‘Can’t do that, I’m afraid. There’s more at
stake
here than you know.’
Kyle punctuated these words by removing his right arm from around my neck – still holding me up with his left – and smoothly pulling a stake from one of his sturdy biker boots.
He spun it in his hand and pressed it against my heart. ‘Thoughtful of Murdoch to bring these with him.’
Mention of the dead hunter made me glance in his son’s direction. Jace was still out cold. I hoped he wasn’t
too
badly hurt, but Kyle was inhumanly strong. He didn’t look much like he was holding back when he put his boot into Murdoch Junior’s face.
I felt the tip of the stake pressing against my shirt and wondered if this was really the way my second life would end. I swallowed my fear and tried to turn my head so I could at least catch a glimpse of the man holding me. Look into his eyes one more time before he did it.
‘You killed the man you were working with,’ I said. ‘Why would you do that?’
‘He got squeamish when I killed the second kid. After Theo had taken his fill of her first, of course.’ Kyle pushed the wickedly sharp point through my T-shirt so that it pricked my flesh. Directly over my heart. ‘Wouldn’t let me try turning her.’
‘You’re telling me that Murdoch had a conscience?’
Interesting
. And Erin wouldn’t be doing the zombie thing in New York – that was good to hear. ‘What possible use could you have for him, anyway?’
Kyle bit my ear, drawing blood. ‘Hmm? Daylight was a problem. I needed to dump the bodies in the morning – draw attention away from the vamps, while sending a message to Theo. The hunter would do
anything
to take down a Master vamp.’
I nodded, confirming the information to myself. It made sense.
‘No more questions,’ he said. He released the pressure
on
the stake for a moment, then pressed it back into position again with a wicked smile.
‘Stop!’ Theo moved forward, still carrying Caitlín. He seemed to suddenly remember that he was holding her and bent over to lay her on the ground.
‘Don’t do that,’ Kyle said.
Theo hesitated. Kyle shifted his grip on me, forcing me to follow him as he stepped up onto the ledge that overlooked the side of Theo’s home. One of my feet hovered just over the edge, and I wondered how much it would hurt to hit the ground below. We were directly over a narrow street – lots of pavement, lots of parked cars. Lots of attention too. If Kyle intended to stake me first, I probably wouldn’t feel a damn thing anyway. I swallowed, trying desperately to get a grip on my senses. My head throbbed and, despite Theo’s earlier ‘donation’, I was still weak from earlier.
Theo stood up straight again. He shifted Caitlín’s weight in his arms. I knew she couldn’t be too heavy for him – perhaps he was preparing to make some kind of attack.
Oh, God, I hope so, I thought.
As long as Cait doesn’t get caught in the crossfire
.
Theo smiled suddenly, his stance relaxed and easy. My sister’s hair swept down his shoulder and over his arm. Could I trust him to care about whether or not she got hurt? Why would he protect her? He wouldn’t
necessarily
see Caitlín as an extension of me, however important ‘family’ was to him. He pinned his Enforcer with an expression filled with disdain. ‘Fine. Let us hear this . . . proposition.’
I couldn’t see Kyle’s face, but I could hear the answering smile in his voice. ‘Ah, good. Now you’re being more agreeable.’
Theo growled, long and low and dangerous, deep in his throat.
‘Sorry, boss. I forgot how impatient you can be.’ Kyle tightened his grip around my throat. ‘So here it is: I’m going to end your little pet unless you do one simple thing for me. Just one. It’s only a small favor.’
‘Get on with it,’ Theo snapped, his eyes flashing silver fire.
‘That human girl you’re holding – turn her, the way you turned our Moth here. You can do it. Give me my own pet vampire.’
Theo took a step forward. ‘You go too far—’
‘Not really, no. But we’re hoping that it’ll look like
you
have.’ Kyle smiled unpleasantly. ‘And just as a nice little incentive, if you don’t do it in the next sixty seconds, I’ll stake this skinny bitch of yours and toss her dead body off the roof.’
Chapter Twenty-four
MY BRAIN STRUGGLED
to take in what he was saying. Turn Caitlín? Why? Why would Kyle want Theo to do that? What could he possibly hope to gain?
I struggled, not caring when the razor-sharp wooden tip broke my skin.
‘Ah, back with us?’ Kyle breathed into my ear. ‘Keep fighting me like that and you’ll stake yourself, precious.’
I ignored him and continued to thrash wildly, forcing him to lower the stake and hold me with both arms again. I managed to free one arm, but only for a moment. Kyle clamped down on my hand so hard I felt one of my fingers break.
I gasped, tears of pain burning my eyes.
Theo, meanwhile, had laid Caitlín gently on the ground. Oh, God, I wanted to go to her so much. It was
like
my vision had narrowed to the point where all I could see was her. Her red hair was lank and she looked sickly-pale, her face practically glowing in the darkness.
Kyle moved one hand so quickly I didn’t even notice he’d half released me. He punched me hard enough to crack ribs and I gasped, trying to focus past the pain.
‘I said, stop wriggling. Next time I’ll snap your neck.’
I forced myself to be still. He’d really do it, and then I’d be as near to death as a vampire can get. And I didn’t doubt Kyle, not for a second. He’d break my neck in front of my Maker – his ‘Master’ – and he wouldn’t blink. The ruthless efficiency that made him one of the best Enforcers in the country was the very thing that made him such a dangerous enemy. Who would have guessed that he was ambitious too?
Theo stood in the gentle breeze, last night’s rain long gone and an autumnal chill in the air. His black clothes and black hair made him seem like a slender shadow – apart from the dangerous glint of eyes and teeth.
‘You are in no position to make demands,’ he said.
He sounded calm, but I knew he was furious. Beyond furious. His rage was something that was a tangible thing, almost as though he could make it a weapon and cut out Kyle’s heart with it.
The object of all that anger simply laughed. ‘You’ve always had a subtle kind of humor. I like that about you, Theo. Of course, I am in the perfect position to make
demands
– you’ll do what I say or watch your “little Moth” take her final flight.’
I stared at Theo, wondering what we could do. He met my eyes and blinked, slowly. His eyes were almost completely silver, so bright I wanted to look away . . . only I couldn’t.
For the first time since he’d turned me, I wished he could be inside my head and tell me what his plan was. Did he have one? He must have a plan, right?
But what if he didn’t.
I licked my lips and tried to push strength into my shaking legs. I needed my own plan, just in case.
Theo shook his head. ‘Kyle, have you lost your mind? What will turning this one human achieve? You cannot beat me, you know that. I am older than you. Stronger than you.’
‘I may not be strong enough to kill you, but I’m smart enough to discredit you.’
Theo took another step. ‘That’s what this is about? For what purpose? Perhaps you want my place as head of the Family. Perhaps you have your eye on a greater prize – unseating Solomon . . .’
I felt Kyle’s arms stiffen. ‘Your position is the very least of this. Do you really have no clue? I think you’ve grown complacent. Look how you handed that other girl over to me to return
safely
to her life, her friends – handed me weakened, easy prey, covered in your scent.’
Theo ignored the taunt. ‘Why stage a coup after all this time? Do fifty years of partnership mean nothing to you?’
‘
Coup?
’ Kyle shook his head. ‘You’re not listening to me, old man.’
So weird to hear him call my Maker that; but then, Kyle was half his age.
Theo bared his teeth. ‘You don’t possess enough years to depose me. You clearly don’t have enough years to successfully Make a vampire.’
‘I don’t need centuries, not when I have you.’
‘Wrong,’ Theo said. ‘Without age, you cannot take my place.’
‘I don’t want to take your place. I just want you
gone
. I’m part of a group that believes the time is right for a change in the status of the vampires of this world. Masters like you – those who want to stay in the shadows – are only holding us back. Keeping us locked in the Dark Ages.’
‘You’re talking about announcing our existence? Integration into human society?’ Theo’s voice held disbelief.
‘Well,’ Kyle said, ‘not so much integrating as . . . governing. And I needed to prove that Moth wasn’t your only slip in self-control.’
This had gone far enough. I couldn’t stay out of it any longer. ‘You’re jealous of him, aren’t you, Kyle?’
‘Shut up,’ he growled, almost breaking my windpipe.
‘I always knew you were secretly jealous,’ I croaked. ‘Is it because he’s got bigger . . . fangs than you?’
‘Stop. Talking.’
‘Why, when I’m so good at it?’
Theo closed the distance by another tiny step. He gestured at Caitlín’s still form. ‘Why involve this girl? She is an innocent.’
Kyle barked out a laugh. ‘“Innocent”? That didn’t stop you before. I thought you had a taste for O’Neal girls . . .’ He stroked the hand holding the stake across my belly, tightening the other around my throat. ‘That one behind you is even younger than the first. You can never have them too young, right, boss? In fact, why don’t we take turns with her first? We could turn her together. I’ve always liked redheads.’
Terror parched my mouth. Not for me, not any more. I was beyond something as pointless as fear. I was dead already. But . . . Caitlín. My baby sister. The thought of Kyle hurting her made my whole body weak, hollowed out. I wanted to kill him. I wanted to rip off his head and pull his heart out through his neck.
Bad thoughts piled into my terrified brain, washing away the fear with a welcome black-hearted fury.
‘Don’t you touch my sister,’ I said. ‘I’ll kill you, you sick bastard.’
‘You didn’t call your precious Maker that, did you,
hmm
. . .? I bet you begged him for it. I bet he made you scream.’
Yeah, but not in the way you mean, you perv
, I thought.
Theo took one more step forward. ‘Nobody gets Made tonight.’
‘That’s far enough.’ Kyle pointed the stake at Theo to punctuate his words.
And that was his mistake. Well, that along with threatening my baby sister.
I slid my left arm free in the split-second I had and snatched the stake from Kyle’s hand. I sensed, rather than saw, Theo
blur
forward as I spun and ducked Kyle’s strike. His fist grazed my temple. He’d recovered fast and now I was off-balance.
I gripped the deadly stake and wobbled on the ledge, gazing down four floors below. I’d survive the fall, but it sure wouldn’t be pretty.
Everything went into freeze-frame.
Jace was still on the ground beside his father’s dead body. Caitlín lay behind Theo, ghostly pale. Theo was moving toward us, super-fast – vampire fast – but in my mind’s eye he moved in slow motion. Kyle seemed torn between finishing me off – all it would take was one push over the edge of the roof – and facing his former Master.
I dropped to my knees and threw myself to the side, missing out on my potentially messy swan dive by millimeters. As Kyle’s fist shot out again, Theo reached us
and
he grabbed the back of my jacket. He yanked me off my feet and I went down, dropping the stake over the edge of the roof, scrabbling to save myself from following it into the wide open space below.
Baring his fangs, Kyle
moved
, diving at Theo. I flinched as they clashed, seemingly in mid-air. It was all too fast, too brutal. Blood flowed and splashed to the ground.
Theo and Kyle began fighting, Master and Enforcer, in a whirl of faster-than-the-human-eye-can-see punches and kicks. Even
I
had trouble following the action.
I rolled off the ledge and limped toward Caitlín. My whole body hurt and I wanted to curl up in a ball and not get up for a week, but this wasn’t over. It was very far from over, and I knelt beside my sister and checked her breathing. Everything seemed normal. Her heart beat in a comforting rhythm against my hand and I could feel her breath on my cheek. It seemed that Kyle had simply compelled her to sleep, which meant she would take a very long time to wake – unless another vampire broke the compulsion first. It would need a stronger vampire than the one who had placed it, so I was out of luck until Theo finished with Kyle.
He now had his Enforcer pinned face down on the roof. It looked like one of the Kyle’s arms was broken.
‘Moth.’
I spun, surprised to see Jace looking at me. The
emotion
on his face was like a raw and open wound. He’d dragged himself back to consciousness while I’d escaped from Kyle. I touched Caitlín’s silky hair one more time, just reassuring myself that she was really there, and crawled toward Jace. I didn’t think I could stand up again and didn’t have the energy to try.