D. Reynolds - Aden

And still Aden stood, unmoving, immovable. His arms were stretched out as if he was calling down the power of the gods upon his enemies and bathing in its glow. Except the glow was the blue of his eyes, burning brighter than the flames of the wreckage, twin lasers of brilliant blue sapphire.

Suddenly Aden threw his head back and howled, his hands clenching into fists as if holding on to something. He stood that way for a long time, and then his arms fell to his sides, his eyes opened, and his head swiveled to pin her in the blue laser gleam of his gaze.

“Let go of her,” he growled.

Bastien released her at once, his fingers flying open as if she’d suddenly become red-hot.

“Come here, Sidonie,” Aden crooned.

She froze for the space of a heartbeat, knowing something more was going on than what her simple human senses could detect. But this was Aden, and she knew he’d never hurt her.

She closed the distance between them, going into his arms without hesitation.

He seemed larger somehow, and that was saying something, because he was a big guy to begin with. But at the same time, there was something weary in his expression, as if he had taken on a heavy burden in the last few minutes, something she couldn’t see, except in his eyes.

“Are you okay?” she asked, touching her hand to his cheek and noticing that his eyes had begun to lose their laser-like glow and return to their usual midnight blue.

He blinked, seeming surprised that she’d ask. And then he smiled. “I will be. Let’s go home, and I’ll tell you all about it.”

ADEN USHERED Sidonie out of the elevator and into his private quarters. Elias had been summoned, and they’d used his vehicle to drive away from the bombing scene. The explosion had been too dramatic for even that neighborhood, and the scene was now crawling with human police. There was nothing to tie Aden to the destroyed vehicles, so there was no concern there. And Elias, intent on proving himself to his new lord, had remained behind at Pinto’s place, calling in a team to see the women to safety and to do a thorough cleanup on the house. Aden didn’t fully trust Elias, but he judged the vampire to be smart enough to see that his future depended on making Aden happy. With vampires, self-interest was always the best motivator.

“You’ll probably want a shower,” Aden told Sidonie as he hustled her through the sitting room and straight into the bedroom.

“Are you saying I stink?” Her response was playful enough, but she didn’t quite pull it off. She had to be exhausted. She did need a shower, but not because she smelled. She was covered in blood, her clothes stiff, her skin sticky, with bits of grime from the explosion still clinging everywhere.

But Aden didn’t tell her any of that. Slipping his arms around her, he pulled her close and said, “I’m saying you’ve had a rough couple of days, and a hot shower will help you sleep.”

She sighed and leaned her forehead against his chest, her hands resting to either side of his waist. The gesture was so unaffected and spoke of such trust. He gazed down at her bent head and felt his heart clench with rare emotion.

“You’re right,” she said, then raised her head to meet his eyes with a wicked look that belied her exhaustion. “Will you join me?”

He gave a low laugh and let one hand slide down to rest on the curve of her sweet ass. “I have a phone call to make first. And I need to check with Bastien and the others. But it won’t take long.”

“Okay,” she said, standing on tiptoes to give him a quick kiss. “But don’t blame me if you miss all the fun.”

Aden waited until she’d disappeared into the bathroom, pulling the door shut behind her, then he strode quickly back through his quarters and down the hall to his office.

Bastien and the others were waiting for him, but he raised a hand to put off any questions. “I need to call Lucas.”

He didn’t bother closing the door. Vampire hearing made such barriers useless. Besides, these four vampires were his closest advisers, his inner circle as he undertook to rule the Midwest. He’d have very few secrets from them.

Picking up the phone, he hit a speed dial number and listened to it ring. He didn’t have to wait long. The call was answered on the second ring.

“I heard rumors of an earthquake in Chicago,” a familiar voice said. “The vampire grapevine is humming tonight.”

Aden grimaced. “I’m sorry about that, Lucas. It’s not the way I wanted it to go, but the damn minions wouldn’t stop coming. They blew up three fucking vehicles tonight, and Sidonie was with me. She could have been killed.”

“Sidonie?” Lucas’s voice sharpened with interest, and Aden realized he’d said more than he intended.

“A friend. Look, I’ll be there tomorrow night to do it properly. I just wanted to touch bases.”

“Consider the bases touched, and congratulations, my friend,” Lucas said cheerfully. “I’ll see you tomorrow. And bring Sidonie with you!” he added. He was still laughing when he hung up.

“Fuck,” Aden swore softly. Lucas was never going to let him live this one down. Not that the other vampire had any ground to stand on. He was fully tethered to his new FBI girlfriend and looked to stay that way for a while.

Aden threw the phone onto the desk and joined Bastien and the others in the outer office.

“All right,” he said. “As you heard, we’re going to South Dakota tomorrow night. In and out. We’ll be back here by dawn. Once that’s taken care of, our first order of business is building a solid core of fighters. Bastien, I want you to put out a call for recruits. Priority goes to the vampires we worked with in Kansas, and then pretty much anyone from Lucas’s or Raphael’s territory. You know the drill. The four of you can do the initial screening, but I’ll want a list for final review. No one, and I mean not one, of Klemens’s brood gets in on this round. Maybe in the future, when things have settled down—don’t close the door on the possibility, it’ll only cause resentment. But right now, I don’t trust any of them.

“I have to figure out how far Klemens’s rot has spread and take out any of his former allies who have a lingering loyalty to the old guard. I don’t want to have to worry about where the next fucking bomb is coming from. They’ll say it’s not fair, but fuck fair. We’re vampires, not children.

“Next, we need a new place to live and use as a headquarters. Yesterday’s attack showed how vulnerable this place is. Right now, I’m more interested in the acreage than the house. We can always build more house, but I want some space between me and the city. Put Hamilton on it. He can screen properties from a security standpoint, and he can also work with a realtor during the day. Once he has a few possibilities, I’ll take a look, but I want it within the next week.”

“What about Klemens’s estate on the Gold Coast?” Bastien asked.

“My inclination is to burn it to the ground and sell the lot, but that might draw too much attention. Freddy, you know who handles this sort of thing. We need to make sure there are no secrets inside, no hidden passages or cubbies, nothing that can come back on us. I want it emptied to bare walls and naked floors. I want every closet emptied, every window opened. I want sunlight in every crevice and corner.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Okay,” Aden said, more than ready to call it a night. “Anything else?”

His vampires shared glances, shaking their heads in unison. “Nothing, Sire,” Bastien said for all of them.

Aden grinned. “Then get some sleep. And congratulations, gentlemen. We did it.”

SIDONIE LEFT ALL of her clothes in a pile on the floor of the bathroom, not sure if any of it was salvageable and not really caring. The only thing she took proper care with was her gun and bellyband. Folding the holster carefully, she stepped outside the bathroom and laid it on the dresser top, placing the gun on top of that and patting it fondly. It was probably silly, and not at all consistent with a tough girl image, but this was the first time she’d used the gun in a life-or-death situation. She felt proud and a little proprietary about the whole thing.