Blood Mate: A Paranormal Romance (11 page)

“
If you scream, I will
do the same to your grandmother,” the vampire hissed into her
face. “I will slice her neck open, like this.” He
twisted the knife hard and yanked it out. Blood spurted out from the
deep gash. He cleaned his blade on her bedsheets and shrugged.
“You'll heal. But she won't.”

The vampire pulled Bryn
roughly to her feet. Bryn pressed a hand to her neck, feeling her
blood pump forcefully out of her wound. She was losing too much
blood too quickly. She blinked around her dark bedroom. Nana had
replaced the windowpanes in her room with dark shatterproof glass and
installed thick, heavy curtains over those tinted windows. With her
curtains drawn, her bedroom was as dark as a tomb during the day.

Through her fast clouding
vision, she could see her blood all over the bed, and on the floor.
There were crimson splatters on the wall, on the chair. Her mind
reeled. This blood-soaked scene was familiar. It looked a lot like
a murder scene.

Bryn blinked hard, trying to
clear her vision. She lunged at the vampire, fangs and nails out.
She swiped and slashed at him, but he sidestepped her easily. She
careened into the wall, and almost lost consciousness.

She slid to the floor, her
breathing becoming fast and shallow as she bled out.

The vampire strode over to the
window and pulled her curtains wide open. Bryn gasped and raised her
arms to shield her eyes. The dark, tinted glass blocked out most of
the sunlight, but still her eyes burned and blisters erupted on her
skin. The vampire watched her in silence. He didn't seem to be much
affected by the sunlight. Bryn immediately realized that he was a
very old vampire. And he had been careful to cover up every inch of
himself. He was in long sleeves, turtleneck, long pants, boots, mask
and gloves.

Bryn bit back her pain and
struggled up. She couldn't see so well in the light. But she could
hear Nana's shrieks.

She staggered out of her
bedroom, and the vampire smiled as he watched her go. He knew she
couldn't go far.

Bryn saw that the front door
was open. As she stumbled down the corridor, she raised her shaking,
bloodstained hand to protect her eyes from the harsh sunlight
streaming in through the front door. She broke into a lurching,
stumbling run.

“
Nana!”

She squinted against the light
and faintly made out a few moving shapes and Nana's kicking, whirring
legs. In the blinding daylight, she could only see them as blurred,
shadowy shapes. But she could scent her grandmother's terror and
outrage.

Bryn fumbled her way towards
the front door. She heard Nana terrified screech, “No, stay
back, Bryn! Don't come out! The sun!”

Bryn jerked back. If she
barreled headlong out into the open, into the late afternoon sun, she
would set herself ablaze. And her Nana would be forced to watch her
burn to ashes. No, she would never do that to Nana.

Nana's scream was cut off
abruptly. Bryn felt a gloved hand around her neck.

“
Time to go,” the
vampire drawled. “Don't worry, your grandmother's alive.
And—” He dug his fingers into the wound in her neck.
“—we won't let you die...yet. For now, you're more
useful to us alive.”

Bryn was too weak to resist
when he wrapped an arm around her waist. The vampire started to fade
into mist, wrapping himself tightly around her.

She could still feel her blood
leaking out of her neck as the vampire misted her away.

He's leaving a trail.

She thought of her fellow
Enforcers. Immediately, she thought of Jett and she sucked in a
painful breath.

This is a trap.

Jett thundered up the front
steps to Bryn's house. “Where is she?” he roared.

Scott stepped forward.
“The...”

Jett grabbed the burly
werebear by the collar and slammed him against the wall. Scott
didn't fight him at all. There was no anger in the bear shifter's
blue eyes, just understanding and sympathy.

This is not your fault,
Jett.

Jett's fists shook and he
closed his eyes in pain. It was his fault! This was entirely his
fault. He had been watching her house the whole night. He had left
at daybreak and gone back to the office.

Someone had seen him. And
someone had watched him leave.

He had left Bryn and her
grandmother exposed and vulnerable. It was all his fault.

Jett bit out a single word.
“How.”

Scott didn't flinch. He
stared straight into Jett's furious eyes, and said, “Vampire.
She was misted away.”

“
Her grandmother?”

“
Her grandmother was
taken as well. But not by the vampire.”

Jett released Scott's collar.
The other Enforcers had crowded around but nobody dared utter a
sound. More than two dozen Enforcers had rushed to the scene. Bryn
was well-liked, and with the recent spate of murders, the Enforcers
closed ranks and responded to any call for backup in double-quick
time.

Jett stepped back, and turned
to face his silent, grim-faced Enforcers. They were watching him
expectantly. Jett could feel their seething anger and pain. Another
Enforcer had been brutally attacked in her home, in her bed.

They were waiting for him to
give the command and declare an all out war on the rogues.

They wanted blood.

Jett's eyes scanned the living
room. His nostrils flared when he saw the blood on the floor.

“
Bryn's,” he bit
out.

“
Yes,” Scott
confirmed.

Jett saw Levi and Jeanette
among the cluster of Enforcers. He gestured for them to walk with
him and Scott through the house, and go through the crime scene with
him.

“
Tell me what you
scent,” he ordered.

Scott exchanged a look with
Levi, before reporting quickly, “All the blood in the house, is
Bryn's. A vampire took Bryn. And...a ghoul took her grandmother.”

“
A ghoul.” Jett
turned sharply to frown at Scott.

Scott nodded. “Yes.”

Jett was at the door of Bryn's
bedroom. He stared at the blood on her sheets, and the dark, angry
splashes all over the wall and the floor. His teeth gnashed as his
fist closed over the hilt of a silver knife under his jacket.

He would slay this rogue
vampire himself.

As his eyes swept across
Bryn's bedroom, he motioned for his Enforcers to come forward.

“
How old is this rogue
vampire? Did the ghoul come into Bryn's room as well? Did they
attack her together?” Jett grated. “Have they left any
traces, any trail?”

Levi, Scott and Jeanette
stepped carefully into the room. The two bear shifters sniffed the
air, and nodded at each other, confirming their findings.

“
The vampire who
attacked Bryn is old, but he is not a Master vampire. The ghoul
never entered Bryn's room. The ghoul's scent is strongest in the
kitchen where he attacked Bryn's grandmother,” Levi said.

“
A ghoul,” Jett
exhaled harshly and turned to Jeanette. “A creation of dark
magick.”

“
Yes. When a paranormal
or human dies, he or she can be resurrected as a ghoul using blood
and dark magick. Usually a vampire's blood is used. The ghoul
survives on flesh. The weaker ghouls might lurk near cemeteries and
dig up fresh graves to eat the body, but the stronger and bolder
ghouls prefer to hunt for fresh meat.”

Jett's fists tightened. “The
bodies of the Enforcers were eaten. This ghoul hunted Enforcers.”

“
He had help,”
Jeanette said, narrowing her eyes. “He had the help of dark
magick. But...there's no cloaking magick this time. There are clear
traces of the vampire and the ghoul all over the house. And they
have left a clear imprint of their destination. They were headed
towards an old three-story building at the fringe of the city. The
building used to house a brothel. I know where it is.” She
rubbed her arms and frowned. “This is...too easy. It's almost
like...they want us to follow them.”

Jett's watch beeped suddenly.
He stared at the incoming message. It was sent from Bryn's watch.

He tapped his watch quickly.

A picture of Bryn's bruised
face flashed across the screen. The message read:
Come and get
her, Jett.

Bryn had worn her watch to
bed. The rogues who took her would know that there was a tracking
function on her watch, yet they had kept the watch on her wrist.

Jeanette was right.

They wanted to be followed.

Jett kept staring at the
picture of Bryn's battered, discolored face. Her eyes were puffy and
swollen, and her lips were smeared with blood. He could make out an
ugly, gaping wound on her neck. He could tell that the cut was deep
and vicious.

The rogue had stabbed her in
the neck, slicing through her artery to drain her blood. She would
die if she didn't feed soon. Jett didn't think the rogues would be
kind enough to offer her their necks for her breakfast.

Jett looked up at the sound of
screeching tires and pounding footsteps coming from the front of the
house. More Enforcers had arrived. Jett grimaced when he caught
sight of Charlotte and Charlene running towards the house.

Jett walked out to the living
room where his Enforcers were gathered.

“
Where's Bryn?”
Charlotte screamed. “Jett! Answer me! Where is she?”

Charlotte grabbed him by the
collar and shook him. Charlene didn't pull her sister away. She
stood by with her hands on her hips, glaring at Jett. The other
Enforcers made no move to put themselves between the two enraged
sisters and Jett. Charlotte was the PAC Alpha, Lucas Rieve's mate.
And Charlene was mated to Glenn Constantine, the Master vampire on
the Council. No one was stupid enough to touch Lucas and Glenn's
mates.

Jett let Charlotte shake him
like a ragdoll. “Where is she? How could you...!”
Charlotte shrieked. Her eyes bulged at the blood in the house. “No,
no! What have they done to her? Tell me!”

Jett took a painful breath and
closed his eyes for an instant.

His Enforcers were unusually,
uncharacteristically silent. Jett looked up and saw that the Council
members had arrived.

Lucas Rieve and Glenn
Constantine were walking up the front steps to the house. Behind
them was Blake Madden, Scott and Levi's cousin. Even Ella Wong, the
PAC secretary and Zorath, the demon prince, had arrived.

Jett went to meet Lucas at the
front steps.

“
Do you know where she
is?” Lucas asked immediately.

“
Yes.”

“
And?”

“
They're setting a trap
for us. I have to go alone, if I am to get her back without losing
more Enforcers.”

Lucas nodded. “You go
alone, but you are not alone. We'll cover you.”

Jett shook his head. “This
is a trap. These rogues are leaving traces of themselves all over
the house. On purpose. They didn't bother cloaking themselves.
They want us to follow them.”

Glenn stepped up. “What
do you plan to do, Jett?”

Even though Glenn was Bryn's
master, he was letting Jett decide on the course of action. Jett
stared at the Master vampire. Did Glenn know that Bryn...was his
mate?

“
I'll get them back.
Tonight.”

“
We'll go with you!”
Ella Wong growled. The werepanther bared her teeth. “We'll
kill those rogues! Make them pay!”

The Enforcers began to yell
out.

Mia called out, “We'll
fight them. Aw, come on, Jett. You just want to have all the fun!
We wanna fight too!”

“
Yeah! Fight!”

“
All right!”

A chant swelled up among the
Enforcers, rising in volume and fervor. “For Jett!”

“
For Bryn!”

“
For world peace!”

Jett stood staring at the
raucous, boisterous Enforcers for a moment. He stared at the PAC
members, speechless.

His Enforcers loved a good
hunt, a good fight. Too many Enforcers had been killed by rogues.
They were relishing the chance to go after Bryn's attackers and exact
vengeance. They wanted in on the action. He understood fully their
thirst for revenge and justice.

Jett gave a nod. “These
rogues have left clear, obvious traces, like road signs pointing us
to the rendezvous point. They are waiting.”
For me.

“
Meet at the PAC
Headquarters at midnight,” Jett told them. “And wait for
my signal.”

Lucas put a hand on his
shoulder. “You're not going alone.”

“
I will not risk your
lives,” Jett answered. “I know what these rogues want.
And I will make damn sure they don't get it.”

They want a whole army of
Enforcers rushing into their trap. Well, all they're getting is one
lousy human.