Paladin's Kiss, page 27
Brigid was starting to be more and more convinced that the device she tucked in her pocket was not worth the convenience it offered, and she should probably toss it in the Mississippi on the way back to California. She trusted Murphy and Nocht, but did she trust his security and his ability to hold back the insatiable vampire appetite for secrets?
Bex turned to look at them, and Brigid could see the shadows of her captivity in her eyes. “These people, they’re not going to stop, and they’ve already proven they’re willing to do nearly anything to get Paladin’s secrets.” Her hand shook, and Nic reached over and took it in his. “I don’t even know if I want to work here anymore. No offense, Gavin.”
“None taken.” He stared at the girl. “You were my responsibility, and I didn’t take care of you. I will carry that guilt for the rest of my life, but I will learn from it. I promise.”
Nic squeezed his right hand into a fist. “Hey.” He looked at Gavin. “I think Alonzo is a giant asshole, but making Gaines work with him is a good idea. I’m here. I won’t speak for Bex, but I’m here. And I promise you we can make this work, and we can make it even more secure than Nocht.”
If anything, Brigid thought the young man looked even more determined than when she’d met him.
“If you’re still in, so am I,” Bex said. “If you’re sure.”
“I’m sure.” Nic turned back to the computers. “I’ll get back to work now. When you talk to Lee, tell him we could use him back on the project if he wants.”
The paladins turned back to their digital battleground, Kit and Miguel pulling out their own laptops while Savi and Nic collaborated over one screen. Brigid turned toward the stairs and started walking out. Her job was done, and she’d be billing the hell out of Gavin Wallace when she got back to California.
“Hey, Brigid!”
She turned and saw Bex walking toward her.
“How are ya feelin’?” Brigid waited for the young woman to reach her at the top of the stairs. “Your color is better.”
“Physically? Better. The other stuff…” She shrugged.
“It takes time. Don’t be shy about seeking trauma therapy. It really does help.” She sensed there was something else the girl wanted to talk about. “How’s Nic? Other than the eyes, any permanent damage?”
“Not according to the doctors.” She looked at the ground and frowned.
“What’s on your mind?”
“Nic jumped in front of a bullet for me.” Bex looked at the heavily bandaged young man on the other side of the loft, then crossed her arms over her chest. “How am I supposed to process that?”
“You don’t process it,” Brigid said. “You accept that someone exists in the world who cares more about your safety than his own life.”
Bex looked to the side. “And then what?”
“Then you’re grateful that person exists,” Brigid said. “And that they love you in such a tangible and powerful way.”
Bex bit her lip. “Even if they don’t say it?”
Poor thing. Brigid looked at Nic, then back to Bex.
“Sometimes,” she started, “love doesn’t come to us the way we expect it. That doesn’t mean it’s not real.”
Nic kept glancing over his shoulder at Bex and Brigid, clearly unhappy that Bex was so far away from him.
Brigid smiled. “You think I dreamed of a redheaded giant with a jackhammer voice and an extensive Hawaiian shirt collection?”
Bex returned the smile. “Probably not, but I think he’s pretty great.”
“Aye, he’s the best man in the world. Even if he is Welsh and a vampire.” She nodded toward Nic. “He wants you back. You’re making him nervous being so far away.”
She glanced at Nic, and the corner of her mouth turned up. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. Put him out of his misery soon, will ya? Even if he has trouble saying the words, I think you know how he feels. He just needs to hear it from you.”
“Yeah.” Bex loosened her arms and her tense stance. “Thanks for everything. Thanks for finding us.”
“I’m glad I could help. So you’re staying?”
“Yeah,” Bex said. “For now, yeah.”
Brigid stuck out her hand. “Best of luck. Don’t go shaking hands with strange vampires, all right?”
“Does that get me out of shaking hands with your husband?”
“Ha!” It felt foreign to laugh, but it was good.
It was good.
Brigid pointed at Bex. “I’m going to tell him you said that.”
“Good.” Bex’s eyes were a little bit lighter. “See you around, Brigid.”
Brigid gave her a small salute. “See ya round.”
They took the freeway to Baton Rouge, then headed north into rural Louisiana and Arkansas to camp in some beautiful, untouched places where no one could reach them. They visited caves that Carwyn had been itching to explore. They played in mountain streams and relaxed under moonlit swimming holes that teemed with life. Brigid lit numerous campfires that didn’t burn out of control.
The solitude fed Brigid’s soul, so by the time they returned to Oklahoma City to visit Lee Whitehorn and give him an update, she was feeling rested, easy, and didn’t want to snap anyone’s neck. She also had a much clearer memory of the night the farmhouse burned.
“Carwyn?”
“Hmm?” He glanced across the cab of their camping van. “No, you can’t drive. I just managed to fix the instrument panel from the last time.”
“I don’t want to drive.” They were only an hour outside Oklahoma City. Could she really break their van in an hour’s time?
Probably.
“Do you know what ‘the blood of Temur’ means?”
Carwyn frowned. “In what context?”
“Zasha Sokholov shouting it at Tenzin, I think.”
“I don’t know, love. Giovanni might.”
“It’s probably not important.”
The frown didn’t leave his face. “We live in a world of long memory, Brigid, and Tenzin has made more than her share of enemies.”
“I know.” She turned her eyes back to the road. “Not our concern.”
“Not our concern.” He pursed his lips. “Zasha Sokholov, on the other hand…”
“Yes.”
“That vampire is obsessed with you.”
“Obsessed seems like a strong word.”
“I don’t think it is.”
She looked at him. “I don’t know why they would be.”
“Don’t you?” He glanced at her. “There aren’t many of your kind, but somehow this vampire feels a tie to you. I want to know why.”
“We’ll be on the lookout,” Brigid said. “That’s all we can do right now. I have no desire to entangle myself with the Sokholovs any more than we already have.”
“Like I said, darlin’ girl. We live in a world of long memories.” He reached over and took her hand. “I have a feeling we’ll see Zasha again.”
Oklahoma City
“So it’s over?” Lee sat in his kitchen again, still looking as uncomfortable as the first time they’d met. “I can tell my elder it’s over?”
“The threat from Chance is over. Marie-Hélène’s people examined Chance’s computers and found the pictures she’d taken of you,” Brigid said. “They’re all destroyed; it appears she was the one blackmailing you.”
Carwyn added, “The people she was directly working with have been eliminated, but their bosses are still active in Europe. However, we don’t think they have any interest in you or your family.”
Lee shook his head. “I never would have thought…” He stared at the table. “I guess you never really know people.”
“She fooled everyone,” Brigid said. “Even the humans and vampires closest to her. It’s no reflection on you. If it’s any consolation, I don’t think she ever expected things to get so out of control. She pushed herself into a corner by teaming up with the Ankers. They used her like she used you.”
“It doesn’t make me feel any better, but I guess I feel a little sorry for her.” He glanced up. “Thanks for letting me know. I’m glad it’s over.”
“How are you?” Brigid asked. “How are ya feeling now?”
The lines of worry on the man’s face had only grown deeper, and Brigid could see silver along the edge of his hairline. This ordeal had aged Lee Whitehorn faster than Brigid would have expected, and she could see he was still recovering from the loss of control.
“I’m dealing with it,” Lee said. “Can’t say I’m real happy with work. After the initial relief of not working with any vampires, it’s pretty damn boring. Being back here?” He shrugged. “It’s fine, but I left for a reason, you know? Wanted to strike out on my own if that makes sense.”
Carwyn was quick to say, “Of course that makes sense.”
Brigid could tell he was an independent person; it probably irritated him to feel like he was being watched over all the time. There were still guards outside his house, and she could feel the amnis surrounding them.
“I can tell you the crew at Paladin would love to have you back,” Carwyn added. “Nic said so. They have a lot of work to do.”
Lee shook his head. “I don’t want to go back to New Orleans. Not ever. No offense to Nic or anyone on that team, but it’s not for me. I want…” He huffed. “I want something new, but I have no idea what.” He smiled a little. “Not your problem. I’ll figure it out. I appreciate the in-person visit.”
An idea struck Brigid, and she probably should have asked Carwyn first, but she went with her gut. “Have you ever been to California?”
Lee looked up. “No. What… I mean, why do you ask? I’m familiar with Silicon Valley, obviously, but I don’t know much about the place otherwise.”
Carwyn jumped in, picking up her cue immediately. “Do you like forests, Lee? Isolated houses in the woods where there’s not much nightlife but there are very adorable bear cubs you’re not allowed to play with?”
Brigid looked at him. “Don’t bring up the bears.”
“I’m just letting him know the general atmosphere.” Carwyn looked back at Lee. “It’s quiet, there’s solitude, and you could buy whatever equipment you wanted.”
Lee was still confused. “Do you have a software company or something?”
“Jaysus no,” Brigid said. “But the work we do… It’s recently come to my attention that every device we have, every time we make a call or do a search on a tablet, that can all be traced, can’t it?”
“On a mobile device, even one running Nocht, which is pretty secure, sure. A determined hacker could get into your phone.”
“But we need to find information,” she said. “We need to be able to search government databases, find property ownership, look through court records, things like that.”
“Are you saying you need a tech guy to hack into private and government servers?”
Carwyn pursed his lips. “Hacked is a complicated word. Think of yourself as an information-retrieval specialist.”
Brigid added, “For the good guys.”
“And” —Lee looked between them— “you’re the good guys?”
“Obviously.”
“Lee, I’ll be honest. We have no idea how most of the computer world works,” Carwyn said. “When we need to look something up, we mostly use the voice assistance on our phones.”
“Oh my God.” Lee looked horrified. “You know that can all be traced, right?”
“I don’t know what tracing our phones would mean or how one would go about doing it,” Carwyn said. “I’m a thousand years old.”
“And I was shite in school,” Brigid said. “I used to be computer literate, but that was about ten years ago.”
Lee was watching them with wide eyes. “What do you guys actually do?”
Brigid said, “We help people.”
Carwyn leaned forward on the table. “Brigid and I don’t owe our allegiance to anyone but ourselves, so when humans or vampires need help, we do our best.”
Lee’s eyes jumped between Carwyn and Brigid. “So you used to be a priest.” He pointed to Carwyn.
“Yes.” He nodded toward Brigid. “And she has an overdeveloped sense of justice and a hatred for bullies.”
Lee nodded. “I can respect that.”
“What do you say?” Brigid asked him. “Big trees, lots of fog, and not many vampires.”
Carwyn whispered, “And fat, adorable bear cubs.”
She didn’t say a word, but she smacked her husband’s thigh with the back of her hand.
Lee sat back in his chair and the corner of his mouth turned up. “Yeah.” He nodded a little bit. “I might be willing to give that a try.”
“Excellent.” Brigid smiled. “When can you start?”
Still hungry for the Elemental Universe?
Catch up with Ben and Tenzin in their all-new story, Pearl Sky, coming December 2022.
And return for Brigid and Carwyn’s next adventure in Bishop’s Flight, an all-new Elemental Covenant novel coming summer of 2023.
Acknowledgments
Every time I do this I think: I don’t know how I can keep thanking the same people over and over again. Then I think, I’d be kind of a cruddy person NOT to thank them, so I better figure out how to do it.
I’m eternally grateful to my readers who make all this worth the time, mental stress, and effort. Seeing you at signings, interacting with you online, and seeing your lovely notes and emails is extraordinarily inspiring and has really gotten me through more than one hard day.
I’m grateful to my sister who acts as my assistant, sounding board, and often the more responsible adult in the room. At least, that’s what I tell myself when we decide that working some afternoons just isn’t a good use of our time and we really need to watch Ted Lasso again for our mental health.
Thanks, Ted Lasso.
And thanks to all the regular crew that make the books happen. Thanks to Bee Whelan and Amy Cissell, who make my stories better. Thanks to Damonza who gives me gorgeous covers. Thanks to Anne and Linda at Victory Editing who make sure I don’t embarrass my English degree. And thanks to everyone at Dystel, Goderich, and Burrell, and all those at Valentine PR who get my work out to the world.
And really, thanks, Ted Lasso.
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What happens when a human raised by vampires teams up with an ancient vampire of impossible power, zero social skills, and an endless fascination with bright, shiny things?
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Prequel novellas:
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Elemental Covenant
Who says you can't entertain yourself for eternity? Carwyn and Brigid are two elemental vampires solving mysteries and searching for meaning in the endless stretch of immortality they’ve been given.
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The Elemental Mysteries
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