Vampire Babylon - Break Of Dawn Part 3

would never get enough.

He felt hot, like bubbling oil. He simmered everywhere: against her skin, under it. On the tips of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, in the pit of her belly, in between her legs. Physical and not physical.

She groaned, pus.h.i.+ng a hand against the center of herself as if to bottle him in.

Burning, burning from the inside out, feeding on her until she was raw, gnawing at her like an unseen wild thing.

Too soon-too late-with a blast of ripping heat, he exploded within her, catapulting her, forcing her to rise off the floor and land on her hands and knees with one tight scream.

She clutched the sheet off his bed and grasped for air as she pressed her face into the linen. Minty smell . . .

Her body pounded, still wet and swollen. It'd never been this primitive between them; he'd never used her so quickly. . . .

She leaned forward, cheek against the mattress, depending on the bed for balance as she sought him with her gaze.

What she saw froze her.

From his p.r.o.ne spot, Jonah-the body itself-was smiling, obviously having watched his separated essence as it f.u.c.ked Dawn.

Obviously having enjoyed it.

Yes, he was smiling, and his eyes were . . .... blue.

Before Dawn could blink, he heaved in a breath, arched his back, closed his gaze, and wrenched to a sitting position. When he opened his eyes again, they were topaz.

He rapidly turned away from her, body canting toward the crucifix. "Now go," he roared.

Feeling somehow dirty, even if she'd lived her life banging one man after the other for the sheer gratification of it, Dawn rushed out of his room, chopping the door shut behind her. She sought the walls, hoping they would guide her back to Breisi's lab, where she could hear Kiko talking to someone.

What'd just happened? Sensual, savage, even tender . . . He'd been all those things before, but never like this. Never.

She stumbled into the lab, where Kiko was standing on a chair at the raised steel worktable. On the surface, a vial was being pushed toward him by an unseen force.

Breisi's voice came through strongly for Dawn. "Thorns from a wild rose make the concoction even more potent-"

As Kiko spotted Dawn, Breisi stopped talking. Pulse throbbing, body damp, she could feel other awakened Friends in the room checking her out, too. She had no idea how many had gathered, or how long she'd been with The Voice.

Smoothing down her sleeveless tank top, she walked toward them, acting as if everything were A-OK. But then she caught sight of herself in a corner vanity mirror.

Her dark brown hair was streaking out of her low ponytail, making her look like a mad housewife who'd just opened the knife drawer and was going to slice up the curtains. Her color was high, bringing out the bewilderment in her light brown eyes and emphasizing the scars over her eyebrow and on her cheek. She looked tough, but also more vulnerable than ever.

Ignoring her state of dishevelment-maybe no one would comment on it if she pretended things were cool-Dawn nodded to everyone.

"Short nap, Breisi?" she asked, poking around for information.

"Couldn't sleep . . ." came the ethereal reply.

None of them could rest. Then why not go back to work?

Real work.

Dawn gestured to Kiko. "When you're done here would you mind chatting with me for a few? In private?"

"Sure." Kiko raised an eyebrow at her while motioning at the table. "Breisi's divulging the secrets of her healing goo so all of us can make it. Don't you want to-?"

"Maybe later."

She managed a casual smile-acting!-then went to the stairs, climbing them even as her body protested. Muscles, hurting.

Soul . . . hurting.

She avoided thinking too hard about it, instead entering the foyer, where a black-clawed iron chandelier reigned over the heavy curtain-blocked windows. An archaic suit of armor guarded a stone mantel and, above that, another portrait rested.

Right now, there was only a background column of red flame, but it usually held more. The Fire Woman, Dawn called her. She scared her with her taunting gaze.But maybe Fire was on some job for the team since the portrait didn't show her body. Good. Dawn could deal with most of the other Friends, but this one . . .

The scent of jasmine swept by and almost knocked Dawn over.

Okay, maybe Fire Woman was home.

FOUR.

THE KIKO VIEW.

WHAT'S your deal, you crank?" Dawn said as she recovered her balance.

Around her, the air was still, the scent of jasmine gone. Normally, she would've just rolled her eyes at something so weird and dramatic happening around the Limpet place, but now she knew better. Besides, this wasn't her first run-in with a Friend. Not long ago, a female spirit named "Kalin" had given Dawn trouble during one of her stranger encounters with Jonah. He had ordered Kalin to subdue Dawn while initiating a discomfiting s.e.x game that included a blindfold, and the spirit had seemed all too happy to make Dawn squirm.

Wait. Now that she thought about it, Jonah had seemed off that day, too. He hadn't acted like the man . . . or whatever he was . .

. she'd come to know.

But back to more immediate matters-was Kalin the one messing with her right now? Dawn had no clue what the spirit's vendetta against her might be, but if that was how it was, then she wasn't above throwing down with the ghostie.

She got into a readied stance, expecting another attack while scanning the foyer.

Kiko's voice sounded from behind her. "I'm not gonna ask."

Dawn relaxed, facing him as he shut and locked the door to the lab stairway. His forehead was furrowed as he tucked his hands into the pockets of his cargo pants and approached.

"Just thought I'd get some practice in." Dawn's to-do list didn't include complaining about a crotchety spirit. "So, you have a few minutes? I need to bounce a few things off you."

Clearly wary, he raised an eyebrow. "Until the boss calls us together again, I've got lots of time."

Here it went-an investigation that would decide everything from here on out. She was ready to play hardball if it got her what she needed.

Information about Jonah's intentions.

"I'm leaving the team," she said, going full-throttle bulls.h.i.+t. Or maybe not.

For a second, Kiko just stared at her. But little by little, his blue eyes grew wider. "You can't do that."

"Kik, I know you've got these vibes about me being the 'key' to beating the Underground"-he'd envisioned her covered in the blood of a vampire, victorious, no big interpretation there-"but I don't get how that could ever happen."

"What do you mean?" And . . . cue Slightly Panicked Kiko.

"First of all, how am I going to be covered in vamp blood if Jonah keeps us locked down in this house and away from the big fight?

Doesn't that make you go 'hmmm'?"

Panicked Kiko gave way to Relieved Kiko. "Listen, I only saw the end result, Dawn, not how it all comes about. Is that all you're worried about, the lack of brawling? Yeesh."

Answer a question with a question; that was how to conduct an interrogation. "What I'm really wondering is why should I stick by a boss I don't trust? Because you tell me to?"

Kiko opened his mouth, but Dawn cut him off.

"Weren't you the one who just told me not to trust what I see? Excuse me if I'm confused."

He raked a hand through his hair. A sheen of sweat formed on his upper lip. "You can't leave, Dawn."

"Watch me."

In an Oscar-worthy moment, she even took a step toward the door. He grabbed her arm before she could make any progress, leaving her to wonder if she would've really walked out. If she would've deserted the closest place she had to a home.

"Wait, would you?" Calmer Kiko took her hand in both of his, cupping it, begging as much as he would probably allow himself to.

"I don't know what's been going on between you and the boss-I mean, yeah, I kinda know, and I don't wanna go there-but I'm sure he'd do anything to get you to stay. We need you."

"Where have I heard that before?" Time to soften her tone. "Kik, I'm not like you. I didn't come loaded with that n.o.ble loyalty you and Breisi have. I should be out there looking for my own dragon to slay. Eva could be halfway across the country by now, far away from the Underground she turned her back on last night."

"Look at this another way. . . . Wouldn't supporting the boss in bringing down the Master-the thing that planned Breisi's death- go a long way in satisfying you for now? Then you can get Eva."

A flicker of interest lit through her, but she doused it. "I'm not stupid enough to think Jonah can go into that vamp lair and come out the winner. Have you thought about what happens if he loses? Will the Underground hunt us down for being a part of Jonah's posse? Are we going to be sitting ducks?"

"The boss can handle any and all vamps."

"And you know that because . . . ?"

He shuffled his oversized feet. "He's done it before."

Dawn took her hand away from Kiko's. "And that's where I have to start trusting in this whole process again. Not going to happen. I'm not staying around to be Jonah's p.a.w.n anymore."

Wow, she sounded pretty confident about all this-almost enough to convince even herself.

"We're not p.a.w.ns," Kiko said, not looking at her.

"Oh? Then tell me all about what Jonah wants with these vamps. Tell me exactly why he's going after this Underground. Something more than a p.a.w.n would know."

Her voice seemed to bounce off the walls. She didn't care if Jonah could hear all this. She hoped he could.

Shaking his head, the psychic looked at a loss again.

"You don't know why," Dawn said.

"I just feel I'm doing the right thing." His eyes seemed so honest, clear. "It's like the first time I caught a bad guy by using my talents-I knew I couldn't stand by while he raped his way around L.A. when I had the power to stop him. With these vamps, how can I just sit around knowing they're out there? How can I not help?" "You really think the boss's intentions are for the best, that he isn't a megalomaniac who's using us to take over this Underground?"

"Yes." Kiko swallowed. "Yes, I believe in him."

In spite of his odd reaction, she still wondered how anyone could go through life with so much faith. If there was one thing she knew about herself, it was that she was incapable of being so pure. Eva's supposed death had warped her from the beginning, and it wasn't so easy to change.

Kiko had eased his hand over Dawn's again in a tacit plea for her to stop doubting, to stay.

It was time for her to strike. Now or never-before she lost courage.

"If I just knew everything you did about Jonah, maybe I'd . . ." She allowed the thought to wisp away.

Jackpot. Kiko grimaced, as if debating with himself.

"You know more than what Jonah revealed to me last night," Dawn said quietly, bending down to his height. "s.h.i.+t, you have been withholding while I've been b.u.mbling around in ignorance."

"What I know might not be what it seems on the surface." Like his upper lip, his hand was moist. "There was never a need for you to know what I . . . Dawn, the boss has good reasons to keep us in the dark. He's learned the hard way with his past teams."

Jonah had already mentioned something about this difficulty with his previous hunters. It made her wonder exactly what had occurred during his searches for other Undergrounds, what had become of the vampire communities in the end.

h.e.l.l, she wouldn't be surprised if Jonah was ruling all the Undergrounds he'd conquered. What if he was actually using this house as headquarters and the Friends as regents? What if he was a bad guy, just like Eva had said?

Dawn got back on track. "Okay, Kik, so basically, when the boss keeps information from us, he's protecting us. I'm not so down with that kind of leaders.h.i.+p."

"Think about this: what if one of us gets captured by the Underground? Those vamps can mind screw. If we knew everything about the boss, they'd take that information and use it to destroy him."

Okay, that made sense, but it didn't make her happy.

"Besides," Kiko added, "I know that, one time, there was a team member who really bungled an operation because she knew too much and decided to act on her own great wisdom instead of listening to Jonah. He doesn't want a repeat."

"And how many team members has he lost because they wanted to know why they were fighting?"

"Don't know."

"Big surprise there." She patted his hand. "Good luck with all that, okay? I'll be pulling for you guys-"

"Stop." Now his face was truly scrunched, as if he were downing a bitter pill.

He didn't say anything for a full minute, but Dawn waited him out, knowing he was close to doing what she wanted. He believed so much in his premonition about her being "key" that he would move mountains to make her stay. More powerfully, she suspected that he wanted to make up for all the psychic damage done by the painkillers he'd been taking; he wanted to prove that he was still a meaningful part of the team-a person who mattered.