by Holly Hook
Chapter Seventeen
We didn't stop for miles.
The rain had started again, but that must be because Bathory had sent some of her surviving troops out after us. I heard them attempting to give chase. I still had my enhanced hearing, so it was my job to tell my friends when we could stop. The four of us bolted through the woods, getting farther and farther from the bunker and from the suburb. When all the footfalls had stopped, I told everyone we could take a break.
The four of us wound up underneath an ancient oak tree which did a good job of blocking out most of the pale light. Rain continued to come down, but the giant tree did a good job of filtering that out. The four of us leaned against the trunk. Xavier took a few breaths. Silence dragged out.
"I stayed caught up with all of you," he said. "I don't know how I did it."
"Our bond?" Alyssa asked. "Now you have more magic so it must be stronger. I'm influencing you more than I used to."
"Maybe," Xavier said, but there was a doubt in his voice. "That witch wanted me for my magic. She thought I could strengthen her, which is the last thing we need."
"Then why didn't she just bite you?" Alyssa asked.
I tensed. Things were getting precarious.
"It's almost as if Bathory didn't want to attack me in a fair fight. She wanted me paralyzed and in Infernal Iron before she stuck that tube in my neck."
I listened. A distant car motor started. "We're safe," I said.
"The students," Brendan said. It was his first time speaking since leaving the bunker. "I hope they got out of there."
Xavier paced around the trunk of the tree. Worry was getting to him, then. It was there in his violet eyes. He was freaking. "I'm different," he said. "I don't even know if I'm human anymore. Crap!" Alyssa's boyfriend motioned like he wanted to kick the tree, but stopped in mid-air. He feared his own power.
"We'll talk about this later," Alyssa said. She didn't dare glance at me.
I knew what I had to do: change the subject. I turned to Brendan. "Why did you help us? You were helping Bathory before."
Brendan cleared his throat. His reddened eyes were full of sadness. "They had me trapped," he said. "The Mother experimented on me and Turned me a month ago. Bathory's trying to make new vampires faster than what normally happens, and she found a way to Turn people who never got her blood from their ancestors." Brendan thumped his fist on his chest. "I was the first successful experiment."
Alyssa blinked. "Wait. She what? You didn't inherit the ability to Turn?"
"You're a guinea pig?" I asked. I knew what it felt like to be a cog in a machine.
Brendan sighed. "Okay. Some backstory. I've been on my own for a little while. When you're sleeping on park benches and under bridges, you're an easy target for creatures of the night. Bathory's people found me one night, and they took me to a warehouse." He shuddered. "I thought I would die. She was hungry. But instead, they hooked me up to a bed and jammed all kinds of tubes in my veins. It was horrible. And then she bit me, draining me until I passed out. When I woke, I heard her people talking about a transfusion. I think they pumped vampire blood into me while I was out and replaced the human blood she took."
"But Bathory tried to turn people with that method before," Alyssa said. "It didn't work. She said so herself. It created people who could pass the ability to Turn down to more generations. That's all."
"I'm not done," Brendan said. He paced while Xavier remained still. I detected a tremor in his voice. This was traumatic for him. "Thousands of years ago, when she tried Turning people, she didn't have advanced medical equipment. The Mother had no way to keep people alive while she drained all of their human blood and replaced it with vampire blood. That's what she did over the course of a week."
"She what?" I asked.
Brendan tried to keep a tough face up. His voice betrayed it. A faint sob tried to creep into his words. "I was still Normal after the first transfusion because I still had human blood. They kept me strapped to that bed, observing me. Bathory came back. She told her people to get another transfusion ready and bit me again. It was worse than the first time. I knew I might not survive. These people didn't care if I lived or died. I was just some kid off the streets. I heard them talking. They'd tried this before and the victims died. They didn't get the amounts of blood right or something."
"But you lived," I said.
"She bit me and transfused me four times, until I didn't have any human blood left," Brendan said. "That's when my body gave up and Turned. What else could it do? I had nothing left to fight it. And here I am. The Mother told me she'd let me live if I accepted her as my master and did what she told me. I had nowhere else to go, so what else could I do? I think she kept me alive to make sure her little experiment worked the way she wanted."
"Brendan," I said. I wanted to hug him. First he was homeless, and then he got tortured, and then he Turned. Now he was homeless all over again. What had his life been like before that? Whatever happened hadn't involved rainbows and unicorns. "I don't know what to say. That's beyond horrible."
Brendan continued, collecting himself. "I did what that monster told me. But then she talked about testing us. Those who killed could live, and those who refused would have to die. I would never pass her test but I didn't know how to escape. If I did, her people would find me again. And then I saw how you fought on the school grounds, and I knew if I left Bathory, I might not have to deal with this by myself. The Mother might not destroy me." Brendan turned his full attention on me.
I expected to blush, but heat didn't run to my face. Maybe that was something I could no longer do. Brendan had seen hope in the way I fought. Being a guy, he wouldn't admit it, but he must have hoped that I could help him escape.
"And then you and Gaozu worked together," Alyssa said.
"I hated seeing the guy get tortured. I knew what it felt like. He only speaks a little English, but we hatched a plan. He could break the chains they bound him in, but he couldn't resist those shock guns. The dragon guy didn't want Bathory to know the chains couldn't hold him. And since I was the errand boy of the bunker, I had access to all the offices and the weapons. They weren't worried about a newborn vampire trying to turn on them. It was my job to throw a smoke bomb in that room so the dragon guy could get free without the guards being able to shock him. But I waited to hatch my plan until Bathory captured you." He nodded, facing me. "If they took you in, I wanted to help you get out."
"Thanks?" I asked. "I mean it. Thanks. If it weren't for you, we'd all still be down there and those students they captured would be lunch."
Brendan eyed the ground. "I wanted to free the captured vampires, too. I haven't seen them but I know she has them in another location."
"We'll get them," Alyssa said. She waved Xavier away from the tree. "We've rescued people before."
"Not this again," Xavier said.
"Do you know where she has them?" I asked. "And do you know what she has planned?"
Brendan shook his head. "Errand boy." He pointed to himself. "She didn't tell me much, but I caught hints she's going after the ATC next. I don't know what her plans are for them--"
Xavier groaned, cutting him off. "Well, she wants to make more vampires faster. She might want ones who know how to fight and have stockpiles of weapons. If I were her that's what I'd do. And to make sure they're loyal I'd make them prove themselves. It sounds like what she's getting ready to do, if you ask me. And Bathory already knows about the workings of the ATC since she used to be friends with its leader. She's even using one of their bunkers."
"But they're the ATC!" I said. "They'd rather die than Turn."
Brendan coughed. "When you're faced with death, it's amazing what you'll do to stay alive."
"He has a point," Alyssa said.
"Where does Bathory keep her vampire prisoners?" I asked.
"I don't know for sure," Brendan said, "but I think she might have turned them over to the ATC themselves. They're already in a safe place she doesn'
t have to guard. When she attacks the ATC, she'll already have them."
Alyssa gulped. "That makes sense."
"So now what?" I asked. "We attack the ATC and find them before she can launch her plan?" I turned my thoughts to Maisha. She and the other students would have called the cops as soon as they got out of the bunker if any of them had their phones. The suburb hadn't been that far away, either, and the dirt road had farms all around it. The sun wouldn't have stopped Maisha from knocking on a door and having someone call the police.
I'd check on her as soon as we got out of here. Evening was coming, and the sun was coming back out. It was a sign that the guards had stopped hunting for us—or anyone else. Besides, they had a dragon in their bunker, and he was angry. With that issue, the old vampires wouldn't bother to chase after some scared Normals.
Or Bathory had lost access to dragon blood. She needed top ups, right? It wasn't like Xavier's blood.
Alyssa nodded. "We attack the ATC before she does. If they're lucky, we'll get to them first. Janine, are you with us? I think you'd be a huge help."
A cold tingle swept over my skin.
I was important enough to get included. Why didn't it feel good?
Why did it feel terrifying?
I swallowed. "Yes. Yes, I am."
Thank you for reading Turned By Blood, whether you purchased this set or borrowed it in Kindle Unlimited. Your support means a lot to me!
Turned By Blood is the first book of Janine’s Story, which will be a trilogy. It is also technically the sixth book of the Abnormals Underground Series. See the next page if you’d like to begin reading the rest of the series!
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To read about what happened to Alyssa and Xavier before this story, check out Blood Magic, the first Abnormals Underground book!
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www.hollyhookauthor.com/books
Holly Hook is the author of several Young Adult fantasy, science fiction, fairytale, post-apocalyptic and adventure series. She has been writing since very young and publishing her work since September of 2010.
