Part 24 (1/2)
”Can you take me there?” Will asked.
Rhiannon stared at him, her eyes narrow. ' 'Are you volunteering to help me rescue them?”
”Not volunteering. Protecting those girls is what I was hired to do. I've never failed in a mission yet. I intend to see this one through, just like all the others.”
Sarafina faced him, her hands clasping his shoulders. ”Will, these are powerful men. You could be killed.”
”As I said, just like all my other missions. It's part of my job description, Fina. Always was, anyway, until the last one.”
She looked down at his leg, the walking cane he held.
”Don't think this is that big a handicap,” he told her. ”It didn't stop me from getting the best of you, did it?”
She looked away. ”Your talent as a liar far outweighed it.”
She resented his lying to her, his acting job. That was probably a good sign.
”We need to go now,” Rhiannon said. ”Already an entire day has pa.s.sed, and I'm not sure how we'll ever find them if they've moved.”
Sarafina looked at her. ”You'll want a change of clothes. So will I, before we go.”
”We? You think I want help from you after what you've done?”
”No,” Sarafina said. ”You're far too stubborn and arrogant to want my help. But you need it, otherwise you wouldn't have come here. Come upstairs. It will only take a moment.” She turned and limped up the stairs, and Will could almost feel the pain every single step caused her.
Rhiannon moved past Will, holding one arm with the other, as if it hurt to move it. She walked up the stairs behind Sarafina. Halfway up she turned back to Will. ”Keep an eye on my cat, mortal.”
Beside him, something warm and heavy b.u.mped his leg. He looked down fast, startled, only to see the cat rubbing its head affectionately against his thigh. Were those diamonds on that sparkling collar? He closed his eyes, gave his head a quick shake. He'd entered the Twilight Zone, and he didn't think he'd be leaving it anytime soon.
What the h.e.l.l, when in Rome... He patted the cat on its head. It pushed back against his hand, and he could have sworn it purred.
Sarafina jerked a few things out of her closet, tossing them to the bed as Rhiannon walked into the room behind her.
”The bathroom's through there, if you want to wash up. You look as if you spent the day in a mud-hole.”
”A swamp, actually,” Rhiannon said, grabbing one of the dresses from the bed and carrying it with her through to the bathroom.
She didn't close the door. Sarafina heard the water running as she stripped off her torn blouse and pulled on another much like it, then changed the skirt and drew out a few fresh scarves.
Water splashed as Rhiannon quickly washed up. Then she stepped out of the shower, wiping off with a towel and reaching for the clothes. The door was still open, and she wasn't the least bit embarra.s.sed as she pulled the dress over her head.
”So what is between you and the mortal?” she asked as she pulled her long hair free and reached for a brush.
”What do you mean?”
Rhiannon turned, tugging the brush through her hair. ”He's not one of us. And he's not one of The Chosen.”
”Being neither stupid nor blind, I'm aware of that.”
”Then what the h.e.l.l are you doing with him?”
”I don't know...that it's any of your business, Rhiannon.” She'd blurted the answer too quickly, tacked on the last to save face, though she was certain Rhiannon had seen right through it.
”He'll grow old,” Rhiannon said. ”He'll die. You won't.”
”I might. One never knows.” She fastened her skirt, stepped into a pair of flat shoes for easy running.
”If I devour him when we finish with him, it would save you a great deal of trouble,”
Rhiannon said.
Sarafina spun on her. ”If you dare to touch him-”
”I knew it! You're in love with a mortal! By the G.o.ds, woman, do you have any idea the kind of pain you're inviting?”
”I am not in love with anyone,” Sarafina said. She headed for the door.
”h.e.l.l, I may not need to tear you limb from limb when this is over,” Rhiannon muttered, following her. ”He'll hurt you more than I could ever do.”
The arrogant b.i.t.c.h was right about that, Sarafina thought. It was exactly the reason she'd vowed long ago never to love again. But she hadn't broken that vow. On that, at least, the vampiress was wrong. She didn't love Willem Stone.
She didn't.
19.
”I swear, I'm telling you the truth,” Amber Lily Bryant said.
She wasn't whining. Stiles hadn't heard the girl whine yet. She was the kind of person he could have admired, in any other circ.u.mstances. But she was on the wrong side in this. If his experiments were successful, though, he would soon have the most powerful antivampire weapon in any a.r.s.enal known to man.
”How can I believe that you don't know whether you can live eternally or not? Hmm?”
She shrugged. ”I grow older. Vampires don't, not from the moment when they're changed. If I grow older, it stands to reason that I'll eventually die.”
”One thing doesn't necessarily prove the other.”
”Doesn't it?”
He shook his head. ”Do you heal like other vampires? All in one day?”
”I've barely had a scratch in my entire life. Though if you want to know that, you've certainly put enough of them on me to check for yourself.”
He frowned, glancing at the bandages on her arms and chest, where his team had removed tiny skin samples. She followed his gaze, and her eyes clouded with her true feelings. She hated him. He knew that. But she would cooperate now. He had the ultimate tool to force her. He hadn't bothered to move his captives because he saw no need. His troops were prepared, and since there was only one lone vampiress at large in the area, the one who'd managed to escape his trap, he didn't feel too threatened. ”You've never had a scratch, you say. Yet your skin is clearly not impenetrable.”
”No. It's just that my parents are somewhat over-protective.”
”Ahh. So you've never suffered a major injury, or been in an accident where you should have suffered one but didn't?”