Page 111

Dominique grabbed him by the shoulders. “Tonight, I cannot protect you. Stay here with Garrett and be ready to leave quickly.”

“I want Esteban,” Jackson ground out. There. He’d said it. Admitted it to himself at last. This was as close as he would ever get to his brother’s killer, and he was not about to let this chance at retribution slip past.

Dominique searched his face. “I know,chèr. I know. But not tonight. Tonight you would not survive.” His lips twitched. “I would miss you.”

Before Jackson could respond, Dominique had exited the RV.

The humans in the neighboring camp had all stopped to gawk at the vampires. When the woman who had first invited them spotted Dominique, she called, “How was that burger, Nick?”

Every other vampire eye swerved to Dominique, who smiled graciously and placed a splayed hand on his chest. “The best I shall ever have,madame.Merci de tout cœur.”

She pushed a cloud of frizzy hair behind an ear and blushed. “Well, there’s more if you and your friends—” Her brow folded into a frown. Around her, the others resumed eating, talking, playing games. The speaker throbbed back to life. Looking at Jackson and Garrett, she said, “Would you like another burger?”

Garrett waved his good arm. “Thanks, but no.”

Jackson looked between the humans and Dominique whose amiable air had evaporated into something far darker. They couldn’t see him anymore, or any of the vampires.How the fuck are you doing this after being awake today?

Dominique glanced at him but made no reply. An instant later he had blurred away, the others zipping after him.

“Son of a bitch.” Jackson shook his head.

“So he’s at full power tonight,” Garrett said. “We may have a chance of getting out of this yet.”

Their neighbors paid no attention to them anymore. They had already forgotten Dominique and the inhuman spectacle of a grieving vampire. Over twenty humans. Not just random passersby, but fully aware of—and intently focused on—him. Compelled without a word in a matter of seconds. Jackson had never seen Dominique do anything on this scale, even at his best. “Full power,” he repeated. “And then some.”

49

Wait

Theydidnotapproachthe cavern as Dominique and Jackson had before, by the route amenable to humans. They came through the woods from the campground, along the stream, and then down a jagged cliff face beside a roaring waterfall. The holds were so small and random and slippery, nothing but a supernatural entity would consider descending that way at night with neither light nor climbing gear. This was the path the colony used to reach the campground and its easy fresh blood.

It was not a path Dominique would have dared travel if he were not in full possession of his faculties. Or perhaps not even then. Not before now.

Unlike his previous attempts at day-walking, this day had not exhausted him. Far from it. The battle was done, his triumph over his fractured mind complete, and the two sides of him had more than made their peace—they had meshed into a surprising synergy. More power coursed through him than he could ever have imagined possible.

When the day had drained from the sky, darkness crept over the forest and back into his soul. He no longer dreaded the hunger for blood and the lust for life sharpening his senses. Instead, he welcomed them, even as he vomited his hamburger dinner into the creek, and the dark forces that defined him ignited into an inferno. Only the night before, this level of power rushing through him would have terrified him, made him believe he would burn up or explode or lose his mind. No more. This is what he truly was. Master of the dark.

Lord of Night.

As the one most familiar with the cliff path, Isao took the lead. Dominique shadowed him, copying his movements. Douglas came behind him, followed by Lyle, Kostya, and Makoto. Massive sheets of water swept past them within an arm’s length.

“Don’t you dare fall on me,” Lyle hissed when Kostya’s bulk crested the edge above him.

“Shut up and pay attention,” the big blood-drinker grumbled.

But it wasn’t Kostya who lost his grip in the slick mists. A tumbling rock hit Dominique in the shoulder an instant before Douglas flailed into space on his way to the boulders fifty feet below.

Dominique reached out his hand, grabbing for the man’s arm, but only caught a fistful of leather trench coat. It was enough. His own tentative hold slid under the jerk of extra weight, and he found himself grateful that it wasn’t Kostya he had to catch. For a moment, the former detective dangled like a half-drowned cat in his coat, staring up at Dominique with a look of mute surprise. Far below, the rock hit the boulders, its clattering not quite masked by the pounding water. He sent a wave of calm at Douglas and waited for him to find a grip on the wall again before releasing his hold.

Isao’s silent gratitude washed over Dominique. Even for an immortal, an uncontrolled drop to the rocks from this height could have been fatal.

Unfortunately, the rock that had fallen could be fatal for them all. Whatever element of surprise they had left after their delay at the campground approached non-existent.

Or perhaps it never existed at all.

Esteban waited for them.

Edged in the soft silver of a half-moon and with his arms crossed, he leaned on a small boulder at the cave’s entrance and looked almost bored when Dominique’s group materialized out of the woods. Esteban’s black slacks and shirt were pressed and spotless, and the fine leather loafers on his feet were placed with care on a clean rock. There was not a weapon in sight.