by Faith Hunter
Vampires Are Like Boars. And Kits: Jane gets a call from Derek, telling her that Sabina is sick, but none of his men want to drive Bethany (who is unbalanced) over to heal the vamp priestess. Bruiser says he will handle the situation, and also tells Jane not to feel guilt over the Enforcer she killed and the resulting chaos. If Grégoire’s men, the blood twins Brandon and Brian, had known the man’s status or had known how badly he was injured, they would have healed him. Jane, vacillating between wanting to kiss Bruiser and wanting to punch him, notices physical changes in him, as he looks ten years younger.
When Jane leaves, she heads out to the woods to shift, needing the simplicity and clarity time as Beast typically brings. Beast is excited at the prospect of killing and eating the wild boar she spots, though Jane is less than enthusiastic. Beast prevails and afterward tells Jane that vampires are like boars and kits—the bad ones need to be killed, and the good ones need Jane’s help. Beast also says that the leash on Jane from Leo is not on her, and she can break it for Jane, taking a swipe at it. When she reemerges, Jane can tell that the binding has lessened considerably.
A call from Reach wakes Jane, and he tells her that the Kid (nickname for Alex) has discovered the identity of the mole and in about two hours will tell her. Jane falls back asleep, and pretty much right on cue Alex knocks on her door and gives her a name—Joran Stevens, or as they call him in the unit, Angel Tit. He was approached in a Special Forces chat room to get some information about Leo’s blood-servants in exchange for some cash to provide a lawyer for one of his sisters. At first, the information he was asked for was not secret, but then became increasingly sensitive, and the former marine was in so deep he couldn’t get out. Surprised and disappointed that the traitor in their midst isn’t a vamp, Jane nonetheless contacts Derek that they need to talk. When Derek arrives at her house, Jane gives him the news, providing the e-mail paper trail that Alex provided. Jane wants to use Angel Tit as a way to get to de Allyon, but agrees to allow Derek to get his shot at the man first. Derek brings the slightly beaten up Angel Tit over to Jane’s and with Alex works up a plan to draw out the go-between, and a meet is set up.
Landed on a Limo Floor: Before they leave to meet the handler, Jane calls Jodi Richoux at NOPD to tell her that she will have a “package” for her shortly, filling the cop in on the potential vamp war. Jane stays in the van during the meet, and the person who shows is not what anyone expects—a small five-foot woman. Derek and Angel have no trouble securing her, and when she is brought to the van, a search of her purse turns up a gun built into the structure of the bag, identifying her as a hit woman. Upon interrogating her, the group learns that two days ago she was contacted about three targets: Jane, Bruiser, and a floater. Since the woman had Katie’s address, Jane and Eli silently agree that they need to move the vamps from that location, and drop the woman—literally—in front of NOPD.
When she and Eli get back to the house, Alex informs them he thinks he has found de Allyon—in Natchez, about an hour from New Orleans, in the territory of the latest vamp-master to get sick, Hieronymus. Jane, Eli, Alex, Wrassler, and Bruiser borrow Grégoire’s new heavily armored (according to Jane’s recommendation) limo to go and check out the property. Wrassler thinks it odd that Reach didn’t know, or report, that de Allyon is there, but Jane doesn’t think he is the other leak that they may have, given that he could have taken down the organization long ago if he were. After scouting the building owned by de Allyon, the group arrives at the bed-and-breakfast they have rented out, owned by Esmee, an older woman who expresses delight at meeting Bruiser, seeing as how he knew Reagan. Despite Eli’s concerns about how difficult the place will be to secure, Jane picks a room and takes a nap, waking to gunfire.
And Then He Changed His Pants: Jane finds Eli and Wrassler set up in the back entrance, and Esmee (with a shotgun pointed out the window and three pistols nearby) in the mudroom. Eli asks Jane to check on Alex, who is supposed to be in the garage, and when she calls, he tells her he locked himself in the armored vehicle. Jane goes to the front of the house, where she sees Bruiser hiding behind the couch, shortly thereafter displaying some very difficult and definitely not-completely-human moves, taking out the two attackers. Before she can leave to go check on the others, Jane ends up in a very passionate clinch with Bruiser, broken up only by the sounds of continued fighting at the back. When the fighting is over, only one of the attackers is still alive, Wrassler is injured, though not seriously, and Jane realizes that she never even fired a shot. When the police arrive, they question everyone but Alex and Jane, the only ones with no gunshot residue on their hands. When Sylvia Turpin, the Adams County sheriff, arrives, things move more quickly (the woman knows Leo), and Esmee’s guests are left to themselves to make plans. While debating when to attack the building de Allyon is holed up in with several other vamps and their servants (information provided by one of Leo’s blood-servants who is related to one of de Allyon’s), Alex asks if anyone has a helicopter. It seems the building has a great landing spot for one, and the air-conditioning system is a weak point.
I Disliked Her on Sight: While waiting for the helicopter to arrive, Jane gets a phone call from Rick, who is coming in with the team. Bruiser has called in PsyLED, which Jane hadn’t known, but is pleased about. Jane, Eli, and the team all put on gas masks, to keep out the sleeping gas that was about to be dispersed. They were also going to be using the colloidal silver canisters that Jane ordered, hoping that they would cause problems for vamps. From the roof, Eli tells the others to go. Derek and his team, along with Rick, descend from the helicopter, while Jane and Bruiser break in the front window. At one point the two discover a room with a salt circle, typically signifying a witch working, with a dead vamp hanging upside down. After battling several vamps and taking down humans, Jane has an incident with Bruiser where he appears lost in a battle fog and does not recognize her. The various team members report in, and the bad news is that no one has spotted de Allyon. Unfortunately a second wave of vamps attack, and at one point Rick comes to her aid. Once again, Jane and the others realize that de Allyon was not there.
Jane asks Leo via text if they can send the humans they have captured to heal the sick vamps in Asheville, and he agrees. Eli tells Jane that he caught one of Derek’s guys, Cheek Sneak, taking pictures and texting with his phone, which Eli then confiscated. Jane confirms that Eli should give it to Alex, and if he discovers proof of consorting with the enemy, she wants to know first. Rick packs Jane’s wound, which she plans to shift and heal later on. Soon Leo arrives, with Sabina, Grégoire, and Rick’s team—the grindy, the werewolf stuck in wolf form, and Rick’s supervisor, Soul, an exotic woman whom Jane pretty quickly pegs as not human. Leo asks Jane for a report, and he and Grégoire both detect that the binding between Jane and Leo has undergone a change of some sort.
One Punch With a Set of Brass Knuckles: Human law enforcement is now involved in the situation, also Rick’s first big case. The werewolf comes across the room to where Jane is sitting, bristling and growling at her. Jane relates part of the story about how she took the guy down when he was in human form. Rick insists that Jane needs to shift to heal, so he whisks her away in Grégoire’s limo, stopping at the store for ham. The two sit down on a blanket next to the river, and both finally admit they love each other, agreeing that there is more to love than just sex, and that they will eventually figure out a way to be together. Not only does the were-taint stand between them, but also their respective jobs will not always dovetail. And then there is the additional problem that skinwalkers often go insane. Jane strips and shifts, and Beast makes her feelings toward Rick known, even scent-marking him. After Jane reemerges, her phone rings with Bruiser telling her that Katie was attacked while the others were all occupied in Natchez.
Leaving all of their stuff behind at the rental house, they all head to New Orleans, with Jane, Alex, Bruiser, Derek, and Eli all in Grégoire’s limo. While riding, Jane thinks over the events, wondering how de Allyon knew they
were in Natchez. She texts Alex to ask about Sneak Cheek, and shortly thereafter he texts back to say the man is at the top of a list of six suspects. Alex also reports that he managed to download some information from the computers at the building before law enforcement arrived. Just as the car gets to the outskirts of New Orleans, Bruiser gets a call, apparently from de Allyon or someone with him, who says he has Katie. After answering that yes, Jane is with them, Bruiser says, “We accept,” something Jane has a really bad feeling about. Bruiser calls Sabina.
Dumber Than Dirt: Jane confirms with Bruiser that she is being accused of the murder of de Allyon’s Enforcer, and because of that, she will be going to trial, where the vamp plans to use the Vampira Carta to his advantage. However, at this parley/trial, Sabina will force the Vampira Carta rules on de Allyon. In the meantime, Leo’s scions will rescue Katie. One very disturbing fact: if Jane is found guilty, de Allyon gets to turn her and she will be subject to him forever. Bruiser tells Jane that if she allows Leo to bind her again and not undo it, he can use her.
Jane goes to do a security check at Grégoire’s clan home, where Leo and the others would be kept safe during the daytime. When she arrives, Brian greets her and gives her a book that is a present from Leo and Sabina: a history of the Mithrans in the Americas. Sabina wants Jane to go to a particular page, and she finds some illustrations—of de Allyon killing and feeding from skinwalkers. This makes the war between them more personal. Jane also notices that the vamp in the picture is fat, not slim like most of the vampires she knows, deciding this has something to do with him being Naturaleza, and the name under one of the pictures translates to “Death’s Rival.” She also realizes that de Allyon will know what she is the moment he smells her.
I’d Save the Last Bullet for Me: Jane tries to think of a way to solve the various problems and situations she is caught up in, but Beast decides she needs sleep. When she gets ready for the parley, she weapons up and wears her leathers, along with some eye makeup (applied by Christie, one of Katie’s Ladies) and contacts, to hide the color of her eyes. Bruiser arrives to escort Jane, and he is as decked out as she is. Bruiser returns Jane’s silver protective necklace, taken from her the night of the forced feeding. Eli, Leo, Bruiser, Jane, and Grégoire all make their way to the Nunnery, a downtown warehouse. Derek, Wrassler, and the other men follow, with Derek waiting for word from Alex on where Katie is being held. Worried that the set parley time of two hours will not be enough to rescue Katie, Jane has come up with her own plan, which she shares with no one.
Leo and his group greet Sabina when she arrives, and she announces that at the gathering she is the emissary of the Outclan Council, not Leo’s Outclan priestess. Then de Allyon makes his entrance, with more vamps than the twelve he is supposed to have with him. Jane scents that some of those in his party are sick, and lets Bruiser and the others know. De Allyon and Leo introduce themselves, and then Sabina tells de Allyon that he must get some of his scions to leave to meet the number restriction. He picks out the ones who are sick. De Allyon questions the involvement of the Outclan Council in the proceedings, and Sabina responds that his attack in Natchez drew undue attention to Mithran matters.
When Sabina announces that they are gathered, Jane speaks up and says she was acting in self-defense when she killed the other Enforcer and, citing two cases from history, says she wishes to settle the matter in mortal combat. Jane knows that accepting the challenge as issued will require de Allyon to be subject to the Vampira Carta, which she believes will be the best for Leo and his people, whether she makes it or not. Then Jane discovers that the other Enforcer, the one she will have to fight, is a vamp. Bruiser backs up Jane’s claim of self-defense, and then Rick walks in, representing PsyLED, which Jane is pretty sure is thanks to Sabina. The two combatants get to choose different aspects of the battle. De Allyon’s man wants to fight bare-handed, with no weapons, which Jane gets clarification on to mean abilities given by nature, so she is not so worried, even though it means exposing her skinwalker nature. Jane picks the location, City Park, and asks to be able to keep her personal jewelry with her. Both parties head out to the site, while Jane tries to think of some type of advantage she can use in the fight.
Beast Saw Gorilla on TV: At the park, the contestants are told to remove their weapons. Jane does so, along with a lot of her clothes. Unbinding her long hair, Jane bends over a lion statue, using it to cover her marking the statue with her gold nugget. When Sabina says, “Begin,” Jane races off on the path into the woods. Jane holds the tooth in her hand, saying she needs to shift quickly. Beast says she wants to be big, and can use the stone lion, but Jane tries to stop Beast by saying the lion is concrete, not organic matter.
Beast gets her way, pleased with herself and thinking that she is smart to hide things from Jane. Beast finds a tree branch strong enough to hold her, and waits for her prey to arrive. When he does, Beast sees that he is cheating by carrying a knife, but she drops down on him, almost killing him, but knows he will heal unless she takes his head. Then Beast hears someone coming—a human with two knives. Beast hides and waits for the man, then attacks him also, and feels the tingle of magic, which she traces to an amulet and tries to remove it from the man’s pocket but ends up tearing his flesh. She stops, as she knows this is something she is not supposed to do. Beast then manages to bite the head off the vamp Enforcer, rewarding herself with some birds in the lake.
Jane comes back to herself and goes to the two bodies. She figures out pretty quickly why there is a dead human there along with the vamp, and is worried about Beast having eaten human flesh. Remembering her grandmother’s words about how that makes them (skinwalkers) sick, Jane realizes that she was referring to the insanity that turned skinwalkers into liver-eaters.
Jane searches the man’s body and finds the amulet, which looks exactly like the one she took from the blood-servant in Sedona. Jane gets dressed, picks up the head, and goes back to the gathering of vamps and humans, claiming victory for Leo, and accusing de Allyon of cheating because his Enforcer had a knife and a human helper. Jane looks at de Allyon with her eyes their natural color, and he cannot believe it, saying he had killed all of her kind. Jane attacks de Allyon, and a battle breaks out. Jane kills the vamp, taking his head. Sabina ends the fighting, and offers sanctuary to any of de Allyon’s people who will give up Naturaleza and commit to Fame Vexatum. Jane thanks Leo for giving her the chance to avenge her people. Sneak Cheek is identified as the mole. Jane feels the need for cleansing, so she goes out into the lake. She submerges herself several times, calling upon her ancestors, God, and Hayyel. Rick comes into the water toward Jane, and she remembers his words about her not ever doing anything that makes him have to shoot her. She realizes what he is about to do, given the dead human. Rick’s hand comes up, and Jane feels pain in chest—a heart shot. Beast tries to get her to shift, but Jane thinks at her that there isn’t time.
I Was Alpha. I Was Big Cat. Wanted to Eat Gator: Jane comes to, tasting blood in her mouth, realizing it is Leo. Jane drinks the blood, then sees the dark spot in her soul where Leo bound her getting stronger, and Jane pushes away. Beast forces a shift, gets out of the car, and runs into the woods, giving Leo a little love swipe with her claws on her way out, thinking she will take him as a mate someday. Beast looks in her mind-den, and sees the chain—no longer connected to Jane, but to her. Beast knows she needs to think about the chain but does not want to now.
Jane wakes in an alley, near a homeless man, from whom she tries to buy a blanket. While she is bargaining with him, Rick arrives. Jane turns slowly toward him, and then Rick realizes that Jane thinks he shot her. The shooter was El Diablo, one of Derek Lee’s men. Rick leaves, giving Jane his coat, and she follows.
Later that day Jane helps round up de Allyon’s humans who were suffering from a sort of PTSD after his death. Leo’s lab starts working with the CDC on a cure for the vamp disease. Rick and his team leave the city without saying good-bye. Two weeks later Jane gets a job offer from H
ieronymus, the vamp-master of Natchez. De Allyon’s leftover Naturaleza are on the loose in the area, and the council is offering a lot of money per head to take them down. Jane is considering the offer.
When shifting that night, Jane sees the chain—the one binding Leo to Beast rather than to her, realizing it must have happened since she shifted while ingesting Leo’s blood. Beast does not seem particularly bothered by this situation, and even states that Leo will be a good mate, which Jane is not thrilled about.
Book Six, Blood Trade
Been There, Shot the Place Up: Jane, out riding Bitsa, wishes she could leave New Orleans and her depression over her life (no Rick, no Molly, being bound to Leo) behind. Reach calls, with a job offer from Hieronymus, MOC of Natchez. It seems that too many Naturaleza vamps are on the loose, and over one hundred people are missing from the area. Jane agrees to take the job if she can get the house she wants as lodging. When she gets home, Jane tells Eli and the Kid about the job. During the conversation, Jane learns that the two were planning on leaving, given Jane’s recent foul mood and the ensuing lack of activity. After the guys agree to stay on, Jane calls Reach. Hieronymus has agreed to Jane’s terms, but Reach cautions her about not angering Leo and tells Jane she has an appointment with a reporter, a woman writing a book on vamps—a woman Jane knew in her days at the Christian Children’s Home.
You Might Have to Kill Something: Jane receives a phone call from Leo, who tries to convince her that she may not leave the city or his employ without his permission. Jane points out that Hieronymus is really Leo’s problem, so she should be helping him. Though Leo is not satisfied, Jane leaves anyway. Once she arrives in Natchez, Esmee, the owner of the house, greets Jane and states that the last time Jane and company were in town was the most fun she’d had in years, despite her house getting shot up. After greeting Jameson, the butler, and eating a robust meal, Jane goes to her room and thinks about her upcoming meeting with Misha and Bobby. Jane remembers Misha as a quiet girl, and recalls often defending the slightly slow Bobby from kids who picked on him. Jane dozes off, but when she wakes leaves for her meeting. Bobby greets Jane with a bear hug at the hotel room door, and introduces her to Charly, Misha’s young daughter, who is obviously sick.
