Raven's Blood

by Cassandra Lawson

Chapter Sixteen

  Raven idly stroked Fang’s back as she watched her movie. She still couldn’t believe she’d given in on the name. He looked like an Edwin to her, but he only answered to Fang. He seemed to be enjoying The Lion King as much as she was. She’d watched it four times in the last week.

  She wasn’t quite as bored now that she volunteered at the school, but she still had too much free time. Connor hadn’t mentioned watching her use her eskrima sticks again, much to her disappointment.

  “I thought we agreed to avoid getting wolf fur on my furniture,” Connor complained. She’d been so engrossed in her movie, she hadn’t even heard him come downstairs.

  Raven looked at Fang who merely yawned. “I don’t remember agreeing to that. Do you remember that agreement, Fang?”

  Connor blew out a frustrated breath. “Fang, down!”

  Fang leapt off of the sofa and trotted upstairs. Raven knew he was going to roll all over Connor’s bed, but she figured Connor had to know since it happened daily. She was impressed with how tolerant he was of the wolf and how easily Fang had accepted Connor as the alpha male. Fang might go out of his way to irritate Connor, but it was in a playful way. She’d been worried that as Fang started to feel better, he’d become more aggressive with Connor. It almost seemed Connor could communicate with Fang, something she knew was impossible.

  “I need to go into the business district today,” Connor told her.

  Raven nodded. Connor went into the business district a couple times a week, but he never offered to take her with him. “Are you leaving me at Jack and Muriel’s?”

  “They’re going with me. Muriel has a doctor’s appointment, and it’s safer if we travel in a group,” he explained.

  “In your jeep?” Raven asked. “That thing doesn’t seem safe for a pregnant woman to ride in.”

  “It’s safe, but we’ll be taking something else,” he told her.

  “Does that mean I’m going with you?” The only time she’d ever been to the vampire’s business area had been to steal medicine, and the place was a little intimidating. She’d done some surveillance from a short distance before they’d actually snuck into the hospital, and it was heavily guarded at all hours. The buildings were all new and in good repair, but there were no trees or plants. She supposed it was the sterile feel of the place and the guards she didn’t like. She wasn’t entirely sure how they’d managed to get into the hospital in the first place with all the guards.

  “Wait!” She stood, pointing an accusing finger at Connor. “You let us sneak into the hospital. You already knew we were going to do it, and you made sure we could.”

  He gave her a lopsided grin. “You can’t prove that.”

  “I thought it was strange that we managed to get by your guards. I’d done some checking before and noticed the area is always heavily guarded. That day it wasn’t. I thought we were lucky, but it wasn’t luck at all.”

  He shrugged. “I didn’t mind you getting the medicine. As you may have guessed, it didn’t work out like I’d planned.”

  “It’s very different there,” she said contemplatively.

  “I can always leave you with my mom if you don’t want to go,” he offered. “Shelby and Carla are riding in one of the jeeps following us, so you can’t stay there.” He thought for a moment. “It is a little dangerous right now. We’ve had some attacks by turned vampires along the roads lately. It might be best if you stayed here.”

  It bothered her that he assumed she was afraid. In truth, she just felt off being in a place with no trees. “Danger? Hah! I walk on the wild side,” she announced in her best Simba voice.

  “Okay, no more Lion King for you,” he said sternly, but she saw his lips twitch. “I really should see if I can get you some more modern movies. We get them on our streaming system, but most of the ones I watch are older movies loaded from the discs they used to be stored on. It’s hard to sort through the newer ones. Humans must really like watching sex because most of the ones we find have very little story and a lot of sex.” He gave up on his attempt to scowl and smiled at her. “Maybe I should let you watch the sex movies. I’d rather have you influenced by them, anyway.”

  His smile made her blood heat. That was happening much too frequently, and it was disconcerting. She’d been attracted to many men in her life, and it had never bothered her before. Sex was just a natural part of her existence, so it was silly to worry about it. What bothered her now was that, while she could still appreciate the attractiveness of the other men in her life, Connor was the only one who aroused her. His teasing about sex movies was making it worse. She wondered what he would do if she suggested they watch one together, and she was tempted to do it.

  No! That was bad, very bad.

  “Why do I need a babysitter if I stay behind?” she asked irritably.

  “I’m just worried about leaving you alone for so long,” he explained. “There are still some of my people who aren’t crazy about me keeping you. Ian has been even more hostile since the confrontation at the school. Fang isn’t quite up to defending you yet.” He hesitated and looked down at his boots. “I’d like you to come with me. I’ve been busy the last couple days, and I’ve missed talking to you.”

  Raven’s anger drained from her body at his admission. “I’d like to go with you.”

  Connor nodded. “We need to leave soon. You might want to change clothes.”

  Raven looked down at her shorts and tank top. “Why?”

  “Why?” he asked in disbelief. “There is more unrest in the business area, and, quite frankly, you exude sexual energy.”

  “Duh, I’m a wood nymph,” she said.

  Her reaction made him laugh. “Yeah, I get that, but it really would help if you covered things up a little. Oh, and put some shoes on.”

  “Come on, Raven,” Muriel whined as she waddled up to the screen door. “He’s right. You need to cover it up some so we can go. I’m really nervous about this appointment, and I’m tired of standing outside listening to you argue about your clothes.”

  “Why are you nervous?” Raven asked.

  “Change first and ask questions on the way,” Connor ordered.

  “Fine,” Raven hurried upstairs and quickly changed clothes. She had a hard time finding a pair of shoes. Even though she had three pairs, she tended to take them off and leave them places. Finally giving on finding shoes, she went downstairs to find Connor holding a pair.

  She smiled sheepishly. “Thank you.” Grabbing the shoes, she headed out the door, figuring she could put them on during the ride. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw what looked like a mini-van. Raven giggled.

  “What’s so funny?” Connor asked.

  “I saw these in one of the movies,” Raven explained around her giggles. “They called it a soccer mom car. It’s going to be fun watching you drive it.”

  “Jack’s driving,” Connor said, opening the side door for her.

  “That won’t be nearly as much fun,” Raven replied with a pout as she buckled herself in.

  She waited patiently for everyone to get into the van and Jack to drive through the gate. “Okay, we’re on the way, now tell me why you’re nervous,” Raven prodded her friend.

  “They injected me with the Moon virus two days ago,” Muriel replied softly from the front seat.

  Raven gasped. “Why would you let them do that?”

  “So I won’t have to watch her and my child age and die,” Jack explained. Raven could hear the irritation in his voice. “Pregnancy is one of the few times it’s safe. If Muriel contracts the virus now, it’ll guarantee it passes on to the baby. If Muriel doesn’t have the virus, it still might be passed on to the baby but it’s much less likely.”

  “I’m assuming the problem lies in the fact that Muriel was vaccinated,” Raven deduced.

  “Exactly,” Muriel agreed. “Dr. Moon is trying to figure out how long the immunity lasts before a booster is needed and if there’s a way to mutate the virus to get around the va
ccine.”

  “Wait a minute! The guy doing the research now has the same last name as the guy who originally researched the vaccine? That’s a really weird coincidence. Is it his son?” Raven quickly did the math and shook her head. “No, I’m guessing it would have to be his grandson.”

  “It’s the same guy,” Connor told her.

  “That’s not possible,” Raven argued. “Even if humans lived that long, why would he be working with you?”

  “You can ask him when you meet him,” Connor replied.

  “Why can’t you just tell me?” she asked.

  “It’s his story,” Connor said with a shrug.

  “And he tells it so well,” Muriel added. “You really should hear it from him.”

  “Fine, I’ll ask him, but I want to go on record saying it is really annoying when you give me half-ass answers,” she grumbled.

  Connor laughed and reached over to pat her thigh affectionately. Raven was disappointed when he moved his hand away. She was so screwed, and not in a good way.