King of Darkness (26 page)

If he hadn’t know better, he would have sworn that he heard a low whistle from Siddoh immediately after, but no, that couldn’t have been what he’d heard. Definitely not, because Siddoh was smart enough to know not to work a dude’s nerves at a time like this. Not when Thad was edgy enough to go ahead and pop the smarmy bastard. Especially since while he was at it, he might be obligated to get in a few extra hits for Siddoh getting it on with Thad’s sister.

Lee cleared his throat. “Yeah, all right. We’ve worked up a search area based on the speed we think she’d have been able to travel on foot, as well as in a vehicle. I’ve diverted the guys on patrol to search within that area, and with the exception of Xander and a couple of others who weren’t quite at a hundred percent, I’ve pulled in all of the reserves as well. I’ve focused them primarily within the area we think she could’ve covered on foot, since that seems the most likely scenario.

“We don’t think she picked up anything on the estate grounds but she could’ve jacked a car at some later point. I’m thinking that if her plan was to try to get back home, we want to focus on gas stations, rental cars, hotels, airports—”

“She wouldn’t have gone to the airport.” Thad stopped, shaking his head vehemently. “No way. She wouldn’t leave Alexia behind.”

“She did leave her at the mansion by herself,” Lee said. Damn him for even suggesting Isabel would do such a thing. Okay, so Thad had considered it at first. She was afraid and most definitely not thinking clearly, but she would not have skipped town and left her best friend behind.

“No. No. Isabel told Alexia she would come back for her. I believe she’d do that.”

Lee nodded. If the older male still disagreed, he was at least wise enough to keep his trap shut about it. “All right, then.”

The three started walking again. “I’ve got the patrols searching from the outside in. I think we have a better chance of intersecting with her that way. Also, Tyra’s going to meet up with us later if you haven’t caught a whiff of her by then. I’ll ask her to bring a vehicle so we can kick it into high gear.”

Thad’s head dipped slightly in agreement. He was walking slowly, purposefully, pausing every few steps to take a deep breath and get quiet. The hope that he’d catch her scent or feel a stirring in his veins kept him moving along steadily, even though impatience and frustration were working him like an itchy rash.

Unable to contain himself any longer, Thad stopped short and whipped around to plant the sole of his boot into a tree. As bark flew and his head kicked back to release a primal roar, his bare palms both smacked the tree bark, stinging at the contact. The heat of his power rose in him, boiling out through his hands to leave black marks on the trunk he’d assaulted. A waning moon mocked him from overhead.

“Yo, easy.” Siddoh’s hand landed firmly on Thad’s shoulder and helped bring him back to reality. What the hell was he doing? They’d never find her if he ran off half-cocked into the forest. So far, getting his shit together was not going so well.

A quiet buzz behind him barely registered. Lee spoke briefly to someone on his phone and hung up quickly with a look on his face that told Thad his buddy had info.

“Clerk at a Shell station about a half mile over that way gave a free bag of roasted pecans to a female matching Isabel’s description.” Lee gestured toward Route 9.

Thad nodded and clapped both males on the shoulder. “Let’s go then.”

Their boots crunched on frozen grass as they chewed up the countryside, moving past the pungent vegetable and horse farms. Nothing like sucking wind when the air was thick with manure. As they neared the Shell station, Thad slowed down, confused.

“I don’t see the guys. Aren’t we supposed to rendezvous here?”

Siddoh wandered around to the side of the building while Lee pulled out his cell phone to check in. Pacing impatiently, Lee cursed and pocketed the phone again. “No answer.”

Thad stood in a shadowy portion of the parking lot next to an ancient and questionably functional air machine. Arms akimbo, he muttered a string of expletives under his breath as he pondered their next move. “Lee, who talked to the store clerk?”

“Gary.”

“Call him again.” Thad’s nostrils flared. He was getting a hint of Isabel’s scent. He followed along the side of the building until he traced the scent toward a neighboring field. With not a small amount of irritation, he glanced at his arm, rubbing the scar that had been nagging at him for so long. Nothing now. Not a tingle, not a prickle, not jack shit.

What the hell good was that thing now?

A rush of air swirled around him. Siddoh had caught up. “Yo, buddy, you want to wait up?”

Thad sniffed the air again, drawing a lungful of country air. Filtering out Isabel’s faint scent once more, he turned toward the field, following along the road. “Yo, buddy, you wanna turn off the cloaking device for now?”

Siddoh laughed. His form rippled into view. “Hang on. Lee’s bringing up the rear. You got a bead on her?”

“Her scent’s weak, but I’m getting it.” His brow furrowed. An uncomfortable realization had begun to dawn on him. “But… I’m not feeling anything, you know?”

“You fed from her?” Lee’s right eyebrow hiked itself up a little as he fell in line beside Thad again. “If you can smell her from here, you should be able to sense her.”

“Not necessarily. If she was by here but then left, her scent could still linger.” Thad understood Lee’s implication. If her scent lingered but he could not sense her in his blood, then there was the possibility that she was no longer alive. Thad may have been holding on to his optimism by a thin thread, but he still fought to stay positive.

He’d just found her, for God’s sake; he couldn’t lose her.

“Right.” Lee seemed to catch Thad’s underlying message in the dismissive reply:
Shut
it
down.

The wind kicked up and Thad paused again, breathing deeply. The crisp night air zinged up his nostrils. He was being overly cautious, but it was too important not to lose her trail. “She headed that way.” He gestured confidently with his hand, a feat of great proportion given how much he was shaking on the inside.

Between the literal boiling rage and the concern he had for Isabel’s safety, he was a veritable powder keg. He’d told Alexia that he’d get Isabel back, and he meant it. He wasn’t going to consider any other possibilities. Just wasn’t.

“I’m gonna go ahead of you. Hang back a little, yeah?” Siddoh’s form faded into the darkness again as Thad nodded. The cold grass crushed softly under Siddoh’s boots.

“Dude’s power would be cooler if he could make his footprints disappear, too,” Lee said wryly.

Despite his tension, Thad chuckled for a moment. “You two ever going to get along?”

“It’s a possibility. Frankly I don’t get how you’re so sanguine about the fact that he’s been doing your sister for like the last twenty-five years with no promise of mating her.”

Thad’s jaw tightened. He didn’t need to think about this now. “My sister does not have sex. That’s how I deal with it.”

“Whatever works for you.” Lee smiled, but he turned tense just seconds later. “Shit. Heads up, Thad.”

“Yeah, I feel it.” A vague tremor of unease had settled in Thad’s gut. Wizards, one at least, somewhere nearby. “Must be why Siddoh went up ahead. He always seems to have good radar for these guys.”

Suddenly the night exploded in a torrent of bright light and smoke. Squealing brakes and urgent shouts could be heard in the distance, just beyond the road. “Fuck. Let’s go.” Thad tapped Lee’s arm but he was already in motion, shields charged, hands poised.

Their boots tore up the grass beneath them as they raced along the fence line of the field they’d been traversing, closing in on the stretch of barren country road up ahead. Thad’s chest burned with a mix of fear and bad wizard vibe. He blinked quickly, closing out everything but his focus on the battle that waited up ahead.

He’d trained for years under Lee before his father’s demise, but he’d never fought with a power before. He would need his focus now more than he ever had.

An SUV sped toward them. It had a cracked windshield and a blown-out headlight, and judging from the smell of burnt rubber, its tires were not long for the world. Tearing up the road behind it was Gareth. Gary, as he was known to most. The dude showed severe signs of strain, like he was about to drop from exhaustion. Gary had the power to move things with his mind, and Thad presumed he’d been trying to hold back the vehicle, which was a nearly impossible feat.

No matter how powerful you were, you just couldn’t hold a five-thousand-pound vehicle when it was heading in the opposite direction. Thad was utterly amazed that Gary had tried. Even more amazing, it appeared to have worked, at least a little.

Thad’s arm shot out to aim at the runaway vehicle. In an astonishing instant, the heat that had raged throughout his body coiled in his gut and then shot out of him, leaving his palm in a fiery orb the size of a watermelon.

Well, how about
that
?

A cluster of holes shattered the back window, courtesy of Lee’s silenced MK23, and at the same time, a series of daggers shot toward the moving target from the blank space in the darkness where Siddoh was located. Two knives hit a back tire of the vehicle, puncturing the sidewall as Thad’s fireball struck the undercarriage and rocked the vehicle sideways. Sparks flew. The thing was down to its alloy wheel, but the driver kept going and even managed to gain speed as Gareth dropped to the pavement, utterly spent.

For a moment, Siddoh came into view, whistling and jutting his chin toward the car. “Yo, Thad! Call Tyra.” The big male pulled out all the stops then, running at top speed toward the busted-up car, and evanesced once again. A distinctive thud could be heard in the distance. Siddoh must have caught up.

“Crazy fucker.” Lee whistled quietly. “Guess he grabbed the roof rack.”

Thad shook his head. “I don’t know, but I hope he hangs on. I’d bet every cent I have that Isabel was riding shotgun in that thing. And from the quick glimpse I got, she wasn’t conscious.”

Lee’s face was grim as he pulled out his cell and hit a speed-dial number. “Ty,” he said quietly, “we need you.”

“That stupid son of a bitch! I’m going to kill him after I find him.” Tyra’s heart thudded in her chest, and a cold, panicky sweat had broken out on the back of her neck. One of these days, Siddoh’s cocky ass was going to get him killed.

“I’m beginning to see why Lee handed me the phone,” Thad said dryly. “Look, you can bitch him out all you want later, Ty, but for now let’s just get him and Isabel back.”

“Jesus Christ, Thad,” she hissed into the phone, closing her office door behind her so she could talk privately. “What was he thinking?”

“Are you kidding me? It’s brilliant! We might not only get Isabel back but maybe also finally find out where their fucking bat cave is. All you’ve gotta do is track him. It’s perfect!” Thad’s exasperation was apparent.

Tyra pressed her back against the door, breathing deeply. “Look, I’m just worried about him.”

“Ty, he knows what he’s doing. As long as he stays cloaked, the chances are slim that they’ll catch him.” Thad’s voice hitched just barely on the other end of the phone before he continued. “It’s our best chance of finding Isabel.”

Tyra sighed. “Of course I’ll help, Thad. I just freaked, you know?”

“I know.”

“Do you have an idea of where they were headed?” She rubbed her forehead. Suddenly the days and weeks of exhaustion were settling into her body. Now, when going home to get some rest was not an option in any way, shape, or form. Not unless she was dead.

Thad’s voice broke into her thoughts. “Looked like they were going down Route 9, toward downtown.”

“Well, there’s a chance they’re headed my way then. Don’t worry, Thad. I’ll track him down.”

“Thanks, Ty. Love you.”

“I love you, too, baby brother. I’ll call you soon.” She started to pull the phone from her ear.

“Wait. You’ll need backup. We should come and meet you.”

“No way. You’ll slow me down. Besides, it sounds to me like you’ve got things to clean up over there.”

“Yeah,” he said on a loud exhale. “It’s pretty fucked up. We’re not sure exactly what went down yet. Gary’s completely maxed out, and we can’t find the rest of his patrol.”

“K, well you take care of that. I’ll drop you a line soon as I can.” She started to hang up again.

“Hey, Ty?”

“Thad?”

“You, uh, you love him?”

She smiled slightly into the phone. Of all the things—

“Thad?”

“Yeah, Ty.”

“I’m going to hang up now.” This was
so
not a subject to delve into with her brother. Definitely not right now.

He cleared his throat. “Yeah, okay. Be careful.”

She smiled again. “Of course. You too. Bye.” She flipped the phone shut before Thad could ask any more questions.

Tyra took a moment to get still and quiet, focusing her mind on where to begin searching for Siddoh. If they came anywhere nearby, she’d sense him, after feeding from him for such a long time. Hooray for long-term dead-end relationships.