Page 70 of Discovery of the Vampire
A muscle jumped in Killian's jaw, his fingers drumming against the counter. “Aye, that’s what I’m thinking. But we need proof before we go charging into this blind. If Marcus is involved—which I can't think of any other possible explanation—he’s got a plan, and we’re already three steps behind.”
“Great,” Dae muttered from the corner, running a hand through his short, dark hair. “So we’re dealing with a djinn who can make entire planes vanish. Fantastic.”
“We need to find them,” I said, the words coming out before I could stop them. All eyes turned to me, and I felt Esme’s gaze burning into the side of my face. “I mean, there's gotta be something we can do.”
Killian’s eyes locked onto mine, his expression unreadable. “And how do you propose we do that, lad? We don’t even know where to start looking.”
The room erupted into a flurry of voices as everyone started throwing out ideas, but the truth of it was, none of us had any fucking idea what he could've done with them. They could be in another country. They could be in another dimension.
Hell, they could all be dead.
27
BROGAN
The door clicked shut behind us as we entered my bedroom. We'd just spent an hour downstairs in the kitchen with everyone else trying to figure out something—anything—we could do.
But, eventually, as the sun rose over the horizon, Killian had called an end to the discussion and ordered everyone not to leave the main house without telling someone else where they were going and, preferably, taking another person with them. When Dae pointed out that, as our creator, we all basically had built-in tracking devices within our blood, he reminded us that could easily be masked if someone had the magic to do it, and cell phones could be lost or broken. The rule stood, and we'd all wandered off to find an empty bed.
As soon as the door closed behind us, I pulled Esme close, needing the comfort of her scent, and caught notes of our mixed blood. She would be even easier for me to find now, but it didn't make me feel any better. I wanted to make her promise me she wouldn't do anything foolish, like run off on her own to find the damned book Marcus wanted her to hunt down for him, but first, we had a few other things that needed to be discussed. I couldn't keep her in the dark any longer.
"Esme..." I murmured, cupping her cheek. "There's something you need to know about what happened between us."
Her dark eyes met mine, filled with a vulnerability that cut straight to my soul. "What is it?"
I swallowed hard, the weight of my words heavy on my tongue. "You drank my blood…" I started.
Blood immediately rushed to the surface of her skin, creeping up her chest and neck and into her cheeks. She looked away. "I don't know what came over me. It just…I just…"
"Hey, hey." Gently, I turned her face and ducked my head, catching her eyes with mine. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about. It's a natural thing between a vampire and his mate."
Her eyebrows lifted, and I tried not to flinch as she raised the shields in her mind and shut me out. “What are you not telling me?”
It was my turn not to know what to say. The words were there, right on the tip of my tongue. Butfuck, I couldn't make them come out.
"Brogan?" Taking my hand, she held it in hers. "Whatever it is, just tell me. It can't be any worse than a djinn wanting to kill us all if I don't find his damn book."
She had a point. And Killian was right. She needed to know all of it. "I knew when I tasted your blood the first time that you weremine," I confessed.
"Your…mate," she clarified, and I gave her a nod. “This is the vampire word for girlfriend.”
"No. Not all. There's more to it than that."
She stilled, her eyes never leaving my face as she waited quietly, giving me time to compose my thoughts so I could explain.
I listened to the steady beat of her heart, afraid she would freak out and run away before I had a chance to explain. Before I had the chance to love her. “Once a vampire finds their mate, they depend on them for survival."
Her frown returned. “What does that mean?” she asked softly.
“It means...” I hesitated, the words catching in my throat. “It means I can’t feed from anyone else now. Ever. It means you’re it for me. They say it's fate, but I don't know if that's true, or if it's just some kind of chemistry thing between us or what.”
"How do you know this?"
"Because it happened to Killian and Lizzy, Kenya and Alex, and Jamal and Angel. It’s happened to the vampires who were coming here.”
Her lips parted like she was about to say something, but nothing came out. I could see the shock in her eyes, could practically hear her mind spinning as she processed what I’d just told her. I waited, my heart pounding hard in my chest, giving her the time she'd given me. Finally, she asked, "And what will happen to you if I don't want to be in this…relationship?”
There was no way to make this any easier to hear, so I was blunt. "I'll die. It'll take a little time, but that's what'll happen."
