Morana ignored her.
Unfortunately, at that point, Diesel’s abductors split up and ran in three different directions. Jess maintained her course, chasing after the main vampire who was still carrying Diesel. Britt and Morana chased the second group of vampires, leaving Veronique and several officers to go after the third group.
As if by design, the vampires rejoined at an intersection not far away. Diesel still hung limply over the vampire’s shoulder but managed to lift his head to see Jess approaching.
Her mind swirled with the images of vampires burning in large steel drums. It wasn’t a nice way to go. Guilty or not, Diesel needed to receive a fair trial before justice was meted out.
Suddenly, without verbalizing their next move, the vampires ran for a nearby building.
“Stop, you cowards!” she shouted.
The big vamp with a short, trendy haircut and a few gray hairs at his temples actually halted and narrowed his black-eyed gaze on her. The others stopped behind him.
“You don’t know what you’re doing, vampire hunter. Go away and leave us to our own laws,” he said in an enhanced voice.
“What about the Pact?” she shouted at them. “This isn’t what is supposed to happen to a vampire who has been arrested.”
“What do you know about it?” The vampire narrowed an even angrier glare at her. “You’re not one of us. Why are you interfering?”
“Diesel is . . .” She paused; she couldn’t say he was innocent. “I want to make sure he has every opportunity at justice.”
The vampire carrying him laughed cynically. “There is no justice under the Pact, Vandermire. Don’t be so gullible.”
It was Jess’s turn to scowl. She caught Morana watching her with a satisfied expression on her face. Did she really hate Jess that much that she’d glory in this moment? And how did the vampire know who she was?
Britt stepped up next to Jess and pressed his warm arm against her shoulder for moral support. He didn’t have to say a word.
Diesel looked like a small, sad marionette as the vampire set him on the ground then loomed over him. Jess sensed the fear wafting off of him.
Why wasn’t Morana fighting for him, too? Unless she was afraid?
“Wait a minute. Those two vampires look exactly alike,” one of attackers shouted, pointing at Jess and Morana.
“Double our pleasure when we kill them,” the leader said, grinning. “But not yet. We have our orders.”
“Orders from whom?” Jess shouted.
Sirens wailed in the distance, getting closer. Reinforcements were coming.
“None of your business,” he said, extending one aged black fingernail and pressing it into Diesel’s neck, just far enough to make him scream in pain and allow a few drops of blood to run down his skin.
“I’m innocent, you bastard,” he shouted. “I’m innocent.”
The vampire laughed and tipped his head in their direction. “Vandermire, maybe you’d like the honors? I hear you take pleasure in killing your own kind.”
Neither she nor Morana spoke, but Jess’s teeth ground together. She’d like nothing better than to stake that idiot right now, only he held Diesel’s existence in his hands. Guilty or not, Diesel deserved to be able to tell his side of the story.
Britt edged forward just far enough that Jess caught sight of him in her peripheral vision. “Don’t do anything you shouldn’t,” she said under her breath. “We can’t start an international incident, and we can’t give away your skills.”
Morana moved closer, narrowing her gaze on Britt. “What skills?”
They didn’t answer her, but she’d been obviously intrigued.
A squad of vampire hunting police officers, who most likely had never seen action, arrived on the scene. They looked terrified.
Tension in the air ramped up, and Britt extracted the stake from his hidden holster, readying for the battle.
They were at an impasse though, a standoff with the vampire now holding his long, thick nail to Diesel’s neck while he and the other vampires slowly backed up, moving toward the building.
Diesel whimpered in a manner unbecoming a vampire, causing Morana to suck in a disgusted breath. “Act like a frigging vampire, Diesel. For once in your GD life.”
That made things even worse for Diesel, and Jess felt sorry for him.
“What happens now, Captain LaFontaine?” an officer asked.
“We take back our vampire,” she said loud enough for the attackers to hear. Brave words for a human whose heart was pounding like a jackrabbit in her chest. Jess wanted to tell her that the other vampires heard her fear, but now wasn’t the moment. At least her team didn’t know.
Both groups charged, and the battle broke out in earnest. Jess battled a vampire with tattoos on his earlobes.
Ravens. Again ravens.
She thrust her blade at him and he dived sideways, slashing the side of her arm with his thick black nail. It stung, but she’d live. She spun completely around when he jumped over her to attack from behind. But it wasn’t a problem; she moved every bit as fast as he.
She had no time to assess how Britt was doing, but from the corner of her eye, she caught sight of an emanation of blue light, an aura he probably was unaware of. Holy hell, she hoped no one else noticed.
She struck her opponent in the face with the hilt of her blade, anxious to get this over with in order to warn Britt. Jewel-encrusted and in the shape of a cross, the blade held diminishing power over other vampires. Just being near it made him crumple just a little.
That gave her the chance to dive hard at him, flipping in midair to land on his shoulders and wrap her thighs around his neck, then squeeze, in a move she’d tried before.
She’d expected it when his nails drove into her thighs. She’d bear the pain. Ten seconds later she drove her blade into his skull and he dropped to his knees while she rolled out of the way. After that, he burst into molecules so violently, it felt as if an atomic wave had blasted her and probably everyone else on the street.
Some of the other vampires looked stunned by what had just happened, because this guy had been very, very old if the eruption of molecules was any example. They might have thought him invincible.
She took another quick glance at Britt. His skin was definitely glowing now. She didn’t have time to warn him because another, bigger vampire, who looked more like a bouncer at a bar, charged her. His eyeteeth were gold. Fake teeth? They wouldn’t work very well, would they? Unless due to his age, his teeth were no longer viable. Did that happen?
His hair was long, and his irises were tiny black pinpoints in his bulging eyeballs. His nose hooked, and his lips were a greyish hue of chapped skin. Everything about him screamed older than dirt.
He must’ve been their second assault wave because somewhere in her vampire heart beat the ancient code to revere him. This one called to her more strongly than the others. She fought the need to follow that code.
Britt must’ve noticed her hesitation. “Don’t drop your guard, Jess. Fight him mind and body!”
With Britt’s urging, she managed to block the vampire’s lure. She used every ounce of her will to hold her blade against him.
Britt’s angelic presence and abilities must have given her enough strength to fight off the waves of ancient code that had threatened to debilitate her earlier. She couldn’t imagine another way she’d be able to fend off a vampire as old and powerful.
From her left, Diesel suddenly started screaming, and even though Jess wanted to see what was happening to him, she couldn’t take her attention off the vampire attacking her.
Finally, she dove at him with her toe blade extended. He moved quickly out of her way, and she landed in an undignified position on the hard cement sidewalk while battle sounds rent the air around them. Mostly, she heard the sounds of Veronique’s officers dying. They weren’t experienced enough for this battle. She jumped to her feet again in an effort to save as many officers as possible.
Jess’s
attacker tried to grab her by the throat, but she managed to duck. Next, he swung a huge fist at her face and caught the top of her head, nearly knocking her down again. She spun away just as the second blow came lower. That punch would have connected with her center mass. Luckily, she managed to roll away just in time.
The blade in her hand felt small against this massive, overwhelming aged vampire. She wished she had holy water on her belt, because so far, she had made very few impactful hits against this beast. He was playing with her. He hadn’t really shown her his capabilities, and that actually scared her. Was she strong enough to beat him?
In a last bid to win against him, she charged, bending just at the right time to kick him from behind, low, at the back of the knees in order to knock him off his feet. He landed on the ground with a hard thump while the air whooshed out of him. His mistake.
She somersaulted through the air and jumped onto his chest, driving her heel spike into his heart before he had a chance to recover. This time the particle blast blew her off her feet as he exploded viciously. When the dust settled, she got a look at the battle scene, or what was left of it. There were several dead humans littering the ground. Somehow, the poorly trained, ragged crew had managed to take out four of the vampires, but three of the monsters still stood, including the one with his hands around Diesel’s neck, throttling him.
Jess ran at him, and he actually let go of Diesel and backed away.
“This isn’t the way it was supposed to happen. You were supposed to give in to us,” he shouted. He must have thought she’d have to revere the oldest vampires, to bend to their will.
Morana let her expression of extreme shock and horror show. “Wait! What? You still want to recruit her?” She pointed at Jess. “Not me?”
Britt was covered with soot from head to toe, when he came back to stand beside her—always her protector. Meanwhile, Morana looked like she was going to lose it.
“You?” The olde one shouted. “Why would we want you? We have no need for bartenders.”
Morana howled at that, screamed and stamped her feet. “You lie. I am so much more than she.”
Diesel tried to reach for Morana. “Morana, I believe in you,” he said.
Morana ignored him and continued shouting at the attacker. “You have no idea what you’re saying. I’m not like her, can’t you see that? I want to become a member. She doesn’t. Take me instead.”
The lead vampire merely sneered at her and shoved Diesel away from him, as if he’d never been at risk to start with. “Diesel, you said you’d recruit the North American vampire. You’ve failed, and that makes you disposable. The French police can have you.”
“I would have succeeded if you’d given me time,” Diesel sniveled. He’d been a traitor, all along.
The last three vampires watched from the shadows, no doubt waiting for their leader to give new orders.
Jess scanned the area, trying to take in the body count and the number of officers still living. Out of the blue, Diesel rushed at her. His eyes were wild.
“Jess, you don’t understand what you’re being offered. You need to know what you’ve turned down.”
“You can tell me,” she said. “But only after you tell us why you killed those young women.”
“I will. I’ll tell you everything,” he said, taking two quick steps toward her.
Without warning, Morana dove at him and slammed a blade into his heart. A tiny puff of molecules hissed into the air as his life force dissipated and was gone.
Morana dropped to her knees. “Look what you made me do,” she shouted at Jess. “You’ve made me kill my best friend.”
Jess grabbed Morana’s shoulders. “Why did you do it?”
“I saved your life, Sister,” she said in a bitter voice. “It seems blood is thicker than water, whether I want it to be or not.” She pressed her face into her hands in a motion that Jess couldn’t quite swallow.
“He planned to kill you. Didn’t you see the spike he had up his sleeve?” Morana said.
Jess sought out the location where Diesel’s body had floated away. There was a spike on the ground, but Diesel couldn’t have had it unless he’d managed to get it away from his attacker, and she very much doubted that. Had Morana simply been mistaken?
And why did Diesel so badly want to recruit her to the vampire group? Those were questions that would never be answered now.
Morana jumped to her feet and got into Jess’s face. “This is your fault. It’s all your fault. Why didn’t you stay in North America?”
Jess bit her tongue. She could once again hear Regent in her head telling her to give Morana the benefit of the doubt. She reached out a hand to touch Morana’s arm.
Morana swiped at the dirt on her face. Her eyes had gone glassy, and her teeth had lengthened. “Don’t!” she said, pushing Jess’s shoulder roughly. “Don’t make me hate you even more. What I did was out of instinct. I didn’t want to kill Diesel. You made me do it!”
“The other vamps are escaping,” Veronique shouted.
Jess tore her gaze from Morana to see the last three vampires making their getaway, just as Veronique dropped to the ground with a gush of blood saturating the fabric of her shirt. She’d been badly injured.
An officer ran to her and shouted, “Captain Lafontaine needs help.” It seemed his arm was broken, and he couldn’t apply pressure to the wound.
Britt had already gone after the vampires, disappearing around the corner with Morana close behind him. Jess was torn. Should she follow or stay here and protect what was left of the police officers in case the vampires turned back?
She couldn’t let Veronique die. She let them go.
Scanning the fallen, she realized there were too many people who needed her help right now. “Someone call an ambulance, please,” she shouted, putting just enough pressure on Veronique’s wound to slow the bleeding.
The cop with the broken arm yanked out his phone with his left hand and made the call before trying to help the others.
Jess surveyed the street. There were at least a dozen dead cops. Vampires had gone against the Pact, and humans had died. Everything was about to change in Paris.
Ambulances arrived quickly, and EMTs whisked the injured away. Jess watched the vehicles speed off before she wiped the blood from her hands and turned back to the scene of the battle.
She was about to go after Britt when she spotted it—a blue glow blooming above the rooftops with nuclear intensity a few streets away. The light grew until it flashed like a solar flare, bursting forth and lighting part of the sky before it flashed out over the city, the wake spreading out in a circular wave. Jess had to cover her eyes and dove into a nearby vehicle to protect herself from angel fire.
When it was over, she exited the vehicle and thanked her lucky stars the vehicle’s darkened windows had been enough to protect her. The other vampires would be burned to embers.
Morana! A wave of dizziness hit her—sheer panic.
Morana had been there, too. She’d followed Britt, and he probably didn’t even know.
Jess’s legs suddenly went weak. She had no fricking idea how she’d explain to Regent what had just happened to their sister. Regent might never forgive Britt for this.
Then Jess started running.
She rounded the corner and raced up the street until she came across several piles of soot. Even though vaporized vampire remains left little residue, she tried to count how many had been killed, but it was an impossible task because they were dissipating quickly.
Britt spotted her and raced toward her, worry evident in his features. “I might have just caused irreparable damage to the Pact.”
All Jess could think about was the death of her sister—and Regent’s reaction.
“Something worse might have happened,” she said gravely, unable to think about Regent’s heartbreak right now.
“What?” he asked, panic edging into his voice. Probably, because he could read her so well, and he knew something had gone
terribly wrong.
“Not here. I’ll tell you when we get home.”
She had to come to terms with it herself, first.
LATER, IN THE WEE hours of the morning and just minutes before she had to go into stasis, Jess sat on the sofa with Britt. A strange hollow feeling sat in the area where her shriveled up heart had once pumped freely. One thing she knew for sure, she didn’t want to analyze that right now. She’d shove it away until she had to face up to it.
She told him about Morana.
“Oh God, Jess. I didn’t know she was there,” Britt said in a shaky voice. The horror of what had happened was slowly sinking into him.
“I know, Britt. I saw her chase after you. There’s no way you could’ve known she was following you.”
“I was surrounded by six of them. They came out of the woodwork, almost as if they were waiting for me. It was me or them.”
Jess nodded and sighed. “You chose the right option, my love.”
Muscles in his jaw worked, and she heard his teeth grinding. He shook his head as if he couldn’t possibly figure it all out.
Jess sighed and squeezed his hand. “One of the vampires had raven tattoos on his earlobes, Britt,” she said, changing the subject. “I saw the same raven on a coin in Vlad’s office, and we know it to be a symbol of the Order of the Revenant. Do you think Vlad’s lying to Veronique? What if he was involved in this attack? She thinks he’s helping to uncover the underground movement of vampires, but what if he’s their leader?”
“Having a coin in his office isn’t absolute proof of involvement.” Britt said, rubbing a hand over his tired-looking eyes. “But I agree. We should tread very carefully from here on out. It’s time we came up with a game plan for Paris. There’s no way we can go home until we know what the vampires are planning. If they take Paris, who knows what’ll be next?”
“There were a lot of deaths today,” she said.
How badly was Veronique hurt?” he asked.
Jess made a face. “Pretty bad. She lost a lot of blood. I don’t know what her prognosis is, but we’ll know more tomorrow evening.”
“And Regent?” Britt said, deep-seated pain lurking heavily behind his eyes. “I’ll tell him about Morana myself. You don’t have to be there.”
Silenced by the Grave Page 26