Vampire Bound: Book Two

by R. A. Steffan

  The puzzle pieces slammed into place hard enough to shatter something inside me. Albigard. Leonides’ Fae acquaintance. His friend, who’d returned to Dhuinne and disappeared—presumed imprisoned, or dead.

  Dear god.

  The Fae’s eyes snapped open, and I stumbled back another step, shocked. Like the cat-sidhe’s, his eyes were vibrant green. The same shade as Teague’s. The same shade as Oren’s. Bloodshot and unfocused, they wavered for a moment before fixing on Leonides. I could scarcely credit that he was still alive, considering the horrific injuries the thorns had inflicted.

  “Get this iron off me,” he grated, his voice every bit as rusty as the metal crown and collar he was wearing.

  The slight movement of his chest as he forced out the words was enough to send fresh blood trickling from the places where the thorns impaled him. In that instant, I knew with utter certainty that we were about to try and rescue him, despite the blatant foolhardiness of such an attempt.

  We were in a public square, far from safety or the possibility of escape, with no allies. Already, some of the Fae passing by on the road were stopping and pointing, their attention caught by Leonides climbing onto the plinth.

  The vampire clenched his jaw and ripped the spiked iron crown from Albigard’s head. I climbed onto the other edge of the plinth, out of reach of most of the thorns, but still close enough to see that the collar was welded shut, and had no clasp or hinge. Leonides grabbed it in both hands.

  My memory was instantly transported back to the barred gate across the entrance to the Mound of the Hostages in Ireland—had it really only been yesterday? Rather than trying to pick the padlock holding it shut, Leonides had torn the metal latch from the stone with a single yank.

  He braced, the muscles of his shoulders bulging as he jerked the collar open, cracking it in two. Albigard let out a cry that was half a sob as the spikes pulled free of his neck, his breath subsiding into wheezing gasps. Leonides hurled the broken pieces away, his hands running over the nearest thorn piercing the Fae, looking for a way to remove it. The vicious plant blackened under his touch, but did not bend or break.

  “Don’t,” Albigard’s agonized rasp froze Leonides’ movements instantly.

  “I’m sorry,” the vampire said. “But we need to—”

  But the Fae’s pain-filled gaze had landed on me, staring as though he could look straight through me. My breath caught.

  “Adept,” he croaked. “My earring. Take it. A gift... for you.”

  I was confused for only a moment before his intent registered. He was Fae, and he wanted me to accept a gift.

  What happens if I accept a Fae gift? I’d asked Edward, when we were planning this crazy expedition.

  You give the Fae who gifted it to you a connection to your soul, he’d told me. Depending on their particular aptitudes, that could mean the ability to track you anywhere you go, or even to summon you. Since you have magic, it could also extend to draining your power to bolster theirs.

  Albigard wanted to draw magic from me to free himself. Would it work? Was I nuts to even consider it?

  This was Leonides’ friend. He’d cared enough about this Fae to come to Dhuinne, where vampires were feared and hated, just so he could try to find out what had happened to him. And what had happened to him was... horrendous.

  I could not leave a good man to be tortured like this. Not if I wanted to live with myself afterward.

  “Albigard,” Leonides said warningly. “Don’t even think about—”

  I lunged forward, careless of the thorns tearing at my jacket, and plucked the emerald earring from Albigard’s pointed ear.

  “Vonnie, what the hell!” Leonides snapped.

  Jumping down from the platform, I pulled the plain gold stud from my left ear and let it drop, replacing it with the simple hook of the gifted Fae earring.

  “I accept your gift,” I told the trapped man. “So... please try not to kill me, all right? I have a son.”

  “Jesus fuck!” Leonides dropped down after me, as livid as I’d ever seen him. But it was already too late. “Albigard, I swear to god—”

  Albigard’s lips drew back in a smile or a snarl, revealing canines that might not have been as impressive as a vampire’s fangs, but that were still noticeably sharper than human. His eyes landed on me again, narrowing. I could hear shouts of alarm coming from the guards in front of the building we’d just left.

  “Open your focus, adept,” Albigard said. “Draw from Dhuinne.”

  I caught my breath. But... I couldn’t draw from Dhuinne. I was human—Dhuinne’s magic would destroy me. I opened my mouth to warn him of that, but before the words made it out, there was an almighty wrenching sensation inside of me, and all of my magic was just... gone.

  It was gone, leaving me no defense against the howling maelstrom of the Fae realm. I yelped in surprise, scrabbling for my pendant as though it could somehow save me. Distantly, I was aware of Leonides cursing; of guards shouting and running toward us.

  Draw from Dhuinne, Albigard had said.

  Panicked, and with no other real option, I focused on funneling Dhuinne’s magic through the pendant, rather than simply letting it crash over me like a tsunami. The wrenching draw from somewhere else came again, vacuuming up the raw power as fast as I could drag it through the garnet necklace.

  It burned as it passed through me.

  Leonides slammed into the first guard that came at us, both of them going down in a tangle of limbs. I swayed on my feet, my vision tilting crazily. Albigard growled, glowing light pouring from the wounds where the thorns pierced him. I squinted against the glare, watching as the plants holding him suspended began to recede, shrinking away from the power streaming out of him. Perhaps it was my wavering vision, but it almost looked like his tattoos were moving—crawling across his skin like snakes.

  I fell to my knees on the unforgiving cobbles, still clutching Mabel’s pendant. It felt like being in a hurricane... as if I was one of those TV weather forecasters being blown sideways as they tried to stay in front of the camera. I couldn’t focus on what the brutal magic pouring through me might be doing to my body. If I did, I’d panic, and immediately be consumed whole.

  Leonides threw off the guard he was grappling with, and leapt toward me almost faster than I could follow. An instant later, he had his arms wrapped around me, pulling me against him.

  He was trying to shelter me beneath his aura, I realized distantly. But this time, it wasn’t helping. With the force of Dhuinne’s magic focused tightly through my pendant, and with Albigard pulling from the other side, the power cut right through his protection, not even slowing down.

  “Albigard!” he roared, clutching me like he was afraid I’d be torn apart.

  Through watering eyes, I saw the Fae fall free of the retreating thorns, landing on bare feet and dropping to one hand and one knee. With a roar of his own, he staggered upright and flung an arm toward the guards bearing down on us. The armed Fae were instantly blown backward by a blast of elemental magic, thrown to the ground.

  Albigard whirled toward us clumsily, gesturing in the air with a circular motion. A portal burned into existence right next to us.

  “Go!” he shouted, and Leonides scooped me up, launching both of us through the tear in reality.

  My stomach turned over as our surroundings changed, and Leonides skidded to a halt with me still in his arms. Past the screaming vortex of magic pouring through me, I vaguely recognized the hill leading to the gate to Earth. Two dozen shocked guards stood in front of us, their hands scrabbling for weapons as they gaped at the unexpected entrance.

  Albigard stalked through the portal, which snapped closed behind him. An eerie wind lifted the matted tangles of his hair until they floated around his head like snakes. With a forceful gesture, he slammed his hands downward. The ground beneath us rippled, making Leonides stagger and sending the guards sprawling.

  Vines snaked upward from the dirt with unnatural speed, winding around the Fae
guards’ limbs and trapping them. Albigard prowled past us to the shimmering veil that formed the gate to Earth, seen from this side. Still drawing power from me, he slapped his palm against the wavering barrier and muttered words beneath his breath.

  The veil parted around his hand. We slipped through the gap an instant later, and fell into darkness. Bile rose in my throat at the dizzying transition, and when we landed on Earth, my ears rang with the sudden lack of Dhuinne’s howling power pouring through me. The garnet pendant cracked in my hand with a sound like breaking glass. I whimpered, feeling as though someone had been pumping acid through my veins.

  “Quickly,” Albigard wheezed, as the firehose of magic pouring out of me and into him abruptly cut off.

  Another portal wavered into existence in the near-blackness of the Mound of the Hostages. Leonides lunged through the sputtering oval of fire, holding me with one hand and dragging Albigard along with the other.

  It was horrible. I felt as though I was being stretched like toffee and twisted into a knot at the same time. Leonides’ feet hit something solid and we jarred to a stop. The portal collapsed with a sharp snap behind us. My vision spun crazily, but I dimly recognized the entry hall of Leonides’ penthouse apartment.

  A dull thump drew my fractured attention to the space beside us, where Albigard had just collapsed his knees. My stomach turned over, and I leaned frantically to the side, just in time to vomit all over Leonides’ pristine, marble-tiled floor.

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  LEONIDES HAULED ME to the nearest chair and poured me into it. Then he patted down my jacket pockets until he found the flask of vampire blood he’d given me earlier, and pulled it out.

  “Drink this,” he ordered. “No arguments.”

  He pushed the flask into my shaking hands, before turning back to the entryway where Albigard still huddled in a heap, panting sharply. I heard the Fae groan as Leonides levered him upright and dragged him to the sofa across from me, lowering him onto it. When he was settled on his side, still breathing raggedly, the vampire rounded on both of us.

  “Okay. What the actual fuck!” he snarled, and... oh, yeah, Leonides was pissed at us.

  I immediately became very interested in the flask, holding my breath and cautiously tipping it up to my lips. Unfortunately, if I’d thought blood was hard to choke down in the normal course of things, it was ten times as bad right after you’d puked. I gagged on the first swallow, barely choking it down.

  Albigard looked up at Leonides through the veil of his tangled hair, dark smudges of exhaustion heavy beneath his eyes. “It worked, did it not?” he rasped. “I fail to see the issue.”

  I screwed up my face and managed another couple of swallows from the flask, feeling the vampire blood begin to do its work on my ravaged body.

  “The issue?” Leonides echoed in disbelief. “You son of a—” He cut himself off abruptly, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. “Can they follow us here?”

  “They cannot... trace the portal. But this is... hardly a surprising choice of bolt-hole.”

  The room fell into silence, broken only by Albigard’s pained breathing. I tilted the flask back, forcing down the final mouthful.

  “Jesus Christ.” Leonides’ hand dropped. “Well, it’s not like you’re going anywhere in this state. I’ll... call Rans, I guess.”

  “Oh, good,” Albigard deadpanned. “My day is complete.”

  Apparently, Leonides hadn’t been kidding about Albigard being a bit of an asshole. If I didn’t still feel like I’d been run over by a truck, I would probably be worrying more about the fact that I’d given him a connection to my soul, whatever the hell that even meant.

  Mostly, though, I was stuck on the fact that we were back on Earth, and I hadn’t learned a damned thing of use about Jace, or the other missing kids. That alone was enough to make me wonder where I’d find the strength to ever get out of this chair.

  Leonides muttered something under his breath and disappeared, presumably to retrieve a phone, since ours were sitting in a locked car in a gift shop parking lot in Ireland. He came back a few moments later, wearing a disgruntled expression.

  “No answer from either him or Zorah,” he said. “They’re not at the hotel.”

  My stomach sank, because there was only one other person I could think of to call, and I really, really wasn’t ready to talk to him right now.

  “Len used to be an EMT,” I mumbled.

  “Good point,” Leonides mused, his gaze cutting to Albigard for a moment. “Shit. This oughta be interesting.”

  He dialed, and lifted the phone to his ear a moment later as Len picked up. “Len? I need you at the penthouse. And if you’ve got any medical supplies, bring them. Where are you?”

  An instant later, he jerked the phone several inches away from his face. I could make out the sound of indistinct yelling over the speaker, and I winced.

  “Len.” Leonides’ sharp voice cut across the angry shouting. “She’s here, all right? She’s... not physically hurt.” Which I supposed was technically true, after the vampire blood. “Just get over here as quick as you can, all right?”

  He ended the call, cutting Len off mid-rant. I capped the empty flask and set it on the floor, before leaning my elbows on my knees and burying my face in my hands.

  “This is going to end badly, isn’t it?” I asked, knowing that there was a decent chance I’d managed to pour gasoline all over my friendship with Len and set fire to it.

  Again, Leonides shot a glance at Albigard, who lay curled on his side with his eyes shut. “You don’t know the half of it.”

  * * *

  By the time Len arrived at the penthouse, Leonides had cleaned up the puddle of my vomit, and I’d managed to stagger to the bathroom to rinse out my mouth and splash water on my face.

  I was back in my chair, glumly reassessing every single life choice I’d ever made when Leonides let Len in. He stalked into the living room with a first aid kit tucked under his arm, his gray eyes snapping fire. I cringed a bit when his thunderous expression landed on me, but his gaze slid past me an instant later as his attention caught on the shirtless Fae bleeding all over Leonides’ nice white sofa.

  Len’s face went abruptly blank. “No. Uh-uh. No way.”

  Albigard’s eyes snapped open, and widened.

  “You!” he snarled, his lip curling in an expression of disgust. He rolled to his feet, swaying unsteadily as he glared daggers at Leonides. “How... how dare you bring this creature... into my presence?”

  The Fae took a single, aggressive step forward before his eyes rolled up in his head, and he collapsed to the carpet, unconscious.

  Len stared at the limp heap on the floor for a long moment. “... well, fuck.”

  * * *

  Fifteen minutes later, Leonides and Len had returned Albigard to the sofa. They’d removed his bloodstained leather trousers, and Len threw a towel over his groin as a nod to modesty.

  “So,” I asked. “You two know each other, I take it?”

  “You and me aren’t on speaking terms right now, Red,” he replied, without looking up from the sluggishly bleeding wound in Albigard’s side—one of many where the thorns had pierced him.

  “Where are Zorah and Rans?” I tried.

  “Atlantic City, probably,” he muttered, still not looking away from his reluctant patient.

  Leonides’ gaze landed on him sharply. “What?”

  “Your partner in crime over there collared me right before you two left,” Len said, biting off the words. “Told me to call Zorah if something went wrong while you were playing nice with a demon, and that she’d check in by text twice a day, without fail, until you both got back safely. Then, she texted from the airport to say you were going to some undisclosed location with no cell service, and to ask Zorah to take over the search for Jace if I didn’t hear from her within a week. Obviously, I called Zorah the minute I got the damned message.”

  Leonides raised an eyebrow at me
.

  I narrowed my eyes. “Hey. You might’ve been fine with disappearing and having no one know where we were or when we might be back, but I wasn’t. I needed someone to take over the search if we got captured or killed. I refuse to feel guilty about that.”

  “You think I didn’t have a backup plan in place before we left?” he asked mildly.

  I stared at him, incredulous. “Well, let’s see—since you didn’t tell me you had a backup plan in place, no. No, I fucking didn’t!”

  Len appeared to be doing an impressive job of ignoring us, as he lifted Albigard’s arm to examine another of the holes left by the thorns. The Fae chose that moment to gasp awake, his fingers closing around Len’s wrist, quick as a snake.

  “Unhand me,” he growled.

  Len grimaced, tugging against the grip. “How about I punch you in the fucking face again, instead?” he shot back.

  And... yeah. There was definitely some backstory here that I was missing.

  “Are these wounds going to kill you, asshole?” Len asked, his wrist still trapped in Albigard’s steely hold.

  Albigard sneered at him. “Do I look like I’m dying, human?”

  “You look like you’ve got penetrating wounds from being impaled through most of you major organs, and you should’ve dropped dead the moment it happened—but you obviously didn’t. So if it’s not going to kill you, then you can fuck right the hell off.” He jerked his hand away sharply and stood up. “Get some rest and, I dunno, drink lots of water or something. Or maybe vampire blood, if that shit even works on your kind.”

  Albigard’s eyes narrowed. “I would rather suffer these wounds a thousand times over than drink the blood of a vampire.”

  “Nice,” Leonides said, sotto voce.

  “Yeah, cool. Have fun with that.” Len closed the first aid kit with a snap and picked it up. “I’ll leave you all to it, then—at least until I can be in the same room with you and not want to shout obscenities the whole time. Tell you what—don’t call me; I’ll call you.”

  Guilt pressed a little tighter around my heart as he left without another word, the front door closing behind him with a decisive click.