Heart and Soul (9 page)

That innocent smile was all the warning she had before Malachi dematerialized. Mike could sense the vampire vaguely. Even when they shifted from their mortal forms to mist, the gifted could still feel their presence.

The problem was, it became impossible to pinpoint just where they were. It was a damned good thing not all Master vamps acquired the ability. It would have made battling the ferals a little harder.

Leandra stared all around with wary eyes, one hand clenched in a tight fist. The air tensed for a split second—and then Malachi re-formed behind her, pouncing on her and taking her to the ground. He had one wrist in his hand, shoving it high between her shoulder blades.

“You were a little bit quicker that time,” Malachi said with a laugh. He let go and leaped up, moving away as she came to her feet with a snarl.

“Damn it, you are a sadist.” Finally her eyes moved toward the door, lingered on Mike for a moment.

He smiled at her but stayed by the door.

“And you’re sluggish tonight.” Malachi went after her again, staying solid this time, as they grappled. It took less than two minutes for him to have her on the ground, and he got her pinned and tapped at her breastbone. “That’s all it takes, Leandra,” he said easily.

Her eyes narrowed. “And this is all it takes.” Fire came licking out of her flesh, but it didn’t seem to affect her—reaching for Malachi.

Malachi moved too fast even for Mike’s eyes to track.

Leandra grinned as she rolled to her feet. “I’m sorry—was that too sluggish?”

Mike was chuckling as he slid back out the door. The moon rode low on the horizon, and stars glowed against the midnight sky. He had his own work cut out for him tonight.

Jonathan had been pulled off his regular patrol; Eli had tagged him for an assignment, and that left his grounds without eyes. And there was a father there that they were all watching with very, very close eyes, a father that spent too much of his own time watching his daughter in a way no father should.

 

 

THE SUN WAS BEGINNING TO BLEED ONTO THE HORIZON when Malachi finally decided he was done with her.

Leandra’s head was pounding, her muscles quivering, and hunger was a growling demand that sang throughout her entire system. She was ravenous. The demands Malachi had put on her body had drained her reserves, and she really needed to feed.

Unfortunately, she had absolutely no energy to go trolling, even if the sun would have granted her the time. And there weren’t many people here who’d offered her a vein, not that Leandra would have asked, anyway.

She would be okay until nightfall. Then she could go feed.

Now if she could just make it to her room . . . every damned step was agony.

“You look almost as bad I feel.”

Leandra glanced up from the floor, staring through bleary eyes at Lori as the young witch stepped out of a room. Lori closed the door behind her and slumped against the wall as she met Leandra’s eyes.

Lori’s soft green eyes were dark, angry. She looked disgusted and enraged, something that Leandra hadn’t ever associated with the steadfast Healer.

Very little upset Lori.

But she was upset now. Upset and pissed, Leandra mused as she braced one shoulder against the wall. It wasn’t the same as falling face-first into her bed, but at least she had something besides her own wobbly legs supporting her weight.

“Just got done training with
him
,” Leandra said, her lip curling in a snarl.

A faint grin curved Lori’s mouth. “And does Malachi look like you do?”

Leandra just snarled.

“I guess not,” Lori said with a smile. The smile faded fast, though, and she ducked her head, covering her face with her hands. Thick strands of hair fell forward, shielding her face.

Once, Lori’s hair had once been red, a pretty, fiery shade. It was still red—mostly. But it was streaked all over with strands of pure white. Not from age. Lori was barely in her thirties. No, the white came from a spell she had built a few years ago. It had exploded through her, burning her, as she used magick to kill the followers of the Scythe that Leandra had once fought with.

Finally, Lori looked up and smiled weakly at Leandra. “I can see that you’ve had a rough night, but I’d wager mine was worse.” She nodded to the door with her head. “Nasty bitch in there. Jonnie found her trying to grab a kid from his own bed in town.”

“Grab a kid? Why?” As she asked, Leandra lowered her shields. She felt it, like a punch in the gut, and she barely heard Lori’s response.

“I . . . I think she just wanted to kill him. She’s . . . evil, Leandra. I’ve felt evil before, but this—she’s just so young.”

Evil, oh yes. Leandra could scent it. Her belly pitched and rolled from the stink of it. Bad move. When she tried to reach out, the shields Lori had erected welcomed her touch, and Leandra was able to touch that evil.

True evil—the kind that fouled the very air.

Her heart froze in her chest, swelling to a knot that seemed to make her throat close. Blood turned to ice in her veins, and she sank to the floor, pressing her face against her knees.

“Nasty, huh?”

She heard Lori’s familiar voice through the roaring in her ears, and she lifted her head, nodding dumbly. She swallowed as she took a deep, cleansing breath and forced her shields back up.

As they closed around her, the awful stink receded, and she could think past it once more. “Who the hell is in there?”

Lori angled her head and replied levelly, “Go look.”

Leandra didn’t want to. She
really
didn’t want to. But she couldn’t walk past that door without opening it. With the wall supporting her, she shoved to her feet. Her knees wobbled for a minute, and she closed her eyes.
Should have gone to feed . . .

Her feet felt like they were encased in leaden weights as she moved toward the door, and her skin was icy. Before she could go inside, Lori reached out and closed a hand over her wrist. “You need to feed.”

Leandra forced a weak smile. “Too damned tired.”

“Then take this.”

The rush of power was a cool, gentle kiss that chased away the cobwebs in Leandra’s brain and eased the aches in her body. Witch power could be shared or given; Leandra felt a rush of relief as Lori helped replace the empty reserves. Although true hunger was still a dull roar in her belly, the weakness and clouded thoughts were gone.

“Thanks,” Leandra said with a smile.

Lori just shrugged, her hand falling away. “You need to stop being so afraid to ask for what you need, Leandra.”

The smile faded, and Leandra stilled. “I am not afraid.”

“Then why haven’t you ever asked for anybody here to feed you?” Lori asked quietly.

A muscle throbbed in her jaw as Leandra glared at the witch. She said nothing, but her skin crawled, heating, as she realized that Lori had been talking to the other Hunters.

Lori said softly, “I’m the Enclave’s Healer, Leandra. It’s my job to take care of the people here. All of them.” Her lips quirked in a slight smile as she added, “Whether they like it or not.”

Looking away, Leandra stayed quiet. She heard Lori sigh. “You’ll do what you want,” the other witch muttered.

Now it was Leandra’s turn to smile. “Don’t I always?” Without waiting for an answer, she reached out and closed her hand around the doorknob, opening it with reluctance. She stepped inside quickly and pushed the door shut behind her.

The stench of evil was worse in the room, thick and cloying, almost choking the air. Leandra breathed shallowly through her mouth, but it didn’t help. The nasty miasma was enough to make her stomach churn; the hunger that had been gnawing at her was gone as nausea kicked in. Leandra did her best to bolster her shields, and eventually it faded.

“Jonathan, couldn’t you have just brought home a pizza?” Leandra drawled into the tense silence as the two Hunters glanced at her.

Jonathan snorted. “I wish.” His long brown hair fell in a loose tail down his back, and his face was dark with fury and disgust. There were four angry furrows on the outside of one muscled arm, slicing him open from bicep to tricep. The bleeding had stopped. She could sense the faint warmth of a spell clinging to it; Lori had already cleansed it.

Across from her, Eli stood with his arms folded over his chest, his face set in cool, unreadable lines. He flicked a glance her way and asked quietly, “Have you seen Mal?”

Leandra said softly, “He was in the training center a few minutes ago.”

Unable to avoid it any longer, Leandra followed the source of evil and found herself staring at a woman. Barely. The body was lush and ripe, but the soft curves of the face still held the innocence of youth. She looked like little more than a child.

Until you looked into her eyes.

A chill ran down Leandra’s spine as she stared into those limpid green eyes. Soulless. The girl smiled at Leandra and then looked back at Jonathan, licking her lips like a cat presented with a bowl of cream.

Pretty, with pale blonde hair that was most likely natural, big green eyes set in a heart-shaped face, and a figure that looked more suited to the cover of
Playboy
than a girl who should be in high school. She wore black, clothes so tight they looked like they’d been painted on. Around her neck, she wore a necklace of matte black metal set with a stone of solid red.

Just looking at her gave Leandra chills.

The girl turned her attention from Jonathan to Leandra, a wicked smile curving her lips. As their gazes met and locked, Leandra felt it.

Her breath hissed out between her teeth as Leandra felt something dark reach out. It tried to grab her; Leandra could feel it trying to pull her in.

The aura of menace was coming directly from the girl—something entirely too similar to the fear a Master vampire or an alpha wolf could use. Something conscious, controllable, and completely deliberate.

Leandra’s eyes narrowed as she recognized that as a crucial piece of information. Something focused and deliberate—was something Leandra could shield against. It wasn’t magick she needed to block out but emotion, and that was why fear kept snaking through her shields to dance down her spine.

Leandra erected the same shields she used with Malachi, and the fear and menace began to melt away almost immediately. As it did, Leandra’s skin stopped crawling, and she began to breathe a little easier.

“And who is this?” the girl drawled, her voice cool and mocking. “Yet another white hat coming to save me?”

Leandra arched a brow and replied just as coolly, “I only save things worth saving.”

For one second, the girl seemed a little startled.
Expecting me to be scared, are you?
The fear wouldn’t affect Eli and Jonathan; in a few more decades, it wouldn’t have affected Leandra either.

Both Eli and Jonathan were Masters, and the only way fear could be used against them was if the girl was the more powerful.

The cloud of fear swelled, tightening the air, centering around Leandra, battering at her shields. With a subtle flex of her power, Leandra was able to redirect it, sending it flying back to the girl.

She just absorbed it, although there was a flicker in her eyes, a wariness. Only another witch could do something like that, and the girl knew it.

Leandra watched as the girl blinked, her expression changing. A smile spread across her pretty face, and she batted her lashes and cooed, “Does that mean I’m not worth it?”

Levelly, Leandra said, “You’re beyond saving.”

Slowly, a smile spread across her face, and she purred, “Oh, I certainly hope so. I’d hate to turn into you.” She reached up, stroking the skin just outside her left eye, staring at the tattoo on Leandra’s face.

The small black mark seemed to pulse as the girl said quietly, “You had a taste of true power—and you gave it up. For what?”

“For something you could never understand, kid. And evil just offers the illusion of power. I don’t care for illusions.”

Pointedly, she looked away, glancing at Jonathan. He looked grim and angry, and he was obviously disturbed. “You look like you had a bad night.”

Dark brown eyes met hers, his lips quirking in a tight smile. “I’ve had better.” He glanced at Eli and jerked his head toward the girl. “What the hell are we going to do with her? We aren’t allowed to execute children.”

“Are you so sure that’s necessary, Jonathan?” Eli asked, his mouth twisting as though he’d just taken a bite of something distasteful.

Jonathan glanced at the girl. “There’s nothing in her that can be saved, Eli.”

The Master sighed. “You’re most likely right. But that being the case, with her age, she is the Council’s problem,” Eli said, shaking his head.

All this time, the girl had studied them, listening intently. Now she started to laugh. “What’s the matter, sexy? You afraid of me?” She stalked toward Eli, her hips swinging from side to side, her jeans riding so low, they barely covered her ass.

Eli stepped to the side when she reached out, but as she moved forward again, he stopped. As she reached up to touch his face, she whispered, “Come on . . . give me a taste. I do love vamps.”

Leandra shoved off the wall with a chuckle, bringing three pairs of eyes her way. “You wouldn’t survive after taking a taste of this one, precious. His wife wouldn’t leave even a piece of you behind that the Council could recognize.”

The girl turned, flipping her blonde hair back behind her shoulders before planting her hands on her hips and staring at Leandra with something that looked like greed. “Hmmm . . . then how about you?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Leandra said, moving until she was just an arm’s length away. “What is your name?”

Instead of answering, the girl reached out and trailed her fingers up Leandra’s midsection. “Maybe I’ll tell you . . . after.”