Bitter Blood (Blood and Moonlight Book 3)(75)

He was caged.

Jane heaved out a rough breath. “That should hold him, for now.” She rose to her feet. Aidan grabbed her and pulled her close. She smiled at him. “You okay?” Jane asked.

Jane was alive—hell, yeah, he was okay.

But…

Horror flashed on her face. She shoved Aidan to the side even as Vincent bellowed his rage again. But Jane didn’t run toward Vincent. Instead, she ran to the fallen form of her brother.

The left side of his throat was ripped open. His eyes were wide, terrified. His lips were still clamped together and weak moans came from him.

“Drew?” Jane fell beside him. She grabbed his hand. “Drew!”

He was struggling to speak, but no words emerged.

“Djinn!” Annette bellowed.

And Aidan saw that Lena was slowly rising to her feet. Blood trickled down her temple.

“I know the rules.” Annette jerked her head toward Vincent’s enraged form. “Vincent has something of yours, right? What the hell is it? How does he control you?”

Lena touched her chest. “He has my heart.”

“Uh…” Paris shuffled a bit closer to Aidan. “Tell me she doesn’t mean that literally.”

Aidan was afraid she might. He had no clue how to deal with a djinn—he’d actually thought those creatures were just myths until about five minutes ago.

“Where is it?” Annette demanded. “Where’s your heart?”

“Lena!” Vincent shrieked. “I control you! I own you—kill them! No, no, make them kill each other! Get them to turn on each other—rip each other apart!”

Lena took a swaying step forward. “I…have to…obey…”

Screw that shit. Aidan took a menacing step toward Lena.

“I don’t want to hurt that woman,” Paris’s voice rumbled. “But I will. I will kill her if I have to do it.”

It was looking as if they would. It was…

It—

He saw the gleam of gold around Vincent’s neck. Aidan’s eyes narrowed as he stared at the small gold chain…a chain that he’d noticed on Vincent before. The vamp was hardly the sentimental type…

“Annette, can I still cross your line?” Aidan demanded. But he didn’t wait for her to answer. He surged forward—

And hit an invisible wall.

Sonofabitch. He’d feared that after his battle with the darkness, he’d altered. Now he was wolf and vampire. Beast and undead.

And he couldn’t get past the line. Fuck.

Vincent started laughing, that cold, twisted laughter of his. “Realized what I carry, didn’t you alpha?” He jerked up the gold chain. A ruby hung from that chain. “You locked me in here, but that means you locked yourself out. No one can get to me…and I’ll keep control of my djinn. I’ll have her kill you all, then free me and then—”

Annette flew over that line of dirt.

Paris bellowed.

She grabbed the ruby, snapped the chain and threw the prize to Aidan.

Annette gave them the heart even as Vincent grabbed her in his arms and sank his teeth in her throat.

“No!” Paris cried. His fists drove into the invisible shield, again and again.

Aidan’s fingers curled over the ruby. “Djinn,” he said, staring at Vincent with fury hardening his heart. “You’re free.”

There was a clatter. From the corner of his eye, he saw that the bracelets that had circled Lena’s wrists had fallen to the ground.

“Voodoo queen…to me.” Lena suddenly ordered.

And invisible hands seemed to rip Annette right from Vincent’s grasp.

“Fucking bitch!” Vincent roared.

Lena’s expression never altered. She waved her hand at Drew. “A brother can speak…”

Drew gasped. “Jane…s-sorry…so…s-sorry…L-love…”

He didn’t get to say any more. Not because of a djinn’s curse. But because he’d just taken his last breath. Jane’s shoulders hunched. Her grief seemed to fill the room and then she leapt to her feet. She ran toward Vincent— “Undo your spell on him, Lena! Your spell, your magic, whatever the hell it is!” Jane shouted. “Take away his power so he can die!”

But Vincent licked his blood-stained lips and raised his hand. He shook one finger at her. “That gift, once given, can never be taken away.” He leaned closer to Jane, stepping right up to the line that caged the dead. And the undead. “You’ll never be free of me. Long after your lover is ash on this earth, I will still be here…waiting, for you, Jane. Waiting for us to bring about our end.”

Jane shook her head. “No, no—”

“Yes,” Lena said, voice rasping and sad. “I’m sorry but…that gift doesn’t go away. He cannot end. Cut him into a thousand pieces, and he will regenerate. Burn him, and the ash will merge to produce a man. It’s the darkest gift, I warned him of that…the gift that requires the highest price. He wanted to be a creature that couldn’t ever be banished from this world, so he became a monster with no soul. That was his price…”

Aidan curled his arm around Jane and pulled her back against his body. Your lover will be ash. “You still don’t understand what you’ve done, do you, Vincent?”