Bitten to Death

Chapter Thirty-One

We took the plane back, since there were too many of us for the helicopter and we were in a helluva hurry. Jack harassed us all the way from Skofja Loka to the Trust, tripping people up, ramming his big shoulders into our legs in a way his grin said was friendly but I began to think was otherwise. As Admes bused us all to the villa, I whispered in Jack’s ear, “You don’t have to tell me how much this plan sucks. But until you come up with a better idea, it’s all I’ve got.”

Trayton and his pack, along with Kozma and the five werebears he could muster on short notice, met us at the Trust’s borders, followed us inside the mansion, and provided the numbers we needed to herd everyone into Hamon’s hallway. They, more than anything, had convinced the Trust vamps to follow my lead.

“It’s this or war,” I’d told them flatly. “The Weres have agreed to lay aside their grudges against you, righteous though they are, in return for your cooperation with my plan.”

Opening the doors to Hamon’s suite again posed something of a dilemma until I decided to summon the vision one last time.

Gesturing with my good arm for Genti to step out of the crowd, I had Trayton and Phoebe hold him as I pulled my knife. “You’ve got a lot to answer for,” I told the shaking vamp. “It’s hard to know where to start.” I nodded to Aine, who stood near the back of the crowd wearing a dark red veil, her hand steady on Admes’s elbow. “But I’m thinking you can give her some payback right now.”

I directed Phoebe to hold his arm over the case that held the fedora and, with one quick move, slit the sleeve of his fancy blue jacket as well as a foot-long opening in his skin. Phoebe snarled, her silver-painted eyelids crinkling with delight, as the blood poured onto the glass. “Trayton can remember you cheering as he fought,” she whispered into the vampire’s ear. “Your pain is like candy to me, suckster.”

“Put your fangs away,” I told her. “You know the deal. You bite somebody, you’re going to start a new fight I’m not willing to referee.”

She glanced at Trayton, who gestured for her to back off. He returned my grateful nod and added a slow wink that reminded me I wasn’t alone in this. I glanced down the line at Cole and Dave, who each gave me a sober nod. So good to have trusted people at my back again. It made even this tonnage easier to bear.

I stared back at the blood. Whispered, “Okay, Hamon. Now would be a good time to—”

He didn’t rise this time. Genti’s blood simply rearranged itself on the case, taking the familiar form of Eryx’s image. Nobody else reacted, which almost made me wish I could give one of them this extra eye I’d grown. Almost, but not quite. Maybe, I thought, maybe Dave was right. I could find all kinds of reasons to bitch and whine about my Sensitivity. About my potential love interest. But if I didn’t have either, where would I be?

“Is it done?” Eryx asked. He blinked, an odd movement that made droplets run down his cheeks like bloody tears. “No. I can still feel the threat to the Trust.”

“We’re outside your room,” I said. “I need your help to get in.”

The eyes closed again, the entire face clenching in concentration. Seconds later the barred gate blew open. “Good work,” I said, but the face was gone.

I went first, Jack trotting at my side. Hamon had also opened the door to the Preserve. The lights were even on. What a welcome.

I led the way to the center of the Preserve, surrounding myself once again with that sense of history you only get when someone a thousand years’ gone has crafted the items you currently share space with. But the costumes and shields, the magic bones and blood cups did nothing to help me brush aside the depression that wanted to crush me like a bug beneath its heel.

This is the right thing to do. The only way to save Vayl, I told myself. And, listen, it doesn’t mean anything has to change for him. Or between the two of you. Before cynical me could rip off a hearty laugh, I poured her a Jack and Coke and shoved her into the arms of a guy who owned a Ferrari. She shut right up.

I took my place beside the mask, which was blinking. Okay, pretend that doesn’t make you want to find the nearest bat and practice your home run swings on Octavia’s wooden head. It helped that I couldn’t have held one at the moment. Dave had immobilized my arm on the plane and, now that I was a pack member, Krios had willingly sent a doc to the airport for me in one of those mobile clinics set up inside an RV. He gave me a local anesthetic, a brace, and an urging to visit the hospital the second I had a spare day.

Cole came behind me, carrying the front end of Vayl’s litter. I allowed myself a spurt of happiness at the reminder that I hadn’t watched him die after all. Cassandra had been right. Which did us no damn good at the moment. My boss had entered some sort of coma state, and nobody could explain to him that his sons were still alive because they weren’t Cam and Cole to begin with.

The ice had begun to melt as soon as Vayl lost consciousness. But it had left his clothes a shredded mess. I’d found a thin yellow blanket on the plane, and that’s what covered him now, making him look like a sick kid who’s spent way too long in the nurse’s office waiting for his parents to pick him up from school.

Cam carried the other end of Vayl’s stretcher. Despite the pain in my collarbone, I could’ve danced across the floor to see both his eyes open, though their customary twinkle had been replaced by the grim face he wore in battle. He’d survived the fight only because he’d worn his own body armor, which had covered even more skin than Cole’s. Thank God for that, because the shooter’s bullet had hit him in the armpit. A death blow to any but a Special Ops trooper who was issued the best of everything.

Genti and his crew followed, guarded by Dave, who’d loaded his crossbow with a Bergman special. Which meant, as he’d reminded them, if any one of them decided to get snippy, they’d experience a repeat of the Koren incident. Only this time we’d all stand and wait until the smartass burned.

Niall and Admes, still escorting Aine, walked around to the side of the dais opposite mine. Disa’s guards were flanked by Kozma and his bears: burly, broad-chested men who looked like they spent their weekends braiding saplings into giant slingshots. They carried Disa on a second litter, which Tarasios walked beside, making sure the sword that still impaled her caused no more damage.

Trayton’s pack came last, led by Krios, who’d promised to make sure everyone behaved, even the hotheaded dockworker who’d been so ready to war the last time I’d seen him.

Yeah, I hadn’t left much to chance.

The second I’d understood what the vision wanted back in Skofja Loka, as soon as I’d realized all the ramifications, I’d pretty much called in all my favors. To orchestrate an event that would force me to betray my basic instinct. Which was to grab Vayl and get him as far away from the monstrosity of a mask at my side as soon as I could. But that, I knew, would kill him.

The guards laid Disa on the floor at the foot of the mask. Cam and Cole had already given Vayl a spot of his own on the carpet beside me. They flanked him in a good imitation of Disa’s former shieldmen, though each of my guys held an armed crossbow. The message should’ve been clear to the assembled Trust members. But I drew Grief and pressed the magic button anyway. Jack looked up at me when he heard the whir of working gears.

“Stay low,” I told him. He sat. Well, it was a start.

Admes, Niall, and Aine came to stand beside me. “Are you ready?” asked Niall.

I swallowed the obscenity that lay like salt on my tongue. But I supposed Niall saw it on my face, because he said, “Vayl will be an excellent Deyrar. And he should not have to give up his work with you in order to continue the Trust’s business here.”

I looked at him, feeling colder than I’d be if I were truly dead. “Vayl left this place for a reason. Now we’re cementing him to it. If you don’t think he’s going to be sick and pissed, you don’t know him at all.”

Cole put his hand on my arm. I appreciated the outreach. Because I knew I was betraying everything Vayl had fought so hard for when he’d separated himself from the Vampere world decades ago. But I’d seen injuries like Disa’s before. Vamps didn’t recover from them. They simply died more slowly than usual.

Cam and Cole stepped forward to remove the mask from its stand. As soon as they touched it, the keening began, emerging from the mouth of the mask like an opera singer’s death scream. Jack began to whine. I shook my head.

Admes and Niall went to kneel by Disa, pulling her into a sitting position so the mask would slide down over her head and torso. “Don’t allow any part of your body to go inside the mask with her,” I warned them. “I can’t predict what would happen, but I don’t think it would be good.” I looked at my guys. “Ready?” They nodded. “Okay, here I go.”

I strode over to Disa, took a firm grip on Vayl’s sword with my good hand as I planted my foot in her chest and yanked. She didn’t feel a thing. Krios’s doc had her on so many painkillers she could’ve smiled through an elephant stampede. In fact, you might even say she was in a state of ecstasy.

As soon as the sword was free, our men lowered the mask over her, holding it steady so it wouldn’t topple over. We heard one piercing scream. And then, with the stomach-churning sound of rending flesh and crushing bone, her entire body began to rise up into the mask.

Cole looked at me, his eyes rounder than the poker chips that sat in my hip pocket. “This is bad, Jaz. Worse than watching all the Friday the 13th movies in one sitting. Which I did once.”

“This is what she wanted to do to Vayl,” I said. I knew it sounded cold, and I was sorry. Not for Disa. She’d dug her plot. But for me. Because I didn’t care.

Suddenly the mask’s eyes opened. Bored into mine. I felt light, almost separate from myself, like I had those few times when I’d actually traveled outside my body. I put my good hand on the mask to steady myself. The power beat into me, as if the entire Trust had balled up its mojo and thrust it through my chest. And I could hear her, Octavia, speaking to me just like Raoul sometimes did. Only her voice didn’t make me feel like my brain was about to shatter. In fact, it spoke so softly I could barely make out the words as they fell like coals from a burning log. However, at last I knew what she wanted.

“Aine needs to go into the mask,” I said.

“What?” Dave’s voice, its tone telling me I’d just leaped into Ludicrous Land.

Every vampire in the Trust began to protest. Loudly.

I began to speak. But the words weren’t ones I recognized. Not English, certainly. Just ones Octavia begged me to repeat. The vampires recognized it at once.

“What’s she doing?” Dave demanded. I felt him grab me around the waist. It jarred my collarbone, sending a brain-blowing shaft of pain through my chest and arms.

“Trayton, don’t let him pull me off the mask!” I gasped.

I heard the entire pack growl, lifting every hair on my body, and he let go. I kept talking, the words coming awkwardly off my tongue. Would anyone understand? Octavia, speak up! Slow down! I can’t—what was that word?

Trayton’s hand, gentle under my good elbow now, bore me up. His immense trust calmed me, focused me. Octavia’s voice came clearer. I repeated her speech exactly.

“What’s she saying?” Cole demanded.

Niall’s voice, distant and oddly lilting. “Because Hamon was murdered. Because Vayl is unwilling and Disa is undeserving, Octavia can reverse the power of the mask. If Aine wears it now, instead of it consuming her, it will pour all the partners’ knowledge into her. She will be able to lead alone for the first time since the Trust was formed.”

Leaving Vayl off the hook!

I dropped my hand and, still leaning on Trayton, turned to the vampire holding Admes’s arm. “Aine?” I asked. “Are you willing to risk it?”

After a tense, quiet moment when I swore I could hear my own breath moving in and out of my lungs, Aine stepped forward and held out her hands. Yes!

By now every vestige of Disa had disappeared into the mask. Cam and Cole picked it up one more time. They walked it to where Aine stood with her arms outstretched as if to give them each a big hug. When her hands contacted wood, she clutched at it, helping them lift the mask and then lower it slowly over her head.

For a minute nothing happened. And then Aine began clawing at the outside of the mask, her fingernails leaving tiny furrows in the wood as they moved from the rounded cheeks to the closed heart-door and off. Still she stood, apparently in one piece. Except for the scratching, which continued pretty much uninterrupted for the next five minutes. Until, suddenly, she screamed.

Admes lunged forward, reaching out for the mask. Cam shoved his crossbow into the warrior’s chest. “I wouldn’t,” he said mildly.

“She’s dying in there!”

“She’s screaming,” I told him. “But she has no means of making music on her. I’d say that’s a pretty significant development, wouldn’t you?”

“Admes,” said a smooth, silky baritone that I’d begun to think I might never hear again. “Tell me you are not threatening my son.” Admes raised his hands and backed away as Vayl lifted himself off the floor, using the sword sheath we’d laid across his chest to help him balance as he leaned forward.

I went to my knees beside him, Trayton making sure the move didn’t jar my shoulder. “Vayl.” I reached out, hesitated, touched the tips of my fingers to his cheek. So cold. He’d need blood soon. And this time I’d make sure it came from me.

I slipped my hand behind his neck. “I thought . . .” I stopped. Gawd. This is about to be one of those moments. I backed away. And then, Aw, screw it. “Don’t ever do that to me again, you hear me?” I swung my leg over both of his, wrapped my good arm around his neck, and gave his luscious lips the attention they’d been begging for from the moment I’d laid eyes on them.

When I finally pulled back Vayl said, “We really must do this more often.” He looked over my head. “But perhaps without the audience?”

“Agreed. And, uh, about the son thing?” I flipped his collar up and down until he captured my hand in his. “Sorry. Maybe I’ve developed a new nervous habit. Anyway”—I squeezed his fingers, hoping it would comfort him a little—“we’re pretty sure they’re not. According to Cassandra, Erilynn couldn’t have seen either one of them. And they both seem to have been manipulated to that place by Disa. I doubt she has any contacts in the Agency or the military, so she was probably just pushing her Trust’s weight around, which she seemed to be better at than any of us gave her credit for. We underestimated her, Vayl.”

He went absolutely still, his face draining of expression. I suddenly felt like I was cuddling with one of those statues you occasionally see perched on park benches. After a moment he moved, but the only sign of disappointment was the slight drop of his chin, the downturn of his lips. “I must stand,” he said.

“Of course.” Trayton’s hand was the one that reached out to lift me off his lap, that continued to hold mine when Vayl rose without looking at or touching me, as much in his own world as the lover in that god-awful poem Eryx liked so much. He stood in his tattered clothes, soaked as a bad surfer, his deep purple eyes taking turns studying Cole and Cam.

Trayton leaned in. “Look at me.”

I turned my head, couldn’t help but smile a bit as I found myself searching for his gleaming eyes between strands of fine black hair. “What is it?” I asked.

“He’s not going to be an easy one to love,” Trayton said, with a sideways nod at my boss.

“How can you tell?”

“Because I have a complicated partner myself.” He winked at Phoebe, who seemed poised to tear my hair from its roots the moment Krios gave her permission to ditch her post.

Would you chill? I mouthed to her. She looked pointedly at my hand, still entwined with Trayton’s. I pulled it free on the pretext of settling Cirilai more firmly on my finger.

Vayl moved closer to me. “What is happening?” he asked, nodding to Aine, who still struggled inside the mask.

I explained as Jack shoved his nose into my thigh, looking for his share of affection. Since he was sitting on my left between Vayl and me, my sverhamin helped us both out, crouching down to give the dog a thorough petting.

“I’m sorry,” I said as I finished the story. “I knew it wasn’t what you wanted. But I couldn’t think of any other way to save your life.”

When Vayl looked up I felt his power reach out to me as never before. And though he didn’t move to touch me, the soft breeze of it caressed me like a cool winter wind. I nearly closed my eyes, the sensation overtook me so completely. But I couldn’t relax. Because our work wasn’t finished yet.

We were reminded of this when Aine finally stopped moaning, fighting, scrabbling at the mask and stood perfectly still. Blood sprang from the corners of the mask’s eyes, ran down its face, and caught in the furrows that Vayl had thought the carver meant as whiskers. It spread outward to the edges of the mask and farther, taking new routes no artist had drawn for it, until lines of red covered it from top to bottom. The mask shivered. Cracked. And fell into pieces at Aine’s feet.

Collective gasp as every single creature in the room, human and other, discovered that the mask had given Aine a new face. She might have been Disa’s cousin. The eyes were Octavia’s. Maybe the heart and spine belonged, at least partially, to Hamon’s former mate as well. But the rest of the face had definitely been Disa’s.

Aine stepped forward. The voice I didn’t recognize. Maybe it was hers, given wings now that she had a mouth and a nose to do the work her keyboard had taken over after her injury. “Words of thanks are so inadequate. We are forever in your debt.” She wasn’t being queenly. When she said we, she motioned to everyone in the Trust. I wasn’t sure Genti and his bunch would agree with her, but I was willing to rise above if they could keep their mouths shut.

“Honestly, Aine, this is the best possible scenario for us. Eryx only gave me one other option to Disa’s death, and though we were following it, I knew it was going to make Vayl utterly miserable.”

“When did you see Hamon?” asked Dave.

“I was having visions of him,” I said. “Every time I came across a big puddle of blood, there he’d be.”

“Why didn’t you say something?”

“It didn’t really seem like something a sane person would be experiencing. So . . .”

Aine said, “He came to me inside the mask as well.”

“And now?” I asked. “Is he . . . gone?”

She nodded. “He and Octavia both. And the mask”—she looked back at it, now lying in pieces on the floor—“it is shorn of its powers. We will have to find a new way of governing in this Trust.”

Aine was looking at Vayl now, and I could see the invitation in her eyes. He must have too, because he began shaking his head before she could get the words out. “My place is in America with my avhar. But first”—he looked at Cole and Cam—“yes. Perhaps a trip to my homeland. I believe it is finally time to tie up some very old loose ends. And then I will be able to search for my sons with a new heart.” His eyes came to mine. “One that has made room for all kinds of love.”

Vayl said more. And Cole made some comment, an angry one I thought, since his hair waggled and spit flew, but my mind began roaring as soon as I heard the word “love” spoken in that possessive tone of voice Vayl only gets when he’s talking about what matters to him most. Usually he reserved it for conversations involving his boys. Now he’d added me to the mix.

It’s okay. Don’t panic. This is a good thing. Like winning the lottery. With fangs.

Inside my head Granny May was cackling like a hen as she waved her hands, dispersing all the other in-dwellers to their appointed places now that the worst of the danger was over. As I glared at her, waiting for her to whip out the hanky and dry the at-my-expense tears, she shook her head at me and snorted, You sure can pick ’em, Jazzy. Hey, for an encore, I’d be highly entertained if I had a hobbit for a great-grandchild.

You pipe down, Gran. I can easily dream up an old-folks’ home for you. One that doesn’t serve macaroni and cheese or apple pie.

My mind filled with silence. It wouldn’t last. Already I could feel the niggling fears that Samos had made too good of a deal with his devil. Cole still needed his answer. My dad’s attacker wouldn’t lay low forever. And I might do something phenomenally stupid to lose my chance with Vayl.

I met his amber eyes, my heart skipping a beat as they crinkled at the corners.

Or not.