Blood Wars: Book 4 (The Talisman Series)

by Brenda Pandos

  “Don’t worry,” I said quickly. “I’ve got this. Just run when you have a chance.”

  “It’s okay. Come with me, Samantha.” Alora raised her hand.

  Sam let out a soft breath, her arm going slack. She let go of my hand and stepped forward.

  “That’s it,” Alora said sweetly.

  Nicholas stepped forward as a group of vampires surrounded us.

  “It’s okay, Jules,” he said. “Let Sam go.”

  I stared into Alora’s eyes, wishing I could read her mind, or at least her emotions. There was something sinister behind them.

  “No!” I grabbed Sam and flew to the ceiling, punching through the roofline. The lights outside scorched my skin, but after continually being burned day after day, I’d built up a tolerance. Within seconds we were clear and flying through the chilly night air.

  “You’re on fire!” Sam yelled, patting out the flames with the sleeve of her jacket.

  Breathless and weakened, I merely nodded a thank you.

  “That was some mind trick—” Her body tightened. “Watch out!”

  Pain pierced into my back, stealing with it all my strength. Sam crawled up my body and clutched onto me tighter. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t hold onto her.

  My fingers slipped. “Hang on!”

  Then Sam was falling, screaming on her way down to the ground. Katie snatched her in the air, but I was falling too, falling to my death.

  I landed on the ground with a crunching thud, driving whatever was in my back further into me. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Katie heading toward the mansion, Sam shrieking in her arms. My eyes rolled back in my head. I tried to reach around to take out whatever Katie had stabbed into me, unable to get ahold of it.

  Then my body was airborne, lifted in strong arms.

  “Hang on, Parker.”

  I sucked in a breath. “Take it out.”

  “I will in a—”

  “Put her down, Phil!”

  Phil came to a stop. He yanked on whatever it was that pierced my back and reseated it, aiming it upward toward my heart. I gasped, then groaned in pain. “One more step and she’s toast!”

  My vision blurred, doubling everything to a dark haze. I flexed my hands, but I couldn’t make them lift. Paralyzed, I rested my head on his shoulder. “Make it stop.”

  “Let her go,” Nicholas warned.

  “I’ll trade Julia for Sam,” Phil barked. “Or it’s over for you all. Do you hear me?”

  He inched us backward.

  “I know you won’t do it. You care about her too much.”

  “She’s not the same person.” Phil tightened his hand on the stake, pressing it dangerously further. I shrieked in pain. “I don’t care about any of you blood suckers.”

  I knew Phil lied, but I couldn’t bear the pain anymore.

  Do the trade, Nicholas. Please.

  “You’re hurting her,” Nicholas pleaded. “We’ll work something out.”

  “I want Sam out here now!”

  Nicholas let out an ear-piercing whistle. Slide appeared as if from thin air. “Get me Sam now. And make sure she’s untouched.”

  Slide took off running in a blur. Within seconds Katie landed before us. Sam struggled in her arms, but looked unharmed.

  “Nice try, Phil,” Katie sneered.

  “Let her go,” he warned slowly.

  “And you’ll what? Hand over Julia. Just like that?”

  “Do it,” Nicholas warned.

  “It’ll be way too easy for him to end us,” she scoffed.

  Sam wiggled, trying to get away.

  “Let. Her. Go.” Phil pressed the hilt in.

  I shrieked. He was going to kill me, kill everyone.

  “Fine.” Katie glared at him and pushed Sam forward.

  Everything happened slow and quick at the same time. I tumbled out of Phil’s grip as Phil moved to catch Sam. Nicholas charged, grabbing me before I landed on my back against the ground, pushing the stake all the way into my heart. But before Phil could reach Sam, Katie was pulling her by her hair, sinking her teeth into her neck.

  “No!” Phil yelled, arms outstretched.

  Katie looked up at Phil with a smile, blood dribbling down her chin. “You’re the one we want anyway,” she said before grabbing him and rising in the air.

  I tried to lift my hand, to stop Katie from leaving. I couldn’t move. Nicholas gently pulled out the stake, then crushed me to his chest. “Oh, Julia.”

  I tried to hug him back, but my arms remained limp. Eventually my strength returned, and I wove my arms around his waist. Just beyond, Sam began to writhe and moan on the ground. She was changing.

  “Sam,” I croaked from parched lips, trying to reach her.

  “We need to go.” Nicholas scooped me up in his arms.

  “Not without Sam.”

  Nicholas motioned to Slide. “Grab her and put her in the tombs.”

  “Tombs?” I asked.

  “Just for now.” Nicholas smoothed my hair aside. “I can’t deal with two newborns.”

  “And Phil?”

  Nicholas sighed. “Like I said, we need his blood. That’s all this is about.”

  I stared into his eyes. The blackness pulled at me, enticing me. We’d been together long enough for me to know, even without sensing his feelings, that he was lying. They were going to kill him.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  I paced the length of my room, waiting for an answer I knew would never come.

  “Let’s work on more defensive moves, or something,” Nicholas suggested.

  “No!” I gritted my teeth. “I want to see Sam.”

  “You can. After she’s had something to drink and we gauge her control.”

  “Control?” I scoffed. “Maybe Katie is the one who needs a test on control. She freakin’ turned my best friend, when you told her not to!”

  Nicholas leaned against the wall, sighing. He pushed his hand through his dark locks. “That shouldn’t have happened.”

  “But it did.” I pinched my eyes shut, wanting to rip her head off. We were stuck now. If Katie died, Sam would too. There was no getting rid of her now.

  “You can’t entertain thoughts like that,” Nicholas said glibly.

  “Seriously?” I yelled. “She’s a loose cannon, and she’s getting away with defying you!”

  “No, she’s not,” Nicholas drawled. “I’m sure she’s getting an ass chewing right now.”

  “Well isn’t that special.” I slammed my hand on the nearby desk, denting it. “I’m done with training. I’m done with all of this.” I raked my fingers forward, palm up. “You have Phil, now give me a talisman!”

  Nicholas closed his eyes for a second and moaned. “You’re not ready and you know it.”

  I laughed. Who was he to judge? I could kill off Alora and take control if I wanted to. She hasn’t sired anyone I was particularly fond of.

  Nicholas tilted his head. “That’s my mother you’re plotting to murder, which isn’t possible.”

  I sat down and leaned over, wrapping my arms around my head. He was right. She had protection from a talisman. Stupid thoughts.

  Nicholas huffed. “You’re not going outside, let alone taking charge until you get control over your emotions. You can’t just kill people who disagree with you.”

  “Katie deserves to be killed, and you know it. Besides, I had perfectly fine control with my parents, and Sam.” I smirked. “It’s your mom who’s got a control problem, so stop lying to me.”

  Nicholas sauntered over, hands up. “Come on, Baby. You’ll see Sam soon, and it’ll all make sense. Let’s work on your control.”

  I let out a huff. “You keep saying that, yet you tell me nothing, that’s the problem, except that there are more and more restrictions being put on me.” I pointed to the wire crisscrossing over the window. “Venom infused, I bet.”

  “It’s for your protection. You just busted through the ceiling.”

  “For good reaso
n! Why was Sam here to begin with?”

  Nicholas shook his head. “We thought if we had her, Phil would come out of hiding.”

  I balled my hands into fists. “Lovely. Do you think maybe by letting me talk to him, I might have been able to avoid this?”

  “He hates us, Julia. Why can’t you see that?”

  “I want to see him.”

  “They’re going to take his blood and let him go. Okay?”

  Remembering Katie’s expression, I highly doubted she just deposited him in the basement.

  “You need to focus on controlling your thoughts,” he finished.

  I bit my lip. Scarlett had been my first interaction with telepathy. In cat form at the fortune teller’s home, I had no clue she was a shape-shifter. The irony she’d been the one who’d warned me about all of this in the beginning was uncanny. Could she have foreseen the repeat of history? Where was she now?

  Nicholas’ eyes tightened. He watched on, curious.

  “I know you’re listening to everything I think, so… do you mind?”

  He moved forward, whispering. “Just remember we’re the good guys.”

  I laughed. “Funny you have to point that out. I’ve yet to see your people do anything good. Come to mention it, where’s Rachel or Cain—”

  “They’ve been working in the lab.”

  His dirty lie stunk up the air. I squinted at him, watching him squirm.

  “Don’t lie to me.”

  “They’re busy, okay? I haven’t really seen them either.”

  “Then why lie to me?”

  He clamped his jaw shut, his eyes looked everywhere but at me.

  In our prior life, Dr. V. had perfected venom that could sire multitudes of sterilized vampires. Were they trying to recreate Dr. V.’s research?

  Nicholas smirked. He’d listened in on my thoughts again.

  There was a knock on the door at the same time my fist rammed into the wall.

  Slide cracked the door open and eyeballed me, then looked at Nicholas. “You’re needed in the basement.”

  “Great, let’s go.” I advanced toward the door.

  “Alone,” Slide added.

  I laughed and shook my head. “Figures.”

  Concern filled Nicholas’ eyes. “It’s just routine stuff. I’ll check on Sam while I’m down there.” He crossed to me and tried to give me a kiss.

  I turned my cheek.

  He blew out an angered gust. “Just stay put.”

  With the outer walls and windows covered in venom wires, I wasn’t going anywhere and he knew it. Our eyes met, and I saw my disgust echoed in them.

  Serves you right.

  He lifted his hands in frustration. “I give up.”

  “Have fun,” I snipped and turned my back on him.

  The door closed, and I finally understood what people meant when they said the honeymoon was over. If Nicholas continued to only do what Mommy wanted, there wasn’t going to be a future for us.

  With the tinted windows active, I sat by the window and watched sunbathers and surfers enjoy the day on the nearby beach and envied them. Without a talisman, I’d never be allowed in the sun. I’d be banished to the darkness, to the shadows where the boogie man lurked.

  Heads turned and people pointed, shooting pictures of the mansion on the cliff. They had no idea the secrets prowling within the walls of the house, and our desire to fix humanity. Who were we kidding? We couldn’t truly be objective. Katie proved that.

  I moved to lie on my bed, staring at the ceiling. This whole vigilante thing was already starting to fall apart. With Phil taken against his will purely for our selfish demands, we’d proven we couldn’t be judge and jury. What happened if it was one vampire’s word against a criminal’s? If we all had talismans, no one could read the others’ minds. It would be one vampire’s word against another, and who trusted a vampire? Was Alora handing them out like candy? Was I the only one without one?

  Julia, I heard as if a whisper on the wind.

  I sat up.

  Julia.

  I stepped over to the window, peering outside. A girl with raven hair stood on the cliffs, staring up at my window. It was the girl who I believed to be Scarlett.

  You’re in danger. She spoke as if she was standing right next to me.

  What? I had excellent hearing, but her lips weren’t moving. She couldn’t possibly be talking to me.

  You need to rid the world of vampires while you still have the power.

  I squinted at her unmoving lips. “How are you doing that?”

  She smiled. Break the window.

  Laughter bubbled from my lips. “Are you crazy?”

  Time is slipping. If Alora gets what she wants, you’ll die anyway. She’s lying to you.

  I shook my head. Does she think I’m that stupid? “If I die, she dies.”

  The rules are going to change.

  The side of my lip curled upward. Like that could ever happen.

  “That’s crazy. Besides, Nicholas will never let anything bad happen to me.”

  Nicholas won’t realize what’s happened until it’s too late. He’s too close to the situation. Trust Phil’s instincts. Save him. Then do the right thing.

  I pressed my lips together. Keeping innocent people hostage for our selfish needs wasn’t my idea of being an advocate for humanity. I needed to get Phil out, yes, but suicide wasn’t an option. And doing that with an elevator that required a key kind of halted any chance of that happening.

  There’s another entrance. Scarlett pointed to the cliffs below Cain’s house.

  I rolled my eyes. Of course there is.

  You need to go now.

  The air pushed from my lungs. Yeah, right. “Not without a talisman, I don’t.”

  Find another way. We’re running out of time.

  Another way? Did she forget the rules? The sun and I weren’t friends. Staring into my closet, I wondered what would be thick enough to protect me if I entertained her crazy idea. Where was the full body armor when you needed it?

  When I looked at the cliff once more, she was gone.

  Just perfect. Scarlett’s cryptic messages hadn’t changed one bit. Just like before, she showed up just long enough to give the bad news, and then vanished.

  But this time, her prediction wasn’t about saving my life. It was about me taking it. Lovely.

  Even still, I needed to check on Phil. Knowing Phil’s quick wit, things couldn’t be pretty in the basement and it wasn’t like anyone was going to give him his honorary phone call to his lawyer.

  “Fine!” I slapped my hands at my sides and moved to my closet.

  Suicide mission it was. Good grief!

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  After adding a fourth layer of clothing, I stepped in front of the mirror and laughed. Either I was ready for fat camp, or about to go hunting. Not on a stealth mission to save my friend.

  Sucking in a nervous breath, I moved to the window. I’d exposed myself to the sun three times already, bursting something into flames every time. Pressing the button, I shielded my eyes against the burning glare and waited.

  Once the rays penetrated the fabric, my skin heated under the light, releasing smoke, but no flames. After a few seconds, I danced out of the light. I decided one more layer would do the trick. I tried it again. Only then could I endure a few minutes without being singed.

  I eyed the ocean, rethinking my plan. If all else failed, I could dive deep enough to where there wasn’t any light and hang out until sunset. At least it would put out the flames.

  Pressing the UV protection on, I studied the side of the house I could see. Barbed chicken-wire covered the walls as far as I could see. Was the entire house encased in that crap?

  Looking upward, I heard the voices of nervous workers using nail guns and mumbling under their breaths about how crazy we were. The desire to scare them rolled through me. I dismissed it.

  Phil, remember Phil.

  Then I looked downward. Maybe I didn’t need
to go outside at all. Listening through the floor, I didn’t hear anyone below me. Slipping underneath the bed, I quietly ripped a flap in the carpeting aside and pulled up the flooring underneath. Then, I dropped through the hole onto a large dining table below.

  I sighed. The entire floor was covered in marble.

  Why did rich people love marble so much?

  Keeping my mind as blank as possible, I slipped over to the connecting door and listened to the staff in the kitchen.

  “Heck if I know!” a man yelled.

  “Pshht! I ain’t said nothin’ to you,” a woman replied as she turned on the water.

  “You were complaining about the marble floors.”

  “No I wadn’t. I was tellin’ ya about the supply issue. I say if the Queen wants youngin’ blood so badly, she needs to get it herself,” she said.

  The venom watered in my mouth, reminding me I hadn’t eaten much all day.

  “Heck. Once they sire me, I’m not sticking around to kiss her butt, let me tell you,” he said.

  “Well, they’re not about to add another hungry mouth with the rate they’re drinkin’ everythang outta sight, and if they start comin’ after us and wanten it on tap, I ain’t stickin’ around neither.”

  A pan clattered on the floor.

  “Watch it!” the man yelled.

  I sucked in a startled breath. Crap!

  “Did you hear that?” the woman whispered. Her soft footsteps approached the door. “Ah ha!”

  I darted out of sight before she flung the heavy door open.

  “Who’s there?” the heavyset woman asked. “Don’t you be sneakin’ up for seconds, Slide. Show yer ugly mug now!”

  A skinny dark haired man popped his head out from the door. “You’re a crazy bitch, you know that?”

  She slugged him in the arm. “No I ain’t. Now get back to work.”

  My fingers balled into fists. Easy targets, both of them. Visions of their blood running down my throat made me smile.

  No! You need to free Phil.

  I looked around for a spot to dig. There was no way I could pry up the marble floor quietly. In the corner was a closet. Inside, the floor was covered with carpet.

  Prying through, I hit cement. Even with my powers, it would take all night to dig down five levels.

  Double Crap.