Lover Avenged (Black Dagger Brotherhood 7)

"Just cold."

"Here, lemme hit you with some hot air."

As a warm blast blew on her face, she glanced out the back window. No car in sight. And lessers couldn't dematerialize, so...she was schizophrenic?

Christ, she'd almost rather it be a slayer.

Ehlena had the driver drop her as close to the back of the rented house as possible and gave him a little extra in the tip for being so nice.

"I'll wait until you get inside," the guy said.

"Thanks." And man, she meant that.

With two plastic bags hanging from each hand, she walked quickly to the door and had to put her load down, because like an idiot she'd been so busy wigging out that she hadn't gotten her keys ready. Just as she put her hand into her purse to do the rummage-and-curse routine, the taxi took off.

She looked up as its taillights turned the corner. What the-

"Hello."

Ehlena froze. The presence was right behind her. And she knew exactly who it was.

As she pivoted around, she saw a tall female with black hair and a lot of robes and glowing eyes. Ah, yes...this was Rehvenge's other-

"Half," the female finished. "I am his other half. And I am sorry your taxi driver had to leave so quickly."

On instinct, Ehlena covered her thoughts with the image of a display from Hannaford's: a five-foot-high, three-foot-wide display of red Pringles cans.

The female frowned as if she had no clue what she was finding in the cerebral cortex she was trying to invade, but then she smiled. "You have nothing to fear from me. I just thought I would share some things with you about that male you f**ked back in his penthouse."

Screw the snack-food thought facade; that didn't go far enough. To keep calm, Ehlena needed all her professional training. This situation was a trauma case, she told herself. A bloody vampire body that had just been wheeled in before her, and she had to put aside all fear and all emotion to deal with the situation.

"Did you hear what I said?" the female drawled, her speech pattern nothing that Ehlena had ever heard before, the Ss extended into hisses. "I watched you through the glass, right until he pulled out at the end. Do you want to know why he did that?"

Ehlena kept her mouth shut and started wondering how she could get at the pepper spray in her pocketbook. Somehow, though, she didn't think that would have any effect-

Holy shit, were those...live scorpions in those earlobes?

"He's not like you." The female smiled with an evil satisfaction. "And not just because he's a drug lord. He's also not a vampire." When Ehlena's brows twitched, the female laughed. "You didn't know either of those?"

Evidently her Pringles and her training weren't completely doing the job. "I don't believe you."

"ZeroSum. Downtown. He owns it. You know the place? Probably not, as you don't seem like the type who would go there-which is no doubt why he likes to f**k you. Let me tell you what he sells. Human women. Drugs of all kinds. And you know why? Because he's like me, not you." The female leaned in close, her eyes flashing brightly. "And do you know what I am?"

A flaming bitch, Ehlena thought.

"I'm a symphath, little girl. That's what he and I are. And he's mine."

Ehlena started to wonder if she was going to die tonight, here on the back stoop with four bags of groceries at her feet. Although it wouldn't be because this lying female was actually a symphath-it would be because anyone who was crazy enough to suggest such a thing was absolutely capable of murder.

The female continued, her voice strident. "You want to really know him? Go to that club and find him there. Make him tell you the truth and know what you let into your body, little one. And remember this, he is all mine, sexually, emotionally, everything he is, is mine."

A three-knuckled finger brushed down Ehlena's cheek, and then just like that the female was gone.

Ehlena shook so badly she momentarily turned into a solid, the trembling so deep in her muscles she was rendered motionless. The cold was what saved her. As an icy blast shot down the sidewalk, it pushed her forward, and she caught herself before she teetered over onto her groceries.

The key to the house, when she finally found it, went into the lock no better than the one she'd tried to use on the ambulance. Skipping...skipping...skipping...

Finally.

She cranked the lock free, and all but threw the bags inside before slamming herself in and locking everything tight, including the interior dead bolts and the security chain.

On weak legs, she went and sat down at the kitchen table. When her father called up about the noise, she said it was the wind and prayed he wouldn't come up to see her.

In the ensuing quiet, Ehlena didn't feel any presence outside of the house, but the idea someone like that knew about her and Rehv and where she lived-Oh, God, that crazy female had watched them.

Bolting up, she rushed to the kitchen sink and ran the tap to cover the noise in case she got sick. Hoping to settle her stomach, she put her palms together, captured some cool water, and had a few swallows before washing her face.

The drink and rinse cleared her head a little.

The claims the female had made were totally and bizarrely outlandish, way far outside the realm of reality-and going by her glowing eyes, she clearly had an ax to grind.

Rehv wasn't any of those things. Drug lord. Symphath. Pimp. Come on.

Sure as hell you didn't take anything so much as what a male's favorite color was from some stalker ex-girlfriend type. Especially given that Rehv had made it clear the two weren't together, and intimated from the get-go that the chick was trouble. And no wonder he hadn't wanted to go into it. No one wanted to admit to somebody they were getting involved with that they had lurking in their past a bunny-boiling, I'm-not-going-to-be-ignored-Dan sort of psychotic.

So what did she do now? Well, that was obvious. She was going to tell Rehv. Not in a freaked-out, keep-the-drama-rolling kind of way, but more like, Here is what happened and you need to be aware that this person is seriously unstable.

Ehlena felt good with the plan.

Until she tried to get her phone out of her purse and realized she was still shaking. Her mind's response might be logical, her rationalizations might be fine and dandy, but her adrenaline was cooking along like crazy, and not really interested in all the sense she was talking into herself.

What was she doing? Oh...right. Rehvenge. Call Rehvenge.

As she hit his number, she started relaxing a little. They were going to work this out.

She was momentarily surprised when she got voice mail, but then remembered he'd had that meeting to go to. She almost hung up, but she wasn't the kind who beat around the bush, and there was no reason to wait.

"Hey, Rehv, I just got a visit from this...female. She was talking a lot of craziness about you. I just...well, I thought you should know. To be honest, she's freaky. Anyway, maybe you can call me and talk to me about this? I'd really appreciate it. Bye."

She hung up and stared at the phone, praying he got back to her fast.

Wrath had made a promise to Beth and he kept it. Even though it killed him.

When he and the Brothers finally left Sal's, he went straight home, along with his two thousand pounds of personal guard. He was twitchy and fist-hungry, teed up and pissed off, but he'd told his shellan he was not going to go out in the field after his little blind episode, and he wasn't.

Trust was something you had to build, and considering the hole he'd jackhammered into the foundation of their relationship, it was going to take him a lot of work just to get back to ground level.

Besides, if he couldn't fight, there was something else he could do to take the edge off.

As the Brotherhood walked into the foyer, the sound of boots echoed, and Beth shot out of the billiards room as if that were what she'd been waiting for. With a leap, she was in his arms before he could blink, and it was good.

After a quick hug, she stepped back and held him at arm's length, looking him over. "You're okay? What happened? Who showed? How-"

The Brothers all started talking at once, although not about the meeting that hadn't happened. The bunch of them were bidding over territory to hunt during the three hours they had left to be out and about.

"Let's go to the study," Wrath said over the din. "I can't hear myself think."

As he and Beth hit the stairs, he called out to his brothers, "Thanks for having my back once again."

The group stopped and turned to face him. After a beat of silence, they formed a half circle around the foot of the grand staircase, each making a thick fist with his weapon hand. With a great whoomp! of a war cry, they went down on their right knee and slammed their heavy knuckles into the mosaic floor. The sound was thunder and bass drums and bomb explosions, ricocheting outward, filling all the rooms of the mansion.