Blood Cure: A Paranormal Vampire Romance (Vampire Huntress Chronicles Book 3)

by Jessica Wayne

  She glares at me, jaw tightening, but I don’t give even an inch. If we’re going to be stuck together until we pull Rainey out of this mess, she’s going to have to learn to live with the fact that everyone in this fucking room is different.

  “Fine,” she finally snaps. Reaching into her pocket, she withdraws a silver key. “Use this to get inside, and keep it on your person at all times. If you lose it, the wards around the place will burn you alive.”

  “Good to know.” Cole takes the key and shoves it into his pocket.

  “With the bones protected, what is our next step?” Jane asks.

  “We need to make the cure and find a way to draw her out.”

  “Shouldn’t be hard since she wants the damned book.”

  “So let me get this straight,” Josiah starts. “You want to craft a mythical cure and cram it into the throat of a powerful hunter who is being controlled by the original witch.”

  “Yes.”

  “And how do you plan to get close enough to do that?”

  The room falls into silence as we all contemplate what will probably prove to be the most difficult part of the plan. After all, if Heather won’t trust anyone to get that close to her—how the hell will we manage to get her to drink something?

  “I’ll do it,” I say. “We use the box as leverage. Tell her that if she lets me talk to Rainey, we’ll give it to her.”

  “So you let Rainey come to the surface and convince her to drink it,” Cole clarifies.

  “I don’t convince her to do anything,” I reply. “I shove it down her throat before Heather can take back over. The moment she senses anything is off, Rainey is gone, and we lose our chance.”

  “Fuck, this is a lot,” Tarnley murmurs from behind me.

  “We’re going to need to create wards around the house,” I tell Bronywyn. “Even though there’s silver, we need to make sure if she somehow gets out, she can’t leave.”

  “I can handle that,” she replies.

  I turn to Josiah. “Think you can spare some pack members to help us should we need the strength to contain her?”

  “I will bring aid,” he tells me with a curt nod.

  “Then let’s get this damn thing going. I think it’s time to open the fucking box. Again.” My phone buzzes in my pocket, so I withdraw it, completely surprised at the name on the readout. “Eira, what is it?”

  Jack and Willa walk back in, meeting my gaze as Eira sighs into the line.

  “I don’t know exactly what is going on with your hunter—”

  “You’ve seen her?” I interrupt quickly, and Jack stops mid-step to stare at me.

  “I’m looking at her right now,” she confirms.

  “Where?”

  “My club. What’s going on?”

  “Do not confront her, Eira. No matter what she’s doing, stay the hell away until I get there.”

  “Eli—” I end the call and head for the door.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Heather is at my friend’s club.”

  “And what do you plan on doing? We aren’t ready with the cure.”

  “I’m going to attempt to get her back here, so get the damned cure ready to go.” I storm past them with Jack and Tarnley on my heels.

  “Are you sure it’s a good idea to confront her right now?”

  I stop abruptly and turn to face off with Tarnley. “I know where she is, and if I can somehow convince her that I will give her the fucking book and her bones if she’ll get the hell out of Rainey—that’s not a risk I won’t take.”

  “Okay, mate, just checking.” Tarnley puts his hands up, and I turn to Jack.

  “You have any objections?”

  “Not a damn one.”

  “Good.”

  7

  Elijah

  The parking lot of Eira’s place is packed, even more so than I’ve ever seen it. I pull up to the front door and toss my keys to Berk, who’s already holding the door open for me. Since I dropped Tarnley and Jack off in the back where I’m hoping to lure Heather, I head down the dark, magic-blocked hallway alone, the sensory deprivation blocking out my senses and spurring my already frayed nerves.

  Music pumps in the dance hall, the heavy bass making my heart feel like it’s thundering even heavier than it already is. I scan the crowd, searching for Rainey—or rather, Heather. Bodies move, gyrating on the floor, hips pumping in tune with the beat of the music.

  I glance up at the balcony Eira typically watches from and see her staring at the center of the dance floor, mouth flattened in a tight line. Barin, the other bouncer who typically works the front door, whispers something in her ear, and her gaze shifts, falling over to me instead.

  She nods toward the center, so that’s where I head. Shoving through the sweaty bodies, it doesn’t take me long to find her.

  A low growl emanates from my chest as I take in the sight of her—barely clothed—surrounded by shifters and vampires alike.

  Heather has taken Rainey’s face and coated it with thick makeup, nearly completely hiding the freckles lining her cheeks and dotting her nose.

  She applied black powder around her eyes and pulled on a thin piece of bright red fabric that barely fucking constitutes as a dress. My bond with Rainey intensifies the closer I get to Heather. I can smell her arousal from here, and it pisses me the fuck off.

  I blur across the room, grabbing the vampire whose hand is currently on her ass. Before he can object, I throw him backward through the crowd.

  Some scream and run while some turn, ready for a fight, and I fucking welcome them all.

  “Now, Elijah, I didn’t realize you were the jealous type,” she jokes, her tone nothing like Rainey’s. Without breaking stride, she continues grinding against a shifter pressed up to her back. He grins at me, apparently too fucking stupid to know when he needs to move the hell on.

  “You may want to go,” I warn.

  “Fuck off, Vampire. We’re just having us some fun.”

  I blur toward him and grab him by the throat. “I said go, asshole.” Flinging him backward like I did his buddy. The rest of the crowd around us moves along, leaving Heather and me standing in the center.

  Heather stalks toward me, lips in a pout as she reaches up and wraps both arms around my neck. I stiffen, unwilling to show an ounce of emotion despite her being in Rainey’s body. “If you don’t dance with me, I’m going to start killing,” she whispers into my ear, trailing her tongue down the side of my lobe.

  Still, I don’t move.

  “Think I’m lying?” Heather snaps her fingers, and the shifter she’d been dancing with cries out as he falls to the ground, his body seizing. The creatures surround him until one of Eira’s people come and cart the body away a moment later.

  “I don’t give two shits about these people,” I tell her.

  “But you do care for the owner, do you not? Based on Rainey’s memories, the two of you are good friends. Shall I make another demonstration?” She raises her fingers, and I place both palms on her waist. “Good, pet,” she says happily as she begins to move her hips.

  “Isn’t this nice,” Heather murmurs as she leans her head against me.

  “What the hell are you doing here?”

  “Having a little fun. After all, I’ve been locked in a box for centuries. Can you truly blame me?”

  “Yes,” I reply without hesitation. “I can.”

  “Fair enough.”

  “Why the fuck are we dancing?”

  “Because there’s not a damn creature in here that gets my motor going quite like you do, Elijah Hawthorne. I don’t know if it’s because you’re what does it for Rainey, and for the time I’m stuck in her body, or if it’s just because you are such a good fuck. I’m not interested in settling for anything less. Either way, you’re the only one worthy of taking up my time.”

  “I’m not sleeping with you.”

  She laughs. “Please, we didn’t sleep together. We fucked, Elijah. There is a difference.”


  Swallowing hard, I consider my next move. I could draw her outside, use myself to lure her away from all those she could hurt, but is it worth the risk? I’m not entirely sure I can control myself should she open a vein.

  Not with the way my beast is responding, just being pressed up against her this way.

  She turns in my arms, her ass pressed against me. I try to remind myself this isn’t Rainey—but the beast doesn’t get the memo. Especially not when she flings dark hair over her shoulder and bares her throat.

  “You can take a bite, you know,” Heather coos. “Take a taste of your hunter, Vampire. She’s delicious.”

  I swallow hard, my fangs elongating.

  She’s not Rainey, I remind myself, over and over again, as I force the bile down and lean forward, pressing my lips to her speeding pulse. She groans, a soft sigh leaving her as she leans back against me.

  “I don’t understand your connection,” she whispers, and I spin her around, taking her mouth in a bruising kiss meant to punish even as I want to lure her outside. If I do, Tarnley and Jack can grab her, and this entire fucking nightmare can be over.

  She buries her hands in my hair, pulling, and bites down on my bottom lip hard enough to draw crimson to the surface.

  Pulling my lip into her mouth, she sucks gently, taking my blood into her body. I swallow hard and grab her hand, tugging her toward the back door.

  Meanwhile, Heather just giggles and follows without bothering to ask any additional questions.

  I hate myself for the way that kiss felt—I’m disgusted, the bile nearly too much to deal with as the feeling that I betrayed Rainey sinks in. But I need Heather discombobulated if we’re going to manage to grab her, and this seems the best way.

  Bursting through the door and into the alley, I spin her around and slam her against the wall, taking her mouth again. I sense Jack before I see him, and less than a second later, Tanrely is ripping me off of her and grabbing her around the throat, pressing her against him as Jack rushes forward from the shadows.

  Heather glares at me, her enraged gaze cutting like daggers. “You will regret this, bloodsucker.”

  “You will give me Rainey back, now,” I order. “Or so help me I will end you.”

  She grins. “There’s no world in which you can kill your hunter. Don’t play me for a fool.”

  “Any more than he already has?” Jack offers.

  “He may not be able to, but I sure as hell can.” Tarnley tightens his grip.

  “Do you really think I would come here alone?” She asks at the same time the back door opens and nearly a dozen supernaturals file out. “I’m starting a war, Elijah. It would be foolish of me to travel anywhere without an army.”

  “Tell them to go back inside before I snap your neck,” Tarnley warns.

  “We both know you won’t. But, just in case.” She nods at one of the men who joined us, and he pulls out a revolver, aiming it at Rainey’s body. I blur toward him too late, and the booming gunshot echoes around me.

  I spin and glare at the blood pooling from the hole in Rainey’s upper thigh. “I don’t feel that,” Heather says with a wicked grin. “But your hunter does. So tell him to let me go, or these loyal soldiers will start putting holes in her.”

  “Let her go, Tarnley,” I order without hesitation.

  “Elijah—”

  “Let. Her. The. Fuck. Go.”

  He growls at me but does as I say, shoving her toward me. Heather walks the rest of the distance as though there’s not blood pooling from her wound. My beast rattles, and I nearly lunge for her. Instead, I clench my fists, digging my fingernails into my palms and hoping that the pain will be enough to keep me from losing myself.

  “Don’t you just love the way she smells?” Heather asks me. The crowd behind close their eyes and inhale deeply, some groaning, others practically salivating onto the fucking pavement. Blood drips from my palms as I dig my nails into my skin even deeper. The bite is all but nonexistent, given my current state.

  “Now, this is what’s going to happen, Elijah, you’re going to give me what I want or I’m going to let these nice creatures have their way with this body. As I told you earlier, it’s been quite a while for me, and I’m just looking to have a good time. So whatever it is they want—a chew toy, a fuck buddy—I don’t really care.” Her dark eyes level on me. “But I imagine you do.”

  My heart stumbles at the thought of Rainey being used that way even as the urge to rip Heather apart grows. Something snaps in me, and a chill runs through my blood as I realize there’s no way in hell any of these assholes are walking out of this alley tonight.

  “Get me my book, Elijah, and maybe I’ll free Rainey for one last roll.”

  She saunters back into the club, and I head for the nearest shifter. His eyes widen, and he starts to shift. But I grab him by the throat and rip, sending blood splattering across the pavement. Around me, the grunts signaling that Jack and Tarnley have joined the fight is like music to my ears.

  I let the beast out.

  Give him what he wants.

  And by the time I’m done, I stand in the middle of the carnage with a smile on my face despite the pure, unfiltered rage filling my soul.

  “Elijah.” Tarnley’s face comes into view, and I suck in a deep breath as a growl slips from me. “Come out of it.”

  Another wave of rage.

  “They’re dead, mate.”

  “She’s not.”

  “No,” he admits. “But her time will come. I’ve called in the cleaners. You need to be gone.”

  Sucking in a deep breath, I calm myself, shoving the bloodlust back into the corner of my brain where it belongs. And as I start to come out of the red, I take in the broken bodies around me and feel nothing but satisfaction that they suffered as they died.

  Anyone who hurts Rainey will suffer greatly.

  Including the original witch.

  No matter how fucking long it takes.

  8

  Elijah

  Days pass in a blur, and before I know it, nearly two weeks have gone by since the altercation outside of Eira’s club. Rainey surfaces every few days, and I can feel her confusion as it nearly knocks me to my knees every time.

  She’s terrified.

  Suffering.

  And there’s not a damned thing I can do about it right now.

  Jane and Agatha claim they are working around the clock to craft the cure we’ll use to strip Heather’s powers, but up until now, they’ve been completely unsuccessful. Each attempt has only resulted in yet another setback.

  Many more, and I’m going to go after her my damn self, even if it gets me killed.

  “Take a taste of your hunter, Vampire. She’s delicious.” Heather’s voice is on constant repeat in my brain. The way she sauntered around in Rainey’s body, her threats. We haven’t heard anything from her again, but according to Paloma, the dead women keep showing up in random places.

  The media is claiming there’s a serial killer loose in Billings. And to be completely honest, they aren’t that far off.

  As the body count climbs, Heather’s power grows.

  There’s no telling whether we’ll even be able to stop her once we finally do find her. According to Josiah, Cole hasn’t seen anything strange near the crypt, which bodes well for that particular part of the plan, because if Heather gets her hands on both her bones and book—she’ll be unstoppable.

  At least, according to Agatha and Jane.

  “How are you doing?”

  Speaking of. Jane steps up beside me and offers me a fresh cup of coffee. “Thanks.” I take a drink, letting the hot liquid burn down my throat. At least with it, I can fucking feel something.

  “You okay?”

  “No. Not even close.”

  “I’m sorry, Elijah. Agatha thinks she’s close. The magic—it’s potent.”

  “I’m tired of the excuses. I appreciate your attempt at giving me hope, but at this point, it feels as if Agatha doesn’t even want
Rainey back.”

  “That’s not fair, Elijah.” Jane’s brows draw together. “Because if you feel that way, then you must not think I do either.”

  I glance over, hating myself for upsetting her. Jane and I have come a long way in the past few weeks we’ve known each other. Especially given the threats thrown my way and the fact that she nearly killed me three centuries ago.

  “That’s not what I meant. I know you do too.” I glance back out over Tarnley’s backyard.

  “These things, they take time to do them right. Heather’s not stupid. Rainey is safe as long as she needs her. Which, until she gets the book and her bones, she does.”

  “And what of Rainey when we get her back?” I ask, turning to Jane. “What kind of state do you think she’ll be in once Heather is done using her?”

  Jane’s brows draw together, and she nods. “I’ve considered that too.”

  “I hate the thought of her suffering any more. But I know that getting her back is just one hurdle. Especially if we can’t manage to kill Heather in the process. This is just the beginning of this fight, and if Rainey isn’t herself when we get her back—” I trail off, not wanting to voice one of my worst fears.

  I’ve been on the other side after losing yourself. That precipice looking down over the damage caused.

  Granted, my destruction was caused by me and me alone.

  Still, because of how honorable Rainey is, I can’t imagine she will take all that Heather’s done in stride. If I had to guess, she will suffer long after we rescue her.

  “We be there for her,” Jane replies. “We stand beside her, being whatever it is that she needs for as long as she needs.”

  “And if that isn’t enough?” I ask, glancing over and taking another drink of coffee.

  Jane doesn’t get the chance to answer because Jack clears his throat. We both turn around to see him hovering in the doorway.

  “What is it?”

  “Agatha says she’s got it this time.”

  I abandon my coffee and shove past him into the house, heading down to the basement where she and Jane have been working on crafting the cure. The place is lined with books and bottles Agatha brought over from her house.