Blood Slave: A Realm Walker Novel (4 page)

She gave him a half smile, but said nothing. Lots of things could have survived them, hell, lots of things could have killed them, but she’d let him maintain his delusions for the time being. Everyone needs a fairytale to believe in. “Okay, so why are we here? I get that the Agency is trying to appease the senator but those girls weren’t found anywhere near here. And as far as I know, there’s nothing spectacular about a vamp draining his food.”

“Headquarters wants you undercover.”

“Undercover where? Do they just want us to wander around the Midwest and hope we get lucky?”

Ben smiled. On most people the gesture would have been innocuous, friendly even, if you stretched your imagination. On her disheveled, half-feral boss, it spoke of evil intentions. He handed another file to Nathaniel. When the wolf started to chuckle, she turned and looked at him, arching her brows in question. He handed her the new file which was littered with mugshots. Looked like the senator’s daughter wasn’t the only one in the database. KCPD was emblazoned across the bottom of the photos. A quick scan of the accompanying information told her all the victims were from Kansas City. And they’d all frequented the area known as the River Market.

Everyone knew about the River Market even if they didn’t live anywhere near the city. At one time there had been grand plans for the development of the area. After the Rending, former gangster Charles Morgan had quickly seized power in Kansas City. He’d done it the old fashioned way with pretty words and greased palms. He’d quietly bought up the land then started rallying for legislation that legalized prostitution and gambling. When he succeeded, he started opening his businesses—casinos, strip clubs, feeding clubs, amongst other things. Drug dealers, prostitutes and blood slaves made the area their home.

Once people realized they could find everything they needed in one handy area, they started referring to it as the Market. Morgan seized onto the name and added River to the front to make it sound more upscale. Why he bothered, she had no idea.  He wasn’t fooling anyone. And, on top of everything else, Charles Morgan was a vampire, and master of the Kansas City area. Thomas was going to be furious she was entering another vampire’s territory without him.

She decided to turn her attention to the more immediate problem. “When they say undercover, what exactly do they mean?” She was willing to do a lot for her job, had done a lot for her job in the past, but she wasn’t about to become a prostitute. Or a blood slave. In fact, she thought it was safe to rule out just about any job one might find in the River Market area.

Ben shrugged. “They didn’t specify. Use your imagination.”

“Why aren’t the locals handling this?” Nathaniel asked.

“Charles Morgan is the master vampire in the area. He owns that city, which you can assume includes the police, and perhaps the branch of the Agency located there,” she explained. For obvious reasons, she had a better grasp of vampire politics than most of her colleagues.

Her boss nodded. “The local office does a decent job unless there are vampires involved. The head office has noticed, but there’s not a lot they can do about it except bring in outside help so that’s what they’re doing.”

“We’ll head out tomorrow,” she said and stood. “I’ve got some things that need to be tied up before I leave town.”

Ben scowled. “Can’t you do any better than that?”

“Since one of those things is my training with the Director, I would say no. Unless you’d like to take that up with him.” Juliana had used her limited magical ability to kill someone during her last case. The bastard deserved it, but the law stated she had to undergo full mage training now whether she liked it or not. The fact that her brother-in-law happened to be the leader of all the mages in the western United States just meant she had a better teacher than most.

Turning slightly more pale than usual, Ben shook his head. The Agency didn’t cross the Gathering when they could help it. Not that she blamed them. If there was anything worse than a pissed off mage, it was a whole Gathering full of them.

“I’ve got rookies to scare the crap out of,” she said and walked out the door, Nathaniel on her heels. Ann Marie’s dad sat in one of the chairs lining the wall outside Ben’s office, waiting for his turn with her boss. She smiled and headed toward the rotunda.

Chapter Four

The rotunda was the first thing people saw when they walked into any Agency building. A large, circular entryway with stairs leading to the upper level and a balcony overlooking it all. The walls were lined with charcoal gray tiles. Along the back was the In Memoriam wall with the names of agents and Walkers that had fallen in the line of duty etched into the marble. Each office had a special section for the dead that made that facility their home base. When Juliana and Nathaniel stepped out of the hall, they found Jeremiah leaning on the railing. She came up beside him, placed her hands on the cool, metal rail and looked at the recruits gathered below. “Any of them quit?” she asked.

Jeremiah shook his head. “Not yet. The yeller tried to get his daughter to, though. Girl’s got some fire in her, that’s for sure.”

Juliana felt a brief pang of concern remembering the man sitting outside Ben’s office. Hopefully he wasn’t important enough that they’d make Ann Marie leave just to please him. If she made it this far, she was a decent prospect. Besides, she shouldn’t have to give up what she loved just to make someone else happy.

Pushing away from the rail, she made her way down the curving stairs. The recruits fell silent as she descended. “Any idea why I had you meet me here?” she asked.

A couple of them fidgeted but no one stepped forward with an answer.

“There are people that think we should be thrilled with every applicant we get. It takes a lot of agents to do what we do, a lot of Walkers.” She moved toward the memorial wall as she spoke, stopping when she arrived at one end of the names. “I however think it’s important that you understand your future.”

There was a snort of laughter and then a male voice piped up from the back. “What? So you bring us down here, show us the wall of names and think that’s going to scare us away?”

“Have a little respect,” Nathaniel snapped from where he’d taken up residence at the back of the group. “Those men and women didn’t give their lives for you to act like their sacrifice isn’t important.”

The man looked properly cowed, but Juliana wasn’t finished. “I didn’t bring you here to show you a wall full of names. I brought you here to show you this.” Stepping to the side she touched one of the blank marble tiles. A spot that had held her name once, even if it was only for a few brief hours.

“What’s special about that?” a girl in the front asked when Juliana didn’t continue.

She leaned against the wall and slid her hands into her pockets. “Absolutely nothing. Until the mage casts his spell to add the name of the next fallen agent. Every one of the hundreds of tiles in this room is identical until the name gets added.” She began walking around the perimeter of the room knowing their eyes would follow, that they would take in the myriad of empty tiles.

After giving that time to sink in, she turned to face them again. “If you head into this job with the intention of making a name for yourself, you will. Most likely here on these walls. The Agency doesn’t care about you, they care about the job that you do. If they have to put your name up on these tiles, you’ve failed them.” She gestured to either side. “They’re expecting you to fail. They’ve prepared for it. If you think they’re right, quit now. If you think having your name memorialized at Agency sites across the world is heroic, you’re wrong. It’s tragic.”

She looked at each of them in turn, wanting to make sure they’d gotten the message. Heroes died. Agents that went into the job without any illusions lived. And that was her job, to make sure they survived. She was pleased that more than a few continued to look around at the empty tiles. Some seemed to be trying to count them. “You’re dismissed,” she said in a soft voice and took the stairs two at a time to rejoin Jeremiah.

“You didn’t fail, Juliana,” he told her as soon as she reached his side.

Leaning against the rail, she remained silent. She’d failed during her last case in numerous ways, not the least of which was not realizing who the killer was all along. If she had, things might have been different. Her mate might not have almost killed himself because he thought she was gone. They’d given her the tile with her name on it when they’d replaced it with a blank one. Ben said it was a souvenir to remember she’d survived. She kept it wrapped in a cloth and hidden in a drawer. Occasionally she pulled it out and looked at it. For her it was a reminder not to fail.

“A little harsh, don’t you think?” Nathaniel asked as he joined them.

“How many do you think will leave?” she asked instead of responding.

“Five. Maybe six. Ben’s not going to be happy.”

“Yeah, well, Ben can kiss my ass. I’m more concerned with lives than his ego.” She rubbed a hand along the back of her neck.

“I just think you perhaps could have found a way to get the message across in some other way than telling them the Agency doesn’t care if they live or die.”

Jeremiah put a hand on the wolf’s shoulder. “I believe that
was
the message, my friend.”

The corner of her mouth twitched in amusement. At least someone in the room understood what she was trying to convey. “Meet me here tomorrow at six,” she told Nathaniel. She didn’t wait for a response before heading toward the parking lot and her motorcycle. There were things to do at home and she wasn’t looking forward to any of them.

***

“Where is it precisely you are going again?” Thomas asked from where he leaned against the doorframe.

“I told you, I don’t know exactly. Ben just told us to be there tomorrow morning. It’s some training thing the main office wants me and Nathaniel to help with.” Her heart twinged with the lie. She hated being untruthful to him but, in addition to her assignment being in the heart of one of the nation’s most notorious red light districts, Thomas’s territory stopped at the Dead Zone. He had the largest territory in the country but even his reach didn’t go to Kansas City. There is no way Thomas Kendrick, master vampire, would allow her to enter a rival vamp’s territory without him. And a Thomas shadow would make it incredibly difficult to go undercover. Not only was Thomas well known among certain circles, he wasn’t exactly the sort of guy that blended in. “It’s not a big deal.”

“Then why are you shutting me out?’ he asked quietly, his irritation evident.

“Curse it, Thomas. You don’t need inside my brain all the time,” she bit out, angry with him for making her feel guiltier than she already did. And for causing her to fashion another lie. “If you must know, one of the Walkers coming to the conference is a telepath. I thought it wise to test my shields now and make certain I could put the strength behind them I need to and maintain it. If they’re shitty from disuse I need to work on it now, not when he’s in front of me.”

She continued to pile things on the bed, not even really paying that much attention to what she grabbed. It was more to serve as a distraction from the conversation than anything else. Jeans and t-shirts didn’t take that long to pack. Now weapons, she could spend all day choosing the right gear for a mission, but undercover severely limited her options. And Thomas wasn’t going to believe her story for a minute if she started piling blades and small arms on the bed. She’d have to get that gear squared away later, picking it up at the armory at the Agency if she needed to.

Realizing she had yet to get her duffel from the closet, she headed across the room.

***

His mate was lying. He knew it, but saw no way to call her on it without it ending in a horrible, bloody fight. Perhaps not literally bloody, but when Juliana got her mouth running, it could be a close thing. That tongue of hers could shred him if she put enough effort into it. He also wasn’t entirely certain he wanted to know the truth. If she was keeping something from him, it was Agency business. And it most likely meant she was about to do something that would put her in jeopardy. Again.

“I will leave you to your packing,” he said and went to find his brother-in-law. If Juliana insisted in putting herself at risk, he wanted a way to keep track of her. While he could just ask her to call and check in, he was no fool. She would probably go out of her way not to call just because he’d asked it of her. His bride was nothing if not stubborn. James, however, was another story. Until Juliana finished her training, she was tethered to their brother-in-law whether she liked it or not.

James sat at one end of the sofa, Rachel curled up beside him with her head in his lap and her eyes closed. Thomas tipped his chin in greeting and positioned himself so he could see the bedroom door. It would do him no good should Juliana happen to catch them mid-conversation. “I need a favor, brother.”

James frowned in thought and ran a hand over his bald head. Thomas couldn’t remember ever asking the man for anything before. James nodded once. “Anything.”

“Juliana is leaving town. She claims it is for a training conference.”

“But you don’t believe her.” James correctly guessed Thomas’s concern. “What do you want me to do?”

“I understand her training schedule is at your discretion. She’ll ask you for time off, tell you she can’t possibly come back for her sessions. Don’t give it to her. Make her stick to the current timetable. At least then we’ll know where to find her occasionally.” And know she’s unharmed, he thought but didn’t say. There were some things he didn’t put a voice to if he could help it. Right now Juliana reported to James for training a minimum of every other day. More if she could fit it in.

James hesitated but a moment. “Consider me her evil task master.”

***

James scowled at Juliana as her third attempt at a fire ball puttered and died away, his ice blue eyes narrowing. “Your focus is horrible today. You’re better than this.”

She wiped the perspiration from her face and headed to the bench at the side of the room to take a long drink of water. He was right, her head wasn’t where it should be but there was nothing she could do about it. There were too many things going on that needed her attention and focusing on just one was proving near impossible. “I’m sorry.”

“You’re going to be sorry when you blow yourself up in the middle of a fight.”

“I don’t see how that’s going to happen as I have no intention of using my magic in a fight. I prefer my blade and my guns. I’ve told you this repeatedly.”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “I am aware and I keep pointing out that you may find yourself in a position where you have no choice. It happened once, there is no reason to think it won’t happen again.”

It was an argument they’d had many times, so rather than responding she changed the topic. “I need some time off. I’m going out of town for Agency work.”

James shook his head. “No. You can’t afford the gap in your training, especially with what I’ve seen today.”

She blinked at him in disbelief. He couldn’t be serious. “I wasn’t really asking.”

He shrugged. “And I don’t really care. With one phone call, I can have you taken off duty and put under my care twenty-four hours a day. And you know I’ll do it. Don’t push me, little sister.”

With a groan she raked both hands through her hair, pulling at the roots. “Fine. But you’re going to have to be flexible on the timing. I may not be able to just pop in on schedule. And you’re going to have to provide the portal. The Agency considers this personal business, and as much as they want to stay on your good side, they aren’t going to let me use their mages.”

“Done,” he said with a nod of the head.

She thought before she said her next words. “There’s something else I need your help with. I need you to take me to your tattoo artist.”

His eyes widened in surprise. He’d been trying to get her to get a protective ward of some sort ever since her last case but she had refused. Tattoos weren’t really her thing. But the one she wanted, she’d been thinking about for a while and it just might be a necessity for this assignment. “I can do that. When did you want to go?”

“You think he could fit me in today? It’s a small design.”

“Only one way to find out.”