Undefeated

by HELEN HARDT

  “Opening the door?” Jay said. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  River shook his head. “Not a clue, man. The door is fucking locked.”

  “The rest of it is gibberish,” I said. “The shield must think we only need this paragraph. What door? And how do I open it?”

  “What’s the word for door in French?” Jay asked.

  “I don’t know. I didn’t take French,” I said.

  “I did,” River said, “but I don’t remember much. Door, though. I think it’s la porte.”

  “Good. This is a translation, right? Is there any other meaning of porte in French?”

  “The original Texts are in Old French,” I reminded him.

  He and River ignored me.

  “Good, partner. I see what you’re getting at.” River scratched his head. “Yeah. Gate or gateway. Hatch.”

  An idea struck me like a lightning bolt. “What about portal?” I asked.

  “Yeah. Probably. It makes sense. It sounds like porte.”

  “Do either of you have a knife?” I asked.

  “Say what?” Jay said.

  “You heard me. A knife.”

  “What do you need a knife for?”

  “I’m going to cut myself.”

  “Oh, the hell you are,” Jay said.

  “No, you don’t understand. A portal is a door in a vessel. In this case, a blood vessel. I need to open the door to bring Dante here.”

  “I’m not going to let—”

  “Hold on, Jay,” River interrupted. “She might have something.”

  “I’m a nurse. I carry a first aid kit wherever I go. I have one in my backpack. I just need to cut myself and bleed. If what the book says is true—and it has to be, doesn’t it? It opened to that page, and only that paragraph is legible. My grandmother said it would open when we need it, and right now, we need to bring Dante to us so he can open that damned door.”

  River riffled through his backpack and pulled out a Swiss Army knife. “Will this work?”

  “If it has a blade, it will work.” I removed an antiseptic wipe from my kit and rubbed it over my wrist.

  “You’re not really going to do this,” Jay said. “Are you?”

  “I don’t have a choice. If this fifteenth-century woman had a blood bond with this guy, and if the blood bond worked the way it works with Dante and me, there’s no door. There’s a blood vessel. Makes perfect sense to me.”

  “She’s right, Jay. We have to try. How else are we going to get through the door and find the women?”

  Jay let out a huff. “Okay. Get it over with.”

  “I may have to bleed for a while. I don’t know how far away Dante is.”

  “I’m not a complete pussy, Sis. I’m a cop. I’ve seen blood. I just don’t really want to see your blood.”

  “There’s one other thing we haven’t considered,” River said. “Dante didn’t seem to know any of us when he went through that door with Bonneville. Your blood might bring him here, but what if, when he gets here, he’s not himself?”

  I hadn’t thought of that. I bit my lip, fingering River’s knife.

  Dante was here. I knew that logically—I’d seen him—but I also felt it. Felt him. He was here, and he needed me. He needed to feed. He needed my blood.

  Trance or no trance, I felt certain I could bring him here.

  But what if that made things worse instead of better?

  No.

  Right now, we needed to get through that door, and this was our only option. Dante might not know us, but he would not hurt us. I believed that with all my heart.

  I winced as I punctured my skin with the knife, careful to avoid an artery. Blood trickled onto my skin.

  “I guess that’s that,” Jay said. “He’s coming, and if he’s not himself, we need to be prepared to deal with that.” He cocked his gun.

  “It won’t come to that,” River said. He didn’t sound convinced.

  “I hope it won’t, but I’ll protect my sister if I have to.”

  River nodded. “I understand.”

  The warmth of my blood oozing over my skin made me shiver in anticipation. My heart hammered, and adrenaline kicked in so I felt no pain.

  Dante would come.

  I knew he would.

  Seconds passed.

  Then minutes.

  River and Jay paced on the gray carpeting.

  “Come on, cuz,” River said, looking at his watch. “We can’t let her bleed forever.”

  Jay stopped pacing and stood next to me, his gaze glued to my bleeding skin. “I don’t like this.”

  “I know,” I said softly. “He will come. Trust me.”

  If I could be sure of anything in my life, I could be sure of Dante.

  But he didn’t know you…

  I silenced the devil on my shoulder.

  He would come.

  He would come.

  Chapter Twelve

  Dante

  The tug I’d tried to resist at first was now like a dream I could barely recall.

  Words flowed into my mind, words in the voice of my grandfather, when he first told me about the blood bond.

  The pull you feel isn’t coming from you. It’s coming from her.

  My heart pounded as if a gargoyle were beating on a bass drum. The high hiss of my blood pumping out through my arteries became a red noise overpowering her voice.

  You will obey me.

  You will obey…

  No. Love and light pulled me away from the darkness, away from her.

  Erin. Erin was pulling me to her. I growled, a low rumble beginning in my abdomen.

  My hunger for fresh blood curled into me like an eagle’s talon. I inhaled. Yes, the dark chocolate, earthy truffles, lusty Bordeaux.

  Erin’s blood.

  I turned and raced down the hallway.

  I raced toward Erin.

  I raced toward life.

  Only the stainless-steel door separated me from Erin. From Erin’s blood. I inhaled once more, letting her scent infuse every cell in my body.

  Erin. Musky, sweet, dark, sultry Erin.

  The deadbolt was latched, and I had nothing to pick the lock with. But Erin’s blood called to me. I sent a coil of aching need toward the deadbolt, and it turned, unlatching. I burst through the door, a growl on my lips.

  “Dante!”

  Blood.

  Yes, Erin was there. River. Jay. All three of them. How hadn’t I recognized them before? The three blurred figures? Three people so important to me?

  But I couldn’t ruminate further. I was here for blood. Erin’s blood. I stalked toward her, my fangs descending to their sharpest points.

  Jay stepped in front of Erin, but River pulled him away.

  “It’s okay,” River whispered to Jay.

  But I heard him as if he were shouting.

  Louder even than River was the flow of Erin’s blood to her heart, and the higher hiss as it spread out again through her arteries. Then her capillaries burst with tiny pops, giving way to her alluring blush.

  She was frightened.

  She was also turned on.

  She timidly held her bleeding wrist to me.

  I yanked her toward me until our bodies were touching. So warm. So right. I inhaled again, letting her scent melt into me, become part of me.

  I brought her wrist to my lips and licked it, closing the wound. Then I pulled her hair to one side and sank my teeth into her milky neck.

  “Shit! No!” Jay’s voice.

  Didn’t care.

  “Let him. It’s our way.” River’s voice.

  Didn’t care.

  No. My only care in this world was Erin, sweet lovely Erin. She had come to me. To feed me. To nourish me. To sustain me.

  To save me.

  Jay and River shuffled away from us, toward something. I didn’t care what. I was too busy with Erin, letting her red gold flow onto my tongue, down my throat, into my body and soul, cleansing me of all the taint of this place.
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br />   All the taint of her.

  No more blemish. No more contamination.

  No more her.

  Until—

  “Dante!”

  I snarled into Erin’s neck, still sucking out the nectar that gave me grace when I didn’t deserve it.

  “Take me to my father, you bitch.”

  River’s voice.

  I withdrew my teeth from Erin’s flesh, licking her wounds. I turned.

  Jay was behind her, holding her arms. For some reason, she hadn’t glamoured him.

  River’s pistol was touching her forehead. “Now. Or I will kill you.”

  “You’re not a killer,” she said. “You catch killers.”

  “I’m willing to make an exception for you.” River cocked his gun.

  “Dante,” she said, her voice never wavering. “Remember the one rule of chess.”

  Chess? When had we played chess? The answer was we hadn’t. I’d played with my father and Bill a few times when I was younger, but—

  “Protect your queen.” The words emerged from my mouth before I could think them.

  “Yes, Dante,” she said. “Always protect your queen.”

  “You’re no quee—”

  I let go of Erin, raced toward the others, and tossed River aside. He landed on his ass—

  “Dante!” Erin gasped.

  —but was up in a flash. “Nice, cuz, but this isn’t you. Don’t let it be you.”

  “Protect your queen,” she said again.

  Dark energy swirled within me, and the dueling swords clashed against each other once again.

  “Control, son. Remember that part of you that she can’t touch.”

  My father had returned.

  But his voice didn’t move me.

  What did was the woman who touched my hand, her warmth a soothing salve to my tortured soul.

  In a flash, I whisked energy toward her, pulling her away from Jay and knocking her against the concrete wall.

  Her eyes shot into circles and she opened her mouth, but no words emerged. She was bound to the wall through the sheer force of my will.

  “Quickly.” My father. “Through the door. Take them with you. Lock it.”

  I grabbed Erin’s arm and raced through the door, Jay and River following us. When we were on the other side, I locked it.

  “She probably has a key,” River said.

  My father materialized. “She doesn’t. Not on her. I made sure of that, with Bea’s help.”

  “Still, she’ll be able to get back in.”

  “She will,” my father agreed. “We don’t know how much time we have, so use it wisely.”

  “Dante?” Erin’s face was pale, frightened.

  “I’m so sorry, love.” I cupped her cheek.

  “It was like you didn’t know me. Before.”

  Guilt knifed through my heart. How had I allowed myself to fall under that bitch’s trance? I brushed my lips over hers. “I’m so sorry,” I said again.

  “No time for this,” River said. “Take us to the women.”

  “I’ve only seen Em,” I said. “I don’t know where the others are.”

  “I know where Lucy is,” my father said. “I’m not sure we can get there from here, but we have to find a way. She’s in danger.”

  Erin jolted against me. “What? Why? What are they doing to her? She just had surgery!”

  “They’re training her to fight,” I said.

  “To fight?” River said. “What do you mean? She’s weak right now.”

  “Apparently not that weak,” I said. “I guess she’s been a problem. She’s resistant to all the sedatives they’ve given her, and she shifts at will and attacks.”

  “Of course she attacks,” Erin said. “She’s being held against her will! We have to find her.”

  “I can try to take you to her,” my father said. “The others aren’t in any danger at the moment.” Then, he added sadly, “I have not yet found my brother.”

  River shoved his hands through his hair. “Damn.”

  “He’s alive, River. I’d know if he weren’t. But that’s all I know.”

  “God, how am I supposed to choose between rescuing the woman I love and finding my father?” River rubbed his chin.

  “We rescue Lucy,” my father said. “Braedon has survived this long, and though his time is nearing an end, he will continue to survive until we find him. I have to believe that.”

  “What about Emilia?” Jay cleared his throat. “And the baby?”

  “She’s okay for now, and so is the baby,” my father said. “Dante saw her.”

  “Yeah, she’s okay. If you call being held against her will okay.” I rolled my eyes.

  “We have to hold on to the fact that she’s not in danger right now. I will try to figure out how to get you to Lucy. I won’t be long.” My dad disappeared.

  “All right,” Jay said. “Then Lucy is the first priority.”

  “Agreed,” River said. “Let’s go.”

  I grasped Erin’s hand, her warmth traveling through me. Her blood wasn’t enough to sate me. I needed her body, her strength. Control. I needed control. Everything in me screamed at me to grab her and fuck her, but I couldn’t take her right now with her brother and my cousin right here, especially not when Lucy was our priority. “I love you, baby. So much.”

  “I love y—” She clasped her hand to her mouth. “Oh, shit!”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Erin

  “What is it?” Dante asked.

  I fell against him. God, I was a complete moron. I’d just ruined everything.

  “Baby?”

  I inhaled, getting ready to disappoint three of the people I cared about most in this world. “The book. My mom’s copy. I left it…out there.”

  It had tumbled from my lap when I’d cut my wrist, and after that, I’d been thinking only about Dante coming to find us.

  I hadn’t put the book back in my backpack.

  “It’s out there,” I said. “With her.”

  Dante stroked my back. “It’s okay, baby.”

  River didn’t look convinced, but Jay had a grin on his face. “It’s okay, Sis,” he said. “Everything will be all right.”

  “How can everything be all right? I just lost a family heirloom! A family heirloom that we need right now.”

  “It’s o—”

  “It opened, Dante. That’s how I knew how to get you to come to us. It opened to one page, and I could read a paragraph about the blood bond. God, how could I be so stupid!”

  “Sis,” my brother began again.

  I wanted to punch myself in the face. “The shield broke, at least for the one paragraph we needed. And now—”

  I gasped.

  Jay held the book in front of my face. “Did you really think I’d let you leave that book out there? It’s my family heirloom too, you know.”

  I hurled myself into my brother’s arms. “Jay! I could kiss you.” I planted a wet one on his cheek.

  He wiped it away. “Don’t get disgusting on me. We all have each other’s backs, remember?”

  “But how—”

  “When Dante came through the door. I noticed the book on the floor, so I grabbed it and put it in my pack. I wasn’t sure what we’d be dealing with.”

  Dante growled.

  “Easy, man,” Jay said. “The last time we saw you, you were catatonic.”

  “He’s right, Dante,” I said.

  “Plus, we need the book,” Jay said.

  “Good work, partner,” River said.

  I grabbed the book from Jay and opened it. It still only opened to the same page. I handed it to Dante. “Read this.”

  He scanned it quickly. “That’s how you got me here? Not by opening a door but by opening a vein?”

  “That’s what we figured it meant. In French, the word for door is— It doesn’t matter. It worked. You needed to feed, and I needed to feed you. Plus, we needed to get through the door. I found a way to get you to me.”
>
  Dante shook his head. “This book is obviously full of useful information. Why in hell does Bill want to keep it from us?”

  “We’ve read all of one paragraph, cuz,” River said. “And only the paragraph Erin needed to get us through that door.”

  “It seems our mom was right when she said it would open when we needed it,” Jay said. “The problem is it only gave us exactly what we needed at the time. We may never get to read the whole thing.”

  “Apparently not unless we need to,” River agreed.

  “There’s something else, though,” Dante said, scratching his ear.

  “What?” I asked.

  “The Vampyre Texts is supposed to be centuries old, but this was obviously written after the fifteenth century.”

  “That’s still centuries old, dude,” Jay said.

  “Yeah, but it’s like the Bible. It’s supposed to predate almost everything ever written.”

  “Maybe it’s been added to over the years,” Jay said.

  “No,” River said. “He’s right. Something’s weird here. Bill always said—”

  “Bill’s not known for his truthfulness,” Jay interjected.

  River sighed, nodding.

  “All I know is that this book gave me the information we needed when we needed it,” I said. “It’s the real thing, in my opinion.”

  “Whether it is or not really doesn’t matter,” Jay said. “It helped us once, and it might help us again.”

  “True,” River said. “Plus, it’s in English, and it’s a quarter of the size of the other copy we have. No way could we have dragged that down here.”

  “Only one paragraph is in English,” I said. “At least so far. That shield is obviously only going to give us exactly what we need. There might be something on this page that could harm us, as Bill seems to think.”

  Dante took the book from my hands and attempted to turn another page. To no avail. “It’s spilled its only secret for now,” he said. “Standing around here isn’t helping anyone. We need to find Lucy.”