Burning Both Ends

Page 5

Her hand was throbbing by now, her legs tight and raw.
He frowned at her. “You have a bruised eye.”
“Do I?” She lifted her good hand to her forehead. “It’ll be gone by morning.”
“I do not like seeing you injured.” Andreas released a heavy sigh, opening a jar of ointment. “Turn around and stand still. This will stop the bleeding.” He knelt on one knee behind her and smeared a jelly-like substance over the backs of her legs. The stinging stopped immediately. Ari craned her neck for a look at the jar. It had no label.
No longer concerned she would leave blood all over the furniture, Ari dropped into one of the armchairs while Andreas gave his attention to her hand. The bite had gone deep enough to reach the bone. His long fingers gently massaged the area, forcing the ointment into the wound and bringing instant pain relief.
“Is this a vampire home remedy of some kind?” she asked.
“You could say that.” He set the jar aside and began to wrap her hand with gauze.
“You should market the stuff. Make a fortune.” Ari was making small talk to alleviate her discomfort with the situation. She wasn’t used to being the helpless one.
“It would be difficult to mass produce,” Andreas said dryly. “The main ingredient is saliva from a master level vampire.”
“From you?”
“In this case, yes. Does that bother you?”
“No.” Somehow a saliva ointment out of a jar didn’t have the same ick factor as licking. Mind tricks again. This time her own brain, not vampiric manipulation. “Does it work on vampires too?”
“Yes. It would, if needed. How quickly do you heal?”
“Not as fast as you do, but a few hours’ sleep will probably do it.”
“Good. Depending on what the prisoner has to say, we may need to respond to this attack swiftly. If this is Sebastian’s doing…” His jaw clenched.
“I’ll be ready. When are we going to question the wolf?”
Finished with the bandage, he swiped a little of the ointment on her facial and arm scratches, set the supplies aside, and finally answered her question. “I am going to question him now. You are going to bed.”
“No, I’m not. He tried to kill me. I have a right to be there.” Ari started to get up, but Andreas firmly pushed her back into the chair cushions and rose. She glowered up at him.
“Bad temper will not win this argument for you. You are injured and need to heal. Besides, it would be best if you were not present during his questioning.”
“You don’t get to make those decisions for me,” she snapped, pushing him away and standing. “Why shouldn’t I be there? What are you going to do?” Ari was annoyed by his high-handed attitude, but she was even more upset at herself. How could she have let the wolves catch her off guard? Not wanting to think about what could have happened, she concentrated on being angry with Andreas. “You’re obviously planning something you think I wouldn’t like.”
He looked at her, his expression unreadable.
“What kind of torture are you planning?”
“Does it matter?” His look hardened. “I will do what is necessary.” Coldness edged into his voice. “A concept you do not always understand, except when it suits you to break the rules.”
Ari blinked. She’d definitely gotten past his armor.
“I will lock you in, if necessary.”
They glowered at each other, and this time Ari backed down.
Even in her present sour mood, she wasn’t stupid. They were on the verge of an all out fight, a fight she couldn’t and maybe shouldn’t win. He was wrong in thinking she didn’t understand the practical side, but she was a cop. It made times like this one very complicated. She sat down and crossed her arms.
“Lilith will be outside if you need anything,” he said. “I will not be back tonight.”
Holy crap! He was angrier than she’d thought. “Then how am I to know what the wolf says? Or what needs to be done tomorrow while you’re snoozing away?”
“Lilith will tell you in the morning.” With those words, he left, closing the door more firmly than required. One irritated vampire. Not a good sign for the werewolf below.
* * *
In spite of her determination to stay awake until somebody told her what was happening, Ari woke with the sun streaming through the window. She flexed her fingers on the injured hand. A little stiff, but otherwise strong. She’d slept soundly, thanks to Andreas’s ointment and she suspected a little something in the bedtime hot chocolate from Lilith. Their assumption she needed to be taken care of was annoying, but she felt too good to complain. Ari stretched and sat up, suppressing a startled gasp when she saw the lioness lounging in a chair, watching her. As usual, Lilith’s short, black hair stood on end, and she had a bored expression on her face.
“Have you been here all night?” Ari demanded.
“No. Just the last hour. I came to see if you were going to sleep all day.” Lilith yawned and flexed her shoulders.
“I don’t snore, do I?”
“More like heavy breathing.” Lilith gave her a sly look. “If you’re worried, no doubt Andreas would think it was cute.”
“Oh, please.” Ari grimaced. “I’m not sure he thinks anything about me is cute right now.”
“Lover’s spat? I thought he was feeling murderous because of the wolf attack.”
Oh, no. Ari’s gaze flew to Lilith’s face. Had her bad temper been responsible for the captive’s death? She didn’t need that on her conscience. “Is the wolf dead?”
Lilith shook her head. “No, but he spilled his guts, figuratively speaking. Your Lt. Foster is picking him up this morning.”
“Really?” Ari sat up straighter. “When was that arranged? How’d Ryan get involved in this?”
“Something had to be done with the prisoner and the dead bodies in the park. Andreas talked with Foster and with Steffan last night. Several times, I think.”
Ari took that all in, relieved the wolf was still alive, but annoyed she’d missed so much while she’d slept. “Tell me what the wolf said.”
Lilith smiled without humor. “It takes only one word—Sebastian. That vamp freak doesn’t know when to quit. He lied to the wolves to get them to come after you. Some cock-and-bull story about you and Andreas ambushing their leaders in an unprovoked attack last year. And that you mutilated and tortured the she-wolf before killing her. Andreas was furious when he heard that one.” The lioness paused and snorted in disgust. “Sebastian’s not only after Prince Daron now. He’s targeting you and Andreas, maybe all of us.”
Ari ran a finger over the edge of the silken comforter. Damn. She should have anticipated Sebastian would use the wolves again. After the pack killed her mentor and attacked the vampire compound, Ari and Andreas had cornered and killed one of the wolf leaders; the other had died at Sebastian’s hands because Ari had discovered their partnership in drug trafficking. Even if Sebastian hadn’t skewed those facts, the surviving wolves would have blamed them, and avenging fallen packmates was instinctive to most lycanthrope clans.
Still, Sebastian might have overplayed his hand this time. By sending them back so soon, scarcely a year since the pack was decimated, they had been weak with only five adult leaders. They had caught Ari by surprise—which was her own damned fault—but thanks to Andreas, the pack had now suffered a second major defeat. It might take years this time for the wolves to adequately fill such a power loss. Due to his haste, Sebastian had lost one of his most effective weapons.
“So what’s the plan?” she demanded. Andreas would be plotting a response. He wouldn’t let this incident go unchallenged.
Lilith cleared her throat. “Andreas spent much of the night conferring with Prince Daron and the vampire court. They decided Andreas should go to Toronto with a formal warning from this court to Sebastian’s.” Lilith dropped her eyes. “Russell and two vamp guards are going with him.”
“That’s it? Just a warning? No way! And while we wait here? Like that’s going to happen.” Scowling, Ari hopped out of bed. “I’m going to Toronto to confront that nasty toad. Give him a warning of my own. He’s gone too far this time.”
“Thought that’s what you’d say.” Lilith smirked. “I’ve brought the essentials.” She stood and picked up several items that had been laying unseen behind her chair. She slipped a plastic bottle of holy water into a waist holder, grasped a pistol in one hand, and tucked a second handgun into her shoulder holster. Lilith and her semi-automatics were notorious. The holy water was a nice addition.
Ari slowly smiled. Now that was her idea of appropriate luggage.
“You’ll have to tell Samuel to add us to the air and hotel reservations,” Lilith added. “I tried, but he won’t take my word for it.”
Even at Ari's urging, Samuel, the weretiger in charge of household security, hesitated. He knew his boss wouldn’t like it but finally gave in when she said she’d deal with the fallout. Samuel couldn’t quite hide a mischievous grin. It made her stop and think about how she should approach Andreas. Maybe confrontation wasn’t the best way.
* * *
As soon as Andreas appeared that afternoon, Ari told him her travel plans. She kept her voice matter-of-fact. If the staff had hoped for ringside seats at a big blow up, they were doomed to disappointment. Andreas’s only reaction to the news was a small quirk of his mouth, followed by a brief nod.
“You don’t seem surprised,” she said. It might have been smarter to leave it alone, but if he was still pissed with her, she wanted to deal with it now. If left to fester, grievances between them tended to erupt at the most inconvenient times and places.
His dark eyes studied her with amusement. “I assumed I had done all the masterful pushing you were going to tolerate.”