“Jonathan killed Jane,” I said. “I have to find him.”
“What?” Milo blanched and tightened his grip on me.
“He did do it?” Bobby jumped off the couch and hurried over to us. “How do you know?”
“That mark-” I pointed to his temple. “That’s the brand.”
Olivia and Violet both chimed in to say things about Jonathan and serial killers and demanding to know what was going on, but I couldn’t answer them. I could only feel what Jane had felt. Her terror and panic took hold of me again, and I pushed Milo’s arms off me and staggered back.
“Alice, where are you going?” Milo asked, trying to follow me.
“I have to….” I shook my head. I had to find him.
“You smashed his face, Alice,” Bobby reminded me. “He probably went home.”
“No,” I said. “No. He’s hurt. He has to heal. He’s feeding.”
When Milo had been hurt, Jack had given him his blood to speed up the process. Vampire blood was more potent than human blood, but fresh blood would do the trick if he needed it to. And after what I’d done to him, he definitely needed it to.
I couldn’t wait for the elevator, so I ran to the stairwell in the center of the penthouse. I’m sure someone tried to stop me, Milo had to have, but I didn’t hear him and didn’t slow down. I raced down the steps, leaping over several at a time, but I was still taking too long.
I looked over the banister, staring down the hole in the center of the stairs. The bottom floor plummeted twenty stories below me, but I couldn’t wait.
I propelled myself over the railing, and my feet slammed into the concrete. One of my ankles snapped, hard. Part of the bone stuck out, so I pushed it in. I gritted my teeth to keep from screaming, and I focused on Jonathan and what he’d done. That made it much easier to forget the pain.
The back rooms of the club were an interconnected labyrinth where vampires fed. It could take me hours to find him, but it wouldn’t. I stood by the entrance of the halls and closed my eyes, concentrating on his blood. I carried his blood with me, staining my pants, and I could track his scent.
I hurried down the halls, and my ankle threatened to give out, but I forced it on. I ended up running down three different corridors before I found him.
When I pushed open the door to the room, the first thing I saw was Jonathan slumped against the wall. His jaw still looked mangled, but it was clearly healing. Blood covered his face and chest, and his heart beat loud and strong. He was full.
The girl on the bed got my attention next. Her body lay at an odd angle, her spine bent awkwardly back, and her head twisted around. Blood from her neck dripped onto the mattress, but only because gravity made it. Her blood no longer pumped through her veins. Jonathan had his fill of her, and he’d finished her off completely.
“You son of a bitch!” I roared and flew at him. I grabbed him by his jacket and picked him up, then I slammed him into the wall so hard, his skull cracked on the concrete.
“Why are you always bothering me when I eat?” Jonathan asked, his swollen mouth attempting a smirk. “You’re a very rude girl.”
“You’re going to die,” I whispered, my face right in front of his.
“You can’t save them, you know,” Jonathan said wearily. “The humans. They will all die. You’re not doing them any favors.”
I pulled him back from the wall and threw him, so he landed hard against the opposite wall. His body clattered to the floor, and he laughed. He didn’t even bother trying to pull himself up. He slumped against the wall and cackled at me, spraying blood as he did.
“Why Jane?” I asked. “Why her?”
“Because she was mine,” he growled, pausing his maniacal laughter. “She was a piece of meat. And she thought she could decide when she left, that she was done, but that’s not how this works. Humans think they can do anything they want.
“But Jane learned,” he said, his smile twisting up. “I even got her to leave that place for me. All I had to do was call her and reminder her who I was and what I did for her. By the time she came back to me, she was begging for me to bite her. The way all humans should. We’re the top of the food chain, and it’s time they learned that!”
“But they won’t,” I said and it was my turn to smile at him. “I’m going to kill you, here, tonight, and everybody will think that a human killed those girls. A stupid, weak human will get the credit for your work. No one will ever even know that you existed.”
That got him. He jumped up and charged at me, slamming me back into the wall. I kicked him off me, and my broken ankle hurt like hell. He tried to punch me, but I dodged, and his hand collided with the cement wall. I stepped back away from him, towards the bed.
“You know, I’m stronger than you think I am,” Jonathan grinned. “I’ve killed stronger bitches than you.”
“I’m sure you have,” I admitted.
The bed with the dead girl sat on an old metal frame. The legs were long and rusted, and I bent down and snapped one off with ease.
“What are you gonna do with that?” Jonathan laughed. “Poke my eye out?”
“Nope.” I held it up, showing him the broken, pointed edge.
“If you think you can stake me with that, you’re wrong,” he grinned. “That’ll snap before it goes through my ribs.”
“I know.”