“Is it…true?” Garrison asked, his hand moving to yank on his shirt collar as if it had been choking him. “Is Jane dead?”
He hadn’t felt for a pulse, but then, there hadn’t been a need. “Her neck was broken and she was covered in blood when I left her.”
“But…but was she dead?”
“Yes.” He was certain of this. “She’s gone, Garrison. I’m sorry.” Because Garrison and Jane had formed a friendship. An odd one considering that Garrison had shot her the first time they met but…
Garrison’s family had been killed by vampires, the same as Jane’s. They’d shared that pain.
“I…I think I’m going to visit some friends out of town for a while.”
Paris didn’t comment on the tears he saw gathering in Garrison’s eyes.
“I don’t…” Garrison pressed his lips together then continued, “I don’t want to be here when she rises. I can’t turn on her.” His hands fisted. “I swore to protect her, and I won’t lift my claws against Jane, no matter what.”
Even when she comes to rip out your heart? “You know it won’t be her. She’s gone.”
“I’m going to visit some friends,” Garrison said as he turned away. “Call me when…call me.” Garrison hurried toward the stairs.
Paris didn’t stop him, even though he straight-up knew the guy was lying. Garrison’s friends? Those would be…
Me.
Aidan.
Jane.
Tension gathered at the base of Paris’s neck. This situation was such a severe clusterfuck, and as far as he was concerned, there was only one way out of it. He pulled out his phone and then realized it had blood on it—Aidan’s blood. I touched the phone after I dug the bullets from my alpha. He swallowed back his rage and his fear, and he called the one person who could help him.
Annette Benoit answered on the first ring. Her voice was soft and sad as she said, “Jane’s dead.”
“Yes.” Fucking hell, yes. “And I need to make sure she stays that way.”
“Then you want the fire.”
Yes, dammit, that was what he’d wanted. A special batch of fire that would burn hell hot…hot enough to stop a vampire-in-waiting from ever rising. Hot enough to turn Jane into ash. And that batch of fire could only be created by a special voodoo queen—after all, she’d made it in the past. A guaranteed way to stop a vampire. Permanently. “Hurry.”
***
“Your alpha is fine.” Dr. Bob Heider marched out of Aidan’s office thirty minutes later. “Fine except for the drugs you gave to him.” Bob sure wouldn’t like to be around when Aidan unleashed his fury on Paris. “Good luck handling him.”
Paris never changed expression. “Someone will be waiting on your exam table.”
What the hell? “Another kill? You need to get that rogue werewolf under control!” He marched for the stairs.
But…Bob stopped.
A woman was there. A gorgeous African American woman he’d seen before. At Aidan’s place in the swamp. Her long, black hair skimmed her shoulders and power seemed to shine from her eyes. Oh, shit. They called in the voodoo queen. She made her way toward him and offered Bob the bottle in her hands.
He frowned. “What is this? Some kind of wine?” Like he’d take a drink she gave him. His mama hadn’t raised a fool.
“It’s fire.”
“Uh, no, it isn’t.”
“When you break the bottle,” she said, her voice oddly soothing, “the fire will rage. It will destroy completely. The beast won’t have a chance to be born.”
He glanced at Paris. “Is she making sense to you?”
“Jane was there when Aidan was attacked.”
Bob’s heartbeat suddenly seemed very, very fast in his chest. “She’s okay?” She had to be okay or else Paris would’ve had him treat her, too. She must be—
“She’ll be on your table.”
Bob’s knees nearly buckled. Jane?
“Use the fire on her,” Paris ordered quietly. “You’ll have access. You can do it before she changes. You can save lives by making sure Jane won’t rise.”
This was bull. “You’re asking me to kill her? Kill Jane?”
Annette Benoit shook her head. “Jane is already dead. We’re asking you to stop the monster before it can be born.”
Jane wasn’t a monster. She was…Jane.
“She’ll be too powerful when she rises,” Paris continued as he stepped closer to Bob. “This is our chance. When questioned later, you can just say a fire broke out in your office. We can explain it all away…”
Bob moved quickly away from Paris. “Screw that. I’m not burning Jane.”
“She’s not Jane anymore,” Annette said, her expression grave. “How long will it take you to realize that?”
His chin jerked up. “I’m leaving.”
Paris was in his way. The guy needed to take a freaking hint—
“Five hundred thousand dollars,” Paris said.
He’s offering to pay me to kill Jane?
“I want this done by the time Aidan wakes up,” Paris continued in a dark, emotionless voice. “He shouldn’t have to be the one to face her. He shouldn’t have to go through that hell again.”
“Take the fire, Dr. Heider,” Annette urged.
He grabbed the bottle. “You’re both nuts.”
“You’ve seen what vampires do.” Paris’s eyes reflected his pain. “Do you think Jane would want to be that way?”
No, no, he didn’t but…
Jane can’t be dead.
He shoved past them, nearly running down the stairs so that he could get to the lower level of Hell’s Gate. And, yes, the bottle was gripped tightly in his hand, but he wasn’t going to use it. He wouldn’t burn Jane.
But Annette’s voice seemed to whisper through his mind once more. Do you think Jane would want to be that way?
Chapter Fifteen
Jane was on his table.
Bob stared at her face. So pale. So…peaceful.
Jane had rarely had much peace when she was alive. She’d always been rushing off to another crime scene. Always so desperate to stop a killer. To save a life.
And now she was on his table.
He had to blink a few times. This was wrong. Someone else should be doing the exam on her but…
I’m the only one who can handle the paranormal cases.
His gaze slid toward the bottle Annette had given him. It sat a few feet away, on a nearby counter. Was he really supposed to douse Jane with that liquid and walk away while she burned?
His hands were shaking when he turned away from her. He hurried over to his microscope. He’d taken a few samples from her earlier, and he wanted to see what was happening to her cells.
Maybe Jane won’t turn. Maybe…
But he looked at her blood under the microscope. The blood of a dead woman. And the cells…they were already changing.
Evolving.
Something is coming back to life in Jane.
Breathing was hard. He stumbled and his shaking hands knocked over the microscope. He wasn’t the one who usually handled the vampires. When he had a corpse on his table that showed signs of change—Bob always looked at the cells under his microscope—he put in a call to the werewolves. They were the clean-up team. Aidan and his crew came in. They stopped the monsters from going on a bloodlust fueled rampage.
But…
Can Aidan stop Jane?
Could Aidan kill the woman he loved?
“Jane, I am so sorry.” Bob grabbed the bottle of liquid fire. His breath heaved out in heavy rasps. “You didn’t deserve this.” He could almost hear her laughter in his mind. He could see the way her eyes would narrow while she listened to him talk about a case. A faint furrow would appear between her brows.
I was her friend. I owe her peace.
He took a shuffling step toward the table.
“I’m sorry,” Bob said again.
***
Aidan’s eyes flew open. He stared up at t
he ceiling above him. His ceiling. His office. His club.
His…Jane?
A howl broke from him, one of pain and rage. One of grief—a grief that was already ripping him apart. Because when he stared at that ceiling, Aidan saw Jane.
Jane…covered in blood.
Jane…with her neck broken.
Jane…gone.
He leapt up from the couch, his claws out and his muscles stretching as the transformation burned like fire in his blood.
The door to his office flew open. Paris was there, his eyes wide, his face haggard. “Aidan…”
“Where is she?” Aidan was half-man, half-beast. All rage and pain and fear.
“You have to calm down.”
In less than a second’s time, he had Paris against the wall and Aidan’s claws were at his friend’s throat. “Where is my Jane?” Speaking was so fucking hard.
“D-dead,” Paris gasped out. “But you…know that. She was dead—”
“She jumped in front of me.” Each word was a growl. “Took the bullet…meant for me.” Dammit. He could have survived. As long as the bullet hadn’t hit his heart…
“I-I’m sorry,” Paris whispered.
Razor sharp teeth filled his mouth. Aidan wanted to rip and tear and claw. “You took…me away…from her.” He dropped his hold on Paris. If he touched the other wolf a moment longer…I’ll kill him. My own friend…and I want to kill him.
The pain in his chest wasn’t lessening. It grew, burning hotter and harder every moment. And in his mind, Aidan just kept screaming Jane’s name. He could feel his sanity slipping away. Moment by moment, breath by breath.
Need her. Can’t…can’t be without her.
“She was gone, Aidan.” Paris slowly straightened. Blood dripped from the claw marks on his neck. “You kept trying to give Jane your blood, but she was already dead. Her…her neck was broken.”
Aidan remembered that but… “Wrong.” Drew had shot her. He hadn’t gotten close enough to touch Jane.
So how did her neck get broken? I could have gotten to her, given her my blood…
But her neck was broken.
“I’ve taken steps,” Paris said, his voice hesitant. “You…you won’t have to deal with the repercussions.”
His wolf clawed at his insides. “What have…you done?” His words were an animal’s roar.
Paris flinched. “I couldn’t let you go through it again…I…I didn’t want you to be the one…”
To kill her.
Aidan howled again and he drove his fist into the wall right next to his best friend’s head.
“No! Aidan!”
That scream was Annette’s—she was rushing inside his office.
“She’s going to burn, Aidan. It will all be over. Jane won’t rise. She’ll just go…” Annette put her body in front of Paris’s. “He won’t fight you, but I will.”
She’s going to burn. “Where is my Jane?”
“She’s dead, Aidan,” Annette said flatly. “Where do you think the dead go?”
To the ME. The fucking ME.
Without another word, he ran away from them.
“You’re too late!” Annette yelled after him. “And, please, just let her go!”
Impossible.
“I told Jane…I warned her…she had to stop being the hero! It was only going to get her killed!”
And it had. She’d taken the bullet meant for him and lost her life.
***
Bob held the bottle of fire in his hands. “What am I supposed to do here? Open it? Pour it on you?” He lowered the bottle. “Smash it on you and watch you burn?”
Jane’s expression was still so peaceful.
He couldn’t do it. If the werewolves wanted her gone—then the werewolves could come and handle this shit themselves. He wasn’t burning Jane. He wasn’t—
“Just what the fuck…” A low, sinister voice demanded. “Do you think you’re doing with that?”
Bob whirled around. A man was there—big, tall, with a face carved of granite and eyes that burned with hate.
And fangs. I can see his fangs.
“You thought to kill her while she couldn’t even fight back? When she had no chance to defend herself?”
“No!” Bob shook his head, frantic. “I-I wasn’t!” Who the hell was that guy? And why hadn’t Bob heard him enter the exam area?
The vampire snatched the bottle from Bob’s hands. Then he threw the bottle against the wall. It shattered and flames—hot, insanely, magically hot and blazing too fast—immediately began to roll up the wall.
“Jane will rise and you will not stop her.” The vampire grabbed Bob and jerked him close. “You would kill her while she slept.”
“No!” That had been the plan the werewolves wanted, not him. “No, I—”
Fangs tore into his throat. Bob screamed. The bite was like being stabbed with an ice pick. The pain had nausea rising in his throat, and he struggled against the bastard, knowing that he’d be vomiting all over the vamp any second.
But the vamp tossed him aside. The vamp threw him so hard that Bob’s back dented his filing cabinet. He crumpled onto the floor, struggling to see the vamp through the rising smoke and flames.
And the vamp…
He scooped Jane into his arms. The sheet that had covered her body fell to the floor.
“Y-you can’t take her,” Bob cried out.
“Like I’d leave her here for you to kill. Fucking bastard, why don’t you burn?” Then the vamp was leaping toward the door, with Jane in his arms. Bob pushed to his feet and stumbled after him.
The fire is on the walls. On the ceiling. It was raging so fast and hard. Paris hadn’t told him it would be this fast. It was unnatural. It was—
Voodoo. What the hell did I expect?
He had to get out of there.
Or he would be burning.
***
Aidan smelled the smoke and the acrid scent just made him run faster. It fueled the terrible fear and rage within him. Jane can’t burn.
He needed to see her again. Needed to touch her. Needed to tell her how fucking sorry he was.
She’d given her life for him. That hadn’t been the plan. Things shouldn’t have ended that way. A burst of speed had him near the ME’s building. Humans were rushing outside of that place, some coughing on smoke. Choking.
Where is Jane?
He didn’t see her. Firefighters weren’t even on the scene yet. They wouldn’t make it there in time, not with a blaze like that, one that had magical aid. The smoke was thickening, the flames crackling, and Aidan ran right inside the burning building.
He knew his way to the ME’s office—he could get there in the dark. So getting past the smoke and the flames wasn’t hard for him. He held his breath as best he could and moved fucking fast. There were no prying eyes to see him.
He kicked in the door to the ME’s lab. He heard coughing. And a weak… “H-help…”
But that voice wasn’t Jane’s.
It was Dr. Bob.
Aidan grabbed the ME and hoisted him over his shoulder.
“F-fire…spread t-too fast…g-got asthma…” The guy was wheezing. “C-can’t breathe…s-smoke…”
“Where is Jane?” He didn’t see her. Didn’t smell her. But…
Maybe she’s in one of the storage lockers. The lockers for the dead. His stomach clenched at the thought. Jane didn’t belong there. She should be outside, running, laughing, happy.
“H-he took her. The vamp…they’re g-gone—”
Aidan spun away from the flames. He raced through the building, but didn’t go out the front exit, not with that freaking crowd out there. He went to the back of the place and hurtled through a big picture window on the first floor. Glass flew all around him.
The ME screamed.
Dr. Bob should be grateful. He was going to be able to breathe one hell of a lot better now that they were outside. Aidan ran with him, moving away from the flames. Then he lowered the doc and propped h
im up against a street lamp. “Breathe,” Aidan ordered him. “Nice and fucking slow, got it?”
The doctor nodded, but he was wheezing hard.
The same way Jane was wheezing at the college. I remember that…
“I-I wasn’t—wasn’t b-burning—”
“Get your breath back first,” Aidan growled at him. “Then talk to me.” Jane didn’t burn. She made it out of the lab. She’s—
Dead?
Alive?
Aidan didn’t know for sure.
“Don’t listen to the sniveling bastard,” a low, rumbling voice said.
Aidan stiffened. Vincent. He didn’t spin around to confront the vamp, but he did let his claws slide out. The better to cut off his head.
“When I got to him,” Vincent blasted, “the not-so-good doctor had a bottle of liquid fire in his hands. He was standing right over Jane. She was helpless. Helpless. And he was going to burn her to ash.”
Bob’s eyes were wild. Desperate. His wheezes had gotten worse. “N-not J-Jane—”
“I saved her.” A hard pause came from Vincent, then he said, “You should be grateful to me.”
“You saved her.” Aidan’s canines had lengthened in his mouth. The better to tear into the vampire. I won’t control my instincts this time. My wolf wants Vincent dead, and so the fuck do I. “Is that the same way you saved her when you broke Jane’s neck?” Because it was the only thing that made sense to him. She’d been shot—but her neck had been fine. One moment, she’d been wheezing. He’d been trying to get to her and then…
Jane was gone.
“Would you rather I let her suffer? Let her drown and choke on her own blood?” The vampire demanded and his words were all the confession Aidan needed. He’d killed her.
“Would you?” Vincent yelled at him. “Because that was happening. She’d taken your bullet. Risked her life for you, and I wasn’t going to let her suffer needlessly.”
“I could have given her my blood! Saved her!”