Blood Ties

by Mari Mancusi

  Instead, just my luck, I come face-to-face with a nasty-looking guard dog.

  I back up slowly, holding my hands out in front of me. “Good boy,” I try, my voice hoarse and barely audible over the wind and rain. “Sit. Stay. Um, roll over?”

  But the dog evidently doesn’t have a solid grasp on the English language or just prefers to do his own thing and, instead of obeying my simple commands, steps forward, baring his teeth, a low growl emitting from his throat.

  Yikes. My eyes dart around, desperate for an escape route. I know at any moment he’ll lunge at me full force and my daring, amazing, cool-as-hell escape will mean nothing as I literally become dog meat.

  “Good boy,” I try again. “Um, fetch?” I grab a nearby stick and throw it off to the side. But the rabid-looking dog doesn’t even glance in its direction. Great.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I notice a cracked window leading into the mansion. I might be able to jimmy it open, but will I have time to do so before the dog makes me his midnight snack? Normally I’d just use my wings again—fly above the bite range—but the rain has soaked them through and they’re so heavy I can’t even lift them, never mind fly.

  So instead I slowly move toward the window, trying not to make any sudden moves. The dog watches with narrowed, bloodshot eyes, his tail swishing suspiciously from side to side. I lock my fingers underneath the weather-beaten window frame and pull upward, praying it’ll slide open easily and allow me an escape route.

  Of course, it seems to be stuck fast. This is not my lucky day.

  But I grit my teeth, not willing to give up. I apply added pressure, though still slowly, as to not freak out the dog. “Good boy,” I mutter, using my entire body weight against the window. Please open, please open. “Good, good boy.”

  At last the window frame lets out a loud groan and gives in. Which should be a relief, except for the fact that, let’s just say, the high-pitched creaking sound it makes as it slides upward is not exactly music to the dog’s ears. Instead it’s the excuse he’s been waiting for. He snaps his teeth and makes his move, lunging at me with full force.

  I don’t hesitate, throwing myself through the window. But I’m not quick enough and the dog’s jaws wrap around my ankle. I yelp in pain as sharp teeth dig into my skin, and I flail half in and half out of the house. I try to kick at the dog with my other foot, forcing him to let go. (Yes, I know, kicking dog = completely unheroic but tell me you’d do differently if you had Cujo’s rabid mouth locked down on one of your appendages.)

  My foot finally connects with the dog’s head and he yelps in pain, loosening his grip on me. I use the momentary lapse to my advantage and squirm the rest of the way through the window, turning around and slamming it shut behind me.

  I collapse on the floor, my breath coming in short gasps. That was too close. My ankle throbs, deep puncture marks in the flesh, and I pray the dog wasn’t actually rabid. I rip my shirt, binding the wound with the cloth. At least the bone doesn’t seem to be broken.

  Looking around the room, I attempt to gain my bearings. I seem to be in some kind of dusty old parlor. I can’t tell if that means the room hasn’t been used for a while or if that’s just the way the interior decorator designed it when going for her “vampire- friendly” motif. The room is dark, but light seeps in through the cracked exit door. I let out a long sigh. I’m out of the frying pan, yes, but am I now into the fire? If the vampires staying here couldn’t be trusted when I wasn’t sporting gaping wounds in my flesh, what will they be like now that I’m a walking bloody billboard, thanks to Lassie out there?

  But that can’t be helped. I need to get to Jayden to check on him before the sun comes up and he goes to bed. To make sure he’s okay. After all, I’m sure the powers-that-be will be none too pleased to open my bedroom door at dawn and learn I pulled a Houdini—leaving future visitation opportunities in question.

  I hear laughter break out in the distance and remember what Rufus told me. Jayden and the girls, giggling in the library. I manage to scramble to my feet and limp over to the door, pulling it open a crack and peeking through. There’s no one in sight. So I slip through the door and out into the hallway. Following the sounds of laughter, I come to a set of French doors and steal a look into what indeed looks like a cozy library. There’s a cheery fire raging in a mammoth stone fireplace, surrounded by floor- to-ceiling bookcases, stuffed with ancient-looking tomes. (And a few modern vampire bestsellers.) The girls are there, sitting on an old-fashioned Victorian sofa, all watching intently something going on across the room. Their eyes shine with excitement and Elizabeth is clapping her hands in glee.

  Careening my neck, I strain to see what’s gotten them so worked up. My eyes widen as they fall upon Jayden, attacking some young blond girl—biting her neck with wild abandon.

  “No!” I cry, forgetting I’m supposed to be keeping a low profile. I dive into the room, rushing to his couch, attempting to drag him off his poor victim. But even in his half-vampire state, he’s far too strong to budge.

  “Jayden, stop!” I beg, feeling tears well into my eyes. “Don’t do this!” After all, the Manor might overlook some “indiscretions,” but I’m pretty sure my boyfriend will not. And I don’t want to give him any more excuses to get rid of my friend.

  To my surprise, Jayden releases his victim, turning to me, his mouth quirking up in a bloody grin. “Hey, Sunny!” he cries cheerfully. “Where have you been?”

  I recoil in horror, tripping over a footstool and falling to the ground with a thump.

  “Now, Jayden, it’s not polite to talk with your mouth full,” Elizabeth says primly.

  “Sorry,” Jayden replies, letting out a small burp. He covers his mouth in surprise and the three girls— make that four, including the blond girl he was just snacking on—start laughing.

  “What the hell is going on here?” I demand, rubbing my butt.

  Susan looks over at me. “Vampire lessons, of course,” she sniffs.

  I stare at her.

  “Well, someone’s got to train him, you know,” Katie chimes in. “The guy doesn’t even know how to properly drink from a donor.”

  “It’s shameful,” declares Elizabeth. “His Maker turning him and then just letting him loose like that. It’s just not done.”

  “His Maker is dead,” I say weakly, still horrified at the sight of Jayden with blood dripping from his mouth.

  He wipes it on his sleeve and grins over at me, evidently super pleased with himself. “Now you don’t have to worry about me accidentally hurting you,” he announces, as if he’s just discovered how to turn straw into gold. “I can drink and stop at will. Watch!” He turns to the blond girl. “Ready, Aleisha?” he asks.

  “Yes, Master,” she coos. “Bite me, baby!”

  “It’s okay! You don’t have to,” I quickly interject. “I get it, I believe you. Way to go.”

  He laughs. “Oh, and watch this!” he adds.

  I squint at him. “Um, watch what?” “You didn’t see?” He sounds disappointed.

  “Huh?” I am so lost here. “See what? You haven’t done anything.”

  To my annoyance, the girls start laughing again. “Jayden just ran around the room three times,” Katie explains. “Not that someone like you could ever hope to see it.”

  “It’s not her fault,” Susan tells Jayden. “Her weak fairy eyes can’t track super speed.”

  “I’m, like, the Speedy Gonzales of vampires!” Jayden chimes in. “It’s one of my vampire powers. Cool, huh?”

  “Um, sure,” I mutter, feeling stupid and lame and out of place. “Congrats, I guess.”

  Jayden beams. “Maybe I’m not such a vampire failure after all, huh?”

  “Failure!?” Elizabeth and Katie and Susan squeal all at once. “As if!”

  “You make an amazing vampire!” Susan insists. “It just takes time,” adds Katie. “And training.”

  “And we’re just the girls to teach you,” Elizabeth finishes, possessively putting an a
rm around his shoulders. “Stick with us, kid. We’ll make you into a super vamp.”

  “Super vamp!” Jayden exclaims. “I like the sound of that.”

  I feel sick to my stomach as I watch Elizabeth nuzzle up against him, as if he’s her boyfriend or something. I know I have no right to say anything— Jayden and I are just friends—and I have Magnus. But at the same time, I have to admit it’s killing me to see him so happy with another girl. I mean, it’s not like I want him to be unhappy, of course. It’s just...

  Oh God, I’m totally losing it.

  “Well, that’s all fine and good,” I manage to say, trying to push all the unwelcomed thoughts from my head. “But Jayden isn’t going to need any of these lessons. ’Cause he’s going to become mortal again—just as soon as Magnus brings back the Grail from Japan.”

  “If,” Jayden corrects. “And I think that’s a big if. To be honest, Sun, I don’t think I’m very high on the guy’s priority list.”

  My shoulders slump. I’ve been trying to keep the doubts from my head—trying to trust Magnus as he claims he deserves to be trusted. But at the same time, logic keeps rearing its ugly head. After all, even with the best intentions, could Magnus just tell the Consortium to shove their orders because he’s still on the quest for the Holy Grail? I mean, that’s like vampire treason. And as much as I want Jayden to have the chance to regain his humanity, I don’t want Magnus to get in trouble, either. ’Cause I’m pretty sure the punishment for outright treason is death by stake.

  It’s not fair to put him in that position. To distract him from his important duties. Not when someone else could easily take over the task, freeing him up to concentrate on the war at hand.

  Someone like the McDonald twins, for example. “Jayden, can I talk to you for a minute?” I ask.

  “Alone?”

  He looks up, surprised. “Of course,” he says as he rises from his seat.

  But Elizabeth stops him. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she says. “After all, we were specifically told by your bodyguard not to let the two of you alone.”

  “In fact, if I remember right, I believe it was decided you should stay in your room,” adds Katie. “Until morning.”

  Crap. In all the excitement, I forgot that I was still technically a prisoner. “Oh, right,” I say quickly, before they can alert Rufus or the professor. “They let me out for a bathroom break. But I best be getting back! Sorry to disturb you guys. Have fun! I’ll catch you later!”

  Jayden looks at me, confused. “But, Sunny—”

  I cut him off with a loud laugh. “Good luck with your lessons!” I tell him as I back out of the room. The girls watch me go with suspicious eyes, but thankfully none of them make a move to stop me. Once I’m far enough away for comfort I break out into a run, back toward the dusty parlor I came in from, to try to contemplate my next move.

  How the hell am I going to get us out of here? I mean, just getting Jayden away from his own attractive jailers will be hard enough. And we probably aren’t going to be able to just walk out the front door without being noticed. I’d use the window, but my friend Cujo is still outside, patiently awaiting my return. And while, once my wings are dry, I’ll be able to fly again, that doesn’t help Jayden at all. And I can’t leave him here. Without my blood transfusions, he’ll have no hope at all.

  Voices in the hall interrupt my troubled thoughts. I duck behind a dusty armchair and hold my breath, praying they won’t enter. But my prayers, it seems, are definitely not reaching the big guy tonight because a moment later the room floods with light and two vampires walk in and sit down.

  And my ankle starts bleeding again.

  10

  “Are you sure you need to do this?” I hear the first vampire, who sounds like Professor Lucedio, ask the second as I try to put pressure on the wound. Vampires can smell blood a mile away, after all. Luckily, the professor is currently smoking a pipe, which is evidently masking the smell. But for how long?

  I glance around for an exit, but the only one (besides the dogguarded window) is across the room, past the two vampires. I’m basically stuck here until they leave. Or, you know, smell me and drain me dry.

  I turn back to the conversation, not knowing what else to do. “After all, he’s made great strides with the girls tonight,” the professor is adding. “Maybe it’s not too late to pull him in. I’m sure they would adopt the boy into their ranks. They seem quite fond of him, after all.”

  Wait—are they talking about Jayden?

  The second vampire, who I realize is Tanner, the Blood Coven bodyguard, shifts uncomfortably in his seat. “I’m just following the Master’s orders,” he replies.

  Ah, I get it. Professor Lucedio thinks Jayden should remain a vampire and join the English coven. But Tanner’s telling him that Magnus instructed him to keep Jayden half human by giving him the blood transfusions until we find the cure. Good, Tanner. Play by the rules. Don’t let those English vampires let you stray from the Master’s orders...

  “It just seems like such a waste,” Lucedio adds. “A nice young vampire like that. And the girls have really taken to him, as well. Especially Elizabeth.”

  I scowl. Elizabeth doesn’t deserve a nice vampire like Jayden. And Jayden would never go for a girl like her.

  At least I hope not... Anyway, she won’t have a chance, because I’m going to spring Jayden and we’re going to find the Holy Grail and make him human again.

  “I know, I know,” Tanner replies. “But the situation is... complicated, as you know. In the end it’ll be better this way.”

  Wait a second. What was that? I crane my neck, trying to determine what the vampires are doing. I catch a glimpse of Tanner, leaning over a coffee table, slipping a vial of clear liquid into a glass of blood.

  What the—?

  “And this will work?” Lecedio asks. “I don’t want a big mess on my hands, you know. It’ll disturb the other guests and I can’t afford a big black mark on my Yelp rating in this economy.”

  Tanner stirs the blood. “It’ll work, all right. And the autopsy will determine that his body simply rejected the transfusion and overtaxed itself fighting off enemy cells. His heart gives out, the abomination dies, and everyone can move on with their lives.”

  I clamp a hand over my mouth to stop my scream. They’re going to kill Jayden and make it look like an accident. How could Tanner do something like this? And... wait... didn’t he say he was following his Master’s orders? But Magnus wouldn’t do something so cold. Not after promising me he’d do everything he could to save Jayden’s life...

  “Well, it sounds like you have everything under control,” Lucedio replies.

  “I am only following Lord Magnus’s orders,” Tanner replies humbly. “He wanted a way to take care of the... problem... without upsetting... well, you know who.”

  My heart wrenches so hard for a moment I think it’s going to break in two. Oh God. How could he? How could he lie to me like this? Tell me he’s off to find the Grail and save Jayden’s life while secretly instructing his bodyguard to kill the boy and make it look like an accident so I’d never suspect a thing.

  And then having the nerve to lecture me about my trust issues.

  Lucedio rises to his feet. “Speaking of the girl, I should go check on her. Poor thing. She’s going to be devastated when she finds out her little friend is no more. She has quite a loyalty to the boy.”

  “Too much,” Tanner adds bitterly. “Which is why we need to take care of this tonight.”

  The two vampires rise from their seats and start toward the door, leaving me shaking in fright. I have to get it together. Before they discover I’m missing and Tanner feeds Jayden the poisoned blood. I can be heartbroken at the betrayal later, once Jayden and I are safe. Right now I have to act.

  Oh, Magnus, how could you? After all you said. After you begged me to trust you...

  I shove the thoughts from my brain and start racking it for a solution. I can’t fight them—I’m outnumb
ered and don’t have vampire strength. I need to use fairy cunning instead.

  And suddenly I realize exactly what I have to do.

  11

  “Hey, chaps, how’s it bloody going?” I ask as I waltz into the library and don my best English accent. I plop down onto the sofa next to Jayden and grab a magazine off the coffee table, all casual-like. “What’s Bonnie Prince Charles been up to these days, that jolly old hooligan? And oy, is that David Beckham hot or wot?”

  Everyone stares at me and I do my best not to squirm, praying they can’t see through my disguise. “Um, Elizabeth, have you been sampling the LSD- infused blood again?” asks Susan cautiously.

  Good. They’re buying it. Well, sort of. “Who, me?” I scoff. “Please. I don’t need drugs to achieve this natural high.”

  “Darling, remember, what your sponsor said,” Katie reminds me. “Denial is the first sign you have a problem. Do we need to get you to a meeting?”

  Oh, Elizabeth has a problem, all right. But it has nothing to do with drugs. At least not at the moment. “Trust me, girls,” I assure them, “it’s all good in the hood. Drug-free is the way to be. Up with hope, down with dope. PCP is bad for me. And pot makes your brain rot, so I’d rather not.” Ha. Wit is so my anti-drug.

  The girls roll their eyes. “Whatever,” Susan says. “But then what happened to the bottle of Edgar Allen Poe you were going to score us down in the blood cellar? The one we were going to use to teach Jayden the art of blood tasting?”

  Oops. “Oh, right,” I reply quickly. “Sorry, I forgot.” Susan shakes her head. “Great,” she mutters. “I guess I’ll go get it.”