Born in Chains
He rounded the bar. As she rose to her feet, she watched him slap another slab of cheese on yet another slice of bread and stuff the whole thing in his big fat mouth.
Damn vampire.
* * *
Adrien washed up the plates, packed up the fruit, cheese, and bread, all while Lily sat on her stool and glared at him.
He ignored her. He hoped he’d made his point that for all her complaints about his kind, she wanted him.
The trouble was, he ran hot for her as well, hotter than made any logical sense despite the blood-chains they shared. If she glared, he responded in kind, because the last thing he wanted was to desire his captor.
The chains, essentially, had become a nightmare of sensation. He felt worn out, and the hour was just a few minutes past midnight. And they still had work to do.
His brothers came to mind, his driving need to bust them out of that Himalayan hellhole. But how? If he failed to produce the extinction weapon, Daniel would have them killed, he was sure of it.
Even if he could find the damn thing, though, how could he ever turn a machine like that over to Daniel, the vampire without a conscience, the one who would sell his soul for just one more brick of gold?
His phone rang.
He reached into his pocket, pulled it out, and checked the screen. Rumy.
He thought for a moment, then answered, saying nothing.
“Adrien, you there?”
“Rumy.” He didn’t say anything more than that. He needed to hear the man’s voice, hear his inflection to determine the level of the man’s guilt. Had Rumy helped out at La Nuit?
He met Lily’s gaze. The glare had turned into a suspicious scowl, a perfect reflection of how he felt.
Rumy cleared his throat. “Hardesty just called. He’s still alive. I’ve sent a few visitors to his bar for what he just pulled on you, I want you to know that. He’ll be shut down for weeks.”
“Okay.”
“His bouncer’s dead. That might be payment enough for the incident.”
“I’m weeping in my beer, Rumy, big salty tears.”
Rumy laughed. “Just wanted you to know I had no hand in this.”
“I didn’t think so. You value your skin too much to make an enemy of me.”
“Don’t I know it. So, did Hardesty give up anything usable?”
“He mentioned a connection to one of the northern cavern systems, here in France. Know anything about it?”
“No, not really. You thinking about going up there?”
“Maybe. Not sure.” One of his favorite tribes lived in the northernmost system, called Trevayne, but he didn’t like the idea of introducing a human into their world. The more private cave tribes, usually located at a distance from human cities, lived quiet tribal existences with deep, layered shields to keep humans at bay, and essentially never allowed humans inside. They held more traditional values and often had a number of children in their midst, babes they protected with a vengeance.
If it weren’t for the chains, he’d head north right now, without taking Lily along, to see what he could dig up about the extinction weapon. The vampires who lived at Trevayne had inhabited that system a long time and probably knew every inch of the tunnels. If experiments had been done, any attempts made, secretly or otherwise, to concoct a killing machine, someone would know about it. There might even be evidence, or a lead to another location.
“I’ve been asking around,” Rumy said, “as casually as I can, about the weapon. If you do head up there, you need to see Sebastien. You know him, right?”
“I do. He’s a good man.”
“Word is, he was on the Council of Ancestrals fifty years ago when they shut the whole thing down. Unfortunately, that’s all I’ve got for you right now. But if I catch wind of anything, I’ll let you know. Is it true you’ve got a woman with you, a human, a tracker, and you’re blood-chain-bound?”
“No one’s business.”
“Understood. But there’s one more thing. You might have trouble with our fanatic element. A couple of my spies tell me those rumors are making the rounds as well—that there’s a hit out on you.”
No shit.
Adrien didn’t see any point in telling Rumy about the assassin who had already visited his apartment. Besides, the less real information out there, about him or about Lily, the better.
“Unless there’s anything else…” He let the words hang.
“Take care of that soft hide of yours, vampire.”
Adrien chuckled as he ended the call, returning his phone to his pants pocket.
“Soft hide?” Lily asked.
He glanced at her. “Wait, did you hear the entire phone call?”
“Sure. He was talking loud enough.”
“No. He wasn’t. Not for human ears.” Absently, he touched the chain at his neck. “How’s your vision?”
She glanced around. “Huh. There are no lights on but I can see everything, like there’s a soft glow in the room. Well, Kiernan warned me that I might siphon some of your powers. I guess your hearing and being able to see in the dark are coming along nicely for me.”
“You want the chains off? Hardesty isn’t the only one who can do it.”
“You mentioned that before, but the truth is as much as I’d love to be rid of this unwelcome connection to you, I want to fulfill my mission more. To get the extinction weapon, then to get the hell out of your world.”
He felt it again, something she held back, something big. “What’s going on, Lily? What aren’t you telling me?”
She shifted her gaze back to him, more glaring. “None of your goddamn business, vampire. Need-to-know, remember?”
He settled his forearms on the bar and slid forward in her direction, getting up in her face. “You ever going to trust me?”
Her eyes widened. “Hell, no. You’re a vampire. You going to trust me?”
He snorted and drew back. “Not in a million years.”
“I’ll be dead in about sixty, so it would never really be an issue for you, even if we were stuck for life.”
“No, I guess not.” He leaned back. He felt a tremor go through him, and his stomach cramped, so he turned away from the bar.
Shit, he’d be needing blood again soon. The starvation level demanded that he refill several times in the coming hours. Once his body had gotten a taste, and knew a supply was near, the cravings would demand replenishment often, especially given current stress levels.
He drew air in through his nose and shuddered. He could smell her blood now, maybe because of the chains they shared, maybe because he’d taken a hit so recently. And she could donate again. Her complexion had warmed up.
He sipped his wine and stared at her over the rim of the glass.
“What’s going on?”
“I’ll need blood again soon.”
“What? But you just had some.”
“It’s a result of starvation and nothing I can help.”
She put a hand to her throat, her gaze shifting around, almost frantic. “But I just gave you some blood. You’ll end up depleting my supply, probably killing me.”
“That won’t happen.” Should he tell her the truth, what he’d already done to her, that his kind had the ability to prompt speedy blood reproduction by releasing chemicals into his donor’s vein?
“You’re not the one giving it up. How do you know?”
He just looked at her.
She sought his gaze, scowling. “You’re able to build up my supply, aren’t you?”
He waited for a moment, then nodded.
She snorted. “I’m your blood cow, is that it?”
“If the vein fits, human.”
“Not gonna happen a second time tonight.”
“Fine. I’ll get a donor over here.”
“Looks like you’d better.”
He made his phone call.
While he waited for the donor to arrive, Lily sat on her stool staring straight ahead. Her jaw moved a few times, but she said nothing.
He felt the tension in her like a slow crawl over the surface of his skin, and beneath that tension her desire for him. He stayed put as well, waiting for the knock on his front door, the chain almost a thump against his neck.
When the donor arrived, Adrien headed toward the door to let her in, forgetting again the short leash he was on.
When he reached the middle of the living room, he halted mid-stride as the chain pulled on him. He didn’t look back at Lily; he was too aggravated by the whole situation.
He heard her slide off the stool, then the sound of her shoes on the hardwood floor. He crossed to the door and looked through the peephole. He extended his senses, seeking anything in the hall that might be out of the ordinary, but he saw only a woman he’d used a dozen times in the past.
Maybe he shouldn’t have called this particular female, but Lily had caused rage to flood his head.
He opened the door and the vampire-donor, a professional by the name of Night Candy with a high price tag, entered his house, levitated into the air, and threw herself around him so that his face was buried between her large and suddenly very bare breasts.
“Adrien, my love. How I’ve missed you. I couldn’t believe it when I got your call. How long have you been out of jail?”
Several things happened at once.
His blood-hunger rose to a maddening level.
His cock responded.
He started to throw Night Candy on her back, but movement in the air stopped him.
A shrieking sounded from two female voices at once since Lily had landed on Night Candy’s back.
And from all the unexpected movement, Adrien fell on his ass.
He stared up as mad midair whirling ensued, Lily hissing in a strangely vampire way, Night Candy grabbing at her arms while screaming and spinning.
Adrien feared that the human would get hurt once Night Candy got serious about the catfight. One hard vampire slam against a wall and Lily would be dead.
Just as Night Candy threw her arms wide and started to launch backward, Adrien whipped into the air, grabbed Lily, and pulled her off the woman.