Hot Blooded

her?"
    Solange wept silently, the anger in her deep and firm and enduring. "We will
get her back, Juliette. Be strong. You have to be strong for her. We can't let
this slow us down. They wanted her docile and shocked. This was to show
domination. This was to strip her of dignity and hope. But she knows we'll come.
She knows we'll never stop until we have her back or we're dead." Solange
brushed the hair from Juliette's eyes. "I see the sun is hurting you, that your
body needs rest, but you haven't given in to it. You haven't stopped no matter
what the cost to you. Jasmine knows what we're like. She will count on that and
she will endure."
    Juliette allowed her cousin to hold her, to comfort her for a brief moment.
"We have to hurry, Solange. They can't do this to her a second time."
    Neither woman wanted to think about their mothers, but it was inevitable.
"Can you hold the jaguar form?" Solange asked.
    Juliette nodded. "I don't know how long, but I'll do my best. Do you have any
weapons stashed in this area?"
    "About a mile from here. I think we're close to one of our caches. Clothes,
food, drinking water, meds and knives. They have to stop soon. They're big males
and they'll want to rest."
    Juliette reached for her other form. It was easier not to think about Jasmine
and what the males had done to her. She didn't want to see the smears of blood
on the ground and the signs of struggle. It only weakened her. Her fury needed
to burn bright and strong, and vengeful.
    She struggled through the next couple of hours, pushing her body when it
desperately needed sleep. Her eyes streamed every step of the way. but this time
she was uncertain if it was the affects of the sun, or the grief raging in her.
She knew by the way Solange carried her body that she felt the same intense
emotions, a mixture of rage and sorrow that might never go away. She tried not
to think of the girl Jasmine had been, her pixie smile and gentle kindnesses.
Solange and Juliette burned with passion, hot and fiery with strong emotions.
Jasmine was sweet and steady and irresistible.
    Juliette felt a scream of denial welling up and just managed to choke it down
as Solange veered from their path to indicate where the cache of weapons and
food was stored. In human form, they dressed, strapping on knives with the same
ease they dragged on clothes.
    "They're close," Solange said, her voice very low. "I feel them. We're
downwind of them." She drank water from the bottle stored with her supplies. It
was brackish from age, but it was wet. She passed it to Juliette. "Are you up
for this? It won't be easy."
    Their eyes met. Juliette nodded. "We will succeed, there is no other
alternative."
    Solange took back the water bottle. "They outnumber us and they're strong,
incredibly strong. I've heard Carpathians can perform incredible feats.
Obviously if the man can become mist when under attack, it's true. Can he aid
us, even from beneath the ground?"
    Juliette reached for Riordan eagerly. Her mind had continually tuned itself
to his, needing to touch him, compounding her sorrow when she couldn't. This
time she was demanding, her call to him edged with need.
    Juliette
? His voice was faint and far away, but it was there, and
relief swept through her heart and soul.
    She replayed the events of the day in her mind. He went very still,
withdrawing, but not before she felt the impact of his black, dark rage. It
boiled up, dangerous and deadly and far more lethal than her own. She should
have been frightened, but she was comforted by his anger on her sister's behalf.
    When he managed to get his anger under control, Riordan reached for her. The
connection was much stronger.
These males are dangerous, perhaps their
behavior is tainted by the vampire, perhaps they are a group of deviants who
have banded together. They must be stopped, but two women against such odds is
ludicrous and you know it. It will not help your sister if you are dead
.
    We have no choice but to go in after her now, Riordan. We cannot subject
her to more of their violence. Please understand I have no other choice. Can you
help?
    It is two hours until the setting of the sun. I can rise early. Give me
another hour
. He wanted to claw his way through the earth to get to her,
but his body lay leaden.
    Solange will scout them, but if they are raping her, we cannot sit back
while they brutalize her. You can't ask that of us.
    He swore softly.
I should have