"I told you it wasn"t safe here," a deep, rumbling voice said in her ear.
Emily turned her head and saw the huge Kindred warrior standing there. What had he said he name was? Telgar? Tragar? He had one hand wrapped around her arm and the other held a handgun type weapon with a muzzle as wide as a shotgun.
"I...you..." She didn"t know what to say-both her tongue and her brain felt numb. "What...what was that?" she finally managed, nodding at the twisted silver heap.
"Sniffer. Used by the Dark Kindred to sniff out emotions only in this case, it was tuned exclusively to you." He frowned. "Not surprising since the male who put the contract on you was Dark Kindred. He must have decided I was taking too long to do the job."
"Oh my G.o.d," Emily whispered faintly. "You mean...there really is someone trying to kill me?"
"Didn"t I tell you so earlier?" He frowned at her.
"Yes but..." Emily shook her head. "But I didn"t know what to believe-it didn"t seem real."
"The threat is real, all right." He sounded grim. "And where there"s one sniffer, there are usually more. Maybe even a pack of them. Come on-we have to get away."
"Get away?" He was already dragging her across the dark lawn but Emily dug in her heels, trying unsuccessfully to put on the brakes. "Wait a minute, what do you mean? Where are you taking me?"
"With me. To my ship."
"What? No!" She tried to break free of his grip but it was like trying to break out of handcuffs-there was no way. "Stop!" she exclaimed. "I"m not going anywhere with you!"
The big Kindred paused his relentless forward motion for a moment and looked at her.
"Khalla," he began.
"That"s not my name!"
"Emily, then. I am aware that this is a distressing situation for you but it"s also very dangerous. We need to go before more sniffers show up to finish the job."
Me-I"m the job! Emily thought and shivered.
"But why can"t we just go inside my house and lock the doors? We can call the police-tell them what happened."
He gave her an incredulous look.
"Why? So more of them can be killed? I may be an a.s.sa.s.sin but I do not condone unnecessary death. Besides, as I pointed out earlier, the defenses of your domicile are extremely flimsy. We would simply be backing ourselves into a corner, waiting to be attacked."
"But-"
Her words were cut off by a long, liquid howl. It was far in the distance but it sounded like it was getting closer.
"Come on!" The big Kindred tugged on her arm but the bone chilling sound had frozen Emily to the spot. She literally couldn"t move.
"I...I can"t," she whispered. "Please...I just can"t."
To her surprise, the Kindred crouched down so that he could get eye to eye with her and looked into her face. His voice, when he spoke, was surprisingly gentle.
"Emily," he murmured. "I am sorry that the idea of leaving with me distresses you. However, it is better for you to be distressed than for you to be dead. And since I am sworn to protect you, I have to act in your best interests, even if you dislike it."
"But I-oh!" Her words ended in a gasp because he had reached down and scooped her up, wrapping her in his ma.s.sive arms as though she weighed no more than a kitten.
"Hey, let me down-let me go!" Emily beat against his broad chest but it did exactly as much good as if she"d been beating against a brick wall. The Kindred jogged quickly around the side of the house and out into the street, ignoring her completely.
"Forgive me, Khalla," he said formally, opening the door of a plain black car and shoving her inside. "For your own safety, I need to take you with me."
Somewhere in the darkness of a ruined laboratory on the home world of the Dark Kindred, something stirred to life. A tube filled with nutrient bath stood in the shadows and its single occupant was waking.
Black eyes with reddish glints opened as the dense, nutrient-rich liquid began to drain. Hair the same, strange color hung around a strong, cruelly handsome face.
"Wake," hissed a voice in the creature"s ear. Or was it in his head? "It is time to wake-the sniffers have failed. The girl yet lives. Steps must be taken and you, my scion, are the one to take them."
The creature opened his mouth for the first time and spoke his first words.
"Yes, Master. As you say."
"Good." The voice in his head sounded pleased. "I am glad I thought to implant a personality chip of myself in your head before I allowed X to kill my mortal sh.e.l.l. It"s so much better than simply being dead. I live on in you, my scion, and you will do exactly as I say."
"Yes, Master," murmured the creature again. The last of the nutrient bath had drained away now and he stood, nude and hugely muscular in the empty tube, awaiting orders. "What must I do?" he asked.
"Well, step out of the tube and dry off to start with. We have much to do, my scion."
"You are the Master," the creature murmured in a low, rough voice. He stepped from the tube into the coldness of the ruined laboratory. "But...who am I?" he asked.
There was a pause and then a sn.i.g.g.e.r of unpleasant laughter in his brain.
"I think I"ll call you Y," said the Master. "Now get moving-as I said, we have much to do. The girl must die."
Chapter Seven.
"Meet Rone and Kate Y"ven. They"re professional trackers." Sylvan nodded at the two people standing beside him in the Kindred Council chamber. "Or rather Rone is-he"s a Wulven Kindred."
"A what?" Thrace frowned at the two who were obviously a couple standing before the large semicircular table. He still didn"t know why he personally had been invited to a Kindred Council meeting. After all-he was Havoc, not Kindred. But Commander Sylvan had been very insistent that he come. So here he was, sitting at the very end of the table and waiting to see what was going on.
"A Wulven Kindred-there aren"t many of us," the male said, stepping forward. He had bright blue eyes which seemed to glow when he turned his head. His thick, dark hair was cut short to show slightly pointed ears. But the ears and eyes weren"t the only thing about him that struck Thrace as strange. The big male was somehow animalistic in the way he moved and spoke. It was almost as though there was a beast lurking just below that glowing blue gaze. Yet his female didn"t seem frightened. Though she was so pet.i.te she appeared absolutely tiny next to him, she looked up at her male with love and adoration.
Just the way Trin looks at me, Thrace thought and had a slight twinge of guilt. He loved Trin with all his heart and was very happily bonded to her but there was something that had been bothering him lately-something in the back of his brain that wouldn"t let him rest when he thought of his beloved.
"There weren"t enough of the Wulven people to make a full trade," Commander Sylvan said, pulling Thrace out of his contemplation.
"Ha!" The big Wulven gave a barking laugh. "Don"t pretend that"s the only reason many of the Kindred didn"t want to bond with us, Commander."
"Regardless," Commander Sylvan said. "For whatever reason, there are very few Wulven Kindred. However, their tracking skills are unparalleled." He nodded at Rone. "Which is why I asked you here in the first place."
"So he"s going to try to track the Earth girl? The one targeted for a.s.sa.s.sination by the Verrak?" another Council member asked. "I thought we had yet to locate her."
"That"s where Kate comes in," the Wulven Kindred said, nodding at the slim female beside him.
"I brought Rone in to track the Earth girl we"re looking for," Commander Sylvan said. "But he asked that we allow his mate, Kate to help."
"Forgive me but if you"re the tracker, how can your mate help?" Thrace asked, frowning.
"Kate has a gift. She knows things about people sometimes," Rone said.
He drew his mate forward and her long, curly hair glinted under the overhead glows. It was an unusual color, Thrace thought, even for an Earth girl. Not really red but not really blonde either-it was as though someone had mixed strands of both in her hair with the result being a fiery ma.s.s of coppery ringlets that surrounded her elfin face. Her eyes were extraordinary too- clear green with gold flecks.
"The Knowing...that"s what my Mama always called it. It"s a family thing." Kate was blushing but she held her head high. "It doesn"t always work but I"ve been able to help Rone in the past-especially in cases like this where you don"t even know where to begin."
"We"re a team," Rone said. "And if Kate can tell me where to start looking, I"ll have a much better chance of catching the scent."
"Well, all right..." Thrace shook his head and looked at Commander Sylvan. "I"m glad you have someone with such excellent credentials working on this but to be honest, I still don"t understand why I"m here. I mean, I"m not even Kindred."
"No, but you"re the only one who"s seen the girl we"re looking for," Commander Sylvan said.
"Only in a vision given to me by Two-that sick b.a.s.t.a.r.d," Thrace growled. The Dark Kindred who had finally been killed by his own scion was still a sore point with him. Because of him, Thrace had nearly lost Trin completely and he would never forget or forgive that.
"Yes, but that might be enough to give Kate"s gift room to work," Rone said. "If you could just let her touch you-"
"I already did that with Commander Sylvan"s kin-the priestess, Nadiah," Thrace objected. And he"d been reluctant to do it then. There were memories in his past, secrets he didn"t want anyone seeing. Trin was the only one who knew and she loved him anyway. But as far as Thrace was concerned, no one else needed to see what he"d survived.
The tiny Earth girl seemed to understand his concern.
"Don"t worry," she said soothingly. "I"m not interested in looking at your past-just the vision you saw. I won"t go rooting around in your head, honest."
"Well..." Thrace frowned. "I"m not even sure what you could see."
She shrugged her slim shoulders.
"Maybe nothing. But maybe I"ll get a flash of where the girl is and be able to lead Rone to her. It"s worth a try, don"t you think?"
"There is no obligation, of course," Commander Sylvan said. "But we would greatly appreciate it if you would try to help Rone and his mate find the girl. You know as well as we do what she faces if the Verrak a.s.sa.s.sin takes her."
Thrace sighed. The Verrak were cold and utterly ruthless. Death was the best the girl could hope for if the a.s.sa.s.sin got to her before they could. Most Verrak killed their target and left them in plain sight-a message to whoever had wanted them dead in the first place. But there were tales of some who took their prey to another location and played with them cruelly before finally taking their lives. He wouldn"t wish that on anyone.
"Yes, I know. Very well..." He looked at Rone"s pet.i.te mate. "I"ll touch hands with you-that"s all. But not in public-not here in the Council Chambers."
"Of course not," Commander Sylvan said swiftly. "Completely understandable. Please feel free to step into the antechamber outside."
"Agreed." Thrace nodded shortly and left the chamber, followed closely by Rone and his mate.
Once outside with the doors closed, he turned to face them.
"Well then, let"s get this over with."
Silently, Kate held out her hand. It was tiny, even smaller than Trin"s and it was swallowed completely when Thrace took it in his own. She closed her eyes and Thrace watched her warily, waiting to feel her in his brain. But there was nothing-just the feel of her cool, smooth hand in his and the rapid, light beat of her pulse in the tiny, bird-like wrist.
G.o.ds, he couldn"t help wondering how Rone was able to love her without breaking her. She was so tiny-so delicate looking with her ma.s.s of red and gold curls and her pale skin. Was he concerned when they were together that he might hurt her?
Finally she opened her eyes and looked up at Thrace.
"Two things-first, I"m tougher than I look."
Thrace pulled his hand away quickly.
"You never said anything about reading thoughts!"
"I didn"t and I can"t. But sometimes when I touch someone I get a sense of what they"re thinking or feeling. So I appreciate your concern for me but I a.s.sure you, Rone is very, very gentle."
Thrace was convinced that her mate would be angry but Rone only sighed and shook his head.
"Worried about you was he? With a big, hulking male like me?"
Kate nodded.
"Well, you have to admit you"re a scary looking guy." She grinned at him and he smiled back.
"Forgive me," Thrace said. "I never meant..."
"It"s all right." Rone shook his head. "We get that a lot-especially when people find out I"m Wulven."
Thrace shook his head.
"I don"t understand. I"m Havoc myself, not Kindred. And honestly, I"d never heard of Wulven Kindred until now."
"We have a double nature," Rone explained. Much like the Rai"ku Kindred."
"Now them I have heard of. My mate"s friend has what the humans call a brother-in-law who is Rai"ku Kindred. " Thrace frowned. "Don"t they have a ravenous beast within which comes out and devours females?"
"That"s right." Rone nodded easily, his blue eyes gleaming.
"So you"re the same?" Thrace stared at him. It would certainly explain the strange animalistic air of the other male.
"In a way. Of course, our beast isn"t the same as the Rai"kus" but it can be deadly to the wrong person."
"Which is anyone but the female who tames it." Kate"s voice held a hint of pride. Clearly she had accomplished this task and had no fear of her mate"s beast.
"But enough about us," Rone looked at his mate. "Did you get anything?"
"Sure did-she"s in Southeast US. Or she was in the past twenty-four hours."