Blood Choice (Deathless Night Series Book 6) Read online

  He pulled a black T-shirt on and prepared to force her into the other room if need be. “Don’t argue, Shea. Please. He will know you’re here, and he knows who and what you are. But I can perhaps convince him not to fuck with you just yet. Now do as I say. Please.”

  She stared at him. “What do you mean, you know ‘who and what’ I am?”

  “Let’s not play this game right now. We don’t have time, love.” And with that, he shoved her toward the bathroom. “Lock the door and turn on the shower.” His tone left no room for argument.

  He waited until he heard the click of the lock and the water, then he narrowed his eyes at the door. She would hear everything that was said, despite the running water. Shea could hear a human heartbeat four blocks away.

  Jesse didn’t like this. It wasn’t the way he wanted her to find out. He sighed heavily. There was nothing to do for it now. He would just have to do damage control as best as he could once the demon was gone.

  A moment later, he released the chain and invited the demon into their room. The morbid appearance didn’t faze him. He’d seen much worse. “What are you doing here, Mammot?” He didn’t bother to ask how the demon had found him. He was a demon, after all, and had abilities that nearly rivaled Jesse’s own.

  “Where is she?”

  Jesse crossed his arms over his chest. So, it was getting straight to the point. “She’s not a concern to you. Her being here has nothing to do with our deal.”

  Mammot cocked his head slowly to the side. The action caused the rotting skin of his face to gather in loose folds. “No concern?” he mocked. “You have a descendent of the holy bloods here and you expect me to not be ‘concerned’?”

  “She doesn’t know what she is, other than a vampire.” Not completely true. “And she is only here because it was the only way I could make sure she never found out. At least, not until the ritual is performed and it’s too late for her to do anything about it.”

  The demon leaned in until he but a few inches from Jesse’s face. Cruthú clicked her beak from her cage, angry at the threat to him. Jesse held up a hand behind his back without taking his attention from the demon, telling her it was okay. He stayed where he was, even though he wanted to recoil from the smell.

  “Give her to me,” it growled.

  Jesse stared down the fires of hell standing before him. He had no fear of hell. Or of the creatures it birthed. “No.”

  Mammot straightened. If it were smart, it would leave the subject alone. But apparently, its skin wasn’t the only organ that was rotting. “The bitch is coming with me, witch.”

  Jesse smiled as an icy-hot rage filled him. Everything else left his mind except the need to protect his female. “You take one step farther into this room, and I will rip you apart where you stand and toss the bloody pieces of you out of that window.” It wasn’t a bluff. Having the demon in chunks would do nothing to mess up Jesse’s plans.

  Mammot/Steven eyed him with his one good eye. “You wouldn’t dare. You need me. You need us.”

  “I will still get what I want. This body does not need to be whole to be effective.”

  “Perhaps I’ll find a different body. You’re lucky I haven’t already. For as you can see, these vampires are not so resilient once their creator is dead. And then what will you do, witch? Come after us? Send us back to the altar?” He laughed at the idea. “I think not. Not after you’ve spent so much time and effort helping us to get this far.”

  “The time I’ve spent with you and your dead mistress is naught but a flash in the pan during my long life. And patience is something I’ve had to learn along the way. I need you, yes, but not as much as you need me. If this doesn’t work out, I will only find another way to get what I want. So, let’s not push it, Mammot.” Jesse purposefully called it by its original name, because he knew it pissed it off. “Now let’s stop worrying about things that are no threat to you, or me.” He walked away, turning his back on Mammot to prove to the demon how little it threatened him. Getting a water out of the small refrigerator, Jesse twisted off the top and took a drink. He kept his back to the demon, unafraid that it would sneak up on him. Jesse would know what it was going to do before it managed to fully develop the thought. “Where is the blood, Mammot?”

  After a tense few seconds of silence, Mammot/Steven said, “We have it.”

  Jesse glanced at the bathroom door. He could imagine Shea pressed up against it, her ear to the door. He turned to face the demon again. “The blood, where is it?”

  “It’s safe.”

  Jesse needed to get his hands on it to ensure his plan was going to work. “You need to give it to me so I can prepare it for the ritual.”

  The demon crossed its arms over its chest. “Why can’t you prepare it there?”

  Jesse didn’t have the time or the patience for this bullshit, but he kept his voice level. “Because there are things I need to do it, and because it will take time. I need to re-activate the life force in the blood cells. It’s been stagnant for many years.” It was a bit more complicated than that, but that was the gist of it. “I need time, and a quiet place to prepare it. I will bring it with me to the altar. Safe and sound and ready.”

  Mammot/Steven grunted at him, but didn’t agree.

  “Hand it over, Mammot. We don’t want to take any chances that even one of your idiot followers happens to get an idea in its head and takes it upon itself to take the blood to someone else. Or worse, spill it back into the earth while they knock each other around in one of their never-ending disagreements.”

  The demon didn’t like it, but it finally agreed. “All right. Fine. I will bring it back here. Tonight.”

  “When?”

  “In one hour.”

  Jesse gave him a nod. “You need to leave now.”

  Mammot didn’t so much as twitch a finger. “You know, I’m not afraid of you, witch.”

  Jesse pinned it with an unflinching stare. “Perhaps you should be, demon.”

  The water shut off in the bathroom, and Jesse knew—without having to read her mind—that Shea was about to come out. “It’s time for you to go,” he told Mammot. “I will meet you in the alley behind the hotel in an hour to get the blood.”

  The thing still made no move to leave. “How do I know I can trust you?”

  Jesse set his water down and laced his fingers together in front of him. “You don’t. But what choice do you have?” When it had no response, he walked past the demon and opened the door. “You’d best hurry if you’re going to be back here in an hour.”

  Mammot/Steven walked out into the hallway, pulling its hood down to hide the rotting face from the humans. “One hour.”

  “I’ll be waiting.”

  Once it was on the elevator, Jesse closed and locked the door. He turned to find Shea directly behind him. He wasn’t surprised. He’d known she was there without needing to look. He could feel her.

  She didn’t say anything. Didn’t ask any questions. Just watched him with those green, green eyes.

  Jesse returned her stare without flinching. “There are things you need to know about me.”

  The life appeared to drain from her face as he watched, but she nodded. “Yes. It’s time to talk.”

  Chapter 25

  Shea stared at the male she had come to have such complicated feelings for in such a short amount of time, and she dreaded this conversation they were about to have. Right now, those feelings could sway easily one way or the other, and she didn’t know what she was more terrified of: that she would come to hate him…

  Or love him.

  But either way, it was time for her to know. Perhaps it wouldn’t be as bad as she feared. “You’re not a normal witch.”

  He took her hand and pulled her along with him to the bed. Sitting her down, he knelt on the floor in front of her, still holding her hand. His thumb rubbed the delicate bones of her knuckles.

  To Shea, he looked like he was praying. And perhaps he was.

  “No. I�
�m not just a witch. I am half witch on my mother’s side. The Moss side.”

  “Moss?”

  “Yes, my name is Jesse Moss.”

  “You’re related to Keira and Emma…?”

  “Yes. And Grace. And Laney. But mostly to Ryan.”

  Shea was still trying to wrap her head around it. “Ryan?”

  “Ryan is my sister. We were separated by our mother when she was too young to remember.”

  Well, that explains why I don’t like her. “So, you said you’re only half witch. Witches mate with humans all the time. As long as one parent carries the magic it will pass on to the child. Your other half is human?”

  He sighed. “No.”

  Staring into his golden eyes, she was almost afraid to ask. “What is the other half, Jesse?”

  His stare didn’t waver. “My father is djinn.”

  Shea frowned. She couldn’t have heard him correctly. “I’m sorry? What?”

  “I’m half witch, from the Moss coven, and half djinn. And not the good kind. As is Ryan. Although, from what I know of her, my genes are stronger.”

  “Djinn. As in genie.”

  “Yes.”

  “I didn’t realize there was more than one kind of genie.”

  He shrugged. “There are two types. Good and evil, to keep it simple. My father is from the wrong side of the tracks, so to speak.”

  Shea’s heart sank with every word. “Good gods. That’s the darkness in you.”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s the power in you.”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s why I feared you.”

  “Yes.” He glanced down at their joined hands. “You don’t seem surprised by my admission.”

  He was right. There was no surprise. She knew of the djinn. Her father had taught her of their existence and their ways. They were to be feared more than demons, and avoided at all costs if you happened to run across one. Even for someone of her bloodline. They were more powerful than a Master Vampire, were capable of sorcery witches could only dream of, and they weren’t to be trusted. If he had all of that, on top of the normal magic a true witch possessed….

  She looked away, unable to hold his gaze any longer. Her heart pounded in her ears. Yet, she couldn’t bring herself to remove her hand from his. His touch was a drug to her, a drug she couldn’t resist. And she didn’t want to. “I can taste it in you. The darkness.”

  “You like it.” It wasn’t a question.

  She turned back to him. “Yes.” The word was said more in her mind than out loud, but he heard her.

  “And it brings you shame.”

  “Yes.”

  “Because of who you are.”

  Shea nodded. “I shouldn’t crave your darkness. I should want to destroy it.”

  “But you don’t want to destroy me.”

  “No.” Her voice cracked.

  She closed her eyes as shame flooded through her, making her reel. Everything she’d done in her life, everything she’d fought for, everything she’d been forced to do, went directly against her being with Jesse. Yet, she couldn’t make herself turn away. Even without the vampire bond to its mate, she had craved him like no other. Just to be in his presence, to hear his voice.

  Tears ran unheeded down her cheeks. “I shouldn’t be with you. Yet I went against everything I’d been taught—everything—to do just that.”

  “I’m so sorry I’ve caused you so much confusion and pain, Shea.” His words rang with honesty, and his own pain for causing her any suffering. “It was never my intention. I tried to stay away after you left. I did. I sat in that room alone, and I dreamed of you every second. But I didn’t reach out, not once. Because I knew I was no good for you. I knew it before I discovered who you really are.” He reached out to touch her face. “But the moment I heard your voice on the phone, my resolve fell to pieces.” He dropped his hand, and sat back on his haunches. “I paced my room for days, worrying about you, and trying to talk myself out of coming to you. But in the end, I couldn’t resist the pull. I just…I wasn’t strong enough. And for that, I apologize. I should have been stronger, Shea. I should’ve been strong enough for both of us.” He ran his hand through his dark hair. “I should have left after seeing you at that club and reassuring myself that you were safe.”

  Shea listened to his words, but more importantly, she felt the turmoil within him. The blood bond between them was so strong now they were almost as one person. And knowing his feelings for her were as turbulent as hers were for him was her undoing. She wanted to reach for him. But there was more that needed to be said. More that needed to be out in the open.

  “I’m not so innocent myself,” she said. “I have blood on my hands. And I’m not talking about some poor person I accidentally drained when I was new to this life.” She cringed a bit. “Although, that did happen once or twice before I got the hang of feeding.”

  “You’re speaking of your sister.”

  Shea nodded. “Yes. And let me tell it. Don’t pull it out of my head. I need to say it. I need to say it to you.”

  “All right.” He took her hand between both of his. “Tell me what happened with your sister.”

  Shea took a deep breath. The only other person who knew what she was about to say was Luukas. She’d told him the night she’d asked him to turn her, once it was done and he knew she’d lied about being ill. “I belong to a long bloodline of people. Some would call us special, others think we’re cursed.”

  “What do you think?”

  She thought about that. “I think we’re a little of both. Our line has been around for thousands of years—way before the Christians created their book and worshipped their God. We are the true holy people. We are the ones who fought to keep demons from this world, and the ones who send them back when they escape their hell.”

  She thought back to the beginning of her human life. It seemed so long ago. “Every generation has three children. Two girls and one boy to secure the bloodline.”

  “I’ve heard of your kind, but always wondered if it was only a tale creatures like me were told to keep us in line, since we’re not afraid of anyone else.”

  “And did you fear me when you figured out what I am?”

  He smiled. “No.”

  Shea narrowed her eyes at his egotistical attitude, and repeated his own words to him. “Maybe you should.”

  “Perhaps.” He stared into her eyes for a moment, and Shea felt him poking around in her head. “Tell me what happened to your sister.”

  The teasing mood left her as quickly as it had come on. “I had to kill her.”

  “Why?”

  “She was possessed by a demon.”

  Jesse frowned. “But why the vampirism? If you come from the holy bloodline, why did you go to Luukas?”

  Memories of Elise came flooding back. Her sister had meant everything to Shea. She’d been her best friend, her confidant, her partner in life.

  And the only possessed person she wasn’t able to kill. “I couldn’t kill her because we shared the holy blood. It’s forbidden. The blood doesn’t allow it. So, I went to Luukas and asked him to turn me.”

  Understanding crossed Jesse’s features. “Because the vampire side of you doesn’t discriminate against who its victims are.”

  “Exactly.” Shea wiped more tears away. “But I had to do it, Jesse. There was no other way to free her. The demon had found its way into her somehow. Into one of us! One of the bloodline! And it wasn’t leaving anytime soon. It was only biding its time, figuring out a way to kill us all, including the host body—my sister.”

  “I’m so sorry, love. I’m so sorry that you had to go through that.”

  Shea swallowed hard and took a haggard breath, pushing the memories deep down into the furthest recesses of her mind. It was the only way she could live with herself. When she’d convinced Luukas to turn her, her only thought had been to save her sister’s soul. She hadn’t thought twice about it. There was no one else to do it. She had t
o be the one to take her sister’s life. Because she loved her so much. Just as Shea would have wanted Elise to do the same if the situation had been reversed.

  “You have nothing to feel guilty about, Shea. You did what you had to do.”

  She focused on him again. “Is that what you’re doing, Jesse? What you have to do?”

  He was quiet for a long time. “Yes.”

  “And what is that, exactly?” When he stayed quiet, she prompted, “I showed you mine, it’s only fair that you show me yours.”

  He laughed at the saying. “I thought I’d already done that.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Stop trying to deflect my questions. I want to know everything, Jesse. No. I need to know everything. If we are going to be together, I need to know.” She backtracked a bit. “That is what you want? For us to be together? Truly together?”

  Still on his knees, he was suddenly mere inches from her face, before she’d even seen him move. “Shea, I can’t begin to tell you what it’s been like for me these last few days, having you with me. Having someone else want to be with me…no. Not just ‘someone’. You. Having you want to be with me. However much you fought against it.”

  “Then tell me why you’re helping the demons.”

  Ah, yes. That. She heard the words though they were not spoken aloud.

  “Yes,” she said. “That.”

  Jesse shrugged. “It’s simple really. I have a family member who is running amok. I need to stop him.”

  “And you need demons, creatures from the furthest depths of hell, to help you.”

  “Yes. They are the only ones with enough power to do it.”

  Shea tried to imagine someone so powerful Jesse would need demons to take him out, rather than just doing it himself. It was hard to imagine, even though she had a feeling she’d only seen the merest hints of what he was capable of. “Your father?”

  “My father,” he confirmed. “The newest High Priest of the Moss coven.”

  Shock rocked her to the core. “Your father is the High Priest? The one the others are running from?”