Niccolo (Blood Brothers) (5 page)

Chapter Four

“Sasha!” He wrapped his arms around her slight frame to hold her steady. His mind went numb as a flash flood of emotions coursed through him. Seeing her again so suddenly brought back painful memories he had tried to put behind him. Niccolo often regretted the way they had last parted.

The first time he’d met Sasha while visiting her family over thirty years ago, they had gotten along well. He had admired her serenity, her quirky sense of humor, and the way her expressive eyes grew animated whenever she spoke. She wasn’t the kind person who only talked to hear themselves speak. When Sasha spoke her words her conversation was interesting and insightful. Once he had met Petra, however, Sasha had somehow faded into the background. The odd thing was, besides that night when they’d made Jagger, and their last confrontation, he couldn’t remember much else about their interactions.

Sasha had not reached out to him since, and the only reason why he could think she could not was because of something pertaining to his son. His heart began to race out of control. He gripped her forearms and held her away from him so that he could see her face. “Where’s Jagger?”

Sasha’s eyes were red, and the dark circles around them indicated she had not gotten a decent night’s sleep for a while. “I had hoped he was with you. Oh, God, he’s been gone for nearly a week now!” She broke off on a sob.

He furrowed his brow. “Why wasn’t I notified sooner? Why did you allow him to venture out on his own?”

Her bottom lip trembled and she looked as if she were on the verge of breaking down again. “You make him sound like a child. He’s a man now and free to come and go as he pleases.”

“Then why are you so worried?”

“Because I feel that something has happened to him. We talk nearly every day. When I didn’t hear from him for a few days, I knew something was wrong. I went by his apartment and from the looks of things, he hadn’t been there in a while. The last time we spoke, he was upset. He ... he wanted to know about you.”

“This is the first time he has asked about me?” A searing pain lanced through Niccolo’s body. It hurt like hell to know that while he thought about Jagger daily, his son gave him little thought. His eyes narrowed. “What did you tell him about me?”

“Don’t give me that look. I’ve never spoken a word against you. I told him who you were. He was shocked to learn of his powerful connections. I’d congratulate you, but you already know you and your brothers are quite famous in the immortal circles.”

“Sasha, your sarcasm isn’t helping matters.”

She sighed. “You’re right. I’m a bit stressed right now. May I sit down?”

“Since you’ve already found your way into my home, you should have made yourself comfortable. Did you teleport inside?”

“No. Actually your cleaning lady left the door slightly ajar when she was bringing her cleaning supplies from her vehicle. I hid while she cleaned.”

“If you didn’t use your powers to get in, how did you get past the guard?”

“He turned me away at first, but this older couple who lives here apparently saw me and asked me why I looked so distressed. I told them I wanted to surprise my brother with a visit and we hadn’t seen each other for a long time. They vouched for me with the security guard.” She sounded quite pleased with herself.

“What? No magic? You always seem to use that to get what you want,” he taunted.

Her face turned bright red. “I know what you’re implying. However, as you’ve pointed out, you don’t need my sarcasm, so I certainly don’t need your nasty innuendoes.”

She was right. The most important thing right now was discovering Jagger’s whereabouts.

“Are you positive he’s missing? Maybe he just needed to get away for a few days to think things through.”

“No. He wouldn’t go away without letting me know. He knows how I worry about him. There’s something else happening here.”

“What?”

“I think he wants to be more in tune with his vampire side. He was asking me questions I couldn’t answer.”

“Well, has he had his first taste of blood?”

She frowned. “I don’t know but if he hasn’t I’m to blame. I never encouraged him to explore his vampire side. But he never brought up until a week ago. I’m scared for him; he’s not quite thirty and still hasn’t fully grasped the mechanics of his powers.”

Niccolo tried to think of what all this could mean. Vampires needed to feed, and though Jagger was only half vampire, it didn’t make the need any less. The consequences of a full blood not feeding were dire but he wasn’t sure how that would affect his son. “Why have you not allowed him to learn of his vampire traits?”

“I thought if he suppressed that side of him, it would decrease the likelihood of him being tracked down by your enemies. I wish I’d done things differently. I fear I’ve left him vulnerable to…” she covered her mouth to hold back a muffled cry.

“There’s something you’re not telling me.”

“The night he came to me, he seemed ... sick.”

“Sick? We can’t get sick unless ... what were the symptoms?”

“There was a reddish tint to his eyes. His skin looked a little on the pink side as well, like he were feverish. He felt warm to the touch. I didn’t really know what to make of it. I was too busy trying to comfort him.”

“
Dio!
We must find him soon.”

A look of panic crossed her face. “What is it? Tell me, please!”

“Our son, he needs to feed.”

“But he has been with women. They practically throw themselves at him.” Confusion was written all over her pretty but tired face. Her lips were still the deep red he remembered, and her skin was still like cream. He had the strongest urge to take her into his arms and sample those tasty-looking lips. Niccolo wanted to slowly strip her of each article of clothing.

This was complete madness! His son was missing and possibly in danger, but all he could thing about was burying his cock so deep in her pussy he wouldn’t know where he ended and she began. Damn Sasha for making his body react this way to her. “
Strega,
” he muttered.

“Calling me a witch isn’t much of an insult since I am one. If there’s something happening to Jagger that you’re aware of, please tell me.”

Niccolo raked his fingers through his hair. She frustrated the hell out of him, pretending as though she hadn’t bewitched him. There could be no other explanation of why he was this way around her. Once he was assured that his son was safe, he would demand that she release him from this spell or, so help her lovely little neck, he would break her in two.

“Jagger may have been with many women as you’ve said, and the probability is quite high that he had fed from their essence. As a matter of fact, he must have, otherwise he’d be in way worse shape by now. Those sexual secretions probably served as some form of relief but they can’t sustain him forever. He needs his first blood.”

“But he’s only half vampire. I never thought it was necessary for him to do that.”

“He’s vampire enough to need blood and if he hasn’t had blood in nearly thirty years, he’s in trouble. He’s still young, a baby among our kind, so his needs to feed often. If he doesn’t that could be dangerous. His being a hybrid might have worked in his favor, however. It’s probably kept him together all these years.”

“So all we need to do if find make sure he gets his first blood.”

“It’s not that simple. When a vampire is born or made, they need first blood from a close blood tie—me or you, for example. From what you’ve described, he’s in the beginning stages of
la morte dolci.
It’s very possible if we don’t track him down, innocent blood may be shed.”

“No! He would never hurt anyone!”

“He might not want to, but once
la morte dolci
takes hold of him, he may not be able to control himself. Why didn’t you invoke some kind of spell to find him? You’re good at casting spells.”

She shoved him as her dark eyes flashed fire. “I won’t take any more of your veiled comments! Don’t you think if I could have, I would have? Now, will you help me locate him or not?” She looked even prettier when she was angry.

Niccolo shook his head to rid himself of his carnal thoughts. Wait a minute. She’d said she couldn’t cast a spell. It was on the tip of his tongue to ask why when his cell phone began to vibrate.

He dug it out from his breast pocket. “Niccolo speaking.”

“Nico, it’s Dante. We have a situation in Munich. How soon can you get over here?”

Niccolo took a deep breath. This was the last thing he needed. He didn’t mind going on missions for the Underground, but there were times like these when he wished he had never heard the name
Il Diavolo.
“Dante, I’ve never turned you down when you needed me, but I have a bit of a situation here myself.”

“What’s that problem? If it’s some woman then I’m sure she’ll wait for you when you return. I need you here.”

Niccolo found it a bit insulting his brother would think he’d allow just any random woman to get between him and family business. “You know me better than that, Dante.”

Dante released a heavy sigh. “You’re right. I apologize. I’m a bit stressed. What’s happening on your end?”

“Sasha is here, and Jagger is missing.”

“Are you fucking kidding me? This is worse than I thought. If Sasha’s with you then you both need to get over here.”

What the hell? What in the world was his brother talking about? “Why?”

“Because I think your son has been through here.”

“What? Have you seen him? Where is he?”

Sasha’s eyes widened with fear. “Is it Jagger? Has something happened to my baby?”

Niccolo held up his hand to silence her as he listened to Dante.

“There has been rogue activity over here and the bloodshed has been monumental.”

“Have any Underground agents been lost?” Niccolo asked.

“No ... all of the dead are human. Rogues usually leave humans alone, but this—God, Nico, there were children here. The media is all over this, calling it some satanic ritual gone awry. But this massacre could only have been perpetuated by our kind.”

“Why would you think my son was involved?”

“The minute I got near the scene, I picked up what I believed was your scent at first but as I lingered I noticed a subtle difference. I couldn’t figure out why I was picking it up since you’re obviously in L.A., but now that you say Jagger is missing ...”

“My son is not a rogue!”

“Calm down, Nico. I’m not saying he is. I only said that I think he’s been through here.”

“Tell me this isn’t happening. Dante ... he hasn’t tasted first blood yet.”

“Are you sure?”

“According to Sasha, he has not. She says the last time she saw him, he was warm and looked a little sick.”

“
La morte dolci
,”
Dante groaned the words. “What were the other symptoms?”

Niccolo explained while his brother listened silently on the other end of the line.

Sasha looked at him with an anxious expression on her face. Her lips were pressed so tightly together they lost all color. He wanted to wrap her within his embrace to reassure her everything would be okay. But who would reassure him?

“You’re in Munich?” Niccolo asked.

“Yes. We’re staying at Wolf’s. Romeo is here, as well as Angel and Carter.”

“Okay. We’ll be there. I’ll text you our flight schedule and call when we land at the airport.”

“I’ll have a car waiting for you.”

Niccolo disconnected.

“What is it?” Sasha asked anxiously.

“That was Dante. He believes that Jagger may be or may have been in Germany recently.”

“And?”

“And he may have been involved in some kind of slaughter.”

“Slaughter? He’s wrong. Jagger wouldn’t hurt anyone. Why would your brother say these awful things?”

“Dante didn’t say he was, just that he’s somehow connected. But I too refuse to believe that Jagger is capable of such atrocities. But if he’s in the throes of
la morte dolci
, he may not be able to help himself.”

“No.” Sasha shook her head vehemently. “Even then, I don’t believe it.”

“From what you said, he might still be in the early stages of the illness, so it isn’t likely he would do such a thing even if he were capable of it.”

“Yet.” She said aloud what was on his mind.

“Let’s not think about this right now. It’s quite possible that he went to spend some time on his own.” He hoped.

“You’re not leaving anything out, are you? This ailment you speak of is foreign to me. I need you to explain it to me so I can understand what Jagger might be going through.”

Niccolo sighed. He didn’t want to waste time explaining
la morte dolci,
when they needed to get going, but as his son’s mother she had the right to know.

“It’s very complicated. The simplest way to explain it is that when a vampire is denied something that he needs, blood or a mate, for example, it can drive him into the state we call
la morte dolci.
I have not personally experienced it, but my brother GianMarco did when he denied himself his bloodmate. To hear him explain the illness, it made him feverish and caused him a great deal of physical pain. His bodily functions were out of control and his temperature rose to scorching proportions. My brother was in such bad shape that he lost all rational thought and attacked his bloodmate, who had been human at the time. Had Dante not intervened, he might have killed her.”

“Oh, no!” Sasha covered her mouth in horror. “The poor woman must have been frightened out of her mind.”

“I’m sure she was. I wasn’t there.”

“But how did he get past this illness?”

“He stopped denying himself and took what he wanted.”

“And his bloodmate? Is she okay?”

“Better than okay. They’re married now and expecting their first child together. My new sister is sure that the baby will be a girl, but she may be in for a little disappointment; female-born vampires are quite rare.” He smiled briefly as he thought of the happiness his younger brother had found with Maggie. Marco deserved a little happiness after the brutal slaughter of his first wife and child long ago.

“I’m glad that things worked out for them.”

“So am I.” He glanced at his watch and mentally calculated how long it would take them to get to the airport. “We have to get to Jagger soon. We have to leave now.”