Chapter Thirteen
Blood Heals all Wounds
L
uca shook her gently. “Jules, wake up,” he pleaded. She stirred, but barely. Luca’s mind searched frantically for what to do. He didn’t know much about saving a vampire’s life. He didn’t know where the rest of her coven lived. There was only one thing he did know; she needed human blood. And there was only one place that might have some readily available. “Hold on Jules. Please. Just hold on. I’m taking you home.”
Luca shifted her weight, cradling her more tightly against him. He took a back door out of the school. Which should have set off an alarm, but he knew Ben had disable the system before this whole, abhorrent thing had started.
Luca avoided the street where the pack had left their vehicles. He took the darkest allies he could find, cut through as few yards as possible, and worked his way across the sleeping streets as silently as his running footsteps would allow.
Luca moved to open Jules’s front door. Luckily, it wasn’t locked. That’s strange.
Luca maneuvered through the doorway, still holding the barely conscious vampire in his arms.
“What happened!” he heard someone cry from the living room as he passed through it.
Jules stirred again, mumbling something incoherent.
“She was attacked,” Luca explained to Seth’s girlfriend as she followed them into to bedroom and he set Jules carefully on the bed.
“You probably shouldn’t be here right now Monica,” he said. “It’s not safe.”
“I’m going to pretend you did not just say that,” Monica said, sounding almost offended. “I’m only going to ask once more, Luca. What the hell happened!”
“Werewolves. They attacked her at the school. I tried to warn her, but she didn’t answer the phone. I tried to…,”
“Luca, you did what you could. You got her home,” Monica replied, walking to Jules’s other side and sucking in a breath. “Now we need to figure out what to do with her. She has cuts and burns all over her,” she said more quietly. “Why aren’t they healing?”
“I think she needs blood.” Luca sat gently on the bed next to Jules. Her eyelids fluttered but didn’t open.
“She doesn’t have any here, but…” To Luca’s amazement, Monica bent over the vampire and started feeling around on the bed for something. Monica knew what Jules was, how dangerous she could be, and yet, she trusted her completely. “Found it.” Monica pulled a phone out from under Jules’s shoulder. Her hand came away bloody. Apparently ignoring this, Monica stood and scrolled through the phone for a moment and then pressed it against her ear.
“Mr. Prentiss, it’s Monica. Jules needs help. She’s been attacked. We’re at her house. No, a friend brought her here.” Monica sounded impressively strong, but her voice was shaking a little.
Jules’s eyelids fluttered again. This time they opened. “Jules.” Luca leaned over her. Her eyes focused on him.
“Don’t let me hurt Monica,” Jules managed to mumble.
Luca looked between Jules and the pacing young adult.
“I won’t,” he said. That was the least he could do. Since he’d obviously failed to protect her.
Monica ended the call. “You’re not going to hurt me,” she told Jules. “Gabriel’s on his way.”
Jules offered him what he thought was supposed to be a smile. Then he watched as she turned over slowly, obscuring the cuts and burns on her face, but exposing her shredded back.
“Gabriel. Jules’s coven?” Luca asked, tentatively.
Monica looked at him wide-eyed and then looked back at Jules, who nodded at Monica.
“I’m going to pretend that I haven’t guessed the rest of this massive secret you two have, but assuming I am right, you’d better leave,” Monica said in a rush.
Luca did not confirm or deny Monica’s assumption. “How long will Gabriel take to get here?” Luca asked instead, looking down at Jules again. He was reluctant to let her out of his sight.
“He’ll be here any second,” Monica assured.
“I’ll have to be gone.”
“You’re a werewolf.”
Luca said nothing. He didn’t want to leave Jules’s side, but he doubted that the angry, blond-haired, male would ask questions before killing him. “We both need to go.” He looked up at Monica.
Monica fumbled over this new information but said, “I am not leaving her.”
“I made a promise to Jules. If you won’t come with me, you at least have to wait outside. I can’t leave you here, it’s too dangerous.”
Monica said nothing but nodded.
Luca began to stand.
“Luca…” Jules’s soft voice was barely audible.
“Jules?” Luca paused, leaning over her.
She turned to face him. “I love you.” She mouthed the words, but no sound came out.
Instead of responding verbally, he bent down and brushed his lips lightly against her shoulder. She smiled a small and broken smile. “I love you too.” He squeezed her hand once before ushering Monica out the front door.
He knew he didn’t have much time. So, he sprinted a few blocks and then slowed his pace. He wasn’t going anywhere in particular, just away. He certainly wasn’t in a hurry to face whatever would be waiting for him back at the Den.
As he looked down and notice that his tee-shirt was covered in Jules’s blood, he was hit hard from the side. He rolled to a stop. His eyes glowed yellow and his nails became lethal claws. Standing only feet away was the vampire who was supposedly on his way to help Jules. Luca glanced in the direction of Jules’s house, which he could no longer see.
“Get up and fight beast!” Gabriel shouted.
Luca looked around them. All was quiet. This vampire was important to Jules. If they fought, one of them was very likely going to die. Luca didn’t want to fight him. But would Gabriel stop before Luca’s blood was flowing?
With a speed hard to comprehend, Gabriel came at him. Luca dodged the attack, sending his assailant into a barrel roll. The vampire hissed, extending his fangs but Luca resisted the urge to embrace his animal side. If he lost control of the, situation they would likely fight to the death.
GABRIEL
Gabriel hissed again. This werewolf was covered in blood. He leaped at the creature again. This time, slamming his fist into the wolf’s stomach. “Fight back!” Gabriel shouted as the large wolf hit the sidewalk beneath them.
“No!” the wolf growled.
Gabriel hated werewolves. These beasts with so little control over their rage. It was out of character for animals such as these not to attack. It was in their nature to be ruthless. So why wasn’t this one doing what was expected of him? Gabriel wanted to kill him. He needed to. But like any decent being, he preferred to fight fair.
In a flash of light, the man was gone, and the wolf remained, but he didn’t charge. Instead, it turned tail and ran away. Gabriel stared after him in disbelief as he disappeared into the heart of town. Gabriel wanted to follow but knew he needed to let the cowardly beast go. Jules needed him more. Something in Gabriel knew he would have another chance to fight this werewolf. “Next time, I will kill him,” Gabriel said to no one and then turned and ran towards the quaint, coastal street.
When he reached Jules’s darkened house Monica was waiting on the stoop.
“She’s over here!” Monica said as she led him inside and to the bedroom. She left a bloody handprint on the wall next to the doorframe.
“Jules!” Gabriel closed the distance between himself and the bed where Jules was curled in on herself, lying limply on her side. “It’s alright Jules. I’m here now. It’s all going to be okay.” Gabriel pulled the cooler bag off his shoulder and turned toward Monica. “Can you give us a moment?”
Monica nodded, exited the room, and pulled the door shut behind her.
“Come here, Jules.” He put one hand under her neck and propped her shoulders against his leg. He unzipped the cooler he’d set down beside him and pulled a bag of blood from it. Jules drained it in seconds. And then another. And then another. She drank everything he’d brought with him and still looked injured and weak.
“I’m going to talk to Monica for a moment,” Gabriel told Jules, lying her gently back on the bed. He walked across the room and opened the door.
“What happen?” Gabriel asked, stepping out of the room, closing the door behind him.
“I don’t know. She was attacked I guess,” Monica replied.
He studied her for a moment. He didn’t entirely believe that was the whole story.
“I’m getting her out of here.” Gabriel couldn’t worry about why the human was lying to him. He pulled out his phone and sent a text to Eileen, asking her to bring the car and pick them up.
“Where are you going?” Monica asked.
“My house, for now,” Gabriel replied. “You should leave too. It’s not safe for you here.”
Monica nodded. He watched as Monica walked around him and back into the bedroom. She hovered over Jules a moment and spoke. Jules shifted and whispered something in Monica’s ear that even Gabriel couldn’t hear. Monica nodded.
Gabriel waited impatiently for the sound of Eileen pulling into Jules’s driveway. Once he did hear it, he walked back into the bedroom and picked Jules up carefully off the bed. She whimpered. He would have to start pulling glass shards from her flesh as soon as they were in a safer place and free from human presence. It would take time and blood for all of this to heal. Both, he could give her.
RICKY
Ricky had been so tired from being on his feet all evening that he’d collapsed onto the couch after the carnival, not even caring when his mother went upstairs to sleep in Carson’s bed. At least working the carnival had paid off. He’d gotten Tasha’s phone number. That’s why he’d even agreed to go of course. But regardless, he’d spent the night sleeping not-so-peacefully until the moment he was no longer sleeping at all.
Ricky sat up groggily after the front door slammed against the wall. In Carson’s rage, Ricky heard the wall crack. Nice guy my mom’s screwing. Really stable. Ricky pulled his headphones out of his bag and plugged them in.
“How the hell did she get away!” Carson yelled at a few of the other wolves who had trailed in behind him. Kip’s shirt was covered in blood, Max was nursing a bloody scalp, and Ben was limping.
“I don’t know,” Max said. “We just lost her.”
“How do you lose a five-foot-something, blood-sucking demon exactly?” Carson shouted.
The younger wolf whimpered, cowering.
Well, you were there, weren’t you? Ricky thought to himself. How did you lose one then? Ricky stuck the headphones in his ears and laid down, closing his eyes. However, he did not turn on any music. He was awake, listening intently, for he assumed they were talking about Jules.
“Can she even survive all those injuries?” Kip asked.
“Unfortunately, she can,” Ben replied.
“How?” Kip asked.
“Blood, you idiot,” Carson growled. “She’ll only have to kill a human or two to heal herself right up.”
But she won’t do that, Ricky thought, laying too still. What had they done? Was Jules going to die? Where was Luca? Ricky wasn’t sure why he’d decided to get mixed up in the Beta’s relationship drama. Maybe because Luca was the only person who’d asked him if he was okay after he watched his own father get murdered. Also, vampire or not, Jules seemed cool. Yes, a vampire killed his father. But after meeting Jules, he’d decided that vampires, like werewolves and humans, weren’t as cut and dry evil as he’d always been told. Carson, on the other hand, was pretty much a beast, not the Beauty and the kind either.
Someone’s phone beeped. Ricky had the auto response to check his own phone, even though his alerts didn’t sound like that.
“Kyle found Luca,” Ben said, most likely reading a text. “The vampire is gone, but Luca is hurt. Kyle’s taking him home so…” Ben voice trailed off for just a moment and then he continued, “so, Hayley can help babysit his recovery.”
“Fine,” Carson said, his voice cold. “I’m over that Beta right now. He started that fire too early. He’s the reason she escaped. Let him stay where he’s out of the way.”
“At least he’s alright,” Ben said, sounding relieved.
“My life would be easier if he wasn’t,” Carson commented. “Let’s get some sleep. We can go over our options tomorrow.”
A few of them muttered something Ricky didn’t catch, and then he heard several sets of feet clomping up the stairs to where all the bedrooms were. Still, he remained where he was. He could almost feel Carson glaring at him. And then the last set of footsteps ascended to the second story of the house. Ricky looked blankly at his phone. He’d just realized that, although he wanted to contact Luca and Jules, he couldn’t. He didn’t have their phone numbers and he suspected that neither were big on social media. Luca was what? Ricky’s grandfather’s age. Or would be, if he had a grandfather.
GABRIEL
After Jules had consumed even more of Gabriel’s home blood supply, she had started to look a little brighter. The burns on her face and chest had already become dark scars. Her broken ribs and leg were healing with time, but the glass in her back had to be removed by hand. She sat backwards on an ornate dining chair while Gabriel cut and pulled glass out of her exposed back. “Hang on,” he warned before pulling a particularly long piece free with a pair of tweezers.
Jules cried out and clutched the back of the chair a little too hard. She snapped another piece off the top. Eileen tried to refrain from audibly objecting to Jules’s mutilation of her dining room furniture.
Once the obstruction was pulled from the wound, the cut inflicted by it started to heal as well. Eileen patted Jules’s shoulder and put another glass of blood with a straw under Jules’s downturned face.
“How many more?” Jules asked, through gritted teeth.
“More than a few,” Eileen said, inspecting Jules’s back.
“Do you need to take a break?” Gabriel asked, concentrating on the next one. He pulled it free without warning. This one was rather shallow, Jules just flinched.
“No, keep going,” Jules replied. “I just want this over with.”
Gabriel tugged on another piece, but it didn’t come free.
“Oh, come on,” Jules exclaimed, knowing what he would have to do.
“Sorry,” Eileen said for him as he picked up the small blade and cut the shard free. The chair back suffered another blow. Gabriel cringed. This attack was the last straw. Surely Jules understood that.
“Jules, can I ask you something?” He knew that now was not the right time to bring this up. Or maybe it was the perfect time? With the pain Jules’s was in fresh in her mind, she might be willing to see sense.
“Uh huh,” Jules mumbled.
“Do you see the danger in staying here now?” His question came out angrier than he’d meant it too. “Surely you’ll agree to leave town after this. No human relationship, even yours with Monica, is worth the risk.”
“Gabriel…” Jules began to say but stopped when he pulled yet another shard free of her pale skin.
“How about we talk about this later?” Eileen said, a false chipper tone in her voice. This time, she patted Gabriel on the shoulder. Gabriel looked up and noticed the ‘not right now’ face that Eileen was making at him.
“Let’s do that,” Jules replied in a strained tone.
Gabriel rolled his eyes, he never stood a chance when they were both against him. “Fine,” he agreed. “But we will talk about it.”
KYLE
Instead of going back to the Den after the attack on Aboit High, Kyle went home and texted Luca to meet him there. If Carson wanted something more from either of them, he could call and demand it. Besides, he guessed Luca was going to need one massive alibi. Kyle was deeply shaken by the whole experience. It was a dark business, protecting Aboit from the undead, but he’d never seen Carson play with a vampire they’d captured before. This was a whole new kind of darkness, one that Kyle couldn’t understand.
“We knew Carson had a brutal side, but this…” Hayley’s voice trailed off. She squeezed her husband’s hand from where she sat next to him on the couch. “Are you okay?” she asked.
“Yup,” Kyle threw his head back against the couch. “It’s Luca I’m worried about.”
“Luca why?” Hayley asked.
Kyle hadn’t gotten to that part yet. He took a long, steadying breath. “He’s the reason the vampire got away. He begged me to let her… them go. The way he was holding her Hayles, the way he was protecting her. There’s more to it than Carson’s brutality. I know there is.”
“So, he asked you to cover for him?” Hayley asked, rather than said. “And you did.” This she stated.
“Naturally,” Kyle admitted with a half-smile.
“What if Carson finds out?” A little bit of panic was edging into her voice now. “You’re in enough hot water as it is Kyle. What if…”
“Didn’t you know I’m invincible babe?” He rubbed her hand gently. “It’ll take a little more than one angry Alpha to end me,” Kyle joked, hoping to loosen her up.
“That’s not funny,” she snapped, yanking her hand away and crossing her arms.
“It’s a little funny,” he said just as there was a knock on the apartment door. “I’ll get it,” Kyle said, standing.
“Good,” Hayley said grumpily. “Because I wasn’t planning to.”
Kyle glared at her playfully and then wrenched the door open. Luca stood in the doorway, covered in blood.
“Luca,” Hayley cried, running to the door as well. “Are you alright?”
“It’s not mine,” he replied, referencing his blood-soaked shirt.
“That is,” Kyle pointed to Luca’s arm.
Luca looked down at the cuts littering his arms like he’d just realized they were there. “They’ll heal.”
“Is your vampire alright?” Kyle asked bluntly.
Luca’s head shot up.
“Don’t deny it, dude,” Kyle demanded.
Hayley pushed Kyle aside so Luca could come into the apartment. Luca sank into an armchair, head hanging between his knees. “I think she’ll be okay, this time,” Luca replied after several moments.
“It’s true then,” Hayley said, dropping down onto the floor in front of Luca. “Kyle wasn’t exaggerating. There is more to this than mercy.”
Luca nodded toward the floor.
Kyle walked over and joined Hayley, slipping an arm around her back. “What’s the real story then?” he asked.
Luca waited a full minute before he moved or spoke. He raised his head and there was water in his eyes. “I’m in love with her.”
Hayley gasped, but Kyle reaction was a little less surprised. “Yes, but how exactly did that happen?” he asked.
A small smile brightened Luca’s expression. “Because of a blind date.”