Blood Ties

by Mari Mancusi

  “No, no!” I interrupt quickly. The last thing I need is for them to go down there and discover the unconscious real Elizabeth tied up in the basement and realize that the girl they’ve been giving an intervention to is actually a shape-shifting fairy with bad acting skills and no drug problem whatsoever. “I’ll get it.” I turn to Jayden, who is creeping me out by staring at me with big puppy-dog eyes. It’s a look I’m well familiar with because he used to use it only when looking at me. I mean, yes, technically he’s still only looking at me this time around. But, like, Elizabeth me, not me, me.

  Which, truth be told, makes me a little sad.

  “Do you girls smell something?” Katie asks suddenly, wrinkling her nose in distaste. “It smells like... blood.”

  Susan nods. “Really sweet blood.”

  Crap. My ankle wound probably broke open again. Thankfully they can’t see it, due to my disguise...

  “Oh, I think that stupid fairy girl is wandering around again,” I reply breezily. “Maybe you two should go after her and put her in her place.”

  The two girls look at one another. “Maybe we should...” Susan says.

  “Yeah, she can’t be just waltzing around here with an open sore like that,” I remind them. “It’s so not hygienic.”

  “Do you want to come with?” Katie asks me, as she rises from her seat. But I wave her off.

  “No, no. I’ll stay with Jayden here,” I reply. “Keep him company.”

  The girls erupt into knowing giggles. “I bet you will,” Susan teases.

  “Have... fun...” adds Katie.

  And with that, thankfully the two girls are out the door, leaving me alone with Jayden.

  I turn to him. “Hey,” I say, dropping the accent. “So we need to get—”

  But I can’t finish my sentence. Namely because suddenly I find Jayden’s mouth on top of my own. Oh my God. He’s kissing me. He’s really kissing me. His soft lips hungrily moving against my own, exploring, tasting, sending shivers down to my very core. His hands reach into my hair, his fingers tangling in my curls.

  Except I don’t really have curls. And the lips he thinks he’s kissing are not my own.

  I shove him backward with such a force that he falls off the sofa. He looks up at me with wounded eyes as I rise to my feet, my hands on my hips, glaring down at him with fury.

  “So, what? Are you guys, like, a couple now?” I demand, a flurry of emotions raging through me, too many to reconcile.

  He scrambles to his feet, his face blazing. “I’m sorry,” he babbles. “I just thought... from what you said before... I mean, I didn’t mean to...”

  It’s all I can do not to shove him again. So hard he never gets up. “You dumbass,” I rage. “I’m Sunny, not your girlfriend, Elizabeth.”

  He squints at me, uncomprehending. God, boys are so stupid. Always thinking with their you-know- whats.

  “Sunny?” he repeats dumbly, his eyes still glazed over and lips still puffy from our kiss.

  I shake my head, disgusted. “Yes. It’s me. I just shape-shifted into Elizabeth so I could get the other girls to leave. It’s one of my fairy powers.”

  “But... why?”

  “’Cause you’re in danger, Jayden. And I’ve got to get you out of here.”

  “What? No, I’m not. Everything’s fine. In fact, it’s been more than fine. The girls are so nice and I’ve been learning all about becoming a vampire...”

  “Are you listening to a word I say?” I cry. “Your life is in danger. If you don’t leave with me now, you’ll be killed.”

  “But I thought vampires were immortal...”

  I grit my teeth. Half of me just wants to leave him here at this point. But no. I have to be the bigger person.

  “Look, lover boy, let’s just say this so-called safe house isn’t as safe as one might think,” I reply, trying to still my temper. After all, he’s not doing anything wrong. He’s a single guy who likes a single girl and wants to hook up with her.

  So why do I feel so betrayed?

  I shake my head, trying to stay focused. “Any minute now, Tanner is going to come in here with your blood transfusion. Except this one will be laced with poison.” I pause, then add, “They want to kill you, Jayden.”

  “But why would they want to do that? Why not just let me become a vampire?” he asks. “I mean, Elizabeth’s already suggested I come stay with them up north and join their coven.”

  Of course she has. “You just have to trust me,” I reply. “We can talk more once we’re free of this place.”

  He’s silent, and for a moment I truly think he’s going to turn down my offer of rescue. But eventually he nods his head, though still not looking me in the eye. “Okay,” he says. “Lead the way.”

  And so I do, casually wandering through the halls with him, passing various vampire guests (who I catch sniffing the air suspiciously, but thankfully, they don’t attack) until we reach the front door.

  “Are you ready?” I ask, pulling out the Mini Cooper key I absconded from Elizabeth’s pocket after knocking her out.

  “As I’ll ever be.”

  We make a run for the car, jumping in and peeling out of the driveway. As we go, we see Tanner running out the front door, waving the cup, a panicked look on his face.

  “Master Jayden!” I hear him cry. “You need to take your blood!”

  But I just step on the gas. Once we’re a safe distance away, I shake off the glamour, returning to my own body again. Jayden stares at me with wide eyes. “It really is you!” he cries.

  “Yes, I told you that.”

  He slumps back in his seat. “Which means I kissed you, not her,” he moans. “This is so embarrassing. Don’t tell Magnus, okay? I don’t want to piss him off.”

  I scowl, my mind flashing back to the discussion I overheard with Tanner and Lucedio. Did Magnus really order Jayden to be killed? I want to trust that he wouldn’t do something like that. But he’s lied to me so many times before... And if he didn’t think there was any way for me to find out...

  I realize Jayden’s still waiting for an answer.

  “It’s no big deal,” I snarl, involuntarily reaching up to touch my fingers to my lips, still swollen from the accidental kiss. “Just don’t do it again.”

  But even as I say the words, I wonder if I really mean them...

  12

  “Sunny!”

  I run through the Tokyo security exit, throwing my arms around my sister in uncontained excitement. She squeezes me back, so tightly, for a moment I feel like I’m a half who’s just managed to find her whole again.

  “Oh, Rayne, it’s so good to see you!” I cry. “Thank you so much for meeting me.”

  “Of course!” she exclaims. “How could I not, after what you told me on the phone? My God, what was Magnus thinking, leaving you there like that—with those horrible English bitches? Sometimes I do not know what goes on in that vampire’s head.”

  Her words sober my enthusiasm. I’ve been wrestling with questions throughout the twelve-hour flight and I still haven’t come up with any solid answers. Half of me wants to believe there has to be some other kind other explanation—like that Tanner was acting on his own, pretending to be following Magnus’s orders or something. But why would the bodyguard bother to risk his hard-won Blood Coven membership and full-time job just to end some inconsequential vampire’s life? It doesn’t add up.

  Unfortunately, the only other option, however, is that Magnus lied to me once again, after swearing he was trustworthy and actually getting mad at me for not trusting him. Sure, he probably had good intentions, knowing I’d never be able to let Jayden go without some kind of closure, even if that meant his actual death. Knowing him like I do, I can just picture his thought process now—realizing that finding the Grail in Tokyo would be like finding a needle in a haystack and that it would be kindest for all involved to just end things quietly and painlessly. So we could all move on. Except, you know, the guy he basically murdered in cold blood.


  Seriously, if he lied to me again—even if he truly believed it was for my own good—if he ordered the death of my friend—he and I are done. Forever. End of story. No discussion.

  “Hey, Rayne,” Jayden says, walking up to the two of us. My sister regards him with a critical once-over. “Hey, Jayden,” she replies coolly. “You behave yourself on the flight? No snacking on the other passengers?”

  Jayden holds up his hands and grins. “Total Vamp Scout,” he says. “Though, to be honest, I wasn’t very prepared. After all, Sunny yanked me out of Vampire Manor so fast I couldn’t even make myself a nice to- go cup.” He chuckles at his own joke. At least he seems to be feeling better, though he still refuses to look me in the eye.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll find you some blood about town,” Rayne assures him. “I’d lend you my donor, but I’m guessing you and Sunny need to keep a low profile here.”

  I nod. “Yes. If Magnus finds out I defied him and came here, he’ll be so pissed,” I tell her. Not to mention it would give him another opportunity to get rid of the competition. “Best to keep it all on the down-low.”

  “No problem,” Rayne replies. “First we need to get you to your hotel. The vampires are all staying at this super amazing Park Hyatt in Shinjuku. It’s where that old Bill Murray movie Lost in Translation was filmed. Completely luxe, with the most amazing views fifty- something stories up. You would have loved it.”

  “Sounds sweet. But we’re not on vacation. We just need a place to crash.”

  “I know, I know.” She waves me off. “You can’t afford it anyway. And I already maxed out my personal credit card getting you your flights. Normally I’d have used my Blood Coven Black Amex, of course, but I didn’t want Magnus’s moronic secretary to see the charges and put two and two together.”

  “Right. So where are we going to stay then?” She grins. “I scored you an awesome ryokan.” “A re-what?”

  “A ryokan. It’s like a traditional Japanese B and B. They originated back in 1603, during the Edo period.”

  “Please tell me they’ve renovated since then...”

  “Come on,” she says. “Grab your bags. We need to catch the next bullet train into town. It’s like a forty- five-minute commute.”

  “How many days have you been here again?” I ask, impressed by her working knowledge of a city whose language looks like a five-year-old’s scribbles to me.

  “Only two,” she confesses. “But I’ve been reading about Japan my whole life. It’s only the coolest country ever, you know. So much culture, history...”

  She’s not fooling me whatsoever. “Um... Since when have you cared about culture? Or history, for that matter?”

  She grins saucily. “Touché. To be honest, it’s really all about the cosplay.”

  “The what?”

  “You’ll see...”

  About an hour and a half later, we finally figure out our way via subway to the ryokan, which is nestled in a traditional urban Japanese neighborhood called Asakusa. The neighborhood is a fascinating mix of old and new and I can’t stop staring at everything we pass. The main drag, I suppose, is not that different from New York City—except for the billion bicyclers crowding the streets—but behind it, the streets are narrow and crowded with a mixture of curio shops and tiny sushi bars alongside smoky karaoke booths and loud clanging “pachinko” parlors—where, according to Rayne, Japanese businessmen go to gamble. Neon lights blaze, intermixed with softer Japanese lanterns. There is also an obscene amount of vending machines, selling not only things like cigarettes, but girlie magazines, lingerie, and alcohol. Which should make things seem seedy. But actually everything’s so freaking clean and bright it’s hard to smell any degradation. For example, though there are zero trash cans anywhere in sight, there’s also not a scrap of trash on the ground.

  “Asakusa is best known for its Sensô-ji temple,” Rayne, my tour guide, explains, as we take a right onto a narrow street, then an immediate left. “So you get a mix of tourists and neighborhood people here.” She looks down at her map, then up at the building in front of us. “We’re here!”

  I have to admit, the ryokan is charming on the outside, like a quaint apartment building nestled on a quiet residential street. On its front porch is an old- fashioned rickshaw and I wonder if anyone actually still uses those today or if it’s just a tourist thing like the bike rickshaws you see everywhere in New York and other cities.

  We step inside the front door, into a small but cozy lobby, and are greeted warmly by the Okami, who is basically the landlady—or manager of the place. In halting English she welcomes us to the ryokan and has us sign the guest book.

  “First time in Tokyo?” she asks kindly, making me immediately feel at home.

  “Yes,” I admit. “All of us.”

  “You need something, you let me know.”

  After we sign in, she hands me a long wooden bar with a key attached, much like the bathroom passes we get at school, and introduces us to an elderly Japanese gentleman who, she says, will show us to our room. We head up a tiny elevator and down a hall decorated with ancient-looking artwork and sculptures and stop outside a sliding wooden door. I grin at Rayne. This is pretty cool, I have to admit.

  “Please. Your shoes,” he instructs.

  We take off our shoes and slip into wooden sandals. Then he slides open the door to our room. I’m exhausted at this point and cannot wait to throw myself onto a big cozy...

  Um...

  “Where’s the furniture?” I demand as we step into a room not much bigger than the size of a double bed. Which would be fine, I suppose, if there were actually a double bed there. Instead, there’s only a low wooden table on a woven straw floor, surrounded by multicolored cushions. I crane my neck to search out an actual bedroom—thinking maybe Rayne sprung for a suite—but all I see is a tiny sci-fi-looking toilet in the next room.

  “Thanks,” Rayne says to the host. “I think we’re all set here.” He bows and makes his exit.

  “What the hell, Rayne?” I demand, looking around the room.

  “I told you, this is a ryokan,” my sister reminds me. As if that should make me feel better. “It’s a traditional Japanese—”

  “Yeah, yeah, I get it,” I interrupt grumpily. I’m tired and frustrated and can’t believe there’s no place to sleep. “But why no bed? Didn’t traditional Japanese people have to get a good night’s sleep, too? And why is it so tiny?”

  Rayne rolls her eyes. “It’s a small island, Sunny. They’ve got to make room for everyone.”

  Right.

  “Whoa, that toilet is cool,” Jayden says, coming out of the bedroom. “There’s, like, a water fountain button on it.”

  “It’s a built-in bidet,” Rayne informs him. “So I hope to God you didn’t drink out of it.”

  “And where’s the shower?” I demand, peeking into the bathroom.

  “Um.” Rayne bites her lower lip. “Well, traditionally they used public baths...”

  Oh my God, I am seriously going to kill her.

  “Look, it’s not that bad,” she protests. “You move the table aside when you want to sleep. And there are futons—here in this closet—that you pull out and sleep on.” She looks up at me, her eyes shining. “Come on, you have to admit, it’s kind of cool, right? Like you’re living in authentic ancient Japan.”

  “Please. Cool is sleeping at the Park Hyatt on a fluffy bed with Egyptian cotton linens,” I point out. “Not glorified indoor camping with no shower.”

  Rayne scowls. “Where’s your sense of adventure?”

  “Sorry, I guess the dog ate it, along with half my ankle while I was narrowly escaping for my life back in England.”

  From out the window we can hear a man burst into very bad karaoke song. Awesomeness.

  “Look, you just need a good night’s sleep is all.” Rayne points out the obvious. “The sun’s almost up, after all, and Jayden looks like he’s about to pass out.”

  Jayden stops, mid-yawn, snapping his m
outh closed. “Sorry,” he says sheepishly.

  “Okay, fine,” I say with a scowl. “We’ll stay here for now. But you’ve got to find us a regular non- traditional hotel for tomorrow. Also some kind of blood supply for Jayden. Or else he’s going to end up snacking on that karaoker out there. Which, I suppose, wouldn’t be totally awful, come to think of it.”

  “What about giving him some of yours to tide him over?”

  I glance down at my bruised and battered arm. “I would. But one, we left England in such a hurry I didn’t have time to retrieve the draining kit. And two, my supply’s more than a bit low. I’m thinking I might like to save a tiny bit for myself to use on those pesky little bodily functions like heartbeat and circulation and stuff.”

  “Right.” Rayne plops down on a cushion and plugs in the electric teakettle on the table. “Well, I can’t get any from the Blood Coven, that’s for sure. It’s tightly rationed when you’re overseas and they’d be sure to ask questions. What we really need is some kind of Blood Bar. Like the one I infiltrated back in the spring.”

  I sit down across from her, cross-legged. “Do they have those here?” I ask eagerly, forgetting for a moment I’m mad at her. “Do you know where one is?” Maybe my sister’s nerdy Japan fetish will actually pay off for once.

  But no, she shakes her head. “Let me do a little Googling,” she says, pulling her iPad out of her bag. “Oh, cool, is that ancient Japanese Wi-Fi you’re logging into there?” I ask sarcastically.

  “Shush, you Ugly American, and drink your damn tea.”

  I glance over at Jayden, who’s slunk into a corner of the room, staring down at his hands. “Are you okay?” I ask.

  He looks up at me with hollow eyes. “Just... hungry...” he confesses. “You may want to keep your distance.”

  My heart aches for him and suddenly I can’t be mad anymore. He’s gone through so much in the past few days. “I’m sorry,” I say, crawling over to him. “I know it’s been an awful week. But I promise we’re going to figure this out, okay? I’m not going to give up. We’ll get you turned back into a human, if it’s the last thing I do.”