The Bite That Binds

CHAPTER THREE

(Sam)

Panting and shaking with the aftershocks of my orgasm, I griped, “Now will you untie me?”

“No,” mumbled Jared, who was using my breast as a pillow.

“You can’t leave me to sleep like this all day.”

“You’re so wrong about that.”

“We’ve had sex five times. You were supposed to have stopped brooding by now.” Although Jared had long ago stopped snapping at me and pacing like a caged tiger, he hadn’t quite calmed down. I could sense that he was trying to block what had happened from his mind in the hope of calming, but even five bouts of sex hadn’t been able to mellow him. “Untie me.”

“Could you shush? I’m trying to sleep here.”

“Jared.”

“Hey, I told you that if you got hurt I’d strap you to the bed. You knew I wasn’t kidding.”

Trying a different approach, I softened my voice and injected a little sensuality into it. “But if you leave me all tied up like this, I can’t wake you up in style at dusk.”

A snort. “I’m offended that you think I’d fall for that.”

“Well if you really insist on being a plonker…” Sucking the surrounding energy into my palm, I formed my whip and cracked it at him.

He flinched and rubbed the healing gash on his lower back. “Now that was just plain mean.”

“It’ll be your ears next.”

Grunting, he untied one wrist, leaving me to free my other wrist and then my ankles. The second I relaxed back into the bed, he rested his head on my chest again. Then he flung an arm over me, cupping my hip possessively.

Although I very much wanted to disappear to dreamland where I wouldn’t have to worry about anything, there was something nibbling at me. “I need to ask you something.”

“Hmmm?”

“Are you having doubts about the Binding?”

He lifted his head, frowning. “Baby, why in God’s name would you think—” As realisation dawned on him, he sighed. “I would never, ever have suggested postponing it if it hadn’t been for what happened tonight. I’m on edge right now, and I don’t like the idea of outsiders being around you.”

“Binding is a big thing,” I reminded him. “It’s a lifelong commitment, and considering we’re never going to die, you don’t get one more serious than that. I never would have envisioned you being prepared to make that kind of commitment to anyone.”

“In all honesty, neither had I, baby. But you’re it for me. I don’t think you get what it would do to me if you walked away. I’ll always remember something you once told me. You said that sometimes people only love each other for a little while and then it’s over. That plays on my mind all the time; I worry you might suddenly stop and decide to leave. Not that I’d let you leave me, but you get my point.”

I had to smile a little at that. “I’m not going to leave.”

“That’s good. I’d rather not have to keep you here against your will.”

“All that aside, I’d understand if you didn’t feel like celebrating when your mum’s just died.” And down went the shutters. “You have to stop doing that.”

He lowered his head to my breast again, nipping it lightly. “Sleep, baby.”

“Talk, Jared.”

A sigh. “Maybe tomorrow night. Now sleep. We only have one last evening to ourselves before all the guests arrive. After that, we’ve got a big week ahead with the Binding.”

If Luther’s vision was right, we had much more than a big week ahead of us. A part of me wanted to warn Jared, to talk to him about it. But doing that would risk Luther’s life, and talking in riddles wasn’t a reason to die. So I’d have to do as Antonio said…watch and wait.

(Jared)

“So you have an assignment for us.” Ordinarily, I’d be pleased. But this time, I didn’t have even an ounce of enthusiasm. After what had happened in the bungalow, the only thing I wanted was to lock Sam in a room where no one could reach her. Seeing her in pain had knocked me into a hyper vigilant state that I couldn’t snap out of, no matter how hard I tried. But the oh-so-stubborn female was insisting on going.

“Yes,” replied Antonio. “Luther had a vision. Unfortunately, it wasn’t entirely clear.”

Like that was anything new.

Luther spoke to Sam. “As I once told you, my visions do not always make much sense. Sometimes, it is the feel of the vision that I am left to rely on. What I do know is that this is something that hasn’t happened yet, but will happen very soon – in just a few hours’ time, in fact.

“In my vision, there was a park. It was the evening. There were two women; one was a vampire, one was a human. A pregnant human. I could feel that the vampire had every intention of murdering the human, who she had bound to a tree. The vampire’s rage and pain hit me hard.”

That wasn’t good. “Not to be disrespectful,” I said to Antonio, “but surely you could select another squad to deal with this.”

Antonio’s expression was apologetic. “Believe me when I say that I would have assigned this to another squad had it not been for one thing − you and Sam were in the vision. To remove you both from the equation might have a very negative impact on what happens.”

Fuck. Well now there was definitely no getting out of it. “Do you have any idea who the women are?”

Luther shook his head. “No. But when I have a vision about unfamiliar people, it means that one, or all, of the people in the vision will become important to The Hollow somehow.”

“And you think the human will be important?”

Luther sighed. “I do not know.”

I scrubbed my nape, agitated. “What is it you want us to do exactly? Obviously we can’t allow the vampire to kill the woman, but then what? Do you want us to bring one, or both, here?”

“I trust that you will know what train of action is appropriate once you decipher the situation,” said Antonio.

“If it’s only two women we’ve got to worry about, I suppose it’s not necessary to take the squad,” Sam concluded, but I shook my head.

“I’ve had plenty of experience with Luther’s unclear visions. They always seem like simple situations and turn out to be anything but.” That was another reason why going on this assignment pissed me off.

Antonio nodded in agreement with me. “I’d recommend that you take at least three of the squad with you.”

“Where will we find the two women?” I asked Luther. He handed me a sheet of paper with coordinates written on it.

“I believe it would be best if you left as soon as possible.”

So that was exactly what we did. It turned out that the place from Luther’s vision was actually a redwood forest north of San Francisco.

After hours of searching, I halted, sighing. “I can’t hear or smell anyone nearby.”

Sam stopped beside me. “Neither can I.”

“This is the only area of the woods that we haven’t covered,” said Butch, his eerily dark eyes taking in everything around us.

“Maybe we missed them.” David shrugged as he nervously ran a hand through his coppery hair. “Maybe we were too late.”

“Or too early,” suggested Chico. He said something else, but it didn’t register as my hearing had locked onto a distant moaning sound. Did you all hear that? I asked Sam and the guys. They each nodded. Be as quiet as you can – we don’t want the vampire hearing us approach. The guys stealthily followed Sam and I as we wound through the trees.

Finally, my vampire enhanced vision picked up the source of the sound in the far distance. Just as Luther had described, there was a pregnant human sitting against a thin, tall tree with her hands bound behind it. The plan had been to make the job quick – disable the vampire, save the human, and decide if either of them should be taken to The Hollow. Instead, I held up my hand, signalling for Sam and the guys to remain in position. I wasn’t sure why, but every single cell in my body told me to wait, told me to listen. Sam arched her brow questioningly. I mouthed, ‘Trust me’, glad when she shrugged and focused her attention on the spectacle ahead.

The moaning had now stopped and the human was waking. Her forehead was creased in a way that hinted at pain – probably a headache. It was a few seconds before she realised that she was in fact tied to the tree. She struggled, but it seemed that the knot was very secure. That was when sheer and utter panic took over her face.

“You can shout for help if you want,” began a voice, “but even if someone came, I wouldn’t let them help you.” A tall brunette stepped out of the shadows and stood directly before the human. Malice literally gleamed from her eyes. I could see even from here that her irises weren’t glowing. If she was that pissed off but her irises weren’t glinting red or amber, she had to be a Sventé like Sam.

“Who are you?” the human asked, her lips quivering. When the vampire didn’t answer, she rambled, “Look, whatever Leon owes you, I can get it. But if you’re mistakenly thinking – like others have before you – that if you call him he’ll rush here like lightning to save me, you’re going to be very disappointed. He’s out of town, and he hasn’t got the money to give you anyway. He spends what he steals before he even steals it, trust me.”

“So you’re the breadwinner?”

“I have to be, or we’d have nothing.”

“For someone who’s financially struggling, you’re dressed very smartly, aren’t you?” The vampire was right; the woman was clothed in a black maternity suit – jacket, pencil skirt, and a white blouse. “What’s your name?”

The human seemed taken aback by the question. “What’s yours?” she returned cockily.

The vampire’s mouth curved into a smile. “Jude. My name’s Jude.”

“If I were you, Jude, I’d let me go. I’ve told you, I can get you your money.”

“I don’t want money.”

“Well whatever you want, I can get it. But hurting me would be a really stupid thing to do on your part. You’d be upsetting my employers, for a start. You don’t know who I—”

“Yes I do.” Jude squatted down in front of her. “Maybe I don’t know your name, but I know something about you…something I doubt that many other people know…You’re a Scout.” The human’s eyes widened and her mouth fell open. “You really don’t remember me, do you?”

When the human didn’t respond, Jude explained, “We met in a supermarket. We both reached for a velour baby sleep-suit at the same time. You told me that you were so sorry, massaging your pregnant belly. You said you had eight weeks left before your due date, that you were having a boy. I told you that I had four weeks left to go, that I was having a girl. Any of this jogging your memory?”

The human still didn’t speak, so Jude continued. “Just as I was walking away, I felt a sharp prick in my arm that made me flinch, but I never thought anything of it. Why would I? A few minutes later, I was suddenly dizzy. Uncoordinated. My eyelids felt like they had lead weights hanging from them. With blurred vision and shaky legs, I stumbled outside. I just kept thinking that I needed to get to my car and go to a hospital. To any non-dizzy person, driving would have seemed nothing short of suicidal. But for me, the equation had been a little different: something was wrong and my baby might be at risk, therefore I had to hurry to get to a hospital.

“Then a car pulled up and the window lowered. A woman asked me if I was okay, if I needed a ride to the hospital. I said no, but she kept insisting that I couldn’t drive in my state. I would have said no again, but then I saw a toddler in a babyseat in the back of the vehicle, clapping his hands and grinning. It made me relax, made me think I could trust this perfect stranger. So I hopped inside the car. Seconds later, I passed out.

“When I woke up, two men and a woman, all wearing scrubs, were looking down at me. I thought I must be at a hospital…And then there was the most amazing sound. Crying, my baby was crying. I tried to lift my head and see, but my body wasn’t cooperating. The only thing I saw was a mop of black curls. Then, just before I blacked out again, I heard a harsh voice order, ‘Get rid of her quickly’.”

I truly would never have anticipated that the conversation would swing in this direction. I mean, seriously…what the fuck?

“When I came round, I was in a wooded area, just like this one. It felt like warm water had been thrown over my stomach. I reached down and realised my baby bump was gone. My baby was gone. When I brought my hand up, I saw that it wasn’t water, it was blood. I don’t know how long I lay there crying before I got up. I staggered about aimlessly, fuelled mostly by shock. But I was bleeding so badly. I was dying, and I knew it. I don’t think I got far before I fell again. But, unbelievably, someone found me. I begged them to help me, and they did; they made sure I lived. They said that if anyone had the right to live and get revenge, it was me.”

I was betting this ‘someone’ had been the vampire responsible for Turning her.

“It wasn’t until about six months later that I was…healed enough to go searching for you.”

In other words, it had been six months before her bloodlust had been under a satisfactory level of control – although Sventés had a manageable bloodlust, all newborn vampires of every breed suffered from uncontrollable bloodlust. Had she been a Keja or a Pagori vampire, it would have taken her longer to control it.

“I searched and searched for you, but I don’t think I ever expected to find you, no matter how hard I tried to track you. I almost pissed my pants when I spotted you earlier. I think the woman behind me thought I was having a seizure or something.”

The human now had the look of someone who understood exactly what danger they had found themselves in. “Jude, what happened to you was…horrific. Awful. But I swear to you, I had nothing to do with it. I don’t even remember us meeting—”

“Surely you’re not suggesting I’d forget the face of—”

“No, no,” the human quickly added, clearly conscious of the danger of offending Jude. “I’m not saying we didn’t meet, just that I’m not so good with remembering faces, but I swear to you, I was nothing whatsoever to do with what happened to you.”

Jude’s crooked grin widened, but it wasn’t a pleasant one. “That would be much easier to believe if” – she dragged up the brunette’s blouse to reveal an artificial baby bump – “you were truly pregnant. What do they call these? Some antenatal classes use them, don’t they?”

“Empathy Belly Pregnancy Stimulators,” replied the human quietly.

I hadn’t been expecting that. I sensed that Sam was equally surprised. She was also extremely pissed to the point that a silvery-blue energy ball had appeared in her hand. I imagined she was probably cooking up interesting ways for the human to die.

“You weren’t pregnant when we first met either, were you?” Jude said to the human. “You’d been wearing this. It gives you an excuse to talk to pregnant women without looking suspicious. It’s just two pregnant women comparing notes. Admit it, you’re a Scout.”

“If you’re hoping I can tell you where your baby is, you’re very mistaken. My role ends at drugging the women.”

Slowly, Jude tucked her hand inside her knee-high boot and retrieved a jagged-edged knife about eight inches long. The moonlight glimmered off the steel implement. “So what you’re telling me is…you’re no good to me?”

“What I’m saying is I might have drugged you, but I didn’t perform the Caesarean, I didn’t take the baby.”

Rage flashed across Jude’s face, but somehow she remained calm. “Don’t call it a Caesarean, don’t. A Caesarean section is a medical procedure that’s used with the mother and baby’s well-being in mind. Having my abdomen ripped open and my unborn baby snatched from my womb – risking its life – wasn’t a Caesarean.” Jude seemed to be searching the human’s face for something, probably remorse. “How do you sleep at night? How many women have you done this to? Don’t you even care that innocent little babies are being taken from their mothers? For all you know, they’re being sold to paedophile rings. What is it – can’t you have kids of your own so you hate women who can? Or is it all about the money for you?”

A scorned look suddenly took shape on the human’s pale face. “Who are you to judge me? If you want to wiggle that knife in front of me and threaten me, go ahead, do it. I just hope you don’t think I can tell you where your baby is, or that you’d ever find it now anyway.”

“I don’t. I gave up hope after a little while. I didn’t want to lose faith, it just went. To tell you the truth, she’s probably better off without me. Better off not knowing that her mom’s messed up and her dad’s a rapist. But that’s not the point, is it? She wasn’t yours or anyone else’s to take. If anyone was going to give her away, it should have been me.” Pain was etched into Jude’s face. “There would be no point in me having her back now anyway. I can’t raise her. But neither can the people who she’s been sold to, because they’re just. Like. Me.”

I shared a confused look with Sam. Surely Jude wasn’t suggesting that her baby was sold to vampires.

Jude looked at her blade admiringly. “Being sexually attacked has a way of making you more cautious. After that day, I bought this knife and I carried it everywhere, except for that one day when you decided I was going to be butchered and my baby was going to be taken and sold. I dropped my guard for that day – can you believe that?”

The human licked her lips nervously. Desperation was in every word. “Jude, think about this…you could hurt me or kill me, but what would it change? Nothing. It wouldn’t get you your baby back. All that would really come from it, is you would end up with my employers and the police on your tail for my murder. Is that what you want? You sound like an intelligent person, someone who’s been through enough. You need to let me go, and let all this go, and move on.”

“I can’t. Not until all the people who were involved and profited from the sale of my baby pays for what they’ve done.”

Not wanting the human dead until I’d had a chance to question her, I turned to Chico, Butch, and David. You three concentrate on the vampire. Sam and I will take care of the human. In vampire speed, we were in front of the two women. Jude looked up; there was no surprise in her expression, and I had to wonder how long she’d known we were there.

“Oh thank God, please you have to help me!” begged the human. “She tied me up, she wants to kill me!”

I arched a brow. “Is that so?”

“She’s insane!”

I folded my arms across my chest. “Well, the good news is, she’s totally sane. The bad news is my fiancée here is a crazy, homicidal bitch and she wants to kill you.”

As Sam’s energy whip appeared in her hands, the human blanched, gulping and shaking. I wondered if she’d pass out.

Jude’s face took on a knowing look as she studied Sam – who was totally focused on the human. “You’re the Sventé Feeder.” She seemed entranced by her. I could understand that. Sam commanded attention when she was fierce. The vampire’s eyes eventually moved to me. “And you’re the Heir.” Her gaze raked over the three squad members who had surrounded her, lingering a little on Chico.

As I went to stand in front of the human, her eyes widened. I suspected that the red tinge to my irises was glowing.

“What are you?” she asked shakily.

I tsked. “I ask the questions. First, I want to know who it is you work for.” If Jude was right and vampires had bought her baby, this was a situation that I needed to take care of – and fast.

“There’s really no point in denying anything,” said Sam. “Although…it wouldn’t be so bad if you did, because then I could whip you silly.”

I winced, offering the human a sympathetic look. “I don’t envy you right now. I’ve been on the receiving end of that whip a few times – and not in a good way.”

The human shook her head madly. “No, this isn’t real.”

Sam cocked her head. “Frankly, I find it harder to believe there are people out there evil enough to steal children than that vampires exist. But maybe that’s just me.”

“Vampires?” the human echoed, releasing a nervous laugh.

Jude huffed. “What, you didn’t realise you’ve been working for supposedly mythological creatures?”

“What makes you think your baby was sold to vampires?” I asked Jude.

“Because vampires are running the operation,” replied Jude. “Stealing human babies, and then selling them to vampire couples.”

“Why would vampires do that?”

“How else are they going to have children unless it’s to steal them?”

The human was shaking her head incredulously. “You’re all crazy.”

Sam sighed. “Admittedly, I am. So for every time you fail to answer our questions, I will crack this whip at you. This can be over quickly, or it can be prolonged. Totally your choice, though the latter sounds more appealing to me. It’s part of the ‘crazy, homicidal bitch’ thing.”

“But me…I’d rather skip the cliché ‘I don’t know anything’ game.” I seized her gaze with mine. “Who do you work for?”

When she said nothing, Sam cracked the whip, catching the human’s earlobe. She cried out, flinching.

“Hurts like a son of a bitch, doesn’t it?” It truly did; Sam was merciless with that thing. “We’ll try this again. Who do you work for?”

The human spoke to Jude. “You aren’t even a little concerned that there are people here claiming to be vampires?”

Jude tilted her head. “As I’m also one…No.”

The woman cursed as Sam’s whip slashed along her jaw.

“I believe you were asked a question.” Sam’s voice became even raspier whenever she was pissed. It sent a shudder through me every time.

Jude tutted. “I’d answer their questions if I were you. The worst I can do is kill you, but these guys…I have a feeling they have powers that will shock the shit out of you.”

“Powers,” the woman whispered.

I turned to Sam. “Show her.”

Sam let her whip fade away, sucked more energy into her palms, and released it as a blast of air that had debris whooshing around and the tree branches swaying. Taking more energy, she directed a flame of fire at the human, which stopped just short of her body. The human, sniffling and sobbing, then watched open-mouthed as Sam shaped the energy into a silvery-blue energy ball, which she bounced from hand to hand.

“Amazing, isn’t she,” I said to the human. “I remember the first day I met her, she kicked my ass using that gift – taunted me the entire time, even called me a pretty girl. Now, if you haven’t yet figured out that it’s in your best interests to tell us what we want to know—”

“I didn’t steal any babies!”

“Yes, we overheard you admitting that your role ends at drugging the mothers. So the question is…what happens next? It’s more than obvious that the woman who offered to give Jude a ride to the hospital was involved. So where do we find her?” The human’s attention had drifted to Sam – most likely because she had her energy whip back in hand. “I said, where do we find her?”

“I don’t know—” She yelped at the feel of Sam’s whip on her cheek.

“Wrong answer.” If she had been anyone else, the scent of her blood in the air would have made my mouth water. But I couldn’t think of anything more disgusting than feeding from someone as callous as this woman in front of me. “Come on, you must have a name at the very least.”

“I’ve never met or spoken to her, I swear! I saw her from afar a few times when she drove away with a pregnant woman, sure, but that’s all.”

“What does she look like?” I knew that I could get this information from Jude, but I wanted to find out if the human was lying.

“Her hair was light blonde, but you could tell it wasn’t her natural hair colour, because her roots were very dark. She had to be in her forties. She wore glasses.”

I looked at Jude, who nodded.

“I swear that’s all I know. Leon tells me when and where to go Scouting. When I find someone, I drug them and call him. As far as I know, he then contacts the Deliverer and she takes it from there. He’s only ever referred to her as that, but he might know her name, I don’t know.”

“The Deliverer?”

“That’s what they call her and the other women who do that job. They take a kid with them on purpose to try to seem non-threatening and trustworthy.”

“This is a big operation if there’s more than just one Deliverer.” And didn’t that just worry the crap out of me.

“Yes, but I don’t know how big, and I don’t know more than what I’ve told you. I’m too low down in the chain to be trusted with details.”

“She’ll be telling the truth about that,” interrupted Chico. “In big crime organisations, they don’t tell their employees any more than they have to know. They’re going to be extremely careful if, on top of that, they have the huge secret of being vampires to keep.”

I had to agree with that theory. “Then it’s safe to say that the person we need to speak to next…is her partner.” I turned to Butch, whose eyes were boring into the human. “Check her purse for some I.D.”

After some rummaging around, Butch pulled out the human’s driver’s licence. “Janine Peterson. Her address is right here.”

“Good. I guess…you’re no longer of any use to us, Janine.”

Her eyes almost popped out of their sockets. “No, please, I told you everything I know, I—”

Sam sneered at her. “You hadn’t honestly thought you’d be allowed to go on your merry way, had you?”

“What are you going to do with me?” she asked in a low voice.

“Well, that’s all up to Jude.” I turned to the brunette behind me. “Sam will be more than happy to have her way with this bitch if you don’t want the honour. It’s up to you.”

Jude straightened her shoulders. “No. I need to do this.”

Sam let out a petulant whine. “But I had something so good in mind.”

Smiling, I draped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her aside. “Next time.” I looked back at Jude. “Once you’re done, you’re coming with us.”

“To her place to see her boyfriend?”

“No. If this organisation is as big as it seems and vampires are involved, we need to speak with Antonio first.” At her blank look, I elaborated, “The Grand High Master.”

Nodding, she rose to her feet and went to squat before Janine, her knife back in hand.

Janine began to sob, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if the tears were false. “I didn’t steal her, Jude, it wasn’t me—”

“No, but if you hadn’t drugged me that day, I wouldn’t have been taken to have my abdomen ripped open, I wouldn’t have nearly died, I would never have been Turned into a vampire, and – most importantly – my baby would be with me, her mom, where she should be. What’s more, others wouldn’t have suffered the same fate. So the way I see it is…you’ve had this coming for a long time.” With that, Jude sliced open Janine’s throat. She didn’t move an inch from where she sat until Janine’s heartbeat had come to a complete stop.

Note to self: Never piss off Jude.

(Sam)

No less than twenty minutes later, we were back in the conference room. Antonio, Luther, and Sebastian had looked equal measures of concerned, enraged, and sympathetic as Jude told her story.

When she was done, Antonio sighed. “Unfortunately, vampires are just as involved in trafficking as humans are. In the case of vampires, they provide others with human adults and human children to be used as vessels or consorts. It’s been going on for a long time, and I’ve been sending my squads to end these operations for years.”

“Well, now there’s a new type of trafficking, and it’s a well-organised crime syndicate.” Jude leaned forward in her seat. “Foetal abduction isn’t so new for humans – this has been happening in countries like Columbia for years.”

“For years?” repeated Sebastian, stunned and disgusted.

Jude nodded. “There’s a high demand for children, particularly newborns. Countries where it used to be fairly easy to adopt from now have a lot of restrictions. Adoption’s a lengthy process, and they’ll seem like a life-time to those who are desperate for a child. Abducting newborns from hospitals is much more difficult now that the places are more secure and people are more alert and aware.

“In the case of vampires, adoption isn’t an option. Kidnapping children isn’t an option as something so bold can draw attention to the existence of vampires – no vampire would risk that. But buying a child provides little risk for them. Just as they longed to be parents as humans, they long for the same thing as vampires. The crime organisation that has specialised in trafficking has leaped on this. I suppose you could call it a niche in the market.”

Sebastian shook his head sadly. “But…why would they do that knowing that they couldn’t grow old with the child?”

“They most likely plan to Turn the child once they reach a mature age,” said Antonio.

“Don’t do what I first did.” Jude glanced at each person at the table as she spoke. “Don’t try to search for some logic. These people aren’t okay upstairs or they would never have done this to begin with, no matter how much they craved to be parents.”

“Why are you sure that vampires are behind this?” I asked her.

“At first, I hadn’t been – it hadn’t even occurred to me. I was determined to find the people responsible for what happened, and I thought it would simply be a case of finding out what the human authorities knew. They had naturally been looking into the deaths; just as with me, each woman had been left for dead in a wooded area. My gift is to erase memories, though I can’t erase any more than twenty minutes. So I questioned a couple of FBI agents and erased their memories of me afterwards.

“That was how I learned all about foetal abduction, and also about the ranks within the organisation. The Scout’s job is to parade around wearing pregnancy simulators and search for heavily pregnant women; they find out if the baby is mature enough to survive an op. After being drugged, the women are taken by Deliverers. No one has uncovered where the ops are performed, but because of the careful incisions on each of the victims, it’s believed that the Medics have extensive medical knowledge.

“But no one knows what happens after the Medics perform their operation. It was literally a dead end. There was nothing, no trace of anyone or anything. My Sire suggested that I let it go, but I couldn’t. One day, I was at home watching T.V., and half a dozen Pagori vampires just burst into the apartment. I was warned to stop asking questions, to stop poking around; that if I didn’t, they’d be back and I’d be dead. All I can think is that they thought I knew more than I did. Until that moment, it hadn’t even occurred to me that my own kind was involved.”

“Janine, the human, was shocked at the sight of us,” said Jared, who had his arm hung around my chair and was playing with my hair. “She clearly believed humans were running the organisation. I have to wonder when the human roles end and the vampires take over.”

I pursed my lips. “It might be reasonable to think that the Medics are definitely humans. The operations they perform cause a lot of bleeding. Surely that would be difficult for vampires, so maybe it’s after then they take over.”

Antonio nodded. “Yes, that’s a good point. It would also explain why the trail of information is stale after that.”

“It would also explain why the women are simply being dumped, left to die,” said Sebastian. “Vampires would never be so sloppy.”

“Who Turned you?” Antonio asked Jude.

“My Sire calls himself Kingsley, but that’s his surname. I don’t know his first name.”

Antonio shook his head a little. “I cannot say I know him. Does he know what you’ve told us?”

“No. I knew he’d tell me to stop searching. I can’t. As much as I respect you, I won’t be able to stop if you ask me to.”

Antonio held her gaze for a moment before speaking. “I won’t ask you to give up. But you must understand that it is my responsibility to ensure that this organisation is shut down. That means sending Sam, Jared, and the members of their squad to further investigate and to deal with it appropriately. You may accompany them only if you are prepared to follow whatever orders they give you.”

“I will,” Jude vowed.

“If at any point you attempt to tamper with their memories, you will be sent back here, and you will be punished. Do you understand?”

She nodded. “I get it. I’m not interested in hurting anyone except for those responsible.”

“No one will rob you of that opportunity,” I assured her, “as long as you follow what orders we give you.”

“I’ll show Jude to one of the rooms in the Guest House,” announced Sebastian.

“When Janine’s partner returns from his trip, we’ll pay him a little visit.” Jared threaded his fingers through mine. “Until then—” He cut himself off midsentence and suddenly stiffened beside me.

Automatically tensing just the same, I asked, “What is it?”

His eyes shut as a shudder travelled through him. When he opened his eyes again, he locked them with Antonio’s huge dark ones. “She’s here.”

“Magda,” I uttered under my breath.

Jared squeezed my hand. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure she leaves soon.”

Oddly enough, a part of me wanted to meet the bitch, to see her just once to satisfy my curiosity. But another part of me wanted her to keep the hell away from Jared − particularly if she still wanted him. In any case, I’d most likely have to meet her before she’d be willing to leave without attending the ceremony. That was if she would be willing to leave. Somehow, I doubted it. My luck didn’t stretch that far.