Chapter Five

“Wait. Wait! Slow down, Donavan. What’s going on?”

I pressed my phone against my ear and put my finger in the other ear to hear better. Something was wrong at the DeLocket residence, and if Donavan would slow down, I would know what.

“Sarah, someone told the BMC about our baby!”

I didn’t see anything wrong with that. “Okay?”

“We got a warrant issued to us today.” Now I could hear Monique sobbing in the background. “If we don’t destroy my child before nightfall, the BMC will see that as a threat and destroy my Clan.”

“Dear God,” I whispered. I had never heard of anything so barbaric.

“What are we going to do? I’m not about to kill my unborn baby!”

Dez took the phone from me. “Donavan, it’s Desmond. We’re coming to you. It’s not safe at Malevolent Dead right now. Between us vamps and you Weres, I think we can give the Guild a decent fight.”

I sat on the edge of my bed. Why would the BMC want to destroy Donavan and Monique’s baby? They didn’t have a seer on their payroll, so they couldn’t know whether or not the child was evil. My stomach churned at the thought of them fighting the BMC. Donavan had lost the brunt of his Clan to Jerrikin and Jackilin Skyner. Local Weres had already approached Donavan about a merger, but Donavan refused. For eight generations his family had ruled the DeLocket Clan, and he wasn’t about to be the one to end that. The BMC might do that for him, and this time there would be no survivors to join another Clan.

My rage bubbled to the surface. How dare the BMC do this! Were they doing this to get to me? Who in the hell called them about Donavan’s child? Dawn was fast approaching. Even though vampires didn’t go comatose when the sun rose, it limited our defenses. Donavan’s house didn’t offer much protection for the vampires during the day. Rose could blast a vamp through the wall and poof, dust. I didn’t like the thought of staying out in the middle of nowhere with nothing to protect us, but I agreed with Dez that their home would be the safest place for Monique and her unborn child.

Dez flipped my phone closed and handed it back to me.

“Where’s that witch?” he spat at Damian. It took me a moment to realize that he was talking about T.D.. “Find her, and tell her that she needs to put up protective wards around the DeLocket’s home today. We’ll need them.” Dez frowned. “Especially tomorrow evening.”

“What happens tomorrow?”

“Monique’s twins will be born.”

Dom walked into the room. “Twins?” he asked.

“Yes, twins. I don’t see why the BMC cares so much about them. It’s not like this has never happened before.”

Dom sighed. “It has, in Pompeii. A Were and a witch had a child, and the child couldn’t control his powers nor his animal. It was a disaster.”

“Of course it was. The lone child was a fluke.” Dez sighed. “Most of the time when supernatural species mix, twins are born. In the case of Monique’s twins, one will be born a witch and the other will be born a werewolf. There will be no mixing, no disaster.”

Dom nodded and started making his way down the corridor, but not before I saw the look in his eyes.

No.

There was no way that he called the BMC, but the guilt in his eyes told a different story.

I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t have proof, just a look of guilt in his eyes, but my gut told me that he had betrayed the Weres.

“If we leave now, we should be able to get to Donavan’s place before the sun rises,” Dom said. “I say we take three cars. Damian, are there any vampires you want to take with you?”

Damian nodded. He picked out eight vampires, including Dom, to come with us. As we piled into the cars, I wondered if Damian had overheard my thoughts about Dom. I raised an eyebrow when the born vampire looked over my way, but he didn’t say anything to suggest he had.

We sped down the interstate, navigating through traffic with the sound of horns blaring around us. I could feel the tension in the two vampires in the back seat as the sky started to lighten. Dom turned around, reassuring them that we’d get there in time.

Pulling off the interstate at the Randa exit, I lead the way through the town and down the dirt road that twisted and turned through the woods to Donavan’s house. Screeching to a halt in front of Donavan’s home, I felt pleased to see Donavan and Jensen on the front porch, ready to invite the vampires inside.

The need for a vampire to be invited into a private residence only worked if a priest had blessed that home. It didn’t surprise me that Donavan had his large home blessed, since vampires obliterated most of his clan. Once inside, Jensen led the vamps down to the basement, where cots and a small TV had been set up for their comfort. I walked back up to the living room after making sure that Damian’s vampires were settled in. We needed to come up with a plan.

Sprawled on the couch, Monique looked like she was about to pop. Donavan gave me a small smile as Dez entered the sunlit room with Damian behind him.

“You’re lands are clear,” said Damian. “We’ll keep checking every hour. Do you have the warrant?”

Donavan silently pulled a folded sheet of paper out of his pocket and handed it to the born vampire. Opening it, Damian read over the words. I felt his anger rise through our bonds, and I approached his side to see what upset him so.

“That’s barbaric.” I gasped when I read that they wanted the fetus’s remains as proof that the pregnancy had been terminated. I looked up at Monique as her hands clutched her stomach.

Dez rushed to her side. “We won’t let them hurt you. You needn’t worry about your babies.”

Everyone in the room turned to him. “Babies?”

“What did you say?” Monique asked with her eyes wide.

“You’re having twins, my dear,” Dez said with a smile. “A witch and a Were. They are not the abominations that the BMC wants destroyed.”

Tears of relief rolled down Monique’s cheeks as Donavan hurried to her side. Dez quickly stood up and walked over to Damian and I, knowing that the couple needed some time to themselves, if even for a moment. The three of us walked into the dining room and sat at the large table.

“The BMC won’t stop coming for them, even after the babies are born,” I said. “They want them dead because of me.”

Damian nodded and I felt my stomach lurch. It was bad enough that I blamed myself for everything happening, but Damian was as well. “True as that may be, I think we will find a way to save them. The BMC’s reason has been disproved, and we have both Dez and that werewolf seer to confirm it.”

I wanted to ask how Dez could disprove it, but Damian continued. “Our main concern right now is you. Once the BMC figures out that you’re not at Malevolent Dead anymore, they are going to be banging down the front door.”

“If they come at night, we’ll have the vamps fighting alongside the Weres,” I said, “but during the day…” I shuddered. The Blood Moon Corporation would obliterate Donavan’s Clan. If somehow we all lived through this, I would leave his Clan and move somewhere far away. None of this had happened until I arrived.

Feeling my guilt, Damian wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “The BMC won’t stand a chance against all of us,” he promised. “You needn’t worry.”

I did though. I stood and walked out the door, heading into the woods as fast as my feet could carry me. I didn’t realize where I headed until the trees opened up, revealing a clearing I knew all too well.

I had killed Jackilin Skyner here. The ground and a couple of trees still had scorch marks on them from when Jackilin had caught on fire thanks to my handy Zippo. I turned from the marks, looking across the clearing to a spot on the ground. Nothing indicated that this spot was special. The grass wasn’t bent and showed no marks or stains, but I knew it. Jared stood in this spot, when I threw my silver knife into his chest.

It was for a good reason. I had just discovered he was the Were that changed me. I had searched for that Were for five years with the intent of killing him. I didn’t realize until Jared lay dying on the ground that my love for him transcended that rage. Walking over, I lay down in that spot and watched the cardinals fly from tree to tree as the squirrels scampered about.

I sensed someone else coming into the clearing, but I didn’t make a move to find out who. Had it been a Blood Moon Corporation assassin, I would have been dead the moment I stepped into the woods. I felt concern emanating from that person, and I knew through our bonds that it was Damian. He stepped into my line of sight, and I saw the sun add bluish highlights to his long, black hair. With the sun on him, he didn’t look like an all powerful vampire Lord. He could have been a witch or a Were, even human, with his lean, tanned body. He sat next to me, leaning back on one arm. His hair hung like an ebony curtain over his shoulder and his plum-colored eyes flashed with desire. We didn’t say anything for a long while. I watched the wildlife and Damian watched me.

“I’ll keep you safe, Sarah,” he finally said. His accent sounded like a caress on my skin. “I promise.”

“You can’t keep that promise.” I sat up. “The BMC wants me dead, and when they want someone dead, they always die.”

His hand caressed my cheek as he leaned closer to me. “I’m not going to lose you. Not again.”

“I’m not Phaedra,” I said softly. “I’m sure that you’ll find your wife again one day, but I am not the person to take her spot until you do.”

“Sarah…” he began, but I cut him off.

“What happened between us...” I paused. My cheeks filled with color as I remembered our intense, blood-induced sex. “That was out of necessity. I had to drink your blood or Marcellus would kill all your vampires. I couldn’t let that happen. Your blood brought on what happened between us, not because I loved you.”

Damian’s eyes darkened, and I felt his anger at my words. “You think I don’t know that? I know you aren’t her. I can see that every single day. You may look like Phaedra, but she would never say the expressions you use and things you say. I don’t want to be with you because you look like her. I want you because of who you are. I’m falling for you, Sarah, not for the memory of a woman long dead.”

My heart wrenched at the truth in Damian’s words.

“I know that you loved Jared,” he said with his voice softer, “and if he was still here, I’d gladly step aside to see you happy, but he’s not. Can’t you be happy with me?”

“I just found out that…about Jared,” I whispered. “Maybe, with time, I could be happy with you, but not right now, not so soon.”

Damian nodded and leaned forward. His lips came forward to meet mine. His kiss felt soft and sweet, and my body tightened with need. Damian pulled back with his plum-colored eyes ablaze.

“I felt that,” he growled.

“It doesn’t change anything.”

Damian looked into my eyes and then nodded, seeming to give up. “Time heals everything, my darling Sarah. I will be here when it does. In the meantime, I will try to be content just… How do you humans phrase it? Just being friends?”

Before I could respond he disappeared, leaving me alone in the clearing with my heart pounding. Pulling out my phone, I wasn’t too surprised to see that it was three in the afternoon. I felt nervous about returning to Donavan’s house, to see Damian, but I knew I had to. The sun would be setting soon, and I had a feeling that the BMC wouldn’t be far behind.