Blood & Tears (Jane #3) Read online

  "Jane," he said, pulling back once more. "I want you. I hope you know that. I've wanted you since the day I saw you. But I'm... We..." I could see him fumbling over the words and he bit his lip in frustration. "Let's take it slow, huh? I don't want to rush this and ruin it. And I haven't ever really... you know..."

  I smiled. He was so flustered and he was actually starting to blush a bit. Felipe, bad-ass finely-honed weapon of destruction, was blushing, and I'd made him do it. I started giggling, burying my face into his shirt to smother the sound. He pinched my side and I squealed, jumping away.

  "Shut up," he growled, but the edges of his mouth were curling upward despite his best efforts to keep them lowered.

  "I'm sorry," I said, pulling myself, with difficulty, under control. When I was able to face him without bursting into a giggling fit again, I looked up and stroked his cheek. "Slow is good. I like slow."

  He smiled, a bright, lovely thing, and pressed his lips to mine once more. "I guess now everyone will be right when they assume we're dating."

  "Wait, wait, wait." I took a step back, hands settling on my hips. "Who says we're dating? We're not dating."

  I could see the confusion and consternation furrow his brow. The pain in his eyes almost made me lose my resolve.

  "But I..."

  "But you what?"

  "I thought... you kissed me. I thought you wanted this, too."

  "I do. Of course I do." I crossed my arms, standing my ground. "But how can we be dating if you never asked me out?"

  He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out and he snapped it shut before nodding. "Yes, you are right. Terribly sorry."

  When he dropped to his knees, I almost lost it, but I lifted my chin, biting my lip to keep the smile at bay. "My darling Jane, sweet, beautiful, cruel Jane. Will you do me the most amazing, spectacular, fabulous honor of being my one and only girlfriend?"

  Then he batted his eyelashes, clapping his hand over his heart, gazing at me with love, affection, and just a hint of amused irritation. I cocked my head, placing a hand on my chin in the fashion of thinkers long past. "Well, since you asked so nicely, I guess I could."

  He stood, his smirk firmly in place, and slipped his arms around me. "You drive me nuts. You know that, right?"

  I leaned into him, kissing his chin. "You love it."

  "I do."

  Our lips met again, less passionately this time, but it was no less wonderful. As they parted, I attempted, unsuccessfully, to stifle a yawn. He smiled and kissed my nose.

  "Get to bed. I've kept you up too long. And we have to get prepared tomorrow."

  I groaned, thinking of the awful house we'd have to assault in two days. "Alright, fine. Be that way."

  I pulled away, but he pulled me close once more, pressing his lips tightly to mine. I held him tight for a few more minutes, then kicked him out of my room so I could get ready for bed. I went to sleep that night with a huge smile on my face and dreamed lovely dreams of potential, but highly unlikely futures.

  My beeping alarm had me up and grumbling way sooner than I would have liked. I stood in the shower, my mood alternating between thrilled beyond belief about Felipe and terrified beyond comprehension about the upcoming battle. My dreams, though most had been wonderful, had been punctuated with brief moments of horror where I realized what it would be like to lose Felipe now that we were finally officially together. Flashbacks from that awful day in Russia swept over me and I knelt against the cool tile wall of the shower, letting the water cascade over me. My breath came short and fast and I allowed myself a few minutes of intense freakout before I stood up, composing myself as well as I could standing naked in a shared bathroom.

  As I opened the door to the hall, I saw Annie at her door. Her hair was mussed and her clothes were wrinkled. She heard the door shut behind me and jumped, eyes as wide as those of a teenager caught sneaking into her own bedroom late at night. When she saw it was just me, she bit her lip and grinned, her cheeks turning bright red.

  "Have a good night?" I asked, trying to keep my voice casual and not at all as curious as I felt.

  "Mm hmm. It was fun. I like dancing."

  I raised an eyebrow, unable to contain my grin. "You know that's not what I meant."

  "I know." Her tight-lipped grin cracked and she beamed at me. "Jax is awesome. We, uh, we had a lot of fun."

  "I'm sure you did." I wiggled my eyebrows and she giggled, blushing deeper. “Didn't you guys stay in your room?”

  “We got hungry, then went back to his. So what about you and Felipe?"

  I smiled, thinking of his lips. "It went well. We didn't, uh, ya know. But we kissed. A couple times. And he asked me out."

  I gave her an abbreviated version of what happened, eliciting a giggling fit from the half-vampire. When she started yawning, I bid her farewell and started back toward my room. I was walking past Felipe's hall when I heard someone clear their throat. He stood there, leaning against the corner, shirtless. Over his shoulder hung a towel and he held his shower caddy in a hand.

  "Morning, beautiful."

  My blush rivaled Annie's. "Hey handsome. How much... uh..." I waved my hand in the direction of Annie's door.

  "Enough. So she and Jax got their freak on, eh?" His smirk gave way to an amused grin and I laughed.

  "Yeah, I guess so. She seems pretty happy."

  "She should be. They're both great people and they deserve happiness."

  He moved toward me, wrapping his arms around my waist. I felt the caddy bump my backside gently as he pulled me close. I tilted my head up, pressing my lips to his.

  When he pulled back, he kissed my nose and said, "Go get ready. I'll pick you up for breakfast in a few."

  "You go get ready. You stink."

  I giggled as he swatted me, then we kissed again and he headed to the bathroom. I was ready before he was and went to stand in the hall to wait for him. While I waited, Annie came out of her room, heading for breakfast.

  "Hey." She propped herself against the wall beside me, hair still wet.

  "Hey. Heading to breakfast?"

  "Yeah, meeting Jax down there. You waiting for Felipe?"

  "Yep."

  "Cool. I'll wait with you."

  Ok, so it wasn't the most stimulating conversation, but we were tired from the night before. Neither of us had really gotten a lot of sleep. And thoughts of what the next couple days held for me kept flitting through my mind, killing the high I got from my newly official relationship.

  Felipe arrived a few minutes later and we all headed to breakfast. Jax, Benton, and Ado joined us. It was a fairly subdued, but enjoyable breakfast and I even saw Ado smile once. No matter what people tell you, miracles do happen.

  After our plates were cleared away, Annie bid Jax a very uncomfortable farewell as we all watched, grinning, then the rest of us headed to our training room. It wasn't the same room Felipe and I had used when I first started learning how to be a killer vampire chick, but a bigger, more involved setup. It was several stories high—I think it might have been expanded into the abandoned warehouse above it—and right now it was set up much like the street we would be on. I've never seen them change the room, but Felipe tells me that Bellini has a group of vampires and humans that are in charge of designing and building the training scenarios.

  In the middle of the room was a full-scale building made of cardboard, wood, and paper. On occasion, having the easily-destructible buildings was a pain in the butt. They were in tatters more often than not by the time we were finished preparing. This one needed to stay standing, as per our orders. Ado growled as he left his grenades and flame-thrower in the collection by the door. He had secured weapons for all of us and we took our time gearing up. Vests, helmets, mesh belts with stakes, bullets, and medical kits were all required wear, even in training. The only big difference between training and the real thing were the rubber bullets. They hurt like a son of a gun, but they prevented any accidental deaths, which is always nice.
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br />   "Alright. Let's do this," said Felipe as he slapped a clip into his machine gun.

  For the next six hours, we walked through different scenarios, attempting to find the best attack avenue. By the time all was said and done, the house was tilting badly, the "porch" was nothing more than kindling, and one of the surrounding buildings had been burnt by a small grenade that Ado had somehow snuck onto his person and let loose in an irritated moment. When we headed to dinner, we all were sore—it's quite a feat making Felipe and Ado hurt like that—but we had a general game plan. With any luck, the vampires wouldn't see us coming. It was risky, to be sure, but we had high hopes that we would all be coming home.

  I didn't sleep as well as I would have liked that night. I was haunted by nightmares where Felipe and Steven took turns being the star. By the time I finally crawled out of bed, I was sweaty, exhausted, and terrified. My mirror was no help at all, telling me that my tired, bloodshot eyes were a dead giveaway from my sleepless night, and I did my best to get ready for the coming days. Packing an overnight bag, I steeled myself and headed out to meet the boys.

  SIX

  We took two vehicles, same as last time. Ronin, Ado and Benton took one, with Benton driving, and Jax drove for Felipe and I. It would take us two days to get there, so we needed the humans to drive while the sun was out. As we left Rome, I snuggled up next to Felipe and went to sleep. When the sun sank below the horizon, Felipe took over and I moved to the front passenger's seat so Jax could stretch out on the back seat—well, as well as he could with his six-foot form. It was actually a bit entertaining to watch him attempt to get comfortable. He tossed and turned, grumbled and groaned, and, at one point, even wedged himself in between the seats when he rolled off. Finally, he settled down and started snoring.

  I gazed at the passing scenery. We were driving through the countryside and the moon was full, casting a silvery glow on the fields of waving grass. I leaned my head against the window, feeling the cool glass press against my forehead.

  "What're you thinking about?" Felipe's voice came from the other side, barely a whisper.

  "I worry about Donna."

  I felt the press of his hand on my leg and I reached out to grasp his fingers in mine. We were quiet for awhile.

  "She'll be alright," he said. "Eventually. It will be very hard for her for a long time, though. It's been hard for all of us. We were close to Vicki. But not as close as Donna was. Losing a sibling is... extremely difficult."

  I turned to look at him. Felipe's jaw was bouncing as he clenched his teeth in a random rhythm. His eyes were dark, shadowed, holding something that looked ready to explode. His fingers gripped mine tightly, almost to the point of pain. I leaned across the armrest between us, kissing his cheek before resting my chin on his shoulder.

  "You ok, baby?"

  His jaw continued to work as he thought. After several minutes, I gave up hope of an answer and turned my head so my cheek rested against him and I could look out the window.

  "I had a sister. Did I ever tell you that?" He paused very briefly, but continued without waiting for an answer. The tone of his voice was distant and detached, as if he were talking to some nonexistent being, not me. "Her name was Alaina. She was beautiful. Her dark hair fell in silky strands past her shoulders. She had eyes like the color of chocolate. The boys loved her."

  He stopped, his nostrils flaring, his lips puckering in anger.

  "They loved her too much." He stopped himself, pinching his lips tightly together. His eyes glistened in the moonlight as he drove.

  "Do you want me to drive, baby?" I kissed his cheek again, resting my head against his jaw.

  "No, I'm good." He shook his head and was quiet again. I didn't press the issue, though I was extremely curious about what happened to her.

  "She was given to an older man, a vile man with much more money than my family. He fell in love with her beauty and purchased her from my family." He shrugged and looked at me. "That's the way things were done when I was a human. It was a brutal, horrible practice, treating women like cattle, but there was nothing I could do. He'd had wives before her. They all died mysterious deaths. His first, a healthy, broad woman, died unexpectedly in childbirth. Another fell down a well as she was fetching water. I begged and pleaded with my parents to not send Alaina to him, but the money was good and we were struggling under debt."

  Felipe took a deep breath and squeezed my hand. He looked at me and smiled. "She went without argument. Alaina was always the good child. She always did what she was told, never caused trouble, always aimed to please. Everyone loved her. And I tried to protect her, but he took her anyway. For two years, she slaved in his home. Because that's essentially what she was—a slave. Maybe not technically. They had real slaves. But he treated her like she was one. If she didn't do what he wanted right away, he'd beat her. I remember going to visit her once, without sending a messenger first. She had red welts across her cheek. They weren't fresh, maybe days old, but I couldn't touch them without her flinching, and it was clear that they had bled.

  "I tried to get her to run away with me. I had a bit of money hidden away. I could take her someplace safe and we could start anew. She could find a new husband, someone who would treat her the way she deserved to be treated. But she was always the obedient woman and refused to leave her husband, even though he treated her no better than a common whore.

  “A month later, a messenger came to my parents' house. Alaina was helping the slaves prepare dinner when a fire got out of hand, or so the story went. The room was destroyed, the slaves and Alaina unrecognizable. I was convinced he'd killed her, but my parents would not hear it. They grew irate when I continued to press the issue and eventually, they banned me from their home. They sent me away to live on my own."

  He stopped talking, his fingers squeezing mine so hard I could no longer feel them. I didn't remove them from his grip, though. I knew he needed me, and he needed time. "I think he killed her that night. The night I visited. I sneaked over there and the ashes in the kitchen looked old. I think he waited to inform us. I don't know why. I doubt he feared anything we could do to him. He was much more powerful than my family. But I'm sure she died that night. When I left her house, the terror in her eyes was real, tangible. She knew her death was close. I just know it."

  He stared at the dark road in front of him, eyebrows furrowed, mouth pinched. After several quiet moments, I asked, "So what happened?"

  "What?"

  "What happened after you were kicked out?"

  "Oh. Well, I wandered around for awhile, trying to find someplace where I could be of use. My parents weren't completely heartless, so they gave me a bit of money to survive on, in addition to what I had stashed away. Eventually, I made my way to Rome. Wandering the streets one night, I found a church and went in. There was a man standing at the pulpit, a priest. But he was unlike any other priest I'd met. He seemed... I don't know. Wiser, maybe? Like he'd seen much more than his young appearance could account for. Every night for a week, I returned to that church and talked to that priest. When he spoke to me of the death and rebirth of Christ, he carried a passion so strong, so... powerful. It was almost like he'd been there. Of course, I found out later that he had indeed been there and that he was part of an underground group of vampires, but for several months, I didn't know that.

  "After that week, he gave me a job in the church, cleaning during the day after the sermons. He gave me a side room to sleep in, free meals, and enough money to live on. A month later, a man came in late at night as the priest and I were talking. He was mad, completely crazy. His eyes were wide, bloodshot, his skin pale as snow. The priest stood quickly, so quick I couldn't follow his movements. One moment he was next to me in the pew, the next he was standing in the aisle facing the stranger. You could cut the tension with a knife. I sat where I was, terrified of what would happen. Then the stranger snarled, baring his teeth. Two of them were long, pointed, deadly. I'd never seen teeth like that.

  "He laun
ched himself at the priest, growling and spitting like a cur. The priest responded and they battled in a blur. It was over in minutes, but the benches on either side of them were splattered with blood and gore. I sat where I was, unable to move, absolutely petrified. When the stranger was dead, the priest's cross buried in the man's chest, the priest turned to me. His eyes were bloodshot, too, and his teeth pointed like the strangers. My heart stopped. I was convinced I was going to die when the priest took a step toward me, but he smiled weakly, and it held no malice.

  " 'Come, Felipe. We have much to discuss.' His words were soft, weary, resigned. I thought about running for the door, but I knew I would not make it if he chose to come after me, so I stood and followed him to the back of the church. We went through many doors, some of them hidden, and a labyrinth of halls that I did not know existed. After descending what seemed like a never-ending staircase, we came out into a big, comfortably furnished room. There were others down there. They all looked human to me, but I found out later that they weren't. It was a sanctuary, much like the one we live in, only about a third of the size."

  "I thought we were the only sanctuary in Rome."

  "No. There are a half a dozen others now. Some of them are barely staffed, kept as safe houses. The rest are reserved for priests of the church they are located beneath. After the one beneath Maggiore was expanded, it became the predominant sanctuary for new vampires. Before that, they had been spread out among the enclaves. But a reform in the way vampires were taught brought them all under one roof."

  "Oh. I see. Please, continue."

  "So, anyway, it took me awhile to believe that the vampires weren't going to hurt me, but the priest's behavior before I knew what he was definitely was a point in their favor. He explained to me that the man who attacked him was part of a psychotic group of blood-thirsty vampires that he had helped destroy. When they finally won me over, they recruited me into their team. It was a team like ours, designed to hunt down and remove the demons and plagues on this world. I was human, but I played my part, just like Benton and Jax do. There are certain things that would not be possible without the aid of humans. They are the reason this world exists, and they play a crucial part in our success at keeping it from being overrun by demonic abominations.