Made By Design (Blood Bound Series Book 2) (21 page)

Dorian called out from higher up as the guy pinned Kendrick down. The stranger’s fanged smile was lethal, his eyes starving for blood.

Shock and adrenaline spiked through Kendrick’s veins and he tried to fight back. But the thing was stronger, fangs now closing in on their mark.

“I said back off!” Dorian crashed into the guy, torpedoing him off of Kendrick. The thing recovered quick as a flash and claws began to fly, cutting into my brother who fought with all he had.

Wind pockets sprouted up from an approaching snowstorm, and Kendrick jumped into the fray. But even against two, the creature was making ground.

“Immobilize it!” Kendrick shouted, and somehow in the chaos Dorian understood the command.

He backed away—boarding gear dyed with blood—and left Kendrick to defend. With concentration his hand rose, straining with violent tremors. Then it happened. The snow below the attacker changed form opaque to clear. Ice to water.

Kendrick leapt away as the guy sunk into the pond beneath him. He hissed and went to escape, but not quick enough. Like watching a documentary of winter progression on fast-forward, the water snapped back to solid, imprisoning ice.

The thing began sprouting curses as Dorian nodded to my best friend. “What now?”

Kendrick’s face became grim as he strode forward. His hands gripped the flailing guy’s skull, and held tight. “Silver or decapitation. It’s the only way to kill the damned.”

Then he twisted.

The vision snapped off like a door being slammed in my face. I gasped and tried not to gag as the wind-blown deck returned. I spoke around the spike of vomit in my throat. “When did this happen?”

Three days ago.

Three fucking days ago!
I remembered that day. Kendrick had been at the bar and nursing a brandy, favoring his left arm. And I had seen the replayed events. A double flip off a crest that he hadn’t pulled off the landing to. It was all made up bullshit to throw me off. But why not tell me? And what about the girl he’d been busy blocking me out to hook up with?

There was no girl.
Kendrick answered my thoughts as if they’d been questions.
There will never be another girl. Deep down you knew that.
And I hated lying to you. But I never thought you’d be in any danger. You’re on a cruise ship. In the middle of the ocean. On the other side of the world where the sun is shining. How could he even get on board? It doesn’t make sense.

The one thing that made sense was that someone had wanted us all taken care of. And they’d gone to great lengths to make it happen. Plus our attacker hadn’t tried to kill me. He’d merely tried to subdue me. There was only one person who needed to silence us, and who needed me alive to achieve his goals.

It had to be Caius, and this time I’m going to find proof.

I stalled at the top of the stairwell. The crumpled deck chairs still made a mess to the left. To the right my attacker’s ashy remains had now been swept away by the unrelenting wind. Any spilled blood, from either Ty or him, appeared to have been cleansed from the deck with the downpour that was now starting to lighten. There were no red eyes or lurking shadows.

With Kendrick nervously watching through the bond, I began searching the deck. I knelt at a darker spot where the damned had burned to cinders. Unease over Kendrick’s attack and lies weighed against my heart.
Why did you keep it from me?

I guess I wanted you to have fun,
Kendrick said. I vaguely noticed him motioning to the bartender for another drink.
After everything that’s happened, you deserved to live a little.

Although
living a little
meant me spending time with and getting closer to Ty, Kendrick’s words were honest and sincere. He wanted me to be happy. The weight in my heart lifted, forgiving him for his lies.
I can’t believe you invented some girl to throw me off track,
I said, letting my fingers brush the singed deck.

I can’t believe you bought that,
Kendrick replied. Then his mood turned serious.
Amelia, I will never feel a millionth of what I feel for you for anyone else. I know you don’t want to hear this, but it’s true.

His words left me speechless, and I almost wished I could return his feelings. But I couldn’t. My heart belonged to Ty…and it always would. I straightened beside the hot tub, scrounging for something to say that wouldn’t make him feel bad. Then I paused. There beside my Vans was a glossy spot the rain hadn’t washed clean.

What is it?
Kendrick asked, his trepidation peaking.

I knelt and touched the wet spot, then rubbed it between my thumb and fingers. It was cold and tacky. “It’s blood.”

Except it wasn’t red. It was black like old oil. I lifted my fingers to my nose, and then flung them away. It smelled as putrid as decaying flesh. I rinsed the black liquid from my fingers in the hot tub’s water, and washed away the evidence on the deck. Even with the source gone the stench was imprinted on my memory. In this windy area I could even detect where Lukas had died and where he’d been loitering in the shadows. This was the clue I needed.

Amelia…
Kendrick’s voice warned.
Don’t, please.

I jogged to the stairs.
No, Kendrick. Nothing you say will make me stop. This needs to be done. I need to make sure we’re alone. I’m going to find his lair.

In the past I had located Ty by the potent aroma of his blood. Now I was going to use my heightened sense of smell to uncover the damned’s hideout. Following the slight remnants of decay, I headed down flights of stairs. The stench disappeared and I changed directions, picking it up further down another corridor. Past the almost endless stretch of cabin doors, I met more stairs. This time I kept going down until I reached the lowest level with rooms. The scent was more pungent here and I followed it. At the opposite end of the corridor it spiked.

Cabin 505. I clutched the door handle and my heart pounded, feeling like it wanted to up and leave. A group of tweens exited the room opposite, and my hand shot back, waiting for them to pass. When the corridor was vacant again, I faced the door. A
Do Not Disturb
slip took up the card slot.

You don’t have that card thingy to get in.
Kendrick sounded hopeful.
Do you?

I curled my fingers into a fist.
Don’t need it.
Then I smashed the card reader’s metal plate. The light flashed then went out. The door creaked ajar.

Shit, Amelia. Be careful. It could be a trap.

I panned left to right down the hallway. The coast was clear. No witnesses. My free hand found the cold silver of Ty’s stake while my other pushed the door wide open. Inside, the room was dark, backlit only by the glow from the corridor. No sounds filled the small space, no breathing, and no heartbeat. Which would have made me feel safer if not for Kendrick’s next words.

They’re damned, remember? They don’t have hearts that beat. They don’t even breathe.

Voices echoed from further along the corridor and I yanked the door shut behind me. Now I was surrounded by complete darkness. Heart pounding and sweat budding across my entire body, I flicked the switch. The lights blinked on, and I expelled a long held breath. The room was empty.

For good measure, I kicked in the bathroom door. It was empty too. Then I saw something that made me pause. This explained how a sun-allergic damned vampire had gotten on board during broad daylight. The wall on both sides of the cabin could be pulled down to create bunk beds, but these ones weren’t pulled down. In their vacant spaces were two trunks. The same two I’d almost collided with when Ty and I had been rushing to get aboard before my attempt at compulsion could backfire. They were both bolted shut.

Fear spiked my adrenaline. One attacker, two crates. Fill in the blanks.

Don’t open them,
Kendrick said.

I swallowed my fear.
You know I’m not backing down.

Wiping my sweaty palms on my jeans, I raised the silver stake. Then I kicked the bolt free on the first trunk and flung open the lid. The inside was padded. Like a coffin. And it wasn’t empty. Filling part of the vast space was a generous supply of blood baggies. Every single one was drained.

What’s that?
Kendrick asked, his panic replaced by curiosity.

On the side of the first trunk were airline stickers. One struck me like a knife through my windpipe. “ANC?” It was the acronym for Anchorage International Airport. Our attacker had been from Alaska? “Oh shit!”

I dropped to my knees, weeding through the baggies. Hidden beneath them I found a stack of papers. No, not papers, photos, not only of me, but of Ty too. They had been taken back home. There was one with me outside the art center at school, expression worried. It was the day I had sensed someone watching me. The same day a tree trunk that had been split by lightning had almost decapitated me. Another was of me sitting on my windowsill at home. And another showed Ty entering the front door of my house…and greeting my mom. The day he’d come over for dinner. I gulped, flicking through the stack. There were so many of Ty and me either at school, or at my house, or on the beach. There were even a few with us on the road to the cabin when we’d had to stop the car because of the dropped trees. When I got to the bottom of the pile, my heart started beating so fast I could hear it. The last piece wasn’t a photo. It was much worse. A flat card with an Alaskan postage stamp and printed instructions:

‘The girl, Amelia, must not be harmed in any way. You are only to subdue her. The werewolf is backup. Turn him if you can, otherwise kill him.’

I stared long and hard at the note, feeling the same realization from Kendrick snaking through my very core. The card was identical to the one Marcus had sent with the vacation bookings.

Marcus set us all up,
Kendrick stated. Rather than gloating at having been right in his continued suspicions, all he felt was dread.

I wanted to argue. I didn’t want to believe that Marcus—the guy I was so strangely connected to and who’d helped save my life—could have had anything to do with this. There was no motive. Was there?

A noise cut off Kendrick’s need to convince me that Marcus must be in league with Caius somehow, or be up to something equally as devious. It was an almost squeak, a muffled cry. And it had come from the other trunk. I wasn’t alone.

With Kendrick yelling at me to
get out
! I kicked the lock off the second trunk and flung the lid open. A figure sprang at me and I knocked them to the ground, more easily than I expected. I understood why as my hand clamped over her mouth to cut off her screams. Beneath me was a young woman. A human. And not just any human. She was a passenger. A cruise card hung from a lanyard around her neck, and she had on a summery dress that had been torn across the bust. Dried blood patterned the front of it and blotched her chest. The blood was her own, I noticed in horror, seeing angry bites covering her neck and chest.

She’s their food.
Kendrick’s words sent roiling nausea through my gut.

From her pale, freckled complexion, and the dimness to her eyes, she was clearly blood deprived. She wouldn’t have lasted another night of feeding. But Lukas had kept her locked up here, so he must have intended on killing her.

That’s what the damned do,
Kendrick said.
They drink to kill. I’m surprised she’s even alive at all.

The young woman continued struggling beneath me, but it was like a mouse trying to escape the paws of a lion. She was too weak. “If I let her go, will she be okay?”

You can’t let her go,
Kendrick said, a note of regret painting his words.
She’s seen you. She knows a fanged monster attacked her. She’s a liability. We have to—

“Dispose of her?” The woman’s eyes grew wider at my words and I shook my head. “I won’t do it. I won’t take someone’s life. She’s innocent.”

If The Council gets wind of this—

“No,” I said with absolution. “This is no different from covering our tracks when I attacked that senior from school. You compelled him to forget what I’d done, and I can do the same now. I did it with the check-in clerk the other day. She won’t remember me or that monster.”

Except that you’ll be the one compelling her, not me,
Kendrick said.
And you didn’t believe you could compel the clerk permanently. How can you go from that to believing you can convince this woman that horrific things didn’t happen to her?

“’Cause I have to.” I stared into the woman’s terrified eyes, focusing on taking control of her mind. “I’m not going to hurt you. When I take my hand off your mouth you’re not going to scream or lash out. Understand?”

The woman semi-nodded and her terrified expression relaxed a little. My hand came away slowly. Tears spilled from her eyes, leaving tracks through the patchy crimson that marred her face. “That thing…” She broke off sniveling.

“I know,” I said in my most calming tone, releasing her wrists. “But he’s gone now. He’ll never hurt you again. And I’m going to let you go, but I need to ask you some questions first.”

The woman nodded, swiping away her tears. “Anything, I’ll tell you anything. Just please don’t kill me.”

“Are there any more of them?” The woman shook her head. “Did you hear the man who trapped you talking to or about anyone? Did he say anyone’s name?”

The girl’s eyelids squeezed shut and she nodded. “The monster talked on the phone heaps, reporting about a girl and guy. He always addressed the person on the line as Lord Bathory.”

~

After double checking the entire ship and picking up no other lingering putrid scents, I headed for our cabin. We were safe from further danger, and that girl, now in my blood-free clothes, was back in her room sleeping off what she thought was a massive hangover.

I stood in front of the stairs to level 12. My plan was to slip out of the girl’s torn, bloodied dress and into a clean tank and jeans. But the strong smell of fresh blood stopped me. Ty’s.