Leo glanced down at Julian"s claws, then back up at his face.
"The guy didn"t turn because of the angel. She didn"t work her magic on him. You found the guy, you knew he was tied to the Collector, and you tried to make him tell you where the angel was."
"You should move those claws."
"And you should stop d.i.c.king around!" He let the claws sink deeper. "What went wrong? Was it another one of those deeply buried compulsions? Did your power not work on the human because of it? He could hold out against your power so you killed him?"
"He tried to kill me. I had no choice."
But Julian had to laugh at that. "There"s always a choice, mate. We just don"t make the right ones." He knew that from bitter experience. "Don"t lie to me again, got it? Not when Rose"s life is on the line. I don"t care about your angel. I only care about her."
"Obviously," Leo drawled. "But it"s not my fault your vamp was just at death"s door. I never told her to drink my blood." His eyes gleamed. "And if you want to keep her with you, then I"d suggest you make sure she never gets the urge to bite around me again."
Maybe he should just take the guy"s head right then and there- "I say that as a warning. Sometimes what doesn"t kill us the first time...it takes us out even faster the second." Leo inclined his head to Julian. "Remember that."
"Hey!" Rayce called out. "You a.s.sholes coming or what?"
Julian retracted his claws.
Leo spun away and marched into the hallway. Julian followed but stopped short when he saw Rayce-still holding the human. He knew Rayce had overheard his little chat with Leo. Rayce shook his head. "You are playing a dangerous game."
"Those are the only games I like."
And they were the games that he had to win.
"Sir? You"re being hailed on the radio."
The helicopter flew over the water, heading back for the landing pad. Simon needed to f.u.c.king regroup after the s.h.i.t he"d seen.
The vamp isn"t getting away. I just have to get rid of her protectors...some very unusual protectors.
"It"s the woman you sent. Keri."
He blinked. She was still alive? "Patch her through to my headset."
And a moment later...
"S-Simon?" He instantly recognized her shaking voice. "You said...said you would come."
"Change of plans." Why was she still alive?
"I...have the vampire."
He stared down at the water below him. Then he picked up his binoculars and gazed into the distance. He saw a boat zipping across the waves.
"I drugged them all...and she"s on the boat with me. I"m-I"m coming back to you."
Wasn"t that interesting? "And the others are all on the island? Tell me, Keri. Tell me where they are."
Silence. Then... "Wh-where are you?"
She can"t tell me a lie. That was part of the compulsion he"d planted deep within her mind.
So he thought over the words she"d said to him. I drugged them all. Truth. She had. But...
Were they still unconscious someplace? Or were they out, hunting?
And...as for the vampire...she"s on the boat with me. Another truth. Only Keri hadn"t said that Rose was unconscious, just that she was on the boat.
He smiled. I smell a trap. How very creative. Did they think he"d just waltz right up to them like a lamb to the slaughter? "I"ll meet you on Key West. Head for the south end dock. I"ll be there." Then he motioned to end the connection. The helicopter buzzed through the air.
He had come prepared this time. Humans weren"t the only ones that he knew how to use. He took off his headphones and glanced back at the man behind him. "Retrieve the vampire. I"ll meet you back at base."
The man nodded. Then he moved toward the helicopter"s door. He yanked it open and air whooshed into the chopper. The wind beat against the suit that the fellow wore. He stared down below for a moment, looking at the waves.
And then he jumped.
Simon smiled. The guy had been his first experiment-and he was still one of Simon"s favorites.
Chapter Fifteen.
Leo made sure that he stayed out of sight. His wings flapped in the air, carrying him easily. Not that he believed he"d been spotted by Simon Lorne before...but...okay, perhaps he had.
But he"d been trying to help. Not that the dark paranormals had appreciated his efforts. They never did.
Just like his brother Luke never appreciated anything he did. Luke lived by his own rules, tending to just feel as if the rest of the world could go f.u.c.k off.
It couldn"t. That wasn"t the way things worked.
His eyes swept the water below him. The Devil"s Prize was making its way to the Key West dock, moving at a fast clip. Rose was hauling a.s.s. He almost smiled, but then he remembered he wasn"t supposed to like vampires.
Only she wasn"t ever meant to be a vampire.
Such a sad situation- Something hit him. Something that felt like a giant, freaking stone. It slammed into him and he felt his right wing tear as he plummeted downward. Leo tried to fight, but he was held in an unbreakable grip. Stronger than anything he"d ever faced before.
He roared his fury and let the change sweep through him, a full-on transformation that he rarely allowed because he knew it was too dangerous. Thick, sharp scales broke through his skin, a long, winding tail snapped out from his body and- "Can"t have that." A voice that was a thick rumble. "You"re done."
His gaze craned toward the man who"d attacked him. Only it wasn"t a man. It was a monster-half stone, half winged devil. All nightmare. And it was so strong.
"Done," his attacker said again as he drove Leo straight down, sending the Lord of the Light crashing beneath the waves of the ocean.
"This is the end for you, Keri." Rose put her hand on the other woman"s shoulder. They"d just docked and she knew that Simon would be showing soon. That means it is time for the human to get away. Keri blinked and stared up at her. "I want you to walk away from the dock. I want you to go back to your home and I want you to forget everything you learned about Simon and paranormal creatures."
Keri stared up at her.
"Monsters aren"t real." Rose forced a smile. "Tell me that."
"Monsters aren"t real," Keri repeated.
"Remember that. And go have a great, normal life, okay?"
Keri nodded, and then, without another word, she headed off the boat. She jumped onto the dock and landed easily. She didn"t look back as she left.
Rose"s shoulders sagged. One problem down. Hopefully. She bit her lower lip as she glanced around nervously. When would Simon be showing? Julian and Rayce were below deck, probably prowling like caged tigers, but they knew the drill.
Do not show yourselves. Not yet.
She heard the whoosh of wind picking up and her gaze shot upward. h.e.l.l. What part of low profile had Leo not understood? Seriously, if he messed this up for them again...
That"s not Leo.
A giant beast slammed into the boat-a beast that was a terrible combination of man and stone. Huge wings spread from his back. His face was distorted, his teeth enormous, and his blue eyes...
They blazed.
"Collecting you," he rasped.
The boat shuddered beneath his weight.
She didn"t know who that guy was but...he was obviously Simon"s errand boy. She just hadn"t expected such a large errand boy. Or one with such big claws. And teeth. And ma.s.sive wings.
And one made of stone. "What are you?" Rose whispered as she backed up.
He took a sliding step toward her.
Fear stole her breath.
"Something is wrong," Julian said as his gaze shot upward. Someone-something-had just landed on the boat with a thud-and with enough force to send the whole boat rocking. He inhaled and his body tensed as he caught the new scents in the air. Brimstone. Magic. Fear. "Rose is afraid." He lunged for the stairs that would take him above deck.
Rayce grabbed his shirt. The material tore. "s.h.i.t, man, wait! You know the plan! She"s supposed to get taken."
He snarled at his friend. "She"s afraid."
"That kind of goes along with the whole getting taken part. We knew this was going to happen. Now man up and do your job. We"ll track her. We"ll find the others. We"ll kill the freaking Collector-"
But a scream had just cut through Rayce"s words. Rose"s scream. And the boat rolled hard again. It shuddered-and the thing begin to sink.
He and Rayce both ran up the stairs. They exploded onto the deck to see that the place was being wrecked. Destroyed by a big, stone beast.
"Oh, f.u.c.k no," Rayce said. "Tell me I"m not staring at-"
A gargoyle. He was-they were both staring at the ma.s.sive figure of a stone gargoyle. One of the worst shifters out there.
And the b.a.s.t.a.r.d launched into the air, holding Rose tightly in his arms.
"No!" Julian bellowed.
"Relax." Rayce slapped a hand against him. "You"ve seriously got to chill out. We knew someone would come for her. Granted, I don"t think we expected that guy..."
Gargoyles were supposed to be extinct. f.u.c.king h.e.l.l.
"It"s all right. We"ve got this." Rayce sounded far too confident. "The plan is working just as she said. They took the bait."
The gargoyle had taken her.
"Now we hunt..." Rayce glanced around the rapidly filling boat. "And we get out of here before we have to take a swim."
Julian bounded off the boat. No humans were around, so they"d missed the whole freaking gargoyle show. And that gargoyle, it was moving h.e.l.luva fast. Already the thing was a mere speck in the sky.
"Leo is up there," Rayce said, still sounding too confident. "He"ll have the guy in his sights." But then he shook his head. "Gargoyle. How the h.e.l.l did that guy get involved in this mess? And how is he even alive? I thought the witches took out the last of them centuries ago. I mean, s.h.i.t, I remember the old wars...the witches cursed the knights to change. They were shifters not born but made and..." His words stumbled to a stop. "Oh, d.a.m.n."
Not born but made. Just as Rose was a vampire who hadn"t been born but made. She hadn"t been created through a bite-but by magic. Just like a gargoyle.
"I think we might have been missing a few things with the Collector." Rayce wasn"t sounding so confident any longer. "A few other things that good old Leo neglected to mention to us. Like, you know, the fact that the Collector had a gargoyle at his beck and call."
Julian"s nostrils flared. "We need to track, now."
"I told you, Leo has sights on them, he has-"
The water erupted to their right as Leo shot up from the waves. A drenched, bleeding Leo. "Freaking gargoyle," he muttered as he slammed onto the dock.
Rayce closed his eyes and squeezed the bridge of his nose. "s.h.i.t."
"It"s okay." Julian rolled back his shoulders and let his claws slide out. "I can track Rose. I can always track her now."
Shock flashed on Rayce"s face. "Oh, no, man, tell me you didn"t. Tell me you-"
"I can always find what"s mine." He marched toward the small building that waited to the right-Luke"s building, the one the guy used to store their vehicles for use on Key West. Julian unlocked the door with a quick twist of his hand. His motorcycle was waiting inside, exactly where he"d left it when he and Rose had first gone sneaking toward the Pandora. Two other top-of-the-line motorcycles were nearby. And a dozen other high-end cars. "Pick your poison," Julian said. Then he jumped on his motorcycle. Moments later, he was revving the engine. "And try to keep up."
The stone beast flew to the ground, and his grip never eased on Rose. When he hit the earth, she heard the heavy thud of impact, and she was pretty sure the ground sank a few inches beneath his weight.
Her breath heaved out of her lungs and her heart raced in her chest. She looked up at him, wondering what would happen next. There was only one word for that guy...scary. He was so beyond anything she"d seen before.