CHAPTER TEN
~
“He did what?” True exclaimed, fisting her hands at her sides with the strong urge to kill the vampire as soon as she got her hands on him.
Heath wasn’t entirely sure how this was his fault, but it felt like it. “We could look at it like he saved her life…”
“He gave her blood – are you insane?” True bit out, anger ripping through her. “Look, who I’m talking to? Of course, you are insane.”
“Okay, why is this my fault?” Heath asked, looking to Hope for help or at least an explanation.
“Well, you are a man, so rationally, everything is your fault.” When Heath tilted his head to the side and examined Hope like she was a special kind of fungus, Hope tossed up her hands and shrugged. “Just ‘cos she’s walking and talking doesn’t mean that Faith isn’t a dead not-a-witch walking zombie…”
“The key there is walking…would you prefer making funeral arrangements?” Heath asked, folding his muscled arms across his broad chest and defending himself the only way he knew how – rationally.
True ground her teeth, lifted her witching finger and pointed it at his chest. “Did you really just say that to me? He turned my sister into a damn vampire; the key question here is, how slowly can I kill him?”
“And how painful can make it,” Hope added.
“God, she’s a newbie, and newbies don’t play well with others,” Dani said, dropping her backside into a chair, the look of horror mixed with dread etched onto her face.
“I’m sure Lex can control her,” Heath said, but he wasn’t sure at all, and he knew what a newbie vampire could mean to his pack.
“No, he can’t,” True said, scowling at him as she continued reflecting on her options for the vampire’s demise.
Heath reached for answers to his mate’s panic but came up wanting on so many levels. Then he hit on something. “He sired her…”
“That sounds more than wrong, that sounds…”
“Dirty and weird,” Amy said.
“Amy!” Dani berated her.
“I’m just calling it like I see it,” Amy replied, shrugging. “Dirty and weird.”
Heath grumbled a growl. “The point is, if he sired her, he should have a controlling influence…”
“Oh, great,” True said, tossing up a hand in his face. Heath pulled his head back on his neck, frowning. “So, now my sister isn’t even an independent woman with a mind of her own – she’s going to be doing the vampire’s bidding.”
“This is Faith we’re talking about, True, she’s not as easily led as – Darcy,” Hope said before realising that Darcy was in the room.
“Gee, thanks,” Darcy said, folding her arms and sighing.
“And if she starts attacking people, we’re going to have to put her down,” True said, more to herself than the others.
“I don’t think it will come to that,” Hope replied, eyeing Heath when he winced. “Will it?” she demanded from the alpha, hitting him with a jolt of magic and a hard glare.
Heath shook his head. “I think Lex can handle her.”
“Handle her?” True said, snapping out a snort of sarcastic laughter. “He couldn’t before she was a vampire, but now he can?”
Heath pressed his lips together and glared back at Hope for another bail-out. Hope obliged in the only way she knew how. “Well, somebody has to tell Nana and Marvin…”
“Nana!” True said, eyes wide and with a horrified look on her face. Everyone turned to look at Heath.
The alpha snapped to attention. “No, no, no,” he said, unfolding his arms and shaking his head before he added his index finger to the mix. “Not me.”
“She already has a soft spot for you,” Hope said.
“Yeah, a burial site,” Heath said. “I’m not telling Nana.”
“Well, doesn’t that make you the cowardly alpha?” Nana announced from the doorway. Everyone slowly turned to stare at the matriarch, but nobody said a word. “My, it must be a humdinger from the looks on your faces.”
Amy winced. “You might want to sit down.”
Nana cocked an eyebrow, but when nobody elaborated, she knew it was bad. She walked to the table and pulled out a chair, dropping her backside onto the seat with a grunt; she folded her hands in her lap and took a breath. “I’m sitting,” she said, and nobody spoke; they just looked at each other. “Should I get my knitting?”
True stepped forward, making Heath feel guilty and determined that his mate should not have to deliver the news. “It’s Faith. There was an encounter with a wave and magic, and Jennifer is in the hospital, but Faith helped save her life, and the vampire showed up, and there was no breathing…”
“Oh, for the love of the Goddess,” Hope said, rolling her eyes. “Nana, Faith has become a vampire.”
Nana was steel and stone. Her face was white, and her hands had gone from resting to balled in her lap. However, she was blinking, and that was a good sign.
“I think you broke her,” Amy whispered. “Try a reboot…”
“I’m fine!” Nana exclaimed, pushing to her feet. “Faith is a vampire – we can deal with that,” she said, nodding thoughtfully. “At least she’s not dead.”
“See, not dead,” Heath said, turning to look at his mate when he felt the hard blast of magic hit him in the gut. His beast roared within him, and he folded in on himself as the pain tore through him.
“Nana!” True snapped.
“Well, stupid is as stupid does,” Nana hissed.
“And he’s not the jerk you need to be taking it out on,” Amy said, surprised that she was sticking up for the alpha.
“That’s right,” Nana said, nodding. “I apologise.”
Heath caught his breath as the pain eased. “Not a problem,” he bit out through clenched teeth and waved it away.
“It’s the vampire I need to kill,” Nana announced. “And where is he?”
“Probably in hiding,” Dani muttered.
“He’s chasing Faith,” Amy said with an amused look at Dani. “She took off when she heard Jennifer went to the hospital.”
Nana straightened as best she could. “Jennifer is…?”
“Going to be fine,” Amy replied. “We think.”
“But Faith’s last mission that she set herself was to protect the child,” Nana said, as much to herself as those present. “We can work with that if it’s stuck like glue.”
“Work with?” True asked, unsure what her grandmother was getting at.
“It could be imprinted on her psyche,” Nana said. “Which might mean that Jennifer is actually the only one of us who is safe from Faith right now.”
“Well, that’s something,” Dani said, sounding upbeat.
“On the other hand, it could also mean that Faith’s newfound obsession with Jennifer puts the child in the firing line for when Faith’s need to feed kicks in,” Nana said.
“And if she can’t control the urge,” Hope said.
“Then she needs to feed on someone else before that urge becomes a bloodlust,” True said, turning on her heels and heading for the door.
“True?” Hope said, following on her heels.
“Don’t try to stop me…”
“Right there with you, babe,” Hope said.
“Me too,” Amy said, rushing to catch up as they headed out the door with Heath after them.
“Wait for me!” Dani called.
“With you!” Darcy said.
Nana stood alone in the bar after everyone had filled out. “Well, I’m never going to keep up,” she grumbled, walking to the door, flipping the locks, and ensuring the sign read closed. “That doesn’t mean I can’t use magic to call her to me,” she said, turning and heading for the backdoor.
~
“Hey!” Evie said, stepping away from the coffee machine when she spotted Hope and True rushing through the doors.
Hope headed right for Evie while True and Heath broke away to search the area. “How’s Faith?” Evie asked.
“How’s Jennifer?” Hope asked, looking nervous and sounding rushed enough to set Evie’s alarms off.
“She’s been triaged, and they think she’s fine; we’ve got to wait around for a doctor to check her over, and that could take a while.”
“Best place for her and you,” Hope replied, looking around nervously.
“What’s going on?” Evie asked, looking at where Jennifer was sitting between Drew and Parker, who had rushed to be with them.
“Faith is…”
“Oh, no,” Evie said, slapping a hand over her mouth.
“Nope!” Hope said, holding her hands up to her chest. “Not dead.”
“Oh, thank God,” Evie breathed out as her head tried to tell her heart to calm down.
“Well, I mean technically,” Hope said, wincing at the thought.
“Technically?” Evie said, clueless about what Hope was getting at, until Hope pressed her lips together and raised her eyebrows. Evie’s brain kicked her backside into gear, and she gasped. “Noooo!”
Hope grabbed Evie’s arm, yanking her into the nearest corner. “Lex must have been slipping her a micky…”
“Blood?”
“Well, not tomato juice with a shot of vodka,” Hope replied.
“And she’s…?”
“As a Dodo.”
“Then she’s a…?”
“Bat-poop crazy newbie,” Hope said, nodding.
Evie grimaced. “And it’s all my fault.”
“No,” Hope said. There was plenty of blame to go around, but none of it was Evie’s. “It’s Lex’s fault, but technically…”
“There’s that word again…”
“It’s the otherworldly beings fault,” Hope said.
Evie shuffled on her feet, uncomfortable at the thought. “Where is she now?”
“She took off when she heard Jennifer was here…”
“What?” Evie said, snapping to attention and immediately scouring the area around them. “Why?”
“Nana thinks that her last mission to protect Jennifer might be resting in her psyche and…”
“And she’s coming for Jennifer?” Evie hissed, panicked.
“To protect her,” Hope said, trying to make the whole thing sound better when, really, the last thing anyone wanted was a newbie vampire around their child.
Evie bit out a snort of disbelief. “That’s not…”
“We know,” Hope said. “Which is why we’re here. Amy, Dani, and Darcy are outside checking the area, and Lex was hard on her heels when she took off, so wherever Faith is…”
“Dracula is sure to follow,” Evie bit out, angry and annoyed. “How did he not save her?” she hissed.
“Technically…”
“Stop it with the technically!” Evie bit out in a hissed whisper of annoyance.
“Well, she isn’t dead-dead; she’s just – dead,” Hope said, scowling at her words and shaking her head.
“And after Jennifer,” Evie reminded her.
“In a good way,” Hope said, trying for the positive in what could be a deadly situation.
“Until she gets hungry, and then it’s a tasty witchlet snack at the all-you-can-suck buffet,” Evie snapped, trying to keep her voice down because the waiting room was full to bursting with humans, and yet, so damn mad she couldn’t think straight.
“Which we will avoid happening,” Hope said, trying to reassure her.
“I don’t know whether I want to kill Faith or sympathise with her,” Evie said the quiet part out loud and then looked sheepishly at Hope. “That sounds bad.”
“Nope, we’ve all had that thought, trust me,” Hope said.
“But it’s not her fault; she was saving Jennifer from…”
“We’ve all had that thought,” Hope assured her.
“What about True?” Evie said, eyeing the waiting room for her friend, but she couldn’t see her.
“Oh, she’s also had that thought,” Hope said.
“No, how’s she taking it? I mean, she lost her sister,” Evie said.
The realisation of the enormity of the situation suddenly dawned on Hope. “Yeah, but I don’t think it’s really sinking in right now – she wants to kill Lex, but that’s a given, we all do, and we all don’t because at least Faith is…” She grimaced.
“Still around?” Evie said, curling her top lip as if someone had just given her a vegan burger to munch on.
“And yet, it’s not Faith,” Hope said, nodding.
“Unless she can concur her demons and become a functioning…member of society?” Evie said, for want of a better description with all the human ears around.
“There’s that,” Hope said, nodding. “But right now, Jennifer.”
Evie shot a look at where Jennifer was sitting. She didn’t think she was seeing things, but Parker and Drew seemed to have spread out and were shoulder-to-shoulder with Jennifer on either side. Both men were constantly searching the waiting room. “Big ears!” she said, catching up to what was happening.
“Huh?” Hope asked, absently reaching for her left ear lobe.
“Not you,” Evie said, nodding to where the shifters sat. “Them,” she said. “They’ve been listening; don’t need to fill them in on what’s up.”
“As long as they only need their big ears and not their big teeth and claws,” Hope said, shrugging. “And it saves me repeating myself.”
“An upside in a mountain of down slopes,” Evie said, sighing. “What do we do now?”
“Same thing we always do,” Hope replied. “Watch, witch, wait and be prepared.”
“Prepared for Faith?” Evie said. “Impossible.”
“Who knows, maybe being different will calm her down?” Hope said, eyeing the area.
“What are the odds?” Evie bit out.
“I’m not betting the bar on it,” Hope replied, folding her arms and eyeing the entrance as the doors opened. She relaxed a little when an older woman shuffled inside.