Blood Ties (7 page)

“Find me a female. Keep her alive.”

That voice. A man’s voice. It came from her mouth, yet it wasn’t her mouth. And it wasn’t her voice. Although vaguely familiar, she couldn’t quite place it. She’d heard it before, but the answer to the owner’s identity was trapped in the dark corners of her mind, just out of reach.

Moving with inhuman speed, she searched through the fatally wounded bodies.

For a female.

An arrow grazed her skin but with a swipe of her tongue, the puncture quickly healed. She turned so fast, her image blurred. With lightning reflexes, she thrust her arm out and closed her hand over a young soldier’s neck. The wooden-tipped arrow poised at his shoulder, an arrow meant for her heart, fell to the ground with a clunk as she tightened her hand around his windpipe. With the utmost ease, she lifted him in the air. It gave her great joy to see him flail helplessly, his arms and legs struggling to grasp on to something as he fought for his last breath. The melodic sound of his bones crunching whipped through her blood like a powerful aphrodisiac. Her lips peeled back as her incisors descended. Had her hands not been closed around the soldier’s throat, she would have touched her sharp fangs to verify they were indeed real. Craving the fluid rushing through the soldier, she brought his body to her and sank her teeth into the blue protruding vein of his throat. The taste of warm metallic blood helped assuage the hunger in her. She drank and drank, greedily draining him until her own body had its fill. Once sated, she let his corpse fall into a lifeless lump with all the others.

A wide-eyed man, panting for his next breath, came forward to stand before her. He lowered his head. “Grayson,” he said, as though waiting for permission to speak.

Grayson?

Oh God! She knew that name and suddenly recognized the voice coming from her mouth. As reality dawned on her, the pieces fell into place. Panic raced through her as she sorted the information. She now understood why the dream felt different. Because she was seeing it through Grayson’s eyes. She was in his head, in his body, feeling his thoughts and his desires. But how? Why? None of this made sense. She tried to shake it off, to wake up, to get out of his body and into her own, but her efforts proved futile.

Watching helplessly through Grayson’s eyes, Grayson took a step closer to the man before her. The small, breathless man shifted, obviously nervous, knowing he was about to bear the brunt of Grayson’s rage. His fangs scraped his bottom lip as he anxiously glanced around, looking anywhere and everywhere but at Grayson.

“Speak.” The hardness in Grayson’s voice forced the other man to rush on.

“The Nallie are all dead and only a handful of our kind have survived the attack. There are too many soldiers to fight. We need to leave here now, and go back to Sayton while we still can.”

Feeling Grayson’s emotions as though they were her own, anger poured through her veins faster than the blood she’d just devoured. “No.” Grayson grabbed the man’s neck. “Find me a female! We do not leave here until you have found one. Do you understand?”

When Grayson let go of the man’s neck, he scurried away, never once looking back.

As the battle ensued, Grayson moved forward, searching. He would not let a weaker species destroy what he had spent decades creating. He
would
find another female and breed her with his men. He
would
recreate the powerful Nallie breed again. Only this time, he’d rein in his patience, give it more time, create a stronger army and be better prepared. Then he’d come back and finish what he’d started. He’d invade Earth, kill all its inhabitants and take over the rich planet once and for all. Humans would indeed pay for killing his kind and forcing them from the planet centuries ago.

Off in the distance, his supersensory hearing picked up the sound of a baby crying. He bolted through the battlefield and concentrated on the location. Branches sliced his flesh as he trekked into the surrounding forest. Ignoring the sting, he rushed forward, pushing past thick trees and brush. Wild animals scattered and cried out in warning as birds of prey took to the sky.

The sound of the cries grew louder. He concentrated on the location until he closed the distance. The small child lay beside its dead mother. Grayson recognized the mother. She was Nallie. Hope stirred in his veins.

“Hush, little one.” He bent down and scooped the infant into his arms. As though sensing his commanding presence, the child abruptly ceased crying. Stomach down, he placed the small body on his knee and ripped open the back of her cotton shirt. A black
X
had been branded into her flesh, just below the shoulder blade.

A wide smile stretched across his mouth. For he had found exactly what he’d been looking for. The creator of a new breed.

Dari watched the action through Grayson’s eyes. Her heart leapt in her throat at the sight of the
X
. A cold shiver raced down her spine. She instinctively knew that baby he held in his arms was her.

Grayson stood and lifted her in the air, rejoicing his glory. The baby whimpered. Then out of nowhere an arrow went zinging past his head, embedding itself deep into the flesh of the child he held in his arms. The whimpering stopped as the arrow lodged in the baby’s heart.

Unable to relive the pain all over again, Dari jolted awake in a bed that was not hers. Her pulse thrummed in her ears as her heart crashed against her chest. She wiped the perspiration from her forehead and looked around, attempting to orientate herself but nothing, except the two men who flanked her bedside, appeared familiar. Asleep in a chair to her right, she found Ayden, the man who had saved her from Grayson. To the left of her she spotted Mikel, propped up in a chair. Her gaze moved over his body. His head rested against a cushion, his eyes closed, his chest rising and falling in a slow motion as he, too, slept. Her entire body responded to him with every fiber of her being. Everything in her screamed out to touch him, to claim him. Emotions whipped through her blood as her heart turned and tightened. The connection, the pull between them was as powerful in the real world as it was in her dreams.

She pinched her eyes shut, and then opened them again. Perhaps this was just a dream? Blinking her eyes back into focus, she perused her surroundings once more. Nothing had changed. How could this all be real?

When she found her fingers trembling, she linked them together and drew deep fortifying breaths. How? Why? How could Mikel exist outside her dream world?

Pushing past her fears, she quietly climbed from the bed and fought to make sense of it all. Her bare feet touched the cold stone floor. A chill rushed through her. She started to rise then stopped as a wave of dizziness took hold. Fingers combing her thick hair from her eyes, she waited until the lightheadedness passed. She dragged herself from the mattress and shook off the feeling of disorientation. The need for answers, to understand what was going on, propelled her forward.

Without making a sound she padded from the bedchamber and made her way into the hall. She cautiously glanced both ways before moving to the winding staircase. Hugging her thin linen dress to her cold body, she moved swiftly down the stairs. At the main landing, she turned her attention to the front door. She couldn’t escape. She had nowhere to go. No one to turn to, and the sun, it was too high in the sky. She also knew Grayson was out there somewhere, searching for her signal through his psychic connection to her. Everything inside her told her that Mikel, a man whom she still had a hard time fathoming, was more than simply her dream man, he was the epitome of strength and power and would protect her with his life. But why had he kept his real existence a secret, and only come to her in her sleep?

Shades had been pulled over all the windows blocking out the stinging rays of sun. She glanced into the massive rooms as she passed by the doors. One room, with rows and rows of books lining the walls, caught her attention. She moved inside the library and walked to the bookshelf searching for clues to her many unanswered questions. She studied the binding and was somewhat disturbed to discover how many books there were on vampire history. Her stomach churned. Dari fought off the shiver that threatened to make her body convulse.

She moved to the desk and glanced at what appeared to be some type of journal. The pages had yellowed with age. Pulling out a padded chair she sat down, turned her attention to the book and began reading.

Soon minutes turned into hours as she absorbed the information. Some passages had to be read a second or even a third time as her mind struggled to understand
what
she was. Finally, the pieces of the puzzle started to fall into place. The sunlight, the inhuman strength, the ability to feel things others couldn’t.

Why had all this information been kept from her? A rush of anger tore through her and fired her blood.

She didn’t need to turn around to know Mikel was there watching. She felt his presence long before he spoke. Her spine stiffened, her stomach knotted.

“Dari?”

With rage stirring her soul and urging her on, she swung her head around and came face to face with Mikel.

She clenched her jaw and worked to keep her voice steady. “It’s all real.” Her voice dripped with ice.

He glanced at the book before her and stepped farther into the room.

“It’s real,” she said again, as though repeating the words would help her come to terms with it all.

Mikel pulled a chair away from the wall, positioned it beside Dari and sat next to her. His hand reached out to comfort her. She noted how he touched her with fierce possessiveness. His hands were soft, comforting, drawing her into a cocoon of warmth. His caress worked some mysterious alchemy on her soul. Feeling her resolve begin to melt, she quickly recoiled and moved out of his reach. She needed answers. Needed to know why he would keep this from her.

She watched a muscle in his square jaw tighten. “Yes, Dari. It’s all real,” he replied soberly.

She gave an angry shake of her head. All along she had thought vampires were simply folklore. How foolish of her. Feeling emotionally battered, she lowered her gaze and spoke into the open book. “The dream, the baby, the battle.” She tipped her head up, slowly. Her eyes grew wide as she met his glance. “Grayson.”

“I’m sorry, Dari.”

His apology fueled her anger. “Sorry? You’re sorry. All this time you kept this knowledge from me and all you can say is you’re sorry. Why would you do that?” Dari stood up so abruptly her chair went flying backwards. Hugging herself to stave off a shiver, she paced the room.

“I had to keep it from you, Dari. For your own protection. Once you knew what you were, you would no longer be able to suppress the vampire in you. Eventually it would have grown stronger and you would have been detected. I watched over you and protected you the best I could from afar. But last night I must have stayed too long. I gave away your location, and I will never forgive myself for putting you in danger.”

Her mind suddenly filled with memories of being awakened by Wallis. She shook her head. “It wasn’t you, Mikel. It was Wallis, a new member of the commune. He knew what I was and sold me to Grayson.”

“Bastard,” Mikel cursed under his breath. “I’ll kill him.”

“It’s too late for that. Grayson has taken care of him already.” Dari swallowed the lump lodged in her throat. “You have no idea how lonely I’ve been, Mikel. How I longed to have a family, to be loved.”

Mikel stood and took two steps to close the distance. “I do know, Dari. I’ve spent my entire life as an outcast too, longing to love you the way you needed to be loved.” The fine lines bracketing his eyes alerted her to his weariness and to his own pain.

Her vision clouded as water pooled in her eyes. Her heart thudded erratically and her legs weakened beneath her. When she wobbled, his large hands spanned her waist and drew her close. Frustrated and confused, she lashed out at him, pounding her palms on his chest. “I should have been told, Mikel. I should have been told…” Her voice trailed off.

He held her, cradling her in his arms, letting her work her anger and frustration out on his chest. Once her energy drained, he took hold of her hands and placed them at her sides.

Thumbing her tears away, he tipped her chin and traced the pattern of her face. The minute she looked into his gentle eyes, her heart leapt with the love she felt for him. His touch exploded her senses and she found herself leaning into him. God, it felt so good to be held, really held for the first time.

He dropped a soft, tender kiss onto her forehead. This time she allowed her resolve to crumble. Her heart tightened and ached for him. As though moving of their own volition, her hands closed over his.

“And what about your protection, Mikel? You had the knowledge. Could you not have been detected?”

“Yes, it was possible. I took measures and equipped my castle walls with shields, but it was still possible.”

She sniffed, as her tears dried. “Why didn’t you bring me here? Why couldn’t we be together here, protected in your castle?”

His nostrils flared as he shook his head. “Because it is dangerous. Our signature is stronger when we are together, thus enhancing our chances of being found.”

She raised one brow and inquired, “And now, can we not be found?”

“Yes. We need to prepare for that.”

“How?”

He got quiet, thoughtful for a moment. A clear indication that he didn’t have the answer to her question.

She glanced at his desk, back at the book. “It says here when two mature Nallie join as one, body and soul, with their true soul mate, they are gifted with
special powers
.” Lifting her glance, she narrowed her eyes. “What special powers?”

As though he had every passage memorized, he walked back to the desk, keeping her anchored to his side, and turned the pages of the book. He pointed. “Here it says that some can shapeshift and some are gifted with exceptional strength.” When she opened her mouth, he answered her unasked question. “Greater strength than you have now, Dari.” She nodded in understanding and waited for him to continue. “There are even reports of some being able to move through crowds with such incredible speed, they can travel undetected. This is why the government set up a task force to kill our kind. We were nothing more than Grayson’s puppets put on Earth to do his bidding.”