B. Donna - Blood Pool

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.