“You’re an Unbound vampire. Like me.”
He closed his eyes. From somewhere deep within, I swore I felt a pang of hurt coming from his heart. But that was impossible. “What’s my name, Zoe?”
“Hell if I know,” I snapped. “What’s the meaning of this anyway? Don’t you want to feed? I could have brought that girl back for both of us to enjoy. And another one after that. I’m fucking hungry.”
“This has just made it worse,” he murmured as he launched himself from the floor to pace across the room. He stopped near the door and rubbed his chin, regarding me with a cool calculation that I could appreciate. This place seemed to be his home. Perhaps he considered this part of town his territory, and I was encroaching on that. That was something I could understand. I’d hate it if another vampire tried to steal my blood out from under my nose.
“Honestly, just let me go.” I pulled at the ropes and frowned. “I’ll get out of here and leave your street to you. No hard feelings.”
“You don’t even remember who you are.” He sighed and leaned against the wall, crossing his arms. “We’ll sit here and wait it out all night long if that’s what it takes.”
Rage burned through me, as hot and as deep as the hunger in my gut. “Let me go.” I yanked on the ropes, my skin breaking where it dug into my flesh. “I need some blood. Let. Me. GO!”
Chapter 25
My head throbbed, and my chest ached. And my wrists, they felt like they’d been rubbed raw. Opening my eyes, I found myself strapped to Dorian’s chair with my arms and legs bound by tight ropes. Dorian stood across the room, leaning against the wall and watching me with a terrible calm. I couldn’t feel him through our bond. Whatever emotions he felt, he’d hidden them away where I couldn’t sense them at all.
“Dorian, why am I trapped like this? What happened?” I asked in a strained voice. “Our blood exchange. It didn’t work, did it?”
“Thank the goddess you’re back,” he said with a sigh.
“Back?” My heart thumped hard. “What are you talking about?”
“Well, you lost your shit, Zoe.” He frowned down at the floor. “Do you remember anything about the past few hours?”
I frowned, feeling the weight of his words fall upon my tense shoulders. I thought back, trying to grasp onto the recent past, but everything felt like dark and rolling clouds. I remembered Dorian opening his wrist for me to drink. I remembered feeding from him. And then…everything else was a shadowy blur of nothingness. “Not really. And if it led to you tying me up like this, I’m not sure I want to know.”
“Look at the window,” he said, nodding to the wall behind me. I twisted in my seat to find glass scattered all over the floor and a gaping hole where his window used to be. Shock went through me. Had I done that? And why?
My gut churned. There would be only one reason why a vampire would crash through a window, and it would be to get outside. To a person. For their blood.
“Oh god,” I said, dropping my head to my chest as tears began to flow down my cheeks. “Did I lose control? Have I killed someone? Dorian, what the hell have I done?”
“Stop panicking. You didn’t kill anyone, though you came pretty close.” He sighed and dragged a hand down his face, looking much wearier than he normally did. Like the weight of the world rested on his shoulders. “For some reason, drinking my blood made you go into a frenzy. You wanted blood and lots of it. And when I tried to reason with you, it was clear you had no idea who I was. And you definitely didn’t know your own name.”
“Shit.” I closed my eyes and tried to block out his words. My reaction to this curse, so far, had been far worse than I’d expected. This had to stop, and it had to stop now, and completing the change wasn’t the answer. Somehow, I had to convince Dorian to let me return to the cemetery so I could enter the Land of Fae. I’d fit right in at the Unseelie Court, and I’d never be a threat to humans again.
“I know you don’t want to, but you’re going to have to complete the change, Zoe,” he said in a firm voice. “It’s only going to get worse from now on. I’ll go to the hospital and find a blood bag. And then we can get you on the right track to control. Until then, your cravings are going to be impossible for you to handle.”
“No.” I shook my head. “I’m not going to change. What if the cravings only get worse? What if I can’t control myself the way you do? I refuse to be a danger to the very people I’ve spent the past year trying to protect.”
“And I refuse to let you fucking die!” Dorian shouted as he stood suddenly, throwing his hands in the air as his fear and pain roared out from hiding. It crashed into me like a fierce wave, an onslaught of emotion that I’d never felt from him before. It felt like he was drowning. And it was all my damn fault. “I can’t live without you, Zoe. I just can’t.”
“We both knew something like this would happen eventually,” I said quietly. “It’s just happened a lot sooner than we both thought.”
“I’m not going to accept this, Zoe.” He strode toward the door, his eyes flashing. “I’m going to go get your blood, and you’re going to drink it, even if I have to force it down your throat.”
And with that, he stormed out of the apartment and slammed the door.
Chapter 26
The pain only increased with Dorian’s absence. When he’d been only a few feet away from me, our bond had kept the agony slightly muted, almost as if his mind and soul could soothe away the true force of what was happening to me. Even before this had happened, he’d anchored me. One look into his eyes, and I felt as if I could conquer anything.
It was hard to remember who I was and why I was fighting so hard against the craving that gorged my insides, while another part of me screamed to get the hell away from these innocent humans as fast as I could. I might be strapped to this chair, but I could break free of my bonds if I put all of my strength into snapping them in two. Vampires were stronger than mortals. I could get out of here. Go somewhere else. I could disappear into the Land of Fae.
When Dorian returned what felt like centuries later, I was bent over and grimacing from the lashes of pain in my gut. Our eyes locked across the room, and the look of pure fear only enhanced the agony. And I didn’t have to feel through the bond to know that he was scared I would die.
“I’ve got a bag of human blood,” he said, his voice gruff. “It came from the donation bank. Given willingly. So, you don’t have to feel guilty about drinking it.”
“The donation bank? At the hospital?” I asked in a weak voice that was scarcely louder than a whisper.
“That’s right.” He dropped the red liquid onto his desk and crossed his arms. My eyes flicked to the sloshing liquid, and I let out a scream at the desire that shot through me. My teeth felt like fire as I shook against my bonds, my body arching toward the bag with an animalistic instinct. I needed it in a way I’d ever needed anything before.
But I wouldn’t let myself drink.
“That blood has been donated to help people in need,” I whispered. “Wounded people.”
“Well, from where I’m standing, that’s you,” he said as he flicked his eyes across my weak and trembling body. “Look, I love you for your stubbornness. It means you don’t give up when times are hard. But you’re going to have to stop fighting against this, Zoe. Drink the blood. Don’t make me force it down your throat. I’ll knock you out if that’s what it takes to get this blood inside you.”
Blinking against the tears that threatened to spill down my face, I leaned forward and hissed my words. “You wouldn’t.”
“You’re welcome to call my bluff,” he said. “Or you can make this easier on the both of us and drink. Your call.”
I met his gaze, narrowing my eyes. It was hard for me to believe Dorian would cross that line and try to force anything on me. On the other hand, I’d never seen this look on his face before. It was full of anguish and pain and fear. The closest to this expression I’d ever seen was when he’d spoken about what had happened to his
family, what had happened when the shadow mage had turned him into this undead version of himself. What was happening to me would be bringing up a lot of memories from his past. Ones that would no doubt cut through his heart.
He’d felt responsible for everything that had happened then. And if I died now, he’d blame himself as well.
So, maybe him knocking me out wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. He might do whatever it took to make me complete the change, no matter what the cost.
His cell phone buzzed in his pocket, and he glanced at the screen with a frown. “I have to take this. Don’t do anything stupid.”
I quietly watched him as he paced to the furthest wall and spoke quietly into his phone. Maybe this was the opportunity I’d been waiting for. While he was distracted, I could snap through the rope and get the hell out of here before he could make me do something I didn’t want to do. But something about the tone of his voice gave me pause. His back stiffened. And through our bond, I felt a hit of pure dread.
A moment later, he turned to me with an even grimmer expression than before. My heart thumped hard. Whatever he’d just been told wasn’t good.
“That was Laura,” he said. “There’s been a horrible demon attack. At least a dozen mages and humans are dead.”
Chapter 27
“Dead?” All the color and feeling drained from my face. “What about Laura? Is she okay? Please tell me that nothing has happened to her.”
“She’s fine, though she sounded a little shaky,” he said with a sigh. “Apparently, the groups split up again to go back on patrol after the cemetery incident. One team found some demons near the stadium, so they all followed procedure and went to join the fight. When they got to the stadium, the first two mages were found dead, and the demons had begun to attack a group of humans gathered on the sidewalks outside.” His face turned to a sheet as he closed his eyes. “They managed to take out the demons, but they lost a lot of lives in the process.”
“Shit.” I yanked at the ropes, hating myself for being in this position while innocents were out there fighting the fight. They weren’t equipped to deal with this. I was. It should have been me out there instead of them.
“Laura said that everyone is terrified now,” Dorian continued. “They’re at headquarters, and most of the mages who wanted to join in the fight before are now talking about backing out. They have lives and families. Young kids to raise.”
“I think we underestimated Wagner’s demons,” I said. “And overestimated the fighting abilities of untrained witches and warlocks.”
“Morale was down,” he said quietly. “They didn’t understand where the Magister had gone right when they needed her the most.”
My heart lurched into my throat. “I wasn’t their Magister.”
“You are, Zoe, even if you don’t want to be.” Dorian strode across the room, exuding a strength and determination most men could only dream of. “Just because you weren’t officially sworn in doesn’t mean that you aren’t their leader. And you ran off in the middle of a fight.”
Dorian’s words sparked a fire in my chest. It brought back a rush of memories. Magister Leon Dupont running from the fight with the vampires in the tunnel underneath the highway, escaping as cowardice blocked out every rational thought. The way he’d rushed from danger instead of doing whatever it took to face his fears and save the day had always stood out to me. And I’d never wanted to end up following in his footsteps.
That wasn’t who I was, and it wasn’t the kind of person that Grams had raised. A new steely resolution filled my chest as I met Dorian’s eyes across the dimly-lit apartment. I was Zoe Bennett. I was a shadow mage, and the Bone Coven mages had put their hope and their trust in me. Nothing would stop me from doing whatever it took to save them and the rest of humanity, not even a fucking curse that could steal my very soul away.
I was better than that. Unbound vampire or not.
Dorian’s lips lifted at the corners as he felt the change of my emotion, from defeated despair to something much stronger. He grabbed the blood bag from his desk and had the ropes around my wrists cut in less than a beat of my heart. He knelt before me, shaking his head as he slid the blood into my hands.
“I’m so sorry I tied you up like this,” he said as he tucked a finger under my chin. “You know I’d never do anything to hurt you, Zoe. And I’m sorry if this did.” He traced a finger across my red wrists and sighed. “But you have to understand. I—”
“It’s okay,” I cut in. “I understand. You were scared of what I’d do. Hell, I almost ate a person. And I was two seconds away from disappearing into the Land of Fae forever.”
“Belzus would have sought you out and returned you to me,” he said, “but we don’t have that kind of time to waste. The demon war has finally come, Zoe. And we need you. I honestly don’t think we can win without your powers.”
“I know,” I said as I fingered the blood bag. “Just promise me that you’ll help me keep these cravings in check. If I hurt anyone because of this curse, I don’t think I could ever forgive myself.”
“Deal,” he said. “Now, go ahead and have your drink. I’m going to warn you. You might black out for a few minutes, and you won’t feel particularly well while you finish the transformation. But once you’ve joined me on the other side…Well, let’s just say you’ll feel a lot better. Temporarily anyway.”
“Got it.” With a deep breath, I lifted the blood bag to my lips and ripped it open with my teeth. Instantly, the sharp tangy scent of blood filled my head, and I let out a moan of desire. I licked my lips, savoring the delicious scent that surrounded me like an intense cloud. Before I could talk myself out of it, I tipped back my head and poured the liquid into my mouth. Fire slid down my throat and flooded into my stomach. My magic sparked to life, twisting and turning and roaring into my head. It was as if it were responding to the blood inside me, from the change threatening to take ahold of my mind.
My body began to shake, and delicious pain spread from my core out to the ends of each of my veins. I felt warm and cold at the same time, more alive than I’d ever felt before, even though my body as I knew it was succumbing to a strange kind of death. I was saying goodbye to my mortal self and welcoming in a new stage of my existence. One that would no doubt bring pain and horror, but this was all I had now.
And then a darkness crept in from the corners of my eyes, and my vision went dark.
When I awoke, my skin buzzed with electricity, and I jumped up from the chair with a fresh energy. I was invigorated, like my body had been dipped into the sea at the height of winter. My chest heaved as I drew in breaths of stale air, though my lungs didn’t feel as if they worked the same as they had before. In my chest, something pulsed, though my heart felt still and cold.
I felt different. Yet, I also felt the same.
“How are you feeling?” Dorian asked from where he perched on the edge of his desk, eyeing me with intense curiosity. Or, at least, it felt intense. His expression didn’t look much different than it usually did, but it almost overwhelmed me now. My heart—or whatever was left of it—shook in my chest as I scanned my eyes from the top of his gorgeous head and down the length of his bulging torso. My goddess, he was hot. I’d always thought so but something about the way he sat on that desk made my thighs tremble.
Maybe I needed to sit down.
His lips quirked. “I forgot to warn you. One of the side effects of vampirism is enhanced sensations and emotions. So, you might feel a little unsteady for a few days until you get used to the sensory overload.”
“Right.” I swallowed hard, my eyes glued to the way his hand rested on his thigh. It was such a strong hand. One I wanted on me.
“I have to say, the way you’re looking at me is making it hard to remember exactly why we need to leave.” His fingers tensed, the ones that rest on his thighs. Was he imagining the same things I was? Things that had never entered my mind until now. Things that involved our clothes all over his bedroom floor.
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“Dorian.” Desire churned in my gut as I strode across the room and straddled his lap. I hooked my arms around his neck and dropped my burning lips to his skin. He tasted so good. The same as he always had but more. “Surely there’s nothing that matters more than this. Than me and you. Than the fact we can finally be together for as long as we truly want.”
With a heavy sigh, Dorian placed his hands on my waist and lifted me off his hips, though his fingers lingered a second longer, betraying exactly what he wanted—which was exactly what I yearned for him to do. “It pains me to say this, Zoe, but you know as well as I do that we don’t have time for this.”
“Fifteen minutes won’t make much of a difference, will it?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow.
He let out a low chuckle. “Fifteen minutes? We are going to need a hell of a lot longer than that when I finally get my hands on your body again. I am going to treat you so right that you won’t remember anything that happened in your life before you moaned my name. And that doesn’t take fifteen minutes, baby.”
Heat filled my cheeks as my body arched toward his. Deep down, I knew he was right, but the enhanced hormones swirling through my veins made it hard to focus. It was like a thick cloud obscuring my thoughts, blocking me from focusing on anything other than the swipe of his tongue across his lips.
“Fine,” I sighed, taking a few steps back away from him. “I’ll behave. For now.”
Chapter 28
When I strode through the coven’s front doors, every head in the room swivelled my way. My body sung with power and a newfound grace, and the ground underneath me trembled from the strength of my steps. Anastasia took one look at me before widening her eyes and letting out a smug chuckle, but I didn’t let her reaction get to me. There were far more important things to worry about than a Daywalker’s attitude toward my new state.
The Bone Coven Chronicles: The Complete Series Page 71