Keri Arthur - Fireborn

After what seemed like ages, an odd sound began to cut across all the birdsong. I frowned and stopped. After a moment, I realized it was a car coming up the hill toward me.

Relief filled me, but it was quickly followed by wariness. This road didn’t look particularly well used, so what were the odds of someone coming along at the precise moment that I needed them?

None. Not the way my luck had been running of late.

It couldn’t hurt to be cautious. Even if it turned out to be a coincidence, as Rory had already noted, it was far better to be safe than sorry. I headed off the road, pushed my way through several feet of thick scrub, and sheltered behind the trunk of a big old ghost gum.

A dark blue car soon came into view. The windows were heavily tinted, so I couldn’t see who was inside, but it slowed as it neared my tree. I resisted the urge to step closer to the trunk, knowing any sort of movement just might capture their attention.

If, of course, they were actually looking for me and not just slowing down for the corner.

The car crawled past, then stopped.

My breath caught somewhere in my throat. Damn it. What else could go wrong today? Wasn’t being rammed into a tree and becoming an unwilling guest of the sindicati enough?

Apparently not.

Because the door opened and a man climbed out. It wasn’t a stranger and it wasn’t a vampire.

It was Sam.

Silently cursing my luck, I stepped out from behind the tree and said, “What the fuck are you doing here?”

“Rescuing your stupid ass, obviously.” His voice was clipped, frosty. “Why else would I be out here in the middle of goddamn nowhere?”

I crossed my arms and glared at him. “And just how do you know I need rescuing?”

He snorted, his gaze sweeping me. Though his expression remained hostile, there was the tiniest spark of relief in his eyes when his gaze met mine again. “Anyone with half a brain can see that you need help, even if you’re too stubborn to admit it.”

“And why might that be? Care to take a fucking guess?”

He raised an imperious eyebrow. “Because you didn’t step away from the investigation when you were told to?”

My fists clenched and, for the first time in hours I was glad I didn’t have much in the way of flames. It would have been entirely too tempting to burn his arrogant ass to hell and back.

“And maybe, just maybe, it was the drugs you gave me that all but handed me over to the sindicati.”

He stiffened abruptly. “When did you land in the sindicati’s hands?”

“Like you didn’t know.” Sarcasm rode my voice. “Isn’t that why you’re out here, to gloat and say I told you so?”

“No. I’m out here because the tail we’d placed on you reported the incident with the van, and we’ve been searching for you ever since.”

“And you just happened to be assigned to the very area I was dumped.” I snorted. “That suggests either dumb luck or connection to me, Sam.”

“If,” he said, voice low and barely controlled, “you’re suggesting I’m connected to the sindicati, you would be well advised to take it back.”

The darkness and fury in him was so fierce, the blood drained from my face and I couldn’t help retreating a step. “So it was dumb luck?”

He hesitated, then shrugged. “It was just an odd hunch.”

An odd hunch. Very convenient. And yet I did believe his statement that he wasn’t involved with the sindicati. Had it been Luke saying those words, it would have been another matter.

I frowned, wondering why Luke had even entered my thoughts, then said, “And why would you and PIT even bother looking for me, given I’m nothing but a nuisance getting in the way of your investigation?”

“Because,” he said, voice tight, “you’re a key player in that investigation—and one we certainly don’t want in the hands of the sindicati.”

“Yeah, well, shame you didn’t think about that before you gave me the drug and left me defenseless.”

He snorted. “You could still use that tongue of yours. It’s sharp enough to cut glass, after all.”

“Just fuck off, Sam,” I said. “I don’t need—or want—your help.”

With that, I marched through the scrub and headed down the road again. After several seconds, a door slammed and the car continued on up the hill. Surprise flitted through me. Despite my words, I really hadn’t expected him to go.

The surprise was short-lived, however. A few minutes later, the car pulled up alongside me. Obviously, he’d left only to find somewhere to turn around.

“Red,” he said as the passenger-side window slid down. “Get in the car.”

“What, are you going deaf or something? Didn’t I just tell you to fuck off?”

“And we both know I’m not going to. Get in the car.”

I stopped. So did he. For several seconds we simply glared at each other. But the truth of the matter was, I did need help, and it was stupid not to accept his just because I was madder than hell at him at this particular moment. Besides, being stubborn wouldn’t help Jackson, but Sam just might.

I opened the door and got in. He planted his foot on the gas and the car took off.

“So,” he said, once we were on a main road again. I could see the city skyline in the distance but had no idea where we were in relation to it. “What did the sindicati want?”

“What do you think they wanted?” I couldn’t help the annoyance in my voice because, well, it was a stupid question.

“Obviously, it was related to Baltimore’s research, but all indications suggest they have that already.” The darkness in him briefly rose, touching his eyes and sending chills down my spine. Thankfully, it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. I wished I could say the same about the desire that always stirred when he was this close. He added, “Unless, of course, you’re holding additional information you haven’t told anyone about.”

“I’m not. Baltimore gave me five notebooks to transcribe the night he was murdered, and that’s all the information I had.”

“Well, they didn’t snatch you for the hell of it, so what did they want?”

“The fifth notebook.”

He frowned. “But they snatched all the notebooks from your apartment, didn’t they?”

“Well, someone did. There’s no evidence it was actually the sindicati.”

“I can’t imagine it being anyone else.”

I shifted slightly in the seat and studied him for several seconds. He didn’t react in any way to my scrutiny, though I had no doubt he was aware of it.

Eventually, I said, “Can’t you?”

He frowned. “Can’t I what?”

“Imagine anyone else wanting the research?”

“Well, yeah, the government. But the government wasn’t involved in the raid of your apartment.” He paused, giving me a dark look. “And before you say it, neither were we.”

“Of course, I have only your word on that.” It probably wasn’t the wisest comment in the world, but it was out before I could stop it. The inner bitch, it seemed, was alive and kicking, even if the rest of me felt like doing nothing more than rolling over and having a good sleep.

“Of the two people in this car,” he growled, “there’s only one with a history of lying—and it’s not me.”

“I didn’t lie,” I snapped back. “I just didn’t tell you the entire truth.”

He snorted. “ That’s a cop-out, and you know it.”

“What I know,” I said, voice icy, “is that I believed you couldn’t and wouldn’t understand the situation with Rory. I still think that. Hell, you can’t even hear his name without exploding in anger.”