The Blood Bundle, Books 1-2: Blood Singers and Blood Song (New Adult Paranormal Vampire/Shifter Romance) (29 page)

Running.

But why?

Truman stared out the window, gnawing on the
tip of his ballpoint.

Answers, he needed answers.

Like yesterday.

****

William

Claire repeated herself, “Hold your temper!
I didn't say that I could locate her, only that it was
possible.”

William paced, he had returned empty-handed
and Gabriel had not been surprised. Because Claire was a
Precognitive, she had simply known that his quest was impossible.
William had thought it was strange that Gabriel was not pressing
other runners into service to assist him.

Gabriel laughed from his gut. “It is not as
if you were prone to listen. I told you not to go. We knew the
location of the dogs' stronghold. Yet, still, you would not listen.
Your own cousin, a known precog...”

William strode to Gabriel and he
straightened, knowing the tenor of the vampire he faced: volatile,
fresh, angry. “No, she could give nothing of substance. It was all
vague,” he threw his arm out. “I would never be content with that
as Julia's end. Ambiguity? No!”

“
But William... I knew she
would be safe,” Claire reasoned.

William nodded. “Oh yes! She is quite
safe... with the other Singers. How long do you think it will be
before one of them recognizes Julia for who she is? What she is to
them?”

There was no response from them. William
faced Claire. “We have not one scrap of evidence as to where the
Singers may be? It has always been our policy to not interfere in
the balance. But now that scale has been tipped. And not in our
favor, I may add.” He lifted his brows in question and Gabriel
sighed. “Alright,” he lifted his palm up, “you've made your point.
We will call in a Locator.”

William was surprised. He did not think
there was one in their kiss.

“
We will have to...” he looked
at Claire, “I have not been amongst their kind... my kind. What is
the contemporary vernacular for asking to borrow...?”

Claire nodded her understanding. “Call in a
favor.”

He nodded. “Yes!” he snapped his fingers.
“That's it. We will call in a favor to our sister kiss and borrow
one of their Singers who locates. That will help us find the Rare
One.”

“
And what will they ask in
return?” William quizzed reasonably.

Gabriel sharpened his gaze on William. “I do
not know. But rest assured, it will be something.”

William nodded, knowing that the vampire did
not solicit favors. They took what they wanted, needing no one. An
autonomous group unlike any other.

Except the Were.

There was always them.

“
Yes. It will be that,”
William agreed.

Claire nodded. “There is always
recompense.”

It was what and how much they would expect
in payment.

Not a pound of flesh, no, not that.

But payment by blood would suffice very
well.

*

Julia

Julia had spent a lot of time that morning with
her mouth hanging open while the boys (as she thought of the
brothers), Brendan and Michael, and their spunky sister, Jen, gave
her a tour of her newest home.

The barn looked like a red stop sign in a field
of green. Fresh and iconic, it stood like a stoic anchor about
ninety yards from the Victorian. It seemed so innocuous standing
there, but when they went through the small doorway she entered
another world. It was as if they remained hidden in plain sight.
The floor was white, the walls, the desks... it was weird.

Then Jen spoke, “Weird huh?”

Julia nodded without speaking. Then she couldn't
help herself and asked, “What's with the monochromatic
thing...?”

“Helps us batten down the mental hatches,
girlie!”

Girlie? Julia laughed despite herself.
“Really?”

Brendan joined in, “Yeah. Keep everything one
color, no distractions, helps with training.” Michael nodded in
agreement.

There were partitions that separated the
“rooms.” But one room wasn't quiet and the mats weren't white. They
were blue and red. Blue in color.

Red with blood.

Julia stopped. There were three guys fighting
and they were really going at it. One man had an open cut above his
eyebrow like a second mouth and it was dropping blood splatter
everywhere. “Wait a sec!” Julia began.

Brendan interrupted, “Training.”

Julia's face turned sharply to his. “Is this
what you do? I mean...” Julia hesitated, “to each other?” Just as
she asked, the instructor, whose back had been facing her, turned.
She was instantly sure he was one of the brothers. The missing one,
because Jen had said she had three. He looked a little like Brendan
but the hair wasn't red at all. It was black and he was clearly the
eldest. He was tall, broad and built like an ox. He'd have fit
right in with the wolves.

Julia assimilated these details in seconds.

Because in the next second, those thoughts were
driven from her mind when he grinned at her and charged.

Fear surged through Julia's body, beginning at
her gut and throwing a tingling shot of what felt like electricity
into her extremities. They prickled uncomfortably when her
telekinetic power flowed out of the hole that the fear had made,
hitting the man as he advanced toward her at a dead run.

Julia felt the wall of her power slam into him
while he walked through it like it had been mist. Next thing she
knew Brendan had barreled into her, smoothly rolling her out of the
way of the locomotive relative.

“Knock it off, Scott!” Brendan yelled at him
even as he came for them again. Julia didn't even think, she jerked
them up into the air by fifteen feet. She wasn't sure which part
was better, Brendan's face or his brother's.

“Well I'll be damned!” Scott said with a laugh.
“Maybe she's not a useless figurehead after all!”

“Hey! Mannerless! Way to go on the
introductions!” Jen said, smacking his beefy arm.

“What? It's my job to assess new talent,” he
said innocently.

“She's our Queen, asshat,” Michael said in a
droll way.

Scott paused, Julia and Brendan suspended. And
it was taking its toll, Julia was shaking in Brendan's arms.

In Brendan's arms!

Julia was suddenly and acutely aware of being
held by a guy she'd just met that was
ü
ber-attractive. Julia lost the tenuous grip on her
ability and her focus shattered. They fell and she yelped, bracing
for impact.

Before they hit the hard concrete floor painted
an obscenely bright white, their progress was halted in a
sickeningly explosive lurch. Julia looked around her, as she was
gently lowered the remaining half foot to the ground.

It was Jen.

But she had eyes only for Scott. “You stupe!
Really? Look what almost happened? How would I have explained this
to Marcus? That our queen's guts were strewn around the ground
because you were 'assessing'!” She hit him again and folded her
arms across her chest, stewing.

Jen huffed then noticed that Julia was
there.

Listening.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, then continued, “I mean...
about the guts and brains part.”

“It's okay,” Julia said, scooting away from
Brendan and standing. She gave a wary look at Scott and he looked
back with steady eyes, so brown they looked black.

“Ya know,” Julia said, “if there's any truth to
this royalty thing, I'm demoting your ass first.”

Scott threw back his head and howled laughter.
Finally, when he could speak he said, “I think I like her.”

“Not that it matters!” Jen said, still
pissed.

Brendan and Michael looked at their brother.
Michael asked, “Don't ya have someone's ass to kick or something?
Stop stomping all over Julia and get over there and train!”

Scott walked over to Michael, getting up in his
grill. “Whatcha gonna do about it if I don't?”

Suddenly, there was a ten foot stack of cow shit
and Scott was in the middle of it, only his head peeking out of the
top. “Michael!” he roared.

The siblings started to walk away, but Julia
couldn't get past Scott howling and buried in a pile of manure that
smelled so bad that Julia had to breathe through her mouth, her
hand covering her nose. “Hey!” Julia called after them and all
three turned. “Aren't you going to... you're going to leave him
like that?” She didn't know whether to laugh or help him out of his
predicament.

They nodded, grinning. “Yeah, he'll be free in
about twenty seconds.” Michael said.

“Too bad it couldn't last longer,” Jen muttered
to herself but Julia caught it perfectly.

“Let him sing in his own shit for a minute,”
Brendan said.

Julia followed as Scott bellowed, “Payback's a
bitch!”

When they had walked to the end of the building,
Julia turned. And there Scott stood, the manure gone. Not a speck
of it remained. But the eyes that bored into her back had not been
friendly.

They weren't friendly now.

Julia suppressed a shiver under their
weight.

Turning her back, she followed the friendlier
part of the family, leaving the discomfort of the encounter behind
her.

For now.

*

introspection

Julia watched the swan paddle on a small lake,
then shifted her eyes to the Olympic Mountains. They reminded her
of home, a little. There were a few rocks that acted like small
boulders that rimmed the shore, as it were. It was heavily pebbled
with smaller rocks, not sand, per se. It was wonderful all the
same. What was especially delicious was the time by herself. It had
been overwhelming to see and learn all that she had. And... Julia
got the distinct impression they had kept the walking tour short
for her benefit.

There were so many classifications of abilities
she had stopped trying to memorize them after the first ten. There
were main abilities and all their sub-abilities. It was too much.
Her head had buzzed with the sheer wealth of knowledge. One thing
she did understand was Scott, the brother that didn't like her, was
a Deflector and a highly skilled martial artist as well. He could
cancel out another Singer's ability. But like his brother, Michael,
it was powerfully effective, but only for a short time. Say...
maybe a half minute. Then there was Jen. She was telekinetic like
Julia, but different. Or maybe not different, just so much
better.
Then there was the post-puberty
strength that came online.

Only for the males. But God was just and the
female Singer's abilities were usually stronger, or at the very
least, longer-lasting. So, kinda a wash.

Julia skipped one of the flat stones and the
swan startled, flying a few feet and craning its elegant neck to
give her a disdainful look. Could swans be angry? She thought this
one was. She sighed and sat down on the boulder again. Picking up a
stick she twirled the water, her chin in her palm.

Then there was Michael. She felt her whole
face break into a grin. That scene with the shit had been
priceless. Beyond funny... even if Scott hadn't been laughing.

Payback's a bitch.

Julia threw the stick in the
water, standing. She began to pace the shore thinking about
Brendan. He'd been the one to carry her from the Were. How had he
found her? He said simply, he was a “Tracker.” It didn't fully
explain things. He also said he had a crossover ability.
Pyrokinetic. Julia was reminded of that Stephen King novel,
Firestarter.
She'd mentioned it to Brendan
who'd laughed, “Nah, that's some trashy fiction story.”

Right.

Hadn't seemed so implausible when the feet
of ten werewolves were on fire. Seemed pretty legit to her.

Her mind landed on William. He'd been trying
to free her too. But the more Julia thought about it, the less
“free” it felt. She cared for him... maybe more. But the reality
was she'd be the bird in the gilded cage again. She would have...
she almost was a bird in a cage of the Were as well. It wouldn't
have been gilded though. Julia thought of Tony and shuddered. To
think there was even a slim chance that she'd have been forced into
a union with Tony. She understood instinctively that he'd been bad,
evil maybe. And it hadn't just been Adriana's misgivings. Julia had
plenty of her own, rather a confirmation. She sighed. She felt like
she was shuffling a deck of cards, afraid to cut the deck.

Julia heard a noise and turned, her hand at
her heart, startled. Julia smiled when she saw who it was.

Brendan.

He walked toward her, his bronze hair a low
burning flame with the sun lighting it from behind, his eyes like
onyx with the sun at his back. The mountains framed his silhouette
as he approached and Julia felt heat rise to her face, seeing the
evidence of his combative training on every square inch of his
body.

He waved at her as he drew closer and she
lifted her hand in return.

Julia already felt more at home with him
than she had a right to.

The feral saw the two beside the lake and
could hardly contain his territorial urges over the female.

She was his and another was beside her.
Putting his hands on her.

He would die.

The feral would enjoy tearing at the soft
flesh of his neck, the hot spray from the blood coating his muzzle
in a satisfying spray of fragrance.

With an effort that was almost painful, he
retreated into the depths of the forest, his snout scenting their
whereabouts. He would be cautious. The male that was with her had
an advantage that the feral recognized and wished to cripple if he
could.

He was not nose-blind. He was something
other than human. The feral did not know how he knew this but when
he had been near the male and the small female, their kinship was
apparent, easy to scent. But his chest had tightened uncomfortably
with a sensation he could not identify.