Blood Chained (Dark Siren Book 3) Read online

  She made a snap decision to emphasize her accent to match her fake husband’s. “Mr. Shen, you are too kind.”

  He raised his eyes but lifted his lips only enough to speak. “Would it be too much of a stretch to ask that we drop the honorifics between us as well?”

  Kali slipped her hand away, pouring enough honey into her reply to overwhelm a hive. “A lady can never be so casual, especially in business,” she purred, folding her gloved hands neatly in front of her. “Would you forgive my rudeness for a moment and humor a very unladylike curiosity?”

  Shen spread his arms before bending his upper body into a deep bow. “Anything.”

  “Your English is impeccable. Where did you learn?”

  A genuine smile brightened his features. He was clearly pleased with her commendation. “I was raised mostly in the United States, studied there as well. I came back to China as a teenager after the death of my parents to live with my grandfather. This,” he gestured around the room. Obviously, the motion was intended to indicate much more. “Is his empire, his legacy.”

  Kali dipped her head slightly, completing an extended consideration of him through lowered lashes. “It’s magnificent.”

  Orrin cleared his throat. Apparently, he’d had enough of the small talk. “Let’s get down to business.”

  She couldn’t object to that. Having the spotlight on her for so long was making her twitchy. Shen, on the other hand, seemed to almost begrudgingly steal his eyes away. “Yes, of course. Let’s begin by getting the two of you into a proper office to review the paperwork.”

  “I’ve seen the papers. My lawyer has seen the papers. Though he thinks one or two details could be ironed out a bit more in our favor, I don’t think they’re deal breakers.” Orrin’s posture was relaxed, and his voice maintained a consistent note of charm. But something in his smile was evocative of a shark circling bloody waters. Kali saw it. She could tell that Shen saw it too.

  The manager adjusted his tie. “Whatever concerns you have, I’m sure we can reach terms to satisfy both you and your counsel.”

  “It’s my signature that will transfer hundreds of millions to your bank. So don’t worry about pleasing the lawyers. Concern yourself with pleasing me…and the missus, of course.” His smile stretched wider, but lacked any and all warmth.

  Shen gulped. Kali decided to step in, before Orrin’s act scared the man right out of his eight hundred dollar boots. Sometimes the kin underestimated how intimidating they could be to humans.

  “What my husband is trying to say,” she said, sliding her hand lightly across Shen’s forearm. “Is that he needs more tangible proof that our modest assets will be secure here.”

  “Every dollar is insured, as stated in the contract.”

  “Yes. We know that. But…we have other items, priceless artifacts, which would need to be secured in safety deposit boxes.” Kali moved around Shen, trailing her fingers across his well muscled back as she orbited him. Now she and Orrin were positioned behind and in front of the manager. She saw the instant when tiny beads of sweat broke out on the back of his neck. “Our wealth was not inherited. Owen is a brilliant architect, specializing in blending modern and traditional styles that are as beautiful as they are secure.” She circled again, putting herself in full view of Shen to lend visual weight to her words. “We only have to assure Owen that this facility meets his lofty standard. And then the account is yours.”

  The manager visibly relaxed. “I am most certain the proper arrangements can be made to prove your fortune will be safe in our hands.” Motioning toward the door, he bent his lithe form into another low bow. “This way please. I will show you the entire facility, if that is what it takes.”

  Chapter 16

  They were following the bank manager down a long, carpeted corridor when Kali noticed Orrin discreetly check his phone. Shen wasn’t watching, so Orrin had dropped the cocky persona. His face pulled into a tight grimace as he shoved the cell back into his breast pocket. Kali laid her hand on his wrist like a concerned wife just as Shen stopped in front of the elevators and turned around to face them. “Is something the matter, darling?” she said.

  Orrin’s scowl melted away and he slipped back into character. “It’s nothing that can’t be handled later.” Pressing what would be perceived as a dismissive kiss against her cheek, he ushered her into the waiting elevator. As she stepped inside ahead of their host he whispered, “York has spotted someone, a potential threat. Stay close to me.”

  Heart missing a beat at his words, she obediently glued herself to Orrin’s side from that point onward. The elevator took them down four levels and stopped. Shen produced a key from his breast pocket, inserting it into a slot on the control panel. When he twisted the key, a row of buttons not there before were illuminated beneath the ground floor and lobby selections. He pressed “V,” and the elevator hummed to life, resuming its slow descent.

  Shen withdrew the key. “As you can see, extra measures have been taken to secure this part of the building. Only those who own deposit boxes know our vault is actually housed beneath the bank’s base floors. To own one of our boxes, a client’s net worth must be above five hundred million.”

  “Yen or dollars?” Kali squeaked before remembering herself.

  Shen laughed. “Beautiful and funny. How do you keep your wits, Mr. Bowen?”

  “Oh, sometimes it’s a struggle,” Orrin remarked dryly, and Kali dug her elbow into his side. He didn’t flinch. “But she’s my angel.”

  Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Kali diverted her attention to the bank manager. “Will we be receiving one of those keys?”

  “I’m afraid not. Our protocol allows for only three keys to be in existence at once. I possess one, as does the local manger. One of us is available 24/7, so clients have full access to valuables at any time.”

  “Who keeps the third?” Orrin asked as the elevator glided to a halt.

  “The vault keepers,” Shen answered cryptically as he stepped through the open doors. Since leaving upstairs, Orrin had kept one hand on Kali at all times. That didn’t change as they stepped off the elevator. It opened to a single room, dark and tiny, a five feet by three feet space at most.

  Orrin lifted one eyebrow, picking up were Shen left off. “The vault keepers?” he repeated somewhat dubiously.

  “Yes.” Shen pressed his left palm against an opaque pedestal, and the surface came to life, glowing green as it verified his hand print. An audible click sounded, and the gate was unlocked. “One unit. Six men. Each is a retired member of Chinese military. They patrol this vault around the clock. One key is shared between them.”

  “Impressive,” Orrin conceded.

  After hearing that, Kali really thought there was no way the person York had spotted could be down here. It had to be safe for Orrin to let go, but he didn’t. She didn’t press the matter.

  “You must phone ahead in order to clear an escort to the vault. Once here, you will apply your own handprint to this pedestal, adding to our computer database a time stamped record of your visit. One way up, one way out. Everything is verified.”

  “I assume you also have video.”

  Shen nodded.

  “Your security measures come at a high cost of privacy.”

  “A thorn protects the rose but only hurts those who would steal the blossom.” Stepping through the gate, he motioned for Kali and Orrin to follow.

  The vault was immense. Mirroring the size of the floors above it, a mostly open floor plan made the space seem even larger. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of security boxes lined the walls from floor to ceiling, and were of various shapes and sizes. The height and width of some of them made it seem possible to own a safety deposit “room.”

  “In here is where personal keys and thumbprints are used for access.”

  A sharp whistle slid from Orrin’s lips. “Now I’m really impressed.”

  He and Shen chatted at length, discussing more specs and design. Kali tuned them out. She walked
around the room with eyes on the floor. Symbols were engraved there, much like the ones from the map Rion and River had deciphered. At least a dozen unique characters repeated in a pattern Kali couldn’t quite follow. Trying to made her dizzy.

  “Six feet of concrete reinforce this floor and the walls.”

  Her head lifted at the sound of Shen’s voice.

  “It doesn’t sound like this place could be more secure.” She smiled her approval. “Owen, what do you think?”

  “I think you picked a winner.” He tapped the floor with his foot. “But I don’t see those vault keepers you spoke of.”

  Shen’s lips curled in slow satisfaction. “You’re not intended to.”

  Orrin’s brow knitted into a frown, but he answered agreeably. “Understood,” he said.

  Shen paused for an instant, as if considering. Then, “But for an audience as gracious as you have been, exceptions can be allowed. Follow me please.” He led them back to the elevators, stopping only to scan his handprint again, in order to activate the elevator doors. “I will take you behind the scenes, allow you to see all of what we have to offer.” He stopped before a black oxide coated steel door, swiping two separate key cards to initialize the unlocking mechanism. “Our vault keepers are retired, but are still very militant behavior wise. They will not look at or speak to you,” he said and pushed open the heavy door. “But please do not take offense. It is merely—oh.” Surprise left Shen at a loss for words and for three seconds, he was frozen.

  The room housed at least forty flat screen televisions, monitors scrolling with continuous streams of data, and large internal servers. But only one individual occupied the room. His back was to them, arms folded as he studied the displays intently. His manner of dress was strange, to say the least. A long dark cape was tucked about his shoulders, and flowed all the way to the tiled marble floor.

  “This area is restricted. How did you—” Shen started but would never finish.

  The echo of the stranger’s thick boots scraping against the floor sounded off like a gunshot as he turned, seemingly in slow motion. Kali only had a second to register the tarnished mask and the empty, soulless sockets where human eyes should have been. Then Orrin was growling, shoving her aside as he lunged at the rogue. “Run!” he half snarled, half yelled.

  Seeing the rogue was an unexpected shock. Kali had known the creatures could be close, since they were all seeking the same thing. But it being there, barely ten feet away, and within what had to be one of the most secured depositories of modern society, was a whiplash reckoning with the opponent they faced. Rogues were not feral creatures that roamed the woods, killing an occasional human and setting fire to historical structures. They weren’t just some shadowy figures who stalked the fringes of society, only to return to a hive colony at the end of the day. No. Rogues had power, resources, and were clearly adaptable.

  Her time to process that fact ended as her shoulder slammed into the wall and the crash of two bodies battering costly equipment rattled her ears. Recovering quickly, she grabbed Shen’s hand and repeated Orrin’s order. “Run!”

  The bank manager didn’t have to be told a third time. Fear flooding his deep set eyes, he sprinted down the long corridor, ahead of Kali. She followed closely, worriedly noting when his trajectory carried them in an entirely different direction than the one from which they came. But there was no choice but to continue. The structure was a maze. Even if Kali somehow managed to find her way out without Shen, his access card and prints would no doubt be needed for escape.

  Nearing an intersecting hallway, Shen called, “This way!” and turned left. His slick dress shoes skittered around the corner as he did so. She started to follow, but the muffled pop of three gunshots stopped Kali dead in her tracks.

  Orrin.

  Shen was forgotten as she doubled back down the dark corridor. Heart pounding, her thoughts centered around one thing. Orrin. She never should have left him.

  Three figures melted from the shadows, blocking off her return. Their faces were masked. Gun metal sheen seemed to drink the darkness surrounding it. Spinning on heel, Kali came face to face with a fourth rogue. She was trapped.

  With no other option but to fight, she shoved fear aside. A lump of anger swelled within her chest, burning like hot coal. Kali embraced it. And when the rogues converged upon her, she met their attack with fire and fury. Two of the creatures collapsed to the marbled floor in a motionless, smoking heap. Her four-inch heel pierced another’s throat, followed by a solid punch to the temple. It went down in spasms, gurgling as it choked on its own blood. The last rogue wouldn’t be defeated so easily. Its reflexes were superior to its fallen brethren and matched Kali move for move. She summoned fire to her hands, burned its face when the creature came too close. The pain escalated its brutality, and the rogue became ferocious, morphing into a screeching fiend as it attacked with strength Kali could not keep at bay. Her teeth clattered when she was knocked against the wall. Pain knifed into her arm where the rogue’s claws held her. Its other hand came up and encircled her throat, trapping precious air from her lungs. A forked tongue slipped through an opening in its mask, the rough underside raking across her mouth and cheek. The rogue made a sound like a laugh. Then it hissed.

  She felt herself falling away. The hallway was leaving. The dark mask was fading. Reaching out, she placed her hands against its flesh and spoke one final, desperate command. She closed her eyes against the ghastly sight of its head erupting into an orb of flames. Then she slid to the floor, coughing as air rushed back into her lungs too quickly.

  Orrin.

  She shoved to her hands and knees. There would be time later to feel her injuries. Right now, she needed to get up. But the air left her again, preceded by agony exploding through her ribcage. Her body was lifted and thrown against the stone wall. As she again collided with the marbled floor, brown leather shoes stopped next to her head. One of them was slowly raised, intent on inflicting more damage. Hanging onto the fringes of consciousness, there was little she could do to stop it.

  But the blow never came.

  She heard a muffled thud, a grunt, and then the sickening crunch of bone and ligament conceding to an irresistible force. Her eyes closed in relief. Orrin was okay.

  She heard the whisper of fabric gliding across the floor and thought it was odd, but sat up. Ignoring the protests her body made against her efforts, Kali turned her head and nearly screamed. It wasn’t Orrin that knelt beside her. It was a rogue.

  More specifically, it was the same one from the security room, the big one Orrin had attacked. One of its dead companions lay at its feet, neck twisted at an impossible angle. And now Kali was at its mercy. She sat perfectly motionless, staring into the empty mask, and was too afraid to breathe.

  The creature watched her. It too was still.

  The dark figure shifted in and out of focus as she adjusted to the effects of a probable head injury. Eventually, she found a voice to speak. “Why did you do that?”

  The rogue was silent. Except for rasping breaths, no other sound was evident.

  But then a gunshot split the air between them.

  The rogue let out a snarl. In a flurry of movement, it was gone. Orrin was calling her name frantically. Kali fell back against the wall. Relief pooled through her body, taking with it the last of her fear. He helped her regain her feet, and together they walked down the corridor. Her legs got stronger with each step, and suddenly she was steadying Orrin as he staggered. His stumble was enough to shake loose the smog of shock clouding her head.

  “Orrin, what’s wrong?”

  Gritting his teeth, he tried to pull away. “I am fine.”

  “No, you’re not.” She supported him again as he took another misstep. One of her hands came away moist and slick. “I think you’re bleeding.”

  “Yes. The rogue, he shot me.”

  “Oh god, Orrin.”

  “It is fine,” he said again, but his pained grimace said otherwise. “We need to ge
t out of here.”

  “Shen…I don’t know which way he went.”

  “That’s alright.” He smiled, reverting his speech to “Owen’s” southern drawl. “I can smell ‘em. Turn left.”

  Kali obeyed, but without the same display of confidence Orrin had. “We still need Shen. This place is locked down with all sorts of protocols.”

  “These upper floors have fewer layers of security.” In a painstaking motion, he removed a rectangular card from the inside pocket of his jacket. He handed it to Kali. “And we have this.”

  She took the clear plastic card. A simple blue circle pulsed at its center, dimming and brightening in a slow cycle. When tilted toward the light, an iridescent barcode became faintly visible. “How did you get this?”