Page 55 of Wounded Soul
Jesse bared his fangs as he set Ian down on the concrete. “Fuck off.”
“Tsk-tsk. If you’ve done what I think you have, you’re going need my help. Unless you’ve suddenly become an expert in dealing with the newly turned.”
Jesse’s lip curled into a snarl. He hated Peter right now. Hated him with a ferocity he hadn’t experienced in his sixty-four years as a vampire. But as much as he loathed to admit it, Peter was right in so much as he needed help. “I’ll go to Raph.”
Peter closed the distance between them in the blink of an eye, getting right up in Jesse’s face. “You can’t,” Peter hissed.
“Why not?”
“Because he’s not here.”
Jesse frowned. “Where the hell has he gone?” He didn’t remember Raph telling them he’d be leaving.
“I’m not his keeper.” Peter shrugged, gaze darting back to Ian. “Probably to see one of the other covens. Besides, you couldn’t tell him even if he was here.”
“Why?”
“You know why, Jesse, you’re not a fucking idiot. You broke the agreem—”
Jesse pointed a finger at him. “No, you broke it by killing Ian in the first place.”
Peter rolled his eyes. “Fine.Webroke it. But if you go to Raph with this, he’ll report us both.”
Would he?
Jesse knew the answer.
Coven first.
Raph’s friendship with Jesse was irrelevant, he had to think of the coven as a whole. Helping Jesse in anyway would be seen as a breach of their agreement with the VLCD and all previous hostilities would resume. A few members of the coven might want to return to the old ways of feeding on whom they liked, But Jesse didn’t think the majority did.
And being hunted was no fun for anyone.
But this was also Ian’s life they were talking about.
If he turns.
Regardless of whether it got Jesse in trouble, Ian had to come first.
Squaring his shoulders, Jesse looked Peter in the eye. “I’m going to tell him as soon as he gets back. I’ll have to eventually, anyway. Someone will notice.”
“Not necessarily.” Peter smiled. “I know people, Jesse. I can get Ian new papers and documentation. You can say he’s visiting from up north or something. Raph doesn’t know what Ian looks like. If you say he’s covenless, you know Raph will offer to take him in.”
Jesse did know. Raph might be strict, but he was loyal and fair. He also had a thing for vampires cast out of their own covens for various reasons. But did he want to lie to Raph? No, he had to tell him the truth.
Peter glanced down at where Ian lay, unmoving. “We just have to get through Ian’s first few days and convince him that being a vampire is a good thing.”
Jesse’s mouth fell open. In all of this, he hadn’t once stopped to consider that Ian might hate the fact the Jesse had turned him. Peter might have been the one to kill him, but it was Jesse’s blood that had made him into a vampire. “He might not turn.” Jesse flinched at his own words. Even with all the problems it brought, Jesse couldn’t bring himself to regret it. Couldn’t imagine Ian dying and never seeing him again.
It was the most selfish thing he’d ever done. But he’d do it again without a second thought.
“Oh, he’ll turn,” Peter said, waving a hand at Ian. “It’s already happening. Can’t you smell it?”
Jesse ducked his head and sniffed the air around them, but all he smelt was Ian.
“What if he hates it?”
Peter’s laughter made Jesse’s hands curl into fists. “Then we’re fucked. Both of us, now you’ve resurrected the only one who can point the finger at me with any conviction.”
