The Bite That Binds

CHAPTER TWO

(Jared)

Studying the abandoned bungalow – which happened to be in Ohio – I had the strongest urge to hoist Sam over my shoulder and teleport her back to The Hollow…but then she’d probably whip the fuck out of me. And not in a hot, dominatrix kind of way. That was something I knew from prior experience. She especially liked to whip my earlobes when I upset her. That hurt like a motherfucker.

With Sam being so feisty, I’d been expecting her to be pretty pissed at me for repeatedly dodging her questions. But she wasn’t. Or, at least, it seemed like she wasn’t. There had been no insults, no abruptness, no silent treatment – nothing. I’d even half expected her to say I couldn’t move into her apartment, purely to make a point of just how pissed she was. But she hadn’t.

What she did do – and was still doing even now – was watch me in a way that fucking freaked me out. Her expression was patient, expectant, and intense; like a predator waiting for just the right moment to pounce on its prey. She was sneaky like that.

I kind of liked the sneakiness, though. On anyone else, I wouldn’t. But Sam never behaved sneakily in a malignant or spiteful way. Oh she could be merciless at times, but never malicious in any sense of the word. One of the things I couldn’t help but love about her was that you always knew where you stood with her. There were no games, no lies, and no passive aggressive behaviours. She was straight, and blunt, and real.

It hadn’t been until Sam that I realised I’d been kind of lonely, hiding behind an inflated ego that hadn’t really been all that inflated. Well of course I’d been lonely – what else was going to happen if you avoided forming any type of connection with another person?

It was bad enough that I had a blood-link to Magda. That damn link meant that I could never really escape her unless I bonded with another vampire, replacing the link with another. But claiming a woman would have meant forming another connection, and until Sam, I hadn’t even considered it. But, then, there had never been anyone like her in my life before. And she was staying in it.

In the beginning, I had feared what I felt for her, feared the strength and intensity of it. But not anymore, because I knew without a doubt that if I ran from this connection, I’d never find anything like it again, I’d never find anyone like her again. That wouldn’t have meant I had to spend my life alone – I could still have had a relationship with a person who didn’t have what amounted to power over me. But honestly, what was the point of giving your life to someone if they didn’t feel essential to you, if they didn’t feel part of you?

That was what she was to me − essential, necessary, vital…which was why I didn’t want her in potential danger. In truth, my instincts told me that this wasn’t a trap, but when it came to Sam’s safety, I didn’t want to risk it. Unfortunately I didn’t have a choice in the matter, because the stubborn bitch had refused to remain behind. What I’d never tell her was that, although it pissed me off when she disregarded me like that, I perversely liked that she didn’t always give me my own way. I’d always liked that about her.

The fact was that since becoming Heir, everything had come easy to me. But Sam had never done what the other women did; she hadn’t been wowed by my position, she hadn’t thrown herself at me so she could say she’d slept with ‘the Heir’, and she hadn’t blindly obeyed me. Instead, she’d been patronising and disrespectful, and God help me, I’d found it sexy as hell.

Of course, I’d have wanted her regardless. She intrigued me on every level; had wriggled through my mental walls without either of us even knowing. She also didn’t take any of my shit, which was why she was here with me and the squad, scoping out this damn place, instead of safe at home.

“I know this probably won’t make you feel any less irritated,” began Chico, who was squatted beside me in the thin forest that bordered the building, “but I don’t get the feeling that this is a trap. Still, it’s bothering me that there are only two guards. Making a place look easy to infiltrate is one of the oldest tricks in the book.” As he always did when in deep thought, he started stroking his Johnny Depp style moustache and goatee. I noticed that he was repeatedly clenching his free hand, and guessed that he was most likely eager to use his gift and emit some poisonous thorns from his palm.

If it was a trap, we’d soon find out. Denny, as one of his animal-mimic abilities, was able to make his body go soft as liquid much like a sea cucumber. Stuart, as a Shredder, was able to explode into molecules and travel in that form. This made both squad members excellent spies, and gave us a huge advantage at times like this. “We’ll know more when Stuart, Denny, and Damien get back.” Well, technically Damien was with us – in body, anyway. His astral self, however, had gone for a wander.

“I know it’s not exactly strange for vampires to want privacy, but this is isolated even for them,” observed Salem.

Chico nodded. “Unless they’re happy to survive on the blood of each other and the local wildlife, they must have to travel miles before reaching any humans.”

“In my experience, the usual reason for someone to isolate themselves so thoroughly is that they have something to hide.” Sam growled as she elbowed Salem. “For God’s sake, will you keep bloody still.”

Salem just grinned. Much like David, he had an inability to keep still at times like this – like a boxer loosening up before a fight, he’d roll his shoulders and cock his head this way and that way. While with David it was nervousness, it was anticipation and excitement with Salem. As such, the gift of having a psychic punch that could knock a person into unconsciousness suited Salem just fine.

One might think that David was nervous of the situation. In actuality, the youngest of the squad was actually nervous of his gift. The ability to produce a psionic boom that caused extreme pressure on the skull, completely overwhelming the brain and leading to a temporary coma, was undoubtedly a weighty one to have. If the blast was strong enough, it could even cause death. Sam’s coaching had helped him dramatically, but he still feared accidentally harming or killing one of his fellow squad members.

“Hey, here comes Stu and Den,” announced Max quietly, as he hopped down from a tree. I frowned at the flirty fucker who, as usual, sat too close to Sam for my liking. While once-upon-a-time he did it because he thought he had a chance with her, now he just did it to piss me off. It worked. If he wasn’t such an asset to the squad in that he had the gift of sensory paralysis, I might have transferred him to another squad. Actually no, I couldn’t have. Sam was protective of them all and would never have allowed it. She was good at getting her own way.

A trail of molecules and a small puddle of mush suddenly approached where we were hiding. Seconds later, the molecules reformed into Stuart, and the mush was once again Denny.

“I’ve done a lap of the perimeter of the forest,” Denny informed us. “There’s no one around other than us.”

I nodded. “Okay, what about inside?”

“The inside isn’t exactly well kept, but it’s liveable.” Stuart flicked his shoulder-length blond curls from his face. “There are four vampires; one female, and three males. They’re not alert. Two are lounging around playing poker and watching T.V, and the other two are fucking. There’s also a basement.”

I didn’t like the tone he used when speaking the latter words. “And?”

“This is where it gets bad. Down there are two rooms and eight cells.”

“Cells?” echoed Sam. “Could you see what they contained?”

Stuart took a long breath. “Vampires. Three are females. Five are males. And they are all deformed and crazed.”

“Deformed and crazed?” I repeated. Unease spread around the entire squad. “You can’t deform a vampire. We’re immortal, we don’t change on a cellular level…so how the fuck could they be deformed?”

Stuart shook his head and shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine. There was only one who was relatively lucid. A female Sventé.”

“Long dark hair and green dress?” asked Sam.

“That’s the one.”

Now I really, really wanted to take my stubborn female back to The Hollow. “What about the rooms in the basement?”

“The first room had four male vampires inside – I got the feeling they were scientists by the terminology they were using. I didn’t really understand much of what they were saying, other than they were disappointed that their latest ‘experiment’ hadn’t been successful, and they would have to find a new ‘subject’ soon.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” the telekinetic Harvey muttered, anxious.

Max looked at him incredulously. “Dude, none of this sounds good.”

Suddenly Damien’s head snapped up and he exhaled heavily.

“Hey, welcome back,” said Reuben, slapping Damien’s back.

“Well?” I prodded.

“The only outdoor guards are the two vampires you can see standing on the roof,” said Damien. Although the bungalow was a fair distance away, our enhanced vision allowed us to see them. “They’re not very vigilant, so I think it’s safe to say that they don’t think anyone of any threat is going to come along.”

And wasn’t that dumb of them. “Good, they’re no more prepared than the ones inside.” I looked again at Stuart. “What about the other room in the basement?”

“I couldn’t get inside it. The door and wall were both made of steel, like a panic room. I couldn’t hear any movement at all. It was soundproof.”

Well now I really, really, really wanted to take my stubborn female back to The Hollow. Clearly she sensed it, because her voice was then in my head.

If you want to keep both of your bollocks, behave.

If you get hurt, I’ll spank your pretty little ass and strap you to the bed when we get home. All I got in response was an amused snort – probably because she happened to like it when I did that.

“Do you think these scientists have been trying to come up with some kind of drug that can severely harm us, like chemical warfare or something?” asked Butch, his tone casual. But that was the thing about Butch; he could stand there plotting someone’s death while looking as cool and calm as if he were watching a movie. He liked violence even more than Salem did, he just hid it better. I imagined that it therefore galled him to have a defensive gift as opposed to an offensive one − even though the ability to negate and deflect anything that came at him was a substantial gift to have.

Although Butch’s theory wasn’t a bad one, considering how many vampires liked to battle over territory – particularly the High Masters – I found myself shaking my head. My instincts simply weren’t in agreement, but nor were they offering any theories of their own. “Reuben, I need you to do your thing on David, Salem, and Chico.”

With a respectful nod, the highlander lookalike – who I had to agree with Sam wasn’t the brightest bulb – used his gift of power augmentation to amplify those of three of his squad members. Using only the briefest touch, Reuben had made Salem’s psychic punch, David’s psionic boom, and Chico’s poisonous thorns all fatal.

“Good. Stuart, give me a layout of the bungalow.”

Having drawn a rectangle in the dirt with his finger, Stuart explained while sketching it. “The place has a side entrance. When you open the front door, you’re in a hallway. The first room on your left is the living area, the second on your left is the dining room, and the one directly ahead of you on the opposite side of the bungalow is the kitchen. There’s only one right turning, which is parallel to the dining room, and it’s actually a continuance of the hallway. Once you make that right turn, you have a room on either side of you – one being a bathroom, and another being a tiny bedroom. You also have two doors in front of you. One of them is the master bedroom, and the other is just a standard sized bedroom.”

“And the basement?”

“The hatch is in the kitchen. There’s actually a back entrance to the bungalow and it leads straight into the kitchen, so we could just sneak—”

Easily reading where his thoughts had taken him, I raised a hand. “No, we need to eliminate all the guards before entering the basement. Where exactly are the poker-playing vampires lounging?”

“The living area.”

“And the other two?”

“If they’re still fucking, they’re in the master bedroom.”

Sam asked, “From what you’ve seen, do you think it’s possible to save the vampires that are contained in the cells?”

Stuart blew out a breath, shaking his head. “No, Coach. The Sventé from your dream is lucid, but she doesn’t seem stable, she looks like she’s deteriorating fast.”

I felt the disappointment that travelled through Sam, but I resisted trying to give her any comfort. With the guys, she was ‘Coach’, and she wouldn’t like showing any weakness in front of them.

“Reuben, Damien, Harvey – I want you guys to cover the back entrance, just in case anyone from the basement tries to surface and make a run for it.” I doubted that anybody would. If these vampires were here to guard and hide something, the last thing they would do was run before at least trying to fight us off. “Chico, Salem, Denny, Stuart – once we’re inside, I want you four to deal with the vampires in the bedroom. Before we do anything, though, Salem and Chico – I want you both to deal with the guards on the roof. Do it quickly and quietly. We want the whole thing to be over as quickly and quietly as possible. We have no idea what kind of gifts the vampires in that place have. We can’t afford to give them any warning that we’re here.”

They both nodded, slinking away. In a tense silence, we all watched as Chico and Salem moved with a predator’s grace toward the large bungalow. Unseen, they reached the building and leaped up onto the roof from opposite sides. Before either of the guards could react, Salem threw an uppercut toward the first guard – I could almost see the ripple in the air as the psychic energy flew at its target. At the same time, Chico lifted his hand and released several thorns from his palm – all of which hit the second guard in the chest. The guards were then nothing but ashes.

“Okay, people, time to move,” I announced. “We get in, kill the vampires inside, and extract the female Sventé if she’s rational enough.”

“Then we burn shit down,” declared Sam. “If they’ve been creating any funky stuff, I want it to be completely and utterly destroyed. If it’s harmful to vampires, it needs to go. Butch, I need you to stay with David the whole time.” The natural born killer nodded.

It wasn’t that David was the weakest link – far from it. He was, gift-wise, the most powerful. But that made him an immediate target of any enemies in combat situations. As Butch was able to use his gift to project a deflecting shield, he often remained with David – extending his shield around them both. That way, David could simply concentrate on attacking rather than defending.

At vampire speed, but still stealthy in our movements, we got into position. I watched, fascinated, as Sam’s delicate fingers prickled at the air around her, absorbing energy; ready to manipulate it in whatever way she chose. It was impossible not to be in awe of just how in control she was of all that power.

Stuart, I want you to slip inside. If no one’s in the hallway, open up and let us in.

He exploded into black particles that swished under the front door. When it quietly opened, I entered first, followed quickly by Sam. The noise of the T.V. didn’t drown out the dirty talk coming from the other side of the bungalow. Clearly those two were still at it.

One at a time, I told Stuart, Salem, Chico, and Denny as I gestured for them to enter. Once all four were inside they slipped past us, heading for the master bedroom. Max, Butch, and David then entered, closing the door behind them. Knowing that if we lingered our scents would reach the vampires in the living area before we did, I didn’t waste any time in moving.

I nodded at Max to go slightly ahead as we all inched our way along the wall. Not because I wanted to use him as a living shield – although it was an appealing thought – but because his gift would give us the best chance at ensuring the other vampires in the building weren’t alerted to our presence.

Once we reached the doorway, Max turned sharply and, with the simple act of closing his fist, stole the senses of both vampires before they had the opportunity to react. While the shock of it seemed to freeze and distract one of the vampires, the other reflexively used his gift – conjuring a knife and hurling it in our general direction. It hit Butch’s shield, but Sam caught it before it could clang to the hardwood floor. As David swiftly raised his arms and splayed his hands, a psionic blast streamed from his fingertips and crashed into the heads of the vampires. Just like that, they were both ashes.

With a tip of her head, Sam gestured for us to follow her further inside. I was not even slightly impressed by her taking the lead. Yeah, okay, she was my co-commander and it was her job, but I didn’t have to like it. The other four met us at the junction of the hallway, clearly having dealt with the sex fiends. Scanning my eyes over them, I saw that they were fine, other than that Salem’s shirt had been singed and Denny’s collar had been…bit?

Finally in the kitchen, Sam quietly opened the back door to allow Damien, Harvey, and Reuben to enter. We all stood back, giving her space as she carefully opened the hatch just a crack. Seeing that there was no one in sight, and not picking up any nearby voices, I gestured for her to fully open the hatch. Most likely pre-empting that I would try to take the lead, she threw me a cautioning look and positioned herself in front of the squad. Forced to be satisfied with shadowing the wilful female, I followed her as she slowly and soundlessly descended the wooden staircase. The squad remained close, all extremely alert.

As Stuart had described, there were four cells on either side of the basement – all of which had a single barred glass window that allowed a peek of what, or who, was inside. Beyond the cells were two doors; one made of thick wood, and the other of metal. I could hear muffled voices, but I couldn’t distinguish any words, even with my enhanced hearing.

Positioning myself at the right hand side, I signalled for Chico, Salem, Reuben, Damien, and Stuart to stand behind me. The other five stood behind Sam on the left hand side. Having exchanged a nod with Sam, both she and I began to edge our way toward the far doors while the squad followed closely.

As I past the first cell, I peered through the window and inwardly winced at what I saw. A female Keja with grotesquely overgrown nails appeared to have torn out most of her hair. More disturbingly, she was eating it. I had no idea what she was ranting, as the cell appeared to be sound-proof. I had to wonder if the window was one-way glass, because she didn’t notice any of us passing.

The vision within the next cell was no better. Another Keja was lying on the floor, clawing at an elongated face and then licking dribbles of blood from his fingers as the facial scratches healed. What was perhaps more troubling was that he had an extra arm. I didn’t look through the next window, not wanting to see more.

Jared, I’ve found her.

Signalling for the squad to all remain in position, I hurried over to Sam and glanced through the window. The Sventé was exactly as Sam had described, although her limbs were abnormally long. Her back kept bowing from the floor, putting her body at an unnatural angle that made Sam and I wince. She wasn’t fighting whatever was happening to her, as if she saw no hope. At least she wasn’t crazed. Yet.

We can try to get her out, but not until we’ve dealt with the bastards in those rooms. She’d be a distraction we don’t need. Plus, we have no idea if she would turn violent and attack anyone.

True, Sam allowed with a sigh. Most of the captives appear to be attacking themselves.

Startling us all, the wooden door opened and four vampires stepped out, laughing amongst themselves and totally oblivious to our presence. That obliviousness only lasted a second, though. The squad did what they had been trained to do; they attacked first.

Unfortunately, the vampire in front swiftly produced a protective wall of frosted glass – one so resilient that even my lightning bolt had no effect on it. That vampire definitely had to go – and fast. Sam must have been thinking the same thing, because suddenly fire was streaming out of her palms, weakening the glass. At the same time, Reuben placed his hands on it, drawing power from it. Their combined efforts weakened it just enough that my next release of electricity shattered it completely.

Before the vampire had the chance to produce another shield, one of Sam’s thermal energy beams was buried in his chest. Milliseconds later, he was ashes…but not before the tallest of the three remaining vampires duplicated himself until there were ten of him. All of the clones stepped in front, acting as shields. Shit. Of course each and every one of us attacked with our gifts, but each time some of the clones turned to ashes, more would take their place.

Harvey, we need to separate them.

Without hesitation, Harvey made a motion similar to that of someone abruptly yanking open a set of curtains. Thanks to his telekinesis, the clones parted like the red sea – some flew into the walls, and others fell to the floor, exposing the three vampires. Not giving the vampire a chance to duplicate himself again, I sent a charge of electricity out of my palm, reducing him to ashes. His clones died with him.

One of the last two vampires opened his mouth and exhaled a swarm of bees – not nice. Sam absorbed the energy around her, and suddenly a gust of wind sent the bees forcefully crashing into the wall, killing them instantly. That same gust of wind should have sent the two vampires crashing into that same wall, just as Harvey’s telekinesis should have knocked them over, but they hadn’t even stumbled against either force.

It was then that I realised something, and I sensed that Sam was realising it at the same time. The second vampire was gripping the waist of the one in front of him, holding him in position. I’d heard of a vampiric gift that allowed immovability, and it seemed that the second vampire had that very gift and was keeping them both stable.

Knowing what Sam had in mind, I teleported to her and lifted her so that she was above the first vampire’s level of height. She cracked her whip over his shoulder to wrap it around the throat of the second vampire, and tightened it enough to make him reflexively put his hands to his neck. Quick as lightning, yellowy-green ooze shot out of Denny’s thumbs and smallest fingers and engulfed the other vampire. Denny then bounced him to Salem, who delivered a fatal uppercut.

“And then there was one,” drawled Sam as she stared at the remaining vampire. He didn’t struggle against the grip of her whip as I would have expected. In fact, he didn’t do anything at all…other than stare at Sam in utter fascination, which supremely pissed me off even though I could understand it.

Don’t kill him yet. It might be worth questioning him a little first. I crossed my arms over my chest. “Just what did you do to the vampires in the cells?”

When he didn’t answer, Sam began to circle him, whip still in hand. “Have you ever pissed blood? You will if you don’t start answering our questions.”

His voice was shaky. “I don’t know anything.”

Sam sighed sadly. “No, they never do. But I can guarantee that within the next fifteen minutes after we’ve had some fun with you, your thought processes will be much improved.” When the whip caught his jaw, he jerked and whimpered.

I stepped closer to him. “Now, why did you hurt the vampires like that?”

“We didn’t hurt them,” he quickly objected. “We were trying to achieve something.”

“And what is that exactly?”

“Something that no one has even thought possible,” said an amused voice as the metal door slowly swung open. Four new vampires stood in the doorway in some sort of protective bubble. The two in front closely resembled each other with their inky black hair and squinty eyes.

I held up a hand, warning the squad not to attack in case whatever was thrown simply rebounded off the bubble and hit one of us. “Care to elaborate?” I snapped. “Care to explain how, and why, there are deformed vampires in those cells?”

The taller and sharper-looking of the two vampires only spared me a glance before his gaze locked on Sam. He seemed surprised and intrigued. “A Sventé with a Pagori power.”

She groaned and rolled her aquamarine eyes. “I wish people would just get over it.”

His mouth twitched into a smile. “A Feeder in full control of their gift. I cannot say that is something I have witnessed before. Your control…it is astounding. Inspiring, even. I find myself envying you, and that is not an emotion I am prone to experiencing.”

“Well that’s great, but we’d like to know why the bloody hell you hurt those vampires.”

“Neither my brother nor I planned for them to come to any harm,” the podgy vampire replied, looking offended. “Our experiments have simply not yet been fruitful and have caused negative side effects.”

“Negative side effects?” echoed Sam, disbelievingly. “It’s not like they’ve got the shits or something, is it? They’re deformed and half out of their minds.”

The podgy one spoke again. “Sometimes, when one is trying to achieve something grand, sacrifices must be made. And we will achieve our goal. Our work will be recognised by all of vampirekind.”

Sam scowled. “I don’t suppose you’re going to tell me just what that goal is.”

“Be assured that we only did to those vampires what they asked us to do. They knew the risks.”

That made little sense to me. “And what, exactly, would make anyone prepared to risk becoming deformed?”

“The feeling of desperation does many things to many people.”

And wasn’t that the vaguest thing I’d ever heard.

Sam must have been just as frustrated, because she growled at them. “Are neither of you capable of answering a question without talking in code?”

The taller brother pursed his lips. “If you want answers, we shall do better than tell you, we shall show you.”

The brothers exchanged a look that I didn’t like, and I was ready to question them when I felt an echo of fatigue and disorientation through my connection to Sam. As she suddenly staggered beside me and lost her hold on her whip, I wrapped an arm around her to steady her. Utter panic overtook me. “What the—” Then something else hit me via our connection; an all-consuming, agonising pain.

Sam cried out and doubled over with the force of it. Feelings of being stabbed, gutted, sliced at, and having her insides torn apart were torturing and weakening her. Fury and fear raced through me as I reflexively struck the bubble with a discharge so high in voltage that the entire building shook. It didn’t burst; only wobbled like jelly, oddly absorbing the electricity. Then, as quickly as it had come, Sam’s pain disappeared.

She double-blinked and took a steadying breath. “Oh, you little fuckers.” Most likely sensing that I was ready to charge at them, protective bubble or no protective bubble, she grabbed my arm. Looking at the brothers through narrowed, accusing eyes, she asked, “What did you do to me?”

The podgy brother cocked his head. “Something that has made every other vampire collapse in agony and froth at the mouth.”

Again I went to charge at them, but again Sam stopped me, worried they would hurt me too. I growled, intent on finding some way to burst that bubble and kill them all.

The tall vampire gave me a cool smile. “Rest assured that we have not harmed her, we would never wish to make her ill. On the contrary, if this works – and I strongly suspect it will as she is so much stronger than any subject we have used before – it will make her beautiful and unique in a way that you could never imagine.”

For a third time I moved toward them, but once again Sam held me back. I growled again. “Know this: I will fucking hunt you both down, and I will fucking destroy you both.”

“It is understandable that you feel that way now. But I truly believe that this is something you will come to appreciate.” He smiled at Sam. “I shall be seeing you again very soon.”

The vampires had teleported away before anyone could say another word. Well great. Just. Fucking. Great.

Anger surged through me, wanting an outlet, needing an outlet. Realising that they had left behind the vampire who had been minutes ago bound by Sam’s whip, I took him out with a lightning bolt. But it didn’t make me feel better. The same feelings of dread and helplessness that I’d felt when she’d once Merged with me were now taunting me again. “See, this was why I didn’t want you to come!” Oh yeah, logic told me that it wasn’t her fault, but whenever she got injured, I reflexively took my anger and worry out on her.

Sam’s mouth fell open. Then she punched my shoulder. “I didn’t want them to hurt me, you sodding fruitcake.”

“We have no idea what they did to you!” But if it was the same thing they had done to the vampires in those cells…Shit, shit, shit!

Denny swallowed hard, studying her from head to toe. “How do you feel, Coach?”

“Well and truly ticked off.”

(Sam)

The rage and fear riding Jared was beating at me, almost stealing my breath. He was practically vibrating with it. So when he tugged me to him and enclosed me in a hug, I went easily. Ordinarily, I didn’t like having displays of affection in front of the squad. But Jared was close to snapping and, truth be told, I kind of needed him right then. I wasn’t a person who allowed myself to lean on others, but that vampire’s words had spooked the living shit out of me.

“We need to get you to Antonio. Maybe he can do something.” Turning to the squad, he began, “You guys finish up. I want the whole place burned d—”

I tugged on his jacket. “Wait, Jared, the Sventé—”

“Sam, we need to get you back to Antonio.”

“Jared, we came here for her.”

“Exactly. If it wasn’t for her contacting you, those fucking bastards would never have—”

“Jared.” I framed his face with my hands, seizing his gaze. “I know you’re worried, and I know you’re pissed, but whatever they did has already been done. That vampire said it wasn’t going to make me ill. We have to cling onto that, because right now there’s a female who is ill, and we need to talk with her.”

“She might be able to give us some idea of what those motherfuckers were trying to do,” Max pointed out. “Then maybe we can work out what they did to Coach.”

Jared squeezed his eyes closed as if in pain, and I could feel that he was wrestling with his instinct to whisk me off somewhere safe. I kissed him lightly. “We spend five minutes talking to her, and then we go.”

When he opened his eyes again, they were a little calmer. “Two minutes. You’ve got two minutes, and then I’m getting you out of here.”

Any other time, I’d have whipped his ears off for speaking to me like that. “Yes, then we can go.” Sucking energy into my palms, I released it as an air blast that was strong enough to blow her cell door open. As we all stepped inside, she didn’t react other than to slowly turn her head to look at us.

When her eyes met mine, her frown melted away. “You…You c-came.”

I wanted to go to her side and give her some form of comfort, but the eleven males with me were feeling mighty overprotective right then and had planted themselves in front of me. Managing to shove Salem aside just enough to have a clear view of the female, I asked, “What did they do? What’s happening to you?”

She swallowed hard and her eyes drifted shut. “D-d-didn’t work.”

“What didn’t work?”

Her words weren’t audible even to vampire hearing.

“Do you have any idea who they were or where they would have gone?” Jared’s voice was gruff with anger.

Without opening her eyes, she stammered, “O-Orr-in.”

Jared frowned. “Orrin? Is that a name, a place, what?”

She gasped as a spasm hit, making her back bow from the floor. Even through her groans of pain, she heard my wince. Her expression was almost sympathetic when she looked at me. “Y-you c-c-can’t help m-me.”

“What were they trying to do?”

“Make…m-make me—” She was cut off as yet another bad spasm racked her body. It was agonising just to watch. Her eyes shut and she seemed close to drifting off, but then they fluttered opened again. “Kill me,” she croaked out.

I stiffened. “No.”

“Pain. Hurts.” She cried out as a particularly violent spasm shook her body and her back arched so unnaturally that I heard a bone break. There were tears in her eyes when she looked at me again. “Pl-please?”

“I’ll do it, Coach.” Chico squeezed my shoulder.

Salem nodded. “Yeah, you go see Antonio. We’ll take care of everything. We’ll make sure there’s nothing left of the place.”

I might have told them to stop coddling me if I hadn’t sensed that Jared was going to lose his composure any second now. No sooner had I slipped my hand in his than we were back in Antonio’s mansion. We found him in one of his many posh parlours with Luther.

Jared didn’t even give them a chance to speak. “Sam got hurt. I don’t know what the fuck they did, but you need to do something.”

Antonio double-blinked. “Hurt? Hurt how? And who are ‘they’?”

“We have no idea.” He told Antonio about what had happened, giving full details on the condition of the captives, and carefully quoting every word the brothers had said. “All we could really get out of the female Sventé was the word ‘Orrin’. Do you have any idea what she could have meant?”

“I’ll have my researchers look into it.” Antonio studied me intently. “How are you feeling?”

I took stock. “Fine. The pain’s gone. I don’t feel ill. I don’t feel any different at all.”

Releasing a heavy sigh, Antonio shrugged. “I suppose all we can do is watch and wait.”

“Watch and wait?” repeated Jared. “You’ve got to be kidding me. They could have done anything to her!”

“Exactly, it could have been anything. Sam says she feels fine. You say you do not know what their gifts were. I have nothing to go on. Until I know what type of help she needs, I cannot know who I need to summon to help her. I doubt that my own gift will do her much good, no matter the problem.”

Jared scrubbed a hand over his face. “Maybe we should postpone the celebrations.” Well that got my back up, and he obviously felt it because he raised a placatory hand. “I want that Binding ceremony, Sam − you know that. But I don’t trust outsiders around you; not when those vampires said they’d be seeing you again soon.”

I snorted. “They wouldn’t be stupid enough to try to infiltrate The Hollow.”

“Bennington tried it, and he was just as fucking weird as the brothers.”

“They wouldn’t even know where to find me. They don’t know who I am.”

“No,” agreed Antonio. “But they will have known who Jared is. He’s recognised worldwide; he needs to be. However, I do not believe it necessary for the Binding ceremony to be postponed. I appreciate that you are feeling particularly protective at this moment, Jared. I fully understand that, as does Sam. But she is very well protected here, and nothing can get in or out of here without my knowledge or permission. It is also worth noting that having the High Masters here for your ceremony will mean that she is even better protected than usual. And I know that the last thing you really want is to postpone the ceremony.”

It was a few moments before Jared exhaled a heavy sigh and nodded.

Distracting myself from the shard of pain I’d felt at hearing him propose to postpone the ceremony, I asked Antonio, “How could they have mutated those vampires like that?”

“There are vampires who have the gift of genekinesis and similar abilities which allow them to manipulate a person or animal’s DNA. In fact, my Sire’s life-partner – who you will meet at the informal gathering tomorrow evening – has such a gift. But these gifts would not work on vampires. It is a shame that the female Sventé in the cell was not able to tell us more.”

I thought about mentioning Luther’s earlier vision, but there was a good chance that Jared would kill him for not having warned him. Instead, I waited until Jared was in deep conversation with Antonio before approaching Gandalf’s doppelganger. He had remained uncharacteristically mute and made himself busy in the far corner of the room. “What’s going to happen to me, Luther? The vampires tried to change me in some way. What did they do?”

His expression was sad, apologetic, and anxious. “Do you know what one of the hardest things is about having my gift, Sam? That sometimes I can see a very trying time ahead, but I also know that to do something would be to affect the future.”

“There you go again with those sodding riddles. Is it something bad? At least tell me that much.”

“That depends on what way you look at it.”

“Oh for the love of God, Luther, throw me a bone here.”

He placed a hand on my shoulder. “All I can tell you without possibly meddling with the future is that you have a difficult time ahead of you, Sam. I know you do not like to rely on others, but you must accept what support Jared tries to give you. You’re going to need it.” And then the confusing bugger walked off.