I opened my mouth, and my fangs retracted. He jerked once, his eyes going to mine as he stiffened. “No, that is not possible.”
“Don’t mess with snakes,” I said. “They’ll bite when you least expect it. Especially if you come into their territory.”
His eyes rolled and he jerked, red foam bubbling out of his mouth. I pushed him off me and stood up, staring down at his body as he tried to fight the venom, but to no avail. I refused to turn away, knowing that I had done this. So I watched his muscles shrivel and his face twist up in agony before it went slack with a final death. The scent of licorice that had always been heavy on him dissipated, gone with whatever it was that animated a vampire. There were no big explosions, no grand finale to show that he was a foe worth fighting.
He died without a whimper, or even a last word. As every coward should.
At the edges of the room where Tad had forced them to stay, the Firstamentalists shook themselves as if waking from a deep sleep and strange dreams.
I pointed at the open window. “Firstamentalists, get out of my bakery! And if you dare come back, I will make sure you are each turned into a vampire!” My voice boomed in the small space, and the humans scrambled away at a speed that belied their frail nature.
At the window, though, the young woman who’d faced me on the street turned back. Her eyes locked with mine, and I saw there a seed of doubt. Doubt in what she was doing. I gave her a slow nod. “One day, you’ll understand.”
She spun, her long skirt flaring out behind her, and then she was gone.
I stood there with a dozen vampires around me, their boss dead on the floor. Tad in his naga form at my back. Remo’s little brother dead at my feet. I swallowed hard, the taste of venom sliding down my throat. It burned hot, a trail of fire running down into my belly to mix with the flush of guilt and horror . . . I’d killed him. And I didn’t feel bad, which made me feel bad.
One of the vamps went to his knees, and the rest slowly followed suit. “We are yours.”
“Oh no, that isn’t happening,” I said, backing up, bumping into Tad. His scales were cool against the hot flush of my skin.
Ernie flew to my shoulder and stuck his mouth in my ear. “You could use them against Hercules; don’t send them away.”
I frowned. “No, that doesn’t feel right.”
Tad shifted back to his human form and put a hand on my shoulder. “I think you should listen to Ernie.”
“Feeling right is not going to keep you alive,” the cherub pointed out.
I looked over the vampires, making eye contact with each one of them as an idea was forming. I swallowed again, then took a breath and spoke with as much confidence as I could. “Go to Remo, tell him that Santos is dead. Beg forgiveness and see if that keeps you all alive.”
“And if he turns us away?” one of them asked.
That was the last thing I was worried about. “If he turns you away . . . then . . . you can come back to me.”
Tad grunted. “It might be too late then.” I hoped he was wrong.
But the vampires all nodded one at a time.
They left quietly, but I heard one of them say something that stuck with me. “She’d make a better boss than Santos.”
“No shit,” his friend answered and then paused in the window. He looked about my age, but with vampires that was deceptive at the best of times. He had a dark-auburn hair, and his eyes were a deep chocolate brown that was brightened with flecks of gold. “Santos wasn’t kidding about the other vampires coming for you, Drakaina.”
We stared at one another, and I beckoned him back. He stepped forward.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
He swallowed hard, his throat bobbing before he answered. “He sent the last of the fennel oil to the vampire council. Along with a note that . . .” He paused and looked to where his friends—if they were friends—waited for him. One of them nodded.
“I think you should tell her.”
“Wait,” I said as I stepped over some broken glass so I was right in front of the one who said he’d sent the note to the vampire council. “What’s your name?”
“Lee.”
I held my hand out. “Alena, not Drakaina.”
He gave me a twitch of a smile. “Alena, he sent a note with the oil. It said that if something should happen to him, that the council should know about you. He said that Remo was protecting you, and that he—Remo, that is—planned to take over the council with you at his side.” He drew in a breath, though I knew he didn’t really need it. Which meant he was probably young in vampire years. “Look, Santos basically said if he died, the council should use the fennel oil to destroy you. And Remo.”
My body chilled as though the icy air sweeping through the open glass actually bothered it. “Anything else?”
Lee shook his head. “I wrote the note up for him. There was nothing else. Except a list of places you could be found.”
“Where?”
Lee frowned, obviously thinking. “House number thirteen on the other side of the Wall, the bakery here, your big house by Kerry Park, and your parents’ house.”
Tad groaned. “Shit.”
My thought exactly. If the vampire council went looking for me at my parents’, how was I going to protect them?
I held a hand out to Lee again, and he took it. “I want you to tell Remo what you told me. Go quickly; the night is fading.”
He bobbed his head, lifted my hand, and kissed the back of it. Maybe he wasn’t as young as I thought; that was a very old gesture. I took a step back and watched them fade into the darkness.
The trampling of feet on the glass faded into nothing, and I stood there, stunned at the speed at which things had happened. A flicker of lights out front caught my eyes, and a police cruiser pulled up to the curb.
I shouldn’t have been surprised. I wasn’t, not really. Just more irritated. I didn’t want any more ties to Remo than necessary, and Ben was his servant more than he was my friend.
Officer Jensen stepped out of the car and jogged to the smashed window. “What the hell happened?”
“Mob justice,” I grumbled, irritated as a bumblebee stuck in a car. I pointed at Santos. “What do we do with him?”
“Holy mother of God, is that Santos?” Officer Jensen stared, his brown eyes wide. Of course he would wonder. The way the venom had worked, it was hard to tell that he was the same body as before. “You killed him?”
I walked around to the back of the counter and grabbed the largest garbage bin. “I didn’t have a choice.”
Jensen shook his head. “Yeah, but you killed him. Remo . . . I don’t think he’s going to be happy. I mean, you basically just—”
Tad came up beside me, a broom and dustpan in his hand, with all his clothes intact.
“Wait, how can you shift and keep your clothes, and I end up naked?” I spluttered, unable to keep the question in.
He shrugged. “Luck of the draw, I guess.” Luck indeed.
Tad looked to Jensen, his eyes serious. “How could Remo not be happy? She just offed his main competition for territory. He should be on his knees thanking her.”
I smiled at Tad. Dang it all, to have my brother on my side, to watch him come into his own even while he defended me. That was . . . an amazing feeling. Which with the way the rest of the night had gone was about the only bright spot.
Jensen rolled his eyes heavenward as if he would find the words there. “Ernie, help me out here. You understand power structure better than most.”
Ernie swept in front of me, nodding. “Yeah, I do. Okay, here it is, girlfriend. You just made Remo look weak. You accomplished in five minutes what he’s been trying to do for hundreds of years. And right in front of what I’m guessing are some of the oldest vamps out there. I mean, they may not be right here, but they will be in the area soon. And they will find out about this.”
I noticed neither Ernie nor Tad mentioned what we’d learned, about how Santos had set Remo and me up. Which m
eant they didn’t want Jensen to know, or maybe they didn’t want Remo to know?
I bent and picked up a large chunk of glass and dropped it into the garbage can with a loud crash. “Well, I guess that’s Remo’s issue, isn’t it? Not like we’re even dating anymore.” The words were hard, but a tiny piece of me hoped . . . if what Lee had said was right, then Remo very well might have been protecting me by cutting me loose.
And if he was protecting me, then maybe, just maybe, he cared for me still. A sudden flash of irritation snapped through me, like the crackle of lightning on a muggy summer’s night.
“What the hell, Remo?” I muttered under my breath, feeling the words spark tears in my eyes. “Push me away to keep me safe? Why wouldn’t you trust me enough to hold me close?”
Why indeed was the question of the hour.
CHAPTER 5
Ernie tugged me and Tad aside while Jensen called things in, listing off the damage by the mob of Firstamentalists. They’d dropped a few masks and several placards, along with one of their pamphlets. Jensen figured that would be enough to get a restraining order against the group.
“Listen”—Ernie kept his voice low—“I don’t think we should be telling anyone else what we learned from the vampire. It will give you the upper hand if people think you and Remo really are at odds.”
Tad nodded. “I agree. I mean, it sounds like maybe he broke up with you, and had Dahlia break up with me because he was trying to protect us all.”
Ernie nodded. “Love will make you do stupid things.”
I glared at him. “I thought you said Remo didn’t really love me?” Then there was the whole question of if Remo really cared; if he did, he should have been fighting for me, trusting me to be at his side.
Which he obviously didn’t. So maybe he didn’t respect me the way I’d thought. That only sparked my irritation with him further.
“Look . . . Dahlia is here.” Ernie swept upward to the ceiling, neatly avoiding my question.
She was out of breath as though she’d been running, which is saying something for a vampire. “Is it true?” She slid to a stop, her eyes immediately going to where Santos still lay sprawled on the floor. Her jaw dropped, and she spluttered, “Holy shit, Alena, did you do it?” Almost like she didn’t quite believe it.
I nodded. “Yeah, I didn’t have much choice. And like always, Remo was nowhere to be found to deal with his problem.”
“Whoa, bitter much?” Dahlia said.
I forced a glare at her, struggling to find the right words. “Remo didn’t have the . . . the balls . . . to stick with me. Even though I know he wanted to. Just because he wants things to look right. I took him home, Dahlia. I took him to meet my parents, who already hate everything Super Duper, and he dropped me at the first sign that someone he was trying to impress might not like what I am. That’s a real . . . dick move.” The words spilled out of me in a jumble of hurt and truth.
I was breathing hard, and I forced myself to slow my racing heart. “And then he goes and makes you break it off with Tad.”
Her eyes flashed. “That’s partly why I’m here. Tad . . .” She reached over, took his hand, and yanked him to her. She planted a kiss on him and then pulled back just as suddenly. “I’m not going anywhere. Screw Remo and screw the vampire council. I don’t need anyone but you.”
He grinned. “Really?”
“Really. We’ll go somewhere else. Anywhere else is better than being without you.”
Ernie clapped and whistled. “Now that is how love is done.”
I took a few steps back from them, giving them space.
Dahlia looked at me and frowned. “Remo doesn’t deserve you. Not by a long shot.”
“That’s what I keep telling her,” Ernie said, and I glared at him.
Jensen cleared his throat. “We all have said it at one point. Alena, you did the right thing. I shouldn’t have said what I did back there about you killing Santos. If Remo can’t take care of things, and you have to, then so be it. You have to protect yourself.”
I couldn’t even defend Remo, because Ernie and Tad were right. We needed to keep what we’d learned about Santos and his final note close to the chest. The less people who knew about what Remo was really dealing with, the better. A final plot twist thrown by Santos with his death.
With my friends helping me, we got the worst of the shattered glass dealt with and the bakery put back together. Tad and Jensen found some broken pallets out back and then used them to board up the front window.
My sponge cake was totally burnt. The smell made me wrinkle my nose and snort. I hadn’t burned something this badly in years, not since I first started baking and allowed myself to get distracted by the risqué romance novels my yaya had slipped me behind my mother’s back. I pulled the pan out of the oven with a huff and slammed it on the counter. This night could not get any worse. I opened the back door to air the room out, then went back to the pan. Charred right through. I threw the whole thing into the sink to cool off. I’d throw it out later.
Ernie sat down beside me. “What do you want to do?”
“I want to go home and sleep and start this day again,” I said, feeling the fatigue right through my bones.
“Then why don’t you? I think eliminating one of the baddest vampires around should surely mean you deserve a break and a soft bed,” he said. “I’ll go and see if I can dig up information about where Hercules is, and if there are any plans he’s got in place. Okay?”
I blinked up at him, my eyes welling a bit. “You are a good friend. Thank you.”
“Aw, shucks, ’tweren’t nothing, ma’am.” He winked, tipped an imaginary hat, and flew out the door, humming to himself what sounded like the music from The Lone Ranger. I smiled and shook my head. If nothing else, Ernie was good for that; he made me smile even when I felt like crying.
Tad and Dahlia followed me home in her little purple punch-buggy car, all the way to the Wall.
The Wall was over forty feet high and made of cement blocks; you’d think it wouldn’t be very stable. Since I’d been turned into a Super Duper, though, I’d learned a few things. The structure was held together by a powerful spell as much as by the ordinary cement blocks and rebar. The spell was supposed to repel those who wanted to cross it, from either side, turning them away before they even reached the Wall itself. Which was interesting because I’d never felt a thing. But now many of the Super Dupers I’d met in the last couple of weeks seemed hell-bent on getting out, as if the spell was no longer working.
In addition to the Wall-repellent spell, the Supernatural Division of Mounted Police implanted every Super Duper with a tracking device. It was supposed to shock them if they crossed the Wall, like a collar on a wayward mutt who should have been contained by an Invisible Fence, unless they had permission to cross. But thanks to Remo and his gang, that was no longer the case.
The first day I’d been turned into a Drakaina, I’d been snagged by the SDMP and taken to their headquarters to be implanted with a tracking chip. Tad and I had both managed to stay clear of the whole implanting business, though—thank goodness for that small mercy. While I’d been in detention, Remo and his gang had broken into the SDMP’s headquarters and destroyed whatever it was that allowed the chips to zap Super Dupers. Maybe the SDMP would get it up and running again, but they hadn’t so far.
Of course, that line of thought brought me back to Remo.
He had given up on me, not even telling me what I might face, as though I couldn’t handle the truth. As if I wouldn’t stand by him, even if just in the background, when it came to the council of vampires. He was treating me the way everyone had my whole life—as if I were more of a burden to be taken care of than a woman who could manage on her own.
Tad had done it to me.
My mother and father had done it to me.
Even Dahlia, my best friend in the whole world, had thought me incapable of dealing with all the poop that had been thrown at me.
The more I t
hought about it, the more the hurt and understanding faded and the anger grew. By the time we reached house number thirteen, I was well and truly peeved.
Remo was no better than everyone else who thought I was useless in a bad situation. An unfair judgment, considering I’d faced two Greek heroes and multiple monsters, all while learning how to live as a Super Duper.
All of that combined did not bode well for the vampire standing at the front door waiting for me. Max was one of Remo’s top guys. I liked him, but right at that moment, he was in a bad position to be between me and my bed. His blond hair was spiked as though he’d been running his hand through it over and over, and his blue eyes were full of concern I could see even at a distance. None of it was going to help him.
I got out of my Charger and slammed the door. Dahlia and Tad pulled in behind me. Dahlia hurried to catch up. “Alena, don’t start anything.”
I put a hand out to her. “No, you don’t!” I had no idea what I was don’t-ing, just that I wanted no interference.
Max made a move to take my hand, but I jerked away from him. “What do you want, Max?”
He shrugged and held out a piece of paper folded in half and closed with a wax seal. “I’m just the messenger tonight. Don’t bite my head off.”
I snatched the paper from him and ripped the seal open.
We need to talk. You know where to find me.
Remo
Maybe he was going to tell me about the council? I scrunched the paper back up and handed it to Max. “You can give him this, as it is, and tell him it’s too darn late for begging. I think it will get my reply across clearly.”
Max glanced at the balled-up piece of paper in his hand. “Seriously, he has been known to shoot the messenger.”
I brushed past him. “Then don’t work for him, Max.”
“And who would I work for? You killed Santos,” he said. Wow, word traveled faster than even I thought it would.
Hisses and Honey (The Venom Trilogy Book 3) Page 6
