Chained By Blood_Janine's Story

by Holly Hook

  "Precisely," Trish said. "We will need to steal clothes as soon as we find a store or a house and then use their phone."

  Brendan pulled Grimes along, which was easy as the guy was unconscious and relaxed. He floated on the surface of the water, on his back, with his fancy work shoes poking out like a pair of dull shark fins. We could all see in the dark, and even though it was a new moon, the starlight was more than enough to see by. My color vision remained, sharp and clear.

  A faint doggy smell rode on the wind. George and the other werewolves were out here somewhere. That made me feel better. They might not find us, but at least I knew they had escaped.

  * * * * *

  We took another fifteen minutes to find a neighborhood. A chain-link fence divided a suburb from the river on both sides and I tripped over a discarded bicycle that someone had thrown in the water. Graceful creature, I was not.

  And Grimes still didn't awaken. Trish explained that maybe his healing abilities were slower than ours and it would take time. She didn't sound sure. This was the first time she'd encountered someone like him.

  I hoped that applied to brains. Grimes twitched occasionally, but the movements were involuntary. He was alive, but if he couldn't heal, he might not come out of this.

  It was a struggle to keep my mixed-up emotions back as we dragged him onto the shore and set him down on the ground, on his back. Trish climbed over the fence and told us she'd return after she broke into and raided a house that had no one home. "We don't need blood," she said. "That's a plus. This area must be on high alert. I have no problem feeding from the source, but I have one with the military. And Imposters."

  She left me and Brendan on the dark shore. Shrubs hid us. I listened as she crept two streets over and jimmied a sliding door with a stick. It wasn't as if we had a choice but to commit a crime if we wanted to get normal clothes and get out of here undetected.

  Brendan swallowed. "I didn't think we would get out of there."

  He was skirting around the subject, so I brought us back to it. "I don't know if Grimes will wake up again."

  "If he's a vampire, he will heal as long as he's not dead. He has to. Bathory might have meant it when she said he'd become a full one again without his blood transfusions. If we get Grimes to the Underground, we might just need to get him a bed. That's so long as Primrose doesn't return."

  "But what if he transfused too much Normal blood into himself?" I asked. "He said he was almost cured."

  Brendan shook his head. "I don't know. I thought this guy was Normal. But he made it through that tunnel."

  I sat down on the bank next to Brendan. It wasn't as if I had to worry about ruining this hospital gown. I was already soaked, and it was clinging everywhere. Brendan wasn't paying that much attention though—or was he? Our focus was on Grimes at the moment, who might have information we needed.

  "Do you think he looks like me?" I asked Brendan.

  He paused. Bad sign. "Sort of," he admitted. "I think I see your eyebrows--"

  I slapped Brendan on the arm. "Do not say that."

  "Women," he said.

  "You have to say no. He's the ATC leader."

  "Okay. No. You're not related to him."

  "Good," I said, forcing a smile. But inside I wanted to scream. There was so much bad attached to this that I couldn't bear it.

  I had no proof though. Grimes could be anyone. My dad could be any guy. How could he know for certain?

  But he knew my real name when I'd given it as Desirae Flowers.

  The concern he had for me—

  That Bathory said he left his family sixteen years ago when he Turned—

  Grimes flicked his wrist, and I started but he still didn't wake. The thought of facing the guy in a non-combat setting put me on edge. What would he say to me?

  Trish climbed back over the fence as the sound of the helicopter returned. It seemed only I could hear it because Trish sounded calm. She had already changed into a sweater with a teddy bear on the front and a pair of jeans that were too loose around the waist. With her reddish eyes and normal glare, it looked silly.

  She tossed us some clothes. "Choose your decade. Fifties, or sixties. I raided the home of an old couple who might be out to dinner. While I was there, I phoned Xavier and told him not to attack the facility. He and Alyssa were getting ready to gather people in the Underground to go there tonight. I reached him in time."

  Brendan hesitated before changing. I gave him a nod of encouragement and stood between him and Trish. We faced away from each other as we got changed. Sure, Trish was a doctor and had seen it all, but if Brendan wasn't comfortable changing in front of her, I'd honor that.

  "You told him I got out?" I asked.

  "Yes. They want to know how you got caught. And yes, they figured out Primrose is helping Bathory, at least for now. That might be a good thing. It'll keep her from attacking the Underground for a little while if the two of them cut a deal."

  I hadn't thought of it that way. "So the safest place to get—to interrogate Grimes would be the Underground."

  "We'll take him to my office," Trish said. "I'll see what I can do. He hasn't stirred yet?"

  "No," Brendan said. "But he's gotten no worse."

  "He had better have good information," Trish said. "He's a risk. The last thing Primrose will want is the ATC leader to visit our Underground and see all our new secret entrances."

  "She's not there," I said.

  Trish nodded. "I also found the keys to a vintage Cadillac that we will need to steal. There's enough room to lay Grimes out in the backseat. Then once we're done, we'll leave the car somewhere easy for the police to find. At least they didn't have a Kia." She twirled the keys in the air.

  There was no time to feel bad about grand theft auto. It was an emergency. The helicopter continued. I wondered what was happening back at the facility and the army base. Bathory might be biting and transfusing those soldiers and ATC agents already. Some might die, and the ones who pulled through would end up like Brendan.

  We pulled Grimes over the fence in silence. He remained out cold. Maybe he was in a coma.

  Couldn't people in comas hear sometimes?

  What if he'd heard what I said?

  It was easy to get Grimes into the backseat. Brendan sat back there with him and I got up front with Trish. The whole car smelled like a river, but no one stopped us as Trish drove us out of the small suburb, through more forest, and back onto the expressway.

  Some distance back, a helicopter continued to circle, casting a spotlight on the ground. The military was still active or maybe the police had joined.

  Primrose was back there. She wouldn't be leaving until Bathory was dead.

  But even getting stabbed through the heart hadn't killed her. She had the healing abilities of a demon—the one who had created her long ago.

  I knew what would kill her, and that was becoming more Normal first. Grimes might be planning on that. He'd promised to rid her of her scars. He knew what games to play.

  He knew Bathory.

  But now Grimes might never wake up again. I might never ask him those questions. Or mine.

  And now that she figured out I just might be his kid, there was no way she'd let me live, plan or no. She had already gotten her vampire soldiers. The most dangerous part of this had started.

  * * * * *

  Getting Grimes into the Underground was a lot harder than getting him into the car because that involved ladders and sewer covers. He hadn't shown any signs of waking since Trish had pumped the water from his lungs and done her rescue breathing. She seemed to be right that he was in a coma.

  But he didn't get any worse though. I wondered what they'd say if anyone ever hooked him up in a hospital. His body might be damaged to the point where he'd never wake, but would instead remain in this state for the rest of his life.

  By the time we got him into the sewer, a numbness had filled me, turning me into a living statue. I felt as if my brain were shutting down, taki
ng all my emotions with it. My mother must know I was missing by now since I'd never gone home this afternoon. She'd get more frantic as the night continued, and worse, I'd smashed my phone. Xavier and Alyssa were smarter than me. They said as little as possible over theirs when they made calls. It was a good thing that I hadn't sent Alyssa any incriminating texts over mine.

  We reached another boarded-up fake wall, which Trish pulled open. Brendan and I carried Grimes by the shoulders and legs down the stairs, and right into the poorest part of the Underground. The guy didn't even groan.

  Right now, that was all he was to me. Some guy. I might bounce back emotionally from jumping out of third-story windows, but when it came to this sort of thing, I was a zombie.

  "My office should still be intact," Trish said, leading the way. "That's if Primrose didn't dismantle it while I was gone. Then again, she shouldn't have. The Lovellis have never cared about the poor part of the Underground. The only one who does is Xavier."

  "Where is he?" I asked. I wanted Alyssa here. She'd understand the torture I was experiencing, but she'd also be mad at me I hadn't told her my plan. That made us both liars who kept the truth from people. At least we'd be even.

  "I told him to meet me here," Trish said. "Will he listen? Probably not." She reached the bottom of the steps and turned the corner to a brick hallway. Skull candles lined the corridor complete with wax sticks that burned with green and blue flames. I had always loved the Underground and been fascinated with it even when I was Normal, but the corridors felt like they were closing in on me. Grimes had brought a whole new level to my life, and I wasn't sure how to react yet.

  "I listened," Xavier said from down the hall. "I knew you'd say that."

  Over Trish, I hadn't heard him or Alyssa, but they both waited in Trish's hole-in-the-wall office. The room held one metal table for seeing patients, candles that lit old vanity mirrors and tables of metal tools, and a fridge door that held blood bags. Even without checking, I knew it was still empty.

  Alyssa shot me a look of death once I stepped into the room, but her gaze shifted to Grimes as Brendan and I put him on the metal table.

  "Do you realize who that is?" Alyssa asked, eyes popping.

  It was an ironic question. "We need him," I said. "He's been fighting Bathory. Don't worry. I don't think he's a threat."

  "You went into that facility by yourself!" Alyssa said. "Telling none of us!"

  "I know I did. George was in there and he would have died if I hadn't. They tracked his phone calls and figured out he was at the Super Eight. That means no more phone calls between us using our normal lines."

  "We never do that anyway," Xavier said. His purple eyes were scary. "But still."

  "And Brendan," Alyssa said, turning her attention to him. She made her voice sweet, but underneath that was anger that anyone could hear. "You should have waited for the rest of us before going in after Janine."

  But right after glaring at Brendan, she winked at me.

  We left Grimes on the table. His breathing stayed stable, but his sleep sounded...weird. He wasn't dreaming at all.

  "We think he's in some kind of coma," Trish said. "I might be a doctor, but I've never seen someone who's only a partial vampire. I can't say what this is, or how he will heal."

  Alyssa shook her head. "What a traitor."

  So Trish had already told them some information over the old couple's phone.

  I tensed. Even she was thinking along Trish's lines. Maybe opening to her wasn't the best idea right now.

  "Maybe he needs blood?" I asked.

  Trish eyed the fridge door for a second. "We have none. When Bathory sent her old vampires down here—with Primrose's help, I found out tonight—they not only cuffed me, but they took my entire blood supply. The only reason they let me live was that they didn't know I knew of Bathory's existence. Most vampires aren't aware of her at all. But now they will be. They'll think Primrose hired Bathory, which will gain their trust. And some of them will want the chance to strike back at the world. This entire plan of hers is a lie."

  So I'd been right that some vampires had gotten snatched from the Underground. Primrose had let the enemy inside.

  "Her people took the more experienced of us by force," Trish added. "They knew we wouldn't have a problem dodging the ATC on the surface if left to our own devices. The newer vampires simply got driven to the surface where they got caught by the ATC on their own."

  "And you?" Xavier asked.

  "The Mother's people left me in the park and phoned in an anonymous tip," Trish said. "The ATC picked up several more of us that way."

  I shook my head.

  The Underground leader had let in some of Bathory's people right under everyone's noses. She was a bigger traitor than Grimes. At least it made him look a little better. He was trying to stop Bathory in any way he could.

  The key was to get to her where it hurt. It might be the only way.

  I had a talent for that. Brendan was proof. I knew about not being good enough, about the quest to be better no matter what the cost. Strength alone wouldn't solve our problems. We would have to use our brains.

  And get Grimes conscious again. That was another thing I dreaded facing.

  "We need to wake this guy up," I said, returning everyone's attention to the unconscious, suited man on the table. His clothing dried. I could still smell his coffee through the river he'd brought with him.

  "It's possible that getting him to drink blood will do the trick," Trish said. "It worked with Alyssa after she got injured. But maybe he's made himself too Normal for his body to accept it. If that's the case, it will be a wait and see game."

  "He can drink coffee," I said. "Maybe he needs more caffeine?" It was a bad attempt at humor.

  Trish shook her head. "We'll try blood, but we need to find a willing donor or two. Normal donors. If that fails, we might take a leaf from his book and try the transfusion route."

  Brendan shuddered. "I do not want to think about needles ever again."

  "Sorry," I said. At least he was out of the facility.

  "Stop apologizing," Brendan told me. He took my hand and pulled me out into the corridor, leaving Alyssa and Xavier with Trish. "You did great back there. You kicked butt. Your plan saved many people."

  "But we left most," I said.

  "That was inevitable. Sometimes, you have to leave." Sadness filled Brendan's eyes. It was an invitation for me to pry. For the first time, I was figuring out his buttons.

  "The way you had to leave?" I asked.

  He hesitated. "Yes. I had to get away from my father after years of living under his roof. I called the police and turned him in for abuse. And I did it after he threatened to hurt himself if I left him. It still eats at me every day. I had to face him in court and it wasn't for tax evasion. He cried on the stand, and I let him go to prison. After that, I abandoned my older brother."

  His burn scars roared back into my memory. I didn't have to ask to know what Brendan's father had done to him, both physically and emotionally. "It sounds like you did the right thing."

  "I needed to hear that," Brendan said. "I'm sorry I got all mad at you in the pool. There are times I beat myself up. You sound like you're the same way."

  "I guess we're a pair?"

  He smiled. "Maybe. And if you don't want me to tell the others about Grimes, I'll keep it a secret."

  "And I won't tell anyone yours if you don't want that. It's possible Grimes will say something on his own, though." He had denied me in front of Bathory, who was a threat to my life. He might do the same in front of the Underground. Was it because he was trying to protect me, or because he wanted nothing to do with me?

  It sounded like the former, but even with my enhanced senses, I couldn't feel sure.

  But either way, Grimes might be the key we needed.

  Brendan rubbed his thumb over the top of my hand. "So, we're in this together?"

  I smiled. "Together."

  To read about what happened to Alys
sa and Xavier before this trilogy, check out Blood Magic, the first Abnormals Underground book!

  You can find it by tapping HERE for the US, HERE for the UK, HERE for CA, and HERE for AU.

  www.hollyhookauthor.com/books

  Holly Hook is the author of several Young Adult fantasy, science fiction, fairytale, post-apocalyptic and adventure series. She has been writing since very young and publishing her work since September of 2010.

  Thank you for sticking with me this far! Writing Janine’s Story has been a great adventure so far!

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  --Holly Hook