I opened my mouth to argue, but then decided he was probably right. I had a very loving relationship with my liquid gold and would never deny our connection.
“Well, at least we’re not going to die. Yet,” Nixie said before disappearing back into the kitchen.
When Jenna was done drinking, she set the mug down, and a blush came over her pale cheeks. The blood she’d drank temporarily gave some life back to her undead body. “Sorry,” she murmured before taking a seat next to Blake again.
“There is nothing to be sorry about. You are who you are now. The only way you’re going to survive this new life is by owning the changes that were forced upon you. You might not like them, but you can choose to make the best of them or live a life of misery.” My eyes met hers, and I hoped my words conveyed the strength she needed to grasp on to.
She’d shown a glimmer of independence when she had asked Blake for space. She needed to keep that kind of strength readily available if she had any hope of thriving in our world. Otherwise, she was as good as dead already. It was a sad, but unfortunate truth.
Jenna nodded at me, and while I knew she heard me, I also knew the choice to accept the things that were forced on her wouldn’t be an easy one. Only time would tell which road she would willingly take. Neither was going to be easy, and one would take a hell of a lot more effort on her part.
Nixie flew back into the living room. “Fridge is half full of blood. You should only need to drink three mugs a day. If your cravings grow beyond that, be honest about it. We can’t help you if you aren’t. You don’t want to find out what happens when you’re on your own out there.”
The threat was somewhat subtle, and I worried how Jenna would take it, but my uneasiness didn’t last long as Spencer took control of the conversation.
“We still don’t know where the Luccovinos are. There is one more compound here we haven’t checked out, and I say we head toward that part of town next before we leave the area. They might not realize we know about both since we only visited the downtown location before.”
My head nodded eagerly. “Yes, we need to find them to get to Zeke. I’m still convinced he’s the key to all of this.”
Mason half-laughed. “Sorry to say, Siren, but I’m pretty sure that’s you.”
My glare was on him in an instant. “He has answers we need. We need to find him. End of story.”
The fae’s hands went up innocently, and I felt bad for snapping. I was at my wits’ end with having more questions than answers. The note that we could only assume was from Zeke had told me to run, but I wouldn’t do that. I was too damn stubborn, even if it had sounded like a great idea in the beginning.
“What about Owen?” Jaxon asked, surprising the hell out of me.
Blake leaned forward. “What do you mean, Brother?”
“Well, he knows Zeke. He tried to keep us from coming to Virginia the first time, so he was aware Zeke was here. Maybe Owen knows where he is now.”
I sighed. “But we don’t know where Owen is, either. Did anyone see him after he left the sub-level cells that night?” Heads all shook. “So, while it’s a great idea, it doesn’t change the fact we don’t fucking know where anyone is.” Rage seethed from my words, so I took a calming breath. Getting upset was not going to make our task any easier.
“We need to take this day-by-day, and in some instances, it will be hour-by-hour. For now, let’s make one plan at a time. We head to the other compound and, pending what we do or don’t find there, we will decide where to proceed next,” Spencer said, and I silently thanked him with my smile for remaining clear-headed throughout the situation.
He was really the only one in the group who I knew would keep his shit together. Blake now had Jenna to worry about. Jaxon was always on the cusp of ripping someone’s head off, and Mason… Well, he was a wild card I knew would have our backs, but the fae took very little seriously. Though, there was nothing wrong with that. It was why I loved him.
I loved each of my Fabled Fuckers in their own way. They all brought something different to our group, and we wouldn’t be whole without every one of us.
“Spencer is right. Let’s go out at night, and maybe more of them will be wandering around if they’re still in the area,” Jaxon said.
As they all nodded, I knew this was the only choice we had if we were going to continue to hunt the Luccovinos, but as my gaze met each of their faces, I realized we were all back to our original appearances.
“Nixie, did your magic wear off?” I asked.
She shook her head. “If you move too far from me, then it goes away. So, you and Jaxon have been your normal unattractive selves since you went to the beach, and I removed the others while you were gone.”
“Why would you let me at the beach if I wasn’t being disguised?” I gaped.
“I figured the chances of a bloodsucker roaming an empty shore were pretty slim, so calm your tits and accept I was right.” She flew out of the room and through an open window, effectively ending our conversation.
“Alright. So, free time while we wait for the city’s nightlife to wake up and we hunt the vamps?” Mason announced with a grin.
As Jaxon and Mason made plans for how to kill time, I made my way toward Jenna. “Want me to show you to one of the rooms?”
“I think I’m good out here for now. Not sure I’m ready to be alone just yet, you know?”
I nodded, but I actually had no clue how she felt. I’d been alone my whole life before I’d been befriended by the Fabled Four and Nixie. What had been so hard for me to accept seemed so seamless for her. In ways, her ignorance was making the shitty situation easier for her.
Whereas mine had only put a target on my back, but no longer would I be helpless.
Chapter 7
We had ended up playing four rounds of Uno after Mason discovered the game cabinet in the hallway. I’d lost every single time, but we’d all laughed so much, it was hard to care. For just a couple of hours, we were merely a group of friends hanging out and enjoying each others’ company.
Though, the bubble was burst as the sun began to descend and dusk was upon us. “Nixie, you ready to work your magic?” I asked from the kitchen as I finished my peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
She huffed, as if she would rather do anything but help us. “You’re all a bunch of needy bastards.” Then, she winked at me before turning toward the others. She put on a show of annoyance, but I knew she wouldn’t be here if she didn’t truly want to be.
Standing there in fascination, I watched Nixie do her thing on all of the guys, then me. The only uncertainty was Jenna.
“Do you want to come with us?” I asked, unsure if we were going to force her hand since there was really no way that we could trust her. She’d heard enough, and it was a big risk to leave her alone in case she felt an instinctual desire to find the ones who turned her.
She hesitated, and Blake immediately went to her defense, though it was absolutely unnecessary. At least, not yet.
“I can stay here with her,” he offered.
“No, we need to stay together. She either goes or doesn’t, but the rest of us are,” Jaxon demanded.
Good. We were on the same page. I would have said the same thing, but maybe not in as blunt of a way.
Jenna stood. “I’d like to come. I won’t let them make me afraid.”
Again, she surprised me with her strength. The struggle was real in trying to figure out if I liked her or not. No, that wasn’t it. I liked her already. It was deciding if I could trust her or not that was the problem.
It had taken me weeks to believe the guys wouldn’t screw me over. I didn’t have weeks to decide about Jenna. Blake wasn’t going to let her go anywhere. With that thought, I knew I already had my answer.
The fates couldn’t be so cruel as to give Blake a mate bond with someone who was going to turn on us, could they?
Gods, I hoped like hell I knew the answer to that question.
Fuck it. I was going all in
. Screw the potential consequences if she turned out to be an evil bitch.
“Nixie, make her a rocker chick and keep the black hair,” I said, knowing the fairy would do me proud.
Jenna needed some confidence to keep the strength she kept letting slip out to stick around more permanently. Having a backbone was the only way to really thrive in our supernatural world.
Nixie did as was asked, and the rest of us waited, some more eager than others. When the dust settled, literally, and Jenna reappeared, she had spiky black hair, a studded leather jacket, ripped jeans, and a tight tank that read “Leave the sucking to the mosquitoes”.
“Nailed it.” I held my finger out to Nixie.
“Of course, I did.”
Jenna glanced down at herself. When her head lifted, a smirk was growing. “I like it. Let’s do this.”
“Whose idea was it to bring another female into our group? I mean, Cara wasn’t so bad, Nixie was pushing it, but this? This is going to kill our manhoods,” Mason droned.
Blake punched him in the side of the head. “Shut your mouth.”
“That’s enough. Are we leaving or what? I’m ready to be where the vamps are,” I said.
“Okay, twisted mermaid. We can go now,” Jaxon replied, making me snort that he actually caught the reference.
We piled into the SUV, and I realized we were going to run out of room if we added any more people to our group—six full-size supernaturals and hopefully not counting. Nixie didn’t really count since she usually sat on my shoulder.
Sitting two to a row, we headed toward a restaurant near the vamp compound. Jenna was nervous about being around people so soon, so she’d had another mug of blood, and Blake promised to keep her calm like when she’d first woken up.
The tender way her eyes had looked at him when he promised to make sure she never hurt another being was almost sickening, but in a sweet way. They were like those people in the movies and their insta-love. Totally not my thing, but I wasn’t one to judge. If they were happy, then so was I. Blake was an incredible supernatural and deserved all the good things.
When entering the diner we decided to stop at first, Nixie disappeared and stayed with me. We grabbed the table furthest from the door so we could see everyone coming and going, then waited. I ordered a bacon cheeseburger, fries, and a chocolate shake. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d eaten anything dessert-related, and my mouth salivated just at the thought.
A large group of people entered just as our food arrived. They were drunk, loud, and rambunctious. Not at all what we needed when we were hoping to spot bloodsuckers.
Thankfully, they were sat at the opposite end of the restaurant, and I went back to my food. I dipped a fry into my shake, then moaned as a salty-sweet taste erupted in my mouth.
Spencer scrunched his face. “What is wrong with you? Why would you eat that together?”
“Oh, Spency. You have so much to learn. Have you even thought to try it? Don’t knock it until you do.”
“I will.” Mason eyed my plate before taking a fry and using my shake since he’d gotten steak, potatoes, and no shake. “Holy shit. She’s right. I mean, it’s weird as fuck, but it’s good at the same time.”
I smirked at Spencer, but he didn’t make a move to test it out for himself. Didn’t bother me at all. I really had no desire to share.
We were about halfway through our food when the bell to the door rang again. Each of us glanced up, and my breath caught. There he was. Zeke was there and glaring right at us. Shit. How had he known?
He moved purposely through the rows of seats and passed by us without a second peek. Maybe he didn’t know it was us. Maybe we’d gotten lucky and his scowl was just because he was having a bad day.
Nope. Definitely not.
Wind smacked me in the face as I was putting a fry covered in milkshake into my mouth, and it ended up on my nose. Gods, that was horrible.
“I tried to warn you against it, but you didn’t listen,” Spencer deadpanned from his seat.
Apparently, Zeke knew exactly who we were.
“We can’t all get up. There’s a reason he didn’t just join us. Jaxon, come help me clean up?” I suggested.
Blake had a hand on Jenna who was struggling to breathe normally but not making a move to run, which was helpful. Spencer and Mason didn’t appear to like the idea of only Jaxon and I speaking with Zeke, but we had to keep a low profile. There wasn’t really a choice.
Nixie tugged on my hair. “I got your back if shit gets out of hand.”
“I know you do,” I replied quietly as we stood from the table.
“Let’s get you to the bathroom,” Jaxon’s voice boomed louder than necessary.
I giggled at him. “Thanks, babe.”
Gods, pretending to be human was hard work.
We entered the dim hallway where Zeke had disappeared and found him in the furthest corner. He was furious, and I hoped we were about to find out why.
“Why in hell are you still in town?” he seethed.
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because I need answers, and I won’t stop until I find them,” I snapped. If he wanted to get all pissy, I’d do the same right back.
“Who is the girl with you? You shouldn’t have dragged anyone else into this mess.”
“We didn’t do that. Your bloodsuckers did. We found her half-dead in the alleyway behind the compound. So, why don’t you take your aggression out on the filthy parasites you work for?”
“She must have been the one Brenden thought they accidentally killed when they brought the other in. They’re taking blood slaves in case we move again. The bosses don’t keep compounds once they’ve been compromised unless they’re the ones in very public places meant to be found.”
My jaw ticked. I wasn’t sure why I was getting so worked up, but something about Zeke was setting me off. Maybe it was the unemotional way he spoke of Jenna and her friend, or maybe it was his mere presence, but either way, he needed to answer some questions. “How did you even know it was us?”
He sighed, finally calming down. “I didn’t at first, but the way you kept watching people as you walked down the street to the diner, then the seat you chose, so you could see everything around you. It was a hunch. Then, when I walked in, I knew I had it right by how tense everyone got.”
The magic user was perceptive, I’d give him that. “Did you leave me that note?”
“I did, which was apparently pointless.” He scowled again.
“Listen, Zeke. I appreciate you trying to help Cara, but she’s right. We need answers. She got some of them from Greggor, but those only led to even more questions. You need to tell her why it’s best to stay away. Otherwise, she’ll never back down,” Jaxon said, much more calmly than I would have.
Zeke nodded stiffly. “Fine, but not here. Not in Virginia. You still need to leave before Luca gets into town tomorrow. He’s strong enough to see through whatever disguises you have on right now. I’ll meet you in New Jersey in three days. I have a place there you can go to.”
Trust. It was a strong word. So easily given, yet so harshly broken. I’d had to learn to trust a lot of people since my incarceration. Not an easy task to accomplish given my upbringing, yet here I was again, faced with the choice to trust someone or not.
It would have taken me hours to sort through the pros and cons of fully trusting Zeke and taking off at his demand to an unknown location. Deciding I was too emotionally involved to make the decision, I waited for Jaxon to make the choice. We needed to work as a team to figure this mess out, and I was happy to pass the baton for a moment.
Jaxon’s eyes blazed red. “Three days, not a moment longer, and if this is some sort of trap, I will kill you, and that isn’t a threat. It’s a promise. I won’t let anything happen to my family, and Cara is a part of that. Along with everyone else at that table.”
“Understood, so listen to me and get the hell out of this town as quick as you can.” Zeke pulled a piece of paper from his pocket
and shoved it at me. “That has all the information you need. Now go.”
He brushed past us, knocking me into the wall, but I didn’t say anything. I merely watched him continue without another glance at our table. The others were being good and not staring our way even though I knew they were dying to, so we hurried back.
Jaxon threw a hundred-dollar bill on the table and nodded toward the door. “We gotta move.”
Nobody questioned him as they casually moved from their seats and resumed a pointless conversation about baseball. I never liked the sport, but whatever kept our cover up was fine by me.
Jaxon stuck close to me, likely worried this Luca guy was going to show early and then we were all fucked. Was Luca my supposed uncle, the one who had been looking for me? I wasn’t sure, but I wasn’t ready to find out just yet, at least not without having the additional information we hoped to learn from Zeke.
As soon as we got back in the SUV, Spencer sped off, and Jaxon relayed the short interaction with the others. “Cara, what information was on that paper?”
I pulled it out. “A six-digit number and an address. A place in Point Pleasant, New Jersey.”
“Are we leaving?” Jenna asked, fear evident in her voice.
I nodded. “If Zeke is right, it’s not safe for us here.”
“But what about Kristen? She’s out there somewhere, and if I leave…” Her words trailed off, and my heart ached for her.
“Kristen is with the vampires still. Our best chance at getting her back is to go to this place and get the answers we need.”
Her chin quivered, but she kept the tears at bay. Her human emotions were still very much in control of her decisions, but at least she managed to see reason. She couldn’t do this without us, and we couldn’t do it without Zeke. There wasn’t much choice but to do as he wanted and see how things played out.
Heading back to the beach house, I just hoped we weren’t headed to our death by trusting the sorcerer whose father had tried to kill us only days before.
Escape (Elite Supernatural Trackers Book 3) Page 5