Hot Blooded (Jessica McClain)

chapter 7

“You brought a human with you?” Eamon’s voice was part superiority, part curiosity. We were definitely coming off like a bunch of hillbillies in front of the überrefined vampires.

I had a gagged Ray, still tied with a dish towel, by the scruff of the neck. We stood just outside the Humvee. Even though the high beams were illuminating the darkness, I swear the yellow paint on the car doors would’ve sufficed as a lantern. I shook my head sadly.

Danny and Tyler had taken up behind us, looking as tough and bold in their jeans as the vamps did. They were at least a foot taller than the twins, with more muscle and fiercer snarls. “That’s what I just said.” My patience with Eamon waned with every single word out of his mouth. “What I want to know is if you can fly him over the border without snacking on him or dropping him for sport?” Ray tensed at my words, but stayed silent. Ray’s utter shock made me certain that vamps could glamour themselves when they felt like it; otherwise they could never leave the confines of their home and go out in public, and I knew they had to go out. There was no way all those vampires stayed inside all night. But it was obvious they weren’t cloaking themselves now because Ray was just short of babbling like a baby. In this state the vamps screamed otherworldly. “He’s traveling with us and he goes unmolested unless I say so.”

Eamon curled his top lip, like munching on humans wasn’t what he did for a living. “We have already sipped tonight. We have no need of more.”

Sipped? From what I gathered of the Queen’s decorative chamber ceiling and walls during my last visit, when vamps ate, they ripped, tore, feasted, gulped, and sucked. I saw no evidence of sipping depicted anywhere.

“Great.” I yanked Ray around to face me, hillbilly style. “Listen, Ray. This is your last chance to get this right. You absolutely lucked out tonight. Do you hear me? These nice vampires are going to fly you over the border. We’ll meet you on the other side. Seeing that my original plan when I veered off the road involved a shovel and some digging, consider yourself spared. Vamp transportation is a much better alternative than a shallow grave.” He stared at me unblinking like I was speaking in gibberish. “And when we pick you up on the other side, you will come with us willingly.” That was the key word. “If you don’t get yourself figured out by then and finally buy into what we’re selling you, they get to eat you, or sip you to death, or whatever it is they do. Understand? This is it, Ray. End of the road. I’ve had enough.”

Honestly, if flying through the air with vamps wasn’t enough to convince Ray everything we’d said so far was true, nothing was going to do the trick and he was a lost cause. Introducing him to demons was not an option and anything else would take too long.

I hoped a little shock therapy would go a long way.

I ripped Ray’s gag off and tossed it to the ground. Then I spun him around to undo his ties, which turned out to be an artfully tied three-foot extension cord. Jesus. “Hannon, this won’t work,” Ray sputtered as soon as he could find the words. “I know what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to scare me, but it won’t—”

Naomi shot toward us in a blur, stopping a few feet in front of Ray, effectively cutting his tirade short. Her striking visage was even more startling this close. I could smell the fear instantly pool along Ray’s skin.

“Of course it will work,” I replied, acting like nothing unusual had just happened and a spooky vampire wasn’t invading his personal space. “After you’ve flown with vamps, there won’t be anything left to explain. You’ll come to your senses, believe what we’re telling you to be the truth, agree to our demands, and save your own damn life. We all win. I’m going to look forward to the pats on the back in Pack for being such a trailblazer when it comes to preserving human life. Who knew all it was going to take was a little solo flying with vampires?”

“I don’t care wh-what you say,” Ray stammered. “Vampires and werewolves can’t possibly exist. It’s not natural. I want no part of this fuc—”

Naomi leaned in quickly, her ivory fangs snapping down in an instant. She bared her incisors as her face began to do that slide-downward thing I’d seen Valdov and the Queen do when they were angry. Her skin appeared to melt off her face like hot wax. How in the hell did they do that? I wasn’t about to ask and ruin the show. “We exist, human,” she hissed. “You would do well to fear us.”

Ray stumbled backward so quickly he fell. I let him go and he landed flat on his back.

I left him there as I peered at Naomi, watching as her face glided back to normal. She glanced over at me once everything was back in its rightful place, seeming proud of herself for providing the trick to terrify the human.

“I think I’m beginning to like you,” I told her honestly. Nothing like a supe with a plucky attitude. She’d caught on to the situation fast, no tutorials needed. Unlike her brother, who stood off to the side brooding, with his arms crossed like a petulant child. “He’s all yours.” I nodded to Naomi. “We’ll cross the border up the main highway and pick him up five miles on the other side. I’ll look for an outlet.”

Eamon paced forward like he’d sipped a lemon.

“We will take the human,” Naomi agreed. “And we will make sure he’s frightened.”

Sweet. “Sounds like a plan.”



Crossing the border took longer than it should have. The guards didn’t pull us over to search the truck, but they held us in front of the window for a substantial amount of time, quizzing us about how we’d obtained our lovely vehicle. Tyler had all the pertinent paperwork in the glove box, but even so they kept asking. After the thirteenth question about our wonderful military Humvee, I arched a look at my brother and muttered, “You couldn’t have gotten us a nice Buick instead of artillery Big Bird?”

Tyler scowled. “Nice and Buick don’t run in the same sentence.”

Nick’s gift of persuasion would’ve been extremely useful right about now. It figured Nick would get a good gift like molding human minds to his liking, and I’d get stuck with supernatural domination, which was a totally useless skill to have if I planned on living to a ripe old age.

“So what do you think vampires eat, then?” Danny asked conversationally when they finally waved us through. “Do you think they only drink blood, or do you think they enjoy the occasional bit of raw meat or a nice swig of wine now and again? Must be frightfully boring just guzzling blood all day. It wouldn’t suit me in the least.”

“I couldn’t care less what they eat,” Tyler said as he sealed all the paperwork back in the glove box. “Just as long as they stay away from me. There’s not another supernatural Sect out there worse than vamps. Being dead and still functioning is like reanimating a corpse. It goes against all the laws of nature.”

“You know that’s what necromancers do, right?” I said, giving him a sidelong glance. “They reanimate corpses for a living. To me, that’s a million times worse than a vamp, with all the peeling skin and no eyeballs walking around like Night of the Living Dead.” I’d never actually seen a reanimated corpse, but my vision couldn’t be that far off. We were lucky necromancers were few and far between. My father had told me long ago it was an old magic, seldom used these days. “Vamps just have a different magic than we do. No better, no worse. They’re alive in their own way.”

Danny ignored both of our comments completely and continued, “Do you think all their plumbing works properly, you know, after they become undead?” Danny leaned forward. “That’d be worse than all the blood guzzling. Not a life without being able to have a good shag.”

I spotted a good place to turn after we’d gone five miles down the road. “I have no idea if they can have sex, Danny, nor do I care.” I angled the Humvee down a small road, paved this time, more civilized route. “Let’s focus on picking up Ray and figuring out the next plan. You can ask the vamps anything you want later, but when you do, just make sure you watch yourself. Be prepared for them to fly into a rage if you start prying into their personal life. Eamon looks like he’d rather suck you dry than divulge one single detail about himself.” I turned to my brother. “Roll down your window and see if you can scent them.”

Tyler cracked the window and inhaled as we moved slowly down the road. “They’re out there. I can smell them, but from the moving car I can’t figure out which way the wind is blowing.”

“That’s good enough for me.” I picked a wide berth on the shoulder and pulled over.

The second we stepped onto the road, a single shape landed ten feet in front of me. Up this close, the whooshing sounded like straight-line winds whistling through trees.

“Good trick, flying,” Danny said jovially from behind me. “One of the pros to vampirism in my book.”

Naomi held on to a limp Ray. He hung loosely from the front like she’d just given him the Heimlich maneuver but he’d choked anyway. I strode forward and she released him without preamble. He toppled onto the road, out cold. “Scaring him seems to have worked,” I said. I knew he was alive because I could hear him breathing. Not that I’d thought she’d killed him, but rapport with the vamps was something I hadn’t expected. Eamon was difficult, but Naomi was almost pleasant.

“Humans are weak.” Naomi shrugged, a glint of sliver piercing deeply inside her irises, flashing outward in the dark like a spark. “I made sure he was aware of what was happening, and then for good measure, I dropped him.” When I appeared startled, she smiled. “But only for the briefest of moments. In human time it was only a few seconds at most. When I caught him, he had already fainted.” She glanced down at Ray’s lifeless body impassively. “I have no idea why you would go to great lengths for a human such as this. But this one stayed awake longer than most.” There was a hint of grudging respect in her soft, French lilt.

“Ray is a guinea pig of sorts.” I moved closer to them. “Vamps might have a greater disregard for human life, but my ultimate plan is to try and preserve it when and if I can.” I had to be honest with myself and admit that wanting Ray to live was something I felt deep down, almost like an urge that was out of my control. The Prophecy pinged in my mind for a quick second, but I didn’t have time to analyze my feelings on the matter.

“Humans are of small consequence to us.” She shrugged her petite shoulders, her long chestnut hair swaying in the night air. The gesture and the breeze made her appear a teensy bit more normal and less supernatural horror. “We have little need to kill them. If we don’t wish it, they would never know we were there. But if an occasional human life gets lost, so be it.”

Under different circumstances, I might have been tempted to remind Naomi that she’d been human once. But now wasn’t the time, and I knew too many years had passed since she’d been one for it to register with any kind of meaning. Add in the fact I had no idea how I would feel about humans when I was that old and it was almost a moot point. Maybe I’d forget what being human was like so much, they’d barely be a blip on my radar too.

Ray moaned.

“Well,” I finally replied. “This one’s life is not up for grabs yet.” I pushed a toe into his thigh. “Hey, Ray, it’s time to wake up.” I wiggled my foot back and forth, shaking him. “Come on. We need to get a move on.”

His eyes blinked open with a start, his body and fists instantly tensing for a fight.

I crouched down beside him. “Are you ready to come quietly now? Or do the vamps need to take you on another ride?”

“Hannon.” His voice came out creaky and raspy, like his throat had been damaged from screaming. “I have no idea how they achieved that, but that was some of the craziest shit I’ve ever seen.”

“You didn’t answer my question, Ray. Does that mean you’re ready to come without a fuss?” I peered at him closely. I could almost see the cogs rotating in his brain, his logical detective side warring with his whimsical side, likely a side of his brain he hadn’t utilized since he was a child, if that. Children were much more inclined to believe in the unreal, their brains tailored to accept all things. I knew Ray desperately didn’t want to believe in the unexplained, but we were beyond that now. “Your time is up. We can’t keep going like this and you know it. Make up your mind.” I stood. “Are you ready to accept or not?”

He sat up slowly, glancing around, his gaze landing on Naomi and then back to me. “Fine. I’m coming,” he said, rubbing the road out of his hair. “It feels like my brain is skewered open, but a human being able to fly is no magic trick I’ve ever seen.” He looked at me for a quick second and then dropped his eyes. “But if anyone comes after me, I will not hesitate to fight. Just because you crazies exist, doesn’t mean I’m signing on the dotted line.”

“Ray,” I hissed on the end of a frustrated breath. “You exhaust me. You can fight all you want, but you’re not going to win. That’s been your biggest obstacle all along—thinking you actually have a chance against us.” I motioned for him to stand. “Once you get that through your impenetrable skull, your brain will thank you for it. And you will indeed sign on the dotted line, either that or you’ll be dead.”

“A well-fought battle isn’t a loss, Hannon. Only a loser doesn’t try.”

“Ray, my name is Jessica. No need to refer to me as Hannon anymore.” It seemed another lifetime ago that I’d gone by that name.

He stood, but Eamon swooshed down in front of the group before he could answer. It was kind of incredible to see him land from full speed. It should have been a train wreck, but instead he looked like an Olympic gymnast sticking a perfect landing. The pavement didn’t even wiggle. It seemed as if the velocity stopped right as his feet came in contact with the ground.

It was pretty cool. I could grudge him that much.

“The Goddess is close,” Eamon proclaimed with stuffy arrogance. “I can feel her strength. When she detects us, as she will, she will not stand idly by and let us attack. We must move now.”

I focused on Naomi, choosing to deal with the more rational of the two. “It will be daybreak soon. Can you travel during daylight hours?” My guess was no, but I had to ask. Maybe she and her brother had gifts I didn’t know about.

“Non,” Naomi said. Her accent was more pronounced than Eamon’s, plus she used French words, which might be one of the reasons she seemed somewhat more agreeable. “We will sleep during the daylight hours. The oldest of us can tolerate sunlight, because as our bodies age we become stronger, but we are still too young for that.” They had to be well over five hundred years old, judging by the level of power they emitted. The stronger the supe, the more power flowed, manifesting itself like tiny pressure points on the skin. The closer you were to the source, the more it needled you. Rourke’s energy was the strongest I’d ever felt, but his power felt delicious against my skin, like a surge of tingles flooding my body continuously. The vamps’ energy felt tight and concentrated, built to intimidate. If five hundred was considered young, how old did one need to be to withstand light?

Instead of asking, I replied, “To keep up the pace, we will continue on during the day. You can catch up to us when you wake.”

“The mountains you are looking for are a great distance northwest of here.” Naomi moved forward, stopping in front of me. “They border a large body of water, a lake five times the size of all the others surrounding it. The area she resides in is remote; its rocky passes are impregnable to humans without flight. You must drive until the dirt road dead-ends into the west side of lake and wait until nightfall. It will not take us long to find you once we wake. Do not venture any farther than the road if you value your life. The pathway to her lair is littered with lethal obstacles.” She was obviously the tracker, Eamon the sensor. “Selene has protected herself well from harm.”

“You’ve scouted the entrance already?” I asked, somewhat surprised. I knew the two of them had spent the previous day locating Selene’s trail, or we wouldn’t have had any direction to follow, but pinpointing her fortress so quickly was more than I’d hoped for. “I guess when you can fly, you can cover a lot more ground.”

Flying was definitely a skill lacked, but having the vamps fly us there would’ve been impossible. We outnumbered them four to two, plus we had all our gear. Even if it had been an option, there was no way on earth any wolf would willingly let a vampire carry them. It wasn’t something I was willing to risk either, even though Naomi appeared to be somewhat trustworthy. There was too much dissention between the Sects, and even though they likely couldn’t kill us outright this time because of the oath their Queen swore to me, there were sneaky ways around that. They could easily have an “accident” and still be within the parameters of the oath. Dropping us or slamming us into the nearest mountain would be the quickest way to try and kill us for good, something I was certain Eamon would love to do. They could also take us anywhere without our consent. It was too risky. Traveling close to the ground was the only way to ensure our survival.

“Non,” Naomi said. “We did not go to the entrance of her lair. We went only as far as the perimeter. Eamon can sense many different magics, and a fresh imprint of her was all over the mountains. Though Eamon can detect magic is present across her boundary, we will not know what it is until we arrive. There is no doubt that Selene has anticipated your arrival. She is likely taking her time with her prisoner until you arrive. You will be the crudités to her final encore, which will be ending his life.” My wolf snarled and flashed a picture of a bloodied Selene. Yep.

“There is another reason we did not go closer,” Eamon added. “There is a chance if she senses too much danger she will flee. She will not risk harm, even when she is caught up in her games. She will kill him and disappear if she believes she will be overpowered.”

“How do you know that?” I asked curiously. “From my experience, her vanity would fool her into thinking she’s infallible to just about anything. She surely wouldn’t think two young vamps and a newborn werewolf and her cohorts would be anything too strenuous to overcome. The thought of us overpowering her would make her laugh.”

He looked uncomfortable for a moment; then he straightened, donning his usual persnickety face. “We have… dallied before and I understand her ways.”

Danny coughed. “Dallied? That sounds a bit interesting, mate.” There was humor in his voice. “From what I’ve been told, Selene packs quite a punch in those delicate fingers of hers. Can you attest to that then?”

“She’s a warrior without rival,” Eamon snapped. “She will strike you down as an afterthought and leave your body to rot if you’re not vigilant.”

This conversation was going nowhere. I hadn’t expected Eamon to know Selene, which was curious at best. It was useful information to store away for later. From the passion in his voice I could tell it had been a close relationship, and from his pinched expression I knew there were zero odds he would talk about it. I turned toward Naomi for an answer, but she was looking away.

I faced the group. “We’ll drive the rest of tonight and all day tomorrow. We regroup at the edge of the lake by sunset tomorrow.” I had scanned the maps and if we made good time, that seemed like a doable distance to get to the Rockies. “We can formulate another plan once we get there, depending on what we find.”

“Aye, aye, Captain.” Danny gave me a mock salute.

“Hardy-har-har,” I said.

He winked in response.

Tyler headed back to the Humvee.

“Ray,” I said. “Let’s go. It’s time to prove how ready and willing you are.”

Ray followed, but peered warily back at the two vamps as he trailed after me. He came around the passenger side and yanked open the side door on his own. Finally a step in the right direction. “Hannon,” he grumbled. “What kind of crazy mess are you in? Where exactly are we going?”

“We’re going up against the nastiest goddess you’ve ever seen. You’d better buckle your seat belt.”