“Anywhere offering protection from the elements will probably have some of those predators nesting in it,” Varok mused. “Perhaps we should look for a bank vault?”
That was the hint I needed. A half-formed idea bubbled up from my subconscious, and I fumbled at my kit bag, grabbing my headset. “Debbie, show us the map of the old city.”
The headset chirped as I pulled it on, projecting a hologram in front of us. Not a detailed map, though I’d tried to find one. The best I’d managed was an overview, showing districts, long-outdated demographics, and a few still images. It was, in fact, almost useless. I kept it only because it didn’t take up much space in Debbie’s memory banks.
No such thing as over-prepared,I told myself, manipulating the image with fingers that didn’t shiver. That, if I remembered my first aid training, was an extremely bad sign.
“Here, take us here.” I stabbed a finger into a district that glowed yellow, pulled out an image of a mansion by the edge of a lake. Varok opened his mouth to ask questions, but Debbie squealed static at him, and he thought better of it. With a glance at the sky to check for Collectors, he gunned the throttle, and our skimmer was back in motion.
I don’t remember muchof the trip. Varok held me close, and his heat consumed my attention. Wrapped in his jacket, pressed tight against him, the blazing fire in his core kept me from freezing solid. It didn’t stop the cold from hurting, though.
“We’re here. Now what?” Varok had to repeat the question twice before it registered. Looking up, I saw the ruined mansion, barely recognizable from the hologram. Soot marred the window frames, the weight of ice brought the roof down a hundred years ago or more, and the once-beautiful gardens lay dead and frozen around it. Behind the mansion, the lake had frozen solid, then cracked. “There’s no cover.”
“Get us inside,” I said, flexing my fingers. Still working, and they hurt like they were on fire. A good sign? I hoped so. Varok didn’t argue, driving the skimmer into the mansion’s entrancehall without a word. The collapsed roof opened to the sky, and the upper levels threatened to fall at the slightest provocation. The mansion was a death trap. Either I’d find my salvation quickly or I wouldn’t find it at all.
Just as long as the Collectors don’t spot us in the next ten minutes, we’ll be fine. Or dead.I slid down from the skimmer, stumbling over to the wall. One section had survived the disaster far better than the rest, and I grinned.
The rich and powerful never enjoyed feeling vulnerable, especially not in their own homes. A mansion like this, almost a palace? The owners would need a secure, secret panic room. I’d raided enough places like it in and around London to be confident that the owners, whoever they’d been, had a vault for surviving any disaster. That wall would have blended in perfectly when the building was whole—in this ruin, its toughness gave it away.
Except I couldn’t find the mechanism. There had to be a way to open it—a lock, a DNA scanner, whatever it was, I’d hack it. All I needed was to find it.
A gigantic silver hand reached past me, and Varok took hold of the wall. He pulled, hissing in pain at the effort, and with a scream of tortured metal, the false wall swung away to reveal the heavy door I’d expected to find. Ihadn’texpected to find it open, revealing steps leading down into the darkness below the mansion.
I didn’t pause to question that bit of luck. No scanner to fool or lock to pick? Fine, I’d worry about why later. I stepped down, only to have powerful silver hands haul me back.
“Iwill go first,” Varok growled, putting me back on the skimmer. “Any danger waiting below will meet an Argentian warrior, not a squishy human. Stay here.”
My hands curled into fists, my cheeks burned, and I glared at him. He wasn’twrong,he was just being an asshole aboutit. “Fuck you, I’m not freezing to death while you get yourself killed.”
“One of us has to go first.”
Instead of replying, I plucked Debbie from my kit bag and threw the drone down the stairs. Images popped up in front of my eyes, a nausea-inducing spinning view of the dark stone walls as the drone steadied herself. I might have thrown her with a bit more force than strictly necessary.
Varok growled, shrugged, and turned away. “Fine. That is a better idea.”
That admission was more than I’d expected from the proud warrior, and my blush intensified. The warm glow of satisfaction almost made up for the biting cold.
“First room’s clear,” I announced, and Varok grabbed the controls. The skimmer scraped the doorframe, but once inside, it glided down into the safety of the vault below.
Maybe our movement did it, or our body heat. Something about us triggered a sensor, and the vault doors swung shut behind us. Vents on the wall and ceiling opened to blast warm air, and I tumbled off the skimmer to lie under one, soaking up the heat. I didn’t care about the faint burning smell, or the hard concrete floor. I feltwarm again. That made up for everything else.
Lights flickered on, some failing, the rest too bright. I raised a hand to shield my eyes, but Varok’s shadow eclipsed everything as he stood, looking down at me with a grin so wide I thought his head might split in two.
“Comfortable?”
“Fuck you,” I said, and wished I hadn’t. The suggestion was all too easy to take literally, and his smile widened. My blush deepened, which I wouldn’t have thought possible, and I tried to tell him that wasn’t what I meant.
Isn’t it?My inner voice sounded amused, and I couldn’t think of a reply.
Neither, it seemed, could Varok. I expected a teasing quip, some innuendo, but his smile faded, replaced by a serious expression. Seconds dragged out like the rise and fall of empires, then he snarled wordlessly, turned, and walked away.
Confused and mortified, I watched him go and wondered how I’d upset him.
14
VAROK
Istalked away into the abandoned vault, hoping I’d find something to punch. I needed something to take my warring emotions out on, or the temptation to pounce on the human female would become irresistible. If I didn’t get some distance, I’d do or say something I’d regret.
