Eternal Prey (5 page)

Utah’s eyes almost glowed, and she didn’t need anyone to tell her his soul was close to the surface.

“When I’m finished working for Adam, I’ll kill him.”

“Why?” Jude seemed sincerely puzzled.

“Adam punished you for helping us. The Eleven take care of their own.” Utah’s fury was contained, but that didn’t make it any less impressive. “Did you show Fin what he did to you?”

“No.” Jude rested his head against the seat. “Fin needs the vampires’ help. Adam holds ultimate control over all of us, and he doesn’t like Fin. Your leader is too powerful, and I think Adam sees that power as a challenge. Before he began his teaching session, he said something about Fin threatening him if anything happened to me. Adam wanted to thumb his nose at Fin’s threat by letting Fin
see
what he’d done. I didn’t want Fin to be forced into doing something that would jeopardize whatever agreement he made with Adam.”

With no further comment, Utah helped Jude into the backseat while Lia took his place behind the wheel. Utah then joined her in the front seat.

Lia followed Jude’s directions, winding through the Portland streets until they got to what he identified as Old Town. Finally, he had her park in back of what looked like an art gallery. It had an “Under New Management” sign in the front window. It was closed.

She started to retrieve her bag, but Utah stopped her. “Leave it here until we know we’re staying.”

“Good idea.” After seeing what Adam had done to Jude, she figured they’d better be ready for a fast escape.

She watched as Utah helped Jude out of the backseat. At least Jude was steady on his feet now.

A dark figure detached itself from beside the back door. Huge, hulking, and probably a seven on her oh-shit scale—he’d never outrank Utah, Fin, or Zero—he moved between them and the door. Vampire.

“This is Reed. He’s one of Adam’s guys.” Jude sounded weary. “Reed, meet Lia and Utah. Now move aside.”

For a moment, Lia thought Reed would refuse, but after glaring at Jude and then giving Utah the once-over, he moved away from the door without a word.

Once inside the darkened building, Jude limped across the room, pulled open a door in the far wall, and led them down rickety stairs that were almost as scary as Reed.

“There’s nothing here.” Utah glanced around the basement.

From the little she could see, it looked like an ordinary basement. A few boxes and other things were nothing but dim shadows in the almost total blackness. Zero along with all his crummy numbers could be crouching in the far reaches of the room, and she wouldn’t know. This wouldn’t be a problem if she were vampire, with a vampire’s enhanced vision.
Soon.
Lia continued to follow Jude closely as he wound his way around the boxes to a side wall where a large display case stood.

Jude, with Utah’s help, moved the cabinet aside, revealing a brick, arched doorway with a heavy wooden door. “This leads to the Shanghai Tunnels. Legend says that back in the day, men were drugged, then dragged through these tunnels to waiting ships where they were forced to work for years. Talk about cheap labor. The tunnels go under the streets of Portland all the way to the Willamette River. They connect the basements of a lot of old buildings. Most of the entrances have been closed up, though.”

Jude raised his hand to push at the door, but someone opened it before he had a chance to touch it.

A woman stood in the doorway. Framed by the brick archway and backlit by the glow of distant light, she looked beautiful and otherworldly. Okay, undead. Utah knew a vampire when he saw one. No amount of long dark hair, big brown eyes, soft mouth, and killer figure could hide it. The long white dress that floated around her did
not
make her look innocent.

She didn’t even glance at Jude or Lia. “I’m Tania. And you’re Utah. Adam said to expect you.” She widened her eyes and parted her lips to show exactly how much she expected him.

And from the hungry gleam in her eyes, she was evidently not disappointed. But Utah didn’t fool himself. That gleam meant she wouldn’t mind fucking him right before she drained him to the last drop.

Personally, he thought Lia was a lot sexier. He almost grinned. She’d hate that. All she wanted from him was respect for her fighting skills and almighty toughness. But the urge to grin died an inglorious death. She’d soon be vampire, and he never wanted to find a vampire tempting. All he wanted to do was kill them. Except for Jude. He was okay. He’d proven himself.

“Adam has me walking around in case some dumb human wanders down here. Like that’s going to happen at this time of night.” Tania was a great pouter. “There’s this story about the ghost of a woman in a white dress haunting the tunnels. I’m supposed to scare everyone away.” She shrugged. “But I’m bored. Tours don’t go where we are, so I don’t know why I have to do this.”

“What if someone
does
go into the tunnels? And what if they don’t scare?” Lia peered around Tania.

“Then I eat them.” She looked excited by the thought.

“Way to get rid of a problem.” Lia edged past Tania, but stopped to allow Jude to take the lead.

Utah brought up the rear as they walked toward the distant light. Only the mesmerizing sight of Lia’s small round behind swaying ahead of him kept him from feeling claustrophobic in the musty tunnel.

Finally, they reached the light source. A vampire sat in a folding chair in the middle of the tunnel. Must be Adam. He was about Utah’s height, with black hair and weird-looking gold eyes.

About ten of his people lounged around him. To his left and right were what looked like small cells. There were no doors on the cells, so the space felt a little more open than the rest of the tunnel. The vampires stopped talking and stared at him. Not friendly stares. Probably hadn’t liked his keep-Portland-vampire-free campaign. Tough.

Adam smiled. Utah didn’t.

“So, my newest employee has arrived. Welcome.” Adam’s eyes didn’t say welcome.

“Why are you down here? Seems to me you could afford somewhere classier.” Fin wouldn’t like him poking at the bloodsucker, but right now Utah didn’t give a damn.

Adam’s smile never slipped. “Ah, but these tunnels offer something a fancy condo never could.” He swept his hand to encompass the tunnels that branched off in many directions. “They have exits into all kinds of basements. Sure, most of them are closed off, but that wouldn’t stop one of us. Easy ins and outs can be important.”

“Fine, I get that, but this is pretty primitive.” Lia glanced around at the cots that had been set up in the small cell areas.

“We won’t be here long. Now that I’ve brought Utah to heel, I only need one more job completed before I head back to California. You, my beast, and your new partner will take care of that.”

Brought him to heel?
My
beast? Utah wanted to rip the jerk’s head off. Adam was enjoying Utah’s humiliation in the same way he’d probably enjoyed Jude’s. That kind of attitude deserved payback. Utah glanced at Jude. Yeah, they had the same thought.

It wasn’t Adam’s leash that kept Utah from exploding into violence. It was the still-fresh memory of what his previous loss of control had almost caused, along with the realization that it would be tough to free his soul in these tunnels. No maneuvering room.

“Besides, I have another reason for setting up camp in the tunnels.”

Utah was barely listening. He’d just digested the second part of Adam’s message.
New partner?
What partner? Wasn’t Lia shadowing his every footstep enough? Apparently not. He already hated this new person. Lia’s expression assured him she was on the same page where new partners were concerned.

Adam blabbed on, uncaring that he was the focus of some totally pissed-off “employees.” “When I was newly made, I hired wizards to do any magic that needed doing. That became counterproductive because I kept losing my temper when they failed to produce the desired results. I tended to express my displeasure with violence. I got tired of replacing wizards, so I decided to learn what needed learning so that I could do things myself.”

“Umm, about this new partner.” Lia was staying focused.

Adam paused to glare at her. Damn, he was good. That stare raised the hairs on Utah’s arms. He’d make sure never to underestimate this guy. A vampire with a variety of skills had lots of options when it came to killing. Utah didn’t think Adam would resort to brutality just because Lia had interrupted him. He’d count on intimidation to cow her.

She calmly returned Adam’s stare. Utah tensed, ready to act if he had to. But Adam simply continued his spiel, ignoring her comment.

“So why are we in these tunnels? Down here we’re surrounded by stone, close to water, and in a place that saw lots of death and misery. All elements that make for strong paranormal activity. Perfect for my summoning spells.”

“Summoning spells?” Utah couldn’t keep his mouth shut. “What would you need to summon?”

Adam’s smile was slyly triumphant. “Your new partner.”

U
tah felt a slow cold creep up his spine and knew something was standing behind him. He forced the tension from his body and pasted a neutral expression on his face as he turned. Utah didn’t want his new partner to think he was anything special.

Utah didn’t by so much as a blink show his surprise. Lia had turned with him. She tensed, but nothing more.

The face was familiar. Hell, no one would ever forget that face. He’d seen it a month ago in Philly.

“Don’t react. Pretend you don’t know me. I’ll explain later.”

The face might be familiar, but the voice in his head wasn’t. He’d never talked to the guy. But he did know one thing. Kione, unseelie fae prince, would make a lousy partner on many different levels. He turned to face Adam again without saying anything to the prince.

First, Utah didn’t trust Kione. Yeah, so he didn’t trust many people outside of the Eleven. And even the Eleven were iffy except for Tor. Utah was too close to his past to trust anyone but pack. Besides, he sensed that Kione was a loner. No pack would ever hold him.

Second, Lia’s glazed expression bothered him. She was staring at the guy with unblinking intensity. Utah didn’t like that. And he refused to analyze his dislike.

Finally, the fae prince made him . . . feel things. Not things he had time to examine right now.

Adam laughed. “Once I knew you’d be joining us, Utah, I decided to give you a worthy partner.”

Lia dragged her attention away from the dark fairy long enough to protest. “A
worthy
partner? What am I, day-old blood?” It seemed to take an effort of will for her to turn her back on Kione.

“Face it, you’re human, Lia.” Left unsaid was:
therefore useless
. “I wanted someone with Utah who’d complement his physical power, someone with supernatural skills.”

Utah drew in a deep calming breath.
Keep your mouth shut.
Strange how much more he hated Lia’s humiliation at Adam’s hands than he had his own. In the end, he had to say something.

“Lia will make a great partner.” Where had that come from?

“I will?”

It was worth the lie to see her lips tip up in a grateful smile. Utah realized he wouldn’t mind seeing those lips do any number of interesting things.

“Not a doubt in my mind. If we’re hunting vampires, then I want someone with me who can tell me how they think.” He grinned. “And someone who can drive like hellfire is singeing her ass.”

Adam frowned. “You work for me, Utah, so Kione is your official partner. Lia is just there to keep this Seven guy from finding you. I went to a lot of trouble to get him. The summoning spell was . . . troublesome.”

For the first time, Utah noticed the circle drawn in the dirt behind Adam, along with the candles and the blood.

Adam saw the direction of his gaze. “Human blood. Only the best to get the best.” His expression was shadowed for a moment. “I was summoning a demon.” He shrugged. “Just as good.”

Utah wasn’t sure. He’d felt the wash of power coming from Kione. Pretty heavy stuff. Could Adam control that?

Lia jumped in with a question. “What’re you hunting? You wouldn’t need all this firepower just to go after one of our own.” She tried to concentrate on Adam’s answer, tried to ignore the man behind her.

Fine, so calling Kione a man understated what he was by a few light-years. He was over six feet, but she couldn’t tell much about his body because he’d wrapped himself in a dark cloak. But that was okay, because Kione was all about his face. And his face was all about sex. From the perfect lines of his jaw and cheekbones, to the curve of sensual male lips, to intense forest green eyes framed by thick dark lashes, he oozed erotic promises. A woman might die from the pleasure of what he did to her body, but she’d die happy. And if he chose to trail his smoke-dark hair across her bared flesh, he’d leave first-degree burns behind.

But his danger wasn’t in his fae beauty. He made her
want
. Beyond her power to resist. Her instinct was screaming for her to turn and run, because to get any closer to him was to become nothing more than a panting, heated lump of female dough ready for him to mold into any sexual position he chose. As if that weren’t bad enough, she wanted to jump whoever was closest to her. That would be Utah. If she wasn’t holding on to her control with fingers, toes, and teeth, she’d leap on him with a primal scream and take him right in front of every vampire here.