Despite my worries, this was the best shot I had at bringing down the Sunstriker pack. I reached across the table to take his cool, dry hand and shake on it. A compact with the devil wasn’t new to me, but I had the feeling I wouldn’t live long enough to pay Jack and his White Hat buddies their favor back. If I did, I’d just have to bite the bullet and pay the price, because there was no way I could get my revenge working alone.
“Yes. We have a deal.”
Chapter 4
Jack and Nikki had work to do, but there were some cots set up in the basement. They offered to let me catch up on sleep for a few hours until it was time for them to go back to their headquarters. I gratefully accepted.
After taking an age to get back on my feet and an exceedingly painful millennia to limp down the stairs, I collapsed into one of the cots in the storage area and slept for a while.
Nikki woke me with a rough shake some time later. All that kept me from punching her was the protesting ache in my muscles. Even so, I felt better, not quite so sore, and followed the two hunters to a black SUV parked a couple blocks away from the shop. The sun was still out, but the end of the workday was approaching and the streets were quickly becoming packed with traffic. I dozed again on the ride, the sounds of a low, droning announcer on the radio lulling me into a groggy stupor.
By the time we reached Jack’s hideout, a spacious house in the exclusive community that made up City Island, I was too hungry to sleep and desperately hoping they would let me raid the fridge once we got inside.
“I need to make some calls,” Jack said as he pulled into the garage next to another car, a beaten up Jeep that looked out of place next to the sleek lines of the Suburban. “Nikki will show you to a room and find you some clothes. After you shower, you remember where the kitchen is? Come down and we’ll discuss who it is you’re looking for over dinner.”
I followed Nikki up the stairs (God, not more of those!) to a guest room that was warm, furnished, and showed signs of prior habitation. Somebody had left a stack of magazines touting the joys of hunting, big guns, and barely clothed biker babes on an end table next to a window with a fabulous view of the bay.
“Sorry,” Nikki said, not sounding sorry at all. “Bo must have left these up here. Make yourself at home. I’ll see if I have anything in my closet that would fit you, but there should be some men’s sweats in the drawers that you can wear until we can get you some of your own clothes. Towels are in the cabinet across from the sink. See you in a few.”
She shut the door behind her without bothering to wait for me to respond. From the looks of things, the upcoming month spent in close quarters with Nikki was going to be full of sunshine and rainbows.
With a great deal of groaning and pain, I shed my jacket, my weapons, and the body armor that clung in a way reminiscent of leather to bare skin. Once I managed the contortionist acts necessary to get the clingy material off, I gingerly settled the pile of dirty clothing on the dresser and tucked the weapons, extra ammo, and Amber Kiss perfume into an empty dresser drawer.
The shower was one of the most heavenly experiences of my life. The pipes rattled a bit, and the water took an age to get hot, but it was a real shower. The warmth of the water sucked the aches right out of my muscles, and I used the crappy bar soap to scour the filth that had collected from my hands and face. I didn’t stop scrubbing until the water spiraling down the drain was clear instead of a dingy gray.
By the time I finished, I was feeling relatively human again. With my hair lying in a damp tail down my back and the grossly oversized sweats rolled up over my wrists and ankles, I plodded downstairs to join Jack and Nikki again. The scent of steaks and veggies wafting out of the kitchen made me feel a little less awkward about wandering around a strange house in someone else’s borrowed clothes.
I wasn’t expecting the grumpy siblings to have invited company, and paused with a hand on the door as a few voices drifted out into the hall.
“... and I don’t see how you can assume the leech didn’t plant her. You have an obsession with this woman, an unhealthy one, and I guarantee you she’ll bring trouble to our door just like she did last time.”
I didn’t recognize the voice, which was male and edged with aggression. Another unfamiliar voice chimed in.
“I agree. We cannot trust that she is what she says. Why don’t we kill her now and get it out of the way?”
I backed up a step, pressing a hand to my mouth. Jack spoke up next, and I wasn’t quite certain if I was thankful that it was in my defense.
“We don’t know for sure that she’s been infected, and we have literally dozens of better uses we can put her to while she’s still alive. I never said we should trust her, only that we should go along with her little scheme for now, because it might present a better opportunity for us later.”
A yelp was forced out of me as someone shoved me through the swinging door, sending me stumbling into the room to meet the startled, distrustful eyes of half a dozen hunters. Nikki strolled in behind me, dusting her hands off, and I shot her a dirty look she soon returned in kind.
Then I had to face the hunters.
“Uh,” I said.
Jack kicked out a chair beside him at the table, his eyes narrowed and jaw clenched. I shuffled over to it with as much dignity as I could muster, mumbling something that I hoped passed for a greeting so I wouldn’t have to meet their probing gazes. Nobody said a thing as I gingerly lowered myself into the chair, or as I cast surreptitious, longing looks at the piles of steaks, veggies, and other trimmings placed around the table. No one had filled their plates yet, so I didn’t dare reach for anything, and I wondered what the heck they were waiting for.
Nikki brought a couple of bottles of red wine to the table, popping the corks and pouring. At this point, I was too hungry to care about the awkward silence; I just wanted the wait to be over so I could dig into those heavenly-looking steaks. Once everyone had a full glass, she took a seat, and then we all started filling our plates.
“Shiarra,” Jack said, startling me so badly I almost dropped the salad bowl on my lap, “I believe you remember Dr. Morrow and Bo, yes? If you haven’t been introduced, I’d like you to meet Jason, Patrick, Adam, and Keith.”
The other hunters gave me sparse nods as Jack said their names. Patrick, Adam, and Jason were watching me with mixtures of speculation and dislike. They looked vaguely familiar, and they all had the bodies of men who pumped iron and probably hid tattoos of things like barbed wire cuffs and flying hearts with “Mom” banners on them under their long-sleeved shirts. Keith, a skinny kid who reminded me of Arnold the mage, gave me a disinterested once-over before digging into his steak.
Dr. Morrow and Bo seemed to be the only people who didn’t loathe me on sight. Dr. Morrow had treated me a few times when I’d been in scrapes before. I hadn’t known until I was suffering from severe blood loss after a vampire bite that he was working for the White Hats.
A group of them, including Bo, had saved me from the clutches of a vampire bent on revenge. Why Max Carlyle had thought Royce cared enough about me to think that I would be useful as bait was still beyond me. Though I was grateful to the White Hats for saving me, I’d never considered becoming a member of their crazy organization. Bo had badly injured his leg in some fight or another (maybe in the process of saving me from Max?), and we’d spent some time together in the infirmary. Judging by the wink he gave me, he didn’t begrudge my walking out on the White Hats to go back to Royce’s side the way Jack and Nikki did.
“Still waiting for that movie night, chica,” Bo said, giving me a flash of white teeth against dark skin. “Got any plans after dinner?”