I headed in the opposite direction, getting as far away from the sounds and the smells as I could. But even deep in the trees, where the moonlight failed to pierce the thick canopy of leaves, the dead were with me.
And they wanted their revenge.
Chapter Eleven
I woke with a start, and to the realization I was not alone. I twisted around sharply. Quinn sat two feet away, his expression thoughtful as he leaned back against the gnarled trunk of an old pine, his arms crossed across his chest and long legs stretched out in front of him. He seemed little more than a shadow of the pine, even though the sun was still too low to cast such things this deep in the trees.
I rubbed my eyes and struggled into a sitting position. "What time is it?"
He glanced down at his watch. "Just after seven."
No wonder I felt like s.h.i.t. I"d only had five hours" sleep, and after the last few fun-filled days, that just wasn"t enough. "Why did you wake me?"
"I didn"t. I was merely watching you."
Something had woken me, but I let the matter slip and raised an eyebrow. "I"m not that interesting when I sleep."
"Perhaps not, but you were at least quiet. A rare thing, I"m discovering."
I picked up a twig and flicked it at him. He smiled, and it rose to his eyes, briefly warming the night dark depths. Something deep inside sighed in pleasure. "Did you uncover anything interesting last night while following Moss?"
"Nothing other than the fact that he and Merle do not see eye to eye. You?"
I shrugged and told him about Nerida"s mad quest.
"So you"ve warned her off?"
"Yes." I hesitated, then added, "But there"s still a problem."
"What?"
"The dead want revenge." I paused again, mainly because I didn"t want to sound like an idiot. But if there was one person who could help me understand what was going on, then surely it was Quinn. He was an empath and one of the dead. "I could feel them all around me last night, feel their anger and their need to get back at her."
He raised an eyebrow. "Empathy with the truly dead? An interesting path for a developing talent to take."
"It"s not interesting, it"s freaky." I drew my knees up and wrapped my arms around them. "How is something like that even possible?"
"Many clairvoyants are able to see, and converse, with shades or spirits."
"But I didn"t converse with them or see them. I could just feel them-or rather, their emotions."
"Maybe the rest is yet to come. But you have always had empathy with the dead-how else would you have been able to sense my emotions so often?"
I wanted to argue that that was different, because he had flesh and a heartbeat-however slow it might be-so, technically, he wasn"t dead dead. But what was the point? I had always been able to sense his emotions. And sometimes even Jack"s. How else would that have been possible if it wasn"t some twisted form of empathy with the dead? And surely it wasn"t a huge step from reading the undead to reading the dead.
I rubbed my arms lightly against a sudden chill. Trust me to develop a talent that held no earthly value and was as scary as h.e.l.l.
"Thing is, this empathy is extending. I"m beginning to sense the emotions of some flesh and blood people."
"If that"s the case, and this is the first sign that the ARC 1-23 is having an effect, then you should not be here. You should be back at the Directorate, being tested and watched."
My gaze met his. "I"m not walking away from this mission. I want to be a part of Starr"s downfall."
"Why? What is so important about it that you risk your life, or at the very least, your future?"
"Starr kidnapped me, abused me, and most importantly, he murdered a friend. And for all that, he will pay."
"So this Nerida is not the only one on a quest for revenge?"
I smiled grimly. "This question coming from a man who has spent how many years and wasted how many lives seeking his own revenge?"
He smiled his s.e.xy smile, and desire p.r.i.c.kled across my skin. The moon heat might be a few weeks off yet, but being in the presence of this vampire always made me feel like the moon was full and ripe. I wanted him, always wanted him, no matter how angry or just plain p.i.s.sed off with him I might be. And in a totally different way to how I wanted Kellen or even Kade. This was deeper. Way deeper.
How much deeper was something I might never find out, given his problems with the werewolf lifestyle, and my own determination to find my werewolf soul mate.
"I guess I should not throw stones," he agreed.
"No, you should not." I stretched out my legs. "So why are you here? Really?"
"I want you to show me the section of the forest where Moss disappeared. I"ll try and find the tunnel entrance, if there is one." I frowned. "Your infrared can"t see past soil, can it?"
"No, but if there is an entrance, there will be other indicators, even if it is something as simple as an area of gra.s.s trampled down."
I nodded. "Jack knows you"re here. He isn"t happy." Which was the understatement of the century. After he"d spent ten minutes telling me off for continuing to ignore direct orders, I"d innocently mentioned Quinn and had learned the hard way my dear brother hadn"t gotten around to telling Jack about his presence here. Meaning I"d been on the receiving end of yet another tirade. Was it any wonder I still had a headache?
What I needed was coffee. Buckets of it. And a big, hearty breakfast. Both of which might be difficult to get considering Nerida blew the kitchen apart last night.
"I"m here to help, not hinder, your mission," Quinn said. "I will not take out Starr until you have all the information you require about his organization and the labs."
"Well, actions speak louder than words, so I"m not believing until I actually start seeing evidence of your restraint." I pushed to my feet. "I"ll take you to the place Moss disappeared. They want us to do some fight training this morning, then I have a brunch meeting with Starr."
He fell in step beside me. "Why do have you a meeting with Starr?"
"Because he"s fascinated with my unusual beauty." Just saying those words had me grinning. Anyone who knew me would certainly cla.s.s me as unusual-or, more likely, just plain weird. But men usually only considered me a beauty after the intake of several gla.s.ses of booze. Not that I was ugly by any stretch-just an ordinary girl with a good figure and big t.i.ts.
Which I supposed was the only thing some guys worried about.
"Well, it was your hair I noticed first." His fingers briefly touched my hair-a feather light caress that shimmered right down to my toes. "It was so long, and such a glorious color. It"s a shame you cut it so short, even if it suits you."
I raised an eyebrow. "I cut it to shoulder length only a few months ago. You said you liked it. Or was that another lie?"
"No lie. But this is even shorter. It"s a shame."
Hard to disagree when he was basically echoing my own comments to Liander. "So that comment you made about me not being as flat as most werewolves did not come from observation?"
He smiled. "Okay, so maybe there was just a little observation. But I"m hetero and Starr is not." Despite the amus.e.m.e.nt touching his lips, concern gleamed in the dark depths of his eyes-which shouldn"t have surprised me as much as it did. I knew he cared, but it was often hard to remember when he was continually stabbing away at my heritage. "We are talking about a man who has made a concerted effort to get you into his labs. Is it wise to get so close? I thought that was Rhoan"s job?"
"It is, but saying no wasn"t an option."
He glanced at me again, and the worry was deeper. My daft hormones did an excited little shuffle. Nothing like a man worrying about my safety to get them zooming along excitedly.
"I have noticed this place is run like a dictatorship."
"You should have seen last night"s dinner entertainment. If that didn"t turn people off thoughts of rebellion, I don"t know what would." I hesitated. "What do you plan to do if you find the tunnel?"
"Explore it, of course.""It might have infrared sensors."
"It might, it might not." He shrugged.
Meaning, of course, he was well able to take care of any resulting guard dispatch. Given the little I"d seen of his skills, he was probably right. "And if you can"t find the tunnel?"
"Then I shall dig myself a nice little ditch, cover myself in soil, and wait out the noon hours."
I raised my eyebrows. "Is that where the legend of vampires and coffins comes from?"
A smile touched his lips. "In itself, no. The world was not always as densely populated as it is today, and protection in the form of housing was not always easy to find. Soil, on the other hand, is readily available in all lands, at all times."
"Does it have to be a particular depth?"
"No. One or two inches is sufficient. Though it is not unusual for the newly turned to panic and go as deep as they can. And, of course, the tombs and graves of the recently dead are often the easiest place to borrow."
I chuckled softly. "Hence the legend."
"Yes."
The brief spark of amus.e.m.e.nt in his eyes died a little, replaced by the thoughtfulness I"d seen earlier. But again, whatever his thoughts were, he was keeping them well and truly to himself. Which was a nice change, and yet also a little alarming. I had a feeling those thoughts were about me-us-and part of me itched to ask. But the sane part knew it was better not to. However much this vampire irritated the h.e.l.l out of me, he was at least still in my life, still by my side. No matter how much I might have told him to leave if he could not accept my nature and beliefs, I didn"t actually want him to go.
Because he was right. There was something good between us, something that was worth taking the time to explore. I was willing, as long as it was an open relationship. Maybe he was beginning to see the benefits of such a deal, as well.
Besides, it wasn"t as if we actually knew much of each other beyond the realms of s.e.x. It might actually turn out that we were totally incompatible outside the bedroom. h.e.l.l, I hadn"t wanted Talon in my life on a regular basis, but we sure as h.e.l.l had a good time s.e.xually. Of course, he"d turned out to be a sick psycho. Maybe Quinn would, too. Who really knew?
Only time would tell and the reality was, we hadn"t had a lot of that so far.
I glanced ahead and saw that we were near the clearing where Moss had done his invisible trick. I stopped in the shadows of some gum trees and waved a hand around. "It happened here, somewhere."
His gaze scanned the area, then came back to mine. "You be careful."
"You, too." I paused, suddenly feeling awkward and having no idea why. "I"ll talk to you tonight."
He nodded. But as I turned to retreat, his fingers slipped down my arm and caught my wrist. "Make sure you use full shields,"
he said softly. "Remember what Misha said about Starr. If I can read your surface thoughts, then it is most likely Starr can. You cannot afford the slightest mistake while in his presence, or the game will be up and we"ll all be in danger."
G.o.d, didn"t he think I knew that already? Stating the obvious would only succeed in making me even more jittery.
He released my hand, his fingers sliding over mine almost sensually. I turned and walked away. But I could feel his gaze, a heat that was centered in the middle of my back before flooding across my skin in waves. The vampire wanted me, and his desire was every bit as powerful, every bit as alluring, as a wolf.Which he wasn"t, so I shouldn"t be feeling what I was feeling. Unless I"d somehow become even more attuned to him.
But I resisted the temptation to turn around and ask him what the h.e.l.l was going on-or more precisely, what he"d done. I had training and a brunch to attend, and right now, they had to take precedence over emerging metaphysical and s.e.xual connections.
Training for Starr"s arena was a whole lot easier than training with my brother. Most of the women who"d been brought in were shifters of some variety, and therefore had strength and speed. While many didn"t have any actual fighting skills, it really didn"t matter because it was mainly wrestling, and in mud at that.
Skill wasn"t a prerequisite. Good balance and intuitive-ness was. The trainers matched us according to weight and height, which meant that at least in the initial rounds, I avoided both Berna and Nerida-who still managed to scowl at me down the length of the arena.
We practiced for two hours, and d.a.m.n if it wasn"t fun. In fact, if I"d been training with men rather than women, it could have been erotic. I"ve never mucked around in mud before, but the sensation of hands and bodies sliding across mud-lathered skin was sensual, to say the least. I made a mental note to try this with a more suitable partner, and kept on fighting and following instructions. Afterward, we were escorted to the showers. The rest of the women were then taken to breakfast, while I was herded from the pack and escorted to the private elevator.
Which was more than enough time to realize my guard definitely didn"t believe in regular showers. Needing something to distract my nose from the overwhelming odor of stale, sweaty human, I lowered my shields a little and tried reading him. His thoughts were all over the place-one minute he was thinking about his night with one of the hookers, the next wondering what the powers-that-be were going to do about breakfast, because he was mighty hungry and hadn"t signed on to this crummy outfit to starve. And in between, he admired my t.i.ts and wondered if it was the red hair that was turning him off.
Not one of Starr"s great thinkers, obviously.
I re-shielded and glanced up at the ceiling. There were definitely monitors up there, and I had no doubt the psi-deadeners were present, too. So how come I was slipping past them ?
Granted, it wasn"t as if there weren"t precedents for such events-Jack had proven it was more than possible a few days ago when he"d stopped Gautier"s attack on me. I wouldn"t have put my developing talent in the same league as Jack"s, let alone Quinn"s, but maybe it was. Maybe it wasn"t just the onset of menstruation affecting my telepathy, but the ARC 1-23 drug as well.
So what else was happening inside of me?
Part of me thought it might be better if I didn"t know. Because in not knowing, I could still believe there was the chance of a normal life-even if that chance was disappearing faster than water down a drain.
Yet I had to acknowledge that ignorance wasn"t bliss. I had to know what was going on, if only so I could plan a new future.
To do that, I had to tell Jack everything. He needed to know, because I needed to learn control. I"d been at the Directorate long enough to know that anything else could be dangerous.
The elevator finally arrived and the guard shuffled me inside. I watched the numbers slide by, wondering who would meet me- Moss or Merle.
It turned out to be neither.
As the elevator b.u.mped to a halt and the doors slid open, Starr himself was standing there.
Again the sense of something depraved, something so evil it was beyond contemplation, swamped me. My insides froze in terror, and for several seconds, even breathing had become a luxury I couldn"t afford. Because to breathe, I"d have to inhale the scent of him, and even that felt like poison.
"Sir," the guard said, as he straightened slightly. "Poppy Burns, as you requested, sir."
"Thank you, Tarrent." Though Starr spoke to the guard, his gaze was on mine. In those bloodshot blue depths, I saw my death.
Or at least, the specter of it if I twitched so much as a fingertip the wrong way. "Follow me, my dear."
He turned around and walked across to the other doorway, providing me with the perfect target, the perfect moment. And it was tempting, so very tempting. My fingers twitched, and the urge to grab the guard"s gun and shoot the h.e.l.l out of Starr, to splatter his brains across the walls and bring to an end his b.l.o.o.d.y reign, was fierce. But the mere fact that he"d offered such a target had warning bells ringing.
Only a man who felt very secure about his safety measures would do such a thing. I flexed my fingers, vaguely hoping it would ease some of the tension running through my limbs, and forced my feet forward, past the guard and into the hall.
Only to discover Moss and Merle waiting in the shadows, both of them armed. I wouldn"t have gotten past c.o.c.king the weapon, let alone firing a shot. They would have splattered me across the walls, not the other way around.