Quinn's Undying Rose (Scanguards Vampires #6) (30 page)

Odd, he wondered as he crossed the next quiet street without checking for traffic, Oliver had moved so much faster when he’d stormed into the kitchen. His movements had been a blur, so fast, Blake had barely seen them. Why didn’t Nina and Wesley employ that same speed? And why were they the only ones chasing him?

Could it be that Nina and Wesley weren’t vampires after all? Was that why they were the ones running after him and not Quinn or Rose who’d claimed to be his third or fourth great-grandparents?

There was no time to wonder about this now and waste any energy on thinking about it. He could contemplate what all this meant later when he was safe. For an instant, he wondered where to run to. He couldn’t go home; they knew where he lived. He would have to find another place to hide for now.

Blake was about to cross another intersection when a dark van cut him off, nearly knocking him over. Before he could even give the driver the finger, the door slid open and gloved hands grabbed him. He tried to fight his attacker, but the bastard was stronger and pulled him into the van.

“Nooooo!” Nina screamed from half a block away.

Her scream died as the door of the van slammed back shut, shrouding the inside in darkness.

“Let me go!” Blake yelled.

An evil chuckle was the answer.

Slowly his eyes adjusted to the dark, and he was able to make out three figures. Large men. They wore heavy clothing and gloves. Their faces were covered with large ski masks, the exposed skin around their eyes covered with zinc oxide. When they removed their masks, their faces reminded Blake of raccoons.

“Welcome, Blake,” one of them said, his voice devoid of emotion. “I’m Keegan. And you’ve just become a bargaining chip.”

When Keegan opened his mouth, Blake noticed the white of his teeth. He focused his vision.

“Oh, shit! More vampires.”

“That’s right. And we’re not as tame as the ones you just ran away from.”

All three men laughed, and the chilling sound ran down his spine.

He’d just jumped from the frying pan into the fire.

32

Rose stared out the window. The sun had just set, and she was beside herself with worry.

Quinn had done everything he could. During the day, human Scanguards personnel had roamed the city to find Keegan’s hiding place, but they had come up empty handed. Even though Nina and Wesley had witnessed Blake’s abduction and taken note of the van’s license plate, the information hadn’t helped locate her grandson. The plates belonged to another vehicle and therefore wouldn’t lead them to Keegan.

Thomas was busily looking at all available surveillance videos from businesses and schools in the neighborhood to see where the van had disappeared to, but so far nothing had shown up on any videos. As if they’d been swallowed up.

Nervously, Rose chewed on her fingernails. Quinn had urged her to rest a little, but instead of lying down, she paced in her room. She had to do something. Sitting around and waiting for Keegan to contact them was driving her nuts.

Determined to bring this charade to an end, she pulled out the cell phone from which she’d texted Keegan a day earlier. For many long seconds, she stared at it, composing a message in her mind, which would compel Keegan to act.

She still had what he wanted. Now it was time to use her bargaining chip.

If you touch him, I’ll destroy it,
she texted and hit
send
.

Her heart beat into her throat as she waited anxiously for a reply. Quinn had explained that despite the fact that the cell phone was untraceable, anybody whom she’d texted from it, could text back to this secret number.

From downstairs, sounds drifted to her. Everybody had a job to do, everybody but her. Quinn had tried to assure her that they were professionals and knew what they had to do. But even though she believed him, it made no difference. Blake was her flesh and blood, and she couldn’t just sit idly by while he was suffering at Keegan’s hands.

She wasn’t a shy debutante in Regency London anymore; she was a woman of action.

A humming sound interrupted her thoughts. Her eyes shot to the phone in her hands and read the message that flashed on the display.

You destroy it, and I’ll tell Quinn what you did to Wallace
.

Panic made her heart stop. How did Keegan know? She’d never told anybody. Never confessed her crime to anyone.

Another hum announced a second message.

After I turn Blake
.

Keegan had the upper hand, and he knew it. How long had he known about her secret? Had he been sitting on this piece of information for a long time, waiting for the right moment to use it against her? She assumed as much. It was exactly what Keegan did: blackmail people. And now he was blackmailing her.

Ready to talk?
the next message came.

What do you want?
she asked, even though she knew the answer already.

The data. Meet me at the top of the Lyon’s steps in ten minutes. Alone. Be one second late, and Quinn finds out about Wallace.

She wasted twenty seconds on her smartphone trying to find where the Lyon’s steps were located, then realized she would have to run full speed, once she’d snuck out of the house, if she wanted to make it in time. Keegan obviously knew that and wanted to make sure that she had no time to notify anybody or take any precautions for herself. Luckily he had no idea that her own cell phone contained several pre-programmed alert messages. She scrolled through them, selected the protocol labeled
Hostage Scenario,
took ten seconds to modify it with a couple of specifics and pressed the send button—now her hope was that the recipient would execute her orders swiftly enough. Then she tossed the phone into the closet.

Rose used the side door leading to the tradesmen entrance to sneak out of the house undetected. Not telling anybody about her exchange with Keegan was a risk, but knowing that her adversary wouldn’t think twice about telling Quinn that she’d killed his maker, such disclosure was a deadly chance she couldn’t take. Not only would she forfeit her own life, but Blake’s too. Now her only hope was that the people who owed her loyalty would be able to help her.

As she sprinted through the night, her body cutting through the crisp air so fast any human observing her would merely see a blur, her mind frantically worked on a plan of how to defeat Keegan and snatch her grandson from his clutches.

Checking her watch in mid-run, she increased her speed, knowing that Keegan wouldn’t hesitate to execute his threat should she arrive late. Looking ahead, she spotted a sign and the gate for the Presidio. To its right, the Lyon’s steps descended into the Marina district. From their top, they afforded an unobstructed view over the Palace of Fine Arts below, and the Bay beyond.

Two dark vans were parked next to several sedans where the street ended and the Park began. Rose came to an abrupt halt.

“Always loved the way you could move,” Keegan’s icy voice came from the opposite street corner.

Her head whipped in his direction. He stood in the shadow of a hedge. Slowly, as if he had all the time in the world, he emerged and crossed the distance to her.

“Let’s cut to the chase, Keegan,” she said, her chest barely heaving from the run.

The moonlight cast a shadow on one side of Keegan’s face, illuminating the other. There was something eerie about the sight. It only underscored the seriousness of her situation. If the hasty plan she had concocted in the short time she’d had didn’t work, she would be out of luck.

“Where’s Blake?”

 “In good company.”

“I doubt that.”

Keegan chuckled, shaking his head at the same time. “And you think your company is more appropriate? After all you’re a murderer too. Just like the rest of us. And to kill your own maker in cold blood . . . tsk . . . tsk. That’s very bad of you. Very bad indeed.”

At the recollection of that event, Rose suppressed the chill that traveled down her spine. “How did you find out?”

She’d been careful never to reveal anything about her past to him.

“It’s funny what kind of information surfaces if you keep digging long enough. You remember Charles, the gentleman who witnessed your dirty deed?” He released a short laugh. “What am I saying? Of course you do. After all, you stayed with him for a few months, before you robbed him blind and disappeared. Hard to forget that, isn’t it? A man like that is more than willing to share information with anybody who asks the right questions.”

“He deserved it. He was using me.” She’d believed him at first when he’d pretended to want to help her, but in the end, he had turned out to be just as selfish as everybody else. He’d used her to lure unsuspecting humans and vampires into his trap. She’d been his bait.

“How ungrateful of you. After all, he helped you survive. Had he not warned you that Quinn would avenge the death of his maker, you wouldn’t even be here tonight.”

Rose clamped her jaw together. “I don’t need a history lesson.”

She understood well enough what Wallace’s murder meant. Charles, the vampire who had witnessed it, wasn’t the only one who had explained it to her. Years later, when she’d been with a clan, she’d seen how such a revenge killing had taken place: A vampire had killed his long-time lover after finding out that she’d killed his maker, a female vampire, out of jealousy. She’d never witnessed such a brutal killing before.

“Well, then let’s talk about the present. I want the data back. And I want it now.”

Rose sucked in a quick breath. “First I need to know that Blake is still alive—and that he’s still human.”

“Very well.”

Keegan pulled a small walkie-talkie from his pocket and pressed a button. “Open up.”

When she heard a sound coming from one of the dark vans a moment later, her gaze shot to it.

The side door opened. Blake’s head and upper torso were held by strong arms, shoving him just outside of the van, keeping the rest of him inside. He appeared uninjured, yet he looked fearful. At the same time, relief flooded her: His aura was still human.

“Rose?” he croaked.

“Blake. Just hold on! I’ll get you out of this. You’ll be safe soon.”

Before he could reply to her, he was pulled back into the van, the door shutting behind him.

“I hope you have every intention of keeping your promise to him,” Keegan said.

Rose turned back to face him. “As long as you keep yours. I want him freed, now.”

He laughed out loud. “You’re funny, Rose. You really are. First the data, then Blake. That’s how it works. I’m sure you’ve seen enough movies and are familiar with how an exchange works?”

She narrowed her eyes.

“Of course you are. So I won’t need to explain anything else, will I?”

She hated his condescending tone, and under any other circumstances, she would have robbed him of the ability to spout any more insults by driving her fist into his mouth, but at present, he held all the cards. She would have to wait her turn.

“So where is it?” he repeated.

“I hid it.”

“Where?”

“In San Francisco.”

“Good. We’ll go together. Hope you won’t mind, but considering that you shook me off last time, I’m sure you won’t mind if I’ll stick to you like glue on our second attempt, will you?”

He motioned to the second dark van. “Get in there.”

“I want to ride with Blake,” she insisted quickly.

“Not a chance. His van will follow us. If you lead us into a trap, my men have orders to hurt him.”

Clearly, Keegan had learned from his mistakes. She hadn’t expected anything else. Now she could only hope that leading him and his men to a place where she had allies would provide her with sufficient advantage to fight him off.

When she stepped into the van and felt the door close behind her, she closed her eyes and allowed her nerves to calm. She needed all her wits about her now, because one false move, and she and Blake would perish.

33

“She’s gone,” Thomas confirmed from the top of the stairs.

Panic flared up in Quinn as his suspicion was confirmed. Rose had left the house without telling anybody.

“Shit! What is she up to?” he wondered out loud.

“She’s meeting Keegan,” Thomas continued as he rushed down.

“What? Why the fuck didn’t she tell me?” Quinn cursed, furious now. Rose had to understand that alone she was more vulnerable. Only if they stuck together as a cohesive unit, did they have a chance at defeating Keegan.

As Thomas reached him, he held his cell phone out to him. “I just got an alert that text messages were sent between the cell I fixed up for you and Keegan’s number.”

“How? I thought it was untraceable,” Quinn said, confused.

“I mirrored the number on my phone so I would receive a duplicate whenever a message was sent or received. Just in case.” He paused for a brief second. “Who’s Wallace?”

Quinn nearly stumbled backwards at hearing the familiar name. “What does my sire have to do with Keegan?”

“It appears he has something to do with Rose.” Thomas handed him the phone. “Read this.”

Quinn’s eyes darted over the text messages, reading them twice.

“Fuck!”

His mind worked overtime, trying to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. If Rose knew Wallace, it could only mean one thing. He didn’t want to follow that thought to its conclusion, because if he did, it would only lead him to a place where guilt was waiting for him. Too well he remembered the night when he’d quarreled with Wallace. The night he’d left. He recalled the last words they had exchanged as if it were yesterday.

“You want to help me?”
he had accused Wallace.
“Then help me! Help me make her love me again. Or get out of my sight!”

“Very well,”
his maker had replied.

Quinn had seen it as an answer to his last words, to get out of his sight, when in fact Wallace had agreed to his earlier words:
Help me make her love me again.

How wrong he had been. And how blind not to see what had been right in front of him for so long. Wallace had turned her so she would have no reason to reject him any longer. No wonder she had never come back to him, because he alone was responsible for Rose’s turning. He had asked Wallace to help him. He had begged his sire. And his sire had listened.