Page 1 (1/1)

CHAPTER ONE

Lots of Things That Go Boom

and Kill Bad Guys

I rode into Asheville, North Carolina, for all the wrong reasons, fro direction, on a borrowed bike, with no weapons, ready to work for the vaned up for, and I was all about satisfying the client, keeping hi the job Or staking the va on the job description "Finish the job" had becoht behind "Have stakes, will travel"

I was not at all happy that I’d taken this gig, once again working for the Blood Master of the City of New Orleans, Leo Pellissier, though this time was different Of course, that’s what I always think--that there’s a new and better reason to keep up a business relationship with the chief fanghead Money counts, of course, and the MOC pays extreun to think it’s also because I’m a masochist and curious--as in, curiosity killed the cat

At the thought, ood hunter S water We are hoht put a ss I’m Jane Yellowrock I’m licensed and experienced in the security business but Ito most, the best in the business I a with the soul of a mountain lion inside me, the one I call Beast I may well be the last of my kind, since I killed the only other skinwalker I everpeople My occupation has a definite ick factor

The job at hand was to set up and provide security for the va place in Asheville, and it wasn’t likely that the location was accident or coincidence Lincoln Shaddock, the head in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee, had been applying to Leo for sixty years for the right to become a master of the city Leo--as a lot uessed--had turned hiht they deserved to be the od co ne the chief bloodsucker of the South illing to discuss a change in status for a vamp anted my hometown? No as that a total fluke

One factor that could have influenced the MOC was that a young vamp in Shaddock’s scion-lair found her sanity in just two years That was a record That was huge Va to find a way to shorten or defeat the devoveo for two thousand years But was it huge enough for Leo to reverse course? I hadelse I just didn’t knohat Yet

Leo never had just one , but layered anization in the world of vamps--like the parley with the witches in New Orleans, which was not going so well, last I heard Some focused on ancient history And because the chief MOC of the South was intensely curious about me, maybe some focused on le whole, and since I was on retainer to Leo, I was now a part of that political ht into the s fro loose and frayed in hurricane winds My life, once so unco away But I hadn’t run I had to finish the job

The new bike took the hills of I-40 with a little wobble It was a chopped Harleyroyal blue paint job and hand-painted sabertooth fangs on the gas tank between et-out, and had saddlebags to hold ear, but it wasn’t the best bike for , no matter how much the owner hoped I would

My bastard Harley, Bitsa, had sustained dae in service to Leo and was in Charlotte for repairs at the shop of the Harley Zen-master who built her out of parts of old bikes I liked to think of her being in a spa for so so intothat all erous But weren’t they all? I’d feel better when I had uns, knives, and ht froned to this parley

Roaring uphill around a big rig, I gave Fang soas Strands of loose black hair whipped in the truck’s air-wave, pulled free by road wind Most of my hair ell secured, braided downjacket, but the shorter strands fleild or stuck to me under the helthe security tea the lay of the land I had a lot to do in very little time

Near dawn, some thirty-six hours later, the helicopter landed The vamp--or Mithran, as they liked to be called--had flown in to the Asheville airport from New Orleans in Leo’s private jet and been transferred under heavy security to the helo, which had been sent ahead and kept under guard until needed Now the artificial wind of the rotors whirled the hot, early-autuine, the effluvia of the city, a e of restaurants, and the wood-scent of surroundingwind and a horrible whine that hurt Beast’s ears I touched my mouthpiece "Report" If soe to the vaood time

"All quiet," Derek Lee said He and two of his best were stationed in key spots on high ground, with low-light and infrared scanning devices, and all the high-tech toys that o boouys They were in heaven A sniper was scanning froht, targeting the antivamp protesters who had set up in front of the hotel Four otherpad to the door I’d brought Derek Lee on as my personal assistant, and he had already proven hiold, not that I’d tell hih, and he’d demanded at-risk pay for his crehich

Beast was close to the surface of th and speed to my body in case I needed it My heart beat faster, breath drawing deep I had done all I could to protect Katie, Leo’s heir, and keep her safe throughout the parley She was a blood-sucking killer, but I liked Katie

Except it wasn’t Katie who stepped to the ground It was Grégoire, Leo’s nu atobvious or overt, just seeing the slight, blond, prettier-than-a-girl va h-class va events to educate s And now the big surprise Of course, I could be reading it all wrong, but the signs pointed to the bloodme bound to him one way or the other, and since I hadn’t fallen in a swoon at his feet or into bed with any of the other va his best bud reat It wasn’t like I could totally dis the guy--sock hi I was up toto the Vampira Carta, and had to follow the rules of va at hi a cloak that shimmered even in the predawn dark, tossed back the hood and found me in the shadows He kneasn’t hu, but none of the His blond hair shifted and blew in the rotor breeze, the color of his scent a pale green, the honey gold of spring flowers, and luscious He s to charm, the one that starts in their eyes and elic beauty Fallen angel beauty--deadly, but dang pretty He was slight, at five feet seven, delicate, with dark blue eyes the color of the evening sky, and he carried hiance that put even the other va as slowly as a huraceful as a dancer

Beast huffed with ah low they do when she’s near the surface Beast likes Grégoire, and she loves playing cat-gae and not ht, uneven hesitation He recuperated quickly, but I saw it and so did Beast Inside oire said "You are lovely"

"Thanks, Blondie Backatcha," I said, deliberately rude I took his ar not to hear his chuckle Apparently vaet you under cover before that loveliness gets you shot full of silver" It was a testae that he didn’t shiver at the thought Or ht in over the centuries Grégoire looked fragile, but his file suggested he liked a good war, battle, or barrooal I dignitaries, congregating heads of state, and vacationing vaher than most vamps, thanks to the century and the French royal court in which he lived prior to being turned--didn’t turn up his nose as I led hih the secure employee entrance and the upscale restaurant, into the lobby There was no fresh blood around to ogle hiht have been a downer for some vamps, but he seemed okay with it And when I opened the door to his suite on the third floor, he stood inside and nodded, hands on his hips, his dark silk brocade cloak thrown back like a young Bats, and looked about fifteen But gorgeous Utterly gorgeous