Page 66 of Blood Vows
And maybe… that was my punishment.
To love her completely, knowing she would never be wholly mine.
It began as a whisper in the air, a vibration beneath the surface of the night that only those bound by blood could feel. At first, I thought it was the storm returning, the low hum of thunder crawling across the heavens, but this was no sound of nature. This was older. Sharper. A resonance that hummed through my veins like the echo of a scream.
And I knew instantly what it meant.
My brothers were ready to meet me.
The night wrapped the manor in its mist, swollen with the weight of the storm waiting to break again. I stood at the threshold, the cold air biting against my skin as I stared beyond the ancient iron gates. The wards shimmered faintly in the darkness, a veil of power that separated this sanctuary from the world beyond. They pulsed like a heartbeat, alive, sentient, bound to me.
Within the barrier, my shadows were useless for travel. The magic here was too old, too pure, tied to blood that predated even my own. Magic that had come at a high price and had been money well spent, seeing as it kept my home protected.
So, I walked down the stone steps, the wet gravel glistening under the glimpse of the moonlight breaking through the dark clouds above. I had already retrieved a t-shirt and jacket, along with one of my half masks, despite no longer needing it.
No longer needing it because of her.
I lifted a hand and power slid through my veins like molten iron, the spell I’d cast days ago, once more carrying across the distance, seeking the two who shared my blood. The messagewas simple, a place burned into the air itself, a meeting point older than the feud between us.
It was how they would know where to find me.
Just like when I knew that they had arrived. A meeting I had almost forgotten about entirely, thanks to my infatuation with my little Rabbit, who I was loathed to leave.
But my blood call carried its own warning. It thrummed back into me, faint at first, like a whisper against the skin. Then stronger, vibrating through my ribs until it reached my skull and split the night in two. The connection between us awoke, the old tether screaming through the decades of silence that had separated us.
Victor.
Talon.
My blood brothers.
They were answering the summons.
The spell had worked. And it was time.
The darkness obeyed when I called it, folding around me, swallowing the cold and the light until the world vanished in a single, soundless pulse. When I stepped through the veil, the city’s scent hit me like a pulse…New York.
But not the one of lights and life. This part of its heart was abandoned, forgotten, where the air was thick with rot and rain, and the streets bled silver beneath the fractured glow of dying streetlamps.
The cemetery loomed ahead, the oldest in the city, its iron gates twisted with ivy. Beyond them lay our legacy carved in stone, the family mausoleum that had once been a monument to our name. Now it was nothing but a tomb for the damned.
This was where I had chosen to face them.
Neutral ground. Sacred once,cursed now.
A place suited for ghosts.
The weight of centuries pressed down as I crossed the threshold, the air colder here, the ground slick beneath my boots. I could feel them close, that ancient bond humming beneath my skin like a summons, thrumming through my veins, calling me toward the place where I would finally confront the past.
But just as I reached the steps of the crypt, something struck me. Not physical, but primal. A surge through the bond that wasn’t theirs.
No.
It was hers.
A force, sharp and cold, lanced through my chest, stealing the breath from my lungs. My knees hit the wet pavement. My hand pressed against my heart.
The connection.
