Oath Bound

by Rachel Vincent

  “You couldn’t stop me from either one if you tried. How do you think she’ll be in touch? And when?”

  “I don’t know, but we’re not going to wait—” Before she could even finish her sentence, Kori’s phone buzzed in her pocket. She frowned and pulled it out, then turned the cell around so Ian and I could see the screen. The text was from Kenley’s phone, but we both knew the Binder hadn’t sent the message.

  Bring Sera to the warehouse at the corner of Bonner and Lexington. I will trade her for your brother.

  “It can’t be that easy, right?” I said as Kori pocketed her phone without even considering a reply. “I know she’s not really going to trade, so what are the chances he’s really in that warehouse?”

  “Slim to none.” Ian scrubbed one hand over his short-cropped hair. “We can try tracking him, but I’d bet my life she has a Jammer sitting right next to Kris. If he’s even still alive.” The words looked almost as painful for him to say as they were for me to hear, but he didn’t shy away from them.

  “He’s alive,” Kori said. “She’ll know we’ll want proof of that before we agree to anything. And she won’t offer Kenley as part of the trade because she knows we’ll recognize that as a lie.”

  “So, we find her and we take them both back.” I leaned against the fridge, careful not to touch anything for fear of leaving fingerprints at the scene of a crime. “We know where she’s not.” The warehouse on the corner of Bonner and Lexington. “That only leaves...the entire rest of the city for us to search.” I hoped I didn’t look as frustrated as I sounded.

  Ian turned to Kori. “I assume she’s not at Tower’s house. For one thing, that’s too obvious. For another, if the viral campaign worked, they may have run her off. We have to assume she still has some loyal employees, otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to take Kris. But it’s entirely possible that she doesn’t have Kenley anymore.”

  “Then who does?” Kori stepped over the pool of blood surrounding the Curtis brothers and sank onto the arm of their couch. “If she lost enough employees to lose control over Kenley, how long do you think it’ll be before whoever’s running the blood farm figures out that killing Kenni will free them all permanently? What if that’s already happened? Can it happen?” She stared at the shadowed carpet, lost in thought. “I can’t remember whether or not my oath to Jake prohibited me from killing his Binder— I wouldn’t have hurt her anyway.”

  “I think it’s time we make some calls and find out exactly what our viral campaign has done to the Tower infrastructure,” I said, and Kori looked up at me, drawn from her thoughts by the possibility. “Worst-case scenario—we’ll find out it failed entirely. Which means Kenley’s still alive and Julia has her. And if it hasn’t failed, I can get information from anyone whose binding was transferred to me.”

  Kori nodded, already pulling her phone from her pocket.

  “I think I can save you a lot of trouble on that front.”

  Ian whirled toward the new voice as Kori stood, and they were both already aiming guns at the man-shaped shadow in the short hallway before it even occurred to me to draw my weapon.

  “Relax. I’m here to help.” Mitch stepped into the dimly lit living room, but no one relaxed. No guns were holstered.

  Kori made a show of flipping the safety switch on her gun. “Go out the way you came in, or I will blow your brains out the back of your head.”

  Mitch shrugged, still looking at me as he answered her. “That would make it hard for me to tell you what I know.”

  “Wait. Let’s hear him out.” If he really had information, we needed it. Badly.

  “He’s not bound to you anymore, Sera.” Ian glanced at me briefly, but his aim at Mitch never wavered. “He could be lying. He could be here to kill you.”

  “I could,” Mitch confirmed with another shrug. “But that’s more work than I’m willing to do without a direct order or the promise of a paycheck, and since I’m a free man now...I’m actually on my way out of town. Which was your suggestion.”

  “Then why are you here? How’d you know we’d be here?” I moved to stand between Kori and Ian, one hand on my own holstered gun, but the added threat wasn’t necessary. Either of them could blow him into several pieces before I could draw, much less aim.

  “I’m here because I made a mistake after we parted ways, and I want to fix it. And I didn’t know for sure that you’d be here. It was an educated guess.”

  “Educated?” Ian said.

  “Yeah. That mistake I mentioned? After I left you guys on the east side yesterday, I went back to Julia.”

  “Why?” I couldn’t make sense of it. Why would a free man go back to the woman who’d held his chains? And why would that woman let him live when she’d killed everyone else I’d freed?

  “Because I’ve been bound to the Towers since I was nineteen years old. I wasn’t highly valued or promoted very quickly, but syndicate life is all I know, and my talents hold no value in any other line of work. When you let me go, I didn’t understand what you were giving me. I felt as if I’d been thrown out on my ass with nowhere to go. So I went back to what I knew.”

  “Why didn’t she kill you?” Kori demanded, gaze narrowed in suspicion we all seemed to share.

  “Because I didn’t tell her what you did. Fortunately, she never actually asked me if my binding was converted. She only asked if I’d gotten a text from any of you, and my answer to that was an honest ‘no.’”

  “So she thinks you’re still bound to her?” Ian didn’t lower his aim, but he no longer looked likely to shoot in the next few seconds.

  “Yeah. I figured that was the safest bet.”

  “So you knew we’d be here because you knew how Julia got Kris?”

  “I was here when she took him. I knew you’d follow him eventually and my plan was to wait for you here—half an hour would have been my limit, since I’m on my way out of town—and as fortune would have it, here you are. No waiting necessary.”

  “He’s lying,” Kori said. “We should kill him.”

  “Let’s hear what he has to say first,” I said. “We can always kill him afterward.”

  Ian glanced at me in surprise, but Kori just looked mollified. “Fine.” She gestured at his torso with her free hand. “But first, strip.”

  Mitch frowned. “Strip?”

  “Down to your shorts,” Ian added. “The TSA has X-rays. We only have our eyes.”

  Grumbling beneath his breath about how ungrateful we were, Mitch pulled his shirt over his head, then dropped it on the floor. Next he took off his shoes and tossed them into the corner, on Ian’s orders. His pants were the last to go, and when he stood in only a pair of green boxer briefs, Kori made him turn a full circle, so we could see that he was unarmed. And had chicken legs.

  “Okay.” Ian lowered his aim, but kept his gun at the ready. “Talk fast.”

  Mitch scowled at Kori, who refused to lower her gun. “You just got a text from Julia, right? From your sister’s phone?”

  I started to nod, but one glance from Kori stopped me, and I realized that the flow of information would only go one way.

  “Fine. Don’t answer.” Mitch shrugged. “I know you got a text, because I saw her send it. But the information she sent is false. Kris isn’t at that warehouse, and neither is she. It’s a trap.”

  “We know,” I said, and Kori frowned at me, which is when I realized I’d confirmed that we had received that text.

  “How do you know?”

  “Julia would never give away her position.”

  “Well, fortunately for you, I would. She’s at the Eight Street warehouse. Your brother and sister are both with her.”

  My pulse leaped at the thought—could we really get them both back in one shot?—but Kori only frowned. “Why would she keep both her eggs in one basket?”
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  “Because it’s the only basket she has. Your mass texting initiative worked. She only has a handful of employees left. You’ve practically won already. Why do you think I’m leaving?”

  “You’re deserting the sinking ship...” Kori’s frown became a sneer of contempt. “Like any rat would do.”

  “Fuck you.” But Mitch’s profanity just sounded silly, with him still in his underwear. “I’ve paid my debt.” He bent to pick up his clothes, then met my gaze boldly. “Do what you want with the information—I don’t give a shit anymore. I’m out of here.”

  “Don’t move.” Ian aimed at Mitch’s head, and Mitch froze. “Ladies? Verdict?”

  Kori glanced at me, and I hid the jolt of glee surging through me over the fact that she was consulting me about a strategic decision. “He did pay his debt.” With information that may or may not prove valid.

  “Fine.” Kori turned back to Mitch and lowered her aim to his feet. “Let the rat scurry into his corner.”

  Mitch glared at her, but wasted no time retrieving his shoes. Then he backed into the dark hall, and a second later I felt his absence, though I hadn’t actually seen him disappear.

  “So, now what?” I asked as Ian and Kori holstered their guns.

  “Now we rally the troops.” Kori pulled her phone from her pocket, ready to dial. “If Julia really is at the Eighth Street warehouse, she’s about to wish she’d preceded her brothers into the afterlife.”

  I stared at the Curtis brothers while she made her first call, recruiting friends and allies to our purpose, thinking about Julia, and how her death was so long overdue.

  Better late than never...

  Twenty-One

  Kris

  My eyes opened, then closed again before the world could come into focus. Two half-blinks later, I managed to keep them open, but then exposure to the bright light brought pain roaring to life all over my body.

  The headache was the worst. The pain at the back of my skull was sharp and intense, but another pain mirrored it behind my forehead, dull but persistent. A sure sign that I had a concussion—that my brain had been bounced around by whoever had hit me from behind.

  But for another couple of seconds, I couldn’t remember actually being hit. Or where that had happened. All I knew was that I was now tied to a chair, my hands behind my back, my wrists already chafed by my bonds.

  Having been in a similar position once before, I already knew that panicking would be a very bad idea. My energy would be better spent finding a way to free myself.

  “Good morning, sunshine,” a familiar voice said, and when I looked up to find Julia Tower watching me from a folding chair four feet away, the rest of my memories slid into place.

  A dark apartment.

  The Curtis brothers, one dead, one tied up.

  Then something had hit me from behind, and as I’d crumpled to the floor, struggling to keep my eyes open, someone had stepped up behind Chase Curtis and pulled a knife across his throat.

  He’d died choking on his own blood as I lost consciousness.

  I’d failed Sera again.

  “Time to wake up now,” Julia sang in a falsely cheerful voice, tapping pointy-toed, high-heeled shoes on the stained concrete floor, and I forced my eyes to focus. “You and I are going to have a little chat.”

  “I have nothing to say to you until you send Kenley home.” My voice was hoarse, and my throat was sore, and I wondered briefly if someone had tried to choke me while I was unconscious. Or maybe my throat had dried out from lack of use. How long had I been out?

  Julia made a show of sniffing the air, which was completely unnecessary for Reading. “That smells like a lie.” Her forehead furrowed, perfectly manicured eyebrows dipping in disappointment with me. “Doesn’t matter, though. I didn’t expect you to cooperate without the proper motivation. Which is why we’ve brought your sister in to help motivate you.” She gestured with one hand, and movement to my left drew my gaze toward a typically beefy guard as he pulled a curtain back from the wall to reveal a long window.

  Beyond the window, Kenley sat in a folding chair, in an otherwise empty room, which had probably once been an office. She was blindfolded, hands bound behind her back just like mine, and her head was slumped as if she was sleepy. But she looked otherwise unhurt.

  My relief at seeing her intact was accompanied by a mental asterisk and the certainty that that fact was about to change. Why else would Julia show me my sister?

  “When Korinne was still in our company, there was nothing she wouldn’t do to protect the baby of the family, and I’m betting the same goes for you.” Julia glanced from Kenley to me, her neatly painted lips curled in derision. “The Daniels’ family really believes that blood is thicker than water. Doesn’t it?”

  “That’s an odd criticism coming from a woman who had her own brother murdered.” I glanced at the guards stationed around the room, hoping for a reaction, but none of them even blinked, that I could tell.

  “They already know.” Julia crossed her ankles beneath her folding chair. “Most of them don’t care. Jake wasn’t exactly loved by most of his employees. Those who do object to his timely demise are prohibited from expressing their displeasure by the contracts binding them to me.”

  I frowned as what she’d said sank in. “She isn’t Jake Tower’s heir,” I called, loud enough to be heard throughout the room. No one reacted.

  “They know that, too. These are all my men.”

  “New hires?” I didn’t think she’d answer. I was wrong. In fact, she seemed quite forthcoming, which probably meant she was proud of herself.

  “Some of them.” Julia smoothed her suit jacket over the blue blouse beneath. “Others were on Jake’s staff, most of which knows all about Sera’s surprise inheritance, thanks to the curse of instant communication.”

  “So glad to hear the mass texting worked.” Surely proof that Sera was smarter than her aunt.

  “Not as well as you might think. Thanks to your baby sister’s generous blood donation, I’ve spent the past three days transferring bindings from Sera to me. Starting with the gunmen in this room. None of those newly bound employees were affected in the slightest by your wireless campaign.”

  “That’s not possible.” I gave my arms an experimental tug, but the bindings held tight. And they felt sharp, more like a zip tie than a rope. The irony there was that they’d probably gotten the damn thing out of my pocket. “Kenni’s blood can’t be used to bind someone without her will attached to it.” And there was no way in hell that Kenley wanted to give Julia Tower any more power than she already had. “You’re lying.”

  “If I were, you would never know it. But as it happens, there’s no need for lies. Kenley’s will didn’t seal the bindings. Mine did.” Julia watched me, waiting to see if I could connect the dots on my own.

  Kenley’s blood, but Julia’s will...

  Horror washed over me, and the room seemed to spin—the result of my entire world being knocked off-kilter. It shouldn’t have been possible. “A transfusion? You gave yourself Kenley’s blood?”

  “Only a little.” Julia shrugged, and the casual gesture looked strange on her. “Honestly, I got lucky. If we’d been incompatible blood types, the transfusion would have been very risky for me. But I had little choice, thanks to you and Jake’s bastard daughter.”

  “You had a choice.” I tried to move my legs, and discovered that my ankles were tied to the legs of the chair. “You could have chosen not to be a maniacal bitch.”

  “Trust me, my way was easier.”

  “So, what, you took a transfusion of Kenley’s blood, then sealed the new contracts yourself?” I said, and she nodded, looking more than a little proud of herself. But I could see what she was trying not to show me. There was a reason we were in a warehouse rather than in the Tower basement. �
�This is all you got away with, isn’t it? Just these men? You didn’t have time to reseal most of the bindings. Sera still holds them, doesn’t she?”

  Julia’s scowl could have peeled the paint off a car. “Not for long. You’re going to bring her to me.”

  “Never gonna happen.” My legs had less freedom than my arms. By my best guess, they were duct-taped to the chair legs, over my jeans.

  “Oh, it will. But first, I need a little information from you, so we’ll all be prepared for my darling niece’s arrival.” Julia recrossed her legs in the opposite direction. “Does Sera have a Skill?”

  I stared at her in silence.

  “Are you really going to make me repeat the question?”

  I shrugged as best I could with my hands tied at my back. “I don’t see what good that would do.”

  “It wouldn’t do you any good at all. But I’m sure your sister would appreciate your candor right about now.” She made another off-hand gesture, and one of the guards turned and opened the door he stood next to. A moment later, through the glass, I saw the door to Kenley’s room open, and he stepped inside.

  “You touch her, and I’ll kill you,” I spat, openly struggling against my bindings now, though I knew I had no shot at breaking them.

  Julia gave me a small smile. “You’re going to try to kill me anyway, and I have no intention of touching your sister. But Lincoln has been looking forward to it all day. So, you answer my questions, or he’s going to give your sister something to cry about.”

  He wouldn’t kill her. Julia couldn’t let that happen, without losing every binding Kenley had sealed. But he could hit her. Or cut her. Or burn her. And Julia would let him.

  It killed me that I hadn’t been able to protect Kori from Jake’s fury—I hadn’t even known she was in danger until it was nearly over. But Kori was a survivor—a fighter with tough skin and even tougher insides.