Blood Match

by K. A. Linde

  “Mr. O’Connor,” the man, said tipping his head, “welcome to Mayor Sky’s New Year’s Eve masked extravaganza. Proceed through the ID scanner and enjoy your evening.”

  “Will do,” he said.

  This was the part Reyna was afraid of. None of them had real ID bracelets. They just had to trust that Tony had programmed them well enough with their information that no one would know the difference. Because if they failed here, everything would be for naught.

  They approached a woman holding a small electronic device in her hand. Gabe went first. He held his hand out to her, looking as bored as ever. Then he started chatting the woman up. She scanned the bracelet, but her attention was on him. Gabe was a charmer that was for sure.

  “Mr. O’Connor, A positive.”

  “That’s me, ma’am.”

  “Cleared.”

  Gabe didn’t move though. He kept talking to her as she scanned Meghan’s wrist. Meghan Donoghue, B negative. Cleared.

  And then it was Reyna’s turn. She tried to look as blasé as Meghan had when she held out her wrist. As if it were a supreme inconvenience that anyone was even doing this. She wasn’t sure she quite managed it.

  The woman scanned her wrist. It pinged. It hadn’t pinged for anyone else.

  Shit.

  Reyna started to sweat. This was the end. They were caught. She’d be dragged to Harrington or kicked out of the party. They’d know it was a fake. They’d know.

  “Oh, this damn machine,” the woman said. She hit it twice with her hand. “I’m so sorry, miss. Sometimes new technology is such a pain.”

  “Isn’t it?” Reyna managed to get out through her fear.

  “Let me try one more time.”

  Reyna held her wrist out to the woman. She had no decorum left. Her fear pricked too high.

  “Rachel Murphy, O negative.” The woman smiled brightly at her.

  “Yes,” she squeaked.

  “Sorry for the delay. You’re cleared.”

  Reyna tried to contain her sigh of relief. Gabe thanked the woman profusely and then he took both of their arms once more and walked them inside.

  “That was close,” Reyna ground out.

  “We’re fine,” Meghan whispered.

  They stepped over the threshold and into the ballroom.

  “Showtime,” Gabe muttered.

  The ballroom glittered from floor to ceiling. Balloons were encased in netting overhead, preparing to be dropped at midnight. Waiters meandered through the crowd in slim-cut tuxedos with flaps. The waitresses wore faux tuxedos with tiny skirts and high heels. They all carried champagne and little hors d’oeuvres. Some even had trays of blood in tiny shot glasses that were organized by blood type.

  Reyna covered her mouth to keep from gagging at the sight. Meghan’s sharp look had her remembering her role. She dropped her arm, fawned over Gabe, and let her eyes roam the crowd.

  They made a slow circuit around the room, taking in everything they had all learned about the ballroom. It was so much larger seeing it in person than when she had been staring down at the blueprints. Plus, the room was packed. She hoped that she’d be visible in the masses.

  Gabe had just reached for champagne for both of the girls when a voice broke through the speakers.

  “Your mayor, Penelope Sky,” the person said.

  Applause sounded all around them. Their eyes shifted to the stage as Penelope Sky stepped out. She looked…radiant. For a woman who had just had her heart broken, she looked even more stunning than normal. Her typical blue dress was so pale it was almost white. Her mask was a matching color that covered her entire face. She looked like a snowflake—utterly unique and otherworldly beautiful.

  Gabe directed them into the place they’d designated so anyone could find them. It was a perfect spot to be seen. A step above the rest of the room with a light overhead. There were several around the room, but they’d picked this one because it was closest to an exit.

  Reyna stepped into the spotlight. She cleared her mind, ignoring Penelope’s final steps to the microphone. She wanted to see if she could sense Beckham in the same way that he could sense her. She had never even considered it before this moment. But if she was his blood match, then he was hers.

  She tuned in to that sense she had always had of him. That moment where everything had always felt right. Where she inherently knew him. It bubbled up inside of her. An awareness. A sense of rightness.

  Then she turned her head. And there he was.

  He was standing between Cassandra and Rowland to the right of the stage. As if in acknowledgment, he faced her, cocked his head to the side, and a small smile graced those perfect lips.

  She forgot to breathe as she realized…it had worked. She couldn’t wait to tell him. Her soul mate. Oh God!

  “Ladies and gentleman,” Penelope said, drawing Reyna’s attention back to the matter at hand, “thank you so much for being here tonight. I regret that my father couldn’t be here tonight to be master of ceremonies. I know it was one of his favorite occasions. I am so happy to be here to continue his legacy. As with every New Year’s Eve, the mayor brings an honored guest up onto the stage. I’m pleased tonight to have the CEO and president of Visage, William Harrington.”

  Penny turned to greet Harrington as he strode onto the stage. This was the moment. She waited to see if he would find her in the crowd as he strode across the stage. If he could sense her, then he would do it now. But his eyes never flickered toward her. He just continued until he reached the microphone.

  Reyna gritted her teeth and forced herself to applaud along with the rest of them. This was the first time she had seen him since she had escaped. He looked…healthy.

  It made no sense. He shouldn’t look this healthy when he didn’t have her blood. He still leaned on his cane, but she’d seen him fake that before. His face wasn’t pasty. His hair was full. All he needed to do was straighten his back and she knew that insane monster would reappear for everyone.

  It was clear that the crowd disagreed with her. They cheered enthusiastically for him. He’d fooled them all. The entire world. He’d made them think that the blood type cure was the only way for vampires to use their intelligence—but Beckham had explained that not all vampires functioned on the same level without the cure. Harrington pulled humanity from the brink of collapse with Visage employing humans, but no one knew that he had caused that depression. He’d offered this Blood Census as an olive branch to help with all registered vampires, but it was just a scheme to find more Rh null negative humans.

  William Harrington was not an altruistic savior.

  He was a lethal, manipulative, conniving bastard.

  And he’d had centuries to perfect his act so that everyone in this room salivated at his very presence. But she knew better.

  “Thank you so much, Mayor Sky,” Harrington said with the soft voice he used with a crowd. “I’m so pleased to be here as an honored guest tonight. Visage is a beacon in this city. It employs many of the people here in this room, including my senior vice presidents in attendance tonight.” He gestured to the side of the room where Beckham stood flanked by Rowland and Cassandra. “At Visage we always strive to be cutting edge. To bring bigger and better to the world, to our employees, to our shareholders. This year alone we’ve rolled out a new permanent enrollment with senior staff and then all of corporate. This is set to go fully public in the new year.”

  The crowd cheered.

  They cheered.

  Reyna was sick. How many people at this party had any idea what it was like to be a blood escort? She doubted there were many other than the hired help.

  “With the completion of the Blood Census, we’ll be able to work toward even bigger gains going forward. A full registry only makes sense when you consider that vampires have been registered for more than a decade. But more importan
tly, we have a huge announcement coming early next year. It’ll be groundbreaking.” He grinned wickedly. “I wish I could say more, but be on the lookout for news.”

  Reyna’s face paled further. Her eyes moved to Gabe and Meghan. The feeding camps. It had to be. Shit.

  “And with that I want to say thank you to our illustrious host, Mayor Sky. She’s a wonder to work with and I’m amazed with the transformation she’s made in the short time she has been running this city.”

  “Thank you, William,” Penelope said. “I feel like a new person.”

  Then her hand went to the back of her mask and the entire thing fluttered away, revealing her full beauty. Her completely seamless perfect face. There was no sign of the multiple surgeries she had undergone to recover from the fires. She was…the same and yet…

  Penelope smiled. Bright and bold and deadly.

  Reyna choked.

  “No,” she whispered.

  Penny had been turned. Penny was a vampire.

  Chapter 36

  “Fuck,” Gabe spat.

  Meghan’s hand went to her mouth. No words escaped.

  Reyna just stared. And stared. And stared some more.

  Harrington waved his hand and said something into the microphone, but she heard none of it. All she saw was Penelope standing there healed and yet…rotten. Not that being a vampire automatically made you a bad person. She knew too many who weren’t. But…Penelope had done this post-Beckham. This was not a choice. This was…desperation.

  “Abort,” Beckham said into all of their earpieces. “We need to abort this now. Get out. I don’t know what’s happening.”

  Gabe tried to grab for her, to pull her out of the room. But Reyna yanked away from him. They had not come this far to turn around and do nothing. And if Harrington obviously could not sense her, then she would make him see her. They still had this one shot to get at Harrington. She wasn’t going to squander it just because of Penelope Sky.

  And with her plan clicking in place she took a deep breath and pulled off her own mask, revealing her face to the entire crowd.

  Harrington’s head turned toward the back of the room. His eyes widened as he took in Reyna standing under a spotlight for all eyes to see. A slow smile crossed his face and he nodded as their eyes met. They seemed to say, Well met.

  Instead of walking off the stage as he’d come in, Harrington took the stairs down to the front. He ignored the excitement and congratulations of his fawning admirers. His vice presidents pulled in behind him without having to be asked. But Reyna didn’t dare glance at Beckham. She still didn’t know how much Harrington knew and wouldn’t tip her hand if she didn’t have to.

  “What are you doing?” Gabe hissed.

  “Getting his attention,” she whispered.

  Gabe sighed and then nodded at Meghan. They slid out of view to move into their designated positions. The show must go on.

  When Harrington was close enough, she started backing slowly out of the ballroom and through the exit. An empty patio opened onto the entrance to the park. Crowds hovered all around, but none were close enough to this facility and the majority were on the blocks facing the other side of the building.

  She was instantly cold and wished that they’d been able to handle this inside. At least snow wasn’t falling. But she was unfortunate enough to be able to see her breath in the frigid temperatures outside. As she had done all those weeks when she had been trapped in Visage, she took all of that and tucked it away somewhere deep and dark inside of her. She would deal with the cold later when it was time for her to think about it again. Until then…she had more important things to deal with.

  She had learned at a young age how to compartmentalize the horrors of her youth. Visage had only intensified that instinct. Survival. She knew how to function when survival was her only option.

  As Harrington cleared the exit and stood out in the cold, she was glad for it. It would make this easier.

  “My little queen,” Harrington said in his lilting voice that made her teeth grind, “you have come home.”

  That fucking nickname.

  If she never heard it again, it would be too soon.

  But she saw the chessboard before her and made her move. And prayed no one would beat her.

  “I’m here.”

  “Very elaborate attire for such a thing,” he said casually as if they were back underground and she had to listen to his insufferable chatter. “I do prefer you in white though. Much more angelic.”

  “Black suits me,” she said.

  “Not in the slightest,” Harrington said, taking another step forward. He swung his cane in circles. She had been right. He still didn’t need the damn thing. “You are innocent and soft and so very human.”

  Reyna clenched her jaw and released it. She hated the way Harrington’s words mirrored what Beckham had said to her earlier this week. How could both men enjoy these qualities in her and be so utterly different. Want such different things from her.

  “However, you simply could have walked back into my life. You didn’t need such a dramatic entrance.”

  “You like dramatic entrances.”

  He smiled. He did like them. “You know me so well.”

  If she didn’t know better, she would think that William Harrington was infatuated with her. But she knew he was not. He wanted something from her. He was a master manipulator. He would play whatever game necessary to get her to come to him of her own free will. That would be easiest for him. Kidnapping was an extra step. He preferred to cut out the middle man.

  A shuffle from behind Harrington drew their attention. Reyna stiffened when she saw Rowland enter the patio. Then Cassandra. Then Beckham.

  “You know my colleagues,” Harrington said, gesturing distractedly to the trio.

  “Yes,” she squeaked out like a mouse.

  She could face Harrington, but Rowland and Cassandra made her quake in her boots. Rowland the devious sexual predator. Cassandra the deranged sadist. She hated to admit that she was safer with Harrington and his obsessive-compulsive cleanliness and propriety.

  “Mr. Anderson is in a mood,” Harrington said with a wide smile for Beckham. “He’s not pleased that we turned his girl.”

  She finally steeled herself to glance at Beckham. He was not her Beckham. He was the senior vice president at this deplorable organization. He was a vampire lord. A murderer, a serial killer, a monster.

  “Ruined her,” Beckham spat instead. His arms were crossed. His eyes flat and lifeless.

  “You’ll find another O negative beauty. You always do, my boy,” Harrington said dismissively.

  Reyna couldn’t believe that Harrington still addressed Beckham as if he were a treasured son. A prodigy. They’d suspected Beckham was on the out. Had they been wrong? What was an act…and what wasn’t?

  “We wouldn’t risk you with that though, dear Reyna,” Harrington said. “You are much too valuable. But I see that I did it wrong the first time. You can come back and live a normal life. Come and go as you please. We’d be more careful with the blood donations. I’d negotiate to once a week even.”

  He was…negotiating with her. She hadn’t expected that. Truthfully, she hadn’t expected any of it. Harrington was acting as if her presence was totally normal. That her appearance was what he had always suspected.

  “A normal life?” she asked, hoping she sounded earnest.

  “Of course.”

  She was pretty sure that her definition of normal was about as far from William Harrington’s as imaginable. Any life in which she had to donate her blood to keep the biggest murderer in history alive was not a life she wanted to live.

  “You’ve already seen what the alternative is like,” Harrington said.

  “Yes, I remember clearly what my alternative is.”

  He made it seem as if tho
se were her only options. A life as a prisoner or a life as a willing prisoner.

  “Certainly, you’d rather have what I’m offering.”

  Reyna frowned. The fact that he honestly believed that he was tempting her was ludicrous. She suddenly saw exactly what her life had been like. A white bedroom, IVs ripped out, needles, insanity…B. Always B. The woman that she could have been. The vampire Harrington had made into a deranged monster.

  “I will not be like B,” she spat, unable to keep up the façade. The idea of turning into B still haunted her dreams. She suppressed them when she was surrounded by people who cared for her, but staring into Harrington’s face, they all returned.

  She saw Beckham’s face crease in confusion. She was going off script. Not that she had exactly been on script. But this was different. She couldn’t mask the anger in her voice.

  Harrington laughed. “Ah, B. Perhaps my demonstration was too severe.”

  His eyes darted to Beckham. There was careful calculation in that look. A person contemplating poking a bear to see if it would bite.

  “But surely you know that her name is not truly B,” Harrington said, a slow creepy smile crawling onto his face.

  Reyna stared at him in confusion. She had never thought about B’s name. She had assumed B was just a number. A designator.

  After a heartbeat, Harrington said, “Her name is Bronwyn.”

  Everything slowed to a stop with that name.

  That name.

  Bronwyn.

  B was Bronwyn.

  Bronwyn was Beckham’s sister.

  B was Beckham’s sister.

  Reyna couldn’t process that. How could that insane completely unhinged creature possibly be Beckham’s sister? How could she have been his second? Had she always been insane? Even before Harrington had gotten to her?

  “What?” Beckham snapped. He lost all sense of decorum and stalked forward. Cassandra and Rowland blocked his path, standing between him and Harrington.

  “Come now, Beckham. Don’t hate me. I’ve had your sister exactly where she belonged all these years. Locked up!”

  “You fucking bastard,” Beckham snarled.