Page 59 of Redeemed
“Poke.” David demonstrates by jabbing Connor in the shoulder.
Connor laughs. “Yeah, that.”
Their lightness helps, for a moment, but soon I’m back toget out get out get out.
We go from freeway to four-lane surface street to two lane to gravel road. We come to a turn out and Connor pulls into it, parking the car behind a cluster of live oaks. There’s a stone fence along the side overlooking the ocean, and I stand there for a minute, taking in the view.
Get out get out get out.Jacques’ presence is even more insistent, as if proximity is giving him strength. Connor’s in no danger; I’m not fighting the urge to harm him as much as I’m fighting to keep my thoughts to myself.
And this is a battle I will win.
The unwritten vampire code treats sires as equals. There may be differences in power—age and gifts see to that—but if a vampire is strong enough to create more of our kind, they’re accorded a certain level of respect. Delia Packard has found a loophole in me. She can solve the problem of Jacques and if I’m successful, I’ll be on equal footing with him.
Becoming a sire has never been a goal of mine. Keeping Connor safe and Jacques out of my head are their own incentive.
“How far is it?” David asks.
Connor points up the gravel road. “A couple hundred feet. It’s the only house we’ll come to.”
“Is it warded?”
He shrugs. “If there were wards on it last time, we plowed right through them. Brodie and I tangled with a couple of guards, so we should probably stick together.”
We wear black clothing and David has a knit cap pulled over his bleached blond hair. With Connor in the lead, we head up the driveway.
I don’t mean to fall behind, but something slows me, some weight I don’t know I carry. The road is unlit, except by the moon, which seems to dim until I can’t see Connor or David at all.
The person next to me, however, is plainly visible.
Jacques Betancourt strides up the gravel drive beside me. His reliance on a glossy black cane doesn’t slow him at all. In his other hand, he carries a large white cloth, spotted with blood. I don’t say anything, and after the first glance, I don’t look at him.
Get out get out get out.
“It won’t work, you know.” If he’s at all out of breath, it doesn’t show in his voice. I don’t respond, fully focused on taking one step and then the next. The air itself weighs me down, as if I’m covered in a blanket of rock.
“You’re not strong enough. You never have been.”
His words sting, burrowing deep in my consciousness. Still, I ignore him, though my footsteps slow.
“I made you and I will destroy you.” Jacques stops, and to my frustration, so do I.
“Why?” I ask finally, giving voice to that frustration, and something more. A sense of betrayal. “For one hundred and fifty years I’ve done anything you asked me to. Why do you want to destroy me now?”
“Don’t be stupid. You’ve defied me. I asked you for one simple thing, to get rid of the one who threatened me, who threatened us both, and you refused. I have no choice but to punish you.”
“Punish and destroy are different things. Besides, Connor is no danger to you.”
Jacques gives a cold laugh. “You’re right about that. I’ve gone past the point where he can hurt me. I may have one more surprise for him, however.”
In all of this, he hasn’t coughed once. If he’s not really here, then I’ve been talking to myself. “What surprise?”
“If I tell you, it won’t be a surprise.” He flutters his fingers at me. “But know this. You won’t live to defy me again, and I’ll take down your little wolf pack, too.”
“Really?” I say, feigning shock. At the same time, I thinkGo Awaywith as much energy as I can muster, and it works.
Jacques Betancourt disappears.
So does the layer of darkness that had wrapped around us, and so does the heaviness in the air. Connor and David are standing at the edge of a lawn. “You okay?” Connor pitches his voice low.
