Prince of Power (13 page)

“Not that I don't appreciate helping others, but what are we doing here again?”

Tyra pulled on a pair of thin plastic gloves and managed to scowl down at Alexia without missing a beat as she stirred a tray of beef-and-cheese macaroni. “Because Thad's not letting me go to try to take down the wizard king, and it has been made clear that there will be consequences if I disobey, yada, yada. You were moping around bored anyway, so why the hell not do something useful with our time?” She pointed across the shelter's kitchen to one of the newer volunteers, a short Hispanic lady whose name Tyra couldn't remember. “Go help her with, uh, something.”

Alexia smirked and spun on her heel. Jeez. The little human sure was a gloomy one. According to Isabel, the girl had a sunny side but Tyra had yet to see it. Tyra turned back, however, as the residents began to file into the dining hall through the double doors. She was filled with the warmth from doing this job that gave her such satisfaction.

Her dad had made a good suggestion when he'd prodded her to find a way to connect with her human roots. Tyra was already mourning the day when she'd have to quit, although considering the high staff turnover, it could easily be many years before anyone noticed that she hadn't aged much at all.

On the other hand… Tyra narrowed her eyes at Rolan, the soldier that Thad had sent along to keep an eye on her. Job satisfaction wasn't what it used to be.
If
Thad
insists
on
sending
muscle
every
time
I
come
down
here, this won't last long. That guy is doing a terrible job of looking inconspicuous.

“Evening, Miss Tyra. Did you have a good vacation?” Selena, the girl Tyra had developed such a fondness for since she and her mom had become residents at the shelter. Goodness, the girl seemed to have grown inches and inches in just the few days Tyra had missed.

“Selena, look at you.”

“Did you have a good vacation, Miss Tyra?” Lisa, Selena's mother, put a protective hand on the girl's shoulder to keep her from getting too far ahead.

Tyra's mind was blank for a moment. Vacation? Right. The night she'd disappeared, she had told everyone she was going on vacation. Yeesh. “Wonderful. Restful. Good as new.” Her laugh was nervous, and her smile had to have been fake as hell. Even she could tell it was pasted on weak and crooked, but she prayed it was convincing enough.

“Well,” Lisa said. “I have wonderful news. We'll actually be leaving tomorrow after breakfast. I managed to reach an old friend out of state. She runs a small business and could use some administrative help.”

Tyra clasped her hands together. “Oh, that's great. Congratulations.”

But even as she unjoined her hands to serve some beefy macaroni to the next person in line, something dark and loud and pungent came over her like a deluge. Her gut churned. The entire perimeter of the shelter was fenced in. The wizards hadn't come this close before. And never—

Her cell phone buzzed in her pocket. Thad.
Get
back
home
NOW.
She turned to look at Lexi, who stood wide-eyed and frozen with a massive can of mixed-fruit salad in her small hands. Human or not, the girl had been attacked by a wizard only a few weeks before and knew what she was sensing.

Tyra smiled again at Selena and her mother, and tapped the kindly volunteer next to her. “I'm sorry. I have to go.”

She motioned to Lexi, who dropped the can on a nearby counter like it held dynamite. The two squeezed out through the main double doors of the cafeteria. They veered at the line of male residents waiting to get dinner, and Tyra pulled Lexi against the wall, leaning down to whisper.

“Okay, we need to get everybody into the cafeteria. I'm going to announce that the men can go in. Do me a favor, and go in and tell the officers that there's a disturbance. That other officers are taking care of it, but that they need to control things in there. Tell them to put the chains on the doors, and screw the fire hazard for now. And then stay put. Stick close to Rolan, okay?”

Lexi nodded, scared but silent.

Tyra pointed to Rolan. “Stay with Alexia. Make sure she and these other people are safe.” She looked around. Her senses had never been strong when it came to wizards. That was a bad thing in this case because the fierceness of the malevolent vibes probably meant they were all the hell over the place. “I think I'm gonna need some backup. You have Thad and Siddoh's numbers in your phone?”

He nodded.

“Good. Tell Thad what's going down. Tell Siddoh I need backup if he can spare it.” A deep breath and Tyra's gut churned again. Black spots danced in front of her eyes. “As much as he can spare. Fast.”

Rolan went.

Tyra pasted on another fake smile. Her teeth and cheeks were starting to hurt. “Gentlemen, the women and children are still eating, but due to some unforeseen problems, we have to have everyone in the cafeteria at once tonight. We're going to let you all in early, but I'm going to expect everyone to be on their best behavior, okay?”

There were murmurs and nods and shuffles as everyone filed into the cafeteria. When the last man was in, Tyra slammed the heavy door shut and raced down the hall toward the back exit where the inky, repellent evil was strongest. Good thing it was dinnertime and everybody was in one spot.

She reached under her bulky winter sweater to her waist holster. At least she had a gun, and she had fed recently. Was Anton okay? Was this happening because he and the group had failed to kill his father? Or because they'd succeeded? What if Alexia couldn't reach Siddoh?

“Miss Tyra.”

The small voice stopped her heart almost as surely as it stopped her footsteps. “No,” she whispered. Then louder: “Selena, you need to get back to the cafeteria with your mom, honey.” The child's eyes opened wide, and Tyra turned to follow the path of their stare. She moved to place a barrier between the child and the man she was looking at, and nearly lost her breath.

She found the words, just barely, to say again, “Selena, get back to the cafeteria
now.
”

Tiny feet scampered behind her, and just when Tyra thought maybe she could relax, boot steps echoed on the linoleum as well. Shit. “Hey, Tyr—” Rolan. She spun. “Oh my God.”

The young vampire fell in an ungraceful heap. Unmoving. His chest rose and fell enough to make it apparent that he was still alive at least, but…

“What the hell did you do to him?” Tyra's gaze fixed narrowly on the figure that had appeared at the end of the hall. The man was smiling, an oddly charming smile despite the black voids of his eyes that seemed, even from where she stood, to stretch on and on forever. What was funny was that as close as she stood to him now, she didn't feel the malevolent aura. Indeed everything was strangely calm except for the erratic dance of her heart, which was skipping around like a break-dancer on meth.

How was that possible?

He was covered in a long, black trench coat and his head was shaved, but she'd have known the face anywhere. It was an older, seemingly wiser version of the one she'd woken up to from her suspended rest.
The
one
she'd stared down at while making love
… had it only been hours ago? This had to be Anton's father. The somewhat mythical Master of the wizards.

The man smiled and bowed slightly, as if this were some sort of formal event and not a face-off of enemies. “Miss Tyra. I
am
pleased to finally meet you.” He smiled again, more broadly this time. “Now. I would appreciate your coming with me. I've gone to a lot of trouble to get here, and if you don't comply, I assure you it won't take much to raze this entire building and everyone in it, including your incompetent foot soldier and that adorable little girl back there.”

***

In Alexia's mind, she was dancing. Free. Laser lights flashed and pulsed, voices chattered. Her body whirled and writhed, and sweat rolled off. Smoke burned her nostrils and her legs were on fire, but none of it mattered so long as she kept moving. Her chest thumped and her body vibrated in time to her favorite Max Graham remix of Conjure One's “Sleep,” and she could float among the stars.
Free
.

“Ma'am, did you hear me?”

Alexia shivered and looked at the police officer. Well, it was a fun daydream while it lasted. Better than standing out here in the butt-ass freezing cold with the homeless folks, being harassed by the cops. Which, by the way,
did
remind her of a party, but the flashing lights were from all the cop cars, and the chattering and bodies were the folks shivering in the cold and nothing more. The officer in question… well, she wasn't so sure he was a real cop at all. He had that cold, nasty soulless thing going like the wizard who had attacked her in Florida awhile back, and he touched her a little too much. Every time he did, the urge to knee him deep in the balls and run for it was very, very, very strong.

She scanned the crowd. The other police officers. Were they all wizards? Some of them? Just the one talking to her? The flashing red and blue glinted magically off something on the officer's hand as he took her statement. A pinkie ring. Right. Something about that rang a bell. And his head was shaved bald, just like the wizard that attacked her in her and Isabel's apartment in Florida. She looked around. Did any others have that ring?

One… maybe…

“Ma'am?”

She blinked again and looked at the man who loomed over her, a good foot taller at least. Hell, everyone was a good foot taller than she was. He actually looked quite a bit like the prisoner that she'd seen Siddoh manhandling across the grounds. The one Tyra seemed to have a thing with but didn't want to talk about. The face was different, though… she hadn't gotten a good enough look to know for sure. “I'm sorry, what?”

“I'd like you to explain to me again what made you tell the volunteers on duty to chain the cafeteria doors.”

“Um.” She bit hard on her lip, and tasted her own blood and honey-vanilla lip gloss. Was there a right answer here? This was one of the bad guys. He already knew damn well why Tyra had herded the volunteers into the cafeteria. Was there anything to be gained by making up a story? Maybe if she played dumb they would let her leave.

But just over the wizard's shoulder, barely visible in the shadows, was Lee. God, but she hated how much it lifted her just to lay eyes on him. Okay. She stared, making sure he knew she could see him. Making sure he knew that she knew that he knew. Her pulse picked up speed, because then she had a plan. Probably if she didn't get her ass kicked, then Lee was going to kill her for it. She crooked a finger at the fake wizard officer, who took the bait hook, line, and sinker. They always did. He leaned close.

“Okay, see, how about you tell me where my friend is and what you guys want with her, and I'll answer your questions nicely.”

The wizard grinned. Hell, he was actually kind of hot, or would have been without the whole “vampire killer” aspect of his persona. The wicked smile spread across his face slowly as he straightened, putting his little fake notebook into his pocket and folding his hands behind his back. “Ma'am, I think this is a conversation that we need to have at the station.”

She smiled a fake smile in return.
What
was
the
deal
here?
“Well, why don't you leave me your business card, and I will be happy to contact you during daylight hours.”

“Hmm.” He pressed his lips together. “You see, that's a problem, ma'am, because you're already in quite a bit of trouble for providing false information to the authorities.”

“I didn't provide false information.” Her gaze flicked to the shadowy area where Lee had been standing, but he wasn't there anymore.
Shit, where the hell did he go?
“I told the volunteers and the officers that were monitoring the inside of the cafeteria that there were trespassers on the property.” She narrowed her eyes pointedly and then raised her eyebrows for effect. “That was totally true.”

“Ah, but we were only coming for what was ours,” he murmured. “And I'm sorry, ma'am, but you're going to have to come with me.” That he said louder.

A large hand with bony knuckles wrapped around her upper arm and dragged her toward the edge of the crowd.
Ow
. It was going to leave a bruise, but she didn't so much as twitch a face muscle to show the pain.

They were fast approaching what looked to be an unmarked squad car, which, come hell or high water, she refused to get into. She'd seen that safety lesson on
Oprah
enough times. So she did what most women of diminutive stature did in times like these. She went for the kneecaps, and then she went for the jewels.

The Doc Martens she wore weren't only a fashion statement.

Her heel connected with one of the guy's knees with a satisfying crunch, and she crouched low to throw her body weight into slamming her elbow between his legs. The male doubled and howled in pain. She twisted free of his grip but tripped on his big, stupid foot. Then the cuffs were snapped on. Shit.

She thrashed and made noise and kicked, but nothing much was accomplished.
Good
lord, I look like one of those desperate people on
Cops. She hated being so small at times like these.

The male got in, sneering at her through the protective barrier. “Nice try, bitch.” He was still gloating when he was lifted and shoved over the console into the passenger seat. The wizard's head hit the window, and blood spattered across the glass.

Oh.
Nasty
.

Lee settled into the driver's seat and wiggled a knife out of the wizard's skull. He wiped it on his pant leg and started the car. His blue-green stare pegged her from the rearview mirror. “You. Are going to owe me big time for this.” Not another word was said as they peeled out.