Wounded Soul

by Annabelle Jacobs

  “No, I’ve not fucking bitten him.”

  “Good, because that wouldn’t go down well with our illustrious leader. Can’t have his Golden Boy breaking the rules. Especially not with our little inspection tonight.” His nose scrunched up as he said the word and Jesse wanted to lash out, but he refused to give Peter the satisfaction of getting a rise out of him.

  “I’m not seeing him anymore, so it’s a non-issue.” As soon as the words left his mouth, Jesse wanted to suck them back in.

  Peter’s shoulders straightened, and his eyebrows rose. “Oh?” He moved a little closer, his front almost flush to Jesse’s back, but not quite touching. “Do tell.”

  There was a time when he would’ve leaned back into his embrace, yearning for the feel of Peter’s arms around him, his mouth on his neck . . . But that was before. Now it was all he could do not to turn around and throw him across the room. Knowing Peter as he did, he’d probably enjoy it.

  “There’s nothing to tell.” Jesse kept his tone light. Peter didn’t need to know how much he wanted to take it back, to be looking forward to meeting Ian at the bar this weekend and going home with him again. He shrugged a shoulder. “I fucked him. And now it’s over.”

  “Oh Jesse,” Peter crooned softly. “You can’t lie to me.” He trailed a finger down Jesse’s spine, the touch firm against his skin.

  Jesse flinched. “Don’t touch me.”

  Peter ignored him, leaning in so his cool breath ghosted over the back of Jesse’s neck when he spoke. “I know what it’s like to get a little . . . fixated.”

  “I’m not fixated.” Was he? He spun around, knocking Peter’s hand away and forcing him to take a step back. “Now get the fuck out of my room.” He met Peter’s gaze as he spat the words, and something in his eyes made Jesse stop and stare into them.

  “Come on, Jesse,” Peter whispered, his voice far softer than it had been a minute ago. It soothed Jesse’s anger and he felt himself relax, tension bleeding away. “You can tell me.” He took a small step closer, eyes never leaving Jesse’s. “We used to be so close, you and I. We can be that way ag—”

  “Jesse, I need—” Lys burst into the room. “What the fuck’s going on here?”

  Peter took a leisurely step back, his smile not quite meeting his eyes as he turned to face Lys. “Nothing. I was just checking Jesse was all right after his split with the human. I know how they can get under your skin.” Lys’s eyebrows rose to her hairline, and she glanced between them, gaze settling on Jesse.

  He gave a short shake of his head.

  Not missing a beat, she gestured to the open door behind her. “A few of the others were looking for you downstairs, Peter.”

  “Ahh. Duty calls.” Flashing Jesse a wicked smile, he gave his shoulder a squeeze. “You know where I am if you need someone to help take your mind off things.”

  And then he was gone.

  Lys rushed to shut the door behind him, giving an exaggerated shudder as she walked back to Jesse. “He’s creepy as fuck sometimes.”

  “Hmm.” Jesse shook himself, trying to clear his head.

  “What’s up with you?” She poked him in the chest. “And what was he doing in here?”

  “I’m not sure what he came in for, but he was going on about Ian. I stupidly told him it was over, and he was . . .” He waved his hand about, unable to find the words to describe it.

  “Oh yeah, I bet he was over the moon. No wonder he was all up in your face.” She cocked her head to the side, studying him. “Why didn’t you tell him to fuck off? You usually do.”

  “I know. It was weird. I think . . . I think he tried to do that mind thing that Raph did the other day, maybe.”

  “Fuck, really?” Lys glanced uneasily at the door. “Arse. That’s all we need. Peter roaming around brainwashing people. Did it work?”

  “I’m not sure.” Jesse frowned, trying to remember how it felt and put it into words. “It was different to what Raph did. I mean I still hated him, still wanted to snap his neck—”

  Lys snorted. “That’s a relief.”

  “But it was like the thoughts were slow to form . . . I don’t know. It was weird.” He leant back against the window.

  “Maybe be extra careful around him from now on then, yeah?”

  “Yeah.” Jesse turned to look out the window, thoughts drifting back to Ian. “What did you want, anyway?”

  She moved close and slipped her arms around his waist. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

  “Oh.” Jesse grinned at her reflection. “Just like Peter.”

  Lys pinched him hard, making him jump. “I am nothing like that arsehole.” She smirked. “For starters, I’m not trying to get in your pants.”

  Jesse shuddered at the thought. “Stop it.”

  She laughed. “Sorry.”

  “And I’m fine, really.”

  “You don’t seem fine.” Stepping back, she changed position so that she could see his face. Jesse reluctantly met her gaze. “I know I pushed you to end things with him, but that doesn’t mean I don’t sympathise with how much it can hurt.” She shrugged. “I’ve been there, remember. Some people—human or vampire—just affect us differently and it’s hard to let go. I think Ian was that for you.”

  “Why though?” The thought still bothered him.

  “Who knows? I’m sure there are books somewhere in Raph’s vast library if you really want to find out.”

  Maybe he would. There were a lot of things he should probably know more about. “I don’t think it would be a bad idea to do a bit of research. You should join me.”

  “Ugh. No thanks.” She flashed her fangs at him. “I know all I need to know. There are plenty of things I’d rather be doing than reading old books.”

  Jesse had no doubt. “How are the twins?”

  She elbowed him in the side. “Stop that. They’re not related.” She reached for his hand. “And they’re fine, thanks, but come on, we need to be downstairs. Raph wants everyone in the meeting room for when the VLCD arrive.”

  Jesse groaned. He could really do without this fucking inspection.

  “Don’t worry,” Lys said as she dragged him towards the door. “They won’t be here all night, and then you can go back to moping in your room.”

  “I’m not moping,” he mumbled.

  “Mhmm.” She paused before opening the door. “Whatever you’re feeling, try not to let it show when we get downstairs. You know how some of them can be. Especially Peter and his cronies.”

  “Yeah, okay.”

  She was right. He needed to hide his feelings better. They might be part of one big coven here, but some members had been wankers as humans, and they were still wankers now. Just with extra speed, strength, and a thirst for blood. With hunting off the menu now, they had to get their kicks in other ways.

  He plastered on a smile. “Is this better?”

  She patted him on the shoulder. “Much creepier. Perfect.”

  “SO,” RAPH FINISHED up, arms crossed as he leant against the window. “Stay in the common areas while the VLCD complete their inspection. That means here, the games room, or the library.” Groans littered the room. No one wanted to be cooped up while the police roamed about the place. “I know none of you like this. I don’t like it either, but it’s necessary.”

  Liam sat on the arm of the chair nearest Raph, dark eyes scanning the room, and Jesse wondered if Raph had asked him to watch out for anyone in particular.

  “Remember,” Raph added. “The VLCD will have orders to shoot if they feel threatened at any time. Their bullets might not kill you but they cause excruciating pain, and you’ll be out of action for a good few days. And no one wants the headache that will come from an investigation. So please, stay in the designated areas.”

  Jesse glanced over at Peter to try and gauge his reaction to this. He was deep in whispered conversation, but as though he felt Jesse’s eyes on him, his head snapped up. Their gazes met before Jesse could look away, and Peter’s knowin
g smirk made his skin crawl.

  “They’ll be here shortly, so please decide where you want to spend the next few hours and go get comfy.”

  “Where do you fancy?” Lys stretched her arms above her head, smiling in satisfaction as her bones cracked.

  Jesse chanced a quick glance at Peter again, making sure he wasn’t paying them any attention, then leant in close to Lys and whispered, “How about the library?”

  She grimaced. “Fine. But don’t expect me to help you research or whatever it is you want to do in there.”

  “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

  Lys followed him out and they made their way down the hall towards the library. Most of the others seemed to prefer the living room or the games room. Only one other vampire was headed their way, and she was thankfully someone that he and Lys liked. And she also liked to keep to herself, another bonus. With the doors all open, Jesse could already hear arguing from the other rooms as they passed—over what channel to watch or which PS4 game to play. Hard to imagine they had hundreds of years between them.

  “Jesse, Lys?” Raph called from behind and they both stopped, turning around to face him. “I just wanted to thank you for getting all the invoices in order. Personally, I think it’s a pointless exercise—we could be feeding off humans and pouring the hospital blood down the drain for all they know. But the VLCD like to check our consumption, so I humour them. I know it was tiresome, but thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” Jesse waited for him to either continue speaking or move along, but instead he kind of hovered in between the two. It took Jesse a moment to realise he was listening to the arguments going on in the other rooms.

  Seemingly satisfied that no one was about to kill each other, he turned his attention to Jesse again. “Are you two headed to the library?”

  “Yep.” Jesse shrugged. “Thought it was about time I looked up some vampire history, and we have a few hours to kill . . .” He shoved his hands in his pockets for lack of anything better to do. “I mean, I’m assuming you’ve got some in there, right?” He didn’t want to come out and admit that he’d never been in there whilst they’d lived in this house, but by the looks of Raph’s smirk, he didn’t need to.

  “Yes. We have all kinds of books in the library.” Raph said it with a straight face, but Lys snickered next to him. Jesse stood on her foot. “There are several I think you might find interesting. They’re in the history section at the back-right corner of the room, near the top. Have fun.”

  “Thanks.”

  They watched him go back down the corridor, and seconds later the sounds of gravel crunching under tyres sounded outside.

  “Our guests have arrived,” Lys muttered. She grabbed Jesse’s hand and they darted into the library, out of the way.

  They left the door wide open though. It was a VLCD requirement, but it also let them eavesdrop.

  They listened to Raph greet the police as they came in. Lys ticked them off on her fingers.

  “Twelve,” she mouthed. Just like Raph had said.

  That meant a full inspection, probably including room checks and ID bracelet functionality.

  They were going to be in the library for a fair while. “Might as well get a book and get comfy then.”

  “I’d like to throw one at you.” She poked her tongue out at him. “I could be shooting things right now, but no . . .” She swept a hand out, gesturing at their surroundings. “Instead I get to read.”

  Jesse laughed. “You should be thanking me for expanding your knowledge.” He walked backwards towards the section Raph had told him to look in. “Pick something, read it. Trust me.” He grinned at her, and she waved him away.

  “Fine. I’ll attempt to amuse myself while you go search for whatever it is you’re after.”

  He left her perusing the true crime shelf and focused on searching the rows of books on the top shelves at the back of the room.

  There were a lot.

  Jesse scanned the titles, Modern Day Vampire Lore, The History Behind Vampire Legends. Somehow he didn’t think those were what he was after. On the very top shelf, the books looked far older—bound in leather, the writing on some of the spines too worn to make out—so he slid the ladder across and climbed up to get a better look.

  A few caught his eye, and he carefully eased them out, carrying them down the ladder and over to one of the leather chairs. Setting the pile on the table next to him, Jesse opened the first one.

  Then promptly closed it again.

  Of course it was in a different language.

  He wondered if Raph or any of the others could read it. A lot of them were multi-lingual. Peter had tried to teach him French soon after he’d become a vampire, but Jesse hadn’t had the patience to learn anything back then. His life had been turned upside down, inside out, and the last thing he wanted to do was sit and learn. Maybe it was time to revisit that.

  But not today.

  He closed the book, longingly stroked the cracked cover, then set it aside and reached for the next one.

  Also in a foreign language.

  For fuck’s sake.

  The next one he picked up looked newer than the others, which was disappointing, but when he opened it up, the first page had him grinning. It was a translated version of . . . He leaned over and checked the title of the first book he’d picked up. Yep. It was a translation of that one.

  Jesse settled back in the leather armchair and started to read.

  HE WAS HALFWAY through the third chapter when he heard voices down the corridor and footsteps coming their way.

  Ugh, probably some of the VLCD checking they were where they were supposed to be.

  Setting his book down, he stood, stretched, and wandered over to where Lys sat curled up in one of the other chairs. She had a book open on her lap, bottom lip caught between her teeth.

  “What are you reading?”

  “Hmm?” She didn’t even look up.

  Jesse gently lifted it up a bit so he could read the title. “The Big Book of Serial Killers? Charming.”

  “What were you expecting?” She glanced up, eyebrow raised, and Jesse had the good sense not to answer.

  Instead he nodded towards the door. “I think the boys in blue are doing their rounds.”

  “Boys in black,” Lys corrected, laughing when he rolled his eyes.

  “You knew what I meant.”

  As if on cue, two VLCD officers appeared in the doorway.

  “Like magic,” Lys murmured, too quiet for them to hear. “Can we help you, Detective Inspector Harper?” She smiled, fangs on show, and Jesse poked her in the arm.

  “Be nice,” he hissed under his breath.

  “Nope,” Harper, the older of the two officers answered, seeming totally unfazed by Lys’s display. He was no doubt used to it by now. It wasn’t his first visit here. “Just showing DS Jones around.”

  Jones looked a few years younger—wide-eyed and curious—clearly the new member of the team Raph mentioned. Jesse refrained from rolling his eyes. Just showing him the freaks, Harper might as well have said.

  Harper informed Jones of their names and what they did for work, unconcerned that they could hear every word. A door opened further down the hallway, sending a breeze into the room and with it a startlingly familiar scent.

  Jesse froze.

  Out of the corner of his eye he saw Lys tense a second later.

  Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

  He’d recognise Ian’s sent anywhere, but what the fuck was it doing here? On him.

  Jesse’s hackles rose, teeth aching in his jaw as a flare of jealously swept through him. Jealousy he had no right to feel after telling Ian they were done.

  Nails dug into his palm where he clenched his fists so tightly it hurt as another idea occurred to him.

  Was Ian VLCD too? Had he known what Jesse was all along?

  Jesse had seen all the members at one time or another, but it had been six months since the last inspection. They could easily have had someone els
e new join in that time. But the only new member they’d mentioned to Raph was Jones. Ugh, his head hurt with all the fucking awful possibilities.

  He hadn’t hurt Ian though.

  While the VLCD probably didn’t like vampires fucking around with humans, it wasn’t against the agreement they had in place. He couldn’t get into trouble for that.

  But if Ian turned out to be VLCD, Raph—and the rest of the coven—would be severely pissed off with him.

  And rightly so.

  He doubted he’d react all that well if he found out a coven member had been fucking someone from the Vampire Liaison & Crimes Division.

  Fucking hell.

  Jones and Harper turned to leave, and as soon as they were out of earshot, Lys dumped her book on the table, marched over to shut the door, then spun around to face him. “What the fuck, Jesse?”

  “I know!” he hissed, one hand covering his eyes for a moment as if he could make this all go away.

  She walked back over and slumped into the chair. “Is Ian VLCD too? Did you know?”

  “Of course I didn’t fucking know.” He glared at her. It wasn’t remotely her fault, but he was starting to panic. “And I don’t know if Ian’s police or not. He told me he worked for some delivery firm, but that could’ve been a load of bollocks for my benefit.”

  She stood and began to pace. Jesse didn’t know whether to shove her back into her seat or join her.

  “We didn’t discuss our jobs in detail when we were together.”

  She snorted. “No. I’m sure you didn’t.”

  He swallowed, forcing the words out. “It might be as simple as he’s fucking Jones now. The scent was strong. Jones hasn’t showered since he saw him.” Which probably meant Jones saw him earlier that day. Maybe.

  “It might,” she said, voice soft. Her pity made his jaw clench. “But we need to consider the possibility that it’s not that simple. It seems too much of a coincidence that your ex-boyfriend’s scent just happens to turn up on the VLCD’s newest recruit.”

  “I know.” Fuck. “But does it matter?” He crouched next to her chair, meeting her gaze. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”