“Sampson. You’ve done it,” Britt shouted. “She’s back.”
She heard Sampson’s familiar footfalls approaching.
“Good, good,” he said. She felt him pat her arm.
Then Jess felt someone take her hand and press it between theirs. The light dimmed by at least half and she cracked open her eyes. Sampson stood over her with something red in a vial. He stuck a needle in one end and sucked up some of the liquid. He was going to inject her.
“What’s that?” she demanded, then spotted Britt on the other side of her, looking pale and anguished. “I’m okay, Britt. You can relax,” she said. She’d probably sounded cold, but then she was a vampire. What did he expect?
Sampson jabbed the long needle into her chest, in the vicinity of the spot she’d been knifed. “Ow! What … the frig … is that?”
“It’s blood, Jess. I’m injecting fresh blood into your wound in the hope that you’ll regenerate tissue. Otherwise, it’ll stay open.”
Her chest felt like he’d taken a hammer to it. Her mouth was dry, and she ran her tongue over her teeth. That’s when she realized her fangs were out. Damn. She didn’t like to expose her fangs to her friends. The injection burned into her. Her nails dug into the gurney and she arched her back and grunted low in her throat. “It hurts like acid.”
She glanced at Britt again and wondered what kind of monster he saw lying on this table, with black irises, long fangs, and a frigging hole in her chest. Surely, he didn’t see the woman he thought he loved?
She had another thought. Apparently, his newfound abilities didn’t lean toward healing vampires or he probably would have attempted to do so himself, not bring her to Sampson. “How long was I out?” she asked.
“How long were you dead, you mean?” he said in a ragged voice.
“Britt, I’m dead every night. It’s not the end of my world.”
“But that knife was in your chest. It was so close to your heart. You could have vaporized.”
“It felt like it did pierce my heart,” she said, grunting again and lifting her head far enough to get a look at the gaping wound that appeared to be sizzling as if a dirty cut had been pumped with peroxide.
Sampson leaned over her again, looking closely at her acidifying suture, his glasses perched on top of his bald head.
“Wouldn’t you be able to see better with your glasses on?” she asked.
“No. I need trifocals these days, and I find I can see better close up without my glasses,” he said, straightening and smiling at Jess. “Not everyone has your hawk like vision.”
“So, am I going to make it, doc?” she said in a joking manner. Truth be told, she felt like she might actually die. She’d never come this close, and she suddenly felt a small niggle of regret about all the vampires she’d staked.
She’d learned something. Being staked hurt like crazy. But then, most of the vampires she’d killed had died instantly and turned into molecules of ancient tissue. At least they hadn’t had to lie around and contemplate their demise.
Britt pulled a chair next to the gurney. This had happened before, only their roles had been reversed. He looked so worried about her, she felt guilty. “Britt, I’m really sorry. This was my fault. I got cocky. I took chances I shouldn’t have.” She swallowed hard. “If it’s any consolation, I’ve learned my lesson.” Worse, she couldn’t admit out loud that she had wanted to prove she was as good as he was. She’d always been the stronger one, but things had changed between them since he’d come back from the dead. It stung to think she’d been so hung up on her special talents that she couldn’t handle having the man she loved become stronger than she was. It had been childish and downright stupid to try to prove she was equal to his abilities.
“You’re lucky you’re alive, Jess.”
“Alive?”
He shook his head. “Don’t play with words right now, my love. You came too close. That would be …” His voice got hoarse. “… my worst nightmare.”
She touched his hand resting on the gurney next to her. “You saved me, though. You got me here and Sampson did his magic. I’ll be good as new in no time,” she said.
Meanwhile, Sampson was still prodding at her wound. She felt like smacking his hand away. “Aren’t you done, yet, Sampson?”
“Sorry, Jess,” he said, leaning back and beaming at her. “Guess what?”
“What?” She let her head drop back to the gurney. A pillow would’ve been nice, but morgues didn’t have pillows, at least, not the soft kind. What they had was more like the block that Sampson placed people’s heads upon when doing an autopsy. Britt noticed her discomfort and grabbed a lab jacket off a hanger, rolled it up and put it under her head.
“Thanks.”
He kissed her forehead.
Sampson ignored the two of them. He was used to their undying love. Jess rolled her eyes—talk about a play on words.
“The blood is actually healing you, knitting your wound back together. Why haven’t we ever tried this before? It’s quite a discovery,” Sampson said.
“Glad I could help,” she said drily. “You might want to write this up in your book of vampire medical discoveries. Don’t forget to add that it hurts like fire ants eating the subject alive.”
“But it works,” Sampson said, giving her arm another pat and showing a large portion of his very white teeth. They were so bright, it felt as if the sun had just come out.
“Sampson, did you get your teeth whitened recently?”
He paused and winked at her. “Noticed, did you?” He went to the computer in the corner and started inputting data.
Jess turned to Britt and whispered sarcastically, “Hard to miss.”
Britt laughed.
She looked down and her gaping chest cavity had nearly closed. “Oh damn it! That bastard ruined my best outfit.” Her leathers were slashed beyond repair.
“You have other outfits,” he said.
“I do. But this was the one I wore when I first met you.” She pressed her lips together. Would it surprise him that she was that kind of a sentimental fool?
The phone rang and Sampson answered. Jess felt much better now—the pain had nearly stopped. “Help me up, Britt.”
“I don’t think you should,” he said.
“Help me up, Britt,” she said a little more forcefully.
“Whatever you say, sweetheart,” he said in a joking way. He held out an impressively muscled forearm and let her grasp it. He placed his other hand on the small of her back and helped her to sit.
She looked down at herself. “Nothing fell out. That’s gotta be good, right?”
Britt shook his head. He should be used to her dark humor by now. And why wouldn’t her humor be dark? Everything else about her was.
“Regent, that you?” Sampson said on the phone.
Jess’s head snapped around.
Sampson listened on his end. Unfortunately, he wasn’t giving anything away. “Yes. Um-hmm. I see. Yes.”
“Why would Regent call Sampson? He told us not to contact him,” Jess whispered to Britt.
“Hopefully, we’ll find out in a minute,” Britt said, sitting beside her and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. They hung on to every word and intonation, but nothing added up to anything concrete.
Sampson lowered his voice and whispered the last bit.
Maybe he forgot her vampire hearing.
“I’ll be there at ten tonight.” He glanced back at her. “Yes, I’ve seen Jess. She’s here right now, in fact. She was injured, but she’s fine now.”
He knew she was listening after all.
“I promise you, Regent, she’s fine. She made a tiny error in judgment, that’s all,” Sampson said. He nodded vigorously even though Regent couldn’t see him. “I know. I know. She doesn’t usually make mistakes. She’s not about to let this particular thing happen again.”
It took everything in her not to go over there and grab the phone away from Sampson.
“I pro
mise you, Regent. Don’t worry, you can count on me,” he said. “’Bye.” He hung up, but remained with his back to her and Britt for what felt like an hour, but it was only seconds.
Sampson finally turned to them. “Ahhh, look at you, Jess. You’re positively healed.”
“Never mind that, what’s going on with Regent?”
“He’s fine.”
She frowned at him. “Don’t forget who pays your salary.” She regretted the words the moment they came out of her mouth, especially when she noticed the twinge of hurt in her friend’s eyes. Being desperate made her do bad things. The problem was, Sampson wouldn’t tell her anything about his conversation with her brother because he’d promised Regent he wouldn’t. He was that kind of person.
Sampson sighed and suddenly became fascinated with his lab sneakers. “Yes, you pay my salary and you’re very generous, but you also respect my professional ethics, don’t you? You trust me with your very life because you know you can, right?”
She nodded. Her new scar itched. Weird, she hadn’t felt an itch in years.
“Then trust me now. You know I can’t tell you what Regent said.”
She sighed. Regent could be very persuasive. Besides, if her brother didn’t want her to know, he probably had a very good reason. She should respect that. “You’re right, Sampson. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that. I’m just worried for Regent. I don’t know what’s going on. He might be in danger.”
“I can promise you that if I think, for one second, Regent is unable to cope with whatever he’s involved in, I’ll personally let you know.”
Jess bit back a grin. He’d inadvertently told her he was going to see her brother. Good to hear. “Thank you, Sampson.” That, in itself, made her feel better. But would she be able to sneak any other information out of him? God help her, she’d certainly try.
When Sampson finally gave her the go-ahead to leave, Jess stepped outside into the night and locked the security door as soon as Britt exited behind her. Her worry must’ve been written on her face.
“Regent is tough, Jess. Just think about all he’s been through.”
“That’s more than I want to think about tonight. It’s my fault he’s had to endure so much. If he needs me, I have to help him.”
Britt took her hand. His warmth always thrilled her. It was intimate and delicious. Other than her brother and Sampson, no one else ever dared to touch her. And her heart always skipped an actual beat whenever Britt’s touch turned sensual.
She’d like nothing more than to melt into his arms right now, but he stopped her cold these days. He’d only go so far.
Besides, they were in a parking lot outside the large factory complex she rented out. At least, the upper portion had been rented, and it was only used in the daytime. That helped her effectively hide her secret subterranean labs from curious onlookers.
“Sampson isn’t just my employee, he’s my friend. I trust that he’ll keep me in the loop if Regent is in trouble,” she said, turning her thoughts away from the sexy man next to her and back to business.
“You’ve always been able to trust him, Jess. And me. You have a cadre of people who will follow you to the ends of the earth to keep this city safe. And not because they have to. Because they want to.”
“I’m lucky. I’m really lucky.”
“Maybe it’s more than that,” he said. “Maybe you’re blessed.”
“Funny, big man,” she said. “If anyone’s blessed, it’s you.”
They both stopped and stared at each other with mouths open. “Is that it?” she breathed. “Is that why you’re able to do what you’re doing? Why a monastery brought you back to life? Why Fisk is an evangelist?”
“What would that make me?” he asked, as much to himself as to her.
We know for sure you’re not a vampire. You’re not evil. So maybe you’re an—
He held up a hand. “Don’t say it, Jess. Don’t even think it. I’ve killed as many individuals as you have.”
“They don’t count. They were already dead,” she said, ignoring his expression of horror. “You’re thinking it too, aren’t you—maybe you’re an angel.”
He gently took her hand in his. “We need to go back to the lab.”
“Why?” She pulled her hand out of his before he tried to drag her back to Sampson.
“I think you might have a serious concussion that Sampson somehow missed.”
She heaved a sigh. “Not funny.” Then she made him pay for that remark by forcing him to run to keep up with her as she strode down the sidewalk.
JESS MET THE little vampire, Jane, at her regular spot, on the corner of desperate and nowhere else to go. Most vampires got stronger when they transformed, but Jane was small and remained small. Her inability to get enough blood had weakened her to the point she might not make it much longer. Jess should have helped her sooner, but Jane was as scrappy as she was proud. She wasn’t like the rest.
Jess’s chest pinged with pity, not an emotion she recognized easily.
She’d been monitoring Jane from the rooftop, and the little vamp had been totally unaware. Not good in this city. She dropped from the three-story building to cut Jane off from escaping from the alley where she’d been offering herself for money. In this city, being a hooker meant access to blood.
“Jane,” she greeted.
Jane quivered and backed against the dumpster. “Hunter,” she replied in a mousy voice.
“I’d prefer you call me Jess,” she said.
Jane frowned at her, looking both ways for a means of escape. Her clothing screamed soup kitchen boutique, only they were closer to the donations the soup kitchen threw away.
“What do you want with me?” she asked.
“I’m not here to eliminate you, Mmm … Jane.” Most vamps called her Mouse. Jess didn’t want to perpetuate that insult.
“Okay,” Jane said. “Why, then?”
“I have a favor to ask of you. One that pays in blood.”
Jane’s tiny body tightened. “How much blood?”
“Enough blood to keep you satisfied for the rest of this year. That means at least six months’ worth.” Jess shrugged. “After that, you’ll probably be strong enough to get your own.”
“Why?”
“I need help. I’ve seen the spark of humanity in you, Jane. I’m hoping you’ll help me with something.”
“Humanity?” Jane laughed in a hard-luck kind of way. She pushed back her uncombed brown hair and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “I think you’re mistaken.”
Jess wouldn’t argue with her. She had to show strength in front of vampires. That’s what Jane should be doing right now. But, in this case, her weakness would be a bonus. She’d definitely look the part of a vampire desperate for Fisk’s help. “I need someone to be my spy inside Fisk Enterprises. Have you heard of him? The evangelist called Fisk?”
Jane pursed her lips and shook her head vehemently. “I can’t go to an evangelist.”
Hmmm. Maybe she really hadn’t heard of him. Still, Jess knew word was spreading. “This guy’s specialty is vampires. I need to know what he does for them. But I can’t go in because he knows who I am.”
“How much blood, again?” Jane licked her lips.
Jess pulled a packet of blood from her jacket pocket and tossed it to Jane. Jane sank her teeth into it without hesitation and drank it dry in seconds. A deep sigh wracked her frail chest. “God, that’s the best blood I’ve ever tasted.”
“I get it from donors who don’t have many bad habits,” Jess said. “I have my own supply of humans, who donate blood for money. They don’t know what I do with it. It’s supposed to be in the name of research.” She paused and watched Jane absorb the energy from the blood. “Two cases, Jane. That’s 1008 packets of blood, and I’ll throw in a small apartment where you can get off the streets for that time period, as well.”
“Where do I sign?”
“No need to sign,” Jess said. “I trust you
r word.” And since every vampire in the city knew it wasn’t healthy to get on Jess Vandermire’s bad side, she wouldn’t have to verbalize the threat. Jane was well aware of who she was dealing with.
Shuffling noises started up at the end of the alley. Thankfully, it was just a few rats—Jess didn’t want to have to kill any vampires right now. She wanted to befriend Jane, not remind her that she hunted vampires for a living.
“Let’s go,” Jess said.
“Where?” Jane licked her lips. She was obviously still ravenous. Jess handed her another packet of blood, which Jane finished before they left the alley. Not many humans were on the streets this time of night. Vampires pretty much interacted with impunity during these hours. And the rare, poor saps who did venture into this part of the city at night usually ended up as fast food.
“I rented you a place two blocks over,” Jess said. “Let’s go.”
When they arrived, Jess got out the key and opened the front door. It was a brownstone. A nice three-story unit that was more than just an apartment. She’d acquired the place because she’d wanted to surprise Jane. Maybe give her hope.
“Holy shit! This place is nice. You can’t be giving me this for six months?”
“Yep. This is it. It’s furnished, too. And there’s a portion of your blood in the fridge. After you get reliable, usable information, I’ll give you the next portion.”
“How do I do it?”
“I want you to join the group of vampires flocking to the evangelist, Malcolm Fisk. I’ll take you there. I’m not sure what the sign-up process is, or what they do after you join. That’s what I want you to find out.”
Jane clasped her hands together in front of her. “I can’t thank you enough for this. I’ve been around since the thirties, but to be honest, I didn’t think I’d make it much longer.”
Jess felt like she’d been kicked in the gut. “Have you vamped any humans, Jane?” It seemed like a dumb question, but she had a feeling about this little one.
Jane shook her head. “No. I couldn’t do it. I live on dogs and cats, but I don’t kill them. I just drain them a little.”
Just as Jess thought—Jane was worth salvaging. They walked to the Lumination Building and Jess pointed to the front doors.
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