"From the moment I seize the guard's mind, he can do nothing but what I tell him."
"Can Pushkin, I don't know, link with his guard, see what he sees?"
Raphael nodded. “Possibly. If it's one of his own children, then certainly."
"So that's it. Pushkin sees you arrive, waits until you enter the house ... and then who knows. Something absolutely lethal. Can you keep Pushkin from using his guard that way?"
"Yes."
"So, you make the guard see what he expects to see, which is you at the gate. He opens the gate, let's Pushkin know you're here and walks into the house. Let the guard spring the trap, whatever it is. Let him walk into the house."
Raphael looked at her. “That will very likely result in the guard's death."
Cyn shrugged. “Better him than you."
Raphael's eyes glowed with amusement and something else. “So bloodthirsty, my Cyn. Duncan?"
"It should work, my lord."
"Very well, then...” Raphael turned sharply and pinned her with his gaze. “Is Alexandra in that house?"
Cynthia gave him a disbelieving look. Did he really think she'd leave Alexandra to die? Shit. He was such an a**hole sometimes. “No,” she snapped out loud. Raphael studied her carefully, then shifted his gaze to Duncan with a jerk of his head.
"Wait,” Cyn said quickly, before the blond vampire did the speedy disappearing thing. “There's a lot of activity going on over at the other house. I checked it out with my goggles, but some of your guys should take a look. You see better than I do, plus you'll make more sense of what they're doing."
Duncan signaled for a couple of the other vampires to accompany him and the three of them were gone before Cynthia could blink twice. She sighed. That was a handy trick. She stood awkwardly for a moment, painfully aware of Raphael's heavy gaze across the battered picnic table. “Look, my car's parked at the other end, I'm going to walk over there and gear up."
"I'll go with you,” Raphael murmured, his mouth curving into a bare smile.
"No.” They all stared at her. “I mean, you need to stay here in case Duncan comes back. I'll be fine.” Cyn started walking, not daring to look back until she heard footsteps hurrying after her. She whirled, ready to tell Raphael to f**k off ... but it was Elke who strolled up to her, a big grin splitting her wide face.
"The boss sent me along.” She leaned in conspiratorially. “You think maybe he doesn't trust you?” She sniggered.
Cyn met Raphael's eyes over the shorter woman's head. “Fuck off, Elke,” she said clearly, then spun on her heel and stalked around the building to the other parking lot.
The female vamp followed her anyway, but Cyn ignored her, pulling out her key and clicking the locks open before yanking up the rear hatch. There would be no finesse for her tonight. Tonight called for brute force. She opened the large, padded gun case on the floor of the cargo compartment, revealing what she thought of as her vampire arsenal. First, an Uzi submachine gun. She slapped in one 32-round magazine and stashed a backup in each of her thigh pockets. An almost involuntary smile crossed her face as she reached for the next item. She'd had it custom-made after her first encounter with a hostile vamp. It was an ammo belt of sorts, four lightweight, machine-sanded wooden stakes, each tipped with a lethal folded steel stabbing edge. The knife maker who'd designed it for her had taken pride in his product and etched intricate designs all around the band of each blade where it gripped the wood. Each was a work of lethal art.
Behind her Elke hissed out a breath. “Damn, girl."
"It takes strength to plow a stake through a man,” Cyn murmured, then glanced at the vamp out of the corner of her eye. “Or a woman. The steel gives me an opening.” She almost chuckled at her own inadvertent pun.
"You really think you can keep up with the big boys?"
Cynthia turned around, but didn't look at Elke, focusing instead on buckling on the belt and checking the slide of each of the stakes. “No,” she said. “I know I can't.” She looked up then and met the other woman's stare. “But I can hold my own."
Elke gave her a grudging nod. “Maybe you can."
"Do be careful to distinguish friend from foe.” Duncan's voice came out of the shadows seconds before he emerged himself.
Cyn gave him a mocking smile. “Worried, Duncan?"
"Always, Ms. Leighton,” he said solemnly. “We are about to depart."
She closed the hatch and walked over to him. “How close does Raphael have to get to the guard?"
"Not close at all."
"So we have the big guy work his magic, and we see what happens. Whatever it is, it'll be the sign for the other vamps to move, so—"