Chapter Seven
“Stop,” Jane said as she leaned over Aidan’s desk, her gaze on his computer screen. “Stop right there.”
Because she’d just seen her victim.
On the screen, Alan Thatcher was strolling into the club, laughing, with a tall, blond guy walking right next to him.
“He didn’t come alone.”
Paris was quiet as he sat in the chair to her left.
“Play it forward,” Jane said, even as she memorized the grainy features of the blond. Handsome-ish guy. Young. Looked like a college guy and that was a Tulane shirt he was wearing so, yeah, definitely college.
The feed kept going. Alan headed into the crowd. Started talking to a pretty redhead. So much for him wanting to get back with his ex. Alan’s blond buddy hit the bar.
“Looks like a typical night,” Paris murmured. “Two guys going out to pick up pretty women.”
“Only the night didn’t end so typically.” She leaned a bit closer to the screen. “Alan just left the blond. Aren’t guys supposed to act as each other’s wingmen or some crap? He’s—”
She stopped.
Because Alan wasn’t flirting with the pretty redhead any longer. Instead, he was sneaking toward the upper level of the bar. He kept glancing over his shoulder. No one tried to stop him. With the crush of bodies in the club, no one even seemed to notice him. He went up—
But a big, barn-sized bouncer—who also happened to be a werewolf, Jane had seen him a few times at Hell’s Gate—caught Alan on the second floor. He grabbed Alan by his shirt-front.
And a few moments later, Alan was being tossed out the back of Hell’s Gate.
Paris’s fingers—incredibly well manicured for a werewolf—tapped lightly on Aidan’s desk. “So to be clear…because I know this shit looks bad…Aidan wasn’t at Hell’s Gate last night. Not when this Alan Thatcher was here.” He gestured toward the time stamp on the screen.
Jane’s head turned so she was staring into Paris’s eyes. “And where was he?”
“Uh…well, you know…”
“You have no clue, do you?”
“I’m not the one dating him,” Paris muttered. “Maybe you should know.”
“Paris.” She put some bite into his name.
“Secrets are the fucking devil, aren’t they?”
She straightened, rubbing the back of her neck. “I am trying to find a killer.”
“And I’m trying to stop one.”
She frowned at him.
But Paris just stared up at her. “I like you.”
“Okay…” Where was this going?
“So I’d hate for things to end with an implosion, okay?” Then he stood. “That’s why I am saying this with the utmost affection for you. Get the fuck out of this town¸ Jane.”
“What?”
“Get out, for the next week or two. Go on a cruise. Go to Disney World. Just go somewhere.”
She paced away from him.
“A new vamp is here. One who came looking just for you. Come on,” Paris continued, his normally charming voice roughening. “You know that’s bad news. It can’t end well.”
“If I run, won’t he just follow me?” She headed out onto Aidan’s balcony. Paris was steps behind her. “I mean, you think I haven’t already considered running?” As soon as Annette started her scrying, Jane had been flipping through her options. “But if the vamp found me here, won’t he just keep hunting? Is there really any safe place for me?”
“Jane…” Frustration bubbled in her name.
It was a frustration she understood. “I’m going to tell you a secret.” She looked back over her shoulder at him. “Aidan. Aidan is my safe place.”
Surprise flashed on his face.
“I’ve thought about running, but the danger won’t go away if I do. I’ll just be on my own out there—easier prey.”
He swore.
“But with Aidan, I’m stronger. We’re stronger together.” She absolutely believed that. “I don’t know how much time I have, but you know what? No one does. We all go through life, doing the best that we can. We wake up each day and we never know—will this be it? Is this the day it ends? We don’t think like that, though, we don’t think constantly about the end because we can’t.” Now her voice was the one to roughen. “Because that’s not living. That’s just fear. And I won’t be afraid. I won’t let this thing…” Now her hands rose and pressed to her heart. “This thing that’s waiting inside of me…I won’t let it win. I will be happy.” While I can. “That’s all any of us can do, you know? Live and be happy.” She turned away from him. Jane marched to the end of the balcony and curved her fingers around the wrought iron railing. “Running and being alone at the end won’t change anything for the better.”
Silence.
Her gaze drifted over the street below her. A black SUV was parked in front of Hell’s Gate. As she stared, Garrison rushed out of the building and headed for that SUV.
“Ask Aidan…” Paris’s voice was so low. So gruff. “Ask him about his family. Make him tell you.”
She opened her mouth to reply but—
What is Garrison doing? He’d opened the back door on the left side of the SUV, and he appeared to be hauling something out.
“Oh, sweet hell,” Jane said as her fingers tightened around the railing.
He wasn’t hauling something out. He was pulling a woman out. She was crying and hitting him but he’d—cuffed her?
“No, no, no.” Jane spun around.
Paris blinked.
“Garrison,” she snapped out. “Garrison is fucking up my life again.” The first time she’d met the guy, he’d shot her. And now—now he was abducting a woman? That wolf was about to drive her mad.
She raced back down the stairs, with Paris following close behind her.
***
Well, well, well…there was certainly a lot of action happening at Hell’s Gate.
From his safe perch a few bars down, he watched as a cuffed woman was dragged into the bar. Interesting. Very interesting.
The detective was inside. Not surprising really. Aidan Locke was there, too.
But the woman who was crying as she was carried into the place—that’s new. Hell’s Gate had been a perfect place for him to get his prey when he hunted. Packed with so many people, the place to be, he’d slipped so easily into the crowd.
And he planned to hunt there again. Tonight. The place had felt oddly right for him. Especially with all the rumors that swirled around town about it being a secret hiding spot for monsters.
Now, with this new twist…Hell’s Gate appealed to him even more.
He was definitely going to have to meet with Aidan Locke. Looked like they might have more in common than he’d realized…
***
Garrison brought the crying, fighting woman into the bar and stood there, smiling, as if he’d just done the best good deed of his life.
“Aidan!”
He winced at Jane’s cry.
“What in the hell is happening here?”
Garrison’s smile dipped a bit. “I thought Paris was keeping her busy,” he mumbled.
Jane rushed down the stairs and flew toward them. “Is that a gag in her mouth? And why is she cuffed?”
“She was bitten by a vampire!” Garrison explained, his cheeks flushing. “I’m thinking it was the same asshole who tried to grab you!”
“No one grabbed me,” Jane threw back at him as she pulled the gag from the woman’s mouth.
“H-help me…” the woman whispered, her voice hoarse.
Aidan pinched the bridge of his nose. Cleaning up Garrison’s messes…that shit was turning into a full-time job.
“Get the cuffs off her!” Jane demanded. Then her voice softened as she stared at the woman. “It’s okay. I’m a cop. I’ll make sure that no one hurts you.”
Aidan just watched the scene. He knew exactly how this would play out, so he wasn’t overly concerned about the drama. A few well-placed words from him, and the crying woman would forget the whole scene.
Should I feel more? Am I turning into a fucking psychopath? Maybe he’d already been one, and he just hadn’t realized it.
“Look at her neck, Jane!” Garrison pointed to the marks that the woman bore. “He bit her! I had to take precautions. For all I knew, he had her under some kind of compulsion! I found her, caught the scent of blood in the air…and she was just lying passed out in an alley. He’d fed on her and just left her there!”
“I-I want to go home,” the woman whispered.
“It’s okay,” Jane said again, her voice reassuring. “Although I can certainly understand why you’re afraid.” She glared at Garrison.
Paris whistled. He’d taken his time heading down the stairs and now he was standing near the bar, watching the scene unfold with gleaming eyes. “This is certainly not how I expected the morning to go.”
“I need another drink,” Aidan muttered.
Paris nodded. “Maybe three?”
“I-I don’t have the handcuff keys with me,” Garrison stammered. “I think they’re out in the SUV.”
Aidan shoved away from the bar. He stalked toward the woman—the marks on her neck definitely looked fresh. When she saw him approach, her eyes widened. Fear had her blanching.
“He’s not going to hurt you,” Jane said.
No. She’d been hurt enough. The bite marks on her neck and the way her body trembled…just how much blood had the vamp taken from her?
“I shot him,” Jane spoke quietly. “I should have known…with the blood loss, he’d want to feed.”
“F-feed?” the woman repeated as her trembles got worse.
Aidan walked behind her. He caught the cuffs in his hand and snapped the silver. He was looking at Jane when he broke them, and at the sound of the metal crunching, she flinched.
“Something you have in common,” Jane said.
What?
But the woman who’d been in the cuffs was lunging for the door, so Aidan didn’t get to question Jane. He moved fast to intercept the human, not touching because he didn’t want to terrify her any more than was necessary, but positioning himself directly in her path.
Because he’d moved at his enhanced speed, he caught her by surprise. She staggered to a stop, nearly barreling into him, then she screamed, “What is happening?”
Jane didn’t like it when he used his powers to influence humans, but in order for the werewolves to remain hidden in this town, sometimes, he had to do things that she didn’t like.
Or that I don’t like.
“We think you were attacked,” he told the woman gently. “And we’re trying to help you.”
She held up her hands. The broken cuffs still circled her wrists. “I-I think you kidnapped me.”
Garrison growled. “No, dammit. I found you. You were unconscious in the alley. I was helping. I was saving you!”
The woman—with her dark hair tumbling out of a ponytail—whirled to glare at him. “You gagged me! You handcuffed me! You threw me in the back of your car!”
Jane winced. “This looks really bad, I get that.”
“If you’re a cop, help me!” the human yelled as she whirled to face Jane.
Paris stayed at the bar and poured himself a drink. “I think you all have this.”
Jane held up her hands, palms forward. The good old I’m-No-Threat stance as she faced the woman. “Did you know that you’re bleeding?”
“What?”
“Your neck. You have wounds there. And blood is soaking your shirt.”
The woman’s hand flew up to touch her neck. “I…he…” She shook her head and pointed to Garrison. “What did you do to me?”’
His cheeks had reddened, a dark red to match his hair. “I get that the cuffs were the wrong move, but when I found you and you woke up, you started freaking the hell out. I needed you to come here so the alpha could talk to you—”
“So who could? What’s an alpha?” Her voice rose to an ear-splitting shriek. “What is happening?”
Jane took another step toward the woman. “Everything is okay. We are not going to hurt you.”
But the human was shaking hard and still screaming. “I don’t believe you! You—you’re going to kill me!” Then she whirled for the door, shoving against Aidan. “Get out of my way! Get out of my way! Help! Someone help me!” Her cries were high and desperate. Utterly terrified.
He had to stop her terror.
Aidan’s hands closed over her shoulders. He exhaled on a low breath, and, staring into her wide, frightened blue eyes, he called up his beast.
“Help!”
“You are safe,” he told her softly.
She’d opened her mouth to scream, but at his words, she stilled.
“You are protected. You are with friends.”
Jane rushed toward him. “Aidan…”
“You think there’s a fucking choice here, Jane?” Garrison had taken the choice away by—yes, kidnapping the woman. And Aidan’s job was to clean up the pack’s mess.
“You don’t have to control her. It’s not right. She’s been through so much.”
It was precisely because of what she’d been through that he had to control the human. His back teeth clenched. He hated the way Jane was looking at him right then. Like he’d disappointed her. Failed her.
Turned into a monster before her eyes.
Oh, sweetheart. The truth is that I’m always a monster. Sometimes, you just get fooled by the man.
The human wasn’t fighting. She stood docilely before him. “What’s your name?” Aidan asked her.
“Mary Vester.”
Mary. She had the same first name as his Mary Jane. He swallowed and knew he would go easy with her. “Mary, what happened to you neck?” He pulled up a little more power, even though Mary was proving very easy to influence. Not like Jane. He’d tried to control her, when they first met, tried to make her forget a particular case she’d been working on, but Jane hadn’t forgotten.
His power—the power of an alpha wolf to control and influence those around him—hadn’t worked on her.
The first sign that Jane had been something…more.
Mary’s hand rose once more, and her fingertips fluttered over her throat.
“Remember what happened,” Aidan pushed.
She blinked. “He bit me.”
“Who bit you?”
“The man in the shadows.” Her brow furrowed. “He was…he was on my paranormal tour. I stopped to take pictures of the LaLaurie Mansion, and he was—just there.” Her hand fell away from her neck and she stared at her fingers. “What happened to my camera? I need my camera.”
Garrison cleared his throat. “I have it. In my ride. It’s okay, I promise.”
“We should take a look at the pictures on the camera,” Jane said. “See if Mary got a shot of her attacker.”
“I didn’t,” Mary’s voice flowed now, soft and easy. No terror. No horror. “There was no time. He moved so fast—he was on me. He said…he said he was sorry.”
I just bet he was.
“But he—he had a need.” Mary kept her gaze on Aidan. When he used his power, he knew she couldn’t look away. “He needed my blood.”
“Because I shot him.” Jane sounded disgusted. “I’m so sorry, Mary.”
Not your fault, Jane. I’m the one who sliced his throat open.
“He drank and he…he carried me to the alley. Put me down carefully. S-said thank you before he left.”
Paris sat his glass down on the bar with a thunk. “What a polite bloodsucking bastard we have on our hands.”
“I tried to get up,” Mary continued. “But…I got dizzy. So I just closed my eyes for a moment…and when I opened them—”
“Let me guess,” Jane filled in. “This redhead…” Her thumb jerked toward Garrison. “He was looming over you?”
“Yes.”
Well, they knew the rest of the story. “Did you get a good look at the vampire?” He thought it was Vincent, but he wanted to be sure. If there was another vamp in town…
“T-tall. Your height. I just…it was dark and I-I couldn’t see that much.” But her hand moved to Aidan’s shoulder. “I grabbed him…here. It was wet. Blood?”
“That’s where I shot him,” Jane said.
“He was a vampire.” Mary’s eyes widened in horror. “That’s what he was, right? Bloodsucking…that’s what—he was a vampire! A vampire bit me!” Her terror was back.
“You’re safe,” Aidan said again.
“Aidan…” Jane warned. “Don’t.”
His gaze shot over to her. “You think it’s better for her to relive the attack? To look for monsters everywhere she goes for the rest of her life?”
“I think someone else shouldn’t play with her mind. It’s her choice.”
Her choice. Right. He focused on Mary once more. “Do you want to remember the attack?”
Mary’s breath sawed in and out.
“Do you want to remember that vampires are real? Do you want to remember that a vampire drove his teeth into your throat and drank from you?”
Her eyes filled with tears. “No.”
There. Her choice. “Then it didn’t happen.”
Jane gave a frantic shake of her head.
“It didn’t happen. You were on your paranormal tour, you got separated from the group, and you fell asleep outside of my bar.” He smiled at her. “Garrison found you. He brought you inside to make sure you were all right. And he’s going to be taking you home now. Home…where you’ll be safe.”
Mary was silent for a moment, then a quick smile spread over her face. “I’d like to go home.”
Right. He motioned to Garrison. The guy bounded forward. “I knew you’d do it,” Garrison said quickly. “You always make them forget so I knew—”
He grabbed the guy’s shirtfront and jerked him forward. “The next time you get the urge to kidnap a human…don’t,” he whispered into the younger wolf’s ears. “Because maybe I won’t clean up your mess again.”
“I’m sorry! I wanted to help, I—”
That was Garrison’s problem. He wanted to help, but he kept making things worse.
“Get her camera, bring it to me.” He kept his voice low. “And get her home.” He released Garrison and stared at Mary once more. “You didn’t meet me. You didn’t meet anyone but Garrison. And you think he’s one kind Good Samaritan.”
Mary turned her bright smile on Garrison.
Garrison looked miserable as he stared back at her. “I’m sorry,” he said again. Then he took her hand.
The broken handcuff gleamed. “What’s that?” Mary asked curiously.
Jane spun away and paced toward the bar. Her angry mutters drifted back to Aidan.
Aidan took Mary’s wrist, and he yanked away the silver that still lingered on her—on both wrists. “It was nothing.”
Mary nodded. Garrison curled a hand carefully around her waist and gave her a little push toward the door.
“Mary…” Aidan called, stopping her. “If you ever see that vampire again, you’re to immediately come to Hell’s Gate. I will protect you, understand?”
“Yes.”
Then she was gone. Garrison led her outside and the door closed behind them.
He exhaled slowly.
Paris looked over at him, raising an eyebrow. Just one. The one elevated brow was Paris speak for…What the hell do you want me to do now?
Aidan jerked his head toward the stairs.
Paris got the message. He cleared out fast. Jane just stood there, her hands flat on the bar, her tense back to Aidan.
He waited until Paris’s footsteps had faded away, then he stalked closer to her. “I let the human make the choice.”
“Bullshit.” Her head was bowed. She never glanced his way. “The woman was traumatized. She was in no shape to make any choice.”
“She didn’t want the memory of her attack. You think she’s the first? Humans don’t want to remember monsters. They have enough stress just in their normal lives. Dealing with the fact that werewolves and vamps are real—that these monsters are walking the streets—humans can’t deal with that shit.” He was adamant on that fact. “It’s easier for them to forget. Easier for them to get on with their lives and be happy again. If she’d remembered, she just would have been afraid. Every damn day and night.” He waited a bit. Then Aidan said, “Like you are.”
Jane spun to confront him. “I’m not afraid.”
“Yes, sweetheart, you are. You think I can’t see it? You think I can’t smell it?” And he hated the scent of her fear. “It’s been there, all along.”
“Stop it.”
“When you wake up at night, screaming because the memories won’t stop for you…because you see the vampire killing your family again and again…do you know what I wish?” He wasn’t going to hold back. Not on this. Not now. Not with her.
“What? What do you wish?” Her words were angry, tight.
“I wish that I could make you forget.”
She sucked in a sharp breath.
“I wish I could make you forget every second of pain you’ve ever had. I wish you’d just be happy.” It was the stark truth. Take the terrible memory away from her? Control her mind enough to do that? Yes, he was bastard enough to want just that.
The silence in the room was thick. Heavy. Jane would see that he was right. She’d understand the choice he’d made and—
“I am afraid.”
There, yes, she understood—
“But that’s okay.” Her chin notched higher. “I can live with the fear. I can live with the anger. I can live with all the emotions that sometimes feel like they are ripping me apart—and you know why?”
“Jane—”
“Because they are mine. My emotions. And my memories. Yes, I see that fucking bastard killing my family. I feel the rage beat at me. The helplessness. I hate those memories.”
She understood. She did. She—
“But before she died, my mother said she loved me.”
Aidan blinked at her.
“My father…stepfather…no, dammit, he will always just be my dad to me…He looked at me. Even when that bastard was torturing him, even when the vamp was killing him, my dad looked at me. He smiled and told me that I would be all right.” A tear leaked down her cheek.
“I can’t stand it when you cry.” It tore him apart. That’s why I want to take all of Jane’s pain away. Her pain guts me. “It’s better to be without the pain, better to—”
“It’s better to have the memories. The fear and the pain—everything. It is better to have them. Better for me to remember that even at the end, even with all the terrible shit that was happening to them, my parents still loved me. They died loving me. I have that, Aidan. That memory, and it gets me through the days when I question everything around me. I wouldn’t trade that love, not for anything. I wouldn’t wish the memory away, I would never want to forget.” Her eyes gleamed as she stared up at him. “Just because you have a power, it doesn’t mean you should use it.”
His chest burned. “Jane, that woman didn’t want to remember the attack.”
“You didn’t want to expose your pack. Pack is first.” Jane nodded. “That is something I seem to have trouble remembering.” She pushed away from the bar. “Get Paris to send a copy of your video footage to me at the station. I have a case to work.”
He caught her arm. “Jane, don’t leave.”
She looked down at his hand.
“The world can’t know about supernaturals. There would be chaos. War. You see how humans fight each other now—because of different beliefs, different races, different religions. What do you think would happen if they knew there were real monsters roaming the streets? It would be fucking Armageddon.”
“I think all humans aren’t evil. I think some people truly do have good inside of them.” Her smile was sad. “Just as I think some monsters do, too.” She pulled away and walked slowly for the door. But her steps stopped and she said, “He didn’t kill her.”
Aidan was staring down at his clenched hands. But at her words, he glanced up.
She wasn’t looking at him. “The vampire could have killed Mary, but he didn’t.”
“He attacked her, Jane.”
“But he left her alive.”
“It doesn’t mean anything.”
“I think it does.” She pushed open the door. “Maybe it means he isn’t as completely evil as you think.” She left him.
Jane…no, he fucking is.
But Jane was gone, and he knew she didn’t want him going after her. Not then.
Hell.