Regent's mouth twisted. “Well, since you put it that way, how can I refuse? But, I'd really rather not take his blood money."
Britt nodded. “That might be a very accurate statement, but if his money is somehow connected to vampires, we need to find out how. He isn't a vampire, is he, Jess?"
She shook her head. “No. He's human. He's not a wannabe either. He had no scent on him, no markings, or tattoos that I could see."
"Well, whatever he's up to, he tried to hit on the wrong gal.” Britt stood and stretched his back, expanding his shoulders as if he were about to scare off a grizzly. He didn't realize how his body actions looked to Jess and Regent, until he caught Regent covering a happy smile with his hand.
Whether Jess liked it or not, she was his, and he wasn't going to let anyone take her away from him.
Jess moved toward the fireplace for warmth. She really liked it there, he'd noticed. To her left was a large window. Britt paced to it and looked out into the night. Skyscrapers were most impressive at night. Large hulking monoliths, representative of his favorite city in the world. At the sight of the rising moon above one of the buildings, Britt snapped his wrist up to look at his watch. “Damn it, gotta go, I'm late for my recruitment class.” He made for the office door. “Jess, don't you dare go to that club without me,” he said on is way down the hall.
"I won't,” she called back. In fact, I'll be waiting for you when your class is over."
He smiled. She'd hate what he'd just said, but she'd be there nonetheless.
* * * *
How dare Britt tell her what to do. She sizzled inside.
Regent reached out and took her hand in his. “He meant well, Jess and you know it. Don't go and get all fired up over a simple grouping of words."
"Ordering me not to do something is very dangerous for a mere human."
Regent let go of her hand and cleared his throat in a scolding manner. “If I didn't know you so well, I'd think you were saying you're better than a mortal."
Jess thought about that. Maybe she did. She couldn't be killed. She was stronger, faster, and more dangerous.
Could it be that she liked it that way?
"Okay, Jess, you're mulling that statement over for way too long. What are you thinking?"
"I don't think I'm better. Not exactly. But there are things about being a vampire that makes me less vulnerable than a human."
"That's true. But in other ways you're very vulnerable. That's why you need a protector. Someone who can watch over you during that time of vulnerability.” He surprised her. He always did. The thing she loved about Regent was his ability to listen. Really listen.
"I've been thinking a lot lately since I had that nightmare. If I am regaining my humanity, I'm not sure I'll be able to handle it. I've been a vampire for too long.” She thought that statement would shock Regent as much as it had shocked her at the realization.
"I've often wondered if it would be easy for you to go back. I'm not surprised to hear that you feel this way, Jess. I think it's a perfectly normal fear given the situation."
"You do?” Tension drained out of her. She needed Regent's wisdom right now. “You don't think it's evil to have thoughts like that?"
"Of course not. We all have a tendency to find solace in the norm. For you, being a vampire and having those strengths is the norm for you now.” He looked down at his old desk, evidently mulling over a thought. “In fact, you may never be able to go back, even if such a time comes that it is possible."
She nodded, and realized how much consideration her brother had given to her plight. Much more than she had ever done herself. As a student of humanity he'd been her superior, but as an advisor to her dark, evil self, he'd been a gift from God.
Jess's skin felt like it was covered with ice-cold spiders at her next thought. What if her blackouts meant she was losing her faith and her shred of humanity rather than regaining it? What would Regent think about her then? Had she killed? Taken blood from innocents? If she had, would she feel it inside? Or would she be oblivious?
She bit her lip. Maybe she should tell Sampson, just in case. He'd been ordered to kill her if she lost herself.
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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Not again! Jess's eyes flashed open. She had no idea what time it was, or what day. Worse her head felt fuzzy and a bout of dizziness made her weave sideways.
She looked around and bit back several vivid curses. Another nightmare? Or was this real? Cold wind grated across her exposed skin.
Exposed because she was standing on a bridge fortification in her nearly see-through nightgown. She had no idea how she'd gotten on this narrow metal beam suspended over dark water that swirled in ugly eddies below her. Surely she was dreaming.
But the offensive odors of the river and the city swamped her senses. This felt real.
"Oh, my God. How the hell did I get here?” She swayed against another wave of dizziness and grabbed the nearby beam.
"Jess, take it easy. Take my hand.” Britt's voice came from above and behind her and caught her off-guard. She nearly lost her balance. He reacted quickly and grabbed the back of her flimsy nightgown as if the thin stands of silk would hold her weight. At least his grasp helped her to lean back and regain her balance.
"What are you doing here? How'd you find me?” she asked, still staring down at the murky water below.
"We can talk about that in a minute. Right now, let's get you back onto solid ground."
He reached down and grabbed her under the arms and pulled her up to the bridge. Normally she'd be able to spring from a spot like this onto the bridge without thinking about it. Apparently, it wasn't that easy when she was disoriented. She cursed again, when another wave of dizziness engulfed her, and she grabbed at Britt for stability.
His strong arms wrapped her in his firm hold, tight enough to make her feel safe. She burrowed closer. It was the first time in many, many years that anyone had made her feel physically protected.
Regent had, of course, protected her for years, but this felt immediate, and on a level that only a female in love with a tough cop would understand.
The image of Britt's tall, strong body, clothed in black jeans and a gray T-Shirt under his black trench coat, was a sight for her weary eyes. His dark hair, always cut short, curled over his ears as if he'd just gotten out of the shower. She looked around. Land fog hung in patches in the city. Moisture beaded on the steel beams of the bridge, which was probably the real reason his hair looked damp, although she preferred the image of him freshly showered.
She'd been saved by her very own tough cop, and right now his gaze touched her like liquid heat burning across her skin and making her feel warm.
Without contemplating the effects of her next move, she pressed herself against him again, grinding as close to him as she could get. She needed his warmth right now. She needed his strength, because she had no idea what was happening to her. Where would she end up next? Her worst fear would be standing over a bloodless body.
"Jess. Do you know what you're doing to me?"
"I'm sorry, Britt. I can't help myself."
His lips brushed across her forehead, and his fingers moved across her back, tightening his hold even more. This felt much different than the Britt who'd kissed her in the alley while under her control. This was the real Britt, the man who could make her feel like a living woman.
She lifted her head and pulled her shoulders back while keeping her pelvis pressed against his. His hungry expression roamed down her, absorbed every nuance of her in her flimsy nightgown. His full attention was for her and her alone.
A lava-hot fire threatened to erupt the moment his mouth crushed down on hers and turned hot. The man's kisses were unbelievably sexy. His mouth graduated from rough and desperate to slow and sexy, totally eliminating her freewill.
She was mesmerized by his ability to fog her mind.
Strong arms still held her in that protective shield. Without thinki
ng she reached up to drop the strap from her nightgown. His kiss ended slowly and with obvious regret while his hand stopped her from going further.
She tipped her head back and looked at him, quizzically. So what if she was sending him mixed messages, didn't he want this as much as she did?
"We're on a bridge, Jess. Exposed to the city."
She closed her eyes for a moment. She'd completely forgotten that. But he hadn't forgotten. He'd come here to protect her, and he was doing that in every way.
"How'd you find me?” She forced herself to leave the warm envelope of his arms and his body.
Instant death-chill returned, and along with it the realization that she'd once again experienced lack of control. Dear Lord.
"Regent phoned me when you left the Rectory wearing only your nightgown.” The timbre of his sexy voice cut into her resolve. She swallowed, and looked down at herself just as a taxi crossed the bridge. His headlights cut through the thin veil of fabric and exposed her body.
The cabby rolled down his window and made a graphic, disgusting comment.
"Damned idiot,” Britt said, whipping off his trench coat and wrapping it around her shoulders. “Let's get off this bridge."
"Sounds like a good idea to me,” Jess said, unaffected by the cabbie's rudeness. In her world of fighting her own kind, comments like that were frequent and usually worse. She'd grown a thick hide.
"That jerk should have his license revoked.” Britt's jaw was so tight the words came out through clenched teeth.
"He probably thought I was a hooker. And why not, dressed like this and standing in the middle of a bridge. Who could blame him?"
"I could blame him,” he growled.
"If that's the worst that happens to me today, I think I'll survive. Where's your car?” she asked, still worried about what she might have done while in blackout mode.
"I left it on the street a few blocks back. I was having a hard time to keep up with you, moving from one roof to the next. It was quicker for me to cut through the alleys on foot."
She stopped at the end of the bridge and stared at him. “I don't remember any of that.” Unyielding fear flooded her. Was she totally out of control?
"It was like you were in a trance. I called your name, but you didn't hear me."
"Still, that doesn't explain your ability to keep up with me. Was I moving abnormally slow?” Vampires moving from rooftop to rooftop were fast, and impossible for a human to keep up with.
"No, you weren't slow at all."
That's when she noticed his flesh glistening with sweat. She had attributed the moisture to the dew caused by the fog, but he must've been running a marathon to keep up with her.
"Problem was, I couldn't keep up with you. That's how you got on that beam before I could stop you. In fact, for a second I thought you were going to jump."
She shivered and thrust her arms through the sleeves of Britt's coat that had been hanging on her shoulders. She tied the belt to cinch it tighter.
"If I got away from you, how'd you track me on foot?"
Suddenly he looked sheepish. “I was able to follow you with this.” He reached past her to dig into the trench coat pocket. He pulled out Jess's new GPS tracking device.
He'd bugged her? Anger flared, but she tamped it down. As much as she hated what he did to tail her, if he hadn't, she'd have gone into that awful river. She shivered with disgust. She hated cold, dirty water more. Casting her gaze at the ground, she counted the cracks on the pavement in front of her. “How'd you get the tracking device on me?"
He cleared his throat. “In you."
"What!"
"When you were asleep, I used the same technology you used on Beverley Kellerman."
Her teeth gritted together and she bit back a vile curse when he admitted taking advantage of her most vulnerable time.
"Why did you bug me without talking to me first?” Even while she snapped at him, guilt assaulted her. She had no right to be issuing recriminations. She'd taken advantage of him without his consent or knowledge.
"You know I've been trying to keep tabs on you in order to keep you safe,” he replied. “You were too good and I couldn't keep up. After you showed me Sampson's new creation, I decided it would be good in other ways too."
She stared at him. “Why didn't you just ask me to cooperate?"
"Would you have cooperated?"
Suddenly, she realized something else. She felt her blood running thick and cold because there was only one way he'd be able to implant that device while she slept. He had to have had help. Help from someone else she trusted implicitly.
John looked at Jess with guarded desire. She wore the silkiest of film that barely covered her voluptuous curves, and her hair caressed her milky white shoulders in thick, straight edges. Anyone who saw her now would never believe she was the city's best vampire hunter—and a vampire herself.
Right now she was all woman. All angry woman. He ran his teeth across his bottom lip and bit back the urge to kiss her again, to take her mind off his infraction. Maybe make her forgive him completely.
He held himself in check. If she had any idea how much he really wanted her, she'd be gone so fast, even the tracking device wouldn't find her.
Worse, now he'd told her that he'd violated her body and her privacy in her own bedroom while she was in stasis.
It was crucial to be able to find her if she blacked out. But, he had hoped to hell he'd never have to use the device. Too late to worry about the consequences now. Not as if he hadn't already agonized over it. He'd done it for the right reasons, whether she liked it or not.
"Jess, you know I wouldn't have done this if I didn't think it was necessary."
She planted her hands on her hips. “Where'd you put it?"
He reached out, pushed up his coat sleeve to expose her arm and ran two fingers across her skin just above her wrist. There wasn't even a scar.
"It's amazing how quickly you heal,” he said.
He thought she was going to go ballistic. If anyone had taken advantage of him in his sleep he'd have felt the same way. Instead, she turned away, but not before he caught a glimpse of her disappointed expression. Maybe he'd have preferred ballistic.
"Regent helped you, didn't he?"
For about two seconds he considered lying. Regent had agonized over the decision to do this, but he'd finally agreed it was necessary when Britt told him about Jess's blade being found beneath the murder victim in the park. They needed to keep tabs on her.
If Jess got upset with Regent...
Hell! Britt didn't want that to happen. The old man didn't deserve that, not after all the years he'd spent praying for her and protecting her in his own way.
Jess wouldn't mean to upset him. She adored him, but sometimes the vampire inside her got overheated. Well, in this case, who could blame her?
"Only under duress, Jess. I bullied him into it. Coaxed and bullied him until he agreed. He really didn't want to."
"I see.” She let out a long breath, and continued to look at the ground, staring at her bare feet which were covered with dirt from wandering the city streets and rooftops in an uncontrolled daze.
What the hell she was thinking, he wondered in frustration. This aloof exterior was not normal for Jess. She was hot blooded. Spirited. Even dangerous. But never calm like this.
"My car is a few blocks over,” he said.
"Let's go. I hate having dirty feet."
"Jess, I'm sorry I didn't catch up with you before you ended up in that precarious position on the bridge."
Her abrupt, self-recriminating laugh caught him off guard. “It's not like the fall would've hurt me.” She grimaced. “It wouldn't have been pleasant, though."
He froze. She couldn't die that way? He shook his head. There was still a lot about vampires he still didn't know.
She strode on ahead of him. For someone who looked like she had no energy reserves left, she outpaced him easily. He jogged for a minute, then ran full-out to narr
ow the gap between them.
By the time he caught up to her, he was out of breath. They found his vehicle askew on the side of the street with the driver door still hanging open, just the way he'd left it to chase after her.
Jess didn't comment. She just got in and waited for him to drive.
"Aren't you angry with me?” How long could this cool act last?
"No. I think you did the right thing. She stared out the passenger window as they drove along. “You never did tell me why you felt you had to track me."
"You had that fainting spell behind the Dragon's Lair,” he said, hoping that would appease her.
"That's it? There's no other reason?"
"Does there have to be?"
"I guess not, but I have the feeling I've done something I shouldn't have. Ever since that nightmare I haven't been able to shake that fear."
"Not as far as I know, Jess.” That was the God's honest truth. He didn't know.
"Britt, there's something I didn't tell you.” She kept her face averted. Even though she wouldn't look at him, he'd already noticed how distressed she was tonight. “I lost my blade.” She turned to him with an imploring look. “Did you find it in your apartment?"
Britt considered his response. Should he tell her the truth or pretend she'd simply left her blade at his place? Damn it, he didn't want to tell her it was found at the crime scene. She'd believe the worst about herself, and she was having a hard enough time right now.
"Stop the car!” she shouted before he had time to formulate what to say.
Reacting quickly he pulled the car to the curb and jammed on the brakes. Jess jumped out and took off down the street.
Before he could get out of the vehicle, she had disappeared into the maw of a dark alley. Not again! He'd never be able to keep up with her on foot.
* * * *
As the vampire ducked down another alley, Jess took off after him. Running at full speed after a vampire felt real to her. This was her world. A world where she knew the ground rules and was ready to break them. She was in her element. Only one thing she'd change—not to wear filmy lingerie again until she figured out what was causing her somnambulism. Worse, Britt's coat had come undone with her accelerated speed and was flapping in the wind behind her.
Beyond the Grave Page 12