Blood Pool

Chapter Ten

Jade felt the needle enter her vein and she jolted, forgetting about the heavy leather restraints that held down her arms. They dug into her tender flesh.

Tracy looked at the young woman lying in the hospital bed.

“I’m administering blood. Your sister ordered this. Contrary to what you must think, she is not a monster. Your sister is a woman in love, trying everything she knows to save the life of the man she cannot live without. The man your father is trying to kill.” Jade watched the woman finger a pendant that hung around her neck.

Jade was too weak to answer. She silently watched the older woman exit the room. Her eyes closed as sleep took over.

In an instant, she was on a beach looking at her own reflection, only older.

“Maman.”

She was back in New Orleans.

Her mother held her close as a cool breeze passed around them, bringing the scents of honeysuckle and orange blossom. “Jade, my sweet, beautiful Jade. You will be fine. Your sister would never kill you. She is just hurting so badly,” Nicolette said.

“Am I dead?”

Nicolette hugged her tighter. “No, you’re dreaming.”

Jade held on, unyielding. She frowned. “You haven’t come to me in my dreams in so long, Maman. I miss you. What’s happening?”

Nicolette took her daughter’s hand in hers. “Your father has done a terrible thing. He is trying to hurt your sister and all those she loves.”

Jade’s astral form stood, feeling the sand between her toes. It was all so real, being here with her mother.

But that couldn’t be.

Her mother was dead. Jade’s analytical mind fought with her psychic side. She pushed those questions from her mind. Focus on getting answers, she thought.

“Listen to me, chéri, there’s not a lot of time. You know how in your dreams you always ask why I haven’t explained things to you? I wanted to wait. Honestly, I never wanted to tell you at all, but things have gotten out of control. You need to know the truth, and not your father’s version of it.”

Jade sat back down next to her mother. “Go on…”

“First of all, when I knew your father, he was a good man, no matter what people say about him now. It was my fault that all this happened. I don’t want you to ever believe that it was your fault in any way.” Nicolette gently stroked her daughter’s cheek.

“Père always blamed Tobias,” Jade explained.

“I know. And Tobias blamed Philippe, but it was me. I’d been angry at Tobias for always leaving us, your sister and me. Your father had been a good friend until he fell in love with me. I did love him, in my own way.” Nicolette stood and turned away from Jade.

“One day at Mardi Gras, I gave in to Philippe, and you were conceived. I was so confused and very angry for being left alone all those times. I thought I was falling out of love with Tobias and in love with Philippe. It is all so clear now. But back then I didn’t know.”

“Didn’t know what?”

“Your father had enlisted the help of a fae. A fledgling with a reputation in casting love spells. That was the real reason I gave in so easily, though your father is quite charming when he wishes to be. I wasn’t falling out of love with Tobias, I was enchanted by the fae’s magick. I know that now. I didn’t know it at the time.

“As soon as I saw Tobias and realized what I’d done, I knew I loved him still. He was my husband, and I had deceived him. The man I’ve loved for lifetimes. Your Uncle Frank convinced me to tell Tobias that Philippe raped me.”

“Uncle Frank?”

Nicolette turned to her daughter once more. “It was wrong to say such a thing about your father, but Frank was so convincing that this was the best way to handle the situation. He told me Tobias would never forgive me if he knew the truth, and I was naïve and so wracked with guilt. I didn’t know where to turn, chéri. When the heart is involved, people do things they wouldn’t normally.”

“Like Raven.”

Nicolette smiled. “Yes, and like me-and your father. To Tobias’s credit, he did not kill Philippe, though he wanted to. Believe me, I would have told him the truth if it had come to that. Remember, there will always be people ready to take advantage of others. I hope my daughters inherited their fathers’ sense of guile, and not my naïveté.”

Jade’s eyes filled with tears. “You didn’t love me enough to live?”

Nicolette was silent for a long while. She seemed perplexed as to what she should reveal to her daughter and what secrets were best kept hidden.

“I did-I do love you, ma bébé-always. Don’t ever think that I didn’t…that I don’t love you. I love you more than you’ll ever know. But Jade, you must try to convince your father to stop this. I have tried to reach him, but he won’t listen.” Nicolette looked like there was more to tell, but she told her daughter as much as Jade was prepared to hear.

Jade begged. “Why? Père knows what really happened between you.”

“I don’t have much more time with you here. Just know that I have to make right what I messed up so miserably. Somehow, I have to fix this. I’m so sorry I hurt you. I love you with all my heart.”

“I love you, too, Maman.” Jade grasped her mother’s hand, not wanting to let go.

Jade’s surroundings took on a pixilated quality.

Images faded in and out.

“I don’t want you and your sister to be enemies. I never wanted that.” Tears filled the older woman’s eyes.

The two women stood and embraced. Nicolette stood back and looked deeply into the green eyes whose shade was identical to her own.

“You are so beautiful. I’m so sorry, ma petite. I have to go.”

Raul watched as Tracy left Jade’s room. She had brought him a sandwich earlier, and now that her task of administering blood was underway, Tracy headed back to the lab. There was a discernible ripple in the energy of the hall where Raul sat, but he could not put his finger on it. By the time he realized what was happening, the needle was plunged into his arm, while white powder flew in his face.

Laroque used a torsion wrench to unlock the door to his daughter’s room. The bag of blood that replenished her body was empty. Carefully, he removed the IV, his anger flaring while he unhooked the leather restraints. Gathering Jade into his arms, he whispered a charm to create a diversion, making it possible for them to exit the hospital without notice. He rushed to the parking lot carrying his daughter, whispering words of reassurance to her.

“Maman…”

“Il est moi, papa.”

“Père…I’m so sleepy. I saw maman,” Jade muttered as he placed her in the backseat of the borrowed sedan. The shape shifter he had just infected would not need his vehicle for a long time, if ever.

“Rest, Jade. We will be home in a little while.”

“Don’t say it! Please, don’t say it!” Raven cried to her father.

“You are lucky he came solely for Jade and not to get revenge, although he’ll be back,” Tobias countered.

Raven slumped against the wall outside of Bo’s room. Her whole world was crumbling around her. She was terrified that she’d taken too much blood from Jade. Everything she tried to improve became worse. She was grateful to her father. Though angry, he kept the depth of his rage at bay.

Nothing turned out like she had imagined.

Laroque was supposed to return and beg for his daughter’s safe return. The way it played out in Raven’s mind, he should be handing over the vaccines. Then she would unlock the door to where she had Jade hidden.

“How’s Raul?” she asked.

“Missing. I think it’s time Laroque and I have a meeting,” Tobias said. “I have kept this inside long enough. He is a monster. The things he did to my sweet Nicolette-to your mother. He’s the worst kind of animal, and I let Frank convince me for your sake to let it go. I will not let it go any longer.”

Raven grabbed her father’s arm. “No! You’re more vulnerable than any of us. This virus is mutating, and if Bo’s grandfather is correct, it is the magickal aspect of our make-up that makes us susceptible. There has to be another way.”

Both daughters of Nicolette were fearful of losing the only parent they had left, and both would do anything to protect them. Their loyalty to family was unwavering, and they were more alike than Raven realized.

“Raven, I am going to see him, no matter what you say. Bo is not getting better. We have to do something. I will finally have my revenge.”

Raven clenched her jaw in frustration. “And what if you can’t get him to give you the antidote? What if he infects you? You’re going to have another child. Think of Emmie! You cannot go, and you can’t kill him. Then we’ll really be screwed.”

Tobias flashed his lethal fangs as he swore at his daughter. At a time like this, when Tobias was enraged, he appeared massive. “I’ll get the answers we need from him. I have had many years to plan a slow and painful torture for Courtier de Sang.”

Joe Menendez came barreling down the hall with Bianca on his heels. “Raven, you’ve got another siren washed up on the shore and two more people with bite marks in the ER, and…”

“What, Joe?”

Bianca answered. “An Empusa is dead and there’s word of a Lykan’s death. Nat is doing the autopsy on the Empusa with Davis. The Lykan, as I’m sure you know, evaporated to dust upon death. This is becoming some kind of a mystical-being murder spree.”

“A Lykan? I didn’t know they came to the island,” Raven said.

“Seems some Lykans and shifters have mated. There aren’t many around. Joe, how do you know for certain it was a Lykan?” Tobias asked.

“Solaris saw him, the Lykan. Tracy is running some tests on the…remains.” Joe looked helplessly at Raven, then at Tobias. “And they’re bringing in Emerald as we speak. She passed out in the hospital parking lot. They think she’s infected.”

“The baby!” Tobias lunged toward the ER’s dented green double doors. “If Hekate is awakened, we’ll have more to worry about than Laroque,” he said before the doors swished closed behind him.

“Hekate?” Joe asked Raven as she headed toward the lab.

The lab was in the newer section of the building. Celery green paint covered half the walls, and oak wainscoting adorned the rest. Beautiful watercolors donated by local artists added a soothing quality to the room. Raven felt anything but soothed.

Lush greenery of Swedish ivy hung in corners from macramé holders and Norfolk pines added life-giving energy to the space. Everything should be dead. Bo is dying. Everything should die with him.

Despite the homey quality of the lab, Raven was anxious. She needed to do something to try to help Tracy come up with an answer-and fast. She mentally gave herself a slap, commanding herself to snap out of it.

“Rav…who’s Hekate?” Joe asked.

Bianca attempted to fill in the blanks. Raven’s thoughts were light years away. “Yeah, Hekate-don’t ask,” Bianca said. “You mean you’ve lived here your entire life and you don’t know the folklore of the island? Shame on you,” she teased.

Joe eyed the pretty young woman.

Raven could see he enjoyed flirting with her. How can he flirt when his partner is fighting for his life?

“Then why don’t you fill me in? Take pity on an ignorant native and teach him a thing or two,” he said with a sly smile.

“You want to learn?”

“Guys?” Raven tried to get their attention.

“Honey, anything you want to teach me, I’ll be more than willing to learn. How about we start with a dinner date? Then, over drinks, you can teach me the history of Mirabelle. I’ve heard you have ancestors who helped establish the island.”

“Are you asking me out?” Bianca asked.

Raven’s ire was building. “Guys.”

“Yes, I am.”

Bianca smiled. “I accept,” she said, and headed for the ER.

“Sorry,” Joe said contritely.

Joe and Raven walked through the morgue and into Raven’s lab. Joe’s face was engraved with worry and confusion.

“I guess I’ll give you the short version of island lore,” Raven said.

Raven inhaled deeply and attempted to explain the history of the Lamai in as few words as possible.

“The Lamai originated in ancient Greece. Queen Rhia of Libya literally went insane after the brutal murder of her husband and children. She headed to Greece, blaming Hera for her children’s death, but it wasn’t Hera’s fault. It was an Empusa.” Joe looked more confused. Raven tried to elucidate. “Empusas are demons that take on human form from time to time. They are affiliated with Hekate. Rhia went on a rampage and took to traveling the earth, starting in Greece. She drank the blood of humans and, like the succubus, would manifest as a beautiful woman, only to devour her lovers. She fed on the blood and was therefore considered the Mother of the Lamai. Not a very pleasant history.

Raven walked to the table where Tracy was working on Bo’s latest blood samples. Tracy ’s affect was solemn. “What many people don’t know is that Rhia and Hekate are sisters, though Rhia chose to live as a mortal. The Empusas were once beautiful creatures. After Hekate learned what they did to her sister’s family, she cursed them with hideous looks.”

Joe was curious now. “Is she still around, this Rhia? And what does this have to do with Hekate?”

“Yes, Queen Rhia is still walking the earth, though she doesn’t feed anymore. She doesn’t have to. Hekate is the Goddess who watches over the island and is in charge of the Empusas. I suppose it’s a guilt thing over Rhia’s losses. Hekate wanted to activate Rhia’s goddess powers, but Rhia refused. They have a kind of alliance. Hekate has the power to grant mortals anything they wish. If Laroque is trying to awaken her, who knows what he may try to get from her.”

“What could he possibly get?” Joe asked, jingling his pocketful of change.

“Immortality…” Raven stood and suddenly threw herself into Joe’s arms, hugging him and kissing his cheek. “You’re brilliant!”

In a flash, she was gone.