Blackthorn [3] Blood Torn (26 page)

‘Phia, you know that makes no sense.’

No, it didn’t. And that’s what she’d cling too.

‘Neither does some vampire who wants Caleb Dehain dead hiring a group of human vigilantes instead of doing it themselves. Who would waste that amount of money, take that kind of risk?’

‘I don’t know.’

As much as she wanted to deny his words, she couldn’t deny the look in his eyes.

‘Well, we’re not going to sit on our arses in here whilst we wonder. You said it yourself – they’re coming for us. There’s only one way to stop that: get to them first.’ She headed back out into the living space. ‘What the
fuck
was Abby thinking?’

‘About keeping our heads above water,’ he declared, following her. ‘About getting the job done.’

‘Paid by
vampires
?’

‘One who wanted Caleb dead too. The way Abby saw it, it was a mutual and lucrative cause.’

‘But we’ve both seen that equipment. Who’s got access to technology and resources like that here unless they’re top of the food chain?’ She stared at the floor, hands on her hips, before she snapped her attention back up to him. ‘I’m making that call. Then we’re tracking down who did this. Someone out there’s got to know.’

‘No one is going to talk to you, Phia.’

‘I’ll
make
them.’

‘And where the hell do you start? All you’ll do is draw attention to yourself.’

‘I don’t care.’

‘Well I do. I didn’t risk my life sitting here on my arse waiting for you when I could have been long gone across the border.’

‘And that’s my fault because…?’

He glared at her. ‘You ungrateful…’

‘What?’ she asked, slamming her hands on her hips. ‘Say it, Dan – selfish, unappreciative, stupid, impetuous. I’ve heard it all before. A hundred times. I know it. You know it. We all know it. And it changes nothing. The Alliance may be gone, but
I’m
not.’

‘Listen to yourself – waging a one-woman war. We lost. We tried and we failed. We’re lucky to be alive.’

‘Alive for what? What do we have? Stuck in this place, in Blackthorn – at best Lowtown. We fight to the bitter end on this, Dan. I’m taking down whoever did this. They want us to hide and there’s no way I’m giving them that.’

‘You’re not going out there alone. Not like this.’

‘I’m better alone.’

‘With whoever this is looking for you? With Jask Tao looking for you? Maybe Caleb too if he
does
know about all this?’

‘Is the kit still here?’ she asked, marching down to the kitchen.

‘Did you not hear what I said? You’re getting nowhere out there.’

‘We’ll see.’ She ploughed through the cupboards before finding the box masked as a first-aid kit. She carried it back through to the living space and placed it down on the coffee table. Sitting, she pulled out the packets of syringes they used to fill with garlic and silver – a concoction that would slow down their vampire victims or a useful tool to get them to talk.

‘What are you doing?’ he demanded.

Sophia wrapped the bandage around and around her arm before pulling it tight. She took the lid off the syringe with her teeth before slipping it into the crook in her arm.

‘What the fuck, Phia?’

Sophia drew back the blood, sticking the cap back on the syringe before reaching for another. ‘There’s one simple reason I got away from those vampires – I poisoned the bastards.’ Sophia glanced up into wide eyes. ‘Nutshell,’ she said, returning her attention to the next needle she slipped it into the crook of her arm, ‘is that my sister was a serryn. I emphasise the word
was
. The line’s capable of jumping.’ She glanced up at him again. ‘I’m sure I don’t need to explain the rest.’ She looked back down to check how much blood she was taking. ‘Let’s just say her timing was perfect or I
would
be dead by now. Just like the others.’

The silence between them was unavoidable.

‘A serryn,’ he finally said. ‘Your sister’s a serryn? You never said.’

‘No disclosures, remember?’ She swapped the syringe for another. ‘No background information.’

‘But a
serryn
? You know what that could have meant to our cause. The power it would have given us.’

‘And if I knew, maybe I would have. But I didn’t have a clue. Trust me, no one’s more stunned than me. But if it’s jumped, then something is wrong. Very wrong. And that’s why I’m getting back out there.’

She placed the lid on the third syringe before reaching for the fourth. Once she’d finished, she unpackaged some plasters to cover the pinprick wounds.

‘One way or another, what has happened to my sisters could be down to me,’ she added. ‘I’m not turning my back on them.’ She gathered up the syringes and stood, despite how light-headed she felt. ‘You stay here. But if you do decide to head out, and any of them come after you, you stick one of these in them,’ she said, handing him two of the syringes. ‘You’ll watch them sizzle like a steak on a barbecue before they implode if you stick it in hard and fast enough.’ She tucked two of her own in the thigh pocket of her combats.

‘Does Jask know what you are?’

She nodded. ‘I’ll come back for you when I’ve contacted them.’ She headed back into the kitchen and opened the tallest cupboard. She took out two of the handguns. She checked the ammo before sliding one into the back of her combats, the other in the loop on the thigh of her trousers. ‘And they’d better be alive and kicking,’ she said, as she swept past him to the main door, ‘or all hell is going to break loose in Blackthorn by the time I’ve finished.’

But Daniel slammed his syringe-holding hand to the door, grabbed her arm with the other. ‘Have you not listened to anything I’ve said? If you are what you say you are, it’s even more important we keep you alive.’

‘Don’t make this into a fight between us. I don’t have the time.’ She stared deep into his eyes as she yanked her arm from his grip. ‘I have to do this, Dan. Try and stop me and I’ll kick your arse, and you know it.’

He stared right back, a steely silence between them that squeezed the air from her lungs.

‘Then I’m coming with you,’ he said.

‘No. You’ll slow me down.’

His eyes narrowed in indignation. ‘Since when? I’ll keep you in check. We both know how much you need that.’ He held her gaze for a few moments. ‘I mean it, Phia.’ He stepped back into the kitchen, picked a handgun of his own. ‘We’re a team, right?’ He tucked the gun and syringes into his pockets, then faced her.

‘More like you’re too valiant for your own good,’ she remarked, opening the door.

‘I’m no hero,’ he said. He drew back the cage to the elevator shaft, letting Sophia enter first. ‘And I hate you for making me do this.’

‘Add it to the list, Dan,’ she said as they descended. ‘But whatever is going on out there, we have to know. We can’t let them beat us.’

He pulled back the cage as they reached the bottom, the cool night air leaking into the warehouse a sharp contrast to the mustiness of the room they had just left.

‘You’re going to a phone first, right?’ he asked as they strode across the concrete.

‘Then I’m paying Marid a visit,’ Phia declared, her breath like smoke in the air, the temperature seeming to have dropped even in the short time they’d been inside. ‘He knows what’s going on here.
And
he’ll talk. I’ll see to–’

They both flinched simultaneously as they saw movement in the shadows ahead.

Sophia snapped her gun into position, directly on the dark figure.

Daniel was a fraction too slow.

Another figure had already appeared behind him – swift, forceful, strategic. A split second later, Daniel was slammed against the wall.

Her heart pounded as the six-foot-two-inch male slid Daniel a foot up off the ground, Daniel swiping at the hand that rigidly clasped his throat.

As she stared back at the figure ahead, she understood why every instinct had stopped her pulling the trigger.

‘Long time, no see, Phia,’ Jask said as he emerged from the darkness.

Chapter Twenty-One

Twelve hours previous

J
ask had
fallen asleep waiting for Sophia to do so first.

Now he’d woken to find her sleeping soundly, the glow of the descending afternoon sun warming them both. Her body was enticingly soft against his, the heat of their bodies having melded in the couple of hours they’d lay there.

He lifted his head from the pillow to look at her face, but it was too masked by her hair to see her eyes – only her delicate nose and slightly parted curvaceous lips visible.

It had been a long time since he’d woken next to a female – since he’d allowed himself that luxury. He’d almost forgotten how it felt, let alone the stirring sense of intimacy it evoked, not least from sharing his bed.

Only mates shared beds. That was an understanding amongst their kind. It prevented complications and misconstruing one intent behind a sexual act from another.

But taking the serryn to his bed had been nothing about sex, though the thoughts had irritatingly slipped into his head too many times over the few hours before. And no more so than when he’d cornered her in the bathroom, provoking his resolve to get some much-needed sleep before acting in a way he’d regret.

She was too intense, too unrelenting, too provocative for him to deal with her when his irritation levels were that high. Besides, she’d looked on the edge of exhaustion herself – getting more and more irrational in her choices. Trying to provoke both him and Corbin outside the holding room had proven that. They’d both needed downtime.

And he’d needed to calm the frustration inside.

But gazing at her sleeping only reignited the thoughts again – how he could so easily lay her beneath him, find the core of her heat, sate himself for a short while at least.

And thoughts of her submitting, of her letting him take her amidst the comfort of her hazy sleep like familiar lovers, only aroused him further. He felt himself harden as he thought of tasting every inch of her smooth skin before sinking as deep into her as he could.

But what he wanted and what he needed were two entirely different things. What he
needed
was to head out to Rone and Samson – to see if time in the caskets had drummed sense into them.

Because this time, he wasn’t leaving without answers.

Carefully he pulled away.

Rather than stir her, he’d enjoy the refreshing outdoor showers after his training session, after their afternoon game out on the pitch.

He pulled on his sweatpants, vest top and jacket and sent one more glance at the feminine curves that lay beneath his duvet, before heading out of his room.

Corbin was already down in the foyer when Jask nodded his head out towards the quadrant, indicating for him to follow.

‘We’ll get them out now,’ Jask said as Corbin drew level.

‘Earlier than planned?’ Corbin remarked, keeping up with Jask’s strides as they crossed the green towards the tunnel.

‘Like you said, we don’t have time to waste.’

Jask unlocked the outbuilding, Corbin sealing the door behind them before they made their way down the steps, taking a left into the room where Rone and Samson were held.

Opening the casket was worse than closing it, Jask knowing the trauma, disorientation and exhaustion that would be in both the youth’s eyes after their experience. But he pushed it to the back of his mind as he opened the casket, met Rone’s startled gaze only fleetingly before releasing him from his binds.

Trembling, Rone all but fell out of his enclosure, the glazed look in his eyes sign enough that it would take him a while to reacclimatise.

A luxury Jask had no intention of supplying.

Rone bent double, his hands on his thighs before he stood upright again, stretching his neck to the ceiling. He paced unsteadily, as did Samson, needing to move their aching limbs and flex.

Jask leaned back against the stone table, Corbin beside him, both their arms folded as they allowed them a minute.

‘How are you feeling?’ Jask asked.

Rone looked across at him mid-pace and nodded.

‘You’ve got fifteen minutes,’ Jask said.

Rone stopped abruptly, Samson mirroring him.

‘For what?’ Rone asked.

‘Until you go back in there.’

Samson’s troubled gaze shot to his friend before it flitted between Jask to Corbin.

‘Back in?’ Rone said, as if saying it would make it any less true.

‘Unless you’re planning on telling me what really went on down in those ruins.’

Rone and Samson exchanged glances, but neither spoke.

‘Your choice,’ Jask said. ‘But we can keep doing this until you break. Because you
will
break.’

‘Jask…’ Rone said, his tone laced with a plea.

But Jask remained staid, despite hating the look of cornered panic in youth’s eyes. ‘One way or another you are going to tell me the truth. I’ve got all day, all night and all day again tomorrow if that’s what it takes. Who is she? How did you
really
come across her? And what went on down there before we arrived?’

Rone stared back at the floor.

‘Just tell him,’ Samson said quietly, shooting him a troubled glare.

It was the exact confirmation Jask had been looking for. He knew Samson would break first. But it was Rone he wanted to hear it from. Rone was the decision-maker. And Rone needed to learn that decisions came with responsibility. It was
essential
that he learned the weight of responsibility.

‘Eleven minutes,’ Jask said, reminding them of the ticking clock.

Rone looked at Samson, the pleading in the latter’s eyes not waning.

‘We overheard two vampires talking,’ Rone finally said.

‘About?’

‘They were collecting a girl for questioning.’

‘The serryn?’

Rone nodded.

‘Questioning about what?’ Jask asked.

Rone glanced back at Samson, the latter’s wide eyes urging him on.

‘About working for The Alliance,’ Rone added.

Unease clenched Jask’s stomach. ‘What’s The Alliance?’

‘Remember talk of Jake Dehain drinking a girl to death and nearly killing himself a couple of days ago? Apparently it was a set-up – a suicide mission by the girl he drained. She worked for The Alliance. That’s what they’re calling themselves.’

The hairs on the back of Jask’s neck stood on end. ‘Go on.’

‘The serryn works for them too. Not that the vampires who’d held her said that’s what she was. I don’t think they even knew. Neither did Marid or my guess is he would have sold her for more. They were paid to collect her from him and interrogate her for information about other Alliance members.’

‘You’re telling me you suspected that serryn had something to do with a covert attack on Jake Dehain, Caleb’s brother?’

Rone nodded.

‘And we brought her back
here
?’

Though he tried to maintain a steady gaze, Rone faltered as the implications sunk in. ‘I didn’t know what else to do, Jask. When we went down there and saw what she was, I panicked.’

‘Why would a serryn be involved with a covert attack on the Dehains?’ Corbin asked Jask. ‘That doesn’t make any sense. She could have gone in there and taken them out by herself.’

‘Caleb Dehain is the best serryn hunter there ever was,’ Jask said. ‘She had to have known that. You’ve seen how unskilled she is. My guess is she knew it would have been suicidal to take him on. But still, serryns don’t work as a team. Something still isn’t right here.’ He looked back at Rone. ‘So you overheard them talking. Why did you get involved?’

‘Because I overheard them saying The Alliance’s aim was to kill off the key players in Blackthorn. That had to make you and Corbin on the list, right? I wanted to know if our pack was at risk.’

‘And you didn’t think to come back here and tell me any of this?’

‘Once we’d overheard them, I didn’t have much time. I had to persuade them to let us in on it before I lost them. It took a lot of persuasion, but they agreed.’

‘Because you offered them our herbs.’

‘We weren’t really going to hand them over.’

‘Then what
were
you going to do?’

Rone looked to the floor again.

Jask exhaled tersely. ‘You were going to kill them?’

Rone looked up at him from beneath his lashes. ‘We would have had no choice. If they were right about her, we were going to strike a deal to keep The Alliance away from the pack in exchange for saving her life. Then we saw what she was and it all went wrong.’

Jask stood from his leaning position. ‘That’s the stupidest fucking plan I’ve ever heard.’

‘It all happened so quick. We cut in or we lost them. They weren’t exactly happy that we’d overheard. Whoever they were working for wanted this kept quiet, which we turned to our advantage.’ His blue eyes widened as he dared to take a step closer to Jask. ‘Jask, I was looking out for the pack. Looking out for you. For Corbin. I had an opportunity and I took it.’

‘And how do you know those vampires didn’t plan the exact same for you? Did that cross your mind? They were working for someone who, as you said yourself, wanted all this kept a secret. Did you seriously think they were simply going to let you walk out of there?’

‘It was two on two.’

‘There could have been more.’

‘But there wasn’t.’

‘
Fuck
,’ Jask hissed, walking away from them, not wanting to even think about what could have happened to them. He turned to face Rone again. ‘And did she talk about The Alliance? Did you ask her about it?’

Rone shook his head. ‘We walked in on them mid-feed. It was over within seconds. She asked us to let her go but I was frightened of what she’d do if I did. But I couldn’t kill her. And I knew I couldn’t leave her there either – not once she’d seen us. If others did turn up and she told them about us, they could have thought we were a part of it.’

‘Which is why you should have got me involved from the very beginning.’

Rone looked back at the floor again. ‘And I nearly did.’ He glanced back up at him. ‘When I came to get the herbs. But I thought I could handle it myself. I wanted to handle it myself. I wanted to prove I could do this. You’re always telling me to learn responsibility, so I took responsibility.’

‘Not for the entire pack!’

‘Then how, when, where? I honestly thought I was doing the right thing. I
tried
to do the right thing.’ His blue eyes were wide, glossy. ‘And I know I failed. I know I messed up.’

The thought of the youth needing Jask’s approval
that
much as to do something so risky caused frustration with himself to lodge in his chest.

‘I wanted to come back here and be able to tell you I’d sorted it,’ Rone added. ‘That’s all I wanted. Because…’

Jask frowned at the youth’s hesitation. But he was glad he hesitated. He wasn’t ready to see any more of how much he had failed him, not amidst the weight of too many other things.

‘But why not tell me the truth earlier, Rone? Or even when we were down in the ruins?’

Rone’s heart rate escalated as he exchanged glances with Samson.

‘Rone!’ Jask said firmly.

‘We were at Hemlick’s when we overheard them,’ Rone finally confessed. ‘We were in one of the booths.’

He could barely believe it. ‘Hemlick’s?’

Rone nodded.

‘Deal central?’ Jask snapped. ‘That hovel of a bar? What the
fuck
were you doing there?’

‘Because I was looking for a solution,’ Rone said, glancing up at him warily. ‘I was trying to get my hands on some turmeric. I thought going to Hemlick’s would be the best place find out if there was any way we could get hold of it. I was trying to strike a deal with a witch, but they said turmeric is inaccessible now.’

‘So now word might be out there that we’re looking for some? Rone, I can’t believe you’ve been so reckless! As if offering our herbs wasn’t bad enough, you could now have evoked questions about our supplies. Did you not think I’d been out there asking my own questions?’

‘I had to do
some
thing.’

‘By going to that infested black-market den? You were lucky to get out alive!’

Rone’s eyes flashed with something more than panic. He seemed momentarily taken aback by Jask’s concern. Taken aback enough to remind Jask he’d never shown it to the youth before.

If being dictatorial had become more commonplace than just authoritative, he truly was failing his pack.

‘So what now?’ Rone asked. ‘Now that you know everything. Are you going to banish me? Banish both of us?’

Jask exhaled tersely through his nose before leaning back against the stone table. He may have been as much the cause of Rone’s stupid decision as the youth’s naivety, but that still didn’t excuse what he’d done. And it still didn’t excuse the guilt the youth had managed to evoke. ‘You’d deserve it.’

Rone’s lips quivered at the injustice. ‘How many times do you want me to say I’m sorry?’

Jask glanced at Corbin.

Corbin raised his eyebrows. He wouldn’t vocalise what they both knew was the right thing to do, but it was enough of a silent, albeit respectful, rebuke should Jask not put him out of his misery quickly.

And put him out of his misery he could, as a thought struck him.

A thought that could not only save their pack but give the youth every chance at gaining the self-esteem and approval he clearly so desperately wanted. The only thing he could offer him as some sort of consolation right then.

He fixed his attention back on Rone. ‘That is if fate hadn’t been kind to you. Seemingly to us all.’

Rone frowned. He exchanged a swift glance with Samson again.

‘I
had
been out asking questions,’ Jask said. ‘And you’re right – turmeric is impossible to get your hands on in Blackthorn now, unless you’re in the right circles. There’s a witch who still holds some. And I was told by another that the only way she’ll be open to persuasion to part with it is if she gets commanded to do so by one more powerful than her.’

‘A serryn?’ Rone asked.

Jask nodded.

Rone’s eyes widened. ‘That’s what you meant down in the ruins, when you said she couldn’t have come at a better time. But this is great!’