Hunter by Night (15 page)

Alexia leaned over to kiss Isabel on the forehead. “I’m gonna get cleaned up, and since the clothes I tried to bring you got lost in the woods, I’m gonna pack up more for Lee to bring you. And some books to read. Feel better. She’s perfect, sweetie.”

Isabel smiled weakly. “Thanks, Lexi.”

Alexia slid past Lee on the way out the door. “I’m going to grab more coffee from next to the nurse’s station. I’ll wait in the hall.”

More coffee. Was all this unhealthy behavior a ploy to antagonize him?
If
you
want
her
to
be
healthier, perhaps you should try being healthier yourself.
What a novel concept. He shook his head at himself.

“Isabel, if I may ask one question. You had a knotted bracelet on your wrist when you were found outside. Where did it come from?”

She frowned as if doing so took effort. “It arrived in an unmarked box with the mail the previous evening. I assumed it was a gift from someone in the community. Stuff like that comes in all the time.”

Lee nodded and placed the baby into the crook of Isabel’s arm. They’d need to watch for this sort of thing more carefully from now on. “Congratulations to both of you. I’m going to square things away with Siddoh and bring Agnessa back for the blessing.” He checked his watch. “It may have to wait the day.”

Thad nodded.

Lee met his stare. “I’ll work it out, no worries.”

Thad nodded again. “Please.”

Lee turned to find Alexia. He could admit he was at a loss, but he would make things right. If it was the last thing he did. And it might well be.

Upon return to the estate, Lee found Siddoh pacing a section of tunnels that led to an underground storage facility. The tunnel lights hadn’t been turned back on after the power had come back. The underground walkway stretched for foot after foot of pitch dark, ending with a set of double metal doors on either end. Lee stretched his natural night vision as he entered from the hall tunnel, disturbed by the agitated prowling. This was very unlike Siddoh. Very.

Despite the all-quiet report he’d gotten from the guys he checked with on the way in, it was immediately apparent to Lee that Siddoh had a problem.

At first, a quick jerk of Siddoh’s hand was the only acknowledgment Lee received. “What’s going on, Lee?”

Lee pulled up short just as Siddoh’s pacing was about to involve an about-face to loop around and head the other way. Lee reached out and gripped Siddoh’s shoulder. “You tell me.”

Siddoh stopped and shook his head hard. “Doing okay. The magical power to the fence has been reactivated. Everybody’s still quarantined except for the guys patrolling the property. So far it looks like it’s going to hold.”

So this did not explain Siddoh’s apparent discomfort. Ah, wait… No doubt Siddoh could smell Alexia on Lee. Was that the source of Siddoh’s anger? Alexia and Siddoh were friends, hung out on occasion. Perhaps those feelings extended beyond friendship.

Lee’s shoulders tightened. “Siddoh, do we need to talk?”

Siddoh shifted uncomfortably. He moved side to side and then in a boxlike fashion, like an animal in a cage. “I’ve got guys stationed along all the tunnel access points to the outside, as you instructed. The single females are in the natural disaster vault area at the center of the estate. Except Agnessa. I escorted her down there, but she insisted on leaving and things were well enough settled at that point. Anyway, her presence made the other females nervous.”

Lee gave a short nod. “What else?”

“I’ve got patrols ready to go out at dusk. The newly hatched assessment trainees that are ready will shadow someone with experience on patrol close to the grounds. I don’t think any of those guardians got close enough last night to pinpoint our exact location, but I want to keep it that way. I’ll switch up the rotation short-term until we’re sure the coast is clear given this latest attempt. We’re gonna continue to check in with the human hospitals to make sure there haven’t been any more bodies reported.”

“Fine.” Lee gritted his teeth. “What else?”
Come
on, asshole, the thing you’re cranked about that you’re not saying. You’re angry because I fucked Alexia. Spit it the hell out so we can kick each other’s asses like we’ve been meaning to do and get on with our lives.

Finally, Siddoh’s head kicked back and his open mouth released a primal roar that echoed and bounced in the empty hallway. His boot hit the wall with a heavy smack.

And here it came.

“I’ve got my uncle strung up in an interrogation shed.”

Lee’s hand twitched. “What?”

Siddoh’s hands were back in his hair. “I think he tampered with the fence himself. Either to make himself look like a hero or to make Thad look like a douche, or both. He knew he could fix it before the guardians got close. I wonder now if he’s the reason the guardians suddenly showed up on our shores out of nowhere.”

“Jesus.”

Siddoh shook his head. “Fuck, Lee.” Hands rubbed roughly over tired eyes. “We aren’t close, but we were friendly. Hell, closer than I am to my parents.”

No, he’d severed ties with most of his family. Lee knew that much.

Siddoh cracked his neck. “I didn’t know how his daughter was killed. I thought… They lived downtown back then, and I was away from the estate at the time. I guess I just assumed it was the usual. Wizards. Unfortunate, but…”

But shit happened.

“So this whole crusade against human interaction?”

“He’s been behind the entire campaign, at least the latest major wave. What I don’t understand is what he expected to accomplish by doing it the way he was. You can’t just overthrow a king, and we live surrounded by humans.” Siddoh stalked angrily to the storage area doors and shoved hard. The locked double doors resisted with a heavy
bang
.

Lee rolled his shoulders and followed the angry vampire, suddenly wishing this rage was about Alexia. While he and Siddoh had always carried some animosity toward each other, he could let that shit go right now, because for fuck’s sake, nobody should have to lock their own flesh and blood in a cell.

Dimly, Lee was aware of an unpleasant rush in his blood. Pain in his neck and jaw. Sadness. Anxiety. Somewhere across the estate Alexia was hurt and upset. That shouldn’t be his concern right then, but it was. He cared very much why Alexia felt hurt or upset. He would find her as soon as he could.

“Okay.” Lee ignored Siddoh’s startled expression when he hooked a friendly arm around his second in command’s shoulder. He understood. The two of them had been at odds for so long. “I’m sorry you had to be the one to handle this mess with your uncle. We’re approaching dawn. Can your uncle handle staying in the interrogation shed for the day?”

Siddoh nodded. “I think so. He’s old, but… I suspect he’s sturdier than he lets on. I hope.”

“All right.” Lee took a deep breath. “Let’s set aside our bullshit for now. I can’t even remember why we hate each other, can you?” It was all trivial now. Siddoh opened his mouth but Lee cut him off. “Me either,” Lee said. “Come on. Let’s go hash out what went on in my absence. We’ll figure out what to do about your uncle.”

***

Alexia couldn’t have slept if someone had drugged her. Oh, she knew because she’d tried drugging her own damn self. Summer allergies, right? God bless Benadryl. Two of those babies usually knocked her down for a solid ten hours. Only not this time.

Sleeping through the day had never gotten comfortable for her. Sure, after a late night she could sleep past what she called breakfast time. But all day? Totally different. And now the entire mansion had been emptied of living bodies. Lee had tried to get her to go to the bomb shelter whatchamahoozit with the other folks, and maybe she should have. Sleeping alone in this giant house felt a little like sleeping in a ginormous mausoleum.

Still, the security system had been restored, and sleeping with a bunch of strange vampires sounded equally weird, so Alexia had stayed. For as long as this place remained her home, it was the closest thing Alexia had to familiar. But now she also suffered from a fuzzy head, thanks to the “fog de antihistamine.”

So she made coffee. The stress of recent events encouraged her to add some Irish whiskey she found in the kitchen. A little whipped cream. Rainbow sprinkles. Fuck the August heat outside. The way these vampires blasted the AC, she might go ahead and spark up a fire in the common room. Toast a marshmallow.

She sipped a little as she walked down to the common room where they kept the comfy love seat and the awesome TV. Funniest thing, since it was also the room where Isabel received subjects and Thad met with his upper-level soldier guys. Nothing said “multitasking” like a throne and a flat-screen in the same place.

She’d just stationed herself on the love seat when her stupidity thunked her between the eyes. She already sported a major case of the jitters, which made the coffee a bad idea. That she’d already swallowed two allergy pills made the alcohol a bad idea. Dammit, the whipped cream and sprinkles looked tasty, too.

So she swiped the good stuff off the top with her finger and licked it off. “Oh. Ick.” The whipped cream soured almost as soon as she swallowed, apparently past its freshness date. “What a letdown.” She was putting her mug down on an end table by the sofa when a flash of light and movement caught her eye up the path outside.

Wait. Outside? Why were the drapes open?

With the house evacuated, the maid staff or whoever usually handled closing the drapes before the morning must have been gone. Alexia recalled hearing that Ivy was still around, but she must have missed covering the windows in this room. Alexia stuck her face against the window, trying to make out what was going on. Whatever it was, it was all the way up at the entry gate to the property. With the trees and the distance, she just couldn’t tell.

With the magic restored to the fence, she was probably worrying about nothing. Still… that was exactly where she’d found that cord thingy that Lee had gotten so weird about. And nobody else could check this out. Anton and Tyra could go out in the day, but they were at the hospital guarding Thad and Isabel. She pulled out her phone to call Lee, but stopped. He’d been holed up all day handling some urgent problem with Siddoh.

Alexia pulled the drapes shut. She’d just go check things out. If the fence was really doing its job, whoever or whatever lurked up there couldn’t get to her anyway. She slipped down the rear hall and out the door.

She kept to the trees as she threaded her way up the path toward the gate. The oppressive August heat made it hard to breathe after being inside that chilly mansion. She squinted into the sun, trying to see past the trees. The day had an eye-searing brightness, with a sky so blue and clouds so fluffy that the whole thing looked fake. Dammit, she never remembered to leave the house with sunglasses anymore. Her thumb hovered over Send just in case. She’d call if anything looked funky—if her vision ever returned in this freaking sunlight. And then she’d run like hell.

“Afternoon!” A man leaning over the engine of a battered pickup gave her a wave.

Alexia let out the breath she’d been holding. Oh, jeez. Some guy with a broken-down vehicle. No big. Her chest still held on to a ball of heavy tension, an inkling that something wasn’t quite right. Then again, she’d been nervous ever since she and Lee… She shook her head. No. Yeah. Just unspent nerves. That was all.

“Everything okay?” She held up her phone. “Someone I can call for you?”

“Nah. Think I’ve finally almost got her ready to bend to my will.” He grinned. The better part of his face was hidden behind dark sunglasses, but the smile showcased gleaming white teeth and the kind of dimples that probably made panties everywhere hit the ground in record time.

The dimples paired nicely with the muscular arms showing from under his crisp white T-shirt. Still, Alexia’s undies didn’t even pretend to budge a little bit southward. After getting ravaged by an ancient vampire, could getting laid in the human world possibly hold any thrill? She could hardly consider the possibility. Would it help when Agnessa wiped her memory?

Would she be able to fall in love again someday?

Again?
Oh hell… She sure hoped so.

She took a step away, ready to flee back to the house and shower off her latest revelation. She stopped when the man pulled his arms out of the engine compartment. A large bandage encircled one hand. “Hey, are you okay?”

“Oh, sure.” That grin again. He reminded Lexi of the kind of guys they put on sexy farmer calendars. “Just a cut. It’ll heal.”

“Oh. Great. Well.” She jerked her thumb. “I’d better—”

“Hey, you mind jumpin’ behind the wheel and givin’ this thing some gas for me? I’d like to watch what happens while you start it up.”

“Oh, uhm…” Okay, this kind of shot her staying inside the gate plan. She didn’t want to be rude, assuming the man
was
on the up and up. But Lee was gonna kill her if she went out there.

You
don’t have to tell him…

No, it didn’t feel right to lie the way she had been so she sent a quick text. Better to anger the beast than risk being wrong. “Sure.” Rather than open the gate, she scaled the side and jumped down. Call it paranoia, but she wasn’t about to break the magic seal with Farmer McDimples standing right there.

“Impressive. Athletic little thing, huh?” He came around the side of the rust and silver truck.

She managed an awkward chuckle. “I never met a dismount I didn’t like.” Before her parents had gone around the bend, they’d signed her up for gymnastics. Only a year, but it had been fun.

Nerves gripped her when she slid behind the wheel of the vehicle. She made a point of keeping the driver’s side door open, but that ball in her chest got heavier. After a few tries, no luck. “Sorry. I guess it’s not starting.”

“Hang on,” the man called. He bent down to fiddle again, and Alexia tapped her hands on the bench seat to calm herself.

Something nagged at her brain. Like that voice that whispered in your head when you’d forgotten something important. Maybe it was all the sunlight. She wasn’t so used to it any more. Or being out here with this strange guy. Meanwhile, she’d checked and rechecked her phone. No response from Lee.

“Listen, I’m sorry. I’ve really got to go. I have… an appointment.” Probably to get her ass handed to her by an angry vampire.

No response from Dimples. Where was he? She jumped down from the truck to find him right by the driver’s door. “Oh. Hey.”

“Hey.” He stood uncomfortably close. “I appreciate your help.”

“I didn’t do much.”

“All the same.” He licked his lips “I’d love to thank you properly.”

The way he stood so close, she was afraid she’d have to introduce his balls to her knee. “I’m… seeing someone.” For lack of a better response. “I’m sorry. Are you sure I can’t call someone for you?”

“No. Thank you.” He backed away, thank God.

Alexia sidled away and speed-walked to the fence. She took a good look before she climbed over. All she could see were trees and the horse barn next to the mansion where they parked cars. Farther down on the property was a stone building used for the same purpose. Beyond the barn she saw a training ring for horses, a single home, and lots of pasture land. Wowzers. That vampire cloaking stuff was some cool shit.

She waved a final good-bye to Farmer Hotness, climbed the fence, and made fast tracks back to the house.
See, Lexi? Everything’s fine.

Except for the massive, angry vampire who waited in the shadows when she got back inside. “I got your text.”

“Oh God!” Her pulse sped up to frappé. She waited for him to charge, to growl, but he didn’t. Just stared, simmering. “Yeah. I was worried it might be someone messing with the fence again, but it was just a guy with a dead truck battery.”