Initiative Read online

  His phone rang, and he saw Oliver's name on the screen. He answered it without hesitation. "Abby?"

  "Critical condition. I have her. I'll make a cover for her, and she'll heal."

  "What happened?" He kept his anger in. There would be no use yelling at Oliver. No, that wouldn't do him any good.

  "She was the van that sped off. I'm assuming a fight inside, but when I caught up to it, she was outside of it, and the van was slammed up against a tree. I've healed her enough that she won't die on the way back to my house. I'll update you."

  Die. She was in enough danger that Oliver was willing to use his healing abilities on her. Levi lowered the phone and looked at Mario.

  Mario shook his head. "I know that look. You are not going to see her. You are going to stay here, and you are going to force yourself to trust Oliver to handle the situation."

  "But if she dies?"

  "Oliver will either stake her or bring her here."

  There was no humor in the statement, as there shouldn't have been because the first one was a very true possibility. "She can't die," he muttered and closed his eyes. Critical condition.

  If she needed a human hospital, Oliver would have taken her there, unless there was something else going on. Like Oliver didn't want someone to know how bad she was.

  "He'll call back. Let him get a chance to drive her safely to his house and watch over her for the day. You, on the other hand, need to feed." Mario motioned to the door. "I'll call you a meal, and I'm sure you'll feel better once you're well fed."

  Levi tore his eyes away from the television and nodded. "Yes, I'll feel better." He sighed and turned off the screen. "Thank you."

  Mario clapped him on the shoulder as he passed. "It's my job to make sure you stay level-headed."

  Levi nodded. "Yeah, I know."

  One good meal later, Levi found himself sitting in the television room watching the news on mute still. Nothing but replays of the van going through the crowd played. No one mentioned the missing agent, only that the van had hit six reporters. He tried to make sense of the scene in front of him.

  He caught glimpses of the red eyes, so the vampires were blood-starved, but he didn't know exactly how many of them there were. Was there just one in the van? No, there were at least two, one to drive and the one that took Abby. He rubbed his eyes and resisted trying to call her. She needed her rest. Besides, her phone was most likely destroyed in the crash.

  As if reading his mind, footage of the crash popped up on the television screen. The van had slammed into the tree, cracking the trunk. There were dead vampires around, shot.

  He clicked the volume off of mute.

  "Rumors say that the PIB agent taken, Agent Abigail Collins, has been taken to a private hospital. Her condition is unknown."

  The camera panned over the crash site, and Levi put a hand to his chest. Abigail. He should be by her side right now instead of hiding in the mansion. He put the television back on mute and leaned back in his chair.

  The moment his phone rang he snatched it up. "Oliver." He kept his voice even.

  "I've healed her some more. She's doing okay, but she's going to be sore when she wakes up tomorrow morning." He sighed. "Had I not been there she would have died at the crash site."

  "I've seen the wreckage. There was no coming out of that alive. That being said, we're going to need to do a good job covering this up if you don't want people to know you're a healer."

  "I know. I'll pay off some people to say that Abby was at their hospital. It should be easy enough. People owe me favors, and it's about time I start calling them in."

  Levi took a deep breath. "Thank you, Oliver, for being there with her."

  "She's my niece, Levi. I want her to live just as much as you do. I love her, and I wouldn't leave her defenseless, and I wouldn't leave her to die. She killed two of the vampires in self-defense. I killed the third as it rambled toward her. When she wakes and feeling up to it, I'll take her home."

  "Thank you. I'll call her tomorrow night." He disconnected the phone and put it on the arm of the chair beside him. For once, he was grateful for Oliver's help and his need to keep tabs on Abigail. Even if he didn't like the warlock.

  Mario walked in. "How is she?"

  "She'll heal, and she'll survive. She's in Oliver's capable hands." He rubbed his eyes. "We're lucky he was there."

  "If he hadn't been, this would have been a much bigger issue," Mario agreed. "Have we figured out anything from watching the newsreel over and over?"

  Levi shook his head. "Blood-starved. They're all dead, so there's no one to question so we can't know if they are Ira's or not." He hung his head. "Mario, I fear we're going to need to tell Abigail."

  "Like you should have done years ago?" Mario asked casually. "Or you know, the moment she came back to your custody you should have introduced her to her people."

  Levi glared at him. "I'm well aware that you don't agree with anything that I've done when it comes to Abigail."

  Mario held his hands up. "I'll back off."

  "Thank you." He looked at the news again. "I don't think this is just going to go away."

  Mario shook his head. "No, it won't."

  "Call the council."

  "This close to dawn?"

  Levi nodded. "Yes. Grayson should be finishing up with the crime scene, so he can fill us in on what is going on on PIB's side of things."

  Mario hesitated.

  "Now, Mario." Levi stood and walked out of the room. The council needed to know what was going on. There were no good leads on Ira, but there had to be something that he wasn't thinking of. A connection that he was missing.

  He paused in the hallway, the answer seemed obvious now.

  The agents, they were the common piece. At the press conference, Tomes had said they'd been tracking the vampires across the state, but there hadn't been any other reports, and Levi doubted the agent was able to keep them from the press.

  He growled and went to his room to change for the council meeting. He needed to follow this theory up to see if there was a corrupt agent or two in the mix.

  Chapter Six

  Levi sat at the head of the table and looked over the council members. Each of them wore a grim face, and Grayson looked especially exhausted.

  "What of the attack Grayson?"

  "From what we can tell, the blood-starved vampires were on a mission to take out an agent or two. They just so happened to take Agent Collins." He met Levi's gaze. "What PIB was told about Abigail is this: She took out the vampires in the van and paid a dear price for it. She was thrown from the van and rushed off to a private hospital before the media was able to get on site."

  They all looked at Levi at that point.

  "Abigail is the care of a healer who wishes not to be named. He was able to get on site, heal her some, and get her out of there. She's healed enough to live but will sport some damage still as not to draw attention to her situation or the healer." Levi glanced at Mario and then back to the others. "I have a theory that Agent Tomes is involved with this all. Grayson, I need whatever information you can get me on the agent."

  He nodded. "What makes you think he's involved?"

  "The vampires you and I ran into with his case and something he said at the press conference about following the vampires through the state. There have been no reports of blood-starved in this state."

  Grayson sighed. "That's correct, the last time we had reports was when you confronted Ira a decade ago."

  The last-ditch effort to stop Ira and his experiments. "That raises a red flag. There's no possible way PIB kept it under wraps from the media and from the local branch."

  "I agree," Catalina stated. "We need to look into him and see if there's a connection, and if there is, turn it over to Grayson to deal with."

  Levi nodded. "Abigail needs to stay away from that case, as far as
she can. Grayson, can you make that happen?"

  "I can try, but I'm dealing with the other case and the other special agents are out on their own cases. Tomes and Grace should be handling most of it. The only way to promise her not being involved is for you to go to Boss Man about it."

  That man rarely listened to Levi. He rubbed his eyes. "Okay. We must face a fact here. The time of hiding everything from Abigail may be coming to an end."

  "Let's not get rash," Catalina said and held her hands up. "She may not be ready to be brought in yet. She'll cause more problems than solve them. You know that."

  He was sure there would be a rebellious fight against him the moment he tried to bring her in, but once she knew the full truth, he did not doubt that she'd agree with him. Eventually. "Ira may force our hand in this."

  "And if he does, we shall deal with it then." Grayson nodded. "Abigail is good at what she does, so she might discover Ira, but all connections to you are blocked in the PIB database from her clearance."

  All he needed to do was hope that she didn't suddenly get a clearance raise. "Good, then we can hopefully put it off longer."

  "Until we know if this attack has anything to do with Ira, we should play it low key. Let the agents on the case handle it and go from there," Grayson offered. "I can stick close, and Abigail already has a case. If she's hurt, despite having a partner, they'll try to limit her load anyways."

  Levi nodded. Maybe he was being rash and over-protective right now. All he knew was that Abigail's exposure to the vampire world was becoming greater and greater, and if Ira kept moving forward, Levi would have no choice but to tell her.

  "Now, if it is Ira," Catalina started, "which several things are pointing to him, then we need to make plans to locate him, contain him, and give his maker the option of either killing him or letting us deal with it."

  "Samuel won't allow us to kill Ira." Levi shook his head. "Even for breaking both vampire and human laws. We all know that."

  "Then we get PIB involved. Someone who's not part of the council and doesn't have a connection to Levi," Grayson stated. "We get the executioners involved and send them after Ira."

  Levi nodded. "It risks an unknown PIB agent, but one life over many I suppose." The idea of using a PIB agent as a scapegoat made his stomach churn, but sometimes sacrifices needed to be made to bring down an enemy. It was a lesson he'd learn before.

  There was silence around the table. Grayson finally stood. "I need to retire for the day. I've been working through daylight hours, and it's been wearing on me." He disappeared, and one by one the other council members did the same.

  Mario put a hand on Levi's shoulder. "You are getting ahead of yourself, my friend. There are precautions put into place for Abigail's sake. This is not a ruse that will break down overnight."

  "And if tonight was an attempt on Abigail's life?" he asked. "Am I just to sit back and ignore that it would make three attempts in six months? With no explanation to her?"

  "You sit back, and you watch how she handles it. You've trained her well. She's observant, stubborn, and paranoid, all your best features. She'll be able to survive what Ira will throw at her." Mario squeezed Levi's shoulder. "Now come, you also need sleep today."

  Levi stood. Occasionally Mario felt more like a babysitter than a guard, but sometimes Levi needed the extra eye on him. He may not have required sleep during the day, but he still did better with it. He knew better than to push it too far, and he had no doubt that someone would call him if something bad happened to Abigail, rather, something worse.

  Ira snarled when Tomes walked into the room. "I saw the news. What the fuck was that all about?"

  Tomes didn't answer right away. Instead, the PIB agent stood there and stared at Ira. When the man didn't answer, Ira's lips raised in a snarl. "You think you're so smart and so important to this plan simply because I gave you a few blood-starved vampires to control?"

  "You need me, Ira. You need someone who is inside PIB who can feed you information on that stupid agent you want."

  That stupid agent, Abigail Collins, his niece, and she was more than just an agent, but Tomes only knew part of the story. He watched the PIB agent pick at his nails and then meet his gaze again. "You said you wanted her. I set up an opportunity to get her. It's not my fault that the vampires failed."

  "No, what you set up was a public spectacle, and Abigail got away." Ira stood up from his chair and walked towards Tomes. "I had a trap set up for her, and you've gone and screwed it up. Because now she's injured and hiding to heal those injuries." He snarled. "What do you have to say?"

  To Ira's surprise, Tomes didn't back down. "Why are you so interested in that little brat. She's young and stupid."

  "She's the daughter of the King of Vampires, and I need her to draw him out." That was the extent of what he was willing to share. There was nothing else Tomes needed to know.

  Something passed over Tomes' gaze, and it darkened his eyes. "Levi can't be the king. The king of vampires is just a myth. Not even PIB can nail down who he is."

  Ira chuckled. "Is that what you really think?"

  "Just a boogie man in the dark." Tomes nodded. "Nothing for us to worry about. A puppet for the vampires to pretend they have control over their people"

  "You are such a naive little man." Ira laughed. "The King is very real, and it's Levi. Making Abigail the princess. So, if you attempt a kidnapping again, either make sure you do it correctly, or I'll kill you."

  Ira smiled as he smelled the fear coming off Tomes now. Death he believed in, the threat of death was a very real issue to him. "Now go, I'm sure PIB is missing you right now."

  Tomes nodded and walked back out of the room. Ira sat back down and steepled his fingers. He had a trap for Abigail, but now that Tomes messed it up, it was time to make Levi very aware that he was in town. Distract the territory leader, and things could go unnoticed in the territory, like new vampires, drug dealers, and a lab full of vampire experiments.

  The irritating ringing of a phone somewhere pulled him out of his sleep. Levi growled as his hand searched around for it. He answered it. "What?"

  "Has Abigail mentioned any progress to you?" Greg's voice came over the line, and Levi had to stop himself from lashing out.

  "I know she's working on it, Greg. She mentioned the tracking spell failed and she needed to work on the next step. Currently, she's in a hospital though."

  Greg snorted. "No, she's not. I just heard from my wolves that she was up at the property. Seems she managed to escape the little escapade last night with little damage."

  Levi closed his eyes and counted for a moment. "If you know that she's working on it, then why are you calling me?"

  "I'm worried. I'm worried about my wolf, and I'm worried that your witch may have her priorities mixed around."

  "I assure you that Abigail knows what she is doing and what's at stake. If she didn't, then I wouldn't have sent you to her. Now, what is this I hear about a visiting alpha and his mate?"

  Greg hesitated for a moment. "I am trying to find good examples of living harmoniously with the human world around us so I have a chance to bridge the gap between my pack's factions and come together again as one."

  "And is it working?" Levi asked and sat up in his bed.

  There was no answer for a moment. "I'll have to get back to you on that." The call disconnected, and Levi shook his head. The wolf was something else. Though he was strong and he had leadership skills, his mind was stuck in the ways of the past. Simon should have taken him out long ago and become alpha.

  He stood and headed toward the bathroom when his phone rang again. This time Abigail's ringtone. He swiped it up and answered it.

  "Are you up and walking?" he asked without even saying hello. He knew the answer, but he wanted confirmation from her.

  "I'm alive, and I'm back to work already. Leave it to me to b
ecome a target for a crazy group of vampires, eh?"

  He snorted at her poor attempt at a joke. "Out of all the things to almost kill you, rogue vampires and a car accident. We were lucky your uncle was there." All humor had faded from his voice, and once again he was reminded that it was Oliver's crazy need to keep tabs on Abigail that saved her.

  "He only healed some of the damage because he doesn't want to draw extra attention to the situation."

  "What did he leave you with?"

  "A broken rib and some scrapes and bruises. I'm fine. I promise, it's enough to make it believable, but not too much to affect my job horribly. But I have to go. I need to talk to the sister of the missing wolf."

  He trusted that she wouldn't have been out and about if she didn't think she could handle it. "Are you making progress?"

  "I've learned a few more things, but I don't know how much closer I am to finding her."

  "Greg is worried." That was putting it mildly.

  "I know he is, but I'm out here working with a cracked rib, I think I've got my priorities straight. I'll talk to you later."

  She disconnected the call, and Levi laughed. He had to agree with her. She had her priorities straight if she was on pack grounds wounded. She was also testing her luck. Simon would protect her. Levi tried not to think about the witch she mentioned that might have been behind the wolf's disappearance. Stronger than Abby on a good day, that meant Abby's injuries would widen the power gap.

  He tossed his phone on the bed and rubbed his eyes. The girl was going to be the death of him. The second death that was. He headed to the shower and tried to push the thoughts away from him. He didn't want to think about her being helpless. He'd done everything he could to make it so she didn't go through life unable to take care of herself. But there was always that doubt in his head. What if he failed? What if she couldn't defend herself?

  Levi walked into the kitchen to see Jaimie sitting at the island munching on something. "Glad to see you're up to eating."