by Aliya DalRae
“You’ve got to help me out here, Jess. I don’t know what to say or do. I—”
“Could you just…hold me?”
Raven stopped midsentence, continuing to stare into that beautiful face. “Of course,” he said. “Of course.” He kicked off his workout shoes, and slid into the bed beside her, where she snuggled up against him. When he wrapped his arms around her she buried her head into his chest and she cried.
He left her be for a bit, not wanting to force her to talk. Even if he could, he wouldn’t know what to say. Still, he hated being in the dark. He waited as long as he could, and when the worst of the weeping eased some, he kissed the top of her head.
“I’m very sorry about the baby.” Probably not the best way to go if he wanted to stop her crying, but it was something he needed to say. “And I’m sorry about Malcom, as well.”
This last was said so quietly, he doubted she could have heard him, but she sniffed a couple of times and said, “Thank you for that. For both. I believe you really mean it.”
“I do,” Raven said, puzzled. He’d expected more emotion than that, given the subject matter, but he’d take the calm. Calm was better.
Jessica pulled away some and sat up, staying under his arm, but leaning her back against the raised mattress so she could look at him. She didn’t say anything, just continued to stare at Raven as though she’d never seen him before. For some reason, this had him shifting on the bed.
She sniffed again, then ran her hands across her face, scrubbing away the evidence of her grief.
“Raven,” she said, “there’s something I have to tell you.
Chapter Fifty-Two
R aven was watching me with an “oh shit, what now” look on his face. I had to swallow hard three times before I could force any words through my lips.
“Remember,” I began, coughed and tried again. “Remember the last time you healed me?” Raven nodded, and I shifted my gaze to the blanket I was worrying between my fingers.
“Remember how surprised we were when I bit you?”
“Yes, Jessica, but I promised you then and will swear to you now, you have nothing to worry about. Human females cannot be changed. I didn’t realize this was still a concern for you.”
I swallowed another rock in my throat, determined to get through this without crying. It was time to face the facts, and the best way to do that was to say it out loud. I gave Raven’s leg a pat, then left my hand there. Maybe I’d be able to gain some strength from him through osmosis.
“You’re right, of course. Human women can’t be changed, but here’s the thing. When that happened, I wanted answers. No offense, but all I got from you were the same platitudes you just gave me, and that wasn’t good enough for me. I needed more. I’m sorry, but I needed to know why that was happening, and with everything going on between us, I…I asked someone else to look into it.”
Raven, who hadn’t looked away from me, narrowed his eyes. “Who?”
“Harrier,” I whispered, and held on for the storm that never came. Raven’s body was tight as a new strung bow, but he didn’t say a word. I took advantage of his stunned silence and jumped in to continue.
“He was there that night, when the ferals attacked us. The night I told you…”
“That you didn’t want to see me for a while.”
“Right. That night. Anyway, Harrier promised to see what he could find out for me. Then he took off to find Allon, and you and I got kidnapped by Fuhrmann. With everything going on, I thought he had forgotten about my little problem. But he hadn’t.”
Raven growled, his arm tightening uncomfortably around me. I fidgeted on the bed until he eased his hold a little. “What did he find?” he asked.
“See, here’s the thing…” Why was this so hard to say? So hard to admit? Out with it, Jessica, I told myself. It’s just like a bandage—one quick tug and it’ll be all over. Okay. One-two-three go!
“Harrier’s my uncle.”
Raven drew away from me, turned to face me fully, the humor dancing in his sapphire blues evidence of how hard he was working not to laugh in my face.
“Noooo…” he said, dragging the word out as he fought the smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Harrier is Vampire.”
“Yeah,” I said, not feeling his humor. “Harrier is Vampire, and apparently, so am I.”
Chapter Fifty-Three
R aven couldn’t put a name to everything he was feeling in that moment. Shock, disbelief, excitement, hope…all tangled up in a big ball of what-the-fuck.
He touched Jessica’s chin with a finger, angling her face to meet his eyes. She was struggling with this, but he needed to know everything.
“So, Rachel?” he asked, but she shook her head.
“No, she’s my aunt, about a hundred times removed. They have another sister, who I guess is quite the little ho, popping out half-human babies all over the world. Turns out one of them was my mom’s mother, grandmother, I don’t know. I’m still not sure how many generations it is, but the Vampire genes have been floating around inside me all this time, super diluted, and happy to stay that way. That is, until that first night you gave me your blood.”
Raven remained silent. She was talking now, and he didn’t want her to stop.
“Turns out, with all that fresh Vampire blood running around inside me, it was doing a lot more than just knitting together my cuts and bruises. While it was at it, it was also knocking on doors and waking up genes that had been perfectly happy sleeping for eternity. So, the first time woke them up, but they were still too tired to get out of bed.”
“But the second time?”
“Yeah. The second time they got curious, energized I guess, to the point where they were craving the blood you were giving me. It was just another step in the Awakening of Jessica Sweet.”
“That’s why Harrier insisted on traditional medicine when you nearly died saving me at Halloween. And why Allon let him—he claimed familial rights to your care.”
It was all coming together now, how Harrier had insinuated himself into all aspects of Jessica’s life, right down to Thanksgiving dinner. Raven had been insanely frustrated when Jessica insisted on inviting him and Rachel. But it was her house, her party, and she had been adamant. Now it all made sense. She wanted her new family around her for this first holiday without her old family, but…
“Why didn’t you tell me? So many things might have been different.”
Jessica shook her head. “Nothing would have been different, Raven. I was already pregnant when I found out about my heritage. You still would have gone berserk when you found out. Malcolm would still be dead, and the baby…” She choked up but swallowed hard and forced herself to continue.
“But the main reason I didn’t say anything to you, Raven, was because I didn’t want to be pressured to drink your blood again and complete the change. Nobody knew how many times I would be able to do it before there was no turning back, and I didn’t want to face it.
“I also didn’t want to see the excitement on your face at the prospect of us being the same, that look you’re wearing right now. And I didn’t want to see your disappointment when I told you that I preferred to stay human.”
Raven couldn’t remain seated, no matter how much he wanted to reassure Jessica. This was too much to take in, and he was struggling to keep the joy from exploding out of him in some inappropriate manner. That would be exactly what she’d expected from him in the first place.
He couldn’t still the pounding of his heart, though, the excitement coursing through him. Jessica could be his, forever. They could live together until old age took them, maybe thousands of years from now, and he would never have to know the pain of losing her again. In a life that most generally dealt him piles of shit, this was an incredible gift.
And yet, she wasn’t happy. What good was near eternal life together if his mate was miserable?
Raven shook his head, bringing himself back down to earth. None of his musings mattered.
Jessica had just made it perfectly clear that she had no intention of completing the change, of ever drinking his blood again.
Raven did an about face and marched back to the side of the bed where Jessica still sat, fresh tears etching tracks in her flushed cheeks.
“Is there more?” he asked, and with great reluctance, she nodded her head.
“You drank my blood tonight.” Again, with the nodding. “Tell me, Jessica. Tell me the rest.”
Chapter Fifty-Four
M artin stood on the corner of Main Street and Ashton, abandoned yet again by his supposed partner in this search. Harrier wasn’t a joy to work with on the best of occasions, but the last few days he’d been an absolute bear.
All the Soldiers were talking about how the Sweet girl was in the Compound’s clinic under some emergency situation or other, and how Harrier had been the one to bring her in. The barracks were like a human female dormitory when it came to gossip, and rumors were flying as to what was going on between the girl and the Legion’s grumpiest Warrior. Well, second grumpiest since Raven went over the wall.
Martin headed down the road, past the Horror Mansion and toward the old Mill, another of Fallen Cross’s historic yet badly maintained treasures. He’d tried talking to Perry about what was going on at the Main House. The Soldier was tight with the Warriors since Jessica had taken a shine to him, but if he knew anything, he wasn’t talking.
Movement by the pond pulled Martin’s attention that direction and back to the problem at hand. As far as he knew, the property stood deserted, from the Mill House to the old residence on the hill. Even the little log cabin, which someone had moved onto the estate for preservation purposes, had been boarded up for decades.
In it’s heyday, well, after it had stopped working as a functioning mill but before it had fallen into disrepair, people had held weddings here. A gazebo sat on a tiny island in the middle of the pond, accessed by a little bridge. It was the perfect spot for human couples to tie the knot, a picturesque and ideal scene with the Mill House forming a lovely backdrop for the entire affair.
Now, the bridge and gazebo were both dilapidated and the Mill House itself would be the perfect hiding place for their elusive Vampire young. Martin’s team had checked this place every night since Thanksgiving, but the kids weren’t staying in one spot very long. It seemed like the Legion was always one step behind.
Martin texted Perry, who was searching another area in town, copied Harrier just to keep him in the loop, and threaded his way through the shadows, senses on high alert.
He stole his way through some trees, around the pond, and to the back of the Mill House, pausing now and again to listen for any sound, watch for any movement in the darkest places around the mill.
The rock came out of nowhere, landing squarely on Martin’s temple, knocking him to the ground. He kicked out blindly as a form materialized above him, a young male maybe ten years old, twelve at the most, with a small boulder in his hands, ready to deal Martin another blow.
“You did it Talon! You got him!” A female, about the same age as the boy, stepped forward carrying a rock of her own.
“Quiet,” the boy hissed at her, but never looked away from Martin. “Why are you here?” he asked the Soldier. “Why are you following us?”
Martin’s head was slowly clearing, and he put a hand up to stay the boy’s next blow.
“We just want to talk to you—that’s all.”
“We?” the kid said. “I only see you.”
The girl giggled again, her eager eyes sparking a bright green as the young male searched the shadows.
“The Legion,” Martin said. “The Warlord is concerned about you, both of you. We only want to help.”
“Why would we need any help?” the boy, Talon, asked. “We’ve been on our own here for months and we’re doing just fine. We stay in the finest homes,” he gestured toward the house on the hill, “and dine on the best this town has to offer,” indicating a human lying slumped against the Mill House wall. “Why on earth would we need your help?”
“You’re killing people,” Martin said, keeping his eyes on the pair.
“So, what?” the girl said. “They’re nobodies. We’re very careful not to kill anyone who’d be missed.” Her hair was a mess of red curls that fell almost to her waist, and she looked familiar to Martin, now that he could see again.
“So,” he said, sitting up to give himself room to fight if he had to. “It’s against the Primeval’s First Law. We don’t kill what we eat. Ever. It’s punishable by death.”
Wrong choice of words, and Martin realized that the moment they left his mouth. The children exchanged a look of terror and the boy moved toward him with his big rock raised overhead, ready to strike.
“We won’t let you turn us in,” the boy growled.
Martin shifted as the kid took a slow, menacing step toward him.
“She never told us it was wrong,” the girl pled, though Martin didn’t know if she was talking to him or the boy. “We swear,” she looked at Martin directly this time, “we didn’t know it was bad!”
“Shut up, Phire!”
It sounded like he called the girl “Fear.” Funny name for a girl, Martin thought, as he inched his hand toward the weapon in his back pocket. The munitions Warrior, Viper, had devised a stun gun, specifically designed to work on Vampires and other paranormals. All the Soldiers and Warriors patrolling Fallen Cross were carrying them now, ever since the search for these two juvenile delinquents had begun. Martin had never even used the thing, other than when the Soldiers had taken turns zapping each other for practice, and now he’d fallen on it. He hoped to hell he hadn’t broken it.
“Talon, maybe we should listen to him. Maybe they really do want to help us?”
“They’ll take us, and lock us up, and we’ll never see the moon again. Remember, she warned us about them.”
“But maybe they can help us find her.”
“Find who?” Martin interjected, easing the questionably operational stunner from his pocket and holding it by his leg. “If you’re looking for one of us, we can help you find them. We have access at the Compound to every search device known to Vampire. You just have to trust me.”
“She said not to trust anyone,” the boy insisted, but the girl, Phire, was wavering.
“I’m tired, Talon. I just want to find Aunt Rachel and be done with all of this.”
“She’s not here,” Talon insisted. “She lied to us again. There is no Aunt Rachel, there’s only you and me, and we’re not going to let this piece of Legion scum cart us off to some Primeval prison. I swore to protect you, Phire, and that’s what I’m going to do.”
Talon raised the rock higher. Martin shook the last of the cobwebs from his brain and rolled to his right before the boy could strike. As he aimed his weapon, Phire let out a blood-curdling scream and both children fell to the ground, unconscious.
Martin jumped to his feet and scanned the area, only to find Perry and Osprey, a young Soldier new to the Legion, standing over the kids, stunners in hand.
“What did you have yours set on?” Os was asking Perry, who had knelt to check the boy’s pulse.
“I had mine on twelve, you?”
Os, who was performing the same checks on the girl, said, “I had mine on ten. I figured she was a girl, maybe wouldn’t need as much juice.” As he said this, Phire started to moan. Os jerked, hit her again with the stunner, and the girl fell silent again.
“Damn.” Os fell back on his heels and wiped his brow. “Should have left it on twelve.”
“Yeah,” Perry said, then glanced at Martin. “You okay, man?”
Martin shook his head. Backup had arrived just in time, but that didn’t change the fact that they’d caught him at a disadvantage with a couple of kids. At least it was dark enough that the others might not see the flush he felt warming his cheeks.
“I’m fine,” he said, watching as the Soldiers picked up the Legion’s most wanted and threw them over their
shoulders. “What about that guy?” he added, nodding toward the indigent who now sat rubbing his head.
“I’ll take care of him,” Perry said. “You need a ride?”
“Sure,” Martin nodded, and followed them to the Hummer. There was no way he was ever going to live this one down.
Chapter Fifty-Five
T he door burst open, and Harrier charged in, Rachel fast on his heels. He pushed Raven away without a backward glance and was at my side in a heartbeat.
“Are ya okay, little one?” Raven snarled behind him, but my uncle remained totally focused on me.
“Yes, Harrier, I’m fine.” I wasn’t but saying so wouldn’t change anything. And who knew? Maybe if I “reverse psychology-ed” myself, I could fool my heart into believing it was true.
“Rachel told me what happened. I’m so sorry, Jess. We never meant for this…we only wanted…”
“I know,” I said. Harrier was clutching the mattress hard enough to tear a hole in it, so I grabbed his hand and held it between both of mine. “I don’t blame you. Either of you,” I amended with a solid look at Rachel, who still hovered near the door. When Harrier’s grip eased up a bit, I reached a hand out to my aunt, and she hesitated only a moment before joining our little family reunion.
Rachel’s tears had me keeping my next thoughts to myself. It had all seemed so simple. Don’t drink any more blood, and my body would remain in this kind of half state, somewhere between human and Vampire, never more one than the other. I’d been almost dead three times in the past three months. One would think I’d have met my quota for near death experiences by now.
After my encounters with the Sorcerers and ferals, and my generous hemo-donation to the surly Vampire by the door, no one could have predicted that an attack on my life would come from within. Maybe something about the partial change had sped up the development of the bacteria that had caused the infection. You would think it would work the other way around, with the Vampire genes giving me more resistance, not less, but I’m not a doctor so what do I know?