Unfortunate Souls (Book 1): Unfortunate Souls Series (The Unfortunate Souls Series)

by Jade M. Phillips

  Wilson stepped forward. “Here, let me help you with those.”

  “Thank you,” I said as Wilson hefted a box in his arms.

  “No.” Guy took the box from Wilson and I shot him a surprised look. “I can help her.”

  I stood and backed up, considering the two men, the tension between them palpable. It was obvious that their personalities clashed.

  “This is my house and if I wish to help the young lady with her things, then I should be able to do as I wish.” Wilson grabbed the box away from Guy.

  After a tense moment, Guy snatched the package back from Wilson and I almost laughed at the absurdity of it. But Guy frowned, obviously jealous of Wilson’s attention to me.

  “You weren’t the one who had to skim through women’s underwear while the changing room lady shot you dirty looks. I will help her.”

  The two men stood face to face, their postures rigid and expressions scowly.

  I scrunched my brows, observing what resembled a no-blinking contest like I used to have with my friends at school, but this one even more ridiculous. The men, so ferocious and predatory in their demeanors, could’ve rivaled two alpha lions vying for the king-of-the-jungle position. Tension stiffened my muscles and anger bubbled up inside of me. And before I knew it, my fangs shot out in frustration.

  “Seriously? Can we just stop the pissing contest already?”

  Wilson and Guy gaped at me in shock and I placed my hands on my hips, tapping my foot. I gave them my best you-should-know-better look, but I’m sure it was semi-humorous with my vicious fangs out and all. But I didn’t care. I couldn’t stand by and watch this long-time feud continue. It was silly.

  “What happened to you two that caused such a rift? Wait a minute, that’s right. No one has been kind enough as to fill me in. But from what I can tell, you two need to get over it. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think I was watching two schoolboys fighting to get the popular girl’s attention. This is silly. Look at you two.” I gestured with disgust at their impish behavior. “Guy, you are a grown man, and a Captain, no less. And Wilson. What are you? Like… like two hundred years old?”

  The two men looked away ashamedly.

  “And from what I hear, I could probably kick both of your asses right here and now for being so ridiculous. I think I can handle a couple of boxes.” I swooped down, wrapped my arms around the parcels, and stood with them in tow. I started down the hall, the men’s astonished gazes following me.

  “Now, I’m going to put these in my room and then I’d like to start my training, if that’s all right with you? We only have three more nights, you know.”

  I smirked to myself as I went down the hallway. Who said an eighteen-year-old Newborn vampire couldn’t school a couple of testosterone driven males?

  TWENTY-SIX: RUBY

  “Crap!” I gritted my teeth in frustration, two halves of a broken spoon in each one of my hands. I’d been working on bending spoons for the better part of two hours and kept snapping them in half.

  “Focus.” Wilson sat across from me at the long dining room table, his hands folded in front of him. “Or don’t focus rather. Let your power become weak. Let yourself relax. Don’t think too hard. Remember how I taught you?”

  I nodded.

  He handed me another silver spoon. “Good. Now try to bend it. Carefully.”

  I exhaled and took the spoon in both of my hands, my fists wrapped around it side by side. I closed my eyes and let myself sink into my own mind. I brought all of my thoughts together, focusing on keeping them tightly bunched. I let the thoughts vanish like a flock of birds scattering from a tree. I pried my hands down, trying not to think about the task at hand but the spoon snapped regardless and I dropped the metal pieces on the table, releasing an exasperated breath.

  “It’s too hard.”

  “No,” Wilson countered, his voice laced with challenge. “You’re just very strong. It will take more practice.”

  I caught a glimpse of Guy standing at the entrance to the dining room, combing his fingers through his dark hair in thought. My stomach immediately pooled with heat and my heart fluttered. It was the strangest thing, the way he made me feel. I wasn’t sure if it was my newly heightened vampire senses or if it was just what he did to me, but something was there for sure, making my legs the consistency of soggy cereal. And now, ever since he’d come back with new clothes for me, I sensed it in him, too. He had dropped his tough-guy attitude and was softer somehow, kinder. What had happened on his trip into town? Whatever it was changed him. Guy was finally being himself and I liked it. He smiled and walked away, my body blazing with a yearning heat.

  Wilson continued instructing but I didn’t hear what he was saying. Not only had I been working tirelessly for hours, my mind was somewhere else. I thought about Guy and his selfless act of taking me on. I thought about how he had cradled me in front of my old home and let me cry into his chest. I wondered what made him tick. I wondered why in the world he’d saved someone like me. I knew it had been in part because of the love he’d lost, but there was something more. Something deeper he wasn’t letting on to.

  “Ruby? Are you listening?” I blinked from my reverie and looked at Wilson. He tilted his head to the side in question.

  “Huh?” I blinked again. “Oh, yes. Sorry. You were saying something about mind over matter?”

  Wilson’s face softened. “Let’s take a break, shall we?” He stood and went to the fridge, grabbing a packet of blood. “Has Guy mentioned bonding to you yet?”

  I creased my brows. “No.”

  Wilson sighed and poured the blood into a tall, antique chalice. He sat down at the table and knitted his hands together awkwardly. I sensed his discomfort on the topic. “Why do I get the feeling we’re about to have a birds and bees talk?”

  He laughed, his pale cheeks flushing. I had the feeling this conversation was going to be just as comfortable as sitting on scalding leather seats in the middle of summer while wearing shorts. Wilson inhaled deeply before speaking.

  “Bonding is something done between two consensual vampires, where they commit themselves to each other for the duration of eternity. Or until their permanent death.”

  I shifted in my seat with unease. I didn’t understand how this was relevant to me—especially now. I’d barely just become a vampire and did not intend on committing to another blood-sucking being for all of eternity.

  “Once you’ve been bonded,” Wilson continued, his voice serious as a heart attack, “nothing can break it. You will always be aware of your mate and him of you, no matter what the distance. You will feel each other’s joy and even their pain. It’s a serious relationship. In history, this was only done between vampires. It was frowned upon for a vampire to take a human into bonding. And in the rare case this ever happened, and the two mates were found out, the vampire —along with the human— would be taken and killed.”

  And like a light flickering on in the darkness, I understood what Wilson had done to be excommunicated by his fellow vampires.

  “Wait— Wilson.” I gasped, in spite of myself. “You fell in love with a human?”

  He stared at me impassively and, for a moment, I thought I’d been wrong. But he finally nodded, sadness lining his forehead. I felt sorry for the old vampire. How horrible for two people who cared for each other so deeply to be ripped apart so viciously.

  “What happened?” I looked down at my lap. I’d finally changed from the stretch pants and tank top I’d been wearing for days. I now wore a comfortable pair of jeans and T-shirt Guy had picked up for me. I fidgeted with the hem of my shirt and looked over to see Wilson staring into space. “You two were bonded?” I asked.

  Wilson reached up and adjusted his bolo tie, the corded ropes swinging in front of his thin chest. “Yes. She was… the love of my life. I tried to ignore my feelings, but it was impossible. Consequently, I bonded myself to her.”

  For a moment, I thought I saw him tear up, but Wilson looked away. “An unrequit
ed bond is one of the most painful of situations. It’s like loving someone more than your own life and not having the love reciprocated. It’s the loneliest and most desperate feeling. Words cannot describe it.”

  “Why didn’t she bond to you, Wilson? What happened?”

  “We were ambushed before she was able to. I escaped but she was taken.”

  “Oh, my God. I’m so sorry.”

  “I could feel when they tortured her,” he continued. “I sensed her pain. But she could not feel the strength I was sending her. She was unable to sense me like I could sense her. I could not send her a signal to wait for me to rescue her. She gave in before I could find her, and she finally let go. I will never forgive myself for what happened. I robbed her of her life and it would’ve never happened had I not bonded myself to her. I put her in a dangerous predicament. It was my own fault.”

  Wilson released an empty laugh and waved a hand as though banishing the memory. I took a sip of the blood as he considered me.

  “I tell you this, because you need to be aware the recourse of being bonded to a human. It is against the rules.”

  Just then, it dawned on me and I realized what he was insinuating. I almost choked on my drink.

  “Guy and me? You think we’ve bonded?” I laughed uncomfortably. “Heck, no. I’ve only known him for a few days. And I’m pretty sure we haven’t done anything of the sort.”

  Wilson spiked a dubious brow. “Are you certain?”

  I looked at him but didn’t answer. I didn’t know anything about bonding and wasn’t sure exactly what it entailed.

  “The reason I ask,” he continued, “is I sense something between you and Guy.”

  I looked down at the table and twirled my glass on the wood. Well, he wasn’t wrong there. We’d been through so much together and I assumed any two people in a similar situation would have a connection of some sort. I ignored the fact that I had been developing feelings for Guy. Those feelings were invalid and, sadly, would never come to anything. I shrugged.

  “He did save my life, though. And I, his. Maybe that has something to do with what you’re sensing.”

  Wilson clasped his hands together but didn’t seem convinced. “Perhaps.”

  “Wilson?” I asked.

  “Yes?”

  “How do you bond to someone? Like, what makes it happen?” Not like I ever planned on it. I just figured that if I was going to live amongst a community of vampires, it might be something I’d need to know.

  “Well,” Wilson pushed his chair back from the table and stood. He walked to the kitchen window and looked out. “Basically, bonding is the exchange of blood from one vampire to another. And in rare cases, a human.”

  I frowned, and looked down at my lap. “But then, wouldn’t a vampire be bonded to a human if they feed from them?” I felt like a child again, perpetually asking questions about the new world around me. But Wilson was kind and treated each question with care.

  Wilson let out a breath from pursed lips as though racking his brain for information. “No. It’s a little more complicated than that. A vampire seeks blood from a human for nourishment. Theoretically, there’s no attachment there. Therefore, there will be no bonding. Bonding is an emotional connection combined with a physical one. And it’s a conscious decision. It doesn’t just happen because you’ve ingested someone else’s blood. If that were the case, I’d be uncomfortably fond of my goats.”

  I burst out laughing, picturing an awkward candlelit dinner with Wilson and his goat.

  “Are we talking about Wilson’s love of goats?”

  I’d been so immersed in the conversation that I hadn’t even sensed Guy standing behind us in the doorway. His deep voice sent shivers down my spine and I spun around, my jaw nearly hitting the floor.

  He leaned against the doorframe, hands shoved into loose jeans pockets. He’d always been handsome, don’t get me wrong, but now he was just… sexy. He was no longer in the same ratty uniform he’d been wearing since I’d met him, but wore a tight white T-shirt and jeans. His brown hair was damp, freshly washed, and his face shaven smooth, revealing his boyish grin. Guy had always struck me as a mature soul, so stern and controlling. But in all reality, he was young, only a few years older than I was. And his youth was blatantly apparent in that moment.

  Wilson curled a lip at Guy, a forced half-smile.

  “Am I interrupting an important lesson?” Guy asked.

  Wilson started to speak, but I jumped in before he could say a word.

  “No. We were just talking.” I stood from my chair and shifted my gaze between the two men.

  Guy looked at the old vampire and gestured to me. “Wilson, may I steal your student away for a little while? She looks like she could use a break.”

  Relief washed through me and I smiled, nodding enthusiastically. I could use a break from this house. From my training. From Wilson.

  Wilson grimaced, but it was not much different from his normal facial expression. He adjusted his tie but did not respond.

  I stuck out my bottom lip in a pout, pleading to Wilson with my eyes. “Please? We’ve been at it for hours. Just a short break?”

  Wilson studied Guy for one long moment, before dropping his gaze. He sighed. “Fine.”

  I giggled with joy. Ever since the night I turned, everything had been rush, rush, rush. All business. No time for anything but running and hiding. Surviving. I was still a teenager after all and I could use a little fun.

  To Guy’s surprise, I grabbed his hand and yanked him out of the kitchen toward the front door. But Wilson yelled after us. “One hour!”

  “Okay, Wilson,” I cried back. Guy opened the front door and the night air came rushing in, cool and fresh.

  “Where are you taking me?” I asked, weaving my fingers through his. A warm line traveled from our touching palms straight to my heart.

  Guy shut the door behind us and faced the mountain range ahead. He turned to me with a sly smile. “You’ll have to wait and see.”

  TWENTY-SEVEN: GUY

  Ever since visiting Lily’s gravesite, I saw the world in a whole new way. My mood was lighter, more carefree, and things I’d held in high priority before didn’t seem so important anymore. Maybe I’d had it all wrong before, not realizing that life was too short to hold revenge so deep in my heart, too short to let another moment pass by without savoring every second. Lily’s death had been a heavy burden I’d carried for far too long. It was time to let go.

  And that’s what I’d done, let go.

  I would eventually have to go back to headquarters to face my men and the life I’d carefully constructed for myself, having a hefty decision to make. I’d have to step back and look at my life through the microscope, seeing if the decisions I’d made before were what I really wanted.

  But for now, I didn’t want to waste another minute, wanting to give Ruby a gift no one else could— one night of freedom before she was handed off to her soon-to-be family, her new coven, where she would spend the rest of eternity.

  “I take it we’re not going for ice cream.” Ruby sat next to me in the truck, her hands folded into her lap. I peeled from the dirt drive in front of Wilson’s, dust billowing from the tires. I glanced from her to the road, unable to control the cheesy grin on my face, unable to take my eyes away from her beauty. “No. Not ice cream.”

  After a quick drive through the city, we pulled up in front of the planetarium in downtown Tucson. Ruby smiled over at me in realization. I rushed her inside for the last show of the night and we took our seats. The theatre was empty except for the two of us.

  The house lights dimmed and a beautiful melody of piano notes trickled through the dome. I arched my neck back and directed my sight to the rounded screen above us, Ruby mirroring my movement.

  “I appreciate the gesture,” she said, trying to be kind. “You do realize I’m a vampire, though, and I will not be lacking in the opportunities for stargazing? I imagine stars will be one of the only sights I will be able to s
ee for the rest of my life.” I didn’t miss the playful sarcasm in her voice.

  I took her hand in mine and placed it on my knee, her energy buzzing through me. “I didn’t bring you to see the stars.” I slid her a smile. “I brought you to see the sunrise.”

  The room went black; the harmonious sound of music encased us, vibrating through to our toes.

  “Think of tonight as your free pass,” I whispered into her ear. “When you finally join the coven, your life will be different. You will have to live by their rules. I’m not saying you won’t grow accustomed and enjoy it, I’m just saying take advantage of your freedom while you can.”

  She turned her head and smiled in response. “Thank you.”

  Stars winked into existence, surrounding us in a twinkling globe of space. We were suspended in air, flying through the galaxy. Ruby giggled with delight at the beautiful scenery.

  Through my bond, I felt her excitement, and her innocence. She was just now eighteen and had her entire life ahead of her, though it may be untraditional. She was so unlike me. Where she’d been innocent and naive, living in the comfort of a normal teenage life, I’d been forced to grow up way too fast. She still had so much to learn and see and I wanted the world for her.

  Ruby shifted in her seat, her hair smelling of vanilla. The skin of her hand brushed against mine, smooth and ageless.

  It was only the two of us, sinking into the sky, nothing but the glowing planets and us. I turned to look upon my vampire, Faith, her profile flickering in the dark and light of the screen, her lashes blinking slowly, bouncing off her full cheeks. My heart sang as her lips curled into a smile and her violet eyes sparkled with stars, my body reacting to her closeness. My skin flushed, my blood warmed, and I wanted to stay in that moment forever, savoring everything about her, everything she made me feel. I couldn’t help but notice how her purity and sweetness was such a juxtaposition to the transformation she had embodied, a perfect balance of innocence and ferocity. She was flawless.