Crimson Dawn (10 page)

Intending to ask her to dance with me, I turned towards Irulan, but Priest pushed past her and hauled me onto the dance floor by an arm. Any other time, I wouldn't have allowed any degree of familiarity with Priest, but his was a body that knew how to move with the music, so I let it ride.

We shoved our way to the center of the crowded floor, pressed tightly against each other by the sea of bodies gyrating around us and began dancing. Priest wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me closer, as if we could get any. "I knew I was right about you in that elevator earlier," he said as he ground his hardness against me and opened the floodgate on his desire. I inhaled sharply as it struck me.

As we moved, I threw my arms around his neck. "Why do you have to go and mess everything up by opening your mouth, Jacob?"

I could ignore the blood difference, I honestly could, but the fact that he was a total tool and had no control over what flew out of his mouth was the only reason I hadn't slept with him before. Deadborns were supposed to be insatiable when it came to sex and had legendary staying power. I'd always wanted to see for myself but never allowed myself to get that close to one.

Priest was the only Deadborn I had regular contact with outside of those sired by my family, making him the obvious candidate by default. I've long since come to my senses and realized that some things just weren't worth the aggravation, and sex with Priest was one of them. I'd never admit to Priest that I once considered him a candidate. It’d go straight to his head.

Priest moved in to run his lips down the side of my neck as he talked. "Sorry for stating the obvious, Trumaine. The way you were all over that poor sap outside I'm surprised your carpet munching buddy and I didn't come out the door to find you and him doing anything more than you were."

I hissed and tried to pull away from him, but he held on tightly to my waist. "Don't talk about Irulan like that, Priest. Or do you want me to set her loose on you again?"

His body stiffened, but he didn't let go. He looked around the dance floor and realized that many of the lycanthropes were in various states of undress. A mocking grin spread across his face. "Looks as if they’ve got the right idea, Trumaine.” Just like that, he was kissing me. There was nothing gentle about his assault. His fangs scored my lips, drawing blood and giving the unwanted kiss more heat than I'd care to admit. I came to my senses and pulled away from him, bumping into people as I worked my way out of the crowd.

When I reached the bar, Irulan took in the swollen and bruised condition of my lips with a hurt look on her face. "It figures." She began fumbling in her pocketbook, obviously trying to avoid looking me in the face. "Look, Val, you and Jacob finish up what you were doing. I'm going to head back to the hotel."

My stomach clenched at the thought of her leaving while actually believing I was into Priest, and when Priest came up behind me, wrapped his arms around my waist, and tried to nuzzle my neck, things only got worse. I twisted out of his hold, and shoved him away from me as fast as I could, but not fast enough. When I turned back, she was gone. "Damn it! Don’t you ever do that again, Priest!" I yelled, socking him in the stomach as I turned to scan the club for Irulan.

Priest chuckled and pointed towards the door, "She went out that way."

Some days it just didn't pay to get out of bed. After the day I'd had, the cuddle bunny, Mr. M., looked mighty sweet. I should have hidden out at his house and stayed in bed the entire day. I don't think he would have made any objections.

I rushed out the door and came to a dead halt. I had no idea where they parked the car. Priest came plowing into my back, and I elbowed him in the stomach. "I told you, Priest, I'm not mood for your shit tonight. You've caused enough trouble already.” I scented the air to find Irulan's trail and ran in that direction. She was leaning up against the SUV, hands folded over her chest and eyes focused on something behind me when I found her.

I looked back to find Priest dead on my heels swinging a set of car keys on one finger. Irulan snatched the keys, "This will be just fine thank you. I can find my way back to the hotel on my own.” She unlocked the door and shook her head at the two of us, "No need to cut your night short because of me, by all means go enjoy yourselves."

I don't know why those words stung, but they did. It was vital for her to know the truth. I reached past her and nudged the car door closed, "You're not walking out on me like this, Irulan, you can't drive upset."

Irulan rounded on me, her eyes clouding over becoming a darker shade with her anger. "Walk out on you? Are you serious?” She shoved me away from her, and then jerked me back to get in my face and whisper in my ear, "Keep on talking like that, Valeria. If you're not careful, someone's going to think there's something going on between us.” I paled at her words and took a step back. Her anger became more potent, and she shoved me back into Priest. "See. That’s what I thought. Why did you even follow me out here?!” She laid both hands on my chest and pushed me again but this time I didn't have anywhere to go.

"Fuck, Val," she cried, "Do you think it’s easy for me to watch you screw anything that moves?" She threw her hands in the air and laughed. "At least any other time you don't throw it in my face.”

Her eyes were radiating so much power by now that they were glowing like miniature twin suns. Even with my films lowered, I couldn't look directly at her, so I talked with my head facing the ground.

"If you'd give me a chance to explain, you'd know that it's not like that between Priest and me, Irulan."

I stomped on Priest's foot, so he'd get the hint, "Oh yeah, sure, what she said."

I stomped his foot again, cringing at his stupidity. Like that half-assed whatever was going to help anything.

And just as I thought, Irulan countered, "The kiss you laid on her while you two were dancing looked like something to me, Jacob."

Priest opened his mouth, but I kicked his shin. I didn’t need anything else to fly out of his mouth and make things worse. "That was his fault, Irulan. He kissed me on purpose while we were sandwiched in the middle of a group of Lycanthropes hyped up on the full moon. I'm a Vampire for crap sake. How else was I supposed to react?"

Irulan's anger wasn't swayed one iota. Actually, I think her eyes began to burn even brighter. "What about the lucky fellow you were practically riding when we found you out front? Explain that. No Lycanthropes to blame that one on."

I'll be damned if she weren't right. So what if my emotions felt as though they were in a blender, sitting on top of a washer during the spin cycle? I pushed past Irulan and banged my head against the hood of the SUV. I needed to get a grip. This was no way for me to be acting, especially on a case.

If this was how I was going to be until I finally took Tristan down, I didn't think I was going to make it. Hell, in the shape I was in, I was more likely to end up staked and baked myself.

"You're right, Irulan,” I quietly admitted. "You're right, and I'm sorry, there is no excuse for my behavior.” I let my films retract and slowly brought my head up to look her in the eyes, hoping she could see the sincerity of my words. "I can only blame it on this case. Yesterday my life was normal, everything was going the way it's supposed to.” I held my hands up and looked at them as if they could talk for me, "So much has happened today I just needed to let some of the emotions out."

My eyes watered blood tears from staring directly into the blinding light of Irulan's own eyes without my films, but I refused to lower them. Irulan relented first, her emotions slowly dampening the light within until I could look at her without experiencing pain, but there was already some damage. It would be morning before my eyes had healed enough for me to lower my films again. I was light blind for the remainder of the night, meaning that unless my surroundings were completely dark, I wouldn't be able to see shit clearly. Everything had become blurry.

Priest was, surprisingly, the one to come to my defense. In spite of his obvious unease around Irulan, he pushed past her, took my hand, and walked me to the SUV, so I could sit down. He then rounded on Irulan. "For someone that's been around Vampires as much as Trumaine says you have, you don't know much about us, do you?” He closed the door. “I could tell the moment we found her on top of that other vamp that she was running on pure emotion. Something big happened today."

I heard footsteps leading away from me, so I assumed he moved closer to Irulan. "And it's not just the fact that we're hunting her ex. She's a better Sentinel than that. Whatever happened, it went down since we got here, and she's not handling it at all.” His voice dropped a level as he reverted to the Priest I knew, "Vampire 101, great lezzy Sidhe. You need a refresher course.”

All I heard was silence for a few minutes then both car doors opened as they got in with me. I smelled the rose scent that surrounded Irulan drifting from the back seat. Priest must have taken point behind the wheel. I think that ride back to the hotel may have been the longest twenty minutes I ever spent in a vehicle. The uncomfortable stillness made it seem like the ride from Charlotte all over again. Once we were back, there was no reason for me not to tell them what had happened, only my unease at replaying the scene.

I swallowed hard and started talking before I lost the nerve. "I went to the CMS as planned and had an interesting conversation with the C.O. who happens to be Djin, named Descantes.” I heard the soft swish of silk against leather telling me that Irulan was leaning up in her seat facing me. "I also talked with the two survivors." My aura spiked in response to the pictures that were running through my mind. "Make that one survivor. I had the unfortunate distinction of watching one Amanda Jones burned alive by what Descantes called Soul Fire."

"That's impossible, Valeria, Soul Fire is..." began Irulan but I cut her off.

I'd had this conversation already. "Elemental territory for the most part, although legend says that ancient vamps also possessed the ability. That's already been established and debated, but Descantes firmly believes that's what it was." Sighing, I let my head fall forward into my hands. "I know he was wrong, but he wouldn't even consider what I believe is a valid explanation.” I was frustrated beyond belief. So much had gone wrong today and, the part that truly stung was, even if I had done things differently, I couldn't have changed the outcome.

"It was Tristan, not some mystical Elemental that no one has seen in at least a millennium." I opened my eyes to see their reactions, but everything was so blurry I couldn't even make out their faces. "I don't know how he got past the wards in that hospital room, but he did. He used the sire's link to kill not only a fellow Sentinel, but a nurse as well."

My damaged eyes burned against the faint light coming through the tinted windows, but I kept going, ignoring the discomfort. "I know how it sounds, but I saw his eyes just as plain as day, staring at me from that woman's face before he killed her."

I felt drained but OK. Once I got everything out, I felt more like myself than I had all day. Emotional baggage was a serious no-no for Vampires. Strong emotions rode us and influenced our behavior and reactions until we found a way to release them. "There's no doubt in my mind now. Tristan is definitely in Charleston. The link wouldn't have been as strong as it was otherwise.”

The newspaper articles and magazine covers questioning the population’s safety didn’t even to begin to describe the threat that Tristan had become. The display of power I'd witnessed in that hospital unit was straight out of Extras fairy tales or nightmares. If I didn't realize before how urgent the situation was, or how much danger I was in by accepting this mark, I did now.

Irulan's insistence that I refuse the case in the first place and Descantes doubt that I could carry through with the kill both served to strengthen my resolve to see this hunt to the end.

Priest accepted my explanation without any doubt. When I was done, I saw the shadowy outline of his head nod. "Get some rest, Trumaine, take a pint from your girlfriend, and let your eyes heal. Since I can't go out until the sun has completely set, it's up to you two to talk to the possible informant we dug up.”

I felt a twinge of guilt over the way I treated him after the kiss. In his own way, he was trying to help, and I gave him hell for his troubles. He'd even defended me against Irulan knowing she could control him as easily as she breathed. As I said before, overall, he was a decent guy, just a prick to me - most of the time.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Thankfully, the rest of the night went off without any more surprises. Irulan was silent when we got to our room, which didn't bother me one bit. Just today, I had done enough soul searching to last me a few months. Whatever was going on with Irulan was one giant tearjerker waiting to happen and I wanted to avoid it as long as I could.