Blood Cure

by K. A. Linde

  “I need to make sure everyone is out first. I’ll meet you there!” Reyna pushed through the kitchen and found Tye and Jodie packing a backpack. “You two need to leave. Now!”

  Katarina flew into the room. “I’ve got them.”

  “Thank you. Now get out of here. I need to find Brian.”

  Katarina nodded at her like a soldier then all but hoisted Jodie and Tye into her arms and dashed from the room.

  Reyna felt a wind kick up next to her as more of Beckham’s circle cleared the house. But she saw no sign of Becks. No sign of Brian. No sign of Washington. The helicopter was getting close enough that she could vaguely hear it with her normal ears, and that was not good. She didn’t want to end up like Sydney, a captain going down with her ship. She wanted to save everyone.

  She pushed forward deeper into the house. “Brian! Becks!”

  Washington appeared then at the top of the stairs. “Reyna, over here.”

  She hurried to him and he foisted a cooler into her hands. “What’s this?”

  “You must save the Golden Blood, Reyna. The fate of the world rests in your hands. I have to finish the backup of my life’s work.”

  “Washington!” she cried.

  “I’ll follow.” Then Washington ducked and ran back down into his laboratory. The helicopter blades were getting louder. And she was stuck with a fucking cooler full of the cure for vampirism, without her brother or the love of her life.

  She vacillated forward and back, forward and back. Brian or the cure. Brian or the cure. She cursed this fucking war and then rushed ahead with the cure in her arms. She would not leave without her last charge.

  “Brian!” she cried again, almost to the bedroom stairs.

  Genevieve rushed down the stairs then, helping Brian out of his room. “I have him.”

  “We’ll never make it,” Reyna said. “You’re going to have to take him yourself, Genevieve.”

  “What about you, miss?”

  “Save my brother. I’ll follow behind you.”

  Genevieve gave her a sad smile and then lifted Brian into her arms. She dashed out of the house then. Reyna sighed with relief. Beckham was still missing. The two vampires they’d remade into humans were nowhere to be seen. Washington was still downstairs. The helicopter was too close. She had no choice. She had to get out of there. Everyone in Elle was safe and secure. She had the cure. If she didn’t leave now they’d have a problem.

  Adrenaline pumped through her veins. She cleared the back door just as an SUV tore out of the garage and barreled down the driveway. Reyna just kept moving. Her feet couldn’t carry her fast enough. She glanced once over her shoulder and saw the chopper was nearly upon them.

  “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

  She was nearly to the garage when Beckham whizzed past her with the two vampires who had been turned. He did a double take when he saw that she wasn’t far enough away.

  “Beckham!” She reached her hand out toward him. Tried to grab on to him to get her and the cure safely away, but he was too far past.

  “Reyna…” he cried.

  “Please,” she gasped, stretching her hand out farther toward him. I don’t want to die.

  It was the last thought she had before the first bomb dropped.

  * * *

  —

  Silence.

  The moment before it shattered was almost worse than what came after.

  It was like standing in a bubble.

  And then the bubble burst.

  The bomb dropped on the mansion that stood as a beacon on the hill for more than two centuries.

  Boom.

  Sound rushed back in, louder than anything Reyna had ever heard before. Stone blasted apart, fire flew like a volcano from the top, and the world as she knew it…stopped.

  The blast rushed outward. A sonic boom crashing against her skin. She felt it in every inch of her body. Top to bottom. Inside and out. She was lifted off of her feet. The force of the eruption kicking her high into the air. Her hands releasing the blood cure on instinct.

  She tried to gasp around the pain, but she could do nothing. Nothing but flail midair as pain lanced through her and she descended into freefall.

  Everything moved into slow motion and all she could think was this was the end.

  She was going to die.

  After all of this…she was going to die from a fucking bomb.

  She was trying to save the world. Trying to right the wrongs. She wasn’t the best leader in the world, but she was at least out there trying.

  And Beckham…

  Oh Beckham.

  She hadn’t even gotten one last kiss. She’d barely seen his beautiful face as he saved the other vampires. And what would happen to him if she was gone? Would he ever again risk everything for others? Would he ever open himself up? She didn’t want him to become the beast again. She wanted him to be hers forever.

  She wanted to feel him.

  One last time.

  She reached out for him. Felt his presence adjacent to her. He was getting closer. Then she felt…different.

  Solid.

  Hardened.

  Powerful.

  Her fragile human body was no more. Instead, it was replaced with the strength of a vampire. Strength to withstand a blast a human never could. Strength to endure. She was as hard and impenetrable as a diamond. Forged of steel rather than muscle and sinew and bone.

  Her body collided with the ground a full fifty feet from where she’d last been standing. She skidded, shredding the jacket and shirt she’d been wearing. Her back scraped against the ground with grass and dirt and little stones penetrating her skin. She moaned as she came to a stop.

  The connection dropped. And suddenly her muscles remembered every ache and pain and sore in her body. She coughed and hacked and tried to roll over to ease the pain. The back of her head felt like there was a knot the size of a golf ball where she’d banged it against the ground. Cuts and scrapes and soon-to-be-bruises covered her body. Every single part of her was on fire.

  But she was alive.

  Miraculously alive.

  “Reyna!” Beckham yelled.

  She opened her watery brown eyes and stared up at the vision of a man before her. He towered over her, not a cut on him. His dark eyes filled with fear. And God he was beautiful.

  “You saved me,” she croaked.

  “You’re alive.”

  She choked back her next reply and tried to ease the pain in her skull.

  “Don’t speak. I’ll heal you.”

  “After,” she gasped. “Save your energy.”

  His emotions were rampant and effusive; she could feel them without even reaching out.

  “This is going to hurt,” he warned.

  She gritted her teeth and tried to keep from screaming when Beckham picked her up. Her back felt like a tattered mess. She could smell her blood mixing with earth. Feel the well of wretched pain intensify.

  “The…cure.”

  Beckham’s eyes darted around. He must have located it, because he grabbed the small cooler, and with it and her tucked beneath him left the scene behind.

  * * *

  —

  Reyna must have blacked out at some point, because all she heard when she woke up was the rumble of an engine beneath her.

  She reached out for him with her senses and felt him hovering over her.

  “Becks,” she whispered.

  “Oh Little One, if not for the slow beat of your heart, I would have feared for your death.”

  “What…what happened?”

  “Everett was captured. Visage sent a video of his murder to your email and a bomb to the mansion.”

  Reyna winced. “Everett is dead?”

  “Yes. I watched it.”

  “Wa
s it…painless?”

  Beckham said nothing, which was answer enough.

  “He was tortured for our location,” she gathered.

  “Yes.”

  “How did he know where we were?”

  Beckham shook his head. “I don’t know. I thought we were careful.”

  “Damn.”

  “We have to move the rest of Elle in case he gave them up too.”

  “Have you reached out to Drew?” She tried to sit up, but pain lanced through her and Beckham gently pressed her back down.

  “Yes. He’s aware. He’s rallying everyone into action to get them out as soon as possible. They have a system in place. They’re moving quickly just in case Everett gave up their location too.”

  “Where are we going?” Reyna asked. “Without the cult-y place and the mansion…?”

  “I have a place.”

  “You…have a place? We stayed at the mansion and left them at the cult place and all this time you had a place?”

  Beckham sighed slowly. “It’s a temporary place. I stayed there when I was healing. I wasn’t sure if Harrington knew about it so I’ve been having it monitored. It can’t house everyone so it won’t work long-term.”

  “I thought you stayed in a safe house when you healed.”

  “Of sorts.” He placed his hand on her shoulder. “Now rest. I’m going to need to feed before I heal you so I don’t weaken. We reached Meghan and she’s going to look after you.”

  “Do you have blood there?”

  He kissed her temple and said nothing else. She sighed and let it go. What he drank was his business. He needed to be a hundred percent and get her back to a hundred percent, because the time was now. They’d waited long enough. They’d planned and schemed and used every advantage they had. Harrington had to be stopped. She didn’t want anyone else to be kidnapped or tortured or experimented on or killed for his ambition.

  * * *

  —

  “Hey,” Meghan said softly. She was running her fingers gently through Reyna’s unbound hair. “It’s time to wake up.”

  She opened her eyes and stared up into her friend’s face. “What happened?”

  “I had to sedate you. I got the shrapnel and debris out of your body, but it was painful and tedious. Beckham did the rest.”

  Reyna turned her head and found Beckham standing on the other side of the table. She eased up into a sitting position.

  “Let’s not do that again, okay?”

  Beckham grinned. “I’ll put it on the list.”

  “How do you feel?” Meghan asked.

  “Better. I’m not even sore. How long was I out?”

  “About an hour.”

  Reyna rubbed her eyes and then swished her legs off the table. She jumped down and stretched out her sore limbs. She felt none of the pain from the explosion. Her hand went to the back of her head. No goose egg. They’d put her into sweatpants and a black T-shirt. Her old clothes were probably long gone. Destroyed in the blast.

  “Oh! The cure!”

  Meghan winced and sat back. Beckham gestured to the cooler sitting on the floor. Inside all of the tiny vials of liquid were shattered. Glass lay at the bottom with a few dribbles of the gold liquid mixed with some kind of ice to keep it cold.

  “No,” she whispered. “All of it’s gone?”

  “It must have shattered and drained before I got to it.”

  Reyna put her head between her knees. All of that work. Everything Washington had done to get them a cure, possibly even a weapon to use against Visage, and now it was gone.

  “And Washington?”

  Beckham shook his head. “He never left the mansion.”

  “We’re so fucked,” Meghan said.

  “All that research. Everything he’d been working on just gone. No cure. None of the research on our blood match or on Jodie’s blood. We may never know what he would have been capable of with more time.” Reyna closed her eyes for a minute, took a deep breath, and then straightened. “But we can’t change what happened. I think we knew all along what we needed to do. We were just trying to find an edge to use against our opponent. Well, we found one.” She turned to face Beckham. “We’re blood matched. If that doesn’t throw his chess game out of whack, nothing will.”

  “What are you suggesting?” Meghan asked.

  “I go in and face Harrington alone. I’m the only one who can get close enough.”

  “Are you crazy? That’s suicide.”

  “It’s not. He might have an antidote, but nothing can substitute for the real thing. And it’ll be a point of pride for him that he has me after I’ve evaded him for so long. I can do this.”

  Reyna braced herself, expecting the worst from Beckham. His silence was weighted. It typically held more power than most people’s words. She knew his first priority was her safety, but if there was only one way to save the world, she’d take it. One more life for millions.

  “You’re right,” Beckham said, staring down at the floor. Then he finally met her gaze and she felt calm resolve resonate from him.

  She blinked twice. “Come again?”

  One side of his lips upturned as if he found her surprise humorous. But he just nodded at her as if they were on the same page. As if he understood where she was coming from and what this would cost them both.

  “You really think I can do this?” It was different hearing it from him. She’d been expecting a fight. He’d always fought her on anything that could harm her. This acceptance was new. It was…powerful.

  “You can get close to Harrington,” he said, taking her hand. “That much we know for a fact. No one else is going to get that close. And we’ll need that advantage if we want to end this.”

  Her heart stuttered at his words. His confidence.

  He opened himself up to her and their connection bloomed into life. She felt his fear. It was there of course. But also his deep love, his careful calculation, and his determination to succeed. He believed in her. He really did.

  “Plus,” he continued, “I’ll be there with you every step of the way. I trust you.”

  A slow smile stretched across Reyna’s face. Trust. What a magical word.

  And with that he leveled the playing field.

  Soul mates and blood matched and finally equals in every way.

  Chapter 31

  “All right. All right,” Gabe called from her left. They’d managed to get a lot done in the week since the explosion. And it was finally time to put that plan into action. “Shut up and let Reyna speak.”

  She turned her eyes to Beckham and swallowed. “Speak?”

  “You’re taking them into war. You have to rally them,” Beckham said.

  Reyna’s eyes darted to her friends. Meghan and Jodie gave her an encouraging nod. Gabe winked. Tye smiled. They were all counting on her.

  “Public speaking?” she hissed.

  “Want my advice?”

  She nodded.

  “Don’t faint.”

  “I hate you.”

  He grinned. “Knock them dead.”

  Reyna hooked her foot up on the stool and climbed onto Beckham’s sleek kitchen table. Her knees felt wobbly as she turned to face the crowd of people before her.

  Her two fears: needles and public speaking.

  She’d had to face one repeatedly. Seemed as if it were time to face the other.

  “Hey…hey,” Reyna cried.

  She crossed her arms over her chest and waited for the room to finally quiet down. It took a while, considering how many different groups of people were congregated into one space.

  She could see Drew standing in the crowd. All of the Elle members had been relocated and the remaining Elle sleeper agents had been brought in—including Prisha, who had given them a place to stay after everything had fa
llen apart over New Year’s. The anti-vamp cult looked pretty pissed to be standing so near Beckham’s circle, who had apparently called in some favors. Now the vampires were a solid thirty strong. All in all, she was looking at her own little army. A terrifying thought, to say the least.

  She cleared her throat and tried to recount all of the reckless and crazy ideas she’d implemented since becoming Beckham’s blood escort. It was a long list that culminated with this moment. And if she had been able to get through all of that, well, public speaking shouldn’t be that bad. Shouldn’t being the optimal word.

  “Thanks, everyone, so much for coming,” Reyna said, her voice barely above a whisper.

  A groan of dissent came from the crowd. She was losing them. She was losing them already. She needed them to rally with her to do what must be done. But they’d already decided. They were going in. She could do this much.

  “I said thank you for coming,” she shouted into the crowd. The silence was swift and secure. Her stomach flipped. Sweat accumulated on her brow. But she continued. “Many of us here are from different walks of life. We have different beliefs. We have different values. We want different things. The truth is that many of us may not even like one another. We may even hate one another. But none of that matters today. Leave all of that at the door. Because today we don’t fight just for ourselves, we fight for humanity, for equality, for freedom.”

  A cheer rose up from the crowd. Reyna’s eyes swept Beckham’s secret hideaway and the people applauding her speech. A smile tugged at the corners of her lips. These people were going out to fight with her. They trusted her to make this work. It was daunting, but also…incredible. So many people from so many places, all here, now, willing to work together.

  “You know your mission. We’re armed. We’re prepared. We’re ready to take this fight to those who have so long ruled from on high. Today we take back our world. Let’s do the damn thing!”

  She pumped her fist into the air and grinned at the sea of people cheering with her. So much excitement as they all went into battle. Her heart hardened against the consequences. She couldn’t think about what could go wrong or else all she would do is fear that she had made the wrong choice moving forward. And it was clear that there was really only one choice: the right one.