Page 67 of Blood Ties
“I want to talk about your father, Damien.”
“Not gonna happen,” I declared with a small shake of my head.
The old vampire didn’t seem surprised. “Gabriella,” he spoke to me like we were old friends, “why risk yourself? Your mate?” He gestured to Grayson, “For a man that you barely know? A man who abandoned you?” His words were soft and gentle, which I knew was his tactic.
“It’s Miss Carmichael to you and I’d like to answer your question with a question. Why in the world do you think that I’d believe anything you say? You playing on the daddy issues you think I have, I get, but trusting your word…?”
He grinned, showing a hint of his teeth. “She said you’d be difficult.”
“She?”
“Yes. The woman who pointed me in your direction. You see, I have many grievances with your father, but he is theFirst. No one knows what would happen if he fell. We all might follow him to the grave. So we must do the second best thing and that’s find ways to hurt him. I was all set to turn my attention to his closest friends, but whenshetold me that the Great Damien had a daughter…How could I refuse such an opportunity.”
As he spoke the other two vampires standing behind him began moving towards Grayson and me.
“You see, I first sent a few of my men to detain you, but on the night they were sent to bring you in, they never returned. You wouldn’t know anything about that, now would you?”
I didn’t respond, but I could feel Grayson’s eyes on me. We hadn’t spoken of the attack on me since Sebastian had pushed me into speaking about it.
“We found them just before dawn. They had been marked with an angel blade.”
My eyes closed. I hadn’t known how Sebastian killed them just that he had. As angry as I was with him at the moment, I hoped that using the blade wasn’t enough to trace the kills back to him.
“Jim didn’t get too handsy with you, did he? I told him that I wanted you unharmed. Stupid bastard, never could keep his dick in his pants,” he mumbled the last part.
The old vampire seemed momentarily distracted with his thoughts. I looked to Grayson feeling him tense. His expression was one mixed with fury and resolve. I nodded. As if reading my mind, Grayson blurred towards the oldest vampire knocking him across the room, while I did the same to the ones standing in our way to the exit.
I looked back for a brief glance, just long enough to see that Grayson was behind me before I pushed myself as hard as I could and sped up the stairs. Once Grayson crossed the threshold I shoved the door closed. I had no idea if the spell would launch on its own or even how it worked, but I had no plan to stand around to see if it did.
We looked around to find our next move. We were in a parking garage. It was late at night and the area was practically empty.
“This way,” I shouted as the door slammed opened, but Grayson and I were already blurring away. I could see the street view coming in to focus. I wished that they had taken us to an upper level instead of a lower one, then we could have just jumped over the edge, but now we had to go out the same way the vehicles did.
As we closed the distance, I was slammed into like a football player being tackled. I hit a concrete pillar with a hard thud causing it to crack.
“Gaby!” Grayson shouted turning towards me, but the vampires had already surrounded me. I felt hands on me pulling me to stand. There were two vampires on either side of me.
“Take a step closer and she dies!” The old vampire spat.
Grayson was motionless. I looked down and saw a stake pressed to my chest. “Run Grayson,” I urged. The other two vampires were flanking him.
“Move at all and I swear it’ll be the last thing she ever sees.”
“They’re going to kill me either way, Grayson. To hurt Damien. Go! Please!”
I saw the look on Grayson’s face shift. His eyes locked on mine and mine widened. I knew what was about to happen.
Everything happened so fast. I kicked the vampire holding the stake to my heart then threw my weight back making the two holding me lose their balance and release me. Pulling my stiletto off, I jabbed one of the lackeys in the eye before turning my attention to the other. I knew instantly that he was a fighter. He dodged my advances, but made no move to attack. I was becoming frustrated that I hadn’t landed a punch when I was suddenly shoved hard making my feet come out from under me before I crashed to the ground sliding a few feet across the concrete.
I stood quickly trying to prepare myself for the next attack. When I turned, fear paralyzed me. My eyes widened and my mouth fell open in a silent scream. My mind wasn’t making sense of what I was seeing. It couldn’t be. I saw the old vampire standing behind Grayson. Grayson’s head was down. His eyes were wide, fixed on the wooden stake protruding from his chest.
I tried to scream, but no sound came out, then I charged. I didn’t make it more than a few steps before I felt strong arms wrap around my waist lifting me like I weighed nothing. I struggled against them, trying to break free. Even though I knew what a stake to the chest meant I still needed to get to Grayson. I needed to save him and I would continue to try until I saw for myself that his heart had stopped. But in the blink of an eye, I was gone from the garage and standing in Sebastian’s room.
I was released and I spun to face him. My fist was raised ready to strike when I realized who had grabbed me.
“We have to go back,” I begged Sebastian through my sobs.
“We can’t.” His face was filled with anguish, but his eyes were filled with pity.
