CHAPTER FOURTEEN || JEREMY
W ithout thinking, I tackled Thierry, knocking him sideways and covering his body with mine.
The sphere of fire hit me instead.
It ate through my shirt in an instant and began burning the flesh on my back, ripping a howl of agony from my throat.
“Exstingue!” the witch snapped.
The roaring heat abruptly vanished. Beneath me, Thierry held perfectly still, as though afraid to move at all until he understood how severe my wounds were.
“How badly are you injured?” he demanded, voice strangled. “Can you move?”
My wolfish healing—sluggish without moonlight—had already kicked in, knitting skin in slow, miserable pulls. My eyes watered from the pain. I could feel my body repairing the damage, but the next hour or so wasn’t going to be pleasant.
In truth, I should’ve stayed down a few more minutes. But between a town full of murderous vampires and an equally murderous witch, lying there wasn’t an option.
Instead of replying, I forced myself upright. Agony flared at the movement, and I hissed through my teeth, fighting not to double over. My shirt hung in tatters. Still, I stepped in front of Thierry again, blocking the witch’s line of sight.
The vampire let out a low, strangled noise—one I’d never heard before. That must’ve meant my back looked as bad as it felt.
I turned to face the witch. Flames swirled in her palm, but speculation edged into her glare. Her gaze kept darting past me to Thierry, as if expecting him to pounce at any moment.
Several long seconds passed, each of us waiting for someone to do something stupid.
“That hurt,” I told her at last, fighting for a steady tone.
Her eyes narrowed. “Good. Then you know I’m serious—and powerful. Leave before I finish what I started. Next time, I won’t extinguish the fire.”
“Good to know,” I muttered. The pain ebbed from blinding agony to a steady, hellish burn. I took a slow breath. “Why haven’t you left yet?”
“Because she’s guarding someone who can’t leave,” Thierry said from behind me, tension rolling off him in waves.
A shadow crossed her face. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Are you going for him again? Or me?” I asked, eyeing the flame still swirling in her hand.
“That depends on you.”
“We’re here to help.”
“A vampire and a wolf, here to help me protect humans from other vampires?” she scoffed. “You must think I was born yesterday.”
“It is vampires, then,” I said. “That’s what we thought.”
“No, we were sure ,” Thierry cut in, sounding exasperated. He sighed and—apparently deciding she wasn’t about to attack—stepped out from behind me. “How many are there?”
She hesitated, studying us.
“I’m here on behalf of Nathaniel Bailey, vampire king of Seattle,” Thierry said harshly. “If we wished you harm, we wouldn’t have knocked. The witches of the city sent us. They knew something was wrong.”
“He volunteered,” I added. “He wanted to go alone, but the king said no.”
Thierry shot me a look. “Please don’t help me, wolf.”
The witch’s gaze moved between us. At last, she said, “Several dozen. Maybe a hundred. We think.”
“You think?” I demanded. “If you’ve been picking them off, shouldn’t you know?”
“Don’t be daft. She’s been inside, holding a barrier spell,” Thierry said. His gaze flicked to her. “There’s someone you’re protecting, isn’t there? Someone very sick, who can’t move.”
The witch blanched.
“Someone you know,” Thierry pressed. “A relative. A neighbor.”
Her jaw tightened.
“You’ve been holding a barrier spell all night?” I asked, incredulous. Daniel always said barriers were magic-intensive—best tied to something bigger than the witch casting it.
She didn’t answer. Instead, she glared at us, her gaze lingering on Thierry.
“I’ve heard of Seattle’s vampire king,” she said finally. “Where I’m from, vampires think he’s mad—that he’s rejecting his nature. But I’ve heard of his reputation.”
“Is that a good thing?” I asked.
“It’s the reason you and your vampire aren’t piles of ash,” she said flatly, then clenched her fist. The flames vanished in a puff of smoke. “I am Diana.”
“Jeremy,” I said automatically, gesturing to Thierry. “And he’s Thierry. Nathaniel’s right-hand man.”
“More the left hand,” Thierry said with a cold smile. “Harm us without cause, and you’ll regret it.”
To my surprise, Diana smiled back—just as cold. “Very well. Give me no reason, and I won’t.” Her smirk deepened. “Interesting… where I’m from, wolves and vampires don’t like each other.”
“We don’t,” I said automatically, which was now a lie.
Her eyes glittered as she studied us. “Of course not.”
“Well, then,” Thierry said pointedly. “It’s a splendid thing we’re all such good friends now. Need I remind you, the sun is setting? We’re running out of time.”
She sighed. “Fine. Come inside.”
* * *
Including the witch, there were four living people in the elder home.
There was Ben, a wide-eyed male nurse with sleep-mussed hair, dressed in pale blue scrubs that looked like they’d been worn for days.
Alice, an elderly woman with snow-white hair and bright green eyes, sat at the kitchen table looking shell-shocked.
She didn’t acknowledge us—probably still struggling with the idea that the supernatural wasn’t just real, but actively hunting her.
“Who’s in the back room?” I asked, catching the irregular breathing from down the hall—pained, labored.
“Don’t worry about that,” Diana said flatly. To Ben, she added, “I’ll begin casting in a moment. You know I can’t be interrupted.”
Ben nodded. “I’ll stay with her and keep her comfortable.” He hesitated. “But she needs antibiotics. The infection—”
Diana’s warning look cut him off. His mouth snapped shut, and he cast us a dark glance before disappearing into the last door on the right.
“You said several dozen,” Thierry said. “Maybe a hundred. But the town had a thousand people, and we’ve seen no bodies.”
“Most fled,” Diana replied, eyes widening slightly—maybe at the tension in his voice, which suggested the answer actually mattered to him.
After all, it implied he cared about the survivors.
She added, “This started five nights ago. First, it was three people. The police thought it was an animal attack. Wolves, maybe. Or coyotes.”
“But they rose.”
She nodded. “The second night was bad. Most left in a hurry. The ones who didn’t…” She exhaled. “They’re the ones who keep coming.”
“They haven’t left Rookwood?” Thierry pressed.
She shrugged. “Guess not.”
“You don’t think it strange that dozens of newborns haven’t gone looking for easier prey?”
I gave him a sharp look. “What are you saying?”
Thierry ignored me. “How single-minded are they?”
“If I’m interrupted, we’ll all die,” Diana said with a mirthless smile. “So… pretty single-minded.”
“As though under a hypnotic compulsion,” Thierry said.
Diana went pale. “You think someone’s forcing them to stay?”
“Do you know who started this? Who turned the first few?”
She shook her head, eyes wide. “A vampire would have to be extremely old and powerful to control dozens of newborns.”
“Yes,” Thierry muttered darkly. “He would.”
Silence fell until Diana said, “I need to begin.”
“A warlock in my pack knows how to bind barriers until sunrise,” I offered. “He ties them to the setting sun. It would hold until then.”
“How nice for him.” Her lips thinned. “Will he, who isn’t here, be able to teach me how to do this in the next two minutes?”
I grimaced. “Right. No.”
Her smile was all ice. “Then keep me from being interrupted. My barrier will protect the property. But if one breaks through—”
“Is that likely?” Thierry cut in.
“It almost happened last night.”
“Then I’ll make sure they don’t get into the home if your spell falters,” Thierry said flatly. His tone softened. “This is the last night you’ll cast this spell, Diana. I’ve reported what’s happened. The vampire king and witch queen of Seattle are sending teams. They’ll arrive at daybreak.”
Relief swept her expression. She nodded sharply, turned away, and began an abbreviated version of the spell I’d heard Daniel cast a dozen times.
A shimmering wave of power rolled over me.
Thierry’s mouth was tight. “Stay put,” he said, pausing to listen. His expression darkened. “The vampires have arrived.”
He strode out the front door.
I hesitated only a moment before following.
Dozens of vampires crowded the sidewalk, halted by an invisible wall along the chain-link fence. Their lips peeled back in snarls, revealing fangs that gleamed in the moonlight.
It was like one of those zombie movies I used to watch with Ian, Lindsey, and Reed as a teenager—except the zombies were actually vampires. They were faster, hungrier, and a hell of a lot smarter.
My wolf snarled, demanding release. I tamped it down, but a low growl escaped my lips. These creatures were nothing like my vampire.
“Go back inside, wolf,” Thierry gritted out, glaring. “You wouldn’t last two minutes.”
“I’m not leaving you alone.”
“Diana’s spell will hold.” Though his tone suggested he didn’t believe that for a moment.
“And if it doesn’t, you’ll fight better with a werewolf alpha at your side.”
“Not if I have to protect you.”
“Are you worried?”
“Just about you getting in my way.”
“Thierry, listen. If we—”
“No.”
I blinked. “No?”
He settled on the porch steps, gaze locked on a young man with short brown hair, dressed—gruesomely—like a gas station attendant.
I flashed back to the puddle of blood in the station’s office. It was probably his.
He might’ve been pleasant-looking in life. Now his eyes were blank with hunger, his mouth stained crimson.
Thierry’s expression darkened.
“We’re not doing this right now,” he said.
There were a lot of things he could have meant, but that inner knowing—the mate-bond—told me exactly what he meant. He didn’t want to talk about feelings or about us. He didn’t want me to make any declarations.
Fine. I sat down beside him, stripping off the remains of my shirt. My back was mostly healed, but the motion still made me wince.
“I told you to go inside. Not sit here and strip,” Thierry said, still avoiding my eyes.
“When we first met, you said you were under a spell.”
“Oh, good Lord,” Thierry muttered, jaw tight. “You’re incorrigible.”
“Not sure what that means, but yeah. I guess I am.”
His expression tightened. “You threw yourself in the way when Diana tried to burn me.”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“You know why.” Defiance sparked in my chest. “And I’d do it again.”
Thierry fell silent, eyes on the vampires battering the barrier.
“I summoned you,” he said at last. “The night we met in the woods. A witch I know performed a spell to summon my fated mate.”
“I didn’t know that was possible.”
“It’s not. Or, it wasn’t . She tried for months to make it work.”
“Why?”
“Maybe I was lonely.”
“Were you?”
“No.”
The mate-bond told me he was lying.
“We’ve got time,” I said. “If we’re going to be ripped to shreds, I’d like to know why you summoned a mate you didn’t want.”
He nodded. “Fair. There might be a way to bring someone back once they’ve lost their humanity.” His eyes were locked on the gas station attendant as he slammed himself into the barrier, to no avail. The name tag on his shirt read Quinn . Thierry added, “A vampire, I mean.”
Surprise jolted through me. “What? Before, you said—”
“It’s only been done once,” Thierry said softly, smiling faintly. “By a reckless idiot. And because the universe does so love a fool, it might have been a one-off occurrence. I could be harboring false hopes.”
“Another friend of yours?”
“My progeny,” Thierry corrected.
Ice slid through me.
“Have you turned very many people over the years?”
“Just him,” Thierry replied quietly. “And only because he insisted. It’s not a relationship to be taken lightly.
I only did it to help him save someone he loved very much.
His mate lost his humanity. Michael became a vampire in an effort to save him.
To prove to Danny he was willing to do anything—even become something he hated. ”
I wasn’t surprised. Even lonely, Thierry wouldn’t turn someone out of selfishness. He might want me to think that about him, but it was obvious every single choice he’d made in my presence was ultimately altruistic.
“And after your… progeny…” I paused around the word, testing it out. “After he turned, he brought his mate back? Humanity and all?”
“Yes. Michael’s a sappy idiot. He risked everything. But he couldn’t give up on Danny.”
“You’re proud of him.”
Thierry scoffed. “Of course not. Don’t be absurd.”
We both knew he was lying.
“After Michael turned, he convinced Danny to come back?”
Thierry nodded. “My working theory is that one’s fated mate is the only person who can help restore a vampire’s humanity once they’ve gone… feral.”
“Feral, huh?”
“Michael’s word, not mine.” Thierry’s gaze lingered on Quinn again. “Though, I suppose it’s… apt.”
“And now you want to repeat the process. Which is why your witch friend created the mate-summoning spell. And here we both are.”
He gave me a startled look. “I shouldn’t have disparaged your intellect.”
“You need to stop saying that. I’ll get a complex. But apology accepted.”
“When I’m apologizing, you’ll know. But yes—meeting one’s fated mate is rare. If it’s the key to helping people beyond help, we need a way to make it happen on command.”
I followed his gaze to Quinn, the gas station attendant he was still studying. And then understanding hit me. “You want to save them. You want to save them all.”
Thierry swallowed hard. “Be careful what you say next, wolf.”
I wasn’t surprised. Inside, Thierry wasn’t what he wanted people to believe. He was a hero. He had demonstrated that so many times already it was laughable to think otherwise.
Quinn had been a person once. This had been done to him.
The same thing you almost did to James , a voice in my head whispered. Monster.
When I stayed silent, Thierry’s icy smile returned. “If I’d known honesty would shut you up, I’d have tried sooner.”
“And now you’ve tested the spell. That’s why we met,” I said hoarsely. “What comes next?”
“Drop it. This is none of your concern.”
“Now you’ll test it on someone who’s lost their humanity, won’t you?”
He sighed. “I suppose destiny wouldn’t pick someone entirely feeble-minded. All evidence to the contrary.”
I smiled. Almost a compliment.
“Don’t think this changes anything,” Thierry warned, glaring. “The moment I’m back in Seattle, I’ll call up Poppy and find a way to end these dreams for good.”
“Whatever you say.”
“I still violently dislike you.”
“Okay.” My grin deepened. “Liar.”