Tempting Evil (32 page)

Chapter 16

I
drew together the edges of my borrowed coat and watched the dawn color the sky with flags of red and gold.

From where I sat near the stables, I had a full view of what was going on. The house was a hive of activity. Trucks lined the driveway and people were bustling back and forth, most leading prisoners but some carrying boxes and files.

I rubbed my forehead wearily. The sense of déjà vu was strong, and like before, I just wanted to go home, take a long bath, and forget this whole damn episode.

And while I
could
finally go home and be safe, forgetting wasn’t an option. Like it or not, my actions here in this place had changed my life forever. I had my revenge all right, but the cost was still to be counted.

Warm awareness tingled across my skin, and I looked around. Quinn walked out of the trees and sat down beside me.

“How are you feeling?”

“Like shit.” I shrugged. “Several gallons of coffee, a long hot bath, and several days of sleep will make a serious difference, though.”

His smile reached his dark eyes and my hormones reacted accordingly. “Thought that might be the case.” He produced a china mug from behind his back. “It’s not hazelnut, but it is hot.”

“God, I think I love you.” I wrapped my chilled hands around the mug and inhaled deeply. “Bliss, even if it’s not hazelnut.”

“I’ll treat you to hazelnut when we go out this weekend.”

Amusement ran through me. “When? Don’t I get a say in it?”

“You can choose the day. You can choose the time. But you cannot refuse.” His eyes were filled not only with determination, but a warmth that did strange things to the beat of my heart. “Because I will hunt you down, throw you over my shoulder, and forcibly abduct you to our date.”

The vampire had joined the chase and fully intended to give Kellen a run for his money. Modern wolf or not, my blood raced at the thought.

“You do realize part of me is tempted to test whether you’d carry through with the threat?”

He shrugged. “I don’t intend to play by the rules anymore. I’m playing to win.”

“Love is not a game.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Life itself is a game. Love is the greatest prize. One I’ve held myself apart from for entirely too long.”

Nice words, but I wasn’t exactly believing them. “So why the change, Quinn? What makes me so acceptable now when I was so unacceptable four months ago? I can never change what I am.”

“Unless you find your soul mate. Unless you promise yourself to the moon and him.” He touched a finger to my chin, holding it still as he leaned forward and gently kissed my lips. “I intend to prove I am that man.”

“You’re not a wolf.”

“Neither are you. Not entirely.”

“But I want what all wolves want. A wolf mate. A home. Children.”

“We both know some dreams are never meant to be.”

“But there are still options left for me, Quinn.” I freed my chin from his grip and looked away from him. “And I will not give up on my dreams until I draw my very last breath.”

“Then I will have to remain by your side until those dreams turn to dust or you accept what is meant to be.”

I glanced at him. “You can stay for as long as you like, but I will never play us solo. Never.”

He looked away, but not before I’d seen the flicker of cold determination in his eyes. The vampire might be saying all the right things, but in the end, the result he wanted was me and him, his way, not mine.

And only time would tell which of us was the stronger.

I followed his gaze and saw Jack approaching. Bad timing in some respects, good timing in others.

As Quinn rose to his feet, I said, “You never answered my question earlier.”

“What question?” But the sparkle in his dark eyes suggested he knew entirely too well what question.

“You had the chance to take your revenge on Starr but didn’t grab it. Why not, when you’ve declared from the beginning that nothing and no one would get in the way of your revenge?”

He paused, as if searching for an answer, then said, “Because Henri would have called me all sorts of a fool for choosing revenge over matters of the heart. In the end, Starr died anyway, so what did it matter who actually pulled the trigger?”

“That decision could earn you brownie points, you know.”

He grinned. “I’m counting on it.” He touched a finger lightly to my shoulder, then walked away.

Jack took his place beside me. “So, how is my favorite recruit feeling?”

“I’m not making killing a full-time habit. You can’t make me.” I paused for impact, even though I doubted there would be any, then added, “Can I go home now?”

“Not yet.” He grinned. “And killing will come in time.”

I sniffed. “How goes the cleanup?”

He shrugged. “Here, fine, though we’ve had to bring in local cops to help handle all the arrests and documentation.”

“And the lab?”

He looked at me. For the first time ever, I saw anger, true, unforgiving anger, in Jack’s green eyes. “That bastard didn’t deserve the easy death you gave him, Riley. What he has done—” He blew out a breath. “I’ve seen some truly horrific things in my time, but this lab takes the cake.”

I didn’t want to know the details, I really didn’t, so I changed the subject. “What about the spirit lizards?”

Iktar’s people, despite his confidence, hadn’t been able to free themselves from the implants as quickly and as easily as he’d boasted. They were all still here when the Directorate swept in.

“We’ve come to an agreement. His people I’ve let go. The clones will be held for study to ensure they have no Starr-implanted agendas in their subconscious.”

They’d already had an agreement in place, but I didn’t bother pointing that out. “And Iktar?”

He grinned. “Will be joining the Directorate’s new daytime division, along with a few of his people.”

“Don’t you think their featureless faces are going to be a little noticeable?”

“Just because it’s called a daytime division doesn’t mean it’ll actually be all daytime work.”

“Did you come all the way up here just to give me that cheery piece of news?”

His amusement faded away. “No.”

“Then what?”

“You can’t go home.” His gaze met mine. “Not immediately. We’re arranging a new apartment for you and Rhoan.”

I had no reaction to the news. I think I was simply too darn tired. “Why?”

“Gautier slipped the noose.”

“Bound to happen given he was our best guardian.” I rubbed my eyes wearily. “Maybe he’ll just move to another state and leave us alone.”

“You don’t believe that any more than I do.” He slipped a hand into his pocket and drew out his cell phone. “You’d better read this.”

He pressed a button then held the phone out. I took it and read the message.

Thank you for freeing me from the restraints of servitude. For that, I shall give you time to recover. But not long. We have unfinished business, Riley, and I fully intend to make good the promise I made in the arena.

I handed Jack back the phone but didn’t immediately say anything. Because what was there to say?

The Directorate’s best guardian had turned rogue. The hunter had become the hunted.

And the hunted was coming after me.

I hugged my knees a little closer to my chest. “I guess the one good thing is that bringing down Gautier will probably be a piece of cake compared to Starr.”

“If you think that, then you’re not as bright as I thought you were.”

“Way to kill feeble hopes, boss.” I blew out a breath. “So what do we do now?”

He shrugged. “We wait. And when he finally shows himself, we’ll kill him.”

How?
I wanted to ask,
When you couldn’t even contain him when surprise was on our side? When he didn’t even know he was being watched?

“He won’t get you, Riley. I promise.” Jack raised a hand and lightly squeezed my shoulder. “There’s a car waiting near the gates—why don’t you go see your brother?”

“And the cleanup here?”

“Could take days yet. But there’s plenty of people here to worry about it. You need to rest and recuperate.”

I blew out a breath, then rose. I’d go see my brother, then get the bath and coffee I desperately craved.

After that, there was nothing I could do but wait.

And worry.

Because death was coming after me, and it was going to take every ounce of strength I had to survive him.

About the Author

KERI ARTHUR
received a “perfect 10” from
Romance Reviews Today
and was nominated for Best Shapeshifter in PNR’s PEARL Awards and in the Best Contemporary Paranormal category of the
Romantic Times
Reviewers’ Choice Awards. She lives with her husband and daughter in Melbourne, Australia.

Four times the heat.
Four times the suspense.
Four times the sass.
Four months in a row.

This much excitement isn’t normal—it’s paranormal!

Now is your chance to fully immerse yourself in the wonderful world of

Keri Arthur

Smart, sexy, and suspenseful, the Riley Jenson novels are rapidly gaining fans worldwide. And now we are giving you the unique opportunity to read
four
books inside four months, as part of our exciting new publication schedule:

Full Moon Rising

January 2007

Kissing Sin

February 2007

Tempting Evil

March 2007

Dangerous Games

April 2007

Be sure not to miss any of these exciting novels—or this series of special previews, to give you a taste of what is still to come or what you may have missed….

FULL MOON RISING

On sale January 2007

The night was quiet.

Almost too quiet.

Though it was after midnight, it was a Friday night, and Friday nights were usually party nights—at least for those of us who were single and not working night shift. This section of Melbourne wasn’t exactly excitement city, but it did possess a nightclub that catered to both humans and nonhumans. And while it wasn’t a club I frequented often, I loved the music they played. Loved dancing along the street to it as I made my way home.

But tonight, there was no music. No laughter. Not even drunken revelry. The only sound on the whispering wind was the clatter of the train leaving the station and the rumble of traffic from the nearby freeway.

Of course, the club was a well-known haunt for pushers and their prey, and as such it was regularly raided—and closed—by the cops. Maybe it had been hit again tonight.

So why was there no movement on the street? No disgruntled party-goers heading to other clubs in other areas?

And why did the wind hold the fragrance of blood?

I hitched my bag to a more comfortable position on my shoulder, then stepped from the station’s half-lit platform and ran up the stairs leading to Sunshine Avenue. The lights close to the platform’s exit were out and the shadows closed in the minute I stepped onto the street.

Normally, darkness didn’t worry me. I am a creature of the moon and the night, after all, and well used to roaming the streets at ungodly hours. Tonight, though the moon rode toward fullness, its silvery light failed to pierce the thick cover of clouds. But the power of it shimmered through my veins—a heat that would only get worse in the coming nights.

Yet it wasn’t the closeness of the full moon that had me jumpy. Nor was it the lack of life coming from the normally raucous club. It was something else, something I couldn’t quite put a finger on. The night felt wrong, and I had no idea why.

But it was something I couldn’t ignore.

I turned away from the street that led to the apartment I shared with my twin brother and headed for the nightclub. Maybe I was imagining the scent of blood, or the wrongness in the night. Maybe the club’s silence had nothing to do with either sensation. But one thing was certain—I had to find out. It would keep me awake, otherwise.

Of course, curiosity not only killed cats, but it often took out inquisitive werewolves, too. Or, in my case, half weres. And my nose for trouble had caused me more grief over the years than I wanted to remember. Generally, my brother had been right by my side, either fighting with me or pulling me out of harm’s way. But tonight, Rhoan wasn’t home, and he wasn’t contactable. He worked as a guardian for the Directorate of Other Races—which was a government body that sat somewhere between the cops and the military. Most humans thought the Directorate was little more than a police force specializing in capture of nonhuman criminals, and in some respects, they were right. But the Directorate, both here and overseas, was also a researcher of all things nonhuman, and its guardians didn’t only capture, they had the power to be judge, jury, and executioner.

I also worked for the Directorate, but not as a guardian. I was nowhere near ruthless enough to join their ranks as anything other than a general dogs body—though, like most of the people who worked for the Directorate in
any
capacity, I had certainly been tested. I was pretty damn happy to have failed—especially given that eighty percent of a Guardian’s work involved assassination. I might be part wolf, but I wasn’t a killer. Rhoan was the only one who’d inherited those particular instincts in our small family unit. If I had a talent I could claim, it would be as a finder of trouble.

Which is undoubtedly what I’d find by sticking my nose where it had no right to be. But would I let the thought of trouble stop me? Not a snowflake’s chance in hell.

Grinning slightly, I shoved my hands into my coat pockets and quickened my pace. My four-inch heels clacked against the concrete, and the sound seemed to echo along the silent street. A dead giveaway if there
were
problems ahead. I stepped onto the strip of half-dead grass that divided the road from the pavement, and tried not to get the heels stuck in the dirt as I continued on.

The street curved around to the left, and the run-down houses that lined either side of the road gave way to run-down factories and warehouses. Vinnie’s nightclub sat about halfway along the street, and even from here, it was obvious the place was closed. The gaudy red and green flashing signs were off, and no patrons milled around the front of the building.

But the scent of blood and the sense of wrongness were stronger than ever.

I stopped near the trunk of a gum tree and raised my nose, tasting the slight breeze, searching for odors that might give a hint as to what was happening up ahead.

Beneath the richness of blood came three other scents—excrement, sweat, and fear. For those last two to be evident from that distance, something major had to be happening.

I bit my lip and half considered calling the Directorate. I wasn’t a fool—not totally, anyway—and whatever was happening in that club
smelled
big. But what would I report? That the scent of blood and shit rode the wind? That a nightclub that was usually open on a Friday night was suddenly closed? They weren’t likely to send out troops for that. I needed to get closer, see what was really happening.

But the nearer I got, the more unease turned my stomach—and the more certain I became that something was very wrong inside the club. I stopped in the shadowed doorway of a warehouse almost opposite Vinnie’s and studied the building. No lights shone inside, and no windows were broken. The front metal doors were closed, and thick grates protected the black-painted windows. The side gate was padlocked. For all intents and purposes, the building looked secure. Empty.

Yet something
was
inside. Something that walked quieter than a cat. Something that smelled of death. Or rather,
un
death.

A vampire.

And if the thick smell of blood and sweaty humanity that accompanied his sickly scent was anything to go by, he wasn’t alone.
That
I could report. I swung my handbag around so I could grab my cell phone, but at that moment, awareness surged, prickling like fire across my skin. I no longer stood alone on the street. And the noxious scent of unwashed flesh that followed the awareness told me exactly who it was.

I turned, my gaze pinpointing the darkness crowding the middle of the road. “I know you’re out there, Gautier. Show yourself.”

His chuckle ran across the night, a low sound that set my teeth on edge. He walked free of the shadows and strolled toward me. Gautier was a long, mean stick of vampire who hated werewolves almost as much as he hated the humans he was paid to protect. But he was one of the Directorate’s most successful guardians, and the word I’d heard was that he was headed straight for the top job.

If he did get there, I would be leaving. The man was a bastard with a capital B.

“And just what are you doing here, Riley Jenson?” His voice, like his dark hair, was smooth and oily. He’d apparently been a salesman before he’d been turned. It showed, even in death.

“I live near here. What’s your excuse?”

His sudden grin revealed bloodstained canines. He’d fed, and very recently. My gaze went to the nightclub. Surely not even he could be
that
depraved. That out of control.

“I’m a guardian,” he said, coming to a halt about half a dozen paces away. Which was about half a dozen paces
too
close for my liking. “We’re paid to patrol the streets, to keep humanity safe.”

I scrubbed a hand across my nose, and half wished—and not for the first time in my years of dealing with vampires—that my olfactory sense wasn’t so keen. I’d long ago given up trying to get
them
to take a regular shower. How Rhoan coped being around them so much, I’ll never know.

“You only walk the streets when you’ve been set loose to kill,” I said, and motioned to the club. “Is that what you’ve been sent here to investigate?”

“No.” His brown gaze bored into mine, and an odd tingling began to buzz around the edges of my thoughts. “How did you know I was there when I had shadows wrapped around my body?”

The buzzing got stronger, and I smiled. He was trying to get a mind-lock on me and force an answer—something vamps had a tendency to do when they had questions they knew wouldn’t be answered willingly. Of course, mind-locks had been made illegal several years ago in the “human rights” bill that set out just what was, and wasn’t, acceptable behavior from nonhuman races when dealing with humans. Or other nonhumans, for that matter. Trouble is, legalities generally mean squat to the dead.

But he didn’t have a hope in hell of succeeding with me, thanks to the fact I was something that should not be—the child of a werewolf
and
a vampire. Because of my mixed heritage, I was immune to the controlling touch of vampires. And that immunity was the only reason I was working in the guardian liaisons section of the Directorate. He should have realized that, even if he didn’t know the reason for the immunity.

“Hate to say this, Gautier, but you haven’t exactly got the sweetest scent.”

“I was downwind.”

Damn. So he was. “Some scents are stronger than the wind to a wolf.” I hesitated, but couldn’t help adding, “You know, you may be one of the undead, but you sure as hell don’t have to smell like it.”

His gaze narrowed, and there was a sudden stillness about him that reminded me of a snake about to strike.

“You would do well to remember what I am.”

“And you would do well to remember that I’m trained to protect myself against the likes of you.”

He snorted. “Like all liaisons, you overestimate your skills.”

Maybe I did, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to admit it, because that’s precisely what he wanted. Gautier not only loved baiting the hand that fed him, he more often bit it. Badly. Those in charge let him get away with it because he was a damn fine guardian.

“As much as I love standing here trading insults, I really want to know what’s going on in that club.”

His gaze went to Vinnie’s, and something inside me relaxed. But only a little. When it came to Gautier, it never paid to relax too much.

“There’s a vampire inside that club,” he said.

“I know
that
much.”

His gaze came back to me, brown eyes flat and somehow deadly. “How do you know? A werewolf has no more awareness when it comes to vampires than a human.”

Werewolves mightn’t, but then, I wasn’t totally wolf, and it was my vampire instincts that were picking up the vamp inside the building. “I’m beginning to think the vampire population should be renamed the great unwashed. He stinks almost as much as you do.”

His gaze narrowed again, and again the sensation of danger swirled around me. “One day, you’ll push too far.”

Probably. But with any sort of luck, it would be
after
he’d gotten the arrogance knocked out of him. I waved a hand at Vinnie’s. “Are there people alive inside?”

“Yes.”

“So are you going to do something about the situation or not?”

His grin was decidedly nasty. “I’m not.”

I blinked. I’d expected him to say a lot of things, but certainly not that. “Why the hell not?”

“Because I hunt bigger prey tonight.” His gaze swept over me, and my skin crawled. Not because it was sexual—Gautier didn’t want me any more than I wanted him—but because it was the look of a predator sizing up his next meal.

His expression, when his gaze rose to meet mine again, was challenging. “If you think you’re so damn good, you go tend to it.”

“I’m not a guardian. I can’t—”

“You can,” he cut in, “because you’re a guardian liaison. By law, you can interfere when necessary.”

“But—”

“There are five people alive in there,” he said. “If you want to keep them that way, go rescue them. If not, call the Directorate and wait. Either way, I’m out of here.”

With that, he wrapped the night around his body and disappeared from sight. My vampire and werewolf senses tracked his hidden form as he raced south. He really
was
leaving.

Fuck.

My gaze returned to Vinnie’s. I couldn’t hear the beating of hearts, and had no idea whether Gautier was telling the truth about people being alive inside. I might be part vampire, but I didn’t drink blood, and my senses weren’t tuned to the thud of life. But I could smell fear, and surely I wouldn’t be smelling that if someone wasn’t alive in the club.

Even if I called the Directorate, they wouldn’t get there in time to rescue those people. I had to go in. I had no choice….