Blood Twist (The Erris Coven Series) (10 page)

Instead of the silvery white of Braden’s eyes – the two men’
s irises
were
a fathomless
bl
ack. T
heir jaws contained
rows of
sharp teeth and the shade of their skin had paled.

Liz’s stomach tensed
in fear as she finally recognize
d the strangeness of the two men.

They’re vampires
.

“Hello brother,” Riley crowed, a t
wisted satisfaction
form
ed across
his face.
Darkness
replaced h
is beauty
.

Brother?

Fear
darted
through her.
Liz plac
ed her hand on the damphyr’s shoulder,
his muscles rippled with tensi
on beneath
her fingers.
She
didn’t know what would happen, but could
fight beside him.

Grasping at her stored knowledg
e, she tried to anticipate her first move
.
Disarming an assailant was one thing, fighting off fangs was
another.
What did she know about vampires? She didn’t have any wooden stakes or holy water on hand.

“Don’t call me that,” Braden hissed. “You shouldn’t have come here; it wasn’t a part of the deal.” His strong arm
encircled
Liz.
As h
e
drew her closer to his
body,
she
realized
he
was protecting her from
attack
.

Riley dragged his hand through his rich brown hair, a mannerism in which Liz had seen Braden do a countless number
of times
. The familiar eyes were another thing, where Braden’s were a beautiful
deep
blue,
Riley’
s were dark like a stormy ocean
.  T
he
shape was
the same. Was it possible
he
actually
was Braden’s brother?

Does the coven know this?

“Now, is that the kind of first impression you want to give your lover of me?” Riley
chuckled
, but his laughter wasn’
t
playful. His black
eyes bore down on Braden, sending
panic
through Liz.

“We don’t want trouble
,”
Liz interjected, trying to change the mood of the room.

Cocking her
head, she leveled her gaze at Riley
. She expected they could hear her heart beating
erratically
, but hop
ed to calm them
with her false bravado
.
“We’re
here because we’re
trying to save a loved one f
rom a werewolf infection.
”

O
ffering Braden
the same
placated
smile
, Liz turned to him
,
urging him to release his
grip. “I didn’t realize you
were going to have your
acquaintances stop over
, I would have been up and dressed.”

He
peered
down
;
his
damphyr face was strangely appealing
. “
I didn’t tell them we
were here.” Concern l
eft a small V between his brows, more
scared for her than himself. “I was supposed to meet them tomorrow night, after you returned home.”

Confused, Liz tried
to understand what he was saying
.

He was going to send me home by myself?

Liz’s face reddened.
Hurt, she wanted an expla
n
ation – but now wasn’
t the time.

We can’t leave without
Ruby’s cure.

She glanced back to Riley and Strix; the two vampires
studi
ed her and Braden minutely. Becoming visibly calmer,
at least
their mouths weren’t
primed
to tear open any throat
s.

As she
watched
,
the inky blackness of Riley’s eyes took on the navy blue of earlier.
Pleasure
radiated from his smug expression
. H
e lik
ed the terror and unease he
was
weav
ing
in the room. 

Liz narrowed her eyes at him. If Riley wanted to scare her off, he would have to try harder than that
. She grew up with
the Captain. If she could survive that bastard, she could survive anyone.

11

BRADEN

As they pulled up to
a darkened building,
Braden was on alert
.
  Every cell in his body r
ang with alarm. He stayed
at Liz’s side,
ready
to protect her.

I never should have brought her here. She’s in danger because of me.

He tried
convincing Riley to let he
r
stay behind at the motel
, a
rgu
ing
she wasn’t a part of this
.
Even insisting
he
didn’t violate
their deal. But, the creature that was once
his brother laughed off hi
s concerns
.
Forcing them both into the car, Riley made it clear l
eaving Liz behind wasn’t an option. Braden hoped like hell he didn’t sign her death warrant.

How did he find us
?

Riley insisted that no harm would come to Liz, that he only wanted to show her the wonders o
f
Vancouver at night. The
draugr
’s
interest in her was unnerving
, a
lways studying her movements and standing too close. If Riley harmed one hair on her head, Braden wouldn’t think twice be
fore killing him.
Playing it cool, he bided his time until he had a chance.

Braden knew if he attacked Riley, Strix would te
ar Liz apart.
As a human, she had no way of fighting back.
He hoped the
draugar
would keep them alive for a while, a
t least until he co
uld find a way for Liz to escape
.

As he surveyed the front of the dilapidated structure, an ironic sign announced their arrival at Sunnydale Rest Home. The front windows were boarded up
. A
neon green poster
heralding
its permanent closure was taped to the glass front door.

On the surface, an abandoned nursing home seemed like a strange place for vampires to nest. But it
had an invisible quality as it
sat
back from the road with its
over
grown
shrubbery and sunken roof.
No one ever looked for life at a place that was originally meant
for the sick and dying
.

Riley gestured them in
through the double doors
like he was the
maître d’
of a grand hotel instead of a butcher. His
mischievous
s
mile made Braden sick.

Forever ei
ghteen, Riley hadn’t aged a day, but he
was no longer his brother.
As far Braden was concerned, his favored family member
died a long time ago. A demon n
ow possessed his brot
her’s skin.
No different than the one
s who slaughtered the little village in Eire where his descendants came from. They may drive cars now instead of traveling by ship, but they still raped and pillaged their way around, murdering and taking whatever they desired.

Although there were
eerie similarities in the way Riley
moved and his tone of v
oice, Braden refused to buy the lie that his brother’s soul remained in the vampire before him.

Braden remembered how it felt to ride on Riley’s shoulders when he was just a little kid. He idol
ized him
and was proud of th
e fact that out
of his cousins
, Braden was the only one
to have
an older brother
. 

From the time of their creation, f
ate-partners
had one son.
Boys were born in groups.
Even though Braden
was too young t
o understand why the elders whispered about the oddness of Brigid and
Lachlan having two sons, he
just considered them lucky.
It wasn’t until he was older that he considered how difficult it must have been for Riley to grow up alone without
cousins his age
to lean on
.

It would have been hell for me to not have Torin around.

Braden
mour
n
ed with his mother
when she believ
ed
her husband and oldest son
passed away
.
Riley
had just turned eighteen; he hadn’t even completed the change.
His death came as a shock to them all.
Between the severing of her
bond with Lachlan and losing a
child, his mother never
recovered from the trauma.
The lively spirit Brigid was known for curled up inside her and dwindled like a slow ember until it was gone.

The elders
weren’t
sure where Lachlan traveled
to;
just that he
brought Riley with him when he
planned on buying Brigid a vacation home
for Christmas
.
H
is fa
ther was impulsive like that; as soon as a spark of an idea took hold, Lachlan
would run
off
with what
ever inspiration
popped in his head.
After chasing a few
leads, they reasoned
the two of them died in a fire or were encountered by slayers.
With what they were, it wasn’t possible to go to the authorities for help.

It wasn’t until
he was ten and
Riley crept in his d
orm room
that Braden
put the pieces together
.
Riley must have gone through the
final phase of the change and fed on a human
. Becoming a monster, Lachlan must have fought to stop him, but Riley
killed him
.

Taking everything from us
…

Liz’s heart rate was high as she ste
pped into the room
beside him. The girl
was terrified and he didn’t blame her. He needed just one moment. One moment for the two draugar to turn their backs on h
im
. 
Once she was okay, he would deal with Riley.

Brade
n thought of Ruby growing sick
er
back home. He wondered if there really was a cure. Riley claimed there was, but
now he knew
it was
like everything else,
a ploy to get him to come
.

For years
,
Riley’s command that he appe
ar before him hung over Braden’s
head.
The vampire
wanted him
to suffer, to pay a cost for being born.
He
always
expected Riley
to deliver him a sudden death. Now that he was here, he realized it wouldn’t be that simple.
No easy trade like his former brother assured – Braden’s appearance for the lycanthropy cure.

Once inside the rundown
lobby, a mixture of urine and decay struck his nostrils. Some of it was old, from the time the
place was used as a nursing facility. Most of it, however, was fresh and assaulting.

People were being brought h
ere to die
. Many of whom
didn’t live long e
nough to make it past this room. T
he walls and flooring were
soiled
with
their
bodily
liquids
.