Last Blood

because on my way out, I tell Fritz to call the cops.” Doc rolled his eyes. “They show up and guess who gets tapped?”

“Damn,” Creek said. “Not your night.”

Doc sat back. “Dude vanishes. Me? I’m wearing bracelets and get to spend the night downtown. You know they can hold you for twenty-four hours without charging you?”

Creek shot him a look. “Yeah, I’m intimately acquainted with the penal system.”

“I guess you are.” Doc shook his head. “I almost had that guy too. Got a swipe in, but couldn’t hang on to him.”

“A swipe?”

Doc held his hand up and shifted to his half-form, popping inch-and-a-half claws out of his fingertips.

“Double damn.” Suddenly it was Creek’s turn to sit up. “Are you saying you sliced the guy?”

“Yes. Across the back.”

“The field of suspects just got narrower.”

Doc sighed. “Not really. Varcolai heal too fast for there to still be a mark on him so any chance of identifying him that way is long gone by now.”

Creek shook his head as he reached for his phone. “I saw this guy. I was out on patrol, heard the report over the police scanner, and headed toward the action. I ran across a wounded varcolai lying in an alley. Leopard, I think. Whatever is big and spotted.” He raised one shoulder. “Sorry, I don’t know the breeds well enough to say. Anyway, this cat had four slices across its back. I left it alone, but hung out across the street because I thought the blood scent might draw some fringe, which it did, but the few vamps that sniffed around didn’t stay long.”

He pulled out his phone and tapped the screen. “A couple hours later, a guy walks out of the alley. I took a few pictures because you just never know.” He pulled up one and held it out for Doc to see.

Doc’s mouth opened and his eyes glimmered green-gold. He cursed softly under his breath.

Creek set the phone on the table. “I take it you know this guy?”

“Hell yes.” Doc picked up the phone, still staring at the photo. “That lying piece of Brazilian trash. That’s Heaven’s brother, Remo.”

After saying good-bye to Chrysabelle, Mal had one mission left. Delay Tatiana’s plans until Chrysabelle had enough time to get to the Garden of Eden ahead of them. Fortunately, Tatiana was so focused on what had happened with Octavian, the plan to get Lilith to the Garden had been put aside for the moment.

“How could he,” she snarled, stomping across the sitting room like the madwoman she was. “He was dead. I saw the ashes. Kosmina told me he killed himself because he knew he’d end up dying at my hands for his betrayal. Then he comes back here? Not dead and thinking I’d somehow forgive him for—” She stopped and stared at Mal, but her gaze was wild and unfixed. “Kosmina,” she whispered. “How did she see him kill himself when he wasn’t really dead?”

Kosmina’s words about her time here being short suddenly made sense. She’d probably slipped away, knowing her story about Octavian would be revealed as a lie now that he’d shown up. “Must have been some kind of black magic.”

If Tatiana even heard him, she didn’t show it. She yanked open the doors to the sitting room and charged out into the hall. “Kosmina,” she bellowed. “Now!” Then she stomped back in and returned to muttering.

Shockingly, Kosmina appeared a few moments later. “Yes, my lady?” She didn’t look at Mal once.

“Octavian was here.” Tatiana’s eyes were white-hot silver.

She nodded, head down, hands clasped. Ever the dutiful servant in appearance. “Yes, my lady. I saw him.”

“Just like you saw him kill himself?”

Kosmina blinked once, but didn’t falter. “Yes, my lady. Surely he tricked me with magic. I am very sorry.”

“Sorry?” Tatiana trembled with visible rage.

Mal sighed like the whole thing bored him, but the voices were on the verge of chaos. It was like they could smell the potential for bloodshed. “Can we get back to business?” They still hadn’t discussed how they were going to persuade Lilith to go with them to the Garden. “Yes, it’s shocking that Octavian showed up, but who cares about what this kine saw or didn’t see?”

She looked at him. “Don’t you get it? This kine was in league with him.” She pointed at Kosmina with her metal hand, the fingers melding until they stretched forward into a short blade. “She must have known he was working against me.” New pain flared in her eyes. “Which means he was really working for you.”

With new determination, she stalked toward Mal. “Was he? Was Octavian working with you and the comarre whore to steal Lilith? Tell me. There can be no secrets between us if our plans are going to work.”

The word “whore” caused Mal’s anger to tick upward. The voices cheered. The urge to take Tatiana by the throat and shake her until her neck snapped itched along his nerves. How did Kosmina stand it? “No, he wasn’t working for me. And I doubt very much this servant could have helped him in any way. You’re wasting time. We have a task.”

“That task can wait.” She whipped around and jabbed her sword hand under Kosmina’s chin. “Tell me what you know or so help me, I will slice you from ear to ear.”

Kosmina lifted her head slightly as her eyes went strangely blank. “I know nothing.”

Tatiana’s blade pressed into Kosmina’s skin until a drop of blood rolled down the shining metal surface. “You lie.”

Kosmina went up on her toes, struggling to rise above the cutting edge. “No, my lady, I know nothing.”

Mal stood. “You’re wasting my time on these foolish games, Tatiana. An old lover returns and your focus is gone. I’ve had enough.” He took a few steps toward the door, hoping to pull her focus off Kosmina. Even if the KM agent had been prepared to kill him, he didn’t want her blood on his hands. “You said you wanted my help, but I’m here and you’ve done nothing to make use of me. Instead, you’re distracted. I’m tired of waiting on you. If you want to do this on your own, so be it.”

Tatiana paused, her sword hand lowering an inch or two. “Mal, wait. Don’t you see? Her disloyalty must be punished.”

“Being tricked by Octavian does not make her disloyal. It merely makes her gullible. She’s kine. If you expect more, you’re a fool.”

Some of the rage left Tatiana’s eyes. She dropped the sword from Kosmina’s throat and it became a hand again. “I suppose I do expect too much.” She took a step toward him. “And we have so much work ahead of us.”

He nodded. “We should focus on that.”

“We should,” Tatiana agreed. “This isn’t something I need to deal with. I’ll give her over to some of my household guards, have them see what they can get out of her while we’re gone.”

Behind her, Kosmina’s face took on the same soldierlike expression he’d seen in the wine cellar. Her hand went from the pocket of her uniform to her mouth, and then her jaw popped as she bit down. “Go to hell, vampire.”

Tatiana spun around as Kosmina began to convulse. Foam bubbled from her lips and she fell to the ground. After a few seconds of twitching, she lay still.

Tatiana kneeled and felt her throat. “She’s dead. Bloody kine traitor.”

Son of a priest. “Look at it this way,” Mal said. “She saved you the effort.”

“Hmph.” Tatiana stood, her silver gaze directed at him. “And you were trying to protect her.”

“No.” He came to her side, intent on damage control, and took her by the shoulders. “I was trying to protect you.”

“Me?” She frowned. “From what?”

“From Lilith’s wrath. You haven’t spoken to her since the incident with Octavian and when she disappeared, she was convinced you were angry at her. How much more time will you let go by before you console her? Do you really want her to stew longer than necessary? The more upset she is, the harder it may be to convince her to step through that portal with us.”

Tatiana’s hand went to her mouth. “Bloody hell. With this thing with Octavian, I’d completely forgotten.”