Chapter 15
Jase
T ony’s shock at seeing me on his doorstep was no surprise. He tried to slam the door in my face, but I caught it just in time and shot him an exasperated look. “Try that again, and—”
Tony raced to the bedroom, slamming the door behind him before I could finish my threat, probably to find something to shoot me with. I couldn’t say I blamed him. Just a few months ago, I threatened the woman he considered a sister and turned her best friend into a vampire against her will. He probably thought I was coming for him next.
I scanned the apartment, waiting for Tony to find whatever weapon he needed and return. The living room was slightly messy, with magazines and an empty bottle of Jack Daniels on the coffee table. Tony’s black leather jacket hung over a kitchen chair, and his cell phone was within reach.
I walked to the phone and picked it up. Tony must have used it recently since there was no lock screen on. While waiting for him to return, I casually flipped through the text messages.
Nothing from Rachel.
“This wouldn’t be a fair fight, you know? You’re not bonded to Rachel anymore, so any supernatural strength you used to have is long gone. You’re just a mortal going against someone like me. If you’d calm down for a second, we can talk like rational men. I’m not here to kill you.”
The door swung open, and Tony came charging out, a shotgun leveled at his shoulder. The weapon was modified, and I saw that a thick wooden stake was placed in the barrel.
“Oh, that’s cute,” I derided. “Would you put down the damn gun? I’m here to talk like adults.”
Tony didn’t lower the weapon, only lifted it higher, steadying its aim at me. “You have some nerve showing up here,” he barked. “Some fucking nerve!”
Irritation burned in my chest, but as much as I wanted to lash out, I couldn’t, for obvious reasons. “I’ll give you the courtesy of my patience. You just hit strike one. I’ll not ask again. Put the gun down.”
Tony’s arms trembled, his heart speeding up to a quickening beat. I needed to de-escalate this clusterfuck before there was a trigger finger mishap.
“It’s about Rachel, if that changes anything,” I said. “She’s in danger, and maybe we can put aside our grievances, and you can hear me out.”
Tony froze when I mentioned Rachel’s name. While he didn’t trust me at all, he lowered his weapon slightly. “What about her? What’s happened?” he asked.
“Sit down, and I’ll explain everything.” I pointed to the couch.
He carefully moved to the couch and sat down, the barrel of the gun still aimed at me. “Don’t think I won’t stake you if I don’t like what you say.”
I rolled my eyes and moved to the second couch across from him, removing my leather jacket and tossing it onto the cushions. I ran a hand through my hair.
“Alright, I’ll get to the point. I gather you know Andrei and I came into possession of Valentina’s ring at the church and what the consequences of wearing it are?” Tony nodded. “Andrei plans to save mine and his soul by summoning the warrior angel Ezrylos and using his magical little sword to kill Lucifer. Thus saving us from eternal torment, destabilizing the Underworld, and securing his power in the vampire species.” Tony’s eyes widened, and I leaned forward, clasping my hands between my knees. “He needs Rachel’s blood to do it.” I swallowed. “The spell’s dangerous. It could very well kill her in the end. And if it doesn’t, he’s planning to bring her back to his dungeon at the mansion to make her his plaything.”
“Jesus,” Tony gasped out.
“Though my past actions would suggest that I have some nefarious agenda to kill Rachel and her mother myself, I don’t. I want to save her from Andrei, but I can’t do it without yours and Lucy’s help.”
Tony stilled at Lucy’s name and glared at me.
“I know, I know,” I replied. “I had the same expression when the revelation came to me, too.”
“Give me one damn good reason why I should even think about helping you. If you can’t answer that, get the fuck out of my house,” Tony growled, tightening his grip on the shotgun.
I breathed out, the image of that night in stark detail behind my eyes. “Four months ago, at the train station in Boston, Valentina told me something right before she and Rachel took off.”
Tony’s brows pinched together.
“She said Rachel and I are fated mates,” I said and watched Tony’s brows shoot up. “That celestial magic wove our destinies together two hundred years ago, and the bond solidified the night I released Valentina. As much as I don’t want to believe it … it explains a lot. The way I’ve felt about her these last four years while I watched her. No matter how much I fight it, something deep in my dead heart pulls me to her. Believe me, Tony, if I could make it stop, I would.”
Tony’s jaw dropped, and he stood quickly, gun forgotten, running both hands through his hair.
“Yeah … take your time with that.”
I watched as Tony mulled over what I had shared before plopping back on the couch. He shook his head. “How?” he asked. “You’re a vampire, and she’s … It doesn’t make sense. Not you and Rachel. You tried to kill her—”
“If I wanted to kill her, I would have.” I turned my eyes from his and dropped my head. “This would be a lot easier if it wasn’t true. But something pulls me to her, and I need to know what it is, which is another reason I need to get to her. You and I have a common goal now. You want to keep her out of Andrei’s clutches as much as I do, and Rachel won’t hear me out unless her two best friends vouch for me.”
Tony threw back his head and laughed. “Vouch for you?” he said mockingly. “First off, Lucy wants to kill you, motherfucker. What the fuck makes you think she will help you? She won’t let you get within ten feet of her best friend. And despite what you’ve told me, I don’t think I could either.”
I bit the inside of my cheek, trying to control my anger. This went a hell of a lot smoother in my head. “Well, it’s Rachel’s funeral if you don’t. My brother will lock her away, the ancient covens will hold the most powerful weapon on this planet, and you can kiss your freedom goodbye. Once they bury Rachel from the world, don’t think they won’t come for anyone who knows she’s a dhampir, keeping their precious secret safe in their little culty caves. That includes you and Lucy. Tick. Tock.”
Lucy had lived in Andrei’s mansion since Rachel sent her to him. Though Andrei honored his word and never put her in danger, that didn’t mean he didn’t try to indoctrinate Lucy into his ideologies about vampirism. Andrei wanted to make her see humans as only a means of survival and pleasure for vampires. He and his men watched Lucy at all hours, waiting until she’d crack and tell them about the house Rachel was hiding in without giving away that they had her location pinned on a map. Meredith even tried the “confidant friend” role to get her to open up. Lucy saw right through the bullshit. So, if anyone can help me get Rachel to listen … it’s her.
“Look, Andrei knows Rachel’s in Venice. Okay? He knows. It’s only a matter of days before he boards a plane and hunts her down.”
Tony’s eyes widened again in panic, my heightened senses homing in on his rapid heartbeat. “How does he know?”
“He put a GPS tracker in her body. On top of that, the guardian bond has grown stronger. He can sense her from here. Not where she is but what she feels . Whatever Rachel experiences, he knows about it.”
“Ah, fuck,” Tony muttered, running a hand through his messy hair. “It wasn’t like that with us. Not even close. I mean, there were times when we trained that I felt her energy so close to me. But unless she was terrified to her core … nothing other than the faint sense of her presence. The bond lets you summon each other. Even the night she fought Andrei, she believed everything was under control, so I felt nothing. I don’t know how else to explain it.”
Andrei had told me exactly how strong the bond had gotten over the last few months. He had theorized that drinking each other’s blood may have amplified the magic enough that he could always feel her presence. Even when Andrei wasn’t physically touching her, the sensations felt real to him. The things he told me about … what he’d done with her? It made me burn with rage, and it took every ounce of my self-control not to let it show—pretend like I didn’t care when all I wanted was to tear his fucking throat out.
I wanted to kill him for touching her.
There was also the matter of Lucy. She kept her distance after we got back from Atlanta. She knew Andrei wanted to find Rachel but questioned his intentions. Smart woman.
“You know Lucy’s going to lose her shit if she sees you,” he said.
Lucy had been roaming the streets of the French Quarter for months, relying on the kindness of strangers to donate their blood in government-run clubs. She was determined not to become the monster Andrei was trying to twist her into, so she refused to feed from any of the suppliers.
Despite the tight leash the clan kept on her, Lucy defied them every chance she could, making connections with everyone she met at bars and hotels. Lucy may have hated Andrei for harming Rachel, but she loathed me with every fiber of her being. She was waiting for the perfect moment where she could run a stake through my heart and rip me to shreds. Meeting with me would be the last thing Lucy would want to do.
“This is the part where you tell me where Lucy is, so we can go get her. We’re running out of time and I need to get a key and book stolen from Andrei’s safe.”
Tony raised a brow, but then he gave me a quick nod before standing and heading to the kitchen. He opened a drawer and pulled out a false bottom, producing a burner cell phone. “What is this key and book?”
I stood and went to meet him at the counter. “I’m meeting with Brayden Whitlock to get them. I’ll explain more on the way. He’s––”
“Yeah, I know who he is,” Tony interjected. “You’re working with werewolves now?”
I shrugged. “Let’s just say that Bayou Perot has a score to settle with Andrei, and when that happens, we’ll be long gone.” My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I reached in and pulled it out before scanning the message. “Ah, speak of the devil. He just sent the address.” I tucked it back into my jeans and then looked at Tony with a knowing smirk.
He stood silent, still looking way too wary by the way his lips pressed together. Likely debating everything I had told him and trying to determine if I was telling the truth.
I waved my hand in the air like I was brushing him off. “You know, maybe I should just go alone. Dragging Rachel back while she fights me the entire way sounds ... tempting.” I flashed him a wolfish grin. “But I’m sure you wouldn’t let that happen, would you?” I leaned in slightly, poking the bear. “I could have Rachel chained to my car door and be in Greece by Thursday night, but hey, I’m sure you’ll want to be the one to stop me. Your call.”
Tony’s heart picked up its anxious rhythm as he swallowed and gritted his teeth. “Give me ten minutes to pack a bag, asshole.”
We met with Brayden outside of New Orleans, about an hour north on the banks of the Mississippi around ten. We still had one other stop to get Lucy, so we had to make this meeting quick.
The wolf was waiting on a decrepit dock when Tony and I pulled up on our motorcycles. As soon as the engines cut, Brayden hurried over to us. When he saw Tony, he stilled. While Tony knew everyone in Louisiana’s supernatural world, these two hadn’t met yet.
“Who’s this?” Brayden asked, his fingers tapping nervously on his thigh.
I held up my hand. “Tony was Rachel’s guardian before Dimitriou stepped in,” I explained. “You can trust him.”
Brayden sniffed the air, no doubt taking in Tony’s scent. After a breath, he smiled before reaching into a black pouch that hung from his belt and pulling out the key and the small Book of Shadows. I didn’t need to touch it to know it was the legitimate key. The power thrumming from it was so heavy I could feel it dancing over my blood and bones. Since I was born a Fire witch, the magic was that much stronger. It felt like it was pulling at me, reaching for the power I had lost two hundred years ago. It wanted to latch on to a ghost, to pull it back from darkness.
But then again, I wondered if my soul was still within me, as Valentina claimed. Did I lose it?
Brayden handed me the items, and I felt the warm metal of the key press into my palm as I wrapped my fingers around it. I closed my eyes, a tiny spark humming against my fingertip, a flicker not visible to the naked eye. Something tugged in my gut, and a strange feeling came over me. If my soul was still somehow within me and linked to Rachel, what would happen if she and I were in close proximity? What would awaken?
“Jase?” Tony snapped me out of my thoughts. “We need to go. I made a few phone calls and my contacts reported Lucy’s been at the same club every night this week. I'll give the club a call on the way to confirm she's there.”
I nodded and quickly tucked the key and book into my satchel before slinging it over my left shoulder. Tony followed me to the river, and we both threw our cell phones into the deep-black water.
“By now, the wolves would have taken care of Andrei’s club, so he’ll be distracted for a while. We can’t be sure he isn’t tracking us even without the phones,” I said, turning to Brayden. He nodded nervously as if trying to follow my train of thought. “If we want to get out of here, we must become ghosts.”