Jadee straightened and opened her mouth wide. She stuck out her tongue after she’d given him a few seconds to see that she didn’t have fangs. “You’re such a dipshit, Mark. No fangs.” She approached them, her hands out to her sides. She paused in front of him and slowly lifted her arm. She pushed a fingertip against the wood.
“See? Not a Vampire. I know I don’t get a lot of sunbathing in with my night job, but do I look pasty-ass white like the freak outside?”
The woman was the first to lower her cross. She burst into tears and grabbed Jadee, hugging her. “We were so worried. We heard the gunfire and the tablet went dead. We thought they’d killed you.”
Jadee hugged her back. “It’s okay, Peggy. We’re safe now. These guys are going to take us to the truck I rented and I’ll drive us out of here.” She untangled herself from the woman and backed up, glaring at the man with the accent. “You can lower the cross. You look ridiculous.” She glanced at the other man. “It’s okay, Brent. These guys killed a few Vampires but are just holding on to that one until they find the master.”
“Where’s your dad?” the older woman asked.
“He’s in a better place now,” Jadee answered.
“I need to gather our hard drives and samples.” Mark lowered the cross.
“You do that.” Jadee glanced at Lavos and winked.
He managed to hide his surprise. She was smart. The man named Mark began to collect things off a desk. That would save Lavos time. The second man, Brent, dropped the cross on the floor. He turned, helping the other one gather their evidence.
“I’m going to take the important data and then lock up the trailer. We’ll have to come back in the morning.” Mark seemed to be the one in charge. “We’ll document everything. We’ll bring in Richard Smith and his team. They’ll help salvage as much as possible.” The guy suddenly turned, staring at Kar. “Could we keep that one? I mean, as evidence? To turn over a live Vampire would prove to everyone they exist.”
Kar looked at Lavos. “Um…”
Lavos took control of the situation. He wasn’t sure how to respond either. No way would they ever allow that to happen but he needed the humans to relax. “Maybe. We might be able to work out a deal. Vampire hunting can be expensive.” Humans liked greed. They understood it.
Mark smiled. “Jadee will pay.”
“Excuse me?” Jadee gasped.
Mark glared at her. “Your father is dead and he funded our trips. That means you’re in control of the money now. I know he has you on all his accounts and listed as half owner of everything. Pay them whatever they want for that Vampire. Do you know how important this is?”
“Yes.” Jadee didn’t look happy. “I do.” She glanced at Lavos. “But he needs to talk to you first. You know, about the other Vampire on the loose and what happened here.”
That was his cue. “I’ll talk to them one at a time,” he hinted. “So I can get each of their stories. It will help us track the missing one if we get as many details as possible.”
“Good plan.” Jadee nodded.
Mitch struggled in Kar’s hold. “We already broke free from them once. I’ll do it again!”
“Shut up,” Kar muttered. “You’re an idiot.”
Lavos hid a smile. He shouldn’t be so amused with the situation but he couldn’t help it. He watched as the human team collected their belongings. Jadee walked to the back of the trailer and he realized she planned to climb down. He advanced and reached up, holding her gaze.
“Let me.”
She only hesitated for a second before she leaned over, placing her hands on his shoulders. He gripped her hips, easily lifting her and placing her on her feet. She didn’t seem afraid of him anymore.
“They’re all yours,” she whispered. “Please don’t hurt them. I’m trusting you.” She backed away, letting him go.
He waited until the older woman tried to leave the trailer. It stood a good four feet from the ground. He stepped forward, offering to help her out too. She smiled at him and allowed it.
“You’re a strong one.” She blushed a little when he set her on her feet after lifting her down. “I have a hundred questions to ask you.”
“Okay.”
“Is it like a family business or did something happen to make you hunt Vampires?”
He hesitated. “Family business.”
She looked excited. “How many generations?”
“A few.”
“You’re like the books!” She grinned. “I want to interview you at length. Can we do that?”
“Sure,” he lied. “Do you mind moving so I’m not staring at those bright lights? They’re giving me a headache after tracking Vampires in the dark for the past few hours.”
“Sure.” She stepped around so she faced the trailer instead of him. He turned with her, putting his back to the two humans still moving around inside it. He held her gaze, allowing his power to surge. Her eyes widened in surprise as she watched the blue of his eyes begin to glow.
“Shush,” he murmured. “Relax.” He was going to have to kill her if he couldn’t get inside her mind.
Her features slackened and she didn’t make a sound.
“You’re safe,” he assured her. “Repeat that and speak in a very soft tone.”
“I’m safe,” she whispered.
Someone stepped closer and he inhaled Jadee’s scent. She surprised him when she spoke.
“Is it working on her?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I’ll watch them and give a warning when they’re ready to leave.”
She kept close to him, making it appear the three of them were having a discussion. He appreciated it. He needed to focus on Peggy. Kar had his hands full with the soldier.
“You came here to look for Vampires, right?”
“Yes.” Peggy suddenly looked frightened. “There were four of them.”
He executed a little more force and deepened his voice. “No, there weren’t. You arrived here and didn’t find anything.” He held his breath, waiting to see how she’d respond.
The fear vanished. “We didn’t.”
“You saw a few bears. A storm came and you parked too close to the river. That’s the most frightening thing that happened. The water started to rise and you couldn’t get your vehicles out in time.” He paused, needing to build a memory for her that would make sense. He’d take care of the trailer and any other evidence in the area.
Jadee put her hand on his arm. “There is a tow car and a rig around here that pulled the trailer, plus the two smaller RVs and the larger one that belonged to my dad. They were all messed with. Maybe you could say she caught a cold and slept a lot. It’s best if she thinks she was out of it most of the time from a high fever.”
He nodded, letting her know he heard what she’d said.
Not only did Jadee help him do his job but she gave him helpful suggestions about what to put in the human’s mind. His admiration for her grew.
Chapter Six
It amazed Jadee how easily Lavos manipulated Peggy. His eyes glowed that neon blue and Peggy ate up everything he said as if it were gospel. It left her feeling a little uneasy but it would save the team’s lives. She could live with Lavos messing with their memories.
So far he’d kept his word. He said he’d wipe their minds and that’s what he was doing. He wouldn’t waste his time if he planned to just kill them after all. She gave him more details to help him fill in any gaps she could think of. He was good, coming up with a story to explain how they’d lost their vehicles and the trailer. She cringed a little on the inside. All that money her father had spent would end up at the bottom of the river.
She watched Mark and Brent making extra copies of the videos they must have taken. They put the USB flash drives into their pockets. She’d have to tell Lavos about that. Her father would be disappointed in her for not helping to protect his research, but it had gotten him killed. She didn’t want to see that happen to the rest of his team.
“Can you do me a favor?” She leaned closer to Lavos.
He paused in talking to Peggy. “What?”
“Can you tell her this fiasco was an eye opener and she’s ready to retire? I don’t want them chasing after anything again. She’s talked about buying a cabin in Tennessee forever. Brent is her brother. He wouldn’t do this without her. There’s no changing Mark, since this is who he is, but Peggy loves him. Tell her she’s tired of his bullshit. He doesn’t deserve her anyway. He hasn’t married her in twenty-five years. Can you implant the idea that she’s fed up enough to leave him finally?”
“You’re sure about that?” He turned his head to peer at her.
His eyes were gorgeous. “Yes. Please. She’s like a mother to me. I hate how Mark treats her. She does deserve better. She needs to find a man who cares about her instead of what he can get her to do for him.”
He looked away, staring at Peggy again. She felt relief as he whispered, repeating what she’d said almost word for word. Jadee gave him a little space and approached the trailer to keep the guys distracted. One glance at Kar assured her that he still had a handle on Mitch. She hated that freaky bastard and felt no sympathy for him.
“Make sure you get everything,” Jadee called out. “You’re representing my dad. This was his big find.”
“I know.” Mark sounded annoyed. “It’s our find though. We share the credit.”
She rolled her eyes. “Spare me.”
“We’re going to have to hire tow trucks to locate and pull out our vehicles.” Mark didn’t even bother to look at her as he checked the sample case he opened. “And we have to buy a new rig to pull this trailer. I want your father’s motor home. You sure won’t use it.”
Jadee grit her teeth. “Do you want my bone marrow too, Mark? Maybe a kidney?”
He paused and lifted his head to direct an annoyed look at her. “You know how important this was to your father. Just because he’s dead doesn’t mean this is over. You also know I can’t afford to buy you out. Most of the equipment is owned by your dad.”
“Got it. You could at least try to kiss my ass a little when you want something instead of barking out demands.”
His anger took over. “I told your dad to put me on his accounts and on the titles instead of you so this wouldn’t happen.”
“Always the asshole, aren’t you?”
Brent, the peacemaker, got involved. “He’s just upset. It’s been a traumatic few days. He doesn’t mean to sound so cold, Jadee. You know we loved Vic. We’re all grieving.”
She believed that. Her father’s team was closer to him than she had ever been. It left her feeling a little bitter but she’d swallowed that pill a long time ago, when she’d chosen to live with her grandmother. Her dad could have retired then and stayed with her. He’d kissed her goodbye instead and hit the road. It was little comfort that he’d made sure she was taken care of in case he died by ensuring she had access to his money and putting her name as co-owner on anything he bought.
Lavos approached her side and she looked at him. He gave a slight nod of his head then climbed up inside the trailer. “I need your attention.”
Jadee backed up and turned around. Peggy stood motionless a few feet away, her eyes closed.
Kar came closer, keeping Mitch in a chokehold. “She’s fine. He put her in a kind of sleep trance while he talks to the other two. He’ll bring her out of it when he’s done. She’ll only respond to his voice until then. She can’t hear us.”
She hoped Lavos could do his mind magic on the guys and faced the trailer to see how it went. Lavos stood motionless, talking to Brent. “Is it working?”
Kar hesitated. “It seems to be.”
“Good.”
“Lavos is strong. I’m not good with that shit. I don’t have the experience to mess with planting information into minds but he deals with humans more often.”
She was interested. “He does?”
“I was never allowed to go on missions far from home, but he has. We test our powers when given the chance. You never know when it’s going to come in handy.”
A lot of bad scenarios played through her mind. “So you can have sex with women and then make them forget?”
Kar crinkled his nose. “Hell no. Why would we want to do that?”
“Easy sex. You’re a man.”
“I’m…” He paused, looking uncertain.
“A Werewolf,” she supplied.
“We don’t have sex with humans. It’s frowned upon. We stick to our own kind, and they’re immune to mind control.”
“Why? Can you accidently transmit what you are to others?”
He shook his head. “No. It’s just that…” He hesitated again, glancing down her body.
“What? Will you stop doing that? Spit it out.”
“You’re too damn fragile.” He held her gaze and winked. “I’d break you.”
It was her turn to study him.
“We’re stronger than we look and we’d have to hide what we are. Laws, remember?” He shrugged. “That’s the truth. We don’t mess with humans or hang around them unless we have to. Our contact is very limited.”
“So you just live with other Werewolves in your pack?”
He moved his arm from around Mitch’s throat and grabbed the top of his shirt, forcing the jerk to his knees. He gripped the back of his neck. “Try to move and I’ll break it. Got it? I’m tired of smelling you.” He gave his attention back to Jadee. “Something like that. Are you going to screw us over and tell someone what went down here?”
“No.” She meant it. “I’m going back home and forgetting everything. I’ll never have my face plastered on the cover of some crazy magazine, right next to the guy who swears he has a three-headed love child with an alien chick.”
He chuckled.
“Who’s Kira?”
His amusement faded. “Forget that name. You heard Lavos. He didn’t want me to say anything else.”
“I take it she’s human, and you said she was with his brother.”
He glanced at Lavos, then her. “Look, I like you, so I’ll share this much. Just don’t tell him I said anything. Kira’s father is one of us, but he mated a human. She was born mostly human without many traits. It made her life a living hell, dwelling with our kind, because weakness is looked down upon in our culture. Is that enough info to curb your curiosity?”
Not by a long shot. She held her questions though. So it was possible for Werewolves and humans to have kids, just not popular or sanctioned by others of their kind. That meant they were sexually compatible.
She stared at Lavos. He was one hot guy.
Dangerous too, and totally not someone to get involved with, she reminded herself.
Jadee shivered. It was growing colder. “How many hours until the sun comes up?”
“Not long enough,” Kar muttered. “Summer means the sun isn’t down as long as you’d be used to, living in the lower states. We still have to deal with this mess, get you and them on your way, and then track down the blond soldier. We also have to get details from this one about the Vampire who made him. That’s one bastard who needs to be stopped.”
“Yeah. What went down here? Does this happen often?”
“Never. This is a first. Vampires usually avoid us at all costs. We didn’t even know soldiers could make other ones. Apparently, they can. That’s disturbing as hell.”
She glanced down at Mitch. He seemed paler and a little lethargic. “He’s not looking so hot.”
“He smells worse. He’s been hurt a lot and he’s hungry. The longer they go without blood, the crazier they get.”
“He seems tame at the moment.”
“That’s because he knows I’ll snap his neck. He’ll heal but without a fresh source of blood, it’s weakening him every time. I can smell the rot taking hold.”
“Rot?”
“His body is feeding off itself and he can’t heal fast enough to compensate. His eyes and skin show what he is. His internal orga
ns will look worse. He was made about nine days ago, from what we can figure, by a vampire who’d been part of a nest we took out. And soldiers don’t last long without a master Vampire feeding them just enough of their blood to keep them from decaying from the inside out. This one is on his own. He’s been feeding off humans but still, it’s not enough.”
“So he’d die on his own eventually?”
“Worse. They can last months that way but it isn’t pretty. The mind is gone but the body isn’t. They go after anything living and are totally driven by bloodlust. We call them ghouls at that point. Some human probably saw one once and wrote a zombie story about them. Their skin rots off but they continue to move around. They do get sluggish and slow when they hit that point. It’s horrific. Eventually they’re so weak and messed up that they usually forget to find shelter before the sun rises. It roasts them. They don’t usually turn others though, like in your movies. They take blood, not give it. But this one figured out how to make more of them. That’s bad.”
She’d never watch another zombie movie again without thinking about Mitch and the others. “Fantastic.”
Kar nodded. “Exactly.”
“I’m glad I don’t have your job if you get to track them down.”
Lavos jumped down from the trailer, startling Jadee. She looked at him.
“I put them in a trance until we get them out of here. I’m sorry, but I told them your father tried to save his RV and was washed away down the river. It will explain why they don’t have a body.”
“I can’t bury him, can I?”
He shook his head. “No. Sorry. We’ll have to dispose of his body at first light by exposing him to the sun. He was newly made so there are remains until then.”
That hurt. “I understand.”
Lavos stepped closer, getting in her personal space. His expression softened. “His body will turn to ash in the sun, as if he were cremated. I’m so damn sorry about this, Jadee. You’re taking it well.”
“It still seems a bit unreal,” she confessed. “I’ll let it all sink in later and then I probably won’t be so okay. I foresee heavy drinking in my near future. Don’t worry. I’ll do it when I’m alone. I won’t tell anyone what happened here.”