Vampire Most Wanted

Ten

Divine peered curiously around as they headed up the driveway, her eyebrows rising as they got past the gate and she could actually see the house bathed in early morning sunlight. Two stories and huge, it was much more than she’d expected. This “family friend” was obviously the successful type. But then he hadn’t been hampered by having to slide by under the radar, Divine told herself. Besides, she might not have a big house and such, but she had saved up quite a bit of money over the years. She wasn’t exactly poor. She just couldn’t afford to draw attention to herself by throwing money around, so lived conservatively.

It would have been nice to have a real home though, Divine acknowledged sadly as she peered over the curtained windows and well-tended gardens. The kind of home that had a plot of land rather than an RV that moved every couple days, always sitting on rented land. But Divine had given up that dream long ago. Staying in one place was dangerous. Constant movement helped prevent capture.

Marcus pulled to a halt in front of the house, and turned off the engine. Glancing to her as he opened his door, he said, “Shall we?”

Divine’s eyes widened with surprise. “I was just going to wait in the SUV while you went in to get the blood from your friends.”

Marcus hesitated and then pulled his door closed. Turning to face her, he said solemnly, “Bastien is having the blood delivered here, but it won’t get here until possibly tomorrow, tonight at the latest. Vincent and Jackie offered to put us up until then. They’re going to feed us and give us rooms to sleep in.”

Divine frowned at this news. She hadn’t signed up for all of that. She wasn’t used to depending on others, and wasn’t comfortable doing so now. “I have to get back to the carnival, Marcus. Madge will be worried about me. I haven’t had a chance to call yet. And I have to get money out of the bank, buy a new RV, and set it up for customers. They count on me to—”

“You can call or text Madge from the house. I’m sure Vincent will be happy to let you use the phone. And you can’t buy a new RV until you can get to the money. It’s Sunday. The banks are all closed. So that will have to wait until tomorrow anyway.” Reaching out, he took her hands and said gently, “You need blood and a place to rest. Both of those are waiting just through that door.”

Divine turned and peered at the door in question, but still hesitated. Finally, she said, “Tell me about these friends of yours.”

Marcus hesitated, and then said, “Well, their names are Vincent Argeneau and Jackie Morrisey Argeneau. They’re life mates who found each other about four years ago.”

Divine stiffened in her seat, her heart suddenly thumping like a scared rabbit’s in her chest. Argeneau? He’d brought her to the home of an Argeneau? His family friends were Argeneaus? Who were they? How were they connected to her? Dear God, she was sitting outside the lion’s den like a lamb waiting for slaughter.

“Jackie was born mortal and was turned less than five years ago . . . by a rogue,” he added quietly. “Which was fortunate, because Vincent had used up his turn to save a cousin of mine.”

Divine swallowed. Jackie was a mortal? That was good. Jackie wouldn’t be able to read her, and wasn’t likely to be a threat. However . . . “How old is Vincent?”

Marcus grimaced and then admitted, “I’m not sure. I think he’s about four or five hundred years old.”

“A baby,” Divine murmured, relaxing a little. Neither of them would be able to read her. If she just continued to act as if there was nothing wrong, surely they wouldn’t know who she was? She wondered though who his parents were, and if she’d ever met them. And she wondered if she’d even recall his parents if she had met them. It had been a long time ago that she’d lived with her grandparents. Uncle Lucian had been around a lot, and his twin too, though she couldn’t remember his name. She hadn’t much liked the man. She remembered an Aunt Marta or Martine, and a couple of other uncles visiting at one time or another, but those were not memories she had held on to. She’d done her best to forget that time of her life once she’d realized she could never return to it.

And yet, here she was, about to meet a relative, and Divine found herself oddly numb about the whole thing. This man was probably a cousin or something to her, but she didn’t feel like she was about to meet family. He was a stranger to her whether he carried the same last name as she’d once had or not.

“Vincent has a company with diversified interests, but his main interest is in the theater,” Marcus continued. “He produces plays. He used to act in them too, but I gather he’s kind of dropped out of that since meeting Jackie.”

An actor, Divine thought, relaxing a little more. Neither of them was sounding very threatening, and surely it couldn’t hurt to stay here for one night? She was exhausted, and sleeping in a bed rather than the SUV was sounding mighty attractive. Sighing, Divine nodded and tugged her hands free of his hold. His touch was oddly disturbing.

“Fine. One night,” she said quietly, reaching for her door. “But tomorrow, I have to visit a bank and someplace that sells RVs.”

“I’ll take you to both myself,” he assured her, getting out on his side as she opened her own door and slid out.

“To both what?”

Divine turned at that cheerful question and found herself peering at a well-dressed blond woman who was short and curvy, with intelligent eyes presently brimming with curiosity.

“Jackie,” Marcus said with a nod of greeting as he came around the truck. Turning to Divine he said, “This is Jackie Morrisey Argeneau. Vincent’s wife.” Turning back to the woman, he added, “Jackie, this is Divine.”

Jackie smiled and offered a hand in greeting, but asked, “Just Divine?”

“It’s Madame Divine, but Divine will do,” she said mildly.

“Right,” Jackie said slowly, her eyes narrowing briefly. But then she smiled and turned to Marcus. “So what is this both you will take Divine to yourself?”

“Oh.” He smiled crookedly. “Divine’s RV burned up two nights ago and she needs to buy a new one. We’ll have to hit a bank and RV place tomorrow,”

Divine noted the shock and dismay on Jackie’s face as she took in what the fire had done to Marcus’s face and found herself peering at him closely. She’d somehow forgotten that his face still bore the ravages of the fire. In the form of scars, but it was still ravaged.

“Dear God, Marcus.” That comment, just as horrified as Jackie’s expression, drew Divine’s gaze to a male immortal just coming out of the house. He was as dark as the woman was fair, his face holding chiseled features and the striking silver-blue eyes of an Argeneau. He was also obviously aghast at the state of Marcus at the moment.

“You were in the RV at the time,” Jackie said, and it wasn’t a question. Her gaze then turned to Divine and narrowed. “But you weren’t.”

“No. I wasn’t,” Divine said, her voice cool at the suspicion in the woman’s eyes. “I was in town and returned to find the RV in flames and Marcus hiding in the cotton candy trailer.”

“She helped me to the SUV and got me out of there,” Marcus said quickly, drawing the couple’s attention his way again. “She’s been taking care of me for the last twenty-four hours, and managed to find me a couple of donors to help get the healing started. But I obviously need more blood to finish, and she needs blood too, but neither of us were comfortable feeding off the hoof once the worst of the healing was done.”

Divine’s gaze flickered at his words. She hadn’t been uncomfortable with his feeding off the hoof, although she had found herself reluctant to feed that way now that she knew she wasn’t supposed to. His neglecting to feed off the gas station attendant despite the agony she knew he must be in had made her reluctant to feed off the attendant herself despite the gnawing in her stomach. Still, she hadn’t mentioned her reluctance to Marcus and wondered if he had been able to somehow recognize it, or was just saying that for the couple’s benefit.

“Well, we had a fresh delivery yesterday so have lots of blood on hand at the moment,” Vincent said cheerfully, drawing Divine’s attention back to the couple in time to see Jackie peering at her intently. She wondered about that as Vincent continued, “So come on inside. It’s bed and blood for the two of you. It looks like you both need it.”

“Thank you,” Marcus said solemnly, taking Divine’s arm.

She was about to shake off his hold, but then realized he wasn’t trying to control her, just taking her arm to walk her inside in what would be considered a gentlemanly fashion. She really wasn’t used to this kind of treatment.

“Come, the kitchen is this way,” Jackie said brightly, leading them down the hall as Vincent turned to lock the front door. It seemed they were security conscious, she noted, and wondered about that.

Marcus released Divine’s arm and shifted his hand to her back as they followed the young woman. Divine had to grit her teeth to hold back the shiver the touch inspired.

“We have loads of blood, so don’t be shy. Besides, Bastien is sending more, remember,” Jackie reminded them as she led them into the large bright kitchen at the end of the hall.

Divine watched Jackie move to a refrigerator and open it to peer inside, but then turned her gaze over the kitchen. It was probably every mortal’s dream kitchen; lots of cupboards, a kitchen table, a large island with stools around it, and one wall made up of large windows and French doors that overlooked a pool. She eyed the pool with interest. Divine had loved to swim since she was a small child and it had come naturally to her. They used to say she was swimming before she was walking, although she didn’t know if that were true.

“Here you go.”

Divine turned to see that Jackie had retrieved half a dozen bags of blood and was holding one out to her.

“Thank you,” she murmured, accepting the offering. But she just held it. When she glanced to Marcus and saw that Jackie had already given him a bag, two in fact, and that he had opened his mouth and was raising one to his descending teeth, her eyes widened with alarm. “Wait. Marcus, maybe you should—”

She didn’t bother to finish. The bag was already fastened to his teeth and draining so fast it would have been empty before she could finish speaking.

“Is something wrong?” Jackie asked as Vincent entered the kitchen.

“Oh dear,” he murmured, taking in the situation.

“What?” Jackie asked with bewilderment as Marcus dragged the now empty bag from his teeth, alarm on his own face.

“I didn’t think,” he gasped apologetically, and had barely finished saying it when he cried out and dropped to his knees.

Divine sighed and handed her bag back to Jackie as she knelt next to Marcus. “Can you walk?”

His answer was a roar of pain as he reached for his face, both hands extended in claws.

Divine caught his hands before he could try to rip off his own face and looked to Vincent, yelling, “There’s chain in the back of the SUV.”

Nodding, he turned and rushed out of the kitchen.

“What’s going on?” Jackie asked with alarm, shouting to be heard over Marcus. “He was fine a minute ago.”

“That was before he had the blood,” Divine snapped, blaming her for giving him the blood in the first place. But then recalling that the girl hadn’t been an immortal long, and certainly situations like this didn’t crop up every day, she dug deep for patience and as Marcus’s screams dropped to a constant, ululating moan, explained, “The nanos are taking up the blood and rushing to try to finish their repairs. It will be excruciating. Marcus should have been chained or tied down before he was given blood.”

“But then why did he drink it?” Jackie asked with dismay.

“He obviously wasn’t thinking clearly,” she said grimly.

“But he seemed fine,” Jackie argued sounding a little shaky. “He was talking fine, and thinking fine . . . and you let him drive here,” she pointed out, sounding accusatory.

“He was fine,” Divine assured her grimly. “I wouldn’t have let him drive otherwise, but—” Marcus managed to get one hand free of her hold, and she took a moment to grab it up again, before saying, “Look, when he woke up the last time it was because he was no longer in danger medically speaking, and the nanos needed more blood to finish healing him. They back off then, buzzing around inside the body, attacking nonessential organs like the bladder and kidneys in search of more blood—”

“Those are hardly nonessential organs,” Jackie protested.

“They are for an immortal. Any damage done to them will be reversed the moment the immortal gets more blood. In the meantime, the pain serves to tell the host that they need that blood. The nanos mostly leave the mind and limbs alone, though, until the necessary blood arrives. They are usually healed first anyway.”

“Why?” Jackie asked at once.

“I presume because the brain and mobility may be needed for the host to get the blood the nanos need,” Divine said through gritted teeth as she dragged Marcus’s hands to clasp them against her chest and press them there. He’d nearly slipped her hold again, and she had no doubt that if he got loose he’d try to rip his own face off in a desperate bid to end the pain he was presently enduring. It wouldn’t work, of course, but he wasn’t exactly thinking clearly right now. All Marcus would be aware of at this point was the agony he was going through as the nanos set to work repairing the newly formed scars on his face. It probably felt like the flesh was on fire, or like they’d pressed red-hot frying pans to his face. Basically, a million little nanos were tearing away the damaged skin in tiny pieces and rebuilding fresh, baby-soft skin in its place.

“So the pain went away long enough for him to get the blood?” Jackie asked, sounding almost fascinated.

“Oh, he was still in pain, but it was a different kind of pain to this,” she said, and spotting her expression, Divine sighed. “The pain when you’re low on blood feels unbearable, right?”

Jackie nodded.

“Well, it isn’t. We bear it, but it certainly inspires us to make sure we feed and that’s the point. It’s like a toothache or a really loud blaring alarm screaming nonstop. It’s painful, constant, urging you to do something. In this case, feed. And it’s distracting enough that you will feed no matter the pain you know it will cause once you do. Or maybe the pain is there to ensure you can’t think clearly enough to recall the pain that will follow once you feed,” she muttered. She knew all this only from experience after having lived so long. Divine did not have any scientific knowledge to back it up.

Shrugging, she said, “While the pain caused by the need to feed feels unbearable, the pain of healing actually is unbearable. Marcus won’t be able to withstand it for long before he—” She paused abruptly as Marcus’s moan turned into another long, loud shriek. His whole body vibrated briefly in her arms, his teeth snapping like a cornered dog in pain, and then he went abruptly limp as if someone had flipped a switch turning him off.

Divine stared down at his pale, scarred face and released a little sigh. Marcus had passed out, but who knew how long that would last. The pain would probably wake him in a bit and have him thrashing and screaming again. They had to move quickly to get him tied down so he wouldn’t hurt himself. He’d simply prolong the healing if that happened. That concern uppermost in her mind, Divine shifted her hold on Marcus, and then stood up with him cradled in her arms.

Jackie stepped back, expression incredulous, and for a minute Divine thought the girl was such a newbie as an immortal that she didn’t yet know her own strength now. She realized that wasn’t the case though when Jackie said, “Your chest.”

Divine glanced down and took brief note of the bloody rivulets in her chest where she’d trapped Marcus’s hands. He’d clawed at her, digging into her chest to try to make her release him. She’d been aware of it at the time, but had ignored it. Sighing, she shrugged, “He did worse in the back of the SUV. I’ll heal.”

Swinging away toward the door, she asked, “Can you show me to the room you prepared for him?”

“Of course.” Jackie hurried around her to get the door, held it for her, and then rushed past her again to lead her to and up the stairs. They were halfway up when Vincent hurried back through the front door, chains in hand.

“You should have told me he’d stashed them under the front seat. I looked everywhere before I found them there,” Vincent reprimanded as he hurried toward the stairs.

“Sorry,” Divine murmured, not bothering to explain that she had hid them there, not Marcus. She hadn’t wanted him to wake up and see them and be reminded of the unpleasantness he’d suffered.

“Here, let me take him for you,” Vincent offered, rushing up the stairs behind them.

“I’m—” Divine had meant to say she was good, but didn’t get the chance to finish. Vincent had already handed the chains to Jackie and then took Marcus from her. He then hurried up the stairs, Jackie hard on his heels. Divine was left to follow.