13

It took us another two hours to drive back to town and stuff all of our vampire prisoners into the jail cell in the Legion’s office room. Three hours had passed since Nero had flown off in pursuit of the escaped vampire, and he still hadn’t returned.

“That doesn’t bode well,” I told the others.

“What do we do?” Lyle asked me.

The others all looked to me for guidance—even Jace and Mina. Apparently, the fact that Nero had put me in charge counted for something. I still couldn’t fathom why he’d done that. Jace would have been the more obvious choice. He was stronger and better trained than I was, and in spite of his penchant for being a complete asshole, he did have the temperament to lead others. Even I, in all my pettiness, could admit that. But whatever Nero’s reasons, he had put me in charge, and I was going to make full use of my authority.

About halfway along our journey back to town, I’d begun to have flashes of broken, bloody images. At first, they were just short bursts, disconnected and fleeting. But with every passing moment, the images grew more sustained and the sensations more painful. I was chained, beaten, and cut. Every lash of the whip drew a fresh pulse of pain, every slash of the knife etched agony into my quaking body. Someone was torturing me. And yet when I looked down, my clothes were intact and my skin unbroken.

They weren’t torturing me, I realized. They were torturing Nero. When I’d drunk from him, when I’d taken his blood into me, something must have happened between us. We were linked. I’d heard about this in vampires, but I hadn’t realized it happened to soldiers of the Legion as well. It appeared my temporary lapse in sanity was good for something after all. Maybe I could use this link to find Nero.

But how? I began to pace around the Legion office, trying to think things through. According to what I’d read, a blood bond between vampires was dependent on both place and time. In other words, the closer the linked pair of vampires were, the stronger it was. And the more time that lapsed since the blood exchange, the weaker the bond grew.

If our magic worked the same as the vampires’ did, I could follow Nero’s ‘signal’. The closer I got, the more I should feel of what they—whoever they were—were doing to him. After the initial burst of sensations, my link to him had quieted down as we’d moved closer to the town. I wasn’t keen on following the path of increasing pain, but this was no time for cold feet. Our connection was winding down by the minute. If I didn’t leave now, I might lose his trail completely. I couldn’t leave him to that torture.

With that decided, I turned to Jace. “Call the Legion. Tell them what happened.” I looked at the vampires. One was stirring. I drew my gun and shot him full of more tranquilizers. “I’m going after Nero. You’re in charge now.”

This time when Jace looked at me there was no hatred in his eyes nor a sneer on his lips. He looked at me as though I’d lost my mind to want to go back out there, but he just nodded.

“It’s dangerous on the Black Plains,” Lucy piped in.

“It is,” I agreed. “But I’ve tracked out there before.” There had been a time when we were desperate for money and would take any job, even those on the Black Plains. “I know the area. I will find Nero. And I’ll bring him back.”

“We should come with you,” Toren said.

I shook my head. “No. You need to stay here and watch the vampires. That is the mission. If they wake up, these bars might not hold them. There are a lot of people living in this town, and the local sheriff’s department isn’t equipped to handle nineteen wild vampires.”

“We might not be able to handle them,” said Lyle.

“I’ll send you help,” I promised, moving toward the door.

As I made my way toward the Legion motorcycle I’d spotted parked outside, I pulled out my phone and dialed Calli.

“Leda,” she answered immediately. “Are you all right?”

“I’m here in town.”

“I take it this isn’t a social call.”

“No,” I told her, waving over one of the Pilgrims.

When he came to me, I pantomimed my need for the motorcycle’s keys. He blinked once, as though he were starting to place my face, but he didn’t let any memory of me stand in the way of him doing his job. He dropped the keys into my hand.

“The Legion sent us to apprehend some vampires who’d escaped onto the Black Plains,” I told Calli. “Nineteen of them are sleeping in a jail cell in the local Legion office, guarded by five Legion soldiers with one month of training apiece.”

“That sounds ominous.”

“Do you think you could head over there to be their backup?” I asked her. “I know this isn’t your job, but I’d really appreciate—”

“I’m heading over there now,” she said.

“Thanks. I have to head back onto the Plains, but I’ll see you soon.” I hoped.

“Why are you going out there again?” she asked, a hint of reproach in her voice.

“I have to save our commander.”

Reproach melted into curiosity. “Is that all he is?”

I didn’t mention the blood drinking. Or anything else I’d done to Nero. It was just too embarrassing.

“I don’t know, Calli,” I said. “I have to go.”

“Be careful, Leda. Angels are every bit as dangerous as monsters.”

I hardly needed the warning. I knew how dangerous angels were. Or did I? Anyone in their right mind wouldn’t even dream of talking back to an angel, let alone teasing one. I’d done both—multiple times. And I would continue on doing both as soon as he was back. Gods, Nero was right. I really didn’t have any sense of self-preservation.

Well, I’d need that lack of fear out on the Plains, I decided as I hopped on the motorcycle and drove it toward the wall that separated civilization from chaos.

* * *

I followed my link to Nero for about an hour, gritting my teeth against the steadily increasing waves of agony besieging my body, igniting pain receptors I hadn’t even known I’d had. By the time I stopped outside an old castle beside a raging waterfall, the pain had reached tsunami levels.

On the plus side, I hadn’t met any monsters on my way here. And I was freakishly stubborn. That was helping me bear the pain.

I snuck past a pair of vampires guarding one of the entrances. They were too busy shooting at mice to notice me. They must not have believed anyone but a complete crazy person would be all the way out here, trying to infiltrate their decaying castle. And, you know, they were probably right.

I stepped quickly and quietly down the halls, ducking and darting, running and hiding. I was trying to block out Nero’s agony even as I struggled to follow it to him. It didn’t help that there were vampires everywhere. What the hell was going on here?

I made it to the room where they were keeping Nero. Like all of the other rooms in this castle, half of the walls were falling apart. They’d stripped him down to only the leather pants of his Legion uniform and stapled him to one of the walls that was still standing. His torso and arms and feet were bare. Dozens of knives protruded from his chest and back, holding him to the wall. Blood dripped down his body in crimson streams, splattering the graveled ground at his feet. His head drooped, his eyes wild and unfocused behind a wet curtain of sweat-stained hair.

No one else was in the room. They must have been taking a break from torturing him. This was my chance, and I was going to take it. I would free Nero. And then I was going to hunt down the bastards who’d done this to him.

“Nero,” I whispered as I came up to him.

He blinked down hard, trying to focus. “Leda?”

I touched his face. “I’m going to get you out of here.”

He grunted as I began pulling the knives out of him. His head swayed.

“Hey, none of that,” I told him, snapping my fingers in front of his eyes. “No passing out on me. You’re too heavy for me to carry.”

He coughed. “You’re stronger now.”

As I pulled the last of the knives from his body, he stumbled forward, nearly crushing me. “But I’m not strong enough to carry an angel.” I leaned him against the wall. “I swear you must be made of gold bars or something.”

And muscle, I added mentally as my eyes traced the contours of his body. Then, realizing what I was doing, I looked away.

He chuckled under his breath. “It’s ok. I won’t tell anyone.”

“There’s nothing to tell,” I said quickly.

“There’s much to tell. You can start with why you’re here. You had orders.”

“Screw orders. Someone had to save your ass. Sir,” I tacked on with a smirk.

“This is insubordination.”

“Punish me later. For now, I have to get you out of here.” I looked around. “What’s going on?”

A dark look fell over his face. “The rogue vampires are building an army. This operation is bigger than we’d thought. There are over a hundred vampires here. And, from the sounds of it, many more elsewhere.”

“Why?”

“They are preparing for war.”

“A vampire army, you say? Fantastic.”

I pulled on his arm, inviting him to stand on his own. He didn’t budge.

“Get moving,” I snapped.

His eyes rolled back.

“Get moving,” I repeated. “You drill into us the need for willpower. Now show some willpower of your own.”

“How can I argue with that?” he chuckled.

He pushed off the wall, but his arms quaked, collapsing. He coughed up blood. Shit. What had they done to him? No, never mind. I didn’t want to know.

“You need to heal yourself,” I told him.

“I don’t have enough magic left for that.”

“How did they drain an angel of his magic? You basically have an unlimited supply of it.”

“Not unlimited. Only a lot,” he said. “Even so, there are means to quickly drain an angel. They seem to know them.”

I could hear people coming down the hall, probably Nero’s torturers returning to finish the job. We didn’t have much time.

I looked Nero in the eye and said, “Drink from me.”

His gaze dipped to my throat, his lower lip quivering with hunger as he stared at me. He shook himself. “No.”

“Stop being such a prude and just do it. You don’t have the magic to heal yourself, so just take what you need from me.” I zipped down my jacket, exposing more of my neck.

He caught my hand, stopping me, but his eyes had dipped once more to my pulsing neck. “That is not standard procedure.”

“Look around, Nero. We’re surrounded by a vampire army. This isn’t a standard situation.”

He met my eyes. “All right. But not the neck.” He lifted my wrist to his mouth, his fangs descending.

“Is the wrist better?”

“It’s more…detached,” he said, then sank his fangs into me.

A sudden jolt of pain pierced me as he penetrated my skin—slowly replaced by a deep, aching throb. I leaned into him, gasping for breath even as the river of fire surging through me threatened to drag me under.

Nero’s mouth lifted, looking at me. His stare penetrated me as surely as his fangs had. He brushed a finger across my lips, igniting a spark of magic between us.

Suddenly, he pulled away, putting some distance between us.

“Nero?”

He turned away from me. “Give me a moment.”

I watched his back rise and fall as he drew in several deep breaths. His wounds sealed together before my eyes.

“Ok.” He straightened and turned to leave. “Let’s go.” I caught a flash of magic pulsing in his eyes as he passed me.

We met a trio of vampires on our way out the door. They saw him—that he was free and unharmed—and fear flashed in their eyes. They stepped back. They didn’t make it far. In a surge of fury, Nero charged at them, tearing them apart before they could even lift a hand against him. As the last one dropped dead to the floor, he turned and headed for the exit.

More vampire guards flooded inside, but Nero’s rage knew no bounds. He strode down the hall, blasting them away with a hurricane of magic. It slammed into their bodies with the force of a high-speed train. Stone and plaster exploded all around us as bodies rained down from the ceiling. We ran all the way to the motorcycle.

“Don’t think you can carry me and fly us back?” I teased him as he straddled the motorcycle.

“With that mouth, it’s a wonder you’re still alive.”

I smirked at him. “You seemed to like my mouth just fine earlier.”

He gave me a hard look. “Get on, Pandora.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me onto the seat right beside him. “And try not to let go.”

He sped off through the trees. The sound of the motorcycle’s engine hummed over the rush of falling water, but it wasn’t as loud as the engines roaring behind us. I glanced back to find three motorcycles hot on our tail.

“We’ve got company,” I told Nero, turning to shoot one of them in the shoulder. “A werewolf. Hired help?”

“Just shoot them.”

The tranquilizers were meant for vampires, but it took out that shifter just fine. His head dropped, and he fell off his motorcycle.

“How much damage can a werewolf take?” I asked Nero.

“The man turns into a five-hundred-pound wolf. I think he can survive a little tumble from his bike. Now stop worrying about the people trying to kill us and start shooting them.”

I fired twice, knocking both vampires off their motorcycles too. “It’s just that I don’t really want to kill anyone.”

“Then you’re in the wrong line of work,” he said sternly. His tone softened slightly as he glanced down at the gun holstered to my thigh. “You’re a decent shot.”

“Try not to sound so surprised.”

“After all that’s happened, I don’t think you could possibly surprise me anymore.”

“Oh, I’m sure I still can,” I said with a smirk, holding onto him tightly as he accelerated across the Plains.

* * *

Everyone stopped and stared at us as our motorcycle roared into Purgatory. I’d like to think they were staring in awe of my spectacular rescue, but I was pretty sure they were just ogling the half-naked angel with me.

We’d only just parked the motorcycle when Harker exited the Legion office. He walked up to Nero and gave him a thorough once-over, his mouth quirking up in amusement at his friend’s missing clothes.

“You lost something,” he said.

“They lost more,” Nero told him. “What are you doing here?”

“Babysitting nineteen vampires. Our girl here kept the team busy while she raced across the Black Plains to rescue you in a blaze of glory.” Harker winked at me. “Your team called headquarters. Since my team was done with their mission, I brought them here to help you transport the vampires back to the city.”

“Good,” Nero said. “We need to get answers out of those vampires right away.”

Harker set his hand on my shoulder. “You did the gods a service today by saving Nero. The Legion can’t afford to lose any more angels.”

“Any more?” I asked.

Nero shook his head at Harker.

“Thank you, anyway. You did a great job tonight,” Harker said, grinning at me. “You might even get a medal.”

“Not for disobeying orders, she won’t.”

Chuckling, Harker slapped him on the back. “I’m glad you made it, Nero. The Legion wouldn’t be the same without your cheerful disposition,” he declared as a truck with our two teams and the vampires passed by, presumably on the way to the train station.

“The vampires are building an army,” Nero said. “This small group is just the tip of the iceberg.”

“We need to go back to that castle,” I told them.

“The Legion is sending a veteran team there,” Harker said.

“This mission wasn’t supposed to be so big. My team wasn’t prepared to handle it.”

“They did all right,” Harker told him, looking at me.

I slowed my steps when I saw Calli standing outside of the Legion office, watching us. But I didn’t stop. I was on a mission, and I wasn’t supposed to stop until I was done. Even I knew that. So close and yet we might as well have been on opposite ends of the Earth. It sucked, but this was what I’d signed up for.

Nero’s gaze slid from her to me. “Go.”

“Really?” I asked, my expression brightening.

“Five minutes.”

“Thank you,” I said, touching his arm briefly before I turned and ran toward Calli.

“Going soft, Colonel,” Harker said with a low chuckle as he and Nero walked off.

“Oh, shut up.”

I kept running for Calli, sweeping her up into a hug. She laughed. I’d forgotten how much I loved that laugh.

“You’re looking good, Leda. Strong,” she added as I set her back down on the ground.

“For the longest time, I thought I might die, but I made it, Calli. I am stronger. I still can’t fight with a ‘proper’ weapon according to the Legion, but I’m getting there, slowly but surely.”

“You have always been strong. I know you can do this.”

I smiled at her. “Thanks.”

“I just wish you didn’t have to.”

Her eyes flickered to Nero. He and Harker had stopped beside the Legion truck outside the train station, and they were unloading the vampires.

“Be careful with that one,” she warned me. “Angels always have an ulterior motive.”

“I already know he’s trying to kill me,” I laughed.

“No jokes, Leda. This is serious. The Legion changes people. Power changes people. I’ve seen it happen.”

“Back at the League of Bounty Hunters?”

“Among other places.”

“I’ll be careful,” I promised. “Now I have to go. Talk to you later. Tell my sisters I love them.”

Calli set her hands on my cheeks. “You’re a good girl, Leda.” She kissed me on the forehead, then turned and walked away.

I hurried down the street, arriving at the station as the last of the vampires was carried inside. I followed the prisoner procession to the train. Harker was standing outside. He grinned at me when he saw me.

“I meant what I said,” he told me as we stepped onto the train together. “You were right to go after Nero.”

“Nero doesn’t think so.”

He snorted. “Nero might be a stickler for the rules, but he’s not without humanity. He didn’t want to die at the vampires’ hands.”

“Is he human?” A month ago, I’d have been certain that he wasn’t. Now, I wasn’t sure anymore.

“Yes, even angels are still human under all the feathers and narcissism,” said Harker.

I laughed.

“And he knows too much,” he continued. “The vampires didn’t break him, but if they’d had him a lot longer, they might just have been able to do it, no matter what Nero says.”

Nodding, I took my seat beside Lucy. As the train took off, I wondered about that. The thought of Nero’s humanity was more frightening than his inhumanity. Calli was right. I had to be careful with the angel.