"Good," Jo decided. The girl had probably been a perfectly normal nineteen- or twenty-year- old before Ernie"s family had happened on them and subjected her to countless horrors.
Hopefully, without the memories of that time, Dee could have something resembling a happy life. Jo didn"t bother to ask what Mortimer would do with Ernie. She already knew the punishment for rogues. He"d no doubt be executed, with or without a stake and bake depending on whether they still did those or not. And while Jo didn"t really want to think about that, the knowledge that he wouldn"t be a problem again, crashing into her life and trying to take her to his rather horrible-sounding father, was a relief. Besides, it meant they only had one problem left to worry about, she thought, and said, "Then we can concentrate on finding out who really killed that woman all those years ago."
Nicholas hesitated, but then said, "Jo, you were hit pretty bad."
"Yes, I know," she murmured. Recalling watching her own blood gushing from the hole between her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, Jo glanced curiously down at her blanket-covered chest. "It doesn"t hurt at all. I ache all over, but my chest doesn"t hurt any more than the rest of me. Weird, huh?"
"No. Actually, it"s to be expected," he murmured, and then scooped her into his arms. Once he had them settled more comfortably on the bed with her in his lap, Nicholas said, "Jo, honey, it was a mortal wound."
Jo tilted her head back to peer at him blankly, the hair on the back of her neck rising as she noted the way he was avoiding meeting her gaze, and pointed out, "But I"m alive."
Nicholas lowered his gaze to meet hers and nodded solemnly. "Because I turned you."
Her eyebrows flew up, and Jo stared at him for a moment and then asked, "Turned me? You mean you gave me nanos and now I"m like you?"
Nicholas nodded grimly, and then blurted, "I"m sorry, Jo. I know I should have asked you first, but you were unconscious, and dying, and I couldn"t-"
He broke off as Jo suddenly began to struggle in his arms. Nicholas released his hold on her at once, muttering, "You hate me now. I knew you"d be upset at the choice being taken away, but I couldn" t see you die."
The moment she was free, Jo rose up and tossed away the blankets he"d scooped up with her.
She was completely naked and peered down at her chest, noting with some wonder that the gunshot wound was now a scar that looked a couple of years old. Jo glanced at Nicholas. His expression was apologetic, and he said, "I"m sorry."
"Are you kidding?" Jo snapped, and then crawled to straddle his hips. Once there, she leaned back, spreading her arms wide. "Look at me. No nasty, blood-gushing hole in my chest."
Expression uncertain now, Nicholas slid his gaze down her body, but then returned his eyes to hers and asked, "You aren" t angry?"
"You must be joking," she said dryly. "I"m alive, Nicholas. And I"m immortal like you. This rocks!"
Laughing, she threw her arms around his head and hugged him to her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, then just as quickly released him and sat back on his legs. "Let"s make love and see if it feels different now that I"m an immortal too." "Jo, no," Nicholas said quietly, catching at her hands as she reached for his belt buckle.
"Honey, we have to talk."
"Later," she said, grabbing his shirt and tugging it up his chest instead. "Enough talk for now.
I"m immortal and want to celebrate."
"But-"
"No buts," she said firmly, pausing to peer into his face. "I thought I was a goner, Nicholas. I thought I was missing the chance to be with you and off to meet my Maker. But I"m alive. We still have a chance. Celebrate with me. Make love to me and make me feel alive. We can talk about all our worries and what we have to do later. But for now, make love to me... Please."
"G.o.d, Jo. You don"t know how much I wish I could," he said sadly. Eyes closing, he bowed his head to rest his forehead against her chest. "You don"t know how much I wish for that, but..."
"But?" she asked with a frown, and then stiffened at the sound of a door opening behind her.
Twisting in his lap, she glanced over her shoulder, her eyes widening in shock when she saw Sam standing in the open doorway.
"You"re awake," Sam said with relief.
Jo tore her gaze from her sister to finally take note of the room she was in. Her eyes widened with horror as she recognized the guest bedroom.
"We"re at the house," she said weakly, turning back to Nicholas. "What are we doing here?"
Nicholas lifted his head and swallowed. "You were turning. It can be dangerous without the drugs to help you through it. Others have been known to go mad or die. And to make it worse, you"d suffered a gunshot wound. I didn"t know if that would cause problems, weaken you enough that the turn might finish what the gunshot had started. I needed to get you help."
Jo stared at him blankly, and then asked, "But why are you here? Why didn" t you just have Mortimer and those guys come and get me? You-"
"I didn" t know how long I had to get you to the drugs before the turn could do you damage, Jo. Besides," he added with a sigh, "like you said, bad things happened every time I left you alone. I couldn"t risk that Leonius hadn"t followed Ernie north and might grab you, or some other d.a.m.ned thing might happen. I had to get you here and see you through it myself and be sure you were going to be all right."
"Leonius is laying low in South America," she said furiously. "And how the h.e.l.l am I going to be all right now? They have you here. They" ll judge you and execute you and I" ll be all alone."
"Jo," Sam said gently, approaching the bed. "He did what he thought best."
Jo turned on her sharply. "Sam, you have to help me get him out of here. He didn" t do it. He didn" t kill that woman. We have to-" "She can"t help you get him out of here. There are guards on the door and the balcony outside the window."
Jo peered to the door where Mortimer stood, and then glanced down as Nicholas grabbed the sheet and pulled it up to cover her.
"I"m sorry, Jo," Mortimer continued, moving into the room. "But there is no getting him out of here. We" ll be checking every vehicle that leaves the house, and the men have orders to call the house and have someone check to be sure Nicholas is present before any vehicle is allowed to leave. He isn" t leaving here."
"Not alive," she said bitterly, and then climbed off Nicholas, Dragging the sheet with her, she stomped over to sway before Mortimer, glaring. "He didn" t kill that woman. If you kill him, it will be murder."
"I just catch rogues," Mortimer said quietly. "The Council will judge him. If he"s innocent, they" ll find out."
"Forgive me if I don"t put my faith in them," she snapped, and then asked. "How long?"
"How long?" Mortimer asked uncertainly.
"How long until he"s judged and executed?" she asked impatiently.
"Oh." Mortimer grimaced. "I promised him he could see you through the turn and have one night with you before I call Lucian."
Jo glanced out the window to see bright sunlight shining in. They had until tomorrow morning. Less than twenty-four hours, she thought, and turned to peer at Sam. "Where are my clothes?"
"Jo?" Nicholas stood up and moved to take her arm. "Come back to bed. You need to rest."
"I don"t have time to rest," she muttered, shaking off his hand and glancing around. "You saved my life, now I have to save yours. I"m going to find Carol and find out what Annie wanted to tell you and prove you didn" t kill that woman."
Spotting her jeans lying in a heap beside the bed, she moved to collect them.
"Jo," he said wearily. "Carol was mortal. She was in her forties. She" ll be dead by now. She can" t help us."
Jo paused abruptly and turned to stare at him. "What?"
Sighing, he shook his head. "It"s true. You were so hopeful that we could get to the bottom of things that I didn"t want to tell you at the apartment, but Carol will be long dead. There"s no way to find out what Annie was up to now." Jo stared at him silently for a moment and then straightened her shoulders and turned to continue to collect her jeans. "Then I" ll have to ask others in your lives at that time. She must have talked to someone else. I" ll find out what it was."
"Dammit, Jo. Get in bed. You-What the h.e.l.l!" Nicholas cursed and grabbed up the sheet she"d just dropped to don her jeans. He quickly held it up, blocking Mortimer"s view of her as he snapped, "Put those down and get into bed. You"re still going through the turning."
"I feel fine," she a.s.sured him, tugging the jeans on and doing them up before glancing around for her T-shirt. Spotting it on the floor on the other side of the room, Jo started to move around the bed, but paused when Nicholas shifted to block her. Frowning, she perched her hands on her hips and snapped, "Move."
"No. I love you, Jo."
Jo"s face softened and she reached out to touch his cheek. "And I love you. That"s why I have to do this," she added, turning and climbing onto the bed to walk over it.
Cursing, Nicholas hurried to follow, the sheet held out, trying to block her from Mortimer"s view.
"G.o.ddammit, Mortimer. Get out of here," he said with frustration as Jo leaped off the other side of the bed a step in front of the sheet he was trying so desperately to hide her with.
"You"re kidding, right? I"m not missing this," Mortimer said with amus.e.m.e.nt, and then grunted.
Jo glanced over to see him doubled over, clutching his stomach and Sam glaring at him, rubbing her fist.
Grimacing as he straightened, Mortimer muttered, "I meant the argument. Not seeing Jo naked, babe. She"s not you."
"Oh." Sam bit her lip and moved closer, her expression turning apologetic. "I"m sorry, honey.
Are you all right?"
"Yeah, I"m okay. You got quite a punch there though, sweetie."
"You"re just being kind," Sam murmured, leaning up to kiss him. "You probably didn"t even feel that."
Shaking her head, Jo bent to pick up the T-shirt. She grimaced when she saw the blood on it, but it was all she had, so she tugged it on.
"Jo, please," Nicholas said quietly, tossing the sheet aside as she tucked the top into her jeans.
Taking her arm, he turned her toward him and clasped her face in his hands. "Please just get back into bed... Don"t take these precious hours away from me. I traded my life to be sure you"d be all right and for the promise of one last night with you." Jo peered into his tortured face. He looked so sad and desperate she could have wept, and she almost weakened, but then she leaned up to kiss him gently. Before he could deepen the kiss, she pulled back.
"I"m all right," she a.s.sured him, and then stepped around him and headed for the door, adding, "and I"m trading that night for a lifetime."
Chapter Seventeen.
"Jo, wait."
Jo glanced over her shoulder to see Sam chasing after her, but the hallway was empty other than the two men stationed outside the door. She was surprised Nicholas wasn"t trying to stop her, but glad as well. It had been hard as h.e.l.l to walk away from him once. Jo wasn"t sure she could do it again.
"Where are you going?" Sam asked, reaching her side and matching her stride as Jo started down the stairs.
"I need to talk to anyone and everyone who knew Annie."
"Who"s Annie?" Sam asked.
"Nicholas"s first wife. I think this all has to do with her."
"What does?" Sam asked. "That woman he killed fifty years ago?"
"He didn"t kill her," Jo snapped, pausing halfway down the stairs to turn on her furiously.
"Okay." Sam held up her hands soothingly. "Don" t bite my head off. Just tell me what"s happening and I" ll do what I can to help you."
"I would never bite you," Jo a.s.sured her quietly, but found herself staring at Sam"s throat and noting the way the vein was visible when she turned her head a certain way. Frowning, Jo said, "I think I can hear your blood rushing in your veins."
Sam"s eyes widened and then grew wary, and she suggested, "Maybe you should have some blood while you explain things to me. Mortimer said you"d need a lot of it for a while."
Jo tore her gaze away from Sam"s throat, forcing herself to look her in the eyes as she admitted, "I don"t know how to-I mean I"m not sure I could drink-" "It"s okay." Sam patted her arm and then urged her to continue down the stairs. "We" ll take this slowly."
"I don"t have time to go slowly," Jo said unhappily. "If I don" t find out what happened a ll those years ago they" ll stake and bake Nicholas... But I"m sure he didn" t kill that woman, Sam."
"Okay. We" ll sort it out then," Sam a.s.sured her as they stepped off the stairs. "Blood first though."
Jo remained silent as Sam led her to the kitchen, but her eyes widened when Sam opened the refrigerator door to reveal it was filled half with food and half with bags of blood. "That wasn"t here the night of the party."
"No. Mortimer moved it out to the garage the night you guys stayed over. We didn"t want you and Alex opening the fridge in search of orange juice and freaking when you found this instead," Sam admitted wryly as she took out a bag. "We moved it back the next day."
"Hmm," Jo murmured as Sam closed the door and turned to her. When she offered her the bag, Jo hesitated and then said, "A gla.s.s maybe?"
"I don"t know," Sam said with a grimace. "The men all just pop it to their fangs."
Jo immediately ran her tongue around her mouth, but grimaced. "No fangs yet. Maybe it takes a couple of days for them to show up. Nicholas said I was still turning."
"They aren"t out all the time," Sam said with a faint smile.
Jo nodded. Nicholas didn"t always have fangs. In fact, she"d seen his only once, when he"d shown them to her to convince her he was a vampire. Sighing, she asked, "Well, how do they bring them on then?"
"The smell of blood will do it if you"re hungry enough," Bricker announced, bringing their attention to the fact that he had followed them and was now standing in the doorway.
Straightening when they glanced to him, he lifted his finger to his mouth as he crossed the room. Jo thought he was biting a nail or something, but when he reached her, he withdrew his finger and she saw a flash of his fangs. She then glanced down to the finger he was holding out, her eyes widening as she saw the bead of blood on the tip.
Bricker had bitten his finger, Jo realized as he moved the digit closer. The faint scent of blood reached her nostrils, and she couldn" t help but inhale it more deeply. Much to her surprise, there was an immediate shifting in her mouth. Reaching up, Jo felt her teeth with both fingers and tongue, her eyes going wide as she felt the pointy fangs now protruding from her upper jaw.
"There we go," Bricker said with satisfaction as he took the bag of blood from Sam. "Open up."
When Jo opened her mouth, he popped the bag to her teeth, grabbing the back of her head as he did to keep her from instinctively jerking away. Once she"d relaxed and reached to hold the bag, he released her and stepped away, saying, "There, now just relax and let your teeth do all the work."
Jo relaxed, surprised at how quickly the bag emptied, but the moment she pulled away the empty bag, Bricker was handing her another.
"Your body is still turning," he explained as she reluctantly took the bag. "You" ll need a lot of blood for the next little while. Otherwise you won"t recognize the symptoms of hunger and might end up biting the nearest mortal."
"That would be me," Sam muttered.
"Yes." Bricker grinned at her, but then turned back to Jo and said, "I"d recommend four bags now, and another three before dawn."