Indeed, there appeared to be a change overcoming Jonas. The malice in his eyes alone transformed him, and Ginny recalled what he’d said to her in the office of the funeral home earlier that night. These abilities are usually triggered in a vampire when he or she undergoes something harrowing. More and more every time. And you, love, most definitely fit that description.
In a blur of movement, Jonas whipped off his coat, leaving him in dress pants, suspenders and a dove gray button-down. Déjà vu nipped at her conscious, but she was too focused on praying for Jonas’s survival, that she could only disregard it and whisper a rush of words against the glass, fogging it slightly.
“Please, please, please…”
Time seemed to slow as she locked eyes with Jonas through the glass. The slightest downward flicker of his irises sent Ginny into a duck without hesitation—and Seymour’s body was thrown up against the car. Slam.
“Son of a bitch,” Tucker breathed.
Ginny straightened and watched Jonas pull Seymour off the car, using only an outstretched hand, and launch him up against the side of the building. She almost cheered. Started to, in fact, but Seymour chose that moment to rally, blasting Jonas with wavy ribbons of clear energy, throwing him off his feet and onto his back.
Leaving him vulnerable.
“No,” Ginny breathed.
A ball of crackling air hovered above the older vampire’s palm and he was seconds from hitting Jonas with it. While he was down.
No, she couldn’t let it happen.
If she was the catalyst for his abilities taking hold, then she’d do her job. She’d help him, instead of standing by like a spare part.
Seymour reared back, preparing to blast Jonas.
She’d have to dig deep for this amount of courage. None of her usual heroines would boost her this time—sorry, Elizabeth, Lauren and Grace. This time around, she was going full Bond Girl. With a deep breath, Ginny threw open the car door and stepped out.
“No!” Jonas roared, rolling and lunging to his feet.
Seymour turned with a beastly smile and changed his aim to Ginny instead. “Alas, she makes my task even easier.” Her feet lifted inch by inch off the ground, the floating sensation disconcertingly familiar. “Where shall I perch the little birdie this time? A skyscraper, perhaps?”
Seymour’s bottomless eyes went blank as his neck snapped. He collapsed into a heap on the ground, dropping Ginny back down to the concrete.
Vampires couldn’t die from a broken neck, though, could they?
Her question was answered when Seymour twitched and started to stand, despite the nausea-inducing injuries to his person.
Jonas straddled the man’s chest with what appeared to be a broken chair leg clutched tightly in his hand. A makeshift stake? Jonas was saying something, but she could barely make it out. She started to take a hesitant step forward when an arm wrapped around her waist, yanking her backward until she met the side of the car with Tucker and Elias blocking her view.
“That was one crazy move, sweetheart,” Tucker said over his shoulder. “She has a couple of beers, all of a sudden she’s living life on the edge.”
“I can’t believe a human is growing on me,” Elias muttered from behind his raised collar.
She couldn’t take the time to be flattered. Not when she was too eager to hear the exchange between Jonas and Seymour. Holding on to Tucker’s jacket sleeve, she inserted her face between her own private vampire shield and listened.
“Why did you come for her?” Jonas shouted at the felled vampire. “Tell me.”
“Why else?” The old vampire’s laugh chugged like an engine, but it held a tinge of sadness. “Your father.”
Seymour’s head had been bent at an unnatural angle, but his neck shifted slowly now to the sound of tendons stretching. Tucker and Elias tensed on either side of Ginny, a split second before Seymour sprang up and made a grab for the stake—but it was too late. Jonas arced the weapon down with considerable force and penetrated the right side of Seymour’s chest, resulting in a loud whistling sound—and pop.
Ashes floated where the old vampire had once been.
Jonas dropped to his knees in the floating debris and hung his head. “Goddammit.” A shudder traveled across his shoulder muscles and then he was on his feet, blurring to the spot right in front of her. Tucker and Elias were pushed apart, leaving her crouched sideways like the world’s most obvious eavesdropper. “Ginny,” he said, his voice lethally quiet. “You got. Out. Of the car.”
She straightened and brushed off her skirt, reluctant to witness the accusation and outrage in his gaze. “I was trying to motivate you.”
“You agreed to stay put,” he gritted out, gripping her shoulders.
“I had my fingers crossed,” she whispered, heat stealing up her neck. “Please try and remember we’re very close to my birthday.”
He made a choked sound. “Do not make jokes when I’ve just come close to losing you.” Twin sparks launched in his eyes. “You are a threat to my very sanity.”
Indignation poked her in the side like a thorn. “Do you think it was easy sit here and watch you fight for your life?”
“Forgive me if I’m not prepared to be reasonable over you trying to get yourself killed,” Jonas growled, reaching behind her and opening the door, urging her into the backseat while Tucker and Elias reclaimed their spots up front.
Silence cracked in the dark car like a whip.
“Once again, a vampire’s hatred for your sire and his cut-throat policies puts you—and this time, her—in the crossfire,” Elias said finally. “How long are you going to pretend your connection to him is inconsequential?”
Jonas’s jaw popped in response. “There are far more vampires that support me than want me dead over some perceived connection to him that no longer exists.” He paused. “The threat has been handled. That’s what’s important now.” He frowned out the car window. “Clarence told me stories of Elders developing foresight. Seymour must have been one of them. How else would he have known about Ginny before I met her?”
The question lingered in the air, until Tucker smacked Elias in the shoulder. “Are we just going to pretend he doesn’t have dope-ass abilities now, or…” When he got no response from the passenger, he turned in his seat. “You just staked a billion-year-old vampire like you were spreading mayo on a slice of Wonder Bread. You don’t want to chat about it?”
“She was in danger,” Elias said. “His mat—”
“That’s impossible and you know it,” Jonas cut in, securing Ginny’s seatbelt like she was a three-year-old child. “Drive us to the funeral home.”
With a squeal of tires, Tucker accelerated the car and whipped onto the street, turning the stereo on and drumming the steering wheel along with the thumping bass. Jonas found the blindfold on the seat, but before he could tie it over Ginny’s eyes, she closed them and turned her face into his chest instead.
His arms came around her slowly, the pressure increasing until he was squeezing her tight.
“Someone tried to kill you, love. Because of who I am. Who I was. And yet you trust me, take risks for me…you cling to me anyway.” He mapped her forehead with kisses. “I should be shaking sense into you. Instead I want to kneel and thank fate.”