Blood Trinity (29 page)

If anyone knew that a doctor had raped her at fifteen, they’d realize the chances of her getting pregnant were close to zero if it meant allowing a man to do that again. But that was no one’s business except hers, and that of the doctor she’d sent running in terror when she’d shifted partway into a beast.

He wouldn’t have told anyone about what had happened with her even if he hadn’t lost control of his car and died in a fiery crash that day.

She looked from man to man. “That’s why your escape plan will only hang you with me, because VIPER will hunt me to the ends of the earth if I run. I have to beat this.”

“We’re going to help you.” Tzader spoke the words, but Quinn’s agreement was written all over his face.

“I think Isak may have some information on the
Birrn.” She broached the topic just to see what Tzader would say.

“Don’t go near him. Farther you stay from him the better.”

Shouldn’t be much threat of running into him socially after standing the man up twice in twenty-four hours. But she needed to know what Isak had on that Birrn and hated to go hunting him without telling Z or Quinn, so she tried again.

“What if Isak has information on these demons? I could just talk to him—”

“No, you of all people shouldn’t talk to him.” Tzader’s jaw muscles worked for a second as he thought. “Remember that Alterant Isak was suspected of killing in Tehran? The beast ripped his best friend in half. Isak
hates
Alterants. The number one mission for his Nyght Raiders is to track down every Alterant they can find and destroy them.”

That gave her pause.

Did all Alterants have the same aura as hers? How was she supposed to protect herself when she’d never met another Alterant and had no idea where they’d originated? Had Isak seen the other Alterant’s aura? Had it looked like hers?

The Rak demon had alluded to more Alterants. Was Isak only playing along with her thinking she’d lead him to the others, then he’d kill her once he knew where they were?

She swallowed against the bile trying to run up her throat. If Tzader and Quinn thought Isak was a threat to her, they wouldn’t leave her side while she helped search for the Ngak Stone. Isak would probably not come near her with Tzader and Quinn around. Or with Storm around.

But Isak was the only one with any possible lead on the demons and maybe even the Alterants.

Between Isak and Storm, it was a toss-up as to which one might be the more dangerous to her existence.

The men are tired, Batuk.” Sleep pulled at Vyan as he changed to clean jeans and a faded blue shirt with buttons, preparing for the first night of hunting for the Ngak Stone in Atlanta. The sun had vanished minutes ago. “The men need rest after the march through the jungle and the trip back here.”

Batuk did not look up from where he sharpened his sword. “The men can sleep when we return home. We have less than two days until the full moon and no idea what woman the stone has chosen. We cannot rest until we find her and take the stone.”

Thumping music shook the walls behind Vyan when a car rolled by outside. A common sound in the area known as West End, where he’d found this crumbling building that smelled worse than fresh camel droppings. Cobwebs wide as a blanket spread across the corners.

“I hate that noise,” Batuk muttered. “Two more days in this world will be torture. We must find that stone. Our scouts should return soon with Nightstalkers.”

Vyan held his tongue for a moment. He’d caught Batuk and Tristan talking secretly once during the trip, which removed any doubt Vyan had about how far he had fallen as the first in command in Batuk’s eyes.

Had the Alterant monster and his warlord struck a new deal?

Vyan saw no point in talking in circles. Not with so little time left. “What is the plan when we have the Ngak Stone? Do we leave quickly or fight the Beladors?”

Batuk’s face had not been shaped well for smiling. No humor gathered in his eyes. “We shall leave as soon as Tristan has fulfilled his agreement.”

“I thought sending us home
was
the agreement.”

“As your leader, I have ensured we will never be at the Beladors’ mercy again. When we return home, our ten will be powerful enough to slay any enemy. Then we will have none.”

His warlord spoke the truth, but he hid something among his words. Vyan wrapped that away in his mind to look at later and see if he could unwind the lie hidden inside. He kept his voice soft to address his more important concern. “I’m not convinced Tristan can collect the stone without harming the woman.”

“Tristan knows the stone could choose to destroy him if he killed the woman.” Batuk’s tone wavered some, giving reason to believe he was not so confident.

If not for endangering the woman, Vyan would enjoy watching Tristan pay the price for his arrogance. “He may be unable to control his actions or his power. The serum is not holding. Maybe it is because he is an Alterant. You saw what happened on the way back here when—”

“—you provoked him,” Batuk finished. “I have little worry as long as you do not anger him
again
. Tristan will control himself.” He walked away to where the men had begun stockpiling supplies they’d scavenged.

Vyan hid a knife in his boot in addition to the sword strapped to his side. He had a knee-length black raincoat for concealing it.

The access door to the building opened and Tristan strolled through. The cocky bastard was now dressed in a shirt the color of dark clouds tucked
inside sleek sand-brown pants similar to clothes worn by the businessmen who scurried around this city during the day. White teeth glowed in the dim lighting when he smiled at Vyan.

A smile that said he knew something Vyan did not and the knowledge amused him.

Vyan noted Tristan’s blond hair was both shorter and damp. “Where have you been?”

“Showering and locating decent clothes, since I have no intention of dressing … like you.” A folded pair of dark sunglasses hung from where they were hooked at the neck of his shirt. Fancy eye covering that the Alterant had probably taken from an expensive shop, whereas Vyan wore a discarded pair of dark glasses he’d found.

But his were to hide his double pupil eyes from the public. Tristan wore eye covering as a king would don a crown.

“In my time, clothes were merely protection from the elements.” Vyan had bathed in a lake and changed to the comfortable clothes he would miss when he returned to his time. Maybe he would pack a bag to take back. The strange clothing would bring good coin if the cloth survived traveling back through time.

“Dressing like a sheep herder is probably why I heard you had no woman with you when you were sent below Mount Meru, but then I guess it’s a matter of so many sheep, so little time.”

Vyan’s heart thumped at the reminder of losing his wife, but he’d never let Tristan know he’d struck his mark. Instead, he answered the insult. “Yes, I was alone when I arrived beneath the mountain, which meant I had all the consorts I wanted while there, because they wanted only virile men. What I should have explained about clothes was that in
my
time, a
warrior
wore clothes only for protection, not to preen as a bird would. The
pretty
men who spent hours worrying over their face and clothes turned more heads of young men than women.” Vyan smiled to punctuate his taunt.

Tristan stopped short, eyes glowing a hot green. His lips rippled with an unspoken snarl. He twitched, his head jerking to one side. His forehead jutted out with a loud snap, and his jaw extended down from the sharp teeth, which lengthened.

“Tristan, stop it!” Batuk ordered, rushing over to where they stood.

Tristan growled and clenched his fists. He twisted his neck, straining as his face cracked and distorted into jagged planes of skin over misshapen bones.

Batuk swung around to Vyan. “What did you say?”

“Me? Nothing. I merely complimented him on how nice he looked.” Vyan crossed his arms and turned to face Batuk. “I told you when this happened the last time he could not be trusted alone.
Now
do you believe me?”

“I believe you are causing him to change.” Batuk opened his mouth to say more, but Tristan spoke.

“Don’t worry, I’m okay. Just a little tired.”

Vyan turned to find Tristan once again perfect.

“That is understandable considering the past few days, but we will all rest tonight.” Batuk swung his black gaze to Vyan. “Do not provoke him again.”

Vyan started to argue further when the air cooled unnaturally without warning. His arms pebbled from the chill.

Batuk and Tristan straightened, alert and glancing around.

Two soldiers walked in. One said, “These are the only Nightstalkers we found so far that would leave their area.”

A smoky figure, thin and shaky, appeared. The hollow eyes stared straight ahead as three more transparent figures floated into the room from different directions. Vyan’s next breath slipped out in white puffs against the frigid air. None of the Nightstalkers acknowledged the existence of one another.

“Do you know what we want?” Batuk asked the translucent bodies floating in front of him.

“Yes. You want the woman with the Ngak Stone,” one Nightstalker answered in a hollow voice that swirled around them. The others echoed his words.

“How will you recognize her?” Vyan asked them.

“She’ll be glowing bright pink like the boots of a
streetwalker,” one ghoul answered. The other three nodded, which meant they were aware of each other.

“The first one to find her will shake with me for a full fifteen minutes,” Batuk declared, offering an enticing trade. “But the one whose lead ends with us finding the Ngak Stone
and
taking possession will be rewarded with a twenty-minute handshake with both me and Tristan.”

All four images quivered, blinking in and out with undisguised excitement over the exorbitant offer. Vyan disagreed with this, too, as he’d heard it was dangerous to shake longer than ten minutes or with two powerful beings.

What if Batuk and Tristan created monsters that turned on the Kujoo?

“Two of you go with me.” After giving that order, Tristan headed for the door.

All the ghouls rushed after him in a blur and collided with each other in a mob of confused shadows until Tristan swung around and snarled. “Cease!” When the cloudy forms separated, he pointed as he spoke. “You and you, come with me.”

Two ghouls whisked to hover above each side of Tristan when he walked out.

Vyan snatched his coat from where it hung on a nail, then stepped forward. “You other two come with me.”

“I will remain here to meet with more Nightstalkers as they arrive,” Batuk announced. “When the woman has been located, I will send someone to let you know.”

Vyan paused at the door but did not turn around when he replied. “Have you no faith in
my
ability to find this woman?”

“On the contrary. I have no doubt you will find her. My concern is if you will bring her back.”

That struck at his honor.

Vyan did not want to see the woman hurt, but gaining that rock was the only chance of saving his people and returning to a life he had once known and was quickly forgetting. This time he wanted a new life of spilling sweat as he tilled the land instead of watching other men’s blood run.

“I have always given my best for you and my people,” Vyan told Batuk. “I will give no less now.” With that, he pushed through the door. Once outside, fumes belched from the metal cars, assaulting his nose. By all saints, he missed fresh air. He searched the streets until he saw Tristan striding along the opposite side.

Tristan paused at the corner to glance back with a look so full of challenge that he might as well have produced a gauntlet and tossed it at Vyan’s feet, before vanishing around the side of the brick building with his two ghouls in tow.

So be it.

Tristan might have been born of this world originally, but Vyan had spent his last ten months learning Atlanta well. He would start his search in Piedmont Park, where he’d once held the stone during a battle with the Beladors before losing it in a small stream there.

Now he wondered if he had actually lost the powerful rock or if it had been choosing its path even then.

Neither Tristan nor Batuk had considered what kind of being the stone would call to it or how powerful the woman would be if she resisted giving up the magical treasure.

Vyan’s powers were mighty, but he would lose a battle against Tristan if the Alterant shifted into a beast.

The woman would lose as well if that happened.

One of his ghouls became agitated. “The stone is revealed.”

Vyan’s blood pumped fast. “In the park?”

The ghoul shook with excitement. “Yes.”