You Both (Vampire Assassin League Book 29) (3 page)

“You are separating us?”

“What? No!”

Athlerod frantically waved and shook his head from Ethelstone’s side. He lifted a hand to shush him.

“Your passenger’s name is Stephanie Bowker,” Akron continued. “She is a reporter. She is investigating vampires. I would like you to handle it.”

“Eliminate?” Ethelstone asked.

“No. You are to answer whatever questions she has without compromising the league. Keep her...occupied. Can you handle that?”

“
Ja.
”

“Good. And one more thing. A large one. She is to come to no harm.”

The last words throbbed with threat. Ethelstone cleared his throat before answering. That was another new sensation. He consciously lowered his tone, nearly matching Akron’s.

“Never. You have my word, Sir.”

“You’ll guarantee her safety?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Even from your brother?”

Ethelstone set his jaw and clenched. Hard. Ache shot through his neck. It nearly reached his heart. And then that muscle quivered. And he felt that, too.

“Yes,” he answered.

“Excellent. I’ll contact you both when you land. Have a nice flight. I do not know if she’ll stay enthralled the entire flight. But I can hope.”

Stephanie had never had such a difficult time waking before. She’d experienced some weird sleep instances. She’d been a sleepwalker as a child. She’d awakened in all kinds of places. Once, she’d ended up in an adjoining neighborhood. An exclusive one. With a golf course. Sand traps. Ponds. Golf balls that had just been sent rocketing off their tees. And that was before factoring in the real hazards – gossipy inhabitants and legal entanglements. She’d somehow scooted beneath an electrified security fence and been found wandering the fairway, completely unaware of her surroundings. After that, her parents had gotten desperate. She’d been strapped into her bed many times. Across the hips and shoulders. She’d hated it. It felt—

Just like now.

It was like she’d been jettisoned back to an unhappy childhood memory. Except back then upon waking, her senses returned a lot quicker than this. This was akin to being numbed, and it affected her entire body. She tried blinking. Her eyelids took a moment but responded. That was a good sign, although she couldn’t see very well, as if she were driving through fog. At night. Just creeping along, trying to make out surroundings. Her hearing was off, too. She could make out her own heartbeat. It was followed by the sound of each breath. Both had an odd nuance. As if there was an echo. She concentrated to hear more. Caught a rumbling type of vibration. It was interspersed occasionally with low-toned voices.

Male voices.

She really needed to get a grip here. And on something besides...
was this an armrest she held to?
Stephanie sent the command for her fingers to tighten on the structure. Nothing much happened. If she concentrated, she could barely make out a cool, smooth texture beneath each finger. And her sense of smell was way out of whack. The vague aromatic impression of jet fuel was combined with a decidedly masculine scent. She couldn’t place it, but it was entirely pleasant. Woodsy oak. Warmed amber. Vanilla. Caramel. She sniffed appreciatively. Heard another bit of male banter.
Well
. Whoever was speaking, they wore great-smelling cologne.

“I would not select her. Not even if we were forced to raid a Christian settlement. Far inland. In deepest Gaul.”

“I would.”

“What? With the choice of women available? I’ve seen the kind of women you fancy. They had a lot more...hmm. What is a good phrase? Curves? Yes. That is it. You like women with big breasts. Wide hips. For childbearing. I know it. I was there. Remember?”

“That was then.”

“Are you blind? I mean, look at her. She is pretty, yes, but she doesn’t even have much in the way of boobs.”

“Stop it, Athlerod.”

“My name is Rod now. Remember? Geez. You are so dense. I truly believe my real brother was switched at birth and replaced with you. A
fenrir.
”

“I said stop it.”

“You going to make me?”

There was a heavy sigh. The fog about her vision was clearing. Just a little. If she squinted, she could make out the features of what could be a wall. It had little lights along the top of it, shedding illumination on what looked like a gentle curve. As if the wall bulged out for some reason. It resembled an airplane, only there weren’t any windows. There should be. There were indentations that should be windows, only on this wall, they hadn’t been cut out or installed.

A shadow flashed across the wall. A large one. Indistinct. Indefinable. And the moment she saw it, it was gone.

“You know I can’t do that.”

“Really? Why not?”

“Vaughn warned us. No fighting. You heard him.”

“And since when did that stop us?”

“Right now.”

“Oh, yeah?
Pokker!
”

There was a grunting sound. A sense of movement. Another shadow loomed, growing to encompass the entire wall before disappearing again. Stephanie sent the order to her neck to turn. So she could see. And it almost worked.

Almost.

A loud breaking noise came from somewhere nearby. Followed by a heavy thud. Another. A visible ripple went through the wall she watched, followed by an ominous-looking crack. It snagged along the bottoms of the window indentations before moving through the framework and disappearing behind her. Then she heard a distinct beep sound, followed by an announcement through an intercom system.

“Hey! You guys want to knock it off back there? We’ll be there in about twenty minutes. You really don’t want trouble now, do you?”

“Got it...handled...Vaughn.”

The answer was broken by grunting sounds.

“Right. I’ll try and make it fifteen minutes. Geez. Icelanders.”

Icelanders?
Did she hear that correctly?

“You are a moron, Athle!”

“It’s Rod! I told you!”

“Stop this! You heard him. Not...while we’re in...the air!”

In the air?

Realization obliterated the last vestige of anything resembling fuzziness. Stephanie yanked with her shoulders and somehow got her head to turn. And then she just stared. Her eyes went wide. Her jaw dropped. There were two behemoths locked in what looked like mortal combat. One was astride the other, had an uprooted chair, and was smashing it into the bottom one’s chest. That one had his legs hooked around the other’s throat and was using the grip to push backward. They were wearing what looked like leather. Some fur. And they weren’t wearing it very modestly. Stephanie had never seen such massive arms. Or legs. The limbs about the chair-wielder’s throat had enough hard muscle to win a bodybuilding competition. While his biceps looked capable of bench-pressing a car.

The one with the chair looked over in her direction. Winked. He sat up and tossed the chair over his shoulder as if it weighed nothing. Stephanie watched it glance off the opposite wall, making a large dent in that side of the cabin. Then he smacked a fist into his opponent’s chest. All, while enduring a grip about his neck that should have broken it.

“Hey, Stone. Looks like your lady has awakened.”

“What?”

“The woman. You know. The one we’re accompanying.”

Their fighting stopped. Instantaneously. The next second, one was on his knees, shoving a mass of hair off his forehead, while the other spun, got into the same position, and did the exact same thing. And—

Oh. Holy hell
.

She was looking at the Norse god, Thor.

No.

She was facing two Thors.

Two
. Only nobody had a big-ass hammer. They had swords in scabbards at their backs. She didn’t know how they could have wrestled with that kind of weaponry or how she could have missed seeing it earlier. She was usually dead-on accurate with observations. The one on her left lumbered to his feet and spoke.

“Offhand, I would say she does not look impressed with us.”

“Shut up, Athle.”

She hadn’t seen it, but the other guy had reached his feet, too. She didn’t know how. He was standing in a shadowed area, placing a lot of him in the darkness. He regarded her with his eyes slightly narrowed. His upper lip lifted. He gave the appearance of being angered.
By what? Her?

The thought was patently ridiculous. As was the entire episode. She was dreaming here.

Obviously.

But the look he was giving her...

Wow
.

She tried to return his gaze or a reasonable facsimile of it. But something was really amiss. She couldn’t do it without reacting, severely and without one hint of warning. The man was absolutely shiver-inducing. He’d been the one on the bottom, the one with the unbelievably defined legs. She grasped the stupidity of that thought the moment it occurred. They both had defined legs. Arms. Just about everything. They looked identical. Massive. Muscled. And, if she had to admit it, they were both unbelievably handsome. Their hair was a light-honey shade, worn a little longer than shoulder length. They had a nice amount of light brown stubble defining their lower jaws, and both rocked some pretty spectacular blue eyes. Not just any blue. Theirs were dark neon blue. Dramatic. Absolutely riveting.

The amount of time they’d spent toning physiques was completely wasted. Nobody needed to be as fit as these guys,
especially
if they looked like these guys. They were both big. Blond. Blue-eyed. And totally babe-gorgeous.

That cinched it. She was dreaming. She had to be.

“My name is Rod. Remember? Or do I need to jog your memory some more?”

The speaker on her left interrupted her mental observation with his words, and then sent a fist into the other’s shoulder. It had a lot of power behind it if his arm was an indicator. It should have keeled his target over. Broken flesh. Something drastic. It didn’t even make him flinch.

Or blink.

And then he lowered his chin. Her heart stuttered, making her gasp. And then the beat ramped up. She caught a glimpse of movement as the one on the left glanced at his companion and then at her again. The one on the right didn’t move.

Well. She could sit here and watch what developed. Or she could be proactive. She’d been hired by New York’s
Streetwise
gossip-paper because of her interviewing skills...although, at the time, the editor had likened them to interrogation tactics. Fair enough evaluation. It was time she started using them.

“All right, I’ll start. Who the hell are you guys?”

“I am Rod. That is Stone.”

Stone? The guy was emitting vibes that she could physically feel. He didn’t remotely resemble a rock. Good thing she’d changed to a thermal shirt before checking on her basement window. It was comforting and warm and it hid telltale goosebumps.

“Rod? And Stone?”

She lifted an eyebrow. The guy on the right responded.
Shit
. He had a voice that made her throat catch. And just why wasn’t it in the same pitch as his twin, anyway?

“I am Ethelstone. He is Athlerod. My brother.”

The last was obvious. She would have smiled, except she was afraid anything she did might come out as a giggle. She was that affected by this guy?
And just why him?
She tightened her fingers on the chair and hoped it wasn’t noticeable.

“What’s um...your last name?” she asked.

Ethelstone answered. “We don’t have one.”

“Excuse me?”

“I suppose you can use Thoransson, for we are Thoran’s sons. But we didn’t need a last name. Everyone knew who we were.”

Stephanie swallowed. She needed to moderate her voice. Keep it even. Calm. The words still trembled. “Every...one?”

“
Ja
. Everyone.”

“How...is that possible?”
Oh shit.
Now, she sounded breathless. Unfortunately, that matched how she felt.

“We’re from Iceland. Duh.” Athlerod answered.

“Stop being a
rasshole
, Athlerod. Now.”

“You gonna make me,
Pokker
?”

She didn’t need a translation of either term. Athlerod’s expression showed the probable meanings. His face turned ruddy again. Steph instantly continued her questioning.

“You don’t have Scandinavian names,” she pointed out.

“You know that?”

Ethelstone asked it as he fielded his brother’s blow to his shoulder, catching the oncoming fist without even looking. He didn’t look like he expended any energy, either.

“Well, I...didn’t study Icelandic history if that’s what you’re asking. Does anybody? But I did take courses on Britain. Your names are...English-origin. Right?”

His mouth quirked. A swell of warmth loomed through her chest, hitting her mid-section and throat in tandem. Steph couldn’t prevent the reaction. She gasped. Her eyes widened. He looked like he’d seen and noted every bit of that, too.

“You are right. Our father was so proud at our birth, he allowed our mother to name us. She was from Angle-land. Our father was...taken with her beauty.”

“Tell her the truth, Stone. Our father was a Viking. He was raiding. Our mother was among the captives. And she was just taken.
That
is what happened.”

Steph’s mind whirred. What had that Akron Profit told her? Her last memory was of something he’d said. She’d find the answers to her questions. Had he been talking about vampires? Immortality? Was that what she was learning? Because what she’d just heard described hadn’t happened in centuries. And that just wasn’t possible...unless these guys were vampires. Real ones.

Oh.
That was off-the-chart unbelievable. It sealed the deal. She was definitely dreaming.

“I’m not warning you again, Athlerod.”

Ethelstone pulled upward with the arm holding Athlerod’s fist, hefted him with a forearm and smacked his brother’s back into the ceiling. A sprinkling of debris filtered through the lighted area, dusting them. He slammed Athlerod back onto his feet and let him go. Athlerod staggered slightly. The maneuver had taken a second. Maybe two. Stephanie’s eyes couldn’t take it all in. They felt like they were as wide as her mouth as she stared.