Vampire Mate: BBW Paranormal Romance (15 page)

“
Not destroy them.”
Charlene swallowed. “Free them.”

The demon stared at her,
speechless. “Crazy bitch,” he concluded.

“
Leave her,” she
snarled. “Leave the shifter as well.”

“
You know I can't do
that.” He sounded amused. “We can share them, you know.
There's enough blood to...”

“
Leave them alone!”
she screeched.

The demon's human features
receded as his rage and blood lust overtook him. He dug his claws
into Charlotte's neck and fresh blood immediately oozed and flowed
from her wound. He smashed Charlotte's head against the ground and
charged at Charlene. Charlene screamed as her sister dropped to the
ground in a pool of blood. Anguish boiled to wrath and Charlene
launched herself at the demon, ripping into his scaly back, and
wrenching out scales, skin and flesh.

“
How dare you touch
her!” she shrieked. “I'll kill you!”

The demon roared and flung
Charlene off his back. They circled each other, bleeding and
snarling, before charging again. Demon and demoness collided in an
explosion of fangs, claws and blood. Charlene could feel raw,
unadulterated power surging through her. She was drawing power from
her sister's freshly spilled blood. Oh, just how sick was she! She
was a monster, no different from the monster she was fighting.

She would kill him, and he
would kill her. Death was certain. It was just a question of who
could inflict more pain before their fates were sealed. They would
both be trapped, their souls frozen and kept by their demon Maker
forever.

As they fought, the blood mist
lightened and the blood shield wavered and disintegrated. The demon
was using all his energy to fight Charlene, and could not spare the
energy to continue holding up the shield.

Charlene heard shouts, and as
the blood shield came down, shots were fired and bullets slammed into
the wall behind her.

The demon bellowed and
stumbled back, a silver bullet in his shoulder. He pulled his claws
out from Charlene and before she could strike her next blow, he
teleported away.

Charlene turned towards the
voices, ready to attack.

Bryn was pointing a gun
straight at her. Bryn's eyes flicked to Charlotte, who was lying in
a spreading pool of blood at Charlene's feet.

“
Step away from her!”
Bryn yelled. “Put your hands in the air, and step away from
her now!”

Charlene straightened up
slowly, feeling her blood and the demon's black blood trickle down
her face and hands. Covered in blood and demon gore, she looked
exactly like the monster she was.

Behind Bryn stood two very
tall men.

Charlene blinked the blood
from her eyes, and saw Glenn and Lucas standing behind Bryn. In a
heartbeat, Lucas had bolted forward to pick Charlotte up in his arms.
Charlene heard him murmuring to Charlotte as he pressed his lips to
her forehead.

Charlene took a step forward,
but Bryn screamed, “Don't move, demoness!”

Glenn stepped forward and
pushed Bryn's gun down, but Bryn resisted and flicked her gun up
again.

“
Bryn,” Glenn said
evenly. “This demoness—is Charlotte's sister. This is
Charlene Cole.”

Bryn started, but she kept her
gun trained on Charlene. “Charlene...died. She was killed by
a rogue werewolf,” she said in a strained voice.

Glenn put a hand on Bryn's
shoulder and steered her towards Lucas, who was pressing Charlotte
close to his chest. “I'll explain later. We need to get
Charlotte back to the PAC Headquarters. I'll mist all of you back.
Now.”

Charlene reached out to touch
Charlotte's matted hair and Lucas didn't stop her. Bryn stood
stiffly beside them as Glenn shimmered into mist and enveloped them.
Charlene gasped as the mist wound around her, embracing her. She
could feel Glenn's presence and hear his assuring voice as her
surroundings spun and faded.

Everything will be all
right.

Charlene nodded, even though
she couldn't see anything anymore. She reached out, grasping at the
mist that was swirling all around her.

Her splayed fingers touched
something solid, and then she felt a hand take hers firmly. Solid
fingers closed around her hand and held her hand securely.

Blinking hard as the mist
cleared rapidly, she found Glenn standing beside her, holding her
hand. They were in the middle of a sterile, clinical looking room,
with curtains, beds and trolleys. A brunette in a white coat was
spinning away from them and rushing to help Lucas lower Charlotte
onto one of the beds.

“
How bad, Jasynta?”
Lucas growled at the PAC's emergency medical consultant.

Jasynta checked the wounds on
Charlotte's body and frowned at Lucas, Bryn, Glenn and Charlene, who
had all just misted into the room not two seconds ago. She was a
healer, and from the potions, spell books and wands that Charlene
could see stacked on a side table, she was a witch, a witch doctor
specifically.

She looked unfazed at their
sudden appearance, but her appraising gaze lingered on Charlene.
Charlene saw her shudder as she mumbled, “Demon blood.”

She looked up and met
Charlene's eyes. “Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean you. It's
just that I had a very bad experience with demons. They took my
mate. And their blood was...” Jasynta shook her head and
clapped her hand over her mouth as she started to retch. “If
you don't mind, can I get rid of all this blood on you? It won't
take a second...”

“
Sure.” Charlene
nodded and wrinkled her nose. “I don't want it on me either.”

Jasynta grabbed a wand and
chanted a spell quickly. There was a flash, and Charlene felt her
skin tingle. When she looked down at herself, there was not a single
spatter of blood on her.

“
Wow.”

“
Yup. A Quick-Clean
spell is really handy for doing the laundry as well. Don't tell
Blake,” Jasynta added.

“
Now I'll need to work a
healing spell and I need all of you to wait outside,” the
healer said firmly. When Lucas refused to move from Charlotte's
side, she repeated, “All. Of. You.”

The Alpha growled, and looked
like he was ready to fight the petite healer.

Charlene had personally
experienced Jasynta's magickal abilities, and she trusted the witch
doctor to heal her sister.

“
Lucas.” Charlene
went to him. “Can we...talk? There's something that I have to
discuss with you, with all of you,” she amended, glancing
around the room. “It's important.”

Jasynta met Charlene's eyes,
and gave her a quick nod.

“
Your sister will be
fine. I promise. But I need to evoke the healing spell quickly,”
Jasynta said, checking Charlotte's pulse. “And I can't have
all your auras that is right now full of hurt and worry interfering
with the spell.”

She saw Glenn give Lucas's
shoulder a firm squeeze and walk with him to the door. Bryn followed
reluctantly.

The door of the PAC medical
bay closed behind them, and Charlene stood at the lift lobby, waiting
for Lucas to lead the way.

Bryn came up to Charlene, her
frown gradually dissipating as she stared up at her face. “You
really
are
her sister,” she said very softly. “I've
seen your photographs. You...look the same. But you are no longer
the same.”

“
She was Made into a
blood demon by Sideous Kron, the demon Lord of Beasts and Bloodshed.
Mr Kron has recently made the headlines by putting in an outrageous
bid on a piece of land owned by GC Inc.,” Glenn said.

Bryn's response summed up
Charlene's feelings perfectly. “Shit.”

Charlene closed her eyes
briefly and thought of Charlotte. She saw her sister in Jasynta's
capable hands, in Lucas's loving arms, being protected and loved.

With a start, Charlene turned
to Glenn. “How did you know I was in the alley, with that
blood demon? You misted there with Lucas, didn't you?”

“
I saw you. And Lucas
heard you,” Glenn said simply.

Charlene swallowed. So Lucas
had heard her whisper after all.

The Alpha's gaze slid from
Charlene to Glenn. “So, Glenn, is this your vigilante vampire?
The one that you promised to recruit as an Enforcer for Jett?”
Lucas arched a brow and inclined his head at Charlene. “My
sister-in-law.”

Glenn dragged his palm across
his forehead. “And you, Lucas, would be my brother-in-law,”
he deadpanned.

Glenn's announcement was met
with two seconds of utter silence as Lucas and Bryn's eyes bugged out
of their heads.

In unison, they spluttered,
“She is your mate!”

After everyone had pushed
their eyeballs back into their heads and stopped staring at Charlene
in stupefied awe, Glenn ushered Charlene into the conference room
after a stunned Lucas. At the door, Lucas turned to tell Bryn to
wait outside, since she was not a Council member but Charlene spoke
up. “She's Charlotte's best friend. She has a right to know.”

Lucas had frowned, then looked
at Glenn. Glenn was the Master vampire who had turned Bryn, so in
theory, Bryn was under his control. Some old school Master vampires
still tried to hang on to that illusion of power over their vampires.
But Glenn didn't interfere with his vampires, much. As long as they
didn't become evil, they were pretty much safe from Glenn.

Glenn gave Lucas a firm nod,
which Lucas acknowledged. The Alpha motioned Bryn to a seat at the
long conference table and picked up the phone. Glenn heard him call
two Council members in, Jett Riley and Blake Madden.

In less than a minute, Jett
and Blake were in the conference room. The two men stared at
Charlene, and Jett squinted at the red swirls at the corner of her
eyes and said, “She's a blood demoness.”

Blake, the werebear with the
most powerful nose on the Council inhaled deeply. “But...why
does she smell like a human? Pardon me for...”

“
It's all right.”
Charlene faced the two men across the table and answered calmly, “I'm
newly Made. My blood is still red, not black, and I haven't come
into my demon form. And yes, I'm Charlotte's sister. I am Charlene
Cole.”

Glenn saw the shock on Jett
and Blake's faces. “Yes, yes,” Jett said, recovering
quickly. “I do see the resemblance. Now I know why we never
found your body. We searched for one year, and then assumed the
worst. That your body had been eaten.”

Blake elbowed Jett in the ribs
for his insensitive remark. “We're glad you're alive,”
Blake told her. “I'm sure Charlotte must be so happy. She...”

“
Charlotte doesn't know
about me,” Charlene cut in. “And I think it's best that
she doesn't know. She didn't see me. She was already unconscious
when I jumped in and fought the blood demon. Let her rest and
recover well. She's in good hands, in a good place. There's no need
for her to go through the pain of losing me—again.”

Glenn rounded on her.
“Charlene! What are you...”

She didn't meet his eyes, just
carried on stoically and stiffly, as if she had rehearsed the whole
speech and was afraid that she'd lose her nerve if she didn't get all
the words out at one go. “I was Made into a blood demoness by
Sideous Kron. I am under his control and command. I hunt shifters
in New Moon City for their blood, and drag them back to Kron. He
takes their blood, tortures them to unleash and madden their beasts,
and then I take them back to the city and turn them loose, as rogues.
These rogues are more beast than man. In fact, they have become
completely animal, beastly in every way. More blood and more beasts
mean more power to Kron. For what I did, I should be hunted down and
destroyed by your Enforcers. I...deserve to be destroyed. But
destroying me would mean that I will be forever trapped by Kron. I
am asking the PAC for a chance. The chance to be free. Let me
destroy my demon Maker. I...won't fail.”

Her voice remained strong and
steady right to the end. But her words were like knives, each word
gouging out a piece of Glenn's heart.

“
You can't do that.”
The words scraped from his throat.

“
I can, and I will,”
she snapped, then lowered her head and her voice. “If the PAC
will let me.”

The entire room had fallen
silent, all eyes on him and Charlene. Glenn gripped her shoulders
and forced her to face him. “Charlene, I can't...let you...”

“
You have to, Glenn,”
she said softly, putting a hand against his cheek. “It's the
only way.”

Glenn looked up, and looked
round at the Council members. Lucas's expression was grave. Blake
was muttering under his breath and shaking his head, and Jett was
cursing not too softly.

Bryn jumped up. “You
can't let her do it, Glenn! She's your mate!”

This time, the silence in the
room was absolute.

No one spoke. No one dared
to.