Dylan (Bowen Boys) (16 page)

“I will take you now. Are you finished
eating?” The boy nodded but hesitated. “What is it? Do you wish more to eat?”

“My mom. I want to call my mom.” Frustration
ran along Lucius’s skin, and he looked at the boy. “You said later I could call
her. Please, my mom will worry.”

He moved toward the naked boy and threw
him to the bed. Leaping on him so he couldn’t shift, Lucius flipped him to his
back and held him down.

“I’ve had enough waiting. I want you
now.” Freeing his cock, he leaned over the boy. He wanted to take him hard, but
the blood was seeping from his earlier bites, and he let his fangs drop and bit
deep into his neck.

Blood poured from the pounding pulse. As
his struggles got weaker, Lucius had a moment of regret, but the blood was a
more powerful lure than the body. Drinking until he felt sick from it, he moved
off him and to the side of the bed, not bothering to seal the wounds. As soon
as he bled out, Lucius showered and dressed again. He wrapped him in the spread
beneath him and dropped him in the alley just behind the building he’d found
him in. He looked up and laughed. The Central Intelligence office was about to
get a very large surprise in the morning.

Chapter Twelve

“You can’t see him.” Dylan tried to
shove past the man at the front of the crime scene. “We have to look for clues,
sir, and if you go in there, we’ll never catch the killer.”

Dylan nodded. He had heard from the
hotel where he and Jack had checked into last night that a young man had been
killed later that night. Marshall had told him it was a panther. Dylan had left
his room to come and see if there was anything he could do to help. His brother
came up beside him.

“I knew him. He was going to come out to
the house to run with me soon.” Dylan knew that Reed was hurting. To lose
another of their kind was a horrible blow, but to lose a friend was harder.

“I’m trying to get back to see if I can
learn anything, but I’m being stonewalled.” Reed whistled through his teeth.
“Was that really necessary?”

Reed grinned as the same police officer
came to him. Before he could open his mouth, Reed showed him his badge. He
nodded to him.

“This man was sent down here to help
Mrs. Bowen with the investigation. She said that anyone dropped on her fucking
front step would get the best. He is the best. Do you think you can get him back
to look around?”

The man looked more terrified than
impressed. When he told Dylan to follow him, Reed came as well. Dylan was
impressed and, obviously, so was the cop. He spoke in low tones, but Dylan had
no problem hearing him.

“You work for Mrs. Bowen, huh?” Reed
said yes. “I hear she’s a real ball buster. Good at her job and all, but a real
ball buster.”

“She can be, but she’s fair, too. I love
working for her.” Dylan knelt down by the boy and reached out to touch him. A
pair of gloves slapped him on the shoulder.

“Gotta wear these. We have to protect
everyone from blood borns, you know.” The man shook them at Dylan again.
“Seriously. You have to put them on. Naked man in the alley might have AIDs or
something like hepatitis.”

Dylan took the gloves and “accidently”
dropped one on the boy’s neck. Making sure he ran his finger along the bites
there, he pulled on the glove and thanked the other cop. He had all he needed,
but made a show of looking him over. When he stood up, the first cop came toward
him with Reed in tow.

“I would like you to make sure that a report
is sent to Mrs. Bowen when you talk to the coroner. I will contact her and let
her know to call my office.” Reed stepped away, coughing. Dylan knew he was
laughing, but what the fuck else was he supposed to say? Thanks, but I know
everything because I touched the saliva that the fucking vamp left behind?
Yeah, that would go over well.

They both entered the CIA building, and,
again, Reed cleared the way for him to get in. As they were riding up in the
elevator, Dylan told him that he was proud of him. He laughed.

“What that cop said about Caitlynne is
true. She is a fucking ball buster. Some days all I want to do is call someone
to come here and get me. She’s a pain in the ass.”

“But,” Dylan asked him, “you love her
and the job you do for her, right? You did a great job back there and for
Caitlynne. For all her ball busting, she speaks highly of you to others, and to
Mom and Dad. She told them they’d done a very good job of raising you.”

Reed flushed but said nothing. As the elevators
opened, there stood Caitlynne and Khan, but the only person he had eyes for was
Jack. She came to him when he opened his arms for her. He was very glad he’d
let her talk him into coming to the city last night.

“He was killed by a vampire. He wanted
him because he was a panther, and his excitement grew when he realized he was
full blooded. His family will have to be notified.”

“I’ve already got someone going to the house
now. I didn’t want them to have to come here and identify him. That’s why I
sent Reed.” Reed nodded at her. “Christ, that poor kid and his family.”

“There’s something else. He’s looking
for Mann.” That had them all looking at him as he sat on the couch and Jack
beside him. “I don’t know why, but he’s looking for him. He seems to think that
the man owes him and can’t believe that he’s left him with a job half finished.
He is also looking for Jack.”

“I don’t know any vampires,” Jack
practically shouted. Then in a much lower voice, she continued, “Hell, I didn’t
know you guys existed until last month. What does he want me for?”

Dylan pulled her into his lap and held
her. He had to tell her, but he was so afraid for her. Not that she couldn’t
handle herself, but because the man wanted her dead, not just to feed from her.

“He wants to get Small in the White
House, and is afraid that with the information that Jack has on him, not only
will he not be able to help him, but he’ll be shot for treason.” Caitlynne
stood up and went to her desk.

“Did you happen to catch why he wants
Small in the White House?” Dylan nodded. “Please tell me that he doesn’t think
the bastard is going to be president after what he’s done? He can’t be that
stupid.”

“No. It’s something to do with the White
House being cursed, or he is. It’s a little fuzzy when you read so little of
someone. But this vampire, Lucius…no last name…thinks that once Small gets
inside he’ll be able to send all the plans and any other strategic information
back to him, and he’ll be rich. His words, not mine.”

“And do what with it?” Khan looked as
confused as he felt. “Does he think that Small has some hidden way to get in
and out of here without anyone noticing he’s carting out large files? Or does
he think that he can fax it all to him?”

There was a brisk knock on the door
before it opened. Everyone stood, and Caitlynne and Jack drew their weapons.
The man smiled at them and looked at Khan. He bowed low and stood.

“You’re their leader?” the man said. Khan
nodded. “I would ask your permission to speak to you all, if you please. You
will benefit greatly if I were able to.”

“You. I know you.” Jack stepped forward.
“You were there that night. The night I was shot.”

“Yes. Very good, miss. But I cannot tell
you anything until I am given permission. He must allow me to speak as you all
belong to him.” Dylan reached out and pulled Jack to him before she said something
stupid like she belonged to no one. “Sir? I ask your permission to speak.”

“You have it. I don’t know who you are,
but if you had anything to do with Jack getting hurt that night, I’m going to
tear you apart.” Dylan stepped forward as well, and Jack stepped in front of
them both.

“He saved me.” She offered him a chair. “I
didn’t know where I was. I was hurting and dizzy, and he showed me the way. He
even said…you said you’d take care of my car for me. Make it so that no one
would see it.”

“Correct. How lovely that you remember
me. I say, I never thought you’d make it, but here you are.” He sat down and
looked around. “You will need to rest a bit please. I have a story to tell. One
that will help you all to understand.”

Everyone sat, and he nodded. The man was
dressed like he’d just come from a renaissance fair. His hair was snowy white,
and he had a beard that seemed to dance along his chin. And Dylan couldn’t read
him. When he looked at him, Dylan heard him.

“You should know that I have picked you
for her. And only you.”
Dylan looked at Jack.
“Yes, her. She is the only
one for you, and the only one that can stop this madness. She will need help,
but she will be the one to stop it. Are you willing to help her?”

“I would die for her. She’s my life. I
cannot, nor will I let anyone hurt her again.”
The man smiled.

“Then you will have her,”
he said to him
before turning to the others. “I have come to tell you a story. The vampire and
I met many, many years ago. Long before this building was here, long before any
of you were here, either. We met in a bar, and he was telling me how he would
rule the kingdom. I had no idea at the time which kingdom he spoke of, but we
had embarked on a tale, him and me.”

“Wait. I’m sorry, but how did you get in
here? And who are you?” Caitlynne looked around, still holding her gun. “I
asked not to be disturbed, yet here you are.”

“Yes, here I am. But you will need what
I have to say. And I am Wizard Jacob.” He stood and shook her hand and everyone
else’s. “I must say, I have waited for this time for so long. I’m glad to be
having it finished.”

“You said wizard.” Jacob nodded at him.
“As in magical? You’re a wizard, and you met with Lucius. Were you with him
when he killed the young panther?”

“No. I was not, sadly. I was with Lucius
when he was a mere child of a vampire. It was in the year of our Lord eighteen fifty-three.
This world had just started to live, you see, and I came on an adventure. I got
a bit more than I’d bargained for, I’m afraid.” He sat back in his chair. “He
wished to run these grand states and do it from the White House. So, I fixed it
so that neither he nor any of his kind could enter. Ever.”

“Why?” Jack looked around the room,
embarrassment on her face. “The White House was barely there back then. What
did he hope to gain?”

“Money? Fame? Who knows with a man such
as him. But I did fix him. And now he feels that he has a way to override my
magic.”

Dylan looked around the room. No one was
speaking, but he would bet a lot was being said. He glanced at his brother,
then at Jack. She looked the most confused of all. But Jacob looked…well, he
was going to say happy, but delighted came to mind, too.

“You say he wants to override your
magic.” Jacob nodded at Jack’s question. “Then that’s between the two of you,
it seems. I mean, I’ll help you because I’d be dead if you hadn’t been there
for me, but I seriously don’t have a clue what this has to do with us.”

He laughed. “You are very clever, you
are. It has to do with you because you have the key to his downfall. Not any
magic, though it is possible you have a bit. But it’s what you have in your
heart. It’s pure, did you know that? Few humans…well, few of any species…have a
pure heart, but you possess one. As does your mate.”

“I don’t think I’m going to offer up my
heart to this ass, but thanks anyway.” He laughed at her again, and Jack
bristled. “You could help me understand a lot more if you did a great deal less
laughing and more telling. And I’m not stupid.”

“Nay, you are not. You are very…what is
the word? Ah yes, street smart. That is his downfall. When you face him, and
you shall, you’ll need all of that.” Jacob looked around the room. “All the
people in this room, this building even, could face the vampire and maybe
outwit him, but you will be the one who will destroy him. And he must be
destroyed, no matter the outcome of the man he wishes to manipulate.”

“What did you do?” Dylan hadn’t realized
he’d spoke out loud until everyone turned to him. “You said you made it so he
couldn’t go into the White House. What did you do?”

“I spread a bit of myself around the
bricks and mortar so that it would hold. Then when they’ve done renovations, I
came again. It is a grand place, is it not? All those lovely rooms and the president;
this man is a great deal like you.” He looked at Marshall and nodded. “Yes, I
do suppose you do know that. But I have misplaced myself. A bit of my magic and
my blood around the rooms to safeguard them and the people it is there to
protect. But I can’t keep humans out. If this man Small returns to the building
and does as Lucius wishes, all will be lost.”

“So why not just make sure that Small
doesn’t enter?” Khan asked. Jacob shook his head. “Because…because he’ll simply
find another sap.”

“Correct. Now you see what must be
done.” He stood up. “I will leave you now. You have much to—”

“Hold on there, buddy,” Jack said. “I
don’t see anything. You come in here spouting magic and blood. You tell me I
have a pure heart, then leave? No. That’s not the way it goes.” Jack stared at
him. “You want something from me. I want something in return.”