Blood Ties Book Two: Possession. Jennifer Armintrout

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СКАЧАТЬ willing him to bend. “Max and Nathan were friends. I trust him to get the job done. I know he won’t let Nathan suffer.”

      “Your trust in Harrison does not concern me.” The comment seemed even colder in Breton’s crisp, British accent. He took a deep breath, frowning. When he exhaled, his expression lightened. “Fine. Harrison, tomorrow evening you’re on a flight back. But I don’t want her within a ten-mile radius of the final kill. Do I make myself clear?”

      “Crystal.” Max picked up the kill order from the desk and folded it, slipping it into the pocket of his worn leather coat.

      “Good. I trust you both know the way out.” Breton handed the pictures to Max, but I took them.

      We were nearly at the door when the general spoke again. “And, Harrison, if you fail to do your duty by the Movement, I’ll send someone who won’t.”

      Numb, I followed Max to the hallway. “Don’t do it,” I said flatly, once the door had closed behind us.

      Max gripped my shoulders and twisted me to face him. His fingers dug painfully into my flesh, and I protested with a loud, “Ow!”

      “This is not a game, Carrie.” He held his face inches from mine. “I’m going to have to kill Nathan. I don’t know what you were thinking in there, but I still have a job to do.”

      He released me and turned to walk away. I rubbed one sore shoulder. “Yeah, but you don’t know where he is yet. You can stall for time while I figure out what’s going on.”

      He laughed, the way someone would laugh at a child’s overly simple solution to a serious problem. “And how do you plan on doing that? You’ve got no resources, no one willing to help you. Even if you can magically cure Nathan of whatever has a hold on him, I’m still under orders to kill on sight. You’re on your own here. Nathan is as good as dead, and you’re fooling yourself if you think otherwise.”

      “So that’s it then?” I shook my head in disbelief. “You’re just giving up?”

      “I’m watching my own back!”

      I closed my eyes. This was not the Max I knew. This was a complete stranger standing before me. “Max, please trust me. Trust that I’m not going to do anything that would put you in harm’s way.”

      “You’re going to do what you need to do for yourself, Carrie.” He wiped his sleeve across his forehead. “It’s what survivors do.”

      I looked at the pictures he held. Breton hadn’t bothered to put them in an envelope. The cadaver’s empty stare bore into me from the glossy surface of the photo.

      “I’m not interested in helping myself,” I said, choking back tears. “I just want to save Nathan.”

      “It’s too late for that,” Max said softly. “The Movement has made their decision, and no matter what happens, they’ll just keep coming.”

      I shook my head. “Not from the Movement. I want to save him from himself.”

      6

       Oracle

      Max needed to gather some supplies before we headed out. I had no idea what kind of equipment he needed to kill my sire, but I refused to help him retrieve it. He headed to the armory after giving me strict orders to go directly to the reception area.

      Not that I had a choice. As soon as he walked away, a guard came from seemingly nowhere and steered me toward the lobby.

      “Nothing personal,” he said as he guided me through the doors. “Just can’t have non-Movement vampires roaming the halls.”

      Anne had returned to her post at the desk, and she looked up when the doors closed. Her face brightened. “So, how’d it go with the general?”

      “Not well.” Normally, I would have resented having to spill to a total stranger, but she wasn’t exactly wheedling me for information. In fact, her casual interest made me want her to wheedle. I’d never realized I was such an attention whore. “He basically shot me down.”

      “What a prick.” She sounded genuinely sorry. “That’s too bad.”

      I scuffed my toes on the carpet as I went to one of the plush chairs. “He’s a very stubborn man, isn’t he?”

      Anne stood and came around the front of the desk, where she dropped to the floor and sat cross-legged. The shiny buckles on her knee-high combat boots caught the light as she made herself comfortable. “Well, you don’t get far in this organization if you’re not stubborn.”

      “I don’t know.” I watched her toy with the black rubber bracelets that looped her wrist. “You seem to do okay.”

      With a crooked smile, she rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I’m a great receptionist. Where’s Max?”

      “Loading up on gadgets and supplies with which to kill my sire.” I slumped down in the chair. “I’m insane, to be waiting for him. I should be tearing off to the States.”

      “Yeah, on a commercial airliner? Good luck.” She shook her head. “Max has to look tough and serious about the job. I doubt he’ll actually kill him.”

      “Won’t he be penalized?” The Movement seemed to dole out “probation” like candy on Halloween.

      “Nah.” She made a face to accompany the guttural sound. “Max has shirked assignments before. He’ll never come out and actually say, ‘No, I’m not going to kill this vampire,’ but I can tell when it’s going to happen. He’ll call to check in and say things like, ‘No luck yet, but I’ll find the bastard.’ You know, things like John Wayne might say in a movie.”

      “That’s how Max usually talks,” I reminded her.

      She rolled her eyes. “I know, right? But this is different. He puts up a much tougher front if he’s reluctant to do the job.”

      Her assurances made me feel a little better. As much as Max and Nathan bickered, neither of them truly wanted the other dead. Maybe once we were away from the eyes and ears of the Movement, Max would change his mind.

      “So,” Anne said brightly, grasping the toes of her boots and leaning forward. “What did you think of the place?”

      “I thought it was…nice,” I offered lamely. “Not at all what I was expecting.”

      “I know, right? Most people think it’s going to be stone walls and torchlight and guys with long beards, in scary robes. I mean, we have the guys with long beards, but they only wear their robes during a ritual.” She said this with a shrug, as if it was completely normal to deal with occult forces in the workplace. “Aside from them, there’s really nothing that weird here.”

      “Well, except the Oracle,” I began casually. “But I guess I won’t be seeing her anytime soon. What’s she like?”

      “She’s like…” Anne pursed her lips as she thought. “She’s like a magic eight ball, only she can kill you.”

      I straightened a little СКАЧАТЬ