Undercover Magic (7 page)

CHAPTER SEVEN

I gave school security a good run for their money, and about twenty minutes into the
chase, the police were called in. I had a few near misses, but had finally managed
to draw them into the section of the city known as the Dead Zone.

Strangers to Charlotte thought we called it that because restoration of the multi-block
area wasn't even a sparkle in the eyes of city officials. What they didn't understand
was the real meaning was much more to the point.

Go into the old banking district without knowing your way around and die. Simple.

But, if you understood the Dead Zone's ways, there was no better place for dodging
capture. I happened to know every crumbling building, every alley, and every dark
corner. Tonight, I was about to put that knowledge to good use again.  

From the shadows at the mouth of one of my old escape routes, I watched another police
car cruise by, its search lights wiping over the pitted walls and rubble of the once
beautiful skyline of Charlotte. When they moved on down the street, I stripped out
of my disguise and shoved it behind the pile of trash next to me. Another quick scan
of the street and I turned and bolted for the alley behind me.

Halfway down and shrouded in inky blackness, I hit my first piece of bad luck. Some
enterprising citizen group had scared up the money and ambition to install a forty
foot para chain link and razor wire fence, even springing for an extra topping of
extra nasty barbed wire. Beyond the fence, the rest of the alley and the road that
ran past it waited for me.

Behind, at the mouth of the alley, the search light flashed by. Breaking their usual
pattern, the cruiser had apparently turned around and come back.

I was trapped.

*  *  *

When someone wanted you dead, the two most important rules to survival were to keep
moving and not to be seen.

Cooper loped at a steady pace over the upper canopy of the Dead Zone jumping easily
from roof to roof and shadow to shadow, Marc only a few paces behind him. When they'd
first stumbled into the search area, they'd doubled back, fearing the manhunt was
for them. After some cautious reconnaissance, they'd determined that someone else
was the unlucky recipient of the city's sparse resources. As long as they stayed out
of it, they were probably safe.

That didn't stop Cooper from maintaining a hundred yard radius sweep with his senses
while his thoughts plowed through all the possibilities of who might be behind the
assassin attacks. The sooner he got this resolved, the sooner things could go back
to normal. The quicker that happened, the quicker he could be with Addison again.

As if his wish had called her forth, a familiar smell touched the edges of his perception
and his mind jolted with awareness. Cooper skidded to a stop and pivoted in the direction
of the scent. He pulled in a deep breath and tensed when he felt her fear. Deep in
his core, the wolf stirred.

Marc stuttered to stop a few feet ahead of him, turned and jogged back. Lifting his
nose, he tested the air and frowned. "She can take care of herself. We have to keep
moving."

The wolf howled, heating through Cooper's blood, silent and compelling. A growl scratched
against his throat, fighting to get out. The need to protect her was unavoidable.

Cooper ignored Marc and ran.

*  *  *

I pulled back into the deeper shadows near the building as the cruiser stopped at
the entrance to the alley. Both cops got out, one with a flashlight, the other with
his weapon drawn. They approached the trash pile cautiously. When the taller man aimed
his flashlight at the ground, my stomach felt like I'd suddenly dropped three floors.
They weren't supposed to find my disguise until morning.

"I knew I'd seen something," the taller cop said, zeroing his light in on the tuft
of blonde hair sticking out. He reached down and pulled out the bundle.

The other officer got on his iC. "Facial ID from the photo confirmed as likely. We
just found a wig and uniform matching witness descriptions."

I glanced to my right and then left, fear pressing up against my throat. If I got
caught it was all over. I couldn't help Cooper, Falcon would be in danger, and the
kids...I couldn't let that happen.

Fighting wasn't my first choice, after all the cops were just doing their job, but
it looked like I wasn't going to have a choice. I would at least try to only disable
them.

I drew my gun and braced myself.

Behind the cruiser on the other side of the street, a woman suddenly sprinted past.
For a moment I thought I was hallucinating as she flashed by the ambient glare of
the cruiser's search light.

Same hair, same build, even her clothes matched mine. If I hadn't already been so
scared, I would've been completely freaked out.

The cops turned instinctively toward the movement and their attention hit the woman
full blast. They called out for her to stop, but she either didn't hear or wasn't
interested in playing by the rules. Instead she ran faster, turning down a side street
and moving quickly out of sight.

The cops threw my disguise into their cruiser and jumped in. The guy with the flashlight
excitedly yelled into his iC while his partner threw the cruiser into gear and squealed
off after the mystery woman. A moment later, two more cruisers raced past the entrance
to the alley.

When something is too good to be true, it probably is. Maybe I could make it to the
street before the trap was sprung.

*  *  *

Cooper crouched on the edge of a building, tension pinging through him like a pinball
game on speed as the threat of danger pounded in his brain. Marc squatted next to
him.

His attention tightened as a lean, muscled woman sprinted past them on the street
below, her shoulder-length black hair streaming behind her.

"She'll get away," Marc said, relief in his voice. He stood up, anxious to go.

Cooper took a deep breath and his mood plunged deeper into the primeval shadows thickening
in his soul. "That's not her."

He pivoted and raced off, only barely aware of Marc calling to him to stop.

*  *  *

I crept toward the entrance of the alley as the sirens screaming through the streets
faded into the distance. The silhouette of a man appeared in the street and I froze.
Pressing my back against the building, I leveled my gun on him.

"You're welcome, Ms. Kittner." Bellmonte's eternally bored, sultry voice drifted down
the alley.

My grip tightened on my Browning as he stepped into the sliver of moonlight that had
managed to slice through the clouds. Calm and elegant as always, he presented a startling
contrast of rich sophistication against the filthy, ruined backdrop of the Dead Zone.

I kept a steady bead on him as I surreptitiously coded my weapon for vamp.

"I'm not here to fight, child. I'm here to help," he purred.

"You'll understand if I don't believe you." I edged along the wall toward the street.
If I could get past him, I might have a chance. Trapped in a dead end, my hope of
survival was sickeningly low.

"I'd be deeply disappointed if you did. At least until you've heard what I have to
say."

"Start with who the hell they're chasing."

"One of my employees. She has instructions not to be caught until she reaches South
Tryon. She's nearly as fast as you are. I retain high expectations for her success."

"Step back," I demanded, aiming at his head.

Bellmonte raised his hands and to my surprise, did what he was told. My suspicions
exploded.

I cautiously inched past him, my gaze never leaving his face. His eyes would give
away when he was about to pounce and where he planned to land. Any edge I could get,
no matter how small, was one that might save my life. His expression remained serene,
which for a vampire his age was very, very bad.

"You'll be delighted to learn that I've concluded you have no hope of discovering
who's behind the defamation of my good name. Therefore, I no longer require your loved
ones as leverage." He gave me a no-teeth smile. "Unfortunately, due to your efforts,
I find myself in an unenviable situation if I'm to meet the requirements of our contract."

I was almost level with him, but held back, my tension mounting. "Don't fret yourself.
I'll be fine."

"The chance of that being true is shockingly slim. Should you die, the smudge on my
stellar professional record would be catastrophic."

"Get to the point, Bellmonte. You might live for hundreds of years, but I'm on the
clock."  I stepped clear of him and was now faced with the fun of watching both the
street and the vampire.

"I believe that you're up against more than you are currently equipped to handle.
As a human, you can't possibly survive."

"Any day now."

"You require a bodyguard."

I sucked in a surprised breath before I could stop myself. "Are you applying for the
position?"

"I realize that you prefer doggy style, but sadly yes. I am." He held up his hand
when I opened my mouth to tell him where he could stick his slur against my boyfriend.
"You really have no choice in the matter. Under the stringent requirements you, yourself,
insisted upon, I can trust the job to no one but myself."

I glanced at the street, now only a scant few yards away and wondered if the fear
and outrage surging through my blood stream would give me the speed to out run him.

"Speechless with gratitude? I shall mark my calendar," he said, his tone dry.

That did it. Cocky bastard.

"I'm trying to decide why I'm about to shoot you. For insulting a man who outclasses
you in every conceivable way, or just because you're too vain to live."

Bellmonte's eyes glittered in the faint light and his features flickered toward the
skeletal monstrosity of his kind before smoothing back to normal. Good. I'd gotten
to him.

"An accurate assessment of one's obvious attributes is never vanity. Pride, now that
is another matter entirely," Bellmonte said.

I started toward the street as he gave me a benevolent smile. "Don't let yours prevent
you from taking advantage of the considerable resources at my disposal."

"It isn't the resources that worry me. It's the considerable obligations that come
with them."

"No strings attached, as you humans say."

"Puppet masters always have strings." I backed into the street, turned and ran. 

*  *  *

Above the alley, Cooper struggled to break Marc's hold on him without hurting him.
His fight was not with his clansman. His fight was below.

The need to protect Addison crashed over him again, drowning him with fear, anger,
and the urge to kill. He would rip the vampire to pieces for daring to threaten her.

For looking at her with an insatiable hunger and lust he would split his skull open
and crush his brains, shred his muscles to tattered ribbons, and splinter his bones.
He would protect her no matter the cost.

Cooper growled and Marc's grip on him tightened.

"She got away," Marc rumbled in his ear.

Below them, Lord Bellmonte strolled toward the street, stopping just short of it.
He cocked his head slightly, focusing on a point somewhere behind and above him.

"Poor little wolf," he said, his voice bouncing off the buildings and rising to pierce
Cooper's heart with rage. "She will be mine, Your Highness. And there is nothing you
can do to prevent it."

"Let him go," Marc cautioned.

Bellmonte straightened his cuffs. There was a blur of movement and the alley was empty.

Cooper shoved Marc off of him. With a roar, he slammed his fist through the roof,
crushing shingles, wood and steel.

"She's safe," Marc said, his tone calm, reasonable and designed to force Cooper to
recognize that he was being neither.

"For how long?" he growled.

"She can handle him."

"She's mine!" He spun around and snarled at Marc, letting the frustration and blood
lust surging through him spill onto his face. His Beta paled and backed away, dropping
his gaze as he raised his hands, palms out.

"What does Lord Bellmonte know that we don't?" Marc asked.

Damn it, he didn't care. But Marc was right, and the truth of it seeped through the
instinctive madness drowning him and pushed it down.

Cooper struggled to get his emotions under control. He knew he was being unreasonable,
but he couldn't seem to let it go, which frightened him. "I'll kill him before I let
him touch her."