Page 131 of This Blood that Bonds Us

Fifty-Nine

Presley

Of course it was a creepy church. Where else would the blood cult ask me to go? I guessed I was lucky it wasn’t an underground cave or the sewer or something. They were lucky I’d gotten good at reading a paper map.

I checked none of my surroundings as I walked through the snow into the church. Nothing mattered when it felt like my heart was bleeding. Putting one foot in front of the other, I opened the double doors. Everything was well lit. Modern. Like those kinds you see in the wedding magazines with the perfect hanging fixtures and the soft see-through curtains.

Only, no one was there. The whole place was empty with no echoing heartbeats or even rats in the ceilings. The company would have been nice. I walked slowly down the aisle, passing lit candles on the edges of the pews. As I reached the front, the stage light illuminated a large altar bowl full of black liquid. Definitely blood. A gold plate sat on the edge of the rim, and on it, was a word that had been etched haphazardly.“Drink”

I sighed.Dramatic much?

Everyone said I was dramatic, but those cult vamps had it down. They could’ve done all of that from the beginning rather than give me the run around. Then, I guess I wouldn’t understandloyalty.I realized I might have turned out exactly like Akira intended. Like he knew the person I was before I did.

The black blood mocked me. It was a bad idea. Like flashing red signs that saidStop Now or Turn Eviltype bad, and I was about to collect 200 dollars and pass go. I couldn’t leave the church. My feet were glued to that tile floor, and my only option was to drink or turn back.

Was it that infamous fate everyone was always going on about?

What would it be like to be king for a day? To be on the side that was constantly three steps ahead of us . . .

That was a bad thought. I didn’t need Luke to tell me that. He wouldn’t want me to think that way, but he wasn’t here.

There was a silver goblet next to the bowl, and I grabbed it. More theatrics. Wouldn’t a SOLO cup have been more practical?Probably didn’t fit the aesthetic. Okay, maybe I was stalling a little bit. It was a bad idea. Areallybad idea.

Drinking the blood meant possibly giving up a part of myself I couldn’t get back, but it was the cost to get back to them, and I was oddly okay with it.

I couldn’t wait another day. Another minute. Another second. I wanted to be with them because maybe it would change something. Maybe I could do something this time.

And maybe submitting to this thing calling to me was worth it. Whether it was Her or fate, at least we’d be together. It probably looked like I was giving up, but it didn’t feel like giving up. It was my choice. I wanted to go see my brothers, so I was going to.

There wasn’t a way to know for sure if it was the worst idea I’d ever had.

Ah. Fuck it.

I filled the goblet to the brim, threw it back, and the blood chilled me to my core.

Oh, shit.

Sixty

Aaron

It was almost time to get up and say my goodbyes to Mom before heading out. I was looking forward to that as much as I was looking forward to parting ways with the girl lying on me. I just needed more time.

Presley leaving only proved that my time in Alaska was over, and in only a few hours, I’d be on a plane to hopefully meet him where he was headed.

I played with Kimberly’s hair while she lay on my chest. Her heartbeat drummed steadily, and I focused on that soft sound. My mind drifted to the night we met under a blanket of stars and a canopy of trees. There was a fire then too. Our crackling fire downstairs was slowly dying as the night dragged into the early morning.

“Why do I feel like this is goodbye?” Kimberly stirred. She’d been silent for some time.

“It’s not. I promised to never leave, remember?”

“Then promise . . . promise this isn’t goodbye. That this isn’t the final everything.”

I wanted more than anything to promise that. To promise I had all the answers and that our plan would work out exactly like we wanted it to. That everything would be over soon, and we’d come home with my brothers.

But one of the many things Luke had taught me was not to make promises I wasn’t sure I could keep.

“I can’t.” I pulled her chin up to see her face. “But this will work. I believe it. You’re going to blink, and then we’ll all be on our way back home together. Then we’ll really celebrate properly. Together.”