Page 58 of Bonded By Blood

She licked her lips and held out the bottle. “You don’t mind sharing, do you? He didn’t bring glassware.”

His nostrils flared as he inhaled the scent of the drink. Undoubtedly it was speaking to him, reminding him of all the pain he was in and how parched he’d become. He accepted the bottle with both hands.

“Drink as much as you want,” Brianna said. She sat down beside him on the side of the bed and, after a few seconds, reached out to run her hand gently along his thigh. “It might surprise you to hear this, but I’m no angel myself. I’ve done many things I’ve come to regret over the years.”

Joe lowered the bottle, licked a dribble of blood from his lips, and looked over at her. Already his color had improved. “What are you talking about?”

Brianna lifted her lips in a bitter smile as old, dusty memories rose to the surface. “I know what it feels like, to take someone’s life with your bare hands. To tell yourself you had no choice, but wonder later if perhaps you were wrong.”

“I wasn’t wrong,” Joe said. “I was played.”

She let out a sigh. “Yes. My mother is incredibly distrustful, and unimaginably cunning. To her, treachery and disloyalty are the worst things. I think it took nearly two hundred years for Jasen to earn her trust, if that’s any consolation.”

He made a sound somewhere between a grunt and a hum and took another pull from the bottle. “Has she always been like that?”

Has she? That was a good question. “A little bit, I think,” Brianna said, doing her best to remember her younger years. When her life had been so very different. When civilization was younger and religion as a concept still new. “Her fear of betrayal runs deep. As deep as our history, I suspect. But, to be fair, I was a much younger girl back then. I scarcely remember those days.”

Her words seemed to pique his curiosity and Joe arched a brow. “What do you mean? Are you talking about the origin? How all of this ‘vampires and werewolves’ stuff started?”

Brianna inclined her head. She could see she had his attention now, so reached into those murky memories and attempted to articulate her meaning. “I was just a child, by all accounts,” she said. “I didn’t witness anything other than an argument between my older sister and my mother. On my own, I couldn’t tell you what they were even arguing about, but given what happened—and what Mother’s said since—I’m guessing it involved a boy.” She grinned a little at the cliché. “He was a second cousin, I think, which wasn’t scandalous in that world, other than that our side of the family and his weren’t speaking.”

“Romeo and Juliet?” Joe guessed, teasing lightly. His skin had returned to its proper color and his voice was almost back to normal. Finally.

Brianna let out a single huff of air in lieu of a laugh. “Right down to the tragic end,” she replied. That argument, and the story that followed, were all she remembered about her sister now. She didn’t even remember her sister’s name anymore.

Joe’s expression became somber once more. “Oh. I’m sorry.”

She shook her head. “It was so long ago, I may as well be talking about strangers.” She offered him a smile. “As the story goes, Mother found out Sister was seeing a boy in the side of the family we’d disowned a generation or two previously and she was roiling with anger about it. She told Sister never to see him again, so naturally, Sister did the opposite and ran off to meet up with him.” Brianna paused. “I should add, at this point in our history, our family were already blood-drinkers. We had all the enhanced abilities, and both Mother’s generation and mine had been born with our fangs as well. There’d been some horrendous sickness that plagued the land before Mother was born, and apparently our ancestors did some deplorable things to survive. Things which split our family apart and turned our half into people who drank the blood of others.”

Joe gaped at her. After a second, he asked, “Out of curiosity, what happened to the other half?”

Brianna had expected that question, and her lips tipped with a small grin. Her mother probably wouldn’t appreciate her revealing their dirty laundry, but it was ancient history and she saw no reason to lie about it. “They preferred to eat flesh.”

Joe’s jaw dropped. “You’re telling me … vampires and werewolves … are descended from the same family?”

“Their founding ancestors were brothers,” Brianna said.

Joe closed his eyes and, after a second, slowly shook his head. “Isn’t that always the case?” He took a breath and looked at her again. “Sorry for interrupting. So, your sister ran off with her cousin the pseudo-werewolf?”

An unexpected giggle burst up from Brianna’s chest and she clamped a hand over her mouth. “Yes.” She composed herself. “Yes. They went into the nearby town … to play.”

Joe cringed.

Brianna nodded. “It’s as bad as it sounds, I’m afraid. On both ends, because they got caught. The town had recently gained a church, and the new Priest managed to subdue them. No one I know was there to witness the details, so we don’t know how or what specifically happened. But that night, the church went up in flames. That night, my sister died.” She held Joe’s steady gaze. “The next morning, when I went out to play in the field, my skin felt as if it were burning with invisible fire. It was the worst pain I’d ever known.”

Joe drew a deep breath and covered her hand with his. “How did you figure things out after that?”

“I remember my mother crying from her own pain as she scooped me in her arms and rushed us back inside,” Brianna said, as that memory suddenly resurfaced. Trista’s familiar face, contorted with pain and smothered with tears, bending over her and rescuing her from the burn of daylight. “Beyond that, mostly trial and deadly error, I’d guess.” She pursed her lips. “I also used to have a brother. He was Mother’s firstborn.” And for as long as she lived, she’d never forget how he’d died. Realization suddenly dawned on her and Brianna adjusted her hand to give his a gentle squeeze. “We first blamed our cousins, the family who became werewolves, for everything that had happened to us. There was a terrible fight. My brother attacked the father of the cousin Sister had run off with. That was how we learned their blood had become fatal to us.”

“Sounds like it’s kind of amazing you survived,” Joe said slowly. “And I guess … I can see why Trista would be feeling especially distrusting in that kind of situation.”

Brianna smiled. “That doesn’t excuse her behavior. She’s had more time than anyone alive, or undead, to learn to correct herself.”

Joe barked out a laugh, the sound rich and just deep enough to warm Brianna’s insides.

Brianna plucked the mostly empty bottle from his hold, set it down, and framed his face in her hands. “I’m sorry for what my mother put you through,” Brianna whispered, putting her full sincerity into her voice. “But I’m going to be selfish, and ask you to stay with me. Stay with me, and, forgive yourself, Joe. Please.”

He swallowed hard, once, before crushing her to him and sealing his lips over hers. His tongue wasted no time plunging into her mouth and she mewled softly. He still tasted a little like the blood he’d just consumed. A part of her wondered if it would be unreasonable to demand he feed her exclusively, and only mouth-to-mouth, forevermore.