Authors: Melody Johnson
And now that we’d finally reached the coven entrance, after riding for twenty minutes and stumbling through the dark for another twenty, Walker started pulling ropes, anchors, and harnesses from his pack.
I stared alternately at the cave’s entrance and its vertical drop to the equipment that Walker was knotting and looping and preparing for us, and I knew, without a doubt, that he’d lost his mind.
I grumbled as much beneath my breath, and he looked up. “What was that?”
“You think I’m climbing down there?” My question ended on a squeak, and I pointed down at the cave. “You’ve lost your mind,” I repeated. I stared down into the cave’s fathomless depth and shook my head.
“No,” He said, and his voice was calm and steady, the way you talk slowly to a child on the verge of a meltdown. “I think you’re rappelling down there.”
I nodded. “Yep. You’ve lost your mind.”
“It’s easy. The ropes and pulleys distribute your weight, so there’s essentially no work involved on your end. You just lower yourself down with the ropes and steady yourself against the cave walls with your feet. When the wall expands away from you, just relax and lower yourself to the bottom.” He spread his hands as if to encompass all the equipment in front of him and everything he’d just said. “Easy.”
“The wall’s going to expand? So I’ll be dangling hundreds of feet above the vampire coven in midair.” I shook my head. “Are you serious?”
He stared at me, not seeing a problem.
“You’re going to make me say it, aren’t you,” I grumbled, annoyed at him for not seeing my limitations but mostly annoyed at myself for having them.
“I don’t understand why you’re balking. You’ve faced worse odds against Dominic and Kaden and Jillian, and you faced them head on. I get that it’s a deep, dark cave, and that the cave is filled with vampires. It’s scary, I get that, but—”
“I’m not scared—” I said automatically and then shook my head. “Well, I’m actually terrified, but that’s not the point. I was just as terrified when facing Dominic and Kaden and Jillian, and I faced them anyway.”
Walker put his hands on his hips. “Then what’s the problem?”
“I can’t physically do it.” I said it fast, like ripping the bandage off a wound, but the sting from the rip still hurt like hell.
“Sure you can. Just lean back on the harness, and let the ropes and pulleys do the work for you.”
“Just lean back?” I asked.
“Yep.”
“The harness goes around my waist, and you want me to lean back on my hips?”
Walker opened his mouth, about to agree, when he finally understood my point. “Your hip,” he murmured.
I nodded.
“I know it pains you. I’ve noticed you limp sometimes, but—”
“It hurts all the time,” I admitted. I looked down into the cave, and it killed me to admit it to myself, let alone to Walker, but I was not going to be able to rappel down. “It hurts whether I move or stay still. It hurts whether or not I’m weight-bearing. It hurts constantly and relentlessly. I can still grit my teeth and bear through it enough to walk and work and maybe even run when I’m being chased, but this—” I looked at the equipment and shook my head. “—I’ve always believed whole heartedly that I could do anything I set my mind to achieve, but Walker, this is impossible.”
“Nothing’s impossible. I’ll add more harnesses to distribute the weight off your hip.”
“Walker, you’re not listening. I can’t—”
“It’s the only way down, so if you still want to move forward with this insane dinner date, than step in.” Walker offered me the harness, holding the straps wide for my feet.
“It’s not the only way down,” a sultry voice whispered from the other side of the cave.
Walker looked up at the voice and curled his lip.
Bex was balancing on the small ledge of the cave opposite us. She was smiling, still wearing skinny jeans and the beautifully detailed, leather cowboy boots from last night, but her top was sexy and strappy and showed a lot of skin. I’d wager that top was not for
my
benefit. Her wavy bronze hair was curled into ringlets, and each ringlet gleamed ethereally in the moonlight.
Since I was the only one of us who planned to fake cordiality, I smiled back. “Good evening, Bex. How was your day rest?”
She waited a moment, still staring at Walker to gain his greeting, but when it became evident she’d be waiting a while longer, she flicked her gaze to me. “Good evening to y’all as well. My day rest went very well, thank you for asking. How was your day?”
“No one died, so I can’t complain.”
Bex blinked at me for a long, silent moment, her face bland, and then she laughed. Her face transformed like the spread of butterfly wings, one moment set still, motionless, and carefully sculpted to keep its true nature hidden, and then the next, it fluttered free and wide, flashing its genuine, exquisite, unmatched beauty. Her ringlets bounced with each tremor of her laughter and the sound, light and joyous, lit the air.
I glanced at Walker, but his eyes never left Bex’s face. His expression looked pained.
Her laughter settled on a sigh. “Rene was right,” she said, shaking her head. “You’ve quite a sense of humor.”
“Thanks,” I said blandly. I poked my thumb in Bex’s direction. “Did you catch that, Walker? The vampires appreciate my sarcasm.”
Walker grunted. “That’s not a compliment.” He wiggled the harness impatiently. “It’s go time.”
I shook my head at Walker, exasperated. “What part of ‘I can’t’ don’t you understand?”
“The ‘can’t’ part,” Walker gritted from between his clenched teeth.
“There’s no reason for Cassidy to suffer unnecessarily. Rene is on his way, and then we can bring y’all down to dinner. Both of you.”
“The hell you can,” Walker bit out.
“What he means is—” I amended, thinking fast, “—we wouldn’t want to inconvenience you. I’m sure we can manage on our own. Somehow.” I looked at Walker. “Without rappelling.”
“This is the only entrance,” Walker whispered to me, although Bex, being Bex, could certainly hear him. “We either rappel down, or we don’t go down at all.”
“It’s not an inconvenience in the least,” Bex assured, ignoring Walker. “It would be my pleasure to assist you. Isn’t that right, Rene?”
Rene shot up from the depths of the cave on cue. His leather coat flapped around his knees with an audible whipping noise as he whirled past us and flew overhead. He descended slowly to land on the ledge next to Bex, and his landing—complete with flapping coat and whirling, chin-length, golden hair—was dramatic and flashy. He locked eyes with me, his grin cocky and daring, and I realized that just as Bex’s skimpy top was for Walker, Rene’s showmanship was for me. But what exactly he was daring of me, I could only guess.
His features were very delicate and femininely handsome, no longer the gargoyle-like creature he’d been when we’d first met, which only meant one thing: he’d fed since waking from his day rest.
“Yes, it will certainly be my pleasure to assist you, DiRocco,” Rene purred smoothly.
The wound on his neck from my necklace garrote wasn’t quite healed. Feeding had obviously helped—the wound wasn’t bleeding or fresh—but when he spoke, his Adam’s apple moved beneath the split skin, widening and closing the wound as he spoke like a second mouth.
I hesitated, simultaneously horrified by the sight of his wound and proud for successfully defending myself, but a nagging, cautious part of me wondered how Rene would retaliate.
The direction of my thoughts must have shown on my face because Rene said, “I meant it when I told you to never apologize for surviving. I don’t hold a grudge against you for my injuries.”
I nodded, trying to think of an appropriate response. My knee-jerk reaction was to flip him off, but that was the old me. The new me was a liaison for Dominic.
“Thank you,” I said. “I appreciate your level-headedness, Rene. I hope that after tonight, I won’t feel the threat of survival. Our Masters are neighbors, after all. There’s no reason we can’t be—” I tried to think fast and ignore Walker as he gaped at me. “—neighborly.”
Walker leaned in to whisper-shout in my ear. “I can think of several reasons!”
Rene extended a hand across the cave, ignoring Walker. “You will trust me to escort you to dinner?”
I stared at his extended hand, at the thin, nearly translucent webbing between his fingers, and swallowed.
Walker shook the harness with a hard
clank
and held it out for me to step in. “We can escort ourselves, thank you.”
I tried locking eyes with Walker, but he was glaring at Bex. I touched his hand holding the harness. He glanced at me, but his expression didn’t soften.
I sighed. “Listen, Walker, I can’t rappel down. It’s impossible.”
“Yes, you can. You just—”
“You’re not listening. I physically cannot do what you’re asking of me.” I sandwiched one of his hands between both of mine. “I know my strengths and my limits. How many times have I ever told you I wasn’t capable of doing something?”
Walker opened his mouth and hesitated.
“How many times have you told me that I should rest, that I was pushing myself too hard, that I needed to recognize when to back down, so I could heal?”
Walker let loose a deep sigh. “Too many times.”
“You know how stubborn I am. You know I would grit my teeth and forge ahead if I could, but I’m telling you now that I can’t. My hip has worsened since we last saw each other, and I cannot rappel down this cave.”
Walker nodded, finally accepting what I was saying as truth. “But it’s the only entrance into the coven.”
“I know.” I turned away from Walker and locked eyes with Rene. “It would be an honor if you could escort me to dinner.”
Rene smiled, his fangs long, sharp, and prominent in his mouth. He extended his hand again, his gaze darting to his outstretched palm and then back at me expectantly.
I breathed in a deep, long-suffering sigh. This was going to be a long night.
I took Rene’s hand, weaving my fingers between his webbed ones.
“No, Cassidy!” Walker shouted. “Don’t—”
Rene yanked me forward, and I fell into the cave.
* * * *
My heart clutched in that sick, suspended panic just before my feet left contact with the ground, and I thought I could still save myself. Walker’s hand was outstretched, and I felt the ghost of his fingertips at my back. I twisted and stretched my hand to his, the insurmountable distance between our fingertips the space between two heartbeats.
And then I was falling.
I was midair, the cave’s mouth suddenly overhead with the black shadows of Walker and Bex looking down at me. I thought I would have screamed. I think most rational people, when faced with their imminent and certain deaths, would scream. The circle and safety of the cave’s mouth was shrinking away from me, the cavern floor with its jagged stalagmites was rushing toward me, and I was going to die in the next breath, but my thoughts weren’t cohesive enough to scream. My thoughts were a snapped wire. Its frayed, mismatched ends couldn’t circuit the reality of smashing one-hundred and twenty miles per hour into the earth, so through the gut-wrenching panic, instead of screaming, I held my breath.
Something cold and strong wrapped around my body. It couldn’t have been death, since I was still falling, but then I saw his face. In a sense, death
was
wrapped around me. Rene slowed my descent, his arms holding me safe and secure against his body, so by the time we hit bottom, we landed as gently as if he had carried me a step between rooms.
He smiled down at me, and I could see his valiant efforts at trying not to laugh. I gasped for air, starved for oxygen and stability. Somewhere inside myself I was angry with him, but for the life of me I couldn’t feel anything but the excruciating need to breathe.
Rene lost his own personal battle and laughed. “You should have seen your face. Priceless.”
I pinned him with my best glare. “People can die from shock, you know.”
“Some people might, but not you.”
I laughed, incredulous. “Believe me, I can die just as easily as all the rest.”
“Cassidy-dy-dy-dy!” My name echoed in a deep bellow from above.
I looked up. Walker’s shadow hovered over the cave’s mouth.
“I’m OK! Rene caught me!” I yelled back.
“I’m coming down!”
“Be careful!”
The rappelling rope fell from above a second later, and as soon as it hit the ground next to us, Walker was midair, cruising down its line into the cave.
I shook my head. “I guess Bex won’t have the pleasure of escorting Walker to dinner, although I must admit, from experience, my escort leaves something to be desired.”
Rene laughed, but it wasn’t genuine this time. He sounded bitter. “Walker will never allow Bex to escort him to dinner. Having you here as an example of how life could be with a willing night blood, maybe Bex will reconsider her choice.” Rene looked up to watch Walker as he rappelled. He shook his head. “We can only hope.”
Bex growled. It echoed in strange, dissonant vibrations from above as she watched Walker from outside the cave.
“You can hope all you want, but I wouldn’t place any bets.”
Rene laughed, and he sounded like himself again. “I’ve heard quite a lot about you, but rumors failed to mention your delightful personality.”
I frowned. My personality had never been described as delightful. “Heard from who?”
“You know, just here and there.”
No, I didn’t know. I’d only been in contact with Dominic and members of his coven. I hadn’t expected rumors about me to spread to other covens. “All lies, I’m sure.”
“That’s what I had assumed when I heard how you could connect and control our minds, like we do humans, but that was true. What else is true about you, Cassidy DiRocco? I heard you helped the Master of New York City regain control of his coven when he didn’t have the power to stand against them alone, and with you as his added strength, he survived a coup to overthrow his rule. I heard you gave him your blood to help him survive.”