Hard Days Night (The Firsts Book 8) (15 page)

“It’s not that simple.  People die, Mal, and we all know we can’t save everyone.  Luka was shot to death, that’s just his fate.  Besides, we are honor bound to make certain that becoming vampire is something the person
really
wants.  I cannot ask him to obtain his agreement.”

Mal drew a deep breath. “I know this man better than anyone on earth.  When I tell you that he would choose this, to be alive, regardless of the consequences, as long
as no one else has to suffer, he would choose to have you make him into a vampire.”

Her plea was soul-deep.  Ahmose could see in her eyes the level of love she had for this man.  For a fraction of a moment, he felt jealous that this man was so deeply loved by this woman.  What would it be like to have her love him so much?  

Was he considering it?  He shouldn’t. It wasn’t his place to decide who lived and died.  Yes, it was possible to convert this man and save him.  That didn’t make it the right thing to do.

Mal slipped her hand up Ahmose’s arms and curled her fingers around his biceps.  She had watched him struggle with her plea for several minutes.

“Ahmose, you said that people were converted to vampire for love.  I promise you, this would be an act of pure love.   This man is such a good
man, the world would be lesser without him.  You would take him to your Africa.  I would miss him every second that my heart beats, but I would know that he was well.  Please.”  Tears were flowing freely down her cheeks now.  “
Please
.”

Ahmose lifted his own hands to her face, his thumbs under her eyes, capturing her tears.  “You make a case that the moon is
in your pocket, and I would believe it.  I cannot tell you no.  I do this for you, not for him.”

Shaking her head, Mal almost collapsed.  Now that he had agreed, she wondered what had made her ask something so unbelievable of him. 
Desperation
.  Yes, but somehow, she found it inside of her to accept the possibility of the impossible.

Chapter 7

Picking Luka up easily in his arms, Ahmose took him to the room they’d slept in last night.

“I will begin the conversion, but you need to procure restraints.  Conversions are brutal, detective, and he will fight for release.  It won’t help, the pain is absolute since the body is literally being torn apart and rebuilt.”

“God,” Mal whispered.

“You must get me very heavy-duty chains.  Reinforced links, thick shackles, six inch bolts half an inch in diameter.  Heavy loops to attach them to.  Thick leather to protect his wrists and ankles from the metal.  That’s all for now.”

“Okay.  I need to contact Captain Smith to clear the area. The shooters may still be out there.”

“They’re not.  I took care of one of them.  I think he’s the one that shot your partner.  There were others, but they were able to get away while I secured the first one.”

“
Do you know what happened?”

“The one that shot your partner, I do not know.  I suspect that the other
set of shooters were the ones who shot me two nights ago and returned to finish the job.  You can’t call the authorities.  I won’t let them near anyway.  Just get the things I asked for, please.”

“All right.
I’ll be back.”

“I will
unspell the house.  When you return, call and I will allow you entrance.  You understand that what we do must remain unknown.  Do not think to apprise the local constabulary that you need help or try to bring anyone else here.  Nod if you understand and agree.”

“Damn, you sound like an attorney. Yes, I understand and agree. 
Just, Ahmose, save him.”

Ahmose shook his head.  “I cannot believe I am forcing a conversion.” But his expression softened and he reached out to fondle a long curl that had escaped the clip Mal had used to bind her hair up.

“Go,” he said, quiet, but urgent.

Mal turned and left immediately.

On the side of the house, tied to a
4 x 4 post with a garden hose, Jinx’s feet barely touched the ground.  How the hell he came to be here, he really didn’t know.  He’d followed Luka around the edge of the house, realized that the cop Mal Kalani was at the back door, and made his way to the other side of the deck.  It was the perfect scenario for completing his mission.   Fire the fatal shots at Luka, thus delivering the message Canzone wanted delivered straight to her face, and escape to the street and his car before she realized what happened.

Only the plan stopped right after he shot Luka dead, stowed the rifle on his back and began to go. Someone else was firing at
him!

He noticed two men on the opposite side of the deck, rifles raised,
firing past where Luka lay.  Almost crawling, he retreated back down the outside edge of the small house.  And that was where he got confused.

Because the next thing he knew, he was hanging here,
dangling, his gun gone, and no way to get free. 

Moonpie was laughing his ass off.  Generous tears ran down his face and he kept swiping at them with
the nubby fingers of one hand and the tip of the barrel of his handgun with the other.

“
Fuck, that was crazy!  Who the hell was that shooting at
us
?”

“No idea.  But we were outgunned.  Whoever it was had serious artillery.
We are
never
going to get an opening to take this vampire. Now, I think that maybe there’s someone else after him.  If that’s the case, Claude needs to know.”

“All I know is that was one great big mess!  Two sets of shooters, I don’t even
know
who the guy was that got shot, and your big-ass vampire is still standing, head attached, and all. Your boss is gonna be pi-i-i-s-s-sed.”

Cheeto was quiet now.  Watching the road, his mind elsewhere, he swerved to avoid a bicyclist that was well-lit with front and back lights, and a full
-body reflective suit.

“Yeah, I
gotta do this. I can’t fail this assignment, or there’ll be no more coming and this is my main job.  Otherwise, I’m unemployable, Moonpie, you get me?”

Moonpie did.  He nodded, because he himself was kind of a one-trick-pony.  He had tried several other jobs and they either didn’t suit him, he couldn’t master them, or people made fun of him. 
And he got fired.

“Another day, then, okay,
Cheet?”

Mal hurried to Luka’s bike to get what Ahmose needed when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a man hanging on the side of the house.

What the fuck!

When she turned to him, and saw who it was, her head spun.

“Jinx?” she yelled and walked up to him. 
What the
fuck was he doing here?

“Could, uh, you let me down?” he asked after a few moments.

Her brows drawn tightly together, Mal stared at him, confused. 
What the
…

Then it struck her like lightning…
he was the one who
shot Luka!

“I’m going to kill you if he dies.”  She was in his face, her breath hot on his.  “And even if he doesn’t, don’t bet on your own survival.”

“It wasn’t me.  I mean, it was Canzone who ordered the hit.
He’s
the one you want.  I don’t know why he has a thing for you, but he’s locked on you like a guided missile.  Come on, I’m not your enemy.”

“You shot my partner, you are my
greatest
enemy.  You’re lucky I’m on a mission, or I think I’d kill you right here right now.”

She nearly ran from him, afraid that one more second with him, she’d rip out his throat with her fingernails.

The priority now was Luka, and she wouldn’t let herself become distracted.  Afterward, Canzone could kiss his ass goodbye. 

She screamed, out loud to the wind that took her voice as she headed into town to find Ahmose’s list of items.

“Canzone, wherever you are, it isn’t far enough.  Your ass is mine!”

With her skills and determination, Mal would run him down like the rabid dog he was.  Luka, and she, would have their revenge.

Ahmose continued the feed to save his new lover’s partner and make him vampire.  He looked over the man who would be coming home with him to his village in Zambia.  Handsome, big, he would make a fine vampire.

Ahmose
already knew Mal enough to know that if she loved this man enough to ask Ahmose to save him, he had to be a good man.

It was enough for him, for now, to honor the promise.

Luka was too weak to respond yet to the blood, but if he was going to survive at all, he should begin to fight the blood draw soon.  Ahmose hadn’t told Mal that some people cannot convert, their bodies incapable of handling the catastrophic change of DNA.  What would be the point?  The man would survive, or he wouldn’t.

Just as he thought this, Ahmose heard a low gurgle.  Luka was choking on the blood
, finally beginning to fight.  Good news.

Ahmose held Luka down as he struggled against him.  It would be better for the writhing man when Mal arrived with the restraints, but Luka was as weak as a kitten against Ahmose’s superior strength.  He held him easily as he thought about Mal.

She didn’t know that she would never see Luka again, even though he had warned her that after conversion, he would have to give up everything he knew.  That
did
include
her
. 

Once Luka was past danger, Ahmose would move them to his home in Zambia for safety.  His own murder had been evidence enough that Lamont’s organization had found him and were still serious about eliminating his race.

Before his daughter arrived, Ahmose hoped that he and a complement of highly motivated first bloods would end this threat forever.

The ringer of his cell phone ended his reverie.

“Hi.  Yes,” he said, “Come in.”  With a focused thought and a hand movement meant to do the same, he knew the house was now visible so Mal could come back in.

“Hey,” she said, as she dragged an obviously heavy duffle bag through the doorway.

Ahmose stood and walked over to easily pick the bag up and carry it into the room.

“Thank you.  I’ll keep him here until I’m certain that he is going to survive, that the conversion is occurring, and then we’ll go.”

Mal nodded and walked over to look at Luka, pale and gagging, on the floor, and winced at the blood that covered nearly every inch of his shirt.

“He looks horrible.”  It was the only thing she could think right now, other than wondering if she’d made a big mistake giving in to the desperate choice of believing that Ahmose could save him.  Her reasonable self knew that he should be in a hospital.
  But her eyes moved to Ahmose’s forehead, and the fact that there had been a bullet hole in it two nights ago, and there was no evidence of it at all now, gave her the courage to see this through.

“I saw the man you
have tied up outside this house.  You’re right, he’s the one who shot Luka.  His name is Jinx, and he’s the henchman for a powerful businessman who threatened to kill everyone I love.  I don’t know why, but the son-of-a-bitch has targeted me.  Canzone won’t get away with this.  When I get back to L.A., I’m going to get that asshole if it’s the last thing I do.”  She paused.  “It might be.”

“Do you need my help?”

“What?  No. I’ll have the backing of everyone in my division.  And I have Jinx now, so that’s one more bastard off the streets.”

“Then I will leave tonight.”

“You’ll go back to South Africa.  Luka, too. I would like to fly with you.”

He knew she would ask.  It didn’t matter what he said now. “Okay.”

Mal nodded.  “Thank you, even if he doesn’t pull through.  Thank you for trying.  I don’t understand most of what has happened in this house for the past two days, but, for some strange reason I’ll never suss out, I trust you.  And I’m grateful.”

“You have been a delight.  I wish we had more time, but things are happening too quickly.  Mal,” Ahmose said, facing her.

“Yes?” 

As she turned to him, he took her face in his hands and kissed her, his tongue gently sliding inside her mouth and across her lips as he pulled back.

“You’re delicious. I find I am going to miss you more than I would have thought possible. Look at me.”

Mal lifted her eyes, still distracted from that amazing kiss, her pale green eyes trapped now.