Page 28 of Cry of Blood and Joy
The question stole the air out of the room. Enzo went perfectly still—not the relaxed stillness of someone at peace, but the deadly stillness of a coiled snake about to strike. He stared at Rocco as if the vampire prince had just handed him the missing piece to a puzzle that had been driving him mad, his eyes widening with dawning comprehension.
“I don’t know,” he said slowly. “But I have to find out.”
Terror exploded in my chest like shrapnel. Not now, not when we’d finally found a moment of relative safety. “No.” The word erupted from my lips like a bomb detonating in the confined space, sharp and final and frantic.
My shadows responded to my emotional eruption instantly, swirling around the room at rapid speed like a dark tornado of anxiety and fear. They coiled around Enzo’s legs, wrapping around his torso like clinging arms trying to hold him in place, trying to keep him safe through sheer force of will.
“It’s too dangerous, Enzo.” Tears burned behind my eyes like acid. “You can’t take on Angelo, Keir, and the New Orleans Police Department by yourself.” The impossibility of what he was suggesting made my chest feel like it was caving in, crushing my lungs until I could barely breathe. “You’ll be killed.”
The last words came out as barely more than a whisper, but they carried all my terror—the bone-deep certainty that if he walked out that door on this suicidal mission, I would never see him alive again.
He arched his back and gritted his teeth. “Joy, you have to let me go.” I could feel the anger brewing inside him, the frustration, but my shadows held him. It shocked me that they were powerful enough to hold an angry vampire enforcer. I had to protect him, even from himself.
“No, I won’t let you sacrifice yourself.” The words tore from my throat with desperate intensity, my shadows tightening around him like living shackles. I couldn’t lose him—not now, not ever. The very thought made something inside me fracture, threatening to break me apart completely. My heartbeat echoed in my skull like gunshots, and the metallic tang of terror stung my tongue.
He panted hard, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he fought against my shadowy restraints, but gradually his struggles ceased as he realized the futility of fighting against mypower when my emotions were this raw. “Listen to me. I’m the only one that can do this.”
The logic in his words spun around in my brain, but it was everything I didn’t want to hear. He was trying to use reason against my fear, trying to make me understand when all I wanted was to keep him safe in my arms forever. My shadows writhed with my internal conflict, responding to the war between my mind and my heart.
“She’s right.” Rocco took another sip of his wine, looking over the rim at Enzo. “You said you needed help. Let me go with you.” The offer was simple and dangerous and unexpectedly generous.
“No,” Enzo growled, the sound rumbling deep in his chest like thunder. His protective instincts flared so violently I could smell the change in his scent—something sharp and possessive that made my skin tingle. “I won’t leave her alone.”
“Her brother will be back soon. He can stay with her,” Rocco said. “I’m not a wanted man. Not yet, anyway.” The last part came out with dark humor that made my stomach clench with fresh worry.
My shadows pulsed around Enzo, tightening with my resolve. “If you don’t let Rocco go with you, then I’m not letting you go.” The ultimatum was like throwing down a gauntlet, drawing a line in the sand I refused to cross.
“You’re being unreasonable,” he countered, frustration bleeding into his flustered face. “They could find you here.”
“They won’t. I’ll use my shadows to hide. Besides, I know you.” I tilted my head, studying his face with the intensity of someone who’d memorized every expression, every tell. “Didn’t you use compulsion on the desk clerk?”
His jaw clenched so hard I could hear his teeth grinding together, a sound that sent shivers down my spine. His dark eyes flashed with a volatile mixture of pride and exasperation that made my heart skip—pride because I was standing up tohim, exasperation because I was being just as immovable as a mountain. “Joy, let me go.” The words came out strained, like they were being pulled from somewhere deep in his chest against his will.
I held my head up high, feeling strength flow through me like liquid fire. My shadows responded to my resolve, becoming more solid, more determined in their grip. “No.” The single word rang out clear and unwavering. I could be just as stubborn as him—maybe more so when it came to protecting the people I loved, and right now that meant protecting him from his own reckless heroics.
Enzo narrowed his eyes to dangerous slits, and for a moment I saw the predator beneath the man I loved. “I could use compulsion on you like I did the desk clerk.”
But I’d spent enough time with him to know his tells, to read the conflict written across his features like an open book. “You would have done it by now if you were going to.” My heart raced with the audacity of calling his bluff. The truth was there in his eyes—he could never violate my mind that way, could never take away my choice even to protect me.
“Joy, this is ridiculous.” Desperation crept into his expression. “You can’t keep me like this.”
“You’re the one that’s keeping yourself like this.” The irony wasn’t lost on me—his own protective nature was what made my shadows so effective. I tilted my head toward Rocco, who had been watching our battle of wills with growing fascination. “Take him with you, and I’ll let you go.”
Rocco straightened, sensing his moment to contribute. “I’m not helpless, Enzo.” His voice carried the authority of his royal bloodline, even dressed in flour-dusted work clothes. “I could get into places where you can’t—such as the police department to find out what happened.” The suggestion made perfect sense if only Enzo would listen to reason.
Enzo stopped struggling against my shadows completely, his body going still as logic warred with his protective instincts. He took a deep breath and his body relaxed. The anger in his eyes was replaced with calmness; Enzo understood Rocco’s offer actually made tactical sense.
He turned his gaze back to me. “You will not leave this room.”
Relief flooded through me like warm honey, and my shadows relaxed their grip slightly in response to my emotional shift. “I promise. I won’t.”
Guilt pressed down on my shoulders like sharp talons, crushing and inescapable. I was the reason for this entire debacle, and the knowledge ate at me like acid in my veins. I had to make it right—somehow, some way, I had to fix what my uncontrolled powers had broken. Enzo was powerful, devastatingly so, but he was only one vampire against impossible odds. He didn’t possess an army like Keir and Angelo, didn’t have the resources of an entire police department hunting him down.
“I have to make sure you won’t leave.” His statement made my stomach clench with sudden unease, something dark and determined that I’d never heard before.
Confusion clouded my thoughts as I tried to parse the meaning behind his words. But then he grabbed my hand with fierce urgency and pulled me hard against his chest, the impact stealing my breath. His lips crashed against mine with bruising intensity—it was the kiss of a desperate man, someone determined never to let me go, never to leave me behind.
I gradually melted into his embrace, my body reacting to his familiar touch while my mind wrestled to comprehend the situation. His kiss was commanding, much like the man himself, assertive and unyielding. I responded to his intensity with every ounce of passion within me, clinging to him with a fierce desperation. I poured all my love and fear into thebond that connected us, as if trying to convey the depth of my emotions through our shared breath. I wanted to wrap him in my shadows, and shield him from his enemies.
