Secrets of the Jaguar (Crimson Romance) (11 page)

The vampire straightened his stance. “Young and insolent. What makes you worthy of my leadership?”

“I have already gained her trust posing as a friend. I can be of use that way.”

The vampire stared him down as if measuring Duncan’s worth. “Tell me then, how did you figure out that she was the jaguar needed to open the portal?”

Duncan shrugged in response. “Just a guess. How many were-jaguars can there be?”

“More than you think.” The vampire smiled, his fangs retreating. “But she’ll do. My name is Tzinacan. Keep Balam Centehua with you; I will be in touch.”

The vampire called Tzinacan backed away until the fog finally enveloped him. Duncan could have sworn he saw a malicious smile in the haze. Turning to return to Michelle, Duncan knew the month-long trip they had planned just got a lot more complicated.

• • •

After realizing that she wasn’t too much worse for wear, Michelle slowly stood up and began peeling wet leaves off her bright blue coat. Her neck hurt like hell, but mostly she was just afraid. Duncan had promised he wouldn’t let her get hurt, but she hadn’t realized she was actually in any real danger. She stood, her eyes glazed over with tears. Had she been too naïve? Shame flushed heat into her cheeks as she realized she was not prepared to take care of herself. At the same time, she wondered if she should continue to rely on her trusting heart.
Maybe I’ll get mace.

She screamed as more hands caught her by surprise.

“It’s me, it’s me.” Duncan’s hands wrapped her in a hug, not a death blow. “I’m so sorry, are you okay?” He cupped her face in his palms and looked down at her with intense concern.

“I … what happened?” She stuttered when she caught sight of the blood smeared across his lips. She took a step backward out of his embrace.

Duncan quickly pulled his black shirt up, revealing hard, heavily bruised abs. Using the fabric, he wiped the blood from his lips. “That was the same vampire I saw outside of your house.”

“I, I didn’t see a vampire. I didn’t even see you until I was flat on the ground. Those bruises — what happened?” She took a step closer to him, once again trusting in her heart. She felt guilty, but she was happy about the bruises on his perfect body because they meant he was telling the truth. At least, she hoped so. Her body still trembled though because she’d realized just how quickly the strong and fast vampire could hurt her, kill her if he wanted to. Her voice shook. “Are you okay?”

Duncan ran a hand through her hair and smiled as he plucked out a damp leaf. Leaning forward, he nestled his face into her hair and inhaled deeply and Michelle’s heart rate quadrupled.

“Ahhh, you smell like autumn.” When Duncan pulled away he looked at her sympathetically. “You’re afraid. That’s okay, I guess that’s a good thing if it means you’ll be careful. But I wish you trusted me to take care of you.”

She chewed on her lip and looked up at him. “You killed him?”

A silence hung in the air, kept company by the cold fog until finally he spoke, “Yes. Yes I did.”

She heaved a sigh of relief. “Do you know why he followed me?”

“No, sweetie. Even though he’s gone, you should still be careful. Maybe while we’re on vacation, I can show you some self-defense techniques.”

“Well since the vampire is dead, maybe we can wait for self-defense lessons until we get back. I’d hate to waste our vacation adventure fighting, even if it is pretend.” She noticed disappointment and concern briefly cross Duncan’s expression before he erased them.

“Okay, let’s go home and wrestle with your suitcase.”

“Do you want to ride with me or are you going to mist back to Alameda?”

“We’ll ride together. I need your company. Besides, the distance to Alameda is pretty far and I’m exhausted from the fight.

Michelle laughed, “Is it hard to mist?”

“Well, I’m exaggerating a little, but yes. With time comes ease of distance, I suppose. And in the grand scheme of things, I’m sort of a newbie vamp since I’m only a century old. That‘s why we’re flying to Mexico.”

They arrived at her car and Duncan grabbed Michelle’s keys from her so he could open the door. She smiled. “And people say chivalry is dead.”

Duncan grinned at her, but his mind seemed elsewhere. As her Corolla drove over the Bay Bridge, the bruises on her arms ached from their brief contact with the vampire on campus. Duncan had only meant to throw her out of harm’s way, but it brought to mind just how easily he could harm her if he wanted to. Michelle was left to wonder if trusting her heart was really such a good idea after all.

After wrapping up at school, Michelle walked the long block home. It was another gorgeous day in Alameda despite the pending winter. The hairs on the back on Michelle’s neck stood on end. Her arms became a graveyard of goose bump tombstones and she shivered.
But it’s not cold …

She immediately looked over her shoulder, but saw nothing save for giant Victorians bathed in sunlight. Her own house just up the block seemed miles away. A wave of foreboding rushed over her and she stopped in her tracks.
Looks ‘Leave It to Beaver’ enough.

She stepped forward once more as strong, familiar arms wrapped around her tightly.

“Hello, gorgeous. What’s with the stutter step?” Duncan didn’t wait for an answer, instead he crushed a kiss passionately against her lips.

The kiss was pure ecstasy, but she couldn’t help the thought that pushed its way into her mind. Was the sense of foreboding for him? She pushed the thought away.
No, he’d been covered in bruises … I didn’t need to see another vampire to know there was one.

“I see my kiss has left you speechless.” He teased her, his dark eyes sparking with mischief. Her heart lightened immediately.

“No, I just … I dunno. I had a strange feeling just before you arrived. You know, my hairs did that stand straight up
thing, and I thought I was going to puke.”

Duncan’s eyes turned from a warm chocolate to dangerous black coals. “Next time you get this feeling, trust your instincts. If I’m not with you, go to me.”

Michelle wrinkled her face in disapproval.
Overreact much?
“I don’t know if I should be pleased that
you
trust my instincts or offended you don’t think I can take care of myself. After all, I’ve managed to do so the past couple years.”

“What if it were the vampire I saw under your window that one night?”

“You mean the one you killed at the campus?” Doubt crept under her skin, and she searched his face for the truth. But he didn’t answer, and his expression didn’t change. He looked like a mercenary imposter in a handsome sweetheart’s body. She had seen him laugh and make eggs Benedict. But now he looked more capable of violence than anything else. And why was he worried about that vampire if he’d killed him?

“Stay here.” He started to walk toward her house.

“No way!” She grabbed his arm to halt him. “I’m sure everything is fine, but I’m going into
my
home either way. I’m not going to stand outside, a block away, like some frigging Mary Joe.”

“What?” For the first time since he arrived, she watched a trace of a smile overtake his expression. Duncan pulled the hand she had on his bicep, and kissed it sweetly. “Okay, Mary Joe, we go together. But please, if something unexpected does happen, don’t be afraid to embrace your own damsel in distress qualities and run like hell. Okay?”

“Or I could turn jaguar and go claws on the foe.”

“Okay, let’s put the hypothetical situations aside and find out if there’s anything to worry about in the first place. Best case scenario, you’re just a paranoid mess, darling.”

She smacked him playfully on the arm. Together they made their way toward the house. As they neared the yard, Duncan separated from her saying it was a precaution in case anyone
was
in her apartment watching from the round, second floor turret. From the cover of the garden, she watched him hide and prepare to mist inside with her as she opened the door.

But the hallway of the Victorian was empty. No coats on the coat rack, no neighbors appeared to be home in their own apartments. Duncan placed a finger against his lips to keep her from speaking aloud. He took her hand and led her silently up the stairs, keeping her behind him.

They reached her door and a sick feeling washed over her once more. Fear ate at the insides of her stomach. She hadn’t experienced pain like this since the awful night she realized her parents planned to turn her over to the government as a lab experiment.

Her fingers shook as she tried to put the key in her door. Duncan placed his hand on her own, steadying her. He leaned down to whisper in her ear.

“It will be okay.”

With that, they turned the key, and Duncan pushed Michelle back so he could enter the studio first. He entered slowly, and nothing seemed amiss so she followed him inside. Duncan misted to the kitchen to check the only area of the apartment that left a spot to hide: the entrance to the bathroom.

And then all hell broke loose.

• • •

Thick needles of pain penetrated Duncan’s skin from the force of a gunshot. Growling, he launched at the three suits hiding like cowards in the space between the bathroom and the kitchen. Michelle screamed, but he kept his focus on the intruders who wished to harm his woman.

He swept a punch into the stomach of the nearest agent, his vampire strength sending the large man to his knees. Duncan threw another punch as he lurched forward, tearing his teeth through the neck of the second agent. He sucked a few gulps out of the bloody gash, seeking much-needed nourishment.

The sound of a door slamming and a primal roar a few seconds later focused Duncan once more. “Get out!” The thought of Michelle getting into the fray was too much. The darts hadn’t affected his thick skin, but they would hers.

With two agents writhing on the floor in pain, Duncan found the last agent and sank his fangs in deep. Rage coupled with his hunger and he drank long, taking strength into his own body as he drew life from the human’s. For the first time in decades, he felt a vampire. And he was glad for it because it meant he could protect Michelle.

Between the blood loss and venom, the Fed became a mindless dummy. But Duncan noticed the man he sent to the floor first with a broken ribcage was finally beginning to rise. Duncan saw Michelle prepare to leap on the agent. Instead of letting her, Duncan swept toward the man and grabbed him to mist elsewhere.

Duncan reappeared in an abandoned building in Oakland.

“What the fuck!” The suit clutched his stomach in pain, but reached for a holstered gun.

In a blur of speed, Duncan reached forward and snapped the fragile human’s neck. It was the first time he had ever killed. Even in his blood lust as a young vampire, he had never done so. But now the urge to protect Michelle was too much. Before the man’s lifeless body even hit the floor, Duncan misted back to the apartment to take care of the remaining agents.

When he arrived in the small studio apartment, Michelle was no longer in jaguar form. Instead, she stood naked. Her long, black hair cascaded around her, framing pink, tear-rimmed blue eyes. She looked devastated.

Duncan took in the scene around her. The two agents he had left behind were lifeless on the floor of her kitchen. Blood pooled around the bodies from the bite wounds he had torn through their skin.

Even with the enemy taken care of, fear racked his body. The look in Michelle’s empty gaze was enough to bring him to his knees and cut out his own heart. He was at her side in an instant, wrapping a blanket around her he grabbed from the bed. He laid her on her bed, but she still said nothing. She didn’t look at him. She didn’t even blink.

With a heavy heart, he returned to the bodies on the floor. Grabbing hold of one of them, he misted to another isolated location and left the body. He returned to the apartment once more for the last body. Taking the body into his grasp, he noticed Michelle still hadn’t moved. He misted once more, dumping the body in the middle of nowhere.

He wished he regretted what he did. But he didn’t. Even if Michelle never thought about him the same way, he was glad to have protected her. And he would continue to do so even if she never wanted to see him again.

Misting into her bathroom, Duncan washed his hands with her lemon and jasmine scented soap. The aroma was dreamy, but couldn’t shake the nightmare he saw after looking into the mirror. A crimson mess decorated his face, blood dripping from his chin. He splashed the soapy water against his skin, making sure he was perfectly clean before returning to Michelle.

She still hadn’t moved. Although to be fair, he did have her tightly tucked in a blanket cocoon.

“Michelle, darling. I’m going to mist you to my bed. Is that okay?”

She nodded.
Thank God.

In the privacy of his bedroom, he laid her gently on the large bed. Her head sank into a cloud-like pillow and framed her gorgeous face. Even in grief, she looked like an angel. He damned himself for thinking so.

“I’m going to go back and clean up, okay? Michelle?”

She quickly reached out from her covers and grasped him. He hadn’t expected her to respond. “Don’t go.”

He would never forget the look on her face that moment. She still trusted him. She needed him. “I won’t leave you, Michelle.”

And with that, he watched her lids close over her sapphire gaze, and she laid her head against him and cried.

• • •

Michelle let the sobs overtake her body. Her parents still hadn’t given up on seeing the devil in her contained. She had thought she was safe in the small, island town of Alameda. The reality check left her stunned. She would never be done hiding.

Seeing Duncan tear through the agents so mercilessly had been frightening. She had never watched someone die before. And as Duncan had misted the first agent away, she had stood, watching the remaining men bleed to death. Slowly.

Both men portrayed different reactions to their end. One of them had looked angry until his last breath, even reaching for the black gun poking from his jacket. But death had claimed him first. The other man’s wound was not as grave, and so his death came slower. With plenty of time to contemplate, he had looked tormented. His gaze never acknowledged Michelle. She only watched him stare at the ceiling with eyes full of regret, as if watching his life flash before him. And then those eyes shut.