Blood Bound

by V. J. Devereaux

  Rafi didn’t like the sound of that, or the triumph in his voice. What had he done? What did he have planned?

  “I’ll only be a moment, brothers,” Holbrooke said. “Make sure our guest doesn’t make too much noise.”

  They dumped her into back of the SUV and threw a thin blanket over her to conceal her from view. She thought she caught the faint scent of Nico’s cologne in the folds but it might have been her imagination.

  As the car bumped and jostled, she hoped and prayed that Sasha and Barnes didn’t lose them and her.

  They drove to an old deserted industrial side of the city, an area that had fallen on hard times as the economy tanked, as she saw as when they hauled her from the trunk.

  Abandoned, it was an eyesore, desolate and largely deserted except by the homeless.

  Surrounded by rusting chain link fence, the walls of some of the buildings looked less than stable and either vandals or weather had shattered most of the windows.

  Rafi knew it well.

  Refuse and old bottles littered the corners between the buildings.

  A glance at Holbrooke explained the delay. He’d taken the time to shave and change into clothing that appeared more ecclesiastical, including a white collar and cassock.

  Holbrooke’s men hauled her out of the car, half-dragging, pushing and shoving her toward the entry to one of the buildings. Dozens of cars surrounded it, most American made, many old.

  Once the building had been some kind of workspace, a factory or something, but she couldn’t imagine what.

  Inside it had the sense and feel of a religious revival meeting. Dozens of people waited. An air of anticipation filled the cavernous space as they dragged her up onto a makeshift stage.

  One look at those gathered there and a chill washed through her as dozens of eyes turned toward her, the expression on their faces both avid and cold as they noted that she was held by their own.

  Even worse, in the center of the platform wasn’t a dais or pulpit, but something that looked like a large altar, complete with white and purple satin draped over it. Behind it was a table. A large mallet and two stakes waited there, one each for Julian and Nico…and a hacksaw.

  Terror shot through her at the sight of them but there was no blood on any of them and none on the floor. A chest wound would have left a lot of blood.

  Not yet.

  Rafi closed her eyes in relief, trying to block out the horror of that thought.

  Hung above the altar was a large screen TV. It flickered to life. On that TV, lit luridly by night vision cameras, were Julian and Nico. Alive. Relief turned her knees weak.

  In the light of the cameras their eyes glowed greenish, making them appear inhuman. Both shifted restlessly. They’d been shackled to the walls. As she watched Julian fought the iron shackles while Nico leaned his head back against the wall, his eyes closed, twisting his wrists restively.

  But they were alive.

  Several of Holbrooke’s men disappeared through a doorway at the back of the makeshift stage, beneath where the offices of this building had once been. Some stairs ran up to those offices but the men went down to the storage cellars below the main floor. She couldn’t imagine what it was like down there, except what she could see.

  “Gag her,” Holbrooke said. “We don’t want them to know who it is we give to them.”

  “No,” she shouted at those assembled. “Don’t you know what they’re going to do? They’re going to kill them. How can you allow it? How can you do this?”

  Stony faces turned to her as Holbrooke’s men thrust a gag into her mouth.

  Where were Sasha and Barnes? Had they lost her? Were they even now calling for backup? Otherwise, they’d have a mob on their hands. A mob large enough to be difficult for even a cop, werewolves and vampires to handle.

  Holbrooke looked out over the assembled throng as he ranted.

  “She knows what they are. Vampires. The undead. She allows them to feed from her, to continue their perversion and to visit it on herself. Unnatural, as the Bible says. Some say they are preternatural, paranormal, a different form of humanity. They lie. The Bible tells us truly. We have the King of the vampires in our hands here. We will humble him. We will show the world what he truly is and then we will do what all righteous men should do in the face of the unnatural. We will kill them. And free our souls.”

  Rafi looked up at the screen. At Julian. Even shackled and chained he had dignity, that strength. Although his suit was rumpled, he still fought, and he did look every inch a King.

  And Nico? Another sacrifice?

  The crowd rumbled and the eyes of those nearest her hardened.

  Turning, Holbrooke looked at her. “Would you like to see your friends? You know what they are. Vampires. Did you think you knew them? Truly knew them? You’re about to find out.”

  His febrile gaze met hers, eyes glittering in anticipation.

  She went cold as fear and horror threaded through her. Something about his words chilled her even more.

  “You won’t enjoy it. You see, we intend to show the world what they really are. To let the world know what it is to be vampire, to let the world see their true colors and so…” Holbrooke’s thin smile broadened, “we drained them. They are very, very hungry now, I’m sure.”

  Drained?

  Did he mean what she thought he meant?

  “No,” she whispered.

  What would that do to them? She’d seen them when they were hungry and called it starved. What would it be like if they truly were? If they’d been driven to complete starvation?

  Fear shot through her, for them and for herself. She could only hope Sasha and Barnes hadn’t lost her. She hadn’t felt the SUV make any evasive maneuvers, but there was still traffic. It happened. Even if they hadn’t, against so many and a good number of them armed? What chance did they have?

  “You’ll see,” Holbrooke shouted, and gestured. “Tonight you’ll all see.”

  His men dragged her through a door that led down into the ancient cellars. Toward another door, this one new and made of iron. They opened it and thrust her inside, slamming the door shut behind her.

  Stygian darkness surrounded her.

  Rafi tried to clear her hair from her eyes, as if that would help her vision penetrate the darkness.

  Only a glimmer of diffused light could be seen, the light for the video camera, but she sensed movement.

  *****

  Hunger raged. Julian fought it. Armed men had come in only moments before. Keeping their weapons trained on Julian and Nico, even as weakened as they were, they quickly stuck the keys in the locks and left as silently as they came.

  Julian’s hunger was so great it was an effort not to throw himself at them, however futile the effort.

  Every muscle seemed to cramp individually, including his stomach. His mouth tasted like a desert and his fangs scraped his lower lip. He could no longer keep them retracted. Worse, he knew Nico was suffering just as badly.

  Whatever the reason for their release, Julian was grateful for it. He hurriedly unlocked the shackles, if only to ease his burning shoulders from their forced position, shaking his hands to clear the numbness from them. Only blood, unfortunately, would erase it completely.

  Just at the thought, his vision hazed with need and his stomach constricted into a tight ball. He fought back a groan as he freed Nico from the shackles. His cousin braced himself on the concrete floor with one hand, biting back a moan of pain.

  Now in despair he wished for the rats, but they had wisely quit the room.

  The door to the cellar opened abruptly and light, shockingly bright to oversensitive vampiric sight, streamed into the cellar.

  As weak as he was, fighting the hunger that raged in him, Julian still braced himself to fight as they flung someone into the room.

  “Are you hungry yet, vampires?” Holbrooke taunted as the door quickly swung closed. “We brought you dinner. I hope you enjoy it.”

  Darkness returned but it w
ould have to have been very dark indeed to offset his vampiric sight.

  What he saw stunned him.

  Rafi, bound and gagged. His heart wrenched even as fury raged.

  Both were goads to his esurience. Then he was moving despite his pain and weakness, to gather her up in his arms, stripping the gag away as Nico scrambled to join him.

  “Rafi,” Julian whispered.

  Furious and horrified he held her close to brush his lips across her cheek and so Nico could untie her.

  Her scent filled him, as did her presence, their Rafi, his and Nico’s true mate. In that moment, tested as he was, he knew it to be true.

  The relief Rafi felt to hear Julian’s deep voice, to feel his arms around her, was immense. He was sane, reasoning. She hadn’t known what to expect when Holbrooke said he’d drained them. Still, Julian’s embrace wasn’t as strong as she remembered and he was cold, so cold, there was little or no warmth to his body. Nico’s fingers around hers were like ice.

  “Julian, Nico,” she whispered, her heart aching for them and risked reaching up blindly in the dark to touch Julian’s face, holding out her hand toward Nico.

  A part of her mind registered what it would look like on the screen above, the two vampires rushing toward her, Julian gathering her up in his arms. Those there would interpret his actions as rapacious, her outstretched arm trying to hold Nico off rather than reaching toward him.

  Perception.

  “Listen,” she said softly, speaking quickly. “Holbrooke is videotaping us with night vision cameras. We don’t have much time. He told me what he did to you. He’s expecting to see a vampiric attack. We need to buy time, so let’s give it to him.”

  “No,” Julian said sharply, everything in him recoiling from the idea even as his body cried out with need.

  She sensed Nico withdraw in revulsion.

  In that moment she couldn’t have loved them more, their reaction told her everything she needed to know about how they truly felt about her. If she’d ever doubted the depth of their affection for her, she didn’t any more.

  “Julian, love, Nico, my heart,” she said gently. “It won’t be real. There’s a mob out there.”

  How could she possibly convey how bad it was?

  She cupped Julian’s cheek and tightened her fingers around Nico’s hand, looking blindly into the darkness, somehow knowing where their eyes were.

  “There isn’t much time. They intend to kill you both. The old-fashioned way with a stake to the heart.”

  The words were shocking, as she’d intended.

  Involuntarily Julian’s arms tightened around her, despite his twitching muscles. He looked at his cousin, the image of it horrifying.

  Nico was just as appalled.

  “I’ve got help with me but not enough for this. I need you strong, both of you. You are hungry, right?”

  Hunger didn’t encompass it, he, they were ravenous. Just her words were enough to goad Julian’s esurience. If he could have clenched his jaw in impotent rage, he would have, but his fangs would no longer allow it.

  Rafi looked from him to Nico even though Julian knew she couldn’t see either of them in the stygian dark.

  “Feed,” she said and then gave them the words that made it all right. “You know I love it.”

  To her surprise the very thought of it, even observed, sent a rush of anticipation through her.

  Let them see, let them watch, she thought defiantly.

  Julian felt it, the tiniest quiver of desire and defiance running through her body, the rush of blood that set her pulse pounding. Consent, love and his own desire overpowered even his strong will. He wanted her, wanted to feed from his true mate. He felt the same craving rush through Nico, his cousin trembled with the effort to hold back.

  Almost involuntarily, Julian lowered his mouth to his true mate’s throat to breath in the scent of her. He flicked his tongue over her throbbing pulse. She tasted so good and she was theirs.

  He needed. She offered. Julian groaned.

  Control vanished.

  Scenting her need, Julian’s head lifted and then he struck, almost in unison with Nico.

  Despite the circumstances, despite the noisome basement and the watching eyes, all Rafi could feel in that moment was Julian’s arms tightening around her and Nico’s lips on her wrist. A burst of heat went through her, shockingly, shooting straight to her core.

  Almost involuntarily, her hips lifted.

  Their fangs pierced her and she jolted with both surprise and astonishing pleasure as their mouths closed on her. They sucked. A shot of ecstasy raced through her and her body bucked in response.

  To those watching it would look as if she struggled as they drank her life away, she knew, rather than the astonishing pleasure she actually felt.

  Her hips thrust in time to each movement of their mouths on her. She drowned in pleasure.

  “Dear God,” she breathed, “I love this.”

  Sheer bliss took her. She trembled as that sweet delicious lassitude stole over her and she surrendered to them.

  Those words were all Julian needed to hear. They banished the last small thread of guilt that wound through him at using her so. A glance at Nico showed the same relief in his cousin’s eyes as the tension in Nico’s shoulders relaxed.

  Her warm, vibrant life fountained into his mouth. The taste of his beloved Rafi’s hot blood was all he needed. He savored her as she trembled in his arms. Her arm tightened around his waist involuntarily as her body arched upward to give them more.

  Closing his eyes in gratitude, Julian let his hunger and need for her free. He fed in earnest, drinking his beloved Rafi in.

  They couldn’t possibly replace everything that had been drained from them in one feeding but that wasn’t necessary. Both he and Nico now knew Rafi was their true mate, indisputably, and that made a difference. As Julian lifted his head from her throat to brush a kiss across her lips, he knew it for certain and tightened his arms around her. There remained only one last act to make it truly so, to bind her to them and them to her.

  Julian’s head had begun to clear, sense and reason returned but it would still be some little time before Nike’s blood did its work on his body, although he could already feel it warming him. His twitching muscles loosened a little.

  He looked to Nico, saw his cousin nod.

  If Rafi was right there wasn’t much time and judging by what he heard – dismissed earlier as random noise in his weakened state – that time was swiftly running out.

  They were coming.

  “What’s the plan?” Julian asked, keeping his voice low.

  “Not knowing where you were or what the situation was, there is no real plan. Sasha and another detective named Sid Barnes are nearby somewhere,” Rafi said. Or so she hoped. “Holbrooke doesn’t know I’m a cop so they didn’t search me. I’ve got my weapon and badge on me.”

  “We can’t make a move here,” Nico said looking to Julian. “They have us trapped. The stairs lead up to the main room.”

  As dazed as he’d been, Nico had been aware enough to look for those details – the kind of information that was the difference between life and death, the kind of attention that had saved them more than once.

  “We need more time,” Julian added, his jaw tightening. His fangs had retracted at last, now that he’d fed, “for your blood to do its work, Rafita.”

  Rafi nodded her head, not entirely surprised to find it swimming a little and her hands shaking, considering how deeply they’d fed. It had been a long time since they’d needed to take so much.

  “So,” she said, softly, “I’ll play dead. They’ll expect that you drained me dry, believing the myth. With two freshly fed vampires in the room, even though they’ll expect you to be weak, they won’t want to take the chance one of you might try to make lunch out of them. Hopefully, they won’t check too closely.”

  “There might be more help coming,” Julian said. “We just need more time.”

  While full
strength hadn’t yet returned, he had enough for that. He sent out a Summons.

  Rafi looked at him, puzzled.

  He chanced a touch to her cheek. “Trust me. I am a leader here in a way and not for nothing.”

  Rafi did trust him but thinking of what they had to face, the numbers alone, made her heart stutter. The odds were still strongly against them. The thought of seeing either Julian or Nico with a stake through their hearts, their heads cut off… As many horrific things as Rafi had seen in her years with the department that thought nearly shattered her. She wouldn’t allow it to happen.

  Footsteps echoed in the hall outside. They were coming.

  “Julian, Nico,” she breathed. “I’ll be right behind you.”

  Her heart was in her voice, in her eyes, Julian could see it.

  So could Nico.

  The door crashed open. Light spilled inside, blindingly. Armed men filled the opening. The men trained their weapons on the three of them. Laser sights glimmered in the darkness.

  Nico went still with a quick glance to his cousin. A shot to the head or heart would kill a vampire just as surely as a man, as these men clearly knew. Neither he nor Julian were up to full speed yet, despite Rafi’s blood in them. It would take time to restore nerve, sinew and muscle.

  Then there was Rafi herself, playing dead now. A stray bullet would make her dead in truth and that thought nearly destroyed him.

  Behind the men was Holbrooke.

  “Finished? Did you enjoy your last meal?” Holbrooke asked. “Try anything, either of you, and we’ll shoot her. If she’s still alive.”

  Last meal? The careless reference to Rafi infuriated Julian. His blood burned hot as his vision turned red with fury.

  Pointing his gun at Rafi’s now apparently limp body, Holbrooke said, “Drop her and get back against the wall.”

  Reluctantly, Julian laid Rafi down gently and moved back against the wall, his jaw set in helpless rage. Helpless, but only for the moment.

  One of the guards kicked her negligently aside as he went past, shackles rattling dully once more in his hands. Rafi didn’t flinch but the blow had to have hurt.