Cannot Unite by Jackie Ivie Page A

my.
Jeannette
swallowed time and again on the emotion. It didn’t work. Her eyes
filled, blurring him even as she blinked the tears back.
    “Oh, KayNan. I am.”
    “Totally certain?”
    “Will you quit wasting time? That guy
doesn’t have your stamina. He doesn’t have your strength. Sounds
like he’s ready to talk. You
want
them to find us?”
    “Never. They will never find you. Ever. They
would have to come through me.”
    “Which is exactly why you need to turn me.
Now. That way I can help you kick ass, rather than be an
encumbrance. Got it?”
    He pulled her right into his lap with a
primal, possessive gesture she could get fond of. A glance showed
his canines as sharp and lengthy as they’d been before. Jeannette
licked her lips, closed her eyes, and offered her throat. A moment
later he stabbed into her, the sensation bringing ecstasy to
override the pain, bliss that overcame the fire, and happiness that
couldn’t be contained.
    o0o
    They were expecting KayNan. Jeannette was
going to be a complete surprise.
    She’d been wrong about Vaughn. He appeared
to be holding up very well. He was filling the clearing with
blasphemy amid the groans. Jeannette winced and opened her vision
to encompass the entire area. Tents came into focus. Small ice
chests. Back-packs. A scattering of folding camp chairs. A large
fire. It wasn’t their only light source. They had lanterns strung
up, too. A scan of the area showed why. They’d been busy.
    Two men were just finishing up hiding deep
pits, each one camouflaged with last fall’s leaves and other forest
debris. Looked like…about six traps; spaced about the edge of the
clearing. They’d also laced a series of thin wires around their
camp, about ankle height. It defined space, set up a perimeter, and
made an effective alarm system. It was difficult to see, too,
except a flare came from their campfire, glinting off droplets
running along the lines. Jeannette stiffened. The droplets were
Holy Water.
    She didn’t need to ask.
    She knew.
    She squelched the instant stab of worry,
muting the reaction in order to broaden her sight. She sent it
wider. Higher. Getting a complete overview…
    There!
    They had two snipers posted high in
treetops, well hidden; looking like little more than dark shapes
attached to tree trunks. Stealthy. Unmoving. Furtive. Their mouths
were even covered over with facemasks to prevent breath from
fogging the air about them. The early evening air was probably
chilly. She didn’t feel it.
    Jeannette narrowed her eyes to locate Vaughn
again.
    They weren’t just good at hunting vampires.
They’d already killed a small animal. Jeannette wrinkled her nose
at the hunter efficiently skinning a carcass hanging from a tree
limb. Vaughn was strung up on another limb from the same tree; his
wrists roped together, feet dangling. He was shirtless. And he was
bloody.
    Jeannette’s eyes widened with shock. Dismay.
Outrage. They’d been slicing little chunks of skin from him.
And…
    She stuck a hand over her mouth.
    They’d been pulling out fingernails.
    Vaughn’s body hung like dead-weight. It
probably made the fingers with the missing fingernails even more
painful. Jeannette watched blood trails as they meandered down
Vaughn’s arms with the slightest stir of something odd. Alien.
Surprising. She found herself supremely interested…in the
taste.
    Ugh
.
    She was too new to this. She moved her view
again. Rapidly. It was better.
    There were two more men about the tree.
Laughing. Jostling each other. Occasionally poking at Vaughn with
their knives. Jeannette narrowed her eyes. That made seven men. All
wearing camouflage. Night vision goggles. Strange weaponry. She
took in curved bows. Crossbows. Arrow quivers. Spears. Swords.
    Crucifixes.
    Jeannette jerked back as her eyes got
scorched. Burned. Seared. And then KayNan spoke, altering
everything.
    “Jeannette? Love?”
    Arms tightened about her, accompanying his
voice.
Wait. His arms tightened?
Jeannette slit