Blood Deep (Blackthorn Book 4)

by Lindsay J. Pryor

  Jessie opened the door to the lounge. She closed it behind her, remaining just in front of it.

  Pummel was sat in his usual place on the sofa, a joint in his bruised hand. Some of the cuts were still visible on his face from the beating he had taken at the hands of Eden. Only this time there was no crew around him. This time he sat alone amidst his damaged kingdom.

  ‘Are you going to stand there all night?’ he asked, not even extending the courtesy of looking across at her as he focused on his intermittent smoke rings.

  Jessie strolled over and took the seat opposite him, drew one knee to her chest, her forearms lax across it.

  As Pummel’s gaze finally met hers, she saw apprehension in them for the first time ever. But she knew he wouldn’t call for backup – not yet. He had no intention of suffering any further humiliation – not with so many awaiting his renewed leadership, his further direction.

  ‘I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist coming back.’ He exhaled another smoke ring before stretching his arms across the back of the sofa. ‘I missed you, darling. The place just isn’t the same without you.’

  ‘I couldn’t leave without saying goodbye,’ she said flippantly. ‘We’ve been through so much together. It only seemed right.’

  As she locked her unflinching glare on his, she could feel him struggling, no doubt her lack of contact lenses now unnerving him – the exposure of who she truly was. She realised then that his insistence on her wearing them was probably as much to do with his unease with it as wanting to keep her true identity secret.

  Because he knew she was an angel. He’d found enough of Toby’s notes to know that much. The visions, she’d kept secret. Her tears, the same.

  Still, he managed to sustain eye contact though – his indignation at her daring to come back and confront him clearly winning over.

  ‘Where’s lover boy, Jessie? Has he abandoned you already?’

  ‘This is between me and you, Pummel. I fight my own battles. And Eden’s not so far up his own arse as to insist to the contrary.’

  ‘Too cowardly to come back, more like.’

  She exhaled tersely. ‘You would see it that way, wouldn’t you?’ She glanced around the room, across at the empty pool table. ‘That’s one thing I’ve learned from the decades I’ve spent here: there are some mentalities you just can’t reason with.’ She looked back at him. ‘So why even try?’

  ‘So is that why you’re back here? To fight it out?’

  She smiled. ‘It wouldn’t be much of a fight, Pummel. We both know how easy it will be for me to kill you. In fact,’ she said with a small shrug, ‘I’m insulted you think I’m that predictable.’

  ‘Then why the fuck are you here, Jessie?’ he demanded, his mask of feigned civility slipping.

  ‘I’m a messenger, Pummel. I’m doing my job. I’m letting you know personally that you’re finished here. You’re even more finished when people around here find out that you had someone from the TSCD under your nose this entire time. That he was having me the entire time.’ She flashed a faint and fleeting smile at him, knowing it would only provoke him further.

  His eyes flared before they darkened.

  ‘Oh, you didn’t know?’ She feigned surprise. ‘So you haven’t worked out Sirius set you up, either? That he planted those kids here to use against you if he didn’t get what he wanted – me. You were a pawn, Pummel. And you fell for it.’

  Pummel’s eyes narrowed, his reddening face screwing up. ‘And if those things, whatever they were, hadn’t have interrupted, your boyfriend’s guts would be your chains right now.’

  ‘Oh, please,’ she said off another terse exhale. ‘He would have whipped you, old man, if I hadn’t stopped him. Because that’s what you are now, isn’t it? Now that you’ll no longer be getting your weekly supply from me. You can’t fight it forever, Pummel. This row is done. Finished. And there’s no way you’re going down with the accolade you dreamt of. I’ll see to that.’

  He leaned forward, stubbed his joint out in the ashtray. ‘Tough though you may be, you’re not infallible, Jessie.’ He rested his arms on his spread thighs. ‘I’m going to start the ball rolling, but have you any idea how many others I still have beyond that door who will gladly have a piece of you once I’m done?’

  ‘That’s all power is to you, isn’t it? Numbers? But as every good leader knows, there’s nothing more powerful than loyalty, trust, fighting for a common cause – that’s what wins out in the end.’

  ‘What the fuck are you talking about?’

  ‘I’m talking about why your plan to take over the third species in this district would never have worked. I’m talking about your arrogance to even believe it possible. I’m talking about how a pathetic, gutless excuse for a man like you could ever even conceive of going up against the likes of the third-species leaders in this district and winning. You have no concept of devotion, of allegiance, of what real authority is. You’re the poor man’s Sirius Throme, Pummel. You’ve been nothing but the Global Council’s bitch.’

  He lunged forward but Jessie was quicker, standing and swivelling side-on to kick him hard in the chest, sending him plummeting backwards over the sofa.

  The satisfaction was immense, the shock on his face even more so.

  She kicked the table aside, grabbed the base of the sofa and flipped it away to expose where he was struggling to his feet, clutching his chest.

  She stood over him, her hands on her hips. ‘Someone special once told me to never fight angry, more so to make sure my heart was in it. The problem is, I feel nothing when I look at you, Pummel. That’s why I’m not going to kill you. Not only can I not be arsed, it’ll mean you’ve won. You would have turned me into what you want me to be. It’s not going to happen. That’s my choice, not yours.’

  He got to his feet, staggered back slightly but then he lunged at her again.

  She effortlessly sidestepped him, letting him plough into the sofa she’d been sat on instead.

  Jessie folded her arms as Pummel turned to face her again, his face flushed, his eyes fiery with rage.

  ‘Your arse is mine, bitch,’ he snapped on a silent whisper.

  ‘Actually,’ she whispered back, indicating towards the door, ‘your arse is theirs.’ She took a step back. ‘I’m done!’ she said loudly.

  Pummel’s gaze shot to the opening door. His frowned deepened as Eden entered the room. But instead of approaching, he leaned back against the wall, his arms casually folded, his foot flat against the wall. He flipped a mint over and over in his mouth, but it was when he winked at Pummel that Pummel’s eyes flared again. He struggled to his feet.

  But he stopped abruptly.

  His eyes widened as Jask Tao filled the doorway, his vibrant blue eyes locking darkly on Pummel’s. He stepped into the room, making way for Corbin Saylen to take his place by his side.

  Corbin’s grey eyes were even darker than those of his leader as he stared the con down. The con who had held not just the lycan young captive, but his daughter.

  Pummel’s eyes glazed over like a lone beach-walker in the face of an unstoppable tidal wave. Whether out of anxiety, out of fear, out of sheer defiance, or just accepting of his fate, he smiled.

  ‘Oh,’ Jessie said, before sucking air through her teeth, ‘I wouldn’t smile if I were you.’ She strolled away, slipping between Jask and Corbin, before she stepped into Eden’s arms.

  She kissed him tenderly on the lips in full view of Pummel, the con’s eyes scrunching up in rage as he watched on. Resting her back against Eden’s chest, him reciprocating by resting his head against hers, his arm wrapped around her waist, she looked Pummel squarely in the eyes.

  ‘Call this fighting your own battles?’ Pummel spat out at her.

  ‘I won mine,’ she said with a shrug. ‘I told you: I don’t really give a shit what happens to you.’

  Pummel’s glare darted from hers to Eden, to Corbin, to Jask. ‘You’re going down,’ he hissed. ‘This is just the beginning. You’re a
ll going down.’

  Jask cocked his head to one side as he focused on the mallet tattoo on Pummel’s neck. As he took a step towards him, Pummel took a step back, his uneasy gaze anxiously flitting between the two lycans.

  ‘Fuck you,’ Pummel hissed. ‘And all your dirty, stinking little mutts. I hope whichever cons have found them are having a really good time.’

  ‘Wow,’ Jask said, his voice dangerously calm. ‘You don’t want this to be quick, do you?’

  ‘Like I said – fuck you, Jask. Two on one. Real fucking brave.’

  ‘Oh no,’ Jask said, closing the gap between them, Pummel’s eyes wide and wary. ‘I’m not taking this one. But just so you know – they all made it home safe.’ He moved with lightning speed, slamming his fist clean into Pummel’s jaw. It shattered with the force, sending him hurtling back five feet, blood spraying from his mouth. ‘That’s all I’ve got to say to you. I’m going to be too busy burning this place down. Corbin’s going to take your punishment from here.’

  Jask tapped Corbin on the back before he stepped away.

  Jessie took her cue to leave, wrapping her fingers in Eden’s as she encouraged him to do the same – finally cutting herself free of Pummel as she refused to watch the drawn-out execution she knew Corbin had planned.

  The screams echoing from within the lounge were instant, gut-wrenching.

  Eden squeezed her hand tighter to reassure her, catching her gaze to confirm she’d done the right thing.

  Lycans finished sweeping through the row all around them, taking out whatever remaining cons they found along the way as they concluded their search for the one missing child – the only one who hadn’t made it back.

  Six had made it back by themselves, around the same time as Jessie and Eden had pulled up outside the compound. Jessie had kept her explanations swift, concise. Jask had been vigilant in his listening, nearly three days of searching for his compound’s young showing on his face and in his eyes. The cons had been next on his list. She knew his approach would have been brutal.

  He’d been suspicious of the markings on Eden’s arm, let alone to discover he was undercover for the TSCD, but the unexpected hug from one of the smaller young on seeing him had lowered Jask’s guard just enough, the young’s rapid explanations of having been saved by the human and the angel decreasing his wariness a fraction more.

  Two more young had been found en route, not too far from home.

  But Tuly was still missing, having been separated from the others when a group of early morning revellers had spotted them. Not that Jask had any intention of giving Pummel the satisfaction of knowing that.

  One of the lycans searching the place reached the bottom of the staircase and shook his head. ‘Still no sign,’ he said.

  Jask looked back at the closed lounge door then back at the lycan. ‘When Corbin’s done, I want no evidence we were ever here.’

  ‘I’ll help you with your search,’ Eden said, capturing his attention.

  ‘So will I,’ Jessie added. ‘Between us, we’ll find her.’

  Jaw clenched, eyes still warily assessing Eden, Jask nodded. ‘Your family have a place with mine. Your niece will get the rest she needs back at the compound. You all will. Sounds like we’re going to need it.’ He turned his full attention on Jessie. ‘Can I see those drawings?’

  Jessie nodded. ‘I’ll take you there. Will you warn the others as soon as possible?’

  ‘It’s all in hand,’ Jask declared. ‘We already knew about Sirius.’

  ‘Who’s we?’ Eden asked.

  ‘Myself, Kane Malloy and Caleb Dehain. We know the war is coming.’

  ‘Are you prepared?’ Eden asked.

  ‘More than they’re counting on,’ Jask declared. He looked back at Jessie. ‘Though it looks like we could be even more so now. I’ll give Kane the heads-up that we’re going to need Caitlin. Whoever this vampire leader is, as long as he’s still trapped in this stasis, we might be able to reason with him – that’s the priority now.’

  40

  ‘I never thought I’d see myself inside this place,’ Billy declared.

  Eden held Honey close to his chest, her giraffe tight to her mouth as her large blue eyes took in the surroundings. The quadrant lay before them, a large square of grass surrounded by buildings on all sides as they entered what was once an affluent hotel before the regulations, before the area had become unrecognisable from what it once was.

  Passing through the brick tunnel, Amanda clung on to Billy’s arm as they remained close to Eden. They both looked at the point of exhaustion, no doubt having got little sleep in the hideout where Eden had tucked them until his return. Jessie had wanted to go with him to collect them as soon as she’d packed a few things but, for the sake of time, and knowing she’d need to talk everything through with Jask in more detail, Eden had persuaded her to stick with the pack, meeting her at the compound instead.

  Now he could see her in the distance, sat on the grass chatting to a couple of the lycan young, her characteristic ringlets blowing in the mid-day breeze.

  She looked across her shoulder as if sensing their arrival, and instantly got to her feet.

  ‘That’s her, isn’t it?’ Billy said quietly.

  Eden nodded, a smile instantly curling his lips as his attention remained locked on Jessie.

  ‘Can’t you tell?’ he heard Amanda say. ‘Look at him. Have you ever seen that reaction before?’

  Eden snapped his attention to his sister-in-law only to be met with her knowing smirk.

  ‘She’s that special, huh?’ Billy said, meeting and holding his brother’s gaze.

  ‘More than you can imagine,’ Eden said, handing Honey to him. ‘I won’t be a minute.’

  Jessie was already making her way towards him, her long dress – one she’d obviously been given by one of her newfound friends – blowing in the breeze, masking her long slender legs, her feet bare on the grass.

  Her smile broadened the closer she got until she seemed unable to contain herself anymore.

  She lunged at him full force, nearly knocking him over with the motion. As she wrapped her legs around his waist, her arms around her neck, he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her as tight against him as he could. Her breath on his neck was fresh air, the feel of her body against his more comforting than he ever could have imagined, her slow heartbeat more life-confirming than he was prepared for.

  She pulled back but only to look him in the eyes. ‘Everything okay?’

  He nodded. ‘As okay as it can be.’

  She looked over his shoulder. ‘That’s your family?’

  He nodded. ‘Are you ready to meet them?’

  She placed her feet back on the floor and clutched his hand. ‘What about my eyes?’ she looked back at him. ‘I lost the contacts.’

  ‘They’ll take you exactly as you are. And they’ll love you as much as I do for it.’

  ‘What about Honey? I don’t want to scare her.’

  ‘I told her she’s meeting a real-life angel. She’s not scared in the slightest. Come on,’ he said, tugging her forward a little.

  She bit nervously into her bottom lip, her hand clenching his. ‘What if they hate me?’

  ‘Will you listen to yourself?’ He let go of her hand to drape his arm across her shoulders, tugging her close. ‘They’re human, not heartless. It’s time you met the decent side of my kind.’

  She shook out her hands in a clear attempt to suppress her anxiety before clenching them at her sides again.

  ‘And you saved their little girl,’ he said softly in her ear. ‘I don’t think they’re ever going to be able to thank you enough.’

  They stopped a couple of feet away, Billy and Amanda speechless, both of them simultaneously assessing Jessie from head to foot.

  ‘Eden, you seriously got lucky,’ Billy declared with a smile. He held out his free hand to Jessie, Honey clinging onto his neck even tighter. ‘Billy,’ he announced, still taking her in. ‘I hope you know what you�
��re getting yourself into.’

  But Amanda was less reserved. Her arms were around Jessie instantly, tugging her closer, Jessie’s hands springing mid-air as if not knowing what to do with the unexpected display of affection.

  ‘Thank you,’ Amanda said into her ear, her eyes glossy with tears.

  And with the shock of the alien social situation subsiding, Jessie hugged her back. ‘She’s beautiful,’ she said, her eyes glinting a stunning shade of deep pink as she looked across at Honey.

  Honey reciprocated Jessie’s smile, albeit still partially curled into her father, her big blue eyes still a little wary of the stranger.

  ‘Come here, you,’ Eden said, taking Honey into his arms, almost forgetting he no longer needed to sign to her. ‘This is Jessie,’ he said, Amanda backing away to give them room to be properly introduced.

  ‘Pleased to meet you, Honey,’ Jessie said.

  Honey looked back at Eden. ‘Is she your girlfriend?’

  Eden looked back at Jessie, at the slight flush to her cheeks, the awkward smile.

  ‘Do you think she’s good enough for me?’ he asked, turning his attention back on his niece, the question evoking a gasp of disapproval from Amanda. ‘What?’ Eden said, grinning at his sister-in-law who looked ready to punch him. ‘Me and Honey had a deal. Any girlfriend has to pass Honey’s approval,’ he declared, sending Jessie a wink. ‘So,’ he asked, looking back at Honey. ‘What do you reckon?’

  Honey nodded. ‘I like her,’ she said, holding her uncle’s gaze.

  ‘Good,’ Eden said. ‘Because I would have ignored you otherwise.’

  Honey chuckled, hitting him playfully in the chest.

  ‘Do you want to play?’

  The small, feminine voice came from nowhere, all of them looking down at the lycan girl who stood at Eden’s feet, gazing up at Honey.

  But his heart leapt when Honey heard and looked down, a further reminder of what else Jessie’s tears had done for her.

  Honey looked warily at the lycan girl before her gaze shot to her mother for reassurance.

  Amanda echoed the same anxiety as she glanced from Billy to Eden.