Blood Ties Read online

  “Watchmen, we think,” Ezra said, inspecting them.

  Robin peered at the vampires. “What’s wrong with them?”

  “Broken necks,” Reykon muttered. “They’ll wake up soon.”

  “Goody,” Robin said with a sigh. She was thankful about the vampires, even if it meant publicly destroying them in front of the crowd here. The gunshot had healed, but had left her drained, feeling like a weak human. She wondered absentmindedly if she’d always felt like this during her human life, and hadn’t known anything different until she’d felt power, true power and strength, thrumming underneath her skin.

  A few moments of tense silence passed before Hugo leaned forward and spoke. “How does it work, this power of yours?”

  Robin turned slightly, holding her hands out. “I can channel the power that’s running through vampires. It has something to do with these birthmarks, but I don’t really know how it works. When all the essence has been drained from a vampire, they revert to a human form, no matter how old they are.”

  The vampires were stiff as they nodded slowly, exchanging side glances with one another.

  “I can also transfer energy into beings,” Robin murmured, her eyes snapping to Harley, who nodded to her.

  “You can increase their strength?” another royal asked.

  “Supposedly, but I’ve never tried it on a vampire.”

  “Then, who have-”

  The vampires twitched, coming back to consciousness, the bruises on their necks gone entirely. A hush fell over the room and Robin felt heat creep up her neck, her cheeks, as she realized they were all watching her, waiting for her to show her talents, inspecting her like she was a shiny new weapon.

  A weapon. As much as that had scared her at first, she’d grown to accept her new role, and it even brought her comfort. Especially knowing that she’d caused Fausta enough fear to send an assassin in after her. Just as the vampire’s confused, frantic eyes centered on her, she thrust her hand out.

  Normally, she had to be touching them for anything to happen. She could feel a vampire from far away, but there had to be skin to skin for energy transfer to occur. Maybe it was because she needed the energy in a bad, bad way, or maybe it was because she was getting stronger, but she locked onto the vampire’s fire from across the room, and a tendril of gold, glimmering fog shot out, barely visible at first. Robin’s eyes widened at it, as she felt that energy slip into her body and strengthen her, make her powerful again. She watched the sheen return to her skin, watched the birthmarks pulse deep red orange, like lava and fire, all boiling inside of her. The vampire quaked, rigid, writhing on the ground, blood pouring from his nose and mouth. Just before she knew it was done, she felt a jolt break the line, and stumbled, crashing into Reykon. A chorus of panicked shouts filled the room and Robin shot up, feeling revitalized after the energy draw. “What happened?” she asked sharply, looking at the huddle of vampires around her.

  “Why would you touch it?” one of them snapped.

  “Let me through,” Robin barked, barging forward.

  One of the vampire heirs was on the ground, shaking, clutching something mangled to his chest. Robin’s eyes widened as she realized that it was his hand.

  “He’s not healing!” Hugo roared. “Why is he not healing?”

  They all looked to Robin. “What did you do?” one of the royals snapped at her.

  “I didn’t do anything!” she threw back, walking forward and kneeling next to the vampire. “This stuff’s volatile. The only things that can contain it are me and those pretty rock jars, and if it gets out, then we have another Sedona crater on our hands. Why the hell would he…?” she began, looking at the wretch on the ground. She let out a sharp breath and then shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. Let me try...”

  “What are you doing?” the royal asked sharply.

  “I’m seeing if I can help. Unless you have a better idea, because he’s bleeding out,” Robin said with an icy tone. They glanced to the mangled stump, still leaking blood, not even healing at all. Ezra carried the vampire’s body over, as though it were a feather, and dropped it next to her. The man moaned, his eyes rolling underneath their lids. Right before Robin started, she cast a warning glance to the vampires staring over her. “Nobody touch it this time, okay?” she said with a searing tone.

  Robin concentrated, pulling the last bit of energy out of the man, until he wretched, convulsing on the ground next to her as blood started pouring out of him. Fire wrestled inside of her and she drew it to the surface, placing her hand over the vampire heir’s and letting a little bit out, containing it and transferring it into him. For a moment, he went rigid, his eyes wide, and then he started screaming as though she’d seared his body with her touch. Robin scrambled back as he thrashed, clutching at his chest and then doubling over.

  Her breath came in short pants and she felt a hand on her shoulder, pulling her back. She whipped around just in time to see Darian’s warning glance. He stepped in front of her, along with Harley. Reykon closed in on the other side, and she peered between their shoulders, trying to see what had happened. When the screaming stopped, the vampire caught his breath and pushed himself up, eyes wide in terror. He held out his hand, perfectly healed, and let his gaze slip to Robin.

  Harley and Darian relaxed, taking a step to the side, and Robin felt a sigh of relief escape her. “Okay, dumbass, learned your lesson?” she muttered.

  The vampire swallowed hard, manic, feral eyes turning to Chadwick and Dawn. Reykon quirked his head to the side, a lightning fast motion, and stepped in front of the casters with his abilities already rising to the surface. “Don’t,” Reykon commanded, his voice like an axe.

  The royal vampire clapped an iron grip on the heir’s shoulder, yanking him backward. “Stop it!” the vampire hissed, slamming his heir against the wall.

  “What’s going on?” Robin whispered harshly.

  Darian didn’t even turn back, his eyes tracking the heir, as he responded. “Trevor has lost a significant amount of blood.”

  Ezra kicked the recently turned human on the floor, still laying in a puddle of his own blood. “Can vampires drink from a… well, what is the term for these victims?”

  Robin felt a shiver at the word victim but shoved it down. Now, surrounded by anger royals, was not the time to show anything but steely calm and intimidating power. Once again, their burning red eyes turned to her. She shrugged, lifting her hands up. “I don’t know.”

  “You’re the conduit,” a royal said.

  “I’ve only been a conduit for three months. A year ago I was working part-time for a graphic design firm and I had no clue you all even existed. How the hell should I know?”

  “I suppose it is your choice, then,” Ezra said to her.

  She let her eyes fall to the lump of a man on the ground and shrugged. “What about ex-vampire? Short, sweet, to the point.”

  “I like it. So can vampires drink from an ex-vampire?” Reykon asked.

  “Let him loose,” Chadwick suggested.

  The royal vampire holding his heir back gave them a sour look, but decided to acquiesce, loosening his hold slightly, just as Darian interjected. “Out there, please,” he said, ticking his head to the door.

  The royal nodded and dragged his heir by the shoulder, an iron grip on him as he snapped his jaws at the more human individuals in the room. Ezra dragged the ex-vampire out to the hall, the door closing with a thud. Then, the noises began, and she realized why Darian had separated them. Robin’s eyes widened, a shiver racking her whole body as she realized the fate of the newly made human. She had to remind herself that he was one of Fausta’s soldiers, and that every one of them that she took out was a child on their side that would survive.

  Robin swallowed hard and turned to the other vampire, who’d woken up and was now writhing in the grip of another royal. She could tell just by extending her hand that he was older, that he had more energy to give, roiling like a star within him. “Chadwick, you want
to try this out?” she asked, shooting him a questioning glance.

  He shrugged, nodding. “Can’t hurt, right?”

  “Clearly it can,” another vampire muttered bitterly.

  “Not helpful,” Reykon shot back.

  Robin ignored their bickering and drew in a long breath. “Alright, any ideas, caster?”

  He shook his head and slipped his other hand into hers. “Your guess is as good as any. I suppose just leave the channel open and I’ll attempt to use you as a focus.”

  “Right on,” Robin muttered, starting the draw of energy. The vampire holding Fausta’s soldier eyed the slim line of golden energy, delicate as it floated in tendrils towards her and slipped through her body, pulsing across her birthmarks. Robin closed her eyes, letting instinct guide her actions. After taking a long draw from the vampire, she released him and looked. He was trembling, slumped down, but still spitting mad at her.

  “You bitch!” the man shrieked, too exhausted to even break the vampire’s hold. A stream of blood trickled from his nose, only a few drops.

  Robin ignored him and let the energy stay close to the surface, dancing like lightning underneath her fingertips, until she felt a different sensation. This one was cold, like ice water suffusing through her. Part of her wondered if it was what others experienced being on the receiving end of her abilities, but the other part was fascinated as she saw the amulet around Chadwick’s neck glow, brighter and brighter, his fingers dancing with power, until she heard a snap and the connection broke.

  “No way,” Chadwick breathed, beaming with a massive grin.

  “What?” she asked quickly. “What happened?”

  “You broke my focus,” he muttered, eyes wide in amazement.

  “That’s bad, right?”

  “No. That means that your energy boost was so potent that it snapped my little charm in two. That means that we have enough power to do whatever the hell we want, and then some. I mean… this is a gamechanger. Entirely.”

  A small smile broke out across Robin’s face. “Awesome.”

  Darian stepped forward. “Chadwick. Instruct Dawn and the other naturalists to get you whatever materials you need, discreetly. Prepare for teleportation - whatever you think may come in handy for this battle, and prepare Robin a disguise. A strongblood, perhaps. Midnight is upon us and we must reconvene in the war room, as a whole house, to prepare for the upcoming battle.”

  Lucidia

  She watched the mass exodus of people filter out of the great hall, going back to their posts or trying to prepare for a siege any way they could. Zane walked beside her, keeping pace even though he could easily zoom ahead in the blink of an eye.

  They entered the war room to find it packed, every seat filled and important members standing around the fringes, looking at the center table and muttering to each other in groups. She found Reykon sitting next to another strongblood, whom she’d never seen before. She knew he wouldn’t be here if Robin wasn’t okay, so she must have been recovering in the catacombs. Two chairs were pulled out for them and she sat, glancing around once more until she felt someone touch her head. She whipped around to see Zane lower his hand and shot him a questioning glare. “You had a twig in your hair,” he said with a slim smile, eyes glimmering at her.

  Lucidia’s lips pressed into a thin line, which seemed to amuse him further. She crossed her arms and turned, facing the rest of the room, catching Darian’s lingering gaze and the corner of his slight smile, the amusement subtle but obvious. She narrowed her eyes and settled into the chair, waiting for the meeting to start. When everybody had filtered in, Darian took his seat, his face grave. “Friends, subjects, brothers and sisters,” he began, folding his hands on the table in front of him, “We have come to the day of reckoning.” A silence slipped into the room, thick and heavy as every vampire master, strongblood, and subject heading up a sector of the army stood in anticipation of the coming carnage. “We must now speak of our plans for the attack. Fausta has the numbers, but we have the home territory. She may have wolves, but thanks to the support of our allies, we have weapons that will mow the wolves down with a single strike.”

  Hugo shook his head, a bitter scowl on his face. “Guns are not ideal for such a war.”

  Darian nodded. “There are many things that are not ideal. Guns will take away our ability to hear for vast distances, yes, but the wolves will crowd us and separate our formations unless they are stopped at the front line.”

  “What is the plan?” Percival asked. “Surely she doesn’t mean to storm the castle… House Albus has the most intricate defense system of all the strongholds.”

  “Because Fausta implanted spies in our ranks during the flood of refugees, we must prepare for any number of possibilities. It is possible that she has cleared a way into the castle that nobody knows about. It also may be the case that she plans to drive us out of the castle by some means. Or, perhaps she will goad us into dividing forces between the field and the walls. When the battle begins, we will be prepared for all avenues.”

  “She will flaunt her vampires, now that the weapon has been destroyed,” a general muttered, rubbing his forehead. “Robin’s presence was a significant advantage that we have lost.”

  Lucidia’s eyebrows crept together. She knew that her sister was alive, but she’d lost touch with them while she’d taken care of the werewolves. She wasn’t sure when Darian was planning on the big reveal, but there was only so much longer he could wait.

  Darian stood. “Cover the windows,” he said to a vampire servant. A flurry of movement shuffled, until the massive evergreen curtains drew together, concealing them entirely. “Everyone in this room has either been with me from before the war or has been strictly vetted as a truthful supporter. We may speak freely now. I know that our situation seems grim, but this, while concerning, is a good thing.”

  A wave of murmurs rumbled throughout the room and Darian continued.

  “If the situation seems downtrodden to us, if we seem nervous and concerned and on edge for the upcoming fight, imagine how much more Fausta is rejoicing. She will gloat over a victory that she has not even begun to claim. She thinks she has taken our most fierce advantage. She thinks she has knocked us prone, and the killing blow will be one of ease. But she is sorely mistaken.”

  Darian outstretched his hand, gesturing to the strongblood sitting next to Reykon. Lucidia scowled even deeper, narrowing her eyes at the woman. No way… she thought. The strongblood stood and pulled off a simple metal ring, placing it on the table in front of her. In an instant, the magical façade dissolved around her, leaving her sister shimmering in gold and red, like a ferocious lion. She looked good. Really good. A commotion broke out across the room, some vampires that she didn’t even realize could move their faces anymore smiling and clapping. Like a switch, the tense, dismal mood in the room flipped. Spirits seemed to soar, to ignite, and even Lucidia found a grin dancing on her lips.

  Robin drew in a deep breath. “I’ve never really given a speech before,” she said with a breathy laugh. “Especially not like this. In fact, I don’t really know anything about sieges, or fighting, or wars. We didn’t have that in suburban America, where I grew up. But I was raised to help others. I was raised to stand up to bullies, and I was raised to know that innocent bystanders are accomplices if they choose to just stand by. So I’m here, and I don’t know how all this energy stuff works, but every day I’m learning something new. I mean, just a couple of months ago, after House Demonte, the whole world thought that I killed vampires…”

  A chorus of nods and whispers raced across the room.

  “Then, we learned that I turn them into humans. And then we learned that I can do much, much more than that. You were all told that I was a weapon, that I was an object. But I’m a person, a person with a lot of power, and the unique ability to share it with all of you.” She turned her crystal blue eyes to Darian and gave him a nod. “The talisman.”

  Darian’s eyebrows drew together slightly, b
ut after a moment’s hesitation, he took off the magical amulet and let it pool on the table in front of him. The entire room seemed to suck in a breath, and Lucidia’s own eyes widened slightly. She knew exactly what that amulet did, and she knew that the careful master, the cautious one, normally wouldn’t be caught dead without it. Robin turned to Ezra and gave him a nod, beckoning him forward. With him, he dragged a vampire that had been chained up, a bag over his head. Blood spread on the canvas bag, and Ezra ripped it off to reveal a bedraggled vampire, weakened and pathetic.

  “This is one of Fausta’s agents,” Robin said, her voice soaring to the upper reaches of the room. “This is one of the soldiers that we’ll be faced with on the battlefield. Between you and me, I’m hoping she sends every vampire she has, because as soon as they get close to us, she’ll realize that they’re just cannon fodder for our ranks.”

  The vampires and subjects in the room scowled, looking with complete curiosity as Robin raised a hand to the vampire prisoner. She was about five feet away, but a steady stream of golden energy materialized in the distance between them, sending a pulse of light through Robin’s birthmarks, making them glow with ferocity and power. Her skin shimmered with the draw, the potential, and just as quickly as she’d begun, she broke the link and the vampire shuddered into a pile on the ground. A single glance confirmed that his fangs were still intact, his vampiric essence not drained entirely.

  Holy shit, Robin, Lucidia thought, admiring her sister, shining like a goddess. Or maybe Joan of Arc. She’d mastered the art of control and was exuding confidence like none other.

  “Every vampire that Fausta sends our way will be crushed, wielded against her, through me, to all of you. Every vampire you see on the field tonight will be a blessing sent from the queen bitch herself, to fortify our own people. To fortify you.” Robin extended her hand, letting it hover in the air between her and Darian, until he nodded solemnly and took it.

  The entire room flinched as Darian Xander did, buckling to his knees with a groan of pain. Lucidia’s own heart started hammering; if Robin screwed this up, there wouldn’t be a single force on this planet that could protect them from the individuals in the room, watching the whole thing play out. The lights in the room flickered, seeming to dim slightly, and then Lucidia’s heart did a backflip in her chest as Darian rose and regarded the room. She’d seen Darian in his most intimidating form. She’d seen it three times before, the most recent one not that long ago in Clotho’s death cave.