Blue-Blooded Vamp (20 page)

“I don’t know what to tell you, Adherent,” Erron said finally. “Maybe my decision isn’t the brave one. But I’d rather be alive and a coward than a noble corpse.”

Adam huffed out a breath. “Well, that’s the difference between you and me, Recreant. You think you’re free because you care about no one. But to me that’s its own kind of prison. You want to go? Go. We appreciate your help and wish you the best, but we don’t have time for long good-byes.”

Erron held Adam’s gaze. A muscle worked in his jaw, like he was considering whether to take the bait. But in the end, Erron stayed true to his convictions. “For what it’s worth, I really hope you succeed. But if you don’t, it’s been an honor knowing all of you.”

“Wait, you’re just going to leave?” Alexis asked. “Like now?”

He nodded. “No sense drawing it out.” He turned to Giguhl and held out his hand. “It’s been nice knowing you.”

Giguhl shook back but scowled the entire time.

Erron didn’t offer his hand to Adam or me. Smart of him.

He turned to Alexis instead. “I’d be happy to transport you back to Los Angeles, if you want to cut out.”

Alexis crossed her arms and shot the mage a superior look. “I’m with Sabina. Surrender isn’t an option.”

I shot her a grateful smile. Alexis might be prickly but she was no coward.

“I wish you luck, then,” Erron said. “You’re sure as hell going to need it.”

With that, Erron gathered his powers and disappeared.

I blew out a breath and looked at Adam. “Well, that sucked.”

“Forget him,” Alexis said. “We’ll be fine without him.”

I nodded absently. It’s not that I didn’t understand Erron’s point of view. He’d tangled with Cain before. More than anyone, he knew what we were up against. And it’s not like he hadn’t made his misgivings known from the beginning. I’d asked him to introduce us to his contact so we could find Abel. He’d fulfilled that promise when he took us to Dicky’s.

I supposed I should have been grateful he’d stuck around as long as he had. And on some level, I understood how getting injured the night before would spook a being who didn’t have the ability to heal himself. Instead, I felt disappointed and a little panicked. Now we’d be down one powerful mage, and we needed all the firepower we could get. But I didn’t want Erron to hang around if he wasn’t committed.

“Good riddance,” Adam said.

I was surprised by his attitude, but I probably shouldn’t have been. Adam was loyal to the Hekate Council, and Erron flaunted his rebellious Recreant status at every opportunity. We should have seen Erron’s choice coming from the night we asked him for help.

“All right,” Alexis said, “what’s our play?”

“Erron’s decision to leave changes nothing. We’ll leave Giguhl here. That way I can summon him to me if we’re right and this is a trap.”

“Works for me,” Giguhl said, and shrugged.

Adam nodded. “I’m going to call Rhea before we head out and let her know if she doesn’t hear from us in two hours to circle the wagons.”

“You think Cain will go after her anyway?”

“At this point, it’s safest to assume no one is safe.”

“Good point. Okay, let’s do this.” I rose to go grab the bag of weapons and amulets I’d packed the night before. In the other room, I heard chairs scrape and voices discuss logistics.

I checked my gun and stuck it into my rear waistband. The weight felt comforting, like slipping on a perfectly-broken-in pair of jeans.

I smelled Adam’s sandalwood scent before he grabbed me. Before I knew what was happening, his lips found mine. The intensity of his kiss surprised me. But I surrendered to it, savoring the feel and taste of him. When he finally pulled back, I blinked a few times. “Wow, what was that for?”

He touched his forehead to mine and smiled. “For luck.”

I held his gaze for a few moments. We both knew that kiss wasn’t about luck. It was a just-in-case kiss. The kind you share with someone you love when you’re not sure if it’s the last one. I cupped his cheek with my palm and whispered, “For luck.”

It just sounded so much better than good-bye.

S
ituated just east of the Tiber River, the Piazza del Popolo was a large oval, and the obelisk Persephone had mentioned stood in the center like a giant phallus. Hundreds of gyrating bodies danced around the monument like pagan worshippers. And, like something out of a Fellini hallucination, every damned one of them wore some sort of creepy mask.

Stag horns and curling tongues, long beaks, and evil eyes. Wine flowed, limbs gyrated, pelvises ground together. Rome’s mortals, it seemed, were making the most of their last two weeks before the period of masochistic denial they called Lent.

The four of us stood on the perimeter of the plaza, watching the Technicolor swirl.

“Giguhl’s going to be pissed he missed this,” Adam observed.

“Oh gods,” Alexis said. “Please tell me we don’t have to wear those ridiculous things, too.”

I shrugged. “When in Rome, right?” Don’t get me wrong—I wasn’t a big fan of dress-up, either. But the ano
nymity would come in handy if this all ended in gunplay or magical fireworks.

Adam flagged down a passing guy carrying a tall staff with several masks attached. He grabbed three and tossed the guy some euros. Unlike the animal-themed ones that caught my eye among the crowd, these were simpler white masks that left our mouths exposed. A few sequins and wilted feathers added splashes of color. We all dutifully donned our disguises and set off into the crowd.

“Okay,” I said, “it’s a quarter till nine. Let’s break off and meet at the obelisk on the hour.” When we’d formed this plan earlier, we’d decided that Alexis would go with me. If an attack happened, Adam could flash himself out, but Alexis didn’t have magic in her arsenal and I did. I couldn’t flash us to safety since my Chthonic magic always took me to the Liminal when I tried initiating interspatial travel, but I could immolate an attacker at twenty paces.

Adam took off to the left. The mancy shot me a weighted parting glance and allowed the crowd to swallow him.

“Cain will know I’d want to be here early,” I said. “Stay alert.”

Alexis shot me a wry smile. The effect was somewhat sinister combined with the mask. “Yes, ma’am.”

The reminder was unnecessary and I knew it. Before Alexis had become Tanith’s personal guard, she’d been an assassin just like me. She knew the drill.

I rolled my eyes at her sarcasm and nudged her with my hand. “Let’s go, tough chick.”

Now that we were in the thick of the crowd, I realized that my prediction of a security nightmare had been right on the nose. In addition to the disguises preventing us from recognizing enemies, it was difficult to hear anything. Besides the cacophony of cheering, a wall of sound blasted
the area from the rock band on the stage in front of Rome’s northern gate next to the piazza.

Working through the crowd was its own challenge. Some areas were little more than mosh pits where we had to dodge flying elbows and body slams. Alexis seemed to enjoy this part the most since it allowed her to punch mortals with abandon. I had to admit I didn’t hate that part, either.

My knuckles stung from jabbing a big dude in his concrete jaw, but otherwise we got through the perimeter check without incident. Soon we switched direction toward the obelisk. About the same time, the band finished their set—thank the gods—and an emcee jumped onstage to rattle off some sort of announcement. He spoke in rapid Italian, naturally, so I wasn’t sure what he was saying, but a ripple of excitement went through the crowd.

I spotted Adam standing next to one of the four stone lion fountains at the base of the obelisk. He waved to make sure I saw him. I nodded and turned toward Alexis, who had been bringing up the rear.

“There’s Ad—” My words were swallowed by a sudden explosion. I ducked and covered my head. My heart pounded as I waited for the inevitable heat concussion. For the crowd to panic and stampede. Except the crowd didn’t freak. Not even when the second explosion came, a third. I looked up and let out a part-relived, part-annoyed sigh.

The sky above the piazza sizzled with fireworks. All around, spectators craned their necks as they oohed and aahed over the impressive display. I shook my head and laughed at myself. The emcee must have been announcing that the show was about to begin.

Relieved and a little embarrassed by my brittle nerves, I turned to look for Alexis. The vampire had fallen behind as
the crowd closed in to watch the show. Probably twelve beings separated us. I stood on my tiptoes and tried to flag her down. She saw me and I pointed toward the obelisk.
Adam
, I mouthed.

She nodded and started working her way toward me with an annoyed expression. I looked back over to where I’d seen Adam. He caught my gaze and raised his hands in a what’s-the-holdup? gesture. I held up a finger. “Hold your horses, mancy,” I grumbled.

I turned to check Alexis’s progress and froze. Just behind her, a redhead in a devil’s mask materialized out of the mass of people.

Panic, white hot and ice cold.

“Look out!” I shouted. Another explosion smothered my warning. “Fuck!” I shouted, and started hacking my way toward her. She’d stopped and was arguing with a woman who’d taken exception to Alexis shoving her aside. The devil was closer now, too close.

“Alexis!” I screamed.

She looked up and saw me. Her eyes narrowed into a confused expression.

Boom!

Alexis froze, her eyes wide. Her pale lips parted, emitting a thin trickle of blood.

Boom!

She swung around. A flash of metal in her hand.

Boom!

The devil and Alexis Vega both burst into flames.

“No!” I screamed. I started hacking my way through the crowd. A few spectators had noticed the pair combusting in their midst and were looking around in confusion. They clearly couldn’t decide whether it was part of the show or something they should actually panic about.

Without thinking, I took off through the crowd. Alexis, gods protect her, had taken out her killer, but I knew better than to believe he’d been working alone. I needed to find his partners and show them what Chthonic mages did to enemies. As I prowled for other foes, I bowled over several pissed-off mortals, not caring if I was creating a scene.

“Sabina!” Adam’s shout was faint, but it acted like a bucket of ice water on my fiery anger.

I slowed my pursuit. What the hell was I doing? If Cain was orchestrating this, he’d want nothing more than to separate me from my team. That’s why they’d taken out Alexis. At the same moment, I saw a flash of red—a mask with black horns—running in the opposite direction. My muscles ached to pursue, but I fought the instinct. Instead, I watched as the crowd swallowed the devil. Fighting the urge to find and kill that prey wasn’t easy. But it was necessary if I was going to win this battle.

I swiveled my body, intent on making my way back toward Adam. But when I did, I couldn’t see him. The fireworks were picking up speed now and the constant barrage of explosions set every nerve in my body on overload.

Everywhere I looked, all I saw were masks. Strangers. Potential enemies. Any one of the bodies surrounding me could be Cain. Cold sweat broke out on my back. Time to abort this mission. I needed to find Adam and get us the fuck out of there.

I took a deep, calming breath and told my galloping heart to chill. Pulling the gun from my waistband, I held it down next to my side. The gun’s heft and solidity calmed me. Centered me. I was not the prey here. I was the hunter.

I ripped off my mask to clear my vision and stalked through the crowd. Despite the noise and the confusion, I focused all my senses on seeking out my prey. Cain was
there. I could feel it in my marrow. And I needed to find him before he found Adam. Because if he did, Cain would gain the upper hand and he knew it.

I headed back toward the obelisk since that’s where I last saw Adam. On my way, I had to pass the burning embers that used to be Alexis. I sent a quick prayer to the Great Mother to accept the vampire into Irkalla. “Rest well, my friend,” I said silently. “You earned it.”

I stepped over the burned mass and continued on. The humans who’d witnessed Alexis’s death cast occasional glances at the pile, but the brief panic had dissipated. That’s the great thing about mortals. They’re so determined to keep things normal that they rationalize all sorts of crazy shit. Including, it seemed, watching a vampire explode at their feet.

“Sabina,” a voice whispered in my ear. I turned, trying to locate the source, but I was surrounded by mortals. I felt the hum of magic farther into the mass of people, but close by… nothing. No scent of dirty copper penny that would indicate a vampire, no lavender of the fae species, no mage sandalwood, or even the eau de wet dog that clung to werewolves like body odor.

“Sabina.” The whisper again. This time like a breeze against my ear. A chill ran down my spine. Dread mixed with anticipation. I forged ahead. Cain wanted me to turn and run scared into his trap. With my eyes scanning constantly, I pulled out my cell with my free hand.

“What’s wrong?” Giguhl demanded by way of greeting.