Blood Rites

  Fane cleared his voice, unsure of where Jen was going with this. "Yes, that is correct, we do heal a lot faster than-" Before Fane could finish what he was saying, Jen interrupted.

  "Okay thanks, that's all I needed."

  Jen moved faster than Sally had ever seen her move, but it was like everything was happening in slow motion. Jen raised the knife as her grip around Decebel's hand tightened. At the same time, Sally and Jacque yelled, "Decebel, run!" Decebel realized what was happening and moved quicker than the eye could see grabbing Jen's wrist before the knife could make contact with his flesh.

  To Decebel's credit, he didn't give any indication that a knife had just nearly been stabbed into his hand. His golden eyes were glowing and Sally thought she could see flames in them. "Jen, you might want to, um, go sit by Jacque, or ru-ru-run. I'm just saying," Sally stuttered.

  Jen's gaze never wavered from Decebel's. The whole table sat frozen, waiting for his reaction. Decebel slowly pulled the knife from her hand, he smiled slowly, showing Jen that his canines had lengthened. "You're running out of checks, Jennifer."

  "Depends on whose checkbook you're looking at, now doesn't it, Decebel?" Jen matched his cold sarcasm.

  Before they could continue their sparring, Dr. Steele walked up to Vasile and asked to speak with him in private, so naturally the whole table got up and followed them.

  They ended up back once again in the family waiting area. Jacque was beginning to think that no other families came to this floor because they were the only ones ever using this room.

  "Vasile, when I said privately, I meant just you," Dr. Steele told him.

  "I understand, Dr. Steele, but everyone in this room will know what you have told me in a matter of hours."

  "More like minutes," Sally added.

  "Good call," Jen said, going to bump fists with Sally. But she stopped just short, remembering that she was supposed to be mad at her. Sally just rolled her eyes.

  "Fine," Dr. Steele said, giving up on trying to persuade him otherwise. "I got Jennifer's blood results back."

  The whole room seemed to hold their breath. Jen stepped forward slowly, forgetting about the IV attached to her, and had Sally not caught it, would have fallen on Jen's head. Jen never even noticed.

  "What were my results?" Jen asked apprehensively.

  Sally and Jacque both stepped up on either side of Jen in a show of silent support.

  "Jennifer, do you know anything about your genealogy?" Dr. Steele asked her.

  Jen just looked at her blankly. Sally nudged her. "Jen, she wants to know if you know about your ancestors?" Still no answer.

  This time Jacque tried. "Jen? Your lineage, descent, forebears, pedigree-"

  "I got it, Jacque," Jen cut her off.

  "If you mean, do I know of any non-human blood in my family, then the answer is no," she told Dr. Steele.

  "I'm not sure if it is a were-gene or not. Since Jacque is not full blooded I need more of her blood to compare it to Jennifer's. I will come by her room later tonight to get her after the lab techs have gone home. I don't want anyone to ask questions."

  Chapter 19

  "Um, Sally?" Jacque said absently as they sat on the bed in the hospital room she had been sleeping in.

  "Yep."

  "While Jen is taking a shower, why don't you tell me exactly what happened between you two."

  "What makes you think something happened?" Sally asked, sounding utterly guilty.

  "Really Sally? You were singing at the top of your lungs 'Meet Virginia' with Jen chasing you, IV pole and all." Jacque lifted an eyebrow at her. "You still want to go with that answer?"

  "Okay, fine, you win. She's mad at me because I was teasing her." Jacque waited for Sally to continue, she didn't.

  "She's mad because you were teasing her, that's it, nothing else?" Sally shook her head and continued to look guilty. "So if I go in there and start singing 'Meet Virginia' she won't come out here and throttle you?" Jacque made as if to get up off the bed and go towards the bathroom.

  "WAIT! Ok, you win, Jen is mad because I was teasing her because she'savirgin." Sally said the last part so fast that Jacque nearly missed it, nearly.

  "Jen's a what?" Jacque asked in complete shock.

  "Mother of pearl! Did you guys think I was a slut and just hanging out with you two wall flowers in my spare time, ya know, in between tricks and what not? Why is everyone so surprised I'M A FREAKING VIRGIN? If you are so interested let me just throw out my reason and you can swallow it or choke on it okay?" She continued before they could answer. "I actually think sex is supposed to be for that one special person, and not just 'hey I love you let's do it'. I mean the one you decide to take on for life." Jen stood in the open bathroom door, wrapped in a towel.

  "Are you saying you're going to wait to have sex until you're married?" Sally asked in complete shock.

  "Geeze, Sally, is it really that hard to fathom? I know I joke about it a lot. I like to joke about it to see the shock on people's faces. But personally, my forever man is the only one getting a piece of all this hotness."

  Jacque had just developed a newfound respect for her perverted friend. "Okay, three things. First, I'm totally digging what you're saying. I get it and I think it's great. Second, don't change. Because out of us three only you could get away with the things you say and we desperately need the comic relief. And last, I'm dying to point this out technically, Jen. You couldn't be a freaking virgin, it's an oxymoron."

  "Good one, Vern." Sally bumped Jacques fist.

  "I know, right?" Jacque smiled. "We learned from the best, Sal."

  "You two hussies better not forget it, either," Jen growled at them.

  "Are you done being mad at me?" Sally asked.

  Jen glared at her for a minute. "Yeah," she said, waving her off. "I was having a really hard time staying mad anyway. I have to give you serious props for the whole 'Meet Virginia' bit, that was pure genius."

  "I know." Sally dusted off each shoulder. "I got mad skills, yo."

  "Had I known you were singing that because you had just found out about our perverted little friend's deep, dark secret, I seriously would have peed on myself from laughing so hard."

  "So, Jen. You going to fess up to what Decebel whispered in your ear that caused you to stab the poor wolf?" Jacque asked her petulant friend.

  "Where's Fane?" Jen asked, ignoring Jacque's question.

  "He's sitting on the other side of that door, growling at anything and anyone that comes within a few feet of it," Jacque said, nodding her head towards said door. "Now answer the question, Jen."

  Jen didn't answer right away, she wasn't sure how to answer if she was being honest with herself which was a practice that she liked to avoid because it usually lead to being reasonable, and frankly, where was the fun in that? Sally and Jacque waited patiently, not wanting to provoke Jen's as-of-late testy temper.

  "I don't really know what it means," Jen told them.

  "Well, if you tell us we might be able to help you figure it out. You know we are good at figuring stuff out and what not."

  "Oh, yes. How could I forget the mighty Sally and Jacque, super sleuthing divas," Jen said sarcastically.

  "Hey, that has a ring to it," Jacque said thoughtfully.

  "Jacque, focus." Sally elbowed her.

  "He said," Jen began, and much to her amusement her two friends edged towards her, bodies leaning forward, hanging on her every word."You two are like two monkeys waiting for the tourist to throw you a banana peel."

  "Jen, you do remember what monkeys like to throw back at those tourists, don't you? Spill it now," Sally growled.

  "He dared me to give him a reason to kill someone if the time came that he called me Virginia and it no longer pertained to me." When Sally and Jacque didn't say anything, Jen looked up at them and saw that they were both wide eyed with their mouths hanging open. "Are you going to say something?"

  Sally got up and began to pace the room, chewing on her bottom li
p and muttering under her breath. Jacque continued to look dumbfounded.

  "Hello? This is mission control calling out to all pushy, know it all friends who bullied me into telling them something I didn't understand myself and are now acting like the monkeys earlier referenced."

  That effectively got Jacque to shut her mouth and finally acknowledge Jen.

  "I'm sorry, I was sort of thrown off for a moment. I just can't believe he said that."

  "What does it mean?" Jen asked, her voice uncharacteristically soft.

  Sally looked at Jen and then at Jacque. "Does it mean what I think it means?"

  "I don't know, Sal. I mean why else would he care what her virginity status was?" Jacque answered.

  "Maybe it's a little sister thing, like he feels he needs to be her big brother," Sally said, nodding her head as if that would somehow make it true.

  "I've seen him looking at her, and if he sees her as a little sister then Fane needs to beat the crap out of him cuz he looks like he's considering incest."

  Jen watched the exchange between her two friends as they communicated as if she wasn't sitting right in front of them.

  "Hey, Ricky, Lucy, I'm sitting right here. Would you please stop talking like I'm not in the room."

  "Right, sorry Jen." Sally kneeled down in front of Jen and placed her hands on her knees for balance. "Jacque and I think Decebel's being possessive towards you."

  "That's your sleuthing in action? Really? Well bloody hell, why don’t you guys go clear up the mystery behind Stonehenge seeing as how ya'll are so good at figuring things out and all."

  "There's more to it than just possessiveness, Jen." Jacque stood up and started the pacing that Sally had abandoned. "He's treating you like…" Jacque was motioning her hands as if trying to encourage someone to spit out what she couldn't get her mouth to say.

  "It's like he thinks, maybe…" Sally began but then aborted her thought.

  "Just spit it out already. He thinks and is treating me like what already?"

  "Mate," Jacque blurted out so fast it looked like someone had slapped her on the back to make the words come out. "He's treating you like a mate would."

  Jen felt like she had been punched in the gut. She tried to take in air but her lungs wouldn't work. She thought she could hear voices but they sounded muffled, as if coming from the other side of a closed door. Her thoughts were jumping from one image to another like one of those flip picture books making the pictures look alive the faster you flipped them, only this wasn’t a book, this was her life. She saw Decebel coming towards her bed when he asked her if she was alright, flip, he was kneeling next to her looking at the skin on her legs, flip, he was standing in the hall of the hospital all but growling at her, flip, he was laying a blanket over her as she lay in the hospital bed shivering. On and on the images came. There was one common denominator in each image: Decebel was nearly snarling at her in all of them. All of a sudden, she felt cold wetness on her face. She gasped, trying to get her bearings, filling her lungs with precious, life-giving oxygen.

  "Crap, Sally," Jen sputtered. "There better be a stinking, world-changing reason that you threw water in my face."

  "You weren't breathing and you wouldn't respond to us saying your name. I was going to slap you, but Jacque decided a hand mark marring your skin might not be the wisest thing right now," Sally explained nervously.

  "I have found a flaw in your reasoning," Jen said, looking for all the world like they had better agree with her. As Jacque handed her a towel to dry her face, she explained her theory. "Any time Decebel is in the room with me he looks at me like he wants to throttle me. Not once has he ever appeared to be interested in me in that way."

  "You of all people should know that a look of intense desire can be mistaken for the look of throttling," Jacque said, matter of fact like.

  Jen cocked her head to the side, one eyebrow lifting. "Oh really, do tell, Jac. At what point in your long, full of incredible opportunities, mystifying life have you experienced a guy looking at you where you thought, is this desire for me, or for the throttling he just might be thinking about giving me? Really, please tell me so that I could possibly fan the tiny flame of hope that my common sense is desperately trying to douse with the cold reality that Decebel is NOT AND NEVER, IN MY 'I'M NOT A FREAKING WEREWOLF' LIFE, WILL BE AN OPTION!" Jen cursed the damning tears that revealed the depth of her emotions regarding the brooding wolf who was a constant shadow in her mind.

  "Jen, I'm sorry," Jacque whispered as she sat down on the bed and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I didn't know you had feelings for him."

  "Of course I have feelings towards him. I feel like he is a pompous, hairy, flea infested butt head." Jen thought if she said it out loud then maybe she could believe it. No such luck.

  The room was quiet without Jen's loud voice to fill the empty spaces.

  "So, how 'bout this weather we've been having?" Sally said, forever the one trying to smooth things out.

  Suddenly Jacque stood up, causing Jen to nearly fall in the floor. "What the crap, Jacque?" Jen spat. Then she looked at Jacque's face and could see something was very wrong.

  "I'm going to be sick." Jacque's voice was desperate and pained.

  Jen put her hands on Jacque's shoulders and began guiding her towards the bathroom, all the while shouting orders at Sally. "Go get Fane, get some towels and cold washcloths, then get Dr. Steele." Sally headed for the door but it flew open, thankfully before she was close enough to be hit with it. Fane came in a storm of power. He walked past Sally, following the painful sounds of the sickness coming from his mate. Decebel came in behind Fane and stopped beside Sally.

  "What's going on?" he asked, his voice as authoritative as ever.

  "We were just sitting, talking about," Sally paused, remembering what they had been talking about before Jacque had gotten sick. "Nothing important, and then Jacque stood up and said she was going to be sick. Jen took her into the bathroom and I was coming to get Fane but he was already coming into the room." Decebel just nodded in response. Sally realized then she was supposed to get towels and a wash cloth. She headed out the door of the room and then paused to look back at Decebel. "Can you get in touch with Dr. Steele somehow?"

  "Yes."

  "A 'man of few words' would be an understatement in describing that wolf," Sally muttered as she continued on her quest for towels.

  "What happened?" Fane growled at Jen as he maneuvered himself into the spot she had just occupied. He took over holding Jacquelyn's hair as she retched up anything and everything from her body.

  "I don't know what happened. We were just talking and everyone was fine and then bam, Jacque was getting sick." Jen slapped her hands together in emphasis.

  "Luna, can you tell me what's wrong?" Fane asked her, his voice full of the anguish he was feeling at seeing her so sick.

  "It feels like my insides are trying to crawl out of my mouth. How's that for descriptive?" Jacque sent her thoughts and moaned out loud at the same time as another spasm gripped her stomach, and she began to dry heave because there was nothing left inside her.

  Fane placed his hand on her forehead as she began to shiver. "You're burning up, Jacquelyn." Fane didn't know anything about fever but he was sure that her temperature was beyond the point of being just a minor fever.

  "Here, I have washcloths." Sally came into the bathroom and turned on the cold water, pushing the washcloths under the flow, then she squeezed out the excess and handed one to Fane.

  "Put it on her neck," Jen instructed, then took a towel from Sally and folded it placing it on the floor and pushing it underneath Jacque so her knees wouldn't be on the hard, cold floor.

  "Decebel got in touch with Dr. Steele, she is on her way here," Sally informed them.

  Jacque finally slumped back against Fane, exhausted from being sick. Her face flushed from the fever, and her breathing was shallow. Fane picked her up and carried her to her bed. As he gently laid her down he spoke to Decebel. "Get my
father."

  "Done, my prince, I've already called him. He and your mother and Lilly were down in the cafeteria. They are on their way up now."

  Fane nodded. "Thank you."

  Without warning Jacque screamed out, "FANE!" Jen and Sally jumped. Decebel flinched because of his sensitive wolf ears.

  Fane rubbed Jacquelyn's forehead."I'm here, love. What can I do?" Fane was gritting his teeth, frustration and fear coursing through his body.

  "Make it stop," Jacquelyn whispered to him. "Please make it stop."

  Chapter 20

  Cynthia dialed Logan's number as she continued to examine the blood sample she had under the microscope. Her hands shook as she turned the dial to bring the slide into focus. She couldn't believe what she was seeing, but there it was in living color. Jennifer's blood matched Jacque's blood. The only difference being the amount of cells that carried the gene. Since Jacque was half wolf her blood was full of them. Jennifer, however, had just enough to be recognizable by a person who knew what to look for. Logan finally answered. "Tell me you have good news, Dr. Steele."

  "Well, if you mean can I get Jacque by herself, then yes I have good news. I just received a call from Vasile's Beta. Jacque is sick. I'm going now to see her and will have her transferred to the ICU, where visitors of any kind are not allowed after 9:00 p.m. I have a pair of scrubs for you here in my office. I will leave it unlocked so you can get in. Wait in my office for my call." Cynthia was changing the slides in the microscope, putting Jennifer's up and sliding Jacque's sample under the scope. As she looked into the eyepiece she ceased hearing anything Logan said. She'd thought that this could happen, but thinking and reality are very different.