Chapter 2
Victor hung like a broken puppet, his features slack and his skin too pale even for a vampire.
The inky tendrils wrapping around him pulsed faintly, as if savoring their prize by sucking whatever was left of his unnatural life.
I studied the web of shadows from below, wondering if it was another supernatural creature I needed to learn about.
Shadow spiders, maybe, or a trick from the shadow bastard who seemed to have a hard-on for me?
At least the guy was sans wood shards. Could that kill him? Could the shadows?
No. I felt something from him.
“I think he’s alive, or as alive as a vampire gets,” I said. “I feel something.”
“NHV vampires are hard to kill,” Bobby said. “Beheading or total body annihilation.”
I squinted at him.
“I’m the human variant version, and much more breakable.”
“You stick to tech, then,” I said.
“Says the guy who almost got eaten by a shadow god. Again,” Ezra snapped. “Someone get Victor down.”
“You’re just jealous ’cause you can’t climb,” Angel said as he leapt onto the nearest beam with preternatural grace, climbing as though he’d done it a thousand times. Maybe he had. The community center had a room full of all sorts of weird climbing surfaces for the shifters.
Wade frowned at me, his gaze darting from Angel to Victor, then back down. “You sure you saw Cassidy?”
“Yeah, creepy as hell. Like his face was underneath the darkness, screaming. Did the shadow thing eat him, too?”
“Maybe,” Bobby said. “We don’t know much about Erlik, and Cassidy is still AWOL.”
The dust cleared, leaving the place stinking of mold and stagnant air. The ghosts wandered back in, making me bite back a groan. “If you’re not going to help, then shut up,” I told them.
Every head turned my way with amused or confused expressions.
“Ghosts?” Bobby asked.
“This place is thick with them. They’re just here to bitch. It’s like a gathering place for them to whine.”
Wade shrugged. “It was a billionaire’s warehouse before the Veil took over.”
“Can’t imagine a worse place to spend the rest of eternity than an warehouse,” I said. “Why don’t you all move on?” I shouted. They ignored me.
Angel swung out to catch Victor around the middle and pull him closer, hanging from a ceiling beam with one hand while he shifted his other hand into claws and sliced through the shadows.
“Stuff feels like taffy,” Angel said as he held Victor in a display of strength that made me suddenly want to try acrobatics.
Maybe closer to the floor, but hey, a guy could dream. “Wade, can you catch him?”
“On it,” Wade volunteered. He was the biggest of us, maybe not stronger than Angel, but damn close. He found a spot below them.
“Ready?” Angel asked. “He’ll be grumpy if he wakes up from this.”
“Not news,” Wade groused, but waited.
Victor didn’t stir as Angel swung him out of the gooey cocoon and dropped him into Wade’s waiting arms. Wade laid him on the ground as Angel climbed down, and I knelt beside Victor, checking for a pulse.
“I think I need first aid 101 for vampires,” I said. “Certification didn’t cover resuscitating the undead. Is he supposed to have a pulse? I think I feel one.”
Bobby knelt on his other side as Wade cradled his head.
“There’s blood on the back of his skull,” Wade said. “Probably hit from behind.”
“You all didn’t string him up in shadow spider goo for me? Thanks.”
Angel snorted back a laugh as he came up behind me. “He’ll need to feed.”
“He has a pulse,” I told him. “It’s faint.”
“Blood loss. But he can heal a head wound.” He made to offer up his wrist, but I shoved him away.
“Uh-ah, Wolverine. The Count here has had enough of your blood.”
“Not it,” Ezra said.
“Not me either,” Remi said.
I glared at him. “You took from me.”
“Magic, not blood.” He winked at me. “I’ll share other fluids with you, just say the word.”
“No,” Angel said, giving him a shove.
“I can’t feed him,” Bobby said. “My blood would make him sick.”
“HV and NHV vampires don’t mix?” I wondered.
“Not that way,” Bobby said. “Things always have to be a bit more careful when we get bitey.”
“I can do it,” I said. It was just blood. Not that I liked the guy, but I wasn’t going to let him suffer either. I rolled up my sleeve.
Angel’s hand clamped around my wrist. “Not a chance, pretty boy. Only one biting you is me.”
Wade sighed. “It’s really sad being the only grown-up here.” Then he pulled a knife from his belt and dragged it across his palm. Blood welled, dark and thick. He carefully cupped his hand to let the blood pool and coaxed the vampire’s mouth open with his other hand.
“Wade,” I said, unsure what to say. Would it create some sort of bond between them? Was it my place to say either way?
“I’m fine, Jude.” He focused on Victor, the man’s head resting on his thigh, using his fingers to massage Victor’s throat to swallow. It was messy, blood everywhere, and Wade was already healing the cut. That shifter magic was intense, but Victor swallowed a few times.
“C’mon, Count Fuckula. Don’t make this weird.
Pooh Bear here is trying to be nice,” I said as I felt for his pulse again.
Still slow as molasses. Maybe the goo had done something else to him?
“Drink, damn you.” A long heartbeat passed.
Then Victor twisted in Wade’s embrace to catch his wrist and sink in his teeth.
Wade hissed but didn’t pull away.
“Fuck, what is with you all and not asking first,” I growled.
“Don’t try to pry him off,” Angel warned. “It will do more damage.”
Victor fed, half-feral, a low growl vibrating from his chest as he clung to Wade’s wrist. His eyes popped open, the smoky bourbon-brown of them gone completely black.
“Yikes,” I said, staring at his unfocused gaze and realizing how terrifying vampires could be.
“It’s instinct,” Wade said, sounding pained. “He must have been bleeding for a while.”
“Okay, but we can get him a blood bag or something, right?” I prodded, poking carefully at Victor, worried about Wade. “Hey, buddy. Time to let go of the bear now. He needs blood, too.”
Victor snarled without letting go.
Wade gritted his teeth. So much for vampire bites feeling good like the stories. “Come on, Victor. You’ve had enough.”
The damn vampire clung to him like a leech.
“Fuck, I hate to pry him off,” Angel said.
I pressed my hand to Victor’s shoulder. “Let him go!” For a heartbeat, I thought the words were nothing but a request, except power poured from my core and out through my hand.
The rush of it swirled around us like a chill wind, and Victor jerked awake.
His eyes changed back to smoky brown, his mouth falling slack from Wade’s wrist. Blood smeared his mouth and chin, his eyes wide and horrified as if awakening from a nightmare.
Angel swooped in and pressed his balled-up shirt to Wade’s wound. I had to tear my eyes from my suddenly shirtless mate to meet Victor’s startled gaze.
Not grateful, or confused. Fearful.
“Uh,” I said as the wind died away, my magic seeping out of the room. “What was that?” Had I just controlled the vampire?
He glanced at Wade, then back to me, and snapped himself off the floor. “Don’t ever do that again.”
“You needed blood,” I protested on Wade’s behalf.
“Not him,” Victor growled. “You.”
I held my hands up in surrender; I hadn’t meant to do anything other than coax him to let go of Wade. “You were hurting Wade.”
“I’m fine,” Wade said. The bleeding had stopped, though he looked a little woozy.
Angel stepped between Victor and me. “V...”
Victor glared at him.
“You were draining Wade. You know Jude is still learning his limits. He didn’t mean anything other than protecting Wade.”
Victor blinked, the anger dimming as he studied Wade and the bloody mess they both were.
“I’m okay,” Wade said again. “I’ll need food and a little rest, but okay. I know you didn’t mean to hurt me, V.”
Victor sagged, his usual guarded expression turning tired.
“I’m sorry,” I offered again. “I really didn’t mean to do anything with my magic.”
Victor stared at me with something akin to muted horror, as if he knew something about me now that he really didn’t like.
I wasn’t trying to make enemies, even if I was a little jealous of the guy.
I needed to sit down with Angel and find out the details of their relationship, whatever it was.
But the vampire pried his gaze from mine and stalked away, his body language making me think he was out to kill something.
While I was glad it wasn’t me, I also felt bad.
“I didn’t mean to do anything,” I said.
Angel rubbed my back. “It’s okay.”
It wasn’t. Controlling vampires was bad. And if the military found out, would they stop at anything to drag me into their ranks?
“Let’s not spread word about this,” Ezra said. “Victor is fine.” He glared at Remi. “And someone is supposed to be teaching Jude to control his magic.”
“It’s been less than a week!” Remi protested. “And no one will leave us alone together.”
“Yeah, that’s not happening,” Angel said. “Pack it in; we need to head back to the office and file a report.”
That was the best news I’d heard all week, even if it meant I’d probably be sitting in front of the Sarge before the end of the day. But hey, an end to training meant I was that much closer to my long weekend.