Blood Twist (The Erris Coven Series)

19

LIZ



Back at the rest home, the draugar were fully awake when the Porsche pulled into the parking area. As soon as they disembarked from the car, hoots and screeches from the doorway and rooftop signaled to those inside they returned.

Despite a few of the demons sitting in the darkened corridor, like the night before, they mainly huddled in the former dining room. Tonight the floor plan was laid out different. The kerosene heaters were in full force, but rather in spots around the room, they were lit in a straight line and running down the length of the great room. Parallel to the heaters were rectangular folding tables with dozens of chairs. Someone had taken the assortment of clothes and gadgets that littered the floor, and swept them to one side.

Shivering at the strange setting, Liz clung tight to Braden’s side. After seeing them so at ease the night before, the arrangement was weird and although she didn’t understand the draugar intentions, her brain warned for her to be on the alert. As Liz and Braden stepped further into the room – it was Riley’s signal to halt that first told Liz it wasn’t just her active imagination. Something was wrong.

“Riley,” Garrick’s voice boomed from his usual spot in the alcove. “You did not inform me you were taking our guests out.”

As Liz scanned the leader’s makeshift throne, she noticed something different. Maze wasn’t sitting on his lap, instead, she was laying on the floor, curled into a ball, unwilling to make eye contact.

Braden’s brother stood perfectly still. After a moment’s hesitation, he spoke, “It was agreed that Braden and his female were mine to do as I see fit. They are off limits to all others.”

Garrick slid to the edge of the table and hopped down. Standing tall, any of the warmth he exhibited the night before was clearly missing. With three long strides, he reached them. “Are you challenging me?”

“No, but I…”

“Are you challenging me?” Garrick repeated. With his face only inches from Riley, the blackness of his eyes were terrifying. “Think wise before you answer boy. I haven’t ruled this nest for sixteen years being a push over.”

Not giving Riley a chance to answer, Garrick turned away, facing the draugar that stared up from their seats. “Why the somber looks? Tonight is for celebrating. Feed and f*ck – do what we do best.” Striding to the end of the table, he grabbed a chair, yanking it back. Whipping his head around, he glared at Braden and Liz. His eyes were pure black now, not a shred of color remained. “Sit down!”

Edging forward, her legs felt as heavy as cement. Liz clung to Braden. His body was her lifeline, anchoring her to reality.

We should have left when we had a chance. Why did I insist we stay?

Braden was like a stone beside her, ready to defend if anyone dared get aggressive. With his hand locked in hers, he gave a gentle squeeze.

It’s okay. He’s okay. We’ll leave and never return.

Riley stayed on their heels, unwilling to let them wander from his reach. His fingers remained on the back of her shoulder, letting her know he wouldn’t forsake them.

She wanted to run, wanted to scream – anything at all to get the hell out of the room. After fumbling with the chair, she sat down next to Braden. Riley stayed standing, just at her back. Strix came through the kitchen’s double doors. Shaking his head apologetically, he set a box on the table before backing away.

“Since my damphyr guest doesn’t feel man enough to drink from humans like the rest of us, I’ve arranged for something more accustomed to his palate,” Garrick hissed. Grabbing the box, he whipped it over to where Braden sat. Reaching in, the draugr pulled out a mewling cat. Skinny with short yellow hair, the creature hissed and twisted, trying to escape. Thrusting it in Braden’s face, Garrick glared down at him. “Eat,” he commanded. “Eat!”

Braden refused to budge. Tilting his chin towards Liz, she could see the tension behind his expression.

“No?” Garrick leaned down, his teeth fully extended into sharpened knives. “So maybe your tastes are a little more manly than that. Maybe you have balls after all?”

“Let Liz leave and I’ll be happy to show you,” Braden said coolly. Refusing to submit, his tone was as sharp as Garrick’s – and just as lethal.

Garrick straightened; a mean smile toyed at the edge of his lips. “Well, sweet Liz can’t go anywhere Braden. This is a wedding banquet, what would it be without my bride?”

Braden lurched up in his chair, but Garrick anticipated the move and grabbed him from behind in a headlock.

“You’re not going to touch her,” Braden said, gasping for air.

“Why ever not? You had my woman in your bed, now I get to have yours in mine.” Garrick strained to hold him still. With a nod of his head, two other vampires clambered over. As they seized Braden’s arms behind his back, Garrick was able to let go. “Kind of a tit for tat if you ask me.”

“Maze pretended to be Liz,” Braden countered. “I would never have allowed her in my room.” His eyes fell on Liz, still tortured about what happened.

Panicked, she wanted to help but didn’t know how. “It’s true,” she said, struggling to find her voice. “I walked in on them. It’s not what you think.”

Garrick whipped his head around at her, “Well aren’t you brazen. So, I’m wrong? I don’t know my own female? Or are you saying you don’t want to be my bride?”

A muttered curse from Riley told Liz she wasn’t helping Braden’s cause. As Garrick’s cruel eyes burrowed into her, she bit back a curt refusal.

“Well, if there is no rejection, then you better go get ready.” Turning back to Braden, Garrick spit in his face. “Throw him in the cell. I can’t have him leaving before the festivities begin.”

As the vampires dragged Braden out of the room, Liz tried in vain to follow. Scrambling after him, she was blocked by one of the draugr guarding the door.

Liz’s head was spinning. For the first time since the whole mess started, she feared they might die.

Sinking to her knees on the cold, hard floor, she cried Braden’s name over and over until Riley scooped her in his arms and carried her up the back stairs.





20



BRADEN





Braden opened his eyes. Pain lanced through his head and his mouth was as dry as parchment. Touching his left temple, the inky remains of blood stuck to his hair.

He stared around him. He was in a small room, completely free from outside light. A narrow counter ran around the perimeter with a sink on the back wall. The seat he was in reclined, but it was as hard as a rock. Bumping his elbow on the arm rest, he quickly understood. When Sunnydale Rest Home was operational, administration kept the space available for visiting dentists. From the sounds of the creatures behind the door, he understood its new purpose.

It was a cell.

Outside the door, he heard a familiar voice arguing with the two beings that threw him in there. From what he could hear, Strix wanted entrance but the others were telling him to go eat rats. Finally, after offering to dispose of the remains of their next kill, they unlocked the door, allowing him in.

Braden stood as slowly as he could possibly get away with. His head was still dizzy, but even now, he could feel the flesh knitting itself together. The old vampire didn’t look as though he came to fight, but Braden didn’t expect Garrick to have a change in heart about his presence, either.

Strix stood before him. Hunched over, the vampire must have been pushing sixty when sired. “I brought you food,” he said, clutching a bag in one hand.

Braden’s jaw clenched. The thought of the cat from upstairs made him sick. He was a hunter, not a psychopath who killed people’s pets.

“I eat animals, too,” Strix explained, holding the sack out in front of him like a box of pizza. “I’ve never fared well with humans. Like your brother, I’ve found ways to exist without killing the innocents.” Pushing the bag forward, he said, “Eat, eat. You need strength. You want to save your woman, right?”

Braden reached over, and looked in. A large seagull with a thread thin pulse was unconscious inside. As his fangs descended, he knew it wasn’t the best option, but Strix was right. If he wanted to live, he needed blood, and he didn’t think anyone would be willing to fetch him an elk.

As Braden fed, Strix continued talking. “Stay on guard. Don’t trust any of them. I’ve taught your brother how to survive and I can teach you, too.”

Turning to the door, Strix grew silent. Braden could hear footsteps and then another voice.

Riley….

Opening the door, their gazes locked. Braden knew his was furious. For a moment, both brothers did nothing but stare.

“Leave us, Strix,” Riley said.

As the vampire hurried out, he smiled encouragingly at Braden. “Be watchful,” he whispered before closing the door.

“Are you happy?” Braden said finally.

“Happy? Why the hell would I be happy?” Riley spit back.

“Isn’t this a part of the plan? Why you and Maze pulled that stunt to get me thrown down here?”

“That had nothing to do with me. Maze does what she wants. Yes, I heard her go in your room when I was talking to Liz, but that was all,” Riley wondered across the room, his mouth a tense line.

“But you still told Garrick I was trying to screw his female? Is that how you and Maze have fun?”

“Really brother?” Riley through his hands up, exasperated. “You think I’m that stupid? Well, I’m not and neither is Maze. We aren’t the ones who told him.”

“And why should I believe you?”

“Because, normally Garrick would have killed both you and Maze for doing it and then, when he was done, he’d torture me and Liz to for extra emphasis. That’s hardly why I asked you to come here.”

“Why then? Why did you make me? If you didn’t want to see me dead, then why make me leave home and turn myself over to these demons?”

Riley just stared at the wall. Braden wondered what the hell was so hard to admit that his brother had to try saying the words in his mind first.

Finally, Riley cleared his throat. “I want us to be brothers again.”

“We’ve always been brothers,” Braden answered uncomfortably.

“No,” Riley said softly. “We’ve been linked to members of the same clan, but we haven’t been brothers in years.”

“You gave into the thirst. You know the way we’re raised. It isn’t an option to be like them.”

Riley slid down the wall, taking a spot on the floor. “I tried explaining to Liz. I’m not exactly the same as them. Maybe in the beginning, when I first changed. My blood craving was insatiable. It was hard not to kill when I drank. But, after a while, I discovered I needed less and less, that it could be pleasurable for my prey –” Glancing up, Riley shook his head, struggling to explain. “Women, anyway.”

“Tell me about Dad,” Braden said. “Tell me why it wasn’t bad enough that you drank from a human, but why you felt compelled to take him too.”

“I don’t know…”

“Don’t give me that. He was a good man, a good father.” Braden struggled to control his tone. Seeing Riley sitting there claiming to be misunderstood was too much.

After a long pause, Riley tilted his head, meeting Braden’s gaze. “You went through the final phase not too long ago. You remember what it feels like when that second heart starts pounding beneath your ribs, screaming for blood. Dad and I stopped for drinks, just outside of Quebec. He was at the bar while I waited in a back booth. It was late, almost closing time, but we’d been out all day looking at different properties. That’s when it hit, the pain was so bad, people were looking. I tried calling out to him, but I couldn’t even make a sound…”

Braden listened intently. He remembered all too well how quick it happens. One minute you’re sitting outside with your family enjoying a moonlit night, the next thing you know you feel like the devil just chewed you up and spit you out and you wake up restrained in Cian’s basement until you have control of your head back.

Dad knew Riley was on the verge of changing. He shouldn’t have taken him from home…

“I just kept thinking, I had to get out of there. Away from people before I lost control. I stumbled through the exit and this poor son of a bitch out there, digging cans out of the trash, wouldn’t let me be. The next thing I knew, I was on top of him, and his throat was ripped wide open.” Riley stared at the wall, his mind back in that moment. “I was so angry at myself…so disappointed I lost control.”

“Then what?” Braden asked, needing the final piece.

“That’s the part I’ve never understood,” he said carefully. “I remember carrying the man, the one I killed, up onto the roof. People would see me in the alley and I didn’t want to be interrupted. I couldn’t hear or smell or feel anything but my thirst. After every bit of him was dry, reality set in. I realized I had to give myself to Dad. Even if he killed me. So I climbed back down,” Riley paused, his blue eyes moist, “he was laying on his stomach, dead. I pushed him over, trying to figure out was wrong, and I couldn’t make sense of what I was seeing. His face, his neck, even his wrists – they were all bloody, but it was his chest I can’t forget. His hearts had been torn out. Both of them. I never heard the fight. I didn’t even know he was in trouble.”

“How do you know it wasn’t you?”

“At first I thought so. But I quickly learned, a vampire my size couldn’t have fought a damphyr as strong as Lachlan. Dad used to take down bears and moose. It took months before I could even fight another vampire without having my ass handed to me.”

“So you left him there? In the alley?”

“I didn’t know what to do. I was panicking so I tried hiding him behind the building. They had a shed area used for storing lawn equipment. I dragged him in there and covered him with a tarp. All I wanted to do was hide him so humans wouldn’t figure out what he was. I thought if I could just sleep a while, the thirst would wear off and I could bury him. Once it was over, I planned on facing the dawn and putting myself out of misery.”

“So? Why didn’t you?”

“That other man I killed. I felt so bad. I looked in his wallet and found out where he was from. I loaded him in Dad’s car and left him on his front steps so his people could find him. When I returned, Dad’s was gone.”

Confused, Braden shook his head. “But he was dead. Even we can’t heal from that.”

“I know,” Riley said, looking down at his hands. “Whatever killed him must have been lying in wait while I carried him to the shed. Once I left, it came back.” Pushing himself up from the floor, he brushed off his pant legs. “After discovering he was gone, I was hopeless. I tried killing myself, but each time I did it, I just ended up losing control of my thirst and feeding to regenerate any injury I sustained. It was hopeless. A few days later, I met Garrick and Strix. They helped me, taught me how to survive. It’s not the life I wanted, but I’ve been with them ever since.”

Braden blew out the breath he had been holding. The story sounded reasonable enough, but there was no way he could ever know for sure. Regardless of the details, his brother didn’t have it easy. For some reason, he never guessed Riley wasn’t responsible.

“What about the draugar? Did one of them do it?” he asked.

“No,” Riley shook his head. “They didn’t even know what damphyr was. I had to explain it ten times. They didn’t even know where they came from. Every time I mention their Norse history, they can’t believe they aren’t like the vamps from Anne Rice novels.”

“Can they all shift, like Maze?”

“Nah, only the real old. Most don’t live that long because they kill each other over the stupidest things. Even Garrick can’t and he’s been a vampire for thirty-seven years.”

“Maze is older?” Braden said, raising his eyebrow.

Riley smiled. “Yeah, well, she keeps under the radar. That’s what you have to do around here. You either serve others and appear so weak you aren’t a threat or, you become a leader like Garrick, and kill the ones who want to take charge.”

“He’s kept you an awfully long time.”

“I swear the only reason Garrick has kept me alive is because he likes listening to my stories. They make him think he’s a badass Viking or some bullshit like that.” Coming closer, Riley stood eye to eye with Braden, trying to appeal to his sense of kinship. “I know my time with him is running out. That’s why I thought if you came here, saw I’m different, that maybe we could build our own coven. Like in Erris.”

Braden turned away from the heaviness of his brother’s stare. As long as he was living, there was no way he could leave his elders, his mother. Still, it wasn’t Riley’s fault he had been dealt a bad hand. His brother may have made mistakes, but he wasn’t like the stories. Riley had retained some level of himself. If Braden survived, he could try to talk to Donovan and the others about helping Riley find a way to co-exist. His thirst for blood would remain, but if he found a way to feed without harming someone, maybe he could be a part of their lives.

“There is one more thing I need to know,” Braden said, glancing back at Riley. His brother began pacing the room again, like an animal in a crate.

“Anything,” he replied.

“What is your interest in Liz?”

“I would never hurt her if that’s what you’re wondering.”

“That’s not what I mean and you know it.”

Riley nodded his head in understanding. “I didn’t want to say it, but now that we’re spilling our souls – I guess it doesn’t matter much.” Walking across the room, Riley hoisted himself up on an old countertop. “Before I turned, when my abilities first started appearing, I dreamed of my fate-partner,” he said, slowly. “Just once. She was exquisite. But, when I became what I am now and my human heart slowed down and died, I felt the ties that would bind me to her die with it.” Riley’s voice had softened to a mere whisper. “It released her before I even had a chance to find out who she was.”

“Liz,” Braden answered, completely stunned. “You would have been paired with Liz.”

“Yes, no – does it matter?” Riley rushed, now agitated. “Maybe that’s why you were born? The magic that made us what we were knew before I did that I would give into the thirst and become this. Clearly, you were stronger than I was because you went through the temptation without failing. You deserve a fate-partner like her and I don’t.”

“I haven’t dreamed of her,” Braden said, admitting the truth. “And when I changed, I had the elders at my side, helping me through it. You should have had that, too.”

“Yet,” Riley clarified. “You haven’t dreamed of her yet, but even I can tell she doesn’t smell exactly human. She smells like our mother and Endellion.”

Braden’s head popped up. “Are you sure?”

“It grows stronger the longer your together. I don’t know how you haven’t noticed. It’s like warm bread and fluffy clouds.”

Braden didn’t know why either. He knew that Liz smelled incredible, but he chalked it up to desiring her so much. “Do you think the others can tell?”

“No,” Riley said, rubbing his pant legs up and down. “She smells like home to me. That’s why I can tell where you two are headed. Not to mention her crying into perfectly good champagne over you when she had me for entertainment.”

Braden held his arms tightly at his sides. The frustration building in him was overbearing. “I need you to do something for me. I need you to get her out of here.”

Riley raised a questionable eyebrow. “You think you can fight Garrick and live without my help?”

“I don’t know,” he said, truthfully. “But I do know that if she’s here, she’s at risk and I can’t bear the thought of anyone hurting her. I would rather die than have her harmed.”

“And if I take her away and she falls in love with me?” Riley’s expression now masked his emotions. A flicker of something dashed behind his eyes.

Humor? Disgust? Maybe he hopes I’ll fail.

Swallowing any more doubts, Braden shook his head in resignation. “Then she was always meant to be yours to begin with. Just save her life. Not for me, not for Dad, but for the life you should have had. ”

Sighing in surrender, Riley jumped off the counter on to his feet. “Okay, but I can’t make any promises.”