Jude grinned. “I knew you’d cave eventually. But this good news is not going to distract me from asking what the hell’s going on between you and Salem.”
“Nothing is, and nothing will be.”
Alora’s mouth dropped open. “Dear God, why not? I mean, he’s scary but he’s also spectacularly hot. Just don’t tell Evan I said that.”
“He wants a serious relationship.” I repeated the things Salem had said, including the possessive words he’d spoken.
Alora actually fanned herself. “I think I’m going to swoon.” I laughed, shaking my head.
Jude leaned back, folding her arms. “Do you think by ‘hold you tight’ he meant he wants you guys to Bind?”
Huh. I hadn’t even considered that. Binding was so much more than marriage – a powerful psychic connection formed between the two vampires, joining them on a level that far surpassed anything else. “I can’t imagine Salem ever Binding with anyone.” He was just too…Salem. Serious. Curt. Emotionally introverted. Too guarded to ever give that much of himself to anyone.
“But he wants a real relationship?”
I nodded. “And I just…I can’t. I’ve told you about my unsuccessful dating life.” It had been just like my childhood – a constant cycle of people unable to accept me as I was, trying to change me. “I’ve learned my lesson.”
“You say that like it’s going to be easy for you to keep resisting him.” Alora’s perceptive eyes were sympathetic. “Ava, nothing about this is easy for you. You’ve been drawn to the scary bastard since day one.”
I’d never found him scary. “He makes me feel safe.”
Jude seemed stunned. “Well, he makes me nervous.”
Yeah, that was a typical reaction toward Salem. But I didn’t think I was weird for feeling safe with him or for finding him kind of adorable. In my opinion, these people who feared him didn’t see what I saw; didn’t see the unfailingly loyal guy who put everything he was into everything he did, who was so invested in his job because he cared about the safety of his kind. They only saw the surface – the grunting, scowling, sullen surface that watched everything with a predator’s eye.
Sure, he could be dour and growly. But just because he didn’t bother to put on a polite pretence and smile pleasantly at everyone didn’t make him a bad person. It made him someone who chose not to hide behind a front, who chose to be who he was and not let people’s judgements bother him.
He was also a person who concealed a great deal of pain and guilt, who believed he deserved to suffer. That, too, wasn’t the sign of a bad person. It was the sign of someone living in his own private, self-imposed torment who needed to damn snap out of it.
“Butch makes me nervous too,” continued Jude. “I mean, have you seen him and Salem when they go on assignments? They love what they do.” Ha! Like Jude was any more stable! She freakishly loved using that scary knife of hers to slice and dice. She was one of those people who seemed calm and polite but would soon as cut your throat than look at you. It didn’t seem to bother her boyfriend, Chico, though.
“I once heard Salem say that killing was the only thing he was good at,” said Alora. “It’s so sad that he sees that as his only talent.”
Well, he was good at it. He didn’t hesitate, didn’t give anyone an opening, didn’t balk at anything he had to do, and didn’t show an ounce of mercy. His ability to throw psychic punches suited his violent nature. But there was more to him than that, and it was definitely sad that he didn’t see it.
“What are you going to do about him?” Jude smiled weakly. “I mean, it doesn’t seem like he’s going to take no for an answer.”
“I can hardly blame him. One second I’m rejecting him, the next second I’m kissing him. Talk about mixed messages.”
Alora waved a hand. “You’re a vampire – a naturally sexual creature. It sort of makes you a sure thing.”
I snorted. “That’s the shittiest excuse I’ve ever heard. But I’ll take it.”
“Let’s look at the situation outside the box.” Alora crossed her legs. “Now that you’ve decided to stay here, it means you’re going to live on an island where no guy is going to risk touching you, which means unless you want to start batting for the other team, your sex life is going to suffer. But here’s this guy – hot, intense, and willing to be totally committed to you – who can give you what you want when you want it.
“Obviously it’s worth noting that you find relationships tricky and uncomfortable. Based on your experiences with dickheads, you’re sure that Salem will try to mould you into someone you’re not. But is that fair to him? Maybe you should give him more credit than that.”
Jude nodded. “He doesn’t strike me as the type to make decisions lightly. For him to want more than just some fun with you, he must really like what he sees so far.”
“Maybe,” I allowed. “But being with Salem would be really hard for both of us. I mean, he’s super, super intense. He’ll walk all over me if I let him. Which I won’t, so that’ll cause lots of arguments because he likes to have his own way.”
“He’d get bored with a woman who didn’t push back.” Alora sighed. “Evan’s the same. He tries to take over all the time, only he’s smooth and subtle about it. When I call him on it, he just shrugs and smiles. I can’t get mad at him when he smiles at me like that.”
“He still pressuring you to Bind with him?” Jude asked.
“Every damn day.” Alora wasn’t yet ready for that, since her last attempt at Binding went completely tits up. She wanted them to know each other much better first, and to be sure what they had was solid. I could understand that. “But if he gave up, he wouldn’t be Evan.”
I smiled at her. “Sorry, I know he’s yours and everything, but I have to say Evan is, like, achingly gorgeous.”
The redhead’s smile matched mine. “Oh, I know. He’s got a real talented mouth, too.”
I leaned forward. “Ooh, do tell.”
(Salem)
As Sam requested, I came to the office that she shared with Jared in the main building of The Hollow. Before the attack a few months ago, the mansion had been solely Antonio’s home. He’d offered it to Sam and Jared when they ascended, but the couple felt that it was too much Antonio’s, and they didn’t feel right asking him to move out.
As such, the pair lived on the beach in a house that Antonio had had built for them. The mansion was now split into two, at his request; half was his ‘living quarters’, and half was office space – complete with conference rooms – for Sam and Jared. Antonio had felt that such space should be in the centre of the community, thus placing significance on the pair’s role and status.
Sam and Ryder were in the office, sitting either side of her desk. When I entered, she smiled. “All right, Salem. Take a seat.” She gestured to the chair next to Ryder.
I’d met Ryder only a handful of times, since his bloodlust wasn’t yet under total control so he didn’t mingle much. I’d liked him well enough…right up until I heard Ava describe him as ‘pretty’. My jealous ‘How the hell can a guy be pretty?’ question had been met with ‘He has such soft features and emerald-green eyes’. So now I kind of hated him, which was why I only gave him a brusque nod – something he seemed to find amusing.
“It turns out Marge was telling the truth about the owner of the brothel.” Sam twirled her pen between her fingers in a fidgety movement. “All that was left in her memory was a vague silhouette; no features, no name, no hint of what breed of vampire she could be. Marge doesn’t even remember how she came to be hired. I told Ryder everything you told me, so he’s going to take a look at your memories.”
Ryder turned to me. “If the weak silhouette in your mind matches the one I saw in Marge’s memory, we’ll know this is the same person.”
“I strongly recommend you don’t go looking anywhere else in my head.”
He gave me a solemn nod. “I can assure you that I have no intention of doing so – if for no other reason than it takes up
energy I’d rather not waste.”
I grunted. “Fair enough.”
“It’ll be easier and faster if you can bring what memories you have to the forefront of your mind – even if they’re unclear. Think about the times you glimpsed her, what she was doing.”
Concentrating hard, I dug up my memories of the woman. I almost lost my hold on them when I felt Ryder’s presence in my head. It didn’t hurt, but it was fucking weird. Like having a hand inside my skull, rooting around.
After a few moments, Ryder pulled back. “It’s the same woman.”
Sam began fiddling with her pen again. “Salem, you say your Sire worked for her?”
“Yes.”
“It’s possible that we could track her through him.”
“Could he really tell us anything about her that we don’t already know, considering her gift protects her?” I somehow doubted it.
“Maybe he might not be able to tell us anything new about her. But he could remember anyone who worked alongside her.”
“Marge has memories of two Pagoris who were the woman’s – and this was Marge’s word for them – lackeys,” Ryder informed me. “Oddly, though, their faces were just as vague.”
I frowned. “So if someone’s with the woman, her gift protects their identity too?”
“Possibly,” replied Sam. “It could be that she acts as a type of shield, like Butch. All she would need to do is touch or stand very close to them for her gift to protect them, if that’s the case.” She shrugged. “The thing is that the brothel has only been up and running for six months. I’m guessing your Sire’s fighting club has existed for much longer.”
I nodded. “Years.”
“Then it’s possible that at some point, she made a mistake. She didn’t shield one of her ‘lackeys’ or sent them in her place. If so, your Sire would have their names and faces in his brain.”
If Sam thought I could contact him and he’d helpfully tell us what he knew, she was going to be disappointed. “He and I parted on bad terms.” I hadn’t heard from Will since I left for the try-outs. He hadn’t been too pleased about it, had taken it personally. There hadn’t been any yelling. Will rarely lost his cool. But his rage and sense of betrayal had vibrated along our blood-link.
“You think he’ll be difficult?”
I shook my head. “He’ll give you information if you ask for it. But he’ll want something in return. Will never does anything for nothing.”
“Do you think it’s possible that he had any involvement in the brothel?”
“No. Will’s a lot of things, and he’s capable of a lot of things. But although he’s not big on following laws, he has his own set of principles and he sticks to them. He believes it’s wrong to hurt women and children.”
Sam thought on that for a moment. “I’ll contact him later, see what I can find out. Right now, we need to go hunt down Marge’s ‘suppliers’, as she thinks of them – the people who kidnapped and sold the victims to her. There were names and clear images of them in her mind. Our researchers should have their locations by now.”
“How many are there?”
“Four, in total. It’s a little group of Kejas who like to dabble in trafficking. Each of the bastards will have an entire squad from the legion tracking them. Hopefully that’s enough.”
A little while later, we discovered that, to everyone’s utter fucking dismay, it wasn’t enough. Each of the suppliers had done as Sam had suspected and gone to ground. Their apartments were empty, and it was clear that they had left in a hurry. The vampires from their small nest – who made their dislike of the group of four very clear – claimed to have no knowledge of where they were or how to reach them. They promised to get in touch with Sam and Jared if the group made contact.
Back at The Hollow, Sam threw a series of energy balls at the sea, and it was clear then why Jared had wanted to discuss the issue outside – he’d sensed that she was on the verge of exploding.
“Either they found out what happened to the brothel, or the owner warned them to lie low,” growled Sam, pacing.
“She could have killed them,” suggested Harvey. “She wouldn’t want any witnesses, right?”
“Considering what her gift is,” began Ava, “I doubt that she’ll be worrying about that. It will have made her overconfident.”
I’d been thinking the same thing. “She’s likely to think she’ll never be caught, or she probably wouldn’t have opened the brothel in the first place.”
Chico sighed. “So what now?”
“Now we place our trust in the researchers.” Jared didn’t move his eyes from a severely pissed Sam as he spoke. “They’re going to search through what records they have on Pagori lines, find the names of vampires who have a gift that allows them to be untraceable.”
“You could put bounties over the heads of the suppliers,” proposed Paige. “You could even make a statement over V-Tube about the brothel. It will quickly go viral.” V-Tube was the vampiric version of YouTube and was often used as a way for Sam and Jared to post messages.
Sam paused in her pacing. “That could work.”
“It proved effective when you wanted Paige found,” Imani chipped in. “She’d managed to maintain a low profile for a long time until then.”
Beside Imani, Butch nodded. “If nothing else, it will make the suppliers panic even further, could rob them of any allies they have.”
Sam turned to Jared, a smile forming on her face. “I like this idea.”
Jared took her hand. “Then let’s do it.”
CHAPTER FOUR
(Ava)
Hoping to catch Sam before she started work the next evening, I headed to the beach house a little after dusk. It was Jared who opened the door, his hazel eyes widening in surprise. “Ava,” he greeted simply. “Come on in.”
“Thanks.” I’d been inside many times before, and I was totally jealous. The place was bright, relaxing, and homey. And it had great eye candy. Honestly, Jared was like the personification of sex. But I preferred Salem’s rough, hard looks to Jared’s pretty face.
Taking in my wide smile, he groaned. He looked exhausted. “You’re a dusk person, aren’t you?” I just giggled, which made him groan again. “You know where to find her.” He disappeared into the kitchen while I went into the living area, where Sam sat on the floor, cursing at the T.V.
“Evening,” I sang.
Without turning, she held up her finger. “One sec, Ava. Give me one sec.” She was playing on her PlayStation; she was literally addicted to the thing.
“Ooh, can I play?”
Suddenly, Jared was between us, having moved in vampire speed. “No. No. No. The last time that happened, the pair of you were on it for two hours.” He handed me a cola-flavoured NST and pointed to the sofa. “Over there. And stop smiling. It’s too early for chirpiness.”
“Killjoy.” I went to sit beside Sam’s snake, Dexter. As I greeted him and lightly stroked his white scales, they turned a brilliant blue. Dexter had been a gift from Antonio’s Sire, who had the ability to make his pictures come to life. After Wes drew a snake on Sam’s arm, it instantly became a tattoo that could become a live snake. He was a mix of a rattlesnake, the black mamba, spitting cobra, and a garter snake – a breed Wes had termed ‘Strikers’, and I badly wanted one. Dexter’s colouring actually changed with his mood. To go from white to brilliant blue meant he had gone from relaxed to happy.
Jared sighed tiredly at his mate, who was again cursing at the T.V. “Baby, get off the damn thing! You haven’t even touched your breakfast!” Actually, to be fair, it looked like she’d nibbled on her toast and possibly had one swig of her NST. “Sam…”
“Fine.” Ending the game, she turned to face us and shot me a bright smile, though it was strained. She was calmer than last night, more composed, but she was still seething inside. “Evening, Ava. Please tell me you’re here to accept my offer.”
I returned her smile. “Actually, I am.”
Her expressio
n smug, she pointed at Jared. “Ha. Told you.”
“I said that you’d refuse the offer and go back to your brother,” he explained to me. “Not because I didn’t think you had it in you to join the legion, but because I know what it’s like to be really close to your sibling. I’d hate to leave Evan behind.”
Ah, well that really did explain it. “I called Cristiano last night and told him I’d decided to stay. He admitted he’ll miss having me around, but he wants me to be happy more than anything else. He said if this makes me happy, I have his support.”
Sam smiled at Jared. “See, he’s not all bad.”
Jared snorted, and I had to laugh. It was true that Cristiano got some perverse joy out of pissing people off – me being the only exception – and he’d certainly pissed off Jared by flirting with Sam. She didn’t realise that Cristiano wasn’t just dicking around; he really did care about her. But Jared saw that, and he hated it.
Sam took a swig of her NST. “What made you decide to stay?”
“Going on the assignment, seeing what kind of fucked up shit goes on in the world, made me realise just how important the legion is. I want to be part of that. And it’s always fun to watch you work, Sam. No one does interrogations quite like you.”
She bowed. “Why, thank you.”
Jared gave her an indulgent smile. “I can agree with Ava on that one.”
“Have you heard anything about the survivors yet?” I asked them before taking a gulp of my NST.
“Mary Jane phoned half an hour ago,” replied Sam. Mary Jane, who had been a nurse in her human life, liked to act as one at The Hollow. “Denny, Stuart, Reuben, and Max have all recovered. The survivors are looking better after being on a drip of blood. They’re healing and not as gaunt, but they’re flitting in and of consciousness. They can move a bit and sometimes they even talk. But they can’t get up, and they’re not making sense. Like someone who has a fever.”