"For all this help, all this insider info -
which is invaluable ... and I can't deliver Tara, or the Light, no guarantees. I might not even be able to get to you before they snatch your ass to make it quick ... and even then they'd have your soul..."
All true," Yonnie said, studying his new manicure with a half-smile. Bewildered, Carlos opened his arms and stared at his friend. "What are you getting out of this, man? I'm not supposed to say this, but, in your situation ... like, you c ould save yourself, make an existence you could deal with You know as long as you lay low in my territory and don't do crazy kills around me and the team ... I'd ... if you was cool." Carlos looked away, unable to say it, and half-disbelieving he'd even considered that he'd turn a blind eye to Yonnie's coven kills if he needed to do human feeds as a councilman. "Scratch that, man," he muttered. "You know what I'm saying." For a while they both fell silent, then Yonnie's quiet voice brought their lines of vision together.
"Since you said something that you're not supposed to say as a Neteru," Yonnie murmured, his focus locked on Car los, "then I'm gonna say something that I'm not supposed to say as a vampire ... but since we're both breaking it down to street code - that we would do for a brother we loved down to the blood like we'd do for no other, I'll say this." He swallowed hard and walked away from Carlos, his breathing la bored as he battled with his emotions. "You asked what I am getting out of this ... why I am doing this." "Yeah," Carlos said, his voice distant and thick. "You give me something I never had. Something that doesn't exist where I'm trapped now." He turned and looked Carlos dead in the eyes. "Hope."
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER TWELVE
Tara's eyes popped open and for a second she didn't breathe; then she gently removed Rider's arm from around her waist as she listened to him sleep. She sat up in a smooth, fluid motion to allow him to rest, and went to the window.
She hugged herself as she listened to the familiar voice inside her head. It wasn't a sexual request, or even one delivered with rage, it was just a fervent bleating of her name in a tone so melancholy that tears came to her eyes. Her initial instinct was to just open the door and run toward the voice in her nightgown. But not wanting disaster, she became very still inside herself and remembered how to answer a master vampire's call. Her message was basic as she moved toward her suitcases to find a top and jeans: I will come to you so we can talk, but promise me that you won't hurt him. A shudder ran through her as she quickly stepped into her clothes. Once she'd responded,
the energy that reverberated inside her head was stronger than she'd ever recalled. Deeper, more sensual, more robust... denser. She had to find her shoes. Flip-flops. Then she stopped and stared at the bed. She had to let Rider know so he wouldn't wake up, panic, come out to the beach, and get hurt.
Hurrying to his side, she kissed him and gently roused him with several soft shoves.
"Rider, honey, wake up," she said quietly, trying to monitor the urgency in her voice.
"Oh, hey ..." Rider murmured, sleepily trying to pull her back into bed. "I woulda run down the hall to get some more - "
"No, no, listen to me," Tara said, holding his face with both hands. "I love you, okay?" His hands covered hers as he leaned up to kiss her. "Same here, just come back to bed and I'll show - "
"No," she said, holding his face tighter. "I have to go. This is something I have to do, and you can't follow me. I wanted you to know so you wouldn't wake up and - "
"Oh, shit and oh hell no!" Rider was out of the bed like he'd been shot at. He pointed across the room at the bedroom door that led to the larger part of the suite. "If a master vampire is outside this door, I'm gonna cause an international incident and unload a goddamned bazooka in here, Tara. So what the fuck is going on!"
"He did not violate our room, but he is outside on the beach. And