Warrior Read online

  “She’s good, isn’t she?” Chris inclined his head toward the small group of trainees practicing their swordplay. Most of them were skilled with the weapon, but the blonde moved with a lethal grace that I’d seen only in more experienced warriors. Next to her, the other trainees looked like children with toy swords.

  I watched the girl’s opponent lunge at her. At the last second, she parried and slipped her blade behind his, sending his weapon flying away from him.

  I nodded. “She’ll make a fine warrior.”

  The boy she’d disarmed retrieved his sword and turned to say something to her. He noticed us watching them and flushed. The other trainees stopped their practice and turned to see what their friend was staring at.

  I inclined my head at them in acknowledgement.

  Chris smirked. “Your adoring fans. Maybe you should give them a lesson while we’re here.”

  “I’ll leave that to the real trainers.” I shouldered my bag and resumed my walk to the main building. Some people were cut out for teaching; I was not one of them. I had neither the patience nor the inclination toward that vocation, though I had a ton of admiration for those who did. There were few jobs more important than molding our youth into warriors capable of defending themselves when they went out into the world.

  A grinning red-haired warrior left the building as we neared it. “About time you two showed your mugs around here. How long are you back for this time?”

  “Couple of days,” Chris said. “Thought you and Niall were still in Ireland.”

  “Nah. Got back last week.” Seamus’s eyes gleamed. “Brought back a couple of bottles of good Irish whiskey. Stop by later and we’ll catch up.”

  “Sounds good.” Anything that involved Seamus, his twin, and a bottle of whiskey promised to be entertaining.

  Chris and I entered the building and went directly to the south wing. People greeted us as we passed, but we didn’t stop to talk. I said good-bye to him at his door and stepped into my own apartment, dropping my bag on the floor. After a month away, it was nice to be back in my own place.

  My gaze swept over the living room, taking in the dark colors and the simple yet comfortable décor. Aside from the portrait of my parents, there was no art on the walls. My collection of antique swords hung on one wall, and above the mantle was a pair of Flintlock pistols that had belonged to Alexander II – a gift from my sire who had received them from the emperor. There was a full bookcase and a state of the art audio system, but no television. I preferred it that way.

  Kicking off my boots, I tossed my jacket on the back of the leather couch and headed for the shower to wash off the grime of the road. Ten minutes later, I emerged with a towel around my hips and put on my favorite sixties rock mix.

  I was tempted to drop the towel and crash on the bed for a few hours, but I knew Tristan would be by when he got word we were here. I pulled on a T-shirt and a pair of sweats, grabbed my Slaughterhouse-Five paperback, and stretched out on the couch to read until he dropped in.

  A little over an hour later, a knock came on the door. I called out for him to enter, and Tristan walked in wearing a wide smile.

  “Heard you were back,” he said, sitting in the leather chair across from me.

  I sat up and laid my book on the couch beside me. “You’re getting slow. I expected you half an hour ago.”

  He laughed and settled back in his chair. “Council business. You know how it is.”

  “No, I don’t, and I’m happy that way.”

  Like any government, the Council spent half their time embroiled in debates and wrapped up in meetings. Some days, Tristan spent more time talking to the Council than he did running the affairs at Westhorne. Where he got the patience to handle them day after day was beyond me.

  “Well, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to you that we were discussing your latest job. They aren’t happy you and Chris went into that nest in New Orleans without backup.”

  I had never explained my actions to the Council, and I wasn’t going to start now. But Tristan was my friend, and I respected him too much to not tell him what he wanted to know.

  “I would have invited Denis’s team along, but you know how busy those guys are down there. Chris and I did our due diligence, and we knew exactly what we were facing when we went in. A nest of seven vampires is nothing we haven’t faced before.”

  Tristan nodded. “The Council says you should have followed protocol and called in one of the teams from Houston or Atlanta once you located the nest.”

  “We could have, but we would have been too late to save those two human teenagers. And saving human lives is our first priority, is it not?”

  “It is.” His fingers tapped out a rhythm on the arm of the chair. “I’m required to tell you that you are too valuable to risk your life needlessly. And that you must follow procedure next time you are in a similar situation.”

  “Noted.”

  “Now that we have that out of the way.” He smiled and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “How was New Orleans?”

  “Busy. We helped Denis’s people with a lamprey infestation, and we raided a gulak operation that was breeding bazerats. They could use some more people down there.”

  “I’ll bring it up to the Council.”

  “Good.” I knew Denis would have another team at his disposal by the end of the week.

  Tristan gave me an amused look. “Surely it wasn’t all work and no play. It is New Orleans after all.”

  I shrugged. “We ate, we drank, we listened to some good music. Chris got to know the locals a little better.”

  The two of us laughed because we knew how much his nephew loved getting to know the locals. Chris treated the females well, and he never made any promises he couldn’t keep. He’d left a trail of pining hearts from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

  “I heard Vivian is there for two weeks. Did you see her?”

  “Yes. We spent some time catching up. It was great to see her again.”

  He smiled fondly. There were few who knew Viv and didn’t like her. “Why didn’t you stay on a few more days with her? You didn’t need to rush back here.”

  I raised an eyebrow at him. “Careful. You are dangerously close to sounding like my mother.”

  My mother had two missions in her life: protecting humanity and seeing me happily settled. After almost two hundred years, you’d think she would let the second one go.

  “Irina wants her son to be happy. It’s what every parent wishes for their child.” Sadness flickered in Tristan’s eyes, and I knew he was thinking about Madeline. Over fifty years had passed since she’d left, but she was never far from her father’s thoughts.

  “I am happy,” I grumbled.

  He chuckled and looked around. “How long are you planning to stay this time?”

  “Three or four days and then Chris wants to visit Longstone. From there, who knows?”

  “Sometimes I envy you, my friend.”

  “I keep telling you to come with us. Claire is more than capable of managing Westhorne in your absence.” And the Council would learn to deal with it. They deferred too much to Tristan as it was. The Seven ruled together, but at times they treated him like their unofficial leader.

  “One of these days I’ll take you up on that.” He ran his hand through his blond hair. “How would you feel about postponing your trip to Oregon? We’ve received word of a possible vampire problem in Maine, and I was hoping you would look into it.”

  “Maine? That’s werewolf territory. Vampires usually avoid that place like the plague.”

  “True, but there have been a number of disappearances in Portland in recent weeks. Four human girls have gone missing with no trace, all close to the same age. The authorities there have no evidence or leads. I might have dismissed it if we hadn’t also gotten word of several dead bodies with animal attack listed as the cause of death.”

  “Do we have anyone in Portland now?” We didn’t keep a permanent Mohiri presence in Ma
ine because it was usually very quiet there.

  “Erik’s team is in Boston and they’ve been monitoring the situation, but they haven’t found anything. We considered the possibility that the deaths could have been caused by a rogue wolf, but the werewolves would have dealt with it by now.”

  I rubbed my jaw. “Erik’s good. If he can’t find any leads, what makes you think I can?”

  Tristan smiled. “Because you are the best at finding things when no one else can.”

  “Now you’re just trying to butter me up.”

  “Is it working?”

  “Maybe.” He had piqued my curiosity, and he knew it. Mysterious disappearances in a quiet place like Portland, that was the kind of job I couldn’t resist. “I’m sure Chris won’t mind waiting a week or so to visit Longstone.”

  “Good.” He clasped his hands together. “Perhaps you should take a team with you, just in case.”

  I laughed at his not-so-subtle attempt to get me to comply with the Council’s wishes. “I don’t think that’ll be necessary. I’m sure this is nothing Chris and I haven’t handled before.”

  “Famous last words, my friend.”

  The corner of my mouth lifted. “You’ll see. We’ll be in and out of Maine in no time.”

  Chapter 2

  “Looks quiet here, Nikolas.”

  I glanced at Chris and went back to studying the occupants of the club. He was right. This crowd was mostly college students who were more interested in dancing and hooking up than doing something nefarious. But Intel had identified this club as a place of interest because it was close to where the teenage girl had disappeared last Saturday. And our guys were rarely wrong.

  “Let’s give it another ten minutes, and then we’ll head out.”

  Chris nodded and turned away to do another slow circuit of the room. “I’ll meet you back here in ten.”

  I leaned against the wall, ignoring the restlessness plaguing me since we’d arrived at the club an hour ago. Five days in Portland without a lead on the vampires who’d taken those four girls. The vampires were still in the city; of that I was certain. There’d been several other deaths since we’d arrived in town, vagrants who did not make the five o’clock news. These vampires were good at staying out of sight even as they made their presence known. What I wanted to know was what had brought them to Portland, and why were they still here?

  My thoughts were interrupted by an attractive blonde who approached me wearing an inviting smile.

  “Hi. Want to dance?”

  I stared at the girl, not because of her question, but because my demon suddenly stirred as it detected the presence of another Mori. Chris was too far away for it to be him, so that left the blonde girl. But she was young, and there was no way a Mohiri teenager would be out alone in a club. Plus, we had no strongholds in Maine.

  The sensation began to fade, and my eyes were drawn instead to a dark-haired girl passing behind the blonde. I could only see the other girl’s back before she entered the ladies’ restroom, but she looked young. I watched the door, waiting for her to reappear.

  The blonde girl made a sound, reminding me of her invitation to dance. I declined and went back to watching the restroom, not wanting to miss the dark-haired girl when she came out. As far as I knew, there were no female warriors working in Portland at the moment. So why would one of them be here, partying with human college students? And why was she here without her team, especially with all the vampire activity in the area?

  A few minutes later, I frowned when the restroom door opened and the girl came out. She was younger than I’d expected, and pretty. She wore little makeup, and there was something about her expression, a wary innocence that made her look out of place here. She was too young to be a warrior and too old to be an orphan. Obviously human.

  Behind the girl, two blondes left the restroom arguing loudly. The brunette shook her head and gave an eye roll that made the corner of my mouth twitch. I was curious about her even though she was not Mohiri as I’d suspected, and I watched her stop to let the other women pass her.

  One of the blondes screamed an obscenity and gave her companion a shove just as they moved past the girl. Her friend stumbled backward, flailing her arms and colliding with the dark-haired girl. I took a step away from the wall as the two of them fell. The girl hit the floor hard, and I heard her grunt in pain as the heavier blonde landed on top of her.

  I started toward them as a man grabbed the blonde’s arms and lifted her off the girl.

  “Is she all right?” someone asked when I reached the girl and looked down at her dazed expression.

  I bent and waved a hand in front of her face. “Are you okay?”

  She blinked and tried to sit up. “Um, I think so,” she replied in a low, husky voice that made my breath catch.

  I reached for her hand to help her up, and as soon as our fingers touched, a warm tingle shot through mine. My Mori quivered with recognition and…excitement? There was no doubt in my mind that the girl was Mohiri. But how was that possible? How was I able to sense her one minute and not in the next? And how could I have gotten this close to her and not sensed anything until we touched? Most importantly, what was she doing here instead of living in a stronghold?

  The girl dropped my hand and looked up at me, her cheeks pink and her full lips parted in a timid smile. Her eyes met mine, and I sucked in a sharp breath as I stared into beautiful green eyes framed by long dark lashes. If the eyes truly are the windows to the soul then I knew I was looking at one of the purest souls I had ever seen. I was only dimly aware of my Mori pressing forward and the strange fluttering sensation coming from the demon. All I could focus on was the feeling that I’d somehow met this girl before, even though I knew it was impossible. I never would have forgotten those eyes or that face.

  Realizing we were only inches apart, I took a step back. She looked away, and I felt strangely bereft and more than a little confused by my reaction to her. I’d seen thousands of beautiful women in my life, and not one of them had drawn me in the way this slip of a girl did.

  Her eyes lifted to mine again, and she smiled. “Sorry, I must have banged my head harder than I thought.”

  The wave of emotions that slammed into me nearly drove me to my knees. Something base and primal welled up inside my chest, and I was gripped by an almost uncontrollable need to touch the girl.

  What the hell? I clenched my teeth as I fought the insane urge as well as my agitated Mori. I hadn’t lost control of my demon since I was a child, and it shocked me to my core that I was fighting it now.

  It took me several seconds to realize the girl had left, and I looked around in time to see her disappearing into the crowd.

  Who is she? Mohiri, obviously, but what was she doing here alone? She was at least seventeen or eighteen – too old to be an orphan. More importantly, why were my Mori and I so damn affected by her?

  Something caught the light at my feet, and I bent to pick it up. As soon as I touched the warm silver cross, I knew it was hers. The cross was old, and something told me she would be upset if she lost it.

  It wasn’t hard to guess where she’d gone, and when I stepped out onto the deck, I found her alone at the rail, staring out into the night. She rubbed her temple, and I wondered if she had hurt herself when she fell.

  The sight of her brought on another disturbing jumble of emotions – want, protectiveness, desire, fear – and I started to turn around and go back inside. I couldn’t deal with this now – whatever this was. I’d find Chris, have him talk to her and find out her story.

  A soft sigh drew my attention back to the girl, and my gut clenched at how small and vulnerable she looked out here alone. Something about her tugged at me in a way I could not comprehend, and I found myself walking toward her.

  “I believe this is yours.”

  She gasped and spun, staring at the broken necklace hanging from my fingers. Her hand went to her neck, and then she reached for the necklace cautiously as if she half expect
ed me to grab her.

  “Thank you,” she said softly as she tucked it away in her pocket.

  I studied her face, confused by what I was sensing and feeling. She was definitely Mohiri, of that I had no doubt, but her Mori was so quiet it seemed to be asleep. When two Mohiri get within a few feet of each other, our demons sense each other. My Mori was desperately trying to reach out to the girl’s Mori, but it wasn’t getting a response. I was mystified by my demon’s strong need to connect with this particular Mori, and by my own attraction to the girl.

  “Are you done?”

  Her blunt question shook me from my musings, and I stared at her in surprise. Tonight I had been approached and flirted with by more women than I could count, but this girl plainly wanted nothing to do with me. For some reason that thought did not sit well with me.

  “You’re a bit young for this place,” I said sorely.

  Her chin lifted. “I’m sorry but I don’t think that is any of your business.”

  “You can’t be more than seventeen or eighteen,” I countered, intrigued by the emerald fire in her eyes. “You shouldn’t be here alone.”

  “You’re not much older than me. And I’m not here alone.”

  “I’m older than I look,” I replied, unsure if I was annoyed with her or myself for feeling this unreasonable swell of jealousy at her words. I didn’t know a thing about this girl; why should I care if she was here with another male?

  I ran my hand through my hair and gave a silent groan of frustration. What the hell is wrong with me tonight?

  “Nikolas,” called Chris, and I turned to see him in the doorway wearing an amused expression. “Ready to move out?”

  “No,” I almost said, because I was suddenly reluctant to leave this mysterious girl who drew me like a moth to a flame. I didn’t even know her name, for Christ’s sake.

  But I would. She was a young Mohiri out in a part of the city where vampires prowled. It was my duty to protect her and to discover who she was and what had brought her here. The glint in her eyes told me she was not going to be forthcoming with me if I asked her straight out. There was a wariness about her that said she did not trust easily.