ReAwakened

Sebastian had set my entire body on fire, but for the first time ever, there was no hellish inferno blazing within my mind. The realization that Aurora wasn’t going to attack broke down the barriers I’d erected around my heart. No longer burdened with fear for his safety, nor plagued by uncertainty about his feelings, I could finally allow myself to peel away the layers of my fear and let him inside.

  Grasping tightly at the fabric of his shirt, I drew him closer. His mouth pressed against the soft spot of my pulse, and I gasped at the thrilling sensation of his teeth grazing along my skin. Startled by my unexpected desire to feel his fangs on my neck, I thrust my body against him, sending him tumbling back onto a pile of hay. As he fell, he grabbed the front of my sweater, pulling me down on top of him. His hands slid to the small of my back, drawing me even closer as he devoured me with his mouth. Desperate to erase three weeks of distance, we hungrily explored each other’s bodies, fighting to diminish every inch of space dividing us.

  “Wait…” he suddenly whispered, breaking out of his trance. With great effort, he pushed off the attic floor, pulling us both back up to a seated position. His hands slipped to my waist as he increased the distance between our bodies. “I have to tell you something.”

  Glassy-eyed, swollen-lipped, with curls tumbling across his forehead—he managed to look both vulnerable and commanding at the same time. “This is something that I’ve been grappling with for a while now and I’m not sure how to say it, or if I should say it at all, or if you even want to hear it, but I don’t think it can wait any longer, so—”

  The shrill ring of my phone startled us both, causing me to jump. Sebastian tightened his grip on my waist, ensuring that I didn’t fly off the attic ledge.

  “If that’s my brother, please commend him on his impeccable timing,” he groaned as I fumbled inside the front pocket of my sweater for the tiny device.

  “It’s Twitbrook,” I said, looking down at the number on the screen.

  Before I had a chance to say anything, Twitbrook spoke. “It’s happening again, Dawn,” he said solemnly. “Three more Born are missing. According to our reports, one of the girls is an exchange student from Australia, the other two are a mother and daughter from the West Coast who were vacationing in the area. I’m sending out my people right now, but I thought that you should know.”

  “Three weeks of peace,” I mumbled glumly as I hung up. “I knew it was too good to last.”

  If the mood hadn’t already been disrupted by the news of the kidnappings, it definitely was the moment Seth, Brooke, and Razor burst through the door. On impulse, I flew from Sebastian’s lap, landing beside him with a heavy thud.

  “I just got a hit on that phone number you found on Twitbrook’s cell!” Seth could hardly contain his excitement. He looked around the barn in confusion then raised his eyes toward the ceiling. “Oh, there you are! Did you hear what I said?” he called up to me. “I got a hit on that number you asked me to look into!”

  Sebastian and I jumped down from the attic, landing in front of the group. A small cloud of dirt fluttered around our feet, forcing Brooke to choke back a cough.

  “It belongs to a C.J.,” Seth announced proudly.

  “C.J.?” Sebastian asked.

  Seth nodded. “Yup, those are the initials I got when I traced the number. Our C.J. was a big talker. Phone charges from all over Europe and the United States, then nothing. Dead silence for the past couple of weeks. The number has been disconnected.”

  “That’s it?” Brooke’s hands flew to her hips. “This is the big reveal you made me come here for? You spent days conducting boring research and all you have to show for it are two lousy initials?”

  “Easy, Brooke,” I said.

  She rolled her eyes. “I’m just saying, the detectives on TV make it look much easier.”

  “Trust me, this kind of boring research is a lot harder than anyone on TV makes it out to be,” Seth said defensively. “Those guys just type in some numbers, press a button and suddenly…bloop! A bunch of random gibberish pops up on screen, then…poof! You have a hit!” Each sound effect was accompanied by animated hand gestures. “And it’s a great hit! Instead of two lousy initials, you get a full name, an address—even their shoe size and favorite breakfast cereal.”

  As Broke and Seth bickered, I mulled over the initials.

  C.J.—the two letters tugged at something in my mind. Something recent. Very recent.

  And then it hit me.

  “Carl Jacques…” I whispered, turning to Razor. “The doctor who used to drain all those vampires for their blood—how sure are you that you really killed him?”

  Razor thought for a moment. “Very sure,” he said. “I think.” Confidence slowly drained from his face. “At least ninety percent sure.” He looked over at me sheepishly. “Or maybe eighty...”

  I glared at him.

  “Hey, it was my first kill,” he said defensively. “I didn’t stick around to make sure that he was a hundred percent dead.”

  “So it’s possible that he wasn’t?”

  He nodded slowly. “The guy was human, but he knew a lot more about vampires than even we knew about ourselves. He was constantly doing experiments with vamp blood. It’s possible that he always had a little coursing through his body. You know, just in case people figured out that he was a jerk and tried to kill him.”

  “Well, if that’s the case, we would be looking for a vampire now,” I told the group. “He fits the profile of someone who would be capable of kidnapping Born and he has motive—he wants vampire blood for his work.”

  It didn’t fit in with my theory of the kidnapper being a Born with glamouring powers, but Twitbrook had mentioned that two people were in contact with him. Perhaps we were looking for a Born-Made team.

  “Wow, look at you go!” Brooke laughed. “You could totally pass as a detective on one of those crime shows. Just throw around the word perp a little and, whatever you do, don’t let Seth do your research.”

  Ignoring Brooke, I turned to Seth and did just that. “See if you can find a Carl Jacques in the Northeastern U.S.,” I told him.

  “The northeast? Are you working on another hunch?” Sebastian asked.

  “Most of the Born kidnappings seem to be taking place in and around this area,” I explained. “There’s no way that’s simply random.”

  Sebastian voiced a thought I was trying to avoid mentioning. “If this Jacques guy is looking for you, that would make sense,” he said, his eyes intent on mine.

  Razor clenched his fists. “Now I really regret not making sure that I hundred percent killed him.”

  “It doesn’t matter who he’s after,” I told them. “Twitbrook just told us that three more Born have been taken. Seth, we have to find this C.J.!”

  “Maybe you’ll get lucky and get some bloop and poof action now that you know who you should be looking for,” Brooke told him, winking.

  As the two of them departed, still squabbling all the way down the dirt road, Razor turned to Sebastian and me. “Well, I guess you guys are off the hook.”

  “We may be off the hook with the McDougal’s ghosts, but now we have to hunt down a real-life vampy one,” I said as Razor caught up Sebastian on his past with Jacques.

  Sebastian’s expression grew from concern to horror. “I’m sorry I put you through that,” he said quietly.

  Razor shrugged. “Not your fault. You couldn’t have known that the guy who ended up saving my life would turn out to be a crazed vampire murderer.” He patted Sebastian on the back, shot me a half-hearted grin, then disappeared through the exit, leaving us alone.

  “We better get going,” I said, looking around the empty place. I started toward the door, but Sebastian stopped me.

  “What I wanted to tell you…” The passion that had inhabited his eyes earlier was long gone; his gaze was now filled with somberness. “I’ll find a way to say it soon. I promise.”

  Two days later, right before a scheduled training session, an excited Seth flew
through the doors of the cottage. We quickly gathered around the dining room table to hear his report. Even Charlotte and Lena were in attendance, bringing the total in the cramped cottage space to nine vampires.

  “I tracked Jacques down,” Seth announced proudly.

  The news drew a loud cheer from the group. Even Brooke seemed impressed by the prompt completion of his task.

  “Good work,” I said, giving him a warm smile.

  “You were right, Dawn. This guy is very much alive and kicking. He’s also extremely guilty.”

  “How did you find him?” Brooke asked. “Bloops and poofs?”

  Seth rolled his eyes. “After focusing my search on a small portion of the country and combining his full name with some information I got from Razor, it was pretty simple,” he said, then bit his lip. “But that may be because I partnered with some really shady hackers. They may be part of a corrupt internet mafia, so if I go missing in the next little while it’s probably not Jacques—it’s them.”

  “Duly noted.” I cringed, making a note to keep a closer eye on Seth’s investigative tactics. “So where do we find him?” I asked eagerly.

  “Jacques has drinks at a club called Bloody Caesar every Friday night like clockwork,” Seth announced. “The place is located in a little town a few hours north of here.”

  “Bloody Caesar?” Brooke raised her eyebrows. “Never heard of it. What’s so special about that place? Hot DJs? Good drinks?”

  Seth laughed. “Nothing at all. In fact, from what I know it’s a dump. But there’s not much else in the area, so it’s kind of a pit stop for a lot of travelers—including many vampires.”

  “You think he’s drawn there because of business potential?” Razor mused.

  Seth nodded. “Probably.”

  “Great,” I said. “Tomorrow night, we’ll track him from the club to see where he’s going. If we get lucky, maybe he’ll lead us straight to his evil lair.” I hated having to wait an entire day and risk anything happening to the captured Born in the meantime, but this was our best chance to get to Jacques.

  Seth frowned. “I wish it was that easy, but the text messages I managed to track down show that we can’t do that. Apparently, the entire facility—wherever it is—is rigged to blow with any breach of security. They’re taking extra precautions after Dawn and Razor invaded their old lair at Mercy Hope. If we get caught, we’ll put the Born in the building in jeopardy. We have to get an insider to infiltrate the place and disarm the explosives before the rest of the team can attack the operation.”

  “We need a different plan,” Hunter said. “And we need one quickly.”

  “I have an idea…” I slowly began, getting up from my seat.

  Sebastian narrowed his eyes.

  “This is one of those ideas that you’re not going to like.” I offered him an apologetic smile. “In order to gain access to Jacques’ operation, I’ll have to allow myself to be captured. It’s the only way to get in without raising suspicion. Once I’m inside, I’ll find a way to disarm his booby traps so you can join me in saving the Born and getting rid of Jacques.”

  “Why you?” Sebastian snapped. “I’ll do it instead.”

  I shook my head. “Whoever does it needs to be a Born for the plan to work. I’m not going to force Lena into danger especially after everything she’s been through, and Charlotte is too weak to go. That leaves me.”

  “I really wish I could help,” Charlotte piped up, burying her head in her hands. “I feel so useless.”

  “It’s okay. We’ll find another way to help Dawn,” Sophie soothed her. Shifting her gaze toward me, she asked, “How do you plan to get captured?” She pushed her glasses up on her nose, hiding the worry in her eyes behind their large lenses.

  “I have to find a way to catch Jacques’ attention,” I said.

  Razor piped up. “It won’t be very hard. Jacques is a fairly intelligent man, but he’s got one major weakness.”

  “Which would be…?” Sebastian asked. The tightness in his jaw told me that he was already speculating an answer. And—whatever it was—it wasn’t pleasant.

  Razor grimaced. “Pretty ladies,” he told his brother, then turned to me. “The good news, D, is that you fit the criteria. All you have to do is catch his eye, drop a few hints about being a Born, and you’ll be in his lair in no time. Kidnapped…or in his bedroom.”

  “Lucky me,” I groaned.

  Sebastian began pacing the room. “There has to be something else that we could do,” he said, raking his fingers through his hair. “Meeting a creep in some seedy club is bad enough, but the guy’s a killer. A Born killer.”

  “I don’t like the idea any more than you do, but I don’t think that we have any other options,” I said.

  “There are nine of us here,” he growled. “You shouldn’t have to be the only one putting your life on the line. We’ll find another way.”

  I sighed, looking away from the hurt in his eyes. “Unfortunately, every other thing that I can think of risks the lives of the kidnapped Born. If Seth is right and the place is rigged to blow, we can’t take the chance.”

  “I really wish we could just jump him at the club and kick his ass,” Hunter muttered.

  “I think we all do,” I said, rubbing away the tension in my temples. “But that definitely won’t guarantee the safety of the others. We can’t let them suffer the same fate as the ones from the hospital. I’m not willing to be late to another rescue.”

  “Let me at least come with you,” Sebastian pleaded.

  Razors scoffed. “And do what? Introduce yourselves to Jacques as a couple of vamp swingers looking for a good time? Let her be. She knows how to take care of herself.”

  “Of course she does,” Sebastian retorted, shooting his brother a dirty look. “But that doesn’t mean that I think it’s a good idea for her to run headfirst into a dangerous situation without any backup. Just because you don’t care—”

  “What makes you think that I don’t care?”

  “Enough!” I raised my hands to quiet them. “I’m not going to offer myself up on a platter to this guy. We’ll make sure to have a plan in place that involves the entire team and keeps me safe, but the rescue of the Born is the most important task right now.”

  Beside me, Seth was nodding vigorously. “I’ll make sure that Dawn is equipped with the best tracking device out there.” he said. “I’ll put one somewhere on her body, and the other in her phone. We’ll be able to follow her every move. As long as we stay close behind, she should be safe. When Jacques takes her, we’ll be on his heels.”

  “All of us?” Charlotte asked. Fear crept into her eyes. “Are you sure that’s not too many?”

  “You can stay behind,” I told her. Her frail state could put others in danger.

  “Will you stay with me?” she batted her eyelashes at Sophie. “Please?”

  I held my breath, waiting for Sophie’s reaction. I hoped that she would stand up to Charlotte and say no to her spoiled friend’s request. Charlotte was a big girl, she’d make it through one day without being waited on, and this was Sophie’s mission as much as it was anyone else’s.

  Sophie took a deep breath. “Sorry,” she told Charlotte, “I’d love to stay, but my team needs me. We’re strongest when we’re together.”

  In my mind, I gave Sophie a high-five. Brooke grinned.

  “Hmph…” was all Charlotte said.

  Tension seeped through the walls, spreading to every corner of the room.

  “How am I supposed to get into the club? Will I finally have to get a fake ID?” I attempted to lighten the mood.

  Brooke giggled. “Seth has one ready to go, but when I’m done with your makeover no one is going to care that you’re not twenty-one. They’ll be lining up to buy you drinks!”

  Ugh. “Great.”

  I suddenly realized that there was a much bigger problem with the mission than simply dealing with a murderous creep. The dilemma of having to seduce one was something I hadn’
t planned on.

  The next evening, thanks to Seth’s sleuthing and Brooke’s makeover skills, I found myself in a seedy little club in a grungy part of a town too small and too remote to even warrant a name, wearing something I doubted could actually pass for a complete outfit. Brooke had taken scissors to her shortest black dress, raising its hem to dangerous heights and slicing through the back and sides so that the entire garment hung on a few measly threads. I had spent the morning practicing kicks and takedowns in six-inch stilettos, agreeing to trade in my combat boots only once I was certain that I could still disarm someone in Brooke’s strappy heels.

  Getting past the bouncer wasn’t as hard as I expected it to be. His inebriated gaze barely shifted as he waved me through the door. Bloody Caesar’s management apparently wasn’t very choosy when it came to its patrons. The inside of the club was loud and dim with an old fog machine spitting and sputtering in a dark corner as it fought to stay alive. The stifling mix of cheap cigars and cigarettes filled the room with smoke.

  I made my way through an intoxicated gang of small-town bikers clad in leather, shuddering as one of them ran his hand down my back. I quickened my pace, escaping his touch right before he had a chance to move any lower. My own hand itched to greet his jaw, but I knew better than to start a fight. No matter what, I had to keep my sights on Jacques. And even with him, I had to play nice. Gag.

  Instinctively, I reached for the calming presence of my dagger. To my dismay, it wasn’t in its usual place against my body. Instead, in order not to raise suspicion, the poor thing was stuck in a sparkly black bag hanging off my shoulder, trapped in purse hell with Brooke’s pink lip gloss. I brought the clutch to my hip, fingering the blade through the sequins, letting out an inaudible sigh of relief upon realizing that it was still there.

  Making my way through the stuffy room, I tried to take a deep, calming breath, but my lungs filled with the putrid air of cigarette smoke. Coughing, I scanned the room for a man fitting Razor’s description of Jacques. Late twenties. Average height. Slender. Dirty blond hair and hazel eyes. Sharp nose, thick eyebrows, high cheekbones...