Bonded by Blood

chapter TWENTY-THREE

PAVLOS SNAPPED HIS cell phone shut and glided to the two-way mirror on the far side of the small room. One of his most capable lieutenants was preparing for an important pickup. He was to report back as soon as he made the capture, hopefully in the next few days.

He watched through the glass as two Darkblood doctors, outfitted with personal oxygen masks, strapped a struggling woman to a laboratory table. Too bad she couldn’t be tranquilized for the tests, as he’d like to be in the room and personally oversee the whole procedure. But he just couldn’t tolerate a screaming human unless he had his teeth embedded in soft flesh, and then it would be sweet music when the sound vibrated against his lips. Without the vein, it was fingernails on a chalkboard.

Considering her dyed hair and the faint wrinkles around her eyes, he guessed her age to be around forty-five. Rather remarkable she’d lived this long, he thought as her legs went into the stirrups. Sweetblood was compelling to all vampires, and even neophytes made mistakes.

With a ring-laden hand, he wiped the corner of his mouth as he watched the action unfold. It had been at least three weeks since he’d drunk off the hoof from a sweetblood and he was so damned thirsty. And the weak energies in this god-awful place weren’t helping, either. Why the hell did any vampire choose to live up here?

Although he couldn’t wait to get back home, he had been dreaming of this day forever. The day all vampires would look back on and recognize as a defining moment in their history. A history that he’d shaped and created. Would he have a day named in his honor? A statue erected? Euphoria lifted him off his feet and he ghosted closer to the window.

Soon everyone would see him as the reformer he was, bringing glory back to their kind, elevating them to the top of the food chain again, where they rightly belonged. All those doubters, those weak Council followers, would bow down before him.

He wiped his dripping hands on the folds of his black robe. Yes. Those who’d laughed him off as a feeble, ineffectual youthling would be forced to admit he was right. That their kind did become stronger on a diet consisting strictly of human blood.

A heady scent poured off his skin and he inhaled. It was the scent of a leader.

If things went as planned, in less than a year, when the first batch of sweetbloods was born, the lucky souls who chose to follow him would be granted unlimited Sweet. How much blood could they take from a human infant without killing it? They’d soon find out. If things progressed well up here, the other labs around the country were set to go online shortly, and then they’d have a plethora of test subjects. Many of his kind had never even tasted Sweet before and when they did, he had no doubt he’d have throngs of eager followers. No, he wasn’t about to let the momentous events of the next few days pass without witnessing every last detail himself.

He tilted his head as the woman screamed, but he didn’t hear a thing. Thank God for soundproof glass. Maybe she wouldn’t pass the tests. Sweet from a vial didn’t compare to the energies one could get straight from the source. Forty-five was a bit old to bear children, so it was a definite possibility she’d fail to qualify for their little project. If so, he’d have her brought around to his quarters for disposal.

One of the doctors, holding a metal instrument, stepped between her spread legs. The woman twisted, tried to buck her hips up from the gurney. Was that glitter polish on her toenails? With narrowed eyes, the Overlord noticed her white-tipped fingernails, too. She was a woman who took care of herself.

He pressed the intercom button. “Remove the sheet.”

The woman’s head cranked around in the direction of the speaker and someone whipped off the hospital-blue cloth.

As the Overlord eyeballed her heavy breasts, curvy hips, and shapely calves, his erection tented the fabric of his robe. On second thought, maybe he’d have a little fun first. Licking his lips, he watched as the testing began.

“SO WHAT DID you need this for again?” Mackenzie put her driver’s license back into the slot in her wallet.

“I want to be able to take you into the field office and you needed clearance. Here’s your key card.”

She slung the lanyard around her neck and followed Dom out the door of the loft. “I’m a little nervous. Won’t they all want to…ah, you know. Bite me?”

“As a Guardian, part of our training involves becoming desensitized to attractive nuisances. You should be fine, although you shouldn’t sneak up behind someone. In fact, that cat bell idea you joked about earlier isn’t a half-bad idea.” She glared at him as he pressed the elevator button. “I wish I were kidding, but I’m not. Chuck has a theory that— Never mind. I’ll be with you at all times. I’ll never let you out of my sight when we’re around other vampires. Except for Lily. You’ll be safe with her. And Cordell. Changelings don’t seem to be as affected by Sweet as the rest of us.”

“Why is Lily okay?”

“She’s been around several sweetbloods. I think one of her last human boyfriends was Sangre Dulce. Oh, and Kenz, just so you don’t think I’m keeping secrets from you, she and I have slept together.”

Mackenzie bristled. “Were you in love with her?”

“Hell, no. And she doesn’t and hasn’t ever loved me. She’s just a very dear friend. Remember when I told you about our sexual drives? For us, it’s a relatively common occurrence among unmated couples. It really was quite casual, but I know it must be hard to comprehend.” He gave a reassuring squeeze of her shoulder. “But in a committed relationship, we’re completely monogamous. Much more so than most humans are.”

Mackenzie relaxed somewhat, although she was prepared to hate this Lily chick. “What is Chuck’s theory?”

The elevator doors opened and they stepped inside. Dom flashed her a naughty smile—the same smile he’d given her back at the resort—inserted his I.D. card in a slot on the panel and pressed the button for the lower level.

“He thinks that when we’re together—when we’ve made love—it alters your scent slightly to make you less…how shall I put it? Less potent-smelling to other vampires.”

She almost choked. “You mean the more sex we have, the safer I am around them?”

“I think so. Chuck said it was…ah…very obvious when we left.”

With a clunk, the elevator stopped and the doors slid open. She followed Dom into a dimly lit corridor. The lights must’ve been on a motion sensor because every time they were about to step out of the ring illuminated on the cobblestone floor, the next overhead bulb clicked on. Good thing she wasn’t claustrophobic as the tunnel seemed to stretch out endlessly in the dark. The air had a stale, dry smell to it, as if it didn’t get aerated much.

Ten minutes later, Dom inserted his key card into a slot near another heavy door. It slid open and they stepped into a gold-carpeted foyer. A huge bouquet of fresh flowers stood on an ornately carved Queen Anne table between two elevator doors.

“Geez, with all this walking, a girl wouldn’t need to work out.”

Another hallway, another door. When Dom grabbed the handles and pulled the door open, she heard the sound of country music coming from inside. She followed him into a mammoth workout facility. A gym at the field office? The high, open-beam ceilings had to stretch at least three stories tall. State-of-the-art cardio equipment was clustered together on the right side of the room, while free weights and weight machines were on the other side. Just beyond what she thought was a juice bar, a boxing ring sat in one far corner, a fenced-off trampoline in another, and thick mats lined the floors. She smelled chlorine. There must be a pool somewhere down here, too.

A blonde with a face that belonged on a skincare commercial approached them. Barefoot, she wore baggy pajama bottoms rolled down at the waist, a glittery something in her belly button and a cutoff shirt that barely covered the underside of her breasts. When she yawned and stretched her arms up, Mackenzie averted her eyes in case a boob popped out. Dom introduced the woman as Lily, the only Class-A scent-tracker assigned to Seattle.

Great, just great. Dom’s ex is a cover-model.

With wide-set, Bambi eyes, Lily looked at Mackenzie’s outstretched hand and shook her head. “Don’t want to slog any of your energies, love. I’ll leave that for Dom, eh?” Even the woman’s voice, with its subtle accent, was sexy. Canadian, maybe? Lily closed her eyes, lifted her nose and smiled. “Good God, you smell fab, though.” Then she gave a slight nod and Dom visibly relaxed.

Damn. Did everyone know about Chuck’s theory? Mackenzie might as well wear a sign announcing that yes, they’d had a lot of sex, and save everyone the trouble.

“Nice to see you dressed up,” Dom said to Lily.

“Hey, fu— Bite me. Sorry, Mackenzie. I ended up crashing here and didn’t get to bed till way after dawn. Didn’t know you were coming this early or I’d have gone back to my place and changed. Usually I don’t look this horrid.” She fluffed her hair and there was that boob again. “Oh, here’s Jackson,” she said, looking over Mackenzie’s shoulder. “This ought to be interesting.”

Mackenzie turned to see a bare-chested, muscular man stumble through one of the doors off the main room. He had light brown hair that might be long enough to touch his shoulders if it weren’t sticking up everywhere. One hand was inside his sweatpants, stretching the waistband precariously low, and the other held an apple. Dom’s hand on her shoulder suddenly felt even more protective.

“Oh for chrissake. If it’s not you,” Dom said to Lily, “it’s him.”

“Dom. Lil. Hey, Mackenzie,” Jackson said. “We’ve never really met, but I know you.” He pulled his hand from his crotch and extended it to shake hers.

“For God’s sake, Jackson.” Dom knocked his hand away.

“I was just scratching an itch. Sorry.”

Mackenzie stifled a smile. That’d be something Corey would do. She cocked her head, trying to place him. “Sorry. Mind-scrub.” She tapped her forehead. “I seem to have forgotten you.”

Jackson threw his head back and laughed. “I was the one who— Mind if I tell her, Dom?”

“Whatever.”

“I was the one who set up the road blocks after you went back to the cemetery. So I definitely remember you, but you never saw me. I watched you, silently laughing my ass off.”

“Come to think of it, you do look like a bastard.”

Both Dom and Lily laughed.

“Hey, blame him. I was just following orders.” Jackson walked a wide circle around her, and he, too, sniffed the air. “Are you sure she’s sweet— Oh, yeah, now I smell it. Subtle though. Way to go, stud.”

He knows, too? She glared at Dom. Was that what all vampires did—talk about their sexual exploits as you’d go over a football game? “Do all of you live here?” Mackenzie asked, changing the subject. They must, because they both looked like they just rolled out of bed.

“Some of us do,” Lily said. “Dom’s place is roughly up over there.” She pointed behind Mackenzie’s right shoulder. “My condo, when I’m here, is a couple of blocks over there.” She stuck a thumb out behind her. Seeing the confused look on Mackenzie’s face she added, “The whole area around Pioneer Square is joined using the tunnels our builders constructed many years ago in Underground Seattle. Only a small portion of the Underground is open to the public and our tunnels make use of some of the vast unused space which sits below the city. It’s pretty handy actually. And thank God. Otherwise, when we’re on rotation, we’d be forced to live together in one facility like they do in most of the other field offices, with bunkrooms and shit.”

“What’s so bad about that?” Jackson said. “Talk about convenient.”

Lily rolled her eyes. “A couple of the changelings live on the other side of Lake Washington since the sun doesn’t affect their energy levels as much. Our Region Commander has an apartment over there that he uses when he’s in town. And Jackson, well, he’s sort of homeless right now. Aren’t you, love?”

It was clear that Lily liked to talk, but oddly enough Mackenzie wasn’t put off by her as she thought she’d be.

Jackson scowled at Lily and rubbed his apple on his sweatpants.

“He’s been sleeping in the media room the last few nights,” Lily explained.

“What happened?” Dom asked. “I thought you were serious with someone.”

Jackson opened his mouth to answer, but Lily interrupted him. “He was dating her for a couple of months before he screwed up. That’s about as serious as it gets in his world.”

“Very funny,” Jackson said. “It wasn’t working anymore, that’s all. She doesn’t understand me.”

Lily barked out a laugh. “Yeah, it was working until she caught him banging some redheaded human chick he met at The Pink Salon.”

“I hadn’t fed in weeks and my willpower was shot. Got a little carried away with this really gorgeous woman I met at the club. One thing then led to another and well—” He glanced up, looking for sympathy or something. “Aw, f*ck,” he said and sunk his teeth into the apple.

“Yeah, that’s what it’s called, eh?” Lily said. “I kinda liked Sandra, too. We used to swap books. I’m going to miss her.”

Mackenzie pressed herself a little more closely to Dom. “What happened to her? The woman from the club? Did you…did she die?”

“Hell, no. It was the next night, when we hooked up again at The Pink Salon, that I got busted.”

Mackenzie relaxed.

“Poor Sandra,” Lily said. “She thought you guys had something special, but obviously not.”

Jackson wiped the apple juice off his chin with the back of his hand. “I don’t need this shit from you. Gonna do some serious grubbing in the kitchen. I’m starving. Nice meeting you, Mackenzie.” He lobbed the core into a garbage can with a fancy flick of his wrist. When it swished inside, he slapped his butt and mumbled something she couldn’t quite make out. Lily evidently heard him because she snickered and rolled her eyes. “What time are we meeting, Dom?” Jackson asked as he pushed through the double doors.

“At two. In Classroom B to discuss logistics. Need to be ready to go at sunset.”

Mackenzie turned back to Lily. “Dom tells me you have a daughter, Zoe?”

Lily’s eyes brightened. “Yes. Seven years old and the light of my life. She stays up in Horseshoe Bay with my parents when I’m on rotation. With things as crazy as they’ve been lately, I haven’t been able to get away much. But I’m hoping to fly up there a few nights from now. I’ve got some time off coming up. Right, Dom?”

“Tentatively. Depends on whether or not we get a line on where the Darkblood testing lab is located.”

“That’s fair. I wouldn’t want to leave if we did. Mackenzie, let me show you around. I’ve got a picture of Zoe in my gym locker.” Lily offered her elbow and Mackenzie reluctantly hooked her arm through.

“Dom’s probably dying to take you into the women’s locker room just as an excuse to see it,” Lily called over her shoulder to make sure he was listening, then she turned back to Mackenzie. “But we females won’t allow the boys in, no matter how much they want to or how they try to tempt us. They can eff up their own locker room all they want with their wet towels and half-eaten food. They don’t need to do that to ours. Besides, we’ve got private lounges set up out here for any fu—for any horsing around. Come on.”

“You don’t have to edit yourself on my account,” Mackenzie said as they made their way around the juice bar. “It’s not like I’m a prude or anything.”

“I have to watch my language around Zoe, so it’s good practice. I really only cuss around these ass—guys. My mother nearly had a heart attack when I let the f-bomb slip last time I was up. Said talk like that is too rough for someone like me—imagine that. Promised her I’d work on it for next time.”

When Lily unlocked the door to the women’s locker room and it swung open, Mackenzie felt as if she’d just stepped into a fancy spa. A dark wood shelf, probably mahogany, with diamond-shaped compartments holding rolls of white towels, lined the back wall of the handsome foyer. On a cocktail table several glass pitchers of ice water with floating slices of cucumber and lemon sat alongside a heaping bowl of fresh fruit. Mackenzie half expected an attendant with a tip jar to offer her a fluffy white robe and assign her a locker.

“You must have employees who keep this place up. But is it difficult with the daylight restrictions?” Mackenzie asked.

“We employ a few changelings as well as humans who are aware of the vampire race and have proven themselves to be very loyal. They even serve as donors from time to time. I’ll introduce you to Xian. I think you’ll find his family history very similar to your own.”

Lily stretched out her free arm in a perfect Vanna White impression. “Back around here are the private changing rooms and showers. We girls like a little more privacy than the boys. They don’t mind their business hanging out for all to see, but some of us are a little more modest.” She scratched her flat belly and the crystal in her piercing flashed. “Well, some of us, that is.”

“How many female agents work here?”

“Right now, there are only three of us on rotation. One is out on maternity leave, but she might not be back. She’s into the mom thing right now.”

“Were you working here when Zoe was born?” Being a Guardian seemed like a difficult job for someone with children. She wondered if any of them had serious relationships.

“Yeah, off and on between a few different field offices. As a scent-tracker, my schedule is project-based most of the time.” Lily led Mackenzie to the sauna and steam rooms. “Hopefully we’ll get a few more female agents soon. It gets pretty testosterone-laden around here. We also have a co-ed whirlpool tub through those doors. It’s quite the hot spot. Gets a lot of action, as you can imagine.”

Yeah, she could. With each step she took, the razor burn from Dom’s stubble on the tender skin between her legs reminded her of how she’d spent her last twenty-four hours. He’d explained about vampires’ ramped-up sex drives compared to humans, but she wanted to hear a woman’s perspective. “Tell me about that. You all seem…much more sexual. Am I right?”

“You’re absolutely right. Not only does sex help curb our naturally aggressive tendencies, it’s a survival thing, almost as necessary as eating or breathing. Centuries ago, our race nearly went extinct and, since then, infighting among our people has kept our numbers low. Plus, because of the increased energy requirements, not all of us are capable of bearing children. I was a lucky one.”

Recalling what the doctor had told her about not being able to bear children, Mackenzie realized that her situation wasn’t unique. At least they had that in common.

“Speaking of sex, Dom’s told you we’ve shagged, right?”

Mackenzie nodded, tried not to look surprised. God, they were blunt about their sexual habits.

“Good. I’d hate for there to be any weird secrets.” Lily smiled. “Don’t worry, love. We’ve not slept together in years. I’ve been in a committed relationship for a while. Don’t tell anyone else, though—I’d like to keep it a secret for now. Just between us girls, okay? Here, let me show you how these massage chairs work.”

On the surface, this woman would be easy to hate, but the more they talked, the more at ease Mackenzie became. Although Lily was model-gorgeous and somewhat brash, Mackenzie liked her, found her demeanor warm and welcoming. She climbed onto the leather recliner and Lily explained how all the controls worked. As her chair hummed and the massaging action began, Lily sat in the next one over and programmed her own controls.

“How are you able to be around me?” Mackenzie asked, her voice a little shaky from the vibration of the chair. “Isn’t it hard?”

“You do smell fantastic, that’s for sure. I used to live with a human guy, a sweetblood, many years ago, so I got pretty used to it. It’s really not hard when you set your mind to it. Dom’s doing well, I see.”

“I think so, but he’d disagree. What happened to him? Your boyfriend. Did you guys break up?”

“Darkbloods got Keith during the damn day. I think he stumbled into their den somehow. Sorry. Don’t mean to freak you out, but that’s one reason Dom is so paranoid about you. He knows what they’re capable of.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“Thanks. Fifty years ago, and I remember it sometimes as if it were yesterday.”

Mackenzie closed her eyes as the chair kneaded the back of her calves. “Can I ask you a personal question?”

“Sure.”

“Did you two…you and Keith…take each other’s blood?”

“He didn’t know I was a vampire.”

How was that even possible? Mackenzie was attracted to everything that made Dom who he was—including his being a vampire. “Was it difficult to keep secret from him?”

“I drank from him only once and did manage to stop, but I was afraid of taking too much the next time, so I never did it again. I wasn’t really in love with him, eh? So it was no big deal.” Lily reached over and patted Mackenzie’s hand on the armrest.

“WE’RE AT A critical juncture, everyone,” Dom said. “The Darkblood lab is set to go online in two weeks, with several breeding pairs already lined up. Lily’s source tells us they are searching for a few more pairs. Their prisoners are undoubtedly being subjected to some of the most horrible testing procedures, let alone acting as forced donors, even though the operation isn’t in full swing yet.”

“Any idea where the facility is located?” someone asked.

“Just that its exact location is top secret,” Dom said. “Only those directly involved know where it’s at—not even the DB power structure has that information. All we know is that it’s somewhere west of the Cascades within three hours of Seattle. That’s a big area stretching north to the Canadian border, down to Southwest Washington and west to the Kitsap peninsula and San Juan Islands. We’ll have to take into consideration the ferry times as well as how long it takes to drive over the Narrows Bridge to Gig Harbor and up north over Deception Pass and onto Whidbey Island. Lily, you and your team have the southwest. Jackson, your team has the northwest. I’ll take a unit west to the peninsula.”

“How are we going to find the place if it’s cloaked?” asked Mitchell. He paced near the door like a caged tiger, clearly excited about going out into the field again.

“I’ve assigned each unit several Class-A scent-trackers. We’ve got a few of these individuals coming from the Horseshoe Bay office and Portland on day-transport vehicles. They should all be here by tonight. Additionally, Cordell has run a few search algorithms pointing out the most likely areas for such a facility to be located in each of the sectors you’ve been assigned to. This will be like a search and rescue mission, where you set up your perimeters and methodically cover the ground within. If nothing turns up, then you move to the next sector. We need to be methodical and quick, people. We’ve got lives at stake.”

“HOW LONG DO you think you’ll be gone?” Mackenzie sat on the bathroom counter, eating a handful of peanut M&M’s as Dom zipped up a small duffel bag.

“I don’t know. Maybe we’ll get lucky and find the facility soon.” He stepped between her knees, scooted her hips closer, and pressed a long kiss to her lips. His hand went automatically to her breast, stroking her nipple from the outside. God, it gave her a thrill to have him take what he wanted from her like this, whenever he felt like taking it.

“I’ll check in with you when I can,” he continued. “But you must promise me—” he leaned back and looked her square in the eye “—not to leave the loft under any circumstances unless you go into the field office. You know Cordell. He’ll be manning the command center and you are to go to him with any questions. If you need anything else, food or various sundries, call Xian and he’ll get what you need. The peninsula often has spotty cell phone coverage, so you may not be able to get ahold of me right away. Here, come with me.” He pulled her off the counter. “I want to show you something.”

Back at the field office, they took an elevator to a lower level. It opened up into an underground five-lane shooting range that lit up automatically when they walked through the heavy soundproof door. A glass case to the right of the door held rows and rows of semi-automatic and automatic rifles. She didn’t know much about them, just that they looked rather ominous. To the left of the door, floor-to-ceiling cabinets and drawers lined the wall, probably housing all sorts of weapons. Dom reached into one of the drawers, ran his finger over the contents inside, then, evidently finding what he was searching for, he pulled out a small yellow ammunition box.

She was just about to say that she didn’t have her little Ruger, having lost it after shooting the two Darkbloods, when Dom magically produced it and handed it to her. “Come on. I want to see what you’re made of.”

After donning eye and ear protection, she situated herself in lane two, the one she always chose regardless of the gun range. With a full magazine and the target in her sight, she kept her knees loose and stilled her breath, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t seem to focus on the human-shaped target. Dom was too close. He disrupted her concentration. “Do you mind?” She jerked her head to the side. He complied, shaking his head in amusement.

Aware that he was watching her, she squeezed off rounds, hitting the head of almost every target.

“I’m impressed,” he said a short time later when several magazines had been spent. He handed her another. “Let’s see how you do when they move.” He pressed something on a side wall and a row of square targets sprang up along the back of the range. They moved side to side and up and down like a carnival game. She shot one round after another, pausing only to load the other magazine until her arms felt as if they would fall off and her dominant eye began to see double.

“That’s not really a target pistol, but you’re a hell of a shot.”

“Thanks.”

“Here. Come sit with me.”

After visually checking the gun for rounds, she set it down, peeled off her gear and walked over to him. He pulled her onto his lap. “It makes me hot to see you shoot like that.”

“Everything makes you hot.”

“True.” He pointed to a small metal ammo box. “Listen, I want you to use those when I’m gone.”

“What is it?” she asked as she lifted the lid. Just a bunch of normal-looking bullets.

“They’re silver hollow points. I want you to have both magazines loaded with these bad boys.”

Did he think she was in danger here? “But—”

“Just as a precaution. As a sweetblood, your gun should always be loaded with them. But you and I both know you are not to leave the loft, right? Here. I can’t load them myself without gloves. You do it.”