Staked (4 page)

“There’s no one in there,” she said. “Let me
in.”

Stone didn’t move aside, but glanced at her
with an inquiring look. “And you know this how?”

Ava tried to choke back her frustration.
There’d be plenty of time for explanations, just not now. “I know
it just like I know what you are.”

“Maybe we’d better step inside.” He moved
back and tugged her into the room. “What exactly do you think you
know about me?”

Ava stepped across the threshold, met by a
dark, murky haze swirling about the room. “Not now.” She stared
into the mist, trying to separate the colors. She crept inside,
letting her gaze infiltrate the vapor that seemed to be growing
thicker as the seconds ticked away.

As Mickey and Skeet entered the apartment,
Ava went to the far side of the room and dragged a barstool from
the counter separating the living room from the small kitchen. She
pulled the stool to the middle of the mostly bare area in the
living room. “Sit down,” she said to Stone, pointing at the
stool.

“What?”

“Just do it. And be quiet.” She let her gaze
travel to Stone and for a split-second she saw it. A dark,
blood-red smoke with a brassy hue surrounding him. It wasn’t there
long, but it was there long enough to tell her two things: Stone
had a mysterious side—one he was hiding—and he was annoyed. Well,
she knew all about what he was hiding. And as for him being
annoyed, she couldn’t care less.

She held her hand up to him as a gesture of
quiet while she took a slow turn around the room. The haze was
growing thicker, the murkiness darker. As she feared, it was going
to take a lot to figure this one out.

No matter what, she wouldn’t walk out of this
one. Someone was going to have to carry her. Did she trust Stone
that much? He had stepped between her and Lucien’s Tiki powder, not
knowing what it was, and just now he’d insisted on entering the
apartment first.

Ava kicked her Chakra energy into
overdrive.

A sensitive blend of light and color
separated the hues into muddy pink, murky gray and a mucky brown.
Dark, unsettling thoughts of a dishonest nature had transpired in
this room. Ava closed her eyes and attempted to fine-tune the
picture of what had happened there earlier.

The image of the haze cleared in Ava’s mind
into a daytime scene in the apartment’s living room.

Lucien, Cole and a couple of Lucien’s goons
stood in a circle, much where Ava, Stone, Mickey and Skeet were now
standing.

“
You don’t have much choice, Cole,” Lucien
said. “The guy who rented this place to you sold you out to a
bounty hunter. He’s going to turn you over to her tonight.”

“
Are you shittin’ me?” Fear fueled Cole’s
tone. “What am I going to do?” His eyes shifted with a hopeful
look. “Can you take me to another year?”

“
No.” Lucien shook his head.

“
Why not?” Desperation invaded his tone.
“I can pay.”

Lucien laughed. “If I take you to another
year, she’ll know it.” He broke the circle and moved toward the
window, looking out over the city through his sunglasses. “I have
to hide you here, in this time, until she leaves.”

“
Where are we going?”

Lucien’s laughter turned devilish. “I’m going
to hide you in the one place she’d never look.”

The scene turned grainy and started to
fade.

Damn. Ava had pushed her luck. She felt her
legs giving at the same time her mind drifted off toward
unconsciousness.

* * *

Ava awoke to total darkness. As the languor
faded the first thing she noticed was the soft sheets—definitely
Egyptian cotton—beneath her nearly naked body.

Where was she and who’d undressed her?

She felt around the large king-size bed. It
was empty, save her. Ava tried to survey her surroundings but saw
nothing beyond the endless blackness. She called upon the
extra-sensory sight tied to her Karellian blood. Objects began to
appear in the darkness; it was much like wearing night vision gear.
But the unique skill, just like her ability to
read
people,
came with a price. It drained her Chakra energy.

She scanned the room quickly, settling her
sights on the silhouetted figure of Stone sitting in a nearby
chair. He was looking straight at her. More evidence that he was a
vampire. Only vamps and Karellians could see in this abyss. One
thing Ava was sure of—Dexter Stone was not Karellian.

She needed light or she’d pass out again.

As if he’d read her mind, Stone went to the
room’s far corner and switched on a small table lamp. It didn’t
give off much illumination, but it did allow her to go back to
normal vision and still see him and the room, albeit poorly.

“Where are we?” she asked.

“My place.” And again, as if he’d read her
thoughts, he said, “You did ask me not to leave you back
there.”

Ava scanned the dimly-lit room again.
“Where’s Mickey?” Her heart leaped into her throat as the inquiry
spilled from her mouth.

“He and Skeet are playing a video game.”
Stone let out a muffled laugh.

Really? Ava hadn’t pegged Mickey for a retro
video game fan. If the microchip inside Mickey’s head managed to
communicate with the ancient CPU inside the video game, Skeet
didn’t stand a chance.

“How long have I been asleep?” she asked.

“A few hours.”

She let out a soft sigh. That wasn’t nearly
long enough. She had the image in her head of what had happened at
Cole’s safe house, but it’d still be some time before the actual
conversation was revealed to her.

“There’s no rush,” he said. “We’ll take as
much time as you need before we go find my jewels.” He said it like
he was on her side, but something in his voice told her it was all
about recovering what Lucien had stolen from him.

“Thanks,” she said, hoping he wouldn’t
question her further about what had happened, yet knowing that
wasn’t likely. But a guy like Stone wouldn’t delve too deep into
her background because he had his own secrets to hide. Right?

“So what’s your plan?”

“Plan?” She stalled, buying time.

“You owe me.”

“I paid you.”

“True.” There it was again, that hint of
smirkish laughter. Was he amused? She couldn’t tell. He looked at
her with that stoic face of his, and said, “But you’re also the
reason it was stolen.”

Okay, so maybe Stone had a point. A moot one,
but a point nonetheless.

He was awfully fixated on those jewels, but
Ava understood why. They’d contribute nicely to his livelihood.
Gems held much more value in this time period than hers. “I’ll make
sure you’re reimbursed,” she assured him.

Dealing with him was too challenging,
especially since she was already exhausted. Ava wanted to turn over
and go back to sleep, but instead, she sat up and leaned against
the headboard.

“For some reason...” He shook his head and
leaned forward in the chair. “I believe that implicitly.”

Even in the softly-lit atmosphere, Ava could
make out his puzzled expression. “So you’re distrusting by nature
then?” Being a vamp tended to turn you in that direction.

“In my line of work you don’t run into too
many trustworthy people.”

“Yeah, I get that.” Ava found herself
laughing. After all, she chased criminals through time, and was
dependent upon guys like Stone to help her find them. But he’d been
gallant with her more than once. Perhaps Stone was worthy of her
good opinion. A vampire with a heart. Who knew?

Ava shifted her eyes and snuck a peek at him.
Even in the near-darkness she could see him clearly, every line,
every curve of his body. Her heart beckoned him to come to her
side.

No, no, no
. Ava fidgeted in the bed.
Getting mixed up with him was not a good idea.

Her first inclination was to toss the covers
aside and depart from his bed and his life, but most of her clothes
were gone. “How exactly did I wind up half-naked?” she asked,
tossing him an accusatory glare that she was certain he saw when he
laughed out loud.

“It’s a common known fact that a body rests
better when it’s naked.”

“You’re so full of it,” Ava said, trying to
tamp down her frustration. She didn’t want to be naked, half so or
otherwise, around him. It was dangerous.

“You had your chance to be rid of me, but you
chose differently.”

“I need a little more time,” she said in a
troubled tone, “and then we’ll be on our way.”

“How do you plan to find your friend?” He was
talking about Lucien, and Ava hadn’t overlooked the fact that Stone
was no longer calling Lucien her boyfriend.

“I don’t need to find him.”

“Yes, you do.” Stone’s voice stiffened. “He
has my jewels.”

“Once I find Cole, you’ll get your jewels.”
Or another batch of equal or greater value—at least to him.

“And just how do you plan on finding Cole?”
Stone’s tone still held a measure of distrust.

“It’s only a matter of time before I catch up
with Cole.” Just as soon as her Chakra energy refilled completely,
it’d reveal the conversation she’d witnessed back at the safe
house. And when that happened, Ava already knew she’d learn where
Lucien had taken her bounty.

Stone crooked his head toward her. Even in
the near-darkness Ava could still see his questioning eyes. “Does
that have anything to do with what happened back at the place?”

“Yes.”

“What did happen?”

“It’s a long story,” she said, buying time.
She had to be careful what she told him. There could be serious
consequences, unless her life was in danger, if she told Stone—a
person outside her base year period—that she had the ability to
travel through time.

But that didn’t mean she couldn’t tell him
about her talent for reading people and their residual impressions
from places they’d been within the last twenty-four hours—which is
what had allowed her to see the conversation Lucien had had with
Cole.

Maybe if she shared her secret, he’d tell her
about his. She’d feel a lot better about things if he’d take her
into his confidence. The act would represent a measure of trust.
And she could use a little trust.

Trust? Who was she kidding? Since when was it
a good idea to try to build trust with a vampire?

~~~~

Chapter Three

Ava exited Stone’s cave-like bedroom. She
lumbered down the dark hallway until it opened up into a living
room-kitchen area that wasn’t much brighter than the chamber she’d
just come from.

Mickey was sitting on the couch, watching TV,
and he was alone.

“Where’s Batman and Robin?” Ava asked,
dropping next to him on the couch.

“They went...out,” Mickey said with a
half-snort, putting a notable emphasis on the word
out
. He
picked up the television’s remote control off the coffee table and
waved it in the air at her. “I still can’t get over the fact that
you need this to change the channel.”

“Yeah. It was kind of fun at first.” She
shrugged. “But it quickly lost its appeal. The few times I’ve had
an extended stay in this era, I kept laying the damn thing down and
forgetting where I’d put it.”

Layovers in a period that wasn’t her base
year didn’t happen often, but sometimes it took a little longer
than anticipated to find her fugitive. It only happened when Lucien
stole her bounty and she’d end up having to track him. And
tracking, like time travel and reading people and places, burned
her Chakra energy. When it was all used up, nothing but rest and
time would replenish it.

So far as Ava knew, the ability to time
travel had something to do with her Karellian blood. The precise
dynamics of it, she wasn’t particularly schooled on. What she did
know was that after her Karellian ancestors had arrived on Earth
during the 27th Century, they later discovered they had the ability
to travel through time, but it came with an inconvenience.
Pain.

Like many Karellians, Ava’s father had
married a human. Typically, mix-blood offspring did not inherit the
ability to travel through time. Ava was the exception. She was the
one and only “half Karellian” who’d ever been able to achieve time
travel.

She knew it had something to do with her
mother. She’d ask her—if she wasn’t dead.

Ava had heard the tall family tales. She also
knew the legends were real because she felt it—something waking
from deep within her—every time she got near a vampire. Especially
Stone.

“Hey...” Mickey said, shaking her. “Are we
going to wait here for them to return?”

Ava sucked in a deep breath and scanned the
room. “I did promise to see that he got reimbursed.” But what she
really wanted to do was leave, before Stone returned. It was the
smart thing to do. So why couldn’t she?

“You can always go get him some more jewels
and bring them back here,” Mickey said.

True. She could do that. But that’d mean lots
of down time for Mickey. And down time meant wasted time. No, it
was better to wait here until Stone returned. She couldn’t see him
being gone for too long. He wanted his jewels. She’d get him to
take her to Cole—she knew where he was now that she’d been able to
recall the conversation between Lucien and her bounty. She’d get
Cole and, if Lucien wasn’t around, she’d take her bounty back to
the 29th century and return soon thereafter with a new batch of
jewels for Stone. And all would be well. Wouldn’t it?

That eerie feeling, the same one Ava had felt
seconds before Stone walked into the pub, swirled around her again.
She stopped, listened and crooked her head toward the front door.
It opened. Stone and Skeet’s laughter entered before they did.

Stone moved across the room toward Ava and
offered her a pizza box. “Here. Thought you’d like something to
eat.”