Undaunted

by HELEN HARDT

  Em. My baby sister. My pregnant baby sister, whose baby was also linked to Erin and her brother.

  Too much to think about. Too fucking much.

  But I had to. I had to think about it. Had to find them.

  Because if I didn’t, I feared Erin would be next.

  Just the thought ignited a profound rage deep in my bones.

  My fucking bare bones.

  I inhaled. Her scent was thick in the room, thick as it always was, and this time her adrenaline added a top note to the fragrance. Erin was worried too.

  The dirt floor was rough on the soles of my feet.

  “Fight. Show me what you have. Fight to the death.”

  I was strong. Yes. I knew that. Gabriel vampires were large and strong. But I didn’t know how to fight.

  “Fight or die in the arena.”

  Go for the nose. You’ll take out his sense of smell and sight.

  My grandfather’s words.

  I’d never had to use them. Would I use them now?

  A door on the other side popped open, and a figure fell in. He was masked.

  I touched my cheek.

  So was I.

  When had that happened?

  When had I gotten here?

  How?

  “Fight! Fight! Show me who is stronger!”

  Her voice was an echo. Where was she? This large room was dark, and although my vampire vision allowed me to see clearly, I didn’t see her anywhere.

  I inched toward the stranger in the room. He was taller than I, but I was broader. I bared my fangs.

  He bared his.

  He was vampire.

  “Fight!” she said again.

  He looked upward.

  And I crashed into him, bringing him down.

  Yes, I was stronger. He was no match for me. But once I had him on the ground, I had no idea what to do.

  He didn’t fight back. Not at first.

  “Who are you?” I asked.

  He answered with a low growl.

  I had nothing against whomever this was. Had she thrown one of the goons who tortured me into that room, I’d have pulverized him in an instant.

  But this brother vampire? I had no motivation. No drive. No need to fight.

  “Fight!” Her voice again. “Fight to the death!”

  In a flash, the other vampire had overpowered me and pinned me to the ground.

  Thud. Thud. Thud.

  Fist to my cheek. My chin. My forehead.

  My nose.

  God, my nose.

  Blood spurted out of it as the crushing of cartilage forced a searing pain across my skull.

  Thud. To my eye socket.

  Thud. To my Adam’s apple.

  Breathe. Couldn’t breathe.

  Couldn’t…

  Couldn’t…

  Then nothing.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Erin

  I rushed into Dante’s arms.

  He kissed the top of my head. “We’ll find them, baby.”

  I pulled away slightly. His eyes were on fire, his irises blazing. He was angry. And afraid. But more than that, he was determined.

  “We have no idea if the same people that took the others took Emilia,” I said. “For that matter, we don’t have any idea if the other disappearances are even related.”

  “Riv says they most likely are, and he’s a pro.” He cupped my cheek. “We’ll find them. I won’t rest until we do.”

  “You have to rest, son,” Julian said. “And you have to train.”

  “Damn it, Dad, how can you talk of training when Em is missing?”

  “That’s exactly why I can talk of it. I need you at your best. I need you with every possible defense you have. You’ve grown strong, Dante. You’ve gained a lot of control, but there’s something inside you that we don’t yet understand.”

  “But there isn’t time—”

  “We will make the time. You must be at your best for what must be done.”

  “I’m fine. And when I find out who took my sister, I’ll have no problem pulverizing them into a fine powder.”

  I pulled away. Rage shone in Dante’s eyes. Pure, raw rage.

  I’d seen him angry before. I’d seen him angry and aroused. I’d seen him possessive and protective. I’d even seen him unhinged.

  But this?

  This was new.

  This was frightening.

  He was willing to do whatever it took to go forward, undaunted, leaving nothing but dust in his path, and damn the casualties.

  He swiped the back of his neck. “What is it, Dad?”

  “The darkness,” Julian said. “It’s back.”

  “It can get the fuck out,” Dante growled through clenched teeth.

  I grabbed Dante’s hand. “Let’s go.”

  “We won’t be chased out of our home,” he said with a snarl.

  “He’s right, Erin. Stay put.” Julian vanished.

  “Julian! You can’t tell us to stay here with some dark evil and then leave!”

  “I’m still here.” His voice echoed through the room. “I’m using my energy to find the source of the darkness. I’m—”

  “Julian?” I said timidly.

  No response.

  “Do you feel it, Dante?”

  “I only feel fucking angry that my sister’s gone, your best friend is gone, and I can’t keep some dark energy out of this house. I can’t fucking protect you.” His teeth descended, long and sharp.

  “Maybe your father is mistaken. But please, in case he isn’t, let’s just leave, okay? We can go to River’s.”

  His eyes softened a bit. “All right, baby. I want to talk to him about Em and the others anyway.” He grabbed my hand, and we left. Then he turned. “Wait here.” He dodged back inside and returned seconds later with his father’s urn.

  “I checked every database the department has access to,” River said. “No Zabrina Bonneville or Zarah Le Sang anywhere in Louisiana.”

  I swallowed past the lump in my throat.

  “You okay?” Dante asked.

  I nodded. “I feel I should be surprised. But I’m not.”

  “That still doesn’t mean she has anything to do with the disappearing women, Sis,” Jay said.

  “I know.”

  “I already told her that vampires age,” Dante said, “so the two can’t be the same person.”

  “Maybe mother and daughter?” Jay said.

  “We still don’t even know they’re vampires,” River said. “Just because her name means blood—”

  “For God’s sake, it’s more than that.” I tugged at the band holding my ponytail. Suddenly it was tight and giving me a headache.

  “What, then?” Jay said. “What more is there?”

  “Someone has been feeding on me, and it hasn’t happened since Bonneville went on vacation.”

  “Still all circumstantial,” River said.

  “I know that, damn it!” I curled my hands into fists. “It’s just…”

  “Just what, baby?”

  “It’s a fucking feeling.” I rolled my eyes. “I know how ridiculous that sounds. But I feel it in the depth of my bones. Find Dr. Bonneville, and we’ll find those women. We’ll find Lucy and Emilia.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Dante

  “All right, Sis,” Jay said. “Calm down. We’re listening. But you’ve got to understand. Dr. Bonneville wasn’t even on duty when two of the women were taken.”

  “I know it sounds crazy.” Erin sighed. “I know it does.”

  “No one thinks you’re crazy, baby,” Dante said. “Hell, we’re all a little bit crazy right about now. The four of us will figure it out. Plus we have my dad.”

  “Your sister’s name is Emilia?” Jay asked.

  “Yeah,” I said, trying not to grit my teeth. “You know her?”

  “The name rings a bell,” he said, “but I can’t quite place it.”

  The itch in my gums began. He didn’t even remember my sister? If he we
ren’t Erin’s brother…

  I met River’s gaze. He shook his head slightly.

  I stayed silent. I didn’t know the whole story. But what I did know so far, I didn’t like.

  Not one bit.

  “I’m sorry she’s gone,” Jay continued. “First Lucy, and now your sister. There sure seems to be a connection.”

  “I agree, partner,” River said. “But it’s still all circumstantial at this point.”

  “Riv, you’re a great cop,” Jay said, “but you’re not using your instinct. Sometimes you have to go with your gut.”

  “I never imagined you were such a ‘follow the rules to a T’ kind of guy,” I said.

  “I’m not.”

  “But you are. You admitted you don’t glamour on the job, even though you know it would make your job a lot easier.”

  “I succumbed twice,” he said. “Not counting getting Jay and me this leave, which didn’t do any good anyway, since Bill overpowered it.”

  “We’ll get our jobs back, River,” Jay said. “I’m not worried about it. And for what it’s worth, I think it’s cool that you don’t glamour on the job. For the most part, anyway.”

  “If we don’t have our ethics and morals, what do we have?” River asked. “Vampires would be feeding on humans, possibly draining them. We’ve learned to assimilate. We’ve learned to control our desire for human blood. That’s how we’ve gotten along since the dawn of civilization, at least as far as our history is documented.”

  “I think that’s a good thing, River,” Erin said.

  “You’d understand, Dante, if you had been—”

  This time my teeth descended. “I do fucking understand. It wasn’t my fault that I wasn’t here, damn it.”

  “I know that, cuz. Unfortunate choice of words. I’m sorry.” He shook his head. “I worry so much about Lucy, about Em. About finding them and the other innocent women, that sometimes I forget to think about…” He sighed.

  His father.

  Braedon was out there somewhere. Having seen the condition my father’s body had been in, I didn’t harbor much hope for his twin brother.

  “Uncle Brae is strong,” I said. “He can take care of himself.”

  River nodded. “Right. Like Uncle Jules did.”

  “My father died on purpose. If he hadn’t, he would have come out of this alive.”

  “You saw his body, Dante.”

  “I saw his body. I also know what was done to me. I came out of this, and my father would have too. I feel certain.”

  “You’re right about that, son.”

  I looked to the left, where the voice had come from. “Dad.”

  “Sorry to interrupt, but Dante, I need to speak to you. Privately.”

  “You can say anything in front of all of us,” I said.

  “I feel very strongly about this. Please, Dante. Give me a few minutes. We can step outside.”

  I opened my mouth to protest once more, when a knock sounded on the door.

  River opened it.

  My grandfather stood on the other side.

  “Bill,” River said, holding the door open.

  “I figured you’d all be here at some point,” Bill said. “I’ve been waiting outside for a while. It took me this long to get the nerve to come to the door.”

  “What do you want?” I asked.

  “I want to help. I want to help find Emilia and my great-grandchild.”

  “Are you willing to tell us what you know about the Texts?” I asked coldly.

  “No, Dante. Emilia’s disappearance has nothing to do with the Texts.”

  “What if it does?” River asked. “What if we can prove it? Would you tell us then?”

  “You can prove nothing,” Bill said.

  “Don’t be so sure of yourself,” River said. “But even if it doesn’t, the Texts might explain what’s happening to Dante. Don’t you want him to have use of this newfound power? He might be able to help find Emilia.”

  “We have no way of knowing if it will help,” Bill said.

  “Of course it will help, Dad,” my father said. “If he can harness this ultra-glamouring ability, we could find out whatever we need to know.”

  “No, we couldn’t. Not if the person who has Emilia is another vampire.”

  I huffed. He wasn’t going to budge on the book. “We don’t need your help, then.”

  “Not so fast, Dante,” my father said. “He loves your sister as much as we do.”

  I had a hard time believing that one. But I couldn’t deny the look of sadness on Bill’s face.

  “I’ve lost two sons.” He held up a hand. “I know you’re here, Julian, but you’re dead. For all I know, Braedon is dead.”

  “I’ve told you, Dad, Brae is alive.”

  “Yes. The twin thing. I get it. But you could just as easily be wrong.” He held up his hand again. “I got my grandson back, and even though our relationship isn’t the best right now, I’m grateful. But I’ve taken enough losses for the last decade. I will not lose Emilia and her baby too.”

  “None of us is going to lose her,” I said adamantly. “We will find her. If you want to help, tell us what you know about the Texts. If you don’t want to do that, get the hell out of here.”

  “Dante.” My father’s voice was stern. “You and I. We need to talk. Now.”

  “Julian, you’re not getting rid of me,” Bill said. “Whatever you have to say to Dante can be said right here.”

  “For once I agree with Bill,” I said, clutching Erin’s hand.

  “No.”

  It wasn’t a yell. It wasn’t even a command. It simply was.

  And I knew I had to do what my father asked. This was important.

  “All right. Where do you want to go?”

  “We can step outside.” My father vanished.

  “Excuse me,” I said, letting go of Erin’s hand. “I’m sorry, baby. I’ll tell you everything later.”

  She smiled and nodded, squeezing my arm.

  I walked out the door to River’s apartment. My father was nowhere in sight.

  “The car, Dante.”

  His voice. I walked quickly to Erin’s car and got in.

  “This isn’t going to be easy to say.”

  Again, only his voice. He did not appear.

  “All right. Just say it, then.”

  A gruff sound—as if he were clearing his throat.

  Then, “I concentrated all my energy on the darkness that has targeted you. I was determined, this time, to find its source.”

  “And…?”

  “As I said, this isn’t easy to say.”

  “For God’s sake, Dad. Just say it.”

  “I double- and triple-checked my findings. I even conferred with a few other ghosts on this plane, and they agree with me.”

  Silence.

  More silence.

  My gums began to itch, even though I knew my fangs would do no good against a ghost. Against my father. “Would you get to the fucking point?”

  “I was able to pinpoint the source of the darkness. Bea was right. It’s not a demon or a ghost. It’s a dark energy.”

  And I knew.

  Before he said anything more, I knew.

  “You’re correct,” he said.

  “You know what I’m thinking?”

  “I can tell, just by your movements. Your canine nerve is responding. You’re becoming angry, and there’s no reason for it. No reason other than what you and I now know.”

  I bared my fangs, growling.

  Growling at the darkness.

  Growling at myself.

  “Are you sure?” I snarled.

  “Aren’t you?” my father replied.

  I gnashed my teeth at his voice.

  The darkness was here. Now. In the car.

  The darkness hadn’t targeted me.

  The darkness was me.

  Epilogue

  The Queen

  You’re changing, Dante.

  I’ve been waiting.<
br />
  Waiting for the darkness to overtake you.

  Yield to it. Surrender to it.

  Become what you are meant to be, and all those questions you have will be answered.

  It is your destiny.

  Continue the Blood Bond Saga

  with

  UNMASKED

  Buy Now

  Available January 29, 2019

  Enjoy Blood Bond Saga: Volume Three?

  Please leave a review.

  Message from Helen Hardt

  Dear Reader,

  Thank you for reading Undaunted. If you want to find out about my current backlist and future releases, please like my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/HelenHardt and join my mailing list: http://helenhardt.com/signup/. I often do giveaways. If you’re a fan and would like to join my street team to help spread the word about my books, you can do so here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/hardtandsoul/. I regularly do awesome giveaways for my street team members.

  If you enjoyed the story, please take the time to leave a review on a site like Amazon or Goodreads. I welcome all feedback.

  I wish you all the best!

  Helen

  Also By Helen Hardt

  Blood Bond Saga:

  Unchained: Volume One

  Unhinged: Volume Two

  Undaunted: Volume Three

  Unmasked: Volume Four (January 29, 2019)

  Undefeated: Volume Five (Coming Soon)

  * * *

  The Steel Brothers Saga:

  Craving

  Obsession

  Possession

  Melt

  Burn

  Surrender

  Shattered

  Twisted

  Unraveled

  Breathless (June 25, 2019)

  * * *

  Misadventures:

  Misadventures of a Good Wife (with Meredith Wild)

  Misadventures with a Rock Star