"No, I didn't tell you everything," he admitted. "Do you really want to know all of it?"
"I think I need to know." She met his gaze again, her pale green eyes sober, as steady as a warrior girded for battle. "What did the Order find out about him?"
"He's second-generation Breed, easily several hundred years old," Niko said, starting with the least of Fabien's offenses.
"He's been the leader of the Montreal Darkhaven for the past century and a half, and he's also got far-reaching ties into the upper tiers of the Enforcement Agency, which means he's politically connected too."
Renata scoffed quietly. "That's a resume, Nikolai. You know what I'm asking. Give it to me straight."
"All right." He nodded, not bothering to hide his admiration. Or his concern. "Even though he's got a lot of friends in high places, Edgar Fabien's not what you'd call a model citizen. Apparently he's got some fairly sick kinks that have caused him a bit of trouble over the years."
"Kinks," Renata said, all but spitting the word.
"His tastes tend to run on the sadistic side, and he...well, he's been known to enjoy the company of children from time to time. Particularly young girls."
"Jesus Christ," Renata exclaimed in a tight rush of her breath. She closed her eyes and turned her face aside, all of her going very still, as though it took some work to keep from breaking down. When she finally looked back at Niko, there was a murderous glint in her unblinking jade-green gaze. "I'll kill him. I swear it, Nikolai. I will fucking kill him if he's done anything to her." "We're gonna get him," he assured her. "We're going to find him, and we're going to get Mira back."
"I can't fail her, Nikolai."
"Hey," he said, reaching out to cover her hand with his. "We won't fail her. Got it? I'm with you on this. We're gonna get her back."
She looked at him in silence for a long moment. Then, very slowly, she flipped her hand over and linked her fingers through his. "She's going to be safe...right?"
A trace of uncertainty, one of the first times he'd heard it in her voice. He wanted to erase the doubt for her, and the worry, but all he could offer was his promise. "We're going to get her back, Renata. You've got my word on that."
"Okay," she said. Then, more resolutely, "Okay, Nikolai. Thank you."
"You're really something, you know that?" She started to shake her head in denial, but Niko gave her hand a gentle squeeze, keeping her centered. "You're strong, Renata. Stronger than you know. Mira's lucky to have you on her side. Hell, so am I." Her answering smile was faint and slightly sad. "I hope you're right."
"I'm hardly ever wrong," he said, grinning at her and barely resisting the urge to lean across the little table and kiss her. But that would only lead to one thing - something that his libido was already imagining in explicit detail.
"So, how long are you going to fondle those Colts before you let me have a look at one?"
Niko leaned back in the metal folding chair and chuckled. "Take your pick. You sure you know how to handle - "
He didn't have a chance to finish the thought. Renata reached out for the gun nearest to her and a full magazine of rounds. She had the weapon loaded, locked, and ready for action in three seconds flat. Niko had never seen anything sexier in his life. "Impressive."
She set the pistol down on the table and arched one slim dark brow at him. "You want help with yours now too?" He started to laugh, but swallowed the sound before it left his mouth.
They weren't alone.
Renata followed his gaze upward, to where Nikolai could swear he heard a muted thud. It came again, then a small creak of the garage roof.
"We've got company," he whispered to her.
Renata gave him a nod, already getting up from her chair. She slid the loaded to him across the table and moved in swift, efficient silence to begin loading the other.
No sooner had Nikolai picked up the gun than the garage apartment door burst inward, kicked off its hinges. A huge vampire in the black SWAT gear of the Enforcement Agency rushed inside, the laser sights of his silenced automatic rifle locked on Renata. "Son of a bitch!" Niko shouted. "Renata, shoot him!"
For an awful second, she didn't move. Nikolai thought she had frozen up in shock, but then the Agent let out a howl of pain and dropped his weapon to clutch at his temples. He went down on his knees, but there were two more armed males right behind him. They leapt over the shrieking obstacle and opened fire in the small space. Renata took cover behind one of the metal file cabinets, firing on the Agent in the lead. Niko targeted the second newcomer, but his shot went wild as the small window above the bed shattered and yet another Enforcement Agent dropped into the fray, armed to the gills.
"Nikolai - behind you!" Renata called.
She hit this latest arrival with a debilitating blast of her mind's power, and the bastard crumpled to the floor, writhing and convulsing before Niko stilled him with a couple of rounds to the head.
Renata crippled one of the others with a shot to the knee, then took him out completely with a dead-aim bullet between the eyes. Nikolai killed another, and realized belatedly that he'd completely lost sight of the first male who'd come through the door. The son of a bitch was no longer whimpering where Renata had dropped him.
To Niko's horror, the huge vampire had Renata in his hands, lifting her off the ground and throwing her into the nearest wall. The Breed male's strength was immense, like all of their kind. Renata crashed against the solid surface, then fell hard to the floor. She lay there unmoving, obviously too dazed to retaliate.