The Bite That Binds (The Deep In Your Veins #2) (9 page)

“No. If this organisation is as big as it seems and vampires are involved, we need to speak with Antonio first.” At her blank look, I elaborated, “The Grand High Master.”

Nodding, she rose to her feet and went to squat before Janine, her knife back in hand.

Janine began to sob, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if the tears were false. “I didn’t steal her, Jude, it wasn’t me—”

“No, but if you hadn’t drugged me that day, I wouldn’t have been taken to have my abdomen ripped open, I wouldn’t have nearly died, I would never have been Turned into a vampire, and – most importantly – my baby would be with me, her mom,
where she should be
. What’s more, others wouldn’t have suffered the same fate. So the way I see it is…you’ve had this coming for a long time.” With that, Jude sliced open Janine’s throat. She didn’t move an inch from where she sat until Janine’s heartbeat had come to a complete stop.

Note to self: Never piss off Jude.

(Sam)

No less than twenty minutes later, we were back in the conference room. Antonio, Luther, and Sebastian had looked equal measures of concerned, enraged, and sympathetic as Jude told her story.

When she was done, Antonio sighed. “Unfortunately, vampires are just as involved in trafficking as humans are. In the case of vampires, they provide others with human adults and human children to be used as vessels or consorts. It’s been going on for a long time, and I’ve been sending my squads to end these operations for years.”

“Well, now there’s a new type of trafficking, and it’s a well-organised crime syndicate.” Jude leane
d forward in her seat. “Foetal abduction isn’t so new for humans – this has been happening in countries like Columbia for years.”

“For years?” repeated Sebastian, stunned and disgusted.

Jude nodded. “There’s a high demand for children, particularly newborns. Countries where it used to be fairly easy to adopt from now have a lot of restrictions. Adoption’s a lengthy process, and they’ll seem like a life-time to those who are desperate for a child. Abducting newborns from hospitals is much more difficult now that the places are more secure and people are more alert and aware.

“In the case of vampires, adoption isn’t an option. Kidnapping children isn’t an option as something so bold can draw attention to the existence of vampires – no vampire would risk that. But
buying
a child provides little risk for them. Just as they longed to be parents as humans, they long for the same thing as vampires. The crime organisation that has specialised in trafficking has leaped on this. I suppose you could call it a niche in the market.”

Sebastian shook his head sadly. “But…why would they do that knowing that they couldn’t grow old with the child?”

“They most likely plan to Turn the child once they reach a mature age,” said Antonio.

“Don’t do what I first did.” Jude glanced at each person at the table as she spoke. “Don’t try to search for some logic. These people aren’t okay upstairs or they would never have done this to begin with, no matter how much they craved to be parents.”

“Why are you sure that vampires are behind this?” I asked her.

“At first, I hadn’t been – it hadn’t even occurred to me. I was determined to find the people responsible for what happened, and I thought it would simply be a case of finding out what the human authorities knew. They had naturally been looking into the deaths; just as with me, each woman had been left for dead in a wooded area. My gift is to erase memories,
though I can’t erase any more than twenty minutes. So I questioned a couple of FBI agents and erased their memories of me afterwards.

“That was how
I learned all about foetal abduction, and also about the ranks within the organisation. The Scout’s job is to parade around wearing pregnancy simulators and search for heavily pregnant women; they find out if the baby is mature enough to survive an op. After being drugged, the women are taken by Deliverers. No one has uncovered where the ops are performed, but because of the careful incisions on each of the victims, it’s believed that the Medics have extensive medical knowledge.

“But no one knows what happens after the Medics perform their operation. It was literally a dead end. There was
nothing
, no trace of anyone or anything. My Sire suggested that I let it go, but I couldn’t. One day, I was at home watching T.V., and half a dozen Pagori vampires just burst into the apartment. I was warned to stop asking questions, to stop poking around; that if I didn’t, they’d be back and I’d be dead. All I can think is that they thought I knew more than I did. Until that moment, it hadn’t even occurred to me that my own kind was involved.”

“Janine, the human, was shocked at the sight of us,” said Jared, who had his arm hung around my chair and was playing with my hair. “She clearly believed humans were running the organisation. I have to wonder when the human roles end and the vampires take over.”

I pursed my lips. “It might be reasonable to think that the Medics are definitely humans. The operations they perform cause a
lot
of bleeding. Surely that would be difficult for vampires, so maybe it’s after then they take over.”

Antonio nodded. “Yes, that’s a good point. It would also explain why the trail of information is stale after that.”

“It would also explain why the women are simply being dumped, left to die,” said Sebastian. “Vampires would never be so sloppy.”

“Who Turned you?” Antonio asked Jude.

“My Sire calls himself Kingsley, but that’s his surname. I don’t know his first name.”

Antonio shook his head a little. “I cannot say I know him. Does he know what you’ve told us?”

“No. I knew he’d tell me to stop searching. I can’t. As much as I respect you, I won’t be able to stop if you ask me to.”

Antonio held her gaze for a moment before speaking. “I won’t ask you to give up. But you must understand that it is my responsibility to ensure that this organisation is shut down. That means sending Sam, Jared, and the members of their squad to further investigate and to deal with it appropriately. You may accompany them
only
if you are prepared to follow whatever orders they give you.”

“I will,” Jude vowed.

“If at any point you attempt to tamper with their memories, you will be sent back here, and you will be punished. Do you understand?”

She nodded. “I get it. I’m not interested in hurting anyone except for those responsible.”

“No one will rob you of that opportunity,” I assured her, “as long as you follow what orders we give you.”

“I’ll show Jude to one of the rooms in the Guest House,” announced Sebastian.

“When Janine’s partner returns from his trip, we’ll pay him a little visit.” Jared threaded his fingers through mine. “Until then—” He cut himself off midsentence and suddenly stiffened beside me.

Automatically tensing just the same, I asked, “What is it?”

His eyes shut as a shudder travelled through him. When he opened his eyes again, he locked them with Antonio’s huge dark ones. “She’s here.”

“Magda,” I uttered under my breath.

Jared squeezed my hand. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure she leaves soon.”

Oddly enough, a part of me wanted to meet the bitch, to see her just once to satisfy my curiosity. But another part of me wanted her to keep the hell away from Jared − particularly if she still wanted him. In any case, I’d most likely have to meet her before she’d be willing to leave without attending the ceremony. That was if she
would
be willing to leave. Somehow, I doubted it. My luck didn’t stretch that far.

CHAPTER FOUR

(Sam)

Coaching. I was good at coaching, and leading, and fighting. I was
not
good at playing the hostess. Of course Jared, with his enviable charisma, was at total ease with greeting each of the guests as they arrived at the informal gathering that preluded the week’s Binding festivities. Sod.

It was being held in one of the many grand parlours in Antonio’s mansion. Soft music was playing on the piano and waiters were strolling around with trays of either tiny appetisers or flutes of champagne-flavoured NSTs. As these Nutritive Supplemental Tonics – a mix of blood and other vitamins – were only available at The Hollow, many of the guests had eyed them suspiciously, but eventually they all tried one. Personally, I quite liked them, but although they were quick to answer thirst, they didn’t hit the spot like pure blood did.

In truth, this gathering wasn’t particularly my scene. I wasn’t comfortable with ‘posh’, because it wasn’t what I was used to. I was an active girl. I liked combat, paintballing, fairgrounds, and anything that would provide a good ole adrenaline rush. All this just wasn’t
me
. If all the entertainment scheduled for the upcoming week was like this, I doubted that I’d particularly enjoy any of it. I didn’t feel that I ‘fit’ in this room, didn’t feel that I was truly celebrating my own Binding. Instead, I was following the same customs as all those vampire couples who had come before me…and I was bored.

Also, it wasn’t sitting well with me that here I was, hosting an informal gathering – even if it was for my own Binding – when it was extremely important to further investigate the foetal abduction operation. I was particularly worried that Janine’s boyfriend might become concerned about her absence and decide to do a runner. But Antonio had pointed out that it was unlikely, considering that she hadn’t been dead for long and her boyfriend was out of town anyway. The members of the legion who were watching over the apartment building had confirmed that he hadn’t yet returned. Though it was difficult for Jared and me to pass on an assignment to another squad, we had both agreed that if Janine’s boyfriend returned before the end of the gathering, another squad could deal with the matter. We didn’t want to put our job before our relationship.

Pulling me from my thoughts, two familiar vampires waltzed into the room with their consorts. The two High Master vampires were the first of the five to arrive. Originally, there had been nine, but the other four High Masters had been executed for the parts they had played in the attack on The Hollow. Antonio hadn’t yet appointed vampires to replace them.

The two High Masters that had just entered couldn’t have been more different from one-another. Whereas Kaiser always wore a grim expression and had a militant way about him, Connelly had the friendliest face and a personality to match. Both of them had supported and fought alongside our legion during the attack on The Hollow.

“Jared,” Connelly practically crooned after adding his gift to the mountain of others on the table beside the doors. “I must say, it’s wonderful that you have chosen a life-partner. And such a beautiful one, too.”

“Thanks,” said Jared as he flashed me a proud smile. “I’d have to agree with you on that one.”

Connelly turned that jovial grin on me as he took my hands in his and kissed both cheeks. “Samantha, it is a pleasure to see you again.”

“You too,” I said simply. See, I was no good at the hostess thing.

Kaiser, having also added a gift to the pile, gave both Jared and I a deferent bow of the head. “Congratulations to you both.”

“Ah, I spot Antonio,” said Connelly a little excitedly before waltzing off. Yeah, he was a bit of a ‘kiss-ass’, as Jared called him. His consort gave me a genuine smile before trailing after Connelly. Kaiser’s consort was a little cool, but that was most likely just Kaiser’s personality rubbing off on her.

Next to arrive was another High Master, Ricardo Maxwell – one who I knew Jared disliked. Still, Jared courteously accepted the vampire’s gift and also his not-so-heartfelt congratulations. Ricardo’s eyes slid to me, and although he bowed his head respectfully, that respect wasn’t in his eyes. It hadn’t been in the eyes of many others tonight, actually.

Not that I was surprised. The widespread view that Sventés were the lower breed was always going to be an issue. But it wasn’t simply a prejudice thing in this case. Connelly and Kaiser had both witnessed me Merge with Jared during the attack. They both knew how powerful I was, and they would have no doubt relayed this to others. Still, as the large majority of the vampires here hadn’t seen this for themselves, a lot of them would have come here with their minds already made up − believing a Sventé could never protect them.

Well they could go jump up their own arse holes for all I cared. The only reason their behaviour bothered me was that I knew it was agitating Jared. The tension and edginess caused by last night’s events hadn’t totally left him, and the last thing I wanted, or needed, was for something to set him off again.

Unfortunately, I received a similar greeting – or lack thereof – from Rowan Murdock, another High Master, and his life-partner Marcia. Sensing that Jared had just about had enough and was tempted to comment, I placed my hand over his clenched one and gently relaxed his fist. Ordinarily, I’d give him a discrete pinch in warning, but I felt a bit shitty doing that when it wasn’t that he was being an arse; he was being more overprotective than usual because I’d been hurt by the brothers. It was pretty understandable, and I’d have behaved exactly the same way.