“I’m big.” She didn’t move, just looked up at him, nor did she remove his hand.
Jubal smiled and stepped back, giving her the space to go around him. “Go practice. You’ll need it.”
“You’re going to eat those words,” Jasmine warned.
“Any time, any place.” Jubal threw her words back at her.
Her laughter floated back to them. The strain and tension were gone from her, and she sounded young and happy again.
“Thank you,” Juliette said to Jubal. “I haven’t heard her sound like that since … the last time you were here.”
Riordan appeared on the terrace and Juliette went to him immediately. He put his arms around her, holding her close to him.
“I take it there wasn’t good news,” Jubal said.
Riordan shook his head. “No. I think Jasmine is right. Someone has been following her, and they’re after the baby.”
Jubal swore. “Damn it. Jaguars?”
“Probably. They would be the most likely suspects.”
“Maybe not,” Dax said. “We didn’t have time to tell you. Your pilot asked us to check on Juliette’s friend.”
Juliette turned her head to look at Dax, but Riley could see by her face, she already knew what he was going to tell them.
“I’m sorry, Juliette,” Dax said formally. “She was dead. Murdered.”
“Her baby?”
Riley tightened her fingers around Dax’s.
Dax shook his head, his tone as stoic as ever, his face carved from stone. Only she felt that blast of emotion, the volcano going off deep inside him. “Mitro killed the child as well as the mother. I need to know everything going on here. Everything.”
“J
asmine is going to give birth any minute,” Riordan explained. “Juliette feared complications, so we’ve been bringing her to a doctor they know here in the city. She’s jaguar and takes care of many of their women. A couple of days ago, she began to feel as if someone was following her. I wasn’t with her, but some of our people were and they saw nothing to make them suspicious. Juliette and I went out when we rose and we couldn’t find a hint of anyone watching her. Still, she was so uneasy, I didn’t dismiss it.”
“Thank God,” Juliette said.
“This evening, I received a call, first from a friend in the police department and then from Jasmine’s doctor. The police made a grisly find when they busted a warehouse filled with drugs. A bunch of Goth kids belonging to some underground cult were making their home under the warehouse and they had the bodies of six infants dipped in gold. They claimed the babies had been stillborn, and they were selling them on the black market.”
Horrified, Riley stepped back and bumped into Dax. He dropped his hands onto her shoulders to steady her. Instantly, she felt comforted. His hands were large and strong, but his touch was very gentle. He didn’t say much, but he didn’t need to.
“That’s disgusting,” Jubal said. “I hope they throw away the key.”
“There are some cultures that believe having the body of a child dipped in gold in their home brings luck,” Riordan said.
“Who in their right mind would think that an infant’s body covered in gold would bring them luck?” Jubal demanded. “That’s sick.”
“Nevertheless,” Riordan said. “It happens. It’s just that Dr. Silva, Jasmine’s doctor, thinks all six babies came from women going to her clinic. All jaguar women. She said that six of her patients in various stages of pregnancy had suddenly stopped coming to her; they’d just disappeared. She tried contacting them, but no one called her back. Jaguar women can be very elusive …”
“They have to be,” Juliette defended. “But they wouldn’t stop going to their doctor before giving birth.” She stepped away from him and paced in agitation some feet away.
Riordan reached out to her. Juliette immediately put her hand in his. “I know you’re worried about her, but nothing will happen to Jasmine. She’s got all of us to look out for her.”
“She’s been through so much,” Juliette said. “To add this is just wrong. If she really knew they were after her again, she’d be devastated.”
“Her doctor warned her to be careful. She had a bad feeling about the other women and had even gone so far as to go to the police, but no one seemed alarmed. Dr. Silva said two of the women had acted uneasy and one said she thought someone had been outside her house the night before,” Riordan continued. “Most of the jaguar men are scattered, but many have gone to the cities. We were afraid they would begin stalking the women here.”
“That’s what Dr. Silva thought,” Juliette said. “That the men had found them. All of those targeted were carrying jaguar babies, so we assumed it was the males looking to take them back.”
“Juliette and I went to the women’s homes, believing we could pick up the trail and get the women back,” Riordan added. He shook his head and glanced at his lifemate.
“It wasn’t jaguar men,” Juliette assured. “There was no evidence of any of them anywhere near the women’s homes or properties. I would have been able to scent them.”
“You believe a vampire has something to do with these disappearances?” Riordan asked Dax, cutting to the chase.
“You’re uneasy. Juliette is uneasy. Jasmine is.”
Riordan frowned as he nodded slowly. “I felt the presence of evil but I couldn’t track it. It was very strange. We hunt the forest and cities all up and down South America. This felt different to me. I couldn’t quite catch the scent, but I knew it was there. Very evil and yet so faint that I couldn’t follow the trail. I hunt vampires and yet this was …
different
is the only word I can think of. I couldn’t identify it as the undead.”
“We tracked Mitro here to this city,” Dax said. “It would not surprise me if he was behind this. He is unlike any vampire you have ever faced, and it is not easy to track him, not even for me and I’ve followed him for hundreds of years. He is … different.”
Juliette shuddered and moved closer to Riordan. “Jasmine can’t know this, and she has to be guarded around the clock.”
“Gary and I can stay with her during the day,” Jubal volunteered.
“And thanks to Juliette’s cousin, Solange, we’re able to be up longer during the day, so if there’s need we can come to your aid,” Riordan said.
Dax felt the familiar leap in his brain connecting dots. “Solange?” He needed more information. He had no idea what he was onto, but he’d been following Mitro for so long that he knew the way the vampire thought and acted. His brain had jumped at the casual conversation, his instincts suddenly kicking in.
“Solange is my cousin,” Juliette said. “Lifemate to Dominic.”
“Of the Dragonseekers? He still lives?” Dax asked.
Riordan nodded.
Dax crossed to the railing. He was unused to being so close to so many people, and looking out at the lights of the city made him feel less closed in. “What is different about Solange’s blood that allows you to stay in sunlight?”
“She’s jaguar royalty,” Riordan explained. “She’s exchanged blood with us, and that’s allowed us to handle the sun for longer periods of time, but there is a cost. The weakness is severe and comes on unexpectedly and very rapidly. We try not to use that ability too often because you can find yourself in danger very quickly, but it does give us some advantages we didn’t have before.”
“Does all jaguar blood allow Carpathians to stay longer hours in the sun?” Dax asked, staring straight ahead at the dazzling display of lights.
“If that was the case, I would have been the first to discover it,” Riordan said. “Juliette was jaguar. I would have been able to spend more hours awake.”
“How do you know that you couldn’t? Did you try?” Dax asked.
Riordan and Juliette looked at one another, clearly shocked. Riordan eventually shook his head. “I didn’t think to try, why would I? Still, I don’t think Juliette’s blood could have done what Solange’s blood does, and of course now, Juliette’s wholly Carpathian so it’s a moot point.”
Dax turned to face the Carpathian. He was a hunter first, and he knew his prey almost as well as he knew himself. If Mitro was behind killing pregnant women and taking their babies, it wasn’t all for his amusement. He had targeted each victim deliberately. If he had found a way to prolong his time in the early morning or evening hours, he could do even more harm than he already was doing. He made a formidable enemy already. By adding daylight hours, he would have more time to recruit his army and more time to kill or make puppets.
Riordan shook his head. “No vampire could ever go out in the sun. It isn’t possible.”
“Mitro is no ordinary vampire,” Dax cautioned. “I took his heart and threw it in the magma pool and still he lives.”
Riordan went very still. Juliette’s gasp was audible.
Dax had no way of knowing, but the morbid, depraved taking of unborn infants from their mothers
felt
like Mitro. He looked at Riley. Obviously, she was thinking along the same lines as he was. She looked horrified. Truly horrified. He wanted to put his arms around her and shelter her close to his heart, keep her from twisted, depraved monsters.
Her eyes met his. She sent him a small, reluctant smile and his heart turned over.
I’m all right. We’ve seen how bad he is. And we came here for this.
Arabejila’s blood as well as her gifts—and those of her ancestors—ran deep in Riley’s veins. If there was one person who could track Mitro, it was Riley, and she understood that.
“Take us there, to one of these houses where you felt a presence,” Dax ordered. “Tonight. We have no time to lose.” He didn’t give the others time to refuse, turning on his heel, holding out his hand to Riley and gliding toward the door.
There was relief in leaving the inside of the house. He could see how the Carpathians had designed it to suit them, but they were used to the modern world and civilization. He was not. The air didn’t feel the same.
Nothing
felt the same to him inside four walls. Riley’s presence helped, but he preferred the outdoors and the mountains.
Riordan hesitated. “Juliette?”
“I’ll stay with Gary and Jubal. We can watch over Jasmine. With safeguards, if the vampire has targeted her, his puppets won’t be able to get in here if you don’t return before the sun comes up. We’ll be safe as long as we’re inside.”
Riordan nodded and then followed Dax out. Both hunters inhaled deeply, scenting the air, seeking information. Riley crouched low as both worked on the safeguards for the house, sinking her hands into the soil. Dax linked with her to gain knowledge the earth might provide to them.
There was always that first little resistance to his push into her mind. She hadn’t quite figured out how to be open mind-to-mind at all times, but she couldn’t resist the way he poured warmth into her once he touched her. His half of their soul cried out for hers, and hers answered. There was no more being alone, every shadow gone, and each time they shared minds, they both found it difficult to break apart.
His blood surged hotly the moment they shared their intimate connection. He waited until the first rush passed and watched his heart, that he didn’t change the rhythm of hers. Deep in her veins, a pulse thrummed, keeping time to her heartbeat. She seemed to be concentrating on what should have been her own pulse.
He stepped closer to her, dropped his hand on the back of her neck, and moved deeper into her mind. She was following something she understood, but he hadn’t quite grasped yet. He stayed still, waiting. He was a hunter and he had learned patience. Whatever was eluding him surely would come to him, there was no doubt in his mind.
There it was. A tiny irregular beat
inside
her pulse. He listened intently.
It’s not right,
Riley said.
This is strange. Something is very wrong here. Feel the way my blood moves in my veins. It’s very faint, but there is something pulling me toward the edge of the cliffs, over to the left. I think he was there …
She broke off, shaking her head, and turned to look around her. A small grove of trees was off to the left, branches swaying slightly.
I would know if he was here.
You’re right. It wasn’t him, but his blood was here. A distance so as not to disturb the occupants, but someone or something is watching.
Dax pushed a brushing of air that would feel like a touch on Riordan’s shoulder to warn him. He switched to the common Carpathian mind link.
We are not alone.
The watcher was no doubt following the movement of Riordan’s hands as he set the safeguards over his home in the city, rendering those inside vulnerable.
You are certain of this?
Riordan didn’t stop the motion of his hands, but he set the weaves in odd patterns.
Riley is certain of it, and that’s good enough for me. I catch a faint trail, but it isn’t Mitro. Riley says his blood is here,
Dax informed the other Carpathian.
He had taken both Jubal’s and Gary’s memories, but he had not done so with Riordan. Memories were sacred to each Carpathian male. Sometimes honor was kept only with memories. He felt handicapped by his lack of knowledge of what had transpired in the history of his people. Gary had the most knowledge, but he was human and didn’t have the data required for centuries of fighting vampires or what information the hunters had on them or the tricks they used.
Riley trembled beneath his fingers, and Dax started a slow massage.
Just continue what you’re doing,
sivamet
. We will find it, this watcher. Can you track the blood without the watcher?
Her mind moved against his and once again he experienced that strange weakness in the vicinity of his heart. She didn’t protest, or fall apart, but kept her hands deep in the soil, her head down as if listening intently.
Yes, I think there have been others, back in the same grove of trees. More than one, but a few days ago. The trail is very faint, but if I listen to my blood, the call is there.
Dax continued massaging her neck with one hand, the other down at his side, hand open, subtly moving, shifting the wind just slightly, bringing it rushing up from the ravine, swirling around the grove of trees and gusting straight to him.