Chapter 26
There was no way those conduits were emitting physical heat. At least, I thought so—I was ninety-nine percent sure.
Though with each mile we traveled on our way to Gabriel’s house, the diamonds burned a hole in my pocket. Maybe James had a point: the power those small gemstones held was heavy, weighing me down with the thoughts of exactly what they’d done to us. I’d always been one to trust my gut, and those stupid little stones had me second-guessing everything. I kicked myself for every single time I pushed James away, especially when all I wanted was to have him nearby. All the bad luck and the clumsiness—I’d never been clumsy.
James squirmed in the passenger seat, gritting out a direction every so often. Being so close to the high-purity silver in my jacket was taking a toll on him. Then something clicked. “Take your chain off,” I told him.
“What?”
“You said the combination of the silver on the conduit and the chain you already wear makes you almost human. If you take yours off, your powers might give you a fighting chance. At the ve ry least it might keep you from throwing up in my car, which you look dangerously close to doing.”
James chuckled, removing his chain. “I don’t remember the last time I felt this sick.” When the metal clattered into the cupholder next to him, he let out a sigh of relief. “Good idea, love. That helped. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it.”
“It’s okay, baby.” I placed my hand on this thigh. “You can admit that I’m smarter than you.”
“Asshole,” he snickered. He attempted to knock my hand away, but I tightened my grip. “Take a left here.”
I felt better when he laced our fingers together. “ Can you throw up?” I asked. “As a vampire?”
“We have tough stomachs, but we can. And given what our diet consists of, it’s not very pretty.”
I grimaced, my own gut twisting at the mental image. “Is vomit ever pretty?”
James didn’t need to tell me when we reached Gabriel’s house—I just knew. The large house sprawled across a vast plot of land on the outskirts of Boston. Close enough to still be considered the city, but skirting the edge of city limits. It wasn’t quite a mansion, but it was near enough. After I parked in the driveway, I expected James to move first like he always did. Then I realized why he didn’t: he needed me to get farther away from him with the silver.
The front door opened, pulling my focus back to the house. Gabriel stood on the front porch with his hands in slacks that were, no doubt, designer. Even from this distance, the red in his eyes was visible, and I gulped against the bubble rising in my throat. What I truly wanted to do was stay in the car and hide, but my man needed me. And after the asshole I’d been lately, the least I could do was face my fears and destroy the silver so that he could tolerate being around me again.
So, I ducked across the center console to stamp a kiss to his cheek and got out of the car. As a defensive instinct, I stuck my hands in my pockets but flinched when my fingers contacted the gems there. Gabriel tried to remain stoic, but as I approached I could see how the silver affected him. He was just a bit better at hiding it.
“If you’re wearing any silver to keep your powers in check, take it off,” I told him. “It helped James. It might help you too.”
Gabriel tilted his head, a look of what seemed to be admiration crossing his eyes. “Good call, human.” He pulled his hands from his pockets and removed a silver ring from his right middle finger. I glanced back toward the car, worried when James hadn’t gotten out. “James will be more comfortable coming in once we submerge the pendant in the acid. He knows that.”
Still I hesitated. I peeked around Gabriel into the interior of the house, and from the pristine white walls and the expensive hardwood flooring, nothing about it screamed, “Big scary vampire lives here!”
“Ryder, I know I make you nervous, but I promise I want those things destroyed just as much as you do. You barely have to come inside alone. All I’m going to do is lead you through the house and out to the back patio. There, we have the open space you’ll need to submerge the chain without harming yourself. Once it’s in the container, you can hightail it back to the safety of your mate. I promise.”
I bit my lip. God, I hated how these stupid vampires could practically read my mind—so much for not being telepathic. I guess interacting with humans for hundreds of years gave them an edge. “Fine. Let’s get it over with.”
Gabriel stepped aside to clear the doorway, but when I didn’t move he sighed and entered the house ahead of me. He didn’t pause to take his shoes off, so I continued after him. Floor-to-ceiling windows bathed the house in natural light from the setting sun. Gabriel dropped his silver ring on a nearby table and le d me from the entryway, down the hall, and past the open living room on the left. I followed him through the kitchen to where he’d opened a door off to the side. “There’s a plastic container there, on the table,” he told me, pointing. “You can put both conduits in, but you don’t have to. The acid will only destroy the silver. Don’t drop it in from a distance; carefully lower it into the liquid so it doesn’t splash back. Sulfuric acid is highly corrosive, and it wouldn’t take much on your skin to hurt you. Don’t linger. Those fumes will be dangerous. Once it’s dissolved, I’ll take care of things from there.”
Gabriel stood to the side of the door, clearly intending for me to step onto the patio alone.
“Yes, sir,” I muttered, throat tight.
I stepped over the threshold, removing the conduits from my pocket. The gems sat heavy in my clammy palm, the silver chain trailing over my fingers. I approached the container sitting on the table, expecting to feel something. Well, something more than the anxiety crawling under my skin. “Why isn’t the acid corroding the container?” I asked.
“It’s made of high-density polyethylene,” Gabriel explained from inside. “One of the few materials resistant to it.”
I picked out the chainless diamond, setting it to the side; I didn’t want to accidentally drop it into the container and get a chemical burn. I sure as hell wasn’t getting close enough to the stuff to drop in something that small. With the other stone in my hand, I held it by the end of its chain, suspended over the substance. The diamond hit the acid first—and nothing happened. I continued and could tell the exact second the silver met the acid. The liquid sizzled like hot oil, and it became difficult to breathe.
“Hold your breath,” Gabriel ordered. “You have to move fast now.”
My chest already ached, so holding my breath only intensified the bu rning in my lungs. I picked up my pace, lowering the chain into the container.
I couldn’t move away from that thing fast enough, fleeing into the house—and right into James’s rigid chest. He held me close, combing through my hair and whispering in my ear. My chest burned and I coughed. I hadn’t even realized I was gripping onto him like a child until my breathing returned to normal and I could raise my head again.
“Why don’t you sit down?” Gabriel gestured toward the living room. “I’ll bring you something to drink.”
Warily, I asked, “Is it blood?”
He grew exasperated with me. “Water.” When I didn’t relax, he rolled his eyes. “I’m not going to poison your drink, Ryder. If I wanted to hurt you, do you think I would have stood back here while you approached a container of corrosive acid?”
“Then why do you always look at me like you want to rip me apart?”
“Because I like watching you squirm. Now go sit down.”
James and I retreated into the living room and Gabriel followed close behind with two glasses of water in his hands. I took one, and he set the other in front of James. “Drink,” Gabriel ordered. “I know you feel as sick as I do.”
“Where’s your drink then?” James asked, reaching for the glass.
“I find water disgusting—and yes, I hated it as a human as well.” Gabriel settled into the armchair on the opposite side of the table. “Do as I say, not as I do. Though your human here was a genius for reminding me to take off my ring. I hadn’t thought of it.”
“Neither had I.”
I leaned into James’s touch when he put his arm around me. “What happens now?” I asked, voice raspy.
Gabriel was the one to answer. “You let me take care of things from here. I’ll destroy the conduits on my next assignment.”
“I know they targeted us, but won’t the Koh-i-Noor curse affect you?”
He shrugged. “I can handle a little bad luck. Have you figured out who planted them yet?”
I hadn’t even thought about it. Thankfully, James came to my rescue. “I’ve been pouring over everything we know trying to figure it out.”
“The list can’t be that long,” I said. “How many people do we know that have spent time in both my house and your office?”
“Shiloh,” James said after a brief hesitation.
“No,” I snapped instantly, ice running through my veins like I’d been doused in cold water. There was no way. “It can’t be them.”
“How do you know?” Gabriel asked.
“I just…” Then I paused. I didn’t know—not for sure. Shiloh had shown up right before everything went to hell, and they’d been left unsupervised in both locations. I turned to James. “It can’t be them.”
He grimaced. “We might have to consider the possibility, love.”
Gabriel excused himself when his phone rang, which left me and James in silence to try and figure out who would curse us. We ran through every name we knew, right down to the tradespeople James used for the bar and I used at home. Not that it was any use—outside of having the heating serviced, I hadn’t had any work done to the house since I moved in.
“I hate to say it but what about?—”
“Don’t even go there,” I scolded as James and I arrived at the same conclusion: Raleigh and Angel.
James leaned back into the couch with a sigh. “You’re right. I’m sorry. ”
I rested my chin in one hand, reaching out with the other to rub my palm over his thigh. He widened his legs, nudging my hand farther up his leg. “Not here, baby,” I snickered. I kept my voice low, though I knew it was pointless with another vampire in the house.
James laughed. “Why can’t we still be in our beach house getaway where we’d never have to leave the bed?”
“I did propose that idea,” I reminded him. “You said we needed to get back here and deal with this.”
“I regret my decision.”
“I’m returning now,” Gabriel announced. “Put your clothes back on.”
“Wait until you find your mate,” James told him. “You’ll be just as insatiable.”
“Even in the face of danger?”
“Ah, the risk only makes it hotter.”
I took another glance around the space. The living room was big enough to fit an entire football team. Across the entrance sat a formal dining room, and between the two a grand staircase that led to the second floor where I assumed the bedrooms were.
“You have all this to yourself?” I asked. Gabriel answered with a nod. “Doesn’t it ever get to be too much?”
“Not really.” He shrugged. “I know I’ll have someone to share it with someday. I just have to be patient.”
With a break in the conversation, my eyes fell on the row of bookshelves across the room. I was too far away to read the titles, but it started something in my mind. “ Dracula ,” I whispered.
Gabriel crooked a brow and followed my gaze to the shelf. “Even I can’t see that far.”
“Neither can I but that’s not the point. I never finished it.”
“There is a copy if you?—”
“No, no; that ’s not what I’m getting at.” I looked at James. “I never finished the book.”
“I’m not following, love.”
“You found the conduit in the bar stuck between the pages of Dracula . The last time I had the book, I set it down on the couch and didn’t pick it up again. I never finished it, I never even put it back on the bookshelf. Did you clean up your office that night?”
Realization flashed in James’s eyes. “No. That was the night you cut your hand. I…” At the memory of exactly what happened that night, my cheeks flushed. James paused, eyes flitting to Gabriel. “I went home before you did, remember?”
“But there was someone in your office that night. Someone who has unrestricted access to my house.”
James’s eyes widened. “No, you don’t mean?—”
James was cut off by the sound of my phone ringing. It was Hannah.
And she was sobbing.
“Hold on, Han,” I told her. “I need you to slow down. I can’t understand you. What’s going on?”
“Kian’s place is a wreck!” I halted James with a hand on his chest. “It looks like the front door was kicked in and there’s stuff everywhere. Kian isn’t answering his phone and?—”
“Get out of there, Hannah.” I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. “Go to your dorm room and stay there. James is going to come get you and I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Go,” Gabriel told us. “Deal with it. I promise I’ll take care of the conduits.”
I was already in the driver seat by the time Hannah ended the call. James grabbed the door, preventing it from shutting. “You’re not driving right now, Ryder. Let me.”
I was shaking my head. “I need your vampire speed right now. You’ll be able to get to Hannah much faster than we can in a car. I’ll keep trying to get a hold of Kian, and I’ll meet you there.”
“I really don’t want to leave you right now, Ryder.”
“Please.” I looked up at him with pleading eyes. “Get to Hannah.”
James hesitated, fear clouding his features. That was one emotion I’d grown accustomed to recognizing over the last year and as much as I hated it, I needed him to push past it this time. He glanced around us, then ducked into the car to pull me in for a kiss. “I love you,” he whispered. “Promise me you’ll be careful.”
“I promise. I love you too.”
One last kiss, and when I opened my eyes, he was gone. I finally started the car and sped toward Cambridge, knowing that James was likely already there. I tried to keep calm as I drove, but it was difficult. Ringing echoed through the car as I attempted to call Kian again and again—and every time it went to voicemail. I’d just ended another call and pressed the button to try again when the squeal of tires seemed to pierce through my brain. I looked up, but not fast enough. A van blocked the intersection. I slammed on the brakes, but the last thing I remembered was the sound of crunching metal.
Everything went black.