Blood Pool

Chapter Eighteen

The plane touched down at Miami International Airport at 6:45 p.m. It was the last plane allowed to land that day. The storm, predicted to develop into a category-one hurricane by nightfall, did not disappoint the local meteorologists.

Jade slept during most of the flight, but Bo was as restless as a caged animal, which was precisely how he felt. The wolf wanted out.

He hated flying. But he had managed to doze off for a little while-at least long enough to dream of Raven.

They were on a secluded island, just the two of them. The sun was languidly settling into the tropical waters. Palm trees swayed in the gentle breeze, and a fire blazed in a hole he had dug out of the ground. A blanket spread out before them on the pristine sand, and a bottle of wine rested in a crystal ice bucket.

Raven’s eyes were the blue-green hazel of human irises, her skin a tawny color and her cheeks flushed with youth. She licked her lips before taking a sip and swallowing the wine.

Gods, he loved those lips. Soft and full, they felt luscious wrapped around his sex. And he wanted nothing more than to tear her panties off and show her his lust-and express the love within his heart.

He was patient, though. Despite the discomfort caused by the bulge in his jeans, he waited and sipped his own glass of wine. His gaze rushed over her as she sat on the blanket, wearing almost the identical outfit as she had the first night they’d met so long ago-on May Day Eve.

Only this dress was black as night and it was much more translucent-so much so that he could see her taut nipples through the fabric, begging to be touched.

Raven didn’t speak.

She just stared at the water and breathed in the heavily scented air. Her chest rose and fell with each inhalation. He knew those aromas, the jasmine, bougainvillea and the frangipani. Clouds were heading to the east as if a storm had cleared. She turned and looked at him. Her lips seemed to be inviting him to kiss her. She sat on her knees and faced him, placing her hands on his cheeks. The heat between Bo and Raven burned with a palpable ferocity.

“I love you.” Her mouth formed the words, but he could not hear.

He kissed her, just to make certain she was still there and not a vision. He felt her as she kissed back. Their lips parted and tongues swirled. She went limp in his arms, and as she leaned back he caught her, cradling her in his embrace.

She pressed her body closer, grasping at his shirt, tugging and pulling, trying to remove it. He sat back and peeled it off, revealing his rippling muscles and slender waist. He took her hand and placed it between his legs, rubbing the center of his longing.

She unfastened his jeans, bringing her arms together as her dress slipped down around her shoulders. Her breasts peeked out of the silky fabric, and Bo reached to taunt, tease and stroke them. She let out a soft moan, and it catapulted him to a still deeper level of yearning.

He guided her down onto the blanket.

His lips followed his hands as he traversed the valley between her bosom, up and around the soft rise of her breasts and down her belly to her sacred mound. Her back arched as his tongue stroked the soft folds of her skin, driving her over the edge. He heard her fight to catch her breath.

Grasping at the blanket beneath her, she let out a whimper as he lifted her to get a better taste of her sweet juices. She was exquisite-he could not get enough of her, and it appeared she could not get her fill of him.

Riding the crest of her climax, she cried out to him, begging him to slip inside her.

“Bo…now,” she moaned.

He leaned over her, his cock throbbing in anticipation. “Raven, my love,” he declared as he entered her, craving the surrender of his aching and obsession. “Oh, Raven.”

“Bo…”

“Huh?”

“Bo, we’re landing,” Jade said, shaking him.

Jade and Bo made their way through the airport in record time. With one bag each, they reached the car rental office within fifteen minutes of disembarking the plane.

Bo rented an SUV. He threw their belongings in the backseat, hopped in the driver’s side and started the vehicle. He felt Raven. She was closer. He didn’t know how or why he knew. He supposed it was the instinct he’d explained to Solaris. The wolf within him growled. Have to get to her. Danger. He felt his eyes changing. Must tame the beast.

Rain pelted down. The sky darkened, as did Bo’s mood.

Jade shifted in her seat. “I hate to be a pain, but can I get a little bit of that blood out of the cooler? I’m really not used to this weird feeling-hungry, but not for food.”

The rain was coming down harder, but thanks to Bo’s keen eyesight, it didn’t hinder their travel. “Help yourself. Hey-do you feel Raven? Use some of that Lamai intuition.”

Jade closed her eyes. “Nothing. I think I need some blood first. All I feel is…”

“Yeah, weird,” Bo finished her sentence.

Jade reached in the back for the cooler. “Aren’t you hungry? You should eat.”

He answered more harshly than he meant to. “No. I haven’t been hungry since…”

“Yeah, I get it. Say no more. I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but…” She opened the cooler and took out a packet of blood.

“I know you’re sorry. Jade, you don’t have to keep apologizing. Really. I just wish Raven had shared with me what she was doing… That she changed you.”

Jade sighed. “She wanted to. It was really hard for her to keep it secret. From you. Damn, she scared the shit out of me! She loves you so much. You’re a lucky guy. I got the inside scoop from Raven when she shared her blood. There’s nothing she wouldn’t do for you. It’s really intense, the way she feels about you. And it has a timeless quality, her love for you has no beginning or ending.” She was quiet a minute. “Maybe I shouldn’t have told you all this. Oh, well. Pretend I didn’t say anything.”

Bo clenched his jaw, the nervous energy building inside. The images from his dream still haunted him. Frustration swallowed him. “Look, I know you’re trying to make me feel better, but it truly is not working. Drink the blood and see if you can feel her.”

Jade looked perplexed as she fumbled with the pack of blood. “How exactly do I do this?”

“There’s a round cut-out on the top. Pop it out and put the straw in-and drink.”

She followed his directions and began drinking.

“Do you know the only reason she didn’t marry you sooner is because she knew your family wanted you to pair off with Bethany?”

“What?” The carnal lust rose within. Raven was his. It didn’t matter who approved or disapproved.

Jade smacked her lips together. “Yeah, she worried about you and how your family would feel if you got married. Raven knows your grandfather loves her, but your mother…is a different story.”

Bo didn’t answer. He didn’t have to. It was true Bo’s grandfather loved Raven, but his daughter wanted Bethany for a daughter-in-law. However, her son was stubborn, and he told his mother in no uncertain terms that Raven would be his wife someday, or he would remain a bachelor. Over time, Bo’s mother came to accept Raven. Not that it mattered.

“She also worries when you go off with the pack, that you’re-how do I say this?-mating with Bethany. And that you either don’t recall or won’t tell her. As secure as Raven is-with you-she is very insecure about Bethany.” Again she was silent. “You have to not let me talk anymore. I’m revealing all Raven’s insecurities. Not good.”

“That’s ridiculous. She knows I don’t get amnesia. Gods. I told her I remember everything that I do when I change, and I don’t ‘mate’ with anyone. Raven is mine.” He was going to remind her that wolves mate for life, but that was old news.

Jade took in a deep breath. “Well, apparently, a while back Bethany told Raven she was pregnant with your-cub? Baby? How does that work?” she asked between sips. “Hey, is this flavored?”

Bo narrowed his gaze at Jade, smirking. “Shit-very funny, Jade. A baby, not a cub. Gods, I guess your father didn’t teach you everything. And yeah, it’s flavored. What’d you get-strawberry?”

“Cranberry and…tastes peachy.”

“Oh, that’s a new one Tracy came up with.”

Jade returned to the topic at hand. “So, you never had sex with Bethany?

Bo looked over at the young woman sipping cranberry-peach type O blood. “I did in the past, but that was a long time ago.”

“You two are lucky to have each other. Raven and you, I mean.”

He knew that all too well. Why had he let all those years go by without claiming her? The love he felt for Raven was unlike any other emotion he’d ever experienced. It consumed him like fire. In the beginning he told himself he was still young and had plenty of years to settle down. He always assumed Raven would be there for him. Yes, his mother pushed him incessantly to pursue a relationship with Bethany, but his heart was never truly in it.

It was always Raven he wanted.

“Bo, your hands are white. Relax.” Jade broke the spell he was under. Thoughts of Raven inundated him. He gazed down at his hands. His knuckles were white as he gripped the steering wheel.

Clearly, it was time for a subject change. “We’re not too far from Port-au-Prince -a two hour plane ride.”

Jade watched as the palm trees began swaying in the breeze. The winds were picking up, and the rain was coming down in sheets. “He wouldn’t take her there. If I know my father-and I do-he won’t take her to Haiti. He wouldn’t want to risk infecting the people there.”

Bo shook his head at the irony. “What a humanitarian.”

Jade drank in silence.

He scratched at his head, confusion plaguing him. “I don’t get it. Sol said she’s not on the mainland, yet I feel her.”

Bo pulled over to the side of the road, got out of the vehicle and put his nose up in the air. The winds whipped his hair straight out behind him. He gazed over at Jade who stared at him through the car window. From the expression on her face, he assumed he must have looked like a crazed native Aztec god. Within no time, he was soaked to his skin from the rain. His felt the burn in his eyes indicating they’d turned golden, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as he tuned in to his mate.

Jade sat back with her eyes closed and concentrated on her sister. Raven had not taught Jade the fine art of using her Lamai senses. Everything had happened too fast with just the basic changes in DNA, although the transformation was a slower process due to the immediate blood transfusion. And Laroque had taken Jade before Raven had a chance to teach her anything.

Bo returned to the car. “Anything?”

Jade said, “This is all new to me. I’ll do the best I can. Maybe if I focus on the blood memories of my sister, it will work.”

Her main point of concentration became her beating heart. “The thumping in my head is beating out a solitary rhythm. No, wait-it’s split into two beats,” she whispered. “One loud and persistent, the other farther away.”

Jade got out of the vehicle. “I feel her!” she yelled over the winds. “It’s faint, but I feel her heart beating.” She wiped the rain from her face.

Bo couldn’t get past his own racing heartbeat. He got out of the car. “Where is she?”

She looked over at Bo. “Hey, your eyes are changing color. They’re gold. Are you going to get all snarly on me?”

“No. Concentrate.”

Jade seemed to be listening to the two hearts beating. “I’m turned to the east; no change. Now to the north, it’s faded slightly. Wait, the thumping’s getting louder. What about any islands off the coast, to the south-the Keys? Technically they’re not part of the mainland, so Solaris would be right-and yet they are.” She strained, raising her voice over the growing winds.

“That may be it. Let’s get to a rest stop and find a map.” Bo gazed up at the darkening sky. He had to get to the Keys before the storm hit and the authorities closed down the bridges.

“Shit!” Raven grasped her hair and gave a tug in frustration.

“Ma’am, is everything all right?” Mick asked.

After a few hours, Raven had given up trying to convince Mick to call her Doc, or any other name, for that matter. He was a gentleman, and that was just the way he spoke. His mother raised him to be respectful of women and men. They were ma’am and sir, end of story.

Raven tapped her fingers on the table. Nothing was going right. That was the understatement of the year. She was having a difficult time getting a handle on the virus. This was not her area of expertise. “No! This virus has me baffled. I want to try to introduce some of your blood into this soup. Maybe you built up anti-viruses within your Lamai DNA, and I can add it to the human DNA without somehow changing species.”

Mick cleared his throat. “Wouldn’t it be better to use the blood from the fae? Their DNA is closer to that of a human. I have a little experience with this. I studied pathogens a few years ago. Nothing beyond a level one.” In the world of bio-safety, level one referred to agents that don’t normally cause diseases in humans.

“Yeah, blood from a fae…” She drifted off thoughtfully. “I suppose it would be more effective.”

Raven got up from her chair and stretched her muscles. She went to look outside and noticed more dark clouds approaching. What a mess her life had become. Just when she thought she and Bo would finally be able to make a life for themselves as a couple, the mother of all curve balls got thrown at them at warp speed.

Where was her father? She’d had this image built up in her mind of the great Tobias Strigoi, so protective of his family yet at the same time so distant, as if he lived only for the time when his destined love incarnated. She knew her father loved her, but she never really experienced it. The man today was not the same man she remembered him being when her mother was alive.

Bo. Gods, how she missed him. She wondered why she hadn’t been able to feel him.

Then the truth of the situation hit her-again. The connection had vanished. She was mortal.

Raven propped her head in her hand. “I’m tired. Do we have any fae blood with anti-bodies?” she asked, taking a sip of hours-old coffee, trying to forget about Bo and whether he was looking for her.

Mick changed the empty IV bag. “Yes. We have some of Mordred’s blood.”

“Interesting. Mordred’s blood? I won’t even ask how you got hold of that. Get it for me, please.” A knot had formed in Raven’s neck and soon spread like wild ivy down her shoulders.

“Raul lifted it for Laroque. Doc?” he asked.

So maybe he is learning, she thought.

Raven vigorously rubbed at her neck. “Yeah?”

Mick walked over to Raven and looked deeply into her eyes. Apparently, the question he’d wanted to ask had finally found its moment. “Why are you doing this? I mean, he’s my boss-he pays me, and that’s why I’m here-but he tried to kill your man. Why are you trying so hard to save his ass?”

She didn’t mean to, but she laughed out loud. “I like your honesty. In addition to the fact I have a vested interest in creating an antidote for this virus and in saving my own ass, it’s because chances are I’m infected, too. You mean besides that?”

Mick looked over at Laroque.

His booming voice became a subtle whisper. “You’re not infected. He was very careful about that. The only way to become infected is through blood…a dirty stick or body fluids. It’s a lot more effective through a needle. Frank Dubois stuck him. I found the puncture mark on Laroque’s thigh. The back of his thigh.”

“How do you know it was Frank?”

“I saw him do it. I just shimmered into the room and saw Frank stick Laroque while he was passed out drunk one night.”

The knot in her neck tightened. “Shit! And we’re taking precautions. Why?”

“He wants you to think you can become infected so you’ll do exactly what you’re doing now. Besides, you don’t want to take any risks with this virus.”

He walked into the kitchen and opened the freezer compartment, removing the frozen sample of Mordred’s blood. Raven stood a few feet behind him.

She reached for the sample. “I can’t say I blame him. He’s desperate, Mick.”

He handed it to her with gloved hands and shook his head.

“You’re quite an odd woman,” he commented.

She smiled. “You know, I find I’m less angry now that I don’t have Lamai blood coursing through my veins. Maybe that’s it.” Philippe caught her attention, reminding her of Jade. “I have my reasons for doing this. Let’s just say I made a major error in judgment and someone I know, well, that person’s life will never be the same. I owe them.”

“Luke made fresh coffee,” Mick said. “I’ll get you some.”

Philippe cried out in his sleep. “Jade!”

Outside, the trees slapped against the windows, and for a moment the house went dark. The generator started buzzing, and soon the lights returned.

The home sat high on a hill, but the sound of crashing waves pounding below echoed around the residence. Rain smacked against the windows in a steady stream.

“The bridges are closed,” Luke, the other Lamai, announced. He warmed thick seafood bisque in a kettle and placed a loaf of whole wheat bread in the oven.

The house smelled divine, and Raven’s stomach began to grumble. If the circumstances were different, she would almost look forward to dinner-almost. Slowly she became familiar with the feelings of hunger.

“Luke used to be a chef,” Mick said with a smile. “You wouldn’t want to eat if I had to cook.”

“Hmm, I’m not the greatest cook either,” she answered, not even hearing the other remarks made. Her thoughts filled with images of Bo. She’d saved him. It was all that mattered to her. The icy fingers of death that had clawed their way around her heart were gone. She could breathe easier knowing the only man she’d ever loved was safe.

Raven attempted to concentrate on the work in front of her. She buried her head in the notes scattered on the table as she jotted ideas and reworked formulas. Thank goodness Laroque’s penmanship is legible, she thought. The pieces of this very odd puzzle were fitting together. This was more than likely the reason Laroque chose Derrick. His background with the CDC and working with hot agents, no doubt, was something that had to interest Laroque. He’d told Raven he experimented with creating vaccines. Poor Derrick.

Leaning over the work area where she was attempting to produce the vaccine for humans, Raven added vectors to the growth medium in the petri dish. Vectors were important agents that entered the DNA. To construct a vaccine, she had to duplicate them. She added bacteria and waited.

The final process of creating a vaccine involved harvesting pure vectors only. Taking a biofilter and detergent, she was able to access the DNA. When she inoculated Laroque, billions of copies of the altered vectors would enter his body. She knew that only about one percent would work their way into the nuclei of the cells.

Hopefully, Laroque’s immune system would respond to these proteins once they left the cells. The altered vectors would react to the proteins incorporated into the cells’ walls. In this way, the vaccine would act like a live vaccine. The risk of the live pathogen would be eliminated, avoiding the possibility of spreading the virus further. It was time-consuming work and something Raven was not very familiar with, so it took even longer.

After a few hours, Raven took a syringe and filled it. Mick gave his approval with a nod and moved to the opposite side of Laroque’s bed.

“Philippe,” Raven said, holding the syringe. She could end it all at that moment, just let him watch her dispose of the vaccine and let nature take its course.

A big part of her wanted to, deep down. A very big part of her.

She wanted to torture him.

For everything. For putting Bo through all that physical torment and the pain Laroque caused her.

Just for knowing her mother, she wanted to torment him.

Because he fell in love with her…made Nicolette want him, and because that wanting made her mother have sex with him.

And that broke her father’s heart, and, in spite of everything, she loved her father fiercely.

Inside she knew that no one had made Nicolette do anything. Well, with exception of perhaps the fae’s magick, but Raven wasn’t certain the fae was that powerful. Rumors floated around that the fae had been punished for not producing the desired results. She also wasn’t ready to blame her mother. Not yet.

But most of all, she wanted him to suffer because he’d almost killed Bo.

She wanted to destroy him.

Because in order to save the man she loved, she had to sacrifice everything they had together. Their life as a couple would never be the same. Her life would never be the same. The characteristic that made Raven who she was, was gone. Forever.

She wanted revenge.

He looked up at her with a weak smile. “I knew you could do it…” He groaned. “I knew you would…”

She averted her eyes, not wanting him to be able to read the truth they betrayed. She wanted him dead. “I hope we got it in time. You’re only starting to show symptoms, so I’m hopeful.” She tried to manage a smile, but couldn’t. Raven was tired down to her soul.

In one swift motion, she plunged the needle into his muscle and released the vaccine into his system. It was all up to his body now. She hoped his immune system wasn’t too badly compromised.

“I need some sleep,” Raven said as she sat on the couch opposite the bed. She leaned back.

“You want to eat first?” Mick asked, but when he looked over at her, she had already passed out on the sofa. He went to the couch, covered her with a throw blanket, then tended to the extra vaccine, storing it properly.

All they could do was wait.