A Vampire's Purgatory (Romance In Central City Book 8)
Page 17
“He’s not here,” Ricard answered, ensuring to keep his voice as calm as possible. “You have felt something?”
“He’s fallen. I felt it. My brother. My master. He’s…” Gabe turned from the room and ran.
“No! Rafe!” Maddie moved to follow, but Ricard caught her.
“No. You must stay. You cannot follow Gabe. You are needed here.” He held her back from the door as Jessica closed it and raced to them.
“No. My mate. Rafe!” Maddie fought with all her might to break free of Ricard’s hold, but he would not release her.
He understood better than anyone what she must feel, but he also knew he could not let her run to her death. She was needed here and he knew the plans of Panthera well enough, he knew if they could capture her, they’d ferry her away from the fighting and torture her in ways she’d never dreamed.
After several attempts to make her stay on her own volition he managed to subdue her, using his vampire influence. She sat in a corner with Jessica, hands shaking and voice trembling. But there she remained as Ricard worked with the help of a couple less injured vampires and former Panthera scientists to care for the wounded.
Less than an hour later the door to the lab burst open again. This time Gabe, bloodied and wounded, carried in the body of his brother. Aurelia, too was bloody. “Help him!” Gabe growled and placed Rafe on an empty table.
The sight of her mate brought Maddie from the corner. “Rafe!”
The wounded vampire turned toward the voice. “Madd…” He reached a hand in her direction. From a gaping wound at his neck blood poured.
Ricard recognized the type of injury. This was not the work of any sort of blade. Those were fang marks. Rafe had been attacked by a vampire.
“Do we know who did this to him?” Ricard began working on the injury, putting the muscles and blood vessels back into place and stitching them closed as quickly as he could.
Jessica stood by his side, cleaning away blood and pinching the vessels closed to stem the blood loss. She worked with diligent focus, never once flinching at the gore.
“Our father did this. That bastard still lives.” Gabe bit into his wrist and placed it to Rafe’s mouth.
Ricard’s head snapped up, his attention drawn from his work. “You’re certain?”
“I saw him myself.” Gabe’s eye flashed with the hatred Ricard felt in his own gut.
He wasted only seconds considering this information. Allowing himself to focus for even a second longer would cause him to lose control of the rage he struggled to contain. “Another suture, Jessica.” He held out his hand, and when the item was placed in it, he continued working.
Rafe drank, and though the wounds began healing, the progress was not fast enough. If they could not stop the blood loss, he would die.
“He needs blood. Her blood.” Gabe pulled Maddie around the table, cutting a slice in her arm and shoving the wound to Rafe’s lips. “Do not fear. He needs you, but he will not take more than you can give.”
It is true an injured vampire heals much more quickly, more completely when given his mate’s or his progeny’s blood. But it was clear Rafe had fed from both Gabe and Aurelia and still he was on the precipice of death.
“Whatever he needs. I’ll give it all.” Maddie cradled her mate against her.
Jessica’s hand curled around Ricard’s arm. “Is he…”
“I don’t know.” Ricard pulled her into his embrace. His heart hurt with the pain of watching a mated pair so close to losing each other.
Holding Jessica, the woman he loved above all others, the woman Panthera sought to destroy, he felt the anger rise. His nemesis, the vampire who had destroyed his world was not dead as he’d thought. Somehow the most vile men he’d ever encountered, Raffaele Barone and Raymond Tyrone, had been in league together. The desire for vengeance rose again.
Chapter Thirty-One
So much was happening that Jessie wasn’t sure she could keep up. She’d been working on an adrenaline high these last few hours. Keeping in step with Ricard and helping to care for the injured, meeting more vampires, and learning about the lives these Panthera employees were forced to live was difficult enough. But listening to the poor human victims who were already so confused by what they had endured brought back so many memories of the life she and Joshua had been living. These poor people had no idea what they would have withstood had they not been rescued.
Now seeing Rafe so injured that the once powerful vampire could not even lift his head and his always-chatty mate could not form a full sentence, she felt the weight of such sadness nearly impossible to withstand.
With the help of Gabe and Aurelia, Ricard moved Rafe and Maddie to a larger bed and set her up with a blood transfusion. “He will need to feed throughout the night, and she will need to be the donor, if this is to work.”
“It will work.” Gabe stood beside the bed, keeping guard. “And when she needs a break, Aurelia and I can step in.”
Aurelia rested her hand on Gabe’s shoulder. “He will make it. I feel it. He’s stronger than both of us. He will not succumb to this.”
Gabe looked at his mate and nodded. The tears he fought to keep back could not be contained, and Aurelia moved into his embrace.
“He will make it, Gabe.” She kissed him. “Have faith.”
Jessie couldn’t help but cry with them. Ricard pulled her aside. “Come, love. You need to sit for a few minutes.”
“Losing Joshua, I know how this feels for them.” She sniffled.
They’d hardly sat down when the larger contingency returned. Serge came in, followed by Garrison, Oz, and Brandt. Each of the men looked worse than the next. Jessie and Ricard rose to help them.
“Sit.” Serge waved them back. “I need only to get blood for Garrison. Then I will go to my mate.”
“I came to see Rafe,” Brandt said. He wore no shirt and had claw and bite marks over most of his torso. He glanced at Jessie and must have seen a surprised look. “I found the revenants first. It’s been a long night, but I’ll be fine by nightfall.”
“I think you might have killed more than Oz,” Garrison said, collapsing onto the table where Rafe had lain.
“Damn straight.” Brandt peered down at Rafe, then clasped Gabe on the back. “The lab has been destroyed. Engulfed in flames.” He shook his head. “There’s no way anyone survived this time. Your father and Rollins were trapped inside. Those bastards won’t be experimenting on anyone else.”
“Fuckers.” Gabe sneered.
“The sun is up, and we’ve left the human guards working to ensure the last of the building burns to the ground.” Serge shoved straws into two bags of blood and handed them to Garrison. “In a sweep of the city we found a couple dozen revenants hidden, but otherwise they were the only ones outside of the lab.”
“And they are no more.” Garrison pointed a finger in the air.
“No thanks to you,” Brandt said. “You wimp.”
“I got a few,” Garrison said.
“You did a fine job, Garrison. Maybe someday you’ll find a mate so I don’t have to babysit.” Serge shook his head. “Our work is not done. We still need to rebuild this city. But for now Central City is safe.”
“I’m going home. I’ll catch you all in a few days. I don’t plan to let Rachel out of the house for a week.” Brandt turned and left the lab.
“That’s the best idea I’ve heard all night, and I’m fairly certain that’s what everyone else will be doing, too,” Serge said. He checked on Rafe’s neck, and Jessie noted how the wound had healed. The blood loss had stopped and skin, reknit itself.
Gabe bent over his brother, peering at the neck wound with more interest than Serge. He studied his brother in much the same way Jessie had looked after Joshua. Then he nodded. “It’s good.”
Rafe lay unmoving. In fact Jessie did not believe he breathed. She leaned forward, staring at his chest where Maddie’s arm was draped. Nothing appeared to move.
“Are you sure he’s n
ot…” She jumped up from her seat, wondering if the stress of the situation was causing them to miss the truth.
Ricard came up behind her, pulling their bodies together. “He’s sleeping. Notice the way Maddie now sleeps with him.”
Maddie lay nestled close to Rafe, her arm and leg draped over his body, her breathing, equally as shallow as Rafe’s.
Ricard pressed a kiss to Jessie’s head. “He will recover, though they will rest for several hours before rising again. It is the way vampires recover and the way mates protect each other.”
Jessie felt the way her mate held her, not only in his arms, but in his soul. She felt the way he comforted her, and the tender way his presence reassured her everything would be fine.
“Good job, Ricard.” Serge turned from the table. “Had you been in the field and not here where we needed you most, Rafe might not have made it.”
Gabe came to stand before Ricard. “Thank you for saving him. As we said before we despise our father for what he did to Genevieve and to you. And now that you’ve save my brother, I owe you a debt twice as great.” He held out his hand.
Ricard shook Gabe’s hand. “You owe me nothing. You and Rafe are not to blame. We are all victims of the same monster.”
Serge clasped both men on their shoulders. “Once again, The Vampire Guard has a common cause.”
~The End~
Thank you for reading A Vampire’s Purgatory. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, help other people find my book by writing a review.
About Jordan
Jordan loves vampires. She also loves to laugh. And if you know anything about Jordan, you know her vampires will make you laugh.
The Eva Prim Series follows the night-to-night escapades of The Demon Mistress, a vampire with the inexplicable ability to call demons. With both full-length novels and short stories the series has a bit of something for everyone. Book three, The Road To Hell, is coming soon.
Jordan’s other books include The Central City Romance Series, where members of The Vampire Guard one-by-one find love in the ruins of the city and Black Magic Rose, book one of The Alliance Series, where the world is set in a hospital run by vampires and werewolves. She also has a sexy short story series, Short Seductions, about the romantic encounters of paranormals who spend time at Seductions, the hottest nightclub in Rhode Island. The Spaghetti Romances Series is a new series about witches falling in love and finding the true strength of their magic. This series will keep you laughing.
When she’s not writing about some vampire or another paranormal being, Jordan enjoys spending time with her husband, Ken and their lovable Labradors, Dino and Enzo on the beautiful beaches of New England.
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Look for these other stories by Jordan
The Eva Prim Series
The Demon Mistress
Book One in The Eva Prim Series
Prim & Proper
Book Two in The Eva Prim Series
The Road to Hell
Book Three in The Eva Prim Series
coming soon
The Eva Prim short story collection
Demons and Deep Dish Pizza
Demons and The Dark Roast
The Vampire Hand Guide: Myths, Tips & Advice
Choices. Anarchy. Hypocrisy.
also available
Romance in Central City Novella Series
Her Vampire’s Promise
The Vampire’s Partner
A Vampire’s Passion
His Vampire Past
The Vampire’s Penance
The Vampire’s Prophecy
Her Vampire Protector
A Vampire’s Purgatory
The Alliance
Black Magic Rose
Book One
Spaghetti Romances
The Witch, The Weeds, and The Were
Book One
Secrets, Lies, and Meatballs
Book Two
Short Seductions
Shana & The Vampire, Story One
Delia & The Werewolf, Story Two
Tess & The Demon, Story Three
Jenna & The Telepath, Story Four
Liza & The Dragon, Story Five
Beatrice & The Shifter, Story Six
Maria & The Angel, Story Seven
Raquel & The Necromancer, Story Eight
Abigail & The Warlock, Story Nine
Lilith & The Human, Story Ten
These books by Jordan are available in print
The Demon Mistress
Book One in The Eva Prim Series
Prim & Proper
Book Two in The Eva Prim Series
Black Magic Rose
Book One in The Alliance
Find Jordan’s books on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1ef3OsG