Animal Instinct

by Kate Davidson

  He was soundly ignored as Liam grabbed the strange vampire by the back of the neck and ripped him away from the slowly recovering human. Fangs bared, he leaned close to the stranger’s narrow face and stared into his blue eyes. “This is Los Angeles, boy-o. In this city you ask the head before you turn a human, no matter the circumstances.”

  “With all due respect, he’s my son.” Edward Meyer, formerly Wallace, stared defiantly back into the older vampire’s eyes. The answer didn’t please Liam in the least and it might have gotten ugly if Jack hadn’t interrupted.

  “He’s a friend of Jackie’s, Liam.” That made him pause and Jack continued to explain. “Sofie told me all about him when I was trying to keep him alive before Mr. Meyer here arrived. This is Daniel Wallace and he took a bullet to save Jackie’s life.”

  Liam let out a quiet curse. He would have to keep his mouth shut now. He owed not only Daniel but also Jack for saving Jacquelyn from suffering yet another loss.

  “Mr. Wallace, what are you doing here?” The woman of the hour gasped before she spotted Danny’s slowly healing body and moved at an unnatural speed to kneel by his side. Liam struggled not to feel jealous as the woman he loved fawned over her former lover. He concentrated on how she had said she didn't fit with Daniel anymore. Logically, he knew she was just showing her concern for a friend but the act still burned.

  “I’m afraid I left your father unprotected, Ms. Chase. I hope you will forgive me but I couldn’t let my son go into danger alone,” Edward explained.

  She waved a dismissive hand at him. “The danger was here so dad’s probably just fine. Oh, he’s waking up!”

  “Hey,” the newest vampire in the room managed to groan before pressing a hand to his chest. “I feel like hell.”

  “You were brought back from the edge of death. You're entitled,” Jack informed him.

  Jackie gripped Mr. Meyer’s hand as she fought the urge to sniffle. “Thank you for this.”

  He nodded then went back to tending his son. Sofie touched her shoulder gently. She'd taken the news about Jackie's new status surprisingly well. She'd even managed to smile. Still, Jackie could tell she would be treating her like glass until she was sure she was really all right again. She couldn’t imagine how she was feeling standing between Liam and Jack, watching three other vampires on the ground, and being the only human there.

  If she was at all disturbed her next statement didn’t show it. “We should get out of here. Sarah's asleep in the car.”

  Jackie shot to her feet at the mention of Sarah then turned to Liam. “You're going to call someone to clean all this up, right? Do we have to stay for that?”

  He shook his head. “No, we can leave. Take Sofie to the car and see your girl. We'll be right with you.”

  She was far too eager to see Sarah to question his suspiciously mild tone. Liam watched Jacquelyn grab her friend and nearly sprint out the door. He turned to Jack, who was helping Daniel find his balance. “I can smell Gregory Crawley. He's unconscious upstairs, seems like he's lost a little blood.”

  Jack looked at his friend knowingly. “Seems like he should lose a lot more?” Liam nodded and Jack smiled coldly. “All right, you can go on. We'll take Jackie's car back. Danny, you’ve got to be starving. I think you should meet someone who gets his kicks beating children.”

  As the men in her life tied up the loose ends, Jackie curled up in the backseat of Jack's car with her fragile human daughter in her arms. She could smell hints of chloroform around Sarah's mouth and nose. Thankfully, it seemed to be wearing off as the eight year old began to stir.

  “Jackie?”

  “I'm right here, baby,” she murmured against her hair. She glanced up to see Sofie looking at the two of them with grateful tears in her eyes. Jackie smiled. “I'll be here forever.”

  *

  Four months later

  “Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday, dear Sarah! Happy birthday to you!” As soon as the mostly on pitch singing was over, Sarah blew out the nine candles on her vanilla and strawberry cake. Caliban continued to bark long after the singing was over until Sofie finally had to tell him to shut up.

  “Okay, Sarah gets the first slice,” Jackie announced, cutting a very healthy piece for the nine year old. The three other children present, girls Sarah had managed to befriend at school, quickly formed a line in order to be the next to receive cake. Jackie smiled and served up the food she hadn't been able to eat for months.

  Many things had changed after she turned into a vampire. An inability to eat dessert, albeit saddening, was not the most significant. Sarah had taken it brilliantly, seeing the super-powered glamour of it all rather than the horror. Liam had been able to resume his life in the public eye with a story about business rivals trying to eliminate him and going into hiding on a tropical island. Jackie had thought the tropical island bit was pushing the envelope but the press bought it. Liam sold the land he owned in the hills shortly after he came out. With price being no object, after four months a nearly completed two-story house was sitting behind the humble cottage on Free Spirit Ranch. It was quickly shaping up to be a glorious Victorian-style house that Liam said appealed to his sense of history. There was also, at Jackie's request, a pool that was identical to the one Liam once owned. Sarah had been delighted by the idea of a pool party for her birthday, just as Jackie had predicted.

  Her father had a business to run so for the first three months of her new life he’d been absent. Jackie worried the entire time that vampires would simply be too much for him to take and he would abandon her. Then he showed up on her doorstep a month ago, smiling and asking how her new diet was going. Their relationship was not traditional and it was unlikely that they would ever achieve that. However, the fact that Jackie knew her father loved her went a long way to healing the wounds she’d carried inside for far too long. There was a great deal of pain in her when she thought about what she'd lost, especially recently. It was like her world was a very large Thanksgiving table but Izzy's place was empty. That didn't mean the rest of the table didn’t count.

  “You throw a wonderful party, Jackie,” Charles said, snagging a piece of cake off the table from behind her. “The kids are having a lot of fun.”

  “There's a pool, snacks, and dogs willing to swim with them. Kids under ten are pretty easy to please, Dad. Did you call Mom today?” she asked, setting down the knife.

  “Yes,” he said as the joy went out of his voice. “The doctors said it was malignant, Stage 4. I’m going to have to leave sooner than I planned.”

  Jackie nodded and gently squeezed her father’s arm as he unenthusiastically poked at his slice of birthday cake.

  “She’s my wife. I shouldn’t want her dead. But I can’t help remembering what it was like when you left.” They hadn’t ever talked about that. Jackie always meant to ask again but she hadn’t worked up the nerve to see the inevitable pain in her father’s eyes. She saw it now. “She was in a constant rage for two years. She would routinely break things around the house and scream if no one hurried to clean up her mess. She started hitting your brother. Sometimes she tried going after me. Those were very easily the worst two years of my life.”

  “Daddy, if you need me,” she began and it took a great deal of strength for her to finish, “I can come up and visit you.”

  Her father proceeded to stare at her as though she’d lost her mind. His plate nearly felt out of his suddenly nerveless fingers. “You don’t have to - ”

  “But I can. And that’s what matters,” she said, pressing a kiss to her father’s cheek and walking away before he could say anything else.

  In an instant Danny was beside her. “I couldn’t help overhearing your conversation,” he said as she checked to make sure none of the children had seen his supernatural speed trick.

  “I just bet you couldn’t,” she muttered, elbowing him in the ribs.

  He grinned. “Yes, well, I just wanted to note that
you’ve come a long way from fleeing your homeland to being willing to march back in to support your dad.”

  Jackie shrugged. “Hell, there are scarier things in this world than my mother. I happen to be one of them.” She glanced over to where Danny’s father was playing with Caliban by the pool. Not too far away Macbeth glowered at them. She shook her head. He’d accepted her new scent after a few days of sulking but he still wasn’t the biggest vampire fan. “Try to make sure my dog doesn’t eat your dad. Or vice versa.”

  She walked up to her house and pulled open the side door then proceeded to walk into an awkward situation in the kitchen. Sofie had her arms wrapped around Jack’s neck as she melted into the kiss he had pressed to her mouth. Jackie knew he’d heard her coming. If she could hear a horse sneeze in the barn when she was in bed at night, he could definitely hear her open the door and walk into the kitchen. Luckily for her, he wasn't keen on hiding what he was doing. Also lucky for her, Sofie still had human ears and was understandably distracted. Jackie smirked then cleared her throat to let Jack know he'd probably shown her quite enough. He ended the kiss before aiming a smile her way.

  “I hope that you don’t mind us commandeering your kitchen.”

  “Jackie!” Sofie jumped out of Jack's arms, cheeks flushing.

  “I would probably be doing the same thing if I didn’t have kids to chaperone,” she told Jack before turning to Sofie. “How long has this been going on?”

  “Not long.”

  “A month,” Jack said, more willing to supply specifics than Sofie. She looked thoroughly embarrassed.

  “This isn’t weird, is it? Best friends dating best friends. I know it sounds weird but I was hoping that when it came time to tell you it wouldn’t feel this bizarre.”

  “Thanks, sweetheart,” Jack muttered.

  Sofie shot him a quick glare. “You're not helping me explain here.”

  “Now now, everyone,” Jackie interrupted before they could get into an argument. “First of all, Jack, you probably shouldn’t have tricked Sofie into revealing the fact that you’re in a relationship. She would have told me when she was ready to tell me. Don’t make a habit of it or I’ll have to kill you. Second, Sofie my darling friend, don't be an idiot.” Sofie gaped at her as Jack softly chuckled. “If you think best friends dating best friends is the weirdest thing about us then you haven’t been paying attention. Jack is a hot guy mixed with liberal amounts of authentic southern gentleman. You don’t get much better than that so enjoy. Even if he is a little old for you.”

  “Well put, my love,” Liam said as he stepped inside and joined them in the kitchen. “Now why don't the two of you go find another corner away from underage eyes? We're confiscating this one.”

  Sofie blushed but didn't protest when Jack led her down the hall to her room. Jackie just shook her head, resisting the urge to laugh. “I didn't see that coming but I'm glad that it did.”

  “Yes, the two of them should very easily make enough drama to entertain us all for some time. Jack has spent most of his life brooding about the wars he’s seen or the fact that his soul might be damned. Meanwhile Sofie was nearly murdered by the last vampire she dated. If that doesn’t stir up some drama I’m not sure what would,” Liam said before tilting Jackie's face toward him and gently kissing her lips. She smiled into his kiss as warmth filled her slow-beating heart.

  “Oh, so you want more drama now, do you? I thought the two of us created enough drama to last at least a decade,” she murmured, pressing herself firmly against his body.

  He chuckled. “Without drama we can't appreciate these quiet moments where all the world is calm.” Liam began dropping kisses along her cheek and into the crease of her smile.

  Then Jackie’s eyes fell shut and the sound of Liam’s voice faded into static. She saw a flash of a skittering hand clawing its way through sand. The image of a smashed antique clock flashed by, a gun went off, screaming and blood and desperation –

  You will burn as we have burned.

  A young woman with storms for eyes held a diamond out of reach. Not today.

  “Jacquelyn!”

  Reality came back to her in a rush. Liam was shaking her and she was safe. She gasped, fisting her hands in his shirt. “I’m back. I’m okay, I’m back.”

  He pulled her into a hug that would have injured her back when she was human. “You almost scared me back to life.”

  “Sorry. I just completely zoned,” she said. “I don’t know what happened.” Except she was pretty sure she did know. She just didn’t want it to be true.

  “If that was your way of punishing me for the drama comment - ”

  “No! No, I swear I’m fine. Everything’s fine. It is, isn’t it?” Jackie pulled back to look in Liam’s eyes. “Everyone’s okay?”

  The fear in her expression baffled him. “Of course they are.”

  “All the world is calm,” she repeated. Jackie could feel herself relaxing now and she tried to push the fragments of her vision away. She couldn’t deal with that piece of the Left Hand living on in her blood, not during her daughter’s birthday party and possibly not ever. “What did you say after that?”

  Liam caressed her cheek and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. “I was listing your blessings. I said that Sarah is safe and happy outside eating her birthday cake. Your finances are in excellent shape, if I'm not mistaken. Sofie's hand healed beautifully and it looks like the only vampire I consider a friend is going to do wonders for her heart. Your father is back in your life and nurturing your relationship. The massively irritating Daniel is doing well- ” He ignored the slap she delivered to the back of his head. “ - as is his father. You haven't been overwhelmed by your senses or broken something by accident in well over a month, although I suppose now we’ll have to set the clock back on that one. But all your animals got used to your transformation so quickly that I can only assume they didn’t give a damn what you smelled like since you’ve been caring for them consistently for years. Your dogs, your horses, your home, everything is absolutely safe.”

  “Thank you,” Jackie whispered, gently stroking the place she'd so recently slapped. “I never would have gotten here without you.”

  “Yes, you would have.” He lifted his head and gave her a smile full of all the boyish charm that had tempted her at the beginning. “It just wouldn't have been nearly as much fun.” She kissed him then, celebrating the peacefulness of their new life together.

  At least she did until the dogs started making a racket outside and a dripping wet Sarah ran into the house. “Jackie, Jackie! Lucy's in labor! She's having her baby and Danny said it's coming damn fast.”

  “Sofie, call the vet! We have a foal coming!” Jackie shouted before scooping Sarah up with one arm and settling her on her hip. “And you watch your language, pretty girl. You don't want the baby to hear bad words its first day on earth.”

  “Sorry,” Sarah apologized, excitement twinkling in her eyes. “Can we go see now? Please?”

  “You bet we can.” Jackie took Liam's hand and ran outside to see the newest blessing in her life. With family surrounding her, Jackie felt as though there was no drama she couldn't handle, no choice she couldn't face. Her full, complicated world was perfectly flawed. And that was just how she liked it.