Mixed Blessing (Mixed Blessing Mystery, Book 1) (37 page)

And if I had convinced myself finally of what I was - a Nothus - then my Dark Shadow was definitely not
all
of me. She may think Jett is worthy.

But I do not agree.

A soft tap sounded on the door and the same girl who donated blood the other day walked in with my jeans and jacket. She smiled up at me and handed both off without saying a word.

I took them and started dressing.

"Are you dinner?" I asked rather boldly.

"Yes, of course."

I dressed in vampire speed that didn't seem to faze her, grabbed hold of her shoulder and pulled her in to my side. Normally I would be gentle - not that I was hurting her, I was just not softening my touch. I would also be uncertain of how to proceed. Feeding had always been such an abhorrence to me. But I had discovered something today. Something I had been studiously ignoring. I am Nothus. And the part of me that is half vampire was fucking famished right now.

So I bit and I drank and I made a satiated sound when my belly was full. Then I licked her wound closed and walked out the door.

It took a while, but I finally found Samson. At Central Police Station, of all places. Deep in conversation and some sort of strategic planning with Mark. The officer on the front desk let me through immediately upon my arrival, Mark having given him my name and instructions to show me through as soon as I arrived.

The surprise of seeing Samson deep in heated conversation with Mark was immediately cast aside when I walked in the room and watched Samson bare his fangs at Mark in a snarl. There were no other cops around to see, but still, the move was not one I had expected Samson to make. He was normally so much better at hiding who he was than other vampires. He hid it from me for several weeks before I had been turned, and we had been intimate.

His lack of control now was out of character.

"Yeah, that's really gonna make me quake in my boots," Mark threw back at Samson's aggressive vamp display.

"It should," Samson warned.

Then Mark did something truly scary. He pulled his gun from its holster and pressed it into Samson's chest. Samson of course let him, bullets wouldn't kill a vampire. Samson was playing with his new toy. I got the impression that Samson's vampire-within was still very much here in the room. That reality altering stint had consequences. I was seeing them now, it seemed.

"Silver coated," Mark whispered. "Had them made myself. Not standard issue, but I'm sure I could get my boys to carry a few and use them when required. They won't ask questions, their soldiers through and through. If I say shoot with silver they will."

Both Samson and I had stopped breathing. Both standing preternaturally still. The door had thankfully shut at my back to the interview room we were in, so we didn't have any witnesses. My mind had gone completely blank. No, not blank, frozen. All I could see was the gun against Samson's chest, right where his heart would be. And all I could hear was Mark's words,
silver coated
. I had no way of knowing if a silver coated bullet would do what a silver stake did, but like Samson right now, I sure as hell didn't want to test that.

No one said anything, the stand off seemed to last for ever. Then Samson moved. So fast, lightning quick. That same speed I had seen at the house where my Sire kidnapped me. A speed Samson had kept under wraps before. In a split fraction of a second he was behind Mark and the gun had disappeared.

In a voice full of chill, Samson whispered into Mark's ear, "I will pretend that didn't happen, as Georgia has arrived and she seems to think you are one of the
good guys
. But if you pull a gun on me again, silver bullets or no, I
will
rip off your head."

Silence.

"Are we clear?"

"Clear," Mark said through gritted teeth, his eyes on me. And they were not friendly.

"Why would you do that, Mark?" I couldn't help asking.

Mark shrugged out of Samson's hold - he let him - and glared at me.

"You've brought this into my world, Georgia. What did you expect?"

"It was always in your world, Mark," I said softly. "Now you just know about it."

We stared at each other for several seconds and then he sighed, ran and hand over his cropped hair and rolled his shoulders. Samson seemed to relax at that and brought his eyes to me.

"Where have you been? I couldn't find you at
Sensations
." He'd looked for me at
Sensations?
I'm not sure why, but that sent a thrill through me. Warming me up inside.

"I was recovering in Jett's chambers." And OK, that wasn't the most intelligent thing to say.

Samson's eyes flashed that soot colour, all chocolate disappearing. Mark cleared his throat, flicking his gaze from Samson to me and then suggested, "Maybe we should get on with this plan, the night is moving along."

Samson ignored him and flashed to my side, his eyes never leaving mine. Within a second his face was buried in the side of my neck, inhaling. His hands came up and cupped my face, then he pulled back and looked me in the eyes.

"Are you all right?" There was more to that question than asking if I had healed from my injuries. I held his gaze and nodded, trying to let him know that Jett hadn't overstepped the mark, that I was OK, that despite everything that was happening, I hadn't chosen Jett over him. I hadn't chosen anyone.

Samson's head jerked down in a nod. Whatever he had seen on my face, in my eyes, had worked for now. But I knew I was walking a fine line. Both vampires were invested in this
amor certamen
now, and both were playing for keeps.

I sighed, long and loud. As if there wasn't enough to contend with, what with my Sire being a fucked in the head murderous bastard who wanted to claim me for his own, and Stu still sitting behind bars for a crime he didn't complete. Not to mention innocents
still
dying and the realisation that
I am Nothus
. Something I had been pretending wasn't the case but had been slammed into my brain this very night.

My life truly sucked.

"OK, what's this plan then?" I said moving to the table and sitting down with an exaggerated thump on one of the chairs.

Mark hesitated only for a second and then launched into the
plan
.

"If we can trap this Rogue, lure him in and catch him, then we get Stu off."

"Not gonna happen." He would destroy Central Police. "He will be staked if anything, but not handed over."

"Your vampire here, said the very same thing," Mark remarked. "So, the idea is to lure him in and tape his confession. Then you can stake the bastard. Self defence. But the evidence will free your man."

I liked it. Simple, but effective. Why hadn't I thought of it before? It could work.

Samson disagreed.

"You will not be using Georgia as bait."

I turned in my seat to look at Samson, his eyes were blazing that bistre/soot colour - and little else. I stared at him for a second and then returned my gaze to Mark.

"Of course I'll do it."

Mark nodded, as though he expected little else from me. Samson exploded.

"No you will not! This is too dangerous, he could harm you. Again!" The
again
was practically spat.

"And if I don't do this, he kills again. Innocents. And Stu gets stuck in prison until I bust his arse out." Mark grimaced and Samson appeared in front of my face.

"You stake him as soon as you see him, you do not muck around trying to trap the guy into a confession. It won't work. To delay is suicide."

I looked into his eyes, so foreign in colour from what I was used to, but still Samson's. Still his face, still him. Without thinking, I reached up and stroked his cheek. His whole body jerked back from the touch, but not far enough to break contact. I lifted my other hand and placed it on the opposite cheek, framing his beautiful face and held his gaze, looking directly into the bistre/soot depths, looking directly at his vampire-within.

"I am Nothus," I whispered and he frowned slightly in response. "I am a mixture of something not natural." He shook his head and opened his mouth to speak, I placed a finger over his lips. "Lucinda says it's a mixed blessing," I went on quickly to still him further. "I have never subscribed to that point of view. It's mixed, but it's not a blessing."

My hand went back to framing his face.

"I don't care anymore," I said, still whispering. "I am what I am." At that he smiled slightly, just the lift of his lips on each side. "But half of me is Light, and that half wants to do this." The semi-smile disappeared. "The part of me that is Dark will make sure I come out of it alive." He stared at me, his face now emotionless. His vampire mask slipped back in place.

"I
need
to do this, Samson. I
need
to know that I am not all Dark and even if it is not a mixed blessing, I need to prove to myself that it is not all bad. Everything I have been through, everything that I must still face, because of what I am. I
need
this for me."

We looked at each other for some time, I don't know how long and Mark didn't interrupt. Then finally Samson sighed and nodded and pulled back.

"I will be nearby," he said, his voice flat. "If I sense things going south, I will intervene. And I will kill him without a second thought." Meaning to hell with the evidence.

"We need the evidence to get Stu off."

"Stu is irrelevant to me. You are not."

"He's not irrelevant to me," I replied getting a little hot under the collar.

"Then I will assist you in freeing him from the prison." Mark coughed in the background. "I can change reality for those who guard him, we can get him out together."

It was a generous offer. I would need help, if that was the path I'd have to tread. But to ask him to alter so many realities, when evidence that altering a couple has made him so volatile right now, it was not something I wanted to embrace.

"I'd rather to it the legal way," I said and felt Mark's relief seep into the room. "Please, Samson. Let me try this first."

His lips were already in a thin line, but seemed to compress further at my request.

"I don't know, Georgia." I was starting to think Samson was going to be a thorn in my side. He'd come barging in before I even had a chance to get what we needed from my Sire. He'd ruin everything. I knew this was going to be tough. No doubt painful. And definitely pushing my luck. But my gut told me this could work. I just needed Samson to back off and let me do my thing.

But how to convince him?

"I'll mate with you," I said before I had even thought the words through.

Sanguis Vitam
flooded the air around us, even Mark was aware that something supernatural had just happened. He rubbed his arms and took a step back into the corner of the room, then tried his best to blend in with the wall colouring. It was white.

"You cannot mate with me if you have met the final death," Samson said finally, his
Sanguis Vitam
still thrumming in the air.

"And I won't mate with you at all, if you don't let me try this." I held his gaze for a second and then added, "It could work."

"Or you could die," he reiterated.

"But it's my life to choose how I go out. And I choose this."

He collapsed to his knees beside me, making me draw in a surprised breath of air.

"I do not want this for you," he pleaded and my heart simply broke.

Samson had held my heart before, he had broken it then too, but this pain was different. This pain was mine to give freely and right then, seeing the truth in his words, I let him see it. He reached up and clasped a hand behind my neck, then brought our foreheads together softly. I think we both closed our eyes.

"Do you want to make an accord?" I murmured against him. Thinking he'd want an assurance of my commitment to mate.

"When you mate with me, Georgia Deverell, it will be because you want me. Not because you were exchanging your heart for my compliance." I stiffened, if I didn't contain him somehow, he could interfere in trapping my Sire. "I will agree to holding back while you attempt this, but please do not expect me not to enter the fray if all looks lost."

"Samson..."

"No, you have my word as vampyre, I will hold back as long as I physically can, to allow your chance to trap him. I can't give you more than that."

My word as vampyre
. Not an accord, but words have meaning to vampires. He'd given me the best he could, without compromising his beliefs. My Dark Shadow approved.

I think I did too.

I pulled back and smiled at him, he half returned the gesture, but stood in a glide and walked to the far side of the room.

I watched him silently for a moment and then Mark said, "So, can I wire her up?"

"Be my guest," Samson said, his eyes not leaving mine.

Mark proceeded to tape wires and recording devices or transmitters or some such things to me, explaining as he did that his crew would be nearby and recording any conversation I have, but that I needed to get my Sire to say the words. Nodding, or hand movements weren't going to cut it, he had to
say
the words and they couldn't be ambiguous, there needed to be no doubt in the jury's minds if the evidence went to court.

There were a lot of other things to consider too; acoustics, environmental factors, ambient noise - all of which could compromise the recording. And to top it off, we didn't know where the hell he currently was. But Mark believed if I was visible, Xavier would come to me. That thought was not entirely comforting.

With nothing to go on, we headed out in an unmarked police van. Samson and I sitting in the back with two of Mark's police detectives and all of the surveillance equipment. Mark and a driver were in the front. I slipped a sliding window to my side open and began to inhale the night air, trying not to look like a lunatic to the officers in the back. I hadn't tried to hunt the Rogue before, his scent had always simply dissipated on the air at each scene, but Mark had profiled Xavier - a feat in itself considering Mark had never come across vampires before me - and he was sure that Xavier would
want
me to find him, and therefore his scent would no doubt trigger on the air.