Sucker Punch: A Paranormal Women's Fiction Novel (First Fangs Club Book 3)

by Painter, Kristen

  With a sigh, Charlie said to Donna, “You’re right, Governor. I hate it, too, but you’re right. I can’t imagine what Fitzhugh’s reaction would be, but I can guess how he’d react if you ran a raid in his state without telling him first.”

  Donna groaned softly. “Maybe we’ll get lucky, and he will ignore us.”

  Pierce snorted. “Sure.”

  Charlie started scribbling something on the legal pad in front of her. “I’m making a note to draft an email to him. Although…” She stopped writing. “A phone call might be better. Considering what happened at the party, the personal touch might go a long way. And then he can’t say he didn’t get the email.”

  “Good thinking.” Donna sipped her coffee. “Except a call might make him think I’ve forgiven him. I do not want him thinking everything’s copacetic between us. Because it isn’t.”

  Charlie nodded slowly. “I understand wanting to let him stew, but remember he can still press charges against Pierce.”

  Donna looked at LV and Toni, who were clearly lost. “Fitzhugh insulted me at a party we attended last night, and Pierce punched him in the mouth.”

  Both women smiled. Toni gave Pierce a thumbs-up. “Good job. That jerkwad’s needed a punch in the kisser for a long time.”

  Donna’s brows rose. “He’s got quite the reputation, doesn’t he?”

  LV huffed out a breath. “No one likes him any more than what’s necessary to get things done. Thankfully, we almost never have to deal with him, since we’re not in his state, but I can promise you the New York pack wants nothing to do with him.”

  “Interesting.” She took a moment to organize her thoughts. “Back to the topic of needing the blood from a live fairy. Jerabeth, I’m assuming that’s for a spell?”

  Jerabeth nodded. “Basically. I told you it was a difficult ingredient.”

  “You weren’t lying. How much will you need?”

  Jerabeth looked around the table. “To be effective, anyone who’s going on this raid needs to be able to see the stronghold, which means I have to make enough for everyone involved. I’d say at least three vials. Although once the wolves shift, they won’t need the potion. Fae magic generally seems to be focused on human-based life forms.”

  “All right.” Donna followed Temo’s gaze. He was staring at a spot on the table like he was lost in thought. “Temo? What’s on your mind?”

  He blinked and looked up. “I might know someone who’d be willing to donate, but he’s going to want something in return. It won’t be a small something either.”

  “He’s a full-blooded fae?”

  He nodded. “We’re not bros or anything, but he’s been a reliable source so far.”

  “When you say he’s going to want something, are we talking money? Favors? Something else?”

  He sighed. “I won’t know until we talk to him. That’s the other thing. I don’t think this is a deal he’ll agree to without a face-to-face with you. He’ll want your personal guarantee.”

  Donna sat back. A personal meeting with one of the creatures who considered her kind little more than walking entrées. “Have you met with him in person before?”

  “I have.”

  “You think it’s safe for me to meet him?”

  “I hate to say that and then things go poorly, but he’s probably the safest one you could meet with.” He frowned. “I don’t know any other way.”

  Donna didn’t hesitate. Rico’s life was at stake. “Set it up. But under no circumstances will I meet with him alone. I want you and at least one other person with me. Which reminds me…” She turned to Charlie. “I need some iron bracelets. Something that doesn’t look like I’m wearing shackles.”

  “Right away.”

  “Jerabeth, get me those empty vials, but bring me five.”

  “You got it.”

  Donna’s stomach growled, but it wasn’t necessarily for food.

  LV smiled knowingly. “You’re up too late, vampire. You’re going to need something more than coffee to keep you going.”

  “I’ll be fine, but we should get something to eat. Coffee isn’t going to sustain any of us for long.”

  Charlie opened up her laptop. “I can take care of that. I’ll order us something to be delivered.” She started typing, then stopped and looked up. “Anyone have any food allergies I should know about?”

  LV and Toni shook their heads.

  An hour later, after they’d come up with a few strategies for approaching the stronghold and rescuing Rico, security called up that their order had arrived.

  Charlie and Pierce went down to get the food, returning a short while later. Pierce was carrying a stack of enormous, covered platters, and Charlie held a couple of bags in each hand.

  They set the food out on the kitchen counter buffet style and let everyone help themselves. Donna stood and gestured toward the spread as she spoke to LV and Toni. “Please. You’re our guests.”

  She followed behind them. It was an impressive array. Croissant breakfast sandwiches, a platter of bacon and sausage links, another of crispy hash-brown-style potato cakes, a large bowl of fresh fruit, sliced bagels with three flavors of cream cheese, and a tray of sweets that included mini danishes, doughnuts, and rugelach.

  LV paused while filling her plate. “Thank you. I expected one thing when I was on my way here, and that’s not what I got. Although, now I wish Rico was here with you.”

  “I wish he was too.” Donna added a couple of strips of bacon beside her sausage, egg, and cheese croissant. There was more food here than they’d eat in three days. Which was perfect. She wanted the wolves to know she wasn’t going to skimp on anything, whether it was feeding them or rescuing Rico.

  “Would you like one of us to accompany you to the meeting with the fae?”

  That was a kind offer. Even if it might also be the wolves’ way of keeping an eye on her. “I might take you up on that.”

  “Let me know. We’ll send one of our sentries. They’re very strong, loyal to the death, and ready at a moment’s notice.”

  “Thank you. That sounds good.”

  Temo came up to her. “Meeting’s set. Tonight. Soon as the sun sets. But it’s just you and me. He wouldn’t agree to more.”

  Not much she could do about that. “Where?”

  “Bus station just north of here.”

  She mulled that over for a moment. “At least it’s public.”

  “You want a couple sentries?” LV asked.

  “Maybe you could put a few there. Undercover.”

  Temo sucked air between his teeth. “He’ll sense them.”

  Donna shrugged. “Werewolves can’t travel by bus?”

  LV narrowed her eyes. “I have a married couple I can send. They’ll blend in better and be less obvious that way. And then, if you need them, they’ll be a shout away.”

  “Okay, that works.” She looked at Temo again. “You sure we can’t take Charlie?”

  “Just you and me, boss. He’ll spook if he sees more.”

  “Then I’m definitely glad for the sentries.” She took a deep breath. “Let’s eat and get back to work. There’s a lot still to do.”

  Thankfully, there wasn’t as much to do as Donna had anticipated, mostly because they hit a brick wall at a certain point. Until she met with Temo’s fae contact and made the deal for his blood so that Jerabeth could use it for her spell, they were stuck.

  She said goodbye to LV and Toni, approved the email to Artemis, then decided to finally get some sleep. She made Pierce, Charlie, and Temo do the same. They’d been up as long as she had.

  Sleeping was hard to do with the thought of Rico being held captive and possibly being tortured. She focused on the way he’d looked in the video. Angry, but not injured. She clung to that because without sleep she’d be useless during the rescue.

  She drank a pint of blood, then collapsed onto her bed, unable to do much more than stare at the ceiling and pray he was all right.

  Surprisingly, she finally dri
fted off. She slept hard but woke suddenly, shocked out of sleep by a nightmare in which Rico had been served as the main course at a fae banquet.

  She bolted upright in the darkness. Her heart pounded. She made herself breathe. “It was just a dream.”

  But it didn’t feel that way. It felt like a terrible premonition of what was to come. She shook her head, refusing to believe that. Rico was going to be okay.

  Or LV was going to be right. War would come.

  Donna sat in the dark for a few moments longer as she woke up fully. The nightmare was gone, but the feeling remained like a shadow on her spirit. She grabbed her phone and dialed. It was after 4 p.m., and Cammie might be unreachable in Nicaragua, but at least Donna could hear her voice on her answering message. That was better than nothing.

  “Hello?”

  “Cammie? Is that you? I didn’t think you’d be able to get calls when you were in another country.”

  “I can’t. But I’m home.”

  “You are? When did you get back?”

  Dead air answered. Finally, Cammie exhaled softly. “Sooner than expected.”

  “Is that good? You sound…odd.”

  “It’s definitely good. I’m just tired. What’s new with you? How’s your new job going?”

  Donna wasn’t totally convinced Cammie was being completely honest. Which would be highly unlike her. Nuns tended to shy away from lying. “It’s never dull, that’s for sure.” She let out a long sigh of her own. “Rico’s been taken hostage by the fae king because of something I did.”

  “What?”

  “Yeah. I gave sanctuary to a teenage girl who’s half fae, half vampire—”

  “Dhamfir,” Cammie whispered.

  Did everyone know that word except for her? Apparently. “Yes. Anyone with a heart would have done it. Poor kid. Anyway, King Dredward wants her back, and in retaliation, he had Rico kidnapped. I have forty-eight hours to get him back. Actually closer to forty now.”

  “How are you going to do that?”

  “Oh, you know, storm the stronghold, guns blazing.” Donna laughed a little, even though there was nothing amusing about the way she felt or what they were going to do. “Of course, it’s more complicated than that, and we do have some strategy and no actual guns, but that’s it in a nutshell.”

  “We?”

  “My team and a team from the wolves. Hey, get this. The alpha of the pack is Rico’s grandmother. And the next in line is Rico’s mother. Alpha-elect, they call it. Can you believe that? Crazy, huh?”

  “Mm-hmm.”

  Donna gasped. “Mary and Joseph. You knew that already.”

  Another long pause. “I did.”

  “And you never said anything?”

  “It wasn’t deemed necessary.”

  “By who? The mother superior?”

  “It’s…more complex than that.”

  Suddenly, Donna wasn’t sure she knew everything there was to know about her sister.

  Chapter Four

  Donna made a face at the phone. “You know that ‘it’s more complex than that’ is the kind of answer that only makes more questions, right?”

  “I get that.” Cammie sighed. “Listen, even with your team and some wolves, it’s a bad idea to storm that stronghold. For one thing, you don’t know where it is.”

  “I’ve got that handled.”

  “Okay, let’s say you do. You won’t be able to see it.”

  “Working on having that handled.” But how did Cammie know that?

  “Donna, the fae are deadly. They’re killers.”

  “Technically, so am I. And I am not going to abandon Rico. I understand your concern, but I’m not just Belladonna Barrone, mob wife, anymore. I’m a freakin’ vampire, Cammie. I have skills.”

  “And the fae think you’re a delicious snack.” She let out a noise that was somewhere between a groan and a sigh. “Look, I need to take care of something right now, but don’t do anything until I call you back. Okay?”

  “By ‘don’t do anything,’ you mean don’t storm the stronghold?”

  “Right.”

  “Okay, but the something you have to take care of better not take too long. Rico’s clock is ticking.”

  “I understand. It won’t.”

  “All right. I’ll get a shower while I wait.”

  “Perfect. I’ll call you back as soon as I can. I love you.”

  “I love you too.” Donna hung up, then got out of bed, walked to the bathroom and flipped on the light.

  It was shockingly bright, and for the first time since she’d been turned, she looked like a wreck. Mostly because she’d fallen asleep with her makeup on, and there was no magical vampire skill that could overcome that.

  “Ugh.” She cranked on the shower, pulled her nightgown off, and got under the hot water. She stood there for a long while, just letting it stream over her. Finally, she soaped up with the amazing verbena body wash Charlie had supplied her with.

  The smell alone was enough to perk her up. But not so much that she forgot about her conversation with Cammie. How did Cammie know so much, like who was in charge of the wolves? And why hadn’t she shared that information before? Might have been nice to know.

  Although, it really wouldn’t have changed anything. Rico would have still been Agent Medina to Donna right up to the point that he took custody of Joe and his skanky girlfriend, Carmella.

  She tipped her head back and washed her hair. Poor Rico. She said another prayer of protection over him. She wasn’t sure how well received her prayers were these days, but since the pope-blessed crucifix she’d been wearing when she was turned continued to make her immune to the sun, she liked to think they were still getting through.

  She slathered on conditioner, then scrubbed her face as she let that sit. LV had said they could bring a good number of wolves with them. What did that mean? Was a good number twenty? Or a hundred? How many wolves were in the New Jersey pack?

  Cammie probably knew.

  Donna frowned as she washed off the cleanser. Once again, she was behind the eight ball of knowledge because she’d been thrust into this position with virtually no experience and little time to learn. She still couldn’t believe that winning the case against Claudette, her negligent sire and the previous vampire governor, had resulted in her becoming the new vampire governor of New Jersey.

  A final rinse and she was done. She wrapped up in a towel and went into her closet to figure out what to wear to meet with Temo’s contact. Instinct said it was best to cover up as much skin as possible, so she went with black jeans, a black turtleneck sweater, and a Gucci belt—because hello, fashion.

  She also picked out a slate-gray wool coat that came to midthigh. She added flat boots and decided the only jewelry would be her hidden crucifix and the iron bracelets Charlie said she’d get.

  Which hopefully she had.

  Donna didn’t like the thought of meeting a fae without any iron on her. She kept her makeup simple. Eyeliner, mascara, and a nude lip. This was a clandestine meeting, not a fun night out with the girls.

  She tucked her phone in her back pocket, threw her coat over her arm, and walked out into the kitchen.

  It was empty.

  She hung her coat over one of the chairs and went down to the office. Charlie was at her computer.

  She looked up. “I was just wondering if I should wake you. How are you feeling?”

  Donna shook her head. “I don’t know.”

  Charlie’s brows lifted slightly. “And yet, I completely understand.”

  Donna held out her arms. “Do you think this is all right for a clandestine meeting with a fae contact?”

  Charlie pursed her lips and tilted her head, an act of serious consideration if ever there was one. “It’s close. I have just the thing you’re missing.” She pointed to the console table behind Donna that held the printers. “Look in that box.”

  Donna turned to find a dove-gray box about the size of a briefcase sitting there. The center of the bo
x was marked with a large gold F and a small e inside of an ornate filigree oval. It looked like the kind of packaging a couturier might use, but she doubted that box held an evening gown. Not with the symbol for iron on the front. “What’s this?”

  “Open it and see.”

  Donna pulled the top off. Inside was dark red tissue paper sealed with a gold sticker bearing the same Fe logo. She broke the seal and lifted the tissue. “Well, now. How about that?”

  She lifted out the most exquisite merlot-colored leather jacket she’d ever seen. It had some motorcycle-style detailing, but it was longer, almost to midthigh, and had additional elements, like quilting on the shoulders and elbows and several interior and exterior pockets. At least three of the slim exterior pockets were actually sheaths that already contained blades. “I am in deep love with this.”

  “Good, because that’s your armor.”

  “That explains why it weighs a thousand pounds.”

  “It won’t after you put it on and read the incantation that comes with it.”

  Donna flicked her gaze to her admin. “Say what now?”

  Charlie got up from her desk. “This is a Ferris & Coven custom jacket. It’s got iron sandwiched between the leather and the lining in various places. Enough so that you’ll be fae-proof. But yes, that makes it heavy. Which is why the company also includes an incantation specific to this jacket that will not only fit it to you, but invoke a spell that reduces the weight by a significant amount.”

  Donna blinked, a little lost for words. Mouth open, she tried to speak, but the questions in her head got tangled together on the way to her mouth.

  Charlie grinned. “Ferris & Coven is a family-owned business. A father and his three daughters, who are all witches. Well, one is…not entirely a witch.”

  “And they just decided to get into the handmade leather jacket business?”

  “He was already in the leather business but mostly catered to bikers. He also dabbled in blacksmithing. Then one of his daughters fell in love with a vampire. And that vampire was killed by the fae.” Her grin flipped to a frown. “The rest, as they say, is history.”

  “Wow.”

  She nodded. “There should be more in the box. Like a set of bracelets for you to wear when the coat is too much. Or in addition, if you want.”