Bound by Blood Box Set

by Lane Hart

  “Am I going to have to drag you kicking and screaming to the car?” he asked as his face reddened.

  “I’m not going with you.”

  “Kate, I thought I raised you better than this. I gave in and let you come here to school, and in three weeks you put your life at risk. We’re leaving now!”

  “I’m not going with you!” I screamed again at him through the tears.

  “Kate!” he yelled.

  There was only one thing I could do to possibly change his mind. “I’ll turn myself in,” I threatened.

  “No you won’t, and that’s why we’ve got to leave right now. They’ll kill you and you know it. Stop being melodramatic,” he said, telling me he’d known all along that I was a witch.

  “Then they kill me.”

  “You’re willing to die for a fucking vampire? He must have filled your head with a shitload of brainwashing. That’s what they all do. Don’t you realize you were manipulated?”

  “He didn’t. I wasn’t. I love him so much,” I told him as the sobs rocked my body.

  “He’s gone, and you’re coming with me so I can try and keep you safe from the horrible fucking decisions you’ve made,” he demanded.

  I was done trying to convince him. I’d made my decision. I finally found the strength to stand up and went to get my phone from the couch. I knew he thought I’d just finally given in. My tears clouded my vision and my hands were shaking so bad it took a few tries before I finally punched in the numbers and hit send.

  “9-1-1, what’s your emergency?” the woman asked.

  “My name is Kate Adams,”

  “Kate, what are you doing?” he screamed as he headed toward me.

  “I’m the daughter of Agent Thomas Adams of the D.R.A.”

  “Give me the phone Kate! Don’t do this!” he said reaching for the phone at my ear.

  “And I’m a witch,” I said just before he jerked the phone from me.

  “Goddamn it Kate!” he said as he ended the call before shaking me. “What have you done? Now they are going to track both of us down and kill us before I can hide you from them!”

  “I warned you. Tell them to let him go daddy. Please!” I yelled.

  “I can’t. It’s too late,” he said, shaking his head.

  No, I couldn’t believe he was gone. I’d just seen him. But if he’d fought the agents, oh God! They would have killed him instantly.

  “Is he? Has he already been?” I could hardly speak, but I needed to know.

  “Not yet, but he’s in custody on the way to the Atlanta facility.” Relief sank through me. Thank God, there might still be time!

  “Then stop them! Find them!” I begged him. “If not, then you might as well kill me now and get it over with.”

  “Goddammit Kate!” he said as he stomped around, rubbing his head. “Get in the fucking car! I can’t believe I’m doing this, but thanks to you and him, I’m no longer an agent, so why the hell not.”

  He was going to try and find him. I wrapped my arms around him as I sobbed on his shoulder. “Thank you!”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Sam

  If someone would have told me yesterday that I’d willingly turn myself into the D.R.A. today, I would have laughed in their fucking face. Yet, here I was. I’d been hiding from them for almost sixty years and now I was sitting in some fucking container in the back of their fucking truck. But I couldn’t risk Kate. She was the only thing more important to me than my own damn life.

  Oh, Kate! Thinking about her made me physically ill. I couldn’t believe I was never going to see her again.

  I wiped at the tickling on my cheek. Shit! Now I was crying like the pussy that I was. At least the two guards couldn’t see me. The container they’d put me in was a solid grey metal with no windows and only a few slits. I felt like a damn dog being caged in this thing, and wished they’d just go ahead and get it over with.

  Then the anger hit me. My only regret was that motherfucking Chris was still alive and breathing after he’d done this to me and her. I just hoped her dad was right and Chris would never find her before the D.R.A. found him and killed him.

  The two men guarding me had been chitchatting about nothing when they suddenly both went quiet. I could hear the faint noise of someone talking on a radio or a phone, but I couldn’t make out much of it. It almost sounded like I had heard the name “Adams” though.

  “So, you think it’d be bad form to go ahead and submit my resume for that asshole’s job?” I heard one say to the other, then they both laughed.

  “That’s not a bad idea. Everyone’s going to be begging for it, but you don’t stand a chance – Adams was three pay grades above us.” That caught my attention.

  “I know. But who would’ve thought, right? His own daughter a damn witch?”

  Oh fuck! How had they found out about Kate? Had that bastard turned her in anyway? It was all for nothing! I should have just killed him. Even if it meant Kate would have hated me for it, at least we would both be alive instead of in this fucked up situation.

  “Yeah him fucking some witch and then hiding their kid for over eighteen years right under all our noses. He better hope they never find him.”

  “I’ll call up Sampson out of Greensboro, see if he knows the details,” one said.

  “Yo, Sampson! Hey man, what’ve you heard on Adams?” there was silence while I assumed he listened. “No shit! So have they found them?” God, I wished I could hear the other side of the conversation. I just hoped the idiot would tell his buddy what was said when he hung up.

  “You think it’s got anything to do with this vampire we picked up in Greensboro? He didn’t even put up a fight. Never seen that shit before. And they said Adams had been at the scene. Alright, we’ll keep our eyes out for him. See ya.”

  “What’d he say?” the other guard thankfully asked for me.

  “So a few minutes ago a 9-1-1 call came in from some chick in Greensboro. She told them Adams was her father and said she was a witch, then hung up.”

  “Fuck!” I yelled and punched the container wall. Why would she do that?

  “I’m starting to think this vamp has got something to do with Adams’s witch,” I heard one say.

  “Did he tell you if they’ve found her or Adams yet?”

  “Not yet. APB out on both.”

  What the hell was going on? Now they were after Kate, and I couldn’t do anything to protect her sitting here in this fucking box, on my way to be executed.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Kate

  Thankfully I had my seat belt on because my dad was driving like a maniac. I was still in shock as I looked over at him. He was focusing straight ahead on traffic as he weaved in and out of the lanes. I couldn’t believe he was actually trying to find Sam. I still wasn’t sure if he was just lying to get me to leave with him. But what was my other choice? Sit in my apartment and wait to get arrested then executed?

  His cell phone had been ringing until he threw it out the window, and there was constant noise on the headset that he occasionally listened to, but was now sitting on the console. The noise was probably my fault. I didn’t feel bad though. I didn’t give a shit about his job or what would happened to us after what he’d done.

  “So you knew my mother was a witch this whole time?” I asked. Might as well spend the time wisely and get some questions answered.

  “Of course.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me, then I would’ve known to hide it? I would have known about my blood.”

  “How did you find out? The vampire bite you and tell you?” he asked angry.

  I shook my head. “No, it was nothing like that.” Maybe if I told him everything then he’d know Sam wasn’t dangerous or evil.

  “Sam worked at the blood bank. Their bus was at school doing a blood drive a few days ago. I signed up to donate.”

  “A vampire working at a blood bank? You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

  “He did it because he
didn’t want to drink from people. Anyway, he stuck my arm and when my blood started flowing he stopped. He told me never to give blood again and not to tell anyone about it. He said he couldn’t talk about it there but if I’d meet him later he’d tell me what it meant. So that night I met him at a doughnut shop.” In my current delusional state, saying that made me giggle. I met a vampire who worked for a blood bank at a doughnut shop.

  “You’re joking,” my father said.

  “No. We met and he told me I was a witch, said he knew because he’d studied blood, and that he wanted me to know so nothing bad would happen to me,” the tears started rolling again. “He started to leave but I stopped him and asked for his number so I could call if I had any questions. Really I just wanted to see him again. We went on a few dates then he told me he was a vampire and I told him I didn’t care,” I skipped the parts that my dad really didn’t need to ever know about.

  “I did the spell to help his roommate, Chris, who’d spent years as a cat. Then Chris found my address online, showed up and used the, um, witch and warlock lust to get me to cheat on Sam. I was stupid and did it, but Sam forgave me anyway,” then the sobs took over again.

  “I’m sure he wasn’t as wonderful as you thought he was,” he said. Sam was though, there was no doubt about it. “But I have to give him credit, he did go willingly when I told him you’d be turned in if he didn’t.”

  “What?” I screamed.

  “I knew it would be easier and safer for everyone, including you, if he’d just surrender, so I used you as leverage. It worked.”

  I thought back to Sam’s last text message. He said he loved me more than anything and that a week with me was worth more than an eternity without me. I couldn’t breathe. He could’ve gotten away from them but he didn’t. Because of me.

  “How could you do that? Were you there?” I hiccupped. “He could’ve ran?”

  “Yes. He wanted to call you but I wouldn’t let him. I read all of your text messages and let him send you the last one.”

  “Can’t you see that he loves me, probably more than my own father?”

  He exhaled as he continued swerving through traffic.

  “I was trying to protect you. If I didn’t love you as much as I do, I wouldn’t be doing this.”

  “You owe this to me because you’re wrong! What you’ve done your whole life is wrong, and you know it! You’ve killed innocent people who were like me and Sam, just because of what they were! All these years, how could you?”

  When he started slowing the car down I looked out the front window and saw we were coming up on what looked like a big armored truck.

  “Is that him?” I asked as adrenalin rushed through me.

  “Yes.”

  “So how are we going to get them to stop?” I asked. That thing had to be all kinds of bulletproof.

  “There should be four heavily armed guards on that truck, two in the front and two in the back with him. We’ll have to kill them all, or at least injure them all before they can shoot us.”

  “What? You can’t be serious.” There was no way we were going to be able to do that. He reached into the back seat and pulled out a vest, throwing it at me.

  “Here, put this on,” he ordered.

  It was heavy, and I was sure it was bulletproof.

  “Are you willing to kill someone to save him?” he asked.

  “Yes,” and I knew without hesitation I would kill D.R.A. agents to save Sam.

  “Then maybe now you understand why I’ve kept my job. I still can’t believe I’m doing this, and there’s a real big possibility neither of us will live through it. I shouldn’t have brought you.”

  “I don’t care what happens, we’ve got to try. We’re both wanted anyway, so our time is already limited.”

  “I love you Kate, and I loved your mother more than anything in the world. She died right after you were born. We couldn’t have you at the hospital because of her blood,” he said, and my father, the hardest man I’ve ever known, had tears running down his face.

  “We delivered you at the house. Your mother, Elizabeth, she only got to hold you for a second before she died, just long enough for her to see you, then she was gone. I couldn’t believe it when I lost her that night. It almost killed me, and I still miss her so damn much. You look just like her, Kate.”

  My own tears were still falling. I knew my mom had died when I was little, but he’d never told me when or how, or even her name. He’d named me after her, after I’d killed her when I was born.

  “I’ve kept my job all this time because I thought it was the best way to keep her, and then you, safe,” he said, then he laughed as he looked over at me. “I guess your vampire and I think alike, both of us trying to hide in plain sight.”

  “I’m sorry daddy. I love you, and thank you for doing this.”

  “Alright,” he said, “you’re going to have to grab the wheel and hold it steady, okay?”

  “What are you going to do?” I asked as he reached into the backseat floorboard and pulled out a long gun.

  “I’m going to try and hit the truck, but you’ve got to hold the wheel and stay calm and steady whatever happens. You got it? He’s in a fire proof, bullet proof box so you’re going to have to trust me that he’s going to be fine,” he said as he rolled down his window.

  “Okay, I can do that,” I told him as I leaned up and grabbed the steering wheel. My dad then eased off the gas and leaned out the window into the darkness with the gun propped up on his shoulder.

  “Get ready to brace yourself, because as soon as I shoot this we’re going to have to slam on the brakes.”

  I couldn’t help but flinch at the boom, then watched in shock as the armored truck in front of us came off the ground. I thought I was going to hyperventilate when I saw it was on fire.

  My dad was back in his seat, taking the wheel from me and slowing us down, swerving just before we hit the truck. When I looked back the truck had flipped over several times until it finally teetered to a stop in a deep ditch on the right side of the road. Our car finally came to a stop on the shoulder.

  “Stay here until I tell you it’s clear! Do you hear me Kate?” he asked and I nodded.

  I wanted to jump out and run back to see if Sam was okay, but I knew better and made myself stay in the car.

  I turned around and watched over the seat as my dad went down the embankment and approached the truck that was now laying on its side. My heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest as I watched. He was carrying a regular looking gun and had it aimed and ready as he moved closer. I wasn’t sure if the guards could have survived the crash, and prayed that my dad was right, that Sam was okay.

  The driver side door on the truck pushed up and open and I jumped when I heard the gun shots. They must have been my dad’s because he didn’t flinch as he started around the back of the truck. A minute later he yelled for me, and I was out and running.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Sam

  Suddenly there was a loud boom and then I was thrown against what felt like all sides of the damn container before we finally stopped. What the hell? Had we wrecked? Since there were no windows in the back of the big box, I had no idea what was going on. My head and body hurt from being slammed over and over, but I was already starting to heal.

  I didn’t hear anything going on in the back of the truck, not a peep from either of the guards. From outside there were what sounded like gunshots and then the sound of the metal bars sliding. After a loud thud there were definitely more gunshots in the back of the truck with me. What the hell?

  “Oh God!”

  I had to have some sort of brain injury because that sounded like Kate.

  “Don’t look at them sweetie.” Was that Kate’s dad? No, it couldn’t be.

  “Sam? Sam are you okay?” Kate screamed in a panic as her voice came closer.

  “Kate? What the hell are you doing? You’re going to get yourself killed! You’ve got to leave! There are m
ore guards!” I was frantic. The thought that she was here when I didn’t think I’d ever see her again made my chest ache with happiness, but if something happened to her I didn’t know what I would do.

  “It’s okay, we’re going to get you out!” she said. It sounded like she was crying.

  “We’re all clear for now, but backup’s probably on the way, so we’ve got to move quickly,” her dad said. “Kate, here hold the gun and watch my back while I get this contraption opened.”

  “I’m so damn happy you’re here, but what the fuck are you doing? Trying to get yourselves killed?” I asked both of them. I still wasn’t sure this was all just a dream.

  Kate answered. “My dad tracked you down and then blew up the truck,” she said through hiccups as she cried.

  Finally, all the locks and levers were undone and the side panel was opened. I came out of that damn thing and grabbed Kate, wrapping my arms around her as soon as I was free.

  “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again,” I breathed into her hair. I crushed her to me, having to prove to myself she was really there.

  “I was … so scared … we wouldn’t make it … in time,” she said between sobs.

  “Alright, now break it up and hit the road. Here,” her father said.

  I finally loosened up my grip on Kate but couldn’t let her go. Her father was handing us a set of keys. I looked at him trying to figure out what he wanted us to do.

  “Go, get her out of the country, and you better take care of her for me,” he said as he dropped the keys into my hand.

  “Whoa, wait a minute,” Kate said as she turned to her father. “We’re all going.”

  “No, we’re not. I’m too old and tired to run from them. After your mother died, well … you’re the only reason I’ve lived this long, and you don’t need me anymore. Sam, I’m sorry this happened, now get her out of here.”

  “Kate,” I started.

  “No! You’re going with us.”

  I could hear sirens, and they were getting closer.