Wounded Soul

by Annabelle Jacobs

  Jesse rolled his eyes. Of fucking course he’d run into Peter. He seemed to be everywhere he wasn’t wanted lately. “What are you doing creeping around out here? Finished your beauty sleep?”

  Peter raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment. “I’m on my way down to the kitchen for a snack, and lucky for you I was.” He glanced around them, then waved at Jesse’s arm, the one he’d been trying to sniff, then whisper-hissed, “You should know a human’s scent changes once they become a vampire. You don’t smell like human Ian, trust me. How do you think Lys and I have been going about our business without anyone stopping us?”

  Oh. He had a point.

  “These first few days, he’ll smell enough like you that others won’t notice.”

  Jesse yawned, lack of rest catching up to him. No wonder he was making stupid mistakes. “Yeah, I forgot.”

  “Evidently.” Peter walked up the stairs to meet him and slipped his arm through Jesse’s before he could move away. “Come on, I’ll escort you to the kitchen so you don’t make any more mistakes.”

  “How do you even know that’s where I’m headed?”

  “Oh, please,” Peter scoffed. “Like you’d leave your room for any other reason. And you look hungry and tired, so it wasn’t hard to guess.”

  Jesse tried to yank his arm back, but Peter’s grip was solid and Jesse was suddenly too exhausted to fight him. “Apparently Raph’s been asking after me.”

  Peter stiffened. “Oh?”

  “Yeah, Lys told me. Thought I’d better make an appearance.”

  “Hmm. A good idea.”

  They reached the kitchen and Jesse took the first opportunity to wriggle out of Peter’s grip. Finally free, Jesse nodded to Liam and Tom, who were just leaving, and headed to the fridge.

  “Ah, Jesse.” Raph’s voice, usually a welcome sound to Jesse’s ears had the opposite effect now, setting him instantly on edge. “I was beginning to think you were avoiding me.”

  Jesse turned and leant against the worktop as Raph entered the kitchen. Peter stood off to one side, watching them both with keen eyes. As nervous as Jesse might be, he took comfort in the fact that Peter must be twice as bad. “I’ve been doing some reading.”

  Raph’s smile was warm, trusting, and Jesse felt the guilt start to creep in. “Yes, I saw you’d taken one of the old books out of the library.”

  “Was I not supposed to?” A minor infraction in the grand scheme of things, but Jesse hated disappointing Raph.

  He’d forgotten how much.

  “No, it’s fine.” Raph’s smile widened, and Jesse wanted to die. “It’s good that someone’s reading them.” He walked over to Jesse and clasped his arm. “It makes me happy to know you’re interested in our history. Those books hold a wealth of knowledge, some of which I’m sure we’ve forgotten over the years. I’ll be keen to discuss it with you when you’re finished.” He gave Jesse’s shoulder a squeeze and met his gaze.

  Somehow Jesse knew what was coming and wished he were anywhere else.

  “I’m sorry things turned out the way they did with Ian,” Raph began. “But I do appreciate you doing as I asked. I know it can’t have been easy to walk away.”

  Jesse inwardly cringed. You have no idea.

  “It was necessary for the safety of our coven,” Raph finished.

  Jesse couldn’t help but glance at Peter, wondering what exactly he’d reported back to Raph. Peter’s expression gave nothing away, but Raph caught Jesse looking over.

  He must’ve been scowling because Raph patted him on the shoulder again. “Peter’s still keeping an eye on the situation, but he seems to think that although DS Jones and Mr Moreton appear to be close friends, he doesn’t believe Jones has confided in him about our existence. If that continues to be the case, then there’s nothing to worry about.” He smiled again, and Jesse suddenly realised it wasn’t the case, would never be the case, and there was no way they could ever make this fuck-up go away. Even if they introduced Ian to Raph as a new covenless vampire from wherever, eventually he’d run into Blake. And then it would all be over.

  They needed to tell Raph what was going on and take the fucking consequences. Peter had made a huge mistake and so had Jesse, whether they meant to or not. Well, Jesse hadn’t meant to. Peter obviously had. Hiding from it wasn’t doing anyone any favours.

  Not him, not Raph, and definitely not Ian.

  And on top of that, Jesse had dragged Lys into it.

  The lying had to stop now, before they made things any worse.

  If that were possible.

  Steeling himself for what he was about to do, Jesse turned to Raph. “Raph, there’s something we—”

  “Yes!” Peter hurried over, a surprised expression in place as though Jesse had just reminded him of something. “I’d almost forgotten.” He sent Jesse a venomous glare as soon as Raph looked away. “Jesse and I noticed we were getting low on blood. I wanted to talk to you about maybe upping our supply next time or keeping a better eye on how much people are taking.” He steered Raph away from Jesse, towards the door. “With the VLCD keeping such a close eye on how much we buy, maybe this is something to bring up at the agreement meeting you promised us.”

  Jesse watched as Raph’s focus shifted fully to Peter, frown in place now Peter had brought up the meeting Raph had agreed to. “But I really need to—”

  “Jesse,” Peter hissed. “I’m sure whatever drama you’ve got going on can wait. You should get back to Lys. It’s not wise to keep her waiting when she’s hungry.” There was a threat in there somewhere, and as Jesse struggled to figure it out, Peter deftly led Raph out through the door in the direction of Raph’s office, and Jesse cursed under his breath.

  He’d lost his fucking chance. Peter could keep him in there for hours, spouting his bullshit about tweaking the agreement or abolishing it all together. And Jesse couldn’t hang around indefinitely waiting for them to come out.

  Racing after them was an option, but judging by Peter’s expression, he’d stop Jesse from speaking to Raph any way he could, and a fight with Peter wasn’t what he needed right then. He’d just have to wait.

  Bollocks.

  Grabbing some blood from the fridge, Jesse marched back to the stairs, taking them two at a time until he reached his floor. He heard the footsteps well before he saw Michael rounding the corner, coming from Jesse’s floor.

  Jesse narrowed his eyes. “What the fuck are you doing up here?” Michael’s room was on the floor below.

  He hesitated for a split second, but Jesse caught it, fuelling his suspicion.

  “Visiting.” Michael quickly regained his confidence. “That all right with you?” He glanced at the bags in Jesse’s arms, smirk appearing. “I guess you and Lys must be thirsty, huh.”

  So you’ve been to my room, you nosy bastard.

  Forcing a smile, Jesse shrugged. “You know how she gets after a long shift at the hospital.”

  “I can imagine.” He gestured over his shoulder. “Better get going then, there’s hungry people waiting for you.”

  Jesse walked past him without replying, refusing to play whatever game Michael was aiming for. It wasn’t as though Jesse didn’t know Peter had told them where Ian was. What did Michael think he was gaining by talking like that?

  Arsehole.

  If Jesse was getting into trouble for this, then those three were bloody well going down with him.

  He reached his room without running into anyone else, thank fuck, and hurried to get inside and lock it behind him.

  “Everything all right?” Lys asked as he leant against the door for a moment.

  “Ran into Michael,” Jesse offered by way of explanation.

  Lys rolled her eyes. “He came here, knocking on your door. Didn’t even pretend to have a good excuse for being here.”

  Jesse walked over to the bed and sat down.

  “I hid in the en suite while she answered the door,” Ian added. “In case you were wondering.” He wrinkled his nose and Jesse sudd
enly remembered the bag of dirty clothes. “Something in there stinks, by the way.”

  “Yeah.” Jesse managed a genuine smile this time. “That would be your clothes.”

  “Gross.” Ian glanced down at what he was wearing. “Huh.” He pulled the blood-spattered T-shirt and frowned. “I should probably have a shower.” He glanced up and met Jesse’s gaze. “Can I borrow some more clean clothes?”

  Jesse’s mind had frozen on the idea of Ian naked in his shower, and it took him a moment to parse the question. “Yeah, of course. I could probably do with a shower too.” He smirked at Ian’s raised eyebrow, the image in his head morphing to include both of them. Wet, naked, and—

  “Wow, you too. At least wait until I’ve left the room.”

  Jesse’s head snapped around to find Lys looking at him, eyebrows raised.

  “You forgot I was here, didn’t you?” she asked, incredulous.

  “No.” Jesse grinned.

  “Liar.” She smiled, so he figured he was forgiven. She nodded at the blood he still held. “Any trouble getting that?”

  Her question hit him like a bucket of cold water and the smile slipped off his face.

  “I’m gonna take that as a yes.”

  Passing a blood bag to Lys and then Ian, Jesse took one for himself and settled back against the headboard. “I ran into Peter.”

  “Oh joy.” Lys pulled a face. “Where’s he been hiding himself. I felt for sure he’d be back here keeping tabs on us.”

  “I suspect he’s been with Michael and Simon. Plotting.” That was Jesse’s best guess, anyway, after his epiphany in the kitchen.

  “Plotting?” Ian and Lys said at the same time.

  “Yeah. We met Raph in the kitchen.” Jesse proceeded to give them a rundown of what happened next and his thoughts on the whole thing, until their grim expressions matched his.

  “There’s only one way out of this as far as Peter’s concerned.” He gave Ian a sad smile. “And that’s getting rid of the evidence.”

  Lys groaned. “We should’ve gone to Raph at the very start, asked Liam to call him back to the coven.”

  “Hindsight is a wonderful thing,” Jesse agreed. “But we can’t go back and fix it. We need a new plan going forward though, because the only thing standing between Peter and a clean getaway is Ian. And I don’t think he’s going to let it drag on.”

  “Why didn’t he kill you when you first got to the house?” Lys asked. “You said you met him outside, right? Why not do it then?”

  Jesse had forgotten about that, it seemed so long ago instead of merely hours. “I think maybe at the start, he hadn’t thought it through properly. I took him by surprise; he didn’t expect me to make Ian a vampire.” And he wasn’t on his own. “Now he’s had a chance to weigh all the options and realised he’s in the shit if Ian stays alive.”

  Ian finished off his blood, licking the last traces off his lips, and Jesse’s attention caught on the sweep of his tongue. Their earlier conversation flooded back to him, and suddenly he wanted to forget all the shit going on around them and explore Ian the way he wanted to, the way he could now they were both vampires. “We need to tell Raph,” he murmured, still watching Ian’s mouth. “And soon.”

  “Let’s go get him, then.” Lys was already on her feet. “Before you two tear each other’s clothes off. Jesus, boys, tone it down a bit.”

  “Sorry.” Jesse smirked as he failed to inject any sincerity into his voice. “And I left him being steered to his office by Peter on the premise of discussing the pack meeting about our agreement with the VLCD. They could be in there hours.”

  “Fuck.” Lys pulled out her phone.

  “It’s not something you can tell him over the phone, for fuck’s sake.”

  “I know that.” She glanced up at him, irritation flashing in her eyes. “I’m calling the hospital to see if I can swap my shift. We need to get this sorted tonight.”

  A lengthy and irate phone call later, Lys had successfully swapped her next two nights at work with someone else. “Right. As I see it, we need somewhere safer than here to stash Ian. Because as much as I love and trust Raph, there’s no guarantee that he won’t take one look at this whole fucking mess and side with Peter. At this stage, getting rid of Ian and making it look like an accident is the simplest and cleanest solution.”

  “Hey! I’m right here, you know.” Ian’s gaze darted between the two of them, and Jesse hated the fear he saw there.

  “Sorry.” He reached for Ian’s hand, gutted when he flinched away. “Lys and I don’t think like that,” he tried to reassure him.

  “Why not?” Ian spat, fangs sliding out as his fear turned into anger. “Like you said, it’ll solve everyone’s problems. With me out of the way, everyone’s in the clear.”

  “Because it’s not right. Lys and I are in favour of the agreement, not only because it protects us from being hunted, but it means there’s no expectation for us to hunt.”

  Ian frowned, some of his anger seeming to drain away. “I thought drinking from a human was like the best thing ever for a vampire.”

  Jesse’s smile turned rueful. “Oh it is. The rush you get from it is quite unlike anything else. But the agonising guilt you suffer afterwards takes the edge off somewhat.”

  Ian scoffed. “Peter doesn’t feel guilty in the slightest.”

  “That’s because Peter’s a cunt. Being a vampire gives him the excuse to do all the things he couldn’t get away with as a human. There’s plenty more like him, but there are also a vast number who don’t enjoy taking life after life, no matter if we think some of them deserve it.”

  “And besides,” Jesse added, in case Ian needed more reassurance that he was safe with them. “If you turn up dead, the first thing they’ll do is pull your phone records. I’m on there, remember, and as soon as the VLCD get wind of it, which they will eventually, they’ll ask to verify my whereabouts. So either way, I’m fucked.”

  Both Lys and Ian stared at him, and he gave them a sad smile. “It’s okay. Whatever happens to me will be what I deserve.”

  “Jesse—”

  “Think about it, Lys. There’s no way out of this without them finding out I turned Ian.” He shrugged. “It is what it is. What we need to focus on is keeping Ian alive until we can get this sorted.”

  “And by sorted, you mean have Ian as part of our coven and Peter languishing in a VLCD prison cell?” Lys turned to Ian. “Fuck, sorry. There’s me assuming you’d want to join our coven after all this.”

  After a moment that seemed to last forever, Ian finally nodded. “I think I do. I mean, I don’t know any others, and quite frankly, I’m not sure I’m ready to meet a whole slew of new vampires just yet. Better the devil you know, right?”

  Jesse felt like he’d been slapped.

  “Wow, that sounded way better in my head.” Ian scooted closer until his knee brushed Jesse’s thigh. “I don’t want to join another coven. I want to stay here with you.” He turned to look at Lys. “And you too, of course.”

  She laughed. “Oh, of course.”

  Jesse put his hand on Ian’s leg; that one connection soothing him and settling his unease about what was to come. “So, first we get Ian somewhere safe. Then we tell Raph. Then I’m assuming we call the VLCD and explain ourselves.”

  “We’re telling them about Peter, though, right. I just want to get that clear.” Ian put his hand on top of Jesse’s. “Because your coven is a whole lot more appealing without him in it, I have to say.”

  Jesse didn’t blame him for thinking that, and although it wasn’t his decision to make, he couldn’t see Raph letting Peter get away with killing a human. It was Raph who’d pushed for the agreement with VLCD in the first place. “We’ll tell Raph everything. As coven leader, it’s his responsibility to take it to the vamp police, but I can’t see him telling them anything other than the truth.”

  “Good.” Ian looked a little happier at that news.

  “So,” Lys began. “Where can we stash I
an that’s safe from both vampires and the VLCD for now?”

  Jesse had been thinking about this on his walk back from the kitchen before Michael had rudely interrupted him. “Cate,” he said, garnering raised eyebrows from both Ian and Lys.

  “Seriously?” Lys looked at him like he’d lost his mind. “She’s human.”

  “I know.” He directed the next part to Ian. “If we go see Cate, explain to her what happened to you and that your life—your new life—is in danger, would she be on board?”

  “Maybe. On board with what though?”

  Jesse swallowed. This was the bit he was unsure about. “With contacting Blake. I don’t want to risk going straight to him. But if Cate can persuade him to help you, he’s VLCD, he’d be able to protect you.” He paused, not wanting to say the next bit, but it was necessary. “And protect himself from you. When we’ve spoken to Raph, Blake can take you in and hopefully get you sorted with an identity bracelet.” He smiled, trying to be reassuring. “And then you can join our coven officially.”

  Ian’s eyes narrowed as he took it all in. “And where will you be?”

  “Locked up in a cell,” Lys grumbled with a resignation that meant she knew there was no other way.

  “Is that right?” Ian’s gaze bore into Jesse’s. “They’ll lock you up? And then what?”

  Jesse wished he had the answers. “I don’t know. Yes, I’m guessing I’ll end up in a holding cell while they figure out what to do with me, but I’m hoping the fact that I didn’t feed from you, didn’t actually kill you, will go in my favour.”

  “Don’t forget I’m going to tell them I wanted it. And even if they don’t believe me, they can see I don’t blame you. It’s not like I’m out for blood or anything.” He frowned, absently licking his lips. “Well, not yours anyway.” When Ian’s gaze dropped to Jesse’s neck, the tension in the room suddenly increased ten-fold. “You know what I mean,” Ian mumbled.

  “Unfortunately,” Lys added with a smirk. Her smile faded quickly though. “Would Blake do that for you? Bearing in mind he’d be jeopardising his career by not reporting it straight away.”