Page 22 of This Blood That Breaks Us (This Blood That Binds Us, #3)

Eighteen

Luke

Will scowled while he moved into his disguise. It was early morning, and the contractors had already come over on the ferry. Thane and Will had them memory wiped and stored in the cargo hold, ready to go back over to the mainland. The outfits helped keep them from sticking out in the stark white they usually wore.

“No one speaks of this,” he hissed.

“Where’s your little brother with the camera when you need him?” Thane joked while adjusting his collar with a wide smile.

I rubbed my chest, but the dull ache didn’t bother me as much because, for the first time in a long time, I hoped this plan could work. I’d gone through all the possibilities. Sirius and Ezra were occupied enough. Zach and I would attend our meeting, and Thane and Will would get to the tunnels. We’d meet up where the tunnels ended across the city. There would be enough distance between us and them. It would work. It had to. We had to try.

“Okay, you have to wait for the window between seven a.m. to eight a.m. Remember?”

“Yes, we fuckin’ remember.”

“The ferry will dock, and you’ll need to get there however you see fit.”

“I got it, alright?” William sighed.

I didn’t think Will was that hopeful for our plan. That, or he was tired of this place. I was too. Tired of walking with Her in the garden every morning. Tired of training and pretending. I longed to be home with my family more than I’d ever wanted anything.

Thane wrapped an arm around Will. “He means, ‘We got it, Boss. Great plan.’”

“This is where we part ways and hope for the best,” I said.

Thane smiled. “See you both on the other side?”

Zach shrugged. “I’m not hugging you. But hopefully, this is the end of this nightmare.”

“Alright. Enough pleasantries. Don’t fuck up the plan,” Will said.

Zach and I brought the attention to the front of the ship while Will and Thane came out of the storehouse and jumped on the back. We said little on the way to the mainland. Ezra called me to tell me where we needed to go to meet the client and that he’d meet up after. He’d been happy with me lately. I’d met his clients. I was nervous each time, but it was easy to appease them. And I was good at, molding myself to be whatever they needed me to be.

“We’re meeting Aine at some library next to the college.”

Aine was lead volunteer coordinator of the blood donor system in Ireland. We hadn’t met her yet, but it was “imperative” we get in her good graces, according to Ezra. We were their largest money donor, so they agreed to supply the castle with a small portion of the blood they brought in. It was a new deal now that the castle was occupied.

“Don’t talk too much, or we’ll be stuck talking to her forever.”

“I don’t talk too much.” A rare smile crept on my face.

Zach lit another cigarette. “I thought Mr. Good Boy didn’t like to tell lies.”

“Shut up.”

Zach joking was a good sign.

Once the boat docked, we passed a few tourists standing in line for the ferry in their rain jackets. It was drizzling, but the worst of the storm had cleared. The city was full of people walking along the sidewalks. The brightly colored buildings stood out against a mostly gray sky, but the clouds dissipated like the sun might make an appearance. I wondered what day it was. How long had it been since we took the ferry for the first time? Was it a weekend or a weekday? I had no way of knowing.

We arrived at an outdoor patio covered by a large awning. I identified Aine right away. She was younger than I’d imagined and couldn’t have been older than twenty-five. Her red hair was brighter than Kimberly’s. She sat alone with a folder and steaming coffee resting on the table. The cold chill brought red to her pale, freckled cheeks.

“’Bout time you boys showed up.”

I would definitely have to take the lead on this one.

“I think we’re right on time.” Zach checked his invisible watch.

“Two minutes late, actually. Please sit.” She motioned to chairs at her table.

“I apologize, Miss. My name is Luke, and this is my brother Zach.”

I held out my hand to shake hers. She squinted at my advance but took my hand with a strong handshake.

“Call me Aine.” She pushed some hair out of her eyes. “You’re taking over for Ezra?”

“Is that surprising?”

I kept smiling. If I’d guessed right, she wanted professionalism but also a friendly face. I could be that for her.

“You both look too young.”

“We could say the same about you.” Zach clicked his tongue.

“We are.” I interrupted. “We’ve got a lot to learn. But we’re willing. Have you worked with Ezra long?”

“Well, I haven’t. To give you the short of it, my father has made a deal with your boss that he insists he cannot get out of. Though it breaks the law, in addition to our own moral code. Which tells me you lot aren’t my kind of people. The sooner we get this deal sorted, the sooner I never have to see your pretty faces again.”

“Sounds good to me,” Zach said.

“You’re not a criminal—”

“How would you know anything about me?” She had an equal amount of venom in her voice as my brother.

“I’m not either. Sometimes we don’t always have a choice in what we’re involved in. But my brother and I are doing the best with what we have.”

Her scowl softened. “Prior obligations. An unfair consequence of family.”

“Family. Exactly.”

She reached into her folder, then lay papers in front of us. “I need you to sign and initial all of these. One of you will be a cosigner. All future communication on shipments will be through me.”

I flicked through the papers. It would take forever.

“We can’t hurry this along?” Zach said.

“Got more important places to be?” She smirked as she leaned back in her seat and took a sip of her coffee. “I can’t imagine how anything could be more important than this arrangement. I’m no fool. I think you need us a little more than we need you.”

“We have time.” I raised a brow at Zach.

We did, but we’d need to hurry. I scanned the documents as quickly as I could without her noticing I wasn’t reading them.

“You’re a fast reader.”

“Have to be. My little brothers loved bedtime stories and had short attention spans.”

The sharp pain hit me in the chest, and it almost made me drop my pen as I initialed the final page. I handed it to Zach so he could sign too.

“Little brothers, huh? Where are they?”

“Somewhere that’s . . . not here.” I smiled, handing her back her papers and pen.

“Hm. I’ve got a little brother too. He’s also anywhere but here. Thank god.”

She gathered her things. “Pleasure doing business with ya both.”

We shook her hand and said our goodbyes.

“That took too long.” Zach groaned.

“I know. We have to hurry.”

We needed to deliver word about the meeting to Ezra and make sure we got an eye on his location before disappearing into the crowd. Zach and I had done stuff like this before in Brooklyn and in New York. Pickpocketing was easy as a vampire. I didn’t mind it too much because all our targets could afford to lose a little money and not think twice.

After a few minutes, Zach motioned to a girl more worried about her dog than her fluffy keychain hung on her bag. We found our mark. Someone with a phone and a tracker on the keychain.

“There.”

I waited to see if she’d unlock her phone. My brother already knew what to do. He bumped into her and distracted her with a cunning smile while I snatched the phone she’d set down and the keychain from her purse. We convened in a small alley between two shops.

“They should be in the tunnels by now,” I said as I scrolled through the girl’s phone and made sure her keychain tracker worked.

A rumble of thunder echoed in the seaport town, and the drizzle switched from a mist into droplets. I brushed the wetness from my eyes and the phone screen.

“It works.”

“Perfect. Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

We started that way with our heads down. My pulse picked up, but I focused on getting home. A place where I could shed all these clothes and crawl into a warm bed. It felt close. Like if I could keep my head on straight a little longer, it would finally be over.

Ezra was waiting at a pub in town. He ended his phone call as we approached.

“How’d it go?”

“Great. Signed the paperwork. Aine was nice,” I said.

“She thought we were pretty.” Zach’s smile seemed genuine.

“Good. Want to meet me at the ferry in about an hour? I have one more thing I need to do. You can both explore.” He handed me a wad of cash. “Buy yourself something. Have fun.”

Ezra patted me on the shoulder, and Zach snuck the tracker into his pocket. This was what he wanted. Two obedient pets. He liked this version of me. Agreeable and upbeat.

He didn’t like the hopeful version of me. When he realized we were gone, he would be mad. A sinking feeling sloshed in my stomach. Ezra would never stop looking for us. Home might not be a singular place but an infinite number of hotel rooms and hideouts. We may never get to be free from them.

Once we were a safe distance away, I asked, “Did you get it?”

“Yep. So far so good.” Zach’s hair was soaked.

“Let’s meet them at the church.”

I remembered the pamphlet well. The bridge tunnel led the way to a church on the other side of the city, and that cathedral was open to the public for viewing during the day. It was a popular tourist attraction. From there, the tunnels led to the next city over.

We worked quicker and darted through the crowd of umbrellas as fast as we could. Their color stood out among the gray and cobblestones. It made it easy to hide. We’d stop between buildings to conceal ourselves if we saw anyone from The Family meandering around.

The cathedral was a warmer stone than the one on the island, and taller. Much taller. As I admired the stained glass on our way in, I thought of Her, and my heart kicked. This feeling of need would never end. I’d always want Her. No matter where I was in the world. As long as we both walked the earth, I’d feel Her waiting for me.

It was too late to worry about it. I wasn’t second-guessing, but it was setting in. Running away was running away from Her. It would free me, but I might never fully be free.

Tourists lined the floors of the cathedral. I didn’t know exactly where I was going as I darted out of view and went for the halls. I worked solely from the knowledge I had from the pamphlet. A few people tried to stop us but compelling them for a few seconds was all we needed to weasel past them. We walked till we found a door and then another. Until we were face-to-face with a dimly lit set of stairs leading underground.

I checked the phone again. “Ezra’s all the way back at McKinnley’s.”

“Good head start.” Zach’s eyes were filled with determination.

There was a light at the end of the tunnel. We’d done it. The plan worked. We descended the steps, and Thane and Will were waiting in a narrow concrete tunnel

“Took you both long enough,” Will said as he puffed on a cigarette.

“You did it! Did anyone see you?” Thane said.

“No. We don’t think so. And we have a tracker on Ezra so we’ll be able to see how close he is.”

Thane beamed. “Genius.”

Zach walked up to Will with his arms crossed. “You smell like dead fish. How’d you like dirtying those pant legs?”

Will flipped him off and offered him a cigarette. All at once, I let in the hope I’d tried so hard to keep in check. We could hide out for as long as it took. Get back to America.

And then . . . we could be together again. Shoveling snow. I’d chop wood for the fireplace. This whole nightmare would be a long-forgotten memory. It wouldn’t be perfect, but I could cope. Even if we never got to quit running, I wanted it. I was sure this time.

After our reunion, we moved quickly through the tunnels. It was mostly dry and smelled of moist stones and asphalt. There wasn’t much to see other than a few rats.

Then I could see it. A glowing light at the end. I could even hear cars overhead. We made it. The hard part was done. It would be only a few days, then it was over. I imagined it. Embracing my family again and enjoying the shake of their laughter and the warmth of their cheeks on mine. The tightness in my chest would finally loosen.

Someone stepped into the light.

Sirius was waiting.

He stood before us with a look I’d never seen before. There was no smile or scowl. He held my gaze with a bored detachment.

How? The sudden feeling of warmth on my face signaled me to the danger long before my brain comprehended.

“I didn’t want to believe it was true. That you boys have traitorous hearts. But time and time again, you show me how wild your spirits are. And wild spirits must be tamed.”

How had he known? Even if he’d figured it out, he’d never be able to get on the ferry and get this far in the tunnels. I swallowed. There was no place to escape he wouldn’t catch one of us.

“How did you know?” I asked.

“Did you think we didn’t keep an eye on them? On you? I know where you are every minute of every day.”

“You did it as a test, leaving their door open at night. Giving us freedom.”

“Loyalty demands to be tested. Ezra believed you’d stay on The Divine Path, but I knew this rebellious streak would be harder to break. Some lessons must be carved into the brain with a knife, but it eventually gets the picture.”

My face felt hot, and my lips tingled. Luke, focus.

“Will, take Thane and go.”

Thane protested, but Will grabbed him by the shirt and moved toward the back of the tunnel, but that way was blocked too. Ezra stood next to Connell. Both wouldn’t make eye contact with me. This was bad. I thought of fighting first. There was no way we could take two members of The Guard.

“Ezra.” I moved toward him, but Zach stopped me. He looked at Sirius. It took me a second to realize he was protecting me, but I didn’t care about me.

“I guess you boys have to learn the hard way.” Sirius darted to Connell’s side and took him by the arm. Ezra did the same.

That’s when I knew we’d made a grave error. This would be a bloodbath. My body knew already because my whole face was numb.

“Connell, did you or did you not give your superior information on how to escape?”

“I . . . It wasn’t my intention, sir.”

“Answer my question.”

“I told him the history of the city.” Connell met my eyeline with soft worry bunching in his brows.

“He’s telling the truth. Don’t hurt him. Hurt me. I’m the one who decided to escape.”

“Oh? Okay, then. You give me your arm.”

I moved forward, and Zach grabbed my shoulder. “You’re not touching him.”

“Punishments must be made. Sometimes, punishment is a gateway to a greater destiny. The faster you comply, the faster we can continue on the path of The Divine.”

I blinked, then Sirius was in front of us. There was a blur as we all attempted to flee while simultaneously trying to protect each other, but there was nowhere to run.

Sirius had Will by the throat. There was yelling. My brother said something I couldn’t hear over the roar that seemed to fill the tunnel.

“Consequences can be painful. Sacrifices must be made.”

My ears were ringing. The lights dimmed. If he’d said anything else, I didn’t hear it. I was already gone. Completely detached. I didn’t feel myself put my hand over my ears and crouch like a coward. I hated being a coward. Being small when I was supposed to be me. Luke—big, strong, and capable. The hero. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t watch someone else I cared about get brutally murdered again. I had to close my eyes, or I wouldn’t make it.

Will’s screams echoed along with Connell’s. There was a shuffle going on, but I couldn’t move.

“Please stop!” I begged, grabbing at my chest where it burned. Stabbing. Aching.

One brief glance sent a livewire of pain through my entire body. Sirius had bit into Will’s neck, and there was blood everywhere . A guttural scream came from Will’s throat again. Sirius peeled the skin from Will’s arm. First with his fingernails, then Ezra handed him a knife.

I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe. I didn’t need to, but it didn’t matter. My body wanted to breathe again. To fill my lungs, get up, and run far away.

“It’s all right. I’m here. I’m here.” Zach’s arms were around me, holding me to his chest. He pulled me in the other direction, and I rested my head on his shoulder. “I got you.”

I was floating. None of it was real.

“I can’t do it. I can’t.”

“It’s okay.” He put his hands over mine to help me cover my ears from the cries of our friends.

I still heard it. Will, Thane, and Connell all screaming and talking over each other.

“It’s my fault. It’s my fault it didn’t work.”

“No. It’s not. It’s mine. It’s almost over. It’s okay.”

I wasn’t used to the sound of fear in my brother’s voice, but he hid it well. He was squeezing me so hard.

Like a knife repeatedly being plunged into my chest and back, Will’s screaming threw cascading waves of pain through me. All of it was excruciating. I’d felt nothing like it. Nothing worse than what Sirius was doing to him. The guilt was too much. The fear. The hurt.

“It hurts. It hurts. It hurts.”

All of it. Everything. I tried to move, but my body was frozen. Shaking. My feet were glued to the floor. I wanted to save them.

“Make it stop, please. You have to make it stop.” When would the screaming end? And when it did, would they all be dead?

“Ezra, please,” Zach begged.

I wasn’t sure of the last time I’d heard him beg. I was happy to hear his voice. It was stronger than mine.

“Sirius. That’s enough.”

The chaos stopped, and all I heard was my ragged breath and the ringing.

“Are you boys going to behave?” Ezra said.

“Yes,” Zach said, more desperately this time.

“Yes, what?” Sirius said.

There was a long pause, and Zach’s grip on my shoulders tightened.

“Yes, sir, we’ll do whatever you want.”

“No more running.”

“We won’t try to leave again. Just stop.” Zach stared at Ezra. I could only look at him. My brother was solid. Safe. All I had and all I needed. I could stand again if he helped me. I could do a lot of things if he helped me.

“We take them to Her.”

“You’re too soft on them,” Sirius said.

“Their bond is stronger than anything we’ve seen or encountered. It’s got to be excruciating for them. Traumatizing them like this isn’t going to help them to ascend.”

“No, but we kill Legion. We’re here to ensure She’s safe. There has to be consequences.”

“We need them.”

“But do we really need both?” Sirius motioned to Thane.

I buried my head into Zach’s shoulder. I couldn’t look. I couldn’t help. I couldn’t save anyone. I felt like a child. Small, weak, and useless. Why couldn’t I move? Why couldn’t I do anything?

Zach was shaking too, but him stroking the back of my head was my only tether.

“We’ll be okay. I promise. It’s almost over,” he repeated to me over and over. It’s almost over. It’s almost over.

“That’s for Her to decide,” Sirius said.

A foreign feeling fluttered in my chest. Relief. I was going back to Her, but why did that of all things bring me relief?

“So be it.”