by Jenn Windrow
It was time to stop this fight and start thinking about the dangers that lie ahead. I stepped forward and wedged myself between the two heated males, placed my hands on two chests and used my enhanced strength to separate them.
I looked at Julian first, but didn’t remove my hand. “Reaper has a point. You could get him hurt or killed looking for Julia.”
“You said you’d help me.” His words formed a knife of guilt and stabbed my heart.
“And I am.” I let my hand fall from Reaper’s chest and faced Julian. “I told you I’d get her out and I will, but not until after we have Terrance.”
“Not good enough.”
My anger rose. “What do you want me to do? Let you walk in and get yourself killed, or even worse, turned into a vampire?” And with just a few words I ended up emasculating him.
“I’m not fragile, something you need to protect.” He ran his hands through his hair. “I’m tougher than you know and I’m going with you. If anyone has a problem with that, they can take it up with me afterwards.”
He turned around, opened the door of the Chevelle and slid into the back seat.
The door closed with a bang.
Reaper turned his fury on me. “I’m not going to be responsible for his well-being.”
“I’ll keep him with me and try to convince him that running into a den of vampires is dangerous for his health.” I walked to the car, but before I opened the door I added, “Let’s just continue on with the plan, so we can catch this guy.”
Reaper and I got in the car. He glanced back at Julian. “You’re her problem.” Then he started the car and pulled out of my parking lot.
To say that anger filled the air was an understatement. It wrapped around every living person in the small-enclosed space and squeezed the air out of the car. Nathan and I were safe from dying from suffocation due to male stubbornness, but Reaper and Julian would be the first to succumb.
Someone had to fill Julian in on the plans or he would be in the way and that would just cause another fight, something we didn’t need in the middle of our mission. Since Reaper wasn’t talking, and Nathan turned everything into a joke, I guess that left me.
“Julian, Reaper is going in under the pretense of joining up with Terrance.”
“What will you be doing?”
“Acting as backup in case things go sour.”
He shot a nasty look at the back of Reaper’s head. “He doesn’t want you involved either.”
“I’d keep each one of you out of this if I could walk into that house and do this myself, but the moment I show up, someone is dying, and with the amount of vampires he has created in the past few weeks, I’m afraid I’d be out numbered and out fanged.”
“I trust you to help me get Julia out, but him.” He pointed his thumb in Reaper’s direction. “He doesn’t give a shit if my sister lives or dies.”
Nathan, who had been sitting back and enjoying the show, spoke up. “Grab my arm, China Doll.”
The sparks flew and Nathan solidified. “I’ve got an idea. Why don’t I go in with Reaper and see if I can’t locate Julia.”
“The vampires can see you.” Reaper piped up from the driver’s seat. The only words he had muttered since I started explaining the plan to Julian.
“It’s either Doctor Hottie here, or the ghost that can float through walls.” He paused and seemed to be contemplating his next words. “I was planning on following you anyway. This will just give me something to do.”
“I’d rather have the spook, than your boyfriend.”
I started to open my mouth and tell Reaper that Julian wasn’t my boyfriend, but decided it wasn’t worth the debate. Priorities.
“Then it’s settled. Julian, you stay with me and Nathan will go poke around to find Julia. When he locates her he can come tell us if it’s safe for you to snatch her.”
Julian sat for a few moments, his face in silent contemplation. “That works.”
Nathan turned in my direction, a look that I couldn’t interpret on his ghostly face. “I’m going to need to borrow some of your energy.”
“Of course you will.” I sat back and began to mentally prepare myself for Nathan invading my personal space.
After a few minutes of silence, Julian said, “I analyzed the sample you brought me.”
“Was it your serum?”
“Not exactly. It looks like they’ve been trying to recreate it. Possibly change the composition to get rid of some of the more damaging side effects.”
“Like bloody, puss filled sores?”
“That’s one of them. But the serum does seem to be masking their supernatural scent, it’s doing what it was made to do, so whoever is working on tweaking it is good at what they do.”
“So, as you suggested, they are hiding in plain sight.” Julian nodded. “Hiding from you.”
Terrance had found a loophole, a way to get around the Assassins in the cities. A way to build his army right under our noses. And tonight I would put an end to his plans, his army and most importantly…him.
We drove the rest of the way listening to Nathan’s vast array of dirty limericks and filthy jokes, just his way to lighten the mood and relieve the tension. And it worked.
We pulled into the clearing and Reaper cut the engine. We all sat in silence. I couldn’t be sure what was running through everyone else’s thoughts, but I knew mine.
Get everyone out alive. Kill Terrance. Put an end to this nightmare.
I stopped praying after two years of captivity in Xavier’s house of horrors, but tonight might be a good night to resume my relationship with the big man upstairs. Reaper went to the trunk and popped open his secret compartment of weapons.
He pulled out a small handgun, almost smaller than the palm of his hand, and two knives. The gun went into the waistband of his pants, and the knives slipped into the sheaths hidden in his army boots.
“You know they’ll search you, right?”
He grabbed another gun from the trunk of the car and put it in the pocket of his zip up sweatshirt. “I’m hoping they’ll find the guns and stop looking.” He bent down and pulled his pants down over the tops of his boots. “The knives are located on the interior of the boots, so even if they do a pat down, they’ll probably miss them.”
Nathan cleared his throat. “Ready for me?”
An uncontrollable shiver shook my body. I steeled my spine and tried to act like the bad ass my reputation boasted.
Nathan stepped forward and into my body, even with the warning it sent shivers through me. I threw up my mental shields, hoping to hide any details I wanted to keep private from nosey ghosts. Sharing my body wasn’t as bad the second time around, but I was still grateful when Nathan vaulted out.
“Let’s see if it worked.” He walked over to Reaper and slapped him in the ass. “Like a bloody charm.”
Reaper grabbed his wrist before Nathan got away. “Better watch it, spook, or I’ll find an exorcist.”
Nathan yanked his hand free from Reaper’s grasp and raised his eyebrows in his best Fozzie the Bear impersonation. “Waka, Waka.”
Reaper ignored the ghostly instigator and tossed me his keys. “See you soon,” he said.
Ex-marine, former VAU agent, and all around bad ass, those were all the titles that Reaper held, but he was also my friend and I couldn’t let him walk down the road, to meet up with a monster without letting him know that I cared.
I stepped forward and placed my hand on his shoulder. “You come back to me, in one piece, without any fang marks or bullet holes. Please.”
The corner of his mouth lifted. “You won’t get rid of me that easy. Someone has to be around to police your fangs.”
Nathan walked over. “If anything goes wrong in there, I’ll come get you.” I nodded my head in confirmation.
Then I watched Nathan and Reaper head down the narrow road through the dense forest that would lead them to Terrance and hopefully the end of this nightmare.
Julian came up beh
ind me and rubbed his hands up and down my arms. “He’ll be fine. The man’s too stubborn to die.”
“There are far worse things than death.” I was walking proof.
“He’s strong and he has Nathan with him. If anything goes wrong you’ll be able to help.”
“I just wish I was with him.”
He turned me to face him and kissed the tip of my nose. “Sometimes you have to sit and wait. You can’t handle every problem on your own—you have to learn to allow others to help.”
I entwined my fingers into his, settled against his chest and allowed the words to sink in. Since the day I escaped from Xavier, I’ve been on my own. Andre and I had separated so we couldn’t be found and used against the other. I didn’t know where he went and he had no clue where I was. Separated for our safety. On that very day I vowed never to feel responsible for another living soul.
Fast forward fifty years. Now I have two humans and one ghost I’ve allowed to worm their ways into my heart and feel responsible for their well-being. As much as I appreciated Julian’s words, I couldn’t relax and sit and wait.
I needed to be next to Reaper. Helping. Fighting. Protecting.
And just when I was going to explain my thoughts to Julian, Nathan came back.
“Your sister’s in a place where you can nab her. All the vampires are preoccupied with Reaper. If you want your chance, this is the only one you’re going to get. Better make it fast.”
Julian turned me around and kissed me full on the lips. “Everything’s going to be fine.”
He left me sitting in the dark and followed Nathan back down the asphalt. Leaving me wondering when I stopped being in charge and turned into the sidekick.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Pacing, pacing, pacing. That’s all I did while waiting for Nathan, Reaper, or Julian to return. I worked hard to keep my mind off of what was happening in the house a mere football field away, but thoughts of blood and death and dead friends kept creeping in, but I had made a promise to let Reaper do this on his own, and if I broke it now, he’d never trust me again.
Twenty minutes of waiting and I contemplated leaving my post and moving closer to see what I was missing. Then I thought about the danger my close proximity could cause, and decided that I would do more harm than good.
I was relieved when two sets of footsteps crunched the fallen leaves on the ground. Peeking around the trees I spied Julian. His expression was grim, determined and, slightly pissed off. The girl being pushed in front of him was just as pissed off. Julian had one hand wrapped around her upper arm, the other covered her mouth. Tears streamed down her face and smeared her mascara. She struggled under his hold and a flurry of semi-muted curse words filled the silence.
“I see you found her,” I said, stating the obvious.
Julian gave her a shove toward the car, but the moment he released her she attempted to run back down the path. He stepped forward and blocked her getaway. “Stay.”
“Fuck you, Julian.” She emphasized her words with her middle finger high in the air.
Julian stepped forward and grabbed her arm again, kicking at his shin, but it didn’t seem like it bothered him. “I tried to be nice, but you obviously need time to cool off.” He dragged her to the car, opened the door, and shoved her inside.
The slamming of the door cut off her objection to her imprisonment. “Would you block the other door in case she tries to get away?”
I walked to the other side and leaned against the door just as she was pulling on the handle. She stopped when I glared at her and slumped in the seat.
Then she decided to take her anger out on the front car seat and continued to punch and kick the vinyl. She better watch it. If she did any damage to Reaper’s car a pissed off brother would be the least of her worries.
“Now what?”
“I’m going to give her a few minutes to cool off. When she’s done with her tantrum, I’ll pull her out and talk some sense into her.”
I leaned down and looked through the window, which was steaming up from the heat pouring off her severely pissed off body. “She might need a little longer than a few minutes.”
“It’s for the best.”
“Did you see Reaper when you were up there?” I glanced in the direction of the house.
“No, but Nathan gave me a message for you. His words. I’m watching the wanker, no need to worry.”
That small bit of information brought me the tiniest bit of relief.
Julia continued to yell from inside the car. I didn’t have the energy to waste trying to yell over her to continue my conversation with Julian, so I leaned against the cool metal and waited. We’d have time to talk when all this was done and over. Fifteen minutes after Julian had forced her into the car, Julia rolled down her window and started spewing venom at her brother. “Julian, you piece of shit. You can’t do this to me. Let me out immediately,”
Julian stuck his face in front of the window. “I can, and I will. At least until you understand how much danger you’re putting yourself in.”
“Go to hell. I don’t need you to protect me anymore. I’ve got Terrance.”
I’d seen the way Terrance treated those around him. If Julia thought she was safe, she was fooling herself. Maybe love was so blind she couldn’t see the sick and twisted monster she worshipped.
Julian opened the car door, and pulled her out. “That piece of shit vampire is nothing more than a murderer.”
I tried not to take the piece of shit vampire comment to heart. Telling myself that Terrance and I were nothing alike, but the words still clung to my useless ticker with little poisonous barbs of doubt that infiltrated the walls.
He shook her once, and then pulled her close. “I’m the only one you have left to protect you, or did you forget?”
“I shouldn’t need protection, and I wouldn’t if you hadn’t made us run and hide like cowards.” Julia got in his face and snarled. “We should have fought for our rightful place.”
“If we had fought, we would both be lying next to mom and dad in the graveyard.”
I stood looking at the twins, their words confusing me. I felt like there was something I was missing. Something wedged between the lines so tightly that I’d completely miss it without careful inspection.
“I can’t save your skin if you keep doing stupid shit.” Julian’s deep voice carried a bit of growl.
“I don’t want you to save me. I want you to leave me alone.”
“So the pack can find you. Hurt you. Kill you?”
Little bells started to tinkle at the word pack. Only wild animals and supernatural beings had packs.
Has your new lover been hiding something from you? I guess Eddie had been listening too.
I ignored my inner tag along and focused on what the twins were saying.
“They don’t want me, they want you.” She pushed against her brother’s chest. “I’m a female, and of no use to them, but you, you’re next in line. Terrance says I’m safer if I’m away from you.”
“He can’t keep you safe. And if they catch you they’ll use you to get to me. Just like they used Mom to get to Dad.”
My Eddie sense detected some deep secrets in Julian’s fucked up family tree.
“They wouldn’t hurt me.” Her doubt carried through her words.
Julian grabbed her arm, shaking her slightly. “Being hurt would be the least of your worries. In fact, being dead would be better than what they would do to you.” She grimaced when he squeezed her arms tighter. “They’d capture you. Torture you for my whereabouts. Then they’d rape you, one after another until you were pregnant. All so they could have a royal heir to control. Once you gave birth, you’d be expendable and then you’d be dead. “
“You don’t know that.”
The twins faced off, both staring at each other, one with a look of concern, the other with a look of hatred. What had Julian done to earn his sister’s loathing?
Julian grabbed two fistfuls of his hair. Aft
er a few minutes, his hands fell to his side. “Julia, listen, I’m trying to do the right thing here.”
“No, you’re not. You’re not doing what’s best for me. Only what’s best for you.”
“Kolb. Can’t. Find. You.” Each word more controlled than the other. The only sign of his true rage were the tight fists at his side.
“He already has,” she hurled at him.
Julian grabbed her arms again, his hands shaking. “How? When?”
“He works with Terrance now. I ran into him a week ago and he told me I was safe from him. That the pack only wants you. You’re the alpha wolf, not me.”
Alpha wolf.
My head jerked to look at Julian, but he wasn’t focusing on me, he was too intent on what his sister was saying.
It wasn’t possible. Julian couldn’t be a werewolf. I would have known, Eddie would have known. Smelled him. Felt his otherworldliness. Tried to eat him.
How had he escaped the beast’s notice?
Then I remembered his words the night he told us about his serum being stolen. “A werewolf on the serum could be sitting across the table from you right now and you would never know it.” Damn, he had come right out and told me, but I never even suspected.
There were other hints too: the flash of amber in his eyes during sex, how he beat Reaper and me to my home that night after the morgue.
The serum. It wasn’t for a friend. It was for Julian. For his sister. A way to hide from whatever problems surrounded them.
He had lied. Lied to get close to me. To use me.
What did that mean for our relationship? I obviously couldn’t trust him. And what did he really feel for me? Those poisonous bards of doubt sank their teeth deeper into my heart. So deep it would take more than a pair of tweezers to remove them; it would take open-heart surgery.
We haven’t killed a werewolf in a while.
And we’re not starting tonight.
Only a matter of time until his miracle juice wears off and we’ll be forced to. Remember Nathan?
I won’t let it happen.
Julian owed me answers and an explanation, and I was about to step forward and demand them when gunshots erupted from the direction of the house.
