B. Donna - Blood Pool

“Don’t think like that. Raven’s a survivor. Besides, Jade can’t travel in the mists yet. She’s still got a lot to learn.”

Finally, the traffic began moving, and in thirty minutes they were standing in front of Laroque’s home in Key West.

“Most of the windows are still boarded. We must have just missed them,” Bo said as he walked the perimeter of the house. “She was here. I sense her.”

“I feel her, too,” Jade said.

Jade began to walk up to the front door, but abruptly about-faced and headed for the driveway. It appeared as if an invisible string pulled her along. She stood there and slowly turned, eyes closed and hands held out, palms open. Bo joined her. He began shaking his head.

“Yes, she was here. I can smell her scent. She’s not afraid, but she seems… hopeless,” Bo said.

“There’s also someone else-still here. In the shadows,” Jade said softly.

Bo whispered, “You’re right. You’re getting good at this.”

“In the foliage that surrounds the back of the house, another of my father’s employees is hiding. He sees us. He wants to be certain, though. He doesn’t expect to share the same fate as another of Laroque’s men.”

“How do you know all that?” Bo asked.

“I-I’m not sure. I just do.”

“Are you sure…”

“It’s not Raven, yeah, I’m sure. There’s another.” Jade headed to where she sensed the other Lamai hovering half in the ethers. Her eyes became the bright color of shallow tropical waters, her fangs extended.

With a hiss she lurched forward, trying to snatch onto the dissolving Lamai. She grabbed at air.

“Damn!” she cursed aloud.

Bo was right behind her. “What was it?”

“Lamai, but he disappeared as soon as I reached for him.”

Tobias finally spoke. “You can be sure he’s going to report we’re here. I’m worried about Raven. She’s distraught, depressed, feeling lost and…abandoned. I know her emotions as if they were my own.

“For the first time since Raven had been abducted, I feel her signature essence. I’m afraid I’m responsible for much of the way she was feeling. I’m frightened for her. She doesn’t care about what might happen to her. Her aura is full of resignation it’s heavy in the air. You two sense the same thing. I know it.”

Laroque’s car had stopped at the marina. And it was just in time, as emotions ran high. Raven noticed Laroque talking animatedly to Mick and another man. The brawny Lamai merely nodded in agreement with his boss. It was obvious that with each passing hour, Mick’s anger was growing.

She wondered what Laroque had in mind. Through the opened window she heard Laroque barking orders.

“I want the plane fueled and ready to go. There’s been a change of plans,” Laroque said.

Raven got out of the car, wanting to approach the two men. Laroque’s face was devoid of any emotion. She opened her mouth to speak, but after one look at Laroque she closed it.

His eyes burned into her like fire. She literally felt the heat from the bokur’s immense power. He grabbed her throat, the width of his hand encircled it. His thumb pressed her windpipe. Pain shot through her.

She gagged and instinctively tried to pry his hands off her neck. He was too strong and way too angry.

His face was red with fury and the veins in his forehead bulged. His body shook with emotions. “You did it, didn’t you? You turned her,” From every pore of his body, venomous hate flowed.

“W-what?” Raven croaked.

He pushed her away with such force that she fell back and hit the concrete, scraping her hands and elbows as she tried to break her fall.

His eyes, thin slits, glared at her with a violent force. The searing heat bore into her skin. His magick was at work. “Your fate is sealed now. Get her in the plane. If she so much as flinches, change her to Lamai and we’ll watch her die.” Laroque’s angry aura lingered in the air like a foul stench.

Raven’s mind raced. It was clear he’d somehow found out Jade was indeed a Lamai now, and Raven was responsible. It must have taken even longer than she’d anticipated for Jade to go through the transformation. The blood transfusion . Otherwise Laroque would have known already that his daughter was not the same young woman. Raven’s blood had caused Jade’s wounds to heal immediately, so there were no puncture marks on her neck or wrists.

Oddly, Raven experienced a certain feeling of calm. She stood, wiped her hands on her jeans and followed Mick to the seaplane.

“You did it, didn’t you?” Mick asked, his voice a low rumble. “That’s why you saved Laroque, because of what you did to his daughter. Damn, girl, you really pissed him off now. He was seriously considering allowing you to live and work with him. I don’t know what he’s going to do now.” Mick shook his head. “Is there a way to change her back to human? I mean, with all your DNA and RNA experiments, is it possible?” he asked as he led her to her seat.

Raven looked at the hulking man next to her. She was beginning to see why he’d gotten into the healthcare field. He truly cared about people. “No. No way to reverse the effects-at least, not without magick.”

“You’re fucked, honey,” he whispered.

“I know.” She paused then started her own inquiry. “How did you become Lamai?”

“I was born a Lamai.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.”

The rest of the passengers, which included a few of Laroque’s cronies along with the strange man to whom Laroque had been talking, sat in their seats. It was a large amphibious plane, and Raven could still carry on her conversation with Mick without Laroque overhearing-that was, if she spoke softly.

She whispered, “What did you do for blood?”

“Animals, mostly, then, as I got older and went to school for nursing, I had a connection in Hematology-a fellow vampire.”

“Love those friends with access to blood,” she commented.

“Raven, what are you going to do? He’s planning on taking you back to Mirabelle Cove. That’s where we’re headed now. He hasn’t told me anything else.”

“What can I do?”

“He’s got to be planning something big to take place at the ritual. That can work in your favor. At least there you’ve got an island full of friends who are on your side,” Mick whispered.

Raven held her head in her hand. “Yeah and do what? We don’t know anything for sure, except that he wants me dead.”

“Are you certain? Maybe he wants to torture your father a while. Do you think he would jeopardize his relationship with Jade?”

“I don’t know anything at this point.”

“You can’t give up,” Mick said.

“If it’s my time to die, then I accept that.” Sadness wrapped itself around her like the suffocating humid air outside the plane.

Mick tensed, but he kept his voice low. “You’re giving up on a life with the man you sacrificed everything for and are just going to crawl into a ball and wither away?”

“Mick, I gave up my birthright as a Lamai. I’m mortal and eventually I’ll die. Bo will live well beyond my life span. Why should I shackle him to a woman who’s going to age and die?”

Mick sighed, shaking his head. “I guess you don’t think too much of your man, then. Is he that shallow? From what I’ve heard about him, he’s not that kind of guy, and you know it.”

She bit the inside of her cheek to tamp down her anger. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I’ve made up my mind. I want him to be happy and he won’t be happy for long with me. Trust me, what we had is gone.”

The plane started its engines and slowly gained speed as it moved out into open water. Soon they were airborne.