Blood & Tears (Jane #3) by Samantha Warren

Took them a
good hour or so because I kept blacking out. By the time they
finished, I knew I was dead if I didn't let them do it. I gave my
consent, then I was out again. When I woke up, hours later, they
had done it. The priest took on the responsibility, as he was my
closest friend."
    "Where is he now?"
    "America. He moved over with the
first waves of settlers, on a special boat hired by the church. To
set up the first approved sanctuary in the new land."
    "There weren't vampires in America
before that?"
    "Oh, of course there were. Some of
them were pretty vile, though. While the Native Americans may not
have been the savages the white men made them out to be, many of
their vampires were. There were a few good ones, though, and they
were adopted by the sanctuary once they were evaluated. And, of
course, vampires went with the Spanish when they discovered
America."
    I felt my jaw drop and Felipe
laughed, sounding much more like himself than he had minutes
before. "What? You think Cortes destroyed the Aztecs with just a
group of humans? No. He had help... unfortunately."
    I snorted. As a mortal, I'd been
pretty gullible. Vampires, mythical creatures used to generate
terror in movies and books, were, in reality, genius immortals who
played a very important part in human society. "Maybe someday I'll
get to actually take those history lessons I've been promised and
learn something real about the world's past."
    He turned his head, his dark eyes
shining in the headlights of a passing car, a smile on his face.
"Yeah, I'll talk to Bellini about it. You need to know something
more useful than how to kill a guy with with a stake."
    I laughed and leaned my head on
his shoulder again. "What could be more useful than knowing how to
kill a guy with a stake?"
    He kissed my hair and I closed my
eyes, drifting off to sleep once more.

 
    SEVEN
     
    We switched places once more, Jax
driving while Felipe and I sat in the back with the curtain closed
to block out the sun. We arrived at our destination when the sun
was still up. We parked several blocks away and Jax and Benton
scouted the area. While they were out, us sunaphobics prepared for
the coming attack. I pulled on my vest and belt, adorning them with
all the essentials. As a last thought, I pulled a couple clips of
incendiary rounds from the chest in the back and slapped them onto
my vest. When Felipe gave me a what-do-you-think-you're-doing look,
I just grinned at him. I really had no idea why I grabbed them,
knowing we weren't supposed to use flame in the house, but they
called to me.
    Jax and Benton returned to the
vehicles as the sun was falling from the sky. When it had settled
just below the treeline, Jax pulled open the curtain. He turned
around in the seat and leaned on the armrest in the middle to give
Felipe and I the rundown. I assumed Benton was doing the same in
the other car.
    "So, here's the deal. There are
three houses directly around the one we need to hit. Left, right,
and one behind it separated by a fence. There are small yards in
the backs of the houses, as well. In the front, we have two
doors—the main double doors and a small door off to the side of the
porch. Same in the back. One leads to the kitchen, the other to the
basement. Most of the windows have thick black-out curtains, so we
couldn't get a good look inside.
    "The house to the right is
currently for sale. Lawn is overgrown, porch covered in leaves that
haven't been swept. Looks unlived in. But there were kids in the
yard on the other side and a swing set in the yard of the house
behind. We need to be really careful or we're going to draw
unwanted attention."
    Felipe leaned forward, resting his
head in his hands as he sighed. "Could they have picked a worse
place to set up a coven? Good Lord."
    I patted him on the back and
grinned. "You're just used to it being easy. It's time you work for
it a bit."
    He tilted his head, looking at me
out of the corner of his eye. Jax was trying desperately to
suppress