She ignored that, too. “—how long before you and Cibor can get here?”
“Look, I’m not sure—”
“About what?” Natalie demanded. “Christian and Marc are out there all alone against who knows how many enemies. They need help, and I can do that.”
“How, Natalie?” Jaclyn asked softly, her voice full of compassion. “I understand you want to help him, but you can’t fight vampires, sugar. I don’t care how much karate or whatever it is that you do. You’ll only get hurt or worse, and that won’t help him.”
“I appreciate what you’re saying, but you don’t know—”
“And Christian?” Jaclyn persisted. “Do you think he wants you in the middle of a vampire battlefield? Do you have any idea what that’s like? He locked you in his house, didn’t he? I bet you’re sitting there with all the shutters deployed, and not even a window to look out of. Tell me I’m wrong.”
Natalie tightened her jaw, hating to admit Jaclyn was right. But she still didn’t know everything that Natalie knew. “You’re not wrong about the house, but it doesn’t matter. Christian doesn’t know that he’s on his own. Scoville told him that help was coming, that Vincent was coming. But he’s not. Anthony sent him to the other side of Mexico! I have to warn Christian.”
“Did you try calling him?’ Jaclyn asked patiently.
“Of course, I did,” she snapped. “It was the first thing I thought of, but he’s not answering.”
“He probably turned everything off. No distractions on the battlefield,” Jaclyn mused. “It’s what I would do.”
“Well, whatever his reasons, I can’t reach him, which means I have to go there—”
“And become the biggest distraction of all.”
That gave Natalie pause. Jaclyn was right. Christian would worry more about protecting her than himself. And that could get him killed. But she couldn’t sit here and do nothing. “Christian needs what I know,” she insisted.
Jaclyn sighed. “He’s probably figured it out by now, but I’ll send Cibor to be sure. And you’re not going, even if I have to lock you up. Cibor can get there faster without you, and he’s one hell of a fighter.”
Natalie’s heart was urging her to go, to find her own way there and rush to Christian’s side. But her very excellent brain shut that idea down almost before it started. Jaclyn was right. Christian needed Cibor right now a lot more than he did Natalie.
She sighed deeply, and mumbled, “Okay.”
“It’s for the best, sugar. But I’ll come over and keep you company, anyway. We’re on our way.”
Laredo, TX, on the Mexican border
CHRISTIAN STARED out the window as the helicopter swooped low over the border outpost. Its belly lights illuminated an adobe-style building that appeared abandoned. There were no guards in sight, despite the chopper hovering noisily overhead, and no lights were on anywhere in the building. What the hell had happened here? Had Hubert already attacked and moved on?
As the helicopter circled, he swept the area with his power, searching for life forms of any kind. He caught a drift of something strong enough to bring all of his senses to full alert, but then it was gone, like a scent blown in from far away, and stirred up by the chopper blades. He frowned, considering the possibilities. It could be nothing, a trace left over from the many vampires who’d occupied this outpost. Or it could be Hubert. The ancient vampire might have clamped down on his power a second too late to conceal it from Christian, which meant he was close. The possibility made him uneasy, but not as uneasy as the abandoned outpost did. Where were the vampires who should have been stationed here? Where was Scoville?
Christian studied the lone outpost building, looking for answers as the helicopter made its landing approach. The structure was big enough to hide a lot of vampires, and there was certain to be a basement. Maybe Anthony’s people had hidden themselves down there, wanting Hubert to think the place abandoned, so they could spring an ambush.
He continued his sweep of the area, probing as deeply as his considerable power would let him. He found nothing and no one, until the helicopter dropped low enough to land, and then he faltered under the assault. The outpost was a graveyard. It stank of very recent violence and death. Everyone who’d been here in the last twenty-four hours was dead. Friend or enemy, it didn’t matter.
The chopper settled on the ground, skids sinking into the soft dirt. Christian slapped Marc on the shoulder, then stepped out, adopting a crouching run until he cleared the rotor blades, then straightening to look around.
“I’m not sensing anyone,” Marc said quietly, his voice troubled as he came up next to Christian.
“There’s nothing to feel but death,” Christian told him, then stiffened to attention and spun around.
“You’re too late,” a rough voice said from within the darkness of the open door.
Christian stepped in front of Marc as a figure appeared. His face was in shadow, but Christian could read the exhaustion in his body language, could see the blood draining from multiple wounds in his chest that obviously wouldn’t heal.
“Who—” he started to say, but then the person emerged fully, and he recognized him. “Scoville?” he said in surprise. “What the hell happened here?”
Scoville smiled bitterly, and took a stumbling step forward. Marc rushed over to help, slinging the other vampire’s arm over his shoulder and easing him over to a nearby wall to sit. Christian watched without saying anything, while Scoville tried to catch his breath. He must have been shielding like crazy to conceal himself from Christian’s initial sweep. Why?
“I didn’t know who you were,” Scoville said, anticipating Christian’s question. “I thought it was Anthony, coming to make sure of his work.”