In the Dark (40 page)

“I am your
protector. That is what you have asked of me, that is what I have
agreed to. I left your side to pursue a personal goal. I did not
think Specter would have left you alive should he have killed me, yet
I went despite this. I apologize.”

“No, you
don’t –” I protested, but he held a bandaged hand
up.

“I also
wish to thank you, for removing me from further danger. I could
certainly have accomplished it myself, with a great deal of effort.
Your assistance hastened my escape. So you have my thanks.”

Silently, I
nodded.

He held my eyes,
dark and serious. “I know you heard what Shroud said to me last
night. His request.”

I nodded
slightly. It hadn’t been a bright moment in my evening, but I
hadn’t given it much thought. Sebastian hadn’t listened
to the guy, why should I worry?

“I will
not give in to Specter’s demand, Ian. I swore to you at the
beginning of this that I would not kill you. And I believe that
includes handing you over to someone who will.”

Actually hearing
that out loud made a little lump appear in my throat. I swallowed.
Twice. “Thank you,” I finally got out.

He inclined his
head.

With no further
ado, he waved his staff at me and ordered me to take stance. And then
he started in on me.

S
ebastian
woke. Listening intently, he opened his eyes a slit. Josephine lay
beside him, one arm across his waist. The lamp he had broken last
night lay in pieces beside the bed. He had shattered his mirror, as
well. Otherwise the room was in proper order. He rose, sliding from
under Josephine’s hand. She flexed her graceful fingers once,
but made no sound.

Carefully
winding them back as he went, he removed the bandages she had wrapped
about him the night before. They had helped hold his torn flesh in
place so that he could move without damaging himself further. The
bandages had stained red in several places, while his skin had healed
perfect and unmarred – except for the one scar across his
chest. He had taken the wound while still mortal, could no longer
recall where or how –

Josephine
trailing her finger along it, asking without asking, how?

Sarah, doing
the same thing, “What’s this then, love? It’s an
angry mark –”

Sebastian shook
off the sudden memory, as vivid as if he had lived it only moments
ago. They had started coming to him like that now. Regularly. Vivid,
as if he still lived them. He could smell Sarah’s skin, the
fire they’d lain beside, feel her gentle finger running along
his chest. Coming out of it was almost like dying again.

He waited for
the image to fade, wishing it would stay. Knowing of course it
wouldn’t. It was only a memory, something his mortal brain had
etched into itself centuries ago. A copy of what really happened.

Sebastian left
the rolled bandages in his bathroom to wash later and use again. As
quietly as he could he dressed and left the bedroom. He would have to
feed later, and he meant to begin his hunt on the pack tonight, but
for now he needed to think. Think, and hope not to become distracted.

This was the
third night since Specter had issued his ultimatum, and Sebastian had
barely found time to track his former mentor. Protecting Ian and her
new child had taken up too much time; and after Specter’s
attempt to remove him from the equation entirely, Sebastian had been
in no shape to hunt anyone – let alone the practiced leader of
his pack.

Stepping out out
onto his rain-dampened balcony, he stood barefoot in the cool night
air. Centered himself. And began his practice.

Specter’s
attack did not sit well with Sebastian. Specter had granted Sebastian
one week and Specter, while perhaps a vile creature, did keep his
word. No attack should have been initiated until the week had gone
by. Not without warning. Also, Specter had always held a fondness for
blades or garrets. Guns or poisons he used as they became necessary,
but if a more personal weapon could accomplish the same deed, Specter
would choose that weapon every time. Sebastian did not like what the
mismatches implied.

Another
shape-changer.

Sebastian struck
out at the air, turning, moving, letting his mind work.

Another
shape-changer was an unpleasant possibility, one he could not afford
to dismiss. If Specter had one in his control, he could very well
have another. Another that apparently held no love of rules or honor.

Or of me.

So, either the
attack on Sebastian had been a side of Specter he did not know, or it
had been a shape-changer – perhaps ordered by Specter, perhaps
not. Either way, Sebastian still needed to take his own action.
Tonight he needed to remain focused, refuse to fall prey to ambushes
of his heart or of his enemies.

Restraining his
motions to painful slowness now, Sebastian allowed himself a small,
fierce smile.

Tonight he would
hunt.

I
woke up to the sound of raindrops pelting my window. I sighed. I
liked rain, mostly, but right now it just added to my general gloom.
I listened to the sound of it against the window for a while before I
pushed Gypsy off the bed and got up.

Leaving Gypsy to
her food bowl, I headed for the living room, wondering who would be
up. Whether Sebastian and Josephine would even get out of bed.
Partway down the hall my stomach growled, sending a shock of hunger
from my groin to my neck. I groaned, almost doubled over by the
sudden pain. I’d just fed! And I was hungrier tonight than I
had been last night. Dammit. Amanda must have taken more from me than
I thought.

My top lip had
lifted on its own, baring my fangs.
Addict,
I thought as a
joke to myself – it wasn’t funny. I straightened up and
closed my mouth over my teeth.

Slightly more
calm, I made it to the living room. I walked into an empty room. No
one was up yet. Again. Raindrops tapped the windows of the penthouse.
I stood in the middle of the living room, hands on hips.

A small movement
out the glass doors to the balcony caught my eye. Sebastian.
Shirtless, in the rain, standing with his back to the doors.

While I watched,
he suddenly flipped back from a stand-still, heels over head, landing
with perfect balance. He moved in a blur, spinning and ducking as
some imaginary opponent tried to kill him. I knew this was what he
called his “practice,” but I’d never seen him do it
before. His grace and speed quite simply shocked me. I had assumed he
would be amazing to watch but not like this. It was part gymnast
tumbling act, part ballet, and very, very dangerous.

He had finished
in only a few minutes, returning to the same position he’d
started in, hands at his sides, head bowed. I watched him stand for
several seconds, perfectly still. While I stared, he relaxed and came
in. I resisted the urge to applaud.

“Ian,”
he said.

I nodded back.
“’Morning.”

He shut the
glass doors behind him and padded by me on bare feet, dripping from
the rain. “You’re hungry.”

“Yeah,”
I said. “Do you mind?”

“Of course
not. I am aware how much the young ones eat.” He padded off
toward his room – getting a shirt to put over that chiseled
upper body, I assumed.

In minutes
Sebastian came back fully dressed and got down his sword and coat. I
called the elevator, and together we left the penthouse.

Sebastian had on
a thinking face. I tried to read him, wondering if I could pick up
his actual thoughts or just his emotions. The darkness in his eyes
gave me a chill.

“You’re
going to try hunting him, aren’t you?” I hadn’t
thought of it until that moment, but his face gave away the plan.
“Track him down and stab him in the back, like you’re
trained to do.”

He looked at me,
his eyes flashing in mild surprise. He nodded once. I shivered a
little and didn’t ask anything else. This whole thing was going
to end with blood, ours or theirs. Asking them nicely to go away
wasn’t an option.

When the doors
slid open and we stepped off, my stomach stabbed at me again. I bent
over the cramp in my gut, sucked in a deep breath and tried to stand
up. It didn’t work. The cramp in my stomach hardened, jerking
me back down.

Sebastian
watched, waiting in silence. When the pain finally eased enough that
I could stand, I did, gritting my teeth and trying hard not to bare
my fangs.

“Drink
more tonight,” Sebastian said. Advice dispensed, he turned and
led the way to his car. All I could do was follow.

Sebastian drove
to the familiar Pike-Pine Corridor. Watching people going out for the
night, having a good time, standing in groups talking, smoking,
walking to the next party – it felt so weird. None of them knew
how very strange life could get, or how very quickly. I sighed.

“You talk
less than when we first met,” Sebastian said.

I looked over at
him and frowned. Thought about saying “what?” I heard
him, though. And I knew what he meant. It was just unexpected. I
didn’t know how to respond.

“Yeah,
well, some things have happened between now and then,” I
finally said.

He tilted his
head.

“Things
have happened to me as well. Things that I allowed to change me. I
wish –” he paused, then changed his tone a little and
kept going. “I am starting to regret that I permitted that to
happen.”

I nodded. I
wanted to listen more, but my gut was gnawing at me, wailing for
food, and Amanda’s panic attack when I accidentally snarled at
her kept coming to mind. And a vampire I didn’t know asking
Sebastian to turn me over to a man who would kill me. There was so
much on my plate. I didn’t say anything else. Neither did
Sebastian.

Clubbing would
have been fun – and I still wanted to get lit up like a Fourth
of July sparkler – but I decided to go for one of the singles
bars. They generally offered easy pickings, and Sebastian apparently
had plans for the night. I didn’t want to be the reason he
couldn’t get out before sunrise.

I led Sebastian
to Allan’s, a little spot that attracted a lot of
thirty-something lonelies. Clean, small, decent music and friendly
customers. It worked. My stomach cramped until it started getting
tough to walk. I really was starting to salivate now. My hands
trembled. I hoped no one would notice.

Sebastian hung
back, letting me walk ahead so it would seem like I came into the bar
alone. The better to seem lonely myself, my dear. I got to the stoop
of the bar and paused to gather myself before going in. Thankfully
the bar didn’t have the same thick smell of people as most
clubs. No way I could have kept my cool if the place had reeked of
sweat and blood. I felt like a wild animal already.

Slow night. One
small group of girls who looked like they were having fun by
themselves and only three lone guys. But I only needed one.

I found myself a
bar stool, and started the hunt.

S
ebastian
held back long enough to let Ian make her entrance alone. He gave Ian
a moment to settle herself, then followed her in.

An
out-of-the-way booth made an unobtrusive observation post. A server
approached him, a young woman, pretty, dressed in black pants and a
white blouse. She paused before she asked him how he was doing,
nervous. Humans were often nervous of him. For a disorienting moment,
Sebastian found himself wishing he did not scare people, wanting to
tell her to be calm, that he would not harm her. A strange and
out-of-place streak of empathy, not unlike the feeling that had
caused him to take Ian home with him when she began to weep in his
car when he told her her father was dead. Though why here, why now .
. . he shook it off, thanked the woman, told her he did not require
her service and that she should forget him. Relieved, she left him.

Alone, Sebastian
took in the bar and its employees and patrons. There were not many,
making it easy to keep track. He saw no one out of place, behaving as
they shouldn’t. Also not many for Ian to choose from, but she
had already caught the eye of a man sitting alone. Sebastian kept
tabs on them, sweeping the building.

He had worried
that Ian might be too hungry to concentrate on luring the man out of
the bar with her. Something about her body language changed as she
spoke with him, though, keeping his eyes riveted to her. Sebastian
had seen Ian hunt before, but now he understood what it was she did.
It was part of her gift from Kent, no doubt, making her more
attractive, more interesting, more trustworthy to whom she turned her
attention on. Sebastian could see her directing this attractiveness
at the man she sat with, and understood all too well how the man
would be taken in. He would feel charmed, attractive, interested in
this lovely creature who wanted to spend time with him. The human man
Sebastian had once been would have been helpless against this sort of
emotional manipulation. Watching Ian made Sebastian feel a bit of
pride, that his pupil had such deft talent in using her inherited
skill, and some concern, that she might one day turn it on the wrong
person, someone who might harm her for jealousy of that talent.

Where in the
world had all this emotion suddenly come from? From twinges of
sympathy only a week ago to pride and concern and longing. He barely
knew what to do with them all. Pushing them back, as he had done for
so long, seemed foolish. At the same time, some of them could be
quite distracting. And he had work to do.

In less than
twenty minutes, Ian stood and left with the man she had chosen close
behind her. She needed space to take her prey, though Sebastian did
not intend to leave her alone for long. After a few moments, he stood
and followed them out.