When the ringing started in her ears, she knew she was going to pass out.
She let her legs fold and sat where she was, pressing the cool cloth to her forehead as she forced herself to take deep, steadying breaths. Some vampire hunter she was, she thought derisively, if she passed out every time she saw blood.
Unavoidably, her thoughts raced back to the time she'd been five years old, to the vampire attack on her home. The nightmares that plagued her weren't fabrications; they were actual memories, and they played out in her mind's eye much as they had in real life. There was fighting all around her as she crouched beside her mother's prone and lifeless body. Blood, dark red at night, coated her neck and chest, standing out in stark contrast against her mother's pale skin.
A shudder ran through her as she tried to stop the memory and failed. Phantom screaming filled her head as she remembered watching her father and
Kacie's
parents fighting for their lives. Then she saw nothing but the face of the vampire who stood before her, reaching for her. At the time, she'd leaped to her feet, wanting to flee but tripping instead over her mother's body. Her feet had kept working as she used them to avoid the arms reaching for her.
Then the vampire had stopped moving. A gaping hole had appeared in his chest and blood had spewed over her as the giant creature toppled and fell, pinning her to the ground.
Shaken, Jess pulled herself from the memory and drew a deep breath of air, proof that she wasn't being suffocated.
She reached up blindly and felt along the countertop until her fingers touched the small necklace she'd left there earlier. She'd taken it off, not wanting to risk it getting broken or lost, but now she needed the comfort it brought her. The small heart-shaped locket wasn't of great monetary value, but to Jess it was priceless because it had been a gift from her mother. Over the years, no matter to what extent the memories of her early life had faded, she had only to open this locket to see her
mother's loving
face. When she was younger, she would imagine that the locket was actually a window to heaven and her mother was just on the other side, watching her.
After a minute, Jess felt better. She set the locket aside and cleaned as much of her neck as she could without actually being able to see what she was doing. Then she stood up and risked another look in the mirror. This time, with most of the blood wiped off, the sight wasn't nearly as grisly and she was able to take a closer look at the wounds, which, as she'd suspected, were minor.
Brody hadn't had enough time to do much damage.
Thank you very much, Detective
Boehler
.
Jess rinsed out the cloth and returned to the bedroom, intent on changing clothes and going to bed. She had just crossed to the dresser when a scratching sound beneath the bed caused her to pause and listen. It sounded like an animal, and she tried to remember if she'd seen a dog or cat around the place. She didn't think she had.
Was it a mouse? A shudder ran through her, putting another dent in her tough vampire-slayer façade. Maybe she really was a fraud.
Tiptoeing backward, she crossed the room to the dresser where she'd left her small dagger. She stared at it, belatedly wondering exactly what she intended to do. She couldn't really see herself chasing the mouse around the room trying to stab it.
Still, she couldn't bring herself to lay it aside. It made her feel better.
Placing each foot carefully on the carpet, she moved toward the bed. When she was close enough to step up on the mattress but not so close that whatever was under the bed could grab her toes, she did, causing the bed to creak under her weight. The scratching stopped.
Jess listened for several seconds, not daring to breathe. Finally, unable to take the anticipation any longer, she lay on her stomach and, pulling up the bed skirt with one hand, leaned over to look under the bed.
Two glowing red orbs shone in the darkness and Jess was so stunned to see them that at first, she couldn't react. Then the creature—she had no idea what kind—shuffled closer to her. She immediately lurched back on the bed and waited.
Seconds later, a gray shape emerged and stopped several
feet
away. It was the strangest animal she'd ever seen, with a round head, large glowing oval eyes, and an elongated muzzle with two overly long front fangs. When it rose up on its two large hind legs and moved toward her, she leaped to her feet, her dagger held out in front, ready.
About the size of a large Labrador retriever puppy, the animal stopped and stared up at her as intently as she watched it. With its hairless gray skin, fins running from the top of its head and down its back, and the sharp, three-toed claws, it looked exactly like a gargoyle.
A living gargoyle.
Jess remembered her father telling her that Charles had a real-life
chupacabra
at his house, but she had assumed he kept it safely locked outside in a metal cage. Not running loose inside where it could attack at will.
Her fear escalating tenfold, Jess watched the
chupacabra
warily. They were reported to have great strength and speed. At any minute it could attack, and she'd be dead before she could defend herself.
Oddly enough, however, the small
chupacabra
was simply staring at her, a seemingly bemused expression on its face. Maybe it wasn't going to attack after all.
As her fear ebbed, rational thought returned. Of course Charles wouldn't allow a dangerous creature to run loose in his house and, given its size, this one must be rather young.
Fascinated now that she was certain her life wasn't in danger, she sat quietly, waiting to see what the creature would do. Surprisingly, it emitted a noise that sounded very much like a deep rumble and came toward her. Tentatively, she reached out a hand to touch it and when she did, the rumbling grew louder.
Feeling braver, she stroked its head, still keeping her dagger in the other hand. "Where did you come from?" As the minutes passed, Jess grew more comfortable with the creature. When
Lanie
knocked on her door a short time later, she found Jess with the
chupacabra
in her lap. It was making a deep, contented rumbling noise.
"Well, I see you've met Gem,"
Lanie
said gently as she moved into the room and sat on the edge of the bed, reaching out a hand to stroke the creature. "I hope she didn't frighten you too much."
Jess smiled. "Maybe a little at first," she admitted. "I expected her to attack me."
"
Chupacabras
aren't really like that. I mean, they'll attack if they sense a threat to themselves or to their young, but otherwise, they'd just as soon leave humans alone."
"Really?"
Jess knew she sounded
skeptical
.
Lanie
smiled. "I know it's hard to believe. I didn't believe it myself, at first, but after taking care of Gem for the past year or so, I know they're not the evil creatures we thought they were."
"I find that a little surprising," Jess said, "given they are responsible for making vampires."
"But I would think you, of all people, would know that not all vampires are evil. I mean, don't you have a vampire living at the castle where you grew up?"
"You're talking about Erik, Charles and my father's great-great-great-uncle. I might be missing one or two greats in there." She smiled. "Erik keeps to himself a lot, but it's true, I wouldn't call him evil."
"Neither is my father—who I guess you've heard is also a vampire. Before he left for the Amazon jungle, he had a chance to study the
chupacabra
venom and found it to have remarkable healing powers. And I'm living proof of it. I would have died if Gem hadn't injected me with some of her venom."
Jess remembered the story that her father had shared with her about how
Lanie
had been kidnapped, attacked by a vampire, and almost died.
She understood Mac's anger a little better now; his fear that something might happen to the wife he loved—or the people he cared about. Suddenly, guilt hit her full force. "I'm so sorry that I snuck out of the house without telling you. I was afraid you would try to stop me."
Lanie
gave a soft laugh. "Well, we probably would have tried, but maybe not as hard as you think. Beth and I can certainly empathize with not liking how the men always seem to think they're the only ones who can fight vampires. If Mac and Dirk had their way, we'd probably be locked away in a safe room until the last vampire on earth had been eliminated."
Jess gave her a grateful smile. "Thank you for understanding, but I
am
sorry that I wasn't honest with you about it."
Lanie
patted her leg and gave her a smile. "Don't worry about it." She got to her feet and looked down as Jess stroked Gem along her fins. "Do you want me to take her with me so you can get some rest?"
"Would you mind terribly leaving her here?" Jess countered.
Lanie
laughed. "Truthfully, I'm not sure I could keep her away." She walked to the door and opened it. "Just be sure you get some sleep, all right?"
The rest of the week passed quickly, and despite the fact that Mac, Dirk, and John went out every night looking for Brody, he remained elusive. They did, however, find two more victims. But by the third night, it was as if Brody had stopped killing—or had left the area.
Though she longed to go hunting herself, Mac, Dirk, and John refused to let her go. In truth, as Beth and Dirk's wedding drew nearer, Jess's desire to prove herself worthy as a Winslow took a backseat to her excitement over the last-minute preparations—including finding something appropriate to wear.
Beth went with Jess to the stores to help her shop. Jess felt a little guilty for pulling her away from both the wedding plans and the research she was conducting in the mansion's basement, which had been recently
remodeled
into a working research lab. Beth waved aside her concerns, claiming that only so many hours a day could be spent searching for a vampirism cure.
"Are you trying to find a cure for Dirk?" Jess asked her, thinking she understood why the changeling might not like being half vampire.
"Oh, no," Beth hurried to assure her. "Dirk doesn't mind being a changeling. I'm doing it in part because I'm curious, but mainly I'm doing it to help a friend."
"You have a friend who's a vampire? You mean Dr. Weber?
Lanie's
father?"
Jess was confused.
"No, I've never met Dr. Weber. I meant someone else. Maybe friend is too strong a word. Let me explain. Last month, Dirk and I were kidnapped by a vampire named Patterson. This was after several weeks of being stalked by him. We would have died if another vampire, Sheldon Harris, hadn't helped us to escape. I really feel like we owe him our lives, so while I'm looking for a cure for all of them, I'm also doing it for Harris. Just don't tell the others."
"Why not?
I'd think they'd be glad to know you're trying to help, especially if Harris saved your life."
Beth's smiled faltered. "Unfortunately, it's a little more complicated than that. You see, Harris is also a former
teammate
of Mac and Dirk. They think he was involved in an incident a couple of years ago that resulted in the death of several of their fellow
SEALs
. They don't exactly trust Harris, especially after he helped kidnap and almost kill both
Lanie
and Mac. That was a year ago, right after he'd turned, and I think he was confused about what had happened to him."
With this new information, Jess could understand why Mac and Dirk might not trust the vampire. In fact, she was a little surprised that one of them hadn't just staked the guy under the heading of "better safe than sorry." The dynamics of the vampire's relationship with the changelings were none of her concern, however, and she pushed him out of her mind.
Later that evening, she sat on the bed petting Gem, thinking about her plans for after the wedding. There was no reason for her to stay here any longer. Now more than ever, after spending so much time with Gem, she wanted to find that home in
New Orleans
. Maybe she could find a young
chupacabra
of her own.
All she had to do was capture one during the daytime and keep it caged until she had domesticated it. How hard could that be?
The night of the wedding arrived, and Jess sat with Charles and Julia in the pew traditionally reserved for the groom's family, since Dirk's parents were dead. Beside her sat several of Dirk's closer SEAL friends, in full military dress.
Jess was forced to admit that there really was something about a man in uniform.
The man beside her was particularly attractive, and Jess found him more than eager to engage in casual conversation while they waited for the rest of the guests to arrive. She was thinking that the evening was full of promise when she saw the man's eyes flicker to something on the other side of her. She turned and was shocked to see John
Boehler
shaking hands with Charles.
"So glad you could make it," Charles said.