Page 17 of Tempt the Dragon
Chapter Five
“What now?” Options circled in Mel’s mind after they’d left Riya’s house and climbed back into the truck, but this wasn’t her territory and one thing she knew for certain was that dealing with the Royal Blood wasn’t like walking into a room and arresting the biggest baddest dude inside. The Royal Blood could be savvy, alluring, even attractive, but beneath their glamorousexterior they were cold-blooded killers. Infiltrating them wasn’t easy, taking them down during what she could only describe as a feeding frenzy after listening to Aiken and Riya’s recap of what was going on, wasn’t going to be easy. Not by a long shot.
“Stakeout.” He hadn’t spoken much since saying goodbye to Riya and thanking her for her time. But he was planning. Mel knew his contemplativelook well.
“We’re going to stake out the Royal Blood? And what, wait for Duncan to leave, then grab him?” Following that train of thought, she continued without waiting for his reply. “He’s been known to frequent a club called Twilight. One of the others in the house last night said that before Duncan showed up. They speculated about him meeting somebody there but didn’t say who.”
“Thevampires are running that spot. We’re familiar with it. But no, too many variables there with a high human presence. The last thing we want is more human casualties. Theo and Hikeen Montoy, the Royal Blood Chief Lord, have a tenuous rapport, so I’ve sent a message for Theo to get us an official meeting. That way we’ll walk in, ask our questions and get a feel for what’s really going on inside.”
Drumming her fingers over her thighs she considered his words. “You said you already know what’s going on—a world takeover. So, once we get inside, we grab him? Wait, if your team already knows the Royal Blood is on an active recruiting mission and planning some big coup, why is Theo dealing so diplomatically with them?”
“Long story short, Shola was engaged to a vamp. The Legion was hiredto protect her until her wedding. For Shola, the wedding was a sham and her real goal was to kill the vamp because he wanted to raise a vampire army. Sound familiar?” He barely glanced over at her before continuing. “Theo selected Shola, vamp dies, love conquers all, and, at the same time they start a war between the Drakon and the Royal Blood. But neither Theo nor Hikeen are willing to stand inthe streets of Burgess to battle it out. Hikeen has no qualms about killing humans or turning them into vampires, but he likes doing it discreetly. Adds an air of mystery to the otherwise cuckoo bastard. I don’t know. But, Theo’s less inclined to sacrifice more humans than have already been lost, so he’ll walk a fine line with Hikeen until he has no other option.”
“And asking permission towalk up in Hikeen’s house and demand Duncan be turned over is walking that line?” She wasn’t convinced it would work, but it was bold as hell to roll up into your enemy’s house and taunt the bastard, so she was down for that.
“For the time being it is. Theo’s been to Montoy’s house before, so Bleu has a layout of the place. But I like to do my own recognizance and that’s why we’re going theretonight.”
She remembered that about him. Whenever they were assigned a target, she was in charge of the preliminary investigating, but once they had a lock on where the target was located, Aiken was the one who mapped out exactly how they would obtain the target. Back then he was better with the tactical rollout of their plan and she’d been fine admitting that. It was one of the reasons they’dworked so well together, something she definitely shouldn’t be thinking about now. But a lot had changed in eighty years. She wasn’t the same type of Collector as she’d been back then, which was why she’d been mildly irritated back at Riya’s when he’d effortlessly taken control of the questioning. Her tactical skills had sharpened since she’d declined taking another partner after Aiken’s departure.The use of her chameleon cloak had been refined until slipping in and out was seamless, and strategizing that power was more integral to her overall plans. Besides, this wasn’t a reunion, it was a onetime situation that she hoped was resolved soon.
“Sitting here watching the house will also give me time to think about something else that Riya told us.”
“What’s that?” She’d already replayedthe full conversation in her mind at least twice, trying to see if there was something she could pull from it to get an edge on how they could get to Duncan faster.
“Only Lords can shift into bat form. And Lords are born vampires, not changed ones.”
She knew that. Learning the intricacies and legends of each species had become necessity after she’d become a hunter. Ironic that her secondbiggest gripe with her birth parents had turned into a prerequisite for her career.
“Right, so how’s he shifting?” Her mind was already processing possible answers. She didn’t need Aiken to give her the answer. It would actually be great if she could come up with the answer before him.
“Exactly. Because if we’re dealing with some other type of vamp this might get a little trickier thanwe first thought.”
Twenty-five minutes later she’d removed her seat belt but was still sitting in the passenger seat of the truck, with no logical explanation for how Duncan was shifting after receiving the bite. Aiken was just an arm’s length away and thoughts about how they’d worked so closely together long ago had taken over her mind. There’d been this energy between them, always buzzingjust beneath the surface from the moment they accepted a new target. Their process had been developed early on, with Aiken taking lead—as was proper since he’d been her trainer first—and she following with her specialized skill set. The fact that they were in love and knew each other’s minds and bodies as well as their own only added to their finesse. When things during a capture went awry, whichthey did from time to time, anticipating the way the other person would improvise was invaluable. And watching Aiken in battle had always been arousing.
Now, she felt a bit off-kilter. They hadn’t been partners for a long time, so were they still going to work easily together? If the fight last night at the townhouse or the conversation with Riya were any indication, the answer was probablyyes. The knowledge they’d had of each other was obviously still there and it was now combined with the experience they’d both garnered in the years they’d been away. That was a good thing, right? It could only make them better together...as partners, right?
“We don’t have stakeout snacks,” she said, because thinking about eating was better than wondering about their chemistry as partners,or worse, considering straddling Aiken and taking another one of those delicious kisses he’d given her last night.
“I’m not hungry.” He’d been giving snappy responses since bringing up the question about Duncan’s abilities.
His mood, combined with sitting in a parked truck a block away from the spookiest-looking mansion with soaring turrets and the darkest crimson painted door she’d everseen, was making her cranky. At least, that’s what she wanted to blame her current state of mind on.
The spookiness wasn’t helped by the fact that there were no streetlights for the two blocks leading up to the corner house, leaving the area pitch-black as nine thirty approached. She’d used the binoculars from the glove compartment to see that every window on the house was not only closedbut covered by steel shutters, no doubt to keep out any pinch of sunlight for the undead crew that resided there. There were four luxury cars parked in the driveway. Severely trimmed bushes hugged the front perimeter while taller hedges lined the sidewalk and circled around the back of the entire property.
“You’re not the only one on this stakeout.” She could’ve added “impromptu” but thatdidn’t matter. She’d suggested they stop at a convenience store before settling in for the night, but he’d ignored her request. That was so like Aiken as well. Whenever he was on a hunt, he was one hundred and ten percent focused on their target. Getting him to think about anything else, such as food—not kissing—which was still dominating her thoughts, was like pulling teeth.
“I saw a storea few blocks down. I can walk and be back in fifteen minutes.”
“You’ll freeze.”
Riya had said that the temperature was going to drop tonight. She hated Burgess, or any other area where cold weather ruled in the winter months. Probably why she’d made Florida her home.
“I’m sure you have another jacket in that bag on the backseat.” Because Aiken was always prepared.
“If you’d stopbeing so stubborn you wouldn’t need it.”
The light mood shifted in a direction Mel definitely didn’t like. Why did he always have to do that? No matter where they were or what they were doing, the fact that she was a Drakon who refused to be a Drakon always came between them. It was like an invisible wall that they could sometimes ignore but which stood between them like a fortress. Countingdown from twenty only worked to quell some of her irritation. Enough so she only asked, “Can I wear your jacket or what?”
“No.”
