Crimson Bond

by Amy Patrick

  “Let’s go.” I dragged Abbi back from the doorway. “Let’s just turn around and leave right now before anyone spots us. We’ll leave the Bastion forever, go on the run. I don’t care about the resistance. I don’t care about the human race. I only care about you.”

  She dug her heels in, stopping our motion, and pulled away from me. “What about the Bloodbound? And your vows? I thought you were bound to Imogen. You’re always saying we can never escape her.”

  “My bond with you is the strongest thing I’ve ever felt in my life,” I said. “You are my destiny, Abbi. I’ll do anything to protect you. We may have to stay on the run forever, but I don’t care where I am as long as I’m with you.”

  Her expression was torn. I knew she wanted to be with me, but still her eyes drifted toward the open doors. “What about Shane?”

  “I don’t care about him either. Chances are he’s dead already. There’s no need for us to die, too.”

  “But there’s also a chance he’s still alive. How can I leave him to be slaughtered? How can you?”

  “Easily—if it means keeping you safe.”

  Her face registered shock and horror. “You can’t mean that. The Reece I met and fell in love with was a good guy, a caring person. I could never be with someone who doesn’t care about anyone else.”

  It wasn’t exactly true. I did care—I just cared about Abbi’s life more than all the others combined. And right now hers was in grave danger.

  “You’re all that matters to me,” I said. “I won’t apologize for loving you, and I won’t let you risk your life for a human who’s as good as dead anyway.”

  “I can’t believe what I’m hearing. I made Shane a promise, and I’m going to keep it. I’m going in there—whether you help me or not.”

  She tried to walk away, and I grabbed her hand, tugging her back toward me.

  “Don’t,” I pleaded. “Stay with me, and we’ll leave together. Please, if you love me, just... don’t go in there.”

  “Don’t make this an ultimatum,” she said in return.

  She jerked from my grasp and ran into the room. “Shane,” she yelled as her head turned one way then the other. “Shane, I’m here. Where are you?”

  Throwing up my hands and blowing out a harsh breath, I followed her. I didn’t share her hope that she’d still find the human alive, but I certainly wasn’t going to let Abbi wade into the fray alone.

  In spite of my claim of not caring about the humans, it was impossible not to feel sorry for them once we were in the middle of the bloodbath. What a horrible way to go.

  No one deserved to die this way, not even the guy who’d tried to steal the only girl I’d ever loved.

  Speaking of Shane, I didn’t see him anywhere—not that any of the humans were exactly recognizable at this point. With me close at her heels, Abbi reached the front of the room near the raised platform where Imogen sat.

  The queen calmly observed the spectacle as if it was a garden party and not a portrait of hell’s inmates devouring each other. She wore an expression of delight so acute she almost looked insane. Maybe it was beyond almost.

  When she spotted us, her smile spread. She stood and opened her arms in welcome.

  “The victorious warrior returns.” Her expression soured. “And my dear daughter. Come join the party, children. There’s plenty for everyone.”

  Abbi strode up to her. “Where’s Shane?”

  Imogen’s lips pursed, and she raised one brow, directing a significant glance behind us. “I believe he’s on the dessert table.”

  Abbi and I both whirled around.

  Shane’s body was indeed stretched out on a stone table about thirty feet away. He was motionless and covered in bite marks and streaks of blood. About ten vampires swarmed around him. Who knew how many had already bitten him?

  We were too late. He was either going to turn or die.

  It looked like it was going to be the latter. He was pale, his face and body looking sunken.

  Abbi rushed toward him, pushing away the other vampires. Some of them fought back until Imogen’s order rang through the chamber.

  “Stop. Let her have the boy.”

  The other vampires backed away obediently, and Abbi moved close to Shane. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she catalogued his wounds and brushed his hair back from his unconscious face.

  “Shane. Can you hear me? Shane?” She bit her own wrist, holding the bleeding wound over his still mouth.

  “I’m afraid he’s beyond the point of healing, my dear,” Imogen taunted. “He’s lost quite a bit of blood—almost all of it actually.”

  She descended the stairs and strolled toward us. “You have a choice to make. You can bite him and turn him... or you can let him die.”

  Fire blazed in Abbi’s eyes. “I can’t. I can’t do either of those things. You promised he’d remain unharmed if I did what you wanted, if I helped Reece get in touch with Sadie.”

  Imogen grinned. “But you didn’t keep your end of the bargain, did you?”

  “I tried. Sadie was already dead when we got there. That isn’t my fault.”

  Imogen shrugged. “It isn’t mine either.”

  “Isn’t it?” Abbi demanded.

  Imogen just laughed. “It doesn’t matter. The end result is the same. Besides, his blood smells so lovely, doesn’t it? I’m not sure how you can stand so close and resist it. In fact, I think I might just finish him off.”

  Abbi threw out her palm. “Stay back. Stay away from him. All of you.”

  She turned back to Shane, crying harder now. “I’m so sorry. You didn’t deserve this.”

  Standing close behind her, I placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “He won’t even feel your bite. And when he wakes, he’ll have you to guide him.”

  The last thing I wanted was Abbi’s human sweetie becoming an immortal who’d be attached to her eternally by an unbreakable bond. But I also couldn’t bear to see her suffering like this. At this point, she really didn’t have a choice.

  “No. I’m not going to bite him. I’m going to let him die,” she said. “I won’t force him to become part of this world.”

  Shock nearly staggered me. She wasn’t going to turn him?

  I hadn’t thought there could be anything worse than having him hanging around for the rest of our eternal lives, but this was it. Considering how guilty Abbi felt over Josiah, I had no doubt she’d punish herself for Shane’s death forever.

  Stroking his hands and face, Abbi said her goodbyes. “I’ll never forget you. I’ll never forget what you did for me. And I promise... I will mourn you... always.”

  That’s it.

  Without waiting for another of Shane’s slow heartbeats to pass, I stepped forward and grabbed his bare arm, sinking my teeth deeply into the flesh. I didn’t drink, though. Thirst had nothing to do with my motivations.

  Abbi gasped, frozen in shock. “Why did you do that?”

  “Don’t you know?”

  She shook her head. “He’s going to turn now. He’s going to be a vampire.”

  “That’s right. He won’t die. I told you—I’d do anything to protect you, including saving you from the guilt. That is, as long as he’s not too far gone.”

  We both looked to Imogen. She lifted a milky white shoulder and let it fall.

  “We shall see if he still had sufficient blood left to make the transition.” Curling her lip at Abbi, she added, “If he does wake, perhaps he can be your mate.”

  She looked highly amused at the prospect, flicking a knowing glance at me then Abbi, daring either of us to object.

  Abbi turned to me with wide eyes. “Is that why you did it? So he wouldn’t be bound to me? You turned him out of... of jealousy? What will you do when he wakes? Recruit him to join the Bloodbound so he can’t take a mate either?”

  “No,” I shouted. “Maybe. I don’t know. When he wakes—if he wakes—you can decide what to do with him. Take him as your mate if that’s what you want. If you tell me tha
t’s what you want, I’ll use The Pull on him and command him to love you for eternity.”

  She covered her face with both hands. “I don’t know what I want. I can’t believe you did this.”

  25

  Test Subject Number One

  Abbi

  I’d promised Shane safety and freedom—that was what I had wanted for him. If he woke a vampire, those things would be impossible.

  Looking at him lying there so pale and lifeless, I doubted he’d wake up at all.

  I shouldn’t have left him here. But if I hadn’t agreed to go on Imogen’s mission, I would have lost both him and Reece.

  Maybe I still had. Reece had bitten him—knowing Shane would turn. I clutched my stomach, still in disbelief. His unexpected move to take the decision out of my hands had shocked me to my core.

  My only hope was that Larkin’s experimental formula would work—if Shane did wake up. And if she hadn’t been thrown out of the Bastion already.

  But no, there she was, coming this way with Kannon. Of course Imogen’s loyal soldier would decide to bring the newcomer—and her special cargo—to his queen.

  Imogen hadn’t noticed them yet. She had come to stand by my side—far too close for my comfort. Like mine, her gaze was on Shane.

  “He looks quite peaceful now,” she mused. “So young and innocent.” There was a beat before she continued. “Much like your friend, Josiah.”

  I whipped my head around to face her. “Josiah?”

  I didn’t think she’d even noticed Josiah at the accident scene—well, as anything more than a source of blood. My memories of that night were muddled, but they included hearing her tell the rest of her traveling group they were welcome to drink from everyone there but me and Reece, whom she’d claimed.

  “He would have made a terrible vampire,” she drawled. “And he was definitely dragging you down. He didn’t even leave his room while his parents screamed and fought for their lives downstairs, just cowered behind that flimsy locked door, mumbling his pathetic prayers.”

  Reece had told me Imogen had somehow been able to see through his eyes, describing the Yoder’s farm and the murder scene in detail when she’d told him he was responsible for it. Was her “vision” really that good?

  Then she gave me a smile that lifted the baby hairs on the back of my neck.

  “When I dragged him outside and staked him to the ground to await the sunrise, he didn’t even fight back. He didn’t make a peep. You ran right past him, in fact,” she said to me.

  Wait... what? When she staked him to the ground? My chest tightened, and I blinked repeatedly.

  “You were there that night?” Reece asked, clearly as dumbfounded as I was.

  Imogen laughed. “You didn’t really think the farm boy had enough courage to daylight himself, did you? I have to say the incineration did a nice job hiding the evidence. Wooden stakes burn just as thoroughly as vampire flesh.”

  “So it was you who killed Josiah,” I said. “And his parents. And you let Reece believe he did it. He joined the Bloodbound out of guilt over that.”

  She giggled. “I know. Clever, huh? I got one hell of a soldier out of the deal. And I removed both impediments to your rightful path to queendom.”

  Gesturing to Shane’s battered body, she said, “Now I’ve removed a third. Shall we keep going, or are you finally ready to come to your senses and take your place as my heir apparent?”

  “You are pure evil. You’re not my mother, and there is nothing you could teach me that I’d want to learn. You had Sadie killed, too, didn’t you? Didn’t you?” Enraged, I flew at her.

  Either it was the element of surprise or I didn’t know my own strength, but I was easily able to overcome Imogen, grabbing her by the throat and pushing her up against one of the large stone columns.

  She stared at me with shocked eyes, her mouth open wide but unable to speak with my left hand choking off her air supply. My right hand was poised directly over her heart, ready to strike and rip it out if she fought back.

  The members of her personal guard were scattered throughout the room, all in a state of bloodlust and participating fully in the feast. If they were still even capable of rational thought, they probably assumed Reece had the queen covered. He and Kannon were the only two Bloodbound soldiers close enough to see what was happening.

  “Abbi—what are you doing?” Kannon yelled, rushing up to me.

  I threw out a hand toward him and tightened the one wrapped around Imogen’s trachea, ensuring she wouldn’t be able to utter an order he’d be compelled to obey.

  “Stay back. I’m warning you—don’t come any closer. This has to stop, Kannon, and you know it.”

  Reece put a hand on his shoulder. “She’s right. Things can’t go on the way they have been. We all know it. And a challenge is part of the natural cycle with queens. Let them work it out. You know Abbi—she’s not going to kill Imogen.”

  Kannon looked uncertain but complied.

  Which left the decision in my hands. What was I going to do here? With a little more pressure, I could end Imogen’s eternal life. It would cost me my own, which naturally I didn’t want, but what else could I do? She was incapable of remorse or rehabilitation, and I couldn’t let her keep hurting people.

  Not the humans, not the vampires under her rule.

  “You’re not fit to lead a sing-a-long, much less a community of endangered refugees,” I said, gesturing with my free hand toward the carnage surrounding us. “This—is not a solution.”

  She forced out a harsh whisper, spittle flying from her mouth. “Neither is peace. If you’re so smart—what is the answer?”

  “I’m not sure, but it’s not ordering your loyal soldiers to kidnap a roomful of innocent humans to be slaughtered.”

  “They’re not loyal,” she hissed. “If they were, you’d be in pieces right now. Soon enough, though. You may be physically strong, but your spirit is weak, like Sadie’s. I was wrong about you.”

  Darting her eyes at Kannon and Reece, she said, “I will have their heads. And yours, you ungrateful little—”

  Imogen’s words cut off abruptly as Larkin dashed forward and plunged a hypodermic needle into her chest.

  Kannon whipped around to face her, in shock. “What did you just do?”

  Larkin tilted her chin up at him, completely unrepentant. “People were talking about looking for a solution.”

  She held up the empty needle. “I just happened to have one in my pocket.”

  “Is that the cure?” Reece asked.

  “I guess we’ll find out,” Larkin said. “Imogen just became test subject number one.”

  26

  Perfect for the Job

  Abbi

  It had been four days since the horrifying feast, and still Shane hadn’t awakened. Maybe he’d lost too much blood after all.

  I sat by his bedside in the clinic where Dr. Coppa had offered to watch over him. Apparently the staff had gotten attached to my human friend in the time he’d spent here recovering from his gunshot wound.

  A couple of them had even offered to guide him through the early stages of vampire life when he woke up.

  If he woke up.

  I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples, hunching over in the uncomfortable chair.

  “I always thought he’d make a good vampire,” confessed Ellie, who’d been his primary nurse during his recovery. With a silly eyebrow waggle, she added, “I told all my friends how hot he’d be if he ever turned.”

  She buzzed about the room, checking the readout on the devices attached to my unconscious friend.

  “Have you ever seen anyone take this long to transition?” I asked. Honestly, Shane looked dead to me, though the instruments indicated brain activity and a weak pulse.

  “Not personally, but I heard about a case where it took a couple weeks.”

  In the room next door, Imogen lay comatose and guarded by Kannon, though it was unclear whether he was there to protect her while she slept—or
the rest of us should she wake.

  Reece popped into the clinic occasionally to check on both patients. He was gruff and moody, like he had been when he’d first pledged himself to service with the Bloodbound.

  As he had on his previous visits, he seemed annoyed to see me standing vigil over Shane today.

  “Anything yet?” he asked in a begrudging tone.

  “No. He’s pretty much the same. How is Imogen?”

  “Still sleeping. She hasn’t desiccated or anything if that’s what you’re wondering. Still can’t tell if the supposed ‘cure’ did anything or not.”

  “Well, if it’s ‘not,’ I’m pretty sure the answer will come in the form of our heads being suddenly disconnected from our bodies.”

  He nodded then let out a frustrated-sounding noise. “You can’t just keep sitting here day and night. It isn’t healthy.” He tossed a hand in Shane’s direction. “There’s no telling how long it’s going to take for him to wake up. He was almost completely drained.”

  “I know. I just want to be here when he does. His last minutes of consciousness must have been sheer terror. He’s bound to be afraid when he comes to. He needs to see a friendly face.”

  Reece frowned. “‘He needs. He needs,’” he repeated in a mocking tone. “What about what you need? Wearing yourself out and making yourself sick isn’t going to do him any good. Dr. Coppa will send word to you as soon as he wakes up. Or I will.”

  I smirked. “Sure, you will. You made it quite clear you don’t care about the humans—especially him.”

  “I didn’t mean it,” Reece said. “I only said it because I was trying to keep you from rushing into the Grand Dome and getting yourself killed.”

  He tugged at my arm, trying to pry me from the chair I’d practically fused with in the past few days. “Come on, I’ll walk you back to your quarters. You need to get some rest so you’ll be ready to face your new subjects. They’ll want to hear from you soon.”

  I’d been tugging back, resisting him, but I froze in mid-pull. “What do you mean?”