Bound

by K. H. Kate

  No, they'd rather see us fuck our way to death.

  "More." Clenching my teeth, I gritted out. I needed more. I needed that safe space. I just needed to forget Zach. I clawed at his back in desperation. "Harder, hard enough to hurt..."

  "No." He went agonizingly slow, guiding my hips to meet his thrusts. Every inch felt like a punishment. Like I was dying all over again. I might have sniffled my cries or something cause he turned me around, swallowing every noise coming from my lips. Right at that moment, I came with a cry as if my body was holding on for too long.

  As if I didn't just pass something in his mouth. A bluish mist? I watched with awe as he grunted, spilling inside me, marking me forever.

  The moment was over.

  I was filled with tears and cum.

  Yet I couldn't stop shaking, my skin almost turning blue.

  "Let me help." He grunted, taking a soap to wash the blood off of my skin. I didn't know what he was thinking but I let him help me. We cleaned each other without saying anything and then left for the bedroom.

  For a long time, he just held me tightly that I almost thought he was asleep until I heard him sigh. "I didn't send him away because I hated him. Fuck, I do. I do hate that he has pieces of you that I'll never have but I guess what I want to say is...I'm sorry."

  Despite the pain hitting too fast, I chuckled. "You're one weird fella, Mikhail. here you are, wrapped around the girl of your dreams, naked, and what you do? You bring up her ex that you killed."

  He pinched my nipple in return, his voice sounding hoarse. "I'm serious. I could have done things differently but I didn't."

  "There's no point." Why couldn't he just let go?

  "But you still miss him, hate me for it."

  I looked away. "Yes."

  "Still love him?" He coughed, clearing his throat.

  Maybe he just didn't want me, just maybe he wanted a little bit of hate too. So I gave it to him on a silver platter. "I loved him, with all my heart. More than I could ever try to love you."

  I expected anger but he collapsed against the pillow instead. "Now look who's talking. Confessing she loved her ex more than anything..."

  It was weird really. How he didn't exactly try to take me away from Zach, at the same time he fought to keep me with him, hard. Was it possible that he could accept both one day? Me and my madness? My love for Zach too? I opened my mouth to ask but found him passed out, his blond hair half covering his cheeks.

  Le sigh.

  Guess we'll never know.

  PRESENT

  It took two hours for the blood test to be back.

  Positive, Byron's blood.

  Somehow I wasn't going to just stop with the diary. Yes, they gave me plenty of information. But I needed more. I needed Valentine to pay for what he did. You see, vampire blood was tricky. It was even trickier to make someone believe that the blood didn't just look utterly different than the humans.

  "It matches with the warning written on the wall." The Chief told us of what I already knew. "He was involved."

  "I already tracked Byron's number. He's alive, was busy doing an auction and he used to talk to someone called a master. That's Mr. Valentine."

  Chief looked at me then, there was no reason for him to not believe me but still, there was some doubt. "I understand where you are coming from but Byron called a burner phone. The location we found is nowhere near where Valentine lives. Just because he called someone a master doesn't mean it's Valentine."

  If only he knew how the vampire Volkios worked then we wouldn't have this argument at all.

  "I get it." I started with a grimace. "But what about the fact that he said the DNA matched the body found in that street? I've had another test done and the results say otherwise."

  "That's a little-"

  "That's a big red flag. He wanted the case to be closed, Chief. You can't tell me that's not suspicious."

  I almost had him, almost...until I saw Valentine walking like he just had his empire crumble into dust. I didn't know how Zedkiel felt about seeing him here but I was surprised. His long hair wasn't tied like usual and if we weren't in front of the humans, I'd make a jab about how guilt made people do wonders.

  "You called me?"

  "Mr. Valentine." Chief acknowledged him with a nod. "Yes. We need your assistance in something."

  He was sweating. Jesus. "What is it?"

  "Byron's been accused of mass murder, Mr. Valentine. We have enough proof to bring him with us." Chief said that with a straight face. Hell, even I'd be sweating like the way he was staring at Valentine.

  Valentine wasn't fazed though. He looked at me and then scoffed. "Based on whose words?"

  "Based on a blood test I asked for." I insisted, watching his eyes harden. Doing the blood test went against every Volkios's rules and I might be getting punished for it later but I wasn't stopping. Not when we were this close to getting him kicked.

  "What else?" He demanded, eyes on me but the question was for the Chief. He didn't even glance at Zedkiel.

  Chief raised an eyebrow as if he was insulted. "A diary of a girl who came to your sanatorium. Byron tortured her and the others. We have several entries proving that date by date. For God's sake, Valentine! They didn't even get a real doctor or nurse or any help. Byron is not a certificated psychiatrist. If anything, their condition has worsened. One girl actually died! We'll be looking into that later." There we go.

  There's no place for him to hide now.

  As if to prove my thoughts, he titled his head toward the nearest room. "Detective, can we talk?"

  "Absolutely not." Chief started to talk but I raised my hands, indicating my interest in his explanation.

  "Let's go."

  As soon as we were inside the room, we didn't have to pretend anymore. I saw the attack from miles away but I was still unable to stop him when he grabbed my neck, pushing me into the wall.

  "What did you do! A blood test? Really? Against a Volkios!?" He sighed despite the anger on his face. "Vermon, I'm trying not to kill you since last year but you're making this quite hard on me."

  I was making this hard?

  I pushed back, clutching his hair to find some kind of weakness. He let out a hiss, letting me go instantly. I wanted to touch the place he tried to crush but that'd only make me look pathetic.

  "You started this bloody war, Valentine. First my sister, then this...you think I'm going to let you just go?"

  He chuckled, those teeth of his showing what he truly was. "What makes you think that I had anything to do with the torture or the fire? Byron chose this himself and he'll get punished for what he's done."

  "The prints, the blood, everything points at you! Hell, he calls you his master."

  There was a smirk on his face when he replied. "Byron never called me his master, he didn't have the right to. Your sister, however..."

  It wasn't until my knuckles were throbbing that I noticed swinging for his face. It left a nice red mark on a good little portion of his face.

  My fingers be dammed.

  He touched his cheeks, then licked the small blood that was left from my right hook. "It seems like a surprising concept to you but I actually do love your sister, Vermon. Ask her why I left her at the altar instead of trying to ruin my life. I am not the only one hiding things."

  Fuck. He couldn't be right.

  "You're lying."

  "Am I? You know I'm not." Dammit. I knew he was telling the truth. But that meant...

  We had an unknown enemy all along.

  ***

  "What are you saying?"

  Mikhail must have loved to drop bombs on me like that. His tone wasn't even surprising. "Heard Byron is now officially sitting in a cell, waiting for a court date that's never coming. Valentine knows what he did and he's not happy about it. He'll be taken to the coven for punishment, eventually thrown in Sparkas."

  I clutched the phone tighter, thankful for the fact that I was alone. "Mikhail...We got him."

  "Yes, love
. We did." I heard the longing in his tone. "Where are you now?"

  I didn't know how to describe the place in front of me. The whole place was full of circling powers. The Volkios loathed Reapers, they thought of them as cursed and tainted, someone not to be trusted. And they wouldn't be too happy to let me stay. But I didn't care at this point.

  "I'm in Norcia. Chiara finally told me the address." I imagined the look on her face when she told me, almost hysterical about that Ninety Million. At least we got the book back. "I think you broke her beyond repair."

  "You broke me, running again without a call." He complained, the threat clear in his voice. "Do you have any idea what am I going to do once I catch you?"

  "You will just have to find out."

  I couldn't wait for the chase. The thought came out of nowhere, shocking me.

  "Rispere a mis!"

  I was startled by the sudden commotion. Turning around, I noticed there was a woman with black hair and the greenest eyes I had ever seen. But the look on her face made me believe I was on dangerous ground with her breathing in the same air.

  Good.

  I was missing some actions.

  "You have some nerve coming here without an invitation." The woman had a heavy Italian accent so she must be from here. "I'm Allegra Del Cece, protector of this coven. State your name and business, Reaper."

  "I am Lana Gill-Deshayes. I know you're a witch and I don't want any trouble,"

  "Then why are you here?" Her disgust was unnerving. Damn. They really hated my kind. "The last Reaper who came brought hell with her."

  "I'm here to talk to Hannah."

  "A Volkios?" Allegra raised her eyebrow with a scoff. "You have no business talking to a Volkios-"

  "And you have no business talking to someone like that. I heard the people from the Coven were polite and generous. Or were all the rumors a lie?" Clenching my fists, I was just about to go off when I noticed a woman waving her hands for us to see. Her long ebony hair was a great contrast with her oval face. Her mismatched eyes held so many emotions that I almost wanted to hug her.

  Holy hell.

  "This ain't real." I heard her murmur when she was much closer. "You're not Emeline."

  I nodded, not knowing what else to say. "No, I'm not. It's Lana Gill-Deshayes. Actually, Chiara sent me here. We need to talk."

  Hearing Chiara's name, her eyes brightened. "Met her, did you? Clever gal. Been a long time I heard from her. Come on, let's go inside."

  By inside, she meant a literal mansion. The ceiling was huge and the walls looked like coming straight from the Victorian era. The sanatorium was lavish but this was something else. Hannah kept telling me which room was used for which while Allegra quietly followed us upstairs. It's not until we reached the meeting room that Hannah took a deep breath, looking at me with unsure.

  "Is there any problem?"

  "You caught us in a busy day, Lana. It's Volkios's monthly meeting day." It hadn't been unintentional. Chiara wanted me to meet all of them, try to be friendly with a few of them if there was anything coming for us which according to her guts, definitely would.

  Still, I had to play a part. I pretended to be tired. "Ok, then. I'll leave you to your meeting."

  Allegra seemed happy until Hannah shook her head, chuckling. "No, no. You're welcome to stay. They'll love to know about you."

  Finally.

  She opened the door and several eyes took me in immediately. It's like walking into a war zone without knowing your enemies. Some of them had hatred in their eyes, some curiosity, and some...no, the twins definitely had an interest in their gaze.

  "Everyone, meet Lana."

  I was thankful that she didn't say who I was or what I was. She let them come to a conclusion instead. I was starting to get why my sister liked her so much.

  "Ah, actually I like being called 5132, if you guys don't mind."

  There were some weird looks but they didn't seem to mind. All but one.

  "Goodness, Hannah. Who have you let inside our coven?" The snobby voice of that redhead almost made me want to punch her. By the distress in the other's eyes, maybe they had the same thought too.

  One of the twins shook his head, his voice almost sounding like a melody. "Rebecca, calm down. She's one of us. A supernatural."

  "Still, a Reaper-"

  It's Hannah who shut the bitch up. "I respect you Rebecca en I know you have a high rank to show off but I beg you not to. It’s not your place. Not dit time."

  She huffed, staring off to something else. Good, I wasn't interested in her anyway.

  The other twin, the one with tattoos on his neck glanced up, smiling. "Welcome to the Coven, 5132. I understand it will take some time for you to get the hereditary but I'll help you understand it. Come on, take a sit."

  There were only two empty seats. One between the twins and the one closest to miss bitchy. I walked closer to the bitch, made her think I was going to ruin her day, and then dropped my ass between the twins.

  The clench of her jaw didn't go unnoticed by me.

  "Hannah, take a sit too. Now, 5132. The one who can't seem to look at you is Rebecca Ortiz. In ranks, she trumps us all. She's an Eternal. The very first supernatural on earth."

  Rebecca gritted out a hello.

  Even if never hearing about that species, I had no intention to ask her any questions. Pretending not to notice her, I stared at the twin. His smile widened even more. "Now meet my brother, Raphael, an angel and I come next, Eros, a demon."

  "Wait." This all felt like a dream. Or a weird nightmare. "Angel and demon?"

  Raphael laughed, even his laugh sounded like a bird singing. "What did you expect, 5132? For me to have wings?"

  "For me to have a tail?"

  "White robes?"

  "Black clothes?"

  Both smirked at the same time. "A cliché rival story?"

  "No, I actually didn't expect you two to be brothers. Doesn't Volkios be chosen as the best of their kind? Are you the Demon King then?"

  Eros shook his head, laughing. "Our father wasn't exactly faithful so none of the children he had has the same mother. Only I and Nathaniel are blood brothers. And for your second question. Our older brother Demos is the Demon King, not me."

  That was a handful of information. "Ok, who's next?"

  "You have already met Hannah Castro. She takes care of the witches." Hannah gave me a reassuring smile. "Now next in the line is Valentine Godfrey but I'm sorry to say he missed two meetings in a row to take care of a business of his own."

  The name made me want to spit on the empty chair.

  "Trust me, I've heard of him. Not interested to have a face-to-face chat." I couldn't keep the ominousness from my tone and if Eros heard it, he decided to ignore it.

  "Then there's Ivanov Starling, he is the king of Werewolf." A guy with stubble raised his hand, his gaze attentive at the same time cold.

  "Welcome."

  "Likewise." Something told me that one words were his favorites.

  "The woman next to Hannah is Lorette, she's a mermaid. And before you ask about sirens, they were not interested to make a peace pact."

  Lorette had a unique beauty in her that made me almost gasp. Her eyes were larger than any one of us and I could see some gills on her neck. "Hello, 5132. Nice to meet you."

  I nodded, still amazed by her. "Me too."

  As if Eros could see through me, he smiled. "That's Araceli, she's the first fairy to be ever born."

  Unlike everyone, Araceli laughed with a light in her gaze. Even her clothes were light-colored as if we were doing a spring fashion line. "Oh, don't be so coy, Eros. My mother was the first fairy to be ever born. She died trying to become a fairy, I didn't. Nice to meet you, 5132."

  That sounded odd but most of the people in this room probably were. I laughed along with Araceli when I noticed one person still left to be introduced. Without waiting for Eros, I asked her myself. "And who are you?"

  The woman bowed her head. "Name's Eve Wallace,
a human."

  Just that.

  No explanation, nothing.

  It's Eros who jumped to help me. "When the Coven were made and the Volkios were chosen, many of our species argued that we wouldn't be able to keep our peace. That this was a blood bath waiting to happen. Especially us living between the humans we were bound to make mistakes so we decided to choose a human for a peacemaker. If any one of us gets to the point that we can hurt each other, Eve has the right to throw us in a cell. She has no rank but you best believe that she has the most power over us."

  "Wow."

  I breathed out.

  "Now that we're all over it, can we actually talk about what's important? I think a hellhound leaking is more important than anything else right now." Rebecca said with a sick grin and once again, I wondered if killing a Volkios was worth it or not.

  When I thought Eros would laugh at her again, I was mistaken. Instead, his face hardened into a…well, demonic scary version of calmness. "5132, if you don't mind. Today's meeting is about a hellhound leaking rumors. Well, I wouldn't call it a rumor since many people have seen it and Demos warned us about Sage."

  Immediately my mind went to that day.

  Watching that hellhound staring at my eyes. Whoever it was, knew me then. Shit. Should I say something?

  "Who is this...Sage?"

  Hannah spoke up for me. "Sage is a hellhound from hell en he's been a problem for quite a few years. We never thought it'd go beyond just terrorizing people but he's trying to come back here. The gate to hell was recently opened, we could all feel it. We think he did too en he took advantage of it."

  Gate to the hell...

  Mikhail chanting.

  Zach disappearing.

  I shut down right and there, refusing to remember that day ever again.

  I had been watching them for years.

  Waiting to go back to earth and feel that terror in their eyes. But nothing helped. Not those clan leaders' sweetest blood, not those marriages to thousand witches who practiced dark arts, not the wars I caused single-handedly just to have a way to be back.