The Bite That Binds Part 3

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 s.h.i.+eld 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 s.h.i.+eld, 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 s.e.x fiends. Scanning my eyes over them, I saw that they were fine, other than that Salem's s.h.i.+rt 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 s.p.a.ce 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 bas.e.m.e.nt all of which had a single barred gla.s.s 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 m.u.f.fled 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 gla.s.s, because she didn't notice any of us pa.s.sing.

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 Svente 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 b.a.s.t.a.r.ds 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 gla.s.s 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 gla.s.s. 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 s.h.i.+eld, 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 s.h.i.+elds. s.h.i.+t. 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 cras.h.i.+ng into the wall, killing them instantly. That same gust of wind should have sent the two vampires cras.h.i.+ng 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 p.i.s.sed 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 p.i.s.sed 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 Svente 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 p.r.o.ne to experiencing."

"Well that's great, but we'd like to know why the b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l 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 s.h.i.+ts 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 a.s.sured 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 f.u.c.kers." 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 c.o.c.ked 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 a.s.sured 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 f.u.c.king hunt you both down, and I will f.u.c.king 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. f.u.c.king. 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...s.h.i.+t, s.h.i.+t, s.h.i.+t!

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 s.h.i.+t 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 Svente-"

"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 f.u.c.king b.a.s.t.a.r.ds would never have-"

"Jared." I framed his face with my hands, seizing his gaze. "I know you're worried, and I know you're p.i.s.sed, 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 motherf.u.c.kers 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 f.u.c.k 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 Svente 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 f.u.c.king 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?"