Sweet Discovery (The Jessica Sweet Trilogy Book 2)

by Aliya DalRae

  Chapter Eighty-Eight

  H arrier let the elevator doors close behind him as they watched Jessica storm away. He was feeling quite satisfied. Rachel, not so much.

  “Harrier, the girl was distraught. We should go after her.”

  “Why?” he asked.

  “You know why,” his companion remarked. “She needs to be watched over. Who knows what could happen to her?

  “But the sun is up,” Harrier countered, “And your delicate pink skin won’t fare well in that bright sunshine.”

  “Yours would,” she replied. “Go after her.”

  “No,” he said, his decision made. “The girl is finally coming to her senses and I’m not about to try and change her mind. Besides, I’m not that sun-proof.”

  “Perhaps not,” she said, “but you know her decision to distance herself from the Vampires is unrealistic. She’ll have to return to us eventually, and better she hear it from you now than later, when circumstances may not be so favorable.”

  Harrier sighed. His sister was right, of course, but then she usually was. It was one of her more annoying traits. And yet, watching Jessica turn her back on Raven had put him in too good a mood. He wasn’t about to ruin it by running after the girl and convincing her to come back. Not yet, anyway.

  “She needs some time,” he said. “Let her have it. The truth will find her soon enough.” And with that he punched the elevator button, the doors opening almost instantly. He entered the lift, holding the door open for his sister. “You coming?” he asked.

  Rachel hesitated a moment, her eyes fixed on the solid oak door through which Jessica had departed. With a sigh, she turned to her brother and reluctantly joined him.

  Chapter Eighty-Nine

  T he first thing I did when I got home was de-Vampire my house. There was nothing I could do about the cellar. Raven had cleaned it up as his emergency go-to place for when he spent the days with me, but that was before I got the rest of the house sun-proofed. In more recent days, we used it as a sort of guest room for wayward vamps.

  Maybe later I would gather up anything Raven might have left there. For now I was happy not having to look at it. I locked the door with a promise to myself that I would only go down to fill the water softener with salt or hide from a tornado.

  Next I went upstairs and ripped all of the light-proofing drapes off the windows in my bedroom and the hallway. I dug out the original sheers my mother had hand sewn so many years ago, and returned them to their rightful place. They were light and pretty, and the bright autumn sun shining through gave my heart a lift I hadn’t felt since her passing.

  I found a box and gathered up anything of Raven’s that he’d left scattered throughout the rest of the house. Clothes, toiletries, one of his knives—all went into that box, and I put the whole lot out on the porch under a table where I wouldn’t see it. At some point I would have to get it back to him, but for today, out of sight, out of mind.

  Next order of business, opening all of the drapes in the lower levels, spinning the blinds wide and basking in the glow of the late day sun. I stared out the bow window, fascinated by the way my skin warmed, my eyes watering at the brightness, and I wondered at how much I had missed this.

  I watched the dust motes dancing in a beam of light that spread across the floor, and thought how much Malcolm—the cat—would have enjoyed that little patch of sunshine.

  And I frowned. Malcolm was part of the problem, one more liar amidst a whole boatload of prevaricators.

  But I did miss my cat.

  I thought about trying to tame one of the other strays that haunted my barn as a way to fill that hole in my heart. Of course it would be impossible to know if it was really a cat or just another Shifter spying on me for my bio-‘rents. There was no amount of sunshine to take away the feelings of betrayal that thought ignited.

  I needed a break, a real break, with real-life human friends, so I grabbed my cell and called Piper.

  “Hey girlfriend. What’s up?” The sound of her voice chased away any remaining shadows, and I smiled my first real smile of the day.

  “I’m missing my best friend. Are you busy tonight?”

  “Never too busy for you,” she sang. “What did you have in mind?”

  “I thought maybe we could go out dancing or something? I need to let off some steam.”

  “Oooh, yes!” Piper cheered. “Oregon District? Or did you want to stay local?”

  “Definitely not local,” I said. “Oregon District sounds perfect. You driving, or you want me to?”

  “Puh-lease.” Piper snorted, and I laughed. There was no way she would be caught dead in my little Honda outside of Fallen Cross. “I’ll pick you up at 8:00.”

  “See you then,” I said and hung up, practically running up the stairs to find an outfit to wear.

  Chapter Ninety

  T he knock on the door registered, but Raven made no move to answer it. He was sitting on the sofa, staring into space, incapable of wrapping his mind around what had happened. It had been a complete mind fuck seeing Allon again and learning he had a twin who was trying to destroy him. Jessica breaking up with him was the icing on his shit cake of a day.

  Did all of this really happen, or was he in the middle of some horrific nightmare and just couldn’t wake up?

  He tried to take a deep breath, but the pain in his chest—so real, so tangible—was restricting air flow. His head was spinning and passing out didn’t seem such a bad idea. If he were unconscious, there was a chance he could forget, for a little while anyway, what a cluster fuck his life had become.

  The knocking was becoming more persistent. He knew who it was. Only Tas would have the nerve to engage him right now. Still, he didn’t move.

  When Jessica walked out the door he’d just stood there, so many emotions going through him that he was slow to react. Once he’d recovered his senses, it was too late.

  To add insult to injury, he ran into Harrier at the elevators. The ass hat had laughed at him, told him to forget it, that Jessica was long gone by now. Of course, Raven would never take Harrier’s word for anything, so he had run after her, only to be stopped by the afternoon sun. He took the elevators to the SubT level and out the tunnel to the underground garage, but her car was nowhere to be found.

  Raven planted a fist in the hood of the nearest vehicle. He would not let it end like this. She was too important for him to allow her to simply walk away. Yet, he had no choice but to return to his rooms and wait. Sunset was at 6:34. At 6:35 he would be on his way to making things right with her. They loved each other, and there was nothing they couldn’t overcome.

  But if that goddamned knocking didn’t cease…

  “What?” he bellowed from his seat on the couch, where she had sat mere hours before, all that black leather wrapped around her. He glanced up as the door opened, not surprised to see Tas’s head pop in.

  “What do you want?” Raven said, trying to be civil. Civil for him, anyway. No need to piss off everybody.

  “Just checking in,” Tas said, entering the room and closing the door behind him.

  “You saw Harrier?” Raven dropped his head in his hands and thumbed his temples, trying furiously to gain some clarity.

  “Yeah,” Tas said, and sat down in the leather reading chair next to the sofa. “You hanging in?” he asked, his words soft, accent lilting. Dude was working his magic. Whatever. Raven was too defeated to care.

  “You want to talk?” Tas asked.

  “Not particularly,” Raven huffed, raising his head and sitting back into the sofa cushions.

  “That’s cool,” Tas sat back too, and for a long moment they were both quiet.

  Raven broke the silence. “I mean, I don’t know what happened. One minute we’re on a break because she’s having trouble dealing with the shit that’s going down, and I get that, I do.

  “But today we got answers, and before I could explain to her what’s been going on with…everything…she shows up here and just ends it. Boom
!”

  “What did she say?” Tas asked, still doing his thing.

  “She said I lied about Malcolm, which I know I did. We all did, but it was for so many reasons. On top of everything, Mason would have had our asses if we outed that stupid cat.” Tas nodded, and Raven continued.

  “But she said something about her parents, too. Accused me of knowing about them all along. I’ll take the hit about Malcolm, but I haven’t the first damn clue what she’s talking about with the other.”

  Raven looked up at Tas, hoping the Aussie’s emo magic would help throw some insight on the situation. Unfortunately, the male had gone perfectly still, guilt pouring off of him like Niagara Falls.

  “Tas?” Raven leaned forward, glaring. “What aren’t you telling me, brother?”

  Tas shook his head. “I’m sorry, Raven. Mason felt it best to keep a few things from you. If Jessica found out anything from us, you know the impact it could have between the Vampires and Weres. It’s not that you couldn’t be trusted,” Tas hastened, seeing that amethyst swirl forming in Raven’s irises. “It was better, should Jessica came to you with questions, that you be able to answer her honestly.”

  “What are you saying, Tas? What don’t I know?” Raven was on his feet, towering above the male.

  Tas crossed his legs and blinked up at Raven. “Sit down,” he said, working his serenity juju for all it was worth. “I’ll tell you what I know.”

  Chapter Ninety-One

  W e arrived on 5th Street in Downtown Dayton a little before nine. The streets were fairly empty, being a work night and all, but there was still plenty of traffic to make things interesting. Plus, the big Halloween drunkfest was coming up this weekend, and all of the bars’ store fronts were competing fiercely for best decorations. I was quiet on the ride there, but Piper was her usual chatty self, and for once I appreciated the fact that I didn’t have to hold up my end of the conversation.

  We found a parking place behind the radio station, and hoofed it to our favorite club in the center of the strip. Like their compatriots, Peg Leg Chuck’s had pulled out all the stops. Ghosts and witches hung from the ceiling, and spider webs were draped all over the techno décor. They even had an automated man who hovered over a large barrel, vomiting intermittently.

  Chuck’s front room consisted of a large stage, where live bands played on the weekend. A huge dance floor, with lights and lasers and an old fashioned disco ball hanging above it, completed the club scene.

  However, if you walked past the bar, there was a room in the back where the music wasn’t quite so loud. You could grab a table and hang out with your friends, while enjoying drinks and some of Chuck’s famous bar food. It was sort of like the reverse mullet of dance clubs,you know, party in the front, business in the back.

  We walked in and headed straight for the bar, where Piper ordered a pitcher of Margaritas. She was decked out in her fashionable finest, although the slacks and sweater were somewhat subdued for her. It was a Tuesday, after all. I was in my best jeans and a silver V-neck sweater with a pair of black flats just made for dancing.

  Frosty pitcher and two salt-rimmed glasses in hand, we headed for the back to hang out for a bit, and get a little liquid confusion going before we hit the dance floor. Several tables were pushed together, and a dozen or so patrons were gathered around, a birthday party or a business group out for after-office-hour libations. Piper and I grabbed a table as far from them as we could, and my friend did the honors.

  We sat in silence for a bit, both of us concentrating on our tasty beverages. Naturally, Piper was the one who spoke first.

  “So what’s wrong?” The music wasn’t blasting back here, but was loud enough that I could pretend I didn’t hear her.

  “Sorry?” I said, and took another long draught of citrusy goodness.

  “You heard me, and stop acting like you didn’t.”

  “I was hoping you wouldn’t notice,” I said, refilling my glass. I offered the pitcher to Piper, but her glass was still half full, and she shook her head. She was driving, after all.

  “I knew something was up,” she said, frowning. “It was obvious when my story about Alvin the Animal didn’t get a reaction. What’s going on? Raven trouble again?”

  “Still,” I sighed, “But I don’t want to talk about it.” We hadn’t really had a chance to talk since Good Times. She had no idea that Mac was Malcolm, which of course I couldn’t tell her, nor that my break with Raven had turned into an actual break up.

  “It might make you feel better,” she countered as a waitress approached our table, wearing a cute little vampire costume, complete with cape and fang caps. At least I assumed it was a costume. Christ on a cracker.

  That second margarita was settling in, and I needed to move. To dance. To forget that my life had ever taken that crazy turn into the world where I couldn’t tell the difference between a Halloween costume and the real deal.

  “Nope,” I said, and jumped up, grabbed Piper’s hand and hauled her around the waitress, leaving the girl with her offer of service on the tip of her tongue.

  I dragged Piper past the bar and to the front of the club where a DJ was mixing up some serious techno sounds for the smattering of people littering the dance floor.

  And we danced. It was loud, the kind of loud where you could feel the bass pulsing through your body, right down to the tips of your toes. And it was exactly what I needed. Before I knew it I was laughing with Piper, and we were sweating the sweat only serious dancing can generate. Hip grinding, arm waving, full-goose out-of-control dancing. And it was heaven.

  I don’t know how long we were out there. One song followed another, and my troubles, for now anyway, were melting away. No lying Vampires. No asshole cats. And no disappointing parents. In this moment, all I had to worry about was whether or not my makeup had melted off, and I wasn’t even too concerned about that. It was just me, and Piper and the music, and that was when I looked up.

  Every happy, dance-y, sweat induced endorphin I had worked so hard to muster disappeared at the sight of one large, irritating mother-fucking Vampire.

  Raven.

  Chapter Ninety-Two

  A nd just like that, I was exhausted. I nudged Piper and she looked at me, eyes wide with that, “you’ve got to be kidding me” look she so easily managed. I shrugged, not knowing what else to do. We could try to slip out around him, but what was the point? I don’t know how he found me, but if he was this intent on tracking me down, giving him the slip now was only going to delay the inevitable.

  Piper and I trudged off the dance floor and met him near the bar.

  “What part of ‘I never want to see you again’ did you misunderstand?” I yelled over the music.

  “Sorry to bust up your party,” Raven said, “but it’s important.”

  “Not my problem anymore,” I shouted.

  “Jessica, there’s been a development.” He was so damn calm, as if our earlier conversation had never happened. Dick.

  “I don’t care,” I said, waving my hands in front of him, like that would erase him from my life. “We’re done.” I moved to walk away from him, back toward the other room and my waiting margarita.

  Raven grabbed my arm and pulled me to him.

  “Let me go,” I growled, but I knew he could hear me. His grip on my bicep tightened, and he lowered his mouth to my ear.

  “We know who the new Rapist is,” he said as low as he could and still be heard. “We also know who his next victim is.”

  I pulled away as much as his viselike grasp would allow and glared into his eyes. I knew what he was about to say, and I should have been frightened, but instead it infuriated me. All I wanted was to be rid of this crowd, but no. They simply would not let me be.

  “Who?” I asked, just to be contrary.

  “You know who, Jessica,” he said, his eyes boring into mine. “It’s you.”

  Chapter Ninety-Three

  S onofabitch! Why does this shit always happen to me? Did that assho
le copycat killer not get the memo? I’m out. Not playing this game anymore. Why can’t he just leave me alone? Instead, I’m being pulled right back into the Vampire fold, and you know why?

  For my own fucking good.

  I said good-bye to Piper, telling her that apparently there was more talking to be done on the Raven front. She was a good sport about it, although she did give him the hairy eyeball when she walked by. Not that he cared. He hardly gave her a glance.

  I walked with him to his car, silent in my fury, and he didn’t try and make conversation. It barely registered that we were getting into a dark Camaro rather than Raven’s Corvette or one of the Hummers he usually drove. Who knew how many vehicles the Legion had stacked up in that underground car lot of theirs, so I didn’t even bother to comment. I had almost succeeded in forgetting my troubles, at least for a minute. But here they were again, tugging on my shirt sleeve like a three-year-old in need of a potty.

  “This doesn’t change things between us,” I said, glaring at his profile. “I meant every word of what I said earlier. We’re done.” At this Raven raised his eyebrow and glanced at me sideways, but I wasn’t finished. His arrogant air and half assed grin had me grinding my teeth and fisting my hands.

  “Once this final ‘crisis’ is over,” I continued, giving “crisis” the bunny ears it deserved, “then I never want to see you again. None of you. I’m done with all of the paranormal bullshit.”

  I turned my back to him and stared out the window, watching the buildings fly by as I concentrated on my breath fogging the dark tinted glass.

  When my brain started to itch, I exploded.

  “Stop it,” I screamed. “You know I hate it when you try to get into my head.”