This Blood that Bonds Us (This Blood that Binds Us #4)

6. Six

Six

Kimberly

We drove all day. The winters there were nothing like I was used to. There were no tall trees bathing the warm woods in darkness, and the only time I’d seen that much snow was during a rare blizzard when I was thirteen. Blackheart was far away from me.

I sat in the passenger seat with my sunglasses on and let the dull roar of the tires fill the silence. During the day, the light reflecting off the snow was too much. Like the music from the radio was splitting. It was slowly getting better. It was as if all the nerves in my body were firing on full blast. The first few days after the fire were the worst. My head pounded. My eyes hurt. My teeth hurt. My skin. And the sound . . . I couldn’t get away from the sound. It made it impossible to think at a time when I really needed to use my brain to its fullest extent. The transition was technically done, but it was taking a lot of getting used to.

Oddly enough, I didn’t miss sleep. Since that night in the church with Kilian, I had nightmares that kept me up at night. I thought there would be things I missed, and there were, just not as much as I’d thought. No matter which way I looked at it, being immortal was always better. With it came the safety and assurance I never had before. I’d always wanted certainty in my life, and this came close to reaching it, and it would have if it hadn’t been for our vampire cult issue.

It helped having someone who missed everything. Aaron gave me permission to grieve the little things, and he held my hand when it came to the bigger ones. I think he was expecting me to be more upset. The first night I didn’t sleep, he lay in bed with me, and we awaited the sunrise. He watched me with such care, like he thought I might break, but I didn’t miss dreaming. I was certain if I had dreamed, I would’ve dreamed of fire.

I’d be lying if sometimes I didn’t wish it had been as Luke planned—all of us together hidden in a cabin or in a car—but it felt selfish to want that. Because I’d have never taken the burden of any responsibility from Luke. The twins would still be shouldering it all on their own. I wouldn’t have had to be as concerned with every little detail and step we took. The three of us would be free to do something that wasn’t so stressful.

I was understanding how unfair that was. The burden they shared while Aaron, Presley, and I ran around Blackheart dancing, going to school . . . falling in love. It had only been around two weeks since they were taken, and I was ready to throw in the towel. Or at least take a long hot bath.

The Calem brothers had become my responsibility. I was choosing for them to be, like they’d chosen me. It was no longer just Kimberly Burns. I had people who cared about me and people I cared about. People I’d risk everything for. And that was a dangerous place to be.

Luke had prepared an icy paradise for us to hide in safety. One with blankets of freshly fallen snow that went on for miles. Frozen branches and buds encased in ice that would never bloom. This place seemed as though it would never thaw. Our paradise didn’t hold peace, only a gnawing emptiness at their absence. Presley and Aaron held an unspoken fear in their eyes. Their compass was gone, and it had thrown everything off its axis. I felt how deep the loss was for Aaron and Presley in every one of their interactions. It was apparent with every conversation ending in a heated debate, no matter the subject: a car, where we should stay, how long everything would take.

They were hurting. We all were.

“We should probably stop here if you need to feed again, Aaron. According to this map, it’s the last town around for miles,” Presley said.

A few buildings passed in my peripheral, and faint music from his MP3 drifted from the back seat. I had to teach Presley how to use the paper map. He insisted on taking over navigation because it gave him something to do.

“I’m okay, actually. I feel good.” Aaron smiled at me. His light was back. When he was thirsty, he was fidgety and quiet, and Aaron Calem was anything but quiet. He’d chatted the entire drive, and I’d been able to let my mind rest while he filled the silence with every thought that popped into his head. I loved it.

“You’re not just trying to be agreeable and then go fly off the handle and kill a bunch of people by accident, are you?”

“No.” Aaron sighed.

I’d been bitten by Aaron before, but each time had been so chaotic and painful I hadn’t thought of them as much else. As I grazed over the already healed skin on my neck, my heart beat faster. Something about it made me replay it in my head over and over again. His hands pulled the hair at the nape of my neck tighter to gain better access to my pulse. His heartbeat blended into mine as I fulfilled a deep need for him. We were closer than we’d ever been before, and I wondered if he felt it too.

Our drive dragged into the night. As we got farther from the main highway, streetlights revealed a sleeping town. Dim lamplights shone over a few shops strung together. It was smaller than the college town of Blackheart. We kept driving till we pulled onto a barely drivable road.

My heartbeat surged against my ribs as a little cabin appeared in the twilight.

Presley leaned between our headrests, and we took in the scene together.

“This is the place?”

“Yeah, the coordinates lead here,” Aaron said.

“A cabin in the woods? Creepy.”

It wasn’t just one cabin; there were many hidden in the trees. Some with lights still on, but most of them dark. We were surrounded by wilderness and snow.

“It doesn’t say what house?”

“Uh, no. It’s not a full address, Pres,” Aaron said.

“What are we supposed to do?”

“I don’t know.”

“You’re supposed to know.”

“I thought you said you didn’t want me to try to act like Luke.”

“Yeah, but it would be nice if you knew what the heck was going on.”

“Boys. Let’s sit here for a minute.”

“What happens if we sit?” Presley said.

I leaned back. “Sometimes that’s all we need. A little silence.”

Presley sighed and we waited. When I said wait, I’d meant wait until we saw a light or some indication of where we were. It wasn’t five minutes before the porch light in the cabin in front of us flickered on.

“Probably shouldn’t have kept the headlights on,” Aaron said as he twisted the key, and the engine turned off.

The cabin door opened, and a woman emerged. Short. Salt-and-pepper hair.

“Oh my god,” Presley said with his mouth agape. “It’s Mom.”

I looked at Aaron as Presley bolted out the door. A weird sense of fear fell over me. I hadn’t expected it. A large logical error on my part. It made perfect sense Luke would send us there. Back to the beginning. He was the only one who knew her location. He’d memorized it for this moment.

My mind swirled with the need to please someone I’d never met. How could I let her know how much her sons truly meant to me? What if she hated me? Did it matter if she did?

Before I could suck in a breath, Aaron grabbed my hand and squeezed. Presley ran into his mom’s arms, collapsing and smiling. They were crying, laughing, and falling into the snow. I was happy. So very happy. But scared. Why was I scared?

Aaron was still looking at me. “It will be okay. Come on.”

He opened the door for me, and we stepped into the snow-covered driveway. Deep bitter cold hit me first. It was only a minute before Presley and their mom came up to Aaron and me. My heart thumped in my ears. Up close I noticed her brown eyes were wet with tears and surrounded by crow’s feet.

“Hi, Mom.” Aaron gave her a weak smile.

“Oh, baby.” She grabbed Aaron and hugged him tight around the neck. Tears continued to fall at their reunion. “I knew you’d come if I was just patient. I missed you so much.”

You’re fine, Kimberly. This is good. She won’t hate you.

“Mom, this is Kimberly. My girlfriend.” Aaron smiled at me. He didn’t seem worried at all.

“Hello, it’s nice to meet you.” That’s all that came out. My lips were already frozen.

She smiled with tears in her eyes.

“Oh, my wonderful girl. Come here.” She wrapped me in a tight hug like the ones Luke used to embrace me with. “Call me Vera.”

The hug lasted longer than I anticipated, easing tension in my shoulders.

She turned to Aaron. “Your brothers?”

Her voice broke on the words, and her eyes widened in hopeful excitement.

“They couldn’t make it . . . but they wanted to. We can tell you about it.”

Aaron looked at Presley, who now had his arm wrapped around Vera’s.

“Come on. You must all be freezing! Let’s go inside the main house.”

“Mom, I missed you so much.” Presley skipped around her. “This is where you’ve lived this whole time?”

“Oh, I missed you, sweet boy. And yes, I’ve been right here since I got the call.”

The call. Neither of us asked what that was. We were all still in shock. Aaron followed close to me while Presley walked alongside Vera. The night was still. Quiet. No bugs. And the sky shined like a beautiful marble of blue and black with thousands of stars.

“You must be starving,” she said as she led us through a cabin door. Though it was the middle of the night, the fire roared and candles were lit all around the room. It wasn’t a large cabin, but it was big enough to fit an armchair and a couch on what appeared to be a thick wool rug covering the hardwood. It barely fit a dining table with four chairs that blocked a walkway. On the other end of the room was a kitchen, with the top of the cabinets filled with little figurines. It was cozy.

“Uh . . .” Presley said, “we just ate.”

“I don’t know how. There’s nothing around for miles.”

“Junk food. We packed it.” Aaron caught Presley’s eye line.

“That’s not a proper meal, and you know it.”

“Mom, it’s late. Shouldn’t you be asleep?” Aaron said.

“Oh. I couldn’t sleep. Now I know why. I was just sitting there reading when I saw headlights blasting through my window.”

“Sorry,” Aaron said. He rubbed my back after helping me take off my coat. Even with just a few minutes in the cold I felt it everywhere.

“I’ll put a stew on.”

“Mom.”

“No arguing.”

Aaron and Presley shared a look.

“Soup it is.” Presley winked at me.