Blood Magic by Laken Cane

Chapter Twenty-Five

Lucy’s dreams yanked Zach straight from his sleep and flung him into a nightmare of flashbacks. He yelled, Lucy screamed, Ash barked, and for a few seconds, as I stumbled through the house, half asleep, I wanted to laugh hysterically.

Mostly I just wanted to get some fucking sleep.

“Fuck, Lucy,” I roared. “Wake up!”

Ash leaped on her bed and began licking her face, and I went to tend Zach as she tore herself from her dreams and sat up.

Zach was in a dark corner, his arms over his head, muttering, lost in his dark world. I flipped on the overhead light and stood in the middle of the floor. “Zach,” I called. “It’s okay. You’re okay. Zach.” I carefully walked toward him, but I didn’t dare touch him.

Ash had no such reluctance and before I could grab him, he raced by me and wiggled his way into Zach’s lap, and I held my breath as I crouched on the floor and prepared to pull the dog away.

But Zach wrapped his arms around Ash and quieted, and when he looked up, his eyes were dazed.

“You okay?” I asked.

He looked at Ash, who had calmed down and was now lying quietly, cradled in the traumatized human’s arms. “Yeah. I thought there was screaming. Then…” He shook his head. “Then I was lost.”

“That was my fault,” Lucy said, sitting down on the couch. “I’m sorry. We can get him some earbuds, Kait, or some noise-canceling headphones.”

“Lucy has…dreams,” I told him. “She wakes up often screaming.”

“Then her dreams aren’t any better than mine,” he said.

Lucy came to join us on the floor. “My dreams are about other people, though. I’m a psychic. My dreams show me things—mostly useless things.”

“Want to talk about it?” I asked her.

She gave me a look that was half angry and half frustrated. “The serial killer? He killed or is going to kill another woman. I saw her, I felt her fear, and I saw his hand. Nothing that would help. Again.”

Zach ran his hand over Ash’s back, over and over, and I could see him relaxing. He remained quiet.

I put my attention back on Lucy. “Tell me about his hand.”

She brightened. “He’s white. No wedding ring.” She thought for a minute. “Nothing else.”

“And the girl? You didn’t see her at all?”

“No. Nothing. Maybe blonde hair, but that could be because I know he targets blondes.”

“Yeah,” I said, rubbing the bridge of my nose. “Which reminds me, Lucy. You’re his type, so be careful. I’ll want to meet the guy you’re going out with.”

“Yes, Mom.”

I only looked at her.

She sighed. “Sorry. I’ll have him come in to meet you when he picks me up.” She patted my leg, then stood. “Try to get some sleep, and I will try to be quiet.”

I left Ash with Zach and headed back to my bed, exhausted. I needed a lot of sleep. Too bad for me that I didn’t actually get a lot of it.

Before I reached my bedroom, someone pounded on the front door. “Lucy,” I called over my shoulder. “Get rid of them.”

The neighbors on the left side of me had begun calling the cops every time Lucy’s screams were especially violent. Add a loud dog into the mix, and then a yelling man…yeah. I was going to have to move.

I closed my door, turned on my bathroom ventilation fan to help cover the noise, then fell into bed. I slept for six hours straight, and when I woke up, the day was in full swing and I felt like I could have slept for another two weeks.

After I was showered and dressed I headed for the kitchen and some coffee and found Zach sitting at the table, staring into space. Ash was asleep at his feet, but he got up and hurried to me when I walked into the room.

“Hey,” I said, leaning over to give him a thorough scratching. “You keeping Zach company, buddy?”

“I made a fresh pot of coffee,” Zach said.

“Thanks. Did you have breakfast?”

He nodded. “Lucy dropped off a bag of burgers on her break. I ate them all. Sorry.”

I laughed. “Your appetite is as monstrous as mine.” I grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down at the table to begin going through my messages and voicemails. “I’ll ask my assistant to take you shopping. We’ll get you set up with a phone and some clothes and whatever else you might need for the next few weeks. Once you get on your feet and beat your problem, you can go get your life back.” I tilted my head. “What did you do before Axton?”

He set his cup down, almost too carefully. “I grew up in a family well acquainted with the supernaturals. We’re vampire hunters.”

“I knew there was something about you,” I said. “You know how to fight. Where do you and your family hunt?”

“California.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Then you were kept busy. How did you end up so far from home?”

He shrugged. “Why do monster hunters always end up so far from home? I was tracking a rogue vampire who was in the process of turning someone I cared about.”

He shut down, his eyes empty, his face blank, and I knew there was much more to that story than he was going to tell me. “What happened to her?”

“I took her from him and ended her misery.” He might’ve seen something in my eyes, because anger flashed through his. “I didn’t kill her—he did. I just made sure she stayed dead.”

I nodded. “I’m not judging, Zach. I’d have done the same thing if a vampire turned one of my people.” Maybe. “So you tracked him here and Axton took you?”

“Eventually. They set me up, and I wasn’t careful enough. I killed six of his vampires before he trapped me.” His smile was grim. “He enjoyed the fuck out of torturing me for that.”

“Why didn’t he turn you?”

A shiver raked his body. “Axton didn’t want to turn me because I wouldn’t have suffered enough as a vampire. But as I got closer to dying, he was going to turn me. He’d become invested in me.”

“He began to care about you?”

He curled his lip. “Axton doesn’t know how to care. He’s a vampire. They don’t have the capacity for human emotion.” He took a drink of coffee to calm himself. “He became obsessed. He couldn’t figure out why he couldn’t break me.”

I tapped my phone. “Do you want to contact your family?”

“No.”

I nodded. “I’m going to return some calls and then head into work. You want to come?” I really didn’t want to leave him in my house alone. I didn’t think he’d be drawn to Axton, not yet, but leaving him would have been sort of like leaving an infant alone all day. He was too emotionally wounded to be alone.

I returned Max’s ten calls as I headed to my bedroom to grab a few items for the kill kit stashed in my car. I hadn’t said anything to Zach, but Axton had been given three days before his punishment began. I didn’t think he was going to go easy, and I didn’t think he was going to let Zach go without at least trying to kill him. Obsessed men would rather kill the object of their obsession than let them go.

But I was sure Zach already knew that.

I packed a kill kit for him, as well, tossing in a belt, extra stakes, two blades, vials of holy water, and a silver cross, as well as a few incidentals. After he’d gotten some decent clothes, he could buckle on the belt and choose items from the kill kit to fill it. Weapons and his own kit were important in helping him begin to heal. Axton was coming for him, and he’d need to be ready, just as I was.

Because Axton was going to come for me, as well.