Blood & Tears (Jane #3) (6 page)

I didn't sleep as well as I would
have liked that night. I was haunted by nightmares where Felipe and
Steven took turns being the star. By the time I finally crawled out
of bed, I was sweaty, exhausted, and terrified. My mirror was no
help at all, telling me that my tired, bloodshot eyes were a dead
giveaway from my sleepless night, and I did my best to get ready
for the coming days. Packing an overnight bag, I steeled myself and
headed out to meet the boys.

SIX

We took two vehicles, same as last
time. Ronin, Ado and Benton took one, with Benton driving, and Jax
drove for Felipe and I. It would take us two days to get there, so
we needed the humans to drive while the sun was out. As we left
Rome, I snuggled up next to Felipe and went to sleep. When the sun
sank below the horizon, Felipe took over and I moved to the front
passenger's seat so Jax could stretch out on the back seat—well, as
well as he could with his six-foot form. It was actually a bit
entertaining to watch him attempt to get comfortable. He tossed and
turned, grumbled and groaned, and, at one point, even wedged
himself in between the seats when he rolled off. Finally, he
settled down and started snoring.

I gazed at the passing scenery. We
were driving through the countryside and the moon was full, casting
a silvery glow on the fields of waving grass. I leaned my head
against the window, feeling the cool glass press against my
forehead.

"What're you thinking about?"
Felipe's voice came from the other side, barely a
whisper.

"I worry about Donna."

I felt the press of his hand on my
leg and I reached out to grasp his fingers in mine. We were quiet
for awhile.

"She'll be alright," he said.
"Eventually. It will be very hard for her for a long time, though.
It's been hard for all of us. We were close to Vicki. But not as
close as Donna was. Losing a sibling is... extremely
difficult."

I turned to look at him. Felipe's
jaw was bouncing as he clenched his teeth in a random rhythm. His
eyes were dark, shadowed, holding something that looked ready to
explode. His fingers gripped mine tightly, almost to the point of
pain. I leaned across the armrest between us, kissing his cheek
before resting my chin on his shoulder.

"You ok, baby?"

His jaw continued to work as he
thought. After several minutes, I gave up hope of an answer and
turned my head so my cheek rested against him and I could look out
the window.

"I had a sister. Did I ever tell
you that?" He paused very briefly, but continued without waiting
for an answer. The tone of his voice was distant and detached, as
if he were talking to some nonexistent being, not me. "Her name was
Alaina. She was beautiful. Her dark hair fell in silky strands past
her shoulders. She had eyes like the color of chocolate. The boys
loved her."

He stopped, his nostrils flaring,
his lips puckering in anger.

"They loved her too much." He
stopped himself, pinching his lips tightly together. His eyes
glistened in the moonlight as he drove.

"Do you want me to drive, baby?" I
kissed his cheek again, resting my head against his jaw.

"No, I'm good." He shook his head
and was quiet again. I didn't press the issue, though I was
extremely curious about what happened to her.

"She was given to an older man, a
vile man with much more money than my family. He fell in love with
her beauty and purchased her from my family." He shrugged and
looked at me. "That's the way things were done when I was a human.
It was a brutal, horrible practice, treating women like cattle, but
there was nothing I could do. He'd had wives before her. They all
died mysterious deaths. His first, a healthy, broad woman, died
unexpectedly in childbirth. Another fell down a well as she was
fetching water. I begged and pleaded with my parents to not send
Alaina to him, but the money was good and we were struggling under
debt."

Felipe took a deep breath and
squeezed my hand. He looked at me and smiled. "She went without
argument. Alaina was always the good child. She always did what she
was told, never caused trouble, always aimed to please. Everyone
loved her. And I tried to protect her, but he took her anyway. For
two years, she slaved in his home. Because that's essentially what
she was—a slave. Maybe not technically. They had real slaves. But
he treated her like she was one. If she didn't do what he wanted
right away, he'd beat her. I remember going to visit her once,
without sending a messenger first. She had red welts across her
cheek. They weren't fresh, maybe days old, but I couldn't touch
them without her flinching, and it was clear that they had
bled.

"I tried to get her to run away
with me. I had a bit of money hidden away. I could take her
someplace safe and we could start anew. She could find a new
husband, someone who would treat her the way she deserved to be
treated. But she was always the obedient woman and refused to leave
her husband, even though he treated her no better than a common
whore.

“A month later, a messenger came
to my parents' house. Alaina was helping the slaves prepare dinner
when a fire got out of hand, or so the story went. The room was
destroyed, the slaves and Alaina unrecognizable. I was convinced
he'd killed her, but my parents would not hear it. They grew irate
when I continued to press the issue and eventually, they banned me
from their home. They sent me away to live on my own."

He stopped talking, his fingers
squeezing mine so hard I could no longer feel them. I didn't remove
them from his grip, though. I knew he needed me, and he needed
time. "I think he killed her that night. The night I visited. I
sneaked over there and the ashes in the kitchen looked old. I think
he waited to inform us. I don't know why. I doubt he feared
anything we could do to him. He was much more powerful than my
family. But I'm sure she died that night. When I left her house,
the terror in her eyes was real, tangible. She knew her death was
close. I just know it."

He stared at the dark road in
front of him, eyebrows furrowed, mouth pinched. After several quiet
moments, I asked, "So what happened?"

"What?"

"What happened after you were
kicked out?"

"Oh. Well, I wandered around for
awhile, trying to find someplace where I could be of use. My
parents weren't completely heartless, so they gave me a bit of
money to survive on, in addition to what I had stashed away.
Eventually, I made my way to Rome. Wandering the streets one night,
I found a church and went in. There was a man standing at the
pulpit, a priest. But he was unlike any other priest I'd met. He
seemed... I don't know. Wiser, maybe? Like he'd seen much more than
his young appearance could account for. Every night for a week, I
returned to that church and talked to that priest. When he spoke to
me of the death and rebirth of Christ, he carried a passion so
strong, so... powerful. It was almost like he'd been there. Of
course, I found out later that he had indeed been there and that he
was part of an underground group of vampires, but for several
months, I didn't know that.

"After that week, he gave me a job
in the church, cleaning during the day after the sermons. He gave
me a side room to sleep in, free meals, and enough money to live
on. A month later, a man came in late at night as the priest and I
were talking. He was mad, completely crazy. His eyes were wide,
bloodshot, his skin pale as snow. The priest stood quickly, so
quick I couldn't follow his movements. One moment he was next to me
in the pew, the next he was standing in the aisle facing the
stranger. You could cut the tension with a knife. I sat where I
was, terrified of what would happen. Then the stranger snarled,
baring his teeth. Two of them were long, pointed, deadly. I'd never
seen teeth like that.

"He launched himself at the
priest, growling and spitting like a cur. The priest responded and
they battled in a blur. It was over in minutes, but the benches on
either side of them were splattered with blood and gore. I sat
where I was, unable to move, absolutely petrified. When the
stranger was dead, the priest's cross buried in the man's chest,
the priest turned to me. His eyes were bloodshot, too, and his
teeth pointed like the strangers. My heart stopped. I was convinced
I was going to die when the priest took a step toward me, but he
smiled weakly, and it held no malice.

" 'Come, Felipe. We have much to
discuss.' His words were soft, weary, resigned. I thought about
running for the door, but I knew I would not make it if he chose to
come after me, so I stood and followed him to the back of the
church. We went through many doors, some of them hidden, and a
labyrinth of halls that I did not know existed. After descending
what seemed like a never-ending staircase, we came out into a big,
comfortably furnished room. There were others down there. They all
looked human to me, but I found out later that they weren't. It was
a sanctuary, much like the one we live in, only about a third of
the size."

"I thought we were the only
sanctuary in Rome."

"No. There are a half a dozen
others now. Some of them are barely staffed, kept as safe houses.
The rest are reserved for priests of the church they are located
beneath. After the one beneath Maggiore was expanded, it became the
predominant sanctuary for new vampires. Before that, they had been
spread out among the enclaves. But a reform in the way vampires
were taught brought them all under one roof."

"Oh. I see. Please,
continue."

"So, anyway, it took me awhile to
believe that the vampires weren't going to hurt me, but the
priest's behavior before I knew what he was definitely was a point
in their favor. He explained to me that the man who attacked him
was part of a psychotic group of blood-thirsty vampires that he had
helped destroy. When they finally won me over, they recruited me
into their team. It was a team like ours, designed to hunt down and
remove the demons and plagues on this world. I was human, but I
played my part, just like Benton and Jax do. There are certain
things that would not be possible without the aid of humans. They
are the reason this world exists, and they play a crucial part in
our success at keeping it from being overrun by demonic
abominations.

"One night, I was out on patrol
with a vampire when we were attacked. I was wounded, badly. The
vampire was wounded, too, but managed to take out our attacker. It
was a strange lizard-like thing with sharp talons and a serrated
tongue. He ripped off its head, then carried me back to the
sanctuary. The thing had taken a chunk out of my side so large you
could see my rib cage, and I'd lost too much blood.

“One of the vampires, a doctor,
sent a messenger to the head priest at the main sanctuary. He came
over and they stood talking for quite some time. I couldn't really
hear what they were saying, and I kept slipping in and out of
consciousness, but I knew it wasn't good. I could feel myself
growing weaker and they couldn't stop the loss of blood, though it
had slowed a bit.

"During one of my few lucid
moments, a vampire I didn't know sat by the side of my bed. He
explained to me that I was going to die and that my friend, the
priest, had asked for permission to turn me. Because I'd been a
part of their group for awhile, the request was seconded by several
other vampires in the enclave, including the one who I'd been out
with that night. They told me how the process worked. Took them a
good hour or so because I kept blacking out. By the time they
finished, I knew I was dead if I didn't let them do it. I gave my
consent, then I was out again. When I woke up, hours later, they
had done it. The priest took on the responsibility, as he was my
closest friend."

"Where is he now?"

"America. He moved over with the
first waves of settlers, on a special boat hired by the church. To
set up the first approved sanctuary in the new land."

"There weren't vampires in America
before that?"

"Oh, of course there were. Some of
them were pretty vile, though. While the Native Americans may not
have been the savages the white men made them out to be, many of
their vampires were. There were a few good ones, though, and they
were adopted by the sanctuary once they were evaluated. And, of
course, vampires went with the Spanish when they discovered
America."

I felt my jaw drop and Felipe
laughed, sounding much more like himself than he had minutes
before. "What? You think Cortes destroyed the Aztecs with just a
group of humans? No. He had help... unfortunately."

I snorted. As a mortal, I'd been
pretty gullible. Vampires, mythical creatures used to generate
terror in movies and books, were, in reality, genius immortals who
played a very important part in human society. "Maybe someday I'll
get to actually take those history lessons I've been promised and
learn something real about the world's past."

He turned his head, his dark eyes
shining in the headlights of a passing car, a smile on his face.
"Yeah, I'll talk to Bellini about it. You need to know something
more useful than how to kill a guy with with a stake."

I laughed and leaned my head on
his shoulder again. "What could be more useful than knowing how to
kill a guy with a stake?"