Blood?
The knife.
That damn ceremony. He must have taken my blood from the blade after the ritual. And Bryant’s answers were useless.
None of that mattered now. I couldn’t change the past.
Right now, all that mattered was that damned globe and the fact Avin wanted me to kill someone for him.
“You’re a big powerful mage, why don’t you collect your own body?”
“My specialty is with things already dead.” He shrugged and closed his fist over the globe. “If I kill my new host, he’ll show signs of violence. That makes blending in with humans hard. But you vampires, you create beautiful corpses. You drain the blood, seal the wound, and my new host dies in perfect condition.”
“You’ve done this before.”
“Of course. How did you think I acquired this beautiful body?”
I stared at him.
“Well, it was beautiful,” he said with a grimace. “That’s a requirement, you know. I want a good-looking body. Young. Attractive. No one famous, though. I don’t need to be hiding from wardens and the paparazzi.”
One night I was going to wake up and things would make sense. Be normal. Tonight sure as hell wasn’t that night. I pressed my palms over my eyes, willing Avin to be gone when I looked up.
He wasn’t. Of course. He continued casually describing the type of person he wanted me to pull off the street and slaughter.
“You listening, babe?” He stepped closer, his uneven shoulders looming over me. “I’m in kind of a hurry, so I want to make sure you know what you’re looking for. Oh. I almost forgot. You’ll need this.” He held out a small ring that glimmered in the pale moonlight.
I didn’t reach for it. “That’s silver.”
“What’s with you and telling me what metal my stuff is made from? Take the damn thing. It’s not like it’s an engagement ring. You wear it, you call my name when you find a suitable body, and I’ll show up and prepare the ritual before you make the kill. Easy as that.” He pushed the ring toward me.
Reluctantly, I held out my hand. Pain shot through my flesh as he dropped it in my palm. Numbness spread through my fingers, up my arm. Perfect. I shoved the ring in my pocket. How do I get myself into these things?
“Tomorrow night, midnight, should be a sufficient amount of time for you to locate an appropriate body, don’t you think?” he asked, and my jaw dropped.
“Tomorrow?” I cast around for some way to stall. “I can’t—
“
I didn’t get a chance to finish. Avin lifted the globe. Light flashed through it and unseen flames attacked me.
“You promised me an unnamed favor, babe. I get to set the rules. Attractive body. Tomorrow. By midnight. Call me if you finish early. Don’t tell a living, or unliving, soul.” He pulled up his hood, stepping closer, filling my personal space.
“And remember—”
Movement blurred in front of me, and I never found out what I was supposed to remember. Nathanial appeared between Avin and me. I caught a glimpse of his coat, his shoulders, but he flowed into motion again before gravity caught up with his dark hair. He moved fast, faster than I could follow, and Avin slid through the snow.
The mage didn’t waste time getting to his feet, didn’t try to fight the angry master vampire. He just looked at me and said, “Tomorrow, babe.”
Then he vanished.
Chapter Eighteen
The chill of magic pressed against my skin even after Avin disappeared, and I stared at my bare feet as Nathanial turned.
“I can explain,” I muttered. But I couldn’t. Not completely.
Not why I’d left the house. Not who Avin was. “Don’t tell a living or unliving soul,” he’d said. And I’d felt the twinge of magic that made it stick. How did I mess things up this badly?
I’d struck a deal with a bad guy. That’s what I’d done. And he wants me to kill someone. Someone who likely didn’t deserve to die.
Not that I hadn’t killed before.
I’d fought and killed two rogues only weeks ago. But they’d been insane. Murderers. In the end, it had come down to more than my responsibility as the one who tagged Tyler, more than preventing any more women from dying, more than self preservation—Nathanial and Bobby’s lives had been on the line, too. This was different. Hugging my arms across my chest, I sank into the snow.
Nathanial was suddenly there, filling my senses. His arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me against his chest.
His familiar spicy scent encircled me.
“What happened?” he whispered.
No accusation. No demand. The question was calm, his voice offering comfort as his warm arms buffered me from the world.
Comfort I didn’t deserve. After all, I’d gotten myself in this mess. Drinking down one last lungful of his scent, I stepped out of the protective circle of his arms. I dug the ring out of my pocket and stared at it as it burned into my palm. Welts formed around the gleaming silver edges.
I won’t do it. I won’t kill for Avin. Consequences be damned.
I hurled the ring, using all the supernatural strength I’d gained from becoming a vampire. The ring flew, twinkling like a star in the night. I didn’t watch where it landed, but turned to Nathanial.
“How did it go with Tatius?” I tried to keep my tone even, to not betray how much I wanted to know the answer. I failed.
Nathanial shook his head. “I left unexpectedly, so we did not conclude our negotiations. Kita, do not change the subject. Who was that man? A mage, I am assuming.”
Again, no accusation, but the questions were more demanding. What went unsaid was that the unexpected interruption of his negotiations had been me. He must have felt my fear through the bond. I doubted Tatius approved of the sudden recess.
Hanging my head, I studied the trampled snow beneath my feet. Pain shot through my hand. What the—
The silver ring rested snugly around my pointer finger.
I stared at it a full heartbeat before ripping the damn thing off, ready to toss it again. Further this time, if I could. Then I lowered my hand. No use. Avin must have ensured I couldn’t lose the damn thing. Gritting my teeth, I dropped the mooncursed loop of silver back into my pocket.
“So now what do we—” I cut off as the gate creaked behind me.
I whirled around as Nathanial stepped between me and the sound. The gate swung on its hinges, but no one was there.
The gateway stood empty.
I tilted my head back, breathing deep and searching the wind. Nothing. Just normal city scents. And the only nearby sounds were the creaking gate hinge and a swing swaying in the breeze. Nothing else moved.
“Perhaps we should move somewhere less open,” Nathanial said as he turned toward me. He sounded relaxed, but he took to the air as soon as his arms slipped around my waist.
We were a couple yards over the snow when I caught sight of movement. Not on the ground below. No. Above.
A star winked out, blocked by a dark body.
“Nathanial there’s—” Something heavy and metallic fell over us, cutting me off.
Chains?
A chain net.
Nathanial picked up speed, ignoring the heavy net clattering around us. I untangled an arm from behind his head and struggled with the chains. Each link was as thick as my wrist. I was strong, but I had no leverage in the air. My effort to heave the net off us only tangled me further.
The vampire who’d dropped the net dove toward us. He grabbed a corner of the net and was joined by three more vampires, each taking one corner. Gravity played for their side, weighing us down.
Our ascent slowed.
Stopped.
I couldn’t move, couldn’t even struggle. Nathanial fought to lift the chains, to defy gravity.
He didn’t win.
We hit the ground with a thud. My knees buckled under the impact, but though grounded, Nathanial didn’t stay down.
He rose in the air as far as the net would allow, staring at our captors, his calm face a contrast to the tension I felt running through his muscles.
The four vampires flashed their fangs and staked down the corners of the net.
One of the vamps pulled a cell phone from his pocket and pressed a button. “We’ve got them,” he said to the male voice that answered on the other side.
“Do you?” Nathanial arched an eyebrow and stared down at the vampire on the phone.
We were inside a damn chain net, but the vampire took a step back, his adam’s apple bobbing in his throat as he swallowed. But all he said was, “I’ll send the coordinates now.” He pulled the phone from his ear, his fingers skimming over the flat screen.
Outside the gate, a car rumbled around the corner.
Slowed. Stopped. Gravel crunched under the tires of a second car. The sound of two engines idling rolled through the park.
Four men and two women dashed around the wooden gate. Scratch that. Six vampires.
They joined the four vamps around the net. Ten against two? And we’re as trapped as a fox in a snare—only we couldn’t chew off a leg for freedom.
One of the female vamps stepped forward, her gaze locked on Nathanial’s face. “You will come with us peacefully, yes?”
Nathanial said nothing, his expression never changing.
“We are going to release you now,” she said, waving a hand at her companions.
The four original vamps pulled crowbars out of stars knew where and pried the stakes free. I forced my body still and focused on keeping my fists from clenching as they hauled up the edges of the chain.
The net reached the level of my knees. I dropped, rolling under the edge of the chain in one movement and springing to my feet in the next.
Not that I made it far.
The Collector’s beefy bodyguard grabbed my arm, pulling my stride short.
“Lookie what I caught… a collectable,” he said, his tongue darting out to wet thick lips.
“Doesn’t look like much to me, Ronco,” Jomar, the rat faced guard who’d fed on Luna, said.
Oh no, I wasn’t caught that easily. If there was one thing I’d learned being the smallest shifter, it was that sometimes being big wasn’t an advantage. I twisted, pulling against Ronco’s oversized meat hooks. At the same time, I slammed my knee into his groin. He made an oolf and I wiggled free of his grip.