Til Death (Jane #5) (7 page)

"What do you mean?" I asked her, not really
wanting to move anywhere or do anything that required physical
effort.

"You still need to cut the cake, silly. You
were interrupted last time, remember?"

I shook my head and went back to staring at
the television. "I'm not really in the mood for that. I don't think
it's the best time."

Donna stalked over to the TV and snapped it
off. The others started to look up, their mindless entertainment
gone. I stood and faced her.

"Donna, it's not right. We can't be
celebrating while... while..." I pressed my lips together and
blinked back the tears that were starting to form.

Donna raised her head and put her hands on my
shoulders. "Jane, I know. I know how you feel. I understand. But I
can tell you from experience that moping around will help nothing.
It only makes you feel worse about something you can't change.
Besides, do you think Joe would want you to spend your life
miserable on his account?" She turned to look at the rest of the
group. "No, he wouldn't. He would tell you guys to get up off your
butts and go do something. He would want you out there fighting and
making the world a better place. That is what he would want."

Jax stood up and ambled over to the table. He
looked at the huge construction, then looked at me and shrugged. "I
like cake."

I laughed. "Alright, fine. We'll cut the
cake."

Felipe gave me a weak smile as we sliced into
it and stuffed huge slices into each other's mouths. The moment
broke the depressed mood that had been hanging over all of us, and
we spent the rest of the evening reminiscing about the great things
Father Bellini had done while we stuffed ourselves with overpriced
wedding cake.

***

The next morning, Felipe dragged the whole
team into the office of the sanctuary's leader. The man was in the
middle of planning an attack on a werewolf base nearby and was
quite perturbed at the disturbance.

"We have to go after them." Felipe leaned
forward, placing his hands on the man's desk as he spoke with an
intensity I rarely saw.

"I have already told you, Felipe. It is done.
We have teams out taking care of the scattered youngsters, but we
are not going to waste our best team on rounding up a disjointed
band of rogue vampires."

I looked between them. "What are you talking
about?"

The man looked at me, annoyed. "Raymond's
second escaped the attack. But he is weak and doesn't have the
wherewithal to stage any attacks on his own. Right now, he just is
not that important."

"Wait, what? I thought Anson was his
second."

Felipe shook his head. "No, Anson was just
his bodyguard. His second escaped through a tunnel that he then
sealed from the other side. We couldn't get to him and we have no
idea where it led. He went alone, as far as we can tell, but he
needs to be captured or destroyed, and soon."

The fierce expression on Felipe's face was
almost scary, but I agreed with him wholeheartedly. Unfortunately,
our new leader didn't see it the same way. "I said no. Now get out
of my office so I can plan your next move."

The discussion was done and he would listen
to nothing else any of us had to say. We retreated back to the
common room, which Felipe locked once we were all in.

"We can't just let him go and do the same
thing he did before." Benton was livid, pacing in a short
circle.

Others were heatedly saying similar things
and the anger in the room was palpable.

"I agree." We all quieted and looked to our
true leader. "Which is why we are going to do something, whether
they like it or not."

Jax plopped into a chair. "We can't do
anything without their approval or we'll be labeled rogues."

Felipe's face hardened and he straightened
his shoulders. "I know."

Jax made to protest, but closed his mouth, a
thoughtful look on his face.

Felipe continued, "I understand if anyone
doesn't want to come. It's a huge risk and we'll always be on the
run. But I'm not going to sit by and watch the world fall apart.
Bellini was one of the few people able to keep the sanctuaries
together. With his death, the focus is going to shift. We'll be
hunting werewolves who have done nothing wrong or relegated to
goblin duty. I'm not going to do that."

Silence sat heavily in the air for a long
time before I had the courage to even move. I didn't trust myself
to speak, so I just walked up to stand next to Felipe and took his
hand. Benton was beside me in a second, followed quickly by Jax.
Nathan was next, muttering something about how he never did like
living in a sanctuary anyway.

Ronin stood where he was, eyes on Felipe.
Felipe nodded at him. "I understand. Please just give us time to
get out and away before you say anything."

The tension grew as Ronin remained silent.
His gaze shifted to the rest of us slowly, taking stock of each and
every one of us. After an eternity, he drew a deep breath and
nodded.

"No. Father Bellini would never forgive me
for sending you out into the world to your deaths without God's
guidance."

A grin broke across Felipe's face and he
embraced Ronin tightly. "Thank you, brother."

Then he pulled away and looked to the rest of
us, his classic smirk settled calmly on his face. "Ready to go
change the world?"

Other Books By This Author

Battle of Black River

Blood of the Dragon

Winds from the North

Vampire Assassin (Jane #1)

New Blood (Jane #2)

Blood & Tears (Jane #3)

Redemption (Jane #4)

Til Death (Jane #5)

About the Author

Samantha Warren is a fantasy and science
fiction author who spends her days immersed in dragons, space
ships, and vampires. With her pet dragon, Anethesis, she ventured
to the ends of the universe, but the cost of space travel cut into
her sock fetish fund, so she sold her ship and returned home. When
she isn’t writing, she’s milking cows or trying to feed them
Pop-Tarts. She spends a lot of time in her weed patch (aka:
garden), watching any show featuring Gordon Ramsay, or posting
random things on her blog.

Interested in contacting Samantha?

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @_SamanthaWarren

Blog: http://www.samantha-warren.com

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