"I wouldn"t have either," Ritter said. "You"ve only been able to shift a few yards with another person and that situation would be far too dangerous. We can"t risk you that way."
The Emporium had one aged male shifter, and we all knew they were anxious to breed the ability back into their family lines. Worse, if Delia could use others" abilities the way I could, Mari would be the Emporium"s ticket to all kinds of mischief. Few doc.u.ments or computer files would be safe, no lineage records secure. a.s.sa.s.sinations that much easier. Normally shifters could only shift to places they knew, but sometimes they could also shift to people they were close to or had a mental connection with. Mari had so far been able to shift to places unknown only if Dimitri or I was there. Or if I showed her the place in her mind. But I believed it was only a matter of time before she was able to "find" the rest of our group.
Mari blew out a sigh. "I know. I know."
Ava resettled in her chair. "This brings up another issue we need to address. We"re all aware of how the Hunters kept genealogical records since before their abandonment by the Emporium. These include connections with Renegade descendants. Lately, they"ve been researching and finding these extended connections and are watching them to see if they Change. Then they attack to kill. So far we"ve been lucky to have no casualties, though Keene reported that the Emporium hasn"t been so fortunate. While that might be good news for us, we can"t allow this to continue, especially as we have several more descendants approaching the age of Change."
As Ava spoke, I was watching Mari, who stood behind Jace, her fists now clenched. Her husband had been a Hunter, sent to watch her for the Change, and he"d betrayed her before being brutally murdered by the Emporium. While she"d rebounded more quickly than anyone imagined possible, there were still nights when she came into my room tortured by nightmares.
I reached out to her mentally, pushing soothing emotions her way without delving into her thoughts. It"s okay. You made it.
Her eyes flew to mine and her hands relaxed. I refocused on Ava"s words.
"That a prominent Hunter," she was saying, "showed up tonight at the fundraiser with an Unbounded is something we can"t overlook. If the Emporium has managed to get a plant in that deeply, they may be close to obtaining the Hunter records, which we know they want every bit as much as we do."
"There is another possibility," I said. "I mean, the man had no shield to speak of. He didn"t seem Emporium trained."
"He could be new." This from Jace, who could create a tight shield-but couldn"t maintain it without repeated effort.
"That could be, but"-I shook my head-"it seemed different somehow. What if this cowboy Hunter is recruiting Unbounded now instead of killing them? He has money and position-that alone is different than most Hunters we deal with. Maybe he"s also learned to work differently."
"I can"t imagine Hunters overcoming that kind of hatred," Ritter said. "They don"t even differentiate between us and the Emporium."
Jace perked up. "Yeah, but if they have their own Unbounded, they could get more of us, right? It"s the smart thing to do."
"That"s just it. Hunters aren"t smart." Ritter paced a few steps. "They"re racists, which generally means poor and uneducated. Most of them barely graduate from high school. And those who have gone to college are steeped in so much prejudice that they never see past it."
I leaned back and put my foot on the table, adjusting the left side of my coat so the sai inside lay lengthwise down my upper thigh. "Well, some would call Unbounded racists against mortals, especially Emporium Unbounded." Was I speaking for myself or saying something I knew Keene would say?
Ritter"s eyes narrowed. "You know what I mean." His eyes dropped to where I was stroking the leather-wrapped handle of the sai. Satisfaction rushed from him. What did that mean? I pulled my hand away.
"The Hunter"s name is Davis Emerson," Stella said, looking up from her laptop. "He was pictured on one of the news blogs. No mistaking that hat or his wife"s dress. Not poor by any means, though he was once. He"s a self-made man from right here in New York. Born on a small cattle ranch in St. Johnsville about two hundred miles north of here. Married his high school sweetheart after graduation. Only took a few cla.s.ses at a community college and then worked his way up in the business world creating marketing videos. Barely saved his parents" ranch from repossession. Eventually he hit a couple of lucrative contracts that made him a quick two million. He kept working, got into several fast food franchises, and invested in the stock market the day before it took a huge dive, but the check didn"t arrive at the broker"s until after the plunge, so he made a lot of money when the market revived. He bought his parents" ranch and four other properties surrounding it."
"Living the American dream," I mused. That explained at least why Mrs. Emerson looked so awkward in her designer dress. "Any children?"
Stella nodded. "Two. Boy and a girl. Thirty and twenty-five respectively."
"I think the girl was there last night," I said. "She had red hair like her dad."
"More Hunters in training." Ava sighed, shaking her head. "That brings me to the next a.s.signment. Erin, I want you to take the night off. Get some rest." She meant no going to the rooftop, as was my nightly custom, to see how much further I could push my thoughts, all the while beating back my acrophobia. "Tomorrow morning," she continued, "I want you and Mari to find the Emersons and feel them out. Even if the Unbounded bodyguard is with the Emporium, he didn"t seem to recognize you as a Renegade, so there"s no reason for you not to go. In fact, it might become an opportunity to set you up with a cover inside the Hunter organization that we can use later."
"But Mari"s in their records."
"Only as a descendent. Not the fact that she Changed." Ava rubbed her chin in thought. "But it might be good for her to go in disguise anyway."
"I always wanted to try being a blonde," Mari said, "and there are some really cool gla.s.ses in our costume boxes."
"Maybe Keene can set up a meeting with Emerson using some of his Hunter contacts, a.s.suming his cover is still intact and that he"s well enough." Ava glanced at Dimitri as she spoke.
He shrugged. "The poison is out and the bleeding stopped. I st.i.tched the slashed artery and healed it as much as I could. He should be able to do some calling at least."
"Good." Ava"s gaze now swung toward Ritter. "As I was saying earlier, you will have everyone else, including Tenika and her people. Freeing our Renegades remains the priority. If you need any more help, just ask and we"ll juggle the other a.s.signments."
"But shouldn"t I go with Erin and Mari tomorrow?" Jace asked. "What if there"s fighting? Erin and I together are unbeatable."
Ritter arched a brow, but he didn"t challenge Jace"s a.s.sertion. "A fight is exactly why she"s sending Mari. If they run into anything Erin can"t handle, Erin can channel Mari"s ability and the two of them can shift out." Funny how he said the words and I could tell he wanted to believe them, but his vivid surface emotions told me he was more worried than he let on about what happened tonight. Whatever his feelings, he"d better not go all macho on me, and insist on coming with me himself.
"We won"t need to shift." For the moment at least, I felt perfectly confident of my own ability against so few Hunters and only one Unbounded. And as Ritter had said, Mari and I could always shift out.
"So do we all know what we"re going to do?" Ava asked. "Questions?" Heads shook as we all arose. Everyone but Stella, who was busy with her computers once again.
"I"m heading back to the compound now," Ritter said. "You up to it, Jace?" It wasn"t really a question. Even after going through his forms, Jace was so tense that everyone could see it.
My brother nodded. "Oh, yeah. I can"t wait to hear about this idea of yours. But do me a favor, huh? Send Oliver home. Another night of listening to his whining might be more excitement than I can take."
Ava stifled a sigh, but I could see it on her face. "Don"t worry," Dimitri said, a hand on her shoulder. "It"s nothing that won"t resolve itself in a hundred years."
"Yeah," she replied, "we just have to make sure we all stay alive that long."
"THE BEST THING ABOUT TODAY," Mari said as she and I rode the elevator down to breakfast the next morning, "is that Oliver isn"t going with us. Growing up I longed for cousins, but since meeting him, I take it all back."
"Well, you"ve got all of us now, especially Stella."
The elevator opened, and the delicious smell of bacon pulled us along to the dining room. Our cook, Janice, provided a nice buffet breakfast every morning at six, right after our morning workout. Technically no Unbounded needed food because absorbing gave us all the nutrients and calories we required, but sitting down to eat with the mortals in our group had become a ritual, one that bound us together more tightly and created a sense of normalcy that was missing from our lives.
Besides, I loved the taste of waffles with syrup.
Today, with three of our mortal employees in California and Marco still watching the Emporium compound with Ritter and Jace, only a few of us-all Unbounded-were present. I"d taken longer than expected in the shower, and Ava, Dimitri, and Stella were already finishing their meal when Mari and I entered.
Stella came to stand with me by the buffet as I picked up a plate. She looked the perfect business woman in her crisp, black pin-striped suit that couldn"t hide her slender curves.
"Dimitri told me you did well with the sai this morning. Well enough that you should keep them on you."
"I have them." I opened my long coat and showed them to her. Today I wore black skinny jeans that I"d dressed up with a silky blue top and high heeled boots in deference to a possible meeting with the Emersons. The outfit wasn"t as conducive to battle as my catwoman suit, but any weapons I couldn"t hide in the boots, my pockets, or under my blouse, were stuffed into inner pouches of my leather coat. That included the sai in their special pockets.
"They"re fun," I told Stella. "I thought the dull tips would make them useless, but I took away Dimitri"s staff every time."
"Too bad I missed it, but I was doing more research on the Emersons for you. I"ve forwarded everything you need to know about them to your phone."
"Thanks." I started to close my coat when Stella reached out to touch one of the sai.
"These remind me of the sai Ritter has. We haven"t trained with them lately, but that leather wrapping is similar."
"He gave these to me, so maybe that"s why they look familiar."
Stella blinked and glanced over her shoulder at the others who were chatting near the dining table. "He gave them to you? When?"
"Last night. They"re Chinese. Said I needed to train on something new. I think he"s tired of my machete." I grinned but Stella didn"t return the smile.
"I see."
Her knowing tone annoyed me. Normally I"d let it pa.s.s, especially since she was still recovering from losing both her husband and her unborn child, but something about Ritter giving me his sai did seem rather odd. Why hadn"t he simply found a pair in the a.r.s.enal we always carried with us?
"You see what?" I asked.
She leaned in and took my hands. "Has he given you anything else?"
"A ballistic knife last week. Seems to think I"ll do better with that since throwing knives isn"t my thing. Why?" I could feel the weight of the knife in my boot. It could shoot an easy eighteen feet at the press of a trigger.
"Is the blade black and does it have a dragon on the hilt?" she asked.
"Yeah. Is that significant?"
"Stella?" Ava called from near the door. "Are you coming? We really should get going if we intend to arrive in Providence on schedule."
That must mean Dimitri had been able to get some kind of appointment. "Wait," I said. "What about the knife?"
Stella squeezed my hands. "We"ll talk when I get back. Good luck today. Be careful."
"You, too." I watched them leave.
Mari sauntered toward me. "What was all that about? You and Stella."
"I don"t know." I scooped eggs from the warmer onto my plate.
"Are you really going to take all those weapons to the Emersons? What if they ask for your coat?"
"First of all, we don"t know we"re going to wherever the Emersons are staying. Cort said during workout that Keene was still calling. So if we"re out stalking the city for them, I want to be prepared."
Mari put five pieces of bacon on her plate. "This is so great. I never used to be able to eat this way. Always worried I"d gain weight."
I took three waffles, and then added a fourth. Why not? I"d work it off in less than half an hour or my body wouldn"t absorb any more until the extra calories were gone. A healthy serving of syrup and a gla.s.s of fresh orange juice with plenty of pulp topped it all off.
We"d barely sat down when Oliver entered, wearing dark brown pants and a multi-colored b.u.t.ton-up shirt with the cuffs open and turned back. His dark face was newly shaven and his curly hair cropped short. Though he also had Asian blood and his mother was half white, his African American heritage was more prominent. He was tall and muscular, a fine specimen of a man-if he didn"t open his mouth or if you didn"t watch him in training. Even Mari, who was a lot smaller and several weeks newer than he was, could best him.
"Good morning, lovely ladies," he said, strolling to the buffet.
"Aren"t you supposed to be back at the compound?" I asked.
He shrugged. "Ritter hasn"t called, so I"m waiting."
Mari looked at me and rolled her eyes. By unspoken agreement, we began eating faster. "Maybe I should call Cort and see if Keene has anything for us," I said.
"Good idea." Mari pushed a full strip of bacon into her mouth. "I"m almost finished."
Almost wasn"t fast enough, and before long Oliver sat opposite us, his plate loaded. "Girls, I need your opinions."
I groaned internally. When Oliver started asking for our opinion, invariably it would be about women and would gross us out or make us want to kill him. Maybe tomorrow, I"d work out with him. Accidentally slip with the new sai and give him something real to talk about.
"It"s Chloe." He stopped talking to shovel in a forkful of eggs, followed by a quarter of a waffle.
Chloe was the New York Unbounded gifted in dancing. I hadn"t seen her perform, but I hoped I"d have the opportunity. Some people believed dancing was actually a variation of the combat ability, which in turn was a derivative of one main physical ability. A thousand or more years ago before the worst battles began between the Emporium and the Renegades, the artistic abilities had been highly valued.
I drank my juice and waited until Oliver swallowed.
"A woman like that," he mused, "must have a lot of experience. A hundred years of experience. I wonder if she"d give me lessons."
Dare I ask? Mari beat me to it. "Dancing lessons?"
Oliver shook his head. "I mean in the bedroom. All those admirers and her incredible s.e.x appeal. I"m sure she knows things I"ve never dreamed of." He leered. "And I"m a pretty good dreamer. Maybe I"d even teach her a thing or two."
"Ooooh!" Mari jumped up from the table. "Every time I even begin to think that you can"t stoop any lower, you prove me wrong." She looked at me. "Erin, I"m going to find Cort."
Even as she spoke, Cort appeared in the doorway. He wore nothing but black pants, and his bare chest looked more than twice its real size. His brown hair swept back from his face, and he didn"t look nerdy in the least. "Mari, you called?" he said. "Don"t worry. I"m here. Yes, I"ll give you lessons in the bedroom."
No real emotion emerged from the apparition, and it acted so unlike Cort that Mari and I both knew it was a fake, despite the heady aroma of expensive cologne that the real Cort did wear, though never so much of it.
"Or how about this?" Oliver snapped his fingers and a new Cort replaced the old. This time he was fully dressed, slightly hunchbacked, and wore gla.s.ses. His shirt was b.u.t.toned clear to the top and his dress pants were a little short. It was Cort as he might have been if he were a contemporary mortal.
"Mari," said the image, not quite meeting her eyes. "Would you . . . uh, consider going out with me?"
With a frustrated growl, a flushed Mari ran past the apparition to the door.
"Come back, come back," the illusion shouted after her. "Please don"t leave me!"
I glared at Oliver. "What"s that all about? Are you ever going to grow up?"
"Why?" He shrugged. "I have enough time, right? Besides, if she"d only admit to herself that she likes him, it wouldn"t bother her."
Mari liked Cort? I wasn"t aware of any attraction between them. In the beginning, Jace had tried to flirt with Mari, and she"d rebuffed him. I told him she needed time to mourn her jerk of a husband.
"Don"t do it again," I told him.
"Who"s going to stop me?" He said it casually, not really a challenge. That he should have such a useful and powerful ability made me furious.
I pushed my thoughts out to him, swiping at his shield, which he"d never completely mastered anyway. I will, I said in his mind. I was tempted to do more, to thrust my hands in the stream of his thoughts to warn him, but I hesitated at touching anything. I didn"t like Oliver, but I didn"t want to damage him permanently.
Now he was glaring at me, and trying to push me out. I smiled. He couldn"t get rid of me, and I knew just the way to teach him a lesson, one taught me by the master of control herself, Delia Vesey. I concentrated hard on his hand and it shot out toward the juice, knocking it over.
A horrified expression filled his face. "You!" he said, yanking back his hand.
I nodded. "Yes, me. You aren"t the only one with an ability." I wanted to do something more, but I felt guilty already. He was an idiot, but he was our idiot, and I preferred to practice on people who had consented. Besides, I still wanted to try channeling his ability-when he calmed down-and doing so would be easier if he could walk me through how he created his illusions. I had an idea that might help us free our prisoners, if I could get Ritter and Ava to sign off on it.
"Goodbye, Oliver." I pulled my thoughts from his, ignoring the anger. A little humiliation was good for the man. Good for all men, in fact. But I"d probably have to apologize later to gain his cooperation. "Try not to annoy anyone else today."
He brought up his middle finger and flipped me off, a smile plastered on his handsome face.
"How very human of you," I couldn"t help saying.