Blood Twist (The Erris Coven Series) (21 page)

Trying the door handle,
he found it was still locked.

“Cut the crap in there,” a voice boomed from the other side. Braden recognized it as the
fat draugr with na
rrow eyes who half carried him down there and dumped him on his head.

Leaning against the door, Braden tried hearing if there was more than one watching guard. If not, he could try taking him on.

If he’d just open the door
…

All of the emo
tions he
bottled up over the last few days
were reaching their threshold, ready to explode.
Garrick’s demand was the icing on the cake.

Liz. All he could think of was the sound of her cries as they dragged him out of the room. If Riley hurried, she could be out of the building by now. Maybe that was the hold up. Garrick’s bride
was
gone. Curling his hands into fists, he hoped so.

How could he have come so far
and lose her now? Braden
never knew that dreaming of a future with her by his side was even a possibility. He always thought Riley would kill him. Falling in love? It never occurred to him that he would. Now that he was sure,
he didn’t want to imagine going back to his other life.
A life where he was only protecting his coven until his cousins were old enough to take his place.

I can’t do it. I need her.

Riley’s admission was still a shock. When Torin first dreamed of Lexie before he completed the change, he and Braden were both convinced no other damphyr had ever done it, but if Riley’s story was true, he dreamed of Liz twelve years ago. Long before he faced his change and gave into the temptation to feed.

Maybe we don’t know as much about our kind as we sometimes think.

If Riley wasn’t damphyr – did he no longer have claim on Liz?
Was the bond really gone?
Braden wanted to think so, but worried just the same. His brother even admitted her scent carried the magical elements of a soul-bound female. Braden wanted to think it was because Liz would someday be
his, that
he would dream of her the way all damphyr men dreamed of their fate-partners before discovering their love.

But I already love her.

Trying the door knob again, it was still locked. Being
confined
made everything he felt worse. He knew one thing. When it came to his feelings for Liz, he was helpless.  Maybe she would have eventually have been Riley’s, maybe not. All he knew was that if he got out of this mess alive, he would do anything to find her and let her know how he felt. If she wanted Riley and not him, he would do his best to live with that. He just
hoped the amazing connection he felt when they touched proved otherwise.

Finally footsteps came down the hall. From the sounds, it was only one.
As the door swung open, Strix motioned for him to come.

Braden thought of attacking. Strix seemed friends with Riley, but wasn’t sure if he was attached to the bald one. As if the old creature knew what he was thinking, he cast a warning glare. If it had been one or the other, Braden would have tried. Wanting to get upstairs,
he
stepped out of the room and followed them upstairs.

Once they reac
hed the dining room doors
,
the
bald
vampire stopped
and peeked in
, checking to see if Garrick was ready for the damphyr’s entrance.

Strix
poked Braden in the ribs. With a subtle shake of
his hands, he made an indeterminate noise in his throat. It didn’t take a second’s hesitation for Braden to reach out, and clasp the object with his own. Feeling
the weight of
a small blade, he slipped i
t under
his waistband
, unsure how the
weapon would be much of a use.

As baldy opened the doors, Braden was stunned when he was escorted in without much fuss. Just like his other visits to
the central
dining room
, the creatures that nested there
,
lay on the floor in heaps, feeding
and copulating
.

Garrick looked overly pleased to see him. Smiling amid his putrid bunch, he spread his hands in a mocking embrace. “Come in,
son. It’s time to make you
a man!”

Braden
’s
breath formed a tight ball in the middle of his chest
. Standing directly at Garrick’s side
, dressed in form fitting silk
,
was Liz.
As the blood drained from his face, he vowed to fight to the death.

26

LIZ

After Riley sent Strix downstairs to intervene with Braden’s handling, he checked the stairwell to ensure, none of
the demons who sometimes
squatted in the darkness
still remained. After a moment, he motioned for her to follow.

Without any windows to spill in
illumination from
passing
headlights, Liz could barely see her hand
s
in front of her face.
With each step down, she tried taking a deep breath. Once she had read that meditation was the path to enlightenment and serenity, but the further she descended in the direction of the horde, the more she was convinced she would never be a yogi.
Remembering the damn owl
she encountered with Braden, she clutched the edge of Riley’s sleeve, not wanting to lose him.

“You’re not a fan of darkness,” he said, without laughing. “I forget what it’s like for humans.
I’ve been a monster for too long.”

Liz bit back her reply, stunned that she almost blurted
her
disagre
ement
with his statement
.
Was that how she felt? That he wasn’t a lost cause? He felt regret, loss,
and compassion
. If he was draugr only, those feelings wouldn’t exist.  But, n
ow wasn’t the time for a heart to heart with Braden’s black sheep brother. If they got out alive, it could be discussed
. Instead, she stayed silent, keeping close as he led her out of the stairwell and through a series of corridors winding around the rear of the building.

Through a wide set pair of metal doors, they entered a room Liz could only imagine was used as a pantry. Large metal shelves ran from floor to ceiling along both walls.

Where the hell is he taking me?

Riley halted. “Wait here,” he said, freeing his sleeve from her grip.

“Don’t leave me,”
she begged, but Riley didn’t pause. Slipping into the blackness, she was left standing their alone.

The room smelled like death. Like the time she and Lexie went camping with Ruby and Ed in the Adirondacks Mountains. They grew tired of lying around the camp site with Ella pestering them nonstop but the beach didn’t have a lifeguard on duty. So, despite having been told to stay close bye, the two went hiking through the woods on a
tr
a
i
l they discovered behind the camp’s gift shop.

They were about twenty minutes in when the worst smell either had encountered
filled their noses. Lexie had wanted to go back, but Liz was curious. After going a little further, they found a deer carcass. Much of it has been eaten, but what remained was bloated with decay and crawling with maggots. Liz had always heard that memories with smells attached were always the strongest. Plugging her
nose now, she knew this one would be
unforgettable.

What if he doesn’t come back?

Liz shook her head. There was no way in hell she was going to crumble now. Braden needed her, Ruby needed her, and Lexie and Ella were counti
ng on her to bring home a
cure for the virus.

“Hey,” Riley whispered, appearing nearby. “It’s clear, but be very quiet.”

Reaching out, Riley’s cool hand slipped into hers, once again guiding her through the darkness.
As they moved into a larger space, the degree of stench wasn’t quite as bad. From a small porthole window on the back wall, light cast some visibility into the room.

It’s the kitchen.

“We can watch from here,” he said, edging her closer.

Moving forward, it took a moment for her eyes to adjust. She was on the other side of the doors that connected the kitchen to the dining room. The same doors she had seen Strix pass through earlier with the box.

Riley stood like a statue at her side. She knew he could hear easily what was being said although it was difficult for her. At least where she was, she could see enough of the room to
know what was going on. All of them were in there except for Braden and Strix.

In his skin tight pants with
a
mane of flowing dark hair,
Garrick
looked like a circus rin
gmaster and even crazier than usual.
With his eyes glued on
Maze,
he was asking her something about whether or
not she believed Braden would spar
e her
. Maze kept completely calm. Sounding exactly like Liz would, she begged him to let them go. Garrick laughed but
didn’t touch her. It was anyone’
s guess what either
vampire
s were
thinking.

“It’s like a dream, like I’m
watching myself outside my own body
,” she whispered.

“She’s one of the few shifters I’ve known,” Riley said. “Some can’t do people, they can only do animals. Others, like Maze, are completely convincing.”

The door that led to the main hall opened. A bald vampire who kind of looked like Dr. Phil stuck his head in and asked if they were ready.

With a quick nod of approval, Garrick turned back to his audience. He
raised his right arm and the room suddenly grew quiet. No one spoke, understanding his demand for a moment of silence – that something was about to change. Even the current in the room altered as the bodies grew still.

As the door opened again, Liz’s heart did jumping jacks in her chest.

Braden slunk into the room like he was too tall for the ceiling. His head hung low over his stooped shoulders and a spot of dark blood stained the muscle shirt he had bought
earlier
at the store. Even in the dim lighting, Liz could see he was searching for her
. When he saw Maze standing in the white gown
as Liz’s double,
his posture suddenly straightened
. Whipping his head around the room in search of Riley, his
eyes stared with a burning intensity even the darkness could not hide.

“It’s okay,” Riley whispered. “He thinks I’ve betrayed him because he doesn’t know that’s Maze.
Strix will signal to let
him know before he feeds.”

“What are we going to do? Just wait for him to make a run for it?” She asked, still wanting details.

“Just
be
patient. You’re as ornery as he is.”

In the center of the room, with candles bu
rning on the floor in a semicircle
altar, stood Garrick and Maze, watching
as Braden was forced to his knees
.

Liz strained on her tippy toes, trying to see him.
The floor swarmed and swelled with
dozens of lounging draugar. Those out hunting the night before must have been called back for Garrick’s festivities.
Liz tried not to look too closely
at what
they were doing. Their pallid skin glowed by candle light; mating and eating, the only needs they had left. 

Finally, Braden was pulled back up on his feet.

“You have two choices,” Garrick announced. “Join me or
not
.”

“Let Liz go,” Braden said, refusing to mask his rage.

“Like this?” Garrick swung around, yanking Maze into his arms. In a flash, his
fist was buried up to his elbow inside Maze’s chest. With a quick downwar
d thrust, he yanked out his hand. C
lutched in his grasp was her heart.

Oh God…

Liz could feel her whole body sway. She heard n
oises, the sound of her own voice
scream
ing, but
no words
passed her lips. Maze’s knees buckled, and her expression glazed over in rigid, permanent horror.
The front of the gown was blackened with her bl
ood.

As
Garrick stare
d at the organ
seized
in
his fist,
his
mouth pulled into
a hard
line. Looking down at the female, his eyes finally registered what
the
others were
seeing. Like
earlier
in the bedroom, Maze’s features shimmied and bent until
her likeness of
Liz
no longer remained. Back to her
true fo
rm, white hair spilled over vacant grey
eyes
.