THIRTEEN
Jonah sucked in air and massaged his throat. He felt like he'd just gotten into a fight with a bulldozer and lost. The sound of gasping and deep sobs roused him, and he sat up to see Malaika bent over Craig's decapitated body, her back heaving with the exertion of her crying fit. “Mel?”
She looked at him, her face wet with tears. Her eyes beseeched him of understanding. “I had to, Jonah, I had to. He could have found her at any time, no matter where we went.” She broke down into another heavy round of sobs and Jonah worked his way toward her, his battered body protesting the effort. Finally, he reached her and cuddled her against his chest, understanding what was happening. She might have done what was necessary, but being the good person she was, she'd always carry the guilt of the kill.
Headlights cut through the night, visible beyond the crumbled left wall, and Jonah heard the familiar rumble of Jake's engine. Jake. Relief swamped his body as the Malibu rolled to a stop and his brother stepped out.
“Next time your girlfriend causes an earthquake to get you away from the bad guys, make sure she leaves a strip of land for me to cross over,” he said as he approached. “It was a ten-minute drive until I found a place I could cross over to get to your side. How's she doing?”
Jonah stared at his brother, taking in the ripped T-shirt that sported a large amount of blood. “As could be expected for a woman who just killed a man and witnessed another come back to life.”
Malaika pulled away from him then, and looked up at Jake. “I saw you die.” She stood and reached for Jake's T-shirt, lifting up the hem.
“Whoa, there, girlie.” Jake backed away. “You're pretty easy on the eyes, but I'm a married man, and my brother has a claim on you. I'm not sure you should be checking out the goods.”
“I saw you die!” Malaika said more forcefully. She looked toward the fisherman, who was still bound to a pole, watching the scene before him. “You showed me him dying, bleeding from a self-inflicted stabbing.”
“Yes, I did”, the psychic, Samuel, said with a nod. “But I blocked the vision of him rising from the dead and all that happened afterward so Xander wouldn't know.”
“Rising from the dead?” Jonah rose to a stand. “What's he talking about, Jake? Malaika was absolutely sure you'd died.”
“I did,” Jake responded, his face devoid of expression. “I've been known to do so from time to time.”
Jonah stared at his brother, baffled, then remembered the way he'd been aloof with his responses to the questions about Hicksville. He remembered his reason for not killing Curtis Dunn. “Sonofabitch. Curtis Dunn created the immortality serum and injected you with it.”
“Yup. I'm like the Energizer Bunny, but far manlier,” Jake answered with a grin. The amusement disappeared as he looked into Malaika's fear-stricken eyes. “I'm sorry if I scared you, but I had no idea there was a psychic with you who could see me die.” He turned toward Samuel and frowned. “Speaking of which, do I need to kill him or let him go?”
“He's fine,” Jonah answered. “He's the fisherman Malaika saw in her vision, one of the good guys. So you're saying you can't die?” He tried to wrap his mind around that fact and all it meant.
“Apparently not, at least not for long.”
Disgust slithered into Jonah's stomach. “Do you have to drink blood?”
Jake looked away. “I eat very rare steak now.”
“Gross.”
“I know.”
“But no human blood?”
“No.” The word was a growl, and Jake's eyes held a definite warning not to continue the course of questioning. “Look, Malaika kind of created a natural disaster here, so despite the fact this place is in the boonies, you can bet news teams are on their way, as well as the police. I left a ton of dead bodies on the other side of that wall over there so it's time we haul ass and get out of here.”
Jonah sprang into action, untying the fisherman from the post, and helping him to Jake's car. He let the man have the passenger seat so he could sit with Malaika in the back. She was still shaky from what she'd done, and Jonah knew a part of her guilt came from hurting a man she'd cared for.
“Why did you kill yourself?” he asked as Jake wound his Malibu through trees, eventually finding a road to pull onto.
“Dude, I was surrounded by prannies and were-hyenas in a cramped stairwell. My best bet was to draw them away from where you two were and get them to a place where I could maneuver better. I faked the snaring and killed myself, knowing they'd let their guard down and close in on me. I stabbed myself in the gut so my hand would be close to my inner jacket pocket when I went down. The moment I came to, I reached in and grabbed a UV bomb, taking out all those prannies at once.”
“And the were-hyenas?”
“Element of surprise is a handy trick. Most of them just stood there scratching their heads in confusion as I sliced and diced them. Then I went up to the apartment and saved Malaika's mother.” He glanced at Malaika through the rear-view mirror. “Not that she was appreciative at all. That woman is a trip.”
“What about the siren?” Malaika inquired, her tone holding a trace of hostility.
Jake grinned as he glanced back at her. “First of all, I don't know what psychic-dude over here showed you, but that thing never had me snared. I could see the real creature behind the facade and that bitch was fucked up. Unfortunately, she got away while I killed the hyenas.”
Jonah let out a deep breath and asked the question niggling at him since Craig's first attack. “Jake, why can't the prannies get in my head and suck out my energy?”
His brother glanced at him and grinned before returning his eyes to the road. “We might not have shared a womb at the same time, but we did share one. I'm a slayer. I guess some of my natural-born awesomeness rubbed off on you.”
“But I was born first,” Jonah commented, confused.
“Dude, the thing with magic and supernatural crap is that try as you might, you will never completely understand it. Some stuff is just too weird to even try to figure out. Just be thankful you've got the mind-block.”
“Wait. What about my apartment?” Malaika asked. “Surely someone called the police with all the commotion.”
“I'm sure they did,” Jake commented. “I got your mother and got the hell out of there before they arrived, but I left some blood on the carpet. Probably on the walls, too. Then there's the bodies.”
Jonah groaned. “How the hell do we explain that? Granger was already looking for us after they discovered the body you found last night. I said we'd stop by the department and speak with him, but after this? I'm going to prison. Both of us are.”
Malaika tensed beside him and he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, trying to comfort her despite knowing they were both screwed.
“Relax, bro.” Jake chuckled. “I called in Seta before I left. The woman is a one-woman cleanup crew. However, Malaika will need a new place to live.”
“Why?” Malaika sat up straighter. “I thought Seta cleaned it up.”
“Oh she cleaned it up, alright. Mind-controlled all the residents outside and torched that sucker.”
Malaika gasped, and Jonah held her closer. “At least we're alive.”
“You're right,” she said and lay her head on his shoulder. “And the children will be safe.” She jerked up suddenly. “Jake!”
“What?!” Jake jerked, swerving the car, and shot her a look of annoyance through the rear-view mirror.
“Step on it! The babies are coming!”
Jacob Porter could not die, but he sure could sweat. Malaika grinned, watching the macho man tremble in fear as Nyla pushed. She cried out and Seta spoke the incantation to relieve her pain.
“One more push,” Malaika coaxed her, surprised with the ease she felt helping to deliver the babies.
Aria and Rialto's baby had come first, a beautiful caramel-colored girl with a thick mass of dark hair and green eyes. They'd named her Njeri, which meant Destiny, and Malaika had watched i
n wonder as the little girl suckled at her mother's breast, drinking both milk and blood.
Then Nyla's contractions kicked into overdrive and she'd switched over to help Seta deliver her baby. “Come on, Nyla,” she said softly as the head crowned. “One big push and you're done.”
Jacob Porter's son came into the world screaming for all he was worth. Malaika wiped him clean and looked into his gorgeous eyes, a deep, dark amethyst ringed with chocolate-brown, and was amazed by the power she sensed from him.
“Can you shift now?” Seta asked after the placenta had been delivered. “It will help your healing.”
Nyla was there one second, and the next, a large panther stood on the bed she'd rested in. Just as quickly as she'd shifted into the cat, she shifted back into human form.
“Wow,” was the only thing Malaika could think to say, and Jake laughed.
“Let's hope Jonah can get used to it,” he said, and sobered, a look of worry on his face. “Little Slade will probably do the same thing.”
Malaika handed Nyla the baby, and glanced down at the gorgeous, dark-haired boy, now suckling at his mother's breast, and smiled. “Jonah will adore him.”
She looked at the two couples and sighed. The love in the small room Christian had put them in for the deliveries was so abundant, a tear of joy escaped her eye. She excused herself and left Christian's private quarters, taking the stairs to the church sanctuary.
She found Jonah there, watching over Deja as she napped in a pew. “You have a gorgeous new nephew. His name is Slade.”
Jonah smiled. “That's great.”
“You want to see him?”
“I'll give Jake and Nyla some time to bond with him,” he answered, and sighed, ramming his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “Malaika, can I ask you something?”
“Of course.” She swallowed past the ball of worry in her throat. Jonah's tone was serious, in the probably-about-to-say-something-not-so-good-serious-way.
“About what Craig said back there…”
Oh, no. “It doesn't matter, Jonah.”
“Is it true? Am I sterile?”
She sighed. “I had a vision of our life together, and we'd visited a doctor after a year of unsuccessfully trying to get pregnant. The doctor told us you were sterile, but I don't know why, or what caused it.” She placed her hand on his arm. “But it doesn't matter. I loved you in that vision, and I…”
He looked her in the eye, hope bright in his. “You really do?”
“I love you, Jonah Porter. It may seem sudden, or just strange, but despite Craig keeping us from meeting… I saw those visions and I felt the love in them. I know what a wonderful man you are, and I love you for that.”
He nodded his head and looked down at Deja. “I'm glad Craig did what he did.”
“What?” Malaika realized she'd nearly shouted and checked Deja. She still slept, as did Helen, a few pews down. Samuel glanced at them from where he sat far away in the last pew and closed his eyes, nodding back to sleep.
“He was right.” Jonah pulled her closer. “He gave you what I couldn't, and I'm glad you have such a beautiful little girl to call your own.”
“It doesn't matter to me that you can't give me a child.”
“Good.” He took in a deep breath and let it out. “So marry me, and let me adopt Deja.”
Malaika's jaw went slack, and Jonah grinned. “Well?”
She blinked, shaking her head. “Did you just ask me to marry you?”
“That's what it sounded like to me,” he answered. “I love you, woman, everything about you, and that includes Deja. She needs a daddy and I need you. What do you say?”
“I say I need you, too.” She laughed, relief and joy flooding through her chest. She kissed Jonah, long and hard, then remembered her mother. “Who gets to tell Helen?”
Jonah looked toward her sleeping mother. “I'm the one that gets to come up with something to tell Granger about these murders and your burnt-down building, and suffer through another round of psychiatric evaluations in order to keep my job. You get to deal with your mother.”
“Chicken.”
“Witch.” He grinned and dropped a kiss on her nose.
“Damn straight,” she said cheekily, “and proud of it.”
###
The Blood Revelation continues with Siren’s Snare, coming November 2013
About The Author
Crystal-Rain Love resides in the South with her three children and enough pets to host a petting zoo. When she's not writing she can usually be found creating unique 3D cakes,hiking, reading, or spending way too much time on FaceBook. Slightly obsessed with David Cook and Supernatural.
Find out more about her here:
http://crystalrainlove.com
http://facebook.com/crystalrainloveauthor
Witch's Net Page 22
