Revelations in Blood

by Patricia D. Eddy

  “Do not be ridiculous, Nicola. You will not live two days without feeding.” Antonio twisted off the cap, and the vampire guards held Nic’s head steady as Antonio wedged his jaw open and poured some of the blood into Nic’s mouth.

  Though he tried not to swallow, hunger dulled his mind and his reactions. Choking, he spit out as much as he could, but at least an ounce went down. “Bastardo,” Nic whispered.

  “I did that to keep you alive. You could try to be grateful.” Antonio strode from the room, the doctor trailing at his heels. Too weak to fight back, Nic slumped in the guards’ hold as they cuffed his wrists together behind his back. His stomach churned, and despite the chill infusing his bones, sweat broke out along his brow.

  By the time the guards threw him in a cell, Nic felt like his skin was on fire. Panting, he collapsed on the thin bed. What was happening to him?

  Evangeline. Cara, where are you?

  The Conclave had Evangeline—even if Antonio would not admit it. But they must have taken her somewhere else. Somewhere far away. His strangled moan echoed off the stone walls of his cell, and he writhed on the small bed as agony ate away at him from the inside out. His skin crawled, the pain of a thousand lashes ripping him apart. Nic raked his fingers over his cheeks, his neck, and down his arms, begging whatever God made him to keep his life mate safe.

  “Evangeline!”

  Nic ached to hear her voice. For some sign she was still alive. But all he felt was pain. Time held no meaning for him. When he started to heave, he dragged himself off the bed, landing on the stone floor with a bone-jarring thud. Crawling to the toilet in the corner, he shoved a finger down his throat, praying ridding himself of the stale, human blood would stop this endless agony. What had they done to him?

  When he’d thrown up everything in his stomach, he collapsed, and within minutes, he let himself succumb to the overwhelming need to close his eyes and let sleep—or unconsciousness—take him.

  24

  Sylvie peered at the hotel room door from around the corner. “Looks clear. The eyeliner I smudged on the handle is still there. No one’s gone inside.” Rushing forward, touching her keycard to the lock, she gripped the handle as Bayard pulled his gun. Her own pistol was heavy in her dominant hand, and after Bayard pointed down and she nodded, she shoved the door open.

  Bayard went low, she went high, moving into the room with all of their enhanced speed. Sweeping glances over the lavish suite, they cleared the room in under five seconds, and Sylvie blew out a breath. “Spill it,” she said with a dark glare at Vittoria. “While I clean myself up.”

  Vittoria’s bloodshot eyes widened. “You do not want privacy?”

  Sylvie dropped Vittoria’s jacket on the bed, challenging the woman to look away from her naked and bloodstained chest. “I don’t trust you, bitch. This whole cock-up started when you drugged E. Then handed over the blood samples to those fucking bastards at the Conclave. So I’m not letting you out of my sight.” Grabbing Vittoria’s wrist, she tugged the woman into the bathroom with her and shoved her down onto the closed toilet. “You explain everything. Now.”

  “I will call my contact and see if he can sneak us into the Conclave,” Bayard muttered and headed for the suite’s main room.

  “I’m not done with you either,” Sylvie called after him. As she started the shower, she glared at the meek looking vampire sitting with her hands clasped in her lap. “Well…?”

  “I did what I had to,” Vittoria said quietly. “I was trying to protect them.”

  “Bullshit.” Sylvie wrinkled her nose as she shed her pants, underwear, and socks. “Those were my favorite Armanis,” she said as she kicked the pants into a ball in the corner.

  Vittoria stared down at the tile floor and sniffled once. “Four years ago, Carlo came to my door. We’d had little contact after Nicola’s disappearance, so I was surprised to see him. We are…not close.”

  The hot water ran red as Sylvie stepped under the spray. She scrubbed her hands through her hair, the scent of her own blood turning her stomach. Memories of another time, another place threatened to surface, but she shook her head and forced herself to concentrate on Vittoria’s words.

  “He brought me a blood sample. Asked me to test it and tell him what I thought. I asked him why. Where he’d obtained the sample. He refused to tell me. But he was working for the Conclave at the time. Serving as Nicola’s temporary replacement.”

  “And?” The water ran clear, and Sylvie raked shampoo through her short locks, finally able to breathe easily once the scent of coconut replaced the coppery tang of her blood.

  Vittoria didn’t answer for several long seconds, and once she’d dispatched the soap, Sylvie poked her head out from behind the curtain. “Out with it, Vittoria. Or I’m going to have to wash more blood down the drain, and it won’t be mine.”

  With a shudder, Vittoria blew out a breath. “I swear to you, Carlo did not tell me who the blood belonged to. He’d stolen the sample from the Conclave, but I do not believe he knew the source.” Wringing her hands in her lap, Vittoria met Sylvie’s gaze, tears shining in her eyes. “The blood…it was not Evangeline’s, but there were many similarities. Rapid healing, highly oxygenated cells…on the surface, the blood was perfection,” Vittoria’s voice cracked, “but also terrifying. As were the tests I ran the other day.”

  “Yeah, she’s immortal.”

  “Si. But that is not all she is.” Pushing to her feet, Vittoria paced the small bathroom as Sylvie rinsed the last of the soap from her body and shut off the water. “I kept all of my test results. Hid them. When I took her blood the other day, I compared the two samples. Evangeline’s blood is much stronger. But when I mixed a few drops of her blood with mine, the results…merda. The Conclave raided my lab before I could complete my testing, but I suspect we are seeing—”

  Sylvie wrapped herself in a towel as Bayard cursed from the other room, and a loud crash rattled her nerves. Snatching a bra from her suitcase as she headed through the bedroom, she tossed a glance over her shoulder at Vittoria. “Hold that thought.”

  Bayard met her at the door. “The polizia are on their way. Get dressed. I have the guns and our extra blood bags packed. My contact cannot get us into to the Conclave’s facility, but he believes he can get a message to Nicola, and perhaps find a way to open the cell door. But after that, we are on our own. And Nicola will need a miracle to escape with his life.

  25

  Awareness returned slowly, a dull hum in her ears that wouldn’t shut up and a sour roiling in her stomach. Her ass hurt. Rough stone pressed against the back of her thighs through her thin sundress. A lump on the back of her head throbbed where her head rested against something hard.

  Shivering in the cool, dank air, Evangeline forced her eyes open, then immediately clamped them shut as the world spun around her and she feared she’d throw up.

  Where was she? “Nic…” she whispered. No one answered her, and she risked opening her eyes to slits.

  A gauzy film seemed to cover everything around her. Harsh lights seared into her brain, and she saw bars fifteen feet away. Oh shit.

  When she tried to get her feet under her, metal scraped along the stone, and her left ankle started to burn. Running her fingers down her bare calf, she hissed when she found a thick cuff locked just above her ankle bone. Pain skittered through her hands, the sensation both frigid and fiery at the same time.

  Following the chain gingerly, trying to breathe through the pain, she’d traversed perhaps three feet of the heavy links before a lock thunked across the cell and she yelped and flinched, the motion making her retch and sending her falling back into the wall.

  “Careful, my pet. You will be dizzy for quite some time.”

  Not recognizing the heavily accented voice, she clenched her hands into fists and fought against the nausea as she forced herself to try to focus on the tall, thin figure standing over her. If she didn’t move her head, maybe she could avoid throwing up. “Who…the fuck…are yo
u?”

  “My name is Luigi Nobile. But you may call me Master. After all, I own you now.”

  Anger and fear swirled in her belly as she forced steel into her tone. “No one…owns me.”

  “You will understand soon enough.” Luigi approached, cocking his head as he clucked his tongue. “It is fortunate you heal quickly. My men were not gentle, were they?” He hooked a bony finger under her chin, and a wave of pain slammed into her at the touch of a male other than her life mate. She tried to recoil, but already pressed against the wall, she couldn’t escape him.

  Her last few minutes of consciousness came rushing back to her. Nic screaming her name. Sylvie’s shocked face as blood spread over her jacket. A tall, blond vampire, doubled over in pain as she tried to sprint away, and then the sting of a needle in her neck before everything faded away into nothingness.

  “What did you do…with Nic…?”

  “He has been sentenced to death. Murder is not tolerated in our society. Though I will keep him alive until I have harvested enough of his blood to guarantee the success of my research. The two of you share so many secrets. But after that, he will go to his end.” As Luigi spoke, Evangeline forced herself to take shallow breaths, hoping she wouldn’t pass out. “You, however, are going to be with me for a very long time.”

  His hand fell away, and he turned, gazing off to the side, into another cell. “Much like—”

  Evangeline leapt up, sprinting for the open cell door behind Luigi, but after three steps, she pitched forward and hit the ground with a cry, the chain around her ankle giving her only a few feet of range away from the wall.

  Her cheek scraped against the stone, and blood trickled, warm and sticky, down to her jaw. Luigi inhaled sharply, and his fangs lengthened as he stooped closer to her. “Delicious.”

  Before she could retort—or try to kick him—his hands were on her, hauling her up and pinning her arms behind her as he slammed her into the wall again, snarling.

  The agony of his fangs piercing her neck shattered her from the inside out. Her skin caught fire, her heart threatened to burst, and her eyes rolled back in her head as her cries faded to desperate whimpers.

  When Nic fed from her, pleasure overtook her entire being, but with Luigi, the blood spilling from her vein felt like acid. Burning, branding, scarring her. Her knees buckled, but he held her up easily, bearing her weight as if she were nothing but a feather in his grasp.

  His satisfied moans turned her stomach further, and she tried to kick him, but lacked the strength to do more than be a minor annoyance as he continued to drain her.

  Oh God. He’s going to turn me…

  But as the edges of her vision darkened and the agony threatened to consume her entire being, he released her, and she crumpled into a ball at his feet, sobbing.

  “What…did you…do…?”

  “Your blood is like none I have ever tasted. Its strength. Life-giving.” He crouched in front of her, grinning, his fangs still stained crimson. “I feel younger than I have in years.”

  Evangeline could only shudder, her arms wrapped around her knees as spasms of pain wracked her body. “Hurts.”

  “That cannot be helped, I am afraid.” Luigi shrugged. “I am dissolving the bond you share with your life mate. It will take weeks to fully fade, and it will be very painful.”

  Tears burned her eyes as she forced herself to look up at the ancient asshole. “Why?”

  “Because I want your complete obedience. Before long, you will be unable to fight me.” He rose and streaked out of her cell, returning only seconds later. “My scientists—that is a story for another time—have developed a unique drug you will test for me. It causes extreme vertigo and weakness while allowing your body to replenish any lost blood at previously unheard-of speeds.”

  Luigi yanked her head back by her hair and forced her mouth open. She gagged, trying to bite down on his disgusting fingers, but he was too strong. She only caught a glimpse of the red vial before he was pouring the liquid down her throat.

  Another vampire’s blood. Panic had her flailing her limbs as she tried to spit the blood back in Luigi’s face, but he clamped his hands over her nose and mouth, cutting off her air.

  Evangeline tried to shake her head, to dislodge his hands, but he was too strong. If she couldn’t avoid the drugs, she’d never escape.

  “Do not test me, pet.” Luigi said, anger roughening his voice.

  Her lungs burned, and too weak, she swallowed the thick, disgusting blood. Another wave of bone-splintering pain overwhelmed her as he shoved her to the ground.

  Convulsing, her limbs refusing to obey her desperate urges to get up, to fight, a strange sensation pushed against her battered mind. Glee. Anticipation. Raw need. Luigi. She was sensing her captor. The emotions fled as quickly as they’d overtaken her, and she balled her hands into fists, scraping them against the stone and using the pain to try to focus.

  No, no, no. She couldn’t lose the bond she had with Nic. Couldn’t lose him. Holding Nic’s face in her mind, she tried to sense him, but felt nothing.

  Nic, I love you. Please don’t leave me.

  Wheezing, Evangeline tried to push up on an elbow, collapsed, and struggled up again. “You’re…a lunatic.”

  Luigi slapped her, his open palm shattering her cheekbone and sending her back to the ground. “Do not speak to your Master that way, pet. Or I will make this process even more painful. Would you like, perhaps, to hang by your wrists for a few days?”

  “N-no…please…” Evangeline tried to scoot back, but Luigi grabbed her by the neck.

  “There is a war coming. Vampires have catered to humans for far too long. The era of peace between our two races ends very soon. With humanity returning to the blood slaves they were originally intended to be. And you, my pet, you are the key to ensuring our victory. Feeding on your blood will allow me to live forever and will turn my foot soldiers into legends.”

  “Humans will never submit to you.”

  Luigi swiped a fat drop of Evangeline’s blood from her cheek, examined the glistening red stain on his finger, and then rose, approaching the bars to her left. “Humans will perish in droves.” Holding his finger close to his lips, he blew out a breath. “Wake up,” he said sharply.

  Shock stole her words as a disheveled, rail-thin man sprang to his feet with an inhuman roar and threw himself against the bars. He hissed, then whimpered as he tried to press closer, clawing the air, trying desperately for the blood Luigi held just out of his reach.

  “Despite years of research, we could never replicate the serum your father developed. Our attempts did, however, yield a drug that turns its test subjects ravenous—and very lethal.”

  “Blood…” the other prisoner snarled, his voice hoarse. “Give it to me…”

  Luigi licked the blood from his finger, and the other vampire spit out an angry string of words in a language Evangeline didn’t understand.

  Ignoring the tirade, her captor turned and clasped his hands behind his back. “Studying your blood has been a revelation. The secrets you hold…” Luigi’s thin lips curled into a grin, exposing his fangs. “Immortality sits at my feet. As my blood slave, you will keep me alive for the rest of time.”

  “I will…never be…your blood slave, you sick bastard.” Despite her words, Evangeline feared she had no choice. Too weak to fight anyone, least of all a vampire feasting on her blood, her only hope lay in escape, and chained to the wall, unable to stand, what chance did she have?

  As Luigi backed towards the cell door, he laughed. “You think you have a choice? While you were unconscious, we siphoned off a third of your blood. In a few hours, once your blood pressure returns to normal, we will do so again. And again, and again, and again. I have your father’s research nearly decrypted. All of it. Once we learn what he did to turn you immortal, I will be worshipped and hailed as a god. And you…” Pulling a pair of gloves from his pocket, he tugged them on, then slammed the cell door with a grimace. “In a few we
eks, you will submit willingly.”

  “Never.”

  The Conclave leader leaned closer to the bars, and his lips twitched in disgust. “Once I have broken the bond and your life mate is dead, you will have no choice, my dear. But if you would like to make things easy on both of us, you can hurry the process along. Submit to me as your master, and I will ensure you are pampered, kept safe, and protected as the treasure that you are. Refuse, and you will know my wrath. I can make your life an endless sea of pain and keep you alive for eternity. Do not try me.”

  As Luigi walked away, Evangeline wrapped her arms around her knees and let her tears spill over.

  “Who…are…you?” The rasping voice from the next cell made her flinch, and that set off another wave of dizziness. Damn the drugs. Not long after Luigi had left, the vertigo had overwhelmed her, and she’d passed out for a time, coming to with a whimper as her stomach heaved.

  Evangeline tried to sit up, retched, and then dragged herself to the small toilet, throwing up what little remained in her stomach before collapsing onto the cold stone. Her ankle throbbed where the chain clamped tight, and every time she opened her eyes, the room swirled like she was hurtling through the air with her little dog Toto.

  “Who?” the vampire asked again.

  “Evangeline Long—Angliatti.” She was not going to lose the bond she and Nic shared. Nor her identity. She wasn’t Luigi’s blood slave. She was the wife—and bonded life mate—of Nicola Angliatti, and she would escape and reclaim that identity if it was the last thing she did.

  “Angliatti? Nicola?” A groan accompanied the man’s words, and Evangeline risked opening one eye, seeing him sitting at the back of his cell.

  Slowly, trying to avoid pitching forward and smacking her face into the stone again, she pushed up on her hands and managed to prop herself up against the wall. “Yes. Who are you?”