Blood Twist (The Erris Coven Series) (19 page)

“I haven’t dreamed of her,” Braden said,
admitting
the truth. “And when I changed, I had the elders at my side, helping me through it. You should have had that, too.”

“Yet,” Riley clarified. “You haven’t dreamed of her yet, but even I can tell she doesn’t smell exactly human. She
smells like our mother and
Endellion.”

Braden’s head popped up. “Are you sure?”

“It grows stronger the longer your together.
I don’t know how you haven’t noticed
.
It’s like warm bread and fluffy clouds.
”

Braden didn’t know
why either
. He knew that Liz smelled incredible, but he chalked it up to desiring her so much.
“Do you think the others can tell?”

“No,” Riley said, rubbing his pant legs up and down. “She smells like home to me. That’s why I can tell where you two are headed.
Not to mention her crying into perfectly good champagne over you when she had me for entertainment.
”

Braden held his arms tightly at his sides.
The frustration building in him was overbearing. “I need you to do something for me. I need you to get her out of here.”

Riley raised a questionable eyebrow. “You think you can fight Garrick and live without my help?”

“I don’t know,” he said, truthfully. “But I do know that if she’s here, she’s at risk and I can’t bear the thought of anyone hurting her. I would rather die than have her harmed.”

“And if I take her away and she falls in love with me?” Riley’s expression now masked his emotions. A flicker of something dashed behind his eyes.

Humor?
Disgust?
Maybe he h
ope
s
I
’ll
fail.

Swallowing any more doubts, Braden shook his head in resignation. “Then she was always meant to be yours to begin
with.
Just save her life
. Not for me, not for Dad, but for the life you should have had.
”

Sighing
in surrender
,
Riley jumped off the counter on to his feet. “Okay, but I can’t make any promises.”

2
1

DEATH

In the pitch black
,
Death entered
his private room. The
floor
oozed beneath his feet as he stepped over the remains of his last meal. The dank smells of decay were a welcomed scent
as he unbuttoned his shirt and laid it carefully on the bed.
Reminding him of his youth, he drank it in.

The evening’s revelations were all in great fun. How he enjoyed the terror rippling off the damphyr and his pathetic human. Fear was such an aphrodisiac
, he almost played his hand – ki
l
ling them both on the spot, while
mindless
Riley
stood powerless to stop him
.

It was while he studied the damphyr that he had his finest idea. He didn’t need to consume him here.
The boy’s
blood was liquid gold
, but it wasn’
t Death’s
style to share.
Like sharks, once his
lifeblood
spilled, all of the vampires would dive in. That wouldn’t do.
Not when the damphyr
could lead him to the others
of his kind
.

Riley told stories for years.
Although most paid no heed, he went on and on about the coven
full of the two hearted damphyrs,
as
pure as the morning’s
daybreak. The only detail continually held back was where they all lived.

Sliding down on
his knees, he felt for the woman he had scavenged the night before. Pulling her closer, not much warmth remained
of her corpse
, but it was enough to
re
gain self-control. Female, male, it didn’t matter no more. He preferred his partners
immobile
while
he enjoyed them
.

Trailing his tongue down her neck and past her once bouncing cleavage, he lapped at the blood that pooled in her
clavicle
. Having dried since his feasting, the plasma thickened to tender paste.
Gripping the female’s wrist, Death bit hard into her forearm, snapping her radius with one
clean
bite. 

As the sweet fluid
from her bones mixed with the salti
ness of his
saliva
,
D
eath unzipped his p
ants, giving in to his
need
s
.

2
2

L
IZ

Liz had a pounding headache.

There was a quick wrap on the door.
Turning her back
o
n
it, she stared at the wall.
She didn’t want to answer. It could hardly be good news. It wasn’t like Braden would sud
denly be freed and they could both go
home. At best it would be Riley or Strix, coming to
eat her so she could be put
out of her misery.

How could her world spin around so quickly? It seemed like just yesterday she and Lexie were sharing a muffin in Torrington and compl
aining about Maxim being a shit
head.

Now she knew for sure vampires existed
and
they
were hardly
the
Cullens
.
E
ven crazier was that she had
totally fallen for
Braden. His
kiss still
burned perfectly on her lips. But
he was locked away and
her he
art was breaking;
she didn’t
want to begin
think
ing about
a
lif
e without him.

Garrick – he was a twisted son of a bitch. Riley was right, Braden would have been safer if she left. She was a fool.
A wedding ceremony?
Did he even have a brain beneath that mass of hair? She’d rather set herself on fire
and jump off the Great Pyramid o
f Giza.

But what about Braden?
If she refused, would Garrick kill him?
Her own
life
didn’t matter as much as hi
s. He needed to get home, back to the coven who could figure out what to do.

Poor Ruby.
What will happen without the cure?

The door swung open, causing Liz to startle. Straining her eyes, she could make out Maze’s femin
ine form holding
some kind of box in her arms. “Did you not hear my knocking?” she snapped.

Liz’s stomach tightened
. She didn’t want to fight, but this chick had pushed her limits way too far. “Bother someone else.”

Two other vampires stood staring from the hallway, their black eyes curious as to what was going on. Maze turned and hissed at them until they backed up.
Letting the door bang shut behind her, the creature marched into the room and tossed the box on the bed.
“Your wedding dress.
Just like you wanted.”

“Like I wanted? Are you so old that you’re senile now?”
Liz countered back, shoving the box away.

“You had to tell Garrick what I did. You couldn’t just let it go.”

Liz looked at Maze like she had lost her mind. “I didn’t tell Garrick shit. I was out all night with Riley.”

“You lie. You just wanted my place as Garrick’s female.” With each syllable emphasized, Maze’
s cat
like eyes shone with anger.

“You’re wrong. I wouldn’t choose this life for myself,” Liz muttered, laying her head back down on the pillow. “I’d have to be bat shit crazy for that.”

Standing in silence, Maze just stared. After a while, she bent down and picked up the box and set it on the foot of the bed. “We didn’t wear things like
this when I was alive,” she grumbled
softly. Reaching in, the vampire pulled out a simple white sheath. The silk glowed silver in the moonlight. “This would have shown too much skin, been too scandalous for much more than a slip.”

Liz wa
nted to ignore her, but couldn’t help but be
captivated by the female’s words. “When was that?”

“
My parents
came
from England in the late seventeen
hundreds by bo
at, wanting nothing more than
a parcel of land to farm in p
e
a
ce
.” Maze looked at the gown in her hands with
a mixture of
fascination
and disbelief
. “I had seven sisters and four brothers. As the oldest, I helped my mother with the cooking and cleaning while my brothers tended the fields.
”

Setting the dress back down in the box, Maze peeked up at Liz through heavy
fair
lashes. “Back then, that’s what females did. We cared for the men and children; we mended socks and baked bread. If we were lucky,
we go
t married before we were too old or too sick from
disease
.”

“What happened?” Liz prodded.

Maze strolled over to the window, and stared out into the darkness. “One night, a stranger came knocking. He claimed he just settled in te
n miles north from where our homestead was
. He was well spoken and I knew he was educated which was rare at that time. From the way he glanced at me while conversing with my father, I hoped he would ask for my hand. That night as I went t
o sleep, I prayed for him to pick me
.” Turning to face Liz, Maze’s expression was unreadable. “And he did. While I
slept, he slaughtered my family, but decided to let me live as his servant. I’ve been passed from one vampire to the next, ever since.”

Maze came back to the bedside and sat down next to Liz. Even in the darkness, Liz could see the memory wasn’t one Maze was used to sharing. The vampire’s face was streaked with tears and dirt. Without even thinking, Liz reached up and brushed the
lump of
hair
that had fallen into
Maze’s eyes.
The vampire
tense
d
, her eyes darkening.

“I’m sorry,” Liz said, surprised she meant it. “That must have sucked.”

“Maybe at the time,” Maze shrugged. “But I can’t remember now
,
so it doesn’t matter.”

Liz looked down at the box on her bed, dreading its content. She didn’t think Maze had forgotten
how it felt to remember. She couldn’t have
been much older than a teen when she
went to bed dreaming about getting married, only to awaken to an eternity of hell. Like Riley’s story – there was a terrible injustice to it all.

“Why do you have to serve? Why can’t you do what you want? Go where you want to go?”
It seemed simple enough. Maze wasn’t exactly a Lon Cheney double. She could probably rule her own nest of night crawlers.

“I’ve always belonged to a male. I wouldn’t know how to live differently.”

Liz knew what Maze meant. When she lived with the Captain, he made her feel like she was incapable of thinking for herself.
Under his thumb, she was always second guessing her decisions.
It wasn’t until she was moved in with Bev that Liz realized independence took time but one could get the hang of it.

“Times have changed
. You don’t need me to tell you that. But, I think you might want to consider getting out of here and trying it alone
.
Garrick’s a total ass
-
hat. You can do much better.
”

Liz wasn’t sure, but she thought she heard the vampire chuckle.

“Maybe,”
Maze replied, h
er tone a bit lighter.
“But what about you?
Garrick will bleed you dry and right before your heart gives out, he’ll make you drink from him, becoming one of us.”

“I don’t know,”
Liz sighed, once again feeling hopeless with dread
. “If there was a way I could pass the buck, I would.”

“There might be,” Maze replied, staring at the box.