Page 53 of Blood Ties (City of Blood #1)

Bash

“It’s her! We found her!” I exclaim as I burst through the office door. Disregarding the assembled council, I go directly to Marcus. “She’s here, in the Quarter.”

Jack is hot on my heels, his hand still stained with Elina’s blood. He holds it out to Marcus who inhales deeply and his eyes shoot to mine.

“Where? How did you get this?” His urgent questions fill me with the hope that we can get her back.

“Is she alive?” my mother adds.

“St Phillip and Royal—I caught her scent and followed it into the sewer,” Jack explains, his voice tight.

“Her blood was dripping from a drain pipe.” My mother hisses at this news.

She may not have been Elina’s biggest supporter but she has seen the effect this has had on me and my family.

She is as ready for war as the rest of us.

“I don’t know where the blood came from, but she was alive when it spilled from her,” I add in. “She is around there somewhere, in a house most likely. We need to search them.”

“If they won’t let us in and have human protection, we can’t search them.” Marcus looks at me as he answers, a look of pity on his face.

“Then we will burn them down, I don’t fucking care. We will find her and I will kill them all!” I growl in reply.

“Sebastien, stop. We will find her but it’s late to do any–”

“No! Marcus, she's bleeding. Do you understand? Her blood was dripping from a drain pipe!”

“Yes, I heard you. But it's almost morning, so we can't do anything tonight. We can’t send humans to investigate, it’s too dangerous to send humans into a potential hive of vampires. Tomorrow, we will take a force and go door-to-door. If she is behind one of those doors, we will know by sunrise.” Marcus uses his Re voice, a tone I am not capable of arguing against.

“I will be here at moon-rise tomorrow and we will go. Select your army and I’ll bring mine.” I look at my mother, give her a nod, and sweep out of the room.

Sarah and Ethan are waiting for me outside the door, disappointed understanding on their faces.

I immediately request my allies meet at my loft, before the sun rises, so I can explain the plan.

Within 10 minutes, there are close to twenty vampires milling around my living room, listening to me recount, again, what happened.

“Be here tomorrow at moon-rise exactly. Don’t be late.

We will meet Marcus’s force and find Elina.

Bring whoever you can, whatever you need.

I don’t know what we are walking into, but this is your future queen and the future of our kingdom.

” I look at each person in turn—they wear varying degrees of excitement, pity, sadness, anger, and hope.

Assembled in the chapel, ten minutes after moonrise, I am flanked first by my family, Sarah on my left, Jack on my right.

Ethan stands beside Sarah, my mother beside Jack.

Gia, Lessa, Aura, and Minnie in a line behind them.

Our friends and allies creating a phalanx at my back.

We are a blockade of might, even without Marcus’s men.

Marcus enters from the council rooms, leading his party in a precise triangular formation. He takes the point, with Darius and Victor directly behind him. Lucian and the remaining council members follow, flanked by a dozen more vampires.

“Are you ready, Nipote?” This is my uncle today, not the man in charge of all of us.

“Yes, I will do everything I can to bring everyone back, including Elina.” I reach for him, pulling him into a grateful embrace.

“That’s great to hear, but I intend to lead the search.

We will bring my future niece home.” My mouth drops open at his words.

Marcus hasn’t marched into battle in centuries.

When we flooded into the city and took it from the French, Marcus didn’t march.

When we conquered territory in Greece, Marcus didn’t march.

When we fought the Russians? He. Didn’t. March.

My knees weaken under the weight of his gesture. I nearly fall at his feet—not from exhaustion or grief this time, but gratitude.

“Thank you, Marcus. This means everything,” My mother tells him, clearly seeing my distress and inability to respond.

“Yes, thank you, Re Marcus,” Sarah tells him, dropping to her knees and bowing in front of him. I believe it’s the first words she has ever spoken to him unprompted. Her voice is broken with emotion and I know what it means to her, knowing that we all want to save Elina.

Pulling her to her feet by her upper arms, Marcus looks her in the eyes.

“Sarah, we will save her.” Looking over at the rest of us, he adds, “Has everyone fed tonight? We’ve got blood prepared, if not.

” We all nod together but go to the tap anyway, we all want to be our strongest for what lies ahead.

I can only hope it’s enough. I feel as though I could tear the world apart with my bare hands. Tonight, I will hold Elina in my arms.

Walking out through the tall doors at the front of the cattedrale, we walk in formation.

Marcus and I at the head, with Jack, Victor, Darius, and Lucian directly behind us.

Mother, Sarah, Ethan, and my cousins are next, followed by a long march of vampire soldiers and allies.

We march through the French Quarter, and all of the people in the windows and on the street watch our progression.

They whisper behind their hands, some add their ranks to the back of our line. Our numbers increase as we move through the streets. Humans lock up doors tight to hotels, bars, and homes.

As we approach the cross road where I know Elina is, Marcus nods his head and his vampires spread out, a soldier in front of every door up and down the two intersecting streets, and knock simultaneously.

Door after door swings open to reveal humans and vampires, or both. The men at the doors ask various questions. Some step inside to search or smell. Our core group of family members stands in the street, near the hole where we found the blood, waiting.

Jack approaches the door of the old Hotel Royal and knocks. A woman of short stature, a human, opens the doors.

“Can I help you?”

Jack takes a sharp inhale as soon as the door opens and growls, low in his throat, capturing my attention. We all turn in his direction.

“She’s here. This is it,” he says, low and deadly. The woman’s eyes widen and the door smashes closed. I can hear the tumblers and locks engaging. A sudden rattling draws my eyes upward. One by one, metal shutters slam down over the windows. A fortress sealing itself shut. A trap—or a challenge.

Everyone falls silent, the air thick with tension and anticipation.

“Get ready everyone,” I growl. “They can’t keep us all out.” And we proceed to surround the building.

The assembled vampires jump onto the higher levels of the building, a person at every point of entry.

Windows have vampires clinging to them. Marcus is working to destroy the metal shutter covering the front door.

I approach him and slam my fists into the metal.

I feel the flesh on my knuckles give way, splattering blood across my shirt.

They heal quickly, only to re-split with every punch I lay against the metal.

The sound of tearing metal and banging fills the street.

Vampires from the surrounding homes empty into the street, the humans barring their doors to avoid being caught in the melee.

All of the windows are reflective, showing me, like a mirror, what is happening on the street.

I can’t see into the building at all, I only know of the shutters covering the windows because I heard them close.

And I can hear people running back and forth from behind the barricaded walls.

Marcus and my combined efforts finally result in a puncture straight through the metal of the door, and through the wooden door behind it. Tearing through the opening like men possessed, we finally breach the entryway. Walking at a fast pace, we each begin entering any rooms we come across.

In a billiards room to the left, I find two men waiting.

They attack me simultaneously as soon as I clear the threshold.

Throwing a blood covered fist in the first man’s direction, I hear his jaw break under my hand.

As he stumbles back, I grab the second man.

Holding his face between my hands, I twist his head until I separate it from his body, letting him fall in a heap at my feet.

I put a hand out to stop the other man from advancing, punching through his chest cavity and pulling out his heart—the flash of light temporarily blinding me.

I drop the heart with a thump and exit the room.

This pattern repeats until I have lost count of the amount of vampires that fall by my hand.

They are strong and ruthless, but they are not prepared for the lethal brutality of my anger.

My Elina is in this house somewhere and I will find her.

If the people here want to get in my way, then let death be their lesson.