Chapter Twenty-Eight
Jackson roamed the neighborhood Bennett Richards’ house was in, but he couldn’t remember the exact location, or even if Bennett and Christopher were still alive, but he knew the man could help him. He wanted to find and destroy Crompton, but he knew he would fail if he went alone. And, even though he’d welcome death for what he did, he wanted Crompton dead before his own demise.
The sun was just starting to rise when he passed a house with the television on and paused to listen for a second.
“Hello,” a very familiar voice said, and Jackson darted closer to the house. “My name is Dylan Cooper, and I am an agent with the VEB, Vampire Enforcement Bureau. I have pulled all of these reporters here this morning because we are looking for someone.”
He paused, and Jackson moved closer to the window, hoping he could see though the curtain.
When he caught sight of his brother of the television screen, a sense of relief like none he’d ever felt washed through him. Dylan was alive.
“We are looking for my brother, Jackson Murray. He was recently changed by a vampire who is at the top of the VEB’s most wanted list, and he is in danger. If you have seen him, or if you do see him, please call the tip line at the bottom of the screen.”
When the screen shifted from Dylan to a picture of him, Jackson frowned a little. He wasn’t sure he looked like the innocent boy in that picture any longer. When the screen shifted back to Dylan, Jackson focused on his brother once again.
“Thank you all for coming out this early,” Dylan said and stepped back.
Jackson made a move to leave, but noticed Karma stepping to the podium, so he paused.
“Jackson, if you’re hearing this, please remember that we love you. No matter what, we love you,” she said, and tears filled his eyes.
Dylan was alive, and even though he’d nearly killed him, they loved him.
He knew he should call them and let them know he was okay, but he needed to take care of Crompton first. He couldn’t risk going back to them and Crompton getting to him. He’d never take that chance again.
More determined now than he was before, Jackson turned from the window and started walking down the street once more.
Once Crompton was dead, he’d rejoin his family and work toward building a life as a vampire. Until then, he couldn’t, no, he wouldn’t, risk their lives.
****
“I hope it works,” Delanie said as Karma and Dylan stepped back into the house.
“If nothing else, it got his face out there for people to see,” Baxter told them.
“Now let’s hope it works,” Karma commented.
“What was that message to him supposed to be about?” Harrison asked, looking at her.
“If he thinks we’re angry with him, or blame him for what happened, he won’t call in,” Karma responded with a shrug.
“Do you think he heard it?” Nevaeh asked.
“Maybe,” Dylan responded. “It’s going to play throughout the next couple of days though, so there is a possibility he could see it. Until then, all we can do is try to find him.”
“We have a tip already,” Johnson announced from the other side of the room.
“That was fast,” Karma said as they walked over to the phone Johnson was standing beside.
“Ma’am,” Johnson said into the phone. “Can you repeat what you just told me, please?”
“Sure,” she said, and he switched the phone to speaker. “I just took the trash out and saw the young vampire that was on the news. Jackson Murray.”
“Where do you live, ma’am?” Karma asked, hoping it was close.
When the woman rattled off her address, Karma pulled it up on her phone and grinned.
“Ma’am, do you know if he’s still in the neighborhood?” Dylan asked.
“I don’t, but he was just here five minutes ago,” she responded.
“Thank you, ma’am,” Karma said and pulled Dylan away.
“We have agents on the way,” Johnson told her. “Please stay inside your house until we get there.”
“Yes, of course,” she said and hung up.
“Let’s move,” Baxter called out. “I want a team together in two minutes. We have a neighborhood to search.
“Yes, Sir,” Johnson said and grinned at Maggie. “Stay here. You’ll be safe inside the house.”
“Okay,” she muttered and looked at him. “Please be careful.”
“I will,” he told her, then acted on impulse and kissed her forehead. “Stay inside.”
Once he walked away, he shook his head at himself and frowned a little.
“You’re falling for her,” Jensen told him as they loaded into the SUV.
“I’ve already fallen,” Johnson corrected.
“What are you going to do when she goes back to her old life?”
“Live a very empty eternity,” Johnson responded. “But I can’t think about that now. We have a job to do, and being distracted will get us killed like Martin.”
“We will find Henderson, and he will regret betraying us,” Karma told them. “I will kill him myself.”
“We will find him,” Dylan told her as Baxter drove them to the location Jackson was last seen. “You will not hunt him alone.”
“Never again,” Karma told him. “I promised you that, and I keep my promises.”
“What’s her address?” Baxter asked as he turned onto the street she lived.
Karma rattled it off, and a second later he stopped in front of a small house, and Dylan instantly became alert.
“What’s wrong?” Karma asked.
“I don’t know,” he responded honestly.
“Jackson has been here,” Karma said as she sniffed the air. “But that’s not what has you tense.”
“No,” Dylan responded and got out of the SUV. “I can’t pinpoint who it is or where it’s coming from, but I feel someone else in the area.”
“Focus on Jackson,” Karma told him, and he shook his head for a second before closing his eyes.
“He’s close,” Dylan said before he shook from head to toe. “And he’s scared.”
“Spread out, everyone,” Baxter ordered. “Knock on every door, look in every yard, and check every place a six-foot, two-inch vampire could possible fit into. We have to find him.”
As they started searching, Dylan dropped to his knees, and shook his head.
“What’s wrong?” Karma asked, kneeling beside him. “Has something happened to Jackson?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “But I don’t think it’s Jackson.”
“What are you feeling?” Ramsey asked, standing behind him.
“I don’t know,” he repeated.
“Close your mind,” Ramsey told him. “Focus on Karma. Feel her hands, feel her presence, let her clear your mind for you.”
“Okay,” Dylan muttered, and Karma wrapped her arms around him.
“I love you, Dylan,” Karma told him, and felt him start to relax in her arms.
“I love you, too,” he responded.
They sat in the middle of the road for a few minutes as Dylan started to calm in her arms. Once his shaking had stopped, she released him and pulled him to his feet.
“Thank you,” he said and pulled her against his chest.
“Always,” she responded.
“Are you okay now?” Holbrook asked, and Dylan nodded. “Good, because we found something, and we think you should see it.”
“What is it?” He asked, pulling away from Karma.
“It’s not a what, it’s a who,” Langley responded. “And we think this person may be the person you’re feeling other than Jackson.”
“Who is it?” He asked, knowing Jackson and Harrison were the only blood relatives he had left.
“You tell us,” Jensen responded and stepped aside for Dylan to see the woman Johnson was holding.
“Mom?” Dylan said, and his jaw dropped.
“Long time no see, son,” she responded and grin
ned sweetly.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“What the fuck happened here?” Delanie asked as she and Harrison stopped beside a shed that was barely standing.
“Not sure,” Harrison answered as he looked around at the delipidated building. “But I smell blood. Vampire blood.”
“Let’s see where it’s coming from,” Delanie said, and Harrison pressed his finger to his lips to tell her to be quiet.
When she nodded, he moved swiftly to the small window and looked inside.
“Fuck,” he said and jerked the door open. “It’s Jackson.”
“Is he alive?” Delanie asked as she followed him through the door as fast as her human legs would carry her.
“Yes, but barely,” he answered and reached to his belt for his phone. When he didn’t feel it, he looked down and noticed it was gone. “Fuck. I must have dropped my phone. Give me yours so I can call Karma.”
“I don’t have mine either,” she responded as she kneeled beside Jackson’s nearly lifeless form. “Run. You’re faster running than I would be by car. Get them and bring them here.”
“Stay alert,” he told her and looked at the dead vampire laying on the other side of the small structure. “That one’s dead, but there could be others.”
“Then you’d better hurry,” she snapped and before she could blink, he was gone.
“Don’t you dare leave me, Jackson,” she muttered as she sat and lifted his head into her lap. “I just found you again, and I will not let you die.”
Remembering back to when Karma was injured by the explosion in Florida, an idea formed in her head, and without pausing to consider the consequences, she pulled a knife from her boot and made a small slit in her wrist.
“Please let this work,” she said as she watched the blood start to pool before she opened Jackson’s mouth with her other hand and let her blood trickle to his tongue. After a moment, she pressed her wrist to his lips and a few seconds later, his fangs sank deep and she could feel him pulling the blood from her in deep gulps.
“Drink, and heal,” she muttered as she ran the fingers of her free hand through his hair.
When she started feeling light-headed, she tried to pull her wrist away, but his fangs held her tight against his mouth.
“Jackson, stop,” she said, but he continued to pull the blood from her body. “Jackson, you’re going to kill me.”
Fear washed through her when he didn’t let go, and she tried pulling her wrist from his mouth again.
As a wave of nausea hit, she let herself slump against the wall behind her. Nausea quickly shifted into dizziness, and she knew she was dead.
“Jackson, I love you,” she whispered.
When Jackson’s face filled her vision, she smiled softly.
“I love you,” she said once more before she closed her eyes and let herself drift.
****
He knew he was dead when he heard Delanie’s voice. He was dead, and in some kind of purgatory. That was the only explanation for him hearing her sweet voice.
When he heard her mutter, “please let this work,” then he tasted her sweet blood on his tongue, he knew he’d live forever in an endless hell of what he could never have.
Giving in to the urges she was stirring inside him, he let his fangs elongate and bit deep into the soft flesh pressed to his lips. Drinking from her in deep pulls, he felt a euphoria he’d never experienced before surround him, and everything within him settled.
“Jackson, stop,” he heard her sweet voice say. “Jackson, you’re going to kill me,” she added, but he knew she’d never die. She’d never truly join him here, but she would always be with him.
When her fear hit him, he pulled it in, too, because he knew any emotion she had in this place wasn’t real.
“Jackson, I love you,” he heard her whisper and his eyes snapped open.
“I love you, too,” he whispered after he released her wrist.
Taking a second to take in his surroundings, he felt her legs under his head, and raised quickly.
“NO!” He shouted when he saw her eyes closing.
“I love you,” she whispered once more, before her eyes closed. He listened for a second as her heart pumped sluggishly.
“I love you,” he cried as the shed filled with people.
“Move,” he heard a voice say, but he stayed protectively over her.
“Jackson, let Ramsey save her,” Karma’s voice said calmly, and he snapped his eyes toward her and Dylan.
“Let Ramsey save her,” Dylan repeated what Karma said.
“I didn’t mean to hurt her,” he said, and Ramsey nodded as he bit into his own wrist and pushed it to Delanie’s mouth.
“Looks like she tried saving you,” Holbrook told him after examining Delanie’s wrist. “Tell us what happened.”
“I was dead,” Jackson started as he watched Ramsey work to get Delanie to drink from him. “Or, at least, I thought I was. Then I heard her voice, and I thought I was in some kind of purgatory. You know, like they talk about in books, where you live out the one thing you want most, but know you’ll never have it.”
“I know what you’re talking about,” Dylan told him and nodded for him to continue.
“She was talking to me, then I tasted her blood, and I drank because it made me feel like I had part of her with me. She tried getting me to stop, but I thought it was part of the purgatory I was trapped in. I thought it was the illusion making me think I was killing her. But it wasn’t an illusion. I really was draining her,” he told them as tears streamed down his face. “She said she loved me, and that’s what pulled me into reality.”
“She’s going to be okay,” Ramsey told him softly. “She’s drinking, and will be okay.”
“I didn’t mean to hurt her,” Jackson repeated. “I love her.”
“We know,” Dylan assured him. “And we know you didn’t mean to hurt her.”
“Tell us what happened here before we showed up,” Karma told him, trying to distract him from what was going on.
“I was walking, looking for Bennett’s place,” he started, but didn’t take his eyes off Delanie. “I heard the press conference earlier, but I knew I couldn’t return to you if Crompton could control or track me, so I was looking for someone, anyone, who could help me kill him.”
He stopped talking when Ramsey pulled his wrist from Delanie’s mouth and nodded.
Sighing in relief that she was going to live, he looked at Karma for a second before looking back at Delanie and continuing with his story.
“I finally found his house, but when I walked into the yard, four of Crompton’s vampire jumped me. I staked two of them quickly, but the other two were really good fighters. One of them got me down, and they tried carrying me to a truck they had parked behind the house,” he paused for a second before taking a deep breath again. “I managed to get away, and took out another one, but I was hurt. He’d bitten me and pulled a chunk from my side, but I still fought because I knew your lives depended on it. After I managed to rip his head off, I ducked in here to try and find something to stake the other with because I knew I didn’t have much fight left in me. He followed me, and I knew he was going to kill me, but then he turned back toward the door and a second later he was on the floor with a wooden stake sticking out of his chest. That’s when I collapsed.”
“You didn’t kill him?” Harrison asked, nodding to the vampire laying at the other door.
“No,” Jackson answered. “And I didn’t see who did.”
“I killed him,” a voice Jackson recognized said and his head snapped up.
“Mom?” He asked, his eyes wide.
“Hello, Jackson,” Mary Murray said with a smile.
“You’re supposed to be dead,” Jackson blurted out.
“Surprise,” she said, almost cheerfully.
“Get her out of here,” Dylan told Johnson. “Have the Huntresses secure her. We will deal with her later.”
“But, Dylan, I’m your Mother,” s
he nearly cried out.
“Our Mother died nearly six years ago,” Dylan responded. “Now get her out of here.”
Once she was gone, Karma looked at Ramsey. “Is it safe to move Delanie?”
“Yes,” he answered. “The change will take a few days, but she will be more comfortable in a bed when she does wake up.”
“Let’s go back to the house then,” Dylan said and looked at Jackson. “It’s good to see you, little brother.”
“Good to see you, too,” Jackson muttered as he picked Delanie up.
“Let’s go,” Karma said and looked between the two men she loved the most in the world. “We have a lot to talk about.”
“Yes, we do,” Dylan agreed and looked at Jackson.
“Yes, we do,” Jackson repeated then carried Delanie from the shack. They did have a lot to talk about.
Chapter Thirty
“Where have you been for the past six years?” Dylan asked Mary after Jackson stepped into the room she was being held.
“Dead,” she replied. “Legally anyway.”
“Why?” Jackson asked. He hated leaving Delanie, but knew this needed to be taken care of.
“Everything had gotten to be too much, and with Dylan in his last year of high school and leaving for college soon, I was overwhelmed,”
“I’d have fucking stayed home and helped if you’d said anything,” Dylan said through clenched teeth.
“Watch your language, I’m still your Mother,” Mary responded.
“The hell you are,” Dylan shot back. “My Mother died nearly six years ago. Her ashes are spread under the big oak tree behind where the house used to be. You’re just someone who failed at what she was supposed to be.”
“Calm down, Dylan,” Karma said from behind him. “Let her tell you what happened.”
“And who are you?” Mary asked, looking at Karma with disdain.
“My fiancée,” Dylan answered, and glanced over his shoulder at Karma.
“Who’s with Delanie?” Jackson asked, not caring about anything else in that second.
“Harrison and Nevaeh,” Karma answered and smiled at him. “She’s safe.”
“How is Harrison, and who’s Delanie?” Mary asked, looking between her sons.
Delanie's Fury (Vampire Huntress Saga Book 3) Page 14
