Tales of the Were: Magnus: Redstone Clan (14 page)

When the meeting broke up a short while later, Miranda was glad. The evening had been an adventure. It had ended well, and nobody was really hurt on their side. They’d even struck a blow for the good guys. All in all, it was a satisfactory result, but she was still exhausted.

Tony made a point of complimenting her work once more before taking his leave. He left via the balcony, alongside some surprised raptor shapeshifters. Apparently they’d never seen a vampire turn to mist before. Tony was old and powerful enough to have perfected the trick, and apparently wasn’t afraid to show
off a bit in front of the shifters.

Miranda and Mag left the old fashioned way—through the door and down the elevator to his waiting car. He drove them home while she relaxed. Before she knew it, they were back at the house in the desert and the night was half over.

Mag was a romantic at heart and he proved it yet again by carrying her into the house. He didn’t stop until they were in the bedroom. He settled her gently on the bed, then left the room to make sure everything was locked up for the day.
When he returned, expecting to find Miranda asleep once more, he was surprised instead by a naked sex kitten purring on his bed.

Apparently Miranda wanted to play a bit before she went to sleep. Mag didn’t mind at all. He grinned as he stripped off his clothes, liking the way her gaze followed his every move. He drew out the process, doing a little strip tease of his own for her benefit.

“I hope you’re enjoying this.”
He sent the words to her through their link, experimenting. Talking mind to mind was still so new to him.

“Mm. You know what I like,”
she sent back, the purr in her voice communicating through their minds. His little she-cat was turned on all right, and he wasn’t far behind.

“This?”
He asked as he stroked his hands over his torso, working downward. He pushed off his pants and boxers, then grasped his cock which was already hard and ready for action.
“Or this?”

“All of it. Especially that,”
she teased with her words, her gaze zeroing in on his erection.
“I guess you’re really happy to see me, eh?”

“I’m always happy when you’re naked in my bed, Miranda. You should have figured that out by now.”
He stepped out of the pile of his clothing and leapt onto the bed.

It was a simple jump for a man who shared his soul with a cat, but it seemed to take Miranda by surprise. She laughed and he loved the sound of her joy. He’d been so afraid for so long that she wouldn’t be able to recapture the part of her soul that experienced happiness. Her ordeal had marked her in subtle ways, sure. It had changed her on a fundamental level, tempering her like a fine blade, making her stronger, but it hadn’t taken away her ability to have fun. That pleased him more than he could say. Big cats liked having fun—especially with their mates.

He loomed over her, enjoying her petite form under him. She was so ladylike. So delicate looking. Yet, he knew, she had physical strength that nearly matched his own. Vampires were fast too. Even faster than shifters in some ways. She was his match in every way. Magical, strong, fast and yet soft, feminine and so very welcoming.

She opened her legs, making room for him between them. They didn’t have to speak, not even in their minds. They were both clearly thinking the same thing. They both wanted to be as close as to people could physically be
. Mag took his time, enjoying the moment of joining, knowing from the flavor of her thoughts that she loved it every bit as much as he did.

They came together and all was right with the world for one very long moment out of time.
It couldn’t last forever. Nothing ever did. But for this one moment, everything was as perfect as it could possibly be.

Mag would remember this moment—and many others just like it—whenever problems presented themselves. Which was far too often, as far as he was concerned.

Chapter Thirteen

The instant Miranda opened her eyes one night a few weeks later, she knew something was desperately wrong.

“Mag?”

“Here, love.” He walked into the room from the adjoining bath, clearly having just stepped out of the shower. He had a towel wrapped around his lean hips and looked as edible as always, but she couldn’t stop to admire him now. Something was seriously wrong.

She sat up, her gaze sliding over every object in the room as she sought the feeling of wrongness
, and tried to figure out where it was coming from. Mag went on alert, the sexy grin sliding from his face to be replaced with a look of concern as he positioned himself between her and the door. He grabbed the tablet from the bedside table and quickly checked through the security screens.

“Nothing showing here. What do you sense?” he whispered.

“I’m not sure…”

Her cell phone rang loudly in the stillness. Miranda jumped. She couldn’t help it.
Her nerves were on edge, anticipating bad news. Mag reached for the small phone, glancing at the face of it before handing it to her.

“Blocked number,” he said quietly, his brows drawing downward in concern.

“This can’t be good.” Miranda handled the phone as if it were a live grenade, knowing already that she wasn’t going to like hearing whatever would be said in the next few moments.

Mag grabbed his own phone and hit speed dial. She heard him talking in low tones with his brother Steve, the security expert, while her phone rang again. Then Mag addressed her.

“Answer it. Try to keep them talking as long as you can. Steve will run a trace.”

Miranda would be impressed later, when she had time to breathe. Right now, she had to deal with whatever was waiting at the
other end of the line. Sucking in a deep breath, she hit the button that would connect the call.

“Hello?” She did her best to sound as normal as possible.

“Miranda van Allyn?”

She didn’t recognize the voice
, and it had a slightly digital quality to it. Whoever it was, they were using some pretty high-tech equipment to try to disguise their voice, which said either it was someone Miranda
should
recognize, or someone obsessed with anonymity.

“Yes, I’m Miranda
. Who is this?” She figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask, and might add a few seconds to the call.

“That’s not important,” the caller replied. “What is important is that I have something you might be interested in.”

“And what might that be? I can’t think of anything I really need at the moment.” She tried to sound bored, as if she had the upper hand, but deep down, she knew she didn’t.

“It’s not so much a
what
as a
who
. We know about the wine bar and the songbird. She’s here now, as a matter of fact. Sadly, she’s not very happy about being here.”

Miranda began to shake—with fear or fury, she wasn’t sure. “Let me get this straight.” She stalled for time hoping to the Goddess that Steve was able to trace this call. “You’ve kidnapped one of my business partners? What do you hope to gain from such an action?”
She didn’t dare betray her true concern. The caller didn’t appear to realize that Miranda was related to Mel. Miranda hoped to keep it that way.

“Go to the bar. Bring your phone. We’ll call with further instructions. If you bring your pet, we’ll know
, and we won’t call. In that case, the girl will die. It won’t be pretty. Do you understand?”

“If this is about money—”

“Do you understand?” The voice cut her off angrily.

“I get it. Go to the bar and bring my phone.”

“And no shifters. Not a single one, Miranda. You bring an animal with you, all bets are off and your friend dies in a really bad way. Got it?”

“Yes, I understand, but I need proof of life before I go anywhere. I want to talk to her.”

“Good girl,”
the thought came clear as a bell into her mind from Mag. Their bond was strengthening.

There was a fumbling noise on the other end of the line and then a shaky
, female voice came through the speaker.

“Hello?”

Miranda breathed a sigh of relief. It was Melissa. Thank the Mother of All.

“Mel? Is that you?” Miranda played for time.

“Yes, it’s me. Randi? What’s going on? Who are these people?” Her voice rose with her anxiety and Miranda cringed. They had to get her out of there. Wherever
there
was.

“
It’s all right. Sit tight, kiddo. I’m going to negotiate your release. Just be careful and stay alive for me, okay?” She wished she could say more but Melissa was utterly ignorant about the paranormal beings that surrounded her.

“Alive?” Mel’s fear ratcheted up another notch. Damn. Miranda hadn’t meant to scare her, but she needed to know the stakes here were very high. The highest, in fact
—life or death. “Okay.” Amazingly, Melissa calmed a bit, all on her own. That’a girl. “I’ll do my best. Randi, I—”

Whatever she would have said was cut off as the first voice came back on the line.

“We’ll give you one hour to get to the bar. Once you’re in place, we’ll call back.”

The line went dead with a resounding click and Miranda smiled.
She turned to look at Mag. He was still hanging on the open line of his phone, waiting to hear what Steve had to say.

“What?” he asked quietly, obviously noting her
odd expression.

“He forgot to disguise his voice again on that last bit. I know who it was. A
low-level vampire thug who works for Raintree. His name is Boris. You saw him the night we went to Raintree’s club. Remember the goon who blocked our way up the stairs?” She stood and started getting dressed even as she thought more about their options. “Boris hasn’t had an original thought in decades. That explains why he was talking in the royal
we
. He’s operating on orders. Probably from Raintree.”

Mag held his
phone closer to his ear as she heard his brother speaking on the other end. It was a short message but it said so much.

“That clinches it.
Steven managed to trace the call to the vicinity of Raintree’s club.” He ended the conversation with his brother with a promise to call back shortly.

“They’re holding her there.
Probably in that labyrinth of back rooms.” She was certain of it.

“But they want you to go to Mel’s bar,” he pointed out. “Why?”

“To get me out in the open? I haven’t been the easiest prey to corner lately. I’m always with you and we’ve been spending most of our time here. Even when we go out, we have a small army of shifters guarding us. If I go to the bar without all that, I’m easier prey.”

“Then you stay here while we hit Raintree’s and free Melissa.” Mag was already getting dressed in a pair of black military-style pants with lots of pockets.

She’d never seen them before, but he looked comfortable in them and they didn’t make a sound, indicating they were well-worn and had been washed many times to get rid of the fabric’s natural stiffness. Her man was a badass commando and she couldn’t love him more. But she also couldn’t send him out into danger and sit idly by, waiting for word. She was going to be part of this.

“Rescuing Mel and leaving the
real threat at the bar undiscovered isn’t going to work. We free her and they’ll just take her again. Or they’ll do something else to someone else to flush me into the open. I think we need to nip this in the bud before anybody else gets caught up in it, hurt or even killed. I’m going to the bar.”

Mag stilled, his gaze catching hers. “You can’t go alone.”

“I didn’t say anything about going alone.” She smiled, but it was a nervous smile. She was about to call on someone she wasn’t a hundred percent certain was on their side. “Lend me your phone? Just in case they can somehow tap mine. Raintree shouldn’t have had this number.” She lowered her phone to the night table and held her other hand out for Mag’s cell.

He seemed suspicious as he handed over the phone and she dialed in the number.
It was answered on the second ring.

“Hi, Master Antoine?” It wouldn’t do to call him the more familiar
Tony
when she was asking for help she wasn’t sure he’d give. Miranda was well aware of Mag’s surprise but he simply watched and listened as she outlined the problem to the Master and asked for his help.

Mag wasn’t thrilled with the plan but he understood Miranda’s reasons for wanting to end this tonight, before anybody else was hurt by their enemies. He kissed her deeply before he let her drive off into the night in his most heavily fortified vehicle. He had to let her go alone, in case anyone was watching.

But he knew something the watchers didn’t. The Master vampire had promised to take to the air in his mist form and follow her path. If anybody attempted to waylay her before she got to the bar, he would render assistance. He was their ace in the hole. Mag just prayed Tony was as good as his word.

Mag suited up and went out behind his house as stealthily as he could. He had a pathway through the dark desert that would lead him to the rendezvous point he and Steve had arranged. Steve picked him up in the chopper—the big one, that could seat a platoon of soldiers, though Redstone Construction ostensibly used it for aerial tours for groups of clients.

Steve and Grif were at the controls, both familiar with such machines from their time in Army Special Forces. The back of the chopper was filled with
a small group of family and friends who all worked for Steve in some security capacity. There were lots of weapons, some of which had been loaded with special ammo that would be especially useful against vampires.

They flew to the city faster than Miranda could drive, but they’d
scheduled it so they’d start their assault on the back rooms of Raintree’s club only after Miranda had arrived at the bar. With any luck the bad guys would be too occupied in both places to coordinate their response.

Grif landed the big choppe
r on the roof of one of the tall buildings near Raintree’s. It was one that Redstone Construction had worked on recently, so they had all the access codes. It was child’s play to commandeer the express elevator that would lead them directly to the basement level. From there, the little group would make their way stealthily toward the back alley behind Raintree’s.

And from there, all hell would break loose in T minus ten minutes.

Miranda tried her best to hide her nerves as she walked into the wine bar.
She hadn’t seen a trace of the Master, but she hoped that was just because he was especially good at stealth. It didn’t bear thinking that he’d lied and wasn’t going to help her.

She didn’t
want
to be all on her own here, walking into a trap, but if that’s the way it was going to be, then she’d put up one hell of a fight before the end. Either way, she was as prepared as she was going to get.

She opened the inner
, etched glass door and scanned the room.

There were few people here tonight. Far fewer than there should be. And those that were seated at tables and around the bar were not the usual human clientele.

Miranda began to sweat. Every last person in here was a vampire. At least a dozen of them. And none of them were people she liked. In fact, they were all either friends of Cassie’s or Raintree’s. Miranda didn’t move in those circles, for good reason. The bloodletters gathered here were all on the shady side of the Light. Inhuman bastards, one and all.

This was
so
not good.

And then Cassie sauntered out from behind the bar.

“Glad you could join us, sister.” Cassie oozed confidence and her hatred was almost palpable.

“What did you do with the mortals who normally work here?” Miranda feared they were all dead—or wishing they were. The group of vampires gathered here had little respect for their prey.

“I gave them the night off.” Cassie looked around the place and smiled. “I’m going to enjoy running this place when you’re gone. It has a certain class. I can see why you kept this under wraps. A nice little hunting ground reserved especially for you. Clever, girl. I’d admire you if I didn’t hate you so very much.” Cassie stalked closer and her smile turned evil. “Tonight I will finally have my revenge and it already tastes so damn sweet.”

Cassie reached for her, but Miranda sidestepped. She moved so fast that not even Cassie could match her. Damn. Mag was right. His cat’s reflexes were honing her already preternatural speed into something even more formidable. She’d need all of it to get out of this confrontation alive.

Miranda was ducking and dodging with the best of them and admiring her own new skills when a steely grip caught her from behind. One of Cassie’s friends had caught her, and his grip was strong. But was Miranda stronger?

She tried to break free
, and though it was a bit of an effort, she discovered she was up to the challenge.