Blood Wars by D. Richardson (best affordable ebook reader txt) 📕

This time though, he took one look at me and rushed out of the room and up the stairs. Beth led me to the living room and I stood in the middle of the room and waited. Matt staked out a corner and glanced around nervously. Finally, Claire walked in.

“Matur salutem.” ‘Greetings Old Mother.’ It was the formal greeting to the leader of the coven. Claire was seen as the mother of the coven, and though she looked to be in her early thirties, she was in fact very old.

“Salutem filiae.” ‘Greetings my daughter.’ She said back and I floundered for half a second as to what to say. Luckily she saved me by walking up to me and giving me a hug. She smelled like strawberries and whipped cream. Her blonde hair was pulled up into a bun, and she wore jeans and a t-shirt.

“That’s enough formality I think. What are you doing here child? You said three days. We were going to have a feast.” She was a few inches taller than me so when she pulled back she looked down at me.

“Actually, it’s probably a good thing that you didn’t. I’m not alone. I have about forty people with me.” The look of disdain on her face made me flash back to when I was a kid and had done something wrong. “I didn’t know there were others when I talked to you. I only found out after when it was too late to change. It was not my intention to deceive you I swear, but I had no choice but to bring them.”

“There is always a choice, Jaide.” My sadness almost overwhelmed me.

“No Aunt Claire, sometimes your hands are tied.” She took a half step back and surveyed me from head to foot, before finally meeting my eyes. Whatever she saw there made her expression change to one of understanding.

“Very well, then we will just have to postpone the feast, until we can prepare enough for everybody. We will discuss business later, but for now where is this mate you told me about?”

“Right here.” Brian grunted as he and Nik half dragged Devon into the room. The only other ones that came in with them were my close group. They dragged him to the couch and laid him down as gently as they could without falling over themselves.

Devon looked even worse than he had in the car. His breathing was labored and he was slick with sweat. Claire shooed the others away, until only she and I were close enough to look him over. His face was pale as she put her hand to his head, before checking inside his mouth. His gums were swollen to twice the size they had been just a few hours earlier. He was progressing even faster.

“Take him down to the infirmary. Tell Annette to put a feeding tube in him and feed him coven blood. He must have a steady stream if he is to survive.” Brian nodded and Edmund, the butler, stepped forward to help move him.

When they were out of the room she turned to my companions. They all looked bedraggled and exhausted. Forty eight hours in a car and a couple of hours traipsing through the woods will do that to you. Even Jess was looking tired and she still had a few hours until sunrise. Then she focused on Belle.

“Amabel, you look well. Have you enjoyed your stay in the world?” Her expression was stern but her eyes said she was relieved. Belle stepped forward to give her coven mother proper respect.

“I have. I take care of myself well, Matur.” Suddenly Claire dropped the stern demeanor and gave Belle a gently smile, opening her arms to her. Belle stepped into her hug with a smile.

“Oh child, we have missed you. You must visit more often.” At those words Belle visibly relaxed. It meant that when this was all over she wouldn’t try to stop Belle from going back to her life on the outside.

“Now, let’s step into my office and you can fill me in on what the hell is going on.” Claire said to me as she stepped out of the hug.

I nodded and followed her down the hall, into a spacious office. It had enough room for all of us and more. With a large desk, two chairs on the opposite side of hers, and two couches behind those.

I took one of the chairs and motioned for Nikolai to take the one next to me. He knew more about the inner workings of the hunter’s facility than I did. Claire took her seat and folded her hands on top of her desk. When she looked at me expectantly my mind went blank.

“Where do you want me to start?”

“Let’s start where everything went to hell.” I nodded.

“You said you had heard about my parents. Do you know how it happened?” She shook her head.

“I only know that they were murdered by hunters.” I nodded again.

“They came to our house. We escaped through the skylight, but they tracked us into the city. We were cornered on a roof top. They were shot, too many times to recover. I was taken prisoner and stayed in a testing facility made to look like an apartment. There were dozens of us there, but I was the only born. When I refused to let them drug me one of the scientists went rogue and tried to kill me. We decided to get the hell out of dodge, but I did some backtracking first. I grabbed all of there papers and blood samples first. When I grabbed them I learned that they planned to eradicate all vampires. We got out and went to Sam’s house, Devon’s uncle.”

“And Devon is the young man in the infirmary?” She asked and I answered with another nod.

“I didn’t know until a few days ago that he’s the alpha of a wolf pack. The night after we had gotten to safety me and Devon got into a fight. He rejected me and I took off. I’ve been living in California for the past six months. Apparently, some of the hunters decided they wanted to switch careers and followed my friends as they tried to find me. Devon was in on the search, and with Sam being his uncle, he and his pack followed. That’s all I know aside from the fact that I’m sure the hunter’s are still looking for us.” Her eyes got distant as she went into deep thought. Then she snapped back.

“Did you bond with the boy?” I nodded.

“It was on accident. I didn’t feed directly from him, but he donated to me and the bond formed. We couldn’t explain it.” It was her turn to nod before turning to Nik.

“And how did you find Jaide? It couldn’t have been easy. Vampires are very good at disappearing. Especially the ones that can walk in the light.”

“Devon used his end of the bond to track her down. It took a long time, but we figured out that he could sense what direction she was in, and the closer he got to her, the stronger the feeling became.” I stared at him.

“That’s not possible. He shouldn’t have even felt the bond let alone manipulate it like that.” He just shrugged at me.

“Oh but my dear girl it is possible. If he has vampire blood in him.”

“But we never exchanged blood.”

“No, I’m not talking about exchanging blood. I talking about his bloodline.”

“You mean one of his ancestors was a vampire?”

“And from a strong line at that. When he tapped into the bond he awakened his vampire genes. The closer he got to you the stronger they became, it triggered his change.”

“So you’re saying that his closeness to me changed him?”

“Precisely.” I sighed and whispered a word that had Claire raising her eyebrows.

“What do we do?”

“Well, the rest of you should get some sleep. But you need to go to his room. The closer you are to him the faster his change will be.”

“That explains the sudden bloodlust.” She gave me a sympathetic smile. Before we all dispersed to our own spaces.

Edmund was already standing outside the doors to show the others to where they will be staying. I went straight for the back stairs that led down to the basement and the infirmary.

It was still just early morning so the halls were dark and empty. The dark didn’t bother me, it was the loneliness. The absence of other living beings. It made the whole place look desolate and feel hollow.

They had put him in the farthest room down the hall away from any of the other patients that might have been down there. It was best. An injured vampire is a dangerous one, and he was about as injured as you can get. He was vulnerable and it made him deadly. It was rare that a vampire saw the inside of the infirmary. No doubt rumors would be flying by sunrise. And my sudden appearance and my parent’s deaths would help fuel the flames.

There was a small light shining in the corner of the room when I entered. It was empty aside from Devon laying on a hospital bed. I stood at the side of his bed and looked down at him. He was just as gorgeous as he had been the last time I saw him. His hair was just a bit longer, but just as dark. His skin looked a tad paler than before, but that would be fixed as soon as he finished the change. I hated myself for longing to see his dark green eyes.

I was supposed to hate him. I should have, but I still loved him as much as before. Maybe even more from not seeing him for so long. But he had rejected me. I had no idea what would happen after his change. Mating was different for us than humans. It was possible that he would become just as devoted as he would have been if he were a vampire the whole time. But it was just as possible that his rejection would stick. What was worse is that I didn’t know if I wanted it to or not.

With a sigh I turned to the only chair available in the small room. It sat in the corner just down from the door. I didn’t know how long the change would take after his steady supply of blood. It seemed I didn’t know much of anything these days.

I got as comfortable as I could in the plushy chair and settled in to watch. It was incredibly boring, but I didn’t have much choice. I watched the sun rise, and listened to the rest of the infirmary wake with it. No one came in. I guess they assumed I was taking care of him, or didn’t want to disturb him. There really wasn’t anything more that they could do for him. So I sat, watched, and waited on the uncertainty to become clear.

 Devon

I woke up