Chapter Twelve
“SURELY YOU ARE joking, Christian,” Seta said in astonishment as she paced his living room.
Christian sat back on the couch and watched the skirts of her long crimson dress swirl around her, as did the long, dark hair which set off the Spanish beauty’s exotic features. Even the furrowed brow and tightly set mouth couldn’t mar her perfection.
He let out a sigh, hating any type of confrontation with the vampire-witch. If there was anything Seta was known for, it wasn’t diplomacy, and it sure wasn’t her even temper. It wasn’t that long ago she’d ripped off a woman’s head, throwing it into a roaring fireplace in order to work a spell. Of course, she’d worked the spell to locate Eron, a captured vampire—her sire and love of her life. People did unthinkable things to protect their loved ones. Knowing this, it was hard for Christian to hold any ill will against the dark vampiress, especially since her actions had stopped a greater evil.
“I can’t leave my church, Seta. I am needed here.”
“And I am needed here as well,” she said firmly as she stopped pacing and fixed him with a fiery glare.
“Eron will be fine. Rialto and Aria can protect him.”
Eron had been so badly hurt during his captivity, he needed to be put deep into the earth to heal, and it would still be several months, maybe even a year or two, before he could rise again. Seta was worried that an enemy would discover his resting place and try to hurt him while he was unable to protect himself.
“Rialto has to focus on protecting Aria and himself. They are the first set of vampires selected for the Blood Revelation. They have enough enemies of their own to keep them busy. I feel bad enough for asking them to guard Eron’s burial site while we have this meeting.”
“They will be fine, and so will Eron. It won’t take you that long to meet with Jake and canvas the area for a missing vampire, Seta. You have the ability to teleport. You could literally be there in the blink of an eye.”
“Why should I help Jake Porter? The man is a slayer. He’s killed hundreds of us. He once tried to kill you.”
“He burned down my church. It’s not like he came after me with a stake,” Christian said, casually dismissing Jacob Porter’s attack on him several years ago when he was running a church in Pennsylvania.
“You were in the church, you fool.”
“Jacob Porter doesn’t screw up, no matter who he’s up against, yet I survived that night and managed to drink the man’s blood the second time we met. He didn’t even try to attack me during his most recent visit. You can’t tell me fate hasn’t brought Porter to us.”
Seta made a derisive snort, shaking her head angrily, but no matter how hard she was fighting to dispute everything Christian had told her, he knew she believed in fate.
“Why did the Dream Teller say I had to be the one to help him? Why couldn’t we send another vampire?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t had a visit from the Dream Teller in a long time, but she’s just as cryptic and evasive as she’s always been.”
“Shriveled old hag,” Seta muttered, crossing her arms beneath her ample chest.
Christian watched her in silence, observing her obvious irritation. He’d come to realize she was always irritable when the Dream Teller was mentioned. The Dream Teller had saved Seta’s life centuries ago, sending Eron to catch her the night she was thrown over a cliff by her married lover, the father of her child. Why Seta didn’t seem to like the witch was something he couldn’t begin to figure out and didn’t dare ask. He didn’t want to risk having his own head ripped off and thrown into a fire.
Instead he said, “You know, the Dunn twin is leaving bodies lying around with fang marks, just like his brother did. You remember why his brother was doing it, don’t you?”
“To make people suspect our kind were real, to bring out more hunters to destroy us.”
“And what was he doing in his lab?”
“Experimenting on Eron,” she muttered.
“Torturing Eron,” Christian clarified, holding back a grin when she glared at him. The vampire-witch clearly knew where he was going with the questions and that she was being backed into a corner. And she wasn’t happy about it. “Curtis Dunn is probably doing the same thing right now to another vampire. You can help him.”
“By helping Jacob Porter.”
“I don’t think he’s as bad a person as we thought he was.”
“He’s a slayer, Christian. How can you say he’s not a bad person?”
“Your argument is that he’s killed several vampires, therefore he is a bad person, correct?”
“Correct.”
“How many mortals have you killed?”
“That’s different,” Seta spat, her face reddening in anger.
“Because you had good reasons to kill?”
“Yes!”
“I’m sure Jacob Porter has always thought he had good reason too. You’re both killers. He’s killed our kind, and our kind has killed his people. And that’s not our only similarity with the man. He believes he is helping mankind, protecting the weak. Why have you killed so many rapists and child molesters?”
“To help mankind,” Seta conceded. “To protect the weak.”
“He believes he’s doing the same thing.”
“By slaughtering us all just because we drink blood? By instantly labeling us all bloodthirsty murderers?”
Christian grabbed a small scrapbook off the coffee table and handed it to the vampire-witch, not saying a word. He watched as she opened it, discovering the newspaper clippings inside. He’d been curious about a statement Jacob Porter made the last time they saw one another, so he’d gone to the library to dig up newspapers from the time period Jacob would have been a resident of Baltimore instead of a traveling vampire hunter.
He’d found articles about the murder of a twelve-year-old boy named Bobby Romano. The boy’s best friend, the one and only Jacob Porter, witnessed the entire attack and swore vampires did it. Of course, Jacob’s parents put him in counseling, and, of course, the doctors all said his young mind couldn’t handle what he’d seen so he was making up stories about monsters to help him get through it.
Christian watched Seta’s face soften, then turn into a fiery mask of anger as she flipped through the pages of the scrapbook, quickly reading the articles. She slammed the book shut and tossed it back onto the coffee table, looking at him with fury in her eyes.
“Those monsters feasted on a child.”
“And not only was that child Jacob Porter’s best friend, but Porter saw it all. Now, ask yourself this, Seta. What would you do if you’d been him that night?”
“Well, I guess I’d grow up and hunt the monsters down,” she snapped. “Dammit! No wonder he hates us so much.”
“We saved his brother from Carter Dunn, and he knows it. He visited me before leaving town to find Curtis, and as you can clearly see, he didn’t kill me. The Dream Teller said Jacob is beginning to see the truth, and we must help him.”
“So the Dream Teller is saying that by helping him see we aren’t all evil, we’ll be saving our kind from one of the world’s most dangerous slayers.”
“I don’t know if that’s her reason, Seta, but the Dream Teller specifically requested that you be the one to help Jacob Porter, and she came to me before I ever got the call from him. I think something much bigger is happening here.”
She frowned. “Like what?”
“I don’t know, but somehow, you, me, Jacob . . . we’re all mixed up in it. After thinking about it, I don’t think the Dream Teller wants a mere vampire assisting Porter. She wants a witch. I think something major is happening, Seta. Something that involves all of us—maybe something connected to the Blood Revelation.”
“You really think that?” Seta asked, her skin paling.
“Think about it. The Dream Teller hadn’t appeared to either of us in decades, not until it was time for Rialto to meet his soul mate. Now she’s telling us we need to help Jacob Porter. My instincts say there’s a connection. The question is, are you going to do this and find out what the connection could be?”
Seta stood there, staring at him angrily. “Do I have a choice?”
“Yes, and I hope you make the right one.”
Chapter Thirteen
JAKE’S EYES BULGED as Nyla’s fingers tightened around his throat, gripping it like a vice. She forced him onto his back in one swift move, straddling him where he lay on the bed. Once again, she found herself in a position she’d dreamed of for years, but for all the wrong reasons.
She had one hand wrapped around Jake’s throat and the other held the gun she’d pulled from his waistband. Jake’s hands were free, but he didn’t use them. Nyla hadn’t thought he would, considering she was holding a gun to his heart, and if she applied even the slightest pressure to his neck, she could easily crush his windpipe. Surely, he felt the degree of her strength.
“I’m going to ease my grip on your throat, but I still have a gun on you so don’t try anything stupid,” she warned him as she loosened her death grip. “Why would you cover me with a UV blanket?”
He blinked, then wet his lips with his tongue, an action which would normally send her into a hormonal frenzy while in Heat, but it had no effect on her now. She was in survival mode.
“I, uh, thought you might be cold.”
“The real reason, Porter. There’s a normal blanket on the bed. A UV blanket is a weapon, unless you thought I just needed a tan, which I doubt. What does your paranoid ass think I am?”
He let out a small noise which might have been a groan or a frustration-filled sigh. “A vampire,” he muttered, color seeping into his cheeks, and Nyla realized he was embarrassed. Good. Let him feel like a fool.
“A vampire?” She faked a convincing laugh, as if the thought of her being such a creature was completely absurd. “Wow, Jakie. You really are losing your touch . . . your touch with reality, that is. And where did this brainstorm blow in from?”
“A cop at the LMPD said he was attacked by a vampire who made copies of the reports you just happened to get last night. What else was I supposed to think?”
“Uh, that he was lying? Or maybe he was attacked by another vamp? Why would you think it was me?”
“He said a hot female vampire attacked him. You’re a hot woman, and you came back here with the reports. It’s not that far of a stretch.”
“Yeah, except for the whole me being undead scenario,” she said, trying not to let her fear show. Dammit! She had attacked the cop. She’d been so thirsty, and Jake had wanted those photos and reports. It had just made sense to kill two birds with one stone. She hadn’t thought the cop’s story would get back to Jake.
“Look, I’m sorry. It was a stupid mistake. Can you get off me now?”
“Why? Why shouldn’t I kill you? You just tried to kill me.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“You just covered me with a UV blanket, thinking I was a vampire! What does UV do to vampires?”
“It can kill or hurt them. I wasn’t trying to kill you. I was just seeing if anything happened.”
“And what would you have done if my flesh started to burn?”
“Then I would have had to kill you,” he admitted with a hard gulp, “but you obviously aren’t one of the monsters, so it doesn’t matter what I would have done.”
Nyla nodded, pretending to consider his words, and slid off of him to stand at the edge of the bed. She allowed him to sit up before balling up her right fist and driving it into the side of his face.
Jake let out a grunt of pain as his head flung to the side, and he raised his hands to his jaw. “What the hell was that for?”
“Don’t try to kill me again. It pisses me off.”
Jake abruptly stood, towering over her, close enough that she could feel the heat radiating from his body. He glared at her, rage smoldering in his eyes for a moment before he stomped away, grumbling something about her being lucky to be a woman.
The bathroom door slammed behind him, then instantly opened as he barreled through, his gaze zeroing in on her. “Why don’t you go out in the sun?”
“What?”
“The sun, Nyla. You seem to go out of your way to avoid it.”
Nyla drew in a deep breath and released it out slowly. The Dream Teller said she was a daywalker, and the UV blanket hadn’t harmed her. She’d been under the blanket long enough to have at least burned. Her skin was perfect.
“Here,” she muttered, walking toward the window as she slipped Jake’s gun into the back of her waistband. Her hands started to tremble as she raised the already partially open window higher, but she reminded herself the sun’s rays couldn’t harm her. She stretched her arm out the window, letting the sun’s heat touch it, marveling at the warmth she’d thought she’d never feel again on her human skin.
“So you weren’t avoiding the sun,” Jake conceded ruefully, rubbing the furrow between his brows.
“You know, I think you’ve encountered so many monsters, you’ve started seeing evil in everyone.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” an unfamiliar voice said.
Nyla spun around to see the female vampire who’d been with Jake and the others the night they destroyed Carter Dunn. She stood before them in a long, flowing, black dress with skirts of deep crimson, and black stiletto lace-up boots. She was short but voluptuous, and exuded an energy, a raw power, that made her appear more ferocious than her size would imply. The air around her seemed to crackle with electricity, and Nyla realized she was using her magic at that very moment.
Jake put his hand to the back of his waist, realized Nyla still had his gun, and glared at her as if to say, “Good going, now look what you’ve done.”
Nyla reached around to the where the gun rested at the small of her back and tightened her hand around its butt, but she didn’t know if using it on this vampire would be worth the risk. There weren’t many people who could scare Nyla, but this woman before her was drenched in power.
“Relax, children,” the vampire said, her voice calm and gentle. “And there is no need to search for weapons, Jacob.” Her eyes narrowed as she addressed Jake. “Your girlfriend is right. You see evil where there is none.”
“What do you want, Seta?” Jake asked tersely. “I haven’t hunted you or Christian.”
“Yes, and I’m still pleasantly surprised by that. I’m here to help, per your request.”
“Christian sent you?” Jake’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“Why do you sound so surprised? Who better to help you locate a missing vampire than a vampire-witch?”
Jake studied her. “You never struck me as the helpful kind, Seta.”
Seta smiled sweetly, her dark brown eyes glistening. “I help when it interests me. And the two of you . . . I find very interesting.”
The vampire-witch zeroed in on Nyla, her smile widening as she seemed to study her curiously, those dark eyes shining with the light of fascination, and her brow furrowed in thought. “Are you aware the two of you have the exact same aura?”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Jake asked, then muttered, “Christian would send me a new age, hippie vamp, damn him.”
“I can see auras, Jacob, because I’m a witch with psychic gifts. I am not a hippie.”
“The name is Jake.”
“Whatever you wish, Mr. Porter. You may be interested to know that the sharing of auras is rather rare.”
“All I’m interested in finding out is if there’s a missing vamp, and locating Curtis Dunn before he kills again.”
Seta rolled her eyes, obviously irritated that Jake wasn�
�t interested in the information she was trying to give him. Nyla was interested. She’d heard something a long time ago about people sharing auras, but she couldn’t remember what it was and didn’t want to ask when Jake was obviously very unhappy to be working with the vampire-witch.
“I performed a few spells before I came here,” Seta said, “but I couldn’t locate Curtis Dunn. I might be able to do so if I could lay my hands on one of his victims, but his brother, Carter, successfully blocked me from tracing him that way, so Curtis has probably done the same. But if he is holding a vampire captive, and I can trace that vampire, I can find him.”
“How would you do that?” Jake asked, his interest obviously piqued.
“Find a vampire of the missing vamp’s bloodline and track him down by his own blood.”
“What if Curtis is draining the vamp of blood, like Carter did to Eron?”
“There would still be an essence I could track,” Seta said, her expression hardening in anger. Nyla suspected the vampire-witch didn’t like to be reminded of Eron’s torture. “Unless, of course, that like Eron was he is drained to the point I can’t feel his essence until I am just outside the place where they’re holding him. I will find a way to locate Curtis Dunn, though. I have a wealth of spells at my disposal, and since I’ve already been through this situation with Carter, I know which spells are more likely to get results. Something will work.”
“Do you think Curtis would do the same thing his twin did?” Jake asked the exotic beauty. “Didn’t he seem to you that he was appalled by his brother’s actions?”
“I never really saw him,” Seta replied. “I was upstairs fighting off Carter. But I spoke with Aria, who, as you know, knew Curtis, and she is very confused by the new deaths. She swears Curtis would never willingly do this, but she also said he was battling a demon inside him.”
“Still . . . it doesn’t seem right to me.”
“You may be right, but there is evil here,” Seta said, nodding her head in agreement. “I can feel it lurking just outside the city. It doesn’t feel demonic. It feels like, well, something dark, but I can’t place it.”
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