A Touch of Crimson

tell her?

Elijah replied. “Syre’s son.”

“And Syre is…?” she prodded.

“The leader of the vampires,” Adrian said, with an evenness that belied the twisting of his gut. She wasn’t ready to hear everything yet. He would prefer that she never hear it. If the Creator was kind, Adrian would succeed in killing Syre. Then Lindsay would be freed from Shadoe’s naphil gifts, Shadoe’s soul would be freed from purgatory, and Adrian would be recalled for disobeying the standing order to keep the Fallen alive. It was the closest he could come to rectifying his mistake.

“The Watcher whose fall got you those crimson tips on your wings?” Lindsay asked.

He gave a brisk nod.

“All right. Before we move on… What’s up with the superhero names? Syre, Torque, Vash, Raze…”

“Most of the Fallen gave up their angelic names when they fell. Syre was once known as Samyaza. Raze was once Ertael. As vampires, they have a proliferation of legal names they switch out every now and then as time passes, so they’ve established a culture in which there’s almost a competition for the most outrageous handles.”

“O-kay… To be clear,Vash-an important vampire-is involved because the gal who was abducted was important, because she’s related by marriage to the leader of the vampires. Am I following so far?”

“Yes.”

“Why don’t they just call you and ask what the ransom terms are? It’s not like they can’t find you.”

“They did.”

“And they didn’t believe you’re innocent?”

“I killed her. I told Syre that.” Adrian met her gaze unflinchingly, knowing she would understand such a brutal admission of murder.

Lindsay blinked in surprise. “When?”

He descended into the living room. “When did I tell him? In Phoenix. In the airport, right after I met you.”

“So Vash knows this isn’t a rescue mission. She’s out for blood in retaliation for a death. She managed to corner Aaron and his two lycans. But instead of holding Aaron for ransom or targeting him because he’s higher up the food chain than the lycans, she lets him go. I’m confused as to why a vamp who usually only hunts big fish would toss the biggest fish back.” She looked at Elijah. “No offense to your friend.”

The lycan met her gaze. “None taken.”

Jason crossed his arms. “Killing a Sentinel would escalate the situation beyond what Syre would condone.”

“His son’s wife is dead, thanks to Adrian, but he balks at taking out one of the Sentinels?”

Damien looked at Adrian. “Go on, Lindsay. This is getting interesting.”

Lindsay twisted on the sofa, bringing him more fully into the conversation. “I’m just trying to understand what’s going on here. The vampire head honcho’s daughter-in-law gets nabbed by Elijah. Allegedly,” she qualified when Elijah opened his mouth. “Vamp dude calls Adrian to ask for her return and Adrian says he killed her. Yet Vash remains focused on the lycan involved and not the Sentinels. How come?”

Adrian’s wings unfurled. “I accused Syre of sending Nikki to attack me. He didn’t respond to the accusation as I would’ve expected, nor to my mention of Phineas, which led to me wondering whether he was losing control of his vamps.”

“Is it possible that he thinks you’re losing control of the lycans? I mean, the reverse is true. You probably didn’t respond the way he expected. He called you because he was worried about his daughter-in-law, and you didn’t even know who she was. You didn’t recognize her. But the lycans who took her knew her identity-assuming she wasn’t sick then. He’s got to be thinking that the lycans made a pretty bold move taking someone so valuable to him without you knowing about it.”

“Told you,” Jason said, looking at Adrian.

“Where are you all going with this?” Aaron asked.

Jason’s brow arched. “It’s possible the lycans are working on their own.”

“But,” Lindsay interjected, shooting a glance at Elijah, who gave nothing away on his face, “why implicate one of their own by leaving Elijah’s blood at the scene?”

Aaron exhaled harshly. “Which resulted in the death of Luke-my other lycan-on sight. There was no attempt made to capture or speak to him. And Micah is as good as dead.”

“They captured him, then let him go.”

“They left him for dead,” Aaron said. “There’s a difference.”

“Is there?” she challenged. “The whole leaving-someone-for-dead business is beyond me. Either something is dead or it’s not, and if it isn’t and you want it dead, you don’t leave it to chance. Why would Vash-?”

A silence fell over the room as Lindsay abruptly stopped speaking. All eyes rested on her until she shrugged blithely and said, “Never mind. Too complicated for me. My brain hurts.”

She stood and walked toward the windows, stepping through when one large pane of glass slid automatically to the side.

Resisting the urge to flex his wings, Adrian dismissed Jason and Aaron with an accompanying order to report to his office in the morning. He feigned nonchalance, but inside he was weighing the myriad possible reasons for why Elijah-the first Alpha to make an appearance in many years-had been set up to take the fall for Nikki’s abduction. He knew Lindsay’s mind had followed the same train of thought and she’d ceased her speculations the moment she realized how dangerous they were to Elijah.

Adrian studied the lycan as the living room cleared, noting how Elijah followed Lindsay as far as the window, guarding her still, yet making a pointed effort to stay within boundaries that wouldn’t incite Adrian’s fierce possessiveness. The lycan and Lindsay clearly had a friendship of sorts, which was why Adrian entrusted him with her protection, but that didn’t mitigate the danger Elijah presented as an Alpha. Whether he had any culpability in the abduction or not, it appeared someone had gone to great lengths to bring the Alpha lycan to the attention of the vampires, and the vamps were taking the steps necessary to formalize that introduction.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Collusion between the lycans and vampires would lead to the annihilation of the Sentinels. The numbers against them would be far too great to withstand.

Gauging Elijah’s loyalty was more important than ever. Adrian expected that fidelity would be strongest with other lycans, but it just might be strong enough with Lindsay to make defection difficult.

Elijah met his gaze as he moved to follow Lindsay outside.

Adrian paused on the threshold. “What do you think, Elijah?”

“Vash was empty-handed after speaking to Micah. She was left with the choice of interrogating another lycan before my blood sample deteriorated or following Micah back to me. I think that’s why she let him live.”

“And what will you do should she come here?”

“Eviscerate the bitch.” He growled, his eyes glowing with green fire. “Micah is my friend. He’s like a brother to me, as Phineas was to you. And she killed him. I could’ve lived with that if she’d fought him for it. But to die like this, sick and broken in a bed-no lycan should have to die like that.”

Adrian set his hand on Elijah’s shoulder and swiftly searched the lycan’s mind. A red haze of fury and grief washed over every sifting thought, none of which dealt with mutiny or treachery. Momentarily reassured, Adrian murmured, “May we all go down fighting.”

He released the lycan and stepped outside, finding Lindsay standing a safe distance away from the railing while staring at the cityscape in the distance. He embraced her from behind, wrapping her within his arms and wings.

“Your participation helped immensely,” he said with his lips to her ear. “Thank you.”

“I hate that you’re dealing with so much crap at once.” She leaned into him, placing her arms over his. “You haven’t had any time to grieve. And my being here is just making things worse.”

Adrian’s arms tightened around her. “Your being here makes things bearable.”

“You’re a glutton for punishment,” she muttered. “He’s loyal to you, you know. Elijah. And he’s a good guy.”