by L. J. Red
“Hope?”
Hope spun around, a guilty look on her face, and stuffed the dress she had been holding behind her back like a child hiding their naughty behavior.
Eden frowned. “Is that my dress?” Hope turned red and an ugly expression crossed her face,
“No,” she said. “Well, yes, but—”
“I mean, it’s not mine,” Eden said. “We didn’t bring anything with us when we arrived, after all. It’s all from the Sanctuary. But you don’t need to hide; you could have just asked,” she finished, hurt.
“Well,” Hope floundered for a moment. “You’re never here,” she finally said, “so how could I ask?”
Eden frowned. “Never here?” she asked. “What do you mean? I’m always in the Sanctuary.”
“Yeah, you’re always in the Sanctuary,” Hope said, “with your new vampire friends. While I’m stuck here in our rooms, afraid to go out.”
Eden frowned. Hope hadn’t struck her as afraid. In fact, she’d seen her out and about with the vassals quite a few times. “I thought you were making friends here with the vassals.”
“Oh sure,” Hope said. “Send me off with the servants like other humans; that’s all I’m good for I suppose.”
“That’s not what I meant.” Eden felt her mood sinking. “I don’t want to send you anywhere, and anyway, vassals are more than just servants.”
“Yeah sure. According to your new best friend, May, they do all sorts of important stuff. I guess that’s why they’re always too busy…” Hope trailed off, glancing away from Eden, then back again, her voice stronger. “What I really want is to get away from those dangerous, violent vampires.” She stared at Eden angrily. “Like that one that ruined our fun in the ballroom. What a freak.”
“Don’t talk about him like that,” Eden said, defending Talon without even thinking about it. “He was clearly struggling with something—”
“Yeah, struggling with violent tendencies,” Hope snapped. “I don’t get why you’re defending him. I thought you were against all those violent types.”
“It’s different,” Eden said.
“Oh yeah, how?”
Eden was frustrated, unable to explain. “He didn’t hurt me,” she said finally. “He’s clearly fighting something within himself, but he’s trying to stop that violence spilling out onto anyone else. That’s the difference. He’s not like Riker and—”
“Riker!” Hope exclaimed. “Oh, so you do remember him? Huh? Riker, your boyfriend?”
“He’s not my boyfriend,” Eden growled, a flash of anger running through her. “He’s nothing to me.”
“How can you say that?” Hope said, wide-eyed, He’s the one who turned you. He’s the one who’s been there for us all these years—”
“Been there for us?” Eden snapped. “What are you talking about? He’s never been there for us. He’s the reason we’re in this mess.”
“No, you’re the reason we’re in this mess,” Hope snapped. “You’re the one who made us leave Bloodchase and Riker and our friends and come here with these violent vampires. Can’t you see that’s what they want from you? You’re a sucker to think they want us here; they’re just using you to get back at the Ravagers.”
“That’s not true,” Eden said, frowning, but a tiny prickle of unease went through her. Could Dana and May be hiding the truth behind false smiles? Why would they be so welcoming to a vampire from the enemy Bloodline after all? But she couldn’t believe it was a lie. It just didn’t make sense. She felt the truth from them. They weren’t liars. No, Hope had to be wrong.
“I don’t care if that is what they want,” she said with a flash of insight. “I would give them all the information I have. I don’t care about the Ravagers. They turned me against my will; they hurt—” She broke off. She didn’t want to tell Hope the truth, how much Riker had hurt her over the years, the many marks on her body she had hidden from Hope. She’d never wanted to expose Hope to the brutal truth of who Riker was. For a moment, she wondered if that had been a mistake? If Hope had been too sheltered. But then she realized she didn’t care. Better sheltered from the truth than hurt by it.
“You just want them for yourself,” Hope snapped, throwing the dress onto the floor and striding past Eden. “You just want to keep them all for yourself. That’s what it is, you’re selfish.”
Eden stared at Hope, unable to muster a response to her sudden outburst. Selfish? When all this had been done to protect Hope and keep her away from those who would harm her like they had harmed Eden?
“Where is this coming from?”
“Like when we were dancing,” Hope spat. “You had to dance with that tall, pale vampire instead of leaving him for me like a good sister would have.”
Eden stared at Hope, completely confused. Did she mean Rune? She was angry that Eden had danced with Rune? She hadn’t done it out of selfishness. It was the opposite; she had felt sorry for him, standing alone.
“I didn’t realize you wanted to dance with him.”
“Exactly. You didn’t realize. You never realize. You just hog all the men, dancing with Rune, then running over to that violent one who had that fit on the dance floor like some kind of—”
“Don’t even think about finishing that sentence,” Eden snapped, coldly.
Hope stared at Eden with anger on her face. “Fine,” she said. “Well, I don’t see him here. Do you? I guess he’s dropped you as well, just like you abandoned Riker to come here. Serves you right,” she sneered, and with that, she stormed out, slamming the door behind her. Eden stared at the door, misery streaming through her, Hope’s parting words lodged in her chest. She was right; Talon had been avoiding her.
She sank down onto the couch. She’d had no idea Hope was bottling up so much anger and viciousness. She’d been neglecting her sister for her new vampire friends, so caught up in the pleasure of being surrounded by people who actually cared about her opinion and treated her like a human, treated her like a real person, that she had forgotten to look out for her sister. Even if Hope was wrong about Eden’s actions, it was still her fault. She was the older sister; Hope was her responsibility. Eden didn’t know where their relationship had gone wrong. They used to be so happy together, and lately, it seemed all they ever did was fight. She’d finally found somewhere where she felt welcomed, a chance at a kind of family again, only to find her real family, her only sister, was pulling away. Eden started crying, sobbing quietly, her frame shaking with the strength of her tears.
She felt a pull in her chest, a stretch, an answering call, as if her misery and need were being recognized and answered by someone. Slowly, she raised her tearstained face to see Talon standing in the doorway.
For some reason, she felt no surprise. It felt right to see him. He was the one on the other side of the strange connection she felt in her chest. It felt natural, like something broken finally slipping into place within her. He crossed the ground between them. “What’s wrong,” he asked, his voice deep and his eyes intent on hers. Moving slowly, as if afraid to spook her, he reached for her hands, pressing her cold fingers between his own. “What happened?” His attitude, his movement, everything about him was so different to the rage and anguish he had so shown only days ago. How could this be the same man? Slowly, inexorably, he drew her into his embrace. She fell against him and it felt right to be in his arms. The comfort he was offering was so sweet, so open, and she couldn’t help but take it, leaning into him and crying into his shirt, letting it all go.
When she was finally able to get her breath back, she pushed away, blinking back.
“Oh, your shirt,” she said, releasing one of his hands and ineffectually swiping at the damp cloth.
Talon looked down at her and smiled. Not a smirk, not a mere twist of the lip, but a real smile, his eyes warm, alight with a tenderness that took her breath away. She’d never seen that expression on his face. On anyone’s face. No one had ever looked at her with such tenderness. It was too much, the force of it too g
reat. It couldn’t be for her. And yet, she could feel that strange connection between them unfolding, opening wider, the echo of emotion running through it: A vast and edgeless yearning she couldn’t understand. Was it from him? How could Talon feel that way about her?
“What’s happening?” she asked softly. “What is this I can feel between us?” She tightened her hand in his hold.
Talon’s eyes flickered, darkened, the light within them hidden from her. He let her hand fall and turned away, moving as if to get up. Eden reached out and gripped his arm. His muscles were like rock beneath his shirt. “Please,” she said. “Don’t walk away from me. I can’t bear it.” She thought of Hope leaving her, and the flash of misery she felt must have been communicated through the bond because an answering wave of reassurance flooded her as he turned back.
“Tell me,” she urged, sure he knew what was happening.
A shudder went through him and his head bowed. “It’s a soulmate bond,” he said finally. He raised his head and his eyes pierced her, pinning her place, reaching right into her soul. “Eden, you’re my soulmate.”
“Soulmate? I don’t understand.” She couldn’t be his soulmate. Soulmates were the kind of thing you found in fairy tales, not in real life. Even if real life now included vampires. And yet, the bond between them was undeniable. Now she was aware of it, focusing fully on it with Talon beside her. There was a bond between them, a connection she could feel.
“A soulmate, my soulmate,” he said again. “A true and equal partner. It’s part of the magic that makes us vampires; we can sense the existence of our soulmate when they are near. The first look, the first touch…” He trailed off. Eden remembered that moment in the hallway of Bloodchase, the first moment she had laid eyes on Talon, not knowing who he was, just a stranger in the hallway, and yet, she had felt something deep within shift. A primal need was met. She remembered the raging desire that had gone through her body, through her… soul?
She stared into his eyes and knew he was telling the truth. The connection between them was more than just the physical, there was a depth to it, a resonance she couldn’t explain away.
Her breath caught and she felt overwhelmed, pulling away from Talon and taking a couple of steps away. Now that she was aware of it, she felt the stretch as she moved away from him. The yearning pull to go back. It was so strange, so strong, almost overpowering, and for a second, she felt afraid of the strength of it.
Talon stood as well, and she saw anguish in his face for a second before his expression was hidden from her. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t want to tell you. I know it’s not what you want. Why would you ever want to be tied to a monster like me?”
“That’s not—” She broke off. She didn’t think he was a monster. That wasn’t the reason she was pacing, her emotions overflowing. It was just all so overwhelming. “It’s just a lot take in,” she said finally. “How… how does it even work?”
“The pull we feel,” he said, “it’s the bond wanting to be completed with the claiming bite.”
She flinched away from him. A bite? Like being turned all over again. Memory washed over her. The pain of Riker’s fangs in her neck, the terror as she felt her blood flow from her body. The bitter cold that had crept over her as her life slipped away. She tried to wave away the memories, and she saw that Talon’s eyes had gone shuttered and dark. “You don’t want it,” he said, his voice expressionless.
“It’s not that I don’t want it,” Eden protested. “I just… I need to understand, please. How can I be bitten again? I’m already a vampire.”
“It’s similar to becoming a Shadow,” Talon said. “I was once from a different Bloodline. One called Temptation.”
Eden stared up at him, the chiseled perfection of his jaw, the wicked curve of his lips. Even with his face set in a serious expression, he was still breathtakingly handsome. Of course he had been turned by a Bloodline called Temptation.
“When I asked Lucian to let me join the Shadows, he bit me and brought me over. It was a simple process… The soulmate bond is… similar, but much, much more intense.” Eden shivered at the dark promise in Talon’s eyes. “You would lose your place as a Radiance vampire and become part of the Shadows.”
Eden stared up at him. Become a Shadow? “But I’m no warrior—”
“No,” Talon whispered, stepping closer, “but you are strong. I’ve felt it. I feel you in the bond, and in the dreams—” He broke off.
Eden’s chest constricted as she realized what he meant. “The dreams?” she said, “Oh my God, that was you? You’ve been coming to me in my dreams, been—” She raised her hands to her lips; she couldn’t believe it. Talon had been the lover who had sent her to such unbelievable heights of pleasure? She’d thought he hated her. Avoiding her when awake, but coming to her in her dreams? Her chest hurt; he’d been lying to her, keeping his face hidden. Why? To hide his laughter at tricking her? She felt her eyes grow hot, tears prickling the edges. “Why? Why didn’t you let me see your face?”
“I didn’t think you would want me. After what I did in the ballroom, the violence.”
“So you lied to me?” she cried. “You used me.”
“No, never.”
But Eden was wild with her own hurt and anger. “You just wanted to possess me, was that it? Just like in the ballroom; you attacked because I was dancing with Rune, didn’t you?” she snapped, her eyes flashing. “You want to own me, that’s what this bond is about, tying me into yet another Bloodline, the Shadows, Radiance, they’re all the same. You vampires are all the same.” She stumbled away from him, barely aware of what she was saying, all her fears, all her hurt crowding out her thoughts. “You want me trapped with you just like Riker wanted me trapped with him. That’s why he turned me.” She choked on a sob. “So I would never be able to leave him.”
“I’m nothing like those Radiance scum.” Talons eyes were lit with a wild flame, and through the bond, she could feel the heat of his rage. She flinched back from him. An expression of shock flickered over his face. “I’m not—” He broke off. “I would never—” He turned to the side. “Fuck, this is all wrong.” The emotions coming down the bond from him were a conflicted, snarled mess; she could barely make them out. Strands of self-loathing run through with dark flickers of anger, but it wasn’t aimed at her. None of the anger was toward her, and she stopped retreating, standing still.
He raised his hand to his head as his emotions whirled. “I need—” he snarled, turning to look at her with hungry eyes, and she felt the bond tighten between them. Pulling at her, a need so vast, so nameless it went beyond desire. Oh God, was this what he felt for her? Such desperate yearning.
Not hard and selfish; it was nothing like the brutal, possessive instincts that had led Riker to turn her. No, this was something entirely different, a soul-deep desire that was so thick and so vast it terrified Eden even as it swamped Talon.
He was drowning under his emotions, struggling to stay afloat. Despite her hurt at the lie, she wanted to reach out to him, to soothe the roaring tangle of emotions, to separate out the rage and the violence and send it back into its place, to come only when called, not to overwhelm him. But if she did that, she knew she wouldn’t be able to step back from the bond. She’d get so tied up in it, in him, that she’d let him bite her before she’d taken the time to think it through. She couldn’t make that mistake again; leaping without looking.
Her fear at repeating her mistakes hung in her mind, and yet she still felt drawn to him. It was undeniable, inexorable, his pain calling to her, her need to reach him, to touch him, dragging her forward, one step after the next. She couldn’t fight it, part of her didn’t even want to. As she grew closer, the fire burning through the bond shifted, turned molten, and instead of rage, she felt a glorious rush of heat, so familiar from her dreams.
Talon turned to her, the wildness in his eyes banking, turning dark and inviting. He stepped close to her and she felt the power of the bond urging them toge
ther. She felt fragile, tossed like a boat on the sea. She could barely hold onto herself.
Eden’s eyes traveled over Talon’s hard body. She wanted to rip his shirt free of his pants and smooth her hands over his chest, feel his skin under her palms. The desire looped, fed back through the bond, and she felt his answering desire. He wanted her as much as she did him. He stepped close, his fingertips reaching for her waist. Then she remembered, he would find her scar. He would see the mark that Riker had left on her body. He would see the proof of her past mistakes. Falling for Riker’s promises, never seeing the evil that lay beneath his skin. Her reminder to never do it again, never fall for the wrong man. She had to think, had to free herself of this fog of lust. She stumbled back from Talon. She couldn’t do this; she couldn’t let desire make her decision for her.
Talon’s eyes shuttered and she knew he was taking it as a rejection.
“I need… I just need time,” she whispered. He’d lied to her. She couldn’t forgive him. Not yet. She needed to think. There was a cough from behind them and Eden turned, relieved at the interruption. She took a step away from Talon, trying to clear her head.
Rune stood in the doorway. “I’m sorry to interrupt,” he said, glancing between them, “but we have a problem. One of our informants told us the Ravagers have been smuggling weapons into the city. We need to track down where they’re keeping them.”
Eden stared at Rune in surprise, dragging her thoughts away from the snarl of emotions in the bond between her and Talon. Weapons? Ravager weapons? She knew where they kept them. The docks, the warehouse that Riker had been spending so much of his time.
“Let’s go then. I’m done here,” Talon said shortly.
A flash of pain went through Eden at those words; they weren’t done. She wasn’t saying no; she was saying she needed time. Why didn’t he understand? She didn’t want him to leave.
“I know where the weapons are,” she said. They both spun to look at her. “I know where the Ravagers are keeping their weapons. I can show you.”