Fate of a Blood Moon (The Hades Blood Moon #2)

Chapter 23

Rachel

A fter swapping my emerald-green blouse for a plain black T-shirt, we headed to the car. Tony was already in the driver’s seat, Lucy beside him, and once I settled into the back with Jase, we pulled out onto the road.

Since he was the only one of us who had driven in Europe before when he’d visited his nonna and cousins, it made sense to let him navigate us south. And since I refused to trust Jase anywhere near my best friend, I made the ultimate sacrifice.

The car was ridiculously small, cramming us in the back like a can of sardines. This drive would be nearly impossible without touching him.

“Well, Italy is pretty,” Jase said suddenly as Tony pulled off on the main road. “All the times I’ve visited, I never came this far north.”

He’s trying to make small talk. No thanks.

I inched closer to the window, ignoring him.

“You’re really going to ignore me this entire trip?” Jase said, but I kept my gaze locked on the road.

Tony must have heard Jase trying to talk to me, and being the best guy friend I had, he turned up the music to drown him out.

“Jesus,” Jase mumbled under his breath, shifting his gaze to his own window.

I turned to him. “Just because I’m agreeing to help doesn’t mean I want to talk to you. In fact, the idea of chatting with you makes my insides hurt.”

Jase pressed his lips together, irritation rolling off him in waves. The energy leaching from him made the hairs on my arms prickle. He wanted to snap back, to tell me exactly what he thought, but he kept the words behind his teeth.

Good.

“Thank you,” I said, shifting my gaze back to the window. Outside, a beautiful display of stars stretched across the dark sky. By now, Darius and my mother were probably out searching for me, not knowing I had already left the city. Guilt twisted in my stomach. I hoped they didn’t punish Luka for holding Valentina back while I escaped. But I had no choice. My mother had turned on me. I couldn’t go back.

“Rachel?” Lucy called, lowering the music. “How are you feeling right now? I mean, not about what Jase told you, but we’re taking you from other dhampirs. It can’t be easy, leaving without saying goodbye to them.”

I sighed. “No, it’s not. Especially leaving Luka. I finally found freedom, a family that didn’t control or dictate my every move. I mean, yeah, Valentina tried, but I made it pretty damn clear that I wasn’t her tool to use.” Leaning back, I rested my head against the headrest. “Seeing the others, knowing I wasn’t alone in this world … was surreal. I had a family, a real family, who understood me.” Another thought crossed my mind, making me instantly irritated. I let my head drop to the side to look at Jase. “Not a surprise to you, though. Right? You worked for the Black Onyx, so you knew I wasn’t the only dhampir.”

Jase was quiet, his jaw tensing before finally answering. “Yeah, angel. I knew.”

The way he responded fucking irked me. It was like he was pleased that he knew something I didn’t. I leveled an icy glare at him, letting my eyes glow a little from my magic for emphasis. Jase just raised a brow at me.

“I still can’t believe you guys have been talking this entire time,” Tony interjected, his eyes looking to mine in the rearview mirror. It was like he sensed the tension building in the backseat and needed to deflect it.

“Sorry,” I said. “I probably shouldn’t have even called Lucy, but I had to talk to someone. I needed to know what was happening with Andrei.”

“Why?” Jase asked suddenly, pulling my attention back to him.

I frowned. “What do you mean, ‘why?’”

Jase’s expression softened. “I mean … why the hell did you care what Andrei was doing?”

I let out a sharp laugh, shaking my head. “Are you serious? Gee, I don’t know. Maybe because—”

“Oh, it’s right here,” Tony cut in, drawing my focus back to him. “I pulled this location up on my maps at the wine bar. There’s a field not too far where we can ditch that tracker.”

Thank God.

Relief crashed over me. I wanted the damn thing out. Now that I was aware of it again, I could almost feel it itching under my skin. But also—why did Jase even ask that?

As we veered off the main road, we pulled into a field and parked near a wooden fence. Jase quickly reached into his backpack, pulling out a hunting knife.

“Alright, maybe we get out of the car, so we don’t get blood on the seats,” Jase suggested.

“Ah, fuck,” I muttered, throwing the door open. “I get that I’ll heal, but I’m not immune to pain. I hate it.”

I stepped out first, marching toward a grassy embankment hidden from view. The balmy night air settled over me as I shrugged off my thin leather jacket, letting it hang loosely in my hand. It’s a good thing I changed. I really liked that blouse.

When I turned, Jase was suddenly there, inching closer. He was so close that our noses nearly touched.

His scent hit me then, the same one I remembered from the church. My heart pounded. And I fucking hated it.

“Maybe Tony can do it,” I said. “He—”

“He’s not touching my knife.”

“Last time you used something that sharp, you cut me with it.”

“Barely,” he said. “You healed in, like, two seconds.”

I opened my mouth to argue but decided against it. We needed to get this thing out and keep moving. Fighting was pointless.

“Fine. But back up a little, please. You’re practically on top of me.”

Jase smirked at that, and my stomach did that stupid flip I didn’t ask for.

“How about I distract you instead?” he suggested. “You seem nervous, and if you flinch, it’ll hurt more. Trust me.”

I clenched my jaw. “Fine. Distract me.”

Jase’s lips turned up in amusement as he moved even closer. “You know,” he said, grabbing my wrist and stretching out my arm, “the first time we met wasn’t in the church.”

I blinked. “You did stalk me for four years. I kind of figured that wasn’t the first.”

He shrugged, rubbing my shoulder as he searched for the tracker. His rough hands were surprisingly gentle as they moved over my skin.

“Give me a second. Andrei mentioned to Jackson that he planted it right below a freckle he thought was cute.” His thumb pressed beneath my single freckle, pushing down until I winced. “Right there.”

My stomach twisted. “How did I not notice that?”

“It’s deep enough to be undetectable unless you’re looking for it.”

I swallowed hard. “Alright, keep talking to me while you cut it out,” I said, doing my best to suppress the surge of anger rising in my chest. The last time he held a knife against my skin, he slit my fucking throat. I couldn’t let myself dwell on that. It wouldn’t do me any good to want to rip his throat out the entire trip.

Tony cleared his throat. “Maybe I should do it—”

“I got it,” Jase snapped, then quickly recovered, pressing the blade against my skin. “Uh … we danced together, actually.”

“What?!” I barked right as the knife bit in. “Fuck!”

Jase held me steady as he worked, our bodies so close it felt like we were practically hugging. The cold metal of the knife tapped against the tracker before he carefully angled it beneath the device. Slowly and carefully, he began pushing it upward through the tissue and muscle. A sharp sting followed, and I shut my eyes, drawing in a shaky breath. “Holy shit,” I cried. My jaw tightened to the point of pain, trying to take my mind off the digging agony. My entire arm felt like it was on fire, and blood dripped onto the grass in rivulets. On top of that, my skin tried to knit itself back together to seal the wound, making my arm itch on top of the searing pain.

“Sorry,” Jase said as blood ran down my arm. I looked up at him. He narrowed his green eyes, concentrating, and I could tell he was trying not to inhale the scent of my blood. “There.”

He moved the knife away and reached into the wound, carefully gripping the sharp end of a square device the size of my thumbnail and pulling it free from my flesh.

“Got it.” He held it up, and I hurriedly stepped back, creating a fair amount of distance between us. “Take a look.”

Once the pain had subsided and he was no longer touching me, I held out my hand, and he placed the slightly bloody tracker in my palm. “I can’t believe he did that,” I said. “I mean, I knew Andrei was obsessed with knowing where I was at all times, but it was naive of me to believe he wouldn’t go this far.”

All of this reassured me that I had made the right choice to forget that monster completely. The dream of me in the cage and now finding out Andrei did this? This was the true nature of the man I didn’t just fuck but I kissed in that bathroom before we parted ways. This manipulator would stop at nothing to own, not love , someone.

“Want me to destroy it?” Jase asked, but I shook my head.

“No, I got it.” I gripped the device between my fingers and squeezed, shattering it with my vampire strength. I walked further into the embankment and dropped the pieces into the dirt. My eyes dropped to my sticky, bloodied skin.

Although my powers healed my flesh, my arm was a red mess. Jase wiped the knife on the grass before walking back to the car. Tony watched him with an odd look, as if he was suddenly very much aware of who he’d invited on this trip.

Hopefully, he’s not thirsty. I can’t deal with another blood addict like his brother.

“Here,” Lucy said, tossing me some tissue she grabbed from her purse. “We can stop somewhere with water to clean you up better.”

I nodded. “Are you okay?” I asked her with a side smirk. “You’re kind of eyeing my arm like you want to lick it.”

Lucy giggled and walked over to me. “Naw, I’m good. You smell like you always have to me. Besides, I fed before we left Louisiana. I’m good for a few more hours. More importantly, are you okay? I know you got the pain over with, but learning that Andrei did that to begin with ...”

Shrugging, I said, “I will be, but right now, I feel like hitting something … or someone.” I forced a smile to reassure her I was mostly okay. “This entire time, Andrei’s been watching me because of that thing inside my arm. It makes me want to rip a hole in the earth and bury him alive. But having you and Tony risk everything to be here keeps my rage in check. If we’re going to stop Andrei and the coven’s insane, cocked-up plan, I need to keep a clear head.”

“Well, if you need to vent or blow off steam, tell me. I took sparring lessons with Jackson and this other guy named Stephen back at the mansion. I’m pretty good now.” Lucy grinned at the shock on my face. “Don’t bottle up your emotions, bestie. I’m a part of this until the end and will always be here if you need me or Tony. We love you, okay?”

Tears burned behind my eyes, and I nodded again, trying to keep them back. “God, I missed you.”

“Same.” She smiled, her expression softening before she turned and walked toward the car. She paused for a moment, placing her hand on Tony’s shoulder, and then climbed into the passenger seat.

After I cleaned off as much blood as possible, I turned to look at Jase, who was trying his hardest to ignore me. While I stared at him, Tony started the car and pulled us back onto the road. Jase wouldn’t look at me anymore, acting as standoffish as I was when we first started driving. “You danced with me?”

Though he turned away slightly, I still caught the curve of his lips as he smiled. “Twice, actually. The first time, you probably remember. Granted, you were pretty fucking hammered, even for a dhampir.”

I cocked my head slightly to the right and wracked my brain for any possible times that Jase would have gotten close to me. That’s when a hazy, drunken memory came to mind—Andrei’s club.

“You son of a bitch. I thought it was Andrei dancing with me. You smelled just like him,” I said. “And the other time?”

“The second time, you wouldn’t remember. Wendy used a spell on you to make you forget.”

Hearing her name brought out both anger and sadness. I couldn’t believe that bitch lied to me for so long. Of all the betrayals in my immortal life, hers was one of the worst.

“Wow,” I said, struggling off the memory with a side smirk. “All that work, all that planning, just to lose it all in that church like a little bitch.”

The smile I gave him caused his smirk to fall; that was all I needed to see.