Tempting Evil (Riley Jenson Guardian 3)

"Did I say - "

I cut the rest of the sentence off as the squeak of a door opening cut across the stable's restless silence. Kade stepped back, the shifting haze scooting across his body until he was horse once more. He walked to the stable door and peered out. I kept in the shadow of his form, knowing that anyone but a vampire would have trouble sorting out the beat of Kade's heart from mine, the heat of his body from mine.

For several minutes, there was no sound, no movement, from the person who'd opened the door.

Then footsteps echoed, a whisper-soft tattoo of sound that had purpose, threat.

And they were bypassing all the stalls, coming directly toward us. I stepped back from the door and looked around for a weapon. A stupid reaction, really, when all the training I'd had over the last few months had made me as much of a weapon as anything made of steel or wood.

And there wasn't anything more dangerous than a water bucket in the stall, anyway.

I flexed my fingers, trying to ease the tension curling through my limbs as the footsteps drew closer. Kade flattened his ears and bared his teeth, yet his actions seemed to stem more from dislike than any attempt to attack.

The tingle of awareness suddenly caressing my senses told me why.

It wasn't a stranger, wasn't one of Starr's guards, who approached.

It was Quinn.

He stopped several paces short of the stall door. The anger I'd felt at his actions earlier crashed through me again, and for several heartbeats it was all I could do not to burst through the door and attack him. Not that physically attacking him would do me any good, because he was stronger and faster, but I'd always been inclined to use my fists more than my psychic talents.

Besides, I was pretty sure the latter wouldn't be effective, no matter how much stronger they might have gotten. I'd caught him by surprise last time. There wouldn't be a second time. I was sure of that.

So I settled for stepping forward, keeping the door a barrier between us, and growling, "What the fuck are you doing here?"

He had his "vampires don't do emotion" face on and his smile was cold. I wasn't picking anything up from him along the sensory lines, which meant he had shields on high and his feelings locked down as tightly as his expression. "Did you think I would give up on my revenge so easily?"

I snorted. "I've experienced the lengths you'll go to for your revenge, so no. What I meant was, how did you get here?"

"On the bus."

"With Rhoan? Somehow I doubt he'd have allowed that."

"I said I was on the bus. I didn't say I was in the bus. One of the benefits of being an old vampire is the ability to slip past perception when I wish."

"Rhoan is a psi dead-zone. You couldn't have touched his mind and stopped him from sensing you."

"I didn't have to. I simply ceased to exist in any term the human mind recognizes."

I raised my eyebrows. "What the hell does that mean?"

"That there are more talents in this world than you and Jack and others know of. And it's also a reminder that when I crossed the lines between life and death, I not only inherited the talents of my maker, but I brought with me those talents I had in life."

"Humans don't have the sort of talent you just spoke about, and you told me you were human."

"I considered myself so."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that I was raised human, but technically was only partially so."

"So the other half was... what?"

"Something that no longer exists."

I snorted softly. "And you wonder why no one is trusting you or being open with you at the moment? I mean, it's really hard to open up and give a direct answer, isn't it?"

Anger sparked deep in the dark depths of his eyes. "A fine statement considering the secrets you and Jack have kept. If you had confided in me more, I would not have been forced to such extremes."