ReAwakened

  Bingo.

  He sat at the bar, surrounded by three attractive women in their mid-twenties. One vampire and two humans. I detested the idea of having to vie for the attention of a homicidal maniac.

  Unfortunately, Jacques wasn’t the only person in the club whom I recognized. Behind the bar in the farthest corner of the room, partially hidden within the shadows, was a tall familiar figure.

  Sebastian.

  “What the heck are you doing here?” I asked once I’d made my way over to him.

  “I came to wish you luck,” he said, grinning sheepishly.

  “You could’ve done that outside of the bar.” I crossed my arms and frowned. “You came to stalk,” I accused.

  “A little.” He plunged his hands into the pockets of his dark jeans. “Look, Dawn, what if the guy turns out to be an even worse creep than we expected? What if he gets you drunk? We both know how well you handle your liquor. What if he drags you off? What if—”

  I pressed my fingers to his lips. “He has to think that he’s successfully doing all of those things in order for this plan to actually work.”

  “I know.” The muscles on his shoulders tensed. “That’s why I hate it so much,” he said, exhaling sharply.

  “I can’t say that I love it either.” I motioned to my dress. “Do you see what I’m wearing?”

  A small smirk tugged at the corners of his lips. “I do.” In a blink of an eye, his smile vanished. “But, to my misfortune, so does everyone else in this place.”

  I rolled my eyes, but couldn't help smiling. “Thank you for believing in me and trusting that I can do this,” I told him.

  “Of course I do. With my whole heart.” He reached out through the darkness, taking my hand in his. “There’s just a tiny piece of it that doesn’t want to let you out of my sight.”

  “It won’t be for long,” I promised. “Now go before Jacques sees us talking. We can’t raise any suspicion,” I said, glancing over my shoulder. “I have to look like I’m completely alone for this to work. Talking to a tall, dark, and handsome stranger isn’t helping my cause.”

  “Wait.” He grabbed my arm, pulling me farther into the dimness. He took out a thin, silver necklace from his pocket. Hanging at the end of the chain was a small, violet charm. “I want you to have this,” he said, letting the pendant fall to my chest.

  I raised my eyebrows, perplexed by the surprise gift. “You’re choosing this particular moment to present me with a piece of jewelry?”

  He simply nodded.

  “You’re a little late to the party. Seth already gave me something,” I joked, pointing to the gaudy ring on my middle toe. The tiny, plastic jewel in its center was rigged with a microscopic tracking device.

  “I think this one is more in your taste,” he whispered huskily, fingering the bright gem. “Matches your eyes.” It was only then that I noticed the many different shades swirling through the stone. Purple, violet, and lavender hues blended together to form a unique pattern.

  “It’s beautiful. Thank you,” I said, touched by his gift. Then I sobered and pointed to the exit. “Now go.”

  He started to leave, but turned back on his heel. “Dawn, please be careful,” he cautioned. “I’d really like you back in one piece.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll be back. If anything, just to kick your butt for pulling this crazy stunt,” I vowed. “I’m not happy that you put our operation in jeopardy, you know,” I chastised. All the while, I was forcing back a smile.

  “I’d offer to help you work off some of that frustration,” Sebastian said, pulling me even deeper into the darkness, “but I think it’s best that you approach Jacques with as much hostility as possible.”

  I resisted the temptation of his offer. “I agree,” I told him, biting down on my bottom lip. His intense gaze, the curve of his jaw, his intoxicating scent—everything about him was suddenly so very distracting. And the last thing I needed right now was a distraction. I shook my head and pushed away from him. “You need to get out and stay out,” I ordered. “Stick to the plan. I mean it.”

  Once I was certain that Sebastian had made his way out of the building, I slipped over to the bar, attempting to pass directly in front of Jacques’ line of sight as I moved toward an empty stool. One leg in front of the other, I did my best to look elegant and poised. All the while I cursed Brooke’s short skirt.

  Completing my best seductive walk—and failing miserably—I claimed a seat next to the vampire sitting on Jacques’ left. The dark-haired girl shot me a sideways glance, then scrunched up her nose as if she smelled something foul. She turned back to Jacques and laughed loudly.

  Here goes nothing, I thought, looking over at the sleazy vampire.

  Or rather, here goes something very degrading, I corrected myself.

  My heart pounded as I swiveled in my chair, making a spectacle of crossing my legs. I winced as the hem of my dress rose even higher, but fought the urge to tug down on the fabric. I slowly glided my hand down my leg, pretending to fiddle with the strap of my sandal. All the while I was cringing on the inside.

  I was starting to think that this felt more like a ploy to catch a predator, than a mission to capture a Born killer. I came close to throwing the whole plan out the window, but was determined to help the newest batch of missing Born. Thankfully, my leg flaunting wasn’t in vain as I did manage to lock eyes with Jacques. He shot me a lazy grin as his gaze slid over my legs. His intense stare caused my skin to crawl, as if a thousand microscopic bugs crept across my legs.

  Jacques bent over to whisper something to one of the humans. Mid-sentence, he smiled and nodded toward me. My heart slammed against my ribcage as I tried to repel the nauseous feeling rising within me. The girl grimaced, but rose from her seat and stood beside her friend. Jacques looked over at me, motioning to the now-empty seat. Scowling inwardly, but wearing a fake excited smile, I obeyed.

  “The name’s Carl,” Jacques said, extending his hand as I sat down next to him. “Carl Jacques.” He was bringing emphasis to his slight French accent, clearly attempting to seem suave.

  “Dee,” I said, shaking his hand. It was the first thing that popped into my mind. “Dee Dagger.” I silently cursed Razor for his stupid nickname fetish.

  “With a name like that, you must be a very dangerous girl, hmm?” Jacques winked.

  “Oh, I can be,” I said, wishing I could show him just how dangerous.

  For a brief instant, I thought about hitting him over the head with one of the large bottles behind the bar. I envisioned torturing the location of the missing Born from him, and found it a very tempting thought. At the very least it would bring quick closure to my own personal torture. But instead I had to play nice.

  “Well, little lady, let’s hear all about you,” Jacques said, drawing my attention away from the weapons lining the dusty shelves. “But first, where are my manners! You must be thirsty,” he said, smiling haughtily when he caught my gaze. With a wave of his hand, he motioned to the bartender. “What will it be? Something bloody and strong, I assume?”

  “Oh, yes, with a kick,” I replied, disappointed that I couldn’t just deliver one myself. Right in his groin.

  “So, what brings a lovely lady like yourself to this part of the world?” Jacques asked, taking a swig of his own drink, motioning around the dingy bar as if it was some swanky place in Paris.

  “I’m just passing through town. I don’t like to be tied down to people, places, things…you know,” I said, hoping that I sounded like an easy target.

  The bartender placed a foul-smelling reddish-orange drink in front of me. Jacques watched in anticipation as I wrapped my hand around the glass.

  “How about you?” I asked, shifting his interest back to me.

  “Carl is a doctor,” one of the human women said. “He’s going to fix up my sister’s heart with this new procedure he’s developed.”

  The other woman giggled. “Hopefully, in more ways than one,” she said blushing.

&nb
sp; “Is that so? How fascinating!” I was on a fast track to a Best Actress award for my performance.

  Jacques turned to the humans. “How about you ladies hit the dance floor and give my new friend some alone time with the Doctor?” I tried not to groan. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card. “Here’s my card, call me when you convince your Daddy to send you the money for the procedure so that we can continue our chat. Try not to make me wait too long, okay? There are plenty of girls in need of my attention.”

  The women looked unhappy, but hugged him and left.

  “Faith, would you check in with my service?” Jacques asked the vampire on his left.

  She nodded at Jacques, then scowled at me as she got up to leave.

  “She’s one of my nurses,” Jacques explained when we were alone. “The steadiest hands in the business.”

  Hands that sliced little kids’ throats.

  I reined in the desire to scowl. “She, uhh, seems…great.” I was slowly losing my handle on the perky, carefree girl that I was supposed to be portraying. Jacques’ disgusting behavior had usurped my desire to play nice. Regardless, I plowed through. “So, as I was saying, I’m just trying to find myself on this journey. Being a Born in a family of Made vampires is sometimes so hard to handle.”

  Jacques perked up, his attention shifting from my legs to my eyes. “I could tell right away that you were one of the special ones.” A small smile spread across his lips.

  Hook, line, and sink—

  Before I could even finish celebrating, my gaze fell upon a pair of deep charcoal eyes.

  “I’ll be right back,” I told Jacques, trying to appear as casual as possible. “Gotta powder my…”—what was it that girls usually powdered?—“…nose.”

  “Hurry back,” he said, moistening his lips with another sip of his drink.

  I could feel his gaze on my back as he watched me walk to the restroom. Allowing a few seconds to pass, I quickly slipped back out. Weaving through the crowd, I stalked to the corner of the dance floor where Razor was swaying to the music in a rhythmical attempt to blend in.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked, experiencing a sudden case of déjà vu.

  He shrugged. “I just wanted to come by and check out your outfit,” he said, grinning. “It’s everything I imagined it would be—and more.”

  I crossed my arms and shot him a stern glare. “Why are you in here?”

  “What? That’s not good enough for you? Then, how about...I came for the atmosphere?” He gestured around the room, grimacing as two older women in leopard-print bustieres waved at him.

  “Come on, D…” He jabbed my ribs when my glare became a full-blown scowl. “The women! The riveting eighties tunes! I simply couldn’t let a place like this pass me by.” When I didn’t respond, he sobered up and said, “And, you know…in case Jacques turned out to be bad news…”

  “Jacques is bad news! You know this! I know this! That’s why I’m here,” I said. “Why is it that both you and your brother think that I can’t do this on my own?”

  Razor blinked. “Sebastian’s here?”

  “You didn’t arrive together?”

  “No. I drove my own car. I had no idea that he was already here.”

  “Well, he’s not anymore. I kicked him out and now I’m kicking you out too. Go away before Jacques recognizes you,” I told him.

  “Be careful, D,” he warned. “That animal really has no boundaries.”

  I sighed. “I know. I already had the displeasure of being acquainted with his lack of boundaries.” I gave him a gentle shove toward the exit. “Now scram!”

  As I made my way back to the bar, I noticed that Jacques was leaning over my drink. I ducked behind a tall, burly man, observing the blond vampire as he slyly glanced around. Confident that no one was watching him, he pulled a glass vial filled with a thick red substance out of his pocket. Unscrewing its lid, he poured the contents into my drink, swishing the liquid around. The reddish-orange shade of the drink absorbed the crimson color of the poison. An unsuspecting victim would be none the wiser.

  There was no doubt about it, Jacques officially made it to the top of my World’s Biggest Creeps list. Heck, he deserved a page of his own. With all my heart, I wished the lives of the other Born weren’t on the line as I desperately yearned to take him out right here and right now. Fortunately for him, that wasn't in the cards. Instead, I slid back into my seat, smiling brightly.

  Jacques returned my smile as he placed the poisoned drink in my hand. “A toast,” he said. “To chance meetings!”

  “And new memories,” I added, hoping that his new memory would be of my fist connecting with his nose.

  We clinked our glasses.

  Moments later, I was passed out cold in the back of Jacques’ trunk.

  Or at least pretending to be.

  Thinking that the vampire blood I’d ingested had rendered me helpless, Jacques hadn’t bothered to tie me up when he threw me into the trunk of his car. To him, I was a weak little girl who’d lost her way and walked into the big bad vamp’s den. Or, in this case, his favorite bar.

  Knowing that he didn’t expect me to fight back gave me the advantage. Using Brooke’s sharp stiletto, I poked a small hole in the partition between the trunk and the back seat, then pressed my ear against the tiny opening, straining to hear the muffled conversation.

  “She went down quickly, didn’t she?” Jacques sounded pleased with himself.

  “Suspiciously quick.” I recognized Faith’s voice. “Especially for a Born.”

  Jacques snorted. “She’s just a lightweight.”

  It was true. I was a lightweight—at least when it came to alcohol. But neither of my abductors knew that I hadn’t ingested a single drop of the drink. Just as I lifted the glass to my lips to pretend to take a small sip, a commotion near the entrance of the club drew Jacques’ gaze away. With his attention distracted, I discarded half of the poisoned liquid into a nearby glass. As he turned back toward me, I made a show of coughing as I put my glass back down. Playing drunk, I managed to spill the remainder of the drink on my dress.

  I excused myself, putting on a show as I stumbled toward the restroom. I hadn’t even made it to the door when Jacques grabbed me around the waist and led me toward the alley behind the club. He waved the bouncer away when he approached us, telling him I’d had too much to drink and that he was going to ensure that I had a safe ride home.

  Yeah, right.

  At his car, he’d also readied a vamp blood syringe as a precaution. I pretended to lose consciousness in order to save myself from the injection. As Jacques and Faith shoved my limp body into the dark trunk, the strap of my heel caught on the side. Faith tugged on my foot, crushing my toe ring against the metal surface. As she shoved my leg into the trunk, the jewel housing the tracking device broke off. I could hear a soft crunch as it connected with the gravel outside.

  My spirits plummeted even further as Faith began rummaging through my purse.

  “She won’t be needing this anymore,” she said, and I could almost visualize my phone flying out the window. I bid farewell to the back-up tracking device. “Or these. Who carries around blood capsules?” More items flew out of the window as I bit back a silent curse.

  Finally, I heard the window roll up as Faith gasped. “Would you look at this!” By the tone of her voice, I knew that she’d discovered the dagger.

  “Cool.” Jacques was nonchalant.

  “What would a lightweight little vamp be doing with this?” Faith pressed suspiciously.

  The leather of Jacques’ jacket rubbed against the seat. “Who knows? She said her last name was Dagger. Maybe it’s a family heirloom.”

  Faith growled, but dropped the subject. Instead, she said, “You missed an important call while you were playing with your little prey. Sounds like there may be some trouble brewing.”

  Jacques clucked his tongue. “Always so negative.”

  Faith shuffled around for something
in the backseat. I held my breath, hoping that it was too dark for her to notice the small hole in the fabric.

  “I’m dialing for you,” she said, and I exhaled. “Here.”

  An eerie silence followed while Jacques waited for the other line to pick up.

  “What’s up?” he asked.

  “…”

  “What? Yes. Another Born.”

  “…”

  “I don’t know. How should I know?”

  “…”

  “Fine! Hang on. Faith, does the Born in our trunk happen to have violet eyes?”

  “I’m not sure. I do remember thinking her eyes were an odd color,” Faith responded. “Why?”

  “Why?” Jacques repeated her question to the speaker on the other line.

  “…”

  “What? No, come on. She’s mine. I captured her fair and square.”

  “…”

  “What do you want with her anyway?”

  “…”

  “That’s her? Really? Huh. Fine. I assume I’ll be well rewarded?”

  “…”

  “Okay, okay! But will you at least tell me what’s so special about this Born?”

  “I just got hung up on!” Jacques cried. The entire vehicle shook as he slammed his hands against the steering wheel.

  “What was all that about?” Faith asked.

  “We’re not allowed to lay a single finger on the new girl.”

  “Why not?”

  “She’s the girl the Boss has been after all this time. That means no blood from this one.”

  Faith chuckled. “Since when do you do everything the Boss wants?”

  “Since she apparently saved our asses from some planned attack on the facility.”

  “An attack, huh?” Faith chuckled. “And she stopped it?”

  “That’s what I’ve been told. Stopped them in their tracks.”

  What? No! No! No!

  “I guess you were right about our lightweight being feisty. That little thing was one of the vamps who invaded our operation at Mercy Hope. We’re supposed to use extreme precaution and hold her until the Boss is able to make it up here. A day or so at most, she said.”