Blood Leverage (Bloodstone Chronicles Book 1)

by J S Hazzard

  “Sociopath,” Ian said cheerfully.

  “She did save my life, Ian.” I heard a faint warning enter Keanu’s voice, but Ian chose to ignore it.

  “By accident,” Ian snapped, his face inches from Keanu’s. I was staring at the back of Ian’s head, but if his expression was anything like Keanu’s it didn’t bode well. I put an end to the argument by hopping up and wedging myself between the two vampires, both of whom backed away in surprise.

  Keanu laughed and shifted to give me more space. “When I was born, my mother swore me into Violeta’s service, much as she herself was sworn to Mariana’s. I lived with them my entire human life and I was Violeta’s favorite…” Keanu’s face turned sheepish.

  “Meal?” I suggested. “Lover? Meal and lover?” I was too curious to be offended.

  Both men gave me startled looks, but I kept my expression open and non-committal.

  “I also cooked for the human staff,” Keanu said with a laugh. “Everything was fine until I turned twenty-eight. Mariana lost an important election and her power took a nosedive. Shortly after, I learned I was being sent away to pay a debt.”

  As much as I now wanted to ask about vampiric elections, I forced myself to stay on point. “And Violeta didn’t take kindly to that?”

  Ian curled his lip in distaste. “That’s putting it politely.”

  At this point, Keanu gestured to Ian as if to suggest he finish the story—a wise idea since Ian couldn’t seem to stay quiet anyway.

  “Violeta converted Keanu in a pointless and stupid gesture of defiance. She hadn’t asked his opinion, but since it turned out he was dying, she did him a favor.”

  “Cancer,” Keanu interjected. “I hadn’t been aware of it until everything healed during conversion. The pain was excruciating.”

  Ian jumped back in. “Mariana hadn’t anticipated her daughter’s actions and was horrified. Not only was creating another vampire illegal, but Keanu had been promised to another vampire.” Ian paused for a breath. “And that vampire was me.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  “HOLY crap.” I hadn’t seen that coming. “What happened?”

  Keanu took that one. “Under normal circumstances, Violeta and I would both have been put to death—Violeta for breaking the law and me for being illegally converted. Fortunately, Ian fought to keep me around.”

  It was a fight Ian had obviously won. “How’d he manage that?”

  “He claimed I was contractually bound before my conversion, making my life—human or otherwise—his to do with as he saw fit. He argued that Violeta’s sole purpose in converting me was simply to thwart my transfer, which was true, and that vampires shouldn’t be able to circumvent contracts by causing the property in question—namely me,” he said, “to be put to death.”

  “An atypical argument, but not without logic,” I decided, making Keanu snort.

  “Ian demanded to make use of me as a vampire since he’d been denied his right to use me as a human. He said that with Violeta’s death the vampire count would remain the same and no real harm would be done.”

  I had to ask. “What use were you to Ian as a vampire?”

  “Very little,” Ian drawled lazily, but he grinned as he said it. “Be that as it may, I’ve been stuck with him ever since.”

  “She didn’t ask you,” Keanu shot back with his own grin. “To answer the question, Ian never wanted my blood anyway. As you already know, I didn’t meet his requirements, but it would’ve looked suspicious had he declined.”

  I tried not to react to the ‘requirements’ comment. “And what? You’ve been hanging around ever since?”

  “Precisely!” Ian beamed.

  “Not at all.” Keanu shot Ian a snarky look. “When I realized Ian had intervened on my behalf, I pledged him my allegiance.”

  Boy, vampires seemed to be swearing and pledging left and right. “Pledging one’s allegiance… Is that the same as swearing fealty?”

  Ian shook his head. “Not remotely. Swearing fealty is an outdated term of servitude between humans and vampires. To pledge allegiance is more to acknowledge a debt owed in a vampiric relationship, though the longer such a relationship lasts the more likely it is to refer to a very strong friendship.”

  “Is two hundred fifty years sufficient to assume a strong friendship?”

  “I would trust him with your life,” Ian said simply.

  That took a moment to process. “Wait a second. You’d trust Keanu with my life? Not your own?” It was hardly a ringing endorsement, but Keanu was all but giggling.

  “The idea of Ian needing protection is ludicrous. Ian could snap me like a twig.”

  The humor was contagious and I laughed. “Oh great, you’re saying he’d take care of himself while we were killed?”

  It was a poor choice of words. Keanu looked offended and Ian looked flat-out furious.

  I cringed into the sofa, remembering how Ian had looked back in his guest room. This was worse. It would have been better if he’d yelled, but his tone was low and venomous. Also, his accent deepened.

  “Do you think so little of me, Aurora, to believe I’d let a loyal friend die? With such a pledge comes responsibility on the part of the receiving vampire. I have offered Keanu every form of assistance that is mine to give, something not lightly dismissed. He has had my blood directly, the better to ensure his safety and survival. He lives in the comfort my accumulated wealth provides and is protected by my accumulated abilities.”

  I couldn’t have gotten a word in if I wanted to, which was just as well because Ian was just getting started. Talk about hitting a sore spot.

  “Furthermore, I would have you apologize to Keanu. To offer you his protection is no little thing, for his strength is of my strength. In any given city you would be challenged to find one who could subdue my vassal.”

  Whoa. Subdue his vassal?

  If my legs had been functioning, that would have been my exit cue. Ian’s face was two inches away and his fangs appeared to have sharpened. I attempted to shrink back further, but I’d exhausted all the give in the leather cushions.

  Out of nowhere, I was on my feet. Keanu had whooshed me across the room and I was both grateful for the distance and worried as to how Ian would react to it. I doubted he’d hurt me, but I’d never seen him so angry.

  “Um, dude.” Keanu paused when I wobbled and gripped the bookcase. I felt a bit off balance from the scolding, but mostly my left foot was numb from having sat on it.

  “Dude,” he tried again. “Aurora didn’t mean to insult anyone and I did say you could snap me into pieces.” He turned to me. “That’s not an exaggeration.”

  He turned back to Ian. Wait—if he was Ian’s vassal, did that make Ian his lord? His liege? I hauled my brain back in time for Keanu to finish.

  “Aurora was joking about something she doesn’t understand, which falls on you for not explaining. She’s new to this and I fear we’re not making the best impression.”

  It was an oddly formal reprimand and I had a nagging sense that more had been said than what I’d heard. Unfortunately, I had no clue what that might be and was in no position to ask. Either way, the intensity left Ian’s face.

  Meanwhile, the pins-and-needles in my foot had crept to my knee, rendering my left leg useless. So I sat on the floor, which in turn made Ian leap off the couch. It was like a whacky game of musical chairs and I giggled as I rubbed the blood back into my tingling calf.

  Ian’s face changed to outright alarm. “No! Don’t do that!” He was at my side in a heartbeat and sank down beside me on the carpet. Maybe instead of musical chairs it was more like duck-duck-goose, where we all took turns jumping up and running around.

  “I noticed you made a pie the other day. Maybe you’d like some more?” he asked, not waiting for my answer before deciding that in his opinion, yes, I would like more pie. “Keanu, retrieve the key lime pie from the guest kitchen.”

  Keanu flashed off without a word before I could remind him about my sho
es and duffle bag. Apparently he was the goose.

  Within seconds he returned with the pie still in its box. I accepted it graciously, but Ian wasn’t satisfied.

  “Keanu, is she supposed to eat the damn thing with her fingers? She needs a knife and fork!” Ian kept watching me while Keanu raced back to the kitchen.

  Part of me wanted to say it was rude to make someone be the goose twice in a row, while the rest of me wondered how I was supposed to eat frozen pie.

  “Ian, what’s wrong with her?” Keanu spoke politely but was clearly on edge.

  “Shhh, I don’t want her to do the laughing thing!” Ian spoke in the sing-song voice people usually reserved for children. Or crazy people.

  I wondered if I should take offense.

  “The laughing thing?” Keanu looked unsurprisingly confused, having missed yesterday’s hysteria.

  I heard Ian’s whispered reply from across the room. “She went into fits yesterday—very disturbing.”

  “Um, Ian? May I talk to you in the other room for a moment?” Keanu edged back as if I were dangerous.

  “I’d rather not leave her. Whatever you have to say, say it.” Ian helpfully opened the box and set the pie in my hands. As predicted, it was frozen solid, but I appreciated the thought.

  “You said Aurora is your current blood benefactor, correct?”

  Hadn’t we already covered this? Ian looked similarly impatient as he nodded.

  “And would she happen to be your sole benefactor currently?”

  “You know she is.”

  “For how long?”

  I couldn’t stand it. “Get to the point already! You two might have eternity for this but I’m still mortal. I’ve been his benefactor for over ten years and I’d like to get home before another decade passes!” I stabbed testily at the pie and didn’t even dent it.

  Keanu looked shocked by my outburst and then burst out laughing, while I sawed sulkily at the edge of the pie and got nowhere. Oh sure, Keanu the vassal gets to laugh, but not me. I set the knife down, defeated.

  When Keanu spoke it was almost inaudible. “Ian, you need to stay calm. You’ve consumed so much of this woman that you’re attuned to one another. Your being anxious will only make her more anxious. You need to relax.”

  Ian looked like he’d been smacked with a frying pan. “You mean like..?”

  “Yes.” Keanu’s voice was flat.

  Ian made a visible effort to calm himself and I felt some of the fog clear in my head. It became even clearer as I grasped Keanu’s words, which helped explain my erratic emotions since meeting Ian. Although this new wrinkle created issues, I was relieved I wasn’t crazy.

  I addressed my questions to Keanu, as the expert. Also because Ian looked incapable of speech.

  “You’re saying if he’s angry and I’m angry then being around one another when we’re both angry will make us both even angrier? No. Wait.” I mentally repeated the words. “Okay, that was right. Go ahead.”

  “I knew what you meant.” Keanu smiled, having forgotten my question.

  “And?”

  “Sorry, it’s like you two are contagious.” He shook his head. “Honestly, I’m not entirely sure. Due to the mixing of blood at blood banks, these connections are now incredibly rare. Even when benefactors were common, an attuned vampire and human pair might go years without noticing. Not only do they need to be in the same location, such a link generally only makes itself felt in instances of heightened emotions.”

  My voice was only degrees warmer than the pie in front of me. “Let’s assume this situation meets the criteria and move on to the link itself.”

  “Er, right.” If Keanu wanted to smirk, he wisely refrained. “If two linked individuals are feeling similar emotions, the emotions can feed off each other and intensify. Happiness can become euphoria, anger can become rage…” He made an and-so-on gesture with his hand. “But again, this shit doesn’t happen every day. You won’t get some random mood swing just because Ian can’t find his favorite socks or something.”

  The snicker escaped before I could stop it. “I don’t know, I could see Ian getting pretty worked up about that. But what if two people—uh, I mean individuals… What if two individuals are both experiencing heightened emotions, but different ones?”

  “Oh, that’s when you get your feelings of disorientation,” Keanu said knowledgeably. “It happened with Violeta twice and I thought I’d gone crazy until an older benefactor sought me out to explain.”

  Huh. “As a vampire, will Ian feel more or less than I do?” I was discussing Ian like he wasn’t there, but he was oblivious, his face locked in perpetual surprise. He couldn’t have looked more shocked if I’d smashed my pie in his face, though it was a toss-up which would be harder to damage—the frozen pie or the frozen vampire.

  Then I wondered if I was artificially confused because I was curious and Ian was… whatever, or if I was simply internally rambling again. Okay, this could get annoying.

  Keanu smiled sympathetically. “He’ll feel it less. You’re more vulnerable as a human. It’s confusing and I’m not explaining well. Keep asking until you get it straight.” He shook his head again.

  I didn’t find the concept unclear; I found it interesting. Inconvenient perhaps, but interesting. I realized I understood better than Keanu.

  I felt a smirk forming. “Uh, Keanu?”

  “Yes, Aurora?” He spoke quickly, as if to reassure himself he wasn’t slow on the uptake.

  “Ian said you take blood from him, right? Is that on a regular basis?”

  Once again, he spoke too fast. “Maybe once a month.” I snickered and he looked bewildered.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “Well, it’s likely you’ve ingested a bit of me yourself. You wouldn’t be feeling a tad confused now, would you?” I could already tell he was.

  His chiseled jaw dropped to match Ian’s and now both vampires were gaping at me. I felt more cheerful than I had since first waking.

  With a surge of optimism, I tried the pie again and the fork slid in easily. I took a bite and savored the tart flavor, amused. Then I grinned at both vampires, neither of whom had recovered from my question. “You know, Keanu, seeing as we’re all so close now, feel free to call me Rory.” Neither of them laughed.

  Well hell, I’d thought it was funny.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  I’M not sure what was left to say, but the implications of shared blood and emotions were cause for a long conversation between my new acquaintances. My sense of intelligence firmly reestablished, I ignored the debate and settled in to eat.

  It took about two-thirds of the pie—which was delicious, by the way—for Ian and Keanu to finish their discussion. Then, Ian said he needed to use his computer and walked out without saying another word.

  Instead of following, Keanu came over and sat beside me, picking up my fork and helping himself to the remains of my pie. He casually ate a few bites before cracking up at my dumbfounded expression.

  “What the hell, you guys can eat pie?”

  “We can eat anything,” he said, grinning. “Though food does nothing for us nutritionally.”

  “I’ve never heard of vampires consuming anything but blood.” Apparently I had a lot to learn.

  Keanu shrugged and swallowed another bite. “No surprise there. It’s unnecessary, and besides, vampire purists find the process repulsive.”

  “They find food more repulsive than blood?”

  He smirked. “Not the food, but the elimination of it.”

  “The elimination…? Oh.” I laughed, though the idea was downright gross.

  “Hey, we still have the same organs as you,” Keanu noted through another mouthful. “With the exception of blood—which is fully absorbed into our systems—what goes in must come out and that is a process most vampires would rather avoid.”

  “I can honestly say that is something I’ve never considered before.” And I didn’t want to consider it now. “Now that the shock v
alue is over, may I have my pie back?”

  Keanu grinned. “Sorry, in my opinion taste buds more than compensate for the occasional bowel movement.”

  The pie was almost gone and the notion of vampire bowel movements had curbed my appetite, so I let it go. “Now that you’ve questioned me and have an idea how to find Eggplant, may I ask what happens next?”

  To his credit, Keanu set my fork down. “Rory, I’m sorry. Ian and I discussed everything on the phone earlier, but he didn’t mention you were here until I arrived.”

  He sat straighter, his expression turning serious. It looked unnatural on him. “Both Ian and I will do everything we can to help Luigi, and you of course,” he added. “We’re taking a three-pronged approach.”

  Not wanting to stop the flow of information, I remained silent.

  “The first thing Ian and I will do, which I’ve already begun, is to make a nightly search for Nicky.”

  “In Niagara Falls?” I asked eagerly. No one had invited me along but I planned on helping whether my help was wanted or not.

  “Not Niagara Falls proper,” Keanu explained, “but in the surrounding wilderness. There are three possibilities.”

  Three prongs, three possibilities, the three of us… I gave my head a little shake in an effort to sharpen my waning focus.

  “The most likely possibility,” Keanu said soberly, “is that Nicky died shortly after his abduction, in which case we’ll be searching for his remains to bring them home. However,” he added as my face fell, “my initial search found none of his scent, nor any trace of a bonfire, and no bodies have washed up downstream of the falls.”

  I blinked. “A bonfire?”

  Keanu looked away. “Well, yes. The scent of decaying flesh is noticeable even to humans. To a vampire, you might as well hire a plane to skywrite, ‘DEAD BODY BURIED HERE!’ Unless this Eggplant is a moron, she won’t try to bury a body unless she’s already burned it beyond the possibility of decay.”