“Berserkers. You’re sure?”
Rin sat up straight in his chair and the air around him sparked with magic. Saeed tried his best to keep a grip on reality and stay grounded in the present but the Collective called. And after his disheartening conversation with Cerys, he wanted nothing more than to leave reality behind.
“Well, I’m not sure,” Cerys replied. She took a seat next to Rin, and Saeed clamped his jaw down as he was forced to stand and watch her lean intimately toward him. “Kyle was sure though, and Saeed confirmed his description of the males he saw as accurate. We’d have to see them with our own eyes to be sure but it sounds pretty gods-damned ominous.”
Rin cursed under his breath and a renewed spark of magic danced along Saeed’s skin. “There is no reason for them to be here unless the Sortiari commanded it.”
“Not so.” Saeed saw no reason to keep Gregor’s break from Trenton McAlister’s hold a secret. Word would travel throughout the supernatural community soon enough. “The slayers have broken faith with the Sortiari. They answer to no one save themselves.”
Rin’s eyes went wide as he focused his attention on Saeed. “You know this how?”
“It doesn’t matter how I know it,” Saeed replied. “But it’s the truth. Ian Gregor is on a mission for vengeance and he won’t stop until not only the vampires are wiped from the face of the earth, but the guardians of fate as well.”
A corner of Rin’s mouth hinted at a smug smile. “And rightly so. I suppose they do deserve their vengeance.”
Saeed didn’t disagree. Through the Collective he’d seen many things. One of which being the decision of a single dhampir child to effectively sterilize the Berserkers’ race. A sadistic vampire lord had declared his daughter would decide the fate of every berserker female. The child, no more than eight or nine years old, couldn’t have possibly realized the implications of her actions when she’d pronounced judgment. The consequences had been far-reaching, however and had brought them all to this moment. Saeed thought again of the woman on the plane and her blind judgment of him based on nothing more than his appearance. The way she perceived him as a threat because of who—and what—he was, was no different than the way Gregor or any other berserker perceived him as a threat. Berserkers saw Saeed and every other vampire and dhampir as a threat to their existence because of their unpleasant histories. Creatures that must be eradicated in order to preserve the berserkers’ way of life.
“I still don’t see what any of this has to do with me.” His attention focused on Cerys. “Or you.”
“McAlister is a mage. So are you. Perhaps Gregor seeks to fight fire with fire.”
Rin snorted. He tried to act as though none of this bothered him, but Saeed saw something behind his eyes that told a different story. He knew something. Had already made the connection to Gregor’s appearance in the city. “Hardly. Mages are entirely unique in their power. Pitting me against McAlister would be more like fighting fire with dirt.”
It would’ve been nice if Rin had given more away in his statement. Maybe some indicator as to who might be the stronger opponent in such a match. Not that it mattered. Saeed was unconcerned with Rin’s power. The male could shoot flames from his fingertips for all he cared. It wouldn’t deter him from his mission to retrieve Cerys’s soul.
“Cerys is a valuable commodity,” Saeed pointed out. Rin was a fool if he didn’t already know this. “She could be useful to Gregor in a coming war.”
“War?” Rin cocked a curious brow. “I suppose a berserker would never go about anything in a very subversive way. Hack, slash. Burn, loot. They’re bred to fight. Gregor certainly won’t be using mere words to take Trenton McAlister down.”
No. He wouldn’t. For the first time since he’d met the mage, Saeed recognized the faintest glimmer of fear in Rin’s brown eyes. Holding Cerys’s soul hostage kept her obedient and by his side, but if someone stole her out from under him … the leverage he held over her wouldn’t mean a gods-damned thing.
Cerys’s gaze met Saeed’s. She knew it as well. And the same fear he saw in Rin passed over her expression. She was fearful of capture? Or of being taken away from Rin? The thought that she would choose to stay with Rin caused a low growl to gather in Saeed’s chest as a haze of jealousy washed over his vision. That she found Rin’s company preferable to Gregor’s was understandable. That she might find it preferable to Saeed’s made his blood boil with unchecked rage.
A vision of Cerys dancing with her swords in the Roman vampire’s court flashed in Saeed’s mind, and he fought to hold his grip on reality. It didn’t matter if Cerys wanted him. Right now, she needed him. Whether she realized it or not.
“And I thought tonight was going to be boring,” Rin remarked. “Cerys, have you ever taken the soul of a berserker?”
She flinched as though stung. It seemed Rin went out of his way to make her uncomfortable. “You know I haven’t.”
“I wonder if they’re harder to extract. Feel like giving it a try?”
Cerys’s eyes narrowed into hateful slits. If she truly did prefer a life with Rin to one with him, Saeed must have been more mad and frightening than he thought. “Fuck off, Rin.”
Rin broke out into obnoxious laughter that made Saeed want to rip out his vocal cords. “Lucky for us we have a vampire, no?” Rin gave Cerys a playful knock to her shoulder. “Who better to protect you from slayers than their mortal enemy?”
Cerys looked away, uncomfortable. She refused to meet Saeed’s gaze, and he didn’t know how much longer he could stand here and feign indifference. Rin might’ve appeared cavalier but Saeed knew better. The mage was afraid Gregor was about to swoop in and steal his prized possession. And he wasn’t above throwing Saeed in Gregor’s path as collateral damage in order to keep what belonged to him.
“Trenton McAlister was jumped by Gregor and a small war party not three weeks ago.”
Rin turned his attention to Saeed. “For a vampire, you seem to know a considerable amount of the Sortiari’s business.”
Saeed shrugged. He knew Mikhail would want him to keep any information he had to himself. But Saeed needed to make sure Rin trusted him completely. Having Gregor so close would cause his guard to be up. Saeed needed the opposite if he had any chance of locating Cerys’s soul.
“I’d hardly call that one little bit of information considerable,” Saeed said. “L.A. might seem large, but the supernatural community is relatively small. Gregor enlisted the help of a pack of werewolves in an attempt to steal something from him. He was unsuccessful.”
Rin looked as though he hadn’t been this entertained in centuries. “What did he try to steal?”
“A child Oracle.” It couldn’t hurt to tell Rin at least that much and Saeed would protect Vanessa’s identity.
“Cerys, we’ve been living in the wrong town,” Rin proclaimed with a laugh. “Shit’s going down in L.A. and we’re definitely missing out.”
“Speak for yourself,” Cerys countered with a derisive snort. “I have zero fucks to give about what’s going down in L.A.”
Rin cocked a challenging brow. “Oh no? The berserker king and greatest warlord who ever lived is in the city to find you. I’d say you might want to consider giving at least one fuck.”
Saeed could hardly argue with Rin. He didn’t know Gregor’s motives in searching for Cerys, but they couldn’t be good. Cerys was powerful. Perhaps one of the most powerful creatures Saeed had ever encountered. She wasn’t infallible, however. She’d said so herself.
“Don’t forget, Rin. I’m not the only one the berserker is looking for.”
They bickered like siblings. Antagonizing one another and going out of their way to push each other’s buttons. Saeed didn’t understand their strange relationship dynamic. Even worse, he couldn’t understand why he envied it.
“True. And I can’t wait to find out why.”
It hadn’t taken long for Rin to recover his lost bravado. The male’s entire existence was a fraud. Magic masked Rin’s scent, but Saeed didn’t need to smell his fear to know Rin was terrified.
“What about Cerys?” Saeed couldn’t imagine Rin would play fast and loose with her safety but Saeed wasn’t about to take any chances. “Gregor might’ve been thwarted in his attempt to steal from McAlister which will only make him more determined to be successful here.”
“Your concern is so … touching.” Sarcasm, and a fair amount of suspicion leached into Rin’s tone. “Do you always make such fast friends, Saeed?”
Up until this point, Saeed’s worth to Rin had been mostly entertainment value. The novelty of once again having a vampire around had pleased him. Now though, with Gregor in the city, Saeed’s presence seemed all the more questionable. Gods damn it. If Saeed got his hands on Gregor before Rin or anyone else, he’d rip the bastard’s head right off his shoulders.
“Not exactly.” Saeed took a measured breath. He was about to tread a very dangerous path. One that could call his alliances into question if Mikhail found out what he was doing here. He would do nothing to put any of his own kind in the path of danger, but neither would he let Rin dismiss him when it was vital that he stay by Cerys’s side. “I haven’t been completely honest with you.”
Cerys’s eyes widened by a fraction of an inch but they might as well have bulged out of her head. Rin hid his emotions well however. His expression remained relatively impassive as he studied him, waiting for Saeed to elaborate.
“I spoke with the Oracle,” Saeed said. “She sent me here.”
* * *
What are you doing Saeed? Cerys knew he was crazy, but she didn’t think he had a death wish. If he told Rin everything he’d told her, Saeed would find a wooden stake through his heart before he even had a chance to finish his story. She had no doubt the berserkers appearance in Seattle was connected to Saeed somehow. But she’d rather ferret out the details somewhere far away from Rin.
“My office. Now.”
Well, shit. Rin wasn’t messing around. Cerys stood a second before Rin and pulled her dagger from the sheath at her thigh. She hated playing the muscle card with Saeed after what had transpired between them tonight. To threaten bodily harm to the male who’d recently given you the best orgasm of your life just seemed rude.
“You heard him.” She jerked her chin toward the far end of the club. “Don’t give me any reason to run this silver blade through your heart, got it?”
Saeed gave a solemn nod of his head. “I wouldn’t dream of it. Lead, and I will follow.”
The husky undertone of his words sent a pleasant shiver from the top of Cerys’s head to the soles of her feet. She needed to retain her usual snarky stance of stoicism if she was going to diffuse this situation with Rin. And Cerys had no doubt that it would get dicey. Especially if Saeed was about to spill his guts about their supposed tether.
A couple of Rin’s security staff—two nasty-looking werewolves who’d willingly sworn fealty to Rin—were posted outside the door to the office. One of them reached out and opened the door for Cerys without making so much as eye contact. Most everyone in Rin’s inner circle treated her that way. As though she were something below—or maybe even above—their regard. Some supernatural creatures regarded the fae as deities. Cerys packed an extra punch since she was an enaid dwyn. Her entire life, all she’d wanted was for someone to treat her as though she wasn’t … other.
Someone had. Saeed.
He’d never once treated her as someone deserving of fear. And whereas he’d regarded her with a sort of reverence—the sort due one’s lover or mate—he’d also never put her up on a pedestal and treated her as though she were too sacred to touch. Another ghost of emotion tugged at Cerys’s chest, and she willed the sensation away. She needed to get rid of Saeed. Get him the hell out of the city before Rin put him in the ground.
Hell, it might already be too late.
“Sit.”
Rin’s tone was all business as he barked the order at Saeed. The vampire remained calm as ever, his beautiful face as serene as a midnight pond under moonlight. He took a seat on a ratty chair next to Rin’s desk, and Cerys swore that only Saeed could make the old, broken down piece of furniture look regal.
Rin’s temper boiled dangerously close to the surface. Saeed’s calm demeanor definitely wasn’t helping. He either wasn’t aware or didn’t care that his little comment had managed to spark Rin’s ire. Either way, shit was about to get real.
“I don’t like games.”
Cerys swallowed down a snort. Rin loved to play games. He just didn’t like being played with.
Saeed sat in silence. Rin stared him down, and his gaze didn’t so much as falter. Stupid, stupid vampire! Rin liked to be top dog. Everyone bowed to him. Everyone. If he wanted to diffuse what was bound to be a clusterfuck of epic proportions, he needed to swallow his arrogant male pride and play ball.
“If I’d come to you, prostrated myself and asserted that an Oracle had sent me to protect you, would you have believed me? Or would you have instructed your assassin to run her silver blade through my heart?”
“It’s not your place to assume how I would or wouldn’t have reacted,” Rin snapped. “You came to me under false pretenses.”
Saeed cocked a challenging brow. Cerys’s stomach did a nervous flip. Damn, the vampire was downright intimidating when he wanted to be. An aura of power, of strength, emanated from him. “I did. But it was Rinieri de Rege who nearly tripped over himself in his haste to once again keep the company of vampires.”
Oh Jesus. Cerys could barely keep her eyes from rolling. Was he intentionally trying to antagonize Rin? She couldn’t intervene. If she did, Rin would know she’d spent far more time with Saeed—and grown far too affectionate with him—than she should have. He was suspicious enough to come to the conclusion that they conspired against him, and he’d kill Saeed for sure.
“I don’t appreciate your disrespect.” Rin’s lip curled into a sneer. “I’ve killed others for less.”
“Perhaps for once, you should appreciate that I’m not willing to simply placate you like your band of fearful worshipers.”
“Placate?” Rin said. “You mean lie.”
“I never lied. I simply withheld information.”
“A lie by omission is still a lie.”
Saeed shrugged as though Rin’s opinion on the matter meant little to him. His posture was relaxed as he sat back in the rickety old chair, but Cerys knew he could pounce in a heartbeat. Probably even faster than Rin could react to the attack. In which case, it would be Cerys’s job to intervene and protect her master. He owned her soul. She would have no choice but to kill Saeed.
He wouldn’t possibly put her in that position, would he?
“Ian Gregor has ears everywhere.” Cerys cast a sidelong glance in Saeed’s direction. Even she had a hard time telling what was truth and what was a lie. He was good. “It’s risky enough for me to be in the city. Gregor would happily kill me on sight given the opportunity. I came to you in good faith. That is no lie.”
Cerys wanted to give a disbelieving shake of her head. Saeed was definitely filling Rin with a load of bullshit, but she couldn’t detect the slightest physical reaction to betray the lie. He was so damned convincing it was scary.
Rin appeared equally convinced. The fire in his eyes dimmed and his posture relaxed. “I’ll decide whether or not you came in good faith, after you tell me exactly what the Oracle said to you.”
Cerys couldn’t wait to hear what Saeed had to say.
“Several weeks ago, Trenton McAlister made an unlikely alliance with Mikhail Aristov.”
Rin broke out into raucous laughter. “The director of the Sortiari allying himself with a vampire? You must think I’m a fool to believe that.”
“The berserkers have broken faith with the Sortiari. The threat they pose has created the unlikeliest of alliances. Both the vampires and the guardians of fate stand to lose everything if Gregor is successful in his campaign. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. They have no choice but to work together.”
No doubt Rin found the prospect of that alliance as unlikely as Cerys did. The history between the vampires and the Sortiari was violent and bloody, and it spanned centuries. Then again, the berserker warlords had carried out the Sortiari’s death sentence gladly. If the rumors were to be believed—and Cerys had no reason not to believe—Gregor and his lot had every reason to want every vampire and dhampir that walked the earth dead.
“If Gregor has indeed bitten the hand that feeds him, we’re all in for a world of hurt.”
Wasn’t that the truth?
“His army is ready,” Saeed replied. “But even the berserkers will need more than brute strength to defeat an organization whose members are legion. He’s collecting weapons, leverage to ensure his success. The Oracle saw your enaid dwyn in a vision. McAlister wants her. And so does Gregor.”
Yup. Shit just got real.