Vampire's Soul

  Since the pack run had seemed like an evening ritual, Cai had expected them to do that. At first, he surmised they didn't because of Dovia and the Trads, and maybe it partly was that, but a conversation between Fane and Sangra suggested there was more to it.

  When the father and daughter stepped outside and into the yard, far enough away from the rest of the family to have what was apparently a serious discussion, Cai was fortunately down wind and motionless, a part of the forest. Never one to be ashamed of eavesdropping, he tuned in, and not just from idle curiosity. With Sangra being a nurse, he had a pretty good idea who they were discussing.

  "It would be best if he stayed here," Sangra said. "You remember Tom, the tech I dated before I met Idris? He could help us get some images of his leg, off book. Give us more information."

  "Why?" Fane asked. "He's still limping, but he doesn't need the crutch or splint. The vampire's blood and his own healing abilities are helping."

  "They are. But I have a feeling the improvement will plateau." She made a face. "I know you don't like when I mention my 'new age nonsense,' Dad, but when I run my hands over it, the energy...the magic you saw the vampire do, it's like it's in the bone. Stuck there or something. It's not going to let it heal the same way. I think he needs more expertise than I have."

  A faint, humorless smile touched her lips. "Someone who has even more skill at that new age nonsense stuff than I do. But a good work-up on it would help us know for sure."

  Fane studied his daughter as Cai absorbed the words. Words that confirmed the uneasy feeling he had about Rand's leg.

  "He won't let Dovia or Cai leave without him," Fane said at last. "He's determined."

  She nodded. "Okay. But maybe when that's done, he'll come back. If you can encourage him, Dad, that would be good."

  "I will." Fane put an arm around her shoulders, directing her back toward the double doors that led into the house. "After his promise to deliver the girl home is done, I'm sure he'll realize, as I think the vampire already does, that he belongs with a pack."

  Perceptive bastard. Wolves. They saw so much; picked up even more by scent.

  The two of them went inside. Cai stared into the night for a few thoughtful moments, but his brain got tired. When he noticed through the windows that the kitchen was momentarily deserted, he did a vampire-quick trip there to snag the half a bottle of Jack left. Then he returned to his needless patrol.

  He kept his mind mostly blank through the remaining couple hours of the night. When dawn approached, he didn't go to the cellar. He went to earth on the edge of the property, a good place to stay in contact with any movement around it. If someone came scouting, he'd be able to back up Gideon, who'd taken over Daegan's watch, with a fast alert to Rand. At least until early afternoon, when he'd be so deep asleep he'd be as useful as a turnip.

  Daegan and Rand manned the cellar post. Cai tuned in when Rand fed Dovia. Proving that what had happened the previous night had been more about reclaiming herself than sating a vampire's sexual drive, Dovia had only requested Rand's blood for the second night.

  Well, that, and an even more shy entreaty. In a quick, off-to-the-side moment earlier in the evening, she'd asked if it was okay for Rand to sleep in the bed with her. Hold her as she slept.

  To keep the nightmares at bay. She hadn't said that, but she hadn't needed to do so.

  The third mark practically let Cai step into Rand's body, feel him spooned about the girl in her nightshirt. He thought of when Rand had spooned around him. Rand's mind was relaxed, a little anesthetized by alcohol. Had he done it to ease the pain in the leg? Or, like Cai, to stop any pointless thinking?

  While Dovia had the stuffed rabbit clasped in her arms, her hands were latched onto Rand's forearm across her chest. If she stayed that way all day, Cai expected Rand wouldn't move, even if his arm fell asleep so soundly he'd have to beat it against a tree to wake it up later. Honorable wolf.

  Good night, vampire. Rand's mind touched his. He was looking for a response, so he'd know Cai was all right and close. Cai almost didn't respond, though he couldn't explain why. He told himself not to be an anti-social, dysfunctional bastard. Like that was something he could control.

  Night. Don't let me oversleep our ride home.

  I'll come dig you up before sunset.

  Cai's lips curved despite himself. Rand grew quiet, and soon gave himself to sleep. Cai's mind moved over him like hands, every curve and angle. The rise and fall of his chest, the brow and strong jaw. But for all of Rand's outside beauty, it was what lay within that held Cai. The great heart, the courage. He saw him rush Goddard with the stake gripped in his fist. No fear.

  And truth? As he replayed it over and over in his head, Cai saw Rand had matched that son of a bitch and overpowered him. Shifters. If they did decide to make themselves known to the vampires, it would change the nonhuman landscape in intriguing ways.

  Cai tracked Rand's sleep, and Dovia's through him. As the sun rose, he detected how some of the wolves joined Gideon, taking shifts on patrol, scouting and making sure there was no sign that other Trad enclaves were aware of what had gone down or were connecting any dots to Fane's home. Or getting close enough to scent vampires.

  While the protective measures were sound, they fortunately proved unnecessary. When Cai started to rouse at twilight, after having slept only a few fitful hours at the height of daylight, all was quiet. Blissfully uneventful. Either Goddard had kept Dovia's presence tightly under wraps, or leaving the ash of their four bodies and torched camp had sent its own deterring message to any area Trads.

  So Fane and his family were safe. A good reassurance for Rand, who Cai knew was worried about that. And Cai? Cai wasn't worried about anything, as usual. Things began and ended. It was the way it worked. Right?

  Yeah. That bullshit was getting old, even to him.

  A limo arrived to retrieve them soon after full dark. Rand, dressed in a pair of dark jeans and muscle defining T-shirt, both of which probably belonged to Stalker, had finished up the enormous meal Lynn made for him. Cai drank coffee, leaning against the counter, listening to the conversations going on around him and occasionally making eye contact with his shifter.

  A lot was happening, but not a lot was being said, even in their minds. But when he looked at Rand, Cai thought of him in bed with Dovia. He vividly remembered being pressed up behind him, taking his body, Rand's heart thundering under his palm.

  Rand picked up his own coffee cup, sipped, his gaze resting on Cai's face. Missed you, too, vampire. You could have come to bed.

  "Limo's here," Chad announced, coming in the back door. Cai was saved from replying by the interruption. And Chad, who stopped self-consciously before Cai.

  "Rand says you usually carry a knife, but yours got lost or burnt up. I kind of collect them, so thought you might want this one, until you replace yours." The teen proffered a serviceable, good quality pocket knife. At Cai's look, Chad lifted a shoulder.

  "You did a lot to make sure none of my family got hurt. Even if you don't see it that way. So thanks. And here." Chad laid it on the counter next to him when Cai didn't put out his hand. Cai could feel Rand's gaze on him. He'd be a prick if he said nothing, right?

  Cai eyed the teenager. "Sure you're not just feeling sorry for the handicapped, kid?" He bared the one fang.

  Chad started, then smiled, albeit cautiously. "Rand's right. You're pretty cool for an asshole."

  Despite standing with a knot of the females in the dining area, Lynn had apparently caught that. She shot a motherly glare their way, but before Chad could get the sharp end of her tongue, Cai lifted a brow. "Were those his exact words?"

  "Pretty much," Chad said, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans. Either out of fear of his mother's scolding or because he was out of courage, talking one-on-one to the vampire, the teen then made a beeline back to the screen door to the porch. Though Cai noticed the considerate kid caught it before it could bang the way it had last night.

  Pic
king up the knife, Cai looked at it. He did like having one on him. What the hell. He pocketed it, and felt like an idiot when Rand's approving look made him feel good.

  Jesus. He was becoming part of one of those "very special episodes" of the Waltons. Rand's look became a grin, the slow kind that made his eyes even bluer and encouraged Cai to kiss him senseless.

  Instead, he followed Chad out into the yard before he showed the impulse control of a fledgling.

  Seeing the stretch limo, Cai wondered how the vehicle had made it up the windy, twisty roads, all the way to the deep middle of the nowhere of Fane's place. But there it was. Sleek and dark, as incongruous in its mountainous surroundings as a woman in an evening gown.

  The driver, an impassive-looking male of Asian Indian descent, was tall, with steady dark eyes that promised he could kick anyone's ass that needed kicking. Cai concluded combat driving training was probably how he'd made it to Fane's front door. He might not be vampire, but he wouldn't run from a fight, either.

  The Dovia that emerged with Cilya was dressed in a classy black sheath and wore a string of pearls on her neck, matching earrings on her lobes. Her hair on the shoulder-length side was pulled up, a pretty, shiny auburn-red wing. The other side looked like gleaming peach fuzz and didn't detract from the princess persona. A very mature princess, with serious eyes, soft mouth.

  She was still holding the stuffed bunny. She had her arms folded over it, the bunny tucked against her stomach, under her breasts. But when she reluctantly started to let go of it, hand it back, Cilya pressed it into her hands and hugged her. The shifter female rubbed Dovia's back and murmured, "Keep the rabbit. You can give it away to someone who needs it, when you don't anymore."

  Cilya thankfully hadn't said "to your own child." She'd picked up the hint from her mother's innocent question last night. Or maybe she thought, in time, Dovia would want to be rid of anything that reminded her of this experience, including an act of kindness. Sometimes it was necessary, to move on. Even an act of kindness could be a tether to something one wished to forget. Lodell flashed through Cai's mind.

  "I made up sandwiches for Gideon and Rand," Lynn was saying to him. It snapped his attention to the present, which must have caused an alarming change to his face, for Lynn stepped back a small pace. But she recovered, with the stiff politeness of a determined hostess. "Fane says you sample, so there's enough for, well, sampling."

  Cai didn't know what to say to that, to her, to someone obviously so uncomfortable with him. Her gaze continually strayed to Rand, filled with an obvious plea for him to return. To give up the foolishness of being with a vampire as soon as he could manage it.

  Rand would be another strong male to help protect the pack, not a threat to it. He was a good friend Fane and Lynn cared about. Fane was also connected to other shifters in the southeast area. In time, another like Rand, who preferred males, might just present himself. A mate would tie him more securely to the pack, adding to its numbers the way Idris's mating with Sangra had. Great. Whoopee.

  Rand gave Lynn a warm hug, drawing her attention from Cai, and then hugged each of the children. He embraced Fane and Stalker last, murmuring to each. Cai didn't tune into it. He wandered over to the limo.

  Correction. He did know what to say to someone that uncomfortable with him. Usually something that would make them even more uncomfortable. But he wasn't so uncivilized, or ungrateful to the pack for their help, that he would do that here. So he did what the humans taught their young. If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.

  "Hell of a lot of things you can learn from reading children's books," he said to no one in particular. The limo driver glanced at him. Though a badass, he was human, a Council servant, so therefore deferential and attentive, but Cai turned away so he knew he wasn't being addressed. He didn't need a damn thing from a human.

  Speak of the devil.

  Gideon was leaning against the back of the limo, apparently having left the group, too. Maybe to double check whatever ammo and munitions they were carrying in the trunk, but now he was fishing around in the bag Lynn had offered.

  "Hey, Rasheed," he said, calling out to the driver. "Roast beef sandwiches. Lots of extra roast beef."

  Rasheed merely lifted a brow, and Gideon grinned. "I know you're going to want one, even if you have to act like you have a stick up your ass." He shifted his glance to Cai. "Good thing about being a servant. You know your vamp won't take the lion's share of your food, even though they have an annoying tendency to steal a couple fries every damn time we hit a McDonald's."

  Despite the banter, there was a stillness in the hunter's eyes that told Cai that Gideon was measuring his intent, likely down to having calculated several different ways to counter him--futilely--if thoughts of Lodell propelled him to murder. Which, now that they weren't facing a life-or-death situation, could happen. Except Daegan had made it clear that Cai wouldn't survive a second attempt on his servant. Keeping Rand alive had become important to Cai. It was a bitch of a dilemma.

  A lot of things were.

  "Rand said Goddard didn't mark the women because of some purist bullshit," Gideon remarked. "Kind of hard to get one pregnant that way."

  "What he most wanted was a pregnant female vampire, but he was adamant that legitimate attempts could be made upon human vessels without binding souls." Cai shrugged. "A lot of the Trads, even if they shared his view of humans, realize you can't argue with the science. None of us had ever heard of a born vampire with a human parent who wasn't the fully marked servant of the other vampire parent."

  "Guess that was the only good thing about the guy," Gideon said. "The woman who went to the hospital is going to make it."

  But how many years would it take her to believe she'd survived? Or want to? Cai pushed away that personal trip down memory lane. He hadn't asked about the woman, but Gideon had volunteered the info as if he wanted to know. And he was still talking. Maybe it would be worth it to get run through again.

  "If he'd third marked her, or any of her boys had, she would have followed them into the afterlife," the hunter said.

  "According to 'civilized vampire' crazy shit," Cai said.

  Gideon's lips twitched, though his eyes became flint-like. "I sure as hell hope there's arbitration on the other side. If there's any truth to it, a person like her shouldn't be bound forever to a vampire like him."

  "Unless the tables are turned and he's at her mercy. That'd be justice."

  "Fucking A."

  Cai didn't want to feel a sense of accord with the servant who'd murdered Lodell, so he settled for a spare nod.

  Fortunately, Dovia, Rand and Daegan joined them then. They all got into the car, Rand holding the door for Dovia. Once they were settled, a couple more good-byes said, the family waving at them from the front porch--Christ, just like the Waltons--they were on their way down the mountain.

  Done. Cai let out a breath, even as he felt a weird sort of pang that made him want to go back, say something nicer to Lynn. Thank Fane personally. Maybe check out that game box a little closer.

  Pushing those unexpected thoughts aside, Cai focused on Dovia. He noticed her hand on the bunny was relaxed, but her other hand was a different matter. Lying on the door handle, at different times it tightened, her body making a little twitch that betrayed a great deal was happening beneath the surface as she stared out into the night. And it didn't seem to be connected to nerves, caused by Rasheed's handling of the limo on hairpin turns.

  She'd wanted a window seat. Rand had chosen the seat facing her, his legs stretched out so they bracketed her neatly crossed ankles and folded legs. Cai had taken a position to her right while Gideon and Daegan were in the next row up, near the driver.

  Cai shifted closer to her. "You don't have to be this together, you know."

  She turned her gaze from the window. He caught the flash, a haunted look, before a polite distance settled into her expression. His kneejerk reaction was to assume the aristocrat was climbing back up o
n her pedestal, now that she no longer needed the riff-raff who had saved her ass. Rand's mind provided him a different explanation, one that made Cai kick his own ass.

  "Yes, I do," she said quietly. "For my father. He won't be able to handle knowing...what happened to me. He'll of course know it, but seeing it too blatantly in my behavior...he can't handle that. I don't want to make things worse for him."

  "Your mother..."

  "She's a servant. You know our world. Or enough of it. There's limited compassion for weakness, so I need to start being strong now. When I get home, I won't allow anyone to think I've become an easy target because of this."

  The veneer slipped as Dovia bit her lip and shifted. But she touched Cai's hand where it rested on his knee, a surprising reassurance. "My mother will bring me comfort, and so will my father, in the ways he's still capable of doing. I won't be alone in dealing with what happened to me. You're kind."

  "I am so not kind," he said, but she just smiled. Her touch became a full grasp of his hand as she turned her gaze back to the window. She also slipped her feet out of her shoes and curled them against the denim covering Rand's calf, a prop.

  Neither man broke the contact as she closed her eyes and laid her head on the seat back. In time, she slept a bit, her head shifting to Cai's shoulder. Her hand was small and far too delicate in his.

  Cai's attention went to Rand. He was an appealing sight, his hair brushed and tied back, arm resting on the door handle. Those jeans of Stalker's were a distractingly good fit. The T-shirt was tight, not a bad look. His long legs were bent and knees spread, the usual sprawl of a large man in a car that could accommodate his size.

  Daegan had his eyes closed in the facing seat one row up, but with his straight stance, he looked like one of those stone statue guardians that meditated on the universe until summoned with one trigger word. Gideon was slouched down next to him, arms crossed over his broad chest, eyes also closed. They'd all been pretty much on guard for the past couple days. In a moving car, they could catch a few winks.

  Daegan was the kind of authority figure who normally triggered Cai's smartass switch to full volume, but something about the guy kept it toned down. He and Gideon had helped save their asses, and the relationship between Daegan and Gideon...well, it kind of interested Cai, how they pulled it off.