Tainted Night, Tainted Blood

7



“I know you don’t like visitors,” Jonathan said. He looked uncomfortable sitting at the table. He kept lacing and unlacing his fingers as if he wasn’t quite sure what to do with his hands.

“No shit.” I placed the gun on the table, the barrel aimed right at him. I kept my hand on it to let him know how much I didn’t like having people show up unannounced on my doorstep.

“I wouldn’t have come if it wasn’t important.”

“Okay,” I said. “Then speak.”

He sighed and ran his fingers through the hair on the left side of his head. He looked much better than he did the last time I had seen him. It had been at The Bloody Stake, and he’d still been suffering the results of our semi-successful joint run against House Tremaine. The limp was gone and all his wounds appeared to be healed, though that could be deceiving.

Jonathan was a sorcerer, which allowed him to hide what he wanted to hide. He claimed he could only cast glamours, but I refused to believe it. Any sorcerer who wanted to live would claim they could do very little. Anyone stronger was sought out and killed.

Jonathan used his glamours to keep the Luna Cult Den hidden. He was able to hide the Den, making the old library on the Ohio State campus look run-down and abandoned from the outside. On the inside, it was anything but.

He’d used his glamour on me once as well, making me appear as a Luna Cult member so we could infiltrate House Tremaine together. It had worked, to a point. I hadn’t been able to keep myself from killing a few wolves along the way, which, in turn, gave us away when Adrian Davis sniffed me out.

Before I met him, Jonathan had kept his face hidden with a dark hood aided by a glamour that made his face all shadows and darkness. Only recently had he started using his magic to hide the damage done to his face, reconstructing it so that anyone looking at him wouldn’t cringe.

The slightest hint of guilt crept into me. I’d been the one who’d ruined his face. He was once a member of House Valentino, a House I had taken down after they had turned me into a vampire. My blade had cut a large chunk of his skull off, leaving him mutilated and near death. He survived and had a change of heart, choosing to turn against his vampire masters and fight for the liberation of the werewolf.

Yeah, I wasn’t so sure why I was siding with him either.

Jonathan looked up at me and a sadness came into his eyes. “I was wondering if I would ever see you again,” he said. “I thought we had gotten past our differences and could at least be friends.”

I frowned. “Is that what this is about?”

“No,” he admitted. “But I needed to get it out. I dislike the thought of you risking your life alone when you could have my help.”

“I manage.”

He rubbed at his forehead like a headache was coming on. “Things would be much easier if we could learn to work together. This animosity between us need not exist. Maybe things wouldn’t have gotten so far gone if you had come to me.”

I frowned even harder. “What’s happened?”

He licked his lips and brushed off his jacket, though there was nothing on it. He looked downright nervous, and it was making my trigger finger itch.

I moved my hand away from the gun just in case. I would probably feel bad if I killed him because he sneezed at the wrong moment.

He took a deep breath and leveled a stare at me. “Are you the one who has been killing all those vampires and werewolves?”

My blood ran cold. Could he really be talking about House Telia and the rogues Mikael had told me about? Or was this something else? I’d had a few kill runs since I had last seen Jonathan, so it could have been anything.

“Which ones?” I asked. I managed to keep the unease out of my voice.

He stared at me as if he was trying to discern the truth from my expression. I kept my face carefully blank as not to give anything away, though I wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t like I’d killed anyone he would care about. The vamps I had taken down were of Fledgling Houses with barely any wolves amongst them.

Jonathan seemed to reach a decision and eased back in his chair. “I don’t think you’re the one doing it,” he said. “Even though the kills bear your mark, they aren’t your style.”

“House Telia?” I ventured, wanting to make sure we were on the same page before saying something I would regret.

“Among others,” he said. “No one in the Luna Cult has been harmed, but I fear it is only a matter of time until something does happen. There is a lot of talk on the streets that Lady Death has gone mad and is slaughtering everyone as quickly and as messily as she can.”

“I didn’t do it,” I said. “And I’m not crazy.” I considered how much to tell him. I still wasn’t positive he didn’t blame me. “Countess Telia was dead before I got there. I saw the mess. It wasn’t me.”

He nodded as if he already knew. “While there are things that hint at you being involved in the kills, there is so much else that eliminates you as a suspect. To someone who knows you, it’s clear you could have nothing to do with them. You of all people wouldn’t use werewolves for your runs.” He smiled at that.

“So if you didn’t think I was the one doing it, then why are you here?”

“I need you again,” he said. “We cannot let this continue. I don’t like the idea of someone else running around killing weres and vamps uncontrolled. People are turning up dead in alleys at an alarming rate.”

“How bad is it?” I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. I knew I would have to face this eventually, but to have the Luna Cult involved too ... It just made things worse.

“Like I said, the Cult hasn’t lost anyone, but others have. There have been weres we were looking to recruit who have turned up dead. All of them were beheaded, though it doesn’t appear to be your work. There were claw marks on the bodies, and it looks as though they had been fed upon.”

I nodded as he spoke. It sounded exactly like what I’d seen.

“And the more this happens, the more the vampire Houses will become interested in what is going on.” Jonathan frowned down at his hands. “How long before they really start looking for Lady Death in the hopes of putting a stop to her before she comes after them?”

“They’ve searched for me before.”

“But it’s different this time. Wolves from Major Houses have died. You usually can only handle smaller Houses.”

I bristled a bit at that. I knew I couldn’t handle much beyond a Fledgling House. I just didn’t like being reminded of it. “What’s your point?”

“Many of the larger Houses used to use you as a buffer. You take down the weaker, most dangerous of the small Houses, keeping them from rising through the ranks. The Major Houses like having you around so they can focus on keeping the stronger Houses in line.”

“I seriously doubt that.”

Jonathan shrugged. “Either way, weres and vampires are dying much faster than they had before. Whoever is doing this is working fast, and I have a feeling they aren’t working alone.”

I thought back to all the claw marks, the amount of carnage I had seen. Why would someone working alone claw someone to death if they had a sword?

“I agree,” I said.

“With weres belonging to Major Houses dying, things are becoming more and more dangerous for you.”

My frown returned. “And why should you care?”

Jonathan blinked at me as if I should already know. “We work well together whether you want to admit it or not. If someone manages to kill you, who would I go to when something like this arises?” He smirked.

I wanted to be angry at that, but couldn’t. I didn’t want the Luna Cult showing up at my doorstep every time they had a problem. I had problems enough of my own without taking on theirs.

“Why is it that every time I hear from you, you insist on telling me how much I’m in danger?” There was a little more heat in my words than I originally intended.

Jonathan’s smirk turned into a warm, friendly smile. “Because I think you need reminding sometimes. You are so sure of yourself, so confident in your abilities, I sometimes think you forget to be afraid.”

“You don’t know me.”

“I know you well enough to know that if something threatens you, you will do something about it.” He sat forward. “I only ask that you consider working with the Cult once more when you do. This affects us all.”

Footsteps coming from the stairs jerked my head to the side. Ethan peered around the corner, eyes wide. He was holding one of my swords awkwardly out in front of him. If someone had been there, they could have easily disarmed him. He might fix my weapons, but he sure as hell didn’t know how to use them.

“I said stay in the lab.” I rose from where I was sitting, feeling strangely guilty. I picked up my gun and held it pointed to the ground.

“I didn’t hear shooting, so I figured it was safe,” he said shakily.

I eyed the sword and he gave me an abashed grin. There was no way he could have heard anything in his lab. The damn place was so soundproof a bomb could have gone off up here and he wouldn’t have known.

“That doesn’t mean you should have come up to investigate,” I said.

Jonathan rose from his seat and was watching the exchange. Ethan’s eyes traveled to our guest, but he quickly looked away. I couldn’t read the look on his face.

“Sorry,” he said. “I’ll be downstairs.”

With the way he said it, I felt horrible. It was clear I’d hurt his feelings. Somehow, I think he felt left out, what with me sitting around chatting with Jonathan while Ethan hid away in his lab, more than likely terrified I was dying upstairs.

Before I could say anything, he vanished back down the stairs. He moved so fast, I was afraid he might trip and skewer himself on the tip of the sword.

“I remember him,” Jonathan said once Ethan was out of sight. “He was important to Count Valentino.”

I turned to face him. “He’s important to me.”

“I understand.” Jonathan looked at his feet like he was ashamed. “I was never told why the boy was so important. Valentino had plans for him, but I was never privy to that sort of information.”

It was then I realized how volatile the situation could have been. What if Ethan had recognized Jonathan? Was there an unspoken grudge? Jonathan had been there when Ethan had been imprisoned in Valentino’s mansion. Just because Jonathan claimed to have had a change of heart didn’t mean everyone would believe him.

Right then, I just wanted him out of my house.

“Is that all you came for?” I said. “I’ve been warned, but I think I can handle it on my own.”

“I’m sure you can,” Jonathan said. “But since this affects the both of us, I think it best we work together. I wouldn’t want one of my wolves to get killed because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“What do you want from me?” I held my back stiff. I had no intention of working with the Luna Cult ever again. The last time nearly got me killed. Not to mention the weirdness of it all, and I wasn’t just talking about working with werewolves.

There was something about Jonathan that gave me a strange, queasy feeling deep in my gut. I hated that feeling, just as I hated the fact that I couldn’t bring myself to hate him. No matter how rude or obnoxious I got, he was always calm and friendly to me. It irked me to no end.

“Come with me back to the Den,” he said. “I drove myself here and left the car a few miles down the road. It was quite the walk, but I figured you wouldn’t want me to drive all the way to your front door. I know how you value your privacy.”

“And yet you came anyway.”

He looked a little guilty at that. “Please,” he said. “Just come to the Den with me.”

“I don’t see why I need to go to the Den. We’ve had a perfectly nice chat here.”

He looked worried for a moment. “There are things we cannot discuss here.” He glanced toward the glass back door as if looking for something. I didn’t buy it. He was hiding something.

“Like?”

He looked away. “I cannot say.”

A flash of anger shot through me. “So you expect me to drop everything and follow you to the Den without you telling me what this is all about?”

“I already did. We must take care of whoever is doing the killings. We can’t let it go on.”

“You know what I mean.”

He lowered his head. “I cannot divulge that information at this time.” He looked frightened. “If I were to tell you why I need you at the Den, you probably wouldn’t come.”

“And that’s supposed to make me want to go?”

A small smile quirked the edges of his mouth. “I have hope your curiosity will urge you to do the right thing.”

I ground my teeth in frustration. He was right. I was curious. Not only that, but he was right about the killings affecting the both of us. I couldn’t stand by and let them continue unabated. Even though the killer was targeting vampires and werewolves, Purebloods were dying too. I couldn’t stand for that.

“Fine,” I said, nearly growling the word. “Give me a few minutes to get ready. I’m not going out like this.”

Jonathan smiled. “You look nice, though it is strange to see you in something other than leather.”

I really did growl that time as I spun for the stairs. “Stay here,” I said. “Don’t move or I’ll have to reconsider my decision not to shoot you.”

Jonathan bowed his head in acknowledgment and took a seat at the table. I glared at him for good measure and then stormed up the stairs.

What was I doing jumping in with the Luna Cult again? I had sworn to myself the last time would be the only time. Now here I was, repeating past mistakes. What the f*ck was wrong with me?

I tore off my clothes, leaving them crumpled on the floor. I quickly dressed in my leathers, donning the persona of Lady Death. There were werewolves involved in this. I wanted to be ready for a fight.

I grabbed my belt and shoulder holster and threw them on. The weapons from last night would be fine since I hadn’t used them. I was as ready as I would ever be.

“One sec,” I said, coming down the stairs. Jonathan had started to rise but sat down before he had fully straightened.

I went to the basement and pressed the intercom by the laboratory door. “Ethan?”

There was a moment of silence before he answered. “Yeah?”

“I’m leaving. I’ll be back later.” I started to walk away but stopped and pressed the button again. “Be careful and don’t let anyone in until I’m home.”

“K,” came the faint response.

I went back up the stairs and turned toward the front door, opening it. “Let’s go,” I said without glancing at Jonathan. I stepped out into the night and started walking without waiting for him. I was ready to get this over with.

Somehow, I knew nothing good could come of working with the Luna Cult again. And yet I was doing it anyway.

Call me a glutton for punishment. I just couldn’t help myself.

I sighed and let Jonathan take the lead. Nothing good might come of it, but at least I would be doing something other than sitting around.

I just hoped my decision to work with werewolves yet again wouldn’t get me killed.