Argeneau Family - The Renegade Hunter Part 16

"Staked out to bake in the sun all day," he explained. "After centuries of avoiding the sun we're pretty sensitive to it. It does a lot of damage. The nanos repair as much as they can but run out of blood to work with and start attacking the organs in search of more. It's pretty painful," Nicholas admitted with an almost embarra.s.sed grimace.

"It's pretty Draconian," Jo said dryly.

"Yes," he acknowledged. "It's supposed to be a deterrent to others to convince them they don't want to go rogue and risk having that happen." Nicholas cleared his throat and added, "I think they may have stopped that practice the last couple of years, though, I'm not sure."

"Hmm," Jo murmured. "But they did that when you were still an enforcer?"

Nicholas nodded uncomfortably. "But not by me. Enforcers just bring them in. We aren' t supposed to kill them. They get a trial just like a mortal would, and then the Council has them staked and baked and beheaded."

"Nice," she said on a sigh. "So no one you brought in could be behind this." Nicholas was nodding in agreement when she added, "But family members could be, someone who had a rogue relative and blames you for bringing them in."

He shook his head again and peered down at his hands as he said, "Relatives tend to shun rogues. They're upset and embarra.s.sed by them and often even deny their existence or relationship to them."

"Is that what happened to you?" Jo asked quietly.

Nicholas simply shrugged, but it was what had happened. From his checks on his family through mortal employees he knew that his brother and sister never spoke of him anymore and that Jeanne Louise, his little sister, who had adored him and made a pest of herself visiting all the time, often catching him and Annie in inopportune moments, even denied his existence now. As far as she was concerned, he had never been born.

"I'm sorry," Jo said quietly, and he glanced up to see she'd moved around the coffee table and now stood before him in all her nude glory. Just the sight of her perky b.r.e.a.s.t.s peering him in the face was enough to cheer him somewhat, but when Nicholas reached for her, she skipped out from between his legs and the coffee table to move back to the open area of carpet, out of his reach. "Right, so it probably isn' t about being an enforcer. We have to think about this."

Nicholas sank back against the sofa with a sigh as she continued her pacing.

"So..." she murmured. "Annie called you and said she had something to tell you, but died before she could tell you what it was... in a car accident that decapitated her." Jo gr imaced and paused in her pacing to turn and ask, "How did the accident happen? I mean decapitation in a car accident is pretty rare, I would think. Did she crash under a semi or something?"

"No," he said quietly. "She drove off the road on her way home from work. She must have been tired or maybe she was avoiding an animal in the lane. She went off the road, and slammed into a tree. Seat belts weren't mandatory at that time and she went through the windshield."

Jo stared at him with confusion. "How did that decapitate her?"

"The windshield did it," Nicholas said on a sigh. "The steering wheel caught her body and kept her in the car, but her head slammed out the window. It didn' t shatter like it should have.

The bottom stayed intact and her head went out and down and-" He shrugged unhappily. "It was a freak accident. One in a million they said."

Jo started to pace again, murmuring, "A freak accident, one in a million."

Nicholas nodded, recalling his horror as they'd broken the news to him, and then Jo said, "That must be it."

He raised his head to peer at her. "What?"

"Don't you see?" she asked, turning to look at him, eyes sparkling. "Annie was going to tell you something when you got back, but died in a totally freak car accident that decapitated her... one of the very few ways to kill an immortal. And then you were heading to see her friend Carol to give her a gift Annie had bought for her before her death and ask her about what Annie had been going to tell you, but you wind up in your bas.e.m.e.nt with a dead woman in your arms and on the run for fifty some years, completely forgetting all about the question you'd wanted to ask."

Jo paused to peer at him. "What would have happened had you not run?"

"I probably would have been executed right away," he said slowly.

"No trial?" she asked.

"Well, maybe a ghost of a trial. I doubt they would have put much effort into it. Decker saw me, I thought I'd done it..." He shrugged.

"It doesn't matter," Jo a.s.sured him. "Either way you wouldn't have been around to ask about what Annie wanted to tell you."

Nicholas's eyes widened incredulously at her words. She was simply stating what had happened, things he'd already known, but they had an entirely different connotation when she said it like that. He'd never really connected the two events, never even considered they might be connected. But then he'd just a.s.sumed, as everyone else had, that he'd killed the woman found dead in his arms. Everyone had... but Jo.

"I think we need to find this friend Carol and see if she knows what Annie wanted to tell you," Jo said solemnly.

Chapter Fourteen.

"Nicholas?" Jo asked quietly, moving around the coffee table to peer down at him. He'd gone quiet all of a sudden and bowed his head. Pausing in front of him, she bent to brush her fingers over his cheek. "What is it?"

He lifted his head, and she felt worry slide through her at the stark look in his eyes, but then he cleared his throat and asked, "Why do you believe in me?"

Jo straightened in surprise at the question. "What do you mean?"

Nicholas reached out to take her hand and said solemnly, "Jo, you hardly know me. We only met yesterday morning and yet when I told you I killed a woman, you didn't believe it for a minute. My entire family, most of whom have known me for centuries, had no doubts, but you did. Jeanne Louise and Thomas, my own sister and brother, didn't doubt it and now won't even acknowledge my existence." He paused and looked away, but not before she saw the pain streaking across his face. It was gone when Nicholas turned back, and his face was expressionless as he asked, "Why do you believe I'm innocent when I wasn't even sure about it myself?"

Jo stared at him, unsure she knew the answer herself. Perhaps she simply didn't want to believe it, but from the moment Nicholas had said he'd bitten and killed a woman, her heart had rejected it. Perhaps it was blind faith at first and a desire not to think it possible that someone she was coming to care for could do something like that. Perhaps had he told her minute by minute how and why he'd done it, she would have believed it, but the moment her brain had gotten over the shock of the declaration and Jo had heard the I guesses, and the apparentlys, and then the complete lack of memory behind the claim... Jo had known, to the very core of her being, that this man hadn't killed some innocent, pregnant woman all those years ago.

Oh, she had no doubt he could kill in the right circ.u.mstances, but she was pretty sure that for Nicholas it would have to be to save another or stop a rogue. Jo didn't even think he could kill in a blinding rage, not on purpose, and she was positive no blinding rage would last through the time needed to bundle a woman into his car, drive the ten minutes home, drag her into the bas.e.m.e.nt, and rip her throat out. It just wasn' t logical, and Jo fancied herself a logical per son.

Of course, the feelings she had for Nicholas weren't really all that logical. While she was grateful he'd saved her twice, the feelings she was experiencing for this man were far and away from simple grat.i.tude. Jo liked Nicholas. More than that, she trusted him, and she l.u.s.ted after him. Even now, she hungered for him and wanted nothing more than to climb into his lap and reexperience the mind-blowing s.e.x only he could give her. The only thing keeping her from doing just that was the possibility that if they didn't find out what had happened that day so long ago and prove he was innocent, she would lose him forever. The very thought scared her silly. Jo wasn' t ready to acknowledge that she might want a future with this man, but Jo was d.a.m.ned certain she would do everything she could to make sure she had the opportunity if she did want it.

"I don't know," Jo said finally, and, smiled wryly as she added, "Maybe your nanos are talking to me."

Nicholas smiled faintly. "I don' t think they're capable of doing that. I wish they could," he added wryly. "They could probably tell us what happened that day, but then so could the walls of my house, the floor, the..." He sighed wearily. "But they can't."

"But Carol might be able to help us figure it out," she said encouragingly. "Let's find out where she is now and talk to her. What's her last name? We' ll call information and get her phone number. We can call her right now and maybe solve this whole thing."

Nicholas was silent, his eyes shifting away from her suddenly excited face, and then he shook his head. "It's nearly dawn, too late to be doing anything."

Jo followed his gaze to the window where the first streaks of sunlight were just visible through Sam's sheers.

"Well that's good then," she said. "Carol will definitely be home sleeping. You immortals normally sleep during the day, right?" "Right," Nicholas murmured, and then turned to her adding, "But we also don' t have phones in our sleeping rooms as a rule. Too many sales calls," he added dryly, catching her hand a nd tugging her forward.

Jo gasped as she landed in his lap, exactly where she wanted to be, but had been fighting going herself. She still fought it now, pushing at his chest when his mouth started to lower to hers. "But we could try."

"Later. When night falls," he said solemnly, his mouth lowering toward hers.

"But-" Jo turned her head away. "Nicholas, this is important. We really have to-"

"You're important," Nicholas interrupted quietly, catching her face and turning her to peer at him. "You're the most important thing in the world to me, Jo. I love you. Let me have this moment."

She stared into his face, stunned into silence by his declaration and unsure what she should say in response. Jo wasn't ready to say the feelings that had grown so quickly in her were love for this man. Fortunately, he didn't seem to expect her to. He didn' t seem to expect her to say anything at all. His mouth lowered to cover hers and his arms tightened around her, drawing her closer as he kissed her.

Jo sat unresponsive in his lap for perhaps a heartbeat, but just his mouth on hers and his tongue slipping out to glide between her parted lips was enough to overcome her protests.

Sighing, she gave in and slid her arms around his neck, her mouth opening further for him as he suddenly stood, scooping her up in his arms.

A couple of hours wouldn't hurt, Jo told herself as he began to carry her to the hall and the bedroom that waited beyond. They would call Annie's friend Carol when darkness fell again.

Nicholas finished dressing and moved to peer down at Jo where she lay on her stomach in the bed. She was sleeping soundly as her body worked at replacing the blood he'd taken from her this last time they'd made love. This time it hadn' t been an accident of his getting overexcited.

He'd deliberately bitten her, and had deliberately taken more blood than he normally would have just before they'd both found their ecstasy and pa.s.sed out. It had been his hope that doing so would ensure she slept longer and he would have the chance to get away.

Apparently, his plan had worked like a charm. Jo was dead to the world, and Nicholas found it odd that the realization saddened him rather than satisfied him. But then he supposed that while he knew this was the best thing he could do for her, it didn't mean he had to be happy about having to do it. Sighing, Nicholas bent to brush the hair away from her cheek. She was smiling in her sleep, but he wasn' t surprised. He'd allowed her to think all would be well and that when they woke up, they would head out, find Carol, and ask her about what Annie had been going to tell him. Jo was positive that would lead to solving the whole matter of what had happened all those years ago and, hopefully, point to another culprit... But that was only because he hadn't told her everything.

Because Annie and Carol were friends, Jo had a.s.sumed Carol was an immortal. She wasn' t.

She had been a mortal coworker, and while she and Annie had been friends, Nicholas doubted his deceased wife would have told the woman anything to do with immortal business. Which meant Carol probably wouldn't know anything, because if he had been drugged and someone else had murdered the pregnant woman all those years ago, it had to have been an immortal who did it.

Still, if it had been preying on her mind, he supposed Annie might have let something slip about whatever she'd wanted to tell him. Only it was fifty years later, and Carol would be in her nineties now if she even lived.

Nicholas didn' t hold out much hope. He suspected he'd have to try alternate ways to find out what Annie had wanted to tell him back then... and Nicholas had no intention of dragging Jo around while he did it. She had family, friends, school, her job, and a life to live, and he had nothing to offer her but running and hiding and the dangers that entailed. Playing investigator was going to be a lot more risky than just life on the run. He'd spent the last fifty-plus years always moving, never staying in one place for long. But to try to find out what Annie had been thinking of would mean staying in Toronto, and he wouldn't be able to prevent leaving a trail for Mortimer and the men to follow. His biggest fear was of Jo getting herself hurt or killed trying to save him should the enforcers catch up to them.

He wouldn't risk that.

Nicholas straightened with a sigh and turned away from the bed. It was better this way, he told himself as he slipped out of the room. He paused in the living room to check the phone there, but it was dead. While Sam hadn't sublet the apartment, she apparently had canceled the phone and cable. The water and electricity were obviously included in the rent, because they were both still on.

He set the phone back in its rest and left the apartment to take the stairs down to the main floor lobby. It was empty when Nicholas first entered, but he only had to wait a moment before a young woman entered and moved toward the buzzers in the entry. Nicholas slipped into the woman's thoughts, bringing her to a halt. He took a moment to search her thoughts and be sure she had a cell phone and then turned her toward the door as he moved forward to open it for her.

Nicholas let her in, urged her to a pair of seats in the lobby, had her take her phone out and then sit while he quickly punched in the number for the enforcer house. He placed the phone to his ear, grimacing when a woman's voice answered.

"Sam?" he asked reluctantly. It was the same woman who had answered the phone when he'd called from outside the veterinary clinic, and he knew Jo's sister lived at the house with Mortimer. When she answered yes in a surprised voice, he cleared his throat and said, "I need to speak to Mortimer."

There was a pause and then she asked politely, "Who shall I say is calling, please?"

"Just put Mortimer on, Sam," he said quietly.

"Nicholas?" she asked sharply. "I recognize your voice from the last time you called.

Mortimer told me it was you after he hung up." Great, Nicholas thought dryly.

"Where's my sister?" she asked, her voice grim.

"If you give Mortimer the phone I' ll tell him where she is so he can come get her," he said patiently.

"Is she okay?" Her voice was worried now, and Nicholas rolled his eyes, wishing someone else had answered the phone.

"She's fine, Sam. She's sleeping right now. Please get Mortimer on the phone."

"Mortimer said she's your life mate." It wasn't phrased like a question, but he knew it was one.

"Yes, Sam. Jo is my life mate," Nicholas said apologetically and wasn't at all surprised when she cursed. Sighing, he said, "I know it's not quite what you were hoping for when you set out to find your sister a life mate."

"You're d.a.m.ned right it isn't," Sam snapped. "You're rogue."

"Yeah, well, no one's perfect," he muttered under his breath.

"Ha ha," she said coldly. "Put her on the phone."

"Sam," he said, growing a little impatient now. "I'm trying to get her back to you where she' ll be safe. If you'd get Mortimer I' ll tell him where she is and he can send Bricker and Anders to come get her. So put him on the G.o.dd.a.m.ned phone and-"

"Nicholas?"

He paused abruptly at the male voice. "Mortimer?"

"Yeah. Who's M. Johansen?"

"What?" he asked with bewilderment.

"The name on call display," Mortimer explained. "M. Johansen."

"Oh." Nicholas grimaced, his gaze dropping to Ms. Johansen, who sat blank- faced on the chair before him. "Just a kindly visitor of an ex-neighbor of Sam's who loaned me her phone.

Jo's at Sam's old apartment. Come and get her. And this time, keep her safe."

Jo was up before she woke up. In fact, that was what woke her, her body sitting up and climbing out of bed. Startled awake by the activity, she blinked her eyes open and glanced wildly around, confused even as to where she was at first. It took only a moment to recognize that she was in the bedroom of Sam's apartment. It took another moment to spot and recognize the man standing by the bedroom door, and apparently controlling her, Jo realized as her body straightened beside the bed.

Bad-Breath Boy, Ernie.

"It's not my fault," he snarled, managing to sound both angry and petulant at the same time.

"It's because of the blood. We have to have it but it gives us bad breath."

He was in her thoughts and had heard her nickname for him, Jo realized. Apparently, it had p.r.i.c.ked his ego. She knew she was still half asleep when her only thought was that his excuse didn' t carry much weight since Nicholas didn't have bad breath and that perhaps Ernie should consider brushing his teeth. As first thoughts went in this situation, it was rather inane, she acknowledged.

"Yes, it is," Bad-Breath Boy Ernie growled unpleasantly, and then added, "And why should I brush my teeth? The nanos keep me from getting cavities."

Well, that pretty much said it all, Jo supposed, and was amazed when she was able to ask, "Where is Nicholas?"

She wasn't completely under his control, she realized as she waited for his answer and began to try to move. Jo was able to wrinkle her nose, lift and lower her eyebrows, and move her mouth. But that was it. Everything from her neck down appeared to be under his control. It was not a pleasant sensation. In fact, it made her feel terribly vulnerable.

"You are vulnerable," Ernie said suddenly, making her realize he was still in her head. "At least you know it. Most mortals walk around completely oblivious to the fact that superior beings walk the earth who can make them do anything they want at any time."

Jo felt the sneer that claimed her lips at those words. "Superior? That's what you think it is to make me stand here naked? It seems more perverted than superior to me."

He gave a harsh laugh at that. "Don't flatter yourself. I'm old enough that s.e.x holds no interest. You're nothing but a walking blood bag to me."

A quiver of fear ran up Jo's back at those words. While Nicholas had bitten her twice now, she suspected his bite and this man's would be two entirely different things, and she was pretty sure she wouldn' t enjoy Bad-Breath Boy's bite.