Tempted in the Night (23 page)

"Apparently there is a psychic link between
chupacabras
and the vampires and changelings they create."

Jess felt herself pale at the revelation, not of the link—which she'd known about—but at the discovery that this was the creature that had attacked John. She'd had a firsthand demonstration of just how terrifying the creature could be.

"Harris told me about the link the other night," John continued. "So I've been learning how to use it. When I woke up this evening with a distorted image of you in my head, it didn't take me long to figure out I was seeing you through the
chupacabra's
eyes. I got here as fast as I could." His grip tightened painfully on her arm. "Don't ever sneak out here again by yourself, do you understand?"

She'd never seen him that angry before and could only nod. He studied her face with obvious distrust and then pulled her along with him as he walked out of the cemetery.

"My camera," she protested, looking back to where it lay too close to the
chupacabra
standing there, watching them closely.

"Leave it. We'll get it later," John said without slowing his pace.

Once they moved beyond the wrought-iron fencing, they stopped and looked back. The male creature had trailed after them, staying between them and the rest of the colony. Protecting the others, Jessica thought, as the alpha male of the colony would do. She made a mental note to write that bit of information down in her journal and then wondered if that would be her final entry. After all, she couldn't study the creatures if every time she got close they tried to attack. What she needed was some way to control them—or someone to control them.

Wondering how best to approach the subject with John, she was distracted by Harris's sudden appearance. She watched John turn to greet the vampire, wanting to trust the vampire but not yet sure about him. He might still reveal his true nature. If John were lucky, the revelation would only leave him disappointed—and not dead.

Determined to keep an eye on the vampire, she pasted a blank expression on her face and turned to face him—then felt her jaw fall open in surprise when she saw the creature beside him. It was a wingless
chupacabra
.

After staring for what must have been several seconds, she forced her attention back to Harris and was immediately repulsed. There was blood on the front collar of his shirt. Her fingers itched for the sword she'd left behind at the manor.

"You shouldn't be out," he said, eyeing her before turning back to John. "Brody is still in the area."

Jessica shot him a defiant look. "I'm not afraid of a vampire."

"You should be," he countered.

"Harris is right," John interrupted before she could argue. "It's too dangerous. Let's go back to the manor."

The three made the ten-minute walk to the mansion in complete silence. Once they arrived, Jessica headed up the front steps. From behind, she felt John's gaze on her and knew he was staying with Harris.

It bothered her that he didn't come with her. She wanted to think it was because she didn't want him getting too close to the vampire, although a small part of her thought it might be because she simply didn't like him spending time away from her. With a glance back at the pair, she stepped inside and tried to pretend that she didn't care.

"Okay," John relented the next evening. "I'll make a deal with you. If you promise not to go anywhere alone, I'll try my link with the alpha male. We'll see if I can convince him that we're not there to hurt the colony."

They'd been arguing in the living room ever since he'd come back from patrolling with Harris and found her packing food and water into a backpack. He'd wanted to know where she was going and so she'd told him the truth. When he'd tried to talk her out of returning to the cemetery, she'd remained stubborn. He'd finally realized that she was doing this with or without his help.

"Thank you," she said, fighting unsuccessfully to keep the smile from her face.

"You're welcome," He tried to sound grumpy, but she just kept smiling until he no longer seemed able to resist and actually smiled back.

"Oh," she said, surprised. "When did your fangs come in?"

He ran a finger over the two elongated canines. "The old teeth fell out yesterday and these came in while I slept."

"Have there been any other changes?" she asked, wondering if he'd noticed a thirst for blood. "Have you had any uncontrollable urges?"

"Uncontrollable urges?"

She didn't move away when he stepped closer, but she found herself suddenly very wary of him.

"No urges I can't control," he continued in a slightly husky voice.
"At least, none up until now."
He brushed the back of his fingers down her cheek.

"I was talking about blood," she quickly amended, sounding flustered. "Have you felt the need to consume… what do you mean, up until now?"

He stepped closer, invading her personal space. "Some things are just too hard to fight, even for me." He leaned forward and touched his lips to hers. Soft and gentle, the kiss was meant to tease and entice; a temptation she couldn't resist.

As if sensing her need, his kiss grew more demanding. Clutching his shoulders, she eagerly returned it.

Just as she was losing herself totally, she felt a sharp prick of pain on her lip and jerked back, her hand instinctively moving to her mouth.

"What's the matter?" John sounded disoriented and confused. A drop of her blood
colored
the outside of his lips and as she watched, he licked it away. She read his surprise and then horror as easily as if it were written across his face. He had liked the taste of her blood and that bothered him—a lot.

"I'm sorry," he muttered, backing away from her so quickly that she thought he might hurt himself in his haste to get away.

"It's just a nick." She dabbed at her lip, not knowing whether she was more disturbed by the reminder of his half-vampire status or disappointed that the kiss had ended. She didn't like the implications of either. She stepped away from him as she fought to clear her thoughts, making a show of picking up her backpack as if nothing had happened between them. "We should probably go to the cemetery now."

His expression was unreadable as he nodded. "Okay. Let me get something from my room and then we'll go."

She watched him walk out of the living room, unable to fight the worry and despondency that filled her.

John went to his room and retrieved his S&W. He'd left his
Airweight
in the rental car and didn't want to go get it. He felt that the .44
mag
, along with the old sword Jess had found in the house, would be enough. He knew that his gun wasn't as effective as that sword, but it was still his weapon of choice.

Going back downstairs, he stopped at the front door. Not really sure what he was doing, he opened up his senses, trying to extend them as far as possible. He was shocked when the noises that had previously been part of the general background din separated into individual sounds and came into sharp focus. He heard the scurrying of small creatures in the underbrush and the movement of the tree limbs swaying in the gentle night breeze. Then he heard something that wasn't normal. He focused on it, trying to figure out what it was. He had the impression of something large moving toward the house.

Instantly alert, he listened more intently, attempting to gauge the distance of this possible threat.

"John,
it's
Harris."

He heard the vampire call out and relaxed a bit. "Be right out," he said in a normal tone of voice, knowing the vampire would hear him as well.

Then he turned to face Jess, standing at the entrance to the foyer.
"Time to go.
Harris is waiting outside."

"What's he doing here?" She didn't sound happy.

"I thought it would be better if he and Lucy went with us to the cemetery."

"Why?"

"Because he's had more time to develop his link with Lucy and I thought that might come in handy. Since you insist on studying the entire colony, I'm trying to avoid a situation where the
chupacabras
attack us because I misread the link."

Her disapproval was written clearly across her face. He knew they were in for an argument that he really didn't want to have right then, so he played his trump card.
"Fine.
I'll ask him to leave and we'll stay in tonight." He reached for the door handle and had started to turn the knob when she stopped him.

"Fine," she mimicked him. "He can come, but I don't like it."

"You know, he hasn't done anything to hurt you. I don't know why you can't accept that he's a decent guy."

"Maybe," she said frostily, "it's because he's not a 'guy.' He's a vampire and vampires are—unpredictable."

"Harris only kills when he can't steal blood from a blood bank or hospital," he defended. "And his victims are criminals who have committed fairly heinous crimes."

"So you believe
it's
okay to kill criminals in cold blood, just not law-abiding citizens." She gave him a disapproving look. "You must be a huge asset to the American justice system."

"I'm not going to argue with you about this, Jess. Get your stuff if you want to go; otherwise, stay here." He opened the door and walked out, leaving her to stare after him.

Her remark had struck home, though he didn't want to admit it. She'd raised the same moral issue he'd been grappling with from the beginning. There were many shades of gray involved with the issue of Harris killing criminals, and his own seeming support of it was something he'd thought about long and hard. Hearing the same thing from her made it seem much more black and white—not that he liked the answer any better.

"Aren't they fascinating?" Jessica asked John hours later as she gazed at the
chupacabras
through her night-vision goggles. They were alone while Harris patrolled the area.

"Have you always wanted to study
chupacabras
?" he asked her.

"No, it's really only been since I saw the photo in the magazine." A faint blush stained her cheeks and he saw it only because his own vision had undergone a change.

"If you grew up hunting vampires, there's bound to be a colony close to your home."

"Lately, there haven't been as many vampires either, so maybe the
chupacabras
have moved on, but growing up, we killed five or six vampires a week."

John was stunned. "I had no idea it was so many. And you used swords to kill them?"

"Mostly, although our successful encounters were more a result of strategy than physical strength.
Strategy—and vampire toxins."

"You mean like Holy Water?" He wasn't entirely joking when he asked the question, wondering how much wisdom really
lay
in the
Hollywood
horror films.

She gave him an indulgent smile. "I think the Holy Water only works on creatures who have been damned by God. That's not really the case here."

"I beg to differ," a voice said from behind them, causing them both to turn around. Harris stood there, Lucy by his side. "If this is not God's curse, then I don't know what is."

"The state of vampirism is the result of being injected with too much of the
chupacabra
venom," she pointed out. "The problem is that the venom seems to affect some in more negative ways than others."
If that was the case, then what about the changelings who were also injected with the venom?
She cast a sideways glance at John. Did she honestly think he would turn evil?

It wasn't a line of thought she wanted to pursue, so she ran her gaze across the open expanse of the cemetery. Through the goggles, the
chupacabras
and the landscape were cast in an eerie green light. In a far corner, she watched as several of the smaller creatures played and it made her smile. As mysterious as they were, it was nice to see that some things—like children playing—were universal.

She watched them for a few more minutes before training the goggles on another area. Near the young creatures were several of the wingless adult females. They reminded Jess of the human mothers she'd seen from time to time at the park, clustered together talking as they watched their children play.

Wondering where the adult males were, she swung her goggles in a wider arc until she saw several of them standing farther away. Enthralled with watching the three groups, she didn't at first notice the one creature off to the side by itself. It didn't have wings so Jess suspected it was a female. Her abdomen was heavily distended and she looked miserable. Jess took a closer look.

"John, do you see that
chupacabra
over to the right, beside the tombstone marked LeBlanc?"

The conversation behind her stopped as both men turned to see what she was referring to.

"I see her," John replied after a moment.

"I think she's pregnant," Jess said in awe, hardly daring to believe her luck. What a great opportunity this was. She hoped to be able to witness the birthing. "I wonder when she's due."

"I'm getting an impression of worry or concern from Diablo," John added.
"Like he expects her to deliver any day now."