“Why don’t you shut your goddamn pie-hole,” Jerry hissed, looking ready to attack. It was doubtful that Cass had told them. More likely, Rachel read her mind and relayed the information. But Sophinia bringing up that part of his life was enough to illicit a backlash.
“Am I wrong?” Sophinia asked simply.
“Pureblood or not, you’re gonna shut up before I stab you in your neck!”
“Jerry, calm down,” she ordered.
“No! I won’t calm down! I know what kind of people you’re used to dealing with, but when my family is in danger I don’t hit the deck and adopt the fetal position! I pick up the nearest sharp object and start swinging!” he yelled. “You can try and stop me if you want, but I’m warning you, if you screw up and it puts their heads on the chopping block...I will hunt you down and kill you!”
Sophinia walked straight up to his face, her fangs glinting in her mouth. “I’d like to see you try, boy.” Even she, given Jerry’s attitude, had lost her serenity, her grace, and was showing her monstrous side.
“Okay, tough guy, you made your point,” Joe said, getting between them, but Jerry didn’t back away. He stayed there, burning a murderous look into Sophinia’s eyes. “Jerry, I mean it, that’s enough, back off!” Joe had to actually shove him backwards.
He finally turned and stormed out of the house.
“Jerry!” Claire called out.
“It’s okay. He just needs to cool off. He’ll probably go and take his frustrations out on a tree or something,” Goose said.
Nobody pursued him. At least not for a few minutes.
Jerry walked about fifty feet away from the house and sat down next to the tree line. Right about now, he wished he had a drink in his hand, but they had all but finished the bottle the night before. The dark clouds were getting thicker in the sky and it was probably going to start raining soon.
After about five minutes, Cassandra walked over.
“You still fanning that fire in your belly?” she asked. “Because I’d suggest you throw some water on it. Sophinia is the last person on the planet that you want to pick a fight with.”
“Yeah, I heard purebloods are kinda tough,” he shrugged. “But they’re not invincible.”
“No, they can die. But you don’t have nearly the experience or the strength to take one on.”
“I don’t think I ever will, but I gotta try,” he said.
“I know you think this is the best way, but it isn’t. You’re just a kid and you think you’re right about this, but you aren’t. You’re so sure about yourself, but really you’re an arrogant dick, like a mule waiting to be jumped on!”
“You jumped on pretty fast last night,” he smirked.
Cass rolled her eyes in annoyance. “Look, what happened last night was a mistake. It shouldn’t have happened and it’s never happening again.”
“Wait, shh,” Jerry said listening out for something.
“What?” Cass’s hearing was way better than his and she couldn’t hear anything but the usual ambiance.
“Sorry, I thought this was the part where some crappy indie song syncs up in the background,” he said, as sweetly and insultingly as possible. “You lay your head gently on my shoulder and sobbingly confess your feelings for me and I declare my undying love for you. We kiss and gaze at each other longingly for hours on – oh no, wait a sec, that shit doesn’t actually happen in real life!”
“Kiss my ass!” she hissed.
“I think I did that at about three this morning,” he shrugged, “I don’t know, I was pretty drunk.”
“Alright, smart mouth, what’s your point?”
“Cass, I’m young, but I’m not an idiot. I never thought that this was going anywhere. It would be impossible. My blood and your fangs, that’s suicide. I like you Cass, you’re badass and you’re really hot, but I’m not in love with you,” he smiled. He was attracted to her, but that was all.
There was a big difference between lust and love. She was pleasantly surprised by his realism on the subject. “You’re not so bad yourself,” she nodded.
“Thanks...that’s why I need you with me on this,” he said seriously.
“Jerry -”
“I’m gonna fight, Cass, but if I don’t survive, I’ll need you there to protect the others. I’m not stupid enough to think that I can do this alone, but I am gonna do it.”
“I can’t, Jerry, I’m sorry,” she said honestly, causing him to sigh. “I’m not gonna watch while you get killed over this. I’m with Sophinia on this, and I will stop you.”
“Cass -”
“Come on. Come back inside, we’ll talk this through. Strategize, do some brainstorming and such,” she suggested. “And FYI, you do drink too much scotch. What the hell kind of teenager drinks scotch anyway?”
“Well, I ain’t exactly normal am I, and talking it through isn’t gonna change anything,” Jerry sighed.
“Jerry, look, we -”
And then her gut exploded and blood sprayed Jerry in the face. She collapsed to the ground, gasping in pain with shock in her eyes. The shot rang out a second later. A sniper!
“Cass!”
Something pinched him in the neck before he could get to her. He reached up and felt the dart that was sticking there. His vision started to blur and his limbs became heavy.
“Son of a...”
Everything went dark, as Jerry fell to the ground and passed out.
CHAPTER 18 – THE DEVIL YOU KNOW
Joe’s House – St. Cloud.
“The scent dies about a mile away. They've been burning tires to cover it,” Claire reported quickly, when she returned to the house.
They had been searching for Jerry and Cass for half an hour now, but they had no workable clues. The windows had been blasted out by the explosion that Black Forest had set off in order to cover their escape. Sophinia and the others had been hot on their tails, until they detonated a bunch of claymores about a hundred yards from the house. The heat, smoke and the blast itself had stalled them, stopping them from being able to follow, and Black Forest had slipped away.
Now they were scouring the entire area for any signs.
Joe was sitting at the table with his face in his hands. Goose was looking just as worried after getting off the phone with Steve and Sarah. They were on their way to help join the hunt. Parker, Roach and just about everyone that Sophinia knew were being called in.
Sophinia was remaining calm, but it was clear that she was also scared. She seemed to think that this was partly her fault. Rachel was glancing at her every few seconds.
“I should have known...” she mumbled. “They were watching me. They followed me here.”
“What the hell do we do?” Goose asked.
“We have some time, we’ll find him,” she said.
“Time? They could be torturing him right now!”
“No, they aren’t. But they will,” Rachel breathed.
Joe let out a whimper between his gritted teeth and Claire walked over and laid her hand on his shoulder.
“What?” Goose asked, looking confused. Then he caught on. “They don’t know that it’s him!”
“Jerry took his shot this morning,” Rachel nodded. “His scent’s covered. Right now they just think he's one of Sophie's human friends, but that’s gonna wear off in about seven hours.”
“You’re saying they just grabbed anyone they could get their hands on.”
Sophinia nodded, guilt in her eyes. “Once they saw me arrive they must have known that something important was here. They took anyone they could because the chances are, they’ll know who has the blood.”
“Then, we gotta find him right now!”
-------------------
Several miles away, Jerry started to stir.
He was sitting on an armless chair in the middle of a square room. He straight away felt the metal around his wrists. Good thing he could pick them.
When his vision returned, he scanned the room. The place fit the situat
ion perfectly. It was heavily industrial and dilapidated, with rust and paint peeling off the wall. He immediately saw the four pale men standing around him. The largest of them was Devlin. Next to him was a skinny gothic looking girl who gave off a very creepy vibe. They were all just leaning against the wall and watching him.
“Something tells me that you guys aren’t here to give me a foot massage,” he grinned. He was frightened, but that just meant he would use smartass comments to hide it. One of the Black Forest goons growled at him. “Hmm, maybe he is,” Jerry shrugged.
The sound of stiff metal moving came from behind him as other people entered the room. And there she was...
Her eyes were dark brown, her hair was almost white and she was wearing jeans and a loose black shirt. Her wings were folded but not hidden in the same way that Sophinia’s were. Her face was round and deceptively cute. Physically, she seemed about twenty years old, but that was also a lie. All in all she was pretty damn hot. And freakishly terrifying.
She looked at Jerry and a small smile curled into the corner of her mouth. One of her goons pulled Jerry’s wallet out of his pocket and handed it to her.
“Hey, my thirteen bucks better still be in there,” Jerry said, and was completely ignored.
She flipped open the wallet and looked at the first few plastic cards.
“Hello, Daniel Jericho,” she said smoothly. “I’m Selena.”
“I know who you are. Where’s Cass?”
“You didn’t say the magic word,” she teased and moved closer to him.
“Where’s Cass, bitch?” Jerry said instantly. His snark was going off automatically now.
“Oh, attitude; I like,” she grinned wickedly, “but I wonder if there’s any bite behind that bark.”
“Why don’t you un-cuff me and we’ll find out,” he smiled back. He wouldn’t stand a chance against her right now, but his mental auto-mechanism wouldn’t let anyone, including himself, believe that.
“Tempting, but business before pleasure, if you don’t mind,” she said, walking around him, stroking his shoulder as she did. “Now, you seem to be a little concerned for Cassandra. Well, you can have her, I don’t want her...you know what I do want?”
“A circumcision?”
“Where’s the guy with the magic blood?” she asked, ignoring his comment, an excited look on her face.
“Screwing your mother in a motel called ‘kiss my ass,’” he said quickly, causing her to laugh. She had just revealed that she didn’t know it was him, but that would all change if she took a bite out of him. His smell was covered, but it didn’t change what his blood could do.
The vampires around her snarled at him, but didn’t advance.
“You know, for a pithy little human you’re actually kinda cute,” she said playfully. “And those eyes of yours...I could just eat them up.”
Again with the eyes, why did they notice them so much? They seemed to be getting all the attention lately.
“And for a filthy bloodsucking whore you’re not even the slightest bit cute,” he said back, in the same tone. No fear in his voice. The same couldn’t be said for his soul.
“Sorry, are you talking about me or Cassandra?” she giggled.
“Cass isn’t filthy.”
“But she is a bloodsucking whore...and her sister is a stupid sentimental bitch. I hate these human loving fools that think we can all just get along. Why would we? I mean, you’re our food. Do you seek equality with a sandwich? You’re nothing compared to us.”
“Except for our superior oral hygiene,” Jerry said, baring his pearly whites.
“You wanna keep those teeth, you’ll shut them,” Devlin warned.
“Now, now, Devlin, let’s be polite,” Selena said happily.
“You’re Devlin?” Jerry asked. The hulking vampire nodded. “Yeah, I heard about you. You're the one that won't give a reach around right?”
Devlin took a step forward, looking pissed, but Selena put up a hand to stop him. Jerry probably would have crapped himself, but he just couldn’t stop the defensive insults.
He smirked. “That's weird, I thought vampires didn't have menopause.”
Devlin let out a heavy snarl and moved forward again.
“Devlin,” Selena said, making the threat in her voice known. Again, he moved backwards.
The Goth chick, who was probably Sasha, rubbed his arm when he returned to her side.
“It’s pretty insulting when an insect starts giving you attitude. I really hope that we can put your species in their place, once and for all. You people are so deluded about your level on the food chain, it’s not even funny anymore,” Selena said conversationally. “I can’t wait to see what the religious idiots in your world do when we come to light.”
“Holy crap, you’re not gonna monologue me to death are you?” Jerry groaned.
“What, you don't agree?”
“Honey, we built the modern age. I didn't see any vampire patents on iPhones, IMAX or F-35's. We made this world, and yeah, it's going downhill, but hell, it's still ours. Earth may be a shit-hole because of us, but it is our shit hole, and we can do whatever we want with it.”
“Not for long,” she grinned. “Let’s go and see Cassandra.”
Jerry was yanked out of the chair by Devlin, who purposely squeezed his shoulder so hard that he’d have finger shaped bruises there by the next morning. They dragged him out of the room and down a long corridor that was so old and rusted, it resembled something you’d see in an ancient submarine or ship.
There weren’t too many places like that in the area. He did his best to look out for anything that could give him an idea of where he might be.
“You know, I was born about three hours after Isaac Newton. Ironic, considering there is a school nearby with the same name,” Selena reminisced as they walked, “even back then, your species thought it was top of the food chain. You had humans thinking they were superior to nature, and then humans thinking that they were superior to other humans, and so on and so forth. But none of you had a damn clue.”
Jerry rolled his eyes for about the eighth time. They walked into a larger corridor that had small rooms, almost like cells, every few feet on both sides. Inside them were broken desks and old papers thrown all over the floor. The corridor that they were walking down had some sort of strange red powder trodden all over the floor, as if it were stuck to their boots. There was nothing that told him where he was.
“Romans and their slaves, Hitler and his super race, it’s all the same. Human arrogance,” she continued.
Then Jerry spotted something he did recognize. Stashed in the corner of one of the rooms was an old smelting mold. He knew where he was.
It was the only disused iron works in the area: Rockville Iron Plant.
They turned a corner and arrived at a large open factory floor. Old busted metal machinery lay everywhere, a blanket of dust and cobwebs all over them. It was still light outside, but only just. Either the clouds had gotten a lot thicker or the sun was setting.
They arrived at a heavy metal door with lever lock on it. One of the Black Forest goons yanked it around and pulled the door open.
Selena stepped inside and Devlin shoved Jerry in.
His heart dropped as soon as he saw Cass. She had layers of chains wrapped around her torso, trapping her arms to her body, but that wasn’t the worry. She breathing hard and looked incredibly pale, sweat pouring off her forehead. Her eyes were blood shot and her clothes were stained from her earlier wound. She had a hole in her top revealing her toned and now healed stomach from where the bullet had hit her.
“Ooh, she looks thirsty, doesn’t she?” Selena grinned, looking delighted at Cass’s suffering.
“Cass, you okay?” Jerry asked.
She nodded.
“Oh no, she’s not okay, Daniel. Far from it. You see, she hasn’t eaten in a few days and healing that gut shot we gave her really used up her reserves, so now she’s running on fumes. I’d give her a day, maybe a d
ay and a half before she’s so hungry that she’ll eat anything or anyone she can find.”
Suddenly Jerry flashed back to what Claire had told him about vampire starvation. About how it was probably the most painful and horrific way they could die. That was what the sadistic winged bitch had in store for Cassandra.
Blood Heavy (Blood Heavy Series) Page 24