Her throat tightened, the final blow making her feel too sick even to retort. Instead she stared out of the window, at the dense clouds that threatened more rain – a familiar sight in Blackthorn.
Chapter Eight
Three days earlier
The knocking resounded through her dreams, stirring her from the comfort of much-needed sleep. Sophia winced, shielding her eyes from the bedside light Daniel switched on.
‘What the hell…?’ she groaned.
The knock resounded again, this time harder, more impatient.
‘For fuck’s sake,’ Daniel hissed, clearly nursing as much of a hangover as hers. Drink that was no doubt responsible for him ending up in her bed again.
Sophia forced herself into a seated position. ‘I’ll get it,’ she declared, pushing her hair back out of her eyes.
But Daniel was already tugging up his jeans and yanking on a T-shirt as he padded across the tiny Blackthorn bedsit Sophia now called home.
‘Phia, open up!’ The familiar voice demanded, banging the door again.
‘That sounds like Abby. What the hell is she doing here at…’ she looked at the clock, ‘four in the morning?’
‘Only one way to find out.’
Daniel yanked open the door.
Abby stood clasping a brown A4 envelope in her hand, her stout arms folded across her chest. Her narrowed eyes momentarily widened as she stared up at Daniel then into the depths of the room at Sophia still in bed. ‘Exactly how long has this been going on?’ she asked, striding across the threshold.
Daniel closed the door behind her. ‘Morning, boss.’
Sophia pushed both hands back through her hair, clutching her head for a moment, still struggling to come round. ‘Like that’s any of your business.’
‘Whatever happens in my team is my business,’ she said harshly, glimpsing at Daniel now leaning back against the sink.
Sophia stared across at the envelope Abby threw down on the tiny, round dining table. ‘What’s going on?’
Abby yanked out a chair, her large brown eyes emanating annoyance. ‘This is what is known in the trade as one almighty fuck-up, Phia.’
As Daniel lifted the envelope, Sophia pushed aside the duvet. Grabbing her dressing gown from the foot of the bed, she tied it over her sweatpants and T-shirt on her way over to join her colleagues.
The look in Daniel’s blue eyes told her it wasn’t good.
Sophia reached for the photos he had started to discard on the table. She frowned at the numerous shots of Jake Dehain in the bar, laughing and joking over a bottle-strewn table.
Jake Dehain – Caleb Dehain’s younger brother. The Dehains who owned the most successful club in Blackthorn and ruled the west side of Blackthorn with an iron fist. Integral in the district’s third-species underworld, they’d been on The Alliance’s hit list for quite some time, and the night to strike had finally come twenty-four hours before.
And though Caleb frustratingly hadn’t fallen for their bait, Jake had – drinking their honeytrap to death, a process that killed any vampire. And she had no doubt Jake had suffered a painful death as the dead human blood penetrated his system – Trudy having given what short time was left for her disease-riddled body for the cause. Trudy who hadn’t warranted adequate medical assistance along with other humans abandoned to Lowtown. It was her way of taking down the system. Her only sense of control left – signing up with The Alliance.
‘What are you showing us these for?’ she asked.
‘Because these were taken three hours ago. Exactly twenty-four hours after Jake Dehain apparently bled Trudy to death,’ Abby announced, the tension in her voice contracting the tiny bedsit even more. ‘So do you want to tell me how the hell he’s still alive?’
Sophia stared at the picture, flicked through the next and then the next. Pulling out a chair, she sank onto the edge. ‘But it’s not possible. I saw it. I saw the footage. I saw her die. I watched her pulse rate diminish to nothing. I heard her last breath. I saw him collapse beside her. I saw it all. Right to them burning her body in the incinerator.’ She looked up at Abby. ‘We all did.’
‘I know. So how the fuck is that vampire still walking and talking?’
Sophia shook her head, frowning in confusion. ‘I don’t understand. We must have missed something.’
‘I put you on this job because you promised me you could do this, Phia. We had one shot.’
Phia kept flicking through the pictures in desperation. ‘Trudy was dead,’ she said. ‘He killed her.’
She’d stood beside Daniel in the safety of the van as they’d watched Jake lead Trudy into the outer rooms inside the club, at the same time keeping an eye on Jade trying to tempt Caleb in the same way. They’d monitored Trudy’s readings – pulse rate, respiration – as he’d fed. They’d watched her slip away. And they’d watched her body being cremated when the aftermath had been discovered by Caleb less than an hour later.
Just as every reading had told them Jake had consumed way above the safe quantity of blood from which there was no way back.
‘Then it seems she died for nothing then, doesn’t it?’ Abby declared.
‘Ease up,’ Daniel warned. ‘This isn’t her fault, Abby.’
‘Then whose is it? I put Phia in charge of this operation – after she insisted she was capable.’ Her glower snapped back to Sophia. ‘You should have pulled her out the minute you saw Caleb wasn’t taking the bait with Jade. You should have aborted. You knew the arrangement: Both brothers or neither. No suspicion raised.’
‘But Caleb did take the bait for a while. How was I to know he wasn’t going to go all the way? Jake had already left with Trudy. It was all underway. We had no way to stop without raising suspicion.’ She stopped on the photograph of Jake, his arms wrapped around a petite blonde on the dance floor, her back to the camera.
‘You assured me you could do this, Phia. You’ve let me down. You’ve let the whole of The Alliance down.’
‘Whoa!’ Daniel said, cutting in. ‘That isn’t fair. Phia spent weeks planning this. And you would never have agreed if she hadn’t proved herself over and over again these past few months. It should have worked. She can’t account for Caleb’s taste that night. And like she said, we all saw what happened to Trudy.’
‘Just as we can all now see she gave what life she had left for nothing.’
‘Trudy knew what she was doing; she knew what she signed up for and the risks that it might not work,’ Daniel said. ‘She wanted this. Not living out her last months in too much pain to care.’
‘What she wanted was a dead vampire,’ Abby snapped.
‘Then that’s what we’ll give her,’ Sophia cut in.
‘And how do you suppose you’ll do that?’ Abby asked. ‘Walk right back in there? Pick up where you left off? Just how many girls have we got willing and able to give their life for this? Trudy was gold dust and we wasted her. And if you think I’m letting Jade back in there only for the same to happen to her, you’ve got another thing coming. We had one shot and you blew it.’
‘There are other ways,’ Sophia insisted.
‘What – put a silver bullet through both their heads; stake them in the middle of the bar? That kind of defeats the covert element in this case, right?’
‘I’ll find a way.’
‘Too late,’ Abby said. ‘We couldn’t afford to mess this one up. The Alliance needs to go underground for a while.’
‘But we don’t have time for that. We’re finally making headway.’
‘We were making headway. Which is why I’m suspending you from the next target, Phia.’
Sophia snatched back a breath. ‘What? You can’t!’
‘I can and I will. I want your head down and you out of the way. Because if we mess up this next one, The Alliance is finished.’ She looked across at Daniel as she stood. ‘Two days and we reconvene. You’re heading up the next one, Daniel. Unless you’ve got a problem with that?’
‘Who is it?’ Sophia asked.
&
nbsp; Abby only glanced at Sophia before looking back at Daniel. ‘We’ll reconvene in two days.’
She exited the room, slamming the door behind her.
Sophia sat in the silence, her attention returning to the array of photographs.
‘Bitch,’ Daniel hissed quietly as he resumed his seat.
‘She’s right though,’ Sophia said, as she rifled languidly through the photos. ‘I fucked up.’
‘Phia, you said it yourself – we saw what Jake did. It should have worked. And how the hell were you supposed to know Caleb wouldn’t take the bait with Jade? Can you help it that he wasn’t in the mood?’
‘Vampires are always in the mood for a free feed,’ she said, sifting through.
‘Caleb’s tricky. Everyone knows that. He’s got girls falling at his feet all the time. I’m not having you take the blame for this. If Abby thinks–’
Sophia froze. She picked up the photo, her hand trembling.
‘Phia?’ Daniel leaned forward, trying to catch her attention before he craned his neck to see what she was staring at. ‘Phia, what’s wrong?’
‘Fuck,’ she whispered. ‘The pretty blonde on the dance floor was now head-on to the camera, gazing drunkenly up at Jake, her arms wrapped around his neck. ‘That’s my sister. That’s Alisha.’
Daniel took the photo off her to stare at the image.
A split second later, Sophia was on her feet. She yanked open the kitchen drawer, rooted around and pulled out her phone. She paced the room, the phone pressed to her ear. ‘Pick up,’ she said sternly. ‘Come on!’
‘What are you doing?’
‘What do you think I’m doing?’
Daniel tried to snatch the phone from her. ‘You know the rules, Phia – no outside contact. That’s not even Alliance property. You know the risks–’
‘Fuck the rules!’ Sophia snapped, shoving him back. She raked her fingers through her mussed hair. ‘If either of them have touched her…’ she muttered, disconnecting from the pre-recorded message for the third time before re-ringing. ‘Alisha, it’s me,’ she said to the answer phone. ‘Call me as soon as you get this. Straight away, you hear me?’ She disconnected and typed in their home number.
‘You made contact. Phia, this is unacceptable.’
Sophia paced as the phone rang. ‘Something’s wrong,’ she said. ‘Leila always answers.’ As the tone rang monotonously, she slumped back into her seat. ‘Come on, Lei, where are you?’
‘Phia, when you signed up, you signed up to disconnect all ties. That’s how it works.’
‘Pick up!’ she hissed. But when Leila failed to answer, she disconnected, her hand falling limply to the table.
‘Phia!’ Daniel snapped.
‘No, Daniel!’ She slammed the photo back in front of him, her finger pressing on the image of her little sister. ‘This is my sister. My little sister – right here in Blackthorn with the worst fucking vampires since Kane Malloy, so don’t cite rules at me!’
‘What are you doing now?’ he asked as she marched to the wardrobe.
She yanked off her dressing gown and pulled out a T-shirt, black sweater and combats.
‘You’re going out?’
‘Too right I’m going out.’
Getting dressed, she tucked her phone in her trouser pocket.
‘Where?’
She met his troubled gaze. ‘Where do you think?’
He grabbed her arm as she swept past him. ‘No way. You are not going back to that club.’
‘Dawn will be here in the next couple of hours. My little sister is in that club right now. And I’m going to get her.’
‘Did you not hear what Abby said? She told you to lie low. Phia, this could jeopardise this entire operation. It sure as hell will jeopardise your place in the operation.’
‘I won’t implicate anyone else.’
Daniel slammed the door shut as she opened it. ‘You know better than this.’
‘What I know is that my sister is in trouble.’
Daniel dragged her back over to the table, picked up the picture of Alisha again. ‘She looks fine,’ he said emphatically. ‘She’s probably on her way home as we speak. You go barging in there and you could blow this whole thing out of the water. For once, think about what you’re doing. Give it another twenty-four hours. Give it time until we get a clearer picture.’
‘Alisha might not have twenty-four hours. I’m going to the club,’ she said. ‘And I’m getting her out of there. Now.’
Chapter Nine
Sophia opened her eyes to the saffron hues of the descending sun and rolled onto her back to see Jask had gone.
She pushed back the duvet and crossed to the window, the floorboards warm from the late-afternoon glow.
Jask was down on the lawn, dressed in a sweat top and sweatpants, his back to her, the breeze sifting through his hair as he ran the length of the lawn.
She kept her hands cupped around her neck as she curled onto the window seat to watch him.
He dropped to do press ups, twenty she counted, before he got back up, resuming his run. But this time he only ran half a length before stopping to unzip his sweat top, tearing it off to reveal a fitted black vest top that clung to every hard curve.
She whistled under her breath, accompanied by an ache of frustration, then a flush of embarrassment at how she had behaved a few hours before.
And the sense of embarrassment only escalated when she saw a small child run at him. She was a pretty little thing with long blonde ringlets that bore too much resemblance to the female she’d seen in the dining room – the female who now approached Jask from across the green.
Jask bent forward to catch the child, lifting her in his arms with ease, every muscle flexing as he held her above his head. The little girl giggled hysterically as he supported her by her shoulder and ankles, effortlessly easing her up and down as if weight-lifting.
The blonde female was equally laughing, her hair blowing in the late afternoon breeze. And, as she pulled level, Jask eased the child back down onto the floor only to wrap his arm around the blonde’s shoulder, kissing her affectionately on the temple as the child skipped off again.
She’d never really thought about it before – having a family. But realisation panged painfully that now she was a serryn, it would never be possible, her serrynity rendering her barren. She wasn’t sure the implications had sunk in yet. But then she never saw herself having children anyway. Leila was the mother figure. Alisha would nestle up with some doting partner somewhere and probably equally have an entire brood of idyllic mini-hers.
Even before her serrynity, she’d always known she’d never be mature enough to have kids anyway. She’d stick with being be the irresponsible aunt always off on her adventures. If she ever lived long enough to see her nieces or nephews. If Leila and Alisha survived long enough to have them.
Now, watching Jask with the child and his mate made her feel like even more of an outsider than she always had. The Alliance claimed the third species were a freak of nature but, stood at the window gazing out, it only confirmed what she’d always believed – that she was the one who was the freak.
The Alliance had done something to help with that. It wasn’t just about being able to do something; it was about being a part of something. And the need was only reinforced as she witnessed the community in front of her. An insular community as self-sufficient and interdependent as they appeared to the outside world.
The lycans may have been the minority species, but they were intensely tight. It’s what made them so powerful. So impenetrable. And it was no easy feat keeping a naturally wild species under control – in excess of two hundred of them. But under Jask’s guidance, his zero-tolerance policy, they were managed. And managed well it seemed.
She watched as the little girl now ran towards Corbin as he headed down the steps to join them. He cradled her in his arms before dousing her in kisses.
They were clearly close, Jask and Corbin. Admirably so. Both having each o
ther’s backs at all times.
Bait Jask though she may have over his decision to disclose the truth about the TSCD’s set-up, even she knew he’d done the right thing. He’d done what he had no choice but to do if those responsible for the cruel murder of Arana Malloy were to be convicted – especially when Caitlin Parish’s accused involvement with Kane brought the accusations into question. Jask had done what was right for his pack to secure the freedom of two of his own.
The female peeled away from Jask only to kiss Corbin lingeringly on the lips, the second-in-command’s hand sliding down her waist to tap her behind.
Her heart leapt.
The blonde female wasn’t with Jask, she was with Corbin. And bets were, from the way the child had responded to Corbin, she was his too.
She knew she had no place feeling relief, but she couldn’t help it.
Corbin sauntered back up the steps, the blonde and the child with him, leaving Jask alone and kicking at the turf.
This time she felt a deeper pang inside – a pang at sensing a familiar loneliness.
But empathy was dangerous. Especially now.
Regardless, as Jask looked up at the sun before following them up the steps, Sophia’s stomach clenched with anxiety. She hurried into the bathroom and smoothed down her hair. With little result, she grabbed the brush she had seen in the drawer and swiftly worked her bob until she got a shine. She brushed her teeth and headed back into the bedroom.
She perched on the edge of the window seat, expecting Jask to make an appearance at any point. But he didn’t.
A few minutes later, disappointment hitting harder than she was comfortable with, she wandered into the living room. There, draped over the chairs by the window, were clothes – female clothes. She picked through the three tunics, before being distracted by the noise through the open sash window ahead.
Hearing yells, she slipped between the armchairs to look out.
There was a whole other patch of land behind the building, maybe a couple of acres. Surrounded by barbed wire, not unlike the rest of the compound, brick walls lay beyond.
Clusters gathered along the edge of what looked like a marked pitch of some kind. At either end, twenty-five-foot-high metal scaffolding housed jutting hoops at the top.
Blood Torn (Blackthorn Book 3) Page 11