Bittersweet Blood (The Order #1)

“You staying here all night?” Piers asked.

Christian shook his head. He needed to increase Tara’s protection and get someone looking into this abomination of the fae’s. “I’m out of here.”





Chapter Seventeen


Smokey strolled in through the open door and leapt onto the sofa. Tara was worried about him—he’d been back for brief visits since she’d returned from Yorkshire, but he appeared unsettled. He’d stay for an hour or so, as if reassuring himself that she was fine, and then he’d disappear again.

He’d never taken to London. In fact, he would probably jump at the chance to return to Yorkshire, if that was what she decided to do.

She tried to imagine going back to her old life and incarcerating herself in that big gray house on the moors. She knew, in her heart, that it wasn’t an option. Not now that she had sampled life, mixed with people, and had grown to be part of something.

Besides, it would be a life without Christian, and she was beginning to fear that wasn’t an option either. It had been four days, and she wanted him with a desperation she hadn’t known existed. She could still feel him in her mind, fainter now, at times almost absent, but he was always there, forcing her to remember.

He’d told her she needed to accept what she was, and she was trying, she really was.

“I am a demon,” she said to herself.

Smokey leapt up onto her lap and rasped his rough pink tongue over her hand in sympathy. She couldn’t believe it. Each morning she woke and rushed to the mirror, checking for signs of change, some indication she was something other than human. She’d searched her face and could see nothing even bordering on demonic.

She tried again. “I am a demon, and I’m in love with a vampire.”

Smokey hissed and jumped from her lap.

“You’re right. It’s not good, but this isn’t about being good. It’s about being honest.”

Smokey cast her a disgusted look and stalked out of the room. She watched him go and frowned. He hadn’t been right since she got back from Yorkshire. She wanted to ask Chloe how he had been while she was away, but Chloe hadn’t been home.

She must know Tara was back, because she hadn’t been around to feed Smokey, but Tara hadn’t seen a sign of her. She’d gone to her apartment, phoned her cell phone—nothing. Maybe someone had called her away on a family emergency, but Tara was sure she would have left a note. She flicked open her cell phone and tried the number again. It rang but no one picked up.

She was getting a bad feeling about this, and convincing herself it was simply the demon thing turning her paranoid didn’t make her discomfort go away.

There had to be a reasonable explanation for Chloe’s absence. She punched Jamie’s number, but he didn’t answer either, and she tossed the phone down in disgust. Chloe had never spoken of her family, so there was no one else Tara could contact.

Five minutes later, her cell phone rang. It was Jamie.

“I’m coming right over,” he said and disconnected before she could answer. Tara stared at her phone for a minute then put it down.

“I am a demon,” she said.

Jamie arrived within minutes. Tara let him in, feeling a wave of relief she now had someone to share her concerns with—though Jamie was obviously already worried enough on his own. There were deep shadows under his eyes, and his mouth was held in a tight line.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Chloe’s missing.”

Shock reverberated through her to hear it spoken aloud.

“Are you sure?”

He nodded, and Tara swallowed down the fear that rose in her throat.

“Come through to the kitchen,” she said. “I’ll make us some coffee. You look like you need it.” She put on the coffee maker and turned to face him. He’d slumped on the chair by the table, his head in his hands.

“Jamie, what is it? What’s happened?”

His eyes were bleak, and panic clawed at her insides.

“I think someone’s taken her,” Jamie said.

“Why should anyone take her?”

He ran a trembling hand through his already ruffled hair. “We were supposed to see each other the night you came back and she never showed up. I went to her apartment, and there was nobody there. I came around here and nothing. I haven’t been able to reach her on her cell.”

“Me neither, but I thought maybe she’d gone to visit her family or something.”

“She wouldn’t, at least not without telling me. We’d become quite close.”

“I know, she told me.” Tara made the coffee and put a mug down in front of him.

“I’ve searched for her everywhere. I checked her college—she hasn’t been there. I even managed to track down her mother. She hasn’t heard from Chloe in over a month. I don’t think they’re close, but Chloe definitely wasn’t there.”

“I’m sure there’s an explanation. We’ve just got to think it through.”

Jamie shook his head, his expression desolate. “I don’t think so. I think someone has taken her, and it’s all my fault.”