Enemy Lover (40 page)

He took it.

His lips, his tongue, and his fingers whipped her into a fierce frenzy of desire. The orgasm rose high and, just as she was peaking, he sunk his fangs into the inside of her thigh. Jax screamed at the sublime mixture of pain and unadulterated pleasure.

He moaned as he drank from her. His fingers took her higher before she finally crashed back to earth. When he rose above her, his eyes were molten blue and her blood glittered on his lips. “I have wanted to do that to you from the moment I first laid eyes on you.” His body swelled and his cock was rock hard. Jax felt an overwhelming urge to bite him back.

She blinked.

He smiled a devilish smile, understanding what impulse had taken hold of her. He reached over to the counter and grabbed a knife. Before she realized what he was doing, he made a small puncture in his chest right above his heart. Blood oozed out in a slow, thick stream.

He moved above her. She arched up and licked his chest. Marcus moaned and slid his hand around to the
back of her head. “Drink from me, Jax, as I have from you. My blood will make you stronger. It will connect us in a way no human would understand.”

Fear skated across her skin. “Will I be like you?”

“No, but this is the first step if you should ever want that.” He spoke confidently, as if he knew what her desires would be more than she did.

Jax nodded, her craving for his blood overpowering her caution. She pressed her lips to his chest and drank. Like the first time she’d tasted him, she felt as if she’d been on a wild, drug-induced high. He was addictive. He filled her body with his, and Jax imploded. The sensation of taking him into her, body and blood at the same time, was euphoric.

He came in a wild burst. She clamped tighter to his chest as he undulated above her. Glorying in the intimacy of their blood union, Marcus’s body shuddered as she licked the last vestiges of blood from his chest. He growled and stood, grabbing her into his arms, then carrying her back to the bedroom.

Almost an hour later, Marcus heard them over the wild beat of Jax’s heart. So did she. A wild whoosh of wind and low, screechy growls. Her head jerked up and she looked at him. Her green eyes snapped with fire and her nostrils twitched. “What are they?”

“Furies.”

“What the hell is a furie?”

“A mortal who was forced against their will to become a vampire. They are crazed with only one purpose. Blood.”

“Holy shit. How did they find us? Lazarus?”

He nodded grimly. “He called upon his telepathy, a
forbidden act. It’s the only way he could locate me. Get dressed,” he whispered.

“Why did he send the furies and not come himself?” Jax asked as she pulled her pants on.

“Lazarus is strong, but he can’t be in two places at the same time. He’s going after Bond and sent the furies to slow me down.”

As she finished dressing, Marcus handed her a black velvet bag. He withdrew two silver scythes no bigger than a dinner plate.

He handed them to her. “These are razor sharp. They’ re yours.”

Jax took them. The weight and grip fit her perfectly. She smiled. She could do some serious damage with these. “Thank you.”

Two minutes later, they were dressed and heading out the sliding glass door toward the lake. The sun had just sunk behind the western foothills.

The terrible, high-pitched screeching was closing in fast. “Drown them or decapitate them, Jax, it’s the only way they will die.”

They turned and faced the pack of—they resembled humans, each form retaining its own individuality, but their elongated heads and exaggerated fangs gave them away. There were five of them, all male and all at least two hundred and fifty pounds of pissed-off psycho vampire. Just as they reached the water, Marcus moved first. Turning, he faced them head-on. He leapt up in the air, and two furies jumped up after him. He grabbed each by their hair as they snarled and tore at his arms with their clawlike hands. He plunged them into the lake, the water swallowing them up.

Jax looked at the three remaining guys. They formed a wedge and slowly approached. “Nice vampires,” she murmured. One broke and rushed her. She lowered her body and ran straight toward it. She gripped a scythe in each hand and, in a wide, powerful swipe, slashed at the vampire. It screamed when she cut its head off.

The two other vamps charged her. Jax jumped up in the air just as Marcus had, exhilarated at how easy it was. As she turned in a matrix move, both beasts attacked her. She slashed at one, catching part of it with her blade. As she came down to the ground, she turned and kicked one in the face and the other in the chest. The one closest to her rolled backward and Jax pressed on, slashing at it in wide, powerful strokes until it lay in a mutilated heap.

The other beast bit her hand, forcing her to drop the scythe. That pissed her off. Jax turned and landed a roundhouse kick. As the furie lunged toward her, Marcus emerged from the water. Jax grabbed it and, as Marcus had done, dove into the water with it.

She had always been able to hold her breath. She was an avid diver. Now? With her increased strength, she felt as if she could stay under for an hour. It only took a few minutes before the creature lost the battle. Jax emerged wet and ready to kick more ass. She let out a joyous battle cry.

Marcus was standing on the bank, grinning like a proud parent. “My blood agrees with you.”

“I feel like the Queen of the World. Let’s go kick some more ass!”

He grew serious. “We need to meet with your people.
Let’s get back to your hotel room and computer and get this show on the road.”

As they drove west toward the city, Jax called Godfather and gave him the complete lowdown. “You need to get people to Bond ASAP. Calhoun and Roland, too, and get them to a safe house.” She looked at Marcus. “Like a freaking cathedral?” she asked.

Marcus shook his head. “The safest place for them during the day is out in public in the sun.”

Jax repeated his words to Godfather. “Any more word on Shane?” Jax asked.

“No, he was not at the location you gave, but the GPS chip was. He has not been admitted to any hospital in the Bay Area.”

She looked at Marcus and voiced her biggest fear. “Do you think Lazarus has him?”

“I don’t know, Jax, but I promise you: if he’s alive, I’ ll find him. And tell Cross, if he’s holding out, he’ ll have me to deal with,” Godfather said.

“Will do,” Jax said and hung up.

“You and your team are amazing. That guy really thinks he can take me out?”

“I wouldn’t put it past him. Godfather is slightly scary. He has the means to so many ends it’s ridiculous.”

“You have a crush on him?” Marcus growled, making her jerk in surprise.

Jax laughed. “Are you jealous?”

He shifted in his seat, looking like he wanted to disappear. All he said, however, was, “Maybe.”

She pressed her lips together, refraining from teasing him more. With a sideways glance, she finally shrugged.
“Not a crush in the way you’ re thinking. He saved my life. I’ ll always be grateful to him for that. He believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself.”

Silence reigned for several long minutes before he spoke again. “What is your real name?”

Her eyes widened. “I’m Jax Cassidy,” she replied without hesitation.

“Before Jax Cassidy. What name were you given when you were born?”

“Angela. Angela Giacomelli.”

“Heavenly messenger. It suits you.”

She shrugged again, pushing away painful memories. “Yeah, more like devil’s deliverer.”

Marcus laughed. “Never. You are an angel of mercy sent to save my soulless self.” He reached over and squeezed her hand. “Thank you.”

Emotion tugged at her heart. “You’ re welcome.”

As they drove, Jax’s mind raced with thoughts and scenarios. “Marcus, what will happen to you when this Rurik dude knows you were in on Lazarus’s death?”

“Rurik is reasonable.”

“Yeah, but don’t you all have some kind of code that you can’t kill each other?”

“Under certain circumstances, yes, but there are always exceptions.”

Jax gave him a sideways glance, not buying his answer, but she didn’t push it. They made good time to San Francisco. When they strode into Jax’s hotel room, it was wall to wall testosterone—Godfather, Gage, Dante, Dominic and several others. None of them, not even the L.O.S.T. team members combined, could, in her mind, hold a candle to Marcus.

He would always be, for her, the male that would stand out in a roomful of others.

More importantly, she knew she’d never want another man again.

That’s when she knew that Angela was truly gone and Jax was all that remained.

Marcus thought he was going to save her, but in a way he already had, as surely as Godfather had.

She’d be damned if she’d allow anything to happen to him. She’d kill Lazarus and she’d protect Marcus. And if she had to sacrifice herself in the process?

Well, she’d already died once. She’d do it again if she had to.

Jax held her breath as Godfather strode toward her. His blue eyes snapped in anger, perfectly matching the expression of every other man in the room. He looked at her for several long, piercing seconds before turning to Marcus, who faced them all with cool indifference.

Jax rolled her eyes and moved deeper into the room. “OK, boys, let’s move past the pissing match and get to work, shall we?” When no one moved or spoke, Jax planted her hands on her hips in disgust. “How much time are we going to waste? Because last time I saw him, Shane didn’t look like he had much left.”

Several hisses preceded movement and murmurs of agreement. Gage shot Marcus a scathing look, as did Dante. She let it slide. They didn’t know him like she did. He’d had no part in what Lazarus had done to Shane.

Godfather nodded. “Cross, I don’t like the fact we have to go on your intel on this. I’m giving you fair warning, if this is a setup, I’ ll destroy you.”

Marcus’s jaw clenched, but he simply said, “I assure you, that is the least of my worries at this point.” Sideways, he looked at Jax, who nodded.

Marcus faced the entire group of men. “You will be going up against an enemy who has the strength of ten men. An enemy that can see, smell and hear like a wolf.
He can break a neck with a flick of his finger. He can be destroyed only one of three ways.

“First, with a wooden stake driven directly into his heart. Second, via decapitation. And third, full and prolonged exposure to the sun.

“Sound easy? It’s not.

“He can evade you better than a ghost. Because of his strength and his age, even if you stake him, he can pull it out and survive. Therefore, the stakes must be barbed at the end and must run him completely through. I daresay that all of you combined could not accomplish Lazarus’s demise. You need me.”

For a moment, he paused and looked at Jax, and she sensed more in his words than the obvious. Before she could blink or flush, he turned back to the men.

Gage spoke first. “So what are you going to do? Invite us over to dinner?” Dante and Dominic laughed, but Marcus cut them off with a low growl.

“This isn’t a joke, jackass. Lazarus and those like him can change bodies. It’s how he’s walked the earth the past twenty-eight years as the colonel, ever since he killed the man. When he tires of his present body or needs a new form, he simply drains another person of his blood and takes it. I’m going to guess he has already done this. There are only two people in this room who will be able to detect him for what he is. Myself and”—he looked at Jax—“Cassidy.”

“Something he’s sure to know,” Godfather said. “So what do you propose?”

“We need to get to the two senators, keep them together, and wait for Lazarus to make his move. He
will do it today, before sunrise. He will have help.
Furies.
They are vampire soldiers, similar to kamikazes in their purpose, as they are single-minded killers. Lazarus will do everything in his power to prevent the announcement of Bond. He wants Rowland in.”

“Going after Bond and then trying to control Rowland seems a pretty indirect way to do things. Why wouldn’t he just drain one of the senators and assume his body?” Godfather asked.

“Because he still has limitations with respect to the sun. Taking the human form of a public figure limits his mobility and maximizes his exposure. This way, he can be whoever he wants, move wherever he wants, and do whatever he wants while having complete control of the White House.” Marcus shrugged. “Lazarus also has a keen sense of . . . gamesmanship. He’ ll take pride in beating you. Us.”

Godfather scowled deeply and nodded.

Jax sensed Marcus subtly relax. “You must also keep in mind that Colonel Lazarus thinks he is the savior of this country. He’s a fanatic and one of the strongest of our kind. I won’t say what you endeavor to do is impossible, but understand this . . .” He stopped to look at each man in turn. “Some of you who stand in this room will not return.”

“We understand the risks,” Godfather said. “I have a plane waiting to fly us to D.C. We can formulate our plan of attack on the way.”

Jax changed into clean clothes and packed her sparse bag. In less than an hour, they were in the air on their way east to D.C. It had taken permission from the Secre
tary of Homeland Security to allow L.O.S.T. to get their plan up and running.