Mordecai and Jade pt 1

Four years after Jade’s disappearance Mordecai is back at Racer’s. He’s sitting in front of one of the three stages waiting for the next dancer to come out. When she does, Mordecai is suspicious. The woman in young and blonde with soft green eyes lined with dark liner, she’s dressed in a teeny black bikini top and an extreme short black skirt that was barely two inches long. She had stars tattooed on her hips and she was wearing platform heels. She looked almost like Jade, only older. Mordecai watched as she started dancing, waiting to see if maybe she notices him. But as she dances, he senses a sickness in her. And when she’s done, Mordecai watches her stumble off stage. He gets up and is given access to the dancer’s dressing room. There are a few dancers getting ready. They all know Mordecai and smile at him, they know he doesn’t speak. He hears someone in the bathroom throwing up and goes into the bathroom without walking. The blonde from the stage is in the floor throwing up into the toilet. “Jade?” He says over their connection, for the first time in years it’s there and wide open. She groans and looks up from the toilet at him. “What the hell are you doing here?” she asks before she bends back down, hurling. “I should be asking you the same thing. Isn’t this the same shit hole I pulled you from four years ago?” Mordecai says. Jade shakes her head; she’s no longer throwing up. Jade stands up, walks past him to the sink and washes her mouth and face. She fixes herself in the mirror the best she can then turns around and looks at him. “Why are you here?” she asks again, her hands on her tattooed hips. Mordecai shakes his head “Jade where have you been?” he asks. She runs a hand through her long blonde hair and rolls her eyes. “I go back on in twenty minutes Death; I don’t have time for this.” She’d used his nickname, when she lived with him she used it when she got frustrated with him, or when she was being affectionate. Mordecai shakes his head “You’re sick, there’s no way you’re going back out there.” Jade laughs and pushes past him to go out into the dressing room. Mordecai follows her. She’s fixing her makeup. “What are your symptoms?” Mordecai asks. Jade looks at him in the mirror “What makes you think I’m sick?” she asks. Mordecai rolls his eyes behind his glasses and says “You throwing up might have been the first clue. Not to mention you know I know these things. Tell me your damn symptoms.” Jade leans against the vanity and sighs, giving in. “I haven’t been able to eat lately; I can’t sleep; I can’t even dance without leaving the stage feeling weak.” She said looking at him, wondering if he can tell her something. Mordecai walks towards her and touches her face, she’s cold as hell. He steps back “You’re sick; you’re not going back out there. Where do you live now?” he asks. Jade shakes her head “I have bills to pay Mordecai, I have to work.” “How long have you been like this?” he asks. Jade shrugs “A week, maybe two.” Mordecai looks at her suspiciously, her illness was eating away at her. She was going to die soon. He looks away from her, Jade is dying. “I’ll make it up to you alright but you have to go home.” He says stepping towards her. Jade looks up at him and wants to tell him no but she’d never been able to resist him for long. He had a way of convincing her he knew exactly what was right for her, that he knew how to take care of her. And the fact that he was the most handsome thing she’d ever seen in her life helped a lot. Mordecai holds his hand out to her “Are you going to tell me where you live or not?” he asks. Jade rolls her eyes in a final act of resistance then puts her small hand in his. Mordecai grips her hands tightly “Do you need anything?” he asks. Jade grabs a black purse off the vanity “Just this.” Mordecai takes her the back way out of the dressing room into alley and to his truck. When they get inside, Mordecai asks Jade where she lives. Jade gives him an address and when they get there, Mordecai doesn’t even open the door to get out. She lived in the slums, the worst part of the city. When Jade went to get out of the truck, Mordecai grabbed her hand and pulled her back “No way in hell!” he says shaking his head. “What?” Jade asks. “This looks like a crack house.” Jade glares at him “Well I’m sorry but we can’t all live in nice, big apartments like you Death.” She says. Mordecai nods “You could be. You never should have left.” Jade leans back in her seat and sighs “I had to.” Mordecai lets go of her hand and puts the truck in drive. He takes her to his apartment.

As soon as they get to the top floor of the building and into his apartment, Jade smiles like she was seeing an old friend for the first time in a long time. She had loved this place and she was glad to see nothing had changed since she left. “Is my room still here?” she asks, almost ashamed that she had to ask. Mordecai silently takes her down the hallway to her old room. When he opens the door, Jade holds back a smile, he hadn’t touched anything, hadn’t even made the bed. She walks into the room and lays her purse on the bed as she starts going through the room “You didn’t touch anything?” she asks seeing the drawers hanging open, clothes spilling out of them. Mordecai shakes his head “They aren’t my things.” He says simply. Jade walks up to him and plants a kiss on his cheek “Thanks.” She said wondering if he could see her blush. She’s never seen him without the glasses, she was pretty sure he slept with the things on. “If you don’t need anything, I’ll let you get some rest.” He says suddenly feeling awkward and suffocated. She smelled delicious, like tropical fruits; her lips had been soft on his face. Jade tries thinking of anything to keep him with her for a little longer. From the moment she’d seen him at the age of 17, she’d had the biggest crush on him. Mordecai was that tall, dark and handsome mystery man every girl dreams of. And he’d picked her up off the streets like a dollar he’d found; he’d given her a home. She knew though how Mordecai was. It wouldn’t bother him if she left again, he could easily move on from any kind of relationship without any feeling. Jade sits down on the bed to take her killer heels off “Are you going to find out what’s making me sick?” She asks looking up at him. Mordecai walks over to a chair in the corner of the room and sits down. He’d momentarily forgotten that Jade was really sick, dying even. He laces his fingers together and watches as she takes off her shoes, rubbing her sore feet. “Jade, you haven’t been having sex without condoms have you?” he asks. Humans were so susceptible to STDS. Jade looks at him and laughs “I’m not a hooker Death, I just dance.” “So you haven’t?” he asks. Jade throws her legs up on the bed and lays down on her side. She gives him a smile Mordecai hadn’t ever seen on her face, it made him nervous and aroused at the same time “No, I haven’t been having sex at all.” She says softly. Mordecai nods “Drugs?” he asks. Jade rolls her eyes “No, no drugs, no sex.” So she couldn’t have AIDS. He knew asking her questions was pointless, he had to touch her, get inside her body to figure out what was killing her. Mordecai stands up and walks over to her; Jade’s eyes get wider as Mordecai stops by the bed, bends down and puts his hands on her stomach. “Lay flat.” He says. Jade does as he says, she lays flat on her back so Mordecai can go over her body, his hands acting as every kind of scan the hospitals had and some it never would. He slides his hands over her flat stomach, then one hand starts going up and the other down. Jade watches Mordecai’s face, wishing like hell she could see his eyes. She’d dreamed about him touching her again for years, even if this wasn’t sexual from his end, Jade couldn’t help but feel excited as his hands gently grazed her skin. Mordecai was using his gift to look for what was making her sick. It only took a minute for Mordecai to realize her entire body was infected. He took his hands off her and sighed, there was only one thing that could infect someone so completely and start to change their very DNA. Did Jade know? “What did you find?” Jade asks. Mordecai takes a step back and shakes his head “Its … it’ll pass.” He says giving her a smile that he hopes will ease her. Jade smiles and relaxes into the bed. “Go to sleep; get some rest okay?” he Mordecai steps towards her, bends down and kisses her forehead “No problem.” He says before leaving.

When Jade wakes up the next morning, her stomach’s turning circles and her head throbbing, there is a tray laying on her nightstand with a cup of tea and a sliced up orange and a bowl of apple cinnamon oatmeal; the same thing she’d eaten practically every day for two years. Jade sat up in the bed, grabbed the tray and was in the middle of eating when she heard Mordecai walk past her room “Good evening.” She said in her mind, reaching out to him. “How do you feel?” he asks, sensing her weakness. He’d gotten a call from Casey saying they were going to bust up a Kings Men meeting house not too far from his apartment. He had gotten ready, gotten Jade’s breakfast and was out the door when she reached out to him. “I feel a little weak, are you leaving?” she asks as she sips her tea. Mordecai stopped and grabbed his trench coat from the closet. “In a minute.” He says walking back to her room. He opens the door and flips on the light. Jade is sitting in the dark sipping her tea, her face is pale and she looks like she’s sweating. “Just weak?” he asks walking into the room. He walks up her and touches her forehead, her skin was burning. Jade looks up at him “I can handle it.” She says putting the cup of tea down on the tray. Mordecai takes a good long look at her “You just turned 23 didn’t you?” he asks. If he remembered correctly, her birthday had just been a week ago. Jade nods “What does that have to do with anything?” she asks. Mordecai rubs his face and shakes his head “Nothing, are you sure you’re okay?” he asks. Jade nods and smiles “I can take care of myself.” She says. Mordecai nods “I’ll be back then.” He says leaving the room. Jade looked around her room once he left, feeling alone “Don’t even think about going anywhere.” Mordecai says as he’s going down the spiraling staircase. Jade laughed both out loud and in her mind “I’m not going anywhere Death.” She says with a soft sigh. Mordecai gets in his truck and takes off towards the Society Safe house he was meeting Casey and Dante at.

When Mordecai gets to the safe house, he goes upstairs and to the control room. He was the Society’s tech man and he was in charge of running all security systems and anything to do with technology within the Society. When he walks inside, Casey and Dante are sitting there talking, Casey has a blunt in his hand, the smell of chocolate thick in the air. When they see Mordecai they stop and look at him “What’s up Death?” Dante asks. Mordecai sits down and smiles at his brothers. “What’s with the smile?” Casey asks taking a deep inhale off the blunt. Mordecai takes his glasses off his glasses and rubs his opalescent green eyes; his brothers were the only people he’d take them off in front of. Just because they’d all been there the day he went crazy on himself and tried gouging his eyes out with a silver dagger, thus the scars on his face. And thank god he had a mental connection with them all “Do you remember the girl that lived with me for two years? Jade?” he asks. Casey and Dante both nod “She’s a dancer at Racer’s; she’s dying.” He says putting the glasses back on his face. Both Dante and Casey looked at each other “Where is she now?” they ask. “At my place.” “What is she dying of?” Mordecai shakes his head “Vampirism.” He says looking up at the wall of computer screens. Casey and Dante laugh “Are you serious?” Dante asks. Mordecai nods but doesn’t look away from the computers. “You’re sure?” “Yea.” “She was born a vampire; we have to figure out who her parents are.” Casey says taking a hit off his blunt. “I don’t think she even knows she’s a vampire my brothers. Until she turns I’m not saying anything.” Changing the subject, Mordecai says “Where’s this safe house?” “Next to a club called Expression. It’s a small warehouse … word on the street is that they’re using it as some sort of lab. We have no idea what they’re making.” Casey says taking another hit off the blunt. Mordecai nods, turns around in his seat and starts typing on the computer. In an instant, he has blueprints for every warehouse within ten miles of Expression. He even has records of electric, water and such bills for each one. Only two had active bills and like Casey had said, the warehouse right next to the club had the higher of the two. Mordecai checked the blueprints for the warehouse, even though he knew that if the Kings Men were using it, things had defiantly been changed “What do you think they’re making in there?” Dante asks. Mordecai and Casey shook their heads “I don’t know but we’ll find out when we get there huh?” Casey said with a smile as he gently broke the cherry of his blunt and stuck it back in the cigarette pack. Mordecai continues staring at the blueprints, studying them. Thanks to modern technology he could even pinpoint which level of the building was receiving the most energy. It was the basement. “We need to get into the basement, that’s where they’re working.” Mordecai says looking at his fellow Warriors. Casey and Dante stand up, uncurling to almost seven feet of leather and weapons. Mordecai shut off the computers and stood up “Dematerialize?” Dante asks. Casey looks at Mordecai, he nods. They dematerialize to the warehouse.

There were people waiting in line to get into the club Expression, no one seemed to notice the three men as they break into the building next to the club. When the three get into the warehouse, it’s dusty and seems abandoned but they know better. Mordecai, Casey and Dante find their way down to the basement and no one is there, which they think is suspicious. There’s tons of medical equipment, surgical tables, cabinets filled with different vials of liquids of different colors but no real answer as to what the KM’s are up to. The three Warriors spread out, going through everything trying to find some clue as to what’s going on. Each Warrior takes something from the room; Mordecai even sits down at the computer, puts in a flash drive and downloads files. They’re in the middle of their search when three Kings Men come down into the basement to see what was going on. <<Fight >> Mordecai grabs his flash drive out of the computer as they run out of the room. When they’re out of the basement they dematerialize back to the safe house. Mordecai is more wounded than the others; he’s bleeding all over the place. Dante and Casey try getting him to go to Roach at the Compound but Mordecai refuses, he wants to go over the documents he got from that basement. He tears his shirt into strips and ties off his wounds so he can sit down and put the files he took from their computer to his. Casey and Dante are planning to take their findings back to Roach, not only is he a doctor but a scientist as well. Mordecai finishes downloading the files and is about to dive into reading them when a gentle push in his mind instantly snaps him out of Warrior mode “Mordecai, you’re hurt.” It was Jade, she sounded so weak. She shouldn’t have even been using her strength to reach out to him. “Are you feeling well?” Mordecai asks changing the subject from him to her. He hears Jade sigh in his mind “Come home soon.” “Before the sun rises.” He says before shutting her off completely, forcing her to keep her strength. Dante and Casey say they’re going back to the compound to go over the stuff with Roach. Mordecai says he’s going to stay here for awhile and go through the files. They both tell him he should come with them to see Roach but Mordecai ignores them, Casey and Dante leave.

Mordecai walks through the door to his apartment around 4:30, limping badly and dripping blood from his wounds all over the floor as he walks through the place. Jade bursts out of her room the moment she feels his presence. She sees Mordecai limping towards her, a trail of blood following him “What the hell happen?!” Jade asks running up to him and grabbing a hold of him. Mordecai shakes his head and tries shrugging her off but Jade won’t let go “I’m fine, it’s nothing a few stitches can’t fix.” He says as they walk towards the kitchen. Jade didn’t let go of him. As they’re going through the kitchen, Mordecai’s knees give out on him and if it weren’t for Jade he would have hit the floor. Jade eases him to the kitchen floor and leans him against the cabinets “I’ll be right back, stay here and don’t move.” She says leaving and going to get his box of medical supplies. Mordecai just shakes his head; she’d always been a vicious one. When Jade comes back, she sits down next to him and goes through the box. She finds the supplies for stitches “Take off your pants.” She says holding up the suture. Mordecai eases out of his blood soaked pants and sits there naked and uncomfortable as Jade starts washing the blood off his body with a washcloth. She tries not looking at his face or below his waist because this reminded them both of one other time, when things had gotten so close to out of control. She washes the blood off his legs and starts stitching up the deep stab wound without looking at what was between them. When she’s done, she grabs a pair of hemostats and pulls two bullets from his thigh. Mordecai sits there, not concentrated on the pain but her gentle touch. When she finishes with his legs, Jade starts working on his chest and arms. Since he’d already torn his shirt up, she didn’t need to ask him to take it off. She washes the blood off his washboard stomach and broad chest, discovering that none of those wounds were serious. When she’d finished attending to every wound she looks Mordecai in the eye and laughs “Some things never change do they.” Mordecai shakes his head as he watches her put all the supplies away. He grabs her arm, leaving behind a faint blood smear “Are you getting worse?” he asks. Jade stops and looks him in the eye “How did you know that?” she asks. Mordecai tightens his grip on her arm “You’re looking worse.” He says. Jade smiles but even her smiles shows she’s not feeling her best. “I’ll be fine. You said I’d get over it right.” She says standing up, her arm sliding out of his grip, and going to take the box back to his bathroom. Mordecai pulls himself to his feet, gets a beer out of the fridge and chugs it quickly. He’s on a fourth one when Jade walks back into the kitchen “Are you okay?” she asks. Mordecai doesn’t answer her. He chugs one more and slides all the cans into the trash. Jade walks up to him and puts her hand over his “Are you?” Mordecai looks down at her and nods “Long night.” He says. Jade nods and goes to say something when a severe pain hits her in the stomach, causing her to double over. Jade grabs her stomach and groans as she bends over. Mordecai grabs her by the shoulders “What is it?” he asks picking her up. Jade rolls against him and buries her face in his shoulder “My stomach ...” she groans. “Are you going to throw up?” he asks rushing her down the hall “Maybe.” She says feeling the nausea boiling in her stomach. Mordecai takes her to the bathroom and puts her down by the toilet right in time. As Jade throws up what little she’d eaten that night, Mordecai bends down beside her, holding her up and her hair back. When she’s done, Jade is weak and shaky. She leans back against him, catching her breath. “If you know what I’ve got you better tell me!” she says hoarsely. Mordecai helps her to her feet so she can wash out her mouth. “Jade, who were your parents?” he asks. Jade shakes her head “Mordecai, I was a dumpster baby. Or did you forget?” she asks. “So you had no idea at least one of your parents was a vampire?” Mordecai asks. Jade goes still then turns around and looks at him, confused as hell “What are you talking about Mordecai?” “The infection is the Vampire DNA slowly changing your cells. Judging from what I saw the other night you’re going to turn soon, within the next night soon.” He says. Jade suddenly feels faint; she grabs a hold of the counter and leans against it before Mordecai can notice what she’s feeling. “So, I’m going to be a vampire?” she asks. Mordecai nods “Yea.” Jade smiles, Mordecai frowns. He’d thought she might be upset but obviously not “Most humans are freaking out at this point.” Jade shakes her head “Death, when other little girls wanted to be ballerinas and princesses, I wanted to be a vampire.” She says as she walks past him.

The next evening, as soon as the sun went down, Jade gets out of bed and goes out on the terrace that stretched the entire length of the building. She curls up in a chair and stares at the full moon, thinking how appropriate it was that she would be turning during the phase of the full moon. She used to come out here when she was upset and let the music of the city calm her turmoil, especially when she was confused over Mordecai. Jade sighs and watches the cars go by, the people walking down the streets to go to clubs or out to dinner. To be honest, she was glad he’d pulled her away from Racers for the second time. She hated stripping, but she couldn’t get a nice job and dancing made some good money. Jade is buried deep in thought about her life and how it is about to change when Mordecai steps out onto the terrace and sees her at the other end. He walks down to her and touches her before she even realizes he’s there. When he does touch her, Jade jumps and looks at him wide eyed. When she sees it’s him, she laughs and puts a hand over her chest to calm her wildly beating heart. “You scared the hell out of me.” She says. Mordecai sits down beside her and doesn’t say a word, just looks out on the world like she had been. Jade calms down and relaxes back in her seat “How are you healing up?” she asks to break the silence. Mordecai looks over at her and nods “Fine, thanks to your handy work of course.” He says finally looking at her. Jade smiles “I wouldn’t know how to stitch a wound to save my life if it weren’t for you.” Mordecai nods and looks away from her “You should be turned by the night after tomorrow.” He says out of the blue. Jade nods, the realization that her mortality was ending still hadn’t dawned on her. “Are you going to help me?” she asks. “What makes you think you’ll need it?” he asks back. Jade frowns “Well I’d assume it’s a very painful process considering that your body is going through serious alterations.” She says, her voice showing hints of anger. Mordecai nods “Yes, I’ll be there to help you Jade. You wouldn’t make it without me.” He says standing up, walking over to the rails and bending forward, looking down on the traffic below. “Are you feeling okay this evening?” Mordecai asks. Without knowing her parents, it was hard to say how badly her experience would be. Some blood lines had it worse than others. “Worse.” She says softly. Mordecai turns around to say something to her when his phone rings in his pocket. He sighs, pulls it out and answers it “Hello.” “Death, you free?” It was Rafe. Mordecai turns his back to Jade and starts walking towards the other end of the terrace “What’s going on?” Mordecai asks. “Roach has been going over the stuff Casey and Dante brought him from that basement. He wants to talk to you about what was on those files.” Mordecai looks over his shoulder at Jade; she’s staring out in the distance, not paying him any attention. “Alright, but I’m bringing Jade. She’s getting weaker.” “That’s cool. Gives Roach a chance to give her a look over as well.” “We’ll be there in an hour.” Mordecai says hanging up. He walks down to Jade; she was sheet white and had dark circles under her eyes like she wasn’t sleeping enough. “You feel up for a little trip?” he asks. Jade looks up at him “To the Compound?” she asks. Mordecai nods “I’m taking you there for a checkup.” He says. Jade starts getting out of the chair, Mordecai sees her arms shaking and the look of concentration on her face. He closes the space between them and puts his arm around her to help her “I’m alright.” She says even though she’s still gripping him tightly. “Don’t even try it.” He says helping her to her room. “Can you get dressed on your own?” he asks helping her sit down on the bed. Jade nods “Yea, I’ll be alright.” She says looking up at him with a smile. Mordecai smiles back and plants a kiss on her forehead before walking out of the room to go get ready.

Mordecai gets dressed, grabs the flash drive off his desk and goes down to Jade’s room. She’s lying on her bed in the same place, her face was red and she was sweating. “Are you alright?” he asks walking over to her and helping her to a sitting position. Jade laughs “No, I’m not. I need you to help me.” She says looking up at him, tears in her eyes. Mordecai nods, lays her back down on the bed and goes to her dresser to get her some clothes. He grabs a pair of yoga pants, a light tshirt and pair of socks then goes over to the bed and pulls her small nightgown over her head so he can dress her. He can’t help but look at her beautiful, vibrant body as he pulls those black pants over her tattooed hips. Her skin was glowing even though the vampirism was taking over her. Mordecai pulls the shirt over her head, trying not to stare too long at her perfect breasts. Jade knows he’s staring at her body and she don’t even care. She’d been dying for him to look at her that way again. Mordecai puts the socks on her small feet, grabs a pair of her converses and puts them on her too. Jade pulls her hair up in a ponytail and lets Mordecai pick her up and carry her downstairs to his truck. He puts her in and they go the Compound.

When they get there, Rafe is standing outside waiting for them. Mordecai gets out of the truck, goes around to the other side and helps Jade out. “I can walk.” She says smiling at him as he tries to carry her. Mordecai puts her down but Jade keeps a hold of his arm as they approach Rafe and the house. “Welcome my brother, Jade.” Rafe says bowing slightly in greeting. Mordecai nods and looks at Jade before looking at Rafe “Is Roach ready to see her?” he asks. He feels Jade’s grip on him tighten, was she afraid? Rafe nods “Roach is waiting in his clinic. Casey and Dante are waiting on us in the office.” Mordecai nods, they walk into the Compound, Rafe goes on up to the office, Mordecai takes Jade to Roach’s clinic downstairs. When they walk into the room, Roach look up from his computer and smiles “Death, so nice to see you. Is this the young woman?” he asks getting up and walking towards them. Mordecai nods “From what I can sense she’ll be turned before the end of the week.” He says not looking at Jade. Roach takes the glasses from around his neck, puts them on his face and looks Jade over, inspecting the color of her skin, her eyes, her mouth even. Jade is kinda of weirded out when he lifts her lips to look at her teeth, and when he pulls her eye lids up but she stays still and lets him look her over. When he’s finished with his inspection, Roach takes a step back and nods “I think you’re right Death, she’s close. Her body is trying to prepare its self.” He says. Jade looks at Mordecai “How bad is it?” she asks. Mordecai looks down at her, she can see her reflection in the dark lenses of his glasses and she just wishes she was looking into his eyes “It’s different for everyone.” he says. Like some cryptic message forewarning of pain and suffering. Jade sighs, thinking that was it but the old doctor is pulling on a pair of gloves “Get up on the table please.” He says turning around to get something from a drawer. Jade looks at Mordecai confused, he answers “He’s going to draw some blood and run some tests. Don’t worry; he’ll take care of you.” Mordecai says. Jade nods; let’s go of his hand and walks over to the metal table. She hops up on the table and looks at Mordecai as she waits for Roach to get all the blood drawing supplies. He looks so mysterious and of place in the sterile clinic. His black hair was pulled back in a ponytail; the black glasses hid his eyes from sight. And his clothes, black jacket, black silk shirt, black pants, and black boots. Jade smiles and keeps looking at Mordecai, even though she didn’t know if he was looking at her or not; because he was a beautiful man and she was in love with him. “Mordecai, aren’t you needed upstairs?” Jade asks. Mordecai seems to snap out of his own world; he was busy looking at Jade, thinking about how soon she was going to be in his world with him, that she was one of his people by birth. He wants to find out who her parents are; he hopes Roach can tell him something from her blood. Jade speaking to him snaps him out of his own world. “I’m sorry, what?” he asks. Jade smiles “Aren’t you supposed to be upstairs?” Mordecai realizes Dante, Casey and Rafe were waiting upstairs for him still. He nods, walks over to Jade and grazes his lips over her forehead “I’ll be back to get you.” He says before leaving the room.

When Mordecai walked into the room, his three brothers are in the room, as well as the Blessed Mother’s Ambassador, Lora. She had been in charge of settling matters between the Court and the Society but since the war had started, Lora no longer had a purpose, except when it came to trying to find Zion, which she was refusing to do. “He’ll come back on his own, he’s a grown man; I’m not his mother!” Rafe shook his head “We need him back here Lora. There’s only four of us; at least a hundred Kings Men.” Lora sighed “I’m going to have to talk to the Blessed Mother. Zion could be anywhere; it could kill me if he’s too far away. “Rafe nodded “I know, but what other option do we have? Roone is dead and Zion just up and leaves. We need him back.” Lora sighs and looks over at Mordecai “Death, will you please for the love of the Blessed Mother tell him to back off. I think if he’d just step up to the plate and do what Z asked, everything would be okay.” Mordecai stopped in mid step half way through the door, feeling the wave of coolness coming from Rafe and Lora’s frustration “What’s she talking about Rafe?” Mordecai asks walking the rest of the way into the office and shutting the door. Casey was rolling a blunt, poor brother couldn’t catch a break with his curse. Dante was sitting in the corner with his boots propped up on the table, his eyes closed and his arms crossed like nothing was happening. “I’m trying to convince her to look for Zion, she won’t do it. She doesn’t understand how much we need him.” Rafe says looking over at Lora. Mordecai walks over to a chair, sits down and looks towards Casey and Dante “What do you two think?” he asks. Casey shakes his head; Dante looks at Rafe then back at Mordecai “Z obviously has some issues he needs to work on. I think unless we’re down to one brother, we’ll be okay.” Mordecai nods and looks at Rafe, who looks defeated and slightly pissed. He throws his hands up in the air and looks at Lora “Alright, fine. Mordecai, did you bring the files?” Rafe asks, instantly getting down to business. Mordecai pulls the flash drive from his pocket and tosses it across the room to Rafe. While he’s downloading the files, Lora comes up to him, pats him on the back “Thanks.” She says before walking out of the office. The smell of chocolate was profound in the air, Mordecai looks Casey’s way and sees the brother’s head is surrounded by the light red smoke; Dante is sitting there enjoying the ride. “Talk to me Death.” Mordecai stands up and walks over to the computer, Casey and Dante scoot their seats closer to the computer. “A lot of this is information on the project called The Smiths. From what I can understand, the Kings Men are working with an unknown party to create some kind of virus. Whoever wrote these up is pretty vague as far as what the virus is meant for.” He stops and looks back at his brothers. Rafe is staring at the images on the screen. Its’ of a person, who’s features start slowly changing to make them look like a completely different person. Even their body type changes to a bigger, Warrior sized person’s. Rafe frowns “You don’t think they’re trying to breed Warriors do you?” Mordecai shakes his head “No, the Kings Men have no problem recruiting Society hating civilians to join their ranks. I think they’re making something more expendable, some kind of disposable solider.” Mordecai says looking back at Casey and Dante. They’re both reading over the files on the computer. “Who’s the guy they’ve got working on this?” Dante asks. Mordecai brings up a small file; it was actually a record of payment, millions of dollars paid for undisclosed equipment, chemicals and services. “I don’t know, but all the bills are sent to Jett Savage Enterprise.” “Never heard of them.” Casey says blowing a lungful of smoke out through his nose. Rafe, Dante and Mordecai all shake their heads as well “I did an internet search, can’t find them anywhere.” Mordecai says all of them are stumped. “What does Roach know?” Mordecai asks. “Let’s go down and talk to him, he should be done with Jade by now.”

When they walk into the clinic, Jade is still lying on the metal table, she’s curled into the fetal position with her eyes closed while Roach is typing some information on his computer. Mordecai walks over to her and puts his hand on her hip, Jade’s eyes open and she looks up at him, her eyes are glazed and she can’t really focus on him. “Death?” “I’m here Jade. Are you alright?” he asks. Jade slowly nods and closes her eyes. Casey is standing beside Mordecai while Rafe and Dante are with Roach uploading the files “What did you give her Doc?” Casey asks. “I gave her a small dose of morphine, just to help ease the pain. She might start turning before sunrise tonight.” Roach says as he finishes the files. Casey nods and walks over to where Rafe and Dante are standing behind Roach, they start going over what Mordecai had already told them. He, on the other hand, is gently running his hand over her side, watching goose bumps cover her skin. “Mordecai you want to come over here?” Roach asks. Mordecai walks away from Jade and over to where his brothers are standing. “None of the specimens Dante and Casey brought me made sense till now.” Roach says handing Mordecai a vial of purple-ish red liquid. “It’s blood. But when I looked at it under the microscope, there was some kind of bacteria that was going through the cells and changing them from normal to some kind of spiky looking thing.” Roach says bringing up a picture and a video of what he saw under the microscope. Mordecai, Rafe, Dante and Casey watched as the bacteria Roach had mentioned, ate threw all the normal blood cells and spat them back out as spiky square cell that resembled a vampire blood cell. “It looks like vampire blood cells, but why is it deformed?” Dante asks. Roach shakes his head “I don’t know. I’m still running tests.” He says. Mordecai looks at the vial of blood in his hand “Male or female?” he asks. Roach points at nine other vials of the blood lying on his desk. “All male. Either whatever they’re doing don’t work on females or they aren’t using them as test subjects.” Roach says. “What about that?” Rafe asks pointing to a group of syringes with a bright blue liquid in them. Roach shakes his head “I don’t know yet. I need a test subject to inject it into. I did a chemical analysis on a small portion of the liquid and I can’t identify any of the components. I can’t make heads or tails of it without more to go one, maybe something to compare it to.” Roach says shaking his head. Mordecai is stumped, so are the other three Warriors. The Kings Men were up to something, something dealing with genetics but from the little evidence they had, no one could put any kind of plausible idea together. Rafe took charge. “Obviously they’re making something; they’re working on people. We need to go back to that basement, all of us.” “They’ve probably moved the lab by now. We need to find people who look like that man.” Dante says pointing at the person on the computer screen, the one whose characteristics change to make him look completely different. Mordecai and Casey nod in agreement. “I need to get Jade back home, she needs to rest. Call me if you hear anything.” He says walking over to the table and looking down at Jade. Her skin was reddening and she still had goose bumps; her skin was getting tender. Roach gets up and puts his glasses back on as he walks over to Jade and gives her one last look over “Yes, it’s starting. It would be best to get her home. Would you like to take some blood? I doubt you’ll be able to get out much.” Roach asks. Mordecai nods as he scoops Jade up in his arms. Roach comes back with four pouches of blood and gives them to Mordecai. Rafe, Dante and Casey follow Mordecai out of the clinic and out to his truck. “If you need anything, ask.” Rafe says as Mordecai eases Jade into the truck. He closes the door and looks Rafe in the eye, nodding “I want to find out who her parents are Rafe.” Mordecai says. He nods “I’ll have Roach test her blood.” He says. Mordecai nods, gives Casey and Dante a nod then walk around to the driver’s side, gets in his truck and drives off.

Back at his apartment, Mordecai lays Jade in her bed. “So this is it?” Jade asks softly, opening her eyes and looking at him. Mordecai nods and gently pushes her hair away from her neck and face “Are your clothes hurting you?” he asks. She was squirming, kind of like she was trying to cure an itch. Jade nods and closes her eyes back “My skin is … it itches so bad.” She says, a small groan coming out at the end. Mordecai nods, her skin was sensitizing quickly. “I’m going to take them off. Hold still.” He says starting to pull off her pants, thank god they weren’t jeans. Jade tenses up as the material slides off her skin but when the pants are off she sighs with relief. Mordecai carefully removes her barely there panties, not looking as he does. Then he takes off her shirt and bra, again not looking. Lastly he removes her socks and shoes. When Jade is completely naked, Mordecai turns his back to her and takes a deep breath. She needed him now; there was no way in hell he was going to ask another brother to do this for him. She wouldn’t want it and he couldn’t bare the idea of her feeding from anyone else’s vein. He takes another deep breath to calm his nerves and turns to look at her. She was gripping the comforter, gritting her teeth and whimpering. “I’ll be right back.” Mordecai says going to his bathroom to get some supplies. He grabs burn cream, a spray bottle, a wash cloth and the pouches of blood. When he goes back into her room, he can feel the heat coming from her body, her skin was bright red from rubbing against the cotton; usually the most soft and comforting fabric had turned into sand paper. Mordecai walks over to her, dumps the arm load of supplies on her nightstand, grabs the water bottle and starts spraying the sheets around her, the light mist quickly soaking the sheets giving Jade some relief. She mumbles a thank you but is still gripping the comforter, her jaw is still tense. “Jade?” “I’m okay.” “No you’re not. I’m going to get in bed with you okay?” “Not with all those clothes on you’re not.” She says out load. Mordecai hesitates then starts stripping off his clothes. When he’s naked as well, he grabs the burn cream Roach makes himself and gets in bed beside Jade. He pours a generous amount in the palm of his hand and starts rubbing it on her skin. Jade tenses up and makes a small noise “I know, I’m sorry but it will help the sensitivity.” Mordecai says continuing to rub it on her. When he finishes with her back, Mordecai turns her over, pushing all biased feelings aside he starts rubbing the cream over her front. Even though the cream is helping her sensitive, burning skin, it isn’t helping the stretching pressure pain inside her. It felt like every organ inside her was growing twelve millions times in size. Even her bones were growing, causing her body to be in a pain she’d never felt before. “Mordecai … Mordecai I can’t do this …” Jade says opening her eyes and looking at him. She can’t see from the chest down and he still has on those glasses. But his upper body was a perfectly chiseled mass of lightly tanned skin and muscle, how did vampire’s get tans anyway? There was a large tattoo spreading from shoulder to shoulder on his chest of some sort of angel with large burnt wings dressed in black, as well as writing in something she couldn’t read. Mordecai nods “Yes you can, the pain won’t last long I promise.” He says reaching down and grabbing a hold of her hand, he squeezes; Jade squeezes back just as a blinding pain attacks every part of her body. He watches as she starts seizure like shaking, every muscle on her was tense, she was sweating, she was crying, her skin was red and raw from being rubbed against the bed, even from against his own skin. Mordecai remembered his own turning; it had been painful, torturous and he’d done it on his own. He couldn’t let Jade do it alone. It hurt to breath, because every breath she took in only further stretched her lungs and skin. She cried out when all of the sudden, a terrible pain rocked her head, more importantly her mouth. “Death ... what the hell!?” she screams in her mind. Her fangs were trying to grow in but her human teeth were stopping them from being able to. “I can pull them.” Mordecai says moving to do so. Jade smacked him away lightning fast “Touch them; I’ll kill you.” She growls through her grit teeth. Mordecai smiles, at least she was still herself, even with her body trying to transform itself into a totally different being. Jade let her hand slip out of Mordecai’s as she tried moving away from him, the feel of his skin against hers was unbearably painful, every hair on his body felt like a needle pricking her skin. He let her go, realizing she was a survivor, she would be okay. Jade scooted herself across the sheets that felt like sandpaper so she could curl up in the corner where the bed met the wall. She pressed herself against the cold wall and started biting on her pillows like a baby going through teething. Mordecai watched, wanting to hold her and comfort her but he knew she had to do at least this for herself. And as soon as her fangs erupted, she was going to want blood. Jade was crying, the salty tears stinging the tender skin on her face but she kept chewing and working the pillow till she felt her teeth loosening, she even tasted blood. Then, like a miracle, she felt the human canine rip free from her mouth and instantly, a larger one slipped perfectly into its spot. Jade cries out in relief and feels Mordecai’s hand touch her shoulder “Mordecai … tell me it’s almost over.” She says feeling her body start to settle as she works on that last tooth. “It is.” He lied. If she was of any of the less pure bloodlines, she would get intense sexual lusts. But if she came from one of the Five Families, the worst was over. Such pure women would be outcasted for having sex if they weren’t mated, thus their genetics had made sure the women couldn’t be shamed. Jade felt the second tooth coming loose and worked it harder till it too was ripped from her mouth and her fang slid into place. She stays with her face buried in the pillow for just a minute before bringing her face out and looking at Mordecai, but only seeing those damn glasses. Mordecai smiled when he saw the points of her fangs in her mouth and the hunger in her eyes. “You’re hungry.” “Yes.” Jade says nodding. Mordecai pulls her to him and up into his lap, ignoring that they were both naked and he could feel everything. He holds her to him and guides her mouth to the vein in his neck. Jade sinks her fangs into his neck and is met with the most delicious tasting thing, Mordecai’s blood. Mordecai’s hands start out on her arms but they slowly start sliding back and down her curved sides to her hips. She was perfect, not skinny but healthy, curvy, voluptuous, completely gorgeous. As Jade drank, Mordecai’s hands took on a mind of their own as they worked their way around her hips to her lower stomach. He felt her quivering as he slowly slid his hands up towards her breasts. As soon as he felt the soft, heavy breasts touch his fingertips Mordecai shuddered and backed off before it went too far. He had an erection; Jade’s ass was already rubbing against it as she rocked while she drank. Whether she knew it or not she was killing him with arousal. Mordecai put his arms around her, trying to rid himself of the erection. She drinks and drinks, tugging on his vein with no intent on stopping soon. Mordecai sat there with her nestled in his arms, feeling her body shaking. Thank God he was strong; Jade would have drained a normal civilian dry by now. Slowly Jade stops shaking and she pulls her fangs from his neck. Jade pulls back, wipes her mouth and looks Mordecai in his glasses covered eyes “Thank you.” She says softly. Mordecai nods and lets his arms slide down to her waist, his hands molding to her hips again; lust was taking over; he was losing control. Jade looks down at his hands then back up at him with a devilish look in her eye. She moves her hips back, hitting his large erection. Her eyes widened when she felt it. Mordecai pulls her back up and away from it “Don’t.” he says. Jade looks over her shoulder at it and bites her lip. It was big, long and thick ... she’d never imagined anything could be that big. Jade looks back at Mordecai, she closes the space between them, pressing her breasts against his chest. He can feel her tiny nipples rubbing against his skin, he loved it. He hadn’t gotten this intimate with someone in almost three hundred years. Mordecai is breathing hard, fighting with himself for the self control to throw her off him. Jade’s mouth was against his neck, her lips moving back and forth over the vein she’d just fed from, she was teasing him.