Bitter Blood (Blood and Moonlight Book 3) (9 page)

Annette’s lips curled down in a sad smile. “Your world is going to rip apart, Jane. I hope you’re still standing when it’s all over.”

Great. More murky warnings from Annette. Must be Tuesday…or Wednesday…or Thursday. Or
any day.
“It would help me so much,” Jane told her quietly, “if you just
said
what I needed to avoid. You know, before I became a vampire, it would have been awesome if you just
said,
‘Jane, don’t go to Tulane! Your ass will get messed up there!’”

Annette blinked at her. “It doesn’t work that way.”

“If you
know
something bad will happen, you should tell me! What good is having an all-seeing friend if she won’t tell me exactly
what
she sees?” Jane threw her hands into the air and turned away.

She’d only taken a few steps when Annette’s soft voice stopped her. “Are we really friends now?”

Jane glanced back at her. “Yes, I think we are.”

Annette licked her lips. “I can’t see things…as well as I used to. The future, I mean. My mirror shattered and…” Once more, she shoved her hand into her bag. This time, she pulled out a few chunks of black, broken glass. “This is all I have left. So when I look, I see bits and pieces.”

“You can still share those bits with me.”

Annette nodded, but she still hesitated. “You owe me, Jane. Do you remember that? Once, you promised that you would pay me back a favor. You’d give me something I wanted, no questions asked.”

She didn’t exactly remember the no questions asked part but…

“Help me save Paris,” Annette pleaded.

Tears stung Jane’s eyes again. “I did this to him. I was just trying to get him out of the fire—I never meant—”

Annette’s dark gaze held hers as Jane’s words tumbled to a halt. “Help me.”

“I will,” Jane promised. “But not as some favor I owe. But because Paris is my family, too. I want him back. I want to fix this.”

But inside she worried, she feared…

There are some things that can’t be fixed.

***

As Jane’s footsteps faded away, Annette knelt beside Paris once more. She brushed back his hair, and her fingers drifted over his cheek.

Paris Cole had been fighting darkness for most of his life. It didn’t seem right that the darkness should now try to claim him. No, not right at all.

How did a werewolf become a vampire?

Jane changed the rules, for all of them.
Annette had known that truth, she just hadn’t wanted to face it. Now, there was no choice, not for any of them.

Carefully, she spread out the chunks of her precious black mirror. She would have to forge a new mirror soon, but building a mirror like that would drain her power, and with all the danger coming to their town, she couldn’t afford to be weak, not even for a moment.

So the new mirror had to wait.

Her fingers fluttered over the chunks of glass. When she’d touched Paris’s cheek, a drop of his blood had gotten onto her finger. Now, she smeared that blood on a chunk of the glass. She wanted to look into that mirror, and see Paris fighting the darkness. She wanted to see him surviving. Having his control back.

She stared into the glass and her heart chilled.

She could see Paris, an image shimmering in her mind’s eye. He was strong. He was whole. He was…

Sinking his teeth into Aidan. Drinking from the alpha, gorging on his blood.

Annette threw the chunks of glass against the wall. A sob broke from her. “I won’t let this be your end. I
won’t.”
Then she began to chant, low and fast.

Who said magic couldn’t change the world?

Magic could change anything, even fate.

Provided, of course, that the magic used was very, very dark.

As dark as a werewolf’s tortured soul.

***

“He must have been given vampire blood. No other explanation for it.” Vincent paced along the sidewalk. Dawn had come, but the sun barely peeked in the sky. Darkness still hung heavily in the city.

Jane glanced at Vincent—suave, polished Vincent who barely had so much as a hair out of place, despite their hellish night. Then her gaze slid to Aidan.
Her
Aidan. His hair was thick and wild, his eyes blazing, and the t-shirt he wore stretched over the powerful muscles of his chest and shoulders.

It was a good thing Aidan kept spare clothes in his car. Because after that shift at the lab, he’d been stark naked.

“I never gave him vamp blood,” Aidan spat. “So try another explanation.”

“Maybe you didn’t…” Now Vincent focused on Jane. “But maybe
she
did.”

What? Jane held up her hands. “Slow down there, asshole. I did
not
. I didn’t so much as even nip the guy when he asked me to, all right? I know how werewolves feel about vamps. It’s not like I’d ever want to give him this fate.”

Her fate.

“I’ve
never
known of a werewolf to become a vampire,” Vincent said as he began to rub the back of his neck. “And I’ve been around a long time. It’s just…not done.”

“Uh, obviously, it’s done.” Jane pointed to the building behind them. “Got an undead buddy in there who is proof of that fact.”

Vincent’s mouth clamped shut.

Aidan crossed his arms over his chest and studied the vamp. “You’re telling me that you’ve
never
heard of this before? I thought your ass was alive when the Vikings were here—”

“I
was
a Viking,” Vincent began hotly, “so don’t tell me—”

“Because I’m not buying,” Aidan continued, cutting right over his words. “That this has never happened before. Someone knows what is going on. Someone can fix this!”

“I’ll put a call in to my witch.” Before Aidan could respond, Vincent threw up his hand. “And, yes, she’s a real witch, with more power than anyone I know.” He hesitated. “Aside from Annette Benoit.”

Jane inched closer to him. “Will your witch be able to help?”

“Possibly. Maybe. I don’t know.”

So he wasn’t exactly building them up on hope.

“I’ll get Lena out here as soon as I can, okay? She was a bit angry at me the last time I saw her, but I can convince her to help us out.”

That was something.

“In the meantime, we keep Paris here,” Vincent added doggedly. “We keep trying to feed him blood—your blood, alpha. He didn’t spit it back up, so that means he can survive on it. We give him enough, and maybe we’ll reach the guy’s humanity once more. If his control can hold, then he’ll have a fighting chance.” But he shook his head grimly. “Either you were born to change, or you weren’t. Humans weren’t meant to grow fangs, and werewolves—hell, they definitely weren’t meant to live on a blood diet.”

“The rules have changed,” Aidan said.

Jane’s head turned toward him. He was staring at her, and his eyes seemed to shine with the power of his beast. A shiver slid over her.

“You changed the rules,” Aidan said, almost as an accusation.

Another shiver. “I never meant to,” Jane said. She’d never wanted to be a vampire. That choice—it hadn’t been one that she’d ever wanted. She squared her shoulders and marched closer to him. “We’re going to find a way to help Paris.”

He stared back at her. “We
are,”
Jane said. “Stronger when we’re together, remember? We can do this.”

Vincent gave a bark of rough laughter, drawing her stare. “Stronger together? You two are
lethal
together, when are you going to realize that? A werewolf with a vampire—it’s an abomination to nature.
That’s
why your friend is in there suffering. Because the two of you wouldn’t fucking stay apart. How many others will you destroy before you finally get a clue?” He shook his head and turned away from them.

Aidan strode away from Jane and grabbed Vincent’s shoulder. “You and I aren’t done.”

A muscle jerked in Vincent’s jaw. “Still mad because I made sure she came back as a vampire, huh? You know, instead of being all enraged, maybe you should try being grateful. After all, I’m the one who made it so that Jane is around, permanently. No death for her—provided, of course, she doesn’t get herself burned to ash because she’s saving your sorry hide.”

Aidan’s eyes took on a beastly glow.

“Aidan,” Jane said quickly. “Don’t.” She knew he wanted to rip Vincent apart but… “We need him, remember? Let the guy go and get his witch. For Paris.”

Aidan held Vincent’s gaze for a moment longer. She honestly thought there was a fifty-fifty shot that Aidan would ignore her and just cut off the vamp’s head right then and there. Jane tensed…

But then Aidan was reaching for her. His fingers tangled with hers and held tight.

Vincent’s gaze dropped to their hands. “And there it is.” His lips twisted in a mocking smile. “She’ll be the death of you one day, alpha.”

And then…the vamp vanished. Oh, Jane knew he hadn’t just disappeared into thin air. He used magic to make it seem as if he’d faded into nothing. Magic provided by the mysterious Lena.

“Can’t wait to meet his witch,” Jane murmured. “I want her to take away whatever spell lets him do that shit.”

Aidan pulled her closer.

She glanced up and fury blazed at her from the depths of his blue eyes, and, hell, it was a fury that he was more than entitled to feel. Jane lifted her chin. “I’m going to make this right, I swear, I am—”

In a flash, he’d shoved her against the brick walls of that old club. His hands locked hers above her head. And his grip was…strong. Very, very strong. So strong that even with her vamp enhancements, Jane wasn’t sure she could break away from him.

“You went into the fire,” Aidan snarled.

Were they back to that? “Aidan…”

He kissed her. Angry, rough, but, jeez, it was still Aidan and when Aidan kissed her, her body reacted with an instant fever. She got turned on, she got hot, she got…

I want him.

His mouth lifted from hers. “I can’t do it without you.”

Jane blinked up at him.

“I can feel myself changing. Every damn minute, my sanity…my hold on my humanity…Jane, it’s slipping away.”

Fear had her heart racing faster. “What?”

“You and Paris…you two are my anchors. You keep me in check. But now he’s in there…” And he stepped away from her. He freed her hands and started to pace. “Shit, he’s in there, chained up, and the bastard wants me to kill him!”

Her heart drummed even faster. “He’s half-mad from the change. He doesn’t know—”

Aidan scrubbed his hands over his eyes. “He knows. When he told me to kill him, he was Paris, not some blood-lust insane vamp. He wanted me to end him.” His hand fell. “And I didn’t.”

She wanted to reach out to him. Wanted to pull him close. To take away his pain. But Jane didn’t know how.

Especially since I think I’m the one who caused his pain.
“Aidan…”

He drove his hand into the brick wall. The bricks cracked, chunks went flying, and Jane saw the deep indention that had been left by his blow.

“I…I’m the fucking leader.” His fist stayed embedded in the wall. His head tilted forward as his shoulders slumped. “I know what I should do. As a werewolf alpha, I
know.
”

His pain was gutting her. She reached out for him, but when Jane touched his arm, Aidan flinched, then he whirled toward her.

And she saw his face.

His…fangs.

They were out. Sharp. Wicked, wicked sharp. The fangs of a vampire, not a wolf.

“Aidan?”

“But I’m not just a werewolf any longer.” And even his voice had changed. Deeper. Darker. “I won’t give up what’s mine. Not my friend.”

She was frozen to the spot.

He wasn’t. He reached for her. Pulled Jane close. She could feel the hot stir of his breath on her neck.

“And not you. Not ever fucking
you.
” His fangs sank into her. No marking from a werewolf, but a vampire’s bite. The pain was a white-hot flash, and then…pleasure. Seeming to burn through her veins. She gasped and held on to him, shuddering. Her breasts tightened, her nipples ached, and Jane found herself pushing closer to him, needing to touch him, wanting more of him. Wanting everything. Wanting—

He wrenched his mouth from her neck. “Jane?”

Her breath sawed out of her lungs. She peered up at him from beneath her lashes.

“Your…your neck…” He stumbled back and rammed into the brick wall. “I bit you.” His face reflected his horror.

Her hand lifted to her neck, and Jane felt the blood drops there. “It’s okay, Aidan.” She tried to make her voice soothing.

But he shook his head, once, hard. “No, no, it’s not. I
drank
your blood.”

“Aidan…”

His hands were at his sides and she could see the claws curling from his fingertips. His eyes were glowing, such a bright, intense blue. A blue that seemed to pierce Jane right to her soul.

“
I bit you…and I want to do it again.”

Her lips parted in surprise. She reached out to him once more.

“Don’t touch me.”

Her hand stilled, hanging in the air between their bodies.

“I don’t want to hurt you.” His voice was stilted. Not Aidan’s. A stranger’s. “And if you touch me…” That glow in his gaze just deepened. “I think I will.”

They stood there, staring at each other, a cold and dark stand-off. Jane tried to figure out what to say to Aidan. Their lives were too twisted. They had to get everything straightened out.

But…as she stared into his eyes, she saw a beast staring back at her, a beast with the claws of a werewolf and the bloodlust of a vampire. Fear slid down Jane’s spine. She’d trusted Aidan completely because she knew his control was always in place. Yet right then, she could see his control unraveling before her eyes.

And an Aidan without control…

He will be a monster.

She shook her head against the thought. No, no, Aidan was not a monster. He was hers. Her friend. Her lover. Her—

Jane made herself reach out to him. “We’re going to be okay.”

But Aidan gave a hard shake of his head.

Before her fingers could touch him, the scream of a siren broke the early morning silence.

Jane flinched at that sound, caught off-guard for an instant because she’d been so lost in Aidan. She thought the sound would die away after a moment, but…it grew louder. Her head turned and her heart kept racing in her chest as she saw the patrol car approaching.