Dangerous Things

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“Devon, put Kane down and get your ass in a chair,” Warren rumbled. “We’ll finish the discussion about Trevor later.”

Nick, Devon, and Kat all looked at Warren with wide eyes. If the average person didn’t know Warren, they would have missed it. Warren was excited about the prospect of a new shifter in the area and he wanted to learn more about the unknown breed.

Devon put Kane back on his feet and stomped back over to his chair next to Warren. The doors opened and Kriss walked in with Tabatha latched onto his arm. Devon let a slow smile grace his lips as he glared toward the blond vampire. He might not be able to put Kane in his place, but the man that just walked in could and he knew Kriss had no love for the reformed vampire.

“Are we late?” Tabatha asked happy that she’d won the argument with Kriss to come to the meeting. Some times Kriss could be just a touch over protective… a hard touch.

“No, you’re right on time,” Envy said. “We haven’t even really started yet.”

Tabatha joined the women at the bar and took a seat while Kriss stopped near Chad.

Kane’s heart leapt into his throat when Tabatha walked in and he had to fight the urge to grab her up in his arms and take her away from here. He stepped back further into the shadows so that only his silhouette could barely be seen. His eyes drifted toward the fallen and he inwardly cringed at the glare he was getting from the man.

“We need to learn more about this demon that’s been trapped in the cemetery,” Warren continued. “We need to know what it looks like and since Dean’s absent, Kane is the only one here who's seen it.”

Kane had taken out a cigarette and flipped open his lighter. The light illuminated his face for a moment so they could see how troubled his eyes were.

Tabatha forgot to breathe as her gaze jerked toward the small flame and saw Kane. His perfect lips were curved slightly as he lit the cigarette and his eyes were shadowed by dark lashes. Shadowed or not, she could feel his gaze touch her the same as if it were his hands caressing her skin. Feeling the distraction of something brush her arm, she looked around to find Kriss now standing right beside her.

“Her name is Misery,” Kane said after a moment. “The problem is… I’m not really sure what she looks like.”

“How could you not know what she looks like?” Kriss demanded with a deep frown on his face. “You were down there with Dean for who knows how long.”

“Can you let me finish, Feathers?” Kane asked in a sarcastic tone.

Kriss narrowed his gaze resenting the insult.

“Good,” Kane retorted. “The reason I don’t truly know what she looks like is she kept changing her appearance. One moment she was a pretty little girl with one creepy as hell personality, the next a rotting corpse, a cloud of black smoke, and the last was a beautiful woman. Those seem to be her favorite forms to take. She’s extremely powerful if she could hold two fallen in that chamber at the same time.”

Kriss took a deep breath and nodded, “Some demons have been known to have that kind of power.”

“We have a demon specialist coming in right now.” Zachary said finally. “Her flight should be arriving in the next couple of hours or so. When she gets here, it would be best if everyone just leaves Misery to her.”

Kane cocked an eyebrow, “Her?”

“Yeah,” Trevor said. “Her name’s Angelica. She’s got information on just about every legend, myth, and fairytale in the world. If there’s any kind of story about Misery, then she’ll have it in her flash drive.”

Alicia sighed in frustration, “Fine, she can have the demon. I want to know what we’re going to do about finding Micah.”

“Micah can take care of himself,” Quinn informed her.

The truth was that during that last argument between him and Micah, he’d ordered Micah to stand down but his brother hadn’t obeyed and that could only mean one thing… they now had two alpha males within the cougar clan and that had never been heard of. In the past, it had always caused a fight to the death.

Quinn loved Micah and was proud of him for being so strong willed. The last thing he wanted was for one of their arguments to get out of control.

“But he doesn’t know anything that’s happened,” Alicia exclaimed reaching for any reason she could to make them find him. “What if he runs into Misery and gets hurt… or killed? Gone or not, he’s part of the clan.”

“You can’t argue with her logic old boy,” Kane prompted having read Quinn’s thoughts.

Alicia glanced at him in the shadows and blushed before looking away. It felt good to hear someone verbally take her side for once. What Alicia didn’t know was that her entire family had been thinking about Micah and the last time they’d really seen him; right after the fight he’d gotten into with Anthony.

Kane returned her smile though she couldn’t see it. Apparently, she was the only one in the group that had any spunk.

“The last time we saw Micah, he’d gotten into a huge shouting match with Anthony Valachi and threw him out of the club,” Steven said softly. “That was right before he vanished.”

“The werewolf?” Trevor asked with a tilt of his head.

“Yeah, and on top of that, Steven mated with Anthony’s fiancé.” Quinn informed him and anyone else that hadn’t heard.

Jewel frowned realizing Steven had been telling her the truth about the ties maybe linking his missing brother to Anthony. She bit her lip, silently wondering if that was the only reason Steven had helped her. No, that was wrong. When Steven took her from the church, he hadn’t even known Anthony was her fiancé.

She heard the unspoken accusation in Quinn’s voice and squared her shoulders. A protective instinct welled up inside of her and she had to voice it.

“Steven didn’t know who my fiancé was and I didn’t have a clue Anthony was a werewolf,” Jewel stated in a firm voice. “It wasn’t until we mated that I told him about Anthony. So, if you’re going to blame anyone for that, blame me.”

Quinn had the courtesy to look slightly chastised and Kat gave her a discrete thumbs-up.

Jewel leaned back against the bar and started chewing on her bottom lip again. Standing up to Steven’s older brother, the alpha of the cougar tribe, had given her a little bit of a scare.

She looked over at Steven and relaxed when she saw the pride shining in his eyes for her. Something inside of her softened and she fought like hell to build the protective wall back up around it. Her heart beat faster and she wondered if she was falling in love with him.

“Anthony Valachi has been under suspicion for a while now,” Chad spoke up. “The police force has reason to believe he’s involved in not only human smuggling, but slavery as well. Rumor has it that his men have been picking up prostitutes, kidnapping them and selling them as sex slaves, too.”

“Why haven’t the police done anything about it then?” Kat asked.

“We were told to stay out of it because the FBI had taken control of the investigation.” Chad answered. “Unfortunately, when the FBI shows up, we have no jurisdiction and can’t do anything but stay out of their way unless we want to wind up in jail beside the bad guys.”

Steven nodded figuring it was time to tell them all of it. “Jewel’s father was investigated by the FBI here a while back. It was the reason Jewel was engaged to Anthony in the first place.” He gave Jewel a soft smile before turning back to the group.

“Her father was the manager of the Palm Springs Resort and Anthony wasn’t happy about the search warrant they had or that Arthur allowed them to roam the property. Realizing his mistake, Arthur killed the agent and was arrested for murder. In order for Arthur to save his own skin, he handed Jewel over to Anthony as payment for getting him out of the murder wrap.”

“He’s the one that killed my father. I’m sure of it,” Jewel said clenching her fist at her side. “So, when can we go after him?”

“We don’t have to go after him,” Chad informed her. “We will form a plan, and then make it known that you are under the Wilder’s protection. When he makes a move… we’ll get him.”

“I think this may be a bit above the law,” Trevor corrected. “Keep Jewel a secret for a couple more days and let me and Zackary make sure the FBI doesn’t come in and turn everything into a clusterfuck.”

“Why would they interfere?” Kat asked. “You’re part of that paranormal organization… aren’t they above the FBI?”

“Only in certain areas,” Trevor answered. “Most of the FBI hasn’t a clue we even exist. Hell, the president of the United States doesn’t even know about us. We go way above their heads, and for that, we have to have proof that something paranormal is going on.”

“Does that mean that at least a part of the government knows about us?” Nick asked not liking the uneasy feeling that came with the knowledge.

Trevor shook his head, “Not specifically each one of you… but they are aware of the more… unusual. You are protected the same as the humans are… maybe even more so and with more lenient rules and by a small but powerful government within and above the government.” He scratched his head hoping everyone could follow that vague version of the truth.

“My worry is the FBI digging more into it and finding out too late that they’re dealing with werewolves, not humans,” Chad frowned understanding and not liking what Trevor had just said. Was he to understand the paranormal had more rights then the humans? Maybe he was a bit biased but he was one of those lesser humans.

Trevor shook his head, “The mob isn’t going to go all furry and attack the FBI. Besides, if the world found out about werewolves, they’d be next in line to become extinct and the werewolves know that. The last time they outed themselves, they were almost hunted to extinction.”

“Let me make a couple of calls and see if we have full jurisdiction over the Valachi case,” Zackary offered. “If we do, then we have free rein and can recruit anyone we think is qualified.” He glanced around at the group knowing that would cover almost everyone in the room and give them immunity no matter how things turned out.

“Does anyone know what Micah was driving the day he vanished?” Chad asked. “I can run a trace from my patrol car and put out an APB for it.”

“His motorcycle,” Alicia chimed in then her eyes widened as she remembered telling Warren she’d road that same motorcycle in last night’s storm. Glancing over at him, she breathed a sigh in relief when he simply winked at her.

Nick added his two cents, “I’m all for staying away from Misery, but the vampires are breeding for her and we can’t have that.”

“Everyone’s on pest control duty,” Warren agreed.

“Not everyone I hope,” Trevor looked toward Envy.

Zackary discretely stepped in front of Trevor to block the heated stare Devon was giving his friend. “I think it’s also time for us to call in a couple favors and get more of the team in this area.”

“You mean there’s more of you running around?” Steven asked.

Zachary shoved his hands into his pockets and tilted his head slightly. The soft glow from the lights shown on his blond, spiked hair as he smirked, “Sorry to disappoint you, but there’s only one of me. I’ve been wanting to clone myself but fearful leader over here won’t let me,” he finished by jerking his thumb at Trevor.

“Shut the hell up and make those calls,” Trevor exclaimed. “If there was another you running around, Angelica would kill it just to say she’d finally succeeded.”

Zachary’s expression took on a glazed quality. “Oh, to be stomped by those wonderful Doc Martin’s she keeps hidden in her closet.”

Trevor took an agitated step toward his teammate and Zachary immediately ran across the bar area to hide behind Kane.

“Is there a reason why you’re using me as a shield?” Kane asked.

“Yeah,” Zachary exclaimed. “Give me a minute and I’ll think of one.”

Kane smirked, “Give me a minute and I’ll go home long enough to find my Doc Martins.”

Zachary backpedaled away from Kane with his hands held up. “Whoa there, I’m straight.”

“Zachary!” Trevor yelled.

“Okay, okay,” Zachary said and took out his cell phone. “Geez, surrounded by people with no sense of humor… Angelica’s gonna love this bunch.”

Chapter 4

Kane leaned against the cross several feet behind Michael and gazed out over the city wondering where Misery was hiding or if she was even still in the city. There was a whole world out there for her to terrorize, but karma was a bitch and so were the instincts that were telling him she hadn’t gone very far.

He made a face imagining her walking down the sidewalk as a rotting corpse then stifled a shiver at the image of the freaky little girl and decided the corpse was less creepy. Over the centuries he’d seen moments when adult vampires had turned children.

What many of them never learned was children often were more vicious than their adult ‘parents’ and they ended up dead by the adult’s hand or the child killed the one that turned them. He had to admit that one woman that wrote the vampire books had the right idea.

He hoped whoever the demon expert Trevor had mentioned knew what she was doing… but he doubted it.

The memory of the demon was what had led him to babysit Michael… that and it would keep him from stalking Tabatha now that she was back in town. It was taking a huge amount of willpower not to do so. Just being in the same room with her had been physical pain… pain he knew he couldn’t have held in for much longer had they stayed. His eyes strayed back to his friend and he leaned heavier against the cross.

He had to admit if you wanted to be alone and still be surrounded by humans, then the roof of the biggest church in the city was an intriguing place from which to do it.

Oddly enough, he knew Michael didn’t come here for serenity and peace. This was where the vampire came to worry and brood. It didn’t matter that they were out in the open because Kane had a feeling that if Misery wanted to find them, then four walls wouldn’t save them. He had never hidden from an enemy before and he wasn’t going to start now. Obviously, Michael felt the same way.

He smirked as an odd thought crossed his mind. As soon as he ran across Dean again, he was going to ask the fallen a favor. He wanted a handful of those feathers with whatever spell Dean had used on the feather in the catacombs. The bitch hadn’t liked that much. He placed his palm on his shoulder remembering all the missing flesh that had somehow reappeared while he was out of it. Michael had told him that Dean had healed him.

Kane couldn’t remember much from those moments after the cave in. He recalled hearing Michael’s voice calling to him from the darkness but not much else. The next thing he remembered was waking up to a church full of people and Michael hovering over him like a mother hen.

Tabatha’s face flashed through his mind's eye. He’d spent the last couple of hours desperately trying not to think about her, but most of that couple of hours he hadn’t been listening to himself.

Michael could feel Kane’s presence somewhere behind him but instead of getting annoyed at the unwanted distraction, he felt soothed by his friend’s watchful eye. At least if Kane was worried about him, then he was getting some time off from his own paranoia. Besides, he loved Kane like a brother… the word brother echoed within his mind as his thoughts darkened and turned toward Damon. How could true brothers ever be so wrong about each other?

Trying to empty his mind of the disturbing memories, Michael laid back and let exhaustion claim him. He knew it was safe to sleep… Kane was watching over him.

Kane wondered at Michael’s whispered thought. He hadn’t known Michael was having trouble sleeping. What had his friend feeling so threatened the he was afraid to close his eyes? He knew lack of sleep would slowly drive you crazy… then yet, he’d also found out the hard way that too much sleep was even more damaging.

He looked across the road at Michael's building nestled between other city buildings. From the look of the circular room on top, it was a Victorian design. He had agreed to move in with Michael but it looked like now he would have to talk Michael into moving in with himself instead of sleeping on the roof across the street.

He raised an eyebrow at his odd friend. The house had every modern comfort someone as old as them could think of, including wards to keep demons out, so why the sudden need for fresh air that smelt like rain?

He knew Michael still felt guilty for not being around when he’d went and gotten himself buried. Although Kane had tried to stay out of his head, he still hadn’t told Michael that if he tried, he could read his mind. It was just something a friend didn’t really want to know… besides, he had a feeling he was the only one with that power.

Abandoning him wasn’t all Michael was thinking about tonight… it was the reason he’d left the country in the first place that drew his attention… Damon, Michael’s brother. Kane hadn’t seen Damon since coming back to his senses… what was left of them, but the memories he did have were mostly good. Damon had a wild streak a mile wide and they both had given Michael one hell of a headache trying to keep up.

Kane glanced down and noticed Michael playing with the ring on his finger as he thought about Damon. It wasn’t long before sleep overtook Michael and the vivid dreams started. The longer the dreams lasted, the more Kane learned what Michael had been hiding. He closed his eyes, blocking out the city and really concentrating for the first time on someone else’s pain.

He was startled to find himself not only listening to the dreams, but also catching visual flashbacks from forty years ago. He saw it all unfold from an outsider’s prospective as it played out like a tragic movie.

Michael had felt the urge to go see Damon for the first time in over a century. When he found his brother, all seemed well. Damon had been living it up in the social limelight of London and Michael had joined him for a while. They’d had a blast until they met a girl… Katie.

The most eligible bachelors had all been invited to her eighteenth birthday party including the brothers. She was truly the belle of the ball. What had started out as simple brotherly competition turned into a dangerous game of jealousy. Everything with them seemed to turn into a competition. They’d spent weeks waging silent war against one another to win her affection.

Damon had told him to leave… to go back across the ocean but Michael couldn’t do it. He wouldn't let Damon win by running him off. As the sibling rivalry escalated, they were at each other’s throats over the same girl. It wasn’t that she was their soul mate or anything though they both had become enthralled with her. It seemed fated that Katie had the same problem… she’d fallen for both of them and wouldn’t choose.

What was even more twisted about the love-triangle was that Katie thought the brothers were human… they’d never given her a reason to think otherwise.

They had taken Katie out dancing for the evening but that had been a deadly mistake. The tension between the men was too high. After only an hour of slowly dying inside while the other danced with her, the brothers had finally come to blows. They hadn’t realized how much control they’d lost until their eyes changed color as they wrapped their hands around each other’s throats and their feet left the ground.

They hadn’t even seen her run. Michael and Damon had snapped out of their rage when they’d heard the squeal of tires and the crunch of metal outside the dance hall. By the time they reached her… she’d been killed.

When Damon raced toward her with every intention of trying to revive her with his vampire blood, Michael had stopped him because a crowd had already gathered. Damon had turned on him for real then, blaming Michael for not leaving when he’d told him to.

They had fought after that for months … calling truce for moments at a time for words with feeling but it always led to another fight. Michael knew Damon was getting darker and darker and that Damon wanted to kill him. If he did try, then Michael would defend himself and one of them would die.

It was then that Michael did something he swore he wouldn’t do… he went to see Syn. Syn was the first vampire. He’d gone to sleep and not woken for centuries but Syn wasn’t dead for he couldn’t die… at least not that anyone knew of. They weren’t sure why he’d chosen to sleep the last couple of centuries away, but it had seemed like Syn was waiting for something that hadn’t happened yet.

Michael walked around the statue that marked Syn’s resting place within the mausoleum. He knew Syn was deep below him. He talked to the empty tomb, hearing his words echo around him… sometimes in whispers and sometimes in deafening screams.

Fighting with Damon was driving him mad, he hadn’t meant for it to ever go this far. He wasn’t even sure either of them had truly loved the girl. He felt his heart spilling out because of the pain he had caused his brother… and Katie. He didn’t know if Syn was listening, but it was enough to at least tell someone else the truth.

The statue’s eyes moved watching him. It was the likeness of Syn but without coloring. The candles that were lit around him shimmered and dimmed then flamed high as the statue moved. Whispered words drifted up from the ground in a language long forgotten.