Blood Hunt

by L. L. Raand

  “Come with me,” Jody said and headed briskly down the center hallway.

  Becca and Niki, with Lara in her arms, hurried after her. Becca wondered where Jody’s hosts were. Did they live in the house with her? Did they arrive at some prearranged time? Did they sleep with her? That thought soured her stomach. Maybe she’d better just wait and find out before she made herself crazy.

  Jody unlocked a heavy, oak-paneled door and turned on a light, revealing a wide wooden staircase. Jody stood aside while they passed her and started down the stairs, then entered and locked the door again. Becca surveyed the large room at the bottom of the stairs. Except for the absence of windows, the room resembled the parlor directly above it—bookcases, leather sofas and chairs, thick carpets, and dark wood wainscoting. Three doors led off from the space, and Jody indicated one to the left. “Put Lara in there.”

  Niki nodded and opened the door onto a bedroom. She placed Lara in the center of a double bed, arranged a pillow beneath her head, and rejoined them, closing the door.

  “What if she wakes?” Niki asked.

  “She won’t,” Jody said. “Not before me.”

  “How many other entrances are there to this place?” Niki asked.

  Jody smiled. “There is a tunnel that connects the lair to a host house, which is guarded twenty-four hours a day. There are multiple checkpoints along the way.”

  Niki snorted. “Two entrances—one by the stairs, one by this tunnel. You have no guards here?”

  “Not usually,” Jody said.

  “You’re foolish, Vampire.” Niki shook her head.

  “I have no reason to fear for my…life,” Jody said.

  Becca spoke up. “Maybe you didn’t previously, but your involvement with the Weres changes things. If someone is attempting to destabilize the Coalition by killing Sylvan, they may also be targeting your father or, as his heir, you. Or both of you.”

  Without looking at Becca, Jody said, “In the case of an attack, if I am unable to respond, protect Becca first, then Lara.”

  Becca sucked in a breath. “You do expect trouble. What aren’t you saying?”

  “I agree that my association with the wolf Weres is known or will be soon. Everyone in the club saw me with Lara and Niki and you. I can protect myself. I want Niki to protect you.”

  “Oh, all right,” Becca said sharply. “And do you mind telling me how you’re going to protect yourself in the middle of the day when you can’t even move?”

  “I’m not comatose. I can move around if I have to.”

  “Inside, maybe.” Becca waved her hand around the room. “But what if someone breaches your lair and drags you out onto the sidewalk? What’s going to happen then, Jody? How long can you survive in direct sunlight?”

  Jody’s jaw tightened. “If I’m at full strength, I can survive long enough to do what I need to do.”

  “At full strength.” Becca glanced at Niki, then back at Jody. “You should feed.”

  “And you should be blood-bonded,” Niki rumbled. “I can feed you.”

  Jody shook her head. “We need you at full strength too.”

  “I am not diminished by giving you blood,” Niki said.

  “No,” Jody said softly. “But you are in danger of becoming ensnared. Go watch over your Packmate. I have no need of you now.”

  Becca grabbed Jody’s hand. “Which room is yours?”

  When Jody indicated the door opposite Lara’s, Becca dragged her over, opened the door, and pulled her inside. She slammed it.

  “Stop keeping secrets from me,” Becca demanded. “After what happened at Nocturne, don’t you think I deserve to know what you need? What makes you vulnerable?”

  “The more you know, the more you are in danger. Knowledge is dangerous.”

  “Ignorance is more dangerous.” Becca grasped Jody’s shoulders. “What makes you think it’s all right with me for you to sacrifice yourself? You don’t get to make those decisions, Jody. Not where I’m concerned.”

  Jody’s eyes darkened, and Becca felt the press against the surface of her mind, as if a heavy weight were bearing down on her from above. “Stop that. Don’t you dare try to influence the way I feel about this.”

  Instantly, the pressure receded. “I’m sorry.”

  “You damn well should be.” Becca stroked Jody’s face. “Where are your hosts? Shouldn’t they be here?”

  “I haven’t called them yet.”

  “Why not?”

  “You said you wanted to stay with me.”

  Becca’s heart twisted. “I do. I will.”

  “Then I’ll feed when I wake up.”

  “You don’t want me to see, is that it? I already have, remember?”

  Jody feathered her fingers through Becca’s hair. “That was before. Before I touched you.”

  “Oh boy,” Becca whispered, turning liquid inside. “You do really, really scary things to me.” She leaned against her, tightening her arms around Jody’s neck, and kissed her. Her tongue immediately brushed over Jody’s incisors, and they were no longer a promise. They were fully unsheathed, sharp and dangerous, eroticly powerful. She tightened, swelling and throbbing. “What is the blood bond?”

  Jody stiffened and would have pulled away, but Becca held her fast.

  “No more secrets,” Becca whispered against her mouth.

  “This is not something humans can know.”

  “I’m human,” Becca murmured. “But I will never betray you.”

  Jody rested her cheek against Becca’s hair. “When a living Vampire—a pre-animate—dies, blood stops circulating, the heart stops beating, the brain goes into a suspended state. Unless ferrin-rich blood is provided within a few hours, the Vampire cannot rise. Death is permanent.”

  Dread settled in the pit of Becca’s stomach. There was more, she knew it. “So someone needs to give you a blood transfusion?”

  Jody averted her gaze.

  “Well? What?”

  “Not just anyone. Someone whose blood is compatible. A blood mate—someone whose blood has been prepared. Otherwise, the organs reject the new blood. The result is the same. True death.”

  “Prepared. Prepared how?”

  “Unlike in the living state, the organs of a Vampire who has died have no barrier against the foreign blood. If unprepared blood is used in the animation procedure, a massive transfusion reaction, for want of a better term, will occur, and the Vampire dies.”

  “That’s why you need a bonded host,” Becca said. “To prepare the blood somehow? How?”

  “A series of blood exchanges, small amounts between the Vampire and the bonded host over time. The Vampire’s immune system becomes accustomed to the foreign antigens, the blood mate builds up stores of compatible ferrin-compounds, and when the blood mate provides the transfusion after death, the organs will accept the blood. Revitalization occurs and the Vampire rises.”

  “We’ve exchanged blood,” Becca said. “That’s what Francesca was asking about, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, but not enough. You are not responsible for me.”

  “What if I want to be?” Becca whispered.

  Jody pushed away. “You don’t understand. The more blood we exchange, the more you will be tied to me. You run the risk of becoming addicted. Of needing to be turned or facing insanity. You might not survive the turning.”

  “But none of those things are certain, are they?” Becca said.

  “No.”

  “But it is certain that if you are not bonded, and you die, you will not rise. That’s what you’re telling me, isn’t it?”

  “Yes,” Jody said quietly.

  Becca felt the distance between them widen, even though neither of them had moved again. She could let the chasm build. That would be the smart thing to do. The safe thing to do. So many things she didn’t know. So many things Jody didn’t want to tell her. I’m doing this for your own good, she’d heard so many times as the invisible bars closed around her life. But Jody sought not to ensnare her or c
apture her or enslave her. Jody sought to keep her free. And what was freedom, if not the ability to choose?

  “Every time we’ve touched, that’s been real, hasn’t it?” Becca asked. “No thrall?”

  “Yes.”

  Becca stepped across the divide and, pressing full-length against Jody, kissed her. “Can I feed you again?”

  Jody skimmed her fingertips over the contours of Becca’s breasts and whispered against her mouth, “Not so soon.”

  “Then call someone, I’ll be all right.” Becca opened Jody’s shirt and trousers and skated her hands over Jody’s chest, caressing her breasts, her smooth abdomen. “Do it now, Jody. I don’t want you endangered because you’re weakened.”

  “Not yet. I want you.” Jody unbuttoned Becca’s shirt and pushed it off her shoulders. She unclasped her bra and disposed of that as she backed her toward the bed. Becca’s knees hit the mattress, and they both went down in a jumble. Jody stretched out over her, and their bare breasts met in a surge of heat. Becca arched at the electric shock of pleasure.

  “Oh God.” She skimmed her hands down Jody’s back and pushed at her pants. “Take these off.” When Jody lifted away to strip off the rest of her clothes, Becca quickly got rid of her own pants along with her panties and everything else. Her skin was scorching, and all she wanted was the cool press of Jody’s body. Pulling Jody back down on top of her, she wrapped her calves around Jody’s thighs and fused their centers. She was swollen, hot and hard and throbbing.

  “Can you feel me?” Becca gasped. “How ready I am for you? How much I want you?”

  Jody’s eyes flickered between midnight and flame, her lips slightly parted, her incisors flashing like ivory daggers in the dim lamplight.

  “You play with fire, Becca,” Jody warned.

  “Apparently, I do.” Becca caressed Jody’s tight-nippled breasts. “And I don’t plan on stopping.”

  Jody groaned and circled her pelvis, working her center over Becca’s. She traced her tongue over the pulse in Becca’s throat.

  Becca whimpered. Her clitoris felt like it was going to explode. She so wasn’t ready to come, but she wasn’t sure she could stop it. Think. Thinking always helped her hold on to her control. “Can you come without feeding?”

  “Sometimes,” Jody murmured, her mouth against Becca’s neck now. “If I’m full, the blood makes me potent for a while.”

  “I want you to come with me before you feed from anyone else.” Becca tightened her legs, thrusting her hips, forcing Jody to follow suit. “I’m going to come…” She gasped and struggled to focus. She just needed to hold on a little bit longer. Until Jody couldn’t escape. “I’m going to come, and I want you to come with me. I want you to drink me. I want you to be one with me.” She pushed her tongue into Jody’s mouth, and just as she planned, Jody’s incisor opened a thin line along the side of her tongue. Her blood flowed into Jody’s mouth, and Jody reflexively swallowed. Jody’s hormones flowed into her mouth and Becca drank. Jody jerked in her arms, and then more blood flowed, binding them.

  Jody reared back, yanking her head away. “Becca, no.”

  “I know what I’m doing,” Becca gasped, gripping Jody’s shoulders. “I know what I want. Give me your blood.”

  “Forgive me,” Jody moaned and slashed her incisors across her wrist. Crimson rivulets dripped from her marble forearm onto Becca’s lips.

  Becca opened her mouth, her gaze locked on Jody, and swallowed. Her body ignited, an explosion of pleasure so intense she screamed. Jody was everywhere—in her mind, in her body, in every corner of her being. She came and came, drops of Jody’s blood searing her tongue.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  As Andrew pulled the Rover into the huge parking lot of Mir Industries situated on the outskirts of Albany, Drake scanned the sprawling research and pharmaceutical complex. Even at five thirty in the morning, the parking area was half-full. Lights burned in many of the windows. Sylvan directed Andrew to park in the rear by a private entrance.

  “Wait for us here,” Sylvan said to the centuri.

  Drake and Sylvan loped toward the rear of the building. Before they reached it, an unmarked steel door opened and a black-clad, auburn-haired female with broad shoulders and narrow hips stepped into the doorway. An automatic rifle rested in her right hand, canted down by her side but clearly in position to swing into readiness in an instant. She inclined her head. “Alpha, Prima. We did not expect you.”

  “Good morning, Chris,” Sylvan said, brushing the backs of her fingers lightly over the guard’s jaw.

  Chris glanced toward the Rover as if expecting to see the centuri emerging. When no one did, she said, “I will call an escort for you.”

  “That’s not necessary,” Sylvan said. “We are not expecting any trouble, but nevertheless, raise the alert status to level three.”

  “Yes, Alpha.” Chris closed the door behind them and issued orders into her radio. “I’ll accompany you to the elevators.”

  They traversed the halls in silence, nodding to the Weres who snapped to alertness as Sylvan passed, until they reached the private elevators in the research wing.

  “You can return to your post, Chris.” Sylvan brushed a hand over the guard’s shoulder as she stepped onto the elevator. “Thank you.”

  “An honor to serve you, Alpha.” Chris’s face glowed with pleasure and pride. She nodded to Drake, her gaze level with Drake’s shoulder. “Prima.”

  “Chris,” Drake said quietly. The reverence extended to her as Sylvan’s mate would take some getting used to. The doors closed and they were alone again. “You seem quite sure Leo and Nadia will be here.”

  “Yes, I can sense them. But I expected they would be here, since they usually are. Or they would be soon.”

  Drake leaned against Sylvan’s shoulder, enjoying the contact. The frenzy that had ridden her so hard for the last few days had abated after their last mating. The urgency in her loins still simmered, but she could think. Her skin no longer felt as if it were being stripped from her muscles, inch by inch.

  “You’re better?” Sylvan asked.

  “Yes, I think so. Can you feel the difference?”

  Sylvan settled against the back of the elevator and pulled Drake against her chest, back to front. Threading her arms around Drake’s waist, she rested her chin on top of Drake’s shoulder and nuzzled her neck. “I still hunger for you, but I can wait. This time yesterday, I couldn’t.”

  “I think the breeding frenzy has passed. How long does a heat usually last?”

  “Several weeks,” Sylvan said. “We don’t conceive easily—it often takes continuous joinings.”

  “More than we’ve had.”

  Sylvan hesitated. “Yes.”

  “An aborted heat, then.” Drake sighed. Although she was glad that both she and Sylvan would soon be able to function without the constant urgency to tangle, the disappointment cut deep. She’d never given a great deal of thought to raising a family. She’d never really anticipated having the kind of relationship that would lead to permanence or expected to love anyone the way she loved Sylvan. She’d never expected a mate. Now, when the opportunity to conceive appeared to be beyond her, she ached for what she wouldn’t be able to share with Sylvan, with the Pack. Sylvan’s mouth was warm against her neck, comforting. Drake reached behind her and stroked Sylvan’s face. “I’m sorry.”

  A rough warning growl rolled from deep within Sylvan’s chest. “Why would you say that to me?”

  Drake turned in Sylvan’s arms, letting her thighs rest against Sylvan’s, and kissed her. Sylvan’s mouth tasted like a summer night—charged with heat lightning and life. “I know what you need, Sylvan. You’re Alpha. You need to breed for the good of the Pack. And because your DNA carries the strength of generations of Were Alphas, you must have an heir.” She kissed Sylvan’s throat. “That’s your destiny, your birthright. I love you for it.”

  Sylvan’s eyes slid from blue to gold so fast, Drake caught her breath. She forgot somet
imes how close Sylvan’s wolf prowled to the surface. The shift was so swift she couldn’t tell the moment when the bones in Sylvan’s face elongated, when her jaw grew heavier, when her canines slid down in a show of dominance and power.

  “You are my mate.” Sylvan’s voice was lethal, and the power that rolled from her made Drake’s legs weak. “I’ve chosen you, my wolf has chosen you. Do you choose me?”

  “Of course, God, of course I choose you.” Drake framed Sylvan’s face, rubbing her thumbs over the sharp crests of Sylvan’s transformed face. “You’re everything to me.”

  “Do you regret being turned?”

  Drake smiled. “Not only don’t I regret it, I love being Were.”

  Sylvan’s eyes flashed, and her features softened infinitesimally. “Don’t ever apologize to me again for things you cannot control.”

  Resting her forehead against Sylvan’s, Drake rubbed Sylvan’s shoulders and stroked her back. Now was not the time to distract Sylvan from the dangers that faced them by bringing up future challenges. “Don’t scare the scientists. Calm down, love. Tell your wolf to rest.”

  Sylvan grumbled again, but her power receded like the tide from shore, leaving heat playing over Drake’s skin—lingering ripples in the sand.

  “I love you,” Drake said. “I would give you anything—”

  Sylvan covered Drake’s mouth with hers. Her kiss was hot and hard and demanding. Drake could no more resist Sylvan’s call than she could stop the breath from moving in her lungs. She closed her eyes and let herself be dominated, for in the belonging, she found safety and purpose and contentment. Sylvan’s legs went rigid against her, and she heard a hungry groan rise from Sylvan’s chest.

  “Not now, love,” Drake murmured and pulled away. “You said you could wait, remember?”

  “I said I could,” Sylvan grumbled. “I didn’t say I wanted to.”

  Drake laughed softly despite the persistent pain in her heart. “Good, I wouldn’t want you to find waiting comfortable. But you’re still going to need to.” Behind them, the elevator doors slid open. She backed up, pulling Sylvan with her out into the hall. “You have business to attend to, Alpha.”