Til Death (Jane #5) (3 page)

"I think so. I feel giddy. I better back off
the coffee."

Guiding me along gently, Felipe led me to an
area that had been cleared of tables and chairs. The floor was cool
beneath my bare feet and I wiggled my toes, enjoying the feeling.
As Felipe and I didn't have a song, Donna had picked out a nice and
cheesy number for our first dance. It wafted through the noisy
crowd from the speakers along the walls.

Slowly, the guests quieted and formed a thick
circle around us. I could see many of them swaying in time with the
tune as Felipe put one hand on my back and took my right hand in
his. He pressed me to him and I gazed up into his eyes as we
twirled around in circles. The world in my peripheral vision
started spinning and I focused on him to keep from tipping
sideways.

The song was almost over when the first
scream echoed through the room. It was faint and I almost missed it
in the coffee-addled state I was in, but I'd heard that sound
before and it was unmistakeable.

Felipe stopped moving immediately, gripping
me tightly as his head darted from side to side. The humans in the
crowd mumbled amongst themselves, confused. Their hearing was not
as powerful as ours. They had not heard the sound of death.

The second scream was louder, more piercing,
and everyone heard it. It came from the bathroom off the side hall.
I made to move toward it, but Felipe held me back.

"No, Jane. Stay here."

His body wrapped around mine protectively.
Peeking under his arm, I could see Jax and Benton flanking him,
facing outward, and Annie was between Jax and Felipe. I looked
around frantically but couldn't see Donna or Father Bellini
anywhere.

Another scream came, then two and three at
once. They started overlapping and soon the room was in chaos. The
humans were running toward the exits, trying to escape the unseen
attackers. A body flew up over the crowd, thudding heavily on the
floor behind me. I squealed and pressed closer to Felipe.

The crowd began to separate itself. While
most of the guests were heading for the doors, leaving trampled
bodies in their wake, a handful were going against the flow, making
their way toward us. Before I knew it, we were surrounded by half a
dozen vampires, all bloodied and snarling.

Jax pulled a short sword from underneath his
jacket while Benton brandished a handgun. Even Annie reached
beneath her dress to extract a knife. They circled us, protecting
us from the attackers.

One vampire dressed in an expensive suit
pushed through the crowd. His hand was wrapped tightly around the
collar of Father Bellini, dragging the unconscious man onto the
dance floor. He tossed the priest at our feet and a bloody streak
marred the wood where my mentor had slid.

"What do you want?" Felipe growled the words
through gritted teeth. He was tense and gripping me too tightly,
but I barely noticed.

The man laughed, and I swear he had taken
acting classes on how to laugh like a super villain. He even threw
his head back. When he exhausted himself, he looked at me, all
humor gone from his eyes.

"Your wife."

Felipe squeezed me so hard I squeaked and his
snarl would rival a lion. "You will not touch her."

"On the contrary, I'll do exactly that. You
and your little group nearly brought an end to my plans in Europe.
It was so kind of you to come to my home and offer yourselves to
me."

He looked around and waved a hand at the
diminishing crowd. Bodies were strewn across the floor and blood
stained the walls. In addition to those directly around us, there
were nearly a dozen vampires blocking the exits and a couple were
feeding on still-warm humans.

Felipe snorted, a sound I completely did not
expect. I looked up at him and he was shaking his head in
disbelief. "You. I should've known. You always were ambitious, but
I never thought you to be evil."

"I am not evil, Felipe. I am practical.
Vampires are the smarter, stronger, better race. It is time we stop
hiding from the humans."

He spat on the floor and lifted his hand. The
other vampires started toward us. Felipe shoved me behind him,
facing off against the man in the suit. I slipped in some blood and
was thrown off balance, coming down hard on the wooden floor. A
hand grabbed me from behind and I fought to free myself, but my
limbs refused to work properly and my flailing did nothing to aid
my cause.

I was dragged backward, kicking and
screaming, toward an exit on the far side of the room. Several
pairs of hands hoisted me into the air and my feet and hands were
tied as a cloth was stuffed in my mouth.

I could see Felipe fighting the vampires that
swarmed him, screaming my name. Jax and Benton had their hands full
with more vampires than they could manage. Annie was lying on the
floor, unconscious or dead, I did not know.

The man in the suit hefted Father Bellini
over his shoulder and stalked toward me as his minions held Felipe
at bay. He gave me a little grin as he walked past me and out the
door. I screamed for Felipe through the gag until my captors shoved
me into the back of a van, shutting the door on my freedom.

Chapter 4

The van was one of those that caterers often
used and there were no windows. A heavy cloth blocked the view to
the front seats and the overhead light cast a dim glow on my
surroundings. There were no seats and three vampires sat on the
floor by the door. All three of them had procured machine guns from
somewhere and one had several stakes attached to a military-style
vest. A big, black, lumpy bag was shoved in the corner behind one
of the seats.

I used my elbows and brute strength to push
myself into a seated position and leaned against the cold metal
wall. I could feel blood dripping from my nose and it felt swollen.
Father Bellini lay beside me, unmoving. His back was toward me and
I watched it closely, feeling the seconds crawl by as I prayed any
sign of life. After an eternity, his jacket moved almost
imperceptibly and I heard a shuddering breath.

I closed my eyes in thanks and turned my
attention toward my captors. All three of them were looking in my
direction, but none of them would meet my eyes. Two were young,
barely turned, and each displayed their own set of nervous ticks.
The farthest from me was a dark-haired boy who couldn't have been
more than eighteen. His left index finger tapped rapidly against
the stock of his weapon until the man beside him growled and jabbed
him in the side.

The boy closest to me may have been in his
mid-20s, but he couldn't have been a vampire for very long. His
cheeks were flushed as if he had just fed and I could see the stain
of blood on his dark shirt. He was biting the inside of his lip and
his eyes were darting back and forth between Bellini and I.

The man sitting between them had a
professional feel to him. He had been through this before. He
stared at me, his eyes focused firmly on the bridge of my nose as
the fingers of one hand played along the stakes on his vest. Unlike
the others, the movement wasn't due to fear or apprehension. He was
very secure in his position and knew he had the upper hand. No, he
wasn't afraid. He was hoping I would make a wrong move so he could
whip out one of those stakes and plunge it into my heart. I
determined to disappoint him as best I could and settled my stare
on him, hoping to catch him off his guard the moment he met my
eyes.

In the back of my mind, I tried to keep track
of how many turns we made, but after the fifteenth, I could no
longer remember which direction each had taken us and gave up. I
was still focused on the fierce man when the cloth at the front of
the van pulled aside and the mastermind in the black suit peered
through. I turned my attention to him, narrowing my eyes until I
could barely see through the rage swimming in my vision.

The man smiled what would have been an
amicable smile in any other situation. "Oh, good. I was hoping you
were behaving yourself and hadn't just killed my best warrior. I
guess the rumors about you were untrue."

I kept my lips pressed together and said
nothing, fighting to breath through the hatred that clenched my
chest. My hands were behind me and I dug my nails into the metal.
At the small tearing sounds, the man in the suit raised an eyebrow
and nodded in my direction.

The only warning I had was when I saw the
stock of my captor's gun inches from my head. I attempted to duck,
but he was so close, I couldn't move in time. The impact sent me
sprawling and I nearly landed atop Father Bellini. The pain shot
through my skull and within moments, my vision was starting to
gray. I closed my eyes and focused on breathing and an image of
Felipe until it dulled to a deep throb.

"Is she out?"

I felt a hand on my neck and fought the urge
to bite it.

"Yes."

"Good. Keep her that way. The last thing we
need is for Felipe's woman to free herself before he can come for
her."

The other man laughed. "The knight in shining
armor to the rescue. Too bad his fairy tale won't end with a
happily ever after."

"Just make sure everything is ready when we
get back to the hold."

"The sun will keep him away for awhile. We
have time."

"Just be ready. He is a man who is quick to
anger, and we have his wife and best friend. Do not assume to judge
his actions before he has made them."

A snort was followed by a long silence, then
the cloth dropped back into place. I could hear the two young
vampires blow out the breaths they had been holding and readjust
their positions. My head was pressed against Bellini's back and I
focused on the sound of his heart beat. It was slow, but steady,
and it became very soothing. I tuned into it, listening to the
thu-thump thu-thump as the van picked up speed. I could only guess
that we had merged onto a highway and wondered how on earth Felipe
would find us. The driver had clearly taken many precautions
against being followed too easily.

I also secretly hoped that Felipe would not
come. I had no idea why they wanted to ensnare him in a trap such
as this, but it couldn't be good. And Felipe was not one to back
down from a challenge, especially where those he loved were
involved. He would come; there was no doubt about that. The only
questions were when, and what the outcome would be. I pushed it out
of my mind and focused on Father Bellini. There was nothing I could
do about Felipe, but perhaps I could help my mentor and friend.

I continued to feign unconsciousness until
the van stopped. A rough kick at my back jolted my eyes open and I
couldn’t hold back a grunt.

“Get up. I know you’re awake.”

I turned my head to look at the man above me,
but his face was in shadow. He leaned over and grabbed my arm,
hefting me into a standing position. I could feel his breath on my
ear and tensed as he tilted his head closer.

“Don’t try anything stupid and we might just
both make it out of here.”

I opened my mouth to ask a question and was
rewarded with the butt of his gun connecting with my jaw. I heard
an audible pop and the pain was excruciating, but I bit down on my
tongue to keep from crying out. Rage filled my eyes as I looked at
him. There was a challenge on his face, but it was masking
something else, something sorrowful.

Taking a deep breath, I knelt beside Father
Bellini. He was still breathing and the blood from the gash on his
forehead had stopped. Before I could pick him up, the other vampire
pulled me back and hefted the priest into his arms. He jumped
carefully out of the back of the van, the movement not jarring my
wounded friend at all.

“Come,” he said as he looked back at me.

I followed, climbing out less than gracefully
in my torn dress. I looked around. We were in a small room with the
van backed up to the door. There were no windows and the only light
came from a recess in the ceiling covered with steel beams, much
like the sparring room at the sanctuary. In one corner was a bed
and the vampire placed Bellini on it, then he shut the van door and
pounded on it twice. It pulled away, revealing a long hallway with
doors on either side.

“I’ll bring a doctor for him later. Until
then, you’ll need to take care of him. There is water in the
pitcher on the table, and I’ll have a bottle of blood sent for
you.”

I straightened and stared at him. The dim
light cast a pall on his face and made him look drawn and weary.
The hand he rubbed over his eyes told me it wasn’t just a trick of
the light.

“Who are you?”

He looked at me for a long time and I could
see the struggle in his eyes. “Just don’t do anything stupid, Jane.
Please.”

I snorted. “You’ve said that already.”

“Yes, but with you, it bears repeating.” He
headed for the door, but before he closed it, he turned back. “I’ll
be back later. Talk to no one before then, not even the
priest.”

And then he was gone. I could hear his
footsteps retreating down the hall the same way the van had gone. I
tested the door, but it was secure, designed to hold even the
strongest vampires for an infinite period of time.

Sighing, I went to check on my mentor. His
face was covered in blood, and his clothes were soaked in it. He
groaned as I turned him over to check for wounds, but he did not
wake. I retrieved the pitcher of water from the table and ripped a
mostly unsoiled piece from my dress.

As I worked, I wondered idly how mad Donna
would be at the turn of events. We didn’t even get to cut the cake
that she had been bragging about for the last week. If I knew her,
these vampires would have just as much to fear for ruining Donna’s
dream wedding as they did for stealing Felipe’s new bride. I
thought about all we’d been through since I met her my first night
at the sanctuary and I thought about how she had been able to put
aside all that I had done, even to the point where she was the
major player in my wedding planning. I knew she still harbored some
resentment toward me--I’d stolen the guy she had been crushing hard
for, after all--but despite that, and the fact that I played a part
in her sister’s death, she was still there for me when I needed
her. Friendships like that are hard to break.