Chapter Twenty-Two

Jake

Hurt flashed across Meena’s face. I tried to explain. “It’s not safe, yet.” God, she smelled so good. All the scents I associated with her like her flowery shampoo and the dryer sheets she used and underneath it the sweet scent of her blood.

Her crinkled brow told me she didn’t believe me. I rushed to explain. “Remember when you weren’t ready to try astral projection? You could do it but you weren’t sure you were ready to try and reach your mom?”

Meena nodded and swiped at a tear running down her cheek.

Great. I was an asshole. Bringing up the trip to see her mom where she’d failed to bring her home at her dead mom’s memorial. “I’m sorry. It’s the only way I thought you’d understand. I want to kiss you, but being that close to you… I’m not sure I could control myself. I might feed on you and that’s not a good idea.”

Would I bite her? I’d like to say no, but I wasn’t sure.

“Let’s go for a walk.” Meena stood and headed for the door. I followed. Her dad gave me a dirty look from across the room. Should I explain to him that I’d never hurt her? Not like he’d believe me.

When I made it outside, I could smell Meena, but I couldn’t see her. I followed her scent around the side of the building where Bane stood talking to her.

“What’s he doing here?” I asked, feeling a lot more sure of myself now that I wasn’t human.

“I’m offering my condolences,” Bane said.

Meena looked like she was ten seconds from going nuclear. “Then why does it look like she wants to kill you?”

“I offered her an all-inclusive deal. She could have her mom back, you could be human again.”

“You’re an opportunistic son of a bitch.”

“You’re a little too arrogant for a baby vampire.” Bane came toward me. “You’re a flea…an irritation. You can never offer Meena the things that I can.”

“I knew it. You want Meena for yourself.”

“You have no idea of her potential or the power she could wield.”

“What are you talking about?” Meena asked.

Bane looked at her. “You’re special. You don’t fear me or other supernaturals. With your mother’s magic and the right training, you could be exceptional. If I turned you, made you a demon, in time we could rule together.”

“I’d never agree to that,” Meena said.

“Never is a long time.” Bane reached out and touched her hair.

“Get your hands off her,” I growled.

Arrogance rolled off Bane. “Jake, you’re frozen in time. You’ll be a boy forever and eventually Meena will want a man.”

Rage made my muscles tense. I wanted to take Bane down. I stalked toward him.

“Jake, don’t!” Meena shouted. “I won’t watch you die twice.”

Bane puffed out his chest like he’d won.

“That doesn’t mean she’s interested in your offer.”

“No,” Bane said. “It means she knows you’re weak.”

Something inside me snapped. I launched myself at Bane, biting down on his neck as hard as I could. Something that wasn’t blood flowed into my mouth. It was delicious. A jolt of power shot through my veins.

Bane roared in outrage and grabbed at me, yanking me from his neck and slamming me down onto the concrete. “How dare you.”

I sprung to my feet, licked my lips, and laughed. “Do the vamps know they can feed on demons?”

“You’re dead,” Bane said.

“No,” Meena shouted. “Hurt him and I won’t even consider your offer.”

Bane froze and then turned to Meena. “Is that a yes?”

“No. It’s a maybe. If you hurt him it’s a no.”

“Meena, don’t you dare—”

“Jake, go,” Meena pleaded. “I’ve got this.”

“If he leaves in the next ten seconds, I won’t rip off both of his arms,” Bane said.

“Go. Please,” Meena said.

“I’ll be back.” I took off at vamp speed and headed for Sybil’s house.

She was on the front porch when I showed up. “What happened?” she asked.

I didn’t want to talk out in the open. I headed for my room. She followed me. Once we were in the room with the door shut, I gave her a brief rundown of the last hour of my life.

“You bit Bane?” Sybil seemed stunned. “And he let you live?”

“Meena is the only reason I’m still breathing…or not breathing but alive,” I said.

“I want to taste him.” She came over and before I knew what was happening, she pressed her body against me and her hot mouth was on my neck. Her fangs pierced my skin. It was instinctive to wrap my arms around her and hold her close.

When she opened her mouth she chuckled against my skin. “Jake, that is amazing.”

“Can we take them?” I asked, still holding on to her. “The demons. If we had the numbers could we take them down and take control of the town?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “But this infusion of power is such a rush. I want more.”

“I know where we might be able to get more.” Carol had those jars of silver goo.

Sybil ran her fingers down my chest. “I want something else first.” And then she pressed her mouth against mine. I don’t know if it was the demon blood or the fact that I’d always been attracted to her, but I kissed her back. Gentle at first, and then it was like something inside of me broke free and I crushed my mouth against hers.

A part of my brain screamed that this was wrong. The rest of it screamed that this was inevitable.

My cell rang. I ignored it.

“Jake.” Something grabbed me. “Jake, what’s wrong with you?”

I blinked and stared up at Violet. Hadn’t I been kissing Sybil? I became aware of my surroundings. I wasn’t in Sybil’s house. I was lying on the ground, down the road from the house. Near a broken tree.

“Did you run into the tree and knock yourself out?” Violet asked like I was the biggest idiot on the planet.

“I…maybe.” I stood and swayed on my feet.

“Let’s get you back to the house, newbie.” Violet laughed.

“I thought I was with Sybil,” I said.

“That tree must have knocked you loopy, kid. Sybil is in the kitchen helping with dinner.” We made it into the farmhouse and I sat down hard at the kitchen table.

Sybil turned to speak and then her eyes narrowed. “I’d ask how the memorial went but you look terrible.”

“Thanks,” I said. “It was interesting.” The smooth polished wood of the table felt solid enough. Hopefully, this was real. “I think I was so juiced up on Bane’s blood that I went into hyperdrive and knocked myself out on a tree.”

Sybil pulled out a chair and sat. “I’m sorry. Did you say you drank Bane’s blood?”

Experiencing an odd sense of deja vu, I told her what happened with Meena and Bane.

“I can’t believe he didn’t kill you,” Sybil said.

“Did you know vamps could feed on demons?”

“No.” Sybil grabbed my wrist. “Do you mind sharing?”

“Go ahead.”

Sybil leaned in and bit down on my wrist. And there was nothing sexy about it. I was kind of disappointed. What was wrong with me? Must be the self-inflicted concussion.

When she pulled away, she licked her lips and said, “Violet, you have got to try that.”

Again. Not sexy. I laughed at myself.

“What’s so funny?” Sybil asked as Violet put her mouth on my bleeding wrist.

“Strange sense of deja vu. While I was knocked out, I dreamed a version of this.”

“That’s weird,” Sybil said.

Violet released my wrist. The skin healed quickly. She pouted. “I want more.”

“Me too.” For several reasons. “If enough vampires fed on demons do you think we could take them?”

“I don’t know,” Sybil said. “Demons are very powerful.”

“Where does their power come from?” I asked.

“From the souls they feed on,” Violet answered.

“What if there wasn’t anyone left for Bane to make deals with?” I asked.

“You want to kill everyone in town?” Violet asked. “That seems a little extreme. Plus we’d starve.”

“No.” A plan was growing in my brain. “What if we secretly talked to all the people who weren’t under contract with Bane? We could have them sign a contract that if they ever wanted to make a deal we would be the ones they came to. It wouldn’t solve the problem for people who trade their soul for someone else, but if they were doing it for themselves we could show them this is the better offer.”

“Anyone who signed with a vamp couldn’t sign with a demon unless the vamp released them from their contract,” Violet said. “Right?”

“That’s how I understand it,” Sybil said. “Say we can get half of the humans who would be Bane’s clients to sign with us. That would lessen his power eventually but I don’t know how much effect it will have now.”

“It could be a long-range plan,” Violet said. “Since we are immortal.”

…

Meena

After Jake left, I sagged against the wall with relief. Bane stood there, like he was waiting for me to say something. Time to play to his ego. “Thank you for not killing him.”

“The only reason he continues to exist is because of you. Make sure he stays in line. The next time he irritates me, he dies.” Bane disappeared.

“Why can’t my life be normal?” I asked the universe in general.

Of course the universe didn’t answer. I headed back into the memorial, specifically to the ice cream bar, and grabbed a container of Neapolitan and a spoon. My sisters were hugging my dad, which meant they were leaving. I didn’t care. They had no idea what was actually going on and they were better off for it. I was kind of jealous. Must be where the phrase ignorance is bliss comes from.

The memorial was emptying out. Zelda came toward me, pivoted and grabbed a container of chocolate ice cream, and joined me. “I’m afraid to ask where Jake is.”

I swallowed the glob of strawberry ice cream I’d shoved into my mouth and sighed. “Things were going okay and then Bane dropped by and screwed everything up.”

“What do you mean?”

I relayed Bane’s all-inclusive offer.

“Opportunistic asshat,” Zelda muttered.

I laughed, caught off guard by her description of Bane. “Thank you. I needed that.”

“Anything else happen with Jake?”

I told her about Jake biting Bane and me agreeing to think about Bane’s offer if he let Jake go.

“That was an impressive move on Jake’s part,” Zelda said. “Unbelievably stupid, but impressive.”

“What would happen if I wrote up some iron-clad deal with a lawyer for Bane. Something that gave everyone what they wanted.”

“Do you want to die in ten years?” Zelda asked.

“No. But I don’t think that would be a problem. Bane seems to want to keep me around.” Did I want to share with Zelda? It’s not like I had a mom to talk to and my dad would lose what was left of his mind. “He thinks I have potential. He wants to turn me into a demon. He hopes one day I will rule by his side.”

“Wow. Okay. Do you want to be a demon?” Zelda asked.

“No.”

“Then why would you make such an idiotic deal?”

“Because Jake could be human again and my dad and mom could be happy together.”

“You’re smarter than that, Meena.” Zelda put her hand on my shoulder. “And Jake wouldn’t want to be human again if he couldn’t be with you.”

Well, crap. “I didn’t think of it that way.”

“That’s what demons do. They get you all emotional and twist up your logic, make you think you’re getting everything you want, when in reality they are just adding you to their buffet.”

I dropped my spoon into the carton of ice cream and shoved it away. “Why are there no good options?”

“You can still leave and go to college,” Zelda said. “The minute you finish high school I think you should sign up for some study abroad summer program. Get as far away from Bane as you can. Let him find a new person to play with.”

“I liked that scenario a lot better when it involved Jake.”

“It could still involve him,” she said. “You never know what the future might bring.”

“I think you’re being unreasonably optimistic.”

My dad came toward us, not bothering to hide how he felt, which at this point I didn’t mind. “Ready to go home, kiddo?”

“Yes.” I stood and looked at Zelda. “If you hear from Jake will you let me know?”

“Sure and ditto,” Zelda said.

The ride home with my dad was quiet. We both seemed lost in our thoughts. When we walked in the front door, Sage sat up from his bed. “How’d it go?”

“Fine,” my dad and I both said at the same time.

“That well, huh?” Sage shifted into human form. “I ordered Chinese food. It’s in the fridge if you want to warm anything up.”

“Thanks, Sage,” my dad said. “I think I’m going to take a nap.”

“Did Jake show?” Sage asked.

I gave a condensed version of what happened because I was tired of repeating the details of my less than fabulous day.

“I’m not sorry I missed all of that,” Sage said. “But I’m sorry I wasn’t there to support you.”

We’d decided that explaining Sage to my sisters would be more complicated than it was worth. “Thanks. I think I’m going to take a nap, too.” After changing into comfortable clothes and washing my face, I climbed under my covers and slipped into oblivion.

The sound of my alarm jerked me awake. What the heck? What time was it? I grabbed my cell from my nightstand. Four o’clock. It was time to cook dinner. Or so my phone thought. Wrong. It was actually time to reheat Chinese food.

I yawned my way into the kitchen and fixed myself a bowl of chicken fried rice and then went to sit on the futon to flip channels. I could use a good-triumphs-over-evil kind of movie. I settled on one of those people-building-a-tiny-house shows because I got tired of searching. As I watched the show where a family with two kids and a dog oohed and ahhed over a 500 square foot house with one bathroom, I realized some people were stupidly optimistic. I think I used to be one of those people…before my summer job with Carol derailed my life and set me on a crash course with Bane.

I couldn’t help wondering, had I lost Jake? Sure, Sybil wasn’t throwing herself at him now, but it was only a matter of time. Literally. Jake and I could stay together through high school and maybe college, but eventually I’d grow up and he’d be stuck at the same age for decades…even centuries, if he was careful.

Maybe I could have a heart-to-heart with Sybil. Convince her to let me have Jake for the time I could. When he was ready to move on, he could go back to her. She’d still be young and have fabulous cleavage when I was old and wrinkled. That was a depressing thought. Wait. What if I didn’t get old? I’d been thinking about turning Jake human. What if I’d been looking at it backward? What if I became a vampire?

We could go to school together and get jobs together. Move around when people realized we didn’t age. Or maybe go to a plastic surgeon to have wrinkles grafted on. The absurdity of the idea made me laugh.

After I’d eaten, I decided it was time to call Jake. If he didn’t answer the phone I was going to drive to Sybil’s and kick his butt…vampire or not. The phone rang and rang. When I was about to give up, Jake answered. “Tell me you didn’t make a deal with Bane.”

“Hello to you, too. And of course I didn’t. I was giving you time to escape, since you lost your mind and bit a demon.”

“He’s an arrogant jerk who preys on people when they’re hurting. Someone needed to take him down a notch.”

I didn’t think Jake had done that. More like he’d poked a bear with a stick. “I do not want you having another confrontation with him, Jake. You’re lucky he let you live.”

“Thanks for believing in me.”

“Please. Don’t do the wounded male pride thing. He’s a freaking demon. He’s the most powerful supernatural in Crossroads.”

“Maybe,” Jake said. “For now.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that we’re trying to come up with a plan to even the playing field.”

“And who is we?” Like I didn’t know whose name would be at the top of the list.

“Sybil, Violet, and me.”

“I hate that she’s always there with you.” Probably shouldn’t have said that but, since it was already out there, I kept going. “I swear, it feels like you two will end up together no matter what I do.”

Silence came through the phone.

“What if I asked you to turn me into a vampire, Jake? Would you do it?”