Chapter 30

Jameson was ready to take Carick on. It was time. Beyond time.

“You’re heartbound,” Carick growled.

“Am I?” Jameson said mildly. News to him. But not a surprise.

Carick tried again. “You’re in love with her.”

He was. “Maybe, but even if I hated her, I wouldn’t let you send her out against five vampires with no backup. She’s our only switch. You’re out of touch, Steward, making bad decisions. You’ve been asleep for too long.”

Carick snarled in his face. “Whose fault is that?”

Jameson didn’t back up. “Not mine. I did everything I could. No one could have done more.” One hundred years of guilt fell away from him like a yoke split in two.

(finally) the Instinct growled, and the inner communication felt sublime, rippling his muscles, preparing him for battle.

Flint clapped him on the back, supporting him. Dario did the same thing from the other side.

Ryder and Shiloh came running from the way of the business. The skidded to a stop on the hill to take in the scene, then quickly made their way down to join in.

Riot emerged from the woods, to stand on the side of Jameson that Flint was not on. He crossed his arms and glared at Carick.

“Insubordination,” Carick said roughly, marking them all.

Jameson nodded. That’s exactly what it was, but the line of shifters beside him said it was righteous. “We’re going to Mr. Bunn’s,” he said, gesturing to himself and the line of shifters backing him up. “You can come, but you’re not in charge.”

Carick only stared, his face giving away nothing.

Jameson went on. “If I am no longer Keeper, so be it. But if you try to keep me from her, or from the cause, we will come to blows, Steward.”

“You’ll lose,” Carick said quietly. No bluffing.

Jameson nodded. “I know.” It didn’t matter.

Carick seemed to deflate, but only for a moment. He nodded his head sharply. Assent. Now they had to move.

Jameson turned to Flint. “Flint, I need you with Cora. You and Bryce have to take her somewhere.”

“Where?”

“I don’t care. Anywhere that she won’t get news of this and try to come help.”

Flint’s eyes hardened. Jameson knew what the bear was giving up if he agreed to go to where the vampires weren’t. Jameson put a hand on Flint’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Flint, but Cora knows Bryce best. Trusts him. I need you with them because I trust you.”

Carick caught his eye, his voice soft for once. “You sure you want to leave your switch in the care of others, Keeper?”

So he still had the job.

Carick looked at Flint when he spoke, but he was addressing Jameson. “Perhaps you should be the one to go with her, not the bears.”

Jameson knew he couldn’t. He motioned at Flint. “Go.” Flint nodded tightly and took off at a run for the building.

“So be it,” Carick said.

***

They arrived to Mr. Bunn’s small house within thirty minutes, not surprised when no vampires graced the porch. Aven, Dario, Carick, Jameson, Ryder, and Shiloh were in the cab of Jameson’s work truck. Riot rumbled up on his motorcycle just behind them.

Dario had told them the vampires had gone and Mr. Bunn had ended the video abruptly, not posting it to his page so they couldn’t watch it again. “Tall,” Dario said. “They were tall and dark with long hair. Metrosexual-looking. But in a menacing way.”

“Explain,” Carick had barked.

“Manicured,” Shiloh had said. “Guys who care what they look like, are fit, but maybe slim, and dress up even if they are going to a ballgame.”

Carick had nodded easily. “Vampires. Yes. That describes them. Could your time have a name for them and not know it?”

Shiloh glanced at her brother, then the Steward. “Uh, I hope not, or we’ve got some big cities in the Pacific Northwest that are basically eighty percent vampire.”

Jameson parked at the curb behind some evergreens in Mr. Bunn’s yard. “Everyone stay here.” He nodded at Carick and Dario and Shiloh. “Except you three.” Carick because he wouldn’t stay in the truck, Dario because he was a cop, and Shiloh because she was a woman, and maybe that would keep Mr. Bunn calm, or get him to open up quicker. He motioned to Aven and Ryder. “Keep an eye out and yell for me at the first scent of vampires. Fill Riot in.”

They strode up the driveway and knocked on Mr. Bunn’s door. The drapes twitched. The door opened a moment later.

Mr Bunn’s face was white, his body twitching in fear. He grabbed Carick by the shirt, only coming up to his chest. “I know you. You’ve been to the meetings. You are against them.”

Carick nodded, his face kinder than Jameson had ever seen it. A soft spot for humans? “I am against them. I believe in the cause.”

Bunn swallowed hard. “They left when I called the cops. But they might come back.” He ran a hand through his white hair, making it stick straight up, and paced out onto the porch, leaving his door wide open. “They came to my house. My house! Tried to get me to let them in, told me they just wanted to talk.”

Carick and Jameson met eyes over Mr. Bunn’s head. Talking meant charming. But if Mr. Bunn hadn’t let them in, he was somehow immune.

Carick patted him on the shoulders. “Consider us your own personal bodyguards. They show up again, you call us. We’ll have a little talk with them. He reached a hand in his pocket and drew out a card, making to hand it to Mr. Bunn. Jameson’s eyes narrowed. How in the actual fuck had Carick gotten business cards made? He’d only been out of the cave for ten days. How did he even know what a business card was?

Jameson snatched it from Carick’s hand and groaned out loud at what it said.

Manager: SVET

Special Vampire Eradication Team

Then his cell phone number and an email address. [email protected] Jesus.

He handed it to Shiloh and whispered, “Scratch that out and put something acceptable on it.”

When she put it back in his hand it read

Manager: Five Hills Sleep Study Clinic

Shit. But Carick was watching them. Mr. Bunn, too. He handed the card over to the human. “You call that number, any time, day or night, Mr. Bunn. We’ll be here.”

Mr. Bunn nodded gratefully. Jameson addressed Carick. “You and he should talk. We’ll have a look around.”

Carick nodded and Jameson gestured to Shiloh and Dario, sending them both around opposite sides of the house to check the yard in back.

He stared out at the dark neighborhood as he walked down the driveway. The vampires could be anywhere.

(cora) the Instinct whispered. (go to her. or lose her)

Jameson half-shivered, the shiver stopping as he realized he was denying the Instinct. Shutting it down before it had a chance to speak. Denying it. (as you have for years)

He stopped and stared at the ground, all of his attention focused inside his body. Was that really true? (true)

Jameson’s muscles rippled helplessly, the feel-good strength of surrendering fully to what came from inside filling him for the first time that he could remember. He let it come, wanting to howl to the sky with joy that it was back.

His folly, his mistake, all of it slammed him right in the face. He’d been wrong to ever deny Cora anything she wanted, especially him. He’d been more wrong for protecting her. For not taking her to the vampire. He could be scared for her and still do right by her.

He whipped out his phone and texted her quickly.

I was wrong. So wrong. Next time, I will take you to the vampire. And the time after that, and that. I WILL be there for your first prowl. I’ll be there for all of them, if you’ll have me. I’m yours, Cora.

He hit send just as a message popped up on the screen. Aven.

Limos. Three of them. Stink of pine and bitter herbs.

The vampires had returned.