Blue Blooded

by Amanda Carlson

  Eudoxia crossed her arms, her lips curling into a sneer. How was I going to deal with this woman for an eternity? It was a puzzle I wasn’t anxious to solve. “There is nothing in that note that states I must accompany you anywhere. It only states that I come to this address.”

  There was a noise, something between a throat-clearing and a cough.

  We all turned toward the bar.

  The bartender held something in his hand.

  My head snapped to Rourke. I thought Marcy was going to spell them?

  He shrugged. She did.

  Before I could question why the bartender was interacting with us, the man said, “This was left for the lady in the orange dress. I was supposed to give it to her at exactly this time.” He glanced down at his watch. I could see from where I stood that his eyes were glazed over. Apparently, Marcy’s spell did not trump one from Enid.

  I met Eudoxia’s gaze. “Are you going to get that, or shall I?”

  Without answering, the Vamp Queen paced forward, her shoes clacking angrily as she stalked to the bar, her dress billowing out behind her. She walked straight up to the bartender and plucked the note out of his hand. The guy didn’t move, or seem to register the interaction.

  “Marcy,” I murmured. “Is this bartender going to be a problem?”

  “I don’t think so,” she said. “Enid is one sneaky witch.” Marcy went over and snapped her fingers in front of the bartender’s face a few times just to be sure. He didn’t respond. He didn’t even blink. She glanced over her shoulder. “We’re good to go. He’s not going to remember. This other guy looks comatose, so no worries there.” The other patron had one hand on his drink, his eyes gazing off into nothingness.

  I nodded.

  Eudoxia stomped back to the table with the new note in hand. She yanked out a chair and sat like she owned the place, swiping her dress beneath her. She read it to herself and then took time to glare at me before stating the obvious. “This is all your fault.”

  I took a seat across from her. “Tell me something I don’t know,” I muttered. “At this point, we have to do whatever that note says. We’re not in a position to push back. We play this out and see where it takes us. What does it say?”

  She tossed it into the middle of the table, folding her arms and sitting back in her chair.

  Rourke picked it up and smoothed it out. It said:

  GO TO ITALY WITH THE SHE-WOLF.

  OR DIE.

  “Well that settles it, then,” Marcy said. “Now we’re back to our original discussion, which was, how do we get ourselves to Italy safely? I vote we magically morph there. Please tell me teleporting is a possibility. If I remember correctly, there’s an old wives’ tale—or make that an old witches’ tale—about transcendental transportation where your body goes along with your mind across physical time and space. Or maybe I’m thinking of trans-meditational transport where you have really high-quality virtual reality goggles and crazy ambition? Either way, I still vote we beam ourselves there.”

  Eudoxia glanced at Marcy like she had three heads. “There is no such spell, witch. If I must go to Italy, I go my way.”

  “Which is how?” I smirked. “Via your broomstick?”

  “Very funny, impertinent wolf,” she answered. “I will use my personal jet.”

  My eyebrows rose. “You have a personal jet?”

  “Of course. How do you think I arrived here?”

  “Um, spread your arms and took to the air?” Stating the obvious, since all vamps could fly.

  “I don’t fly on my own unless there are no other options available to me. I am not a masochist.” She smoothed down her hair in an effort to appear like she didn’t enjoy pain and suffering, which we all knew she did.

  “Amen, sister,” Marcy said. “I’ve only flown Vamp Air one other time, and it was awful. Bugs stuck in every possible orifice, hair like a rat’s nest, fingers like ten sticks of ice. I’ll never do it again if I can help it.”

  Ray snorted. “You two are crazy. Flying is like alcohol. Never met a drink I didn’t like. Soaring through the air is liberating. Nothing like it.”

  Eudoxia cringed. She was on the verge of ordering everyone out of her immediate area, so I preempted her with, “Am I going to have to beg you for a ride?” I cocked my head and slapped on my sweetest smile. “I shouldn’t have to point out that we should all stay together. It’s safer that way.”

  Eudoxia laughed, which sounded all kinds of wrong. It was maniacal mixed with raw, sugary sweet. “There is nothing that can harm me, so safety is of no consequence. I will take you and your”—she glanced around the table with a sour look—“cohorts with me, but only under one condition.”

  “And what is that?” I asked.

  “You give me more blood.”

  4

  Are you sure about this? Rourke asked.

  Yes, I replied. If I give her more blood, I don’t think it will change anything. When we swear vows to take our place on the Coalition, we all share power anyway. What difference does it make?

  I don’t like it, he growled in my mind, which felt funny, kind of like internal goose bumps. The Vamp Queen takes her advantages where she can, regardless of the consequences.

  Well, it’s too late to change my mind now. I glanced around. We were already seated on her luxury jet, every need attended to by two vampire flight attendants. Leave it to Eudoxia to have a Learjet. It was almost like she was trying to channel Wonder Woman. We’d ditched the gator van at the airport and taken off not an hour after she’d walked through the doors of the bar.

  The estimated travel time from Baltimore to Florence, Italy, was a little more than ten hours. The deal I’d made was to give Eudoxia my blood after we arrived safely across the pond. It wasn’t much of a negotiation, but it would ensure we landed in one piece and that she would help us fight if something did happen.

  I’d talked to my father briefly on the phone on the ride to the airport. He’d agreed with the plan and was going to book a plane himself, along with some of his wolves, to join us for whatever was going down. He assured me he’d be in touch with Julian de Rossi, the Alpha of the Mediterranean Pack, and that he’d have him meet us at the airport in Florence.

  I’d met Julian only once before, staying with him for a short time when I’d first left the Compound at eighteen. After my time there, I’d come back to the States under the alias Molly Hannon and enrolled in the police academy. From what I remember, Julian was very much the quintessential Italian—dapper, suave, and regal. He ran his Pack with an iron claw and razor-sharp teeth. He had not been my favorite host of all time, but he had been nice enough.

  My father stayed in contact with him regularly and had commented that the last time they’d spoken, Julian had mentioned there’d been trouble in Italy recently. Wolves had gone missing, and random acts of magical mishap were on the rise.

  “Dang it,” Marcy muttered from the seat in front of me, tossing her phone into her purse. “Nobody’s answering. I have a literal laundry list of Coven numbers in my cell, and no one will pick up my call. How am I supposed to find out what’s going on with my aunt when no one will answer their phone?” Marcy’s nervousness about being on a plane so soon after our recent close call was right at the surface. James, her mate, laid a firm hand on her thigh, trying to comfort her.

  I leaned forward, grabbing on to Marcy’s headrest. There was plenty of space on the Learjet—big gaps between the seats, which made for easy communication. “Why aren’t they answering?” Tallulah Talbot, Marcy’s aunt, was the leader of the witches and had been missing for a while now. The entire Coven had been empty upon our return from the Underworld. Tally had mysteriously disappeared right before she was supposed to guide me back through the portal the witches were in charge of keeping open. It was not in her character to leave a post like that.

  Not to mention, Tally wouldn’t have left me trapped down there, which was what would’ve happened if the Princess of Hell hadn’t gained power from Lil
i’s heart and become the ruler of the Underworld.

  Marcy twisted in her seat to face me. “I wish I knew,” she answered. “I can’t believe they’d all be incapacitated. There were at least thirty of them living at the Coven. But that’s what I’m beginning to think. When I went over to the house to investigate, there hadn’t been any evidence of a fight. It was just plain empty. That doesn’t mean much if the supernatural who took them was as powerful as Enid.” Marcy grimaced. “I hope they’re not all dead. They aren’t my favorite people in the world, but being dead is final. And if they died, they did it trying to protect my aunt.”

  I patted her shoulder. “We’re going to find Tally. She’s alive, and so is Maggie.” Maggie was Tally’s toddler daughter, who happened to be a powerful oracle. “Whoever took the leader of the witches isn’t going to succeed in killing her. They wouldn’t be that foolish, nor would they have the strength.”

  Marcy smiled, her expression thoughtful. “That old bat would be hard to kill, that’s for sure.”

  “Would you know if she was dead?” There was no easy way to ask.

  “Yes,” Marcy replied. “We share the same bloodline. It’s a powerful bond for witches. I would know. She’s alive. But I have no idea what kind of shape she’s in. She’s been missing for a long time.” A frown showed her concern. “I would only know if she ceased to be.”

  “That’s good enough. I’m happy she’s alive.” I sat back in my seat. Rourke slung his arm around my shoulders, pulling me close. “If I had to guess, Tally’s in Italy, along with everyone else. This is where it’s all going to come down, for better or worse.”

  Shivers raced up my spine, and my wolf howled in my mind. Ever since she’d received her whole soul back, thanks to our creator, Marinette, our relationship had shifted. She’d become more calm and easygoing, fading into the background.

  I wasn’t complaining.

  All the regular everyday stuff would be handled by me, and she would be in charge of the supernatural crises. It’d been a seamless transition, one that I’d barely been aware of. My wolf and I had finally melded, getting along in the way that I assumed other shifters did with their animal sides. There was less anxiety for both of us this way.

  She howled again. What’s wrong? I asked, the hair on my arms at attention. The plane isn’t going down, is it? In response, she showed me a vision of us engaged in combat. It wasn’t a clear picture. It was grainy and foggy, and our opponents kept changing. We’re going to be fighting more than one person? That wasn’t really a shocker. I expected as much. The vision morphed once more, but this time it was a still shot.

  One side of the photo was dark and bleak, the other sunny. Both had me, standing alone, bruised and bloodied.

  “What is it?” Rourke asked, sensing my unease.

  “I’m not sure,” I answered. “My wolf is showing me visions of us fighting. It looks like there will be attacks from a few fronts, which is not surprising. But the last thing she showed me was a picture with two sides. One dark and bleak, the other sunny and bright.” I glanced at my mate, comforted by him. He grabbed my hand. “There’s a lot at stake waiting for us in Italy. My wolf is showing me two outcomes, one good and one bad.” I had to make sure the outcome was sunny and bright. The other option was unacceptable.

  “Jessica, we will prevail,” he assured me, leaning over to nuzzle my neck the way I loved. “You have to believe that. You’re not going to be fighting this alone.”

  Ray piped in from the aisle. No conversation on this plane would go unheard, as supernatural hearing was both a blessing and a curse. “Hannon, there’s no way we’re not winning. We’ve come too far. The bad guys don’t stand a chance against our force.”

  “I want to believe that too,” I agreed, turning to address him. “I have to make sure I follow my heart. If I don’t, Juanita said it would go badly.” She’d told me that if Enid got her way, and I died, there would be years of chaos before it finally turned around. I couldn’t let that happen. “I just wish I knew who we were fighting, so we could better prepare for the threat.”

  Eudoxia sauntered up the aisle, emerging from a seat that looked suspiciously like a throne. “The way to avoid fighting at all is to say our vows as soon as we can. Once the Coalition is united, no one would be foolish enough to engage us directly.”

  I eyed her. “Yeah, that sounds great, except who else is on the Coalition? We know of two for sure. Me and you. Possibly the Princess of Hell. Who’s slated to take the witch slot? Who will take the vampire place? These questions have to be answered before we can swear any vows.”

  Jebediah Amel, the warlock with the big book, would likely know this information, but I had no idea how to get a hold of him.

  “I will take the vampire slot,” Eudoxia stated with finality.

  “I don’t think so,” I told her. “You can only fill one spot, and my guess is you’re supposed to fulfill the fae spot. There are only a few fae left in the world, and you have to be the most powerful one, right?”

  “I am both the most powerful vampire and the most powerful fae,” she said in her haughtiest tone. “So naturally I will take both positions.”

  I shook my head. “That’s not how this works. And as much as you desire it to be true, you don’t get to decide.” Thank goodness. “The decision is made by Fate, and you know it. There are five of us. Or it wouldn’t be called the Power of Five. It would be called the Power of Four. So, if you’re slated to take the fae position, who takes the vampire spot? Who is the most powerful master under you?”

  She appeared stymied, and I tried not to laugh.

  Seeing Eudoxia unsure of herself didn’t happen very often, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. “There are eight masters under me, scattered all over the world.” She paused. “But they are all male.”

  The plot thickened.

  “How can you not have a single female powerful enough to rule under you?”

  She shrugged, turning to pace the aisle. “I do not decide these things, the power does. Masters, by nature, are the oldest living vampires. For thousands of years, there have been males in places of authority.” She turned back, her orange skirts swishing around. “So males they are.”

  “And you can’t think of a single female with enough power to take a place on the Coalition?”

  “There are a few,” she said. “But they are meek in comparison to the males.”

  “I can think of one,” Rourke muttered under his breath.

  I turned to him, surprised. “Who?”

  “Naomi.”

  I gasped. “Naomi? But she’s bound to me, not to Eudoxia.” When Naomi took my blood, her allegiance shifted, much to Eudoxia’s dismay.

  “That may be so,” he said. “But when you gave her your blood, you made her extremely powerful. And she’s still a vampire. Eudoxia’s right, the power decides, and there’s a chance it will choose Naomi.”

  Eudoxia huffed. “I will not share my space at the table…with that thing. She is no vampire, at least not to me!” The Vamp Queen’s tiny fists struck out at the seat in front of her, and the leather burst open. “She is not worthy of a place on the Coalition.”

  Had I unwittingly created the most powerful female vampire?

  Ignoring Eudoxia’s tantrum, I turned to Rourke. “Do you think that’s why Enid took her?” I’d been wondering why Enid would take Danny and Naomi. She was trying to get to me, and it worked, but it would’ve hurt even more had she taken my brother or my father.

  “Could be,” he replied. “If Enid has control over when and where the Coalition gathers, she can manipulate things. That makes the most sense.”

  “I don’t believe it!” Eudoxia exclaimed. “That little imp doesn’t have as much power as I have in my pinky finger.” She held up her smallest finger and wiggled it, in case we needed a visual to the size of said pinky. “How can she possibly be strong enough to sit on the grandest jury of them all?”

  It was hard not to laugh. “Ah,” I chuckled. “Bu
t she is incredibly strong. I’ve given her my blood twice, and that’s one more time than you’ve gotten it.” Well, until the end of this flight. “Plus, she’s old. You should’ve promoted her over the years. She’s extremely capable. But she’s always been your faithful tracker. Sounds like it’s your fault. You overlooked a diamond in your nest. After all, she escaped from Selene and one of the Hags, using only her wiles. That takes talent.”

  “Nonsense,” Eudoxia said, sticking her nose in the air as she paced back to her throne. “I would bet my life it is not her.”

  “If only we could take you up on that,” I muttered.

  5

  The wheels bounced roughly, shaking us in our seats. We’d just touched down in Florence. It was eight a.m. We’d flown through the night. I’d gotten some spotty sleep, but not much. I glanced out the window and realized we hadn’t landed at a regular airport. “Where are we?” I asked. It looked like a field of some sort.

  I hadn’t thought to ask what the flight plan was. I’d just assumed Eudoxia knew what she was doing.

  One of the two vampire flight attendants answered, with some distaste, “We have landed at the Mediterranean Pack airport, a few miles outside of Florence.”

  Before the flight attendant could add anything more, Eudoxia replied tersely, not bothering to look around, “There are only a few options when one is in need of a supernatural landing place. It was either here, or farther south with the nymphs, who have taken over an entire town. I figured this would be preferable.”

  “You thought right,” I said. “My father said Julian would be here to greet us. I hadn’t questioned how we’d find him, but this makes it convenient.”

  “That’s why he’s the Alpha, and you’re not,” Eudoxia huffed, meaning it as a burn, but I took it as a compliment. My father was Pack Alpha for a reason. It was a job I wasn’t even remotely interested in. Looking after my small group was more than enough. Tyler and Danny had sworn fealty to me, with a blood oath, and I’d given my blood to Naomi and Ray. I’d sworn a childhood oath with Nick that had involved a blood swap. I’d given my essence to Marcy to heal her. That, in turn, had bound these people to me. It was more than enough.