Unhinged: Blood Bond: Parts 4, 5 & 6 (Volume 2)

by Hardt, Helen;

“My husband and I will.” She walked out my door, leaving me with my jaw dropped.

  Dr. Bonneville was married?

  She didn’t wear a ring, but none of us wore any jewelry in the ER. She never talked about her personal life, and I’d just assumed…

  But why wouldn’t she be married? She was a very intelligent and attractive woman, and maybe she was a different person outside of work.

  Either that or she’d married a glutton for punishment.

  Chapter Nine

  Dante

  River had just gotten home after his shift, and was talking to—

  “Dad?”

  “Hello, son.”

  “All right, that’s it.” I was in no mood for small talk. “It takes me forever to see you, but Riv sees you right away. And now I find you here at his place? What about me? I’m your fucking son, damn it!”

  “Calm down, Dante,” my father said.

  “The hell I will. What the fuck is this about?”

  “I asked him to come,” River said. “This isn’t his fault.”

  “You asked my father to come without me here? What the hell kind of betrayal is this?”

  “Dante,” River said, “I was trying to be sensitive to your situation. I have questions about my own father, and your dad is…well…”

  “Dead is the word you’re looking for,” I said without emotion. “You think I haven’t accepted that?”

  “You’ve just been through so—”

  “I’m sick to death of rehashing that I’ve been through so much. Don’t you think I want Uncle Brae back as much as you do? If he’s where I was, he’s probably being tortured or worse. This involves me, River. Don’t fucking leave me out of it.”

  “Dante,” my father said, “are you angry about being left out? Or are you angry at this situation?”

  I scoffed. “All of the above.” I raked my fingers through my hair. “Today I felt something evil in Erin’s apartment, and then, when she got home, it was gone just as quickly.”

  “Are you sure it wasn’t your imagination?” River asked. “After all you’ve—”

  “Did I not just say I’m sick to death of that?” I shook my head. “You’ll never understand.”

  “No, he won’t,” my father said. “But I do. I understand, Dante. I know what you’ve been through, because I went through much of the same. And I’d do it all again to protect both of you if I had to.”

  “Dante, seriously,” River said. “I didn’t think you’d get mad about me talking to your dad without you. I honestly thought it was the best thing.”

  I drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. I was so on edge. “All right. I accept your apology. But please don’t leave me out again. We’re all in this together. I want Uncle Brae back just as much as the two of you do, okay? No tiptoeing around me. I can take it. I’ve been to hell and back, and nothing either of you say or do is going to break me. I promise you that. If that bitch didn’t break me, nothing will.”

  “Okay,” River said. “In that case, I was just asking Uncle Jules about where my dad might be, what he might be going through. It isn’t pretty, Dante, and if you were there going through even half of it, I’m so sorry, man.”

  “I don’t need your pity, Riv. I need your help. We have to find my dad’s body. That way we can get the money we need to figure out what’s going on. That’s the only way we’ll be able to find your dad.”

  River nodded. “Uncle Jules told me everything. About Bill and the book. You were right, Dante. Something is off about Bill. I don’t know why I didn’t see it. A good detective should have seen it.”

  “It was easier for me. I was gone for so long that the differences in Bill stood out to me. You lived them. They wouldn’t be as obvious.”

  “Still…”

  “Now is not the time for either of you to put yourselves down,” my father said. “I need you both alert and willing to go the distance. Are you all in?”

  I looked to my cousin, and we both nodded. “All in,” we said together.

  “So where do we start?” River asked. “Where can we find your body?”

  “Where do you think you’d find a body?” my father said. “In a cemetery, of course.”

  “How could it be in a cemetery?” I paced across the floor. “All the cemeteries around here are closely guarded. You can only get in during the day as part of a tour.”

  “I don’t know how it got there. Your mother directed me through a tunnel where I came up somewhere behind Bourbon Street. She said I’d find a vial of poison hidden behind a voodoo shop. I did, and I drank it. I died there, behind the shop. A man found me, and rather than call the police, he took my body to the cemetery. I have no idea how he got it there. But it’s there. I saw him take it in.”

  “Which cemetery?”

  “St. Louis One.”

  “Where?”

  My father paused for a few seconds. Then, “I’m not exactly sure. I don’t have any attachment to the body anymore. But obviously I’d be buried in one of the grassy areas.”

  “Wait.” River held up his hand. “You don’t know where? How are we supposed to find you?”

  “I’m sorry I can’t give you more accurate information. I’d just died and was getting used to my new ghostly existence. I didn’t see everything. But I haven’t been dead for very long, and there aren’t many grassy areas in that cemetery. You should be able to see where the sod was disturbed.”

  “How are we supposed to do that? I’m a cop. I arrest people for trespassing in that cemetery. I arrest people for desecrating a person’s final resting place.”

  “Riv—”

  “Seriously, Dante, this goes against everything I am.”

  “I can’t do this alone, Riv, and you’re the only one I trust.”

  River sank his head into his hands. “All right. All right. I guess we can glamour the guards into letting us in.”

  “You can glamour them. I’m not all that good at it,” I said.

  “I can still do it,” my father said. “I’ll be going with you. I can’t help you dig, but I can keep the guards away from you.”

  “When do we do this?” River asked.

  “How about tonight?” I said.

  “I told you it would have to wait until my next night off. After that concussion, I can’t be taking personal days.”

  “Right. Okay.” My mind raced. “You said your next night off was Thursday. That’s a day from now. Let’s plan to leave as soon as Erin goes to work at eleven.”

  “Sounds good,” River said, shaking his head. “I can’t believe I’m about to vandalize sacred ground.”

  “It’s the only way,” my father said. “I’m sorry it’s come to this, but we need my death certificate so Dante and Emilia can claim my estate.”

  “We’ll take care of you, Dad.” I stood. “You get some sleep, Riv. I’m heading back to Erin’s.” I turned to my father. “I’d like you to come with me, please. I need your take on whatever presence I’m sensing in her home.”

  “Of course. I’ll see you there.” He vanished.

  River jerked. “Not sure I’ll ever get used to that.”

  “Me neither. He looks so real.”

  “I think he is real, cuz. Just a different kind of real. At least he’s not in any pain. I can’t bear to think—” He shook his head.

  “We’ll find him,” I said to my cousin. “I promise. We’ll find your dad.”

  Erin had gone to bed by the time I got back to her place. I gave her a chaste kiss on the forehead. She opened one eye and smiled.

  “I’m glad you’re back.”

  “If you’d let me move in, I’d always be here.”

  She chuckled. “You can move in now, Dante. I’ve made peace with everything. Well, most everything.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “Nothing about you. I love who and what you are. You’re a vampire, and frankly, I enjoy your feedings. Weird, huh?”

  “Not at all. I think it goes wi
thout saying that I enjoy them as well.”

  “Of course you do. You’re getting nourishment.”

  “Erin, love, what I get from you goes so far beyond nourishment. You and I both know that. Now what’s bothering you? What haven’t you made peace with?”

  She sat up in bed. “Something weird happened in the ER last night. I had a patient with a sick baby, and the mother told me that the baby’s father was a werewolf.”

  I widened my eyes. “Oh?”

  “I know what you’re going to say. Believe me, I’ve heard my share of crazy tales since I moved here. I never believed any of them. Not until Abe Lincoln showed up. And I didn’t believe him at first either.”

  “This might just be another crazy tale,” I said. “River says weres are even rarer than vampires.”

  “Have you ever met one?”

  “No. At least not that I know of. I imagine they fly under the radar like we do.”

  “Still”—she drummed her fingers on her thighs—“that’s not the weirdest part about it.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah. I told Lucy, and the next thing I know, she’s in the exam room holding the baby.”

  “So? Maybe she was walking by and the mom needed something.”

  “Yeah. That’s what I told myself, anyway. We cover for each other all the time. But then I started thinking.”

  “About what?”

  “About Lucy lying to me about not sleeping with River. About the tattered clothes in River’s car. About River not remembering taking Lucy home. About Jay saying someone saw a big dog, like a malamute, at the scene of the accident. What if River never actually took Lucy home? What if…” She shook her head. “I don’t even believe it myself.”

  “What if your best friend is a werewolf?”

  Chapter Ten

  Erin

  I was glad Dante had said the actual words so I didn’t have to. I was already certain I’d gone mad.

  “Lucy never covers up her sexual exploits,” I said. “She tells Steve and me everything. No holds barred. If she had such crazy sex with River that he ripped her clothes into shreds, she would have told me.”

  Dante caressed my cheek. “Erin, this is highly unlikely.”

  “Of course it is. It’s also highly unlikely that you’re a vampire, yet here you are.”

  “But if River remembers the accident, which he claims he does, then he would certainly remember his date morphing into a wolf, don’t you think?”

  I laughed into my hands. I truly sounded like a crazy person. “I guess I hadn’t thought of that.”

  He smiled, still skimming my cheek and jawline. “You’ve had a lot thrust on you recently. Your imagination is bound to go a little nuts.”

  “You don’t think I’ve lost it?”

  “Of course not. You’ve found it. You’ve found something amazing, and so have I.” He brushed his lips against mine. “Now go back to sleep. My dad is here, and I need to talk to him about some stuff. We’ll do it downstairs so we don’t bother you.”

  “You’ll stay, then?”

  “Of course.”

  “I mean…you’ll move in?”

  “If you’re sure it’s what you want. I’m not employed at the moment, though. I’m living off Bill for now, but I can’t stomach much more of that. I’m going to find a way to make a living, baby, but until I do, are you sure you want me living here?”

  I smiled, shoving his hair back over his forehead and gazing into his dark and intense eyes. “I’ve never been more sure about anything.”

  “That makes me very happy. Now go to sleep, and no dreaming about werewolf babies and best friends.” He left the bedroom.

  I closed my eyes.

  A moment passed. Then another.

  Relaxation eluded me.

  I didn’t want to eavesdrop, but I couldn’t help myself. I got out of bed and sneaked over to the stairwell, hiding behind a wall.

  “You need anything?” Dante’s voice.

  “No. Ghosts don’t need food or blood or anything.”

  “Yeah. Right. This is still all so surreal.”

  Silence for a few seconds.

  Then, “So do you sense anything here?”

  “I’ve been here many times since I died,” he said.

  Ick. Had Dante’s father been watching us? I couldn’t let my thoughts go there.

  “I get that. I thought maybe what I was sensing was you, that I was imagining the ‘evil’ of it, but if you’d been here, I’d have seen you.”

  “I wasn’t here.”

  “Then what was it?”

  “Could it have been your imagination? I know you’re spooked by what that voodoo woman told you. She’s probably full of shit.”

  “Yeah, I know. But what if she’s not? She was quoting Shakespeare, for God’s sake.”

  “A lot of people can quote Shakespeare,” Dante’s father said. “He’s one of the most quoted people of all time. ‘That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet.’ I know a fair amount of Shakespeare myself, including Bea’s quote. It’s a famous one from Hamlet, second only to ‘To be or not to be, that is the question.’”

  “I had no idea you were so well read, Dad.”

  “I’d have taught you all of that. I’m sorry I couldn’t.”

  “Sometimes I feel so inadequate. I didn’t even finish high school! I wanted to be a doctor once. And now…”

  Dante hadn’t finished high school? What else didn’t I know?

  “You can still be a doctor, son. You’d be a great one. Jack won’t live forever, and we need another good doctor for our kind.”

  “But I can’t. I have to get a GED, and then four years of college, four of med school, four of internship and residency. I’d be an old man by the time I was done. Plus, all that costs a ton of money.”

  “You’ll have the money you need soon.”

  What? What was Julian talking about? Tension seized my body.

  “Still, it’s not in the cards for me. That bitch stole ten years of my life. Stole my dream of medical school. I try not to let it get to me, Dad, but I can’t help it sometimes.”

  “I understand.”

  “Hell, she even stole you from me!”

  “I’m here, son.”

  “I know. And I’m happy about that. But you’re not really here. You won’t be able to stay forever. You said yourself that a ghost only has ten years on this plane.”

  “I can teach you a lot in ten years.”

  “Even if I did try to become a doctor, you’d be gone before I was done.”

  “Is that a good reason not to do it?”

  “No. I don’t know.”

  Though I couldn’t see him, I knew Dante was pacing, shoving his fingers through his hair.

  Becoming unhinged.

  I’d seen him this way a lot lately.

  Something was eating at him. Something he wouldn’t tell me.

  Yet.

  “Everything changed. Riv was supposed to go to business school. What happened to his dream?”

  “He actually told me. When you disappeared, and then Braedon and I followed, he decided to become a police officer so he could learn investigative skills and try to find us.”

  “But he didn’t.”

  “No, but he tried.”

  “He told you all of this?”

  “Yes. We talked a lot.”

  “Why didn’t he tell me any of this stuff?”

  “He felt weak. He couldn’t save you, me, or his own father. He tried and couldn’t find us. He failed. He feels very badly about it.”

  “He does?”

  More silence.

  “Dante, your cousin is going through his own kind of hell. It’s nothing like what you went through, and he knows that, but it still exists and is very real for him.”

  Silence once again.

  Then, “I had no idea.” Dante’s voice.

  “You’ve been consumed with your own issues—your abduction and escape, your blood
bond with Erin. River understands that.”

  “I feel like a douche.”

  “Don’t. We’ve all been through enough. We all need to forgive each other and forgive ourselves. Each one of us was only doing what we thought was right at the time. Always.”

  “You’re talking about Erin, aren’t you?”

  My ears perked up.

  “I wouldn’t have glamoured her if it weren’t necessary. For both of you.”

  Say what? I stood and clomped down the stairs. “You glamoured me?”

  Both Dante’s and his father’s gazes landed on me.

  No words.

  “Don’t even try to tell me this isn’t any of my business,” I said. “I want to know who glamoured me and why.”

  “Tell her, Dad,” Dante said. “She deserves the truth.”

  “It was the first time you saw Dante’s teeth. I was here, in your living room, when you ran downstairs in a panic. I glamoured you into getting some wine and going back to him.”

  I stared at him. I stared at a fucking ghost.

  “I’m sorry, Erin. But Dante needed you, and I had to protect my son.”

  “At my expense!”

  “I didn’t hurt you. I would never hurt you.”

  “Then promise you’ll never do it again.”

  “I can’t make that promise,” the ghost said.

  I looked to Dante.

  “I tried to get him to promise the same thing. He won’t do it. He’ll do whatever he has to do to protect both of us. It took me a little time, but I can accept that. I hope you can too.”

  “That’s the only time I was glamoured?”

  “Fully. By me,” Julian said.

  What was that supposed to mean? I lifted one eyebrow and looked to Dante.

  “I’ve never glamoured you. I tried the first time we met, at the blood bank, but it didn’t take. I’ve never tried again, and I won’t. I promise.”

  “Then what did you mean when you said ‘by me’?”

  I expected Julian to answer, but Dante let out a breath.

  “Bill glamoured you the day you came to the house. Remember when I cut myself with the bread knife?”

  “Yeah.” My heart pounded.