The Sacrifice (9 page)

 “Can
we go now? If you
’
re finished being your own personal cheerleading
squad—”

“
Shut up, Kam,
” Cy interrupted.

“That
’
s
yours, Miles, and Oz
’
s favorite thing to say. I think I
’
ll
have it tattooed across my Johnson. Maybe it
’
ll remind me to do
less talking and I
’
ll get more action.”

 Cy
snorted. “Yeah, why don
’
t you do that? I want to be there when you get it.
Nothing would please me more than hearing you scream like a little girl. Besides,
more action is the last thing you need. If there
’
s
such a thing as overuse, it
’
s going to fall off and put you out of your
misery.” As soon as the words left his lips, he realized since he
’
d
met Riana, he was no different than Kam. The perpetual erection was driving him
mad with need.

“It
’
s a
good thing there
’
s no such thing as overuse,” Kam said as he
crawled back in the driver
’
s seat. “Can
’
t have my little
buddy falling off my body.”

Cy realized they did tell Kam to shut up
a lot. But, dang, sometimes that boy could get on your last nerve. Even if he
was one of the best Protectors they had.

Cy and Kam left the compound and
headed back to the pub to join Miles in the search for Vind, and the monsters
he brought with him.

The full moon shone bright over the
compound as Riana and Elle walked back to the lodge.

Elle
removed the band holding her hair back. “I never thought I
’
d
say this, but it
’
s kind of a relief to be back here.”

“I
know. Finding that woman dead in the parking lot took a toll on everyone.” The
misery on Cy
’
s face as he stood over the woman
’
s
body popped into Riana
’
s mind.

Elle
pointed toward the gym. “I
’
m going to see if it
’
s
still open. There
’
s no way I can sleep with all this pent-up
energy.”

“You go right ahead. All I want is a
hot shower and a bed.”

Riana went back to their quarters and
got her night clothes out for her shower. Someone knocked on the door. “What
did you do, forget your key?”

She
unlocked the door, surprised when her mother stood there instead of Elle. “What
on earth are you doing here?” A flurry of movement to the left drew her
attention, and the commander stepped up to the door. Her mother
’
s
eyes were red as if she
’
d cried for hours.

“What
’
s
going on? Is someone hurt?”

They
both stood without uttering a word and stared at her. “Will someone please say
something? You
’
re scaring me.
”

The
commander took her mother
’
s elbow and eased her through the doorway. “Can we
sit down for a moment? Your mother has something she needs to tell you.”

They
sat at the small dinette table. Her mother
’
s trembling hand
reached over and captured hers. She gave Riana
’
s hand a gentle
squeeze.

Well,
that can
’
t be good. Mom has never been the touchy, feely
type.
What frightened her
most were the opposing emotions coming from her mother, something she normally
kept tightly locked away. Fear, love, regret, admiration, they were all over
the place. She was an emotional mess.

 Analae took a shuddering breath.
“Baby, before you were born I wanted a child more than anything in the world.”

A
knot formed in Riana
’
s stomach as her mother hesitated and stared at
their joined hands.

“When
I met your father, I knew I
’
d met the man I wanted to father my child. I loved
him, and he had all the qualities I admired. He was smart, strong, determined,
dedicated, courageous, and kind. And you inherited every one of those
characteristics. Only one thing led me to believe he wouldn
’
t
be good for you. He was extremely dedicated to his job, which was very
dangerous. He put his life on the line every day. Riana, please understand that
I never wanted you to feel the kind of pain I did when my father died.”

“Mother,
what are you talking about? You
’
re making
no
sense.”

“Your
father never knew about you. I went to the fertility lines alone, and when I
became pregnant I left him. Baby, I want you to know I take full responsibility
for what I
’
ve done. I lied to you about your father
’
s
death.” Regret, or maybe it was guilt, filled her mother
’
s
face as she looked over at the commander. “Honey, Oz is your father.”

Riana
could
’
ve sworn someone under the table kicked her in the
stomach hard enough to lose its contents. She searched the commander
’
s
eyes, trying to make sense of what she
’
d heard. She glared
at her mother and jerked her hand from her grip. “So, let me get this straight,
Mother,
” she snapped the last word like a whip. “You have lied to two
people, who you say you loved for twenty-five years. And you
’
re
saying you did all this to protect me from the pain of losing my father? Did
you
ever
consider for one moment what it was like having a mother who
worked all the time? When you were home, you stayed engrossed in your research.
I practically lived at Elle
’
s, or I would
’
ve gone mad from
loneliness.” Riana
’
s voice cracked as her eyes met the commander
’
s.
“A father could have taken some of that away.”

Tears
flooded her mother
’
s cheeks.
“I know, honey. To bury myself in work was the only way I could cope
without him. I
’
m so sorry. At the time, I thought it was the best
thing for you…for everyone.”

Heat
radiated from Riana
’
s face. She didn
’
t want to look at
either of them. All she saw was a mother who was a liar, and a father who was a
stranger. She got up from the table and opened the door. “Please leave,” she
demanded, blinking back tears.

Oz stood. Analae looked up at him but
remained seated.

 “
Just leave!
” Riana turned on her heel and strode down the hallway, leaving them
in the room alone.

“I
’
m
sorry, honey,” her mother called after her.

“Just
give her some time for this to sink in. She
’
ll come around,” the
commander said in a low voice.

Riana
slammed and locked her bedroom door, crawled into bed and pulled the covers
over her head. Until that moment, she
’
d managed to fight
back tears, but now the floodgates were wide open. All she wanted was to stay
in bed and lick her wounds, metaphorically speaking. Her mother had made a lie
out of her entire life. More than anything else, she was hurt. Just because
her
father
’
s death had screwed her mother up, didn
’
t
give her the right to decide she should live without one at all. And the worst
part, if Riana hadn
’
t stumbled upon him here, her mother would
’
ve
never come clean.

A few minutes later, someone knocked
on the bedroom door.

“Go away!”

“It
’
s
Elle. Are you alright?”

“Yes.”

“Are
you sure? The stress level hit me hard when I walked through the door. I just
saw the strangest thing. It looked like your mother and the commander. His arm
was around her and they were headed toward the Protectors
’
Lodge.”

Riana
wiped her eyes and got up to unlock the door. “You saw right.” She flopped back
on the bed and pulled a down-pillow to her chest for comfort. “It seems my
mother lied concerning a few
important
facts about my father. Number
one, he
’
s not dead. Number two, he
’
s
Commander Oz.
”

Elle’
s eyes widened. “No. Freakin
’
.
Way. I guess we know now why she
’
s always hated Protectors. She doesn
’
t
seem to hate him at the moment, though. She hung on to him like a lovesick
teenager.”

Riana
’
s
jaw clenched tight. “Well, I hope she lives happily ever after. Because he
’
s
all she
’
s got.”

***

In
the parking lot of the pub, the coroner passed with a gurney and Maggie in a
body-bag. Cy
’
s anger threatened to take him to a dark place. He
wanted to kill every feeder he got his hands on. Especially Vind.

Miles
strode to the center of the lot to meet them. “I searched the minds of everyone
at or around the pub when the murder took place. I found nothing…not even a
blank spot. The attacker took time to fill the blank with another memory. If
that
’
s the case, he had no fear of getting caught.”

“Attacker,
my ass,”
Kam said.
“It was Vind and we all know it.”

 Miles nodded. “For Vind to be so
bold as to make a kill with us right inside, he must have brought an awful lot
of his people with him. We know he would never put his ass on the line like
that. Asheville could be overrun with feeders.”

“You
’
re
probably right,” Cy said. “Vind wanted us to know he
’
s
here. He knew this would rattle us, put us off our game. One thing
’
s for
sure, Maggie
’
s murder wasn
’
t random. It was done
for a specific purpose. We just have to figure out what it was.”

Cy
checked his cell to make sure he hadn
’
t missed a message.
“I
’
m getting a little worried about Oz. I
’
ve
tried to contact him all evening. He told me he had an errand to run, but it
’
s unlike
him to not answer his phone.”

The
three of them split up. They started at the pub and swept the area in an
outward circle, looking for anything that might reveal the presence of feeders.
With their greedy nature, they
’
d be hunting victims to feed on. As they neared
the art district, a heavy layer of fog hung low, due to the close proximity of
the French Broad River. A chilled night breeze blew out of the north from
across the river, and with it came the scent of fresh blood.

A few moments later, all three had
pinpointed the scent to the same spot—the French Broad River Park. Cy motioned
to a row of hedges running parallel with the river.

Each of them pulled their weapon of
choice from beneath their coats. In each hand Cy had his sixteenth century Swiss
pommel daggers. Miles took out his trusted seventeenth century Scottish plug
bayonet. Kam preferred an AK-47 with silencer, or anything that went boom.

Protectors
were trained to approach someone without making a sound. A mouse scurrying
across an open field would have made more noise than the three of them. As they
moved closer, Cy knew Vind wasn
’
t making this kill. He would never be this
unaware, or unprotected. He took an entourage of bodyguards everywhere he went.

The
feeder was on his second victim, and so high on adrenaline he didn
’
t
even realize they were near.

Kam
cleared his throat, causing the feeder to jerk his head from the victim
’
s
neck. As he looked up at them, a piece of flesh dangled from his teeth. Kam
took swift, accurate aim and shot twice, a bullet through each eye.
Immediately, Miles
’
bayonet sliced through the feeder
’
s
neck. He dissolved into a layer of fine dust. A strong gust of wind picked it
up in a cloud and blew it across the river.