AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I heard enough.”
He glanced into the room, his gaze stopping at a plastic baby bottle and pile of disposable diapers. “Did I wake the baby?”
“There’s no baby,” I said, with a sharp look at Declan.
Jackson frowned. “Just collecting kid paraphernalia in case one suddenly appears out of nowhere?”
“I was looking after a baby for someone, but Declan took her elsewhere yesterday and won’t tell me where.” I sounded as pissed as I felt. I had a hard time hiding my feelings, especially when it came to the things that were totally out of my control.
A vampire—a vampire king, actually—named Matthias had asked me to protect his newborn daughter. It was his last request he’d made just before he’d died from drinking my blood.
He was gone. But the promise I’d made remained.
The promise that Declan had taken out of my hands.
“Jill . . .” Declan looked at me out of the corner of his good eye.
“Am I lying?”
“It’s better this way.”
“We’ll have to agree to disagree on that.”
I did agree that my current life was nowhere a baby should be, and I’d be the first to acknowledge I wasn’t born with strong maternal instincts, but it bothered me that he’d made this choice alone and refused to tell me where she was—only that she was safe and being cared for. Declan believed the baby was in danger and that any vampire who wanted to find her could mentally influence my weak human mind to learn where she was. She was a dhampyr like Declan. Because of that, her infant blood was worth its weight in diamonds to vampires who believed the rumors that it imbued true immortality when consumed.
Maybe Declan was right to take her somewhere she’d be better looked after than with us, but it didn’t mean I had to like it.
He was just damn lucky I’d come to trust his judgment about shit like this.
The vampire hunter extended his hand. “Jackson Gale. Great to meet you, Jill.”
I glanced at Declan, but his expression was unreadable. Another one of his drug’s side effects, apart from impotence, was keeping my dhampyr traveling companion virtually emotionless. It was a difficult thing to get used to.
Finally, I grasped Jackson’s hand and shook it. “Charmed, I’m sure. So what’s going on? Or would you like to continue talking about what a great lay I am?”
Jackson grinned. “Nice.”
Declan’s expression tensed. “I wish you hadn’t overheard that.”
“Doesn’t matter.”
For an emotion-free dhampyr, he now looked a little bit embarrassed.
“Declan’s filled me in on the Nightshade formula in your blood.” Jackson eyed me. “How do you feel?”
I paused for a moment, deciding how much I wanted to share with this stranger, then figured what the hell. “I’ve felt better. But I haven’t had any side effects for a few days.”
“What kind of side effects were you getting before?” He leaned against the wall next to the open motel door. I hadn’t yet stepped outside. I glanced around to make sure nobody but the three of us was within hearing distance.
“After I was first injected, I got nausea from hell. And lots of pain. Those side effects have leveled off, but this poison will kill me unless I find a way to get it out.”
“Damn.” He watched me, his brow creased. “Then lucky for you I’m here. I’ve been looking into things, and I know where you need to go.”
“Where?” I failed to keep the naked eagerness out of my voice.
“The parachemist who created the Nig
htshade formula in the first place—everyone thought he worked alone, but they were wrong.”
