Kiss of Midnight

CHAPTER Thirty

Three hours later, with night full upon them, Lucan and the other warriors were geared up and sitting in a black SUV parked about a half mile down the road from the old asylum.

Gabrielle’s photographs had proven extremely useful in planning the hit on the Rogue lair. In addition to several exterior and ground-level, entry-point photos, she’d taken interior shots of the boiler room, various corridors, stairwells, and even a few containing inadvertent images of mounted security cameras that would need to be disabled once the warriors gained access to the place.

“Getting in’s going to be the easy part,” Gideon said, as the group of them began the final review of the operation. “I’ll interrupt the security signal on the ground-level cameras, but once we’re inside, planting those two dozen bars of C4 in critical areas without alerting the entire colony of suckheads will prove a little trickier.”

“Not to mention the added problem of unwanted publicity with the humans,” Dante said. “What the hell’s taking Niko so long to locate that gas main?”

“Here he comes,” Lucan said, spotting the vampire’s dark shape nearing the SUV from the ridge of trees outside.

Nikolai opened the back door and climbed in next to Tegan. He pulled off his black head covering, wintry blue eyes alive with excitement. “Piece of cake. The main line is in a lockbox on the west end of the complex. The suckheads may not need heat, but public service has plenty of gas running to the buildings.”

Lucan met the warrior’s eager look. “So, we get in, set up our party favors, clear the location—”

Niko nodded. “Signal me when the shit’s in place. I’ll flip the main line, then detonate the C4 once we all rendezvous back here. On the surface, it’ll look like a gas leak caused the explosion. And if Homeland Security wants to get involved, I’m sure some of Gabrielle’s photos of gangbanger graffiti will send the humans sniffing around in circles for a while.”

Meanwhile, the warriors would be sending a big message to their enemies, particularly the Gen One vampire who Lucan suspected was at the helm of this new Rogue insurgency. Blowing their headquarters into the next century ought to be a sufficient invitation for the bastard to come out into the open and dance.

Lucan was anxious to get started. Even more anxious to finish the night’s mission because he had his own unfinished business back at the compound. He hated leaving Gabrielle like he had, knowing she had to be confused and probably more than a little upset.

There were things to be said, certainly, things he hadn’t even been prepared to think about much less discuss with her in that moment when the stunning reality of his feelings for her had hit him.

Now, his head was full of plans.

Reckless, stupid, hopeful plans, all of them centered on her.

Around him in the vehicle, the other warriors were checking their gear, loading up the bars of C4 into zippered duffel bags and making final adjustments to the earpieces and mics that would keep them in contact with one another once they breached the asylum perimeter and split up to place the explosives.

“Tonight, we do this for Con and Rio,” Dante said, flipping one of his curved blades with nimble, black-gloved fingers and stabbing it into the sheath on his hip. “Vengeance time.”

“Hell, yeah,” Niko replied, a sentiment echoed swiftly by the others.

When they started to go for the doors, Lucan lifted his hand.

“Hold up.” His grim voice stilled them all. “There’s something you need to know. Since we’re about to go in there and possibly get our asses handed to us, I suppose now’s as good a time as any to be straight with you about a couple of things… and I need a promise from each of you.”

He met the faces of his brethren, warriors who’d been fighting beside him, as tight as kin, for what seemed like forever. They had always looked to him to lead, trusting him to make the hard calls, certain he would never be at a loss for strategy or decision.

Now he wavered, hesitant, unsure of where to begin. He raked a hand over his jaw, blew out a sharp sigh.

Gideon frowned at him, concerned. “Everything good, Lucan? You took a pretty massive hit in the ambush last night. If you want to sit this out—”

“No. No, that’s not it. I’m fine. My injuries are healed… thanks to Gabrielle,” he said. “Earlier today, she and I…”

“No shit,” Gideon replied when Lucan’s explanation trailed off. Damn the vampire, but he was actually grinning about it.

“You drank from her?” Niko asked.

Tegan grunted in the backseat. “That female’s a Breedmate.”

“Yes,” Lucan said, answering with serious calm. “And if she’ll have me, I mean to ask Gabrielle to take me as her mate.”

Dante smirked at him, rolling his eyes. “Congrats, man. Seriously.”

Gideon and Niko offered similar responses, clapping Lucan on the shoulder.

“That’s not all.”

Four pairs of eyes fixed on him, everyone but Tegan looking at him with grim expectation.

“Last night, Eva had some choice things to say about me—” There was an immediate defensive vocal barrage from Gideon, Niko, and Dante. Lucan spoke over the angry rumbles. “Her betrayal of Rio and the rest of us is inexcusable, yes. But what she said about me… it was the truth.”

Dante gave him a narrow look. “What are you talking about?”

“Bloodlust,” Lucan replied. The word fell hard into the silence of the SUV. “It’s ah… it’s a problem for me. Has been for a long while. I’m dealing with it, but there are times…” He dropped his chin, stared at the unlit floor of the vehicle. “I don’t know if I can beat it. Maybe, with Gabrielle at my side, I might stand a chance. I’m going to fight it like hell, but if it gets worse—”

Gideon spat a vivid obscenity. “Ain’t gonna happen, Lucan. Of all of us sitting here, you’re the strongest. Always have been. Nothing’s gonna pull you down.”

Lucan shook his head. “I can’t pretend to be the one always in control anymore. I’m tired. I’m not invincible. After nine hundred years of living the lie, it took Gabrielle less than two weeks to tear my mask off. She’s forced me to see myself as I truly am. I don’t like a lot of what I see, but I want to be better… for her.”

Niko scowled. “Damn, Lucan. You talking about love here?”

“Yeah,” he said solemnly. “I am. I love her. Which is why I need to ask something of you. All of you.”

Gideon nodded. “Name it.”

“If things get bad with me—sometime soon, or down the road—I need to know that I can count on you guys to have my back. You see me lose it to Bloodlust, if you think I’m going to turn… I’ve got to have your word that you’ll take me out.”

“What?” Dante recoiled. “You can’t ask that of us, man.”

“Listen to me.” He wasn’t accustomed to begging. The plea was like gravel in his throat, but he needed to spit it out. He was tired of carrying the burden alone. And the very last thing he ever wanted was to fear that in his weakness he might do anything to harm Gabrielle. “I need to hear you swear it. Each of you. Promise me.”

“Shit,” Dante said, gaping at him. Finally, he nodded gravely. “Yeah. Okay. You’re fucking crazy, but okay.”

Gideon shook his head, then held out his fist and knocked his knuckles against Lucan’s. “If that’s what you want, you got it. I swear to you, Lucan.”

Niko voiced his agreement, too. “That day will never come, but if it does, I know you’d do the same for any one of us. So, hell yeah, you have my word.”

Which left Tegan, sitting stoically in the backseat.

“What about you, T?” Lucan said, pivoting to meet the warrior’s flat green stare. “Can I count on you in this?”

Tegan held him in a long, contemplative silence. “Sure, man. What the fuck, whatever you say. You turn, and I’ll be first in line to take you out.”

Lucan nodded, satisfied as he looked around at the sober stares of his brethren.

“Jesus,” Dante interjected when the heavy quiet in the vehicle seemed endless. “All this touchy feely is making me itchy to kill something. How about we quit jerking each other off and go blow the roof off this mutha?”

Lucan returned the vampire’s cocky grin. “Let’s do it.”

The five Breed warriors in head-to-toe black poured out of the SUV as a unit, then began the stealthy approach toward the asylum on the other side of the moonlit trees.