Pulling a kit used for drawing blood from his bag, he motions for me to give him my arm. “Especially since your blood and her blood are mixing. I want to see the results as soon as possible.”
Nodding my head, I hold out my arm to him. “I need Raphael to head into the city and get us both clothes. Chloe wasn’t prepared when she left her home to be with us.”
“Ripped all her clothing off, you mean?” Raphael asks as he walks into the living room.
I want to deny the statement, and I can’t figure out why.
Shaking my head, I say, “Fuck off.”
Raphael ignores my response and goes off in an entirely different direction. “Ash, we need to talk about the hunter downstairs.”
“Yes,” Andrei agrees, “we do.”
“What is it?” I ask, looking at them both.
“All of us are a little fucking disturbed that he has her fucking blood in him,” Raphael says with a disgusted look on his face.
“Did you happen to get a blood sample of his, as well?” I ask Andrei.
Andrei nods. “First thing I did when we got him strapped down.”
“Not only do you drink blood, you fuck, but you also take it in syringes? Fangs not good enough for you?” Raphael jokingly says to Andrei.
“My fangs work better than your dick,” Andrei retorts and finishes drawing blood from my arm.
“Back to the topic of the hunter,” I grunt.
“Yeah, something isn’t right about the whole thing, beyond him drinking blood,” Raphael says. “That in itself is fucking disturbing. But he’s also still resisting our compulsions. We can get him under for a little bit, but then he snaps out.”
“Are you sure?” I ask.
“Yeah,” Raphael answers, “it’s fucking creepy. He also flipped his shit when we all heard you turning Chloe.”
“Mentally or physically?” I ask.
“Both. He went apeshit trying to break free from the chair we’ve chained him to,” Raphael says.
“Something about this is off,” I say. “Andrei, have you ever heard of the Order feeding their hunters blood before?”
“Never, and trust me, I can’t imagine the amount secrecy they’d need if they’re doing it with the soulmarked,” Andrei mutters as he puts his vials away. “That just doesn’t make sense. It makes even less sense to have a soulmarked and a hunter that’s drunk her blood near each other. Unless…”
“Unless they set up the Marked as the bait,” I say.
“Like a lamb to the slaughter,” Raphael says with a growl.
“Meaning our brethren are being murdered by hunters when they’re trying to reach their soulmarks,” Andrei says.
“Fucking gods,” I mutter.
A ringing blasts through the room right before Raphael yanks his phone from his pocket. Putting the phone up to his ear, he says, “Raphael.”
A moment later he’s handing me the phone.
“Sire, Maddox and I will be at the house within two hours,” my son, Caden, says.
“It’s fucking good to hear that,” I tell Caden with a huge grin.
All my children are coming home.
“I understand there’s cause for celebration,” Caden says with a laugh. “I’ll bring the drinks.”
“We’ll need a lot. I have a feeling we all need a few to kick back,” I say. “I’ll see you soon.”
Disconnecting the phone, I hand it back to Raphael. “Caden and Maddox. Where’s Christos and Kellan?”
Sighing at me as if I’m some doddering old fool, Andrei says, “Christos is working his way from Spain, he was on his yearly pilgrimage. Kellan is still in Norway trying to shore up our bank accounts.”
I try to remember when I was told about these things but I draw a blank. “Let me guess…”
“Yes, Ash, it was during one of your… periods,” Andrei says quietly.
“We still need to talk about what the hell was going on,” Raphael says with an accusatory stare at Andrei.
I wave him off. “And we will. Let’s get more of us here first.”
“Fine.” Raphael glares at me for a long moment before he turns around and heads back to the basement. “Let’s go look at the fucking hunter and avoid talking about what the fuck is going on with you. That’ll be productive.”
Shaking my head, I look to Andrei. “Has he eaten anything today?”
Andrei shrugs his shoulders. “Yeah but it was off some clean-cut guy who had drugs in his system.”
“Aw, does my poor son have a tummy ache?” I ask Raphael’s back as I follow him down the hallway.
“I’ll fucking stab you in your sleep, Ash,” Raphael snarls as he stomps heavily down the stairs.
Fucking hell, I feel good right now.
My mind is so clear and free of that fog… Even my body feels stronger than it was before, and that’s saying something.
Each of us has one thing that sets us apart from other vampires.
Andrei is a stealthy big asshole. Brilliant of mind and body.
Raphael is the berserker. His mind goes bye-bye and his body becomes the monster inside of him.