Bound by Blood (Vampire Romance)

by Tara Manderino

  His momentary distraction was apparently all Janelle needed. The slight turn of his head kept him unaware of Janelle’s nearness until she was practically on him. He leapt away from her, but not quickly enough. With preternatural speed she reached for his hand with the ring. She nearly had it from him, when he twisted, backhanding her with enough force for her to fly against the altar. She screamed in pain but he didn’t think it was from the physical blow. He took it as his cue to leave. Even if he had to suffer the same pain as he crossed the altar, it was the only way to reach Lisa. And Cassandra, he reminded himself. Appalling how often he had to remind himself of his first mission.

  He made it to the altar before he felt any pain. There was a burning sensation, but one he could withstand. Would have to withstand as he crossed the sanctuary. As he raised his hand to shield his eyes from the heat, to try and keep moisture in, he raised the hand with the ring. The brightness of the stone caught his attention. He swore it was brighter than usual, but his intent was to move, not admire a ruby.

  The heat seared his skin, and he could feel blisters rising on his exposed flesh, but he pressed on. He needed to get to Lisa. He no longer heard Janelle, not that he was using his precious energy or resources to listen for her. If he was feeling this much heat at this point, she must be in agony. That was fitting.

  Finally, he made it to the door. As he pushed through and practically stumbled down the stairs leading to the outside hard hands grabbed him. He had been a fool to not realize someone would be waiting for him. He fought, but knew the futility of it with his strength depleted from the pain. Then he felt a tremendous blow to the side of his head. His last thought was if he had been mortal it would have killed him.

  He awoke some time later to full darkness. Groggily, he pulled himself to a sitting position and leaned against the cool wall of the building and let his head rest against that support for a moment as he gained his bearings. He was still on the church grounds. The dampness of the earth filled his senses, but he didn’t think he was in the basement. The girls, was his immediate first thought. He would have jumped to his feet, but that proved too strenuous at the moment. Slowly, he turned, and used his hands to practically pull himself up the side of the building. Once standing, he realized he was in the stair well leading to the basement from the outside. The roof and brick side walls made it a snug place. From the scent of it, it hadn’t been used in decades. He couldn’t fathom why he was so weak! As he grasped the wall, he noticed it; his ring was gone.

  The ring that had not left his finger in centuries was gone. He stared at the empty space on his finger and supposed he should be glad they left him his finger. As soon as he regained his strength, he would go for them. It’s not as if it was a secret who took it.

  He leaned against the wall, gasping for breath. Why was he not recovering? The area was dark, and he would hazard a guess he had been here for some time.

  Instinctively, he patted the pockets of his jacket, then his pants. Then he felt it. The heat made him pull his hand away. It had to be silver. That puzzled him for a moment. He could now feel the heat through the cloth, but the element itself was weakening him, much more so than what he had touched at Philip’s. Whatever it was had to be removed. Since he couldn’t touch it, the only thing he could think of doing was removing his pants. Unbuckling the belt alone nearly taxed his strength. Balancing on the stairs, and leaning against the wall, he managed to unfasten, then unzip them. Thankful for the modern technology of zippers rather than buttons, it all took much longer than he could have thought possible. Each slight action called for him to pause. Finally, he kicked them free and nearly instantly felt a surge of energy. Quickly, he picked up the pants and turned them upside down, shaking out whatever had held him captive. It was more than he thought – definitely more. A brick of silver. Small enough to fit in his pocket, but solid enough to cause pain, tumbled out. He slipped his pants back on and then stepped as close as he dared to study it. A mortal must be working with Janelle. There was no possible way she could have touched it.

  Chapter 17

  Lisa had never been so frightened in her life. She drove on the main thoroughfares although the short cuts would bring her to Louis’s office complex much quicker.

  She would have much preferred Philip’s but keeping Alex’s warning in mind that the man was mortal; she didn’t want to endanger the priest. She had a feeling Louis could take care of himself. After all, he was over five hundred years old. She still couldn’t wrap her head around that.

  “I want to go home, Lisa.”

  “I know, honey, but we can’t just yet.” She stopped at a red light, so risked looking at the child. She looked exhausted. And no wonder. “We have to visit one more place, Sandy, then I think we can go home.” She hoped they could. And why in heaven’s name hadn’t Alex let her call the Morgans? They had to be worried sick.

  She pulled into the parking lot, and then making sure no one was about, helped Sandy from the car and headed for the office building. There was still a porter on duty and he welcomed them as they rushed in. By the time she made it to Louis’ office, the door was open for her and he greeted her.

  “Where’s Alessandro?”

  “I…I don’t know.” She pushed Sandy into the room ahead of her. By his nature, she half expected Alex to be here before her. That he was not was worrisome.

  Louis looked at the girl then motioned Lisa in, closing the door behind her. “So this is the child?” He studied her with an unblinking gaze.

  Sandy shrunk back against Lisa, who held her firmly, but turned to answer Louis. “The one that was missing? Yes.” She gave him a warning look. If he was going to say anything else to frighten Sandy, she would hit him over the head, or at the least kick his shins, she thought eyeing up his six foot frame.

  He smiled at her then, and she had to blink at the brightness. He was a very attractive man, and she felt ridiculous for noticing such a thing now. Besides, she reminded herself, he wasn’t even human. But neither was Alex.

  “Sit down,” he said, pointing to the bank of sofas she remembered from her last visit. “You must be tired,” he told Sandy. Why don’t your rest while your nanny and I talk.”

  Sandy slid closer to Lisa who gave her a reassuring hug. “It’s all right, Sandy. We came here for help, so I’m going to talk to the man for a bit. You may sleep.” She dropped a kiss on the girl’s head, and allowed her to nestle against her. It was only moments before her weight increased as sleep overcame her.

  As if sensing her discomfort, Louis came to pick up the sleeping child, but Lisa pulled her tighter.

  “I’m only offering to move her so you will be more comfortable.”

  She nodded, but still felt skeptical at least until he actually laid Sandy down on the couch. What did she really know of these vampires?

  “Now tell me.”

  Lisa stood up and started pacing, alternately running her hands through her hair and wrapping them around herself. “I don’t know where Alex is.” She took a shuddering breath. “He made us leave the church –“

  “Church! Only Alessandro! Which, do you know?”

  Quickly, she told him. But when he started to stand, she stopped him, saying the other vampire might no longer be there. “We’re here because he shoved us out the door when he thought there was danger.”

  “Carlos?”

  “I suppose.” She shook her head. “I truly don’t know. He practically pushed us out the door and said go somewhere safe. He had warned me about going to Monsignor Philip’s.”

  “He trusts him with his life. More.”

  “I know,” she told him. “But he’s mortal and I didn’t want anything to happen to him because of me.”

  He started at her use of ‘mortal,’ Noting it, she gave him a tired smile. Never would she have thought she would have to differentiate between normal people and other beings. “Alex explained a few things to me,” she said simply. “As for Monsignor, I know I need to speak to him, but I don’t
want to endanger him.”

  “A wise decision,” he acknowledged, “but where is Alessandro?”

  She bit her lip. “I don’t know! He said for us to leave and he would be right behind, but he wasn’t. He’s not here.”

  She watched Louis tilt his head, as if listening, then he stood. The door was open before he reached it and Alex slowly walked in. Without thinking, Lisa launched herself at him, assuring herself he was in one piece. He staggered from the force, and caught them both. Louis closed the door behind them.

  Lisa pushed away, self consciousness. How could she have done such a thing? What would he think? He would be glad to leave them at the Morgan’s.

  Without a word, Louis went to his small refrigerator and stooped to remove a small bottle, then walked to the bar sink for a glass. He poured the liquid and brought it over to Alex. “You look as if you need this.”

  Alex reached for the glass with a trembling hand and would have dropped it if Louis hadn’t caught and held it while Alex drank. She was confused by his apparent weakness. It was dark, hadn’t he said vampires got stronger in the dark?

  Gripping the glass over Louis’s hand, he drained the contents before pushing it away. Alex turned slightly away from her and faced Louis, as if he was ashamed for her to see him like this. That made no sense. He didn’t look as if he could stand on his own for any length of time.

  Seeing how weak he truly was, Lisa reached for him, but he flinched away. She struggled to not let the hurt show. It definitely put her in her place. Instead, he allowed Louis to steer him toward the chair, opposite of where Sandy rested. She bit her lip in indecision, wondering if she should pick up the child. Alex looked like he needed to lie down before he fell down.

  “You should be feeling stronger,” Louis said, a frown creasing his brow as he looked down at his friend.

  Alex nodded weakly. “It..was…pretty… powerful,” he gasped out the words. Then he turned and looked at Lisa practically hovering over his chair. His eyes widened as he tried to push her some distances from him.

  At first, she was hurt, then she gasped, raising her hand to her lips and moving away from him. “The silver.”

  Alex nodded weakly.

  “There was silver?” Louis asked looking from one to the other.

  “Yes,” Alex said.

  “It’s on my skin,” Lisa said at the same time.

  Louis looked from one to the other, but before he could comment, Lisa spoke. “Alex made sure Sandy and I had silver dust on our skin before we went to the church. But now that I think of it, why didn’t it affect you when you picked up Sandy?”

  “It did. I felt the heat, but didn’t know why.”

  “But you didn’t slow down,” she said thoughtfully.

  “No,” he agreed. “But I did not touch her skin.” He turned to look at Alex. “That was pretty clever. Do you think it will keep Carlos at bay?”

  “I think – I hope it will keep him from biting her.” He still sounded rather feeble.

  “Lisa is not touching you, why do you still sound so weak?”

  Alex gave a tired smile. “Silver.” He sat up straighter in the chair, but still didn’t look much recovered. “Janelle left a whole bar in my pocket.”

  “She attacked you?”

  “She drove me from the sanctuary and had someone else attack. They must have been mortal otherwise they could not have left the present.”

  “Remind me not to invite her to my birthday party,” Louis said.

  “I need to find her well before that,” Alex said. He tried to make his voice stern, but the tiredness kept him weak and it came out slightly above a whisper. He held his bare hand up for their inspection. “She took my ring.”

  Louis’s eyebrows shot up. Hadn’t he believed her when she said the ring was gone?

  “I would imagine it would be pretty easy to trace,” Lisa said.

  Both men turned to look at her. “You’re thinking like a mortal,” Louis chided her, then chuckled when she lifted her chin.

  “There are things…about the ring…” Alex seemed to have trouble getting out the entire sentence. Lisa and Louis looked at him again.

  “What else was there?” Louis asked as he came closer to his friend.

  Alex leaned his head back against the chair. “The bar. Pure silver.”

  Louis frowned again. “How long did you have it? The blood should have helped.”

  Lisa gasped, then covered her mouth quickly.

  Alex tried to grin in her direction, but the effort was nearly too much. “What did you think?” he managed to gasp out.

  “You need more,” Louis said sternly.

  Alex nodded once. “Get ... more.”

  Louis stood and braced his arms on the chair, staring down, so Alex had no place to look, but at him. “More potent, Alessandro. Something fresh.”

  Slowly, Alex started to shake his head, but Louis grasped his cheeks, stopping his movement. “You have no other options.

  Lisa looked at both of them. She could barely make out the words they were saying, but she wondered if she were really heard them correctly, and if she did, were they saying what she thought.

  Her gaze flicked to Sandy. They wouldn’t dare! She moved closer to the sleeping child, when Louis turned to face her.

  “You can help.”

  “No.” Alex’s voice sounded weaker than earlier.

  She gulped. He was this way because of her and Sandy to begin with. Didn’t she owe him something? But her blood? She was going to be sick.

  “What do I do?” She took a step closer to the men. She couldn’t stop the shaking, and didn’t know if it was visible to them or not.

  Louis gave her a reassuring smile. She wasn’t sure she trusted it. “First, you must wash the silver off.”

  She closed her eyes. Then she would be vulnerable to both of them. Lord, she didn’t know if she was ready for this.

  “Little. Just a little…off,” Alex said.

  Louis nodded and translated for her. “Alex doesn’t want you to wash all of it off, just a little. Though frankly, I don’t see how that will help.”

  They both heard Alex give a low growl from where he sat, and Louis chuckled. Lisa didn’t see what was so amusing. She started to pull her hair to the side, but Louis stopped her.

  Walking over to the bar sink, he beckoned her over, and reached for a clean towel kept there. “Rub some soap and water on your wrist, just above the vein.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Alessandro wants you to stay as protected as possible, so he wants you to leave the silver on where you can.”

  “That part I got.”

  “About the wrist?” At her nod, Louis extended his own wrist and showed her precisely where she should wash. He stopped and really looked at her. “You know what we need, what Alessandro needs, right?”

  “I have to admit, I’m frightened.”

  “Don’t be.”

  A giggle escaped her then. “Easy for you to say. I thought vampires bit people on the neck.” She moved her hand to indicate that.

  “There are times…” he let the sentence trail off, then turned more serious. “Alessandro needs this, you understand?”

  She concentrated on washing her skin, trying to do as he requested and not wash off too much of the silver. Right now, she wished she could leave it on.

  “That is enough,” Louis stopped her. He started to walk towards Alex then stopped to make sure she followed.

  “What do I do?” She asked when she got there, her voice a whisper.

  Alex turned his head away, then back to look at her. She could have wept at the shame she saw in his eyes. She didn’t need to hear Louis’ instructions. She wasn’t stupid. She held her arm out, wrist side up, close to Alex’s lips. She watched in fascination as he opened his mouth and she saw his incisors were really longer than she thought. What he had done before, she thought that was all there was, except for the immortality bit, of course, but now she watched as h
is entire face transformed to frightening proportions. She wanted to look away, but couldn’t. She held her arm closer to him. He reached out to grasp her arm, but Louis stopped him. Instead, he placed his hand in hers and guided her wrist to Alex’s mouth.

  She didn’t k now what to expect but the sharp piercing was less than she anticipated. Then she felt – actually felt – the blood leave her body. It seemed too much. Evidently, Alex thought so too because he tried to push away, but Louis had put his other hand behind Alex’s head and held him there. The next moment, she felt a strong pull and realized Alex was drawing more blood, more quickly than he had before. Louis must have realized it at the same time.

  “Stop, Alessandro!”

  Lisa felt herself growing weaker, but in actuality or from fear, she couldn’t tell. She watched him in fascination then lifted her gaze to Louis when she realized he was pulling Alex back, away from her.

  “Enough!” The command was sharp and Alex heeded it, instantly stopping. He released her wrist and allowed Louis to hold it in place as he laved it with his tongue, instantly healing the wounds.

  When Louis released her hand, she sank to the floor at Alex’s feet.

  Sitting up straighter, Alex reached out a hand and ran it down the length of her head, stopping short of her neck. “Thank you,” he said simply.

  She merely nodded and resisted the temptation to turn into his hand. Not that she had the energy.

  Louis moved around from behind the chair and perched on the edge of the coffee table, looking at her. “You don’t have enough silver to really protect you for long,” he said, “but in Alessandro’s weakened state, what do have is too much.”

  She turned her head, resting in on Alex’s knee as she looked at the other vampire. She supposed that was to mean something to her, but she couldn’t fathom what.