Blue-Blooded Vamp (23 page)

“Where’s she going?” My voice was breathless and high from fear.

“The Christians built in skylights and airshafts during construction. Many have been closed or built over from above. She’s checking to see if this one is still open.”

A piecing whistle reached us from somewhere above. Then thin, blue light filtered down. The rush of air that accompanied the light smelled a lot like freedom.

I
leaned against the crumbling stone wall. Sweat and dirt coated every inch of my skin. Relief at losing our pursuers warred with resentment in my gut. I didn’t want to owe Tristan a debt for saving my ass. Especially when my plan to blackmail him into helping us had crashed and burned so spectacularly.

“That was way too close,” the female vampire said.

“Needlessly so,” Tristan snapped. He rounded on me. “I thought I told you to leave Rome.”

I raised my chin. “I am not yours to command.”

“Well someone needs to. What the hell were you thinking?”

I frowned. “With which part, exactly?”

Giguhl snorted.

“Your teammates filled me in on your ludicrous plan.”

I crossed my arms defensively. “At least I had a fucking plan. Unlike some people who are ready to surrender before the real battle’s even begun.”

“Your sarcasm is both unwarranted and unnecessary.”

“Your existence is unnecessary,” I shot back.

“Ouch,” the vampire chick said. “Can we put aside family dysfunction hour for a few minutes so we can formulate a plan to get very far away from here?”

I sucked at my teeth, daydreaming about telling both of them to go fuck themselves. But I knew that was only my battered ego talking. Plus, she was right; our hideout was not safe enough.

We’d taken refuge in a farmhouse a couple of miles from the shaft we’d exited. The stone was blackened and crumbling from years of exposure to the elements. The roof, such as it was, had gaping holes that exposed the clear night sky. The first pale streaks of dawn already decorated the horizon.

Tristan nodded toward the vampire and faery, who’d come through the airshaft a couple of moments earlier. I noted that all of Tristan’s people wore small golden pins bearing his sword and chalice symbol.

“Now that Horus and Calyx have returned, we need to move to the safe house up north.”

“Excuse me?” I interrupted. “But how in the hell are we going to defeat him if we leave Rome?”

Tristan tilted his head. “Your ignorance is breathtaking. The trick with Cain is to stay a step ahead. If we’re in Rome, we’ll be sitting ducks.”

My eyes flared and my fists clenched.

“Sabina…,” Adam began, no doubt trying to intercept an outburst. I held up a hand to cut him off. I drew in a long, slow breath through my nose. Despite my father’s crappy personality, I needed him if I was going to defeat Cain.

“Look, I’m sorry, but I’ve had a really shitty night,” I said. “But I appreciate you helping us.”

Tristan’s eyes narrowed, like he expected a trick.

“Really. But how did you guys manage to find me?”

Tristan’s gaze swiveled to Adam. The mancy held up his cell phone. “A little mortal magic.”

I frowned. “What?”

He smirked. “Your phone had a GPS tracker.”

I remembered then that Cain had my cell phone in his pocket the entire time. “Well, thank the gods for small favors.”

“Speaking of,” Tristan said, “before we continue, I need all of your cell phones and other means of communication.”

“Why?” I asked, making no effort to hide the suspicion in my tone.

“Because from this moment on, we’re going on blackout. We can’t risk Cain tracking our devices like we tracked yours. Plus, I need to be sure none of you are going to communicate with anyone who might be tortured to betray our location.”

His logic, annoyingly, made total sense. Besides, if we needed to talk to anyone back in the States, Adam could just flash there. Since Cain still had my cell, I looked to Adam. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and passed it to Tristan.

“Thank you for understanding,” Tristan said. He dropped the phone to the ground and smashed it to tiny pieces with his boots.

“So what’s the plan, people?” Giguhl asked.

Tristan shot the demon an annoyed look, like Giguhl had overstepped. He answered, but when he did, he spoke to me as if I’d asked instead of my minion. “First, we need to get out of Rome. We have a farm near Tuscany. Between me and Lazarus”—he nodded at Adam—“we should be able to flash all of us there.”

“How far is it?” I asked.

“Far enough,” he evaded. “If we head out now, we can reach it before sunrise.”

“Does this mean you’ve changed you mind about working together?” I said.

Tristan’s mouth hardened into a thin line. “No. It means I can’t trust you to leave Rome on your own, so I’m taking you away myself.”

I suddenly understood why so many people bitched about having parents. All my life, I’d longed for a benevolent parental figure to nurture and support me. But if my experience with Tristan so far was a taste of what being parented was like, I decided being an orphan was the way to go.

I opened my mouth to tell Tristan I had no intention of allowing him to hide me away while he got to have all the fun, but Adam elbowed me. Shooting him a glare, I noticed Giguhl was making cease-and-desist gestures, too. Traitors.

“I believe your friends are trying to hint that you should hold your tongue. Smart of them,” Tristan said, his tone dry. “I’m well acquainted with the infamous Kane temper and I assure you it will do little to sway me.”

I crossed my arms and glared at my father. Why the hell had I wanted to work with him again? Oh, right. I didn’t have a choice. But I suppose he was right. Blowing up at him now might convince him to change his mind and leave us there. Besides, I’d have plenty of time to convince him to work with us once we were in a safer place.

I forced my shoulders to relax and cranked my lips up into what I hoped was a genuine smile. Judging from Tristan’s dubious expression, I failed. Still, I forged ahead. “Lead the way,
Dad
.”

W
hen Tristan had said we were going to a farm, I expected something with wide-open fields and possibly a red barn. A few cows, maybe a tractor—that kind of thing. Instead, Tristan’s “farm” was really a gorgeous villa set among Tuscany’s rolling hills. The place looked like something from a sweeping period piece where the dashing Italian count sweeps his virgin bride away for a deflowering.

We materialized at the base of a hill. The villa sat above us like a genteel reminder of an era gone by. On our way up, we passed a small building on the right. From my brief glimpse, it seemed to be some sort of family chapel, judging from the small gold cross over the doorway, which was so low I’d have to duck to enter. Across the path from this squat building was a small rose garden. I’d have been charmed if I wasn’t so on edge.

Tristan and the vampire whose name I hadn’t gotten yet led the way. My senses were on high alert for signs of trouble. Only instead of finding any, they were overcome by the countryside’s deafening silence.

Beside me, Giguhl inhaled deeply. “The air smells weird.”

“You’ve been in the city too long,” Adam said. “What you’re smelling is fresh air.”

Giguhl’s nose wrinkled. “No, it’s not that.” He sniffed again. “I think it’s cow shit.”

Adam laughed. “Like I said, fresh country air.”

“Are you coming?” Tristan snapped from farther up the hill. Obviously he wasn’t as impressed by the idyllic setting. Part of me was starting to wonder if Tristan Graecus was ever impressed by anything.

At the top of the hill, we reached a gravel courtyard. Buildings surrounded the area—the manor house, a small brick structure filled with chairs and tables for gatherings, and another medium-sized building that I couldn’t identify without further investigation. Beyond the building, black shapes set against the near-dawn sky implied an orchard or copse of trees just beyond.

“Now for the introductions.” Tristan started at the far end of the line. “Horus and Calyx are our weapons experts.”

The male, Horus, was as wide as he was tall. The hilt of his sword jutted out from behind his dark red ponytail. Both the weapon and the shade of hair told me he was probably a few hundred years old. As for the fae, she was… surprising. Most female faeries were petite. She was certainly shorter than me, but her finely muscled frame made her appear taller. A quiver of arrows was strung to her back and she leaned against a longbow. They both nodded curt greetings.

Next, Tristan turned to the female vampire, who, judging from what I’d seen of her interaction with my father, was his right hand. Once again, I was struck by her beauty—the ivory skin and clear blue eyes seemed so out of place among this team of warriors. “And this is our scholar. If you need to know about dark races history, Nyx is your gal.”

I froze.

“Wait,” Adam said. “Nyx?” He shot me a sidelong glance.

The female nodded and smiled. “Don’t wear it out,” she said with a wink.

“Oh shit,” Giguhl breathed.

Tristan frowned. “Is something wrong?”

My mouth worked for a moment as I struggled to wrap my mind around the fact that the vampire Asclepius wanted me to kill worked with my father. But Adam put his arm around me and squeezed, a warning to keep quiet. “Oh, it’s nothing. It’s just an unusual name.”

Nyx laughed. “It’s a nickname. My real name is pretty pretentious, so I prefer Nyx.”

I opened my mouth to ask her real name, but Giguhl piped up. “Hey, Sabina, isn’t she the—”

“Thank you all,” Adam said louder than necessary to cover Giguhl’s potential blunder, “for your help tonight.”

The mancy elbowed me in the ribs because I was openly gawking at Nyx. “Oh, um, yes. Thanks.”

“Sun’s coming,” Tristan said. “We should all turn in. Nyx, can you show Sabina and her friends to their rooms?”

The vampire nodded. “This way, Miss Graecus.”

“She’s a Kane,” Tristan said.

Her cheeks heated. “Forgive me. Of course. Miss Kane.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “You can just call me Sabina.” I pointed to the mancy and the demon. “Adam and Giguhl,” I said, finally introducing them since Tristan had rudely left them out of the intros.

She smiled at the guys. “Yeah, we met earlier.”

I’d totally forgotten that Adam and Giguhl had somehow found Tristan and his team to come help me. I definitely needed to get that story from Adam once we were alone.

Nyx shook hands with each male anyway. I noticed she didn’t hesitate or flinch when shaking Giguhl’s claw. The fact that she treated Giguhl with the same respect she showed Adam and me was impressive. Classy move.

“If you’ll follow me?”

I glanced at Tristan, who’d stepped away to speak with Horus and Calyx. Judging by their alert postures, they were talking about something important. That worked for me. I wasn’t looking for some sort of warm farewell. Still, it rankled that he just handed us off to his underling and expected we’d do as we were told.

As we followed Nyx, I watched her chat amicably with Giguhl. Why in the hell couldn’t Asclepius have sent me to kill anyone else but someone on Tristan’s team? Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t have too many moral qualms about killing her. I didn’t want to kill her, but I knew going into this mission I might have to make tough choices. And right then, Nyx was standing in the way of being clear and free of Asclepius’s debt.

No, it was more a strategic quandary. I was pretty sure making Asclepius happy would also screw up my plans to convince Tristan to let us help him catch Cain.

Maybe if I made it look like an accident, I thought. But wait, she had that stupid vest that made her immune to magical and mundane weapons. So I also had to figure out how to get her out of it—

“Sabina?” Nyx’s voice cut into my thoughts. I jerked my head up to look at her.

“Huh?”

“Everything okay?” She smiled genuinely, like she actually cared.

No
.
You’re fucking up my plans, lady
.

I cleared my throat and forced a smile. “Peachy.”

Nyx took us the opposite direction from the villa and toward the orchard. As we walked, she chattered about the history of the estate. “This was originally Etruscan land. In fact, there’s a tomb in the villa’s basement.”