by L. J. Red
“Benedict,” Lucian said, “Castor, welcome.” He looked over their heads and nodded to someone. Ben heard the door close behind them, and then Neal walked up beside them, coming to a stop at Ben’s shoulder. “Neal,” Lucian said, “why do you bring these two before me?” His voice had the ring of ritual to it.
“I offer them as recruits to our Bloodline,” Neal said, his voice carrying the same rhythm. Pride swelled in Ben’s chest and he held his shoulders back, his spine straight. His skin was taut, tingling all the way to his fingertips. He couldn’t believe this moment had finally arrived.
Lucian turned away from Neal and looked first at Ben. “Do you believe yourself to be worthy of the gift of my Bloodline?” he asked.
Ben didn’t speak straightaway. Did he consider himself worthy? He thought he was a good fighter; he had certainly improved under Neal’s training. He believed he could carry the honor of the Shadows forward, but surely his worthiness was for Lucian to decide, not for himself. He met Lucian’s eyes squarely. “I hope to prove myself worthy,” he said. “I have given my strength in the defense of this Bloodline. I would lay down my life to protect those we have sworn to protect, the innocents of this city, and those who serve us, but I will not boast of my abilities to you or to anyone else. I am proud of what I have achieved, but I know there are other fighters stronger than me”—his gaze slid to Neal—“faster than me.” He refocused on Lucian. “I won’t waste your time on empty boasts. If you want me as a Shadow I am ready.”
He caught a flicker of a smile on Dana’s face. When he focused on her, she looked almost approving.
“What can you offer me, then?” Lucian said, his regard dark and heavy as an iron weight.
“I can offer leadership,” Ben said. “I have led men into battle. I do not lose my head when all seems lost. I can offer my own strength. My own body. My honor and my loyalty.”
“And you, Castor?” Lucian said, turning to Cas. “Do you believe yourself worthy of my gift?”
Perhaps because Ben had gone first, Cas did not hesitate, or maybe that was just his nature. Ben didn’t turn to look but he could hear Cas’s wide grin winding through the familiar southern drawl as he replied. “Sir, I’m not so good at the pretty words like Ben is,” he said. “I offer you my strong right hand, my fangs, my claws, and my complete loyalty to the Shadows. If that’s not good enough then let me know and I’ll be on my way.”
This time Ben saw Dana’s smile more clearly, and to his right he heard Neal make a sound suspiciously like a laugh, before turning it into a cough. An amused light entered Lucian’s eyes, but he didn’t break his somber expression and continued. “Benedict and Castor, your responses are pleasing to me and you have the sponsorship of a vampire I know and trust.” He glanced at Neal, then back at Benedict. “Do you wish to be turned first?” he asked Benedict.
Benedict stepped forward, trying to ignore the flicker of anticipation running over his skin. This was what he wanted, what he had always wanted—to become part of a bloodline—but he still couldn’t quite believe it was happening to him. It felt almost like he was watching himself from far away.
He stood before Lucian. “How do we do this?” he asked, leaning forward and dropping his voice slightly. For the first time, Lucian broke into a reassuring smile and gestured for Ben to take another step closer.
“There is more than one way for a human or a vampire to be brought into a bloodline. Traditionally, between warriors however, we exchange bites on the wrist,” he said. And he raised his wrist to his own mouth, gesturing for Ben to do the same. Ben bit down on the skin of his wrist, feeling his blood well up, and then offered his hand to Lucian as Lucian offered his to him. The hot salt of Lucian’s blood echoed memories of the vampire who had turned Benedict from a human many centuries ago, but it was different as well. Electric with power. It ran down his throat like fine whiskey. Heady, intoxicating. He rocked slightly on his heels as they lifted their mouths from each other’s skin and he stepped back, licking the last traces from his lips.
The next few moments were disjointed, his mind turning inward. He felt Cas walk past him, offering his own wrist, and then time slipped and Cas was stepping back with a similar daze in his eyes. Within him, Ben felt a blooming of connections, first to Lucian, like a fire roaring before him, then Neal to his right and Dana in front of him, each appearing like points in a constellation, bright stars in the darkness of his mind. He could feel Cas, new and fresh and shining with a light almost golden, beside him. And beyond. More and more points of connection, bright lights that Ben could recognize as his fellow vampires. Every single soul connected to the Shadows, not just the warriors, but their soulmates as well. A bloodline was more than just a collection of fighters he realized with a suddenness and completeness that overwhelmed him. It was a family, and for the first time in centuries he truly belonged.
Finally regaining his senses. He turned to Cas and reached out, embracing him like a brother. “You do realize Lucian is going to put you in charge of us new recruits, right?” Cas said with a grin as he leaned back, his summer blue eyes twinkling.
Ben frowned and turned to Lucian, raising an eyebrow in question.
“Yes, I had intended to speak to you about that,” he said wryly, taking a handkerchief from Dana and wiping his wrist. Dana passed one over to Cas and then to Ben, giving them along with a quick, friendly smile.
For a second, when Dana stepped close, Ben picked up a strange scent lingering on her clothes. It wasn’t her own—he recognized her unique scent, mixed and mingled with Lucian’s. No, this one was foreign, entrancing. It caught him for a second, distracted him from Lucian’s voice.
Perhaps she had brushed up against someone wearing strong perfume, a human from the precinct where she worked. It didn’t matter, he told himself, dragging his attention back to Lucian.
“Initially,” Lucian was saying, “you will be working closely with Dana and the vampire-human task force. Part of that will involve taking the new recruits”—he glanced at Cas—“and following HUNT to their new base of operations.”
“We may have chased them out of the city,” Dana said, “but they have plans in a new town, they’re moving west, out of Illinois, all we have is the name, Brightbrook.”
“Come, there will be time enough for that later,” Lucian said, reaching out toward Dana and sliding his arm around her shoulders. “Now is a time for celebration and welcome. We should go and formally introduce you to the rest of the Bloodline.” They turned toward the door, but before they could leave it was thrown open and one of the vampire guards rushed in. “Sir,” he said to Lucian, “I’m sorry to interrupt. It’s just, Roman”—a ripple of tension ran through the room—“he has been sighted in Radiance territory, in one of the old buildings that we thought was abandoned. But he’s there, sir; we are sure of it. We have him.”
Chapter 24
Jacob stared at the building across from him. The dark, empty windows looked out on the street below. They were in the center of Radiance territory, ready to surround and storm the building where Roman was apparently holed up. It felt too easy. He knew he wasn’t the only one who thought that, but they couldn’t pass up an opportunity to get hold of Roman once and for all, particularly since they had the extra numbers with the Clarity vampires along with them.
They gathered on the corner and Jacob felt that shivery sensation of having so many vampire warriors gathered together. The night seemed to be holding its breath; the sounds of the city were muted. Lucian directed their movements with silent gestures, his eyes dark and his expression stony. Each of them was intent on the mission ahead of them. The two new recruits from Clarity, Heron and Drakon, were going around the back of the building with Finlay. Lucian and Neal would take the front, Rune and Dana the east, and Talon and himself the west. Every side would be covered, every exit, every angle, and yet Jacob felt strongly they were missing something, some clue they should have realized.
That wasn’t the only reason he
was so distracted however. His thoughts were with Sparrow. Today was the day she and the other rescued vampires were required to appear at the courthouse for the first day of the trial. He had wanted to be there for her.
Benedict and Castor, the two new recruits to the Shadow, were with them, their bright new points in the internal web of the Bloodline shining strongly. And Brigit, the human cop and Rune’s soulmate, would be with them as well. But still, Jacob feared some catastrophe. His only hope was that they would deal with Roman quickly, overwhelm him with their numbers, and then Jacob could return to Sparrow and be by her side.
He knew it would be hard for her to give her testimony and rake up the old memories, but they had received assurances that Cleaver and the other hunters would be nowhere near the courtroom and there would be no chance for her to be thrown back into a painful flashback like she had been last time. There would be no reminders of her trauma… except, of course, for the fact that she had to dig up all those old memories herself. Jacob growled under his breath. He hated that she had to go through that.
Talon, a couple of paces away, turned to look at him. “Get your head in the game,” he snapped at Jacob. Jacob snarled at him and Talon stopped and turned fully toward him. “Listen, brother,” he said. “I know what it’s like, okay? Trust me, I get what you’re going through, being separated from your soulmate.” Jacob’s eyes flashed with surprise. How had Talon recognized the soulmate bond so quickly? He hadn’t told anyone. Talon rolled his eyes. “Why did you think I stepped in between you and Heron last week? It wasn’t out of the goodness of my heart, trust me. It was because you would have ripped the poor vamp to pieces if I hadn’t done anything, and I figured that would put a dampener on the whole ‘welcoming Bloodline Clarity’ shit Lucian had been aiming for.” He reached out and placed his hand on Jacob’s shoulder. “I need you here right now. I need your head here, not with your soulmate, got it?”
Jacob pressed his eyes shut. Talon was right. He needed to be here. He needed to be fully present for this fight, and even though it hurt him to do it he reached into himself and drew a veil over the soulmate connection, darkening his sense of Sparrow enough that he could finally focus on the mission before him.
He opened his eyes and knew they were empty and full of ice. “That’s it,” Talon said, tapping him on the cheek before turning away. Jacob’s eyes flashed and he almost snapped at Talon. The vampire always had to push it just that bit too far.
They padded softly through the empty yards of the houses next door and crept to the building, finding their way to a side door. Talon glanced to the right and left, then gently tried the door handle, turning it slowly… slowly… until it clicked open. They both traded wide-eyed looks. Unlocked? This was definitely too easy. Talon began to push the door open, but Jacob snapped out his hand, gripping Talon’s arm. “Wait,” he said. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
He tugged Talon back with him, then looked up, craning his head to search out a window. Crouching, he braced then leaped upwards, his feet striking against the brickwork as he scaled the wall with the power of his jump and gripped tightly to the windowsill above him.
The window was locked but it was easy to shove his elbow through the glass. Using his jacket, he knocked away the rest of the glass shards and then did a neat somersault through the window, landing in a crouch on the floor. Keeping low and walking slowly, he made his way back downstairs to the outer door where Talon was waiting, then halted. Glinting faintly in the light from the streetlamps, he could see a wire stretched across the doorway up to a flat, ominous box in the corner. It was rigged to blow. “Don’t open it,” he hissed at Talon through the door, and he sent the same warning as a feeling through the bloodline bond. Traps, he thought fiercely. Roman had set traps for them.
Above him, he heard the thump as Talon did the same as he had and came in through the window. Jacob walked back to the stairs and met Talon at the base. Together they began working through the rooms. He felt Lucian signal through the bond that they had found an entrance as well and the others began looking for alternative methods into the building, none of them trusting the doors.
Talon’s arm snapped out and Jacob pulled short. Silently, Talon pointed down and Jacob saw the tripwire he had been about to step across. Following the cord, he saw the wire was attached to a canister of the same powder that HUNT had been developing. The anti-vampire weapon. The stuff that had knocked Rune out, the same fucked-up chemicals that were keeping Aaron in a coma. “HUNT,” Jacob growled, trading a look with Talon. It seemed Roman hadn’t entirely given up his connection with the human hunters. At the very least, he’d made sure to take some of their toys away with him.
The bastard had given up his own fledglings to HUNT so they could make these weapons, and now he was using them on other vampires. Roman was truly evil and he would pay for everything he had done. There was nothing Jacob hated more than a vampire who worked with hunters against his own kind.
They moved through the rooms, sweeping each carefully, but came up with nothing but dust. The place seemed abandoned. Had Roman truly been here? How many months had this building been empty? And where the fuck were the rest of the Radiance vampires?
They heard footsteps. Talon and Jacob pressed themselves against the walls as the sound grew closer. Only at the last minute did Jacob recognize the familiar brush of a bloodline presence along the bond. Talon seemed to come to that realization at the same time and they both traded a wry look. The atmosphere was getting to them, making them tense. A second later, Rune came around the corner, Dana two paces behind him.
Rune smiled grimly at the site of them and stepped across the room. Jacob heard something as his foot met the floor, a faint noise at the edge of his hearing, a click like a catch releasing.
“What was that—”
“Did you hear—”
Dana caught Jacob’s eyes, realization breaking across both their faces. Their gazes dropped to Rune’s feet; under the dust, they could just make out a metal plate. Talon shot forward, but Jacob slammed into him from the side, bearing him to the ground and covering him with his body as, on the other side of the room, Dana gripped Rune’s arm and launch them both backward.
The explosion rocked through the building. The floor splintered and cracked; Jacob gripped the corner of the doorway tightly. Fire billowed out in a great roar above them, and brick and pieces of wood rattled down around their bodies. Talon shoved Jacob hard, but Jacob snarled down at him. “Think of Eden,” he had to shout. The noise was extreme. “You can’t throw yourself into certain death. Dana got him clear. She pulled him back. He’s okay.” Even as he said it, he searched desperately along the bloodline bond for Rune’s presence. He had to be alive. He had to; they couldn’t lose him. And yes, finally, he felt a faint but present flicker of Rune’s light along the bloodline bond.
Jacob sent a wordless call to Lucian for help and pushed himself to his feet. “We need to find Roman,” he said grimly. The floor of the room had caved in, he couldn’t see Dana or rune through the ash and smoke. He turned away, speeding quickly from Talon and the rest of them.
“Wait,” Talon shouted as he caught up with Jacob. “The same goes for you, you stupid bastard. You can’t throw yourself into the fight either.”
“Sparrow and I haven’t claimed the bond,” Jacob said, still reeling from the explosion. “Better I die now than in some trick of Roman’s after we are bound together. At least this way she could survive without me.”
Talon shoved him hard against the wall. “You’re not dying,” he said grimly. “We look out for each other. And anyway, I’m pretty sure Sparrow wouldn’t be okay with surviving without you.”
Behind them, they heard shouts as their fellow Shadows found Rune and Dana and began taking them back to safety. Talon and Jacob took the stairs two at a time, leaping over tripwires, their eyes peeled for more traps. Finally, they came to the central upper room, the equivalent of the grand ballroom in the Sanctuary, where the maj
or events would take place.
It took them a moment to recognize what they were seeing. Ash mingled with the dust on the floor thicker in drifts that covered the shape of burned-out bodies. Jacob pulled short, Talon choking on his own breath as they realized what they were standing in. A graveyard of vampires. “Shit,” Talon said, “this is them. This is what’s left of Radiance Bloodline.” All these dead vampires, these piles of ash, were the bodies of Roman’s Bloodline.
“He killed them,” Jacob said, horror in his voice. “He killed his own Bloodline.” He turned to Talon, falling silent, and only at that moment did they hear the ticking sound. They didn’t waste a second, not even bothering to see where the bomb was. They sprinted for the door, then Talon grabbed Jacob’s arm. “Forget the door,” he shouted. Jacob realized how far they were from the nearest exit. They turned as one and ran for the windows, leaping up, framed for a moment against the glass, then smashing through and falling through the air. They landed heavily on the ground, recovered in a split second, and turned away from the building. Rune was ahead of them, carried between Lucian and Neal, limping slowly, Dana bringing up the rear.
“Go, go, go,” Jacob shouted.
“It’s going to blow,” Talon said. And suddenly the explosion rocketed through the air, smashing out the windows, sending burning chunks of masonry flying through the night, and laying waste to every shred of evidence of what Roman had done to his own vampires.
