Blood & Tears (Jane #3) (2 page)

"Come in."

I watched his trademark smirk
twist his face as he saw me brushing my hair. "Women. Is it
biologically impossible for your gender to be on time?"

I chucked the brush at him and he
snatched it from the air, laughing. I threw my wet locks into a
ponytail and grabbed my keys from the dresser. "Shut up. Let's
go."

TWO

Felipe waited while I locked the
door, then we headed to the debriefing room. My skin tingled
whenever he placed his hand in the small of my back, guiding me
around a corner or through a door. I found myself moving closer to
him the further we walked, our bodies drawn to each other like
opposite poles of a magnet. When we reached the room, he cleared
his throat and stepped away from me a good foot or so before
opening the door and ushering me through.

Seated around the big oak table
already were Father Bellini, Ronin, and Jax. I took a seat next to
Jax, in front of one of the seven yellow legal pads provided, and
he grinned at me. "Hey Jane."

"Heya Jax."

Felipe slid into the chair beside
me, unconsciously scooting it at a diagonal as he pulled it in.
This moved him several inches closer to me and I could feel the
heat from his leg through our jeans. The door opened, admitting Ado
and Benton. Once they'd seated themselves, Father Bellini turned
from his conversation with Ronin.

"Alright. Most of you know the
drill, but this is Jane's first debriefing. Jane, you're going to
write down everything you remember, from the time you arrived at
the warehouse to the moment you arrived back at the sanctuary.
Don't leave out any details, please. Any questions?"

"Everything?"

"Everything."

The guys started writing
furiously. I watched them for a minute, trying to think of where to
begin. I liked to write when I was younger, but I hadn't done so in
years. I stared at the yellow sheet filled with empty blue lines
and fiddled with my pen. A nudge at my elbow drew my attention.
Felipe's dark eyes were watching me, amused. He nodded at the
paper, the faint echo of a smirk pulling at the corner of his lips.
I glared at him and pressed the pen to the pad.

We pulled into the empty parking
lot as the sun sank behind the trees.
I
proceeded to tell the story of how we entered the building,
annihilating everything inside. In great detail, I described how I
burst through the door, mowing down unprepared, unarmed humans
sleeping peacefully in what they thought was safety. I told of the
charred smell of burning flesh as I slit the throats of two young
men, men who may not have had a choice in their situation. Or had
they? Had they decided to become blood slaves? Were they enticed
with promises of eternal life? Or had they been captured, forced
into the awful circumstances as Benton had been? I noted the two
new vampires and Ado's expression—the same expression that had me
seeking the comfort of Felipe's arms. I described the explosions
and the inexplicable beauty of the flaming building.

When I finished, I set down my pen
and looked through my notes. I'd used more than half the pad. It
was covered in my scrawling chicken scratch. Frowning, I wondered
if anyone would be able to read it well enough to transcribe it.
Felipe cleared his throat and I looked up. Everyone had been
waiting for me, though I didn't know for how long. Pinching my lips
together, I pushed away the pad and looked to Father Bellini. He
had a small smile on his lips. Was it genuine? Or was he trying to
cover up his irritation? One look at his eyes told me his smile was
genuine. He nodded at me and I passed my pad over. He already had a
stack before him. Turning to the rest of the group, he said, "Now
tell me what happened."

As a unit, we described the
attack. I didn't understand why he had us write it all out if he
was just going to make us tell him until about halfway through the
meeting. It was interesting to hear the different perspectives of
what took place and it was clear that everyone experienced
something different. While my focus was on the humans and their
purpose, Ado and Felipe had been focused on the new vampires,
assessing their age, their abilities, their purpose. Somehow,
without my knowledge, Benton and Ronin had searched the building,
retrieving all potentially useful evidence. I was a bit surprised
as Ronin retrieved a metal chest from the corner and placed it on
the table in front of Bellini.

Bellini popped it open, pulling
out the contents. There were several pale yellow files containing
stacks of paper, a red book, a laptop, a cell phone, and two unused
stakes. The priest flipped through some of the files, examined the
book, and put everything back, shutting and latching the lid before
standing up.

"Alright, I think we're good
here."

He placed the legal pads on top of
the box and picked it up, walking out. The others stood up. Some
began chatting while others headed for the door. Thoroughly
confused, I sat there for a full minute, dumbfounded. Felipe was
talking with Ronin near the door, so after I gathered myself
together, I went to join them.

Ronin looked at his watch. "I need
to get going. I'm giving the sermon tonight and I need to get
ready. You two should come."

Felipe's eyebrows crawled up his
forehead, causing Ronin to raise his hands defensively. "Alright,
alright. But really, you should think about it sometime. It might
do you a bit of good."

Felipe turned away as Ronin left,
shaking his head. He was hiding his irritation well, but it showed
in his slightly flaring nostrils. When his eyes met mine, though,
his expression lifted noticeably. "You hungry?"

I nodded and he slipped his arm
around my waist, steering me from the room. We headed toward the
dining room. I waited until I was sure we were alone—mostly because
I was afraid of sounding stupid than any real fear of being
overheard.

"Why didn't we go over what was in
the chest?"

"That's not our job," he
said.

"What do you mean? We went in
there and cleared that place out. We killed everyone."

"I know, but it's not our job to
figure out what the evidence means. There's another team for that.
They have access to a lot more information than we do. They figure
out the next target using the information we collect and then we go
take care of it."

"Oh. I guess I thought we'd be
more involved in that."

He smiled at me, a genuine, warm
smile spreading across his olive skin. "We're the brawn, not the
brains in this operation, love."

The way he addressed me through me
for a loop. I looked at him sidelong as he opened the door to the
dining room for me. His smile remained in place and he was clearly
unaware of what he had just called me. I opened my mouth to say
something. A warm feeling was spreading through my chest, down my
arms, to the pit of my stomach. I decided not to ruin it and
returned his smile.

"No, dear. You're the brawn. I'm
the beauty."

I flipped my hair over my
shoulder, stuck my nose in the air, and sauntered through the door.
A deep, pleased laugh echoed from his chest and he followed me
in.

We headed toward our usual table,
finding it occupied. Donna sat there, staring at the half-eaten
food in front of her. Her fork idly pushed buttered peas around the
plate. I seated myself next to her and Felipe sat across from us.
She didn't notice us for several minutes, lost in her own world. I
took the time to examine her—skin much paler than it should be,
bottle of blood barely touched sitting cold on the table, make-up
that looked days old, crumpled clothes, ragged hair, chewed nails.
She was thinner than the last time I saw her, too.

Donna rarely showed up at dinner
anymore. When she did, she had little to say and she often left
within half an hour of my arrival. The loss of her sister was
affecting her and nothing I'd tried to that point could break
through the utter depression that settled on her slim, beautiful
shoulders.

She didn't want to talk to me, and
I didn't blame her. Before I arrived, she had been chasing after
Felipe hardcore. He wasn't interested, but she wasn't willing to
give up. But from the first time I met them, it was clear that
Felipe favored me. And anyone with two eyes and half a brain could
figure out that I was attracted to him. And that sucked, because
Donna was the closest thing to a friend that I had, aside from
Felipe. When she finally realized I was sitting next to her, she
jumped, a look of irritation flowing across her face. She quickly
covered it and gave me a small smile.

"How are you?"

"Fine." Her voice was soft and
faint, like it had been for the last half a year. It held an
undeniable level of sadness, one that belied her spoken statement.
When she looked at me, I saw bags under her eyes. I didn't know if
they were from lack of sleep or the sudden, unexpected loss of her
sister.

She cleared her throat and stood.
"I need to get back to the shop."

I waved goodbye and waited until
she left before moving around the table to sit next to Felipe. "She
hasn't been at the shop in a month. I stopped by the other night.
Tammy said that she and Melinda had been essentially running it
themselves. Donna's been MIA. And when she was there before, she
didn't do anything and actually scared a couple customers off when
she sat on the step by the door. One gave her some coins, thinking
she was homeless."

Felipe's forehead creased, his
face a mixture of pity, grief, and hatred. "Put Donna on the list
of reasons we need to find this rogue who's creating all these new
vampires. He needs to suffer the way he's made everyone else
suffer."

I put my hand on Felipe's knee and
he slipped his fingers into mine below the table. A boy came up and
took our orders. When he was gone, Felipe pulled my hand out from
under the table and kissed my skin. He looked at me, his lips
parted slightly as if he wanted to say something but couldn't quite
get the words to come out. I wanted desperately to say something,
too, but I still hadn't figured out what it was.

Steven had been my world, and I
lost him in the most brutal way possible. Now here was Felipe, my
best friend, my confidant, and the electricity that shot through my
skin every time he touched me told me that I wanted him to be
something more. But was I ready for that? I still didn't know. We
had both signed up for this elite team, knowing that death was a
strong possibility. How could I commit myself both physically and
emotionally to Felipe knowing that any day, at any moment, we could
lose each other forever?

I was still contemplating this
when the boy brought back our food. Felipe dropped my hand and we
turned to our meal, relying on small talk and comfortable silence
to break through the uneasiness of the encounter with Donna and our
lack of guts to take it to the next level. Ado joined us and when
we finished eating, we all headed to the lounge, where we relaxed
in front of the television. Ado claimed control of the remote,
which was always a scary thing, and we ended up watching reruns of
Night Court until we lost track of all time. I fell asleep on the
couch, my head resting on Felipe's shoulder, his arm around my
waist. He fell asleep, too.

When I woke up, we were stretched
out on the couch. My head was on his chest, his arms wrapped tight
around me. His breathing, soft and slow, brought a smile to my face
and I dreaded the coming of the day. He must've sensed that I was
awake because he stretched and yawned, running his fingers through
my hair before sitting me up.

"Morning, sunshine." He smiled
sleepily, his mouth stretching wide in a yawn again.

I smiled and nuzzled against him
for a few minutes, blinking sleep from my eyes. He looked at his
watch. "Time to get going."

I moaned as he dragged me to my
feet, but I let him pull me from the room. He walked me to my door,
as had become his custom, and bid me farewell. I would see him in a
couple hours, but he always acted like we would be separated for
ages. It was a nice feeling and I let myself bask in it as I
showered and readied myself for the coming day.

THREE

I didn't have anything to do after
I showered and changed, so I took a book I'd found in the expansive
sanctuary library and headed back to the lounge. Though a handful
of vampires and quite a few humans lived in the sanctuary, the
lounge, which Father Bellini called the "vamp hangout spot", was
almost always empty whenever I went to use it. And if it wasn't
empty, the only ones who were ever in there were Felipe, Ado,
Ronin, or Donna (though not so much Donna as of late). So I was a
bit surprised when I walked in and Annie was stretched out on the
couch Felipe and I had been sleeping on, book in hand.

I paused at the door, unsure of
what to do. Annie was the supervisor of the vampire dormitory and
she was responsible for getting me anything I needed. So far, all
I'd had to ask her for was an alarm clock and some Bengay. When we
passed in the halls, we were cordial, but there was an
uncomfortable, almost chilly silence between us. I was pretty sure
she hated me. But I waited too long before leaving and she looked
up. The corners of her lips raised in an almost imperceptible smile
and she waved a hand at me briefly. I returned the greeting and
headed to the side of the room where my favorite reading chair
awaited.