The Den of Shadows Quartet Read online

  “Jazlyn Raisa … No. But maybe my mother would.”

  Jessica nodded quickly.

  “Jessica, what is this about?”

  She shook off the question, impatient to find Hasana and hear the truth.

  As Jessica entered the kitchen, Hasana looked up from whatever she was cooking. She seemed to sense Jessica’s urgency.

  “Jessica, do you need something?”

  “Jazlyn Raisa,” Jessica answered without prelude. “I want to know about her.”

  Hasana’s face betrayed her mistrust. She paused, taking a breath, and then asked, “What do you know about Raisa?”

  “She was a vampire, a direct fledging of Siete,” Jessica answered. “And your sister offered to give her back her life.”

  Hasana’s eyes narrowed. “I didn’t believe it was possible, but Monica insisted she could do it. She died trying, and I heard nothing more about it.”

  “She succeeded,” Jessica filled in.

  “Raisa didn’t deserve it,” Hasana growled. “If you know so much, why are you asking me?”

  “Jazlyn was pregnant when Siete changed her,” Jessica explained, and she saw shock fill Hasana’s expression. “I want to know what would have happened to the child when Jazlyn became human again.”

  The idea seemed far-fetched. Though Jessica knew plenty about her vampires, she knew nothing about anyone who had ever become human again besides what her dreams had told of Jazlyn. Only a witch would know if a baby carried in a vampiric womb would regain its life with its mother.

  “I didn’t know there was a child,” Hasana whispered. “Now I understand. Monica wouldn’t have risked her life to save a vampire. But a baby … Monica must have believed that it would survive.”

  “What happened to the child?” Jessica shouted. She had to force herself not to grab Hasana by the shoulders and try to shake the information from her.

  “I didn’t know there was one,” Hasana repeated, shaking her head apologetically Jessica turned away and returned to the room she’d been given, needing to think.

  Her mother. The term brought a moment of pain. The woman who had raised her was dead; now she had been replaced by a phantom who had never wanted Jessica. Jazlyn Raisa.

  Jessica paced softly in her room, trying to organize her thoughts.

  Siete was the first of the vampires. He was ancient, even compared to Fala and Jager and Silver, and his mind was powerful enough that he could easily know everything that Jessica had written. His blood ran through her veins as surely as it had run through her mother’s, and her link to him was no doubt as strong as the link he had with his fledglings. The difference was that she was human and had no shields against his mind. So when she slept or simply drifted, she shared his dreams and his thoughts.

  The puzzle had come together finally.

  Jessica’s gaze fell on her computer. Without making a conscious decision to do so, she sat down and booted it up, wanting to hear the comforting hum.

  The familiar compulsion struck her. But ignoring the book she had been working on, she began another, though she had no idea how this one was going to end.

  The night is full of mystery. Even when the moon is brightest, secrets hide everywhere. Then the sun rises and its rays cast so many shadows that the day creates more illusion than all the veiled truth of the night.

  Several hours and many pages passed before the flow of thoughts ceased. Who, she wondered, would finish it if she died?

  CHAPTER 24

  NEEDING TO GET AWAY from the magic-choked atmosphere of the house, Jessica slipped out of her room and down the stairs.

  “Where are you going, Jessica? I’m just about to serve dinner.”

  She froze, hearing Hasana’s voice, and turned to see Dominique and Hasana standing together in the next room.

  “I was planning to go for a walk, perhaps wander in the woods a bit,” she answered. “Is there something wrong with that?”

  Hasana sighed. “Jessica, do you really think you should be going out there alone?” Jessica could hear a hint of annoyance in her voice.

  “Do you really think I can stay inside until Dominique has killed all the vampires?” Jessica snapped in return. She knew Hasana was trying to help, but she felt like a wolf caged in the shepherd’s barn.

  “I could at least deal with a few of them,” Dominique said, watching Jessica as if for a reaction. “After a while, the others will probably decide you aren’t worth the trouble.”

  “After you murder another dozen or so of them,” Jessica choked out. She had a sudden, vivid image of Aubrey with Dominique’s knife in his heart. She would not wish Dominique even upon Fala.

  “It isn’t murder to kill something that died thousands of years ago,” Dominique argued. “Murder is what they do every night, when even you know they don’t need to kill in order to feed. Murder is what they did yesterday to your mother.”

  Jessica took an involuntary step toward Dominique and felt the first warning strike from the hunter: a slight burning sensation on the surface of her skin, which flared for a moment and then faded.

  Hasana put a hand on Dominique’s arm to get her attention. “Dominique, I hardly think that comment was necessary.”

  Dominique sighed. “If she’s going to be staying in this house with you and Caryn, then I need to know whose side she’s on,” she asserted. “Well, Jessica?”

  “If it’s a choice between you and them,” Jessica spat in answer, “then I would choose the vampires any day. At least they don’t preach the morality of their killing.”

  She spun away, trying to ignore the tension between her shoulders, where she expected any moment to feel the point of Dominique’s knife.

  CHAPTER 25

  IT WAS NOT YET SUNSET when Jessica arrived, once again, at the doorway to Las Noches.

  There were fewer people in the room than the last time, which was probably related to the fact that Fala and Aubrey were fighting near the bar.

  They stopped in surprise as Jessica entered and began walking fearlessly toward them.

  Fala recovered her wits first and slammed Aubrey back into the bar. The sickening crack of a broken bone reached Jessica’s ears even above the music of Las Noches, but she knew he would heal almost instantly.

  However, Fala used Aubrey’s moment of pain to whisper a threat into his ear. Jessica could only hear the end of it as she approached. Either deal with it now, or I will.

  Fala left the club without giving Jessica a second glance.

  Aubrey stretched, already recovered from Fala’s attack. As he turned toward Jessica, she saw him check for the knife at his waist, then shake his head, seeming neither surprised nor concerned to find it gone.

  “You’re an idiot, you know that?” Aubrey said as Jessica approached. “We both are.”

  “How do you figure that?” Jessica asked. She ignored the fight that she had just witnessed; she knew she was probably the reason behind it.

  Parched from the walk in the sunlight, she considered trying to find something to drink in Las Noches’s bar, but worried that she might knock herself out if she chose the wrong thing. While there was nothing in the bar that could kill a vampire, there was plenty that could damage a human.

  “You know most of my kind is trying to kill you — particularly the one who just left — and still you come into New Mayhem at sunset,” Aubrey answered dryly.

  Jessica had to laugh at that. “My mother was killed yesterday beside a church in broad daylight. If any of your kind was really trying to kill me, it wouldn’t matter where I was.”

  She decided that she could probably identify water if she saw it, so she rounded the bar to search.

  Are you trying to poison yourself?” Aubrey inquired, watching her.

  “Oh, bite me,” she taunted automatically before the irony of the remark registered.

  But Aubrey took her at her word. In a graceful movement, he wrapped a hand around the back of her neck and pulled her toward him.

  �
�A tempting offer.” He gently brushed the hollow of her throat with the thumb of his free hand as he spoke.

  “You wouldn’t.”

  He leaned down and she felt his lips at her neck. It would never occur to you to be afraid, would it? he silently asked.

  If you wanted to kill me, you would have done so long ago. She projected the thought and knew that he could hear it.

  Are you so sure?

  No, she answered. But if you bite me I’m going to bite back, and do you really want this crowd to see a human do that? She was well aware that they had an attentive audience by now.

  Is that what you want?

  Jessica didn’t quite understand Aubrey’s question, but he must have sensed her confusion, because he added, I did something similar to Ather, and we both know how that turned out. Aubrey had been changed shortly after a fight with Ather. He had slit her throat when she had tried to feed on him. Even Fala has suggested that I change you.

  You’re right, you are an idiot, she commented in response. And yes, that is what I want, which means you can’t do it.

  Jessica was referring to the fact that Aubrey’s line retained its power because every one of them fought. That struggle, as the blood was drained out, was what gave them their strength.

  Yes, Jessica was more than willing to become one of their kind. Her hatred of Dominique had finally convinced her. But her readiness meant that she wouldn’t fight, and her strength as a vampire would suffer. She would certainly be weaker than Fala. In essence, if Aubrey changed her now, it would be the same as his allowing Fala to kill her.

  Aubrey knew all this as well, of course, so he released her and she stepped back casually, smoothing her shirt as if the confrontation had been normal. He reached past her, into the bar, and pulled out a bottle of water. She accepted it calmly and took a drink.

  CHAPTER 26

  WHAT WAS HE TO DO about the human called Jessica? Aubrey had had that thought before, and the answer was no more forthcoming than it had ever been.

  Jessica had no idea how close she’d just come to having every drop of blood drained from her body. The feel of her pulse beneath his lips had almost broken even his self-control.

  He needed to hunt, but he hesitated to leave her alone. Fala’s threat was still fresh in his mind.

  The decision was made for him as he heard a faint cry coming from just outside the building. It was a distressed voice he knew well: the voice of Kaei. That girl could get herself into more scrapes in an hour than most humans could accumulate in a year.

  Nodding a silent goodbye to Jessica, he quickly made his way to Kaei’s side. She could be a nuisance and worse to those who treated her badly and had caused more than her fair share of trouble, but she was unwaveringly loyal to those she considered her friends. Fala would probably not attack Jessica in a crowd, and even if she did, Jessica was intelligent enough to fend her off for a minute or two until he returned. Kaei did not have a talent for getting herself out of trouble.

  Almost the instant he appeared, he found himself on the defensive. A strike meant for Kaei hit him hard, mostly because he was unprepared. The mental blow had the distinct aura of a witch to it, so he quickly turned his attention to the attacker.

  He swore aloud as he recognized Dominique Vida. She had probably followed Jessica here and run into Kaei on the way Kaei had had more than her share of arguments with witches.

  Dominique fell back slightly into a stance of readiness, recognizing that she suddenly had a new, far more powerful foe.

  Dominique was one of two vampire hunters who had ever won a fight against anyone in Aubrey’s line. The other one he had dealt with accordingly As for Dominique, no one had managed to get inside her guard sufficiently to plant a knife.

  For a moment he was grateful Fala had taken his knife from him during their fight earlier. Dominique could have used it against him; her ancestors’ magic had forged it.

  Then Jessica returned to his thoughts. As much as he’d like to draw out this confrontation with such a worthy foe, he didn’t have time to dally here with Dominique.

  Instead, he did the only thing he could to get her out of the place.

  He changed shape into the one he favored — a black wolf — and lunged, taking Dominique to the ground. She didn’t expect him to be so reckless, which was the only reason her knife swiped across his stomach instead of plunging into his heart.

  He clenched his teeth against the pain as the silver blade sliced his skin open. The wound was shallow, but the magic in the knife made it burn. He would likely have a scar.

  Before the witch could recover, he used his mind to bring them both far away from New Mayhem. Then he rolled off her and sprinted, gaining as much distance as he could. Once he was far enough away that she could no longer latch on to his power and follow him, he disappeared, returning to Las Noches with a prayer that Jessica would still be there.

  CHAPTER 27

  JESSICA CUT THROUGH THE WOODS on her way back to Caryn and Hasana’s house. A small river ran behind New Mayhem; it went through Red Rock Forest and eventually tapered off into Aqua Pond, which was close to the witches’ home. She followed that river instead of taking the less direct route along the roads. As she had said to Aubrey if anything wished to kill her, it would do so just as easily in the woods as on the road or anywhere else. She was too tired to take the long way.

  At one point she paused to admire the full moon as it bounced and flickered on the river’s surface. In the midst of that peaceful moment, someone grabbed her by the throat from behind.

  “So the author would grace me with her presence.” The mocking voice was one Jessica recognized instantly: Fala’s. Jessica could feel the vampire’s cool breath on the back of her neck; it sent a shiver down her spine.

  “Leave me alone,” Jessica said, her voice calm despite her fear. If Fala had decided to kill her, then she would not be swayed by groveling or cries for mercy. She would probably enjoy hearing them, but they wouldn’t motivate her to do any less damage. Talking, at least, might buy time — time in which Fala might simply grow bored, or Aubrey might show up to beat her into a bloody pulp.

  “Ha!” Fala exclaimed. “After all the trouble you’ve caused?”

  Jessica had no time to answer; Fala shoved her, nearly sending her into the icy river. She turned back around in time to watch Fala approach.

  “You human fool,” Fala said, smirking. “You act so sure, so unafraid, so … important, as if you can’t be killed just as easily as any other human. Just like your mother —”

  “What do you know about my mother?” Jessica felt her anger rise at the reference, and again she saw Anne in her mind’s eye — not killed by Fala’s hand, but dead by her order nonetheless.

  Fala’s smirk widened. “About Raisa, you mean?” she asked sweetly. “About that poor, selfish half-wit Siete had us all practically baby-sitting for? I was there when she gave birth,” Fala spat. “I would have killed you on the spot if Siete hadn’t told me not to.”

  Jessica recoiled, the slow-boiling rage that was emanating from Fala, overshadowing even Jessica’s surprise. So this was the reason for her hatred. Jessica knew Fala too well not to understand how she reacted to commands.

  Once again Fala didn’t give her time to respond, but instead disappeared. Jessica turned to search for her and felt a sharp tug on her hair. Fala was behind her again.

  “Ever heard of fighting fair?” Jessica barked, grabbing the hand that was holding her hair, though it was strong as a steel clamp and not about to be forced open.

  “Life isn’t fair, and neither is death,” Fala answered, yanking harder. As she did so, the tight grip forced Jessica’s head back, baring her throat. “But I’ll make it a bit more sporting….”

  Fala drew a knife that had been hidden in her tight clothing and flashed it in front of Jessica’s face for a moment before she threw it across the clearing. Jessica couldn’t see where it landed, but she heard the thump as it hit a tree. “Maybe I’ll even
give you a chance to retrieve it if I get bored, Jessie.”

  “Don’t call me Jessie.” It was an automatic reaction and was rewarded by another yank, and then a pain, sharp and strong, as Fala’s teeth pierced the skin at her throat.

  The pain faded quickly, replaced by a floating sensation as five thousand years of vampiric mind pressed against her own. Fala wrapped an arm around Jessica’s waist, holding her in place as well as keeping her standing when she finally lost awareness of her body.

  Jessica was weightless — sea foam on the back of a wave, or perhaps a feather carried by the breeze.

  Then she recognized the trap, and a tendril of fear snaked into her mind. But the pain would begin only if she fought; she could simply stay here, resting —

  Before she could let Fala’s mind control convince her otherwise, she drove an elbow back into the vampire’s gut, at the same time slamming herself back to throw Fala into a tree behind them.

  Fala let go with a hiss of rage, and Jessica hurried across the clearing, knowing Fala’s injuries would stop her for no more than a few moments. She could feel a trickle of blood sliding down her neck and onto her black shirt, but the wound wasn’t likely to be fatal. Fala hadn’t had enough time.

  Yet, she amended as she saw the cold fury in Fala’s eyes.

  “That’s it,” Fala hissed. “Do you seek death, Jessica? Or are you just fond of pain?” Each word was filled with venom. “I would have made this so much easier on you, but you chose to do it the hard way.”

  “I might die, but which one of us will hurt more tomorrow?” Jessica snapped before she could think better of it.

  “I will be very sure you feel every drop of life as it leaves your veins,” Fala threatened, her voice almost a whisper, “and that your body screams when it starts to starve from oxygen loss, and that you hear the silence when your heart finally stops.”

  She grabbed Jessica by the throat and threw her almost casually into a tree. As Jessica’s right shoulder slammed into the trunk, she gritted her teeth past the pain. The bone probably wasn’t broken; Fala would do worse before this was over.