When Darkness Hungers: A Shadow Keepers Novel (Shadow Keepers 5) (35 page)

Luke nodded slowly. “All right. Tell me what you need.”

“There’s a woman,” Serge said, though words were inadequate to describe Alexis. “She needs help.”

“I see.”

“See what exactly?”

“In your eyes. I see the way I feel when I look at Sara. Or am I wrong?”

“No,” Serge admitted without hesitation. “You’re not wrong. You told me once that Sara eases your daemon. Alexis does the same for me.”

“And is that the only attraction?”

He couldn’t help it; Serge laughed. “No. Most definitely not.”

Luke’s grin matched his. “Glad to hear it.” He paused only slightly. “It’s complicated, though. With a human.”

Serge thought of Tori. Of the chasm that had opened between him and Alexis. “More complicated than you know.”

“It usually is.” Luke looked at him, his gaze missing nothing. “So tell me how I can help Alexis.”

Serge did, explaining how she’d been arrested. And then—a sign of faith in his friend—he told him the rest. “She’s the one who’s been killing the rogues. Well, the rogues who’ve been staked, anyway.”

“A vampire hunter? You’re right. It is complicated.”

“She hunts rogues because one killed her sister. The girl was found in New York,” Serge continued, forcing the words out. “Near an abandoned subway station that had been expertly converted by some sort of mechanically inclined squatter.” He’d worked his ass off to make that old station a home. It had taken him a full week just to do the floors.

Luke gaped at him, obviously having grasped the bigger issue. “Does she understand our nature? Does she know how the daemon once consumed you? How you fought? How much you’ve won?”

“I’ve told her, yes. Does she understand? She says she does, but also that she can’t be around me. There’s too much pain. I can’t blame her, and I also can’t stop loving her, and I certainly can’t stop protecting her. I want you to get her out, but be warned—hunting rogues has become a mission with her. She won’t stop simply because it’s a vampire who frees her.”

“The PEC has no jurisdiction over humans who kill rogue vampires. You can rest assured that she won’t end up in a PEC cell.”

“Good.”

He looked hard at Serge. “You say she’s responsible for the vampires that have been staked. Tell me about the ones that have been desiccated.”

Serge hesitated. “What is it you think you know?”

“I think I know quite a bit. That you’re behind those deaths. That you’re hunting rogues.”

“You always were too perceptive by half.”

“What I want to know is why.”

“I have to feed, Luke, and I will not feed off the innocent.”

“Feed,” Luke repeated. “And yet you don’t take the blood. Orion says it remains intact, albeit powdered.”

“I take their life force.”

“I saw you do that once before. During the curse.”

“I’m happy to say I have very little memory of what I did during that time.”

“So explain to me. How is this happening? I thought the curse was lifted.”

“It was,” Serge began, then told Luke what he’d told Alexis the night before.

“I wish you’d come to me before.”

“What could you have done?”

Luke’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Done? I don’t know. If nothing else I would have helped you carry the burden.”

“I should have,” Serge agreed. “But now I come to you with a new problem, and I’m not asking for something intangible like support. I need to know: Will you help her?”

“It’s not the PEC that’s arrested her, Serge. Last I checked, I wasn’t employed by the FBI.”

“You’re the Alliance chairman, Luke, don’t play naïve with me. Get on the phone. Call the FBI director. Hell, call the president. They know the truth. You can have her pardoned. You can have her transferred to Alliance jurisdiction. You can get her out of jail.”

“You’re right, of course,” Luke said. “And I might be persuaded to do just that.”

“You’d demand a price from a friend?”

“If it’s in that friend’s best interest, absolutely. Especially if it benefits me as well.”

“You really have become a politician.”

“The mantle’s uncomfortable, but I’m getting used to
the burden.” He stepped off the deck and into the sand.

“Let’s walk.”

They walked in silence until Serge couldn’t take it anymore. “What do you want me to do?”

“For one thing, I want to pardon you.”

“Don’t.”

Luke eyed him warily. “Why shouldn’t I?”

“It would be a politically foolish move.”

“Apparently I’m not the keen politician you think I am, because it seems perfectly reasonable to me.”

“Luke …”

“Hear me out. I’m not making a grand gesture. I want something in return.”

“What?”

“You,” Luke said.

Serge stopped, oblivious to the surf rolling in around his ankles. “What?”

“I want you working for PEC.”

Whatever he was expecting, that wasn’t it. “Say again?”

“It makes perfect sense. You’re in a unique position to work any undercover job we need.”

Slowly, Serge took his head. “To do that, I’d have to kill.”

“That’s what death row is for,” Luke said reasonably. “Let those creatures pay the price for their crimes by fueling our best warrior. It’s the perfect solution. Say we need to get an agent to go undercover, but all of our operatives are known. Say we need a werewolf or a jinn. You become our executioner. Take the life from a death row inmate, become that creature, and slide into the undercover position.”

“I don’t change my appearance, just my nature.”

Luke waved the comment away. “You’re known more
by reputation than by looks. Obviously we couldn’t use you for every assignment, but you could fill a very large need.” He smiled. “I’m going to have to tell Doyle that you’re not responsible for killing the rogues—and I’m going to have to tell him the truth about the desiccations. He’ll assume I knew all along, of course, which should make for an uncomfortable conversation. It’ll be worth putting up with his flak, though, if you come onboard.”

The possibility of being useful was undeniably tempting, but it couldn’t work. “I can’t, Luke. I take the form and features of whatever life force I’ve drawn in, but I can’t control the daemon when I’m in another form. Hell, I can barely control it as a vampire.”

“I thought Alexis helped with that.”

“What are you saying?”

Luke smiled. “I’m saying I have an idea. And I think you’ll like it.”

Five paces by six paces was the size of Alexis’s world. At least she didn’t have to share it. The tiny space was all hers. For now. Undoubtedly once she was tried and convicted, she’d be shipped off to a minimum-security prison and stuck with a roommate who snored. Or worse.

Shit
. She wanted out of there, but the bail hearing wasn’t until the following afternoon. In the meantime, she’d used her one phone call to talk to Leena, who sounded absolutely determined to get her free. She’d taken it upon herself to find Alexis the best attorney her substantial bank account could hire. Unfortunately, Leena didn’t seem to have any magical solutions for the
uncomfortable quarters. Alexis was just going to have to wait it out.

She paced the five, then turned and paced the six. On the return trip, the door opened and a huge man walked in. He had a scar across his right cheek, and although it took her a second, Alexis finally recognized him as one of the men from the Penny Martinez crime scene. If she recalled correctly, he’d acted like he was in charge.

“Let me guess. Now I’m in trouble with Homeland Security, too. Or is it Division Six?”

“The latter,” the man said. “And you’re not in trouble.”

She glanced around the cell. “Great. Let me out.”

“All right,” he said.

“Really?”

“At the very least we should discuss the possibility.”

He gestured to the tiny cot. “Can we sit?”

“Um, sure.”

She perched on one end, and he sat on the other. “I’m Lucius Dragos, by the way.”

“Serge’s friend?”

“The same.”

“Oh.” She shifted, trying to find her center. He seemed like a perfectly nice guy and he was Serge’s best friend, but to Alexis he was a powerful vampire, potentially dangerous, and apparently at the top of a preternatural infrastructure. The whole situation was a bit like sitting down to chat with your boyfriend’s relative, who just happened to be the president of the United States. Awkward, no matter how much you wished it wouldn’t be. “So why exactly are you here?”

“I understand you’ve been hunting rogues.”

She flinched; he might as well have tossed ice water all over her.

“Don’t worry. The PEC doesn’t have any jurisdiction over humans who kill rogue vampires. But we do have jurisdiction over rogues. We catch them. And we punish them.”

She nodded, wondering what this had to do with her.

“Would you be interested in helping us do that?”

“Helping you? Are you offering me a job?” This was the oddest conversation.

“Actually, yes.”

“Oh.” She tried to wrap her mind around this shift in reality. “So, what exactly would this job entail?”

“Doing what you’re trained to do. Investigating. We don’t have many humans on staff, but sometimes a human perspective can be helpful on a case. And it will help that you’re already trained as an investigator. Essentially you would be doing exactly what you’ve been doing, but it would be sanctioned.” He glanced around the cell. “Which would help you avoid future insults like this.”

“I’d still be hunting rogues?”

“Among other things, yes.”

The idea was mind-boggling. It was a chance to return—more or less—to her life as an FBI agent and still pursue the path she’d set out on after Tori’s death.

“I’m pleased to see that you’re seriously considering the idea,” Luke said. He was studying her face. “There is one other bit of information you should have before you answer. I’ve asked Serge to come work for the PEC.”

“Really? That’s great.”

“You think so?”

“I do. There’s a lot he feels guilty about—I’m sure you
know. That’s a way to work through it. To feel like he’s being productive. Hell, to actually
be
productive.”

“I agree completely. Unfortunately, Serge hasn’t yet agreed. In fact, he’s made it clear that he’ll refuse unless his condition is met.”

She almost hesitated to ask. “What condition?”

“He’ll only do it with you as his partner.”

Her pulse increased, thrumming so loud in her own ears that she was sure Luke must have heard it, too. “Why?” she asked, working to keep her voice nonchalant.

“Don’t you know?”

“Because I calm him. I keep the daemon from coming out.”

“Yes,” Luke said. “But it’s more than that.”

She searched his eyes and was surprised at what she saw. Serge had told his friend about the truth, and she was so relieved that he’d finally shared the burden that she couldn’t hide her smile. “I’m glad he told you.”

“So am I,” Luke said. “Without you, he’s not willing to take on other forms. But that wasn’t entirely what I meant. You would be an asset to the team, yes. But he also simply wants you by his side.”

Her heart twisted. “He told you that?”

“No.”

“Then—”

“I know Serge almost as well as I know myself.”

She felt the tears rise and cursed herself. This was a negotiation, not relationship counseling. “Did he tell you? About my sister?”

“Yes, and I’m sorry.”

“I don’t know if I can do it. Work with him. See him every day.” But that wasn’t true. What she was afraid of
was that she
could
, and that she’d hate herself for it, because she owed Tori more than that.

But what did she owe all of the other men and women, dead because of rogue vampires? How many could she hunt down with Serge by her side? Most of all, without Serge, how long would it take them to find the one rogue who was the kingpin, urging all the others to kill. She didn’t believe that Serge would simply let the leader continue to rally his troops—no, he’d take care of the leader himself, and then disappear back into the dark.

The thought filled her with an overwhelming sense of loss, and she knew then that even if she couldn’t have him, she also couldn’t bear the thought of completely losing him. And she damn sure couldn’t let him take down the ringleader without her.

She looked at Luke, her mind made up. “I’m not saying I forgive him, but I’ll do it. At least for now.”