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

by Hardt, Helen;

“It wasn’t a bread knife. It wasn’t a dog bite. I spilled a glass of blood on the floor and I bit myself so I’d have a wound to account for the blood.”

  “No, it was—” I squeezed my eyes shut and conjured the image in my mind. The pool of blood on the tile floor. Dante’s forearm bleeding. The wound…. “A bread knife. I remember so clearly.”

  But then I flashed to his forearm. Two puncture wounds.

  “River told you it was a bite from the neighbor’s dog. You went next door to talk to the neighbor, and you learned she didn’t have a dog. Bill found out, and he glamoured you. I’m so sorry, Erin. If it makes a difference, I gave him holy living hell for it.”

  I opened my eyes. Dante’s own eyes were sunken and sad. Regretful.

  “My father would never do anything to intentionally harm you, Erin,” Julian said. “I hope you know that.”

  “I don’t know anything anymore. I only know that I need you to both please leave.”

  “Erin,” Dante said, pleading.

  “Please. I can’t deal with any of this. I thought I could, but I was wrong.”

  “I will leave,” Julian said. “But let Dante stay. You need each other. He’ll protect you.”

  I tugged at a lock of hair in disarray around my shoulder. Was I overreacting? Maybe. This was nothing compared to someone feeding on me, and we hadn’t been able to figure out who’d been doing that yet.

  “I need a glass of water.” I headed to the kitchen. Instead of water, I poured myself a glass of white wine and took a gulp.

  “Baby?” Dante touched my arm.

  I flinched, but I didn’t back away.

  “I know this is a lot to take.”

  “You have no fucking idea.”

  “I know you feel like you’ve taken up residence in crazy town. I get that. But it’s not a full moon for another week or so, and—”

  “Oh my God.” I downed the rest of the wine in one gulp.

  “I was just trying to lighten the mood. You know, the legend that people get crazy during a full moon? Where do you think the word lunatic came from?”

  “I know all about the word lunatic coming from the full moon. That’s not what I mean.”

  “What is it then?”

  “The last full moon. I remember it. It was so beautiful as I drove into work.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Lucy. Lucy called in sick that night.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Dante

  I quickly explained to my father what Erin was talking about.

  “Weres don’t always change on the full moon,” he said. “That’s a myth. They can control the change. Does she call in sick every time there’s a full moon?”

  Erin shook her head. “I don’t think so. She wouldn’t have a job for very long if she called in sick that much. But her nights off aren’t always the same as mine. Maybe she takes the full moon off. I’d have to check the calendar at work.”

  “Okay. You can do that tonight.”

  Erin tensed her knuckles around her wine goblet. “No. I can’t. Absolutely not.”

  “It might give you some peace of mind,” my father said.

  “Peace of mind? Are you kidding me?” She poured herself another glass of wine.

  “Baby, easy. You’re working tonight, remember?”

  “I’ll sleep six hours before I have to go in. Right now, I need a drink.” She took two sips of her wine and then turned to my father. “Tell me all you know about werewolves.”

  “Yeah, I’d like to know too,” I said. “You might as well start teaching me all that stuff I should have learned after I graduated.”

  “I never knew you didn’t finish high school,” Erin said. “I didn’t realize you were gone that long.”

  I nodded, hoping she would still accept that I didn’t want to talk about my time in captivity yet.

  She seemed to.

  “Weres are actually more endangered than we are,” my father said. “They’re surrounded by myth, also. Like us, they are born, not made. A werewolf can bite you and nothing will happen, other than you’ll need stitches.”

  “That’s a relief.” Erin rolled her eyes. “Not that I think Lucy would bite me.”

  “I don’t see any positive proof that your friend is a werewolf,” he said. “With everything new that’s been pushed on you lately, though, I understand why you’d be suspicious.”

  He cleared his throat and went on. “Only two species of shifters remain. Wolves and cats, panthers, to be exact. Also like us, they can mate with humans and give birth to human children. Whatever in their DNA that causes them to shift can only be passed to a baby with two were parents.”

  “Anything else?” Erin asked. “What about their body temperatures?”

  “Ours are a degree or two lower than humans. Weres run a degree or two higher.”

  “That’s it? There are no more differences? What hair color do they have?”

  “They can have any hair color, just like we can and you can. Most vampires have dark hair, but so do most humans.”

  “Lucy has blond hair,” Erin said. “What else?”

  “That’s it. I’ve never met a were that I know of. They don’t go around advertising what they are, just as we don’t. We wouldn’t be able to exist otherwise.”

  Erin finished her wine and stared into space.

  “You okay, baby?”

  She nodded, though the look on her face didn’t indicate she was convinced of it. “I’m going to bed. I’ve had all I can take for now.”

  “I’ll go with you.”

  She held up her hand to stop me. “No, please. I just need to be alone for a little while. I hope you understand.”

  I started to say something, but my father shook his head slightly at me.

  Maybe he was right.

  “Okay, baby. Sleep well. I’ll be here.”

  She nodded and walked up the stairs.

  “Give her some space, son,” my father said.

  “I’m trying. She finally accepted me, and now she has to deal with all of this. I wasn’t sure how to tell her she’d been glamoured. At least she knows now, and I don’t have to feel horrible about keeping it from her.”

  “It will all work out,” he said. “I’m sure of it. Your mother wouldn’t have sent me here for something futile.”

  I nodded.

  “What is it, son?”

  “I don’t know. Sometimes I feel like I’m on top of all this, that I’ve got this. And sometimes…” I paced around Erin’s living room. “Sometimes I feel completely unhinged.”

  “You’ve been through a lot.”

  “That’s got nothing to do with it. Someone has been feeding on Erin. I have to find out who it is, and I have to stop it. It’s making me slowly crazy.”

  “I understand. First things first. You and River need to recover my body and file a death certificate.”

  “I’ve been thinking about that, Dad. How are we supposed to dig up your body and then call the coroner? He’ll want to know how and where we found the body, and we’ll have to admit to trespassing in the cemetery and everything else.”

  “Leave the coroner to me, Dante.” His tone was firm.

  He was going to glamour the coroner.

  Well, fine with me. I needed to get my hands on my father’s money to do what needed to be done.

  “First things first, though,” he said. “Tonight, while River and Erin are at work, we go see your sister.”

  “What about waiting until we recover your body?”

  “I thought River would be able to go right away and we’d have my body by now. I can’t in good conscience keep my existence from your sister any longer.”

  I nodded. This was going to be a long night.

  Chapter Twelve

  Erin

  “Did you hear the good news?” Lucy said when I clocked in. “Bitchville is on leave for three weeks.”

  “I know. She’s vacationing with her husband in Barbados.”

  “She�
�s married?”

  “Yeah. I had the same reaction.”

  “Wait. How did you know? The announcement was just made this morning.”

  “She came to my house and told me.”

  “She what?”

  “I know. I couldn’t believe it myself. But she actually came for another reason—to tell me about the mother and baby that seemingly disappeared.”

  Lucy dropped her jaw. “Someone else disappeared?”

  “No, actually. Turned out the mom was a minor and her parents had her transferred to a facility in Baton Rouge.”

  “Why would she come to your house for that?”

  “I have no idea. Maybe because she found out I had tried to visit Patty the next morning, and she was gone. I did find it strange that the police weren’t around. They were here in droves with the other disappearances.”

  Lucy harrumphed. “I guess we know why, then. Though I don’t know why her parents would transfer her.”

  “Who knows? But as long as she’s okay, I’m good with it.” I typed some records into the computer.

  When I was done, I turned to look at Lucy, who was going through some lab work that had just come in.

  She looked the same as always—blond hair, blue eyes, pretty face with long brown eyelashes and pink cheeks. Her nails were painted light rose, and her green scrubs covered up what I knew was a tight body with curves in all the right places.

  Nothing lupine about her in the slightest.

  I had truly gone off the deep end.

  She was my best friend. She told me everything, all about her sexual exploits.

  I’m a horny little bitch.

  That epithet I didn’t like. Now I examined the double entendre. A bitch didn’t have to be a derogatory term for a woman.

  It also meant a female dog.

  Could it mean a female wolf? I turned back to my computer and searched. Female wolves were usually called she-wolves, but according to some sources were also known as bitches.

  I gulped down the lump in my throat and hurriedly logged off and deleted my search. I wasn’t supposed to do personal work on these computers anyway, and I rarely did.

  Lucy referred to herself as a bitch. So what? A lot of women did. I’d had a roommate during nursing school who considered it a compliment when she was called a bitch. To her, it meant she was a strong woman who wasn’t afraid to be assertive. Lucy was certainly that as well.

  So far, the evening had been quiet. I sat, almost wishing for sirens, so I could get my mind off all of this.

  I got my wish, but not in the form I expected.

  Jay and River ambled in.

  “Hey, Sis.”

  “Hey. What are you guys doing here?”

  “We’re investigating a missing person report.”

  “Who’s missing this time?”

  “One of your residents. Logan Crown.”

  “He’s been missing for a while.”

  “Well, the report was just filed.”

  “Who filed it?”

  “I’m not at liberty to say. They asked that they remain anonymous.”

  “Okay…”

  “When was the last time you saw him?”

  “I’d have to check the records, but it was a few nights ago. I was working with him on a case. A teenage female came in. She had a scar that indicated she’d had a heart transplant. I went to get blood for a possible transfusion and when I got back, both she and Logan were gone.”

  “Right. We got the information on her when it happened.”

  “But no one filed a report on Logan?”

  “Not until now.”

  “You mean he didn’t just take off?” My nerves jumped and my mind raced. “It was weird that he just disappeared. Why wouldn’t he tell anyone he was leaving? He’s always been very professional. I thought maybe he had a family emergency, or maybe…”

  “What?”

  “Maybe he died, and his body is rotting somewhere. I know it isn’t pretty, but he could have had an aortic aneurysm or something alone in his apartment.”

  “We’ve already searched his place. He’s not there.”

  River was talking to Lucy, presumably about the same thing. I tried to listen with one ear, but then I ended up not listening to Jay, and he got frustrated.

  I concentrated on my brother, until Dr. Nice came and asked me to help her on a case.

  “It’s a homeless man, Erin. He’s been beaten pretty badly. I don’t know why, but he’s asking for you.”

  Did you see him?

  See who?

  The vampire.

  Abe Lincoln.

  Who else?

  I rushed into exam room two, where Abe Lincoln was lying on the table, another nurse tending to two black eyes and some facial lacerations.

  “Abe, what happened?” I asked.

  “I need to talk to you,” he said. “Alone.”

  I nodded to Dale. “I can take over if you want. I know this patient.”

  “Sure.” She left.

  I grabbed some antiseptic towelettes. “This might sting a little. I’m sorry.”

  He winced when I dabbed a long cut on his cheek.

  “What in the world happened, Abe?”

  “The vamps. They came after me.”

  “Why? You always said they were so nice to you.”

  “They usually are.”

  I checked his neck. Sure enough, fresh bite wounds.

  “You look pale.” Paler than usual. Abe Lincoln was never the picture of health after living on the streets.

  “They nearly drained me, and then they took turns using my face as a punching bag.”

  “How many were there?”

  “Five. No six. Something like that. My vision is pretty blurry. I lost my glasses a while ago.”

  “You’ve told me.”

  Dr. Nice walked in then. “How’s he doing, Erin?”

  “He’s been beaten pretty badly, and he may have some significant blood loss.”

  Dr. Nice looked more closely at Abe’s face. “These lacerations aren’t consistent with significant blood loss. On what do you base that finding?”

  Five or six vampire thugs just drank from him.

  Nope. Couldn’t really say that.

  “Just his pallor. I’d like to check his blood counts.”

  “I see no indication for that,” Dr. Nice said.

  Of course she didn’t. Because there wasn’t any indication for it, based on his injuries.

  “But I always value the opinion of nurses,” she continued. “Nurses are the lifeline between physicians and patients. If you feel we should check his counts, I’ll order the lab work.” She made some notes on the chart. “Go ahead and call a phlebotomist, Erin. Or draw the blood yourself if you have time.”

  Once Dr. Nice had left, Abe said, “Please don’t take more of my blood.”

  “I won’t take much, but I have to. I can’t get you a transfusion without a report from the lab. Hang in there.”

  “I feel so weak.”

  “You’ve lost a lot of blood.” I absently touched the healing wounds on my own neck. Was it safe for Dante to be feeding from me every day? I felt fine, and I made sure to drink a lot of fluids during the day.

  Dante wouldn’t do anything to harm me.

  I felt sure of that.

  Still…the body replaced blood quickly. White cells and platelets replaced themselves rapidly. Red cells took longer, about four weeks to replace those lost in a pint of blood. Dante obviously wasn’t taking that much from me. I’d have to ask him how much he took at each feeding, just to be safe. But so far I had no side effects.

  I drew Abe’s blood quickly and got it sent off to the lab. “We should have a reading pretty soon,” I said. “If it’s low enough, you’ll get the transfusion you need.”

  “Thank you.”

  “What happened, Abe? Why did they do this to you?”

  “They asked me for something and I wouldn’t give it to them.”

  “Wha
t was that?”

  “You.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Dante

  “Daddy?” Emilia’s mouth dropped open.

  “You can see him?” I shook my head, walking toward the front desk at the Cornstalk Hotel.

  My sister stood, her eyes round as saucers, and raced toward us. I caught her before she flew through my father and hit the wall.

  “Em, are you okay?” I held on to her. “Remember your condition.”

  She brushed off her linen pants. “I’m fine. But what—”

  “This would be easier if you couldn’t see him.” But she could, just as River could. I resisted the urge to clench my hands into fists.

  “What do you mean by that? I don’t understand.”

  “Dad is…” How the hell to say this?

  “I’m a ghost, Emilia.”

  “But, ghosts don’t… And that would mean you’re…” Tears welled in her eyes.

  “Dead. Yes.” My father crossed his arms.

  “But you’re here. You look so real.”

  “I am real. I’m just not exactly corporeal.”

  “But you said… Bill said…”

  “That ghosts don’t exist. I know. Turns out we were all wrong.”

  “But…are you okay?” She scoffed. “Of course you’re not okay. You’re dead.”

  “I’m okay. I’m dead for a reason. I’ll explain everything.”

  I tried to control my envy while he told the story of our mother coming to him in a dream and telling him to take his own life to help protect me.

  “So this is all for Dante?”

  “I’m here for Dante and you. And for River, at least until his own father can get back to him. Braedon is alive.”

  “Where is he?” she asked.

  “I don’t know yet. But I’ll find him. Dante and River will help me.”

  “What about me?”

  “You’re pregnant, Em,” I said. “You need to take care of yourself.”

  “I’m fine. Jack says I’m progressing as well as any female vampire he’s seen. As well as Grandma Marcheline when she was pregnant with twins.”

  “Jack didn’t deliver Braedon and me,” my father said. “He was a teenager when we were born.”