Sweet Destiny (The Jessica Sweet Trilogy Book 3)

by Aliya DalRae

  The cats near enough to hear the exchange tore out of there like they were late for dinner. Kythryn’s father gave Harrier a long look before throwing the keys at his feet. “I’ll be taking this up with the Overlord,” he said. “Come on, Kythryn. We need to leave.”

  Kythryn was on her feet and at her father’s side. She was twitchy and her eyes had faded back into that dreamy state she’d been in when she attacked Nox.

  “An eye for an eye,” she whispered, as her father wrapped his arm around her and led her from the barn.

  Chapter Seventy-Eight

  A fter Mason and Brandt left the Control Room, I rolled my chair back in front of the monitors and resumed watching the two screens. Nox took punishment after punishment, his reactions echoed by Raven in that concrete cell several levels below me.

  My elbows were on the counter, and I was holding my head up with both hands. Raven’s and Nox’s screams played out in surround sound, from the speakers and inside my head. Sad to say, but I was growing numb to it. After nearly three days, the tortured sounds became white noise, repeating over and over until I was so accustomed to it, it barely registered.

  My lids were drooping, and I was nodding off a bit when my eye exploded in a volcano of white hot agony. I bolted up straight, clutching my left eye as I slammed my shields into place, and scanned the screens in front of me with my right.

  It was utter madness.

  Rachel and Allon were with Nox, who was screaming his bloody head off, but that wasn’t the worst of it.

  When I switched to Raven, well, it wasn’t supposed to be this way.

  My Vampire was on his knees, his hands covering his eye, crimson blood leaking between his fingers and pouring down his arms. His roars were ear-splitting, and I could swear I heard them from the halls as well as the monitors.

  Merlin went into action, making phone calls to Mason, I was sure, and then to the rest of the Warriors to have them on stand-by. I was on my feet and out the door before he could stop me.

  The elevator to the super Sub-T level (not it’s official name) took forever. When I got there, Viper was already inside, doing what he could to help Raven, which wasn’t much.

  Obviously, something had gone very wrong.

  I ran inside, and knelt beside Raven, hoping that just by being there it could ease his pain.

  “What the hell happened over there?” Viper asked me, knowing I’d been watching both sides.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “Shit was hitting the fan, and Rachel and Allon were seeing to Nox, but I didn’t see it happen. Damn it, I didn’t see it happen.”

  “Jessica.” Raven spoke through clenched jaws and reached a bloody hand to me. I took it and kissed his palm, hoping to soothe him.

  “I’m here, Raven. I’m here.”

  “Nox.”

  “Allon’s with him,” I said, hoping the doctor would be able to help my Vampire’s twin.

  Raven’s breathing slowed, the pain seeming to ease up a bit, but when he lowered his hand, his eye still bled.

  “You got this?” Viper asked, and I nodded as I brushed a lock of hair from Raven’s forehead.

  “They’re calling us all in. You sure you’re okay?”

  “I’m fine,” I said. “Just go.”

  Viper took off down the corridor and I returned my attention to Raven. “Can you see?” I asked, pulling my t-shirt over my head and using it to clear away some of the blood.

  “It’s blurry, but it could be the blood.”

  “Let’s hope,” I said, pressing the cotton cloth against his eye.

  I couldn’t believe how much blood he’d lost. We were both kneeling in a pool of it, and it reminding me too much of the last time I’d nearly lost him, when Fuhrmann had given him the wounds he still bore proof of.

  Raven was shaking, and I sat on the floor and pulled him to me, all too aware of the similarities between this and that awful day so many months ago.

  Slithering worms of trepidation worked their way through my spine, and I shuddered at the sense of déjà vu that consumed me.

  “It’s gonna be okay,” I said, holding Raven tightly in my arms. “It’s gonna be okay.”

  Chapter Seventy-Nine

  M ason and Brandt returned to the Control Room, where the Overlord had apparently dropped his keys.

  As they entered, it was evident by Merlin’s flurry of activity that something big was going down.

  “Damn it, Mason, don’t you check your phone?”

  Yeah, Merlin never spoke to him like that.

  “What is it?” Mason asked as Brandt moved to the wall of monitors, picked up his keys from the counter and slid them into his pocket.

  “Cluster fuck,” Merlin muttered, swiped his phone. “Viper? Where are you? Not soon enough. I know it’ll be dawn soon, but we need you there now.”

  To Mason he said, “The cats have broken faith.” He indicated the monitors where Brandt was watching the activity with a frown.

  Mason studied the screens for a moment, taking in the activity around Nox, the screaming Shifters, Harrier and the Soldiers attempting to create order out of chaos. Then he looked at the image coming from Raven’s cell, his Warrior on the floor, Jessica Sweet holding a bloodied cloth to his eye.

  Pushing Brandt aside, Mason pushed a button and said, “Raven, are you okay in there?”

  Jessica looked around the room and called into the air. “For now,” she said. “Mason?”

  “Yes, Jessica.”

  “Is Allon back yet?”

  Mason swore, then pressed the button again. “Not yet. He’s working with Nox.”

  The girl looked down at Raven and stroked his cheek.

  “Do what you can for him, Jessica. And for gods’ sake, Raven, get those shields back up! We’ll get the doc to you as soon as we can.”

  Jessica nodded, and Mason turned on the Overlord, grey eyes sparking silver as he flashed a bit of fang. “Brandt,” he growled emphasizing the word with a two-handed shove. “What the hell have you done to my people?”

  Brandt stumbled back, his eyes shifting between the Vampire in front of him, and the monitor where Raven continued to bleed.

  “I-I don’t understand,” the Overlord stammered. “This isn’t normal?”

  Mason and Merlin answered together with a resounding, “No.”

  “Then how?”

  Brandt’s phone signaled and he held a finger up to buy their patience as he answered the call.

  “Seamus. What the hell happened over there? Slow down. No. I’ll be there in twenty minutes. Hold the fort until then.”

  The Shifter returned his phone to his pocket, then turned to Mason. “This was never our intention. One of our Clowder—I assure you, I will get to the bottom of it,” he said and walked out the door.

  Mason turned to Merlin, the same question on his tongue. “How?” he asked.

  Merlin collapsed into his ultra-sleek office chair and blew out a long breath. “Only one way I can think of,” he said. “Magic.”

  Chapter Eighty

  R achel knelt next to Nox while Allon examined the injury. At the doctor’s request, she’d scored her wrist and pressed it to Nox’s lips in hopes that her blood would help speed the healing process. When his teeth pierced her skin Rachel shivered, but pushed the intimacy of the act from her mind as she focused on saving the male’s life.

  The injury itself was horrid. The scalpel in his eye would have been bad enough, but after only a few minutes, the wound started to fester. The infection spread like nothing she’d ever seen, especially in one of her kind.

  Allon was doing everything he could, considering the limitations placed on him by their lack of facilities. Based on the amount of muttering he was doing, Rachel knew he was not optimistic.

  Nox groaned, tried to pull away from her, but Rachel pressed her wrist more firmly against his mouth. He was already weak from nearly seventy-two hours without food or blood, his system depleted with the amount of healing forced upon him. But thi
s, what should have been a flesh wound at best, was quickly turning mortal.

  “Help him,” Rachel whispered what would have been a prayer had she believed in any gods. As it were, there was just her and the doc, and neither of them had a clue how to fix it.

  Harrier and the Soldiers had managed to clear the barn of Shifters, much to the consternation of the guards the cats had left in charge. None of them were happy when the ritual was interrupted, but that was no fault of the Vampires’.

  “I have to remove the scalpel,” Allon said, although Rachel was certain he wasn’t talking to her. “But if I do, what will become of the eye? If I don’t? I ask myself the same question.”

  Rachel twisted around to see Harrier staring at one of the monitors, the crease in his brow telling her he didn’t like what he was seeing.

  “What is it,” she asked.

  “Raven’s bleeding,” Harrier said.

  “Did he hurt himself? Because of the pain?” Rachel’s main concern was for the Vampire before her. She didn’t have the time nor the inclination to be concerned about the one who had merely experienced the pain of this attack.

  “No,” Harrier said. “His eye is bleeding. Badly.”

  “What?” Rachel nearly pulled her wrist from Nox’s grasp, but he sunk his fangs in a little further and she remembered what she was about.

  “Jessica’s with him now, doing what she can, but…damn, that’s a lot of blood.”

  Nox released her wrist, tried to sit up, but Allon pressed his shoulders down and told him to lie still.

  Rachel repositioned her wrist for him, but he pushed it away. She licked the wound to seal it but was prepared to open it again should Allon order it.

  “What did you say of my brother?”

  “I said that he’s bleeding, same as you, though he doesn’t seem to be dealing with the infection you are.”

  “Infection?”

  “Harrier.” Rachel’s glare stopped him from saying more.

  “It will be fine, Nox,” Allon said. “I just need to get you back to the Compound where we can safely remove the scalpel and I can treat you properly.”

  “Can we move him?” Rachel asked.

  “I don’t see that we have a choice.” The strain in Allon’s shoulders belied the true nature of his thoughts.

  “Just one problem,” Harrier said. “The cats have all congregated outside the barn, and they dinna look like they plan on letting us go any time soon.”

  The Scot was coming out of him, which was a wretched sign for their hopes of escape.

  “Can you operate here?” Rachel asked Allon, but he hesitated before replying.

  “I will if I have to,” he said. “But if we don’t go soon, the decision will be made for us. I can’t leave that cursed thing in his eye much longer. Who knows how far the poison will spread?”

  Chapter Eighty-One

  H arrier crossed the dusty barn floor to join Peregrine near the door. The sounds of vehicles coming in loud and fast signaled the cavalry’s arrival. He chanced opening the door a crack and relaxed a bit when he saw the Hummers. Viper and Tas piled out of the first one along with a slew of Soldiers, all armed to the teeth. Two more vehicles pulled into the parking area, and in a moment’s time the cats were surrounded.

  Neither Shifter nor Vampire made a move to attack, but it was clear who had the upper hand. Tas was working his magic to try and calm the situation, but there was little doubt the Vampires would attack if need be. Dawn was less than an hour away, and they needed to get Nox home, now.

  The fourth vehicle to enter the clearing some ten minutes later bore the leaders of the two races. They exited Mason’s Lexus GX, neither looking pleased with the standoff taking place in the clearing. Harrier put odds on his Warlord that things would be going the way of the Vampires, and soon.

  Once they had the riff raff subdued, Harrier signaled to Perry and Kyte, and the three joined the party in the yard.

  “Call your men off,” Brandt was saying, but Mason shook his head.

  “Your people started this, Brandt. I suggest you tell them to go to their homes and leave this situation to the adults.”

  Brandt growled at the insult but gave the order all the same. The Shifters looked at each other a moment before laying down their pitchforks and what-have-you.

  At Mason’s nod the Vampires formed an opening and the cats filed through on their way to their cars and trucks.

  When most of the vehicles had left the lot, Mason gave the order for the Legion to sheathe their weapons, and Harrier returned to the barn to gather their wounded.

  “Rachel, Allon, the coast is clear. Get Nox ready and we’ll…son of a whore.”

  Harrier slid to a stop and threw his hands up in surrender. “What’s going on here, now?” he asked of the man with the knife to his sister’s throat. Kythryn’s father. How the hell had he snuck back in here? “There’s no need for this.”

  “Stay back,” the Shifter ordered, “Or I’ll slit her neck.”

  “Put the knife down, Seamus.”

  Harrier turned to see that Mason and Brandt had entered the barn. The Clowder’s Overlord looked like he’d sought refuge from a shit storm in an outhouse.

  “It’s their fault my Kythryn’s gone off her rocker. And I won’t let you punish her for doing what should have been done in the first place.”

  “Seamus, either you put the knife down, or I give that big Vampire leave to take it from you.”

  Harrier’s eyes sparked and he smiled, revealing razor sharp fangs. Maybe this Overlord wasn’t so bad after all.

  Seamus hesitated, looking from one person to the next. After a moment he dropped the weapon and fell to his knees, burying his face in his hands. Rachel stumbled out of his reach and planted herself on a bale of hay.

  When the Overlord collected his man and led him from the barn, Harrier ran to Rachel and helped her to her feet. “Are you alright, sister mine?”

  “Of course,” Rachel puffed out a breath. “Had it under control until you came busting in, all hellfire and vengeance.”

  Harrier snarled at the female but gave her an affectionate pat on the head. “Let’s get Nox home so the doctor can patch him up.”

  Rachel nodded and stood back to give the males room to gather their wounded. As they carried Nox to the waiting vehicles, she hovered close by, barking orders and generally supervising. Harrier watched in silence as his sister wiped her eyes on her sleeve. When she resumed her barking, he walked ahead and opened the door, pretending he hadn’t noticed.

  Chapter Eighty-Two

  O nce Raven’s shields were back up, the bleeding stopped. Apparently, something major had happened to Nox if their bond was what caused all of this.

  I cleaned Raven’s face the best I could, and with the connection between him and Nox broken, his recovery was fairly swift. But for the blood loss, he would be his old self.

  Raven sat up and took the shirt from me, found a clean corner and used it to wipe a bit of blood from my cheek.

  “Why do we always end up like this?” Raven asked, as he thumbed a stray tear from my eye. “Do you think we will ever have a boring night? Just you and me in front of the fire, drinking wine and telling bad jokes?”

  I snickered, but there was no humor in it. “I don’t know,” I said. “If you recall, this was sort of the reason I backed off from the whole Vampire life in the first place. Now, I’m stuck with it, so I might as well get used to it.”

  My stomach was rumbling. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d eaten anything substantial, but there was more to it than that. This felt like a snake was alive in my belly, crawling around, searching for something, anything to assuage its hunger.

  Too much adrenaline, I decided and inhaled deeply, trying to ease my pounding heart. The scent of blood was all around me. It permeated the room, it’s coppery essence in every molecule of air. As I breathed it in, the aroma triggered my taste buds and my mouth filled with saliva.

  By the time I rea
lized what was happening, it was too late. I don’t know which occurred first, the tiny fangs punching out of my gums or the white light that filled the room. All I knew was I was experiencing my second vampiric episode, and I wasn’t at all happy about the trigger.

  Before, the danger to Raven was all I could think about. Now that that seemed to have passed, for him anyway, my newly awakened Vampire genetics were all about the blood.

  And here I sat, covered in the stuff.

  The moment I sparked, Raven pulled away from me, his blood-painted face a picture of awe and wonder. He reached for me, but I pulled away, not knowing where this was going to lead. He held his hand in front of me, then reached again, more insistent this time.

  He laid his palm against my cheek, and when he did, it wasn’t just his eyes that sparked. There was electricity that passed between us—the real kind, not just the imaginary romantic sparks you read about in novels. These were actual sparks that jumped into the air, sizzling and popping as they faded into nothingness.

  Between the white light coming from my eyes, and the amethyst glow emitting from Raven’s, the room was awash in a swirling eddy of bright color. The space between us was especially cosmic. The lights seemed to be seeking each other out, touching, mingling, as they danced in the air, pulling us toward one another both emotionally and physically.

  I lifted a shaky hand to Raven’s face, and though the sparks didn’t surprise me this time, they still made me gasp. Raven, too.

  We rose to our knees at the same time. It was as though our movements had become connected and neither of us could do anything without the other mirroring the action. Soon our lips met in another explosion of sparks, but I merely felt them this time, because I only had eyes for my Vampire.

  Raven and I had kissed since our tenuous reconciliation, but there had been no passion in it. It was more of a coming home, I missed you, glad you don’t hate me anymore kind of thing.