The Blood Bundle, Books 1-2: Blood Singers and Blood Song (New Adult Paranormal Vampire/Shifter Romance) (43 page)

Julia still didn't really see the conflict.
“So, they're all Rare Ones?”

Marcus clarified her speculation with,
“They're all of royal descent.”

“
Wait a minute,” Julia began
again, crossing her arms, “shouldn't I be a Combatant? I've got the
same lineage that Scott has...?”

“
No,” Scott said in disbelief.
“You're female, you need the protection of all male Singers. The
Combatant is
made
to protect
you.”

Julia jabbed him in his ribs
with her elbow.
Men.

Scott glared at her,
so stubborn
, he thought, hiding a
smile.

Marcus said, “No. There is one Queen every
few hundred years. It's the way it has always been.”

Marcus met Scott's eyes. “Your mother was a
direct granddaughter of the last Queen.”

Scott shook his head. “I knew Mom, before
she... died.” Julia noticed a deep flutter in his jaw as he
mentioned his mother's name.

“
She was not your mother,
Scott.”

The silence had its own tangible weight in
the room, Julia's eyes acting like a ping pong ball between father
and son. Scott's darkened from rage. “Why was I not told the
truth?”

Marcus spread his arms away from his body.
“There was no point in telling you of your true biology unless the
need arose.”

“
So,” Scott stood, jamming his
huge hands on his hips, “you were going to just let me go on in
ignorance if the whole Queen thing hadn't happened?”

Marcus gave a slow nod. “The Combatant is
not put into force until a true Queen begins her Awakening. When
that occurs, there is no force, except death, that will keep the
remainder of The Combatant from coming to close the circle.” Marcus
made a perfect circle with his two hands together.

A vein in Scott's temple pulsed in time to
the beat of his heart. He was connecting every dot that his father
put forward.

And ones he hadn't.

“
What about me?” Julia asked,
her look going between the two men. “What are they protecting me
from? What does this 'circle' mean?”

“
It is a circle of blood
protection. A blood rite.”

Julia gasped, standing. “Like that thing the
Were was going to do? A mating thing?”

“
Not exactly,” Jen said from
the door.

“
Nice way to bring it, Dad,”
Michael said from behind her.

Julia met Jen's eyes. “What does 'not
exactly' mean?”

Brendan walked in. “It means that once the
Guard of the Queen, their circle of protection is in place,
no....”

“
Force,” Marcus
interrupted.

“
Great or small,” Jen
added.

“
Shall harm the treasure of
the Singers,” Brendan finished.

Julia felt a little light-headed and sat
down with a light plop in the stiff loveseat, her hands gripping
the ornately carved sides. She was some kind of weird Singer
Messiah. But she couldn't be! She was just her. Julia looked at
Scott and he gazed back at her, his eyes steady.

He wasn't denying it.

Shit, she was in trouble here. It felt like
the four corners of the house were closing in around her.

“
I always knew you were weird,
Scott,” Michael said, licking his fingers after his foray into the
chip bag. Scott scowled.

Marcus said to his other children, “He is
still your brother.”

They looked at Scott. The boys especially.
Brendan and Michael had the classic Singer complexion whereas Scott
was dark.

“
Who was my mother?”Scott
asked.

“
It was an arranged...
pairing,” Marcus said carefully.

“
Who was she?” Scott asked in
a low voice.

“
Jacqueline,” he answered in a
tight voice.

“
What?” Jen nearly shrieked.
“The Jacqueline?”

Marcus nodded and Scott blanched. “That
bitch-on-wheels is Dear Old Mom?”

“
Careful, Scott. Much of what
you are is predicated by your blood.”

“
You mean her blood,” Brendan
said.

Marcus inclined his head. “I do.”

“
So, this mystery bio-mom is
like, what? A Rare One too?”

Marcus nodded at Julia. “But... she's not
like 'a Queen',” Julia asked with an airquote.

“
No. She is not a pureblood.
We were chosen to pair because it was thought that the mix of our
genetics would have a high probability to produce a
Combatant.”

“
What? Like a stud horse?” Jen
asked and Julia thought she had it about right.

“
All Singers of Rare blood are
required to produce one offspring with a male of Rare lineage,” he
shrugged like it was the simplest thing in the world.

“
So what about Ruth?” Scott
asked, crossing his muscular arms across his broad chest, the
workout gear he wore showing every muscle in stark
relief.

“
Ah, the woman you knew as
mother was one I took for love. When you were born, she accepted
you as her own. She was raised in the old ways and understood the
Law.”

Julia began pacing where Marcus had been
just minutes before. The siblings and Scott watched her like a
group of hawks.

“
Scott's not special. He's one
of a bunch of other what, warriors? Who will come here at some
future point, to protect me and do some elaborate blood ritual?”
Julia directed her question at Marcus. “And I'll ask again: what
are they protecting me from?”

“
Once the circle is complete,
there is no... supernatural group that can hurt you. They can hunt,
try, search....”

“
Flail about,” Michael added
with a well-timed smirk.

Brendan nodded. “It is the most invincible
protection the Singers have at their disposal.”

Julia was confused. “I thought there was the
big soul-meld thing?” Julia said and Scott's face got that soft
flush of red again.

“
Come on guys, spit it out.
Why do you all look like someone died or something?” Julia asked,
getting tired of the slow answers.

Scott's hands became fists of frustration at
his side. “Because when the remainder come, your blood will
choose.”

“
What? Choose what?” Julia
asked, that feeling of acute suffocation deepening.

“
Your one true mate, the King
to your Queen,” Jen said emphatically.

Julia thought of Jason and how he'd been her
husband. The memory of the attack caused a fresh wound on her heart
that was slowly bleeding out.

She thought of William, and the growing
feelings she'd had for him. Even though much of his motivation to
be with her did nothing for Julia, gained nothing for anyone but
his coven.

Julia looked at Scott, her supposed soulmate
and realized that he was but one contender amongst other Combatants
that may vie for position.

Marcus shattered her thoughts with his
statement, “Blood chosen, Julia.”

Julia looked at him uncomprehendingly.

“
It is what it means to be
Singer. The blood knows all. Your specialness will allow the one
Combatant that is meant to rule stand out from them
all.”

“
I thought I was meant to be
with...” Julia couldn't say it, she gave a small gesture toward
Scott. It was all too new to articulate, too powerful to dwell
on.

“
You will have a measure of
blood-recognition with any Combatant, but it is the one that
manifests a special trait that will conclusively tell everyone who
witnesses that he will be a King, not just a foot soldier.
Although,” he cautioned with a raised finger, “there is no shame in
being in the circle and not sharing the treasure, but guarding
it.”

Julia's mind whirled with all the
information. She was like... gold bullion or something lame like
that.

“
What trait?” Scott asked, the
tension on a tight wire. His body a hard line of stress, pulled
taut to breaking.

Julia had put stuff together. “How old are
you, Marcus?” There was something so off about him, especially the
way he spoke.

Two full minutes passed before he would
answer, finally he said, “Three hundred six.”

Julia gaped at him. “How... how it that
possible?” she whispered, stunned.

“
Singers do not age as humans
do.” His eyes fairly sparkled with intensity. “Rare Ones, slower
still. What gave me away?”

“
The way you talk,” Julia
answered then looked at the others. “Are you guys old
too?”

Michael raised a hand, some chip dust on the
ends. “Guilty.”

Jen looked embarrassed. “Yeah.”

“
Uh-huh,” Brendan
said.

Scott elaborated, “We're taught modern
vernacular.”

“
So you guys can speak like
him and speak like me?”

“
None so well as Michael. He
is flawless in his speech,” Marcus gave the compliment without
emotion but Michael swelled up like a peacock at the
praise.

“
Don't get excited, putz,”
Brendan snorted, “Dad's giving you a compliment on that because we
can all kick your ass.”

“
Guys!” Jen yelled. “Notch the
testosterone down a peg, K?”

They looked at Julia and she stared
back.

“
I don't want to know,” she
said in a slow voice. She asked the other question that needed a
response, “Who's this Jacqueline?”

“
She is my counterpart. She
resides in a different region,” Marcus responded. “She is not
well.”

“
Yeah, she's freakin' mental,”
Michael said.

“
Deranged,” Brendan
agreed.

“
Why did you...” Julia
asked.

Marcus gave a small shrug, his eyes meeting
hers. “These things are arranged since our infancy. It is a pairing
based on potential, not love. She was not well then. She should not
govern anything. The Singers are generally matriarchal.”

Ruled by women,
Julia
thought.

“
But that's one chick who
shouldn't lead,” Jen said with a shudder.

“
Why? Why is she so bad?”
Julia asked giving a hasty look at Scott. She had not forgotten
this was his actual mom. It didn't matter to her that he had never
known who she was. She was apparently a person of ill repute. Yet,
she had this role in Scott's life he was helpless to change. Julia
walked to him and laid her hand on the middle of his broad back and
over his tight tee. He exhaled a breath, relaxing under her
comforting touch. Then she looked at the rest of the siblings, her
eyes landing last on Marcus.

“
This is Scott's mother,” she
began, nailing each one of them with angry eyes. “You're discussing
it in front of him like he doesn't matter! You're discussing him
like he's just a switch flicked, put into play. His feelings don't
matter. That this insane leader, wherever she is, was just an egg
donor!” Her eyes narrowed on all of them. “You should be ashamed of
yourselves. He's your flesh and blood. He's one of you.”

Scott put his hand on the crown of his small
defender's head and gave a slight smile. He knew what she was
trying to achieve and it caused a tenderness toward her that was
almost painful but he now knew his place in the Singer hierarchy.
And he was being treated exactly like what he was.

He was indifferent, aloof and physically
superior for a reason. It was not personality, it was the traits of
a Combatant.

“
I am a Combatant, Julia.
Nothing more, nothing less. They're not being unkind. It's actually
an honor,” Scott said, letting how he felt about her defending him
show in his eyes a little. Julia was so fierce in her constitution.
She'd been through so much, yet Julia persevered.

His smile broadened.

Julia's anger turned to defiance. “You know
what? I don't need a... whatever the hell it is!” She pulled away
from Scott and the others.

“
Combatant? Defender?
Warrior?” Marcus asked, blatantly stalking toward her like a lion
on the prowl.

“
No! I don't need all that.”
Her eyes searched his. Standing her ground. “I need to be me.
Defend myself. I won't,” she viciously swallowed the tears that
threatened in a painful lump in her throat, “have those things
happen to me again. Ever,” she finished the last word with a hoarse
ringing finality. Her tone was one of command, strength and
certainty.

“
You might not have a choice,
Julia,” Marcus began gently.

She ignored him, going on, “Stop belittling
Scott. Stop telling me all these 'truths',” she said. “I don't want
anyone taking chunks out of someone I care about.” Julia didn't
realize she had declared how she felt for Scott to the room at
large. She didn't even know it was true until she spoke it out
loud.

Julia's eyes blazed like twin suns out of
her face, her body was resolute, her stature not diminishing her
sincerity, her intelligence.

Her will.

“
Spoken like a Queen,” Marcus
said with a note of irony.

Julia shook her head. “No, spoken like a
human being.”

She walked out, leaving five Singers staring
after a Queen that was beginning to rule and was utterly unaware of
it.

Sea-Tac

Truman lay on the cheap hotel mattress, the
thing mainly built like a rock but with strategic lumps and bumps.
Like dead rats had been stuffed in there to remind the guests not
to get too comfortable with their stay.