Grave New Day

by Lina Gardiner

  Jess spoke first. “We’ll have to take her back to the lab and put her into the holding cell,” Jess said. “That way when she wakes up we won’t have to worry about controlling her.” Jess looked at Sephina still sleeping in Sampson’s arms. “And when James comes to get her, we’ll be waiting.”

  “He’s part of a nest now. The others will come too. If there’s over a dozen of them, we can’t fight them ourselves,” Britt said.

  Jess shook her head and looked at his hands. “You’re wrong. We have all the weaponry we need.”

  Sampson frowned and absently patted Sephina’s back. “We do?”

  Jess nodded. “Whatever happened to Britt has not only made him stronger, it’s made him a weapon against vampires. He can kill them simply by lifting his hands and aiming.”

  “No, Jess,” Britt objected. “I don’t know how I did that the first time, and I have no idea if I can do it again.”

  “I have the feeling you’ll manage.” She turned away from the fireplace. Her gaze went to Terry on the sofa. Sampson hadn’t covered her.

  Jess moved to the couch and ran a hand up Terry’s limp arm, lingering at her carotid artery. Sampson had pronounced her dead, but Britt knew instinctively that she needed to see for herself.

  “Are you willing to risk everyone’s lives on a feeling that I’m some super hero?” Britt asked.

  “You and I will be the only others there, except Terry in the holding cell, and hopefully she’ll be far enough away from your blast radius not to be injured.”

  “Shouldn’t we kill her before she has to go through the horrible pain of becoming a vampire.”

  Jess’s chin dropped. “We probably should, but I can’t do it. Can you? What if she’s able to salvage some humanity, like I did?”

  “That’s not likely, is it?” Britt asked.

  “No. But I’m not giving up on her yet.”

  Jess took Sephina from Sampson and snuggled her for a moment before she handed her back. “Will you take her to the lab for now?”

  Sampson nodded solemnly and gazed down at the baby. He looked tired and worried. She couldn’t blame him. Who knew what would happen to Sephina now.

  After the cleanup team came and took Terry’s body to the lab, Jess wanted to go back to her safe-room and stay there until she could figure out a way to fix what had happened to Terry. Unfortunately, there was no way to fix it—she’d already become a monster.

  Britt didn’t stick around when Terry was removed. He must’ve remembered Jess liked her space when she was upset. She could hear him lifting weights again in the specialized weight room—the room she’d built for him just before he’d died. The room he’d never gotten to use until now.

  The steady clang of metal proved his stamina had increased. Reminded her that he was a wild card. He had abilities they didn’t understand. One thing she did know was that Britt’s new abilities had been developed for a reason, and if killing vampires was that reason and she got caught in the crossfire, so be it.

  He came out of the weight room, and went straight to the shower again. She waited. Knew he needed the workout to get through the horrors of what had happened here tonight.

  A short time later, he came down the hall in fresh jeans and T-shirt. “Not much use looking for James right away, is there?” he asked

  She narrowed her eyes. “No, I guess not. You hungry?” Sometimes she forgot about his need for sustenance.

  “Yeah, I’m hungry, but not for food,” he said.

  His eyes bored into hers, and his mouth twitched into a sexy half-grin. She should be protesting right now. There were things about him she needed to know, worries she needed to allay before things got out of control. They both needed release from their grief, and while not totally appropriate, it seemed that they were in agreement about the style of release they needed right now. When he moved in on her with obvious intent, he smelled clean and slightly spicy—and masculine. Exactly like Britt should.

  “You know how much I like that leather getup, don’t you?”

  “Yeah, I remember. Given your amnesia, I’m surprised you remember.”

  He grinned full out. “Oh, I remember, In fact that’s almost the first thing I did remember.

  She hitched a quick breath. He could always take her breath away. “This isn’t the same outfit though. That one was ruined, but I recently had a few extras made.” In a sad attempt to recreate feelings she’d had for him, her lost love.

  His hands settled just above her hips, and he looked down at her. She drank him in. She’d always enjoyed the serious way he looked her over before he kissed her, like she was the single most important thing in his life. Like he was savoring every inch of her before he tasted. His mouth twitched again.

  “What?” The hell with her worries. She couldn’t wait to feel those hot lips against her own cold ones. To savor his taste, his energy, his undeniable desire for her.

  “You feel it don’t you?”

  “Feel what?” She felt more than a vampire should right now. She knew exactly what he meant, but she didn’t intend to make it easy for him. She wasn’t even sure she should do this—but nothing could stop her, either.

  “This.” His mouth crushed over hers in a heart-defibrillating, long, deep and delicious kiss that initiated that pleasant dull ache of need that only he had been able to bring to her.

  His arm slid around her and he pulled her tight against him. Stronger than he’d been able to before, and she reveled in the way he could hold her now that he was able to match her strength and ability. She couldn’t help wondering at their compatibility in bed. They were good together before; she couldn’t even imagine what it would be like now.

  She nearly moaned at the ecstasy he teased into her mouth with his hot tongue. This time his kisses weren’t light, exploratory ones. They were hard and demanding kisses from a man who’d regained what he’d lost.

  She felt the same way.

  This time he seemed insatiable, didn’t seem able to get enough of her.

  Britt groaned inwardly as he felt Jess give into her passion. Just like their very first encounter, she slid her body into position against his. As her pelvis made contact with his erection, memories flooded back. Good memories. The best. That night had been the beginning of his new life—back on the police force as part of an undercover team which had ended up being the most important job of his life—with the most important woman of his life.

  Oh God, she was the best thing that had ever happened to him. He’d been afraid it would take longer to get her to this point. She wasn’t sure she could trust him, but he needed her to trust him with everything, including her body. He needed the reality of making love to her again. He needed it as much as he needed air to breathe.

  “Your room or mine,” he whispered in her ear.

  “Yours,” she said quietly and he couldn’t believe his ears.

  He picked her up. He stopped twice on the way down the hall to kiss her. To ravage her, really, but she was apparently up for it. So was he. His need had ramped up to volcano status, and he couldn’t get enough of her.

  Damn, he should be gentler, he thought when he dropped her onto the bed. But as he gazed down at her, he realized she liked his newfound strength, his tougher exterior, and he could tell by the way her gaze was eating him up that there were other things about him that she couldn’t wait to discover. Had he improved in those areas as well? Hell, he had no idea. But it was time to find out.

  He unzipped the front of her leather outfit. “Mmmm, zipper,” he said. “Better than the buttons you used to have. Much easier to get into.”

  Her breasts spilled out and he molded one into his hand. She groaned and moved against his hip, nearly making him lose it. He needed to take this slow—take her slowly, to enjoy every inch of her like it might be his last, because there was one thing he’d learned. In this job, you never knew which minute would be your last.

  He bent down and laved her breast with his tongue. As had happened before,
the warmth of his tongue against the sensual chill of her body made her break out in goosebumps, and he had to focus on that pleasure, her pleasure, rather than rushing through this. But, damn it, he was desperate for her.

  When she reached down and unzipped his jeans, he gritted his teeth and forced himself to think distracting thoughts, like what the weather would be like tomorrow. Anything to make this experience as good for her as it was going to be for him.

  He took off her clothing, bit by bit, kissing every inch of her body, until she continually murmured little sounds of pleasure. Those pleasurable sounds were the headiest aphrodisiac he’d ever experienced. She’d never done that before.

  He stood and stripped off his clothes quickly, then joined her on the bed. He pressed his full length against her and groaned when her hand closed around him.

  She began to kiss his body, showing him how much she missed him too. The whole time he touched and explored and teased her, and he thought he’d go out of his mind with the pleasure—until she rolled on top of him, and led him inside her.

  “Jesus, that feels good,” he groaned.

  “Like nothing I’ve ever experienced before,” she added and grinned at him. “I swear you’ve improved in every way possible,” she said and began to gently rock against him. “Not that you weren’t fully capable before, you understand.” Her eyes twinkled, and his gaze slipped down to stare at her entrancing breasts, teasing him as they moved with the motion of her body. He reached up and moved this thumbs across her nipples. They reacted instantly to his touch, and he leaned up on his elbows and tasted her, while she rocked harder against him.

  “God, you’ve got amazing rhythm,” he gasped, wrapping his mouth around one full peak and suckling hard enough that he wouldn’t lose contact while she bucked against him.

  Finally, wrapped up in the pure the enjoyment of her sensual movement, he dropped back onto the bed and wished he had something to grip other than the sheets. Her furious movements were causing so much friction now, he felt as if he might catch fire, but dear God she made him want to sing. Her face had taken on a glow he’d never seen on her before. She smiled at him, pleasure dancing behind her gaze, her mouth slightly ajar, and she was a little breathless while she moved against and around him, obviously enjoying this ecstasy as much as he did.

  She slowed for a moment, then increased the tempo again, harder than he thought possible. He felt close to explosion but held back. He wanted to make this wonderful for her. Suddenly, she shuddered against him, shouted his name and continued moving while the same out-of-this-world orgasm happened to him.

  She finally collapsed onto him and laughed. Laughed out loud! “That was wonderful. So wonderful,” she said breathlessly.

  “You can say that again.” With skin slick with sweat, he ran his hand over her dry flesh and realized her physiology rarely changed, but when he grasped her breast this time, he felt her heart pounding in her chest. “Is that your heart beating?”

  “Only for you, it seems,” she said, pressing her face against his neck. It didn’t worry him. She could bite him if she had to. He knew instinctively that he was strong enough to make her stop before it was too late. He hadn’t been able to do that before.

  His own heart thudded in his ears, and he wrapped his arms around her naked body and held her tight to him. He never wanted this to end.

  “I’m sure it’s really you, now,” she said against his ear. A whisper, an honest truth just for him.

  “I’m glad. But if you start to wonder again, I’ll be more than happy to prove it to you again. And again.”

  “Britt!”

  “Yeah, it’s really me.” He grinned back. For the first time he felt like himself again, too. If he died again now, he’d die happy.

  “What time is it?” she asked reluctantly, rolling away from him.

  He reached for his watch which he’d tossed to the floor along with his clothes. “Nearly three am.”

  “We should go. Sampson must be wondering what kept us.”

  “Let him wonder,” Britt said with an obvious grin. When he sees both of us smiling from ear to ear, he’s going to know anyway.

  She punched his arm. “Stop that.”

  “Hon, we needed that. We needed to renew our trust in each other. Our love.” There. he’d said it. He still loved her; that feeling had come back with his memory.

  She nodded and pursed her lips. “Let’s get a move on.”

  On the way to Jess’s vehicle, they chatted like nothing had ever happened. They were back on the job, and together again. That was all that mattered.

  “Why do you think James will go to the lab?” Britt asked while they drove to the building.

  “Because the paste is there and he knows it.”

  Britt slapped his forehead. “Shit! I forgot that some of our secrets are now theirs for the taking. James won’t be able to help himself; he’ll tell them everything he knows.”

  “Not much we can do about it now. I just wish Sampson had been able to find out why the Europeans want the stuff so badly.”

  “Yeah, I can’t imagine they’d send dozens of vampires from Europe to get a paste that allows them to fog the minds of humans for a weekend romp with a high-ranked woman. Surely it wouldn’t be worth the risk of exposure. There’s obviously another reason they want it.”

  They arrived at the chemical building, parked the SUV and took the elevator down. Sampson was working on some sort of mathematical chart on his chalkboard with his glasses positioned on his bald head. He glanced at his watch. “You two took long enough.”

  “We had issues to resolve,” Jess said.

  Britt grinned so wide she wanted to clobber him. Thankfully, Sampson was wrapped up in his own work and didn’t notice.

  Jess pursed her lips. “Sampson, Think you can do some more research? Find out what else this paste might be good for? Maybe there’s something in Mayan history?”

  “Most of their history was destroyed by the Christians who tried to reform them, but I’ll try. Did Drago Vaslov, the perp on your last case, tell you exactly where he found the paste?” Sampson looked at Britt. Jess figured he wasn’t sure what Britt remembered so he was filling in facts.

  “In a Mayan ruin.”

  “How did archeologists miss it?”

  “I found a few notes in his room after he died,” she said. “It was in a hidden storage hold. He didn’t search for other holds because he was seen by a security guard. He just got away with the paste. He planned to go back again, but never made it.”

  “Britt, to bring you up to speed, Vaslov was killed for the paste the same night you were … well, you know, killed—or whatever happened to you.”

  “Then that paste is the root of our problems,” Britt said. Then he thought about what Zeke had told him. Mankind might be at risk.

  If that were true, should he tell Jess?

  Problem was, he had no hard evidence, nothing to back up the wild theory. They needed more information. They needed to know what the vampires needed the paste for.

  [Back to Table of Contents]

  Chapter Seventeen

  Jess thought about Britt. A couple of hours ago he’d made her feel like a real woman. But now it was time to settle down to work. They’d have to get as much done as they could tonight, and make plans for tomorrow night. She’d bet tomorrow would be the night when all hell broke loose. Full-moons were potent and the perfect time to initiate a new recruit.

  “James will have to come for Terry tomorrow night,” Jess told Britt. “He can’t come get her body before that because it’ll soon be dawn. But he does have to find her before she transitions into a vampire if he wants to make the connection that will link them forever.”

  “What’s our game plan, then?” Britt asked. “Do we eradicate James when we find him?”

  “Great way to ask if we kill him.” Jess closed her eyes and froze when Britt’s hard body pressed against her back and his arms wrapped around her. It felt good to have him hold
her, even though he’d made her angry.

  As much as she wanted to lean on him, she eased away. “I hope it doesn’t come to that. I owe James so much. Since his soul has been protected for so long, maybe there’s still a little of it inside him. Maybe he can be salvaged.”

  “Probably not, and you know that as well as I do, Jess,” Sampson said, the analytical scientist and voice of reason.

  “So what do we do with him?” Britt asked softly.

  Sampson pulled his glasses off his gleaming pate and put them back on. “Jess knows what we have to do. In fact, it’s what she’d want in his place.”

  Jess cringed. Sampson had her strict orders to take her out before the cops did if the same thing ever happened to her. Why did she feel so differently for James? He’d signed the same waiver at the department that she had. He wanted to be killed if he turned bad. Only, Jess couldn’t do it.

  “What about the baby?” Sampson asked, glancing at his watch. “I can’t keep her in the lab with me forever.” No one broached the subject of her life or death.

  “It’s not the safest place for her to be right now, but we don’t have much choice,” Jess said.

  “I could take her to one of the Black Ops team members. They could protect her while she sleeps,” Britt suggested.

  Jess pursed her lips and cast a quick glance at Britt. “Not a good idea. Number one, if they see you walking around before we explain you’re not a vampire, they might kill you first and ask questions later. And even though they might feel sorry for Sephina they’re trained to kill vampires, not protect them. They wouldn’t even know how or when to feed her.”

  Sephina, strangely enough, sat in a playpen in the corner of the lab. Jess raised questioning eyebrows.

  “Borrowed it from my daughter on the way here from your apartment,” Sampson said.

  More things about Sampson Jess didn’t know. She suddenly needed to add self-absorbed and selfish to her long list of failures.

  “Tomorrow I’d like you to protect her in the lab’s safe room.”

  “Understood,” Sampson said.

  She looked at Britt. “You have newly acquired abilities. Do you have any ideas about why you’ve developed them?”