Undone By Blood (The Vampire Flynn Book 5)

by Peter Dawes

  He sighed, neither rejecting the suggestion, nor accepting it with words. When I settled into one bed, he claimed the other, and within moments, the sound of light snoring filled the room. I rose early only to discover him already awake, and after showering, I took my position again to read, giving him time to find something to eat. The vague notion that I should do the same drifted through my thoughts, dismissed without further consideration. I had wasted enough time sleeping, I told myself. If Sabrina had yet to make her move, she would be doing so at any moment.

  Finding where I had left off, I glanced through the entries I had skipped past the previous night before continuing onward. Julian intercepted Evie at the door sometime later, and faintly, I heard her say she was going to take a tour around another neighborhood we had not already searched. She had since returned when I found myself reading about Monica’s turning. My eyes had grown tired and the night had worn on for too long. Without looking at the clock, I realized we faced the possibility of wasting another day without any real place to look. Getting frustrated, I paged ahead, until the word ‘Paris’ jumped out from my brother’s flowing handwriting.

  Immediately, I stopped skimming, in favor of reading.

  ‘Older journals contain the story, which makes writing about it here redundant, but if I am to have no further consolation, then I will belabour the point. Whether or not the experience had been manufactured by a liar, there are sentiments which still visit me when I imagine the Exposition Universelle of 1900. I step into the shoes of a vampire only twenty years past the day of his turning, set upon the task of embracing immortality while still enchanted with the mortal world. Their casual discussions about politics and philosophy, for example. The art and music they created in some effort to attain their own form of permanence. Sabrina and I had come to France to savour its fare, in blood and spirit, and I discovered a fondness for a city whose language I had studied while still bearing a pulse.

  It was while I wandered the halls of the Petit Palais, examining the artwork it had on display, that I found my interest piqued by a young man likewise admiring the exhibits. My wandering eye had allowed itself to indulge more lingering looks since becoming a vampire and as I revelled in that part of me no longer bound by societal contract, I studied what I assumed to be my supper for the evening. Something about him haunted me, like a melody dancing in the wind, inspiring me to stroll closer to where he stood.

  When he turned to face me, I could not have been more surprised at who I discovered.’

  “Patrick,” I said, furrowing my brow at the entry and reading onward. I flipped pages until I saw what made the moment so auspicious, realizing it was the first in which Sabrina had been confronted by the mistake she made in turning him. While Robin’s melancholy bled from the pages, I focused instead on the locations discussed in his journal entry.

  “What about him?” Julian asked, forcing me to remember he was still in the room with me. I looked up from the book, watching him pad toward me from the bathroom, where I assumed he had been.

  I frowned. “We need to gather our things.” Standing, I placed Robin’s book aside and reached for my sword. “I have an idea as to where we should be searching.”

  Julian nodded. Walking over to where he had stripped his boots, he brought them with him to the bed and sat, slipping them back on. It only took a few minutes for us to assemble our belongings, but after that, we left the room and knocked on Evie’s door. Katerina greeted us there, allowing us entrance. As Evie stood, I looked at her and frowned, relaying to her what I had found.

  Evie glanced at the clock. “It’s late,” she said. “We have four, maybe five, hours until sunrise. How sure are you of this?”

  “Not entirely, but it is worth pursuing,” I said. “How difficult would it be for us to get into the Petit Palais?”

  “You mean past the security?” Evie smirked. “That could be handled. The greater problem is the potential of your maker realizing somebody beat her there.” Slowly, she pivoted, seeing Katerina pace up alongside her. The sorceress eyed the rest of us nervously, prompting Evie to sober. Their eyes met, lingering in a stare for what seemed like beat until Evie sighed and looked back at Julian and me.

  “Head downstairs,” she said. “I’ll gather my things and meet you in the lobby.”

  I nodded, walking with Julian out to the corridor and pausing once Evie shut the door. The German seer shrugged and as he turned for the elevators, I followed in his wake, observing the silence which had settled between us and using the chance to clear my head. It only took a few minutes of lingering in the lobby for Evie to emerge from the elevators. It was what she lacked when she stepped out of the confined area which caused me some alarm.

  “Where is Katerina?” I asked, remaining beside the elevator until the doors shut. Turning to join the others on their trek to the entrance, I spun with them through the revolving glass doors and walked out onto the street. The way Evie ignored me threatened to raise my ire. “We need her,” I implored.

  “No, we don’t,” Evie snapped back, sounding only partly annoyed. She glanced at me from her periphery, settling what little irritation I had caused while a car pulled up to the curb. “It’s late. She’s young and inexperienced. If we do manage to find something noteworthy, then we can bring it back to her or have the driver pick her up. You yourself said this was the door to hell. Why bring a girl into it, magically gifted or not?”

  “Evie, Julian and I are the master seers and if we deign we need a sorceress to accompany us –”

  “You’ll do what? Conscript one even if it means her death?” Evie paced to the front passenger door, keeping her gaze on me for as much of the journey as possible. When she opened it, she stood there with one arm draped over the door while regarding me for an additional moment. “We have a short window in which the guards have been paid to look the other way. Can we waste less time arguing over this?”

  Releasing a breath rife with exasperation, I walked to the car and swung open the door. Settling into place, I allowed myself more room, noting the absence of the sorceress with a flash of anger. My fingertips tingled, a rush of energy racing up my spine which threatened to worsen my condition. I might have accused Evie of deliberately aggravating me, if I thought she knew how my powers functioned.

  Julian made note of my state of being while the car pulled away, doing so in a glance. He raised an eyebrow, not bothering with his seatbelt, and finished shifting his equipment out of the way. “She’s too young,” Julian finally said, breaking the silence as we merged into the scant amount of traffic which existed at this hour. “Your friend is right. We would need a watcher right now, not a girl barely out of training.”

  “We do not have a watcher, though,” I said. An edge afflicted my words, my gaze jumping to Evie, who remained nonplussed, not even bothering to glance at us from the rearview mirror. Regardless of her ability to hear us, I lowered my voice, even if simply to calm myself for the time being. “At the barest minimum, there will be two dark magicians with my maker, who has herself become more powerful since the last time we fought.”

  “Mein Freund, if it’s something more than we can handle, then she’d be as dead as I’ll be.”

  The way he frowned, bearing an acceptance of his own fate, forced me to wince. For as little as I wanted to consider the thought, nothing was certain and as we slowed near two large, impressive monoliths – one poised across the street from the other – I allowed the reminder that we stood amid peril to wash over me. Tingling returned to my fingers, and although I stepped out of the car with considerably more caution, I also did so clearing my thoughts of any further hindrance. There were three of us, I tried to console myself, two of us gifted hunters and another, an older, stronger form of vampire.

  This still left a bad taste in my mouth.

  If Evie was concerned, she gave no sign of it. She strode onto the sidewalk, her hands slipping into the pockets of her coat while she admired the building in front of us. Pillars marked
the front of its edifice, made of marble with the structure itself reminding me of the museums I used to see in Philadelphia. Signs advertised some form of exhibit on display, leading me to believe the Petit Palais might be one as well.

  “Quickly and quietly,” Evie muttered, her eyes scanning the area. “Something around here has my teeth on edge, whether it’s your maker or not.”

  Walking up beside her, I placed my misgivings with her aside for the moment, though not without leaving the tacit impression I did not fully trust her plans yet. She raised an eyebrow and as she looked away, exhaled a breath, giving the only sign of nerves she seemed apt to indulge. Pushing off her heels, she strode for the building and as we followed, the German seer remained silent. He did not need to share where his focus had been directed. I sensed it in the waves of energy I felt pulsing outward from him.

  If Julian had set himself upon the task of scrutinizing the area, I made myself do the same. While I could not sense whatever Evie claimed to feel, I could not deny the presence of something forming prickles on my skin. Julian tensed and the closer we came to the building, the more neither of us could deny it.

  ‘Do you think she’s here?’ he asked, projecting the question to me using telepathy.

  ‘I do not know,’ I said. ‘I would like to think I would recognize the siren call of my maker.’

  ‘There’s something, though. It’s faint. I wonder if it’s coming from an object and not a person.’

  ‘Those shards of gemstone might be enchanted with some kind of magical energy.’

  Julian and I exchanged a look, sobering afterward and focusing more intently on Evie. We neared a side entrance into the museum, and as the glass door swung open to allow us entrance, I allowed myself a steadying breath. A human wearing a security guard’s uniform held the door until all three of us had entered. When he spoke, he used heavily accented English. “It’s been a quiet night,” he said, addressing Evie primarily. “Are you sure we’re going to have a break-in?”

  “Yes. If not tonight, then soon,” Evie said. “I trust the Duke paid you well.”

  “He did. But shouldn’t I be warning the others?”

  “I wouldn’t. Part of this hinges on all of you being where you’re supposed to be.” Evie took her time studying the immediate area – which boasted little other than posters advertising the same exhibits, white-washed walls, and tiled floors – before looking at our benefactor. She flashed a smile at the concerned way he looked at her. “They should be fine. Powerful vampires have loftier goals than killing a few human guards. Now, stay here and keep watch for us.”

  He nodded, and in the acquiescence, I saw hope for a greater paycheck in return for his cooperation. The causal way Evie paced away from him, however, begged for recognition. Once we had walked out of earshot of the human, I lowered my voice and spoke toward Evie. “You scold me for wanting the aid of a sorceress,” I said, “But are willing to play Russian roulette with a few guards?”

  “My grievance with you is that you don’t know how to use the resources at your disposal,” she said. “Now, be quiet so I can determine why the bloody hell it feels like we’re standing on top of a bomb.”

  “Julian and I wondered if we might be feeling the gem shard.”

  “I had the same thought.”

  Nodding, I fell silent, allowing her to search while I did the same. Together, the three of us strode further into the museum and as we finally emerged into the main portion of the Petit Palais, I had to indulge that small part of me given in to admiration. Molding on the ceiling and the uppermost portions of the walls hinted at intricate details which must have been a sight to behold in the daylight. Floor tiles formed ornamental designs, which led us down a long hallway toward the front of the building. As we strode past a collection of sculptures, we avoided the security systems which kept each one safe.

  “It might be coming from outside,” I said, glancing toward spacious windows which overlooked a central courtyard. Evie nodded, but did not acknowledge me with words, her head tilting and eyes squinting as if something might be whispering at her, barely discernable. As the pulses of guards making their rounds turned louder, we retreated further into the shadows while they passed us by. Evie remained as still as a corpse, waiting until they turned into one of the galleries before answering.

  “As good of a place as any to check,” she said, whispering. She peered toward the windows, then lifted her head to read one of the directional signs which had been placed nearby. Evie nodded toward the placard. “We’ll find our way out to the gardens. Just be mindful of any additional security.”

  “Lead the way and we will follow.”

  “Finally seeing it my way.”

  No one offered any additional commentary. We remained quiet admirers, pacing around the perimeter of the courtyard until we found the doors leading outside. Evie studied them first before attempting them, I assumed to ensure no alarms would sound if we slipped our way outside.

  “Locked?” Julian asked, speaking in a hushed tone.

  “Locked, yes,” Evie said, matching his volume, “But I don’t know if we should chance rousing any suspicion.” She strode back to where I stood with Julian. “Maybe I can have our escort lead us out.”

  Julian shook his head. “No need.” Crouching to eye the door, he squinted at it until I heard the characteristic sound of the lock clicking. As he rose to a stand again, we peered around, waiting for the sign of an alarm and exchanging glances until Evie chanced touching one door and opening it. A small rush of cold air impacted us, but when nothing else followed, we walked outside, ensuring we shut the door behind us. Slowly, we crept toward the center of the courtyard.

  My skin began to crawl, lending credence to my suspicion. When even Evie shuddered, we gathered together, all three of us searching the gardens until Julian finally broke the silence. “There’s something here,” he said in confirmation. “I think we should hide somewhere and wait.”

  “Best to find whatever shadows suit us,” Evie said. “She has four hours to arrive.”

  As she paced away, Julian followed, but I remained standing in place, wondering what else about the area had the lot of us on edge. Yes, the other locations Sabrina had hidden her treasures had radiated a similar aura, but even counting how belatedly we showed up in Vienna, I could not recall anything this visceral. The waves of dark energy emanating from where we stood rolled outward like a beacon, leading me to wonder if they did so deliberately.

  “Be careful,” I said, giving little mind to the volume of my voice. “I think we might have been tricked.”

  I glanced at Evie and Julian. They peered back at me from further away, Julian furrowing his brow while Evie took one step closer to me and stopped, something catching her attention from the corner of her eye. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, two things preempted her. The first came in the form of her thoughts. They screamed out a general sense of warning, forming the impetus behind me spinning around to look toward where she was focused.

  The second thing, however, found its genesis from someone other than her.

  A burst of energy crackled toward me, impacting before I could deflect it. While the force only knocked me back, the place where it hit – my left shoulder – radiated an ungodly amount of pain which slowly started to creep down my arm. In my periphery, I saw Julian draw his crossbow and as he ran for cover, the person who had attacked me attempted a shot in his direction. I reached for the hilt of my sword with my right hand and froze when the perpetrator emerged from the shadows.

  My inner darkness woke within me, the loyal vampire child warring with the willfully defiant man as I beheld her again. A smile slowly bloomed across her lips, her eyes darting to me first before they sought out Julian. As she paced further into the gardens, I peered toward where Evie had been standing, both surprised and not to find her missing. “You brought friends. I’m touched.” Sabrina said, her heels clicking on stone and pants swishing when she walked, like she did not
have a care in the world. In her hand, she held a mass of black and purple, reminding me vaguely of the weapons both Ian and Valeria had used in the past. “Didn’t think you could handle me on your own?”

  I opened my mouth to speak, but was interrupted when a crossbow bolt sailed through the air. As it neared her, it disintegrated, falling to the ground as ash. Her smile broadened, showing the points of her fangs while she walked over its remnant. “Honestly, did you think I would enter an area with two seers and not prepare myself?” she asked. Her expression sobered dramatically, the hand holding the ball of energy thrusting forward. “Why don’t you come out and join us, Pet?”

  Footsteps followed the rhetorical question, originating from the area where the bolt had originated. I heard a thud and the sound of something clattering across a hard surface, not sure if Julian had been hit, but imagining it a narrow miss regardless. While Sabrina stalked forward, I finally summoned the wherewithal to draw my sword, and once her back had been presented to me, I raced for her, clutching the hilt in the one good hand I had left for the moment. My other arm hung useless – temporarily paralyzed – at my side, but I resolved not to let her get the better of me.

  Even if I suspected what followed.

  Sabrina pivoted when I swung and regardless of how practiced the blow was, it missed her altogether. Lacking the control my other hand offered, I could not regroup nearly so quickly and when she spun to engage me, I only had a moment to dive out of the way, avoiding another burst of energy in the process.

  Quickly, I rose to a stand. As I motioned for her again, blade extended out in front of me, Sabrina twisted her hand and my useless arm sprung to life again. Another jab of pain racked me from fingertips to neck and while I tried to think past it, I found Sabrina in my personal space, her hand extending to grip onto my throat. Her nails dug into skin, my senses muddied by memories of the way it used to afflict me when she had me at her mercy. “I have a few new tricks up my sleeve, my dark son,” she said. “Would you like to see them?”