Cursed By Her Blood

by C. J. Brookes

  “Just doing my job. But…I’m not going to let anything happen to you on my watch. I’m kind of growing fond of you, little cousin.”

  She shot him a smile. “I’m fond of you, too.” A whisper of intuition went straight through her. Maybe now…was the time to tell him. At least something. “And Faelix…her name is Abigail. She’s a few years younger than I am and is studying to be a mineralogist. You’ll meet her next year, I think. She’s in Texas at college right now. You may want to pick up a few books on rocks. You’ll need them to catch her attention.”

  He stiffened, then stared at her. “You…see things, don’t you?”

  “Yes. She’s my stepcousin. She skipped a few grades. She’s only twenty-one now. Seriously obsessed with rocks. She’s at Finley Creek U now.” Another vision hit her and she frowned. “It’s good she’s into rocks. There will be a lot of demon rocks for her to study in the future.”

  “I must go to her.”

  “Hold on, big guy. She’s going to graduate in June. It’s been her goal since she was like five. I mean, seriously obsessed with rocks. It’ll probably get her into trouble someday.” In the demon world. But…she couldn’t go telling people about that. They might get a wee bit upset.

  “Twenty-one? She is not yet an adult in my world,” he said softly. There was wonder is his tone. Jade felt all gooey inside at the love in his expression—love for a woman he hadn’t even met. “And she has dreamed of this degree for sixteen years?”

  Jade nodded. “Yep. She gave me a pet rock when I was nine and she was seven. I still have Harvey.”

  He smiled. “She…I will wait. I will not take her dreams from her.”

  “Stay here.” She ran back into her room and grabbed her phone. “Here she is.”

  She opened her photos and started flipping. She knew she had some of Abby somewhere. “We were all together back in August. Becca and I flew to Texas to visit them. Here. Abby is the one in the middle. That’s her friend Lucy on the left. Lucy had to drop out of college to work; Mallory hired her as a courier for Mallory and Em now.”

  “My Abby has pale hair and brown eyes. Oh. My female is quite small.”

  “She’s an inch shorter than Em. She’s the smallest of her sisters. There are five of them. They are my uncle Gerald’s stepdaughters. He raised them after his second wife died. Abby was ten. Linsey was seven. The other three were teenagers, a little older than I was. And they have three little brothers. The youngest is twelve. Abby adores them.” And Jade was worried for them all. “I…Dardaptoans hate my family. Abby’s last name isn’t Taniss. But the boys’ name is. She’s with them all the time.”

  “They will be safe. I will speak with Rydere. A guard will be placed on them.” He continued to flip through her photos, fascinated by the ones she had of Abby. Jade slowly eased the phone out of his hands. “I’ll text you copies of everything I have of her, but…you have to promise to wait until the right time. She’s only twenty and so not ready for a relationship. She told me she’s not planning on one until she’s thirty. Very career driven.”

  “That is ten years away?”

  She laughed at his crestfallen expression. “Don’t worry. She’ll have a few vampire babies long before then. She’ll teach them all about rocks.”

  “Thank you for this, Jade. I…the years are long. And I have been waiting for her for centuries. This…I can wait for her. In the meantime, I will prepare. Find books about rocks to read. Find a home in the city. She will want her own house. I can provide that.”

  “Good vampire boy. It’s always good to be prepared.” She smiled at the look of awe and fascination in his eyes as he stared at the phone as she pulled it further away from him. She sent a few photos pinging to his phone. “I’ll send more when I get my laptop charged. I got tons from that trip. We went to the Barrattville Ranch and played cowgirls for an entire day. Plenty of photos. She’s usually pretty serious, but she had a great time. Abby really loves horses.”

  “I will keep that in mind. Thank you. This is the best gift I can be given.”

  Her part was done for playing cupid. And as she looked at him, she knew. The knowledge he would learn preparing for Abigail would save her cousin’s life one day.

  Jade’s part today had been meant.

  “Now. Let’s go find my vampire, shall we?” Along the way, she had some other family to check on.

  It was hard being the one who knew what was going to happen before it did. Far too many things to keep up with sometimes.

  She’d seen her own little vampire babies playing with Abby’s. And Mallory’s and Becca’s and Rand’s and Mickey’s. And Joselyn’s. And the rest of her cousins’.

  Ten years was a long way away, but there had been plenty of the next generation in her vision.

  Not all of them were vampires, though. Her cousin Marsh’s babies were half cat. She was almost sure of it.

  Things were seriously about to happen around here.

  She wanted Barlaam at her side when it did.

  In the meantime—Becca was back. And she’d brought friends. It was time Jade met them.

  40

  Barlaam leaned over the female on the bed. Her hair was wildly curly and long. Her eyes, when they’d been opened, had been jade green. Shaped just like his Jade’s.

  “She’s definitely of Leo Taniss’s bloodline,” he told the people gathered around her. “First generation off-shoot. But there is a tie to Joselyn and Jade. Also first generation.”

  He’d spent the last two hours caring for the unconscious girl who had been carried to a suite, after she had been found by Mallory and Aodhan, along with Mallory’s younger sister Rebecca in the woods near the Taniss vacation home.

  With Matthuin Lycurgus.

  They had had quite an adventure, apparently.

  Jade’s cousin was recuperating in a suite across the hall from the one her older sister shared with Theo. Matt was hovering over her now.

  “So what are you saying?” Cormac asked. His female was on the opposite side of the bed, checking the girl’s vitals. And hovering. “She’s their—”

  “Half sister. And not on their father’s side.” Barlaam looked at his father-in-law. “Your ex’s. And your father’s.”

  Jason shot the female on the bed a look. “Somehow that doesn’t surprise me. She would be just his type. And he would have gotten a thrill from sleeping with her. While she was still married to me. I doubt this girl is much younger than Jade.”

  “She favors Jade,” Barlaam said as the girl whimpered. It hurt him to hear the sound this new sister-in-law made. She was family now, and it was his job to care for and protect. “Quite strongly. And she is no longer human. If she ever was. She is now Lupoiux.” He held up the arm with the vicious Lupoiux bite on it. It would scar, a visible reminder. Not all Lupoiux bites scarred.

  Just the most vicious ones.

  “We will take care of her,” Jade’s sister said, firmly. “Becca said she’s all alone. Not any longer.”

  “I have questions for her,” Jason said, quietly. “We need to find out where she came from exactly. But if she’s the girls’ sister, then she’s not going anywhere alone again. I’ll see to her safety myself. Hell, she’s my sister now, too.”

  Barlaam’s respect for the other male grew exponentially. Nothing said Taniss had to take responsibility for his ex-wife’s child. But he was going to. “She will heal within a few days, physically. But until she or your niece wake, we cannot fully know what damage has been done emotionally.”

  The girl had been abused by the rogue wolf pack that had abducted her and Matthuin’s female. The extent wasn’t yet fully known. She had not been sexually assaulted, that had been confirmed during the initial examination, but she had been beaten. Several times.

  He barely suppressed the anger. She looked so much like his female lying there. And she was his sister-in-law now, too. Same as she was Cormac’s. “Cormac and I will see she remains safe as well. But for now, the best thing for her is
to rest.”

  A small knock sounded on the door. It pushed open and Jade slipped into the room. Faelix came in behind her. Barlaam studied his cousin for a moment. The poor male looked like he’d been completely rattled. No surprise. Jade had a way of doing that to a male.

  Barlaam stood. “Jade, you are supposed to still be resting.” The tonic the demon had suggested was supposed to have kept her sleeping well into the early morning hours.

  “Well, I decided I’d slept enough.” She came to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. Her face pressed against his chest for just a moment. Before she turned.

  “I wondered when she’d show up.” She reached over and squeezed her half sister’s hand. “It’s Jordan.”

  “You know her, Jade?” Taniss asked.

  “Hmmm. Yes. She was with mother when I was twelve. She was ten. She…was sneaking around the gardens when Mother was in with Uncle Gerald. Abby and I…stumbled…over her.”

  Joselyn shot her sister a look and signed something quickly.

  Jade returned the look with a smirk. “I did tell you. You thought I was making it up and making Abby go along with it. You and Mickey both. Very stubborn, the two of you. Never listen to reason. I promised Jordan we’d see her again someday.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” Taniss asked.

  “What would you have done? Jordan was where she was supposed to be. Now she’s here. And she’s not going anywhere, until all the rest of us do.” She straightened the blanket over her sister. “There are a lot of things coming toward us in the next four or five years. I’m not certain of the exact timeline. But we have to be prepared. Because even Loren’s Fates aren’t infallible. It’s going to get extremely rocky for a while, people. Extremely rocky.”

  “Jade,” her father said, clear irritation in his tone. “Just tell us what you have to say. Now really isn’t the time or the place.”

  Barlaam felt her pull in a deep breath. She squared her shoulders and leaned back against him. He lifted his hands to her too narrow shoulders. He just held her, a solid wall of support as she looked at her family. Her sister, her father, Mallory and Mickey and their males. Rydere and his Emily. Thadd and Jannen and Faelix.

  “I can see the future. I have always been able to, but it got…stronger when I was sixteen.”

  “We know this, sweetie,” Mallory said.

  “No. I know you think I can tell you who’s calling or what road is flooded, or not to eat the sushi. But it’s more than that. I know exactly what Mallory’s son is going to look like, even though he won’t be born for a year and a half. He’ll be such a Maverick. And Aodhan, do not give him that sword when he is three—his sisters won’t appreciate it. And I can see what is going to happen to my dad. Very soon. Dad, remember to turn left. You’ll find what you’re looking for if you just go left. And I can see…almost everything.” She pulled in a watery breath. “It’s worse here in Dardanos. Stronger. Well, it’s been stronger since the day I found…Joselyn had been taken. I don’t seem to have the filters I used to.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me this?” Her father asked. Barlaam just remained silent. She needed to do this on her own.

  “I wasn’t supposed to.” Jade told him frankly. “You all would have thought I was crazy. Half the time I thought I was. Until I met Loren. She helped me get it controlled. Her and Rath.”

  “I hate that you went through this all alone for so long.” Her father stepped closer. His hands rose and he cupped her cheeks. Barlaam brushed her hair with one hand. Just to let her know that he wasn’t going anywhere. “I would have…found some way, someone to help you.”

  “I’m ok, Dad. I’m not traumatized or anything like that. I wasn’t alone—I had Loren and I had Rathan.” She looked up at Barlaam and shot him a half smile. “But now that I am here, I can finally be open about things. That’s a definite plus. This is where I am supposed to be. Where we all are. I don’t regret that. And I’m not exactly some fragile little flower that’s going to break apart when something scares me. Now…I think we need to get down to business. What did Becca learn out there? Who is after us?”

  “What makes you think someone is after us?” Mallory asked. She had sank into her male’s lap when Jade had spoken of her future children.

  “Because they are.”

  “Matthuin and Rebecca have confirmed it. The Redd Gothan pack has been offered a quarter of a million dollars for every female Taniss they can bring in alive. One hundred thousand for each dead, and one hundred fifty for each of the Taniss men, dead or alive,” Aodhan said, bluntly. “That’s why they targeted Rebecca, this girl, and Jade. And they are wanting revenge for the wolves that died the day Joselyn was injured. They are doubly angry now. This lines up with information we gained from Blaire Boltier.”

  Barlaam tightened his hand on her shoulders. “We will increase the guards on them at all times.”

  “Rand and I will be speaking with the rest of our family. Making plans for their safety,” Jason said. “Bringing those who…aren’t fully human…here. Albert Boltier’s daughters are already on the sixth floor here.”

  “There will be two relocations, Dad. This one, and then again in a year.” She looked up at Barlaam. “My stepcousins will come in a year. And the younger boys. They are all human. Like Mickey and Joselyn and Emily were. Cass needs to be here with us, though. She’s nowhere near human. I don’t think.”

  “I think, young lady, you and I are going to have to have a long talk.” Her father kissed her on the forehead, then shot a meaningful look at Barlaam. “In the meantime, rest today. You still look like you tangled with a water monster.”

  “Yeah, but he’s the one that came out on the short end in that match.”

  In a matter of minutes, the room cleared. Only Thadd, Faelix, and Jannen remained.

  Jade took the chair next to the bed. She looked at Barlaam. “I wanted to keep her with us ten years ago. But I didn’t know how.”

  “You were a girl. You weren’t expected to know how.”

  “I was talking to her and then my mother showed up. It was the first—and last—time I’ve ever been that close to my mother. She looked right at me and asked who I was. I told her my name. I was shaking in my softball pants and I had Abby with me. I was holding Abby’s hand so tight I left bruises. My mother said, ‘Of course you are,’ looked right through Abby, and said she ‘wanted her daughter to get a move on. They had far more important places to be.’ I’ll never forget Jordan’s face when her mother dragged her away. I cried for hours. Not for my mother, but I kept imagining what it would have been like for Jordan living with her. I kept seeing myself in her place, and I knew I was the lucky one. I never missed having a mother again. But I hurt for Jordan for not having her sisters.”

  Barlaam nodded at Thadd and Jannen, who left immediately. Faelix bowed slightly at Jade, then looked at Barlaam. “I’ll be in the hall.”

  Barlaam shook his head. His cousin had taken quite the beating at the hands of the six demons and the elhydra. By all rights, he had earned his rest. “Take a few days off, Fael. I will stand guard over my female.”

  Faelix hesitated, then nodded. “I…keep her well-guarded, Barl. I will return to the post on Monday, two days hence.”

  Faelix had been his top guard since he’d risen to the position of second healer. He’d been with Barlaam on almost every mission he’d ever undertaken for almost two hundred years. He was one of his closest friends, as well as family. “I take it you are assuming the position of her guardian?”

  “Yes.” Faelix nodded, then replied in Dardaptoan. “I believe she needs a keeper you can trust far more than you need me as guard. When you cannot be with her, I shall.”

  “It is appreciated.”

  “I am going to check on Jannen. Then I will retire. Stay safe.” He nodded to Barlaam and bowed to Jade.

  Then he was gone.

  “He’s such a weird blend of formal and snarky. I like that cousin of yours,” Jade said, once the door
closed behind Faelix. She was rocking in the chair next to the bed, her eyes trained on her half sister. When she looked up at Barlaam her eyes were troubled. “He is meant for my cousin Abby. But she isn’t old enough yet. She’s only twenty, almost twenty-one.”

  “Twenty-two is of age in our culture.”

  “So I made it by six weeks, huh?”

  “Yes. I probably would have known you were mine, but would have had to wait those weeks. I would have been a mess. Like Faelix undoubtedly will.”

  “She’s obsessed with rocks. He’s going to read books on rocks while he waits for her. That’s both kind of stalkerish from a human point of view and kind of romantic—if I was a vampire. Which I am not. Yet.”

  Barlaam fought the urge to tense. “No, you are not.”

  “I think I will be soon.” It wasn’t a question. They both knew that.

  “You will be. Once you make the choice. It is painful. There is risk as well.” But he would see it done. Had they been living in an ordinary time, he would court her, bring her into his world more gradually, but now…

  He had spoken with Theo and one thing had been made clear to him. Jade needed to replace her blood with something far stronger than human. A human body was not strong enough to house the amount of power she possessed.

  Not and keep the human sane.

  Not how he would have wanted this to be for his female, but it was the hand they had been given by the goddess.

  “I know. I’ve spoken with my sister and cousins. They told me. Told me it hurts like hell. But I…I’m not afraid. At least not too badly.” She sent him a completely guileless smile. “I did fight a water monster, after all.”

  Barlaam laughed quietly. “That you did.”

  “It was a trap, wasn’t it? The demons were supposed to take Mickey. If that didn’t work, the monster was supposed to pull her in. I could read its mind when it was pulling me under.”