Suckers Bite Back (San Francisco Vampires #5) (Vampires of San Francisco series) (26 page)

I feel like she had slapped me. I feel Sebastian and Aidan flinch too. I have to stop this now.

“You are so wrong. Aidan would and will do things for me but I would never ask that of him. That’s what happens when you love someone. Whether it is a lover or a friend. You risk and sacrifice. You don’t manipulate, you abomination.” I point at her guards. “How can you stand and protect her when she is playing petty games instead ruling our people. She’s gone mad.”

I see a couple exchange glances. One hesitates. Zoe senses their fear.

“Djinn, kill them,” she says as she points to the three offenders. The djinn doesn’t even stop to think it over but I can see him bite back on pain. It causes him pain to use his magick while being bound. Plus he looks like he needs to feed on something besides anger and hate.

The vampires vaporize before us and I feel guilty for drawing her attention to them. She sees this and smiles.

“Anyone else you want to kill, Lily, dear? Sebastian maybe?”

I step in front of him.

“I wouldn’t kill him. I want you to see him making love to me once I get him compelled to be my lover,” she says with all the bitterness of a jilted ex.

“Zoe, child, where is Manda? Tell me.” I feel Julian throw all of his vamp mojo into his words. The power behind them wraps around us. I want to give Julian the answer but I don’t know it. It is painful. I didn’t know Julian had this kind of power. Holy shit.

“My djinn has protected me from your Jedi mind tricks, Julian. Suffice it to say she is tucked away somewhere that you will never find her. Her life as a vampire will be short and very hard and painful.” She actually cackles. Fucking bitch. I want to lay a smack down on her so bad.

Aidan looks almost green, sickly.

“I am sorry, brother, she took my mate, my soul mate, I have to find out where,” Aidan says to the djinn.

“I understand.” He raises his chin. “I would rather die than live bound to this trash. I am almost there already, but know that I will still fight. I am compelled,” the Djinn says.

“I understand. Let’s begin.”

Suddenly the air in the room starts to thicken with magick that is being summoned by the djinns. Sebastian pulls my hand and with Julian, Helena and Diel we run towards Queen’s body guards. Liam and Andrew are right behind them. Liam is a special asset because he is werevamp, now and he can watch over Andrew, who hasn’t fought before. The guards don’t have a clue of what is going on. They take a defensive crouch around the Queen but that doesn’t stop our full on, blurring-speed attack. Sebastian and Julian make short work of two guards. Finally there is fear in the remaining guard’s eyes. Distantly, I hear metal and machinery being slammed against each other and the walls shake from its impact. I dismiss it and focus on the guard in front of me.

My time in kick boxing is paying off. I deftly block and parry around the bitch’s protector. Remembering to get a roundhouse in when I can, along with some back kicks. I send him flying across the room and go for Zoe. Abruptly, her laugh cuts off. Her fangs descend and she rises from her chair. She is over five hundred years old but she has hidden behind others for many of those years. I just hope that my rage and my inner wolf makes up for my inexperience.

She has talons for nails as she rakes them down the side of my chest. I feel the blood well and soak my shirt. I need to focus. I should have been able to block that. She grins.

“First blood, Lily,” she says as she licks off of my blood. “Tsk, tsk, tsk. You can’t beat me. You’re just a baby and a two-timing trollop at that. You never deserved Sebastian or Aidan,” she seethes.

“Trollop? Is that the best you got?” I refuse to give her satisfaction at how dead-on her blow really was to how I have been feeling. Thank the Goddess that Sophie and I have been working this out.

Zoe is pissed that she doesn’t get the reaction out of me that she was aiming for. Ha! Bring it!

“Come on, Zoe, are you going to fight or cry over spilled milk. Sebastian and Aidan didn’t want you! Is that what this is all about? You’re just a vindictive trumped up vamp who was snubbed for someone better.” In the background lightening is flashing and foreign words are flowing in the air. The Djinns are truly magnificent to watch but I can’t look for long.

Zoe screams as she comes flying at me. It is exactly what I wanted her to do. No more calculating. I want her sloppy. I easily move out of her way. I am faster than her as a werevamp. As she passes I punch her in her ribs hearing a satisfying shattering of bone.

Agony is what I hear in her next scream but it quickly turns back to rage. The others are still engaged with guards as only a minute has flown by. I see out of the corner of my eye the two djinns and that their battle is still waging. Aidan. It would be against everything he believes to kill a Djinn bound and acting on his master’s orders. I know it must pain him but at the time it seems like the only way to free him while Zoe is still alive. We need Zoe alive to question her about Manda, and the djinn has been ordered to protect her at all costs.

Focusing back on the queen bitch I see her trying to sneak up on me. Just before she can reach me I jump and twist in the air so I am right behind her with my fangs at her neck.

“Call them off,” I growl.

“Never,” she says.

I break her arm and she howls.

“Call. Them. Off.”

“Never,” she says through gritted teeth.

“No worries, cherie. We just killed the last guard. We have to wait out Aidan’s battle. Can you hold her?” Sebastian asks.

“Absolutely. Even though she reeks of lies and deceit, I think I can manage to keep a tight hold,” I say as I squeeze her middle making her cry out as her broken ribs are ground together.

“Let me help, Lily,” Helena says and then punches Zoe in the face breaking her nose spectacularly. “I’ve wanted to do that for at least three hundred years. Oh, that felt good.”

“You fucking bitch, Helena. Julian is too good for you,” Zoe says through a mouthful of blood.

I pull Zoe out of firing range of Helena as I see her wind another punch up.

“Helena, we need her to be able to talk. We have to find Manda,” I say. Helena nods but scowls in a very non-Helena way. I turn Zoe slightly so I can see Aidan and the other djinn.

It’s easy to see the fight is almost over. They are throwing everything they can at each other. Most of the machinery is melted into smoldering heaps in the corners. The other djinn is almost vapor. He’s managing to throw something akin to lightening at Aidan. Aidan’s answering bolts are much stronger but even I can see that this has taken a lot out of Aidan. Zoe starts to whimper as she realizes that her djinn will not be saving her after all.

“It’s over for you, Zoe,” I whisper in her ear. She moans softly as the reality that her life is crashing around her.

Aidan sends a final almighty burst of energy at the other djinn and the djinn vaporizes. Aidan hangs his head and lets out an anguished growl. When his head comes up his eyes are on fire and he strides over to Zoe with a snarl on his face. I’ve never been afraid of Aidan but I could be now. Zoe starts to squirm and protest so I tighten my grip and sink my teeth into her neck to let her know that I can take her in a second.

“Aidan, please don’t kill me. Think about it. Now Manda is able to live forever. She won’t die so soon. I did you a favor.”

With a wave of his hand Zoe’s fingernails are ripped out. She screams and her knees go weak. I keep her upright easily.

“Where is she, blood sucker?” Aidan growls.

“Here in I-Italy. But I don’t know where. My contact took her and left,” Zoe mewls.

“Who was your contact?” Julian asks with as much fury in his eyes as Aidan.

“I don’t know her name. I put out a feeler … had a new vamp I wanted to disappear. She said I should be at the Palace near the back. They picked her up there. She’s still in transition…”

“Where did you put this “feeler” out?” Julian asks.

“A message board.” She whispers a URL and Julian calls Hannah, relaying the information. I can hear Hannah tell him that the site is no longer found.

“The boards only last for a day or two,” Zoe offers. She’s a pliant wench now that she is trying to do anything to stay alive.

“How do I find them?” Julian demands.

“Voogle, “vampire hunt” as search words. Then hope something comes up. It’s risky. The URL only lasts a day or so. They have everything encrypted.”

“I think we have as much out of her as we can get. We need to get to the Palace and see if we can pick up a vampire scent,” Julian says as he looks at Aidan in sympathy.

“You kill her, Lilith. If I have to transmanifest us, I’ll need my strength. But I want to watch the life drain out of her eyes.”

I smile. “With pleasure.”

I sink my teeth into her neck and drink.

43 LILITH

Aidan is able to get us to the Palace after we set the building on fire. We couldn’t leave so many bodies lying around. Aidan flicked his wrist and the building was an inferno. We each spread out but it is Liam who finds the scent first. Then I catch it. Our sense of smell is more acute right now. I can smell the Queen’s vamps and another plus the faint scent of peaches which I remember Manda smelling like.

“Aidan, peaches…” I say.

He lets a tear roll down his cheek. I didn’t know a djinn could cry. I wrap my arms around him and he lets me hold him while he sobs. The trail is dead because a vehicle is involved and its scent is quickly hidden in the multitude of vehicles in the area.

Aidan gets a hold of himself and Sebastian is there to grip his shoulder.

“We will find her, Aidan. If we spend the rest of our lives tracking,” Sebastian says and the others affirm his pledge.

I hold Aidan. I know he needs the touch, the comfort right now. Eventually he will realize this is all my fault. If he hadn’t left Manda to help me then he would have been with her. When he realizes this he won’t want anything to do with me. But that time hasn’t come yet. For now, I’m here.

Aidan is too weak to transmanifest us back home but he manages passports and money. We take the next flight to SFO. It’s a long, weary flight home. Hannah has a limo waiting to pick us up. We had relayed the news to her and she has been busy tracking the message boards. Lurking and learning.

For now we regroup. Aidan needs to replenish his energy badly, he needs to regroup and then we can start looking again. We will all be looking – she is Aidan’s and ours as well. We are going forward with our wedding plans. We are getting married in Italy and we think that Manda is still there, but at this point… we just don’t know.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This book just flowed out of me. It was time to write it, I think. I love these characters so it makes it easy to write about them. I have to say that I always have help though, no matter how effortlessly the writing happens. Much thanks goes to my writing partners Reina Williams and Marik Berghs. They critique, edit and egg me on. To Pamela Spitzer, editor extradonaire. And to my family that continues to be my steady anchor.

A special, heartfelt thank you to all of you that have read the books. I love hearing from you. If you liked this one, please consider leaving a review. It’s what keeps us indie authors going.

Jessica

Little Suckers Bite Too

HANNAH

After all the craziness of Manda disappearing, Diel pulls me aside. I know he is holding something back and about to explode if he doesn’t tell me what. He asks me to sit down. I am starting to really freak out. My mind plays a million different scenarios of what could be wrong.

“Hannah, honey, when the doctor examined you after you were drugged, he disclosed the sex of the baby. Do you want to know what it is or do you want to be surprised?” he asks me with a proud papa smile.

“I think I want to know. I mean we only have a few more weeks to go and I could so do some major shopping in that time.”

He laughs loudly and scoops me up.

“It’s a boy, Han. We are having a little boy,” he howls. His joy is contagious. I start laughing as he spins me around and then I start crying as is my usual lately. Fucking hormones.

“I c-can’t believe it. I can’t wait to meet him. Now. We can name him, Diel. We still haven’t decided on one except for the middle names. Aidan or Lilith. I guess this is little Chase Aidan.”

“Hmm… sounds good but he might be teased. Chase this and Chase that… I could see it happening. How about Zack? Or Dax?” he suggests.

“I don’t know. We’ll keep thinking about it.” Okay maybe that was an ‘Oh Hell no’ answer. I guess I’m learning to be tactful. But Diel is way ahead of me.

“That’s code for “I don’t like it,” he says smiling. The ridiculous grin has not left his face.

“The real question is should we tell Aidan and the manse fam?” I ask.

“I think we should tell Aidan for sure. He needs something good to focus on. I’ll call him now.”

“Put him on speaker phone, Babe, please.”

“You got it, Ganja Momma.”

“Hmm… I like Gunnar…”

“Nope, you dissed Zack I’m dissing Gunnar.” Fair enough, Gunnar was a throw away.