Cold Blooded

“Jessica,” Rourke called. “Veer to your left. The opening is against the mountainside. It’s covered with brush.”

I saw it. Ten more paces and I whipped the branches away with one hand and dove headfirst into the cave, somersaulting and landing crouched, senses alert.

“It’s about time, Hannon.” A surly voice hit my eardrum without missing a beat. “The sun set twenty minutes ago. What were you going to do, starve me to death? I’m hungry as hell and I need a f**king shower. There’s blood and gunk plastered all over me and my veins feel hollow.”

The relief he was still alive threatened to consume me. I inhaled and exhaled deeply, trying to control my emotions as I stood, clapping the dirt off my hands.

His reaction to me hadn’t been what I expected, which made me wary. He should be much more pissed off.

Where was the savage fledgling vampire? “Ray, I thought you wanted to chop my head off and eat my insides for dinner? Did you manage to grow a whole new heart while you were fixing your head?”

“Why would I bother to grow a new heart when I don’t even need the one I have now? It hasn’t beat in days. But chopping your head off still sounds fairly appealing,” he grunted. “At least then I could get a drink.”

“Okay, what gives?” I asked. “Why are you so … normal—for lack of a better word.” He’d never been normal, but this was as close to his “normal self” as he got. It was a complete 180 from last night.

Rourke, Tyler, and Danny had gathered in the small opening behind me, making the cave overcrowded.

Ray leaned his blood-caked head against the cave wall. “I don’t have an answer for you, Hannon. I get confused a lot, and then I get angry. But when I woke up in the middle of healing from that painful-as-hell injury, I realized I’m never going to die. I had my face bashed in and my skull crushed and now I’m good as new. It doesn’t make any sense. But I’m not sure I hate it. But I don’t … like it either.”

“So … what you are saying is I might have made the right choice trying to keep you alive?” I hedged.

Everyone was quiet, waiting for his response.

Ray grumbled for a few seconds. “When I woke up with fangs and this dreadful thirst, I wanted to kill you every minute of the day. I won’t lie. I don’t think I slept, and I know I didn’t eat. But I feel different today and I don’t know why.” He peered up at me as he brought a chained hand to his head and pressed his temple like he had a headache. As he did, a flutter of his internal struggle tugged along my senses. “The madness may come back at any moment. Most of the time my mind feels like an amusement park ride from hell.”

I squatted in front of him, peering into his face, trying to figure out what all this meant when I heard light footsteps behind me.

“I believe the reason for his clarity is he is reacting to you, Ma Reine,” a small voice echoed in the cave. “You are able to calm him, as I could not. I have been puzzling over the pieces ever since I left, but I think I understand now.”

Tyler and Danny moved apart as Naomi stepped into the cave. “Naomi,” I said as I stood. “What are you doing here?”

Danny cleared his throat. “We forgot to mention we ran into Naomi. She was outside the Safe House when we arrived back from picking up Nick. We encouraged her to follow us, as we figured we would be on the move shortly.”

“Good thinking.” I nodded at Danny and then turned to Naomi. “I’m sorry you didn’t get the break you deserved, Naomi, but I’m glad to see you here.” She was dressed in new clothing and flushed so she had made at least one pit stop. “What pieces were you talking about puzzling out?”

She walked forward. “Once I left and fed”—she gave me a small smile—“I tried to reason out why Ray was different from any other fledgling I have ever seen and I think I have come up with the only possible answer.”

“It’s because of my blood, right?” I said before she could say it out loud.

“Oui.” Her voice held a hint of surprise. “I do believe your blood is the cause. It is like none I have ever tasted. It was able to break my bond with my Queen, which should have been an impossible task. I think it must have interfered with Ray’s transition and has somehow made him different. I believe he is partially bonded to you already, which is why he has calmed just now in your presence. You must give him more of your blood to complete the transition, and once you do, I believe he will become fully bonded to you. A young vampire needs guidance and attaches himself to his Master without thought. The bond will grow into love and loyalty over time. That is our way.”

I gaped. “Wait a minute. Did you just say you want me to become his Master?” I did not want Ray as my responsibility. Not to mention I knew nothing about baby vampires—or fully adult ones for that matter. “Naomi, you made him. He wouldn’t be alive without you. This is clearly your role, not mine. I have no idea what to do with a vampire. And Ray is hard on a good day. A newborn wolf raising a fledgling vampire is wrong on so many levels I can’t even count them.”

“Hey, this is not what I want either,” Ray complained, his new fangs snapping down in protest. He shook his chains to accentuate his point. “How can she help me with anything? She’s not a bloodsucker.”

“I will be here to aid in his teachings,” Naomi replied, her demeanor calm and reasonable. “I will not desert either of you. But it must be this way, or I believe he will continue to go mad. His instincts are muddled and his thought processes are off. He is too powerful from just drinking a mere dilution of your blood. I will not be able to make another after him. It is too unpredictable.”

“So you’re saying my blood botched the job of making him into a fully functioning vampire, and only I can fix it?” I asked. “By giving him more blood?”

“Oui.” She shrugged. “There is nothing more I can do now. He must feed from you, or you must end his life. He cannot go on like this.”

I glanced down at Ray. Killing him was no longer an option if I wanted my father to stay alive. I sighed. “Looks like this is your lucky day, Ray. You get to cause me some pain and in return I finally set your mind straight. I guess we should’ve done this from the very beginning all those years ago. It would’ve saved us a lot of trouble.”

“Yeah, we’ll see about that, Hannon,” he said. “My mind is full of some crazy shit right now. I don’t think even your blood can erase it completely.” He eyed me as I knelt in front of him, my knees sinking into the dirt floor. This cave was rudimentary to say the least.