Moonlight's Ambassador (Aileen Travers Book 3)(26)

I drew back for another blow. Thomas appeared, grabbing my arm and forcing me down so I was lying flat on the table.

The black ants poured out of Joseph, biting and stinging as they burrowed their way into my body. I writhed and kicked as the pain invaded.

"Damn, she's a fighter."

"Will you hurry up?" Thomas growled. He glared at the other man, holding me down quite easily.

"Yeah, yeah." Joseph's forehead furrowed in concentration. "That should do it."

He withdrew, the ants disappearing as if they had never been—only the memory of the pain they caused remaining.

Joseph released me and stepped back. Thomas did the same, though a tad slower.

"What just happened?" Thomas asked, his voice thunderous. "You said it wasn't supposed to hurt her."

I struggled to sit up—one thought on my mind. Kill.

Joseph looked thoughtful. "Yes, she had an interesting reaction."

That lamp would do. It was the closest object.

I was up off the table, the lamp in my hand. Thomas looked around, my name on his lips, just as I brought it down on his head. He fell to a knee, blood flowing from an inch-long gash. Joseph's mouth fell open as he wavered between looking scandalized and entertained.

I brought the lamp down again, missing his head this time and getting his shoulder. The world retreated in a red haze as I became consumed with the thought of removing Thomas’s head from his shoulders. My memory got foggy after that.

*

I came back to myself to the sound of shouting. "What the hell is going on? I leave you with her for a couple of hours, and this is what happens?"

Hmm, that sounded like Liam.

I shifted only to find my movements impeded.

"Easy there, enforcer. He had no choice. The woman went apeshit on his ass. It was actually pretty funny."

"She already didn't trust you before this. How is she going to trust you now?" Liam's voice was hard.

Answer—she wasn't. If Thomas thought I was antagonistic before, just wait. I was going to blow his mind with the hostility I treated him to now.

"I know." Thomas didn't sound happy. "It wasn't supposed to happen like that. I was assured that it was painless, and she wouldn't even feel it."

"I'd like to know how she performed that little trick," Joseph said. "I've never had a patient feel my aura when I scanned them. The way she was acting, it was like she could see it."

"How is that possible? There's nothing to see. It's magic," Thomas said.

"I've no idea," Joseph said.

While they talked, I investigated my surroundings. The reason I couldn't move was because I was tied to the bed with a series of straps, each as thick as my arm. They glinted in the light.

I squinted. Was that? Yes, it was. The straps had silver in them. I'd be willing to bet all that I owned on that fact. They were perfect for keeping a vampire from attacking during one of their exams. If they'd used them before, it might have prevented me from walloping Thomas upside the head.

I let my head fall back. I wasn't going anywhere until someone came and undid these.

"You learn anything?" Liam asked.

"Her development is delayed, which is no surprise really, given the fact she hasn't had regular access to a master vampire's blood since her change. On the plus side, I think I figured out how she survived the change when the hex that Thomas suffers from should have killed her," Joseph said. "It might also explain why Thomas has no memory of her turning when he can remember his other attempts."

"How?"

"I don't think she was fully human before the change."

"How sure are you of that?" Thomas asked.

"Not one hundred percent. It's hard to get an accurate read since the transition would have rewritten much of her former makeup. Her vampire side is very strong and resisted the scan."

"Even her cells have her stubbornness." Thomas sounded half-admiring, half-aggravated.

"We've checked her family history and found no evidence of any other spook in their bloodline," Liam said. “Both her sister and niece show as fully human as do her parents."

I gritted my teeth. So much for my efforts to protect them. What would have happened to them if they'd come back as anything other than human? Would Jenna have been changed? Would they have changed her seven-year-old daughter, or would they have waited until the child was an adult?

"That's not all. Best I can tell, she had a nasty piece of protective magic lying dormant at her core. Once the change started, it would have triggered its defense. Even a routine magic scan set it off. Had I been any less experienced, I'd be lying unconscious on the ground. It's possible that when Thomas attacked her, it retaliated by wiping her from his memory."

"Could that magic have kept her from succumbing to the hex?" Liam asked.

"It's not only possible; it's probable."

There was a long pause.

"I do wish her sister showed some of the same traits. I would've liked to have studied her more in depth,” Joseph said in a wistful voice. “I've never seen anything like the magic crouching inside her. Something capable of circumventing Thomas’s curse would be worth studying and trying to replicate."