Laws of the Blood 2: Partners (29 page)

And since when did he use words like
disturbed
? Pissed off. He would have been
pissed off.
Char had messed up his mind
and
his vocabulary, not to mention totally trashing everything he believed in.

“You’ll get over it.”

His gaze shifted from the feeding vampire to meet her eyes, and he wondered how long she’d been looking at him, into him, while he watched that
creature
take a human li—

“He’s dead,” Char cut him off.

“You sure?” Haven demanded. “Is he going to wake up as an undead in a couple of minutes?”

“That isn’t how our kind of vampire is made. It isn’t an infection with us—none of that hillbilly animated dead corpse crap in our family tree. Besides, Daniel’s too young to make a blood-child.”

“You’re sure?”

“I’m sure. Let it go, Jebel. I feel sorry for that poor man in some ways. I think he was always dead. Some people can’t be saved. Some shouldn’t be. You were,” she added. “Finding out about the underneath world was the best thing that ever happened to you. It gave you purpose, Jebel. Some of us need a higher purpose to be truly alive. But once you go through that first hidden door . . .” Char shrugged. “You can’t step back and close it, and you aren’t the type to bang around in the vestibule forever. You’re the sort who eventually goes looking for doors to the wider underworld. That’s when it gets tricky. The doors are there, but they have guardians.”

“Like you.”

“Yes. The truth is out there,” she added with a smile that showed a bit of fang. “And it will eat you.”

Welcome to the underneath world, all right,
Haven thought. He shrugged. “Maybe I won’t bother with the doors. Maybe I’ll blast my way in.”

“It’s already too late for that, Jebel. You know about us, but we know much more about you. That’s my fault, I’m afraid. I check for people who do the same sort of research I do.” She made a small gesture, which included a whole world. “Welcome to the underground, Mr. Haven. Tourists aren’t allowed; you have to live here.”

Or die here.
That was too obvious to be spoken or even implied.

“Or maybe you’re just imagining it,” she said.

He shook his head. “You’re not a very good liar, Charlotte. You came down here to kill me.” He pointed at Danny boy. “To save him.”

“Or kill him. I had to have a face-to-face with him before I could make a decision about whether he was victim or villain. Could have gone either way.” The boy vampire in the corner made a startled noise, but she paid no attention to him. She continued to concentrate on Haven as she wiggled her hand slightly. “If I decided Daniel disobeyed the Laws, if I believed he’d been a willing accomplice of the sorcerer in killing those people, then his life was forfeit. I think he’s innocent of murder. I’ve decided not to kill him.”

She didn’t consider Danny boy’s draining the life from his human protector murder? She called it justice. Haven tried to tell himself he was being warped by this
crazy woman’s ideas of justice, but that didn’t stop him from agreeing with her.

Haven crossed his arms; the gesture was almost as casual as it looked. “You haven’t denied that you came here to kill me.”

“Could have gone either way,” she repeated. She sighed loudly, and it echoed around the little room. “You’re right, I’m not a good liar. The truth is, I have orders to kill you because you’re likely to become a threat to my people.”

“I’m flattered.”

“You’re tough and you’re tenacious. I think you do necessary work, but I see my boss’s point about stopping you before you got too close. Didn’t mean I wanted the job of executing you. I came to Seattle to find Daniel to avoid having to carry out that assignment. But since fate doesn’t let people with our sort of gifts off the hook, of course you showed up in Seattle, too.”

“And you used me to kill a demon.”

She tried to look shocked and surprised. She didn’t fake those very well, either.

“I did notice you weren’t in on that fight. I’ve seen you vamped out to the max, sweetheart. You could have taken him.”

Char looked furious for a moment, then embarrassed, then she laughed—quite sincerely. “You’re too quick on the uptake for your own good, Jebel. You’re right; I can’t kill demons.”

“Only allowed to kill other vampires, sweetheart? And humans who get in your way?”

“Something like that. Having you show up was very
useful for me . . . so I used you. But you enjoyed the challenge of killing a demon, didn’t you?”

Haven started to protest that that wasn’t the point, that she’d
used
him. Then he thought,
What the hell?
“Best night I’ve had in years,” he admitted. “Except for last night in the alley,” he added as she started to get a look of female outrage. “Best sex I ever had. So . . . last night . . . was . . . the best. Night.”
It was, wasn’t it? Damn.
And she hadn’t bit him or put a spell on him or anything, had she? She’d just been herself. “Wait a minute, why am I trying to pacify a woman who’s going to kill me?”

She shrugged. She didn’t look very happy about what she said next. “I don’t want to kill you.”

Char’s heart was breaking as she looked at the mortal—the man, the lover, the hero—across the room. His injuries didn’t show up in any stark detail in the candlelight, but she could sense the unshielded heat and throb of pain, both physical and psychic alike. She should thrive on drinking in all the raw reality of his personality, but she never had been that kind of girl. “Some of us are monsters,” she heard herself explaining to him. “Immortality can make people careless and callous, decadence sets in like rot. We need to hunt. My kind thrive on draining emotion, and fear is an easy emotion, vampire fast food. But it doesn’t have to be—” Char made a helpless, frustrated gesture. “Just because you have to be a predator doesn’t mean you can’t be an ethical one. You, of all people, should understand that.”

She was talking too much, thinking too much, all of it to avoid what had to be done. Truth was, if she was going to live by her own moral compass, she had no
reason or right to kill Jebel Haven. He had done nothing to harm her people. Potential threat, yes, but—

A fist of dread clamped around Char’s heart as she saw a way out and stepped to one side of the room. She was no longer between Jebel Haven and Daniel Novak. Daniel’s eyes were closed, his head back, stoned and sated on blood. Vulnerable. He wouldn’t see an attack coming.

Haven’s attention focused sharply on Daniel rather than her. His faux relaxed posture changed. Haven drew not one weapon, but two, a gun in one hand, a wickedly pointed wooden stake in the other.

Jebel Haven had come here to kill a vampire.

She could not allow a helpless vampire to be killed.

Please, Jebel,
Char thought, and she prayed to deities she didn’t quite believe in.
Please make this easy for me.

She held her breath, turned her face toward the shadows, and put her hands behind her back to cloak the appearance of fangs and claws, and waited.

And waited.

Haven didn’t move. She expected him to, she prayed for him to. A candle burned out, taking some light and warmth from the underground chamber. Her senses registered the dampness of the place, the musty, dusty, bloody, decayed smells beneath the pervasive aroma of burning wax. Mostly, Char was aware of Jebel Haven’s tense heartbeat, the heated scent of his bruised skin over taut muscles, and the singing, adrenaline-drenched blood beneath the surface. She was even more aware of the burning in her head, her gut, and her heart. And of how much she didn’t want to kill him.

But she would. She knew she would. One step toward Daniel, and she would.

“I can’t.”

Char opened her eyes. She hadn’t realized they’d been closed. She met Jebel’s dark brown eyes, as full of anguish and self-disgust as her own. “You can’t what?”

He smiled a little at her indignation. His deep voice was rough when he said, “I can’t make it that easy for you, sweetheart.”

She noticed that he’d put away his weapons. “Damn it, Jebel! How am I supposed to kill you if you don’t do anything wrong?”

“I can’t kill him,” he said. He pointed at Daniel. “
He
hasn’t done anything wrong. You said so. Besides,” he added, “we wouldn’t want him to miss Blessing Day, would we?”

Frustration welled up in Char. It made her want to howl. She didn’t know whether she wanted to kiss the mortal or shake him in frustration. “But—”

He laughed at her. “It’s not my fault if you’ve widened my perspective on the nature of good and evil.”

“But . . . !” She gestured wildly. “What the devil am I supposed to do with you if I don’t kill you?”

And the answer was obvious and inevitable and came as such a shock that she had to sit down, because her legs wouldn’t hold her at the moment. “Oh, dear.”

“Charlotte, you’re blushing.”

She put her hands on her cheeks. “Oh, dear,” she said again, and things became obvious to her. Machinations. Plots within plots. Haven wasn’t the only one who’d been used. Had
he
been lurking around in the shadows
watching? Had he sent the other vampire after Haven to get her jealous? To make her
do
something? And it had worked. “That son of a bitch.”

“Charlotte, I’m shocked at your language.”

She looked into Haven’s eyes, and those eyes were laughing at her, but with affection rather than mockery.

“Who’s a son of a bitch? Your boss?”

She nodded. “I don’t think he wanted me to kill you at all. I think . . . that he wanted me to get out more.”
And to recruit you,
she thought.
Damn it, Istvan, why couldn’t you do this yourself? What about Jimmy Bluecorn? What about . . . ?

Jimmy was long gone. Pining for him wasn’t going to bring what they had back. Thinking there was only one great love in her life was all very sentimental and romantic, but it was only an excuse to remain alone. And think too much. A child of the Nighthawk line was reborn to act, and Haven certainly brought out her inner hunter. He was born to be a hunter himself, mortal or immortal. He’d managed to fight the good fight nicely on his own so far. She owed him the beginning of his immortality.

Haven came over to her and helped her to her feet. She was glad that her claws were sheathed when he took her hands. He didn’t let them go once she was standing. “What do we do now, sweetheart?”

She knew that he knew very well what the answer had to be. Knew and accepted it. “Right now,” she said primly, “we are going to make sure Daniel is safely returned to his family.”

He was standing very close to her. His hands were
on her hips. Attraction charged between them. “Aren’t you going to bite me? At least a little?”

She put her hands on his shoulders. Oh, yes, it was very tempting. “I’m not a love at first bite sort of woman.”

She and Jimmy had known each other for a year before he tasted her. It had been at a Queensryche concert. The band had been playing—No. She wasn’t going to think about Jimmy anymore.

“Just because we’ve had sex in a back alley doesn’t mean I’m cheap and easy. I will make you my companion at an appropriate time and place. And I think champagne, chocolate, violins, and possibly engagement rings should be involved.”

“Will it be heaven?”

“Yes. Whether you think you deserve heaven or not.”

“When?”

“
After
an appropriate amount of time has passed.”

He was puzzled, impatient now that he’d accepted that he wanted her brand of forever. Then he asked, “Can we still have sex?”

“Frequently.” She wanted to have sex right now. She glanced back at Daniel. “But not in front of the children.” She made herself draw away from Haven to go and hoist the sleeping vampire over her shoulder.

Haven moved to help her haul Daniel through the room’s entrance. He took point when they started down the corridor. “After we give Danny boy to his mom—moms—then what?”

She thought for a moment about what
she
really wanted to do with her life. All she ever wanted was to
be a superhero. “I think I’ll move to Tucson,” she answered. “Help you with your work. There are a lot of evil beings, supernatural and otherwise, that need killing. I can teach you about them. We can expand the business, call the firm, Haven, Baker, and McCairn, Psychic Detectives. How about that?”

Haven stopped and turned to face her in the shadow-filled corridor. His face was clear to her, and his expression pleased. She’d just offered him everything he wanted: complete access to the underneath world. “Baker’d like playing hero,” he told her. “Santini’ll have fun. Yeah,” he admitted, ducking his head. “I like it.”

Char wasn’t certain if Santini would be coming with them. But she decided not to get into that.

“Good,” she said. “But first we have to stop in Portland to pick up my cat.”

“Cat!” he said, disgusted. “I hate cats!”

She shifted Daniel’s weight on her shoulder and moved to walk ahead of Haven. “You’ll get used to him,” she said as Haven followed after her. “In fact, you’re going to love night hunters with sharp claws and teeth by the time I’m done with you.”