The Bite That Binds

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

(Sam)

“Will you bloody relax, woman,” Fletcher repeated for, like, the twelfth time as he flopped onto the sofa beside me.

Trying again, and failing again, to stop fidgeting, I huffed. “How exactly am I supposed to relax when it’s my Binding ceremony tomorrow evening?”

“Well that’s what this little Pamper Party was for.” He gestured to the numerous females that were leaving my apartment after having given me several spa treatments. But even after a full body massage, some reflexology, a holistic facial, and an Indian head massage, I was still tense.

Not that the women weren’t good at what they did. In all honesty, I wasn’t a big fan of spas and massages, but I’d found these treatments surprisingly enjoyable. I simply wasn’t relaxed. But, seriously, could anybody blame me for that?

I let my hand delve into the bowl of hazelnuts on the coffee table. One of the best parts of this little get together had been the nibbles, pastries, and cakes. Oh and the Butlers in the Buff who had served the snacks and NSTs…they’d certainly been a nice addition.

“You do realise that you’re comfort-eating, don’t you? Stressed or not, attacking pastries won’t do you any good.”

I threw Fletcher a dirty look. “Shut your noise, I’ll eat what I want.”

“I think you’ll enjoy what’s coming next.”

The excitement in his tone had me instantly intrigued. “What is it?”

“We’re going to have a pedicure.”

And there went my intrigue. “That’s it? We don’t need manicures or pedicures – we’re vampires, our nails are all perfect.”

He gave me a cheeky smile. “Ah, but this is a different kind of pedicure.”

“There’s more than one kind of pedicure?”

As the door closed behind the last beauty therapist, he said, “So…are you going to tell me the real reason why you now seem to have the same enchanting glamour that Keja vampires have?”

The camp sod was too astute for his own good – it really was a good job that I adored him. There was no sense in lying to him, but I also couldn’t tell him. Not that I thought Fletcher would blab. I just didn’t want anyone plucking the info from his mind. “If I could tell you, I would. I’m sorry.”

He grabbed my hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “I appreciate you not giving me an ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about’; that would have hurt. But, if you’re not going to tell me about that, you can at least answer my question of why you’re so anxious about tomorrow evening.”

“Doesn’t every ‘bride’ have a last minute attack of the jitters, or whatever they call it?”

“There’s being jittery, and there’s being bloody petrified. Why are you so scared? What could you possibly have to be scared of?”

“The mysterious dress you’ve designed?” I offered. He’d brought it with him in a full-size protective bag which he’d placed in my bedroom.

He huffed at me. “Stop stalling, Lady Jane, and spill the beans.”

Persistent little bugger.

“You’re not having second thoughts, are you?”

“Definitely not.”

“Are you worried that he’s not going to show up? If so, that’s daft. We can safely say that he’ll be there.”

“It’s not that, it’s just that…Binding…it’s not like marriage. There’s no divorce, no annulment, no get-out clause. Once you Bind yourself to someone, you have a life-long psychic connection to them that can only be broken if one of you dies. Even if the couple grew to despise each other or had come to care for somebody else, there’s no getting out of the bond.”

“And that scares you,” he guessed.

“Actually, no. I thought it would. It probably should. But the idea that it can’t be broken makes me feel more secure, strangely enough.”

“I don’t understand. What’s the problem, then?”

“The problem is that Jared gets temptation thrown in his face constantly – you’ve seen what women are like around him. I’m not saying he’s shallow, he’s far from it, though I didn’t realise that at first. But I can’t help worrying that he might one day fall for one of them. Not because I don’t trust him or because I don’t believe he loves me. But because it scares me that I’d be able to feel what he felt for her. Knowing that he loved someone else would be bad enough. But to be able to feel it, and to have no way of saving myself from that…I couldn’t deal with that Fletcher, I know I couldn’t. I wouldn’t need to kill myself to break the bond: it would destroy me.”

Fletcher pulled me against him and locked his arm around me. Patting my arm, he gently said, “Yes, he has women throwing themselves at him all the time, which is daft of them since they know you could, and would happily, whip them to death. But who can blame them, really? I mean, he’s gorgeous, he’s powerful, he’s got that dominant vibe going on, and he’s the Heir – it’s a combination that will have most females downright bloody horny.”

“Fletch, you’re not helping,” I said dryly.

He held up his index finger. “Wait, I’m not done. What I was about to say before you rudely interrupted me, was that I’ve been around him when he’s had women slobbering over him. Not once has it ever got him hot and bothered – I’d have sensed it. He actually gets annoyed about it. Sometimes there’s even a bit of resentment there, but I’m not sure what that’s about.”

The latter made me think back to Evan’s words of how Jared resented just how much attention his looks got him, of how he resented that he looked like his mother.

“Before you came here, Jared was hard. Cynical. You didn’t need to be an Empath to know that. I wouldn’t say he’s changed. No, he’s still like that in many ways. But my point is that he’s not like that with you. When he’s with you, he’s relaxed. He trusts you. I’d say that’s a big thing for Jared. I can sense that he’s not a very trusting person, just as I can sense that he absolutely adores you. Oh, luv, if you’d have felt how beside himself he was when your gifts were on the blink, you wouldn’t be worrying like this. If there was any doubt in my mind about his commitment to you, I’d be trying to talk you out of the Binding. I’m a meddling sod like that.”

I smiled. “Yeah, you would do that, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes, because I love you. And Jared does as well.”

A knock at the apartment door had Fletcher bouncing to his feet. “This is going to be fabulous.”

“Why do I get the feeling that this is more for you than it is for me?”

He gave me a wounded look. “I can’t believe you’d even think that.”

“So I’m right then?”

“Possibly.” He opened the door, and a tall Keja with flowing sable hair and a large, silver cosmetics case strolled inside.

The Keja shook my hand. “Hi, my name’s Rayna. I’m here to do your Swarovski Pedicure. Are you both having one?”

“What’s a Swarovski Pedicure?” It turned out that it was when someone spent almost two hours applying individual Swarovski crystals to your toenails in a very intricate, beehive formation. And it was bloody great. I liked it so much that I even asked her to apply them to my fingernails as well.

Afterwards, Fletcher and I sat back and admired them with sighs of appreciation.

“These will look fabulous with your ceremony dress and shoes.”

“Am I allowed to see this dress yet?”

Hearing the apprehension in my voice, he shook his head at me sadly. “I’m hurt that you have so little faith in me. But, yes, you can see it now.” Obviously excited, he practically skipped to my bedroom.

I followed behind him, dreading what was about to happen. I would no doubt dislike it, and he would no doubt become upset, and then I would have offended my best mate. In the room, I found him standing before the bag that was hanging on my wardrobe door.

“Ready?” Without giving me a chance to answer, he tackled the zipper and pulled out the weirdest thing I’d ever seen. There wasn’t a word to describe it. A mix of pink and purple, the organza gown actually had fairy wings and a magic wand.

“What’s that?”

“A joke. Calm down.”

I sagged in relief. “Sod.”

“This is your dress.” He carefully withdrew another dress and held it out at arms’ length. Ducking under his arm in order to circle the garment, I literally couldn’t say a word. Technically, I shouldn’t like this dress. I mean, I’d envisioned myself in something reasonably simple but nice…maybe a white silk halter-neck that was just below knee-length, lacking even a hint of a train. This sleeveless, backless, floor-length dress was pretty much the opposite.

In the typical ‘fit n flare’ style, it was skin-tight all the way to mid-thigh before flaring out. It was definitely going to accentuate my already noticeable cleavage. And it was decorated with girly things like crystals and beads, and even had a clump of rosettes on one hip. But I absolutely loved it. That must have shown on my face, because Fletcher hung up the dress and started jumping up and down, clapping like a performing seal.

“I knew you’d adore it! See, you should have a little more faith in your mates.”

“Is it satin?”

“Yep. Isn’t the court train gorgeous? I had a feeling you still wouldn’t want one, so I asked the designer to sew in a little loop.” If he hadn’t pointed it out to me, I never would have noticed it. “If you don’t want the train, or you just want it out of your way while you’re dancing, all you have to do is lift it by the loop and then hook it on one of the fake buttons near the small of your back.”

I did the only thing I could do right then. I practically wrapped myself around Fletcher, hugging the breath out of him. Then we were both jumping up and down, squealing in delight – something I wouldn’t normally do.

“Come on, you have to try it on. I’m convinced that it will fit, but it’s best to make sure.”

“Sam?”

Both mine and Fletcher’s eyes widened at the sound of Jared calling my name. “He must’ve teleported inside. Don’t come in! You’re not allowed to see my dress!”

“Okay, I’ll wait out here.” I could hear the smile in his voice.

Fletcher and I worked as a team to quickly, but still carefully, return the dress to the bag. We both breathed a sigh of relief when the zipper was closed.

“Can I come in now?”

“Yes,” I replied.

Opening the door, he went to walk inside, but then his eyes caught sight of something over my shoulder and he froze. “Whoa.”

Realising what he’d seen, I chuckled. “Don’t worry; that’s not the dress. Fletcher thought it would be funny to make me think I’d be dressed like a slutty fairy at my Binding Ceremony.”

Fletcher smirked. “You should’ve seen her expression, it was priceless.” His smirk was replaced by a frown as he folded his arms across his chest. “Hang on a minute. You’re not supposed to be here. You’re not allowed to see her the night before. It’s bad luck.”

Jared rolled his eyes. “That’s a human thing.”

“She hasn’t tried on her dress yet.”

A shrug. “She can do it after I’m gone.”

“She’s supposed to be relaxing.”

“You’re suggesting that I’m not a relaxing person to be around?” This was asked with all the innocence of a five year old.

Fletcher sighed tiredly. “I won’t get you to leave, will I?”

“No.”

Adjusting his glasses on his nose, Fletcher sighed again. “I’ll leave you two alone, then. Try not to bonk, all right? It’ll all add to the anticipation for tomorrow evening.”

As Fletcher dashed out of the room, Jared snatched my hand and tugged me to him before landing a very disorientating kiss on me. “Hey baby.”

“I didn’t expect you to come here. Aren’t you supposed to be getting hammered with the boys?” That had sounded a lot more fun than a pamper party, but everyone was determined to keep us separated for this one night.

“You’re more appealing.”

“But that’s not why you’re here,” I sensed, knowing him well.

“I guess I just wanted to check that you’re okay…and that you’re not having second thoughts.”

“I told you last night that I wasn’t.”

“Yeah. But that was last night.”

There was a glimmer of vulnerability in his eyes that I’d only seen once before – that night that I’d learned the truth about the bitch that gave birth to him. A vulnerability that she’d put there. Despite all his confidence, there was a lack of self-worth lurking deep, and it was clearly making him doubt that I truly loved him. I kind of wished she was alive just so that I could kill her. “I have not had an overnight change of heart.”

“Even though you know everything about me, even though you know that I’m pretty damaged? It can’t be an attractive idea to Bind yourself to someone with this many issues.”

I slapped his arm. “Hey, I’m taking offense to that – I have issues of my own. But so what? I think it would be pretty boring to be one-dimensional anyway.”

He smiled against my mouth. “Good, it means I don’t have to tie you to the bed and hold you here against your will.”

“You’re not even joking, are you?”

“No. I can’t let you go.”

“Does this mean I can relax in the knowledge that you’ll turn up to the ceremony?”

His all-too-perceptive eyes narrowed. “So I wasn’t the only one worrying.” When I shook my head in admission, he dabbed a drugging kiss on my mouth. “That’s just dumb. I need you in more ways than you know. You were right in what you said; when I came here I forget who I was and where I came from because I wanted to. You brought me back from that. If you go, I’ll be tempted to forget again, because it’s easier that way. I need you to keep me grounded. It sounds corny, I know, but you’re like my personal little refuge. You can’t leave.”

“I won’t. But note, for the record, that if you don’t show up, I’ll gut you like a fish.”

His smile took over his face. “There’s my girl.” He nipped my bottom lip. “Open for me.” When I did, his tongue immediately shot inside to find mine. In a dominant move that could have landed him in trouble if I wasn’t in such a good mood, he tangled a hand in my hair and angled my head how he wanted – holding it there while he literally devastated my mouth.

When he pulled back to nuzzle my neck and lick at my pulse, I groaned. “You need to go, or we’ll end up bonking.”

“And that would be bad because…?”

“Fletcher’s right; it’ll add to the anticipation and stuff if we hold off tonight.”

“You’re mean to me.”

“I won’t be mean to you tomorrow night. Although...I will be biting you in some very interesting places.”

His eyes were shining with humour and interest when he looked at me. “Oh I really hope you do.” Having smacked one last kiss on my mouth, he released me. “Oh and Sam…I’ll be doing the same.” With a devilish smirk, he teleported away, leaving me tingling in all kinds of places. The sod.

A cold shower. That sounded like the best idea.

Unfortunately, it didn’t work. I came out of the shower feeling more sexually frustrated than I had before I got in it.

I was just slipping my robe on over my underwear when there was a knock on my apartment door. Clearly Fletcher was back to help me try on the dress. I quickly scuttled through the apartment and opened the door – and growled at my two visitors. Before I could say a word, Brook grabbed my arm, and there was a very familiar sensation in my stomach as he – oh fuck a duck – teleported me, him, and Magda to a strange living room.

I had no idea where the hell I was, but I had a very strong feeling that I was no longer at The Hollow. Confirming that, the door opened and five male vampires entered. I recognised three of them. Two were the Trent brothers, and the other was Blake. Fucking great.

Abruptly, Brook shoved me into an armchair, holding me there by my shoulder. I had barely shrugged him away, fully intending to whip the crap out of these people, when I was suddenly paralysed. Literally. I couldn’t move at all. Recalling what Orrin had said about one of the brothers having the gift of freezing things, I quickly realised what had happened.

“You’ll have to do it quickly,” Magda told the brothers, sounding desperate and anxious. “Jared will sense her fear, and he’ll come to her.”

“Do not worry,” said the tallest brother. “It will not come to that. Blake.”

The ex-Handler stepped forward, grinning mischievously. If I hadn’t been frozen in place, I’d have snarled at him. “How much do you want gone?”

“Everything up until the day that she was recruited,” the tallest brother told him. “I do not want her to remember anything after that day.”

Oh shit.

Magda shot me an evil smile. “I should be getting back. I don’t want anyone to notice that I was missing at the same time that she disappeared. Plus, Jared is going to need me to be there for him.” She left with her consort, wearing a smug, devious smirk. Oh the bitch.

Blake put his index finger to my temple. Then, there was only blackness.

(Jared)

I felt like someone had punched me in the head – there was a heavy impact, there was a momentary disorientation, and then there was pain as my connection to Sam abruptly vanished. Not physical pain, but a crushing, overwhelming, agonising emotional pain as suddenly I could no longer feel her.

I should have been rushing out of the bar in a panic, but that same sense of panic seemed to be stopping me from moving. I was expecting to feel her again any second now, for the ‘glitch’ to fix itself.

“What’s wrong?” Evan asked.

“Sam.”

Concern was plastered across his face. “What’s wrong with her?”

“I don’t know.”

“Go to her.”

“I can’t.” Without our link, I couldn’t take myself to her unless I could see her.

“What do you mean, you can’t? Don’t tell me your gifts are now acting up, too.”

Shaking myself out of my shocked state, I teleported to our apartment, right in the spot that I’d left her only half an hour ago. The room was empty. “Sam! Sam!” In vampire speed, I raced through the apartment, coming to an abrupt halt when I saw that the door was open. I dashed into the hallway, but there was no sign of her whatsoever. “Sam!”

Frantic, confused, and scared-fucking-shitless, I went to the one person I believed could fix just about anything. Antonio double-blinked as I, suddenly, appeared directly in front of him on the veranda. “Sam…I can’t feel her.”

He stiffened in his seat. “How can you not feel her?”

“I don’t know. But our connection…it’s not like it broke. It’s just like she’s not on the other end of it anymore. Like she fell off the face of the Earth or something. I can’t sense her at all – not what she’s feeling, not where she is.”

He shot to his feet, looking almost as anxious as I was. “Did you feel anything from her just before this happened? Fear?”

“There was a little anxiety, but before I even had a chance to think about acting, she was gone. Just like that.” I clicked my fingers.

“Have you been to your apartment?”

So distracted by the panic circulating through me, I hadn’t even realised that Wes was behind me until I heard his voice. I spun around to face him. “She’s not there.”

Pacing, Antonio asked, “Were there any signs of a struggle?”

“No. The front door was wide open, but that’s all.”

Wes placed a supportive hand on my shoulder. “You do understand what this might mean, don’t you, Jared?”

Yes, I did know, but I wasn’t going down that path. “There’s no way. There’s no way that she’s dead. I’d know it.”

“But you said she’s not on the other end of your connection anymore,” he said gently.

“That doesn’t mean she’s dead.”

“Not much else could break it so abruptly.”

I growled, pulling away from him. “Well what else could break it so abruptly? Because she’s not dead!”

“Jared—”

“She’s not! I’d know it, I’d feel it – connection or no connection, I’d feel it if she died!” And I was one hundred percent sure of that. No, she wasn’t dead. And the second that the connection snapped back into place, I’d go to her.

Haste footsteps had us all looking to our left. If there was one person I hadn’t expected to see, it was this guy – at least not yet, anyway. He looked absolutely livid.

(Sam)

Feeling like I’d just been spat out of a vacuum or something, I triple-blinked. When my eyes came back into focus, I instantly stiffened. Who wouldn’t if they found themselves in a strange place with five strange vampires? My instinct was to conjure my whip, ready to defend myself if need be. That was when I realised that I couldn’t move.

“No need to be alarmed, Samantha,” a tall Pagori with black hair assured me. “We mean you no harm. If you allow us to explain, you will see that we speak the truth. My brother is going to unfreeze you now. I am trusting that you will not attempt to attack anyone. If you do, he will be forced to freeze you again, for our safety.”

Experimenting, I tried crossing my legs. It worked. “Where am I?”

“What’s the last thing you remember?”

As I spoke, I wasn’t so much answering him as I was trying to figure things out for myself. “I was on my way back from the shop, heading for my flat…I knew a vampire was up there…Was that you?”

Looking oddly pleased with my answer, he replied, “No. I suspect the vampire in there was the one who attacked you. My name is Quinn. My brother here is Wyatt. The vampires around you work for us.”

“I was attacked? Let’s start from the beginning. How the bloody hell did I get here, and why am I here at all?”

The brothers exchanged an odd look before Quinn flashed me a bright smile. “I’m afraid that your memories will be a little shaky for a while. The process of bringing someone out of a comatose state can have that effect.”

“Say again?”

“You were comatose until just now. I am guessing that the vampire responsible had been waiting for your Sire at the flat and was surprised by your entrance – it would seem that he upset the wrong people.”

Victor had a terrible habit of doing that. “Are you one of those ‘wrong people’?”

He appeared truly offended. “No, Samantha. Definitely not. We were strong allies of your Sire.”

Well then I definitely didn’t like these people. I had an urge to get up and pace around. Having five Pagori vampires standing over me wasn’t making me feel relaxed, but perhaps the best thing to do would be to act as though I was at least open to trusting them. The last thing I wanted was to get frozen again.

“We heard about the plan to attack him, went to the flat to warn him, but unfortunately we were too late to help him. We found you and brought you here so that we could—”

“Wait a minute. Victor’s dead? Then why am I not in agony? They say if a vampire’s blood-link with their Sire is broken, the pain’s excruciating.”

“Perhaps it is because you were comatose at the time.”

Oh this was bloody unreal. Attacked in my own flat. Surely I’d remember something like that. But as I tried to reach for Victor through our blood-link, I realised that the link had been severed. He had to be dead.

“I brought you here and one of my vampires used his gift to awaken you. How do you feel?”

He seemed truly interested…in a very paternal way. I didn’t like it. “Confused.”

“The confusion will wear off soon.”

“Right. Well, as much as I appreciate your help and stuff, I should head home now so—”

“It would be an extremely bad idea for you to return to the flat, Samantha. The person who attacked you and your Sire could be waiting there.”

“I’ll take my chances, thanks.” I moved to stand, and every person in the room tensed. What was with these people?

“Please, Samantha. I failed to protect your Sire, but I do not wish to fail you. I want only to protect you.”

“Yeah?” I said doubtfully. Maybe I shouldn’t be so suspicious, but there was something about this bloke that I didn’t like. If these people truly had any wish to help me, it wasn’t out of the kindness of their hearts. Crossing my arms over my chest, I suddenly became aware of something. I was wearing silk. Looking down, I studied the silky black robe, briefly noticing the white lacy underwear beneath it. “Whose clothes are these?”

If I wasn’t mistaken, Quinn seemed a little stuck for words. Like a kid having to think fast on his feet because mummy had caught him out on a lie. “They’re not yours?”

“No.” I would never in my life have the money to afford this kind of stuff.

“You said you had been shopping, so perhaps these are new purchases and you were trying them on when the attacker struck,” suggested Wyatt.

“But that makes no sense. Not just because the shop I went to only sells food and booze. But because I knew there was a strange vampire in the flat. The last thing I would have done is model new clothes while there was an intruder. And what are these things on my nails? Crystals?”

“I’m sure this will all make sense to you soon.”

I kind of got the feeling that he was very wrong about that. There was something else that was bugging me. “Why do I feel…different?”

Wyatt’s eyes lit up. “In what way do you feel different?”

My eyes widened at the sight of the silvery-blue wisps on my fingers. “And why is energy clinging to me like that?”

“We were wondering the same thing. Maybe the vampire did something to you during the attack.”

But that didn’t make sense, because I felt stronger, more powerful. Not that I had any intention of telling these people that. I didn’t trust them as far as I could throw them, even if they had pulled me out of a coma.

A hissing sound distracted me from my thoughts. I looked around to find a large reptile tank that contained one hell of a huge snake. A python. Its black eyes regarded me, and suddenly I was thinking of another set of black eyes. The image of a brilliant blue snake flashed in my mind. “I have a snake.” No, no, I didn’t. I almost laughed at the absurdity of that statement. Of course I didn’t have one, why would I ever have –?

The python hissed again, and another, similar image flashed before me; this time the same blue snake was curled up on a sofa…A sofa that I recognised, yet didn’t. It certainly wasn’t from my flat.

Maybe these blokes had slipped something in my drink.

“You have a snake?” said Quinn.

I meant to say no, but the word wouldn’t come out of my mouth. It felt unnatural to deny ever having owned one, even though I had no recollection of ever having bought a snake.

As if Wyatt sensed my confusion, he said, “The disorientation is normal. Do you need to feed?”

I wasn’t about to accept anything from these people who had obviously been giving me drugs or something. I shook my head. Involuntarily, I found my gaze moving back to the reptile tank. As I looked at the python, an image again flickered in front of my eyes. This time, it was the same snake as before, yet its colouring was different…Red. It was wrapped around me, hissing at…at…And then the memory was gone, and I couldn’t reach for it.

But it couldn’t be a memory, could it? None of that could be real. So why was I seeing these things? Why did I feel…more than before? And why did I feel restless – like there was something important I was supposed to do, someone important I was supposed to see?

That wasn’t the only thing that I could feel. Strangely, I felt a mood besides my own. Not like when I sensed Victor’s mood, no, not that type of connection. But I could feel echoes of irritation and apprehension that were not coming from me. Nor were they coming from a person. More like an animal.

“I would recommend that you stay here with us,” said Quinn. “We can keep you safe and can help you avenge the death of your Sire.”

Like I cared about that! If I ever met the vampire who killed him, I’d shake his hand.

“Yes,” agreed Wyatt. “We can also help you find out why energy seems to be magnetised to you, and why you feel ‘different’, as you described it.”

Quinn nodded. “It is what Victor would want.”

“Besides, do you really want to be alone, Samantha?”

Once more, the damn python hissed. Like a trigger, the sound sent various pictures shooting through my mind: a blue snake twined around my arm, a red snake striking at a faceless person, a piebald snake tattoo on my arm, a black snake slithering from my arm to another arm. This arm was male, sprinkled with chestnut hairs.

More images now: the same arm holding me close, strong male hands cradling my face, thumbs brushing tears from my eyes.

Sensations rolled through me: hands knotting in my hair and tugging, fingers probing and sinking inside me, thumbs sending electric shards of pleasure/pain through me.

Another hiss stole me from my memories. Yes, memories. They were memories. “I have a snake,” I said with utter surety this time. Again, I saw a flash of that snake on a crescent sofa…my sofa. “I have an apartment.” An apartment with soft beige carpets, white walls, a glossy-cream kitchenette, and a queen-sized bed covered in rosy-pink satin sheets who I shared with –

“I have a fiancé.” It was only then that I looked up, only then that I saw the horror and dread on the faces of the five vampires around me. “I have a fiancé, and his name is Jared.”

Suddenly, with the force of a slap, everything came flooding back to me. Oh the little bastards!