Relativity (A Sage Hannigan Time Warper Novel #2) Read online

  “Tell me who sent you, and why the ambush?” Soren growled into the face of the vampire he held by the throat.

  “Why should I? You’ll kill me anyway,” the vampire hissed, spittle flying from the side of his mouth.

  “Tell me, or I will hurt you in so many ways, you’ll beg me to kill you.” The ice in his voice chilled the blood in my veins.

  “Go ahead and kill me. They already got the information they were after as soon as you two showed up,” the vampire snarled.

  “And what information was that, jackass?” I asked. An ugly grin split his blood splattered face and his chuckle did nothing to ease my mind.

  “That my master has a weapon that can neutralize the power of a warper.” His remark caused the blood to drain from my face, and his nasty laugh was the last thing I heard before Soren ripped his throat out. Even as the vampire’s last shrill rang out and the gurgling followed, I sat there in a state of shock. What did he mean, a “weapon”? What kind of weapon could neutralize goddess-given powers?

  “Sage?” Soren shook me lightly, and I blinked up into his dirt and blood-covered face. He spoke softly. “We will figure this out, but first we need to take care of your friend and find out how much he knows.” I nodded my head and turned to walk mechanically over to Matt’s side.

  “What about this mess?” I asked softly.

  “Leave that to me.” He flipped open his cell phone and began barking out orders that would have made a drill sergeant proud. I took off my sweater and tried to clean off my hands as much as possible, but the sight of Soren wiped away any hope I had of not looking like we had just been in a bloody supernatural battle. Soren walked back over to me and squeezed my shoulder. I tried to wipe the blood off his face, but there was just too much of it. Not five minutes later, a small group of people swept into the building and began the tedious clean-up process.

  I walked over to Matt and reached for his pulse point just as Soren joined me. “He’s fine. I can hear his heartbeat. Here, take this and give it to him.” He handed me a small syringe.

  ‘What is it?” I looked at the offending object doubtfully.

  “It’s just a sedative. Just in case he wakes up and panics or sees things he might not want to. It will keep him knocked out until we can get him out of here and checked out.” I nodded and uncapped the syringe. I swallowed and then quickly jabbed the needle into Matt’s arm, my hand only slightly shaking. When I was done, I handed the needle back to Soren and caught a sardonic smile flash across his face.

  “What?” I asked as a muscle ticked in my cheek.

  “Nothing…I just find it a little odd that you can behead a vampire without so much as a second thought and yet you cringe at the sight of a hypodermic needle. I shrugged. What can you really say to something like that? I’d much rather be covered in blood and gore than to deal with needles? Doubt a therapist would give me brownie points for that one. We got Matt into an SUV that was waiting outside, and a driver drove us across the city to Soren’s apartment building. It was in a much better neighborhood than mine, that’s for sure, and his posh living quarters took up an entire floor.

  Two overly-muscled guys carried Matt into an extra bedroom and left just as quickly as they had entered. A few moments later, a small woman with graying hair entered, carrying an old-fashioned doctor’s bag. She spoke quietly with Soren, glanced quickly in my direction, and then proceeded to wash and dress the gash on Matt’s head. When she was assured of his breathing and heart rate, she left just like the two guys before her. I stood there staring at Matt and praying he wouldn’t remember anything or at least would only remember thugs and not anything to do with the supernatural. I was deep in thought when Soren placed a hand on my shoulder, causing me to jump.

  “Come, Sage. We should probably get cleaned up.” I glanced down at my ruined clothing and nodded. It would be horrible if Matt woke up to find me looking like I’d killed someone. Well, technically I had killed someone…but they’d had it coming to them. I grimaced at my train of thought and shook off the melancholy that was threatening. A hot shower sounded divine right about then, and I had the feeling I was going to need to grab every small piece of Heaven I could in the days ahead.

  I came out of the bathroom wearing a long t-shirt and a pair of Soren’s boxers while towel-drying my hair. Soren had taken a shower in one of the other bathrooms and was already lying on his back across his bed with an arm flung over his eyes. He was clean and shirtless. My eyes oogled the broad expanse of his muscular chest.

  “So, when were you going to tell me?” Soren’s voice made me jump guiltily, and when I finally ripped my eyes away from the sexiness that was Soren’s naked torso, I found myself staring into brilliantly glowing hazel eyes. I frowned in confusion.

  “Tell you about what?” I asked as I began running the brush Soren had given me through the tangled mass of curls hanging over my shoulder.

  “How about you tell me how you seem to have picked up the uncanny ability to hear from impossible distances, even though that is not a skill you have in your warper repertoire.” Oh, that.

  “There isn’t much to tell. Every once in a while I seem to have super hearing. I don’t know if it is just a side effect of having had your blood or what.” I shrugged—no biggie.

  “How often do you have the hearing thing?” he asked with his brow creased in concern. I walked over and sat on the edge of his bed and thought about it. How often did I have the super hearing and other issues? “Sage?”

  “I have the hearing issues sporadically. The other day when I first started a new job was one of the more memorable, though not as clear as tonight,” I answered thoughtfully.

  “You mean when you broke that guy’s nose at Taco Hut?”

  “How did you…?”

  “I was in the restaurant. I just stayed in a different section so you wouldn’t see me.” He rubbed his chin in thought.

  “You were there?” I asked, feeling off balanced. How had I not seen him?

  “How was your hearing when I was in your apartment last night?” he asked, breaking into my thoughts. I vaguely recalled the background noise bothering me as we were talking, but I had pushed it to the back of my mind.

  “What are you thinking, Soren?”

  “I’m thinking that when we are close to each other, you seem to have a new skill at your disposal—a vampire’s keen sense of hearing. When you heard the very faint voice call for help tonight, we were two blocks away, and I barely even heard the sound. We were touching though, and the night was relatively quiet.” He smiled and raised a brow. My mouth snapped shut, and I sat there on the edge of his bed thinking over what he was suggesting.

  “Do you think it’s because I had your blood?”

  “It’s possible. I’ve never had another warper to try it out on, so this is new to both of us.”

  “Well, while we are talking about the likelihood of warper-vampire side effects, I have a few other things to tell you.” Soren became too quiet. “Soren?” I stopped trying to tame my tangled hair and glanced over my shoulder. Soren sat up and came up behind me on his knees. My mouth went dry as he approached and held out his hand. I looked at it like it was a forbidden fruit from the garden of temptation and turned my puzzled gaze back to his amused one.

  “Give me the brush, Sage.” I swallowed nervously and handed over the brush. “Now turn around, relax, and tell me whatever you need to.” I turned around and nearly jumped out of my skin when Soren lifted my hair from my shoulder, his fingers grazing my collarbone.

  “Besides the super hearing, I’ve also felt chaotic emotions.” Soren had begun to gently run the brush through my hair in hypnotic strokes. I sighed and my body began to unravel from the spring it had wound itself around.

  “Those were definitely a side effect of our blood sharing.” He spoke gently, close to my ear, and I closed my eyes to better savor the tension leaving my body. “I felt your pain and heartbreak so many times. It took everything in me not to rush to your s
ide and try to ease your sorrows. That is one of the reasons I spent so much of the last three months in another country. I couldn’t endanger you, but I couldn’t stand being so close and not being able to reveal myself to you.” He sighed deeply, a sound full of regret. “What else, darling?”

  “Well…I had an episode the other day,” I barely whispered.

  “An episode?” His hand caressed my hair as he ran the brush through the tangle free locks. My body hummed in appreciation.

  “Yeah. I was visiting the park, not too far from here. It is one of the few places I remember my mom and dad taking me when I was small. Good memories. While I was there, I had something like a vision. The air thickened and my body felt light, but it was difficult to move. The air temperature changed, and I could smell summer on the wind. I heard a little girl call out to her daddy, and then I saw a blurry picture of her skip by me. It wasn’t until I heard a laugh—my mother’s laugh—that I realized I was seeing my past. The shock of it all shattered the illusion, and I am still unsure if it even happened or if I made the whole thing up. Some kind of delayed, post-traumatic stress or something.” My eye lids were so heavy I doubted I could’ve lifted them if I’d tried. I yawned, and Soren stopped brushing my hair.

  “Here, Sage. Lie down and get some rest. We can discuss this tomorrow.” He pulled back the fluffy covers from his bed and patted the inviting pillow.

  “I can’t. I need to go check on Matt and be there for him when he wakes up.”

  Soren tsked. “Matt will be out for several more hours at least, Sage. What good could you do him if you are dead on your feet?” I smiled and started giggling. I never giggle. Soren frowned, and I laughed out loud. A very sexy vampire just told me I’d be dead on my feet. How ironic. I yawned loudly and my body protested when I stretched. Soren was right. I needed to rest if I was going to be useful to anyone later.

  “Okay. Just for a few hours though.” I slid under the covers and my body immediately melted into the luxuriously soft bed. Soren lay down next to me, and…it felt right. He pulled my back to his chest and his arm encircled my waist. I stiffened only for a second before I completely relaxed into the reassuring arms that held me. Soren gently kissed my shoulder and then feathered a kiss over my mark of Amerach.

  “Good night, Sage,” he whispered next to my ear.

  “Good night, Soren,” I replied into the darkness as I sank into a blissful state of contentedness.

  I was floating on an amazing cloud of peace and happiness when a loud crash in the apartment had Soren and I both out of the bed in an instant. Soren’s eyes were shining and his haired was mussed up in an entirely too sexy manner. I reached up and felt my bed head. Awe, hell. Why couldn’t I look like a sex god when I first woke up? I heard cursing coming from the guest bedroom and made a point to not run too quickly to Matt. I entered the room just as Matt was trying to pick up the pieces of the lamp he’d knocked off the night stand.

  “Matt?” I said softly. Matt swung around and grabbed ahold of the wall to steady himself.

  “Sage…? Where the hell are we? What happened?” His face was a mask of confusion as he felt the bandage on his head. I walked over to him and put a hand on his arm and led him back to the bed to sit down.

  “What do you remember from last night?” I asked gently.

  “Last night?” He closed his eyes and massaged his temple with one hand. “Last night I was at Club Strange with some friends and about forty-five minutes before closing, I helped Trina get an intoxicated friend into a cab. I remember seeing a shadow after they pulled off and then…nothing.” I glanced up at Soren and he shrugged. Matt finally noticed Soren standing in the doorway, and I could feel his entire body tense.

  “Matt, this is Soren. He’s a friend of mine.” Soren raised a brow, but didn’t comment. He looked dangerous, even in his black silk pajama pants. Matt’s eyes narrowed as he nodded in Soren’s direction. His eyes swept over me, taking in my bed head and the wrinkled men’s t-shirt and boxers I wore. His mouth thinned into a straight line and his jaw clenched.

  “Friend, huh? I didn’t know you had any friends, Sage.” His words were barbed, poised to cause pain. I removed my hand from his arm. “So what happened last night, and what am I doing here with you and your friend, feeling like an elephant sat on my head?”

  “Well, it’s kind of hard to explain….” What was I supposed to tell him? Soren and I hadn’t discussed what our story would be. I had no idea what to say, but lucky for me, I had a quick-talking vampire on my side who had probably more than once been in a similar predicament.

  “Sage and I were leaving the club to take a walk together when we found you unconscious in between two buildings about a block away from the club. Sage wanted to call the police, but I found your wallet next to your body, and everything seemed to be inside, so we decided to bring you here first and get you looked at by my personal physician. We can still phone the police if you’d like to write a report.” He said it with such sincerity and authority, I almost believed him myself. I wasn’t surprised at all to see Matt already shaking his head and refusing to make the call.

  “Nah, I just don’t understand what happened if they weren’t trying to rob me. Maybe it was a case of mistaken identity?” Matt rubbed his hand roughly over the stubble on his face and winced. I winced in sympathy.

  “We’ll leave you to get a shower and dressed, Matt.” I motioned toward the bathroom and then to the set of loaned clothes folded neatly on the dresser. “Maybe I can find us all some coffee and something to eat as well.” I smiled and made my way to stand beside Soren. He touched my arm and started to walk out the door.

  “Uh, Soren?” Matt’s voice stopped us both in our tracks, and Soren met Matt’s apologetic gaze. “Thank you.” He nodded once in my direction. “Both of you. I really appreciate it.” I smiled stiffly and Soren nodded graciously.

  “No problem at all, man.” We left Matt to get showered and dressed. Soren shut the door behind us as we entered his room. I snatched the brush off of his dresser before heading into the bathroom to brush out my mass of bed head. “I know what you’re thinking, Sage, but this isn’t your fault, and it is best this way.” I knew he was right, but it didn’t make it any easier. I pulled my hair back into a tight ponytail and splashed cool water over my face.

  “I know, it’s just I hate lying to him. He has been the only friend I’ve had the past few months. Working out with him has been the one thing that has kept me grounded. The one thing that kept me from completely shriveling up and dying on the inside.”

  “Sage...”

  “No…just…no, Soren. If it wasn’t for me, he would never have been kidnapped, wouldn’t have a huge gash on his head, and wouldn’t have a spotty memory of last night. His life could still be in danger because of me.” I pointed to myself and my eyes brimmed in tears that I refused to let fall. Soren gathered me to his chest and tipped my chin up to meet his stony gaze.

  “I’ll make sure that nothing happens to Matt. I’ll have him followed for his protection, and no one will ever know he’s being shadowed. He’s way too good to be spotted.” He leaned in closer and whispered huskily into my ear. “Now get dressed. I can’t have you waltzing around dressed like that. You are shredding my self-control.” I pulled away and looked down at what I’d slept in. I cocked a brow. He had to be kidding. I looked back up, fully intending to spout off some witty and sarcastic comment, but the look on Soren’s face robbed the very breath from my lungs. There was no mistaking the desire and longing stamped there. I swallowed and then nervously wet my lips with the tip of my tongue. I felt a rumbling under my hand and realized Soren had growled deep in his throat, and I could feel the vibration of it in the palm of my hand. I looked away sheepishly. Now was not the time with Matt a few doors down.

  “I don’t have anything to wear that isn’t blood stained.” I spoke as softly as possible. Soren stepped back slowly and took the hand I had on his chest in his and ran his lips sensually over the back of
it and then placed a small kiss there before letting go to step back completely. My hand wasn’t the only place on my body that was tingling.

  “In the top drawer of the large dresser,” he replied huskily. I walked over and found a pair of jeans in my exact size and a sapphire blue cashmere sweater, as well as undergarments. I swung around and found an amused pair of eyes smiling at me.

  “How do you do that? You did it before. Do you remember?” His smile slipped a little, and I was instantly sorry I’d brought it up.

  “Yes, I remember.” He smiled and my own smile grew wider. “I don’t usually sleep at night, little warper, so I can get a lot accomplished while the world is sleeping.” He smiled wryly. “It doesn’t hurt to have a ton of money at your disposal and technology at your fingertips, either.” I rolled my eyes and strode into the bathroom to get dressed. By the time I blushed at the gorgeous, but skimpy blue lace panties and bra Soren had provided, slipped into the perfectly fitting jeans, and squealed over the absolutely deliciously soft sweater, I was smiling ear to ear as I exited the bathroom. The bedroom was empty though.

  I found Soren and Matt in the kitchen with large cups of coffee, bagels, muffins, and other unholy confections spread out before them. My stomach growled as I entered the room. Soren handed me an apple fritter and a cup of coffee made just how I preferred—super sweet and super light with a dash of almond flavoring—as I took my seat. I shook my head and took the offering without comment. I was way too excited to see the yummy goodness waiting for me. I smiled at Soren as I bit into the heavenly, still warm, fritter. I moaned and closed my eyes. A perfectly made fritter had to be one of the closest things there was to the food of the gods. I opened my eyes to find Soren and Matt staring at me like I had two heads. I grabbed a napkin and wiped my mouth, just in case I’d oozed apple filling all over my chin. Soren’s gaze was riveted to my mouth, and I swallowed audibly. Thankfully, Matt cleared his voice.