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Blood & Binding
DAMIEN
I lose my grip on Eloise’s fingers, and dread consumes me. Not again. The Gowdies captured me once with their dark magic. To do it again now, after everything, after Eloise, it’s too cruel to fathom. I will kill them. I will kill them all.
As a shade, I’m usually soothed by the darkness, but the shadows I command are gone, magically stripped away to leave nothing but a void. I fall and fall and fall. Eloise’s expression of anguish grows smaller, more distant, as the black throat of the portal constricts, swallowing me. I roar as it closes completely, cutting off the channel between us. All that’s left is nothingness and pain and loss. Until I drop into a blinding ring of conjured sunlight. My wings flare and my talons itch to tear through as many Gowdie witches as possible. I won’t allow them to bleed and bind me this time. Not again.
“Welcome back to the palace of Night Haven, Damien. It’s been far too long.”
That’s not a Gowdie voice that pierces the blinding light but one from my nightmares. Fuck. How… how did she find out so quickly?
“Valeska.” The vampire queen’s name leaves my mouth on a hiss. My wings spread defensively until the tips singe against the bright circle containing me. I retract them with a wince. That’s pure sunlight. We’re underground in Night Haven, but this is the real thing. No vampire can wield this kind of magic. She has help. Powerful help.
“Damien.” The slight tip of her head conveys the greeting. “Allow me to introduce you to my new friends.” She gestures toward two humans to our right, twins. The exceptionally tall and narrow Korean men have spiky, blond-tipped hair and high-collared dusters embroidered with a sun sigil over the left breast. “This is Tae and Lang of the Kim family of witches. I’m sure you’ve already guessed that their family’s keyspell is sun wielding.”
Shit. Powerful help indeed. Sun wielding is rare. The Gowdies needed a coven of witches and a full ritual to summon me from Tenebris. These two did it without breaking a sweat.
“I thought witches were forbidden in Night Haven?” I say dryly.
Valeska’s tall, shiny boots clack on the stone just outside the reach of the light. Although sunlight weakens me, it can kill her. At least there is that. She can’t touch me without breaking the magic that binds me, and if she breaks the spell for any reason, for any length of time, my shadows will slaughter every being in this room, including her.
“I make the law here, Damien. You’d do well not to forget that.” Her words snap like a whip. “I have to admit I hesitated to employ their help, given our general distrust of each other as a species, but when Lazarus explained how the Gowdies captured you, I realized the beings who could bind you would also be the only ones strong enough to free you, and as it so happens, the Kim family owes me a favor.”
I clench my jaw as she paces around the walls of light, studying me as her blood-red fingertips drum on her biceps. She knows. Somehow she’s learned I’m free of the Gowdie curse. A low growl percolates in my chest, and I search the boundary for vulnerabilities. Even though the light keeps me from using my shadows, if I can charge through the beams, escape is possible.
“Don’t try it,” she snarls, presuming what I plan to do. “I promise you the Kims will not allow you to leave this room without my permission.”
“And when will that be?” I grit out. I position myself at the exact center of the symbol, where the light is only a mild irritation.
Her nostrils flare. A vampire’s sense of smell is unparalleled. There’s no doubt what she’s picking up in this enclosed space. Eloise. We had sex not ten minutes ago. I am covered in her. I dig my talons into my palms as my protective instincts rage.
“Imagine my surprise when I engaged the Kims to break your Gowdie curse only for them to discover via their private network that someone had already broken it!” She bares her teeth. “What luck. I’m sure it would’ve been only a matter of time before you shared the happy news with me. I’ve made it known to you twice now that I need a consort and you are my first choice.”
“Let me out and we can discuss it,” I say calmly. One shadow is all I need.
She huffs. “Oh, Damien, don’t take me for a fool. The stench of human sex coming off you carries the unmistakable musk of bonding. You’ve already mated someone. Didn’t take you long to find a willing partner. Not surprising considering your power, although I am shocked you chose a human.” Her gaze hollows, turning impossibly darker and even more soulless. “They are so incredibly breakable.”
Every part of me longs to knock Valeska’s head off her body. Mentioning the vulnerability of my mate is meant to be a threat, and it takes all I have in me to suppress my murderous response. But I must suppress it. Valeska is deadly in her own right but weakened by sunlight—my only chance at freedom is convincing her to release me. That won’t happen if she suspects I intend to kill her.
“Why have you brought me here, Valeska? What do you want from me?”
“You know what I want.”
“I won’t be your consort.” Even vampires have rules and limitations. I will never voluntarily agree to be Valeska’s consort. If she tries to force me, I’ll either escape or kill her the second she frees me from this cage. She wants to use me as both protection and a weapon, but as long as I have free will, she can’t let me out of this cage. I’m useless to her in here. The only way she can take my free will away is to bind me. If she forced a mating bond, my instincts would compel me to protect her. Not only could I not kill her, but no matter how much I wanted to, it would be almost impossible for me to avoid executing her commands. Mated shades, like mated vampires, serve their mates.
Vampire tradition, though, forbids taking a mate without their consent. Mating is more than sex; it’s bonding by blood and old magic. As queen, Valeska could ignore that prohibition and force a mating bond on me. She’d likely even escape any reproach for it. But she can’t ignore that I am already mated. A vessel can only hold so much, and mine is full. My biology will not allow me to have sex, let alone mate another as long as Eloise is alive.
The last thing I want is for Valeska to target Eloise. The queen absolutely cannot know my mate’s identity. The second she does, she’ll send the finest soldiers from her army to kill her. I can’t let that happen. Maybe I can distract her. “I’ll be returning to my homeworld as soon as I find a witch who can open the rift. I’m the wrong choice for you.”
“That would be counterproductive, Damien. You’re needed here. I find your specific talents to be exactly what I’m looking for in a mate and consort.”
Yeah, the ability to serve as her combination blood bag and watchdog makes me the ideal companion. Only problem is I hate the bitch, and the idea of spending a single night in her bed, let alone hundreds, turns my stomach. I’d rather fall on my blade. “Not interested.”
“Maybe you just need the proper motivation. Who is it I smell on you Damien? Who is this human woman you’ve mated?”
I say nothing. I’ll die before I offer a single thing about her.
