“They’re coming,” Melinda said as she stared down the hill. “When the time comes, I’m going to enjoy killing every one of these bastards.”
“All in due time, dear,” Ashby replied in his unruffled manner as he slid his arm through Melinda’s and hurried her forward. “But first let’s work on getting you away from them.”
William glanced back down the hill at the vampires already making their way up. Their white cloaks were far more noticeable in the growing night. They were as loud as if they were riding a dozen horses through the trees.
“You won’t have to carry anyone. We’ll lose them easily in the dark,” Daniel said from beside him.
“Yes,” William agreed. “Let’s go.”
He reclaimed Tempest’s hand and fled through the forest. All of those with him were accustomed to having to move through the trees with stealth. He barely detected their movement. Behind him, trees and branches snapped as the vampire’s trailing topped the hill and came for them.
***
Aria
It took Aria almost two hours to safely navigate all of Daniel’s traps inside the cave with Braith across her shoulders. Despite the cool air surrounding her, sweat covered her body and adhered her clothes to her skin. Every inch of her hurt in ways she hadn’t believed possible, but her physical discomfort was nothing compared to the growing pain in her chest.
Finally, she reached the end of the narrow cave. The iron gate built into the wall there was closed and locked, but like all the cave systems in the area, she knew there was a key hidden nearby. Unless someone took it with them…
She broke the thought off. There was no need for humans to hide within these caves anymore. Or at least there hadn’t been a reason before that vampire woman had arrived. If that woman won, the humans would be forced into a life of slavery or back to a life hidden in these caves once more.
Her father had given his life in the last war to help attain peace. Many more would die and the peace would be shattered if that woman had her way. Aria wouldn’t allow her father’s death, and all of the other lives lost during the war with Atticus, to be for nothing.
Walking back ten feet, Aria bent and pushed aside a small rock tucked within the cave wall. She reached her fingers in and pulled out the key hidden behind the rock. Drawing it out, she kept her ears attuned for any hint of someone approaching, but the cave remained hushed. Not even the drip of water could be heard amongst the rocks enclosing her.
Enclosing… Stop it!
She’d gotten much better with her fear of confined spaces. However, every once in a while, it would creep back in. She couldn’t allow this to be one of those times. The mineral scent of the rocks surrounding her filled her nostrils, but she kept her attention focused on her task and Braith’s limp body around her shoulders. Her hand enveloped Braith’s wrist, seeking comfort from touching him.
Turning away, she walked back to the gate, slid the key into the lock, and pushed it open. The hinges squeaked from disuse and she had to shove at the gate to get it to open enough so she could slip past. She put the key back in its hiding spot before returning to the gate, slipping inside, and closing it behind her.
On the other side, about twenty feet in, she shifted Braith’s weight as she knelt to retrieve some matches hidden within a small hole years ago. She pulled the matches free of the hole and pulled back the protective, waterproof canvas they’d been wrapped in. Rising, the jagged, cool rocks brushed roughly over her fingertips as she made her way forward until she came across a torch propped against the wall. With her enhanced vampire vision, she could see far more than she ever had as a human, but no light penetrated this deep into the caves, making even a vampire blind.
She could navigate the rest of this cave by memory and touch alone, but she much preferred to have a torch with her. For some reason, the idea of light made her feel not quite so alone.
“Please work,” she whispered as she pulled a match from the box and struck it against a rock.
It took a few fumbling tries with her numb fingers, but eventually a flame sputtered to life at the end of the small head. She held it up to the cloth around the torch and watched as it blazed to life. Walking back, she replaced the matches in their hiding spot in case someone else, who had once lived and survived within these caves, might one day need them.
She adjusted Braith on her shoulders, before dashing down the cave. The flame of the torch flickered and danced over the walls as she held it before her. Shadows danced sinuously over the gray rock surrounding her. The crackling fire warmed her chilled cheeks, but it did nothing to warm the rest of her.
The next gate she came to was open; she closed it behind her. After traveling another quarter of a mile beneath the earth, she stepped into a large cavern and gazed at the small, smooth bottom of the cavern fifty feet below her.
Along the edges of the center, black and gray rocks rose up from it like seats in an auditorium. The jagged rock formations circled the flat center all the way around and offered more protection from anyone looking to enter. It was impossible for someone to descend the rocks quickly, and anyone in the center would have plenty of warning and time to getaway if someone entered from above.
The shadows created by the torch lengthened and swelled imposingly with each flicker. Sniffing at the air, she detected the feral, musky scent of wild animals within, but she didn’t smell humans or vampires. No footprints could be seen in the dirt within the cave, only the paw prints of some fox, raccoon, and opossum showed.
Her head tilted back to take in the stalactites forming on the ceiling above her. No bats hung from the ceiling, something Ashby would appreciate, as she knew from past experience he hated bats.
That was if her brother-in-law made it here.
“Don’t think it,” she whispered to herself.
Turning her attention back to the chamber, she carefully picked her way down the rocks to the open space beneath her. Arriving at the bottom, she carried Braith into the center of the cavern. Gently, she set him on the ground and propped his side against a rock to keep him from falling back on those arrows.
She had to get the arrows out of him so he could begin the healing process, but first she had to make sure they were safe here. With the torch in hand, she ran down each of the three side tunnels branching off from the lower level. She checked for keys before shutting the gates behind her.
William, Daniel, Max, Timber, and Jack would know where to look for those keys if they made it here. The others wouldn’t, but the others would never make it this far into the cave without someone to guide their way. Returning to the cavern, she raced up the rocks with far more ease than she’d descended them and closed off the gate in the one other tunnel up there.
Once they were secure within, she ran back to Braith’s side and fell to her knees before him. She pulled her bow and quiver from her back and set them on the ground within easy reach. She couldn’t look at the pallor of his skin or the way his cheeks had hollowed out, as she broke off the feathers of all the arrows going straight through his body.
Her fingers shook when she gripped his shoulder and wrapped her hand around the first arrow head protruding from his chest. With a swift jerk, she yanked it from his body. She cried out as if it had been torn from her flesh. He, however, showed no reaction to the arrow being pulled from his body. Fresh blood trickled out of the hole, down his pale skin and broad chest.
“Keep going,” she whispered.
He showed as much reaction to the next arrow as he had the first one, but her entire body shook uncontrollably. With a bleeding bottom lip that she bit to stifle her cries, she removed the seven arrows going completely through him, except for one. She couldn’t bring herself to pull that one yet.
By the time she was done with them, she couldn’t stifle the flow of her tears. They slid down her cheeks and dripped off her chin as she stared at the six remaining arrows in him. These six still had the arrowhead embedded inside of him. She would have to pull those arrow
heads out through his body from behind. It would tear at his flesh and bones, and it was going to hurt him far more than anything else she’d done so far.
Or at least it normally would have.
She wiped her tears on the end of her cloak and moved around to his broad back. More blood trickled from the holes of the arrows she’d already pulled out. Bending, she kissed his flesh and rested her cheek on his back as she took a minute to stabilize herself before going back to work on removing the rest of the arrows.
Grabbing the first arrow below the feathers, she bit her lip again as she pulled it out. Her body jerked as if it had been pulled from her and pain bloomed through her chest. Braith showed no reaction that the pointed end of an arrow had just been torn from his body.
With a surprisingly steady hand, she inspected the still intact arrow before slipping it into her quiver. At some point in time, she would put an arrow tainted with Braith’s blood into that bitch claiming to be queen. The idea caused her fangs to prickle with anticipation as bloodlust rolled through her.
Aria gripped the five remaining arrows and pulled them free. She didn’t realize she was crying again until her tears dripped off her chin to land on his back and trickle down his pale skin. Her tears mixed with his drying blood, creating pink rivulets over his battered flesh. She ran her fingers across his skin as she lifted him so his back rested against a rock.
Making her way around to his front on her knees, her gaze fell on the arrow she’d broken the flight off of and left within him. The head stuck an inch out of his chest, the shaft directly through his heart. She stroked her fingers over the metal before dropping her hand away. He wouldn’t be able to heal if the arrow remained within him, but what if the arrow was all that kept him alive now? What if pulling it out killed him?
She crept closer to him and rested her cheek against his shoulder. Normally his arms would wrap around her, dragging her against him as he enfolded her in his warmth and love. Now his arms remained unmoving at his sides, his palms turned up as his chin rested against his chest.
“Braith,” she whispered as she fought to keep from screaming and cursing anyone and everyone who had ever lived or died. “Can’t fall apart now. Get it together.”
However, she didn’t know how to get it together right now. They were supposed to be living in peace, humans and vampires finally united and working together. Instead, their world had crumbled in the blink of an eye.
“And it has before,” she said aloud and forced herself to sit back away from him. “It has before and we’ve gotten through it. We will get through it again.”
She had to keep the faith that would happen this time too. The bloodlink was still between them, which meant he still lived. She would know the second it was severed.
Tilting her head to the side, she studied the arrow, her fingers rising to wrap around it again before falling back to her side. Once she pulled it free, she had no idea what would happen. Together, they may all be able to stop that woman without Braith, but he was the only one strong enough to go head to head with her and the only one Aria knew for sure the vampires and humans would follow without hesitation. If she removed the arrow and he died, the peace could be lost forever.
Or maybe not forever, she thought. After what I saw today…
A crunch behind her had her snatching her bow from the ground and spinning with an arrow nocked and ready to fire.
CHAPTER 5
Aria
Jack threw his hands up and stepped back. “Easy, Aria,” he coaxed.
Aria stared at him as relief and love washed over her. They were alive; they had made it. Everything was still a mess, but they were here. Her tensed muscles held the bow for a minute more before she lowered it to her side. “I should have heard you,” she berated herself.
“I think you have more to deal with right now.” Jack’s gaze flicked to Braith; his jaw clenched as his shoulders went back. Sorrow and anger caused his eyes to switch from gray to red and back again. The colors within his black, brown, and gold hair danced in the torchlight. He was shorter than Braith at six foot three and leaner, but there was still a great deal of power within him and there was no denying they were brothers.
William’s shoulders were stooped and sadness radiated from him as he stepped toward her. Aria moved closer to Braith. She would have to leave him soon, but not yet.
“Aria, you can’t stay with him,” William said.
“He’s not dead!” she retorted when she realized what William and Jack were thinking.
She slapped Jack’s hand away and bared her fangs at him when he held it out to her. Hannah took a protective step forward, but Jack held out his arm to keep her back. “The arrow is through his heart,” Jack said to her.
“I know where the arrow is, Jack!” she retorted. “I also know I’m as intricately bound to him as you are to Hannah, so I would know if he were dead. He’s not!”
Aria’s gaze fell to the arrow sticking out of Jack’s right thigh and the broken arrow shaft protruding from his calf when he limped closer to his brother and knelt before him. Her fingers bit into her thighs as she resisted the urge to shove him away from Braith. Jack wouldn’t harm him, but the idea of anyone touching Braith right now made her see red.
Jack gently clasped Braith’s cheeks and lifted his head toward him. Vampires didn’t have heartbeats and they didn’t breathe, but Jack leaned toward him until their foreheads nearly touched.
Aria tore her gaze away to focus on the others. She couldn’t watch someone touching Braith in such a vulnerable state and remain restrained. Melinda had her hand against her mouth to stifle her sobs. Xavier leaned against Ashby with his arm draped around Ashby’s shoulders. Timber, Daniel, and Max had collapsed to the ground. If it wasn’t for the bruises covering their faces, they would be as pale as Braith.
“Daniel—”
“I’m fine,” he assured her and waved his hand dismissively.
“We all are,” Max said. His sandy blond hair stuck up in spikes around his normally handsome face. Bruises marred his cheekbones and eyes; blood trickled from his nose and the bite marks on his neck. An arrow protruded through his side. Judging by the position of the arrow, it wasn’t a mortal injury and would heal once the arrow was removed. His full lips were nearly white, but his blue eyes were steady when they met hers.
“He’s alive,” Jack murmured from beside her, and Aria’s shoulders slumped.
She’d known that, but hearing Jack confirm it made it more real.
“The arrow isn’t through his heart?” William inquired.
“It is,” Jack confirmed. “Dead center.”
“How is that possible?” Max asked.
Jack’s eyes were gray once more when they met hers. “A bloodlink makes a vampire stronger,” he said.
“Strong enough to defeat death?” Timber demanded.
“I don’t know,” Jack said. “But the arrow has to come out if the wound is to heal.”
“Will that kill him?” Hannah whispered.
Aria tilted her head back to study her sister-in-law’s beautiful features. Hannah’s chocolate-colored hair tumbled over her shoulders and clung to her round face. Because she hadn’t been able to go out in the sun before meeting Jack, Hannah’s skin was normally alabaster, but now it was three shades paler. Her jade-colored eyes brimmed with tears as she stared at Aria.
Hannah went to kneel beside her, but Aria waved her away. She liked Hannah and loved how she’d finally made Jack happy, but she would completely fall apart if someone tried to comfort her right now, and there was no time to fall apart. “I can’t,” she whispered.
Hannah hesitated before taking a step away from her.
“I don’t know if it will kill him or not,” Jack said and looked to Aria again. “But it has to come out.”
“I know it does,” she whispered. Jack gripped the arrowhead. Aria seized his wrist before he could tear it free. “No.”
“Aria—”
“It has to be me
who removes it. If it’s you, or anyone else, and he dies, I will kill you.”
Jack didn’t laugh off her words, didn’t point out that he was over nine hundred years older than she was. A vampire severed from their bloodlink could be capable of almost anything afterward. His father had managed to destroy most of the world; she might be able to take down one of the most powerful vampires in existence.
Jack hesitated for a minute before his hand fell away. “Are you sure about this?”
“It has to be me. If he dies, I will follow him after she is made to pay. I can live with the guilt of this until then.”
And if she couldn’t, it would only fuel her desire for revenge until the day she destroyed that woman and could then die too. Jack stepped back and pushed Hannah protectively behind him before bracing his legs apart.
Wrapping her hand around the arrowhead, Aria leaned forward to kiss Braith’s forehead and then his lips. Her mouth lingered against his as the scent of his blood filled her nostrils. How many times had she experienced the searing heat of his kiss before? Now there was only coldness.
She kissed him again before sitting back and tearing the arrow free with an anguished cry. The arrow fell from her numbed fingertips as she threw her arms around his shoulders and buried her face in his neck.
“Don’t die. Don’t die,” she pleaded.
She’d said she could handle the guilt if he died, decided she would get her revenge no matter what, but she wasn’t sure she could go on without him. Her fingers dug into his neck as she waited for the connection between them to waver and shatter apart. Waited for the beautiful link she’d never expected to have with him to disintegrate like snowflakes on the tongue, but though it was weak, the bond continued to shimmer between them.
Unbound Page 4
