Taste of Torment (6 page)

I wasn’t sure how long we stayed there, panting and quivering with the aftershocks, but eventually Jared withdrew from me and then teleported us to the shower. Standing under the spray, he simply held me to him for a little while. It wasn’t until we’d finished soaping each other down that he spoke. “How is it that coming inside you makes me calm down and think better?”

I smiled, batting my eyelids. “I’m just special like that.”

He chuckled, sucking my bottom lip into his mouth. “You are to me.”

When his smile faltered, I knew he was thinking about Evan again. “So what are your thoughts on what to do next?” I sensed that Jared needed to run this show, needed to feel as in control of it as possible. I’d offer my suggestions when necessary, but I’d let him take the lead.

“I’m thinking we need to speak to someone who knows about viruses. Yeah, I know this isn’t a virus, but it’s something similar. Maybe if we know more about how they work, how antiviruses are developed, we might get an idea of how best to approach this situation.”

That wasn’t bad as ideas went.

“So we should kidnap a human scientist.”

Not
such a good idea.

“Obviously we won’t let them meet the guys or reveal that we’re not human,” he continued as we rinsed off the last of the soap from both our bodies. “But we can pick at the scientist’s brain for as long as it takes to come up with something.”

“Or
we could just find and talk to one. The whole ‘kidnapping’ part could be optional.”

As if he realised that his plan was slightly on the dark side, he groaned at himself. “I’m just worried about Evan, Max, and Stuart.”

“You won’t particularly care if it turns out that Cristiano is tainted as well, will you?”

He shrugged, turning off the spray and stepping out of the shower. “If he is, I’ll simply think of it as karma for ogling my mate and constantly giving me smug smirks because he knows how you taste.”

Yeah, that had been pretty mean. As we patted each other dry, I said, “Still, it wouldn’t be fair to Ava to let her brother die simply because we think he’s a dickhead.”

After a pause, he inclined his head, conceding that. “I noticed you were right about her – she sure can fight. Who the fuck trained her? Jackie Chan?”

“Her gift is muscle memory. It’s a little like having a photographic memory. Whereas someone with a photographic memory can remember in detail anything they’ve seen, Ava can perfectly replicate any move she’s ever seen.”

“So all she has to do to learn combat is watch how other people fight and play some Kung Fu movies? Cool gift. Did you notice that Sale
m
?” He cut himself off on hearing a heavy knock on the front door. “It could be someone with news about Evan.”

Thanks to vampire speed, we were dressed and at the front door in less than ten seconds. The squad – minus Max and Stuart, of course – Ava, Cristiano, and Fletcher all piled in. Each of them looked a mixture of confused, devastated, and pissed off. So Cristiano
wasn’t
tainted then. I would bet that had greatly disappointed Jared, but I wouldn’t wish the possible fate of Evan, Max, and Stuart on anyone.

Fletcher pulled me into a hug. “Luv, I’m so glad you’re all right. I was with Antonio when he briefed the squad on The Reaper’s Call. I swear my heart skipped at least four beats.” Like me, Fletcher was British, and I loved him to bits. But he was also a bloody drama queen – even Norm agreed on that. He addressed both Jared and me as he added, “You must be a bag of nerves right now. I know I am. Poor Evan. And the others of course, but Evan…I’ve always had a soft spot for him. No doubt you have a plan of action. I’m eager to hear it.”

He squeezed himself between David and Damien on the sofa. Reuben had perched himself on one arm of the sofa while Chico perched himself on the arm that Jared had bent me over not so long ago. I had to fight a smile, and I saw that Jared was doing the same.

“Antonio put Evan, Max, and Stuart into a containment cell.” Chico traced his goatee. “They’re not pleased about it, but they understand.”

The containment cells were located beneath the large mansion and made of unbreakable glass. A cell was, therefore, the best place to put Evan, Max, and Stuart, but I still couldn’t help balking at the idea of them locked up like that.

“Antonio’s news scared the crap out of all of us,” continued Chico. “I’d never even heard of The Reaper’s Call before. Have you?”

I shook my head. My attention went to Cristiano and Ava, who were clearly devastated to know that their vampires had fallen victim to The Call and died in those tunnels. Ava was cuddling herself while Denny kept a comforting arm over her shoulders. I couldn’t help but notice that Salem, who was standing behind them with Cristiano, was scowling at Denny’s comforting arm. As if he sensed someone looking at him, Denny turned his head. When he saw the expression on his fellow squad member’s face, his eyes widened. Denny looked from Salem to a totally clueless Ava and back again, and then abruptly dropped his arm. Salem simply grunted in what could have been satisfaction. He wasn’t an easy one to read.

“Antonio said that you and Jared are planning to search for a way to help them.” Ava’s voice was surprisingly strong, considering she looked like a small wind could knock her on her arse. “Do you really think you can find one?”

“No other outcome is acceptable,” Jared told her. His confidence seemed to reassure her, because she visibly gathered herself and released a cleansing breath.

Leaning against the wall beside Butch, Harvey asked, “Where are you starting your search?”

“Our plan is to learn as much about viruses as we possibly can,” replied Jared.

David arched a brow. “It’s a virus?”

“No, but it follows the same logic as one. Hopefully we can learn something from a scientist who specializes in viruses.”

Salem pursed his lips. “And if we don’t?”

“Then we look elsewhere. And we keep looking until we find answers of some kind.”

Cristiano suddenly piped up. “Ava and I would like to come with you.”

When Jared opened his mouth – most likely to object, just like Salem appeared ready to do – Ava quickly spoke, “You lot must all know how my brother and I are feeling right now. If we help defeat The Call, it will be like getting vengeance for what happened to our vampires. You’d want to do the same in our position.”

Jared exhaled heavily. “Fine.” Salem didn’t look pleased by the decision and was frowning at Ava’s back.

“Well then,” began Butch, “let’s go find ourselves a scientist.”

“Wait a minute.” We all turned our attention to Fletcher. “Now tell me if I’m overstepping my boundaries here by interfering” – like he really cared about boundaries – “but wouldn’t it be much simpler to talk to Bran’s Heir?”

I cocked my head. “Bran’s Heir?”

“Harry Covington was a doctor during his human life. It’s different from a scientist, I know. But surely he’ll know something about viruses that could help you.” Seeing that everyone was staring at him, wide eyed, Fletcher squirmed under the attention. “What?”

He, a PA, had come up with a better plan than two commanders and a squad from the legion – that was ‘what’. “Fletch, have I ever told you how much I love you?”

He gave me a playfully scathing look. “Not often enough, but I try not to take it personally.”

Jared, who was filled with a newfound enthusiasm, turned to me. “We might have to return to the whole kidnapping plan. Bran isn’t going to want us visiting Covington, knowing we’ve been in contact with people who are tainted. He won’t risk it in case any of us are tainted too.”

“Again, though, the kidnapping part can be optional. I say we just ask Antonio if we can join in on the teleconference.” Ridiculously, they all looked disappointed that no one would be being kidnapped. Unreal.

CHAPTER FOUR

(Sam)

It took a while for Antonio to finish the teleconference. Once it was over, he asked Bran to remain on the line and then invited Jared and I to sit beside him in front of one of the TVs. Thankfully, Bran granted us some time with his Heir, and soon we were looking at the surprisingly attractive face of Harry Covington. I’d been expecting someone who looked much older. Harry couldn’t have been much more than twenty-five when he was Turned.

Clearly anxious for answers, Jared didn’t bother with pleasantries.
“What can you tell us about viruses?”

Harry looked taken aback by the question but shrugged. “Put simply, they’
re strands of DNA or RNA covered by a protein coating.”

Admittedly, that made no sense whatsoever to me. Science had never been my strong point.

When Jared waved his hand in a ‘carry on’ gesture, Harry squinted. “This is about The Call, isn’t it? You think it’s like a virus.”

“It seems to be similar.”

“That’s what I thought in the beginning. I was wrong.”

I arched a brow. “You’ve been in contact with people who were tainted?”

“No, but I’ve researched it. As you can imagine, it intrigued the medic in me. It’s in my nature to want to treat something, to cure it. I’ve done my best to understand The Call over the centuries. What I’ve learned isn’t good.”

Beside me, Antonio softly cursed.

Gritting his teeth, Jared urged, “Go on.”

“My opinion is that it’s entirely different from a virus. You see, viruses aren’t alive, but nor are they dead. They exist somewhere in between. In effect, they’re
parasites. Without a host or a group of host cells, they can’t thrive or survive. The Call, however, is very much alive.”

That didn’t sound good. “What do you mean by ‘alive’?”

“Not alive as you or I know it. It isn’t a biological organism. In fact, it’s not at all tangible. The Call could be described as incorporeal venom. It travels into the blood, contaminating it, polluting it. It is nothing you could see, nothing you could fight, because it has no physical properties. It doesn’t attach itself to cells, doesn’t use us as a host – it simply ‘visits’ us, doing a circuit through our blood and tainting our system as it does so. That’s why it wouldn’t be possible to treat The Call in the same way that humans treat a virus.”

And there went Jared’s optimism. He scrubbed a hand over his face.
“In other words, there’s no point in looking for a counteragent.”

“No.
”

“So, we’re fucked.”

Harry’s eyes slid away. “Well…”

Jared straightened in his seat.
“What?”

“There is someone who might be able to help you
r vampires. She wouldn’t be able to come up with some kind of counteragent, but it’s possible that she could help the tainted.”

“Who?”
Jared and Antonio asked in unison.

“Her name is Paige West, and she’s a Keja vampire
who is part of my line. Her gift…She can heal, but she’s not a healer.”

Frowning, I shook my head.
“I’m not following.”

“Her gift is actually offensive. If you were to harm her, she could take her pain or her injury and give it to you, and it would be three times worse when revisited onto you. Her gift is more about infli
cting pain and avenging herself than about healing.”

Well
. Call me odd, but I found that gift kind of intriguing. It was pretty much a karma-like gift, and I was a big believer in tit for tat.

“
And she can do that for others?” asked Jared.

“Yes, she can take their pain or injury, but she must have someone to give it to. Withou
t that, the hurt will almost instantly return to the person it came from. I imagine it would work on tainted vampires. But I can’t be sure.”

“We’ll take our chances.
” Jared shrugged. “At this point, we have nothing to lose anyway.”

And if there was even the slightest chance that she could help Evan, Max, and Stuart, then Paige West was now my new best friend.
“Where do we find her?”

Harry gave us a grim smile.
“That’s the tricky part. Nobody actually knows where Paige is.”

Well, crap.

“She doesn’t particularly enjoy this life and has cut herself off from all vampirekind?” asked Antonio. It wasn’t an uncommon thing.

“No. It was, in fact, her decision to Turn. Her Sire sent her on an assignment – I’m not sure exactly what it was – but instead of coming back with the information he wanted, she killed the vampire who had the information. After that, she disappeared, along with the information, and no one has been able to find her.”

Well great. Just great.

“
Surely her Sire has a vague idea of her location,” insisted Jared.

“Possibly, but I’m not certain.”

Antonio tilted his head. “Who
is
her Sire?”

“His name is Robert Langley. I can give you his contact details.” After consulting his smartphone, he rattled off an address and a cell number. Jared entered it all into his cell phone while Antonio scribbled it down onto a piece of paper. “Warning, Robert’s not the most pleasant of people.”

“That’s okay.” Jared smiled, looking a little evil, to be honest. “Neither am I.”

Antonio briefly bowed his head at Harry.
“You have been a huge help, Covington. I appreciate it.”

Jared nodded. “Yeah, thanks.”

“Don’t thank me yet. Even if you find Paige, it won’t be easy to convince her to help you because she clearly wishes to be left alone.”

Jared’s evil smile widened. “Don’t worry about us finding a way to make Paige cooperate. We can be very persuasive.”

Ending the call, Antonio swerved in his seat to fully face Jared and me. “I’ve never heard of Paige West. Perhaps that is because she has isolated herself from our kind. In any case, I will have Sebastian locate her. He is the best tracker there is.”

“He is,” agreed Jared. “And I appreciate having his help.
But I won’t rely on him. Not with this. Finding her is too important. This woman might be our only chance of saving the guys. Sam and I should still go see Robert Langley, find out what he knows about her.”

Understanding
that Jared needed to feel that he was actively helping, I clasped his hand and gave it a supportive squeeze. “Then we leave at dusk.”

“Yes, it is important for you both to rest first.” Antonio sighed. “I can only speculate on how exhausted you must both be – physically and emotionally – after this evening’s events.”

“I’d like to briefly speak with Evan before we head home.” Jared massaged the palm of my hand with his thumb. “He’ll be glad to hear Harry’s news.”

Antonio grimaced. “Would it be wise to give him false hope? For all we know, Paige West’s gift will not help with The Call.”

“It
has
to,” stated Jared. “There are only three people in this world I care about – Sam, Evan, and you. I absolutely refuse to lose any of you.”

My chest was literally aching with the echoes of his pain that were running through me. I leaned against him, wishing I could help and hating that I couldn’t. His arm closed around me, keeping me there. I wanted to assure him that he wouldn’t lose any of us, that we’d find some way to help Evan. But we’d never been up against anything like this before. Since meeting, Jared and I had had our fair share of trials and dealt with some really freaky scenarios, but nothing like this. How did you go about fighting something that you couldn’t see, that had no physical properties and no counteragent?

“I think it would also be best to delay the Coronation until after The Call is once again dormant.” Antonio’s expression begged us to understand. “For one thing, it is imperative that this matter is dealt with immediately. Also, most of vampirekind is now on lockdown, intent on staying out of The Call’s reach. We would therefore have no witnesses, no celebration. And I very much doubt a Prelate would risk travelling here to perform the ceremony. I haven’t yet announced my intention to step down, so there will be no one to disappoint.”

“I agree.” I frowned as something suddenly struck me. “One thing, though. Is it really possible to remain out of The Call’s reach by hiding? I mean, Quentin’s nest was underground and yet it struck them. Is it possible that it tainted someone before them? That the tainted vampire then took it to the nest with him?”

“Only Quentin can answer that question. None of the other High Masters know where he is. It’s possible that he did in fact die in the tunnels.”

I hoped not, or it meant that his answers had died with him. If there were more tainted vampires out there, it was important that we found and contained them.

There was a brief knock, and then Luther entered the room. “Please tell me you have good news.”

Sebastian followed Luther inside. “Yes, I need something to give me hope.”

Antonio filled them both in on our conversation with Harry Covington.

Luther looked slightly optimistic by the end of it. “Let us pray that this woman can help us.”

“We have to find her first.” And convince her to help. If I had to resort to Jared’s new solution to everything and kidnap her, I’d do it in a heartbeat.

“Leave that to me.” Sebastian’s voice was full of determination. “There is no place the Keja can hide where I will not find her.”

“Sam and I will be doing our own investigations too,” Jared informed him. “Between all of us, we should be able to find Paige West in time to help the guys.”

Luther gave him an encouraging smile. “I have faith in you all, and so will Evan, Max, and Stuart.” He lightly touched me on the shoulder. But then he stiffened and a gasp flew out of him as his eyes took on a faraway quality that meant one thing – he was having a vision. Oh, this was never good. When Luther finally snapped out of it, his gaze ran along everyone in the room, who were all now standing.

Most likely in response to the sheer fright on his Advisor’s face, Antonio tensed. “What is it, Luther?”

“Please don’t talk in riddles,” I begged him. He had a habit of being very vague with his warnings, and it drove me bloody mental.

Luther inhaled deeply. “They will come for her. Paige West, they will come for her.”

“Who? Who will come?” demanded Antonio.

“There were so many of them in the vision. So many. If you bring her here, they will do whatever it takes to get to her.” He looked at me then. Oh bloody wonderful. “And it could mean that you are forced to make a very difficult decision, Sam. A decision no one should have to make.”

Well fuck a duck. I massaged my temples. “I don’t suppose you’re going to tell me what that decision is, are you?”

“I wish I could. But as you know, sometimes a vision can be just a
feeling
, a
knowing
.
I could feel the weight of a painful, frightening decision bearing on you – a decision that affects so many, that your safety rests on.”

Jared, who was feeling kind of numb as if he didn’t really know
how
to feel about all this, spoke. “So what you’re saying is that if we bring Paige West here, there’s a distinct possibility that things will go tits up and Sam could be harmed?”

“Yes.”

Sebastian sighed. “The question is: are we willing to risk all that happening in order to save the lives of Evan, Max, and Stuart?”

Cursing a blue streak that had everybody’s eyes widening, Jared dropped back down into his seat and buried his face in his hands. So many emotions were flickering through him so quickly that I couldn’t even identify what they were.

“We will give you both some time alone.” With that, Antonio led the others out of the room.

I sat beside Jared, placing a supportive hand on his back. “We have to do this, Jared. We have to help Evan, Max, and Stuart.”

He lifted his head, gazing at me with eyes that were filled with so much turmoil that it hurt to maintain eye contact. “I can’t risk you. Do you understand that? I
can’t
risk you.” Then he was on his feet, pacing.

“But we can’t risk them, either. You know this.” But he wasn’t listening. He was deep in his own mind, lost in his own thoughts. I rose from my seat and grabbed his arm to halt him. “We can’t ignore this. They’ll die, Jared.”

“I know,” he gritted out. “And I hate being in a position where I actually have to fucking choose between you and my twin brother. But baby, nothing in this world could make me risk you. I just fucking can’t.” He locked a hand in my hair and roughly pulled me close.

I tucked my head into the crook of his neck and slipped my arms around him. “You’re not choosing.
I’m
choosing.”

“No.” The word was filled with agony yet resoluteness. His overprotectiveness often tended to piss me off, but this was so much more than overprotectiveness – this was a bone-deep, all-consuming fear of losing me. I could feel the echoes of it. An ache started to build in my temples from the pressure of it.