Midnight Predator Part 6

Jes.h.i.+ckah's voice carried a threat. "And I told you to cancel them." Turquoise could only see Jes.h.i.+ckah's feet as she strode forward, until she and Jaguar were nearly touching. "I've been amused so far by your toy replication of my Midnight, and because of that I have allowed you to rule, but I am not amused by what I see now. I am most disappointed with what you seem to have become."

"Then go away," Jaguar suggested tiredly. "I've no desire to turn this place into what you made of the last one."

He stumbled back as she shoved on his shoulders. "Don't forget, cat, everything you own is mine. Even the blood that runs in your veins is what I have given you. If I say I want your slaves was.h.i.+ng the floors with their tongues, you will make it so. And if I say I want her broken," Jes.h.i.+ckah finished softly, "you will do it."

"I will not," Jaguar responded, his voice just as soft, just as poisoned by anger. "The humans in Midnight are exactly as I wish them to be. Audra is exactly what I wish her to be. Understand?"

The air grew taut with Jes.h.i.+ckah's rage, and this time she slammed Jaguar up against the stone wall hard enough that Turquoise flinched, glad she had not refused to kneel.

"I understand that you think you aren't a trainer any more," Jes.h.i.+ckah spat. "I understand that you think yourself to be in charge here. And I understand that you are a pathetic beast who thinks no one remembers who he used to be."

"Get out of my courtyard."

Again Jes.h.i.+ckah bristled; pale fingers wrapped around Jaguar's throat, holding him against the wall. "You can impress the others, but not me. You were a slave to me, Jaguar. I've seen you bleed. I've seen you cower. I've seen you beg." She pulled him away from the wall just long enough to throw him against it again. "All the power you have now, all the power you use to rule this Midnight-I gave it to you. Displease me, and I will take everything you have and break you over my knee. Do you understand?"

Jaguar stayed against the wall, his eyes lowered, for a moment of painful silence before he finally raised his gaze and, with a voice dangerous as black ice, answered, "Yes. Now get out of my courtyard."

"For the moment." Jes.h.i.+ckah disappeared, and Jaguar slumped back against the wall suddenly enough that Turquoise worried that he really was hurt. She started to move toward him, but the lingering reminders of the moments before Jes.h.i.+ckah had appeared-her still racing heart and the light ache in her head-made her hesitate.

The indecision was solved when Jaguar pushed himself back to his feet. He glanced at Turquoise, and then turned away. "Go get something to eat, Audra."

"Jaguar-"

"Out, Audra." His voice was hard with the order. Turquoise hesitated one heartbeat, worrying about the emotional exhaustion she could see in Jaguar's gaze, before hastening to obey.

CHAPTER 12

"d.a.m.n YOU, TURQUOISE," Ravyn growled when Turquoise slipped into the kitchen looking for her. "You disappeared all day, and then you weren't at the sunset meal-"

"Calm down, Ravyn," Turquoise interrupted. "You don't need to worry about me. I can take care of myself. And keep your voice down, unless you want someone to run tell Jaguar two of his slaves are arguing in his kitchen."

Ravyn looked appropriately chastised for perhaps a quarter of a second. Then Turquoise noticed the bruise blossoming on the left side of the burgundy hunter's face, mostly hidden by her long hair. "What happened to you?"

Ravyn's hand flew to the bruise on her cheek. "Our favorite queen leech thought I was a bit cheeky. If she hadn't had another two vamps within arm's length, she would be dead now."

"You armed?" Ravyn didn't look like she was wearing a knife, but Turquoise knew there were many ways to conceal a weapon.

Ravyn's gaze flit briefly to the doorway to double check that they were alone, and then she responded, "The vampire you saw me with was Gabriel Donovan. He is one of the only people here who isn 't terrified of Jes.h.i.+ckah. He deduced our reasons for being here, and donated a pair of knives to our cause."

"Out of the kindness of his undead heart, I'm sure." From the pieces of conversation she had heard, Turquoise wasn't surprised that Gabriel was willing to help kill Jes.h.i.+ckah. She was only wary of why he would help a pair of slaves do it. "What's between you and this vamp?" Turquoise pressed, remembering Ravyn's reaction every time Gabriel's name had been mentioned.

"I've worked with him in the past," Ravyn answered vaguely. "He knows I'm a hunter, but my profession has been beneficial to him before, so he won't be a threat. He's been helpful enough that I'll forgive him for never informing me of his connection to this trade." Returning to the subject at hand, she continued, "You'll find your blade beneath the pillow in your room. Once you get it, I say we make this a race: whoever brings down the target first gets Ms. Red's bonus. You game?"

Turquoise found herself answering Ravyn's bl.u.s.ter in kind. Meeting Ravyn's eye with a level gaze, she challenged, "How about the loser forfeits the t.i.tle?" Turquoise wouldn't be able to beat Ravyn with a whip, though Ravyn probably didn't know that. She also knew where Jes.h.i.+ckah slept, and as a bleeder she could easily put herself in the vampiress's path.

Ravyn hesitated; she did not want to admit uncertainty in her skills by declining the bet, but she did not want to risk her t.i.tle by accepting.

The burgundy hunter's intense expression suddenly disappeared, changing to one of modest boredom, as her gaze s.h.i.+fted past Turquoise. "Eric, hey," she greeted. "The meal's over, but if you're hungry I can dig something out of the fridge."

"I was looking for Audra, but thanks," the boy responded, oblivious to the conversation he had just interrupted. "You have a chance to talk to Jaguar?" he asked Turquoise.

Her last conversation with Eric seemed a very long time ago now, but she dredged it up in her memory and answered, "I'm not allowed outside."

Eric frowned in annoyance. "That's a pain." He turned, sensing the vampire behind him before anyone else did.

Turquoise looked up and recognized the vampire; her mind spun and stalled instantly.

Ravyn glanced at Turquoise and seemed to see the other hunter faltering. With a superb imitation of humility, she asked, "Can I help you, milord?"

Lord Daryl barely paused to look at Ravyn before answering, "You're dismissed." Ravyn exited swiftly, her eyes never leaving the vampire. She paused in the doorway and glanced at Turquoise, who nodded minutely, before disappearing into the hall.

"Eric, you have work to do," Lord Daryl added.

Eric looked at Turquoise for a moment, silent apology clear in his features, but he did not argue with the vampire. With him gone, the room was cleared but for Turquoise and Lord Daryl.

Black, unreadable eyes watched Turquoise as she took in the smallest details of his appearance, remembering vividly how those slender artist's hands could deliver a beating so severe she had begged forgiveness for whatever imagined or real transgression had set it off. Remembering the sharpness of fang in her throat, the seductive pull of his mind as he drew her blood. And of course, remembering the instant pain of his whip turned on her once in a fit of fury.

"Lord Daryl." Her voice was so soft even she could hardly hear it.

"Catherine, how nice to find you here," he greeted, and his tone was polite with an undercurrent of anger, a tone she would have stepped back from had she had anywhere to go. "Imagine my surprise when I saw you with Jaguar earlier." Without warning, he backhanded her hard enough to send her reeling. "Where have you been?"

Turquoise grasped for her lies, searching for a story she could tell to this creature, but all of her clever tales slipped from her reach. Catherine was not a vampire hunter. She was just a girl, a girl Lord Daryl had abducted and terrorized, a girl with no guile and no defense.

"Never mind," he snapped when she took too long to respond. "Come here."

"No," she replied instantly, backing away toward the kitchen. His black gaze fixed on her in anger, and he grabbed her arm; Turquoise wrenched out of his grip and took another step back. "Don't touch me." She could not feign sycophancy, not with Lord Daryl. If he had been any other bloodsucker, she could have played the part of subservient slave, but she did not have the strength to kneel to this beast from her past.

She couldn't fight back, either. Rationally, she knew that fighting would make it obvious that she was a hunter. Irrationally, every fighting move she had ever learned had disappeared from her head the instant he had touched her.

"Don't argue with me, Catherine," he warned.

She stopped backing up. "Don't call me that."

"Catherine?" He laughed as he said it. "It's your name, in case you've forgotten."

Laughter was a good sign-it meant that he was not in the mood to injure. Keeping him in that mood, however, was nearly impossible unless she wanted to beg forgiveness for the last two years of her life.

"Audra," she answered instead. "I'm going by Audra now. I haven't been Catherine in years."

"I really don't care," he answered, and this time he grasped her wrist in a grip she could not easily break. "Come here."

"No," she snapped, putting all her weight into an open-handed blow to his face. The heel of her palm hit just below the eye hard enough that it would have broken something if it had contacted with human flesh and bone. Four bands of crimson appeared where her nails raked across his skin.

Lord Daryl hit back harder, a reminder that if she wanted to trade punches, he would win. Black spots danced in front of Turquoise's eyes, and her back hit against the sharp edge of the counter as she tried to avoid falling.

"I'm leaving, Catherine, and you're coming with me."

"Don't you think you should discuss that with me, Daryl?"

The new voice came from the doorway. It was calm, almost a purr, but laced with threat all the same.

Lord Daryl grimaced, glanced back at Turquoise, and offered reluctantly, "I'll pay you whatever she cost."

"She isn't for sale to you."

"Really?" Lord Daryl asked, voice dangerously level. "Just to me?"

"To anyone," Jaguar admitted, "but you especially. I happen to be fond of her, and it doesn't appear that she wants to go with you."

Turquoise took a step away from Lord Daryl.

"Fond of her, are you?" he whispered, voice low. Jaguar seemed to sense that he had made a mistake; he said nothing, but looked to Turquoise.

"Lord Daryl-"

She didn't get any further before he struck her across the face hard enough that she stumbled. Before she could even think of defending herself, he had grabbed her by the throat and thrown her against the wall. A gasp of pain came from her throat, along with another attempt at, "Milord, please-"

"And how have you earned his favor, Catherine?" he demanded. "Does the jaguar think you're his?" He hit her again, this time sending her to the floor. "You're mine. Don't you understand that?"

"Milord, I didn't-"

A sharp kick caught her in the side, once again forcing the air from her lungs. d.a.m.n him to h.e.l.l and back, why am I groveling?

Yet she was, because she had always done so. "Milord, he didn't mean-"

The crack of a whip caused her to jump, expecting to feel the leather slice her flesh again; instead, Jaguar 's whip wrapped around Lord Daryl's throat, drawing blood. Lord Daryl stumbled, and while he was off balance Jaguar untangled the whip. Then he grabbed Lord Daryl's throat and threw the other vampire against the wall as easily as Lord Daryl had thrown Turquoise.

"You have no right," Lord Daryl protested, shoving Jaguar away. Jaguar gave ground, but stood between the vampire and Turquoise.

"Right of owners.h.i.+p. Even your twisted little mind can understand that one. Jes.h.i.+ckah paid for her, and then gave her to me. She is my property." Each word was clipped, spoken coldly, as if he was talking about a pet. Lord Daryl's eyes narrowed.

"She is not yours, Jaguar," he growled. "She was mine to begin with, before you ever bought her."

"And it seems you lost her, didn't you?"

"I didn't . . ." Lord Daryl paused, then smiled cruelly, his hand going to the cheek Turquoise had hit and the four quickly healing lines of blood there. "She wounded me. She drew blood, Jaguar. Even if you have owners.h.i.+p, I have claim."

Turquoise painfully turned her head away, knowing what the outcome of this argument would be. Blood claim was one of the vampires' highest laws. The blood she had drawn from Lord Daryl ent.i.tled him to do with her as he pleased; no other vampire was allowed to interfere if her once-master wished to beat, maim, or kill her.

She thought Jaguar might sigh, or even curse in frustration, but she expected him to give in. After all, there were some laws that none of their kind argued with, and blood claim was one of them.

She expected him to do anything, except what he did.

Jaguar laughed.

Lord Daryl looked shocked for a moment, before Jaguar began to speak.

"You're foolish enough to call blood claim here?" Turquoise did not understand what he was saying, and from the expression on Lord Daryl's face, he did not either. Jaguar went on, "Don't bother complaining that you were weak enough for a human to injure you, because I don't care. If you want to cower behind those laws, go to New Mayhem and serve the rulers there. Of course, they do have those nasty restrictions against the slave trade, but if you grovel prettily they might not kill you for disobeying." Lord Daryl nodded slowly, though none of the hatred left his eyes.

"Fine," Lord Daryl whispered. "Do whatever you want with her. Just watch that she doesn't put a knife in you before I can do it." He stalked out of the room.

Jaguar knelt beside Turquoise. He reached toward her and she flinched.

"Are you okay?" he asked, not touching her, afraid of causing further injury.

Cautiously, she tried to stand. Her left eye was swollen from Lord Daryl's first blow, and there was no doubt a lump growing on the back of her head from when she had been tossed against the wall. The left side of her rib cage was bruised, but she did not think anything was broken.

He had given her beatings worse than this one.

"I'll be fine," she whispered, leaning against the wall as she tried to get her bearings.

"Normally, one warning is enough for Daryl, but Jes.h.i.+ckah's been favoring him lately, and he thinks that gives him power. If I'd realized how smug he's gotten, I would have intercepted him before he could get to you," Jaguar apologized.

Turquoise shook her head, and then flinched at the pain the movement caused. "Lord Daryl will try to kill you, if you don't let him have me."

Jaguar sighed in annoyance. "I don't like murdering my own kind, but for Daryl, I would gladly make an exception. He knows it, too."

He tried to offer a hand when she pushed herself away from the wall, but Turquoise avoided it. She was sore, and would feel worse tomorrow after all the bruises and b.u.mps stiffened up, but Lord Daryl had never intentionally given her any permanent injuries. Even the majority of the scars on her arms had been accidental, not part of a beating.

Right now, though, she could not accept help from his kind. She would not let this small injury be a weakness. It was bad enough that she had frozen when fighting him, bad enough that she had lost every defense she had learned in two years the instant he had spoken her old name. She would not let Daryl turn her into weak prey again.

CHAPTER 13

JAGUAR ESCORTED TURQUOISE back to the courtyard, and brought ice from the infirmary for the bruise spreading on her face, as well as some water and some aspirin, all of which she accepted gratefully.

Turquoise forced herself to stretch to avoid the stiffening of her aching muscles. Doing so hurt, but it was better than running into Lord Daryl again when she was too stiff to lift an arm in self-defense.

She was antsy to get the weapon Ravyn had promised her, but Jaguar, while not exactly hovering, refused to leave. He tumbled with Shayla a bit, and then took a break to leaf through some papers.