Warrior by Karen Lynch
“No problem. It looks like we’re just about ready to head over to the Henderson safe house.”
We went back to the living room. “How is she?” I asked Sara.
“Still asleep.”
Geoffrey studied the sleeping girl. “Do you think she’ll be able to talk to us when she wakes up?”
“I have no idea,” Sara replied softly.
“We’ll have to question her,” he persisted. “There’s no telling what information she can give us about the attack tonight.”
He had a point. I could only imagine what this girl could tell us after being a vampire for decades. That was, if she could talk at all.
Sara pressed her lips together. “I can tell you that your warriors were followed here from a casino two days ago. The vampires had no idea the rest of us would be here when they attacked this place.”
Geoffrey sucked in a sharp breath. “She told you that?”
Sara hesitated before answering. “Yes. That’s all she said.”
“Son of a bitch.” He called to Evan. “Evan, weren’t you guys at the Mirage two days ago?”
Evan frowned. “No, that was Tyler’s team. Why?”
Geoffrey swore loudly, something he rarely did. “Sorry for that,” he said to Sara. “I need to contact Tyler. His team is out on a job right now. Excuse me.”
As soon as he stalked off, Sara said, “I think we should move her somewhere quieter. She’ll be scared if she wakes up and sees all these strange people.”
I nodded. “We’ll take her to the new safe house. You need to rest, too.”
She smothered a yawn. “We all do.”
Thirty minutes later, we piled into the crowded SUVs and made the short drive to the other safe house. The house was slightly larger than the one we’d left, which was good considering how many of us were staying there. Tyler’s team, who lived at the house, offered to give up some of their rooms for Sara, Jordan, and the girl whose name we didn’t know yet.
Chris carried the girl during the ride over, and he laid her on the bed in one of the upstairs bedrooms. Sara refused to leave her, until I sent Jordan to kick her out of the room with orders to get some sleep.
It was after three in the morning when I went upstairs to check on Sara. I found her asleep in the room next to the one the girl was in. When I reached for the comforter to cover her up, she woke and pulled me down to her.
“Stay,” she murmured sleepily.
I kicked off my shoes and lay beside her, pulling the comforter over us. In moments, she was sound asleep again with an arm around my waist and a leg thrown across my thighs.
Smiling, I closed my eyes to get in a few hours of much-needed sleep.
* * *
“How is the girl doing?” Tristan asked.
It was the second time he’d called today. He was genuinely concerned for Emma, Sara’s new charge, but I could tell he was more worried about us staying in Vegas another day, especially after the attack on the first safe house. I didn’t blame him. I felt the same way.
“Better. Sara’s been with her since this morning. Emma’s talking, and she managed to eat something.”
“That’s incredible. When you told me last night what Sara did, I have to admit, I wasn’t sure what to expect in the way of recovery. Nate was a vampire for a week, but the girl had been one for decades.”
“Twenty-one years.”
I leaned against the wall by the living room window and watched Jordan walk down the stairs, carrying empty dinner plates. She’d brought lunch and dinner to Sara and Emma, who had stayed in Emma’s room all day.
At first, I’d stayed in the upstairs hallway, not quite ready to trust Emma. But after a while, it was clear she wasn’t a threat. I stuck around long enough to learn Emma had been changed by Eli and to hear what she’d suffered at his hands. I knew it had to be difficult for Sara to hear those things, but she didn’t leave the room once.
“And she’s only seventeen?” Tristan’s voice was full of concern. “We’ll have to make some arrangements to help her. She can’t go home, and we can’t leave her alone in the world without protection.”
“I think Sara’s going to want to bring her home with us, if Emma agrees to come.”
“Good. I’ll have the room next to Sara’s prepared for her so she’ll be more comfortable.”
I didn’t bother to tell him Sara would be moving into my apartment when we got home. I hadn’t asked her yet, but I could be very persuasive. I smiled to myself. I couldn’t wait to get her home and start convincing her to live with me.
“When do you think you’ll leave Vegas?” Tristan asked, pulling me from my more pleasant train of thought.
“Tomorrow, I hope. Day after at the latest.” I’d leave tonight if I could, but Emma was still too fragile to travel.
“And how is Sara holding up? She’s been through a lot in the last two days.”
I glanced up at the ceiling, wondering what Sara and Emma were talking about now. “She’s doing well with all of it. Meeting Madeline was hard on her, but I think it was good for her too. She’s ready to move on now.”
His sigh was audible. I’d called him last night after we got to the new safe house to fill him in on everything that had happened since we arrived in Las Vegas. He was excited we’d found Madeline, but hearing about her reason for leaving Sara and her life since hadn’t been easy for him. Neither was the fact that Madeline seemed to have no plans to reconnect with her family.
“I’m glad Sara got the closure she needs,” he said quietly. “And it’ll be great to have her and Jordan home again. This place is not the same without them.”
I let out a laugh. “You say that now.”
He chuckled. “They are quite the pair, aren’t they?”
Jordan came out of the kitchen and waved to me before she went to join the warriors sparring in the backyard.
“I’ve been meaning to talk to you about Jordan, actually. She handled herself like a pro last night. Took down two vampires. I think she’s ready.”
“High praise, coming from you.”
Jordan’s laughter floated back to me, and I smiled. “She’s trained with Chris and me for the last two months, and Desmund when he was here. She’s a skilled swordsman, and she keeps her head in a fight. And honestly, I think she’d be bored to death if she had to go back to Westhorne and train for another six months.”
He was quiet for a moment. “I see no reason to hold her back. I’ll inform the Council, and we can have the ceremony when you get home. Do you want to tell her?”
“No, I’ll let you have the honor.”
“And what about Sara? When will she be ready to become a warrior?”
I ran a hand through my hair. “Sooner than I’d like.”
He laughed. “You sound resigned. Has she finally worn you down?”
“More like she proved me wrong. You should have seen her with that vampire, Tristan. She was incredible, even though she scared the hell out of me.”
“I wish I could have seen it.”
“I don’t know how I’m going to get used to the idea of her fighting, but she’s already a warrior in her own right.”
He exhaled slowly. “You’ll never get used to it, but you’ll learn to live with it as every bonded male before you has done. Myself included.”
I nodded unhappily. “Well, I guess it could be worse.”
“How’s that?”
“Can you imagine what the man who bonds with Jordan is in for?”
Tristan let out a bark of laughter. “Well, that’s one way to put it all into perspective.”
Through the window in the back door, I saw Jordan disarm one of the warriors. From the astonished look on his face, he hadn’t meant for it to happen. Boisterous laughter followed as she handed him his sword with a little bow.
Sara was going to miss Jordan at Westhorne. I had no doubt the two would keep in touch, but Jordan wouldn’t be content to stay in one place for long. Sara wanted to see the world, b
“I should go see how Sara’s doing,” I said. “She’s been up there all day.”
“Okay. I’ll see you in a day or two.”
I ended the call and climbed the stairs to the second floor. Down the hallway, I could hear the soft murmur of voices coming from Emma’s room. It was a good sign that Emma was still talking, but Sara had to be tired.
Ten minutes later, Sara left the room and closed the door quietly behind her. She saw me waiting for her and walked straight into my arms, hugging me like she was afraid to let go. When her tears came, I rubbed her back and told her how amazing and strong she was.
When she stopped crying, she let me lead her into her room. I shut the door, and we lay together on the bed, talking in low voices so we didn’t disturb Emma.
“I don’t know what I’m doing,” she said as she toyed with the buttons on my shirt. “Emma’s been through hell. What if I say the wrong thing to her? Maybe we should find someone to help her.”
I stroked her hair. “She trusts you, and she feels safe with you. I don’t think anyone else can do more than that.”
She let out a shuddering breath. “I’m so glad you’re here with me.”
“Wouldn’t be anywhere else.”
We stayed like that for the rest of the night. The next morning, Sara went back to Emma and convinced her to talk to Chris about the vampire activity in Las Vegas. Emma gave him a lot of helpful information, including the location of two nests no one had known about.
Unfortunately, she could tell us nothing about the Master, although she told Sara she was sure she must have met him. Eli had taken her everywhere with him in the first few years she was a vampire. According to Emma, the Master compelled every vampire to forget him when they left his house.
A day later, Sara, Jordan, Chris, Emma, and I finally boarded the jet for the flight to Boise. Emma sat timidly in her seat, but Sara was full of happy energy and couldn’t sit still until the pilot told us to take our seats. She sat beside Emma, and the two of them talked quietly.
I sat two rows ahead of them, reading a Tom Clancy paperback one of the guys at the safe house had given me. The story was engrossing, but not enough to keep my mind off what was going to happen between Sara and me when we got home. I smiled, glad no one could read my mind.
“It can’t be.”
Sara’s shocked voice had me out of my seat and beside her in seconds. “What’s wrong?”
Emma shrank away from me like I’d yelled at her. I realized I was glaring, and I looked at Sara instead.
Sara held up a notepad with a trembling hand. “This,” she said breathlessly. “This is his house.”
“Whose house?”
Her eyes were lit with excitement. “The Master’s.”
“What are you talking about?” I took the notepad and stared at the drawing on the paper. It was a large stone house with turrets and a lot of windows. Sara had drawn it in great detail.
I looked at Sara. “Did she tell you that?”
Sara’s voice shook. “No. I drew it from memory, from a memory I took from the vamhir demon before I killed it.”
“You took the demon’s memory?” asked Jordan, who had crowded in behind me.
Sara and I hadn’t talked about what had happened when she was connected with the vamhir demon. All she’d told us was how the vampires had found the safe house, and that the vamhir demon hadn’t known who the Master was.
Sara stared past me as if she was remembering something. “I asked it about the Master and it showed me this house. I forgot about it with everything else that happened.”
Chris patted my arm, and I handed him the notepad. He stared at it for a long moment. “How do you know this is the Master’s house?”
Sara lifted her shoulders. “I don’t for sure, but something feels off about it. Emma feels it, too.”
“It gives me the creeps, and it seems familiar,” Emma said in a small voice.
“I told you what Emma said about the Master being so paranoid that he compels other vampires to forget him. Eli took her with him when he visited the Master and she was compelled to forget.” Sara’s face was slightly flushed when she looked at me. “But no one can erase your mind that completely, and I think I found a memory he missed.”
Chris let out a breath. “Jesus, if that’s true…”
The conviction in Sara’s eyes was all the proof I needed. We could be holding the first tangible lead to the Master since we’d learned of his existence. It might take a while to track down the house, but Dax could do it.
I looked at Chris. “We need to get this to our guys as soon as possible.”
“Already on it.”
He and Sara took pictures of the drawing with their phones. “I’m sending this to David,” Sara said. “If anyone can find this house, it’s him and Kelvan.”
Somehow, I didn’t doubt that.
The mood for the rest of the flight was one of nervous excitement. More than ever, I wanted to get Sara home. I let out a relieved sigh when we touched down in Boise.
Seamus and Niall were waiting beside a large black SUV when we pulled into the hangar. Seamus smirked at Sara. “Look who finally decided to come home.”
“I heard it was too boring here without me,” she retorted with a grin.
Everyone but Emma laughed as we piled into the vehicle. She was even quieter than normal as she sat in the back between Sara and Jordan. I smiled when I heard the two of them telling her about Westhorne.
Up front, the conversation centered around the work we’d been doing in California, and what had been happening at Westhorne in our absence.
Seamus and Niall told us about all the new security measures Dax had put in place, including new boundary sensors that were a combination of technology and warlock magic. Raj had gotten the idea when he was developing the listening devices, and he’d been working on a prototype with an Indian warlock he knew. The new sensors were designed to detect a vampire if one got within scanning range. They’d been tested in a lab, but so far none of the ones at Westhorne had picked up anything.
“And how do you like having the hellhounds loose on the grounds?” I asked them.
Seamus snickered. “One of the monsters took a liking to Niall. Follows him whenever he’s out of patrol.”
“One of these days, you’ll find my bones picked clean in the woods,” Niall said glumly. “You won’t be laughing then.”
“They probably won’t leave any bones behind,” his brother said not-so-helpfully.
Niall scowled. “You wouldn’t joke if it was –”
“Vampires!” Sara choked out.
I turned around in my seat in time to see a large white cargo van with darkened windows slam into the back of the SUV.
“Son of a bitch!” Seamus shouted as the SUV swerved precariously on an icy patch of road. Everyone was thrown forward, and I automatically reached for Sara to steady her. Emma screamed, and Sara and Jordan covered her with their bodies at the van sped up again.
Seamus hit the gas and we shot forward, but it was too late. The van hit us hard.
“Jesus Christ!” Niall bellowed as the tires lost purchase on the ice and we skidded off the shoulder of the road.
The ten-foot embankment was steep, and we rolled over twice, hitting the trees hard at the bottom.
My only thought was of Sara. Before the vehicle had come to a complete stop, I tore off my seat belt and reached for her. “Sara? Are you hurt?”
She winced but shook her head. “No.”
“Stay with Emma,” I told her as Chris and I went for the weapons stored beneath the seat cushion. Sara couldn’t handle a sword, but she could use her power to hold off a vampire if one tried to get inside the SUV. Emma looked like she was in shock. Sara would keep her safe.
I wanted to hug her, to tell her to be careful, but there was no time. The slamming of car doors above us told me our attackers were coming for us. Sword in hand, I clim
I met the first two vampires on the shoulder of the road, and I tore through one of them before he knew what hit him. Chris was right beside me, and he went after the second vampire as Seamus and Niall held off six more.
As I moved in to help the twins, Jordan sped past me and jumped into the fray. She ducked under Niall’s arm and put her sword through the chest of a female vampire before she could attack the other warrior. Pulling her sword free, she whirled to meet the next vampire.
A tall vampire blurred out of sight and reappeared behind me. I saw him coming and spun away before he could punch through my back. Older vampires had the strength to rip a spinal cord out, but I wasn’t going out that way.
I came around and sliced through his arm at the elbow. He hissed in pain but didn’t retreat like a younger vampire would have. Moving fast, he swiped at my throat with his remaining hand. At the same time, someone grabbed my shoulders from behind.
I went down to one knee and threw my new attacker over my shoulder into the one-armed vampire. He staggered off balance, and before he could right himself, I plunged my blade into his heart.
The vampire I’d thrown hit the ground and rolled to his feet. I started toward him when the screech of tires cut through the sounds of fighting. A second van stopped, and another eight vampires spilled out.
I looked back to the one I’d been fighting. He was gone.
Sara.
Her presence began to fade. I tore down the incline to the SUV to find it empty. Movement nearby led me to Emma, who was hidden behind some bushes.
“Where is Sara?” I demanded.
She pointed into the woods. I looked down and saw the indentation where she’d fallen and the tracks in the snow. God, no.
Chapter 44
I sped through the trees, moving so fast over the ground my feet barely disturbed the snow. It took me a minute to sense her again, and another to catch up to them.
The vampire I’d let escape had Sara pinned on her stomach with her face pressed into the snow. She wasn’t moving.
I plowed into him so hard he flew twenty feet and slammed into a tree. I was on him before he could recover from the blow. My sword went for his chest, but he managed to roll to one side. He screeched when the blade slid through his ribs. I withdrew quickly and struck again. This time my blade found its mark, and he collapsed into the snow.