Blood Pool

Laroque crossed his arms and tapped his cheek with his index finger. He decided to ignore her little outburst. “What about Bo? What if he doesn’t let you go?”

She choked back tears. “He has no choice. If this is what I want, he’ll let me go. He owes me and he knows it.”

“True, he does owe you his life. That was very brave of you, giving up being Lamai to save him. I don’t think I’d give up immortality.”

“Nothing else matters,” Raven whispered, her gaze returning to the landscape outside the car.

A tinge of excitement colored Laroque’s voice as he said, “What if you stayed with me? We could work together.”

Raven smiled slyly. “And do what-create killer viruses?”

“We could do amazing work. Look at what we did to Ebola! We could work with any virus-HIV, hepatitis…”

She scoffed at his proposal. “And do what with them? Besides, there are a few strains of Ebola. Luckily, you got your hands on the least dangerous one.”

“My point is we could do just about anything. Cure cancer, maybe?”

Laroque put his hand on hers. She seemed to have a hard time believing his altruistic attitude. There had to be another motive.

She laughed. “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice…”

“Shame on me-I understand. But honestly, we could do research for the greater good. And yes, I do have my motives, but I’m not willing to confess them to you, at least, not at this point in time.”

The next sound in the Mercedes was of the engine shifting.

Laroque had thought about taking Tobias’s daughter from him and having her become his protege and he her mentor. That would be a bonus, to let Tobias live with the knowledge that Laroque had more in common with Raven than with her own father-that would be sweet revenge.

“I know you love your father, but I also know you’re a realist. And the fact is that you and Tobias never did have a close relationship. Oh, Tobias loves you, in his way. Yet his love must have left you feeling empty, a side effect of his constant travels, perhaps?” Laroque knew this because it had been one of Nicolette’s constant complaints.

“Your mother would confide in me how she feared Tobias’s absences had affected you. Nicolette confessed to me how it culminated one night. I think she said you were three when you realized that he would return during the night to be with your mother. Only to be gone by morning.” His voice was full of compassion and understanding. “This had to contribute to your feelings of abandonment.” Feelings that Laroque wanted to exploit.

“I don’t need a psych evaluation from you and I’m not looking to punish my father. I’m simply searching for a way to leave my past behind me and move into the future-a future that won’t include Bo or the island of Mirabelle Cove.”

“There is that nasty rumor that Jade is no longer human. We could work to find something that can undo the Lamai changes.”

Raven turned her body and looked directly at Laroque. He was toying with her, manipulating her emotionally, and he was very good at it. He only hoped she didn’t see through him.

“If that rumor proves to be true, why not just go to Hekate and have her change Jade back?”

“Don’t play me for a fool. Hekate doesn’t do favors for anyone without a steep price tag, and I’m the last person she would help.” Anger welled within him. “Maybe I’ll just kill you and put us both out of your misery.”

The car came to a screeching halt.

“Go ahead-see if I care!” she yelled as Laroque exited the vehicle.

Tobias materialized next to the rental car. Bo thrummed his fingers on the steering wheel, and Jade dozed off in the backseat. Due to the combination of the weather and the closed bridges, there was an overabundance of traffic on the mainland.

The door opened, and Tobias got into the front passenger seat.

“How did your meeting go with Rhia?” Bo asked as casually as if Tobias had been sitting there all morning.

“As expected, she doesn’t know anything. Big secret-everything is a big secret. What about you?”

“The rain put a damper on Raven’s scent, but I think I’m headed in the right direction.”

Tobias rolled up the sleeves of his black silk shirt. “Damn vehicles. We could travel so much faster in the mists.”

“You want to take Jade? Feel free,” Bo offered with a sigh.

Adjusting his designer sunglasses, he asked, “She having a tough time with the transition?”

“No, none that I can see. She just likes to talk and talk, and she goes on about Raven and…I-I can’t take it. I miss her something fierce, and if anything has happened to her, I’ll die.”

“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.”

Chapter Twenty-one

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?”