“Told you not to touch me,” she snapped. His eyes stared at her, caught between lust and anguish. Turning to Brent, she asked, “Is that permanent?”
He shook his head. “No. If he were human, yes. Vampire, he’ll thaw and be fine with blood. You okay?”
“Dandy.” She gave Tiana a look. “And nothing can be done for him?”
“Kill Sidra. Maybe call the Council to take him somewhere safe until then. If he comes at you again, killing him may be the only way to stop him.”
Jackie drew a shallow breath. “If that’s my only option, then I’ll do it. I’d rather find another solution first.”
Stefano got in her face, his eyes glowing red as he glared down at her. “He would have taken a lot more than your blood if you hadn’t frozen him solid.”
Eddie growled and every hair on stood on end.
Jackie slapped him hard, letting ice coat his cheek. “And how fucking stable were you, when you were first turned?”
Eddie laughed, pulling her to his side. “You have no clue what you’ve gotten yourself into, do you, Stefano?”
Stefano touched his half-frozen face and shook his head. “Apparently, I have much to learn about women of this age.”
Eddie snorted, then his head whipped up.
Shadows blurred down the hall as Eddie pulled Jackie against the wall, holding tight. When she looked up, Jared was gone, a peel of evil laughter fleeing the building.
Jackie scooted past Eddie, glaring daggers at Stefano. “Your fault. If you’d have shut up for a minute, and let me call someone, he’d have been unreachable.”
“Not that simple. And they would have taken you then.”
Jackie grabbed Eddie’s wrist and Brent’s jacket, pulling them back toward the door. “I’m not dealing with that asshole.”
“Wait. Jacqueline,” Stefano called.
“Too late,” she snapped without looking back.
Brent paused and turned to the vampires. “Stefano, I’m warning you. Stop before you push Jackie past any point of forgiveness. You’re about a breath away.”
“We’ll see if we can find anything,” Tiana promised before dragging Stefano past them in a blur, leaving them alone.
Brent sighed heavily. “Well, this is certainly a cluster fuck. But seriously? You want to storm out without a plan?”
Jackie glared back at him. “I needed to be far away from him so we can figure out what the hell we do about Jared. Stefano is only going to piss me off worse, which pisses Eddie off, and I’d rather not argue about my safety while we can do something useful. And no offense, but being in your home after that night makes me uncomfortable.”
Brent nodded in understanding. “Come on, let’s go back to your place.” He walked back to his room and grabbed a bag that was already packed. “Hope you don’t mind me staying, but I’d feel better knowing he can’t break through the wards.”
“You think they could get past Lonny’s wards?” Eddie asked.
He shrugged. “They aren’t infallible. I doubt Stefano has those kind of connections, but Sidra? That I can’t answer.”
“Let’s go,” Jackie agreed.
“You aren’t arguing?” Brent chuckled.
“You aren’t commanding me. Stefano—that bastard—thinks he has some say in what I choose to do. Well fuck him.”
“Hey, I’ve been there. I’ve told you to be careful more times than I can count,” Eddie interjected.
“Not the same.” She gave him a slow smile. “You apologize when you realize you’ve pushed too far, and you’ve never done that shit.”
“You’d hand me my ass,” he told her with a silly grin.
“You know it.” She leaned her head against his shoulder. “I want all of this mess over with already.”
He kissed her hair. “Me too.”
Jackie sighed and checked behind her, not sensing anyone following. She sucked in a deep breath and looked at Brent. “What can we do about Jared?”
“Unfortunately, until we find him, nothing.” Brent shrugged. “Once we get you home, I’ll send a message to the Silver Council’s magister and give him the information we have. Granted, it’s a small hope, but Tiana did say they were going to look. Stefano may not be much help, but Tiana will do what she can.”
Nodding, she looked down the road. “One more thing that’s my fault.”
“No. If anyone’s to blame, it’s that asshole, Stefano.” Eddie squeezed her. “Or Sidra for choosing to go after Jared.”
Chapter 21
Stefano stood in the bookshop, his whole body trembling. “What in the hell happened?” He’d tried to protect Jacqueline, and she blatantly ignored him. “Everything was fine, and now she won’t even listen to me.”
Tiana rolled her eyes. “You’re too stuck in your old ways, Stefano. And I may have underestimated her true feelings for Eddie, and his for her.”
“He can’t have her,” he snarled.
“Oh, now there’s where you’re wrong. Especially with that attitude. She will never give Eddie up as a friend. And it’s clear she doesn’t trust you now. I’m not sure anything you could say or do would persuade her to give you a chance.”
He stormed away, pushing his fingers through his hair. “I can’t allow anything to happen to her. Jared… he would have—”
Tiana appeared before him, her hands on his shoulders to stop his pacing. “You don’t have the right to make decisions for her. Even if you were with her, you would never have the right to make Jackie’s decisions. I should have known better than to hope you could move into the modern age. Perhaps you never will.”
“What do I do?”
“You let her go.”
“I can’t.”
“Too late. You fucked up by demanding she walk away from people she cares about. Yeah, Jared fucked up too, but she wanted to help him. If you were in your right mind, you would have wanted to help the fool as well.”
“Not after what he did to Jackie.”
“She already forgave him. Why can’t you?”
“She didn’t want his attentions!” he roared.
“Oh, she wanted him that night. Things didn’t go as she’d planned. Jared was definitely in the wrong, but she would have fucked him.”
“No!” he screamed.
“Jackie is not Eloise.”
“Of course she’s not. She wouldn’t have done that though.”
“News flash. She’s been with more men than you’ll ever be with women. Hell, she’s been with more women than you have.”
“Impossible,” he insisted.
“Very possible.”
He stalked away, tears falling down his face. Logically, Tiana was right. He’d been with exactly one, a woman he still wasn’t over. He wanted Jacqueline to wash out any memory of his dead wife.
Someone was standing in his way. “She’s going to choose Eddie.”
“Very likely. Not your decision to make, or even accept. You don’t understand the woman. What you want is your wife, who has been dead for more than two centuries. Jackie will never fit her mold, no matter how similar she appears.”
“I have to make this right. What can I do?”
“Help me find some trace of Sidra and Clive. Find a way to help Jared. Maybe then, she can forgive you. Perhaps by becoming her friend, you’ll find a way to move on.”
“Have any idea where they may have gone?”
“Somewhere in the Seattle Underground is my guess. There are blocks of buried city down there. We may be able to find some trace of them. I heard rumors that bodies have been found where wiccans practiced.”
“Wiccans?” Stefano asked.
She sighed. “Wannabes. They hold no actual power, but fancy themselves practitioners. It’s less harmful than those fools who pretend to be vampires.”
“What? Why would anyone pretend to be us?”
“Desire of immortality. The seduction of vampires. All that movie and book nonsense.”
“She’s immune to vampires.
If only that were an option.”
“Stefano,” she admonished, “you don’t want a zombie. You want a woman to love you, not someone you brainwashed.”
He drew a breath and nodded, his eyes closing. “I’ll help you find Sidra. See what I can do for Jared. Then start again at square one with her. I don’t want Jacqueline to hate me.”
“Stefano, it would be best if you accept the fact she’s already made her decision. If I were her, I would not choose you after your temper tantrum. Nothing you do is going to win her love. If you help, it’s to prove you want a friendship. To prove you have finally moved on.”
He drew a deep breath. “I’m the one who put her in danger. Maybe she can show me another path. Help me let go of the past and move into the present.”
She gave him a look full of pity. “I pray you remember that.”
“I shall.” Though he would strive to change Jacqueline’s mind.
Tiana huffed, but said, “Let’s go.”
* * * *
“This is dangerous, Sidra. She’s too well allied,” Clive warned.
Sidra paced back and forth through their new lair, deeper in the tunnels. “We have to separate them.”
Jared’s whole body quaked in its thawing state. He whimpered through chattering teeth.
She couldn’t help laughing. “How do you explain your condition?”
Jared glared at her, full of rage. “Frozen.”
“No, that’s describing. How did you get that way? Be a good boy and I’ll give you a taste of what you crave.”
“Blood?” he moaned, though guilt passed through his features.
“Yes.”
“Hers?” He frowned, shaking his head.
“No. I have a score to settle with her. We have someone else to tide you over.”
He let out a relieved sigh. “She said no. No more taking without her permission.”
Sidra glared at Jared. He would actually resist the siren? “You want her beneath you, don’t you?”
“No. Learned my lesson. I scared her. Don’t want to hurt her, don’t want her frightened. Need her to want me.”
She laughed coldly. “Oh, I think you’ve already fucked up the chances of that happening.”
“Probably. I can only do my best to make it right.”
She pulled a blade from her belt and stalked toward him. “Tell me everything that happened, or I’ll punish you before I feed you.”
His eyes peeled back as he nodded. Words poured from his mouth, describing everything that happened from the moment he woke up.
The sniveling fool ended in sobs as he covered his face with his hands.
Chapter 22
Jackie walked into the house and started for her room without a word. During the walk, they’d agreed to let Brent order pizza while she took a shower.
Eddie followed her into her room as her phone rang. She answered it quickly. “Hey, Mike.”
“What’s going on with Jared?”
“He’s a vampire now. Sidra and Clive have him. He, um… shit.” She took a slow breath and forced the words out. “Seems they played with him before changing him. Right now, he’s not himself. He tried to attack me, but I froze him. Before we could call you guys, Sidra showed up and took him away.”
“Took him away?”
“Yeah. Don’t know what happened to him, but he’s gone.”
“Shit. Okay, I’ll see what I can do to track him down. Are you all right?”
“Yeah. Eddie and Brent are with me. Brent’s staying the night.”
Eddie’s hand closed over her shoulder in support. Their conversation was coming sooner than not.
“You don’t sound so sure, Jackie. What else is going on?”
“Fuck, it doesn’t matter. Tonight, Jared tried to bite me. I stopped him. Can we leave it at that?”
“Okay. You have me worried.”
“Find him. He needs help before he hurts someone.”
“Will do. Stay safe, Jackie.”
“I’ll try.” She tossed her phone on the bed.
Eddie turned her toward him. “Talk to me. What happened that night with Jared? Why does Stefano know, but I don’t?”
“Think he read Jared’s mind. I sure as hell didn’t tell him.”
“How?”
“Some vampires can read minds. Or Jared told him, but I don’t think so.”
He stared into her eyes with tender emotion. “Okay. What happened?”
Jackie sat on the bed. He sank down beside her, and she shifted to look into his eyes. “I was feeling sorry for myself the night of Scotty and Jayde’s party. Kim had reminded me who you were going home with, and I wanted to think about anyone else for a while. Jared was available, and we’d been flirting since we met.”
“Did he force anything?”
She looked away. “Not exactly. I was into everything until he cuffed me. He got me off, and I couldn’t think before he blindfolded and gagged me.” Her eyes squeezed shut. “Brent’s right, I climaxed, a lot, that night. Somewhere along the way I wanted it to end, but couldn’t tell him. He didn’t hurt me, and I did enjoy most of it, but restrained wasn’t how I wanted to spend my night.”
“You wanted him though?”
She nodded. “Not like that, but yes. It went too far and I’ll never want him again. I don’t hate him. It was out of control, but the last thing I said was yes, so really, he wasn’t totally in the wrong. He doesn’t deserve whatever Sidra did to him, what she will do to him.”
“And Brent?”
“He came in to check on me, knowing I went home with Jared. Not sure if he felt the magic, or knew something was off. I’ve never been so mortified in my life. Everything stopped, and I heard a thump.” She rubbed at her arms and swallowed. “The blindfold came off and Brent had tears in his eyes. He took me out of there, cleaned me up, and brought me home. Thankfully, while you were out with Kim.”
“I would have done whatever you needed.”
She winced, hating what she was about to admit. “I didn’t want you to know. You would have hurt him, and I don’t totally blame Jared. I mean, I had every intention of fucking him. That wasn’t the problem.”
He swept her hair behind her ear and softly asked, “You’re all right though?”
“I am.”
Eddie pulled her into his lap. “And he got the awakening started?”
“That’s what Brent said.”
He nudged her face up. “Hey, it sucks you can’t trust him, and that he pushed beyond your comfort zone, but I get it. I won’t kill him next time I see him.”
A sad laugh escaped. “I don’t hate him. I wanted him. And the crazy thing is we didn’t actually get to the sex.”
Eddie frowned, his brow wrinkling. “I understand to a degree—like the other morning. If you hadn’t stopped me, I would have made love to you. And at that point, it probably would have fucked with both our heads later.”
“Yeah, we need to figure out where we both stand. I have to admit though, I only stopped you because I was sure you would hate me for letting you go there.”
“Never could hate you, Angelfish.” He gave her a strained smile. “And Jared’s a fucking moron. He didn’t listen, but Jackie, this isn’t your fault. I appreciate wanting you so bad all thought flies out the window, but he should have listened.”
“You listened, once I woke you up.”
“The other morning—shit… the look of terror on your face, I was sure I’d lost you forever.”
“I believed it was Kim you thought you were with, not me.”
“Which is why I’m glad you stopped me. We’re in a better place because of your control. And when we’re ready, I am going to take my time and love you the way you want.”
She leaned in to graze her lips over his. “Thank you, Eddie.”
“Go get your shower. I’ll keep Brent company.”
She climbed out of his lap and grabbed a pair of shorts and tank before heading to the bathroom.
* * * *
Eddie watched her go, wanting to follow. The urge to beat the shit out of Jared nearly overwhelmed him. And yeah, he sort of got it, but he couldn’t understand how the fuckwad kept going if she wanted him to stop.
He took a deep breath and managed to walk calmly into the living room where Brent sat. She’d said Brent was in tears over it. Whatever he saw had to have been bad.
A new fury licked through him. “Why the fuck did you let Jared live?” Eddie growled.
Brent rubbed at his face. “Eddie, they were halfway to sex by the time they stumbled into my place. I didn’t anticipate he was going to lose his damned mind and push things past what she could handle. They’d stumbled in, hands all over, undressing each other, the whole nine yards. They were so engrossed they didn’t even realize I was standing there. So, I went to see Tiana, figuring Jackie knew what she was getting into. By the time I came back, her magic was flaring. I opened the door. If I had expected the look of terror on her face, or the tears, I would never have left.”
“Again, how the fuck did you not kill him?”
“It’s complicated for sirens and nymphs. Their magic elevates passions, and he didn’t actually fuck her. He never got his dick in her because he gets off on watching his partner come, over and over again. And he’s pretty torn up about the fact he scared the shit out of her.”
“He didn’t seem so torn up tonight.”
“It wasn’t sex he wanted. He needed her blood, and he knew how to get her off, so yeah, he intended to touch her. Sex and feeding often go hand-in-hand for vampires, though normally they refrain from drinking Other blood. He’s too new to know the difference.”
Eddie closed his eyes, clenching his hands into fists. “I don’t understand how you let him live.”
“Almost didn’t. Problem is, he’s part fairy struck. Toryn and Scotty are trying to find a way to break the enthrallment without directly involving Jackie, because she’d have to get him off to make him go away.”
Coming Together Page 15