The Bite That Binds (The Deep In Your Veins #2) (28 page)

Still experimenting, I lashed the whip at the ground. Tremors practically rumbled along the earth – nothing that would cause a crack, but enough to unsteady a person. Seeing the utter shock and horror on Magda’s face made my smile widen. She knew she had some payback coming. “Didn’t see this coming, did you?” I cracked the whip at her, leaving a diagonal laceration from her collarbone to her hip.

She jumped and gave a loud cry at the burn of the lash. With stunned eyes, she peered down at the tear in her dress, as if expecting it to be an illusion or something. She cried out again as the whip slashed her thigh.

“Fight me,” I insisted, just as she had me.

To her credit, she straightened her shoulders and met my gaze. But that boldness disappeared when the whip caught her cheek. Without giving her a second to recover, I slashed at her mouth, watching in satisfaction as blood dripped down her chin. I noticed then that her wounds weren’t healing as quickly as they should – or as quickly as wounds from my whip had in the past anyway.

“Come on, Magda. Where did all that bravado go? Of course, if you’ve had enough, you can always just admit defeat and beg me to stop. But I won’t stop, so it’s hardly worth it.”

I cracked the whip again. This time, I wrapped it around her waist, using it to slam her against the ground a few times. When I released her, she dragged herself to her feet, coughing and cradling the back of her head. Then the psycho actually launched herself at me, aiming that spike at my stomach. Bad move. In under a millisecond, I allowed my whip to fade away and remoulded the energy into a shield. She ricocheted off it, ending up on her backside.

“Ooh,” I said with false sympathy. “That hadn’t been wise, had it? But, then, none of this had been wise. You should have known that.”

She quickly got to her feet, but before she could make another move, I was directly in front of her and shoving her hard in the chest with the palm of my hand. She zoomed across the arena and crashed into the far wall. I heard stunned gasps all around me. Of course they were surprised. So was I. A Sventé vampire should not have that kind of strength.

Apparently deciding to copy my move, she bounded at me in vampire speed so that she was up close and personal. Having dodged the fist that was fast heading for me, I spun and kicked her hard in the face. Maybe it was a little cruel to be so satisfied at the sight of her broken nose, but ‘tit for tat’ and all that.

Movement in my peripheral vision snatched my attention. A fierce looking Dexter had joined my side and had elevated his head and a third of his body from the ground. Focused on Magda, he flattened his neck and opened his mouth – exposing the inky black discolouration – before emitting a hollow hiss. Yeah, he was well and truly pissed. I cocked my head at the neurotic woman who appeared to be contemplating lunging at me again. “You know what, I think I’ll let Dexter have you.”

I took a small step backwards, handing power over to him. Before Magda had a chance to properly process my words, the snake abruptly struck and bit into her chest. Wow, Wes hadn’t been kidding when he said that this breed was fast – the movement had been a complete blur.

She cried out in what seemed to be a mixture of shock, anger, and pain. Still, the dumb crank came at me with her blade flying high. Using more of the natural energy that was coating my body, I directed a flame of fire at the blade – a flame that was wilder and hotter than any I had released before. She squealed and quickly cradled her arm against her chest, which was now back to skin and bone…and blistering again.

Noticing how her now bloodshot eyes were going in and out of focus, I gave her a falsely sympathetic smile. “That’s stage one coming on: temporary blindness.”

Panicked, she stumbled backwards with her arms spread wide. “What’s happening?”

“It’s Dexter’s venom. It can do some extraordinary stuff…as you’ll soon find out.” I could tell that her eyesight was now totally gone. Dexter, who was weaving in and out of my legs, hissed repeatedly at her while his tail rattled like crazy. “I could be wrong, but I’d say that ticking off a venomous snake was a really bad move.”

Suddenly she started to sway and stagger, holding her hands to her head.

“Oh that’s just stage two kicking in: temporary mental disorientation.”

Making strange keening noises, she continued to stumble around for a minute until eventually she fell flat on her back. “Make it stop.”

“I couldn’t even if I wanted to. You didn’t stop when I was in excruciating pain, did you? Maybe a nice, compassionate girl would, nonetheless, try to help you. But I’m not a nice, compassionate girl – especially when it comes to people like you. And
especially
when you seriously hurt my fiancé. I have a huge fucking issue with that.”

It would be true to say that if she hadn’t Turned him, he wouldn’t be mine now; that if she hadn’t betrayed him, he might never have left her. But I was just selfless enough to prefer for him to have never gone through that pain than for him to be here with me.

Seconds later, she wasn’t moving at all other than to breathe. The little devil on my shoulder thought that that was a real shame. “It appears that now you’ve reached the third and final stage: temporary paralysis. Horrible that. I had a taste of it a few evenings ago. At least you’re not in severe agony at the same time. It’s always best to be grateful for small mercies, I think.”

I crouched down beside her. “Do us all a favour; bear something in mind for future reference. Being sly doesn’t get anybody anywhere. In my opinion, you should know that by now. It lost you Jared, and it lost you this fight, and it’ll also lose you the long-term fight. Maybe you were right in what you said before; maybe he does deserve better than me. But I ain’t going anywhere. Get used to it.” I stood then, addressing the entire arena. “All of you get used to it. Or piss off home, whichever.”

(Jared)

Back at our apartment, all I could do was squat in front of the sofa and stare, open-mouthed, at my beautiful fiancée…and wonder what in God’s name was going on.

The crowd had barely begun cheering when I’d teleported to her and then took us both home. Watching her duel with Magda, watching her in agony, had been an agony all on its own for me. It had taken Antonio, Luther, and Wes to keep me from intervening. Of course I’d understood their actions; if I
had
interfered in what Magda had implied was nothing more than a friendly challenge, it would have greatly undermined Sam. That would have seriously brought her suitability as a future ruler into question, making things ten times worse than what they already were.

Still, all I’d wanted was to step in and end the duel. And then I’d no longer had to. Well, it seemed that the intended changes were complete, but I was still none the wiser about just what had happened to her.

“What?” she demanded for, like, the twentieth time. “Why are you staring at me like that?”

Dexter, who was settled on one of the vines, lifted his head at her tone. That snake had definitely earned his stripes as far as I was concerned. He didn’t hiss at me for being so close to her, so maybe he was coming to figure out that we had a common interest – keeping Sam safe.

Exhaling a heavy breath, I handed her a small, handheld mirror. Shooting me a put-out look, she snatched it. The feistiness…That was typical of my Sam. Having her irises glint a unique mercury shade…Not so typical of my Sam.

She gaped, looking from me to the mirror. “What’s all that about?”

That had been my question since the second she’d looked up at Magda with those irises glowing while energy seemed to coat the surface of her body. Even now, wisps of it clung to her fingers. I cupped her nape. “How do you feel, baby?”

Shaking slightly, she placed the mirror on the coffee table. “I’m okay.”

“Any idea why energy seems magnetised to you?”

She glanced down at her hands, swallowing hard. “I think it’s just because I’m stronger.”

“I think we can safely guess that when you’re pissed, it’s going to basically envelope every inch of you, just like it did at the arena.” I massaged her nape, unable to stop staring at her. She had always been stunning to me, always so very tempting. It wasn’t that she was suddenly even more beautiful. Other than the striking mercury ring to her irises, not one physical detail about her was different. Not one. Yet, she now had this entrancing effect.

God, this was all so damn weird.

The knock at the door hadn’t come as a surprise. Nor had the entrance of Antonio, Luther, Evan, Wes, and Lena. All five stopped and gazed at Sam, looking a combination of spooked, awed, and anxious.

“What’s happened to me, Lena?” Sam’s own anxiety hadn’t leaked into her voice, but I could feel it.

Just as she had last time, Lena sat beside her and took a minute or so to study her. Just like last time, I held Sam’s hand the entire time. When Lena eventually lounged back into the sofa, Evan handed both her and Sam a NST. They drank them gratefully.

“Well?” I prodded, panicky.

Lena put her empty bottle on the table. “The changes to Sam’s DNA are, as you have probably guessed, complete. Her body is, once again, now frozen in its development − which means there will be no more alterations. The equations, despite being quite complicated, all add up perfectly.”

Then why did she appear so worried? “Lena, what exactly has changed?”

She turned to Sam. “Maybe I should have considered that this was what the brothers were trying to accomplish. Truthfully, I wouldn’t have thought such a thing would ever be achievable so, therefore, I hadn’t at all considered it.”

I had to grit my teeth to prevent a growl from seeping out. “Hadn’t thought
what
was possible?”

Lena sighed. “By making his tattoos of snakes come to life, Wes effectively makes a crossbreed. And so have the brothers.”

My mouth once again dropped open as the implications settled into my brain. The others wore similar expressions.

Antonio shook his head. “That is not possible.”

“I wouldn’t have believed so,” said Lena, “but the brothers are very powerful. Being as strong as she was before, Sam was the perfect subject for them to use. Her strength and power got her through the changes, and now she has evolved into a blend of all three vampire breeds.”

“It explains the physical strength she displayed in the arena,” mused Evan before turning to Sam. “When you sent Magda flying through the air to the other side of the arena with just a palm heel strike…Only a Pagori could have done that.”

“It also explains the compelling allure she now has,” said Antonio, cocking his head as he studied her intently. “It is much like that of a Keja.”

I scrubbed my forehead with my hand. “The mercury ring to her irises?”

Lena shrugged. “My guess is that it is much like a marker. A red ring to the irises is the mark of a Pagori vampire, just as an amber ring is the mark of a Keja. Perhaps this would be the mark of a hybrid, if it was a breed in its own right.”

“Thirst-wise, how do you feel?” I asked Sam, giving her hand a light squeeze.

She frowned thoughtfully. “A little thirsty, but all right.”

“You don’t feel a slight discomfort at the back of your throat?” I asked. That was typical for Kejas whenever they were thirsty. Sam shook her head. “You don’t feel agitated and restless with the thirst?” That was normal for all Pagori vampires.

“I don’t feel any different than I usually do when I’m thirsty. Just…thirsty.”

Looking utterly amazed, Antonio shook his head. “Pagori strength, Keja allure, and Sventé manageable bloodlust…A perfect combination.”

I slid my gaze to the suspiciously quiet Luther. “You knew this would happen, didn’t you? You knew this was how she would change?”

“In all honesty,” began Luther. “I wasn’t sure of anything. I had no idea if investigating the bungalow would have had any bearing on what happened during my vision.”

“So what exactly did you see?”

“In my vision, you and Sam and the squad were all engaged in a battle in an open field − how far ahead in the future this is supposed to occur, I have no idea. The vampires you were all up against were very strong. Sam was there, significantly stronger and much more powerful. Of course, I knew that this should not be possible, that the mercury glow to her irises were unnatural, but I had to question whether alerting you would be a positive thing or not. Your response would have been to lock her away to keep her safe. I knew, however, that if she was not so strong during the battle in my vision, she might be harmed. Perhaps even killed. I was not prepared to take that risk. I hope you can understand that.”

Yeah, I could, which meant I didn’t have an excuse to punch him for not giving me any kind of heads-up.

Sam sighed, forcing a smile. “Well, at least all this power helped me kick Magda’s arse.”

“And as for that bitch,” I growled. “She is leaving
now
.”

Sam laughed a totally humourless laugh. “No, Jared, she’s not.”

Literally mystified, I demanded, “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“She stays.”

“Sam, she hurt you badly out there!”

“I’m fine.”

“That’s not the point! She challenged you, knowing you wouldn’t be able to defend yourself. She’s been messing with your head since she got here. I don’t want her hurting you any more than she already has.”