‘Luc needs to know,’ Sam said. ‘As far as I remember, it’s never done that.’
‘Know what?’ Luc’s head emerged at the top of the stairs, Judy by his side. He must have been too preoccupied elsewhere to overhear our conversation.
‘Rasputin tried to mesmerise me, and it would have worked, if not for the ring. It got my attention, burning my finger, as if willing me to look in its eyes. When I did, everything became clear.’
‘Yep, we saw it, didn’t we?’ Kari said. She glanced at Jenny, who nodded.
‘Interesting,’ Luc said. While Judy pulled up a chair next to Alec, Luc strode over to the bar, poured himself a brandy and took something with care from his pocket. He laid it on the counter – another wolf’s-head ring.
Jake did the same with the one he held.
‘Here, add this,’ Alec said, and removed another one from his own finger – one I hadn’t noticed – and tossed it to Luc, who caught it and placed it with the others.
‘So, now what?’ Jake asked. ‘Keep ‘em or destroy ‘em?’
For the length of a slow vampire-heartbeat nobody spoke, their gazes riveted on the three shiny objects with their deadly cargoes – death at the push of a hidden button.
Jenny nudged me and whispered. ‘What’s with the rings? Magic or something?’
‘It’s what’s inside them. White-oak – that spikey thing that popped out. It’s poisonous to vampires. That’s why Rasputin made that pathetic joke, “One scratch and you’re ash!”’
‘Right.’
‘It’s outlawed among our kind. Anyone found in possession is usually executed on the spot,’ Alec said.
Jenny stared at him, wide-eyed. I had the feeling whatever she knew about vampires, or thought she knew, was now overturned.
‘I say we hang onto ‘em.’ Terens picked one up and held it to the light. ‘I know it’s against our laws, but this changes everything. If every damned Rebel has one of these, then our side doesn’t stand a chance. And we’re the good guys.’ He dropped the ring back with the other two.
Cal nodded. ‘Good point.’ He pointed to the ring in Cal’s hand. ‘Those could even things up a bit.’
‘I hate the whole idea.’ Luc scowled, moved away from the bar and sat in the first-mate’s chair next to Sam. ‘Antonius and I made these laws only to break them now?’
‘Way I see it, new game, new rules,’ Terens retorted.
‘Agree.’ Sam said without taking his eyes off the water ahead. ‘The enemy has a superior weapon and we’d be fools not to take advantage of it.’
‘Jake, what do you think?’ Alec asked.
He didn’t answer straight away, but looked around until his gaze rested on Luc. ‘I believe there comes a time when rules need to be amended. I can see no other way to get through this. Banning it no longer works, and not defending ourselves would also be wrong.’
‘Alec, what about you?’ Luc asked.
‘Jake’s right. There’s no other choice. Enforcing the white-oak ban worked in the past, but not any more. Humans don’t believe in us anymore and the last two centuries have seen an increase in our kind now that we’re no longer hunted.’
‘Not all humans,’ Jenny pointed out.
Alec looked at her and smiled. ‘No, not all.’ He turned his attention back to Luc. ‘It’s difficult to police our laws. Even the prefects struggle to maintain the ban in their prefectures. I can’t see any other solution but to allow the use of white-oak.’
Luc downed the rest of his brandy, rose to his feet and strode to the railing, letting his arms rest on it while he stared into the water. No one spoke, while he wrestled with the issue. ‘I’ll need to confer with Antonius and the other Elders,’ he said at last without looking around.
‘Of course,’ Alec answered.
‘There’s a snag,’ Cal said unexpectedly. ‘Time. How long it would take to get the stuff and form it into something useable, like sword tips, bullets, or,’ he pointed to the pile of wolf’s-head rings, ‘these things, could take weeks.’
‘Yup,’ Terens remarked. ‘Let’s skip all that, find where the Rebels are hiding, rip the damned things off them –’
‘And pulverise ‘em before they do it to us,’ Cal finished.
The two punched fists in a sign of solidarity.
‘Use my blood.’ The words left my mouth before I realised what I was saying. Something had prompted me, yet I had no idea who or what.
Luc swivelled around and glanced from me to Judy. ‘No, Laura. That’s not an option.’
‘It makes sense,’ I said. ‘The Rebels are using an outlawed lethal weapon that would take time for us to obtain, while my blood is just as deadly and ready to use.’
‘Luc’s right. We’re not going to use you as a weapon,’ Alec said.
‘Why not?’
‘Yeah, why not?’ Terens asked.
‘Laura’s blood is her protection – not for us to use as we’d like.’ Alec’s face was set in a resolute expression – which I ignored.
‘Even if I let you?’
‘Not even then.’ His expression changed from stubborn determination to such tenderness that had my heart not already belonged to him, I would have dedicated it to him anew. ‘Besides, I’ve just thought of something else which will solve this problem.’ He turned around to face Luc. ‘It might take a few days, but I want to find an antidote to white-oak.’
Jake shook his head. ‘Tried several times.’
‘Then we’ve got to try again. My lab’s the best equipped in this country.’
‘Think you can do it?’ Luc moved from the railing to stand next to Judy. He placed a hand on her shoulder. She covered it with her own.
‘I can only try,’ Alec answered.
‘We can only try,’ Jake emphasised. ‘Remember the old adage about two heads.’
Alec nodded his thanks.
‘How long will you be away?’ I asked, hating the idea of being separated from him, even for a few days.
‘Not sure. As long as it takes – a few days perhaps. Between the two of us,’ he glanced at Jake, ‘working night and day, we should come up with something.’ He took my hands in his and intertwined our fingers until the serpent rings touched. Their eyes lit up in an unearthly glow and bathed the faces of those around us in a ruby aura.
I heard Jenny’s intake of breath. ‘Wow. Don’t think I’ll ever get used to seeing those flarey eyes.’
‘Couldn’t buy that in K-Mart,’ Kari quipped as she leaned forward to look past me to Jenny on my other side.
Alec rolled his eyes and I fought the urge to laugh. Kari had successfully killed the moment.
‘I won’t be far away,’ he said squeezing my fingers. Call and I’ll come. His voice sounded in my head.
I will, I sent back.
His mouth crinkled up into a smile.
‘Ugh! Will you two quit making eyes at each other!’ Kari said.
This time I laughed.
Alec kissed me then rose and joined Jake and the others at the bar. They were all still bare-chested and barefoot. Alec’s damp jeans hugged his body, which probably explained the sigh that came from Jenny.
Luc crouched down to speak to Judy, and while their conversation flowed around me, I was oblivious to it – too intent on the discussion Alec and the men were having. I saw him pocket the three wolf’s-head rings, and Terens’s protest, although I couldn’t catch the words. They spoke too fast and low.
‘Jacuzzi, Laura.’ Kari’s face loomed in my vision and blocked Alec from my view.
‘What? Sorry, I wasn’t listening.’ I angled my head to see around her, but Alec and Jake had gone. Blast!
Kari draped her arm around my shoulders. ‘What I was saying was, I’ve got a great idea. Jacuzzi.’ She beamed. ‘It’s exactly what you need right now.’
I could think of several reasons why that was a great idea, but one in particular stood out. ‘Do I still smell of vomit?’
‘Yep, and that ape’s blood.’ She p
aused then added, ‘Handless and hairy. Hey, I like that. Think I’ll call him that from now on – HH.’ She laughed.
‘The Jacuzzi will help relax you, Laura,’ Judy said. ‘Kari knows her way around and where the towels are kept.’ She rose and stretched. ‘I’m off to bed. Goodnight.’ She kissed me on the cheek and walked down the stairs. Luc strode over to the men, whispered something before following her.
‘Well, there goes any chance of skinny-dipping,’ Kari said, and her pixie face contorted into a comical grimace. ‘Seems you’ve got extra bodyguards tonight.’
The three of us looked in the men’s direction. Terens smiled at Jenny and raised his glass.
She nudged my foot with hers and whispered, ‘Chuck my bikini overboard.’
Chapter 25 - Jenny’s Problem
LAURA
Two days had passed since Alec left to create the antidote in his hospital lab. I woke up to see him comfortably ensconced on my bed, looking down at me and twirling a strand of my hair around his fingers. He brought it to his lips and kissed it.
I sat up and threw my arms around his neck. ‘How long have you been here?’ My voice was still heavy from sleep.
‘Couple of hours.’
‘Why didn’t you wake me? What time is it?”
‘Still dark. You looked so peaceful. Besides, I enjoy watching you sleep.’
I pulled back to look at him. ‘That’s creepy you know.’
‘Only if I make a habit of it. I’ve missed you.’
‘Missed you, too. Got your antidote yet?’
He shook his head. ‘We’re close. I’m waiting on the results of a compound we synthesised last night. Jake’s still at the lab, bunking down in my office.’
I ran my hands down the side of his face. There were dark circles under his eyes, and I remembered he hadn’t fed from me in a few days. ‘You need to eat.’
‘You offering?’ He gave me a lopsided grin.
‘You want to go somewhere else?’
He chuckled, swept my hair to the side and claimed my mouth, before nuzzling my throat. No matter how many times he kissed me, I experienced a thrill in his arms and revelled in the anticipation of our joining. This morning was no exception. I melted into him. ‘You know how to excite a girl.’
‘I intend to satisfy her, too.’ He licked the delicate skin on my throat and bit down. As always, his saliva numbed the pain of his bite. My body relaxed, and a sense of peace spread through me. I wondered how many chose to be donsangs if only to experience this. And how many didn’t want the feeling to stop until too late?
Too soon his deep gulps slowed and it was over. He licked the wound closed, kissed it and lowered me back onto the bed.
We spent the next few hours making love.
I fell asleep afterwards. When I woke, I was alone in my queen-size bed. Yet the side of the bed he’d occupied still felt warm as I stretched my arm out over the sheet and caressed it. A knock on my bedroom door had me scrambling for my clothes. It was still dark outside.
‘Won’t be a moment,’ I called as I picked up the dress I wore yesterday. It stunk of vomit and dried blood.
‘It’s me – Jen. I need to talk to you.’
I breathed a sigh of relief, dropped the dress on the floor, crawled back into bed and pulled the sheet over me. ‘Door’s unlocked.’
Jenny came in, closed the door and leant back against it. ‘I’ve got a problem.’
‘Let me guess. Terens?’
She bit down on her lip and nodded, but her laughter still managed to bubble up.
‘But it’s only been a couple of days.’
Her eyes widened and she gave me a reproachful look as she knelt in the middle of my bed. ‘Who said that sometimes it only takes,’ she made air quotes with her fingers, ‘a few days to recognise a man’s qualities?’
‘Okay, I did, but—’
‘But what, hon? It can happen to you and not me?’ She sat back on her heels, hands on her hips and glared at me.
‘That’s not what I’m saying.’
‘Then what?’
What could I say, that I’d dreamt when I was in hospital that she’d become a vampire? Since when did I believe in dreams? Ever since vampires, magic serpent rings and witches curses had turned the pragmatic part of my brain into a believer. And now, her infatuation with Terens. The blood in my veins froze. I lunged forward, grabbed her wrists and turned them upward, looking for tell-tale bite marks. There were none.
She waved her arms in a shooing motion. ‘Laura! What are you doing?’
I checked her neck. Nothing.
‘Stop, you idiot.’ She backed away to the end of the bed. ‘He hasn’t bitten me, if that’s what you’re looking for.’
‘Yeah.’ I sat back against the bedhead and hugged the sheet to me. How could I tell her I was afraid of losing my best friend to the dark – literally.
‘So what if he had? You let Alec feed from you?’
‘I’m different. I can’t be transformed. The Ingenii mutation prevents it.’ It took more than a few bites to change a human into a vampire, exchange of blood had to take place. But I knew Jenny well enough to know she was capable of going to extremes to please a man.
‘So that’s it. You’re afraid I’ll ask Terens to change me?’ She rolled her eyes and threw her arms in the air. ‘Oh, hon, no. I’m not ready for that. Still, I’d think about it.’
‘Please don’t, Jen.’
‘Easy for you to say. Look at you.’ She pointed. ‘Fifty years old and you pass for a twenty-something, while I’m only thirty-four and I look older than you.’
‘I didn’t ask for this. And it comes with a price, remember?’
A cynical smile creased her face. ‘Yeah and he so looks hot in wet jeans. Some price.’
Here it was, the growing difference between us. It had been simmering for some time and now was finally in the open – my youthful immortality, and her slowly-ageing decay. It’s what I’d feared for the past few months, and it made me both angry as well as scared that I could lose my best friend.
Yet she saw only the superficialities – youth, immortality, vitality. Who wouldn’t be drawn to that? How could I blame her for wanting it? But it had a dark side too, and she’d already had a glimpse of that. It was time she knew more.
‘All right, Jen, but let’s put aside, “being young and immortal.’’ ’ I did my own air quotes. ‘And consider the nastier side of what it is to be Brethren.’
She nodded. ‘Terens told me. Also about the donsangs?’
‘Donsangs. It means blood givers. They’re human donors who like doing that sort of thing.’
She raised an eyebrow. I knew what that look meant. ‘I have no choice in this, but the donsangs do. Anyway, the Brethren hunt and feed from people. Sometimes they kill them, and it isn’t always an accident. You want to do that? Turn into a killer?’
Her face paled. ‘Terens said they fed from blood bags.’
‘True, but not always. They prefer to hunt. It’s part of their instinct, I think. Now there’s a whole bunch who want to do it all the time and leave no survivors. You met one.’
She looked up at the air-conditioning unit and pulled the lower end of the sheet over her legs. ‘It’s got really chilly in here.’
I doubted her sudden coldness stemmed from the air conditioning. She didn’t want to hear this. Reality was clashing with her romantic illusions.
‘They’re not all like Terens and Alec, or even Kari. There are vicious ones, like those who kidnapped, tied me up, and tortured me.’ Her eyes widened. ‘And enjoyed it. They got a thrill from my pain.’ I threw the sheet aside, stood up, naked as I was, and showed her the two red lines on my abdomen – the remains of the welts Maris had inflicted with her whip.
Jenny gasped, a look of horror crossing her face.
I slid back into bed and pulled the sheet over me again.
Her eyes welled up with tears. ‘I could never be, never do....’
‘Something l
ike that?’
She nodded.
‘They wanted to use me to breed another like myself so they could daywalk.’
She said nothing and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. Her shocked expression was enough of a clue for me to know she may be rethinking her haste to become a vampire. I decided to press it further.
‘Mind pulling back the curtains, Jen? I don’t fancy appearing in the nude again.’
It was morning already and the sunlight was struggling to find its way in through the heavy, blockout curtains.
She gave me a lame grin. ‘Hon, you don’t have anything I don’t have– ’
‘–Unless you’re a mutant.’ We both finished together and laughed.
It was Jen’s favourite line. She used it on her students whenever she marched into the locker room to hurry them up after Friday afternoon sport.
She climbed off the bed, swished aside the blue-striped drapes, and the sharp summer sunshine flooded the room. She looked out at the marine view. ‘Wow. Isn’t it glorious? Want me to open it?’
‘Go ahead.’
I drew my knees up, wrapped my arms around them and took a deep breath of salty, sea air. ‘Make the most of it, Jen,’ I said. ‘If you decide to become a vamp, no more glorious days, no more days at all, only night. Wouldn’t you miss it? I don’t think I could give it up.’
The window of my room was large enough that even from my vantage point, I could see the spectacular view. Sam must have moored the yacht while I slept. The scenery outside was different. I should go up on deck and see exactly where we are.
Her hand gripped the windowsill, and she stared out at the azure sky. I saw her swallow. ‘I haven’t made up my mind.’
‘Jen? Don’t do it because of Terens.’
She turned around and looked at me. That’s when I properly noticed the T-shirt nightie she wore – dark grey with some kind of logo on it. ‘Nice T-shirt.’
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