Blood of Life: Cora's Choice 1-3 Bundle Read online

  Three more bikers streaked past, and we passed the crumpled forms of others. I looked in the rearview mirror. They were tailing us now, regrouping as they turned around. The men in the back of the car exchanged a few words. Then, on cue, they rolled down their windows, angling their long, ugly guns behind us. They began to fire, and two more bikers dropped back, struck.

  The remaining three slowed then, letting the distance between us grow until they dropped out of sight.

  After several long minutes, the men in the back rolled up their windows again, and Dorian flicked back on the headlights and returned his gun to its holder on the console.

  I stared at him. He must have been aware of my gaze, but he gave no sign of it.

  “What the hell was that all about?”

  Chapter Three

  “They wanted to kill you,” Dorian said bluntly. “What part of that would you like explained?”

  What I wanted to know about—more than anything—was the casual violence of Dorian’s response. How could he point a gun at a human being and pull the trigger with as much thought as I might give to wadding up a piece of scratch paper?

  He risked your life with no more thought than that, a part of my brain reminded me. You, too, could have died when he took your blood, and you would have been just one more dead girl among hundreds.

  I pushed that down, hiding away from myself the lack of revulsion that scared me even more than that thought. I already knew what Dorian would say to them. He’d told me as much before. He wasn’t human, and so what he did was never murder. He only killed those that he must in order to live.

  “How about the why?” I asked instead. “That was an awful lot of trouble to go to—and a lot of blood to spill—if someone just had a grudge against you.”

  He glanced at me. “It’s politics.”

  “Politics don’t usually leave a body count,” I countered.

  He raised an eyebrow. “How little you know. My enemies, such as they are, disapprove of my research.”

  That answer took me by surprise. Ancient blood feud, territorial wars, revenge—any of those would have seemed reasonable, at least coming from a vampire. But research?

  His research sought to develop medical tests that could better identify potential cognates, humans who were changed by a vampire’s bite rather than being killed by it as most were. Those tests had identified me out of thousands, and my bonding to him had been its first clear success.

  “Why would anyone object to that?”

  “There are many vampires, as you call them, who view humans as cattle, to be used as they see fit.”

  His blue eyes held me caught in his gaze. Cattle? No, cattle didn’t go willingly to the slaughter. But any human caught by a vampire would beg to be bitten by him, even though it almost always meant death.

  Including me.

  He continued, “But if it takes ten thousand feedings—and ten thousand deaths—to find a cognate, those who put no value on human life will have much support among our people. To hold human life to be important would mean that any feeding that results in death is wrong inasmuch as it can be avoided. And most vampires aren’t willing to believe that the very thing that keeps them alive is something that should not occur.”

  “Okay,” I said carefully, suppressing my urge to argue to hear him out. “I get that.”

  “Now that I can reduce that to one in one hundred—and, most importantly, now that I have proof that I can do it in you—my position becomes much more attractive. Once a vampire has a cognate, no more humans need to die for the length of the cognate’s life.”

  The number of deaths that his moral high road represented was still staggering, but whenever he spoke of it, I felt myself sliding into his way of thinking, like a rock caught in the orbit of the sun.

  “And what is your position?” I asked. “Equality between humans and vampires?”

  The corner of his mouth twitched. “Don’t be absurd. But I do hold that humans, like vampires, have unique qualities that make them superior to animals. And that their needless deaths are a waste—and even a crime, if we had such a concept in our society.”

  I took the words like a blow, though I didn’t want to analyze why they hurt. “So when you...approached me, you didn’t think I was worth as much as you or any other vampire?”

  “If I did, how could I have ever drunk from you? Prolonging my life by four months by taking four months from yours.” He shook his head. “A vampire who believed in equality could have only one correct path—to die. And as you see, I am very much alive.”

  “That’s not right,” I protested. “It’s just not.”

  “Is it not? You wanted to give. I needed to take. And here you are, alive,” he said quietly.

  I snapped, “Alive, sure. But now you’re—you’re claiming that there’s something between us, but that only exists because you were willing for me to die. No, that’s too nice of a way of putting it. You were willing to kill me. Because you thought my life was that cheap.”

  “It was that short,” he said curtly.

  My face felt hot. I wouldn’t take that as an answer, not for anything. “And what about now? Is my life worth less than that of a vampire to you now? If that’s true, why shoot anyone? Why not just let them take me?”

  He glanced over at me, and his pale gaze made me catch my breath. “You aren’t human anymore, Cora. You’re mine. And you’re now worth more to me than any vampire in the world.”

  That stunned me into a momentary silence, which he used to turn the conversation back to its course.

  “They wanted you dead because you’re proof that my research works.”

  I shook my head and regrouped. “You still have the tests, though. Killing me doesn’t change that.”

  “No, it doesn’t. But my people believe what they see, and it could take years before we have another success to display even at the new odds. If you could be made to...disappear before you are formally introduced into society, my position would be greatly weakened, perhaps for a decade, perhaps even longer. And a great deal can happen in that time.”

  “But you let me go home,” I said. “You knew there was a danger, and you let me go.”

  “There shouldn’t have been a danger because no one who was not completely loyal to our cause should have known that you existed.” His expression was grim. “There is a traitor in our midst—possibly more than one—despite all our safeguards.”

  “You said you set guards over me. If there wasn’t any danger, why would you bother?”

  “Because I am a suspicious bastard. It cost me two good men, too.” The line of his mouth was bleak.

  “Cost you? You mean they’re dead?” I felt sick.

  I was definitely on board with keeping myself alive, but at what cost? The two guards were unlikely to be the only casualties—at least a few of the motorcyclists who had come after us were probably dead and possibly some of the cops at the blockade, as well.

  Worse, there was a good chance that, like the police who had stopped me earlier that day, they weren’t even acting of their own free will but were innocents who were manipulated by the vampire who wanted me dead.

  You’re perfectly willing for other people to die if it will keep you alive. You’re not so different from him, after all, are you?

  I shuddered at that thought.

  “I will provide for their families,” Dorian said.

  “That doesn’t bring them back!”

  His gaze flicked over me, and despite everything, I felt the familiar stirring in my center at his gaze. “What else would you have me do, Cora? I can’t work miracles. Their murderer has been dealt with, and their families will not want for anything. That is the extent of my powers.”

  “I don’t know,” I said weakly. “Maybe don’t sound so cavalier.”

  I should have died that night, in his surgery. Or I should have chosen to accept my cancer as terminal—to go quietly instead of grasping at straws. This is all his fault, but it’s mi
ne, too.

  “Trust me, Cora. I am anything but cavalier. But this is just the latest skirmish in a very long war, and the stakes are higher than you can imagine.”

  “I didn’t ask for this,” I said. I sounded childish. I didn’t care.

  “I know. And I am sorry.” Dorian’s look was keen. “This isn’t about you, Cora, and it’s not your fault. You’re just a symbol, a placeholder. It wouldn’t matter who was in your place. The battle would still be fought. It must be fought and won.”

  He sounded more adamant about that than he ever had about anything. A placeholder for them—and a placeholder for him, too, I realized abruptly. He’d been willing to kill the Cora who had walked into his surgery. And now he would kill for me, not because of who I was but because of what he’d made me into.

  Did he care about me, Cora Shaw, at all?

  Did I even want him to?

  He turned back to the road. “If it weren’t for the bond still forming, I wouldn’t have let you go home at all.”

  “What do you mean?” I was asking two questions in one—about the bond forming and about his use of the word let.

  “It takes time for the bond to gain its final strength. In the old days, we would stand guard over our cognates as they went through the conversion, and we would keep them as close to us as we could—that’s what the bond makes us desire, after all, and we didn’t know any better. The bond that formed then was very rigid. To be more than a room or two away would cause the most excruciating pain.”

  I shivered at the thought of being tied that closely to anyone. Even Dorian? came the distant whisper, which made me shiver again.

  Dorian didn’t seem to notice. “We learned that if we stayed away as much as possible when the bond was fresh, it would become much more flexible when it finished forming. We could be apart for weeks, even, without going mad, or fly half a world away, if needed. A room or two would not even be noticeable. So while you were undergoing your conversion, I stayed in Manhattan until you showed signs of regaining consciousness. For you to return to your own home, resume your old life for at least a day or two after waking would further add to the flexibility. This is why I did not schedule your introduction to society immediately—I chose to wait for the bond to settle.”

  “Oh,” I said in a small voice. “And now?”

  “And now that part of the conversion is almost complete.”

  “That part,” I repeated. “And what parts are left?”

  “Nothing you need to worry about.” He didn’t even look away from the road.

  Stung, I returned, “I should be the judge of that. You didn’t think I had to worry about people trying to kill me, either.”

  “That’s enough, Cora,” he said, and the words rippled with his will.

  I shut my mouth with a click. I didn’t know if he’d force me to stop asking, but I was too much of a coward to find out. How much would he take from me if it meant enough to him that I obey?

  But if I didn’t ask a question for fear of him forcing me, I was being controlled by him just as surely as if he were messing directly with my head....

  “I’ve just ordered announcements for your introduction to society to be held on Saturday,” he continued. “That should end this particular gambit on the part of my enemies, as soon as any remaining puppets are neutralized.”

  Unable to force myself to grill him about the bond, I put a bite into my next words. “So while I was in mortal danger, you paused to order invitations?”

  He ignored my sarcasm. “Not at all. I ordered them while we were tracking you down.”

  My expression must have revealed my incredulity.

  He added, “It was the fastest way to end further threats on your life. And it sent a message to whomever had tried to take you—you must realize that at that moment I fully believed that you were in someone else’s power—that I would stop at nothing to get you back.”

  I believed him. But we’d talk later about the idea of me being introduced—whatever that meant—to a society that largely wanted me dead.

  Dorian said, “It is considered out of bounds to attack someone’s cognate. We don’t have laws, exactly, but we have conventions, a code, that everyone largely follows. Killing a cognate is a precedent that cannot go unpunished. Someone who orders such an attack would be a target for every bonded vampire, and if his associates don’t immediately join in the condemnation, they would be targeted, as well. If you could be eliminated before you were introduced to society, however, I would have no proof that you ever existed, so there would be no violation and so no retribution.”

  “You said my introduction is still two days away,” I said. “So does that mean I’ll be under fire until then? And what about the cops? As far as the police are concerned, I’m the main suspect in a hit-and-run accident.”

  “I had the invitation issued in the names of six of the most respected members of our society. Their presence on the invitation vouches for your existence. Unconventional, perhaps, but effective. And the police have already been dealt with. As far as the department is concerned, the incident never happened. The roadblock back there was set in motion many hours ago.”

  “So are you taking me home now?” I asked. I wasn’t sure if I would be more frightened if the answer were yes or no.

  “No, Cora. You’ll stay in my Georgetown house tonight.”

  I shivered slightly, remembering what had happened between us the last time I had been in his house. Wanting it to happen again.

  Stupid, stupid, stupid....

  Dorian didn’t notice. “That house is the safest place I have in this country. As for me, I will be staying in Baltimore. Now that I’ve seen the scale of the attempt, there must be a large Kyrioi-aligned faction behind it—the Star Junta perhaps, or the League of Westphalia. Baltimore is a Kyrioi stronghold and so the best place to track them down.”

  “Oh,” I said, not sure if I was more sorry or relieved that he would be gone and understanding less than half of the rest.

  “If you don’t want to know any of this, just tell me. Most agnates—that’s what vampires call ourselves, you understand—would consider this sort of thing to be beyond your place.”

  “And what is my place, exactly, then?” I demanded acidly.

  He looked amused at my reaction. “Wherever I choose it to be. Right now, your place is eating dinner. Dalton, hand over the basket.”

  The last order was directed behind us, and I jumped slightly as a basket was passed by one of the men in the middle bench up between the two front chairs.

  I hadn’t eaten since my late breakfast hours ago. My stomach growled at the smell of the food that wafted from under the cloth cover.

  I took it with a somewhat tentative, “Thank you.” I pulled off the cloth to discover an assortment of fussy little sandwiches and a thermos underneath. Dorian’s chef again, trying to impress me.

  I couldn’t help it. The stress and fear and exhaustion had been all too much—and now this. Fancy-cut gourmet sandwiches. I burst out laughing.

  Dorian raised an eyebrow.

  “A picnic fit for a car chase,” I said, raising a delicate confection in a salute. “Why not?”

  And then I wolfed it down.

  ***

  The clock on the dash read 10:12 when we pulled up to the front of Dorian’s Georgetown house. He threw the SUV into park and circled to my side as one of the men in the back stepped out to take his place in the driver’s seat.

  My hand was on the door handle when he opened it for me, catching my arm and supporting me as I slid to the ground. At his touch, the trickle of awareness in his presence turned into a sudden flood of raw need, no buffer left in my exhaustion. I half-lurched against his chest as he steadied me. I was too tired to stop myself. I almost despaired to realize that nothing that had happened that day had changed it.

  I was frightened at the thought that nothing at all could.

  My shredded, bloodied shirt had finally finished drying against the w
arm captain’s chair, and it stuck to my skin and clumped in my ponytail. My legs were wobbly now that the last of my fear-fueled energy had drained away. But none of that mattered with him.

  It occurred to me to wonder if Dorian’s gallantry was because I was a woman or because I was human. If I were a human man and he was a female vampire—agnate, I corrected—would our roles still be the same? Was it human or vampire society that made him open doors and stand when I entered the room?

  I leaned on Dorian’s arm as he escorted me up the walk to his bone-white mansion, its classical symmetry standing in merciless perfection over the garden, with its walls of holly and rigidly trimmed boxwood borders along the paths and flowerbeds. Everything was carefully controlled, any hint of unruliness mercilessly lopped off, as if there was a danger in the least unconformity.

  We went up the front steps to the portico. Expecting the butler, I was surprised to see an unfamiliar woman open the door. From the power that rolled out from her and her unnatural beauty, with her flawless ebony skin and her slanting almond eyes, she was vampire, not human.

  So, I thought, my brain still muddled with exhaustion. Some vampires are black.

  I didn’t know whether that should be a surprise, since I still didn’t know where the hell vampires came from in the first place. All I knew was that they’d never been human, and humans could never become vampires.

  “They’re assembling in the ballroom,” she said without introduction when we stepped inside. She didn’t even look at me. “It will be another half hour before they’re ready for the proving.”

  She didn’t affect me the same way Dorian did. I wondered if it was because she was female or due to some side effect of my bond.

  Dorian’s mouth pressed very briefly in a hard line before her relaxed into his usual marble impassivity. “Very well. We will be there.”

  The vampire—agnate—raised her eyebrows. “We?”