12. Rina #2
“That’s the funny thing about fate,” Archer said calmly, eyes clear. “Sometimes you don’t get a choice.”
Scowling, I took a breath. “Fate shouldn’t be able to force two people together who don’t want to be.” If I hadn’t given him my blood, we wouldn’t be here right now. “You’re telling me someone has to stay with an abusive partner just because they’re mates?”
The table was silent—neither man saying a word.
Of course, they didn’t. I looked the other way, crossing my arms over my chest. Men. Ugh.
“I figured if anyone could fix this, you could,” Ezra told his friend. “As an angel of love—”
My eyes bugged. Was I being punked right now? I could take him being an angel, that this whole town was under some sort of weird cloaking spell, but this was where I drew the line. “You’re joking, right? You’re an angel of love named Archer?” He was basically Cupid.
Ezra quirked an eyebrow at me. “Says the witch named Sabrina?”
My lips turned down into a small pout. “It’s unfortunate, that’s what it is.” It’s not like I chose my name though.
“Please, tell me your parents really liked Sabrina the Teenage Witch.”
I groaned. “And that’s why I go by Rina.”
The angel didn’t acknowledge my reaction. “Technically, yes, but that’s not my role anymore, Ezra. Not since I came here.” By here, did he mean the human world, or the middle of nowhere town?
Ezra grumbled at my side, but didn’t respond.
“You can’t do anything to help us?” I asked.
Archer raised an eyebrow at Ezra. “You know I can’t break a mate bond. Even that is beyond my powers.”
“I thought you might know of a way,” the vampire bit back.
“Besides the obvious?”
Ezra shot him a glare. “We’re not doing that.”
“Doing what?” I asked, to no avail, since they both ignored me.
I sighed. Why did he even force me along on this stupid road trip in the first place? Gods, I hated that I’d ever agreed to this. Hated him, and his stupid, attractive face and finely chiseled body and—I snapped my thoughts away from that. My traitorous thoughts did not need to go there.
“Start from the beginning,” Archer said. “How did this happen?”
The vampire grunted. “I was injured in an attack by a wraith. I needed blood to heal after their poison got into my system.”
“Ah.” His golden eyes slid over to me. “And you drank from her.”
I nodded. “Yes. He was hurt, and I couldn’t just leave him there. But then this mark showed up the next day.”
Archer leaned over, inspecting the mark.
“I always find these fascinating. Vampires are some of the only creatures in this realm to leave a mark on their mates.” He brushed his thumb across the red detailing, and a shiver ran down my spine.
Satisfied, he looked up. “When was the last time you fed from her, Ezra?”
Ezra grumbled a response, and I frowned. “What does that matter?”
Archer crossed his arms over his chest. “Ezra.”
“Archer.” The vampire narrowed his eyes.
“So no one’s going to answer me. Cool.” I huffed out a breath. “Did I somehow turn invisible?” I waved my hand in between them. “Yep. That’s just great.”
Ezra gave him a look, like, see what I’m dealing with? I stuck out my tongue at him, clearly a child again.
The angel looked between us. “You really want to sever the bond between the two of you?”
I nodded. “Yes. Gods, yes. Please.” I wasn’t above begging.
He leaned back in his chair. “Fate won’t be happy to learn you’ve meddled with her design. The consequences of breaking the bond could be catastrophic. In ways that we can’t know or even anticipate until after it’s been done.”
“So there is a way? You can do it then?” I asked, hope flooding my veins for the first time.
“No.”
My heart sank.
Archer continued. “While I can see mate bonds and act as a matchmaker of sorts, the gods didn’t give me the ability to take away. So while there might be a way to cut the threads of fate between you two, it would be dangerous.”
I frowned. “What are we talking about here? Some sort of precarious dungeon, and at the end there is a magic potion after we’ve survived all the booby traps and a rolling boulder? Because I can do that. Probably.”
Ezra sighed.
Archer laughed. “Even I don’t know everything.
” With a slight shake of his head, he continued.
“I’ve heard rumors about an old vampire whose bond broke and survived to tell the tale, but they were only whispers.
I suspect you’d know more about that than I do, Ezra.
Which is why I’m surprised you came to me. ”
“Fuck,” Ezra cursed, looking paler than usual. “That’s not going to happen. Ever.”
The angel sat back in his chair, arms clasped in his lap. “Then I think you know how this will end.”
I gulped. The two of us—together for all eternity. Stuck as his blood bag for the rest of my life. “So there’s nothing we can do?”
“I didn’t say that.”
Ezra shot him a glare, before turning to me. “Guess we’re headed home.”
“Back to Pleasant Grove?” Anything to get away from being stuck with him for hours and days on end.
He shook his head. “No. My home. Gravewood.”
A shiver ran down my spine.
I wasn’t sure I liked the sound of that.
Especially not if it meant being surrounded by even more vampires.
Turns out I wasn’t making it back in time for Halloween after all.