The Deadliest Bite (4 page)

I sat next to Raoul on the second-to-last step of the main stairs, watching the boy who would be kil er sponge up Vayl’s blood and squeeze it into a bucket of bleach water between bouts of gagging that never quite turned into a pukefest. Soooo satisfying to see him gross out on an aftermath he hadn’t planned for. But not quite enough to leash the urge to impale him on the lance artful y displayed in the corner next to the front-door topiary and the chair Aaron had previously sat down in before he’d fal en and given himself a goose egg right in the middle of his forehead.

Frankly, I couldn’t wait for him to look in the mirror. I felt it would be the big blue bow on a gift that just kept giving.

So, for now, I kept one hand buried in Jack’s soft fur, and when the rage rose to heights that felt a little too violent for Aaron’s personal safety, I reminded myself to imagine that goose egg at about three times its current size. I also glanced at Raoul every thirty seconds or so. In life he’d been a Ranger, so at his core he was a fierce fighting man. That was why he’d chosen to battle on into the afterlife. Stil , around that core existed a serenity that calmed me. So just rubbing shoulders with him helped me remember that now was the time to live up to the nickname our department’s warlock, Sterling, had dumped on me, and Chil .

“What’s he going to do to me?” Aaron asked, trying not to look down the hal but darting his eyes in that direction anyway. He couldn’t see the kitchen door from where he crouched because you had to go through the dining room to get there. Which was a good thing. Better to spook him with his own wild imagination. Let him think Vayl was sharpening up a set of butcher knives, or cal ing in a whole slew of slavering revenants to tear into Aaron like a Christmas turkey. Unless, of course, he spil ed his employer’s name, address, and current Facebook status.

So Raoul and I just mustered up our most baleful expressions and kept silent on the news that Vayl had taken his massive headache back to the fridge, where he’d found some prepackaged, government-distributed blood to nuke in his favorite coffee cup. Though it would speed healing, what he needed most was a good day’s sleep. Knowing him like I did, I figured that while he ate he’d probably take the servants’ stairs to our room, which had a connecting bath the size of my entire first apartment, where he’d clean up before he came back down. It wasn’t just that he didn’t care to walk around with blood caked behind his ears. Like me, he needed some time to decompress or he would, without even thinking, tear a hole in Aaron’s throat that you could drive a remote-control car through.

I could feel my
avhar
’s fury even now, burning like the flames I’d seen in the sky the night Raoul and I had traveled to hel . Then it had blazed through anyone who dared to raise their eyes from the ground. Yeah, them and their fifty closest pals. Vayl was just as capable as Raoul of dishing out that kind of damage. Luckily he’d figured out a long time ago the danger he posed to anyone in his vicinity if he let his inner predator take the reins. So as soon as he’d regained consciousness he’d put a hand to his head, taken a long look at the blood on his fingertips, and then raised his icy blue eyes to mine. For a moment they flickered over my shoulder, acknowledged Raoul standing guard over Aaron, then returned to me where I stil knelt beside him, holding tight to his other hand.

If I’d just met him I’d have thought he was some kind of sociopath, his face was such a hardened mask. But by now I knew the blank stare meant he was struggling to keep his feelings from erupting into violence. Cirilai, the ring his grandfather had crafted at his mother’s request and that had, as she’d predicted, once again saved his soul, sent hot stabbing pains through my fingers. I jerked my hand out of his, staring at the golden knots twisting lovingly around each exquisite ruby that sparkled on my finger, wondering which one had zapped me.

“What happened?” asked Vayl.

“Cirilai hurt me. I think that means
you’re
about to blow,” I said.

He nodded, his eyes fading rapidly to black. “Deal with that,” he said, his finger-flick indicating that if I didn’t do something with Aaron, he’d have to. And it wouldn’t be pretty.

“Absolutely.”

He’d been gone about twenty minutes when Aaron began to show concern. Which was when I told him, “Whatever the vampire plans for you wil be relatively painless compared to what
I’m
gonna do.”

He paused in his scrubbing to stare me down. “You don’t look that scary.” The dude couldn’t quite get the tremble out of his throat, but he stil managed to meet my eyes. I gave him half a point for effort.

Raoul laughed. “Do you want to know how her friend Cole describes her?” Aaron dropped his head to one side, which was al the encouragement my Spirit Guide needed.

He said, “Cole says she may be a skinny white chick, but she’l kick your ass so fast you’l wonder why your butt cheeks are dented.”

I hid a smirk and reminded myself to cal my buddy, and former recruit, as soon as I had a free minute. Our last mission had been a bitch to him and he wasn’t adapting wel to the downtime. In fact, this situation would probably cheer him up immensely. Give him something to take his mind off the fact that he’d nearly become a demon in Marrakech, and part of him had liked it. I sent a mental message to Teen Me to try to remember where I’d left my phone in al the chaos, while I went on with the task at hand. Which was to get as much information as I could out of the prisoner while Vayl was stil pissed at him. Because as soon as he found out they’d once been as close as two men ever managed to get, that’d be the end of it.

I said, “Raoul here says your first name is Aaron. What’s your last name?” I asked.

“How does he know that?” Aaron demanded.

“It’s his job. Now. You got a last name?”

I watched him consider stubbornness. And then realize it didn’t real y matter. We had him cold.

He said, “Sul ivan.”

I sat forward just enough to cause Jack to readjust his head where it lay on my lap. He moved it to my knees, blinking his eyes from me to Aaron and back again like he truly understood our conversation. “They sent you in blind, didn’t they? I’d almost guess someone wanted
you
dead, except you nearly succeeded in kil ing Vayl, so I have to believe whoever hired you real y wanted him out of the picture. Would you like to fork over any names before your lips get too puffy for me to understand you perfectly and you have to keep repeating yourself?” Raoul said, “Jaz. Do we have to threaten him with violence already? He hasn’t even stopped cooperating.”

I glared at my Spirit Guide. “I’m itching for an excuse to punch this little creep. Would you stop being so damn nice?”

I turned to Aaron, waiting for his answer. But apparently Raoul’s soft heart had made his decision for him. He sealed his lips shut, shook his head, and went back to cleaning.

I said, “You should know it’s not just me and Vayl you have to worry about. After we’re done with you I’l be cal ing a very select group of government agents who, after hearing you’ve nearly smoked one of the most valuable public servants this country has ever known, wil be only too happy to make sure you disappear forever. But not before you learn how to scream like a little girl. That is, unless you cooperate. You got me?”

Aaron didn’t bother to look up as he said, “I have nothing to tel you besides the fact that I tried to kil a filthy vampire and I failed. Now I’m going to get my blood sucked dry. In fact, by morning I’l probably be one of those leeches with legs myself.” He shook his head, spat with disgust, then wiped it up with a rag I’d be burning shortly.

Rip out his hair and feed it to him, Jaz!
It was my Inner Bimbo, teetering on her bar stool because she was balancing a cigarette between two fingers and a rum and Coke in the same hand, and rummaging through her big, black bag with the other hand. I had to chime in, even if it was only in my mind.

Why do you care? He’s so not your type I’m surprised you’re actually able to see him. So far
the only upside to his personality I’ve found is that he’s discovered the single kernel of bravery
inside his core and he’s hanging on to it for dear life—what the hell are you doing?

After what just happened with Vayl, you have to ask why that piece of shit deserves battery
clips and a strong current? As for what I’m doing, I thought I had a book on self-defense in here,
you know, just in case one of my lovers gets a little too frisky. When I find it I’m going to read you
all kinds of suggestions for how to deepen his dimples
. She paused to imitate a bel ows, sucking in and blowing out enough cigarette smoke to give the entire bar the feel of a foggy Hal oween night.

Remember, I’m the one who knows best how to make you lose control
.

Pull in the claws, Sheba. This one gets to live. Although if I decide to slap him around a little
you can be my cheerleader
.

Stellar! I even have the outfit!

Why am I not surprised?

I’d been silent enough to make Aaron-boy nervous. Stil concentrating on his cleaning he asked,

“What’re you going to do with me?”

Fuck if I know
. So I answered his question with a question. “How many vampires have you met?”

“Including yours?”

“Yeah.”

“None. I wouldn’t say we’d been properly introduced, would you?” I stood up and, surprisingly, Raoul didn’t hold me back. He didn’t even protest when I grabbed Aaron’s .38 Special out of his waistband and shoved it against the little prick’s skul . “I’ve had enough of your attitude. Normal y I enjoy smartasses. But not when they’ve just tried to murder the man I love.”

“He’s not a man. He’s a parasite!”

I pushed down on the barrel hard enough to leave a nice round imprint if I ever decided to back off, and Aaron figured out it was my turn to talk. “That
vampire
has been working for the United States government for eighty years. He’s saved our country from decimation more times than I care to recount. In fact, dumbass, you just nearly destroyed a national treasure.” He looked up at me then, his cheeks jiggling slightly with the nerve it took to meet my eyes. I found myself respecting him slightly more as he managed a firm, “No.”

“In some circles he’s considered to be more important than the president.” Aaron scrubbed for a while in silence. When he had nothing left but clean floor to stare at he threw the rag in the bucket and sat back on his heels. “I don’t believe you.” Stubborn. I should have expected as much from Vayl’s spawn, even this many generations removed from his direct influence.

“Astral,” I cal ed.

I’d left the robokitty Bergman had invented for me upstairs with orders to stay in my room until she heard from me again. Hopeful y she’d function properly now that I real y needed her to pul through for me.

She streaked down the stairs, a sleek black missile on four legs with twitchy ears, a lashing tail, and a tendency to burst into inappropriate songs that had developed only after Jack had surprised her during a reconnaissance, causing her to blow her own head off. The repairs had been more, and less, than a complete success. Considering the latest eccentricity to appear in what had become the quirkiest personality I’d ever seen in a homemade cat, I was voting for less.

Jack greeted Astral by sitting up straight at Raoul’s knee. He knew better than to jump her now.

In fact, most of the time he was wil ing to wait until she approached him or cal ed him over to play. I watched her just as careful y, and let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding when al she did was bob her head at me and say, “Hel o!”

I nodded at her, though I understood that I was acknowledging a mobilized supercomputer, and said, “Show me Vayl’s file. Keep the top secret parts to yourself.” Astral’s mouth ratcheted open and a light clicked on, movietheater style. At the same time a hologram of Vayl’s papers appeared in front of my face even as I heard a velvety-voiced woman reading them. “Vasil Nicu Brâncoveanu. Born in what is now Mogosoaia, Romania, on November 18, 1713, though at the time the area was cal ed Wal achia. Became a vampire in 1751. Current assignment: Agent for Antiterrorism Division of the Central Intel igence Agency commonly known as ATD. Division is temporarily shut down at the request of its Oversight Committee due to the murder of one of its agents, Ethan Mreck, and its director, Peter Huttin.” Of course that wasn’t the whole truth. Our division existed as a subsidiary of the ATD, its name so secret only a few people in government had ever even heard it. And my boss, Pete, had actual y been fol owing his “secretary” Martha’s orders al along. But the rest—way more truth than I’d wanted to deal with today. Damn Aaron Sul ivan.

He said, “Why are you letting me see this?” The whites of his eyes had begun to show. “This real y isn’t a bluff, is it? It doesn’t matter what I know if you’ve already decided to kil me.” He shoved his thumb into his mouth, started to chew the nail, then quickly wrapped his arm around his back with a guilty look, like he’d been caught raiding the cookie jar. I wondered, suddenly, how many times his parents had cracked his knuckles for biting his nails as a kid.

Hiding a sudden rush of sympathy, I pul ed the gun away from his head. “You have pissed me off more deeply than anyone I’ve met in the past six months and you’re stil alive. That reads wel for your future. The fact that I’m explaining Vayl to you at al should give you even more hope.”

“But why?”

“Yes.” Vayl had come through the dining room door. He held a bag of frozen peas to the wound on his forehead. “Why do you give this young man my secrets?”

I felt Aaron do a big swal ow beside me. It’s one thing to attack an unsuspecting victim inside his front door. Especial y when you’re rushing in with your head ful of preconceived notions. It’s a whole other story to mop up the blood you spil ed and then watch your target saunter down the hal , al cleaned up and pissed as hel that you interrupted a fabulous evening, ruined his favorite shirt, and gave him a pounding headache.