She’d missed him. And she’d been so relieved when he’d arrived at her house a few minutes after sunset. His excitement had been contagious. Tonight, he claimed, they would complete their mission. Han was hiding somewhere near this camp. An eighty-mile radius, Russell insisted. He and Jia had a chance to prevent the battle of Tiger Town from ever happening, for tonight they would find Han and kill him.
After teleporting her to the bat cave, Russell had quickly explained the plan to her. With gloves on his hands to keep from getting burned, he’d given her a thick silver chain. “When we find Han, loop this chain around him to keep him from teleporting away. Then I’ll stake the bastard.”
At first Jia had objected. For thirteen years, she’d envisioned herself as the one to plant the stake in Han. Why should Russell have the honor?
“My need is greater,” he’d replied.
“Greater than losing my family?”
“I don’t explain myself.” When she’d raised a hand to swat him, he’d continued, “We’ll be killing him together, so half the honor will go to you.”
She made a noise of frustration now as she waited behind the boulder. Why did Russell want revenge so badly? Last night, in anger, he’d admitted that Han had put him in a coma for thirty-nine years. She suspected there was a lot more to the story than that.
Russell materialized beside her. “The camp is completely deserted.”
“Didn’t Wu Shen say something about a ceremony tonight to change more soldiers? What if Han is there?”
“I have no idea where the ceremony will take place. I do know Han’s hideout is around here. Once we find it, we can wait till he returns.”
Jia frowned. “It could be hours before he returns.”
“It could be hours before we find his hideout.” Russell patted her shoulder. “Don’t worry. Once we find his hideout, we’ve got him. If he doesn’t show up tonight, we’ll kill him tomorrow night.”
Jia nodded, her heart pounding. Thirteen years of planning and training, and it was finally happening. Not only would she have her revenge but killing Han now would also keep him from attacking Tiger Town. She could save all her friends and family there. But why was it so important to Russell?
“We’ll teleport five miles out and do a loop around the camp. Ready?” He grabbed her shoulders.
“Wait. I—” She took a deep breath. “If I’m going to help you kill someone, I deserve to know why.”
Russell gave her an impatient look. “You know why. He killed your family.”
“Yes, but what did he do to you?”
“You’re wasting our time.”
“He put you in a coma for thirty-nine years. What else happened?”
Russell gritted his teeth. “I don’t explain.”
She swatted his shoulder just before he teleported her away. When they arrived, they looked around. Dirt, rocks, a few scraggly, parched trees.
“Can you smell anything?” he asked.
She couldn’t but didn’t want to tell him. “I’m going on strike until you talk to me.”
He groaned. “We don’t have time for this. We have a lot of territory to cover.”
“Then you’d better start talking.”
He scowled at her. “You’re driving me crazy.”
“Ha! You’ve been driving me crazy for a week!”
“You’ve known me for only a week.”
“Exactly.”
He crossed his arms, glaring at her.
She crossed her arms and glared back.
“I’ll take you back to Tiger Town.” He reached for her. “The partnership is over.”
“No!” She jumped back. “You need me to find Han. Come on. Tell me what he did to you.”
“Dammit, woman!” Russell reached for her again. “Why do you need to know?”
She moved out of reach. I need to understand you. She gave him an entreating look. “Please.”
His arm dropped to his side, and he stared at her a few minutes before letting out a resigned groan. “You know what he did. He put me in a vampire coma for thirty-nine years.”
“Why? Why did he leave you like that for so long?”
Russell snorted. “I’ve been wanting to ask him that since the minute I woke up.” A pained look crossed his face. “While I lay there in a cave like a helpless lump of meat, everyone I cared about died. My parents died believing both their sons were dead.”
Jia swallowed hard. “I’m sorry.”
With a sigh, Russell turned away from her. “I was on leave in Phuket when I received the news that my brother was missing in action. I made plans to go to Saigon to see what I could find out, but something happened.” He shook his head. “I don’t remember. I just remember waking up in a cave in Thailand.”
“You don’t know how you got there?” Jia asked.
“No. But we know it was Han’s cave. Inside, he’d put hundreds of men into vampire comas and encased them in clay. They were laid out in a huge cavern like a burial ground of terra-cotta warriors. I was the only one who survived. For some reason, Han had separated me from the others. I was in a small cave by myself.”
Jia tilted her head, considering. “He took extra care with you. He must have thought you were special.”
Russell turned back to her with an exasperated look. “If I was so bloody special, why did he leave me for so long? While I was there, my men in Vietnam were drawn into an ambush. Every one of them slaughtered! If I had been with them, I might have—”
“You can’t blame yourself for that,” she interrupted.
“I should have been with them!” he shouted. “And I should have gone home. I was gone so long, my wife—”
Jia gasped. “You’re married?”
“I was. She had me declared dead.” Russell waved a dismissive hand. “She waited seven years before remarrying. I don’t blame her. I checked up on her when I finally made it back to the States. She has children and grandchildren. She’s happy. She’s better off thinking I’m dead.”
Jia winced. “I see.”
“But she had a daughter.” Russell’s eyes glimmered with tears. “Our daughter. I was scheduled to go home to meet her after she was born, but I never made it. She grew up without me and died of breast cancer at the age of forty.” His hands clenched into fists. “I never got to meet her!”
Jia’s chest constricted as she felt his pain, and she pressed a hand to her heart. “Oh, God.”
“Now you know.” He blinked away tears. “I lost my daughter. My parents. My brother. My men. My mortality. Even the fucking ranch is gone. I lost everything, thanks to Han.”
“I’m sorry.” With tears in her eyes, she ran up to Russell and placed her hands on his face. “He didn’t take everything. You still have your honor and courage. You’re still a good man.”
He snorted. “Does a good man kill for revenge?”
“A good man seeks justice.” She gave him a tremulous smile. “A good woman does, too.”
A corner of his mouth curled up, and he cradled her face with his hands. “Jia, what are you doing to me?”
“I’m trying to be a good partner.” She patted his shoulder. “We’d better get back to work.”
He studied her quietly a moment, then kissed her brow. “You’re the best partner a man could hope for.”
As her heart swelled, he teleported her to the next spot.
Two hours later, Russell was finding it increasingly hard to focus on the mission. Each time he took Jia into his arms to teleport, he held her longer than necessary. Whenever she closed her eyes to concentrate on sniffing, he found himself watching her, memorizing every curve and line of her face. If they killed Han tonight, the partnership would be over. Tiger Town would be safe, and she would return home and prepare for her betrothed’s arrival in a week.
Was this his destiny—to always lose anyone he cared about?
Frowning, she opened her eyes and pointed to the west. “There’s something about three miles that way. It smells like
burned feathers and death.”
Dead birds? “Didn’t the God Warrior say Darafer killed a bunch of birds to scare Xiao Fang?”
Jia nodded. “We must be close.”
Russell teleported her west until he, too, could smell the stench of death. Using that as a beacon, he zeroed in on a pile of burned bird carcasses. They were stacked waist high.
“Oh, my gosh.” Jia covered her nose and mouth. “There must be over a hundred of them.”
“Can you smell Han?”
She shook her head. “It’s hard to smell anything but death.”
Russell looked around. The land was hillier, but still desolate. Large boulder formations. There was a dirt road leading east with tire tracks on it. Beyond the pile of birds, he spotted something big, covered with a camouflage tarp. He zoomed over and discovered a hidden army truck.
Han’s hideout had to be close by. It was underground, but there had to be an entrance somewhere. He checked underneath the truck. Nothing but dirt.
He glanced back at Jia to make sure she was all right. She was waving at him.
He dashed over, and she pointed at footsteps leading uphill toward a boulder formation. He spotted what looked like a cave.
“Be ready.” He drew his sword. “Stay behind me.”
With a nod, she yanked a knife from her belt.
He approached the cave silently from the side, then paused, his back to the boulder by the entrance. A quick peek told him they’d found the right place. Inside the cave was a small structure made of rusted sheet metal. A camera was positioned over the door.
“We’ll teleport just inside,” Russell whispered. “Then they won’t know we’re coming.”
She bit her lip. “What if Han isn’t there? If he finds out we know about his hideout, he won’t come back.”
“We’ll have to question the soldiers, then I can erase their memories.” He gave her a wry look. “Try not to kill any of them.”
She snorted.
“You could always slap them. You’re good at that.”
Her mouth twitched. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Relieving some of my stress.”
“Let’s go.” He sheathed his sword so he could hold her, then he focused on the metal door.
They materialized just on the other side at the top of a partially enclosed stair landing. He peered around the edge of the wall. Below them was a guardroom. One guard was seated at a desk, his arms folded on top, cushioning his head as he snored away. The other four guards were immersed in a card game, sitting on the floor around a low coffee table.
Russell drew a knife from his coat pocket, then teleported down to the card game. He slammed the knife hilt into one guard’s head, knocking him unconscious, then yanked another guard up, his knife poised at the man’s throat. “Don’t move. Don’t shout,” he warned the guards.
Meanwhile, Jia ran down the stairs and pointed her knife at the remaining guards. The whole act had taken only seconds, and the guard at the desk continued to snore.
The guard with the knife at his throat was breathing heavily, but he remained silent.
One of the other guards raised his hands in surrender. “Are you here for the dragon boy?”
“Xiao Fang is here?” Jia asked. “Where?”
“Three flights down in the dungeon,” the soldier replied. “Han locked the kid up in a cage.”
Russell eyed the soldiers with suspicion. “Why are you being helpful?”
The soldiers exchanged weary looks, then the second one said, “Han slapped the kid around and said he’d starve him for a week. We’d rescue him ourselves if we could.”
“Why haven’t you?” Jia asked.
The first soldier sighed. “How can we betray Han? He’ll kill us, and then our souls will go to hell.”
“Yeah,” the second soldier muttered. “If you piss Han off, he takes you into his private room and sucks you dry.”
The first soldier nodded. “If he doesn’t kill us that way, then we’ll end up dying for him in battle.”
Russell glanced quickly around the room. There was only one door. “Where is Han?”
“He was hungry, so he teleported to a nearby village,” the first soldier said. “He always kills anyone he feeds from because he has to remove the mask.”
“Yeah,” the second soldier agreed. “No one is allowed to see his face and live.”
“What’s wrong with his face?” Jia asked.
The soldiers shrugged.
Russell wondered briefly if Han had been scarred or mutilated before becoming a vampire. “We’ll take the boy and wait for Han to return. I suggest you guys take the truck outside and leave.”
The first soldier snorted. “Where can we go that Darafer can’t find us? We’re doomed.”
“Go to the were-tiger village,” Jia suggested. “There is a doctor there who can return you to normal. You’ll no longer belong to Darafer.”
“Really?” The second soldier exchanged a hopeful look with his comrades.
“We’ll leave right away.” The first soldier eased to his feet and handed Jia a ring of keys. “So you can unlock the boy’s cell.”
Russell released his grip on the soldier he’d been holding. The men grabbed the truck keys off the table and helped get the sleeping and unconscious guards up the stairs and out the door.
Jia gave Russell a worried look. “Should we trust them? What if this is a trap?”
“We’ll find out soon enough.” Russell drew his sword and eased open the other door. It led to a stair landing. No one in sight. He hurried down the stairs with Jia close behind.
“I can smell Han,” she whispered. “I think he lives down here.”
They moved quietly along a corridor lined with doors. At the end of the hallway, Jia paused in front of a heavy door. “This is Han’s room. His scent is strong here.”
Russell tried opening the door, but it was sealed shut. “He must teleport in and out.”
She leaned close, sniffing. “He’s not here now.”
“Let’s find the boy then.” Russell headed down a narrow flight of stairs.
The third floor below ground was dimly lit with only one tube of fluorescent lighting, which tended to flicker. The air was thick and stale, the stone floor coated with dust. The area wasn’t large. One wall was stone, with manacles fastened into it. Probably for chaining a prisoner to the wall for a good whipping. There were bloodstains on the wall and floor.
The opposite wall contained four small prison cells. They were dark, but Russell spotted something huddled against the back wall of the second cell.
“Xiao Fang?” He sheathed his sword, then put his hands on the bars. His skin sizzled, and he quickly let go. Silver. With a wince, he flexed his seared fingers. Han had put the boy in a silver cage to keep any Vamps from teleporting in or breaking through.
“Are you all right?” Jia asked.
“Yeah.” He reached in his pocket for some heavy gloves. “Unlock the door.”
Jia tried one key after another on the heavy padlock. “Xiao Fang, is that you? We’ve come to rescue you.”
As Russell slipped on his gloves, he saw the huddled mass straighten. It was the boy, standing at the back of the cave. “It’s all right,” Russell reassured him. “We’ll take you to Tiger Town. Neona is there. And Winifred. You can talk to her, right?”
The boy eased forward slowly. When he came into view, Russell winced at the bruises on the kid’s face. There was a cut along one of his cheekbones and dried blood on his swollen lips. The poor kid was probably afraid to trust them.
Jia unlocked the door and swung it open. The boy took a hesitant step forward.
She smiled at him. “I’m a shifter, too. A were-tiger. I teach martial arts, and one of my students really wanted to rescue you himself. His name is Norjee, and he calls you his brother.”
A wheezing sound escaped from Xiao Fang. He ran straight to Jia and wrapped his arms around her. She held him tight
and looked up at Russell with tears in her eyes.
Russell’s heart expanded. He hadn’t known he could still feel this much joy. He tousled the boy’s hair. If only he’d rescued the boy a week ago when he’d had the chance. But he’d opted for revenge instead. He’d chosen hate over love. Never would he make that mistake again.
“How touching,” a muffled voice announced from the top of the stairs.
Russell spun around as he drew his sword. “Stay behind me,” he whispered to Jia and the boy.
Han stood at the top of the stairs, dressed in a red silk robe. The fluorescent light flickered off his golden mask and the golden sheath attached to his belt. “I’ve been waiting for you to find me, Russell.”
“You . . . know me?” Russell frowned. There was something familiar about the way Han said his name. And the golden sheath was at least a foot long. That had to be one badass dagger.
Han chuckled. “Of course I know you. You bear my mark. I chose you.”
“You left me to rot in a cave for thirty-nine years.”
Han waved a dismissive hand. “You didn’t rot. The other men did, but I was very careful with you.” He descended the stairs slowly. “I checked on you every three months. About once a year, I would feed you a few drops of my blood to keep you healthy.”
“Healthy? I was in a coma! For thirty-nine years.”
Han shook his head. “An insignificant amount of time when you can live forever. But I was quite shocked and disheartened when I discovered you were missing. After all, you belong to me.”
“Never,” Russell growled, lifting his sword. “I’m killing you tonight.”
Han shook his head. “There have been so many times when I could have killed you. Did you never wonder why I didn’t?” He paused on the bottom step. “When we took you and your foolish friends captive, I made sure no harm came to you. Even when you killed Lord Ming, I made no move to stop you.”
A sick feeling settled in Russell’s gut, but he ignored it. Han was just playing some sort of mind game. “You’re a bastard. You deserve to die.”
“Why? Because I have the balls to take over the world? You will rule the world with me, Russell. As my underling, of course, but still, it is your destiny to be by my side.”