Bishop's Flight, page 21
Brigid saw it when it was too late.
Carwyn reached down and touched the ground, ready to capture Zasha with the red sandstone on the beach, but as the ground opened up beneath their feet, a wind vampire dressed entirely in black swooped down, lifting Zasha with massive arms, snatching them away from the yawning earth as shots rang out.
Within seconds, both the vampires had disappeared from sight.
Twenty-Eight
Lucas was wrapped in a silver emergency blanket as they sped back to shore, and Brigid was wearing Carwyn’s shirt, its length enough to cover her nearly to her knees.
They sat in the bow of the powerboat, Carwyn sat behind her, his arms wrapped around her body.
She was in his arms, and he was satisfied. He could breathe again; his heart was calm. His heart lived in her now; the great beast that had been silent for a millennium belonged to the tiny fey creature who fought monsters and protected the innocent.
Carwyn kissed the top of her burned head. “You scared me.”
She wrapped an arm around the leg he had propped up on the bench. “I didn’t mean to.”
“Don’t go off on your own, darling girl. You know it makes me crazy.”
She said nothing, but she pressed her leg against his and let her head fall back against his chest as she looked up at the stars. “It’s nice out here.”
He kissed the top of her head again.
“Is it a horror?”
“Not too bad.” He ran a hand over the silky black hair and the burned edges. “You can buzz it again. It’s a great look on you, and you’ll barely notice the burned bits.”
She was silent. Carwyn could feel her amnis bouncing around, dissatisfied with not being able to find vengeance what with Zasha escaping again.
“We found a vampire on the beach with no head. Several human bodies floating.”
“Was the vampire dressed in a white button-down shirt?”
“No clothes left.”
“Brown hair and beard?”
“We didn’t find the head. He was tall.”
Brigid nodded. “It could have been a vampire called Henrik Anker. He was on the boat with us.”
“Any other Ankers?”
She shook her head. “Not that I know of.”
“Lee found evidence of a very sneaky virus in Agnes and Rose’s servers. It looks like the Ankers weren’t prepared to let Zasha take the reins after all.”
“They can’t work out in the open because no one trusts them and vampire tourism to the city would dry up,” Brigid said. “But they need a more reliable ally. They’re going to pick someone more respectable next time. Someone the rest of the world sees as legitimate.”
“I have a couple of ideas.” Carwyn took a breath. “Oleg.”
“Oleg.” Brigid looked over her shoulder. “He’s my first thought.”
“For right now, he’s playing well with others.” Carwyn had seen the fire vampire’s morals come and go with the trends of the moment. “We’ll have to watch and see what happens.”
Brigid wiggled down farther, turning her face to his chest. “I want to get out of this city. I found the boy. Agnes and Rose can clean up their own messes here; I have the equivalent of a vampire hangover.”
Carwyn smiled and ran his hand over her head again. “You saved the boy.”
Brigid turned her head to look at the teenager wrapped in a silver blanket. “He’s a good lad.”
“I’m glad he had you protecting him.”
“I didn’t do much other than get caught.” Her voice dropped. “I won’t be trusting humans blindly again.”
“Probably a good policy.” He pictured the wreckage of the boat in his mind. “You directed your fire.”
“Yeah.” She sounded pleased. “I did.”
The lights of the marina glowed in the distance, and a helicopter thwupped overhead. “We have plenty of time to get back to the city. Are you ready to be alone?”
“Yes, but I wanna get Lucas home first.”
Carwyn nodded. He’d expected that answer, so he didn’t argue even though he wanted to get Brigid back to a room with locks, steel doors, and him guarding those doors as soon as possible.
The roar of the motor was dull as the wind whipped around them. Carwyn saw several other boats with their red and blue running lights blinking in the distance.
“Did you know Zasha Sokholov had a mate?”
Carwyn’s arm tightened around her. “No.”
They slowed and pulled into the harbor. There were humans on the dock, and a long black car had pulled up close to the water. Agnes and Rose stood on the end of the dock, waving at the boat as Lucas stood and waved back, a huge smile on his face.
Brigid asked, “How old is Oleg?”
“Probably around my age,” Carwyn asked. “Why are you asking about Oleg?”
“Zasha and Oleg had the same sire, right? Was their sire as old as Tenzin?”
“Not nearly. He was a hateful old earth vampire from antiquity, but not as old as Tenzin. A Slav, maybe part Hun. I’m not sure. Roamed around Central Asia and Eastern Europe wreaking havoc. He was awful, but he wasn’t as powerful as Tenzin, though it’s possible she knew of him during the period when they were both in Central Asia.”
“Oleg killed him.”
“Yes.” Carwyn sat up, and Brigid swung her legs over the side of the bench. “What is this? What are you thinking?”
Brigid cast her eyes to Bernard and the human driver, shaking her head.
Carwyn got her meaning. “It takes force of will to kill your own sire,” he said, “even if you hate them. It’s not something our instincts usually allow.”
“I think Zasha is playing a very long game,” Brigid murmured. “And I think the Ankers are a very small part of it.”
Brigid sat in the living room of the mansion in Las Vegas, Lucas freshly washed and dressed in comfortable sweatpants and a T-shirt, a doctor giving him a quick checkup as his little sister jumped around. Rose and Agnes sat close to each other, watching the boy like the mother hens they were.
You want to protect the boy? Take him away from those two vampires who will turn him as soon as he reaches maturity. That would be protecting him.
She tried to rid her mind of Zasha’s voice. The vampire had been messing with her head, trying to play on her fears for the child and her own mixed feelings about being turned by a loving but distraught sire.
Rose and Agnes clearly adored him. They would protect him. Agnes almost had to handcuff her mate to keep Rose from hovering over Lucas while the doctor checked his ears.
“Excuse me?”
She turned to see Lucas’s little sister, Anna, standing at her side.
Brigid hadn’t even noticed the girl approaching. She was either a stealth master or Brigid was exhausted and not thinking straight.
“Hello, Anna.”
“You found my brother.”
Brigid smiled. “Not just me. Bernard, Miguel, and Carwyn all helped. Lots of people helped.”
“But you got him away from the bad vampires?”
Brigid hesitated. “I… helped.”
Anna’s eyes were fixed on her face. “Did you kill them?”
Lying would be pointless. “Some of them. Not all.”
“Are you going to kill the rest when you can?”
Brigid nodded. “Yes. I surely am.”
“Good.” Anne looked at her brother, then back at Brigid. “I can help you if you want.”
“It’s quite dangerous, so no. But thanks. I can tell you love your brother a lot.”
The little girl’s bow-mouth wrinkled. “I’m going to be a vampire as soon as I’m big. Then I’ll protect Lucas. He doesn’t want to be, but I do, and Rose said that she can make me one if I want.”
Well that was… a lot.
“That’s a very grown-up choice, Anna. I think you need to wait a long time to make that decision.”
“That’s what Agnes said, but I know what I want and so does Rose.” Anna looked at Lucas again. “No one will ever take me from Agnes and Rose. I wouldn’t let them.”
I suspect they would regret trying.
“Be kind to Lucas.” It was the only thing Brigid could think so say. “He missed home a lot, and he lost a friend.”
“Miguel?” Anna frowned. “Rose said Miguel was going to live even though he probably should die for losing Lucas.”
“No, I’m not talking about Miguel.” She was glad to hear the man would live. Less glad to know that Rose blamed the man for Lucas’s kidnapping. “Your brother lost a friend named Angel. He’ll probably be very sad about that.”
She’d seen how the news had already affected the boy when Bernard casually mentioned Alina Oorzhak’s death in the car. They might have known Alina as Zasha’s conspirator, but Lucas still knew her as Angel, the girl who’d flirted with and befriended him.
“I’ll be nice to him.” Anna picked up the large white cat that curled around her legs. “I’ll even play chess with him if he wants.”
Brigid smiled. “I’m sure he’d love that.”
Carwyn walked over from talking to Agnes. “Hello, Anna. How are you?”
“I am doing fine.” Her expression was remote. “Are you ready to go? I want Lucas to myself please.”
He patted her head, not noticing that the little girl rolled her eyes. “Of course you do, dove. You’ve been missing your brother, haven’t you? We’ll get out of your hair, won’t we?” He held his hand out for Brigid. “You ready?”
“Yes.” Brigid rose, took Carwyn’s hand, and nodded at Anna. “Anna, don’t forget what I said.”
“I won’t.” Her clear brown eyes blinked at Brigid. “You too.”
“If I need your help, I’ll call.”
“Good.” She turned, walked over to the sofa where Lucas was sitting, and climbed up next to him, placing the fluffy white cat in his lap.
Carwyn and Brigid were nearly out the door when she heard Lucas calling her name.
She turned to Carwyn. “Give me a moment?”
“Of course.” He smiled. “I’ll wait for you in the car.”
Brigid walked over to Lucas. “Hey, how are you—?”
“Can we talk in the garden?”
She narrowed her eyes. “Sure thing.”
They walked out the door, and Lucas guided her toward a winding path that led under an arbor to a quiet corner of the rose garden on the side of the house. “There aren’t any microphones here. I heard Agnes say it once. That’s why she has meetings here sometimes.”
“I see.” How much of Lucas’s house was under surveillance? “It’s gonna get worse now, isn’t it?”
He shrugged. “For a while. Is Miguel going to be okay? Are they going to kill him?”
“I don’t think so. I can make sure he has our information though. Would that make you feel better? Carwyn will check on him before we leave the city.”
He nodded. “I told Agnes that it wasn’t his fault a bunch of times, but Rose…” He shrugged.
“Rose loves you. Make sure she knows how much you love Miguel.”
Lucas opened his mouth, then closed it and nodded.
“Good chap.”
He glanced at the glowing windows of the house. “Was Zasha right?”
Probably.
“About what?” Brigid asked.
“Will Agnes and Rose turn me as soon as I grow up?”
Brigid didn’t know how to answer him. “I think if that’s something you want to avoid, you should make it very clear when you are young that there are human things you want to do as a human that you could not do as a vampire and you would be extremely heartbroken if you couldn’t do those things as a human. Do ya understand what I’m saying?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Got it.”
“Sometimes we hold on to things we love even when we know that it might not be the best thing or might not be the thing that’s best for us.” She smiled a little. “All love can be a little unhinged, Sir Lucas.”
The corner of his mouth turned up. “Sir Lucas?”
“I think you’re a knight too.” She reached out and tapped his shoulder with her fist. “You’re no pawn. You were very smart in close gameplay.”
Lucas smiled. “You listened.”
“Course I did. You’re a smart young fella and a good strategist.”
Lucas’s smile fell. “Zasha isn’t dead, are they?”
Brigid shook her head.
“Then you know what you need to do.”
She frowned. “Maybe I did miss something.”
Lucas stepped back and waved his arm as if he was wiping a table. “Clear the board, remember? Bishops are most powerful when they clear the board.”
Twenty-Nine
Lee was packing up the house the next evening. “I never thought I’d be relieved to be going back to an old house in the middle of the woods where every other tree looks like Bigfoot is hiding behind it.”
Carwyn was already packed. It didn’t take that much time to throw three shirts and two pairs of pants in a duffel bag. “Do you really think we need a Winnebago?”
“Fuck yes, you do.” Lee’s eyes lit up and he pulled out his phone. “Have you seen those things?”
Lee paused to direct two moving people toward the office and all the equipment they were shipping back to the Del Marco Casino. “Over there, guys. I already disconnected my hard drive, so all the rest is yours.”
“Thanks, Lee.”
“No, thank you. Good working with you guys.”
Lee walked over to the kitchen counter in the rental house and picked up a tablet. “Look at this one I found. It’s vintage but completely redone, and it would be easy to make light safe. Full bathroom, full bedroom, eating area.”
“I feel like you want a Winnebago, not me.”
“No, I want your old van, remember?” He pulled up a picture of a boxy and colorful motorhome with red stripes and a pair of bright orange hibiscus painted on the side.
Carwyn saw the flowers. “I’m intrigued.”
“I thought you would be, so I put a watch on it. It’s an eBay auction, and it’s already met the reserve. Less than a hundred thousand miles on it and the engine was recently rebuilt.”
Carwyn sat down, staring as Lee flipped through the pictures of the motor home. “It has Hawaiian-print interior?”
“Oh yeah.”
He needed it. He had to have it. “Brigid!”
“She went out a little bit ago.” Lee clicked through the pictures, one after another. “Look at the way they redid the kitchen.”
Carwyn was confused. “What?”
“The kitchen. They painted everything—”
“Not the bloody kitchen, Lee. Where did Brigid go?”
Lee shrugged. “I don’t know. She said she was going out; that’s all.”
Carwyn reached for her, but the feelings he was getting from her amnis were… confusing. Determination. Focus. He felt like there was a buffer around her feelings; she was confused or hiding or both.
Regret?
They’d made love at dusk and there had been something violent and a little desperate about her. She’d fed before dawn the night before, but far from the peaceful mate he’d expected to wake to, she’d been troubled and she wouldn’t tell him why.
What are you doing, darling girl?
He’d put it down to her losing Zasha again even though Carwyn had told her they’d go on the offensive before the vampire could wreak more havoc. Carwyn had already called his friend Giovanni and his daughter Carla. Both had experience finding people who didn’t want to be found and eliminating them if necessary.
He didn’t ask questions of his daughter, but he knew.
Carwyn walked to the bedroom and grabbed his phone, dialing Brigid’s number, unsurprised when it went to voice mail.
He stared at the phone with irritation, then turned it off and tossed it on the bed. “What are you doing, Brigid Connor?”
He walked back out to the kitchen. “Lee, can you track her phone?”
“No.” Lee’s eyes were wide. “We disabled that feature, remember? You and Brigid were worried that the Nocht software would enable Murphy to find her wherever she was, so you both asked me to disable the—”
“Fuck!” Carwyn stormed back into the bedroom and grabbed his phone again. “Brigid, what are you doing?”
Lee was in the hallway. “What’s going on?”
She felt… remote. Distant.
Did you know Zasha Sokholov had a mate?
She’d been asking about Oleg. About their sire. He should have seen the signs, but he’d been so relieved to have her back with the boy in tow he hadn’t realized what she was feeling.
The job wasn’t finished. Not nearly finished.
Brigid was still working.
Carwyn dialed her number again, and this time when it went to voice mail, he didn’t hang up. “Brigid? I know what you’re doing and it’s a bad idea…”
“…we can do this together. We need to do this together. I’ve already called Giovanni. I’ve called Carla. I’ll explain why when you get home because you need to come home, love.” Her husband sighed. “You need to come home. Don’t… don’t do this without me.” He cursed under his breath. “Don’t try to do this without me.”
The message finished, and Brigid tossed her phone on the passenger seat in the back of the hired car before she ran a hand over her freshly shaven head. Carwyn had clipped it at nightfall, right after they’d made love.
It felt clean. Fresh.
Battle ready.
She knew why her husband had called Carla. Enough quiet hints had been dropped over the years for Brigid to have figured out what Carla could do. And he was right—bringing a tracker on would be helpful. Bringing an experienced fire vampire on would be helpful too.
But this wasn’t their fight; it wasn’t hers either. But Brigid was pretty sure she knew whose fight it was, and the difference between her and Carwyn was that Brigid would be willing to do what it took to bring the fight to Zasha Sokholov.
“Hey, you wanted me to bring you here, I did it. I can’t get in that gate, lady.” The cabdriver looked at her in the rearview mirror. “You getting out or you want me to take you someplace else?”
