Her eyes opened in surprise and she met my gaze. Her mouth opened in a little ‘o’ as if she was surprised by my appearance. She slowly raised her hand to touch my cheek. A crooked smile crossed her face. “How foolish of you to think that a blood whore could be free.”
I swallowed as I heard voices in the hall. “We do not have time to argue. Lucius must bound you to him or the others will kill you.”
Her hand dropped. “The price of life and freedom is to be a slave to a youngling. No. Let them kill me.”
“Sister of mine, please. Lucius is my fledgling, through him I can protect you.” I begged.
She met my gaze again, but nodded and offered Lucius her wrist. I’d of given anything to know what she was thinking. “I am weak from his last feeding, my wrist is all I can offer right now.”
Lucius took it. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see another feed from her. She let out a small sound. When I was sure Lucius was no longer latched to her I opened my eyes.
“Lucius, score your wrist and give it to her.”
He did as instructed and I saw my sister part her lips. Her hands were in fists and I imagined that she was fighting the urge to pull away. “Now, Lucius, repeat these words.” I gave him the Latin words that would tie them together. My sister cried out when Lucius was done and I knew she felt her soul and mind be tied to his.
She looked at me. “You are such a selfish creature, brother. I have begged you for death and yet you tie me to another.” She growled.
Lucius’ head tilted to the side. “You’re exhausted.”
“I don’t sleep much.” She snapped back.
Lucius touched her head and her eyes widened. “Sleep.” She collapsed in his arms, too weak to fight such a command from her new master.
Both Lucius and I stood; he made sure the doublet covered what it could of her body. Nuala walked in with Ayden at her side. Her face turned to instant anger. “What have you done, Zaaren.”
“What I had to. She is safe now.” I stood in front of Lucius. “You cannot kill her and you cannot kill Lucius because he has broken no law.” His death would assure my sister’s, in theory.
“Once rumor of her gets out, then every vampire will be out for her death.” She snarled. “You have not only gone against our plans, but you have put her in more danger.” Her face softened and she sighed. “You will have to hide her. We all know what she is on sight and others know the rumors. Her eyes are the telling sign, her hair...white hair is only found on rare occasions amongst humans. It is more common with demons though.”
Ayden cleared his throat. “The demons have a creature they call a Dream Weaver, same description.”
“That’s right.” Nuala said. “They haven’t been proven to exist or not, but their myths say that they bear the same looks as Tegan.”
I ground my teeth at the name. “Which means?”
“We play it as that, anyone asks a question about her we tell them that Lucius was able to convince one to be his bound. They are half human so it will work. We’ll have to keep her eyes covered to convince them of her abilities.”
Lucius shifted his weight behind me. “I don’t think she will be happy with that.”
“No, but she’ll be alive.” I said. “She’ll learn to adapt to it.” Or she would hate him forever. “We have no other choice but to force her to hide. Lucius and I have secured another territory, we will take her there, so no one here questions it.”
“We will handle sealing the father’s tomb.” Nuala nodded
“Markus disappeared into the night. He is too much of a coward to rise against us. He believes that the Circle is growing in power while we are growing weaker.”
“I doubt that.” Nuala kissed my cheek. “Go, before the others get here and realize what you’ve done.”
I nodded and used my ability to take Lucius and my sister to a small house we rented from a human as a temporary home. We had fitted it to our needs long before we ever thought we needed a place to go to. Lucius often came here to feed and gather his thoughts while leaving me behind at the villa. My sister stirred in his arms and he set her down on the bed.
“Now what?” Lucius asked. “She rests and heals?”
I nodded. “As her body replaces the blood she’s lost and heals any other wounds that she sustains, she’ll sleep. When she wakes we’ll explain everything to her.” Hiding her meant that she’d be safe. She would have to keep her secret for her life; the villagers would think her blind while the supernatural community would believe her to be a demon hybrid. Not ideal, but she was alive. She’d have to learn to do her duties as a bound human blind, but her willing bond would help Lucius grow in power.
“Come, she won’t wake for a few hours at least, and we both need to feed. She’ll sense if we’re blood hungry and try to offer herself. I do not want that to happen. She needs to truly understand that she has nothing to fear from us.” I started to the door and looked over at her. “In the evening we need to try and find her some clothing. She can’t go around naked.”
“I have a few humans around here who will be willing to help. The Hunters here are friendly as well, we could get them to help us. Help with her, it has been a long time since either of us were humans.”
I chuckled at that. “That is true. I’ll contact them at sun down. Tonight we focus on her and getting her to understand what is going on.” I shut the door behind us and prayed that she would stay safe in the hour that it would take us to feed.
Lucius and I met back at the house after we both fed, but he hesitated at the door. “She’s not in there.”
“Impossible, she wouldn’t just up and run. Not in a strange place.” Panic settled in my heart. She shouldn’t have woken so soon. I shoved past Lucius and threw open the door. I went to the room we had left her in and she was gone. The top sheet to the bed was gone as well. Lucius’ doublet was on the chair. What had she been thinking?
I snarled and turned around to face Lucius. “Concentrate, you sensed that she wasn’t here, now sense where she is.”
He closed his eyes and I waited. I wanted to push him, but that wasn’t going to help the situation.
He opened his eyes and rushed out of the room and then the house. I followed him through the village and to a small house on the edge. He knocked and a demon answered the door.
His sandy blonde hair hung in his eyes. He met my gaze and his eyes flashed black.
“Demon.” I growled. “Where is my sister?”
He stepped back and sighed. “I wondered when someone was going to find her here.”
Lucius and I walked in. My sister was curled up in front of the fire, a blanket draped over her. “What have you done to her?”
“Nothing, she was in the road and walked up to me. She collapsed and I caught her.” He stepped closer to her. “But something happened when we touched.”
I grabbed his throat and slammed him against the wall. “What happened?”
He pulled his shirt to the side and showed me a mark on his chest. “Fate mated us.”
“No.” Lucius and I said at the same time.
I dropped him and went to my sister. I pulled the blanket off her and found her dressed in a male’s shirt, but the mark on her hip was exposed. “She was naked when you found her?”
“She was wearing a sheet.” The demon shook his head. “I didn’t even get her name before she collapsed. You two are vampires, so I assume that she’s bound to one of you.”
“She was just rescued.” Lucius stated and grabbed the blanket from me, putting it back over my sister. “She doesn’t need a mate.”
“Her eyes are red, but she’s not one of my kind. What is she?”
I shook my head. “The less you know about her, the better. Now she comes home with us.”
He snarled. “No, she stays here. She’s starved and dehydrated. She needs to be taken care of.” He stepped up to my sister, putting himself between us.
“Get away from her.” I let me power swirl around me. �
�She does not need a demon mate.”
“Fate has given her to me and me to her.” The demon snarled. “You will not just be taking her.”
Lucius growled. “I’ll make you a deal, demon. If you let her come back with us, once she heals, she can decide if she wants to come back to you.”
The demon hesitated, but nodded. “I think that is fair, whatever she’s gone through she needs to heal.”
Lucius picked her up and cradled her against his chest. The demon kissed her head. “I’ll see you soon. If you need my help, my name is Kaden.”
Lucius disappeared with my sister and I turned to the demon. “I catch you near her, I will slaughter you.” I had no intention of letting Lucius keep the deal with the demon. I disappeared and appeared in the house.
Lucius laid her on the bed and tucked the blanket around her. “He’s right, she’s very weak. I had assumed it was from the blood loss, but she may need to eat. We have no idea if the Father fed her or not.”
I had never asked after her care, but knowing that she was nothing but food for him, I doubted that she was fed on any consistent basis. “We’ll contact a Hunter to bring her food. Daylight is almost here, you will need to sleep and I cannot go out during the day.” I would stay awake for when she woke. “There is one thing I want to do before she wakes.”
“Which is?” Lucius ask, but he didn’t look up from her. His concern for her was already growing. I knew it meant that they would make a good bound pair once she grew accustomed to her new life.
“I want to take some of her memories. The ones of her meeting Kaden. We have no idea what he did to her while she was unconscious, or when he met her. I don’t want her to remember him. You made a deal with the demon and I do not intend to let her go back to him.”
Lucius’ gaze shot to me. “You mean you don’t want her to remember that she has a fated mate.”
“Yes. Do not fight me on this. Consider: she has just been freed from the monster who has used her for centuries. She’s now bound to another vampire and will find out that she must hide for her life. The last thing she needs is a mate. She needs to heal and adjust.” I kept my voice even. I would do it without his permission because I knew he could not undo it without my help, but it would be easier if he understood why.
He looked back to my sister. “A mate could help her through that.”
“Think about all the problems mates cause, Lucius. Having someone else to protect, to worry about, to be distracted by. Another person to trust with everything, and she cannot trust her secret to anyone.” I stated. “She will have to hide from him as well.”
Lucius bowed his head and I knew I had won. “Do what you must, it’s for the best.”
I stepped up to my sister and took her wrist. I found myself glad that she was unconscious for this. I bit into her skin and closed my eyes. Instead of blocking her memories, I willed them to be shown to me. The most violent ones crashed into me first. The fighting against the father as he tried to take her blood, her body, and break her mind. I felt the panic and the pain from it all. I shouldn’t have, but after centuries she didn’t need those. I used my abilities to rip them away from her. The first hundred years or so with the father were gone. They couldn’t haunt her anymore.
I called up the memories of Kaden. They were brief; she was running away from us, trying to escape her life. I felt the sorrow that had filled her and the fear in her when she realized she had no idea where she was or where to go. Her intention when approaching Kaden was to get help and she’d collapsed. She’d woken briefly at his home and asked about the mark. I snarled when he told her what it meant.
Using my abilities, I took those memories and molded them into her collapsing in the street and waking up briefly to see Lucius and I instead of Kaden. That demon would have no hold on her.
My sister moaned a little when I pulled back from her wrist. I didn’t want her to suffer. If I could have, I would have taken all her memories of the Father, but there was no promise that it wouldn’t have hurt her. I kissed her head. “Rest up, sister of mine.”
Lucius had hired many humans to help with my sister over a hundred years. At some point they all moved on with their lives without questioning what we were or why Tegan was blinded. Occasionally a Hunter helped out, but it wasn’t until an immortal werewolf and his love came to live with us that we were all comfortable with it.
My sister had grown bolder. On more than one occasion I had found her out in the fields near our home without her eyes covered. Watching the butterflies. Lucius attempted to keep her behavior in line with silly trinkets every year of butterflies. She’d never discussed why she loved them so much or why she risked it. Tonight, yet again, I could not find her in the house. I cursed and went to her room to see if perhaps she was sleeping. I found her crawling back through the window with her eyes not covered and her dress torn.
“Sister of mine.” My anger sounded through her voice.
She met my gaze. “Tegan.” She corrected. It was something she had just started doing. I was the only one who did not call her by that name and it bothered her.
“You have been told about the dangers of going out.”
“It is day time.” She shot back and went to take her dress off to change, but hesitated. Most situations I would walk out and let her be, but my anger would not allow that.
“The Circle has expanded their territory and now control this village, they have day time eyes watching. If you are caught without your eyes covered or without Lucius they are within their rights to punish you.” I growled. “We have worked too hard for them to find out what you are.”
“A blood whore,” she gave a sad laugh. “I’m nothing special to them without the soul of the father and the blood to open the tomb. They cannot keep me from Lucius for an extended amount of time. They fear the rumors anyways.”
“It does not matter if they believe the rumors or not. You are putting yourself and everyone else in danger.” I snarled. “You need to learn that. You cannot parade yourself out in the village.”
“I don’t go near the village. I go to the fields, no one is out there at dusk.” She shook her head. “I don’t expect you to understand, but—“
“No, you are forbidden from leaving the house without your master or I. End of discussion.” I spun and let the room. Calling Lucius her master would sting and I knew that. They had been working on their bond, he didn’t want her calling him master knowing it reminded her of the Father, but that’s what he was.
Lucius stepped up to the door. “Did you still want to go to the village tonight?”
We needed things from the market. If we left now some of the venders would still be open. “Yes. My sister should be ready soon.”
“She was out again.” Lucius stated. “She’s upset with you.”
“Yes, but I am upset with her as well.” I walked away without saying anything else. Lucius would go in there and soothe her; he was good at that with her. I needed to feed tonight, my body was demanding more blood than normal. Coran and Trisha had both been feeding Lucius and I to help limit the suspicion of people in the village being fed from. Where centuries before I could go more than two weeks without feeding, I was starting to require it every other night. Markus’ words echoed in my mind. If he was right then all of the Originals were feeling drained and we would have no choice but to go into a hibernating sleep to regain our strength.
I went and found Coran and Trisha wrapped in each other’s arms. Mates for life, at least until Trisha died. Lucius had offered several times to change her, but neither one of them wanted that, at least not yet.
“I need to feed.”
Trisha smiled and got out of Coran’s lap. “I’ll be happy to offer tonight.”
I bowed my head. “Thank you. Coran, we need to talk about my sister sneaking out during the day again.”
Coran shrugged. “I thought she was sleeping.”
“I’m going to start making you sleep on her floor if it continues to happe
n. You know the risks.”
He raised a brow. “You also know that I can leave at any time that I want. Trisha and Tegan have become friends, that is the only reason we are still here. We could have moved on and started our own family at this point.” His accent told me he came from Ireland.
“Of course, but the agreement is that you protect my sister while you are here. You are doing a poor job at that.”
Coran opened his mouth to say something, but Trisha touched my cheek. “You need to feed, your temper always rises when you’re hungry. Take blood and then discuss this as rational men, not beasts. It is too close to the full moon to pick a fight with him.”
She was right. The wolf in Coran would rise to my temper and my anger. “Fine.”
I took what I needed from her and then we all walked to the market. My sister refused to even say a word to me. She stayed by Lucius’ side, just close enough to follow his movements and footsteps. She had adapted to not being able to see in her own ways. I never asked how, the only thing that mattered was she was adjusting to it with Lucius. I continued ahead and looked over my shoulder. Lucius and she had stopped at a booth. She had a smile on her face as her fingers danced across a figurine in Lucius’ hand. A butterfly. I stormed over to them and took it from them and put it back on the table.
“You spoil her enough. You indulge her in those and then she leaves the house to see the real ones. You encourage her behavior.” I snarled.
The woman behind the booth chuckled. “Zaaren, she’s not a child. Blind or not, she should be allowed her guilty pleasures.”
I smiled at her. Isadora had been one of my donors in the village. She was a skilled hunter, a Master in the ranks of this branch. Over the last few years her and I had grown close. We’d kept it a secret from the others, but we often thought that maybe we should have been mates. It was a shame we both knew that couldn’t happen.
“Sadly, you cannot speak to this situation.” I moved the figure further on the table as my sister’s hand brushed the edge of table. “Lucius, take her to get the garments she needs.”
Dark War Chronicles Box Set One Page 76