Terra's Victory (Destiny's Trinities Book 7) (4 page)

Lindal looked at Zack. His eyes were very blue. “I have you,” he whispered.

Beth stepped between them. Zack felt her arm come up behind him and the little dip as she flexed her knees and jumped.

Zack’s last view of the bridge was of Aubrey’s still body, awash with blood, and the carcasses of the two hounds. Blood rolled down the gentle slope of the bridge in thick rivulets, some of it red, some black.

There were too many frantic priorities screaming at her. Beth hung her head and leaned on the desk, drawing in a controlled breath, trying to calm the hot swirl of pressure in her chest and her belly. She felt sick with it. She was shaking.

First things, first.
She lifted her head and reached out mentally to Zoe.

I need Declan! Hurry!

She felt Zoe’s startled acknowledgement.

Now, do the next thing
, she told herself. She picked up her cellphone, scrolled and dialed.

“Lieutenant Harvey, Homicide.”

“Blake, it’s Beth. Can you speak freely?”

“What can I do for you?” he said stiffly.

Someone was too close by his desk, then.

“The hounds just attacked Zack and Aubrey, on the bridge by the skating rink in Central Park. It was very public, very messy. We didn’t have time to clean up anything.”

“Just a minute,” he said, a tone of authority in his voice. “I’m going to ask you a few questions….” He let out a breath. “He’s gone. Jesus, Beth! The reports are just starting to come in. People babbling about ashes. I’ve got a twenty-year veteran out there in near hysterics over what he’s calling wolves. It’s a public area, we can’t stop the media from grabbing this and they will. It’s way beyond sexy, as far as they’re concerned.”

“I know,” Beth said heavily. “I’m sorry.”

“This is…unprecedented,” Blake added, his voice gentle. “They’ve tried daylight attacks before, but never using vampeen or hounds out where humans would see everything. It’s always been secretive.”

“Things are shifting,” Beth replied. “Gloves off. That was inevitable. Only, now we know they’ve changed.”

“What do you want me to do about suppressing the stories?”

Beth sighed and rubbed her temple. “I don’t think there’s anything you
can
do. You’re not in communications and I wouldn’t know where to start trying to spin this, anyway. I just wanted to warn you this was blowing up and it was us involved.”

“I appreciate that, although the chatter on the radios already told me it was us. Who…whose ashes are they?” He asked the question very carefully.

“Zack was injured. He’s back in the bunker with us,” Beth replied. Her heart gave another hard jolt.

Blake sighed. “Aubrey, then…damn. That’s the wrong person to lose, right now.”

“We can’t afford to lose anyone at all,” Beth replied. “Take care, Blake. If things
are
shifting….”

“Yeah,” he said heavily.

Lindal shut the door to the command center as she dropped her phone on the desk. The front of his shirt and jeans were dark with blood. “Declan and Zoe are here. Why call them in, Beth? Zack can heal from just about anything.”

“Can he?” She rubbed her temples. “He eats, he sleeps…well, he sort-of sleeps. He’s got scars from when he was human. Will the human part of him slow down his vampire healing?”

Lindal hung his head. “So, Declan is just in case?”

“No, he’s the guarantee.” She picked up her phone again and put it down. “Damn…how in hell do we deal with this? All those witnesses? In broad daylight like that…and Aubrey dying in front of them and fragmenting. This is such a mess.”

“I can’t even take you in my arms to tell you it’ll all be okay,” Lindal said with a grimace, looking down at the wet patches on his clothes.

“How much of that is Zack’s?” she whispered.

“Don’t even start down that path,” Lindal told her. He picked up her hand. There was dried blood on the back of his, but she didn’t care. “In fact, don’t do anything. There is nothing you can do except warn Blake—”

“Already have.”

“Then you’ve done what you can.”

“We have to figure out what our response is going to be to the media storm.”

Lindal shook his head. “They don’t know who we are. Anyone who saw us arrive or leave is going to sound hysterical. People appearing and disappearing…even if there are dozens of people swearing they saw it, too, no one is going to believe them, not straight away, because we can’t be found.”

“You mean, let the story run?” Beth swallowed. “That’s…scary.”

“It’s going to get worse before it gets better,” Lindal said. “If we don’t step forward and try to explain it away, then all of it will stay a huge mystery with no answers.”

Beth kissed him. “And to think that five years ago, you didn’t know what a camera was.”

“Oh, I knew. Only, knowing what one is and understanding how images drive
everything
in this world…those are two very different things.”

Beth chewed at her lip. “It might be better this way. If we stop controlling everything, if we stop shielding them, the speculation will warn them, in a way. Even if they don’t know the Grimoré are out there, the rumors will make them cautious about being out alone, especially at night.”

“You’re not thinking of full revelation, are you?” Lindal said quickly.

Beth glanced at him. “You say that as if it’s a bad thing. What harm would there be now in letting humans know about us? It would make things a lot easier. The Grimoré certainly aren’t bothering with hiding.”

“The elves only need one more good excuse to roll up the drawbridge and drop the portcullis,” Lindal said, his voice low. “Revealing us to humans would guarantee their withdrawal.”

Beth sighed. “We’re going to have to call a general meeting. With the loss of Aubrey…the
issues
that is going to generate! I’m suddenly realizing all the things he did for me. For us.”

“Shhh….” Lindal kissed her palm. “Relax. Leave it for now. Come and see Zack. He’s asking for you.”

“Is it very bad?”

Lindal sighed. “I didn’t have the guts to look closely. Declan and Zoe pushed me out, anyway. Zack was swearing.”

“Angry?”

“Like a bee in a bottle.”

Something loosened in her chest and watery relief trickled through her. “That sounds…promising.”

Lindal pulled her toward the door. “Come on. You can look at wounds without feeling faint, so you can check them and tell me how bad they are.”

“Coward,” she teased, because Lindal was anything but cowardly.

“Yep,” he agreed wholeheartedly.

* * * * *

By the end of the day, all Zack’s wounds had healed, just as they normally would, even though the healing process had taken hours, instead of the mere seconds it once might have. Even after the wounds had disappeared there was an odd ache in his thigh, which had been ripped open down to the bone and was the worse of the two bites. Once he was on his feet again, it felt as though his leg was hot. It gave out occasional twinges and throbs, as if it hadn’t forgotten what had been done to it.

When Declan had curtly told him to go and rest, Zack hadn’t argued. He actually felt as if he needed sleep. He considered eating, but wasn’t hungry. In the back of his mind, building like a shadow, was the need to feed. It was nowhere close to blood lust, yet, so he ignored it. The loss of blood today would mean feeding sooner than usual, only the artificial blood was disgusting, so he wasn’t in a hurry to use it.

Yet, when he looked down at the rumpled bed, the idea of lying still didn’t appeal to him, either. There was something gnawing at him, making him restless.

He went back out to the little sitting room, where his gaze fell on the decanters of scotch and brandy on the shelf next to the TV screen. Alcohol still hit him like a depth bomb, exactly the way it affected normal vampires, making him instantly drunk, his reactions uncoordinated. He didn’t enjoy the helpless feeling it gave him to be so out of control, either. While normal vampires avoided food and drink because of the messy after-effects and the nausea that came with it, he didn’t drink because he wanted his wits about him.

Mindlessness seemed to be a really good idea now, though. He turned over one of the shot glasses and poured a single shot and sniffed it. He had no idea if the scotch was good or not. When he had been human, most of the alcohol had been home distilled and tasted like it. He hadn’t had a chance to experience better quality booze.

He tossed the shot back and settled in the armchair. It would be better if he was already sitting when the dizziness arrived. Absently, he rubbed at his leg, trying to dispel the lingering effects of the bite.

When the door to the suite opened and Lindal came in, Zack was still rubbing his leg and the expected rush of drunkenness hadn’t arrived. Zack dropped his hand, feeling almost guilty.

“You’re in pain?” Lindal asked quickly. He had changed into fresh clothes, for which Zack was grateful. The sight of the black blood had been an unsettling reminder.

“No, no pain,” Zack said. “It’s just…I don’t know what it is. Phantom pains?”

Lindal lowered himself down into a crouch in front of Zack, a hand on the arm of the chair to steady himself.

As he always did, Zack found himself marveling over the pure blue of Lindal’s eyes. Except now, he recalled them as they had been last night, filled with a cold fury. They had been even bluer then.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Lindal said, his voice very low.

“Like what?” Zack said automatically, his defenses rising.

“Both of you. You’re watching me as though I’m a bomb that will go off if you say the wrong thing or move the wrong way.”

Zack made himself breathe. “Aren’t you?”

Lindal’s fingers dug into the arm of the chair. “You really think I would leave you? That I could even consider it in a sane, rational state?”

“That’s exactly what you
have
to do,” Zack shot back. “Don’t you see?
You
have to make the choice. You alone. It’s not something you can decide with your gut or your heart. You have to figure it out using your head, in the cold light of day. There’s too much riding on it to decide any other way than rationally.”

Lindal closed his eyes. “The thought of leaving you is terrifying,” he whispered.

“Then don’t think of it that way.”

Lindal looked at him again. This time the hurt in his eyes was clear. “You want me to
not
think of you and Beth?”

“I don’t want you to have to deal with this at all!” Zack cried. “I want last night to evaporate, to have never happened. I know it’s unfair you get to carry this alone, only I can’t help you and neither can Beth, because both of us would tell you stay. Fuck the elves. Fuck everyone. We love you and we want you right here with us and we don’t care if the world implodes as result. We just want
you
.” He stopped, his chest heaving. He realized he was kneading his leg. It was throbbing.

Lindal sighed. “I needed to hear that,” he breathed and kissed him.

It was a good kiss. One of the best. Zack tried to pull him closer. The chair was too deep. He slipped forward, off the cushion, until he was on his knees.

Lindal dropped to his knees in front of him, which brought his big, hard body against him. They kissed again and this time, it was even better, with their bodies straining against each other. Instinctively, Zack knew Lindal was reaching for reassurance, but so was he and who gave a damn, anyway? He would take Lindal in whatever way he wanted. There was a hurried quality to Lindal’s movements, as if he was racing for some unseen goal.

He yanked Zack’s shirt out of his pants, pulling it up and out of the way, then slipped the button open and unzipped them with hurried, almost clumsy movements. Zack’s back arched and his breath escaped in a low hiss of pleasure as Lindal closed his hand around his cock.

Lindal hesitated, studying him. “Your leg….”

Zack shook his head and reached for Lindal’s jeans. “It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

* * * * *

Brady Stewart put his brandy snifter back on the rough surface of the old table, watching him as Cole poured custard over the two servings of fruit cake. “Not that I’m complaining for a single second about your cooking, Cole, but how come you’re cooking if you don’t get to eat it, anymore?”

Cole shrugged and picked up the two bowls. He put one in front of Zoe and kissed her cheek, inhaling her spicy, soft scent, then placed the second serving in front of Brady and sat down at the empty place between them. “I miss food. Cooking it helps.”

Declan, sitting opposite Cole, nodded. “Me, too. Miss it, I mean.”

Zoe picked up her spoon. “Declan is banned from the kitchen, though.”

Brady looked at his brother with a warm grin. “You always were a lousy cook.”

Cole shook his head. “He drops things.”

“They pass right through my fingers,” Declan said hotly. “It’s not my fault if you two move out of range while I’m holding crystal.”

“Not Mom’s big punch bowl?” Brady asked, alarmed.

“It sounded as if a bomb was going off,” Zoe said. “I had no idea crystal shattered like that.” She ate a mouthful of the desert and sighed. “It’s
perfect
,” she added and squeezed Cole’s hand.

Brady ate two big mouthfuls and sat back. “I keep getting smacked between the eyes about how strange it all is. I was just thinking that my last two Christmases, without Cole and Mom…they were just shitty. This is the best Christmas I’ve had in a while and I’m sitting here with a ghost and a vampire and a…well, I don’t know what you are now, Zoe.”

“A hunter,” she said, with a grin. She held up her glass of champagne. “I think we can all agree with you about this being one of the best years yet.”

“I like that,” Cole decided. “The best
yet
implies there’s even better ahead.”

“I just wish Carol and Jess could see you,” Brady told Declan. “They’re not having the same Christmas I am.”

Declan’s face shadowed. “It’s not my idea to hide from them,” he said. “We’ve already told you far too much about the Grimoré and our world than a normal human should know.”

Brady looked unhappily into his brandy. “It doesn’t seem fair.”