by Kiki Howell
Zoë clenched the grip assist handle. "Jay, slow down before we're pulled over." She turned back to Tristan, who had half of his face scorched by white light. His hand rested on his injured skin, covering his right eye as the healing took place very slowly near his lips.
"Are you alright?"
His bright eye blazing, he nodded. "I'll live." Casting his one eye to the only human in the truck, his scowl deepened. "Who the hell is this guy?"
Jay scoffed, darting his eyes to the ungrateful vampire in his rearview. "Who the hell am I? I'm the reverend saving your unholy ass, blood boy!" He looked at Zoë. "And you! You've got some explaining to do! Where the hell have you been and why are we saving a fucking vampire?"
Annoyance continued to grow on one-half of Tristan's face. First Black Blood demons, then witches, now humans. Where does it end?
"I'm right here, asshole. You have something to say to me? I'm right here."
"Hey man, fuck you and the dark horse you rode in on, alright? You pissed off those witches! Do you have any idea what they're probably doing to my church right now? I'll be lucky if the sumbitch's still standing, thanks to you two!" He whipped the truck in a hard turn that ended in some violent curbing and mild avoiding of frightened pedestrians. He shook his head as he narrowly missed the red light. "I should've let them finish frying your ass!"
Tristan sat up and moved up in his seat towards Jay with a growl in his throat.
Zoë pushed him back down. "Back off!" She turned and pointed at Jay. "And you! Don't provoke! Just get us to the safe room and I promise I'll tell you more, okay Jay? There's an explanation for all of this."
Tristan glared at the back of her head. He didn't have too much patience for those with means to kill him, which was why he didn't understand Zoë's need to preserve the lives of those Green Girls.
"Are you sure? Because I don't understand why you allowed them to attack us." Tristan frowned, still holding one side of his face. The stinging of the burns and his irritation of being in such close quarters to a preacher and a fallen, wanted to culminate into one big explosion. "Who's side are you on?"
She didn't turn to face him. "The human side."
"They could've killed all of us."
Zoë whipped her head back around to face him. "But they didn't. Despite what you may think or feel, witches are human, and I'm here to protect human souls, not yours." Her violet eyes met him in earnest. "Besides, they wanted to know where their leader was, they didn't come for blood."
Tristan scoffed at her comment. Either she was naive or delusional, it couldn't be both. "Like hell they didn't. I don't know if you've been schooled on the history between Green Girls and vampires, but it's not paved in flowers and fucking puppies, Black Blood. They hate and fear us. Someone knew what they were doing when they sicced them on me. This was a setup. I've got to find out who's giving misinformation. Those were not your average Green Girls."
"Oh yes they were," Jay interjected as he pulled into a driveway. "Those bitches are on the level now. They see everything. Got tired of having vampire and Were soldiers coming to kill them and started having soldiers of their own. They hunt and they hex—not good for a woman scorned."
Tristan uncovered his eye and checked his weapon as the stinging slowly subsided. "Great, so why are we coming here?"
"Because this place is protected. Even from them. This place is even safer than my church."
Jay pressed a garage door button near his dome light and waited for the garage door to open. Pulling in over a massive paint drawn seal in the concrete, Jay finally turned off the engine and closed the garage door behind them.
"Home sweet home."
He hopped out the truck and moved to the front of it where he opened a steel door cut out of the concrete. "Follow me down here so we can talk." Jay commanded as he proceeded to descend the nimble staircase into the darkness.
Zoë followed behind him quietly, then paused to notice Tristan eyeing her with caution. She rolled her eyes.
"If he wanted to kill you, he would've just left you behind for the witches. Trust me. I've known Jay for a long time. He's trustworthy, despite his valid hatred for vampires."
She continued down the trapdoor while Tristan sighed and made his way following behind her.
Down the stairs, they followed Jay till they hit an old wooden door. "This used to be a tunnel that went from this house to the other across the block. This spot used to be where a plantation stood, till it was torn down." He opened the door with a creak and walked through. "Now, it's where I keep all the crap for demons."
Zoë walked through, the area now familiar as she walked through. The shelves lined with books from all over the place and the smell of frankincense and myrrh filled the room. Oh, how she loved that smell.
She looked around at the myriad of apothecary jars of powders, liquids, and metal pellets Jay used to make defense weapons and other items for the Black Bloods and himself. Every ally had their own way of serving the Black Bloods, and she had considered herself lucky when she converted Jay.
The tough ex-seminarian knew a lot about the occult and religion alike. Of course, he wrestled with his own share of demons, beyond and within, that only strengthened his resolve and swearing vocabulary.
Tristan scanned the large, smoky room, careful not to touch anything. The room seemed rife with silver as his eyes caught it immediately—knives, coins, and even medieval torture devices coated in the anti-vamp metal. It'd been a long time since he'd seen items of the grotesque designed for vampires, and never in human possession.
His eyes cut to Zoë and her human ally. Someone had been busy. Humans didn’t tend to live long in the shadow world, yet the Black Bloods seemed to find use for them. No sooner than it crossed his mind, he hissed as his hand brushed against a medallion hanging off the table.
"So who are you? How do you know about all of this? All of us?"
Jay set his phone down on his work table and pulled his shirt up revealing scars of vicious claw marks and fang marks on his upper shoulder
"Several years ago, a vampire came knocking at the church. I didn't know what he was there for or what he wanted. Guess in the end, it didn't matter. He killed my other pastor right in front of me. Bit and tore into him, laughing as I watched. And then was going to kill me. Asked me to pray to the Creator to come save me."
He lowered his shirt to conceal his past wounds. His hazel eyes were dark as he retold the grim memory that taught him that more than humans and animals roamed the earth. "Those last few seconds. You know, those seconds where you know you're going to die? I could've prayed. That’s probably what I was supposed to do, but I didn't. I wanted him to pay for what he did. I wanted to make sure he didn't get a chance to do that to anyone ever again. So I fought him with everything I had, when Zoë showed up. One moment he was on me, the next, parts of him were all over the place."
Tristan looked up to find Zoë on the other end of the room, preoccupied with looking into chests. To ignorant eyes, she looked like a normal, lithe woman. Apparently, looks were terribly deceiving as he thought of her ripping a vampire apart.
The two visions didn't seem to fit, but Tristan knew better. It was why his eyes never seemed to leave her. Whether it was caution, desire or both, he wasn't sure.
His attention finally circled back to Jay as he continued to talk.
"I opened my eyes to find her helping me up. Blood all over her like she bathed in it. I didn't know if I should thank her or run for my life. She told me she heard me calling and she was there to protect us from those like you. Those who fed off of us. Who terrorized and took. She asked if I was ready to help, and I said yes. I wasn't gonna let another bastard like that hurt someone else. Years later, here I am, still fighting. Still preaching." He rubbed the Saint Jude medallion around his neck before shifting his eyes back to Tristan. "Now, I've seen some pretty fucked up shit, but I still got my faith."
Tristan saw the angst in the reverend's eyes before looking over him to
Zoë again, who sifted through some jars. "Where did she come from?"
Jay shrugged as he grabbed a set of keys off the wall nearest him. He started to sift through them. There was no way in hell he was going to share that information with a vampire. If Zoë wanted to divulge those details, that was up to her, but he didn't owe that vampire shit, let alone the true origins of his rescuer.
"I don't know. All I know is that she's pest control for a higher power. Her kind aren't in any books or bible I ever read. To tell you the truth, I really don't care. Just like I don't really care where you come from. I'm just glad she's around." Jay gave Tristan a snide smirk. “I take it that's bad news for you."
Tristan moved past him. "Well, I'm not here to win any popularity contests."
"That's good. Cause you won't. Allies like me believe the only good vampire is a dead one."
Tristan grunted at the all too familiar saying that rode on the lips of witches and Were-shifters everywhere. Guess he shouldn't be surprised any privy humans would feel the same way. Vampires were bastards, it was true. Finding an enemy was easy, and thanks to that, he was sure the Black Bloods found it easy to recruit.
He wasn't a fan of human attacks, but he never really gave a shit if others participated in such activity as long as it wasn't recklessly exposing their kind.
"Have the same sentiment for the Green Girls and Were-shifters?"
Jay slipped a key off the keychain and looked at Tristan in earnest. "Witches are complicated. They piss me off and cause a world of trouble, but to me they are simply humans that lost their way. Usually they stay away from me, and I them. And the jury's still out for me on the Were-shifters. That's not to say they don't piss me off too, but at least they haven't tried to kill me."
He whistled at Zoë before tossing the lone key across the room to her. Not looking up, her reflexes caught the key, then finally turned her attention to him. "Your stuff's in the red chest over there."
"Thanks." Zoë walked over to the red chest. Kneeling down, she popped the latches open. Raising the top, she sighed with relief as she lifted her sword and scabbard out of the long chest. She examined the handle with Aramaic symbols etched in black on the silver and wood handle. Gently pulling it out, she felt the reflection of the sword's light on her face. The clove scent from the oil filled her nose as she smiled at her pristine weapon.
Good thing she made a habit of leaving it with Jay. This last time returning home did not pan out well for her, and she was certain her superior would've stripped it from her.
Just like they stripped me of everything else, she thought to herself.
"I cleaned it up for you." Jay interrupted her thoughts. "I wanted to wrap the handle, but I know how you feel about seeing the words on it."
He cleared his throat, as he noticed Tristan staring at the half-naked Black Blood. Jay wasn't sure if the vampire was even aware he was sucked into her vision. He had to admit, her design was quite effective. It distracted him, too, as the torn shirt didn't cover much. "There's some, um, changes of clothes in there for you too, Z."
"Thanks Jay." She slipped the blade back into the scabbard and laid it on the floor next to her. She reached in the chest to pull out some of her clothing.
"You owe me some answers, Z. You go on a mission and then you don't rendezvous as we discussed. I was left with my ass hanging out and wondering what the hell happened."
She scooped the bundle up and looked at them both. "My memory got zapped, which was why I healed in the church. Before that, I found myself chained up in his place."
She began to unbutton the shirt, when Jay quickly pulled the curtain in front of her with a sigh.
"We'll meet you in the other room and you can tell us more." He turned, annoyed, past Tristan and unlocked another wooden door. He tapped Tristan, watching him finally focus.
"Hey Romeo, follow me unless you want her to enthrall and eat you in here." He clicked his teeth. "Just so you know, I don't like you enough yet to try and stop her, so it's best you get some distance."
He walked through the door as Tristan quickly followed. "She said you two were bound, when did that happen?" He turned on the lights, and the room went completely washed in a red hue.
"Yesterday. I come back from a mission gone bad and find her chained half-naked to my bed." Tristan examined the room as his eyes immediately adjusted. There was another symbol on the floor that didn't look like anything he'd ever seen. In the red light, the symbol appeared orange as it glowed softly on the floor. "What is this place?"
Jay struck a match and slowly moved around the room lighting candles. "This is where Zoë invokes her portal when she needs to enter or exit this plane. That symbol there is the mark of the fallen."
He lit one last candle, and then looked up towards Tristan as he went back to the previous subject. "You're lucky you aren't dead. I've seen her make easy work out of vamps with less. Must've taken some restraint from Z." He extinguished the match he held in his hand and laughed. "The fact you're still alive now is just as baffling."
Tristan walked around the symbol on the floor. In truth, it partly baffled him too, but they had an agreement that, so far, both have been sticking to. That wasn't to say he completely trusted her, but he was having trouble keeping his initial desire to kill her.
Seeing that she was probably having the same inclinations, but yet to act on them, only continued to keep his suspicions at bay.
"We have an agreement until we figure this shit out. There's something going on bigger than this, and it just couldn't be coincidence I found myself with a Black Blood delivered to my house after the assassination of a prominent vampire."
"He's right, Jay," Zoë suddenly replied behind them. She watched their eyes fix on her as she walked into the room. She was dressed in black with a white shirt, her sword strapped behind her back.
It felt good being armed with her weapon of choice again. She felt the pull of the symbol on the floor, but it didn't hold a candle to the gravity of the vampire in the room. The heady scent of his blood moved through the room that was supposed to be her sanctuary, and when his eyes caught hers, she had to divert her gaze before she found herself luring him again.
A deep pang hit her beneath her ribs, and she sucked in a breath. Being well-behaved hurt like a bitch, and if they didn't get freed soon, she didn't know how long their so-called truce would last. She nicked her tongue on her sharp canine and tried to calm her urge.
"There's a connection here on what happened to us. What have you heard on the street?"
Jay crossed his arms and started to pace. "There's been a budding of vampire activity everywhere, and with the witches on high alert for their missing Supreme, it's getting pretty hairy out there. If the myth was true, the night sky would be littered with broom-flying spell-twisters. Word has it they are looking for the vampire responsible for the disappearance of their Supreme witch."
"Remelia." Zoë's voice lowered as she leaned against the wall.
The vision of her face got clearer as she focused. The last image she remembered was the fearful expression she held before everything went black before finding herself back home. But the homecoming this time wasn't pleasant. Then again, they rarely were anymore.
Now, a witch's life - a human, was unaccounted for. Her voice softened, feeling shame for her missing on her watch. If she was down here, maybe things would've been different.
"I was supposed to protect her. Now I don't know if she's dead or alive. Something went really wrong." She inclined her head over to Jay. "When was she declared missing?"
Jay shrugged. "Had to have been at least two days ago. Not too long after you disappeared on me. Could've been longer, I don't think the witches would be too quick to let on they were leaderless."
"Yeah, not with the Were-shifters and Vamps waiting to take a bite outta them." Zoë felt another pang and leaned forward, more noticeable than before.
Tristan noticed the uncomfortable look on her face and paused. "What's wrong with you?
"
She straightened her body, but still relied on the sturdiness of the wall. She needed to kill something. Soon. Food. Fucking. Fury - it all was feeling the same for her right now. Her body wanted her to feed and if she didn't soon, the painful side effects would make her wish she was dead.
You've got a strong vampire over there with fire in his blood. Take him and end this madness.
Zoë shook her poisonous, yet logical inner thoughts away. Her eyes didn't meet his gaze out of concern he would read them. "Nothing," she dismissed. "So, we've got a dead vampire and missing Supreme witch. Who was the vampire that was assassinated? One of The Three?"
Tristan sighed. If only things were more just, perhaps. But life didn't, and doesn't, work that way—living or undead. The Three used her for something they were up to, there was no more doubt in his mind, but he had no proof.
"No. Her name was Ivana of Bainesborough. Javen's companion. She was in talks with the Green Girls and the Were-shifters when she was attacked."
"When was this?" Jay asked.
Tristan turned to him. "Just the other night. I was on her security detail when the motorcade got ambushed. She didn't make it."
He felt Zoë's eyes on him as he tried not to remember his failure to protect her.
Jay leaned against the desk. This was getting interesting. Like a really bad kinda interesting. "Who was it? The witches or the Were-shifters?"
"Neither." Tristan shook his head. "I killed some of those assassins, and the ones I unmasked were vampire."
"What?"Jay's eyes widened in alert.
"I know what I saw and who I attacked. I believe someone made her murder to look like witches did it, but vampires were definitely involved." He raked his fingers through his hair. "When I addressed it to The Three, they dismissed it as if I saw some fucking illusion." He took a few steps toward Zoë. "There were Were-shifters and witches at our morgue, but I don't believe they were actually there at the attack."
Zoë grimaced. "Why not?"
"One of the bodies there was a Green Girl I met the night before. Now, she managed to kill my vampire partner, but trust me, she wasn't an assassin. It just didn't fit."
