Guarding Valentina [Paladin Protection Agency 3] (Siren Publishing Classic) (18 page)

“Just tell me you have a change of clothes for afterward, Snuggles. Or are you planning on driving back naked?”

“Fuck! Val told you her nickname for me? I’m going to kill her. Well, first we’re going to save her ass, and then I’m going to kill her! And no, I didn’t think to bring a change of clothes. Double fuck!”

“It’s a good thing you’ve got Jazz around to keep you organized,” Aedan joked as he shook his head at Jase’s forgetfulness.

“Yeah, it is.” Jase slid his gaze off the road to glance at Aedan. “And given the way you reacted to Val’s disappearance, I’d say she’s lucky to have you in her life, too.”

Guilt shot through Aedan’s soul, and he hung his head. “I told her I’d protect her. I promised her she’d be safe. If he’s hurt her…”

Jase swore under his breath and then said, “Then it’s her own damned fault for going off on her own when she should have trusted us to protect her. I heard that voice message he left her. He played her for a chump, and when we’re done rescuing her, you’re second in line to kick her ass, right behind me.”

“She didn’t trust me to protect her, or to protect any of you. If she had, she never would have set foot on that roof.”

Jase snorted dismissively. “Don’t kid yourself. She doesn’t trust
anyone
to do a job as well as she can. It’s one of her more charming personality traits.” He wove the SUV in and out of traffic, ignoring the radio that was now squawking orders for Jase to slow down and rejoin the rest of the convoy. “She doesn’t let many people get past those impressive walls of hers. You’ve seen her vulnerable and you’re still breathing, so that means she trusts you.” Jase’s grin turned sly, and he snickered softly. “And given that performance you two put on earlier today, I’d say there’s more than a little chemistry there, so stop beating yourself up. Let’s go get your girl back, and then you two can go work out your differences.”

Aedan tossed Jase a grateful half-smile, even though he knew Jase was wrong. He’d failed Val, and now she was going to pay the price for his failure. Aedan pointed to the radio and asked, “So, are we going to slow down, or are we going to do this by ourselves?”

“What do you think?” Jase asked as he hit the gas and accelerated around another corner. Not long after that he hit the brakes, one hand already reaching for his seat belt buckle. “We’re already here.”

“Here” was actually a warehouse, the windows blacked out and the facade crumbling from neglect. It was the perfect place for a creature like Christoph to hide.

“I think Sin’s going to skin your ass when he catches up!” Aedan called, already halfway out the passenger-side door, his hunting drive ramping up to full throttle.

Jase’s response was a muffled snarl, and Aedan realized his companion was already transforming back into the dangerous hybrid form he’d seen earlier.

“Move it, Snuggles! By now Christoph knows I’m here.” With that, Aedan set off at a dead run. He didn’t bother checking for traps, alarms, or locks. He simply used brute force to power his way through the doors that blocked his way. Val was somewhere inside, and every second counted.

The stench hit him first, and Aedan knew without a doubt that there were corpses stashed somewhere nearby. Christoph’s fledglings were being sloppy. Beyond the odor of death and decay, Aedan could smell beeswax, and as he prowled deeper into the warehouse, he spotted the telltale flicker of candlelight. He drew his sword and held it at the ready, well aware that his prey already knew he was there.

Taking the bull by the horns, he called out, “Christoph! You have something that belongs to me.”

Mocking laughter answered him. “She’s mine now.”

Aedan’s heart turned to ice and then shattered. He was too late. He’d failed her. Now there was only one chance left for Val. He wouldn’t fail her again. He charged into the lighted section of the warehouse and staggered as a shrieking, clawing weight dropped onto his shoulders from above. He ignored his passenger and sped to where Val lay sprawled across a moth-eaten couch, her face ashen but her chest still rising and falling with each labored breath. Only when he knew she was still alive did he reach around and grabbed hold of Ingrid. Without effort, he hauled her off of his back and threw her, still wailing, across the room.

As the fledgling’s screams of fury were cut off with a sickening thud, Christoph spoke again. “Still protective? How sweet. I was going to take her with me, but now I think I’ll leave her with you. At best you have a day or two until she succumbs to the turning and you’ll have to kill her.” Christoph’s dark laughter filled the warehouse. “I’ll have to be satisfied with that. A shame, I was looking forward to her sharing my bed for a decade or three. I’ll take my leave now. Do play nicely with Ingrid.”

A streak of snarling white fur raced past Aedan, and he knew Jase had arrived. The werewolf went straight for Ingrid, knocking her back to the ground with one clawed hand as she hissed in defiance.

Aedan could feel Christoph’s presence fading, and he knew that it was safe to leave Jase to handle the fledgling. With her sire gone, Aedan was confident the werewolf could handle her alone. He reached out and gently brushed the hair back from Val’s pale forehead. Her skin was clammy to the touch, and she was far too cold. She turned her face toward his hand, her upper lip curling back from her teeth as she growled low in her throat. He snatched his hand back a brief second before she tried to bite him, and Aedan’s hope began to fade. She was already starting to react to Christoph’s blood. He didn’t have much time.

“I’m sorry, luv.” He leaned down and brushed a kiss to her hair, careful to stay clear of her teeth. “I shouldn’t have left you alone. But I
will
make this right.” He started to stand and then paused. There was one more thing he needed to say to her. “I don’t know if you can hear me, Val, but I need to say this, just once. I love you, too.”

He put up his sword and turned to where Jase had finished dispatching Ingrid. Gore dripped from the werewolf’s claws and Ingrid’s head lay several feet from her body. Blood coated the walls and drenched Jase’s white fur, dying it an unwholesome red.

“Don’t forget the heart,” Aedan reminded him as he closed the gap between the two men and then laid his hand on Jase’s furry shoulder. “I have to go after Christoph. If I can kill him before Val dies, then she’ll recover. Take care of her, Jase. Don’t let her bite anyone, and for all our sakes, don’t let her get even a drop of blood in her mouth. That’s the only thing keeping her from a full transformation right now. Keep her alive, and I’ll finish this.”

Jase rumbled an affirmative and glanced over at Val, then back to Aedan.

“No, I’m not coming back. Tell her…Tell her I’m sorry I failed her.”

Jase growled, and Aedan turned his back on the blood-soaked beast. “There’s no time to argue, so just make sure she lives. Please, I need her to live.”

He summoned up the full measure of his powers and left the warehouse behind, passing the rest of Paladin’s team so quickly he doubted any of them ever saw him. He had to find Christoph and end this once and for all. He was Val’s last chance.

Aedan focused his thoughts on Christoph, tracking the vampire as he fled the city. He was heading almost due north, and Aedan realized that his quarry was planning on fleeing not just the city, but the country as well. The border was less than seventy-five miles away, and if Christoph transformed and flew out over the ocean, there would be no way to follow him. He could take refuge in one of the many islands that were nestled along the coastline of the Georgia Strait and vanish, and Aedan wasn’t about to let that happen. Aedan let go of everything and let instinct take over. He left his human senses and sensibilities behind and became the creature he’d been born to be. He was a hunter and a slayer of evil. The only thing he kept in his mind was the tingling itch that led him northward, a beacon that shone brightly now that it was the only thing in his awareness.

He ran faster than he’d ever gone before, covering the miles with effortless speed. As he left the city behind, the itch grew stronger, and he knew he was closing the distance. It shouldn’t have been possible, but tonight Aedan would not question it. There’d be time to examine the experience later, after Christoph was dead.

Time blurred and stretched as the chase went on. Aedan wasn’t sure whether it had been minutes or hours that he’d been running. All he knew that he was close now, close enough that even the vampire’s weak senses would have alerted him to Aedan’s approach.

He felt it the instant Christoph stopped running. The distance between them was closing too fast for the vampire to still be on the move. They were far from the city limits now, and the street lamps were few and far between. What few houses there were in the area were set far back from the road, out of sight beyond long, dark driveways. Aedan reached back over his shoulder to draw his sword, never breaking stride. His nerves sang with tension and adrenaline coursed through his bloodstream as he steeled himself for the attack he knew would come any second. He was not disappointed.

Christoph came at him hard, and the impact sent both of them flying. They crashed to the ground near the middle of the road, both of them scrambling to be the first to regain their footing. Aedan’s ears were still ringing as his fingers gripped the hilt of his katana, the familiar weight reassuring him that he’d not dropped it when he’d hit the pavement. The two of them circled each other, and Aedan noted that Christoph looked pale, even for a vampire.

“You’re out of shape, old man.” Aedan’s taunt brought a sneer to the vampire’s bloodless lips.

“Don’t waste your breath, dhampir. You’re going to need it to beg for death before I’m done with you.”

“Not tonight,” Aedan murmured in icy tones he barely recognized as his own. “Tonight I’m more than a match for you.”

“And what’s so special about tonight?” Christoph flashed his fangs, and his hands contorted into claws as he continued their ritualized dance in the middle of the darkened street.

“Tonight you took her away from me, and only your death can bring her back. So tonight, I
will
be better than you because I will not let her die.”

“How poetic,” Christoph said mockingly as he ran his tongue over his lips. “I can still taste her, dhampir. She was succulent and oh so eager to give herself over to me. Are you sure she’s worth dying for? I didn’t get the sense that leaving you behind was something she even thought twice about. Why risk yourself over an indifferent slut?”

Aedan managed to keep his anger in check, and instead of a verbal retort, he answered with his blade. He struck a single blow, the tip flicking out to carve a line in the pale flesh of Christoph’s throat.

The vampire’s fingers reached up to touch the viscous blood that oozed from the wound, and his eyes narrowed to slits. “So be it.” Christoph came at Aedan without further warning, his face a twisted mask of fury and his eyes ablaze with hatred. Claws raked across Aedan’s chest, shredding the leather of his jacket and scoring deep lines into his flesh.

The pain was galvanizing, and an image of Val’s torn and bloody throat rose up in Aedan’s mind. “You hurt her. I hurt you.” His katana flicked out again, adding a second slash to Christoph’s neck in the same spot the vampire had ripped Val’s flesh.

Again and again Aedan’s sword flashed, and each time Christoph moved a half second too slow. Soon the vampire was bleeding from almost a dozen cuts across his neck and jaw, and his blood flowed down to make the ground sticky beneath their feet. The air was thick with the scent of decay, pain, and Christoph’s fear.

Aedan could see the wariness in his adversary’s eyes, a sense of panic that grew as Christoph slowly began to realize the way this fight must end. Power flowed through Aedan’s body, borne of confidence untouched by doubt. He could do this because he must. There was no other acceptable outcome.

Christoph grew desperate and his attacks more violent. The vampire shredded and slashed, but every time Aedan repelled him and sent him staggering backward into the darkness. Aedan knew that some of the blood splattered across the road was his, but the pain of his injuries was a distant thing. There’d be time to deal with the consequences of this battle after it was over.

The next assault was sloppy, and Aedan was able to score a vicious hit that flayed Christoph’s upper arm to the bone. The vampire howled in pain as the priest-blessed blade carved deep into his flesh, and as Christoph staggered back, Aedan could see the wounded arm hanging at the vampire’s side, limp and useless.

The battle continued, but now it was not a question of who would win, but when the final blow would fall. Crippled and weakening by the minute, Christoph fought with desperation. Aedan knew that even if the vampire wanted to shift to his bat form and fly away, he couldn’t. The injury to Christoph’s arm would translate to a shattered wing. He was trapped on the road, facing down Aedan’s sword.

When Aedan’s opening came, he took it without hesitation. As Christoph came at him for what felt like the thousandth time, the vampire’s foot slipped in a pool of congealing gore, and he stumbled. Defenseless and off-balance, he was an easy target for Aedan’s katana, and the blade swung down in a brutally powerful swipe that severed the vampire’s head from his body and sent the two pieces of undead flesh tumbling to the ground.

Aedan kicked Christoph’s torso with one booted foot, shoving it over onto its back. With a grim sense of triumph, he drove his katana point-first into the vampire’s chest. With a vicious twist, he shredded the creature’s unbeating heart, ensuring there would be no resurrection.

With the fight over, weariness and pain crept back into Aedan’s awareness, and it took all of his remaining strength to haul Christoph’s remains off of the road and into the ditch. Sunrise would see the evidence turned to ashes, but Aedan needed to be sure. He limped a few feet down the road and took shelter beneath the low-hanging branches of a cedar tree. It would be a long, cold night, but he wouldn’t leave until he saw the body destroyed. In the morning he’d call Jase and confirm that Val was recovering and free from Christoph’s poisoned blood. Then, and only then would he call the Brethren and let them know he was coming in, his mission accomplished.