Page 65 of Destined for Shadows
Jacob drew in a deep breath. “No. It was just as much of a surprise to my brother when he found me last week.”
“How then?”
“I got stomach cancer a while back. They treated it, but it came back and spread fast to my other organs. I didn’t have more than a few months to live.” He gave her an ironic smile. “I got the news not long after the supernaturals announced their presence to the world, and it gave me an idea.”
Vampire blood couldn’t cure cancer, but if the person became a vampire, they wouldn’t be sick anymore. “You found out you might get to live if you were turned.”
It would explain why he looked so much leaner than when she last saw him. Cancer would have caused him to lose a lot of weight, and whatever he looked like when he turned was more or less what he was stuck with except for darkening eyes and lightening skin.
Jacob nodded. “It wasn’t easy to find someone willing to help, but the master vampire for Seattle eventually heard my story and offered. He’d lost a lot of people after the sups came out and needed to replenish his ranks. Someone who was going to die anyway was a safer option than grabbing just anyone off the streets.”
“I can see why you did it, though it was still risky.” Cori didn’t bother to tell him that wasn’t an option for her.
“He explained everything to me. Said if it didn’t take, it would be a painful death, but I knew it couldn’t be a worse diagnosis than what I already had, and at least I wouldn’t build up a bunch of medical bills that way.” Jacob chuckled softly.
“Was it worth it?” Cori asked.
His brows knitted in thought. “My master is fair and looks out for me. I can’t complain.”
So far, Jacob wasn’t showing any of the deranged signs his brother exhibited. She started to move closer, but Bartol grabbed her arms and pulled her back—almost into his chest.
“You can’t trust him,” the nephilim said into her ear.
She gave him an annoyed look. “He’s in chains. What’s he going to do that you can’t stop in time?”
Bartol narrowed his eyes. “There’s no reason to get closer.”
“Why are you being so overprotective and controlling?”
Surprise entered his gaze, and he let go of her. Somehow, Bartol hadn’t even realized the kind of behavior he was exhibiting. Now that she’d pointed it out, he was backing away from her like she had the plague.
“Do as you wish,” he said, striding out of the room to join Derrick in the hallway.
“Do you think they’ll let me live?” Jacob asked, drawing her attention back to him.
“It depends.” Cori shrugged. “On whether you’ve done anything bad, or they decide you’re a threat to anyone in this town. If they think you’re good, they’ll let you go after we find your brother.”
“I didn’t come here to hurt you or anyone else,” he swore.
She really wanted to believe him. “Griff is trying to kill me, and you’ve been with him. It makes that kind of hard to believe, especially now that your father is dead.”
He shuddered. “I didn’t want any part of that. My dad deserved an ass-kicking, which I thought was what we were doing, but Griff tortured him for over two hours before finishing him off. I begged him to stop. He just wouldn’t, so I kept our mother in the other room, so she wouldn’t have to see it.”
“And you helped bury the body,” Cori pointed out.
His gaze turned desperate. “Only because Griff would have burned our father and the house if I didn’t insist on a burial. He planned to make our mother think it was all a horrible accident.”
That didn’t entirely surprise Cori. Griff wouldn’t have wanted to bother with a tiresome chore like burial when he could find a faster way to dispose of the corpse and any evidence of what he’d done. “What are his plans for me?”
“I told him I wanted nothing to do with that.” Jacob looked down. “Griff says you tried to kill him and nearly succeeded. The only reason he’s alive is because he was turned.”
Cori’s chest tightened. “He killed our daughter, and he didn’t feel any remorse about it. I sort of lost my mind.”
Jacob was quiet for a moment, then he met her gaze. “I’m sorry about Faith. Only got to see her a couple of times, but she was a sweet girl.”
“Yeah, she was,” Cori said softly.
He worked his jaw, as if he was coming to some sort of difficult decision. “Griff has big plans for you. I don’t know what they are specifically, but I know he wants you for himself—dead or alive.”
Bartol flashed in front of the vampire and grabbed his neck. “Tell me everything Griff plans to do to her.”
“That’s all I know,” Jacob gasped, eyes instantly glazed from what must have been a healthy dose of compulsion laid on him. “He wouldn’t say anything more. The only reason he brought me to town was to take our mother home. We didn’t even spend daylight hours together because he didn’t want to be near me any more than necessary. It’s like he’s on some special mission, and I could only know the parts relevant to me.”
“That’s it?” Bartol asked.
Jacob nodded his head jerkily. “Yes.”
Bartol turned to her. “Let’s go.”
Cori left the room without a backward glance. They’d gotten all they were going to get out of Jacob, and she didn’t want to look at him anymore.
