Cold Blooded

The chains dropped to the cave floor, unraveling at once, and Ray shot out of the tunnel before I could take my next breath. He disappeared into the night without looking back, no doubt testing to see if we would go after him.

Naomi made a move to follow.

“No.” I held her arm. “He goes alone. Rourke’s right. This is his test. If he’s not back in a few hours, we’ll decide what to do then. I can’t be in a constant head battle with him. I’ll kill him myself before that happens. Let’s go back to the cabin and figure out the plans. We leave for New Orleans at dawn. You and Ray can meet up with us after nightfall tomorrow.”

Naomi cleared her throat. “It will not be necessary for us to wait. We will accompany you when you leave.”

“What are you talking about? Don’t you have to sleep during the day?”

“Not anymore,” she replied.

Everyone was gathered in the cabin except for Ray. “Run that last part by me again,” I said to Naomi. My hips were pressed against what was left of the counter, my arms folded. “I don’t quite understand what you’re telling me.”

“As vampires age, our abilities strengthen, like most supernaturals. One of those abilities is our tolerance of sunlight. We mainly feed on human blood, which is weak, but as our own body ages, we eventually strengthen ourselves: bones, skin, everything.”

“But sunlight is your ‘vice,’ right?”

“We cannot die from sunlight exposure,” she said. “Or explode as some myths like to portray. Our skin simply gets severely burned, a reaction to the sun’s strength. Our skin is very thin and it’s painful. It takes time to heal, but nothing more. We are also very sleepy during the day; it’s our natural time of rest. We are nocturnal by nature, but we are not comatose when the sun rises. But your blood has strengthened me. I do not feel pain when sunlight hits my skin.” She smiled shyly. “It is quite wonderful to feel it again. It has been a very long time.”

“I understand why this may have happened to you. You’re hundreds of years old and have had time to strengthen your body before you drank from me. But how do you know Ray will have the same reaction? He’s only had my blood for a few hours.”

She shrugged. “I do not. It is purely an assumption. But if your blood worked that way on me, it will likely do the same for him.”

Ray hadn’t returned, but he had a half hour left before his imposed deadline. “Okay, things my blood can do is ramping up to fantastical levels, but more importantly, we have to keep it all a secret,” I cautioned. “Does everyone understand?” I glanced around the group. “We’re heading deep into vampire territory, and if word gets out that I can break bonds and allow them to walk outside during the day, there could be an uprising. The Queen won’t tolerate a single vampire defecting.” If they found out, I imagined it would be like a gaggle of vampires running after me with their fangs out, screaming for sunlight.

A chorus of voices agreed.

I turned to my brother. “After you found Hank, did you find any trace of the wolves who were sent here by Dad to find him?”

Tyler had dealt with Hank. He and Danny had just come in a few minutes ago. “Yes,” he said grimly. “He’d broken their necks and tossed them over a cliff.”

“Did you know either of them?”

“We couldn’t get down close enough to them to get a facial ID, but going by scent I only knew one,” Danny answered. “He’d been a nice enough fellow, but too young to know any better.”

“Dad should’ve known.” Tyler shook his head.

“Those were likely the only wolves he could spare at the moment,” I replied. It was very unfortunate. I pushed away from the counter. “I want you to try and get in touch with Dad one last time before we move out. Go shift while we start to hammer out the details. We need to figure out how to handle the Vamp Queen and get us all safely to New Orleans. We can’t waste any time if Dad’s in trouble—”

Something thudded loudly on the roof. The ceiling beams cracked, but held. Dust and dirt rained down on us as someone walked across them.

“Ray’s back,” I announced. I shouldn’t be surprised that he would make an extreme entrance. This was so typical of him.

Tyler opened the door and we all filed outside.

Ray stood on the roof looking quite proud of himself. I rested my hands on my hips. “I see you’ve learned to fly,” I called. “That’s fairly impressive, but it seems your landing skills need a bit of work. The front door is down here.”

“Yeah, I wasn’t watching,” Ray called down. “But I have a good reason. I was heading back fast, because something’s coming.”

“What do you mean something’s coming?” I asked, alarmed, dropping my arms and moving forward.

Naomi didn’t wait for him to answer. She shot into the air to investigate.

“I mean, there’s some strange shit flaring off in the distance. It’s miles from here, but they’re starting to crop up all over. The power feels strange, like something is pushing against my chest. And it stinks.”

“It stinks?” I strode closer to the roofline.

“I flew over to one, but once I got there, there was nothing left but the smell of rancid eggs and some leftover energy. On my way back, two more popped up east and another one southwest. It seems like something is searching, and since you’re always stuck in thigh-high crap without waders, whatever it is … I figured it’s probably looking for you.”

Rotten eggs was bad.

That meant sulfur, and sulfur meant demons.

Rourke was next to me in the next moment. “I don’t feel a strong power signature close,” he said. “But I’m not willing to doubt him. We need to get on the road. I want you back in that car. If whoever’s searching has your signature, I’m not sure how many miles it will take to get you in its sights.”

Naomi landed right in front of us. “He’s right. The disturbances are off in the distance, but the power is strong and stinks of sulfur.”

“Are they demon circles?” I asked.

“Oui,” Naomi said. “I believe so. None but a Demon Lord can summon itself to this plane, so these must have been made by another.”

“You mean like the sorcerers?” I asked. “Who else would team up with the demons?” Of all the supernatural Sects in existence, the demons stood alone in all ways. Demons and fey were the only two I knew about who lived on a different physical plane, but there hadn’t been a fey sighting in hundreds of years. Demons were their own creepy race and they kept to themselves for a reason.