The Vampire's Revenge (7 page)

“Because you might be killing an innocent host, that’s why. It’s complicated. I’ll be over there as soon as I can and I’ll explain everything then.”

I could hear her grumbling even as I hung up. My car was at William’s so I headed toward the wrecker. It wasn’t as fast as the ’Vette, but it would have to do.

As I turned to climb into the tow truck, I heard a very British, very female voice from behind me. “My, but you look in a hurry.”

“Olivia!” I whirled toward the voice and a tall, thin blonde flew into my arms.

“Jack! I came as soon as I could get away. You poor, poor darling.”

I held her away from me to get a better look at her. “You’re a sight for sore eyes.” Olivia was the leader of the good European vampires and had worked closely with William and me in our fight against the old lords. It was the murder of her beloved sire Algernon that set off the renewed war with the Council, which had decided to become active again after having been literally underground for who knew how long. Olivia and I had had our differences, but I knew she loved William almost as much as I did, so she felt like family.

“I can’t tell you how heartbroken I am about William.” She peered at me soulfully with her wide gray eyes. Her platinum bob shone in the moonlight like a halo. As sweet as she looked, an angel she wasn’t.

“Thank you for coming, but you shouldn’t have. We’re all in danger from the Slayer. What were you thinking?”

“I think I can hold my own.”

“She killed William!” I said incredulously.

“He was injured.” Olivia sniffed.

“You can’t possibly think—”

“Relax, Jack. I’m not going to challenge her or anything. I’ll take care to stay out of her way.”

“You understand why you can’t try to kill her, right?”

“Of course.”

“Look, I have to go and talk to her right now. You might as well come along. I don’t want you running into each other in some dark alley before I’ve had a chance to try and talk Connie into giving you a pass—for now.”

“For now?”

“Get in. I’ll explain on the way.”

On the drive to the marina, I caught Olivia up on the hunt for the double-dead vampires and the tenuous truce I had struck with Connie. I also filled her in on my encounter with Eleanor and what she had to say about Diana, Ulrich, Reedrek, and the Council.

“None of that surprises me,” she said, her delicate silver brows knit in concern. “I am worried about the plans that Diana and Ulrich have for you, though.”

“Yeah, me too. Any ideas?”

“Not really. If I had to guess I’d say they’ll probably promise you the moon and the stars to get you to carry out some bit of evil they think will impress the Council. And when you don’t comply they’ll try to kill you as an offering to the old lords.”

I thought about how Reedrek tortured William in an attempt to get his way. By all accounts, Ulrich was even more sadistic than Reedrek was. They might want me dead, but like a cat with a mouse, they’d play with me first. “They won’t kill me quick,” I muttered.

“If I have anything to say about it, they won’t kill you at all. Now, aren’t you glad I’m here to help you?”

I reached across the seat and squeezed her hand. “I really appreciate it, but I don’t want you to put yourself in danger because of me.”

“What are cousins for?” she said, and flashed one of her dazzling smiles. Her sire and mine had both been sired by Reedrek, who was sired by Ulrich.

“Speaking of cousins, have you heard anything from Will?”

Will was Willam and Diana’s son. He and Diana had been turned into vampires long ago by one of Reedrek’s offspring. I hated that little sonofabitch, but William had insisted that his son had come away from the dark side. I’d believe that when I saw it.

“Unfortunately, I haven’t heard from Will. There was some bad blood between him and Donovan, my second in command. I think Will left to give Donovan some time to calm down.”

“So as far as you know, Will doesn’t know William is dead? Or who killed him?”

Olivia winced. “No, and I dread the moment he finds out. It’s so sad! Will had just found his true father after hundreds of years. They were beginning to bond as father and son. You should have seen it, Jack. Will was blossoming under William’s attention. He was truly one of us by the time William left Europe. When Will finds out his father is gone, he’ll be heartbroken, the poor thing.”

“The poor thing?” I ground my fangs to keep from cursing. “If you’d seen that monster rip out my friend Sullivan’s throat you wouldn’t be so concerned about his tender feelings.”

“That was before he changed, Jack. He’s a different vampire, a different
man,
believe me. I saw the metamorphosis with my own eyes.”

“Bullshit.”

“If you’d only seen him risking his life to save my coven members from that fire. He was horribly burned.”

“And fully healed within days. So what?”

“Don’t forget that he played a crucial role in helping William save Renee.”

“Yeah, after he was in on the plot to kidnap her in the first place,” I said. “You’re a fool if you think he cooperated with you and William for any reason other than to get back at Hugo for torturing him all those years.”

Olivia huffed, exasperated with me. “Admit it, Jack. You can’t keep an open mind about Will because you were jealous of his relationship with William.”

“I had nothing to be jealous of him about,” I lied. “I was more of a son to William than that redheaded bastard ever was.”

Okay, I admit it: when Will came to Savannah I was in the dog house with William. When I saw William playing host to his true son, I turned as green as River Street beer on Saint Patrick’s Day.

Olivia sighed. “You’ll never be objective about him.”

The subject of Will was just too touchy, so I decided to change it. “What have you found out from all those ancient documents y’all uncovered after Alger died?”

“We’ve only cracked the surface,” Olivia said, staring out the window. “They’re being painstakingly cataloged and translated now. It’s slow going, I’m afraid.”

Algernon’s early days as a libertine had given way to scholarship later in his undeath. He’d collected all kinds of vampire history and genealogy, much of which his offspring didn’t even know about until after his death. Olivia had taken over his research and added it to her own documentation of female blood drinkers down through time.

“Has your research revealed anything about the Slayer?”

“Nothing you don’t already know, I assure you.”

I looked at her carefully. “You wouldn’t hold back on me, would you?”

She sighed. “I give you my word on the memories of both of our sires, I am not keeping anything from you.”

“See that you don’t.”

Olivia looked at me thoughtfully. “Melaphia still hasn’t figured out how Connie can be destroyed, has she?”

“No, but for starters Eleanor said she can be killed in the same ways as vampires can.”

“Wooden stake to the heart, fire, decapitation,” Olivia recited. “That makes sense, I guess.”

“El also said that one day Connie won’t be able to go out into the sun. Is that true?”

“I’ve seen that in
dhampir
legend, yes.”

I sighed. If Connie was going to eventually wind up like us, I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear about it. “But both Melaphia and Eleanor believe that Connie has some special weakness that can be used against her. I just hope the old lords haven’t figured it out either. Do you think they’ve kept any records of their own? Like prophecies and stuff?”

“I’d be very surprised if they haven’t. There’s no telling what Diana and Ulrich know that we don’t,” Olivia said seriously. “I know what you’re concerned about, Jack. I promise that the moment that I or any of my people discover anything about the Slayer or any mention of your child in the documents, I will inform you immediately.”

“Thanks,” I said and squeezed her hand again. Olivia was aware that Lalee had appeared to us and that she and her old texts had hinted at something important about Connie’s and my baby.

“The most recent revelation that we’ve gotten from the Council came through one of our spies,” she said.

“You have vampires spying on the Council?”

“Yes.”

“Sounds dangerous. I imagine that anyone who got caught spying by the old lords could count on some special kind of hell.”

“Dangerous indeed, but invaluable. The spy was the one who found out the old lords were using their combined power to harness the elemental forces. It’s unfortunate we didn’t figure out what that meant until the earthquake.”

“Do you think they’re going to come at us next with one of the other forces?”

“It’s possible, but hard to anticipate. I mean, will they use air, fire, water, spirit? If so,
how
will they use it?”

“Good point. I guess we’ve just got to be on our toes, ready for anything.”

“That about sums it up, I’m afraid.” Olivia squeezed my hand in return. “At least we’re in this together.”

“Listen, that reminds me. It’ll help me reason with Connie if you promise to help us deal with the rest of the double-deads.”

“By all means. I’ll stay and help as long as I can.” Olivia looked at me for a long moment. “You really love her, don’t you, Jack?”

I sighed. “I really do.”

“Poor darling.” She drew her legs onto the bench seat, snuggled up by my side, and kissed my neck, sending a jolt of lightning down my back. “Did you ever wonder what would have happened if we’d been more . . . sexually compatible? Hmm?”

“Once or twice,” I admitted. “Things would certainly be a lot simpler.” Simpler than impregnating a Mayan goddess who now would give her eyeteeth to skewer me on her magic sword.

“You know, I went by William’s looking for you before I came to the garage. While I was there I had a little chat with Melaphia. Now that you’ve had to swear off Connie, Mel thinks she might be able to figure out a way for you and me to shag again without you nearly killing me.”

That didn’t surprise me a bit. Melaphia would do anything to keep me and Connie apart. I couldn’t say that I blamed her. “I don’t know, Olivia . . .”

“I know you’re in love with somebody else, but the Slayer is poison to all of us, you most of all. And I think I could make you forget about her, darling. If only for a night now and then.”

Olivia ran her tongue along my neck, and I felt my jeans getting tighter. I thought about the first and only time we did the nasty. It
was
pretty intense. “I tell you what—I’ll think about it.”

“Good boy.”

When Olivia’s hands started roaming I nearly drove off the road and into the marsh. Tonight was my night for getting felt up by red-hot lady vampires. “Not now, babe. We’ve got work to do,” I told her.

When we got to the marina, the cops and CSIs were still swarming around the crime scene. Connie stalked over to the wrecker as Olivia and I got out. The Slayer’s nostrils flared and her eyes turned dark as she picked up the scent of vampire on Olivia.

Even though I’d seen it many times while on the hunt with her, it still shocked me how quickly Connie’s killer instinct kicked in. She was in Olivia’s face in what seemed like a nanosecond, but the willowy vampire stood her ground.

“Jack, how nice of you to have brought me a snack,” Connie said.

“I’m a bit peckish myself. Perhaps I’ll take a bite out of
you, dhampir.
” Olivia smiled widely, revealing her fangs.

I wedged my way between the two beauties—one as slender and light as a moonbeam, the other dark, Latin, and voluptuous.

“Ladies, ladies. Let’s not forget we’re all on the same side here.”

“So this is one of your so-called
good
vampires?” Connie asked mockingly.

“Oh, I’m good all right,” Olivia assured her.

“You all smell alike to me. A lot like dead meat.” Connie bared her fangs and her body tensed as she prepared to strike.

I grasped her shoulder and gripped it tightly. “Look at your cop pals over there,” I said. I tried to be as soothing as possible, but my stomach was doing backflips. “Do you think they’ll look at you in the same light after they’ve seen you tie a young woman’s guts in a bow?”

“She could try,” muttered Olivia.

Connie glanced over at the policemen and technicians, many of whom were staring her way, wondering what the confrontation was about. She composed her face, shook my hand off her shoulder, and took a step back.

“Now let’s start over,” I said. “Connie, this is Olivia. Olivia, Connie. You may remember meeting each other at William’s party a while back.”

“Yeah, I remember,” Connie growled.

“Such a pleasure to see you again,” Olivia said sarcastically. She made sure to use her most cultured accent.

“I propose a truce,” I said. “I can vouch for Olivia. She’s peaceful and doesn’t kill humans. How about if she helps us find the rest of the double-deads and you don’t kill her.”

Olivia narrowed her eyes.

“Okay,” I corrected. “You won’t
try
to kill her.”

“Why would I agree to that?” Connie asked. “I’m starting to think I don’t even need
you.
”

I glanced over at the police personnel to make sure all of them were still out of earshot and told Connie about the body swap I’d witnessed and the implications for our demon hunt. Connie didn’t take the news well.

“Okay, let me get this straight. I know that we’ve killed all the demons that
look
like demons as far as we know, and that what we’ve got left are demons in human disguise.”

“Yeah. Right.”

“Now what you’re telling me is that these demons in human form will still smell and act like vampires, but we can’t kill them because the displaced human spirits are still alive outside of their bodies.”

“That’s about the size of it.”

Connie let fly with a stream of curses that almost made me blush. “How are we supposed to fix this?”

“Even if we could get the vampires to agree to give up their host bodies like Eleanor did, how can we find the people—or animals—into which the human spirits were forced?” Olivia asked.

“And what happened to the people who inhabited
those
bodies, the secondary hosts?”