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

One

Zach

“Ezra, what the fuck are we doing here?” I squinted as we exited the plane.

He hadn’t told us where we were going or why, but the smell of horse shit filtered through the air and a crowd could be heard in the distance while the drizzle of rain wet my clothes. Luke and I spent the majority of the plane ride sitting in silence, which was oddly comforting. What do you talk about when the world is fucked? When the little bit of hope you had left was run over and shot a few times to ensure it wouldn’t attempt to get up again.

We needed that time to process its decaying carcass and get used to the smell.

The only solace we had was that everyone else we cared about was safe. Life was as it should be. This was the original plan before we got a little too hopeful about what was possible for us. Blackheart changed everything. Once we were there, it was hard to want to leave.

We followed Ezra through a field that was the deepest green I’d ever seen. Brooklyn was all concrete, and Blackheart was mostly trees and warm dirt. Nothing here was warm. Even with my blazer the cold air permeated the shell of my clothing. The ground was wet, and the mud stuck to my shoes.

“Welcome to Ireland, boys.” Ezra straightened his jacket.

“All hope abandon ye who enter here.”

I’m sure it was nice for people who grew up here—or some pretentious college students on a backpacking trip—but for me, it was one thing: hell.

I expected to see a dungeon or motes. Instead, all I saw was a wash of gray in the sky with thick clouds that matched the shit mood I was in. I nudged Luke and he smiled. It wasn’t genuine, but it was just for me, so I’d take it.

“I repeat, what are we doing here?”

The roar of the crowd and the neighing of horses greeted us as we neared. We looked ridiculous as a mob of men dressed to the nines in all black trudging through the mud.

I waited for Luke to speak. He usually talked his way through these types of situations, but he said nothing and stared off into space, not sharing what he was thinking.

I was used to the dull ache of Luke’s pain sitting on my chest. As if I’d broken a rib that never fully healed. After I drank the queen’s blood, I felt it. Sometimes, it was faint, and other times, it was so agonizing it put me on my ass. Usually, I’d drink.

This new feeling wasn’t that. It was more of a drawing toward something. A tug in my chest. A slight tingling in my fingers and buzzing that reverberated in my body. We were close to Her again. It was something undetectable when you’re used to being close to Her, but now that we’d had the distance, the longing was overwhelming.

Still, we weren’t there yet. We were at a horse track.

“This is a minor stop before we head home. Close to the harbor. I’ll want you to get there the proper way the first time,” Ezra said.

“What about Will and Thane?” Luke’s voice sounded rough and far away.

“They’re alive till we get there. Don’t worry.”

Luke and I shared a look. We didn’t like that answer. I had used some of my silence on the plane to try to think of something to save them, and I’d come up with absolutely nothing, but I wasn’t the plan maker. Just the one who carried out the plans.

Luke didn’t argue, which I hoped meant he had an idea.

When we reached the edge of the grass, a young man kneeled in front of me and started cleaning my shoes. I tried to kick him off, but he kept going.

Ezra circled to stop in front of us. “This is your first bit of training. We have a client to meet. Introductions are important, so I’m hoping you’ll both make a good impression.”

His freaky blue eyes bore into mine on the last words.

“A client for?” I pushed my hands through my hair. Fuck them for cutting it short. It was too cold for that shit.

“We’ve got clients we attend to all around the world. Due to your stunt with the Legion, we had to move Her, and in doing so, we had to delegate our business in America. Now we’re rekindling our business here. We have business partners that have held down things for us while we were away.”

“Care to elaborate on what that means?”

“We facilitate things. We make things possible for others as a middleman. Which keeps us with enough money to do what we need to do and gives us enough influence to keep Her safe.”

“Ezra, you do realize you’re looking at two people who know nothing about that, right? For fuck’s sake, a month ago I was taking Jell-O shots off a girl’s stomach.”

The Jell-O made me gag, but it was worth it because she was hot.

I remembered when that little lightbulb in Luke’s head went off and he decided being in a fraternity was a good idea.

We were walking to the dean’s office at Black Forest, and there they were. One of the bigger fraternities on campus preying on freshman and coaxing them to join. Luke had gotten this twinkling in his eye when he saw them.

I knew what he was thinking. Like, actually. I could guess what he was thinking nine times out of ten. We’d even tested that theory when we were kids.

Luke studied them with their chants and their brotherhood and wanted Aaron and Presley to have that. He was probably thinking it would help mend the giant hole when we left them on their own. Or that giving them experiences they’d remember forever would put them on the right foot and they’d have better things to remember us by.

Luke only admitted it would be “ Safer to be in the same house .”

I’d convinced him we didn’t need to join the biggest fraternity, and we settled on OBA.

Now, I saw it for what it was. A desperate attempt to hold on. To stay. To live. I didn’t think either of us expected that dream to get its hooks in us so deep. Our time in Blackheart was the closest thing Luke and I would ever get to peace. Pretending we were normal and going to college with our brothers, felt too right. And for a minute I believed it. As usual, the joke was on me.

Ezra’s voice snapped me back to the present. “That’s why you need training.”

“And if we don’t?”

“I’ll kill your friends.” Ezra sighed like he didn’t want to say it.

“How long are we going to do that song and dance?” I sighed.

“Till it sits itself in your brain. You’re here. You’re meant to be here.”

“We’ll comply.” Luke nodded, and I fought the shiver of anger that ran down my spine.

Just a small thing. Nothing you can’t handle. Repeating Mom’s words as my mantra, I reminded myself not to be an asshole all the time. It took actual effort. Especially toward people like Ezra who deserved it. I hated him for more reasons than I remembered, but mostly, I hated him because he had been inserting himself into my life since we were kids. He’d ruined everything, and a part of me—something tiny, insignificant, and weak that needed to be pulverized into dust—had missed the bastard.

Once we were cleaned and our blazers were adjusted, we walked on. A huge horse track carved out of warm wood and gray stone stood out in the field of green. There were three tiers of stands of people watching while below smelled like a bar.

“His name is Liam Brennan, and he owns this horse track. It’s one of his many businesses he launders money through. He’s easy to get along with. It will be good practice.”

“And we help him by doing what?”

“By being at his beck and call. It’s mostly diplomatic. If things are serious enough, we’re there with support, like muscle. Whatever is needed.”

I bit my tongue to stop myself from making a smart-ass comment.

We followed him into the lobby. The red carpeted floor was lush and new despite the crowd of people standing on it, and a chandelier hung overhead with tiny Edison bulbs. This place wasn’t a family establishment. No place for snotting babies or little kids running to the snack machine. Everyone was dressed in a three-piece suit and scowled like a riot might break out if someone sneezed or a hair fell out of place. All eyes were on us as we entered.

Ezra parted the crowd, and we walked across the lobby and out the double doors. The noon sun peeked through the clouds, and I fought the urge to complain about the smell again.

We followed Ezra past rows of men and women, all expensive looking, and climbed the stairs to a lounge. It was full of more warm woods and deep-green velvet chairs, and covered by a canopy that hid our meeting place in shadow.

In the corner of a booth sat a man with a mustache and long brown hair that grazed his shoulders. Those around him stood in our presence, but he didn’t. The man sipped his drink before straightening his jacket, then gestured with his hand for us to sit.

“The prodigal sons return.” His Irish accent was thick.

I waited for Ezra’s lead because the guy looked like a dick, and I tended not to get along with men who acted like dicks.

Ezra sat in a wide-legged stance and pulled a cigarette from his vest. Luke and I took an open chair on either side of him.

“Nice to meet you all. I’ve heard loads about ya.”

“Pleasure.” Luke held out his hand to shake, but I kept mine in my lap and nodded.

I could already feel Ezra’s eyes on me.

“Now, tell me how it feels to be back in the home country.”

“Cold.” Luke smiled.

“Smells like horseshit,” I added.

Ezra blew smoke into the air. “They’ve never visited.”

“I can see that.” Liam snickered. “Tell me, boys. Ever place any bets on a horse before?”

“No. We aren’t big gamblers,” Luke said.

I was happy Luke bent the truth a little. He didn’t lie about things that mattered, like keeping promises, but when it came to safety and strangers we couldn’t trust, he tested the waters.

“Take a look out. Tell me. Which one would you choose?”

We eyed the row of horses waiting around the barn next to the stalls. All were wearing different-colored numbers on their backs.

“Twenty-four.” Luke motioned to a gray one.

“Ah, the underdog. And you?”

It was my turn to pick. I eyed the lineup, looking for the one I thought would be the strongest. A restless black horse bucked at another horse’s legs, and I assumed it was as good of a pick as any.

“Thirteen.”

“Interesting choices. Now, how far would you go to ensure your horse wins?” He plopped down a stack of hundreds on the table. “I want you to go place your bets and double this.”

“Is this a test?” I spat.

Ezra grumbled to himself.

“Let’s all relax. I see two boys sitting in front of me. You are young. I need to know I can trust you.”

There was something about the way he looked at me. His eyes scanned me too quickly, taking in too many things at once, so I focused on his chest. He tried to hide the uneven breaths, but I’d trained myself in Blackheart to check every single person who walked past me, especially after we were caught by The Legion.

He was a vampire.

“He’s one of us?” I plucked a toothpick from the table and plopped it in my mouth.

“Barely. A rat by blood in comparison to what’s pumping in your veins right now. Turned out of courtesy to the cause more than one hundred and fifty years ago by an underling. Like that one standing next to you that shined your shoes.”

Liam licked his teeth and eyed my wrist. It held a faint scar where my tattoo used to be. I’d worked long and hard to repress the memory of the Legion peeling it off my skin in the old church.

“Now, boys, please humor me. Ten minutes.”

There was something there. Envy.

I didn’t like being ordered around, but I followed Luke’s lead.

This was our first official mission, and we needed to make it good, or I’d have to watch my friends be tortured. Fun.

“How are we going to do this?” I asked Luke once we got out of hearing distance, and looked out onto the track.

A large oval track with nothing in the center except a large pond stood out among the green of the field.

“Give me a second to think.”

“If I need to break some jockey’s knees, I will, but I draw the line at hurting horses,” I said. Men were all assholes deep down, but animals were a different story.

“No one’s breaking any kneecaps.”

“What if we need to? That’s the exact type of shit I signed up for. I’ll make sure he stays quiet so you don’t have to feel bad.”

I’d beaten the shit out of people before. I could do it again. Though I felt a little guilt at the thought. That was the problem with spending all that time with my brothers. I’d grown a conscience and didn’t like it. They made me soft, so I was out of practice.

Luke frowned. He wasn’t in a joking mood. I wasn’t either, but humor was the only thing preventing me from falling off the deep end.

Be helpful , I thought, wanting to get that worried look off my brother’s face.

“What if we found the horse to beat and then drugged the jockey? I watched this show once where they drugged horses before a race. This is like that but no guilt.”

“You are on to something . . . not with the drugging, but we do need to find the horse to beat here. We could cut the bridle or loosen the saddle so that tack breaks during the race. Then I could—”

“Luke, I don’t know what the hell you’re saying. Just give me a job to do, and I’ll do it.”

To my surprise, he smiled. “Find the horse to beat. I’ll wait, and then go make our bets.”

I couldn’t suppress the laugh. “Some chaos might be what this place needs.”

He held out his hand to me, and I placed mine on top. Our handshake was completed with one of my hands smothered by his and the other on top. I turned on my heels and walked the stands, looking for my mark—the meanest-looking fucker I could find.

An older man with gray hair and his sleeves rolled up stood out. I grabbed a drink from his hand and downed it. Straight bourbon. Next to him, an even larger man towered over me with hulking arms and red hair.

“Who are we betting on?” I couldn’t wait for the buzz to hit me.

They said nothing and stared at me with gnashing teeth and blank scowls.

“You need to get back up to your suite, Mr. Calem,” the older man said.

Of course they knew my name.

“Why? Afraid to have a little discussion?”

“We don’t want trouble,” the big one said.

“You look like you want it.”

He practically growled, and his buddies avoided looking at me. They were all elegantly dressed in various colors of velvet.

“Come on. Think you can take me?”

I chewed on the ice before dropping the glass to the floor and finally grabbing the big one’s drink and downing it in front of him.

How hard was it going to be to get this fucker to hit me? He had to be the one to hit me first, or Ezra would be up my ass for fighting.

“Damn. This tastes expensive.” I was bluffing. All of it tasted the same to me.

He gritted his teeth. I was getting somewhere. My tactic was simple. Get someone to fight me—easy, then beat the shit out of them to tell me the horse to beat. Not subtle, but I didn’t have time to be.

“Maybe you should listen to the warning.”

“Should I? I think I’ll stay here. Who are we betting on?”

He grabbed the collar of my shirt. Yep, that did it.

As I awaited the raising of his fist, another spoke.

“Word is that twenty is the one to beat.” A boy no older than eighteen with dirty-blond hair and bright, golden eyes stared at me. “He’s the large white one.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried to refocus. Moving my thumb, I pinched the soft connective tissue on the man’s hand, and he dropped me with a grunt.

“Thanks kid.” I turned to the others. “Was that so hard?”

I turned on my heels to find Luke. He gave me a thumbs-up, signaling he heard me, then disappeared into the crowd.

The drinks hit me at once, and I cared less and less about the sheer number of people staring at me. Even sober, I didn’t care, but I was in another country about to meet the vampire queen I loathed, and everyone in our new environment looked like they were ready to snatch my soul from my body. They wanted to be me. It was comical, really.

The fact they’d probably get down on their knees and beg to be in my position. I had wondered if there was a way I could hide Luke and run, but I was over that pipe dream. They had Will and Thane, which meant we weren’t going anywhere.

I ascended the steps toward our booth and stopped to watch them line the horses in the stalls. Nothing looked out of order, but I wasn’t worried.

A man dressed in all black came to stand beside me. One of ours.

“Need something?” I asked.

“No, sir. I’m here for your aide.”

“Oh, so if I ask you to go get me another drink, you will?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. Go do that. Surprise me.”

I smiled as he sauntered off toward the bar. Hell wouldn’t be all that terrible.

A bell rang out, then the horses were off. Only, all but four had been let out a second or two late. Number twenty led the pack before slowing to a halt when his jockey fell off his back and into the dirt.

My lackey was already back with my drink, and I sipped it as the horses took the curve.

The whole place grew silent. There was big money on the line here. I scanned the crowd for the richest-looking one. I could break their arms outside until they gave me the amount I needed, but instead, I watched the race with confident assurance in Luke.

I didn’t know how he did it, but Luke always got his jobs done.

Of the three left in the lead, two led: thirteen and one. My heartbeat drummed faster watching them. Thirteen took the lead at first but slowed as they neared the finish line.

Then without warning, twenty-four barreled through them and passed the finish line.

How the fuck?

I left the stand in search of Luke and waded through the thick cigarette smoke. He was waiting for me at the end of the steps with his hands in his pockets, looking pleased with himself.

“How the fuck did you do that?”

“While you served our distraction, I got everything in order for number twenty, but then I found the showrunner here. His name is Jerry. He’s got two grandkids he adores. I talked with him while I had someone set up the stalls with the delay. No one noticed anything.”

“You’re shitting me.”

“Nope.”

“You amaze me, brother. But how did your horse beat mine?”

“That was luck. I couldn’t rig just our horses to run, so I had to take a chance.”

Luke’s personable skills were scary. He was magnetic to luck and success. That bothered most people. Some asked me growing up if I ever hated being in Luke’s shadow. Those people didn’t understand it and probably never would. Luke wasn’t my competition. He may have had skills I didn’t, but he liked to share. He shared all that he had. His happiness and luck belonged to everyone around him. Standing in his shadow was the closest I’d been to happiness.

We collected our money and strolled shoulder to shoulder back to Ezra and the others.

“Well, boys, how’s the pot?”

Luke laid down a pile of money that made Liam smile. Ezra did too.

“Guess I better stop calling you boy.” He stood up, ushering us closer. “What do you think? Like it here?”

“I think you should be careful how you speak to me.” Sometimes, I couldn’t stop the words from coming from my mouth.

“Is that so?” His eyes locked with mine, then he leaned back in a roaring laugh. “I like you.”

He pulled us into an awkward half-hug. Luke and I furrowed our brows at each other.

“We’re all going to get along just fine. We’re practically family now.”

What the actual fuck?