Chapter 2
Two
Winter cursed himself, the sun, and the assholes chasing him through the parking lot. This was fucking ridiculous. How the hell had they spotted him in the first place?
He’d probably done the hoodie and jeans bit a little too much over the past several years. The weather was growing warmer, and the teens he was accustomed to blending in with were in shorts and T-shirts. Not the best clothes when he was trying damn hard to disappear into the background.
The problem was that his black hair, blue eyes, and sharp features too clearly marked him as a Varik. Not that he wasn’t proud to be a Varik, but it certainly made it harder for sneaking in the vampire world.
Like tonight.
Cutting hard to the left, Winter narrowly missed a car turning down the aisle in search of an open parking spot.
Behind him, he could hear the thunder of three sets of shoes pounding on the pavement.
He needed to find cover. He could take out the vampires chasing him, but being outnumbered three-to-one meant he couldn’t do it in a straight fight.
The only way he’d survive would be to pick them off one at a time.
And it would be even better if he could remind them that he was the boogeyman of the vampire world.
With one eye on the cars moving about in the parking lot, he turned the other eye on the shops.
It was nearly ten in the evening, and his selection was getting slim for a Saturday night.
Lights were dim in a lot of the smaller retail stores, but his gaze caught on an interesting two-story building still brightly lit. A sporting goods store.
Oh, this could be lots of fun.
Inside the store crowded with equipment and clothing, he’d be able to break their line of sight at last. If they lost him for only a moment, he’d be able to use his power.
His brothers thought of it as simply disappearing.
Well, they had until he’d pulled Bel into his gift in an experiment with his wolves a couple of months ago.
Now his brothers were starting to understand the truth.
Winter didn’t become invisible; he parted the veil that separated this world from the world of the dead.
The dead world was a mirror copy of the world of the living.
But there, the living took on the appearance of ghosts and couldn’t see Winter.
Couldn’t hear him. Couldn’t touch him. And according to Bel’s werewolves, they couldn’t smell him.
It was the perfect way to keep an eye on all the people who wished to hurt his family.
But there was a price that came with using his powers: The dead noticed him while he was in their world, and it seemed like the dead who drifted through the world of the living noticed him more when he made frequent trips past the veil.
Not that it mattered whether he used his gift or not. The dead always liked talking to him, as if he could do something about their plight.
But the dead were not his main concern at this moment.
No, he was more worried about the three undead bastards chasing him.
Someone had apparently noticed him nosing around Christopher Heller’s lair.
The Ministry member had increased his security more than Winter had been anticipating, and someone had spotted him. Fuckers.
It had been only a matter of time, though.
Christopher Heller and Paavo Wetzel had aligned themselves with Damon James, easily the most powerful vampire left on what had been the Ministry.
But the ruling body of the vampire world was no more—they weren’t even going through the motions.
Damon had all but declared himself emperor, king, and dictator of all vampires in the Americas, and no one was arguing with him yet.
For now, the Variks were gathering their army to stand against the ruthless monster, and part of Winter’s job was gathering intelligence on Damon’s confederates.
They had to know what Damon’s resources were.
The vampire wasn’t going to simply challenge Aiden to a duel.
Damon was too much of a coward for that and, as Winter was quickly learning, his sire was much older than he’d previously let on.
Damon was no match for Aiden, and he knew it.
That left the would-be king scrambling for some edge over the Variks, and Winter was determined to uncover what Damon had found.
But if he was going to do that, he needed to be far more careful.
Winter slowed his pace as he reached the automatic doors that soundlessly slid open at his approach.
He paused in the entrance of the store, eyes sweeping over the line of cashiers to his right.
In the middle of the store was a pair of escalators leading to and from the second floor.
Racks and racks of clothes filled the first floor, but the clothing on the left ended in what looked to be the camping section at the rear of the store.
Smiling, Winter took off at a jog, heading for the taller rows filled with tents and other random gear—that area would have lots of fun toys he could use.
As he moved, he looked over the store. He counted only three employees leisurely making the rounds, putting goods where they belonged and generally tidying things up before they closed.
Two shoppers strolled among the sports equipment, and he could only assume similar numbers were up on the second floor.
If he worked quickly, no one would notice him.
Glancing over his shoulder, toward the entrance, he saw the three vampires run into the store and pause, but they had yet to see him. Excellent.
Walking farther down the aisle, Winter called on his power.
It came so easy now after the long years, almost like flexing a muscle.
Before him, a dark slit appeared in the air, running from about the top of his head to the ground.
With a slight wave of his hand, the opening widened, and thick darkness poured out.
There was no hesitation as Winter stepped inside and closed the slit behind him.
The darkness retreated, and his eyes adjusted to the new world around him.
This gift was one of his greatest secrets.
Besides his family, the rest of the vampire world didn’t know he could essentially become invisible, and it was critical for it to stay that way.
So much of his dark reputation was tied to his mystery and how he simply managed to appear out of thin air.
While he might have spotted ghosts walking on the streets his first night as a vampire, his ability to slip easily into their world hadn’t kicked in for another several years.
But even with the delay, he’d had plenty of practice walking here.
He felt at home among the dead as much as he did with his brothers.
Looking around, he took in the usual pale glow that emanated from his surroundings, as if things in the living world took on a sort of heavenly inner light that beat back the overall darkness.
As a creature that was still part of the living world, he couldn’t move through objects like the ghosts could, nor could he pick things up, which was more than a little annoying.
With one eye out for the vampires, Winter hurried through the aisles, glancing over the various objects on display for sale.
There had to be something interesting here to use against his pursuers.
There were only a couple of ghosts moving through the store.
One actually appeared to be a woman fresh off a jog looking through the racks of yoga pants.
He tried to move away from her, but she caught sight of him.
“Excuse me!” she called loudly. “Excuse me, do you work here?”
“No, I’m sorry I don’t,” Winter said solemnly.
She made a noise that was part sigh and part growl. “It’s like we’re the only ones in the store. I can’t find anyone to let me in a dressing room.”
Winter gave a little nod to acknowledge her before quickly turning down another aisle.
Sometimes the dead didn’t realize they had passed on.
He wondered if maybe she’d suffered a heart attack while jogging and just continued to the store following death.
Others realized and pleaded with him to help them, but there was nothing he could do.
All that unfinished business talk was bullshit.
It didn’t matter if they accomplished one last deed or not, they moved on eventually to whatever came after this place.
Some held on longer than others, but in the end, they all faded.
Pausing at an endcap, Winter spotted one vampire sprinting up an escalator to the second floor while another cut to the right side of the store. The last vampire was working his way down the aisles closest to the camping supplies. Winter smirked and hurried ahead of him.
He stopped and opened the doorway between worlds just enough to stick his hand through. Snatching up a long bundle of rope, he pulled it back inside and closed the opening again. He repeated the action, grabbing a large knife and a hatchet. Yes, this was just perfect.
With his weapons tucked around his body and rope slung over his shoulder, he cautiously circled to where the vampire was still creeping through the left side of the store.
It was easy enough to move behind the man since he was invisible to him.
The vampire was a large brute with a shaved head and tattoos across his throat.
The creature didn’t feel as if he were more than a couple of decades old as a vampire.
Practically a baby. Winter almost felt guilty about what he was going to do. Almost.
But any guilt was easy to shove aside since he knew these fucks were plotting to kill his family. He just needed to get a little information first.
Slipping behind the vampire, Winter opened the doorway again and grabbed a fistful of the man’s shirt before pressing the point of the knife against his back.
“What the fuck?” the bastard snarled.