Page 14 of Blood Bond

Killian peers at him over his shoulder. “We have company.”

ChapterNine

Seth bursts through the glass, and in an instant, he's standing shoulder to shoulder with Killian. Killian, undeniably a formidable male, pales slightly in comparison to Seth's towering frame. Seth stands at least two inches taller, and while both are impressively built, Seth seems decisively more imposing and stronger. Perhaps this is an integral aspect of his identity, an essential element of the vampire mythos.

Both men's gazes fix on a horrifying scene unfolding before them. Seth's grip on the railing tightens, his knuckles whitening with the strain.

“What's happening?” Nanave has to crane her neck to peer around both men, who dominate the space. She freezes as she catches sight of the chaos, the silence in the room becoming charged. “Oh hell no. What the heck is that?”

“Did Donovan do it again?” Killian asks, likely referring to Donovan's issue of letting them in to decimate the army of Seth’s Death Bringers.

I spot a small curtain off to the side, near a small table. Rushing over, I yank it back, revealing a window that offers a view of the outside world—or more precisely, the area within the confines of the Skin Trade. Seth has created a bewildering illusion: a towering structure with rooms and balconies, all beneath an exterior façade, yet it is meticulously controlled. A canopy shields everyone from the sun’s scorching rays during the day and retains warmth during the bone-chilling nights.

Emergency exit lights illuminate the area below, designed for the humans' needs. Vampires, of course, have no use for such artificial light; they thrive in darkness.

From my limited vantage point, I can see the foyer. It's not the darkness that stirs emotion, but the ravenous army below. These vampires, deprived of proper blood for so long, have lost almost all semblance of sanity. They've pried the door open, shattering one side of the glass. Their wretched forms are grotesquely disfigured, some missing patches of skin, with only remnants of clothing clinging to them. Their hair, if they have any, is matted and filthy.

They snarl and scramble over one another, their combined force pressing against the door’s sheer pane of glass. It shivers and shatters into a cascade of shards, but they seem oblivious to the danger. If anything, it spurs their frenzy, driving them onward, faster, as the opening widens.

Survival drives them, a desperate need to feed, yet it's a futile endeavour. Now they seem beyond reason, propelled solely by primal instincts. My knowledge about them is limited, gleaned only from what I’ve heard from others.

As they swarm, their sights lock onto the lifeless bodies scattered across the floor. One after another, they join in the gruesome feast, converging like a pack of deranged vultures. Their inhuman snarls and screeches fill the air, a cacophony of sounds that’s nothing short of nightmarish. It’s an unending wail that pierces through my senses. I want to cover my ears, to block it out, but I know it would be a futile gesture. It’s the kind of sound that echoes in your mind, growing louder with each horrific moment.

Eventually, they focus on a single body, forming a monstrous circle, tearing at its flesh with the ferocity of wild animals. They are no longer sentient beings but ravenous beasts.

“The thirsty,” I utter in a trembling whisper.

Seth leans over, observing the thirsty below, who remain oblivious to our presence. “The systems outside must be shut off,” he muses, likely referring to the cannons outside, the same ones activated in the bunker. I remember them vividly from my first night here when Seth brought me after purchasing me. Like out back the cannons rose from the ground, emitting a bright red mist, deceiving the thirsty into thinking they were covered in blood, likely laced with some toxin. There were guards stationed outside, poised to fire at any of the creatures that drew near. “They might not be the most intelligent creatures, but it won't take them long to figure out how to reach the higher floors,” Seth notes.

“They are occupied for now,” Killian says.

“Aye, but not for long.” Seth turns and approaches me. It's not that he’s coming specifically to me, but rather into the room. I catch the moment he steadies himself against the door frame. If it were possible for a vampire to lose colour from their face, Seth does just that. I'm about to ask if he's alright, but he seems to anticipate my concern. He looks directly at me and subtly shakes his head, a gesture so slight I almost miss it. But I understand and remain silent, asking nothing.

He inhales deeply,his chest expanding as he attempts to regain his composure. If Killian and Naneve notice his momentary falter, they make no comment.

Once he's back in control, Seth strides over to the glass box and the control panel, inputting a sequence. A hissing mechanism activates, and a red light blinks in the corner, indicating action. He nods toward Layla. “You should be safe in there as long as they don't breach the glass. But it won’t be easy for them. I need to head to the base level, to the office. The control panel for the cylinders is there. We need to get them firing before the horde figures out how to get up here.” He meets Killian's gaze squarely. “King or not, I fear their sheer number might even be too much for me.”

Killian closes the balcony window, muffling the disturbing sounds from below. “It’s on the ground floor?” he asks.

“Aye, where else would it be?” Seth’s response isn’t directed at Killian with sarcasm but rather at the situation itself. “We can reach it if we make it to my room. We’ll take the private lift. Though I suspect the power will be out, and we’ll have to use the stairs. The problem is, however, the stairs and lift lead directly into the middle of that mess,” he says, gesturing towards the balcony.

I can still see them through the small window. A swarm of bodies scavenging for every morsel they can find. How long before they clear it all and come searching for more? “Is there some kind of poison in the red mist?”

“Vampire blood,” Killian reveals.

“But will it kill them?”

Seth nods. “Aye; the thirsty cannot survive on that which is undead. They require life or recently living blood.”

Naneve frowns. “How do we get through them? If the control panel is in the lower room, how do we reach it? They'll swarm us the moment we step out of the stairwell. And like you said, there are too many of them.”

“We need a distraction,”I say, my voice a mere whisper, uncertain but determined. It's the only strategy I can think of to divert them away. If they step out now, the swarm below will engulf them, and as Seth has admitted, their numbers are overwhelming.

I half expect Naneve to dismiss my suggestion with a scoff, but she doesn't. "What kind of distraction? You mean yourself?"

Killian turns to me, realisation dawning. "They're drawn to her. Even the one that got in here went after her." He understands what I'm implying.

“I will not put you in their path,” Seth growls, his protectiveness evident. “They will kill you, and it will all be for nothing.”

---