Claiming the Vampire (10 page)

“Give in about what?” she asked, hearing the stiffness in her voice.

Celia looked contrite. “Jessica, I’m so sorry. You don’t have any idea what we’re talking about, do you? Evan and I became mates last night. Jack and Liz could tell, but it’s not obvious to anyone else.”

“Oh.” She had already learned from Liz that vampires mate for life, and that Liz—and now Celia—had gone through some kind of claiming ritual.

So it was like they were married, now.

“Congratulations,” she said, still sounding stiff.

Celia smiled at her. “Thanks. But now we need to talk about you.”

The waitress brought over a pot of coffee and five cups. After she left, Celia looked across the table at Jack and Liz. “Hawk broke into the club last night.”

Liz’s eyes widened. “My God. Was he coming after you?”

Celia shook her head. “No. That’s off, like we figured. Now that everything about the Dark Fae is out in the open, I’m not a threat to anybody.”

“Then what was he there for? Did he tell you who ordered the hit?”

“No.” She glanced at Jessica. “But he said he’ll tell you.”

Jessica stared at her. “Me? But…why?”

“I don’t know. He wouldn’t tell us that. But he did tell us that he’d…run into you last night.”

Now they were all looking at her.

Jessica cleared her throat. “Yes. He did. He came to the mansion to speak with my mother, and he…I…we met. In the grounds.” Her cheeks flamed as she thought about what else he might have told Celia. “Did he…say anything else? About…about me?”

“Just that he’s worried about you. About your engagement to the Dark Fae prince.”

“
Worried
about her?” Liz turned to Evan. “That doesn’t make any sense. Hawk is an assassin, right? Or he was. And didn’t you say he’s a recluse, or something? That he dropped out of sight ten years ago?” Evan nodded. “Then what the hell is going on? He comes out of retirement to go after Celia—”

“He didn’t want to kill me. And I don’t think he would have. I think he was coerced into the hit, although he wouldn’t answer any questions about that.”

Liz brushed that aside impatiently. “The point is, Hawk doesn’t know any of us…except for Evan, and that was a long time ago. So what is he doing talking to the queen? And why the hell is he worried about Jessica?” She shook her head. “This has all got to be part of some plan. You didn’t believe him, did you?”

“Well. I might not have, except that he insisted that I cast a truth spell.”

Jack raised an eyebrow at that. “And did you?”

“Yes. And he was telling the truth—about what he was willing to talk about, anyway. There are some things he wouldn’t answer questions about. Like who hired him to kill me.” She leaned towards Jessica. “And he was telling the truth when he said he was worried about you. Worried that you don’t really want to go through with this engagement and marry the Dark Fae prince. That you’re a kind of…sacrifice.”

Jessica felt a quick wave of anger. Who was Hawk to talk like that about her? To assume he knew what she was feeling and thinking…and what was best for her. What gave him the right?

It couldn’t be out of concern. She’d be the biggest fool in the world if she believed that.

Jessica frowned down at the Formica table. “Why are you so ready to trust what he says? Maybe he found some way around the truth spell. Maybe he told part of the truth, and left other things out. He tried to kill you, Celia—and he tried to kill Evan. He tore up Evan’s arm. Why are you so willing to forgive him for that?”

“We forgave you, didn’t we?” Evan said blandly.

Her eyes flashed to him. “I wasn’t trying to kill anybody.”

“Right, yeah…just capture Celia and bring her in for ‘questioning’. Lovely stuff you intended to use on her, by the way. I enjoyed being paralyzed ever so much.”

“Evan!”

He glanced at his mate without repentance. “I’m just pointing out that not everything is black and white.” He leaned towards Jessica. “Celia’s got pretty good instincts when it comes to people. She tells me you’re all right, and that’s good enough for me. She believes Hawk, so I believe him, too. And Celia hasn’t been happy about this marriage plan of yours from the beginning. You can tell us to go to hell, if you like, or you can tell us if Hawk’s right to be concerned. If we should be concerned.”

Once again, Jessica felt a doubling in her consciousness, as if she were standing outside herself, observing. Her own mother hadn’t shown this much concern about her happiness. And why should these people care about her? She’d known Celia and Liz for years, of course, but she’d hardly ever spoken to them before last month.

And now they considered themselves her friends. As did the two vampires, who accepted her without question because their mates did.

She found herself wanting to tell them everything. The unsettling encounter with Hawk, and the fact that her mother had asked her to kill him. How conflicted she felt about everything…and especially Hawk.

But that would be weakness. And talking wouldn’t do any good. It would just make them worry even more, and their worry couldn’t help her.

All it could do was make her weaker.

“I appreciate your concern. I do. But if I did have any doubts about my engagement, last night laid them to rest. I met Kel for the first time, and we talked, and…and…I fully believe that I will be happy in my life with him.”

She looked around at them all as she spoke, but her gaze came to rest on Celia at the end. Celia was the one who’d wanted this meeting. Celia was the one she needed to convince.

After a minute, the redhead nodded slowly. “All right. Now, what about the meeting with Hawk? He’ll come to you, anywhere you choose. I suggested the club, but you can pick any spot you like.”

A throbbing pain had begun at her temples, and Jessica resisted the urge to massage them. “Why would I want to meet with him?” she asked, thinking how ironic it was that he was giving her the home field advantage, instead of suggesting neutral territory. He obviously wanted her to feel safe.

He didn’t realize that for once, he was the target of a planned assassination.

Hawk was used to being the hunter. This time he was the prey.

Only he didn’t know it. Which meant he was going to make it as easy as possible for her to take him out without ever realizing the danger.

Unless this was part of some elaborate scheme on his part. But somehow, she didn’t think so. Her instincts told her Hawk wasn’t a threat to her—not to her life, anyway.

“I understand if you don’t want to meet with him,” Celia said. “But if you do, he’ll tell you who hired him to kill me. And he said he’ll also tell you what he talked to your mother about last night.”

Her mouth twisted up at one corner. He thought he had to lure her in with bait like that, when the truth was, all he was doing was making her job easier.

The throbbing behind her temples was getting worse. Could she do it like that? Agree to meet him at Evan’s club, and then cut him down in cold blood?

No. She couldn’t.

Maybe it made her weak, but she knew in her heart she couldn’t do that.

But she didn’t have to. Her mother was planning to set up a meet for tomorrow night. If she met Hawk tonight, it would just be for the purpose of gathering information. She could find out who ordered the hit on Celia, and learn the details of the job her mother had hired him for…and this mysterious payment he was demanding.

She didn’t need to think any further than that.

“I’ll do it,” she said, looking at Celia and Evan. “Would you set it up for tonight, at the club?”

“If that’s what you want,” Evan said. “I’d suggest sitting with him in the main bar, at least to start. Celia and I will be in the room, too.”

“And so will Jack and I,” Liz chimed in, reaching out and giving Jessica’s shoulder a quick squeeze.

There was a sharp sting inside her nose and a sudden ache at the back of her throat. The Green Fae warriors had always had her back, just as she had theirs. But she’d never realized that there was a kind of impersonal coldness to their loyalty, until she’d had another kind of friendship to compare it to.

A friendship she’d done nothing to deserve. Liz and Celia and their mates had just sort of…taken her in.

“Thanks,” she said, her voice a little gruff. She’d been taught to think that Celia’s tender-heartedness and Liz’s impetuosity were weaknesses, but she found herself wishing she had some of their warmth right now. When confronted with their kindness and concern, she had no idea what to say. She couldn’t let her heart show in her eyes the way they did.

But then she thought about Hawk, about seeing him tonight, and suddenly a lack of warmth was no longer her problem.

She might tell herself she hated him, she might tell herself she didn’t trust him, but he’d been right about one thing.

He did make her heart beat faster.

He was the only man who’d ever made her feel that way, and he was an enemy.

An enemy she was supposed to kill.

Chapter Seven

He had to be out of his fucking mind. That was the only explanation for his behavior during the last twenty-four hours. The only explanation for the fact that he was sitting at the bar of Blood and Whiskey, waiting for Jessica Greenwood to walk through the door.

Setting up this meeting had to be the stupidest damn thing he’d ever done. Sure, having an ally among the Fae royalty would be useful. But there was no guarantee that Jessica would ever be an ally. The smart move would be to forget all about her, and to concentrate on getting Mary back. Meeting with the enemy like this was risky.

But he’d fallen in love, like a goddamned idiot…and he had to see her again.

Not to tell her how he felt. No, that little fact would stay buried inside him until he was dust. But he had to tell her the truth about her mother. About the lengths Talia would go to protect her own power. If Jessica was willing to sacrifice her happiness at her mother’s behest, he wanted to be sure she knew the kind of person she was doing it for.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Evan asked as he put a shot glass of Jameson’s in front of him. Evan was behind the bar tonight, while Jack and Celia and Liz sat at a table across the room. Evan had told him he could talk to Jessica in one of the booths along the wall, out of earshot but in full view of her protectors.

It was early evening yet, and the club wouldn’t get going for another couple of hours. There’d only be a handful of patrons sharing the space with them.

“What do you mean?” Hawk asked. He tossed back the shot and slammed the glass down on the mahogany bar, and found the other vampire staring at him with narrowed eyes.

“You’re nervous. I’ve known you a lot of years, mate, and I’ve never seen you look nervous. The night those shifters jumped us in Brixton, I didn’t think we had a prayer. Then I looked at you, and you had this fucking half smile on your face, like you didn’t have a care in the world. And I knew we’d make it out alive.”

Evan rested his elbows on the bar and leaned towards him. “So where’s that smile now?”

Hawk was saved from answering by movement at the front door. He jerked his head around, and saw Jessica Greenwood come into the club.

She had dressed like a regular human girl tonight, in jeans and a blue cotton shirt. Her hair was down, shimmering around her face in a cloud of silver-gold, and in the dim light of the club it seemed to shine with its own light.

He’d thought she looked beautiful in her fairy tale dress, but she looked even more beautiful now. The jeans were the perfect showcase for her long, slender legs.

She spotted him, and began to cross the club towards the bar. He’d never seen anyone—human, vampire, or Fae—move with more subtle power and effortless grace.

“Holy shit,” Evan said softly.

Hawk had almost forgotten the other vampire was there.

“What is it?” he asked irritably, keeping his eyes on the girl coming towards them. She paused at the table where Celia and Liz and Jack were sitting, and exchanged a few words.

“Occam’s Razor,” Evan murmured, which was bizarre enough that Hawk spared him a quick glance.

“What?”

“The simplest explanation is often the best.”

Hawk’s gaze had strayed back to Jessica, who was still talking to her friends. His hands twitched as he watched her, and he felt an urge to march over there, toss her over his shoulder, and carry her off someplace he could have her all to himself.

Evan was going on. “We spent hours trying to figure out what kind of game you might be playing. How you might be trying to manipulate events to your own advantage, and how you might be trying to use Jessica as a tool. And the most simple, obvious explanation never even occurred to us.”

Hawk was only half-listening. Jessica reached up a hand to tuck her hair behind her ear, and that simple movement made things happen to him—a tingling in his incisors and a tightening in his groin. “And the obvious explanation would be?”

“You’re in love with her.”

Hawk froze for an instant. Then he turned to face Evan with what he hoped was an approximation of his usual sardonic expression. “You’re out of your mind.”

Evan shook his head slowly. “Sorry, mate. I know the signs. I see them every time I look in the mirror.”

Hawk felt his hands curl into fists. “Just because you’re a pathetic sod doesn’t mean that every vamp is. You’re seeing things that aren’t there.”

Evan grinned. “Jack figured out how it was with me and Celia in three seconds. I remember thinking, how the fuck did he know?” He shook his head again. “You might as well be wearing a neon sign, mate. Are you going to tell her?”

Hawk opened his mouth to deny it again, and then closed it. He looked over at Jessica, who had finished talking to the others and was coming towards them again. When she met his eyes a shudder went through him.

He didn’t have time to lie. “No, I’m not going to tell her. And if you say a word to her I’ll rip your throat out.”

“No you won’t,” Evan said.

“Why the fuck not?”

“Because she wouldn’t like it. You’ll never be able to hurt me now, or any of us. Because hurting us would hurt Jessica.”