His gaze dropped to Ian’s mouth, a trail of red smeared the inside of his lips.
My blood.
Mine.
Jesse was struck with a need so great, he’d sunk his teeth into his own wrist and was holding it over Ian’s mouth before he realised what he was doing.
“Oh fuck. Fuck.” He knew he should stop, should take his hand away, but he couldn’t move. Didn’t want to.
Drop after drop fell into Ian’s mouth, but he didn’t so much as twitch.
Am I doing it wrong?
There was a section on siring in the library book he’d picked up yesterday, but he hadn’t had a chance to read it.
How long did it usually take?
Voices sounded down the street, faint for now, but Jesse couldn’t focus, couldn’t sense which direction they were going.
No way could he leave Ian’s body here now.
Scooping him up into his arms, Jesse ran.
He hugged Ian tight to his chest, going as fast as he could through the dark streets, ducking down alleys and behind shops at the faintest sound of people.
If he got caught now, it would probably mean his death. Or rotting away in one of the VLCD’s specially constructed cells.
The car park was blessedly empty of people when he got there, but it had security cameras throughout. Jesse stood in the safety of the shadows, noting the locations of the ones he could see in relation to his car. If he carried Ian’s body in there, someone was going to notice.
Ducking into the nearby bushes, Jesse laid Ian’s body on the ground, hiding him as best he could.
He’d just have to be quick.
Thankfully the car park remained empty, and he managed to drive his car out and over to where he’d stashed Ian, bundling him into his car unseen. As he set off back to the coven, a whole slew of new problems presented themselves.
How do I get Jesse inside without anyone noticing?
If he doesn’t turn, what do I do with a decomposing body?
If he does turn, what do I do with a new vampire?
Do I tell Raph?
His head hurt from all the unanswered questions, so he did what he normally did. Ignored them all for a bit and concentrated on the road. He’d get through driving home, hopefully without incident, first. Then tackle everything else.
AS HE APPROACHED the coven building, it had never looked as foreboding as it did now. Lights were on throughout, as he’d expected. Everyone in there would be up and about.
Please let no one be out near the car park.
As he drove around to it, he noticed the balcony that ran around the side of the house. It didn’t reach his room, but it did reach Lys’s.
Which he had a key to.
And she was currently at the hospital for another hour or so at least.
It wasn’t ideal as plans went—Lys would no doubt want to murder him when she found out—but it was the best one he had.
Parking the car went without a hitch, and Jesse hurried to grab Ian and lock up. As silently as he could manage, he crept around the back of the house, playing Russian roulette as he passed the windows.
Peter would be home by now.
The thought alone brought his rage back to the surface, but with some effort, Jesse swallowed it back down. Peter was the least of his concerns right now.
Hoisting Ian’s dead weight onto his shoulder, Jesse eyed the wall up to the first-floor balcony. On his own it was an easy jump, but with a dead body slung over his back, would it be that easy?
Only one way to find out.
With a hand clamped to Ian’s back, Jesse jumped.
He leapt through the air, too easily it turned out, and he almost overshot the balcony. Skidding to a halt at the far side, he crouched out of sight and waited to see if anyone had heard.
The rooms themselves might be soundproofed, but he had no way of knowing if any windows were open.
After a minute or so with no one coming out to check, Jesse rose to his feet and padded silently past the next two windows until he reached Lys’s room.
Relief washed through him as he reached the French doors leading into her bedroom. Pulling his keys out of his pocket, he searched through for Lys’s and unlocked the door.
Almost there.
A faint sound from behind froze him in place.
Did I imagine that?
He strained to listen, hearing nothing for a moment, and then a familiar low chuckle reached his ears.
Bastard.
“Well, this is unexpected.” Peter appeared out of the shadows, smug smile in place. “You never cease to surprise me, Jesse.”
Jesse bared his fangs as he set Ian down on the concrete. “Fuck off.”
“Tsk-tsk. If you’ve done what I think you have, you’re going need my help. Unless you’ve suddenly become an expert in dealing with the newly turned.”
Jesse’s lip curled into a snarl. He hated Peter right now. Hated him with a ferocity he hadn’t experienced in his sixty-four years as a vampire. But as much as he loathed to admit it, Peter was right in so much as he needed help. “I’ll go to Raph.”
Peter closed the distance between them in the blink of an eye, getting right up in Jesse’s face. “You can’t,” Peter hissed.
“Why not?”
“Because he’s not here.”
Jesse frowned. “Where the hell has he gone?” He didn’t remember Raph telling them he’d be leaving.
“I’m not his keeper.” Peter shrugged, gaze darting back to Ian. “Probably to see one of the other covens. Besides, you couldn’t tell him even if he was here.”
“Why?”
“You know why, Jesse, you’re not a fucking idiot. You broke the agreem—”
Jesse pointed a finger at him. “No, you broke it by killing Ian in the first place.”
Peter rolled his eyes. “Fine. We broke it. But if you go to Raph with this, he’ll report us both.”
Would he?
Jesse knew the answer.
Coven first.
Raph’s friendship with Jesse was irrelevant, he had to think of the coven as a whole. Helping Jesse in anyway would be seen as a breach of their agreement with the VLCD and all previous hostilities would resume. A few members of the coven might want to return to the old ways of feeding on whom they liked, But Jesse didn’t think the majority did.
And being hunted was no fun for anyone.
But this was also Ian’s life they were talking about.
If he turns.
Regardless of whether it got Jesse in trouble, Ian had to come first.
Squaring his shoulders, Jesse looked Peter in the eye. “I’m going to tell him as soon as he gets back. I’ll have to eventually, anyway. Someone will notice.”
“Not necessarily.” Peter smiled. “I know people, Jesse. I can get Ian new papers and documentation. You can say he’s visiting from up north or something. Raph doesn’t know what Ian looks like. If you say he’s covenless, you know Raph will offer to take him in.”
Jesse did know. Raph might be strict, but he was loyal and fair. He also had a thing for vampires cast out of their own covens for various reasons. But did he want to lie to Raph? No, he had to tell him the truth.
Peter glanced down at where Ian lay, unmoving. “We just have to get through Ian’s first few days and convince him that being a vampire is a good thing.”
Jesse’s mouth fell open. In all of this, he hadn’t once stopped to consider that Ian might hate the fact the Jesse had turned him. Peter might have been the one to kill him, but it was Jesse’s blood that had made him into a vampire. “He might not turn.” Jesse flinched at his own words. Even with all the problems it brought, Jesse couldn’t bring himself to regret it. Couldn’t imagine Ian dying and never seeing him again.
It was the most selfish thing he’d ever done. But he’d do it again without a second thought.
“Oh, he’ll turn,” Peter said, waving a hand at Ian. “It’s already happening. Can’t you smell it?”
Jesse ducked his hea
d and sniffed the air around them, but all he smelt was Ian.
“What if he hates it?”
Peter’s laughter made Jesse’s hands curl into fists. “Then we’re fucked. Both of us, now you’ve resurrected the only one who can point the finger at me with any conviction.”
Jesse automatically stepped in front of Ian and narrowed his eyes. Peter had more reasons to want Ian dead then he did for keeping him a vampire. “Stay the fuck away from him.”
“Or what?” He smirked. “You’ll kill me?” He looked amused rather than scared. “My, my, Jesse, how you’ve changed in the last few hours.”
“That’s what you get for killing someone I care about.”
Peter scoffed. “You knew him for like ten minutes.” Jesse wasn’t fooled. If Peter truly believed that, then Ian would still be alive.
“Sometimes that’s all it takes.” Jesse wanted to check on Ian, make sure he wasn’t coming round yet, but he daren’t take his eyes off Peter.
“My offer of help still stands. It’s in my interest to make sure his transition goes smoothly.”
Jesse wasn’t convinced. “You want to keep an eye on him.”
“That too.”
“So you can kill him again?” Jesse took a step towards him, tension rippling through him. “Like you said, he’s walking proof that you broke the agreement.”
“That we both broke it,” Peter reminded him.
“I didn’t kill anyone,” Jesse muttered, repeating himself, but the idea he was as much to blame as Peter wasn’t something he wanted to think about.
Peter sneered. “You turned someone without their consent. That’s just as bad in the eyes of the VLCD.”
“He was already dead,” Jesse hissed. “I couldn’t exactly ask him.” He didn’t bother adding that it had been a mistake of sorts. That he’d never meant for this to happen.
“Semantics. You broke the agreement and that’s all the vamp cops will care about.” Peter’s smug look grated on his last nerve. Especially because he was right.
Ian twitched, fingers flexing against the concrete, drawing both of their attention.
“Do you want my help? Yes or no? Because soon we’re going to have a bigger problem if we don’t get him locked away with some blood ready.”
It wasn’t what Jesse wanted, but with Raph away, what fucking choice did he have? He didn’t want to involve anyone else, and Peter already knew . . . “Fine.”
“Don’t sound too grateful.”
Jesse stared at him, incredulous. “It’s your fault we’re here in the first place.”
Peter’s eyes darkened for a moment. “I couldn’t help myself.” He darted forward and stroked his hand down Jesse’s cheek, gone again too quick for Jesse to react. “I’ll go get the blood from the kitchen. You take him to your room.” He disappeared, leaving Jesse seething, the touch of Peter’s fingers like a stain on his skin.
As Jesse lifted Ian into his arms once more, he realised that Peter hadn’t answered his question.
Did he mean to kill Ian?
To get rid of the one person who could implicate them both.
Of course he fucking did.
He’d have to keep an eye on Peter and make sure he was never alone with Ian.
How he was going to do that was another thing entirely.
Opening Lys’s door, he slipped inside, pulling it quietly closed behind him.
Her room was conveniently located next to the staircase, with Jesse’s room almost immediately above. He’d never been more grateful for having inhuman speed as he swept up the staircase and finally into the safety of his room, locking the door behind him.
Ian’s hand clenched, his fingers curling in, then opening as though he was grasping for something.
Jesse laid him out on top of the bed. His clothes were filthy from the alleyway, and Jesse bit his lip wondering whether to change them or not.
Then the alley smell he’d somehow ignored until now hit his senses, and Jesse wrinkled his nose.
Fresh clothes it was.
Quickly and efficiently, he stripped Ian down to his boxers, shoving his soiled clothes in a thick plastic bag, which he shoved in the en suite. Before he could dress him again, a soft knock sounded on the door.
Jesse darted over, opening it just wide enough to see Peter on the other side.
Barging past him, Peter slipped inside and quickly shut the door behind him, looking uncharacteristically flustered. He took one glance at the bed and laughed. “Did I interrupt something?”
Ignoring him, Jesse asked, “Everything go all right?” He noted the several bags of blood Peter clutched to his chest. “Do we need that many for now?” There was no fridge in his room; they wouldn’t keep for more than a few hours.
“Saw Liam on my way up here,” Peter said. “Had to get creative, so if he asks, we’ve made up, put our past behind us, and agreed to start afresh. Can’t have him running back to Raph telling tales.” He gestured to the blood. “I told him we were going to feed together and carry on with our heartfelt chat.”
“Really?” Jesse found it hard to believe Liam would fall for that.
“Yes, really. I’m very persuasive.”
Jesse recalled how Peter had made him feel before and scowled. “Did you do something to his mind?”
“What?”
“Like you did to me?”
Peter’s eyebrow’s rose. “That’s interesting.”
“What is?” Jesse got the feeling he’d let something slip that he shouldn’t have.
“I didn’t think it’d worked on you. I’m still practising how. It’s hit and miss with vampires at the minute—and would never work on Liam; Raph taught him too well—but humans are easier.” He grinned. “Much easier.”
Jesse hated to think what Peter had been up to with humans. “You really are an arsehole, aren’t you?”
Peter just shrugged. “We’re superior beings, Jesse. It’s time we started acting like it again.”
“Whatever.” He didn’t have time to deal with Peter’s tendency to talk bollocks. But he had said something of interest. “Raph’s not here, but I could tell Liam.”
Peter’s eyes narrowed. “You know the very first thing Liam will do is contact Raph. Do you really want him to get that news while he’s visiting another coven? Vulnerable and away from his own? Do you want to put him in that position?”
Would Liam do that? Jesse couldn’t think straight with everything going on, and the last thing he wanted to do was put Raph at risk in any way. He needed him on their side as much as possible. Fuck.
“As soon as Raph gets back though, we’re both telling him.”
Peter’s expression was hard to read. “We’ll see.”
First things first, they had Ian to deal with. Jesse gestured towards the bed. “I’m going to dress Ian, and while I do that, you can tell me what to expect and what we have to do.”
He walked over to his chest of drawers, pulling out a T-shirt and comfy joggers. “Talk,” he said, returning to Ian’s side.
Peter perched on the side of the king-size bed, dumped the bags of blood on the bedside table, then made himself comfy against Jesse’s pillows.
Jesse grimaced. Great. Now they’d smell of Peter.
“In my experience,” Peter began, hands clasped in his lap, “this twitching phase can last anywhere from ten minutes to a couple of hours, but never longer than that.”
“Then what?” Jesse struggled to get joggers under Ian’s backside.
“Then bam!” Peter clapped his hands together theatrically. “It’s like their body suddenly comes alive and they’re awake. And thirsty.” He laughed. “When you woke up, I’d never seen someone so hungry. Couldn’t get blood in you quick enough.” His smile turned into a leer. “That’s not the only thing I got in you. You couldn’t get enough of that either.”
Jesse rolled his eyes, trying to not remember how good it had been, how he’d craved both blood and Peter in equal measures. He’d been vulnerable, frigh
tened, and unprepared for the new life Peter had brought him into, and Peter had taken advantage of all of it. At the time Jesse thought Peter loved him, thought he loved Peter. Maybe it had even been true for a while, but in the end, Peter only loved Peter. He only cared about things that benefitted him in some way, and only wanted what he couldn’t have. Jesse had learnt that the hard way.
He pulled the T-shirt over Ian’s head and carefully slipped his arms through the sleeves. When his gaze landed on Ian’s face, peaceful for the moment, Jesse vowed not to do the same to Ian. He might have brought him into this life, just like Peter had done to him, but that’s where the similarity ended.
He refused to take advantage of Ian like that.
“Oh look,” Peter said, his excitement obvious as he reached for a pack of blood. “It’s starting.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Ian came to with a jolt, eyes snapping open.
The room looked unfamiliar, smelled unfamiliar, and that, coupled with the way his whole body felt wrong, had him sitting bolt upright and scrambling back until his shoulders hit the headboard of the bed he was on.
Scents bombarded him, some welcome, others—
His head snapped to the left, jaw suddenly aching as his gaze landed on fucking Peter. The night’s events flooded his brain, and Ian backed away so fast he toppled off the bed, falling onto his back with a thud.
What the fuck is he doing here?
And where the fuck is here?
“Ian?” Jesse rushed over to him and crouched in front of him.
“Careful, Jesse,” Peter warned as he peered over the edge of the bed.
Ian glared at him, horrified when a hiss-type noise erupted from his own mouth. Clamping a hand over his lips, he felt something that made him freeze in shock, eyes going wide as saucers.
Tentatively he licked over his teeth.
Two of them now very sharp and pointy.
Looking helplessly to Jesse, he let his hand drop. “What the fuck?”
“Try and calm down, okay.” Jesse held both hands up in front of him as though Ian were a wild animal expected to charge at any second.
And actually it wasn’t too far off the mark. When he glanced at Peter, a white-hot rage swept through him and all he wanted to do was leap at him, but something else tugged at him more before he could act on it. A feeling growing in intensity by the second. His eyes sought out Jesse’s again, hands automatically clutching at his throat. “I’m thirsty.”
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