Bound in Blood 1 Clandestine

by Nicole Rae

  “I don’t wanna see,” Tyler muttered to himself as Sebastian started for the door again.

  Tyler’s reaction was a little odd. He had said out on the road he felt he was destined for this. Now he acted as though it were a death sentence. Maybe it was. Unfortunately, only time would tell.

  Sebastian didn’t respond, but Emily did notice him shake his head slightly. He had to understand Tyler’s dismay as he said he had been there once. It bothered Emily that Sebastian had hardly acknowledged her presence during his visit. She still had a lot of questions, more now than ever. It seemed like now was the perfect time to explain everything. Secrets apparently were surfacing so why not rescue all of them from his depths.

  Emily jumped up and headed for the door behind Sebastian. Tyler only watched, he didn’t have time to say anything before she was closing the door behind her. She had half expected Sebastian to already be gone like all those other times. Surprisingly, he was still there just standing on the stairs just a few steps down.

  His back was to her. For a moment she just stood there watching him. He had to know she was there. Even if he did, he didn’t make a move to face her. Finally she said, “what about me Sebastian?”

  “What about you?” He didn’t turn back to face her. Despite the obvious snub, he at leastdidn’t advance down the stairs.

  “Well, how do I fit into all this? I’m clearly involved somehow. I’m a human and you told me your secret, that has to mean something.”

  He slowly turned to face her. “Yes Emily, you do have a part in this. I’m not even sure exactly what that is. I can tell that even though you are one of us, you’re different. You’re not a full hunter. You have powers thatwe aren’t even aware of yet. I don’t know what that means and I’m sorry for that” He took one step backward down the stairs. When he stopped he stood there tapping his fingers casually on the banister looking bored.

  Emily’s eyes widened with fear. “What do you mean I’m one of you exceptI’m different? If Tyler can see better in the dark, sense the vamps and make things magically appear why can’t I? I’ve never been in a fight in my life and have no instincts towards it at all.”

  Sebastianignored most of her questions. “You have instincts. For some reason they are not within your reach as of yet. Neither I nor my mentor understand it because you are so clearly gifted.” He sounded utterly confused.

  “Thanks, but thatreally doesn’t tell me anything.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm. “Why is it one day you act like we are friends and another you can’t wait to get away from me?” Emily glowered down at him.

  “I’ve tried to tell you it’s not safe for us to be friends. I lead a dangerous life and you don’t need to be tangled up in it, especially when we don’t clearly know your role in all of this.” He continued walking down the stairs ending their conversation.

  “Damn it Sebastian don’t walk away from me. Didn’t your mentorteach you manners?” Emily fumed with intense anger and disgust for the situation.

  Sebastian didn’t stop moving. He did slow down, just a little. “I don’t mean to be rude,it’s just that this conversation isn’t going anywhere. I can’t give you answers I don’t have yet myself. I’m trying to get to the bottom of it, believe me. I have never seen anything like you in all my existence.” Sebastian didn’t wait for Emily’s response before rounding the corner at the bottom of the stairs.

  For a minute Emily just stood there staring after him. Then common sense reined in and she realized that she was out there alone. She went back inside and locked the door behind her.

  When she got in the house, Tyler had already turned down the couch. Hide-abeds typically weren’t very comfortable. Surprisingly, this one looked okay. The blanket he had waiting for her was a lighter brown than the couch. It looked very warm and soft. Emily couldn’t help smiling at the effort.

  “Oh you’re back in. I figure you can take the bed and I’ll take the couch.” Tyler tossed a pillow onto the couch and sat down.

  Emily watched him curiously, “bedroom?” She couldn’t help the shock in her voice. “I thought this was a studio? Did you make a bed out ofthe tub or something?” She crossed her arms still watching him.

  Tyler looked offended. “Give me some credit. This is not a small cramped studio. It’s a very spacious one bedroom. So there,” he said with a sharp nod and crossed his arms.

  “Did you really just say,so there?” Emily giggled covering her hand over her mouth.

  “So.” Then he gave her a stubborn glare. Tyler’s jaw was set, daring her to contradict him.

  This of course made Emily giggleharder. “Just checking I guess. Are you gonna stomp your foot too?” Emily tried to stifle her laughter when she saw Tyler’s expression. “I really don’t feel right stealing your bed. I don’t mind the couch it looks comfy.” Emily eyed the couch thoughtfully. It honestly didn’t look too bad.

  “Guests get the bed. That’s the rule.”

  “Whose rule,” Emily asked.

  “I don’t know it’s just the rule. I don’t make’em I just follow’em,” Tyler shrugged. “Well at least the good ones anyway.” His smile was devilish and his eyes sparkled as if hiding a secret.

  The thing of it was, Emily didn’t really care where she slept. The biggest problem was sleeping alone. Learning that the world as she once knew it was a complete lie and goblins really did exist,had her feeling anxious. She didn’t really know how to bring this up to Tyler without looking like she just wanted in his pants. He had very nice pants and even better back pockets actually. She justisn’t one of those girls and never would be. She hardly knew Tyler and she didn’t even think she liked him that way, at least she hoped not. That would only complicate things. This new found knowledge would cause them to spend more time together, while figuring out a solution.

  Well here goes nothing, she thought. Emily squared her shoulders and let out a deep breath. Instantly her so called courage washed away and she bit her lip. She spoke in a rush. “Here’s the thing. I um, well, I’m kind of afraid after hearing my suspicions are true and I don’t want to be by myself.” Emily bit down on her lip so hard she just knew she was going to draw blood ifshe wasn’t careful.

  Tyler’s brows rose practically to his hairline as he consideredthis. “Well,” he ventured slowly. “I’ll be happy to keep you company between the sheets,if you need me.” The devilish grin was back.

  What a pig Emily thought. “No, no not like that never mind. Forget I said anything. Just show me the door to the bedroom and I’ll be on my way.” Emily had her best disgusted face on and she even crossed her arms for effect. She knew he was just screwing with her,but she wasn’t going to let him get away with it.

  “Hey, don’t get your panties in a bunch,” Tyler said laughing slightly at her. “No funny business I swear.”

  Emily’s eyes narrowed. “You’ve had zero effect on my panties, thank you very much.”

  Tyler’s wounded expression gave him a boy like quality. “Didn’t I?” Tyler asked sarcastically. He clutched his hand to his heart like he’d been shot and fell back on the bed. “That was harsh Em”.

  Instead of giving him the satisfaction of continuing the little bicker fest, Emily just glared at him and sighed exasperated. She didn’t want to let him know that this was way more amusing than she was letting on. Stubbornly, she turned, as if she were going to head toward the bedroom.

  Emily half expected him to throw his hands up in surrender as usual. What he actually did was well, nothing. She followed suit and didn’t say anything either. When he didn’t react to her move toward the room, she turned to look at him. They were both silent for a long moment just watching each other awkwardly.

  “Alright look. How about this? So it’s not so, you know weird we can both sleep out here. Living rooms are for friends, bedrooms are for scr“

  “Okay! I get it,I get it.” Emily cut him off, totally not wanting to hear from him what bedrooms were for.

  “Sorry.”

 
Emily smiled. “No big deal. So, how can we do this without… whatever.” She gestured at nothing in particular.

  “Well we are both full grown adults,at least you are. I’m sure we can handle sleeping in the same room and dare I say it, the same bed without uh…” He paused, thinking for a moment. “Physical relations getting in the way. I mean I don’t know about you, but I can control myself.” He gave her a crooked smile and winked at her.

  “I can control myself just fine,” shot back Emily, annoyed at the implication. Some guys have some nerve.

  “Well alright then. I’ll go in the door on the left and get changed. The one on the right is the bathroom. You can use that one if you want.” Assuming she was fine with the arrangement he headed off for what she guessed was his bedroom. Before he did the sparkle in his eye caught the light. He was feeling very amused and pleased with himself.

  Emily never responded, she didn’t really see a point. She did let her eyes follow him as he disappeared through the door. After he was out of sight she plucked her backpack off the floor by the door where she left it and went into the bathroom.

  It was of course a small room. She wasn’t expecting something with a spa, but she wondered looking around how she would ever fit all of her stuff in a bathroom this small if she had a place like it. Immediately she scolded herself because that implied she might want to live with Tyler and that was not the case. She did find him attractive,but that didn’t mean anything. Finding someone attractive was just human nature.

  After she was dressed and her teeth were brushed, she switched off the light leaving her backpack in there for the evening. Using a scrunchie, she put her hair up in a messy bun while she walked to the couch. Immediately, she noticed Tyler was already back and was watching her with an expression she didn’t recognize.

  “What?” Emily asked.

  “Nothing why?” Tyler spoke quickly like he had been caught doing something he shouldn’t be.

  She glared teasingly athim. “You were staring at me.”

  “Did anyone ever tell you that you really should loosen up? I just looked up because I heard you coming,that’s all.” This time his hands did go up in surrender.

  Emily thought the mannerism was adorable. Of course she didn’t show that to him though. She just shook her head at Tyler. It was obvious that it was more than that, but she was too tired to argue about it. Besides, they probably wouldn’t get anywhere with the argument anyway. Tyler seemed to be just as stubborn as Emily was and she didn’t know if she liked that or not. She sat down on the opposite side of the hide-a-bed from him not sure what to do. Sleeping in the same bed as a guy was a first. Were there rules about this sort of thing? Emily noticed there was a second blanket at the end of the bed now.

  Tylersaw her looking at it and said, “Oh I figured this would make you more comfortable.” He took the one on top. “See, now I have a blanket, and you have a blanket. Strictly platonic.” He eyed her smugly daring her to disapprove.

  Emily smiled her approval and slid her blanket toward her. She waited for him to lie down, so she could do the same. She was trying to act casual and not like a bumbling dork like she felt. Hopefully, it didn’t show. It really wasn’t that big of a deal. They were just friends. It would be the same as if she had one of her girlfriends sleep over. Except none of her girlfriends looked like Tyler, or smelled like him either. She noticed a scent like cologne in the air that wasn’t there before. Did he put some on when he got changed? That definitely wouldn’t be something just friends would do. Stop it! She scolded herself again. It didn’t matter what his intentions were, she needed to get a handle on her hormones.

  Emily felt her eyes droop. She was mentally and physically exhausted. She pondered whether or not to ask Tyler how he was doing with all he had learned. He had a lot to think about like who he was supposed to be. Emily decided against it. The silence was relaxing. It was nice to be there together and not have to talk. It didn’t feel awkward anymore just, nice.

  At around two thirty in the morning, Emily’s eyes flew open with terror. The conclusion of the dream she had been having left her panting for breath. It was about a blood sucking monster breaking into her house to suck the life out of her and Sam. Judging by the light snoring coming from Tyler’s resting form, he must have been sleeping okay. Selfishly she thought about pinching him or something. If this situation was going to give her nightmares and keep her up why should he get to sleep?

  Any effort to keep the horrifying dream out of her mind was useless. Every time she closed her lids, all she could see was the glow of red. The one thing Emily was able to think clearly about, was the need to keep her loved ones safe. The first person that came to mind was her best friend.

  It wasn’t likely that Lucy was awake. Texting was always an option if nothing else. If she sent her friend a message than she would be able to get it whenever she woke up. Emily didn’t know if she would have time to get in touch with her later. Slowly she slid off the hide-a-bed and went to the bathroom where she had left her cell tucked into the pocket of her backpack.

  After scrolling through the contact list finding Lucy’s name she hesitated. What was she supposed to say to her? Oh gee guess what, we were right. The pod people apparently have something to do with the blood sucking vampires that have taken up residence in Lakeview. So you might wanna be careful while you’re in town, okay? So guess I’ll talk to you later if we don’t all die. Cool bye. Yeah, probably not the best idea.

  She thought for a second and then began typing. Hey can’t talk 4 now our theories were right b careful will call when I can love u. Without waiting for a response from Lucy, she put her phone on the floor next to her bed for the night.

  CHAPTER 14 The sound of someone knocking on the door woke them both up well, scared them up was more like it. They both sprang upright at the exact same moment gasping. Tyler recovered quicker than Emily and slid out of bed to see who it was. She glanced around trying to remember if she took her cell phone out of her backpack. She hated waking up and not knowing what time it was. A quick check at the walls proved to be useless. There wasn’t a clock on any of them. Examining all the furniture she saw there didn’t seem to be one perched anywhere either. She had never before encountered somebody who didn’t have at least one clock somewhere.

  Belatedly, she had a flash of memory and felt like a total moron. The cell phone was on the floor directly next to where she was sitting on the make shift bed. The night before, she had been text messaging Lucy before falling asleep. How could she have forgotten that? In her defense, the day before had been pretty overwhelming at best.

  Tyler was still standing at the door. He was too big so Emily couldn’t see who it was. Absently she recalled her father telling her she made a better door than a window when she was little and blocking the television. She wanted to throw a pillow at him and get him to get out of the way so she could be nosy.

  She thought it would be sort of interesting to meet one of Tyler’s friends. Then it occurred to her what might be perceived by the visitor as she looked down at herself and promptly discarded the thought. Obviously nothing had actually happened between the two of them. However, someone on the outside might not have seen it that way. It really didn’t matter to Emily what people thought of her, but still.

  Right about the time she had her mouth wide open in an unattractive yawn, Tyler turned ushering someone in the apartment. Feeling foolish, Emily laid back down covering herself with the blanket. It was too late to pretend to be sleeping. At least they wouldn’t see her in her jammies.

  It was Sebastian. Oh that’s right, she thought. Emily sighed inwardly. Tyler was supposed to meet Sebastian’s mentor and start training. From under the thick comforter she could tell they had moved closer to where she lay hidden like a skittish animal. They were talking in hushed whispers. Maybe they hadn’t seen her sitting up after all. Maybe Tyler thought she went back to sleep. That was silly though, the door was practically in the living room. Slowly Emily moved t
he blanket so she could peek out just a little.

  At one point Sebastian’s head turned toward Emily. He looked as though he were in deep concentration and totally oblivious to the fact that he was staring right at her. Her face was mostly obscured, though she could just see him. Could he see her watching him? Before she hurriedly closed her eyes, she saw him turning back to Tyler.

  Whatever they were talking about had Tyler looking very intent and serious. Sebastian almost seemed annoyed and then with a resigned shrug nodded before they both turned toward her.

  Tyler moved over to her side of the bed and sat on the edge. “Hey, I’ve gotta go do that training thing now. I want you to come with me.”

  For a second she thought about stretching and making fake wake up noises. Figuring that was pointless she just pulled down the blanket. Emily didn’t answer, but looked to Sebastian to hear his opinion.

  “Tyler thinks you should meet my mentor.” Sebastian sighed heavily. “I personally don’t think it’s a great idea, but I do agree there is more to you than mosthumans.” Sebastian’s tone was flat and his face looked bored by the end of his statement.

  It shouldn’t have mattered , but it really annoyed Emily. He acted as if it was a boy’s only club, no girls allowed. Real mature she thought. Maybe his mentor resided in a tree house and that was where they conducted their supersecret meetings. “Well if you guys think I should. I don’t really care either way.” She was of course lying but they didn’t need to know that. She was dying to know what kind of training was involved to be a vampire hunter. Emily added an indifferent shrug to further push that it didn’t matter to her one way or the other.

  Sebastian nodded. “Well that’s settled then. I will wait down stairs for both of you to get ready.” He turned smoothly to leave the same way he had come in. Before reaching the door he looked back over his shoulder. ”Oh, and sorry if I interrupted anything.” He said it as though it were merely an afterthought and then turned and left not giving either of them a chance to respond.