Taken by the Others (24 page)

“There’s no need for you to worry,” Royce interjected, making me jump. Chaz tightened his hold on me just enough to be comforting. “The majority of my coterie are on alert. Not as many as I feared turned to Max. A number of my loyal flock will be with us.”

When I glanced at Royce, he was watching us with those flat black eyes, giving no hint as to what he was thinking. Despite his words and lack of reaction, I was sure he was hiding something that was bothering him. What emotions was he keeping veiled behind that carefully serene mask?

“Sounds like good news to me, then. Why aren’t you happier about it?”

“Oh, I am pleased, make no mistake.” He dredged up a smile, faint though it was, as Dawn returned with a tray. She set it lightly on a coffee table before the couch, placing one of the mugs in my hands, one in Chaz’s, one in Devon’s, one in Tiny’s, and surprisingly, one in Royce’s. I hadn’t thought vampires could drink anything other than the obvious. Shows what I know. “It will make him easier to handle since your hunter friends destroyed the bulk of his invading force.”

“Well, that’s good news,” I said, not entirely convinced that he was telling the truth.

The coffee smelled divine, and I moved closer to the tray to add some cream and sugar to my caffeine fix. I breathed in the scent with a pleased sigh, loving that warm mix teasing at my senses before taking the first, soul-warming sip.

Dawn took a drink of her own coffee before adding her thoughts to the mix, placing her free hand lightly on Royce’s shoulder.

“You’d be better off tracking him down and converging on his hiding place instead of trying to lure him out,” she said. “I’m sure he must know you’re looking for him tonight. He’s old, so he’ll be wary, careful of where he goes and what he does. He may be moving from place to place to keep from being found, too, so your best bet is to use someone on the inside.”

I looked at her with new respect. Royce must have filled her in on the details of why we were here. Seems she had a crafty mind to match that pretty face. I watched Royce’s reaction as he answered her, curious of what he thought of her. They’d been an item once, yet he pursued me like he was interested in prying me away from Chaz. Why go after me when such a beautiful, smart woman obviously liked him? I didn’t understand it, and wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to. The warmth behind the look he gave her made me wonder if they were still an item, damn whatever the tabloids said.

“True, but if he thinks he’s cornered, he’ll lash out. I don’t want that to happen until I have him in a position where the damage he can cause is minimal. John tells me he found out Max is holed up in one of my clubs. There are too many innocent people in the way for us to come at him directly, so we have no choice but to lure him out.”

She nodded, thoughtful, those mint green eyes focusing on me with an intensity that had me take an involuntary step back. The intelligence and force behind that gaze were amazing–not mind tricks, just powerfully compelling. No wonder she was so successful and got along so well with the vampire.

“He took you once,” she said, her voice a throaty purr. Forget modeling. The woman could make a fortune as a 900-number operator. “He wants you for something. You could play bait, get him to come out.”

“No way! I’m not going through that again.” I scowled at her.

She tilted her head, regarding me thoughtfully. With a few strides she was at my side, fingers running lightly along my hair. I blinked in surprise, pulling back from that invasive touch. Her attitude toward me now was bordering on sexual, like a strong, unwelcome come-on from a guy I didn’t know.

“So brave,” she breathed, and I shot a dirty look at Royce. He did nothing but watch, both hands used to cradle his coffee mug as he held it to his lips. It wasn’t my imagination–the bastard was hiding a smile behind the cup. “You taste of power. You have the strength to face him, if you have the will for it. You could last long enough for the others to come to your aid.”

Once again, I found myself blinking in surprise. I set the coffee mug down and with great care, very gently and very deliberately put my hands on her shoulders to force her to put more breathing room between us. She tensed against it at first, then gave in to the pressure and stepped away. Judging by the brief resistance and taking into account the augmented strength from the belt, she was stronger than she should be. Not human.

“Dawn, please don’t take this the wrong way, but stay away from me. You’re creeping me out.”

She kept moving until my hands fell away, those lovely eyes reflecting hurt and puzzlement. The more I thought on it, the more I was sure I’d never seen eyes so perfectly, flawlessly green. Eyes the gentle color of verdant moss in the spring. There was something off about them aside from their more than perfect coloration, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

Soon the lines between her brows cleared and the frown turned into a charming smile, one that made me want to smile in return despite that she had given me the willies just a second ago.

“I am sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you. It’s been a while since I’ve been around someone touched by fae.”

“What?” The response was startled out of me. I hated when people talked about stuff I didn’t know anything about. Seriously hated it. She looked at Royce, once again puzzled by my reaction. He shrugged at her, his gaze never wavering from me.

After a moment of consideration, she took another step toward me, and then hesitated. “May I?”

“Um. Sure, I guess.” I wasn’t totally certain what I was giving her permission to do, but she was a friend and ally of Royce’s. He wouldn’t let her do something to hurt me. I hoped.

She came closer, one of her hands drifting over the contours of my body. Not touching, but an inch or two away, starting at my face and working her way down the front of my chest, all the way down to my boots. She hesitated at the belt but didn’t stop. Once she finished, she nodded to herself and rose, stepping back.

“You are wearing things made by magi. The strength you carry is fae-borne. Forgive me, considering the company you keep, I assumed you were Other.”

Strange that she’d be able to sense that. Was she a mage? I’d never heard any mention of power like that in the tabloids. On concentrating on her features, that lovely visage suddenly wavered in my vision. My unspoken question as to what I was looking at was answered by an unlikely source.

‘She’s of elven blood,’ the belt said, radiating impatience, but no sense of alarm. ‘She’s been using glamour to make herself seem friendlier, more attractive and desirable. Not that she needs it. The charm you’re wearing is letting you see through the mask she’s wearing for the sake of the men in the room.’

I couldn’t hide my shock. I’d never met an elf before. Wow, if that’s what she looked like without glamour, I was almost afraid of what Devon, Tiny, Chaz, and Royce must be seeing. On closer inspection, I now recognized what seemed off about her eyes. Her pupils weren’t like a human’s. They were rounded slits, catlike, and watching me with a great deal of puzzlement. Maybe a dash of wariness, too, since I was looking at her like she’d grown two heads.

I’d wondered why Devon and Tiny were so affected by her when Royce and Chaz showed no signs of being drawn into her glamour. Maybe Royce wasn’t because he was an elder vampire and a master at mind games. As the pack leader of a werewolf tribe, Chaz was stronger than the average Other. That might have given him some measure of immunity to her charms. I tried thinking more questions at the belt, but my internal dialogue was cut off by the outside world.

“Why are you so surprised, Shiarra?”

That was from Royce. He was enjoying my shock. I pushed some stray red curls out of my face before slumping into an empty chair. I needed to sit down for this. How many people knew what she was? What was Royce’s interest in the fae? How dangerous was she, now that I knew her secret? Obviously not very, or Royce wouldn’t be prompting me to say it aloud. What was his purpose in making me give her away?

Too many questions, not enough answers. I decided to oblige the vampire, glaring at him to let him know I wasn’t fooled by his innocent act.

“I’ve never met one of the fair folk before. Now that I see it, I’m wondering why I didn’t notice it before.”

Devon and Tiny were just as surprised at the revelation as I was.

“You’re an elf?” Devon asked.

Dawn ignored Devon and pouted at me, her hands going to her hips. “How did you know? Who told you?”

“No one told me.” I hoped I’d get away with the little white lie. After all, it was the belt–not a person–who told me. “Just looking at you, I’m surprised no one ever figured it out before. You’re too perfect for a human.”

I smiled to soften any criticism implied with the remark. She didn’t seem appeased by my efforts, turning away in a huff. Now that I saw her in profile, the flawless line of her jaw and thin bone structure made it clearer than before what she was. Easy to pass, yet now that I knew, so hard to believe I ever thought of her as human. The only thing she was missing were the pointy ears.

“I should’ve held myself in check. It’s just been so long since I’ve felt power like that.” She turned back to me, that same lustful look in her eyes as she focused on the belt around my waist. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what was so attractive about it.

There was a knock on the front door. Dawn took a deep breath to compose herself. There was a tingling sense of something rushing over my skin before she went to answer. Elves could be as creepy and scary as vampires apparently. Devon and Tiny watched her saunter off like she was the last glass of water in the desert. It would’ve been funny if the effects of her glamour on the unprotected weren’t so frightening. Would I have acted that way without the charm around my neck? The belt thought so.

Chaz and Royce obviously had immunity to her charms or acclimated themselves somehow since they weren’t watching her that way. Or maybe they hid their interest better.

Unsettled, I snagged my coffee and returned to the shelter of Chaz’s arms, waiting for Sara and Arnold to join us.

Chapter 25

I was glad to see Sara and Arnold, even though Sara kept shooting me looks like she wanted to throttle me between furtive, fascinated glances at Dawn. Arnold didn’t appear to be affected in the least by the elf’s glamour. His smile wasn’t worried or distracted, and he greeted me casually when they came into the room. He strode easily beside Sara, the two of them arm in arm.

“Hey, Shia.”

I gave him a weak smile, relieved to see that Dawn wasn’t pawing at him. “Hi, guys. How was the trip?”

“Great, tha–”

Arnold was cut off by Sara. “We’ll talk about that later. What can you tell us about the guy that’s after you?”

She obviously wasn’t pleased. I wasn’t happy about what we had to do tonight either, and wasn’t about to give her a hard time for being upset.

“Come sit down and get some coffee. It’s a long story.”

Sara gave me a withering look for putting off my explanation, but did as I asked. All of us found empty seats to have our discussion. I settled back into the cushions of the chair and tried to explain as succinctly as I could.

“There’s an elder vamp, Max Carlyle, who came to town looking for revenge. You remember David Borowsky and Anastasia Alderov? Anastasia was one of Max’s people, so he’s pissed that she’s dead. He blames Royce, so he thought he could get to him by taking me. Now he’s messing with Royce’s businesses and vamps, and he’s still looking for me. We have to get rid of him before he manages to establish a foothold in the city.”

Sara and Arnold nodded thoughtfully, taking in my explanation. Arnold spoke up next. “I thought vampire law forbids them from encroaching on one another’s territory like this? Or from killing each other?”

“He thinks he can kill us both for wronging him,” Royce answered, “and that he can escape punishment by claiming that we attacked his people first. If he is questioned by Others later, he will hide behind our laws of redress.”

“What about the police?” Sara asked, her voice gone breathy. My attention centered on her, and I frowned at the sight of her bright blue eyes gone wide, lips parted as she stared at Royce. Arnold had his arm proprietarily around her shoulders and was glaring at the vampire. What was Royce doing? Whatever it was, while it may have drawn Sara’s interest, she retained enough of her wits to ask pertinent questions. “Shiarra’s contracted to you, not Max. What makes him think he can get away with hurting her without having to answer for his actions?”

“The police only hold as much power over us as we let them. There are few vampires as old as I am who agree it was a good idea to integrate ourselves into your society. Max is one of the dissenters; he comes from a time when we simply took what we wanted. He knows how to hide his dealings from or manipulate your police and judicial systems to escape punishment. Consider it a survival mechanism. If we did not know how to do these things, he and I would not have survived this long.”

Though it was diversionary, my curiosity was piqued. “Does that mean you could find ways to make people disappear, too?”

He looked at me, eyes narrowed with anger. Must have hit a sore point there. “Theoretically, yes, I could. Unlike Max, my conscience would not allow for me to stoop to such a level.”

Royce had a conscience? That was news to me.