28. Alexander
28
ALEXANDER
“ Y ou’re sure about that?” Haldren asked, tapping his knuckles on top of his desk. “You’re absolutely sure.”
“Yes,” I snapped. “I don’t have patience for this. You need to report what’s happened to the elders now. Time is running out. Emily is dying because of her connection to the cursed book.” The book Haldren had no idea was still in my possession. That was a secret I’d keep.
Emily needed me, and I had failed her again and again.
She is not yours. She will never be yours.
But this had changed things. Sanguine Nox would bond her or turn her without hesitation. They might even kill her if they couldn’t get what they wanted out of her, and I couldn’t allow that. There was no world in which I would let them take Emily from me.
“I will report this to them,” Haldren said. “They expected you to bring her back.”
“I can’t bring her back because she was taken while I was talking to them. If they hadn’t demanded my presence then this wouldn’t have happened.” The last words came out as a shout.
“Relax. Know your place, soldier. ”
I shut my eyes and let Haldren’s words wash over me.
My place.
It felt as if my place was no longer here but with her. And she was about to be bonded by them. I knew it. He had ways of gathering information. He would take it from her, figure out the truth, and then?—
“I’ll contact them. Wait in your apartment until I send word. They might need you for the mission, or they may send someone else.”
“That is unacceptable to me,” I said. “I’m the only one who can help.”
Haldren sighed, scrubbing his palm over his chin. “You’re dismissed, Alexander.”
I exited his office, and it took all of my limited control to keep from slamming the door behind me. I strode off toward the elevator, and Cassia appeared at my side.
“Testy,” she said. “So testy. It’s a pity your sweetheart has been taken, isn’t it?”
“You should stop eavesdropping,” I said. “One of these days, someone will take umbrage at your actions and slice your ears off the sides of your head.”
“Threaten me, Alexander. I love your violent side.”
“Leave me.” I entered the elevator.
The doors closed on her smug face. Doubtless, she thought she would be on the team to go after Emily, and she only cared because she wanted to prove that she was better than me and worthy of promotion.
I entered my apartment and moved to the sofas that overlooked the city, but I couldn’t sit down, and I certainly didn’t want to wait for orders.
Still, I needed a plan of attack. Trying to infiltrate Sanguine Nox without one would be a death sentence.
I brought my phone out, but before I could start planning, a message pinged through on my phone. My U.C. sanctioned phone .
“I will call you. You will answer if you want to see Emily again.”
My grip tightened. The phone rang in my hand.
“Hello.”
“Mr. Knight. It’s been a while.” Ezekiel. And he sounded smug.
“I’m going to kill you for taking her,” I said.
“Is that really the type of conversation you want to have, Mr. Knight? Right now, as you stand there in your headquarters. I suggest you leave before they overhear you talking to me.”
I narrowed my eyes. And then I gave him the number of my burner phone and a time of twenty minutes.
Ezekiel laughed before he hung up the phone.
I exited the building as fast as I’d entered it, got into my car, and drove off. I parked outside the cemetery where Emily and I had had our first date. I pictured her there, beautiful, her hair bright and auburn, her eyes so full of hope and trust. She had wanted me badly, and I had wanted her in return, and now, she was on the brink of death because of my choices.
The burner phone rang. “Yes.”
“Do I have your attention now, Mr. Knight?” he asked.
“What do you have to say?” I asked. “I want Emily back, and I’m willing to hunt down and kill every member of your coven to get her.”
“And you think you can do that before the curse that the book has placed on her takes effect?” Ezekiel asked smoothly.
I didn’t answer.
“That’s right, Mr. Knight. We know everything. We know that she’s cursed. We know why. And we know that you are in possession of that book. You didn’t give it to your coven.”
“What?” There was no way they could possibly know that. I hadn’t told anyone. Not a single vampire knew.
I gritted my teeth, angry at myself for giving anything away. They might not know a damn thing. Ezekial could’ve been making a guess in the dark, and I’d given him exactly the clue he needed to go through with his plans .
“You see, it doesn’t take much for us to acquire the knowledge we need to make big moves. You of all people should know that, Squire Alexander.”
“Don’t call me that,” I grunted.
Ezekiel chuckled. “Here’s what’s going to happen. You will bring us the book if you ever want to see your dearest Emily again. You won’t tell anyone at your coven what you’re doing, and you will lay any weapons or defenses you have aside when you meet us.”
My immediate thought was to deny them, but Emily needed me. And there would be another way around this. Another way to get to her and save her without giving them what they wanted.
There had to be.
“You have less than an hour. We are keeping your dearest Emily alive, but the longer you delay, the closer she draws to the end.” And then he hung up.
I tossed the phone aside and pounded both fists on the steering wheel once.
What choice did I have?
The U.C. would take too long to put together a team to save Emily. By the time they were suited up and ready to do anything, she would be dead to the curse or worse. And if Sanguine Nox bonded her …
But no, there was something wrong here.
Why did they need the book at all?
Unless …
Unless they weren’t sure how to bond her. Was that in the book? Was it part of its contents? If they couldn’t bond Emily, they couldn’t keep her alive. The only bonds I had ever heard of in my time as a vampire was the bond of blood marriage connecting two vampires, and that was done through a sharing of each other’s blood.
But this couldn’t be the same.
I grabbed the book from under the front seat and opened it in my lap.
My fingers turned the pages frantically. There had to be something. Some way to bond her. If I gave it to them, it would only end with her being connected to Sanguine Nox permanently, and I couldn’t allow that.
I scanned the text, my mind translating it from French until I found what I was looking for.
The only correct way to bond a Guardian is to mingle the blood of the vampire and the Guardian together. You will need the following to complete the ritual with any effectiveness:
A ritual dagger, cleansed appropriately. The light of any moon will work, whether full, waxing, or waning
A suitable slab or table upon which to perform the ritual
A steady hand
The Guardian bond can then be initiated by wounding the Guardian grievously. Enough so that the Guardian nears death. Thereafter, the vampire who wishes to bond the Guardian should slice their own flesh, bring blood to the surface, and drip it into the wound. Those drips will heal the Guardian before their death and bond them to the vampire until the end of time.
Most importantly, the Guardian must be on the brink of death, a breath away from it, before the bond is initiated, or it will not take hold in all its efficacy.
Now, of course there are other methods to bond a Guardian, whether through the passions of the flesh or through other means, but as stated, the above way is the only correct way because it will, in effect, ensure the bond takes hold and stays that way for as long as the blood runs in the Guardian’s body and pumps through their heart.
I tore the page from the book and folded it, tucking it into the glovebox compartment of my car. Then, carefully, I placed a ward of vampire magic over it. It would kill any vampire who touched it. I layered a second protective spell over it, and then a third. What I should have done when Emily had been in Michael’s apartment.
But I had grown soft in my time away from Sanguine Nox. I had forgotten how dangerous they were, so focused was I on Emily and on my revenge.
Just on Emily.
I shut the book and left it on the passenger seat then started up my engine.
An hour later, I strode through Grand Central Station, passing beneath the azure ceiling with its constellations. I headed toward the men’s bathroom, opened the door and entered, and headed toward the final cubicle.
Inside, I touched a hand to the wall to my right, and it folded back.
And then I descended. Down into the darkness, past flickering torches, while the sound of trains rattled in the background. The deeper I went, the softer the sounds became until I finally reached the door.
A simple wooden door etched with an eye.
I touched my finger to it, pressing magic into it, and it opened.
I stepped through, and a shadowy figure stopped me, a pale hand outstretched.
“I thought you might use the back entrance,” Ezekiel said.
Five other vampires stepped out beside him, from darkened doorways that led off the cramped corridor.
“You didn’t think that you would get past us, did you?” Ezekiel asked.
“I came and brought what you wanted,” I said.
This was the only choice I had. I shielded my mind from any potential telepathic attacks, and the bombardment began. The vampires tried to get through to my thoughts, to discover my plans, and failed.
“So secretive,” Ezekiel said. “Come now. Give me the book if you want your Emily back.”
“How do I know that you’ll give her to me?” I asked.
“You don’t,” he replied. “But what choice do you have?”
None. But they didn’t know what I had planned either. I had come here, to the back entrance, for a reason. I wanted them to understand that there wasn’t a section of Sanguine Nox’s headquarters I hadn’t seen.
I had practically “grown up” here. I had been raised into vampirehood here.
I forced a smile. “Where is Emily? I want to see her before I hand you the book.”
“I’m afraid that won’t be possible.”
“I won’t give it to you without seeing her first.”
Ezekiel pursed his lips. Finally, he crooked a finger and beckoned me to follow him. We moved down several halls, twisting and turning, moving deeper, past flickering torches bracketed to the walls, and finally into the dungeons.
Anger threatened to overwhelm me.
Ezekiel flicked a hand and a hatch opened in the dungeon door across from us.
Emily was tied to a stone slab inside, blindfolded, breathing shallow.
The hatch slammed shut again. “The book.” Ezekiel extended his hand.