Читать книгу Blood Ties Bundle: Blood Ties Book One: The Turning / Blood Ties Book Two: Possession / Blood Ties Book Three: Ashes to Ashes / Blood Ties Book Four: All Souls' Night - Jennifer Armintrout, Jennifer Armintrout - Страница 21

Best-Laid Plans

In the days following, Cyrus didn’t speak to me. I didn’t know if he was busy with party plans—his frequent excuse—or if I’d honestly hurt his feelings. It shouldn’t have bothered me if I did, but I was learning fast that where Cyrus was concerned, my heart wanted the opposite of what my brain knew was right.

The first few mornings, he called on Dahlia to share his bed. She strutted around the mansion proudly displaying her scars, but she never spoke directly to me. I wasn’t sure if this was a blessing or a curse, as it seemed everyone in the house knew I was persona non grata with their master and followed suit. The days were lonely and dull, and it was no comfort to know there were centuries of them to come.

At nightfall, Cyrus ventured from the mansion accompanied by his bodyguards and sometimes Dahlia. I didn’t know where they went or what they did, and I convinced myself I didn’t care, despite the fact I was dying to get out. It would have been a perfect opportunity to meet Nathan, but he’d stopped showing up. I pushed my worry to the back of my mind. Nathan wasn’t the person I had to protect.

What concerned me more was Cyrus’s sudden interest in Ziggy. He kept his word and never harmed the kid physically, and after the first few visits to his chambers, it seemed Ziggy had grown to genuinely like my sire.

“It’s not like we’re dating or anything, Doc,” Ziggy said when I cornered him in the kitchen one evening. He rooted through the large refrigerator of people food, claiming various items with a Sharpie pen. I didn’t bother telling him that most pets didn’t live to mooch off their host for long.

I leaned against the freezer. “I know, but Dahlia is going to kill you. And do you have to act like you’re enjoying it so much?”

He shrugged. “He’d actually be a pretty decent guy if he wasn’t an evil vampire. But more important, if I want to live through this thing he’s got planned, I need friends in high places.”

Was there more to the New Year’s party? “Well, don’t leave me hanging. What’s he got planned?” I asked.

“The party,” Clarence said as he emerged from the walk-in freezer.

I hadn’t even known he was there, and his sudden presence gave me a start. “I knew about that. But I’ve been pathetically out of the loop for a couple of weeks now. Fill me in.”

The butler didn’t look at me as he slammed a block of ice on the countertop. He no longer watched me from the corner of his eye, but there remained a sliver of unease between us, most likely because I was still a vampire. But he’d continued to relay messages to Nathan when possible, and he’d dropped the stuffy butler act and refrained from calling me ma’am every second word.

“What the hell are you doing, boy?” he barked.

Ziggy grinned sheepishly and tossed a can of soda over his shoulder. The older man caught it in his nimble fingers and popped the top. “This shit will rot the teeth right out of your dumb head.”

“I ain’t gonna live that long,” Ziggy replied as he drew a thick Z on another can.

My stomach lurched. I’d never believed all those stories from med school about patients who knew they were going to die and freely dispensed the information to everyone, but I didn’t want to hear Ziggy make such predictions.

“Don’t talk like that,” I snapped. I tested the blood tie to see if Cyrus was listening in. All I felt was a vague, alcoholic haze before the tie seemed to evaporate between us. The fact that he could so easily ignore our connection created a sick, lonely feeling in my stomach. But if he closed himself off, I at least had some time to talk about the impending event without the risk of him knowing my thoughts. “Since Cyrus won’t be back for a few hours, tell me what’s going on with this party.”

Clarence groaned and rolled his eyes. “Same as every year. A few human sacrifices and a whole lotta pain. That’s sorta his thing.”

“Human sacrifices? You mean the kids on the list?” I hoped he did.

Nodding grimly, he wiped his hands on his apron. “Them, and a few others he’ll lure in from out of town. Can’t get them all from around here or it’ll look suspicious.”

I shook my head. I wish Nathan would get his ass back here.

Every night, I’d faithfully checked for Nathan at the gate under the guise of walking the perimeter of the lawn. If I were still human, I would have considered the long distance as good cardio exercise. Now my only concern about my heart was whether someone would suddenly give it the Big Splinter. But Nathan hadn’t returned, and as the time of the New Year drew nearer and nearer, my nerves were pulled tighter and tighter.

“Don’t you worry about our boy,” Clarence drawled lazily. “He got himself in good with the Master. He ain’t on the menu.”

He pushed a sheet of paper across the island and I snatched it up.

It was a list of names. Nearly every one of Cyrus’s pets were on it, except two. “Ziggy and Dahlia are going to be spared?”

“Guess it’s not so bad hangin’ with the boss after all,” Ziggy said as he slipped a brick of cheese into the pocket of his baggy black jeans.

I relished the thought of Dahlia being selected for the Soul Eater’s consumption. But I guess she wasn’t much of a “pure soul.”

Two guards entered and I stepped away from Ziggy. “Excuse us, Doctor,” one of the thugs said curtly. He turned to Ziggy. “The Master would like to see you.”

“Duty calls,” he said with an apologetic smile. “Hey, we gotta stop by my room on the way ’cause I’ve got a book C wants to borrow,” he told the guards as they led him away.

C? I pulled one of the stools from the island and plopped myself down.

Clarence had gone quietly to work on the block of ice with a chisel and hammer, but he chuckled at my spite. “You still gonna help rescue him, even though he stole your man?”

“He did not steal my man.” I made an appalled face, hoping it would fool the old man. But I knew it wouldn’t. “I just don’t understand why Ziggy would have such an interest, after what Cyrus did to him.”

“The Master is a good one for winning somebody back after he’s wronged them. Look at you. He wrecked your life, and you still came back to him.” He turned the ice and started chipping away on the other side.

“That’s different. There’s a blood tie. You wouldn’t understand because you’re not a vampire. But it really makes a difference.”

Clarence bobbed his head up and down in agreement. “You’re right, I don’t know about blood ties. But I do know you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t want to be. You’re not that type. If you’ve got to tell yourself it’s some magical thing keeping you at his side through all his bullshit, I’m not the one to argue with you.”

His words cut me to the core. He was right. Yes, there was a blood tie, but that wasn’t why I was here. Sure I’d made a promise to return to Cyrus in exchange for Nathan’s life, but why hadn’t I called the Movement, or even asked Ziggy for help? I’d been Persephone, eating the pomegranate seeds with delight and blaming it all on big, bad Hades. I knew what I was doing when I’d committed myself to this Underworld. I’d resigned myself to accept my plight, and now I wanted to explore the life Cyrus had offered me, but I feared his interest in Ziggy might do something to usurp my place.

It sucks when your little palace o’ denial comes tumbling down.

The next night, Nathan waited at the gate.

“How’s Ziggy?” he asked as soon as I was near enough to hear him.

“He’s fine. Hello to you, too.” I stamped my feet, trying to get some feeling back in them. It had snowed during the day, and the depth of the stuff almost kept me inside.

Nathan’s hands were nearly blue where his gloveless fingers gripped the iron of the gate. “Is he on the list?”

“No.” I thought relief would register on his face.

Instead, it twisted with horror. “Tell me he’s not—”

“A guest of honor. I just don’t know which one.” I looked at my feet. “I know how you were turned.”

A muscle in his shadowed jaw twitched. “He told you?”

“I saw it.” I don’t know why I felt the compulsion to tell him how, but I did. “I drank his blood…from him. And I saw it.”

Nathan was repulsed, but I knew he was scared more than he was disgusted. Maybe he was afraid I wouldn’t help him. Or that I’d throw Ziggy to the wolves.

He cleared his throat. “That’s all in the past. I just don’t want it to happen to Ziggy. Who’s the other one?”

“Dahlia.”

“Dahlia and Ziggy, and they need to pick the one with a pure soul? Oh, that’s going to be a tough call.” Nathan looked away, but not before I saw the suffering in his eyes. “Are the Fangs staying for the party?”

“They were supposed to leave a week ago. I think they’re hanging around so Cyrus will have to invite them to the party. What’s going to happen?”

“He’ll probably invite them to the party.”

I glared at him. “You know what I meant. When you and your little friends show up. What’s going to happen?”

“We’ll bust in, I’ll grab Ziggy, and they’ll kill all the vampires.”

His pointed gaze added including you.

My heart constricted painfully in my chest. Did he really hold such a grudge? I’d thought we’d built a friendship of sorts.

That was before you left.

I cleared my throat. “That sounds dangerous.”

“It will be.” Still, he offered no assurance of my safety.

“Would it be easier to just sneak him out before the party? I could go get him. We could just boost him over the fence right now.”

“That has crossed my mind,” Nathan replied bitterly. “But I’m not allowed to do anything that might compromise the integrity of the mission. Movement orders. They think Cyrus would step up security if the compound was breached this close to the event.”

“Compound? You make it sound like I’m in some weird religious cult.”

That at least brought a half smile to his mouth, but it died quickly. “I’ve been playing host to a couple of full-time Movement guys. The terminology starts to creep in after a while.”

“Is that why you haven’t been showing up?” I sounded jealous, like a spoiled child whose playmate has made friends with the neighbor kids. It just crept into my voice on its own.

Nathan didn’t appreciate it. “I’m sorry, but you’re not a priority for me anymore.”

Anymore. That stung. Not because his feelings for me were gone, but that he’d confirmed he’d had some in the first place.

It was much easier to be angry with him than regretful over our lost friendship. “So you’re going to march in here on the night of the party and kill me, then?”

He shook his head. “Not me. I’m going to find Ziggy and get him out. But watch out for the other guys. We’ve been ordered to kill any non-Movement vampires on the premises.”

“You’re not going to tell them about me?” I hated the fear in my voice. “I took care of Ziggy, that has to be worth something.”

“It was worth the advance warning I gave you,” he snarled. “You put yourself on the losing team, Carrie. It’s a little late to back out now.”

“You know what, I didn’t come here because I wanted to!” I spat.

“What are you talking about?”

I hadn’t wanted to tell him, but there was no avoiding it now. Some deranged part of me demanded honesty, as brutal as it might sound. And really, if I stood a good chance of dying on Saturday, I didn’t have much to lose. “It was a trade, asshole. Your life for mine.”

He stepped back from the gate. I could see in his eyes that he didn’t want to believe me. “No.”

I wasn’t going to soften the blow. “I couldn’t reverse Dahlia’s spell on my own. So I went to Cyrus for help. This is what he asked for in return.”

He ran a hand through his dark hair, mussing the strands. “I don’t believe you.”

“Fine, don’t believe me.” I was too tired to convince him of a truth I hadn’t wanted to reveal in the first place. “Ziggy will tell you. He drove me here to get the antidote. And he’ll tell you what I’ve done in here to keep him safe.”

Whatever I’d said to make him change his mind, Nathan clearly felt like the jackass I thought he was. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because it was something I had to do. I didn’t want you to die, and I didn’t want you to get killed barging in here as if I needed rescuing.” He looked so penitent, I couldn’t help but ease his guilt a little. “Besides, I wanted the chance to know my sire. There’s a reason he became the way he is.”

I thought of the scar his father had inflicted on him and the pain he’d felt. Yet Cyrus still wanted to please the Soul Eater. Could he have been a good person before his father had tempted him with the promises of wealth and power? Then again, he did kill his own brother in his sleep.

Nathan blew out a long breath as he scratched his head. There were things I wanted to say, but I didn’t know where to begin. Although I’d suffered abuse at Cyrus’s hands, I didn’t hate him. I certainly didn’t want him to die, and a part of me desperately wanted him to pursue me again.

Wow, it has been a lonely couple of weeks.

But despite what I felt for my sire, I didn’t want Nathan to leave without some sort of resolution between us. Perhaps what I’d dismissed as lust-at-first-sight had been a deeper connection than I’d been willing to admit. That terrified me more than the prospect of looming death.

Finally, Nathan spoke. “I’ve kind of been a jerk.”

“Kind of. But maybe I should have trusted you. I mean, if I had said, ‘I made this deal with Cyrus, now I’ve gotta go live with him,’ you’d respect that, right? You wouldn’t just come charging in to save me.”

He arched an eyebrow sardonically in answer.

“Which is exactly why I didn’t tell you.” With every passing second, I became more aware of how much I’d missed Nathan, and more afraid that I’d made a mistake in coming to live with Cyrus. There was no blood tie between Nathan and me to inspire my feelings for him. Did that mean they were stronger than what I felt for Cyrus?

As if in slow motion, Nathan reached through the gate, and I lifted my arm toward him. When our hands touched, a current leapt through me, different from any I’d felt from the bond I shared with Cyrus. There was no darkness in these feelings. Nathan’s thumb stroked the back of my hand as our fingers entwined, and we stared at each other for some time before he spoke.

“Carrie, do you want to leave?”

My head snapped up. “For real?”

“For real.” He laughed softly. “I can get you out the same time I get Ziggy.”

I looked back at the house. The light in Cyrus’s room was on. “I want to go, but—”

“But the tie is holding you back.” Nathan gave my hand a squeeze.

A tear fell from my eye and landed on the back of his hand, freezing almost instantly on his cold skin. Why was I crying? I wanted to escape this place, didn’t I? “I don’t know if I’m strong enough to walk away from him, Nathan.” I couldn’t meet his gaze. “When I’m not near him, I don’t miss him, but when I’m with him…I feel like he needs me. It probably doesn’t make sense to you, but I like to be needed.”

“It makes perfect sense. Why else would you have become a doctor?”

Nathan’s words brought back the memory of sitting beside Dr. Fuller in the cold, impersonal staff locker room. My mentor’s voice resounded like a requiem bell in my head.

“Why did you want to be a doctor?”

I’d thought I’d wanted power. Now I had that power and I didn’t want to use it. Was Nathan right? Had I become a doctor not out of some heartless quest for control, but from a desire to be indispensable and valued by complete strangers? Did I only feel complete when other people needed me?

The most annoying part of this revelation was that someone else had made it before I had. I must have been the most naive twenty-eight-year-old on the planet.

“Carrie, are you all right?”

I looked up at Nathan. “I want to leave.”

He cocked his head, uncertain. “You mean that?”

Leaving such sure things as shelter and regular meals should have struck me with fear, but it didn’t. When my parents died, I’d survived on my own. The only difference was this time I wanted to be an orphan.

“Yeah,” I answered finally. “You’d run like hell, too, if you saw the window treatments in there.”

Still holding my hand, Nathan reached through the gate and pulled me into an awkward and slightly painful hug. When he stepped back, a slight flush colored his face.

So, vampires blush.

“This is the plan,” he said, clearing his throat. “Lie low when we get here, and whatever you do, don’t fight anyone. Stick close to Ziggy. They’re not going to hurt him. And for God’s sake, stay away from Cyrus. He’s a main target.”

“Just don’t do anything stupid.” After the vision I’d seen, I knew he had a score to settle. It was a good thing he didn’t know what Cyrus had done to Ziggy.

“I think it’s too late for that.” The intense way Nathan’s gaze roamed over my face lent an uncomfortable meaning to that statement. But in the next moment, the intensity was gone. Nathan dug in his pocket and produced a tiny bottle. “Take this.”

Without thinking, I stuck it in my bra for safekeeping. “What is it?”

“Holy water.”

I fumbled to remove the vial. “Jesus Christ, you could have warned me!”

He laughed. “Sorry. I didn’t know you were going to stuff it down your shirt.”

“What do I do with it?” I asked as I held it in my hands.

“Be careful with it. It’ll cause a nasty burn. But use it to defend yourself if you have to.”

Hoping to ease his mind, I shook my head. “I’m not going to need it. He hasn’t paid any attention to me for a while.” Realizing I sounded wistful, I quickly added, “Not that I care, or anything.”

“You do care,” Nathan said softly. “That’s why he doesn’t deserve you.”

“Nathan—” I began, but he cut me off.

“I’ve got to go. Keep in mind what I said, and go over the plans again. I’ll see you Saturday.” He turned, took a few steps, and stopped. He didn’t look at me. “Thanks for saving my life.”

I knew him well enough to realize that when Nathan got choked up, his accent grew thicker. It was almost impossible to understand his next words.

“And maybe after we get you and Ziggy out, you’ll tell me how you liked the drawing.”

When I returned to my room, I pulled the sketch from its hiding place. After the party, I’d have to tell him it didn’t look anything like me. Because the woman on the page was a completely different person. Things used to happened to her.

This person was about to make things happen.

Making things happen proved to be more difficult than I expected. Cyrus was increasingly moody, constantly fretting over the impending fete and his seemingly permanent houseguests. A huge part of my plan to help Ziggy hinged on my ability to manipulate Cyrus, but it was hard to manipulate someone when they wouldn’t talk to you. Saturday loomed like impending death. I grew desperate, and not just because my plan might fall through.

As sick and dishonest as it seemed, I wanted to spend one last day with him. It was a death wish, considering how adept he was at reading my mind, but he either had been too busy to uncover my deception yet, or he had figured it out and was waiting to punish me for it at a more convenient time. For reasons I wasn’t willing to explore, I would risk being found out for just a few more hours with him, even after he’d made me feel so…used.

Eventually I decided that if I were to get myself back into Cyrus’s good graces, I’d have to take the first step. Friday morning, I went to his bed without an invitation. Dressed in a white silk nightgown I’d found in my wardrobe, my heart pounding so loudly I thought it would burst from my chest, I stared down the guards at his door.

When I entered his bedroom, I’d expected to find him with Dahlia or Ziggy, but he lounged on the bed beside a slender girl with blond hair. Her back was turned to me as they lay sideways across the bed, and one of her arms draped across Cyrus’s waist. He looked up with eyes of mismatched blue and the smile of a man who’d just learned he’d be having his favorite meal for dinner.

“I hope I’m not interrupting,” I said, surprised at the smoky sound of my voice. It must have been the sexy lingerie, or the perfume, or the makeup, because I was really getting into character.

Cyrus gave the girl a kick. Instead of scrambling to her feet and rushing from the room, she fell limply to the floor at the foot of the bed. Her head lolled to the side on her broken neck, and I saw her missing eye.

I almost turned back. No. Do what you came here to do.

I called over my shoulder for the guards and they stepped through the open door. I gestured to the dead girl, trying not to look too revolted as they carried her away. “I didn’t want an audience.”

“She was boring, anyway. Kept crying about wanting to go home.” He leaned up on one arm. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”

I approached him slowly, trailing my hands across the silk that covered my stomach, my breasts, then the bare skin over my collarbones. “I’ve missed you.”

Suspicion clouded his eyes. “I thought you didn’t like me very much. Those were your words, were they not?”

“Maybe I don’t like you. I might just be here for sex.” My body throbbed at the thought.

I looked down the length of his body and saw he was just as hungry for me, despite his previous encounter. “You want something more, I can tell.”

I stepped to the edge of the bed, ignoring the blood on the carpet at my feet. “Maybe I do.”

He smiled, flashing the tips of his fangs, which had not yet retracted since his feeding. The vampiric feature in his otherwise normal face made him seem more dangerous than usual. “Is this something I can give you?”

I feigned helplessness. “I don’t know. It could be.”

“Everything comes at a price, Carrie.” He sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed.

Taking a deep breath, I hiked my nightgown above my knees with one hand and gently pushed him to the bed with the other. I straddled him, lifting the silk to my waist, and guided his erection into my body.

He moaned and I gasped as I sank down his cold length. I lifted my hips, letting him slip almost completely out, and pressed my throat to his mouth.

The change came over him almost immediately as he pierced my neck. I forced myself to concentrate on the feeling of him inside me, the sensations that made my head swim, so he wouldn’t see the true reason for the favor I would ask.

Or the pain that suddenly knifed through my heart.

This would be the last time we’d be together. I don’t know why it bothered me so much. I blamed all the feelings I had for him on the blood tie. But maybe that blame had been misplaced. Maybe I really did care for him. But the decision had already been made. I’d promised Nathan, and I had a duty to protect Ziggy. There was no changing my mind now. If I grieved for Cyrus in the end, it would be my burden to bear.

I rose on my knees, letting just the tip of him rest against me. He strained up from the bed, trying to reenter me. I made a move to get off him completely, and he stopped fighting.

“You’re trying to hide from me,” he whispered, leaning up to run his tongue over the scar he’d created on my neck. “But you aren’t strong enough. I can see what you want. Say it.”

My hands shook as I stroked his hair back from his forehead. Was this a trick? How much did he really see? “I want to choose who the Soul Eater gets.”

His body went still at the words, and for a moment, I thought he would turn me down. Or worse, reveal that he’d seen through my ruse and kill me on the spot.

Wrapping his powerful arms around me, he flipped me onto my back and filled me in one, brutal thrust. “Whatever my princess wants.”

I suppose I should have felt like a total whore at this moment, but my relief was so overwhelming I almost laughed. I threw my head back and surrendered to the feeling of my sire’s hands on me, his cock filling me. When I came, I shouted so loud I was sure I’d woken the entire household.

Cyrus finished soon after, collapsing on top of me with a smile.

“Saturday will be a night to remember,” he rasped against my cheek.

A tear fell from my eye.

You have no idea.