Blood Betrayed

by Gabrielle Bisset

  "Go?" she asked quietly, stepping back until she felt the wall behind her.

  "Yes, go. However, first you need to write a letter. Sit down at your desk, Solenne."

  She cautiously moved toward the desk beneath the window and sat down, taking a piece of stationery from the drawer. Gripping the pen tightly as she waited for him to speak, her hand shook, splattering ink across the page. What was she to write? A confession? She would. She'd do whatever he required to be with the man she loved.

  He moved behind her and placed his hands heavily on her shoulders. Leaning down next to her ear, he pressed his lips to her cheek. His warm breath touched her skin and for a moment, she believed he was the sire she'd loved and adored.

  Then he spoke, and her hopes were dashed.

  "You're going to write him a letter telling him I've released you from our bond and you've left to be with another. Pick a German name. It will add a nice touch that will kill him."

  Solenne turned to face him, never more afraid in her life. "No! I can't do that to him."

  "You can't do that to him?" he bellowed so loudly her ears rang. "You will or it's his death sentence."

  "No, Teagan. No! Please don't do this. He's your brother! Take your anger out on me. I'm to blame, not him. He only meant to comfort me when you left me alone."

  "Write or he dies. It's that simple, love."

  "Why are you doing this? You don't want me anymore. You're rarely here. I'm always alone while you're out with other women. You don't love me anymore."

  "You're mine, Solenne. My vampire. Mine. If and when I decide our bond is broken, then you'll be free."

  "But he won't forgive me if I do this. You know him. And then you'll release me and I'll be alone. Is that what you plan to do?"

  "Write, or I swear to God, Solenne, he won't live to see another night."

  She had no choice. He'd kill Declan if she didn't write the words that would break his heart. With each stroke of the pen, tears rolled down her cheeks and chin. Every word was a lie, every scratch of the point against the paper like a gouge out of her heart.

  Finally, she finished and laid her pen on the desk, knowing when Declan read the words that they'd break his heart. Teagan reached over her shoulder and snatched the paper from the desk. Behind her, she heard him read the letter and she imagined Declan's deep voice as he read her goodbye. Burying her face in her hands, she silently begged forgiveness.

  "Perfect. You'll be going away for a while. I'll let you know when you can return."

  "So now you take my home from me too?"

  "This will always be your home, Solenne. Get ready. It's time to go. Lucrecia is waiting for you in Nice."

  Solenne closed her eyes at the memory of her cowardice. She'd hurt the man she loved for nothing. And now after all their years apart, after finally getting another chance, he believed she'd betrayed him again.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Saint paced the floor as his mind raced with the thought that he'd been a sucker again. Over and over, the words she'd used the first time she'd betrayed him repeated in his head. And now she hadn't planned on merely betraying him. This time she'd intended on seeing him dead.

  His chest felt hollow as if there was nothing left where his heart should be. Even if someone tried to stake him, they'd fail. There was only emptiness there now.

  The walls felt like they were closing in on him with each pass he made. He should just leave this house—her house—and escape into the night, leaving behind the memory of her and the Sons. What good could he do for them anyway? None of his vampires had come to help him. He was useless to the rest of the Sons. Even worse, he was a liability likely to get someone staked.

  Exhausted from emotionally beating himself up over Solenne, he leaned against the wall and closed his eyes, hoping to silence the voice in his head torturing him. When it finally stopped, it was only because it had been replaced by the memory of her under him as he made love to her just hours earlier.

  Fuck! How many years had it taken for him to accept losing her and now he was back to right where he'd been in those first days after being shunned? He'd sworn he'd never let himself feel like that again, but here he was tied up in knots over the same woman.

  "You look like shit. Is this what love does to you?"

  Saint opened his eyes to see Teagan standing at the other end of the hallway. God, he didn't need this now.

  "Get the fuck out of my sight. Don't force me to carry out my threat."

  Turning away, he took a step but stopped when Teagan spoke again. "She's going to be the end of you, Declan."

  "You released her for another man but not me, your own brother? I can't decide who you cared less for, her or me."

  Saint watched as his brother threw his head back and laughed. "You mean Marc? He never existed. Fuck, Declan. I can read you like a book. Always could. I knew the German thing would bother you."

  His head spinning, Saint worked to process what he'd just heard. Marc had never existed?

  "Then who did she leave me for?"

  "Me."

  A sharp pain shot through Saint's head as rage exploded through his veins. Teagan stood before him telling him that Solenne had been forced to lie to him—to betray him—for his brother, a man who didn't love her.

  God, he'd been such as ass! He'd been so willing to believe Solenne would betray him again he'd let himself be swayed by a ghost from the past. From the start there had only been one villain.

  Teagan.

  "All water under the bridge now, brother. You and Solenne have once again found each other and love. And although I could stand in your way, I've decided to be gracious and step aside."

  Saint moved toward his brother, for the moment containing the urge to take out his hatred on the only family he had left in this world. "Only after convincing your fucking sire that she'd betrayed me again, this time for the goddamned Archon."

  Teagan's face lost its smug expression, and a look of confusion came over him. His attempt at feigning ignorance was too much for Saint, whose fist shot out, connecting squarely with his brother's jaw. The force threw him backwards, and he landed against the wall, stunned.

  "So now you come here acting like I should be thankful for what you should've given a century ago while Solenne must explain the lie you forced her to tell?"

  Before Teagan could say a thing, Saint's fist connected with his face again, jarring his head into the wall and drawing blood that began to roll down his chin. For so long he'd waited to hurt someone to make up for what he'd endured—losing Solenne, being shunned, being unable to be the sire he should've been, losing his brother to the fucking Archons.

  Saint stalked Teagan as he scrambled to gather his wits, trapping him between his body and the wall. Eyes full of fear and confusion stared back at him, and for a moment Saint was a boy and older brother back in the Irish countryside. Teagan's dark eyes, so similar to his own and their mother's, reminded him of the promise he'd made to her. That day, as they set out for the first time as men off to war but truly still boys, played in his mind, and his rage ebbed as memories and their warmth replaced it in his heart.

  "I can't do this," he mumbled and slowly backed away. "Just get the fuck out."

  Exhausted, Saint leaned against the wall. The vision of Solenne's terrified face as Vasilije led her away hours earlier was all he saw. He'd been a fool to so easily cast her aside. How hurt she must have been as she reached out to him only to see him turn away, refusing to even look at her!

  He'd make it up to her. They'd overcome everything fate had done to keep them apart. They'd overcome this too.

  Opening his eyes, Saint saw his brother lunge at him and in seconds he was on his back, Teagan's fists pummeling his face, evidence his brother's rage still lived within him.

  "Can't do this? This has been postponed too long," he yelled.

  His punches cut Saint's lower lip, drawing blood, and stunned he swiped his tongue over it, tasting its familiar tang. The sensation of bl
ood on his tongue, even his own, sent his fangs shooting into his mouth and that nature he'd fought for so long took over.

  Rolling him over onto the floor, Saint pressed hard into his shoulders and looked down into his eyes, no longer an older brother sworn to protect him.

  Now he was a vampire.

  "So true. Postponed from that night you told me of Solenne's love for a man who never existed. From ten years when I wandered alone in the human world, nearly dying without the blood of my own kind. From nights ago, when you came back from the dead thinking you'd take her away again."

  Teagan's fangs flashed as he grinned up at him. "Then we finally do this," he said, his voice matching the sneer he wore.

  Fuck, he wanted to wipe that sneer from his face!

  The first punch hit his jaw and as Saint drew back his hand for the next, his fingers caught on Teagan's fang, slicing the skin. The sting from the open cut intensified as his fist pushed through the air toward his brother's face once more, this time striking his cheek with such force he felt bones crack beneath his hand.

  Teagan cried out in agony, like a wounded animal, his eyes flashing his need to inflict the same pain on his attacker. But his anger was no match for the pent up feelings of rage and resentment Saint had held in for so long. Over and over, he took out the years of pain that had haunted him on the one who had been the architect of his suffering.

  "Declan! Stop!"

  From behind him, Solenne sounded like she was miles away as she screamed his name again, breaking the violent trance that controlled him. Beneath him, his brother lay still, his face bloodied and swollen.

  Solenne lightly touched Saint's shoulder, and he looked up into her soft eyes. "Let him be."

  Everything that had consumed him seemed to drain out of his tired body at the sound of her words. Slowly, he rose to take her into his arms, desperate for the feel of her against him. Solenne held him tightly, her head on his chest, and he relished the happiness such a small action could bring.

  "What they said wasn't true. There never was a Marc. I never took the Archon's blood. Never."

  Saint heard the honesty in her voice and lightly pressed a kiss on the top of her head. "I know. I should have always known. I'm sorry I didn't."

  Turning her face up toward his, she smiled. "Is he going to be okay?"

  Teagan groaned quietly below them. Already his face looked better, his natural healing as a vampire working to help him return to normal.

  "Jesus Christ! Saint...dude, what happened?"

  Dante stood staring down at Teagan's still battered face not quite yet back to its usual look and the blood stain on the floor nearby. "Did he attack you?"

  Saint shook his head. "Take him to the Romanian. Some of his sire's blood will do wonders for him."

  Dante raised his eyebrows in a look of disbelief and turned his attention to Saint and Solenne. "You guys all right, or do you need me to hang out today?"

  "He's a clyten, Declan. Did you know this?"

  Saint looked at Dante's all-too-confident grin and for just a moment disliked him even more than before. So the kid could walk in the sun. No wonder he was so cocky.

  "No, I didn't."

  "Yeah, how about that? So I can stay if you need me. Just say the word."

  "We're good. It's time you got my brother back to his sire's. And I'd go quickly or he's going to be in even worse shape."

  "Not to worry. I'll be back in the monastery before the sun can touch him. I've done this before."

  Dante picked Teagan up in his arms and turning back around said to Solenne, "No hard feelings about before? We needed to be sure you weren't out to hurt him."

  Saint hoped Dante was referring to their making her return to the monastery for questioning and not something more that might have happened there. He'd hate to have to do what he did to Teagan to Vasilije.

  No, that was a lie. He'd love to finally take out some aggression on the Romanian.

  "I understand, but I wouldn't do that this time."

  Dante held Teagan upright and in a flash they were gone. Solenne pulled Saint to her and kissing him sweetly, asked, "Are you hurt?"

  Chuckling, he smiled. "No. It was a bit one-sided. All those hours in the gym."

  She backed away from him and her gaze roamed over him, as if to confirm his claim. Her eyes widened when she saw his hands, and she held them up to look at them. Cut and bloodied, they resembled Teagan's face.

  "Oh, my God! Declan, your hands!"

  Saint looked at them, the weapons he'd used to expel the years of hate and anger he'd held inside him for too long. They throbbed in a dull ache now as she pressed the wounded knuckles to her lips.

  "I'm fine, Solenne."

  "No, you're not. Come with me," she said firmly as she led him to the bathroom. Leaving him to lean against the sink counter, she started the water and gently placed his left hand under the warm stream. It soothed as it rinsed the blood from his skin, revealing the gashes inflicted by Teagan's fangs.

  As she caressed her soapy hands over his, she looked up and asked, "Why did you hit him? Did he say something?"

  Saint thought about what answer to give and what he'd always wanted to tell their mother when she'd asked the same question.

  "He deserved it."

  Solenne stopped washing his right hand and smiled. "Do you feel better now?"

  He was struck at how she asked the same question as their mother had asked each time they'd fought as young boys. "Do you feel better now, Declan?"

  Every time he'd silently shook his head, guilty for hitting his younger brother even though Teagan had always thrown the first punch from the moment he could make a fist. And every time without fail, their mother had said, "No matter what happens, he's your brother and you're his. Neither of you can forget that in the end."

  Saint studied Solenne's face, wondering if she expected him to say he didn't feel better now. That would be a lie. He did feel better. Much better. "Yes, I do."

  "Good."

  Solenne finished cleaning his battered hands and patted them dry with a towel. Cupping them in her hands, she brought them to her lips and gently kissed them. "I was so worried you'd never want to see me again after what Vasilije said."

  Saint cradled her beautiful face in his bruised hands. "You're the only woman I've ever loved. No one in my life has ever sacrificed as much as you have to see me safe. I would've hated it if you'd taken Verrater's blood, but I would've had to live with it. Either that or I live without you. I won't do that again."

  Leaning in, he kissed her smiling lips, loving the feeling she brought out in him. She was the only woman—the only soul on Earth—who made him weak inside. Just a look from her blue eyes, a gentle touch of her hand on his skin, could do more than that of anyone else in this world. It had taken him a long time to accept that no matter how hard and strong he made himself on the outside, there was one who could get inside him and touch a place few believed ever existed.

  Solenne turned her head and pressed a kiss into his palm. Looking back at him, she smiled sweetly. "No matter what happens with Teagan, the Archons, or anyone else, I love you, Declan. I don't care what they throw at us, as long as I know you love me, I can handle anything."

  "I love you, Solenne. I always have."

  Teasing him, she asked, "Is that the beginning of a smile I see?"

  Saint grinned and slid his tongue along his teeth. "You should be careful. Asking a vampire to smile can be dangerous."

  The click of Solenne's fangs snapping into place echoed against the bathroom tile. Smiling, she said, "So I've heard."

  This was the life he'd longed for all those years alone—sweet, gentle love with a woman equal to him in the ways that mattered. Now he did the leading as he took her hand in his and they walked to his bedroom.

  For hours he worshipped her in a way that signaled his acceptance of their past. She was his—always had been—but now their lovemaking reflected that, and each surrendered to the other like they never
had before. When he finally drew the first of her blood into his mouth, it was unlike anything he'd tasted before. It excited him, soothed him, nourished his body and soul.

  And when they lay quietly in one another's arms as the day waned outside, Saint knew that he'd finally come home, not to France or this house but to Solenne.

  "Declan, Vasilije wants us to leave here immediately. Terek says we can stay with some of his vampires," Solenne whispered against his chest. "But I'm going to miss this house."

  Lifting her head, she looked at him with sadness in her eyes. "We'll need to leave tonight."

  "Solenne, what do you want to do? You obviously don't want to leave. You tell me you want to stay, and we'll stay. To hell with what Vasilije wants. If it takes everything in my power, I'll make sure you're safe if you want to remain here."

  She shook her head and slid up his body to kiss him. "We have to leave. I don't want our life to be one of constantly running either, but until you and the Sons make sure the Archons can't take over every part of our world, we must do what is needed. As long as we're together, I don't care where we are."

  He knew that was a lie. Solenne loved this house. It was the place she kept her memories alive all those years, and it was the place she'd stay in for the rest of her life, if she could. Resting her head on his shoulder, she snuggled against him and he heard her sadness at leaving. "But let's stay right here for just a little while longer."

  He could have stayed with her against him for the rest of time. No Sons, Vasilije, Terek, and his vampires. No Archons. Just the two of them alone away from the world.

  "So where are Terek's vampires? You make it sound like some kind of vampire commune," Saint joked.

  Solenne giggled and Saint wondered if his guess had been closer to the truth than he'd imagined. Was Terek some kind of new age communist?

  "I think it's closer to a harem than a commune."

  "Harem?" Saint knew Terek had a way with the women, but a harem? "And where is this vampire harem?"

  "Spain."

  Saint hugged Solenne and kissed her lips. "So we'll go to Terek's in Spain." It didn't matter where they went as long as Solenne was kept safe.