while later, James was driving where Siska directed and Jack roared along behind us. When we pulled into a large, deserted parking lot with weeds growing through the cracked blacktop, I was surprised to see that we were at the old sports complex where the Dallas Mavericks, among others, used to play. It was due to be bulldozed by week’s end to make way for a new hotel and retail center.

Turning in my seat to look at Siska, I asked, “This is it? They’re inside?”

“Yeah. Caleb, his buddies and whatever it is they have with them.”

It was strange seeing Siska unsettled, since he always seemed so supremely serene and in control. That James shared his uneasiness fed my own anxiety.

I felt Siska extend his senses and, a second later, startled at how vehemently he swore.

“What?” I asked.

“There are at least thirty humans in there.”

“Can you tell if we’re in time?” Leo asked.

“All I can tell you is that they’re breathing. I have no idea what condition they’re in.”

We got out of the SUV as Jack climbed off his now-silent motorcycle and joined us.

“What are your recommendations once we are inside, Siska?” Leo asked.

Hunching his shoulders and scowling, he muttered, “Caleb
seems
to be in the center of the complex. The others
seem
to be close to the humans. There
seem
to be two of the…
whatevers
nearby, but their positions keep shifting and they’re hard to track.”

Jack mused out loud, “It really pisses you off, not having all the answers, not knowing exactly what’s going on.”

Siska gave him a dark look but refused to be baited. “When we go in, I’ll take the lead. Leo and Jack, I want you at my sides a few steps back. Evie and James next, then Gage.”

“Hey!” Gage protested. “Why am I in the back?”

Siska turned on him, his reflexive anger at the upstart changeling fading as he saw Gage’s expression. He was young, but our friend had a lot of fight in him. I also suspected he had something to prove to Jack. “I want you to watch our tails and to keep an eye on Evie. If any of the bastards get past us, you have to keep her safe.”

“What will I be doing?” I asked archly.

Allowing a small smile, he said, “You’ll be keeping the humans alive while the rest of us take out Caleb and his psycho-buddies.” Looking around, he nodded once. “Okay. Stay alert and watch each others’ backs. Evie, be ready to do that voodoo that you do so well.”

I looked at him blankly.

Leo said helpfully, “He’s quoting a Cole Porter song, my dear. It was a bit before your time.”