“I blacked out,” I tell them both, turning in a slow circle. “It happens sometimes.”
Both men look like they’ve been through the ringer, though Jack definitely took the brunt of it. Other than the gash on his chest, his right eye is already swollen and black, his lip is split in two places, and what I can see of his muscular arms is covered in abrasions.
I beat the shit out of him—and I don’t even remember it.
“You wouldn’t stop no matter what I said to you,” Elijah confirms. “You nearly killed him.”
“She’d have killed you too,” Jack snarls back, keeping his distance from me.
“I didn’t mean—I don’t know why it happens.”
Elijah doesn’t reply, his gaze never straying from me. “You truly remember nothing?”
“I never do.”
“How often does this happen?”
“None of your fucking business,” I snap, determined to get the focus off of me and back on Jack so I can’t focus too intently on how scared I am that I lost control this way. “Delaney,” I say, turning back to the hunter.
“You expect to just go back to questioning me after that shit?”
“Yeah, I do. And I’d suggest answering me so I don’t lose my shit again. You lied to me, Jack. Lied to me about knowing my sister. And you can sit there and act like it wasn’t that big of a deal—but you’re fucking wrong. She died in an alleyway, alone, and I never found the creature responsible. Now, here you show up and just so happen to be working at a club in my territory. Was it coincidence? Did you go there on purpose?”
“That’s where I recognize you from,” Jack points to Elijah. “You were there.”
“Answer her question.”
“It was coincidence. I had no intention of ever meeting you.”
“Why?”
“Because I loved your sister,” he says flatly, and I seek his expression for his tell but find none. Just genuine emotion. “I loved Delaney, and I never wanted to meet you because I was too afraid you would remind me of what a failure I’d been.”
“Then why stick around? And how the hell did you know who I was?”
“I was in Astor territory; I guessed it was you. As for why I stuck around, I felt like I owed Delaney, and after you were jumped by those other vamps, the idea that you would die too—I couldn’t do that to her.”
“How sweet,” Elijah growls.
“Why was she alone? If you loved her, why weren’t you with her when she died?”
“I was,” he says, his words so faint I nearly miss them.
Narrowing my gaze, I take a step toward him and Elijah moves with me, no doubt to yank me back should I lunge for Jack again. “Excuse me?”
Jack runs both hands over his face. “We got separated. A pack of wolves cornered us. I took three, she took the others. Only, it turned out to be more than one pack. They lured us away from each other. By the time I found her—” He trails off, his voice cracking. “She was dead.”
More than one pack working together?
“You left her alone?” Elijah demands, moving around to stand beside rather than behind me.
“Who the fuck are you?”
“Someone you don’t want to piss off.” After he finishes speaking, Elijah drops whatever ability makes his heart slow, and Jack’s eyes widen as he steps back.
“You brought a fucking vampire into my apartment?” he roars.
“Way to go,” I say dryly, shooting a glare back at Elijah.
He shrugs. “He needed to know that it’s not just a psychopathic hunter he’s dealing with,” he says with a pointed glare at me.
More like you wanted to whip it out and show him your power is bigger. “Elijah and my sister were friends.”
“Like fucking hell they were! Delaney would have never been friends with a bloodsucker.” He glares up at Elijah.
“Obviously, you didn’t know her as well as you thought you did.”
Jack shakes his head angrily before turning toward me. “You trust him? Rainey? Seriously! He’s a fucking vampire!”
“My sister told me I could trust him.”
Jack pales, and he stares at me in disbelief. “And when did she tell you that?”
“In an email I got this morning. She said she had important things to tell me. Dangerous things.” I move closer to him, ready to make a move if he thinks he’s going to pick a fight with Elijah. Not because I’m worried he’ll hurt him but because Elijah looks ready to separate Jack’s head from his shoulders.
Here I am, choosing a vampire over my own kind. Yeah, I know. There’s that death wish again.
“How did she—I saw her. I found her body after—” Jack’s voice cracks, emotion shining through in his eyes.
“Worried that she’s going to tell Rainey what you did?” Elijah asks.
“I didn’t fucking kill her!” Jack roars, stepping into Elijah’s face again. The vampire’s hands curl into white-knuckled fists at his sides. Shit. Elijah’s going to kill him.
“Back the hell up, you two. This isn’t a fucking competition for who loved my sister more.”
“You were in love with her?” Jack steps back as if he’s been shoved.
“No. We were friends.” Elijah glares over at me, the power in his body shimmering beneath his ice-blue gaze. I can sense it even more now after whatever the hell caused me to black out. Emotions on high, whatever power is inside him permeates the air around us. What are you? There’s a hell of a lot more than vampire within Elijah, but as curious as I am about who—and more accurately what—he is, right now, I want to make sure Jack is telling the truth. My gut says he is, that he did love my sister and had nothing to do with her death.
Hell, his emotions are all over his damn face, but as I’ve mentioned, I don’t trust easy. And once someone has lied to me, that’s pretty much it.
“How do I know you’re telling me the truth?” I ask, redirecting the conversation. “Not like you haven’t lied to me before.”
“Omitted. You wouldn’t have trusted me if I’d told you I failed to protect your sister.”
“You’re damn right. I probably would have killed you for letting her die.”
“If there was anything I could have done—”
“Yeah.” I put up my hand, cutting him off. “I’ve heard that excuse before.” I shoot a glare at Elijah. “You’re going to want to leave town, Jack. I don’t do liars, and I don’t need a partner. Especially not one who’s just going to get me killed.”
The moment the words leave my lips, Jack’s face falls, and I feel like the biggest bitch in the entire world.
But I can’t help it. He was there. He should have stayed with her. And at the very least, he should have come clean and told me the truth.
“Rainey, if I—”
“I swear, Jack.” Tears burn my eyes, my throat constricting as I stare into the eyes of a man Delaney trusted. A man she might have loved. I wish I could say I was only angry about the lie, but the truth is I’m more pissed off at myself. Both men in this room knew Delaney better than I did.
She trusted them with secrets she never told me.
Delaney trusted Elijah with information about a man she cared for—Jack.
She trusted Jack to have her back. Where the hell was I? Living my life as though the hunter blood in my veins was nothing.
“You’ve seen what I’m capable of,” I tell him, gesturing to the damage surrounding us, the still healing injuries on his body. “Cross my path again, and Elijah won’t be there to stop me.”
Something slams into me a moment before glass shatters.
“Shit!” Jack curses, diving to the side as more glass falls onto me.
“What the hell?” I demand as Elijah’s heavy weight rests on top of me for a second time that night, pinning me to the ground.
“Stay down,” he orders and pushes up to a crouch. As soon as he’s off me, I sit up just enough to survey the crossbow bolt stuck in Jack’s sheetrock. A bolt that would have
gone straight through me had Elijah not acted.
“What the hell was that?” Jack asks, blade out as he crouches behind the kitchen counter.
“Someone’s trying to kill Rainey and me,” Elijah replies.
“What? Why?”
“Not really sure, though I can’t imagine my killing a council member was much help,” I tell Jack.
“You killed a Vampire Council member?”
“Seems that way.” I close my eyes and focus, trying to sense anything that might allude to whether or not the attack is over.
Somewhere outside, a door slams.
Tires screech.
“We’re safe for now,” Elijah and I both say at the same time.
“Isn’t that cute,” Jack says dryly. “Already finishing the vampire’s sentences.”
I glare over at him.
“We need to go.” Elijah reaches down and pulls me to my feet. I yank my arm from his grasp.
“I’m perfectly capable of keeping myself alive, thank you.”
“That bolt would have gone straight through your throat.” Elijah’s nostrils flare. “So maybe just thank me and drop the bitter sarcasm.” He turns to Jack. “There a back way out of here?”
“I was just going to suggest that.” Jack crosses the room carefully and grabs the duffel on the counter. “Follow me.”
I withdraw my firearm, which I remembered to load with silver bullets before Elijah showed up, then wait as Jack sticks his ear out into the hall. He glances back and nods, so we follow him out and down the hall, going the opposite way as when we arrived.
The steady thump of music reaches us as we pass by the apartment on the end, and Jack pulls open the steel door, leading us down some steps.
As soon as we’re inside, Elijah grabs Jack’s shirt and slams him into the wall.
Jack glares at him, nostrils flaring, murder in his eyes. “You’re going to want to let me go, Vamp. I don’t have the same fondness for bloodsuckers that Rainey, apparently, does.”
Elijah doesn’t even flinch at the threat. “I shouldn’t have to tell you that if you’re leading us into a trap, I will rip your head from your shoulders. Anything happens to Rainey, and what she did to you in there is going to feel like a playdate. You fuck with her, and you’re a dead little hunter, do you understand?”
“I’m not trying to hurt her,” Jack insists and lifts both arms, slamming them down onto Elijah’s forearms.
The vamp lets him go and steps back. With one last glare at me, Jack descends the stairs, withdrawing his blade once again as he moves. Weapon at the ready, I bring up the rear of our flawed little party, consistently checking behind us to ensure we aren’t being followed.
The Hunt in my veins sends my adrenaline spiking, and based on the way Jack’s hand shakes on the hilt of his blade, I’d say it’s hitting him too. Elijah, on the other hand, is so damned tense I feel like a gust of wind would shatter him.
By the time we reach the bottom of the stairwell, I’m more than ready for a fight. Something to expel this fucking energy because apparently kicking the shit out of Jack wasn’t enough of a release.
Jack shoves the door at the bottom open, and we step out into the backside of the parking garage. I scan as we walk while using my senses to listen to our surroundings so we’re not surprised anymore.
Too often lately, my emotions have been clouding my instincts.
Elijah takes the lead, and we follow through the maze of cars until finally, we see his silver sedan. We’re about ten yards away when he pulls out his key fob and hits the unlock button.
I hear the tick too late to warn anyone.
Then, boom.
23
Elijah
Flames lick my ankles, the heat of it pulling me out of a daze. My ears ring, pain ricocheting around my skull like a fucking snare drum. Fuck, how long was I out? The garage is destroyed, the blast wiping out a good ten-foot perimeter around my car. Or rather, the smoking metal that used to be my car.
“Rainey!” I yell, scanning the debris for her. I was the closest to the explosion, which should mean I took the brunt of it. If I’m alive, that bodes well for her, doesn’t it?
I push to my feet, stumbling as I wipe metal shards from my body. At least, the ones that could be wiped away. When I pull my hands back, they’re covered in dark liquid. Son of a bitch. My entire body feels as though it should be scattered in pieces around the damn garage.
I turn, searching for Rainey, but finding nothing. Neither her nor Jack are anywhere around me. “Rainey!”
I stumble, holding myself up with a hand on the cars as I pass. Panic sears through me—bone-chilling terror I can’t ever remember feeling before.
Where the hell is she? Did someone come in and take her? About three yards from where I landed, I kneel and run my finger over the small pool of blood at the base of the brick wall. Holding it to my nose, I inhale. Rainey.
She was injured. Turning my head up, I roar, the carnal side of me promising vengeance for whoever has her.
I’m going to tear them the fuck apart limb from limb.
Sirens fill my ears as red and blue lights flash just on the outside of the garage. Knowing I need to get the hell away from here as quickly as possible, I head back the way we came, stumbling back up the steps, my muscles screaming as I go.
But with each step, my body is healing, so by the time I reach Jack’s apartment, I’m nearly fully regenerated. Wood splinters as I kick in the door, not bothering to fucking wait for an invitation.
“Rainey?” I call out, searching through the small apartment until I’m satisfied the shit is empty. Where the hell would she be? “Rainey!” Throat tight, I stumble back out into the hall, not at all surprised at the number of people in the hall. An older woman with curlers in her hair is talking on her phone.
I pass by the onlookers with a one-track mind: finding Rainey.
If she’s hurt, she—I shake my head. She probably walked away. Maybe she thought I was dead? Or maybe she just didn’t give a shit if I was alive.
By the time I reach the street, I’m back to where I need to be so don’t bother walking. I run, as fast as I fucking can. The miles I run pass in a blur—and I don’t waste time putting up a cloak.
Since it’s dark, the chances of anyone focusing on a passing blur are unlikely enough that I don’t want to risk draining myself.
Fucking hunter. If he hurt her…
I stop in front of Rainey’s apartment building and glance up. The lights are on, and I know she turned them off before she left.
I jump, landing on the balcony of her apartment with nothing but a soft thud. Immediately, I move to the side as a shadow passes by the curtains.
As soon as it’s clear of the door, I grip the handle and rip it open. Glass shatters as the frame bends, collapsing. In one smooth move, I grab the person and slam them into the wall, hand on their throat.
It takes me a moment too long to see that it’s not Jack I’m holding. Wide, panicked, mismatched eyes stare up at me as the woman grips my arm. I immediately drop her.
“What the fuck!” Jane holds her throat, her other hand gripping her pepper spray as she holds it in front of her. “I know karate, you creep! I swear I’ll spray you!”
“It’s Elijah,” I urge.
“I know who the hell you are! I don’t care! Where’s Rainey?”
“I don’t know. There was an accident. I came here because I thought someone took her.”
Jane pales. “You—accident—someone—is she okay?”
“I don’t know. Is there anywhere she could have gone?”
“What? I—” Jane narrows her gaze on me. “I don’t know you well enough to tell you anything.” She pulls her phone out and taps the screen before pressing it to her ear.
I don’t bother to ask who she’s calling. I’d be willing to bet the person on the other line will be—
“Ramirez,” the man speaks into the receiver. I can hear him as though I’m the one with the p
hone.
“It’s Jane.”
“Is everything okay?”
She glares at me. “I can’t find Rainey, and Elijah is here—he says there was an accident or something, and he thinks someone might have taken her.”
“Where are you?” Ramirez asks, all sleep gone from his voice.
“Rainey’s apartment.”
“I’ll be there in twenty.”
“Okay. We’ll be here.” Jane ends the call but doesn’t put her phone down. Instead, she taps twice and turns it around so I can see the screen. “All I have to do is hit two more buttons, and the police will be here ASAP.” The can of pepper spray is still turned toward me.
I let her have her false sense of security and don’t bother to show her how quickly I could disarm her.
“I need to find her,” I tell Jane. “She could be hurt.” Or worse. But I don’t let myself focus on the likelihood of the latter.
“For all I know, you could have attacked her, and she kicked your ass before escaping.”
I stare down at my ruined shirt and my ash-covered jeans. “Do you think she blew me up? Because that’s what happened. Someone rigged my car to explode, and when I woke up, she was gone.”
“Save it for Ramirez,” Jane orders. “You can tell him, and he’ll decide if you’re worth trusting.” Her voice is steady, which is incredibly impressive, given the situation. If I wasn’t so damned terrified, I might comment on it.
“Call her,” I ask.
“I already tried.”
“Please try again. Please,” I beg. Something pretty damned unusual for me. While I would normally use force to get what I want, I won’t do that to Rainey’s friend. Because if I did, Rainey would never trust me.
And I need her alive and on my side. My future depends on it.
Jane stares me down another moment before tapping on her phone and putting it on speaker. It rings twice, and then a man answers.
Jack. I growl, low and deep, my hands tightening into fists.
“Hello?”
Jane stares up at me, her eyes wide. “Where’s Rainey?” she asks, her tone leaving no room for argument.
“She’s asleep,” he says smoothly. “I can tell her who called?”
Blood Hunt Page 15