Blood Judgment (Judgment Series)

by Nickie Asher

“And I would, if you were a little older and pulled a stunt like that.”

  “You mean—”

  Ashton held up his hand. “What I mean is this: I’m not going to refuse you. Not yet. But you are on probation with me.”

  “Ashton—”

  “Let me finish,” he snapped.

  Julian clammed up.

  “One mistake. One fuck up. Even partially disobey a direct order and you’re done. I won’t give you another chance.”

  Relief filled him. “Thanks. I won’t screw this up.”

  “I’m not done. I’ll be accessing everything you do. I will not tolerate rash actions or anything remotely cowboy. Got it?”

  “I won’t fuck up again.”

  “See that you don’t. It’s time to grow up, Julian.”

  BANKS TOOK in the city lights below him. Before the night was over, Alex would be processed and the virus injected into him.

  The little bastard would die at the facility within the week. Too bad Calilla wouldn’t witness Alex’s last days before the final stage of rabies ended his miserable existence.

  Bridger had finally controlled the virus until it went through the stages perfectly. The only remaining glitch was that most of the subjects died quicker than expected. Bridger had assured him he knew why this was happening and the next generation of the virus would correct itself.

  Banks went to the bar and poured himself a shot of bourbon. He downed the burning liquid. It was almost time to set things into motion. If the goddamned vampires thought they had it bad now, they were about to find out just how bad things could get.

  Chapter Forty-eight

  VALI GATHERED up his courage and grabbed the crutches.

  He had to see Nissa.

  What if she was just being nice when they talked on the phone? What if she acted differently when he showed up at her door? The little voice of doubt ate at him. A simple reality check told him nice was all it was. He wasn’t exactly mate material.

  He bit his lower lip hard enough to draw blood. Shit. He would have to chance a kick in his pride. His legs were never going to be anything other than paralyzed. Nissa wouldn’t want him. But not making an effort was worse than giving up. If he gave up, he might succumb to the urge that had been consuming him for the last four or five weeks.

  He had nothing to live for. If he died, he would join his parents and maybe be at peace. And if there was nothing else, nothing beyond the eternal sleep of death, it would still be better than what he had.

  Besides, it went deeper than the loss of his legs. Maybe he could learn to deal with being a cripple, but every day the sickness inside him took a little firmer hold. He was tired of feeling sick most of the time and tired of fearing his mind might be teetering on the edge of reality.

  Sometimes, the fear was so bad and lasted so long that he wished one of them would put him down. But that wasn’t the worst of it. Now the fear had a companion.

  Anger.

  And when that little demon visited him, he wanted to hurt someone.

  He pulled on a light jacket, hoisted himself up with the crutches, and made his way outside.

  Balancing on the crutches, he pulled his jacket tighter against the night chill. He had a long way to go, thirty-three blocks.

  BY THE time Vali knocked on Nissa’s door, he was done in.

  The door opened a crack.

  “Can I come in?” Vali thought he might pass out and he must have looked it because she yanked the door open and in a second stood at his side.

  “What are you doing here? Are you all right?” Nissa took his arm and guided him inside.

  Her apartment was smaller than Saranna’s had been and the furniture was old and shabby, but it was spotless and neat.

  She led him to the sofa and he sank into the ancient cushion.

  “Let me get you a drink.” She vanished around the corner and returned seconds later with a can of cola. She sat beside him and warmth spread through him.

  “You didn’t walk all this way, did you?” she asked.

  “Yeah, I did.”

  “Why?” Her hands fluttered as if she were flustered.

  His heart pounded with dread. “I wanted to see you.”

  “You came all this way to see me?” A blush tinted her cheeks.

  Vali nodded and took a drink of soda. His hand shook a little as he sat the can on the end table. “Nissa, would you maybe … go out with me sometime?” Oh God, had he really asked her that?

  Silence.

  Oh. Fuck. Should not have gone there. Definitely not. Why had he said it? He wanted to snatch the words back, but it was too late. Heat crept into his cheeks.

  She caught his trembling hands in hers.

  He tried to prepare for a nut-crusher rejection. “It’s okay. I shouldn’t have asked. I know I’m a gimp and probably always will be.” He pulled his hands free and fumbled for the crutches, positioning them to hoist himself up, wanting to escape.

  “Vali, no. It’s not because you’re disabled. That has nothing to do with it.” She tugged at his arm.

  He lowered himself to the sofa even though he didn’t want to be there.

  “I like you. A lot.”

  “But you just want to be friends.” He finished for her. “I understand.

  “No, you don’t. Listen to me. It’s not about you.” She took a deep breath. “When Saranna and I were in that place, before Julian saved us, I was raped, many times.” She avoided his eyes and her cheeks flamed.

  “Oh, my God. I’m sorry.” He wanted to take her hand and offer her some comfort, but he was afraid to touch her after that newsflash. “Saranna … was she…”

  “That’s for her to tell you.”

  He nodded.

  “I can’t date until I get my head straight. I wouldn’t be able to have sex with anyone right now.” She wouldn’t look at him. “I’d like to see you, if you would still have me, but later, when I’m better. Right now, I’d like for us to keep talking and getting to know each other. I can’t offer you more. I’d like to, but I can’t.”

  He knew he could talk to her. She had trusted him with her nightmares, he would do the same. “I may never be able to make love to a female again.” Now he was the one looking at the floor. “I’m a worthless pod who can’t even tell when…” He’d almost admitted that sometimes he didn’t know when he had to use the toilet.

  “I shouldn’t have come here. I’m sorry.” He needed to leave, he was suffocating.

  She stayed him with a touch. “Vali, please, give this some time. You may get your legs back. And if you don’t, it won’t change my liking for you. I may never be comfortable with having sex anyway.”

  He relaxed a little bit, though he was still ashamed of the admission he’d made. He wanted her, God help him, but he did. They were crippled things, bonding as only creatures with similar trauma could.

  They sat side by side for a while, leaning into each other for whatever comfort they might take from one another.

  “Vali?”

  “Um?

  “I’m sorry I can’t be more right now. I’ve enjoyed the time we’ve talked and I want to keep doing that. Okay?”

  “Yeah. I’d like that a lot.” He meant it. She did care. She had things to work out.

  Like he didn’t.

  They talked until he had to leave. He got to his feet and she stood to see him out. “May I kiss you goodnight?” His breath hung frozen.

  “Yes.” She tilted her head.

  Vali kissed her gently, though he wanted to explore every inch of her mouth. He broke the contact much quicker than he wanted to. “I’ll call you soon.”

  “I’ll be waiting.”

  VALI ENTERED the house just before dawn. The others were watching a movie and the place smelled like pizza and popcorn.

  “Come on in,” Slade called. “There’s some food left.”

  Vali hobbled to the open boxes on the coffee table. He grabbed a slice of pepperoni.

  “Where have you been hi
ding all night?” Ashton asked.

  “Went to Nissa’s.”

  “My friend, Nissa?” Surprise flitted across Saranna’s face.

  He nodded as he attacked the pizza. The wedge was cold and it was the best damn pizza he’d ever eaten.

  “When did you two get chummy,” she asked.

  “A little while ago. We talk on the phone a lot.”

  “Geez, you could have told me.”

  “I just did.”

  She snorted, but a little wrinkle creased her brow.

  Had she been raped? Neither she nor Julian would speak of what had happened. If so, she was dealing with it well. She didn’t have to worry if she suspected Nissa had talked. He sure as hell wasn’t going to.

  She caressed her stomach then rested her hand there.

  Holy shit. Was she pregnant?

  Julian had repeatedly ridden her during her heat. Their constant mating had annoyed him until he’d taken refuge on the lower level.

  Vali was almost sure she must be carrying Julian’s baby. That was good. If she bore Julian’s offspring, he wouldn’t leave. They might be having some problems, but they would work them out, especially if she were pregnant. Raising offspring alone was almost impossible for a female. No matter what had happened between them, Saranna would come to her senses.

  At least, he sure as hell hoped so, for both their sakes.

  Maybe things would work out for all of them. Maybe he could be helped. Just thinking of Nissa made him feel better. Maybe it was possible to beat the demons breathing down his neck. Maybe the drugs for mentally ill humans would work for him too. He just had to work the nerve up to go see Jason.

  THE BLEAT of each incoming phone call made Framer cringe. When the call came, as he’d known it would, he kept it brief and on point. He hung up and wished for a drink, but didn’t dare indulge. Not now. If he missed anything, if the police missed anything, there would be hell to pay. Banks would fire him. Hell, if he pissed the crazy son of a bitch off too much, he might end up dead. The bastard was capable of anything.

  He collected his jacket and locked up his modest house before heading to the crime scene. He was in no hurry to view the mutilated body of the teenage boy.

  The drive was too short.

  Several police cars were parked before a vacant building. The kid was inside.

  He passed two officers guarding the door. They waved him on without speaking. A cluster of blue-uniformed police officers and a couple in plain clothes stood around a lump on the floor. A black puddle had formed around the corpse.

  “Get any prints?” he asked.

  “Yeah, they lifted some off his belt. Two sets. Figure one of them is his killer’s.” The cop nodded at one of the forensics investigators.

  “Don’t suppose you found anything else?”

  “No,” Rob Bend, one of the homicide detectives said.

  Framer listened to the men, but didn’t hear any more. His eyes traveled over the body even though he didn’t want to see the damage.

  The bloated, decomposing body was covered in bruises. Savage bite wounds marked the slender throat. Rivulets of blood had leaked from the puncture wounds. Deep scratches ran across the torso in countless places where his shirt had shredded under the assault. But none of those things were what left him choking on horror.

  His eyes slipped down the body to the kid’s bloody groin. The genitals were gone. And they hadn’t been cut off. The wound was ragged, gaping, where the organs had been ripped from the body.

  The horrid expression stamped on the dead face made it pretty clear the kid had been alive at the time of the amputation. Bile surged up Framer’s throat and he lost his dinner.

  “Yeah,” Bend said. “He was alive when it happened. And I don’t envy you having to tell that bastard, Banks.”

  “Jesus. Jesus … fucking Christ.”

  “Yeah, that about sums it up for me, too.” The cop turned away as if he’d seen more than enough.

  Framer did what he had to and tried to disengage from the scene. But when the body was taken away, he breathed a sigh of relief.

  He walked from the building in a half-daze. He’d seen many vampire kills in the last ten years, but none had been like this. He hoped to God he never had to attend another scene like that.

  He shoved the door closed behind him and froze. Across the street was a bank. Maybe, probably, there was an outside security camera. Maybe there was a stored image of the killer.

  FOUR BLOCKS from home, Julian cut down a side street. A patch of roses planted at the corner perfumed the air despite cooler September temperatures.

  His boots were loud on the aged and pitted asphalt in the quiet of the night and the short hairs at the back of his neck lifted. He approached a parked SUV. The rich scent of vampire blood enveloped him and drowned out the scent of roses.

  Julian stopped. What the hell was he walking into?

  He eased around the van, walking as quietly as his boots would allow. His gut hitched. A female sprawled at the edge of the street. Lying on her stomach, long dark hair obscured her face, but he already knew she was dead. The stench of blood and death was thick around her.

  His gaze skimmed over parked cars and well-tended homes for any sign of movement. Detecting nothing, he went to the body and knelt beside her.

  Several bloody wounds marring her arm looked like animal bites. He rolled her onto her back.

  His stomach lurched with sick horror at a sight so atrocious he could barely comprehend it. A long, deep gash in her cheek left the ragged skin gaping open. Her throat had been mangled and crushed under sharp teeth and powerful jaws. And the horror didn’t stop there.

  Beneath her body was a second victim.

  Her blood-soaked maternity top was torn open and a long slice ran from under her breasts to the top of her pants. A fetus, cut from her womb, had been bitten countless times. One of the infant’s arms dangled by exposed bone. The tiny abdomen was torn open and the intestines protruded. The tiny male had died with his little eyes wide open.

  Julian lurched back, unable to stop the puke surging up his throat. When the retching and the shakes stopped, he searched the body for identification and found none. Somewhere, a male was waiting for his mate to come home.

  Julian gained his feet and turned away from the carnage. What kind of person would not only turn a killer dog loose on a poor little female, but also cut out her baby and give it to the dog? What kind of sick motherfucker did something like that?

  Though his legs were unsteady, he headed home with steely determination. He and Saranna had to talk and it wasn’t going to be pretty. He didn’t care. He wasn’t going to end up in the shoes of a male waiting for a mate who vanished like smoke and never returned. That was a brand of hell he could do without.

  JULIAN ENTERED the house ten minutes later. He tossed his jacket over a chair and caught Saranna’s attention.

  “I need to speak with you in private.” He didn’t wait for her to reply before heading for the stairs.

  She followed him up to the bedroom.

  “Shut the door,” Julian said

  “What’s this about?” She gazed at him with guarded curiosity.

  He gave her a fast, graphic description of what he’d found with a measure of satisfaction at the horrified expression on her face.

  “Jesus.” She cupped her stomach.

  “I don’t like getting tough with you and making demands, but I’ll not have you and our child murdered.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Don’t you dare tell me what to do. You don’t have the right to tell me anything.”

  “The hell I don’t. I have every right to make demands over something like this.”

  “Julian.” Her voice held obvious warning. “I can imagine where this is going. You aren’t going to keep me shut up in this house. I can take care of myself. And I have to go out. I have a job. Among other things.”

  “Other things? Like endangering yourself and my baby to help strangers?”

/>   “You put your life in jeopardy every day.”

  Having walked into that trap before, he chose his words carefully. “It’s my job.”

  “No it isn’t. You aren’t in the Resistance.”

  “I will be,” he said with confidence he didn’t feel.

  She snorted. “I’m going to do whatever I have to in order to save as many of our people as I can.” She crossed her arms over her breasts and glared at him.

  “No you aren’t. One of us will take you to work and pick you up if you insist on keeping your job. Which by the way, is no place for a pregnant female.”

  “Why the hell not?”

  “It isn’t going to be worth your time, for one thing.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “How much are you going to make when your belly gets big and you have to waddle between the tables? Those nasty pigs won’t be half as generous when they have no desire to fuck you.”

  Her face flushed bright red.

  “You are not going to go out and put yourself and our baby in danger for that. I won’t have you on the streets alone.”

  Voice shaking, she said, “Maybe you’re right about the club, but I’ll not stop helping those worse off than myself.”

  “The hell you aren’t. I demand you obey me. And as my mate, you are obligated to respect my wishes and do as I say.”

  “No! I won’t.”

  He reached her in two strides. Grasping her upper arms, he dragged her close. “Yes, you will,” he said, unable to choke down the anger at her defiance.

  She cried out and tried to pull away.

  Her reaction cut through his anger, shaming him for his uncharacteristic behavior and he released her.

  She stumbled back, almost falling.

  In a blink, he caught her, cradling her against him.

  “Saranna? Are you okay? Oh, God, I’m so sorry. Please try to understand.”

  She sagged against him, her hands grasping and failing to latch on. Fear tore through him. “What’s wrong? Is it the baby?”

  “I need to feed. I’m sorry. The baby’s putting a strain on me.”

  “Don’t be sorry. I love taking care of you.” Her weakness scared him. Was that normal? He had no idea. “You’re my mate. I want to provide for you. You should have told me.” He steered her to the bed, urging her onto the mattress. Once she settled, he kicked off his shoes and eased in next to her.