Of Breath And Soul

by Jennifer Snyder

  “You were dying, Piper.” Jasper shifted on my bed, situating himself better. “I didn’t know what else to do, so I called in a favor.”

  “What kind of favor?”

  “The kind involving a secret within the blood of an ancient vampire many know nothing about,” a male voice answered from near my bedroom door.

  I leaned around Jasper to see who it was and was surprised when my eyes came to rest on a dark-haired man with the most incredible gray eyes I’d ever seen. I knew who he was, even though I’d never been in his presence before.

  Randal Vincent was the most legendary vampire in the supernatural world, and he was standing at the threshold of my bedroom.

  I took in his tailored suit and shiny shoes. His tie matched the color of his eyes, and his hair was slicked back in a sexy, sophisticated way only he could pull off. His face was baby smooth and his smile was to die for. Randal Vincent was the epitome of a sexy vampire. After all, he was who Dracula had been based off. At least that was what people said. I wasn’t sure if he’d been around for that long—it was hard to believe with how handsome he was—but I couldn’t deny it was possible. Everyone knew he was ancient. It was why he was so well-respected in the supernatural world.

  “Good afternoon, Piper.” Randal pushed himself off the wall and stepped into my room further. My heart raced as I realized there was a vampire in my bedroom. “Do not be afraid. You have nothing to fear.” He smiled, but it did nothing to calm me.

  “What are you doing here?” My brows pulled together, and I shifted my gaze to my brother. “What’s he doing in my room, Jasper?”

  “Checking in on you,” Randal insisted.

  “Why?” My body grew tense as he continued toward me. I gathered my blankets around me, thinking of it as padding against his sharp fangs.

  “Piper, chill out. It’s okay,” Jasper grumbled as though my behavior was embarrassing him. “He saved you.”

  “Saved me, how?”

  Randal paused at the side of my bed, leaving little space between us. At least not enough for me to feel comfortable. “I gave you some of my blood.”

  “Why?”

  “I was returning a favor.” Amusement flickered through his gray eyes. It was clear he found my behavior comical and didn’t seem to care if I knew.

  “You’re scaring the crap out of her,” a brown-haired woman close to my brother’s age insisted as she stalked into the room carrying a tall glass of water. There was something familiar about her, but I couldn’t put my finger on what. “Give her some space, Randal.”

  “I’m not intending to frighten her. I promise.” He held up his hands in surrender.

  “She has a fear of vampires,” Jasper announced, causing my face to flush through twenty shades of red. It was the first time he’d ratted me out in front of a vampire before.

  “There’s nothing to be afraid of. Randal won’t hurt you. I wouldn’t let him,” the woman said with a smile as she held the glass of water out to me. “You did help him once. Or me, actually.” She shook her head as though trying to organize her thoughts on the matter better.

  It came to me then who she was—Kenna, the succubus Jasper and I had helped find Randal.

  “That’s right.” Randal moved behind her and wrapped his arm around her waist. “Giving my blood to help save your life was my way of thanking you and your brother for helping to find me when many thought I was lost.”

  “We were compensated for that.” I took the water from Kenna and moved to sit up in bed. My muscles protested, prompting me to release a few groans and for Jasper to help me.

  “Why don’t you just say thank you?” my brother muttered under his breath.

  Randal chuckled, having heard him with his superhuman hearing. “Yes, you were compensated for your time, knowledge, and skills by my sisters and the love of my life, but not by me. I mentioned to your brother once if he should ever need my services for anything, all he had to do was ask. So he did.” He waved his hand over me, gesturing to what Jasper had asked for.

  A shiver slipped through my body as I realized I had vampire blood coursing through my veins. Old vampire blood. Yuck.

  Silence filled the room. All eyes were on me when I took a sip of my water. I got the impression everyone was waiting for me to thank Randal for his blood and my brother for cashing in his favor. I didn’t do either. Instead, I focused on trying to remember why I’d needed saving to begin with.

  A very pissed off Meili stalked into the room before my mind could wander too far with possibilities. In her hands, she held bandages and a tube of cream.

  “I already told you that won’t be necessary,” Jasper insisted.

  She ignored him and continued to make her way to my bedside. Randal and Kenna moved to give her better access, but my brother remained where he was.

  “Her dressings need to be changed,” Meili snapped. I wasn’t sure why there was so much hostility between the two, but from the look on Kenna’s face, I wasn’t the only one taking notice.

  Meili jerked the comforter up, revealing my legs and keeping the rest of me covered. I was glad, because I hadn’t had a second to take stock and figure out what I was wearing. My loose-fitting blue pajama pants caught my eye. I tried to remember how I’d gotten changed into them, but couldn’t. It didn’t matter because any thoughts about how I’d gotten into the clothes disappeared the second I spotted the white bandage wrapped around my thigh.

  Everything came rushing back. The rooftop date. The Chinese food. The mysterious woman with the tattoo of a bird. The fighting. The dagger in my leg.

  And Tristan, bloodied and bruised.

  Chapter 10

  Fear pumped through me steady and fast. I needed to know he was okay. An image of him getting his ass kicked by the nut job of a woman who’d attacked us flashed through my head. While I might have been the one stabbed, he had been the one who’d taken a serious beating.

  “Tristan. Is he okay?” My eyes latched onto Jasper’s, searching for any reaction from him that might give me a clue before he could say anything.

  “He’s fine,” Jasper spat. “Not that he should be after what he did,” he tacked on in a low mutter to himself. I heard him though, and what he’d said ticked me off.

  “Tristan didn’t do anything wrong. None of this is on him. It was all because of some crazy woman with a tattoo of a bird on her neck,” I insisted. Was he freaking serious? Did he think Tristan stabbed me?

  “I know he didn’t stab you, Piper.” Jasper glared at me. “He needs your blood too much to do something so stupid.”

  My insides heated to a new level of pissed. “Wow.” I bit my bottom lip to keep from spewing horrible things at my brother. “That isn’t fair,” I added, even though other things fought to be released.

  “Maybe so, but it’s the truth. Isn’t it?”

  I stared at him, knowing if I opened my mouth a war of words would begin. I hated Jasper thought so little of Tristan. There was more to this thing than him needing me to get his magic back. I wished Jasper could see that. I wished he would understand things from my point of view for a change.

  Meili reached around Jasper for the bandage wrapped around my leg. Without any warning, she jerked it off in one swift tug. I flinched and reached down to rub the area, but stopped short when I noticed there was nothing but a faint pink mark where the crazy woman’s knife had sliced into me.

  While I wasn’t a vampire fan, it would be impossible for me to deny that their blood rocked.

  “I can’t believe it’s almost healed,” Kenna said, voicing my thoughts.

  “Vampire blood does incredible things when used correctly,” Randal assured her.

  “Tristan. Did he get any?” I wanted to know where he was, and if he was okay. It wouldn’t be fair for me to be fully healed and him to still be in pain somewhere.

  “No,” Jasper was quick to say. His face hardened, and I knew it was because he didn’t think Tristan deserved to be healed. My brother thought he deserv
ed to suffer.

  “What is your deal?” I demanded.

  “My deal?” Jasper pointed to himself. “I don’t have one.”

  “I call bullshit on that.” I sat up and folded my arms over my chest. “You’re being an ass. Where is Tristan? Why aren’t you telling me anything about him?”

  “I sent him home,” Jasper growled.

  My blood boiled. He’d sent him home? I wanted to scream.

  “You do realize if it hadn’t been for him, I’d be dead right now, right? That was the tattooed lady’s intentions. She wanted to kill me, Jasper, and Tristan stopped her,” I announced with more venom than was necessary.

  “You do realize if it weren’t for Tristan, you wouldn’t have been beyond the walls of this house, right?” he spat in response. His eyes snapped to Meili then. “And if it wasn’t for your shadow falling asleep while I was attempting to get some damn work done, you wouldn’t have made it out the window with him either.”

  “I was drugged by your friend.” Meili ground out her words. Tension rolled off her in waves, and I got the impression this wasn’t the first time these two had argued about her nodding off.

  “Liam?” She had to be talking about him. He was the only friend of Jasper’s I remembered being around at the time. “You think Liam drugged you?” I tried to say the words without smiling but failed. What she was claiming was absurd.

  Sure, Liam wasn’t my favorite person, but I still didn’t think he was capable of doing something so vile to Meili. What would have been his purpose anyway? To have his way with her? Yeah, I thought the guy was a creep, but not in that way. He was arrogant and annoying.

  “Yes.” Her hands moved quickly as she crumbled up the used bandage and smeared something cool and greasy from the tube she’d carried over what remained of my wound.

  “He wouldn’t do something like that to you.” I shook my head.

  “Exactly what I said,” Jasper agreed. “She fell asleep on the job and is searching for any excuse she can grasp onto.” Jasper left the room then, his anger rippling behind him as he went. He was ticked at too many people, and I knew it was because I’d been hurt. I knew my brother well enough to know he was ticked at himself most of all, because he always viewed himself as my protector.

  Meili stood and wiped the excess of whatever she’d swiped on my wound onto a paper towel. “I’m sorry I failed you.” She bowed her head to me before turning to leave the room.

  I blinked, staring after her. Jesus, she took falling asleep to heart. Guilt pressed against my chest as I thought about how I’d screwed things up by sneaking out with Tristan. Everyone was blaming his or herself for what happened to me, when the only person to blame was me. I was the one who had tossed the rules aside and done as I pleased.

  Covering my legs up, I glanced at Randal and Kenna, who were still present in the room. Normally, I would be scared to have been left in a room with a vampire of his caliber—or any vampire for that matter—but my nerves and emotions were too shot for me to focus on the particulars.

  “Is Tristan your boyfriend?” Kenna situated herself on the edge of my bed, taking the space Jasper had vacated seconds before.

  “Yeah.” I didn’t hesitate in answering. I refused to think of him as anything else, especially now that he’d risked his life going up against a madwoman to save me.

  “He’s in the living room, passed out.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I don’t think your brother likes him much, due to the circumstances, but I have to say—I really think the guy has feelings for you. He took some serious punches to make sure you got out of there in one piece.”

  I swallowed hard. “Is he going to be okay?”

  “I think he will be.” She glanced at Randal before shifting her eyes back to mine. “In fact, I’d go so far as to promise it to you.”

  I noticed Randal slip his hands into the pockets of his slacks behind her. A long sigh escaped from between his perfect lips. “Are you insinuating what I think you are?”

  Kenna shifted to glance at him. “I might be.”

  “This doesn’t surprise me.” There was amusement in his tone.

  “It shouldn’t. You know I wouldn’t be able to leave him suffering like that,” Kenna insisted. “He was only trying to save her.”

  “Was he?” Randal questioned. I didn’t like the dip in his voice. It reminded me of what Jasper had insinuated— Tristan had an ulterior motive to keep me safe.

  “Don’t even. You know as well as I do that he cares for her on a deeper level.” The sharpness to her tone surprised me. I didn’t think anyone would ever have the guts to talk to the legendary Randal Vincent like that. Kenna had gained more respect from me. I’d liked her before, but even more now.

  Randal held up a hand. “I know. I was joking.”

  “Then you’ll do it?” Kenna asked.

  “I will.”

  “Thought so.” A victorious grin twisted into place on her face.

  “You’re going to inject him with your blood too?” I asked, wondering if I’d followed the conversation right.

  “Yes.” Randal nodded. “As requested by the lovely Ms. Blake.”

  Warmth filled me. Kenna was a succubus with a conscience it seemed, and I couldn’t be more grateful.

  Chapter 11

  It took Tristan an entire day to regain consciousness. From what Jasper mentioned, it was the same amount of time it had taken me to wake. I sat by his side, watching as the bruises and cuts along his face healed until there was nothing left besides faint pink marks. The guilt I’d felt at the sight of his wounds had dissipated to a mere twinge in my gut since having witnessed Kenna inject a syringe of Randal’s blood into him. While I knew it didn’t erase the pain he’d been through, it did ease what he was feeling, and that was all that mattered to me.

  Tristan had saved me from the woman with the raven tattoo. Even if my brother refused to see his actions for what they were, I didn’t. Jasper hadn’t been there. He hadn’t seen how desperate Tristan had been to keep me safe.

  A knock sounded at the front door. I hurried to answer it. Anna stood on the porch with a brown paper bag in her hands. Her brown hair was pulled into a high bun, and she wore a flower print sundress with a white cardigan. I figured she was here between clients.

  “Hey, how are you?” Her thin brows pinched together as her hazel eyes swept over me, causing me to feel self-conscious. While I’d showered today, I hadn’t brushed my hair and my choice of attire wasn’t anything noteworthy. “Are you feeling okay?”

  “Yeah. I’m fine.” I left my answer short, because I wasn’t sure how much she knew. I wasn’t even sure why she was here. “Come in.”

  Anna slipped past me to pause inside the door. She’d spotted Tristan asleep on the couch. “Jasper said he was here. How’s he doing?”

  My head tipped to the side at the mention of my brother, because it meant they’d been talking again. This news made me happy, but I didn’t say anything, fearing it might be too soon. I shifted to glance at Tristan instead. “He’s fine. Or at least he will be soon.”

  “Good. I’m so glad you’re both okay.” She reached out and pulled me into a one-armed hug. “Jasper told me what happened to the two of you. That was insane!”

  “Yeah, it was.” I returned her hug before moving to close the door. My eyes dropped to the bag in Anna’s hands. I hoped it was food. There wasn’t crap to eat in this house, and I was starved. “What’s in the bag?”

  “Oh. Muffins from the coffee shop by my office.” She grinned. “I got your favorite. Banana nut.”

  My mouth salivated at the thought. “Thank goodness. I’m starved!”

  “There are a few tea bags in the bottom of the bag too.” She started toward the kitchen and I followed. “I don’t know how you feel about green tea, but it’s one of my favorites, especially when I’m sick. I know you’re not sick, but I figured it might be nice to sip on anyway.”

  “Thanks.” I stepped to the cabinet by th
e sink and pulled down two mugs. “Want a cup?”

  “Yeah, sure. I can’t stay long though. I’ve actually got to be back to the office in about an hour for a meeting.” She set the contents of the bag out on the counter. There were four large muffins and at least six bags of green tea. “This one is for Jasper. I know how much he loves chocolate chip muffins.” She scooted it to the side, and I noticed the little grin twisting her lips. Was she thinking about my brother?

  A smile stretched across my face. My mind raced with questions ranging from if they were dating again to what lie ahead for their future. I never thought I would feel giddy about my brother’s love life, but suddenly I was.

  “You and Jasper, huh?” I asked, unable to help myself as I filled the two mugs with water.

  “No. I mean, it’s nothing serious.” I noticed when she didn’t meet my stare, same as I noticed the pink tint to her cheeks. “We’ve just been talking.”

  “About what?” Please say about getting back together.

  “There’s a lot going on.” She shrugged a shoulder. “You know, witch stuff. You and Tristan stuff. The tattooed woman stuff.”

  The reminder of her sent a shiver along my spine. I was trying not to think about her; I couldn’t be sure if the wound I’d inflicted had been enough to kill her. She could still be lurking around, searching for me. Jasper had insisted it wasn’t something to worry about, but how could I not?

  I placed our mugs into the microwave and pressed a few buttons. “Yeah, I know. How about any stuff involving you and him getting back together?” She had to know the question was coming, but she still seemed shocked.

  “No, nothing of that nature.” She picked one of the muffins up and tore a small piece of the top off. Something about the way her shoulders slumped forward had me wondering if Anna wished they’d talked about their relationship. Maybe I was reading into things too much. Then again, maybe I wasn’t.

  “Yet,” I tacked on, reaching for a banana nut muffin. I sank my teeth in for a large bite. The nutty banana flavor burst across my tongue, causing my taste buds to dance with glee. I hadn’t realized how famished I was until now.