Jared (3 page)

“Who
? The warriors
?” Adam took another drink. “
I doubt it. I mean look how easy I was able to get us in
their so called compound
.
They’re
still
probably trying to figure out what the hell happened.” He snorted shaking his head.

Not really comfortable with Adam’s cocky attitude Tessa frown
ed
. “Do you need to feed Adam?”
She ask
ed
remembering the warrior
’
s words from only an hour ago.

“Yeah…” Adam grinned rubbing his stomach. “I could use some chow. How about some of that chili from last night? You got some of that left over?”

“That’s not what I’m taking about Adam.” Tessa shook her head, but got up
to heat him some left over chili.

“I know
it’s not
, but I’m fine. Just don’t worry about it
….
okay.” His words were firm
,
clipped
with
anger.

“I do worry and I will worry.” Tessa slammed the bowl of chili down on the counter. “I’m you
r
big sister so yeah, I’m going to worry…get over it.”

Adam snorted with a grin. “You may be older, but not
by
much
,
so don’t go thinking you’re gonna be bossing me around.”

Tessa threw a wadded up napkin at the back of his head. “Don’t make me
put you in timeout
,
mister,
cause I’ll do it.”

Standing up Adam grabbed the napkin off the floor where it fell
tossing it
in the trash. Grabbing Tessa
,
he gave her a brotherly
hug
“I know what I’m doing
,
okay.” He ruffled her hair. “I know I haven’t shared a lot with you yet, but it’s for your safety right now.”

Nodding Tessa took the bowl of chili out of the microwave and s
e
t it on the kitchen table. “What
ever
it takes we’ll do.”

“Damn right we will.” Adam smiled before shoving a large spoonful
of chili
in his mouth.

Not hungry
,
Tessa tossed the rest of the chili out
,
figuring it wouldn’t be any good tomorrow. Her stomach was a mess of nerves. What she needed was a good strong drink, but no alcohol had been in the house since their father had taken off. Having an alcoholic
father ha
d pretty much set both
of them
on a
firm
road of sobriety.
That didn’t mean at times she might need a stiff one to get her through the rough times, but it had never helped their dad and she really didn’t want to go down that road.

Finishing his chili Adam put the bowl in the
sink
looking up at the clock. “
Why don’t you go ahead to the nursing home and see
Gramps
.”

“You sure you don’t need me here?” A nauseous feeling churned her stomach. “Maybe we need to stick together.”

Adam shook his head. “No, you need to go check up on him. We haven’t missed a day and we’re not starting now. It’s fine. I have you blocked, they can’t find you.”

“I’m not worried about them
.
” She lied
, but when he gave her
the ‘look’,
she sighed
. “Okay
,
so I am worried, but you’re the one the
y’re
coming for. It would be better if I stayed.”

Grabbing her keys and bag
he shoved them at her
,
then turned her toward the door
with a push
. “Go. Come back in about an hour.”

Tessa turned to look at her
little
b
rother.
At eighteen
he
towered over her and since his change he ha
d
become more dominant
. Sometimes it was a nice change, but
most times
i
t made her want to scream
, like now
.
S
he took one last look at her brother
then
headed out the door the feeling of unease growing with each step she took.

********

Jared punched
the heavy bag so hard
the top
split
spraying sand out the top.

“Duncan’s gonna be pissed.” Sid walked up glancing at the heavy bag. “He just replaced that after Damon split the last one.”

“Anything yet?” He ignored the comment about the
heavy bag. He was keyed up and ready to find the
half-breed
and
voluptuous
red head
. They had no clue who they were dealing with.

“Nope
,
and Damon is ready to kill something.” They both turned when the door opened to the warehouse. “Speak of the devil.”

Damon, who had another warrior pick up
his mate
,
Nicole
,
walked in followed by Pam. “Anything yet?” Damon growled
as he made his way toward them his hand holding tightly to Nicole’s.

Jared shook his head
,
then smiled at Nicole. “How you doing sweetheart?”

“Great!” Nicole grinned,
showing off her new fangs. Damon had turned her after she saved his life
by
sacrificing her own
,
drawing
Chad Evans to her and away from Damon.

“Damn if that ain’t sexy.” Jared went to touch one of her little fangs knowing he was driving Damon crazy.

“Okay, that’s it!” Damon grabbed Jared by the back of the neck pushing him away. “Stay away from my mate. This is your last warning.”

Jared laughed loudly as he tucked his arm around Pam careful not to jar her arm that
had been
injured in the car accident Chad Evans had caused. Damn, he should have just killed the son of a bitch when he had the chance.

“You’re so bad.” Pam swatted Jared with her good hand laughing at Damon’s possessive stance.

“No other way to be.” Jared winked at Nicole giving Pam a squeeze.

Damon rolled his eyes pulling Nicole tight against his body.

“So what’s so important
that
me and Pam had to
rush
over here with an
escort
?”
Nicole demanded before the door burst open.

“I hope to hell you two being here me
ans you’re back to work.” Mitch stomped in the door his
booming voice bounced around them.

“
Awe
, you miss us.” Nicole batted her eyes at her boss.

“Hell no.” Mitch grunted. “I’m up to my ass in cases and I need you two back
to work pronto
.”

“Bet you haven’t been feeding dollars to the F-word jar either.” Nicole frowned.

“You know
Callahan
,
I really haven’t mi
ssed that mouth of yours
.” Mitch shot back. He hated the F-word jar. Most of his hard earned income went into the fucking thing because he couldn’t stop saying fuck. Dealing with kids
,
they had to watch their words so Nicole came up with the damn F-word jar.

“You better watch out Mitch.” Nicole’s grin turned evil. “I bite now.”

“You come near me with those new chompers of yours
and
I’m investing in wooden stakes.” Mitch warned,
glancing at Damon. “Haven’t you taken control of her yet? She needs a firm hand.”

A sexy grin tipped Damon’s lips as he stared down at his mate. “Only when I need to.”

“For the love of God.” Mitch
gave a disgusted grunt
before turning his attention to a safer subject.
“How’s that arm of yours?”
His question rumbled to Pam.

Pam
smiled at Mitch’s disgusted expression, then
shrugged. “It’s okay. Still hurts, but doing better.”

Jared watched Pam closely. He knew something was going on with her, but she kept her mind closed off so tight no one could get a read on her and every one of them had tried, even Nicole with her new vampire skills.

“Where’s Duncan?” Jared took his attention off Pam. He would get to the bottom of that issue as soon as they took care of this little meeting.

“I’m right here.” Duncan came in the door eyeing Jared’s arm around Pam before quickly looking away.

Damon and Jared glanced at each other with knowing looks. Ever since they had found Pam hanging upside down
by the seatbelt
in her car bleeding and broken, Duncan had become very protective over the social worker. Too bad she was hooked up with Kenny, who had made
only
one appearance
while she was in the hospital. If that had been the woman he loved in the hospital
,
Jared wouldn’t have left her side and he would have made damn sure she had everything she needed. Matter of fact
,
it seemed Duncan had taken that role more than anyone. Yeah, something was definitely up and he’d be damn sure to keep a close eye on her.

“So what’s so important you need
ed
to see us?” Mitch’s voice always sounded pissed, even wishing someone a Merry Christmas
,
he made it seem like he was really saying
‘
Merry fucking Christmas
…asshole
.’

All the warriors looked at each other
before Duncan spoke. “Chad’s gone.”

Nicole stepped closer to Damon. “What? How?”

“Seems he and someone he’s been working with have been busy turning humans into
half-breed
s?” Damon answered.

“
Half-breed
s
?” Mitch frowned glancing back and forth between the three of them.

“Yeah, half human and half vampire. The best age for a
half-breed
is young
, late teens
. They’re rare and most are killed on site.” Jared shifted nervously.

Nicole jerked out of Damon’s grasp. “If you even think I’ll help you find th
ese
kid
s
just so you can kill
them
then you can just forget it.” Nicole trembled with anger.

“Now hold on.” Jared glanced at Damon. “You need to understand something before you get your undies in a bunch. Once th
e
half-breed
…”

Nicole was in his face before anyone could stop her. “First off my undies don’t bunch and second I don’t like the word
half-breed
.” She snapped, her fangs growing slightly.

Jared tried, he really did, but the grin just popped out on his face. She was a sight when she was spitting mad. Leaning his face closer to her he continued. “Once
these
…..
kids
”
He cocked his eyebrow. “become
a certain age one of three
things can happen.
They will either become
mindless killer
s
of anything that breathes
,
they will become active leaders in
the Vampire Council
or
they will become
a warrior
.”

“So it’s easier to kill
them
instead of waiting to see which of the t
hree
they become
.” Pam demanded also not liking where this was going.

“If you two hot heads would wait until I finish.” Jared sighed. “I didn’t say we were going to kill
them
, but Vampira over there jumped the gun
and didn’t let me finish
. We need to get
them
into custody so
t
he
y
can be watched for signs of
change and see if
they
can clue us in on what
the hell is going on
.”

“Why didn’t you say that in the first place?” Nicole grumbled.

“For shit shake Callahan. Your mouth is like a duck
’
s ass sprouting shit everywhere.” Mitch stood up shaking his head. “What do you guys need from us?”

“Inquire if there has been an increase in vampire adoption of older
human
kids between the ages of 14 and 17.
We’re not even sure if there is more than one, but one we’re sure of.
” Duncan replied glancing at Pam. “Anything
that sounds out of the ordinary,
let us know.
All
half-breed
s have one human eye and one golden eye of a vampire.
It seems the kid that broke Chad out
is the only one we know of for sure
.”