Free VA 2 - Blood Jewel by Georgia Cates Page A

“Club Infinity on Bourbon.”
    I reeled in my anger at Marsala and
myself as I calmly said, “Will someone call the driver? Chansey and
I have to leave New Orleans immediately.”

    7 I’ve Got
This
    I wore a blindfold on the ride home
since we didn’t know the details of the spell being used by Marsala
and her accomplice. Chansey was silent and it terrified me because
this was exactly the type of situation I was waiting for to drive
her away.
    I felt her reach for my hand and I
didn’t know what it meant, but I was flooded with relief. I spoke
into the pitch black in her direction. “Love, I am so sorry. This
is all my fault.”
    I felt her slide across the seat
and she laid her head on my shoulder. “It’s not your fault. It’s
that monster’s fault.”
    This was a lot for anyone to be
forced to face. “I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to leave
me.”
    Since I was blindfolded and still
hearing the chanting, I didn’t see or hear it coming when she hit
me in the chest with her fist. “You really piss me off when you say
stupid stuff like that. I don’t want to ever hear anything like
that come out of your mouth again. I mean it. You feel
me?”
    Because she made me more human, I
really did feel her and her fist. “Yeah, I’ve got it.”
    She relaxed again and leaned her
body over onto mine. “Now, what are we going to do about
this?”
    “We’re going to leave New Orleans,
like yesterday,” I explained.
    “No. we’re not leaving tonight.
We’ll leave tomorrow as planned. Marsala isn’t going to find us
tonight and she can’t travel in the sunlight, so there’s no reason
to cut our visit short with our family.”
    I laughed under my breath and
Chansey felt my chest vibrate. “What are you laughing
at?”
    “You said ‘our family.’ and I
liked it. I’m laughing because you are like an unstable stick of
dynamite. I’m not sure Marsala would stand a chance against
you.”
    “I hate bullies and that’s exactly
what she is. I want to tie her to a tree at dawn and watch the sun
fry her ass.”
    I rubbed my hand up and down her
arm. “That’s my badass girl.”
    “What do you think Sebastian will
tell us we should do?”
    I reached for her head and gently
encouraged her to lay it against me. I rubbed her hair and
whispered, “I don’t know, but I’m sure he’ll have a
solution.”
    Chansey became quiet and I thought
she was asleep until she asked, “What are you thinking
about?”
    “About how broad Sebastian’s
knowledge is. He recognized that Black Magic spell immediately and
I’m wondering how.”
    “He’s a scholar and he’s been
around a minute,” she reminded me.
    “Yeah, I know, but that isn’t your
typical realm of vampire knowledge.”
    “I don’t care how he knew. I’m
just glad he did and it does my heart good to know that Marsala
didn’t win this round.”
    She didn’t know how much I hoped
she was right because this wasn’t over. I could still hear her in
my head.
    ≈ ≈ ≈
    I was pissed. This wasn’t how I
planned to spend Chansey’s birthday. We didn’t have a choice but to
discuss what we would do about Marsala with the family, but it
wasn’t going to happen before Chansey and I finished celebrating
her birthday. I refused to let Marsala ruin this time for
us.
    My family arrived at the compound
before us and were all waiting in the living room when we got
there. Although I couldn’t see them, I felt their stares on me and
I didn’t like it one bit. I stood at what I thought was the entry
to the living room and said, “There are definitely things we need
to discuss, but Chansey and I have some business to tend to first.
I need a little time alone with her and then we’ll be back to
discuss what it is we’re going to do about this.” I didn’t even
want to say her name. I hated the way it felt rolling off of my
tongue.
    As we left the living room, I
called over my shoulder, “Feel free to discuss it without us and
come up with a solution to