Vampire Secrets: Book 2 (Blood and Snow Season Two) (11 page)

That I desired blood directly from the body
was out of place for me. I’d never tasted the blood of a creature straight from their vein before Christopher. My parents hadn’t allowed it. And up until that moment, I’d never had such a strong desire to.

Now though.

I wanted to.

Bad.

My fangs extended and I grazed his neck. Tasted his skin with my tongue. Troy’s body shook. “Jasmine?” He lifted his face, his eyes meeting mine. His were filled with urgency, need. “You got your fangs back?”

I tried to cover up the obvious as I nodded.

“You are so damn sexy.”

I swallowed, trying to focus on something other than my desire for his blood in my mouth. “So are you,” I admitted nervously.

He smirked. “Are you ever going to say I’m girly again, Jack?”

“Well, I—”

He kissed each of my fangs. It was the sweetest thing anyone had ever done. With that one small act, I believed being a vampire was good enough. Better than good. And I realized that perhaps what I wanted wasn’t normalcy but something completely abnormal. Something extraordinary. The love and attention of one I loved and admired.

“No. Never,” I said softly. 

He touched one of my fangs. “You want me, don’t you?” His smirk didn’t deter the truth.

“Yes, I do.”

His eyes got dark. Hungry. “My blood might taste gross, you know. Being half dragon.”

“Doubt it. You smell delicious.”
My mouth watered. I dragged the tip of my nose against his skin as I inhaled. “So good.”

Troy chuckled darkly
. “Go on, then.” He tilted his head out of the way.

My fangs grew longer. I grabbed hold of his arms with my hands
, needing to hold onto something. My breathing sped up in anticipation.

Gatsby meowed at the door. Loudly.

We both stopped.

And then laughed.

“I’d better go. I was in the middle of chores when I took off.” Troy opened the front door. Gatsby ran in.

“Kay. See you tomorrow.”
I covered my mouth with my hand, waiting for my fangs to go away. I waved as he ran across the lawn and onto Professor Pops’ property.

When I closed the door, Gatsby climbed up on the counter and appeared to be reading my homework assignment.

“What do you think?” I asked, sitting in one of the barstools.

“It’s
a total snooze fest, vampire. Why don’t you put some blood and guts and dragon fire in it?”

I huffed. “Seriously. That’s rude.”
Surprised, I added, “And why dragon fire?”

“
Why not?” He arched his back. “And what’s rude is that you almost drank from Troy. What if you’d hurt him or worse killed him?” Gatsby sat on my paper and started licking the fur on his front legs.

“How do you know
about that?” I yanked my paper from under his butt. “And why do you care?” I tried to work out the wrinkles by rubbing it back and forth against the edge of the counter. “Plus, I wouldn’t hurt Troy. I like him.”

Gatsby made a sound like a sneeze. “You like him?”

“Yes. I do.”

“Until Laeddin decides to give you his attention. Then w
hat? You’ll discard him like smelly shoes?” Gatsby moved over to my opened history book and lay on it.

“Gatsby. G
et off,” I said, irritated. “And no. He’s my friend. I don’t just dump friends and then forget them.”

“Really? What about Sabrina? It’s been six weeks and you haven’t said a word
to her. You didn’t even say good-bye and she was supposed to be your best friend.” He closed his eyes and started purring.

“You—” I
didn’t have a comeback. Gatsby had a point. “You’re right. I should speak with her.”

“Yes, you should
. And soon. But first we need to discuss the Mistress.”

I felt my eyes get wide. “What do you know?” I crossed my arms and rested my elbows on the counter.

Gatsby yawned. “Only everything.” He licked his paws and wiped his whiskers.

“Well, then spill
it, cat,” I said, my homework forgotten.

Chapter 8

After Gatsby left, I texted Troy:
We need to talk. Are my mom and dad back?

No. What about Laeddin?
Troy replied.

No. And I’m starting to worry. I can’t go back to his realm without him
, either.

Peter and Zoe j
ust showed up. They need to speak with you too. We’re coming over.

K.

Dress for Akuma hunting. We’re going again tonight.

Got it.

I ran upstairs. Since I was already wearing jeans and a tee shirt, I left those on, but changed out of my Converse and into a pair of black Dr. Marten boots. Then I grabbed a black Metal Melisha hoodie. The back had a teal skull sporting a pink bow. I thought it quite appropriate for what we would be doing. I swiped some gloss over my lips and fixed my ponytail, then went back downstairs to wait.

Not too many minutes later, someone knocked on the door. I opened it, expecting my mom, dad, and Troy, but it wasn’t them. It
was a woman with long red hair, striking blue eyes—exactly like my mom’s—and the creamiest skin I’d ever seen. It was almost transparent. She wasn’t very tall and she was thin.

The woman smiled. “Hi Jasmine.”

“Uh, hi.” A nervous flutter jolted my insides even though I thought I knew who she was.

“I’m Ariel, dear. Your grandmother.” Her beautiful smile got bigger.

“It is you.” I’d never seen her, but my mom had talked about her a lot. “I thought you were still in Mizu.”

“I was.” She stepped forward. “Do you mind if I come in?”

“Oh my gosh. I’m sorry. Yes, please come in.” I held the door open and then directed her to the couch after I closed it.

After she sat she said, “I thought I might find your mother here. Do you know where she is?”

I sat next to her. “She’s on her way over. Is everything all right?”

Ariel leaned back, pulled her legs up and crossed them underneath her. “Not really. That’s why I need to speak with Snow.”

“What’s wrong?” I turned to face her more fully.

“It’s Mizu. Our city is
dying and I need to find a safe place for the people to go.”

“That’s terrible. But how is such a thing possible?
”

“The magic that created Mizu was designed to keep us
from the second Vampire Queen. Sharra.”

“I remember the story,” I interjected.

Ariel nodded. “Mizu was supposed to disappear as soon as Sharra was no longer in power, but it’s held up the last fifteen years. Really well, in fact. And my people didn’t want to leave. But over the last six weeks Mizu has slowly begun to die. I figure it has another three months, four at the most, until it will no longer sustain life.”

“I think I know why.” My heart beat rapidly. The consequences for my actions were
farther reaching than I ever would’ve guessed.

“You do?”
Ariel questioned.

“Yes,” I said, and
was about to tell her everything Gatsby had said when Troy came in followed by Peter and Zoe.

“Hey,” I said, standing.

Ariel stood too.

When Zoe saw her, she ran over. Ariel put up her hands
in a position of defense. Zoe slid to a stop. Shocked.

I was too, until it dawned on me
what was wrong. “Mom, you don’t look anything like yourself, remember?”

Relief was
hed over Zoe’s face. “Holy hell, you’re right.” She laughed. “Sorry about that. But, Mom, it’s me. Snow White.”

Ariel squinted her
eyes. “Why do you look like that?”

While
my parents explained what they’d done and why they were now Peter and Zoe, I went over to Troy. “Hi,” I whispered, feeling shy.

His arms were crossed. “That’s Snow’s real mom?”

“Yes, she’s been in Mizu for a long time. This is my first time meeting her too.”

“What do we know about her?”

I shrugged. “Not much. Just what my mom told me over the years when I was growing up.”

“Can we trust her?”

“Yes, Troy. Jeez, paranoid much?” Zoe shouted from across the room. Then she hugged her mom.

“Fine. Just checking. I want Jack safe. That’s all.”

“Who’s Jack?” Ariel asked.

“
I am.” I shrugged. “The name I go by in the human realm.”

Ariel shook her head. “You’re all so complicated.
Different names. Different faces. How the H-E-double crab sticks am I supposed to keep up? I’m old.”

I laughed.
We all laughed. “Agreed.”

“Now, why don’t you
explain why you think Mizu is dying?” She sat and patted the spot next to her on the couch.

Zoe
took the seat beside her, and Peter beside her. I remained next to Troy, who was leaning against one of the bar chairs in the kitchen.

“I believe Mizu is dying for the same reason Earth is going dark. It has to do with the Mistress. I know what she’s doing and why. I also know who she is.” While I spoke everyone leaned forward.

“Well, go on, Jack. Don’t keep us in suspense. What the hell is going on?” Troy said the words, but it was obvious everyone was thinking the same thing.

“Okay,” I began and then stopped, nervous. Because we’d all sort of guessed that what was happening had to do with me giving my wings to Maleficent, but they really had no idea. Once my mom and dad found out, they’d probably be so upset. Disappointed.

But there was no getting around the truth. The sooner everyone knew, the better. “The Mistress is Maleficent,” I said, moving over to the chair near the glass shelves and sitting down. I needed some space.

“We kind of figured that,” Peter said.

“Right, but what you haven’t figured it that Maleficent isn’t Maleficent anymore.” I paused, dreading what I had to reveal, knowing I didn’t have a choice. “She’s Sharra.”

Everyone spoke at once. Peter and Zoe were saying something to each other. Troy said something, but I didn’t catch what it was. And Ariel swore.

“What makes you think such a thing?” Peter asked. He seemed to be the calmest of the group.

I didn’t want to explain
about Gatsby talking. I didn’t feel like that was my place. So I told them about the dreams. About Maleficent flying into the Cave of Lost Souls, and waking a vampire named Arthur. When I spoke his name, Zoe’s face went pale as the driven snow.

“Who is he?”

Zoe shook her head. “Later. Keep going. Tell us everything.”

I explained that she told Arthur she was Sharra, even though she looked like Maleficent. I told them how she said she intended to be the “almighty ruler of the entire world” and then I told my mom about Ciana too. It felt like the appropriate time.

“No,”
Zoe said and I thought I saw tears in her eyes. “I wondered where she went. No one has seen her in weeks.” Her features got angry. “Jasmine is right. Maleficent is Sharra.”

“But then what happened to Maleficent?” Troy asked.

I shrugged. “It’s like she’s there too. That they somehow combined or became one.”

Peter nodded. “And the Akuma?”

“They are her minions. Sharra is taking those who have evil tendencies and changing them so that they’re loyal to her. I don’t know if those she changes still know who they are afterward or if they’re just empty underlings doing her bidding.”

“So that’s it?” Troy sat in th
e chair he’d been leaning on.

“How do we stop her?” Ariel asked.

Zoe shook her head. “I don’t know. I thought I’d destroyed Sharra when I took over as queen. Apparently not.”  She turned away. Peter put his arms around her and said something only she could hear.

Zoe
shook her head.

Peter rubbed Zoe’s back. “It’ll be okay. We’ll figure it out.”

She faced my direction. Worry flickered across Zoe’s face. “Did you see Christopher? Has he joined Sharra as well?”

I felt my face get hot.
Now probably wasn’t the best time to tell her that I’d seen Christopher and drank from him. “No. He isn’t with her.” That wasn’t a lie and I took a little comfort in that.

“That’s a relief.” Zoe leaned into Peter. “I got the feeling he’d changed his ways over the years, but with him…” Her voice trailed off.

I’d heard the story of the way he betrayed my mom, but everything worked out in the end. She was with my dad and that had been their destiny. But the knowledge didn’t change the fact that Christopher hurt my mom.

“If you see him, you
let us know,” Peter growled.

I swallowed, nodding. Yeah, now
definitely wasn’t the time. They would freak when I told them Christopher believed he was my betrothed.