Betrayed in Blood (Of Blood & Dreams #6)

Chapter 25

Chapter Twenty-Five

Myriad shades of pink signaled the first signs of sunset and played off the blue-gray lining of clouds as they built along the horizon. An unexpected light rain was forecasted for that evening, marshaling in cooler temperatures. Odd for this late-summer evening, but not a showstopper for my plans.

I glanced down at the sycamore tree from my vantage point on the window seat in my bedroom, already dressed in my favorite black cargo pants and a light, long-sleeve T-shirt. My armored security vest and utility belt lay across the back of a chair, waiting for the call to go.

I’d given Sergi the assignment of coordinating the six teams. Two nights ago, after dinner, Devon arranged for after-dinner brandy in the library, where he opened the discussion for everyone to share their ideas. They ranged from worry over the number of rooms in the house, not knowing how many vamps were in the manor, how many would remain behind rather than go to the party, to how to extract my mom and April.

Harlow and Trudy had been offered a room for the night but preferred going home with a promise to return in the morning for the planning session. Remus sent Elijah and Rachel to assist upon Decker’s request and my approval. It had been a long day, with a few squabbles, but everyone had worked well together before.

The one thing Devon’s cadre had taught me was that there was a time for guerilla tactics and a time for an all-out invasion.

I decided to use both. Everyone had a role to play, including several members of the security detail, which meant current lockdown security protocols had to be modified for the evening. Fortunately, Simone was happy to make the changes—as much as Simone could appear happy.

Once the training session was over, which lasted well into the evening, everyone either went home or to a room at the manor. We met one last time for a late lunch and a review of the plan before everyone went to temporary rooms to rest and change for the evening.

I was going over the plan for the umpteenth time when a light knock was followed by a question that pushed everything aside.

“Are you as jacked as I am right now?” Ginger’s soft voice was incongruous for the question.

I laughed out loud, grateful for the company. My response was provided with a boisterous, marine-style response of “Hell, yes, soldier.”

She all but bounced over to the window seat, plopping down to stare out the window. “It’s going to be a spectacular night. Do you know what we need? Lightning. And a touch of thunder to let them know we’re coming.”

We giggled like schoolgirls, and my pent-up nervous energy rushed out of me. It would be back before the mission started, but I needed the release of the roiling pressure. I gave Ginger a long look as she continued to stare out the window. She dressed in similar clothes to mine, but rather than cargo pants, she wore thick spandex pants and would add a thigh holster and utility belt once she was fully geared up. She was in the second invasion team with Lucas.

The two had fought side-by-side during their hunt for Philipe Renaud and the De f?rste dage . They knew each other’s moves, and I’d be an idiot to break up the team.

“Have you slept at all?” she asked, finally giving me her own perusal.

“Not much last night, but I got a couple of hours earlier. I nodded off in our last meeting.” I snorted. “Devon carried me to bed, and I slept like a toddler.” I grinned at her. “I think he mentioned something about drooling.”

She laughed and grabbed my hand. “This is a tight plan. Lucas was impressed by how quickly everything came together. Even Bella mentioned it when we went over our run-through this afternoon. We’ll get them out.”

“Assuming they’re even there.”

She gripped my arm and squeezed—hard.

“Ow.” I pulled away and rubbed my arm.

“Stop it. Right now. No doubts.”

“I’ll take care of that.”

We both turned as Devon strolled in. And while I scowled, Ginger perked up.

“Excellent. The calvary has arrived.” She stood. “You know she gets this way when she has too much time on her hands before a job. Harlow always had to piss her off to keep her focused.”

“Not an easy task, but knowing Harlow as I do now, he’ll get his opportunity. Until then, I’ll see what I can do.”

Ginger squeezed his shoulder as she all but bounced to the door. “I’ll see you at the checkpoint. Lucas and I are heading over to the safe house for last-minute drills.”

The door shut behind her, and I turned back to the window. I didn’t have to look to know Devon was checking my utility belt and vest. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust me to have everything I needed. Between my days as Pandora and the various missions I’d been on for House Trelane, preparing for a job was never a problem. It was Devon’s way of working off his own tension and nervous energy.

Strong fingers scraped along my back then massaged my shoulders and neck. I leaned into it, wincing as he pressed the knots that had built up in the last hour. After ten minutes and before I became completely limp, he tugged me off the bench seat and led me to the sofa.

He sat sideways on the couch, leaning back against the armrest as he pulled me down, twisting me so I was wedged between his legs, my back to his chest. I stretched out my legs, letting my body relax into his, and closed my eyes.

“Did I ever tell you the story about the time Sergi and I hid in a harem while on the run from the sultan’s guards?”

My eyes popped open. “I’m pretty sure I’d remember that.”

His chest rumbled with humor. “My father had received a request from a House in the Ottoman Empire to broker peace between two sultans. Their skirmishes were creating a problem for the trade route. I took Sergi and a small contingent of guards to meet with both sultans. One agreed to host a dinner to talk peace.

“It was a ruse by both sultans. The one hosting had prepared an ambush. The other one suspected it and brought an army who waited close by. Sergi and I were at the meal, caught between the two forces. Fortunately, Sergi had caught the eye of one of the sultan’s concubines. She was aware of the duplicity and led us toward what she claimed was a safe place.”

Devon played with my hair as he shared his tale, and my body relaxed further into his, fitting together like puzzle pieces.

He chuckled. “Sergi balked when she handed us silk wraps to cover our heads and armor. She knew of a secret passage that led us around the harem guards, who were more focused on fighting off the opposing army. We were hidden behind women and children, dressed in their same colorful cloth, waiting for a chance to escape out the balcony.”

“I think I’ve seen this movie.” I smiled as I tugged his arm closer.

“When the young concubine told us to go, Sergi and I refused. The battle was at the door to their harem, and neither of us was willing to leave the women and children if the sultan’s guards were unable to hold the door.”

I pictured them in ancient armor draped in silk with their swords drawn. It should have been a funny story as Devon meant it to be, but all I saw was honor among two friends, unwilling to leave those weaker than themselves. I wouldn’t have expected any less from either of them.

“After what sounded like a contentious battle, the door burst open. Without a second thought, and only seconds before me, Sergi jumped out in front of the huddled women, who held their children close, his sword raised. The palace guards had won the day, but they weren’t quite sure what to make of us. The concubine, a brave young female, stepped in front of us, shouting to the guards that we were there to protect them should they have fallen.”

He sighed. “It had been a tense moment as the guards stared us down. Then their leader told us it was time to go, but to take care—the battle still raged outside. We didn’t have to be asked twice. With our silk wraps still hanging from our heads and shoulders, we jumped from the balcony. Fortunately, our men were waiting not far from the battle with our horses.

“Once we were far away, the silk wraps ragged and filthy, my army couldn’t stop the jeers. Of course, they weren’t meant for me. They wouldn’t dare. Sergi took it all in good jest until he’d had enough and challenged them all to a fight.”

“How many was that?”

“Oh, about thirty men in all. He fought them one by one and quickly beat nine of them before the rest backed off and took a knee.” He chuckled. “I can still see Sergi’s face when he finally ripped the last of the silk wraps from his shoulders and draped it over the last vampire, still recovering before his feet. Sergi walked off that field with his head high. But later that night, while we were in my private tent drinking raki, Sergi swore if I ever allowed him to be dressed in silk again, he’d personally take my head.”

I could feel his grin against my temple.

“What I never told him was that I caught him stuffing one of the silk wraps, freshly washed and folded, into his knapsack. Whether it was for the concubine or her act of kindness—perhaps both—I never forgot his simple deed to hold on to that memory.”

“I wonder whatever happened to it.” Devon’s story touched me, my worries about the mission temporarily stuffed away. But what stuck, maybe because Sergi and I had developed an ongoing and unexplained challenge between us, was a glimpse of his rarely seen soft side. And I suddenly questioned who he had loved through the centuries. Had there ever been a woman who’d captured his warrior’s heart?

“I never saw the silk again,” he answered. “Though I’m sure he kept it for a long time.”

We laid quietly for some time, and we might have dozed.

When I opened my eyes, the sky had an orange cast to it. It was almost time.

Devon kissed my temple. “We should go down. I imagine Sergi will have the transports in place for the teams.”

He helped push me up, and I slung on my vest and utility belt. Then he pulled me in for a kiss that made my knees weak. “The plan is solid, and the teams are prepared. You’ve got this.”

I nodded. My energy was restored and not with nerves but with steely determination. This was my family we were saving. There would be no mistakes.

We strode down the hall shoulder to shoulder. Maybe Devon’s story wasn’t to relax me after all. Perhaps it was to remind me of what was at stake, and no matter what, we didn’t leave the defenseless behind.

The transport vehicles were waiting for us in the front drive. Four black SUVs and two black vans waited with doors open and vamps stationed next to them. Everyone was dressed in black with vests and belts. Some had their scabbards hanging from their hips, while others wore their daggers in thigh holsters.

Devon had bought me a short sword because he got tired of watching me stab vamps in the neck until their heads were barely attached. It was a long and tedious process until one day, he finally said, “You’re taking too much time to kill. It puts your team at risk.”

That hit home. I didn’t always want to kill, just maim long enough to keep them down, but he was right. There were times when there wasn’t a choice. But tonight wasn’t that night. I didn’t want my mother to see that—at least not from me.

We had no idea what we were walking into, and I wouldn’t put the team at risk by telling them what they could or couldn’t use in completing the mission and coming out alive. Devon and I stopped next to Sergi, who stood on the top step, reviewing his tablet and ensuring final measures were in place.

Simone walked along the vehicles, speaking with each detail, probably going over last-minute assignments. Lucas and Ginger stood next to the second SUV, and as usual, Ginger was chatting up the other two vamps that would be going with them. Each of the SUVs would have a team consisting of four vamps and one driver.

The vans held the majority of our second wave. There would be eight vamps in each van, plus their driver and team lead. Decker stood next to Elijah and Rachel in addition to Rafael, a vamp that had worked with the shifters before. And bringing up the last SUV would be Simone and three of her guards from Oasis.

Bella and Jacques had left an hour ago with Harlow, Trudy, and Jamal. They would meet up with Roxie and her van a block from the Underwood estate. Their initial mission was to monitor the front and back exits to the property. We had to know who left the estate, assuming they were going to Lorenzo’s party. Jamal was in full homeless gear as he had been the night we’d infiltrated Gheata’s house and would be stationed in the alley near the estate’s back exit. Harlow and Trudy, along with Russell, one of the vamps, would be at the end of the alley, monitoring and backing up Jamal.

Roxie had reviewed the manor’s security and found three active zones. She would take them down one by one once Sergi gave her a go. Everyone had earbuds, while the humans and each team lead also wore body cameras.

Devon and Sergi jogged down the steps, but before I could follow, Lyra and Colantha stepped out of the front door.

“I was wondering if you would come to see us off.” I gave them a hearty smile, jazzed and ready to go.

Lyra’s eyes sparkled, which told me she’d probably just come from a dreamwalk with Hamilton. It was weird to see her starry-eyed, but I couldn’t fault her. After a hundred years of torment, no one deserved more giddy happiness than her.

“I wish I was going with you.” Lyra grabbed my hand.

“No, you don’t. Besides, your place is here to defend the castle.”

Her tinkling laugh made my grin wider. “Yes, and I’ll be monitoring Oasis and the two safe houses while you’re gone, with Colantha’s help.”

“You don’t need my help, child. Neither of you do. But I’ll be here just in case.” Colantha eyed me. “You worry about your team, but are you ready?”

I nodded. “I stopped in the kitchen and drank a glass of your special juice. Are you ever going to tell us what’s in it?”

Her smile was annoyingly predatory. “Soon.”

Always the cryptic one. “I’ll only call on you if things get really hairy.”

“If things get hairy, as you say, you’ll use your dreamwalker power to correct the situation. Only if you can’t hold them will you reach out for me.”

I glanced down at the stonework on the front porch and rubbed the toe of my boot back and forth. “Right.”

“You’ve done it before—you can do it tonight. Just make sure you advise your team before the construct, though I think they’ll understand what’s happening once they see the enemy turn into, what did you call them, zombies? Though true zombies would still be moving. Mannequins might be a better term.”

“Mannequins.” I shivered. “I suppose that is more accurate. I get it, and I’ll follow your advice.”

“Of course, you will. I would hate for you to spend more time in remedial training.”

I winced. I’d spent two hours that morning working through various constructs with Colantha. The same kind of fast-paced jumps from one construct to another she liked to perform, and then long moments within each one, holding three wary volunteers in a single construct. It was intense, and I needed a half-hour nap and a small glass of juice to refresh before I could join the rest of the team reviewing the plans. I didn’t want to have to repeat the exercises.

“Cressa. Let’s go.” Sergi stood next to the lead SUV, and I noticed everyone else was in the vehicles.

“Wish me luck.”

“Luck is for fools who aren’t prepared.” Colantha smiled, her gaze full of humor. Always with the witty comebacks.

I was halfway down the steps when she called out, “To your success.”

I smiled and gave her a wave as I met up with Sergi. “Everything look good?”

He nodded. “Bella reported three SUVs leaving the estate five minutes ago.”

I considered it. “So, worst case, if the SUVs were full, there could be up to six vamps per vehicle.”

He nodded again. “Yes.”

I took a step back and studied him. Vamps did it all the time, and he didn’t seem bothered by it. “Thank you for the excellent work you’ve done so far. I appreciate it.”

He gave me that stare that was supposed to make me shake in my boots. “Are you going soft?”

I snorted. “Hardly. I just think teams work better when they get a little praise.”

“That’s a human trait.”

“Maybe. It doesn’t make the sentiment any less true.” I turned to the opened back door, but before I got in, Sergi had to have the last word.

“Do what you do best, Cressa. Plans are only a guide. Follow your instincts. Be Pandora tonight.”

I didn’t turn around, but I nodded. His words meant the world to me and were a stark reminder that best-laid plans rarely went without a hitch. We were prepared for that.