Dark Descent (Vampire Hunter Book 5) (12 page)

I continued to
stare at Jet, speechless, in shock. “Good, you’ve stopped struggling,” he said.
“If you’ll agree to talk to me, I’ll unbind your hands.”

“You brought me
back?” I asked in disbelief, finally finding my voice.

Jet nodded. He
walked over and untied the rope that was holding my wrists together, even
though I hadn’t said I would talk to him. Jet sat down in the high-backed chair
next to me.

For the first
time, I studied him. He was the polar opposite of the surfer boy that had
sprung to mind when I first heard the name. Jet had shiny black hair and a
chiseled face. He looked about twenty years old, twenty-five, tops.

I had noticed
Jet’s height when he was standing over me, but now I could also see that he was
shredded. He was wearing all black, like Lucas preferred, except Jet had on a
sleeveless shirt, showing off his bulging biceps.

Is it a
prerequisite that to become a vampire you’ve also got to be insanely hot?
Lucas
was essentially a Greek god, and Jet could easily pass for a male model. And
although I had never thought of him romantically – Nicholas had come to
be like the older brother I never had – he was also a contender for the
hottest vampire of the year award.

“Sorry for my
clothes,” Jet said, seeing me study him. “These are my pajamas. Wasn’t
expecting company.”

Those are some
interesting pajamas.

I willed myself to
focus. “My friend – is he okay?”

“Lucas is fine,”
Jet assured me.

“Where is he? I
want to see him,” I demanded, vaguely wondering how Jet knew Lucas.

“I’ll bring him
here,
after
we talk. I needed to see you – alone,” Jet replied. “I
promise you have nothing to worry about.”

“Okay,” I said
hesitantly. “So talk. Tell me why – and how – you brought me back
from the dead.”

“Sure,” Jet said,
smiling. “I’m an open book. I’m not sure what Lucas and Nicholas have said
about me, but I’m really not that menacing.”

He didn’t seem it.
But I couldn’t let my guard down. I wasn’t sure if Lucas was safe, and Jet most
certainly had an agenda, just like everyone else. Besides, he obviously knew
that Nicholas was in town. Had he been spying on me?

“I’ve never liked
demons much,” Jet continued. “But Leon – he’s one of the worst. When I
heard he took over Hell, I almost felt
sorry
for the demons he was
ruling. He made everyone call him Lord Leon.” Jet rolled his eyes. “He’s the
farthest thing from a lord I can imagine.”

“About half a year
after your death, I got wind of what had
really
happened. It was because
of your murder that Leon became king. He had gone to a soothsayer.” Jet paused.
“Do you know about any of this? Do you know how you died?”

I nodded. “It’s
one of the few things I do know,” I said honestly. I was starting to relax,
despite myself. Jet was either truly sincere, or he was the best actor I’d ever
seen. I hoped it was the former.

“Right, so when I
found out he eliminated the only hunter who could ever kill him, I was livid. Not
just because it meant Leon would never die, but it also pissed me off that he
thought it was his right to take the life of an innocent teenager,” Jet said.

“And that made you
want to bring me back?” I asked.

“I wish I could
claim it was solely because of my moral opposition,” Jet said with a grin.
“But, truthfully, I was mad at myself. Why hadn’t I been on top of things? If
I’d found out about your powers before Leon, I could have
turned
you,
had a loyal vampire capable of killing demons. That wasn’t an option after the
fact, obviously, but at least I could get revenge on Leon, make him pay for
what he did.”

I gulped. “I could
have been a vampire…?”

“Sorry,” Jet
replied. “I didn’t mean to alarm you. I told you I was an open book. Ask me a
question and I’ll tell you the answer. Anyway,” he continued, “when I heard
what Leon had done, I immediately tried to find a way to reverse it.”

“Did you consult a
warlock?” I asked. “Please don’t tell me it was David Matthews!”

“Ha! Matthews
– although talented – isn’t loyal. He goes where the grass is
greener, so to speak. No,” Jet said, “I’ve got my own warlock – a vampire
who’s a warlock, to be precise. Maybe not as powerful as Matthews, but he’s
unconditionally loyal to me. And that’s what I’m looking for. That’s how I plan
to
continue
to build my empire.” Jet’s piercing eyes held my gaze for so
long that I finally had to look away.

“Your warlock said
the spell to bring me back?” I asked.

“Yes, but it
wasn’t as simple as that,” Jet answered. “It came down to the wire. You were
almost dead – for good.”

“What do you mean?

“It took my
warlock nearly six months to determine how to resurrect you. The spell was a
bitch to get a hold of, but that was only the first piece. He had to obtain
something personal of yours – he stole a stuffed elephant that your
parents left on your bed. We didn’t even know if it would work,” Jet said.

“Max,” I
whispered.

“Cute name.” Jet
flashed me a flirty smile.

Don’t be fooled
by him.
I forced my face to remain expressionless.

“Carl – my
warlock/vampire combo – had to perform the ceremony at midnight on the
one-year anniversary of your death. Your parents had decided to bury you
instead of cremate you, despite the, um, condition of your dead body,” Jet
said.

“I know Richard
burned my body after I died,” I told him.

“You know more
than I thought,” Jet said.

“But not as much
as you,” I replied. “Please, tell me the rest of it.”

“Carl dug up your
grave and placed Max inside. At the stroke of midnight, Carl performed the
spell, and you were brought back to life.”

“Did he see me
crawl out of my grave?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

“Yes,” Jet
answered. “He had to stick around – to see if the spell worked.”

“Why didn’t he
help me? Guide me? Take me to
you
?” I questioned.

“Because you had
to find your own way. You needed to become the new version of you, without our
interference. I refused to do anything to influence your fate,” Jet replied.

He stood up and
walked to the other side of the room. Jet was even taller than I had originally
realized. He turned again to face me. “This spell,” he said. “It can only be
performed once every thousand years.”

“What do you
mean?” I asked in confusion.

“There’s not the
option to bring back every dead person,” Jet said, his voice serious. “You fuck
up and bring back someone who should have remained dead – well, now you
have a thousand years to wait for your next chance.”

“It’s special,”
Jet continued. “And it should have never been used on Tobias. He was a colossal
mistake. But you…you’re the real deal.”

“How can you know
that?” I asked.

Jet just smiled.
“You doubt yourself too much,” he commented. “Now, I have a question for
you
.”

Here it comes.
The real reason he’s captured me. The ultimatum he’s about to demand.

“Did you kill
Thomas and Bartholomew?”

The question took
me by surprise. It was the last thing I had expected Jet to ask. “I don’t know
who you mean,” I lied, only hesitating for a moment.

“Still not sure if
you can trust me, Aurora? Wow, Lucas must really think I’m a monster. It’s a
pity he never took the time to get to know me,” Jet said. “He just assumed
anyone in power must be a complete asshole.”

I couldn’t help
but smile. Why
did
Lucas and Nicholas stay away from Jet?

“I’m not mad that
they’re dead – just more curious as to
how
. Don’t worry; I’m not
going to punish you for it. Typically, I’d do almost anything to save one of
the vampires, but those two…well, let’s just put it this way: it’s no real
loss.”

“I killed them,” I
said flatly. “How did you know?”

“Lucky guess,” Jet
admitted. “Well, more like I put two and two together,” he amended. “They’ve
been missing for a week, and those guys aren’t the type to lie low.”

“Anyway,” Jet
continued, “after Carl’s spell brought you back, Leon tried
again
to
kill you. I intervened, made sure Lucas got the order. I knew he would never go
through with it. His morals are too high. He has to know precisely why
everything he’s ordered to kill deserves to die before he’ll do it.”

“You saved my
life…again?” I asked quietly.

“No one knows how
to kill you,” Jet said. “So I wouldn’t say I saved your life. But I did spare
you from the torture any other hunter would have inflicted.”

I shuddered.

“I had Carl keep
tabs on you. Make sure Leon didn’t go to someone else after Lucas failed to
deliver. But of course, he did. And this time, he circumvented the hunting
agency. Went directly to Thomas and Bartholomew. I didn’t know, at first,” Jet
said.

“When did you find
out?” I questioned.

“When Thomas was
staked – the first time,” Jet said. “Were you responsible for that, too?”

I shook my head.
“That was…someone else.”

Jet didn’t press
me to say who. He just nodded. “They came back here after the attack; my
medical team saved Thomas. I interviewed him personally after he was better,
and he let it slip that he was
trying
to re-kill you.”

“When I found out,
I was furious. I wished I had let Thomas die. None of my vampires are allowed
to take on any outside jobs without express permission from Carl or me,” Jet
continued.

“Did you punish
him?” I asked.

“No,” Jet said. “I
wanted to keep my interest in you a secret.”

“Why?”

“Because I do not
plan to be at the forefront of this war. I’d like for it not to happen at all,”
Jet replied. “But I’m not stopping it, either. I won’t get involved. Did Lucas
tell you I’m even older than him?”

“Yes,” I
whispered.

“I like power. I’m
not going to lie. But head vampire, all of this –” Jet paused and motioned
across the massive room, “is enough for me. I want things to stay in balance.”

“Back to Thomas
and Bartholomew,” Jet continued. “I was going to put out an order to protect
your life, but Tobias beat me to it. So I put out the order to protect your
family instead.”

“Really?” I asked
in surprise. “Why?”

“It wasn’t out of
the goodness of my heart, if that’s what you’re thinking.” Jet laughed. “I did
it in the anticipation of this day. I knew you’d find me eventually, and I
wanted to prove that you could trust me.”

“So Magnus can’t
really
kill them? He threatened to,” I said.

“You’re even more
popular than I knew!” Jet exclaimed. “I had no idea Magnus was after you as
well. Makes sense though. Let me guess – he wants you to kill Leon?”

“Right,” I said.

“Magnus can
technically kill whoever he wants,” Jet said slowly. “Anyone can go against my
order. But if someone chooses to do that, there will be a bounty on his head. I
wouldn’t concern yourself with Magnus, if I were you. He won’t risk killing
them and drawing a target on himself.”

Jet had put the
last piece of the puzzle into place. I now knew every aspect of my death and
resurrection. But what was in it for him? I wasn’t naïve enough to believe he’d
given me all of this information with the expectation of
nothing
in
return.

“You’ve told me
everything,” I said. “And I can’t thank you enough for it – ” I started.

“But what’s my
motive?” Jet interrupted.

I nodded.

“As I said
earlier, I would have been your maker, if I’d found out about you before Leon.
You’d have been loyal to a fault. Obviously, that ship has sailed. So now I’m
proposing an alliance – a partnership, if you will,” Jet said.

I looked at him
suspiciously. “What’s in it for me and what do you want me to do?” I asked.

“Let me answer
your second question first. I’d
like
for you to kill Leon. I can’t
imagine you’re opposed to that, after learning that he’s tried to off you not
once, but
twice
.”

Jet did have a
point. But he didn’t know that we already had a plan in place to deal with Leon
– trap him in Hell, forever.

“Going forward,
we’d be partners. Share information. I can get you the names and locations of
demons possessing humans, so that you can hunt them. I’d also provide Intel on
the other monsters roaming free, off the grid, that need to be eliminated,” Jet
said.

“You’d do all of
that, just because I killed Leon for you?” I asked. I was still skeptical.

Jet laughed.
“You’re a hard sell. What, scared to go to bed with the enemy?” Jet asked,
flashing another flirtatious grin. “I don’t bite.”

I looked away.

“But I’m only your
perceived
enemy. I have no doubt you can take care of yourself, but I
would watch your back,” Jet said. “And continue to protect your family.”

I didn’t say anything.
It all sounded too good to be true. But Jet could give me a million reasons why
I
should align with him; if he couldn’t tell me more than one reason why
it was beneficial to him, then I was out. No deal.

“I’d also like for
you to be my…recruiter,” Jet said, as though reading my mind.

“Meaning?”

“I assume after
this war is over, you’ll travel around, hunting, fulfilling your destiny,” Jet
said.

I didn’t answer.

“I want to build
the vampire race. I have no intention of trying to overtake humans,” Jet said
quickly. “But right now, the rules in place are downright ridiculous. We’re
only allowed to turn a human if a vampire is wrongfully killed.”

“Of course, I bend
the rules on occasion. Don’t tell Lucas,” he said playfully. “But getting back
to this lottery system…it’s a joke. I’m not sure how many vampires you’ve come
across, but you may have noticed that we all have one thing in common.”