I hit him like a train, taking us both to the hall floor in a tangle of knees and elbows. I grabbed a handful of his ghostly hair and ripped it out. Then I tore at the folds of his coat, trying to get to the meat of him, rage consuming my actions. He screamed up at me, but I cut him off with a sharp strike to the throat, immediately delivering another one to his solar plexus with my elbow.
Another scream echoed through the adjacent hallway, and Blair Hanson spilled out of a room, falling to her knees further down on the same rug I had Cain pinned to. Her red hair was up in the French twist she’d worn to the party, and I could see her grief-stricken face clear as day.
Cain smirked and then let out a pathetic gasp. “Help! She’s gone mad!” he screamed, thrashing beneath me. “She killed her donor!”
“What?” I snarled in his face. My fangs dug into my bottom lip as my teeth clenched.
Blair slammed into me. The force of her assault lifted me up off Cain, and my spine spasmed as it connected with the concrete wall. She held me there, inches off the ground, one arm across my throat, and pressed her face in close to mine.
“Did you kill Gavin, too? I know you wanted him,” she said, a raw edge slipping into her voice. I gurgled around my crushed windpipe, unable to answer her.
The steel fangs I’d swiped from Cain’s jacket were hot in my hand, still slick with Natalie’s blood—Gavin’s, too, I guessed. I pressed them into the side of Blair’s throat, drawing a startled breath from her. My hand trembled, biting the metal tips in deeper, but that seemed to sharpen Blair’s attention.
She slowly lowered me to the floor, her eyes dilated and fangs extended.
“These are Cain’s,” I rasped, holding them back for her to see.
“You’re lying.” Her lips peeled back, distorting her pretty features.
“He’s been trying to get rid of me since I got here,” I said. “And you know exactly why. Whose harem did you snatch him from, Blair?”
“Scarlett.” she breathed the name, nearly choking on it. “But that was twenty years ago.”
“They shared lifeblood.”
“No.” She shook her head, refusing to believe me. “First, you blamed Sonja on Mic, and now Cain—”
“Mic’s being released.” I ground my teeth, feeling my fangs bulge again. “Cain did this. He did it all. The coffin in the pool, the live round, Sonja.”
Blair finally took her eyes off me long enough to cast a cynical glare over her shoulder. Cain held his hands up, the picture of innocence.
“Who are you going to believe? A rogue vampling or a member of your own house?”
Blair’s breath grew heavy as if she might begin crying any moment. A mewling noise slipped from her as she took an uneven step toward Cain. “I can… I can smell him on you.” She gasped, coming to her own conclusion.
Cain saw it, too, but he wasn’t fast enough. Blair raked her nails down the back of his jacket, tearing through fabric and flesh. The half-sired groaned as he struggled to get away from her, but her fist knotted in his hair and wrenched his head to one side.
She bit Cain’s neck at the wrong angle, striking an artery, and a thick stream of blood painted the ceiling of the harem hallway. The few donors who had peeked out of their rooms to witness the commotion retreated with horrified screams. But Blair didn’t let up. Not until she had drained him of every last drop.
Chapter Twenty
After the hell I’d been through, the remaining weeks in the bat cave were nothing to write home about. They were downright boring. And depressing.
Blair and I were both coffin-locked, but only for a day, until base officials confirmed Cain’s DNA on the imitation fangs and matched them to the impressions found on Natalie, Gavin, and Sonja. After that, the duke and House Hanson were notified, and training resumed.
The new rumor on base was that our whole session was cursed. Three dead and three falsely coffin-locked. We grieved and trained with caution.
Sampson took over as my loaner harem coordinator. He even moved into Natalie’s old room, insisting she would have wanted that. I broke down and agreed to a séance in her honor, moving the little disc around the alphabet board until the gang was content that she was at peace. I still wasn’t convinced, but watching Cain pay for what he’d done was therapeutic in its own horrific way.
Mic was reinstated three nights after the ball, after recovering from his week-long coffin-lock. I happily relinquished the record to him. He made a point to thank me, personally and publicly, for pressing the duke to release him. Blair did, too. Andre had never really given me much trouble, but even he became nicer in those last few weeks.
Without Cain to stir discord in the human unit, Collins had an easier time of things, too. Mandy was still pleased as Punch with her own program, especially after Carmichael invited her to come back and camp with the local pack anytime.
Graduation day arrived sooner than I expected, and with it, the promise of seeing Roman again. He took precedence over everything else on my plate, ranking above my quest to bring Scarlett to justice, the first holiday gathering I’d be sharing with my sister in over a decade, and even the ominous research Vin wanted to share with me—despite the fact that I’d broken up with him over the phone shortly after the ball.
The skewed nature of my priorities wasn’t lost on me, and though I tried, there was no resolving the matter through common sense. Love—lust—whatever…were not sensible emotions.
There wasn’t a lot a pomp and circumstance to the BATC graduation. On the final Saturday of training, a few hours before sunrise, the sergeants lined up all the cadets in front of the cave pool, and Kai handed us each a sealed certificate and letter of recommendation. No one really needed the letter—surviving the bat cave was proof enough of one’s ability—but it was procedure to turn it over to your new captain on your first official day with Blood Vice.
I don’t know what I’d been expecting, really, with a super-secret organization like Blood Vice. The duke didn’t even make an appearance. I assumed it was simply because he was up to his eyeballs in scandal, attempting to figure out who was behind the queen’s attack.
I felt like a coward and an asshole for not telling him right away. But I was a breathing cowardice asshole. That had to count for something.
My new captain would be Vanessa, I found out from Roman during one of our last phone calls. I was torn on how to accept the news. On one hand, I’d be spending a lot of time with Roman. On the other, Vanessa was Roman’s potential sire. He was hers, no matter how loudly my heart cried mine. It was a relationship on paper, nothing more from what I’d seen.
Whatever it had been in the past wasn’t my concern. I wouldn’t be asking him to explain why they’d shared a room at the Cottage Crypt. Though, I did ask Collins to drive all the way through, not wanting to stop there again. He was happy to comply.
The nights were longer than they’d been when we made the drive out, and they’d continue to lengthen until Midwinter, when I would begin the six-month countdown to my adoption. I wondered who I would end up with. Sonja’s grandsire, while intimidating, had seemed like the fair and kind type. Could I be happy with House Starling? Would I have to move to Michigan?
There were other houses that were less appealing, but I had to hope after saving the queen’s life that she wouldn’t stick me with an asshat. Roman’s outburst had made me reconsider the pros and cons, but in the end, I was still glad the queen had agreed to it. I desperately wanted to belong.
Roman couldn’t understand. He’d been affiliated with House Sorano for twenty years. He’d been half-sired for fifty. When he was finally turned, he’d be prepared and surrounded by a familiar support network. As much as I wanted to believe he was enough to get me through this, I knew better.
* * * * *
When Collins blue Toyota pulled up outside my house an hour before sunrise, Vin was waiting on the porch, bundled in a wool coat. Seeing his lime-green Beetle parked on the curb gave my return a melancholy air.
Collins honked his horn in farewell and the Toyota sped off. He was eager to get home to Lazlo. And Mandy had chattered for half the drive about the holiday plans she and Serena were making for the upcoming Christmas break. I hadn’t mentioned anything about Roman to them yet. I didn’t even know where to begin.
“I’m not here to win you back,” Vin said as Mandy and I climbed the porch steps. The announcement caught me off guard.
“Hi, Vin.” Mandy gave him a small wave from under the weight of her snack tote.
“Mandy.” He nodded to her before turning back to me. “It’s your blood, so you deserve to know,” he continued as I unlocked the front door.
“Deserve to know what?”
“That it’s gone.”
I dropped my keys. “What? What do you mean gone?”
“I have a pretty good idea where it is,” Vin said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “But if I ask the thieving doctor to give it back, he’ll want to know where it came from. He could take this to court just for spite.”
“Why would he take it to court? That doesn’t make sense.” I pushed the front door open and snatched up my keys, ushering Mandy in ahead of me.
“Jenna.” Vin grabbed my arm as I stepped inside. “Your blood cures cancer. No”—he waved his other hand as if trying to erase his words—“Your blood cures everything.”
“Yeah, even death.” I stared at him, feeling less surprised than I imagined he had hoped I would be.
“If I could just get a little more, maybe I could recreate the study with something synthetic—”
“Not happening.” I shook my head and moved to close the door, but Vin’s hand caught it, holding it open a second longer.
“It will happen, Jenna,” he snapped. “I’ll find another vampire if I have to. I just thought you might like to be the one responsible for saving so many lives.”
“I will be saving lives.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “As a Blood Vice agent. And what you’re suggesting is against the law—”
“What law?” He scoffed.
“Vampire law. The law I’m now sworn to uphold,” I said. “If I find out you’re conducting any more experiments on vampire blood, I’ll have to arrest you and turn you in to the high council.” A sympathetic note found its way into my voice. “I really don’t want to do that Vin, but I will if you leave me no other choice.”
Vin’s look shifted from scorned outrage to sad defeat and then back. “Roman was here earlier,” he said. “He’s driven around the block twice in the last thirty minutes.”
“I thought you weren’t here to win me back,” I said, lifting an eyebrow.
“I’m not.” He let go of the door and rubbed his hands together before blowing into them. “You’re selfish and arrogant and heartless. There’s clearly nothing here worth winning back.”
I slammed the door in his face.
“He had that coming,” Mandy said from the threshold of the dining room. She’d already put together a sandwich stacked half a foot high. “It’s so good to be home,” she said around an enormous bite.
I inhaled the orange and vanilla scent of my mother’s candles and sighed. “Yeah, it sure is.”
* * * * *
Not ten minutes after Vin left, Roman arrived. We sat on my porch and attempted to contain ourselves as we discussed the predicament we were in.
“This will wear off eventually,” Roman said, sounding less sure than his words suggested. I didn’t bring up the fact that Cain was still hung up on Scarlett after twenty years. I was sure he’d read the report himself.
“And until then?” I asked. “What are we supposed to do?”
His eyes zeroed in on my mouth, and he swallowed. “I can think of a few things.”
“That’s helpful.” I laughed, but my blood warmed any time he looked at me that way. “How does this affect your half-sired status with Vanessa?”
Roman grimaced at her name. “We don’t tell her. We don’t tell anyone. We let this run its course, and move on.”
“Is it so cut-and-dry for you?” I asked, feeling wounded by his callous approach. “What if I’m not interested in being your dirty secret until you bore of me?”
“Then don’t be,” he said, clapping his hands together as he stood. “I’m happy to fight the forces of nature if you are.”
“Are you?” I folded my arms around my knees and shivered as a cold breeze swept through my front yard. Fall had come and gone while I’d been away in Denver.
Roman stuffed his hands down in the pockets of his jeans. “No,” he answered truthfully. “But I’m not really the marrying and settling down type.” He gave me a sad grin. “If that’s what you’re looking for, maybe you should have kept the good doctor around.”
“Shut up and sit down.” I tugged on the hem of his coat. “Our lifeblood dilemma aside, tell me what to expect on Monday.”
Roman sat and rubbed both hands over his face with a groan. “Not sure that subjects going to be any easier.”
“Why’s that?”
“The duke wants us to find Ursula.”
“The estranged duchess? Scarlett and Raphael’s sire?” I asked.
Roman nodded. “Rumor has it she killed her own sire before going into hiding.”
“So that’s what happened to Morgan?”
He looked surprised. “Kai told me you put a dent in the base library. I didn’t believe him.”
“I read. When I have to.” I made a face at him and nudged his arm with mine. The small bit of contact tightened my stomach. Roman stiffened beside me as if he’d felt it, too. Either direction this went, it was not going to be cakewalk.
I cleared my throat and tried to focus on work. We were going after the vampire responsible for creating the one who had killed me. Responsible for creating the one who had killed Will. Responsible for the one who had abducted and turned Mandy against her will.
Part of me was already plotting her demise, recalling Kai’s law class and if there had been any loophole I might be able to shove her through—but a saner part of me remembered that being coffin-locked was a fate worse than death.
That’s what I wanted for this one. That’s what the law demanded. And if I was the one to bring her in, I’d get to look her in the eyes when they did it. She couldn’t know that I was Raphael’s scion. She couldn’t know that Mandy had killed him. But she could know that I was the one responsible for bringing her to justice.
Maybe that would be enough. And who knew? Maybe it would lead to an early promotion.
A vampling could dream.
Catch up with Jenna and company in…
BLOOD DOLLS
BLOOD VICE BOOK FOUR
Coming January 2nd, 2018 – Available for pre-order HERE!
Jenna thought becoming a Blood Vice agent would solve all her problems, but now she’s sworn to solve House Lilith’s problems, too. And there’s no shortage of trouble when dealing with the most regal vampire family in the United States.
The duke’s first assignment for Jenna and company is to locate Ursula, the estranged Duchess of House Lilith suspected of murdering her sire. It’s a tall order—a wild bat chase, some might say—and the long hours with half-sired agent Roman Knight soon drive Jenna to distraction, and possible destruction. Lusting after another vampire's pending scion is a dangerous game, one with legal ramifications in Jenna’s brave new underworld.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am no expert on guns, police, or hematology. I do a massive amount of research to keep my facts as accurate as possible, and when my research comes up dry, I find someone in the know. I owe a great deal of thanks to those I’ve badgered with obscure questions for the sake of writing more believable fiction. This round, I owe extra thanks to Dana Barrett for answering my random police questions, Lisa Medley for the bloody insight, and my husband who knows a thing or two about firearms (and who’s also my inspiration for many of the fabricated names for the firearms and ammunitions within Blood Vice).
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br /> A great big thanks to: my critique group, the Four Horsemen of the Bookocalypse, who are always supportive, enlightening, and all around pretty awesome friends and writers: Kory M. Shrum, Monica La Porta, and Kathrine Pendleton; my sister, Justina Dodson, for being the lovely cover embodiment of Jenna Skye; Bam Shepherd for her keep peepers that catch rogue typos (all remaining errors are my own); THE Professor George Shelley, for his invaluable literary advice and friendship; and YOU for reading my books. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them for you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!
Even though I’ve already mentioned my husband in the acknowledgements once, and even though this book (and every book in this series) is dedicated to him and our son, I owe him another shout-out. I don’t know how I got so lucky. This guy stays up late to proofread, he helps me research weird things, he cheers me on when I’m behind deadline, he reminds me to eat and shower when my brain is running on fumes, and he handles all the “real world” stuff while I’m off playing with my imaginary friends. I honestly don’t know what I’d do without him. He makes me want to be a better person. This book is as much his as it is mine.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
USA Today bestselling author Angela Roquet is a great big weirdo. She collects Danger Girl comic books, owls, skulls, random craft supplies, and all things Joss Whedon. She's a fan of renewable energy, marriage equality, and religious tolerance. As long as whatever you're doing isn't hurting anyone, she's a fan of you, too.
Angela lives in Missouri with her husband and son. She's a member of SFWA and HWA, as well as the Four Horsemen of the Bookocalypse, her epic book critique group, where she's known as Death. When she's not swearing at the keyboard, she enjoys boating with her family at Lake of the Ozarks and reading books that raise eyebrows. You can find Angela online at www.angelaroquet.com
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