First Blood (The First Blood Series Book 1)

by Heather Karn

  “How bad?” he asked, striding through the glass bits to crouch in front of me. Leaning in to inspect the wound, I flinched when his finger grazed the skin. “Bad, but could be worse. You’ll need more blood. That’ll heal the wound within a few hours. I’d give you more of mine, but that fight drained me. I’ll be useless if another threat shows up if I give blood to you.”

  “It’s all right. I don’t need blood right this second.”

  “Okay. Here, let me carry you. We need to leave before they realize he’s not going to join them and they bring reinforcements.”

  Shouting downstairs made me flinch as Raven reached for me, but I sighed with relief, sagging against him when I recognized Shannon calling for us. Jackson in wolf form led her into the room, his nose leading the way to us. When they caught sight of the cyclops, even Jackson’s canine jaw dropped. Luella stopped in the doorway a few seconds later to gawk.

  “Well, this explains why the living room is destroyed,” she muttered, “And who killed the boy downstairs.”

  My heart skipped and my stomach threatened to revolt. “Oscar? Oscar’s dead?”

  A hand flew to my mouth before I pushed Raven away and leaned over, losing whatever contents were in my stomach still undigested from breakfast. Oscar. Oscar was dead. That’s the only person it could be. No one else would be here. There was no way the panther shifter could have survived the cyclops. If Raven hadn’t shown up, I wouldn’t have survived it either.

  “Jackson, she needs blood. Now,” Raven ordered, worry filling his voice.

  “I don’t have anything to draw blood with. My kit’s at home. I didn’t think to bring it.”

  “Then you’ll have to trust her.”

  Someone wiped my mouth with a cloth and held up a glass filled with water. “Just rinse your mouth and spit it on the floor. The room’s beyond help as it is.” Shannon’s sweet voice was a soft melody after the painful words that had come from Luella. I did as she ordered before Raven picked me up and carried me to a cleaner section of the room.

  Jackson stood before me in human form, a towel from my bathroom wrapped around his waist. The usual grin he’d give me if I’d noticed such a detail was absent. In its place was a look akin to terror. What did he have to be scared about? The cyclops was dead.

  “You need to drink from Jackson,” Raven murmured in my ear. “Your body is weak and injured, and it needs to heal.”

  “It’s just my leg,” I argued, but Raven was already shaking his head.

  “Your leg is injured, yes, but you’re a newly mature vamlure. Your body is trying to use the nutrients from my blood to heal all of your injuries, including the cracked ribs you obviously don’t feel. There isn’t enough so it’s taking from your body. You need to drink from Jackson.” I was already shaking my head when he cupped my face. “Koda, this is how so many of our people were killed. Even though we drink blood, we aren’t invincible. The strength it gives us wears off, and more quickly in battle, especially for the young. Your body will kill you if you don’t drink.”

  I still wasn’t sure about everything he said, but that last part caught me off guard. The fear on his face did the rest, and I turned to Jackson. He swallowed hard.

  “Neck or wrist, it’s up to you,” he choked out. “Just remember to suck in and don’t backwash.”

  I wanted to laugh at his attempt at a joke, but then I remembered the mouthful of venom I’d dealt to the invisible guy, who Luella happened to trip over as I thought of him. If I didn’t suck in, and I let myself either not suck at all or “backwash” as he’d called it, I’d kill my friend.

  Now it was my turn to let terror take over. “I don’t want to do this.”

  “You don’t have a choice,” Raven told me, his voice hard. “You won’t make it back to the mansion, and I don’t have enough to give. You need to do this.”

  “Can’t you take from him and then I take from you?”

  “It won’t work that way. There’s not enough time. Koda, stop arguing and do it. You won’t kill him.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because you’re the one who controls your body. You control the venom release. You control when you suck in and when you swallow. Don’t flinch. Just do it, and be confident. It’ll hurt him, but ignore any sounds he makes. Concentrate on drinking.”

  “And don’t drink me dry.” This time Jackson’s voice held dry humor, a better attempt at lightening the situation. “Come on. Which would you like?”

  “Which do you want?” I countered. “I’ve never done this before so I don’t know which is better.”

  Jackson’s shoulders sunk with a sigh. “I prefer the neck. It’s hard to run when my wrist has been bit.”

  Stepping closer, I stared at the pink skin of the neck Jackson bared to me. Taking one more fortifying breath, I forced my teeth to lengthen and swallowed. Jackson shivered when my teeth grazed his skin, and the moment I inhaled near him, confidence soared within me. The scent of his blood wasn’t as sweet as Raven’s was, but the scent still called to my blood drinker self.

  My fangs penetrated the layers of skin with ease, and bless his heart, Jackson barely winced as the fangs intruded his body. He sucked in a breath of air as I drew the first mouthful of blood and swallowed. Without stopping my blood intake, I swallowed four more times before removing my teeth and licking the wounds before stepping back. Shannon was right there with another towel, applying pressure to the open wounds.

  “Are you okay?” I squeaked to the wolf, whose eyes were shut and face was far too pale for my liking.

  “I’m fine,” he murmured. “You did great for your first time.”

  “She did,” Raven agreed. “Now, we’ve stayed too long. Let’s get out of here.”

  “Wait,” I cried and tried to walk to the overturned bed, but my burned leg almost landed me on the floor. Raven caught me as tears slid down my cheeks unbidden. “There’s an envelope and blanket somewhere around where the foot of the bed should be. And maybe a black box.”

  “This box?” Luella held up the black jewelry box and the envelope.

  “Yes! The witch must have dropped it.”

  Luella tossed the box to Shannon. “Clean that up, will you. She probably put a tracer spell on it.”

  “On the box, yes,” Shannon agreed. “And one I don’t feel like wasting my energy to break. It’s only on the outside, not on whatever is inside. Let’s take it out and leave the box.”

  “You think she didn’t think her cyclops would be able to kill Koda?” Jackson asked, holding the towel to his neck still. “Why else would she put a tracer spell on it?”

  “Depends on what’s inside,” Raven answered.

  “It’s a pendant, like yours,” I explained, pointing toward his necklace. “But it’s not like yours. It’s a different design. A teardrop shape.”

  Every jaw in the room dropped, and when the shock of my statement wore off in the next second, controlled chaos ensued. Shannon opened the box and took the pendent out. Luella gathered the tiny blanket and envelope before she shoved both in my arms as Raven lifted me. The pendent joined the objects in my hand and a wolf Jackson led us out of the room, his every sense on high alert. The two women kept pace on either side of Raven as we made our way downstairs. Once outside, they raced to their vehicles. Well, Luella ran to her car while Shannon took the SUV keys from Raven and he set me in his truck with Jackson taking up the whole back seat with his wolf.

  “What’s going on?” I asked the second Raven pulled out onto the road.

  “I’m not sure, but we need to get you home.” His eyes were troubled, and he never stopped checking his mirrors. Jackson kept watch just as intently.

  “Raven, what is that symbol?” I lifted the pendent so he could see it.

  He shoved my hand down. “Hide that. Don’t let anyone see it.”

  “What is it?” I screamed, in too much pain and annoyed from the lack of answers to care how I spoke to him.

  “It’s the symbol o
f the Third House.”

  Chapter 28

  My voice caught in my throat and no matter how many times I opened and closed my mouth, words wouldn’t come. The Third House, one of the houses that was destroyed. That explained why the witch was attacking me, but it didn’t explain why they were there waiting for me in the first place. I hadn’t even known then what Mom was sending me or what was in the box. There wasn’t any way for them to know either when I met them at the mall.

  The trip back to the mansion was short and silent. Now that I knew what the pendent was, there was no way I was distracting the rest of the team. Avery and Lee were standing in the driveway near the house when we pulled in, and when Raven parked, Lee was at my door yanking it open. If he’d been a vamlure, he’d have ripped it off its hinges.

  “Are you all right? What happened?” he asked, scooping me into his arms.

  “Not out here,” Raven barked. “Everyone downstairs. Now.”

  Those of us who knew the situation all but ran inside. Since Lee was carrying me, he kept pace with Raven. Avery brought up the rear, a step behind Jackson, who did a final sweep of the area before joining us. He winked at me as I stared at him over Lee’s shoulder. At least he was getting some of his personality back.

  In the basement, we headed toward Raven’s office instead of the apartment. I motioned for Lee to set me down near my usual chair and he took the seat beside me. Raven sat where he always did when we talked, and everyone else took chairs around the table, even the furry Jackson. I hated the idea of him having to shift in here to talk, but if he did shift, the table would cover the bits I didn’t want to see.

  “First, how are you feeling?” Raven asked me.

  “Better. It hurts less.”

  “Good. Let’s catch Avery and Lee up. While we do, drink this.” Raven stood and crossed to another mini fridge I hadn’t noticed in the room before. He took out a vial and came back. The name written on the side, Clover, was unfamiliar, but it made sense since he couldn’t drain his teammates of their blood. There had to be others willing to give Raven blood donations.

  No one interrupted as first I explained what had happened when I arrived at the house and then Raven explained what happened when he got the call. When we got to the part about the pendent, Raven had me lift it and the blood drained from Avery’s face, making him as pale as a bleached sheet.

  “You think they spilled that perfume on purpose to hide their scents?” Shannon asked when we were done. “If they knew Koda could smell the chameleon at the mall, they had to know she’d smell anyone out of the ordinary in her room.”

  “Clara loved spraying perfume, so I didn’t think anything of it,” I murmured, my voice cracking when I thought of my missing friend. “It wouldn’t have been the first time she spilled some, though it was the worst.”

  “I can second most of that,” Lee agreed. “Clara loved the smell. If the Chameleon was disguised as her, where is the real Clara?”

  “Probably dead,” Avery murmured. “Or back wherever those two came from.”

  “And if she’s not dead, I might just kill her for her part in this,” Raven growled.

  “So, what do we do?” Luella asked. “Obviously someone knew Koda was from the Third House before they saw the pendent.”

  It was good to know I wasn’t the only person who’d had that thought, but it also reaffirmed that someone had premeditated the attack. My stomach was sick all over again, but this time I held back my stomach’s contents from spewing everywhere.

  “We find out what’s in that letter,” Raven growled, anger from Luella’s statement seeping into his voice. “It should explain something. I hope anyway.”

  My fingers shook as I slid them through the top of the envelope. Pulling out a folded sheet of paper, I sucked in a breath and unfolded it. Instead of starting at the top, my eyes sought out the person who’d written it.

  “It’s signed, ‘Daddy’. My dad wrote this.”

  “Read it out loud,” Raven directed, his voice soft and gentle. “I know this is supposed to be a private moment for you, but we don’t have time for that.”

  “I know.” I gave him a small smile before turning back to the letter. “It says,

  “My darling little girl, if you’re reading this letter, then I didn’t survive. I assume you’re a girl since the human ultrasounds your mother has received show you as female. If they are wrong, then I am sorry, but I will be referring to you as female.

  “Little one, this letter is to be given to you upon your maturity. By now you may or may not know that you are indeed not human. If you don’t know, this will come as a shock. You are vamlure, a cousin to the vampires, who are real. Do not be afraid of what you are. I am vamlure, your mother is human.

  “I don’t have much time as I write this. Already danger draws near. I pray your mother makes it safely to her destination. We risked so much having you. There isn’t enough time to write all you need to know, and I dare not write it. If you’re reading this then I am indeed dead. You must go to Gerald Vancovi. His address is below. He will finish explaining our world to you. You must go now. Do not wait.

  “Take the necklace, but show it to no one but him. He will protect you. If anyone asks, you are of the Second House but have lost your pendent. That may not make sense to you, but it will save your life.

  “I must go now. I love you, my darling daughter. Be strong and be courageous. You will need to be. Love, Daddy.”

  The room was silent as I finished reading, my voice cracking. Lee took one of my hands when I let the letter drop to the table. Raven reached for the letter, and I let him take it.

  “Let me guess, we’re going to visit Gerald,” Avery mused, a slight grin lifting his lips.

  “No, ‘we’ are not,” Raven argued. “I’ll take Koda.”

  “Not a chance,” Lee argued. “I’m going with you. She’s my sister, and I’m going to help protect her.”

  Avery shrugged, giving Raven a smug look. “He’s my student. Where he goes, I go.”

  “I’m going too,” Luella stated, giving Raven a glare that dared him to argue.

  Jackson woofed, and Shannon nodded at her familiar. “Yup, we’re going too.”

  “Now that’s not a good idea,” Avery cut in. “Shannon, you’re a witch.”

  “Which is exactly why I should come along. If another witch shows up, I can protect her and fight the witch off. Koda is my friend too. I’m not going to stand around while others of my race try to kill her. We’re family, you all. And whether any of us likes it or not, we’re all going.” Shannon folded her arms, her glare matching Luella’s.

  Raven rubbed his brow, digging his phone out and punching a button. Nodding to the letter in his hand, he muttered, “This keeps getting more complicated.”

  “Meaning?” Avery asked his best friend as a woman answered Raven’s call.

  “Hey, Fay, I need to speak to Connor Davis immediately. It’s Raven Cartana,” Raven stated, taking a deep breath as his call was sent through to the general. “Yes, Sir, I’m here. We have a situation, one I’m not at liberty to give great detail on, but my team needs to go under for a few days. Yes, I know we were assigned to protect the governor. If all goes well, we’ll be back in time. Thank you.” Raven’s eyes roamed to the ceiling at the same time he groaned before continuing. “We also need permission to enter St. Louis.”

  A few small gasps filled the room and I leaned over to stare at the address at the bottom of the letter. Sure enough, it was a St. Louis, Missouri address. Blinking back tears, I sat back and fought not to punch something as Raven ended the call.

  “We’re really going to St. Louis?” Avery asked, his voice low and worried.

  Raven nodded, tapping the letter. “I doubt this Gerald is still at this address, if the building even exits, but we have to check it out.”

  “Is the destruction really as bad as the news makes it out to be?” Lee whispered, eyes hopping from Avery to Raven.

  Both men nodded,
but it was Raven who answered. “Worse. There’s nothing left of the city at large and you need special permission to even enter the city limits.”

  “What was the city limits,” Avery muttered. “And if it still smells like it did when we evacuated the last of the civilians, then you’d better practice breathing through your nose. Those werewolves and Threats made a mess of that city.”

  “And the warlocks didn’t help by blowing it all up.” Raven inhaled and studied the letter one more time. “We probably won’t find him there, but maybe we’ll find some other answers. It can’t hurt to try.”

  “Getting Koda out of this city for a few days can’t hurt us either,” Shannon replied with a sigh. “I guess we’d better pack up.”

  “Right. The sooner we’re gone, the better.” Raven stood and handed me the letter. “If you didn’t catch bits of my conversation, the governor is coming to do a tour of the college and Elite Headquarters in just over a week. We’ve been assigned to be the Elite team to act as a second layer of defense for him, so we have to be back by then. Enough talking. The truck rolls out in half an hour, with or without you. It’s time to go find some answers.”

  Everyone stood except me. I took the letter from Raven’s hands and studied it one more time. It was proof my parents were both dead. Whoever killed them may even be the people after me. With more questions than answers, I rose to my feet, waved off help, and hobbled to my room to pack. Raven was a stickler for time, but I had a feeling that this time around, even if I was late, I’d be the last person he’d leave behind.

  Author’s Note

  I hope you enjoyed reading First Blood! This series has been an adventure to write. I’ve loved it so much, and it could be my favorite series yet. Second Lineage, Book 2, is up for pre-order and releases July 13th. Continue reading for a sneak peek into the first couple of chapters of Second Lineage (Note: it has not yet received final edits, so there may be some editing errors. These will be corrected before publishing).