Alliances (Guardians of White Light, #1)

by F. J. Gale

  Jenna sidestepped his response. “If that was a growl, I just want you to know it sounded more like a purr. I’m only offering some constructive criticism, because it’s probably not good for your reputation.”

  Mathias studied her. An amused smile crept across his face. “You’re joking around,” he realized.

  “Of course. Your little comment got under my skin. Do you think I’d still be standing here alive if I believed any of those vampire stereotypes? Come on, Mathias.”

  “That phrase is from one of the many vampiric volumes that Jax has penned over the centuries. We used to spend hours debating it.”

  “Okay. Thank you. That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

  They reached the door and he knocked loudly. The sound of his fist against the thick oak thundered through the quiet night.

  “A purr?” he said, turning to her.

  “I was kidding. It was a solid throaty growl.”

  “Good.”

  The heavy oak door eased open and Jax stood in the doorway. He was a man of small stature and slight build. He looked about forty in human years. He wore an expensive looking black tracksuit and sneakers. His jet-black hair was gelled into sharp spikes with bright red frosted tips. He wore thick black framed glasses with brown tinted lenses. Jenna had never seen anything like it. He had an extremely eccentric look.

  “Long time, my friend,” he greeted Mathias.

  “It’s been a while,” Mathias responded, with a warm smile.

  Jax’s eyes fell on Jenna. “Ah, The Hunter. Your reputation precedes you, my dear.”

  Jenna eyed him warily.

  “I trust in the company that he keeps,” he assured her. “Let’s go inside.”

  Jax allowed them to pass and then he secured the door behind them.

  “Whoa,” Jenna exclaimed as she glanced around.

  They stood in what had once been the main floor of the cathedral. All the pews were gone, replaced by high-end furniture—red velvet over-sized couches, armchairs, coffee tables, a bar and entertainment area in the corner. But mostly, the bookcases. There were bookcases along all four walls. Sturdy mahogany bookcases. There wasn’t any empty space on the shelves. Massive gold-framed paintings hung along the walls. There were heavy crimson drapes and matching rugs everywhere. It was like a well-designed palace.

  “He likes expensive things.” Mathias chuckled at the look of awe on her face.

  “That, I do,” Jax said, gesturing for them to follow him further in.

  He approached the bar and retrieved a crystal glass half-full of blood. He took a sip and eyed Mathias. “You drinking?”

  “Human?”

  Jax feigned offense, slapping his hand to his chest for emphasis. “Have you forgotten so easily, my friend? When was the last time I fed off human blood? My tastes are far more sophisticated. This is lion’s blood.”

  God, I wish I wasn’t hearing this discussion, Jenna thought, feeling her stomach churn.

  “Just checking.” Mathias caught Jenna’s eye and looked away quickly. “I don’t think me drinking human blood would be such a great idea right now.”

  Jax threw him a look. “I’m sure you can conquer temptation.” He reached for Jenna and his hand brushed the choker around her neck. “Even if others cannot,” he said, eyeing her. Jenna flinched and stepped back. She brought her hand to her neck protectively. Jax’s hypnotic gaze continued to bore right through her. It was as though he was reading her thoughts, exploring the deepest, darkest secrets that she had buried within her.

  “It’s a pity you hesitated on the kill. It’s hard to get him away from his pack of wolves, those so-called soldiers of Immortalia. It would have been the perfect opportunity.”

  Jenna was astonished. How does he know that? There was no way he was there that night. It was just Arthur and me. “What?” she choked out.

  “The curse…it hurts?”

  Jenna noticed Mathias’ inquiring glance. They were both awaiting her answers. Mathias didn’t appear to be at all surprised that Jax knew so much about her. And that was when it hit her. Damn it!

  “You know, it’s not polite to read someone without their permission,” she said, breaking eye contact and feigning an amused smile. “Thanks for the heads up,” she chastised Mathias. “A seer?”

  “Jenna—” he pressed, wanting to know what Jax had meant by his comment about her curse. It hurt?

  “We have business to discuss,” she interrupted. “The drug?”

  Her fierce glare willed him to drop it. His eyes left hers and he reached into his inside jacket pocket. We’ll discuss this later. He withdrew one of the vials of luminous blue liquid and handed it to Jax.

  “Legion commandeered this from a human research facility. We believe they plan to mass-produce it—either releasing it into the water supply or making it airborne—to inoculate the human populace.”

  Jax studied the vial pensively. “This is Liquid Death?”

  Mathias had never heard of it. He really had been cut off from the rest of the world. He saw Jenna nod to Jax. “It’s also called Liquid Fire.”

  “Yes. A man-made concoction powerful enough to kill the undead. Immortalia had suspected the existence of something like this for years. If Silas knew about this—”

  “He doesn’t know,” Mathias assured him. “The longer we can delay their war, the better.”

  “So, you can amass your army and strike first?” Jax asked with a sly grin.

  “Of course.”

  “Silas is tracking you as we speak. He’s worried. Rumors abound from the underground that the former warrior has returned, the infamous Guardian of White Light.“ He looked at Jenna. “And your name is on everyone’s lips.”

  She slumped heavily into one of the over-sized armchairs and grumbled, “I guess your buddy, Cain, couldn’t keep his mouth shut. So much for the element of surprise.”

  Mathias was agitated by her comment. He shot her a look, but she was too busy examining the magnificent room to notice. He watched her put her feet up on the coffee table and cross her legs. She let out a peaceful moan and rested her hands behind her head.

  Mathias and Jax exchanged a look. Slayers have no manners.

  “We need an antidote to this,” Mathias said, gesturing to the Liquid Death that Jax held in his hand.

  “I figured you didn’t come all the way down here to talk about old times.”

  “Can you do it?”

  “I guess we’re about to find out.”

  Mathias followed him through an open archway, down a narrow hallway. There was no lighting whatsoever, just the way they both liked it. To their right was a staircase that led up to the second floor that housed several guest chambers and Jax’s own. The first and only door to the left of the corridor Mathias knew led to the kitchen. Straight ahead, down to the far end of the corridor was where they were headed. The lab.

  Jax stopped outside and warned Mathias. “You might want to shield your eyes.”

  “I’m fine.”

  Jax shrugged at Mathias’ inability to take his macho persona down a notch or two. The guy could never admit to any sort of weakness. And that had been his biggest problem following Liana’s death. He couldn’t grieve. It was why he had stayed in the shadows for so long.

  He opened the door and blinding white light assaulted them. Mathias squinted and fought to adjust his vision as quickly as possible. Jax, being used to it, headed on in and approached one of the many pearl white lab tables—or “workbenches”—as he liked to call them.

  Mathias glanced around. The room was full to the brim with potions, test tubes, sterile glass vials, dozens of scientific implements, textbooks. It was a full working lab. There was no doubt about that and it hadn’t changed one bit over the years.

  He watched Jax reach for a Petri dish and a microscope. He set about extracting some of the solution with a syringe and placed a teardrop-sized amount into the dish.

  As Jax examined the liquid, he said, “Jenna’s something, isn’t
she?”

  “Yeah, she’s something all right.”

  “Rough around the edges. Tough with a ball-breaking attitude. But innocent.”

  “She’s reckless. She’s arrogant. She’s infuriating. And—”

  “You like her.”

  Mathias scoffed. “Absurd. She’s an ally, that’s all.”

  Jax grinned at his old friend’s denial and then returned to his task. “The bloodlust must be overwhelming. Virgin blood and she’s a slayer. Not just any slayer, but The Hunter.”

  “It’s a little trying,” Mathias admitted.

  Jax smiled to himself. He knew the only way in hell that Mathias was able to resist biting her was because he had taken a liking to her. It offered enough conflict to counter the animalistic predilection to bite. His affection for her was strong enough to override instinct. So far, anyway.

  “What’s so amusing?” Mathias asked, seeing Jax’s wide grin.

  “Nothing.”

  “Can you do it, or not?” All the talk of Jenna and bloodlust had him riled. His patience had left him.

  “Calm down. Yes. It can be done. But I need time.”

  “How much time?”

  “A week. Two.”

  “We don’t have that long. A couple of days, Jax. That’s all we have.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  Jenna drummed her fingers on the arm of the chair impatiently. She adjusted her weight but she couldn’t get comfortable. Agitated, she got up and approached one of the bookcases. She studied the names on the spines of the volumes. As her eyes scanned them quickly, she stopped short suddenly at one that caught her attention. What the hell? She did a double take and moved closer to make sure she hadn’t imagined it. She hadn’t. There on the bookshelf, nestled among all the other great books of vampire history and lore was: THE HUNTER: TRUTH VS. LEGEND.

  She didn’t hesitate. She needed to know how much vampires believed they knew about her; how much about her was public knowledge. After all, knowledge was power and, often, the difference between life and death in her line of work. She flipped through the pages. No pictures of her. Phew! At least that mystery still remained. They couldn’t identify her by sight. Nor was there any mention of her name.

  She stopped at a chapter entitled, ‘The Curse’. Intrigued, she began to read:

  This slayer is unlike the others in that he/she does not slay the average vampire. His/her goal is not to protect the human populace from preying vampires. The goal is revenge. As previously outlined in Chapter One, Immortalia's massacre of the slayer's people makes them his/her sole target. A job that has been passed down through generations in the slayer's family, requiring him/her to annihilate Immortalia. This slayer will be aware of the failure of his/her ancestors. No matter how well-trained they were they could not match the strength of a vampire, let alone that of Silas’ strongest warriors that make up Immortalia as we know it.

  The slayer will make a deal with the Sorceress. Using both black and white magic, a curse will be bestowed upon the slayer. This curse endows him/her with strength rivaling the strongest of vampires and the know-how of a hunter. With this power, the slayer can track the prey by superhuman skills and instincts; hence, the nickname, The Hunter.

  As with any deal, there is a price. Should The Hunter succeed in destroying Immortalia, his/her quest will be complete. Powers will be stripped from The Hunter. For a human, this results in death.

  Furthermore, The Hunter is connected to Immortalia, to its leaders. He/she will feel the pain of their death and….

  Jenna slammed the book closed and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to absorb the reality of what she had just read. One reality she never thought about, that she wouldn’t let herself think about.

  As she tried to push away her awful thoughts of despair, a rush of adrenaline suddenly gripped her. She opened her eyes and scanned the room. Someone’s here.

  She dropped the book on a chair and approached the windows. As she withdrew a stake, she concentrated and allowed her instincts to take control. She listened. But the world had stilled. She couldn’t feel anything. No sound.

  And then it happened.

  She watched as figures crashed through each of the boarded-up windows, four along each side of the room. The shattering of glass was deafening and Jenna shielded her eyes with her arm against the spray of thousands of shards that flew at her. Eight vampires surrounded her. She lowered her arm and readied a stake.

  Immortalia soldiers. Covered head to toe in black leather and their signature hooded trench coats sweeping the floor, they brandished medieval broadswords. Their demon faces were exposed baring razor-sharp fangs, snarling at her as they inched closer, one methodical step at a time.

  Before she could make a move, the heavy oak entrance flew open with such force that it was almost ripped from its hinges. Its thunderous smack against the brick echoed around the huge room. Arthur walked in, flanked by two of his lieutenants.

  “Quite the entrance,” Jenna remarked.

  “You know me, Jenna. I like to make my presence known.”

  She maintained her fighting stance as he approached. His men stepped aside to allow him through. He stopped a couple of feet from her and smiled maliciously. “Long time, Hunter. You left quite the taste in my mouth.”

  “Your boys should leave if they want to keep their heads.”

  “Where’s the fun in that?”

  Jenna watched him glance around, searching for something. He sniffed at the air and then he demanded, “Mathias is here? Why?”

  He began to pace back and forth, his anger rising. “And, here I figured you came for Jax to try to fix that pesky curse of yours. Instead, you’ve allied yourself with a vampire? Straying from the slayer job description, aren’t you? What’s the matter? Slipping, Jenna? Not strong enough to bear that curse anymore?”

  “You couldn’t beat me then, you won’t beat me now,” Jenna seethed.

  “Do you know how many humans your new ally has murdered? Thousands. He was a ruthless warrior. Just like us. He’ll rip your throat out. You should walk away while you still can.”

  He’s offering me a free pass? Unbelievable. He’s afraid of Mathias and me working together.

  “You’re afraid,” she snickered.

  His hand shot out so fast that she barely even saw it before she felt it clamp tightly around her throat. “I’ll show you what fear is!”

  She watched his face morph into his distorted demon face. Eyes narrowing and glistening with yellow fire, he bared his fangs. They were pure white, which surprised her given his advanced age. But maybe vampire fangs never yellowed or stained with blood. They were like tiny sharp daggers jagging out oddly from a human mouth, but they were more animal than human. Razor sharp and meant for tearing flesh apart. The center two were longer than the others—the two used to pierce a throat and make the bite. The others didn’t look as sharp, their main purpose was clearly for grip and a vicious grip at that, as she remembered.

  Her boot plunged into his solar plexus.

  The power behind it ripped his hand from her neck and propelled him back. He stumbled but managed to maintain his balance.

  She smirked. “Yeah, I was really feeling the fear there.”

  Enraged, he bellowed at his soldiers, “Attack! I want to hear the bitch scream!”

  They all attacked at once. She leapt into a roundhouse kick that forced back the two in front of her. She now wielded stakes in each hand. As soldiers approached from either side, she thrust out her arms, penetrating their hearts with the wood. Dust. She felt a soldier behind her trying to grab her shoulders. Instinctively she ducked and swept her leg at his ankles. As he lost his balance and went down she thrust her elbow into his stomach to finish the job. He hit the floor hard.

  To your left. Block! She turned into a punch from another soldier. Her arm shot out, blocking it just in time. She pressed her body into his and delivered a chop to his arm to dislodge his sword. She used his weight against him and threw him over her
shoulder. Snatching up his broadsword, she swept it at another soldier about to take a shot at her from behind. The blade sliced into his neck, cutting through cleanly with little effort, decapitating him. She jumped out of the way as he exploded into dust.

  She eyed the scene before her. Three dead. Three down on the ground, but recovering quickly. Two approached her. Where is Arthur? She didn’t have time to figure it out as both of the soldiers thrust their blades at her. Her arm shot out with incredible speed, her sword blocking both blades at once. As she held her stance, her senses screamed at her. She used her peripheral vision to locate the danger. Arthur was behind her! She felt his blade slicing through the air towards her neck.

  But it never made contact.

  The abrasive sound of metal scraping metal rang in her ears. She risked a glance behind her. Mathias’ blade blocked Arthur’s, stopping it mere inches away from her neck.

  “Big mistake coming here,” Mathias told Arthur as he grabbed his arm and ripped the blade viciously from his grip.

  He kicked him away and then his eyes fell on the two men Jenna was holding at bay. He wielded Arthur’s sword with the expertise of an experienced swordsman, feeling the weight. And then he threw it. It cut the air with a speed barely perceptible to the human eye. In one perfectly executed trajectory it ripped through the necks of both soldiers, severing their heads from their bodies in a fraction of a second.

  “Thanks,” Jenna rasped, shocked by his speed and agility.

  “You’re…not bad,” he told her, glancing at the scene of battle.

  She wiped sweat from her brow. “Not bad, huh?”

  A looked passed between them. A look of understanding between two warriors. She knew he was really impressed with her skills in battle. His weak compliment was just a tease.

  “You need better defense,” he added with a grin.

  “How touching!” Arthur’s voice cut through their conversation.

  He had recovered from Mathias’ assault and faced them now, another sword in his hand, taken from one of his dusted soldiers.