Wicked Bite (Night Rebel #2)(43)

I’d ripped my heart apart these past several weeks for nothing, hadn’t I? For nothing! If it wouldn’t look severely psychotic, I’d start punching myself in the face.

Footsteps jerked my attention to the far corner in the room. Our three guards reappeared when one of the book shelves suddenly slanted open, revealing a door. A hidden passageway: how very old-school. A new, bald vampire of medium height also came from the secret bookshelf entrance. He had sand-colored skin, a Roman nose, pleasant features, and a swimmer’s build. Ian leapt to his feet when he saw him. I followed suit, smiling to indicate friendly intentions, because I recognized him from Ashael’s blood-soaked conference call yesterday.

“Yonah,” I said. “Pleased to finally meet you.”

Ian’s hands flashed with rapid movements. For a shocked moment, I thought he was conjuring a spell. Then a smile wreathed Yonah’s face and his hands moved with similar speed.

Sign language. Not ASL or any of the other sign languages I was versed in. I didn’t know this one. No surprise, Ian did.

“Imperative that this remains between us,” Ian finished out loud while still signing. The verbal part must have been for my benefit, then.

Yonah’s gaze raked me, lingering over my hair. Recognition sparked in his eyes before he hooded his expression. Still, it was enough. He’d either seen my father in his true form, or someone had told him about me. Which was better? I had no idea.

“You’ve clearly encountered difficulties in your travels,” Yonah noted, also out loud this time.

Right, Ian’s clothes and hair were still a bloody mess. At least that made it harder to see the horn between his ripped shirt and the drying brownish blood staining Ian’s pale skin.

“We also had a disagreement with our escort and parted ways with Ashael shortly after arriving,” I said, still smiling as if nothing of importance had occurred. “But we’re glad to be here.”

“I am pleased to have you,” Yonah replied, which made the three guards who’d been lurking by the room’s exits relax. Guess that was Yonah’s way of telling them to stand down. “You’ll want to refresh yourselves before our festivities this evening, so I’ll have Katsana show you to your rooms. Our ball in honor of our island’s new member begins at dusk.”

Ian signed what I hoped was a polite decline. Now that we were finally face-to-face with Yonah, I wanted to see if he could isolate Dagon’s power so we could formulate a tracking spell. Not attend a ball—

“Truly?” Yonah interrupted out loud.

More signing from Ian. Yonah’s expression creased into a frown as he signed back. Then, he shrugged, a gesture that required no interpretation.

“See you at dusk, then,” Yonah said, giving me a little nod.

I nodded back. Katsana, the brown-haired Russian vampire, hooked her thumb in the universal gesture for “follow me.”

We did. Katsana led us to a staircase at the back of the manor. Instead of going up, we went down. Once below, the unusual decorations vanished, replaced with maintenance corridors, utility rooms and other things you’d expect in the basement of a large manor/small hotel. We continued until even those vestiges of comfort disappeared, leaving nothing except a dark hallway that was starting to smell of mold and the sea. Silver pressed close enough for me to feel his feathers against my legs. He didn’t like this new setting any more than I did.

Where was a great place to murder unwanted guests? Beneath the manor where no one would see and where body disposal was very convenient, considering the large furnace we just passed.

If I was reluctant, Ian’s strides were long and swift, until Katsana had to quicken her pace to a near trot to keep Ian from barreling into her. I gave a mental shrug. I’d trust Ian in this, too, then. Besides, only one vampire against me and Ian? That was no threat, Katsana’s formidable aura or no.

“Here you are,” Katsana said, stopping at a metal door.

Ian pushed it open, revealing a small, poorly lit room with a concrete floor, an empty desk, a half-made bed and a shower that would incite panic attacks in anyone with claustrophobia.

“This will do,” Ian said, stunning me. This wasn’t close to his usual high standards. It looked like the place where maintenance workers caught a nap while on break.

“Take our pet to the kitchens; he’ll be hungry,” Ian continued. “He’s on a special diet, so vegetables only.”

I stepped between Katsana and Silver when she bent to pick him up. “He stays here.” No way was I letting some unknown vampire take Silver when the vampire version of a narcotic ran through his veins.

Ian grunted. “This is the last place someone would harm him, but very well. Bring him a plate of vegetables here, then.”

Katsana’s nose wrinkled. “I’ll send someone else to do it.”

“Good enough.” I was stunned when Ian all but pushed me into the room, saying “Stay” to Silver before shutting the door with him still in the hallway.

“What the hell?” I demanded.

Ian turned, a wild kind of darkness glittering in his eyes. “Hell is what you’ve put me through, but it stops now.”





Chapter 24


I made no effort to hide my confusion. “What happened to make you angry at me all of a sudden?”