Tainted Blood (Hell's Belle Book 2) (7 page)

Darcy had already pushed through the revolving door. She must be damned determined to come flying down here in the pitch black, in her jammies no less. Even though she had been with us for five years, her wariness of vampires had not abated. She refused to talk to me about it. Guess she thought it would hurt my feelings.

By the time I rotated into Frankie's place, Darcy was smiling shyly and shaking Matty's hand. Her wild blond hair spilled over the side of her face. Damn she was stunning. Frankie raised his eyebrows at me, and an amused smile, barely visible, tugged at his mouth.

Away from the threat of sunlight, and the influence of the demonic fan club president, Purefoy played the role of Rock God to perfection. Grasping Darcy's hand, he pulled her in to him, singing quietly in her ear.

Trying really hard not to roll my eyes, I plopped down on Frankie's black leather couch, glancing around the apartment, which was really one cavernous room of exposed brick and oak flooring. He hadn't done much to it since he'd been here. The couch was part of a whole sectional set. It was a nice purchase, and probably courtesy of his mall obsession. I cringed when I saw a pile of clothes, tags still on, heaped on top of the dresser near his bed. If he didn't curb his shopping addiction soon, he'd need an intervention.

"Feel better?" I forced a smile at Purefoy, hoping to interrupt the intimate moment.

"Much, thank you. A little hungry. Do you have any blood bags?"

Frankie smirked. "Blood bags?"

"I don't like to bite," Matty said as he winked at Darcy. "No need to worry, doll."

Darcy giggled.

"Oh God. Seriously?" I groaned, rubbing my eyes with my free hand.

"No blood bags, sorry," Frankie said, his tone clipped. I think he was trying not to laugh.

As if it wasn't clear enough before, we were now certain Purefoy was a Beta. Small fangs, didn't like to bite. I was so punch-drunk exhausted, it was all I could do not to laugh.

"So...Killing Haley? That's...not true?" Darcy asked hesitantly.

"No, of course not." His face lit up. He was very good looking, in that skinny, emo sort of way. "That was my Dad's idea. He's really a brilliant marketer. Wish he put that skill to better use."

Of course. Tavio was the man behind Bertrand's rise to power in Providence. The man got a demon into City Hall. Directing the career of a rock band would be a cakewalk.

Purefoy motioned for Darcy to sit on the chair beside him, and she sank into one of Frankie's spiffy new club seats. "Nice furniture, Frankie," Darcy said, still beaming at Matty. But Frankie was so delighted to talk about his shopping that he didn't even notice.

While Frankie launched into a blow-by-blow rundown of his afternoon testing out the chair, I took my coffee across the room to my partner's workbench, where he'd lined up a bunch of stakes along the table.

Frankie came up with some truly stunning weapons. In one of his many lifetimes, he’d learned to blacksmith and made silver and steel weaponry. But he really excelled at woodwork. He made me a beautiful wooden crossbow that was destroyed in the fight with Marcello before I could even get a shot off.

I picked up a stake and examined the intricate runes he had carved into the hawthorn wood. It was beautiful work. I reached for another one, this one etched with different runes, and felt slight sparks hit my fingertips. Clearly whatever he was warding them with reacted to either the vampire or the witch in me. It was cool.

"Nice work, Frankie," I said as I wielded the first stake in my hand and turned to the group on strike position, interrupting Frankie's story.

Matty gasped in fear, and dove off the sofa and under the coffee table.

"Relax, mate." Frankie side-eyed the Beta. "If she wanted you dead, she'd have done it already."

"Don't tempt me," I said flatly. "But seriously, Frankie, gorgeous stuff. What do the runes do?"

"How many times have we gone on a job packing for vampires but ended up facing off with another creature?" Frankie asked.

"Enough times to kick myself for not being prepared, because I know better."

"The stakes kill the vampire, but the runes take other supernaturals into account," he said. "And if they don't work, they look really cool."

"Brilliant. That one sparked me." I pointed to the stake at the end of the bench. "What does it take out?"

Frankie smiled proudly. "Witches."

I raised my eyebrows at that. "What about this one?" I pointed to a pair with some seriously precise patterns.

Frankie sighed. "Not sure, but I am hoping that'll take out a demon."

"That's not possible," Matty said, settling back into his chair rather nonchalantly after diving under the table. "Nothing kills a demon."

"That we know of," Darcy added pointedly. Matty beamed at her.

I finished the rest of my coffee in one gulp. "I have to get up in, like, three hours to open Babe's. I need to get some sleep. So can we talk about this demon business please? Maybe we can test Frankie's stakes."

"Here's a question for you." Frankie looked at Matty, who had crawled out from under the coffee table and was now perched on the arm of Darcy's chair. "If you don't like Kittie, why do you keep her around? It's your band, and your call. Tell her to piss off."

Matty's eyes widened in horror. "You don't say no to Kittie."

I snorted. "Have you even
tried
?"

Matty gulped, hard. "Elias did, once. When she first showed up, he was like 'Dude, she's got bad juju.' So we're at a band meeting and she shows up and he tries to boot her out, 'cause it's a band meeting and she's not in the band."

He paused, looking at each of us expectantly.

"Go on," I said impatiently.

"Well, she's not in the band and Elias said so and she got really angry and cursed him," Matty continued. "And the next day, he got into a car crash, really bad. Spent days in ICU in a medically induced coma. He finally came out of it, but he really fucked up his left arm. Doctor said he'd never drum again."

Frankie scratched his head. "But he's on tour with you, isn't he? Drumming, I assume?"

"That's the thing," Matty said. "Kittie fixed him."

"Why would she do that?" I asked. "He was a threat to her."

Matty nodded knowingly. "Exactly, and now, he owes her a favor."

"What do you think? Bit of a stretch?" Frankie asked me.

I shrugged. "What's he like with her now?"

"Now he backs her up." Matty crossed his arms and leaned back a bit.

I'd say Elias change of behavior after the crash was a coincidence, but neither Frankie nor I believed in those. "I think she's a demon and that makes her dangerous."

"I can't say if she's that or not." Matty nervously hedged a bit. "But I am saying she's dangerous."

"I think we need more proof before we accuse someone of being a demon," Darcy said quietly.

"Like, what kind of proof do you need?" Matty asked.

"There was a massive attack on 17 humans last night, just over the border into Massachusetts," Darcy explained. "If Nina's right, and Kittie is a demon, she orchestrated it with the groupies."

"What time did they find the bodies?" Frankie asked, avoiding Darcy's eyes.

"Around 8 a.m, I think," she said.

"We only got into town at around 4:30 this morning. I guess it could have been them, but they didn't have much time," Matty said. "Look, I'd love to talk about this more but since we've been on the road, finding something to eat has been near impossible. I feel near death."

Darcy let out a small noise of empathy. Frankie smirked.

I launched to my feet, my anger erupting like a shot of adrenaline. "Right, you want blood, and I guess I am supposed to get it for you?"

Matty smiled sweetly. "Tell you what. While you're out procuring dinner, I'll call my dad and tell him you're looking out for me. Then no one will be pissed that we split. Or think you kidnapped me."

I pursed my lips and thought for a minute. "Darcy, you're coming with me. No dolling up, please, you need to look sick. Goddamn Betas."

"Hey!" Matty said, sounding indignant. "We don't like to be called that."

"What are you going to do about it?" I growled. I'd had it with his pampered, rock star attitude.

"Nina!" Darcy gasped.

Without their usual toothache-like warning, my fangs ripped through my gums as I swung around to face her. She shrank back at the sight of my face, which was full-on vamped out.

"Whoa," Frankie jumped between us.

"Crap!" I yelped, trying to pull myself back together. "Sorry, Darcy. It's from that damn witch blade. It just happens when I'm tired."

"Or stressed," Frankie added. "It also happens when you're stressed."

That did it. I needed to blow off some steam. I sucker punched Frankie, and, taken off guard, he went down. I grinned like a loon. Sleep deprivation was clearly taking its toll.

Frankie pulled himself to his feet, rubbing his jaw. "Feeling better now? All out of your system?"

"Yeah, thanks," I muttered.

He shrugged. "But that smarts. I think that witch blade made you stronger, too."

Frankie didn't deserve to be punched, but really, he was the only one I could clock. I knew he wouldn't hold it against me.

"Hug it out?" I opened my arms as a peace offering.

"Piss off," he said with a grin. See? We were fine.

"Are you done? Because I am still starving," Matty whined.

I was about to lay into the brat, but apparently Darcy didn't like the pampered celebrity role that he was playing any more than Frankie and I did.

"I think you should be a little more patient and a whole lot more thankful that not only did they get you away from that she-devil and out of the sunlight, but now Nina is willing to run out and get you blood from..." Darcy paused. "Where are you getting blood?"

"We," I said pointedly. "
We
are going to the hospital to steal some blood bags. So you need to play sick. I think I have a cooler upstairs, and we can fill it with snow to keep the blood on ice."

Matty's face contorted in disapproval. "Bags? I prefer it fresh. It's the perfect temperature."

"We can nuke it in the microwave," I said with a huff. "God, just be grateful, you little shit. I can't believe I am fucking related to you."

I turned on my heel and walked to the revolving door. I hoped that keeping my idiot cousin happy would mean brownie points from Tavio and Bertrand. Then maybe Frankie would be able to keep his daywalking ability. He was like a kid in a candy store over these past few months, his smile as bright as the sun that he stood under for the first time in centuries. It would be cruel to take that away from him now. My heart broke for him just thinking about how he'd feel if he lost it again.

Sensing Darcy behind me on the stairs, I pushed through the door and into the light, my eyes readjusting. I'd never stolen blood out of a blood bank before. I hoped that I would formulate a decent plan on the way there, because right then, I had nothing.

CHAPTER SEVEN

I forced Darcy to stay in her jammies for the trip to the hospital, and she wasn't very happy about it. Well, that and I also refused to let her wear her coat. Instead, I bundled her into a ratty army blanket that Dog liked to use when she curled up on the floor. That just about set her off.

The worse Darcy looked, I reasoned, the easier we'd disappear into the chaos of the emergency room. Then I could slip off to the blood bank, pinch a few bags, and we'd be on our way. Then maybe I could finally get some sleep.

But I needed one more accomplice to pull this off, so I spent the drive to the hospital yelling for Casper. I'd never actually done this before. If we didn't plan it out ahead of time, he kind of appeared at will, usually when I was in a desperate situation. But I wasn't in dire straits at the moment (unless you counted sleep deprivation), and I had no idea how to reach him. Ghosts don't carry cell phones.

By the time he materialized, we were settled into one of the tiny, curtained off cubicles in the Rhode Island Hospital ER. Darcy was faking a great bout of flu, and I was trying not to vamp out from the scent of fresh blood from all the wounded humans streaming into the trauma center. I heard Casper's "Oh hell no!" before I even felt the pressure mount in my head. I hadn't even considered how being back here would make him feel. This was where he died.

"But it's where we met!" I said. Imploring him to help us out was proving exceedingly difficult, but that seemed to nudge him in the right direction.

It helped that Casper was a Killing Haley fan, shocking since he never struck me as particularly emo. "Killing Haley, no joke, right?" he said, needing more convincing. "And I get to meet him. Promise me, Nina."

I nodded hard once and he calmed down.

Luck followed us into the hospital because it was busier than I anticipated with a steady stream of gunshot wounds. Sitting there in the ER, my composure hanging by a thread, I realized that Ami Bertrand's tenuous grip on the city was slipping.  Between a string of rabid Beta-Vamps unleashed on the area and the human violence that was escalating by the day, the good he did in a few short months was unraveling. And as much as I hated to admit it, he did start to clean shit up around here. I just wondered to what ends. His citywide cleanup was benefiting that demon somehow. He wasn't the magnanimous type.

The ER was in a state of chaos, so, as anticipated, Darcy’s flu symptoms were the least of the staff's worries. That left me ample opportunity to get to the blood bank, but I didn't know where I was going. That's where Casper came in. He could haunt around the halls undetected and find the room that held the blood and then guide me there, while Darcy cooled her heels on a gurney in the ER, just in case they came looking for us. Simple but smart, I thought.

Casper wasted no time searching the premises and seeped back into my head in less than 10 minutes. I almost didn't believe him when he said he found the place, but since he wanted to get the hell out of the hospital, it made sense that he didn't dawdle. I flung Darcy's oversized purse over my shoulder and slipped out from behind the curtain. Taking one last look at Darcy, who winked at me as she lay back and groaned slightly, milking her performance, I was hit with a pang of jealousy. I so wanted to be in that cot, taking a nap. Shaking my head, I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and let Casper take over. I was getting better at letting him take the lead, but the out-of-body experience of the whole thing was still unsettling.

We moved with purpose through the crowded ER, everyone too busy to notice that we were out of place. I was happy we were moving swiftly — there were a lot of open wounds, and the coppery scent of blood was making me salivate. I was too tired and malnourished to fight my vampire urges, which grew stronger every day.

Casper led me through a door at the back of the ER, and then we race-walked down a long hallway with harsh fluorescent lighting that made the paint-chipped white walls look dank. We were clearly in a hallway used only by hospital staff. I pulled him back a bit. Now we were moving too quickly and I didn't want to draw unwanted attention. Casper called me a nasty name in Spanish but didn’t fight me when I slowed the pace.

With him guiding me, I slowly and quietly pushed open the stairwell door at the end, and we moved swiftly down the steps. Sounds of the metal fire doors opening and closing above put both of us on guard. I timed opening the door at the bottom of the staircase with one opening above us, trying to keep the noise to a minimum. Drops of sweat ran uncomfortably down my back. Wishing I had left my jacket with Darcy, I shifted her oversized purse on my shoulder. Taking a breath, Casper and I pushed through.

We were in the bowels of the hospital. The hum from a compressor drowned out the slam of the heavy metal door, which I forgot to close quietly. Antiseptic smells commingled with the scent of fresh blood, distracting me for a second. I didn't need Casper to guide me anymore. I could smell my way to the blood bank.

I slipped quietly toward a white door that almost blended with the wall, my nostrils flaring at the pungent scent of sustenance.

Casper's voice jarred me out of my laser focus on the closed door ahead of us. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"Nothing," I lied, shaking lose the cobwebs in my head.

I stood very still in front of that door, hyper-aware of every breath I took. I could feel blood moving through me — my pumping heart pushing blood up to my brain, and then gravity taking it down to the rest of my body. On the other side of this door was a banquet, and I was very, very hungry.

Casper's trepidation was palpable as we slowly, quietly entered the room. I sighed audibly with relief when I saw no one was inside, and got down to business filling Darcy's oversized sack with blood bags, which were neatly stacked in refrigerators lining the wall.

"Does he have a preference?" Casper asked.

I slowed down long enough to see that each bag was dated. Of course, blood had an expiration date. I made a point of pulling the bags that were about to expire, leaving the fresher blood. It felt better to steal the ones closer to their expiry date, in case they were going to throw them away or something. Sure, the logic was flawed, but it made me feel a lot better about stealing blood that was reserved for people who would die without it.

I was checking the date on a bag of AB negative when a sudden adrenaline spike caught me completely off guard.

"Frankie?" I mumbled, feeling the mental barrier between us slip away. A violent hunger surged through me, and I groaned as sharp pains tore into my stomach.

While I tried to fight the pain in my gut, I went numb at my reflection in the cold metal cabinet. I was completely vamped out and hadn’t felt my body change.

A sudden onslaught of vertigo made me squeeze the bag still in my hand, my fingernail puncturing a hole in it. The blood flowed from the hole down my index finger, moving towards my arm. Before I even thought about what I was doing, I pulled my hand to my mouth, and licked up the blood before it reached my coat.

As soon as the ice cold, salty blood hit my tongue, my legs buckled. I dropped to the floor, and my fangs, longer than usual, sliced into my lip, making me shriek more out of surprise than pain. But it didn't matter. My mind was laser focused on that blood, and my mouth instinctively moved until I reached the hole in the bag. The blood moved through the bag at a glacial pace, and I sucked at it violently. I just could not get my fill. Casper's panic was clouding my head. I tried to force him out, but he was stubborn and wouldn't budge.  

"¡Usted vampiro de chupando de la sangre!" Casper's scream broke me out of my gorging.

I pulled my mouth away from the bag to catch my breath, only then actually realizing why he was screaming at me. Horrified, I threw the bag across the room. It burst when it hit the wall, the remaining blood suddenly smeared down in a thick red line.

My heart raced, and my stomach churned. What did I just do? While part of me found it repugnant, another part of me felt weirdly sated. And, honestly, I felt really, really good. Powerful. Almost invincible. I got to my feet, my exhaustion gone. I was ready to take on a world filled with big bad beasties.

And then, like a junkie coming in for a crash, I felt awful, doubling over when a sharp pain sliced through my stomach again. My head was spinning, and with Casper still in there cursing me out in Spanish, it began to pound. And then I lost it. The blood came up, and it was a hell of a lot less pleasant going in this direction. Casper, smartly, jumped out of my body. Adding to the chaos, my cell phone started buzzing angrily. I didn't have to pull it out to know that it was Frankie. I was certain that he felt everything that just happened, because I swear he was inside of me the entire time.

Once my stomach emptied, I wiped my mouth, smearing regurgitated blood on the back of my hand. Just when I thought that this hospital run could not get any worse, a lab tech sauntered into the room, singing MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This." She met my eyes, and, in shock, stepped into the barfed up blood. Immediately, she was off her feet, landing on her backside on top of the mess. She screamed. Hell, I would've too.

Her screams weren't helping my headache, and they definitely weren't helping me get of the hospital undetected. Taking a deep breath, I stooped down and grabbed her by the shoulders. Panicking, she started to fight me, kicking out her legs, and nailing me right in the crotch. Even though I have lady parts, it still smarted. The surge of pain forced my fangs out again. Based on her sudden intake of breath and a pause in her kicking, she noticed too. Then she screamed louder, and kicked out faster and harder. No doubt about it, she was hysterical. But the more she fought me, the vampy-er I got, turning this into one unending crisis loop. I finally slapped her hard across the face, which turned her screaming into a sustained whimpering.

I gently turned her face towards mine and looked into her eyes. I hated to do it, but I had to enthrall her so that she forgot about the whole damn episode. While I was at it, I figured I'd have her clean up the mess, too. My least favorite vampire power — controlling another person's mind, their will — was a useful power, especially right then.

When the poor woman went off looking for a mop and a bucket, I fled. Sprinting down the hallway and then running up the stairs, I wasn't worried about being quiet anymore. With the oversized purse weighed down with bags of blood, it was time to get the hell out as quickly as possible.

When I got to the ER floor, I slowed my pace. My phone went off again, but I continued to ignore it. I had to pick up Darcy. She was still lying on her gurney, but her small moans were exchanged for light snoring. I nudged her awake.

"What the hell happened to you?" she whispered. She didn't even try to hide her alarm at my disheveled and blood covered state. My voicemail and text message alerts went off, which I ignored again.

I tossed Darcy's boots to her. "I really don't want to talk about it right now. We've got to
go
!"

I shifted anxiously from foot to foot while she pulled them on. Without warning, Casper pushed back into my body, leaving me shivering at the icy-cold temperature he pulled along with him.

"You got a clear shot out of the ER if you go now," he said.

"Will you take us?" I was almost too scared to ask. Witches aren't fond of vampires for a reason, and what I just did back there was a really big part of it. 

"Yes, but don't you pull that blood sucking freak shit again.
¿Entiendes?

I nodded. His words stung, and I fought back tears. He was right, after all. But I had no idea how I turned into that so quickly. One second I was Nina Martinez, exhausted barkeep and secret Blood Ops member. The next, I was a blood sucking freak.

Putting some distance between myself and the remaining blood bags seemed like a wise idea, so I handed off the giant purse to Darcy. Then I let Casper take control. With a nod for Darcy to follow, we slipped out of the curtained off exam room and into the bustling ER. Moving swiftly and with purpose, we headed for the exit. Then, calm as you please, we walked into the waiting room and headed straight out the front doors.

Relieved to be out of the hospital, I took a deep breath. The cold air felt like razor blades in my lungs, and I coughed up more blood, spitting it out on the sidewalk.

"Holy shit, Nina!" Darcy cried when she saw the red glob of phlegm.

I was doubled over again, unable to breathe in without feeling like my lungs were getting sliced. She rushed to my side, rubbing my back as I continued to fight for air and then spit up more blood.

"Nina! What the hell is going on?" Her voice was edged with fear.

But I couldn't respond. Casper wrested control of my body. I fought him for a second before giving in and slumping to the ground. His chant of "Mud-Kesta, Mud-Kesta, Mud-Kesta..." filled my head. With my body under Casper's control, my hands cut intricate patterns in the air.

Casper released me. I leaned against the bumper of a parked car. I finally could breathe without pain searing through my lungs. Inhaling deeply, I whispered my thanks to Casper, just as my cell phone went wild once again. I silenced it.