Hunter's Salvation (19 page)

“If I had to make a guess…” Nessa pursed her lips, studying with thoughtful eyes the woman under the shield. “I would say it came on her later in life. There is a great deal of rage inside her. It is linked with her power.”

“Did she do this to herself?” Malachi asked quietly. “I don't see how, but what other explanation is there?” His dark eyes were troubled.

Nessa shook her head. “There is no possible way she could do this to herself with any sort of magick.” Her voice was confident, as though she knew there was no possible way she could be wrong. Considering that she was pretty much the authority when it came to magick, her confidence was understandable.

“Not magick,” Vax agreed. “Science. Is…” He paused, his voice trailing off as he tried to figure out how to put the question together. “Is it possible…”

Shit.

Kelsey had been curiously quiet through the entire discussion. She stood by the wall, her hands tucked inside her back pockets. She had been staring at Dena with enigmatic eyes, but now her gaze moved to Vax. There was a faint, humorless smile on her face.

“Is it possible to
make
creatures, outside of the bite, outside of the blood?” Kelsey offered quietly. “A way to pick and choose who becomes were, who becomes witch, who becomes vamp…or who gets a combination of the gifts.”

Vax didn't like the look in her eyes. It was a bitter, unhappy knowledge—as if she already knew the answer to that question.

“What in the bloody hell are you talking about?” Still preoccupied with the woman lying in the tub, Mal didn't bother to look at his wife as he growled the question. “Attempting to build armies by Changing mortals into vamps or weres is something as old as time. It's a practice that has been around for ages, and it's usually unsuccessful. This, though—this is something new. I've never seen one like this.”

“That's because she wasn't made a wolf through an attack. This was
done
to her.”

That got Mal's attention. “Done how?”

She answered that with a shrug. “I don't know the specifics, but she was a witch first. This…was forced on her.”

“Most attacks are forced.” Vax folded his arms across his chest and studied Dena. Her misshapen body lay so still in the tub. With her strength draining away by the silver and her magick contained by Nessa's shields, she looked pathetic.

“Not like this one.”

“Darling wife, you sound so certain,” Malachi murmured. His dark blue eyes were unreadable, but the vibes coming off him weren't happy ones. The look on his face would have made sane people run for cover.

Of course, Vax had already suspected Kelsey's sanity, or lack thereof. After all, she had married the spooky bastard. As Malachi loomed over her, Kelsey stared up at him steadily. “Stop it with the intimidation tactics, pal.” She jabbed him in the chest with an unpainted nail, her brows drawn low over her eyes. “That works all well and good on other people, but it doesn't work on me.”

Mal reached up and closed a hand over her wrist. He lifted her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to her palm. But he was still royally pissed. “You need to tell me what's going on, love. And later you can explain why you haven't said a single word about this.”

Kelsey turned towards the misshapen werewolf. “That's the problem with taking a vampire as a mate. They get inside your head too easily.”

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “The mystery of why we are different from mortals has intrigued people for millennia. For hundreds and hundreds of years, it was thought that we were cursed. Over the past century or so, those with a more scientific mindset have been looking for more rational answers.”

Malachi shook his head. “There are no answers, Kelsey. We simply are what we are.”

Kelsey smiled. She looked a little sad. “There are answers, Mal.” She sighed, a soft, quiet sound. Her eyes roamed restlessly over the room, her expression troubled. “Some are desperate to discover them. To some extent, they have even found them.”

As one, they all turned their heads towards the bathroom. “That is no answer,” Vax said softly. “She is a sad, pathetic abomination.”

Kelsey moved towards the bathroom. She didn't go inside, just peered around the corner. “Knowledge, just like any other power, can be used for good or evil, Vax. You know that as well as I.” There was sympathy in Kelsey's gaze as she stared at Dena, but there was also practicality. “She is no innocent victim, though. She went along with this willingly.”

“I tire of the doublespeak. Am I the only one in this wretched little cabin who hasn't a bloody clue what you are talking about?” Malachi demanded, his tone icy.

“I'm talking about an experiment. I think somebody experimented on her, trying to see if they could create a werewolf that also had the powers of a witch.” Kelsey rubbed her hands up and down the outside of her arms, as if she were cold.

“Isn't possible.” Mal's flat tone brooked no argument, but Kelsey just smirked at him.

“No? There are at least two Hunters who prove otherwise—Ben and Shadoe Cross. The two powers can be forced into one body. Hell, look at Leandra. It's just been our good luck that so far these creatures have been Hunters. It's just a matter of time, though. Sooner or later somebody like them will go feral. We'll have a hell of a problem stopping them. Apparently this man that Jessica is speaking of decided to speed up the process.”

“Speed it up
how
?”

Now Kelsey looked a little nervous. She rubbed her palms down the front of her jeans and licked her lips. “I can't say for certain. But…” Her words died and she stopped, staring down at the floor. Her shoulders lifted and fell in a sigh; then they stiffened as though she were bracing herself. “One of the Hunters knows a physician. Dr. Samuel Radley.” She paused and glanced at Nessa. “You know him. Or you did—before…”

“Before I died,” Nessa offered in a flat voice.

From the corner of his eye, Vax could see Jess. Her eyes were wide, dark, and confused. But he didn't have time to explain, and even if he had, that was one story too bizarre for words.

Nessa reached up, tapping at her mouth with her index finger. Her fingernails were painted a wicked, bright shade of blue that almost matched her eyes. “Radley. Radley…oh, yes. He was the doctor who was attacked in New York City. How long ago was that?”

“Steven told me that he was attacked on New Year's Eve, 1899.”

With a shake of her head, Nessa murmured, “My. More than a hundred years ago. He barely survived the Change. The vampire that attacked him took too much blood, left Radley too weak.” Thoughtfully, Nessa said, “He wanted me to Change him back into a mortal. But it isn't possible.”

Slowly, she turned. Head cocked, Nessa stared at Dena. “Or at least it shouldn't have been possible.”

Kelsey said, “Radley has spent the past century trying to find a way. He has been studying what we are—all of us—trying to see if there is a way to undo it.”

Most of what she said was too damned technical for Vax to follow—mumbo jumbo about chemicals in the brain, chemoreceptors, brain scans, and hormones. He didn't understand the medical jargon. He was, however, able to follow the basics.

There was something in their bodies—vamp, were, or witch—that made them what they were. Something tangible. Kelsey had met this physician and trusted him—he was indeed looking for a way to reverse the Change, or to kill a witch's magick without killing her.

“Why would somebody want to do that?” Mal demanded, prowling the room as though it was impossible to stand still. “Change what they are?”

Vax could think of quite a few reasons. But it was Nessa that answered. “Why? I could tell you why, my dear.” For all her youthful looks, in that moment, Nessa looked every bit as old as she truly was. “Imagine having so much power inside you that your body cannot die. Even though it ages and you eventually grow old and weak and frail, imagine that power keeping you alive.”

A tear slipped out of her eye as she added, “No matter how much you might wish for death.” She didn't seem to notice that she was crying silently. “There have been many, many times when I would undo what I am, my friend. Without regrets.”

She turned away and walked out, leaving them behind in silence. Finally Vax spoke first. He jabbed a thumb towards the bathroom and asked, “What does this have to do with
her
?”

Kelsey answered quietly, “Everything. If Radley can find ways to unmake us, then who is to say there isn't a doctor who has found a way to do just the opposite: create more?”

“Why?” Jess asked softly. She stood with her back to the wall, arms crossed over her chest.

Kelsey looked towards Jess, startled, as if she'd forgotten Jess was in the room. “There could be a million answers to that. Maybe just to see if he could. But it's probably a lot deeper and darker than that.” She smiled bitterly and murmured, “Somebody wants to play God—making his own following, breeding his own army.”

Fear wasn't something Vax felt very often. It just wasn't in his makeup. But as he turned his head and looked at Malachi, fear mingled with dread, turning his gut into a knot. “What if they found a vamp as old as you, Mal? Now add in Agnes's ability to control fire. Fire's the only thing that will kill you, man.”

Mal just scowled and said, “Is not. Taking my head will do it just as easy as fire.”

“But who would be quick enough to get in that close?” Vax shook his head. “Nobody.” He looked at Kelsey. “He's a powerful bastard, and it's a damn good thing he's with us. We won't always be that lucky.”

Kelsey cocked a brow. “Then that means you had better find the people who made her what she is. Now.” She glanced towards the bathroom and said, “We'll take care of her.”

“We will?” Malachi looked a little disgusted.

Vax said, “Well, you can always do the fieldwork. I'll take her back to Excelsior.” With a bland smile, he added, “Hey, aren't you two still sort of on your honeymoon? Nothing like chasing after mad scientists to help fuel the flames, right?”

 

“I
CANNOT
believe you never spoke of this physician before, this Dr. Radley.”

The room was wintry. Even the fire crackling away in the stone fireplace couldn't penetrate the frost that surrounded Malachi, pitching the entire room down to what felt like subarctic temperatures.

Oh, he was pissed.

Kelsey sauntered into the room, refusing to let the chill of his anger intimidate her. She had enough problems to worry about with the werewolf witch wannabe locked down in the basement. Basement. She pursed her lips. It was actually more like a dungeon.

After leaving Vax and Jessica Warren in the fishing cabin by the river, Malachi had taken himself and Kelsey across that river to this place. Malachi had known about the house. For all Kelsey knew, it belonged to her husband. He had places like this scattered across the States. Safe houses, he called them. Of course, instead of directing Vax here, he had sent him across the river to that smelly fishing cabin. Kelsey wasn't the least bit surprised. Malachi had a mean streak a mile wide in him, and he had issues with Vax. She wasn't overly worried about Vax. He'd lived in hellholes much worse than the small fifteen-by-fifteen cabin. She did feel a little sorry for Jessica Warren.

She was tempted to contact Vax and tell him about this house. He'd show up in a second, just to annoy Malachi. Both he and Jess would have decent beds to sleep in, instead of those small, miserable-looking cots.

Kelsey didn't, though. She was alone with her husband in this big, lovely house, and they apparently had something to discuss. She wasn't going to wuss out by inviting a couple of innocent bystanders into it.

Nessa had left—she hadn't said where she was going, and Kelsey hadn't bothered to ask. She had always been a bit…fey, but ever since the events of the past winter, Agnes Milcher had gone from fey to downright peculiar. She disappeared for weeks on end—one time she had been gone for three months. Kelsey was worried about her, but there was nothing to be done for it.

Nessa wouldn't ever be the woman she had once been.

Kelsey missed her friend. Even more, she hurt for Nessa. More than some, Kelsey understood why Radley was pursuing this. For people like Nessa. People who had been robbed of any chance of a normal life, of even the simplest of things, like spending your life with the man you loved.

Slowly, Kelsey turned and looked at Malachi. Dear God, how she loved him. He was her every waking thought; he was the dream when she fell asleep. Her entire reason for living. Losing him would destroy her so utterly, so completely. Agnes Milcher had been fifteen when she'd lost the love of her life, and she'd never again fallen in love.

Nearly five hundred years of loneliness. Yes. Kelsey understood. But Malachi didn't.

They hadn't been married even a year, but Kelsey knew the vampire pretty damn well. He was so used to intimidating people, he rarely noticed when he went into that mode. But she'd be damned if she'd let him intimidate her.