The Blood Bundle, Books 1-2: Blood Singers and Blood Song (New Adult Paranormal Vampire/Shifter Romance) (15 page)

Julia wanted to tear her hair out. No privacy,
nothing but living in a fishbowl.

Gabriel approached. He gazed at her intently for
a moment, looking almost dashing in his navy suit. A crisp shirt in
warm white was accented with a soft tangerine tie. Julia recognized
the color immediately. It was the same as her dress. They
matched.

Great.

Gabriel watched her with such tenderness Julia
dropped her eyes. She was determined to not make friends here. She
wanted to belong to herself.

Julia felt his finger before it touched the
underside of her chin, lifting it to his gaze. “I know how you
feel. I understand.”

She moved her face away as his hand fell to his
side. “You don't know how I feel. Claire told me that my parents
and Jason were taken because Blood Singers can't intermarry. It was
only a matter of time before they would've broken Jason and I up!”
she whispered to him in a rush. Julia tried to be quiet but many of
the vampires turned their faces to she and Gabriel, the
conversation ringing in their ears.

“I do not wish for this to be the place for this
conversation,” he said, deftly swinging the conversation away from
the heat of her anger.

Fine. So convenient for him.

Gabriel took Julia out of the archway of the
pass through. She looked behind her at a long corridor filled with
many wooden doors like the one that that kept her prisoner in her
chamber. Thick, impenetrable.

Julia would leave this place. She straightened
her spine and walked away with Gabriel. He took that as
acquiescence and looped her arm through his.

Julia schemed as they approached a circular
group of vampires.

She plastered a phony smile on her face, hoping
William would not be amongst them. Hopefully, he was off sulking
somewhere, licking the wounds she'd inflicted on him.

Julia's smile turned genuine.

William studied Julia covertly from the shadows.
Seeing her expression change he wondered what she had been musing
about.

*

Were

Lawrence was beyond displeased. The vampires
would be extra vigilant now. Two failed missions. The reacquisition
of the Rare One would need to be executed with the utmost
stealth.

“It matters not that Tony behaved rashly.
Ultimately, it was your responsibility as acting Alpha,
Joseph.”

Joseph knew that. Maybe he had not been clear
enough.

“I don't want to see Tony receive discipline,
Packmaster.” Joseph watched Lawrence's nostrils flare and his eyes
change from their standard brown to a liquid gold. The eyes they
all held when the heart of the wolf beat inside their body.

“You speak true,” the Packmaster intoned, his
eyes becoming the flat human brown they usually were. “But he must
be desensitized before the next mission.” He looked at the two of
them. “Which will be soon.”

He stood, his lean body tall and graceful.
Lawrence ran a hand through his unruly hair, wavy and untamed, he
made it worse by combing it with his fingers. He pulled a map of
sorts from his desk drawer and used his tapered fingers to smooth
it out.

“Come,” he told them.

They did, bending over to see what lay before
them.

Joseph's face whipped up in shock. “This is
where the coven is located? In the middle of downtown?” he
scoffed.

Lawrence slowly nodded, tapping his nose. “As it
has been since the great fire of 1898.”

When he and Tony waited he sighed. “My grandsire
trained me when I was but a wee wolf,” Lawrence indicated a height
of a human toddler. “He told me, 'Lawrence, you must know where
your enemies hide'.” He looked as serious as Joseph had ever seen
him.

“But we don't fight them, Packmaster,” Joseph
stated the obvious, frustrated with the history lesson. He wanted
the Packmaster to just elaborate on the plan of action. The rest
was extraneous.

Tony laughed at Joseph's statement.

Joseph growled softly in his throat, heat
infusing his esophagus. The change hovered, as it always did at the
moon's zenith.

“We do not
challenge
, Alpha,” he
corrected, giving a growl that echoed Joseph's in Tony's direction
and his eyes slid away from the both of them in a submissive
response.

Satisfied, Joseph turned his attention back to
Lawrence.

“There is a difference. You ken to what it is,
eh?”

Joseph nodded. “I do, but I think we'll have to
beat them at their own game.” He looked at his Packmaster's face
for a lingering moment then continued, “I have wolves that can
gather intel, return to us with a method of acquisition for Julia
Caldwell before they know what hit them,” Joseph said as he punched
a balled fist into his open palm, the sound of it filling the small
space.

“Excellent. But first, you may be cognizant of
the numbers.”

“We need at least fifteen strong. We outnumbered
them by one and still they escaped,” Tony elaborated, speaking out
of turn.

But he was right
, Joseph thought and
added, “It matters nothing. The one vampire had Singer blood. He
shifted as an evasive tactic!”

Lawrence's brows shot to his hairline. “You
would have captured her without this unexpected... event?”

“Abso-fucking-lute-ly,” Tony said and Joseph
frowned.

Lawrence chuckled, looking Tony square in the
eyes. “We cannot afford to lose even one soldier.” He turned his
attention to his Alpha. “You are in charge of desensitizing your
wolves. Do it. And do it quickly. We need to be ready for the
soonest opportunity. Reconnaissance at the lair of the blood
drinkers is essential. Establish time lines for their habits,
follow their intimates.”

“Yes, Packmaster,” Joseph said. But he didn't
like it. He had reservations about Tony. The image of Julia
Caldwell struggling in his embrace was something that didn't leave
him easily. Tony was a volatile wolf. Rash. He'd been that way
since whelphood.

He bore watching.

The two werewolves strode out side by side. The
Packmaster watched the pair, sensing the rancor between the two. He
knew he had struck a match to their tempers.

That was the way of it. If Tony felt he was wolf
enough to take Joseph in a fair challenge, let it happen. He would
not cripple his unit of soldiers because the Alpha used caution as
a shield. He would force their innate aggressiveness to the
forefront.

Beside... Tony was obviously wanting a higher
position in the pack.

Lawrence could smell it.

His nose never lied.

*

vampire

Julia allowed herself to be led by Gabriel's arm
to the small group of vampires, their dark eyes tracking her like
falcons. She could feel the material of her long gown swirl around
her legs as she moved toward them, light and shadows lending their
expressions a unity to one another.

“These are your potential suitors, Julia,”
Gabriel said, not even bothering to offer the introduction in a
softer light.

He may as well have said, “Take your pick of
breeding stock.”

Julia crossed her arms underneath her breasts.
She did not realize the posture moved her hair away from her bosom,
offering the expansive creaminess of her skin as a delicacy before
the vampires who were already looking at her like she was their
favorite meal. One gasped in response to her subtle movement.

Gabriel chuckled, waggling his finger at the
group. “I have said that when a female came amongst you, that you
would have to sit on your fangs.” He chuckled at his own joke.

Julia didn't, scowling at his words.

Not funny.

“Now, now, Julia... don't look like that, I was
simply lightening the mood.”

Julia's attention returned to the loose circle.
There were five of them. All dressed similarly. She studied the
group... there was one that remained in the shadows. He came
forward and the ambient light from the strange glass windows of the
ceiling cast light like the moon on his face and she saw who it
was, taking a step backward.

William.

William saw her sharp inhale and how she
retreated a step. Was he so abhorrent? Wasn't their blood share
supposed to feel good to a Singer? He fought not to clench his
fists and appear relaxed. Even as his warrior brethren sniffed at
her like the dogs of the Were. He swallowed the anger that
threatened to engulf him.

Julia turned to Gabriel. “I will never consent
to anyone here.” She whipped her hand around at the vampires. “I
don't want to be
bred
. I don't care if you boys never walk
in the light. Maybe there's a good reason you don't?” She looked at
each face, perfectly chiseled features, made out of the same mold,
only William looked different... more human. She shoved that
thought aside.

Gabriel's patience was thinning. “These are the
vampire who possess the blood of a Singer in their lineage.
Although, you may breed with
any
vampire, be mated with any.
A Rare One may beget a child with any vampire. But it is the blood
of a Singer that will allow the recessive genes to intermingle and
produce the life blood of our coven.”

“What?” Julia nearly yelled.

“Light Bringers,” Gabriel said.

Tears threatening, Julia said, “You can't force
me to do this! Why would you want to? You're a Rare One too!”

“I am not female,” he said with a logic that
made her want to slap his face.

She looked around for a face that understood,
finally landing on William's. His held compassion, but she didn't
want that. Not from him.

She whirled away from the group, hiking the
skirt up, the material a silken bunch in her fist and ran for the
archway. She slapped the first door she saw and entered.

A bathroom. Small and private with a love seat
just inside the door, she sank down on it. She cried into her hands
and abandoned all hope.

Julia didn't know what to do. How she'd
escape.

She made her sobs quiet. She wouldn't give the
vampires in the hall the satisfaction of hearing her sadness.

They were the cause of it.

Julia dried her cheeks with a vicious swipe.
Disgusted with herself and her feelings of hopelessness, she stood.
Walking over to the mirror she looked at her red and swollen eyes,
the tracks from her tears making streaks where makeup had been.
Claire had insisted.

Her hands gripped the rolled porcelain edge of
the sink basin, the coolness a contrast to her body's heat.

Her head hung almost to her breastbone. How many
times had Jason held her up when she felt like she couldn't live
another moment with Aunt Lily? When her constant nagging and
distrust were more than Julia could bear?

Resolve took hold within Julia. She needed to
get through each day here, formulate a plan. One day at a time. If
she could gain their trust, even by some small measure, maybe she
could find a way to escape. Especially as her powers grew. Without
actually causing her harm, how would they stop the advancement of
her abilities? Claire was the one that had told her she was
entering her adolescence as a Blood Singer. Almost twenty seemed
too old for that but Singers lived longer.

They were immortal in some cases. Julia had not
asked the burning question. The one that had trembled on her
lips.

Was she?

Would she live forever?

It still seemed surreal to Julia. She kept going
back in a mental circle to her last point of reference of a year
ago. When the biggest plan was getting married to her high school
sweetheart. Now paranormal powers? Vampires... werewolves. The
enormity of it all was overwhelming. If the reality wasn't staring
her in the face, she'd believe she was crazy.

Her skin began to crawl, prickling.

Julia jerked her head up and met the stare of a
female vampire in the reflection a heartbeat before she struck, her
fangs sinking into Julia's shoulder, the tips meeting her
collarbone. She cried out, the pain more than even the claws had
been.

“Hold her, Edna,” a male voice said
casually.

It burned like liquid fire. Acid in her
flesh.

Julia was trying to scream around the fangs but
with bulging eyes she saw the male that walked toward her, the
scream dying in a mouth that had become dry with fear.

He had been one of the males in the group of
“choices.”

Julia crossed him off the list, she decided
wildly, on the verge of hysteria.

“The female doesn't want you, fragile human. She
hates you,” he said, his eyes liquid pools of silver, reflecting
like dull nickels. Those eyes tried to suck her under but Julia
felt the pull slide off harmlessly.

“Thrall will not work, dolt,” another male said,
meeting her eyes in the mirror. Julia saw that the bloodied wound
was leaking into the bodice of her tangerine dress, turning it red.
An evil sunset bloomed on the gauzy fabric.

The other male's eyes widened and he bent over
her shoulder, lapping at the blood like a cat with cream. “Ahh,” he
crooned. Lap, suck, gulp. Julia watched as the male's throat
convulsed, licking at her skin while the other one watched. “Her
blood is exquisite. I have never tasted the likes of it,” his eyes
rolled to meet hers in the reflection, a silver so light they
looked glacial.

They were going to take Julia's blood where she
stood. Edna the vampire anchoring her throbbing shoulder to force
her placement.

They would feed.

The other male moved in, eyeing her throat as if
mesmerized, his body one tight line of tension.

Julia became desperate. She had next to no
training, having about bashed Claire's brains in the other day in a
reaction so pure, so unexpected they'd been pacing themselves
since. Panicked, Julia tried to remember what it felt like to
engage that telekinetic ability. It was so new to her she didn't
even know where to begin. Especially with her heart in her throat
from sheer terror. Julia felt disjointed and lacking the cognitive
reasoning for finesse.