More Than Blood

by Amanda Vyne

  Tala was singing as she stirred a huge pan of eggs. Holding her hand up the salt shaker appeared, and she shook it over the eggs before it disappeared again. Kel could smell the sausage patties sizzling on the griddle, and it reminded her that she hadn’t eaten yet this morning.

  “Morning, Kel,” Tala said without turning around. “Gram is in the store room getting another loaf of bread. She said we’d need more toast because you were coming for breakfast.” She cast a look over her shoulder, her violet eyes narrowed in mock suspicion. “Again.”

  Her coal black ponytail swung as she turned back to her task. “I think she was right.”

  “That I eat a lot of toast?” Kel laughed as she shimmered to the sink to wash her hands. They were making breakfast for the girls and she may as well earn her breakfast by helping.

  “No. That you’re trying too hard.”

  “Tala, keep your crystal ball away from me,” Kel warned as she picked up the spatula and began flipping the multitude of sizzling patties.

  “I’m just saying.”

  “Well, just don’t.”

  “Kel, you’re a bit earlier than I expected.” Mae came from the back with another loaf of bread in her wrinkled hands. She set it on the long counter. Behind them the door to the beaten-up commercial refrigerator swung open and a large water bottle appeared on the counter next to Kel. “Drink this up before you leave, dear.”

  Kel raised a dark brow but didn’t question the woman. She’d learned better than that in the twelve years since she’d known the old woman. Instead she transferred the spatula to her other hand and took a long swallow. It tasted like lemonade with a slightly bitter aftertaste. “What is this, Mae? It tastes like something Tala would make.”

  The first line of sausage patties jumped an inch forward.

  Mae gave Tala a swat on her behind. “No messing around, the girls will be down in just a couple minutes.” The woman’s aged hands moved quickly as she fed bread into the rotary belt of the toaster. “It’s just a little something to help with the healing and stimulate your bone marrow, dear.”

  “Of course. I should have known,” Kel muttered sarcastically as she flipped the patties into a large metal pan sitting on the back of the griddle. “I was just thinking my bone marrow felt a little sluggish.”

  Tala snorted but Mae ignored them both. Soon Kel heard the girls descending the stairs just as they set the last pan of food on the counter. The girls filed sleepily by, filling their plates from the metal pans and crowding around the long dining room table.

  There was a constant cacophony of noise as they ate. The younger girls were no different than human children, but the older girls were coming into their abilities. Two of the older girls had come into Mae’s care recently and she homeschooled them. They had little control over their abilities and could not safely go to a public school. And Madison. Madison was too close to her change to be allowed in mixed company. Mae and Tala kept her close, just as Kel had suggested.

  Once breakfast was over the girls ran off to get their book bags. Tala always walked the little ones to school. The girls that went to the local middle school usually walked by themselves, but Kel had taken to walking them to school the last couple of days. There were two girls who were half Sanguen and half Guardian, and she couldn’t risk their safety. Especially since there was a good chance she was being followed and he would know about Haven House.

  Centrone and his henchmen had lured Gabe into a trap knowing that Kel would not be with him. Intending to take him quickly out of the equation, they’d hit him hard and en masse. They just hadn’t figured on the little bonding thing she and Gabe had going on giving her a heads-up when he was in danger. Or allowing her to shimmer directly to him to a deserted side street she had never seen before. It was supposed to be impossible to shimmer to a location you had never been at before. Yet Kel had done it. So had Gabe, for that matter. She doubted he’d spent much time in the women’s locker room in the Incog training center.

  That memory brought a smile to her face.

  One of the girls giggled and Kel jerked herself to the present. She had to remember she had a budding half-breed Elemental in the crowd whose human mother had been a strong telepath. She pointed a finger at the girl. “Mind reading is rude.”

  “But it’s soooo fun.”

  Kel rolled her eyes and herded the girls to the front doors of the school, warning them to mind the rules and to wait for Mae to pick them up.

  “No straying,” Kel reminded them. She pointed a finger at one full-blood Guardian. “No skipping class right now. Understood?”

  They nodded and scampered up the stairs and disappeared through the doors. Kel watched them and then calmly turned and walked away, taking an open route past the park so she could watch her back trail. Sure enough, she was being followed by a nervous little man.

  It would be a piece of cake to lose him and Kel was about to do just that. Then she stopped and dropped down on the bench of a bus stop, hands buried in her jacket pockets as she tried to think it through. She’d been trying to catch that weasel Jimmy for days now. They knew he had to be their perp’s new dealer since crazy Karl died. Also, he was quite possibly their only link. He’d sent his little hirelings to get rid of Gabe. Jimmy had been nothing but a businessman in the past, keeping his violence to a minimum. Why was he out for blood all of a sudden?

  Kel cast a bored look down the street. Her tail was clearly nervous, standing in front of a shop window with a cell phone pressed to his ear.

  Maybe that was the answer. Jimmy was all about business and if their perp was in fact a member of the Ferrar House that would be very good for business. Aggie had said Jimmy was ranting about getting a foot into an elite House. What if his new “client” wanted Gabe eliminated? Killing the House marshal would make it easier to bring in a blood dealer. It made sense, Kel thought as she eyed the sweating man.

  Gabe could definitely present a problem with his suspicions about their perp being a member of the Ferrar House, especially since he refused to let it go, despite the advice of his elders. If the money was right and the way was cleared for him to deal his tainted blood straight into an established Sanguen House, she knew Jimmy could easily murder. The dirty bastard had delivered a little girl right into the hands of a maniac.

  If she couldn’t find Jimmy, she would let him come to her. At least let his henchmen come to her. She had a bone to break with at least one of them, anyway.

  Jerking to her feet she glanced back at the man, frowning. She made sure he knew she was aware of him. She made a big show of trying to lose him. He was obviously not the brightest henchman because she actually lost him at one point and had to “accidentally” get found again. She ducked into an alley and waited.

  Peering around the corner at him again she suddenly jerked up as pain seared through her body. Looking down, she saw a shining silver barbed tip protruding from her shoulder. Quickly she attempted to block the pain. If she could sense Gabe was in pain, he could probably home in on hers as well. She didn’t want his sexy ass and those deadly blades interrupting this meeting.

  Okay, being skewered hadn’t been part of her plan to let Jimmy find her, but at least it was only through the shoulder. She didn’t attempt to waste her energy trying to shimmer. She was going to hazard a guess and say the damn thing was silver. They were getting smarter. She couldn’t shimmer and the damn thing in her shoulder would prevent her from bleeding out.

  “Pretty smart idea, eh?” The voice was oily and she winced as she carefully turned to face him. “We know the sedative didn’t slow you down for long so I thought we’d try a new approach.”

  “About time you showed your ugly scarred face.”

  Jimmy’s lip twitched and his hand jerked up to gingerly touch the scar she’d given him. Kel groaned as two Sanguen appeared on either side of her to grab her arms and lift her up between them. It jarred that damn metal bar protruding from her shoulder and black spots swam before her eyes.

&n
bsp; “What the hell is this thing, anyway?” Kel bit out harshly.

  Jimmy’s smile was sharp. “A harpoon. I had the foresight to have it dipped in silver. Just for you.”

  “Gee, thanks, you shouldn’t have.” Kel snapped out through gritted teeth, fighting for consciousness. A harpoon. Terrific. She was never going to live this one down. She’d been harpooned in broad daylight by a Sanguen.

  “You didn’t think I’d let you ruin this for me, did you?” Jimmy smiled, giving her a wide berth despite the fact that she was injured. She almost returned his smile.

  “Gee, Jim, you act like feeding little girls to a sick bastard is a promotion. Of course, when you’re a dirty little blood peddler, anything is a promotion. Too bad you are so going down this time.”

  He laughed. “Why should I care if the degenerate fuck likes little crossbreed girls? Maybe he just needs to taste a real woman, eh? I think him draining you will suit both of us.” Jimmy nodded to someone behind her.

  The man with the pale yellowed bruises under his eyes appeared a couple feet in front of her with a hypodermic needle in his hand. So they intended to take a sample of her blood back to the sick bastard who’d bled all those girls, and quite possibly, her as a child. Did he think to make the sicko crave her blood?

  “Hold the bitch tight,” the man with the broken nose snarled to the men on either side of her as he moved in closer. “I told you we had something special planned for you,” he reminded her darkly and gave the harpoon a vindictive push.

  Kel bit back a scream of pain. Her knees buckled as she squeezed her eyes shut and concentrated on keeping her pain from Gabe. This bastard was so going to die. She already owed him that much for what he’d done to Gabe. When she opened her eyes, the man jumped back in shock and she knew the inky blackness of the feral had blanketed her eyes.

  “Just get the damn sample,” Jimmy sneered nervously. The alley provided shelter from the sun but it was getting warmer and the protective fog had dissipated. The streets beyond were getting busy.

  One of the large men holding her lifted her arm and he jabbed the needle in her vein. Blood began to burst into the reservoir of the syringe, filling it and another vial quickly.

  Kel watched as he handed the two capped vials of her blood to Jimmy, who gave them a little smug shake. He smiled at her. “How would you like to be the hunted for once, Agent Sheridan?” Then he disappeared.

  The dead man walking left the needle in her arm and stood. The fool thought this damn sliver in her shoulder would incapacitate her. She slowly lifted her head and her smile was vicious. Too late, he realized he was too close. Her claws shot from her fingers and she swiped across his abdomen, scoring deeply into the soft flesh. His scream echoed down the alley as he and two men holding her disappeared.

  With a curse, Kel fell to her knees, reached up to touch the tip of the damn harpoon. The front of the damn thing had a barbed tip and who knew what the back looked like. It was only as big around as a pencil. She could probably break it off and pull it out but she knew if she did she might do more damage and bleed out before she could get help. She couldn’t very well shimmer with the silver harpoon in her shoulder. Kel leaned her good shoulder against the brick building and slowly lowered herself to the ground with a hiss of pain. She didn’t know exactly how this bond mojo worked, but she sure in the hell needed it now. Kel opened herself to him and felt the pain in her shoulder burn through her.

  “All right, Ferrar, do your thing,” Kel muttered tightly.

  Before the words even left her lips, he was standing there, green eyes firing up with that little red and gold thing she was beginning to love.

  “Damn it, Kel.”

  Kel was so happy to hear his surly voice. “Yeah, nice to see you too. I’d love to chat but I could really use your help.”

  Hunching down next to her, his fiery eyes took in the long silver protrusion in her shoulder. His lips thinned as he gently pulled the needle from her arm and brushed his thumb over the site. “Damn it, woman.”

  Kel’s smile was weak. “Do you think you could give me a lift to the clinic?”

  Gabe’s green eyes flashed furiously as he leaned down to lift her gingerly in his arms. “Damn it, Kel.”

  “So you keep saying.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “What the hell happened?” Gabe bit out.

  “I had a plan.” At least she had the good sense to look sheepish when she said that.

  “Really.” Gabe paced away, spearing his hands through his hair. “Did it include you getting harpooned?”

  A vague frown crossed her beautiful features. “No, that was a surprise.”

  Being her mate was going to shorten his life considerably. When she’d left that morning, he thought she needed space. When she was late returning, he had calmly paced the office, refusing to chase after her. Just as her pain burst over him, opening her up to him, he’d been swamped with the feeling that she needed him, that she was in danger. In those brief seconds before he’d shimmered to her, he’d imagined all sorts of horrible things. Finding her crumpled in an alley with a syringe dangling from her vein and a damn harpoon protruding from her soft flesh had not been one of them. She’d been harpooned.

  “They bled you,” Gabe snarled. That was almost as bad as the harpoon. They’d taken her blood. He wanted to kill the bastard just for that alone. Blood was sacred, especially the blood of a mate. That the dealer intended to give it to their killer made him break out in a cold sweat. Until today, their killer had just wanted him dead to stop the investigation. Once he tasted her blood would he crave it? Would he understand the strength it gave him?

  “This might be what could make our guy come out into the open.”

  “To blood you again.” Gabe ran his hand through his mussed hair again. “I forbid you to use yourself as bait.”

  Kel’s eyes flashed angrily, and he thought he might not have phrased that very well, but he was beyond being concerned with her feminine pride. He was completely focused on her life and keeping it intact. He was no closer to finding the identity of their killer than he had been a week ago, and he was severely limited by his House’s damned outdated bureaucracy. He might very well be looking the man in the face each time he returned to the House complex without even being aware of it. The elders might be giving the man every speck of pertinent information on his case. The thought of his leading the killer straight to Kel made him crazy.

  “Forbid?” Kel snapped. “I will do what I believe is necessary to solve this case regardless of what you will or will not allow.”

  Gabe wanted to grab her and shake her. He’d been a sane man before he’d met her in that damn alley. His existence had been well ordered. He was the Ferrar House marshal, son and heir to the doyen. When he was ready, the elders would have chosen a sane mate for him and he would have been perfectly content to begin the next generation of Ferrars and live his life out.

  Kel had thrown that all to hell. Now someone from his own House had tried to kill him twice. His elders were probably at this very moment trying to decide if he should be exiled from the House because he had formed a blood bond with a mate who not only purposely made herself a target but had also got herself harpooned.

  “That is not acceptable.” Gabe paced back over to her to grip the metal railing on either side of the thinly padded cart she was reclining on. He leaned in so close he could feel her sweet breath against his face, hear the rush of blood pumping strongly through her heart, and take in that scent that was all hers. The thought of never experiencing those things again sharpened him to a dangerous edge. He would never survive the loss.

  Those large chocolate eyes blinked up at him, and the angry expression slowly melted away from her elfin face as she lifted a hand to touch his bearded cheek. “Gabe, this can work.”

  Turning his face into her hand he pressed his lips to her palm. “The thought of you in that sick bastard’s hands for even one second makes me crazy.”

  “Let him cap
ture me. You can use the blood bond mojo thing we’ve been rocking to find me and we got him. No more girls will suffer.”

  Gabe’s eyes caressed her face, fixing on that impertinent little diamond in her nose. “There are too many variables out of my control. If anything went wrong…” He closed his eyes and shook his head as a tremor made his big body shudder. “No. It’s out of the question.”

  Dr. Tanner knocked on the door.

  Gabe cast a glance over his shoulder at her before stepping back and running his hand through his hair again.

  Dr. Carlie Tanner was a tall blonde with legs that came to her armpits, but Gabe didn’t give her so much as a second glance. The woman he had was more than he could handle as it was.

  “Let’s have a look-see,” the Elemental said as she lifted up a corner of the pressure bandage to peer at the wound. “Just as I thought,” she said as she peeled it completely away. “Almost completely healed. I envy you Guardian types for your ability to heal so quickly.”

  Gabe met Kel’s dark eyes as she leaned forward to let the doctor peer at the exit wound.

  “Perfect,” Dr. Tanner announced brightly as Kel leaned back again. “Since you are here, Marshal, I would like to get your permission to confer with Dr. Mahoney on your medical file.”

  “Medical file?” Gabe groused, dragging his eyes from Kel to focus on the young, chipper blonde.

  “Yes, I have been doing some research on the blood disease that is common to your people. She believes your response to Agent Sheridan’s blood may give me some answers for helping to find a cure.”

  Gabe’s expression grew darker. “Her blood can be shared only with me.”

  “Not mine,” Kel snapped. “Other crossbreeds.”

  Dr. Tanner nodded with a bright smile. “Dr. Mahoney has some interesting theories of what exactly is occurring that I would like to explore. I would like to share mine with her as well. With your permission, of course.”

  He would have agreed to almost anything to get the blonde doctor out of the room but he asked several questions about who would have access to the information. It concerned him that his new abilities might become common knowledge. It was bad enough Kel had their serial killer craving her blood, but he didn’t want others who wanted to be stronger coming after her as well.