Jacques moved toward the body. “I don’t know who she is, but I’m willing to bet that this human is one of Montclair’s lackeys.”
“Well, we have to get rid of the corpse.”
Flynn spoke from the bed. “I’m betting it’s his wife. Start there,” he offered. “There’s no way he was a hunter, and she didn't know what was going on. I’d know if my partner was out killing things that went bump in the night. She might be involved.”
It was as good as any place to begin.
Before they got to work, Jolie told them about what had happened with their messenger from Death.
The two men listened intently.
“You saw it all?” Jacques asked.
“Yes. It was horrible.”
They didn't doubt that at all.
This was going to be up to Jacques now. With Flynn healing, he was going to need backup.
He had an idea, but kept it to himself.
“It’s my fault,” said Flynn, weakly from the bed. “I was sound asleep, and I didn’t hear her until she struck. I’m usually a light sleeper, but I was so tired.”
Jolie reassured her mate. “Flynn, we were all wounded earlier, so there is no way this is anyone’s fault except hers,” she said, pointing at the dead woman on the floor.
He prayed she was right.
“You were weak, and you threw your already battered body over ours to save us. Your quick thinking and love bought enough time to get us help. Without the sacrifice you made, she would have destroyed us.”
Jolie glanced over at Mathew, sitting on his mattress.
They lucked out.
Big time!
“I don’t understand why Mathew was up,” stated Jolie.
Flynn took that one, covering for the young vampyre. He told her about their bedroom visit before dawn.
“Thank God for that sunrise.”
Flynn agreed.
Jolie began checking on Flynn’s wounds. They were healing nicely. Gently, she caressed his cheek as she sat on the floor beside the bed. “I love you, and thank you for being our hero.” She offered him one hell of a kiss.
When she pulled away, Flynn was feeling so much better.
“My lips still hurt. Can you do that again?” he teased.
Jolie kissed him again, holding his face in her hands.
He then grinned and pointed at his cheek. “I think it hurts here too.”
“Flynn’s going to live,” stated Jacques from his position over the dead woman. “Here’s the proof. He is conning you into kissing his injuries.”
Jolie kissed him again, still smiling. “I’ll kiss every spot you point to later, and I do mean everyone, but first, we need to find out who this woman is, right, Jacques?”
“Yes. I think I have an idea on how to handle this.”
Jacques told them what it was.
“So, you’re going to cheat on me with another detective?” Flynn asked from the bed. “That’s cruel.”
He laughed, pleased to see his mate’s sense of humor was retuning. “I’m a horrible mate. You deserve better.”
Jolie was glad they were able to laugh. “How about we just do it?”
Jacques grabbed his phone and made the call. “Bonjour, I need to speak with Detective Bevier.”
There was a pause as Jacques waited for the man to come on the phone.
“Hello?”
“William, it’s, Jacques, your brother-in-law to be.”
“What’s wrong?” he asked, sounding alarmed. “It’s nine in the morning. Why are you up?” he asked, his voice dropping to a whisper.
“We need you. Can you come here?”
“Jacques, I’m knee deep right now with Montclair’s disappearance. Since he didn’t check in this morning,” he offered, lowering his voice even more, “the station is a hornets’ nest.”
“William, we have a very large problem that’s directly related to yours...”
There was a pause.
“It’s a bloody mess.”
“I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
“Thank you, William.”
“No problem. I’ll get there as soon as I can pull away from this.”
Chloe returned to the room to give them an update on Clariel.
“She needs to go to death. Then, I’ll help Flynn get cleaned up.”
Jolie glanced over at both her mates. The soft cries from the younger vampyre rattled her cage. That could have been her, mourning Flynn.
“When this mess is cleaned up, I want to spend time alone with both of you,” she admitted. “Just the three of us locked in our room for a week.”
Flynn didn't even make a joke.
They heard the pain in her voice.
Jacques approached his mate, and Flynn slowly moved to his knees. Once in the center of their bed, they embraced.
“It’s okay,” Flynn whispered. “We’re okay.”
She nodded.
Only it wasn’t fine.
Jolie didn't like her men wearing a target meant for her. Family was sacred.
With Trina’s death, Jolie knew it wasn’t going to be so easy to heal this wound.
They were going to have to work hard at it.
After all, when she took the young vampyres in, she had promised to keep them safe. Now she had to face one of them.
Yeah, epic fail on her behalf.
CHAPTER twenty-nine
The scene in the bathroom was almost more than she could take. The sobs, the tears, and the emotion were overpowering. Jolie wanted to weep with Clariel over her loss, but somehow, she didn't think she’d be welcome. After all, this was all her fault.
There would need to be a target, and she was it.
“Clariel, I need you to go to death, and soon,” she said, moving to the side of the tub to offer the woman support.
“Why did she have to be stolen from me? I don’t understand any of this. What did we do? Weren’t our lives hell enough? Why did I have to lose her on top of everything else?”
Jolie took her hand in hers. “I’ve asked myself that many times, especially whenever I lost someone I loved. There’s no answer--we just keep going.”
“That’s easy for you to say. You have your mates,” she snapped angrily. Clariel’s words lashed out at Jolie like a razor tipped whip.
If her intent was to make Jolie bleed, it worked.
Here came the anger, and Jolie braced for it.
What was there to say?
Jolie couldn’t blame her.
Everything the wounded vampyre was accusing her of was true. She knew it.
“We should never have come here. If we stayed in New Orleans with the family, Trina would be alive.”
Jolie nodded. “That might be true.” She didn't mention that when fate called, your time was up. Why hurt Clariel more?
“I don’t know if I’ll ever forgive you, Mistress,” she whispered, as she pulled her hand away from Jolie’s.
“I understand,” she said, standing as Mathew exited the shower behind them. “Since I’m the last person you want near you, I’ll leave you alone. Mathew, please make sure Clariel rests.”
With that, she moved toward the door.
Only, the young vampyre wasn’t done.
“You were supposed to protect us! You promised!” cried Clariel. “You failed us, Mistress. We put our faith in you, and you let us down. You’re just as bad as Delina.”
Mathew’s eyes went wide as he waited for the mistress to take Clariel’s life. In Delina’s home, this outburst would mean one thing--death.
Jolie picked her words carefully. “I’m sorry for what happened, Clariel. For the rest of my life, I’ll carry this on my shoulders.”
She faced Mathew. “I need you to rest too. Thank you for what you did today. I owe you a debt of gratitude.”
“Yes, Mistress, I will.”
Jolie turned one last time to face the emotionally wounded vampyre. “I’m sorry that you see me as evil--like Delina.”
; She headed into her bedroom. What she wanted now was to curl up and weep for what she lost too. Trina was hers to protect, but she was also special. Jolie loved her.
Now she was forced to carry this on her shoulders too.
Mathew watched incredulously as Jolie left. “Are you crazy?” he asked Clariel.
“She didn't do her job.”
“Clariel, that wasn’t fair,” he said quietly to the grieving woman. “She did her best. She was with death. How was she supposed to save Trina?”
“It wasn’t enough.”
Mathew narrowed his eyes. “I’m sorry that Trina perished because I loved her too, but you can’t blame them. The mistress and masters did what they could. They tried.”
She stared into the bath water, trying not to see Trina in her mind. It was too much to take.
“You just told her she was worse than Delina. Do you remember that hell? What if she never came? At least Trina got to feel happiness, joy, and love for a short time. She had a home, and wasn’t that something we always prayed for?”
“She failed us.”
“She came for you when Boris was going to kill you and Trina in that hell hole. She took us into her home, gave us our own rooms, and for the first time in our lives, she treated us like we mattered to someone. How many other mistresses are going to take in three vampyres nobody wants? We got to see France. If I had to die, I would want it to be right here. Not in Delina’s torture room.”
“But she…”
“No, she didn’t save Trina. How many times are you going to say that before you realize you’re not the only one who lost her? I loved her. The mistress loved her too. Can’t you see it in her eyes? She’s broken too over this. What about Master Flynn? Trina held a special place in his heart. You’re not the only one mourning, Clari. You have to open your eyes and see that.”
She stared down at the floor as she dried off.
“All three of them could be dead right now, and instead of being grateful we have a family still, you’re being cruel. If her mates perished, do you think life would be the same? Do you realize how good we really have it? We were discarded and disposable, and our mistress and masters accepted us. We aren’t property here, no one uses us for sex, and we’re free.” He couldn’t believe how selfish Clariel was being over all this.
“I miss my mate,” she said.
“We all do, but it’s not Jolie’s fault. Fate wanted to take Trina, and it did. Now you have to pull yourself together and go on. We all do. What you just did was very hurtful, and isn’t acceptable, Clariel.”
He heard her sniffle.
“Cut the mistress a break because she may not say it, but I will. When you love someone, you don’t point your anger at them. Not ever!”
Mathew turned angrily toward the door, and saw Jacques leaning against the frame. He swallowed, and then tried to move past him, eyes adverted.
“Mathew?”
He froze in place. “Yes, Master?”
“We’re not angered over her words. Jolie understands that she’s hurting. We don’t blame her for having a broken heart.”
“It shouldn’t matter,” Mathew states. “The mistress has feelings too. She hurts. She bleeds. Whether we hurt or not, we shouldn’t dump more weight on her shoulders. Instead, we should make the burden lighter. We’re a family, and that should mean something, shouldn’t it?”
“Yes, it should.”
“Well, then Clariel was wrong. Someone should think about the mistress’s feeling too, not just ours.”
What could Jacques say?
He agreed completely.
Jolie waited for them on the side of their bed. When they climbed onto the mattress, Jolie took a moment to tuck the blanket around Mathew.
“I’ll remain awake today to make sure no one hurts you,” she stated, hoping that would give him a little peace.
“I know you will, Mistress,” he offered, trying to help her heart. “I believe in you. I’m not scared.”
She wished she had his faith at that moment.
When she went to tuck the blanket around Clariel, the woman moved away from her touch.
She got the picture.
Jolie wanted to weep.
‘Comfort her please,’ she whispered into Mathew’s mind.
He simply nodded.
“Both of you go to death,” she said, waiting to make sure they took that last breath. When they were gone, she finally stood.
“Jolie, William is here,” Jacques said, touching her shoulder lightly.
“Great. Let’s get this over with.”
He handed her a black robe. Jolie slipped into it to cover up her healing body. When Jacques kissed her knuckles, she wanted to weep.
Only, she stayed strong.
She had to.
“I’m ready.”
They walked hand in hand down the stairs to greet the man. When the door was opened, he rushed in.
“What happened? It can’t be good if you’re awake this time of the day, and I’m being summoned here.”
Both Jolie and Jacques opened their robes to reveal healing gouges to their bodies. Words weren’t needed. The damage said it all.
“Holy shit,” he said, appalled at the crisscrossing scars that were now vicious pink and red marks. “Are you both okay?”
“I assure you, it was worse an hour ago. I hope you didn't eat lunch because what’s upstairs isn’t pretty.”
The man followed them first to Clariel and Trina’s room. Once inside, all that remained were bloody sheets and a pile of ash.
“Clariel lived, but Trina didn’t.”
“Oh, God,” he whispered, trying to take it in. “Who did this to you?”
“We hoped you could tell us. It seems that while we slept, a human came into our home and tried to destroy us.”
“I don’t understand.”
Then he looked scared.
“Do you think that human was me?”
They could smell his fear.
“No, we don’t, so you can relax, William. We killed the perpetrator in mid-act, but we need your help telling us who she is. You’re with the police. Maybe you can look her up.”
He could do that.
Gone was the fear. He was feeling much better knowing they weren’t thinking he could possibly kill a vampyre.
He loved one very much.
“Show me the body.”
They led him to their quarters. Once inside, he ignored the sheet covered body, and instead, headed toward Flynn.
It looked like a bloodbath had occurred.
“What the hell…?”
When he touched his arm, the man rolled over and opened his eyes.
“Christ! You scared me. I thought you were dead. Your body is a mess.”
“So they tell me,” he whispered,
Jolie told him everything that had happened. William was soon to be family, so she left nothing out.
With each part of the tale, he looked more and more horrified.
“Will he completely heal?”
Jolie gave him a reassuring smile. “With some TLC and blood, he’ll be as good as new.”
That was a good thing.
“Where’s this killer?”
They led him to the sheet covered body. When Jolie pulled it back, he gasped.
“Holy bloody hell! That’s Jenna Montclair!”
Jolie dropped the sheet back over her, not wanting to see the animal who had almost taken her mate’s life.
“We narrowly escaped this one.”
“Jolie, I’m sorry.”
“Yes, so are we, but now we have to get rid of her remains. We don’t need to draw any attention to ourselves.”
It was Flynn’s weak voice that drew her attention.
“I have an idea,” he said, struggling to sit up on the bed. When Jacques offered him a hand, Flynn took it.
“What is it?” William asked.
“Well, you said cops are looking for him, so why don’t you take her body there, s
et it up to look like a homicide, and let him take the fall.”
Jolie laughed. “Flynn, my love, that’s devious.”
“I try. It seems like poetic justice for both of them. They screwed with us, let’s bury that family name once and for all.”
William spoke up, “I can help. What do you need me to do?”
Jacques was working the plan out in his head. “Tonight, we’ll make our move. I know we were supposed to leave, but we can’t until Flynn looks less like the walking dead.”
“Gee, thanks.”
Jolie stroked some hairs from his cheek.
“Fine,” said William. “Why don’t you wrap up the body and later I’ll help you move her to their house? Try not to leave DNA or fingerprints.”
Flynn started laughing.
“What’s so funny? What did I say?”
Jolie explained to him, “We don’t have DNA or leave fingerprints.”
“Well shit! That’s convenient, and probably why I have so many cold cases on my desk.”
“Welcome to my world,” muttered Flynn from the bed. “Damn vampyres are a bitch to pin crimes to, and it’s frustrating as hell.”
Jolie laughed genuinely for the first time in what seemed like forever. “Yes, we’re a pain in Flynn’s ass.”
Jacques motioned toward the door. “I’ll walk you out, William.”
Jolie waited until they were alone. “How about a bath? I’ll clean you up, and then put you to bed.”
“Yes, please,” he said, but didn't move.
“Do you want me to carry you?”
“Are you crazy?”
Jolie found him amusing. “No one will see your mate carrying you around in her arms.”
“Over my dead body.”
“Then put your arm over my shoulders, and I’ll steady you.”
He was good with that.
Inside the bathroom, he wanted to heal her heart too. “Jolie, I heard what Clariel said, and she was wrong. You’re nothing like, Delina.”
Jolie ignored him. If she didn’t, she’d cry.
“Let’s get you in the tub,” she offered.
“Can you join me?” he asked, knowing she needed some comforting too.
“Okay,” Jolie stated, dropping her black robe. When she stepped in, she grabbed the large sponge to begin washing the dried blood from his torso.
Dangerous Misery (The Harcourte Vampyre Society Book 3) Page 46