The Belial Ring (The Belial Series 3) (42 page)

Right now, she had nothing else to focus on, nothing to keep her mind occupied.
The denial stage was over. Jake was dead. It was like a piece of her was missing.

She let out a trembling breath.
He was gone. It didn’t seem real. He was so strong. So vital. How could he be gone? And how did people go on when they felt like this?

Victoria had said the chosen always had two protectors
: one human, one more than human. Helen had had Castor and Pollux, and Laney was supposed to have Henry and Jake. And now Jake was gone.

Cleo shifted, but kept her head in Laney
’s lap. Laney rubbed the cat’s ears. There was a bond between them now—a bond that Laney couldn’t really explain. She wasn’t going to let anyone hurt the animal. Not after what Cleo had done to help them.

Cleo let out a little whimper.
Laney knew the giant feline missed her mate. Laney lowered her head to the cat’s. Tears burned the back of her eyes. “I know it hurts, baby. I know.”

Henry pulled off the highway and onto a small country road.
Houses were few and far between. Laney focused on the scenery, trying to hold her sadness at bay, at least until she could grieve in private.

Henry turned
again, onto a long dirt road. Finally, he pulled up in front of an old estate. Three stories, white with black shutters. Laney let out a little laugh in spite of her grief. “Mom sure does seem to have a type when it comes to houses.”

Henry smiled.
“Do you realize that’s the first time you’ve called her ‘Mom’?”

Laney caught his eyes.
“I guess it is.”

Another car, a Mercedes, was parked in front of the garage.
“Who’s that?” Laney asked.

“
I’m not sure. Maybe the caretaker. Stay here. I’ll go check it out.”

Laney nodded, laying her head back against the seat.
She knew she should be concerned, but at the moment, she just couldn’t work up the energy.

Exhaustion and sadness pulled at her.
She closed her eyes. Maybe if she slept for a little while, the world wouldn’t seem as cold or as dark.

Cleo let out a low growl.

Laney
’s eyes sprang open.

The garage door opened.
Henry walked back toward the car, his face pale.

Dread welled up in Laney.
She didn’t think she could handle any more bad news. She detangled herself from the cat and opened the door.

“
Stay, Cleo,” she ordered, before closing the door and walking over to Henry. “What’s happened? What’s wrong?”

Henry shook his head, looking shocked.
“It’s . . . I can’t believe . . .”

Laney’s
uncle stepped out of the shadows of the garage.

Laney looked between Henry and her uncle.
“Uncle Patrick? How did you get here?”

Patrick just smiled and stepped aside as another man appeared.

Laney felt the world tilt. She grabbed onto Henry’s arm for support.

“
Jake?”

Jake walked
toward her. Same deep brown eyes, same dark hair, same smile.

Laney stared at him, knowing her eyes were growing larger with every step he took.
The man looked like Jake, but she’d seen him die. It couldn’t be him.

He stopped when he was a foot away.
He reached out a hand.

Laney shrank back.
“Who are you?”

“
Laney, honey, it’s me,” he said.

Laney shook her head, stepping back.
“No. I saw you die. You’re dead.”

Her uncle ran to her side.
“Laney, I was there, too. And I promise you, it’s Jake. It’s Jake.”

Laney looked at her uncle and then back at the man in front of her.
There was a small scar on his forehead—right at the spot where she’d seen him shot. She soaked in his face, every detail, right down to the small crook in his nose where’d he’d broken it when he was twelve.

Her eyes traveled over his body before returning
once again to his face. His eyes looked tired, but other than that he was Jake. Her Jake.

Trembling, she stepped forward, putting her hand to his cheek.
She gasped as his arms closed around her.

His scent brought tears to her eyes.
She pulled him to her, holding him tight. “Jake.”

CHAPTER 99

L
aney refused to let go of Jake’s hand. Even when Yoni and the Witts arrived, she would not let him go. They went through the same ritual of disbelief that Laney had—followed by hugs all around. Yet still Laney held on.

She floated between disbelief and dizzying happiness.
Jake was here. She clung to his hand, terrified that if she let him go, he’d be gone again, and this would have all been a dream.

They all sat squeezed in the living room now.
Everyone wanted to know how any of this was possible. But Laney could tell Jake was tiring. And she was close to her point of exhaustion as well.

She
had more reason than anyone to want to know how Jake was there, alive, sitting next to her, but honestly, it could wait. Right now, she was spent, and she didn’t want to question her luck. She just wanted to revel in it.

Laney nudged Jake on the shoulder.
“Hey there, I could use some sleep.”

Jake nodded, his eyelids springing back open.
He’d been fighting sleep since they’d entered the house. “Yeah, me too.”              

Laney found
the two of them an empty bedroom on the second floor. Cleo followed them up and curled up in the corner.

Laney
tucked Jake in, and by the time she joined him, he was already asleep. She curled up beside him, content just to listen to him breathe.

But before she knew it, she was opening her eyes.
The sun was low in the sky. She must have slept for hours. She checked on Jake. He lay asleep, his breathing normal.

She ran her hand over his hair, and then hugged him tight.
How was he here?

It made no sense.
He had been dead. She knew that. She was sure of that.

Before, she
’d been too exhausted to ask any questions. She’d been too happy just to have him there. But now, she couldn’t avoid them.

She
’d seen him shot. Even if by some miracle he had survived, he should be, at best, hospitalized. At worst, brain dead. There was no scientific explanation that could make sense of him walking around.

She traced the spot on his forehead where the bullet had entered.
There was a small indent there now, but no other sign of trauma.
How?

She traced over
the spot in his arm where he’d been hurt in the car crash. The skin was completely unmarked.

Quietly, she slipped out of bed.
Cleo raised her head from where she’d been curled in the corner.

Let
’s go, girl.

Cleo slipped silently out of the door behind her.

As they stepped into the hallway,
Yoni came out of the room next door. He jumped at the sight of Cleo and Laney. “That cat needs a bell,” he muttered.

Laney smiled, but didn
’t say anything. Her mind was still full of Jake.

Yoni nodded
toward her door. “He okay?”

“
Somehow, yeah.”

“
How’s that possible?”

“
I don’t know. He was dead. I know he was.” She glanced back at the door and then at Yoni. “I need to go speak with my uncle. Will you stay here? In case Jake wakes up?”

Yoni nodded, with a quick glance at Cleo.
“I will, as long as you take your friend with you.”

“
Deal.”

Laney and Cleo headed downstairs.
They stopped in the kitchen, where Laney fished a large bowl out of the cupboard. Henry walked in as she was filling it with water. She placed it on the floor. Cleo came over and licked it up greedily.

Patting
the cat on the back, Laney turned to Henry. “Have you talked to Uncle Patrick yet?”

Henry shook his head.
“I thought I’d wait for you. Ready for some answers?”

“
Absolutely.”

Together, they
headed for the living room. Her uncle sat on the couch, a crossword in his lap. He looked up with a smile. “Jake still sleeping?”

She nodded.
“Yeah.” She sank down onto the couch next to him.

Patrick wrapped his arms around her.
“Thank God you’re okay.”

Laney let herself relax and take the comfort from her uncle.
But the questions about Jake wouldn’t leave her. She pushed back. “I’m okay. Just confused. I don’t understand how Jake’s here. It’s just not possible.”

“
I—” Patrick broke off when Cleo slunk into the living room. “Um, is your new friend going to be okay in here?”

Cleo walked over to Laney
, who scratched her behind the ears. “Good girl. Go lie down.”

Cleo walked to the corner of the room and curled up.

“
She’s good.” And Laney knew it was true. Cleo wouldn’t hurt anyone in this house, not without express permission from Laney.

“
How are you doing that without the ring on?” Henry asked.

Laney
’s hand went to where the ring was hanging from a chain on her neck. “I’m not sure. I think maybe the ring establishes the link, and once established, it’s no longer needed.”

Turning from the cat, she looked at Patrick.
“Well?”

It took Patrick a moment to pull his eyes from the giant
leopard. Obviously Cleo’s presence had him a little rattled. “Um, I can explain what I saw. But I can’t tell you how because, to be honest, I have no idea.”

He took a breath, looking between Laney and Henry
. “After you two escaped, Victoria told me to hurry. I thought she meant we needed to get to cover. But that’s not what she meant. She told me to begin chest compressions. She said we needed to keep his blood flowing.”

Patrick shook his head.
“I thought she was crazy. The problem obviously wasn’t with Jake’s heart. But I was in such a state of shock, I didn’t argue, I just began the compressions. Then Victoria pulled out a knife.”

“
A knife?” Henry asked.

Patrick nodded.
“She cut her wrist. Then she put her wrist on Jake’s wound, her blood mingling with his. I don’t know how much time passed, but it was a while. My arms were growing tired, but Victoria warned me not to stop. Around that time, Ralph arrived. And some time before that, the men shooting at us had stopped. I guess they went after you.”

Laney nodded, not capable of more than that.

“
Ralph took one look at the scene, pushed me out of the way, and started doing the compressions himself,” Patrick said.

“
And then what? Jake came back?” Henry asked.

“
Not right away. The wound, though . . .” Patrick paused. “It began to close. When that happened, Victoria told Ralph he could stop. That it would be okay. But from that moment until just a couple of hours ago, Jake was in a coma.”

“
Why didn’t you take him to a hospital?” Laney asked, still trying to wrap her mind around what Patrick was saying.

“
I wanted to, but Victoria said no. That they wouldn’t understand. She said he would be fine, and for some reason, I believed her.”

Laney nodded, understanding.
Victoria was a riddle wrapped in an enigma, yet somehow, when she spoke, you found yourself believing everything she said.

Patrick continued.
“She arranged for a private charter to take us all back to the States. When I contacted the Chandler Group, they told me you were in Tennessee, so I re-routed here. Jake and I disembarked and Victoria continued on to somewhere else. We reached the house only a few minutes before you did.”

Laney sat back
and stared into space. Victoria had brought Jake back from the dead—with her blood. She struggled with possible logical scenarios. She felt like she was back at the beginning of this mess when she was trying to figure out what Paul and Gideon were.

She blew out a breath.
“Okay, so my only thought is ‘vampire.’ Anybody have anything less supernatural?”

Patrick and Henry didn
’t say anything for a moment. Then slowly they both shook their heads.

Laney tried not to groan.
Crap
.