The Blood Bargain (31 page)

Dimitri.

He was dressed as I had seen him the first night, a dark hoodie pulled up over his face. Menacing in his presence yet his eyes when they looked at me did not carry the vibe the rest of him put off. I relaxed immediately knowing he was in the room. My head falling back against the pillow.

“Hey.” I murmured.

“Thought I would see how you were doing, then I got here and you were sleeping. I did not want to wake you.”

“It
’
s okay. Glad to see you.”

“
Liv
, I was not forthcoming with you and for that, I must apologize.” He admitted,
l
ooming over my bedside.

“What?” My heart fell in my chest. What didn
’
t he tell me.

“I suspected Antonia
’
s involvement from the beginning. She detested our limited
e
ngagement, being one to gorge herself like a glutton for centuries. There were many nights where she would beg Caius for us to hold a more firm hand over the colony as some of the others did. He would never have it. Caius is old enough he
’
s learned to failures in totalitarian style leadership. It is always a short term solution, in the end...well, the last time one of our kind tried to do what he damned well pleased hundreds of humans died and those that lived slaughtered him in his sleep. A final result of an angry torch baring mob. I understand that outcome is very real when one like

ourselves over stretches the delicate balance, as my elder did afore me. She however, never has. When you told me of the missing caravan, I knew she was likely the culprit. However, I knew I could not tell you as you had a hot temper and a large mouth.”

“Gee thanks.” I cut in at a soft mumble.

“I wanted you to move in with me to protect you. With her...feelings for me I figured it wouldn.t be long before she tried to rip out your still beating heart with her bare hands.” I gulped, now wasn.t that the visual every girl wants in her head. “When you told me about the meat locker, I checked it out before I claimed it. I could smell her on the dead so at that point I was confirmed on her involvement. I was speaking with Caius when she got to you first.”

“Where is Antonia now?” Panic rose in my throat that she could attack at any minute. I did not want to spend the remainder of my days looking over my shoulder at night for a blond shadow of death.

“Returned to earth.” I exhaled as deeply as I could without pain.

“You killed her?”

“I wish I had the pleasure. Our elder was not pleased she defied him.”

“Thank you for saving Adam.”

“You need not thank me.”

“I thought you had told me you weren
’
t supposed to create any vampires?”

“Our numbers are to remain constant while yours are in flux.”

“But you created Adam before Antonia met her end?”

“A gamble yes, but I knew her death was at hand. Whether it be from Caius or my own hand I did not intend for her to continue forth.”

“Why didn
’
t you tell me you were going to turn him?”

“It does not always end well; there was no point in raising expectations until results were present. Additionally I did not wish to draw attention to the timeline discrepancy you just so eloquently pointed out.”

“Either way I
’
m glad. Glad you saved him and by association me yet again.” I smirked. “Also I must say I
’
m happy that bitch is dead.” He let out a short burst of laughter, a single
heh
.

“
In the eve I trek north. Caius has instructed me to heal the damage with
Ziang
Qi before we end up in a territorial dispute. My homestead is now in the hands of the council, they will find residents who can make better use of the space.”

My face fell. “Are you not coming back?”

“If I do... I will reside with Caius and my new young. Adam will require years of instruction to become comfortable with himself, it is my duty to see to it.” It took me a moment to process the answer. This is why he came to see me really. He was letting me go.

This was our goodbye.

“So I won
’
t see you again.” His face was flat and emotionless.

“
Liv
. You are human. Live your human life. Find a mortal man who turns your eye and raise a new generation. Do your part to ensure that this is not your extinction event.” By not answering my question he had answered it. I fought back the tears with every inch of my willpower. I would not be weak, I would not blither or beg. Slowly he reached behind his neck and then brought his hands forward. In my palm he placed a small piece of metal.

My mother
’
s angel necklace. He had gotten it back for me from that vile female vampire. My eyes started to burn despite my conscious decision to deny them their grief.

“Goodbye Evelyn Younger. May the night fall gently upon your shoulders evermore.” With that he turned and disappeared into the shadows. I held onto my pride until he was gone. In that dark and lonely room I cried until sleep claimed me.

A week went by; I think it was a week. I slept a lot. Sammie had shoved a ton of heavy duty pain killers down my throat at recurring intervals and mumbled worries about infection. As my eyes opened and closed over the large gaps in time I noticed she mumbled less and smiled more. A sign of recovery for me I guess.

Cole continued to visit me every day. He told me Adam
’
s post had been back filled by Liam Gavin who had just turned sixteen. A nice kid by his account, but still pretty green.

Apparently he had screamed when he saw his first shambling approach, which gave Cole a bit more of a headache in dealing with the deadhead. Cole was proud to report the frequency of the dead sightings had significantly reduced; whatever wave we had triggered in our idiocy had ended. I found myself feeling proud of the big guy, being out there on the front lines after all we had been through in the last few months.

Most of it being my fault.

I tried to apologize. He wouldn
’
t let me. Instead he brought flowers. Half wilted purple late blooms, the best the colony had to offer this late in the year.

The day he brought flowers, my dad made a point of poking his head in the door telling me he approved. Presumptuous of him to assume Cole and I would be a
‘
thing
’
but I was glad he
’
d dropped the Zack issue. He
’
d even door blocked the brat when he tried to visit me. That definitely scored Dad two extra points in the mental playbook.

The sun had set, the twins had jumped around my room and brought me a get well card before bed; a picture of me-a stick figure-with my bear laying on top-literally flying on top-of a bed. Their little eyes full of excitement and worry when they saw me. I love those boys.

Maybe I would look into teaching once I was back on my feet.

Feeling at peace I settled into my pillows for the night.

There was a knock at my door.

“Come in?” I called, who would come by this late? My heart tinged hoping for D, yet knowing it would not be him.

“Hey.”

“Hey yourself.” I smiled at my new visitor. He looked a heck of a lot better than he had blurry on that dark roof. His sandy hair was shiny and thick like from a shampoo commercial, his muscle tone appeared like he had just come out of boot camp. His brown eyes still shined with the same warm friendliness they had always held, although there seemed to be a
tinge
of mischief in

them. He made a point of looking me over, not that I was more than matted hair and lots of casts.

“You look less like crap.” He teased me, sitting in the chair beside the bed.

“Compliments complements, whatever shall I do with all these compliments?” I huffed then got serious. “Thank you by the way. For saving my sorry ass.”

“Has that not been my job for like a decade? I must admit it feels better to act then sit and scream in a radio.”

“I bet.” Adam smiled, and his fangs elongated. Like four inches elongated. With a hiss he covered his mouth with his hand.

“Sorry about that, this hunger thing, it sucks to get used to.” He mumbled through his hand.

“No pun intended?” I quipped, getting the bird in response. I laughed even though it ended in me coughing again. After a minute he calmed and brought his hand down. His teeth had returned to their new normal state, pointy in a reserved style.

“Important point. Please keep my new status on the DL. Caius had a little chat with the council with his edited version of the whys and
whats
of my status, but still they both agreed the general colony might go a little psycho if they knew one of their own had been turned. Caius doesn.t want to have to resort to tight hands on the survivors.” I didn
’
t push on what that would entail for us.

“I
’
m just glad you.re still alive. You are alive right?” He laughed.

“Yes of course. Oh check it.” He lifted his sleeve, showing me a perfectly healed arm where he
’
d been bitten. “Not even a scar.”

“You said edited?”

“Our little covert op and inner colony task squad was not mentioned. No sense in throwing half the folks who protect this place under the bus.”

“I
’
m sure they would appreciate that. I know I sure as hell do.”

“Tonight is my first patrol.
Gonna
clear as far and wide as I can each night. Even if that means I hit the city.”

“Caius was fine with that?”

“Oh man, I don
’
t know if he
’
s ever fine with anything. Even as a vamp I
’
m avoiding that guy.”

“Mean?”

“No he
’
s just...scary. It
’
s like he
’
s so ancient and completely bad ass that I don
’
t even want to move when he
’
s around. If I didn't know better, I would have sworn the meteor that killed off the dinosaurs was just a side effect of his foot nudging a pebble.”

I tried to laugh, but it just hurt.

“Dimitri said he was fine with it though.”

“Has he left yet?”

“Yup.” My eyes started to water of their own accord. “Hey stop that. It
’
s all good
Liv
.”

“Sorry I just...I
’
m having a hard time realizing I meant nothing to him. It was stupid of me really to think I did I guess. Him being all ancient and me being well…me.”

“I wouldn.t go that far.”

“What do you mean?”

“Okay so when I first...woke up I guess you could say, Dimitri gave me the core. Elders get to do this cool like marching orders thing. They
kinda
lay down the rules and boundaries. I can.
t
go against anything he says there.”

“Interesting but I don
’
t know why you.re telling me this.”

“One of the principals he instilled upon me was to protect you. That under no
circumstance was I to harm or by consequences of my actions or the actions of others allow harm to come to Evelyn Younger.” The corner of Adams mouth kicked up. “So I do
ub
t he
’
d go through all that trouble, if you meant nothing.”

“Thank you.” I meant it from the bottom of my heart.

He nodded. “It
’
s a good thing he did too. You all broken and bloody and me as a young...I would have drained you dry and hated myself for all eternity.” I didn.t want to picture that.

“Regardless I
’
m glad you are in my corner.” “I
’
m always
gonna
be have your back,
fanger
or not.”

The sincerity in his words held no equal. I thought of the first night I had met D, of all weak he was when he did not feed. Now Adam was both powerful and vulnerable in a cyclical nature. Ours was a symbiotic relationship, no longer predator and prey.

If this was our great extinction event, they would also perish. We needed to work together to bring about the future, not be subjected to the stereotypes and roles that had existed for centuries. The turning of Adam King, was a great step toward healing that wound. Albeit a

secret one.

This wasn
’
t the world I was born into, but this was the world I would live in until I died. Little by little we would move forward, even if it was starting over from accomplishments made centuries before.