Page 20 of Cry of Blood and Joy (French Quarter Vampire Enforcer #2)

Chapter Nineteen

Joy

Enzo swore viciously under his breath, the curse words coming out in a

steady stream of English and Italian as he shoved his phone back into his jacket with violent force.

The movement was sharp and aggressive, like he wanted to throw the device against the wall and watch it shatter into a thousand pieces.

His entire body radiated fury and frustration, locked up like a pressure cooker ready to explode.

“What’s wrong?” I stared up into his dark eyes, which had gone from warm chocolate to something cold and dangerous. The anger burning in them was so intense it made my chest tighten with fear—not fear of him, but fear of whatever had put that look on his face.

“Our list of enemies has just doubled in size,” he said through clenched teeth. The words came out flat and bitter, like he was tasting poison with every syllable.

Rocco crossed his arms over his chest, his flour-dusted fingers digging into his biceps with enough force to leave marks.

“What do you mean?” The wine had sharpened his focus rather than dulling it, and calculating intelligence flickered behind his dark eyes as he prepared for whatever bombshell was coming.

Enzo dragged his fingers through his hair with violent frustration, the gesture leaving the dark strands disheveled and wild.

“Maximo Barone is dead. According to Keir, the police dragged his corpse out of the Mississippi River, and some damn witness claims I killed him.” The admission came out like a confession ripped from his throat, each word weighted with the implications of what this meant for all of us.

Hysterics clawed their way up my throat like alley cats scrambling up a fire escape.

The room seemed to tilt around me as the full scope of our situation hit home.

I swallowed hard against the panic, even though my hands began to shake uncontrollably.

“There’s a warrant for your arrest.” It came out more as a statement than a question—the logical conclusion to what he’d just told us.

“Yes, dammit!” Enzo exploded, throwing his arm up in the air with such force that I flinched involuntarily.

His movement was so sudden and violent my shadows responded instantly, writhing around the room like startled snakes.

“The Unseelie’s Anchoring Obsidian Stone is missing.

It didn’t go missing until after I left Keir’s.

” A vein pulsed in his temple as his anger reached a breaking point.

“Someone’s fucking setting me up,” he snarled, the words coming out raw and savage. His dark eyes turned red and he pulled back his upper lip, revealing his sharp fangs. Fear ripped through me as I watched him lose control. He never lost control—except when it came to me.

The color drained from Rocco’s face as he processed what this meant—not just for Enzo, but for all of us who were now harboring a wanted man.

“Who do you think—” I started, but the words died in my throat as his expression shifted into something that made my blood run cold.

He glared at me with the kind of intensity that could have melted steel, his dark eyes blazing with a fury so pure it was almost beautiful in its terrifying completeness.

“Lorcan Blackthorn—Keir’s fucking enforcer.

” The name came out like a curse, each syllable dripping with venom and years of accumulated hatred.

“Are you sure?” Rocco asked quietly, but his body had gone perfectly still—the stillness of a predator recognizing a more dangerous apex creature in their midst.

“Well, who else would it be?” Enzo whispered, but it carried more menace than any shout. The controlled violence in his tone made my skin crawl with primitive fear.

I stepped back from him, my body recognizing danger even as my heart protested the distance.

The movement felt like betrayal, but I couldn’t help it.

This wasn’t the man I loved—this was the vampire enforcer in all his ruthless, dangerous glory.

The transformation was complete and terrifying, turning him into someone thirsting for vengeance with single-minded intensity that excluded everything else, including me.

“I don’t know, you tell me.” Rocco leaned forward slightly, his royal breeding showing through despite his disheveled appearance. “You have many enemies right now, Enzo. Would Angelo have done this to set you up?”

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 my power 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 to him, 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.”