Blood Pool

Chapter Nine

Philippe Laroque sensed the Lamai’s energy in the air as he tied his boat to the dock. He silently cursed the day he promised his daughter he wouldn’t hurt Raven Strigoi. It was too late; he’d given his daughter his word.

He feared the half-breed had come for his daughter. If she did, all bets were off. He would do whatever was necessary to get Jade back.

He rushed to the back of the house, past the sliding doors, punching in the code for the alarm before it sounded. It was disarmed. Checking each room, he called out to his daughter, but there was only silence.

Stepping toward the bookcase in his den, he reached for the thick black leather-bound grimoire. Inside the book was a cut-out of pages measuring three inches by five inches, and in it he kept three small vials. He closed the book, satisfied his virus was still safe, and replaced it on the shelf. Before doing so, he removed one of the vials and slipped it into his pocket.

There were a few more hours until dawn. Tobias Strigoi would soon relive the pain that Laroque had suffered: the loss of a loved one.

“What do you want from me?” Jade struggled against the restraints. The room was dark and her eyes had trouble focusing, but she sensed someone was in the room with her.

“Where does he keep the virus?” Her icy voice cracked through the blackness. Raven had to keep her temper in check. If it took over, she could not be responsible for her actions. She remained connected to Bo’s aura and could feel his life force slipping away along with her self-control.

“There are things I could do to you that would make you beg for death. Or worse, I could turn you into a Lamai, and you would live long past all those you love. And your father would despise you, of course, knowing that you have the blood of Tobias Strigoi coursing through your veins. That would be an added bonus.”

Jade was panicking and she began to hyperventilate. “I don’t know what virus you’re talking about. He keeps his work private. I know nothing about what he’s done. All I know is that he blames your father for our mother’s death.” Hearing her say our mother sounded strange. She imagined it was odd for Jade as well. “I made him promise not to hurt you.”

Raven huffed. “How sweet.”

“Bitch,” Jade muttered.

“I make bitches look angelic.”

“My father’s a scientist. He’s always working on a project.”

“Then you knew he was up to something.” Raven paced the floor. Her mind raced. Time was running out.

Jade gasped in the gloom of the cold autopsy room, squirming. Raven smelled her fear. “All I know is that he wants to hurt your father.”

In an instant, Raven was at the side of the bed once more. “Were you in on that little scheme in the park?” She leaned over, inches away from her sister, baring her white fangs enough for Jade to see in the limited light.

Jade was silent.

A ripple passed through Raven. A menacing source of energy had entered the hospital grounds. Time was up.

“Answer me,” she growled, moving closer to the young woman’s neck.

“No.”

Raven swore back. “Liar!”

She thrust her head forward and sank her teeth into the flesh of her younger sister’s neck, grateful for the dark. If Raven had to see her face, she wasn’t sure she would be able to follow through.

“No…” Jade moaned as her blood pulsed into the Lamai’s mouth. The fingers of Raven’s left hand circled around and caressed Jade’s cheek then slowly wound around the soft brown curls of her hair.

It had been years since Raven had fed from a human. The emotions of the blood throbbed through her body. Jade arched against her sister and she shuddered from the ecstasy of it. Raven knew that intense ecstasy.

The joining of one being to another.

The sensations of flesh against flesh.

The scent of her sister filled her being.

Life experiences of her younger sibling flashed before her inner mind. Raven felt the impact of their mother’s death on Jade. Her years as a little girl and what it was like for her living with Frank Dubois’s sister, and then Laroque.

What was Laroque like? What had drawn her mother to him-and why? All these thoughts ran through Raven’s mind, lost in the auspices of the blood.

At once, Raven pulled away.

Her face flushed. Blood dripped from the corners of her mouth. She reached for a cloth that rested on a nearby sink and wiped her lips.

Laroque was coming for her.

Ingesting Jade’s blood gave her psychic antennae a boost and a direct link to Laroque. He was too close.

Jade grabbed her arm in fear.

Raven psychically observed as both the auras of her father and Laroque intertwined. Moments passed before she collected her wits. Then she realized what she had done and what she now had to do.

There was little time to think. With locks, charms and spells, she sealed the door to Jade’s room. Raul, a member of Bo’s tribe and a Jaguar shape shifter guarded the door.

Raven headed to Bo’s room.

A voice echoed down the hall. “Raven!”

She spun around to face Tobias.

He was livid. “What is going on? Do you want to die?”

“I’m trying to save Bo.” She tried to pass her father, but his energy was too forceful.

“By bringing Laroque here? You know he’ll come for her.” His eyes flashed, full of rage.

“If he loves her, he’ll leave her right where she is. She’ll need a blood transfusion. If he doesn’t give me the antidote, he’ll have to deal with the consequences.” As an afterthought, she added, “And I don’t care what the Counsel has to say.”

Tobias lowered his head. “That’s the least of your troubles right now, Raven. You need to get to Bo’s room-now.”

Raven raced through the halls and into the ICU. Ian had added something to Bo’s IV. She couldn’t see what it was.

Tracy paced the floor.

Raven tilted her head toward her friend. “Trace, please give our friend a pint of O negative.”

Tracy dropped her gaze to the floor and walked out quietly.

“What’s that, Ian?” Raven asked as she approached Bo’s bedside. He looked so vulnerable, so weak-not like the strong warrior with the heart of a wolf that she knew him to be.

“Ian?” Raven asked again.

“Human antibodies.”

She knew they’d reached at the end of the line as far as treatment options were concerned. “Ian, I want you to take blood from me. We’ve fed from each other. Maybe I have some antibodies that could help him.”

Ian Odin shook his head. “Raven, he may bleed out. We don’t know how this will affect him.”

“Ian, please, try,” Raven begged. She was a doctor, and in her mind there had to be an answer to this medical puzzle. Ian Odin was a Master Wizard and a doctor. Together there was no way-no excuse-for them to lose Bo.

Ian nodded in agreement.

The nurse on duty set up a gurney for Raven and prepared the needle.

“We’re going to give him some of Mordred’s antibodies and see if that has a positive effect. I’m afraid the virus has mutated again,” Ian reported to his crestfallen co-worker.

Raven closed her eyes as the needle went into her arm. She was weak and worn out. The past few hours were taking their toll on her.

“What about Tobias? If he turned Bo to a Lamai? My father’s blood is powerful…” A knot formed in her throat when she heard the desperation in her voice. Mat, Bo’s grandfather, got up and walked over to Raven. He took her hand in his. She felt enormous strength from the elder.

He was soft-spoken and kind. “That would surely kill him, dear one. It is the wolf-magick in his blood that the virus is attacking. The spirits have warned me that Bo needs his human side to stay strong-to fight. You must pray to your mother’s spirit and to Hekate to help Bo. That your mother’s blood, which courses through your veins, strengthens him.”

For the first time all day, Raven smiled. Everything happens for a reason, she mused, and Jade being at the hospital might turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

Laroque knew his daughter was near. She was weak, but alive. His senses remained open as he targeted her location. Before he could rescue her, though, he had work to do. He needed just a few more victims to help spread his virus, and then he would get Jade and take her home.

He wandered the streets looking for leftover partiers and found a sleeping Lamai sprawled on a park bench. With the trick of a practiced bokur, Laroque stuck the young man with a needle full of the deadly virus. Laroque deftly sprinkled the white powder under the man’s nose. The enchanted crystalline powder entranced his fledgling, giving Laroque complete control.

“Go and feed, my friend,” Laroque whispered. “Feed as much as you can tonight. You need your strength.”

The fledgling abruptly awoke and stared at Laroque. Although he looked confused, he obeyed Laroque and began searching for his own victims. In spite of it being close to dawn, there were still plenty of people around to feast on. The bokur watched as the new recruit disappeared into the crowds.

Before the sun rose, Laroque had his minion infect a dozen islanders, including two more shape shifters.