Chapter 18

Jakob

Jakob beat the younger vampire so savagely only the tree behind him kept the man upright. Hatred and rage welled up inside him. Soon it would end, this threat would be over. Blood coated the tree trunk and the ground around it. Jakob stopped, holding the man in front of him, one hand tightly grabbing the brown hair and pulling it back, stretching the neck long in front of him, ready to eat.

“No,” Mark said, stepping between the two of them, his hand on Jakob’s arm. Jakob tensed, fighting through a blood rage. Warring with himself, he mastered his emotions.

Mark moved his arm to gesture to the barely alive vampire. “He’s a cop and there are fifteen more of them coming this way. Whatever you want to do is going to have to wait.”

Jakob looked at him, weighing his words. They barely made sense thanks to the anger coursing through his veins.

“You can kill him later. Go home. Call James.”

Frustrated but not stupid, Jakob took the advice, losing the bonds of gravity to reach his home.

****

In his library, still painted with blood, Jakob dialed the numbers without thinking. What time was it there? Was James even home? Why was he even bothering to take Mark’s advice when he should be ending this problem? A male voice with a heavy Scottish brogue answered the phone.

“James? Mark instructed me to call you.”

“What’s happened?”

Jakob told him the relevant details, sparing his own peace of mind nothing, becoming more enraged as he repeated them.

“Mark’s right, you can’t kill him. He’s a cop. Take his mind, make him quit the job, then kill him.”

“I have no desire to wait that long.”

“But you’re not stupid, so you will. Besides there’s the question of if he’s done anything wrong.”

“He used her—”

“The way they used to use death witches. He could have killed her. Or worse, bound her to him strongly enough to call her away from you in the middle of the day, ruining her love for you, taking away everything you hold dear.”

“You’re not helping his cause.” His voice betrayed an increasing rage.

“I know your world is black and white; someone is wrong and you kill them or they’re right and you protect them. But life isn’t always like that. You can’t force every situation into one box. If you found him using her that way, you’d be completely justified. If he’d taken her for any other reason I’d tell you yes, go crush his heart. But he did it all to save her friend. Are you going to kill him for trying to save someone she cares about?”

“He is a threat,” Jakob replied, unwilling to concede the point.

“Then render him an ineffective one. I know you’ve never wanted a blood slave, but if you make him one he’s not a threat anymore. Or be less dramatic, he’s not a fool. Make him see any action against Mallory will cause him a great deal of pain. Make it so costly he doesn’t attempt it.”

“There is no good way to solve this problem.”

“I’ve given you two. Here’s a third, let her handle it. You trust Mallory. Why not trust her judgment? Tell her what he was doing, explain the whole situation, the White Crescent and down the line, everything. Tell her why you’re scared; because that’s what this is, by the way. You wouldn’t be angry if you weren’t scared for her. You need to recognize that before you go off killing. Your rage is fueled by fear.”

“I do not fear this man.”

“I didn’t say that, I said you fear losing her. There’s a considerable difference. You don’t need my permission to kill and you never will. You wouldn’t be on the phone with me if you weren’t having doubts. Mark couldn’t have stopped you if you didn’t agree with him on some level that this man should live. Some part of you sees the difference between this and a thousand other death-worthy offenses.”

“Perhaps,” Jakob agreed.

“You called me, not Rowan. You knew if you said you needed to understand a woman’s point of view and asked for her, she’d agree with you. The two of you could have wasted hours plotting his excruciating demise. Bloody Hell, she’d fly over there to help you with it.” James paused, no doubt considering his wife’s bloodlust. “Should I wake my beautiful wife, Jakob?”

“No.”

“Of course not, because you realize Rowan’s course of action isn’t always the best one. The man lives. Not because you like him, although I suspect you do or he wouldn’t have made it this long, but because your hands are tied by his noble actions. Catch him trying to seduce her or to use her that way, to even talk about any of it means he has to die but now, you can’t justify killing him for this.”

“I do not have to justify it to anyone.”

“Just yourself. And that’s really what this is about isn’t it?”

“I suddenly recall why I don’t call you all that often,” Jakob said.

James laughed, and Jakob imagined his old friend, red hair moving as his whole body shook with laughter, his brown eyes filled with mirth.

“Are you wrapped in plaids over there? Sitting in front of a peat fire while some of us deal with the ugly realities of life?”

“Ach no,” James replied, his accent strong. “I’m how she likes me, waiting patiently for whatever she wants when she wakes up.”

“You’re a fool for that woman.”

“Always have been,” James said, his voice swelling with pride. “But then you were too.”

“Rowan,” Jakob replied, the emotion in his voice entirely different.

“Rowan.” Thousands of miles away, Jakob could guess from his friend’s tone that James watched his wife’s naked sleeping form. “We should come back to the states. We’ve been away too long.”

“Your room is always ready.”

“I suspected as much. Admit it, you might want to be a cold-hearted killer but really you’re a romantic. And you won’t kill this vampire because it’s a pretty damn romantic gesture, risking his life to save the girl in the circle.”

“It’s not quite so romantic; they were lovers once but she paid for the privilege.”

“Don’t we all?”

“He’s waiting for another woman, has been waiting for decades.”

“More romance. No, you’ll let him live. You’ll hurt him a lot first, though.” James laughed again, and Jakob’s own lips curled into a smile.

“Am I so predictable?”

“Only to your old friends.”