Ashes to Ashes-Blood Ties 3 (30 page)

Nathan glanced up from his notebook and I leaned over the spell book. In the margin, in cramped, tiny handwriting, Dahlia had added: "For forging the 'sword' (born vampire). Used on Cyrus. No effect. Used on blond vampire. No effect. Needs work."

"What is it?" Nathan asked, coming to stand in the doorway. Nausea gripped my stomach as I continued to read.

"Perhaps it will work in cross-species breeding, human-to-vampire or vampire-to-werewolf." Cyrus's voice was hoarse. "She used this on me?"

Nathan frowned at the writing, scrubbing a hand over his face. "There are definite fertility elements to the spell. It looks like she was trying to make exactly what it says, a born vampire."

"She used it on Cyrus. The other vampire… I bet that was Max." My thoughts spun faster and faster, rushing to a horrible conclusion I knew I didn't want to reach. Nathan shook his head, forehead still creased in concentration. "It says here it didn't work. But… oh."

Bile rose in my throat. "It didn't work because she was a vampire, too. But she gave it to Max."

Max. Bella. Her unexplained fatigue and carsickness.

But it wasn't carsickness at all.

Bella was pregnant.

Chapter Sixteen: Vitality

They arrived in Danvers the night before the full moon.

"You're not going to go all, you know—" he gave a mocking, horror movie version of a wolf's howl "—are you?"

"Max, imagine if I behaved that way toward your customs and traditions," Bella admonished, grabbing her bag from the car.

"You do! You hate vampires." He slammed the trunk closed and followed her inside. The place was pretty standard—two beds, a television with bolted-down remote, a sink outside the bathroom for no reason that made sense. But if anything could be said for the East Coast, at least their cheap roadside motels were clean.

Bella began unpacking. He'd only ever seen her remove clean underwear and a toothbrush from her bag, but apparently it held all manner of interesting things. Like a studded collar and wire cable leash.

"Nice," he said, following it up with a whistle. "So, am I the submissive or… "

"It is not for sex." She looped the lead through a double ring on the front of the collar. "It is to keep me restrained tomorrow night."

"I thought you could force yourself not to change. That it was some sort of code of your… people." Still, he found himself scanning the room for a place to hook the leash.

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After a long moment, she answered. "It is our code not to harm humans. But there are other factors. I may not be able to keep from changing. I am under much stress."

"I get it." Max cut her off. He didn't want to hear her tell him again that they were as good as dead. "So, will you recognize me or will you rip me to shreds?"

"I do not know." She lifted one shoulder in an elegant shrug. "If I did attack you, I would not eat you. Vampires taste terrible."

"That's a comfort." If being maimed could be considered a comfort. She reached into the bag and withdrew a vial. "Just in case I am unmanageable, you can use this."

He took the bottle, examining the shimmering blue liquid inside. "A sedative?"

"Something like that." She gripped the radiator and gave it a tug. When it creaked, she shook her head. "Perhaps I should attach this to the leg of the bed. I will probably succeed in moving it, but it will not cause structural damage we would have to pay for."

"There's another comfort." He slipped the vial into his front pocket. "In the event I do need to give you the night-night drug, how do I get it into you? I mean, are you going stop being a crazed werewolf long enough to swallow it?" She knelt on the floor and slipped the bar of a thick padlock around the leg of the bed. Attaching the looped end of the cable, she snapped the lock shut with an ominous click.

"No. You will have to feed it to me in something."

"Like giving a dog a pill in a piece of cheese." He smiled, to show he was half joking.

"I do not like cheese. I am fond of orange juice." She paused for a moment, her palms coming to rest on the front of her jacket, but she forced them down. Her expression grave, she put her hands into his. "Promise you will only use it if I become a danger. I am a very calm wolf, but we all have the potential for fury. Especially under the circumstances. The potion is very powerful, and I do not want to be incapacitated by an overdose."

"Fair enough." He eyed the lead in his hand. "You know, since you might be a wolf for, what? Is it three nights with you guys? We should put this to good use." With a low, playful growl, she moved closer to him. Then she stopped. Her body tensed.

"Bella?"
Oh God. Not again
.

Before he could complete the thought, Max flew backward, propelled by an evil wind that seemed to come through the walls. Nothing else moved—the curtains didn't even stir—but Bella rose slowly from the floor, her head tipping back. Her mouth fell open, blood dribbling from her lips as the Oracle spoke through her. "Bring the weapon to me!"

"You want a weapon? I'll bring you a weapon, you crazy bitch!" He reached into his back pocket for the stake there, then remembered it was Bella, not the Oracle, he would kill if he used it.
How did she get so far into my head
? The thought of what he'd been about to do sickened him, but there was no way to retaliate against the power that was destroying Bella.

"Bring the weapon to me!" the voice raged from Bella's throat. Then, as quickly as it had come over her, the Oracle's power was gone. Bella dropped in a heap on the floor, lay still for a moment, then snapped up, her eyes cold with hatred.

Max stepped warily toward her. "Bella, is that you?"

"It is me," she gasped, choking up more blood. "She is here. She has people here. They know we are coming."

He scrubbed a hand over his face, hating that his hand was trembling. "You rest. I'll keep

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watch. And I'll call Nathan, see if he got any information on reinforcements."

"No." She shook her head, drawing herself up slowly. "No. I will not wait for them to come after us. Get back in the car."

"Bella," he began, ready for a fight. He walked toward her, and she was on her feet before he reached her, brandishing a stake.

She leveled the point in front of his chest. "Get back in the car."

Max kept one eye on the road and one on Bella as she leaned out the car window, scenting the air. For the first time, he was tempted to snap at a passenger for not wearing a seat belt. She was hanging way too far-out.

When had he become so like Marcus? If this was what love did to someone, no wonder Max had avoided it for so long.

"Are you getting anything?" he asked, gripping the steering wheel tighter, as if that would hold her in. If she fell and broke her neck, he'd kill her.

She slipped into her seat again, thank God, but didn't buckle up. "Turn at the next available right."

"The next available right is a dirt two track." He leaned forward. "Or less."

"That is where you must go." She wrinkled her nose. "I smell vampires."

"How many?" The last thing he needed was to drive into an ambush, though it seemed too late for regrets as he steered the car onto the dirt path. "There are things I need to know before we get there."

She shrugged. "There were many. Now, there is only one distinct scent. Two, three at most."

"One is still a possibility?" He downshifted, wincing at the scrape of the rutted road against the undercarriage of the vehicle.

"Of course. Better to be prepared for more, though." She reached into the back seat and pulled two stakes from Max's supply. "May I?"

"Help yourself. What happened to yours?" Max leaned forward. The windshield had begun to fog, a phenomenon he hadn't had to deal with since he'd become a vampire. Mortal passengers were such a pain in the ass. He rubbed the glass clear with his forearm.

"They are in the trunk. I have everything else. Holy water, my crossbow—" He shushed her. "Is that it?"

Ahead, a ramshackle cabin with two windows and a bowed porch stood at the place where the track ended. Bella rolled down the window and sniffed, then gave a short nod. Max raised his hand and lifted three fingers. She shook her head and replied with one finger. One vampire. No problem. Breathing a sigh of relief, Max eased the car door open. He didn't close it once he was outside. No sense in letting the poor sap know they were there.

Bella retrieved her weapons from the back seat and followed suit, waving to signal he should follow her.

Like hell he was going to let her charge in there unprotected. He jogged ahead, grabbed her shoulder and used her moment of surprise to push her behind him. He heard her cluck her tongue in annoyance, and he held up his hand for quiet.

The steps to the cabin were damp and broken, and probably prone to squeaking. Max placed one foot on the first step, his face frozen in a preemptive wince as he anticipated a

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loud creak, or worse, the whole thing splintering under his weight. When it didn't, he motioned Bella forward.

The porch was only about four feet wide. The sagging roof didn't allow for much vertical clearance, and Max had to stoop. The door to the cabin didn't even have a handle. A beam of light projected from the hole where the knob used to be.

Are they making it easy on purpose?
He pushed aside the feeling he and Bella were walking into a trap, and gave her a thumbs-up. When she replied in kind, he kicked the door in.

If he'd had any doubts they'd found the right place, they vanished the second they stepped inside. The furniture in the tiny room consisted of a kitchen table, a rusty utility sink, a minirefrigerator and a dirty cot with a stained pillow. A lone figure sat at the table, hunched over with his head in his hands.

"I knew you were coming," He lifted his bald head, and Max saw the man's eyes were ringed with dark circles.

"Are you a vampire?" Max asked calmly, pulling a stake from his back pocket. The man nodded.

"What's your name?" He weighed the wood in his palm. The tiny voice in the back of his head that always popped up during moments like this sing-songed
That could be you
. The vampire at the table resumed his slouched posture. "Ford Prefect."

"Ford Prefect?"
Odd name
. "Well, then, Ford Prefect, by order of the Voluntary Vampire Extinction Movement—"

"That is not his name," Bella said quietly from behind him. When he gave her a questioning glance, she shrugged. "It is the name of a character from
The Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Galaxy.
" As if in defense, she added, "I like to read." It took him a minute to get the flow back, but Max managed. "Oh, I get it, you think you're going to smart off to me and go out like a real badass, huh?"

"More or less." The vampire leaned back in his chair, trying—and failing—to affect nonchalance. He had a ring through the center part of his nose and he toyed with it, sliding it back and forth between his fingers.

"Well, nice try, but—" The thunk of the crossbow releasing a bolt cut Max off. The projectile sliced through the air, sinking deep into the vampire's shoulder. He screamed, and Max rounded on Bella. "What the hell was that?"

"A clean shot with the intent to maim." She reached to the quiver at her back and pulled out another bolt, snapping it in place and cranking the handle as if nothing was amiss.

"We're supposed to get information from him, not kill him outright!" Max grabbed the bow and jerked it from her grasp, and the bolt snapped free, whizzing past his ear to embed in the dirty wall.

"I will get our information," Bella said, rolling her eyes. "Perhaps you should try to not kill
yourself
outright."

"Oh, I'll try not to kill myself outright." Somehow, repeating her remark with added sarcasm didn't come off with the bite he'd hoped it would. He tossed the bow aside, cursing himself as she stalked toward their prey, her braid snapping lethally behind her. She leaned over the groaning vampire and grasped the end of the arrow, giving it a sharp tug. When he howled, she said, "Oh, I am sorry. Did that hurt?"

"Fuck you, bitch!" He spat at her, but she dodged it.

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With a twist of her wrist, the vampire was screaming again. "You should be more polite to the person holding your life in her hands. Will you be more polite?" There was a litany of curses, and she responded with a downward jerk of the arrow. "It would not be in your best interests to bring this wood closer to your heart." The vampire went deathly still. He raised his hands. "I don't know anything. Why would I know anything? Do I look connected? I don't even have a phone." Bella's eyes darted around the room. They widened and she nodded toward the minifridge.