Blood & Tears (Jane #3) (4 page)

"Sixteen?" Felipe and Ado's voices
held a shrill tone as the shock registered. I found my hand
gripping Felipe's leg a little too tight. Jax and Benton had gone
pale, and Ronin was crossing himself.

"Sixteen within our jurisdiction
alone. Count yourselves lucky. The Americans have it
worse."

"Do we know who's doing
this?"

Father Bellini shook his head at
me as I asked the obvious question. "No, Jane, we do not. But we're
certain it's not a single rogue vampire at this point. He, or she,
would be dead by now with all the vampires that have been
turned."

"Could the new vampires be turning
others?" I'd been lucky enough to skip the normally required
vampire history lessons, though I'm not sure if they would have
covered that anyway.

"No. A vampire is not strong
enough to handle that type of blood loss for at least the first two
decades of life. This was definitely done by more than one vampire,
and they have to be older. It's entirely possible that they're not
technically rogue, either."

"You mean they could be in the
sanctuary? Or a sanctuary somewhere? Where they're being trusted
with important information?"

"We've narrowed down a couple
suspects. But we do not have enough evidence on any of them, so we
have to keep this all on the down-low for now.
Understand?"

He sent a meaningful look around
the table and everyone nodded. "Good. Here is your next
assignment."

As Father Bellini passed around
half a dozen manilla folders filled with papers, I looked at
Felipe. His jaw was set in a hard line, his forehead creased in
thought. He was looking in my direction, but jumped when I waved my
hand in front of his face.

"You ok?" I kept my voice low,
hoping no one else at the table would hear, though I saw a couple
faces turn in our direction. Stupid vampire hearing.

"Fine." Mumbled through gritted
teeth, I knew he was less than fine, but there was no way he would
talk about it here, at least not here. I let it go and turned to my
folder.

The first paper was a list of
expected vampires and humans held at the next coven we were to
dismantle. It was more than double the size of the one we'd just
taken out. Five vampires and approximately twelve humans. I took a
deep breath before turning the page. The next several pages held
pictures and dossiers on all those who were confirmed to live at
the compound. The humans were only semi-confirmed. Rumor had it
that the “blood slave” tally changed frequently. After that came
any and all information the prep team could acquire about the
building.

It was a large two-story house
from the early 19th century, or so I thought. I'm not very good at
labeling architecture. In its heyday, it would have been gorgeous.
A wide porch wrapped around the front half of the wooden structure
on both levels. The stairs leading to the double front doors were
located on the corner. Partial towers mirrored each other and you
could see the remains of stained glass in the windows. It would be
a shame to destroy such a lovely building.

"So what's the plan? Burn it to
the ground and wait to see what surfaces?" Jax. Always
practical.

"Only in your dreams would it be
that easy, boy." Father Bellini spared a grin for the big man, but
he wasn't joking. "You can't destroy the house. Even the least
little bit. It's in a section of town that's protected as
historical."

"Electrical fire,
then."

"No, Jax. No fire. And minimal
damage to the interior, please. You'll be in a residential area, so
there is a high risk of witnesses. You need to be discreet,
too."

"Wait, wait, wait. So we need to
take out a coven of five vampires and a dozen humans, without
damaging the building and avoiding witnesses in an area filled with
families? Yeah, that's gonna work." The bitter sarcasm dripped from
Ado's words and the sneer on his face could have made God himself
cringe.

"You will make it work, Ado."
Father Bellini met the sneer with a pleasant smile. "And if you
don't, this team can easily be dismantled and shipped to those who
have already lost members. Now, does anyone have any
questions?"

Silence sat heavily over the room
after the tense exchange between Bellini and Ado. "Very well. Ado,
Felipe, I'll see you at my office for our meeting
later."

He gave us a brisk nod and left
the room. We sat around the table for the next half hour, silently
reviewing the paperwork in front of us. After he thoroughly
examined all the information we had, Felipe closed his
folder.

"Ideas?" More than two hours were
spent suggesting and dismissing ideas, battle plans, and theories.
The dry erase marker Benton used to detail the attack nearly went
dead by the time the white board was covered with a workable
strategy. Ado, in charge of weapons for the group, went to the
armory to fill out the proper request forms with Benton in tow,
Ronin left to work on the sermon he was giving that evening, and
Jax headed to the lounge, likely hoping to catch Annie as he passed
through the dormitory.

Felipe stood in front of the white
board, frowning as he looked over our battle plan. He fiddled with
the marker, but made no changes. I sat in my chair, watching him
until he turned around. I couldn't suppress a smile when he jumped
as he saw me, a slight glare marring his face.

"I didn't know you were still
here."

"Where would I go?"

He shrugged, letting a grin spread
across his lovely lips. He made his way around the table and sat
next to me, turning his chair and mine so we were facing each
other. He pulled my chair close, so my knees were touching the wood
on his. He leaned forward, placing his hands on the arms of my
chair. I leaned back, clasping my hands behind my head, trying to
affect Felipe's classic smirk. His beautiful, toothy white grin
faded and he leaned back.

"I don't want you to
go."

"What?" To say I was confused was
an understatement.

"I don't want you to go on this
mission, Jane. It's not safe."

"Um, duh? None of them are safe.
And you can't tell me not to go. You guys are short-handed as it
is. Without me, you would be outnumbered three to one. Don't you
dare ask me to let you go into that alone."

I gritted my teeth, hating that I
was practically begging him. I could feel my voice shaking, my
hands trembling. A picture of Steven inexplicably flashed through
my mind. Felipe took my hands in his, pressing them tightly
together as he kissed them. I kept my eyes on his chest, afraid of
letting the tears that were sitting in them fall. I was sure he
could see them. It's hard to miss the pink water sitting in a
vampire's eyes when they're about to cry.

"Jane," he said, placing a hand on
my cheek and forcing me to meet his gaze. "Please don't be upset.
You can go. But don't be mad when I worry about you the entire
time."

His smile was contagious and he
pulled me close. I crawled onto his lap as he wrapped his arms
around me. We sat there, snuggling in that uncomfortable chair for
I don't know long. I don't know what he thought about, but I kept
running through the upcoming battle mentally, worrying about
everything that could possibly go wrong, imagining an infinite
number of ways I could lose him forever. Eventually, he looked at
his watch and sighed.

"I have that meeting with
Bellini."

I held him tighter, not wanting to
let him go. He returned the squeeze before pressing his lips to my
cheek. For the past six months, the kisses had been migrating
closer and closer to my lips. The first peck had been after a
particularly successful training session. He'd wrapped his arms
around me and kissed me near the ear, much like my mother used to
do when I was a teenager. This was not that kiss. This time, his
lips were so close, I could feel them brush faintly across my mouth
as he pulled away. I met his eyes, silently pleading with him for
more. For a very tense, very brief moment, I thought I might win,
but then he smiled and kissed my nose.

"See you at dinner," he said as he
pulled away, set me on my feet, and walked out the door.

I frowned and plopped back into a
chair. My emotions were worse than a seaside town after a
hurricane. They were in utter chaos. Part of me berated my other
self for not remaining completely and unfailingly devoted to Steven
til the day I died. Another part was constantly arguing that I'd
mourned for six months and that I deserved to find love again. My
head thumped (a bit painfully) into my hands and I groaned out
loud.

"Jane? Are you ok?" Annie's soft
voice made me bounce out of the chair like it was
electrified.

"Yeah, I'm alright. Just... I
dunno. Being stupid, I guess."

"Wanna talk about it?"

I paused, almost saying no
automatically. I've had so few friends in my life that my default
response when someone asked me how I was was "fine", and "do you
want to talk about it" elicited a solid and resounding "no"
nine-tenths of the time.

"Yeah, I do, actually. Do you have
some time?"

"Absolutely." She seemed more
excited to listen to me than I was to talk. Her grin lit her face
liked I'd never seen and she slipped her arm in mine. I let her
lead me to her office—or more correctly, what I'd assumed was her
office, but was really office/residence. She unlocked the door and
I followed her in.

Right inside was indeed her
office. It was a small anteroom with a desk, a set of metal
drawers, and a single chair for visitors. She walked right through
the room and opened a door on the other side.

"Come on in," she said, beaming.
"It's not much, but it's the first and only home that's been really
mine."

Annie had quite the nice little
set-up. Her room was twice the size of mine and had a divider
installed to separate the space she used as her bedroom from the
rest of it. There was an open door to the side that led to a small
private bathroom and she had furnished it all with castoffs and
thrift store finds. It was really quite lovely. She gestured to a
lime green settee and took a seat on an orange recliner. It looked
remarkably like the one my grandfather had owned when I was a
child.

"Oh," she exclaimed, bouncing to
the edge of her seat. "Do you want tea or something? I'm sorry, I
should've offered before. I don't usually have guests aside from
Father Bellini."

"Tea would be lovely," I said,
smiling. Annie was a lot like me—quiet, reserved, but longing for
someone to share our lives with. I watched her as she plugged in an
electric tea kettle and readied two mugs.

When the tea was done, she
returned to her seat, handing me a cup. I sipped carefully. Earl
Grey with a bit of sugar and a hint of lemon. Delicious. A slightly
awkward silence filled the air for a minute or two as we adjusted
to the more personal setting. I decided to break the ice
first.

"So," I said, my breath making the
steam from the mug near my lips dance across the surface of the
tea. "Jax is kinda cute."

Annie's blush crept up her neck,
through her cheeks, disappearing into her hairline. "Yeah, he
is."

Her grin made it impossible for me
not to press the subject. "And he's single, from what I
hear."

"Yeah, that's what I
hear."

I wiggled my eyebrows at her and
she went into a fit of giggles, nearly spilling her tea on her
lap.

"I dunno," she said, shrugging
shyly. "He wouldn't like a girl like me, anyway. He probably
prefers girls like Donna, or you."

I took another sip of tea. "I
don't think so. Haven't you seen the way he looks at you? I think
he likes you."

"Really? You think so?"

"Mm hmm. I sure do."

When I thought her grin before was
the biggest grin possible, I was wrong. The smile she held now
literally stretched from ear to ear and I half expected her face to
crack open at any moment.

"Maybe we could go on a
double-date with you and Felipe, so it wouldn't be too
awkward."

I bit my lip, trying to hide my
frown, and sipped my tea again. "Yeah, maybe."

"What's wrong? Are you and Felipe
having trouble?"

"What? No. We're doing fine... I
guess."

"Are you having a lover's
spat?"

She said it with a grin, but I
literally spit my tea out. As I cleaned it up, I said, "We're not
lovers."

"Oh." She was quiet for a minute.
"I thought you two were an item. I mean, everyone thinks that. Not
just me."

"No, we're not dating. Just
friends."

She eyeballed me, her eyes narrow.
"You two seem pretty close. And didn't you guys fall asleep on the
couch together the other night in the lounge?"

I blushed and stared at the coffee
table. "Yeah..."

"But you're trying to tell me you
guys aren't together."

"I.. I don't know. I mean, I feel
kind of guilty with Steven and all."

"Jane, I know you loved Steven.
Love Steven. But he wouldn't want you to be alone for the rest of
your hopefully extremely long life. He would hate for you to pine
for him and let new love fade just because you feel unnecessary
guilt. You and Felipe are great together. You should try to make a
go of it."