Aaron's Kiss Series Boxed Set (Books 1 - 7) (77 page)

Bailey reached out to the driver and sent him directions to the nearest underground rail system entrance. She kept her weapon trained on the woman in front of her and didn’t say a word as he careened around the corner to her destination. Keeping in his mind, she felt when someone else, presumably the woman across from her, reached into his mind as well.

Bailey felt the woman touch her mind then. Bailey could almost laugh at the frustration on her face, not that she blamed the woman, but Bailey wasn’t going to be searched so easily. Bailey could speak several languages and what the woman was finding with her touch was four or five different ones scrambling around. Even if the woman could speak them, Bailey was simply reciting
War and Peace
word for word to her.

“You probably saved my life, but as someone has killed Salvatore, we will never know, will we? Why did you kill him? If you don’t mind my asking, that is?” she asked her quietly.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Killed who?” Bailey never looked away, just kept staring at the woman as though looking for a sign or something. 

She was actually. Just before anyone attacked, they always did one of three things: a) they tensed up just before; b) blinked several times so that they wouldn’t when it was pinch time; c) made some sort of small movement to a partner. She knew these not because she had taken courses in human nature, but because she did observe people a great deal and watched what they did and how they reacted to different situations. Telltale signs had saved her life on more than one occasion. She was usually much too aware of her surroundings to be taken easily.

“Okay, we’ll play it your way for the time being. But know this, I’m stronger, meaner, and much scarier when I want to be.”

Damn it,
Bailey thought just before sleep claimed her.

~CHAPTER TWO~

“Very good, Mac. Now, try this, open the door again, only this time I want you to focus solely on the woman from yesterday. Penny Gus, remember her? Focus.”

Patrice Skidmore was enjoying the young boy’s enthusiasm and barely contained excitement, Aaron observed. He was so serious one moment and a complete goof the next. When he and his twin got together, Aaron couldn’t help but smile at their antics.

The lessons had been going on for a week now and Aaron was there every day watching the progress his son was making. They had found out only recently that he was a necromancer, and a very good one by all indications. He could talk to ghosts whenever they appeared, but mostly he’d had no control of them once they came. He hadn’t learned how to put them back. Not a good term to use for returning the dead to their final resting place, but it was one Mac understood. So Mel, friend and queen of all magic, had recommended that they find him someone who could teach him control. That was why the lessons had begun. Having a power this strong and no control was dangerous to human and vampires.

Aaron looked over at the man seated at the makeshift desk. He was Tristan St. James the fifth, Patrice’s oldest friend for almost four hundred years. Tristan hadn’t looked up once from his laptop in all the time they had been there. Aaron grinned again, thinking about the look of complete horror on the younger vamp’s face when Aaron had offered him the usage of his office while he was here. The mess on and around the desk nearly sent him into cardiac arrest, Aaron was sure. He’d tried to be polite, but finally broke down.

“How can you sit in here? It’s a…you can’t…oh my God, this is just nasty! There are papers everywhere!”

Aaron had known it was unorganized, but nasty? Well, he soon learned that anything that wasn’t charted, pie graphed, and filed away was “nasty” to the man. He was the most organized, neat person he’d ever met. But that didn’t stop Aaron from having fun at his expense.

“Really? Oh I don’t know, I think it has a nice, homey look, don’t you think?” Aaron said with all innocence.

Tristan didn’t say a word, just snapped his mouth closed and walked away. He hadn’t stepped one foot even in the direction of the room since. It was Duncan who had set up the table for him in the study, and had had Pete come over and hook up his Internet and modem for him before she had left for Paris. The top of the table looked as though he hadn’t done a thing but sit there, but he’d been working every day since he came, brokering deals and buying and selling stock. He also designed and sold video games for different systems, and from all accounts, was very successful at it. Aaron watched him play with his children and knew that Tristan was getting ideas from them.

Patrice was more relaxed than her friend, which wasn’t saying much; a steel rod was more relaxed than him. She was friendly, soft spoken, and polite. Aaron had thought there was some connection between her and Tristan, but was told they were just friends and nothing more. Aaron had thought that Patrice looked upset at that, but it was gone so quickly that he figured he had imagined it. The other day she had laughed at Tristan and ruffled his hair when he had suggested, well, ordered her to stop “flitting about” the house. She had been playing tag with the children and her laughter had been as loud as the children’s. Tristan took more offense to her fluffing his hair than her laughing at him. The next time Aaron had seen him, he was back to his well-groomed self.

They were both members of the Royal House of Vampirism and the only purebred vampires anyone in this house had ever met. Tristan, as third son, was not required to have a bodyguard at all times, but as Patrice was the only daughter, and the youngest of five older brothers, she did have a bodyguard in the form of a brother, even a friend of a brother, as was the case now. One of them was with her at all times when she left the castle, no matter how much she complained about them smothering her, yet they stilled tagged along. Aaron didn’t think there was anything wrong with this arrangement. Keeping an eye on the females of the world was just the way it should be done. But he had kept that comment to himself. He had learned a long time ago that Sara, his lifemate, didn’t share the same views on that particular subject, and she was extremely good with a blade, thank you very much.

“We’re all finished, Dad; can I go help Sam now?”

Mac had a big crush on Sam James, Tucker’s mate, another vampire in his Kiss of friends and family. Sam was seven months pregnant and staying with them until their home was updated to vampire standards with underground lairs and such. She did most of the baking at her shop, Sam’s Baked Goods, but experimented here in the kitchen when she had an idea. It worked out well for the ladies of the house, as they were all willing taste testers in these brainstorm sessions that happened nearly every week. Sam also baked the occasional un-birthday cake for one of the children at Becca’s Place, and his own children at least twice a week. While Aaron didn’t eat food of any kind, he very much enjoyed watching his mate’s obvious enjoyment of it, especially cheeseburgers.

“Sure, son, did you thank Lady Skidmore? Good, run along now, and ask your mother to come in here, please?” Mac took off. Aaron noticed that Mac never walked when running could be done instead. When Sara came into the room, she was on the cell phone.

“But you don’t know who she is? Yes, well, I can see that would be a problem. All right, just let us know what you find out. I love you too. Yes, I’ll be sure to tell him. Good-bye.”

“Pete has run into a slight problem in France. She will be coming home tonight and should be home sometime tomorrow afternoon. She may be bringing someone back with her. We’ll talk more about it later.”
Sara whispered through his mind, as she didn’t discuss business in front of strangers.

“Is she all right? Nothing has happened to her, has it?” H
e was concerned about all the members of his Kiss, but he had asked Dominic, her mate, to stay here this trip as he had a large meeting with his advisors over the next two days, and he would never forgive himself if anything happened to her.

“She’s fine, wonderful as a matter of fact. She said that she picked me up some beautiful negligees and that Dominic approved of hers and that you should like the ones for me just as much.” A
aron felt her desire immediately, her body tensing with sudden need.

Aaron turned to Patrice when Sara sat on his lap. She hadn’t actually started out there but on the seat next to him on the couch. But he couldn’t seem to get enough of her. He needed to touch her whenever they were together whether there was company or not.

“Well, Lady Skidmore, how’s he doing?” Aaron asked after he nibbled gently on Sara’s neck

“He’s a remarkable little boy, Mr. MacManus. He’s smart, and willing to learn. He doesn’t get easily frustrated when things don’t go his way, like some other person I can name.” She looked over at Tristan who just glared at her and resumed working. “He is very strong and in a few years will be able to call forth any soul and control it without problems.”

“Why would he want to? I mean, why would there be a need for him to be able to call souls to him? I guess I don’t understand what that sort of power can be used for.” Aaron understood that Mac was gifted, but was not sure how he would use this power.

Aaron knew that people, humans, considered vampires to be dead, the undead as a matter of fact, when in actuality they were as much living beings as anyone else. They just happened to need blood to sustain them rather than regular food. There were other creatures that needed emotions to survive.

“You’re right, Mr. MacManus. It is an odd power, even for a vampire. But it will be useful in a great many incidents. For instance, as a vampire, he would be able to call forth a previous master and ask what had happened with this piece of property or why was this left unfinished…”

“Or why you left such a mess in my office,” Tristan said in a low voice.

Aaron was sure Tristan hadn’t meant to say it out loud because he flushed and shifted in his chair when Aaron looked his way.

“I doubt very much whether the previous master of this house even saw the mess on my desk. But if Mac happens to call him, I’ll make sure he asks him for you.” Aaron laughed again.

Tristan turned back to his computer. That’s when Aaron noticed what Tristan had on his computer screen. It looked like his Lizzy as a cartoon.

“What are you up to there?” Aaron got up to have a closer look. “That looks just like my daughter.”

“It is. Only in the game her name is Princess Elizabeth. There is her brother, Lord Maxwell, too.” Suddenly, a caricature of Mac was on the screen. “I couldn’t use their real names together so Mac decided on Maxwell.”

They both watched as the children working together picked up the books and set them back on the shelf in a large study. The colors were brilliant and the children looked like they were enjoying themselves.

“I thought this would be a great way to teach children to plan and work together. There are problems to solve at every level that need to be thought out before they can move to the next level.” When the room was cleaned up, bright balloons fell from the ceiling.

Aaron watched until the next problem popped up before he thought to ask, “But they aren’t vamps, right? They’re just regular children.”

While he was sure that most people didn’t believe in their kind, the few that did might find a way to put the two things together. Tristan assured him that they were just your plain old humans. Aaron loved what Tristan was doing and decided to talk to Pete about investing in some electronics like the ones needed to play the games that his kids played.

~~~

Bailey woke up about an hour after she’d been put to sleep in the van. She was lying on a bed in what looked to be a hotel room, a very big and expensive hotel room. She didn’t give away that she was awake, but reached into the room and the one beyond and found that there was a woman, probably the one from the restaurant, and two men, the wolves, again, probably from the same place. She moved slowly just to make sure they hadn’t done anything to her. When she found herself to be fine, she sat up on the edge of the bed and looked around. Her bag was lying on the floor next to the bed, so as she stood, she grabbed it and made her way to the bathroom. 

She rummaged through the bag until she found her tooth brush, hair brush, and a tie to hold her hair back. She noticed that while her full magazines and clips to her guns where in there, the weapons, the two Glocks, were not. Also missing were the switchblades, taster, and the six cans of OC spray. She reached behind her to her lower back and felt the empty holster for the fourth hand gun, but found the one on her inner thigh was still strapped to her leg beneath her short skirt. This was a smaller version of the Glock, but just as deadly. Oh well, six shots were better than none any day of the week in her line of work.

Bailey Morrison was a bounty hunter, a damned good one too. She worked for anyone who could afford her price and had an excellent record. She seldom talked with clients, the transactions were conducted through the Internet, and money was wired to a dummy account. She owned her own firm, Fine Printings, Inc., a front of course, and it had worked for them all over the world. Her protector, Griff, a Celtic being called a Cynogriffon , worked with her as well, receiving and setting up any jobs that she did. She used to work with her brother Tyler until his death six months ago when Salvatore Madison had killed him in cold blood.

Tyler had been so happy just before he was killed, Bailey remembered. He had met the man of his dreams, someone he had thought to share his life with, he’d told her weeks before. Bailey hadn’t had a chance to meet this mystery man, but was so happy for Tyler. When he had called her one night just a week before he was killed, saying that Salvatore wasn’t what he seemed and that he was afraid for his life, she rushed home from Germany to protect him and to see what was wrong. He was dead before she could get to him, shot in the head execution style. The note Salvatore left for her said that he had served his purpose as a play thing and if Bailey wanted to have her back stroked by a master, try to find him. Salvatore had been difficult to corner until, about a month ago, she had finally thought to break through Tyler’s secure work account. That was where she found all the information he had collected just before his death. She had enough evidence on just one of his murders that proved there needed to be a sanctioned hit on the man and she had contacted the Courts of Magick, her biggest client, to plead for one.

Tyler had found out that not only was he a murderer and a thief, but had been stealing for decades from various beings and humans. He had been acting as a translator for years, representing larger corporations to get inside information and then to kill one or both of the people who had hired him. He had recently been connected to the death of a man who had owned a large gaming company who had decided to branch out into other countries. The business man and his agent from France had been murdered, but the deaths had been made to look like a murder/suicide. It wasn’t until Bailey arrived that they saw things differently. She had other information on similar deaths with the same details and MOs and had changed their minds. There had been a manhunt established right away, and because one of the men was a were, she was hired to find and terminate the bastard through the firm that she did most of her work for. She almost told them she’d do it for free, but hey, a girl had needs.

Bailey walked into the living room suite ten minutes later, refreshed but no less pissed off-looking. She had startled the younger of the two men, as he had been napping on the couch that barely held his large body and her opening the door with a slam against the wall had jerked him upright, but he remained where he was.