BloodSworn

by Stacey Brutger

  This was the woman who’d banished her from the coven like she’d been a wart to be burned away from her perfect little world. “I’ve always wondered how the vampires knew that my parents would be out of town the night they died.” She gave a bitter smile and rose to her feet. She refused to cower before this woman. “You were always jealous of your sister, weren’t you? Of her power and her husband.”

  “Your mother was a spoiled brat who cared nothing for our ways.”

  “No, she cared for protecting people, not the antiquated rules that demanded we bind people or burn them out as you steal their power.”

  “She had no right to try to change things that had worked for thousands of years.”

  “Only they weren’t working anymore, were they? People were protesting. They only way to stop it was to show how dangerous it was to buck the rules you deemed worthy. That’s why they had to die.”

  That sinister smile came back. All that was missing was the maniacal cackle. “It worked until now. All that changes with you. With your magic under our control, the witches will be the power to be feared. Honor will be ours again.”

  Trina crossed her arms. “Do you really think I would work with you after what you did?”

  Kaye’s smile widened. “That’s the beauty of your power. You don’t have to do anything. Your blood will do it for you.”

  Trina tightened her lips and saw the men behind her aunt tense. “That’s the real reason why you sent me away, wasn’t it? You suspected what I was despite the way the other witches tried to protect me. You bound me so I wouldn’t be able to learn to defend myself.”

  “At least you aren’t as naïve as your mother.”

  When Trina would’ve taken a step forward, Merrick’s large hand encircled her ankle. “Don’t let her separate us,” he growled.

  Trina didn’t understand why Merrick remained so docile. Then it struck her…he was trying to look defenseless. She almost snorted that anyone would mistake him as harmless.

  But his touch was different, his palms almost scratchy against her skin.

  He wasn’t trying to look defenseless.

  They’d cast a fucking spell on him to weaken his beast.

  Only there was a simple flaw in their plan.

  Merrick had accepted her blood. He was hers.

  She wound her fingers into his hair, and the earth magic disintegrated at her touch. Merrick sucked in a deep breath and slowly straightened at her side, brushing his hand against her cheek.

  Energy crackled in the air as the witch’s magic built. Merrick must have sensed it as well for he bent, putting his shoulder into her stomach and launching them up into the air. They had to have jumped ten feet over the makeshift partition separating the room from the rest of the warehouse.

  The landing jammed his shoulder into her stomach. She expected him to set her down, but he took off running. The witches rounded the corner, the power they gathered growing as they chanted.

  Trina brought her arm up and fisted her hand until the pinch of metal from her ring bit into her finger. Flesh tore and blood bloomed. Two witches stood to the side, drawing the power away from her. They were succeeding, too.

  She thrust out her palm, praying she had enough left to be of use. Wild, uncontrollable magic slammed through the room like a percussion, knocking everyone on their asses. Merrick stumbled, and she lost her perch. The floor rushed up to greet her.

  Merrick rolled, taking the brunt of their fall, his big body wrapped around hers. She ended up a few feet away, the wind knocked from her.

  The bindings that had once held her magic in check were obviously gone. Every time she’d used her magic in the past, it had been pulled through the bindings. It eventually wore down the bindings, but it had also made her stronger than she would’ve been normally.

  She struggled to her hands and feet when the door to the back exit banged open.

  They were surrounded.

  Merrick snarled, beefing up, facing off against the ten men and women who ran through the door.

  Trina thought she recognized the third figure who entered. “Drew?”

  The kid gave a cocky salute. “I brought backup. When they found out that you were going after your sister, they volunteered to help.”

  Loyal enough to Eden that they would trade Trina for her? She stood and shuffled closer toward Merrick, edging toward the fringes of the two groups.

  “You were not invited, Dorian. Shouldn’t you be more worried about retrieving your misplaced charge than bothering us?” Kaye rubbed her fingers together, and Trina felt the pull of magic, saw the sparks grow brighter as they spun toward the old crone.

  “Get down!” Her warning came too late. Whatever spell Kaye had been holding shot across the room. People dove out of the way. Some cursed, but she knew that not all escaped unscathed when the astringent smell of something charred filled her nose.

  She lifted her head to see people on both sides scramble for cover. One woman lay on the floor, staring unseeing with half of her face burned away.

  “Come on.” Merrick grabbed her arm, and pulled her underneath the metal staircase where Dorian, Drew and another woman waited.

  “Hey, scamp, I’m glad to see you made it.” Dorian smiled at her, and half-forgotten memories rose of her following him around like a typical young girl with a crush, making a nuisance of herself.

  Then she remembered something else, something she only just realized looking at the grown-up version of him. “Your father was there the night my parents were killed. He stayed with me, protecting me while I struggled to survive.”

  A spell hit the walkway above them. The metal shivered, the quaking gaining strength as it worked down the length of steel. Metal groaned. Acting on instinct, Trina threw herself at Drew.

  Something struck her shoulder with enough force to knock them to the floor. Trina pushed up on shaky arms, surprised they still worked the way they shook so badly. They both glanced at the spot where he had been crouched to find the slab of cement had vanished under a tangle of what used to be the walkway.

  “Holy shit.” Drew stared wide-eyed, his excitement of the fight dimming at the near miss.

  “How badly are you hurt?” Merrick was at her side in an instant, probing her shoulder, and she flinched away from him.

  Trina gave a few experimental twists of her arm and found she was unable to lift it above her chest without breath-stealing pain. “Bruised but functional.”

  “Get them out of her, Dorian. We’ll hold them off.” The battle-hardened woman with them shot up and flung a spell that had the floor buckling like they were at sea. Trina would’ve landed face first if Merrick hadn’t caught her.

  Dorian looked prepared to argue when a high-pitched scream echoed in the room. Trina thought she saw an arm fly past. “Uh, I think someone else joined the party.”

  Merrick peered around the base of the stairs than swore viciously. “Vampire.”

  Trina grew lightheaded, her first thought being that the King had found her. Logic took a bit to catch up. The King would never have come alone. If he were here, she would already be in chains.

  “Go.” The woman stepped out from behind the stairs and ran into the room, tossing spells faster than Trina had ever seen anyone cast.

  Both sides lobbed their magic, and the warehouse lit up like a fireworks explosion gone wrong. Each blast grew brighter until all she saw were black spots dancing in her vision.

  She turned to shield her eyes and found Merrick watching her, so attuned to her that he sensed something wrong.

  “Is it your shoulder?”

  “The magic is messing with my eyesight.” She knew it would happen eventually, that magic would turn on her. The vulnerability was nearly crippling, but she refused to be defenseless. She withdrew her blade and looked at it blankly. Wow, she was the idiot who bought a knife to a gunfight.

  Dorian inched closer, taking in the situation at a glance. “She’s been exposed to too much magic. Her senses are overlo
aded. It happens to new recruits all the time when they can’t control the burn of magic. Head toward the door, and I’ll buy you some cover.”

  Without giving them time to protest, he stood and threw something that lit up the warehouse like a bomb had gone off.

  The vampire roared.

  Magic would hurt and slow a vampire down, but it wouldn’t kill outright.

  Without giving her a chance to protest, Merrick grabbed her arm and hauled her into the tiny alley behind the warehouse. Fetid water splashed her pants, soaking her shoes.

  “Down!”

  Weston dropped twenty feet from the building, landing in a crouch, lifting his weapon even as he rose. She came face to face with the barrel of his gun.

  Time slowed.

  His finger tightened on the trigger.

  Surprise held her immobile.

  Merrick shoved her hard toward the building, covering his body with hers. Her palms scraped brick, and the porous rock abraded her cheek.

  A sharp retort belched repeatedly in the alley. Whatever flash of doubt that’d struck vanished, and she felt like an idiot. Her heart slammed against her ribcage as she tried to turn to fight whomever Weston had pinned down.

  She would not die trapped in an alley.

  A roar of magic like a train whipped past them. She expected to feel the impact of it slam into them, the flash of pain and the warm gush of blood.

  She’d been so sure they wouldn’t survive that it took her ears a few seconds to register the silence. When Merrick allowed her away from the wall, she grabbed his arm, surprised not to find him riddled with holes.

  There was not a scratch on him.

  Dorian and Drew stood at the opposite side of the alley, equally unscathed. When she glanced at Weston, the location where she’d last seen him stood shockingly empty.

  Disbelieve froze her in her tracks. He couldn’t be gone. Then she spotted his form slumped against the ground.

  Her medical training kicked in. She wiggled out of Merrick’s hold, wiggling past his body and knelt at Weston’s side, fingers shaking as she searched for his pulse.

  “I’m alive.”

  Trina smiled, but her lips trembled. He might be alive, but she didn’t know how. His face was red and blistered like someone had roasted him over a spit.

  “What happened?” She glanced at the exit to the warehouse. What was left of her Aunt Kaye lay sprawled amidst the trash, a surprised expression plastered on her face as if she’d never expected to find resistance.

  “We need to leave before more people arrive.” Weston struggled to sit, brushing away her questing hands.

  Though he spoke the truth, the doctor in her hesitated to move him without fully assessing his injuries. It boiled down to one thing…if they stayed, they would all die. Against her better judgment, Trina offered him her hand and hauled him to his feet. He staggered, remaining upright by sheer stubbornness.

  Unsatisfied with letting him go without a peek, Trina peeled down the collar of his shirt to reveal that the burns spilled half way down his chest. “It looks like she tried to skin you alive.”

  He blinked up at her, his eyes dazed in pain. “She nearly succeeded.”

  He took the hit meant for Merrick. It was only his magic that prevented his animal from being ripped from him. Merrick had her blood, but she wasn’t sure it would’ve been strong enough to prevent the loss of his beast.

  Trina owed him. “Thank you.”

  He grunted, waving away her words as they shuffled down the alley, picking up speed as they went. The fighting faded in the distance, but the number of people they left behind haunted her.

  She understood the necessity. With her gone, everyone would be safer, the vampire would chase them instead, but it still felt wrong.

  Dawn tinged the horizon. The street at the edge of town was abandoned but morning traffic could be heard drawing near. The lonely road twisted off into the distance, disappearing behind a line of trees and into the unknown.

  Merrick stopped, and she’d been so focused on putting one foot in front of the other that she nearly bumped into him. “We need to get off the road and see if we picked up a tail before we go any farther. We can’t continue to wander blindly.”

  No one said a word as they entered the woods in single file. The long night had given her a lot to process. People had died. It could very easily have been Merrick. Maybe next time it would be.

  She needed to decide if she could allow them to risk themselves further to save her sister.

  Everyone halted, scattered about, lost in their own thoughts. Drew dropped to the ground, his arm draped over his bent knees. Exhaustion lined his face as he absently plucked random pieces of grass. “There are a few abandoned lots near here, but they’re not very secure.”

  Dorian nodded to the city. “Oz is to the west. They’ll already have sent out patrols to scour the streets for us. The safest place would be outside of the city limits.”

  Trina let the men argue and sat next to the tree where Weston leaned. Magic swirled in the air around her. Without the bindings swaddling her, she didn’t know how to shut it off. Layers of magic grafted to her, weighing her down.

  Weston didn’t look much better.

  His wolf hadn’t been able to heal the magical damage, and Trina suspected that Weston had refused to call up his magic for help. She picked at a scab on her palm until blood welled.

  She stood and reached up to touch his face.

  He neatly caught her wrist but didn’t say anything.

  “If you want to stay with the group, you have to heal. Either I do it or you must.”

  “Or what?” Sweat darkened his hair, and Trina knew he was in more pain than he let on.

  “Or you stay behind.” She wasn’t going to budge. He was injured, and they were going to be hunting vampires.

  Not a good combination.

  He gave a reluctant nod, but a couple of heartbeats passed before he released her. Taking that as permission, she brought her palm up to his face.

  She expected a flash burn with all the magic clinging to her.

  There was not even a fizzle.

  Apparently her body felt that she needed all of it.

  Weston slumped against the tree, a breathless laugh whooshing out of him.

  She let her hand drop to her side, her fingers curling into fists. “I never could cast worth a damn.”

  Weston just shrugged. “It’ll heal eventually.”

  Merrick walked over, slipping his hand into hers and pulled her closer. “Dorian knows of a place a few miles cross-country. Can you make it?”

  Trina fiddled with his fingers, unused to affection, a slight blush of heat warming her cheeks. It took her a moment to figure out which one of them he was addressing. Though Weston was in poor shape, she wasn’t in much better condition. There was only one answer. “We’ll make it. How about you?”

  Merrick leaned closer, resting his forehead against hers. The darkening of his eyes reminded her of last night and what he’d felt like under her. And his expression said what he would do again if he caught her alone.

  “As long as we’re together, I’m fine.” The deep tone said he was remembering as well.

  Her heart did a crazy pitter-patter before she could get her libido under control. She drew away before she completely forgot they weren’t alone. “We’re ready.”

  The longer they waited, the more the danger increased.

  “Does anyone have a plan?”

  Drew groaned in complaint as he got to his feet. “Find a way into Galloway Castle, slay the dragon and rescue the princess.”

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Trina stepped out of the shower of Dorian’s bachelor pad. Bachelor being the key phrase. The miniscule house was a beautiful, hand-built cabin for one. The only separate rooms were the bathroom and a small loft above the kitchen for storage.

  The kitchen, dining room, living area and bedroom were all open. She heard Merrick and Dorian in there discussing wha
t to do next, and she hurried.

  If it were up to them, she’d be holed up someplace far away while they tried to rescue her sister. The idea would’ve had a certain appeal if it wasn’t for the fact that instinct told her if she didn’t go with them, she would never see any of them again.

  She dressed, smiling when she remembered how Merrick had checked the tiny bathroom for threats. He turned in a circle twice, able to touch two of the walls without moving. It didn’t satisfy him. He even checked under the sink as if expecting trolls to jump out and whisk her away.

  She understood the sentiment. The longer she was away from him, the more she feared he’d be taken from her. She toweled her hair when she noticed something that stopped her cold.

  Two toothbrushes in the cup by the sink.

  Though they had more power and talent than an average witch, mages like Dorian were considered lower class. Regulations forbid a fully graduated witch to mate with them to preserve the breeding and keep the violent mages from getting involved with things that didn’t concern them…like politics and laws.

  She reached out with a shaky hand and touched the pink one. Her sister. She didn’t question the knowledge. Dorian’s assistance made more sense now. He was using her.

  That was fine, she was using him as well. They both wanted her sister alive, but part of Trina wondered what he was willing to risk to get Eden back.

  * * *

  The shower had turned off, and Merrick would give anything to walk through that door and join Trina. Instead, he forced himself to turn away from temptation and paced the confines of the cabin again, searching and finding so many defensive weaknesses that Beast growled.

  If they were attacked, the house would fall. They couldn’t remain here any longer than necessary. He faced Dorian, “If we re-bind her powers, would she be safer?”

  “Don’t you think you should ask me my opinion?” Trina’s voice carried no inflection, but he knew she was remembering the last time, when her family had taken the decision away from her. She toweled her hair, and the slight curl to the strands fascinated him. The vivid colors came to life as the lanks dried, luring him closer with the silent invitation to touch. Dressed in the same t-shirt and jeans as last night shouldn’t have made him think of sex, but it did. She couldn’t have looked sexier if she wore lingerie.